The rest of the day passed quickly, and at the end of the night I gave my last wish to one of the Beast Lord Initiates. I got three points of Might, bringing me to an even one hundred sixty. With that out of the way we set out to meet with the others to attend the auction. Lament was coming, along with her partner Falken, Sydney and Megan were bringing Riley and the rest of their people, and we had the four with us, along with Abel, Mel, Sloane, Beric, Croll, and the wolves. Even Randall was able to come, since apparently the auction house was fucking huge.

While all the other buildings were small and squat, the auction house was a towering structure of black stone, even on the outside. Looking up at the massive facade of the building, with its dark stone columns and a pair of black stone lions perched out front, it was hard not to be impressed. I had to keep pushing my definition of impressive up a notch every time I saw something new down here.

Lament met us out front, and standing next to her was a tired looking guy with messy dark hair and brown eyes with dark circles around them. He looked pale and kind of thin, but not in an unhealthy way, more in the way of someone who never goes out or does anything. He had a spear with him that he was leaning against like a staff, and his eyes were lidded like he was about to fall asleep. I could see what Wren meant about him usually being asleep, I got the impression that he was a lazy person just from being around him.

Mordaunt appeared beside us, Rahm at her heels, so quickly I almost didn't notice that she hadn't been there all along. "You're here!" She said with a wide smile. "Oh good, I was worried my guests wouldn't show up and that I would end up looking stupid. Wasn't I Rahm?" The massive bandaged man didn't respond in any appreciable way, but Mordaunt nodded like he had. "Oh, and you brought more friends? Oh well, the more the merrier."

That set off alarm bells. I'd been pretty sure that this was a trap before, but that made me positive. Callie had explained to me when I told her my suspicions that an easy test would be bringing more people. Mordaunt had mentioned spots for the auction, and we'd clearly gone over what she'd implied she was allotted. The fact that she didn't even blink at that made it clear the slots had just been an excuse.

I could have gotten the others in anyway, I was pretty sure, given my ties to the WCP, but this had been a good test. Now we knew for sure she was up to something, and to be on guard. Luckily, the four came with us, and they would most likely be a huge asset in any fight. Maybe not quite as much as Abel, but then again, maybe they would be since there were four of them. Shooting Callie a look we followed Mordaunt as she led us in.

The inside of the place was even bigger, of course, and I was impressed by how fancy it was. Wall to wall black marble, with luxurious thick rugs and several large marble counters, behind which sat people in black and gold clothing that looked way nicer than pretty much anything else in Doomtown. "So." I said as I saw the workers. "How exactly is this place not constantly robbed? Because this looks like the kind of place someone would break into and steal everything tat isn't nailed down. And then steal the nails. Especially in a lawless shithole like a dark district."

Granted we were near the Robin, and I knew this part of town was nicer and safer, but still, this whole thing seemed to rely on a preponderance of force. Abel, of course, answered with a chuckle. "Because the WCP says not to. Don't forget where we are. This entire lawless area exists at the sufferance of the WCP leadership. If the bosses decided to clean this out they could do it in an instant. The E-rankers have enough power to raze this whole district. It's happened before. Places like this are declared neutral areas and people listen, because they don't want to die."

That...hadn't occurred to me. I still had trouble viewing the WCP in the way that he was talking about. But it made sense. They were a powerful and terrifying organization, not just at a local level, but in general. The fact that they were strong enough to force the Unity to allow them to have a presence like this in the Conglomerate, when he was a literal god and this was his territory, was evidence enough of that.

My mentor stopped talking as he noticed someone off to one side, and his eyes narrowed as I saw him tense up. I was shocked to see that, he wasn't the type to be worried about other people, especially not down here, but as his eyes focused on a tall, tanned man in worn clothing with a thick beard, his body seemed to shift unconsciously into a defensive stance. "Shit." He said heatedly. "Helix is here."

Helix was an Ascendant Owen had mentioned, one of the old Titan Twenty from Abel's day who got lost in one of Mad Madigan's mazes and had gone slightly crazy. I remembered that clearly because Abel had described him as 'scary', which wasn't a description I'd heard him use for many things. Megan cleared her throat. "Slime hall is in attendance too." Said the Wave Warren ringer, with a grimace.

One by one, powerful people were noted. Some local, some not, some we'd heard of, some we hadn't. Rayka Vale, another of Abel and Mel's old competitors, Dread's daughter, an early F-ranker named Abomina, and the child of Screaming Stevie who called himself the Wailing Win. As well as a few people we knew like Cold Snap and Macgregor. The place gradually filled with powerful Ascendants, and the combined weight of their Impact gave it a strange and worrying feel.

One of the workers, a man in a black and gold suit, stepped out from behind a counter. "Ladies and Gentlemen. We will begin the auction in a few hours, once all the parties have arrived. Feel free to chat amongst yourselves, out here, or in the main auction room. There's also a side area where you may sell some of your less exotic wares to raise funds for the main event, should you feel it worthwhile. Please remember that the Walking Silence Auction is a peaceful affair, and any attempts to disrupt it will be met with harsh reprisals."

No one looked even remotely interested in trying anything like that, given the people guaranteeing the safety of this place. You'd need to be a member of the five faction alliance to be willing to mess with the WCP and none of them had a reason to try. Not for something this small and out of the way. As he finished talking, he retreated behind the counter again, letting everyone mingle.

Which is how we were approached by someone I hadn't expected to see. Fisher, who had actually rode his motorcycle into the auction house (which I guess was fair since Jessie had ridden a bear) rolled up to us. "You." He said faintly. "Members of the Academy. Wasn't expecting to see any others at this thing. We aren't exactly at the right level. Most of the Unity members here are the children of E-rankers."

He didn't say it like an accusation, or like he even cared that much. Just like a statement of fact, like he was telling us what the weather was like. Despite being fairly scary for a G-ranker, he struck me as kind of dull in some ways. Callie, ever the politician, smiled and held out a hand. "We remember you too. I'm Nightstrike. This is Agria, Clockwork, and my boyfriend Solomon. It's nice to see a classmate here. Will you be taking place in the tournament?"

Because he seemed a LOT stronger than he had during the scavenger hunt. It was frankly worrying how quickly he'd managed to advance. Though to be fair, he did have a hundred points of elixir potential to use, so that probably helped. He gave a single sharp nod as an answer, and I had to fight a smile, this guy was not talkative. Seeming to have gotten what he wanted, he stared at us for a few seconds, then turned around and rode off without another word.

"Cool bike." Said Abel conversationally. "Weird kid. But cool bike. So you guys want to go and check out the market before the auction. I know we had certain things we needed to buy, but there are a few odds and ends we could probably pick up there. If nothing else, Clockwork may be able to find some more powerful items to use as materials." He sounded...guarded. In a way I hadn't ever heard from him before.

Still, it was a good idea, so we agreed, and headed off to the side section where the suited man had pointed us all when announcing things. We could see people setting up tables and stalls. Some with furniture supplied by the auction and some they seemed to have brought with them. I saw Mordaunt slip away, and resisted the urge to follow her. It was better to stay in a group, and trailing the Darkling Institute member en masse would draw attention I didn't want or need.

We looked around for a while, and didn't see too much. I managed to find an honest to gods space ring, but I couldn't justify buying it because it would have cost a chunk of our funds for this whole trip. Though I did manage to get a physically larger and much less spacious spatial belt pouch for the three F-ranked chits we had outside the auction funds. I suspected it would be well worth it when we got to the Moonsong Glade.

Other than that, we mostly just looked around, taking note of who was doing the best business and how much they were making, so we could see who we would be betting against. The whole affair had a feeling of tense unease to it. Nothing overt, everyone tried to play relaxed, but there was discomfort and worry bubbling under the surface. The puppies were the only ones who seemed not to care about the tension, with Jin and Rolf playing tag around the tables.

Surprisingly, Celine even showed up, though rather than Martin and Sarah, she had a dangerous looking elf in leather armor at her side, a female F-ranker with purple hair and intense glacial blue eyes she introduced as Shana. They joined up with the group, with Shana shooting suspicious looks at the four and at Abel, obviously competent enough to tell that they were threats.

Finally, after a few hours, the man in the suit stepped back out, clearing his throat. "Attention! May I have your attention!" Everyone turned to look at him. "It is now time for the auction to begin. We expect everyone to take their seats in an orderly fashion. Once all the guests have been seated, we will begin the proceedings. Thank you." He turned and headed into the large room full of seats where the auction would be taking place.

We all followed, slowly and deliberately, but trying our best to seem at ease. Despite that, I felt my stomach clench. I didn't see Mordaunt anywhere. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I suspected I wouldn't like it. At the very least I hoped we could get through the auction first. Once that was done we could worry about the rest of this. The question was, what WAS the rest of this? What could she do in a place like this? And why was I so worried, despite knowing how safe we should be?