Even when Saeyung and Sunwoo left the glass examination room, Marvin, Ben, and Renee silently agreed to not leave Caroline's side. They did not trust Amir despite his outward care towards their teammate. Ben grilled the officer about what had happened at the psych ward, and Amir exhausted all the details.
"So Caroline did recognize that girl," Ben said. Amir nodded.
"But she chose to forget about her," Renee said. Another nod.
"How does that work? Did she forget about every second they've ever spent together?" Ben asked.
"Yes," Amir said. "At least, that's how it's supposed to work. It might have been different for her. She went through the procedure when she was still a kid."
When her brain wasn't fully developed. That begged the question: why? She and her father had to have known the risks, right?
"How did you know she registered for the Memory Bank?" Ben asked. "Actually, how do you know her at all?"
"I was close friends with her parents," Amir explained. "I promised them I would protect her."
"What happened to her parents?"
Amir's face darkened. "I don't know. One day, I heard news that Caroline was on her own and had started a mech team. I tried contacting her parents but… nothing."
Marvin's processors hummed with suspicion. This was so awfully convenient. The only people who could confirm Amir's allegiance had somehow disappeared.
It didn't help when the police chief continued, "You guys can wait in the lobby if you want. I won't get bored."
"Nah, it's fine," Ben said. "We wanna be here when she wakes up."
Renee and Marvin nodded, and so they waited together.
-----
Thirty minutes in, they were approached by Carlos. He wanted to make sure Caroline was okay, and Ben told him that she would be fine. He was still in a wheelchair and had been here for some brain scans. He was debating whether to get implants to cure his paralysis; if he did, he would not be as good of a pilot. These brain scans were to gauge how far he might fall off.
Marvin was reminded of Ella when she'd faced a similar situation. She'd been shot and paralyzed, and had spent her time in the hospital debating whether to get the same kind of implants. He missed those days when he would sit next to her hospital bed and listen to her talk.
She had gotten the implants. She was far younger than Carlos so she'd have more time to improve, but her conviction in her choice had been admirable.
Ten minutes after Carlos left, Renee announced she needed to use the restroom. She skipped away to the elevator like she was about to find a treasure chest in the toilet.
"So," Ben began deviously. "Have you talked to Ella recently? Any updates?"
"No. Nothing's happening," Marvin muttered. And nothing will happen.
"Do you want us to send her a personal invitation to the next social event?"
Marvin's circuits overheated. "No thanks."
Ten minutes of teasing later, Renee was back and tugging on Ben's arm. Needed to show him something, she insisted nervously.
"Can I see it too?" Marvin asked timidly. "I mean, we can take turns watching Caroline—"
Renee made a series of hand motions that Marvin interpreted as: Of course, I just feel less comfortable tugging your arm because you aren't my surrogate brother.
Renee and Ben went first, and Marvin kept an eye on Amir. The man wasn't out to kill Caroline—why kill her here when he could've done it somewhere more private?—but Marvin was scared he would tamper with her brain activity.
Renee and Ben came back in a few minutes and Renee whisked Marvin away before he could ask Ben anything. They headed up some stairs to a smaller waiting room surrounded by conference chambers. It seemed like the floor for legal business. Some chambers were occupied, some had their glass walls turned opaque, and some had their doors ajar.
"Can I ask," Marvin began as they walked across the waiting room, "what do you know about Caroline?"
Renee looked over her shoulder and tilted her head. What do you mean?
"I mean, her parents. Her memories."
"She doesn't share much," Renee said. She slowed her pace. "I only know that her dad was an Inspector."
An Inspector?! This seemed like something Caroline should've told him, especially if she was helping investigate his murder.
"Did she tell you he disappeared?" Marvin asked.
"No, only that he retired a while back. Whenever we asked about him or her mom, she would just say she doesn't talk to them anymore."
Why? Who is this girl?
"I genuinely don't know anything else, though," Renee continued. "Don't probe her, please. It makes her really uncomfortable."
Well it makes me uncomfortable, all the stuff I don't know. But Marvin nodded and dropped the topic. He would do some more digging on his own.
The two of them turned right into an open conference room—a neat space with a long table, a dozen chairs, and a holo display. The display was a blank blue cube, and the seats were all perfectly snug against the table.
"Are we allowed in here?" Marvin asked.
Renee shrugged. It's a public space after all. She dragged a chair to the corner of the room and stepped onto it, growing eye-level to a vent in the wall. She pointed through the vent.
Marvin reluctantly stepped onto the chair, his impeccable gyroscopes keeping him balanced, and peered through the vent. At first, he just saw abstract blue and gray shapes. Then he recognized the bottom of a Bessmer chair and an armory of katanas lined with blue energy. He shifted to the right. Thick wires ran from the back of the Bessmer chair to a silver mech prototype. The prototype stood on a glowing pad, strung to the walls by more wires.
Marvin couldn't tear his gaze away. It wasn't that the mech was anything special—it was just a gray, humanoid shape like any other prototype. But it didn't stand still. Not quite. Slowly, methodically, its upper body rose up and down like it was breathing.
Just then, Renee tapped his arm. Footsteps were approaching. He quickly got off the chair and shoved it back to its place at the table, then sauntered out of the room with Renee. They passed by Saeyung Park and another, older woman who looked like a lawyer. They were talking about the Hosaka Roundtable and didn't pay the two kids any attention.
Marvin's head was spinning. Had he imagined that mech moving?
No, his cameras captured everything without error. Ainsel AI was designing something very much like himself. Maybe even more human.
He caught Renee's gaze out of the corner of his periphery. They silently agreed that regardless of if Ainsel AI had murdered him, this company needed to be looked into.
-----
Caroline woke up shivering. An indescribable terror lingered in her, but she couldn't place its source. She recalled that girl in the psych ward, she remembered blacking out, but she could associate no reason with any of it.
The first thing she saw was a collection of bright lights above her. Then she saw the figures. Four of them. Ben, Marvin, Renee, and Amir.
Caroline couldn't help smiling, but then felt that terror escalate. Something had gone wrong, and she had no idea what.
The girl… Maria. She had committed suicide. She'd been drawing pictures of her before that. How does she know me?
The next few minutes were spent catching up with her teammates. They told her she'd passed out because she had cut out her memories of Maria. They told her about Saeyung and Sunwoo, and Ben even whispered something about a "Marvin 2.0" on the fourth floor. Marvin quickly shot that down.
"It was just some mech that was breathing," he said.
Breathing? Too many unknowns were being thrown at her. Marvin's death, her lost memories, the morgue, the serial murders, her connection to Maria, and now this thing in Ainsel AI's lab.
Her eyes swept across her friends and landed on Amir. The police chief watched her with a monotone expression and said nothing. A sudden fear gripped Caroline's heart. How did she know this man? Yes, Amir was a family friend, but how had they met? Were those memories lost to the Bank, too? She'd always known she had forgotten things, but not to this extent.
Once she confirmed she was okay, Amir took them to Saeyung's office; Caroline wanted to thank the woman. As they walked, she fell behind and did a quick search on her tablet: Amir Kaleid. He'd been in the police for fourteen years. His bio checked all the boxes—childhood, school, college, family. Nothing seemed off. In fact, the pieces of his history were almost too perfect.
Saeyung didn't let them into her office. She stepped outside and humbly accepted Caroline's thanks, then wished her luck in the mech-fighting season. It was still weird to think the CEO was on a mech team.
"Saeyung," Amir slipped in. "One more thing. I'm going to reopen the case."
Saeyung crossed her arms. "Don't let me stop you."
"These other murders were all staged as suicides. What if they were? What if we've been overcomplicating things?"
"Then there's no killer," Saeyung said. "Which once again voids the case."
"But all the victims have lived in this Sector's psych ward, and now one more patient of theirs has taken their life," Amir said. "Something's wrong with that system."
Saeyung pursed her lips. Behind her dark glasses, Marvin thought he saw her eyes meet his. "How do you propose we fix it?"
"I was hoping you could help with that."
Saeyung smiled solemnly. "Our products are at your disposal. But until you prove that those deaths really were suicides, I don't want any part in this."