New Delhi, through a goddamn window
Okay, this is fine. Just thrown through a goddamn window by a goddamn maniac. Probably woke Jotaro up, now I'm gonna get ambushed by both of 'em. Fine. Perfectly fine.
"You lunatic, get out of our room! Honey, call security!" A couple stands cowering in the corner by the door, blocking it with their bodies. The two of them are seemingly naked, but have grabbed sheets and pillows from the bed to cover themselves. Light twinkles off of the shards of glass that coat most of the back end of this bedroom.
Hol Horse puts on his calmest face and takes a decisive step forward. The man retracts his probing hand from the dimly lit bedside table close to him and screams "Oh god no, don't hurt me mister!"
"Quit yer whinin' and move out the way." Hol Horse strides up to the door and the shivering couple part to give him room. He grabs the door and flings it open before dashing out.
Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit, gotta run, gotta get the hell outta here! What the hell was I thinking going in here without a partner! I'm not getting' flung out of any more damn windows!
His stride is in a full on sprint as his face is petrified into one of panic. He makes it to the end of the hallway, but quickly realizes how turned around he is and runs back down where he came from.
Agh, what the hell? Why is this place so confusing?
"…down that way, then take a left." A mysterious voice whispers into his right ear. Hol Horse stops dead in his tracks, and darts his head around to find the source. "Hol Horse…keep going, then take a left."
"Who the hell are you?" He draws Emperor from nothing and turns in place, inspecting every seam in this bright hotel hallway. Chuckling echoes in the empty hall, seemingly from Hol Horse's person. He looks down to his right shoulder, and sees a small, sinewy face popping up like a boil right where his neck meets his shoulder.
"AHHH! SHIT SHIT!" Hol Horse begins to smack the face repeatedly with the butt of his revolver, only to feel the sensation of smacking brick with a spoon. The face just smiles at him, and two small arms protrude from Hol Horse's flesh beside itself and grab his hand as it crashes down again.
"My name is Empress, and we're going to be together a long time, Hol Horse."
Wait, Empress? SHE was my back-up? Oh no.
"Hey, ain't you supposed to be killing those Joestars? Why the hell are you attacking me?"
"Oh, Hol Horse. You keep running from my master, when she likes you so much. I'm just here to make sure you don't run away from her or your assignment." Hol Horse gulps loudly, sweat rolling down his temple as he stands in shock. He had only heard about Empress. Like a damn tick, it sucks out your life force slowly and gets stronger for it.
"I'm not on the damn hit list, lady!"
"No, but when we get done my master can take your share and hers and retire happily with you. Well, what's left of you." The sinewy face and arms rise and form a small torso, around 8 inches tall, and the small muscular hands start to stroke the side of Hol Horse's face.
He pauses briefly in fear, but puts his hand on Emperor's trigger. In response, the tiny stroking hands snap over to Hol Horse's windpipe and grasp firmly.
"No, no, Hol Horse. I could kill you before you pull the trigger. Let's go kill that Joestar, and as a reward I'll let you run a bit longer before I suck your life force dry. Now as I said, keep going straight and to the left. He's on the floor below."
New Delhi, 1988
Joseph hunches slightly as he tries to read the text on the remote in his hands. He readjusts himself at the foot of the bed, and squints as he brings it closer to his face. Finally, he pushes the red button on the top of the remote and the TV powers on.
Finally. Now, let's see what our cowboy is up to.
He stands up and stretches, before going up to the TV and extending his Stand's vines into the sides of it. The blank static dies down, and rearranges itself into a black and white image of Hol Horse running down a hotel hallway, although something is perched on his shoulder. The viewpoint continues to switch as he runs, as if flipping to different cameras lining the hall.
Interesting. He looks…distressed.
Suddenly, a door opens in front of where Hol Horse is running, and a businessman walks out. The man's eyes are focused on his wristwatch, and he straightens his tie a bit before looking up and seeing the frozen Hol Horse. The cowboy's hands are raised up, either in fear or embarrassment, and a small staticky voice issues from the TV.
"kkkkrzzz- ill him, Ho-kkrzz"
Putting his head closer the screen, Joseph attempts to look closer at the figure on the cowboy's right shoulder. The TV responds by zooming a bit closer, showing the brown, exposed muscle torso and head shouting into Hol Horse's ear.
"Kill him, Hol Horse! Get him out of our way!"
"No way, he ain't on the hitlist either!"
"Uh, can I help you, weirdo?" Joseph sees the small creature's hand crush down on Hol Horse's neck, and the cowboy begins to aim his pistol at the stranger. "Woah, what the hell? I don't want trouble!"
"Move!" Hol Horse pulls back his gun and sprints forward, shoving the man out of the way. Joseph retracts his vines and dashes to the door.
Assassin or not, that Hol Horse has something good in him. And something evil and baby-shaped, but that's probably the real assassin. Puppeting people and forcing them to kill us, that's dirty. He's heading to the elevator, let's see if I can catch him first.
Energy flows through his limbs as his feet carry him towards the elevator door. He cracks his neck and scratches his left shoulder mid run, his mind reviewing everything he saw in the last few minutes. As if on cue, the elevator doors open up just as Joseph arrives, and he dives in. When both his feet make contact with the carpeted interior of the elevator, he hears a gun cock behind his head.
"Hands up, kid."
"Excellent job, Hol Horse. Now kill him."
"Kid…I got a favor ta ask." Joseph turns to see a panting Hol Horse wedged in the front corner of the elevator, who slams the ground floor button as the elevator doors shut.
New Delhi, 42 Days Remaining
The stairwell echoes with the sound of metal hitting concrete. Jotaro peers over the railing down the spiraling stairs, the door behind him limply swinging closed. Star Platinum manifests beside his head, and its pupils dilate as it examines the shadows in the floors below.
I see you, lady. You can only run so far.
Jotaro vaults over the side of the railing, falling at high speeds for a few floors before Star Platinum reaches out and grabs a rail to hoist them both over. Flinging himself to where he saw the shadow, Jotaro finds himself in front of a freshly opened door to the 16th floor. Still using the momentum of landing from his fall, he leans into a run to pursue this mystery lady.
Time passes…
Following the sounds of footsteps, he finally tracks down the fleeing woman dipping into a room. Busting in the door with a kick, Jotaro finds himself in what appears to be an empty laundry room. His eyes comb through the sterile white appliances lined up in rows in the center. All of them are open and ready for use, except one dryer a little ways in to the first row.
New Delhi, in an elevator standoff
I don't care who helps me, I ain't bein' no clingy woman's toy.
"Listen kid, I know I shot at ya earlier, but please, help me out he-" The words are caught in his throat as Empress clamps down with its grasping hands.
"You don't have the luxury of choice, Hol Horse. Kill him, or die yourself." Hol Horse starts to gargle, the light of the elevator tightening to a pinhole of vision as his breath is cut short. The pressure suddenly alleviates, however, and he glances down to notice purple vines prying the small creature from his neck.
"You're right, the choice is mine. You'll have a lot of explaining to do, Hol Horse. But I can wait 'til we remove that wart you got there." Joseph smirks and winks a cocky smile.
Damn this cocky bastard. I might just shoot him for the hell of it when this thing's off me.
Joseph hunkers down and yanks hard on the sinewy human effigy, but it pulls the vines taut with resistance rivaling a steel beam.
"Hey, cowboy, shoot it already!" Without hesitation, Hol Horse bends his elbow and takes aim with his gun under his chin, barrel pointed directly at Empress. His eyes are almost blinded by the exposed bulb jutting from the top of the elevator, and his breathes in deep before firing. Before his finger can catch the trigger though, the barrel is jerked up from his aim and pointed directly under his jaw.
"What the he-" He turns his vision down to notice that Empress is now completely unimpeded by vines, and when he looks at Joseph he sees that the strange man also has an Empress on his shoulder. The muscled baby Stand is bombarding Joseph's face with punches, pinning him against the elevator wall.
"Goddammit, there's two! You really are trying to kill me, you stupid cowpoke!"
"You musta gotten some of her blood on ya, too, you fool!"
"You're the one spreading the blood around!"
"Boys, boys…" Both Empress's speak in unison, "There's enough of me to go around." The Empress holding the barrel of Emperor grabs Hol Horse's wrist and jerks its aim towards Joseph's head. The one holding Joseph grabs him by the hair and holds him steady. "Now, Hol Horse, looks like I have to kill both of you in one go."
Goddammit. She's got a hold of Emperor, even if I move the bullet she can just crush my throat in an instant without anything holding her back. And that idiot is just taking it…
"Now, little Joestar, can I get your name so I can get my check from DIO?" Joseph kneels, almost silently, coughing a bit with his eyes closed. "Come on now, don't be shy, child."
"Don't mock me, little witches. Not when you haven't won yet."
"What?"
"The name's Joseph Joestar." And with that, Joseph raises his right arm and extends his Stand straight up, grasping onto lightbulb and crushing it. Glass showers the elevator floor, darkness flooding every corner but the light behind the ground floor button.
Not the glass agai-wait, the pressure on Emperor's gone!
Hol Horse fires his gun exactly where it was aimed before, but the brief flash of the muzzle is just light for him to know exactly where to bend the bullet around. In the darkness, the shot makes a U-turn to careen straight towards the growth on his shoulder, and a sound of flesh splattering against metal fills his ears. Hol Horse feels the briefest pinch, as if a needle was driven through the skin of his shoulder, before it vanishes entirely. He smirks to himself and pumps his fist at the feeling of relief washing over his shoulder.
Damn, I'm good.
"Good shot, you didn't hesitate."
"So, Joseph Joestar. What makes you so sure I won't kill you?"
"Well, I did save your life…"
"And?"
"And, well, if you're too dim to remember that Joseph Joestar is a crusty old man and not a gorgeous young guy like myself that's your problem."
Tch, did he play me?
"Yer a Stand user traveling with Jotaro. And I was told that you were in fact a Joestar. That's enough for me to drag your head to DIO for a nice sum of change."
"Money? Really? You think whatever petty cash DIO is offering to you is worth dying for?"
"Hell no! Yer like fish in a barrel in this elevator, nowhere for you to run or hide."
"Oh sure, from me. But from Jotaro? And besides, I'm fairly sure my Speedwagon Foundation could pay you a bigger price for taking down DIO, without any threats of friendly fire." Hol Horse narrows his eyes, still unable to see anything in the darkened elevator. The man's voice still seemed to come from his spot before.
Good thing we're going to the ground floor. I can shoot this blabbering idiot and get away on my horse, even if that offer is tempting. Just one Joestar is enough cash to hold me over for now…especially when it's easy money.
Just as he raises his gun to fire, the elevator doors behind him part and pour light inside. Hol Horse peeks behind him in panic, before looking to Joseph. However, Joseph simply grins back and waves with his left hand. And with a determined pull, Joseph hoists himself straight up with a Hamon-assisted jump, right out of the escape hatch on the top of the elevator.
"Toodles, Hol Horse. Next time you see us you better be asking for a punch card." Joseph laughs distantly in the shaft above.
"Damn." Hol Horse goes to reach for the 20th floor button, but sees the hotel staff eyeing him and his bloody clothes. "Gotta regroup." He dismisses Emperor and sprints to his horse outside the hotel, reaching for a cigarette in his pocket.
Speedwagon Foundation, huh? Wonder what their net worth is…
New Delhi, 42 Days Remaining
Jotaro shakes a match out, and takes a deep inhale of his cigarette. He pressed the elevator button a while ago, probably coming from the ground floor. However, the elevator eventually opens up and Jotaro notices the bulb is out. He steps in anyway, and puts out his cigarette on the metal door frame.
Shabby hotel.
He lights a match to see the buttons, and presses the button for the penthouse floor. The flame only barely reveals the small blood splatter on the door.
Time passes…
As Jotaro steps out, he sees a panting Joseph face down on the floor. He steps over the man and walks to the penthouse, eager to head to bed.
"Jotaro. Is there anywhere I can wash the blood off these clothes here?"
"Should be a couple of laundry rooms around. Don't use the one on the 16th floor."
"What? Why?"
"I opened up a dryer and someone had left a mess. Just wait 'til tomorrow." Jotaro trudges back to bed, leaving a confused Joseph still wiped out on the floor.
END OF CHAPTER 9