Adam Smasher

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Adam Smasher
Biographical Information
Alias(es)	NC boogeyman Chrome-dome
Status	Dependent
Date of Birth	June 21
Place of Birth	New York City, USA
Date of Death	2077 (dependent)
Place of Death	Arasaka Tower (dependent)
Home	The Bronx, NYC Night City
Physical Information
Gender	Male
Cyberware	See Cyberware
Equipment	See Equipment
Faction Information
Affiliation	United States Armed Forces (formerly) Arasaka
Occupation	Gangster (formerly) Marine (formerly) Mercenary Bodyguard Arasaka's head of security
Role	Solo
Other Information
Voiced By	Alec Newman
Appearances
Game(s)	Cyberpunk 2020 Cyberpunk RED Cyberpunk 2077
Literature	Solo of Fortune 2 Firestorm Stormfront Firestorm Shockwave Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit
Other	Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Meat doesn't need to understand. Just to die!

 — Adam Smasher, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit

Adam Smasher is a full borg mercenary employed by Arasaka who became a notorious solo and rival of Morgan Blackhand. By 2077, he had risen to the position of head of security within Arasaka and the personal bodyguard of Yorinobu Arasaka.

Smasher is a towering cyborg, with little humanity left to be seen, not that he ever had much. After being reduced to mush by a rocket blast, Arasaka offered him a choice—either pull the plug or become a full body conversion cyborg. With little to no options and a lack of care for his human side, he agreed and became more machine than man. Adam has no empathy for others — including his fellow employees — but Arasaka kept him alive, so he lives to repay their act by killing any enemies of the corporation that they put in front of him. Adam can only be described in one way, pure uncontrolled evil.

Biography

Early life - 2010s

Adam was born in June 21st to a Bronx American father and a Russian mother. Growing up in the streets of New York City, in the South Bronx, Adam considered himself the meanest and toughest kid on his block, eventually joining his neighborhood combat gang. Despite being a fairly typical worthless punk, during the Collapse, Adam became the gang's leader, often rumbling around what was left of the Yankee Stadium. When the United States Armed Forces wiped out the last one of his gangoons, Smasher enlisted right away. He spent six years in the Marine Corps, where he learned many different skills and became a 108kg strong man. However, he was discharged for insubordination.

After returning to his hometown, Adam took up the life of a mercenary, specializing in nasty and destructive gigs. Over the following years, he considered New York his stomping ground, accepting all kinds of dangerous jobs, from extractions or harassment to assassination and demolition. It was a good life for him, as his lack of squeamishness and sadistic thoroughness brought in enough jobs to keep him in guns, gear, drugs, and brutal one-night stands. Everything changed in 2015 when the local branch of Arasaka employed him and other mercs to steal a prototype tech from a competitor. During the job, two rocket-propelled grenades maimed Adam, who was later transported to a medical center where he effectively died for over eight minutes before the doctors managed to reanimate his brain. What remained of Adam's body was brought in by his teammates inside a backpack. Around this time, Smasher realized he was getting all of his inputs through interface, with his sensorial organs being inside gel at some corporate installations. Arasaka, preemptively knowing what Adam's fate would be, had already prepared a deal for him; a full body conversion in return for a "15"-year employment contract. In Adam's own words: "They figured I'd just walked into some bad luck and they liked my resume, performance record, skill, good looks and all that." The young man knew only a bit about cyberware, and he never had the money to afford an FBC, so he never thought about it either. But while in the life support tank, Adam knew that if he refused the deal, the next day, his remains would be in someone's body bank. With no other choice, nor any thoughts of lost humanity bothering him anyway, he accepted the corp deal.

Once inside his new chromed body, Adam Smasher realized that was the best decision he had ever made. After returning to the streets of NYC, with Arasaka allowing him time for freelancing, Adam used his new power to spill the blood of anyone that dared to cross his path, including boosterpunks, powered-armor soldiers, corporate hitmen, heavy-duty armed vehicles, dangerous cyberpets, or even children. For Smasher, metal was better than meat. He was obtaining so many gigs that there was no idle time for him, soon gaining fame along the eastern seaboard. He was hired out for almost any mission presented to him, as long as it wasn't an obvious suicide or double-cross. He did have one stipulation: collateral damage and civilian casualties were a must. Most of his time, however, was contracted by Arasaka, who put Smasher on offensive field duty, harassing the competition, and on some occasions in retrieval missions as well. One time he got shot point blank to the chest with a 40mm grenade launcher, throwing Adam off a building's rooftop and falling down nine stories onto a garbage truck. Right after, he returned to the roof to rip the enemy soldier's head off.

Over the following years, Adam defended the New York branch of Arasaka, killing dozens of merc crews that tried to infiltrate the building, while at the same time cleansing the city of what he considered a "fleshy infection." Once, a team of mercenaries were successful in stealing Arasaka files from the local offices, so Smasher pursued the last reaming member who tried to flee after going into a nearby mallplex. If he had been in his meat body, Adam would have needed a minigun to clear the way to pursue his objective. With his metal body, however, weapons as powerful as a minigun were a treat for him, as he could incorporate them into his frame, allowing Smasher to carry heavy weaponry with ease while feeling almost no recoil whatsoever. On the other hand, the meat merc that was escaping could only carry "small weapons," as anything bigger would turn their skeleton to kibble, in Smasher's opinion. Adam was able to catch up to her, though she hid amidst the mallplex crowd. Smasher swept over the multitude with his Tsunami Helix arm-gatling shotgun. In his view, he would never face any repercussions as he didn't wear any corporate tags, colors or logos when on an outside job, and even then, he always wore a different facemask each time he was deployed. Once the surviving crowd had dispersed, Smasher approached the countless bodies to retrieve the files from the corpse of the merc girl.

Over the years, Smasher also developed a quiet rivalry with Morgan Blackhand, seeing the classic solo as a threat to his metal-is-better-than-meat worldview. Adam had repeatedly tried to challenge him to a face-off, but Morgan only ignored him at every possible confrontation. Naturally, this snubbing had simply stoked the cyborg's psychopathic rage higher.

2020 - 2023

By 2020, Smasher liked to call himself a true borg, with little real flesh remaining on his body. He thought that humanity was obsolete, and meat would eventually be replaced, including the mind. With this belief, Adam had the opportunity to write an article for the Solo of Fortune magazine, where he endorsed the full body conversion, stating that anyone who didn't convert would get wiped out.

He had multiple custom FBC designs at his disposal, which were prepped before any operation so people couldn't tell who he was. Although he wished to spend his time mowing down civilians, Smasher knew that it was a dangerous endeavor, as he could still get killed if anyone with military-level hardware approached. For this reason he was expecting to get his hands on the new Cybermatrix Reactive Body Plating, which was equipped with body sensors that would warn him of any laser-targeted weapons, allowing Adam to dodge any incoming bullets with his boosterware. Smasher also loved to show off his weaponry; one time a punk insisted that his Malorian Arms 3516 could put a hole on Smasher's frame, but the borg laughed it off, showing what a real gun was to him. Smasher dragged out a Magnum Opus Hellbringer and blew off the punk's head with it.

In 2022, Adam Smasher was fully employed by Arasaka to fight in the Fourth Corporate War. He was more than happy to do this because he knew Blackhand had been hired by Militech, Arasaka's rival in the war. During the conflict, Smasher specialized — and took joy — in leading strike forces to slaughter communities full of not only Militech enemies but their families as well. One notorious attack took place in Connecticut during September 17th 2022.

On August 23rd of 2023, Smasher was present at the Arasaka Towers. During the Militech assault, CEO Kei Arasaka ordered for Smasher and two squads to deal with the force that had infiltrated the Soulkiller lab at the 120th floor. An eager Adam and his team ambushed the Militech force led by Johnny Silverhand, pinning them down in a section of the laboratories. Silverhand tried to distract him in order to help the team escape, shouting and firing at the borg with his Malorian Arms 3516, though this proved futile and got cut in half by Smasher in the process. This, however, gave Shaitan an opportunity to hold Smasher back while the rest of the team escaped.

Supplied him with everything he could ever want, Smasher later reappeared at the top of the towers equipped in an Arasaka DaiOni power armor that turned him into a nearly unstoppable machine. In his hand was Shaitan's biopod head, still alive. Adam waved at Morgan Blackhand, showing off Shaitan's head. This took the solo by surprise, who stepped down from one of the AVs to confront the borg. Adam provoked Blackhand by mentioning that Silverhand was dead, and Shaitan would soon be as well unless Morgan recovered the biopod from Smasher's hands. An angry Blackhand ordered his people to evacuate without him, and once the AV had lifted off, he turned to the borg with a remark about testing Smasher's "meat vs. metal" philosophy for itself shortly before the two launched themselves at each other in a last desperate attempt to kill the other. The outcome of the duel was never known, and soon after the building began to shake from the detonation of a nuclear device, causing the Night City Holocaust.

2023 - 2075

Somehow, Adam survived the blast, and he was supposedly tasked by Saburo Arasaka to take care of Silverhand's body and his possessions, being one of the few people who knew where Johnny was buried. Shortly after, Adam fell off the radar, disappearing for many years.

During the next decades, there were multiple rumors of an unstoppable metal juggernaut which ran operations around the globe. How much of this was true remained a mystery however, nor it was ever confirmed if this individual (or individuals) was the real Smasher or someone claiming to be him. Adam would reappear in Night City from time to time, where he also teamed up with Rogue Amendiares on a few occasions.

At some point after 2045, Smasher seemingly found more of Silverhand's possessions in Samantha Stevens' garage and other parts of NC. Although he had sold much of the rockerboy's items, he decided to keep some of them — including Silverhand's Porsche and his signature gun, the Malorian Arms 3516.

At some point during the early-mid 2070s, Adam was assigned as Yorinobu Arasaka's bodyguard and was placed in charge of carrying out Arasaka's dirtiest work, gaining a reputation for expert management of loose ends. During this time, he returned to Night City, making the Ebunike Docks in Watson one of his bases of operations. Jeremiah Grayson, one of his most loyal men, became his right-hand, and for a job well done, Smasher gifted him Silverhand's 3516 pistol.

2076

In 2076, Smasher was brought in by Arasaka counterintelligence agents Kate and Douglas to deal with the rampaging mercenary David Martinez, who was in possession of an experimental Arasaka "cyberskeleton."

When David arrived at Arasaka Tower in Night City, Smasher emerged to save Douglas's life and engaged David. The two solos had a brief exchange of insults before David got distracted by Faraday — whom he had incapacitated moments ago — being taken away by Trauma Team. Smasher would take this opportunity to shoot David in the gut, resulting in him briefly going cyberpsycho and activating his Sandevistan. Smasher responded by doing the same, and fired a missile that directly hit the back of David's exo-skeleton with enough force to eject the latter, Lucy, and Faraday (still strapped to Trauma Team's stretcher) out of Arasaka Tower, the latter of whom fell to his death.

David briefly managed to escape with Lucy, only for Smasher to follow, crushing Rebecca to death in the process. Now in inside Memorial Park, Falco attempted to slow Smasher down but was simply swatted away. David, on the verge of total cyberpsychosis, activated his Sandevistan again, but was shocked to see Smasher being able to keep up with him, with the latter scoffing that it was a "rudimentary implant." Lucy tried to quickhack Smasher, but this had little effect other than annoying him briefly before her cyberdeck fried. Smasher became briefly distracted trying to kill an escaping Lucy and Falco, which David used as an opportunity to immobilize the cyborg. An amused Smasher responded by ripping off the anti-grav devices from the exo-skeleton, causing it to crumble under its own weight, and proceeded to beat a now crippled David. After ripping the exo-skeleton apart completely, Smasher stood over a limbless David, commenting that he "had some fun, after all;" and mentioned David could have become "an interesting construct." David didn't care whatsoever about his words, then Smasher executed him with a shot to the skull at point-blank range.

Later that same year, a high-ranking Arasaka executive tried to get his hands on David's Jacket biomonitor. If the mercenary crew that was hired by a different party to obtain it didn't give him the item, the corpo employed Adam Smasher to retrieve it from their corpses.

2077

By 2077, Adam was still Yorinobu's bodyguard. He usually accompanied him to the Konpeki Plaza penthouse, even scaring guests such as Evelyn Parker. A number of weeks after, while the mercs V and Jackie Welles conducted a heist for the Relic in the penthouse, Smasher accompanied Yorinobu as his father Saburo arrived to talk with him. Smasher and Saburo's bodyguard, Goro Takemura, left shortly before Yorinobu snapped and strangled his father. Smasher attempted to stop the witnesses, V and Jackie, but they manage to escape before he could catch them.

Upon Saburo's death, Yorinobu became CEO of Arasaka, promoting Smasher to Head of Security. During the memorial parade for Saburo, Sandayu Oda warned Smasher that the parade was to be sabotaged in an effort to harm Yorinobu's sister, Hanako. Smasher brushed off Oda's warnings, accusing Oda of disobeying Yorinobu as Oda persisted in questioning Smasher's actions. Oda was ultimately correct — with V's help, Takemura gained access to Hanako's float in order to kidnap her. Smasher afterwards led an Arasaka strike team, personally rescuing Hanako and ordered for her kidnappers to be killed.

If V asked Panam for help in Nocturne Op55N1:

Once Adam found that intruders had broken into Arasaka Tower through the subbasement, he made his way to the Mikoshi access point to kill them. He found members of the Aldecaldos; Panam Palmer, Saul Bright, and V. After destroying the gate, Saul shot at Adam's chest which wounded him right before Adam stomped on his head, killing him. A fight between the three broke out as Adam asked where Rogue was and yelled he'd find her after dealing with the Aldecaldos. However, Adam was defeated in the battle. Whether he was executed or not was V's choice.

If V let Johnny and Rogue go in Nocturne Op55N1:

Adam as well as the rest of the security were on high alert after an unidentified flying vehicle had assaulted Arasaka Tower. He suspected it must have been the work of the Queen of Fixers, Rogue Amendiares. Adam made his way to the Mikoshi access point discovering Rogue, Crispin Weyland, and V were behind the assault. He confronted Rogue, however before he could kill her she detonated a grenade on his chest wounding him in the process. He then began to fight V (who was controlled by Johnny Silverhand's engram) and Crispin. Adam was defeated during the battle. Whether he was executed or not was Johnny's choice.

If V asked Hanako for help in Nocturne Op55N1:

During Yorinobu's military coup on Arasaka, Hanako's faction slowly had taken over Arasaka Tower with Goro Takemura and V leading the troops to the CEO's office. Adam intercepted them right before they could enter the CEO's office in a last ditch effort to protect Yorinobu. V and Takemura began to fight Adam as he asked where Rogue was and yelled he'd find her after dealing with them. Adam, however, was defeated during the battle. Whether he was executed or not was V's choice.

If V and Johnny went alone to perform a suicide run in (Don't Fear) The Reaper:

Adam Smasher intercepted V before they made it through to the Mikoshi access point alone. A fight between the two broke out as he asked where Rogue was and yelled he'd find her after dealing with V. Adam was either defeated during the battle or managed to kill V and indirectly killing his nemesis, Johnny.

Database Entry (2077)

Adam Smasher

ADAM SMASHER

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What with a full-body conversion, not much is left of Adam Smasher the man. Well... his humanity was always questionable. Smasher's in charge of taking out Arasaka's dirty laundry, but he likes to do things his own way. Way back in 2023, he killed Johnny Silverhand during the attack on Arasaka Tower, after which Silverhand's personality was digitized by the Soulkiller program. If Smasher finds out that Johnny's back, he'll probably want to finish what he started. Smasher doesn't leave loose ends.

Stats & Equipment

Cyberpunk 2020

Stats						Source(s): Firestorm Shockwave (pp.22,140), Solo of Fortune 2 (pp.67–71)
INT	4	REF	15	DEX	—	TECH	4	COOL	7
ATTR	N/A	LUCK	4	MA	20	BODY	18	EMP	Yeah, right...
Skills		Combat Sense 7, Athletics 4, Awareness/Notice 6, Brawling 6, Dodge & Escape 4, Driving 2, Handgun 5, Heavy Weapons 7, Intimidate 6, Melee 5, Panzerfaust 2, Rifle 6, Stealth 4, Submachinegun 4, Weapons Tech 2
Cyberware		FBC Body (heavily modified Samson frame, Dummy Facemask, Cybermatrix Reactive Body Plating), two sets of interface plugs, chip slot, pain editors, link set (smartgun, vehicle, data), optics suite (low-lite, thermograph, Times Square Plus, targeting scope, anti-dazzle), cyberaudio (radio, tight-beam radio, and cellular links with scrambler, scanner, enhanced range, amplified hearing, sound editor, level damper), wolvers in both arms, quick-change mounts, radiation shielding, biopod
Armor		SP 25 from Samson Frame, SP 20 armored coveralls when he's on the job (giving him a total SP of 42)
Weapons		Tsunami Arms Helix, Magnum Opus Hellbringer, SlamDance Hyper-Hammer, United Armaments CLAW
Gear		Arasaka DaiOni (temporarily)

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Stats						Source(s): Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit (38-9, The Jacket)
INT	6	REF	8	DEX	8	TECH	6	COOL	5
WILL	8	LUCK	—	MOVE	8	BODY	17	EMP	N/A
Skills		Athletics 14, Autofire 18, Brawling 18, Bureaucracy 10, Conceal/Reveal Object 12, Concentration 16, Conversation 2, Cybertech 16, Drive Land Vehicle 12, Education 10, Electronics/Security Tech 10, Endurance 18, Evasion 18, First Aid 10, Handgun 18, Heavy Weapons 18, Human Perception 3, Interrogation 15, Local Expert 8, Melee Weapon 18, Paramedic 10, Perception 16, Persuasion 8, Resist Torture/Drugs 18, Shoulder Arms 18, Stealth 12, Streetwise 10, Tactics 13, Wardrobe & Style 12
Cyberware		FBC Body, Shoulder-Mounted Rocket Launcher, Neuroport, Self-ICE x3, Self-ICE Regenerator, Communications Receiver (w/ Descrambler), Jumpboosters, Armor Regeneration Matrix, Berserk, Experimental Sandevistan, Cybereye x2 (w/ Low-Light/Infrared/UV, Anti-Dazzle), Cyberarm x2 and Cyberleg x2 (w/ Hardened Shielding x4), Cyberaudio Suite (w/ Level Dampener)
Armor		Adam Smasher's Plating (Body & Head)
Weapons		Shoulder-Mounted Rocket Launcher, Pop-Up Autoshotgun, Adam Smasher's Chain Gun

Cyberpunk 2077

Stats
INT	—	REF	—	DEX	—	TECH	—	COOL	—
WILL	—	LUCK	—	MOVE	—	BODY	—	EMP	—
Cyberware		Heavily Modified Dragoon, Sandevistan, Missile Launcher, Retractable Arm Cannon
Gear		Ba Xing Chong, Mk.31 HMG

Quotes

Anyone who doesn't want to be Fully Converted gets wiped out! Change yourself, and change the world. Combat superiority is only the beginning! Destroy all flesh!!

 — a metalhead solo speaks his transplanted mind, Destroy All Flesh!! by Adam Smasher, Solo of Fortune 2 (pp.66,71)

Seeing as how I'm a fully-cybernetic Street Samurai, you really don't want to cross swords with me. Yes, I am living proof that metal is better than meat!

 — Adam Smasher, Solo of Fortune 2 (p.66)

Waitasec... You're tellin' me that you guys and Militech are trading blows, but you're doing it quietly? What the heck's the point!? Feh!! Call me when you clone yourself some cojones, flesh-weasel!

 — Adam Smasher to an Arasaka recruiter during the early Fourth Corporate War, Firestorm Stormfront (p.85)

They call this war a meat-grinder. Well, you're the meat, and I'm the grinder, baby!

 — Adam Smasher during the Fourth Corporate War, Firestorm Shockwave (p.23)

I'll slaughter each and every one of you. You're all the same meat to me.

 — Adam during his fight with David Martinez, My Moon My Man

You weaklings implant a little chrome, and start thinking you can call the shots. Time to die, little meat.

 — Adam to a merc crew, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit (p.28, The Jacket)

Everyone thinks they're the next damn Morgan Blackhand.

 — Adam to a merc crew, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit (p.28, The Jacket)

You look like a cut of fuckable meat. Are you?

 — Adam to Evelyn Parker, Cyberpunk 2077 (The Information)

Notes

• Scanning Smasher in Cyberpunk 2077 shows he is 96% cybernetic.
• Prior to the Fourth Corporate War, Adam Smasher affected a southern "good ol boy" accent that made him sound exactly like Elvis Presley.
• Adam Smasher used various cyberbodies throughout his life, having a closetful of them by 2023. The first body he used all the way into the Fourth Corporate War was a heavily modified Samson. Also before the war, he had access to a Gemini that looked and sounded like a young, overmuscled, blond Elvis Presley. After the war, however, he stopped using more humanoid bodies, and by 2077 he was supposedly using a heavily modified Dragoon.
• Mike Pondsmith identified Adam Smasher as a "high functioning cyberpsycho".
• During a Cyberpunk 2020 live session in Poland, Mike Pondsmith made a scenario for a group of players which involved Michiko Arasaka's 18 birthday, ending with her having a "wild fling" with Adam Smasher. Pondsmith later elaborated that during this time, Smasher would use a Gemini body that resembled a young, blonde Elvis Presley and treated Michiko respectfully partly because of her status in Arasaka. When the two first met, Michiko was a sheltered 17 year old girl, and her bodyguard, Kenichi Zaburo, threatened Smasher to mind his manners. Since this event has not been added to the story, it's not considered canon.
• Despite having a reputation for being devoid of empathy for virtually everyone, his gifting of Johnny's Malorian to Grayson indicates that he does appear to have a level of appreciation for reliable subordinates.
• The Japanese script of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners drops Smasher's habit of referring to others as meat and treating his targets like animals to be slaughtered, which is then returned in the English localization. For example, his threat to David, "Rest assured. It's a massacre. You won't get lonely then, right?" is substituted with "All the same meat to me. I'll slaughter each and every one of you," in the English dub. Similarly, "I said it was a massacre, didn't I? You won't escape!" is replaced with, "None leave the slaughterhouse; not alive!"

Trivia

• Adam Smasher's name is a play on the word "atom smasher", a nickname for particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider.
• Adam Smasher's English voice actor is Alec Newman, who also voices Anders Hellman and Arthur Jenkins.