For fifteen minutes, all Marvin saw was the green expanse in front of him and the colossal wall of the megacity. Then a smaller shape took form: an eight-legged machine the size of a skyscraper, armed to the teeth with cannons and blades.
Closer yet, and Marvin made out six lasers, six larger cannons, and four drill-arms. In addition, each leg of the scavenger's machine was covered in spinning saw blades, meant for clearing rubble but in this case acting as impenetrable defense.
Marvin swerved right, and the spider moved in tandem. It fired four shots and four giant shells fell around Marvin, bursting into flames as they hit the ground. It was antique weaponry but terrifying nonetheless.
Why are you doing this? Marvin wondered again as he weaved through a second bombardment. If Sangeet is telling the truth, why am I helping Luyan?
But at that moment, he hadn't been thinking of Luyan at all. He'd only wanted to help Ella, and he understood why she was doing this.
The plan now was to weaken the Spider so Immortal Ignition could take it out as quickly as possible. A lot easier said than done. The sensible thing—going for the legs—was not viable because of those saws, but the machine's body was large enough to provide several open spots. Marvin would land in those places and sever the nearby weapons.
The Spider launched a cloud of smoke that first engulfed Marvin, then lit up with sparks. Marvin boosted through, his feet briefly catching fire. The Spider was growing larger by the second. It had no discernable head, but instead hundreds of tiny red cameras darting over its body. Lindon had shown Marvin pictures of these things, but Marvin had never imagined seeing one in the chrome. It was a marvel of engineering, his uncle had said, and Marvin now understood why. With its constantly moving limbs and eyes, it was practically alive.
Marvin made a beeline for an open spot between a cannon and a drill-arm. He flew above a swipe of the giant drill, then touched down hard on the metal armor plate. He drew his right saber and swiped at the base of the drill-arm. The Spider emitted a burst of static electricity, throwing Marvin off. He boosted backwards before he could fall into a saw.
Alright, don't land.
He could still cut off the weapons, but as he swooped in again, he found that it was almost impossible to land a hit without solid ground below him. He'd trained in open air many times, but the real deal was completely different.
The Spider caught him in one of its drill-arms, swinging him around and hurling him hundreds of feet away. Marvin regained balance in the air and flew up, narrowly dodging a showering of sparks.
He noticed several of the Spider's cameras shift to a central location, watching him, tracking him. That's what I'll aim for.
The effort didn't start promising. He felt like a fly flying through an erupting volcano, blinded by smoke and fire. In the few openings he found, he could only take out one or two cameras at a time. The machine's AI altered its weapons' arrangements, cannons and lasers above, drill-arms lower, so that it could defend itself better.
However, Marvin adapted faster. He maneuvered well enough to avoid the big impacts, and at length found an opening between two swipes of those blades. He skidded across the Spider's back, feet touching down once, twice, and swung his right sword. Then he was up in the air again, soaring far above the enemy.
A cannon fell off the Spider's back and was ground to bits by the leg-saws. Marvin caught his artificial breath for a second before a laser swept through the air above his face, nearly cleaving it off. He darted away as two more lasers cut open the clouds behind him.
I need to put distance between us. Ella will be here soon anyway—
A ball of smoke suddenly exploded in his face. He found his thrusters failing, and he fell towards one of the Spider's drill-arms. He righted himself in the knick of time, but could not prevent the flat of an arm from slamming into his back. It carried him some way, then angled him down towards the ground. Marvin pushed with all his might, but the arm barely budged.
Then, as he was a few dozen feet from the ground, he felt the weight lift off of him. He spun around and saw a flash of orange streak through the sky, leaving a severed drill-arm in its wake.
Immortal Ignition looped around and dove into one of the Spider's laser cannons. The barrel flickered and fell to the ground. Ella backed up to where Marvin was and the two of them hung in the sky for a moment, sharing a look that only the mechs would understand.
"Just get rid of the weapons," Ella said through her voice box.
Marvin cocked his head. Why not ground the whole thing?
"They're the easiest to repair," Ella said. "I don't wanna completely wreck their Spider."
Marvin nodded. It was strangely honorable of her.
They charged at the colossus, Marvin going after its cameras and drills, Ella going for the lasers and cannons. It was like magic. Marvin had never fought alongside another mech before, but he and Ella seemed to know each other's every move. They knew when to avoid each other and when to support. They flitted around the Spider, scarring it bit by bit, poking holes in its weaponry. It did its best to defend itself, but nothing could even touch Ella before being melted away.
Marvin was grateful Ella had the melt-tech on hand—of course he was—and he was glad it worked so well. But he couldn't marvel at her technology when it had been built from blood.
They continued pestering the Spider until it only had two lasers and a drill-arm left. Right as he was heading towards the drill, Marvin heard a raucous screech behind him as a red-hot laser swung up at him. He couldn't change trajectory in time, only enough to let the laser slice his body in half at the waist.
It was surreal, seeing his legs fall away below him. He hastily adjusted his upper-body thrusters to steady his fall, but a second laser was coming his way.
Somehow, he wasn't scared. With a mech as powerful as Immortal Ignition around, he knew he would be safe.
There was a clang as his body hit a pair of metal arms. Ella caught him, flew low, and dropped him off.
Thanks again, Marvin thought as he watched Ella rise in the air, ignite with magma, and skewer the Spider once, twice, three times. All remaining weapons fell to the ground.
Sure, Immortal Ignition's melt-tech was doing most of the work, but there was a brutal elegance in how Ella controlled her mech that Marvin suspected no one else could achieve. Yes, she'd been spoiled to the core since she was born, but she'd made the most of what she'd been given. That made her a great pilot, did it not?
-----
Soon after the Spider was immobilized, Caroline's shuttle landed beside Immortal Ignition and Marvin. Ella, still synced to her mech, carried Marvin inside, and Ben and Renee received him in the cockpit. In the back, Ella saw her human self in the Bessmer chair, eyes closed peacefully. Truth was, she couldn't have been feeling more anxious.
She motioned for Renee to unsync her. When she teleported back into her own body, she immediately stood from the chair.
"Drop me off at the farm," she said. Her shuttle was still there. She would fly to Luyan's workshop.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Ben asked.
"If you need to fight the scavengers," Renee added.
"Fix Marvin first," Ella said. He was realistically the only one who could help her in a fight.
"It's too dangerous to go alone," Renee protested.
"That's why you'll fix him as quickly as possible," Ella said with a strained grin.
There were no more arguments. They touched down at the farm, Ella got in her shuttle, and, without looking back, she took off towards Luyan's workshop. The megacity became a haze through her windows. An uncertainty was gnawing ever stronger at her, but she ignored it. There wasn't time to think about the morality of her decision or the scavs'.
Soon, she was in Sector 88. A few minutes later, the top of a certain cylindrical skyscraper came into view. Ella slowed down and directed her shuttle to the landing pad. All around, hovercraft drifted through their traffic streams, but none seemed heading her way. The scavengers were not here yet.
She landed and rushed into the workshop, catching a surprised Luyan in the middle of closing the lid of a cooler-coffin. Ella froze as the engineer turned towards her. Her heart pounded, eyes darted frantically. She'd been so focused on making it in time that she'd completely forgotten what she would say.
"You okay?" Luyan asked. "Did something happen?"
Ella wasn't sure what she was expecting. Some sort of monster in place of Luyan? He looked the same as always, except with genuine concern plastered on his face.
"I…" Ella sucked in a breath. "You're in danger. The people who I thought tried to kill me—"
"Are they after me as well?"
"They're only after you."
Luyan stared at her for a second, then realization slowly crept into his eyes. He headed towards Ella and she took a step back.
"Come on, we need to get out of here," he said.
Ella swallowed and didn't move.
"It's the scavs, right?" Luyan said. "They're insane—we need to go and report them to Hosaka."
It would have been easy to say yes. What say did the scavengers have in Megacity 14? They were outsiders. Their accusations would go in one ear and out the other of Hosaka's Inspection, and Immortal Ignition would remain Ella's mech. Her life would only get better as she rose higher in the rankings.
But she refused to move.
"Is it true?" she asked. "Did you really kill Sangeet's parents?"
Luyan's expression became dangerously unreadable, and Ella suddenly wanted to be as far from him as possible. She steeled herself. You need to hear it from him.
Luyan squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his temples. "Yes. I did."
Ella's heart dropped. It wasn't just the fact that he'd admitted to something she'd hoped was a cruel lie. It was the regret in his voice.
"It was an accident," Luyan said. "I needed the parts. When I heard the yelling I got scared and—"
"You killed them," Ella said. "You took that gun because you thought you might have to do something like that."
Luyan winced. "They were being unreasonable."
Ella's mouth fell open. According to Sangeet, that piece of technology was a core aspect of their way of life. Of course they wouldn't want to give it up.
"We should return Immortal Ignition," Ella said. That would at least show some goodwill.
Luyan stared at Ella like she'd sprouted horns. "Return the melt-tech?"
Ella looked at him in similar bewilderment. "Yes! They need it!"
"You think they need it more than we do?"
"What are you saying? Of course they do!"
"Immortal Ignition is one of the hallmarks of this megacity. We can't just give it up."
"We'll use the old one!" Ella could've taken this for a dream, completely devoid of logic.
"No. We… we can't."
"Why not?"
"Because you're not good enough. We can't have Immortal Ignition falling in the rankings."
You're not good enough. The words were like daggers in her heart. So many people had said them to her, but never Luyan.
"I won't let it fall," Ella said, growing quieter. "We'll be fine."
"Be realistic. You're just a kid—it's not your fault." Luyan shook his head. "We cannot give up the mech. We'll find another way to deal with the scavengers."
Ella wanted to rewind time. She'd stepped into some alternate dimension, she was sure of it. Her Luyan would have never been this obsessed with legacy.
"We need to return it," Ella insisted, her voice cracking. "It's the right thing to do."
"Is it? Do you really think the scavengers have a more positive impact in the world with that technology in their hands?"
"Are you insane? This isn't about—"
"We'll talk about this when we're safe," Luyan snapped.
Ella would've gladly agreed, had she not been convinced that Luyan wouldn't change his mind.
"I'm not going with you."
Betrayal flashed across Luyan's face. Then his expression hardened. "Alright then. I'm taking my mech. Find me when you've come to your senses."
Ella hurried to block the door. "Oh, I'm leaving. I'm just never piloting that mech again."
Luyan pursed his lips and looked at the ground. "Fine. Go."
Ella took a step back towards the doorway, adrenaline overwhelming her. "And the moment I leave, I'm telling everyone what you did. I heard Hosaka has an anti-corruption unit. They'd love this kind of news."
Luyan's eyes went wide. "Don't be ridiculous."
Ella shrugged. "Wanna see?"
"You don't understand how many years I've put into this. That Varyn, Aria, and your parents have put into this."
"Could not care less." Ella turned around, heart pounding out of her chest. She wasn't sure what her threat would entail; she just knew she was angrier and more scared than she'd ever been in her life.
"Ella!"
She didn't turn around. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, but she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and slowly head towards the exit and the shuttle landing pad beyond.
"Why are you doing this?" The engineer's voice was suddenly soft.
She kept walking.
"Ella, please," Luyan said. "They won't forgive you, either."
One foot in front of the other. Steady and terrified. She could do this.
Luyan shouted her name again, and she ignored him. Thoughts became muddled in her mind. She just wanted to get into that shuttle and never return.
She heard it then, the rustling of Luyan's coat. He wasn't getting closer, but he had moved around for some reason.
She should have known he would snap. People often did when faced with an impossible situation. But deep down, she'd been hoping he was better than that, that he didn't have it in him.
She'd been hoping with every step she took, every inch that she got closer to the door, all the way until she heard the gunshot.