Chapter Sixteen: Crime on Crime Violence
October 3rd, 8:00pm
Roman Torchwick stood waiting in an alley.
He pushed back his sleeve, checking his watch. She's late, later than usual. Something's off.
His worries were only confirmed when Neopolitan suddenly appeared in front of him, seemingly out of breath. She gestured behind her, making wide, sweeping gestures with her arms in panic before Roman reached out, grabbing her shoulders. "Neo, calm down! What is it?"
Put it down to finely tuned instincts, but Roman knew a blow was coming. He ducked back, pushing Neo to the ground as a silver sword suddenly appeared between them, slamming into the ground. It was connected to a golden arm that rapidly retreated, vanishing into thin air.
Neo sprang up, bolting to Roman's side before calling out her stand, gripping Parasol with both hands. Roman had Money for Nothing appear behind him, its silver strings glimmering in the light. "Whoever you are, you made a big mistake messing with me! Neo, watch my back, I'll watch yours!"
The two stood back to back, their stands at the ready as Roman reached into his coat, producing a small revolver. If I see that stand user, they're getting a face full of bullets before Money for Nothing takes them out.
"You've got a lot of nerve going after the big man, Roman."
Roman turned left, firing blindly in the direction of the voice—only for a tall, humanoid stand to block the bullets with its blade. It was a strange figure, cleanly split between gold and silver down the middle. It had a large, bushy mane of hair of the corresponding color on either side of it, along with a silver blade on one side, and a gold blade on the other. Several lines that looked like train tracks ran across the figure, ending at its forehead where they wrapped around in a crown.
Roman frowned, standing a bit straighter. "You must be one of Laz's lackeys. Look, it's nothing personal, but you attacked a friend of my family. That poses a problem."
"A problem Tremor has likely already solved."
Roman's eyes widened a bit as he looked at Neo, the girl staring with an equally nervous gaze. They'd heard the stories about Tremor, of course—the deadly sharpshooter that could never miss his target. If he'd been sent after Jaune, well…they could only hope Jaune's reflexes were faster than a bullet.
He sent Money for Nothing forward, only for the stand to disappear into a ripple in the air. Okay, so he can disappear at will, or something of the sort. Not impossible to deal with, but definitely more on the annoying side of things.
Neo wrapped the two in an illusion, grabbing Roman's hand and pulling him to the edge of it. She pointed at their illusory selves before holding out an open palm, slamming her fist into it before pointing at him. Roman nodded. "Gotcha, I'll be ready."
Roman sent Money for Nothing to where his illusory self was, having it wait. Sure enough, within seconds a blade appeared, slamming down between them. Money for Nothing reared its hand back, grabbing the wrist holding the blade before yanking them forward.
Roman smirked. "Got ya!"
Money for Nothing slammed its fist forward, only to be blocked by the second blade. It hefted the wrist into the air before slamming its leg into the other stand, kicking it repeatedly in the stomach. After the third time, the stand reacted, dashing back into a ripple and pulling Money for Nothing with it.
Roman blinked twice. "Well, that's—"
SLASH!
Roman's eyes widened as he felt searing, white-hot pain across his chest. He looked down to see a long, slash-mark across his coat, cutting into his skin. A second one rapidly joined it, crossing from one shoulder to its opposite hip. "…unfortunate."
Neo stared in horror as Roman fell to the ground, blood soaking his outfit and the concrete alike. His head lolled to the side, Money for Nothing appearing out of a ripple in the air before fading back into him. "Well, that was easy."
Neo turned, gritting her teeth as she saw a figure exit the ripple. He was clad in a trench coat that was split down the middle, much like his stand. Except instead of silver and gold, it was red and black. His curly, auburn hair matched his stand's as well, the only thing unique about him being a pair of sunglasses. "You must be Neopolitan."
Neo glared at the man, opening Parasol and spinning it around in a combat stance. He only laughed, taking off his glasses to reveal one eye was a bright green, while the other was light blue. "Oh, please. You're no match for Another World, even if you could somehow get to me. I suggest you start running—I'm only interested in your boss."
Neo dashed forward.
Switch clicked his tongue. "Unfortunate."
Another World (AW) dashed forward, blades drawn. Neo ducked into a slide, holding up Parasol to block two sword strikes before leaping up, slamming the handle onto AW's back. It barely flinched, spinning around and slicing toward her, which Neo blocked with the handle.
She backflipped away from another sword strike, sending out Witness to create an illusory dome around the two of them. She waited for a moment, watching as Switch made his way through the dome. "Did you honestly think your illusions would fool me?"
He can't fight if he can't see. Good to know.
Neo dashed forward, closing Parasol as she went on the offensive. She thrusted forward, only for AW to dash back, just out of reach. She swung low, only for it to jump over, slicing at her—managing to cut her shoulder. She dashed back, hand grabbing at her wound for a moment before she set out Witness again, creating four illusions of her.
The illusions dashed forward, jumping and twirling in front of one another to confuse Switch before at last striking at AW. It sliced through two illusions before Neo prodded it in the back, causing Switch to gasp. "Oh my…you're going to have to do better than that honey."
Neo glared at him before sending forward more illusions. They surrounded AW, circling it like vultures and prodding at it periodically. It blocked most of those prods, but was unable to block them all—Neo constantly dashing between her illusions and poking at the stand. "Do you think you'll beat me by poking me to death? Hah! Time to end this."
AW swung wide, slicing through Neo's illusions and forcing her to backpedal away, out into the open. It dashed forward, swinging with both blades and forcing Neo to catch them with her Parasol. She grunted as they landed in the center, small slices appearing on her lower back from the impact.
She ducked and dodged several strikes before sending out Witness once more—only for AW to slice through Witness. Neo's eyes widened as it dashed forward, fast enough she wasn't even sure September could keep up, before slamming its blades through her.
Blood poured along AW's blades before it retracted them, leaving Neo's bleeding corpse on the ground. Switch walked forward, smirking at his work. "Not quite dead yet, are you? Resilient little flower, aren't you? Too bad. You'd have made a fine assassin with that illusory stand."
AW dashed forward, slicing through her neck.
Only for Neo to disappear.
"What!?"
His eyes widened as he felt a sharp pain in his side, looking down to reveal an umbrella stabbed through his abdomen. He looked back, eyes widening as he saw Neo standing there, unharmed. "How did you—"
He recalled her sending out Witness.
"Hehe…clever girl."
Neo slammed the umbrella up, taking out a chunk of the man's gut in the process.
He staggered forward as Neo jumped back, his stand rushing to defend him. Meanwhile, Neo dashed back to Roman, hefting him over her shoulder. He groggily opened his eyes. "Did you win yet?"
Neo nodded, pointing at the man now bleeding out on the ground.
"Good…take me to Jaune, before these wounds get infected."
…
Meral "Switch" Leram. Left to die.
Stand name: Another World
Stand User: Meral "Switch" Leram
Stats:
Power: A
Speed: A
Range: C
Persistence: C
Precision: C
Potential: D
…
Oct. 4th, 12:45am
"You heard about Roman?"
Miltia nodded, standing at her typical place outside Junior's club. Melanie was on the opposite side, both clad in their typical club attire—dresses of red and white respectively. "We need to keep our guard up. Odds are, B.B.'ll send someone like that after us next. Especially after Jaune and Blake."
"Right you are, my dear."
The two spun on their heels, seeing two people standing across the street. Both looked nearly identical, each with blond hair styled in a pixie cut, pale skin, and brown eyes. Or, at least, they assumed the male had brown eyes, given he was wearing sunglasses despite it being night time. Both were clad in white suit-jackets over (mostly) bare chests, with the woman wearing a black strapless bra beneath hers. The only difference between them besides that was the man wore sunglasses and a white bowtie.
They walked forward in perfect step, stopping just at the edge of the sidewalk, only fifteen feet away. The man held up his hand as if summoning a parrot, and from his back along came a giant, bright blue spider about as long as his arm, a pair of sunglasses on its head.
The woman, meanwhile, held her arms sideways as if she were on a cross. Behind her emerged a large, golden figure with a white blindfold covering where its eyes would be were it human. Instead, it seemed to see through the dozens of eyes covering their angelic wings. It carried a golden spear in its left hand, brandishing it toward Melanie.
In response, the twins sent out their own stands.
From Miltia came a seven-foot tall humanoid figure with a black body, golden lines running throughout like rivers. Its head was a skull, decorated with long black hair and a pair of sunglasses. On both wrists were long, silver crosses that Miltia quickly had it flex down, making them grow into large, bladed weapons.
From Melanie came a figure that looked startlingly similar, however lacked the silver crosses, hat, and had blonde hair instead of black. Instead of a hat, they sported a cyan bandana. They held up their hands, two revolvers appearing in a flash of black smoke before they spun them around, aiming at the two figures.
The four stood silent for a moment.
Then, all at once:
Miltia: "Mr. Brownstone!"
Melanie: "Sweet Child of Mine!"
Deep: "Cat's In The Cradle!"
Light: "Blinded by The Light!"
CTC leaped forward first, slamming into the wall next to Miltia while spinning a thin, nearly unnoticeable light blue web. Mr. Brownstone flew toward them, only for CTC to bound away, far faster as it created webs between the four combatants.
Meanwhile, SCOM fired two bullets—one at Deep and one at Blinded by The Light. Blinded by the flight flew between Deep and the bullet in an instant, blocking the bullet with its spear before blasting a beam of pure light from one of its many eyes, oblitering the second bullet before it could find its user.
Miltia dashed toward Deep, avoiding the web and reaching beneath her dress, producing a switchblade she'd kept strapped to her thigh. She made it two steps before suddenly she felt a pressure against her belly, pulling her back. She looked down, seeing a blue strand with the spider-stand just at the opposite wall.
She launched Mr. Brownstone at it, but once again CTC dashed away. She grit her teeth as she stepped back, watching as more and more webbing formed around them. If this keeps up, we won't be able to move at all. Which means they're probably afraid of getting into physical combat with us without our stands. If I can get just a few feet closer, I can slit that fucker's throat.
SCOM fired at CTC as it leaped past her, her bullets either hitting the ground, wall, or being destroyed by BTL. Though, what Deep and Light didn't notice, was that from each bullet hole, there grew a small plant, a tiny rose bush no bigger than Miltia's pinky. Crap, if I can get just one hit on them they're done for, but that stupid angel-stand is making that almost impossible. Just need to find a way…
BTL shocked the twins by firing a beam not at either them nor their stands, but rather at the threads CTC was leaving behind. They watched in shock as it was absorbed into the thread, travling along it almost faster than they could watch. It was only by sheer luck that Mr. Brownstone swung its fist down in time to block the beam from hitting Miltia.
Deep chuckled. "Like that? My stand can absorb energy, letting Blinded by The Light attack from anywhere she wants. And from my angle," he gestured ahead, revealing the large, ever-growing web of threads surrounding the twins. "…it'll only take a few seconds to finish you off."
Miltia smirked. "Oh really?"
Mr. Brownstone slammed his blade into the web, only for a pulse to fly back and nearly blow his blade off.
Deep laughed louder. "Didn't you hear me? My threads can absorb energy. Any energy. Which makes them physically indestructible. You can't beat us. Might as well give up and die so we can hurry and go kill the rest of your little friends."
Melanie grit her teeth. "Like hell."
BANG! BANG! BANG!
VOOM! VOOM! VOOM!
Three bullets, three beams to destroy them.
Deep smirked. "It's been fun and all, but I think it's about time you died. Light, destroy them."
Light smirked as BTL released a dozen beams into the web.
Miltia's eyes widened a bit as she saw the light gathering in a central place on the web near them. I've only got one card left to play…please let this work!
Mr. Brownstone's blades glowed with a faint, brown hue as they sliced into the web.
VOOM!
The light flew into the wall behind them, the web severed.
Deep's eyes widened. "Wha—impossible! How could you—?"
SHING! SHING! SHING!
In a few more strikes, the web was severed, sitting useless on the ground.
Miltia smirked as a beam of light flew toward her, Mr. Brownstone slicing straight into the air and creating a large, brown portal right in front of her, the other hand creating a second one, launching the beam at CTC—who was just fast enough to dodge it. "Mr. Brownstone can make portals between any two points, so I made portals between two parts of the string. Turns out it can't absorb it since they're still connected through them. Now, Melanie? You wanna show off yours?"
Melanie gave a sadistic smirk. "Rosebud."
From everywhere a bullet had hit, tiny thorns flew.
All aimed at CTC and BTL.
CTC was fast enough to dodge, but BTL was bombarded with rose thorns, blinding several of its eyes and causing dozens of tiny cuts to appear on Light. She winced before reaching into her coat—
SHING!
BANG!
Only for a bullet to fly through a portal, appearing out a second one connected to one of the webs.
Light fell back, bleeding from her neck.
Miltia chuckled. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention, those portals? They go to any portal I want. Now—"
She drew her switchblade, walking towards Deep.
"Let's see how tough you are without your little friend."
Deep immediately bolted.
BANG!
…yeah, he didn't get far.
…
Koa "Light" Maru. Shot to death.
Stand Name: Blinded by The Light
Stand User: Koa "Light" Maru
Stats:
Power: A
Speed: D
Range: C
Persistence: A
Precision: A
Potential: D
Dean "Deep" Maru. Shot to death.
Stand Name: Cat's in The Cradle
Stand User: Dean "Deep" Maru
Stats:
Power: E
Speed: A
Range: B
Persistence: A
Precision: E
Potential: E