- Jose! Jose! You're awake, aren't you? Jose! – Carlos kept poking the man, who would stay laid in the hospital bed, with his eyes locked on the ceiling – Jose!

- Go away. – his voice was as cold as it was sharp.

- You don't have to be this harsh, man. - Carlos said, while stepping back.

- Why are you here, anyway?

- I just didn't had a chance to thank you, and to say I'm sorry. I really owe you, man. More than I can ever repay, y'know? – his low voice tried to cover how thankful he felt, even while being sincere, it was an habit that would take long to go away.

Jose's eyes turned to Carlos, who immediately avoided eye contact. Even in that situation, Jose could easily read him, the man was an open book. "I was right, after all", he thought to himself.

- Anything else? – Jose said, rolling his eyes back to the ceiling.

- Actually, I do- Carlos was stopped mid-sentence by the man laying on the hospital bed.

- You're supposed to say "No", now go away. Shoo, shoo. – Jose was signaling the exit with his hand – I don't get a private room in a fancy hospital every day.

Carlos gave up, lowering his head and walking away, closing the room's door while exiting. As soon as the door's knob clicked, Jose jumped out of his bed and ran to the balcony in the other side of the room. He stepped out and went for a jump from the fourth floor, already bringing out his stand.

- Deep Purp-

- DORA!

The sound came to his ears after he felt the hand grabbing his right leg and pulling him back. As he looked, Jotaro was standing in the corner of the balcony, something that he didn't noticed before jumping. Crazy Diamond pulled his body back and threw him into the balcony.

- Oi, oi, are you a fucking idiot? – Jotaro's face was even easier to read, he was angry, anyone could tell that – The nurse told me that you tried to escape yesterday too, but passed out in the parking lot. And what was that back in there? You should be thanking Carlos, if his mother hadn't called an ambulance you'd be dead now, retard!

- Save yourself some time, gringo – Jose said, turning his face – You're not the first one telling me to take care of myself. Anyway, I have to get out of here, there is no way I can afford this place.

- Don't worry about that, the guys working with my neph- I mean, with him, are paying for this. I told them how much you've helped and they had no problem in doing it. In fact – Josuke approached him, offering a hand to help him stand up – The doctors told us about your conditions. I can't fix you with my Crazy Diamond, but they said that a heart transplant could solve your problem. And the Speedwagon Foundation agreed to pay for it.

Jose stood up on his own, while looking Josuke in the eye. His face was dead serious, and his voice came out with disgust:

- I refuse. I don't need anyone's charity. Take this money and go save some kid or stick it up your asses. I never worked for this money and it doesn't belongs to me. – Jose took a deep breath – I don't use public transportation, or the public hospitals, and I usually avoid drinking in the park. Since I don't pay taxes, I shouldn't get that stuff. I own exactly 10327,59$ in rent to Maria, the lady who rents the room I sleep in. I also own 346,23$ to Antonio, the baker that lives near there, even though he still doesn't know that. There are others from whom I… borrowed stuff. I owe them all. And I'm going to pay back every cent, one way or another. Right now, I may not be a functional man in society, I'm no better than any criminal out there who doesn't contribute. But, if I start to accept free things from others… If I start to take things for granted… Tell me, Josuke, how I will ever turn things around? How can I ever be a good person, if I don't act like one?

His arms and legs were shaking. A drop of a tear rolled down his face. Josuke was surprised, his eyes were wide open, and his mouth open, for the first time he saw a side of Jose that he never imagined that even existed. The schemer and street's guy, Jose, just wanted to be someone else, someone who wasn't that.

The cars driving in the street and the birds passing through could be easily heard over the silence that fell between the two. The tropical sun would burn as bright as ever, while Josuke kept standing there, without any reaction.

- I'm going back in there. Don't worry, I'm not going to try to escape anymore. – Jose said, with a sad voice, as he grabbed the door knob.

- Jose! – Josuke reached out – If I offered you a job, would you take it?

The sentenced stopped Jose, who kept silently looking back at Josuke.

- The Speedwagon Foundation and… This guy, Jotaro Kujo, they were the ones who sent me here. And they are the ones looking for Benjamin. So, if they were to hire you, and as payment, pay for your medical treatment and your heart transplant… Would you take it? – Josuke once more offered his hand - It's a job like any other.

- If it's a job… Then I guess I can't refuse, right? – Jose said, grabbing Josuke's hand – Thank you, Josuke.

Deep inside of him, he knew that what he was doing was just letting Josuke trick him by a technicality. He had his own reasons to face off Benjamin, and no one would pay that much for such a job. But, that was an opportunity that would hurt to pass. "Even if it's just an excuse, this time I will do it in the right way. This time, it will be honest, clean money. And from here, I will make sure to change. I will work even harder for it", he thought to himself.

Seven days had passed. Jose was finally free from the hospital, and right at the door Josuke and Carlos were waiting. They got inside Carlos's car and started heading towards the city's port, as Josuke explained the situation:

- It's nice that you got out today, because I really didn't want to go alone in there…

- Hey, I was going too! – Carlos intervene, yet he was ignored.

- Carlos heard that there is some old artifact scheduled to reach the port tonight. – Josuke continued - I know it feels vague, but there is a good chance of it being connected to Benjamin. We are going to wait there and see if something suspicious happen.

- Sounds good. I don't know anyone else who could be shipping some old artifacts in this town, so it's very likely to be him – Jose agreed – But, can we trust this information?

- Man – Carlos proudly answered – My cousin's friend work in there, he knows his stuff!

- Remind me again, why are we bringing him? – Jose turned back to Josuke.

- He has a car. – Josuke quickly answered.

They reached the destination and waited until the sun set. Boats coming and going, until the last delivered came. Most workers went home and things became quiet. The sound of the waves hitting the concrete, the rocking of the moored boats, and cars passing by from time to time were the only things heard. As they kept casually walking by the port, Josuke grew suspicious of it.

- Oi, can we really be here right now? Don't they have any security?

- Don't worry, man. The security here doesn't give a damn because most of them are already bought by drug dealers – Carlos's answer felt more concerning than refreshing.

- We can't check each container and boat here, we need a list or something like it. Carlos, is your friend working here right now? – Jose said, while observing the several containers in there.

- Nah, but we don't need him. – Carlos said, happily pointing at one of the night-shift workers left there – Come here.

He casually strolled to the man, tapping him on the back.

- Hey, amigo. We are looking for a shipment with some old art and stuff, do you know where it is?

- Oh, yeah, it's waiting for retrieve, back in the G-1. Just head left from here, it's the last one of the third row. – the man answered without second thought.

"Oi, is security this bad?!" Josuke couldn't help but to think it to himself. As he looked to Jose, trying to get a confirmation, he was met with a scared face.

- Josuke… - Jose whispered

- Huh?

- I… I think that he might be even better than me!

"NANI?!"

As they reached the container, a skinny young man was already there. With brown hair and a shaved face, wearing a black suit and slacks. Even in the dark, his Asian roots were clear. His back against the container's doors, he looked to the trio that approached him.

- No need to introduce yourselves. Josuke Higashikata, my previous contact, Carlos Santos, and the man known as Jose Jose. Well, I must say I'm impressed, you've been a problem that I struggle to solve. – The man stepped away from the containers, facing them – So, I was saying, you don't have to introduce yourselves, but I do. My name is Hideki Ryuu. If you two monkeys want to call me Hide to save some letters, feel free to do it. And if you prefer, Josuke, just call me Ryuu-san or Ryuu-sama. This might sound a bit pretentious on my part, considering I'm two years younger than you, but I plead you to consider that a killer will always be higher in hierarchy than their victim.

- Oi, oi… You must be an idiot if you think that you can talk shit like that to our face and get away with it – Josuke said, grinding his teeth and bringing Crazy D. out.

- An idiot? This guy must be fucking nuts. I'm going to love punching those teeth out of his mouth – Jose said, also walking forward and showing off his Deep Purple.

Against the light of the moon, their posing bodies would cast shadows on Carlos, waiting behind.

- As Mr. Willians right hand, I cannot let you drag my name to shame. After all, that would mean dragging his name and choice making to shame. Since you're already showing me your Crazy Diamond and Deep Purple, I can only do the same – Hideki said, smilling while calling out his own stand; a lizard-like creature, green colored, with a long tail and claws, and a beak for a mouth – I've named it, Fear of the Dark!

- This stand… IT WAS YOU! – Jose quickly recognized the gross looking stand.

- Yes, yes it was I giving orders to Igor. And yes, it was me who planned it. And I failed. This is why now I am doing it myself, instead of giving orders to others – the creature would gaze at Josuke and Jose as Hideki spoke.

- Eh? – Josuke stepped in once more – And how do you plan on doing it, retard? It's still two on one.

- This is a half true, Josuke-chi – Hideki's provocation busted a vein on Jotaro's head – You see, saying that Fear of the Dark is my stand is just like saying that a tire is my car. – The lizard-like stand inflated almost ten times it's normal size – It would be more accurate to call it half of my stand… - as the creature opened it's mouth, a giant piece of iron came from it, hitting the ground and breaking the concrete due to it's enormous weight. The object was a giant cylinder, two meters tall, made of iron, with two doors in the front, marked by some runic symbols – Meet the true power of my stand, Iron Maiden!

[ FEAR OF THE DARK ]

[Hideki Ryuu]

Power: B

Speed: A

Range: B

Durability: E

Precision: C

Potential: E

[ IRON MAIDEN ]

Power: E

Speed: E

Range: B

Durability: A

Precision: E

Potential: E

Author's note: just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the recent hiatus. Had to focus on the finals and couldn't find time or motivation to write. But I'm back now, so I will try to compensate for the waiting.

Thanks for the reviews and favorites, I'm really glad to see that people are enjoying my story and are looking forward to it, and I want to say that I don't plan on letting you down. If you're interested in the story, please leave a review telling me what you're enjoying and what you're not. This helps a lot.

Thank you.