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FICTION

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Chapter 21: Road to the Serenissima, Part 2

Giorno was nervous and… this frustrated him to an incredible degree.

He had experienced dread and unease before, but right now there was a gut feeling that told him that this operation was going to develop in an ugly manner. Still, it had to be done as it was essential for their current plans. They had received news from the boss on how to reach his current location in Venice through one of the men he assigned for the task. A clean job, some would say.

The message came in two peculiar parts: the first one was a text through the laptop Bucciarati had on himself that he recovered from some informants which he encountered within the area, and the other through a verbal confession and last words delivered by the very old man that had for a time taken care of Trish, Pericolo.

It was surprising to learn of this, but the man had beaten them to Florence to just deliver this sort of coded message meant them. How did they access it? ｢Moody Blues｣. Abbacchio's Stand allowed him to review a setting by 'rewinding' the scene tying to a single individual to roughly several hours. He had to roll back to 15 hours and they discovered the truth from Pericolo.

The key to their destination was to reach one of the sculptures in Venice, one that was identified through a picture that they had the chance to see, and then retrieve the OA-DISC that was stored nearby. Then, much to the shock of many, Trish being the most shaken by the sight, Pericolo shot himself after proclaiming he was glad for the life the boss gave him and that his life was at his mercy now.

While some would see this as a faithful follower's most blessed demise, this felt so wrong on many levels. Especially when Giorno could perceive something was missing from the man's voice and soul. Control. A bountiful life, but at what price? He was almost tempted to bring up how this all felt so forced, but he could tell most already knew, and those that didn't were strained by the sight to be committed to that sort of discussion. Giorno couldn't blame them, that sight had been plain vicious and unpleasant, yet he could tell it was needed to further cement the need to kill the Boss.

If this is what he asked from others, what he was willing to do to 'hide' from the world, then it was only righteous to put a stop to him for good. But when the plan sounded ideal and he was sent with Mista, Arlecchino and Sakura to handle this disc retrieval mission, the young man felt a strange feeling about this detour. The circumstance just didn't sit nicely on Giorno's stomach, as if something about it was planned to be dangerous.

It didn't help that he was the one meant to drive the lone driver for the dispatch, having close to no experience handling these sorts of vehicles in lengthy trips. Yes, he could drive them with ease, but that didn't mean he was as confident to make the Florence to Venice Trip without any potential issues. The rest of the group was using a 'Rental Truck' and was making it to their destination through a slower but potentially safer route.

The idea was that they were generally expected to go either way, but the one Giorno and the rest of his squad was going for was the easier one to reach. If they were to be attacked, they should have been able to provide distraction for the rest of the group. That was the plan and… they weren't prepared for what soon ensued while they were driving through the highway. The first sign of trouble came when Mista's phone started to go off with an unknown number calling. The slightly tired and partially asleep gunslinger picked up the call and went to see who it was.

"Yes?"

…

"What? Slow down… what do you mean with 'ambush'?"

Giorno's eyes widened as he decided to trust his guts and pull the brakes at once. It was just them on the highway, so there was no risk of accidents. Yet, what they did come close to was a large explosion that ripped apart the highway just several meters from where the vehicle stopped. The blast's push easily flipped the car on the side, forcing the occupants to make a quick leave from it. No one was injured, but the lack of a vehicle was going to make a difference in trying to reach their destination.

The development hit Giorno in an odd manner. This was the same attack Passione had used against one of the major judges in Sicily trying to bring them down. Same pattern, same suddenness and… yet something about it was off. Why would Diavolo plan to kill them if he didn't know they were planning to kill him? To Giorno, this felt quite confusing and definitely not the case at all despite how curious the coincidences felt between this event and the one from a decade earlier.

"What happened?" Sakura asked, still quite shocked by the situation.

"An attack," Mista replied angrily. "Ghiaccio called to warn us about spotting a group of 'priests' rushing in our general direction. Some he was dealing with, but he couldn't stop some from leaving."

Just as he finished saying that, a sharp dagger rushed through above and forced Giorno to duck to dodge it. A blink, then his attention shifted to the blade that almost took his life and that was currently stabbed on the ground, ignoring the figure now standing atop the flipped vehicle. The long knife looked similar to the one used by Caren but… she wasn't there. His panic subdued the moment his mind took over it, Giorno's gaze hardening as he finally addressed the figure smiling at them, a woman wearing nun clothes but looking the opposite of one by facial expression alone.

Then, his attention briefly shifted to those approaching the car and trying to reach them from the sides. They weren't friendly, so he had no reason to question. His mind was soon planning a way out of this, seeing that they had come here through vehicles and giving them a chance to leave with those if they either defeated them or distracted them long enough to leave through that.

The highway was unusable, but he had seen in a map he had looked into minutes before leaving that there were small old roads that would give them the chance to make it around and resume the trip with close to no issues. What they needed to do now was to survive the encounter and leave as quickly and safely as possible.

It sounded like a good idea, except there was a lot to still do.

Mr. Dawn was a man with guilt.

Some would say that an Executor of his caliber would have incredible sins that 'had been forgiven due to the ends to his means', but the bespectacled man was not someone that believed much in that. No, what he believed was in common sense and logical moves. Something his partner had outright disregarded in what could be described as a matter of brashness and disrespect. It didn't occur to him that the brat would have been disloyal to the Burial Agency… or maybe too loyal to it. Or else he had no chance of understanding how the brat gained some 'supportive' allies in the form of rogue specialists of the Church.

Gianmaria had been impatient since the very moment they had been working together. He knew that would have caused issues, but the veteran agent of the Burial Agency wasn't exactly expecting this kind of mess. He just could see how it came to this, but he knew he wasn't completely at fault for this. Not when his cautious approach of the Arcueid Brunestud Case had been one driven by common sense rather than fright. And, truth be told, being subdued out of the blue was rather unpleasant for someone his age.

Even more being subjected to some stupid monologue while being kicked by the same little turd that he was meant to mentor for the occasion. Rather upsetting too since it wasn't strong enough to break anything, but genuinely piss him off in the process. Nonetheless, the plan of these 'rogue' elements was to kill him, using his demise as a reason to gain Narbareck's favor and then use that to excuse themselves for 'betraying' the church by assisting a magus that 'hired' them. This plan was, technically, sound. After all, Mr. Dawn wasn't that much of a threat. In proper combat.

That detail mattered a lot when it came to handling his captivity with 'care'. The ropes used were quick to deal with and Gianmaria, the one that was instructed to just wait for his new 'buddies' to conclude the capture of their newest target and then promptly execute him the moment that was done, had been unable to resist him when a Black Key slit his throat. It was one of the flaws within those that were hired to assist him in combat. By Narbareck's order, none of those chosen to support him were mentally and physically prepared to handle these missions. And were far from ever being hired in the Burial Agency.

And while Mr. Dawn hated blood, spilling some for the sake of stopping some nonsense and preventing his own death was nothing short of expected from him. He wasn't that pious as he used to be, with things having changed since the day he forgot his real name. A sigh slumped out of his lips as he regarded the dead body owned by his expected apprentice with a pitying look.

A shame that someone so young would have been so brazen and stupid. His 'hesitation' was no one driven by genuine fear to be killed, but because acting against those harboring Arcueid Brunestud would break not a few rules within the Holy See. Something he had alerted Cardinal Noi about when it came to the entire situation.

Sakura Kujo was, by indirect relation, tied to the Joestar Family. And any attacks to that family was tantamount to risking execution by one of the secret Papal Edicts about this family. This just set things in a more delicate situation that only diplomacy was going to solve. Or was meant to solve before these complete cretins had thrown everything down the drain for some 'easy promotions'. Once he was done with them, things were going to feel less bleak to him but...

Narbareck had to have known this and had definitely coaxed the boy to make the foolish mistake of pushing Mr. Dawn into a bad spot. With a dead apprentice at his feet and a bunch of fools trying to screw things up for the church, the bespectacled man knew it was time to pull off his velvet gloves and start bashing with his iron fists. He wasn't exactly planning to go for a brawl, but he had found car keys to a spare car the traitors had left at this hideout. Turning the engine on, the car rolled fast and started to shift fast through the streets.

He had planned for a peaceful retirement, he had planned to enjoy life in these fleeting years of his life, yet people were genuinely trying to undermine this hope of his. And that wasn't going to do. Mr. Dawn had a bone to pick with a few bastards, and then apologized profusely to someone that was actively sheltering a foe of his.

Truly not a good day to be killing fellow Christians, but it wasn't like he was given a choice about it, right?

AN

A new twist! Part of the Church is actually corrupted (Surprise!) and has been bribed by Atrum, thus Giorno, Sakura, Arlecchino and Mista face a couple if not a dozen more church agents trying to make a quick buck out of an assassination n' kidnapping attempt.

Meanwhile Mr. Dawn realized that violence is not a choice, it's a question. And the answer is 'Heck Yeah!' against scummy traitors!

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

REVIEW Q&A!

Kerrowe: Next chapter will expand that as Sakura, Mista and Giorno will all have roles in this ambush.

AzureSkyD: Because he is a human with a Stand.

Guest (Chapter 16): Well, Giorno and Johnny would stand on top due to their behavior and general powers. They are ambiguously good early on and that leaves a bit of wariness around them; Probably Made in Heaven being the worst since it can't be stopped and its influence can be devastating against each of them, with Pucci being able to reset the universe and kill them at their weakest.