"Gary? Gary?!" Woods yelled into his phone. "Goddammit!" He threw his phone on the ground, not even bothering to hang up, and collapsed into a nearby chair with his head in his hands. Gary's not answering, he thought, so either he's been defeated or he ran away. Either way, the barrier surrounding my house is definitely gone. Damn it, what do I do now? Something light tapped his leg, and Woods quickly grabbed the piece of paper Subdivisions had been holding out. Subdivisions wrote something - what is it? A status update? New information about the enemy? A plan? Subdivisions' primary function may have been creating profiles on people, but that didn't mean it couldn't create a plan based on that information from time to time. Maybe there was a way out of this after all…

Look up, the paper read. Look up? Woods thought, confused. That's easily the least descriptive thing Subdivisions has ever written. "Hey Subdivisions, what do you mean by look…up…" Woods said, his confusion turning into terror as he stared into a pair of gleaming blue eyes. "Subdivisions. Is that the name of your Stand?" said a deep voice from somewhere behind the glowing eyes that Woods couldn't see. Woods couldn't see anything but the eyes. The last thought he had was how, even though he was screaming, no sound seemed to be coming out of his mouth.

"Well, shoot," Daniel said, watching as the enemy Stand user collapsed to the floor. By his side, the strange yellow Stand that Sabaton had been throttling faded from existence. "What did you do to that goon, Stan?" "Birdhouse in Your Soul's fear gaze caused his body to shut down out of fright," Stan replied, crossing his arms. "It happens sometimes when the fear gaze is used on weaker-minded people."

"Oh. Sick," Daniel said. A second passed, and his eyes narrowed. "Wait. If his body is shut down, how are we supposed to get any information about the Cobalt Order out of him?" "Indeed," Stan agreed glumly. "It will be at least 24 hours before he wakes up. I highly doubt the Cobalt Order will allow us to wait that long."

"Hear that, Hiram?" Daniel said into the phone Stan had lent him. "The goon on our end can't talk. What about the goon on yours?" "No luck here either, Daniel," Hiram regretfully replied. "All we've found is another puddle of green slime. It looks like the other Stand user managed to escape."

"Well, shit," Daniel said. "Where do we go now?" Stan was about to reply when, from downstairs, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"What did Daniel say they found at the house?" Alexa asked as she ran. Joshua shook his head. "He didn't. All he texted was to come back to the house, and that he and Stan have a way to get to the Cobalt Order's base."

"But he didn't mention what that way was."

"No."

"Or anything about the situation over there, or why he suddenly hung up."

"No."

"And we're okay with that?"

"I mean…" Joshua trailed off. He did remember how Daniel's oblivious nature had somewhat stunned him at first as well; Alexa's uncertainty probably came from a similar place. "That's just the kind of person Daniel is. You get used to it. He's a quick enough thinker that even with his recklessness, things end up working out."

"Most of the time," Alexa repeated cynically. "And then the other times, he's knocked out by gas or transported to Ohio." "That's…harsh…" Hiram panted. "But…fair…" Joshua felt sorry for Hiram; the poor kid had probably never had to run so much in his life. "Either way," Joshua continued, "we're about to find out."

As they turned onto the street, damage from the golems still freshly visible, Joshua saw Stan standing in front of the house with Birdhouse in Your Soul at his side. Next to them, with the cords of Birdhouse in Your Soul's claws tightly wrapped around it, was a Stand Joshua had never seen before.

It was bright red, and while its body seemed humanoid, there was something slightly off in its proportions. Its torso was a little too thin, its muscular legs a little too long, and its head a little too spherical to match an ordinary person's. It looked like something that had tried to imitate a human shape, but couldn't quite perfect it, and its true nature peeked through those cracks. It creeped Joshua out, and his disconcertment only grew as it turned to face him. The red Stand had a wide grin full of ordinary, if slightly large and very shiny, teeth, but the rest of its face was blank - it had no nose or eyes.

"Hello!" Stan said cheerfully as he saw them approach the house. "This is Rednex. He's going to take us to the Cobalt Order."

"I am [Rednex]," the red Stand said in a clipped, formal voice, still grinning wildly. "I am a messenger Stand. Do you have any orders for me?"

"What's going on, Stan?" Joshua asked. "What is this Stand? Where did it come from?" He looked around. "Where's Daniel?"

"I am [Rednex]," the red Stand said again. "I am a messenger Stand." "Yes, yes, he heard you already," Stan said, as Birdhouse in Your Soul knocked Rednex on the head. "Rednex is what seems to be an automatic Stand that the Cobalt Order uses as a messenger. I've actually met it before, when it gave me the order to track you down. It came to this house to pick up the profiles that the Stand user inside creates, and Daniel and I captured it."

"I am a messenger Stand," Rednex said, its grin turning sheepish. "I am not a fighting Stand. I surrender."

"And where's Daniel?" Hiram asked. "He's gone to get his car," Stan answered. "With my truck, ah, destroyed," he said as he glanced morosely as the pile of scrap, "we'll have to use Daniel's car to get to the Cobalt Order's base. Rednex is going to direct us there."

"Why do we need it to direct us?" Alexa asked. "That seems like it will just cause more trouble. Shouldn't we just get it to tell us the location?" Rednex rapidly shook its head. "I cannot | tell us the location," it said. Right after the 'cannot', it's voice changed from its formal accent to a perfect imitation of Alexa's voice.

"Rednex can only repeat what it's told, it seems," Stan explained. "It knows how to get to the Cobalt Order base, but it's never been told those directions. So…" "I cannot | tell us the location. I can | direct us there," Rednex finished, its voice shifting between Alexa's, Stan's and the formal accent.

"But how can we trust it?" Alexa asked. "How do we know it won't alert its user, or lead us into an ambush?" "It should not be able to," Stan replied. "Long range Stands like this one generally work without a direct connection to their user. The Cobalt Order should have no idea that Rednex has been captured. As for leading us in the wrong direction…" Birdhouse in Your Soul twisted its hand, tightening the cords around Rednex. "With my Stand's claws embedded in Rednex like this, I can detect whether it's lying through the changes in its body. Heartbeat, sweat, that sort of thing."

Stands sweat? Joshua thought. That didn't sound right, but he supposed Stan would know more about Stands than him. Before he could say anything, he heard the loud honk of a car horn, and looked over to see Daniel turn the corner in...well, he supposed it was a car. It was an old, small, beat-up Ford that had probably once been white in color, but had since faded into a sad shade of light gray. Black spray paint reading "CLUNKER - FOR SALE $3000" was still faintly visible on the hood, even though it seemed to have been painted over with white paint. The window rolled down with what Joshua hoped wasn't a creak, and Daniel poked his head out, an excited smile on his face. "Oh good, you guys are here now," he said. "Let's go to the goons' head base!"

"I'm sorry," Stan said, barely keeping the disgust out of his voice, "but when you said you had a car, is this what you meant?" "Yep!" Daniel grinned. "This is my car! It belongs to me and me alone. I paid for it myself too!" He fondly patted the side of the car. "I know it doesn't look like much, but this thing's more reliable than that geyser in Yellowstone! Now, c'mon, let's go smash some goons!" He pointed to the back seats. "Hiram gets shotgun, of course, so the rest of you pile in the back."

Rednex started to twist its body, pulling the cords. When Stan looked over at it, it stopped struggling and faced him, but made no sound. "I get it," he said. "You're worried about what happens if it crashes." "What happens if it crashes," Rednex echoed back in Stan's voice. "I have the same concerns," Stan said, looking back toward Daniel. "Relax," Daniel replied. "I know I have a reputation for being reckless, but I'm actually a really safe driver, I promise!" "Besides," he said as he turned away from the group, mumbling into the steering wheel, "I can't afford any more penalties on my license anyway." "If that's the case, then no," Stan said firmly. "I will drive. You can take shotgun."

The inside of the car was somehow more cramped than the outside had made it seem, though that may have been because the back seats had been filled with three people - and one red Stand, although Rednex had been made to sit on the floor. "What if it crashes," it asked again, clearly nervous despite its smile and the calm tone Stan had used. "Don't worry," Stan said. "It's not like your destruction would hurt your user at all." Stan had recalled all of Birdhouse in Your Soul into his body, except for the claws that bound Rednex; Joshua didn't know how the large Stand would even fit into the car otherwise. With everyone having piled into the car, the engine sputtered and groaned for a few seconds before starting up, and they were off.

"Alright, Rednex," Stan said. "You may not be able to say the location of your base, but you can at least say left and right, yes?" "Left," Rednex repeated in Stan's voice. "Right." "Good, then," Stan said. "Whenever we need to turn left or right, you say so." Having reached the end of the block, the car stopped in front of an intersection. "Left," said Rednex, and the car turned left. "Left," it said again at the next intersection, and then, "Left," at the one after that.

When Redsex said "Left," once more at the next intersection, Stan stopped the car and turned around in his seat. "Very funny," he said, as the purple arm of Birdhouse in Your Soul tightened Rednex's bindings once again. "Now tell us the real directions, or my Stand's next claw is going in your eye." "I am a Stand of the Cobalt Order," Rednex said in its original eloquent voice, grinning. "Don't blame | the messenger. | Right," it finished in Stan's voice, and with a huff Stan turned back around and continued driving.

After a few minutes of following Rednex's now presumably correct directions, the car had left the suburbs and was now turning onto the highway. Silence had filled the car, when Daniel suddenly said, "So, when we get there, we storm the place and take all of them out before they even realize we're here, right?"

"What are you talking about?" Stan asked, not even turning to look at Daniel. "I already told you, all we're doing right now is finding their base and maybe examining its outside defences. Reconnaissance, yes? If everything goes well, they'll have no idea we were even there. Then we'll go back to that profile maker's house, see if there's anything new we can learn about the Cobalt Order."

"But that's lame!" Daniel responded. "We're just gonna let drive by those goons without doing anything? We shouldn't have to wait to bust this whole stupid thing down!"

"We have no idea how many Stand users are at their base, nor do we know what their abilities are," Stan said, frustration mounting in his voice. "If we rush in with no plan, we're basically asking them to kill and capture us. I'd think you would understand this concept by now." "C'mon, we don't need a plan," Daniel said belligerently. "The five of us can take down any Stand user no problem."

Joshua frowned. He knew Daniel had a tendency to be reckless, but he wasn't usually opposed to at least creating a plan first. "Daniel, are you feeling okay?" he asked worriedly. "Yeah, I'm fine," Daniel drawled, "I'm just tired of being told what to do by cowards who can't act without a 12-step plan guiding them!" "That's it!" Stan yelled, his hand pounding on the steering wheel as he furiously whirled his head toward Daniel. "Listen to me, you little-"

"Mr. Istanbul! The lights!" Hiram cried. Quickly turning back to face the road, Stan slammed on the car's brakes, sending it to a screeching halt and barely avoiding running a red light into traffic. "What are you doing, Daniel?" Alexa said angrily. "You almost made Stan crash the car." "Daniel, why are you acting so rude?" Hiram asked.

Daniel turned around, a confused look on his face as he took an earbud out of his ear. "Huh? What are you guys talking about? I didn't say anything." "What?" Joshua said. "But if you weren't saying anything, then who was…" he trailed off, as the five of them all turned to stare at Rednex.

"Heh heh heh. So you figured it out," said Daniel. No, not Daniel - it was a voice that sounded exactly like Daniel, coming from the direction of Daniel, but it wasn't Daniel speaking. "Rednex!" Stan shouted, as Birdhouse in Your Soul's arm pulled the cords that bound the red Stand, forcing it to sit up straight. "You lied to us!"

"I didn't | lied to us," Rednex said, its grin more malicious than ever. "All I did was not tell you about my full powers," the voice that sounded like Daniel's said. "I am a messenger Stand," Rednex said, and the voice continued, "and ordinarily I can only mimic what I have heard. But when I get within a meter of another person, I can create and control a copy of their voice - and I can project that voice too, so it sounds like its coming from somewhere else."

"So you created a copy of Daniel's voice and acted rudely, hoping to distract Stan and make him crash," Joshua said. Rednex's grin somehow grew even wider. "I am a Stand of the Cobalt Order," it said. "Don't blame | the messenger."

"Well, whatever," Stan said. "That trick won't work on us again." The stoplight ahead turned green, and slowly the car began moving again. "Also, now that we know you can clearly say whatever you want," Stan continued, "you have no excuse not to tell us the full address of the Cobalt Order's base. I don't care whose voice you use - you can even use mine if you want - but you're going to tell us now."

Rednex opened its mouth, but before it could even say anything, something incredibly heavy crashed into the side of the car.

-To Be Continued- Where Do We Go? (Act 2)