Mecha Realm

“Social events?!” Marvin repeated, aghast. Renee threw her arms up as if she were dismayed on his behalf.

“Yes,” Caroline said with a grin. “We’ll send out an ad and invite every team in the megacity. It’s a perfect way to make connections and to boost the spirit of mech-fighting.”

Marvin, Caroline, Renee, and Ben were sitting around the dining table, eating breakfast. Caroline was explaining what she had been doing the past few days she’d been away.

“And… you’re organizing them?” Marvin did not mean to offend, but Caroline was hardly a staple in the mech-fighting scene.

“Yup. Well, we’re kind of banking on Sienna. Ben and I called her the other day and she agreed to help us host the events. We’re gonna offer pilots to spar with her.”

That would certainly attract a decent number of teams. Strange to think that this was all because of a chance meeting with Bob.

“We’re also using Rustica’s training arena—it’s about thirty minutes away,” Caroline continued. “Now that I think about it, we’re pretty much leeching off of Bob and Sienna.”

“That’s how the world works,” Ben slipped in. Renee gave an enthusiastic thumbs up in agreement.

“You think this’ll gain traction?” Marvin asked. Some teams hosted private parties, but never had anything been attempted on this scale. He feared the turnout would be lower than expected.

“I think people will come around to it,” Caroline replied. “They’ll see how beneficial it could be.”

“How is it beneficial?” Marvin asked. To him, nothing could be worth talking to strangers for hours on end.

“Think about it. You get a chance to know your opponents on a much deeper level. You could figure out how to beat them without ever fighting them.”

Renee pointed to Caroline as if saying, See? Isn’t that a good point?

Perhaps it was true, but Marvin had found that a duel was the only way to fully understand your opponent. A duel brought out the best and worst of every pilot.

“Anyways, enough about that,” Caroline said. “What about Ishaan? What’s your guys’ plan?”

Ben slammed a hand on the table, causing at least one wire in Marvin’s body to short circuit.

“About time!” He announced it like he was going to explain a grand plan, but then he said, “We’re gonna wait at the boba shop till midnight, then follow him to wherever he goes. It’ll be a piece of cake—Sangeet said no Manhunters are watching him.”

Renee scowled at the mention of the scavenger’s name.

“Oh, he’s trustworthy,” Ben said. “And he knows Marvin can beat his ass if he lies to us.”

“Are you straight up threatening this guy?” Caroline asked in amusement.

“Nah, we’re just encouraging him.”

Marvin felt a little embarrassed; disarming Sangeet had been a fluke more than anything. In truth, they were in no position to make threats.

Renee scowled again and poked Caroline in the shoulder.

Caroline nodded. “We should always take his word with a grain of salt.”

They were actually supposed to meet with the scavenger later today, and he would give them whatever parts they asked for. The odds of it being a trap were low, but Caroline had provided Marvin with another smoke grenade.

“About Ishaan,” Caroline said, turning to Marvin. “Do you think it’s safe to tell him about you?”

“I think we’ll have to,” Marvin replied. He didn’t know how else Gammagrade’s pilot was going to be willing to tell them anything.

“Unless we hold a daggerblade to his neck,” Caroline said.

Ben winced uncharacteristically. “Let’s not.”

Caroline’s eyes fell. “Sorry.”

Marvin glanced between them as the air suddenly turned awkward. More secrets. Just what he needed.

“Let’s just… think about this some more,” Caroline said.

Marvin nodded.

Renee clapped her hands to conclude their talk. They (excluding Marvin) finished up breakfast and went to do their own things for a bit. Caroline and Ben discussed a fight schedule for the season. Renee worked on her code. Marvin went outside to practice.

After two hours, Renee left to go to her job at a supermarket. She was part of the marketing team, one of the few departments that was not fully automated. Caroline went to build some mech armor, and Ben lounged on the couch, scrolling through his tablet.

Soon, the remaining three had lunch, then boarded the shuttle to visit Sangeet. Ben and the scavenger had exchanged NIDs the previous night, and Ben had messaged him to meet them at the noodle shop. Indeed, when Marvin and the others arrived, Sangeet was sitting in his usual spot. Everyone exchanged greetings and he led them to the underground storage.

The whole experience was surprisingly chill. Sangeet was friendly to them—at least as friendly as his odd, raspy voice could sound. He still refused to remove his mask.

Caroline, Marvin, and Ben carefully inspected each of the shelves. They had to choose wisely, as the hovercart they’d brought could only carry so much. Sangeet sat by a small desk in the corner of the room, illuminated by a single, small window above it. He was drawing something on his tablet. There was an air about him that seemed to repel all social encounters.

After half an hour or so, Ben got bored and went to talk with Sangeet.

Of course he can do it, Marvin thought. He listened to their conversation as he scoured the shelves.

“So, my friend,” Ben announced. “How’d you come to be in such a place?”

“What?” Sangeet squeaked.

“How did you find this place?”

“Many sections of these apartments are abandoned,” Sangeet explained. “I think this used to be a laundromat that got emptied out.”

“Huh. And you moved in… when?”

“Last week.”

Ben paused. “You got all this stuff in a week?”

“It… well… it wasn’t very difficult.”

Ben scoffed. “You got other scav friends, don’t you? Where are they?”

“Oh no,” Sangeet said. “I’m alone here. I ran away from my brood.”

Another pause. “You’re serious?”

Sangeet didn’t reply, and Marvin imagined he nodded.

In the end, they remained at the storage for four hours. It felt like four minutes to Marvin, but he pitied Sangeet having to bear with Ben for that long.

When they were about to leave, Caroline held out her tablet and asked Sangeet, “How much does this cost?”

Sangeet tilted his head, and Ben started forward.

“It’s free for the first week,” Ben protested.

Caroline rolled her eyes. “We’re not gonna steal from him.”

“He stole this stuff in the first place!”

“It’s what scavengers do.” Caroline turned back to Sangeet. “Name a price. Um, a reasonable one, preferably.”

Sangeet’s eyes darted from Caroline to Ben. Ben sighed in exasperation and motioned for them to continue.

Thus, Caroline paid 200 dollars for a helmet, four rocket boosters, three neurobricks, and a carbon fiber spine, which was the definition of a steal. When they walked back to the shuttle garage with their hovercart in tow, Caroline nudged Ben.

“We can’t get on his bad side,” she said. “If he decides he doesn’t like us, what’s stopping him from trapping us in there and poisoning us or something?”

Ben frowned. “I don’t think he’d do that.”

“We have no idea what he’s like.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s younger than us.”

“So?”

Marvin had never heard that word spoken in such a tone. Caroline sounded strangely sympathetic.

Kids can be quite cruel, Marvin thought. He thought of the bullies in his middle school. They’d never targeted him, as people knew he took martial arts lessons, but the things they did to other kids were borderline evil.

Memories seemed to fly by Ben’s eyes. Something must have struck a chord, as he did not reply.

-----

Caroline slid the helmet onto Marvin’s head and felt a rush of self satisfaction. She’d managed to mold it perfectly. She inspected it for a moment, noting spots that weren’t fully protected, places that could hinder his sight. Then, she set the helmet aside.

At this point, Marvin’s face was no longer deformed, but still lacked most human features. It was just a curved sheet of metal with two black, beady eyes.

Caroline checked the clock. Two hours till they had to leave to totally not stalk Ishaan. She figured she should wake him up soon.

Someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around to see a tablet displaying a message.

Do you want to test out the neurobrick? Renee had written. I synced it with my laptop.

Caroline nodded. As she was the only team member with any piloting experience, she had to act as a decoy pilot. Consciousness implants like Marvin were strictly prohibited; someone needed to sit in the Bessmer chair, crush a neurobrick, and be extracted by the ref at the end of every fight. The plan was to sync Caroline to a random object to give the illusion she was piloting.

She and Renee proceeded to the back of the workshop, to a small room that contained a single Bessmer chair and dozens of wires. The chair had been there when Caroline first found the workshop. It was an old model, evidenced by the thick wires that strung it to the walls and ceiling, but it worked just fine.

“Renee,” Caroline said before she sat down. “Can you help me with something?”

Renee nodded enthusiastically.

“As you know, we went to the scavenger’s storage today,” Caroline said. “And there was this hatch on the ground. Below Sangeet’s desk.” Caroline pursed her lips. “He’s hiding something.”

Renee furrowed her brow. She typed, I’m not sure if we should poke around or invade his privacy.

“Something’s off about him,” Caroline insisted. “You should’ve seen his place—it was like he’d been living there for years. But apparently he only came into Nagatown a week ago.”

Maybe scavengers pass it down to one another, Renee suggested.

“He’s a runaway.”

Then he just found an old storage and made it his home.

Perhaps. Caroline would’ve liked to believe that, but being cautious was the foundation of her life. Besides, she already knew how to deal with Renee’s skepticism.

“I’m gonna ask him about it next time,” Caroline concluded. “If he looks like he’s lying, then I’ll need your help.”

Renee raised her eyebrows.

“I’m gonna try to distract Sangeet,” Caroline said. “You sneak in and open the hatch and take pictures of whatever’s inside.”

Instead of being surprised or mortified at the idea, Renee’s eyes sparkled with excitement. As expected, she hungered for that sense of adventure.

Still, she made an attempt to be cautious as she wrote, Is this necessary?

“I feel like he has leverage over us somehow,” Caroline said. “I want us to have business on even grounds.”

Renee gave her a smile that seemed to say, That’s enough for me.

Caroline smiled back. She didn’t want Renee to go back to her old habits, of course, but sometimes they proved useful.

I’ve delayed long enough. Caroline sat down on the Bessmer chair, resting her limbs in shallow divots, and lowered the piloting helmet onto her head. The visor showed a black screen. Renee placed a neurobrick in her hand.

Caroline idly fidgeted with the small, squishy block. She wasn’t quite sure how it worked, but the Bessmer chair somehow recognized it as part of your body. Crushing it evoked the strongest response from the chair, allowing for the best sync.

If all went according to plan, she would lose all feeling of her limbs and start seeing through the webcam of Renee’s laptop. She’d get a view of the back right corner of the workshop that contained the dining table and couches.

“Am I good to go?” she asked.

Renee patted her twice on the shoulder.

Caroline squeezed the neurobrick, and her surroundings burst to life.