"Scorpion Queen, quick!" Joanne shouted.
Her Stand obliged, throwing a trigger down onto the floor at her feet, where she quickly stomped down on it before the light fixture could hit her. The moment her foot touched the trigger, she was hit in the chest by a strong left hook, which sent her flying backwards, out of the path of the falling object, just as it slammed into the ground with a resounding crash.
"The hell?" Mista said in disbelief. She created a 'trigger' of her own attack on me and used it to dodge? Who the hell is this kid?
Joanne bounced off the wall, wincing as her shoulder slammed into a metal stovetop. She caught herself before she hit the floor, pulling herself up to her feet using the stovetop as a support. Then she turned to Mista, a smug, almost catlike expression on her face.
"Didn't see that coming, didja, asshole?" she asked.
Mista climbed to his feet, pointing his gun at Joanne again.
"Yeah, yeah," he said. "You think you're tough shit just cuz you can punch me up and dodge a big falling thing, huh? Well, you're still not gonna beat me! I've got some extra tricks up my sleeve that you haven't seen yet, stronzo!"
He reloaded the gun, tilting more bullets out of his hat directly into the barrel and spinning it, then directed his attention to Sex Pistols Number 6.
"Number 6, how are 1 and 2 doing?" he inquired.
"Good news," Number 6 grinned. "They're back up and ready for action again!"
"Wait, really?" Mista said. "Don't you guys usually take longer to recover than that?"
"Well, we weren't really that hurt to begin with," Number 1 said as it and Number 2 flew into the room.
"Yeah, Scorpion Queen just kinda grazed us," Number 2 added.
"Alright! That's great!" Mista shouted. "Because I've got a plan of attack that needs more than three of you guys!"
"Why couldn't you just use the four that you had with you already?" Joanne asked from across the room.
"Joanne!" Scorpion Queen scolded.
"What?" Joanne said. "It's too late for him to do it now anyway. It's not like I'm trying to give him any ideas or anything."
Mista just looked at Joanne like she was stupid.
"Four? Why would I ever use four of anything?!" he said angrily. "Four is an unlucky number!"
"That must be why I've been kicking your ass so badly," Joanne grinned. "Cuz you had four of those little guys with you for most of our fight."
"What?!" Mista screamed. "Number 6, I specifically told you to go check on 1 and 2 so that there wouldn't be four of you with me! You know I can't stand that awful number!"
"I'm sorry, Mista!" Number 6 apologized.
"Well, there aren't four of you anymore," Mista said. "So now my luck's gonna change for sure! Sex Pistols!"
He fired off his gun, launching a bullet at Joanne. Scorpion Queen readied itself to create a trigger.
"Yee-ha!" came several shouts from the bullet. All six of the Sex Pistols were riding it as it whizzed through the air.
"Wha-" Joanne said.
"All six of them?!" Scorpion Queen exclaimed. "Joanne, be careful. This isn't just some careless normal attack!"
"Yeah, no shit!" Joanne said.
Suddenly, the Sex Pistols all leapt off of the bullet except for Number 1, scattering themselves in the air around Joanne and her Stand. Number 1 pulled back its foot and kicked the bullet towards Number 2, who kicked it past Joanne towards Number 3. The Pistols continued kicking the bullet around at high speeds, and Joanne and Scorpion Queen struggled to keep up with its position.
"I've got you all figured out," Mista said, cocking his gun to the side and splaying his other hand out next to his hip. "In order for one of those 'triggers' of yours to activate, something needs to touch them, right? So if I get the bullet moving around so that you've got no idea which side it's gonna come from, then you've got no way of stopping it even if you do make a 'trigger' of Sex Pistols kicking it!"
Shit, he's right! Joanne thought. If I don't know what part of my body to have Scorpion Queen put a 'trigger' on, then there's a good chance the bullet hits me. I'm totally fucked unless I can think of something fast!
The Sex Pistols kept kicking the bullet, causing it to move faster and faster as it continued to fly around Joanne. It grazed her right arm, causing a trickle of blood to run down it.
I've gotta narrow down what areas of my body he could be aiming at! she thought, her mind racing. I know that whoever his boss is, they want me alive, so the head and most of the torso are out. The feet and hands wouldn't do enough damage to prevent me from counterattacking, so I know he's not gunning for those either. That leaves my legs, my sides, a bit of my chest, and possibly my arms.
Joanne kicked the floor in frustration. The bullet grazed her again, this time cutting a gash in her left pant leg.
"Yeah, that's right, Sex Pistols!" Mista shouted. "Keep it going! Just like that!"
Dammit! That's still too many possible places! I don't know how many 'triggers' Scorpion Queen can make exactly, but I know it's only enough to cover one whole leg at most. What am I gonna do?
"There's no need to panic, Joanne," Scorpion Queen said calmly. "I've already got this all figured out."
It slammed its hands together, creating a trigger of Sex Pistols kicking the bullet, then gripped the trigger between the middle and pointer fingers of its left hand.
"Are you seriously using one of those 'triggers' of yours?" Mista asked. "I already told you, trying to block the bullet's not gonna do you any good."
"Hate to break it to you, but he's got a point," Joanne said, unsure of what her Stand was planning. "We've got no idea where on my body to put the 'trigger', so it'll be practically useless."
"Whether or not we know what part of your body the bullet's aimed at is irrelevant," Scorpion Queen replied, holding the trigger up over its shoulder. "Because it's not you that I'm putting this 'trigger' on!"
It swung its arm, tossing the trigger at Sex Pistols Number 5. The symbol planted itself on the Stand's body.
"I get it now!" Joanne cheered. "Yeah, I totally understand your plan!"
"Wait, you don't mean-" Mista said. "No, there's no way a stupid idea like that would work!"
The bullet, which had been kicked by Number 3, flew towards Number 5 at high speeds. Mista reached his hand out towards the Stand.
"No, Number 5!" he yelled. "Look out! Don't kick that bullet!"
It was too late. Sex Pistols Number 5 swung its leg, and the instant its foot, which was part of the area the trigger had covered, connected with the bullet, the trigger activated. The bullet was launched out of the air around Joanne, flying down towards the ground.
"Okay, so you knocked the bullet out of the air," Mista said. "So what? I can just fire off a couple more! There's no way you can pull off a stunt like that again, especially against two bullets at once!"
"That's true," Scorpion Queen agreed. "But you'll never get the chance to fire them."
"Wha-" Mista started, then something caught his eye.
On the patch of floor that the bullet was hurtling towards was the trigger Scorpion Queen had created earlier, when he'd used a bullet to knock the wall-mounted shelf on top of Joanne.
"Scorpion Queen went to all the trouble of making that 'trigger' earlier and never got to use it," Joanne said, a smug grin on her face as she splayed out the fingers of her left hand next to the right side of her head. "But I'm glad I hung onto it. Sure came in handy, huh?"
"Merde!" Mista shouted as the bullet hit the trigger, causing it to suddenly ricochet towards him at high speeds. "Sex Pistols, stop it, quick!"
All six Sex Pistols flew after the bullet, but before any of them could reach it, it shot straight into Mista's hand, causing him to cry out in pain and involuntarily drop his gun, which clattered to the floor. Joanne walked up to Mista, Scorpion Queen close behind her, and crouched down to look at him.
"I coooould just beat the absolute shit outta you," she said cheerily. "But I wanna know more about this boss of yours and what they want with me in the first place. Tell me everything, 'kay? Don't leave even a little bit out. I want their name, appearance, motivations for finding me, and what the hell, even the little details like their favorite food and shit."
"Quit acting like you won just because you made me drop my gun," Mista said. "And his favorite food is chocolate pudding, but you'll have to ask him all that other shit yourself when I drag your ass over to the hotel to talk to him personally!"
He pulled a second gun from where it was concealed in a pocket sewn on the inside of the back of his pants, cocking it as he pulled it out. Before he could fire it, though, Joanne shot to her feet and stomped on the hand he was holding it in, causing the bullet to shoot out across the floor and hit the wall uselessly.
"Alright then," Joanne said. "I gave you a chance to just answer all my questions, and then I'd have just walked away and left it at that as long as you left me alone. But you just had to pull the second gun, huh? Well, that was a stupid-ass play, cuz you're not gonna get off that easily after that! Scorpion Queen!"
Scorpion Queen stepped forward from behind Joanne and started rapidly swinging its fists, slamming them upwards into Mista and pummeling him into the wall.
"MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!" it yelled, punching him again and again.
When it stopped, he dropped to the ground, unconscious, and slumped over. His Stand had already vanished.
"That's what you get for trying to hurt my Joanne," Scorpion Queen said as it stood there, its left hand on its hip and its right splayed out, palm forward, at its left side.