It was 8:45 in the morning, and the streets of New York City were already crowded and full of people, all wandering along the sidewalks and streets heading someplace. Office workers rushed to get to the subway on time, tourists excitedly looked around while heading towards some landmark or another, cars honked at each other in annoyance, and homeless people walked away from the corners they'd slept in to go try their luck elsewhere. In the middle of this purposeful tidal wave of pedestrians, though, one person stood out for his unusual appearance.
Guido Mista walked down the street, shoving past the citizens and tourists. He scanned the crowd as he walked, looking for someone as he went along. His pistol was tucked down into his belt, deep enough that nobody passing by would notice it and ask any questions that he wouldn't want to answer, and in his right hand he held a photo of a girl.
Her name was Joanne Jonas.
She was a relatively skinny girl, with slightly tanned skin and eyes an odd shade of pink. Her hair was blonde, though the ends were dyed purple, and it hung messily down on either side of her face, with the much longer strands on the back tied in a tightly knotted ponytail that reached down to the small of her back. She wore a sleeveless lavender shirt with a heart-shaped hole surrounded by a gold trim over her belly button, decorated with three yellow lightning-bolt patterns, arcing down to the hole and then seeming to flow into her oversized, lopsided deep purple belt. Her pants were long, baggy, and purple, with the word "SCORPION" written down the left leg in gold text, and she also wore black fingerless gloves with heart-shaped holes on the back and sandals with the same coloration. Her lips and nails were the same shade of lavender as her shirt, and her ears were covered by black wireless headphones.
"Wait a minute…"
Mista suddenly realized that he wasn't looking at the photo. He looked down at the picture in his hand, then back up, and sure enough, there was the girl he was looking for, grooving to the beat of the music she was listening to as she wandered down the street. He shoved a newlywed couple to the side, earning himself a glare, and ran toward her.
"Hey, you!" he shouted, grabbing her by the shoulder. "I gotta-"
Suddenly, he was shoved to the side, slamming into the wall of the building nearby. Joanne turned to look at him, then turned back to the direction she'd been facing and started running.
"Which of you assholes did that?!" Mista yelled. "Well?!"
He jumped up and quickly looked around. Despite the generally large number of people filling the streets of the city, there was somehow nobody on this particular block within shoving distance. As he looked around, though, something caught his eye- a strange glimmer on the ground as something that had been there shimmered out of existence.
"The hell…?" he muttered as he crouched down to inspect the ground. There was nothing there except for a cigarette butt and an oddly-colored smudge.
Mista jumped up, a realization hitting him.
"Merde!" he shouted. "She's getting away!"
Sure enough, Joanne had already put a good 50 meters between herself and him, and was quickly getting even further away. Mista whipped his gun out from his belt, holding it in both hands and aiming it down the street.
"Sex Pistols!" he said, calling out his Stand. The six miniature yellow bullet-creatures appeared floating in the air around him.
"Mista, she's getting away!" Number 3 urgently stated.
"Yeah, no shit, Number 3," Mista shot back. "I just said that! Number 1, Number 2, follow her and report back where she goes!"
He fired his pistol twice, causing people nearby to panic. Two bullets, ridden by Sex Pistols Numbers 1 and 2, flew down the street after Joanne. 1 and 2 followed after her, steering their bullets around a corner as she ducked into an alleyway and then kicking them aside to follow her at a slower pace.
"Where's she going?" Mista asked the remaining Sex Pistols as he followed the steps he'd seen Joanne take, his gun now out in his hands. He'd worry about getting in trouble with American law enforcement later- for now, he needed to find the girl.
"She went down that alley!" Number 5 said, pointing to indicate the alleyway Joanne had turned into. "Then she went through a red door in the-"
All of a sudden, Mista felt a sharp pain in his side. He gritted his teeth as blood spurted out.
"What happened?" he said through his teeth.
"I don't know!" Number 5 cried. "1 and 2 got taken out! I don't know how it happened!"
"We need to- gh!- we need to keep following that girl for now," Mista said. "Number 6, make sure 1 and 2 are okay. 3, 5, and 7, you're with me!"
He skidded around the corner into the alleyway, running towards a red door on the far wall. Number 6 flew down to the side halfway through the alley to check on Numbers 1 and 2, and the other three Sex Pistols flew after him as he kicked the door open. On the other side of the door was a large kitchen, which was currently empty of cooks. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling, and several kitchen appliances, including sinks, ovens, and racks, lined the walls. In the middle of the room was a table, and on top of the table sat Joanne Jonas, with one hand on her hip and the other supporting her weight as she leaned to the right.
"I figured you'd follow me in here," she said. "Now put the gun down and tell me what the hell your problem is, you creep!"
"Look, my boss wants to talk to you," Mista said, in as calm of a tone of voice as he could manage while holding a gun and bleeding from two wounds in his side. "So just come with me and I'll take you to see him, okay? There's no need for anybody to get hurt."
"Hmm, let me think about that…" Joanne mused, kicking her legs. "Yeahhhh, I'm gonna say… abso-fucking-lutely not!"
She flipped backwards over the table. It looked to Mista like she was going to bash her head against the counter behind her, but she slapped something on the counter with her left hand, and suddenly she flipped midair and landed upright on the other side of the table.
"How about instead, you tell me what you want with me, and what the hell those little goblin things are," she said, pointing at Sex Pistols.
"Hey, they're not 'little goblin-'" Mista started to protest, then stopped. "Wait, you can see them?"
"Yeah," Joanne said. "Am I not supposed to? Sorry to disappoint you."
"Then you're the one who took out Number 1 and Number 2!" he yelled, waving his gun.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Joanne replied.
"But I do," said a voice from behind Mista.
He spun around to see a figure standing in the doorway. It was a lithe, purple humanoid entity with yellow lightning-bolt stripes down its arms and chest, as well as a ponytail of golden orbs descending from the back of its head. The palms of its hands and its goggle-like eyes were hot pink, and in the middle of both palms was a black heart surrounded by a circle. It had a feminine, mostly featureless body, with no facial features besides its eyes, as well as pointed feet. Its shoulders, the area where its ears would have been, its breasts, its wrists, its hips, and its ankles were all covered by golden armor plating.
"What the hell?!" Mista shouted. He didn't fire his gun, though- he didn't want to kill this girl, after all, and he was pretty sure that this figure that had suddenly appeared behind him was her Stand.
The Stand sauntered past him, walking around the table as he turned slowly, training his gun on it the whole time. It stopped next to Joanne, leaning casually on the counter next to her.
"There were two more of those little guys chasing you," it said to her, ignoring Mista completely. "Don't worry about it, though. I dealt with them." It said this last part extraordinarily cheerfully.
"Seriously, what the hell?!" Mista shouted again. "And don't you dare ignore me! Is that your Stand or something, kid?!"
"My what?!" Joanne asked. "And I already told you to put the goddamn gun down, asshole!"
"And I already told you that you're coming with me to see my boss," Mista said. "So that's not happening, especially with whatever kind of Stand that is-" he motioned with his head at the Stand- "waiting around to beat the shit out of me or something as soon as I do."
"Are you threatening my Joanne?" the Stand growled, whipping to glare directly at Mista, staring him down.
"I just wanna know what the hell you are!" he replied angrily.
"Oh, where are my manners?" it said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name… is Scorpion Queen."