It took a cumulative hour or so to convince Renee of Ben’s plan. It took longer to convince Caroline. Two weeks, to be exact.
In that time, they visited Sangeet twice more, built a better cyborg body for Marvin, and finished building the base body of the mech, including the armor and sabers. The blades weren’t similar to the thin, ultrafast ones Saberstar employed; these could not retract and were much heavier.
In addition, Ben spent two days in the infirmary, as it turned out that a couple of his ribs had been fractured. Still, he called Caroline each day, begging her to let them pursue Ishaan. Naturally, Caroline kept insisting that they were done with the Manhunters and that they would leave the mystery to Bob.
Marvin was a little conflicted himself. In his new body—which responded much faster—he would not have a second Core to save him. If the Manhunters caught them wherever they were meeting Ishaan, they were as good as dead.
Still, Ben seemed confident that the Manhunters wouldn’t bother them there. It was some sort of religious location—one of the few that remained in Megacity 14 after the Roundtable had ordered them to be preserved.
More importantly, Marvin needed to find out who had killed him.
At the end of the two weeks, Caroline finally gave in to Ben’s pleas, but on one condition: she and Renee would join them.
Marvin didn’t know if that was supposed to be a deterrent, but it made him all the more excited. They left after lunch, taking the shuttle into Nagatown and then riding a monorail to the sakura neighborhood. As they soared above the hybrid ancient-Gao and modern architecture, Marvin tried to spot his own neighborhood. He knew which direction to look, but a few skyscrapers blocked his view. That was quite unlucky, considering how sparse skyscrapers were in Nagatown compared to other Sectors. For that reason, the monorail went on for a while till its next stop. Marvin, Caroline, Ben, and Renee got off and took an elevator to the street level.
The sakura neighborhood was named such for obvious reasons. The houses, built in a traditional style with curved roofs and paper walls, were evenly spaced, each separated by a row of light pink cherry blossoms. Patches of petals and tiny ponds covered the stone road.
Marvin had been here once, eight years ago, when Lindon’s colleague had hosted a house party. That colleague definitely wouldn’t recognize Marvin.
Would he know anything about Lindon’s whereabouts, though?
There was always that risk of endangering people close to him, but this man was a tertiary connection at best.
I don’t need to get any answers. Just ask if my uncle’s alright.
Unfortunately, Ben led them in the opposite direction of the colleague’s house. They walked onto a smaller path, this one made of uneven stones whose cracks were filled with pink petals and tiny streams of water. The blossoms dipped down on either side of the path, the occasional branch brushing a head or shoulder. Past that ceiling of flowers, the horizon borders’ misty approximation of a sky looked like an ocean.
Marvin couldn’t help but slow down to admire it all. In front of him, Renee spun happily and swiveled her head like a malfunctioning security camera. Caroline walked stiffly like she was worried something would jump out from the trees. Ben kept his pace steady.
At length, they reached a stone wall with a circular moon gate. A gate that happened to be sealed with cement.
“It’s blocked,” Marvin said.
Renee made a mind blown motion. Marvin looked at her, feeling a little sad.
“Sorry,” Renee said through her voice box.
“They sealed it up years ago,” Ben explained. He pointed to the nearest house on their left. “Renee and I will go inside to keep watch. You guys climb over.”
“You’re just going to break into a house?” Caroline asked.
“It’s abandoned,” Ben said.
“It’s been a year,” Renee pointed out.
“Fine, we’ll knock first,” Ben said.
Renee gave a thumbs up as if Ben had explained what they were going to do after they knocked.
“This is the warning signal, okay?” Ben said. He proceeded to cry out like he’d just slipped in a puddle of water.
Marvin stared at him, dumbfounded. Why not just… whistle? Unfortunately, before he could muster up the energy to voice his worries, Ben and Renee walked away.
Caroline sighed. “They’ll be okay.” She then gestured to the wall and looked expectantly at Marvin.
Marvin helped her climb over, then leapt, catching onto the curved top of the wall. He effortlessly pulled himself up, then swung down onto the other side. Another perk of being a robot.
He and Caroline were in a small clearing enclosed by four stone walls with sealed moon gates. A house rose up just past the right wall, while the house Ben and Renee had gone into stood slightly farther from the left wall. The other two walls gave way to a pink field of flowers. A tree stood in the center of the enclosure, barren and bent, yet sturdy. Dozens of wooden tags hung by red ribbons dangled from its branches.
“What’s this?” Caroline said, looking around worriedly. “We’re trapped.”
Marvin looked at the house to their left. On cue, one of its second-story windows opened and Renee’s head poked out. She made a cheering motion.
“I guess that means it’s safe,” Caroline said, though her eyebrows didn’t unfurrow in the slightest. She walked to the tree and inspected one of the wooden prayers.
Marvin wondered how sacred this place really was. So sacred that the Manhunters weren’t willing to trespass, apparently. The Hosaka Roundtable had sealed it off for a reason, yet if they—two random, non religious people—could be here, who was to say the Manhunters couldn’t?
A light breeze caused the tree’s tags to rattle melodically. Marvin had to admit this place had a certain mysticism about it.
Caroline took out her tablet and called Ben. “Is Ishaan gonna climb the wall, too?” she asked.
“Nah, he’s gonna come in through that window.” Ben pointed to the house behind the right wall. “That’s where the lift takes you. Well, where you’ll end up, anyway.”
Stolen story; please report.
Marvin looked at the small window overlooking the enclosure. It was a very short drop from there to the top of the wall.
“How do you know this?” Marvin asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ben replied.
Marvin looked at Caroline, but she simply shrugged.
“The real question is, why is there a lift that leads directly here?” Caroline asked.
“It goes underground to a sewer,” Ben explained. “There’s a tunnel and a ladder leading into the house.”
Caroline raised an eyebrow. “And are there people living in the house?”
Ben shook his head.
He must’ve visited this place before. What was his prayer? Was his wooden tag still dangling somewhere on the tree?
“What if Ishaan kept going down the sewer?” Marvin asked.
“Everyone who gets on that lift comes here. Trust me.”
Now, there was nothing to do but wait. There were two stone benches lined before each wall, and some boulders that acted as tables. A small wooden shrine shaped like a bird house stood by the left wall, presenting a single pen and a stack of wooden tags in two cartridges.
Marvin stood by the tree as Caroline sat down. He wondered why the house was abandoned. Had the owner bought it on purpose to let people come to the prayer grounds? It was reasonable—although most of Megacity 14’s residents were atheists, everyone regarded the religious sites with a hint of reverence. They were memories of a bygone era.
The horizon borders faded, and the tree began to glow ever so faintly. It wasn’t the tree itself, but the words written on those pieces of wood. The last bits of magic in a city that had left it behind.
They waited still. Eventually, Marvin heard a window scrape open. It came from the house closer to the wall, not the one Ben and Renee were in. He looked up and saw a figure climb out and nimbly drop onto the wall.
There was no doubt this was Ishaan.
When Gammagrade’s pilot was about to drop to the ground, he paused and looked at Marvin standing dumbly by the tree, and Marvin suddenly realized how suspicious he and Caroline seemed. Two random people at the prayer grounds, looking like they’d been waiting for hours.
However, Ishaan simply nodded and hopped off the wall. He carried a brown box in his left hand, which he placed at the foot of the tree.
“A little harder getting out than in, huh?” he said.
Marvin blinked. Caroline stood and walked up beside him.
We’re just two kids, Marvin thought. Of course we look unassuming.
“I don’t know what happened to the ladder,” Ishaan said, gesturing to the house. “It was there last week. Someone must’ve thought they were funny.” He patted his pocket, which made a clinking sound. “Don’t worry, I got grav crystals.”
Marvin exchanged a look with Caroline. It was time to carry out their plan.
“Are you Ishaan?” Caroline blurted out.
Ishaan froze and squinted at her. “Do I know you?”
“You know him,” Caroline said, pointing at Marvin.
Marvin nodded, smiled (even though his face remained a blank metal slate), and introduced himself.
Ishaan threw his arms up in exasperation. His friendly demeanor was gone like it had never been there.
“For the last time,” he said slowly. “I don’t. Know. Anything.”
“I really am Marvin,” Marvin said. “My consciousness was transferred to Saberstar’s Core.”
“Can you please leave? I gotta do something,” Ishaan said, sounding drained. “Following me here, of all places. You should know better.”
“I can prove it,” Marvin insisted. He proceeded to recite his duel with Gammagrade down to the most minute detail.
“Congrats, you know how to record,” Ishaan said. “You look like a big strong cyborg, so why don’t you get you and your buddy over the wall?”
“And then you said afterwards—”
“Look, I’m not going anywhere, so you better get out,” Ishaan said. “Don’t make me ask you again.”
“Afterwards you asked if I had a stealth frame. You thought no normal pilot could beat your foresight cortex.”
The annoyance in Ishaan’s expression slipped ever so slightly. “What?”
“Then you asked how long I’ve been piloting,” Marvin continued. “And then you asked me for a rematch.”
Ishaan cocked his head. “You were his teammate. You tried to spy on us.”
“No,” Marvin said. “But there was someone else in the room. You saw them.”
Under the dim light of the prayer tree, Ishaan’s face went pale. It was eerily reminiscent of how he’d looked right before Marvin was killed.
“At least you’re as stupid as Marvin,” Ishaan muttered. “How do you know I didn’t order the murder?”
Marvin gulped and primed his smoke grenade. “You… you seemed surprised.”
“And how do you know the Manhunters aren’t watching? They’re prime suspects, as far as the evidence goes.”
“They wouldn’t spy on this place,” Caroline said. “That’s sacrilegious.”
Ishaan laughed bitterly. “You’re one to talk.”
“We’re not doing anything wrong,” Caroline put in. “We just want to talk.”
Ishaan scoffed. “That’s the problem. I don’t.”
“I need to know what happened,” Marvin implored. “I need to find my body.”
“And if we have evidence,” Caroline added, her tone implying this was the more important of their two objectives, “we can bring it to another Sector’s police or even the Inspectors and have them take care of the Manhunters.”
Ishaan’s expression darkened. “You better be out of the megacity when you do that.”
Marvin felt a shiver through his joints. “Why?”
“I have a feeling we’re dealing with someone more powerful than the Manhunters.”
More powerful? A larger gang, like Centium, then? Or a corporation like Ainsel AI?
“There was a hacker,” Ishaan continued. “He killed my bodyguard.” He ran a hand along a couple wooden tags on the tree, seeming to drift off for a second. “I don’t think the Manhunters have someone like that.”
He looked back at Marvin. “And for whoever killed you… I’m sorry. I didn’t see anything, really. He was holding some spike or syringe, but that’s it.”
No one spoke for some time. Marvin’s thoughts swirled as a simmering frustration neared its boiling point. If it wasn’t the Manhunters, they’d have to start over. And it didn’t seem like Ishaan knew much at all…
“The Manhunters did take over your gang, though, right?” Caroline asked.
“It’s not officially annexed, but yeah, they’ve got us on a tight leash,” Ishaan replied. “They’re holding Marvin’s murder against us, funny enough.”
“Is there any chance they could’ve killed Marvin?” Caroline asked. “I mean, they had the best reason.”
“They had the most obvious reason,” Ishaan said. “Look, they’re definitely up to something. They got guards coming in and out of our garage, moving truckloads of stuff. All the better if we can sell them out to Hosaka. But killing Marvin… I’m not saying they couldn’t have hired a hacker, I just don’t see why they would.”
Marvin didn’t understand the logic behind that—why would they not get a hacker to make their mission easier? However, he supposed Ishaan knew much more about the gangs than him.
“Look, I don’t have time right now,” Ishaan continued. “The Manhunters expect me back soon and I gotta do something here. Preferably alone.”
Marvin nearly let out a protest. They’d learned nothing!
On the contrary, Caroline took a respectful step back, almost seeming impressed. This information probably seemed like a lot to her, but Marvin felt nothing but frustration. Ishaan had literally seen the killer!
However, what Gammagrade’s pilot said next returned some hope. “Come by next Tuesday or Friday and we can talk.” He looked Marvin in the camera. “Your death was a pain in my ass, you know. People blamed me, said I was a cheater, that I didn’t belong at Mecha Realm… I do want to help you figure this out.”
Marvin didn’t have the capacity to smile, but he appreciated it. At least they’d gained an ally out of this, if nothing else.
“But,” Ishaan said, “for now, Marvin is in the hospital. He’s recovering from a stroke and will probably never be able to pilot again.”
The Sawblade tilted his head, gauging the level of understanding. Marvin and Caroline nodded.