After running for about ten minutes, Daniel came to a stop in front of a large two story house. Joshua panted as he caught up to Daniel. For someone who had been badly beaten up a few minutes ago, the guy could seriously move. As Joshua stopped next to Daniel, he looked around to try and figure out where they had gone. They were in a typical suburb, with near-identical red brick houses lining the streets. To his right, Joshua could see the road end in a cul-de-sac.

"Hey," Joshua said to Daniel, as the black-haired boy rang the doorbell. "Where are we?"

"A friend's house," Daniel responded. "He's a Stand user as well. We'll be safe here tonight."

"Safe from what?" Joshua asked. At once all the questions that had been boiling in his brain came bursting out. "Who were those people? Why were they fighting you? Why did they take me? Why did…" He trailed off, out of breath and overwhelmed by thoughts. "What's going on?"

"Relax," Daniel said, laying a hand on Joshua's shoulder. "We're in no immediate danger right now. Everything is going to be fine." He turned back to the door.

Daniel's words did little to reassure Joshua. The well-lit suburb suddenly seemed to be filled with a menacing darkness. Looking out at the shadows, Joshua couldn't help but imagine Stand users hiding in the dark, waiting for the right moment to leap out at them.

Daniel rocked back on his heels. "C'mon, answer your door," he said impatiently, ringing the doorbell. "I know you're not asleep." He continued to ring the doorbell until it was suddenly thrown open.

"Daniel?" Standing behind the doorframe was a short, slightly doughy kid wearing a white undershirt and checkerboard boxers. He looked to be about fourteen years old, and had thick, white-rimmed glasses and frizzy black hair. He blinked in surprise. "It's past midnight. What are you doing here?" He looked at Joshua, "Who's this?"

"I got some new information on the Cobalt Order," Daniel said. "Can we come inside?"

"Sure, but…" not waiting for the kid to finish, Daniel strode past him into the house. The kid turned to Joshua, but quickly averted his eyes. "Hi," the kid said sheepishly.

"Hey," Joshua said. He felt pretty sheepish himself. An awkward silence hung in the air between them.

Finally the kid broke the silence. "He probably went up to my room. Come on in." Joshua followed the kid through the house, into a room on the second story. The room was filled with geek paraphernalia. Its shelves were lined with figurines, and its walls were covered with posters from various video games and anime. A large computer sat on a desk in the corner of the room. Daniel was indeed already in the room; he had made himself comfortable, and was sprawled on the room's bed, fiddling with something shiny.

"Alright," the kid said, sitting down at the desk, "What did you do this time?"

Daniel snorted. "I didn't do anything. I was at the football game when some goons from the Cobalt Order attacked me. So I was giving them the beatdown with Sabaton, but then this guy," he pointed at Joshua, "shows up out of nowhere. The goons knock him out, grab him, and run off, but I managed to-" Daniel sat up suddenly. "Shit."

"What is it?" the kid said worriedly.

"I left my car back at their lair. Goddamnit, I'm gonna have to go back there to get it." Daniel shook his head. "Goddamnit. Anyway, I followed them to their lair, gave them the beatdown with the help of this guy, and we got out of there with this," he finished, holding up the shiny piece of metal he had been fiddling with. Joshua's eyes widened as he recognized the jagged piece of metal that he had seen in the operating room.

The kid's eyes widened as well. "Is that-?"

"Pretty sure it is. It matches the description, and I found on a table just next to him," Daniel pointed at Joshua again. "Tell him."

Joshua wasn't prepared to say anything. He hadn't understood a word of what either of them were saying. Who was this Cobalt Order, and what was the piece of metal? Why was Daniel looking at him like he should know the answer? "Uhh-"

Daniel cut him off. "Have you ever manifested your Stand before tonight? Have you seen a Stand before tonight?"

"No," Joshua responded, still confused.

Daniel sat back on the bed with a satisfied expression. "There you go."

Tentatively, Joshua raised his hand. "Wait, what does my Stand have to do with that piece of metal?" Both Daniel and the kid stared at him, as if they had just noticed his presence in the room. "Also, what is the Cobalt Order," Joshua continued nervously, "and why did they kidnap me?"

The kid angrily turned to Daniel. "Did you explain anything to him before coming here?!" He exclaimed incredulously.

There was a pause, as Daniel turned his attention back to the piece of metal. "Actually, for your information, I explained to him what a Stand was," Daniel said. "So…" he trailed off.

"It's like...a manifestation of your soul? But why have I never heard of something like this before tonight?"

The kid gave Joshua a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry about him." He turned to Daniel again. "You didn't tell him anything! You just ran ahead without consideration for anyone else, like you always do!"

"Well, I'm sorry if I didn't explain to him everything single thing about the Cobalt Order," Daniel returned. "We were a little busy fighting their goons!"

The kid threw up his hands. "You're hopeless." He turned back to Joshua, who had been watching this argument unfold with a little concern. "Do you want to know why you've never heard of Stands before tonight?" Joshua nodded.

"Okay. So, sometimes when a person is born with exceptionally strong willpower, that willpower manifests as a Stand. Each Stand is unique to its user's soul, so Stands can have an endless variation of traits and abilities, but there are some rules that all Stands follow. First, Stands can only be seen by Stand users. To non-Stand users, Stands are completely invisible." The kid paused. "Unless the Stand is bound to a physical object, but then they just look like a normal thing. Anyway, because most people can't see Stands, and Stand users like to keep their abilities a secret, information about Stands is very hard to find. There are very few non-Stand users who even know about Stands as a concept, and most hold it as a supernatural myth like ghosts or vampires. Look for Stands on the internet, and you'll only find a few rumors and conspiracy theories, most of them untrue."

"One such rumor involves a golden weapon that can awaken the Stands of people who weren't born with a Stand. As the rumor goes, to unlock the Stand you stab the weapon into someone, wounding them fatally. If their soul is strong enough, their Stand awakens and their wound is healed. If it isn't…" The kid trailed off. Joshua gingerly touched his neck. The blood on it had almost dried. The kid started to speak again. "But according to rumors, the Cobalt Order is interested in acquiring this weapon - that weapon," he said, pointing to Daniel and the piece of metal in his hands. "That's what gave you a Stand."

Joshua nodded, even though he still didn't fully understand everything. "And what is the Cobalt Order?" "An organization of Stand users," the kid answered. "They allegedly have members all over the globe. Not a lot is known about them - they're very secretive - but rumors have connected them to the disappearance of other Stand users, as well as some high-profile political figures. Whatever their goals are, they can't be good."

Daniel began to speak. "Hiram and I first heard of the Cobalt Order about a year ago. Since that time, we've run into their members twice. Both times, they got away before we could get anything from them. But now, not only have we fought and defeated two of their members, we took the weapon from them." His voice grew with excitement. "We've made a lot of progress towards taking them out tonight."

"So you guys are fighting the Cobalt Order?" Joshua asked. "Hell yeah we are!" Daniel exclaimed. "Not like anyone else is going to do it. Plus, they're clearly bad guys, right? Just look at what they did tonight. They could've killed you! It's basically our moral duty to beat down these goons, or something like that."

"I guess so," Joshua said. "So, then," Daniel continued, "How about it?" "How about what?" Joshua asked.

Daniel sat up from the bed. "Helping us fight take down the Cobalt Order, of course! Our chances will be much better if we have your beast of a Stand on our side." "Plus," Hiram added, "it's not like you've really got a choice. You already helped Daniel steal from the Cobalt Order. You're as much of a target as he is."

"Why? It's not like they know who I am." Joshua said. "Right?" Hiram shook his head. "Stand users are drawn to one another. No one knows why, but it happens. Even if they don't know who you are, they'll eventually find you." "So you're with us, then?" Daniel asked.

It was hard for Joshua to take all of this in. In a single night his knowledge of what the world was had been completely flipped around. His biggest concern yesterday had been his upcoming science test; now, he was having to consider using some sort of psychic ability to fight a sinister global organization. The scope of what was happening threatened to shut him down.

But then, he thought back to earlier. Protecting Daniel with his Stand, trading blows with Power, defeating his opponent with a massive fireball - it should have been terrifying, but it was exhilarating. In that moment, Joshua had felt more powerful and in control than he ever had before.

Also, he realized, he probably wasn't the first person the Cobalt Order kidnapped like that, and he probably wouldn't be the last either. Whatever their schemes were, more people would definitely be put in harm's way if they were allowed to continue. Joshua knew he couldn't let that happen. And if Hiram was right, he would probably be better off working with two experienced Stand users than going off by himself.

"Yeah," Joshua said. "I'm with you."

Lucas Commodus, enforcer of the Cobalt Order's second branch and user of the Stand [Power], had been in trouble before. He wasn't the type to make mistakes, mainly because his decisions relied on the assumption that nothing could get in his way, and his Stand's power meant he was usually correct. But still, sometimes he would mess up, and that meant he would be in trouble. A lot of trouble, usually - hell, before the Cobalt Order found him, he had been serving a lifetime in prison. Now that was a lot of trouble. Still, as he sat on his knees, the boss glowering down at him and Hugh, Lucas realized that he was probably in the worst trouble of his life.

"Okay, let me see if I understand," the boss said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I told you to gather more test subjects for the Fragment. Instead of finding people in isolated areas, where there would be no witnesses, you decided to go to a high school football game and look for test subjects there."

Hugh weakly raised his head. "We thought that since you said teenagers have a greater chance of awakening a Stand, we should-"

"I said that was a theory someone proposed!" The boss shouted. "I also said that there is no evidence of this theory being correct, and that we should stick to what we have always been doing! And anyway, teenagers exist in places with fewer witnesses than crowded social events!" Lucas and Hugh winced as the boss's harsh words bit into them.

The boss cleared his throat. "Anyway, you go to this football game, but then a Stand user spots you, and starts attacking you. So you start fighting him, but then another kid walks in on the fight, at which point you decide to capture him and make a getaway instead. Am I correct so far?" Lucas and Hugh both nervously nodded. "Then, rather than come back here like you were supposed to, you go out to some abandoned hospital where you proceed to use the Fragment - which you weren't supposed to have, by the way - on the kid you captured."

"But then, surprise! The Stand user from before, who you ran away from instead of killing, has followed you. He defeats both of you, takes both the Fragment and your test subject, and escapes. And now, you have no idea where either of them are." I was about to beat him, but then that other brat had to go and get himself a tough-ass Stand, Lucas thought, but he kept that thought to himself. He was already in more than enough trouble without running his mouth. Lucas and Hugh each gave an ashamed nod. Hugh spoke up again. "We could probably find them, though. With Subdivisions' power. Then getting back the Fragment will be easy."

The boss seemed to consider this. "That's true. We may even be to able use this as an opportunity, eliminate two birds with a single stone…" Lucas couldn't believe what he was seeing. Were he and Hugh actually going to get away with this? The boss continued, "Plus, we now at least have confirmation that the Fragment actually works. That's not nothing." He stared at Lucas and Hugh. "Are you sure that you could identify the person who stole the Fragment?" Lucas and Hugh nodded vigorously. "And the other person, your test subject?" They kept nodding.

"Good," the boss said. "But then, I only need one of you for that. And someone has to be punished for disobeying orders." A grey figure began to materialize behind him. "[Road to Nowhere]!"

Before Lucas could react, the ground split open beneath his feet, and he fell into an infinite darkness.

Lucas Commodus - Retired!

-To Be Continued- How to Train Your Stand