The Corpse Hunter followed the woman with the bruised face as they walked along the rope bridge. Beneath them the lanterns swayed gently casting shadows upon a small boat that traveled across the water below. Aiden could have safely jumped onto the passing boat and the thought briefly crossed his mind.

Of course he didn’t do that. He’d wasted too much time trying to find Kilroy on his own and now these two young thugs were claiming they could take him right to Kilroy themselves. All he had to do was follow them to find out if they were telling the truth or not. If they were being honest, he’d still have a chance to solve the murders in the Dungeon above the city. If they were lying, well he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.

That idiom almost made Aiden chuckle as he looked about the other rope bridges that spanned the large underground lake. It seemed likely that crossing one of them would eventually lead to trouble. And yet the Corpse Hunter continued walking.

After a short walk the trio came to a stop at a large wooden building. It was the only structure on its dock and it ran the entire length of it. The woman accompanying the Corpse Hunter pounded on a large wood door with her fist.

Aiden couldn't help but notice that this building was far sturdier than most down here in the basement of the Column. It looked easy to defend as well, only having one bridge connecting it to the other docks. When the woman knocked on the door a small metal latch opened and the man in gray could see a pair of eyes peeking out.

The eyes looked all three of them up and down for what seemed like longer than necessary before the latch shut. Moments later the sound of heavy deadbolts being unlocked could be heard and the door opened slowly. Both Aiden and the woman were allowed entry but when the other man tried to enter the bouncer at the door stopped him.

"Boss has another job for you," the bouncer said, handing a note to the thug.

The thug opened the letter and skimmed over it before handing it back and leaving. When the note was returned to the bouncer he held it up to a nearby candle and tossed the burning paper into a metal vase near his feet. Whoever their boss was, they were a very cautious individual. Even Aiden couldn't help but respect that as it reminded him of an old saying. “The cautious cat doesn't need nine lives.” It was an expression he’d taken to heart over the years.

Pausing to examine the bouncer, the Corpse Hunter felt like he'd run into the middle aged man before. More than once, now that he thought about it. Normally he couldn't care less about his fellow Column Dwellers but he felt compelled to chat with this one.

"We've met," the Corpse Hunter said after the bouncer shut the door and locked it

"We have," the man replied.

At some point in time he'd met most of the people that lived in the Column. Sooner or later someone lost a loved one and he'd been tending to the dead for almost three decades. But that alone wasn't why he remembered this man.

"You've required my services more often than most," Aiden said.

The bouncer shrugged, "I tend the door and I take out the trash."

That was all the man had to say and all Aiden needed to hear.

"Let's not keep the boss waiting," the woman said, looking back over her shoulder with her black eye. "He's not a patient man."

The woman led the man in gray to a large central chamber with a circular metal cage. He wasn't surprised to see two people fighting in the center of it. That brief chat with the bouncer had jogged Aiden's memory. There were several underground fighting rings in the basement beneath Plinth.

So long as the fighters participated voluntarily and the rules didn't require you to kill your opponent the fights were allowed to occur. Neither the Council of Plinth nor the Ascension Academy had much reason to care if someone was accidentally killed in a cage fight. They had far more important matters to deal with and so they allowed a certain degree of morally gray activities to exist within the reservoir.

A man wrapped in a dark blue cloak sat atop a wooden throne watching a man and woman circle one another in the cage. His chin rested upon his hands which gripped an unsheathed longsword. He hadn't taken notice of the Corpse Hunter's arrival and remained fixated on the fight.

"Wait here," the woman said to Aiden.

The female thug that had been escorting the Corpse Hunter approached the man on the throne. She leaned over and began whispering into the man’s ear. When she finished the man with the sword waved her off like a parent dismissing their child. He never took his eyes off the cage.

There were several other onlookers perched on wooden benches surrounding the fighters. They shouted and jeered as the two in the ring began to exchange blows. Though none watched as intently as the man on the wooden throne.

When the male fighter hurled a ball of acid at his opponent it splattered across her face drawing more cheers from the crowd. It seemed like the spectators had drowned out the woman's cries of pain but when a grim curled upon her lips it became clear that there hadn't been any. Her skin sizzled and burned but the wounds did little to slow her down.

"A Caustic Distiller," the Corpse Hunter said to himself, referring to the man's Fate.

Fate Holders with this gift could pull in moisture from around them and reform the molecules to create acidic liquids. This was a good environment for the man to fight in considering this building was just a few feet above a lake. Surely he would have the edge in the fight considering how much moisture he could pull straight from the air.

The woman rushed towards the Caustic Distiller who was caught off guard by her complete disregard to her own injuries. He had been expecting the opportunity to take his time and show off his skills to the man upon the throne. The man in the cage hurried to form another ball of acid in his right palm. When the woman came into melee range he shoved the green sphere of liquid into her ribcage. She didn't even flinch.

The woman's fist collided with the man's head slamming his skull into the metal cage behind him. When he collapsed onto the ground she climbed atop him and began beating his face until it was even more disfigured than her own. The smell of burning flesh filled the room as the woman’s sides were eaten away by the acid but the pain only seemed to make her fight harder.

When her opponent showed no signs of retaliating the woman stood up and raised both hands into the air. She was greeted with stunned silence from the crowd. As the man upon the throne began clapping the other onlookers were brought out of their stupor. Cheers and applause filled the building and the woman soaked up every ounce of attention. She had earned it.

Aiden had been using his Tether Sight ability to watch both fighter's tethers. It was clear to him from the get go that the woman would win. Her tether had started out silver and didn't change a single shade during the entire fight. Meaning of course she was in no danger of dying.

Her opponent's thread that dangled above his head, on the other hand, had started turning shades of light pink even before the match started. His thread had continued to grow redder and redder until he was finally beaten into submission. Only when he was unconscious and the woman climbed off his body did his thread return to its normal silver state. After a few moments had passed Aiden watched as the thread over the man's head grew red once again as he began to stir.

"Stay down, if you get up I won't go easy on you a second time," the woman said.

Her warning came more as a statement than any form of intimidation or threat. She was simply telling him the facts as they were.

"I'm not...done...yet…", the man replied through a broken jaw.

His thread was bright red now.

"You should listen to the woman," Aiden said.

The man looked behind him to see a tall figure dressed in gray looming over him.

"Corpse...Hunter", the man said with fear in his eyes before quickly laying back down.

With the fight concluded one of the onlookers pulled a ring of keys from his belt and opened the cage. It seemed the crowd was also employed by the man on the wooden throne. The woman approached the throne and shook the man's waiting hand.

"Welcome to the Copper Catchers," the man said to her with a polite smile.

A woman standing off to the side of the throne guided the female fighter into a hallway where they passed out of sight. A few moments later the man who had been tending the door came into the room and dragged the injured man out of the cage. The bouncer then helped the man to his feet and they both walked towards the exit.

"Tough luck," the bouncer said to the man who had just lost. "Not many can stand up against a Pain Bearer in a one on one fight."

When they left the room Aiden turned his attention to the man on the throne. His sword was gone and he was currently talking with a short man with rounded glasses. After their quiet conversation ended the man upon the throne looked over at the man in gray.

"Ah the Corpse Hunter. We were nearly in need of your services there, weren't we," the man said with a charming voice as if talking to an age-old friend.

"Nearly," the man in gray confirmed with a nod.

"I hear you've been asking around for Kilroy."

"I have." The Corpse Hunter nodded again. "Are you Kilroy?"

"Oh no, truth be told there is no Kilroy. That's merely a name I have my employees pass around. When someone wants to get in touch they come down here, ask around until word reaches my ear, then I arrange a meeting if I want to hear what they have to say."

"Clever," Aiden admitted.

"The cautious cat doesn't need nine lives," the man replied. "You may call me the Copper Prince."

"Is that a family name?"

"And they say a Corpse Hunter has no sense of humor." The Copper Prince chuckled. "They also say time is money though and my time is worth more than my chosen name. So, why are you here?"

"I'm looking for someone interested in buying Green Dragon's blood. You seem to be interested in buying Green Dragon's blood," the Corpse Hunter said. “So here I am.”

"Well of course I'm interested in buying Green Dragon's blood. I'm interested in buying any dragon's blood. If you had a finger on the pulse of the Column's economy like I do you'd know there's a shortage of dragon components," the Copper Prince replied.

"A shortage?"

"Indeed. Shortages create demand so as an enterprising businessman I have been acquiring as much of the remaining supply as possible. That's called cornering the market."

"What caused the dragon blood shortage?"

The Copper Prince turned to the short man beside him. The man adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Approximately nine days ago eighty seven percent of the Column's supply of market grade dragon blood was purchased over a twenty four period."

"And you came across this information, how?" Aiden asked.

"Plinth is a small city and it's not terribly expensive to acquire information," the Copper Prince said. "Sure it's a crime to steal from others but there are no laws against keeping track of what's being bought and sold."

He motioned towards the short man with glasses.

"Rudy here has the Fate of the Mental Abacus. He's very, very good with numbers. With the information my other associates gather, Rudy can tell me which materials and goods are about to be in high demand. In this manner I can buy them at market value and sell them at shortage prices. It's merely a matter of taking stock of recent exchanges. I like to call it the stock exchange, if you will. Now it may sound shady as all hell but I assure you it's completely legal.”

"I can see how that would be very fortuitous for someone in the know. I'm surprised others haven’t tried to replicate your...stock exchange method," the Corpse Hunter said.

"Well it's not something I want the common folk participating in, so there is a rather large barrier to entry," the Copper Prince admitted.

"Meaning you threaten anyone trying to make money in the same manner as yourself?"

"Correct. I can't have just anyone making money in the stock exchange. I have my own profit margins to look out for. And I've gotten very good at towing the line between what's morally questionable yet legally acceptable."

Aiden looked from the Copper Prince to the short man beside him.

"Can you tell me who bought up the majority of the dragon's blood nine days ago?"

Rudy looked to his boss before answering. When the man in the dark blue Cape nodded, the shorter man spoke.

"Yes, it was a group that buys and sells raw alchemical components by the name of Hippogriff Holdings. They own a few warehouses on the main floor though they also have one down here. It would seem they are trying to drive up the cost of dragon components by buying up as much of the market's stock as possible."

"That may not be their motivation," Aiden said. "Copper Prince, Rudy, thank you both for your time."

"Before you leave, could I interest you in some alternative employment?" the man in the dark blue cape asked.

Aiden raised an eyebrow which the Copper Prince took as a prompt to continue speaking.

"You have a certain infamy among the denizens of this Column. I could find a number of uses for that reputation. It wouldn't put you at odds with the local authorities and could earn you a good deal of money. You see you and I have quite a lot in common.

We live in the shadows of others. Shunned not for who we are but what we are. I assure you that with a good salary would also come acceptance. We're a family here in the Copper Catchers. And if you'd like to join, we'd welcome you with open arms."

Aiden glanced over at the woman with the bruised face and then back to the man on the throne that had bruised her. Family wasn’t the word he’d use to describe this sort of employment.

"I have all the work I care to do as is. May you have a pleasant rest of your day," the man in gray said as he turned away from the man on the throne.

The Copper Prince activated his primary ability and the longsword he'd been holding earlier suddenly appeared in his right hand. The blade was extended outwards towards the man in gray whose back was still turned. The woman with the bruised face looked nervously between her boss and the Corpse Hunter. Unbridled rage spread across the face of the Copper Prince who had been so polite and charming just a moment prior. In the blink of an eye the look of anger vanished along with the sword.

"Enjoy the rest of your day as well," the Copper Prince said warmly.

He massaged his temple with the hand that had just held a sword as if willing the weapon into existence had given him a migraine. It likely had considering the amount of focus required for an Apparate Blade to activate their primary Fate ability.

"See him out Renee," the Copper Prince said to the woman beside the Corpse Hunter without looking up at either of them.

He was a greedy man but he wasn't foolish enough to try and press the Corpse Hunter into his service. Having someone with that kind of notoriety would be great for intimidating the other gangs. Though if the man in gray ran his mouth to the Council of Plinth or the Ascension Academy they'd be less likely to turn a blind eye to a man who had pissed off the only Corpse Hunter in the Column. Best to keep that spotlight far and away from the reservoir.

When their conversation was concluded the woman that had escorted Aiden into the building guided him back out.

"Lovely boss you have," Aiden said to her when they were out of earshot of her employer.

"Shut up," she said sullenly.

They walked in silence the rest of the way to the entrance. Once there the bouncer opened the large wooden for the Corpse Hunter.

"It was going to be you," Aiden said as he walked through the threshold.

"What?" the woman asked.

"That fight against the Ionic Bonder that you and your coworker almost got into the other day. He told you that one of you was going to die with him. It was going to be you.”

The woman stared at the man in gray, her mouth slightly ajar as he spoke again.

"If you'd like to avoid running into me again in the near future, perhaps you should find a new line of work.”