The Silent Sentinel [Open to all!]

--Earlier that day--

"I have an important task for you minion," stated the old wizard. Shy didn't know precisely where he was in the chamber, but he didn't really care either as he was busy playing Dark Souls. "An associate of mine has just informed me that- WILL YOU TURN THAT BLASTED THING OFF?" the wizard bellowed, lightning crackling a this back. Shy had jumped with a start and done so on reflex, not wanting to let the fifty some bucks he spent go to waste. "As I was saying, I have a little task for you-"

"I thought it was important," Shy interrupted.

"It is, but nothing I couldn't do myself. But I have things I would rather do instead, so I'm making you do it," the wizard responded sternly.

"Figures..." Shy thought frowning behind his mask.

"I need you to pick something up for me from some people I hired to get a magical artifact that was recently recovered," the wizard continued.

"That's it? No weirdness? No 'accidentally' creating a giant venus fly trap monster? No trying to stop a bank robbery that results in over the top powers, and the appearance of the zerg?" Shy inquired to make sure there was NOTHING out of the ordinary with the wizard's demands.

"Nope. Just go to the designated location, pick it up, pay the men, and leave. Nothing more, nothing less," the wizard replied simply. Shy turned his head up to look and make sure the wizard wasn't making any weird faces at him. Nope, still old and cranky as ever. "Oh, but by pay- I hope you understand I really mean just take the artifact from them and leave," The Wizard clarified further. Ah, so that had been it. Not a problem. "Take your time coming back. Like I said, I have other things I would rather be doing, and haven't finishing making preparations for the artifact. So take as long as you want- unless I call for you specifically of course," the wizard continued to ramble. Shy was... alittle suspicious for some reason. He always pegged the wizard for liking to hear his own voice, but there was still something off about his behavior. Too bad he wasn't Batman!

"Oookay, no problem. That sounds reasonably easy in comparison to some of the other things you've had me do," Shy replied. "I'll be off right after-" Shy was cut off by a bolt of lightning that (as you can expect) went right for his gaming console, blasting it to pieces on impact. Shy was dumbstruck for a minute before he broke down into tears. He had spent so many days to get to where he was! When he finally pulled himself together, Shy was off... silently plotting the wizard's death as he went.

---

--Later that day--

Shy arrived where he was to meet the "hired help" the wizard got to retrieve the artifact for him. "Please don't be demons, vampires, sorcerors, or generally ANYTHING supernatural," Shy repeated in his head over and over like a mantra as he walked into the abandoned building. No traps, no guard at the door, maybe he had gotten the wrong house? He heard voices from the back, deeper in the house. Making his way inside, he saw that he had little to worry about when he was "greeted" by the stern looks of some average looking thugs. "Sup guys, I heard you had something for me?" Shy stated more then asked.

"That depends. You got the cash? I don't see no cash on you," one of the thugs replied.

"Didn't you know I work for a wizard? Who says I don't?" Shy countered. That much was true, but even if he did have the money, the old fart was too cheap to pay them. Or anyone for that matter.

"You think that's funny?" the same thug growled hostilely at Shy.

"Dude, chill. I'm just saying- I could be stacked with cash that all fit inside my pockets. Now do you have what I want or not?" Shy shot back. He was SOOO glad he had some super powers, because he could imagine this going horribly wrong if the shoe was on the other foot.

The thug frowned for a moment and glanced at his associates for a second opinion before producing an ordinary crate. Taking a crowbar, one of the thugs popped it open and reached inside, pulling out some kind of crimson gem that Shy swore he had seen from some place before. Or it reminded him of something he had played in a classic video game. Now the question was, was that it? Shy pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and looked at the VERY accurate picture the wizard had sketched him. I'm not even being sarcastic, even Shy is surprised that someone who "has no time" for games would find the time to learn how to draw well. In either case, Shy was sure that was it. And as if his intelligence was in question, there was a written description followed by a "it is highly unlikely that the dullards would even conceive a means of tricking even you." That totally wasn't rude or anything...

"Hmm, I don't know. Looks different in this photo," Shy commented. It was of course a bluff to get the thing in his hands. Because this was usually the part where the other party whips out a brief case full of money, which he didn't have. So he had to improvise.

"You're tripping then, this is the thing your old man wants. Nothing else like it," another thug spoke up.

"How do I know you guys don't have someone who can make an exact copy? I mean, you guys are smart. I bet you just want me to think that it's real, make me pay, and then keep the real one for yourselves," Shy continued, totally trying to stroke their egos. Were they THAT dumb that they would fall for it?

"It's just the lighting. Let me see that photo, we'll compare em," the thug holding the artifact suggested. Bingo.

"Hmm, I guess. Let's see then," Shy said slowly walking to meet the thug, noting that his friends were also now standing as if suspicious. Shy feigned ignorance and proceeded naturally as he held out the "photo" for the thug to examine. He was anxious now, he just needed to wait for the right moment to-

"Wait a minute- this is a drawing!" the thug said not even taking a second to look at it. "There's writing here too," and Shy struck right at that moment, producing his mallet and slamming it into stomach of the thug and sending him flying off his feet. Shy quickly grabbed the artifact as it was sent flying out of hand, and proceeded to run like a bat out of hell when the bullets started flying. Using his ability to break concrete, and double jump, Shy was gone fast...

---

--Presently--


Shy sat on the edge of a three story building, munching on a burger as the sun began to set. He had been told he could take his time coming back, the only part of what the wizard said earlier bothering him. Usually he had to get back as quickly as possible, because the old codger had another task for him related to the other one. It was like a never ending delivery quest for several days. He never really got to examine it before, so Shy took his prize and looked at it quizzically. It reminded him of... something or other. Looking at it closer, it no longer looked like what he had thought before. It was primarily red, like a ruby but with a hue of magenta. And it had gold "veins" starting toward the top and between the parts of the ruby like a... heart? Yeah, it did remind him of a heart. What heart was made of crystal, he didn't know. Shy took a sip of his soda and held the ruby up against the setting sun, enjoying the bright color it turned before it pulsed. And then there was a bright flash of light, making him regret everything he decided to do up to this point!

He was now on his back, staring upwards as he blinked several times before his eyes began to focus again. Did it suddenly turn night? There was a big black shadow hanging over him that he couldn't make out until a few more moments. And bricks were metaphorically shat. Standing before the building he was on, was a massive, burly stone statue. Bare in mind that the building he was on, was atleast three stories tall, and the statue that had mysteriously appeared was... well taller then that. Shy was completely dumbstruck, unable to move for a moment as he tried to make sense of it. And then his mind started to work again, coming to an unsettling conclusion. What always appeared at the end of a dungeon? A boss. In this case, the dungeon's treasure had been touched, and the boss had come for it. But it was just a statue right? Shy didn't see anything that implied it could move.

But then a pair of eyes 'lit up' where it's face was. "..... D'oh!" Shy thought, scrambling to his feet an staring up whatever had just appeared. People had started to gather (as one of it's feet was blocking a lane of traffic) to see what was going on with the mysterious statue that had appeared. "H-heeeey there Rocky. Were you sleeping? Was it a good sleep? I bet you're after this thing right?" Shy spoke, clearly unsettled by the thing's size. Forgetting that his ability to shatter concrete rendered this fact moot.

The statue said nothing, but it's eyes shifted to what Shy was referring to. So he was right, but now he remembered his concrete shattering ability. "Well I don't care what dungeon you came from, but this is mine now. If you want it, you'll have to take it from me," Shy shouted back up at the stone golem that towered over him. Yeah, he was alot more confident after remembering that he could shatter concrete. The statue stared on, but then it started to raise it's arms, which were somehow longer then most of it's torso. Shy paled and was praying that it would NOT do what he thought it was going to do in the middle of the freaking city. It's fists descending quickly answered his question, forcing Shy to once again, get the heck out of dodge as the two fists plowed through roof like a house of cards. They had struck so much force, that the building literally collapsed in on itself around the golem's fists.

Shy had clearly not considered the possibility that a sentient rock guardian would not care what it destroyed in pursuit of it's treasure. He really should have considered that as he was across the roof of an adjacent building, feeling the building shake under his feet... until he fell on his face as SOMETHING big hit the ground and caused a concentrated earthquake all around it. Windows shattered, lamps popped, people fell over, the golem OBVIOUSLY didn't care about the damage it caused. Shy scrambled back to his feet, but caught sight of one of the golem's arms swiping through a building at his side. "HOLY MOTHER OF-" Shy swore as he launched a fist in response, feeling it collide with the massive hand that came at him and promptly shatter. As expected.

Shy forgot that the ability still had limitations, and pretty much the golem's hand had been so big, that only the hand went. Luckily for the public, the golem had only destroyed the top floor of that building. It would have been... very bad had the golem cut through something MUCH bigger. Shy didn't care, he needed to run! Fortunately, the golem was slow so- light suddenly erupted infront of him, it's shape and size identical to the golem's as it toward over him again. It did not move, atleast not yet. Instead, it's handless arm was raised slightly. And it was repairing itself... seemingly regenerating. Why wasn't it attacking? Was it TRYING to tell him to hand the thing over? "You know, teleporting is cheating right?" Shy stated, trying to figure out what to do with his situation. Shy was unusually stubborn, and so ran the opposite direction! The golem followed, more or less barreling through the building like a wrecking ball. "This was a better idea in my head!" Shy quickly realized.

A shot rang out as the rockhead plowed through the top floor. Bioshock had been practicing on the rooftops and had run across this bizarre scene and decided to interfere before someone got hurt. This was a heavy anti armor shot aimed for the leg of the guardian to slow it down or at least get its attention.

" Um, you run to the side to avoid things like that. You're not stoned are you? hehah, get it?"

Bio turned to the guardian.

"Soooooo. What brings you to this part of the town big guy? Chasing girls is not a sport by the way so you best stop before it gets dicey for ya."

The Golem paid no mind as the shot rang out, for as soon as the shot had hit (a big mistake), a chunk of the golem's leg had been taken out. Causing it to fall over from the sudden loss of balance, but not before the gun used suddenly exploded too. It was like the damage inflicted on the giant of stone had been reflected back to the offending source. The golem made no response, but instead propped itself back up slowly using it's hands and pulled itself back up while it's leg began to piece itself back together. To speed this process along, it mentally pulled stone and concrete from the recently destroyed buildings and used them to repair the damage.

Shy stopped for a moment as he felt the entire ground shake from the golem falling flat on his face. That would buy him some time, but remembering that the big guy could teleport, he couldn't stick around for long. "Thanks for giving me a head start pal!" Shy called out to Bio as he ran for it! He had missed Bio's gun exploding, so he didn't stop to wonder why he had escaped unscathed after blasting the golem's hand apart.

The golem was on the move again, now back to it's feet as it once again broke into a sprint after Shy, ignoring Bio. It only cared about retrieving what Shy was carrying...

Bio's gun exploded in his face, sending shrapnel of bone like material into his arm and chest. This was nitro exploding, however small an amount, it would do damage... He coughed up silver blood and dropped to a knee.

"Wait..."

He could do nothing but watch the golem reform. As he went into overdrive and began healing, Athena appeared, having taken notice of the golem on the top of one of its shoulders.

"Athena, that thing's chasing just one guy."

The dog answered in her unique telepathy.

Let's stop them both! If he keeps running this thing will mash up this whole city

Bio nodded and began going for Shy, using skates to make up for the slow healing of the damage.

"Hey wait up! You gotta stop running man, I know it sounds crazy but listen! If you keep moving it will and that's really bad for everyone!"

Shy was surprisingly fast, more so thanks to his parkour skills and the fact he could double jump from one side of the street to the other. "And let Rocky there curb stomp me into a pancake? As if! Besides, I have a plan!" Shy called back as he finally jumped down to the streets below, and was promptly greeted by another 'beacon' of light as the Golem began to materialize right in his path. There was thankfully a delay on it that Shy used to run between the Golem's legs toward a construction site. It was big, and could be vacated quickly enough. The Golem turned around, either avoiding stepping on anyone intentionally or everyone else was just lucky to not be in the path of it's feet. Either way, the Golem was now back at a steady run after Shy as he got to the construction site.

All the workers had heard the commotion nearby, saw the giant of stone appear, and thankfully ran for the hills as Shy hopped into a crane holding one of the steel beams. "Okay then... let's see here," Shy mumbled to himself as he fiddled with the controls for a moment before getting the hang of em. The Golem reached the outside of the construction site, slowing it's pace to a power walk as Shy operated the crane. His intent was obvious... too obvious, as even the ancient Golem saw Shy swinging the beam for it's face coming and intelligently ducked under it. But not before throwing a hand up and grabbing the arm of the crane. "Dangit!" Shy swore, kicking open the door to the crane and hopping out before the crane was yanked off the ground like a children's toy.

It seemed the golem had... overestimated the crane's weight, as it stumbled slightly as it's arm shot back (with the crane in tow) and accidentally clobbered a building behind it. Shy meanwhile, was using his parkour skills and double jumps to scale the iron beam skeleton of the building. "Okay, plan B!" Shy announced to his would-be savior. What did he have planned now?

The Golem simply dropped the crane and made it's way toward Shy, it's goal obvious, but it's next course of action was unknown...

As his arm healed, Bio decided he needed to get a bit more serious. His eyes flashed to the same eye color that Shy's were as he dug into human genetic power and assumed Shy's talents. He followed closely with Shy towards the construction site but pretty much stopped as he saw the thing just teleport in front of everyone. If Shy ran through it, he would too so that's what he did but he stopped.

After Shy's antics on the crane he would find Athena, Bio's telepathic border collie, perched on the building, having used her speed to have gotten there before everyone else.

So, why is this thing after you?

She asked.

"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, ROCK HEAD."

Bio drove into the scene in a construction worker's pickup truck wielding a heavy metal cable with hooks on both ends. He swung the hook at one of the ankles and then drove figure 8's around the legs, attempting to tie its legs together Star Wars AT-AT style. Once he was done, he would turn on the camera on his phone and begin recording everything for the heck of it.

Athena continued.

As he's stalling it I have a plan. Let's try to get him to teleport into somewhere where he'll get stuck, like the ocean. That will mean you'll have to ride on my back to get there fast enough though.

The border collie was almost as big as a wolf, so this could be do-able.

((Shy's face is hidden, so... I call shenanigans sir! xD))

"Whoa a talking dog!" Shy exclaimed with surprise, missing the question completely. Really, his plan was so simple even a caveman could- actually a caveman would probably try it first before anything else.


Meanwhile The Golem finally stopped to pay attention to Bio not because of him yelling at it, but because of what he was doing. It would not be able to continue it's pursuit with it's feet tied, and to this end it bent down to grab the wire. Bio better have his seat belt on! Because it pulled and easily pulled the truck off the ground. As for it's feet, that was it's next concern...

"...That sounds like a better idea then what I had," Shy replied after hearing Athena's plan. He was only wary about getting on her back for a moment, but just for a moment before he climbed on and prepared to hold on for dear life.

The Golem had by this time managed to free itself by manipulating the stones of it's ankles, slinking out of the bindings one leg at a time before shifting the stones back into place. Tossing the truck over it's shoulder, it prepared to give chase once again.

Okay let's go!! Hold on real tight

Athena ran off at an amazing 100+ mph with Shy awkwardly riding towards the coastline. Meanwhile Bio was busy being suspended in mid-air.

"Oh my goooooooooooooooood!!"

He opened up the pick up truck front door he jumped out taking a huge fall by jumping as horizontally as possible for a roof. He instead crashed through a window into a building where homeless people gathered.

"ALMOST DIED AGAIN PEOPLE" he yelled at no one in particular.

He then waved hello to the homeless and then went back outside clutching his back, looking for a way to regroup.