Chapter Thirty Four.
Dio crashed into his hotel bed, strength turning to exhaustion as the adrenaline wore off. He had not felt this way before. What was this, fear? 'Ha-a-a, if that is true, then I am truly weak!' he turned to face The World.
'If anyone comes through that door, wake me immediately.' He said, before closing his eyes.
He heard a hitched voice, like a dying man, but this one spoke without the desperation he was so used to. He turned, seeing a figure slumped against a slate-grey wall. Blood was trickling out from his nose which was slightly crumpled.
'You there,' Dio said. 'Where am I, what is this place?' Even as he spoke, the man showed no sign of noticing the vampiric Stand User. 'Gotta move, gotta warn the others,' the man said, standing up, clutching his left wrist which was clearly broken. 'Gotta warn them all, gotta call the boss. Gotta tell them about the attack…'
Dio's view changed, this time he found himself in a smoke-filled corridor, not unlike where he had just been. He saw men in body armour and with rifles, handguns and wrenches standing at one end of the corridor, waiting behind makeshift barricades and in windowed rooms.
'Ah-h-h,' came a sickly sweet voice. 'Come, come, my little friends. Come, let me hold you close to my breast!' The voice, as Dio now learned, belonged to an elderly, broad-shouldered man.
From behind the man, a Stand appeared. It was well defined, indicating its strength. Its lower body was serpentine. Pearlescent scales covered the coldies mass. Scales pulled back to show a pair of hazelnut jewels. A veil of bright-white hair was flung back over its head. Its face was mottled skin, smooth, pale, beautiful. Four arms broke out from its well-muscled chest, each arms ending in a five talon-fingered hand, each with rings.
If the men could see it, they would be weeping at its beauty. Instead, the unnamed Stand launched itself into them, tearing them to shreds. Gobs of blood turned to rain drops as they crashed together, flesh and bone was taken by the Stand, only to be cut up yet again as it moaned in what Dio suspected to be pleasure.
'Come, come,' said the old man again. 'Very good, my beautiful Medusa.'
Yet again, Dios perspective changed, this time to a high-vaulted corridor, with a round vault door at either end. An office stood off to the side, occupied by three men. Two carried rifles and wore armour, the third was much more lax.
He was a man of about twenty-six, with a head of bright red hair. His bright green eyes and stance spoke of a poorly justified arrogance, one which Dio suspected was poorly deserved. His was stocky and tall, with his arms being tattooed with arrows. The back of his hands had chariots, while his fingers had chains. When he opened his hands, he did so to take out a cigarette and lighter. When he did so, Dio saw the sun tattooed into them.
'What are you, some sort of Pagan-lover?' Dio asked, yet received no reply again. 'How tiresome. Just from your stance I can see what you are. Besides, that outfit is terrible. I feel as though you would fit in well with U.A. Same arrogance, same terrible design philosophy...'
One of the vaults wheezed open, permitting a pair of armed men entrance to the corridor and then the office. 'Mr Aphetor,' said one of the men, this one spoke with a heavy Egyptian accent. 'I have been unable to contact Speedwagon Headquarters. It is as you suspected, sir.'
'Then,' the man named Aphetor said. 'We are on our own. If that damned security system is actually working, then we can expect rescue in a day or two,' he laughed darkly.' He paused and turned to the other vault door. A low, scraping noise drew their attention.
'Oh, could this be that Medusa Stand from earlier?' Dio questioned. 'Oh, I wonder what kind of Stand you have. It has been so very, very long since last I witnessed a good fight between two Stand Users. Come on, give me a good show!'
As Dio called out his demand for entertainment, the vault door slammed open and down, revealing a one-familiar face to the reborn Stand User. 'Pet Shop?'
Aphetor strode out from the office, waving the Speedwagon guards back, knowing that they would die if they exited with me. 'Been a long time, tweedy bird,' he taunted, with a greek accent, earning a scornful look from the falcon. 'Come on then, bird-brain. Or are you gonna go crying to master again. Oh wait, he is behind that other vault now isn't he. Or what's left of him,' the greek said.
'Silence yourself, Aphetor,' came a new voice, this one had a man's voice and central-European accent, not quite French, nor German, perhaps Swiss or Austrian. 'Or have you no respect. Not that I would be surprised, seeing as you worked with those Joestar jackals.'
If the assembled host could hear him, then they would have turned to face Dio chuckling in amusement.
'Come now, physician,' the man named Aphetor said. 'Honour, duty and loyalty, all mean nothing now, physician. I'm doing this for two simple reasons. One, money, lots and lots of money. Two, he was a madman. He killed dozens, and for what, a few seconds of glory?'
The individual known as the physician stepped out from beyond the vault door, revealing himself, to some degree at least. He was swaddled in white outfits, seemingly dozens had been stitched together. 'How wrong you are, Aphetor,' the physician said, a shadow rising up from behind him.
Dio examined the Stand, confused by its ghastly appearance. It had no visible legs, instead it floated above the ground, its yellow skin pierced by broken ribs. It had heart-brains protruding from its back, bloody mist floating around them. It had two lanky arms, both swein together to form a club-like hand.
Its face was dolphin-like, but with one bulging eye for its left-side and an eyepatch on the right. A scorpion-tail slipped it from its lipless mouth. A pair of horn-blades broke out from the Stands shoulders. 'Do you remember, Aphetor,' came the Physicians voice. 'How our sparring went?'
'Go to hell, old man,' Aphetor said, his own Stand appearing.
This one was much more human. With an hourglass figure, its body was golden-yellow, with a halo shining over its patrician face. A chariot sigil marked its chest and forehead, one hand had an arrow, the other a bow.
'Chimera,' the physician said. 'Kill.'
'Arrowhead,' Aphetor shouted. 'Take out that old bastard!'
An arrow of fire spread by the physician, slamming into the wall as the Chimera crashed into Arrowhead. Swinging out its club-fist, the deformed, bastardised Stand screamed, if it was in triumph, it sounded to be in pain.
The Arrowhead headbutted the Chimera, scorching the beast with its halo. 'Arrowhead! Illuminate these fools!' As Aphetor shouted, a blending light consumed the two stands. In a conflagration of death, the world died.
When the light faded, the corridor before Aphetor was a hell. Heat rolled off of him in waves, forcing him to his knees. The Chimera was gone, in its place was a wall of ice. 'D-damn you, bird brain. Hnngh.'
'V-v,,, Very good, Aphetor. You learned well, but your timing was sloppy, and you forgot about dear Pet Shop here,' came the voice of the physician. 'Now apologize to our friend with your screams!' With that, Pet Shop went flying, in less than a moment Aphetor was eyeless and dead.
When Pet Shop, the physician and the old man had gathered before the vault door, the old man spoke up. 'Oh, I see the others are taking their time. Damn twins, the boss and lord will need to have words with them when the job is done.'
'Indeed, Julian,' the physician said. 'Now let us open this door.'
Dio watched from the other side of the door, seeing it freeze over then shatter. When the trio entered, Pet Shop went flying towards the far wall. A simple unlocked handle led to it being opened. 'Oh, now what have you been looking for?' Dio pondered.
'Pet Shop, lead the way,' the physician said. 'Julian, tell the twins we're done here. We will meet you outside with the remnants.' With that, the physician followed after Pet Shop and the man named Julian departed.
As the physician and Pet Shop went beyond the wall, Dio saw a chamber beyond them. It was a glass compartment, light of all sorts lit it and what was in it. He saw flesh, or at least scraps of flesh. He saw hair. Golden-blonde locks of hair, pinned to a table by tape and nails. 'O… Oh no,' he said, before waking.
He slammed into the ground, earning a grunt from The World. 'T-they found me, us. However they are,' he said, panicked. He reached out finding a bin before using it. 'We… we need to go back, back to Japan, to the U.A.'
On a ship a cruise liner, somewhere in the Mediterranean, a group of five people, and a falcon, knelt before a case containing their lords remains. Besides this, a laptop sat. 'G-g-good…' wheezed out a voice over the skype call. 'N-n-now we make for the foretold land. To the land of Jotaro Kujo, bastard-son of the Joestar family, and our lord's revival!'
However could these people be? Find out, at a later date, or will you, of course yu will. But just who is their boss and their lord? Perhaps, just maybe, one did some stuff at a prison in an alternate universe!