Capitolo Secondo: Ambizione (10)

There was something within my mind that seemed to kick off the very moment I was pulled in a fight.

Something that would slowly gain a foothold inside my head and tended to push me to not stop for a single moment. To think about anything else but the fight itself, the participants and the threats within the field of play. It was something that I was experienced to feel and exploit, by turning that very emotion into a powerful fuel for my very mind and my body at the same time. Instincts were something humans were most accustomed to since birth. The need to eat, the need to stay warm, the need to rest, the need of surviving.

When a battle that had upsetting odds was enforced on men or women, the first thing that tended to come up was the so-called ‘flight or fight mechanism’. The capacity to determine when it would be correct to retreat from a combat situation well-beyond personal prowess, or even dare luck into winning against those unpleasant circumstances.

Right now, the situation was fairly grim. Not the worst, but I could tell just from a single glance as I rushed in to aid the rest of the group and the villagers that this wasn’t going to be easy. This is what I feared to face in New York if we hadn’t taken the sewers route. While Zombies were easy to handle on small teams, those became dangerous and deadly the very instance they were able to form a massive army. One that didn’t come from a single direction, but that moved in an effort to encircle and overwhelm its targets.

There was no flight, both because of feasibility and the moral forgiveness in leaving innocents behind. This was blatantly an attack meant for us, and these natives had been caught into it as collateral damage. Everyone was fighting with everything they got and I was actually given a challenge due to how many monsters I had to face without exposing myself too much. Sure, I had the abilities to shred through most of them, but the problem wasn’t something tied to me. No, it was tied to the general situation. One of the things that I had to incredibly despise about hordes of enemies that were unable to feel genuine pain was that some of my attacks, those that had too little Hamon in them, didn’t deliver the damage I wanted those to. It was something that I had worked on ever since I started training with the Ripple, but there were still moments it happened. It was a flaw within the Ripple itself.

One that really pushed me into giving extra attention to my surroundings and less into what the others were actually doing. ｢ACT 2｣ was a good way to avoid this flaw to become a problem to me, with the Stand’s punches capable of pulverizing the threats in mere instants… but far from able to handle the entire situation on its own, especially since during its assaults it was unable to face attacks from the sides and behind, forcing me to keep on fighting personally beyond just employing my Stand in this close fight. Which meant that I had to rely on the rest of the members in fighting their own part of the battle, leaving me with a hint of worry during the lengthy skirmish. I wasn’t exactly leaving behind a group of non-combatants. At least, not in most parts.

Speedwagon and Bloody were more into support at the moment, but both were smart enough to not rush directly into the closest undead and try to melee it. Bhediya and Kate were the closest to the smaller team, and would offer help when needed if one of the monsters ended up going through the meat-grinder we were driving into them. The shrieks, both from the approaching fiends and those that were dying against those were as chilling as I remembered those being from previous fights of this kind. The natives were fighting as fiercely as possible, with their warriors using their unique power to put on an extra layer of defense with each attack they delivered.

While the sun energy they were using wasn’t known to heal humans, it still was making a good mess of the monsters in there. And it really made the difference when the chief himself joined the brawl and started to rip and tear ferociously, as if I was looking at a bare-handed doomslayer demolishing a Hellish invasion. The zombies stood no chance the moment the ranks grew compact enough to stand and push them out. The shredding of so many zombified corpses bathed the sandy ground with dark red blood from the carcasses, with some of it evaporating moments later due to the Hamon purging the corruption as quickly as possible.

It was a real bloodbath, one that was easily shifting against the invading force as their numbers dwindled against the effective defense. The monstrous offensive was dulling from an early look to the situation, but soon I noticed that there were a couple of quiet elements that had eluded my sight for a while, but that I noticed just in time.

“Vampires,” I loudly pointed out, just enough so the others could hear and for my ‘brilliant’ attacker trying to sneak a quick bite on my neck to tense up before being obliterated by a Hamon-powered punch. Like seriously, some things just didn’t seem to change in this universe, especially when it came to ‘bizarre beings’.

I don’t understand the tactical idea behind going around your target and start breathing over his neck. I know I’m hot, but that doesn’t exactly excuse any assaulter to just pause to breathe onto the back of my head!

Much like I did, the rest of the group reacted creatively. Starting with Zephy, the critter rushed to vertically cut into the sneaky bastard surprised by the reveal splitting him in half before he would try anything on Kate. Speedwagon blinked as he heard a loud boom coming right behind him, the vampire lady trying to take him out now missing a head as Bloody unleashed a flawless Spin-powered sphere right onto her cranium. Meanwhile Derek stuffed one of the last panicking pricks with bullets that tore all inside the fiend and allowed Kate to have an easier time to cut him apart. Finally Bhediya moved to exterminate the two remaining fools, destroying one by slamming a ripple-infused punch through his ribcage, while the last girl was decimated by ｢WildHearts｣.

I huffed, feeling a little relieved that what looked to have been an attack meant to capitalize on the relentless attack from the zombies had been quelled so easily… but then I was proven wrong when something else unfolded just moments after that emotion had settled. I heard Robert shouting something, the noises of the battle muffling his voice, yet I definitely heard a loud bang-like noise coming from the distance. It was familiar, it was a gunshot. I was confused by this, having faced plenty of the undead here that didn’t have the capacity to use the guns at their disposal. Some of the deceased soldiers being unable to work some of the rifles that looked to be in working conditions, and ultimately giving me a shocking realization as I saw Robert rush up to Bhediya and then… tense up.

His body went rigid, his eyes wide open as he suddenly slumped backward. The werewolf picked him before he could hit the ground and I felt my entire core grow cold as it finally hit me what was going on the moment I noticed his left hand clutching painfully at his chest. It wasn’t a mere bout of tiredness as my panicking mind was trying to scream at me to calm me down. At that very moment, I realized what was happening and… I felt dread as I saw that despite the pain, he was aiming a finger away and towards a small hill in the distance. I saw a light blink from there, as if something was reflecting the light of the sun. A scope- A sniper, I thought with a horrible sense of despair rushing into my chest.

I tensed up, eyes looking around for any hint regarding the unseen hitman and I heard another shoot… followed by a closer one. Derek had swiftly taken in the clue and reacted just in time to shoot three times. The first bullet slammed into the incoming one, stopping it before it got too close, while the next two soared in the general direction where the sharpshooter that had been spotted was. There was silence, and I couldn’t see any reflection anymore. Feeling certain that the sniper had been either killed or pushed into a hasty retreat by the fire returned to him, I bolted away from the position I’ve been sticking by for almost an hour, dropping the idea of keep standing like that without assisting the wounded Speedwagon. There were so few zombies around that the Natives were handling those themselves without requiring extra help, which allowed me to easily rush towards Robert and start helping him.

“The bullets are too deep, I can’t use Hamon,” Bhediya muttered tensely, and I saw everyone circling the blond’s body.

“I-Is he going to be alright?” Bloody muttered and I nodded. I quickly lifted up his jacket and shirt, revealing his chest and right where the bullets had gone. Two red holes, blood was already pouring out of those. Small-caliber, but I was surprised the bullets had gone so deep and right near to where his heart and other important organs resided. Just as Bhediya had said, the bullets were too deep to be retrieved by bare hands or even with rudimentary tools. With the lead still in there, healing now would be fatal and kill Speedwagon in the short-term. I sighed, nervousness piling up as I could feel everyone growing uneasy at the time I was taking to pick up a correct solution. It wasn’t as easy as it appeared, and soon I had to think up a way to save Robert’s life.

The bullets. I needed to recover those without having to rip him apart and kill him in the process. Something precise, careful, almost mechanical and…

…

I think I have a plan.

It was a dangerous one nonetheless, but the only one with a high chance of survival for the man. I looked around and hummed.

“Bhediya, I need you and Derek to hold him down. Kate, if you want to help and restrain him, feel free to do so,” I ordered quickly and sharply, there was surprise at the confusing demands, but they followed through and I spoke one last time before going through the little devious idea I had elaborated in such a short amount of time. “I need silence, no attempt to disrupt my attention from anyone.”

I didn’t wait for everyone to answer, with my focus being to get the silly plan to actually work. I felt ｢ACT 2｣ materialize its hand right over Speedwagon’s chest, right where the bullet holes were and… then I allowed it to carefully slip inside the body as it lost color and presence within the world. I channeled my thoughts over the emotion coming from that palm, silencing my surroundings as I allowed only for the sense of touch to remain. The objective was to push the bullets out all without messing things into his body. Not as funny as restarting one’s heart, and definitely more intense than the fight we just finished fighting. I allowed my Stand to ultimately materialize its index finger as soon as it localized the bullet. There was a sense of quiet and… soon the finger pushed the bullet hard enough to have it leave through the hole it came out without restraint. I blinked as soon as I saw the tiny object, still bathed in blood, quietly flying out of the wound and rolling down on the ground. The next bit was… a little more stressful. The bullet had ‘crash landed’ on one of his ribs, bruising it and almost cracking it. It was there, stuck into the bone and… I had to pry it out of that unpleasant position.

Goddammit, never too easy.

｢ACT 2｣ shifted cautiously, avoiding hitting any important bit inside and I paused just a moment to deliver a quick warning.

“Be ready for some… reaction.”

I didn’t look up from the chest, hoping they were listening at my words as I began the process of pulling the bullet out of the bone. As expected, Speedwagon felt the pressure and stirred a little bit. His body didn’t move much since he was forced stuck in that position as I finally felt the bullet leaving its little nest and being pushed away through the hole. I saw the other piece of bloodied metal finally come out and I felt my breath resume after what had felt an eternity. How long have I been holding it? I didn’t count, nor I didn’t care. I could tell everyone was surprised, but I didn’t care. I just began using Hamon to help Robert through any inner injury within his body due to the bullet. It was still going to take some time as I was no expert on ribs-related issues but I knew that a bullet stuck into it wasn’t going to heal just thanks to the Ripple. Maybe I could try the Spin? I would still require a re-read of human biology to remember how to repair this kind of damage.

With the invasion coming to an end and the tribe spared from the attack, we were celebrated as heroes, with some of the healers sparing a passing glance over Robert’s sleeping form as they checked for any abnormalities after his collapse. He was fine, they said, he was fine, the doctors back at the train confirmed.

Yet I don’t feel fine. Not at all.

I just saw one of my closest friends almost dying because of a fucking sniper. Something that was well beyond my line of sight, my perception of my surroundings, one thing my instincts wouldn’t have picked up if it had been me. I felt betrayed by myself, and reminded in the worst way possible that I had taken a huge risk by being this confident. I had to adapt, and become stronger in other ways just than physical and Stand-wise manners.

And I wasn’t going to allow the bastard behind this attack to get out alive the next time they came about. I wasn’t going to allow it.

----------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d-----------

The railroad was fixed, everyone had been returned to the train and… I was moping like a moron about what had happened today. Robert was stable, but still unconscious after two hours since we came back and resumed our journey. The doctors on board confirmed that he was going to be fine, and that he only needed to rest. I was relieved of hearing this, but it didn’t soothe my uneasiness.

I could only guess that the panic was still there to keep me company for a while. It had been a fright. A big one at that. I was genuinely stumped by the suddenness of this all. Maybe I was overthinking it, but it was the first time in years since someone I cared for was injured to this degree. The closest thing I could think of was when Hannah was hurt by my counterpart and… it caught me off-guard. Of all things I could have predicted, the fact someone got deadly wounded so easily and beyond anything I could have expected was… infuriating. And the anger was all aimed at myself. I’ve taken too much pride into planning everything around me that I didn’t expect for unknown factors. I set myself up for this kind of event, and I also set others too in this route in the process.

Things had to change, starting with the fact I had to personally speak with Bhediya before he did something stupid. While I had taken my time to try and focus on what to do, I had completely left the entire situation with him untouched. I knew something was going to happen if I didn’t approach him soon and talked about what was going on with him. That was the plan, and so I started to check where he might have been within the train. I looked from one side to the other, eventually finding him in the living quarters and that he wasn’t alone.

“You should just stop,” Bhediya remarked fiercely, standing over the kneeling form of Bloody. The boy had a busted lip, his eyes staring up at the face of his attacker and I felt an instantaneous need to intervene with whatever was going on. But just as I planned to step in and stop this, I heard the boy shriek back at the werewolf.

“No! I refuse to back away because I know you are just as hurt as you made me.”

That strong response had me pause, a surprise look building up as I digested what he had just said. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but, taking into account the current situation, I could see why he would say something like that. Nonetheless, I still kept around and listened to what was going on, ready to jump in if things got too heated.

“You’re deluding yourself. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“T-The sense of uselessness? The fact that- that you think you did something wrong, to make that bad thing happen and… and even though nobody could have done anything, you feel like you could have done more-”

“Shut! Up!” Bhediya interrupted angrily. “I wasn’t joking when I gave you that warning. Cross that line and-”

“Feeling like you could have done more. That you are thinking too much about it but… that it is the right thing to do. To suffer, to recover, to think about it and then suffer some more because of it.”

…

“You… when?”

“When I helped Dio against that bad guy in the capital. I didn’t know what to do and… I panicked. I killed him. I could have injured him, even crippling him seemed better in my mind and… and then I started to overthink about it. I thought it was...”

“Wrong. But It wasn’t-” Bhediya pointed out, only to be interrupted by the young blond.

“But it was!” Bloody replied sternly, his voice rising for just that occasion. He took a moment to push back the frustration about this matter and then continued. “To me, this was something I had to think about. Regardless of how stupid or unimportant it feels to many, it was important to me. Just like it feels important for you to overthink about it.”

…

“And… you think it compares?”

“The pain is the same. The sorrow is the same,” The boy confirmed determinedly. “You might think I’m wrong to try to bridge these two different events, but right now I’m only thinking of connecting the pain and the reaction we both share. Mr. Bhediya, I want to understand people’s plight, to be there to know what to do when I will ultimately reach the position to do something. I want to make this country right and… and...”

Bloody paused and I saw the werewolf carefully reaching out to rest his hand onto the younger man’s head. A smile was partly visible on his face from where I was and I heard him sigh. Actually, I was surprised that neither of these two had spotted me with where I was.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I can tell that… this is something that you got from Dio. And I don’t mean you copied it from him but… this is exactly something I’ve heard him say a lot when he was younger. He promised so much and just now he started to show how true he was to what he spoke about. A better world,” Bhediya explained. “He was so humble, so easy to worry that I almost thought he was faking it at first. Someone that cared? For me and my sister? I was surprised and rather suspicious about it. But he didn’t mind it. In fact, I believe that is what made him more appealing rather to many. He didn’t pause to speak and convince, he preferred actions over words. He is still a diplomat, but he still remains the same about keeping those promises of his.”

“And… you think I’m like him?”

“I believe you are going to make changes. It’s rare to find great men so early on, but I can tell you have that very spark of his. A diamond in the rough that, once polished, will make the world better,” The man replied with a nod. “Just keep on this road, and you will be a great leader. Of that I’m sure of and… I guess we can talk about it.”

Holding back a sigh, I turned around and started to make my way back to the others. I was surprised that it got solved this easily, but I wasn’t going to say no to how this ended up. I was quite glad that these two were bonding and-

“By the way, Dio.”

I stopped, surprised at the sudden call and looking behind me to see Bhediya peeking by the doorstep with a slightly happy look on his face. Blinking, I nodded at him. “Yes?”

“Once I’m done here with the kid, can we talk for a moment?”

I shrugged. “Sure. I suppose you also want the… head-scratches too.”

There was no more shame into just accepting the fact that he just loved to be that kind of dog, and I had no issues in giving him some head-scratches if it came to calm him down further from making stupid mistakes in the near future.

“If it’s not asking too much, sure. Also… are you alright?”

I held back a flinch. “Yes. Just… worried how you’re doing.”

“I will be better soon. And… talk about it to someone.”

Fuck, I tend to forget those from the closest friends’ circle knows how I work my way around upsetting question.

So I just nodded to avoid any awkward escalation. There was no refusing it and at this point I needed time to leave so I could think and do something about what happened in the tribe’s territory. I had a lot to do, a lot to contemplate and a lot to reconsider after listening to what Bloody had just said. I was allowed to leave without further comments from the werewolf.

I stopped by to check on Speedwagon’s sleeping form, and realized that the three ‘guards’ sitting by a table set beside him were now staring at me with a serious look. It was kind of amusing on Zephy’s face, since he gave off a mix of confused, worried and stern, but it wasn’t enough to get me to linger for too long. Were they trying to get me to talk about what was going on with my head? It was possible, but I decided to not entertain the matter about it since they weren’t speaking up just yet. I tried to get away from a possible intervention, but I was stopped by Derek himself.

“I think I might know who the sniper is.”

That got me to freeze up just before I could leave the wagon. I turned around, walking up at the table and staring at the cowboy with a surprised look. “What?”

“But we also want to talk about how you’re feeling,” Kate mentioned with a determined tone. My stare was still aimed at Derek as my eyes just narrowed at these words.

“What?” I repeated flatly, making the young woman huff as she grasped at my wrist and pulled me to pick the chair right beside her. “That was mean.”

“I believe ignoring someone that is trying to help you is ‘meaner’ than that.”

I huffed, still sitting as I stared back at Derek. “So, you know who this might be? How are you sure this individual is-”

“Since we know the crazy woman is capable of some absurd things, I wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to get her hands on him of all people,” The man interjected with a stern tone. “And the reason why I believe it’s him… well, I know damn well that he is the only fella that can use a rifle from such an absurd distance and get easy shots on his target.”

Nodding, I regarded the news as seriously as possible. “And his name is?”

“Gerald Ike Jones. He was a soldier that I got the chance of knowing when I was still serving the Union Army,” The cowboy replied. “He was a zealot when it came to patriotism and ‘doing the right thing for the country and beyond’. Really determined in following orders and… give ‘em a twist if it meant being more ‘patriotic’.”

“I assume that these ‘twists’ weren’t pleasant.”

“Definitely far from good. Even by Army’s standard,” Derek admitted. “It was… horrible, to say the least. Old ‘GI’ was particularly creative about prisoners. At first many officers saw him as a good warden, but he became too attached to the job and started to hurt prisoners more for the sake of it than getting details out of them. Because of his ill conduct, he was forbidden to have other roles beyond being a frontline fighter, mostly because of how much of a good sniper he was back during active service.”

“But?” Kate pushed, clearly interested by the story but more interested into learning how it was possible that the guy was behind this assassination attempt.

“But That didn’t stop him from ‘showing true freedom’ on our enemies,” He answered with a sigh. “GI was too ruthless, so much that it came to a point where Commanding General Grant had to take actions to handle him. Since he was considered a war criminal, he was given a punishment that wasn’t announced to the rest of the army just to avoid any morale issue with the troops. General reports said he was sent to join the guard by the Mexican border. And then he disappeared during one of the patrols by the border.”

“He was executed there?”

“No. At best he was set free and told to go beyond the border. It’s… it’s not something I would like to bring up, but I believe the situation demands for me to be truthful about it. It was common tradition to send dangerous troublemakers to face possible execution beyond the borders. The Mexican government isn’t exactly happy after what happened with Texas, especially since their current president is a military office.”

I nodded, remembering that this was the period where the Porfiriato properly began. “I suppose he was expected to die.”

“And yet he either survived long enough to be hired by that woman, or he might have been turned in one of those bloodsuckers.”

“Still, I don’t believe you explained why you think he might be after you,” The samurai reminded me. “In fact, you seem to know a lot about him if the army wasn’t supposed to be aware of his disappearance.”

“That’s because I was there when he first joined it. I was there when he grinned over his first kill, and was chuckling when the kill count ended up growing from that point onward. I thought he was just… obsessed with the American dream, like many of our soldiers were,” The cowboy argued. “but he took it too far way too many times. He was a friend, or I believed he was one for a time and I had to do the right thing.”

“You were the one to report him, weren’t you?” I guessed and he nodded.

“I had to,” Derek confessed, looking sadder by the minute from the very instant he revealed his connection to the possible assassin. “He was going too far and I knew he needed to be removed from duty. I met Grant at Petersburg. He was rather cordial and listened to my words, same for those that were part of the platoon with Jones. In the end, we didn’t expect his punishment to be this severe and… yet, I can’t regret any of the decisions leading to that point.”

“But how do you know it’s him in particular?” I pressed on. “Sure, he might be a good enough sniper, but there has to be something else you’re not telling us about him. Something that would motivate his possible presence here.”

…

“He knew it was me. The one that told the truth. He didn’t accept it, he saw it as a betrayal of America itself from my part,” Derek added with a somber tone. “When Speedwagon was shot, the next target was supposedly you but… he shot me. He tried to shoot me. While I can’t predict bullets’ way, I can still predict mine and… it wasn’t difficult to see where the one I stopped was aiming at.”

“So he is out to kill you?”

“Possibly, yes.”

I took a moment to think about it and… yep, this was a mess that I wasn’t really that prepared to handle. So we really had a version of Jack the Ripper that favored rifles and was aiming to murder Derek and those tied to him. Not the best situation, but far from the worst.

“And now that we’re done with this… how about we talk about how you are handling the situation, Dio?”

“I don’t believe it’s necessary,” I replied flatly, only for my wrist to be taken as a hostage once more by the annoyed girl.

“I wasn’t asking,” She repeated calmly.

“And I wasn’t offering.”

“Good.”

…

...

“So… are you going to do anything or-”

“How about you just give us what we want? What would you lose by being honest about this?”

“Because it’s not a situation where I gain or lose something. It’s a situation where I chose to address the matter on my own.”

“I want to help you,” Kate pushed even more. “And I don’t even want to compare the situation to anything I have experienced myself, because I understand that you don’t want this. But you can’t expect to find an answer to your dread like this.”

…

“I almost lost a friend there. One of the first ones I made since I was taken in by the Joestar family,” I confessed with an upset tone. I might be up to tell the truth, but I wasn’t doing it truly that freely. “And I know that I should have expected for our current enemy to employ elements that are meant to deal with us without risking for a possible loss for us.”

“Just because you’re heading this journey, it doesn’t mean you’re responsible for us,” Derek rebuked and I glanced at him with a frown.

“I’m the one that is taking you to places you don’t know about and setting you in situations you might not be prepared about. I’m the one with the maps-”

“And not our father as far as we are concerned, Dio,” Kate interjected fiercely, her cat ears twitching in clear annoyance. “Sure, you are the one that is leading us in some of these situations, but trying to plan out everything is...”

“Stupid. And beyond irresponsible. You’re trying to behave arrogantly when you’re not even this much of a… pompous idiot.”

…

“Can’t I just have one time where I take the blame for this mess?”

From the looks they were giving me, I doubted that was something they were even considering at this point.

“N-Not if the mess is not your fault,” A familiar voice called out and we all turned to see Speedwagon trying to sit up. I stood up from my chair and quickly forced him to stay down. “I-I’m fine-”

“Two bullets, one slammed into one of your ribs. I had to use my Stand to remove that one without you dying on us.”

“Sorry?”

“It was my fault,” I remarked. “I should have expected for Vins to be-”

“I swear to what is Good and Holy, Dio. One more time you say that you’re at fault about this, and I will tell Hannah to come here and I will explain to her the situation.”

I flinched at that. “She would overreact.” And not just a tiny bit.

“But she would nonetheless agree to my point and… theirs. You’re not a babysitter, don’t expect to be responsible for any of us just because you are the head of this mission. I could have pushed Bhediya away and maybe I would have avoided… this much soreness. And yet I panicked and went to shield him.”

“And you couldn’t have done anything to predict the sniper,” Derek finally joined in the intervention. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just you… being incredibly concerned and panicking about it. Not your fault, and I believe we can all agree that it might be partly my fault-”

“Are you serious, Derek?” Kate groaned and the cowboy shrugged at the question.

The bickering of ‘who is at fault here’ went on and on until one agreeing answer came out of it.

“Can I get a glass of Brandy?”

“No, water,” Kate remarked sternly.

“Or apple juice,” I offered as an alternative.

“Really?”

“I’m in,” Derek answered with a grin.

“Bollocks...” Speedwagon replied flatly.

At least we could agree to something out of this but… there was also another element we found common ground on. If the bastard behind Robert’s assassination attempt was indeed this GI Jones or someone else, then the prick will have to be killed on sight. Too dangerous, too hated.