Jason didn't waste another second. He tapped his earpiece, his voice turning sharp and professional. "Falcon 07, move out! Immediate extraction at the main entrance. Go!"

Outside the auction mansion, the sound of screeching tires and roaring engines shattered the quiet prestige of the estate. A massive convoy of twelve black, armored SUVs, each bearing the silver Royal logo on the grille, swept into the driveway. They executed a perfect tactical formation, coming to a halt directly in front of the main steps.

Ethan stepped out of the mansion's shadows, the bright streetlights catching the cold glint in his eyes. Behind him, Samantha and Emily followed, still dazed and uncertain, while Congressman Thompson walked at Ethan's side, looking like a man who had just witnessed the birth of a new world power.

The doors of the lead vehicle flew open, and heavily armed Royal contractors stepped out, securing the perimeter with practiced efficiency. Ethan didn't look back at the mansion; his focus was entirely on the armored line of steel waiting to take his people to safety.

Ethan stood at the center of the formation, the undisputed commander of the scene.

"Take them back," Ethan ordered, his voice echoing off the armored glass. "Protect them with your lives."

Falcon 07, the lead operative, gave a crisp nod. "Understood, sir. And what about you?"

"Leave one SUV for me," Ethan replied, his fingers brushing the edge of the golden card in his pocket. "I'll be out in a moment. I have one more transaction to finish."

Thompson, who had been standing silently by Ethan's side, finally spoke. His attitude had shifted completely. The earlier respect and professional admiration had vanished, replaced by a gaze of pure adoration—the look of a man seeing a legend in the flesh.

"What... what happened in there, sir?" Thompson asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Ethan pulled the gold card with its shifting patterns from his pocket and held it up. "They invited me to the next level of the auction."

Thompson's eyes widened, and he took a step back as if the card itself were radioactive. "I... I think I understand. That level is far beyond me, Mr. Blake. I don't think I'm ready to come into contact with that world yet."

"It's a wise decision, believe me," Ethan said, his gaze fixed on the mansion. "You don't want to know what they keep behind those doors."

Thompson nodded fervently and climbed into one of the armored vehicles. His own private security detail, which had been waiting at the perimeter, immediately understood the shift in power. Without a word, they pulled their cars into line behind the Royal convoy. The massive line of vehicles accelerated out of the estate, leaving only one black SUV behind with Falcon 07 in the driver's seat, positioning the car to wait for Ethan's eventual return.

The convoy moved through the city streets with a ghostly smoothness, the heavy armor of the SUVs muffling the sounds of the outside world. Inside the lead vehicle, Samantha and Emily sat huddled together, their bodies rigid with a paralyzing terror.

They watched the silent, masked operatives of Royal through the darkened windows, not daring to speak or even shift in their seats.

To them, the luxurious leather and tactical efficiency felt like nothing more than a more expensive cage; they remained frozen in silence, too broken by their ordeal to realize they were being taken to safety rather than to another master.

The convoy screeched to a halt inside the reinforced garage of the safe house. As soon as the doors of the lead van slid open, Alexandria was there, her face a mask of desperation and hope.

"Emily! Samantha!" Alexandria screamed.

Emily was the first to run out, her small feet hitting the concrete as she sprinted into her mother's arms. Alexandria collapsed to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably as she buried her face in her daughter's neck. "Oh god, oh god, you're safe. You're home."

Samantha stepped out more slowly, her movements stiff from her injuries. Alexandria reached out, pulling her sister into the embrace as well. The three women clung to each other in the middle of the garage, a small island of family amidst the cold, tactical gear of the Royal contractors.

Victoria stood nearby, wiping tears from her own eyes, while Jason watched the monitors, ensuring the perimeter was still secure.

After the initial wave of sobbing subsided, Alexandria pulled back, looking at Samantha's bandaged face. "How... how did you get out? I thought..."

"The young man," Samantha whispered, her voice still raspy. "The one who bid for Emily... he fought them. He stood up when they were dragging me away. I thought he was one of them, but then he came for us."

Alexandria took a deep breath, trying to steady her voice. "That was Ethan. He's my friend, Samantha. He's the one who built all of this. He promised me he would bring you back, no matter the cost."

Emily looked up, her eyes wide with a lingering sense of awe. "The man with the lightning?" she whispered.

Alexandria pulled back slightly, her expression flickering with confusion. "Lightning? Honey, what are you talking about?"

"The big brother," Emily insisted, her voice trembling but certain. "He could throw blue lightning from his hands. He made the whole room shine like he was a star in the middle of the night."

Alexandria forced a soft, sad smile, stroking Emily's hair. She looked toward Jason and Victoria, her eyes conveying that she thought the child was simply hallucinating from the extreme trauma and the flashing lights of the auction. "I don't quite understand, sweetheart. You've been through so much, your mind is just tired..."

"Perhaps you should wait for Ethan to tell you himself," Samantha interrupted, her voice weary but firm. She met Alexandria's gaze with a look of terrifying clarity. "But it's true. The boy... he was surrounded by arcs of electricity while he fought a man who conjured fire from thin air. It wasn't a hallucination, Alexandria. It was a war."

The room went deathly silent. Jason, Victoria, and Alexandria shared looks of utter shock, their logical minds struggling to process the idea of their friend being some sort of supernatural entity.

However, one person in the room didn't look surprised at all. Old Falcon stood in the corner, his arms crossed over his chest. He simply nodded in silence, his weathered face set in a grim expression of confirmation, as if he had been waiting for this revelation all along.

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