Once she'd finished the last of her adjustments on the animatronically-enhanced suit she was going to be wearing during the course of her infiltration of the shadow-faction operating within the greater whole of Passione, Alice stepped back as Stardust emerged from her body, turning to pull her out of the suit that she'd spent the better part of a few months working on. Pausing for a moment to look over her work from the outside, Alice smiled.

Given how she herself was only just able to tell the difference between "Jack Harper" and the sleeping form of someone who was actually alive was because of her vampiric senses, and the fact that she'd been the one to create the suit in the first place.

Well, I suppose I should work on the next part of my disguise, she mused, settling down in the chair that she'd brought in for just these kinds of projects.

Humming, Alice reflected with some amusement just how many similarities that she'd found between this world and the one she'd lived and died in Before. Martin Sheen in particular seemed to be a point of commonality, which was a good thing, considering that it would have hardly seemed like The Illusive Man at all without that particular reference, and she'd long since forgotten what the original performance sounded like.

Of course, she'd have to make a few of her own changes, since it would hardly do to have someone connecting Jack Harper to anyone in particular; anyone but Passione, of course. Naturally, it'd take time to refine the voice, but fortunately that wasn't something she was being pressed for at the moment.

=SC=

Humming to himself as he, Dio, prepared for his sweet little Gio's second birthday, he looked up with a pleased smile as Enrico made his way down into the main room of his Desert Rose.

"It seems another celebration is upon us," Enrico said, a gentle smile on his face, though he, Dio could still detect a certain uneasiness behind it.

Honestly, he'd no concept of how both his dear Enrico and his adorable little Jotaro could have failed to discover the sheer joy inherent in sweet foods, and yet it seemed as though the pair of them had come to some sort of an accord on that. Among other things, of course, but that in particular seemed to be something they were in perfect agreement upon. Truly, it made not a lick of sense.

"Yes," he, Dio, said, turning to smile back at Enrico where he was standing; odd though the man might have been, he was truly a dear friend. "You have sent out the invitations, yes?"

"Of course, Dio," Enrico said, smiling back at him. "Every one of those near and dear to us knows that next week is to be a special time for our family."

Smiling at his sweet Enrico as he turned to make his way back up into the living area of his Desert Rose he, Dio, found himself hoping that he would at least have the chance to see his dear Alice during the course of this celebration. Yes, he was fully aware that her work with the company that the both of them held joint control of – though his was steadily becoming something of a formality, considering the businesses that he, Dio, was steadily forming for himself – took up a great deal of the time that she would have otherwise used to spend among those that cared for her. Still he, Dio, would hold out the hope of seeing his sweet sister at the celebration of their little Gio's second year in this world.

A world that he, Dio, had not arranged to his liking as yet, but even flawed as it was it remained the world that they all had to live in.

=SC=

Making her way down into the depths of the compound where Wham and Tarkus were staying, Alice heard the familiar sounds of dedicated combat that she'd become so accustomed to when making her rounds of this place when she had the time; what little her various projects would allow her, of course. As she drew closer, not bothering to make her steps silent, both for the simple reason that she didn't want to bother with announcing herself, as well as the fact that Wham's senses were more finely developed than even her own. There'd have been no point in attempting to be subtle around the last Pillar Man.

"It's good to see you again, Lady Alice," Wham said, turning to regard her, even as he grabbed Tarkus out of his charge, suspending him high enough in the air that even Tarkus' own long, tree-trunk like legs couldn't reach the floor of their dojo.

"Oi, Milady, come for a chat?" Tarkus asked, swinging his rocket-powered hammer back up onto his back, then glancing over at Wham so that the Pillar Man would let him down.

"I wanted to let the pair of you know that I'm going to be incommunicado for some time," she said, as the three of them made their way over to the table that had been set up specifically so that the three of them would be able to converse with at least a modicum of comfort, if not normality. "So, if there's anything the pair of you might need right away, do let me know."

"Another side of beef?" Tarkus suggested, a whimsical sort of smile on his face.

"So, you're saying you want a whole cow delivered every week, rather than just half?" she tossed back, smirking at the teasing expression on the old zombie's face.

It was always rather interesting to consider, that the pair of them were so much older than her, and yet both Wham and Tarkus had proven to be so perfectly willing to defer to her judgment on so many matters. It could have easily been because of the way that she'd proven herself willing to listen to their views when the pair of them chose to express them, and in Wham's case the way that the pair of them would talk about the things that he had borne witness to, during the course of the long history that he and the rest of his kind had lived through. She'd often invited Tarkus to participate in those discussions, of course, but it'd become more and more obvious that that kind of thing wasn't to his taste.

Kind of a pity, really, since while he hadn't borne witness to as much of history as Wham, Tarkus had at least been awake for more of it.

=SC=

Growling softly as he sniffed around, searching for the human bitch who'd taken him in, feeding him and treating him the way someone like him deserved, Iggy summoned The Fool to lift him up onto the desk where she spent so much time. The feel of something grabbing his collar, lifting him up off the desk, drew him to call on The Fool to deal with whatever it was. But, when it turned out to be Stardust, the Stand of the bitch who'd taken him in when he'd been out on the streets, he tried to relax as the Stand held him in its arms.

Sure, it didn't seem like his human bitch had come back yet, but it seemed like she still knew how to look after him properly.

When the Stand took him over to the wall, slipping its left hand through it to grab some of his favorite treats, Iggy let himself settle down. Even if she had just left her Stand to look after him, his human bitch still seemed to know just how to take care of him properly. Really, the only thing he was missing here was some actual bitches to keep him company. Still, every time he'd tried to let his human bitch know just what it was that he needed to properly settle into a place like this, she never seemed to pay attention to it.

So, there were still a few things that he needed to do to properly train her, but anyone knew that these humans needed a lot of training.

Using The Fool to pat Stardust's head as his human bitch's Stand dropped him in the room that she had prepared for him before she'd taken him off the streets and into wherever it was that she lived. It was at least nice enough, as far as places where humans lived went, but Iggy couldn't really be perfectly content without a few actual bitches of his own. He just had to get that human bitch of his trained up properly.

=SC=

Humming to himself as he, Dio, set about preparing more of the decorations for his sweet little Gio's second birthday, he also found himself reflecting upon the progress of young Loreena and Noriaki's relationship. Or rather, the profound lack of progress. Because, while it was more than clear to anyone who watched for more than a few minutes that the pair of them were simply made for each other, watching the pair of them actually court each other was an at turns amusing and annoying reminder of his first Jojo and little Erina.

However, while he'd been content enough to allow his adorable, foolish little Jojo and Erina the time that they needed to actually realize how much the pair of them truly meant to each other, the presence of his sweet little Gio made the issue all the more pressing. He, Dio, hardly wished for his sweet little Gio to grow up without a Jojo of his own, but it was also plain for anyone to see that his adorable Jotaro was far too particular about both his companions and his solitude to settle down with just anyone. Truly, Dio doubted that the littlest of his Jojos would even be willing to settle down with someone he chose for him.

Truly, his adorable Jotaro had always been a rather willful sort.

And so, with all of those matters in mind he, Dio, set about preparing something more for little Loreena and her sweet Noriaki, since this particular celebration would not only be to commemorate his sweet little Gio's second year in this world, but also to welcome the new little one who would serve as his little Gio's own Jojo, even without truly being a Joestar. However, it was also plain for anyone who had spent enough time around his sweet family to see that this new little one who would soon come into the world would be welcomed by his Joestars as one of their own, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.

Just as he, Dio, had been, so long ago.

Setting aside his completed project with a small smile he, Dio, returned his attention to the decorations that he was preparing for his sweet little Gio's party. He still hoped that he would have the chance to see his dear Alice at the celebration, but he was also fully aware of the fact that his sweet sister had more than her fair share of responsibilities in the world as it was. Therefore, until he had managed to arrange the world to his liking, he, Dio, would have to savor the time that he would be allowed to spend in his dear Alice's company.

The time would come when he, Dio, would gain the power to remake the world with the power of his World; he, Dio, would make certain of it.

=SC=

Rolling his eyes as he looked down at the aggressively fancy invitation that his weird Uncle Dio had sent out to him, Jotaro sighed. There wasn't much of a chance of him getting out of this, since Uncle Dio would be even more insufferable if he tried something like that, but the thought of the sugary monstrosity of a cake that Uncle Dio was going to try stuffing them all with – not to mention the way that Uncle Dio himself was going to be so aggressively happy at all of them – made him shudder almost involuntarily.

"Jojo, did you get the special package that Uncle Dio sent?" Mom asked, bursting into the room in almost the same way that Uncle Dio had done more than a few times when he'd been staying in the Desert Rose; it was one of the many ways that Mom got on his nerves, the way she reminded him more than a bit of Uncle Dio, sometimes.

"Yeah, I got it," he said, trying not to grumble too much.

Sometimes, he wondered if Mom had gotten her aggressive bubbliness from Uncle Dio, or if she'd somehow come by it naturally; either way, it was more than a bit annoying.

The sound of someone else making their way down the hall to his room, obviously Loreena, drew Jotaro's attention, but before he could make his way over to the door, Mom had just about whipped it open, that big, welcoming smile stretching all over her face again.

"Good morning, Loreena-chan! Did you get the invitation to little Gio's birthday party, too?"

"I did," Loreena said, and he could tell from the look on her face that she was still more than a little off-balance from how aggressively happy Mom was being at them so early in the morning; just more of a confirmation that Mom was too much for any normal person to deal with. "I think both me and Noriaki are invited, though, or at least that's what it sounded like."

"That's great!" Mom exclaimed, hopping the way she did when she was even more excited than what seemed to be normal for her. "Come on, let's all go have breakfast, and we can talk about this as a family!"

Rolling his eyes as he followed Mom and Loreena out of the room, Jotaro headed for the dining room so that he'd be able to have breakfast, probably with Loreena's annoying bishonen of a boyfriend showing up, if he did end up getting invited in the same way Uncle Dio had invited Loreena along, probably because the both of them had become a weird part of their weird family. Which probably meant that he was going to be, which was kind of annoying.

Still, at least there'd be a few other people around to take Uncle Dio's attention off of annoying him during the party that they were all going to be heading off to next week.

Settling down to have breakfast with Mom and Loreena, Jotaro grumbled softly when Loreena's annoying boyfriend did end up showing his pretty face, rolling his eyes and looking off into the well-maintained yard that Mom had poured so much work into. Even once they'd all finished their meal, the fact that Loreena's annoying bishonen boyfriend was going to the same school as the pair of them meant that he wasn't going to be able to get away from him for the rest of the day.

School in general was annoying enough without being stuck with Loreena's annoying boyfriend; still, watching Loreena deal with the chattering girls who still hadn't managed to get the idea that he wasn't interested in them was always good for at least a chuckle. Still, the end of the day couldn't come fast enough for him, considering.

=SC=

Settling herself firmly into the prosthetic shell that would soon come to be known as Jack Harper, Alice carefully stretched her vocal chords in the way that she'd discovered in order to make herself sound at least reasonably similar to Martin Sheen. Sitting up, and making a few, final adjustments to her present disguise, she smiled softly.

"Well then, let's see what we can do with this," she said, a stranger's voice sounding in her ears.

Making her way out of the building where she and Stardust had set themselves up in her new, temporary identity, Alice in her guise as the face of The Illusive Man continued on her way into the back streets of Italy. Caesar had informed her about the haunts that Passione tended to stay in, and further about the best places to intercept their patrols and so be better able to find their agents. It was with this in mind that Alice, wearing a face and form that no one in Passione – shadow-faction or not – had ever seen, continued her search for the hideout of one of the compromised cells of Caesar's do-gooder gang.

Even after all this time, that was still a rather amusing concept.

Once she'd managed to find one of the safe-houses that Passione had established, one of those that Caesar had informed her was compromised by the shadow-faction that had formed within the organization itself, Alice reflected on the way that Caesar had been so intent about not bringing either of the shadow-organizations that she had formed into the internal matters of Passione. And yes, she could fully understand the man's desire not to start an underground war between what seemed like a group of powerful Stand users and her own supernaturally-empowered forces, but working like this…

Well, it brought back more than a few memories of the time she'd spent as Fleetwood Mac, following in the footsteps of one Robert E.O. Speedwagon.

Making her way up to the reinforced door of what would have otherwise looked like a perfectly ordinary building, Alice knocked with the cane she was holding. She'd foregone the use of either her sword-concealing umbrella, or one of the many sword-canes that she owned, mostly at the urging of Caesar, since the man was a great deal more familiar with the way that Passione operated, even with the infiltrators who'd managed to make their way in, and she knew from her own experiences with both Blackwater and Blackwatch about the pronounced antipathy that organizations like Passione had for those they didn't know walking into one of their sanctums carrying concealed weaponry.

Still, even bereft of the more esoteric of her supernatural abilities – considering the fact that she didn't want to reveal her true nature, or else end up destroying her suit after having spent so much time working on it – Alice was perfectly content with her enhanced strength, perception, speed, and reflexes. Knocking in the pattern that Caesar, as well as a few others that she'd interacted with in her guise as The Illusive Man, had informed her was to be used when she wanted to gain access to one of Passione's safehouses, Alice waited for a lingering moment for the small slit on the door to open.

"What do you want?" demanded a male voice, once the slit in the reinforced door had been pulled back.

"Just a man," she said, the smooth, low voice of Jack Harper echoing back to her for the first time since she'd developed the voice in the first place. "Wondering if you would lend me your ears."

The eyes displayed by the slit widened ever-so-slightly, clearly not having expected to hear Caesar's code-phrase from a man he'd never met before. The door itself was opened not soon after that, allowing her to see into the room. There were a few people sitting in the room, along with what seemed to be quite a few nondescript crates of what figured to be supplies. There was also someone else in the room, however; someone that no one else in the room seemed to be aware of.

He seemed rather large, and not in the best physical condition, if the way she could hear his heart straining and the sound of his lungs was any indication. Something to keep in mind, Alice mused, as she marked him with her tremor-senses and turned her attention to the rest of the men in the room. None of them seemed particularly ill-disposed toward "him", but on the other hand none of them seemed particularly impressed, either. She could work with that.

Like every job she'd taken on, discovering just who was at the heart of this shadow-faction that had formed within Passione was going to take some time; Straizo would have to handle things without her, but the man had proven himself to be more than capable on many occasions.

"So, what does one of Caesar's men want with us?"

=SC=

As he, Mom, and Loreena continued packing their bags to make the trip to the Desert Rose to celebrate little cousin Gio's second birthday, Jotaro found himself wondering just what Uncle Dio had thought up to annoy him with this time. It was something he'd always had to wonder about, ever since he'd grown up enough not to find Uncle Dio's antics funny, and it was something he had to wonder about even more, since they'd learned a couple days ago that Aunt Alice was in the middle of something that needed her full attention and so wouldn't be there to keep at least most of Uncle Dio's attention off of him.

It was going to be even more of a pain in the ass than usual, dealing with Uncle Dio when he'd only have Pucci to throw between the two of them, but maybe Whitesnake would be willing to give him some backup, since Pucci's Stand seemed to know how much of a weirdo the man was, too.

As Star tossed the last of the bags into the car that was going to take them to the airfield, Jotaro called his Stand back and then settled himself down into the car along with Mom and Loreena. Sighing as the car set out, Jotaro found himself wishing for a long moment that Aunt Alice could have come with them. Still, he knew that she had a lot of responsibilities, working for Brando International, especially because anyone with half a brain would know that Uncle Dio couldn't manage anything like that.

Once they'd all gotten to the plane, Jotaro had managed to push the thoughts he didn't want to bother with to the back of his mind, looking out on the world as it seemed to shrink away under him as the plane took off into the sky, heading for Egypt and Uncle Dio's Desert Rose.

The ride itself was as quiet as even he could ask for, though the way that Mom insisted on cuddling him on the way over was more than a little annoying, but soon enough they'd all made it to Uncle Dio's holdings again and he, Mom, and Loreena all climbed out of the plane, heading for the interior of the resort. It was looking a lot more complete since the last time they'd all come here, of course, almost seeming ready to be opened to the public, or else Uncle Dio was being a perfectionist again and there were still some things that he wanted to have done to the place.

The sudden sound of something exploding, just behind his head, made Jotaro whip around, calling Star- right before he saw Uncle Dio grinning at him, brandishing the remains of one of those annoying party poppers that he seemed to like so damned much.

"Feeling a bit jumpy, my Littlest Jojo?"

"Fuck off, Uncle Dio," he grumbled, picking some of those annoying streamers off his shoulders and hat.

Shaking his head, he called out Star, just to make sure that Uncle Dio wouldn't try to cover him in any more of those damned streamers, Jotaro narrowed his eyes as he saw Uncle Dio call out his own Stand, grinning as the thing waved to him. Rolling his eyes, Jotaro made his way over to the table full of presents that had been set out for little cousin Gio's birthday so he could drop off the wrapped present that he'd bought for the kid. Continuing on his way over to the couches that'd been draped with colorful, festive cloth, Jotaro rolled his eyes again.

Sure, he'd seen just the same kind of thing the last time that Uncle Dio had set this kind of thing up, but it was still a bit of an eyesore.