As the shuttle's speedometer jetted upwards, the megacity became a blur of neons and black and silver. The only constant in Caroline's field of view was the other shuttle Sangeet was escaping on.
Sienna was flying the shuttle they'd taken to Ji's apartment, while Caroline sat in the passenger's seat, preparing a program on her tablet. It was a simple comms-jack that Renee had made months ago. Get close enough to another shuttle, and it would connect to its speakers.
Why are we even doing this? Caroline wondered. If we're set on not giving him to the Manhunters, why does it matter that he stays with us?
But Sangeet needed to know they meant no harm. It felt necessary.
Still, this shuttle chase they'd initiated didn't paint a flattering picture.
"How much farther?" Sienna asked.
Caroline eyed Sangeet's shuttle, which was approaching a stream of other hovercraft. "Twenty more feet, maybe."
Sienna pushed the shuttle into high gear, and the city around them almost seemed to warp. Sangeet's shuttle grew larger until suddenly, it was right in Caroline's face.
She activated the program. The tablet buffered, and Sangeet sped up. Fortunately, Sienna kept pace.
We better get this over with soon, Caroline thought. Hosaka didn't care much for speeding, but they couldn't risk a collateral accident.
At last, Caroline's tablet buzzed, signifying that she was connected to Sangeet's shuttle. She held the microphone up and cleared her throat.
"Sangeet, this is Caroline. I'm sorry for all the confusion, but we're not gonna turn you in!"
There was no response. Sangeet suddenly decelerated, and Sienna was able to strafe sideways in the nick of time.
"I know you have no reason to trust us," Caroline said. "But if we wanted to turn you in we could've done it a long time ago."
"You were just unsure back then," Sangeet said.
"Okay, that's fair," Caroline said, frowning. Then, locking in, she continued, "But I'm sure now. Your life is just as important as theirs."
She cringed. Of course it was an exaggeration—she barely knew the kid. Besides, he was more deserving to face the consequences of his actions, was he not?
And, as if Sangeet had read her mind, he replied, "No it's not. You probably think I deserve this."
"Okay, you're right. Again," Caroline admitted. "I don't know you that well, and yes, you did steal those weapons. But even if I didn't know you at all, I still wouldn't take you hostage. I wouldn't sacrifice a human life." Unless I was truly left with no choice.
Silence. That had been as close to the truth as Caroline was willing to go. If Sangeet still didn't believe her, there was nothing she could do.
At length, the scavenger replied, "If you mean what you say, you'll let me go."
Caroline pursed her lips. Should've seen that coming. It made sense to do it, right? There was no point in keeping Sangeet around.
She turned to Sienna, who gave her a somber look.
"Will we see you again when this is over?" Caroline asked.
"Yes," Sangeet said. "Probably."
He'll move shop. It's probably better to break off contact anyways so he doesn't endanger us.
Upon reflection, this whole chase seemed incredibly stupid. All that adrenaline, just to exchange a few words and part ways.
"I'm sorry," Sangeet continued. "I hope you save your friends."
So why did you go after him?
Caroline supposed it was some kind of proof of morality. Nothing more, nothing less.
She looked at Sienna and nodded. Sparrow's pilot pulled their shuttle away, leaving Sangeet to merge with the stream of traffic. Caroline pushed down the urge to scream in frustration.
-----
Soon, Caroline, Sienna, Renee, and Ji were gathered in the living room again. Without Sangeet to distract them, they began to discuss serious ideas.
Sienna had an EMP in her workshop, which they could use to disable a good portion of the Manhunters' base. But then what? Marvin and Ben couldn't escape from just that. So break in again? That would pose as many risks as breaking in without the EMP.
Another idea was to plant the EMP on someone, preferably Renee. She'd sneak in, find the captives, set it off, and free them. That was too dangerous.
Thus, Caroline focused on negotiating. Or rather, blackmailing.
"They're really possessive of their weapons," Caroline told the others. "But firearms are illegal. If we threaten to report them to Hosaka, maybe they'll let Marvin and Ben go."
She was quite proud of the idea. Very low stakes, no collateral damage, and no risk of life. However, her spirits sank as she observed the others' faces. They all looked like they had at least one complaint to voice.
Ji went first. "The Manhunters aren't strangers to breaking Hosaka law."
"Didn't we decide to not negotiate?" Sienna added.
"How will we meet up with them in the first place without giving our intentions away?" Renee asked.
Caroline decided to address that one first. "It's easy. We'll send an anonymous message saying we know about the weapons. Then they'll wanna meet with us."
"Right, then they'll kill us at the meeting," Sienna said.
"I'll pilot one of your mechs," Caroline said.
"What if they trace the mech?" Sienna asked.
"I'll self-destruct after the meeting," Caroline said. A pause in her response betrayed her worries, but she reassured herself that the plan was foolproof.
"Then Hosaka will wonder why a free-roaming mech has just blown up in Nagatown," Ji said.
"Respectfully, we can deal with Hosaka later," Caroline said. It had been different when she'd sent Marvin in his cyborg body to Sangeet's place. She hadn't known how serious this would become.
Much to her relief, it seemed the others were coming to terms with the plan. It was not likely to work by any means, but it was worth a shot, considering how it was the only non-violent option. Sienna and Ji shared a resigned look, while Renee bobbed up and down on her couch.
"If they don't take this seriously, then will we break in?" Renee asked.
"Yeah," Caroline said. She didn't mention how they'd need another mech to burn for that operation. So much money down the drain, but she supposed it was incomparable to two human lives.
She stood up and exhaled. "We'll send a message to the Sawblades' garage."
-----
The response was almost immediate. It was from Gerard, the Manhunter in charge of the Sawblades' garage. Caroline couldn't tell if he was urgent or just curious, but they agreed to meet at midnight at the prayer grounds in the sakura neighborhood.
Under the artificial moonlight and through the mech's cameras, it looked like a completely different place. The surroundings were quiet, save for the distant rumble of trams and subways in Nagatown. The wooden tags soaked the barren tree in gold. The window of the nearest house was cracked open, but still shrouded the inside in darkness.
Caroline hadn't piloted a mech in a while. It was weird—on the surface, you felt like you were in your own body, just a little taller and not sensitive to the air. But if you focussed on those uncanny bits, you were suddenly exposed to a whole control panel of commands. One nudge there would put the mech in standby. Another would activate the converter. Another would self-destruct. The resolution of the cameras was also disorienting. She could focus on particular things, but every stimulation from elsewhere in her periphery caused that area to clear up without her having to move her eyes.
Is this what Marvin feels every day? Caroline wondered. It was so much stimulation and she felt like the slightest mistake would trigger something disastrous.
Gerard was already there, standing under the tree. Gerard, in the flesh, with no bodyguards. Caroline nearly did a double take. Was he stupid?
"The weapons," he snapped, walking towards her. "How did you know?"
"The scavenger," Caroline said. "How else?"
"Where is he?"
"I don't know. He was with us when he saw the message, but he escaped."
Gerard's eye twitched. "For the record, whoever you are, I didn't even care about him stealing our stuff. But this… Do you have any idea where he is?"
Caroline shook her head. The Manhunter was showing an unexpected level of stress, leading her to think she was missing something. Maybe she'd lucked out somewhere.
"Alright," Gerard said. He repeated the word, quieter, as if to calm himself. "Your deal, then. All you want is for us to let your buddies go, yeah?"
Caroline nodded. She tried to suppress the excitement bubbling in her stomach, telling herself that no negotiation could ever go this smoothly.
"Fine," Gerard said. "Told you already, I don't care about them."
What? It's really gonna be this easy? "Great. Then we won't tell Hosaka."
Gerard glanced sideways. "One condition, though."
There it is. Caroline braced herself. This couldn't be any worse than the alternatives, surely.
"We're in this predicament 'cause of one man," Gerard began. "Jacques. He's incompetent. Veronica has been making moves against him, and he's not doing anything about it. If he stays in power, if Veronica starts a civil war, then the Manhunters are gonna collapse. I can prevent it. If I'm in charge, I can put Veronica down without a hitch. No civil war, and a seamless transition of power." Gerard put his hands together. "I want you to help me kill Jacques."
Caroline blinked. First of all, what a tremendous piece of news she'd just gained. Second, did he really think she'd agree to that?
"He doesn't go anywhere without his mech," Gerard continued. "Assassinations won't work."
"You want me to take care of his mech," Caroline said.
Gerard shrugged. "That's a nice bot by the looks of it. Whoever can afford to build that can also afford a good pilot, no?"
Caroline forced down a laugh. As flattered as she was, she was not going to participate in a coup.
"I can't accept that condition," she said.
But as soon as the words left the speaker, she felt an inexplicable chill go down her spine. Maybe it was the mech's sensors messing with her. Maybe it was Gerard's lack of a reaction. But something had changed.
"I don't think you understand," Gerard said. A smile was creeping onto his face. "You are going to help me, or I'll kill Steve and Ben."
"No," Caroline started. "The deal was you let them go, and that's it. Add any conditions and we'll report you to Hosaka."
"Go ahead. Jacques is gonna end our gang before they do, anyways," Gerard said, grin widening. "Here's the new deal. You take out Mantis, and we'll let your friends go. If you refuse, they die. If you don't beat Mantis, they die. If Jacques is alive by the end of tomorrow, they die."
He's bluffing, Caroline told herself. He cares about Hosaka finding out. I have to turn the tables back.
But she couldn't think straight. An image burned into her brain: Marvin and Ben, huddled in some dark room that was suddenly lit up with two gunshots. They wouldn't even have known why they were being executed.
There has to be some way around this, even if it's just to self-destruct.
"Oh, and one more thing," Gerard said. "If you don't reply in the next thirty seconds, they die."
Caroline's vision began to glitch. Things rapidly focused and unfocused. Too much to comprehend.
Keep it together. He can't just order their deaths after thirty seconds. Can he?
Caroline mentally pinched her temples. What would Amir do? What would Dad do?
First, she had to acknowledge that she'd made a huge mistake. She didn't have the mental fortitude to beat someone like Gerard. To call him out on a bluff… that was too much. Right now, she had to salvage what she could.
"Ten seconds—"
"Okay, okay," Caroline said. "But I'm gonna need Steve."
Gerard scoffed. "What? As a down payment?"
"He's our pilot's apprentice, but the truth is he's not a cyborg. He's not an AI either." As Caroline spoke her next words, she knew she was digging herself into an even deeper hole. But she wouldn't be able to lie effectively, and she needed to disarm Gerard. "He's a consciousness upload with a modified killer-crane. He's a better pilot than anyone I know. I can transfer him to this mech."
Gerard raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?"
"I still agree with your terms," Caroline said. "If he fails, he and Ben die."
She felt another shiver go down her spine. Did she actually just say that? Had she willingly condemned her friends to die?
There were so many logistics they hadn't brought up, like how or why Gerard would kill Ben and Marvin if his coup failed, or what would be done about the weapons. But Caroline's adrenaline was too high to discuss these things. She'd lose even more ground.
He said "if Jacques isn't dead by tomorrow," she thought. They had a day to think it through, and with Marvin free, their options expanded tenfold.
"Alright, deal," Gerard said. He stuck out his hand, and Caroline reached out to shake it. To her surprise, her metal fingers passed right through Gerard's flesh. The Manhunter's entire figure flickered.
A hologram, Caroline thought. As if the dread didn't already have enough room to settle. The projector could be anywhere. Gerard could be back at the garage, ready to kill Marvin and Ben.
Instead of mocking her stupidity, Gerard looked disappointed.
"I'll contact you soon," he said. Then he turned around and blinked into nothingness.