Road Near Iraq Border, 29 Days Remaining
Shit…
Jotaro extends his arm in front of Anne, an attempt to signal her to stay back. He could feel his heartbeat slowly intensifying as Star Platinum's eyes scan their surroundings. What had appeared to be a glob of water had formed a hand…
…No. A claw.
Behind him, a shuffle in the sand as Anne rises to her feet, apparently still reeling a bit from being suddenly pulled back.
"Hey, Jotaro, is tha-"
There!
"ORA!" With a powerful downward blow, Star Platinum hammers a fist at the rising glob of water. Jotaro had barely caught it as it diffused through the sandy dirt below them…
A puff of sand coats both of them as the force of the blow drives through the soil underneath. Yet, through the haze, Jotaro could make out the form of the enemy Stand as it laid there at the bottom of the impact pit, rippling like a small puddle. With sudden speed, the Stand reforms and sinks back into the dirt, causing Jotaro to pick Anne up by her shirt collar as he sprints towards the asphalt a few feet in front of him.
"Hey hey! At least tell me what's going on!" She squirms a bit as she's hoisted away, but quiets down as more large gashes open up in the ground behind her. Barely peeking its aqueous form from beneath the ground, the water clawed Stand tears up the area directly above it, trailing at the heels of the running Jotaro.
"Tch..." With heavy steps, they finally get to the searing pavement. The small trail of slash marks end at the edge of the pavement, and Jotaro cautiously looks around at first the edge of the highway, then at the condition of the pavement itself.
Not a lot of cracks…and concrete seems to be fully sealed. If it attacks, we have a better chance to see it coming…
"Jotaro! Say something here! If I'm gonna help, I need to know what the hell this thing looks like." Anne flails her limbs as she talks, until Jotaro lets go and drops her on her feet.
"Looks like a half liter of water that forms into a hand with sharp claws. It seems like it can dissipate through porous materials like water, then reform to-" In the middle of Jotaro explaining, the Stand forms at the edge of the pavement and slashes at the concrete, leaving three distinct gash marks in it and scattering chunks of rubble and concrete dust around. Anne flinches back a bit, but Jotaro holds his ground and puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Uh…shouldn't we move?"
"No."
"What do you mean no? Do you have a way to fight this thing?"
"Maybe."
"Jotaro!" Anne punches Jotaro in the midsection in frustration.
"It can't see."
"I mean, does it have eyes?"
"No, but that shouldn't stop a Stand user from seeing through it." Another slash in the pavement sends more rocks scattered around their feet. "I noticed it when we were running earlier. All of those slashes there…those are where my feet hit as I was running."
"So what, it's like a bat?"
"No." Jotaro bends down and picks up a stone, tossing it briefly in his hand. "It's like water." With a forceful throw, he sends the stone right into the ground near the gashes in the pavement. Like lightning, the Stand appears from the sand just as the stone connects with the ground and slashes the incoming chunk of concrete into bits.
Good grief. That Stand is fast. Small, but limited…probably Long Range.
"It detects the vibrations in the ground around it, like ripples in water. We're relatively safe if we're still…"
"Oh! So we just wait here 'til Joseph gets back!" Her voice has a cheerful tone until halfway through, when another claw swipe takes another slice from the concrete. "Uh, can we just run further up the road."
Anne's question tapers into silence, Jotaro instead focusing on the area around him.
It would be better if another vehicle came down this road to cover the sounds of us leaving. We either need to find the user or get out of its range…
In the silence, Jotaro can hear Anne rummaging through her pockets…and something else. Something only Star Platinum hears: faint cracking of concrete. Whipping around to face Anne, he can see some water bleed through a tiny crack in the pavement behind Anne's back.
Damn, that Stand was just trying to get closer without us noticing!
"Anne! Get out of the way!" He can see the claw forming right behind Anne's figure, causing his vision to tunnel a bit. Star Platinum manifests from his shoulder and reaches for Anne to pull her away. He takes a step forward to reach her quicker but, as soon as his foot contacts the pavement, the claw swipes.
Tch…
In a split second, Jotaro had managed to pull her out of the way, Anne tumbling to the ground behind him. However, he hadn't been able to pull his arm away in time. Three deep lacerations form on his left arm, the heat and pain washing over his body as he takes a retreating step.
"Jotaro!"
"Anne, stay back. It's still there." The water claw stays in the same position it took when it slashed at Anne. The stillness of it only complemented the tension in the air, and Jotaro could hear his heartbeat in his ear. Sweat beads its way down Jotaro's temple, the sun still beating down on them both. Even the wind whipping by his face is blazing hot.
No use blocking it. While it has that claw out, it would probably slice my fist in half…
The pain surges from his arm to his torso, causing Jotaro to take a deep inhale of the air around him. Faint sparks of Hamon travel through his limbs, numbing his pain as he intently watches the enemy Stand. He feels the blood stream down his arm, running all the way to his fingertips.
"Hey, Jotaro, I can't help if you don't point out where it is. I can't see it at all."
"Help?"
"Yeah, help. Just point it out so I at least know which direction the death is coming from."
"Yare yare daze…" With a quaking hand, Jotaro lifts his bloodied left arm and points at the Stand in front of him. "There."
Just as his hand completes the motion, Jotaro's heart sinks in realization. A few droplets of blood fall from the tips of his fingers, the impact on the pavement below the equivalent of earthquakes in Jotaro's mind. The claw, in response to the droplets landing on the concrete, lunges forward for another slice. Jotaro tries to take a step back, but hears the sound of scuffing pants legs on stone. Between his legs, he sees Anne powersliding through with a smirk on her face.
"My turn!" She has her hand on a small fabric bag, digging through it with the other hand. Just as the claw is about to slash them both, she flings out a cloud of metal filings from the bag, Hamon already rippling through her limbs. "Shining Iron Overdrive!"
The Hamon from her hands jumps from filing to filing as it lingers in the air, creating a fine mesh of thin metal in front of them both. The claw contacts it, sparks of Hamon flickering off of the barrier as it struggles to cut through it. Jotaro takes the opportunity to channel his own Hamon into his right arm, then briefly closes his eyes.
Thank you, Anne.
The claw finally makes purchase against the energized wall of iron filing, scraping away a layer of it before the rest litter the ground around them.
"Did I stop i-" Before Anne can finish talking, Jotaro opens his eyes and launches a right straight punch from Star Platinum, Hamon rippling through his Stand's arm.
"ORA!" The blow stops short a few feet in front of the waiting claw, but the sheer speed and force of the Hamon-infused punch causes the air to compress in front of Star Platinum's fist. The air rushes forward like a gale, causing the Stand to dissipate into droplets and fly backwards. However, in the next moment after landing, the Stand reforms into a single mass of water and begins to surge towards Jotaro and Anne.
"Okay, so did you get i-" Anne is once again cut off as Jotaro scoops her off of the ground below him and starts to book it for the car.
"No. How many more times can you do that technique, Anne?" The urgency in Jotaro's tone is matched by his forceful steps into the sand.
"Uh…once? I grabbed a bit too much that time. So, it worked?" At this point, Anne talks unfazed as Jotaro sets her down by the car door. "Did you like the name?"
"Anne. I'm going to start the car. Cover me." Reaching for the ignition with Star Platinum's arm, Jotaro turns to face the incoming enemy Stand.
"Wait, let me get-"
Jotaro's eyes focus on the Stand in front of them. His footsteps on the way here weren't subtle. It knows exactly where they both are.
No guarantee the car will be strong enough to stop that claw. She's our only chance…
The small glob of water zigzags its way across the scattered rocks, sand, and the trail of Jotaro's blood. Almost too fast to track, it stops several feet in front of them and extends off the ground, like a curved spear shaft plunging towards Jotaro's neck.
Tch, it knows exactly where my neck is. So it doesn't bother with the claw if it needs speed and precision-
"Anne! There!" With rigid determination, Jotaro points with a bloody hand at the incoming pillar of water swerving its way towards Jotaro's neck. With less grace, Anne fumbles some iron filings from her pouch towards the incoming Stand.
"Shining Iron Overdrive!" The barrier, a bit smaller this time, appears precisely in between the Stand and Jotaro. The pointed surge of water crashes against the mesh of filings, much more forceful than before. As the flecks of iron start to erode away from the impact of the enemy Stand, the engine of their convertible roars to life.
With a pivoting turn, Star Platinum releases its grip on the key and swings with a crackling right hook just as the small wall of iron dissipates. Its fist connects with the side of the surging water, sending Hamon crackling through the enemy Stand. The shaft of water breaks apart momentarily, as if reeling from the blow.
Leaning back and rolling into the car, Jotaro slams the car into drive and hits the gas pedal. A quick glance behind him with Star Platinum shows the Stand reforming quickly…and Anne standing dumbfounded at the filings on the ground.
Good grief.
As the car spins to take off, Star Platinum grabs Anne by the shoulder and yanks her into the back seat.
That parking area near the border…either we get away or we find the user.
Focusing on the road ahead, Jotaro fumbles a bit with the shifter, not usually being the one driving. Joseph definitely made it look much easier.
"Hey, Jotaro." A small voice speaks up from the backseat. "Sorry my technique didn't work…"
"It worked perfectly, Anne." Jotaro flatly responds as he winces from another wave of pain from his arm.
"But-"
"Just use more next time. I don't need you almost killing me as much as Jojo."
"Oh shut up! I wasn't that bad!"
END of Chapter 26