It was about six in the morning the next day when Marshall got up and rolled out of bed as quietly as possible pulling his gun from under the pillow as he did. He decided to go outside, and believing he was the first one up he pulled off his button shirt from the previous day, grabbed a new one, and meandered outside while sliding the crisply folded shirt on. He looked out at the lightening sky enjoying the calmness and sighed running a hand across his face when a familiar voice interrupted," Morning there."

Marshall jumped and spun towards John who had half a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, in doing so however he also dropped his shirt off the balcony. "What are you doing up this early?" he hisses

John takes a final huff of the cigarette and snuffs it before responding," A mouse ran across my face, and after that I didn't want to think about what else could be in this….shithole."

Marshall sighs accepting the answer and pivots on his heel before walking down the stairs and retrieving his shirt from the concrete. As he begins to put it on and button it up, smoothing the creases out as he goes, he notices a chopper sitting in a parking spot. He looks at it curiously, this was not a motel that was on the path of any major roads, tourist attractions, or any spots a biker would want to go. Hell he had gone out of his way to find the worst possible hotel to minimize the possibility of random civilians. He supposed it could be a random tourist but….he wasn't the only living agent on this case for a reason, that and his general paranoia but it truly wasn't that bad. He finished putting the shirt on and walked to the car before beginning to inspect it checking for bombs or anything of the like, when suddenly Jason's voice came from above him," Car all good there?"

He looked up with a confused expression,"Why are you up, it's," he checks his watch," Six eleven."

Jason went to answer but the sound of conversation filtered out from the room," Yeah….We're all up, I think most of us are riding the high from finally having a lead on this case."

Marshall sighed and went back up the stairs leaving the car, and not noticing a dark stain on the tire that still glistened in the early morning light.

...

It had been about six hours of nonstop driving and Marshall was honestly annoyed, it was a common emotion for him but this was a special case: Somehow Joy was making him want to yell. It was a rare occurrence for him to be mad at her given that he had promised himself to not let her get hurt, and she was kind of like the younger sister he would have had if the birth had gone well. He sighed as she kicked the back of his seat again as she shifted trying to get comfortable. He had to admit that he was very surprised that John was fine being crammed in the backseat, this van was not meant for people built like John or even Joyce for that matter. He glanced down at the speedometer, holding at 65 mph on the dot, and looked at the gas tank being exactly half full and sighed,"Something just feels off about this." Immediately after he thought that he checked the rear view mirror and noticed a black blob far back on the highway...almost like a chopper. He flicked the turn signal on and turned off onto a side road. He checked the rear view mirror and saw the chopper fly by the turn off, Marshall turned back to the road and kept driving forward. He let out a small sigh of relief and shrugged off his paranoia as simply being on this case for too long.

Only five minutes later the back right tire exploded, throwing bits of shredded plastic and metal into the air behind the car, and forcing Marshall to grip the wheel and swing the car off the road and into the rocky berth on the side . Marshall and Jason were already out of the car and nearly sprinted back with Jason swearing a storm, " Son of a bitch, this goddamn car just has to break the fuck down now."

"Calm down," Marshall said as he looks over the completely shredded tire," Look about a mile down the road there should be a full service repair shop, at least according to the map I bought at the hotel."

John had finally managed to get out of the car and join the growing crowd along with Joy and Seth," How the hell did you manage to pop a tire like that."

Marshall looked at John with an aggravated scowl, " Well it's 100 degrees out and this road looks like it was hit by a rock slide,"John raised his arms in surrender, " Now someone has to go to the auto shop and convince them to get a tow truck out here."

Jason wiped his head before shaking it, while Seth gestured to his bandages and rolled his sleeves up. Marshall turned to Joy who shrugged her shoulders and began to tighten her shoes. He turned back to the tire and froze, his mind summoned up an image of the blurry chopper and he looked at the long stretch of road. Joy can handle herself in a fight, but if she gets caught alone and surprised『ALICE IN CHAINS』would be near useless with these materials. He turned back and quickly examined his...team(God he didn't like calling them that.); Jason would be useful but the synergy between them doesn't exist, a stand that deals the damage dealt to the user to the one who caused it and a stand that makes chains...yeah not great, Seth's stand seems to not be good for an open field and given his injury he would be a liability. Marshall paused and began to look over the two men before slowly turning and glaring at John, despite his age he looked like an athlete and he ,apparently, had a stand capable of fighting Leen, a physical powerhouse...Damn it…,"John...go with her and make sure nothing happens."

John looked surprised at the request but nonchalantly reached into his Hawaiian shirt pocket and tossed the pack of cigarettes to him ," Got it boss."

Marshall looked at John as he took off in a jog after Joy down the road and into the distance, disappearing into the heat based mirage as they progressed. Even though he was confident in Joy's ability to fight still couldn't shake this bad feeling that this was going to be an issue .

On one of the nearby sand hills the chopper rider stood, his arms wrapped with bandages and a lit cigarette in his mouth, smoke wafting up into the sky. He smirked as he saw two of the members set off off down the road towards the mechanic shop. He got back onto his bike and walked it down the hill before gunning the engine and tearing off across the desert, his targets walking, running rather, into his trap.

The tow truck pulled to the auto shop hauling the black van behind, and Joy picked her head off the concrete where she was laying to watch. She chuckled a bit as she heard the raspy voice of John comment," Took 'em long enough to get here."

She let her head go back to laying on the concrete as she tried to get her body to stop hurting. She glanced at John who had taken his cheap Hawaiian shirt off and was also trying to get his breathing under control. She was honestly amazed that this 43 year old somehow managed to keep pace with her, a 17 year old athletic freak of nature. She cast a glance at him before Marshall yelled," Joy, John get over here and help get our stuff out of the car."

Joy heard John push himself up and when she opened her eyes she saw a hand to help her up. She took it and made her way back into the hot sun slowly, really not wanting to help. She saw Jason giver her a knowing look before popping the trunk and pulling out a duffel bag. Joy groaned and grabbed the heavy case that Marshall always had in the car and her duffel bag, or as she had been calling it her apartment. John was right behind her and reached into the car when a sudden an explosion rocked the front of the tow truck sending the poor driver flying into the air before colliding with the ground, his chest seeming to leak smoke. Joy froze but was quickly shoved by John as he pushed her behind the van, she saw Seth dive behind a different wreck in the parking lot since he had walked away to take a piss, Jason dove into the garage of the auto shop since she didn't , and she had no idea where Marshall is and that scared her more than anything.

Marshall had heard the explosion and entirely on instinct had thrown himself into the drainage ditch that was closest to him and immediately reached for his gun…...only to quickly find that it wasn't in his holster or even anywhere on his person. He silently cursed and looked back towards the van and saw his gun sitting in the middle of the gravel parking lot. He dropped his head into his arms before calling out," Is everyone alright, or at least not currently dead?"

There was a chorus of responses that gave Marshall a general idea of where everybody had ended up, it wasn't a great scenario but it could be worse. He was drawn out of his musing by Jason calling out," Did anyone see what actually happened, all I caught was an explosion."

"I just caught the explosion that set the poor sap flying," Marshall managed to pick up on Seth's voice.

Marshall poked his head out of his trench and looked over across the gravel driveway again and eyed his gun sitting calmly in the middle of the gravel field. His mind kept running over what the best possible plan was in order to retrieve his gun, that was before he remembered exactly what Joy's stand could do. " Joy, I need you to get my gun for me."

He heard her voice chime back with," Alright, where exactly is it? Because I didn't see it in the van, I-"

"It's in the middle of the parking lot," Marshall interrupted peering at the legs of what he presumed was Joy and John, and taking in the sudden stiffness in her legs.

Joys eye actually twitched in response to hearing Marshall's response to where his gun is. His entire stand revolved around his firearm and he loses it in a situation where it would be incredibly useful. It could easily tell them where the person who blew the attendant up was, or allow them to at least figure out how the explosion went off. She grumbled to herself as she placed a hand on the tow truck and summoned『ALICE IN CHAINS』. As it came into existence there was a sudden crack of a rifle and in response Joy dropped even lower behind her cover with 『ALICE IN CHAINS』 following her motion. A bullet whizzed over her head impacting the ground in between where her and John were hiding and where Seth had thrown himself. She looked through the window of the van and saw the glint of metal on top of one of the hills overlooking the gas station. She steeled herself and began to use『ALICE IN CHAINS』causing chains to form from the outside of the tow truck, the metal bending and tearing itself away from the tow truck. She began to manipulate the newly formed chain to go towards the gun, and when the chain eventually reached the handgun she had it snake around the handle before she wrapped the newly formed end of the chain around arm. She paused for a second as another rifle crack barely missed her chain, but she quickly got over her fear and yanked the chain back bringing the gun with it. She clasped her hand around it and felt a moment of calm at having Marshall's side arm back, that moment of calm is broken when another rifle clack impacts in the garage where Jason had been inching towards the open door. She yelled to Marshall," I got the gun."

She saw Marshall adjust his position before he responded," Perfect, just get it to me and I can handle the sniper."

Joy froze in place and stared at the gun in her hand, she heard Marshall's voice come through again," I don't even think you need to use your stand you may just be able to thro-oh, oh shit."

Joy for the first time in a while hated herself not for her own survival, but for her inability to throw anything. She was drawn out of her self deprecating stupor when John spoke up," Give it here."

She handed the gun over carefully while asking," Why haven't you been speaking up?"

John shrugged and gestured vaguely to the hill with the sniper," A bit more focused on figuring out where the sniper can't see me."

Joy went to respond but cut herself off when she didn't have a great answer. She watched John maneuver towards the front of the tow truck before gripping the gun like a horseshoe before underhand tossing it. She watched spin in the air with a nearly perfect arc and drop right into the trench where Marshall had been hiding out.

The gun landed right next to Marshall in the ditch actually startling him. Admittedly he was already high strung from the sudden appearance of a sniper, though he calmed down a bit as it seemed the sniper was fully content to try to wait them out in the 100 degree weather as it gave them a chance to fight back. He shook his head and smiled as he knocked the chamber on the Model 27 open….and his smile almost immediately disappeared. He had one damn bullet and after a quick pat down of his pockets and ammo belt he had no other bullets on him. Marshall swore to himself and began to seriously curse his nostalgia for the Model 27. He didn't know if the shooter had ears on their location, so he made the decision to not tell the others of the situation. He slammed the chamber shut pulled the trigger back and readjusted his position to where he was aiming the pistol directly at where he had seen the slight glint of metal reflection. He paused and began nto think over the possible laws that the sniper could be charged with, since he only had one bullet. He stopped breathing and decided to mentally declare, " Guilty of Murder in the First Degree." activating his stand causing the lines to appear and once he pulled the trigger he saw the bullet arc. He quickly rolled back into the complete cover of his ditch and waited.

It was only about five and a half seconds later when he heard a motorcycle roaring down the hills, and he decided to take that as the fact that he had hit his target. He sprung to his feet and sprinted for the van yelling," Move, Move, Move."

He was only about ten feet from the van when an explosion erupted in front of him throwing him backwards onto the gravel with ears ringing. The first thing that came to his attention was the sound of the motorbike growing closer. He forced his still numb body up and managed to get his legs to carry him behind a concrete divider before the bike got any closer. As he began to regain some of his senses he noticed how tightly his hand was gripping his pistol, in fear or just in pain he didn't really know. He saw the small engraving on the side of the barrel and breathed out.

John had been ready to make a sprint for the shaded garage when they had been pinned down, but when they had gotten the gun to Marshall he assumed the issue had been taking care of. Hearing him say move had confused him which meant that Joy had passed him as she mad the run to the garage where Jason was. He had gone to move when another explosion went off that caused him to hunker right back down behind the tow truck. He cast a glance at Seth who had gone to make a run but froze at the explosion leaving him basically stuck in no man's land. John could see the indecision playing out on his face, and he could also see the moment he panicked and set out in a dead out sprint for the tow truck. John watched as Seth's foot hit the ground and his eyes widened before switching his line of sight to John and yelling out as his stand suddenly began to manifest," THE BLO-"

Seth didn't get to finish his sentence as another explosion erupted right in front of Seth. His stand managed to cover the 'shrapnel' (rocks & pebbles really) but the force still lifted him up into the air. He smacked the ground hard and didn't make any movement aside from the rise and fall of his chest. Johns attention was quickly drawn away from his unconscious body when the sniper started talking," You sons of bitches couldn't just let me make this easy could you, had to have abilities that let get around my full proof strategy."

The man kept talking but John had stopped listening, he had recognized the voice and as the man kept talking he felt the name coming back. Suddenly it clicked and he spoke up," You're Owen Spring aren't you, famous discount gun for hire."

"Glad youva heard of me, but flattery will get you nowhere ," Owen kept talking as John stopped listening again as he began to summon forth the power of『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』as electricity coursing and sparking over his right arm.

Owen paused for a breath and John took the opportunity to explode upward and through his right arm forward releasing a bolt of electricity that nailed Owen in the shoulder. Though, as Owen was hit he threw up what John now saw was a completely lacerated left hand. John also noticed the rifle held in his right with a completely shattered scope. He snapped back to the moment as blood arced from the hand towards him, as this happened a jolt ran through his mind simply supplying that he absolutely needed to dodge these particles. Instead of dodging however he summoned forth『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』and had it punch the car bending the hood upwards and intercepting the blood. He breathed a sigh of relief when the bent hood suddenly erupted in an explosion sending John backwards onto the ground. He was vaguely aware that Owen was monologue again, but he was more focused on Marshall who was mouthing something. John shook his head trying to clear it but it seemed like Marshall was done as he just straight out yelled," DISTRACT HIM!"

John took that instruction to heart and quickly used 『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』to fire off another bolt of electricity, though it had much less to do with the instruction Marshall provided and the barrel of a rifle coming around the car. He scrambled to his feet and rushed the stunned Owen, one hand grabbing the barrel of the rifle and the other making a solid connection the side of Owens face. John vaguely noticed Marshall making a mad dash for the van's passenger door, but he was suddenly distracted by a wet feeling on his stomach. He glanced down and saw a smear of wet blood across his Hawaiian shirt. Suddenly though something clicked, though admittedly it seems obvious, Seth had been trying to yell out about the BLOOD and the explosions always seem to follow his blood coming into contact with something. John looked at the bruising face of Owen and then noticed his thumb descending as if he was pressing a trigger. John grabbed his shirt and ripped it off and throwing it behind him and diving forward with his back feeling the heat of the following explosion washing over his back. In a fluid movement 『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』exploded forward in a flurry of punches, however Owen had already been backing up allowing only a few of the punches to connect and even those sent him backwards. John let his eyes wander to Marshall who in the chaos had gotten to the van and was ripping through the passenger seat for something. He turned his attention back a second to late as Owen had backed up out of the range『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』to physically attack and had the rifle raised and aimed directly at him. John froze as Owen spoke," You really should have stayed buried."

He saw Owens finger go to press the trigger when out of nowhere a chain composed of concrete crashed into Owen throwing his aim off and making him stumble backward. Joy came to stand right next to John with 『ALICE IN CHAINS』 summoned and ready to attack. John summoned 『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』and chuckled, "What took you so long?"

"I had to help Jason get Seth into the garage, he was way too cautious and demanded we be stealthy," She responded getting ready to fight as Owen struggled back to his feet.

"Those fuckers couldn't have told me less," Owen yelled as threw his arm forward splattering blood on the ground," Told me that it would be fuckin' easy to get you fuckers especially since they gave me this damn power, but no you all had better powers than I did."

Joy went to rush forward but John grabbed her at the last second as Owen detonated the blood he had splattered on the ground blinding the duo. John heard graveling rustling as the smoke cleared and he realized almost too late that Owen was making a break for his bike.

Owen got onto his chopper and gunned it, throwing gravel and dirt behind him as he took off. He winced a bit as the adrenaline finally began to wear off and his lacerated left hand pulsated with pain. He also began to realize that that fucking girl may have broken a few ribs when the...dust chain or whatever impacted his chest. "Goddamnit Mortis," He muttered out.

He had jumped at the opportunity to get the stand or whatever it was called, 'I mean for the low price of few free hits it was worth it." The only issue was for this hit Mortis hadn't told him anything, only that there were three people he needed dead and not to worry about their stands. Turns out three people had turned into five and he needed to worry about their powers. He had tagged the car at the hotel and was feeling confident as he followed them down the highway. It had all gone according to plan until the fucker with the gun had managed to explode his scope with a damn pistol. Even from there he was confident since 『RIDES THE BOMB TO HELL』meant that with the more he was bleeding the more dangerous he was. He really wished Mortis had told him what he was dealing with, because getting shocked with electricity from a DEAD man was not fun. He guessed he had been found out when he detonated the bullet the smaller guy had been close too. He must have seen the blood and yelled out before the blast got him, but one kill is better than none. It's not like they can prevent a single bloodstained bullet from landing close to them, the real matter is going to be killing John since that bas-"GAHHHHHHHHH"

Owen fell from the bike after something tore through his shoulder, he hit the ground and skidded along the ground tearing skin and jacket off alike. He struggled to his feet and saw the man with a pistol standing about 90 yards away with a smoking barrel. He realized his head was bleeding as red interrupted the image girl taking off down the asphalt road towards him. Reached for the rifle only to realize that it was completely gone, shattered, or even obliterated. He looked at the girl who was now closing in on him with chains coming from the ground around her. Owen smiled darkly as he felt the blood soak his clothes, there was no way he was going back to any damn prison. His rap sheet was too long to do anything other than sit on death row to wait for somebody else to kill him, he chuckled to himself. 『RIDES THE BOMB TO HELL』 had given him so many options when it came to doing his hits and other jobs, but all it took to undo the notorious Owen Spring was a lack of information, and maybe the ego from having the ability to kill somebody with a drop of blood. The girl was now only fifteen feet away and Owen raised his un-lacerated hand and dropped his thumb," See you in hell, Mortis."

Seth had woken up when up when the hit man or whatever, had gunned the motorcycle and he was quick to get up and follow the group as they tried to catch up to the motorcycle. He had been behind Marshall when the pistol was raised," Marshall let him go and just save the bul-"

The crack had interrupted him and the man falling off the motorcycle and rolling down the road. He noticed that Joy hadn't stopped like he had and had kept barreling ahead, her terrifying stand summoned and, oddly enough, chains forming out of the asphalt. She was bearing down on the man when something suddenly clicked; Blood was the thing that exploded, he had noticed because the bullet he was almost on top of had been covered in a red stain before it exploded, and the man was literally covered with it. Furthermore, judging by the look the man had on his bloody face he wasn't getting arrested. He saw the man's thumb fall as he mouthed something and suddenly a large explosion engulfed him and a small one erupting in the gravel parking lot next to where Jason was 'helping' John, much to the latter's annoyance if body language was anything to go by. He looked back and saw that all that was left of the hit man was a burning skull missing the lower jaw.

Stand Stats- 『RIDES THE BOMB TO HELL』

User: Owen Spring

Strength: N/A

Speed:N/A

Range: C

Durability: N/A

Precision: C

Potential: C

『RIDES THE BOMB TO HELL』manifests in the blood of Owen and turns his blood into a highly explosive material. The detonation process is tied to a thumb drop motion on either hand and the blood has to be in the line of sight of Owen. There is no limitation on the age of the blood that limits detonation, but dried blood packs a significantly lower punch.

User History: Owen was a volatile hitman who specialized in explosive assassinations, but he was always looking forward to finding a better explosives. He managed to work himself in Mortis good graces with propensity for violence and his constant pursuit for better explosives. Mortis, after an overseas trip to Europe, returned and contacted him with an offer. An offer of power that made him say yes. He was shot with the same gun that joy was hit with and that made him manifest his stand. From there he expanded his operation as a hitman and improved his ability to off topics making himself feel invincible. However he always owed a debt of loyalty to Mortis, that could be recalled at any time