Chapter 025: Adrian vs Guardian

Adrian sighed as he stepped out of the dockmaster’s office, his shoulders slouched like he’d just been caught sneaking out past curfew. His eyes met Guardian’s, who stood rigid, the light from a nearby lamppost reflecting off his golden helmet.  

“Wow,” Adrian asked. “That was quick. How’d you find me? GPS in my fried chicken or something?”  

Guardian didn’t respond. He moved faster than Adrian expected, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him hard against the cold steel wall of a shipping container. The impact sent a sharp pain through Adrian’s back as he grimaced, but what made his blood run cold was the familiar sensation crawling across his scalp.  

He didn’t need to see it to know what it was—a G-Gnome. Its tiny, clawed limbs gripped his head, and its glowing red horn bored into him like it was digging for treasure in his mind.  

They’re trying to mind control me.

The thought hit him like a lightning bolt, and his body reacted before his mind had fully processed it. His bones shifted beneath his skin, sharp spikes erupting from his skull like curved horns. The bone tore through the G-Gnome’s soft body with a sickening squelch, warm blood dripping down Adrian’s face as the creature let out a final, shrill squeal before falling limp.  

Guardian took a step back, momentarily caught off guard, and that was all the opening Adrian needed. He planted his foot against the container and launched himself forward, slamming a kick into Guardian’s chest and sending him stumbling backward.  

“Looks like you can’t just come quietly.”

Adrian smirked, wiping more blood off his face. “Sorry, I’m not a slave to anyone,” he said as bone spikes sprouted from his knuckles like jagged, makeshift brass knuckles. “So you’ll have to kill me right here, right now, because there’s no way in hell I’m going back.”  

Guardian didn’t flinch. His shield shifted into a defensive stance, ready for impact.  

“Then I guess this is where it ends.”  

The two stared each other down, the air between them heavy with tension. The distant hum of machinery and the faint crashing of waves against the docks faded into the background as their focus narrowed on each other.  

Without another word, Guardian charged.

Adrian barely had time to move before Guardian’s shield swung toward his head. He ducked, the air humming as the shield whooshed past, inches from his face. He retaliated with a bone-covered uppercut aimed at Guardian’s ribs, but Guardian pivoted smoothly, catching Adrian’s arm and twisting it behind his back. The pressure on his shoulder was immediate and excruciating.

“Gotta admit,” Adrian grunted, wincing, “you’re good at this.”

Guardian didn’t respond. He shoved Adrian forward, slamming him face-first into the side of a shipping container. Metal clanged, and Adrian felt the cold steel bite into his cheek. But he wasn’t done. He slammed his elbow backward into Guardian’s ribs, loosening the hold just enough to spin around and deliver a brutal knee to the man’s gut.

Guardian staggered but recovered quickly, slamming his shield into Adrian’s chest. The impact sent Adrian flying backward, his body crashing onto the hard concrete. His breath hitched, the wind knocked out of him as he gasped for air.

Stay down, his body seemed to scream. Stay down or you’re dead.

But Adrian wasn’t built to stay down.

He pushed himself to his feet, coughing. Blood dripped from his lip, but he didn’t wipe it away. Instead, he spat it onto the ground and smiled through the pain. “Is that all you’ve got?” he taunted, raising his fists. “I thought you government types were supposed to be scary.”

Guardian’s eyes narrowed behind the visor of his helmet. He charged again, faster this time. Adrian braced himself, dodging to the left as Guardian’s shield crashed down where his head had been a second ago, splintering the concrete. He countered with a bone-covered punch to Guardian’s jaw, but Guardian blocked it with his forearm, twisting his body to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to Adrian’s ribs.

The kick landed hard, sending Adrian skidding across the ground. Pain flared through his side, but he gritted his teeth, refusing to scream. Instead, he scrambled to his feet, his vision swimming.

“Damn,” Adrian coughed, laughing despite the pain. “You’ve got some moves. Aqualad give you lessons?”

Guardian didn’t take the bait. He moved in again, this time swinging his shield horizontally. Adrian ducked and lunged forward, driving his shoulder into Guardian’s midsection and tackling him to the ground. They hit the concrete hard, rolling across the ground in a tangle of limbs. Adrian straddled Guardian, raining down a flurry of bone-covered punches. One hit connected with Guardian’s helmet, leaving a dent, but the man was too well-trained to let the assault last.

Guardian shifted his weight, bucking Adrian off and flipping him onto his back. Before Adrian could react, Guardian’s shield came down, pressing against his throat like a vice.

Adrian gasped, clawing at the edges of the shield as his airway constricted. His mind raced, desperate for a way out. Then he saw it—Guardian’s knee hovering just above his torso.

With a sudden burst of strength, Adrian drove his knee upward, slamming it into Guardian’s groin.

Guardian grunted in pain, his grip loosening just enough for Adrian to twist free. He rolled to the side, coughing and sucking in air as he scrambled to his feet. “Dirty move?” he asked between gasps. “Yeah, I know. But I’m not here to play fair.”

Guardian, still recovering from the low blow, raised his shield just in time to block another bone-covered punch. But this time, Adrian didn’t stop. He unleashed a flurry of attacks, aiming for any exposed area he could find—ribs, knees, neck. His fists moved like wild animals, and for a moment, Guardian was forced on the defensive, stepping back as Adrian pressed the assault.

But Guardian wasn’t done. With a sudden burst of speed, he ducked under one of Adrian’s swings and drove his shoulder into the younger man’s chest, slamming him into the ground. Adrian’s head smacked against the concrete, stars exploding in his vision.

“Stay down,” Guardian growled, pressing his shield against Adrian’s chest.

Adrian’s breath came in shallow gasps, but he refused to quit. His fingers twitched, and bones began to sprout from his knuckles again, forming jagged spikes. With a final, desperate move, he swung his fist upward, the bone spike slicing across Guardian’s arm. The cut wasn’t deep, but it was enough to make Guardian flinch.

Adrian seized the moment. He twisted his body, kicking Guardian’s shield away and scrambling to his feet. Blood dripped from his nose, his side throbbed, and his vision blurred, but he didn’t care. This wasn’t about winning clean—this was about surviving.

Guardian recovered quickly, but Adrian was already moving. He grabbed a handful of dirt and gravel from the ground and threw it into Guardian’s face. The man recoiled, momentarily blinded as Adrian charged forward, slamming his shoulder into Guardian’s chest and knocking him back into a stack of wooden crates.

The crates collapsed, and Guardian hit the ground hard, debris raining down around him.

Adrian staggered back, clutching his side as he struggled to catch his breath. His bones retracted, his body screaming for rest. He knew he didn’t have much left in him, but he couldn’t stop now.

Guardian slowly pushed himself to his feet, his shield raised once more. Blood trickled from the cut on his arm, but his stance remained steady.

“You’re running out of tricks.”

“Yeah? Well, I’ve got one more.”

He lunged forward, feinting a punch to Guardian’s ribs. Guardian moved to block, but it was a trick. Adrian dropped low, sweeping Guardian’s legs out from under him. The man hit the ground with a heavy thud, and Adrian wasted no time. He straddled Guardian once again, his bone-covered fist raised high.

“I told you,” Adrian growled. “I’m not going back.”

He drove his fist down—but Guardian caught it mid-swing, his fingers wrapping around Adrian’s wrist like a vice. The two struggled, their muscles straining as they fought for dominance.

For a moment, it felt like time stood still. The only sound was their heavy breathing, the distant hum of the docks, and the faint lapping of waves against the shore.

With a final burst of strength, Adrian twisted free and drove his forehead directly into Guardian’s helmet. But this wasn’t just a normal headbutt—bone horns had erupted from his skull. The impact was violent, the sharp bone denting the golden helmet with a thunderous clang. The force sent a shockwave through Guardian’s head, causing him to stumble backward, blood dripping from where the horns had torn through the helmet’s edges.

Adrian’s blurred vision barely registered the faint sound of snarls and growls growing closer. From the shadows, the G-Elves emerged—at least a dozen of them, their red eyes glowing like embers in the dim dock lights.

Adrian’s eyes darted around. He was surrounded. His breath came fast, adrenaline coursing through him. There was no time for a plan. He created sharp spikes of bone along his forearms and clenched his fists, breathing heavily.

“Alright,” he muttered to himself. “Let’s see who’s faster.”

With a battle cry, Adrian sprinted toward the nearest group of G-Elves. Like a football player powering through a defensive line, he charged forward, slamming through the creatures. Some leapt to the side, narrowly dodging him, but he didn’t stop. His mind wasn’t on them—it was on where he was headed.

Ahead of him was a large shipping container labeled SILICA SAND—HAZARD, HANDLE WITH CARE in bold black letters.

“That’s the one,” Adrian whispered to himself as he ran.

He reached the container just as two dock workers stood nearby, taking inventory and loading smaller crates onto a forklift. Their heads snapped toward Adrian as he barreled toward them, covered in blood and dirt, bone spikes protruding from his arms.

“Hey, man! What the hell?” one of them shouted, dropping his clipboard.

Adrian ignored them. “You might wanna run,” he yelled, not even breaking stride as he slid inside the container.

The workers exchanged panicked looks before turning tail and sprinting away.

Inside, Adrian climbed over the mounds of fine, white silica sand. His boots sank slightly as he trudged to the center, his breathing steadying as he focused. This wasn’t the first time he’d thought of using silica sand—he had planned to absorb small amounts and create a makeshift smokescreen. But something was different now. The moment he touched the grains, he felt the artifact inside him respond.

A grin stretched across Adrian’s face as he knelt down and placed his hands into the sand. It wasn’t just absorbing like before. No, this time, it felt like he was connecting with it. The entire container seemed to pulse with energy as the sand shifted under his fingertips.

I can control this. I can use this.

The sound of footsteps and growls grew louder outside the container. Adrian didn’t flinch. He stood, stretching his arms out as the grains of silica began to ripple and rise around him, forming tendrils of shifting, flowing sand.

The first G-Elf entered the container, hissing as it lunged toward Adrian—but before it could reach him, a wave of silica sand shot forward and engulfed it. The creature thrashed, its limbs clawing at the sand, but it was no use. Adrian compressed the sand with a thought, tightening it around the G-Elf’s body until he heard the crunch of bones snapping. The creature let out one last shriek before falling silent.

Another wave of G-Elves poured in, their claws clicking against the metal floor as they charged. Adrian clenched his fists, and the sand obeyed. It surged forward like a tidal wave, crashing into the creatures and sweeping them off their feet. Some were crushed instantly under the weight of the compressed sand, their bodies contorted at unnatural angles. Others struggled, clawing desperately as the sand filled their mouths and lungs, suffocating them.

One G-Elf managed to leap onto a nearby crate, dodging the initial wave of sand. It let out a guttural roar and pounced toward Adrian, but he reacted quickly. A spear of hardened sand shot upward, impaling the creature mid-air. Blood sprayed across the container as the G-Elf’s body twitched before going limp.

Adrian’s heart pounded in his chest, but he didn’t stop. He moved with precision, controlling the sand like an extension of his own body. He crushed, impaled, and suffocated the remaining G-Elves until the only sound left was the faint trickle of sand settling back into place

Breathing heavily, Adrian wiped the sweat from his brow. His hands trembled, but he grinned through the exhaustion. “Damn,” he muttered. “Didn’t think that would actually work.”

The chaos he’d caused was enough to scatter the workers. Most had fled, and those who remained were already scrambling to prepare the shipments for departure. Adrian spotted the container headed for the U.K. and knew it was time to move.

He stepped out of the silica sand container, intending to slip into the U.K. shipment unnoticed. But then he heard the sound of slow, deliberate footsteps.

Adrian turned, and his grin faded. From the shadows, Guardian emerged. Blood dripped down his armor, and his gait was uneven, like he was fighting to stay upright. But what made Adrian’s stomach twist wasn’t Guardian—it was the G-Gnome perched on his shoulder.

Guardian’s body was moving, but it wasn’t his own will. The G-Gnome was controlling him like a puppet, forcing him forward even as his unconscious body bled and trembled.

“Look at you,” Adrian said quietly, his voice tinged with something close to pity. “Just a puppet for Cadmus. They’ll use you until you’re broken, and when they can’t use you anymore, they’ll throw you away.”

He shook his head, the melancholic expression on his face hardening into resolve. “Guess I made the right decision after all.”

[ Look of Adrian with Bones ]