She'd ordered it shipped to her nearly as soon as she'd finished her impromptu meeting with Wham, and now Alice looked upon the latest iteration of the anti-Hamon battle armor that she had originally created in order to be able to stand against a combat art that had been developed specifically in order to hunt vampires like her, Dio, and Straizo. Given the fact that she couldn't physically touch her current opponents – the pair of them that remained, though it was beginning to seem as though Wham wasn't going to be an enemy of theirs for much longer, given how things were progressing – the armor she had designed to be able to deflect and diffuse Hamon-charged blows would provide a defense against the Pillar Men and their freakishly weird ability to actually absorb their food through their skins. She honestly doubted any of them would be able to eat through metal, at least in the time she was going to give them.

Or rather, the time she wasn't.

=BT=

After managing to separate himself from Lord Kars, Wham began searching for the signs of Alice Brando's influence within the human settlement that the pair of them had confronted each other within. It was becoming plain that she had established herself very well within the settlement where the pair of them had first become aware of each other, but the place that he was most interested in seemed to be a place for holding the ancient remains of the great, armored beasts that he and Lord Kars had encountered a great deal of when the female vampire had made her attack on the house of hers that he and Lord Kars had inhabited while they were attempting to draw her into their grasp. Back before he had realized what kind of a leader she was.

Before he had known the kind of strength he would find in her.

Ducking inside the large building that stood before him, taking care to evade the notice of the humans that were patrolling for others of their kind that might have been attempting to make their way into this place for whatever reasons that such creatures would have for attempting such a foolish thing, Wham found himself confronted by the seemingly picked-clean skeletons of the great creatures that he had faced on that occasion when Alice Brando had been drawn into combat with Lord Kars and himself. However, as he took the time to study the skeletons that had been displayed in the first room that any human who had chose to visit this place would find themselves inside, Wham found that the bones themselves were in fact made of stone. It was an odd matter to contemplate, that any creature would possess such a skeleton as the creatures he was seeing before him.

He wondered, for a long moment, just why he and Lord Kars had never encountered any of these creatures on the many travels that the pair of them had made during the course of their search for the Red Stone of Aja; and found himself wishing, for a handful of moments, that he could ask Master ACDC or Santana about what they themselves had seen during the course of their own travels.

The sound of footsteps drew his attention, and the fact that he was unable to hear any of the sounds associated with human life let him know that he was dealing with one of Alice Brando's attendants, if not the vampire herself. Turning to confront the one making their way into the room with him, Wham found himself facing the tall, noble-looking form of the dark-haired vampire that had been standing next to Caesar when Alice Brando and her underlings had confronted him outside her building.

"She sent you out to meet with me?" he asked, smiling softly as the vampire made his way over to where he was standing.

"Indeed," the vampire said, nodding even as he studied Wham more closely. "Though, she and I are both curious to know what it might be that you are seeking in this museum."

"I've found myself curious about just why it was that neither I nor Lord Kars have ever encountered these creatures on our travels," he said, looking back up at all of the skeletons that had been posed as though they still possessed the breath of life in their nonexistent bodies.

"My liege Lady has informed me that these creatures were all driven to extinction by some great calamity, before even the first human had raised their head," the vampire said, narrowing his eyes as he looked up at the enormous skeletons that towered over them; skeletons that would have felt as though they dwarfed the pair of them nearly into insignificance, at least if Wham had not fully known the significance of his own existence.

"Such a long time…" he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he looked up at the displayed skeletons that stood above them both.

Lord Kars would, perhaps, know more of these great beasts than he himself did, but Wham was beginning to find himself reluctant to return to the side of the sole remaining one of his kind to have survived the battles that they had engaged in against the forces of this new world that they had awakened into, after being forced to hibernate for so long in an effort to escape from the attention and the implacable hostility of the Hamon tribe. Those of them that had remained after Lord Kars and Master ACDC had turned their own attention to them, of course.

"There is another place that you might wish to see," the vampire standing by his side commented, bringing Wham's attention back to the present from where it had idly wandered.

"What?"

"A place that very few are aware of," the vampire said, assessing gaze focusing upon him for a long moment, as though to judge his worthiness to know such a thing as what he was being told. "None of those who come into this place as guests have been permitted to find out about what I am telling you now," the vampire said, pausing for a moment of consideration as he looked over Wham once more. "There are those who would not be prepared to understand what my liege Lady is, and so this place has had to be concealed from them."

"And, I suppose you intend to show me this place?" he asked, feeling rather pleased by the trust that he was being offered by the female vampire and her underlings.

Once the pair of them had agreed to the terms that he was to be operating under while he was paying his arranged visit to whatever place that Alice Brando's vampire underling was going to show him, Wham followed behind him and found himself wondering just what it was that he was going to find when he finally arrived in whatever hidden place that Alice Brando had deigned to invite him to visit.

=BT=

"Oh, Straizo!"

The sound of Joseph's voice, cheerful and full of enthusiasm as it ever was, drew his attention to where Alice's retainer – the man who Jojo had told him had originally been a practitioner of Hamon, alongside the elder Zeppeli and another man named Dire – was seated at a low table, before the tub of spun sugar that Robert had known to expect would be sitting before him simply from the tone of Joseph's voice. There was a clear, if subdued, expression of annoyance upon Straizo's still-youthful face, as he seemed to deliberately pluck up another puff of the spun sugar he was eating with that strange utensil that had clearly been designed for the sole purpose of preventing his gloves from becoming sticky when he was enjoying that odd delicacy that he seemed to have developed a distinct kind of craving for.

"Come on, Straizo," Joseph said, and Robert could all but hear the large, wheedling grin that the younger Joestar would naturally be wearing as he attempted to persuade Straizo to part with at least some of the spun sugar that he possessed; a task that Robert personally doubted that even Alice herself would have been capable of, if she had had any interest in such things in the first place.

"There are plenty of shops where you would be able to purchase a confection such as this, Joseph Joestar," Straizo said, clearly having decided not to pay Joseph any mind; though Robert personally doubted that such a resolution would hold if Joseph decided to make a move toward him. "Therefore, I do not see why you continually hound me when I attempt to enjoy mine. You make very little sense, Joseph Joestar."

"You make very little sense, Joseph Joestar," Joseph said, at the same time as Straizo himself said those same, seven words.

Looking up from the newspaper he'd been reading, wanting to keep abreast of any new developments that might have pointed to the appearance of one of the two remaining Pillar Men, Robert saw Straizo glare in clear annoyance at Joseph's antics, before the most subtle expression of pleasure came over the vampire's face. The soft swish of a Tibetan Hamon master's robes drew Robert's attention, and he turned to see Jojo himself making his way into the room where Straizo and Joseph were sitting while they rested from all of the upheavals that were part and parcel of the battles they had all taken part in not so very long ago.

"Joseph."

"Gramps!" Joseph exclaimed, all but spasming himself off of the davenport where he and Straizo had been seated while the latter had been attempting to enjoy his confection while the former had been attempting in vain to persuade him to part with it.

There was a definite air of smugness to the way Straizo continued eating his spun sugar as Jojo hauled Joseph off, berating him all the while.

"Did you manage to plan all of that, Straizo?" he asked, feeling rather amused at the prospect that the vampire had managed to set Joseph up to receive one of Jojo's many lectures on propriety from the man himself.

"Not precisely," the vampire said, as he closed the tub of spun sugar that he had been eating out of, carrying it and the utensil he'd been making use of over to the far right side of the room where the pair of them had been seated while they had been resting from everything that had happened to them during their various battles with the Pillar Men. "However, I did hear him coming."

Chuckling deep in his throat, even as he watched Straizo hide away his spun sugar in a concealed cabinet that he then locked with a miniature key that he then concealed back up his left sleeve, Robert watched as Straizo released the latch he had been holding, allowing the cover-plate that he had previously pulled back slide down into place once again. Clearly, that cabinet of his had been designed for the sole purpose of thwarting any attempts that Joseph might have made at laying his hands on the sugary treats that Straizo had purchased for his own enjoyment. For just a moment, Robert found himself wondering if Alice had built it for him, or if Straizo had had it commissioned when it became obvious that Joseph wasn't about to be deterred by something so simple as a plain refusal.

=BT=

Joseph seemed bound and determined not to listen to him, acting up in that same, melodramatic way that he'd become so terribly familiar with after living for so long with Dio; even going so far as to fall back dramatically upon his bed, moaning and twitching like a corpse in a theatre play. Sighing as he folded his arms, Jonathan pulled Joseph up from the bed where he'd thrown himself in such a terribly dramatic fashion.

"Straizo hardly put me up to this, Joseph," he said, in response to his grandson's exclamation as he fell back upon the bed the pair of them had been standing before.

"I know," Joseph said, sitting back up on the bed with a sigh. "Still, you have to admit that it was rather convenient for him," Joseph continued, folding his arms with a rather petulant expression upon his face.

Shaking his head, Jonathan settled down next to Joseph as his grandson chuckled softly. "You and Dio can be such a terrible trial, sometimes."

"Yeah, but I'm sure you love us anyway," Joseph said, that same, wide grin on his face that Jonathan had seen so many times before.

Patting Joseph strongly on the head, Jonathan firmly ruffled his grandson's hair. "Of course I do," he said, smiling back with all of the tenderness he felt for each and every member of his family.

=BT=

Narrowing his eyes as he looked down at the address where he'd been sent, once Frau Brando and her people had finished conferring with Frau Joestar, Rudol Von Stroheim frowned as he realized that it was actually a candy shop. He didn't know what the vampire had been thinking, to send him on such an absurd errand, but then Frau Brando did tend to make plans that operated on levels that very few people would look for or think to see coming. And so, gathering himself for what he was about to do, Rudol made his way into Sergeant Pepper's Fine Chocolates.

Glancing around at all of the people looking at the many and varied confections on display amid the shelves and display units that stood within the shop, Rudol made his way over to the counter that had been clearly labeled for the purpose that he'd been sent to this shop for in the first place.

"I'm here to pick up an order," he said, sliding over the ticket that he'd been given by Frau Brando when she'd sent him out on this strange errand that he was currently on.

"Ah, yes, order number 867-5309," the man behind the counter said, smiling as he handed over the package of sweets that had evidently been prepared for him at the behest of the vampire who had sent him out to fetch such an absurd thing in the first place. "One pound of hand-packed cherry cordials."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, taking the package and making his way back out of the candy shop once again.

Grumbling softly as he made his way back to the car that Frau Brando had dispatched to transport him to and from the candy shop, Rudol climbed inside and settled himself down in the back of the touring car. Behind the tinted glass that allowed him to see out, if dimly, but would not allow a single person in the city to catch a single glimpse of what was going on behind those mirrored windows, Rudol found himself all the more curious about just why in the world Frau Brando and Frau Joestar had both been so damnably insistent upon sending him out to fetch a box of candy, of all things.

However, when he opened the package that Frau Brando and Frau Joestar had been so insistent upon him being the one to fetch for them, Rudol laughed aloud when he saw the contents. Only the finest Swiss chocolates indeed! Grinning as he settled back into his seat once more, Rudol firmly closed the box and turned to look out the window as the car he was in made its way steadily back to the compound where Frau Brando, Frau Joestar, and all of their comrades in arms were presently staying.

Firmly tucking the box underneath his right arm, Rudol made his way into the compound before him, flourishing the ID badge that he had been granted when it had become clear that their present battle against the remaining Pillar Men would necessitate the setup of a base of operations from which all of them would be able to stay in together.

"Ah, Rudol," Frau Joestar said, a slight smile upon her face as the pair of them spoke with each other for the first time in roughly an hour. "I trust you managed to find what you were sent out for, right?"

He chuckled. "Yes, Frau Joestar," he said, grinning as he fell into step with the woman as the pair of them made their way to the conference room where they were all due to meet up with the remaining members of their battle group, so that they could begin making plans for the next stage of their battle against the two remaining Pillar Men.

"Good," she said, briefly lowering her sunglasses and flashing him an amused expression from the bright, steely blue eyes that she habitually kept concealed for whatever reasons of her own that he'd not yet learned.

When the pair of them had covered the rest of the distance that remained between them and the conference room, Rudol saw Frau Brando herself making her own way up to the large table that Herr Zeppeli and Herr Joestar the elder and the younger were all settling in around, themselves.

"Elizabeth, are you certain that bringing the Red Stone back out for this was truly wise?" Herr Joestar asked, as Rudol set the box of cherry cordials down on the conference table, opening it once again to reveal the Red Stone of Aja settled neatly in the center of the elegantly-styled chocolates. "I know that it was part of the prophecy that had been passed down from Master Tonpetty, but…" Herr Joestar paused for a long moment, his broad shoulders seemingly bowed by some kind of incredible, though intangible weight.

"It was made clear to the both of us that this was the only thing that would be able to grant humanity our final, total victory against the Pillar Men," Frau Joestar said, picking up the Red Stone and displaying it for all of those present to see.

"Still," Herr Joestar the elder said, gaze fixing upon the Red Stone for a long moment, before seeming to have to almost physically force himself to return his attention to Frau Joestar once again. "A great many things have changed, since the days when Tonpetty received that prophecy and made their plans to face the Pillar Men."

"Is something wrong, Jonathan?" Frau Brando asked, narrowing her eyes in thought as she considered the man.

With a heavy sigh, a clear sign that there was something more to his melancholy than the man was willing to say, Herr Joestar the elder all but dropped back into his seat. Narrowing his own eyes as he studied Herr Joestar the elder along with all of those present within the conference room, Rudol considered just what it might have been that had caused such a reaction in such a previously controlled man.

=BT=

When he and the Pillar Man named Wham had made their way down into the undercity that his liege Lady had established when she'd truly began to form the ranks of her Dinosaur cavalry, Bruford found himself wondering just what the ancient creature would make of the presence of such ancient beings all around them. All of the animals around them were zombies, of course, but not every one of those present in this undercity was a member of his liege Lady's fighting force.

Or even remotely suited for combat at all, in fact.

It was the latter of those kind, a creature by the name of Tiktaalik, that he was currently seeking. And, when he caught the scent of the meandering stream that had been created in mimicry of the lost world that Tiktaalik had inhabited, back when the first creature to walk the earth on four legs had emerged from the shelter of its watery home.

"You seem to be searching for something," Wham observed, as the pair of them pressed deeper into the underground habitat that had been set up for the benefit and protection of the many and varied zombies that his liege Lady had raised from the depths of time where they had once been resting.

"Yes," he said, smiling softly as he made his way over to the stream at last. "This creature was the first to set foot out of the waters where all life arose from at the dawn of time."

Settling down by the near side of the creek that ran through this section of the underground habitat, Bruford looked down into the water. And there, eeling its way around and over the rocks that had been so carefully placed within the stream, in order to provide at least some shelter from the moving water when the creature desired to rest for either a night or a moment, was the very creature that Bruford had come to this place in search of.

"You brought me to this place for a fish?" Wham asked, sounding as though he was confused by the situation he had found himself in, but also as though he was willing to hear what it was that Bruford had to say.

"As I said, this creature was the very first to walk upon the surface of the Earth," he said, reaching out to take a handful of cubed meat from the refrigeration unit that was periodically refilled by those who knew of and worked in this place, and holding them out to the Tiktaalik as the creature made its way up and out of the water to feed upon them.

"Yes, I suppose that would be worthy of respect," Wham said, as the Pillar Man settled down next to him, watching the Tiktaalik as it fed, making its way slowly across the small spit of land that steed between it and the lagoon that the creature enjoyed so much.

Turning to watch as the Tiktaalik dropped into the lagoon with a flat splash, Bruford smiled as he watched the creature swimming away. And, while it was true that the creature wallowed and almost stumbled while it moved around upon the land, once underwater again, it revealed itself to be a much swifter and more graceful creature.

"I expect that this place does not merely act as a shelter for those creatures that your vampire rode into battle, yes?" Wham asked, as the pair of them stood back up once more and began making their way further into the undercity that sheltered the ancient creatures that his liege Lady had brought forward from the many worlds that had been lost through calamity or simply time.

"You would be correct about that," he said, brushing off his trousers as he fell into step before Wham, as the pair of them continued on their way once more.'

=BT=

When Alice had begun disseminating those photographs of herself wearing the Red Stone of Aja in an effort to draw Kars into an untenable confrontation with her forces, Jonathan had found himself entirely too conflicted by the situation that was swiftly building up before him. On the one hand, he knew that Alice and all of her forces were perfectly capable of coming out the better after a confrontation with the sole remaining Pillar Man. Or, at least the one who still seemed to be bound and determined to confront them.

On the other, however, the memory of Master Tonpetty's final prophecy would not allow him to rest at ease with the direction that their battle seemed to be going.

"Herr Joestar, come!" Stroheim called, grinning in that slightly unhinged way the man always seemed to do when he was facing the concept of battle; it was one of the reasons that Jonathan could not find it in himself to trust in the man, no matter how many times he found himself fighting beside the Nazi major. "We're moving! The operation is underway!"