AN: Welcome back everyone!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter!

To answer some of the things in the reviews, yes, it was Daylight, which means Apollo did indeed get to see what was going on with Cyrus's story. As for Judicator, I'll admit I didn't quite base him off of Silver Chariot Requiem, but now that I think about it, he had a lot of similarities. I honestly based him more off of a mix between the Witch-King of Angmar from LOTR and Viego from League of Legends. As for his power, I needed something dangerous, but not time-based considering the fact that he's NOT Cyrus's final boss. Gotta keep those time manipulations for the big boys after all...

As for someone suggesting that the Wolf King is this universe's version of DIO...you'll see something of him soon enough.

As a random side note, I would like to consider asking for a beta reader for this story, but not too sure. I feel like I'm alright for now, but we'll just have to see.

Right, enough talk.

Let's begin!

Disclaimer: I, Beowulf, do not own PJO or JJBA. I only own this plot, my OC, and the disappointing truth that I do not possess D4C. If I did, I'd be jumping around universes like a bunny on crack.

~Chapter 22~

Athena was painfully close to the truth. She could sense it. She could almost taste it.

Cyrus was involved with Passione, that was for certain, and with Risotto the assassin showing up in the States, an assassin that was known to be in Passione's employ, that pointed even more towards Cyrus's involvement in the massive organization in Europe.

A smile curled her lips as she sat crosslegged in the middle of her web of strings, threads criss-crossing around her as the link chart helped her think it all through...

She closed her eyes, rubbing them gently to relieve the burning sensation in them. How long had she been feverishly working on figuring out this strange young man who was both divine yet not?

Probably too long than was healthy, even for a Goddess.

She heard a knock on her temple door as she opened her eyes. "Enter." She grumbled out, unwilling to be distracted when she was so close to cracking it all open.

Hearing the door open, she turned to see who it was.

In her doorway was Hephaestus, God of the Forge. His misshapen face was contorted into a more confused expression, with little fires bursting in and out of existence in his beard. He had apparently tidied himself up a bit, as he wasn't wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit, instead wearing torn jeans stained with grease and a button-down shirt.

Athena's eyebrows raised in surprise. Of all the Olympians to visit her, Hephaestus was not one she expected often. The Smith God tended to keep away from Olympus for the most part, preferring to keep to his forges, and even when he visited Olympus, he generally was alone, not wanting to associate with the other Gods.

"Hephaestus? What brings you here?" The Smith God simply took a look around, taking in the massive web of connections that the Wisdom Goddess had crafted. "...I see you're taking your investigations into this strange demigod quite seriously." He rumbled out.

He honestly couldn't blame her too much. Cyrus was a captivating mystery to the Olympian pantheon, even to the Smith God himself. And that was something, considering he preferred to keep away from the pantheon's various dramas...usually.

While the powers that Cyrus seemed to possess along with his mysterious past were intriguing, Hephaestus was mostly interested in one thing.

The Last Word.

The day Apollo reappeared on Olympus ranting about how a meager boy had managed to best him in a game of accuracy, Hephaestus was honestly not too caring at that moment. After all, when all you heard was complaining and things like "Could you make me a few more arrows?" "Fix my spear please." and his least favorite, "Oi, sparky, fix my sword, I got a date to go on", you probably would like to tune a lot of it all out.

But if there was one thing the God of Crafts would never be able to resist, it would be a masterpiece of machinery. So when Apollo let it slip that he had lost a sharpshooting contest with a boy with a handcannon, a God of Archery, mind you; Hephaestus knew he had to have a look. And after doing some digging of his own it was clear.

That Last Word of Cyrus's was a masterpiece, one that the God in question would absolutely love to tinker with at least once.

But back to the issue at hand, Hephaestus slowly limped into Athena's temple, his lame leg making him grumble inwardly. "I'm here about our little mystery, Cyrus."

Athena's eyes widened just a fraction before turning her full attention to him. "What about him? Do you have something new on him?"

Hephaestus pulled a flat bronze disk out of his pocket. "I'm sure you know by now that on their quest, they're trying to pass through my junkyard. I have a bit of surveillance in there, and decided to take a peek, just to check things out and well..." He pressed a button on top of the disk.

Instantly, the disk transformed, reforming itself into a miniature bronze TV screen. "Maybe it's best if you take a look at this..."

Fast forward about thirty minutes or so, Athena was gaping quite openly at the TV screen. It may not have been to her, but the confessions that Cyrus had given were...whoa.

It all made so much sense! Athena knew for a fact that he was involved with Passione to some extent, but to be the Boss of such a powerful organization?!

Not to mention, such a terrifying Stand User being the former Boss of Passione. Athena scrunched up her eyebrows as her thoughts raced. The power of a Stand, something that they had neglected to keep track of ever since they began cropping up about one-thousand years ago...was able to invade a domain of a God so easily? Not only that, but the domain of one of the Big Three...

Athena dreaded to think what would be going on in her Uncle's head if such a Stand was still around...

"Well, what do we do now?" Hephaestus rumbled out again, scratching at his beard which burst into flames where his fingers touched it. The Wisdom Goddess frowned a little.

That had answered a staggering amount of questions. It answered the question of why Cyrus seemed divine, but not among the Olympians, it answered the question regarding his Stand, and it answered the question of what Cyrus had been doing in the past two years that he had seemingly dropped off the Olympians' radar completely.

But, now there were new questions. Who was this 'mysterious benefactor' that Cyrus had been talking about that had given him his new lease on life and brought him to their world? And why?

She sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "There are still questions unanswered. We won't say anything to Father for now...in the meantime however, I'll have to pay our mystery a visit..."

Suddenly, Apollo threw open the door to Athena's temple, rushing in with a frantic expression on his face. "Athena! I found out some big crap about Cyrus! He's the Boss of the Italian Ma-!"

He cut himself off as he noticed Hephaestus and Athena discussing something and blinked in confusion as they glared at him. "Was I interrupting something...?"

Illuso rubbed his forehead as a minor pain began to mount in his brain. Apparently the person they had meant to talk to had been unavailable yesterday, so here they were again, at the Vatican.

They were currently waiting for the guard to return and it had been hours. Ghiaccio was currently pacing back and forth while Prosciutto was apparently the only smart one out of the three because he had brought a book with him to read while they waited.

"Oi, this is starting to tick me off! How long do we have to wait for him to show up?!" The bombastic blue-hair shouted out in impatience as he walked around in circles. Prosciutto frowned as he read his book, not bothering to take his eyes off the pages.

"Ghiaccio, you and I both know he's a busy man. Leave it alone." Ghiaccio gritted his teeth.

"We're the only damn reason that he's still in power!" This time, Prosciutto looked up, glaring at the older assassin. "Cyrus is one part of the reason he's on that chair. His faith got him to the point, and we just...streamlined it."

"And for that I am quite grateful." Their heads turned as they beheld a much older man, wearing a mitre and yellow robes, along with a ring on his fingers. "My apologies for making you all wait, but I had a few duties to attend to."

Prosciutto put away his book, shooting a glare at Ghiaccio and Illuso that all but screamed "shut up and let me do the talking", as he gave a slight bow. "It's no issue, Your Holiness."

The Pope, for it was the Pope, gave a smile as he beckoned for them to follow him.

After Cyrus had taken command over Passione and dismantled the drug trade, he (of course) had to find better ways of revenue to keep the organization thriving. Passione commanded the harbors, the clubs, moneylending, gambling, etc. yes...but Cyrus knew that wouldn't be enough.

As disgusting as the drug trade had been, it was immensely lucrative, being worth billions and billions of lire. So to fill the vacuum of money...Cyrus thought of a different approach.

It was the duty of the Mafia to provide where the government could not, in Cyrus's eyes. So, he began by giving back to the communities of the cities in which Passione held power in. Naples, Venice, even Rome, he began to fund various municipal policies and buildings to help bolster support for Passione. Specifically...he created banks, and funded massive projects to benefit the people.

Eventually, even the Vatican began to take interest. The organization was strong, powerful, and arguably benevolent. Especially so now that the drug trade had all but disintegrated with Cyrus's takeover. Combined with a...strange draw they had towards the mysterious Boss, the Vatican had found themselves intrigued in terms of doing business with Passione. For one reason or another, Cyrus decided that he would meet with the Vatican, and after weeks and weeks of communication, he emerged with something new.

The Vatican, needed a bank and an organization they could trust. And Passione, was pleased to deliver.

Thus, Passione attained a power that only one group, the Medici, had ever obtained in history. (1)

The Pope led the three members of la Squadra back to his private office, gesturing that they take a seat on the other side of his table while he sat down in his chair.

"So, what brings my friends from Passione to the Vatican?" The holy man asked, leaning forward.

Prosciutto looked somewhat uneasy as he spoke. "We need information on the Arma Christi."

"...why do you need this information?" The Pope's eyes narrowed as he evenly regarded the three in front of him. "You have already been given the Holy Nail that was sequestered deep in the Vatican's vaults, as per our agreements."

Ghiaccio made to speak, before Illuso slapped a hand over his mouth, glaring. Illuso, much to Prosciutto's chagrin, began to speak. "Cyrus has commanded of us that we find the last Nail."

"If I recall correctly from our talks, one has already been destroyed, the other has been given to you by the Vatican, and the last two are missing, are they not?"

Prosciutto rubbed his forehead with a sigh, "The Old Blood of Passione are in possession of one of the missing Nails."

The leader of the Catholic Church's eyes widened, before narrowing to slits. "I see...I have no desire to see chaos once again engulf Europe with those mongrels...is the Nail in your possession safe?"

The blonde Stand User nodded. "The Nail is generally in Risotto's care, though if I remember correctly he's given it to Razione while he completes a task far from Italy."

"I see. Very well, I shall assist you." The Pope said, standing up from his chair and walking over to a bust of one of his many predecessors. Pushing gently on one of the eyes of the bust, the three assassins were surprised to see part of the floor seemingly sinking down, revealing a staircase.

"Through here you will find the secret library of the Vatican, the Haereticum. Here is where we keep the knowledge that is lost to the Public, too dangerous for consumption." He spoke evenly as he held out three rings for the members of la Squadra to put on. "These rings will mark you as those with access to the Haereticum. I shall pray that you find what you are searching for." (2)

Prosciutto nodded, before bowing and gesturing that his companions do the same. "You have the thanks of all of Passione, your Holiness."

The Pope began to walk away, while the three began their descent into the Vatican's library.

"...I'm still ticked off we had to wait so long for something like that!"

"Please just shut up Ghiaccio." Illuso grumbled as his headache continued to grow.

"Cyrus better have Razione pay me extra for this shit."

Cyrus sneezed violently even as he held the corpse in his fist. "Damn it, who the hell keeps talking about me?!"

He glared out into the open blackness that was the space in between dimensions, looking around as if awaiting an answer.

Nothing came.

Grumbling to himself, he looked back down at the very brutalized corpse of Brandon Blackmore in his hands. He wrinkled his nose, before simply letting go.

The corpse began to crumble into nothingness as it scattered throughout the space between worlds.

D4C's power of dimensional travel was maintained by the force of Gravity. Specifically, D4C kept the force of Gravity constant for Cyrus and all others traveling with him. Without that force, Cyrus and all others with him would be scattered throughout the spaces between dimensions.

Which served as a very easy way to dispose of things for Cyrus...among other things. (3)

Cyrus frowned as he rubbed his left eye. He could have sworn he saw flickerings of golden light around him...

Ever since his various confessions, the first of caring for Thalia in a romantic sense, and the second of his dealings in the past two years, his Stand and his eye continued to feel...strange, especially here, in the space in between worlds...

He almost felt...faster. More precise...

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter, we can figure this crap out later. Everything else comes first."

With that, he reappeared in his 'base' world, emerging the ground near the chair he'd been sitting in for his tale. He straightened his shirt after he had swapped himself out again, before walking back over to his friends.

Apparently things had gone well in his absence, as Anette and Risotto seemed to be socializing well with the five other quest-goers, as well as Rina...okay correction. Anette was socializing well, while Risotto seemed to keep being his serious self.

Cyrus rolled his eyes as he walked over to them. He shot Risotto a look of exasperation. "Why I kept you as Caporegime when you can't socialize outside of your friend group, I will never understand."

Risotto just shot him a glare as the rest of the group finally took notice of Cyrus returning. Zoe looked around, appearing quite pleased (though it was hard to tell with her and her near permanent scowl) that everyone was accounted for. "We must make haste towards the West. We have only three days to reach California, considering it is the farthest west of this country."

There were no arguments from anyone, so with that, the now larger group set off. Cyrus and Thalia led the way, with Risotto and Anette just behind them off to the sides, followed by Percy, Grover and Rina, and bringing up the back with Zoe and Phoebe.

As they made their way through the junkyard, they kept finding neat little trinkets here and there, though they were careful to put them back down afterwards. Rina especially had a fun time with this, oohing and aahing at the various magical artifacts they stumbled across.

It was Thalia who then decided to break the silence with some conversation. "So, I understand how Risotto's involved with Cyrus...but what about you? You seem pretty close to him and Risotto?" She asked Anette.

"Oh, I met them in Sardinia..." the normally cheerful woman suddenly seemed subdued, her eyes saddening a little.

"Really, how do you know Mr. Cyrus and Mr. Risotto?" Rina's voice chimed out curiously. Anette put on a smile that seemed a little weak. "Well...they saved me from my dad."

The little girl's eyes widened. "R-really? So you're just like me Miss?" She asked again.

"Sort of...la Squadra were sent to kill me on my father's orders." Everyone's eyes widened as it suddenly clicked together.

However, Grover said it first. "You're the former Boss's daughter that they were given a contract for!"

Anette nodded. "I was already an adult, and I had moved away from Sardinia to France to pursue my career...unfortunately my mother died unexpectedly, so I returned to take care of her affairs. I never even knew who my father was until la Squadra showed up at my doorstep."

"They spared your life right?" The woman chuckled. "Not exactly..." She summoned her Stand to her side, letting it emerge from her shadow to hover next to her. "I already had my Stand since I was a child, so once I figured out they were assassins, I put them all to sleep."

Cyrus shuddered, while Risotto shifted uncomfortably at that.

Phoebe eyed the lupine looking Stand carefully. "What does your Stand do actually?"

"You could just ask me yourself!" The lupine Stand snarled out, baring its teeth as everyone jumped back in surprise.

"D-did that Stand just talk to us?!" Anette turned to glare at her Stand, putting her hands on her hips while Risotto smiled faintly. Cyrus chuckled as he looked on. "Would you like to explain it, or should I?"

Anette smirked back at him before she began to explain. "Scaretale is one of the types of Stands that has a personality of its own. It has its own consciousness, but it's still loyal to me...isn't that right?" She asked with a glare at her own Stand.

"Yes yes whatever! It was fun chasing that slimy guy with the clouds down! Who will we chase next? I wanna chase some more!" The lupine shadow bared its teeth in a strange mimicry of a grin.

The woman rolled her eyes as the Stand began to mutter to itself, playing with its own claws in a way to keep itself occupied. "As for its powers, Scaretale has command over the shadows. It can only move through shadows, and the more there are, the further its reach. And if it grabs someone, it chomps down..."

"And they writhe under my teeth!" It roared, gnashing its teeth, only to get another glare from its user. "Scaretale's teeth and claws have a venom in them that causes paralysis and hallucinations, kind of like sleep paralysis, where they'll see their greatest fears and monsters that aren't really there."

Thalia nodded in understanding. That explained why Brandon had been acting the way he was near the end of their fight..."So you used that on them?"

Cyrus shuddered a little as he rolled his shoulders. "Yep...on top of that, Scaretale is literally made of smoky shadows, so nothing can touch it physically."

"Yikes..." Percy muttered as he eyed the shadowy Stand.

"After they broke free from Scaretale's venom, they explained everything properly, so I decided to tag along. A part of me wanted to actually know who my dad was...but by the end, I knew he was a monster, so I joined them to take him down." Anette finished grimly as she dismissed Scaretale, which sunk back into her shadow with quiet doglike whines. (4)

"Makes sense...what about you?" Thalia turned her gaze to Risotto, who had been keeping an eye out as they walked through the junkyard.

Risotto raised an eyebrow. "What about me exactly?"

"Well, Anette showed off her Stand and her story, what about you?"

"Pass."

The males of the group stifled laughs at Thalia's annoyed expression, matched only by Risotto's impassive gaze. "Don't worry, Risi's never one to talk much." Anette shot the assassin a glare.

He sighed, finally relenting. "Fine. My name is Risotto Nero, and my Stand is called Metallica. That is all I will tell you."

Cyrus grinned, glancing in between Anette and Risotto. "Jeez Noors, you really do have him whipped huh?" He smirked, earning himself a glare from the red-eyed man, his irises glowing slightly.

Thalia blinked at that, looking in between the four Stand Users. So that was...Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Catch the Rainbow, Scaretale, and Metallica... "Is there some weird thing between Stand Users that you have to name your Stand after a musical reference? Because all of the names of Stands we've dealt with far have been those."

The four of them paused. They all looked at each other, before looking right back at her. They shrugged. "I dunno, it just is I guess." Cyrus said, before narrowing his eyes. "Wait...how do you know all those? Last I checked, the only music you listened to was Punk."

She blushed a light shade of red. "N-no reason!"

See, when she had first emerged from her tree and found out that Cyrus's fate was just unknown, she threw herself into the types of music he'd liked, as even early on when they were making their way to Camp, they would argue a lot over music tastes. Cyrus would always prefer Heavy Metal, though he enjoyed Rock and a lot of others, where as Thalia tended to limit herself to just Punk.

So as a way to connect herself with him, she had tried to listen to as much of his music as she could. Hence her knowledge of various song names.

"Still though! Next thing you'll tell me is there's a Stand named after Green Day!"

Immediately the two adults and Cyrus grimaced, shooting glances at each other. Thalia deadpanned at them. "There was a Stand named Green Day, wasn't there?"

"Let's...let's not talk about that one." The wielder of D4C clenched his hand into a fist. Even now, two years later, he still felt sheer disgust when thinking about that vile pile of scum he sent to hell.

Noting that the subject was off the table for now, Grover looked back at Anette with a thinking expression on his face. "Why does Cyrus call you Noors? Isn't your name just Anette?"

Anette pouted while Risotto gave a smirk towards her. "It's a nickname that he has for me. My full name is Anette Noora Nocturni."

Thalia paused at that, stopping in place and making the rest of the group stop as well.

Zoe scowled a little at that, eager to get out of the junkyard and back on track towards California. "Why art thou standing around Grace? We must move!"

Ignoring her, Thalia scrunched up her nose as she looked Anette up and down. "I recognize your name...your voice does seem familiar too..."

Risotto groaned, facepalming while Anette gave him a glare, before smiling back at Thalia. "Is that so? You've probably heard of my middle name, considering its my stage name for the most part."

"Wait...you're Noora Nocturne!" Thalia cried out, her eyes lighting up in recognition. "You're the voice of Kayle from the band Pentakill!"

Anette smiled while Risotto groaned quietly and facepalmed.

"Oooh a fan huh?" The woman chuckled, while Thalia grinned in an uncharacteristic way that could only be done by a fan. "Of course! I love your 'Tear of the Goddess' and 'Frozen Heart'!" She smiled before she stopped for a moment.

"Wait...if you're part of it, do you know who's Karthus's voice?" Pentakill had multiple members, but each played a 'role' of sorts like a fantasy roleplay. It was kind of nerdy, yes, but Thalia enjoyed it greatly.

She knew who all the members of Pentakill were in real life...except for one. The lead vocalist, Karthus, who played the role of an undead lich with a glorious voice which (and she would never say this out loud lest she get teased forever) she kind of had a crush on. But no one knew his real name...

Anette snorted. "Of course I know him! You've been traveling with him this whole time." Cyrus stiffened as all eyes turned to him. Thalia in particular had eyes as round as coins.

"...I really hate you sometimes Noors." "Love you too Cy!" He glared for a moment before turning back to a shocked Thalia. "You're the lead vocalist of Pentakill?!"

Cyrus scratched his head a little. "Um...yeah?"

Anette smirked at her little brother's predicament as she explained. "My career choice was to be a Heavy Metal singer, but I had to put it on hold of course when my mother died. After all the dust settled with Passione, I tried to get back to my career choice and of course, Cyrus was fine with helping out."

She grinned as she glanced back at Cyrus, "Imagine my surprise when he had quite a voice on him. Best range I've ever seen, so, I opted to be his vocals coach until he was up to snuff..."

The teen grumbled, massaging his throat a little. That had been rough, but honestly kind of worth it. Honestly, he was sure he could mimic nearly anyone, even with singing. Especially because the revenue from the music helped out surprisingly well with Passione's endeavors. Plus it was honestly...kind of fun.

Thalia was pleasantly surprised. She supposed that explained what he'd meant when Cyrus said a woman had helped him out in terms of music...

"After that, we came up the idea of a Band, and well...the rest is history. Two albums, those were fun. After that though, I went for a solo career, though I'm always fine with doing another Pentakill album." Anette grinned a little at that. Thalia turned from Anette back to Cyrus, showing an emotion that he couldn't quite pinpoint. (5)

"That reminds me Cy. The studio's thinking of getting another album for us." Cyrus groaned. "Ugh really? But I'm busy with all th-"

Thalia grabbed him by his collar, pulling him face to face and cutting him off with a small yelp. "You're doing it."

"Wh- but Thals, what about the Titans and all the-"

"You. Are. Doing. It." She said, punctuating each word with a jab in his chest.

Risotto gave a smirk while Percy and Grover snickered. "Whipped."

The two turned to glare at the others, before Cyrus sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll do it."

"Good boy."

"I'm not a pet!"

Risotto simply watched in amusement as the two bickered, Anette smirking beside him. His Boss had definitely picked a decent woman for himself.

"Can we get going now?" Phoebe grumbled, stopping the argument that Cyrus and Thalia had led themselves into. They blushed a little at the attention on them as Cyrus coughed a little, "Erm, right. Let's get going, we can talk while we walk along."

Rina simply smiled to herself as she watched everyone go about their business. These people were nice.

They continued to walk through the junkyard, finding little trinkets like a little hairclip that transformed into a bow of silver, and a set of figurines that seemed to resemble the Gods themselves.

Rina squealed as she suddenly split away from where she'd been walking by Percy, grabbing hold of a plushy version of a Hydra. She smiled as she held it in her arms. "It's so cute!" She looked up at Percy and Cyrus with wide eyes. "Can I keep it..?"

The two glanced at each other. They had been warned to take nothing from the junkyard...but damn was it painful to try and say it to the little girl's face.

"Sorry Rina, we can't take anything from here." Cyrus said with a wince. Rina's posture drooped a little as she dropped the plushy.

Cyrus made to walk away, with Percy following after gesturing for her to follow after them. Rina took a step to do so, before hesitating and glancing back at the plushy.

Eventually, they made their way close to the end of the junkyard, and they could see the lights of a highway in the distance, along with a neon vehicle of some kind. But in between them...

"Are...are those giant toes?" Grover asked. Cyrus narrowed his eyes as he examined them carefully.

"They are..." the young Stand User muttered to himself, shooting Thalia and Zoe a look. He looked down as well, his suspicions mounting further as he noticed tiny metal nubs reaching out of the sand near what were the giant toes.

Menacing...

"These are celestial bronze too." Phoebe noted cautiously.

"...Let's go around them." Cyrus suggested. Percy glanced at him quizzically as he held Rina's hand gently. "What? Why? We could just climb over."

Risotto narrowed his eyes as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Even now, his years of experience as a Hitman was acting up on him. Something was very wrong...

He could feel his Stand, and he was ready to unleash its power at a moment's notice.

Rina's grip on Percy's hand tightened as she moved closer to him out of uneasiness.

Ping!

Immediately the three elder Stand Users (excluding Risotto who's eyes simply glowed a deep red) summoned their Stands while Thalia drew her spear and Zoe her bow. Only to realize that it had only been Grover. The Satyr had tossed a random piece of scrap metal at the feet, making it resound and echo, as if the entire thing was hollow.

"Why...the hell...did you do that?" Anette demanded, frowning alongside Scaretale which seemed to be grinning at him hungrily as if sensing its user's anger.

Grover simply cringed as he fumbled for a reason. "I uh...I don't know?"

"Come on. Go around." Cyrus ordered, now disturbed as his eyes glowed with slightly pink-ish light.

After several minutes of walking, they had finally made it out of the junkyard, only a few hundred feet away from the highway.

Zoe let out a breath that she was holding. "Thank the Gods..."

Screeeech!

The horrendous sound of metal scraps being crushed and torn apart made the group whirl around to look back at the junkyard. Rising up from mountains of scrap, was a a hulking thing. The toes of bronze that they had seen tilted over as a massive abomination of metal stood tall on them.

It was enormous, probably the size of a skyscraper with legs and arms of rusted bronze metal, but still shone bright in the moonlight. His face was partially melted, revealing a deformed framework underneath, and it wore armor, upon the chest-plate was written the words "WASH ME" in the layer of dust.

Cyrus blinked, before facepalming. "Talos...of course it was Talos, why wouldn't it be Talos!" He grumbled, growing more and more heated as he went on.

Risotto turned to look at him. "Talos?"

"One of Hephaestus's creations. Definitely not the original one though. This one's too small. It's probably a prototype of him, or just a defective model he threw away." Thalia explained to the Stand Using assassin.

Apparently machines had feelings, because Talos did not appreciate being called 'defective'.

The giant of metal tore its sword from its scabbard, making a horrible sound that made everyone feel like their skin would peel off, before pointing it at them as if giving a command.

Immediately, metal arms and fists began to tear themselves from the sands, revealing themselves as bronze automatons shaped like Spartan soldiers, albeit all of them were half assembled or otherwise deformed. They turned slowly towards the group, before they began to march.

Clank. Clank. "Thieves located. Maximum force engaged."

Zoe scowled as she looked back at the questing group, "Someone took something. Who took something?"

She glared at many of the males, as if expecting one of them to admit it. Risotto stared back at her with his placid gaze, Percy shrugged alongside Grover, and Cyrus was completely oblivious to the glare, scowling as he tallied up the force of Greek automatons.

They were about twenty of them, maybe even more, with Talos looming tall over them all.

No one noticed that Rina had made herself quite small, looking guilty.

Cyrus snarled as he readied himself for battle, summoning D4C to his side. "Who cares about that?! Get yourselves ready for battle!"

As Talos took a step towards them, making the very ground beneath them shake and instantly crossing half the distance, Cyrus bit his lip. This wasn't good. How the hell were they going to beat a hulking skyscraper giant?

"Listen up you all! We can't really fight this thing on even footing. But I have a plan!"

"Really? Let's hear it Bamf-Boy." Thalia said, keeping her eyes on the automatons and the hulking giant.

Cyrus nodded firmly, looking extremely serious as he looked around at his group. "It's very simple! You're going to have to use your legs for these, and do it to your last breath!"

By now, everyone was paying rapt attention to Cyrus's orders. Risotto caught on however, and frowned while Anette sighed. "You mean that plan. Don't you?"

"Spit out thy plan already!" Zoe demanded.

"...RUN THE FUCK AWAAAAY!"

Risotto's hand met his face with an audible smack.

AN: Ah, this one was kinda fun to make, not gonna lie.

Bit of a sillier chapter along with a bit of backstory on Anette to flesh her out along with a bit of Cyrus still feeling strange sensations in his Stand and his left eye...and it keeps happening after he trusts them more and more with his past and feelings? Hmm...maybe the Saint had something to say about that...

Also a peek in on la Squadra in Rome as well as Athena on Olympus! A certain owl-head of a Goddess seems to have had enough of just staying on the sidelines regarding this mystery...

Notes:

(1) Bit of a lengthy note piece here. I put the Vatican as an ally because well...its Italian, and involved with the Saint. Combine that with the fact that Cyrus literally is part Jesus, and it wouldn't be too hard for him to get involved. Plus, the drug trade was a LOT of money, and if Cyrus would want to keep Passione afloat, he would have to find other ways of revenue. Hence, a deal with the Vatican.

This honestly came to me as an idea while studying some history regarding the House of Medici, who were famous for their intense influence during the Renaissance era, specifically because they became known as "God's Bankers" and had a huge stake in the Papacy. I've done something similar here with Passione.

(2) This is a reference to the library of the same name from Doctor Who's Extremis episode where the Pope asked the Doctor for help. That was a good episode...I'm still so salty about Chibnall.

(3) Special thanks to Kosaku Valentine for coming up with this application of D4C's powers!

(4) Another more lengthy note piece. I wanted a bit of a Trish figure for the gang to work with, and that spawned Anette for me. She's the child of the former Boss, that la Squadra found out about and took along for their crusade against the drug trade of Passione. Nocturni is meant to be a reference to her Stand's affinity for shadows.

As for the power of Scaretale, the song itself if you listen, is about Childhood horrors and fears, and especially regarding nightmares. At first, I thought I'd make Scaretale into a Stand more involving dreams...but that would just be Death 13, and that wouldn't be too cool considering that Death 13's user was a damn baby.

So the logical progression was...sleep paralysis. As for its personality, I took a bit of inspiration from both Spice Girl when she's first introduced, as well as Wolf of the Kindred from League of Legends. I like the idea that Anette has to do her best to keep her own Stand in check.

(5) Noora Louhimo is the name of the artist that serves as the female vocals for Pentakill as Kayle. As I was writing up Anette's character, the third album for Pentakill was released and well...I just couldn't resist. Not to mention, it explained why Aphrodite would want him to give a concert if he were the lead of an already successful band.

Plus I just love putting Cyrus on the spot for Thalia to bully. It's just too much fun.

Scaretale

Destructive Power: C

Speed: C

Range: B (50 meters)

Stamina: B

Precision: C

Developmental Potential: C

Ability: Paralysis and Hallcinations- Scaretale can induce a state similar to sleep paralysis where the user is completely conscious but paralyzed along with hallucinations through venom in its claws and teeth. If it grabs hold of an enemy, it will bite down to inject a full dose, but even a scratch from its claws can inflict paralysis of various parts of the body.

Scaretale is also intangible for the most part, as its body consists of just the shadows and resides in Anette's own shadow. This gives it an inherent weakness in light, and can harm it if the shadows are removed suddenly. Its range can be extended as long as there are shadows that Anette can extend it to, but can only be a maximum of 50 meters away from Anette.

This Stand is also quite sentient, though loyal to its user. This can prove to be both a blessing and a curse, as Scaretale can act independently from Anette's own wishes.

And that's that!

Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed making/struggling with it.

Remember to leave solid reviews if you would be so kind. The criticism and feedback sustain my mind.

Cheers!

Beowulf