The venue was a converted event hall in the city center that Ganner Corp hired every year and dressed up with enough money to make the room forget it was rented.
James drove his mother and Nyra to the venue in his car, arriving while the press crowd outside was still building along the velvet barriers. Nyra pressed her face against the passenger window the whole way there while his mother sat in the back with her hands folded in her lap and said nothing.
Press stood outside the main entrance behind velvet barriers while cameras turned toward every arriving car. Security was posted at the doors in dark suits with earpieces and the kind of posture that said former military more than hired contractor. Challengers, guild executives, weapons buyers, and well-dressed investors moved through the entrance in clusters.
