On Wednesday, they tried bugging Saeyung. Amir snuck a microphone into her coat, but it was destroyed when Saeyung entered her lab building. They tried bugging Sunwoo that same day. Same result. By the lack of reactions picked up by the mic, it seemed all personnel went through a routine decontamination upon lab entry. There was no way they could get anything past that.
That was when Marvin truly began to consider it. He was at the edge of the tunnel. He only needed to take one more step and he could finally become human again.
So on Wednesday night, when he, Renee, Caroline, Ben, Ishaan, Ella, and Amir were gathered in Renee's living room, he offered to infiltrate Ainsel AI in-person. The lab's decontamination destroyed all bugs on one's body, but it couldn't pick up devices inside of a body. Thus, he would detach and sneak one of his own microphones into Saeyung's pocket.
"She wanted to study me anyways," Marvin pointed out.
"Wouldn't she be on high alert after what Amir did?" Ishaan asked.
"There's a million people who've tried to bug her," Amir replied. "I doubt she's phased." He turned to Marvin. "Are you sure about this?"
"Well… I've never put a tracker on anyone," Marvin said.
"And your own microphone, too," Ben said. "How does that even work?"
Marvin had to admit he had no idea. It just seemed clever.
"It's doable," Caroline said. "I can make a tiny arm for it. Takes out the microphone and slips it into her pocket."
"Can you make it in time?" Amir asked. There were less than twelve hours before Thursday, 10 AM.
Caroline nodded. "I got too much sleep last night."
"Thank you," Marvin murmured. She was always doing so much, despite these possibly being the final days he would be a consciousness implant. She has to be thinking of our deal. She won't like it.
"If that doesn't work," Amir said, "there is a virus my department uses—an indiscriminate data leech. If you're willing, Marvin, you can take it to their main server and upload it. It'll seep out as much information as possible."
"To where?" Caroline asked.
"The police department. I'll add James' NID, so he'll get the files on his tablet whether he likes it or not." Amir looked around the room. "Does anyone object?"
No one moved. If Marvin were to upload the virus, it would mean certain retaliation from Ainsel. They would identify Marvin, and from there they could trace him to his friends. At that point, their only hope was for the police and James to save them, assuming they found the evidence sufficient.
Still, that was a last resort. If the bug worked, they would capture Saeyung's experiment with Legionnaire—which surely involved Marvin's implant to some extent—and have all the evidence they needed. The Inspection would be on their side.
After another few seconds of no objections, the group dispersed. Caroline, Ben, and Ella went to Luyan's workshop to build the device. Amir left to get the data leech and a single-wave EMP. Renee and Ishaan stayed to keep Marvin company.
They didn't talk much, but Marvin preferred that. He was glad he had people he could simply sit beside on the eve of the most dangerous mission of his life.
I'll be alright, he told himself. I've come too far already.
-----
A few hours later, Marvin found himself standing on the apartment's balcony. The area was vacant, save for a single chair and a long-leafed plant. Ella, Caroline, and Ben were still in Sector 58. Amir was at the dining table, drawing up a schematic of Ainsel's lab. Renee had gone to sleep. And Ishaan…
Marvin heard the glass door behind him slide open, and Gammagrade's pilot joined him on the balcony. When they'd first met during their pilots' debrief, Ishaan had seemed so intimidating. Now, despite still being a few inches taller than Marvin, he looked almost frail in comparison.
"I know I'm the one who made us stay in that lab," he began, "but this… Are you sure we shouldn't wait for a better option?"
"Will there be one?" Marvin asked.
"I don't know." Ishaan blew out a breath. "This is crazy, though. Ainsel's the real deal, man. They'll kill us if you mess up."
"You could've objected," Marvin said.
"Nah. If you have the balls to do this then I sure as hell have."
Jeez, he's even more competitive than Ella. Though Marvin supposed Ella wasn't competitive, she was just a hater. Ishaan had a personal bone to pick with Marvin.
"You remember what Amir said to me at the lab?" Ishaan continued.
"That you're helping 'cause you want to clear your reputation?"
"Yeah. Do you believe that?"
Marvin did, but he also believed that Ishaan was a good person at heart. How could he phrase that?
"Kind of," he said. Hmm, that wasn't quite what I was trying to say.
"Well that's exactly why I'm helping," Ishaan said. "There's nothing I want more than for every Newcast reporter to apologize and say I wasn't responsible for your death. That I'm not a fraud."
Marvin was taken aback. That hadn't been unexpected, but it still stung.
"But," Ishaan said, clasping Marvin's shoulder, "you've been kind to me. You all have. Once this is done, I've still got your back, you understand?"
Marvin felt a warmth rise in his chest. He smiled, though he knew Ishaan would only see his blue line of a mouth glow a little brighter. "Thanks."
-----
At dawn, Marvin went to Luyan's workshop. There, his friends equipped him with sharper blades, stronger arm-shields, and yet another smoke grenade. Caroline loved those things. They inserted the "tiny arm" into his torso, thin as a needle, holding a microphone and ultrasound camera and able to move fluidly throughout his body. In his Core, he saw—or felt, rather—a command to activate it.
Amir showed him a schematic of where he believed the lab's server to be. "Take the elevator down to the basement, then find this authorized door and go down the stairs." It was simple enough. There was a tunnel Marvin could escape from, or he could go back up two floors and leave through the main entrance. Either way, the exits were not far.
"This is a last resort," Amir reminded him. "If anything feels too dangerous to you, drop everything. Make sure you get out."
The call with Saeyung was short. Marvin told her he was willing to come in at 9:45 AM under one condition: he would be studied in the public clinic on the third floor. Saeyung agreed and expressed her monotone anticipation. If she had any reservations, it seemed curiosity had gotten the better of her, plus fear that they could not find another time.
"My brother will pick you up," she said.
Marvin met Sunwoo Park under the tram archway at the shopping mall. The man gave a thin smile, explaining how he was planning to go to the lab anyways that morning. Good timing.
They got into Sunwoo's shuttle—a smaller hovercraft where the cockpit and cabin weren't separated. It was like a car with a middle aisle. Sunwoo sat in the pilot's chair, Marvin one row behind him.
"Why are you going?" Sunwoo asked. "Can't just be for the money, can it?"
"Why not?" Marvin asked.
"I don't want to assume, but…" Sunwoo glanced over from the pilot's chair in the cockpit. "Can I assume?"
"Sure."
"You want to know if you're really human."
Marvin pursed his lips. He was human. He knew it deep down. And yet as the thought passed through his head, he noted that those lips he'd pursed weren't really there. His fingers and face weren't really his.
"That's the first thing I'd want to know," Sunwoo said. "If I were in your shoes."
"What did Saeyung tell you about me?"
Sunwoo didn't reply for some time. He stared out into the shuttle stream, eyes unblinking. Marvin felt a chill creep through him, and wondered if he was making the biggest mistake of his life.
Then Sunwoo grinned. "She said you're the biggest cheat in mech-fighting history."
Marvin forced a laugh.
Like last time, Sunwoo landed them at the top of the building, and they walked down the pitch-black hall to the elevators. Marvin looked left and right, soaking it all in for his cameras as they streamed everything to his friends back at the apartment. He'd been recording since Sunwoo picked him up, and he would record until he was far, far away from this place.
They descended to the third floor and stepped out into the familiar assortment of glass rooms. Two left turns and one right later, Marvin found himself staring down Saeyung at the end of the hall. The transparent room she stood in was larger than the rest, filled with more equipment that was connected to the wall by large tubes.
Sunwoo stopped twenty or so feet away from his sister. Marvin looked at him in confusion, then realized that someone was approaching from their right. A short man with a slight limp, wearing a patient's gown whose slits revealed braces on his legs.
It was Carlos Esparza, pilot of The Everlancer. It seemed he'd finally gotten the implants to cure his paralysis.
"Is now a good time?" Carlos asked.
Sunwoo looked at Marvin apologetically, then replied quietly, "I just got here."
"Thought this was urgent."
Sunwoo sighed. "Fair enough."
Carlos glanced at Marvin, said a quick, "Hey, Steve," then beckoned Sunwoo to follow him.
Marvin looked at Sunwoo and Carlos, expecting them to finish their conversation quickly and turn back. But they kept receding.
Marvin walked forwards. Saeyung seemed a little confused by Sunwoo and Carlos' interaction as well, but she smiled as Marvin entered the room. The smile didn't reach her eyes by a mile.
"Please." Saeyung gestured to the chair.
Marvin sat down and gingerly set his arms on the armrests. Saeyung lowered a metal bowl filled with electrodes over his head.
"I know you don't trust me, but I won't do anything to you," she said. "What would I gain by hurting you?"
More data, for starters. Marvin had no intention of staying that long. He knew how this worked—Saeyung needed to take diagnostics first, then she'd have to leave to test Legionnaire. She wouldn't get the time to subject him to anything.
"You did come at the safest time, though," Saeyung said. The electrodes hummed and the monitor to Marvin's left lit up with three wave-graphs. "I have to leave soon. You'll stay here for two hours of diagnostics, so I won't ask anyone to watch over you."
Saeyung turned away from Marvin to type commands into the monitor. Marvin activated the tiny arm. It drifted into his left elbow and extended silently towards Saeyung's lab coat. Dropped a disk into her pocket, then retracted itself. When Saeyung turned around, Marvin had not moved a centimeter.
"I appreciate this," Saeyung said. "Really. I'll get the money to your team by the end of today."
He heard the woman's voice once through his own microphones, then a slightly delayed replica from the bug. He turned off his voice box and asked his friends if they heard it, too. They confirmed they had.
A knock sounded at the room's entrance. Sunwoo.
"You ready?" he asked.
"Yes." Saeyung patted Marvin's shoulder. "See you in a bit."
And then he was alone in the room. He observed the siblings walk away. They didn't say anything for a while, not until they were nearly obscured by the various pieces of equipment. Then Saeyung spoke.
"Are you nervous?"
"Why would I be?" Sunwoo said.
Back to silence. Through the bug, their footsteps sounded like distant rumbles.
Then Sunwoo asked, "Are you?"
"A little," Saeyung replied. "After this, there's only Steve. And once that's over…" She let out a low hum. "I've always felt like a dog chasing its own tail. I don't think I'm ready to catch it."
Sunwoo chuckled. "Why are you getting so poetic?"
"Everything is going to change soon. For you as well."
"That doesn't have to be a bad thing."
"Hm. Maybe."
Marvin heard the ding of the elevator, the doors sliding open, the press of a button, then the doors sliding closed. He waited for the siblings to keep speaking, but for the next few minutes, he only heard footsteps, a few opening and closings of doors, and faint static.
He swept his eyes across the laboratory, trying to spot Carlos. No luck. There were few other patients. Most people came to this floor to get simple scans, so they came and went within minutes.
What if Saeyung's experiment is just a normal syncing test? What if she never does anything illegal and eventually finds the bug?
Before he could start overthinking, he heard another knock at the door. Carlos, somehow having gone unnoticed, walked in. Marvin's motors tensed but he didn't move.
"Everything alright?" Carlos asked. "How come you're here?
"Saeyung wanted to study me," Marvin replied. Even though Carlos didn't know he was a consciousness implant, he would believe cyborgs were valuable to Ainsel. Anyone would, naturally.
"Sunwoo took you here?"
Marvin nodded.
Carlos' face shriveled with suspicion. "What did he want with you?"
"He was just giving me a ride," Marvin said, though he tried to make his voice passive enough so that Carlos wouldn't be disarmed. He wanted to hear what the pilot had to say.
"You sure?" Carlos said. "He didn't ask you to do anything around Saeyung?"
"No." What is he getting at?
"Alright." Carlos frowned and turned to leave.
"Wait," Marvin blurted out. "Is something up with Sunwoo?"
Carlos turned back to face him. "I don't know. He's acting weird. Just now he said he wanted to talk to me, said it was urgent. He asked if I'd noticed his sister doing anything strange. I told him she's just been helping me outline a recovery after the implants."
Marvin nodded. It would be like the physical therapy Ella went through after her own implants.
"He's been asking other pilots, too," Carlos said. "Asking if Saeyung's reached out to them, if she offered to pilot for them or modify their mech."
"Why?" Marvin asked.
"Maybe he's insecure, I don't know. But Ainsel isn't obligated to only help Legionnaire. I mean, I need Saeyung right now. No one knows the implants better than her."
Marvin could understand that, and he didn't want to argue that Sunwoo was probably onto something. However, if all went well, Carlos would unfortunately have to find someone else for his physical therapy.
"Anyways, it's good to see you again," Carlos said. "I'm probably paranoid, but keep an eye out just in case."
"Got it. Good to see you too."
The Everlancer's pilot departed, and Marvin focused his attention back on the bug's audio. He heard a series of clicks, a hiss of a vent, and the whirring of a machine come to life.
"I'll call you from up there," Saeyung said.
There was the sound of a door opening and more footsteps. Marvin assumed she was heading to the elevator.
Silence for another few minutes. Saeyung entered another room and ordered, "Load Section 3B," whatever that meant. Then she began typing on a keyboard.
For the next fifteen minutes, that was all Marvin heard: typing and walking and more typing. At some point, Saeyung muttered a curse and told Sunwoo that she'd encountered an error. It would take twenty minutes to bypass.
Eventually, she fixed it and began to "disconnect the blueprints." Another error.
"God, I'm so sorry," Saeyung said. "One of the blueprints got corrupted last night. I should've checked."
"All good," Sunwoo said through a speaker. He sounded oddly distant.
"It might be another twenty minutes, Sunwoo."
"That's fine."
So twenty more minutes passed, and that error was resolved. Then Saeyung and Sunwoo began discussing other, foreign things.
They're talking too casually, Marvin thought worriedly. Maybe this was nothing more than a syncing test. If he waited the two hours and got nothing, he would have to confront Saeyung again. He did not want to see what the extent of her research on him would entail, and he certainly didn't want to sit here for the rest of the day and get nothing out of it.
Besides, the longer he stayed here, the more likely Saeyung would discover the bug. She'd find every one of Marvin's friends, and if Ishaan was right, she'd kill them.
I should use the data leech. It was extreme, but it had the highest chance of giving them what they wanted. Better to risk his life doing something guaranteed to work rather than wait and throw his life away.
He primed the single-wave EMP in his right arm, but he realized he didn't even need to use it. If he cut the cameras, security would be alerted, but if he simply got up, no one would care. He was in the public area of the lab. Saeyung was busy with Sunwoo and Legionnaire. Theoretically, he could go all the way to the server room without tripping any alarms.
He swept his cameras across the glass walls, making note of where the staff were. Then he got out of the chair. Forced himself to relax. Go to the elevator and go down to the bottom floor. Then find the authorized door. Go down the stairs. Plug in the virus. Get the hell out of here.
As he walked, he gradually got more comfortable. Soon, he was in the hall leading to the elevators. He passed by an employee who didn't even glance in his direction. The elevator opened when he was within three feet, letting out another researcher who also walked right on by.
Marvin put one foot past the elevator doors. Then the other. Then he was fully inside the empty metal box. On the control screen, he selected the basement floor, then he peered through the closing doors at the glass lab. No one was looking at him. To them, he was just a patient getting up to chill in the downstairs lobby.
The doors shut completely. Marvin primed his joints. This is it.
But the elevator didn't move. It didn't make a sound. Marvin looked at the screen, still displaying a bright blue 3. He went to press the button again, but suddenly a voice came over the speaker, a voice so cold it seemed to freeze the enclosure.
"Leaving so soon?" Saeyung said.
To Marvin's horror, the elevator began to ascend. Fourth floor, fifth floor…
"Come. I want to show you something."