The Swiss Guard's Finest

A tall, light skinned, middle aged man with short blonde hair and green eyes was walking with a purpose through the halls of the main Vatican complex. He was decked out in a more ceremonial version of the Swiss Guard uniform, which was styled in the same manner as the lower foot soldiers, except that his was all crimson and was accented by a healthy amount of award ribbons and medals pinned to his blouse over his heart. The black Comb morion that was worn with the uniform was tucked in his left armpit, and he had a ceremonial sword hanging from his side. The man met no sort of resistance from any of the other Hellebardier, as they made haste in moving out of his direction. It was due simply to the respect this man had, as he was the Oberst, the Commandant of the Swiss Guard.

Upon making it to his destination, a simple oak door at the end of the second story hallway, he made no hesitation to enter, foregoing the process of making himself known as he was the one who was summoned here in the first place. He closed the door behind him before staring at the desk and empty seat in front of him, noting that the other seat behind the desk was occupied and turned in the direction opposite of him so he couldn’t see the person sitting in said chair. “Sit,” the person who was in the other seat said, softly but with obvious command. “Make yourself comfortable; we have much to discuss.” The man did as he was told, albeit in a unprofessional way that was in a high contrast to his station by kicking his legs up on the desk. “And get your feet off my desk Hezekiah.”

Hezekiah let a grin cross his face as he removed his feet. “You said get comfortable Il Camerlengo.” The grin instantly disappeared as Andrea swiftly spun his chair around to level Hezekiah with an annoyed glare. “I jest,” Hezekiah said as he waved his hand in the air to calm Andrea down. “I heard you had requested my presence.”

“I did,” Andrea said, not one bit off annoyance removed from his facial expression. “Yesterday. What was the hold up?”

It was Hezekiah’s turn to glare at Andrea, not enthused in the least at Andrea’s attitude so far. “I do have to oversee the training of the new guardsmen,” he said before leaning back in the chair to Andrea’s displeasure. “Not to mention I went over those documents that you returned to me. I’m a busy man Andrea; it’s not like you have sole responsibility in running this thing we have here. Now what did you need to summon me here for?”

Andrea gave Hezekiah a blank look. as if what the Oberst of the Guard had said meant nothing to him. “You know of my plans for the isle of Rhodes, right?” Hezekiah responded with a nod; he had sent a contingent of Hellebardier to accompany Julian and his command to the island when the Daeva had departed a month prior. “It seems there’s a bit of resistance towards our goal. There’s a warrior there who refuses to stand down to our will.”

“And you’re telling me this, why?” Hezekiah asked, generally confused. “I know for sure Julian’s plenty strong enough to eliminate your little problem.”

“That,” Andrea said with a point of his finger. “Right there is the problem. Julian didn’t engage the threat, and for once I tend to agree with the maniac.” Hezekiah’s face only clouded with more confusion; Julian wasn’t known for being one to back away from a fight, as he was one of the more bloodthirsty members of Ut Puri. For the crazed Daeva to back away and take the path of discretion was a foreign concept in Hezekiah’s eyes, as was the idea of Andrea supporting nearly anything Julian did. “I see you’re curious.”

“Who wouldn’t be after knowing Julian for all of ten minutes?” Hezekiah asked rhetorically. “I know Julian backing down had little to do with fear, so it must be due to whoever this warrior is.”

“Right on target,” Andrea said before standing up to walk over to his window to observe the bustle of the Vatican outdoors. “Have you ever heard of ‘The Protector of Rhodes’?”

“I have,” Hezekiah answered. “It’s supposed to be a local myth of the island.” At Andrea’s silence, Hezekiah swiftly put the pieces of the puzzle together. “The myth is real, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Andrea said, anger clouding his face for a moment as he remembered the man who killed his brother. “And it’s a powerful Simia known as Nestor. I’ve had an... encounter... with the man before, and by experiencing that I can sympathize with Julian. This Nestor’s power easily rivals the Judge Magisters of the Illuminati, and it seems that it draws even with our own Justicars. That kind of power, mixed with the years of experience this Nestor has would make him a deadly foe for Julian, if not being able to outright kill him.” A snort of laughter from Hezekiah drew out a bit of Andrea’s anger, which was hastily leveled on him. “You find that funny?”

“I find that unbelievable,” Hezekiah said, to the sudden confusion of Andrea. “As Ut Puri’s leader, even you should know that the concentrated power of one of the Supremo far outclasses the power of a Divino. Even if this man was as strong as you claim, for all of Julian’s faults, he is cunning. Julian would have to have more reason than someone’s power level to back away from them.”

Andrea filed that piece of information away in his mind for a later date. “Julian was concerned at the motives of Nestor,” Andrea explained. “He was curious as to why a man as advanced in age as Nestor would still fight tooth and nail to protect an otherwise unremarkable place as Rhodes.”

“Rhodes isn’t that unremarkable it we’re trying to make that a new base of operations,” Hezekiah said. “As a matter of fact, it’s position in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas makes it all the more worthwhile. That island was always an attractive port of call, both in ancient times and to a lesser extent now. Maybe he’s just one of those Illuminati guardians; you know how they have an almost fanatical desire to protect anything of ancient value...” Hezekiah trailed off, realizing as he spoke that he had uncovered a viable point.

“Bingo,” Andrea said, clapping his hands in praise. Now I can tell you my real motive for Rhodes.” With that being said, Andrea walked over to the bookshelf behind his desk and pulled on a random book. The book only came halfway out, but the book itself was a hidden lever, which had the effect of opening up a small, hidden safe in the floor under it. Andrea pulled an old, weathered scroll out of the safe, unfurling on the desk to show Hezekiah what was written on it. “This scroll was written shortly after the founding of Rome by Aeneas. It is a letter to Rhodes, telling a ‘Maxus Grecius’ to protect 'that which slain the mighty Achilles.’ I found this scroll a few months ago in the pope’s library, probably due to His Holiness trying to keep it a secret.”

Hezekiah simply stared at Andrea for a long minute before narrowing his eyes at the man. “‘That which slain the mighty Achilles’,” Hezekiah said. “You’re talking about Soulbreaker, aren’t you?” Andrea slowly nodded, before instantly being slammed up against the bookshelf courtesy of Hezekiah, who had moved so fast that Andrea couldn’t even try and muster a defense. “And why are you just now telling me this?”

“For safety reasons,” Andrea said as he helplessly dangled from the shelf, being pinned against it by the grip Hezekiah had on his collar. “The whole mission is disguised to His Holiness as a missionary directive, and everyone on the mission was told only enough for them to know that Rhodes is in Ut Puri’s sights. If the pontiff hears even a whisper of this Ut Puri can be reduced to nothing.”

“But you knew the entire time what the real goal was?” Hezekiah asked, as his anger showed in his voice. “Let me guess; you knew that Nestor was there to protect that weapon from us, didn’t you?”

Andrea quickly shook his head in denial; although Hezekiah too was a member of Ut Puri, unofficially Andrea’s second in command at that, he had a genuine care for all under his command as the leader of the Swiss Guard, Sovrumano or not. To Hezekiah, only the Sovrumano who submitted to Ut Puri were spared from the vision of Ut Puri, and Andrea knew that hiding the discovery of the relative location of a Sovrumano killer without telling him would hit a nerve. “I didn’t think the man was still alive!” Andrea said, pleading in his voice for Hezekiah to believe him. “When the man murdered my brother he was in his mid-forties!”

Hezekiah let an aggravated sigh escape his lips as he finally dropped the Camerlengo back on his feet. “Well it seems that he is,” Hezekiah said as he thought on the situation Andrea had put Julian, and by extension him, in. “I see why you wanted Miroslav to raid Siobhan’s church,” he said with a stern glance at Andrea. “It was to keep Alexandria occupied while we swooped in to claim Soulbreaker. The Illuminati wouldn’t see our presence in Rhodes as much a threat as they would us being near the Egyptian’s blessed pyramids. They would concentrate their forces on making us back off, so by the time they refocused on the Mediterranean, we would have already taken Soulbreaker without them ever knowing.”

“Exactly,” Andrea said, nodding with relief now that Hezekiah got the point of his whole plan. “But Nestor is one person that can cause a problem for us. Julian is keeping him under surveillance as we speak; I need you to-”

“Nope,” Hezekiah said, stopping Andrea mid-sentence. “Send one of the Hauptmanns, a contingent of Feldweibels, I don’t care. But you’re not going to make me believe that this Nestor qualifies for my or any of the other Justicars' presence.”

“But your strength-!” Andrea started again.

“My strength will not be wasted on a simple snatch and grab mission!” Hezekiah roared. “And furthermore-!” The loud ring of Andrea’s phone stopped the two men from arguing, but Hezekiah stopped Andrea from answering the phone, noting on the called id who the caller was. With a focused look, Hezekiah answered the phone. “Julian Draven, how nice of it for you to call right now.” Hezekiah held the phone to his ear as his face morphed from anger to surprise, and then unnerving pleasure as Andrea watched on. Seconds later, Hezekiah hung up the phone as a sinister grin came to his face.

“Well?” Andrea asked, confused at Hezekiah’s expression.

“I had a change of heart,” Hezekiah said as his green eyes started to glow. “Apparently this Nestor got the word out anyway to the Illuminati, and this just became much more than a snatch and grab.”

“How so?” Andrea asked, generally curious. He wanted to know exactly what was happening so he could plan accordingly; for Hezekiah to suddenly take interest in Andrea’s plan like this meant something big was up, something that he knew wouldn’t be an easy task to cover up from the pope.

“Ryu Senko,” Hezekiah said simply. The name itself was enough for Andrea’s blood to run cold; Raven was one person that Andrea hated even more than Nestor, but Raven was someone that he had no choice but to respect. Raven had done more to hold Ut Puri back in the last ten years than the Illuminati have as a whole since the Second World War, and most of it was due to the man’s mentality. The few times Raven had to show his near legendary strength had humbled Ut Puri to the point of a near fear for the man. In fact, the only person in Ut Puri, period that could stand a chance against Raven was Hezekiah. That was partly due to Hezekiah being an Angeli himself on the level of Justinian, and partly because any of the other operatives that would have stood a chance had already been dispatched by the Draco Exemplar.        

The two Ut Puri leaders started at each other as a pregnant silence reigned in Andrea’s chambers, each of them knowing just what it could mean if Raven had truly gotten wind of their ploy. “How?” Andrea asked himself. “Julian said that no Illuminati operatives got on or off the island.”

“I don’t know, and I really don’t care,” Hezekiah said as his mind was spinning with thoughts. “Julian said that he looked to be vacationing with his family, but the mere presence of Raven is enough for most of our weaker willed soldiers to contemplate returning here. Not to mention, I’m not one to believe the farces known as coincidences.”

“So,” Andrea said, unease in his voice as he tried to plan his next move. “What are you going to do?”

“Observe,” Hezekiah said, closing his eyes to gather his thoughts. “If we jump at some sort of countermeasure too early, it can alert Raven to what is really going on. Let a sleeping dragon sleep, lest you can contend with that dragon roused from its slumber.”

“And that means what, exactly?” Andrea asked, confused at Hezekiah’s words. The Angeli had a habit of using proverbs that few understood at times when he really shouldn’t, now being that time in Andrea’s eyes.

“It means don’t draw attention to yourself from that man,” Hezekiah said. 'Or at least that’s how you put it?’ he thought, thinking back to another time when he had first heard that saying with a look of almost fondness, before steeling himself into a stare fitting of a military leader. “Tell Julian to stick with tailing your Nestor; I’m thinking that he’s your best bet for finding Soulbreaker. Under no circumstances is he, or any in his command, to encounter Raven or anyone with him until told otherwise from me.”

Andrea narrowed his eyes, noticing the change in Hezekiah’s expression, and what the Oberst had said. “So you go from mad and uninterested to taking control of this mission?” Andrea asked with a suspicious tone. “Why the change?” Hezekiah didn’t respond right away, instead rounding on his heel to leave Andrea’s office with the same disinterested look on his face. “Hey! I’m talking to you.”

“This meeting is over,” Hezekiah said sternly with his back to Andrea. “And furthermore,” he paused as a cold look washed over his face, unseen by the Camerlengo. “Don’t ever, and I mean ever, think you can control me.” Hezekiah suddenly raised his palm to a globe that was sitting on a desk to his left. With nothing more than a mental command, Hezekiah willed a golden ball of pure ki energy the size of a basketball to appear in his outstretched palm in an instant, before the ball seemed to be shot with the force of a cannon from the palm. The blast of energy seemed to disappear the second it hit the globe, but the globe itself started to glow with the same color as the ki shot, before disintegrating before Andrea’s eyes, all in the span of a second. “Understand?”

Andrea nodded nervously, the message clearly sent as he watched the Angeli leave the room without another word, although the room still had the feeling of the powerful Oberst’s presence. ‘Soon,’ Andrea thought as he slowly got over his nervousness, which was steadily being replaced by a feeling of vengeance. ‘Soon Ut Puri will be where we don’t need these inhuman progeny.’ Andrea started to chuckle manically as his thoughts become more unholy. “Ut Puri’s vision will reign upon this world!”