"They seriously decided to hold their auction here?" Lathain muttered as we walked through quarantine "nutters" I half smiled at him, of all the people I knew Lathain was the most aptly described as a "nutter"
"With the no legal ownership of Chicago it's perfect neutral territory" Wizbit reminded him "the church don't even own any land here, it's entirely private owners who have built their own enterprises here, but since they can't trade outside of the corridor they're small and without the power of the mega corps, means there are no rules either on what would otherwise be clandestine activities"
"Gotta marvel how peeps find a way around the system" Conway mumbled, he looked very uncomfortable without his truck which he had been forced to leave behind to undergo decontamination, but he didn't fancy the idea of his baby being in gang territory either.
We walked through the final gate of the corridor barrier into an empty city; there was not a soul in sight. The streets were barren of life, and many of the buildings were damaged, office blocks opened to the outside world, letting in the rain and sleet and sun, most windows high enough for a meta human to throw were broken and glass littered the sidewalk.
As we walked I began to notice some signs that we weren't the only people around, some second story windows had been replaced with either bullet proof glass or heavily barred, neon signs still flashed at the old doors, now controlled by a buzzer intercom, a security measure for those with businesses to control who came by, the second story doubling as a strong hold if needed. In the distance the sound of an engine could be heard. But the life of outside, the birds, the insects, the presence of plants, grasses and even weeds were totally void from the picture.
"Cheery place" I said, I noted some movement in front of us "how far until we get to the auction house?"
"Oh we're not going to the auction house first" Lathain said "We need to get an invite to the place, and there's really only one big wig in this city to get one from, so we're starting there" he paused "but I think we'd better find some cover first" I looked ahead and saw the dust kicked up by several bikes, the roar just now reaching our ears
"Who are they?" I asked
"Ramblers" Wizbit supplied, "thieves and bullies, they'll attack any new comers on foot, they're easy targets, the claxton of the quarantine gates signalled our arrival" K.C shrugged and shouldered her weapon
"And?" she asked, I admired her spunk but we really needed to get to this auction in one piece. Lathain led us through a maze of alleyways to an old slaughterhouse and banged hard on the door. "Why are we stopping here?" K.C asked, in the distance the sound of the Claxton went off again as someone else entered the dead city.
"Just got a call from Whisperer saying to start here" Wizbit said, he looked sideways at K.C "Don't you two know each other? I'd have thought you'd be told too" K.C's face went beetroot in rage, it was clear she thought Whisperer should be given a doing over for ignoring her, she was still on the base in her mind and therefore felt she outranked him.
"Geraldine, Hacker" Lathain said "Why don't you two take a step back for a while, take Adam with you to meet up with Whisperer" something in his voice made him sound like he didn't trust Whisperer to be alone "We'll catch up with you later" Lathain banged harder on the door as the Orc and Gnome slunk off, presumably with Adam in toe "Whisperer needs your comm. number" Lathain reminded them as they disappeared
Wizbit glanced my way "Whisperer says you're to get a com too Ghost, he says he might need to pass info to you and he doesn't like not being in touch" I heard the laughter in Wizbit's voice, despite the thought of someone wanting me to wear comm. gear I couldn't help but laugh too.
"Awww babe, he wants your number" KC laughed, I punched her in the arm, hoping that the heat I could feel creeping up my face wasn't showing, I quickly got back to reality when the door we had knocked upon fell into shadow.
A troll face appeared in the window of the door front and there was a muffled exchange before the door opened, the troll stood in the doorway, he was huge even by troll standards and completely dressed in black were it not for the tiny red heart badge on his collar, the number three etched into it, such a difference to the rest of his attire it stood out, the troll noticed me looking and sneered at me.
"Card?" he asked me, I shrugged and shook my head
"No idea what you mean" I told him, he growled and turned his back to shut the door, I recalled the ten of clubs I had found but kept my mouth shut, it wouldn't matter now, but I made a note to keep an eye open for more "cards"
"Woah mate" Wizbit said holding his hand out to the troll, "the Seven of Diamonds asked me to call in on you" clearly this was the wrong ianswer, I had no clue if the seven of diamonds was a bad choice in cards or if the troll could tell that Wizbibt was lying, a swift fist drove through Wizbit's stomach and sent him flying, the troll straightened his collar and walked back inside shutting the door with a slam, in the distance the roar of wheels got louder.
"Hey man, you OK? Convoy asked helping Wizbit up
"This is why I don't like being the front man" Wizbit wheezed, "I'm more of a meant to not be seen and not really heard either" he nodded to Lathain "your turn"
"Little late for that" Lathain said, "we should get some cover, those Ramblers are heading our way" he looked up "and there's more than just a fight brewing" he nodded to the sky which at first looked like it was simply clouding over, until I saw the colour of the cloud, a deep purple, and it hummed with magic "you'll need to steer clear of that Ghost" he said
"What is it?" I asked, we began to move around the block to a large dilapidated apartment building, sliding through the broken door, Wizbit cleared his throat and pounded his chest, still winded from the blow.
"Bacterial cloud, it's attracted to your magic, I hear that mages who get caught in it loose their powers" he gave me a slight grin "why do you think I'm not in my "invisible man" costume?" I shrugged then had a thought
"What about Adam, he's invisible, won't he come to harm?"
"No idea" he said looking around, forgetting for a moment that Adam was no longer around "the spell that changed him is a permanent one, could be that coming into contact with it would mean he's cured, or because the spell is now part of his makeup it could be that he'll suffer a lot of harm as the cloud eats away at him, I'd keep an eye open in case you get your coat stuck too, I know it's designed to hide astral signatures but don't know if that too will serve as an attraction, maybe the opposite and a deterrent, but I'd keep clear just in case"
I looked to the sky again "it's moving against the wind" I said in awe
"oh yeah, it has a mind of its own" he told me "remember, try not to use your magic if you can help it unless you know the coast is clear" We moved away from the doorway to the side of an open office block. The lower floor was missing most of its walls but the concrete stairs were strong and the upper floor would give us the advantage. I hunkered down next to KC, her eyes trained down the scope of her rifle at the oncoming ground dust that made up the front of the biker group known as the Ramblers
"You think we could get out of here without attracting attention?"
"Doubt it" KC said