Stand Fact: Nirvana has zero defensive or offensive capabilities. It's an incredibly weak stand in a fight, but it can be used to warp someone's mind when they don't know the stands ability. Because of this, Harold Land will usually wait somewhere behind the scenes and let the target talk casually.

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Josuke explained everything to Koichi before hand on the phone; the stand giving drug, the Ladies of the Road, and the unfortunate suicide of Miss Angie. Koichi went through the same path of emotion that Josuke and Okuyasu went through when hearing about these things, from denial to suspicion, and finally acceptance. This all lined up too well to be a coincidence, the Ladies of the Road were dealing drugs that were giving people stands, it was undeniable now.

"How are we going to find them, let alone question one of the Ladies about the drug?" Koichi asked

"This woman I saved, Rocko, told me that the Ladies base of operations are in the Bronx, but they apparently have dealers all over the place." Josuke explained, "We're just going to have to go to the shadiest looking place we can find, and check out every person we see until we find a lady of the road."

"WHAT?" Okuyasu yelled, "THAT WILL TAKE AGES."

"Yeah, it'll take some time." Josuke said, "But good thing I'm a lucky man."

When he said this, both Koichi and Okuyasu tilted their heads, looking at Josuke, puzzled.

"Rocko also told me a small alley that used to be a very crowded place for drug dealing, and the Ladies would often also be there to deal their drugs, but it has since been abandoned." Josuke said, "But heres the odd part, apparently, someone is always there, pretty much lives there."

"How does this Rocko lady know about all of this?" Koichi said

"No idea, but it's the only thing we have to go off of at the moment." Josuke replied

"Where is this place?" Okuyasu said, picking dead skin off of his thumb

"That's the best part, its only a few blocks away." Josuke said

All three of them nodded and made their way out of the hotel. While walking down the street, they looked around nervously, making sure not a single person passed them without being checked for tattoos. It would be about 20 minutes before they would make it to the "hot spot", so they needed to be careful and thorough.

"Act 1" Koichi suddenly said to himself.

Before Josuke and Okuyasu knew it, a turtle like creature with thin arms, a beak, 2 wheels on its shell, and a long pointed tail curved around Koichi. Its shell resembled a German WW1 soldier helmet, and it had 2 slotted eyes. It quickly crawled up Koichi's back and used his shoulder to make a mighty leap in the air. It was soon flying through the air, almost out of sight.

"Good thinking Koichi." Josuke said, "If we see anybody running away or noticing Echoes, we'll see it."

The three kept walking, Josuke and Okuyasu keeping a watchful eye of anybody leaving or entering alley ways, and Koichi using Echoes Act 1 to scope out nearby alleys from above. They weren't getting any luck, if anything, they were just getting angry looks from people who didn't appreciate them looking them down every time they passed the odd trio.

About 10 minutes have passed, and they were about half way to the "Hot Spot". They couldn't find anybody suspicious, and the buildings were starting to get too tall for Echoes Act 1 to fly above, making scouting from above more difficult for Koichi. Echoes Act 1's range was larger than the other acts, being 50 feet, but the tall skyscrapers of New York dwarfed that range. However, Echoes Act 1 can still be useful for seeing deeper into alleys that could be blocked from the ground view by boxes or trash units.

The trio kept walking, with the tension growing even higher. They closer they got to the "Hot Spot", they thought, the higher their chances of seeing the man who apparently lives there.

"Do you see anything yet Koichi?" Josuke whispered

"Nothing yet, but I'm starting to get nervous." Koichi replied, "There are a ton of people in each alley, probably doing their own deals, but I don't see the Tattoo anywhere on them. Act 1 will even go and look at them closely, but I see nothing."

"Shit." Okuyasu said, the tension overwhelming him.

Suddenly, Koichi's eyes widened, and his teeth clenched

"JOSUKE, OKUYASU." Koichi yelled, "This alley, the one we're about to approach."

"What is it?" Josuke said, sweat starting to form on his face

"There's dead bodies, everywhere." Koichi said, "It's closed off by a gate, about 40 feet ahead of us."

Josuke and Okuyasu were both shocked. As Koichi was describing this, he saw a man walking out of a door in the alley through Echoes' eyes. The man noticed Echoes, and he tried to run, but Koichi had things covered. Echoes Act 1 suddenly pulled an object out of his tail, but this wasn't any object. It was words, onomatopoeia. The stand reeled the words back and threw with a mighty aim, and it nailed the back of the running mans back.

When the words hit, it made a constant dinging sound, almost like a radar, one that Josuke and Okuyasu were able to hear.

DING DING DING

They all began to run, and when they reached the boarded up alleyway, Josuke quickly kicked it with his own foot, splintering the wood into many pieces. The man saw them and quickly turned the corner, but Koichi once again was on top of him. Echoes Act 1 threw another word at the man. This time, it was a loud high pitched tone, one that sent him to the ground holding his ears.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

While running to him, they noticed the many dead bodies Koichi described. There was something very odd about these bodies, however. Whatever injury one of the bodies had, there was another that shared the exact same injury in the exact same place on their bodies. They saw a man shot through the head, and another with the same wound just a few feet away. Two bodies laid only inches away from each other, with large indents in the right side of their skull. But the most troubling discovery was that some of the bodies in the alley had the Pair of lips on their arms, meaning some of these men were Ladies of the Road.

"Is... is this the hot spot?" Josuke asked, puzzled, "Why are there so many dead Ladies here?"

It was a gruesome sight, but the walls were completely clean, and there wasn't a trace of blood anywhere. Some of the bodies were even decomposing clean of flesh and skin, but the pair with the same injury would be exactly the same.

There was, however, one single thing that stood out on the wall. A large piece of graffiti painted with only one color, blue

KARMA POLICE

===To=Be=Continued===