As much as I want to say something to excuse another LONG wait for a chapter. There really isn't one. Just another horribly chink in the writing process. I'm very sorry for the wait. I'm doing my best to shorten these but it's never easy. Sorry especially to those really wanting to power through this story. I'm going to give you guys my all to update on a better schedule. Enjoy this chapter though! More to come!
The very next morning, once again the sun towered brightly over Bodou City, brightening the dreary streets of the lower part of the town. An occurrence on any other day that would be seen as a blessing to the folk but not this day, a grim cloud was a looming dread in the air behind the sudden warmth of the morning rays.
The blinds in Johanne's bedroom barely folded shut to keep out the beams, eventually, they managed to creep their way up enough to cross his eye, still asleep, and burn into it long enough to wake up.
A long yawn escaped Johanne's lips as he rose from his bed with a stretch but he was cut off by a soft hand swatting him in the face to interrupt him with a soft grumble.
His hair, hardly seen this way, was taken out of the ponytail and draped over his face and bare shoulders, hiding a smile as he looked over to see a barely dressed Kohana rolling over to avoid the sunlight and silencing him. A small snicker escaped his lips then a soft whisper, "Sorry."
He moved to the edge of his bed to retrieve his shorts and a brush from his dresser. Leaving his room, Johanne released another yawn and crossed his living room to see almost everyone sitting in the living room quietly talking until he passed by.
Joanne stopped in his tracks, turning a little red in the face at being caught this exposed in front of his friends, "Little early for a group meeting, Dontcha think? Hehe…"
There wasn't a single response in the room for a good while until Jotaro tipped his hat forward to cover his face and spoke, "I think you'd want to sit down. We have a very pressing matter to discuss."
Joanne approached the group with his hand behind his head and a half-grin, "Where's the fire, man? Is everything alright? I'm sure you'd rather me get dressed and-"
Edward stepped forward, a slow limp from a single crutch he used, his recovery from the drug still affecting his movement. Reaching into his jacket, He placed the arrow on the table and a very bloodied cloth beside it without a word. His lip shook and quivered as he stumbled back.
"Wait… is that what we were looking for? Where the hell did we get that?" Johanne approached the table cautiously and examined it from a distance.
"We acquired the arrow last night. Through Kaito's assistance…" The room got colder after that statement from Jotaro. Edward's head hung lower, Kiba turned away to Yume and Jesse was fuming with anger.
"Kaito? Jeez, that guy is always a mystery. Where is he? I need to thank him. He's done a lot for us. I know he doesn't seem like a party type of dude but I'm sure with some convincing-" As Johanne was about to turn and see if he was going to be snuck upon. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
Turning his body around to see Jotaro staring him down very sternly but there was a trickle of pain in him. Johanne took a minute to look back at the table at the bloodied cloth on the table, "W-wait… Isn't that…?"
Jotaro nodded slowly to Johanne while his hand was slowly retrieved. The young boy turned to the table and dropped to his knees, shaking and gasping softly, "D-damnit…"
Avelessi moved closer to place his arm over Johanne's back to comfort him, "It's alright… you can-"
Johanne let out a powerful wail and slammed both of his forearms into the floor, breaking it tears, "GOD DAMNIT!"
Everyone's eyes registered to Johanne in his turmoil state. Yume clung to Kiba's side to hide from the sight. Another set of footsteps stormed down the hall and into the living room. Everyone was rather shocked to see Kohana rushing in wearing only one of Johanne's large t-shirts and without a moment's hesitation took his side.
Kiba and Jesse glanced at one another then back to Kiba with the utmost confused expressions but didn't break the silence or their friend's grieving. The room continued this way for around 10 minutes until they all took places on the couches to calm down.
Jotaro was sitting with his leg crossed over the other and his hat tipped forward. His lips pursed shut but his posture broke to lean forward and take the initiative to break the mood in the room by grabbing the arrow and holding it up. "Listen close. Our time here is almost done before the Speedwagon Foundation and I take our leave. But I'm sure there are several uncertainties that I want to clear up. These bastards had this arrow for whoever knows how long. So we need to finish checking the city for laboratories and possible test subjects. We don't know if they have another arrow."
"Yeah well, our enemy isn't exactly worried about that. Check this out. " Kiba put his phone down on his lap and picked up the T.V. remote. A few clicks later, there was a large news crowd and an empty podium.
'Where is he!?' 'Will he not address the issue at hand!?' 'We need some sort of statement!'
Questions flew out of the televisions a mile a minute, everyone in the living was waiting with anticipation. Kohana eventually spoke up from the clung position on Johanne's arm. "What's the big deal anyway? That's almost double the crowd and news heads than when I came back to town. It's insane."
Kiba scoffed and kicked back against the couch with his hand rested against his cheek, "You'll never believe it. The big man himself is coming out of hiding. Apparently, this is going to be the Mayor's first official public appearance since winning the election without showing himself."
The entire room became engrossed and anxious. Johanne's eyes darted up to the T.V. with a rain of harsh emotion emitting from his very glare. The crowd on the television grew barely as restless as our group was before a solid white and gold limo pulled up behind the stage. The cameras flashed off the windows with haste before the door was pulled open by one of the men dressed in black.
Out of the shadows of the vehicle came a man dressed in a white and red business suit with gold and red flame patterns stitched to the bases, a large blistering red eye in the center of his back, his tie a very peculiar set of ornaments of six thin coiled chains going around the tie. Spotless, fresh dress shoes clicked across the wood of the stage as the man took off a pair of solid black sunglasses and stared out at the crowd in silence. The man's hair matched his outside, very long, straight, flowing silvery-white hair with a couple of long red highlight streaks running from base to roots. The man's appearance was nothing like anyone expected him to be, very sleek yet ready for the challenge ahead of him without a trickle of doubt in his step. He was truly a diabolic machine ready for the cruelty that is the path of a conqueror.
The man tapped the microphone and leaned into it, "My beloved citizens of Bodou City. This is your diligent mayor, Akuma Ishita. Founder of Proprietor for Akuma Domestic Trade and Pharmaceuticals. I must say it is a pleasure to come forward and see you all in person. I could not simply sit by and leave my people in the dark after this terrible chain of events lately in our great city. This may be your first time laying eyes upon me in this light but in my tower-" He turned around to point to the very large building in Upper Bodou that was his company's office and city hall. "I've watched you all suffer too long. My advisors and I are truly… broken to hear the numerous losses and struggles in civil service to keep it all together. But I will assure you. Justice has arrived in the form of myself and the work to come to Bodou. I will not stand idly by and see my work torn apart by RATS!" His fist slammed into the podium.
Back to Johanne's living room, Yume jumped back at the slam and hid her face in Kiba's jacket while tears rolled down her cheeks. Fear setting in as the memories of that voice filled her head. Kiba reached around to comfort the girl.
Akuma seemed to get rather restless after the last statement, his head dropped and his fingers that were covered in rings clenched the podium, "We all know where these incidents come from. I cannot simply abandon a citizen, nor an entire portion but we all know where to look when hoodlums arise!"
He took a long drawn out breath, his movements were swift and powerful, as if a dictator calling for the troops there wasn't an averted eye in the crowd, "We can't let this go. Someone must pay and we are spending countless seconds hunting these vermin. Just because we all can't have the finer earned things in life. It does not mean we should live in fear!"
The crowd ate his words up like candy and raved at his madman's suggestions, they were enthralled by the idea of blaming others. The entire room grew uneased. Edward, Avelessi, Kiba, and especially Johanne grew anxious as the speech went on.
Akuma cleared his throat and adjusted the sunglasses to a place around his collar. Another deep sigh escaped his lips as he brushed some of his long hair out of his eyes and stared dead into one of the cameras. " Forensics says we managed to recover one of these… terrorist's bodies in the fire. Justice was swiftly done to him karmically if you will. I know he wasn't alone. And we will take care of you. One. At. A. Time. If we have to."
An obvious targeted statement for our group was the fuel to the fire he wanted and it was well-received. Akuma continued, "Furthermore, the plant. I know many are going to be without active resources for some time and we plan to get to work immediately. As soon as the police investigation is closed, we will be stripping money from unneeded places… to fund our repairs and get us back and running like a machine. We are using our time wisely to answer all complaints -"
The broadcast was brought to a screeching halt as the TV remote crashed through the screen. Everyone turned their eyes to see an infuriated Johanne shaking in his very skin and hyperventilating, "He wants a war, right? He wants to take more from us than he already has. Fine. I guess we've been too soft."
Immediately Johanne turned away from the group and hurried to grab his jacket off the edge of the couch and rushed out the door.
"Yare, yare… This kid has a fire like no other building up. I suppose I'll step in again-" Metok had moved forward from behind the couch and held Jotaro back.
"Take another look, my friend. You may want to leave this one to the professionals." Metok held his finger out. Jotaro's eyes perked open to see that Jesse, Kiba, Yume, Avelessi, and Kohana were all gone.
"Hmm. I suppose Star Platinum couldn't even have kept up with how fast this room cleared. I'll mind my own business for now. The kid does remind me of myself, I won't lie. An insatiable determination with brewing anger over this long ordeal." Jotaro tipped his hat forward with a grin, his worries for the boy drifting. "And a damn good crew behind him."
The door once again creaked open, this time the eyes were shifted to see Edward heading out the door without a turn back, "Hey. I'll be back after a while… I could use some air as well."
Metok walked around the couch, his hands tucked into the long brown robes around his rippling chest with a gentle tap again some large beads that dangle off the cloth, "Quite a shame I would say Mr. Kujo. All of them have trouble in their hearts. This man is truly a devil in every sense of the word."
Meanwhile, our group of youngsters managed to clear a good distance away from the house. Johanne specifically was ahead of the group and making a horrible scene of himself.
"Hey bro! You gotta calm down! Hey!" Kiba held onto Yume on his back as he tried to keep up with Johanne with a light jog but couldn't catch his attention.
Johanne's gaze was forward as he approached the bridge leading into Upper Bodou, his mood far from elevation, "Din uud tydelige jaevel! Syg rive ham fra hinanden! Ill slut ham!"
Jesse managed to catch up with a soft pant escaping his lips, dragging Avelessi behind him by his pant leg, a scratch of his frilled up hair later he spoke up, "What in the everlasting hell did he just say?"
Kiba shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest, walking backward beside the group, "Hell if I know. If he gets super pissed He starts to go off in Danish. It's fuckin' weird. Look, man. I know I'm usually the one needing you to bail me out of stupid shit but let's take a minute here."
Johanne finally came to a rest at an overpass in Upper Bodou that led away from City Hall. He held both of his hands against the rail and watched down at the cars as they all poured out into the city. "It's not fair. Kaito didn't hesitate to jump into action! He gave it all up for the mission! And we just- we just-!"
"We just what…?" Kohana could be heard in the very back of the crowd. Everyone turned around silently to see that she was bashfully toying with her hair and began to turn away. "We spent a magical night together... Something that meant a lot to both of us. I know you have so much on your mind. So much that I couldn't possibly relate to… But it isn't fair to the rest of us to want to throw it all away on a suicide mission."
Jesse stepped forward dropping Avelessi at Johanne's feet and crossed his arms, "That's right asshole. We all put everything into this dream you've put together. I know it's angering. More than anything."
Johanne's expression of anger started to fade as he looked at his loved ones, the way their leader was reacting to this heavy loss was an embarrassment to his reputation.
"Goodness. Dear friend, if you'll give me your ear for a moment. You know I know better than most. What loss can do to the heart. So. It's times like this, you need to try harder." His little blue-haired friend bumped his chest over his heart with a lollipop.
"What a joke… I'm sorry everyone. I just flew off the handle for a moment. The way he talked about everyone. The way he insulted Kaito. I almost did something really stupid there." Johanne unwrapped the lollipop that was given to him and popped it into his mouth.
"And look where that would have left your squadron. High and dry. Not much of a team player if you ask me. Took you long enough to snap back into it." Another voice chimed into their conversation, it was different, very awkward.
Johanne turned his back to a man drinking coffee. It was another one of those men dressed in the black suits that worked under Akuma. Johanne snapped immediately into action at the realization and tackled the man to the railing with M.C.R. holding him down. "Who the hell do you think you are walking up to us like that!?"
On the other side of town.
Some time had passed since the dismissal of their group meeting and the ending of Akuma's press conference. The kids had taken their own ways away from the home to deal with the upcoming issue.
Edward stumbled down the streets with his coat flowing through the wind and his crutch tapping away at the stone. His head hangs over and only sighs escaping his lips.
Almost instinctively walking for a good hour, Edward finally made his way to the old grounds that He used to work and made his way to a bench. "At least it was nice of Megumi to take care of the children while I took a day off.
The wind collected around him as he stared into the cloudy sky, his mind wandering until his eyes began to shut, "You crazy son of a bitch… What gave you the right to give your life up like that? I suppose you thought you were more than enough to handle it. Don't worry. My friend."
"Heh Don't worry about what? Seems like you have it all figured out. A fine place for a nap too." There was a young mysterious voice coming from behind the bench. Edward's entire being froze and his eyes flashed open but didn't turn. He knew exactly who it was.
"Holy cow, Eddie! Don't be so cold. You were talking jus' talkin' about friends and you leave us hanging'? That's cold." Edward almost choked on the air he tried to inhale, his entire being was in utter shock waiting for the footsteps to stop.
Upon lowering his head he saw two figures before him, both individuals that Edward didn't want to see at this exact time after losing one of their stronger allies.
The first man that spoke was a rather slender but toned out younger man with a long coat hanging off his shoulders and back, almost like a cape if you will. He sported a business casual dress shirt with half the buttons undone, covered in large Zs stitched into the shirt in a sequential pattern getting smaller as they went down and a loosened tie around his neck. He had a fairly short black and bright blue hair that was cut off at the coat he wore, topped with a very peculiarly oversized sleeping cap, very baggy pants, and floral kabuki sandals.
The second man was just as strange and off-putting. Very large and muscular in stature. He sported a very thin blood red tank top covered by a bulky leather biker and an assorted bullet belt across his chest filled with cigars, bulky green camo pants, jet black sunglasses, combat boots, and a very oddly rabid looking blonde mullet and short beard combo.
Edward finally gained his composure and turned back to them, starting with the smaller looking gentleman, "It can't be good news seeing you in person like this… Jon Bovi!"
The larger man stepped forward with an obvious cockiness in his step, it was harshly boastful because he spared no time grabbing Edward by the shirt and tugging him up, "And you forget about me again!? Here I was about to buy you a beer for old time's sake. Fuckin' punk." Proceeding to toss Edward back to the bench and taking a seat beside him.
"M-Matt Booker… Both of you. What do you want from me?" Edward's eyes darted around the area, the bench, the ground, the passing by people, anything he could find to try and get out of this dangerous situation. He was snapped back for a moment by Jon sitting on the other side of him.
With a deep sigh, Jon pushed his hair out of his eyes and rested back against the bench with a soft giggle, "You know it really has been so long. Sadly we don't have Barlem anymore. Nor the Doctor. Nor… Kaito. The Boss wasn't too happy with all the restaffing that needed to be done. So, he figured he would probably want to nip that problem in the bud. Really fast. Get me?"
"So you're aware of what's been going on. I have no shame in the decisions I've made over these last few months. If you've come for what I think you have. Do what you must." Edward responded with as much pride as he could, struggling to fold his eyes shut as hard as he could.
Matt let out a hardy laugh as he pulled one of the cigars from his chest and sparked it with a lighter he got from the jacket pocket, "That's some balls right there. Kickass and don't bother taking names. I respect that. But we got two options for you and a warning."
"What do you mean by that? This isn't the usual policy for traitors." Edward sank even further into the void of unease. He had limited options so listening was the alternative right now.
Jon chimed into the conversation in a sluggish tone. "You see man. The boss still believes in you. That you aren't beyond redemption. You've lost one of your main ties to this little… crusade. Why not come back to the winning side? It would surely be a pain in the butt to have to kill ya, Edward. I'd rather jam out to my tunes."
Edward grew enraged at the mere mention of this proposition. How easily they disposed of Kaito's relevance, "And the other option is to go down with the ship I suppose."
Matt slapped his knee and chuckled again blowing some of his cigar smoke into Edward's face. "Damn right baby! I don't want to have to go medieval on your ass. So I would make the better choice here."
Both of them rose from the park bench and turned away from Edward to walk away. Edward pushed himself to his feet with somewhat of a struggle and asked aggressively, "And the warning!?"
The two men stopped for a moment and turned their heads only slightly, but Jon spoke up, "Or we'll be taking care of you. We're here to stay for a while. And we don't play fair. I'm sure you know that. You and Kaito were the same as us at one point. Ja ne."
Edward stood in the middle of the path to the bench in disbelief, his heart almost pounding out of his chest. He took hold of the crutch that laid against the bench and shuffled off in the opposite direction of the men.
Meanwhile were we left off with the kids on the other side of town.
Johanne pinned the man to the bar harder, almost threatening to toss him over. Avelessi and Jesse stepped to his sides as well for assistance.
"What the hell are you doing here and why are you following us!? Looking for a fight!?" Johanne pressed on with his interrogation as he shook the man down, the coffee tossed over the rail.
"Ahhh shit and here I spent 7 bucks on that over at Megumi's… What a fuckin' shame." The voice from the man suddenly changed, it was a lot more familiar this time around which raised suspicion in Johanne and the boys.
"W-what? Wait, wait. Over at Megumi's place? What were you doing there!? She banned you assholes from that place. Something ain't right here. Did you do something to Senpai!?" Johanne raised an eye to the man, hoping the line of questions would brush aside this shroud of confusion
The man held his hands up quickly as if in a surrendering manner and took a breath, "Sheesh. Nice to know I taught you to be about your business." The man reached up with both hands and pulled off a black bowl cut wig to short brown hair and the sunglasses over his eyes to reveal it was Noboru, Johanne's father.
"W-what the fuck? Dad, what are you doing? Why are you dressed like that man? I almost sent you to an early grave man!?" Johanne took a deep sigh, calling off his Stand and letting his Father regain his balance.
"Mr. Kamijou Sir. What could you be doing dressed like that? Surely you are aware of our dangerous history with those men." Avelessi chimed in as well, walking up to help him fix his suit.
"Well, if you kids must know. You have to keep quiet. They could be anywhere nowadays." After taking a long breath and dressing back up, Noboru spoke "I heard about Kaito. It's terrible really… I didn't want you guys to find out this way. Or at all for that matter. But I took some part-time work with Kaito. I've been infiltrating the Boss' ranks as a grunt."
Johanne gasped quickly. Everyone else's reactions weren't any different. Johanne stepped forward and shook his head profuse, "Dad, tell me you're kidding. You can't be for real. These guys are dangerous. If you're found they'll-"
Kohana approached soon after, her arms crossed over her chest but managed to look past her falling hair with a glance filled with fear, "They won't be merciful… Betrayal is the highest form of disrespect to that Boss. I've already lost everything but my life and savings. If I didn't have the connections I did, I'm sure I'd be dead by now. Sir, you have to-"
"Ah. You must be the sweet girl that my son took out, right? Thank you for the tickets by the way. I couldn't have afforded them on my salary." Noboru placed his sunglasses back on and bunched over the railing. "I knew the risk when I signed up. I'm not worried. The streets have been tougher on this old man than these money-hungry goons could ever be."
"That's not the point. I'm not trying to risk any more people than I have to-" Johanne felt a fist collide with his fist then a pat on his head. His eyes met with his Father's who tipped down his shades and winked.
Noboru snickered and stood face to face with his head, "Let an old man do something nice for his son. It's better than sitting by and watching you come home over and over covered in blood. Your mother has been worried sick about that. The faster we get this done. The better for us all. Right?"
Johanne brushed his chest softly looking around at his crew. Kiba was at a loss for words, but surely they all felt the same about Noboru's words as reluctant as they were to involve him. "Alright, Dad. Just… don't do anything stupid."
"Stupid? I've been doing stupid things, my whole life son. This is just one more stroke of chalk. Besides, I'm sure that you wouldn't mind me helping after what I've shown you what I got." Noboru slipped a flash drive out of his pocket and waved it in front of the crowd.
Kiba tilted his head curiously for a moment and shrugged, "Look, man, I'm sure you can scam someone else with bootleg movies but not this guy."
"Gah! You damn kids nowadays never take anything seriously. Come on, we've got a lot of dodging to do if we're going to get back safely.
And so they continued off of the bridge and took some of the less populated routes in Lower Bodou to finally make their way back to Johanne's house. Everyone was gathered in the living room around Noboru at the dinner table with an open laptop.
Jotaro and Metok joined the crowd soon after looking around the house for potential followers, speaking up eventually to the situation; Jotaro himself, "I had no idea you'd come out with something so soon. Hopefully, it's the needed evidence I have to make the final search for any more labs."
"Nothing like that just yet. But you won't believe what I do have." Noboru plugged the drive into the computer, navigating through a large series of folders and entering several passwords, "I had to do a lot of favors for this. I almost got busted a few times. They've come to trust me. After doing this for around a month, I found out where they keep their bank statements, trade history, and so on. Nothing recent is kept in our location though. Only stuff a year or so down the line but it's still big and I'm sure still happening."
"What do you mean by still happening? Has he really done worse than this?" Johanne leaned into the documents that Noboru pulled up and was left in a gasp after reading the reports.
"Crazy isn't it? These are documented proof that He'd not only been refusing to put money towards the improvement of the entire city. He'd been embezzling money from his 'loyal' supporters." Noboru snickered and continued typing at the computer, showing them all the large amounts of yen from various different big businesses around Bodou and several other cities around Japan.
"These bastards have been lying to even the big wigs all this time… And these are just years back. Think about what we could do with all this information. Or better yet, something more recent. This is it. Our next move. Turn his supporters against him!" Johanne added brushing some of his hair back.
"Ho ho ho! I don't think so!" A very phantom-Esque voice came from the laptop. Noboru screamed suddenly as a large surge of blue electricity shocked him and knocked him to the floor. "Our organization had no room for traitors!"
"Dad! What the hell is going on!?" Johanne kneeled beside his father to try and tend to him while looking up at the screen. To everyone's surprise, there was a large blue, static face glitching through the files and consuming them, "An enemy stand!?"
"That's right kiddies! I've got something juicy to take back to the boss now. You didn't even notice me sneak into your cell phone in the city huh Pops!? I am the Stand known as Power Station! The perfect viral protection. Now that we have the information we do. Disposing of you will be child's play." They face eventually materialized on the screen as a small demon-like creature with multiple 1s and 0s across its body. A pitchfork that was shaped like USB-port labels and an entirely static being.
Jotaro stepped forward and pointed at the screen, "What a pain in the ass. Another stand like this. I know exactly how to deal with you. You're usually long-ranged remote stands and your user can sit back calmly while you operate but I know exactly how to trap you. Everyone throw away your phones and step back. Star Platinum!" Everyone quickly followed his orders and distanced the phones as much as they could and Jotaro smashed the charger connecting the phone to the wall. "Now you're trapped in here with us. You have no outlet and judging by Noboru's injury, you're nowhere near as strong as Red Hot Chili Pepper."
Power Station laughed ominously from the screen and paced back and forth, holding their precious files in a locked folder. "You think you got it all figured out huh? I don't know what Stand you faced like me. But I'm far from that easy. It's only a matter of…" Suddenly from across the room, Kiba's phone flickered from receiving a text message, "Time!"
Before anyone could make a move, there was a very thin, transparent static wave connecting the laptop to the cell phone. Then the ominous laughter continued from Kiba's phone laying on the floor.
"Oh, that's so not fucking cool…" Kiba commented as he peaked over to see the demonic face chuckling on the screen of his phone.
Johanne's front door opened soon after as Edward walked in the door with his phone in hand, everyone tried to make a move for Kiba's phone as the laughing got much longer and echoed towards Edward's device. Another unsuspecting loud scream echoed throughout the home.