The city once had a name. Skye saw it scorched into a rusted welcome sign as they passed — only "…TERA" remained.
Rael called it Gravepoint now. Everyone did.
It was a shell of stacked concrete and blown-out towers, a carcass picked over by scavvers and worse. But it had something they needed: information.
Rael led them through back alleys and under collapsed walkways, avoiding patrols. His old contacts said someone in Gravepoint had ties to the Broker Chain — someone who might know why they'd targeted Elias Lorne.
They reached a ruin that used to be a subway entrance, now repurposed into a market of sorts. Flickering lanterns lit the way, powered by salvaged tech and desperation.
"Stay close," Rael said. "Don't draw attention."
Skye kept her head down, eyes scanning everything. She noticed what others missed: coded markings, hidden hand signs, guards who didn't act like guards.
Rael stopped at a rust-stained door behind a vendor's stall and knocked in a precise pattern.
The slit opened. A pair of eyes studied him.
"Still breathing, Voss?" a gruff voice asked.
"Barely," Rael said.
The door opened, and they stepped inside.
The room stank of old oil and ozone. At its center sat a massive man with a prosthetic arm made from drone parts — Garek Dune, former smuggler, now the closest thing Gravepoint had to a broker of truth.
Rael didn't waste time. "I need a name. Someone in the Chain. Someone who ordered the hit on Elias Lorne."
Garek leaned back, metal fingers clicking. "I heard about that. Good man. Smart. Too good to die in the dust."
"You know who gave the order?"
"Maybe. But names cost, and you're light on coin."
Rael dropped a metal case onto the table — one of his last reserves. "This enough?"
Garek opened it, brows raised. "Damn, Voss. That's a relic."
"Then talk."
Garek tapped the table. "Word is, someone called Mirex flagged Lorne. She's a Chain handler, runs an intel division out of Deepvault Sector. Real nasty piece of work. But that's not the bad news."
Rael narrowed his eyes. "Go on."
"They're not after the girl just 'cause of Lorne." He pointed to Skye. "They're after what she knows. Something her father gave her. Or something she is."
Skye's hand instinctively touched the device in her coat.
"Whatever it is," Garek continued, "Mirex wants it bad. And if she wants it, the rest of the Chain will burn half the Wastes to get it."
Rael stood. "Then we hit first."
Garek chuckled. "Didn't think you still had fight in you."
"I don't," Rael said. "But I have a promise."
As they left, Skye asked, "Who's Mirex?"
Rael's eyes stayed cold. "She's who ends your story if we don't stop her."