Marshall felt the truck cut hard to the right weaving through the standstill practice, he grabbed harder on the roof rack and hip fired. Neither car had been able to do much as there were enough cars to use as shields, though he did find it odd that there was actually a trail to follow. The truck straightened out again and he took the opportunity to use both hands to fire. "Jesus Christ!"
Marshall spun forward and felt his jaw drop," HOW THE FUCK DID WE CATCH UP?!"
He couldn't help but agree with John, there really was no way they should have caught up with the two dueling cars unless the enemy was playing with them… and if he was playing with them at what felt like 96 miles per hour, he didn't want to find out how fast he could go.
His attention came back to the familiar van that was swerving back and forth as it attempted to avoid being pitted by a car with spinning flames for wheels, 'Yeah, that's a stand.' Marshall quickly glanced to his right and saw the reason there was traffic; The road looked like it had been obliterated by explosives . The truck swerved hard to avoid the concrete almost sending Marshall out of the trunk and into the waiting tires of the mercenary van. The truck swerved over to the right side of the road and marshall brought the gun to his shoulder and fired across the two lane highway. Bullets hit the van but the bullet proof glass lived up to its name preventing any real damage. Marshall decided to switch tactics and lined up a shot at the tire when the sound of screeching rubber filled the air and hi-their van slid right in front of his shot. The truck accelerated forward forcing Marshall to grab the roof rack as he began to slide. He looked up and quickly figured out why John had almost killed him; The stand-car was trying to cut them off, but John was apparently trying to pit maneuver it instead. The cloth covering on the ammo crate flew off and revealed a small rear portin the back of the trucks cab. Marshall took the butt of the gun and smashed the window open at the precise time John went for the pit. The front bumper met the rear of the stand-car, and Marshall was forced to latch on to the broken port in order to avoid going over the edge of the trunk. "Mother Fu-," he yelled out as the glass pierced his hand.
Marshall fought back to his feet in time to see the hot-rod stand-car spin around and begin going in reverse as good as a stunt driver could. There was no skidding and no struggling in how the car was handled, in fact it almost looked like the car was skating on the concrete as it pulled the spin off."What's the plan here?" John asked over a glass covered shoulder, panic seeping into his voice.
Marshall stood up and quickly fired the SIG in a burst at the opposing car only to hit air as it suddenly spun back around to the proper direction and cut hard to the left, going onto the sand with almost no change in speed. Marshall pulled the magazine out and threw it onto the road, that damn car had pulled that move off in the time it took the bullets to travel the distance, only nine feet away. Marshall was drawn out of his pondering when the stand cut hard and collided with the side of truck sending him to the ground and scattering the bullets he had in his pockets. He quickly got back to his knees and opened fire on the side of the stand-car. The bullets all impacted closely together only denting the metal that comprised the door, but it did disengage from them with a tearing sound following. Marshall scrambled over to the edge of the trunk and looked over the side to see several cruel looking hooks retract underneath the car. Marshall fired the remaining bullets in the gun but the car slammed the brakes and stopped on a dime to avoid the bullets. The car slid behind the truck as Marshall turned towards the broken window port," Don't let him hit us! He's trying to hook."
John glanced up into the left side mirror," Yeah, I don't have as much control of that as you think."
Marshall peered inside the cab and saw the speedometer maxed out and Johns foot attempting to push the pedal further to the floor. He turned back and saw the stand-car gaining effortlessly, flames spitting out of the exhaust pipes on the sides. He slammed another magazine in the SIG before firing, getting the driver to cut to the right to avoid before sliding comfortably back behind the truck. Marshall took the half empty cartridge out and put a full one in the SIG," I see what you mean."
He could have sworn John laughed as he got back to his feet and shouldered the SIG. The stand-car began to sway back and forth, Marshall exhaled and in a fluid movement he squeezed the trigger and sent about three bullets at the front right tire. Marshall had aimed for the exact moment he swerved back to the left and had banked on his inability to swerve as he was already swaying. He felt a thin grin hit his face as he saw the bullets hit the flaming tire...only to feel the same smirk turn into a grimace as the bullets went through the fire as if it was just fire, admittedly he should have figured that. The car speed forward looking to ram the back of the truck again but Marshall fired, once again keeping his grouping close together and putting another dent in the car, in the hood this time. Only this time the car didn't dodge, it committed and rammed the back of the car getting the prime opportunity to sink it's hooks into the bumper. Marshall threw an arm out to try and catch himself, the only issue it was the hand that was holding the SIG. His ears picked out the tell tale clattering over the roar of the opposing cars engine. " God Damn-IT," Marshall yelled as the car suddenly was yanked to the right dangerously close to the metal railing.
He heard metal scraping on metal as his hand found the holster for the model 27. He tried to struggle to his feet but the trunk was swaying too much for him to have any sort of footing. So he just vaguely aimed the gun over the tailgate and fired where he believed the windshield was. The engine grew quieter very suddenly so he assumed he hit something with the six bullets he shot. Marshall caught his breath as he laid in the trunk, the pain from landing on the ground actually catching up to him. It was only a few seconds before he clambered back to his feet and looked ahead down the road and saw the first signal they were approaching the address; a bridge. The engine sounded much closer as he turned around, quickly reloading the pistol and firing while declaring, 'Guilty of Grand Theft Auto." The bullets arced towards the car, but once again the car turned on a dime and the bullets were moving too fast to adjust themselves and simply embedded themselves in the concrete. He grabbed his last speed reloader and slammed it into the gun as the truck shifted over the the left leaving it's right side wide open. Marshall turned to yell at John, " What the hell ar-"
He stopped short as John's plan suddenly clicked in his head; with the bridge upcoming John was going to get the stand-car to come along that side and ram it into the wall. Marshall glanced over his shoulder and saw it begin to pull up along side of them, right as they were making it to the bridge. Marshall gripped tight on the roof rack as John cut the wheel, cut it hard, and made to slam the bastard into the wall. It inched close to the wall, but Marshall couldn't help but gape as the stand-car transitioned to DRIVING ON THE WALL losing no speed. In fact it seemed to accelerate and pass them while driving across the wall. Only about a second later the car jumped from the side of the wall right in front of the truck cracking the concrete. He heard John loud and clear yelling," WHAT IN THE HELL!"
Marshall went to respond but the front of the was backed into slamming Marshall's ribs into the back of the cab. The groan he let out was overshadowed by the sound of the metal hooks impaling the front bumper, though more pressing was the fact that John no longer had control. The truck began to swing back and forth, John was trying to fight it based on the sound the tires were making and the acrid smell of rubber. Another hard jerk to the left pried his hand off the roof rack and sent him down into the trunk again, his ribs not loving the impact. He attempted to struggle to his feet but the constant jerking off the truck kept him down on the truck bed. It seemed like forever but suddenly he was no longer in the bed of the truck but then again he was no longer in anything. Time seemed to slow as he felt his body go into the air and he couldn't help but notice the completely crushed bumper against a concrete lane divider. He vaguely caught sight of a blue and metallic silver figure flash into existence, but his mental process was soon interrupted by his body hitting the concrete and his consciousness going to black.
Jason honestly couldn't have been happier when Marshall and John caught up with them. The attempt to go through the desert to lose the stand-car or whatever had initially backfired, allowing their car to get hooked. Joy had put up a good fight creating chains to try and ensnare it, but the car maneuvered through the chains...sometimes on only two wheels. He had decided to weave through traffic to lose it, but all that amounted to was a different car getting slammed into them. He managed to avoid most of the damage but everybody inside was still thrown around a bit with Joy headbutting the window knocking herself out. Though Seth had managed to hold on to his seat and immediately sent out『BALLROOM BLITZ』to try to blind the driver and buy them some time. However the car apparently was made by Jesus Christ because it launched itself up into the air shattering the concrete and causing a three car pile up and avoiding the blue swarm of beetles. Now as they switched opponents he couldn't have been more grateful, despite the fact that his stand was damn near useless against the guns. "Son of a-", Jason swore as they were rammed by the other van.
He was dimly aware of 『BALLROOM BLITZ』activating and several of the 'beetles' flying out of the car and landing on the mercenaries' car. " Hey...are they able see my stand?."
"Why the hell does that matter?" Jason responded incredulously as he slowed down trying to avoid the hail of bullets," We have slightly more pressing issues."
"Answer the question, cause I might have a plan!" Seth yelled from the back trying to keep Joy from falling back onto the floor.
Jason swerved the car again, making Seth's efforts pointless before he responded," No, No they can't!"
Another hail of bullets came from the mercenary van, thankfully not impacting any tires (God knows how they hadn't hit one yet). Jason glanced out the window and nearly drove head on into a pothole when he saw the full swarm of beetles that comprised『BALLROOM BLITZ』settle on to the mercenary van, and just begin to rip into the metal. Small pieces of the roof began to peel back, six beetles barely managing to pry open a gap about an inch wide caused by Marshall earlier but it was enough. Their car pulled ahead as Seth began to cackle madly, Jason looked into the rear view mirror, and saw the blue beetles filter through the gap. Only a second later Seth's cackling laughter was highlighted by flashes of light from inside the mercenary van followed by it careening hard into the ditch along the side of the road, the car performing a gymnastics routine for a few seconds before colliding with the ground. Seth finally stopped laughing and Jason asked over his shoulder," What the hell was that?"
Seth smirked," That was『BALLROOM BLITZ』ability."
There was a small silence before Jason angrily asked," Well, can you explain it please? Cause it's ability is either to magically control guns or it's something else."
Seth sheepishly rubbed the back of his head," Sorry, old habits die hard, when it bites people it incites fury and they just go after the closest person."
Jason couldn't help but chuckle under his breath at how damn terrifying that ability was. He could literally start a melee at the drop of a hat...more so the bite of a stand. He also thought back to when Owen sent Seth sky high with his explosion and how『BALLROOM BLITZ』managed to save him from most of the damage. In fact….That was an ability that Mortis would have wanted to use, given how jacked up he was in the mind and his adoration for manipulation. The car passed under a bridge and he heard Joy begin to stir before she quickly asked," Where's the Mercenaries?"
Jason responded, looking over his shoulder," Seth took care of it, well he got them to take care of it."
Joy went to respond, but stopped short and pointed out the front window," There's the fucker!"
Jason swung his attention back forward and slammed the breaks, nearly knocking Joy out again, to avoid the wreck in front of them. He quickly picked out Marshall lying unconscious face up on the ground, he very quickly picked up on the moving of his chest so at least he was still alive. A familiar sound of metal on metal reached their ears drawing their attention from the downed team leader to the standing John staring down a familiar vehicle. They could see the blue and grey humanoid standing behind mimicking the stance John held as electricity began to arc across his body. Joy and Seth spoke up at the same time, " What is he doing?"
Jason really had no idea. Joy had tried to catch it with chains made of asphalt but it had weaved or just torn straight through them like they weren't even there. Seth had at one point tried to use 『BALLROOM BLITZ』but the beetles had just splattered harmlessly against the windshield, or got incinerated by the tires. He hadn't even bothered to try 『HERE COMES REVENGE』because it was a close range physical stand and he was damn near positive that it's ability wasn't going to work. He snapped out of his thoughts when a loud screeching noise reached his ears and saw...whatever the hell Johns stand was making the noise as more and more electricity shot off its body as the car began to speed towards John.
John had tried, tried so hard, to keep the truck from impacting against the concrete divider to no avail. He immediately regretted not wearing his seat belt, but unlike most people he was able to get 『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』to save him by taking the brunt of the impact. As he went through the windshield, a thousand tiny cuts appearing all over his arms, he briefly had heard Marshall yelling above him. 『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』dissipated and he forced himself to his feet, shaken up and with blood in his eyes, and looked down the road to see the damn car do a quick spin around. "Marshall," He wheezed out, yep those ribs hadn't healed," Can you move?"
A second later there was no reply and that answered the question of what he should do next; Wing It. The car began to spin its tires, but a sudden jolt ran through his brain a new...old...an idea came into his head. He had no idea where this idea came from, but he was quite literally out of options. If he tried to dodged then Marshall was definitely going to get run over, and if he didn't dodge there was a chance that he and Marshall lived...an incredibly small one, but it was some sort of shot.『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』came forth and John grabbed a piece of rebar that had been knocked loose when they collided with the divider. He honestly was happy that this brat was toying with them, if he hadn't been then they may have been killed a while ago and with this half baked idea he needed all the help he could get. Honestly calling it an idea was too much credit, it was more of a theory, hypothesis, idea, it was an idea.
The car kept spinning it's flaming tires as John leaned back holding the rebar like a javelin and amped 『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』's voltage up all the way, the ammeter in it's chest climbing to red. The electricity cascaded all around him with the two metallic arms forming a tunnel from behind him helping him aim directly at the car. The voltage kept climbing as the car took off down the road heading straight for him. He felt oddly calm as he contorted his body to throw the rebar, like the motion was very familiar for him. As he threw it he let loose a yell that overlapped with the exact same yell that『RIDE THE LIGHTNING』let loose. He felt the rebar leave his hand accelerating with an insane amount of speed, generating a crack like a rifle bullet. The difference was that a rifle wouldn't have done anything to the super tough car, but this piece of rebar decimated the hood, the engine, and the cab, only narrowly missing the cab.
The destroyed car parts scattered around him, and he was able to make out the look of pure bewilderment on the drivers face as he went flying over John's shoulder and hit the ground behind him in a roll. Though when the brat stopped rolling he didn't move, just layed there staring up into the sky. John tried to turn to face him, but he felt his legs just give out, like his brain just wasn't connected to his nervous system anymore. He managed to turn his body and see Jason, Joy, and Seth running up and a series of asphalt chains wrapping and holding the brat to the ground. "Took ya guys long enough," He managed to speak out, feeling returning to the top of his body.
Jason smirked as he dropped down next to Marshall with Joy as Seth came over and helped him to the ground as feeling was still missing from his lower half. As he hit the concrete Seth asked," What the hell was that?"
John went all the way down laying on his back, and as sirens could be heard in the distance and Marshall groaned," I literally have no idea, but damn am I glad I came up with it."
STAND STATS- 『BALLROOM BLITZ』
User: Seth Krokus
Strength: C(Each of the beetles is capable of breaking skin with a bite)
Speed: C
Range: B
Durability: D
Precision: B
Potential: B
『BALLROOM BLITZ』is a swarm like stand that appears as blue flying beetles , specifically resembling stag beetles. When the full swarm is summoned there are 112 'beetles', each beetle is capable of biting a person and using it's main ability which sends the target into a fury, and makes them ignore physical damage as they try to hurt anything nearby. The more of the 'beetles' that attach to a target the more fury there is and the more the target will try to kill anything nearby. They aren't durable at all as a hard slap from a person could destroy them, if they could hit them. Another benefit of 『BALLROOM BLITZ』is that damage dealt to the stand is not shared with the user, but the 'beetles' do not return immediately but come back in approximately four minutes
User History: Seth Krokus was one of Mortis kidnapped victims that were kept in the Alcatraz lab, but Prior to that he was an archivist working for the government. In that capacity he was able to use his intelligence to manipulate his coworkers and even his superior into giving him what he wants. He had a tendency to manipulate people outside of his job, generally criminals, in order to gain more money. That's actually what put him on Morits's radar and led to him being shot with the golden gun and kidnapped. During the three months that he was held captive prior to rescue, he was able to talk with another prisoner. Her and the general direness of the situation made him reevaluate his life and to try to do something for somebody other than himself.