The bullets ring out as Julius summons two spheres to his hands. One spins in his palm for a moment before he lobs it at the car. As soon as the ball leaves his fingertips, Julius disappears into the other sphere, hiding to avoid being shredded by bullets.
The thrown sphere captures the car before rolling to the feet of the gunmen. It bursts open and the car knocks them over. Julius emerges from his sphere, clutching his side.
He wasn't fast enough. He's alive, but each of the gunmen landed a shot on him. One is his stomach, one in his shoulder, and one is his thigh. Julius grimaces as he pulls himself to his feet.
He glances at the gunmen. All three of them are mannequins with guns rubber banded to their arms. A makeshift firing squad, a trap set by Stan Mathers that Julius eagerly walked into. Julius pockets one of the machine guns into one of his spheres and limps out of the exhibit.
He spots Stan Mathers in the distance, fleeing for the fourth floor. By now, Slim Shady has escaped from its prison and returned to its master, meaning Stan will be able to seal Julius away in a painting if he manages to land a hit. Julius sighs, pulls out one of his Beatles, and follows.
Inspector Sting, hearing the sound of the nearby museum's fire alarm, grabs his radio to call dispatch. "This is Chief Inspector Sting, requesting-"
The radio drops to the ground. Sting looks at his palm to find a gaping hole surrounded by fire, a hole that was not there a moment earlier. The hole in his hand disappears as quickly as it appeared. A confused Sting bends down to grab his radio from the sidewalk. A hole appears beneath it, dropping the radio into the sewer.
Sting dashes towards the museum. Something strange is happening, just like at the airport. As he runs, Sting's foot goes into a newly formed pothole. He trips, crashing face first into the ground.
Sting looks up to see a small black and white bird sitting on the sidewalk in front of him. A necklace covered in keys hangs from its neck. It raises one of its wings and moves it back and forth, as if it is waving.
Sting extends his arm so his palm covers the bird in his line of sight and makes a fist. The spot where the bird sat erupts into flames. For a moment, Sting thinks that he has finally killed the annoying pest. Then something lands on his shoulder. He turns to see the bird sitting there. It pecks him in the eye and blows a raspberry.
"Motherfucker!" Sting shouts.
The bird flies away from the museum and Sting chases after it. As he runs, he points his hand at the bird and closes it again. The bird darts left just in time to avoid being incinerated. The bird flies into a busy street full of traffic and Sting chases after it, creating burst of fire after burst of fire in an attempt to take it down.
The bird dives under a car and Sting sets the car ablaze. The car's driver flees as flames consume his car. "Hold still so I can kill you!" Sting shouts.
The bird does a u-turn. No longer content to simply lead Sting away, it flies straight for him. He tries to set it on fire, it creates a hole in the ground and dives into it to avoid the flames. The bird bursts from the ground in front of Sting and throws two of its keys at him, striking him in the eyes.
His vision goes black as holes form on his corneas. He screams and swings his fists wildly, trying to knock the bird out of the air. Then, a hole appears on the ground beside him. He falls into the sewer. The hole seals behind him.
Back at the museum, Kan Nijimura sits on the stone steps, eyes closed in concentration. She takes a deep breath, opens her eyes, and runs in after her friends.
Nero climbs stands on the second floor of the museum, staring up at a third floor balcony. The fire and the Stan Mathers exhibit are both on the third floor. Presumably, so is Julius.
Nero's Stand, Viva La Vida, appears at his side. He jumps, using the Stand's strength to push himself off the ground. He grabs the balcony railing and pulls himself up.
He runs into the Mathers exhibit. By now, the fire has all but consumed the painting filled room. Nero frantically scans the room, searching for any victims. Then he sees it, a body lying in the corner of the room. "Oh no, that is not good," Nero says.
Nero sprints in, grabs the body, and drags it out of the fire. At first, he tries to do CPR. Then he notices the gaping chest wound and decides that CPR is probably not going to work.
He stares at the body for a minute. It isn't Julius's body, and the chest wound couldn't have been created by The Beatles, so it isn't Stan Mathers. Still, the corpse's face looks so familiar. But, no matter how hard he tries, Nero cannot remember where he saw it before.
Then he realizes, and his blood turns cold. "Oh no, this is very, very much not a good thing," he says.
Stefani stands at the top of the staircase, wearing a red suit of armor and wielding a large red axe. Johana stands at the bottom, Twisted Sister at her side. "Aren't you going to summon your Stand?" Johana asks.
"I already have," Stefani says.
She jumps down the stairs, axe held above her head, ready to bring it down on Johana. Johana shouts "ORA ORA ORA" as Twisted Sister unleashes a flurry of blows on the air in front of her, creating a gust of twisting wind that slams into Stefani and knocks her back.
As Stefani crashes to the ground, Johana feels bruises appear on her arms and legs. She doesn't have long to consider this, as Stefani sprints down the stairs and swings her axe at Johana's head. Johana ducks out of the way and uppercuts Stefani with Twisted Sister.
Johana feels like she's just been hit in the face by a brick, but for the life of her cannot figure out why. She stumbles back as Stefani raises her axe up for a downward strike.
Johana catches the axe by slamming both of Twisted Sister's hands on the side of the axe. Twisted Sister rips the axe from Stefani's hands as Johana kicks Stefani in the stomach. Johana feels a pain in her gut as she, Stefani, and Twisted Sister are all knocked back.
Johana catches her breath. She glances at Stefani, at her suit of red armor, and realizes how Stefani's Stand works. She glances at her own Stand, who is holding the axe like a baseball bat and flooding it with rotational energy.
"Don't!" Johana shouts. She's too late, Twisted Sister throws the axe at Stefani. The axe curves through the air and strikes Stefani in the back.
Johana feels a sharp pain in her back. She falls to her knees as blood drips from her shoulder. "Do you understand my Stand yet?" Stefani asks.
"That armor, it's your Stand, isn't it?" Johana says, clutching her shoulder.
"This armor, my Iron Maiden, is a perfect Stand for me. I have sworn to protect Stan from anyone who stands in the way of his revenge, and my Stand is the ultimate shield to protect him with. Unlike normal armor, Iron Maiden does not merely stop damage-"
"It redirects it."
"Yes."
If Stefani wasn't wearing a helmet, Johana would see her smile.
Stan Mathers runs through the museum, making his way to the fourth floor. If the trap in the third floor exhibit didn't kill Zeppeli, then he'll need time to set up a backup. A red sphere flies by his head and Julius Zeppeli pops out. He kicks Stan in the face.
"We just met, so you may not know this about me, but I dislike being shot," Julius says.
Stan stumbles back and places his hands on his now cracked nose. "You survived the firing squad," Stan says.
"Yes, I thought that much was obvious."
"Well, I wonder if you can survive this!" Stan reaches into his raincoat and pulls out a piece of paper. A fireball is painted on the sheet of paper.
A pillar of fire bursts from the paper, exploding down the hallway at Julius. Julius drops into one of his Beatles; it protects him from the flames, but the baseball sized orb is blasted back by the geyser of fire.
Julius emerges from his Beatle as Stan pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket. Two pieces of paper emerge from that one, and two more pieces emerge from each of them. The storm of paper increases exponentially as each piece of paper creates two more. In a few moments, hundreds of sheets of paper fill the small hallway. The remaining sparks of Stan's fire attack ignite a few pieces of paper and, before long, Julius is completely surrounded by flames.
Julius coughs, covers his mouth, and throws one of his Beatles up in the air. It hits a sprinkler and water rains down from the ceiling. "Sprinklers must have been stuck, that's why they didn't go off when he set the exhibit ablaze," Julius mutters.
As the fire begins to die down, the shadowy figure of Stan's Stand bursts out of the cloud of paper and smoke. It rips one of its brushes out of its arm and jabs at Julius. It hits him in the tie. Julius's tie slams into his chest, transforming into a 2D decal on his shirt.
Julius summons two spheres, the red one and the grey one, to his hands and throws them at Slim Shady. Slim Shady stabs red ball with a paintbrush, sealing it in a free falling piece of paper, and dodges the grey one by melting into the floor and becoming a drawing. The grey Beatle keeps flying through the air, heading straight for Stan Mathers. Stan pulls a piece of paper from the air, crumples it up, and pitches it at the grey sphere, knocking it off course.
Julius takes a deep breath. "You're stronger than I thought you'd be," he says.
"What, are you surprised that I'm not just rolling over and letting you kill me?" Stan snaps. "That's the difference between me and him, I'm strong enough to take care of myself."
"Difference between you and who?"
Stan grits his teeth. "You still don't know, do you?" he says. "Even after I showed you my motives in the exhibit, you still think I'm just a normal Stand User who wants to kill you because Woodstock told me to."
"Listen, as much as I enjoy cryptic riddles about a villain's true identity-"
"I'm not a villain."
"I've been shot, so could you skip to the part where you tell me who you are?"
"I don't owe you an explanation, bitch!" Stan reaches into his coat and grabs a piece of paper. Julius reaches for his holsters and grabs one of his Beatles. Like cowboys, the two draw their weapons.
Stan whips out a piece of paper showing a pile of knives. He returns the knives to their original state, sending two dozen blades flying through the air at Julius. Julius opens the purple sphere in his hand, releasing the captured machine gun. Julius opens fire.
A flurry of bullets strikes Stan in the chest. The knives soar through the air. At the last moment, Julius drops his gun and seals himself in a Beatle.
This time, Stan is prepared for Julius to dodge. Earlier, Stan flooded the hallway with paper to disguise Slim Shady's approach. By now, each of these pieces of paper have fallen to the ground, covering the hallway floor in paper. Pieces of paper showing a certain image that would have, if he noticed it, sent shivers down Julius's spine. As he falls backwards, Stan Mathers releases the land mines painted on the papers.
Julius jumps out of his sphere and hears a click as his foot lands on one of the mines. "Shit," Julius says.
"The mines that now cover the hallway between us are pressure sensitive," Stan says as he crawls to his feet, blood dripping down from his injured shoulder. "I would have gotten normal mines that explode when you step on them, but I figured giving you a few moments of fear before you die would be crueler. The second you take your foot off that mine, you die."
"Then I just have to avoid stepping off the mine."
"If only it was that easy."
Julius feels a sharp pain in his back as Stan's Stand stabs him with a paintbrush. Julius feels a pull as he is slowly sucked into the ground. He tries to keep standing with all of his might, but the pull is great. His legs, one injured and one busy holding down the landmine, strain as he fights against Stan's Stand.
Julius summons the jade colored sphere to his hand, intending to escape his fate as a painting by sealing himself in a Beatle. Slim Shady knocks the sphere out of his hand with a paintbrush; it crashes to the ground and turns into a drawing.
Julius tries to summon another Beatle to his hand; none appear. "You didn't notice, did you?" Stan says. "The one I knocked away with a piece of crumpled paper, the one you dropped to the ground when you released the machine gun, both of these were turned into paintings by my Slim Shady while you were focussed on me. Your Stand is gone, as is your only chance of escape. Now, you have a choice to make. A painful death as that land mine blows your body apart, or an eternity of agony as a drawing on the floor, unable to feel anything but pain?"
By now, the pull of the floor has taken its toll. Julius is bent over, his legs the only part of him still upright. His suit jacket and shoulders have completely merged with the ground. The rest of him, he suspects, will follow soon.
A strange tingling sensation washes over Julius as his back emerges from the ground. He immediately leans forward, returning to standing straight up. A young man rushes past him, avoiding the mines and charging for Stan Mathers.
It's Nero and his Stand, Viva La Vida. Stan panics at the sight of a new opponent and rips a massive piece of folded paper out of his raincoat. He unfolds it, turning it into a massive sheet covering most of the hallway, and releases its contents.
A flaming fighter jet flies out of the paper. Viva La Vida grabs it and slides back, digging its feet into the ground as it forces the jet to a stop.
Viva, Nero, and the jet stop right in front of Julius. Nero's muscles bulge as he uses all of his strength to hold the stopped jet off the ground. "Uncle Julius, would you mind providing me some assistance?" Nero says.
"Nero?" Julius shouts.
"Yes, that is my name. This jet is very heavy."
"I'm sorry, I can't do anything. My Stand is sealed away in the floor."
"Oh, is that all?" Viva La Vida stomps and its decaying magic flows through the floor. The green Beatle pops out and Julius summons it back to his hand. He throws it at the jet, sealing it away.
Nero sighs a sigh of relief. "Thank you, I do not know how much longer my arms could have held out," he says.
"Nero, you saved me. How exactly did you do that?" Julius says.
"I caught the large airplane."
"No, not that. Earlier, when I was turning into a painting, you saved me."
"Oh, that. I used Viva's decay power on you. To be perfectly honest, I did not know in advance it would counteract Stan Mathers's ability, but I saw no harm in trying." Nero looks at the other end of the hallway. "It seems Mr. Mathers escaped while we were dealing with his airplane."
Nero begins to run after Mathers. "Nero!" Julius shouts.
Nero stops. "Yes?" he asks.
"I'm, uh, standing on a landmine. I can't follow you."
"Oh, is that all?" Nero jabs the landmine with Viva La Vida. "I decayed the explosive booster, you should be able to move your foot now."
Julius winces and steps off the landmine. It doesn't explode. Nero quickly strikes all of the remaining landmines, clearing the hallway out. "I notice that you are bleeding, did Mr. Mathers injure you in your duel?" Nero asks.
"I'm fine, I've dealt with worse," Julius replies. He reaches down and picks up the machine gun. He the trigger and no bullets come out. "Figures, thing's out of ammo."
"Where did you get that weapon?" Nero asks.
"Mathers used it as part of a trap he lured me into earlier," Julius says. He sighs. "I underestimated Mathers, and now I'm paying the price. To be honest, I underestimated both of you."
"Oh?"
"Nero, you just saved my life, three different ways, in less than a minute. I was wrong to make you stay behind."
Nero bends down and places his finger on a trail of blood leading out of the hall. "This is Mathers's blood," he says. "If we follow this trail, it should lead us right to him."
"Lead the way."
To Be Continued In
Chapter 30, The Real Slim Shady, Part 4