The Marrow Market was loud, smelling of ozone, fried fungus, and desperation. It was located inside a hollowed-out spinal vertebrae of the Titan, a white, circular tunnel filled with stalls and flickering neon signs.
Thalos walked through the crowd, his hood up. He felt different.
Before, the crowd pushed him around. Now, with Strength: 6 and Agility: 12, he flowed through the mass of bodies like water. When someone bumped into him, it was like hitting a statue; they bounced off, while he didn't even break stride.
Ria walked beside him, carrying the blood-soaked sack. She was practically vibrating.
"Do you have any idea what this is worth?" she whispered, clutching the bag. "Two pristine Stalker claws. An intact adrenal gland. Thalos, we're rich."
"You're rich," Thalos corrected, his voice low. "I just need the medicine."
They stopped at Gort's Prosthetics & Parts, a stall run by a cyborg with one red mechanical eye.
Gort looked at the contents of the bag. He whistled. "Fresh kill. Still warm. Where did a gutter-rat like you find a Stalker?"
"Found it dead," Ria lied smoothly. "Fell down a shaft."
Gort didn't believe her, but he didn't care. He counted out a stack of plastic credit chips. "400 for the claws. 150 for the hide. 550 total."
Ria took the chips, her eyes gleaming. She counted out Thalos's share—330 credits—and handed them over.
Thalos stared at the chips in his hand.
Yesterday, he had been broke, starving, and dying. Today, he held three months' worth of wages.
"Pleasure doing business," Ria grinned, pocketing her share. "I'm going to buy real food. Not the algae paste."
"Go ahead," Thalos said. "I have another stop."
He turned toward the Apothecary.
But the path was blocked.
A commotion had broken out near the medicine stall. A group of three men, wearing matching leather jackets with a red "V" on the back, were surrounding an old shopkeeper.
[Target Identified] Faction: The Vermilion Gang (Low-Level Thugs) Leader: Vex Threat: Low.
"I told you, old man," the leader, Vex, sneered. He was a skinny man with a cybernetic jaw. He held a heavy iron pipe in his hand. "The protection fee went up. 50 credits a week."
"I don't have it!" the apothecary pleaded. "Business is slow!"
"Then maybe we speed it up by breaking your legs," Vex laughed, raising the pipe.
The crowd watched in silence. Nobody moved. In the Ribs, you didn't interfere with the gangs.
Thalos watched.
A week ago, he would have looked down and walked away. He was too weak to be a hero.
But today, he remembered Captain Vane stepping on the crystal. He remembered the feeling of being helpless.
Thalos stepped forward.
"You're blocking the line," he said. His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the noise like a knife.
Vex froze. He turned slowly, looking Thalos up and down. He saw the ragged mining suit, the dirt, the cheap hood.
"And who are you?" Vex scoffed, tapping the pipe against his palm. "A hero? Get lost, digger, before I crack your skull."
Thalos didn't move. "I'm a paying customer. And you're too loud."
Vex's face went red. He wasn't used to being talked back to by miners. "Right. That's it."
Vex swung the iron pipe.
It was a clumsy, slow attack. To Thalos, with his Agility: 12, it looked like it was moving underwater.
Thalos didn't dodge. He just raised his hand.
THWACK.
The iron pipe slammed into Thalos's palm.
The crowd gasped. They expected to hear the sound of breaking bones.
Instead, there was a dull thud. Thalos's hand hadn't moved an inch. His [Minor Chitin Plating] and dense bones absorbed the impact effortlessly.
Vex blinked, stunned. He tried to pull the pipe back, but Thalos's fingers had closed around it.
"Let go!" Vex shouted, pulling with both hands.
Thalos looked him in the eye. "You have weak bones."
Thalos squeezed.
[Trait Active: Iron Grip]
CREAAAK.
The solid iron pipe began to groan. Under the pressure of Thalos's mutated grip, the metal dented, then folded, then flattened completely in the middle.
Thalos twisted his wrist and ripped the pipe out of Vex's hands. He tossed the ruined scrap metal onto the ground.
Clang.
Silence descended on the market. A miner in the back dropped his crate. Gort, the prosthetic merchant, leaned over his counter, his mechanical eye whirring as he zoomed in on the flattened steel.
That wasn't just strength. That was hydraulic pressure.
Vex looked at his weapon, then at Thalos. The color drained from his face. To crush iron with one hand... that wasn't human strength. That was monster strength.
"I... I..." Vex stammered.
"Leave," Thalos said calmly.
Vex didn't need to be told twice. He and his goons scrambled backward, tripping over themselves as they ran into the crowd.
Thalos didn't watch them go. He turned to the stunned apothecary.
He placed his credit chips on the counter.
"Stone-Sickness Serum," Thalos said gently. "One vial. Please."
The old man's hands were shaking as he took the money. He reached under the counter and produced a small glass vial filled with glowing blue liquid.
"Here," the old man whispered. "Take two. On the house. Thank you."
Thalos took the vials. He felt a lump in his throat.
"Thank you," he said.
He turned and walked away. He saw Ria standing in the crowd, watching him. Her mouth was slightly open. She looked at the crushed pipe on the ground, then back at him.
She didn't say anything. She just nodded—a sign of respect.
Thalos pulled his hood tighter and headed for the residential district.
Ten minutes later, Thalos opened the door to his tiny, rusted hab-unit.
The air inside smelled of sickness.
Elara lay on the cot, wrapped in thin blankets. Her skin was pale, turning grey at the edges. Her breathing was a shallow, rattling wheeze.
"Thalos?" she whispered, her eyes fluttering open. "You're late."
Thalos knelt by the bed. He looked like a nightmare—covered in dried blood, dirt, and sweat. But his hands were gentle as he uncorked the blue vial.
"I had to work overtime," Thalos smiled softly. "But I got it. I got the good stuff."
He lifted her head and helped her drink.
Elara swallowed the serum. A moment later, a soft blue light flushed through her cheeks. Her breathing deepened. The rattling stopped.
She sighed, the pain fading from her eyes. "It tastes like blueberries."
"Does it?" Thalos stroked her hair. "Get some sleep, El."
"You too," she murmured, drifting off. "You look tired, big brother."
Thalos sat there in the dark, watching her chest rise and fall steadily for the first time in months.
He gripped the empty vial in his hand until it cracked.
He had saved her. For now. But the serum was just a treatment, not a cure. To cure her, he needed something stronger. He needed to get her to the Spine.
And to do that, he needed more power.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Corroded ID Chip he had found in the Stalker's stomach.
He turned it over in the dim light.
[Sector 1 Researcher - Access Level: Red]
"Time to see what you unlock," he whispered.