DISCLAIMER: Most of the characters presented are part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The idea presented is also not entirely mine, I am just trying to make that idea a real thing. Given that, a big shout out to the multiple reddit users that have thought of such plot. There's one specific reddit post that was literally this idea, but the user was deleted, so if you ever come across this story, big thanks for the idea!
Chapter 1: The Rookie
"C'mon, I'm the daughter of Joseph Joestar. You know…THE Joseph Joestar. I'm Shizuka Joestar, you must have heard about me, haven't you?" she hesitated a bit when she noticed the guard was not understanding a single word she's saying. "Pleeeeeeeease, just let me through, will ya? Do I really need my documents?"
"Yes, you most certainly do." Replied the guard with an expressionless face, while taking a big bite out of his hamburger and a sip of his Starbucks coffee.
The year is 2018. To be more precise, February 23rd of 2018. Shizuka finally reached what many people call the "golden age". Albeit in some countries she can drink alcohol, in the country she currently finds herself in, The United States of America, she still has to wait three more years. Born in Japan, she was adopted by Joseph Joestar when she was still six months old, never meeting or even knowing who her parents are. Being raised by a senile hero, she didn't receive the best training on Hamon, but she knew enough to not be an ignorant about it. Without a proper master and without being blood-related to the Joestars, she couldn't properly unlock her abilities.
Despite not being proficient on Hamon's properties, she is constantly getting a better understanding of how her stand works. 'Achtung Baby' is its name. When she was younger, all it could do was turn herself and her surroundings invisible depending on her emotional reaction. As time went on, she, with the help of other stand users related to Joseph, learned that not only it has a physical form, but the use of her ability can be controlled.
As her adoptive father was too old for the intense training she had to go through to better comprehend her own abilities, he had a member of the Speedwagon Foundation train her, and that person was Koichi Hirose. The more she trained, the more she distanced herself from what many would call a normal life. She eventually dropped school at age 17 and decided she would become a member of the SPW Foundation, to turn into a hero like her father was.
That's where she finds herself at, currently with 18 years old of age. Shizuka stands in front of the SPW Foundation base in New York in a rainy morning. Knowing the base's defensive measures better than anyone, turning invisible and just entering would get her into trouble, especially considering it is her first day at work. The large parking lot and the thick rain made it almost impossible for Shizuka to find her car from where she is standing, that is, beneath the gate guard's outpost roof.
Some people say that in your first day of work, something will go wrong. That was especially true for Shizuka, who had left her documents not on her car, but inside the apartment she had inherited from her father.
"Look…can't you just let me in now and I'll call someone to pick up my documents later?" Despite knowing the answer, she still pleaded for another chance, maybe she could get it now if she smiled hard enough.
"Darling, you might as well be Joseph Joestar's daughter, I don't really care. However, without proper document and your SPW foundation card, you're not getting anywhere. And if you think you can just use some sneaky secret ability of yours, just know that there's a lot of snipers aiming directly on top of your head."
The guard was having enough of it, getting closer to the girl and making the most serious poker face he ever had to make. Right behind her though, a larger and older figure showed up, one that had the guard immediately go from threatening to pathetic in a matter of seconds. Putting his hand over his head like a soldier does when his sergeant shouts "Attention".
"Let her through, she's with me."
Shizuka recognized that voice, which immediately had her sigh in annoyance. The man was Jotaro Kujo, wearing a purplish coat, still with a striking resemblance to the one he used during his high school years. Being an almost 50-year-old man in 2018, the wrinkles on his face grew more apparent and the once perfectly black hair began to gray. The hat, however, didn't change even a tiny bit, it's still the same he's been using for the last few years.
The guard didn't take too long before opening the electric fence for both, and against her will, Jotaro had his right hand on her left shoulder, slowly pushing her to walk at his own pace.
"You don't work on this station, neither did I call you, so why the hell did you come?"
Despite getting her wish of entering this factory-sized station of the Speedwagon Foundation, Shizuka would rather miss her first day of work than being escorted by Jotaro himself.
"Gigi called me asking to keep an eye on you. I have business to settle here in New York too anyways." Jotaro didn't even look in her eye as he spoke, he just continued to walk besides her.
They were now walking through the automated car manufacturing section, where robotic arms fabricated automobiles in a mass production style. Sometimes Shizuka forgets that SPW isn't only the foundation, but an oil and vehicle manufacturing company. She wondered to herself if his 'business' with the company is related to the oil leaks in the ocean. After all, Jotaro is a marine biologist.
Once they reached the almost hidden elevator that would take them underground, where the true SPW Foundation was, both of them knew the awkward moment that was about to come during the long haul on the old elevator that hasn't received a big upgrade since Robert E.O. Speedwagon's death. They stood, side by side, as Jotaro pressed the -1 floor for him and -3 for Shizuka. As the doors closed and it began moving, it was about time for a discussion to start.
"This is why I didn't approve of your decision to work here. You aren't prepared for this world, you're gonna get yourself and others hurt. Even though I pressed the button for you, I hope you'll make the responsible decision for yourself and press that '0' button over there to get back up and leave." Jotaro said without changing his tone for a second and, once again, not even glancing at Shizuka.
"You're not my father, it's not like I need your approval! I've been training since I was a child for this moment, to finally be able to work here and you think I'm not prepared?! How about you get down from that high horse of yours? You're not better than anybody! Also, cut me some slack, I just forgot my documents because I was anxious for this day goddamnit!" Different from Jotaro, Shizuka immediately turned her entire body to point her finger towards his face, being as dramatic as possible, almost yelling at him.
"Yare Yare Daze…you're just like Gigi. You're irresponsible as he is, except he actually knew when lives were at stake. You don't know what it is like to lose friends. When we're young we think things last forever. Every day I wake up panting thinking that there's a whole bunch of knives going to hit me, every day I wake up not knowing if my family is alive and well, every day I wake up wondering how things would be if my friends had survived. Don't let your irresponsibility make you go through this. You still have the option to live without having to carry these burdens in your heart. You can still walk back, and I want to believe you're responsible enough to make the right call."
Jotaro said only barely looking at her and even without moving a muscle, made Shizuka go from an aggressive stand to a calmer one, acknowledging what he just said.
After Jotaro's lecture, the elevator had finally reached the '-1' floor, and he left without saying a single extra word or a goodbye. He didn't even look back. Jotaro was mostly absent during her childhood, only becoming more present once she started training with Koichi. He would constantly get in the way, telling Joseph to not involve her on the world of stands. Her hatred for her step-nephew grew larger the more he would interfere on her own life
Shizuka didn't even consider taking the route that Jotaro wanted her to take, so she simply continued down to the last floor, as originally intended.
Once the door was open, a large figure, with about 6'2", was waiting leaning on the wall of a large greyish corridor. This figure was wearing a full SPW armor, with even a helmet on. At first glance, one would take him for either a robot or a heavily armored super soldier, but once he took off his mask, you'd realize you're not entirely wrong. His short-haired red crew cut perfectly matched his reddish eyes. Shizuka hoped to be met with a smile, but was actually met with a face of disappointment from the armored man.
"You're late, Shizuka Joestar." The man affirmed, not crossing his arms as most would do when reprehending someone but holding tightly to his machine gun as a sergeant would.
"Yeah yeah, I'm late...so what? I'm here and that's what matters right now. I mean, I could've just missed today if I wanted. Here I am though, shiny and smiling." Shizuka tried to break the ice, even though that only seemed to make the man even more disappointed than before.
"Arriving late is an unacceptable offense. Discipline is an essential trait for a member of the SPW Foundation Task Force. Your punishment, however, will be applied soon enough. For now…" The man halts his words, twisting his bandoleer as to have his M16 behind his back, rather than holding it. "…I shall be your guide for the day and your sergeant for the remainder of your time here. So you may call me Sgt. Hayato Kawajiri or Sgt. Kawajiri if you prefer."
Hayato Kawajiri was born in Morioh in 1988, having his first contact with the SPW foundation when he was only 11 years old. His father, Kosaku Kawajiri, was murdered and replaced by the serial killer known as Yoshikage Kira. For some time, Kira pretended to be Hayato's father. The kid obviously mistrusted his dad's new behavior. Hayato aided Josuke and Okuyasu in the defeat of Kira, even offering to sacrifice himself. Once it was all over, his mother, Shinobu Kawajiri, wasn't able to manage her financial conditions nor maintain her own sanity as she believed her husband would one day come back home.
Due to Josuke's own pleads, the SPW foundation took in the Kawajiri family, aiding them financially and mentally as much as they could. That's how he got closer and closer to the task force, and before he could notice, he was already a member of their ranks. 19 years after the death of Yoshikage Kira, Hayato, now 30 years old, has become a valuable member of the Speedwagon Foundation Task Force.
"Although you can choose to sleep at your own home, we have available dorms for our members. We had a larger group before…"
Hayato halted, checking out the room with some kind of respect in his eyes. He turned on the lights to show the simplest of dorms, something that Shizuka was completely oblivious to as she grew up in the massive apartments provided by the Joestar Real Estate company.
He turned off the lights and proceeded to continue through the greyish corridors filled with numbers marking their sections. He showed some important sections such as a kitchen, a game room and a garage with multiple vehicles they can use to get to a mission, including a helicopter.
Their next stop was the intelligence room, an oval-shaped area that had a circular table in the middle, a television on the right side, multiple computers and document storage drawers. Reading what seemed to be a magazine was a man sitting on one of the chairs of the table, clearly meant for more people to sit on.
"Over here is our official intelligence room. This is where we gather and archive info of all the encounters we have, after all, no task force is complete without some bureaucracy. This is actually my favorite part of the process!" Hayato turned his head to Shizuka and smiled weirdly, letting know to her how much he likes writing down and archiving files. "That man sitting there is called Boingo, he's the second oldest in the team. He's not much of a talker, but he's a good guy."
Boingo was now 42 years old, and despite preferring to read his magazines with glasses to look smarter, he doesn't necessarily need them. Despite being 42, one could still perfectly say that he's in his mid-30's. Different from Hayato, he was currently wearing a dark button checkered shirt and a pair of blue jeans, only changing for an armored suit when duty calls. He shaved his head and no longer wore a cap, after all, he lost his "childhood coolness".
Shizuka noticed that Boingo wasn't reading a simple magazine. It was clearly manga, but none of the ones her teacher, Koichi Hirose, used to give her to read. "Aren't you a bit too old to be reading weekly shonen, old man?"
"First of all, this isn't shonen, this is seinen. Second of all, this is my stand, named Thoth." Boingo turns the magazine towards Shizuka, showing an almost realistic drawing of her in some sort of shock trance. "This seinen manga shows a possible future, going as far as to show the steps for that future to be achieved without giving much depth. If one knows of the future and tries to fight against it…this one will be punished by fate itself."
Boingo said it in the creepiest way that one could say anything, almost as if he wanted Shizuka to not follow the steps of his book.
Hayato didn't mind Boingo's words. It's as if he's usually that weird even in the team. However, both Shizuka and Hayato knew it was about time they left him alone with his own weirdness. She analyzed the size of the corridors, thinking to herself that all that area was built for something bigger, but now it seemed eerily ghostly. An occasional employee or guard would walk past them, but it wasn't anything as massive as it was built to be. Understandably so, there hasn't been a big stand event since 2011, so the resources and crew have decreased in size.
Shizuka knew as much as that she's currently filling the role of Koichi Hirose in the team, who was one of the early members and also one of the least present. Due to the fact he was either training Shizuka or trying to live his own life in Morioh, he decided it would be better for him to retire from the SPW Foundation Task Force to live a more "normal" life in Japan with his wife.
Hayato and Shizuka finally reached the last, but certainly not least spot of her first day at work: the training room. "Here, Shizuka, is not only the training room, but also a gym and where our arsenal is located. We have some real ass-kickin' weapons if I may add, even freaking rocket launchers! Well…let's get in so I can give you the proper tour. Ladies first, of course." He said as he opened the glass door of this massive room that only seemed to get bigger as she got in.
Once Shizuka put her right foot inside the room, a bullet zipped right in front of her eyes. It was such a sudden thing that her first reaction was that of shock, which she continued for a second or so, as if someone had cast a spell on her. It was exactly as Boingo's manga had predicted. In the next second, her stand acted on her emotional response, turning Shizuka completely invisible. She looked right, where the bullet came from, to see who shot her and there he was: a tall man with light-colored beige clothes and a cowboy hat. He had a dark undershirt, the top one seemed like a poncho tightened up due to a belt. His wide-brimmed hat has two straps set loose.
To Shizuka, he was not only exactly like a cowboy from western movies, but as old as these movies. His hair seemed to be once a light blonde one, but now it is a mixture between that blondeness and a smoothly light white color. The wrinkles on his face would immediately tell you his age, but there was another trait that stood out even more: a massive white Zappa beard. The man boasted a large smile, his teeth as shiny as the sun. He held his laughter as the bullet that was fired crossed the room, making multiple route changes until it finally hit a bullseye right on the middle target.
"Hol Horse! Just what the hell do you think you're doing?! Are you out of your goddamn mind?! You almost hit her!"
Hayato rushed inside the room as now Shizuka turned visible again. She was panting, still in shock, but now getting back to her senses. The man named Hol Horse giggled in a silly manner. He unsummoned his stand, that was the gun itself, and used the hand that was holding it to help him laugh without choking on his cigarette.
"Oh sorry, Hayato…I just wanted to play a prank on the new girl. Shizuka, ain't it? Didn't mean to scare ya, honey. Name's Hol Horse, but Mr. Dudley Do-Right over there just spoiled my introduction. If I may…" He grabbed her hand and gently kissed it as a gentleman would do. "…I'm pleased to meet you, mademoiselle."
"Yare yare dawa…look old man, you really have to get better at hitting on people."
Both Hayato and Hol Horse were surprised at her reaction, as the former expected her to either punch the guy or at least just be grossed out by his attempts, while the latter expected his charming advances to at least be recognized.
"I mean, I'm sure that during your prime those cheap words had any girl laying at your feet, but nowadays? C'mon, I'm fairly sure that me hitting on guys is miles better than you hitting on anyone with that hand kissing BS. Really, dude. Try going to a club or even try a goddamn relationship app, I don't know. Well, anyway, pleased to meet you, Hol Horse."
While the cowboy was still confused and even a bit mad that she didn't acknowledge his charm, he couldn't help himself but laugh a little. He liked her playful style. Hol Horse left the room, leaving Hayato alone with her.
"Uh, I am sorry about what happened just now…well let me finish what I was saying before all this scene. The gym is entirely based on perfecting our normal human skills. Strength, speed, marksmanship, all of it. However, where most of our magic happens is in the training area, it's meant for us to perfect our abilities with our stands and even with our hamon." Hayato exclaimed, showing her his hand as it shined the bright yellow of the ripple.
"Wait, you know hamon?!" Shizuka exclaimed, her eyes glowing as she now knew that herself and her father weren't the last hamon users.
"Ever since my teens years, I've been trained in the art of Hamon. I could even be considered a hamon master now. My teacher, Thom Yorke, has passed away, but his teachings will live on forever." Hayato looked up in respect for his now deceased mentor. "I know your father is pretty much a popstar when it comes to Hamon, but do you know how to use it?"
"A l-little bit? I mean, I know as much as the breathing technique, so you won't have to punch my diaphragm to 'correct' it. But if you ask me to do as much as a hamon-infused punch, I'll have to say I have no idea how to I'd accept some tips on it though." Shizuka stated, trying to make her hand glow too, but failing and only being able to do as much as a few sparkles of the yellow sun energy on her hand.
"Some tips? Heh, I'll make a hamon master out of you if that's the case. However, you first have a particularly important task, follow me." Both walked across the training room, the gym and even the arsenal, reaching the end of it all: the bathrooms. Shizuka wondered what such task could possibly be and when she looked back the answer was there.
Hayato was holding a mop on his hands and handed it to her with a sarcastic smile on his face. "Remember when I said your punishment for arriving late would soon be applied? Well, this is it! Your task is to scrub the floor 'till it's clean, both the man's and the ladies'. I'll come back 2 hours from now to check on your progress."
The more Hayato spoke, the angrier Shizuka got. Once he left, she called him all the names possible before actually entering a bathroom to do as she was told.
As much as she absolutely hated mopping the floor, if that had to be done for her to finally fulfill her teenage dream of being a part of the SPW Foundation Task Force. All the first impressions were quite strong in her opinion. Boingo and Hol Horse were…weird, to say the least. Hayato was, in her opinion, a more serious leader.
She couldn't imagine how things were when only the three of them were there. Hell, she didn't even understand how they were three great people in Koichi's eyes. Shizuka would trust her mentor's words though, but only time would actually tell if they are true or if they are doomed to be the worst task force the world has ever seen.
To be continued…