Smasher Allies

While the Smashers are a large and powerful group, even they cannot possibly handle every threat and crisis. As such, they've developed a network of allies to help them in various situations. While I'm sure that there are more than the ones listed here, I will endeavor to cover all known groups that are allies of the Smashers. I also want to mention that just because a group is listed here, it's not a guarantee that they'll be called upon by the Smashers to assist them. What's important to know is that they could be called upon and you may face them on the field of battle. I'm not going to go into great depth about these groups, but I will briefly cover them so that there's some information as to what they do, very few of these groups have any members that match the power of a Threat Level 4 or 5 Smasher, so I can't imagine that most of them should cause excessive amounts of trouble.


Smasher Ally Bio: Robert of Ylisse and his HIB Team

Robert of Ylisse is a well-publicized agent of the Harmony Intelligence Bureau (HIB). His exploits in the service of Chrom of Ylisse as a tactician seem to have caught the attention of the Bureau and he was recruited about a decade after the Senate Rebellion. His affiliation with the Smashers has been noted on several occasions when he and his team partnered with them on various investigations.

Robert is a tactician by trade and while seemingly a competent warrior armed with swords, laser pistols and a number of other gadgets, his real firepower comes from his star-studded team which he's built around himself. The first I'll cover is Brynhilde Eisner, the twin sister of Smasher Byron Eisner. Brynhilde was a teacher at Garreg Mach academy for some years and sided with the Lescter Alliance during the most recent war in Foedlan. Brynhilde is known for being an intelligent mind and a powerful warrior, one of only a few female War Masters. Next is the legendary Star Wolf team, which Robert personally got out of jail and seemingly reformed. These cunning renegades are ace pilots, led by Wolf O'Donnel himself, and are no slouch on the ground when it comes to gunfighting. Being Cornerian ace pilots, they'll fight similarly to Fox and Falco and will be equipped in a similar manner. Last is a group only known as "The Heroes". This comprises of three warriors know by the titles of "Edrick", "Solo" and "Eight", though the significance of these titles are unknown. These three warriors who saved their homeland from an evil sorcerer. The fourth member of their party, who goes by the title "The Luminary" eventually became a Smasher. I'd guess that it happened because of Robert's recommendation. Though Luminary was made a Kid Smasher due to his young age, which was also likely why he wasn't recruited to join Robert's team. These three are crafty warriors who are skilled in a number of fighting styles, but all of them prefer the use of a sword and shield.

Robert's team has gained a great deal of visibility due to their exploits. They've answered the call on numerous occasions and have handled seemingly everything from high profile corruption to hostage rescue to manhunts for particularly dangerous criminals. They're a flexible team that can operate effectively in a number of different contexts, which makes them well rounded opponents who won't be taken by surprise easily.

In order to defeat them, just remember that Star Wolf doesn't do anything that Fox and Falco are unable to, and that the rest are very similar to the many swordsmen amongst the Smashers. Remember, they are a team, and are used to fighting with each other. Separating them will deprive them of their teammates and make them easier to pick off.


Act 11: Chrom

Chapter 3: Grim Sky


In the woods…..

Snake almost jumped as his communicator began to ring.

"This is Snake."

"Snake, its time," said Chrom. "I need you to get in position as soon as you can. They're about to launch Bytans at us."

"The ones that duplicate themselves?" asked Snake.

"Yeah. We'll probably have to sortie out from the barricades and make sure that they're all dead before they can multiply enough to threaten us. If you can distract some of the army with an attack of your own, we will have an easier time taking out the Bytans."

"How much of the army are we trying to distract?" asked Snake.

"As much as you can," said Chrom. "I want to mention, they seem to have a command center with some sort of portal set up towards the back, if you can hit that at all, I'd imagine you could shake things up pretty badly. Regardless, if you could put some pressure on their rear at all, it would help us."

"Copy that. We'll get moving now. Snake out."

Snake looked around at his fellow Smashers. "You heard the man, let's move!"

In the air….

"Command to Star Wolf, do you copy?"

Wolf turned to his communicator. "It's us. What's up?"

"Great work on taking out the airborne enemies, that was some fine shooting," said Chrom.

"I love me some flattery, but what do you need?" Wolf.

"I assume you see the catapults that are launching containers. They're launching Bytans, which will duplicate endlessly if left to themselves. I need you to do two bombing runs, one to destroy the catapults and a second one to hit the area where the Bytans land. Take out as many as you can, but don't worry if you don't get every last one. We'll take out anything that happens to survive."

Wolf looked out of his cockpit window to see the catapults launching the containers with the Bytans. Upon landing, the glass shattered, crushing groups of Primids in the process, but releasing the spherical creatures near the ruins of the first barricade, which immediately began dividing.

"Copy that! You can count on us, sir." said Wolf, before cutting the call. "All right Star Wolf, you heard the general! Light 'em up!"


On Hill B…..

Chrom watched as the Bytans landed as began multiplying. This had to end quickly. Turning on his communicator, Chrom quickly selected all teams of Smashers defending the hills.

"Attention all Smashers," said Chrom over the radio.

"What's up?" asked Marth.

"I'm assuming you've seen the Bytans land by now. We're going to have to charge them."

"There's a lot of Primids in the way," said Peach.

"I know. Star Wolf will be doing a bombing run and thin them out. Once they've passed, we charge. The faster we kill the things, the sooner we eliminate the chance that they're allowed to build numbers and overwhelm us."

"Will this be a general charge?" asked Corrin.

"No, just the Smashers," said Chrom. "We'll need to be in and out quickly. It will be a lot cleaner if just the Smasher go. Can I count on you?"

"Of course. Give us the signal when," said Game and Watch.

"We won't let a single on escape!" said Pit.

"All right, I'll give a call when," said Chrom before cutting the call. He clenched his fist. This had better work.


Behind enemy lines….

Snake lay prone in the grass at the edge of the forest, observing the battle in front of him through his binoculars. It seemed like Packrat and his army of sentry guns were faring well, though the other hills were not doing too badly.

There was no siege equipment beyond the catapults that had launched the Bytans as far as he could see, which was somewhat surprising. Snake scanned the area again but saw nothing. Weren't they going to try and besiege Sienne? How were the enemy planning to besiege a large city without siege equipment?

As Snake watched, three Wolfens swooped in and began shooting at targets on the ground, creating large explosions, before disappearing from sight as they whizzed past.

Snake scanned the area and spotted the command center. Even from this far away, he could see Dr. Mario walking towards an open space of ground that had a canvas stretched tightly across two very tall posts. The whole canvas was nearly the size of the background of a drive-in movie theatre, and the whole area was swarming with Primids. He activated a communicator and said something. Suddenly, a dark, swirling portal opened up on the canvas. Snake watched on as a massive stasis tube rolled through, mounted on several mechanized carts, holding something that Snake couldn't quite make out. Whatever it was, it was dark in color and nearly filled the entirety of the stasis tube. Whatever it was, it had to be huge. Dr. Mario pulled out a PDA and pressed a few buttons, and the stasis tube stopped rolling and began to drain the liquid inside. The glass of the stasis tube opened like a clamshell, and the monster slowly stumbled out, flapping large wings. Dr. Mario pressed a few more buttons on his PDA. Instantly, the beast scrambled to its feet and stood at attention. Snake's jaw dropped. It was a massive dragon.

Snake froze in shock for a moment, before quietly crawling backwards several yards before getting to his feet and quietly walking back to where Shulk and the others were. He activated his comms as he did.

"Chrom, do you copy?"

"Copy loud and clear, Snake. What's your situation?"

"We're in position, ready to move on your ready. I did some scouting to see what we'd be up against. They don't have any siege equipment that I can see."

"Well, that's good," said Chrom.

"Here's the bad news. You've got a dragon coming at you."

"A dragon?" asked Chrom. "How big?"

"Uh…. house sized?"

"House sized!?"

"Like two stories house sized. I hope you've got something heavy to take it out. Maybe Palutena could take it out?"

"Don't worry about it. Star Wolf will handle it, they're already in the air. As long as they complete their bombing run on the Bytans, we're ok."

"When should we make our move?" asked Snake.

"Wait until the dragon is away from you, and then hit them. I don't need you all getting roasted by some giant monstrosity when we have better means of taking it on. Even if you aren't able to hit them at the same time as we hit the Bytans, you'll still be helping us," said Chrom.

"Solid copy. Snake out."

"A dragon?" asked Shulk immediately.

"Yeah," said Snake. "We're gonna wait for it to get in the air before we launch our attack."

"Aw come on, we could take 'em!" said Ken.

"We probably could, but we don't want to be fighting the Subspace army and some dragon all at once," said Snake.

Captain N nodded. "Right. So, we work the plan we came up with?"

Snake nodded. "No changes to the plan, we're just targeting the rear of their columns since they don't have any artillery or siege equipment to take out. I'm going to try and shoot down their portal again, since I have the long-range weaponry to do so. After that, I'll come help you out."

"What about the explosives?" asked Captain N.

"Save them, we might need them later," said Snake.

"All right," said Captain N. "So, we move now?"

"Yeah. This is it," said Snake. "Get into position, I'll give you the signal."

"All right then," said Captain N. "We'll let you know when we're ready."

The other Smashers turned and moved some distance away, as Snake crawled back through the bushes, back to the edge of the forest, and reassessed the situation. The dragon seemed to be drying off its wings. It was probably as good as he was going to get. With no further delay, Snake deployed a suppressed sniper rifle, and began setting it up, when his communicator crackled to life.

"We're here," said Captain N. "Ready when you are."

"Copy. You'll be the first to hear when the dragon takes off," said Snake, still warily watching the beast as it stretched itself out from its trip in stasis.

As it did, Snake spotted three aircraft swoop down from the sky and begin shooting at the ground, sending massive plumes of dirt into the air. At least the air support was able to do what they were supposed to do.

This dragon had better hurry up.


On Hill D….

Corrin grit his teeth as the dust settled from the bombing run. It was time.

Suddenly his communicator crackled to life, as Chrom shouted, "Go! Go now!"

Pac Man was the first to vault over the barricade, followed quickly by the Belmonts.

Corrin nodded to the Mii Commander near him, before jumping over himself with Game and Watch.

Corrin drew his twin blades and took off down the hill, rushing down the scattered groups of Primids that had survived the bombing run, and cutting them down quickly.

In a flash, the Smashers had reached what was left of the first barricade. There were only about a dozen Bytans left, but they were gathering energy, trying to multiply again. Five of them quickly stopped what they were doing and hurled themselves at the Smashers. Corrin barely had time to raise his blades, and simply pointed them straight at the Bytan, letting the charging sphere impale itself on his blades. It quickly dissolved into Subspace particles. There was a shout of surprise, as Richter was bowled over by his opponent, and Simon was forced to dodge.

Corrin moved to assist, but Simon whipped out a mace, and smote the Bytan near him before it could charge at him again, crushing it with a powerful blow. Richter scrambled to his feet, and landed a fast crack with his whip, stopping the creature from charging again, before drawing a short sword from his belt, and plunging it into the monster's side.

Corrin turned his attention to the remaining Bytans, which were attempting to gang up on Pac Man and Game and Watch. Pac Man grabbed one as it attempted to charge him, and slammed it into the ground, before kicking it at one of its fellows as Game and Watch rushed key in hand to challenge the lead Primids in the column that was beginning to reform. Corrin quickly uncorked a water bottle and manipulated the water out, splitting it into needles and freezing them. He turned his attention to the last three Bytans, which had moved a bit back from the Smashers, and were trying to multiply. As he aimed the needles, the Bytans split, multiplying into six. However, before they could do anything, Corrin snapped his fingers and they were speared with a storm of ice needles, destroying them all.

"Aye! Methinks that this is the last of them!" said Simon.

Corrin quickly surveyed the area and saw no more Bytans.

"All right! Let's get back before the Primids charge us! Move, move!"


On Hill B….

"Ike, I think they're going to charge!" shouted Peach.

Ike shoved his boot into a charging Bytan, stopping it in its tracks, before cleaving it in half with his sword. He looked up and saw that Peach was right, and that the front lines of the Primids were beginning to form into a proper unit.

Ike turned and fired off a wind blade at the Primids in a quick attempt to slow their formation a little.

"Then we need to hurry."

"What about the archers? Can we thin them out?" asked Peach.

"Call it in, I'll cover you," said Ike.

As Peach ran up the side of the hill a little distance to make the call, Ike began to walk backward as well, not wanting to be where the arrows would be landing, still shooting off wind blades. As the front ranks of the Primids began to close around the remaining Bytans, Ike heard a mass twanging behind him, and quickly crouched down. A mass of arrows sailed above his head and struck down the front lines of the enemy as well as most of the Bytans.

Ike scanned the area, and spotted two last Bytans that were about to be engulfed by the Primids.

Ike turned and bellowed at the top of his lungs. "ONE MORE VOLLEY!"

He got a few more individual arrows shot before another mass volley broke out. He'd take it.

"Peach, get back, I've got this!"

"Ike, wait, we can….." began Peach, but Ike turned and ignored her.

As the arrows began to land and struck down the Primids, Ike charged down the hill. Sure enough, the two Bytans were still there, still trying to duplicate.

"QUICK DRAW!" shouted Ike as he lunged forward.

The slash bisected both of them, and the last two Bytans collapsed to Subspace particles. Ike came to a running stop with a sense of relief that was replaced by a wave of panic, as the front of the leading Primids that had been outside of the arrow's range began to close the distance towards him. Turning on his heel, Ike began sprinting as fast as he could up the hill, as Peach began to back up and fire her parasol's blaster past him.

Ike began to slow down as he neared Peach, and she turned and joined Ike in climbing back towards the second barricade with earnest.

"I could have shot them as long as I had a clear view," she said.

Ike paused before nodding. "You could have."

Peach just rolled her eyes. "Let's just get behind the barricade, all right?"

Ike just grinned. "Fair enough!"


Behind the enemy….

Snake watched intently as the dragon finally roared and spread its wings. At long last, it began flapping them in earnest, taking off from the ground, and into the sky.

"All right. It looks like the dragon has moved out. I'm gonna try and shoot down the portal again. If you rush towards the back of the right most column, you'll be out of my line of fire."

"Right most column? Fine by us!" said Captain N.

"All right. On my mark. 3, 2, 1, mark!"

Ken, Ryu, Captain N, Cloud, Little Mac and Shulk burst from the tree line and rushed towards the back lines of the enemy forces. From the tree line, Snake lay in wait as they sprinted with tremendous speed across the open ground towards the disorganized back of the columns. A few straggler Primids turned around but were too late as Captain N quickly shot them down with his blaster pistols as they ran.

Snake turned his attention back to his task and lined up the shot with his sniper rifle, took a breath, and then pulled the trigger. The shot landed true, snapping through one of the top ropes holding up the portal canvas. Cycling the bolt action, Snake adjusted his aim and squeezed the trigger again. The shot went wide, and though the scope, Snake could see that the Primids were already starting to look around and take notice of the other Smashers.

Snake readjusted his aim again, cycled the bolt, and pulled the trigger. This one landed, severing the rope. Quickly, Snake turned his attention to the Primids that were surrounding the area as the canvas collapsed to the ground. Snake aimed down the scope and emptied the last two bullets in his clip into their massed ranks, before looking up again.

His fellow smashers were plowing through the back lines of the right most column like a tidal wave, smashing through scores of Primids with remarkable ease. Snake quickly got up and repositioned some distance to the left and absorbed his sniper rifle back into his IDD before deploying a large 6 barrel grenade launcher.

He lined up a shot and put one of the grenades square in the middle left column, before turning to the middle right column and landing another grenade into the backlines of the middle right column. Immediately, a portion of the Primids of the left two columns turned around and began to look around. Snake ducked back into cover behind the trees and snuck several meters to his left before lining up another shot and putting his third grenade into the reforming ranks of the middle right column. Snake quickly ducked behind a rock and waited for a few moments, before sneaking away to the right about a dozen meters before setting up again. He surveyed the battlefield. His fellow Smashers were making short work of the outer right column and were now being attacked by the Primids of the middle right column but were standing their ground with little difficulty.

Snake angled his launcher up a little more and fired another shot, this one landing square in the middle of the far-left column. Quickly, Snake turned and shot his last two grenades into a group of Primids who were arranging themselves in a battle formation, having broken off from the middle two columns. The grenades landed near the middle of the crowd, inflicting heavy casualties. He quickly deployed grenades to reload, staying out of sight behind a tree stump. After he finished reloading, Snake quickly peeked his head out. Good, they still hadn't figured out where he was. Snake took a deep breath, before crouching and sneaking off again to his left. Hopefully he'd be able to do some real damage.


In the air…..

"Boom! That was easy!" cackled Leon. "Should we do another run?

"No, our forces are making a sortie!" said Panther. "Fear not though, with the flying enemies nearly gone, we'll finally get to hit the columns on the ground. Our hunt will be glorious!"

"All right, if we're done preening our feathers, let's…" started Wolf, as he caught the sight of a large shape out of the corner of his good eye.

"What was that?" he snapped.

"I don't see any…wah!" shouted Leon.

Wolf grit his teeth as the massive shape of a dragon soared over his cockpit.

"New objective boys! Shoot that scaly chicken out of the air!"

"Hah! An even more glorious hunt!" said Panther with excitement. "I look forward to doing battle with this dragon!"

"Keep your helmets on," grunted Wolf. "We take this thing out first and gloat about it after, all right?"

"Of course," said Panther. "Moving to engage the target."

As Panther zoomed off, Wolf checked his fuel before activating his thrusters too. There was bigger game to hunt now.


On Hill C….

Marth caught his breath near Pit and Palutena as they watched the Primids march up the hill. Pit and Palutena had made short work of the Bytans between their arrows and light attacks, but he could tell that the two were starting to get tired. They must have still been fatigued from the battle the day before. Marth could honestly not blame them.

"How are we doing?" asked Marth.

"I'm all right!" said Pit. "You can't stop me or Lady Palutena from kicking all kinds of butt!"

"Take a rest for the moment, you two deserve it," said Marth. "We can hold the frontlines without you for a few minutes."

"Thank you," said Palutena as she and Pit moved out of the way of a group of soldiers that was moving an injured comrade to safety.

Marth returned his focus to the battle. Hopefully they'd be able to capitalize on having taken the Bytans off the board in some way. But for now, the columns of Primids were going to keep coming. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to be able to do much. And thankfully, he wasn't the one who would be fighting that dragon that had just appeared in the sky. As the small little Wolfen specks in the sky kept swarming around the dragon, Marth returned his attention to the ground. There was still a ground battle to be won.


At the bridge….

Robert ducked as a shot from a Scope Primid whizzed past the space that his head had occupied just a second ago. Thankfully, it appeared that the main force had been sent towards the hills and only a fraction of the main force had come for him.

He had to say, he was impressed with the Miis. They were performing admirably and worked splendidly with his men.

"Getcha stupid purple heinies off mah bridge!" bellowed Eight as he blasted away at the Primids with his assault rifle.

Robin glanced down at the pair of laser pistols in his hands as they cooled from overheating, glad that command had outfitted him and his agents with a variety of good quality weapons. Even if it had taken Brynhilde, Eight, Erdrick, Solo and himself some time to get used to their more technologically sophisticated gadgets. He'd hate to be out here with only a sword.

Robert jumped out from cover and opened fire with his pistols, specifically gunning for the Fire Primids that had been trying to get close. They wouldn't burn down any of his barricades if he could help it.

Suddenly, the line of Primids stopped advancing and there was some unusual movement in the mass of Primids.

Robert watched as the movement reached the front lines. His breath caught in his throat as a face so familiar, but not quite the same showed itself alongside four others.

Lucina drew her blade dramatically as Dark Pit, Dark Samus, Dark Link and Blood Falcon took fighting stances at the front of the line of Primids.

"FOR JUSTICE!" shouted Lucina.

"Draw your swords!" shouted Robert, holstering his pistols. "This will be a close quarters engagement!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," said Erdrick, his sword and shield at the ready.

"On it!" shouted Brynhilde, holstering her assault rifle and drawing her axe.

"Miis! Focus on the Primids! We'll take the newcomers!"

"Yes sir," said the automated voice of the Mii next to him.

Robert drew his sword and quickly turned on his communicator.

"Chrom, we're being attacked by Lucina and her friends. I'm probably going to need some backup here."

Without waiting for a reply, Robert turned off his communicator and readied to fight. Hopefully Lucina didn't get herself killed before he got to her. He had no idea how he was going to explain THAT to Chrom.


On Hill B….

"Robert, we copy!" said Chrom into his communicator. "Robert, talk to me!"

There was no reply.

"Chrom, they're probably fighting," said Corrin. "I can send some Miis to try and cause a diversion…."

"Send a Smasher with them," said Chrom. "This needs to be as much of a diversion as we can, we can't afford to lose the bridge. Send Richter, he's a skilled longer-range fighter. In case they can't get close, he should be able to help the Miis cause problems at range."

"You hear that, Richter?" asked Corrin.

"Aye!" said Richter.

"Come to the top of the hill, I'll get the reserves ready to go," said Corrin.

"Thank you both," said Chrom, before turning off his communicator.

Hopefully this should work. But what was worrying was that the enemy could still spare forces to launch the attack that they were on the bridge despite the fact that the flanking team should be attacking right now. What were they doing?


At the enemy flank….

Shulk swung the Monado in a wide arc, slicing cleanly through several Primids with one swing. He glanced to the right, where Captain N was firing dual laser pistols into the incoming waves of Primids. Duke and Hunt stood crouched and ready next to their master, alert for any surprises Captain N might miss. A little further to the right, Cloud stood swinging his sword like it was a toothpick, laying waste to scores of Primids in front of him. Further way from Cloud were Ken, Ryu, and Little Mac, opting for the more hands on means of disposing of the enemy, even if they'd gotten somewhat separated in the melee.

Shulk narrowed his eyes as a group of Primids armed with beam swords rushed towards him. As they did, Captain N blasted a few of them with his pistols before holstering them and drawing a beam sword of his own as they drew close.

"We'll take them together!" he said.

Shulk nodded and readied the Monado.

Shulk activated the laser end of the sword and pressed a button on the handle as he thrust it forward, extending the laser part of the blade for double its length for a half second, impaling one of the Primids in the front ranks. He followed it up with a large sweeping slash, taking out several Primids.

Captain N prepared to rush in with Duke and Hunt, when suddenly, the Primids stopped in their tracks, before backing up.

"Hey! What's going on?" asked Captain N, confused.

"They are backing up because you won't be fighting them," said a voice from behind them.

The two turned to see Dr. Mario, Nurse Peach and Mr. L standing some distance away, ready to battle.

"You will be fighting us."


Farther away….

Ryu dodged a punch from a Metal Primid before slamming his own punch square to the Primid's jaw. Next to him, Little Mac disintegrated a handful of Primids with a flurry of rapid punches, while Ken sent a Fire Primid flying with a powerful roundhouse kick.

Suddenly, the Primids paused their advance, and began to retreat.

"Did we beat them?" asked Ken.

"I don't think so," said Little Mac.

"The short one is right. They're moving out so we can complete our objective!" said a voice from above. The three Smashers looked up to see two figures, one male and one female glide to the ground on the backs of Pokemon.

"And what's that objective?" asked Ryu.

"I'm Carl! And she's Sham!" said the man. "And our objective is to defeat you!"


A little bit away….

Cloud watched warily as the sea of Primids in front of him began to pull back. As they did, a figure in a trench coat walked out of their ranks, a sword drawn.

Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"You're Robin, aren't you? The enemy tactician?"

"That's correct."

"And you're coming to fight me?"

"Sometimes you gotta get your hands dirty," replied Robin. "Though if I could convince you to run away right now, that would be great."

"Sorry, I'm not convinced yet," said Cloud.

Robin sighed. "Of course, you're not. All right, let's get this over with."


By the treeline….

Snake hid quietly in the bush as he reloaded his grenade launcher again. It looked like the others had been pulled into fights, leaving him as the only one able to act freely. Hopefully they hadn't noticed him. Snake peeked out from behind a tree and quickly noticed an elegantly dressed woman standing in front of the forest's edge, a pistol in each hand.

Snake paused. Of course, they'd figured out where he was.

"Hello?" called the woman. "I'm here to fight you! You wouldn't leave a lady waiting, would you?"

Snake briefly considered his options. Judging by her posture, she was confident in her abilities. Which meant that it could be a difficult fight. She was slender, indicating a speed-based fighting style. And judging by her cavalier attitude, she was either very careless or very good. Snake rubbed his beard. He'd need to match her speed if she wasn't just an overconfident mook.

He quickly absorbed his grenade launcher back into his IDD and drew his tranq gun as the woman walked back and forth. Maybe they could take a prisoner. Snake aimed at the woman and squeezed the trigger. She dodged the shot.

"Goodness! Already attacking and you haven't even shown your face! How rude!"

She was very good then. There was no point in hiding now, he probably wouldn't be able to escape her notice if he tried to retreat.

Holstering his tranq gun, drawing his knife and assuming a CQC stance, Snake made his way out of the brush, ready for action. The woman stood there with a casual demeanor, as if she was out for a stroll in the park.

"Oh! You're Solid Snake! No wonder you ran me through all of that sneaky nonsense! I'm Bayonetta, and I'm afraid you're not going to survive this."

Snake just grit his teeth and held his stance. This was going to be a tough one.