The Roundtable would be packed today. James Kobayashi's father had called a closed meeting upon the dissolution of the Manhunters. James stood outside the meeting room, scanning each member of the Roundtable as they walked in. It wasn't necessary as they'd all passed through intensive security already, but James had to be there to make himself known. Remind them that he was next in line when his father stepped down.
At a certain point, the stream of people died away. James counted 48 members. His father and Saeyung Park were the only ones absent. Inside the room, the Chairs stood in their small cliques and chatted obnoxiously.
The Roundtable's meeting room was a giant cylinder built into a large clearing in Hosaka Tower. All around was empty space for dozens of meters, then the security checkpoint, then the shuttle parking lot.
James' mind wandered to his own investigation. The Manhunters were done for, but they had not been the ones to sabotage Marvin Yao. James' unorthodox methods of interrogation had proved that. The killer was still at large, and worse yet, civilians like Sienna Lee's fiance were fancying themselves detectives.
It didn't feel good, pretending to help Sienna find Bob when Hosaka's cybersecurity division had chased him out of the city, but conspiracies needed to be kept in check. Mech-fighting needed to remain pure.
A figure approached from the security checkpoint, three steps per stride as his golden cane clacked against the floor. Hisen Kobayashi, James' father. The wealthiest man in Megacity 14, head overseer of the mech-fighting sport, and most senior member of the Hosaka Roundtable.
James nodded respectfully as the old man walked by. He really was crippling by the day. Although his gold suit and cane were as brilliant as ever, his hunched back was struggling to support all that pedigree. His hair was nearly gone, and his eyes were fading. Only excessive cosmetics kept his face looking healthy.
Usually, Hisen would've walked by James without a word. However, this time, he stopped short of the room's door and turned to his son.
"This investigation you are acting out for Sienna Lee," Hisen said. His voice, though gravelly, was still as powerful as ever; it was the one thing he would carry to his deathbed. "I want you to drop it. Tell Sienna he's dead."
James tilted his head. "Why?"
"It's been a week," Hisen said. "The odds of him being dead are reasonably high."
"Won't hurt to keep it open," James said. It would be easier on Sienna.
"Yes, it will," Hisen said. "Sienna needs closure. She can't be waking up every day in uncertainty, having this preoccupying her mind."
James frowned, and at that moment he noticed another figure pass through security. A woman wearing a dark blue suit and tinted glasses. Saeyung Park, CEO of Ainsel AI.
"James," Hisen said, regaining his attention. "Sparrow is one of the megacity's greatest treasures. We need its pilot back before the season starts. Do you understand?"
James felt slight distaste at the implications of this act. Hisen was right in that Sienna drew people to the sport and created revenue, but would believing Bob was dead help her with that?
"Are you sure this is the best way?" James said.
"It's human nature to be motivated by loss. Sienna will have to accept it, and she'll come out stronger."
James bit his tongue and nodded. "I'll do it." Just like that, the bitterness disappeared. Orders were orders, and it was for the good of the megacity.
Right on cue, Saeyung reached them. She said a curt hello to James, then moved her cold gaze onto his father.
"Shall we begin?" she said.
Hisen nodded and made an after you gesture. Saeyung stalked through the door. Hisen gave James one last look, then followed.
James could've left then, but he looked over his shoulder to observe the meeting room. The moment Saeyung and Hisen entered, the other Chairs fell silent and dispersed to their seats. James would've liked to believe that his father alone had that effect, but half the Chairs' eyes were on Saeyung.
She's a problem, James thought. In the beginning, she'd been just another representative, but as Ainsel AI had grown, so had her influence. Plus, there was a frightening air about her that James couldn't place. He already thought himself to be emotionally distant, but this woman was something else.
He turned around and shut the door, giving the Roundtable their privacy. It was time to pay Sienna a visit.
-----
It was 3 AM by the time Marvin, Caroline, Ella, Ben, and Renee got back to the farm workshop. Ella soon left on her own shuttle, wishing the others the best of luck and swearing to secrecy on Bob.
"I actually like her," Ben said.
Easy for you to say when she's not insulting you every minute, Marvin thought. Though he supposed that Ella wasn't half bad for helping them, even if it was two days late.
Despite the hour, none of them were tired. They loitered around the workshop for a bit, each of them doing their own thing, and Marvin decided to go outside to train. However, he was intercepted by Caroline at the front door. She was holding what looked to be a rolled-up black carpet.
"Can you help me with this?" Caroline asked, pointing to the roll.
"What is it?" Marvin asked.
"Campfire base," Caroline said. "Just unroll it out there and light one of the edges with this." She handed Marvin a lighter.
"Okay," Marvin said.
He went to the clearing and unfolded the mattress, which had a pyramid in its center. He flicked on the lighter and ran the flame along one edge of the base. The fire crawled towards the pyramid and bloomed outwards in a blaze of light. Marvin smiled as the flames brushed against his metal hull. Up close, without the heat and smoke to drive him away, the fire was beautiful.
Caroline came out of the workshop a second later carrying wooden skewers and a can of frozen shrimp.
"Isn't it usually marshmallows?" Marvin asked.
"We don't have marshmallows," Caroline replied.
The fire dwindled to the size of a small beach ball, and Caroline called Ben and Renee outside. They gathered around the red and orange glow, intrigued, listening to the soft cackle of the fire and the rustling of shalewheat stalks.
"What's this for?" Ben asked.
"I dunno," Caroline said.
"Huh?" Ben said.
"Okay, I do know." Caroline shuffled awkwardly before clearing her throat. "I figured since we went through a lot recently, we should take some time to wind down. Maybe talk about stuff."
"We've been talking about stuff for the past seven hours," Ben said.
"No, I mean…" Caroline scratched the back of her neck. "Do we still wanna do this?" She pointed at Marvin.
Do we still want to solve my murder?
"If we're dealing with someone more powerful than the Manhunters, things might get a lot worse. These past few days will be nothing," Caroline said. "And, I mean, Hosaka is already on the case."
"We could call it here," Ben said quietly.
Call it. Stop the investigation.
Marvin could leave all this behind him. Find Lindon, Theo, and Sina again and stay under the radar. The Hosaka Roundtable would eventually find who killed him, or maybe they wouldn't, but at that point no one would remember his brief stint as a pilot.
This can't be it. Marvin's body was still in the megacity. His humanity. He didn't have a few years to let Hosaka do their job. Living with his old family as a robot would never feel the same.
"However," Caroline continued. "This might just be me, but… I don't trust Hosaka. Not completely."
Marvin felt a rush of affirmation. That's right—what does the government know about my situation? They don't care about how I feel. They just want to keep up their image.
"Why don't we work with Hosaka?" Ben asked. "We have Marvin. We have some evidence."
"When Hosaka found out Bob was trying to help them, they exiled him," Caroline pointed out. "They're gonna keep us quiet till they're done."
You know a lot about Hosaka, don't you? Marvin thought. But he couldn't deny the logic.
And so presented the other option. They would leave Lindon, Theo, and Sina out of this. They'd continue with this mech-fighting season, making their way to Mecha Realm and uncovering clues along the way. Legionnaire and Hallowshard were still major suspects.
"Would you still pilot for us, Marvin?" Caroline asked. "Even if we stop the investigation? Just for this year."
Marvin thought back to the fight with Gammagrade. He'd never stop himself from feeling exhilaration from mech-fighting, but he never wanted to fight for anything other than Mecha Realm ever again. That thrill mixed with self-loathing was too much to bear.
But would Marvin risk his life just to pursue something he loved, even when he got nothing in return? Was it worth it?
It shouldn't be. No sane person would say it was.
Unfortunately, Marvin wasn't a person.
"I think so," Marvin said. "But I still wanna find my body. We don't have to find out who killed me, but I want to be human again."
"Deal's still on, then." Caroline looked at Ben and Renee. "What do you guys think?"
"I'm in," Ben said. Renee raised her hand in agreement. They still needed to make Mecha Realm to pay off their debt to Centium, and Marvin was their best hope.
Caroline smiled and turned to Marvin. "Let's see this through."