Jinnah International Airport, 1988
So this is how I die. My grandson, who is barely two years younger than me, plunges two fingers into my temple while my older self rifles through my brain with vines…
The younger Joseph tenses up as he prepares for the impact of Star Platinum's fingers beside his left eye.
Dammit! I blame my older self for not teaching you earlier! Why me?
Suddenly a thought crosses Joseph's mind.
Wait. Vines? Why does he get so many? All I have is this one vine-
And just as suddenly, he feels the burning energy of Hamon enter his skull from both of his temples.
"Alright, Jotaro. I'll be pumping a lot of negative Hamon in to separate the Stand. Try to hold him together!" The older Joseph grits his teeth while his face contorts with worry.
"Got it." On the other side of the younger Joseph, Jotaro responds quiet but focused. The black clad teen breathes in as much air as he can, with Star Platinum mimicking the motion.
"Okay, good time to tell you I have the utmost faith in you!" He, of course, lies as he feels Hermit Purple and Star Platinum wriggle around his brain. After a few seconds of pulsing Hamon thumping through his head, the younger Joseph hears a sharp exhale from Jotaro as concern colors his tone.
"Jiji…do you feel that?"
"Feel what? What the hell is in my head, Jotaro?" The older Joseph interjects before Jotaro can answer, however.
"Calm down, idiot. Feels like hundreds of tiny Stands in there…" Despite the comment, the older Joseph is oddly calm.
"How can I calm down when you tell me that? By the time you rip one out, the rest will-" This time, Jotaro interrupts the young Joseph's blabbering.
"You're right, Jiji. Feels like it."
"But it isn't." The graying Joestar grins and winks at Jotaro. "If we tried to just randomly pluck these Stands out, you'd be dead already, whippersnapper!"
"Okay, feel free to explain before you pump my brain cells with Hamon!"
"There's only one real Stand in your skull, Jojo." Jotaro calmly speaks as he breathes calmly. "It's tried to make decoys from your brain matter, but-"
"But the negative Hamon will only target something separate from the body! So those decoys are worthless in the face of Hamon!" With a deep breath, in sync with Jotaro, the older Joestar surges Hamon through his Stand. "Ready, Jotaro? +/- OVERDRIVE!"
"ORA!" Like gunfire, Jotaro snaps to attention, surging Hamon through the younger Joseph's brain.
OH MY GOD, IS THIS WHAT SUZI Q FELT?
The fiery sensation of Hermit Purple's Hamon wrack through his skull, yet the gentle sensation of Jotaro's Hamon numbs the sensation out of pain. He can FEEL the pain, but he can't?
Oh my god, it's like they numbed me during surgery but I can still see them stabbing me!
After a confusing few seconds, he can feel his vision begin to tunnel from the massive flow of Hamon passing through his skull.
"Jiji, I think we're losing him!"
"No worries, Jotaro!" With a flick of his wrist, Hermit Purple wraps itself around…something in Joseph's head. "I've got our culprit right here!"
Both the older Joseph and Jotaro pull their Stands from within the younger Joseph, with Hermit Purple whipping whatever it was holding upwards above them both. Jotaro sticks his hands in his pockets while Star Platinum reels back a punch.
"Jotaro, let him have it!" The older Joseph cheers as the miniscule Stand falls down from where it was thrown, which Jotaro intercepts with a flurry of punches.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!" Like machinegun fire, Star Platinum's fists crash into the enemy Stand. The younger Joseph can barely make out its red, insect-like form before it seems to disappear.
"…Good…work…" With a thumbs up, the freshly Hamon-filled Joseph passes out on his back onto the tarmac, exhausted and frankly confused by the barrage of sensations.
Karachi, 2220 Miles from Cairo
"Polnareff, the fog-" Avdol reaches out to try and restrain Polnareff, but the crowd of bodies presses further towards them all.
"Ha, Avdol! It's too late. Justice has his arm, and soon the rest of you!" Steely Dan gloats with ugly, beaten smirk as he tries to stand.
"Uh, Polnareff? Why are you looking at me like you're about to really regret something?" Anne asks with confusion on her face.
Poor girl…she can't even see what about to-
"Anne! Watch out!" Polnareff's arm reels back, with Silver Chariot following suit. Using both of their spare arms, both Polnareff and his Stand try to hold back his strike. Yet…
"How about you watch out?" Anne ducks and reels back an arm, while Avdol's eyes finally connect to where she is looking. A corpse had slipped by Avdol's barrage of flame, and was lunging at Polnareff's legs. "I can take care of myself, you philandering Frenchie!" Thrusting her arm forward, she exhales a deep breath. The fist travels at lightning speed, yet it doesn't stop at the end of her rather short child arm.
Is that-
"ZOOM PUNCH!" The extended arm crashes into Polnareff's midsection, sending him careening through a table and into the wall behind him. The fist whips back to Anne's arm, which she rubs at the shoulder while wincing. "Ow…so the Hamon was supposed to numb that and not just extend the arm…"
"Avdol! The table, it-" Polnareff points with his free arm at the multitude of splinters piercing his leg, but Avdol interrupts him before he finishes.
"Stay put, Polnareff!" Avdol turns and focuses on Polnareff's legs and pierced arm. "This might burn, Jean Pierre." Blasts of flames launch from Magician's Red's hands, forming into the fire shackles used to restrain Steely Dan earlier. They embed themselves into the floor and wall, pinning all but Polnareff's free arm.
"Thanks Avdol, but the girl…" Polnareff points at Anne as his other possessed limbs struggle against their flame binds.
"She can handle herself, Polnareff. Listen to the little demon." As he speaks, Anne rolls underneath the charging zombie as it lunges for her throat, fitting in the gap between its legs. Whatever it was before this is long gone, its former outfit singed by a barrage of fire from Avdol.
"Go ahead, you little demon! Stab the body! That will help…" Steely Dan climbs back over the counter as he tries to provoke Anne, desperately clutching his cauterized stump of a wrist.
"Shut up!" Anne rubs her shoulder a bit more as the possessed body turns to lunge at her again.
"Crossfire Hurricane!" A burning ankh crashes against the tide of bodies outside the shop.
Not sure how much longer I can hold these off, especially since I have to focus on Polnareff's binds…
"Okay, then, zombie bastard." Anne stands up, staring down the zombie careening towards her. "Try this!" She lifts her left knee up, then flows Hamon through her right leg. With a short hop and twist, she slams the lunging corpse with her right leg, connecting a solid blow to the neck. Rather than sending the body back towards the waiting crowd outside the restaurant, the head flies off like a soccer ball towards a goal. With a thud, Anne lands facedown on the ground before she can see the result of her kick.
"Avdol, she needs help!"
"Did I get it?" Anne peels herself off the ground and looks behind her. She only has a split second to roll away as the headless, marionetted body thrusts a gnarled hand at her. "Okay, that's a no!"
Suddenly, the voice of an old woman echoes from somewhere outside of the restaurant.
"Oh, Polnareff. You made it so far. Now, help me gather up the rest of your little friends…"
Polnareff's bound limbs redouble their efforts to free themselves from Avdol's flame bindings. The bonds sear into Polnareff's wrist and ankles, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Tch." Avdol's eyes scan the crowd of fire and bodies, but can't pinpoint the voice.
"That's…That's the enemy Stand user, Avdol! The mother of the man who killed my sister! She has his hands!" Polnareff grits his teeth to stop from screaming, but weakly lets out an anguished cry.
"Hey, uh, we might be screwed, guys." Anne leaps over the headless corpse after another lunge. Even the horde of bodies before Avdol seem to be getting quicker, more resilient…
"She's definitely close. Her Stand is getting stronger."
"Ha!" A voice echoes from behind the counter, as Steely Dan pokes his head out. "You can't withstand the might of both of our Stands, maggots!"
A glint flashes in the crowd. Small knives fly from somewhere low in the sea of bodies, heading straight for Avdol and Anne.
Tch, it's too quick, there's no way for me to stop it without getting cut!
"Chariot!" Polnareff manifests Silver Chariot, just as restrained as before. "Quick! Deflect them!" Bursts of steam and sharp clanking sounds emanate from his Stand before pieces of its armor go flying off in all directions. Luckily, a piece collides with the knife headed towards Avdol, embedding it into the wall opposite Polnareff.
"Anne-" Avdol turns to warn Anne, but she has already dropped flat to the floor, allowing the knife to sail over her. And into Steely Dan's forehead. She looks up to see where the knife went, causing her to scream as she recognizes what happened. The man collapses onto the counter, dead on impact.
"Alright, grandma! Come out here so I beat your ass into tapioca!" Anne screams through tears as she sweeps the still-attacking zombie's legs. Polnareff speaks up, with a confused tone.
"Anne, it's okay, that guy was a bad guy, right? Besides, I saved Avdol-"
"-That man's Stand was attached to Joseph Joestar. And if that man dies…" As Avdol speaks, a short old hag wades her way through the front of the crowd.
"I always hated how much that man blathered and boasted." At the sound of old woman talking, Polnareff seethes and curses to himself. "I prefer to toy with my prey only after I've won." Avdol straightens up, a chill down his spine.
"And what, you think you've won? You walked right into the range of my Stand." Avdol smiles as he points at the old woman. Yet, a sickening feeling pervades his thoughts and breath.
"Of course, Mohammed Avdol. I already have Polnareff. And wouldn't you know it, he's been keeping some techniques secret from you. Too bad we already invaded his mind so long ago…" She cackles a hearty laugh, causing Polnareff's eyes to go wide.
"Avdol! Anne! Find cover!"
"Too late…" The fog swirling around the room coalesces around the short, decrepit woman, forming a giant skeletal head with two equally bony hands above her. The head is adorned with a gaudy red and gold crown, tendrils of fog stretching from its ghastly fingers towards the bodies it controls.
"Wha-" Avdol turns to look at Polnareff, whose Silver Chariot is still active. The bound rapier arm, now freed of armor, moves a bit in its flame bind. It angles its rapier a bit, and slams the point into the wall above it, bending the sword. Finally, though, the force causes the blade to snap from its hilt, bouncing across the room like a rebounding missile.
It's too fast! Anne!
Avdol leaps towards Anne with Magician's Red, his Stand's outstretched arms wrapping around the girl to protect her. As anticipated the blade flies straight towards the girl's sternum, but the muscular form of Magician's Red absorbs the blow…
Tch…we're all doomed…
A wound forms on the back of Avdol's arm, right where Chariot's blade had embedded itself in Magician's Red.
Jotaro…Joseph…Kakyoin…It's up to you…I'm sorry.
END of CONVERGENCE 5