We were both right, we were both wrong.

  My little trick as he put it, did in fact work. Partially. I managed to sever the connection to his left leg, and I may have gotten the connection to his sandy, before something opposed my control. I felt it was something I could defeat, if I had the time. But, of course, I didn't. That's never the way it goes.

  I growled in frustration, as I had to dodge his first awkward attempts to grab me. Though he was now limited to hopping on his right leg., it wasn't as much of an advantage for me as it might seem. His first almost twenty foot hopping grab, was easy to evade, but he was still almost as fast as me, even with this handicap. As I dodged another grab, I pulled my pistol and dumped six rounds into his right leg, before he managed to backhand me.

  Say what you will about Arasaka, they stood at the pinnacle of this world's tech. And Smasher was their showcase model, he was crammed full of every advanced piece of tech they could shove into his frame. Which meant he hit like a fucking truck.

  His backhand even blunted by my shields, tossed me over forty feet. I probably skidded another ten or twelve. It was only thanks to my suit's gel-like inner padding that my brain wasn't more scrambled.

  I was laughing as I managed to stand up. "I knew you bastards had all the data Militech gathered on me. You prepared counter measures." I glanced at his dead leg, "Though not as well as you would've liked, I bet." Dazed I was struggling to stand straight, but I could still chortle.

  Looking myself over I was honestly surprised that my armor seemed intact. Smasher hit that bleeding hard.

  He chuckled right back at me, "That's right, Meat. You are one of my targets. The lab boys want to get a look at you. Give up now, and I'll just break your limbs. Make me work any harder, and I'll just give them your head."

  Really. How cliched can you get?

  "Does that ever work?" I asked, completely interested in the answer. It was so fucking ridiculous, it couldn't ever work. right?

  I was pulling myself together, watching his movements. He was half hopping now, my gambit of shooting his leg had done a little damage. Still ten foot hops closed the distance between us far sooner than I'd like.

  I was reminded again, this wasn't a man. This was a monster. He wouldn't be stopped easily.

  "About half the time." He reached for me again, but I leapt backwards. Kaldorei reflexes to the rescue. My own jumping game was nothing to sneeze at, and now he had to cross another twenty feet to play. I could tell it was pissing him off. I'll cry for him later. Heh.

  I was sure he had tons of weapons he was hiding, waiting for the right time to use them. Or he was just trying to get his sick twisted enjoyment out of this. Maybe both.

  Time to unleash some of my own weapons.

  Phiss

  The lasweapons on my shoulders weren't responding. Fuck. They must have been damaged when I hit the ground. Why did things always turn out like this?

  Still, it wasn't over. I had a few cards left to play.

  Probius seeing I was clear of his line of fire, started pumping rounds into Smasher. Most sadly did nothing. However, there were a few new little holes gracing his ugly chassis. the fluis that leaked out was a disgusting grey color.

  Smasher hopped through the hailstorm of bullets, until he was too close to me for Probius to continue.

  Probius beeped. I didn't quite catch it, but I'm pretty sure my Robo-Buddy just cursed. But behind him, I saw something that gave me hope.

  I let Smasher close with me again and focused on not getting snatched by his murder mitts. I even tried snapping a few punches of my own. He contemptuously didn't even try to dodge, but judging by how little my blows moved him, he didn't have to.

  "Hey Smasher?" I was getting better at talking while dodging. Though I had a long way to go before I could really mix it up with the likes of Smasher. I knew he was toying with me, I was counting on it. He needed to think that he had it in the bag.

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  "Yeah, Meat?" He was still ramping up, as he adjusted to his limitations. He was a psycho, and he was damned good at what he did. If this kept playing out this way, eventually he'd win. He knew it too.

  "Did you think the snapping was part of my trick?" What he didn't know, was that I wasn't dumb enough to trust everything to a crew I'd never worked with before. There was my obvious backup. David, Mith and Probius.

  Then there was my secret backup. Everyone else I had in my corner.

  We both heard the roar of a huge cat. It made a tiger's roar sound like a chump's. It made the nerves dance. It made most people freeze. Smasher spun, barely phased, a blazing silver arrow barely grazing his face.

  Lunaria spewed forth invectives in her native tongue. Before she and her Nightsaber vanished. I wished I knew how she did that during the daytime. It would've made this all much easier.

  I tried to kick Smashers right leg out from under him, yet all I managed was to make him stumble. Barely. Built like a fuckin brick wall. Immoveable.

  I leapt back as I heard, 'Aru nal'adan!' A Zealot leapt at Smasher, Psiblade poised to thrust into the enemy. Somehow Smasher twisted aside and shot something into the Zealot from his arm. I saw the flash of the Zealot's shield, and figured he'd be fine.

  We were so focus on each other, we hadn't noticed them come up, but now my five Zealots were looking for an opening to strike.

  "Aw, now it's not going to be fun anymore." Smasher turned towards me, his arm still raised. Three silver arrows hit him, only one had the power to pierce through his armor, throwing off his aim. A stream of bullets still pinged off my shield. I shifted backwards trying to create more space between us. It was time to let the Zealot's take over. I'd try to bust through whatever defense he'd cooked up.

  Little ports opened at his shoulders as another Zealot charged, Two rockets were launched. One hit the Zealot's shield, the explosion knocking him away. One hit me, driving me into the ground. Again my shield saved me.

  Smasher looked around the area. Stopping. An arrow pinged off his skull, tearing the skin open. He saw the five Zealots and knew there were at least three archers, and Probius. He might still win, but it wasn't looking good. Like any smart asshole, he knew when to cut his losses.

  I took the opportunity to use Comprehend Mechanical Structure. Probius took the time to scan him as well. Might as well get something for all of this trouble.

  Adam Smasher, the borg, the myth, the legend knew this wasn't the day he'd get to take my head. Even though I was the one on my knees right then.

  "Ryan, let's meet again. I had fun today. Next time, I'll bring my best suit." He smiled at me. Somehow him saying my name, and the way he said it, scared the shit out of me.

  "Fuck you, Smasher." I flipped him off. Not remotely interested in seeing him ever again.

  His body went limp, too bad for him. I've seen this trick before.

  "Get clear! He's going to blow." Leaping backwards myself and turning and running.

  Everyone managed to get clear in time to watch Smasher's former body explode.

  Well, despite my worst fears coming true, we'd made it through.

  I wish I could be happier about that.

  While Maine's crew had made their plans, I'd made my own. I liked them, I really did, but I'd been burned hard before.

  I bought a couple of cargo trucks with decent auto driving programming. I sent the trucks out to our Trash Mountain work site, while driving out there myself. I was tempted to bring David and really blow his mind. But I'm saving that for another day. I did take Mith, he was critical to my plans.

  I explained the trucks, and the agents I'd gotten them all. When I called they'd load up and head to my location. They were to shadow me and wait for my signal.

  Then I sent up the signals.

  The first snap was for the Kaldorei. They'd strike from the shadows.

  The second snap was for the Khalai. They'd boldly attack as was their way.

  The last snap was special, that was just for the Best Boy. He was to start evacuating all the injured people. They'd end up save and sound back at the apartment where Evie and Lacie would keep them stable until I could get back there.

  I was just glad I didn't have to snap the fourth time. I didn't want to relive that trauma.

  I threw my head back and roared to the sky. It wasn't a celebration. Though some might think it was.

  We didn't win, we survived. And I knew that for what ever reason, Smasher was holding back. He could've done so much more damage.

  Once my first and best card was countered, I knew everything else was a gamble.

  No, I was roaring to release the tension I felt, to express my rage at, yet again, finding I'd been outthought.

  Did Arasaka have a tech method for countering my mana, an artifact or... did they have help.

  I knew there were other people roped into coming to this world. It made sense that some of them might cut deals with the Corpos.

  But and here's the kicker, how did they know what I look like now? Only a few people knew the Tall Purple Skinned Medic, was once rather ordinary looking Ryan.

  'Executor, the enemy flees, why are you upset?' Ask one of the Zealots. Trust the Khalai to know that Smasher's mind had left the building before his little present went off.

  "Because they knew too much." They had a mole. Maybe this was another Sally and Megan situation? No, I knew how to sniff that out now.

  "Worry not, dear Ryan. This was their best chance to strike. Now that you know you are hunted, you may set the trap." Lunaria appeared next to us. Her giant Nightsaber mount chuffed at us. It bumped it's head into my side. I absently gave it scritches, while the hamster wheel in my head turned.

  The truly odd part. I was a little low rent for them to call in Smasher. Arasaka really must want whatever is on that truck. I was just an easy pick up bonus. Heh. Not so easy.

  Did he hit any of the others first, or was I the lucky draw?

  I motioned everyone to load into the trucks, let's see who make the rendezvous.