"I think that's about as good as we can expect." Said Fred, peeking out the door as he looked out on the dark hallway. Tossing down the empty bottle of hospital lubrication, he double checked the lines of cord that he had pulled from a spare hospital curtain.

"Not bad considering you only had a minute or two to throw it together." Said the strange, floating creature. "Pretty lucky the room across the hall was empty though. Wait a minute, it's not empty look at that! What is that?" Barely able to hold in a giggle, the creature floated over to an empty, portable urinal and doubled over in laughter.

'Am I going crazy or is this actually happening?' Thought Fred, trying to steady his breathing as the sounds of struggle got closer. It almost sounded like a cat fight was taking place in the halls, but there was no way that was possible.

While he had gotten confident in his skills, designing, fabricating, and executing traps part of him was unsure this time. If there was more than one attacker it might not work, and the trap might not fully incapacitate whoever was shooting up the hospital. He had fought men, monsters, and the supernatural before, but somehow this felt more real than all of those had.

No sooner did the noises from the cats die down than a muffled conversation began. As much as he wanted to open the door wider to hear clearly, Fred kept the door barely ajar to conceal his presence.

"Mama Told Me Not To Come." A familiar voice shouted from the hallway, followed by the sound of a struggle and a crash across the hallway.

Opening the door to check, Fred saw two men tumble to the ground next door to where Daphne and the others were sleeping. As the men stood up, the silhouette of a familiar pompadour was lit up by the window on the far wall.

"Is that Johnny?" Fred whispered.

The other man, wearing a top hat, fired six shots before exiting the room and reloading his revolver as casually and thoughtlessly as someone might check their phone while walking.

Covering his mouth to keep from shouting, Fred fought every instinct to go out and fight. He had to follow through with his plan and try to help Johnny afterward. As the attacker stood in front of room 314, it was clear how much was riding on how the next moment played out. It was like a strange showdown in the old west, only the beads of sweat going down the sides of Fred's face were the timer to high noon, and all he was armed with was some string and gravity.

The sound of a door being kicked in was all the signal he needed. Opening the door wide, Fred pulled the counterbalance to the weight which kept the spare hospital bed from falling out of the open window. Every string tied to the bed rushed as it was pulled, each string connected to the curtain currently beneath the attacker's feet, and the curtain was sitting on a layer of lubricant.

Immediately caught off guard but the sudden sensation of movement, the attacker's gun fell from his hand as the underfoot curtain slid across the hallway. Hoping the timing was just right, Fred gave the man a hard punch right as he entered the room. The curtain continued to follow the bed out the window, leaving a slippery trail in its wake.

"Scooby, get the gun." Shouted Fred, as his animal companion emerged from hiding and carefully struggled with the slippery tiles to get the weapon.

Reaching down, Fred grabbed the man by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him to his feet.

"I don't know who you are, but you've got a lot of nerve coming here, shooting the place up." Said Fred

"Magenta Magenta. Secret Service Agent 808 retired." Said the man in purple, following his introduction with a hard right to Fred's ribs. "And you kids should have left town when you had the chance."

Getting his wind back, Fred threw a punch to the man's scarred face, but he blocked and threw a hard jab at Fred's nose, causing it to bleed immediately.

"Reach ror ra rye." Growled Scooby, holding the gun threateningly.

"Cats, dogs, and kids. It's like old times with Valentine again." Kicking off the doorjamb, Magenta jumped to where Scooby was standing and knocked the dog to the ground, getting his gun back as Scooby slid down the hall.

"Call me out Freddie. It's your only chance now." A voice whispered in Fred's ear. What was the thing he was seeing, an illusion, a hallucination, a ghost? What good could the little wisp be against the dangerous gunman? Could it even do anything to affect the outcome of this fight? All at once, the words came to Fred, like an old song he suddenly remembered all the lyrics to.

"Suspicious Minds," Fred said, wiping the blood from his nose before folding his arms in front of his chest and tilting them down and to the left. Somehow the strange stance seemed only natural.

"I'm on him, Freddie." The small white man hovered around Fred's head before turning into a ball of white and flying directly in front of Magenta's eyes.

Swatting at this face with his free hand, Magenta stumbled slightly for a moment, which was enough to cause him to slip and fall on the lubricant.

"Another Stand user? No wonder they wanted you dead." Pointing his gun in Fred's direction, Magenta fired off a shot which went wide into the ceiling. "Hard enough to see with only one eye, let alone with whatever your Stand is doing."

"Give up, the police are going to be here soon." Fred started, knowing that he had no idea what was happening, he figured it would be best to bluff.

"No, I'll just have to knock your Stand away." Said Magenta, kneeling as blue armor encompasses his head and shoulders, with spirals of light wrapped around his arms and legs.

"Whoa, that's it for me, Freddie." Said Suspicious Minds, as the enemy Stand's power knocked him away into the air it disappeared into a cloud of light.

"Run Redd." Barked Scooby, as he lunged forward to bit Magenta.

"Pointless. My Stand can redirect any force away from me." Said Magenta, whose eyes widened in shock as Scooby's teeth bit into his right calves.

Spikes materialized all around Scooby's collar, but two spikes were attached to tubes which led into Scooby's mouth, which started glowing with the same color as Magenta's Stand. Moving his arm, Magenta pointed his gun directly at Scooby and fired twice, but Scooby's fur took on a soft blue tint, and the bullets bounced off and fell powerless to the floor.

Seeing an opportunity, Fred pushed himself away from the doorframe where he was standing and used the momentum to bring a kick to Magenta's head. Sure enough, there was some force in the air that seemed to push against him, but it was weakening, and a follow-up series of punches finally broke through. Magenta's Stand faltered, and he landed on his back with the sound of wet laundry.

"Scooby, check on Johnny, I'm going to finish this." Said Fred, walking into room 314.

Scrambling to his feet, Magenta shook his head to regain his senses. Seeing that his time was up, and his task failed, he had a desperate look in his eyes. Perhaps looking around to find a weapon, reaching to the table, he picked up the bone with a look of shock in his eyes.

"That explains it then." Said Magenta. "No wonder they sent me to kill you four." Quickly putting the bone into his jacket. Magenta saw Fred carefully walking towards him and weighed his options and didn't like any of them.

"Who sent you? And why did they want the bone?" Asked Fred, sensing that Magenta was about to do something desperate.

"Another time my boy, do take care of my revolver for me, it's vintage." Said Magenta. Kicking against Shaggy's bed, he sprung to the window to open it. Before Fred could cross the slippery floor, Magenta was plummeting face first to the ground three stories down. But with a flash of blue light, Fred saw Magenta hit the pavement and stand up unharmed as he ran away, just out of sight from an incoming swat team.

"He got away did he?" Asked Johnny.

"Yeah. Wait, Johnny." Fred turned his head to the side, seeing Johnny standing weakly in the hallway. Shirt soaked in blood and with six holes, Johnny knelt down weakly with a hand on Scooby's back.

"Good dog." Said Johnny, whose breathing seemed to be growing stronger.

"I'll go find a nurse," Said Fred, looking around while trying to remember where the last one he saw had run to.

"I don't think there is a need for that." Said Johnny. Tugging on the hem of his black shirt, six deformed slugs fell to the ground.

"You weren't wearing a bullet-proof vest, were you?" Asked Fred.

"No," Said Johnny, "truth be told I'm just about as clueless as you are."

"Hey, boss." A cat in a vest and hat called from around a corner. "Police are coming up the stairs now, we're going to split. You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, see you around T.C." Said Johnny, waving at the yellow cat.

"What's happening Johnny?" Asked Fred, his patience running out. "We get called out here by your aunt right before she dies, we investigate your family, we all mysteriously get sick at the same time, you show up at a hospital just as it's being attacked by a lone gunman, and somehow you survive six bullets to the chest? Did I miss a detail in there, or does none of this register in that thick head of yours?"

"Whoa now," said Johnny, adjusting his sunglasses in the darkness, "I'm going to let that last one slide because I get you're under some stress now. I could tell you what I know, but that depends on what you intend on telling the police."

"Why does it matter what I tell the police?" Asked Fred.

"I'm not sure. Do you think it'd be easier, or harder to find out the truth about my family with the police hovering around them?" Johnny did not seem sure himself, but Fred knew the point he was getting at. Apparently, Johnny thought that confronting his relatives was going to be up to him, and that the police would not only prevent him from finding the truth but would only wind up protecting his family's secrets.

"And what if the gang and I want nothing to do with this?" Fred felt his stomach knot as he said that, but Johnny raised an eyebrow at the same moment as the stairway door opened behind him.

"Then you're not the same bunch I met all those years ago." Said Johnny, raising his hands as swat officers came in to secure the hallway.

'Guess Johnny knows me better than I know him.' Thought Fred as the officers led him, Johnny, and Scooby into the empty room as they did a clean sweep of the floor.

"One quick question Fred. How come you have a Stand named after an Elvis song? That hardly seems right." Asked Johnny as the officer watching them stepped out into the hall.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Said Fred. In the air above them, a white cloud of light condensed until the small white figure was once again restored, seemingly quite amused with a cobweb in the far corner of the ceiling.

References:

Magenta Magenta - Antagonist from JoJo's Bizarre Adventures Part 7: Steel Ball Run

Stand Guide:

Suspicious Minds (1969 song by Elvis Presley) - Stand of Fred Jones

Power - D

Speed - A

Range - B

Durability/Endurance - C

Precision - A (Intangibility)

Development - C

Suspicious Minds is a medium/long-range, semi-sentient Stand. Very casual with Fred, will always call him "Freddie", Suspicious minds appears as a white humanoid with black lines going around its side, it's elbow and knee joints appear to be held together like belt buckles. Suspicious Minds will mostly act on its own, finding curiosities which amuse it but are mostly useless trash.

In combat, Suspicious Minds becomes intangible, even to enemy stands, and flies into the face of an enemy. It will then create a "blind spot" in the enemy's sight, meaning they will only be able to see out of their peripheral vision. If Suspicious Minds is somehow defeated or is ordered to stop, it will become a "cloud" for a few minutes until it is able to reform.