Marvin stood with his back to the crowd, overlooking the stadium. It was the highest attendance yet, with a few notable additions being Morgan Silo, pilot of The Praetor, and Gianna Kang, pilot of Lightbreaker. They were here to mingle and spar with Sparrow, of course. Not watch the duel between Rustica and Marvin.
But the duel was all Marvin cared about. The first real fight. No kill conditions. No switch to auto-forfeit. Just like old times.
The arm sabers had been completely replaced—now they were the classic unfoldable ones Saberstar had, which could be drawn in a fraction of a second. A rear-view camera had been added, along with multiple ultrasonic sensors that triggered various automated responses. A better ventilation system had been installed for the Maevis Convertor, and a few extra thrusters along the waist axis made for ultra fast rotation.
Marvin counted the time in his head: 2:10 PM and 34 seconds. Bob and Sienna were supposed to be here at 2, but something probably had held them up. Marvin figured they had a lot to deal with.
He opened and closed his robotic fists by his sides as he studied the arena. Would he be able to beat Rustica this time? The larger mech was now allowed to use the thrusters on its axe, and Marvin suspected the weapon itself had sensors that would activate those thrusters when the opponent tried to grab the axe.
But my swords are faster now, too, Marvin thought.
Despite the danger, the risk to his life, he couldn't help smiling to himself. A nervous smile, perhaps, but laced with excitement.
"I haven't heard from them yet," Caroline said, joining him at the edge of the pit. "You wanna go to the team room and get ready?"
Marvin nodded. They couldn't depend on Bob and Sienna to be responsive when those two had so much else on their hands. Besides, Marvin could practice a bit on his own.
He and Caroline headed down to the ground floor, circling through the ivory corridor till they reached the team room. When Caroline tapped the door handle, the scanner blinked red and the metal barrier didn't budge.
"Huh," she muttered. She knocked on the door, as if that would accomplish anything, then tapped the handle again to no avail. "I guess Bob needs to unlock it."
Marvin frowned, thinking of all the pilots in the stands waiting to fight Sparrow. Fifteen minutes now.
This was Bob's arena, after all. Didn't he have some obligation to tell others—or at least Caroline, the host of these events—why he was late?
Caroline pulled out her tablet and called Bob. It went to voicemail.
"Great," she murmured, fidgeting with the door handle. "What now?"
Marvin shrugged. Maybe he could transfer to the mech body and just practice in the halls for a bit? But he realized how weird and suspicious that would look.
In the end, they decided to go back up and talk with some people. Without Sienna, Marvin wasn't too keen on conversing with Ella, but Immortal Ignition's pilot was who they approached first. She had just entered the stands after storing her mech.
"I haven't heard from them since the last event," Ella said when they asked her about Bob and Sienna. "We're not that close."
"Don't you usually get here early?" Marvin asked.
Ella gave him a look. "Are you saying I knew they were gonna be late?"
Marvin shrugged.
"Don't start this with me," Ella said. "I hate being falsely accused." She sniffed and gestured towards the arena. "But if you wanna spar, Caroline—"
"The doors are locked," Caroline said. "We were gonna talk to The Praetor and Lightbreaker's pilots, though, if you want to join."
Wait, I never agreed to this, Marvin thought.
To his dismay, Ella smiled and replied, "Sure."
So the three of them set off. As they headed to the table Morgan Silo stood at, they—but mostly Caroline and Ella—were greeted by some of the pilots they'd previously talked to, including Carlos, who was sitting with his teammates and discussing a blueprint of The Everlancer. George Jang was unfortunately also present, but he was on the opposite side of the stadium. Marvin only caught a glimpse of him before he was obstructed.
Morgan Silo was a tall, lanky man with lively eyes creased with wrinkles, although he couldn't have been older than 35. He wore a black bucket hat with two neon wires that ran from his head to his shoulder blades. Marvin and the others caught him just as he was finishing talking with another pilot.
Caroline introduced herself and Marvin as the pilot of Cablecar and her apprentice. Ella already knew Morgan from Mecha Realm last month, and they exchanged a warm greeting.
Instead of cringing at the name "Cablecar," Morgan's face lit up.
"You're fighting Bob today, aren't you?"
"Yeah, whenever he gets here," Caroline said. Everyone glanced at the hologram above the arena displaying the time.
19 minutes and 2 seconds past 2:00.
"He's not here?" Morgan asked.
Caroline nodded. "The doors downstairs are all locked."
Morgan cocked his head. "That's weird. He practically lives here." He tapped his fingers together. "That was leading up to Mecha Realm, though. I guess he's taking a break."
But would he be this late for a duel?
"Is he usually punctual?" Caroline asked.
"Yeah," Morgan replied. "If he's not, it's usually something really important."
If it were so important, wouldn't he have said something?
Marvin recalled the last time they'd talked, Bob had said how he was trying to track Marvin's NID traces. Had something happened as a result of that—had Bob discovered something important? Or perhaps he'd found something dangerous and he was now compromised.
Then there was the other explanation: it wasn't Bob, but Sienna. Something had happened to her that was preoccupying him.
"He hasn't told you why he's late?" Morgan asked.
"No," Caroline replied. "You think he would've told someone here?"
"You're the host, are you not?" Morgan pointed out, which got a look of surprise out of Caroline. Apparently people did know this fact. "If his teammates are here, then I guess he hasn't told anyone."
Caroline, Ella, and Marvin exchanged glances. Ella seemed more or less indifferent, as if this were a normal occurrence, but Marvin could tell he and Caroline were on similar wavelengths.
If he doesn't show up in thirty minutes, something is wrong.
There were ten minutes and 24 seconds till then. Those were spent talking with Morgan about mech-fighting and his piloting style and his mech's components. It was all interesting, but Marvin found it hard to focus. An unsettling air had set in amongst them. Smiles seemed a little more fake, voices seemed a bit more stilted.
Except for Ella, of course. Once Caroline was done talking, Ella was more than happy to complain about how bad this year's weather systems were. "Completely random," she said, as if the weather patterns were not displayed in the middle of the battleground for all to see. A good pilot would have taken a photo or memorized the patterns.
After a while, Ella spotted Carlos free and scurried over to him. Marvin, Caroline, and Morgan stood by their circular table awkwardly.
Then, Morgan's eyes widened and he smiled. Caroline and Marvin turned around and followed his gaze towards the entrance of the stands, where the crowd was parting for someone.
Sienna Lee.
Marvin let out an internal sigh of relief as he watched the pilot's streak of red hair move through a sea of darker colors. He looked to his right at the arena, thoughts instantly going back to the duel.
However, when he looked back at Sienna, he noticed something was off. Her gait was agitated and her eyebrows were furrowed with concern. As she got closer to them, she picked up her pace. Her pupils were large, frenetic.
Marvin stepped back nervously as Sparrow's pilot skidded to a halt in front of them. She glanced at the three of them—Marvin, Caroline, and Morgan—took a shaky breath, and said, "Bob's gone missing."