Tony's bid caused a momentary pause in the otherwise fierce bidding, and no matter how much the auctioneer tried to restart the fierce bidding war, In the end he had to sell it to Tony for $10 billion.
To some that might be considered as a good price, $10 billion is an enormous amount of money. furthermore, for something that might only be an advanced AI, after all, it was supposedly an impossibility and advanced AI on ancient equipment.
Of course, Alex knew that it was an incredibly advanced AI that had the ability to evolve further into some kind of superintelligence straight out of a sci-fi movie.
While it was only 2009 and would be a decade more before AI truly became a thing that would be pushed at least in the old universe he was also well aware the price of developing an AI was far far beyond a mere 10 billion.
Even more so to do that, in 2009, this object was worth much, much more than a mere 10 billion. Undoubtedly, the auctioneer knew this, too, as he looked pained to sell it at that price. The second item tonight had been sold at far too low a price.
Thankfully, there was still the final item of tonight, one that would surely offset the loss, so valuable was this object. In fact, that a special rule was activated just for it since the price would surely reach that level, and raising enough capital to actually afford it would take even this crowd some time.
"And sold to Mr. Tony Stark for the price of $10 billion. Congratulations, Mr Stark."
Alex could see Tony's smug face as someone who had corrected his own AI. He surely knew that if, by some unknown miracle, there was actually an A I on this equipment, he would have made a great bargain.
'Enjoy it while you can, Tony. Because I am going to send a few men to pick it up at your place soon enough.' Alex thought in her head as she watched Tony's smug smile.
There was no way she was going to allow the person who created Ultron and almost destroyed all life on earth with a rogue AI to come into possession of SCP-079. She merely decided that
fighting with him over it would be pointless, and she could just pick it up after all. She knew very well where he would take it, so there was no need to be afraid of suddenly losing it in some unknown secret lab they would have to look for.
"My ladies and gentlemen, it is time for tonight's final item, the grand finale. This item is precious beyond precious. Therefore, there would be a special rule for tonight for those bidding on this item, a deposit, which needs to be paid by the winner of half a percent of the winning bid. The winner will then have a month to raise the rest of the capital and pay the winning bid full. Should they fail, they will lose the deposit and, naturally, will not get the object."
The auctioneer started by explaining the rules for this particular item to Alex, stark, and everyone else also straightened after all the last few items had gone for astonishing amounts, the last one reaching a full 10 billion, so if that wasn't worthy of such a rule, then surely this object must be extraordinary.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you auction item 427, the Lovecraftian Locket!" He said with great fanfare, and his assistant brought in a pillow upon which he lay a beautiful silver Locket.
Though perhaps the beauty was in the eye of the beholder, given its distinctly Lovecraftian style. Though for as pretty and interesting as it might be as an art project, they all knew that there had to be something special about it as it would surely not be the final item of tonight.
Only Alexandra knew what this object was, other than the auctioneer and perhaps other staff members. So, while they might call it an auction item, she knew it as SCP object-427.
It is an incredibly valuable object, and it could be incredibly dangerous as it could create an army of monsters or super soldiers.
"For this item, I will not be asking any of you to volunteer to display its impassable properties; instead, we have volunteers prepared already, but I assure you should any of you actually desire to test it yourself, you will be allowed. Just know that we will not be taking responsibility."
With that, he started his demonstration. Men and women were brought in off-stage, and the first one stepped up. In one hand, he had a knife and the other an apple.
"Actually, I can see this man has a knife. The apple is a perfectly normal apple, and so is the knife. If anyone wishes to contest this and test either the apple or the knife, you are welcome to come up and do so."
No one volunteered, so the man simply cut the apple. "As you can see, I did not lie about a normal apple; I did normalize it. Does anyone want to test this now?"
Once more, none were interested in testing this claim. Everyone just wanted to see where he was going with it and what the point of all this was. They wanted to know about this object for sale, not about a knife and an apple.
Though they would soon learn exactly what the point was.
"We've now demonstrated that this knife is real, Jeffrey. Please stab yourself in your hand." The auctioneers set much to the shock and surprise of the crowd, though even greater with surprise as the man identified as Geoffrey simply stabbed the knife entirely through his hand, causing blood to spill, yet he made barely a grunt of pain.
"Once more, I believe we have demonstrated that it is a real knife and, at Jeffery's hand, a normal hand. Now, to not cause Jeffrey more undue suffering, I believe it is time to allow the object to show its property. Jeffrey and Anna, please demonstrate the object. Please take it away, you two."
With that, the man named Jeffrey removed the knife from his hand once more, leaving behind a nasty bleeding wound. At the same time, the beautiful assistant walked up, took the Locket, and walked with it to Jeffrey, who held out his hand and then the assistant opened the Locket and everyone would see a red light spilling out onto the hand and thanks to cameras capturing it close up and displaying it on the screen behind them everyone could watch in amazement as under the red light admitted from within the locket the wound started healing.
Everyone just watched in shock and awe. I said the nasty cut healed itself closed and completely disappeared, leaving not even a scar behind in moments. Everyone was wide-eyed and in disbelief at what they had just seen.
"Yes folks, the abilities after the crafty unlocked it can heal the wounds of those exposed, and it's light it can cure any disease of those based in the light and exposure to the light for long enough with grand one strength power speed and enhancement not unlike one such as the one that gave Captain America his superpowers yes ladies and gentlemen merely by being bathed in the light of this object can a normal man or woman become a super soldier."
His words naturally caused a great disturbance throughout the room. Just the ability to heal wounds and cure diseases was incredible, not just in itself but surely for humanity. Anyone who possessed designs could make a near infinite amount of money or just use it for themselves and have to fear no illness.
After all, it had been demonstrated time and time again that things that are cancer did not care about wealth and success. It would take you as it would the poor.
For someone like Norman Osborn, this object naturally meant salvation for himself and his son. Many others thought similarly to himself, and they wanted to own this item or at least have it in the hands of someone who would let them use it if needed.
Yet that was merely the beginning of this miraculous, impossible object. Could the ability to grant someone super-soldier power be true?
These people were well connected and knew that governments around the world were still working and trying to replicate the super-soldier serum last seen 70 years ago. Military and other research institutes were pumping billions of dollars into the attempt.
Many of them themselves had made large investments into promising projects here and there, and while most ended in failure, they did not think it was a total waste because if it succeeded, it would have changed everything.
There was no doubt that for most people worldwide, the dream of a super soldier serum to perfect the human genome and elevate the weak and sickly to peak human, or even above that, was the ultimate dream.
So to hear that this Locket could cause the same effect was beyond shocking, and it instantly made this object, if true, to the most valuable item in the entire world.
"What is inside of it?!" Someone from the crowd asked, and everyone else quickly nodded, not at the head, wanting to know what was emitting in that light and what substance within caused this to happen.
"I will allow you to come up and see for yourself, but I will not turn the opened lock towards you as I risk a potential downside to the subject that you need to be made aware of before we begin the bidding." The auctioneer calmly explained how to get the room back under control.
"For a while, it can heal wounds and cure diseases, and grant super soldier-like abilities. Too long of exposure to the powers of his object will call us a rapid mutation. This object is not called the Lovecraftian locket merely because of its appearance but because of what happens if you are exposed to its power for too long."
He paused for a moment, and as he did, he raised his hand. On the screen behind them, a monstrous creature appeared, though thankfully, it was just a picture of some monstrous creature with enough room for some kind of cell.
"This Lovecraftian horror, the monster up in the picture, is someone that we purposely exposed to the light too long to test the limits of the object so we could sell it to you safely. This is what happens: You become a mindless beast that seeks to do nothing but kill and destroy."
His words caused silence to spread across the room as everyone looked up at the picture and down at the Locket, feeling rightfully so afraid. Though there were natural ones among them who also felt excitement, the ability to create an army of monsters if that could be controlled, those multiples somehow became controllable, the possibilities that passed through their minds.
Well, such is expected of the Marvel Universe, where everything from billionaires to successful scientists would suddenly one day become a supervillain and rob banks in New York.
What came next was a round of questions from the crowd and further demonstrations of people mutilating themselves and then getting healed by the lockets's mysterious abilities and around of a few of the braver people going up, including Norman Osborn on looking into it bathing for a short moment in the light of the object before returning back to their seats.
And he was first when everyone was done, and everyone knew just how valuable this object truly was that the auctioneer finally decided to announce what everyone was eagerly awaiting.
"I know, ladies and gentlemen, it is time to begin tonight's final auction. That starting bid is $10 billion!"
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