It had been awhile since he had beaten the brat. It was about time he corrected that, Adam's part of the bargain was teaching him what Adam knew about fighting after all. He made a note to start doing this more often. He surveyed the spot they had walked to, and eventually nodded to himself, this would be good enough.
Near to Night City, the wastelands have sparse desert vegetation. Little bits of plant life eeking out a meager existence and sustained by air moisture and countless bodies buried over the decades. Every now and then acid rain would sweep by and kill everything above the surface, letting the dead plants feed a new cycle of life protected by hardened seeds. This life became more and more sparse as you went further from Night City itself, less bodies to feed the soil, less life to grow from it.
Get far enough out, and it's nothing but sand and salt, the most complex form of life being cannibalistic worms crawling under the surface, sustained by eating each other and whatever else died out there.
Currently, they were standing in between such spots, not much life, and not many worms either, none that he could feel through the soles of his clawed cybernetic feet. Calling them feet was accurate, but they weren't human feet.
A human foot was a product of evolution, of slow adaptation into a form that was reasonable enough for most uses until the pressure of adaptation slowed and then stopped. Natural feet were filled with errors left over from this process, small ones that weren't enough of a hindrance to adapt them away.
Normal cybernetics were designed to mimic the human form as closely as possible, and then enhance from there. Another step in evolution more or less, the same design adapted for slightly better results. This was normal cyberware, most cyberware.
Borgware, as some called it, was different. It allowed for radical, ground-up redesigns of the entire structure for more effective end use. It didn't care about looking human if the end result was better than human. His current feet did not look human except at extreme distances.
Most of his weight was placed on a raised arch that then extended into five flattened 'toes', three in the front and two in the back, that were covered in overlapping layers of armor that concealed secondary 'claws' that could extend on mental command. Two of these secondary claws extended between his front primary toes, and one extended from between the back two. Above this entire bladed affair, above his 'ankles' were two sub-thrusters that could rotate in almost any direction.
This foot, bound in myomer and covered in armor plating, extended up into an armored knee joint that then extended into a thick bundle of thigh myomer, rocket thrusters, and armor plating. This attached to a hip that was inhuman for the most part, excepting the center, to provide allowance for Gemini-like features.
Human limbs looked nothing like this.
He was considering a six-fingered hand setup, but decided against it in the end, the ergonomics on most weapons didn't make having two thumbs very useful most of the time. Beating on the brat some would tell him quite a bit about how far along the brat got, and what features he still needed to iron on on his new body. A win-win in the truest sense. Good deals all around.
"This spot works." He declared, turning around to lock eyes with the brat. The rest of them were back in Night City, Adam didn't feel like starting up his car to come out here. He and the brat had perfectly functional legs and it wasn't more than a ten minute run anyways. Border patrol almost stopped them, before he sent them his ID. That patrol had turned around almost immediately.
The brat rolled his shoulders and hopped in place, a cocky grin growing on his face. "Finally decided to stop stalling your ass kicking?"
He snorted in amused disdain. "I'll make sure not to take off any limbs, your mother might yell at me if I do."
The brat let out his own snort, before crouching slightly with arms spread out. "Any ground rules for this one? You still owe me those mission BDs, by the way."
He considered it for a moment, looking down at his hands and flexing the myomer. Flexing his hand in just the right way caused another set of claw-like blades to emerge from between his fingers. Another implant to aid in climbing and combat. "I'll hold back on killing you. If you do well, I'll give you a mission-chip. Only the one, you didn't actually win that tournament."
The brat threw his hands up in mock outrage. "Oh c'mon! We were interrupted! I was gonna win!"
"Prove it." He challenged.
Lightning filled their bones. The world lost a hint of color. Time had slowed to a crawl.
The brat had used all four limbs to throw himself forwards, a cloud of dust kicked up and hanging in the air behind him. He approached at a speed that even other sandevistans would struggle to keep up with. He was halfway finished with his initial leap by the time Adam felt the vibrations of the initial jump through the ground.
So the brat had some sort of reaction enhancement in that new frame as well, not quite a kerenzikov as he hadn't heard a single mention of slowed perception yet, but definitely something. A reflex tuner perhaps.
Adam let the end of his lip twitch upwards.
He lashed out in a basic kick. The brat threw his arm to the side, starting a spin that let him backhand the foot. As Adam was much heavier, this made him rotate slightly and sent the brat flying towards the side.
Adam carried the spin into another kick, not even needing to look. The brat was immediately attacking again from his flank, jumping off the ground. A moment later, the vibrations of another leap reached his grounded foot.
His attacking leg crashed into the brat's torso and sent him flying into a dune. He held the pose for a moment before lowering his leg back to the ground.
Their speedware expired. The clouds of dust finally began to fall. Vibrations reached his feet, a circling pattern that started from the other side of the dust cloud and stayed behind the dunes. The brat had immediately recovered to start another flank, using the dust as a distraction.
He kept his gaze forwards, his lips widened into a slight smile.
"Too predictable brat. I know what you want to do, and our speed is on par. You need to bait and then dodge a counter to force an opening."
A more powerful vibration from behind him and the rush of air being displaced. Neither of their sandevistans had time to refresh yet. He let one of his 'ears' twitch and rotate to hear the brat. Two reinforced antennae jutting from where his normal ears would be, framing his pompadour and providing more room to fit audioware. An unfortunate requirement to get most of his hearing back.
A vibration landed behind him. He twisted on the spot, lashing out in another kick.
The brat had landed earlier than he had been expecting, already lashing out in a kick of his own. Bracing against the ground for leverage, the brat's kick forced his own up and over his head, theoretically leaving him open to an attack. The brat twisted up in preparation for a strike.
A miniscule flex in his other leg let him jump a goof foot off the ground, letting him twist into a follow-up kick with his other leg.
The brat's grin widened as he shifted his legs, rooting them against the ground. Fists turned into open hands, grabbing his leg and pulling it forwards. He wasn't intending on a strike, but a throw.
Adam's lips twisted into a grin, his optics gleamed red. You brat, who the fuck taught you to grapple?
The ground rapidly rose to meet him as the brat wielded him like a hammer. He raised his hands to clash against the earth, letting them bend as he crashed against the ground just enough to bleed off any real damage.
His torso hit the ground, his hand claws emerged to sink into the ground. He twisted his entire body.
The brat was dragged along with his leg as Adam rightened his stance.
The brat's back hit the ground. Adam's knee hit his ribs. The ground shook as the brat staggered…
For all of a quarter-second, his eyes refocusing almost immediately. He reached up to grab Adam's leg, kicking his own legs against the ground and flexing his entire body.
All 500 pounds of Adam's mass was flung over his head and a dozen feet away. He twisted his own flight path to land on his feet as he hit the ground. The ground shook with his landing, kicking up yet another cloud of dust. Not bad brat, that was almost enough to actually damage him.
The sound of rushing air. A vibration in the ground.
He twisted, guard raised. The brat's foot crashed against his forearms. Not even a moment of hesitation there, good. Adam's feet dug grooves in the ground as he skidded back. The skidding stopped when he unsheathed his feet-claws, which dug into the earth and halted his movement. That was a good kick, the armor in his forearms was cracked now.
Let's see how the brat does on defense.
The dust clouds halted their slow fall as he activated his sandevistan.
The brat's eyes widened as he moved forwards and threw a punch, clashing with the brat's own hasty attack. Unfortunately for the brat, how hard you hit was a function of how heavy you were and how fast you moved, and Adam weighed almost three times what the brat did.
The brat flew back, feet skipping across the ground as he tried to slow himself without flipping over. He had managed to bleed off that punch by giving in just enough as it hit, a trick Adam had taught him early on.
When he first met the brat, Uriel had correctly pointed something out. Ready to rock, but never been rolled before. Adam made sure to teach him how to roll with the punches as the first lesson. It wasn't any useful against bullets, sure, but melee was still used just often enough for it to be a good trick to have.
His forearm twitched in the same way he normally fired a micromissile…
His optics narrowed as his hand shot off, propelled by microrockets and attached by a powerful but lightweight cable that rapidly unspooled from his inner arm. He could actually get micromissiles again, couldn't he? Maybe not in this set of arms, but certainly a pair. It had been awhile since he splurged on something like that.
The brat let out a curse as the rocket-hand grabbed onto his leg. Immediately Adam commanded the cable to start retracting, dragging the brat along towards him again.
Take notes brat, this was how you threw someone to the ground. Adam twisted his entire body, the retracting cable spun to follow. The brat barely had time to brace himself as he crashed into another dune. The dust exploded around him, speeding up halfway through as his sandevistan expired.
Adam let go with the hand, the cable pulling it back to click into place in his forearm again. Quickly flexing to make sure it was properly attached, he spoke aloud.
"You're not going to be able to hit harder than me brat, so don't try to clash like that. Even if you bleed off the impact, it's going to crack your frame each time."
Vibrations, the rush of air, and his optics minutely widened in realization.
He twisted to block…
A foot crashed against his face, snapping his head back. He attempted to flip into a handstand and from there right himself…
Arms grabbed his hands and threw him to crash against the ground. He pushed himself up hard enough to get a few feet of height…
A powerful kick crashed against his midsection, sending him flying back to crash against a dune himself. He shook the earth as the dune practically shattered, even if sand didn't normally work like that.
His grin was wide as he stood up, sand pouring off his form, armor cracked but otherwise unharmed.
The brat deliberately didn't activate his sandevistan earlier to get some hits in. Not bad, if the brat had used panzerfaust or had a decent gun, he might have lost a limb there.
A fist raced for his face. He rooted himself.
The blow impacted, and traveled down his frame, carried with the correct microvibrations.
His feet claws dug into the ground. The impact flowed through them and into the soil.
The ground around him and the brat exploded into a small crater. The brat hung in the air for a brief moment, before gravity took hold once more. Adam hadn't moved an inch since the fist connected.
He raised a hand, and kept it there.
The brat's feet hit the ground. The brat raised up to his full height to lock optics with Adam. Shared sharp grins on their faces.
The spar was over.
"What did you do wrong?" That was a trick question this time, there was nothing major the brat really could have done better save use more destructive options. That wasn't an option in most spars… Maybe he should buy one of those training simulators? Might be a good investment to teach the brat more destructively.
"Not having any support chrome chipped in." The brat answered immediately. "You got that fancy grapple-hand and claws. I only have the basic frame and a sandy right now. Need to fix that."
Hmm. Technically correct, but that wasn't exactly the point of this exercise. Points for the answer though. "Good, correct. We'll look over options when we get back. What else?"
"I don't have the style quite down either, it takes me too long to root and unroot myself, and I kind of throw myself around when I try it. I need to figure out how to do that better."
Also technically correct, but skill would come with experience. "Good, correct. What else?"
"...Not sure. That's all I got." He admitted with a small frown.
"You'll get the mission chip after we look through the implant catalog." Adam spoke, causing the brat to give a small cheer in celebration. "What are your vitals right now?"
The brat's eyes glowed for a moment. "...Mostly yellow, torso is orange. You?"
He checked his own status. "Green, yellow torso."
The brat let out a 'tsk' in reply. "I need better armor." Adam nodded in reply, and began to walk back towards Night City. The brat followed immediately, getting the unspoken command to follow.
"Hey Smasher?"
Adam grunted inquisitively.
"What mission am I gonna get?"
Hmm… "April 23, 2056." He decided on the spot. "It has my notes on what I did wrong through it, study them, they're in the editing interface."
The brat nodded, then started to ramble about seeing if he could convince his mother to order pizza tonight. Adam put the brat into his 'half awareness' section and kept walking.
Behind them, the destroyed desert basin was almost invisible behind clouds of dust and sand.