When Caroline heard what they'd discovered, she couldn't help but feel relieved. If Ainsel AI had bought Marvin's supposed corpse from the morgue, they must have had a hand in killing him. That was one mystery solved.
Still, it was a short-lived relief. How would they confront the most powerful company in the megacity? Was there any hope of justice for Marvin?
Amir suggested they bring it to Hosaka's Inspection; in particular, James Kobayashi and his anti-corruption team. It was the most efficient option. They had enough evidence, he said, to convince the Inspection to act. However, James was too high-up to be directly contacted, so they would need to ask Sienna Lee to set up a meeting. The last time they'd talked with Sparrow's pilot was a month ago, when she'd helped them in a three-round duel against Centium, but they'd parted on good terms.
Caroline called her that night, explaining what they'd found in the lab and why they thought it was enough to at least say Ainsel had tampered with mech-fighting.
Sienna was hesitant. She didn't believe this said anything about Ainsel, but at the same time, she found it suspicious that no one on James' team had known. In the end, she offered to set up the meeting, but they would have to do the explaining on their own.
"I'll need to tell him you broke into the lab," Sienna warned.
Caroline said that was okay, as long as she didn't say how they'd found the lab's location. They didn't need to throw Grace Alvarez under the bus.
The next morning, Caroline and Amir left for Hosaka Tower. Caroline had seen the building hundreds of times on the holo, but nothing could have prepared her for its sheer scale in real life. It was a thin spike of metal skewered through three silver spheres, rising almost to the floating islands above its Sector. Caroline felt like an ant as she guided her shuttle underneath the lowest of three spheres on the tower, swallowed in its shadow.
This could be it, she thought. They were risking everything by meeting with James. To him, no one was supposed to be investigating Marvin's death. No one was supposed to even know.
But if James believed them, they could solve Marvin's mystery here and now, find his body, even. Caroline's end of the deal would be done.
Will Marvin still pilot for us? Nothing was stopping him from quitting, and Caroline was getting the sense that he was already distancing himself. But she didn't think it was in his character to abandon them. If it was… No, they'd come too far to start over with a new pilot.
The lowest sphere housed the public offices of the Hosaka Chairs. During select hours, people could walk in or schedule meetings to propose new legislation. They would meet James in his father's office; he was sitting in today as the old man's condition was worsening.
Hisen Kobayashi's office was no larger the other Chairs', but the conglomerate of thirty-something people outside its door told everyone where the power leaned amongst the Roundtable. In the white marble hall outside, Caroline and Amir were intercepted by two Inspectors who escorted them through the crowd. As Caroline shoved past shoulder after shoulder, as shouts of protest came up, she felt half pity, half pride. For a moment, she was more important than rent and infrastructure and everything else these people had to say.
When they entered the office, Caroline had to do a double take. For a man of Hisen's stature, she had expected extravagant decorations, state-of-the-art tech, things that showed a successful and storied career. Instead, half of the room was covered in plastic wrapping. It looked like a house whose owners were moving out.
The gold and black armchair James sat in was one of the only remaining relics in the room. He wore his Inspector trench coat but had his mask off and set on the plastic-covered desk. His hair was losing its slicked-back shape, and his eyes had dark circles under them.
"Welcome," he said, beckoning Caroline and Amir to sit on the two chairs across the desk. "Sorry. It's been a long few days."
Caroline gingerly sat down, pulling her chair away from Amir and the desk. She clasped her hands together, trying to stop them from shaking. If they messed this up, they would likely be arrested for breaking into Ainsel's lab. If they accidentally implied that they had Marvin as a consciousness implant—probably an even worse fate.
Behind her and Amir, the crowd suddenly grew quiet. There came a wave of surprised whispers. Caroline looked over her shoulder to see Sienna walk into the office. She wore a black jacket and joggers and looked livelier than last they'd met. She waved hello and sat down perpendicular to them, almost out of their periphery. Caroline didn't allow herself to relax. Sienna was a neutral party and was equally likely to oppose them.
Just tell them what we found. How it makes Ainsel look fishy. Don't mention Marvin is alive under any circumstances.
"Before you start," James said, leaning towards Amir, "I do respect you. I appreciate what you've done for Nagatown and the Sector 8 investigations. But if what you show me isn't worthwhile, you won't be given any leniency."
"I know," Amir said. He took out his tablet and pulled up the file from Ainsel's lab. Pointed to Marvin's name that was blatantly written in the row of text. "Ainsel bought Marvin's body. That is undeniable."
James didn't even raise an eyebrow. "That is what it says."
"Did you know about this?"
"I did not."
"So this is strange, don't you think?"
"All the Chairs knew he was dead an hour after it happened," James said. "The killers delivered him to a morgue, then trashed the place."
"How did Ainsel know to buy his body before then?"
"Hosaka owns the morgue. My father saw Marvin Yao's name appear and ordered a coverup. Saeyung must've seen it, too."
"And no one questioned this?" Amir asked. "You said all the Chairs knew. When did non-Chairs like you find out?"
James pursed his lips. Paused a moment. "They told me three months in."
"They covered up corruption for three months. Doesn't that bother you?"
"Someone else was in charge of the investigation. I was brought on after they pinpointed the Manhunters as a suspect." But as he spoke, the Inspector's left eye twitched. He didn't like confronting his own unimportance.
"Look where that got you." Amir leaned backwards. "You've had a three month head start, and you couldn't even find where Marvin's body went after the morgue. I don't mean to imply Hosaka's incompetent. I don't think that at all. I think the more reasonable explanation is that someone from inside is slowing you down."
Caroline nearly cracked a smile. At times like these, she felt like she knew Amir better than she actually did. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Sienna tapping her chin in thought.
James pinched the bridge of his nose. "We're deviating. Let's get back to this." He pointed to Amir's tablet.
"You can still admit it makes sense," Amir said.
"We don't operate based on speculation. If—"
"You went after the Manhunters off of speculation."
"They're bottom-of-the-barrel," James said. "Ainsel's the megacity's lifeline. Any action against them needs to be fully justified."
"Doesn't seem like a good way for the law to operate," Amir retorted.
"It's just how the world works, sir. We always have to be weighing the consequences."
Caroline felt a twinge of unease. Not at James' sentiment—that much she unfortunately agreed with. It was the fact that he'd called Amir "sir." She told herself it was a formality, yet it felt odd coming from the Inspector, the one who held the power in this meeting.
"I'm curious," James continued, pointing again to the tablet, "Why Marvin in particular? There's plenty of other names."
Amir tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"You've never liked Ainsel. Something about the disappearance of your sister, right?"
"How do you know that?"
"Saeyung told me that's why you joined the Sector 8 investigations. I get why you were angry that Ainsel closed the case. I get why you wanted to dig up dirt on them." James folded his hands together. "But why Marvin? Were you friends with him?"
"No," Amir replied.
"You only downloaded four weeks of data. You wanted to catch Marvin. You knew where to catch him."
"We tracked his body from the morgue."
"How?"
Amir furrowed his eyebrows. "We found his name in the morgue. Then found when it was shut down."
"How did you know Marvin was dead? When did you know?"
Amir hesitated. Caroline glanced at him worriedly. If James sensed the slightest lie…
"It was after what happened to Robert, I assume?" Sienna said. Everyone turned to her, and she widened her eyes a little. "I mean, that's when I knew. If they were willing to kill Robert to cover their tracks, there's no way they didn't kill Marvin as well."
Caroline nodded, half relieved, half guilt-stricken. Sienna genuinely believed her fiance was dead, had no idea that James had exiled Bob for looking too deep into Marvin's murder. A fate that Caroline and Amir would share if the conversation kept going this way.
"Alright, sure," James said. "But, again, why focus on Marvin?"
"I thought we wouldn't operate on speculation," Amir said.
"Wait, I think it's a valid question," Sienna slipped in.
Caroline's heart nearly dropped—had they already lost her support?
But Sienna continued, "But Caroline and her friends knew Marvin's teammate. Theo, right?"
Caroline nodded, realizing she'd given them a way out. Our actual savior.
"We were always looking for Marvin, but we didn't know he was dead," Caroline said. "Then it became us trying to solve a murder, and since we knew Amir was also looking into murders… it just made sense."
"You're saying you focused on Marvin out of convenience?" James said.
Caroline shrugged. "Why not?"
"Is that true?" James asked Amir.
"Why not," the police chief replied.
James made a conceding motion. "Let's get back on topic. Ainsel bought Marvin's corpse, having known he'd been killed and received at the morgue, without my knowledge. But you said it yourself: I am not a Roundtable Chair. I'm kept in the dark on a few things. What Ainsel's done isn't illegal. It doesn't say much about them at all."
Caroline stared at him incredulously. They were right back to where they started. What had been the point of the past five minutes?
"What do you think, Sienna?" James said.
She'll side with us at least, Caroline thought. It'll be three against one.
But Sienna pursed her lips and replied, "I agree." She looked at Caroline. "I don't mean to pry, but… is there anything you're not telling us? How come you're so convinced Ainsel killed Marvin?"
Caroline tried not to let her face go pale. The consciousness implant is why. It gives Ainsel a clear reason to have wanted Marvin.
If she had never found Saberstar's Core, they would've never connected Marvin's death to Ainsel. They could say that Ainsel killed Marvin to study his brain, but that already sounded overkill in Caroline's head. Studying Marvin could be done through clinical trials and a large sum of money.
But they could not expose Marvin. Who knew what the ramifications would be. Four months of mech-fighting, all for nothing. Besides, the most important thing was that Marvin should get to make the decision.
Then again, Caroline had been the one to first tell him to stay hidden. She had genuinely been worried for his safety, but maybe some of it had been selfish, too. She'd seen the opportunity for him to pilot, weighed the options, and decided it was the right choice.
"Is there something else, Caroline?" James pressed.
Don't get Marvin involved, Caroline told herself. Exhaust every other option you can.
"I think…" She glanced around the room, calming her nerves. "I think it's not really about if Ainsel did anything bad. They know you have an anti-corruption unit, they know you got asked to investigate Marvin's death, but they still didn't tell you that they had his body. Shouldn't they be required to tell you?"
"Not by law."
"By principle, though," Caroline argued. "Unless they think they're above you guys. Is Ainsel really more powerful than the Hosaka Inspection?"
James gave her an exasperated look, and Caroline knew he had completely seen through her. "Are you here to accuse Ainsel or not?"
Caroline didn't reply. Something had changed in the room. Maybe James had always intended to get to this topic, or maybe Caroline had reminded him of it, but it seemed they had started heading towards a common ground.
"Of course I think Ainsel is too powerful," James continued. "Saeyung has a chokehold on our economy, and the only reason she hasn't taken advantage of it is because she's wrapped up in her research."
"But that's nearing its end," Amir said.
"And you know… how?"
"Am I wrong?"
"No." James scrunched his face in disapproval. "Whatever she's doing with Legionnaire, she seems ready to deliver a final product. She and her brother are doing a final syncing test this Thursday. 10 AM, at their main lab."
"That's awfully specific."
"Yeah, well, I also need some time to decide whether you two should be arrested for trespassing," James said with a thin smile. "I'll have made up my mind by Friday. Until then, if you decide to keep digging…" He spread his hands out on the table.
Caroline swallowed and looked at Amir. They were being allowed one last chance: infiltrate Ainsel while Saeyung was testing Legionnaire and find one last thing to cement their claims.
Amir nodded and stood. "Thank you, James."
Caroline followed him to the door. She didn't dare look at Inspector Kobayashi again, but she briefly met Sienna's eyes as she exited. The pilot's eyebrows were furrowed in what at first Caroline assumed to be concern, but there was something else there, a subtle sign of unresolved suspicion. I still think you're hiding something.