Jorge sets Dio down at a table outside a bar. "Thank you," Dio says.
"Take it easy, old man. I'll go get us something to drink," Jorge says before walking off.
Mario and Joseph are sat at the table next to Dio. Mario's shirt is unbuttoned, revealing a large bruise on his chest. He looks at Dio's tired eyes and labored breathing. "How long did you freeze time?" he asks.
"Three seconds," Dio says.
"You said it was only safe to do it for one second," Joey says.
"I know what I said. I decided being shot in the head was more unsafe," Dio snaps. He sighs. "In my prime, I could hold time frozen for five seconds with ease. Now, I struggle to use my Stand at all. The irony that I have been stripped of my strength by the passage of time has not been lost on me."
Jorge sets down a pitcher of water and a bucket of ice on the table. Mario grabs an ice cube and places it on his chest. "I talked to some of the locals. Apparently, the Nazis showed up a week ago and set up camp near the temple. They've been kidnapping locals and dragging them to the temple for experiments," Jorge says. "The people they take away don't come back."
"Why are they doing experiments here?" Mario asks.
"Because they're Nazis and they're awful."
"No, I know that. But they can do human experiments in their own country. They do human experiments in their own country, horrific ones. Why would they come all the way to Mexico to experiment on civilians?"
"It has to be related to the artifacts Dire and Straizo found," Dio says.
"Do you think they found a Stand Arrow?" Jorge asks.
"Or something even worse," Mario says.
"What is worse than a Stand Arrow?" Jorge says.
Mario shrugs. "I do not know, but I have a bad feeling about that temple," he says.
"Well, no shit. It's an ancient Aztec temple filled with terrifying artifacts and Nazis," Jorge says. "We'll deal with it later. You two need to rest."
"We'll go after sunset. The cover of night will make infiltration easier," Dio says.
The four of them sit in a small room at the local inn. Dio lies on the bed, eyes closed in sleep. Jorge bounces a ball against a wall again and again, bored out of his mind. Mario stands on the balcony, holding a cigarette. Joey sits on a dresser reading his comic book.
Joey walks off to the restroom. As the door closes behind him, Dio glances over at his nephew. "George, I have a question," he says.
"Shoot," Jorge says.
"Why did you bring the boy along with us?"
Jorge continues throwing the ball against the wall. "I'm worried about him," he says. "He's so quiet, so shy, so timid. He doesn't have friends at school. Most days, he just sits at home, his nose buried in a comic book. I worry that Lisa and I coddled him too much. Or didn't coddle him enough. I don't know."
Dio sighs. "You're worrying too much," he says. "Joseph is simply introverted. Erina worried about you in much the same way, when you were his age."
"Yeah, and look how I turned out," Jorge says with a halfhearted smile. "You know, he hasn't developed a Stand yet. I developed one when I was his age."
"You developed a Stand when your father died of cancer and you were beaten half to death in a street brawl," Dio says. "Besides, the idea of children inheriting Stands is still a new concept to the Foundation. We were shocked when Mario was born with one."
"Maybe you're right," Jorge says. "You know, traveling the world with you as a kid, exploring ancient ruins, fighting evil, it really helped me grow into the person I am today. I think that's why I brought Joseph along, to try and give him some of the same experiences I had."
"I'd like to point out the fact that I never made you fight armed soldiers as a child," Dio says.
"In my defence, I didn't know the Nazis were going to be here. I thought we were just going to explore some cool ruins with Marzie's monk friends."
Jorge reaches for the ball and it slips through his fingers, landing on his face. He sighs and swats the ball away. He glances over at the door and sees that it is open. Joseph Joestar stands on the other side of the doorway, staring down at his father.
"Uh, hey there, sport. How was the bathroom?" Jorge asks. "Sorry, that was a really weird thing to say. I'm going to go talk to Marzie for a bit now."
Dio sighs as Jorge skitters out of the room. He glances at young Joseph Joestar. "Your father is an imbecile," he says.
"I'm well aware," Joey replies.
Mario Zeppeli holds the cigarette between his ring and pinky fingers. He takes in a deep breath and snaps. The cigarette ignites. Mario doesn't move it to his mouth; instead, he just stares at the cigarette, watching as the ash flutters down onto the balcony.
"Neat trick," Jorge says, closing the door behind him. "Lighting it without a match, wish I could do that."
"I could teach you," Mario says.
"No, I'm fine," Jorge says. "But, the fact that you could teach me how to do your trick is what I want to talk to you about. Lighting that cigarette, you didn't do that with your Stand, did you? You used that martial arts thingy Dire taught you."
"Sendo Hamon," Mario says.
"Yeah, that thing," Jorge says. More ash flutters down from Mario's cigarette. "You've been stronger, since you trained with those monks. I can tell. I used to be able to kick your ass, no problem, but now I think you may be a bit stronger than me."
"Perhaps," Mario says.
"How does it work?"
Mario sighs and looks up at the midday sky. "All life on earth is fed by the sun. The plants take it in so they may grow, the herbivores eat the plants so they may run, the carnivores eat the herbivores so they may hunt, the fungi eat the carnivores so they may spread. Everything comes from the sun," Mario says. "The art of Sendo Hamon teaches us how to extract the energy of the sun into our body, making us stronger, quicker, and capable of healing faster. The Sendo Monks created Hamon as a way to fight off creatures of the night that hunted mankind in prehistoric times. Of course, those creatures are all dead now.
"The guys that we're here to find, the ones who taught you this stuff, are they Stand Users?" Jorge asks.
"No," Mario replies.
"But they are strong, right?"
"Incredibly. Even with my Razor's Edge, I was unable to land a single blow on Master Dire when we met."
"And this Hamon stuff, anyone can learn it?"
"With enough time, yes," Mario says. "Jorge, would you like me to teach you the art of Hamon?"
"I want you to teach Joey," Jorge says.
"I understand," Mario says. Ash falls from the cigarette in his hand. "It will take time, of course. I'm not an experienced teacher."
"That's fine."
"I'll begin his training tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, Marzie, you're a great guy," Jorge says with a handshake. He turns to walk away but stops, glancing back at the cigarette. "I gotta ask, what's with the cigarette?"
"I don't smoke anymore, it interferes with my breathing. But I still light them. I like to watch the ashes fall," Mario says.
"Why?"
"That's a good question," Mario says. He doesn't say anything else after that.
"Okay, I'm gonna ignore your cryptic weirdness," Jorge says. "Can I have it, because I'll actually smoke it?"
Mario tosses the cigarette to Jorge. It slips through Jorge's fingers and lands on the rug beneath his feet, setting it ablaze. "Shit!" Jorge says as he stomps on the rug. He summons his Stand and freezes the balcony.
Mario laughs. "Never change, my friend," he says.
Jorge, Mario, and Dio walk through the blue sands of the moonlit desert. Joseph is hiding back at the hotel. They spot a large temple in the distance. The trees that hid it have been cut down, a large facility built in their place. A chain-link fence surrounds the perimeter of the temple and spotlights shine on its steps.
"I'd say we're in the right place," Jorge says.
"This camp is certain to be swarming with guards," Dio says. "We need a plan to get in without getting shot."
Jorge stares at the gate of the facility. An unmarked jeep drives up to the gate and it slides open. The jeep drives away and the gate closes behind it.
"Okay, I have a plan," Jorge says.
The truck drives a mile into the desert. It stops at the edge of a large, naturally occurring pit. The soldiers driving the truck step out and gag.
One of them says something in German that roughly translates to I hate this place, it smells terrible.
The other Nazi coughs and covers his mouth. He says something that roughly translates to let's just get this over with so we can go home.
They walk to the back of the truck and pull out a body by its ankles. The corpse is still slightly warm, but its joints are stiff. Fortunately, the blood drained corpse isn't very heavy.
The Nazis toss the body into the pit and walk back to their jeep. One of them tries to open the door. It won't open for some reason. He turns back to his partner to complain, but his partner is gone.
"Hermann?" he says quietly.
A fist that he cannot see strikes him in the side of the head and he falls to the ground. His attacker, an old man, pokes him with a cane. The Nazi doesn't react and the old man smiles, satisfied.
Mario crawls out from underneath the car. Thin wires run from his hands. He tugs on them, pulling a tied up Nazi out from under the car.
Jorge jumps down from the cars roof and begins undressing one of the Nazis. "There are only two uniforms, so you'll have to hide in the back, old man," he says to Dio.
"What do you think they were doing out here?" Mario asks
"Looked like they were disposing of a body," Jorge says. "Probably one of their experiment victims."
Mario walks up to the pit and gasps. "What?" Jorge says as he walks up next to him.
"Fuck," Jorge says as he reaches the edge of the pit.
Bodies, hundreds of dead bodies, lie in the pit. Some mutilated, some burned, some covered in slash marks and drained of blood. Their features are indistinct under the moonlight but their sprawled limbs and dark faces stained with blood are clear.
None of the three men says anything for several moments. "Come on, let's get out of here," Jorge says as he walks back to the jeep.
Dio follows, but Mario stays at the edge of the mass grave. He spots something interesting and jumps down into the pit.
"The fuck are you doing, Marzie?" Jorge shouts.
Mario walks over to a pair of large bodies sitting in the center of the pit, one with flat blonde hair and one with long black hair. Both of the bodies wear golden robes. The one with the long black hair wears a silver necklace containing a red jewel.
Wires stretch from Mario's hand and wrap around the jewel, pulling it back to his hand. Mario climbs out of the pit. "Masters Dire and Straizo are dead," he says.
"Are you sure?" Jorge asks.
Mario nods. "Yes, I am," he whispers.
Jorge walks back to the jeep and pulls open its door. "Fuck it, let's go kill some Nazis," he says.
