Daniel reacted to the men immediately. "[Sabaton]!" he cried, and with a shriek the pink Stand rushed toward the man sitting in the chair. The man did not appear to be frightened by the charging Stand: He merely leaned further back in his chair, and pushed himself slightly toward the desk behind him. Sabaton teleported across the room, arm raised and prepared to slam down on the sitting man when-

Something strange happened. The instant Sabaton entered the strange mist that had gathered around the man, it no longer felt as if it was moving through air. Sabaton felt like instead it was moving through a thick type of jam, albeit without any sweetness. Its movements became sluggish; when it tried to punch the man in the chair, the resistance of the mist slowed its arm down so much that the man was easily able to react to it, dodging the blow in his chair. "Crap," Daniel said. Sabaton teleported to the man's side, ready to attempt another punch, but before it could a long, clawed arm quickly wrapped itself around the Stand's leg.

The man in the chair had draped out an arm, and hanging off of that arm was what was clearly the man's Stand. It somewhat resembled a sloth with light blue fur. Its arms and legs were long and flat, almost like the wings of a plane. Its limbs ended in three long claws, which although dull still hurt pressed against Sabaton. Its head was round, and long blue hair covered its face. The light blue mist that had surrounded the man poured from three short pipes protruding from the Stand's back. "Crap," Daniel said again, as Sabaton tried to tug its leg free from the Stand's grasp.

"EEEEEEAAAAAAAHHH!" cried Sabaton, as it slammed its fist down onto the head of the blue Stand - or at least it tried to. The thick mist slowed its arm down to a crawl, and the blue Stand easily batted it away with a swipe. "Nyet, nyet," said the man in the chair. "Unless your Stand is as aerodynamic as mine, you cannot possibly hurt me like that." He languidly gestured to the Stand hanging on his arm. "No matter how fast or powerful your Stand may be, in my fog [Stay Up Late] is better."

Stay Up Late stretched its other clawed arm toward Sabaton. It wasn't very fast, but caught tight in the grip of Stay Up Late's other arm and slowed by the mist Sabaton was helpless as Stay Up Late raked its claws over the pink Stand's chest. Daniel reeled backward, wincing in pain. "Daniel!" Hiram worriedly exclaimed. "I'm alright," Daniel said, clutching his chest. "I'm alright." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Joshua step forward with Imagine Dragons at his side.

"Joshua, don't," Daniel muttered. "The mist will just get you too." "Don't worry," Joshua responded, "I don't intend to step in the mist at all." Imagine Dragons opened its mouth, and the warm glow of a fireball began to appear. "Just get ready to dodge."

The man in the chair tilted his head. "He's doing that thing with the fire, bro. Just like Subdivisions wrote about." "I can see that, Ivan," the man in red said. The man raised an arm, pushed his paper sunglasses into his face, and snapped his fingers.

A large, intense explosion erupted from the inside of Imagine Dragons' mouth. Daniel could feel the heat of the explosion, and its force caused him to stumble. When he looked back, Joshua was gone. He had been thrown backward by the blast, and had smashed through the door behind him into the hall.

"Nice job, bro," Ivan said, swiveling around in his chair. "Now that he's out of the way…" He pressed his legs against the desk and pushed off, sending the chair rolling toward Daniel and Hiram. It wasn't rolling very quickly; the mist that surrounded Ivan seemed to slow him down as well. But the mist moved steadily with the chair, and in the small room it would only be a few seconds before the mist would completely envelope Daniel and Hiram.

Daniel could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Behind the chair, Sabaton had been released from Stay Up Late's grasp, but the lingering traces of the mist still made its movements sluggish. Daniel turned to face Hiram, who seemed to have frozen in shock. He took a deep breath, and slammed his fist into Hiram's chest - not as forceful as a punch, but solidly, strongly. "Get out of here, Hiram." Daniel's voice was soft, but incredibly firm. "Get Joshua and get out of here."

Either the blow or Daniel's words jolted Hiram out of his daze. The boy looked down at the object Daniel had handed him - the object Daniel had dropped when he had struck Hiram. "Daniel-" But Daniel had already turned back from Hiram to face the enemy Stand users. "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you," Daniel said. The mist was almost upon them. "Daniel, hang on-"

Two things happened simultaneously. First, Sabaton, which suddenly in front of Hiram, interrupted him by pushing him toward the door. At the same time, Daniel dashed straight forward into the mist. The difference in the air was instantly noticeable; Daniel could feel the pressure of the mist pushing on him, slowing him to the point where he could barely move. Pushing his arms forward against the mist, he caught the chair right before the mist reached the front of the room. "Nyet, nyet," Ivan said. "You shouldn't have come in here."

Suddenly, Daniel felt an unbearable tiredness come over him. The rest of his body had become too heavy for his legs to carry, and he collapsed, though the mist still slowed him to where it felt like he was sinking instead of falling. "Are you finding it hard to breathe?" Ivan asked, his voice seeming to grow muffled and far away. "You may not have realized it while only your Stand was here, but this close to me there is no air, only my fog. Where you stand right now there is less oxygen than the top of Mt. Everest."

As Daniel slowly fell against the floor, he dragged his head through the mist to face the front of the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hiram running through the wreckage of the door into the hall. "Crap," he said one last time, and his mind fell into unconsciousness.

Ivan remained motionless in his chair. "Well, Dmitri? What shall we do now?"

A pair of handcuffs and a blindfold were thrown at Ivan's feet. "Secure him and get him out of the fog," Dmitri said. "We don't want him to suffocate. These boys know where the Fragment is, so they're worth more to us alive for now." Slowly, Ivan raised his head to face Dmitri, though his eyes were still shut tight. "Okay," he said.

Slowly, Ivan got up from the chair. Slowly, he crouched down and picked up the cuffs and blindfold. Slowly, he fitted the blindfold over the unconscious Daniel's eyes, and slowly he dragged Daniel's body to a nearby shelf. All the while, Dmitri stood to the side, waiting for Ivan to finish. Eventually, Dmitri spoke: "I know your Stand slows down your movements, but could you at least try to move a little faster?" "You know very well I can't," Ivan slowly responded. "In order to keep myself awake in this fog, I have to have absolute control over my breathing. That means I have to keep my heart rate down, I that means I cannot engage in strenuous activity. And anyway, what's the rush?" He slowly turned to look at Dmitri. "You sealed all the exits, right? There's no way the other two can escape, and besides that there's no way they'd want to while we've captured their friend."

Dmitri glanced back at the security room monitors. Sure enough, movement on the screen indicated that the intruders were still in the warehouse. "I suppose so, but I still don't like giving them free roam of this place for so long," Dmitri said with a sigh.

"Relax, bro. You are too tense; if you entered my fog you would collapse instantly. Besides, you don't have to wait any longer," Ivan said, turning to reveal Daniel shackled to a shelf. "Now, where did the little rats scamper off to?"

"The one with the dragon Stand is upstairs," Dmitri said, looking at the security monitor. "The other one went back to the storage room." "So, they decided to split up, eh?" A slight smile appeared on Ivan's face. "We should split up too, then. As we are, I'd probably just be slowing you down." "Agreed," Dmitri responded, walking past Ivan into the hall. "[All Night Long] would be better at taking down that dragon Stand, so I'll go upstairs. I trust you can handle the shield Stand by yourself?"

Ivan emerged from the room behind Dmitri, who took care to keep himself a good distance away from his brother and the mist that surrounded him. "Of course, bro," Ivan said, "There isn't a soul in the world who can escape me once they're in my fog." "Good," Dmitri said, and began to move toward the staircase at the end of the hall, but at once stopped and looked back at his brother. "One more thing," he said. "Before the boy with the teleporting Stand collapsed, he passed something to the boy with the shield Stand. Did you see what that was?"

"Of course not," Ivan replied. "I had my eyes closed."

"But your eyes are always - Oh, never mind." Dmitri turned away and walked to the staircase. "Remember, bro," Ivan called after him, "the boss said to keep the damage to a minimum." Dmitri stopped at the foot of stairs, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small box of matches.

"No promises."

Joshua's eyes darted back and forth. Coming to the upper level had been a swift decision; the question now was where he would go next. The staircase had led to an empty hallway, with a door on the right, two doors on the left, and a doorway at the end that probably led to the upper level of the warehouse's front room.

Which way should he go? The door on the right? A door on the left? Further on? Or should he stay where he was, and prepare for a showdown with the enemy Stand users? He knew that it wouldn't be long before they came upstairs to look for him. More questions poured into his mind: Which of the enemies would come upstairs first? The one with the mist that had slowed down Sabaton? Or would it be the other man - the one who made Imagine Dragons' mouth explode? Joshua clutched his jaw as he remembered the painful explosion. Thankfully, the impact had been somewhat lessened by the durable skin in Imagine Dragons' mouth, but it still felt like he had received oral surgery without anesthesia, and then had been punched in the mouth immediately afterward. He also couldn't taste anything other than what he could only describe as 'burnt blood'. He supposed he was just lucky he hadn't lost any teeth. He couldn't even begin to imagine how he would explain that to his mom.

A sudden loud noise jolted Joshua from his thoughts. A loud THUMP echoed from the staircase, followed by another, slightly louder, slightly closer THUMP. Someone was walking up the stairs, and making a great show of it too. Joshua's eyes darted back and forth as another THUMP resounded. The door to the right? A door to the left? Something behind him let out a low growl; without even realizing it, Joshua had instinctively summoned Imagine Dragons, and the scaly Stand was flexing its claws impatiently. Well, Joshua decided, I guess I'm facing this head on.

No more thumps came from the staircase. No enemy head appeared in Joshua's sight. He briefly considered moving closer to stairs, to see what had caused the person to stop, when a small flicker of light caught his eye. Joshua barely had time to register what had been thrown from the stairs - a match - when in an instant the entire top of the staircase exploded.

Imagine Dragons rushed in front of Joshua, shielding him from most of the blast, but the suddenness of the blast still knocked him on his feet. Looking up, Joshua could see the man in red emerge from destroyed, smoldering staircase. He leapt to his feet, Imagine Dragons at his side with claws bared and ready and mouth open wide.

The man in red raised his finger, pointing at Joshua and Imagine Dragons. "None of that now," he said firmly. "Don't do what I think you are about to do, unless you would like a repeat from earlier." With a sullen grunt, Imagine Dragons closed its mouth, but it did not lower its claws.

"Don't make any sudden moves," the man warned, "unless you want the world to dissolve into heat and noise. All takes is a snap of my fingers, and All Night Long will blow you and everything around you up. Just surrender quietly, and you might make it through the night without needing a full-body skin graft."

Joshua hesitated for a second, his mind racing, and then he dashed - not at the man, but to the right, launching himself and the closed door next to him. The man in red snapped his fingers at the same time, and the light fixture on the left wall next to Joshua blew apart in a roaring explosion of flame. The blast reached Joshua just as he opened the door, and the force of it blew him into the room. As he crashed on the ground, Joshua reached out with his mind, and Imagine Dragons slammed the door shut behind him.

A loud banging began to sound from behind the door, as Imagine Dragons held it closed with all its might. I've bought myself a few minutes, at least, Joshua thought. But what do I do now? "Joshua Johannson? What are you doing here?" Joshua looked up to see a familiar figure, one that he had seen only hours before on that same day: a girl with black hair tied in a ponytail, a short, athletic build, and eyes that seemed to sparkle with a self-assurance that came from having complete trust in any decision one had ever made. Even if that decision had apparently been a lie.

"I could ask the same thing of you," Joshua replied, "Alexa Hamilton."

-To Be Continued- The Longest Night (Act 3)

Stand User: Ivan Dostoevsky

Stand Name: [Stay Up Late]

Power: D

Speed: D

Range: C

Durability: B

Precision: D

Developmental Potential: C

Dense Fog: Stay Up Late emits a dense, odorless fog that surrounds it and its user, with a radius of a couple meters. Anything moving through the fog will be slowed by heavy resistance comparable to movement through a dense liquid. As the fog displaces nearly all air in the area, Anyone in the fog will quickly feel the effects of oxygen deprivation and will black out if in it for too long.

Due to the fact that the next couple weeks will be very busy for me in terms of my school workload, the break between this chapter and the next will be a little longer than usual. I apologize in advance.