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'See you here in two hours.' Said Machiavelli. 'I'll go get us a room somewhere, and you could watch out a little for the environment.'
They've decided to wander the shadowrealms. At first, after the battle on Alcatraz, they moved all over the Earth - and now, Niccolo had a bright idea to try and switch up the realm a little bit. This might prove to be more helpful, since it was significantly easier to mask their trace from Aten if they're moving not just places but time-space continuums as well.
With his intellect and Billy's natural talent to quickly adjust himself to new and unexpected situations, his plan would no doubt work excellently.
Or that's what he thought.
This realm that they've found themselves in was quite similar to Earth. The two of them were currently located on the main square of a significantly large city. Billy was excitedly looking all around himself – this was, to the older immortal's great surprise, his first time visiting another shadowrealm without his Elder.
'Billy.' Machiavelli said, seeing that the blond wasn't really paying attention to him.
'Hm?' Billy directed his head towards him, his eyes still wide from taking in all the new sights.
'As I said, you could watch out here for a short while. Try to see if anyone – and I mean anyone – is following us. If so, alert me immediately.'
Billy nodded. And for some reason Machiavelli wasn't all that ready to believe his over-excited eyes to keep their attention on the job.
Well, whatever. Billy sure wouldn't get himself into anything that stupid if he let him be alone for two hours. With that, he turned around on his heels and confidently walked off to where he knew the person renting him out a room was waiting for him.
***
Machiavelli kept nervously tapping his foot against the paved floor of the main square. One hand he had propped up on his hip, and on the other he was checking his expensive watch every five seconds or so.
Where the hell was Billy? He was quite sure that they had an agreement – they would meet at this exact place in two hours, no matter what.
Or maybe… Did Billy actually get into trouble? A thin layer of sweat formed on his face. The deal went well on his part – he had successfully secured a room for both of them – but those plans would quickly crumble if an Elder or one of their spies found out about their location.
His eyes were running wild all over the place. If Billy was fighting off their pursuers somewhere, surely he would be able to see or at least sense it. But if he wasn't, then he might even be captured, or worse even, dead… But if he was any of those, would the pursuers not be able to immediately get to him as well? So far, his surroundings looked normal – even though a lot of other immortals and otherworldly creatures mingled here, he couldn't smell the familiar scent of their Elder's auras.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a slight commotion.
'Ay, watch where you're going!' A rather hairy and muscular man yelled at a familiar blonde, rudely shoving him aside.
Billy, Machiavelli thought. Thank God he's not dead.
But to his surprise, Billy actually fell right on his back from the firm movement.
'Awhhhh…' He sighed absent-mindedly. This sound of pain sounded… Strange. It felt way too drawn out and lazy to be produced by a person in actual pain. And Billy seemed to have hit his back pretty damn hard.
'You-... Get out of my way…!' The blond slurred, trying and failing to get up.
Something was wrong.
'Huh?! Get outta here, you goddamn stoner! And ya better stop bothering people!'
Billy, unable to get up, almost started crying. 'Shut up, you- You- You discount bigfoot!'
As Machiavelli saw the unbridled rage flame in the strangers eyes and his muscles bulking from his arm like cannonballs to swing them in the direction of Billy's face, he decided that it's time to intervene. Were the knockoff bigfoot to punch the living shit out of Billy, the latter would probably have to use his aura, and then – well… Then they're busted. It's the equivalent of screaming 'I AM HERE', and that thing would alert their Elders damn sure.
' Dio ce ne scampi e liberi …' He gritted through his teeth, frustrated, as he dropped everything he held and ran full speed to stop the bigfoot's arm mid air.
'No instigating fights here!' He yelled, pushing the bigger man on his side. The latter crashed down on his ass with such force that Machiavelli had started thinking that it wasn't impossible that he broke the pavement.
He then turned to Billy.
'What the fuck is this about…!' He demanded, slightly panting. Goddamnit, he didn't run like that for a long time, and Billy just might be pushing him out of his comfort zone a little too much. He still stretched his arm out for Billy to grab, and then pulled him up his legs with all his might.
'I- Hah the- ' Billy slurred with possibly the most maniacal expression Machiavelli had ever seen. The brief argument had apparently given him an adrenaline boost, but he still… Looked about as far from normal as deep sea fishes look like scarps. With his unfocused, dilating pupils and bulging eyes, he might just be one as well.
'How the fuck do you even get drugs in a completely new shadowrealm, Billy– I swear to God, it's been like two hours– '
'I thought it hah candy!' Billy attempted to defend himself, all the while getting more disconnected from reality by the minute. Machiavelli felt as if he was going to lose his mind.
Meanwhile, the discount bigfoot was slowly propping his two tons of muscle and hair back onto his legs, now angrier than ever.
Machiavelli's life flashed before his eyes as he barely dodged the deadly punch by a single millimeter.
And by dodging, he really just threw himself on the floor, trying his hardest to stay alive for at least the next couple of days he reserved the room for.
The nearby crowd was shocked silent, not daring to utter a word lest they become the bigfoot's new punching bag – but as Machiavelli was trying to get back on his legs as quick as possible, a single brave soul yelled:
'Fight! Fight!'
And before they knew it, the town square had unofficially become a giant boxing ring.
Billy watched Machiavelli trying to keep his dear life while fighting the guy. The immortal kept dodging punches left and right, too afraid to throw some of his own, worried that he might use too much of his aura. His only strategy was to dodge until the brute got bored, and his only goal to survive.
The blond perhaps felt a little guilty for throwing his partner in a brutal, bloody fight for life or death as the crowd cheers the murder on from the sidelines – but really, he didn't even know who he was.
'Hey, guys… What about peace and love on planet earth…?' He said, his eyes still unnaturally bulging.
'WRONG SHADOWREALM!' Machiavelli yelled, trying to vent out his frustration, but also barely fighting for his breath.
For a second, Billy appeared to be deeply troubled by that statement – at least judging by the brief expression of incomprehensible existential horror on his face – before he thoughtfully nodded and casually laid back on the floor.
After that, Machiavelli spent a lot of time in his newly rented room. Mostly by laying down in his bed wrapped in bandages, but one might agree that it was a good use of space nonetheless.