The third day of discussion on the nature of why exactly the Blackwall was screaming was well underway, and it was beginning to look like that would continue well until the meeting here was over. Stressed out corpos and government agents all desperately throwing ideas around, insulting each other, throwing accusations about. The soldiers and mercenaries that guarded their respective wards were comparatively much more reserved and polite. It was their job to keep their respective employers alive, not protect them from mean words.
They stood in rows on the sides of the meeting chamber of the luxury hotel, hands on weapons and outwardly tense. Inwardly, every merc here could tell that none of them were about to start something, it would be too disastrous for them in the end. As usual, the threat of overwhelming violence kept everyone nice with each other, something that Adam was beginning to see more and more wisdom in with each passing day.
Oda was on the other side of the room form him, arms fucking crossed like an idiot who wanted to slow himself down by a full half fucking second. That way no matter which direction Hanako went she'd be close to at least one… She'd be close to either one competent bodyguard or Oda. The other guards on the walls were an eclectic bunch, most of which were in something half-competent (if lacking in quality). The occasional soldier, however, was clad in something unusual or rather high-tech or both.
One dumbass who kept glaring at him had a fucking glaive (Guandao, Uriel corrected absentmindedly, still reviewing the scream). Looking closer, he saw that it had some sort of launcher built into the weapon, on the spine of the blade. (Does that make it a 'Gun-dao' then? Uriel joked, starting to pay more attention). Scanning the guy over, Adam dismissed him. He only had about seventy percent chrome, his torso was mostly meat then.
In fact… looking around the room and idly scanning every guard, it looked like most everyone here had around seventy percent or less chrome. That was fucking disappointing, Adam sighed internally. Not externally, he was on a job right now, his job was to stand about and look menacing. He didn't need to move for that either, not breathing or flexing or anything that these half-meats needed to do still.
It has been a boring past two days. While the idea that the Blackwall was screaming was concerning (and painful, Uriel chimed in), there wasn't really anything he could do about it. There was no point in worrying over things you couldn't change. If the sky turned red tomorrow, then he'd let the eggheads worry about it as he went about his day. He'd focus on things he could effect, like the ratio of fluid inside and outside of some fucker that thought he was lucky.
Soon enough, the meetings here would be over and he could go back to murdering meatbags in his territory again. He honestly wished for this to be over already, a nostalgic thought that every mercenary in the world has probably thought at least once before. In the end, they were all the same in that way, dealing with clients and trying to make another eddie. The eternal soldier's life, in the end, hasn't changed since the dawn of man.
Well, there was one thing that changed. Adam Smasher was born.
His gaze was locked onto the center of the room, where Hanako and the sisters were talking to some corpos from Petrochem and Militech. The major factions that represented the North American continent in one spot. He wondered what they were talking about, but not that hard. He could have focused a tad and the enhanced sensors of the Dragoon would tell him everything that happened in the fucking room. He didn't really feel like doing that.
Yet… there wasn't anything else to really do currently, was there? Uriel was going over data, he couldn't let himself watch anything (he was on guard duty), and no guard was about to start up a conversation with Adam Smasher of all people.
The Dragoon Frame had a reputation among all militaries in the world. Best in the world, shame that it drove you insane if you wore it for too long, or if you got slotted into one without a cocktail of mind-dampening drugs. A lot of that was due to the godly range of sensors and information-feed that connected directly to the subject's mind. It was enough to break some of the strongest willed men.
There was a reason that it hasn't been seriously improved upon in decades, and that's because no one can keep up with that level of chrome, let alone any more. No one except him that was.
He wore it as his every-day Frame. The cyberaudio specifically of the Dragoon Frame had three main components. The first was an enhanced version of standard human audio ability that increased his clarity of sound by about twenty percent more than human maximum, increased his hearing range to detect subsonic and supersonic noise, and a level damper that automatically compensated for loud noises.
He also had a Radio with 25km of range and a Radar detector in there, but only the first component of his cyberaudio mattered in this exact moment. As he tuned in to listen to what Hanako was saying, they detected something from above as well.
The sound of something smashing through layers of a skyscraper. He was familiar with that sound, he had made it many times himself.
He activated his Sandevistan, and sent a message to everyone in the room.
[Attacker above, coming down through ceiling]
That got everyone's fucking attention, but before they could do anything the ceiling shattered. Legs with thickened spikes retracting into its heels falling through a shower of rubble and steel rebar. Hanako was directly below. He couldn't move her out of the way in time.
So he moved the attacker instead.
Adam kicked the wall and floor at the same time, and flew forwards to the center of the room, above her head. The form of the attacker was visible now, as was the chrome display in his vision. One-hundred percent.
Adam spun mid-air, and kicked the form of the bot that seemed to be as heavy as himself. That proved to be true as he and it both flew back and crashed into opposite walls. The walls of the room cracked and broke as he and it began to slide down and glare eachother down. His sandevistan deactivated.
The half-meats in the room that also had sandevistans had moved while he and the attacker were colliding, moving to cover their VIPs from the falling rubble. The half-meats that did not have sandevistans or kerenzikovs proved that they were disappointments and were only just now moving. Oda was in this second category, but thankfully Tsumugi was able to pick up the slack and a pile of gravel was around them instead of boulders.
The VIPs were very quickly moved away from the new attacker, and the guards took up positions in between them and the settling dust on the other side of the room.
A Samson Frame, but a heavily upgraded and modified one. Completely covered in modified MetalGear armor. Perhaps seven and a half feet tall, with broad and powerful shoulders. Its head was modified to look like an armet helm with a single glowing blue optic peering out from underneath its visor. It had two extra arms bound to its shoulders, both of which were connected to massive shield-plates of further armor. Its other arms were modified as well, both extending below the hands to form two three-foot blades of solid metal.
In both of its hands, the attacker held two assault rifles of a make he couldn't recognize. They looked big though, clearly designed for the strongest of meat-humans to use in both hands. The borg, unbound by the constraints of flesh, held two. A calm, robotic, and masculine voice issued from the attacker. Every guard in the room was tense as they waited for the first move to be made.
"Congratulations, you have earned my name and title. I am Recited Song of Roland 66, Grandmaster of the Ordo Panzer, Bearer of the word Mountain."
A moment passed. Adam sent a message to his party.
[We are leaving, make for the plane]
He was in charge of their safety, they did not try to argue. His duty was to ensure Hanako's safety, not to fight everyone who came their way. Judging from the last panzerbot he fought, he could not ensure her safety while fighting it off. He didn't trust any of the half-meats to actually be a help here or to not take the chance to kill them.
That, and anyone who breaks into a room filled with mercenaries and takes the time to declare their name is either a posing joke or a fellow monster. He couldn't afford to take the bet on the very real chance it was the second option.
As he started moving to guard his wards, every other guard did one of two things. They either copied him or opened fire. He exchanged nods with those that were escorting their charges out, they all had a common purpose here if not common charge. About a solid ten seconds of firing passed, Hanako was beginning to leave the room with Oda at her rear and Tsumugi at her front.
The bullets tore the area where the bot was standing into rubble and dust. The wall behind had more air than structure left, and the floor around was a fucking spiderweb of cracks centered at it's feet. The dust began to settle, revealing the bot within the center. It took a heavy step forwards out of the dust. It was almost completely unharmed, faint scratches on its paint the only indication of the hail of bullets it endured.
"Mine invincible mail, witness its shining gleam."
The bot widened its stance, raised its guns, and opened fire upon the small army of guards and mercenaries who began to fire back. Adam made sure all stray bullets hit him instead of his charges, but didn't bother to stick around. Through the doorways that were kept open he could see the battle slowly disappear behind him, the half-meats didn't seem to be doing any damage, the floor around its feet taking more damage than the bot was.
The bot's blue glare wasn't on them. It was on him. He returned it as he hurried his charges along. Fucker was here for him, and all these other fuckers were just in the way. He'd get them to safety first, and if the bot was in range at that point he'd scrap it the same as the other one. There were other fuckers in between him and his group.
In fact, looking at it, he was in between the fighting and all of the VIPs, body blocking any bullets that strayed from the room into the hall. Those fuckers better appreciate this, they weren't on his contract, he just couldn't afford anything coming for his group. No, wait, the fucker with the Gun-dao was next to hit, blocking bullets that he couldn't reach on that side.
Adam locked eyes with the half-meat, who returned the gesture. He nodded, they weren't allies of course, but they both had the same goal. Step by step they moved backwards, and every few feet another stray bullet would come from the mass of guards who were also slowly falling back. Fuckers looked like they were beginning to run out of ammo, and were down to their sidearms, they were also slowly falling back.
The panzerbot was still there, slowly approaching one heavy stomp into the ground at a time. Fucker's armor looked untouched still.
Adam knew that armor, he used to wear that shit back when he was still mostly meat. It was good, but it wasn't 'walk through a hailstorm of bullets' good. There was some fucking trick here. It wasn't the other panzerbot's trick either, because that required active blocking and was signaled by rapidly vibrating limbs. This one was just marching through gunfire hard enough to crack the ground and ignoring it outright.
As they marched in a fighting retreat, Adam noticed that the guards that were still with them were of a higher class than the ones that were left behind to shoot at the panzerbot. Fodder it seemed in this case, for what little good it did. The last of the meatbag guards fell in another burst of bullets.
The panzerbot stopped its stomping march and started moving for them slightly faster, fast enough to catch up to them, shield arms raised in front of it to divert fire. The shields were frustratingly undamaged as well. Good news was that the panzerbot dropped it's now empty guns, bad news was that it unlatched two more of the same model from the back of the shields in front of it.
The corpos and government VIPs had already begun to split off into groups, as they approached the various stairways and hallways that led to their own planes of separate hanger-levels. All that was left going his way was the…
Adam looked at the logos on their clothes in various locations.
Kang Tao delegation, which meant that the half-meat next to him was their latest project. How interesting, he'd learn their name if they survived this fight. They were approaching the hanger assigned to them now, the panzerbot not bothering to waste ammo, just following them fast enough to keep up. It was probably going to attack in the hangar itself, where he and half-meat were going to have to confront it to stop damage to the planes.
It knew it was going to fight them, it didn't bother wasting resources at this point in the fight. Adam growled, and relaxed his shoulders before turning and marching normally, much to the shock of the half-meat.
"What are you doing!?" He shouted in a distinct chinese accent.
"We'll have to fight in the hangar anyways, no point in doing it here."
The panzerbot hummed before lowering its own guns. It kept following them. The half-meat didn't relax, but it did walk more firmly. The VIPs in front of them kept shooting scared looks back at them.
They entered the two-plane hangar that exited out onto the massive run-way balcony that extended from various points on this stupidly designed tower. Just put them on the ground, fucking dumbasses.
There was a nice clear area in the center, Adam walked over to the corner of an invisible triangle that was nearest to his party's plane. He turned and waited for the panzerbot to do the same, which it did upon seeing him stop to face it. He was right earlier, it was after him, everyone else was just in the way.
Good, that means he could send everyone else away safely.
[I will prevent it from following, you all are to leave.]
To the half-meat, he spoke aloud.
"It's here for me, you are free to leave."
There was an immediate reaction to both of his statements, infuriatingly. One a wall of text from his various wards and the other an insulted shout. Fucking Oda was the only one who didn't argue back at him
[What about you?
Oni-sama! You must escape with us!
Oi Oi, you're coming too, yanno?
Wait, that's like, silly!]
"Are you insulting me?!"
Over messaging he simply replied.
[That is an order, Oda, enforce it.]
To the half-meat, he replied.
"You don't live long by fighting other folks' battles, brat. Leave."
Oda followed his orders, and started pushing the party onto the plane. Good, he doesn't have to worry about that now. The half-meat shouted back even as it got into position in the final corner of their invisible triangle.
"How do I know you simply won't shoot down the jet?! Nay, I shall fight!"
Adam grunted.
"Suit yourself."
Soon enough, the jets were flying off, and all three fighters were still in their positions. A veritable standoff between three giants of chrome and violence. Well, two giants of chrome and violence and one guy who still had meat attached to his useful parts. Adam grunted, it wasn't the worst backup he's ever had, and it was hardly the worst situation he's ever been in. At least he didn't have to worry about VIPs in this fight, panzerbot was stupid enough to let that potential advantage go.
"A shame I must kill you, that was a valourous act. I shall remember you both."
Adam glared at the fucker that was looking down at him. He could kill him without any backup at all, let alone with a distraction half-meat to toss his way. But, his last encounter with a panzerbot proved they weren't something he could take easy. He and Uriel began to go over everything that they knew about the panzerbot in front of them. The half-meat was engaging in traditional pre-fight banter, so he had more time to review. Alright, what did he know about the target?
Firstly, the fucker was just as heavy as he was, packing all kinds of weight on those additional shield arms of his. He didn't have as much armor overall, but those shields more than made up for it. That and those arm-blades, which looked to be a few dozen pounds a piece. So he wouldn't be able to toss this one around like the last one.
Secondly, the fucker was just as fast as he was, if not faster. He saw the reaction speed when Adam kicked the fucker into the wall, it was only because Adam was already hitting the fucker when his head finally passed the ceiling layer that he wasn't able to block. Another fucker with a sandevistan and a kerenzikov, did all of these bastards have those? Probably best to assume so.
Thirdly, that fucking invincibility trick. It had to be a trick, because Adam was intimately familiar with the armor brand that he was wearing. Best on the civvie market, but it was not enough to stand up to that much firepower, and not to do so with mere chipped paint. How the fuck was he doing that? He wasn't pulling the same trick as the last one, because he wasn't actively blocking or blurring when he took fire. He just moved slowly and ignored bullets that turned his surroundings into rubble.
…Could he be dispersing the impact of each blow through his entire frame, and those shields? Those looked to be solid fucking plates of metal, so if he could spread out the impact everywhere then that would allow him to take a lot of the blow on those bulky fuckers on his extra arms.
That didn't seem quite right. He was missing something here, he knew it. Panzerfaust was composed of rotations, charges, and vibration. It had to have something to do with the third one, the other two didn't make any sense here. Vibrations, how was this fucker using vibrations to ignore damage that should turn him into scrap?
Alright, enemy analysis completed until further information can be gained. What advantages does he have here?
Firstly, he had way more armor if that invincibility trick was ignored. Not quite twice as much, but close to it. He could take some fucking hits that would normally be impossible to tank, and he had that one trick he stole from the last panzerbot. Sure, he needed a free limb to do it, and he wasn't the best at it, but it would help him mitigate damage here.
Secondly, he had his club. It was as close to indestructible as a weapon could be as far as he was aware, so it wouldn't be breaking on him constantly like his swords did. He and Uriel had run the numbers on it, the club needed more force than Adam could produce to break, so it should be fine for this.
Thirdly…
Adam glanced over at the half-meat.
He had the dubiously useful help of the half-meat on his side. Probably not all that important, but a split second of distraction here might be able to ensure his victory, so it would have to be enough. He looked over to the panzerbot, who seemed to notice his change in attention.
"Ah, finished thinking? Shall we get on with it then?"
"Yes, let's."
All three activated their sandevistans. Good, the half-meat had that much at least.
Adam burst forwards to swing his club down, which was caught by the crossed blade-arms of the bot. The half-meat came around the side and swung its glaive at the bot's midsection. The bot brought its shield down and blocked the attack. Adam growled and fired a rocket from his shoulder at the fucker, which was blocked by the other shield.
Their sandevistans wore off, the ground cracked. The bot proved its speed by throwing their weapons up and kicking at his leg. He met the hit with a vibrating counter-kick, and felt his leg shake through the blow.
His foot was underneath the bot's now. Adam grunted and pushed up as hard as he could, forcing the bot back and off balance. All that weight on your upper torso sure made you top-heavy, dumbass.
Unfortunately, the bot compensated to be pushed over by using it's shield-arms to hold itself upright. This opportunity they took advantage of.
All three activated their sandevistans. The half-meat fired its Gun-dao, which was revealed to be a thermite cannon of sorts. The bot dodged by kicking off the ground and entirely over itself, using its shield arms as hand-stands. Adam was there to meet the bastard as it came up, firing three rockets that crashed into it's upper torso and sent it sliding back quite a bit before it stabilized itself.
Their sandevistans deactivated. Using its swords and shields as bracers the bot pushed itself up. That was some actual damage that time, rockets damaging its armor everywhere they hit. Its internals were still mostly fine, but that was the first blow that it actually made through that invincibility trick.
How? Why? If he could figure that out, the fight would be over. Adam grinned cruelly behind his armored mask. This fucker was far easier than the other was already. He was getting too good at this. Uriel wouldn't even need to try hacking the fucker.
The half-meat clearly thought the same way.
They activated their sandevistans again. They rushed forwards, the bot remained rooted on the ground. That was fine, he'll just blast you open again.
It raised all four arms, and simultaneously moved to block and stab at both of them. Adam's club collided with the shield, and he parried the blade with a vibrating arm, now to…
He glanced over, the bare tip of the bot's other sword arm had stabbed into the half-meat's own arm. It was maybe only a quarter-inch in the armored plating in that area.
Their sandevistans deactivated, the ground didn't crack, the half-meat's entire arm exploded.
"Mine invincible armor, mine gloaming sword. Be smote, lowly fool."