It took until noon for Marvin to realize it was his birthday.
He'd spent the morning training on the farm in a field of golden shalewheat. Caroline had set up some holopad dummies for him to slice, and he arranged them in various patterns, pretending like he was fighting them in the battle royale.
Sometimes he wondered why he trained so much. It wasn't like he would get the credit when he got to Mecha Realm; that would be for Caroline, Ben, and Renee. It wasn't like he had a stronger motivation to get to Mecha Realm now that he didn't have his uncle's hopes on his shoulders.
Sometimes, he figured he trained simply because he liked to. He didn't get tired. He didn't feel the sweat run down his back and the ache of his head like he used to. He just willed his body and programming to fight and reveled in the rush.
He had woken up particularly early this morning, since Caroline would be hosting a social event in the afternoon. All mech teams were invited, but only two people had confirmed their attendance: Ishaan Khatri, pilot of Gammagrade, and Eleanor Hall, pilot of Immortal Ignition.
Ella was also part of the reason he trained today. He needed to prevent himself from overthinking what he would say to her. It wasn't like they were strangers; in fact, Marvin dared to say they had actual chemistry.
Just be yourself. You guys are already chill. Besides, it wasn't like anything would come of it—not until he was a human again.
Caroline was in good spirits today. She walked with a bounce in her step and hummed as she moved boxes from her shuttle into the workshop. It was a nice change for everyone to see; it had been a week since her episode, and she'd barely smiled or left her room since. This morning, to everyone's surprise, she had announced that she was ready to join the investigation again. The others had already scoured the internet for Ainsel AI's projects, but none of them matched what Marvin, Renee, and Ben had seen through that vent.
As Marvin walked back into the workshop, the flatscreen calendar on the ceiling caught his eye. The date was 5-10, his birthday.
And that was all the thought he gave it. All of his past birthdays had been celebrated with his uncle, and only the ones in elementary and middle school had been spent with his friends.
Where are you, Uncle? Marvin thought with a pang of loneliness.
"Clocking out, Marvin?" Caroline said. She was in the kitchen, moving something from the freezer to the fridge. Ben and Renee were also there, preparing food for the social event.
"Yup," Marvin said. He walked to the right corner of the room, took off his giant helmet, and sat down on the ground. Beside him on a metal chair was his cyborg body, one side propped against a worktable. Caroline came over with a screwdriver.
"What are the boxes for?" Marvin asked. Caroline had been moving those around for a while.
"Stuff for Battlegrounds Month," she replied. "I can't believe it's only two months away."
She pressed the screwdriver against Marvin's neck, and he suddenly felt a surge of panic. He searched himself for something to say; she transferred his head every time, and it was stupid to think this one would be any different.
"You mean still two months away."
Caroline laughed. "Can't hurt to start prepping now."
Battlegrounds was the special midseason mech-fighting event. The event changed every year—last year it had been a 3v3 tournament—but everything about the month was the same: dozens of interviews, game shows, and documentaries about individual pilots. With as much media coverage as Mecha Realm itself, it was the main way mech teams gained popularity and received sponsorships.
Caroline unscrewed Marvin's head and attached it to his cyborg frame. He stood up from the chair and nodded in thanks.
"We really should automate this," Caroline said.
"Yeah," Marvin agreed—not too quickly, he hoped. He flexed his smaller hands and felt his motors burning with power, almost identical to how his mech body felt. Caroline had performed miracles designing this. The new and improved "Steve" could tow hovercraft and punch holes through metal.
A few hours passed, and Marvin ran Renee's fight-scheduling algorithm on his laptop. It calculated which mechs were optimal to fight and when to fight them, though he took everything it said with a grain of salt. The beauty of mech-fighting, he believed, was how unpredictable it was.
Afterwards, he checked his internal clock. Almost 2 o'clock. He tried to suppress his nerves. Ishaan's a pretty scary guy, too. Why not think about what you'll say to him?
Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. Marvin bolted out of his seat and ran to the bathroom. How did he look? Was his hoodie stained? Was his cap lopsided?
What am I doing? It's not that deep.
Marvin took a deep, imaginary breath and pushed through the bathroom door. He turned to the workshop's front door, where two figures were blocking the light: one tall, one short. Ishaan and Ella.
The two pilots exchanged enthusiastic greetings with Caroline, Ben, and Renee. Marvin just waved. Caroline welcomed them to the dining table and as they went over, Marvin backed away unnecessarily and almost tripped over his own feet. He'd been meaning to catch Ella's gaze, but now he couldn't bear to look in her direction.
Ella, Caroline, and Ben took a seat at the table while Renee ran to fetch something from the fridge. Marvin inched awkwardly to the table, hoping to get to the chair next to Ella before Ishaan did, but he suddenly found the older boy standing in front of him.
"Hey Marvin," Ishaan began. "You got a minute? Can I check something with you?"
"What? Oh, um, sure."
Ishaan flashed a smile and nodded to the door. "It's outside."
Does he know that I like Ella? Is he trying to sabotage me?
"Sure," Marvin repeated, wishing he'd said anything but, and followed Ishaan outside. They stopped in the clearing, still a ways from the shalewheat field.
Gammagrade's pilot looked happier than usual. His gang, the Sawblades, had won a large piece of land in Nagatown, and he'd also skyrocketed in the mech rankings over the last few months. He more than deserved it with how hard he trained.
"First of all, how's the search for your body going?" Ishaan asked.
Marvin told him about Ainsel AI and the strange mech they'd found there. He left out Caroline's incident, though he would've trusted Ishaan to keep it a secret, too. Ishaan had basically been in the room when Marvin was murdered. Had even tried to warn him. They'd experienced the moment together, and were now in this investigation together.
"How is your gang?" Marvin asked.
"Things are looking good. The Manhunters are still bitter, but we've kept them in check. We also finished garage renovations. You should stop by sometime."
"And have a rematch?"
"Nah, we'll have that for real," Ishaan said. "You got enough points to spare a loss, don't you?"
"So do you," Marvin said, and they laughed. "By the way, what did you want to talk about?"
Ishaan opened his mouth, then tilted his head and frowned. "You know what? I forgot."
"What?"
"Come on, let's go back inside. It was nice catching up."
So Ishaan and an extremely confused Marvin headed back into the workshop. As they walked through the front door, Ishaan slapped the back of Marvin's head for some reason and hurried to the dining table. The rest of the people—Caroline, Ben, Renee, and Ella—stood up and all stared at Marvin.
Then they all started singing in unison: "Happy birthday to you…"
Marvin checked his reflection in the back of his hand. Ishaan had placed a little blue cone on his head.
He stood there in shock for a moment. Had he been human, he might have actually teared up. These people who had only known him for four months had not only found out his birthday, but had planned a surprise for him. Renee beckoned him to the table, where they had laid out a cake. Marvin walked as if in a trance.
"How long were you planning this?" he asked.
"Honestly?" Ben said. "Since yesterday."
Marvin sat down at the table and stared at the cake.
"Oh yeah," Caroline said. "Sorry. That's more for ceremonial purposes."
Marvin didn't mind; he wouldn't feel hungry watching people eat. He cut a slice of the cake and, without really thinking, gave it to Ella. She shook her head and pointed to his teammates. Marvin persisted, getting a sly look from Ben, and Ella took it.
Real subtle. He was too happy to be embarrassed, though.
Everyone else grabbed a slice of the cake and began eating. As Marvin's gaze passed over every face at the table, he tried to engrain this memory into his Core. They all seemed so happy. Happy for him? Happy for themselves? Who cares?
They ate and talked and laughed, and after a long time, when the group conversation was at a saturation point, Ella stood up and walked around the table. Marvin felt a small panic. Was she leaving already? They hadn't even talked directly to each other since she got here.
Instead, Ella stopped at Marvin's chair. "How've you been?" she asked.
"Pretty good," Marvin said. He awkwardly scooted his chair backwards. "How about you?"
"Wanna take a walk?"
Oh shit. I guess I do. Marvin tried not to look at Ben as he followed Ella outside. There was only one reason she was being so direct: she did not like him and was not worried about anyone else thinking so.
They walked along a footpath heading deep into the shalewheat fields. The distant city glimmered in the artificial sunlight, looking like a mirage. The golden stalks might as well have extended infinitely around them.
"How, um, how are you?" Marvin asked. Again.
"Fine," Ella said. "The implants are… Well, I've gotten worse."
Marvin winced. He could tell how much that hurt to say aloud. He couldn't imagine waking up one day and suddenly regressing.
"I have time, though," Ella continued. "I might not make Mecha Realm this year, but—"
"What? You'll definitely make Mecha Realm," Marvin said. There was no way she would fall out of the top five in her Sector.
"Fine, I will," Ella said. "Anyways, Renee told me you guys found some shady stuff at Ainsel AI?"
Is she deflecting? "Yeah, we're gonna look into them."
Ella laughed. "How? You're gonna sneak into their lab?"
Marvin realized they had no concrete plan, except letting Amir do his thing. He shrugged, still a little distracted by Ella's sudden shift into talking about him.
"Luyan used to work with their CEO," Ella continued. "Apparently she's one of the most powerful Hosaka Chairs."
The mention of Saeyung Park made Marvin's gears strain, though he could not articulate what he felt was off about her.
"About Luyan… are you doing okay?" Marvin asked.
Ella didn't reply for a moment. As they walked further into the farmlands, the shalewheat grew taller and taller until Marvin could no longer see over them. Yes, he was doing the same kind of deflecting. They weren't exactly off to a good start.
"I'll be okay," Ella said at length. And then back to silence.
Marvin felt like it was wrong to speak up first. He was supposed to be the timid one, and Ella was supposed to be the one who had a lot of things to ramble about. But as they kept walking, he could tell Ella was slipping further away.
"Did you know about my birthday?" he asked.
Ella looked up at him. "Of course."
"How did you guys know?"
Ella smiled sheepishly. "In one of your interviews, a reporter brought up that it was your birthday. The date kinda stuck with me."
Marvin blushed. "Did you…?"
"Set this up? Not really. I just pitched the idea and your teammates did the rest."
"Thanks," Marvin said. He would have said more, like, If it weren't for you, this wouldn't have been one of my best days in recent memory, but his voice had a word capacity. Instead, he asked, "When is your birthday?"
"You're not pulling this shit on me," Ella retorted.
"We'll see."
Just like that, a veil seemed to be lifted between them. Going straight to personal things was never the move, Marvin noted. They walked on and talked about the mech season and their predictions for the Battlegrounds event. Ella complained about college and then detailed her family vacation in Sector 8. Marvin listened and chimed in, and never failed to be surprised when Ella suddenly asked about his own life.
Get comfortable talking about yourself, he thought. If their friendship were to grow, it'd inevitably end up being more fifty-fifty.
It was 3:45 PM when they heard the explosion.
Marvin recognized the sound immediately. He'd heard it too many times during his fight with the Spider, the scavengers' war machine. With his enhanced microphones, he made out the ensuing crumble of debris and crackle of flames.
He and Ella spun around to see smoke rising in the air. Smoke from Caroline's workshop.