Blackbeard wasn't quite seven feet tall, David realized. He was about as tall as Kiwi was, which made him about six foot six inches, with a little extra for his weird hat-helmet. This of course meant he was a little taller than George, who was a solid two or three inches less. He loomed in the middle of the gore-hole, legs drenched in red and coat-edges dipping into it at their tips. His skull-faceplate shaded over and barely distinguishable in the dim morning light.

George had an exaggerated swagger and stutter about him before, not anymore. Each motion he made now was a practiced, perfectly spaced movement. There was no hint of mocking humor, only controlled rage. David thought the fucker only deserved it, he had made him waste all that effort on the Voodoo Boys.

So David stood on the sides of the gore-pond, perfectly still so that he could recover a bit of stamina, and readied himself to watch and observe. Every scrap of information might be useful here, if he needed to fight either of them afterwards, so he needed to watch closely. He still had his backup weapons, but somehow he doubted that a pistol and knife was going to help him against someone with as much chrome as he saw in front of him.

Eventually, the two squaring off burst into movement. Everyone activated their sandevistans.

Adam had explained this to David once, the principle of 'boosterware chicken'. No one wanted to be unable to activate their own sandevistan while an enemy had theirs active. So each and every sandevistan-involved combat was a matter of waiting for the other individual to attack and activating your sandy right after if possible. That way you might be able to get an extra action off while the enemy is unable to act. Even a single shot or stab might be the difference between victory and defeat, so being able to get a hit in while the opponent can't move to counter you is incredibly good.

That was the core essence of combat, compounding and building up as many possible advantages as possible in order to attain victory. Preferably victory at as little cost as possible, but any victory is better than no victory. Adam went the method of sheer durability, covered in incredibly heavy armor and with a fully-reinforced frame, relying on his sandevistan for speed when he needed it.

A tank on legs that can carry vehicle-grade weapons and occasionally move faster than an organic eye can react to. There wasn't anything short of another fullborg or a squad of armored trucks or a tank that could actually threaten him because of this combination of advantages. David himself couldn't get nearly as much armor, so he relied more on speed. Chrome limbs, the best armor that he could get without slowing him down, and a sandevistan. Unless he wasn't paying attention, he really couldn't be hit by an average gonk, and even elite troops would have a hard time putting a bead on him. A combination of speed, stealth tactics, and top-tier shotgun were his combination of advantages that let him keep up with Adam. He couldn't do what Adam did, but Adam couldn't pull off David's own niche either, he was too big and heavy.

David considered himself pretty good at gaging the skill levels of his enemies at this point, Adam had beat that into his head during training. So when George rushed Blackbeard, David could tell that he had been holding back against him. He could also tell that it wasn't going to be enough when Blackbeard effortlessly countered, sweep George's legs out from under him, and palm-struck his chest to send him flying back into the gore.

David had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He recognized that move, Adam had used it on him once or twice. Panzerfaust, the fighting style that let Adam rip other borgs apart nearly effortlessly, this guy knew it too.

In that exchange, Blackbeard reminded David of Adam when Adam decided to have fun against gangers. George wasn't an average ganger, he was a step above, and Blackbeard was able to muster the same effortless dominance in one exchange.

Blackbeard was playing with them, and David could tell that he was skilled enough to afford doing so.

Their sandevistans deactivated. George rolled through the gore, before pushing himself back up quickly, an ugly bruise quickly starting to form on his chest. He glared at Blackbeard, and slowly made his way forwards again, arms up in defensive posture.

David knew the outcome of this fight already. George was going to be torn the fuck apart, and then David would be too if he stuck around.

But this guy was looking for him specifically, and was at least on Adam's level. He would tear anyone else apart. David's mind flashed with images of everyone waiting for him back at the compound. His fist clenched, he couldn't allow Blackbeard anywhere near them, they would die in a fucking instant and it would be his fault. He had to kill the fucker right here and right now. But how?

George charged again. All three activated their sandevistans. David's optics drank in as much information as he could. George had a high-grade sandy, but was still noticeably slower than Blackbeard. George was almost as fast as David was, which meant that Blackbeard's sandy was fucking ridiculous bullshit corpo-tech to be that much better. George rushed forwards in a feint, waiting for a counterattack, before dropping down in a stagger and trying to uppercut. An uppercut that Blackbeard countered with an elbow-block. George's orbital crystal fingers had their chrome covering shatter.

Their sandevistans deactivated. Blackbeard delivered a spin-kick on George's shoulder. George flew back and rolled through the gore again. He got up a bit slower, the chrome on his upper arm cracked now. He rolled his shoulders and got back into a stance, slowly approaching Blackbeard again.

David grit his teeth, damnit even if he helped the meat out they would still lose here. Adam could kick his ass even with both arms missing, Blackbeard could do the same no doubt. This was such bullshit, some fucker comes out of nowhere, blows up everything in a fucking 20 meter radius, and then starts stomping the meat that…

…blows up everything in a 20 meter radius.

David glanced over to his left. The chain-grenade launchers were still there, as was the vest of grenades. He glanced back to see Blackbeard focused on taunting George.

"Come on now, meat? Didnja say ye were gonna take me skull? Having troubles with that goal?"

Battle was a matter of building up as many advantages as one possibly could, and leveraging them to their fullest effect. If Adam was here, that would be full-on direct confrontation, wading forwards unstoppably before smashing the shit out of whatever gonk tried to take a shot at him. David's advantages were speed, stealth tactics, and a hard-hitting gun.

Would you look at that? His enemy has just dropped a very hard-hitting gun right over there.

He had to be careful about this, because Blackbeard was far faster than he was…

If they activated their sandevistans at the same time that was. But if David activated his right after Blackbeard and George activated theirs? He would have multiple seconds of movement to work off of each time. He would still have to move carefully during that time, to make sure he wasn't noticed before it was too late. It would take at least three activations. Two to get over there, and one more to get the thing ready to fire to make sure the gore-pit turned into a red well instead.

George and Blackbeard activated their sandevistans, David resisted every urge to do the same, and suddenly George was sent flying back again, another arm now cracked as well, Blackbeard raising his arms for a taunt.

David activated his sandevistan, and moved around the edge of the pit. He used every fucking trick of avoiding notice that he could during this time, he couldn't afford to let this fucker survive.

He was halfway there, close enough to get over there in one more activation, far enough to avoid immediate suspicion if Blackbeard glanced over in the fight. He kept his furious glare on his face, he had to sell the act of putting his full attention on the fight. His sandevistan deactivated, Blackbeard continued his taunt.

"Don't go thinking about running away now either, my temporary crew is making sure the hornets nest is riled up right now, ye'll be shot on sight. Ye can't run from Blackbeard."

George didn't react beyond getting up again, and slowly approaching Blackbeard. David had to give the meat credit, he was certainly able to take a hit.

"You think you're special just because you're scrappy?"

George slowly got within range. They activated their sandevistans, David resisted. Suddenly George was back in the pit again, and David activated his own sandy. As he made his way closer to the grenade launcher, he took stock of the fight as it was.

He was amazed to find Blackbeard's scarf firmly clenched in the grip of George's hand. George's face had been beaten quite a bit, nose broken and fresh blood spilling, but the scarf was still in his hand. David looked over to Blackbeard.

Blackbeard didn't have a lower jaw, was the first thing he noticed. Indeed, the entire front-half of his neck region was dominated by some sort of electronic device that connected down to his upper torso. His torso was dominated by what looked vaguely like a speaker system on his upper-pectorals, which is what the device on his neck was wired into.

His upper back had some sort of additional device, attached to the nape of his neck with two hardened 'ears' coming off and extended upwards. David didn't recognize what it was off the top of his head, but the 'ears' looked familiar.

David was within reach of the grenade launcher now. One more activation and he could pick it up and start firing, and with Blackbeard just using his sandy right before, he would be unable to dodge. He could even hit the meat with it at the same time. His victory was fucking assured at this point, provided everyone just keep doing what they have been.

Blackbeard growled out mechanically, hand reaching for his face and mimicking a scratch at the jawline.

"Who the fuck takes a man's beard? You fucking meat-monkey, I'm going to get my time's worth outta killing you."

George got up again, and tied the scarf around his upper arm. He glared at Blackbeard, and slowly approached again, fists raised defensively. His left eye was beginning to swell up and black his vision there. His legs were unsteady, his arms shaking, and servo's whirring. His glare was rock solid.

He slowly approached Blackbeard again. They were right about to have another clash.

At that point, Rebecca opens comms with him. Blackbeard suddenly glanced backwards.

[David, I can see your position.]

Blackbeard moved.

David activated his sandevistan, and dodged backwards as the body of George flew through the space he was just at. He then kept moving as a space opened up on Blackbeard's arm and started firing micro-missiles at him. Six until Blackbeard ran out. David was now right where he fucking started again. Their sandevistans timed out.

George crashed against the far wall, the concrete building cracking through with his impact. He slumped to the ground, not moving, a streak of blood now staining the wall. The six missiles kept flying before colliding with whatever was in the distance and exploding. Blackbeard's teal optics glared right at him.

David's plan had just failed, seemingly due to luck. This was a distinctly poor situation.

"Clever of ye, Mr. Martinez, ye almost pulled a fast one on ol' Blackbeard. Course, now that I know yer a clever little rat, I won't be playin about no more."

"I'm here to kill ye, and that's what I'll do. Shame that damn fool Roland just had to blow our fucking cover, but the situation is still salvageable-like."

"Just have to make sure you die, and that no one knows that I was here."

David grunted, and replied both verbally and on the comms.

"Will you shut up, I'm not about to die to some jawless gonk."

[I'll try to keep him talking, see if you can hit him.]

David was relying on Blackbeard doing exactly what he had been doing, and taunting him. To his hidden glee, Blackbeard did exactly that.

"It's always fun to hear the last words of meat-rat, why don'tcha step into the pit? 'Less of course yer scared of this 'jawless gonk'."

David did exactly that, raising his arms in a defensive posture and slowly approaching the completely still Blackbeard. Blackbeard tilted his head at him.

"You've only been at this, what, two months boy? Not half bad stance there, shame I gott-"

At this point, Rebecca fired a shot that moved faster than sound. A round the size of a 'mini' sized soda can, shot from a gun too big for a person to even use without being a full borg or wearing an ACPA.

And the fucker sidestepped it.

The round hit the far end of the gore-pit, creating a temporary wave of blood and viscera that washed over them both. The sound of the round followed shortly after, air roaring in pain at the bullet. A long moment passed, before Blackbeard started chuckling, eventually escalating into a full-blown laugh.

"Did ye really think that would work, rat-meat? I'm fucking Blackbeard, I've been fighting since before yer parents were born. A sniper isn't about to fucking hit me."

Goddamn it, how the fuck did he suddenly glance back earlier, the set up was perfect! It was like he heard Rebecca over the com…

…The ears on the device on his back. David remembered what they reminded him of. The ears on Rebecca's comms array on her ACPA's head. That was a high-grade comms device on his back.

Blackbeard reacted like he heard Rebecca because he did. He was listening in on the comms around him.

Motherfucker. Rebecca called over the comms again.

[How the fuck did he dodge? David, see if you can disable a leg.]

David had to take out that comms device, but he couldn't let Blackbeard know that he knew that Blackbeard could hear them. Quickly, he formed a plan. He replied to Rebecca knowing full well that Blackbeard could hear them.

[I'll feint and rush his grenades, I'll see if I can blow him up enough to give you a clean shot.]

[Got it, shot readied.]

Alright, fucker, let's see how you deal with this. They activated their sandevistans, David rushed forwards, arms raised to do a punch. Right before he reached Blackbeard he crouched and jumped to his left.

Right for the grenades.

Below him, right before he reached the grenades, Blackbeard rushed in and waited to hit him as he came down. David readied himself. Shame Blackbeard, you didn't realize this was a double-bluff, try again next time.

Blackbeard's clawed hand reached for his face, David tilted his head, and used the fist to turn his entire body around it. His heel-kick crashed against the comms device on Blackbeard's upper back. The clawed thumb approached his left eye.

Their sandevistans deactivated. David flew backwards, face suddenly full of pain. He crashed into the gore and rolled for a bit. He waited a bit for the world to stop spinning, before remembering that he was in a fight and pushing himself up.

He couldn't see out of his left eye. It was screaming at him. He disabled the pain in that optic. It was no longer screaming at him. The rest of his face was. He disabled pain there too.

He looked over to see Blackbeard, one hand on the nape of his neck, the other hand drenched in red. Then again, everything in the area was drenched in red at about this point.

"Clever little rat-meat. Ye realized real fucking fast that I was listening in. I'll remember you for that."

David sent a message to Rebecca.

[He was listening in on our comms, be ready to hit him as soon as his sandy times out. He'll be right in front of my current position.]

David ignored whatever she replied back with, and pulled out his pistol, much to Blackbeard's immediate amusement. David ignored whatever he replied back with, and activated his sandevistan, quickly followed by Blackbeard. He was giving Blackbeard one free shot on him after a useless attack, he wouldn't be able to resist the chance to gloat about the mistake.

David started firing his pistol, all the bullets of which Blackbeard avoided as he approached. David took a purposefully unsteady step back, letting his chrome leg partially give out before stabilizing. Yeah that's right fucker, he was real hurt after all the fighting today, he was vulnerable right now.

His sandevistan timed out. David was suddenly flying back, chest full of pain. He crashed against the edge of the gore pit, and struggled to breathe. It was entirely possible that Blackbeard would have killed him right then, but…

Blackbeard suddenly lost a forearm as Rebecca's bullet tore right fucking though it.

…Rebecca's bullet would have hit regardless.

Blackbeard screamed in rage, echoed by the screaming air and waves of gore. It was one of the best things David had ever heard. Cocky bastard, not so smart when you fuck up like that, huh?

David got up, unsteady for real this time, and got into another stance as Blackbeard ranted hatefully. He didn't really care what he was saying though.

David wasn't about to let this monster get his family. He would make sure of that.

There was only three ways for Blackbeard to attack him now. So David readied his stance to block all but one of them. He was furious right now, not thinking straight, and under the impression that David was a rookie that was in way over his head. Blackbeard activated his sandevistan, David waited a brief moment before activating his own.

All of those things were true, so when Blackbeard rushed him with the only move David wasn't ready to block, David couldn't help but grin triumphantly. David moved at just the right time to parry the move he predicted, and Blackbeard's sandevistan wore out. David's arm cracked right through from merely parrying the guy, the pain was immense, so he turned that off.

David had only about a single thing he could do before his own Sandevistan wore off. So he got behind Blackbeard and grappled him.

His sandevistan wore off, David's arms were locked around Blackbeard's shoulders and his legs were locked around Blackbeard's own, forcing both of them to kneel in the gore-pit.

Blackbeard realized what David was doing, and began to struggle. He was stronger than David, but it wasn't strength that mattered in a proper grapple, it was leverage. David sent a message.

[Take the shot!]

[But… I'll hit you too!]

[TAKE THE FUCKING SHOT!]

Blackbeard stilled and began to sing.

"What do we do with a drunken sailor?"

Blackbeard's frame began to vibrate. Rebecca still hadn't fired. Blackbeard continued to sing.

"What do we do with a drunken sailor?"

Blackbeard's voice began to distort, the vibrations worsened. David's entire body began to hurt. Rebecca still hadn't fired.

"What do we do with a drunken sailor?"

Blackbeard's form became blurry and indistinct from how hard he was vibrating. David's head began to pound. Rebecca still hadn't fired. It was getting hard to hold on, even though all his pain should be disabled. Blackbeard screamed out the next verse.

"EARLY IN THE MORNING?!"

The pain became too much. His grip loosened. Blackbeard broke free and backhanded him.

David flew through the air, he crashed into the gore again. Rebecca took the shot. Blackbeard moved out of the way.

He couldn't move, his limbs refused to respond. His mouth was full of liquid, he did his best to spit it out. He tried to lean up at the very least.

He barely succeeded.

Blackbeard was walking over now. One heavy footstep at a time. His entire form was indecipherable, indistinct and unrecognizable save for a vaguest black-blue silhouette.

"Weigh, heigh, and hope he rises."

The gore-pit was filled with waves, all of them originating from his footsteps. He felt more and more pain as Blackbeard approached, like a boxer using his organs as a punching bag.

Ah… He was going to die here, wasn't he?

…That was fucking infuriating.

David forced himself up more, he turned off pain in every fucking chrome part he could.

Blackbeard kept walking for him. David resolved to taunt the fucker, but his mouth wasn't cooperating with him.

Rebecca took another shot, Blackbeard activated his sandevistan to dodge.

"Weigh, heigh, and hope he rises."

The nature of fights involving a sandevistan almost always falls down to boosterware chicken. That's what Adam had taught him. Unfortunately he couldn't take advantage of Blackbeard dodging like that, his body too damaged to move properly.

He was just as surprised as everyone else, when George suddenly had Blackbeard in a grapple and facing towards where Rebecca was shooting from. Blackbeard thrashed just the same, and kept singing. George's body fell apart with every syllable, even more pronounced from his previous damage.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? I'M THE KING OF THE CONCRETE JUNGLE! YOU DON'T FUCK WITH GEORGE GOODE!"

Blackbeard sang another verse, George's skin split open, his face started to bleed from every pore, and his chrome started to give out a metallic scream.

"HEY SNIPER! TAKE THE FUCKING SHOT!"

A second passed, before a hole tore it's way through both of them.

They fell into the gore pit.

It was silent.

…

David thought back to all the people who died in the past two days. He thought back to the faithful, who he was just beginning to warm up to.

…

It is what it is.

…

He wanted to go to bed now.

David's last sight was a Trauma Team carrier descending next to the gore-pit.