Everything seemed to have been going so well before; sure, they hadn't actually gotten any closer to finding the Cobalt Order's base, but at least they had taken down Rednex before it could lead them into an ambush. Or, at least, that's what Joshua had thought. Now, as he pressed his palm up against an invisible wall in the middle of the road, he was beginning to grow less and less sure of that assumption.

"Do you think it's the same guy as before?" he asked. They had never managed to capture that second Stand user in the suburbs, even if they had found what appeared to be his tools near a smoldering lawn. If that enemy had managed to escape, then maybe…

But Alexa shook her head. "I don't think so," she said, rubbing the wall. "Those walls felt like nothing, just smooth and firm, but this wall has a rough texture. It's almost like…" she paused for a second, lost in thought, before finishing, "like it's made of pavement."

She's right, Joshua realized as he ran his hand along the wall. Not only was the invisible wall rough like pavement, it also felt hot to the touch, and somehow felt incredibly filthy as well. As he continued to trace the wall, however, he could feel the texture underneath his hand suddenly shift. "That's not quite right," he said, even as he had no explanation for what was happening. "That section the wall feels like pavement, but this part feels like brick." He continued to run his hand all over the wall, trying to find other new textures. "And this patch," he said, tapping his finger against a small section of the wall, "is super smooth."

Wait. What? It's smooth? The invisible wall had no reason to have this assortment of textures, and yet something about them seemed to make sense in Joshua's mind. Why does it make sense that it's smooth? He tapped the small patch with his thumb again, trying to figure out the logic that his brain seemed to have accepted. It really was a small patch: pressing the full weight of his thumb against it, he could feel the brick texture touch its edges. Lifting his thumb off of the patch again, he noticed that it had been covering the window of an office building about a block away…

No. No way. Joshua felt lightheaded as the sudden revelation flooded his mind. There's no way. It's impossible. And it was impossible, or it should've been, but deep down he knew that he had already seen several impossible things since entering the world of Stands. If there was an enemy Stand user behind this wall, and there almost certainly was, then there should be no reason that their Stand couldn't do such a thing. Even if it was something as ludicrous as Joshua thought. His fingers raced across the wall, hoping desperately to deconfirm the crackpot theory that had entered his head, but to no avail: the road felt like road, and the buildings felt like buildings. It was the perfect explanation, other than the fact that it made no sense whatsoever.

"Alexa..." he said, struggling to keep his voice calm, struggling to put his thoughts into words - struggling to do anything, really. "Do you think it's possible that this isn't an invisible wall, but instead everything in front of us has flattened and pushed up to us?" Alexa's eyebrows reflexively arched in disbelief. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "What do you - oh. Oh. Ohhh." Disbelief instantly turning into a confused recognition, Alexa ran her hands across the wall with renewed intensity, testing Joshua's idea just as he had seconds ago. "Oh shit," she breathed. "You're right."

Joshua quickly stepped away from the 'wall'. Even knowing what was in front of him, it was still hard to see the line was. Everything looked real and three-dimensional from his perspective, it just...wasn't. As he continued to step back, Imagine Dragons charged in front of him and raked its claws against the 'road'. "GRA-DA!" it exclaimed as it tore up the pavement, causing chunks of asphalt to fly out of the 'wall' with every swipe. After a few seconds, though, Joshua had had enough, and he recalled Imagine Dragons when he saw its claws hit dirt. "No, that won't work," he mumbled to himself. "This isn't some ordinary wall you could just bust through; somehow space itself has been flattened around us to make this wall. I'd have to dig through Earth's core to get through."

While Joshua and Imagine Dragons had been tearing up the road, Alexa had run in the opposite direction with YMCA at her side. "There's a wall this way too," she now called from some feet away. "And it's also got the textures of its background." "Hold on, I'll be right there," Joshua responded. As he walked over, his mind was awash with questions, searching for some solution, some explanation - beyond the obvious answer, of course.

As he got to where Alexa was standing, Joshua reached his hand out. Sure enough, he felt the same rough, gritty texture of pavement as the other wall. Pulling his hand away, he looked around; the street was still dead silent. Nobody was emerging from a darkened alleyway, and nothing was flying out at them or dropping on top of them. In fact, nothing was happening at all. "This is the work of an enemy Stand user," Joshua said slowly.

Alexa cocked an eyebrow. "Obviously," she said. "So?"

"So why haven't they attacked us yet?" Joshua asked. "We're trapped, sure, but it's not like we're in any danger. Why hasn't the Stand user done anything yet?" He looked around again. "For that matter, where is the Stand user?"

As if in response, the entrance of the building in front of them suddenly swung open, banging against the wall with a heavy thud. The inside of the building was pitch-black, so much so that it seemed like the darkness was spilling out into the street. Standing in front of the open door, which somehow felt more like a yawning chasm and less of an entrance, Joshua took a deep breath and said, "I guess we're supposed to go in there, then."

Alexa eyed the building warily. "It's a trap," she said. "Definitely," Joshua agreed. "But our options right now are being trapped in there or staying trapped out here. At least if we go inside we'll be getting closer to the enemy." Not waiting for a response, Joshua cautiously approached the entrance, Imagine Dragons at his side and, after a short pause, Alexa and YMCA following behind him.

The inside of the building was nearly as dark as it had seemed from the outside, with only scant light from the dirty windows illuminating their surroundings. The walls and floor of the building were crude gray plaster, with no features other than a few evenly-spaced columns piercing the floor. The building had clearly been abandoned for a while: the floor was littered with chunks of brick and plaster, parts of the walls had been covered in graffiti, and exposed pipes lined the walls and ceiling. On the back wall of the building, Joshua could barely see an empty doorframe leading to a similarly abandoned-looking staircase. Perhaps most worryingly, Joshua realized as he looked around, there was no other person - Stand user or otherwise - in sight.

"Where are they?" he said as Alexa walked up beside him. As a loud metallic groan from behind answered him, Joshua whirled around to see the door they had entered slam shut. The enemy Stand user still had not appeared. "Hey, come on out!" Joshua yelled to the empty building. "We came in here at your invitation. Are you just going to hide from us?" Beside him, Imagine Dragons appeared, picking up a chunk of plaster and throwing it against the back wall. The chunk shattered as it hit the wall, and echoes of the impact cut through the silence of the empty building.

Finally, a deep voice spoke. "Do you have the Fragment?" the voice asked calmly. Joshua looked around, searching for the source of the voice, but couldn't find anyone. He couldn't even tell where the voice was coming from - it seemed to be above him, behind him, and next to him all at once. "Where are you?!" Joshua demanded. "Come out!"

"Do you have the Fragment?" the voice asked again, ignoring Joshua. "Do you know where it is?" "Hey, Joshua?" Alexa whispered. "What's this fragment this guy is talking about?" "I'm not entirely sure," Joshua answered. That Jake Elwood guy mentioned a fragment too, he thought. Maybe they're talking about…

Unconsciously, without even thinking about it, Joshua's hand slipped inside his pocket. As he considered the hidden enemy's words, Joshua realized that he felt something solid and heavy. He carefully tightened his grip around the object, knowing exactly what it was. How did this get in here? he thought. I thought Daniel had it. Did he slip it into my pocket at some point? "What are you talking about?" he said out loud, making sure his voice gave nothing away. "What's the Fragment?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know, Joshua Johannson," the voice said, the sound of his name sending shivers down Joshua's spine. "The Fragment of the Arrow - the one you stole from us. The one that gave you your Stand."

Hearing the confirmation of his thoughts electrified Joshua's insides. Slowly, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and held up the small golden weapon. "You mean this?" he said, hoping the sight of it would make the enemy Stand user come out of wherever they were hiding. "Ah, there it is," the voice said, still seemingly coming from multiple places but now more localized behind Joshua. "How kind of you to bring it right back to me…"

Joshua must've blinked. He must've blinked, because there was no other explanation for what had happened. No Stand user emerged from the shadows, no Stand was activated, nothing happened - but somehow, while the voice had been talking, the weapon had slipped out of Joshua's hand and disappeared. Joshua barely noticed it happen; by the time he felt the weapon slip out of his fingers, it had already vanished. It hadn't fallen out of his hands: there was no sound of the weapon hitting the ground, no dull golden glint on the floor. It was just...gone.

"Really, I have to thank you." The voice seemed to be coming out of every angle of the empty building now, whirling around Joshua and Alexa. "I honestly didn't think you would be so foolish as to bring the Fragment right to me." "What did you do?" Joshua asked harshly, Imagine Dragons flexing its claws beside him. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been - all that work Daniel had put in to get the weapon, and he'd just handed it over to the enemy. He was damned if he wasn't going to let them get away with it, though - the only thing stopping him from rushing the enemy right then was the fact that he had no idea where they were. Keep them talking, he silently resolved to himself. Eventually they'll slip up and expose where they are.

"This really must be my lucky day," the voice went on, still ignoring Joshua's questions. Joshua's head pounded as he struggled to keep up with the moving voice, hoping to pinpoint its location. "I would've normally sent one of my underlings to Rednex's request," the voice said, "but something about it felt special to me. I'm glad I decided to finally deal with you kids myself."

A chill ran down Joshua's spine as the weight of the voice's words sunk into his head. "Don't tell me…" he began to say, his throat suddenly bone-dry. "Are you the boss of the Cobalt Order?" Silence permeated the building for a moment, as the terrifying question hung in the air. Then the voice began to laugh. It was a deep, harsh laugh, one that started slow but quickly picked up speed, until the room was filled with uproarious laughter that rang out from all around Joshua and Alexa. "What if I am?" the voice finally said, stopping to take a breath. "It's not like you'll live to do anything with it."

The hair on the back of Joshua's neck stood on end. He didn't know if it was instinct or experience or something to do with his Stand - or all three - but somehow he knew exactly what was about to happen. "Get down!" he yelled, Imagine Dragons pushing himself and Alexa on the ground - just as a heavy burst of gunfire rang out from behind them. The green Stand spread its wings, covering Joshua and Alexa as bullets flew above their heads. Finally, the gunfire died down, and Joshua raised his head. He looked back at the source of the gunfire, but as he expected, there was no one in sight.

Before he could say anything to Alexa, or even move, Alexa's body suddenly tensed. More gunfire heralded another round of bullets fired toward them, this time coming from the corner of the far wall. At the same time, YMCA appeared in front of them, holding its arms forward in defense. As the gunfire faded, there was a small metallic clattering as the bullets YMCA had blocked fell harmlessly to the ground. "Thanks, YMCA," Alexa said, rubbing her arm. "Of course, mistress," YMCA responded, not taking its eyes off the spot where the gunfire had originated.

As Joshua and Alexa sat up, a glint of light from above caught Joshua's eye. Imagine Dragons rushed to cover Joshua and Alexa, just as a third set of gunfire came alight, this time from above Joshua's right side. Bullets pounded across Imagine Dragons' back, bouncing off its powerful scales and sending painful stings into Joshua's back. Ignoring the pain, Joshua turned toward Alexa.

"What?" Alexa asked, noticing Joshua's stare. "What's so funny?" Joshua caught himself; he hadn't even realized he had been smiling. It must've been a strange sight, smiling while bullets were flying around them, but Joshua couldn't calm himself with the thoughts ringing through his mind. His head was pounding again, the steady thump echoing through his skull louder than it ever had been before. "This is the Cobalt Order's leader," he said to Alexa as the gunfire died around them once more. "We can stop the Cobalt Order right here and now if we win."

"Maybe, but can we win?" Alexa asked. As she talked, YMCA and Imagine Dragons surrounded the pair, looking around the room for any signs of the next round of gunfire. "We're pinned down here, this guy seems to be able to shoot us from anywhere, and we haven't even seen him. What are we supposed to do against that?"

Joshua stood up, scanning the room once again. "I know how to reach him," he said. True, this Stand user seemed to be able to instantly move himself across the room, but Joshua hadn't trained against a teleporting Stand over the past couple weeks for nothing. Looking across the room, he made sure to keep a close focus on the area he knew the Stand user would go to next. After a few seconds, he grinned; he had been right. Poking out of the column Joshua had been watching was the metallic glint of the barrel of a gun.

"Gotcha," he murmured, before calling out, "[Imagine Dragons]!" The green Stand flew toward the column with one arm outstretched, letting loose a mighty roar. Imagine Dragons didn't stop as it reached the column, instead choosing to bust directly through it, and emerged from the other side with its claws tightly wrapped around a man's neck.

The man was extremely pale and gaunt, with a sunken face that seemed to be stuck in a disappointed scowl. He had bright red hair, which along with his shoulders was covered in plaster dust. He wore a light gray pinstripe suit, with the only spot of color on his body being the blue pin that marked him as a member of the Cobalt Order. A large submachine gun clattered to the ground at his feet. Perhaps most worryingly, the man's Stand was nowhere in sight.

If the man was at all upset or surprised about being discovered, he didn't give any indication of it. Instead, he twisted his head in Imagine Dragons' grasp to look at Joshua, and calmly said, "Well, what do you plan to do now? Attack me?"

Joshua didn't bother responding. Instead, Imagine Dragons lifted its free hand and began to slash down onto the man. Just before its claws could make contact with the man's face, however, something solid and extremely quick collided with Imagine Dragons' gut. Joshua clutched his stomach as the wind was knocked out of him, while Imagine Dragons stumbled backward, losing its grip on the man's throat. Looking back up at the man, Joshua noticed a small blocky structure had suddenly seemed to have emerged. Consisting of rectangular shapes made of the same gray stone as the floor, and looking like an inverted L, the structure seemed to have risen from the ground before jutting out at exactly Imagine Dragons' stomach height.

"Did you really think defeating me was going to be as simple as finding me?" the man asked, brushing off some plaster from his shoulder. "I have more tricks than hiding in pillars, you know." Imagine Dragons lunged forward again with another roar, hoping to catch the man in its claws again, but as it reached out the man...wasn't there. He hadn't moved at all, but somehow the floor beneath them had shifted, and the man was now standing a few more feet away from Imagine Dragons. Before Joshua could consider this, however, another similar structure shot out of the ground, this time catching Imagine Dragons in the shoulder and sending it spinning around. The man shook his head. "Such foolishness," he remarked."It's a wonder you were able to take out so many of my men. Unfortunately, my Stand is a bit more of a challenge."

All around Joshua and Alexa, the room began to shift and warp. Spaces between things like windows and columns started to grow and shrink, and small blocky structures jutted out from every angle. The walls and ceiling seem to recede from them, as if the room was expanding - in fact, the very dimensions of the room seemed to be changing as Joshua watched. He noticed that all along the surfaces of the room, thin gray tendrils embedded in them had appeared, and those tendrils seemed to coalesce behind the man's back. The room seemed to pulse and the source of tendrils stepped out from behind the man: the Stand was a writhing, shifting mass of tendrils of an indescribable shape. It seemed to be at once completely solid and totally fractured, humanoid and completely inhuman, sensical and seeming as though looking at it would turn someone insane.

"You're in [Road to Nowhere]'s world now," the man said. "And this battle has already been decided."

-To Be Continued- End of the Road (Act 2)