"I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid I can't let anyone without a membership past this point. It's company policy."
The polite, apologetic tone of the gym's receptionist only infuriated Elwood even more. "And I'm sorry," he replied, every word dripping with toxic contempt, "but I have no intention of ever becoming a member here."
"In that case, I will have to ask you to leave." said the receptionist, gesturing towards the door.
Elwood's foot tapped the floor impatiently. His bushy eyebrow twitched with anger. The Stand user briefly considered punching the receptionist in the jaw and making a run for it, but his anger management counselor had told him to try to handle these types of situations with more diplomacy, so he only sighed and spoke again.
"Listen. I'm not here to exercise. I'm not here to use the pool. I won't even touch the water fountain. Just let me in, and in ten minutes I'll be out the door and you'll never see me again."
"If you're not here to use any of our facilities, why do you want to get in so badly?" the receptionist questioned. Elwood blanched. He hadn't actually come up with an answer to that question. "I, ahh…need to use the bathroom. Yeah, I need to use the bathroom." He smiled in what he hoped was an affable and not at all creepy way, trying to inject what little charm he had into his plea.
The receptionist's face was deadpan. "There are several other stores around here. If you need to use the bathroom, I'm sure at least one of them will let you use theirs for free."
The tapping of Elwood's foot was now almost a stomping. He felt so frustrated that he almost wanted to leave, drive off, and forget the entire day ever happened. But he couldn't. That boy was there alone, completely unguarded, and surrounded by fancy gym equipment - he couldn't ask for a better environment for his Stand to be used in. This could be his only chance to become a big shot in the Cobalt Order; he couldn't let something as small as this receptionist get in his way.
"Fine," he said, grunting in anger, "gimme your cheapest plan." Making me go through all this - just you wait, kid. You're in for a world of pain once Rubber Biscuit gets to you.
Despite its placement in an otherwise ordinary shopping center, in between a laundromat and a karate dojo, Schwarzenegger Fitness was actually quite upscale. Billing itself as a 'luxury gym', it had, in addition to the typical weight machines and treadmills, several high-tech machines designed to push exercise to its maximum efficiency. It also came with a sizable pool, a hot tub, a sauna, and a spa center. Because of all this luxury, membership fees were expensive to the point of being exorbitant, so when Joshua had won a year's membership in a raffle he had resolved to go as much as possible.
After warming up, Joshua began to run on one of the treadmills. Despite it being mid-morning on Saturday, the gym was unusually vacant - other than a couple of middle-aged men running on ellipticals, a girl about his age warming up in one of the studios, and the shabby-looking man who had been arguing with the receptionist, it seemed like the gym was completely empty.
Despite his earlier attempts to put it out of his mind, as Joshua ran he couldn't help but continue to think about the Cobalt Order. Stan's words of warning echoed in the back of his head; though he had dismissed the Stand hunter at time, Joshua had to admit he had a point. Joshua, Daniel, and Hiram were just three kids - with Stands, sure, but the Cobalt Order had those as well. Even if they had managed to win a couple battles, could the three of them really take down a global conspiracy of powerful Stand users?
Sure, they had stolen the weapon from the Cobalt Order, but that couldn't be that important, could it? If it was, why hadn't it been better protected, and why wasn't the Order devoting more of their energy to getting it back? Daniel and Hiram seemed to think that they were on the verge of a major breakthrough, but the more Joshua thought about it, the less sure he was that they were actually making progress against the Order.
Still, he couldn't find it in himself to back down. Not just because the Cobalt Order was in fact targeting him, as the encounter with Stan had proven. Joshua had experienced firsthand how far the Cobalt Order would go to achieve its goals. Kidnapping and performing dangerous operations on innocents, manipulating enemies into attacking one another before finishing them off - there seemed to be no line the Order wouldn't cross for the sake of its own desires. If there was one type of person Joshua couldn't stand, it was people who took advantage of their position over others, and the Cobalt Order seemed to be made up entirely of those people. Even if it was a futile effort, as long as Joshua had the means to fight against the Order he would continue to do so.
Suddenly, Joshua was snapped out of his thoughts by something strange. Even though he hadn't touched any of the buttons, the treadmill appeared to be picking up speed. Weird. Maybe this is some kind of fancy automated setting? Joshua thought as he pressed the button to reduce the treadmill's speed.
But the treadmill's speed didn't decrease. Instead, it moved even faster, so fast that Joshua's legs could only just match the intense pace it set. Is this some kind of glitch? As the treadmill continued to gain speed, Joshua could feel himself losing control of his pace. He needed to stop the treadmill now. He quickly pulled the emergency brake cord, and-
The treadmill didn't stop. Joshua's legs flew out from underneath him, and suddenly he was falling face first into the treadmill belt. The instant he landed, the speed of the belt shot him out from on top of it, and he collided with the stationary bicycle behind him.
"Oh my goodness!" the receptionist rushed over to where Joshua had fallen, a concerned expression on his face. "Sir, are you alright?"
"Yeah, probably," Joshua said, rubbing his head. He started to unsteadily get to his feet. "This treadmill just wouldn't stop for some reason." "Really?" the receptionist turned to the treadmill, which was still running incredibly quickly.
Joshua's body ached from the fall, and his mind was still spinning from the impact. Feeling woozy, he leaned against the stationary bicycle. "That's strange," said the receptionist, examining the treadmill. "This thing shouldn't be able to work without a brake cord in it."
"Hey, kid," said voice from somewhere behind Joshua. "You feeling okay?" "Yeah," Joshua responded. "I'm just a little dizzy-"
CLONK! Out of nowhere, something incredibly hard struck Joshua in the side of his head. He fell over, clutching it in pain, feeling a warm trickle of blood run down his hand. His mind had been spinning before, but now it was rocketing around his skull. He looked up to see the shabby-looking man standing over him, a heavy-looking dumbbell in one hand. "How about now?" the man snarled maliciously.
"Sir, what are you doing?!" the receptionist exclaimed. "Please put that down and stop right-" Suddenly, another treadmill from behind the receptionist came to life. A large barbell plate that had been laid on the treadmill belt was forcefully shot off, and collided with the receptionist's back. The receptionist only had time to utter a gasp of shock and pain before collapsing.
"Ha! That's for not letting me in until I bought a membership!" the shabby-looking man shouted. "And this," bringing his leg back, he delivered a fierce kick to the receptionist's unmoving head, "is for trying to upsell me to the six month plan!" He turned his attention back to Joshua. "Now, where's the Fragment?"
"What?" Joshua got to his feet, feeling even more unsteady than before. He couldn't think clearly; his mind was a whirling mess of pain and panic. "Don't try to play dumb with me, kid." The man brandished the dumbbell threateningly. "Or do you want me to hit you with this again to jog your memory?"
Through the chaotic fog clouding his mind, Joshua recognized the lapel pin attached to the shabby man's coat. "You - You're with the Cobalt Order!" he shouted. "[Imagine Dragons]!" The dragonic Stand appeared in a burst of light, and roared as it lunged towards the man. But, perhaps because of Joshua's dizziness, its movements were slower than usual, and the man was easily able to avoid its claws.
"Whoa, careful there!" the man said, leaping backwards. "You could really hurt someone like that. Besides, don't you have more important things to worry about?"
In a bolt of clarity, Joshua realized what the man meant. Another treadmill had activated, and another large plate was hurtling towards him. He dodged to the side, only barely avoiding a direct hit.
Joshua tried to advance on the man again, but the gym had suddenly turned into a war zone. Dumbbells, barbells, plates, medicine balls - it seemed like the man had turned all the gym's equipment into to ballistae, and the treadmills into catapults to launch them from. Joshua and Imagine Dragons could barely dodge the larger projectiles, and Joshua received several painful blows from smaller objects as he ran from the treadmill armada.
Finally, it seemed the barrage of weights had ended, and Joshua came to a stop in front of the man. "Is that...all you got?" Joshua panted. His entire body was sore, and his head was pounding - though he was fairly sure it was just the trauma this time - but he didn't care. He wasn't about to let the Cobalt Order defeat him so easily.
The man only smiled. "Not quite. Oh, watch your head!" Joshua looked up to see a large weight quickly coming down on top of him. Somehow, in the confusion of the fight and his scattered mind, Joshua had ended up underneath a weight machine. Joshua only just reacted in time, catching the weight with hands. "Huh?" Joshua paused, surprised. "What's with this light weight? It's so big, but it can't be heavier than a couple pounds!" "Oh really?" the man said. Without warning, the weight quickly grew heavier and heavier, until Joshua was struggling to hold it up. "How about now?"
"Let's see," the man continued, reading a label on the machine's side. "This machine is designed to push people to the limit of their strength. It continues to add weight on top of a person until their muscles give out, at which point an automatic safety lock retracts all weight. Top weight limit of...wow, three tons. I can't imagine anyone being strong enough to hit that limit." He turned back to Joshua. "Now, unless you want to be crushed to death, you'll tell me where the Fragment is."
Despite the intense pressure, Joshua managed to smile. "What do you mean? You just said it - when my muscles give out, all this weight is retracted automatically." Joshua relaxed his muscles, but was then forced to his knees. Instead of retracting, the weight over Joshua's head had intensified even further.
"That would be true, except this machine has fallen under the control of my Stand, [Rubber Biscuit]." With those words, Joshua saw a Stand appear behind the man. Rubber Biscuit was tall and lanky, like something out of a cartoon. Its limbs were thin and robotic, its hands and feet oversized, its body and head shaped like tin cans. Red, reflective eyes jutted out from either side of its head. On the back of its left hand was a large red button, which it was holding down with its right hand.
"See, my Stand can remotely activate machines by pressing down that button on its hand," the man said as he patted the machine gently. "So as long it continually activates this weight machine, it will continue to add weight, safety lock or not. Now, I'll ask again," and the man kicked Joshua square in the face, "where is the goddamn Fragment?"
Joshua could taste the blood pouring out of his nose. He knew he couldn't bear the weight this machine any longer; his muscles were about to give out completely. "[Imagine Dragons]!" he cried, and the Stand appeared at his side just as he let go of the weight. Joshua collapsed on the ground as Imagine Dragons caught the weight above him. Despite Joshua's exhaustion, Imagine Dragons was able to keep the weight from falling on them both.
"So you brought out your Stand to help," the man said in a bored tone. "So what? You can't crawl away. You can't even lift a finger." He kicked Joshua in the head again. "Where's the Fragment? I won't ask again!"
The man was right. Joshua was too tired to move away from the machine. Worse yet, Imagine Dragons was also beginning to struggle to lift the intense weight of the machine. Still, there was a glimmer of hope. Joshua only had one shot, but if this managed to work. "I didn't just summon Imagine Dragons," Joshua managed to gasp, "for its strength!"
"GRAA!" Raising its head, Imagine Dragons let out a large fireball. "Whoa!" the man exclaimed, as the fireball blew past his head. He turned back to Joshua. "Nice one. Too bad it missed." The lights above them flickered, and Joshua weakly smiled. "I wasn't aiming for you."
"Hmm?" the man turned behind him to see a white box on the gym wall smoking and sparking. "I just destroyed the circuit breaker," Joshua explained. "With the power off, this machine's safety features should cause the weight to automatically retract, and your Stand won't be able to activate it any longer." "No! Not the circuit breaker!" the man shouted. "You bastard! You've ruined everything!" The box burst open in an explosion of fire and electricity. The lights in the gym turned off, the gauges on the ellipticals went black, the smoothie machine stopped humming noisily.
But the treadmills Rubber Biscuit had activated didn't turn off. Neither did the machine applying even more weight onto Joshua and Imagine Dragons.
"...is what you thought I'd say, but you'd be wrong," the man said as he turned back to Joshua. "No," Joshua breathed. "How can this happening?" "Simple," the man responded. "Machines activated by Rubber Biscuit don't turn off. Even if it shouldn't work, even if there's no power source, they'll keep working 'til I'm done with them!" He pointed down at Joshua. "You've done some pretty impressive stuff so far, but now you're out of tricks. Jake Elwood's the name. Rubber Biscuit's the Stand. Remember that as the guy who beat you for the rest of your short, sorry life!"
-To Be Continued- Bounce Back (Act 3)