Marvin observed his reflection in the mirror. He wore a loose blue hoodie and baggy gray pants which hid his robotic features nicely. The metal on his hands was exposed, but people would assume it was an implant.
The problem was his face—a sleek, curved plate with two round, blue camera-eyes and a single blue line where his mouth should've been. Part of it was shadowed by his cap, but not enough.
Ben, Caroline, and Renee had all insisted that it looked cool and it'd be uncanny if he had a humanesque face, but they had no idea. He wanted to be as unassuming as possible at this stupid social event. What was he going to gain from talking to fellow pilots? What would he even say to them?
Apparently, many pilots had signed up to go alone, as they were only there for the chance to spar with Sparrow. Marvin would get his shot too, but they'd frame it like Caroline was piloting his mech. Among the attendees was Carlos Esparza, pilot of The Everlancer, and Eleanor Hall, pilot of Immortal Ignition. The fact that they were attracting such big names already was a little frightening.
Someone knocked on the bathroom door.
"Marvin?" Caroline called. "What are you even doing?"
"Uh, one second," Marvin stammered. He pulled his cap lower, but that made him look goofy. There had to be a way to improve his appearance.
"Okay, well there's been a change of plans," Caroline said. "Ben and Renee aren't going. They took extra shifts at Renee's job."
What?! Marvin's original plan was that if things got too awkward, he could always run to Ben and get him to yap about something. Who was going to save him now? He assumed Caroline would be out and about, making connections.
Can I just… maybe… not go? It was embarrassing how close he was to asking that out loud. He wasn't a kid anymore.
"Got it," Marvin said.
"And also, are you able to go now?" Caroline asked.
Marvin pushed away from the mirror. Now?! The event was still an hour away!
"Sienna said we can spar with her first," Caroline explained. "And then we'll have more time to mingle and stuff when everyone else gets there."
Mingle. Marvin wanted to die.
However… he supposed going early wasn't the worst idea. There'd be no spectators that way. No one to see this new mech get his ass handed to him. Besides, it was Sparrow, the second-highest ranking mech in the megacity. He'd been itching to fight someone of that caliber ever since he'd crushed his first neurobrick.
"Can you give me five minutes?" Marvin asked.
"Yeah, of course," Caroline said.
Marvin leaned towards the mirror and began adjusting his cap again.
-----
Rustica's arena was larger than any Marvin had been in. The dozens of rows of seats had been flattened and replaced by tables and chairs. Trays of food and water stations were scattered about, and the lights had been evened out so that the fighting pit was not in the spotlight.
Still, that was the first thing that drew Marvin's attention. The tall, silver walls. The slightly uneven ground that mimicked rock. Sparrow, pacing slowly in a circle, its red and black armor seeming to absorb light rather than reflect it, its slender twinblade tucked comfortably under its shoulder. And…
Another mech?
It stood opposite Sparrow, and the two were circling each other. It was dull gray—an unpainted prototype—with no weapons to be seen.
"Who's that?" Marvin asked Bob. They were standing at one of the closest tables to the ring.
Bob grinned. "Immortal Ignition's pilot."
That kid? If it was any other pilot, Marvin would've respected their dedication to coming even earlier than him to spar. But from the very little he knew about Eleanor, it seemed like she was here to prove a point, to show the other pilots that she was more devoted than them.
Who are you kidding? he thought. You don't know her at all.
"How long is she gonna be in there?" Caroline asked.
"She's scheduled for another twenty minutes," Bob replied. He grimaced. "Although I have a feeling it'll be longer than that."
"Can I- er, we go after?" Marvin asked.
"Of course," Bob said. He glanced between the other two. "Let me get this straight. You're the pilot," he pointed to Caroline, "and you're the apprentice." He pointed to Marvin.
"Yup," Caroline said.
"But you're also the engineer, and you obviously do some outsourcing, too," Bob said to Caroline. "Do you guys have teammates?"
Caroline laughed. "Yeah, the roles are just kinda fluid."
"Uh huh." Bob turned back to the arena for a second. The mechs were still circling each other. They were probably conversing through speakers, but the ring of soundwards along the top edge of the pit muted their voices. Bob waved to Sparrow, and the mech gave thumbs up in return.
"I'd like to apologize," Bob said, turning back to Marvin and Caroline. "I know I've been quiet about Theo."
Marvin was finally able to fully tear his attention away from the mechs. He subconsciously inched towards Bob.
"He's fully off the grid," Bob explained. "His NID is invalid. It didn't just get erased; it's like it never existed. My programmer and Sienna's tracked its traces—to the public places, of course—but they were pretty much false leads, and the older traces span thousands of NIDs."
That meant thousands of locations to search. Marvin felt a familiar sinking feeling, the one he'd felt when he'd finally come to terms that he was a robot. For once, he wished Theo wasn't so technologically adept.
"I don't know if you have any other leads, Steve," Bob said, "but NID is a dead end. I'm sorry."
Steve? Who's— Oh, right. Of all the names Ben could've given him.
Marvin supposed he could tell Bob where Theo lived, but that was a little strange. Besides, if Theo had gone off grid, he most definitely wasn't at his apartment anymore. Could they try contacting Sina?
Marvin realized how selfish that thought was. Did Sina's life mean less than Lindon's? Did Theo's life mean less? Could he have said his uncle's name instead of Theo's when they'd first met Bob?
"In any case, I've convinced a few other teams in my Sector that the Manhunters sabotaged Saberstar," Bob said. On Marvin's left, Caroline visibly tensed up. "They're people I trust. We're making sure to keep it under the radar, but eventually this will have to spread. If we can't find any evidence, this is the only way to get justice."
Marvin lowered his gaze. If Ishaan was right, Bob was only diverting attention away from the real culprit.
Why don't I tell Bob who I am? That would make things-
A screech of metal derailed his train of thought. In the ring, Sparrow and Immortal Ignition's prototype were beginning their bout. The prototype's hands had folded into thick blades that looked almost like drills. Sparrow moved nimbly, constantly keeping the twinblade in motion, while the prototype jolted and lurched like it was malfunctioning. Strangely enough, though, Eleanor never let herself get hit.
"Is that a piloting style?" Caroline said.
"Single commands," Bob said. "The Core goes into standby between every attack. It only works if your mech is top notch, though."
AKA if your team is rich, Marvin thought.
"Why would you want to do that?" Caroline asked.
"It's good at training your reaction time," Bob replied. "And it gauges how responsive your mech is."
That seemed like a nightmare for Marvin. He would rather not dull his brain between every attack.
"By the way, do you guys want a tour of the place?" Bob asked. "I realized I'm not being a very good host."
Caroline looked at Marvin and, as if reading his mind, replied, "It's alright. I wanna see how Sienna fights."
Bob smiled. "Good luck. I still can't read half of her moves."
Marvin and Caroline turned their attention to the ring, and Bob left to talk with his teammates. Sienna's strength truly lay within her unpredictability. There was no pattern to her sweeps and thrusts, not to mention how she never once let her twinblade come to rest. It wasn't the best style for duels, but it worked wonders in the battle royale.
Eleanor, on the other hand, was okay. She fought like how Marvin expected someone to fight.
After a bit, both pilots seemed to fall into a more serious mood. Attacks were thrown with the intent to kill, even if they'd assured each other of their mechs' safety.
It was clear that Sienna was better. As far as Marvin knew, Eleanor had little dueling experience and had only piloted Immortal Ignition for Mecha Realm. She'd probably gotten lucky, hiding or scaring opponents off till she was fourth-to-last alive.
Half an hour later, Eleanor brought her prototype out of the ring. Marvin and Caroline went down a flight of stairs and entered a familiar ivory-colored hall. Marvin didn't know why all arenas painted their halls this color.
Up ahead, Eleanor stepped out of the team room, her remote-controlled mech following. Caroline and Marvin's own mech walked behind them, modulated by a simple joystick on Caroline's tablet. As they passed each other, Caroline said a quick "hello" and Marvin stupidly nodded. Eleanor nodded back and raised an eyebrow at their mech's lack of a head. She didn't say anything, though.
Caroline and Marvin first stopped at the team room, where Caroline checked for cameras, then transferred Marvin's head onto the mech body. When Marvin opened his eyes, he was suddenly twice as tall and felt far more alert. He carried his cyborg body to the corner of the room and positioned a few tables to hide it from the door, then turned to Caroline. It was funny seeing her at half her usual height.
Caroline attached Marvin's blades to each arm, then gave him his helmet which he slid onto his head. A few cables clicked into place, and he felt his vision sharpen tenfold. The helmet covered his entire face. It was a simple design—two rectangular eyes and a two-by-three array of circular ventilators—but it was different enough from his face that no one would recognize him.
"Good luck," Caroline said.
Marvin smiled, phantom heart thumping with excitement. It would be a three-round scrimmage, each round ending whenever a robot had the other in a kill condition or when ten minutes was up. If Marvin could even force a draw, it would fuel his happiness for the next few weeks.
Caroline pressed a button on the table, then walked out to go to the pilot's room. One door closed, and another door opened behind Marvin. Beyond it were the bright walls of the arena and Sparrow, a red and black shadow against them.
Marvin walked into the arena, making his movements jankier than usual to give the impression Caroline was still remote controlling him. He stopped when he planted both feet on the coarse and uneven floor.
"Hello!" Sienna said through Sparrow's speaker. "Caroline, right?"
Marvin nodded. They'd explained earlier that they didn't have or want a speaker—they were just here for the fight. Sienna seemed to remember that as she flipped her twinblade under the arm, against her shoulder.
"Whenever you're ready," she said.
Marvin looked at his arms and the swords that extended from them, then at the rest of his body. Everything was a dull gray, much like Eleanor's prototype. It was a generic build on the outside, with the necessary armor pieces and thrusters, but the internal systems were quite similar to Saberstar's. That meant Marvin couldn't put too much blame on his hardware if he performed poorly.
Caroline's voice reached Marvin's head through a microphone. "I'm in the Bessmer chair," she said. "You can go whenever."
Marvin waited a few more seconds, observing Sparrow. Its slim build resembled Sienna herself, except twice as large and padded with a layer of metal. Its helmet was a thinner and sharper version of a Dark Age knight's, and the armor pieces meshed seamlessly with one another. Sparrow's twinblade was a couple inches taller than itself, and the blades were covered with a training filament that made them a bit thicker than they should've been. A chain connected the weapon's handle to a wheel on the forearm.
Marvin rolled his shoulders, bent his knees, and nodded to show that he was ready.
Sienna dropped her twinblade and let it bounce against the floor back and forth like a yoyo. She always bounced the weapon in some manner when she wasn't in combat to keep momentum. Marvin would have to break that up before anything else.
He and Sienna approached each other. As the guest, Marvin was expected to attack first.
That blade can only come up one way, and on one side. Sienna held it with her right hand; thus, Marvin would aim for her left.
He flared his thrusters and lunged. Sienna kicked her twinblade up and swung. Marvin ducked. His left sword nearly reached her abdomen before something suddenly knocked him to the side. He balanced himself on his right sword and snapped his head upwards.
She used the other end. Of course. He was not used to these kinds of weapons.
Sienna went on the offensive. Her twinblade a whirlwind, she crashed into Marvin. He deflected the first hit. Blocked the second. And then…
Everything became a blur. Sparrow and its weapon merged into an unintelligible mass of black and red. Panic rose in Marvin's chest as he put his swords up in front of his face.
He had no idea what was going on. He'd never fought someone like this. Most of the time he could at least create space to break the opponent's flow, but he couldn't even turn his head before it got smacked the other direction.
Saberstar had an emergency button for times like these. The mech would curl its knees under itself, hold its arms tight against its body, and spin rapidly around the waist. The whirlwind would usually scare the opponent and free up some space.
Marvin's current mech did not have that ability.
Before he knew it, he was lying on the ground, staring at the tip of Sparrow's blade.
Sienna held her position for a moment, then pulled back and dropped her weapon in shame.
"I'm so sorry," she said. "Oh man, that… I didn't mean…"
She scurried over and reached out her hand. Marvin took it, still in shock.
"I'll go easier, I promise," Sienna said. "I just… I thought…"
Marvin shook his head. He'd already gotten a taste of it. This was the only version of Sparrow he wanted to fight.
"You… don't want me to go easy?" Sienna said slowly.
Marvin nodded.
"What does that mean?" Sienna asked meekly. "Sorry, grammar's not my—"
Marvin stepped back and pointed his sword at her.
"Oh." Sienna tilted her head. "Look, that's not a good way for you to learn. We'll restart, do another three rounds—"
Marvin shook his head vehemently.
Sparrow's visor angled downwards, as if it were confused. "Are you sure?"
Marvin nodded.
Sienna shrugged. "Alright then." She moved a few paces back and reset her twinblade to its resting position. "But here's some advice first: try to use this entire space. Go up."
Marvin blinked. That concept had never even crossed his mind before; it just didn't seem natural. Jumping over an attack or flying over your enemy's head seemed so silly and counterproductive.
But perhaps it could've saved him that first round.
Only one way to find out.
Marvin charged. His blade was immediately batted away. He spun, almost catching Sparrow in the head with his other sword. Sienna moved minimally, just getting her head out of distance, then swung her twinblade upwards. Marvin caught it on his right sword and forced it down, then stabbed his left blade. Another clean miss. Sienna let the blade thread slide past her neck, and then, to Marvin's shock, trapped it between her head and shoulder. Marvin tried to pull free, but after a whack and a kick to his left leg, he was brought to the ground. He raised his swords to block an overhead from Sparrow that would've resulted in a kill condition.
Marvin leapt backwards, almost tripping in the process. Sienna stayed put.
First round Sparrow wouldn't have let me do that. Whether it was subconscious or intentional, Sienna had cooled off a bit. That wouldn't do.
Go up. How was he supposed to do that? The amount of exertion it would put on his thrusters…
Marvin decided that he could adopt Sienna's tips later. For now, he charged back in.
Block, parry, jab, duck. This time, Marvin managed to push Sienna back a little. Problem was, she was still going easy. Marvin feigned a right hook and tried to hit Sparrow's torso with his left blade. One twirl of the twinblade deflected both moves. Sienna thrust, causing Marvin to double over. Then she spun, hitting the side of his head with the back blade. Marvin expected it this time. He put his weight into his right shoulder and rolled sideways as a third strike came down. Sienna rapidly shifted her stance, flipping her twinblade so that the opposite end smashed the floor. With help from his thrusters, Marvin leapt out of range. He landed on his feet far firmer than the first time.
That was when he knew something had changed. Sienna began to tap her weapon on the ground, cold and methodical, as if she were feeling its weight for the first time.
There it is, Marvin thought, grinning.
They rushed at each other. Marvin slid on his knees, under the twinblade, and swung his left arm in a lightning-fast arc. When he stood up, Sparrow was nowhere in sight. He hadn't felt his blade hit anything, but it had been so fast-
Something suddenly wrapped around his neck and threw him backwards. The twinblade handle. It was lodged securely between his head and torso. Marvin threw both arms backwards, hoping to stab Sparrow's head, but found nothing but thin air.
Sienna rested a hand on Marvin's head and twisted slightly.
"Kill condition," she said.
Marvin felt a shiver go down his spine. Breaking necks were not a kill condition in mech-fights; if this had been a real duel, Sienna would have jammed something into his skull and pierced his Core.
I'd be dead.
The two mechs separated to their sides of the arena.
"That was good, by the way!" Sienna said. "You've got impressive reflexes."
My life, whatever's left of it, would be gone.
"But if you're going to do that slidey thing, make sure you can turn around immediately," Sienna suggested. "Or use backside cameras."
All the work Caroline, Ben, and Renee put into helping me would be for nothing.
"Round three, whenever you're ready," Sienna said, holding her weapon out.
Marvin found himself hesitating. He could almost feel Sparrow's hand on his head, inches from his Core. That was all he was: a chip inside of a metal sphere. For all he knew, all that impact to his head had already damaged his brain. Jeopardized his existence.
And I want to do this for the rest of the year?
Of course, his opponents wouldn't be on Sparrow's level, and he would probably get his body back before Mecha Realm. But if one mech got lucky and caught him before he could forfeit…
You're being ridiculous, he told himself. This is just a sparring match. Think about how much you can learn from these.
Marvin charged.
This time, Sienna held nothing back. Marvin stayed on the defensive, running away from most attacks, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. It wasn't his usual fighting style, but he'd never win fighting head on. He needed to get a feel of Sparrow's tactics and draw the battle on for as long as possible. He escaped each swing of the twinblade by the skin of his nonexistent teeth, but overall he remained untouched.
As hard as he tried, he couldn't pinpoint a pattern to Sienna's attacks. She seemed to adapt to whatever Marvin did; the only consistent thing was her tap tap tap in the brief moments of reprieve.
Could I exploit that somehow?
But the bounces themselves didn't have any pattern; Sienna could engage after any one of them. Perhaps he could bait her into going idle, then strike before that first tap.
A hit to the arm and chin made Marvin stumble. He flew backwards a good distance, and sure enough, Sienna tapped her blade on the ground once before pursuing.
It's to reorient herself, Marvin thought. How could he get far enough to make her do that, but remain close enough to attack before she did?
Unfortunately, there was no time to figure that out. Sienna jumped right as she was about to reach Marvin, soaring over his head. She'd dropped her twinblade in the meantime and it fell in front of Marvin.
A mistake? He frantically grabbed the weapon. I've disarmed her!
And then he heard metal snap against his neck. He'd completely forgotten about the chain that connected the twinblade to Sparrow's arm.
Before he could react, Sienna pulled the chain and he was flung to the ground. A foot stomped on his chest and the twinblade appeared between his eyes.
Kill condition.
Marvin let out a frustrated sigh; fortunately, his voice box was turned off. Sienna held out a hand and helped him up.
"Sorry, that was a little cheap," Sienna said. "But you've gotta pay attention to your opponent before the fight. Then you could've seen that coming."
In the heat of the moment? I highly doubt it.
Marvin nodded, however. He was ever grateful for those three rounds.
"You're good, though," Sienna continued. "Who was your mentor?"
Marvin pointed to his voice box.
"Oh, right." Sienna pointed to the stands, where a considerable amount of people had gathered. "Is it okay if we talk later, then?"
Marvin felt a stab of panic, but quickly realized that Sienna wanted to talk to Caroline, not him. He nodded.
"Awesome," Sienna said. "See ya."
Marvin walked back to the exit—the door that led to the team room—feeling a mix of satisfaction and frustration.
I can beat her. I just need more time.
And he'd get more time. There would be more social events like these throughout the year, as Caroline had promised. He'd hone his skills against Sparrow, until one day, he'd inevitably emerge victorious.
But for now, he had to suffer through the rest of this event. He looked up at the stands. Dozens of pilots were gathered around tables, chatting with each other. A streak of red hair caught his eye. Eleanor stood near the pit's edge with her arms crossed, looking at nothing in particular, probably thinking. Some distance away, a dark-haired man in a wheelchair keenly observed the arena. That was Carlos Esparza, pilot of The Everlancer.
He's probably chill to talk with, Marvin thought. As for the others… he supposed he would try his best.