Capitolo Secondo: Ambizione (5)
Warning: Character Reveal. If with doubts, check AN.
Our arrival at the Grand Central station was less than stellar. While the occupants of the train respected the words I had given to them about keeping to themselves about what happened during the trip, I really hadn’t expected to find the station completely occupied by terrified citizens. Police officers and soldiers from the National Guard were running around to keep the entrances safe from… something.
I frowned, anxiety building up as I failed to make sense of the chaos surrounding us. It was only quick-thinking that got us to move away from the train’s entrance, our current objective being finding a place where to carefully assess the situation we were in. Bloody kept close with Zephy, the boy more than happy of being pulled around if it meant not being devoured by the mob of people wandering around in an antsy.
Eventually we arrived in a spot in the upper floor, one considered to be ‘riskier’ by some leaving as it was the closest to the ‘disaster’ that was unfolding outside the building. I was still unsure what got people to panic this much, but I was incredibly tense. And I was ultimately floored when we approached one of the windows around and started to see what was going on.
Through the window, we could all see what was happening and why the people were so desperately seeking refuge here of all places. New York was burning. Or at least a good chunk of it was. For a moment my brain tried to rule this out as an unexpected and ahistorical fire that wasn’t recorded in the textbooks I had studied from, but then I realized that the cause of the flames wasn’t accidental or natural.
It was possibly magical. Especially when I could stare at large crowds of zombies moving in packs in an effort to breach the heavily defended perimeter that had been set up by the military. The guns, albeit ineffective in normal circumstances, were devastating the horde without any mercy. Cannons, machine guns, all heavy firepower within the local Arsenal was being deployed to defeat the undead threat.
And while it was doing a fine job in cases of defense, I doubted this strategy could be reverse-engineered for offensive purposes. I gritted my teeth at the unpleasant discovery, and I knew that we still had to go through that infested city if we wanted to put an end to this. It was still day, but clouds were covering the skies. Dark clouds at that which reminded me of some unpleasant individual I had more than surely killed years ago. While I knew Wang Chan was dead, the chances of the main responsible being tied to what was happening in town was undeniable. Maybe someone from this Renkai Clan was behind it? We still needed to move quickly.
The more we waited, the less chances the innocents here all over the city, holding onto the greater sections of the cities, were going to survive by the time the ammunition started to run out. But before that… I needed to do something. Something important for the circumstance.
“I need a moment. I will be back soon.”
The rest of the group gave me confusing look, but they all nodded as I took my small bag with me to the nearest bathroom. The stench was unpleasant, but much to my surprise there was no one in there. I called myself lucky, and I took one of the covered corners in there to start changing with an outfit I hadn’t been wearing for a long time now.
The old clothes that I had uniquely donned to face the situation at Windknight’s Lot had been upgraded with the passing of time. Some efforts to improve the defense capacity had been tested and eventually integrated for the sake of offering greater protection at the least expense of my mobility. I also had tried to reach out the South American Market to try and recover enough Satiporoja Beetles to try and make the entire outfit in their fiber, but I was surprised to learn the region just wasn’t capable of sustaining such a large investment just yet.
An annoying setback, but not one that truly left me unhappy since I still had more than enough to hold myself against my foes. Once I was done with that quick clothes-change, I returned to the team and I smiled as they all looked surprised at my current battle outfit. Hopefully, not because it looked so bizarre and absurd.
“You were hiding that in your luggage?” Derek inquired, sounding surprised.
I nodded. “It’s something I’ve been working on for a couple of years now. I hope it’s not too much.”
“It’s… amazing,” Bloody said while gawking, Zephy sighing in amusement at the boy’s reaction at my new clothes.
After making sure they were ready to go, I started laying out the battle plan in handling this absurd situation. Our destination, the massive manor that was owned by the Phillips family was deep within the city’s heart, and so we had to face a non-negligible amount of zombies along the way. Such a feat would have been fine if I had been alone, but considering that none here except the white-furred critter could keep up with my speed, I knew that we needed to take a shortcut if we wanted to get there safely and ready for any major confrontations.
So I styled out a simple and blunt idea, which by all definitions was supposed to work if nothing bad happened. While the streets were completely invaded by the unending ranks of fiends, the sewers were going to be the place with the least amount of monsters in there. We just had to make sure that we didn’t end up getting some of the patrolling mob of zombies to chase us there and breach into that safe passage to our destination.
Finding a spot where to leave proved particularly easy. The station was in far from optimal conditions, and some bits of the walls had cracked and been torn apart in the early bits of the siege. We left from the closest one to the exit but still far enough to not catch the attention of the guards standing by the main doors.
Silently lurking around, we managed to get close enough to the main streets when seven loud growls alerted us. The patrol that had stumbled upon us, quickly rushed to attack us, but first they had to handle a sweeping attack from Zephy. The critter jumped off Bloody’s arms and turned his tail in a blade, crippling the approaching force. I was still impressed by the creature’s capacity to morph part of his body to fit his intent, making him particularly deadly with his adaptability.
Derek and I handled the crawling monsters, their threatening posture weakened by the fact they couldn’t move as fast as they could. The suppression was quick and smooth, the fiends perishing with single blows or shots, and soon we resumed our rush towards the main streets of the city. I was about to sigh in relief at the fact that we had avoided handling the immense city that was New York City at the time, but then I realized that our job was still far from easy.
After five minutes of running around to find a manhole, we ended up finding one. Sadly, the place was heavily guarded by a large horde of zombies that didn’t look ready to part ways with the area. There were quite a lot, and I knew we couldn’t waste time here right now… so I decided to rely on an improved version of a technique I had used a long time ago. Adding some special water that was stored in secret wrists’ compartment, I started to produce bubbles and throw them with the aid of ｢ACT 2｣. Differently from normal bubbles, those were meant to survive with a larger quantity of Hamon stored in them, while also resisting swift pressures applied to them.
The bubbles soared and slammed on most of the zombie’s bodies, bursting and releasing powerful sunlight-based blasts, scorching to the ground the fiends. This was the power of the ‘Spinning Bubble Eclipse’, a better version of the old Spinning Bubble Sunrise. Most of my arsenal had received this treatment, mostly because I didn’t want to leave any of my available skills to rust or deteriorate. Everything was important depending on the circumstances, especially now that I needed Hamon to kill some vampires and zombies.
The decimation was actually impressive considering that I didn’t have the chance to have a field experience with this ability, but the massacre still far from complete as a couple managed to live through the development. The rest were easy to slaughter with incredible determination and control. I allowed the rest of the group to get down to the sewers before I jumped inside and closed the manhole as I entered the new area. A safe landing later, I found myself staring and biting down a groan at the unpleasant stench that was coming off from the unhealthy place.
“We need to move,” Derek muttered. “I’ve heard some unpleasant rumors of this place. Crocs-”
“Alligators don’t live in the sewers,” I quickly lamented. “It’s just an urban legend meant to frighten any criminal from trying to use this place to run away from law enforcement.”
I was quite confident about this after spending a few weeks in my old life trying to see if this rumor was eventually confirmed true or not. And I knew it wasn’t so I didn’t expect anything out of this possibility. Then a loud roar reminded me that in the Jojoverse, no matter how outlandish a claim was in the real world, it was going to be true or even crazier.
We all turned to look at the origin of the noise, a large monster with a reptilian appearance was crawling really fast. Some parts of its body were damaged, with its inner flesh having turned an unpleasant dark-brown. The alligators existed in this part of town and… they had been zombified. Even if we managed to find the cause of that cloud cover, the monsters there were still going to survive and require a major extermination campaign. One I was uncertain I wanted to do on my own being that I was the only Hamon user in here.
The undead gator roared again as it swiftly moved to attack us. Before it could reach us, I employed to destroy part of the small roof behind us and create debris to stop its advance. The monster still proceeded and, much to my surprise, the large amount of broken cement almost failed to hold against the first charge.
“Run,” I merely muttered, shaken by this discovery as I knew the place had to be filled with fiends of this kind. The size and speed, coupled with the limited space to move around made any fights against them particularly unpleasant. I couldn’t just waste time like this and… I almost facepalmed when I literally had the solution to this problem at hand’s reach.
Hamon could stream through water’s surfaces, and since the sewer was filled with water, with a thin layer of green and brown liquid existing right beneath our feet. The idea was stupidly brilliant, so much that I paused and slammed my open palm on the liquid as quickly as it came to mind. Before anyone could have asked what I was planning to do, electric-like energy zapped around and started to destroy all the fiends one at the time. Loud booms echoed all over the large area, freeing us from the worries of finding any threats along the way.
-----------d-d-d-d----------------
The Phillips manor was one of the greatest I have seen. Still far from Buckingham Palace, it was still impressive someone was capable of gaining this much of a wealth without some serious business behind it all. I doubted the money behind this building was born from legitimate investments, but still… it was incredible.
The entrance was broken open with the area left unguarded as we ventured inside the lobby. It felt like entering a hotel with how shiny and mostly clean the first room was, with the only exception of a couple of bloodstains on the curtains of the barricaded windows and on the floor. I could tell that this place hadn’t been spared by the horde, but I knew from the lack of major struggles that this silence wasn’t born from a struggle that had long-ended. No, it felt more like an ambush.
An ambush that was proved to be so when zombified guards started to attack us from the corridor that led to the main staircase. Derek took aim and drew two quick bullets, taking out the first two monsters. I charged up hamon in my hands and shredded three of those, while Zephy took care of the one coming from behind us. This little welcoming party was interesting since I would have expected much more at this point. Like ninjas, or anything that could fit beyond the usual undead.
My inner questions were given to the place where the ‘party’ was supposed to begin. It reminded me of one that was usually used for celebrations like marriages, important proclamations, or grand feasts to commemorate an important day. Right now, the place was packed with Ninjas. Lots of them at that.
They were kneeling formally on both sides of the carpet, leaving us to march forward to the podium where a couple of things jumped to my attention. The first, and the one we were here for, was the large metallic cage that was mostly covered by a violet drapes, leaving just a small dark space where we could see someone with blonde hair lying unconscious there-
“Kate!” Zephy called out, causing the shortest of the two standing individuals to cackle at the panicked tone from the critter.
“Aaaw, the little thing is crying because the big thing is currently sleeping. What a sad thing, bwahaha!”
This Senator Phillips sure looked very similar to the one I was more familiar with, but this time the man was older, wrinklier and more bloated. Looking to the side, a much older being stood and watched us with tired, almost dead, eyes. He was wearing a black kimono, his long hair and beard making him look like a man that had lived for centuries now.
“What do you think, friend? She said these were a threat, but I don’t see anything to worry about-”
“Shut up.”
Two single words… and a clean cut from the elder’s swift tanto. The old senator tensed up and… his head soon rolled off his body, his expression stuck in one of disbelief as he realized he had been killed so easily and so suddenly by someone he considered his ally.
“Dio… Joestar,” The weary ninja muttered. “I’ve heard so much about you. Many are the stories behind your name, starting from the way you… ended up being taken in by the family you now bear the name of.”
“Truly? I guess you are planning to surrender now if you know this much about me.”
“I would say that’s an arrogant response, but… I would be a fool if I ignored the impressive deeds you are responsible for. Both in terms of combat prowess and mental interest in advancing the world’s progress. You are a miracle ready to bestow the world with more miracles.”
“Flattery will take you nowhere, old man. I believe you should already give up, I will not repeat this myself.”
“How about I offer you the chance to personally leave this conflict? The same deal is extended to you, Derek Horse,” The old fool remarked. “You two have bright destinies that will not be impacted if you decide to walk away from this conflict.”
“No chance,” The cowboy shot back. “You saying that this leaves no impact is almost funny. If you know so much about me, you should know that I ain’t leaving a lady in trouble.”
“Admirable,” The elder conceded while bowing in his direction, then his attention was back to me. “But what about you, Dio Joestar?”
…
I smiled and shook my head. “I wish to thank you for your unending devotion to appearing like a humble grandfatherly figure. It just highlights how much of a disgusting bastard you really are.”
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The ninjas tensed up at the heavy insult I just threw at their leader. But I was far from done much to their annoyance.
“You see, while I could have fallen to the whole ‘I am just trying to get this only task done with’, I believe your colleague has given me the clue I needed to understand the words you just proclaimed. Those about destiny and fate.”
“Oh? And you… believe you know what I am talking about?”
“Not what, who. I now know who is behind all of this and… now I see why he was so unwilling to part that information,” I muttered before grimacing on the matter. The words from Pucci resonated as the clues I had about the situation combined all at once. “The mastermind behind this, the one that coordinates your clan to work together with the henchmen of the Senator. A being that doesn’t belong to this dimension.”
“What are you talking about, Dio?” Derek asked.
“Not of this dimension?”
Before I could say more about this, I found myself interrupted by a familiar figure that was now standing beside the elder. The figure had a feminine slim built, but her entire form was shrouded in a dull yellow robe and head-cloth. I could just barely see her purple hair, and the cold blue eyes that were currently aimed at me.
Shit has just hit the fun. Like really badly.
“To think that you would already know about me. I’m flattered, but annoyed,” The woman commented. “I had this grandiose speech prepared, one that should have lulled you into indulging in the mystery that I am. But please… tell me, who am I?”
I gritted my teeth, growing frustrated with the dangerous Stand User I had in front of me.
“Your name is Vins. Vins Bluemarine,” I replied. “And you are angry at me- or someone that bears my name but also ill crimes to himself.”
“Dio Brando or Dio Joestar. No matter what last name you might have, you are the sole responsible for stealing my son out of my clutches. The reason why he had to die,” The vampire remarked fiercely. “But in this case, you shall serve as the catalyst of my victory. Alas... I will take my leave here after this brief comment."
“You are… leaving?”
“Today is unimportant. It doesn’t matter if you survive or not this battle. In the end, your demise is guaranteed,” Vins replied calmly. “My plans are already in motion, and it’s just a short amount of time before I unlock the key to return him to me. And to make the priest pay for what he did to us all!”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded from her, only for the woman to smile and offer me the most malicious look one of her mindset could offer.
“Find me where the guard dog has been left. Only then you will learn the truth.”
A blink and she was gone. Goddammit, for once I really wanted the villain to lose themselves in a monologue- and yet now I was left to handle the current issue created by Vins.
“I’m surprised you knew of this, but it matters not. You will die here.”
“It’s a strong maybe. One that depends more on us surviving together.”
“Hope is the last emotion to fall, and I shall make sure to humble you through a little discovery I made a few weeks ago,” The elder said before showing a Stone Mask and staring at it. “You will lose. This is my will.”
And with that, he coughed some blood on the device, activating it before plunging it onto his face. He screamed, the noise muffled as the old bones creaked painfully. Twisting as he adapted and changed. I expected for the transformation to go unchanged as I used to remember it being… but then something odd happened before our eyes.
The ninjas all rushed towards the still-transforming clan leader, waiting for something to happen and… something did happen. Something I really didn’t know about the mask itself. The tendrils that were usually meant to pull a possible user close enough to enable the effects it caused, this time slammed onto the various ninjas’ bodies and it started to suck blood out of them. The drain was absurdly quick, and just as I made a single step forward it was all over.
Gawking at the unexpected scene, I saw the vampires falling one after the other, completely drained of any life force as it was all stolen by the mask. The end result was numerous lifeless corpses, and a new youthful elder that was now flexing over his powerful transformation.
“I never thought I could have felt this youthful and strong in my entire life. This… this defies my expectations by a large margin,” The Clanless Leader mentioned, staring at his rejuvenated palms in awe before turning those in tight fists. “I almost pity you for having refused my kindness. I shall bestow you with a glorious death.”
“Fat words from a bloodsucker,” I lamented. “You will find out I’m way tougher than anything you expect of me.”
Instead of scowling or growing annoyed, the man smiled.
“I’m happy to hear this. Please, show me how really those words are true.”
And as he said that, I barely had enough time to see him bolt from his previous position, turning in a blur as he rushed around me and finally he blitzed from behind. He looked so confident since he was way faster than I was, but he seemed to quickly realize that this wasn’t going to be easy. Especially when I had ｢ACT 2｣ on standby. My Stand punched him away, the newly-born powerful vampire managing to bring his arms up just in time to not get killed by the blow.
“Impeccable reaction time. You were correct in sounding this confident.”
I scowled at the growing amusement behind the monster’s grin, and I took a moment to glance at the rest of the group.
“Try to get Kate out of that cage. I will fight him on my own.”
“B-But-”
“No butts, this is a fight only I can fight. This vampire is stronger than the others.”
“Thank you for the compliment, Dio.”
“You better be keeping that serene mindset, because I sure as hell going to put through pain really soon.”
He chuckled. “Show me your potential.”
He bolted again, this time his tanto swirling and moving as he rushed me. My eyes widened as ｢ACT 2｣ managed to stop a couple of wind-slashes from connecting, once again deflecting the assault from the dangerous bastard.
“Your Stand is so tuned with you. Yet I can see a flaw within your defense. One that I will happily exploit.”
Numerous kunais and shurikens rushed my way, prompting ｢ACT 2｣ to once again punch those away… and for me to roll out of the way as the vampire had bolted to the side to get a lucky hit on me. I could already see what he was trying to accomplish with that dual attack. I could only focus my Stand on a single threat at a time, which meant he could introduce a distracting threat and then attack me while ｢ACT 2｣ was focusing elsewhere. Brilliant, but mildly infuriating at this point since I was the one that had to counter that shit.
Truthfully, it was easy. I just needed to counter him by keeping my own attention on him while the projectiles approached. Only that it wasn’t since he was really fast. Way faster than Jack or Dio had been when I fought them a few years ago. Even with Hamon improving my growth, I was pretty far from being able to compete with that speed. But I could still set up traps to make up for my slower pace.
The moment the grinning prick tried to pull that shit again, he found himself drenched with hamon-enchanted water courtesy of a couple of bubbles I had allowed to exist by my sides. The vampire howled in pure pain as one bursted right onto his face but, much to my eternal annoyance, it didn’t outright kill him.
Bailing from close contact, the fiend didn’t pause for a moment and I realized that Vins had to have told him about the powers of my Stand and the limits those had. Before I knew it, a myriad of projectiles of various kinds were thrown at me… from everywhere. He was moving really fast and throwing a lot of those shurikens that a couple still managed to pass through ｢ACT 2｣’s punches and stab onto my legs and arms.
He is pissed. By a fair lot from the looks of it.
Pain surged and my adrenaline kicked up again as I tried to make up by attempting to dodge the endless barrage of blades. It was all futile, and soon I was brought to one knee because of the pure suffering I was dealing with.
“You shall die by ignoring the reality of my threat and see the full might of the Renkai Cla-AGH!!”
Before he could finish that proclamation, his right arm was sent flying away as a massive light-powered slash slammed down from above. I saw someone rolling away, catching the attention of the furious bastard. It had to be Kate, else I couldn’t explain how that familiar emotion that I only felt when I took hold of the Shin-aki was exuding from that powerful attack. The woman, which I couldn’t properly see because of the dust exploding from the impact, was struggling to get up, the vampire approaching her with a slow pace.
“I will finally get the chance to avenge my ancestors. Those that you brutally murdered, you filthy thi-!”
He couldn’t finish that sentence, nor he could approach her downed form.
Because I refused his will with mine.
Now that he was moving this slow, I had the chance to make use of ｢ACT 2｣’s abilities and freeze him up. I limped towards him, the vampire trying and failing to struggle free from the time-based restraints I had imposed onto him.
“Kate, I hope you are listening right now. I’m thankful for your help. I bet it hurts right now, to strike with such ferocity at your enemy, but hear me as I, Dio, wish to return the favor by ending this pathetic monster once and for all.”
｢ACT 2｣ rushed, its punches turning in blurs as they barraged the terrified vampire with endless punches. Eye for an eye, I returned the pain back on the fiend in that lengthy assault.
“MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAA!”
With the barrage over, the time-stop ended and the vampire’s broken body slammed onto the wall in front of him, further adding extra damage as the hamon tore him apart in the most horrible way possible.
My legs were hurting, having suffered the most from that unpleasant tight spot I had been helped out by the one I was supposed to save. It was ironic… and somewhat embarrassing. Still, I didn’t stay put and decided to check on the one that had helped me in that fight, knowing that her conditions had to have been particularly grave.
As I searched around the dust, I finally found… something warm. A hand. I could feel her pulse, her warmth and her fur-
Wait... what?!
While her clothes, which were mostly made by a hakama with the upper section a strong pink, her midriff bidding a vibrant red and the lower section a dark-blue-green, have seen better days, I was mostly shaken by the fact I was learning just now that Kate wasn’t a human. No… she was… odd. An odd kind of odd. Almost like Bhediya, but I could tell she wasn’t a werewolf- or werecat since she had feline features. Her fur was a pure white, with some dark bits on her ears. A long fluffy tail extended from her lower back.
Despite the absurd development, I still crouched down and started to pump out Hamon to fix the cuts I could spot through her fur. She also seemed a little drained, her orange eyes unfocused as she stared at nowhere in particular. But just as the Ripple streamed into her body… something else woke up and started to travel back to me with a breath-taking intensity. My legs were trembling at the sheer might behind that unknown power, my body warming up as the pain that was coming from my own wounds subsided. I heard some soft clicks as the few kunais and shurikens left my flesh without any personal assistance.
I was healing her, but she was unconsciously healing me in return.
The shock subsided as I felt her body finally completely healed, and the unknown energy retreated back to her as I tried to make sense of what had just happened. Before I could, I heard her speak, quite quietly so.
“I… heard you,” She muttered weakly before closing her eyes and falling unconscious, finally taking a break after a long time of waiting and resisting.
I stared at her for a long time and… I sighed. Allowing the calm to finally settle as I offered one last silent musing as I saw the others rushing towards us.
I don’t know what you are, Kate, but I, Dio, can tell you truly are something to keep an eye out for.