Chapter 2: Bloody Sunday and Heathens.
The stand Heathens used in this chapter is not my original creation. I am using a stand created and visualized by the Youtuber AP274. Please support the original creator and consider this fanwork of their fanwork. For the minor enemies of this story I will use other peoples original stands.
Shizuka took a moment to observe the man lying in front of her. He was tall, but not very muscular. He was wearing a long dark coat with a red spiderweb-pattern. His skin was a deep shade of copper.
Shizuka had keen eyes, so she noticed something on his forehead. It looked like a gross little ulcer. It seemed to wriggle. For a few seconds Shizuka was about to ignore it, but then she remembered something. The story of her fathers perilous trip to Egypt. There, they had encountered two men that were being controlled by vampire flesh. Her nephew had used his stand Star Platinum to pull them out. The little flesh bud of the vampire had been described eerily similar to this one.
Shizuka thought about it. During a family visit when she was very young she had seen Star Platinum in action against a robber, and knew that she wasn't nearly as strong, but she was about as fast and precise. She decided to take the risk.
In order to avoid its tentacles she turned invisible and observed from the side while Achtung Baby began the operation. The faster the better, so it grabbed the flesh bud and immediately started pulling. First she was slow and careful, but then she felt it start to move around in it's victims brain, so she surprised it by jerking it up with an extra boost of speed and strength. This got it out of the man's brain, so the rest went pretty smooth.
When she finally got the flesh bud out she ran inside the kitchen, still invisible, and took from an emergency box of band-Aid and bandage. She bandaged the man's forehead and using her thirty seconds of experience, she announced him fully healthy.
Suddenly, his eyes shot open. He looked around himself, confused and groggy. It hit Shizuka. She turned visible. He shook til out of surprise. "Oh, hey, you're finally awake. How are you feeling? Should I get you to a hospital?" The man calmed down and on shaky legs he stood up.
"No, thanks, I'm feeling better." Those were his last words before he fell unconscious again.
He woke up again in a hospital a few blocks over, tucked in under some white blankets. Shizuka was sitting next to him, playing with a coin. "Hey, are you feeling better now?" He nodded. "So, what's the situation with the vampire flesh stuck in your brain?"
He sighed.
"Shizuka Joestar, even though I attempted to hurt you and your mother, you forgave me and saved my life."
Shizuka was a little taken aback. "I mean, yeah, it's not like I can just let you die in some alley, right?"
He thought about this answer for a second, and then answered himself. "I wasn't lying when I said I was a doctor. My name is Mello Clayton Jr. The Clayton family has a long and proud history as doctors and medical professionals. It's oath is to always prioritize others' health and survival over one's own feelings. You followed that oath, and thus you have my respect."
Shizuka nodded, a little confused. "Now, about the vampire flesh bud?"
"Oh, sorry. I tend to get a little too excited when it comes to my family name and medicine. It happened a week ago…
The boy had been barely conscious when they brought him in, but now he was completely knocked out. An accident with a cigarette had caused a car to explode. A huge piece of metal had been launched right under his chest. It hadn't gotten too deep, but he was dangerously close to bleeding out.
Everybody in the room was on edge. Mello was panicking inside but managed to control himself and continue with the operation. This was his first life-or-death situation and it felt like hell. He was trying to use a scalpel to push the scrap metal up out of the chest.
Suddenly, a voice spoke in his ear. "In a few minutes he will be dead, and you can't save him…" Mello tried to ignore it as some kind of stress hallucination. "...You have had those abilities since you were very young, right? If you make a deal with me I'll save him…"
Mello, in a lapse of judgement, looked up from his work. Everybody looked at him, confused. No one else seemed to have noticed the voice. "Doctor, focus!"
He immediately went back to work. "Just say yes and I will be able to save him. All you will have to do in return is a little job for me…"
Mello was nearly about to break from the anxiety and stress, so he whispered "Okay."
The room went dark. One of the nurses screamed "Power outage!" Suddenly, the lamps went back on again. The boy was sleeping on the white bed, fully healed.
...Later that night I was at home, when he appeared to me. He was tall and muscular, and called himself Hellstrom. He made me show the ability I have had since I was a child, I call it Bloody Sunday, and after that he planted the flesh in my brain to control my mind. Luckily I was able to hold on to myself so I didn't try to kill you, only knock you unconscious."
Shizuka considered the story. "Well, it seems like we have to hunt down and kill this Hellstrom, before he sends another hitman after me and my family."
Mello nodded. "I attempted to harm you, and even though I was under the control of this vampire, I still violated the oath sworn by my family, so I will assist you to clear my name."
Shizuka smiled. "Okay, nice. But the doctor said you should rest for at least one more day. I can investigate more while you do that."
Mello nodded and tried to go to sleep, and Shizuka left the room.
As she went by the room next to Mello's she heard a scream from the room next door. She looked over both her shoulders, then turned a little bit of the door invisible so she could peek
in. She could only see a pool of blood and a bunch of doctors surrounding some guy, so she guessed it was an amputation gone wrong. Suddenly, someone coughed behind her to get her attention.
She turned around to see a short guy with brown hair and pale skin, giving her a pointed stare. "My child, to be so fascinated by the pain of another human, points to a lack of empathy. I recommend you stop listening in on this poor soul and move away. I am supposed to pray for him during the operation." Shizuka gave him a hurried and embarrassed apology, before walking as quickly as possible out of sight.
As she wandered down the hallway she felt the need to go to the toilet and ducked into a nearby one. After she was done with her business she stretched out her hand to open the door. But she couldn't. First she checked the lock, but it was supposed to be open. It must have locked itself. Shizuka sighed. She stood up on the toilet lid, and with a jump she was able to climb into the booth next to her.
She tried the lock there, and the same thing happened. Repeat the process again, and the lock there is malfunctioning. Shizuka sat down to think. As she did, she felt something soft wrapping itself around her leg.
She looked down, and saw a helix of toilet paper climbing up her leg. She tried to kick it off, but it was too tightly wrapped. She sent out Achtung Baby to rip it into pieces. Together with Achtung she kicked the door open, and their combined strength was enough to get it to break. When she got out into the bathroom, she ran into the priest from earlier standing in the doorframe. He was dressed in a green silk robe and was fidgeting a cross in a necklace.
Shizuka immediately noticed that the locks to all the stalls had been weirdly flattened so that they would be impossible to open. The priest was giving her a kind of empty stare.
"My child, please do not resist. An angel has given me a mission to execute you, and I must follow the will of the angel. Heathens, show yourself."
A tall stand clad in green and yellow armor appeared above him. A yellow cross was printed over its chestplate. Shizuka started running towards the priest, her hand on the pepper spray in her pocket. The priest pulled out a syringe, and his stand touched it. The needle started growing at an explosive rate, and Shizuka barely dodged it as it shot out towards her.
She turned invisible and created an illusion of herself. She snuck up behind the priest and pulled out the bottle. "Do you think my guided sight can't see through your illusion?"
As Shizuka pressed the button on the pepper spray nothing came out. The stand had clogged the opening for the spray in the blink of an eye. Shizuka immediately abandoned the operation and escaped into the hallway.
She started running towards Mello's room, when a wall suddenly shot out of the ground, blocking her escape path. She turned to see the priest with a smug look on his face.. "My ability, Heathens, can control the shape of anything it touches! I have trapped you in the hallway!"
He sent Heathens into the bathroom, and a few seconds later it returned carrying a pile of toilet paper. Shizuka giggled. "Oh no! He's gonna wipe my ass!" The priest did not find this very funny. The stand dropped the toilet paper to the floor.
Snakes of white paper immediately started crawling towards her. They reached Shizuka in the blink of an eye, and tried out to grab her.
She reacted quickly, creating multiple illusions of herself to avoid the onslaught of paper. The door to the nearest room had been covered in toilet paper, so she sent out Achtung to start ripping it to pieces.
But before Achtung could do that it stopped. The priest had ridden on the toilet paper to get closer, and had sent out his stand to grab Achtungs arm.
"Shizuka Joestar, you won't escape from Heathen's power!" He declared.
But Shizuka was quick. Using her free arm she grabbed a potted plant that had been placed in the hallway, and threw it towards the priest.
The surprising move allowed the plant to get pretty close before the priest reacted. At that point he had no choice but to let Achtung go and block the potted plant. Achtung kicked open the door and Shizuka ran into the room, closing the door behind her.
She took a few deep breaths and started formulating a new plan. But before she could do that a huge hole started to grow in the wall behind her. In a matter of seconds the entire wall was gone and the priest entered the room to confront her.
"Shizuka Joestar! You're caught!" He was crazy, but he was right. Shizuka had been forced into a corner. Heathens started reaching out towards her. But Shizuka wasn't one to give up, even in the face of such odds. She turned invisible. The second she did, Heathens lunged towards where she had stood, but missed. Shizuka jumped out the window onto the fire escape.
Heathens started chasing after while Shizuka got up on the handrail. When Heathens was just a few seconds away she jumped.
She grabbed onto the nearest window and pulled herself up into the hallway.
Shizuka was only a few meters away from Mello's door when Heathens touched the floor, and sharp spikes formed out of it. Shizuka managed to avoid getting stabbed by jumping onto a waiting bench.
A nurse walked out of the room next to the waiting bench. The priest morphed the floor back to normal, and quickly approached the nurse. Shizuka was just about to jump off when she found that she couldn't. It was too late. The priest had gotten within range and used his stand to morph the bench's soft pillows around her feet, trapping her.
Suddenly, the nurse stopped as well. The priest had done the exact same thing to him. He seemed like he was about to scream, but with horror in his eyes he realized he couldn't. The priest had fused his mouth shut. "My child, this ability of mine, Heathens, has trapped both you and this nurse. Now, if you or your stand make any sudden moves, I will kill this man."
Shizuka was sweating bullets. "Hey, it wouldn't be very godly to do that, would it?" The priest shook his head. "He would die for a good cause, and if he is a good man, he would go to heaven, and if he is a bad man, he would receive fitting punishment from hell. I would be doing him a favor by letting him die quickly and in the prime of his youth." Okay, thought Shizuka. This guy is obviously insane, but I can't escape without killing the nurse. She then had an idea.
Using some sleight of hand she let Achtung grab the coin in her pocket, and then flinged it through the keyhole of Mellos door. It was a gamble, but she was able to get it through.
The priest was getting impatient. "So, what is it going to be? Either you give up, and let me bring you to my savior, or you let this young man go to the afterlife." Shizuka needed to buy time. "Who is this savior of yours?" The priest gave her an excited smile. "Oh, he is a holy man! He saved me from the gods forsaken prison in which I would have lost years of my life!"
Jeffrey sat down next to detective Wecht. Both sighed and sipped their coffee.
"So, what's the deal with this guy?" asked the detective.
"Oh, he brutally attacked some woman calling her a 'sinner'. Got twenty years for assault. Then suddenly he disappears out of his cell."
"Jesus Christ."
"The weirdest thing is with the cell. There is a perfectly smooth hole cut out of the wall."
The priest was boasting on and on about how his angel had saved him from damnation.
Suddenly he shut up. He was completely still for a second. And then he started to scream and cry. He fell face first into the ground. People were appearing into the hallway to see what was going on. Mello was standing in the doorframe, his usual calm face on even in this dangerous situation. "I removed the pain from the man next door who was being amputated, and put it on you. Please free the nurse."
Achtung ripped open the pillow Shizuka was caught in. She made sure to keep her distance from the priest even now that they had the advantage. "Okay, okay, I will do anything!" The nurse's feet were freed and his mouth opened again. He took a few deep breaths and then ran as far away as possible. Mello removed the pain. The priest stood up on shaking legs.
"My conviction still stands tall. Taller than yours ever will be. Heathens!"
His stand appeared again. A hole formed under Shizuka's and Melodi's feet and they both fell down to the floor below. Prison-like bars formed out of the floor around them, trapping them in a cage. Then, the priest pulled out a piece of scrap metal and using his stand he transformed it into its original form, a gun.
He switched between pointing the gun at Shizuka or at Mello. "Now, which one of you will give up yourself to the will of the savior first?"
"I will." Shizuka answered in an ice cold, completely confident voice. "Very well. I pray for you." The priest fired the gun. But instead of the expected splatter of blood, it went straight through her body and landed behind her. The illusion dispelled, and Mello made a movement not unlike pushing something upward.
The priest felt a punch in his stomach. "SHIZU SHIZU SHIZU SHIZU!" Achtung Baby cried while delivering a painful beatdown. With one last forceful punch the priest was pushed a few meters further down the hallway.
Shizuka breathed out and sent Achtung down to give Mello a hand in getting up. When she did she turned to check on the priest. His body was gone.
The priest ran down the fire escape with all the speed his untrained body could build up. He had used Heathens to concentrate his robe to wherever Achtung Baby was punching, allowing him to dampen the blows. As he ran he destroyed the steps behind him.
Shizuka and Mello rushed into the room and looked out the window. "Shit, he's getting away!" screamed Shizuka and was about to run away to find an elevator when Mello stopped her. "Wait. I have an idea."
Without hesitation Mello jumped out of the window into freefall. Shizuka gasped. A few meters above ground he let out a rope made out of Bloody Sunday's from his sleeve, and made them grab the handrail, allowing him to safely land and corner the priest.
The two men stood eye to eye, Mello armed with his rope of Sunday's, the priest caught like a mouse against a cat. "Who are you to defy God's word?" Mello was just about to answer when the wall next to him was shaped into a pillar and shot out towards him.
The pillar hit Mello right in the head, knocking him to the ground. The priest snickered and summoned Heathens. His stand slowly reached out towards Mello, thinking he was unconscious. Suddenly the Bloody Sunday that had absorbed the pain of the hit crawled out of Mello's jacket, and jumped towards the priest.
The priest reacted quickly, creating a small wall out of the ground under him to block Sunday's attack. He managed to avoid it, but Mello rose from the ground, the whip made out of Bloody Sundays ready in his hand.
The priest no longer had any interest in fighting, so he created a pillar out of the ground under him. The pillar expanded at such incredible speed that it threw the priest over Mello.
He landed on the sideway, and started running. When Mello turned to run towards him, another pillar shot out of the wall beside Mello, knocking him unconscious.
The priest jumped into a nearby car, and kicked the driver out. He then started driving at full speed forward. While he was driving he disassembled the cars in front of him.
As he was getting close to the stop light, he heard someone fire a gun.
His car suddenly stopped. Shizuka had climbed down another fire escape, and used his own gun to shoot the tires into pieces. "Got you now, asshole!" The priest didn't bother answering, he just fixed the decks using his stand and kept driving.
But he didn't realize the tires were just a bid to gain more time. Suddenly, the windows of the car exploded into a thousand pieces. The priest's head was thrown towards the steering wheel, but saved by a pillow. A tire gave in and pieces of scrap spread out all over the street. A door fell off.
"Your next line is 'what?'" Shizuka shouted. "What!?" Screamed the priest. "I turned the stop light, your car, and an oncoming truck invisible! You fell for my trap!"
The priest got out of the car and tried to escape one last time but Shizuka was ready. She shot, but the priest used his stand to completely break the bullets down into dust. "You can never defeat me! It is my right as someone chosen to win!"
"Oh, it is?" Mello casually got out of the alley, like nothing had happened. "Look what was on those bullets." The priest looked down, and his entire face turned white when he saw small Bloody Sunday's climb up his robe. He was about to try to shake them off, but it was too late.
They jumped towards the priest, and the sudden pain knocked him unconscious.