Charlie coughed up blood and staggered to his feet. He couldn't let Mueller close the distance. The man had been playing with Charlie. Being flung through a wall of the ancient dojo didn't contribute much to his pain. His painless skill kept the distraction down, but damn…the man hit so very hard.

  At first, Charlie was overjoyed by the form and location of the match that was randomly selected. The combat style assigned was a straight battle royal, set in a replica of the Kenrokuen gardens. A simple battle was perfect for Charlie. He had fought often in a simulation of the Kenrokuen gardens as his favorite VR game Shogun featured the famous location for many of its samurai duels.

  Ancient pines rustled in the gentle breeze, their reflections dancing on the surface of still koi ponds, where vibrant fish glided gracefully. Cherry blossoms in full bloom framed the scene with delicate pink petals, while stone lanterns added an aura of solemnity. Charlie had faced Mueller as the duel commenced with the sounding of the temple’s gong.

  Charlie had opened with a full sampling of his offensive distance attacks. Mueller’s resistance training must have been extreme. He’d tanked the attacks without even trying to dodge. External body attacks like heat, chill, poison, and shock; all failed to affect Mueller. Charlie had closed with his weapon, set to sword form, and regretted it immediately.

  Mueller was a powerhouse, his augmentation design heavily focused on power, strength, and defense. The man was a deadly infighter and wrestler. Charlie had reviewed his tactics against Shu. Mueller wanted a close fight where he excelled. The man didn't even use a weapon, his monstrously armored fists were deadly enough.

  Charlie’s sword had some effect, but Mueller’s counters when he landed them were devastating. Charlie needed all his speed and agility to avoid battering or worse…entrapment. Unfortunately, Mueller was pretty fast too.

  Charlie bounded out of the dojo. He couldn’t afford for Mueller to close and control the fight. He set himself in the adjoining pavilion as Mueller crashed through and out of the dojo, eyes set on his opponent. Charlie centered his mind; the battle trance skill helped him repair damage and regain his spent energy.

  Mueller roared and charged again. Charlie dodged, scoring a stroke along Mueller’s outstretched arms. He felt his mistake immediately, Mueller had snagged the sleeve of his smart suit, which was configured into an armored Gi. With a scream of defiance, Mueller reeled Charlie in, wrapping him in a bear hug.

  Charlie slipped into fast time and quickly found a counter among his many skills. He activated his Stiction skill and Mueller’s squeeze sent him skittering across the ground like a spit watermelon seed.

  Still in fast time, Charlie took the time to review his energy, skills, and status in his personal HUD. He had configured it to look like a cockpit to a WarStrider Mech from his days in the RUSA armored infantry. He saw a daemon flagging him for an emergency discussion.

  His newest daemon had some serious issues, but Charlie was desperate for advice. He opened his communication channel with RainMan. The daemon was a recreation of an autistic savant from a pre-reformation movie. The AI’s speech pattern was annoying as hell, but Charlie had learned his observations were important. He opened the channel while Mueller, in slow motion, was slowly realizing that Charlie had escaped his grasp,

  “[Charlie! The bad man made a big mistake. Big. Mistake. Look. Look. He’s wearing grenades. Charlie, he is wearing his grenades! He’s a bad man and he is wearing his grenades.]” RainMan said, with his manic monotone.

  “[Jeez, RainMan. I get it. I’ve got a couple of grenades in my gear bag, too. So what?!]” Charlie said with irritation.

  “[The grenades are old. Pull pin go boom. Old grenades bad. Four old grenades on the bad man. Big boom.]” RainMan insisted. Charlie was stunned when he realized what RainMan was really saying. Mueller’s exposed grenades had an old-fashioned pull-pin activation mechanism without additional safety locks.

  “[You sly dog, RainMan. Good job. We'll work on some of your favorite puzzles later. Good job.]” He laughed internally. He had been desperate to get some extra daemon support, but the choices available in the Casino level were either super expensive or of questionable quality.

  Charlie saw RainMan in the bargain bin but with an upgrade to keep his deduction skills less his annoying verbal ticks in the premium. Charlie thought that if the skills were in the cheap version, then he could put up with the quirky daemon. Charlie closed the link and activated his next daemon.

  Charlie knew Max maintained full and open communication with his daemons during a fight, but Charlie wouldn’t tolerate the distraction. Only with a breather and fast time would he attempt it, and then only with one at a time.

  “[Alan, did you hear that? Standby if I need your help. I’m going to access the local foglets and assert control. If Mueller’s already locked in, help me crack it. If he senses my play, hold him off.]”

  Charlie closed the link before Alan Turing could reply, the daemon had never failed to provide backup. Charlie summoned his Access skill. To his surprise, Mueller hadn’t accessed anything in the field, even the foglets in contact with himself.

  Mueller may be a tough mother lover but ain’t nobody smart enough to be that arrogant. I got you!

  Charlie thought as he locked himself into the surrounding foglet cloud. He didn’t even need to formulate any specific commands, his Telekinesis skill helping as he visualized his desire and the foglets made it a reality.

  Charlie spammed the charging Mueller with a Strobe to the eyes. Not to slow him but to distract him. Mueller’s bandolier of grenades had all their pins fly out and their activation spoons opened. Charlie reconfigured his Polyweapon on the fly as he flung the sword at Mueller’s feet.

  The smart blade lengthened, its edge dulling and stretching as it reformed into a ropey band.

  Charlie altered the flow of his thoughts as his tactics played out. Mueller’s roar stuttered as he averted his face, tanking the strobe. The man didn’t even notice the grenade pins, as he tried to leap the flung smart weapon. The big man almost made it, but he hadn’t favored his agility stats and got tangled. He crashed into the ground as the rope synched his legs together. He slid face-first over the Zen garden’s manicured pebble art.

  Charlie ducked behind a decorative urn as his countdown reached zero and deactivated the rope to let it go loose again. He didn’t want to try its material strength against Mueller’s awesome strength. The garden detonated with sound and the explosion sent Mueller arcing almost directly up.

  Fuck. That battle maniac is still in one piece. Charlie cursed. Spying his Polyweapon and Mueller reached the apex of his impromptu flight, Charlie sprinted forward accessing his skills again.

  Charlie slid the last meter on his knees and grabbed his weapon as it flew into his hands. It straightened and grew longer as he braced it, shifting slightly to make sure he was under Mueller. Charlie knew from his pole-vaulting days the very real danger of impaling oneself on a jump. He only hoped it would at least hurt the heavily armored Mueller.

  Mueller’s eyes widened as he managed to pivot around, but couldn’t move from his trajectory. Charlie shifted the pole as Mueller came down. Charlie winced as the big man landed hard with the pole bending from its braced impact into his groin.

  Charlie scrambled aside as Mueller landed in a heap. Mueller let out a tortured groan and struggled to breathe. Charlie staggered up, not quite believing that the man wasn’t down for the count. Charlie steeled himself for one more strike to end it. He flipped into a wheeling downward axe kick aimed at Carl’s head.

  The impact bounced Carl’s head off the ground. Charlie tried to roll to his feet and found that he couldn’t. He looked down at his leg and Mueller’s bloody wheezing grin as the man’s iron grip had Charlie by the ankle.

  Charlie's world spun and his senses blanked for a second as pain blossomed. He shook his head, tasting dirt and blood; his thoughts slow and fuzzy. Before he could understand what happened he was dragged across the ground and flung into the air. Cool relief as the water closed over him.

  Water? Charlie snapped awake as his system pinged.

  Charlie shook his head and found he could stand. He was in the koi pond, and it was only up to his waist. Mueller had found his feet and was staggering toward the pool. His face was bloody, but Charlie could see the lacerations closing as he watched.

  Charlie growled as he realized he’d lost his weapon. His system pinged. It was Genghis. He boosted his time sense and answered.

  “[Talk to me, Genghis. I fucked up. I thought I had him with the grenades, but he’s too tough.]” Charlie said, opening the line to his first daemon.

  “[There is always blood in a fight, warrior. Stand tall! Your opponent bleeds, does he not? He breathes, does he not? He is no immortal, no god. You have the tools and will to win! You must focus!]

  Genghis’ bloodlust came through loud and clear; the daemon was more strategic than tactical.

  Charlie pulled his skill screen up, he needed to find a counter. Everything he’d used, Mueller had just shrugged off. He felt like Genghis’ comment was important, more than just encouragement, even if the daemon didn’t know it. He watched in slow motions as Mueller exhaled a plum of blood and he began to pick up his pace.

  Suddenly Charlie knew Mueller’s weakness. He located his weapon and pulled it telekinetically flying across the garden to smack into his hand. He formed it into his staff. Charlie set himself with his staff high above the water. He would need to time this perfectly.

  He met the charging Mueller with his staff blocking. He held back a grin as Carl grabbed him to pull his weapon away. Charlie fell back and splashed into the water, pulling his staff…and Mueller after him. Charlie threw a kick up as he landed on his back, water eclipsing his sight.

  Mueller was flipped over the top and Charlie used the momentum to pull himself over and on top. He covered himself over Mueller's struggling body, using his staff in rope mode and applying his Stiction skill to slide and stick to Mueller and the pool’s bottom.

  Mueller thrashed but the water absorbed most of the force from his blows. Charlie could hear him roaring in burbling outrage and anger. Charlie kept the pressure on, triggering shocking touches and close-focused EMP. He applied every bit of his SkillZ-taught wrestling knowledge and his Disable strikes to keep Mueller down.

  The thrashing slowed and stopped. Charlie held the limp giant down until the gong sounded. Charlie quickly pulled his opponent up and dragged him to the edge of the pool, hitting his back to force water out of his lungs. He was about to start mouth-to-mouth when Mueller spewed pond water off to the side and inhaled shakily.

  “God damn. You’re one tough son of a bitch.” Charlie said as Mueller gasped and sputtered. Eventually, the man managed a weak chuckle.

  “You're devious and determined, Mr. Hawkins. Thank you for helping me find another weakness. When we have a rematch, I will ensure it is gone. I hope that when I do best you, that you don’t hold it against me. Look me up when we all get back to the outside. ACME could use more creative leaders.” He said in a grave voice. Charlie laughed and then considered his lack of career trajectory.

  "Thank you, Carl. I look forward to a rematch. I’ll have to find some more tricks until then. If you’re serious, I just might give you a call. You’ve got a great team-building session here. If your benefits are of similar caliber, I'd be a fool not to check it out.”