Episode four: Recovery


"He's alive right?" A female voice had asked.

"Yeah, I did a number on him but he's still good."Kirby responded, the woman pushed past the boy and towards Anthony's bedside. She inspected each and every wound on his body, a bandage was wrapped around his forehead. Along with a bandage over an eye, the bandages were dirty as if they hadn't been changed in a while.

"A number is an understatement." Kirby looked down at his feet in shame, she pressed two fingers against his neck to check for a pulse.

He was alive.

"I'm surprised he's still breathing. If he died then I would've killed you for your failure. You were supposed to bring out his stand not put him in a coma. But regardless of his condition now, you accomplished your mission and got some useful information on his stand. I've never heard of a stand like his, so violent against it's master...and one that operates while it's master is out cold."

"Yeah, could that be its stand power? To act independently from it's user? If so, then it's a double edged sword." Kirby had a point, if his stand had the ability to disobey commands then it could backfire heavily on Anthony. His stand could turn on him at any moment.

"I can't say that's its power, but if so, it doesn't impress me. And if his stand decides to go rouge, who will kill Niccolo?" She asked, Kirby gulped knowing that speaking out of line would mean serious trouble. But he had to say something, he had to let her know that his word was to be trusted.

"I'll kill Niccolo. I've nearly mastered Robot Rock, if I can get the drop on Niccolo then I'll kill him. Anthony doesn't have to do it." The woman snickered, a smile graced her lips and she patted him on the shoulder.

"Kirby, I know that Robot Rock is in very deadly hands. It's why I sought you out, I knew that you had potential that would benefit our cause greatly. But, fate has a plan for us, and that being the battle between Anthony and Niccolo. As far as I know, Anthony is the only one who could kill Niccolo. The little shit is protected by fate, it's useless trying to kill him while Anthony is like this."

"If you give me a chance, I can beat fate. Just because Niccolo-"

"Enough!" Her cold and powerful voice silenced him.

In the corner of their eyes, they saw the slight movement of Anthony's finger. Then that finger began to tap, then that tap turned into a closed fist gripping the white sheets he was under. His eyelids struggled to open up, it was as if his lids were attached to weights. He used all his power to battle against his own body, fighting the coma, and eventually his eyes opened. He let out a weak groan, his body aching in nearly every place.

"K-Kirby..." He weakly muttered out. Kirby rushed to his bedside and collapsed onto his knees beside his friend.

"Thank shit you're okay man, I'm so sorry about...doing this to you."

"It's...okay. Just let me rest."


Meanwhile, at Anthony's apartment

"Just damn that boy." She muttered under her breath as she scrubbed ravioli stains from the wall. "He does shit like this and doesn't appreciate jack shit I do for him. He'll learn one way or another." She scoffed as her rag sunk into the soapy water, she gripped the rag tightly as she began to swear to herself.

Then there was a knock on the door.

She dropped the rag into the bucket and walked over towards the door. Taking a minute to make herself look more presentable before answering the door. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a young girl, no older than thirteen years old. The little girl flashed a bright smile before she talked.

"Good morning ma'am, you're Ms. Silverson?" She asked.

"Yeah kid, what is it?" Anthony's mother asked sternly, causing the girl stagger back.

"I-I'm looking for Anthony, it's very important, do you kn-"

"I don't know where my son is, he's been gone for two whole days. I have no idea what's going and I've made at least several reports in the past few hours today. No if may excuse me kid, let me grieve over my lost child in peace please." Before she could close the door, the girl spoke out yet again.

"Please ma'am, you know where he's at. Please, I'm trying to help him before it's too late. Please tell-"

"That's it you little tramp! Get the hell off my doorstep before I toss your little ass down the stairs!" She then slammed the door in the girl's face and stomped her way back to Anthony's untouched room.

The girl at the door stood with her head hanging low, she was upset with the failure of her task. A hand had brushed over her shoulder in a reassuring way, she looked up to see her brother Luigi.

"Do not fret Giselle, we'll find Anthony. Let's try Wyman's house." Giselle's lips curved into a smile when she heard that.

Giselle locked her arms around her brother's arm as they descended the stairs. Giselle looked up at Luigi with a questioning gaze, the elder sibling looked down to meet her gaze.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Why was Ms. Silverson so angry?" Luigi bit his lip, he took a moment to ponder. She was too young to know about things like this. He couldn't expose her to the evils of the adult world, especially when that evil was their family tree. Ms. Silverson's tragedy was something she was not prepared for, even when he learned about it he was no where near prepared for it.

"She's been through a lot, and is really stressed out. Her son went missing, I'd be a little pissed off. Don't hold it against her." Giselle understood what he meant, Ms. Silverson was just grieving. She'd never understand what Ms. Silverson was going through, a

nd she did cross the line during their conversation.


Back at Kirby's

"You're awake." A voice smooth as velvet had spoke out to him from the darkness of the room. The person, who was undeniably female was masked with pitch black darkness. Anthony had slept through most of the day, when he had first woken up it was bright and early. Now it was dark, and this woman was doing the weird sitting in the shadows thing.

"Yeah, cut the theatrics. Who are you?" Anthony asked as blunt as ever, the woman snickered and took a moment to stretch before coming into the moonlit section of the room. "Daria?"

"That's my name." Daria slowly walked towards Anthony's bedside. Her hand wrapped around his hand tightly, her eyes then locked with his and gave him an ice cold stare. "I wish we could've met in...better circumstances. But I needed to know for sure, I needed to know if what I felt that day, when Niccolo beat you down was real."

"Everything felt very real. But why are you here?" He asked.

"Kirby called me over as soon as he got you here."

"Why would he do that?"

"Me and Kirby are actually partners, I thought you would've known."

Daria's reveal shattered Anthony's mind as if it were made of glass. His friend, someone he trusted for so long, was secretly poisoning the community like Niccolo. It was the ultimate betrayal, no wonder why he was so insistent of him joining Daria's gang.

"How long has Kirby been in your house?" Anthony asked once again.

"For many years, Kirby is one of my most trusted lieutenants. He's been keeping an eye on Niccolo for years, he's stuck by you so closely because Niccolo had expressed interest in you. Being your friend was an excellent cover, I will say that." Her mouth slowly formed a devilish smirk, something he had grown used to seeing.

All this time, Kirby was using him to get closer to Niccolo.

"Anyways, you get your sleep. I'll be back later to...converse. Rest up hotshot!" Daria blew a kiss and left the room, all Anthony could do was lay there and think.

Was all that time the two spent real? Were the laughs and occasional tears they shared genuine? Was Kirby really Anthony's friend? With each passing thought, he felt more and more hatred grow in his heart. His heart was a dangerous concoction of anger and sorrow, so much that he could physically feel it in his chest.

But the knot in his chest wasn't entirely from hatred. In the corner of the room, his stand tightly clutched the boy's Walkman. The stand was fiddling around with the buttons. Pressing each and every one until the Walkman accidently opened up. Though there were no facial features, the stand emitted a wave of curiousity. The stand inspected the tape, the back of the Walkman had shut and he accidentally pressed play. The stand was surprised when he heard the guitar notes, one of his favorites had been loaded up and was a few seconds away from the chorus.

"For here, am I sitting in a tin can. Far above the world. Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do." At least the murderous rouge stand has good taste in music, Anthony subconsciously hummed the lyrics which cause the stand to notice him. The stand stared at Anthony, through the large golden gem. Its soulless gaze met his, a wave of anxiety had flooded his body as they looked at each other. Their staring session was abruptly ended when the sound had came to a finish. The stand tried to play the song once again, becoming more and more agitated each second that passed. It began to let out long and ragged breaths, Anthony pulled himself out of bed only to meet the cold floor. He crawled over to the stand and reached for the Walkman. The stand pulled the device away and emitted a loud growl, Anthony placed a hand on its crystalline thigh and have it a soft rub akin to how one would pet a dog.

"It's okay, I want to help." The stand hesitantly passed the boy his Walkman and watched closely. Anthony pressed the replay button, when the song restarted, the stand reached out and snatched the Walkman away. Anthony watched the stand as it listened to the music, the stand stared blankly at the device in his hands.

"You like this song? Space Oddity?" Anthony had asked.

The stand nodded, this surprised Anthony greatly, the stand understood the boy perfectly.

"Can you speak?"

The stand shook his head no.

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

It didn't answer, he had forgotten that the stand was confined to yes and no questions.

"Are you a boy?"

It shook its head yes.

"Wow...I didn't think you'd understand me, I can show you some other songs if you'd like?" The stand shook its head once again, Anthony took hold of the Walkman and pulled out another tape. This went on for a while, until the boy passed out onto his stand. Oddity shrugged Anthony off of him and continued listening to the next song.

When the sun finally rose, Kirby opened the door to find Anthony gone. The bed was neatly made and everything in the room looked as if it were never touched. However, on the nightstand was a posted note attached to a lamp.

Kirby,

I'm heading into work. We'll talk later.

-Anthony

Kirby crumbled the note as he heard Daria approach the doorway. She immediately noticed Anthony's absence, and he could feel the fury flaring inside of her.

"Where's Anthony?" Her voice as cold and direct as ever.

"With Elias, moved him to another safe house. He thinks the Borgias might've found out our location." Kirby didn't lie often to Daria, but the last thing he wanted was her to talk about Anthony. She let out a hefty sigh and removed herself from the doorway. She let out a loose string of swears in Italian before switching back to English.

"How typical of him, what the hell was he thinking? For all I know, he could be dead in the street." Kirby followed Daria into the living room, she grabbed her overcoat, not even bothering to change out of her bunny pajamas. "I'll turn the fucking borough upside to find him, and don't think you're scotfree. You let him leave with Anthony, only thing that can make this situation worse is the Borgias on our doorstep."

Daria opened the door, only to come face to face with Luigi and Giselle Borgia.

"Daria, it's been a while."


At Mick's Comics

"So let me get this straight. You missed four days of work because you got the flu, then a man shanked you on the subway and put in a coma?" Anthony nodded to confirm his outrageous alibi, Mick smirked and continued stocking the shelves. Anthony watched from his place behind the counter, the boy looked down into the display case the register rested on. He spotted an etch-a-sketch and then got an idea.

"So Mick, what do you know about the Borgias?" Oddity withdrew himself from Anthony and inserted his sharp finger into the lock, it worked slowly so that it could make little noise.

"What makes you asked? Ran into one?" He asked in response.

"I've known one most my life, I just figured you'd know about them too." Mick chuckled, and sat himself down with a sigh.

"Yeah, I know em. The Borgias have been around since the Gilded Age. They were big time players when it came to the industry, nobody remembers whether they were bankers, metal producers, oil producers, or whatever the hell they were. But bottom of the line, the Borgias have had a grasp on New York since I was a kid. I used to get my ass beat by Romano Borgia, Niccolo's grandfather, then I toughened up and beat him in a boxing match..." The man continued recounting the glory days as Oddity still fiddled with the lock. Once he finally unlocked the casing, the etch-a-sketch floated out and disappeared along with Oddity.

"But I think you should know this, not all Borgias are bad people. I personally know only one good Borgia, Luigi." Anthony cocked a brow, he had never heard of this Borgia, which was odd. The birth of a new Borgia was akin to the Queen of England having a child, everyone knew about it, regardless of them never coming in contact with the family.

"I've never met him, what's he like?" Anthony asked.

"He hates Niccolo, almost as much as you." A Borgia that hated the other Borgias? He wasn't surprised, but on the other hand he was surprised to know the Borgias were capable of hating each other. Especially since they carried the title of Borgia around like it was some kind of honorable title.

"I might need to find him then." Anthony's comment caused the elderly to smile, he opened his mouth to speak.

"I don't think I need to help you, how about you take the rest of the day off?" Anthony's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? I missed quite a bit of work, are you sure?" The man smiled once again.

"No worries, it's my treat, besides you need some rest."

Anthony grabbed his bag and bid the man farewell, he rushed out the door leaving Mick by himself. The old man leaned back in his chair, he set his sits on the wide open display and noticed the missing etch-a-sketch.

"He'll have a better use for it than I ever would."