"But we won't even need their help to take you down, Angelo!"

There were many different types of confidence; it was a fundamental fact that Neo had learned all too well across her many years.

There were the egotists, of course. Those were the people who were the most fun to put down. Folks like Cinder whose confidence came from the fact that they in no way could imagine any possible scenario in which they could lose. Couldn't imagine the possibility that there were people more clever, stronger or faster than them. Some of them had the stuff to back it up; the power of The Fall Maiden did make Cinder Fall a pretty terrible foe… but, from what Neo had seen now, having been at Beacon and all across Vale with all these hunters and Stand Users, Cinder was still sitting mostly on ego.

It would've been fun to watch it pop if not for the fact that they were allied with her.

Then there were those who just had a goodly amount of confidence. Neo liked to think she and Roman were in this camp. Yeah, the two of them could get a little too smug, a little too arrogant from time to time and they were punished for it. Hell, Crazy Diamond's punch and that blonde bimbo's little toss left her sore for hours after the confrontation under the overpass. Roman also had a bad habit of underestimating the damage the huntresses could do… which was why it took him so long to bring her into all of this. Still, it wasn't as if they thought they couldn't be beat. Gods above, Neo certainly knew more than a handful of people who could hand her ass back to her on a silver platter.

That's why Neo avoided those sorts of people.

Beyond that there were cowards who fluffed themselves up as brave whenever they thought they had the odds stacked in their favor. The Lock and Surface had been two such examples; little shits that only ever stuck their neck out once they thought they had an advantage thanks to their Stand powers. Hell, even Angelo was an example, in Neo's view. As horrible as his reputation was, as disgusting as his crimes were, Angelo only ever struck out at those who were weaker than him and definitely vulnerable. Women, children, men without Aura and the like. His list of victims had never included hunters and, once he was caught by them, he was quickly rounded up. The only reason he was going out of his way to get them now was because, well, he had an edge in terms of Aqua Necklace.

People like this were Neo's second favorite to take down a peg. Make them realize just how powerless they were. It was why she felt such a rush when she had thought she'd busted open Angelo's gut with her punch; not just for his reputation, but because of how much smug glee she had taken in the idea that she was going to make this living piece of human shit dropped onto the roadside of life realize how utterly fucking insignificant he was.

For the longest time, Neo really thought these three were it. In her entire life, from the time she was just a mute little girl with no strength of her own before meeting Roman to now, strong, powerful and utterly deadly that she was, she had assumed that tall tales of people with wills strong as iron were just that, tales. After all, growing up powerless in Vale introduced you to some uncomfortable things about people. Not to the degree that little sycophants like Emerald whined about when she was around Cinder to suck up to that overconfident bitch, but still, bad.

What she had seen here and now in Koichi had changed that. There had been something about Team RWBY when she'd confronted them, and Higashikata Josuke when he'd made the scene, that had… quirked her interest. It had been one of her first times really seeing a huntsman up close; for the longest time, Beacon just let things sit in Vale as far as crime was concerned. Hell, before RWBY Roman pretty much had free run over the city with only the ineffectual cops after him. It was how he'd secured so much Dust in the first place.

However, she'd quickly written it all off as heat of the moment sort of stuff, a trick of the eye that her mind had nearly psyched itself out with in her first round of combat with these people.

Now though, while the moment was indeed heated, looking at Hirose Koichi left her with no doubt that she knew what she was seeing. There was still an uneasy about the look in him, a remnant of the unsure nature that she knew was probably the boy's truer self, even if it did conceal beneath it this strength that he now projected. It wasn't with the confidence of a person who knew that they would win, no matter what, that he told Angelo that there was no way Aqua Necklace could beat Act 2...

It was with the belief of a person who knew this was what had to be. If Koichi didn't succeed here, if he didn't win, then he believed that she and his friends would die at Angelo's hands. In Koichi's mind, that had been an absolutely unacceptable scenario, something that he, under no circumstances, could allow. He thought that she had been here to save his life for the sake of it, the gullible little guy, and his friends were as important to him as Roman was to her. That much had been clear to her after weeks of watching them all interact with each other, another rather interesting realization Neo had made. So, Koichi had to win. In his mind, there was no other option. Failure meant the death of all those that he held as important… and, funnily enough, that included her, a girl who would've tried to kidnap him under other circumstances…

That thought shouldn't have been as charming as it currently felt to her. Then again, Neo never did claim to have been completely alright in the head herself.

"What… what bullshit." Angelo had muttered under his breath as a response, the serial killer's clear duress under the situation pleased Neo to no end as she, from Koichi's side, just just smugly smiled at the killer. Koichi hadn't even changed his pose, as he just stared Angelo down with that same look. "Do you even know who I am? I've been killing and hurting folks since before you were even a fucking twinkle in your daddy's eye, you arrogant brat." Angelo growled out from between his teeth as he took a slight step back, while Aqua Necklace jumped into a nearby pool of water that had grown out from one of the leaking pipes.

"So maybe you've stopped my Aqua Necklace from being able to take advantage of mist and steam in order to deal with you all, I'll grant you that… but Aqua Necklace has power over water in all states, and this treatment facility is still full of the stuff! Maybe the mist and steam will float away, but let's see you deal with several pounds of water blasting you in the face!"

With that, Aqua Necklace rushed up from its puddle and into one of the broken pipes that had faced Koichi and Neo. Neopolitan had tensed, ready to jump out of the way. Her having taken it slow to get over to Koichi after he had activated Act 2 had saved her a lot of pain and trouble, however with the throw she knew she was still far from one hundred percent okay if the pain in her gut was anything to go by. Moving quick here would hurt like Hell and probably put her recovery off a bit as she agitated her internal wounds, but she had seen it as the only viable way forward. That was, until Koichi had outstretched a hand in front of her.

"If you move too much, you'll aggravate your wounds… if you get better sooner, you'll be able to pound this guy into the concrete." Koichi turned his head to face her, his stern look replaced by a genuine smile as his more obsequent, earnest personality shined through. "You've done a lot to protect me here already. Let me do the same for you." Neo's green eyes blinked slightly as Koichi spoke, as they spotted Act 2 as it slowly but surely shifted the kunai at the end of its tail into the metal ball form. It would be bad if he failed; whatever Aqua Necklace was doing was likely to hurt. It had been clear that Angelo wouldn't play softball with them going forward and that he intended to take them down. If Koichi and his Stand couldn't pull through then just standing here would be a lot worse for her than the quick movements.

Despite this, Neopolitan just grinned, flipped her hair back and nodded. She leaned back comfortably against one of the nearby drums and just let her body rest itself, a move that had in no small way infuriated Angelo as he watched her do this… much to Neopolitan's supreme pleasure.

Koichi had this, she was certain of that.

The two finished almost as the exact same time; when Aqua Necklace had gone into the pipe, the water had ceased flowing out of it. Instead, a loud, gurgling sound came from deep within the pipe as a few bolts from deeper down within it had begun to burst with high streams of water pressure behind it. It was clear what Aqua Necklace's plan was; hold back the stream of water for a long time until the pressure built up and then, much like a firehouse, fire it all at once at the two of them and use the ensuing geyser of water to knock off their feet and senseless. Hopefully for long enough that Aqua Necklace would easily be able to slip inside one of them and finish them off.

Act 2, on the other hand, had finished reshaping its little kunai attachment into a metal ball with those kanji written all across it. Neo certainly couldn't read it but, once Koichi tapped the attachment, a small grin crossed her lips as she got a vague idea. After all, only so many things could be happening to that ball if it turned a bright, nearly incandescent red color and, without even being near or submerged in water, caused the still vapor-rich air around them to steam around it.

SIIIIIIIIZZLE~

With that done, Act 2 began to spin in place, its tail following just slowly behind the rest of its body as it spun and spun and built up momentum. Angelo just watched with barely disguised disgust before, with a wave of his hand, he roared. Koichi, unsurprisingly, had not been far behind him.

"[AQUA NECKLACE]!"

"[ACT 2]!"

With near simultaneous precision, Aqua Necklace, or what could be assumed to be it, burst forth from the pipe in a geyser of highly pressurized water as it shot straight toward the diminutive duo. Act 2, meanwhile, had released the end of its tail and had sent the sizzling hot protrusion right towards the focused shot of water. When the two had met, the reaction had been almost instantaneous. Aqua Necklace screeched loudly and painfully as the water that it made it up was immediately vaporized under contract with Act 2's ability, Angelo having similarly cried out in pain as severe burns had begun to appear on parts of his body.

"W-WHAT? Your fucking Stand's power, it's strong enough to produce enough heat to vaporize not just the water surrounding my Aqua Necklace, but the water that makes it up too?!" For Angelo, this had been a rather sore turn of events. Aqua Necklace did have a physical connection to him; if the Stand did get hurt, that damage was going to be reflected on him. During his initial spar this had been proven true enough when, as he figured his watery Stand was immune to damage, he had allowed a White Fang Grunt to kick it around. The blow had not only sent Aqua Necklace flying, but himself as well.

He had been sure to pay back that little insult twice over when he had figured out exactly how Aqua Necklace worked.

He had found, however, that if he had filled Aqua Necklace up with enough extra water or surrounded it with it, then Aqua Necklace would be nearly impossible to damage. Even the little bitch's toss from earlier that he'd seen through Aqua Necklace hadn't been felt because, well, there was just so much water to absorb the energy of the various blows that he hadn't felt one iota of it. That here and now that this brat, this little shit, had a Stand Power that could produce this sort of energy?

Angelo suddenly realized how deep in the shit he actually was.

Before more damage could have been done, Aqua Necklace separated from its geyser and slid off onto the ground, a great deal of his Stand's surface having been dissolved despite the short contact with Koichi's Stand ability. Aqua Necklace had slithered off into another small puddle and quickly reformed itself but from Angelo's extremely pained point of view the damage had been done. Meanwhile, Act 2's little ball had connected with the pipe and bounced off of it, the red hot glow having diminished under the amount of water it had taken head on. Act 2 had immediately flown up, having moved faster than the original Echoes, and grabbed its tail extension out of the air before it reshaped it into its more kunai-like appearance.

Neo just gave a polite golf clap as she silently laughed at Angelo's misfortune, which had caused Koichi to sheepishly scratch the back of his head. Between this and the damn torrential wind that Act 2 had produced mere moments ago, Neo could already tell that Act 2 was a significant improvement to the original Echoes. While it didn't look much stronger physically than its original incarnation, Act 2's Stand Power had proven itself capable of more than making up for that weakness. That the Stand still seemed to maintain its range and, above that, had been even faster than the original Echoes and well, Neopolitan knew that this Stand was just out and out better.

It seemed that Angelo had also caught onto this fact as he and Aqua Necklace had stood nervously, and uncertainly, against Koichi and his Stand while Koichi, after having torn his attention from Neo, hard as she knew it was to do so of course, just glared back at him.

"Didn't I say it before this, Angelo? Didn't I tell you? You can't beat me now. You can't keep the two of us here any longer! Your Aqua Necklace can't win! And soon enough, my friends will be here and then you'll have nowhere to go!" Koichi had pointed dramatically at Angelo, a swing of his arm having accompanied the gesture as he grit his teeth slightly. "So just surrender right now and save yourself some more burns or broken bones! Because I promise, it's not going to get any better from here!"

Aww, offering him a chance to surrender? She wanted to see more carnage. This asshole deserved it after all. But, she rolled her eyes as she looked over at Koichi; she supposed it wouldn't be like the little guy to just keep on pouring on the punishment after he figured a fight was over. Especially considering what his friends would probably do to Angelo once they showed up.

Neopolitan crossed her fingers behind her back as she silently hoped Angelo would be an idiot and turn Koichi's very generous offer down. She wanted to watch the little guy kick his ass even more.

"You… you fucking, arrogant brat…" Neo did her best to hide her smile as she quietly pumped her fist while Aqua Necklace again moved into the pipes. "This place… this place is my domain…" Angelo had muttered as she tried to walk away from the pair. "I can have Aqua Necklace move around the pipes to get to you two while I hide… you… you can't beat me…" Yet, from his demeanor and the fact that after having been dealt blows by Neo and Act 2 that the serial murder couldn't move to well, it was clear that the pair had managed to do just that.

It hadn't meant that either one of them could get comfortable. Aqua Necklace was in the pipes again, which meant it could have come from anywhere. As Act 2 reshaped its kunai, the look on Koichi's face clear that he had decided to go ahead and finish it, Neo's ears had perked up. Water pressure had begun to build up just behind her and she could feel on the back of her neck a slight, misting spray of water begin to hit her.

Wow, going after the girl with the bleeding internal injuries because you can't kill the kid you kidnapped and, in fact, got your ass kicked by him. If Neo hadn't already expected such a fine display of cowardice from Angelo, she might've been surprised. Koichi had, apparently, heard much the same as her and turned his head to look back. His blue eyes darted up; he probably spotted Aqua Necklace.

Yet he hadn't panicked. Hadn't screamed. Hadn't even cried for her to wait while he rescued her. She could tell he knew better; after all, she had been the one to rescue him at first, after all. Instead, Koichi just grinned as he tossed over his jacket again, which Neo plucked out of the air with a smug grin.

Hmmm, a boy giving her his school uniform's jacket when the weather turned wet. She was pretty sure one of those awful daytime shows she liked to watch while she ate ice cream featured this more than once. Though this had not often been the circumstances which it happened. In fact, she was fairly certain serial murderers were never involved in those sorts of shows during scenes like this...

Honestly, for Neopolitan, that had made it even better.

So with a flourishing flair Neo turned and came face to face with Aqua Necklace as it pushed itself from between the screws of one of the nearby pipes, screeching loudly as it came for her. As its eyes met, Aqua Necklace seemed to realize it had fucked up and immediately tried to retreat. Tried having been the keyword; Neo had once again swooped up the Stand in Koichi's jacket and, immediately after, tied the outfit's various loose ends into a tight not to keep the Stand in the water-resistant material. Aqua Necklace thrashed about in its prison as the diminutive duo turned to face Angelo, the killer's purple eyes just stared fearfully at the two as he realized his last, best chance had just blown up right in his face.

Neo decided she'd have a little bit of fun; after all, it had been denied to her with Angelo's cheap shot. Neo immediately spun the jacket around in a fast moving loop, twirling it around as she swung it as she maliciously grinned over at Angelo. It had taken a second but, before long, Angelo himself had been lifted into the air by the influence and force of his own Stand before, with a scream that Neo just silently laughed at, he flew off in a not too dissimilar circling pattern, banging and bashing against the various pipes and drums of the water treatment facility as he did.

Koichi himself guffawed as he watched the display and as Act 2 seemingly finished its own little bit of work. Again, she couldn't read the kanji but as Koichi turned to give her a grin, she just grinned right back.

"Think you can throw him in a bit of an arc, see if Act 2 can hit a moving target?" Koichi asked as he sheepishly scratched his head, as Neo just stared at the boy with a great deal of surprise. She hadn't expected such a nasty little suggestion to come out of his mouth.

She liked it.

Neo just gave one of her patented smug grins as she casually shrugged in an attempt to hide how excited she felt by the prospect. Immediately after having finished its ability, Act 2 began to spin again, faster and faster as Koichi, this time, hadn't tapped the ball of metal to activate it. Neo, meanwhile, had begun to spin Koichi's jacket around like a sling, a smug grin on her face as she watched Angelo's trajectory change along with her spin. Koichi raised up his hands a bit as he lined up Act 2's shot, the diminutive pair having had matching grins on their face as Koichi turned one eye to glance over at Neo.

"Whenever you're ready." The silver haired young man said with a slight chortle, as Neo just nodded her head enthusiastically. With a bit of a flourish Neo chucked Aqua Necklace and Koichi's jacket in an arc up and away from the two of them, Angelo having copied the movements as he was sent flying. Koichi grimaced a bit as he saw that Angelo was about to hit a pipe, before a slight twitch of his lips signaled that an idea had popped into his head.

With a loud 'bang' Angelo cracked into the metal pipe, groaning as he slid down it. As he slid down, Act 2 released its ability and flung it just a foot or two underneath Angelo. Finally, Angelo had slid right off the metal pipe and as he fell his eyes went wide at the sight of Act 2's ability hurtling straight for him.

KRACKA-BOOM!

The second Angelo had made contact with the metal sphere both him and the object were flung from each other with great force, Angelo having screamed in horrific pain as the front of his maintenance jacket had been blown open and a deep, purple bruise had been exposed on his chest. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head as he was sent flying away. Act 2's tail attachment had flown all the way back to the Stand who, with some difficulty, had managed to catch it as the little green Stand reshaped it back into its kunai attachment.

As Koichi watched all of this, the young man couldn't help but feel the grin that formed across his lips as a swell of pride formed in his chest. They'd… they'd done it. He'd done it. With this girl's help and with his own resolve… they beat Angelo. Koichi had finally done something himself. He'd been worth something. He'd helped save the people important to him.

Koichi was worth something to himself, at last.

The short young man practically jumped into the air as he turned back to Neo, before he paused his celebrations; the young man, in his jubilation, had almost moved to wrap the girl up in an excited hug but, having remembered her condition, had restrained himself.

Neo, on the other hand, had no such reservations. On too much of a high from having kicked the everloving shit out of Angelo and through that completely unnecessary but totally amazing display of Act 2's power, Neo wrapped her arms around the little guy and picked him up off his feet. She'd feel a little sore for this but, judging by the lack of a sharp, stinging pain, her Aura had pretty much entirely healed the worst of her internal wounds by now.

Not surprising, if Neo had to say so herself. She was one badass, little mute girl. Of course you couldn't keep her down for long.

The pair turned their gazes back to Angelo as, finally, the man crashed into something; the metal sliding door of the warehouse. He'd hit the thing with enough force that the ancient warehouse gate's rusted old hinges finally gave way and the giant gateway into the water treatment facility fell right along with Angelo.

"HOLY SHIT"

"W-WEISS, D-DID YOU JUST?!"

"OH MY GOD!"

Various voices had called out, loud enough to be heard even over the crashing gate. Koichi's blue eyes sparkled slightly as the voices reached his ears and Neo slowly let him back down onto the ground. Koichi had taken several steps forward towards the suddenly very bright opening of the warehouse, a wide smile stretched across his face as tears stung the corner of his eyes.

"Wow… I can't believe it! My friends! They made it! I shouldn't be surprised that they were looking for me, but… jeez." Koichi rubbed at his eyes a bit as he grinned. "I can't wait to tell them what happened… finally, finally I did something like this! That… that I'm finally ready to really be there for them! To pay them back." Koichi's grin was practically manic with happiness as he spoke and, for a moment, Neo couldn't help the smile that had formed across her face, though it had fallen away rather quickly.

She'd succeeded. She had helped keep Koichi alive long enough to see his friends. They were here now and given the condition she and Koichi had left Angelo in, she was sure they'd have been able to handle whatever the deranged serial murderer had left in him. She… she would leave now. Roman would be able to capture him another day. Roman would be safe from either Cinder or Whitesnake's wrath… and Hell, Angelo was dead meat to boot. Really, the only way this day could've gone better would've been if she had managed to get the last blow in on Angelo herself but, given her state, she had been more than willing to pass the buck along this time. Really, all told, this was one huge win. Everything that could've gone right did and everything that could've gone wrong had been safely avoided.

So it utterly mystified Neo that, as she slowly backed away from Koichi, silent under the effect of her illusion, that she hadn't been grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh man!. I can't wait to introduce you to everyone! I mean, you're on Cinder's team so I guess they must've met you before, but this'll be a big deal! You saved my life! I don't think you'll be able to stop Okuyasu from practically tossing you around. Josuke probably won't know how to thank you either… and, honestly, neither do I." Neo paused as Koichi had went on and on. The little man had sounded so excited, sounded so genuinely thrilled to have her meet the rest of his team. In truth, she hadn't before; anything they might've thought they'd know about her was all constructs of Miuller's Stand. That Koichi had managed to somehow avoid some of it had surprised her.

Well, one surprise among many, now.

He seemed to genuinely want it. She guessed she had, technically, kind of, sort of, under circumstances that weren't as noble as he thought, saved his life. Who wouldn't want to show off their savior to their friends?

Koichi grinned from ear to ear as he turned around to face Neo… only for that smile to drop when he saw that she had disappeared from sight. Blue eyes went wide as he looked about, a slight mania to his gaze as he tried to look around for her. She was silent, yeah, but maybe, hopefully he could catch sight of her. After everything that happened, she couldn't just up, disappear and fade back into the background of his life. He had to thank her for what she did. She… she had to know how much he appreciated that she stuck her neck out for him.

"So, you must be the asshole who kidnapped my teammate. Gotta say, you're a little more… beat up looking than I had been expecting." Josuke's voice had echoed into the warehouse from its entrance as Koichi glanced back behind him. Right. His friends were about to confront Angelo and, as much as he and the mystery girl had already clobbered him, he still had the element of surprise over the others. If Koichi didn't get out there, Aqua Necklace might pull out an unpleasant surprise on them.

He couldn't just stand there and look around for the mystery girl any longer.

With a hesitant step and a harsh swallow of the lump in his throat, Koichi dashed off for the opening of the warehouse. As he did so, Neo just watched from behind her bubbles of sight and sound, protected from anyone's hearing or vision as she watched Koichi run off. Her green eyes locked onto his back as she took a deep breath.

It was over. She could just go home now. Work was done for the day… Hell, technically she'd gone over her limit.

She should just leave now.

Outside the Warehouse, City of Vale, A Minute Before

Teams RWBY, JNPR AND JOJO ran for the warehouse, eyes locked on the still smoking roof as they honed in on it. Behind them the scrap of Koichi's uniform that Crazy Diamond had previously fixed floated gently behind them, having followed along with them. This was it, there was no doubt about it. If the roof having mysteriously blown open hadn't been enough of a sign then the fact that Koichi's chunk of uniform had followed them here had been. This is where Koichi had been taken. As they approached the warehouse entrance, everyone tensed, ready for a fight with whoever it had been who had stolen their friend away.

"Alright guys, we need to save Koichi but I don't want to see anyone unnecessarily sticking their necks out. We're going into unknown territory against someone with a Stand Power or semblance with an unknown ability. We'll need to be careful if we don't want to get caught with our guard down." Josuke had muttered, a determined expression across his face as the rest nodded. While Jaune and Ruby had been team leaders as well given the circumstances they had been more than willing to fade back and let Josuke take the lead on this one. It was his friend and teammate who'd been kidnapped and, out of all of them, Josuke was the resident strategist de jour when it came to potential enemy Stand Users. He'd have seen them through this affair safely.

"Indeed. Frankly, I've already been through more than enough warehouse ambushes for one lifetime, thank you." Blake muttered, a slight sarcastic lilt to her tone as her amber eyes focused in on the door. Weiss smirked slightly at this as the ten hunters approached the entrance to the warehouse, ready to strike at or react to any sign of trouble.

"Indeed. Hopefully this whole affair will go a lot more smoothly than the incident with Tama-"

As Weiss spoke, seemingly out of the blue, the warehouse door was flung off its rusted old hinged and sent flying towards the group of ten huntsmen and huntresses, the group of gathered students immediately jumped back and away, Josuke and Okuyasu dragged along by their friends with physical Aura, as the door had threatened to crush them all underneath it as it blew right open.

"HOLY SHIT!" Weiss, having been somewhat distracted with her banter with Blake, had reacted the most viscerally and her pale white skin had immediately flushed with embarrassment at that fact.

""W-WEISS, D-DID YOU JUST?!" Ruby Rose gawked at her friend and partner who, by this point, had clapped a hand over her mouth at the obscenity that had just slipped right past her lips. Before anyone else could express either their amusement or shock, Jaune had gasped out as he pointed towards the door.

"OH MY GOD!" Indeed, Jaune's reaction hadn't been inappropriate as the nine other sets of eyes keyed into what he had just noticed. Laid out on top of the busted down warehouse door, secured in a large dent that his body had formed quite well into, suggesting that he had been the thing that had busted down this door, was a grey behemoth of a man. His grey hair had been blown back by some significant force and his purple eyes had rolled slightly into the back of his head as his body was covered in burns and heavy bruises, visible through his blown open maintenance uniform… a Beacon Academy maintenance uniform.

Before long, almost everyone had put two and two together and slowly but surely their shock had faded away into determination once more. As the man shifted and groaned, he slowly stood up, having not noticed the other huntsmen and huntresses who had gathered to rescue Koichi.

"Gods be damned… that fucking arrogant little brat and that stupid little bitch… I swear to God, I'll fucking dine on their fucking faces before the day's over. I'll… I'll…" Angelo stumbled around slightly as he tried to force himself to his feet before, finally, he had succeeded. With several deep, gasping breaths he stood shakily, staring back into the warehouse he'd just been blown out of.

"So, you must be the asshole who kidnapped my teammate. Gotta say, you're a little more… beat up looking than I had been expecting." Angelo's purple eyes went wide with shock as he heard the voice cooly speak behind him. Angelo had turned his head very slowly and, as he finally turned his body with it, had been met with the gazes of ten other huntsmen and huntresses he'd grown quite familiar with after several weeks of having stalked them and Hirose Koichi. The remnant of Team JOJO, RWBY and JNPR all stood together in a very tense, defensive stance as they stared him down, the looks Josuke and Okuyasu had given him were particular hateful as they glared at him.

Blake's own amber eyes had narrowed slightly as she looked at Angelo, as if having thought deeply about something, before her cat-like eyes had gone wide with shock and horror.

"By the Gods… that's Anjuro Katagiri. Roman actually busted this guy out of jail… wait, HE'S BEEN OUT OF JAIL!?" The horror in Blake's tone had drawn a lot of attention to her, though Nora, Ren and Yang had each immediately snapped their heads towards Blake with a great deal more shock.

"Wait, that's Anjuro Katagiri!?" Having grown up in Vale ever since the Stardust Crusaders had left them there, Ren and Nora had been more than familiar with the horrific reputation of one Anjuro, or Angelo, after his numerous killing sprees. Yang, who liked to leave Patch to frequent Vale, had often heard stories of the deranged serial killer from her father as a word of warning to take care on the streets of Vale. Ruby, too young to know any better, Jaune, having grown up in the rural villages outside of The City of Vale, and Pyrrha, Weiss, Okuyasu and Josuke, having been foreigners themselves, hadn't been nearly as familiar with Angelo's reputation.

However, judging by just how freaked out their friends who did know his reputation looked, they could safely assume that it wasn't good news.

"You… you fucking bastard, what have you done with Koichi!" Yang Xiao Long was normally a very cool, very light-hearted person. Even in the heat of a fight, she was capable of keeping her head on her shoulders and just letting things go with the flow… up until someone damaged her hair or really pissed her off, of course. She considered herself a cool, witty, funny, sarcastic person.

However, faced with the prospect of one of her friends having been kidnapped by THE Angelo, she hadn't had much room for that kind of cool attitude. This fact alone had set Okuyasu and Josuke off, as they eached turned to glare at Angelo after having gathered the rest of their friend's reactions. Angelo watched all this carefully and, after a moment, a deranged smile came forward, blood thick on his teeth. Aqua Necklace was nearby and these brats hadn't had any clue as to what it did or how it worked. If he could bait them into coming forward, he could spring Aqua Necklace on them, then maybe he would still have some kind of chance. Maybe not for long as he got collapsed on but… well, if he just had one little distraction, maybe that'd be enough for him to get some distance.

"Why don't you go in there and ask him yourself… if you can even find the piece with his mouth attached." Angelo had given the most deranged, psychotic smile he could muster through all his pain as immediately ten pairs of eyes had gone wide with horror, Angelo having loved every second of each of their reactions. Ruby and Jaune had looked horrified beyond words, those who knew him seemed to be in despair at having been too late, Weiss and Pyrrha had just looked in disgusted awe that someone like him had been allowed to live for so long.

However, it had been Okuyasu and Josuke's reactions where he knew that he'd struck the jackpot.

The pure rage on both of their faces told him everything he had needed to know.

"YOU BASTARD! WE'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" With that, The Hand materialized just behind Okuyasu as the scarred teen prepared to charge right at Angelo and scrape him away, bit by bit. Angelo couldn't have asked for a better reaction; Okuyasu, being the upfront and brainless little shit that he was, would charge right at him with his Stand. He could 'feel' Aqua Necklace nearby and so, when Okuyasu had been in range, he'd have his Stand make the jump and try to force itself down the scarred teens throat. While everyone was distracted trying to save him while they watched him die, he'd-

"OKUYASU, DON'T GO IN!"

Once again, Angelo had been forced through an unpleasant surprise as Okuyasu stopped dead in his tracks, everyone's eyes wide as they heard the shout. Angelo looked over his shoulder and, sure enough, he and the other gathered hunters all saw the same thing; Hirose Koichi, standing by the warehouse door with Echoes Act 2 floating just behind him. The reactions were immediate;

"Koichi!"

"You're alive!"

"Are you okay, you look beat up!?"

"What the Hell is that thing behind you?!" The barrage of questions had been immediate, yet Koichi had ignored them all as he pointed to Angelo.

"Everyone, his Stand's name is Aqua Necklace and it's a water-based Stand! It's able to turn into mist and steam and other forms of water and it has some manner of control over all of it! If you let it get in you, it'll tear your insides apart!" Koichi's warning had come quite on time as Okuyasu immediately put some distance between himself and Angelo. The grey haired murderer glared hatefully at Koichi… before a demented grin crossed his face.

"Well you arrogant little shit… you should've taken your own word of advice about my Stand!" With that, Angelo had sent out the order for Aqua Necklace to lash out at Koichi. The young, silver haired boy's blue eyes just went wide with shock, as did his fellow hunters as they all immediately bounded forward.

"Koichi!"

"The Hand, quick, get him out of there!" Everyone had moved as fast as they could, Okuyasu summoned forth The Hand for it to scrape away the space between itself and Koichi, all with the hope that they'd be able to get Koichi before Angelo's Stand would. However, their efforts would prove in vain…

As the tied up remains of Koichi's jacket jumped out from behind some rubble before it uselessly fell onto the ground, where it then struggled and lashed around. The scene had stunned everyone involved, jaws slack and eyes wide as they stared at the display. Koichi, on the other hand, just sighed a breath of relief as he closed his eyes, a gentle smile on his face.

'Thank you. That's worked wonders… or, who knows, maybe you redid it while you were out of sight.' Koichi's gentle smile fell into a deep, harsh frown as Act 2 reshaped the end of its tail into another lump.

"This fight's over Angelo. You can't hold me here any longer… nor can you escape from what's coming to you. You've lost, so just give yourself up now… or else." Koichi muttered with narrowed, determined eyes, ones which had shocked the Four Kingdom hunters to see in the short little man… and ones that brought a slight grin to Josuke's and Okuyasu's face.

"No… I'm… I'm not going to be taken down by some fucking arrogant little brats!" Angelo slipped a hand into one of his trouser pockets and pulled out a knife as the man shakily stood his ground against Koichi. As the others had been about ready to move in to intercept the almost entirely beaten man on behalf of Koichi, the short, silver haired young man raised a hand to stop them.

"Guys… I have this." Said with such determination and confidence, it had been a shock to many of their systems. Who was this young man in front of them and what had he done with their friend and fellow hunter, Hirose Koichi? However, as the moment of shock passed Okuyasu and Josuke grinned at their teammates, the pompadoured team leader having given Koichi a thumbs up.

"Let 'em have it, Koichi." The blue eyed teens just nodded in understanding with each other as Act 2 finished its ability, much to Angelo's horror at this point. The serial murderer had tried to move himself away from Koichi however he had swiftly found that his legs, whenever he tried to move at more than a snail's pace had given out underneath him, which left him only able to watch as Act 2 lobbed the metal ball at him. As it arced through the air, the Four Kingdom Hunters turned their gazes to Okuyasu and Koichi, though Ren had just grinned as he read the kanji on the ball while everyone else had curious, ignorant looks to their eyes.

Okuyasu just arched a brow while Josuke grinned, both proud and slightly confused.

"Eh? It says… 'Ora' and 'Dora'?" Okuyasu muttered as the ball fell from the height of its arc and struck the ground just in front of Angelo.

Whereupon the ghostly images of four hands burst forth from the ball, followed up by the bodies of Crazy Diamond and Star Platinum, as they rushed forward towards Angelo.

ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA~!

DOOORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA~!

Act 2's make-shift Star Platinum and Crazy Diamond were pale imitations of the real deal, the Stand's admittedly powerful ability having only been able to go so far to replicate the sheer power that had often been behind the punch rushes of both Stands. However, as far as the deeply injured and hurting all over Angelo had been concerned, each punch from these ghostly Stands may as well have been sledgehammer's swung by the most powerful Aura-enhanced human in the world for how much they had hurt and pummeled his sore, aching body.

OOOORAAAAA!

DOOORAAAAA!

With one final swing of their phantom fists, Act 2's Crazy Diamond and Star Platinum had punched Angelo in the gut and face respectively, the force of their combined blows having sent the serial murderer flying away from everyone gathered and right into the wall of another nearby warehouse. Everyone flinched and looked away as concrete and other debris flew from the impact zone, covering their eyes to keep stray flakes of the stuff from having hit them. As everyone looked back over at where Angelo had landed and as the smoke and dust from the impact had cleared, several eyebrows were raised at the state Angelo had found himself in.

Halfway dug into the wall by the sheer force of the impact, gurgles and groans had been the only thing to come out of Angelo's mouth, besides blood, as he twitched in place. His eyes had completely rolled into the back of his head and, for all their movement around him, the eleven huntsmen and huntresses had found Angelo to be non-responsive. His right arm was bent at an odd angle, either from the beatdown or the repeated blows it had taken throughout the day, and his body was deeply bruised and bleeding quite profusely in spots. All told, Angelo had looked like a thoroughly broken human being, more bruises and cuts and blood than an actual man, as he twitched in his impression in the wall.

Still, few of the hunters had the sympathy for a thing like Angelo to feel sorry for the state he was in. In fact, for those in the know and those who had been aware enough to pick up on their signals, the man's thoroughly broken state, easily dwarfing whatever had been done to Tamami or Toshikazu, was a comfort to their safety. For those gathered, the day-long nightmare had been over: Angelo had been defeated and by, of all people, their usually so timid friend Hirose Koichi.

Anjuro "Angelo" Katagiri was returned to Beacon Academy to be interrogated by General James Ironwood and Headmaster Ozpin soon after his capture. The City of Vale, embarrassed that it's own civil servants had failed to notice the escape of the noted, bloodthirsty serial murderer agreed to a transfer of custody of Angelo over to Ironwood. Rumor has it that Ironwood, upon finishing his interrogation of Angelo, had moved up his execution. Though this rumor has not be substantiated by anyone within the Atlesian Military or within the ranks of Beacon Academy, few have seen Angelo after his capture. Hirose Koichi was given some honors by The City of Vale, Ironwood and Ozpin for having brought Angelo back into custody.

ANJURO "ANGELO" KATAGIRI - RETIRED!

Josuke tucked Crazy Diamond away as he finished securing Angelo in bonds made from the stone wall that he had been nearly knocked clean through. Aqua Necklace, without the active focus of its Stand Master, had transformed back into a puddle of water which had, with the help of Weiss who provided an empty Dust canister, been packed away securely. Both Angelo's bonds and Aqua Necklace's holding had been done to ensure that, however beat up Angelo was, he wouldn't have been able to hurt them just in case he did return to consciousness. All this done, the ten other teens turned their gazes to Koichi who, with the fight over, had slowly returned to his more shy, earnest self… though, not without a little bit more obvious pride and confidence having stuck around.

"Guys… listen, I'm sorry." For one, his stutter was gone and when he had spoken, he had done so while looking them all in the eye. "I goofed up and got caught up in my own stuff… so much so that I ended up actually getting kidnapped by the enemy. If things hadn't worked out the way they did, all of you could've gotten hurt or worse, died. I never want something like that to happen. So… I'm just really-"

Koichi's apology had died on his lips as, immediately, the little guy had been swarmed by his ten other friends.

"Koichi, we aren't even remotely mad at you! We're all just so happy that you're alright!" Ruby had said with an earnest, relieved smile as she wrapped up Koichi in a hug, a gesture repeated by the other more touchy-feely members of the group such as Nora and Yang. When they had let him go, Okuyasu had immediately moved in to wrap Koichi's neck up in his arm.

"Yeah, are you kidding us? Apologizing because some psychopath tried to kidnap you and kill you? Koichi, we're just glad you're alright man… and that you kicked his ass to boot!" Okuyasu barked out a loud, impressive laugh as he did so, which had earned nods from many gathered who turned their attention to Act 2.

"Yeah seriously Koichi, what is this? It looks like Echoes but it's… really different." Jaune, having seen the original Echoes up close and personal, had been shocked by the sight of the 'new' Stand before him. Koichi just flushed slightly as he scratched his cheek.

"Well it's still Echoes but, well, it's just Echoes… Act 2." Several curious gazes lit up in the eyes of the various Four Kingdom Hunters, while Okuyasu and Josuke just grinned.

"Act 2? Not exactly an original name there Koichi." Yang joked as she rubbed the top of Koichi's hair, fussing his spikier hairdo as Koichi just coughed into his fist.

"I've never heard of an 'Act 2' of a Stand before, even when traveling with the Stardust Crusaders." Ren said as he nodded approvingly at the Stand, to which Josuke just smiled.

"You remember how I said a risk of unlocking your Stand was that, if it was strong and you were weak-willed, it had the potential to kill you right?" Everyone nodded along as Josuke reached over and rubbed the top of Koichi's head. "It's rare, but sometimes Stands which a great deal of developmental potential manage it all without overwhelming their Stand User by having it unlocked in Acts. It represents the growth of their Stand User as people and each Act is pretty significantly more powerful than the last." Josuke said with a great deal of pride as he looked down at Koichi, who could only smile happily as he saw his leader and best friend beam down at him. "Really proud of you Koichi. You did good work."

"No kidding. Took down Angelo all by yourself. No small feat right there." Blake commented somewhat dryly, though it was clear she was quite happy as well.

"Speaking of, I'm sure General Ironwood and Headmaster Ozpin will be happy to take Angelo back into custody." Weiss commented with a soft smile as the rest of the group nodded.

"Plus, I'm sure people will be glad that Koichi himself is safe. It's certainly a weight off my mind." Pyrrha offered with a kind nod of her head, to which the rest of the group nodded.

"Yeah! We need to get back to Beacon to celebrate the fact that Koichi's safe and that he's unlocked the next level of Echoes' Stand Power!" Okuyasu barked out with a great big old grin. All gathered, especially those who had witnessed Okuyasu's anger and frustration before, were greatly relieved to see the scarred teen return to his more happy-go-lucky self, a far and away more comfortable attitude for him to take amongst the group than the intense, almost scary Okuyasu they had been witnessed to while Koichi was in danger.

"Not a bad idea. Plus, the sooner we get back, the sooner Jotaro can be called back in from the city." Josuke nodded for everyone to come along as The Hand hefted up Angelo, Josuke himself having carried the liquid remains of Aqua Necklace. As they all had begun to walk off, Josuke noticed that the usual sounds of small footsteps falling in behind him, something he'd gotten quite used to over the past year, hadn't reached his ears. The pompadoured team leader turned his head and looked back to see Koichi, standing hesitantly several feet off from the rest of the group.

"Yo, Koichi, you coming?" Nora asked quizzically as she quirked her head to the side, Koichi having turned his gaze to meet the others' as he smiled slightly.

"You guys go on ahead, there's something I… wanna check out before I get going. I'll catch up to you all in a bit; you're just heading to the airbuses right?" The rest of the group nodded, Okuyasu and the other Four Kingdom Hunters turning their gazes over to Josuke to see his reaction. Josuke just looked at Koichi for a moment, a discerning look to his eyes, before he smiled and shrugged.

"Sounds fine to me Koichi. Just hurry along, alright? We were pretty worried before; it'd be a bit rude for you to disappear on us again after this." Despite the words, Josuke's teasing, joking tone was evident and raised everyone's spirits slightly. As Josuke turned to walk off and most of the others followed him Koichi had stayed behind. He waited for the others to get out of earshot and eyesight before he turned his gaze to look around at the warehouse.

"Hey… I don't know if you're still here or not but, you know… I wanted to thank you… and I wanted to apologize." Koichi placed a hand to his cheek as he tilted his head to the side. "I reacted pretty badly to you when I first noticed you… I feel like kind of a jerk for having done so, especially considering you saved me just now. The others might've put it all on me… but, well, if you didn't show up I'd probably be dead.

"So…" Koichi groaned to himself as he scratched the back of his head. "I dunno… you're technically stalking me and I think I should find that pretty scary and weird but… I dunno, it just makes me feel… odd." A slight quirk to his lip came shortly after. "Not necessarily in a bad way." Koichi just sighed as he looked around. "I guess I just wanted to say I hope I do see you around again… and that we can maybe talk on better terms. See you around… oh jeez." Koichi palmed his face slightly as he shook his head. "I don't even know your name still… kind of pathetic of me, really."

Koichi had felt a slight breeze blow from behind him as he spoke, which had slightly unsettled him as, up to that point, the wind had blown pretty consistently in his face… and in fact, still had. Koichi's blue eyes blinked as he heard something shuffle just underneath the back of his heel. A quick turn and a look down revealed something that hadn't been there before; a scrap of paper. After Koichi picked it up, a smile quirked onto his lips when he read it.

'You don't need to thank me. Signed - Neopolitan.'

"Neopolitan huh…" Koichi whispered as he tucked the little piece of paper away, a slightly wry smile on his face as he laid his cheek against his hand with a befuddled look to his eyes. "I know how I should feel about having a stalker but… man, this is a really complicated feeling." She had probably used her Aura to speed on by and drop off the note silently before she sped off. He figured he wouldn't have much luck catching her or talking to her again after this little note… nor had he felt the need. After all, he'd gotten something back. So, with a slight scratch of his head as Koichi wrestled with his various, varying emotions, he walked off to trail after his friends.

All the while, a slight presence watched him go before it, too, departed.

City of Vale Riverside Apartment Complex, A Half-Hour Later

She hadn't stayed invisible long. After all, even as strong as her Aura was, Neo had found it to be a pain in the ass to keep an illusion up for an extended period of time. Her disguises were different and far more simple than completely cloaking herself and others out of sight, and she could probably keep up a different appearance all day if she wanted to.

Not that she would want to; after all, looking in the mirror to find a face that wasn't yours staring back always had a bit of a jarring feel to it. Such was the case when Neo had, after a long-ass day by her reckoning, returned to her apartment in the city. Roman had long since arranged for this place for her, her home away from the daily grind of criminal activities and working with Cinder. It was another one of those gestures that the man had offered to her that she appreciated in the long, long, long line of things she really appreciated about Roman.

For most people, Neo's apartment was almost immediately jarring upon entry; having the building owned by Roman, even if through a variety of false names, and staffed by folks who owed him big time, there wasn't much worry about a star employee like Neo losing her 'safety deposit' for any reason whatsoever. So, she took full advantage of that and changed up her apartment quite stunningly… or disturbingly, depending on who you asked.

Much like Neo's own appearance, her apartment followed a color scheme not too dissimilar from her own. 'Ice cream' was probably the first thought that'd pop into your head upon entering her little slice of home. 'Crazy person' was probably another, which had been Mercury's and Emerald's gut reaction when they had first paid witness to Neo's possession or personal space. Honestly, Neo could only roll her eyes on response to that; while Neo knew that she wasn't 'normal' by any stretch of the imagination, Hell she was a criminal assassin who enjoyed her job, she liked to think she was relatively well adjusted.

That adjustment, she felt, was reflected in both her own appearance and in the appearance of her apartment. It wasn't just 'ice cream' that it was meant to scream, though Neo wasn't about to pretend that wasn't part of the appeal for the ice cream loving young woman. No, above even that, for Neo what it screamed was 'duality'.

Neo hadn't always been as she currently was; the badass, utterly kick-ass, black haired, green eyed… wait. Neo turned to look herself in the mirror before she blew a slight raspberry. She dropped the illusion and, soon enough, pink and brown hair with slight curls at the end had returned, as had her pink and brown eyes. With an approving nod, Neo removed the bands from her hair and let it fall about her shoulders as she sought to change out of her Academy Uniform and into something a little more comfortable. With how long a day it'd been and the sort of ill mood she found herself in, she needed to spoil herself with her time off.

Where was she? Oh, right, hadn't always been a badass. Not terribly long ago now, about ten… twelve years? What, she was eighteen now, Roman had found her when she was ten. Huh, only eight years? Felt longer. Anyway, eight years ago she'd been pretty pathetic, even in her own opinion. While she had her Aura unlocked by… less than ideal circumstances and had developed a semblance capable of keeping her safe, Neo wasn't strong. She wasn't tough, she wasn't brave, she wasn't even particularly dangerous even if she could turn invisible, sneak up behind you and stab you to death. It had been a rough time for a little girl growing up in a City like Vale on her own.

That's why she viewed it as such a sea change, such a Godsend that she'd come in contact with Roman Torchwick. For whatever reason had crossed his mind, for whatever he saw in that pathetic little girl, he'd decided to take Neo in and help shape her into what she was today. Admittedly, it was kind of sadistic; Roman had taken an otherwise innocent girl and turned her into a trained killer. However, considering Neo knew how that little girl had lived up to that point and compared it to now, she considered it a rather nice gift all told. Having never really remembered her folks, from what she'd been told young they'd died due to… something? A Grimm attack, she thought? It'd been so long since she thought about it that it kind of passed out of her mind.

Anyway, having not ever had any connection to her 'real' family, Roman's treatment of her, his respect, his outright kindness and his, for a criminal, generosity in taking her in had… well, it had greatly endeared him to her. More than that, it made them feel like family in her mind. A fucking messed up family to be sure, but still, family. It was why even as he sunk so much into all this bullshit with Cinder Fall that Neo stuck with him.

Thoughts of Cinder had made Neo's mind to to Angelo almost instinctively as she stuck out her tongue in disgust. As she popped open her freezer, Neo pulled out a tub of ice cream she had held onto for such special occasions; when her mood was especially rotten and just lounging around eating any old ice cream wouldn't do.

But yes, Roman had taken the old her and shaped her into the current her. Now, how had this screamed 'duality' to Neo? Simple; unlike someone like Cinder who, to Neo, came off as amazingly insecure and probably suffered from some childhood trauma shit that made her the incredible bitch she is today, Neo hadn't discounted her past self as 'not being her'. That had been Neo same as she was currently Neo. The thing was that both existed at the same time as part of a dual-nature; who she used to be and who she was now. There was no separating these two things nor was there mashing them together into the same person. If she tried, well, she imagined she would actually start to go a little crazy in the head like people suggested.

Keeping this dual nature, recognizing it, was Neo's personal little motto for how to live a balanced life in all things. The Cinder example above had been one way she thought it could go wrong; where you were so obsessed with erasing your past you wound yourself up into a nutter who single-mindedly pursues shit until, in Neo's honest opinion, you needed to just go out and get fucking laid. A snarky smirk crossed Neo's lips at the thought of telling such a thing to Cinder Fall's face. If it ever got to the point where the relationship fell out, she might. Sure, she'd probably burn to death for it, but just imagining the look on Cinder's face… heh, it would be priceless.

Then there was another example that came to mind; now, Neo loved her job. She was good at it, it helped Roman further his own goals, she enjoyed the sense of power and superiority it gave her over certain people and it helped keep a roof over her head. Really, Neo was living the dream compared to most people who worked a job they hated. Neo loved doing what she did and loved the fact that her surrogate father figure was helped out anytime she did a good job. It was a win-win-win-win as far as she had been concerned.

However, and this was important; she didn't make her job her life. That path lay madness in its own right. Making your work, especially if that work was as grim and ugly as the work she often did, your entire life would probably screw with your head. So, Neo worked out a little system with Roman; half of the day she spent awake was Roman's; he could order her to do whatever he needed her to do. Need her to kill someone? You got it boss. Protect a shipment? On it. Steal a different shipment. Yessir? Kidnap a cute little guy with blue eyes and silver hair…

Yeah, yeah she was on that.

Neo blinked as she realized a smile had crept onto her face. She quickly smashed it back into a frown as she popped more ice cream into her mouth. She wouldn't be able to justify enjoying her 'in-case of bad mood' treat if she suddenly got out of that bad mood.

Anyway, so she'd do whatever Roman needed her to do half the day and the other half, well, it was Neo's to spend however she wanted? Go for a relaxing walk? Sure, and if the weather was bad, she'd just bring her umbrella. Watch a shitty daytime soap opera? Absolutely, that crap was hysterical to watch. Gorge herself on ice cream knowing that Roman will probably have some work lined up that'll have her spending that energy sooner rather than later?

Well would you look at what she was doing right now?

This duality, this separation of her natures, is what kept her mostly sane, in her opinion. If she got too wrapped up in everything, she'd end up like Cinder Fall. Or, Gods forbid, if she ended up making her work her life, making it the all-encompassing aspect of her being considering what she did… well, she might end up like Angelo.

That had caused a disgusted shiver to go through her body. Neo wasn't all there in the head, she knew that. She killed and didn't feel remorse for it and did so for a man who had trained her to do just that, a man that instead of loathing for having done that she viewed as a father. To some degree Neo recognized that all of this was a bit out there, even if she wasn't bothered by it. This two-parts of her thought processes, this simultaneous recognition and acceptance, was key to her keeping some kind of balance, from being so far gone that she couldn't even see what she was doing anymore.

Angelo, sometime in his life, had gone off the deep end. At some point, killing people had become his entire life. When you became obsessed with something like that, you eventually just lost all trace of everything else. Hell, Neo might've been a killer, but she wasn't sadistic. She recognized that, on some level, what she did was wrong and so, even if she liked to mess with her opponents, she wouldn't out and out fucking torture them to death for her own pleasure. Proving her strength, proving she could beat them and easily, that was enough for Neo.

For Angelo, that wouldn't have even been close. Neo had seen the sort of things Angelo thought was 'enough' when it came to killing people. Even for someone as morally compromised as Neo, she couldn't' stomach any of that bullshit.

The point of it all was that people needed to have these different sides of them, needed to be more than just the one thing. Because if you let that one thing define you, well, you'd never really be able to change as a person, as she had from her younger self to her current self. The insane would stay insane, the uptight and up their own ass would never see just how far up their own ass they were and cowards would remain cowards.

Hell, it even made life exciting; not only could you surprise yourself but people could surprise you. A thief and a criminal underlord could be kinder to you than anyone else in your entire life, a group of would-be heroes could actually be pretty out of their gourd and a little kid who never seemed to believe in himself could find the guts to stand up to a bastard like Angelo…

That last thought had Neo pause in her ice cream eating as her mind wandered. At first, she hadn't much liked tailing after the huntsmen and huntresses that were part of Teams JOJO, RWBY and JNPR, especially Koichi. Neo hadn't taken the fact that they were against her side personally; it was just business. They were on one side of the conflict, she and Roman were on another. If you got too tied up in business, again, Cinder Fall.

But she hadn't found them great to watch and, considering Koichi had seemed like the most likely target to kidnap, he had just been a pain. He seemed like the sort of person she described; just a flat out coward, so utterly consumed by that aspect of himself that he'd never be able to move on. She resented seeing it a little bit and, at first, she hadn't known why.

As time went on though, and she came to understand the group a bit better, she had found the task to not be quite so bad. Hell, she'd even gotten a little interested in watching Koichi. Her resentment, her feelings of frustration when she watched him struggle, she'd come to realize were out of a sense of familiar contempt… one she had, slightly, had for who she used to be. It wasn't all that shocking really; both her old self and Koichi were pretty weak, both of them couldn't really defend themselves… and both resented how utterly unable to affect their own lives they had been. How much dead weight it made them. How helpless it made them feel…

Maybe it'd been around this time that her resentment of Koichi had slowly shifted into endearment. In a way, Koichi's accomplishments and growth had become a reflection of her own. Hell, in that light, it had even been easy to see the support Okuyasu and Josuke had offered so freely as being similar to the support that Roman had so long ago given, even if neither she nor Koichi had seemingly earned it.

She wouldn't say it made her like any of these huntsmen and huntresses… but it had been interesting. Watching him and then saving him from Surface, seeing as he helped that blond loser fight back against Surface, it had made all this even more apparent. There was something in Koichi, a potential, a strength of spirit that just barely shined through in the most desperate moments or in his times of focus. Maybe that had been what Roman had seen in her not so long ago. Koichi had the potential to change, to become something better than he was, same as her…

Yet, so different too.

"You bastard… I won't let you do this. Not to me. Not to the people I care about. Not to anyone who'd stand up for me!"

He was pretty naive, in all honesty. If it had been better circumstances where his friends weren't on the way, she would've kidnapped him herself and brought him to Roman to use as bait for his friends. Yet despite this and despite how much she had freaked him out both at the arena and when she first appeared… he decided that she was worth protecting. That rather than abandon her, he had decided that she was worth laying his life down on the line for. Just because she had saved him. Just because she had stuck her neck out for him.

"I'm not just going to sit by and watch as you butcher these people! People I care about and who, for whatever stupid reason, care about a worthless kid like me! I won't just take from everyone anymore and give nothing back!"

Determined, that was a word she wouldn't have thought to attach before today too. Sure, sometimes he might show some steel, but it usually faded soon enough. Yet, in that moment, no other word really applied nearly as much to him. He'd known what he had to do, what he needed to do and he was going to do it. Even if all he had on hand was a dinky little Stand of no discernable strength or power, well, it didn't matter. His friends were in danger… she was in danger. He was going to stand up for all of them, even if it meant his life. Loyal was probably another word that would go there.

"So… so does this mean I've grown? That I've changed?"

Despite this, it hadn't washed away who he was before. It was a part of him, a new part of him, a new part of his identity, but it didn't wash away what had made him who he was before. Polite, obsequent, somewhat doubting… but endearing. Kind. Gentle.

"I don't even know your name… heck, when I saw you I figured you were some kind of threat or figment of my imagination. Thank you. I know you must have had one-thousand better things to be doing but… well, thanks."

Despite his own successes and, indeed, a lot of them were his, whether they be using the original Echoes to give them a distraction or his Act 2's rather strong new ability, he'd never got full of himself. He realized that he hadn't done this on his own and that he'd have been dead without her… and he thanked her. Despite her own reasons, despite how utterly screwed up it was to be rescued by someone who was going to kidnap you, even if you didn't know it… he thanked her, and meant it. He'd understood her too and… and…

Neo sighed as she stood up from her seat and walked over to her mirror again. She shook her head slightly at what she saw; rosy cheeks and a smile stretched damn near the length of her face. She hadn't even needed to slide her hand underneath her oversized shirt to feel over her chest; she could hear her heart pounding in her ears as they, too, were red hot. She swore, sometimes she hated her overly pale complexion...

Welp, there went her special treat mood. With a roll of her eyes she walked back over to her fridge and placed the special ice cream back into the freezer, before she leaned up against the fridge and placed her cheek in her hand with a long sigh, half weary and half… something else. Well that plan for the day was shot. What now? Go for a walk? Turn on the tv and see if anything good or so shitty it was funny was on? Nah, neither of those really struck Neo's mood at the moment.

After a few moments of thought, a sly grin formed on Neo's lips. Well, Koichi had just unlocked a new, dangerous little ability. It would be good for them all if they had more information on it. She'd just tell Roman and Cinder that she decided to invest in a little overtime. They'd appreciate that…

Yes, stalking Koichi sounded like a very nice plan for today. With a smug grin she quickly got dressed and after flourishing her umbrella she disappeared from sight as she opened and closed the door.

It was going to be a good day after all, it seemed.

-To Be Continued- Out On The Town (Act 1)

A/N:

Stand User: Hirose Koichi

Stand Name: Echoes Act 2

Status: "Act" Stand

Destructive Power: C

Speed: D

Range: B

Lasting Power: B

Precision: C

Developmental Potential: A

Sound Maker: Echoes' second form increases its sound abilities beyond its first form's capabilities. Echoes can write a sound effect on any surface. However, unlike Act 1, it is only able to shoot sound effects from its tail. When the sound effect is touched, an effect related to the sound is produced, either affecting the person who touched it or the object which the words are inscribed on.

In addition, Echoes' tail can act as a surface/container for a sound itself which changes or otherwise produces the effect from the tail.

Backward Compatibility: By shifting its form back to Act 1's, Echoes is still capable of using Act 1's range and abilities, but is limited to its level of physical strength and speed.

Also Known As: Literally making some noise.

Also Known As: Slightly Less Imperfect Cell

Aura User: Neopolitan

Semblance: Illusions

Destructive Power: E

Speed: E

Range: B

Lasting Power: D - A (Depending on illusion created)

Precision: C

Developmental Potential: D

Illusions: Neopolitan is capable of creating illusions of varying quality and lasting power with her semblance. On the simplest but most long lasting level, Neopolitan can create a surface of Aura just above her body that can change her physical appearance at any time, however it is limited to her using her own body structure and changes are usually kept to hair and eye color. In addition, she can completely shroud herself out of sight or create glass-like replicas of herself and others surrounding her in a sinch, though these illusions are far more fragile and slightly more exhausting to keep up for longer periods of time.

In addition to visual illusions, Neo is capable of producing auditory illusions and hallucinations as well. The most common use of this has been to silence Neopolitan's own sounds and movements, which has made her an effective and deadly assassin with the ability to hide in plain sight and always attack from the element of surprise.

Also Known As: Vanilla Ice Cream with a scoop of Chocolate Disco… sadly there's no Strawberry puns to be made here yet. The series isn't over yet though.

Also Known As: My Little Assassin: Coup-de-Graces are Effective.

So, first the simpler of the issues to be brought up here; yes, Josuke didn't do the DORARARA and fuse Angelo into the wall. It was appropriate in the source material because that was Josuke's moment, he had been the one with the most to bear in that conflict. That he was the one to end it was appropriate. This was Koichi's and Neo's moment and, at that time, Neo had passed the buck off onto Koichi; it was only appropriate for Koichi to finish it this time. Though I did slip in a reference with the two Stands Koichi makes the noises for being those involved in the canon Aqua Necklace fight, so hey, hope that softens the blow a bit.

And now, Neopolitan. I'll be frank; any Neopolitan you've seen in any fanfiction you've ever read is an OC. We pretty much know jack shit about Neo's character apart from the fact that she's apparently a rather brutal little assassin and that she views/viewed Roman Torchwick as a father figure, and even the latter we only ever got out of interviews. Fact of the matter is, Neo's a bit of a blank slate and every fan comic that features her and every fanfiction that tries to delve into her character is essentially making an OC.

That said we can take what we know and try our best to build a character out of it, and that's what most people end up doing if they focus on Neo to any significant degree. With Neo, I wanted to do to her what I was doing with a lot of RWBY characters; instill some JoJo aspects into her to make her pop a little more, make her fit a little more with this grander cast of heroes and villains. To that end I focused on specific visual and character elements and kind of built a series of quirks up around it; duality, in this case.

As I finished her was around the same time that I struggled with Yukako and her place in the story for the second to last time. As I was facing these issues at the same time, it was easy for me to easily put them side by side and to start making connections.

Now, my biggest problem with Yukako isn't her feelings for Koichi or the fact that she's a Yandere. Now, don't get me wrong, a little more setup and a little more depth would've been appreciated, but I don't dislike Yanderes on principle. Hell, one of my favorite characters in anime/manga period is Yuno "Fucking" Gasai. With a little bit of polish that I could've certainly provided, I could've gotten her there…

My problem was twofold; the fact that she felt like an unnecessary add-on that I wouldn't know what to do with… and the fact that I never really bought into Koichi's feelings in the anime and manga. You'll remember how I said with Toshikazu and Tamami how I never really bought into the idea that they could become 'core' allies in the series after their defeats because they were total creeps. Again 'Oh yeah, you tried to murder my friend/sexual assault my mother and sister/wanted to rape a girl, but we'll totally hang out with you and have you around when Reimi passes on like you were important'. For me, Yukako was the Crown Gem of that awkwardness.

'Oh, you kidnapped me, held me against my will, made me piss my pants, practically starved me, humiliated me in the worst ways possible, terrified me in ways I couldn't have imagined before and then rounded that all off by trying to kill me… but you helped me get a good grade on an English Exam so feelings so complicated.'

If I was going to have a Yukako-esque character in the plot for Koichi, I'd want her to already have some relevance in the plot, to have a bit more character and motivation of her own outside of Koichi and for her to be an interesting pair that I could work it so that there'd be some logic to both sides being interested.

Like I said, Neopolitan happened to get done right around the time I was re-outlining Yukako's role in the plot. The result is what you see here; instead of Koichi falling for a stalker-turned-kidnapee-turned-possible murderer, he's getting complicated feelings about a stalker… but one who risked her neck to save his life. That would lend itself to some rather complicated, if not entirely unpleasant, feelings. It makes a bit more logical sense as well as, if you're into Yandere/stalker romances, being rather endearing and charming. Neo, likewise, has watched over Koichi for weeks related to business, only really stepped in to save Roman's neck… but hey, we all know Koichi. He's an endearing kid with a lot of potential, kind and understanding, the sort of person you'd like if you got to know him. Time just worked its magic, Neo's backstory in this story actually lends her some sympathy to Koichi as well as finding him kind of endearing and, well, this entire fight and what bit of Yukako I did put into Neo's character did the rest.

Plus the idea of a truly invisible Yandere amused me to no end.

Alright, this is first update of the month so on the 9th you all will be getting a RBA Chibi update. It'll work out well for me because, hey, I got finals coming up here so hey, all works out in the end.

Also, gotta go out there and thank you all again; between this update and the previous one, Beacon is Unbreakable hit 50,000 hits! Again, usual standard qualifications about people hitting the first chapter over and over again to get to new chapters aside, I really appreciate the interest you all have shown and your continued visits to my little story. I'm honestly super grateful and I'm glad we're all still having so much fun with this silly little story of mine.

Till next time in RBA Chibi!