Karachi Streets, 1988
"C'mon, Jotaro, pile in! Everything's packed and ready!" Joseph's voice rings out from the front seat of an open-topped red convertible like a pleasant bell, but only to himself. To everyone else, he sounds much like a grating alarm clock.
"In a moment, Gramps had a couple of things he wanted to say to you first." Jotaro takes a long drag of a cigarette, eyes drowsily focused somewhere in the middle distance of the Karachi skyline. The buildings glimmer with orange morning sunlight, with many of the alleys and streets still cloaked in the darkness of the night before.
"Can you tell him to be quiet, Jotaro? I'm going to need some sleep if I have to keep this degenerate in line…" Anne rubs her eye with one hand, her other firmly pressing her knife into Hol Horse beside her in the backseat. Hol Horse appears to be napping, yet his face is drenched in sweat.
"Jojo."
"Yeah, grandson?" Joseph grins his most endearing grin, trying not to reveal his chagrin at Jotaro's repeated smoking. Jotaro, however, looks past him and takes a long drag of his cigarette before coolly directing a word at his smiling would-be grandfather.
"Yakamashii."
"He said 'shut up', by the way." Anne rolls her eyes and slaps Joseph on the side of the head with her free hand before collapsing back into the seat. The cowboy beside her subtly squirms closer to the door as he strains against the twine tying him to the seat while Joseph melodramatically yelps and reels back from the pain, his elbow colliding with both the back door lock and child lock buttons.
"Hey, now, no hitting! I'm gonna be driving the whole way, wouldn't want me to sustain any brain damage before I take you halfway across the world, would you?" Straightening himself, he flips around in the driver seat and rests his chin on the headrest as he glares at Anne.
"Nah, you're right. You have enough of that already." As Anne sticks her tongue out, Joseph notices Hol Horse apparently chuckling in his sleep.
Yeah yeah, yuck it up…
"Oi, Jojo! Jotaro!" From the hospital building next to them, the older Joseph hurries over to the convertible. "I confirmed with Speedwagon Foundation. You have three days to meet them at the spot we decided on."
"Is that all?" Joseph turns to put his temple on the headrest, raising his eyebrow with disdain for a moment.
"No." Dismissing his younger self, the older Joseph circles to other side of the vehicle and stands next to the door, his hands on his hips. "It's about what you asked me to do on the rooftop."
"So, how was sh-" The younger Joseph perks up a bit, practically leaning outside the door before his older self leans over and whispers in his ear.
"She's doing fine, and was happy that I was checking in. There, you happy?" Slightly embarrassed, his older self stands up straight and crosses his arms.
Good…I wish I could call her myself. I'm glad she's still alive but…I think I'd give her a heart attack if I saw her person again…Not to mention she's probably an old hag now…
"Looks like both you AND Anne need to remember to respect your elders." Shaking away his thoughts with a wink, the younger Joseph rights himself in his seat and puts a hand on the wheel.
"Shove it, Jojo." Anne flips off the younger Joseph through the rearview mirror before settling into a large yawn. His expression unmoving, the older Joseph puts a hand on the door and continues.
"One last thing. No using your Stand to spy on DIO. Judging from the intel we were able to squeeze from that mercenary in India, and from what Hol Horse said, our location came primarily from DIO himself. It's safe to say our eavesdropping is not just a one way window, and he may already know our plans…" Doubt creeps through the older Joseph's words as he speaks. On the other side of the car, Star Platinum manifests and pinches out Jotaro's cigarette before flicking it to the ground. With a leap, Jotaro hops into the passenger seat and buckles in, then looks at both of his grandfathers.
"It'll be fine, Jiji. We'll take the heat while all of you recover. See you in Egypt." Jotaro grabs the brim of his hat with confident reassurance, looking the old man beside the car in the eye.
"…See you in Egypt, Jotaro. Stay safe. Don't let this idiot get any of you killed."
"It'll be fine, Mr. Joestar. We're going to throw him in harm's way first anyway." Anne kicks the younger Joseph's seat, and Joseph can hear some suppressed laughter from the back seat.
"Look, no worries!" The younger Joseph cranks the key, the engine roaring to life in front of them. "I'll get them there completely unscathed."
"Yeah yeah." With a huff, the older Joseph slams his hand on the door again, a loud thunk as the metal hand collides with the side of the door. "You get there safe, too. Here-" Rummaging through his pocket, he pulls out something and holds his closed hand over his younger self's lap. "I got it express delivered from my house in America. You said you lost your other one on the beach, hopefully this will work."
Opening his hand, a set of rusted clackers fall on the younger Joseph's lap. Picking them up and squinting, the younger Joseph can barely make out the "J" and "O" beside the battered enamel coating them. He smiles a bit and chuckles to himself before turning back to the old man beside him.
"Couldn't even keep them clean, huh?"
"Listen, I thought I left that part of my life behind me."
"Ah well. They'll work just fine. Felt a bit off without a second pair, thanks for thinking of me." The younger Joseph grins before shooting some fingerguns at his older self. "Won't you be needing them?"
"Hah!" Breaking his stern expression, the older Joseph's face slides into a big grin of his own before winking at his younger self. "My Stand is far better than yours, and I know some Hamon techniques you haven't figured out yet. Count yourself lucky that I thought of you long enough to get those delivered so quickly."
"No…you can't mean…" The younger Joseph's eyes go wide as he smells the air.
His hands…they smell like soap! That bastard! He didn't tell me! Or teach me! After I cried on his shoulder on the roof!
"What can I say? I just get better with age." Grinning at his younger self, he keeps one hand planted on the car door as he leans in to speak, "I'll teach you if you get these people to Egypt safely."
"Bastard." The younger Joseph grips the steering wheel with both hands after stowing away the rusted clackers. Looking over to the passenger seat, he can see that Jotaro has already put on his headphones and closed his eyes, with Anne also drifted off to sleep in the back.
"Do we have a deal, then?"
"Heh." Tensing his leg, the younger Joseph looks at his older self dead in the eyes. "The next thing you're going to say is 'Watch it, idiot!'" With a slam of his foot, the younger Joseph hammers on the gas, the squealing tires accompanying the sounds of Hol Horse desperately trying to open the locked convertible door.
"Watch it!" The older Joseph hops back to avoid the convertible's vicious startup, the realization hitting him as he watches it speed away. "Idiot…"
Tied to the backseat of a screaming metal death machine, Somewhere in the Middle East
(Don't ask me, I've basically been kidnapped here)
Although it's hard to tell with his eyes closed all the way, Hol Horse reckons that they had been traveling for nearly twelve hours, judging how the sun was almost setting. The relentless wind of Joseph speeding recklessly down whatever Middle Eastern highway they're on had nearly knocked off Hol Horse's hat a few times, but thankfully he had slipped from the poorly tied twine after Anne had fallen asleep.
Even now, she is asleep peacefully leaned against his shoulder.
You'd forget she's a hellion when ya see her like this. Wish she didn't drool, though…
Looking to the front seat, Jotaro is looking at a map intently while his Stand hovered behind him; Hol Horse guessing that Star Platinum is trying to catch the road signs before Joseph zooms past them.
So what, does that map have the translations of whatever the hell squiggles those signs got? Definitely a loose operation than DIO's got…we'd just git a damn plane ticket…
"How are you holding up, my Horse guy?" Joseph shouts from the front seat, glancing back at him through the rearview mirror.
"Please don't call me that." Hol Horse rolls his eyes and rests an elbow on the door frame, tightening the strap holding his hat on with his other hand.
Though I gotta say…I definitely feel safer with these fellas.
He glances at the sleeping Anne, whose head is slowly falling off and forward. Gently moving his hand from his hat strap to her head, he slowly readjusts her back to leaning against his arm. He sighs deeply as she snores against him.
Mostly safer. Can they really pull this off? I've seen Joseph in action, and that Kakyoin guy is pretty scary but…
Hol Horse gulps a bit as he thinks about the menacing aura surrounding his former employer.
I don't think this will be as easy as gettin' there and bustin' the door down…Even I don't know what the hell his Stand is…
He looks down at his still bandaged hands. The aching and sharp pain had all but evaporated over the past two days but, even with Hamon assisting him, his hands weren't in tip top shape. Probably more of a liability than an asset but-
He believes in me. Kept me from getting the piss beaten outta me 'til I talked. Then again, he did throw me out a hotel window…
From the front seat, Joseph puts a big thumbs up as he grins in the rearview mirror.
"No worries, Hol Horse. Just relax and enjoy the ride! Looks like Anne's given up on trying to murder you!"
"Take this turn coming up, Jojo." Jotaro mumbles as he looks at the map intently. With a grand swing of his arms, Joseph slams the car into a wholly unnecessary high speed drift, the tires squealing as they barely make the turn without scraping a guard rail. A wave of nausea washes over Hol Horse's entire body, yet both Anne and Jotaro seem unperturbed.
I guess they're used to it but…Hard not to worry when it seems like the ride there will kill me quicker than any ol' Stand user could…
END of CHAPTER 23