It was a late night at the Starfish Coffee shop, as Joakim entered, yawning. He had agreed to meet with Jocelyn after her shift, but she had neglected to mention it ended at two in the morning. The shop was sparsely populated at this late hour, Joakim's entrance had brought the total number of people in the building to perhaps ten, counting employees. In one corner, there were three old men drinking coffee and debating politics a bit too loudly. A man in a hoodie was slouched back, scrolling on an iPhone. The iPhone man spared a glance and a nod of acknowledgement as Joakim passed by. Three more people passed by on their way out, nearly knocking the laptop from Joakim's hand as they bumped into him. Joakim gave a wordless glare of warning as the offenders sheepishly retreated, before finally getting to the front counter.
Jocelyn was a shorter woman, with pale skin and hair dyed a bright red. Her eyes were a pale green, and beneath her green apron she wore a shirt with a Saint Suicides logo on the front. She looked as exhausted as he felt, until she realized who he was and suddenly perked up, bumping the electronic register as she jumped.
"Oh God that was today?" She asked suddenly, "I'm sorry, I thought it was tomorrow."
"I think it is tomorrow, Jocelyn." Joakim rubbed his eyes. "I'm headed to one of the booths, just come over when you can."
With that, he moved to a corner table, opposite a central wall where a tv hung on either side. He plugged in his laptop, and began the process. He had obtained a video of the incident at the concert from Dr. Elton, who was glad to help Joakim after he had saved the doctor's life. The Speedwagon Foundation, which was apparently much more than just scientific research, had archived the tapes of the event. As Joakim loaded the file, the image of the band looking offscreen at their oncoming fate sent a shiver down his spine.
He had barely gathered his thoughts again when Jocelyn sat down in the booth next to him and leaned to see the screen. "That's the recording then? Weird." She had a distant look on her face. "What are you hoping to get out of watching this?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I guess closure?' Joakim shrugged. "Or maybe a sign of what to do next? They attacked us while we were in that tent, we had to fight that woman off, are they going to attack us again? She said she was looking for recruits."
"You know, you never did explain what happened to you. Or Dr. Elton, for that matter, you both had to spend a few days extra in the hospital."
Joakim paused. He didn't mean to lie to her, but how do you explain to her that you have a powerful ghostly spirit that punches things and can heat them up, or freeze things, or whatever the doctor's did. And if she did believe him at face value, that could be concerning in itself.
"What's there to say?" He said, trying not to meet her gaze. "Woman stabbed Dr. Elton, came at me, got me a couple times."
"And then you beat her skull in. With your bare hands." Jocelyn said flatly. Her tone hovered somewhere between unconvinced and disturbed at the implication.
"Uh… Yeah." Joakim felt heat rise in his face. "I freaked out. She stabbed me." He shook his head. "If it bothers you-"
"I get it." Jocelyn said, although she still sounded unsure. "Let's just watch the video." She reached over his hand to click the play button, and the video played.
With a shaky breath, Joakim watched as the frontman of the band pointed off stage, and yelled something about security, before the terrorists walked onstage, dressed in black with balaclava's covering thier faces. Once it became clear that security wasn't coming, he moved forward to attack the interlopers himself, fist cocked back to strike. However once he got close to the lead terrorist, he froze mid stride. Even on the low quality video, his face visibly shifted with fear. It only lasted a moment, however, before a hole the size of a baseball exploded through his chest, splattering blood, bone, and viscera behind the singer. For a horrid moment, his body hung in the air as if suspended by strings, before sliding backwards and flopping to the floor like a rag doll.
The rest of the band had already started to run, but the drummer was just a bit too slow. A feminine figure stepped forward, and the drummer fell forward onto his face. Joakim clenched a fist as he recognized ice creeping up the drummer's leg. Tanya slowly approached the man, placed a boot on his leg, and slowly increased the weight upon it until the leg shattered into blood red chunks of ice. The Drummer screamed in shock and pain, until the ice crept across his face and swallowed his head. Tanya repeated the process on the drummers head, and with a spasm, the maimed body finally fell still.
The lead terrorist moved to the microphone stand, raised a grey briefcase, and popped it open, revealing a mess of wires and an arrowhead mounted next to a mass of grey the size of a brick. He spoke words lost amongst the chaos of the crowd, screaming and stampeding towards the exit. The terrorist threw the suitcase towards the crowd, and after a moment, the video suddenly cut to black.
Joakim sat back, and sighed. The arrow was something Dr. Elton had been hesitant to explain, but he had volunteered that the arrow could grant Stands to the worthy, and the unworthy would die at a touch. That was why so many had died without any serious damage, they had simply gotten struck with a small piece of the arrow, and they didn't have the potential.
Jocelyn shook her head. "Well, I don't feel any different about it." She muttered, turning to look at Joakim again. "You?" Joakim shook his head in response. "I didn't think so."
Joakim turned to say something to Jocelyn, but lost it as soon as he caught a glimpse of the TV. The news was still on, a blonde woman giving the weather report for the week in a tone far too cheery for two in the morning. But something was wrong. The picture seemed to distort around the bottom. "Jocelyn?" He asked, confused. "Do you see that? On the TV?"
Jocelyn gave a cursory glance, before returning her eyes back to him. "Yeah, it's been doing that for a couple days. The Day Manager is supposed to replace it tomorrow." Joakim met her eyes again, stifling a yawn. "So how do you think they did that? To the drummer?"
Joakim felt creeping guilt once more, and thought about telling her, but couldn't find the words. Jocelyn looked frustrated at his silence and looked at the TV once more, squinting as if it were the sun. "That's weird, that distortion is getting worse. Kinda feels weird to look at."
Joakim looked at the TV again, and felt blood drain from his face. The image had shifted to an interview from earlier that day, but the information scroll had become entirely unreadable. The distortion had begun to take a recognizable shape, two smaller shapes resembling four fingered hands pressed against the screen, and a third shape like a bulbous blue head of a misshapen infant pressed against the glass, flattening two purple domes that passed as eyes, and tilting a long, conic nose to the side. The figure smiled with razor sharp teeth that looked to interlock, before speaking.
"Finally got you, Joakim Johanson." The stand said, giggling madly. "Gotya gotya!" It sank backwards from the screen, slipping back behind the image. Joakim snapped to look towards Jocelyn, who seemed extraordinarily confused.
"Did that TV just say your name?" She asked. "It almost sounded like it, but it was so distorted."
"We have to move, now, something is about to attack us." Joakim moved to shut the laptop, but as he glanced at the screen, he saw he was too late. The figure had appeared in full, appearing to lean backwards onto the video player. It's body was small and disproportionate, and ended in a segmented cone instead of a pair of legs.
"Sorry kid, 「SHOUT」is gonna have to take care of something first." It spoke, before winding up a punch, and throwing it at the screen. For a moment Joakim wondered what kind of attack this could possibly be, before a flurry of fists emerged from it, at full speed. He barely had enough time to summon Radio Star to block the blow, but was still knocked out of his seat and to the floor with the force of it.
"Joakim! What's going on?" Jocelyn asked, moving towards his side. "Are you alright? What just-"
"Jocelyn." Joakim groaned as he stood back up. "Stand back, that laptop is dangerous."
"Damn right I am," SHOUT chittered and giggled. "Been waiting to do that for three days." The stand grabbed the video in the player by the corners, before ripping it in two, breaking the window the player was in. The laptop threw up an error message, which SHOUT batted aside as if it were a bug. "You got a bounty on you, nearly twelve big ones, and daddy has an eye on the new Mustang."
Jocelyn looked like she was in pain. "The computer, what's wrong with it. It's making weird noises, and the screen looks… wrong." Joakim paused for a moment, as it dawned on him what was happening.
"Look, Jocelyn, you're about to see some really weird stuff, and it's going to be really dangerous." He called forward Radio Star. "I want you to try to focus on me, and try to focus on what else is here with me."
She looked at him, and nodded, looking up at him. Her eyes seemed to cross for a moment, and she had to struggle not to look away. "What are you doing?" She mumbled. "There's something…" She paused for a moment, and her eyes focused directly on Radio Star. She started to shake, and began to back up. "I don't understand." She said, her voice wavering.
"The Girl is a User too? This is great, we can charge double now!" SHOUT smiled with wicked glee. "No, triple, for the trouble. Triple triple!" It was visibly bouncing up and down in excitement. "Mustang, here we come!"
"What a weird Stand." Joakim muttered, as he approached the laptop again. "But I'm more than happy to smash it up." He pointed at the laptop, and with a cry of "GORA", Radio Star struck it from behind, putting a bright scarlet fist through the screen.
"Oh no! You totally got me!" SHOUT cried from behind Joakim. He turned to see the stand displayed on the TV again. It had its arms crossed in a cocky stance, and its smile remained as wide as ever. "Too bad I can't just move whenever I want."
"Frickin' Smartass." Joakim muttered, looking at his shattered laptop with a twinge of regret. "I guess I'll just smash everything until I force you to hold still." Radio Star began to lunge at the TV screen, with another cry.
"You IDIOT!" SHOUT screamed with vile glee, "GOT YOU GOT YOU!"
Joakim could feel the heat from the TV as Radio Star approached, and in the moment it took the threat to register, the TV exploded in Radio Star's face. He felt the hot plastic sheet of the screen wrap around his head and sear his skin, immediately followed by a shower of screw and shrapnel striking. The force of the blast threw him to the floor, bouncing his head off the tiles, and tumbling him back.
"Oh man!" SHOUT yelled from the TV on the opposite side of the central wall, "You should have seen the look on your face."
"Jocelyn?" Joakim asked, spitting out a screw. "Is there anyone else in the store right now? The user can't be too far." He pulled his bloodied hair out of his face,
Jocelyn had been watching the exchange in stunned silence, but answered with little hesitation. "I don't see anyone else, but there might be someone in the restrooms or the back?"
"If we stop the user, that might stop the Stand." Joakim groaned, as he got to his hands and knees. More blood and screws fell from his face. His vision was rapidly blurring. "I hate to say it, but I don't know if I can take another hit like that without blacking out."
"But if you go down-"
"You'll be fine Jocelyn. Your stand will protect you, your instincts will take over. Same thing happened to me." Joakim finally stood. "Besides, he already overplayed his hand. He's exposed himself."
"What do you mean?" She asked. "You couldn't hit him while he was in the screen."
"No, I couldn't." Joakim moved to tie his hair back out of his face. "But he hasn't launched another attack yet. We're under electrical lights, if he could hit us through them I'd already be out of the fight."
Jocelyn paused. "So you're saying he can only move between screens? But we have cell phones. If he wanted to hit us he could just attack us from our pockets. Unless… Unless he can only move between screens that are plugged into a power outlet."
Joakim smiled. "Exactly what I'm thinking. His angle of attack is limited. If we can get him on a screen and unplug it, he won't be able to escape it when it's destroyed. Even if that doesn't stop the user, stopping the stand means we will have a massive advantage."
Jocelyn nodded, and pointed towards the store counter. "The bathroom is down that hall to the right, on the far wall. There's no backdoor to the kitchen, so he'd have to run past us if he tried to sneak out while we checked the bathroom."
Joakim moved quietly towards the restroom, and motioned for Jocelyne to follow. She did so without words, and once she was readied behind him, he suddenly and violently kicked the door open. The room was empty, simply containing a toilet, a sink, and a mirror. Joakim carefully entered as Jocelyn followed, and as soon as the door shut, a familiar, vile chuckle filled the air. They both turned to see a power strip had been duct taped to the wall, running along the frame. Also duct taped to the wall were four cheap, disposable phones, plugged into the strip. "GOT YOU GOT YOU, STUPID GIRL!"
The enemy's face appeared on one of the phones, before it exploded into a burst of smoke, obscuring the other phones. Joakim moved to pull Jocelyn out of the way, behind him, but before he could pull, there was another bang, and a burning cell phone flew out of the smoke at high speeds. Joakim tried to call forward his own Stand, but the attack wasn't targeted at him, instead it flew like a bullet towards Jocelyn. He cried out her name in shock, and she raised a hand to her face in self defense.
However the fiery phone never made contact, as a pale hand with the texture of canvas lashed out and punched the phone. However, instead of shattering, or even being knocked aside, the phone floated in the air, burning. Jocelyn and Joakim both looked in shock, and once the smoke cleared SHOUT shared their stunned expression.
"No fair, no fair." SHOUT muttered, as another phone burst into flames. A childlike hand, chubby with fingers just a bit too long, emerged from the remaining phone screen, before grabbing and flinging the burning phone at Jocelyn again. And again the canvas fist struck it. This time however, both phones fell towards the ground.
Both of the remaining users watched in confusion as the phones landed however. The first phone hit the ground first, however the second one hung in the air for a second, before falling to the side. The distance between the phones never changed, as if there was a solid bar connecting them.
"Joakim? Was that-"
"Yep. Looks like you're 'in the know.' You're a Stand user." He gave her a tired smile and gently punched her shoulder. "Go ahead. Try to call it out. Just think about it being there."
Jocelyn gave a more concerned smile in return, and with barely a thought, her Stand had appeared.
It was an odd thing to look at, that was for certain. It almost seemed like an empty space suit, with the length of its limbs shifting slightly at all times. The helmet looked like a fishbowl, with no visible face inside, although she could feel its eyes upon her. The suit had a few patches with orange and black lightning bolts, and on its back there was a pair of canisters with tubes leading into the back of the 'suit.' This was her stand, her「SPACE ODDITY」.
"Space Oddity." She muttered aloud. "My Space Oddity." The stand shifted positions from just floating in place to laying parallel to the ground, one leg crossed over the other and head reclining on crossed arms. "How strange it is."
"Hey hey hey!" SHOUT screamed from somewhere outside the restroom. "How about you come here so I can get that Mustang already. Come out come out!"
"What's the next move?" Joakim asked. "Where are the other screens in the restaurant?"
"The second TV, the register, and there's a computer in the back."
"Alright." Joakim said. "Think you can break that TV screen safely? He's pretty fast, if we can avoid someone being in front of the screen…"
Jocelyn paused for a moment in thought. "I may have an idea." She called her Stand out, and Space Oddity touched one of the broken phones. She slid it across the floor of the restaurant, and once it reached near the tv, she lifted the second phone. The first floated to match it, before she threw the phone in her hand against the wall, with the matched phone flying into the tv screen at the same time. The TV sparked and quickly caught fire. Joakim and Jocelyn watched carefully for a moment, to ensure no trap had been laid, before moving towards the back of the restaurant.
The kitchen was made up of a table on wheels, with a microwave, an oven, and a refrigerator to store the food. There was no screen visible. But from the back office, there was the familiar evil laughing of SHOUT. The pair quietly moved towards the office, where the last screens were. On a plain, plastic table bolted to the wall, there was a computer monitor, and another cheap cell phone plugged into the wall, it's screen open to a plain wallpaper. There was no sign of the stand, only the sound of his laughing.
"So which one is he in?" Joakim asked.
"The laptop. Hit the laptop." Jocelyn said. "I got this."
Joakim sighed, mentally preparing for the counterstrike, and Radio Star emerged, and punched a hole straight through the monitor. There was a moment of quiet, before a one of SHOUT's fists emerged from the cell phone, striking Joakim in the chest.
"GOT YOU GOT YOU! STUPID STUPID!" SHOUT giggled with glee. "Why would I limit myself to the computer? My user can retrieve the phone much easier."
"That's what I was counting on." Jocelyn said coldly. SHOUT's gleeful smile turned to a look of horror as he realized the phone was moving of it's own accord. Even as Joakim crumpled in the corner of the office, the phone suddenly jerked away from the outlet, the charging cord being pulled out to the wall behind him.
"What? What did you-" SHOUT was incredulous, as the phone rotated in midair to face Jocelyn, who was holding a pen, the phone matching the pen's movements.
"Your phone's position has been locked to this pen's. That's Space Oddity." She smirked with cruel intent. "And I know just how to take care of you." She turned the pen, and the phone twisted to face the microwave.
"Wait, wait." SHOUT said. "I-I-I-I can pay you. I can give you information. I can tell you who hired me. I can do whatever you want."
"I want you to go for a spin." Jocelyn said, as she moved the phone towards the microwave. SHOUT's hands snapped out to attempt to stop the movement, and his head popped out and turned to face her.
"Please," he blubbered, almost sobbing. "I don't want to die."
Jocelyn paused. Despite her own anger, it was a bad way to go. If he really was beaten, killing him was cruelty for its own sake.
SHOUT watched carefully, moving one of its hands onto the counter. "Please." He begged. "That guy never has to know. Puth wanted you dead but you can just disappear, and never have to worry again."
"Who the Hell is Puth?" Joakim asked, as he staggered out of the office. He had a hand on the side of his head and was bleeding underneath it. "Is that a first name, a last name, a fake name, who is that." Joakim looked ready to kill all on his own.
SHOUT's worried face turned into a vicious smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know?" As he grasped a knife from the table next to the microwave. As he attempted to fling it at Jocelyn, however, Space Oddity struck, slamming a fist into SHOUT's grotesque face. The phone flew into the microwave, hard enough to dent the back panel, as Space Oddity slammed the door shut, and began to furiously press buttons on it.
The microwave began to buzz, and SHOUT began to scream as the phone fizzled and sparked, before exploding into flames. The sounds of a man screaming in agony could be heard from outside. Joakim and Jocelyn turned to the front of the store, and watched through the windows as a man on fire sprinted past, screeching in pain.
"Holy shit." Joakim muttered.
"Uh… Is he gonna be-"
"Probably not, no." Joakim paused. "But we won't be linked to that."
There was spray of water from above onto the burning microwave. "I don't think you'll have a job in the morning, though." Joakim said. "Sorry."
Jocelyn shook her head. "I'll talk to the police, tell them he smashed the place up, ran outside, and caught on fire. I don't know why." She punched him on the shoulder. "At least we have a name to work off of. Puth."
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"Detective Crowley?" one of the Uniformed officers asked as he approached the newcomer. "I'm Officer Stevens, first responder."
Detective Crowley was a tall man, old and gnarled, but one of the best they could call. He wore a brown trenchcoat and a matching fedora, with a cigarette slowly sizzling towards his lips. "Alright, talk to me." He said as he leaned over the body, and pulled the sheet back.
"Got a call about a man lit on fire off of South Arch street. Got there before the Fire Department did, used a blanket to put him out, but he was already gone when I got here."
"Hrn." Crowley grunted as he looked at the charred corpse beneath him. It was burnt black as pitch, and smelled awful. There was a clear indent on one side of the face, with burnt teeth visible inside, freed from the jaw. "Looks like he got hit pretty hard. Witnesses?"
"Well that's the thing, the girl from that coffee shop came running not long after I got here, crying and shaking. Said the guy had come in and wrecked the place. Smashed a bunch of phones, smashed some TVs, threw another phone in the microwave. Said she hit him in the face as hard as she could, and he ran outside, lit himself on fire, and ran off screaming. "
"What did the camera say?"
"Computer was fried, the screen was smashed and it looks like the rest of it got smashed up too. Tech said he wasn't hopeful when I asked."
"Interesting. That's all I need for now, Stevens. Go see if the girl needs any medical again, see what else you can get out of her."
Stevens nodded and left, and Crowley looked into the seared sockets of the dead man. "Alright." He said. "Talk to me."
