Marvin and Ella almost ran into the clearing before a series of zips made them freeze. Plasma shots. The only legal holders of plasma rifles in the megacity were Hosaka Inspectors, meaning this was either a government raid or the work of the Manhunters, the gang that had stolen Hosaka's weapons.
The gunfire was coming from the far side of the workshop. Marvin and Ella crept closer, peered through the shalewheat stalks, and caught sight of at least ten figures in black carrying rifles. They wore red cybernetic goggles, marking them as Manhunters. They were shooting indiscriminately at the workshop. Every window was shattered and the walls were scorched, and the smoke that billowed from the back of the building muddied the exact number of Manhunters.
A primal fear took hold of Marvin. Those were his teammates in there. His only friends. He didn't care why the Manhunters were attacking or how they'd found them, he just knew he needed to stop them.
He prepared to sprint towards the nearest Manhunter, but they suddenly stopped shooting. At the same, Ella grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the shalewheat. She motioned for them to circle around, get as close to Caroline's shuttle as possible. Marvin followed her but made a note not to let her help in the fighting. She wasn't the one made of metal.
They distanced themselves from the clearing as they weaved through the field, though Marvin kept his cameras on the scene for as long as possible. The assailants were approaching the workshop in a semicircle, converging on the collapsed portion of its wall. Two more stood by the front door, and two stood guard by their shuttle on the far left.
"We just want Ishaan and Caroline!" one of the Manhunters shouted. She was out of view on the other side of the workshop, but her voice was familiar—Veronica, the current leader of the gang. "Give them up and we'll leave the rest of you alone!"
"You're still pissed about your land? Seriously?" Ishaan shouted back from beyond the smoke.
"This isn't about the land. You betrayed us, Ishaan. You and Caroline were most directly responsible for the death of Jacques and Gerard."
There was no reply. Marvin knew Veronica had benefitted the most from Jacques' and Gerard's deaths; she simply wanted the territory Ishaan had rightfully won from her, but of course she wouldn't admit to something so petty.
Veronica hefted her plasma rifle. "I'll give you thirty seconds!"
It was quiet from inside the workshop. Marvin and Ella were almost directly in front of the shuttle, but they'd grown distant. It would take at least three seconds to reach it, and maybe three more to take out the two Manhunters beside it.
"Twenty!"
Marvin started the internal stopwatch in his Core and sped it up slightly. He would run when it got to ten. Ella crouched, preparing to go as well, but Marvin held out his arm. "Just get the shuttle ready," he whispered.
Ella pursed her lips and nodded.
Ten.
"Ten!"
Then Marvin ran.
-----
Ben was turning to Ishaan to ask him how his grandmother was doing when his vision flashed white and his ears exploded. He was suddenly on the ground, completely dazed. A harsh ringing pierced his head and he could barely register that he was in pain. Something lay above him, something lay beside him, something was below him, all cracked and ruined. The smell of smoke gradually filtered into his nose, the texture of singed metal on his fingers. Thin rays of smokey sunlight revealed the hole in the wall.
Suddenly, he was being dragged backwards until his back was up against a table leg. To his right was Caroline, knees tucked to her chest. Renee had been the one to drag him. Ishaan was farther away, coughing silently into his elbow.
Ben's wide eyes darted between his teammates, trying to discern what was going on, but they were just as terrified and disoriented.
Then came the gunfire. Seven streaks of light lit up the room, tearing holes in the smoke. They flew far above Ben, incinerating shelves and the opposite wall and breaking windows.
Ishaan caught the others' gazes and mouthed, "Manhunters."
Ben didn't believe it. The Manhunters had guns, but how could they risk attacking a group of innocent people in broad daylight? This had to be Hosaka. They'd finally caught them for having a consciousness implant.
Ishaan began to scoot towards the door that led to the Bessmer chair. Sabersong couldn't be piloted without Marvin, but they had a backup prototype in the workshop. If he could sync with that…
No, don't sync! Ben wanted to shout. They'd be suicidal to fight against Hosaka.
Ishaan kept moving, slowly getting to his feet. Ben started forward, hoping to stop him.
"We just want Ishaan and Caroline!"
Ben froze. That voice, he'd heard it before. He heard it every time he thought of the Manhunters, of what they did to his best friend that day.
It didn't make sense. He should've been more scared of Hosaka. Hearing Veronica should've made him relieved. Instead, he found that he couldn't move, couldn't even look Ishaan in the eye anymore.
"You're still pissed about your land? Seriously?" Ishaan shouted, still inching towards the piloting room.
Veronica said something. Ben didn't register the words. He was there again in that alley, watching Cam get beat to death, unable to do anything, unable to even move.
I thought we were over this, he thought frantically. What happened to standing up to Gerard?
"I'll give you thirty seconds!"
Ishaan broke into a run. Renee gasped. Caroline cursed and began moving in the opposite direction, towards the prototype to set it up.
They won't have enough time, Ben thought numbly. You have to do something.
But what could he do? If he moved a muscle, he would be killed. Beside him, Renee wrapped her arms around the table leg and squeezed her eyes shut. Ben couldn't even do that much.
"Twenty!"
Just say something! his mind screamed. Buy them time!
But his mouth might as well have been sewn shut. He didn't understand. Had his confrontation with Gerard been in his head? Had Marvin and Caroline simply gotten out of that situation by themselves?
"Ten!"
Ben willed himself to move. He brought one knee up, then the other. Planted his feet on the ground, grabbed the edge of the table, and prepared to pull himself up. He couldn't. As hard as he tried, he simply couldn't stand up.
Why are you like this?
Just then, there came the sound of plasma fire, about seven seconds too early. None of the shots entered the workshop.
Ben let out a breath. Something was happening outside. Had Ishaan synced with the prototype in time? Had the Manhunters found Marvin and Ella?
Whatever it was, it allowed him to snap out of his trance. He exchanged a glance with Caroline, who tilted her head to the front door. The shuttle. Whether it was guarded by Manhunters or not, it was their only way out.
Ben took a hold of Renee's arm, and she opened her eyes. He must have looked just as scared, if not more, but he mustered the courage to nod once. The shuttle. We gotta go.
Renee slowly unwrapped her arms from the table leg and nodded back.
-----
Marvin burst through the field. Sunlight washed over his cameras, distorting the image of the Manhunter he was targeting. It made no difference. Marvin delivered a blow to the man's stomach, halting his fist at the last second so he didn't punch a hole through him. The second Manhunter guarding the shuttle raised her rifle and fired, but the shot was off and singed the grass next to Marvin's feet. He closed the distance in a millisecond, knocked the gun out of her hands, and incapacitated her as well.
Marvin switched to a rearview camera to see Ella emerge from the shalewheat field. She was gone a second later, hidden behind the shuttle.
As he returned to his front cameras, several blue lights flashed by his periphery as plasma rifles fired. He strafed right, dodging all the beams except one, which left a shockingly deep indent in his arm-shield. So that's why these are banned, he thought—a few dozen shots could melt through a mech.
Fortunately, he had the speed advantage. With thrusters at full power, he rammed through two Manhunters and stopped short of a third, clocking him in the face. He backed away from a round of plasma fire, retreating to the front door of the workshop. As he passed by the door, it slid open slightly. He barely caught a glimpse of Caroline's face when a sensor registered a hit on his back. His body tilted left briefly as some spinal supports buckled, but it quickly righted itself.
More Manhunters were coming around from the other side, threatening to surround him and the others. Marvin boosted into the air and divebombed into the center of the Manhunters on his right. As he landed, he swept his leg in a circle, tripping five enemies at once. He knocked out the ones who seemed to be getting up, then dashed back to the front door.
A plasma shot grazed the top of his shoulder, exposing wires. Marvin received the notice as a horrifying red schematic in his vision. He raised his shields and moved closer to the door. Manhunters were on both sides of him now, but were hesitant on getting closer, instead unleashing a barrage of plasma fire. Marvin dodged most of it, but two hits managed to whittle down his left arm-shield.
There was no way to physically fight them now, Marvin decided. He fired two smoke grenades in either direction, creating a walled path to the shuttle, and turned to the door. It was fully open now, but Caroline, Ben, and Renee had not come out.
Marvin met Caroline's gaze and immediately knew that even this situation was too risky. A single stray shot would be lethal. Hell, the Manhunters could simply walk through the smoke at the same time and Marvin wouldn't be able to stop all of them.
So what do we do? He eyed Ben and Renee huddled behind Caroline. All three of them looked scared, but had their eyes set on something beyond Marvin and beyond the shuttle, like they were waiting for something.
Just then, Marvin heard the sound of thundering footsteps. A round of yelling and gunfire followed, which quickly devolved into screams and wet thuds. Then there was silence. A giant silhouette appeared in the smoke: a lanky prototype nearly twice as tall as Marvin, with no armor, no weapons, and only four rocket boosters on its back.
"Ishaan?" Marvin said.
"That side is clear," Ishaan said, jabbing his thumb behind him. "We'll take this side together."
Marvin nodded. As the prototype walked into the clear, he noticed it was heavily singed and missing a hand. They were far from invincible; they had to finish this quickly.
The two of them launched through the smoke. The Manhunters were prepared; three plasma rounds burned Marvin's torso and legs, but he returned the favor with three knockouts in quick succession. On his right, Ishaan swatted one Manhunter against the workshop wall, then grabbed another and threw him into a third. More plasma hit the robots. More Manhunters dropped. Soon, the enemies started to back away, and some stopped firing entirely. It wasn't the fact that Marvin and Ishaan were too durable, because the plasma was doing substantial damage; they simply never broke their stride.
We can't keep this up for long, Marvin thought. We need a new strategy.
Ishaan was of similar mind as he broke into a sprint, circling around the enemies, drawing most of the fire. Marvin kept pushing onwards. They were going to compress the Manhunters to the far side of the workshop, as far from the shuttle as possible. That way, even if they couldn't win, they could allow the others a safe escape.
And sure enough, as Marvin lumbered forwards and slowly withered away, he heard the roar of the shuttle's engines. The hovercraft lifted into the sky, casting a satisfying shadow over the shalewheat field. One Manhunter raised her rifle to try to shoot at it, but that just gave Marvin an opening to knock her out.
Soon, Ishaan's mech came into view again. The prototype was nearly burning up from damage. Between them stood Veronica, twelve other Manhunters, and the giant hole in the workshop wall. They were still for a moment: five Manhunters braced to fire at Marvin, six pointing guns at the prototype, and Veronica looking between them. With how close they were, the Manhunters would only get one shot off each with a low chance of hitting.
If we take Veronica out, the Manhunters will disperse, Marvin thought. We can hold her as ransom.
Ishaan slid one foot forward and tilted his head, signaling that Veronica should surrender.
Instead, she and two other Manhunters spun and sprinted inside the workshop.
For a split second, Marvin was dazed, had no idea what to make of this. Then he realized.
Ishaan's in the Bessmer chair.
Marvin raced after them, ignoring the two plasma rounds that scorched his back. He ran through the hole and into the kitchen, then turned right. The entire workshop flew past his periphery. He shoved through a doorway and spotted the Manhunters at the end of a hall, almost to the door to the piloting room, twenty feet away. Marvin focused all his energy into his thrusters. At the front, Veronica stopped and turned left. Ten feet to impact. She pressed her hand against the door. Five feet to impact. The door slid open.
She won't shoot on sight, Marvin told himself. They'll try to hold Ishaan hostage for—
Veronica raised her rifle and pulled the trigger.
Half of Marvin's brain went blank, too shocked to respond to anything, overloading as it tried to comprehend how someone could be taken away so suddenly.
The other half of his brain had already decided on a course of action. He barreled into the two Manhunters, and they crashed into the walls like ragdolls. Then he spun around and immediately swung at their leader, hard enough to crush her skull.
Except she wasn't there. She was further in the piloting room, as if some force had pulled her inside. Marvin looked past her at the Bessmer chair, expecting to see Ishaan slumped over with a burning hole in his torso. But the chair was empty. The shot had seared a hole in its vacant headrest.
What?
Then Marvin realized that Veronica wasn't moving. In fact, a plasma rifle was pointing at her head; it was the one Caroline had used to kill Gerard, which she must have stored here. And wielding it…
"Let us leave, Veronica," Ishaan said through gritted teeth.
The Manhunter's red cybernetic eyes twitched erratically. She opened her mouth and Marvin thought he saw the word "how" form.
How indeed, Marvin thought in awe.
"Tell your guys to back off and let us leave," Ishaan repeated, calmer. Veronica had no choice but to oblige.
-----
Ishaan explained on the shuttle: Caroline had remotely disconnected him when she saw the Manhunters run into the workshop, and then he had retrieved the rifle and hid behind the door. He hadn't expected Veronica to shoot immediately, but it hardly mattered.
The injuries were minor. Renee had some shrapnel in her arm, most of their ears were bleeding, but everyone was talking and taking care of each other. Caroline was trembling as she apologized again and again, saying how she should've known this would happen. Ishaan sat silently beside her, a quiet rage in his eyes.
"None of us could've seen this coming," Ben assured Caroline. "How'd they even find us?"
"The social events," Caroline muttered. "We advertise our location."
"This still isn't your fault," Ishaan said. "They've gone too far. I'll deal with them."
"Ishaan—" Caroline began.
"I won't have them going after you for something I did. I'm going to bring this to Hosaka."
No one argued with that. For the meantime, Renee said they could stay at her aunt and uncle's apartment in Sector 8. It was a high-end place that Marvin had visited the first time he'd met her. Very few people could connect Renee to her relatives, and Sector 8 famously housed no gangs.
That marked an end to the talking. As they huddled in the cockpit of Caroline's shuttle, Marvin felt a warmth rise in his chest. With no more workshop, no more Sabersong, and the Ainsel investigation still ahead of them, their lives seemed to be slowly spiraling out of control, yet he didn't want to be with any other group of people.