"We want answers, Julius," Johana says. She sits on a couch in one of the bedrooms at Camellia's house. Her arms are bandaged, one of them bound to a splint. Nero and Kan sit next to her. Nero holds an icepack up to his bandage covered head. The trio stare at an injured Julius Zeppeli, who lies in a small bed.
"Lady Gaga went from being a minor distraction to the most dangerous foe we've fought in the span of ten minutes," Johana says. "And you knew exactly how to defeat her."
Julius doesn't say anything. "Uncle, if you know something about our enemy's transformation, I feel it is only fair to tell us," Nero says.
Julius sighs. He picks up his phone and begins dialing. "Joseph told me that he fought a creature like the one we fought, once," Julius says. "It's best if you hear it in his own words."
The dial tone ends and a deep old voice comes from the phone. "Julius!" Joseph Joestar says through the phone. "How is London? Are the children safe?"
"We are fine, Grandfather Joseph," Nero chimes in.
"Nero? Who all is there?" Grandpa Joe says.
"Myself, Nero, some girl that has been following us around, and Johana," Julius says.
The room is silent for a moment. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Johana?" Grandpa Joe says. "Of course, if I'd had my way, it would have been much shorter."
"And much longer if I'd had mine," Johana says. "Look, I don't want to reconnect or anything like that. We're only calling you so we can get answers on a Stand User we fought."
"You always did have your father's stubbornness," Grandpa Joe says.
"How unfortunate," Johana says. "If I remember correctly, that was what got him killed."
Julius sighs and rubs his temples. "Focus, you cretins," he says.
"Right. Just thought I'd catch up with my granddaughter, that's all," Grandpa Joe says. "You said you needed information about a Stand User. Do you have a name, or an approximation of their powers?"
"Georgina Germanotta, she had an ability that reflected injuries back on her attacker, but that isn't the point," Julius says. "Halfway through the fight, she became stronger, faster, and nearly unstoppable. We found a corpse drained of blood and a stone mask near the battlefield."
Grandpa Joe is quiet for a moment. "This mask, what did it look like?" he whispers.
"Let's see," Kan says as she pulls the mask out of her jacket. "It's made of grey stone. It has eyeholes, a mouth with these fang things, this weird hair curl hole-thingy on the top. I think you might be able to fit a gem in there or something-"
"You kept it?" Julius snaps.
"Yeah? It's a cool stone vampire mask. If your mad about me takeing it from the museum, I can give it back-"
"Destroy it at once!" Julius shouts. "That thing is cursed. This mask transformed Germanotta into that...creature that almost killed the four of us."
"Okay, jeez, I'll get rid of it," Kan says.
Nero picks up the phone. "Grandfather Joseph, I notice that you have become silent," he says.
"I thought I destroyed them all," Grandpa Joe whispers.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure this one is destroyed as well," Johana says.
"No, you don't understand. That mask is more dangerous than the arrow or Woodstock's Stand Users. If Stroheim managed to smuggle one of them out of Mexico, then we can be almost certain that there are multiple masks out there. In my experience, the strings of fate pull these kinds of things together. Germanotta will not be the last vampire you fight."
"Vampire?" Johana asks. "You can't be serious."
"All legends come from somewhere, Johana," Grandpa Joe says. "Tell me, how did you kill the vampire?"
"Hamon," Johana says. "It turned her to dust."
"As I expected. The specialized breathing of Hamon pulls sunlight out of the air so your body can use it as energy. The martial art was created specifically for the fighting of vampires. That's why I made sure you kids learned Hamon as children, even though I knew you'd one day develope Stands, because I feared you would one day have to face one of these beasts."
"This is a lot to process, Joseph," Johana says.
"You said the name Stroheim," Nero says. "One of the Stand Users Woodstock gathered is named Kaiser Stroheim."
"Kaiser is in London?" Grandpa Joe shouts. "If he's there, then you need to leave as soon as possible."
"Grandfather, I would much prefer if you explained what is happening to us," Nero says. "You have told us of the danger, but not how you know of it or how to defend ourselves."
Grandpa Joe sighs. "Fine, I'll start at the beginning," he says. "It happened when I was just a boy..."
The year is 1939. A black Ford Deluxe Convertible drives through the desert sands of Southern Mexico. Three men and one boy sit in the car. The driver is a man in forties with straight blonde hair and a black mustache. He wears a blue jacket and a green cap. A white feather pokes out from under his cap, resting on his ear. Beads of sweat drip down from his forehead. The man next to him picks up a red scarf, a gift from his wife, and wipes away some of the driver's sweat. "Thank you," the driver says, in a thick Italian accent.
The man sitting next to him is a bit younger. He wears a green military outfit. A pilot's cap and goggles cover his dark hair. Unlike his companions, he isn't sweating. This is likely due to the bag of ice cubes sitting in his arms.
The pilot taps his fingers on his seat as he sings a new Bob Hope song. "Thanks for the memory, of sentimental verse," he sings. "Nothing in my purse. And chuckles-"
"Could you please stop singing?" the older man in the back of the convertible says. He's by far the oldest of the three men, with white hair and a face full of wrinkles. He wears a dark violet suit and a black bowler hat.
"I'd love to stop singing, uncle," the pilot says. "But, in case you forgot, we are in Mexico. The only songs I can find on the radio are in Spanish, a language none of us speak. Besides, it's not like I'm bothering anyone. Mario, am I bothering you?"
The driver, Mario, shakes his head. "I have no problem with your singing, Jorge," he says.
The pilot, Jorge, smiles. He looks back over his seat. "Am I bothering you with my singing, Joey?" he asks.
A young boy, twelve years old, sits in the back of the convertible, reading a comic book. He wears a white shirt with brown suspenders and a red bowtie. "Your singing doesn't bother me, pop," he says.
"See, no one is bothered by my singing," Jorge says. "And Cuban rum and towels from the very best hotels-"
The old man in the back hits Jorge in the head with his cane. "You're bothering me," he says.
Mario stops the car. "Why are we stopping?" Jorge asks.
Mario points off into the distance, at a group of green trucks sitting on the road. "Military vehicles," he says. "And not friendly ones."
Jorge pulls out a telescope and looks at the trucks in the distance. "That's an iron cross," he says. "What are the Nazi's doing in Mexico?"
"I assume they're here for the same reason we are," Mario says. "Should we find another route?"
"No, we can take them," Jorge says. He glances back at the old man. "Keep an eye on Joey if anything bad happens, okay?"
"Of course," the old man says.
The car drives up to the blockade. An angry German man walks up and begins shouting at Jorge. "Yeah, I don't really speak German," he says. "You wouldn't happen to speak English, would you?" The German soldier shouts some more German. "No, I guess you don't. Which isn't surprising, now that I think about it, consider the fact that you're a German man in Mexico."
Mario leans over. "Parli Italiano?" he asks.
"Sì," the German says.
"What did you say to him?" Jorge whispers.
"I asked him if he spoke Italian," Mario says.
"What did he say?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that's good."
The German barks at Mario in Italian. "What did he say?" Jorge asks.
"He asked us what we're doing here," Mario replies.
"Say we're here to do his mother."
"I'm not saying that!" Mario yells.
"If your father were here, I'm sure he would be so proud," the old man says.
The soldier repeats the question. Mario looks at him and pauses for a moment. He says something in Italian that pisses the soldier off. The soldier points his gun at Mario.
"What did you say?" Jorge asks.
"I panicked and couldn't think of a good lie, so I told him your joke," Mario says.
"Well, that was dumb."
"I don't do well under pressure."
The soldier shouts something and Mario puts his hands over his head. "What did he say?" Jorge asks.
"He told us to put our hands above our heads," Mario replies.
Joey and the old man both put their hands over their heads. Jorge refuses. The German man yells in German and a few more soldiers come over. All of them point their guns at Jorge.
"Jorge, put your hands over your head!" Mario shouts.
"I don't have to listen to these guys. I'm British, they're German, and we're in Mexico," he says.
The German man yells some more and Jorge raises his hands. "Old man, on the count of three, I'm going to do something dangerous," he says.
"I am incredibly surprised," the old man says dryly.
"When I give the signal, grab Joeseph and get him as far from these guys as possible, okay?"
The old man sighs. "You need not worry about the boy," he says.
More soldiers run over and point their guns at Jorge. "Okay, one, two, three!" Jorge shouts before swinging at the soldiers. They open fire.
In an instant, Joey is thirty meters behind the car. The old man sits next to him on the ground, taking deep breaths and clutching his chest. "Are you okay?" the old man asks.
"I'm good," Joey says.
He looks at the car. Mario Zeppeli and his father are both fine. A large wall of ice has appeared next to the car. The barrels of the Nazi soldiers' guns are frozen in place. Despite their frantic pulling of their triggers, no bullets erupt from the gun barrels.
A figure in a thick black cloak floats next to Jorge. Its face is covered by aviator goggles and a gas mask. Its fingers are made out of sharpened icicles. This figure is Black Ice, Stand of Jorge Joestar.
"I've got these ones frozen, but there are probably more in the back," Jorge says.
"On it," Mario says. He raises his arms and grey wires shoot out from his fingertips. They grab the top of the ice wall and pull him on top. Maria spots a few Nazis rushing over and fires his wires at them. The wires wrap around their guns and Mario pulls them back, ripping the guns away.
Mario jumps off the ice wall, pulling himself towards the German Trucks with his wires. The wall collapses and Jorge's Stand rushes forward, slashing the Nazis with its icicle claws.
Mario lands and ties a dozen Nazis up with his wires. He squeezes his fists and the wires tighten, shredding the soldiers to bits. The last remaining soldier charges at Mario with a knife; an icicle flies through the air and strikes him in the side of the head, stopping him dead in his tracks.
Joseph helps the old man walk back to the blockade. "Did you win?" Joseph asks.
Jorge looks around the corpse-strewn battlefield. "Yeah, I'd say we won," he says. "How's your heart, old man?"
"It could be better, but I'll live," he says.
"Thank you for getting Joseph out of there. I don't know what I'd do without you, Uncle Dio."
To Be Continued In
Chapter 33: Origins of the Stone Mask, Part 2
Name: Black Ice
Dub Name: Blizzard
User: George "Jorge" Joestar Jr.
Namesake: "Black Ice" (AC/DC Song)
Appearance: A pilot wearing a thick black coat, aviator goggles, and a gas mask. Black Ice's fingers are made out of icicles.
Abilities: Black Ice can rapidly lower the temperature in the surrounding area, allowing Jorge to ice walls, snow, and icicles. In addition, Black Ice's claws make it a deadly close-range combatant.
Stats: Power-A, Speed-B, Range: D, Durability-D, Precision-E, Potential-C