JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Shadows (Season 3)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Shadows January 13, 2023
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JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure:

Steel Shadows

Chapter 21 -> 30

Story By; Sakusha Rei
Art By; Lukama
Poster Image: Captain Jack
Additional Art by:
Cash Money (Ace Of Spades)

Contents Table;

CHAPTER 21: Cobras and Sickness (3)

Joachim’s mind flashed before him. Like zapping through TV stations to find a show you wanted to watch that evening, Joachim was zapping through ideas to save the situation he found himself in. But he only pulled up blanks and the numbness in his right leg wasn’t helping.

‘Joachim’, whispered Max’ raspy voice. He was bitten by Cobra King in his neck and the crystals had started to spread. ‘I can heal you, so you can fight’, he suggested, readying Angel to throw its second halo. 

‘No!’, shouted Joachim with what energy he had left. ‘Heal Nikola, now!’
He heard the desperation in his own voice. Nikola’s infection was by far the worst at the moment. It would spread to his heart, or his lungs, anytime soon. 

Faltering shortly, Max followed Joachim’s order and threw a halo towards Nikola. As expected it did what it was meant to do, but the Devil’s face inside Angel of Death flared up with grim light once again. 

He heard Nikola inhale sharply, meaning he was ok now. But Joachim feared the worst. It would harm someone else. The only people nearby were him, Marie, Isaac and Plato.
But with a sigh of relief, Joachim was almost happy to see the green mist now surrounding Plato’s upper body. His vision was getting blurry, but he could make out the image of Plato grasping at his own shoulder and neck. 

It took a while to realize that Sickness Unto You had… turned around. It was now approaching Plato. Max had been able to transfer the effects of Plato’s own stand into him at the last moment that Sickness Unto You was still closer to Plato. 

The next moment seemed to last forever, as the white plague doctor made its way over to the priest who was now coughing up blood crystals from the venom that spread to his throat. Joachim didn’t need to see clearly how Sickness Onto You almost obliterated Plato’s crystalised shoulder. He could imagine the scene from the wet, shattering noise of blood and crystals hitting the floor. 

Joachim felt pain rise in his leg. The crystals almost seemed to melt away into the thick blood they were made off. Cobra King’s ability faded away, signaling Plato’s demise. The two snakes holding Nikola and Max disappeared, dropping them both to the ground. 

The numbing effect of the crystals vanished and gave rise to the sharp pain of a thousand small cuts left by the crystals in Joachim’s leg. He tried his best to not cry out in pain. 

Isaac and Marie had made their way down to the inner court. He heard Marie shout out to them, asking if they were fine. As far as he knew, currently Isaac’s right arm and Max’ neck were still hurt too. Marie hastily did her best to heal their wounds up as fast as she could, using her stand. 

‘We need to find that plague doctor’s user, we can’t let him escape’, said Nikola, who was one of the only ones doing fine now. 

‘No we need to get out of here and recover, look at JoJo’s leg!’, shouted Marie desperately, while Chemical Romance’s delicate finger movements tried to make the bleeding stop. ‘Help me get them inside.’ 

Seeing the direness of the situation he agreed. He put an arm around Joachim’s back and Joachim placed his arm around Nikola’s shoulder to lean on him.

‘Come on dude, let’s get you somewhere a little more comfortable, they’ve gotta have some hospital beds left over around here’, he said, as he pulled Joachim along to the wide double door that led back into the complex. 

‘Thanks’, Joachim said, taking deep breaths. Every step he tried to lean on his wounded leg felt like fire flowing through his veins. 

Back inside the building, they found a dusty, though functional hospital bed. With the combined forces of Nikola and Marie, they got Joachim onto the bed. Max and Isaac found some chairs laying around and sat down too. 

‘How bad does it look?’, asked Joachim with a grunt of pain. 

Marie looked around her, from Joachim’s mutilated leg, to Isaac’s arm and Max’ neck. ‘Not too great’, she replied. ‘The cuts seem to be shallow, but many, and I mean many.’

‘How long will it take to fix us up, there is still a stand user in here, seeking to… to find us’, said Isaac, pausing at the end to find more suited words. 

‘Too long’, Marie said. ‘Like… three hours, give or take a few.’

‘Too long’, repeated Nikola grimly. He stepped out of the room without looking back. 

‘Hey! Where do you think you’re going?’, asked Isaac. 

‘To find a doctor’, he simply replied, summoning Acid Rain. 

A few moments later, as Marie was still tending to Joachim’s legs, he heard the trickling of rain outside. It slowly but surely increased in volume, until the rain was bashing against stone and glass like small battering rams. 

‘Is he trying to flood the place?’, Joachim asked rhetorically, figuring it was Acid Rain’s doing.

‘I have no idea’, Marie replied, raising her voice to overrule the downspout outside. 

A short silence ensued, but it was at last broken by Marie. ‘You uh… you wanna talk about him? Nikola, I mean’, she said uncomfortably. 

‘What, why?’, asked Joachim, confused, pushing himself up on his elbows. 

‘He’s been… getting more and more unpredictable and… unruly’, she said. 

‘I’ve noticed it too’, added Isaac. ‘At some point, someone will have to confront him about it…’

‘And that should be me’, said Joachim. ‘I know I brought him here, but that doesn’t mean you can talk about him like he is some misbehaving dog!’

In truth, Joachim knew they were right… to some degree. Nikola had always behaved somewhat uncontrollably, but after arriving here, it had increased exponentially. But it was fine, right? That’s just who he is.

‘We didn’t mean it that way at all!’, said Marie quickly.

Joachim chose to end the conversation there. He laid back down and turned to face the wall.

‘JoJo’, tried Isaac. But it was to no avail.

After another, way longer feeling silence, Nikola appeared at the door to the room they were staying in. 

‘Found ‘em’, he simply said. 

‘Really?!’, asked Isaac, surprised.

He paused for a while, reading the room, and Joachim could feel Nikola’s eyes on his back. The rain outside still raged on. 

Nikola pointed upwards to the ceiling, not moving his arms from their crossed position.

‘He’s on the top floor, heading towards us… presumably’, Nikola continued. 

‘How do you know that?’, asked Marie. 

‘Does it matter? Are we fighting him or what?’

After a doubtful glance of Isaac and Marie, he explained anyway. 

‘Look, I learned I can sense whenever Acid Rain’s water hits a person. It knows a target is hit, I just need to activate the ability. The roof is full of holes, and the rain managed to hit him.’

‘That’s… convenient’, said Isaac. 

‘Can you make them forget about us so we can escape?’, asked Marie.

‘Even if I wanted to, I’d need more exposure time to Acid Rain to do so. I can only take away recent thoughts with a few raindrops’, Nikola explained.

Spotting the hidden message in Nikola’s explanation, Isaac stood up and asked; ‘Then what were you planning?’

‘Cut off his escape so we can get the bastard’, Nikola said, way too calmly. 

Joachim heard Isaac curse under his breath and storm off toward the window looking out into the courtyard. ‘You can’t just go ahead and do that, you’ll put us all in danger!’, Isaac shouted. 

‘It’s only one of him and five of us’, Nikola countered.

Joachim turned around to face Nikola, and he corrected himself. ‘Okay, four of us.’

‘What are our chances?’, asked Joachim to try and help the conversation.

‘I don’t know. At least we can assume the stand aims to destroy the closest person that is infected by some kind of disease’, Isaac contemplated. 

‘That explains why it isn’t around anymore, none of us are sick’, said Nikola, ‘he is powerless now!’

‘But my rat infection plan didn’t work though’, added Marie.

‘Maybe the target needs to be showing symptoms’, reasoned Joachim. ‘Cobra King had a pretty much immediate effect in growing crystals. That’s why the two of them formed such a deadly duo.’ 

‘Hold on… if that is true, then why is he heading towards us?’, asked Isaac. 

‘A desperate attempt to win, maybe, because the rain is blocking his escape!’, said Nikola triumphant. 

Joachim knew that couldn’t be the case. They were up against a seasoned stand user. An Order official. They wouldn’t just be helpless and run away as soon as a fight looked unfavorable. And still, if he wanted to run, he wouldn’t avoid the rain, he’s not aware of Acid Rain’s effect!

‘No,’ said Joachim, ‘he shouldn’t know to avoid the rain, he doesn’t know it’s your doing, right?’

‘Does he have an ace up his sleeve? A plan B?’, asked Marie, nervously.

It was clear to Joachim, and he saw on Isaac’s face he knew it too. They were still being hunted. 

‘Then we have two options’, stated Isaac, ‘either we face them head on, or we escape. Both seem a challenge seeing the state I and JoJo are in.’

Isaac’s good arm was still littered with cuts brought on by Cobra King, Joachim bet it would hurt as much trying to punch with that as it would for Joachim to start running.

‘I will fight.’ At this point no-one was expecting Max to say those words, let alone anything at all. Maybe he was slowly but surely opening up to them. ‘Running does not help. It won’t bring anyone back. So at least try to face them’, Max said. 

Somehow, his words were enough to bring everyone on board, united again. 

‘You know, I think I’m starting to like you, Max’, Nikola said, grinning. 

His grin was however wiped off his face quickly, as he turned to look over his shoulder. ‘He is coming down’, Nikola warned. ‘Get ready.’

Max and Isaac stood up, headed for the corridor where they planned to face the remaining Order Official. Nikola was already out there, preparing Acid Rain for a surprise attack as soon as their adversary came down from the stairwell.

‘Are you going to fight?’, asked Marie , ‘In that state? You can barely hold up your arms!’

‘I have to’, Isaac replied, ‘You need to keep Joachim in check, if things go south, we may need him to fight too. I can’t let Max and Nikola face them alone’, he said as he turned his eyes away from Marie.

Joachim desperately wanted to help his friends too, he wanted to fight alongside them. But he knew he would only be a burden with his leg like this.

‘I’ll… I’ll be ok over here’, Joachim said.

Nikola eagerly awaited the enemy to burst into the hallway. He would face him head on, Acid Rain at the ready. He would erase his memories until only a husk of his former self was left. He felt himself starting to smile. 

Max and Isaac stepped into the hallway too. They stood behind him. Nikola liked that, it meant he could take the lead. Tonight, he won’t be useless.

He heard footsteps descending flights of stairs, they were fast, as his target was running down the stairs. 

‘Let’s dance!’, Nikola shouted, readying Acid Rain to give the Order Official a good shower. 

Through the heavy steel door separating the hall and the stairwell, a middle aged doctor emerged. Before Nikola could even see the man’s face, Acid Rain shot. ‘ACID RAIN!’, he commanded. Like a horizontal geyser, water came crashing towards his target. But the man was faster than he thought. He dashed backwards to hide behind the steel door he came from. Though he must’ve struggled to not let himself get crushed by the force of the water pushing against the door. 

Acid Rain stopped its attack, some water still dripping from its joints and hands.

‘You’re an aggressive one aren’t you!’, Socrates said. ‘I like that!’

Socrates was clearly some kind of doctor. He looked to be around his early forties, with already a few stripes of gray in his dark brown hair. He wore a long lab coat and not one, but two stethoscopes around his neck. He looked friendly, like a family man, but had an ominous aura about him. Nikola couldn’t place it, but it made him feel uneasy in his presence.

Nikola wanted to blast another stream of water in Socrates’ direction, but Acid Rain wouldn’t react. He once again came face to face with his own weakness as he realised Acid Rain needed time to recharge after attacking. 

‘What’s up, Nikola?’, Socrates asked. ‘Did the bucket run dry?’

Nikola felt himself getting furious. His anger is definitely not running dry anytime soon.

With one swift motion, Socrates threw his lab coat open, revealing dozens upon dozens of syringes on the inside. With each hand he grabbed two syringes and dashed towards Nikola. 

‘Where’s your stand, huh?!’ yelled Nikola at Socrates. 

‘Nikola, quick get away!’, warned Isaac from behind him. 

But Nikola was certain he could beat this old man, he wasn’t even deploying his stand!

Right before he would give Socrates a sucker punch to the face, Max appeared before him. Nikola lagged behind in surprise as he saw Max taking the hit for him. Socrates wasn’t a stranger to underhanded moves, he stayed low and injected the four syringes in Max’ legs. Nikola would have definitely got hit had Max not shielded him. 

He saw Max summon his stand, and the corrupted left hand of Angel Of Death swiped at Socrates, causing him to dodge backwards and regain his distance. 

‘Max!’, shouted Isaac worried. 

‘I’m fine’, he simply replied. 

In a weird shock, Nikola found he really was a danger to the group. His temperament was indeed not under his own control and he once again brought someone in danger. Now he stood behind Max, who finally revealed his powers to be beyond anyone’s imagination, and he felt so useless once again. He wanted to prove himself so bad, that he’d put others to danger so easily. He felt shame rise to his head. 

Socrates’ loud laugh brought Nikola back to the situation at hand.

‘Awww, taking a bullet for a friend, how nice’, Socrates mocked. 

Max only stared Socrates down.

‘But…’ he added while summoning Sickness Unto You. ‘Unlike that rat trick of yours, those syringes contain some of the deadliest, fastest working diseases the world has ever known! You have about ten seconds before your body will start breaking down’, Socrates explained.

‘Max… I…’, started Nikola, but Max’ focus was elsewhere, he probably couldn’t even hear him.

‘You have two choices, really’, said Socrates. ‘Either you die a quick painless death to me and my stand, or a slow and tormenting one to the incurable diseases I introduced into your body.’

CHAPTER 22: The Cure

Sickness Unto You stood lifeless behind the mad doctor. Ten seconds he had given them. About all of which had by now passed. 

Nikola felt the stabbing feeling of guilt. He got Max in this situation. From Isaac they heard the doctor’s stand was near indestructible, and damage to it was futile and not transferred to its user. 

Max stood there, unfazed almost. Nikola couldn’t see his face, but still his posture was unnaturally calm for someone who just received a death sentence. 

Nikola could however see Socrates’ face, as it showed a mixed feeling of irritation and disbelief. 

‘Why… what are you?’, Socrates asked. 

‘You don’t even remember me?’, Max said. ‘A good doctor should remember his patients.’

‘Max… what do you mean?’, asked Isaac, gripping his injured arm. But Max had no reply.

‘Max… Draco’s little devil. Good Heavens, you grew up well!’, Socrates said nervously. He shuffled backwards with small steps, now taking a defensive position.

‘It’s been so long… I see we finally got you to come back!’, still speaking nervously.

‘I only returned to finish what I started’, Max said in monotone.

‘I heard what you did, Devil. You were kept in a safe location, an Order base, one of the best guarded ones. Yet you broke free and in a frenzy killed almost everyone there… few lived to tell the tale’, Socrates explained. 

‘I assume you are still keeping up the experiments? We met someone… I believe his name was Amadeus. You wouldn’t happen to know him?’, asked Max cynically.

‘I only improved his body and mind. As for you… to be able to withstand such a destructive stand as yours, your body needed a few… improvements too’, Socrates explained.

‘This stand of mine is like a poison, but you made me immune to it. So your illnesses won’t affect me, neither will your stand’, Max taunted.

To everyone but Nikola’s surprise, Socrates resumed the offensive. He charged at Max, more syringes at the ready. 

During the whole conversation, Socrates’ attention was so fixed on Max, he didn’t notice the water seeping through the ceiling and dripping on him. It was a gamble, sure, but Nikola trusted in Max’ strength and in the fact that Socrates was afraid of him, and Socrates had already once more forgotten who Max was. 

With more syringes in hand, he charged at them once again.

Reacting fast on Socrates’ sudden change of mind, Max easily had Angel Of Death tackling the mad doctor to the ground. Falling face first, the syringes he was holding crashed and broke open upon the ground, Nikola prayed that there were no airborne diseases in there. 

Before Socrates, or anyone for that matter, could react, Angel Of Death unleashed a brutal barrage of punches and slashes on Socrates. Nikola saw the green veins of corruption spread over Angel’s body. He saw its long, sharp fingers growing even longer. And while not entirely sure, he thought he saw the Devil’s face slowly bursting out of Angel’s chest, as if trying to free itself.

Socrates was crying out in pain, as Max stood and watched his stand reduce him to a groveling mess. Finally Isaac shot in action, with his bloodied arms he grabbed Max by the shoulders, yelling at him to stop. But Max was unphased. And Nikola could only stand by and watch, with a glimmer of fear for the boy they had been traveling with for the past few days.

Even Marie and Joachim came into the hallway as soon as Joachim’s leg was well enough to stand on.

‘Max? Max! What are you doing?! Stop this!’, Marie shouted.

Nikola couldn’t tell who they were concerned for, Socrates or Max himself. 

It took both Isaac and Marie to pull Max out of his angered delirium. They pulled him back, almost to the ground even, and Angel Of Death vanished.

‘Oh… miss Way’, Socrates managed to say. He sat upright, although crooked, on his knees. His face was bloodied, his body and clothes cut to rags. He let out a dry laugh which soon transformed into a painful sounding cough. Socrates spit out some blood; ‘You did good bringing Max, just like we expected’, he continued.

Marie looked up at Socrates’ weak form by the unexpected mention of her specifically. 

‘What are you saying?’, she asked.

All the while, Nikola heard Max’ tirade of whispering sorrys. He was almost lost in tears. 

‘I am Order Official number four… codename Socrates’, he said. ‘I am the one… who chose you to receive a stand.’ 

‘You chose… me?’, Marie asked.

‘Yes, for two reasons. The genetic manipulation powers of Chemical Romance would be a great addition to my ranks, and as a person close to Max, the odds you would bring him to us were great’, Socrates answered.

‘So that’s what Plato meant when he said Isaac was the new “number one”’, said Joachim.

‘But… we brought Max because he has a card too’, said Isaac. 

‘Let’s call that… a failsafe. Max has had that card for years. It has been the only ever card to bear the number thirteen’, Socrates explained. ‘Max’ stand is natural.’

‘So what is your plan with him? With us?’, asked Joachim. 

‘Whatever Draco needs to achieve his dream, that’s the deal.’

‘Nevermind that, we came here for something else’, said Marie. ‘Where did you take Wilhelm?’

‘Wilhelm?’, Socrates seemed to think on the name for a few seconds. ‘Oh… that child. The order probably wanted him back.’

‘What do you mean with “wanted him back”?’, pressed Isaac.

‘What indeed?’, teased Socrates. ‘Tell you what, the person that took him is probably already on their way to Brindisi right now, if not already on a boat to Greece.’

‘Greece?’, asked Joachim, surprised.

‘Where is Brindisi?’, asked Nikola.

‘A port city on the East coast of Italy’, answered Isaac

‘Guys if that’s true, we need to hurry!’, said Marie.

‘How do you plan on getting there then?’, asked Joachim.

‘I don’t know. Train maybe?’, suggested Marie.

‘We could try contacting…him’, said Isaac, wary not to say Giorno’s name in the presence of the Order.

‘Let’s get out of here first and foremost, and get some time to heal’, said Joachim seriously. 

‘You know…’, spoke Socrates, whom they all forgot about for a second. ‘I didn’t do this for no reason. I didn’t join the Order to do evil. Whatever you think of us, our purpose is just. I think the evil is in people who don’t think before they act.’

This comment shot through Nikola as an arrow through the heart.

They all turned their heads back to Socrates and saw that his stand was quietly healing his wounds. 

‘Just like how one fools’ breath can ruin one’s entire world, so can one rebel destroy an entire empire, so I must weed out those who present danger to us’, Socrates preached. 

Suddenly Nikola felt he needed to sneeze. He tried to hold it in, but that seemed impossible. He let it out and sneezed about five times in a row. He felt dizzy afterwards and saw the looks on his friends faces, in fear as Sickness Unto You fully manifested before him. 

‘The common cold, how poetic. Only natural after being out and about so much, in your own rain and the warm nights of Italy!’, Socrates said. 

Nikola was able to dodge Sickness Unto You’s attack just in time to avoid critical damage. But still the thing’s claws drew blood. Nikola held his hand over his stomach, where four rather nasty cuts were stinging like mad. 

‘You motherf-’, grunted Nikola.

Isaac pulled him back before he could throw out all the insults on his mind and now stood before him, like a shield. 

“Again?!”, thought Nikola. “I can stand my own ground!”

‘Did you know the common cold is responsible for half a million deaths each year?’, Socrates asked, with a smile on his face. But that smile vanished quickly. ‘My own son was one of them. He was born with a reduced immune system… on one faithful day, he went out, and came back one foot in the grave. I am a failure as a doctor’, he cried. Nikola swore he could see tears in his eyes. 

Socrates took the chest piece of one of his stethoscopes in hand and cradled it as if it were a baby kitten. ‘Sometimes I can still hear his heartbeat through this stethoscope’, he lamented. ‘But ever since I joined the Order, I have new convictions, new goals, new dreams, I won’t let you take them from me like they took my son. Get them! My Sickness Unto You!’, Socrates shouted.

Sickness Unto You made another charge towards Nikola. Isaac was still standing in front of him, but he readied Acid Rain for an attack just in case. When close enough, Isaac tried to counter the stand’s attack, but it evaded him to go straight to Nikola instead. But to his surprise, Isaac did in fact not counter, he caught the hit. His already incredibly hurt arm now held in front of Nikola’s face by the plague doctor’s claws. 

‘Get rid of him!’, Isaac shouted, as Vengeful One’s chains bound Isaac’s arm and Sickness Unto You’s arm together. Both disappeared in black shadows, and Nikola made a move towards the defenseless Socrates. 

‘You-!’, shouted Nikola as he dashed towards him. 

He tried to grabble in his lab coat to grab another syringe, but he was too slow. Acid Rain punched Socrates plain in the face, as Nikola got behind him. Holding him in a lock, Nikola placed Acid Rain’s hand over Socrates’ mouth and nose, and released all the water he could. 

‘Quite the sob story! Let me help you forget about it!’, Nikola said while trying to hold Socrates still.

The struggle lasted a minute or so, maximum three. Socrates’ arms flailed trying to reach freedom, his legs kicked empty air, until he fell silent. 

Nikola let Acid Rain disappear, and Socrates’ lifeless body fell still on the cold floor. He felt the piercing eyes of his peers, staring at him.

‘Nikola, you…’, started Joachim, as Isaac, who reappeared from the shadows, stepped towards Nikola and kneeled down.

‘Did he kill him?’, asked Marie, surprised. ‘You killed him…’

Isaac squatted down beside him, hand reaching out. Nikola took it, and Isaac pulled him up with his good arm.

‘You did the right thing’, Isaac said, ‘that man was a danger to not just us, but the entirety of Italy.’

‘Y- yeah…’, Nikola stuttered, trying to process what he had just done. He looked back at Socrates’ body, water still leaking from his mouth. ‘He deserved this’, Nikola justified himself. 

Marie and Joachim however, it seemed they would take a little longer to process it. The look in their eyes said enough. Nikola felt as if he was already getting on bad terms with them, and now finally he was able to protect them, they still looked at him as if he was the monster. 

‘He did what was necessary,’ Isaac said to break the silence. ‘You’d have done the same to save us, no?’

‘Well… yes, I think’, said Joachim.

‘As long as we continue, there’s going to be situations like this, so you better be prepared’, he warned. To which everyone just kinda stood around. Some sulking, others hesitating to say anything.

‘So, are we heading to Brindisi then or what?’, said Isaac.

‘Yeah, let’s get out of here, go back to the apartment for a while’, agreed Joachim. 

Nikola had trouble walking on the way back to the car. The wound on his stomach stung like hell. Joachim must have noticed, because he lended arm to lean on.

‘Oi, is your leg ok?’, Nikola asked.

‘Yeah, Marie got done healing it. Well, mostly done, it still stings a little, but all the wounds are closed.’

Together they walked outside the abandoned hospital. Nikola wasn’t really listening, but he heard Marie complaining to Isaac, probably about his new wounds. And Max was walking behind them, back to his normal silent self.

After they got to the car, Marie realised Isaac was in no state to drive, having one entirely useless right arm. So they put on the car and the heating, so they could stay in there instead of out in the cold night while Chemical Romance patched him up. 

Nikola wondered what would become of the two bodies of the Order officials. Would someone find them? Would the police come after them?

He decided not to dwell on it too long, after all that happened tonight, he was glad that Joachim was still by his side. 

CHAPTER 23: Ace Of Spades

Joachim found himself back in the train station where his journey in Italy began. It was now early Tuesday morning, and they were waiting to take the next train to Brindisi. 

Despite getting some well-deserved rest, all five of them were still very tired. Especially Marie who did a great effort to get everyone healed up again. Completely drained of energy, Isaac and Joachim basically had to carry her to Florence’s train station.

They had to resort to trains again, as Giorno had contacted them to drop the car, as it could now be targeted by not only the Order, but the Italian police, though Giorno could hold them off for a while. Isaac had argued it didn’t matter, for the Order probably already knew their next move. Which Giorno agreed on, but there was a third reason. According to him, there was an Order Official who you did not want to meet on the road. He hadn’t given them more info than that, so train it was. 

And of course it would be that one…

“ALL ABOARD!”, the speakers blared. “CRAZY TRAIN ARRIVES IN A FEW INSTANTS!”, Ozzie yelled through the mic, rolling every “R”.

‘Oh no, that can’t be good’, said Joachim. 

‘I had hoped not to hear that voice again’, agreed Nikola.

‘Just like last time, no turning back…’, said Marie as Crazy Train slowly came to a halt before them.

As eccentric as ever, the one and only Ozzie O. stepped out of the train, arms wide open.

‘If it isn’t my favorite little gang!’, he shouted as he waggled to them from the first car, like a penguin. ‘Well… minus one member’, he added.

‘What brings you here?’, asked Joachim. 

‘I heard someone needed a lift to…’, he stroked his chin, ‘I think it was Brindisi?’

‘And how do you even know that?’, asked Nikola, who was suspicious of Ozzie, and rightfully so.

‘I know a lot of things. I also know you managed to defeat not one but two Order Officials, scary’, he answered, grabbing his own shoulders in a defensive position to add more drama to it.

‘Just how fast does information travel?’, asked Marie.

‘That is for you to question and for me to know, sweetie’, said Ozzie. ‘So, wanna go to Brindisi or what?’

‘Why should we trust you?’, asked Joachim.

Ozzie took off his funny looking sunglasses and put on a serious face. ‘As I told you, I do not directly work for the Order. Just like the postman doesn’t write the letter, he only delivers it, so do I. Crazy Train is just a tool for them, and for you.’

‘Well, this would be the fastest way to Brindisi’, said Isaac.

‘We’ll take your offer then’, Joachim agreed.

‘Great! Let’s depart!’, as soon as he spoke those words, the automatic doors to the closest car opened, welcoming them inside.

They took place in the seemingly empty train and got ready for a short journey, knowing Crazy Train’s ability to teleport them. 

Even before the train left, Marie had already fallen asleep in the oddly comfortable seats. 

When the train left, Joachim noticed a kind of sporadic rattling. When it continued for a good minute or two, Joachim, who had his back toward the rest of the car, looked behind him. He saw another person sitting at a seat with a table. He was about their age, and wore a flashy black leather jacket with yellow straps and lots of spikes. He had his hair shaved on one side, and long dark dreadlocks on the other, alternating in colored yellow. His dark skin made him even more ominous in the dark corner of the train he was seated in. But the most unsettling thing was that he was staring Joachim down while throwing a set of dice. He was the cause of the rattling. 

Nikola was getting real annoyed at the constant sound, Joachim could tell by his nervously shaking leg. Until he stood up and approached the stranger. 

‘Can you cut that out?’, he asked, less than nice. 

The guy threw his dice and asked; ‘you wanna join me for a game instead?’

‘Absolutely not!’, Nikola replied. 

Joachim had to double take at what happened next. It even took Nikola a good second or two to realise his cap was now being worn by the stranger.

‘Hey… what?! Give that back!’, Nikola shouted while the guy was checking out the fit of Nikola’s cap on his own head. 

Even Marie woke up at that point and stood up.

‘What’s going on here with you guys, I’m trying to sleep here!’, she said while yawning. ‘Wait, who are you?’, she asked, just now noticing the other guy.

‘My name is Michael Kilmister, do you want to play a round with me?’, Michael said.

‘Eeeeh, no, you creep!’, Marie said, utterly disgusted. She probably understood what Michael said differently.

Again before anyone could notice, Michael was now rummaging through Marie’s pouch bag she was wearing on her thigh mere seconds ago.

‘What are you doing with that! Thief!’, Marie shouted, distressed. 

Michael took item by item out of Marie’s bag. 

‘A bunch of feathers… a lizard’s tail? Teeth?’, said Michael as he inspected the items. ‘That’s some crazy hobby you got there.’

If he wasn’t curious before, Joachim now definitely was. 

‘This guy’s a thief!’, Nikola said, as he readied his fist to reclaim their stuff by force. 

‘Wait Nikola! He could be a stand user!’, Joachim shouted, half expecting him to continue anyways. But to Joachim’s surprise, he didn’t. 

Michael cackled, as he gestured both hands to his set of dice. ‘Let’s play, shall we?’, he picked up the dice, and threw them rolling over the table. 

Everyone stood frozen in the aisle or next to their seat, staring at the dice, expecting some sort of attack. But when nothing happened and Michael said; ‘Some sort of pin? Huh, interesting.’

‘My pin! He has my pin!’, shouted Joachim, searching his coat to find it missing.

Michael was closely inspecting the Little Piece Of Heaven pin Joachim got from Pythagoras. 

Joachim crossed the aisle and took a seat right across from Michael, which brought a huge smile on his adversary’s face. 

‘I’ll explain the rules. We each throw dice, the person who scores a higher number of eyes wins. If you don’t roll, it’s your loss. It’s as simple as that!’, Michael explained. 

‘And what does that mean for the loser?’, asked Joachim.

‘Good question! The winner can take whatever he wants from the loser!’, he mused as his stand manifested beside him. ‘That is the game! Ace Of Spades!’

The stand looked human in its form, however robotic. Its yellow body was striking and contrasted heavily on the black spade shaped shoulder- and knee pads and helmet. It had five spots where each eye would be, in the configuration of the fifth dice side.

‘Well that explains a bunch’, said Isaac.

‘We’ll have to get our stuff back this way? Through luck?’, asked Nikola.

‘Who’s the luckiest one of us?’, asked Marie. 

‘Would you… rather play with one die? Two dice? Three? Or four?’, said Michael, holding the dice between his fingers. Every time he increased the number, his stand moved its hands in front of Michael’s and new dice appeared from nowhere. 

‘Take all four!’, suggested Marie. ‘More combinations mean better odds, right?’

‘Well, the amount of high end and low end throws is the same, so the odds in throwing a higher number or lower number stays the same as if it were one die’, said Isaac.

‘Four dice it is’, said Micheal and he made a first throw. He then counted his results. ‘Five… seven… ten… fourteen! Perfect middle!’ 

‘Wait, isn’t twelve the middle? The highest throw would be 24, so…’, said Nikola. 

‘No he is right, fourteen is the perfect middle, since it’s impossible to throw a one, a two or a three’, Joachim explained, picking up the dice.

‘What will you get, lower? Or higher?’, ask Michael playfully.

Joachim threw the dice. 

‘C’mon JoJo, throw high!’, Marie said, as the dice were rolling.

Once they had settled, Joachim counted his score. He saw a six, a three and two twos. Was it higher? 

‘Thirteen!’, shouted Michael in victory, already wearing Joachim’s headphones. ‘I wanted to test these out, if I may. And if I don’t too of course, because I won!’

Frustrated, Joachim cursed under his breath. He now had to win four times in a row to reclaim their stuff. For a split second his mind drifted to how he could use Fistful Steel to his advantage. He figured it would not work, let alone be too obvious. The dice would just fall flat without rolling due to Fistful Steel’s gravity and friction negating ability. 

By this time Michael had already plugged his phone into Joachim’s headphones and started listening to music.

‘Again’, Joachim said.

‘Winner starts’, said Michael in response. He picked up the four dice and threw them. 

‘Nine?!’, he shouted, surprised at the low result. 

‘Alright you got this one JoJo!’, Marie cheered. ‘Let the power of romance win’, she said, winking at Joachim.

His heart skipped a beat there, confused at the sudden comment. He wasn’t sure what to think of it. He felt himself starting to blush and did his best at hiding it by focusing on the dice before him, for now.

Joachim picked up the dice before him and made his throw. He had already thought about what item he would get back first if he won. His headset? No, it wasn’t as important as Little Piece of Heaven. Or Marie’s bag? He wanted to do her a favor too, for some odd reason. Definitely not Nikola’s cap, though. Knowing him, he’d probably take it by force anyway.

The dice came to a stop and Michael’s eyes already widened. The dice before him clearly added up to way more than nine. He counted nineteen eyes.

With only one thought, Marie’s bag appeared on his lap. He had finally put two and two together. Marie meant to give him a hint that with Chemical Romance they could find a way to easily end this game, she just needed her bag!

‘Well played JoJo, can I call you that too?’, Michael asked.

Joachim gave Marie her bag back, ignoring Michael’s comment.

‘Thanks!’, Marie said and she immediately started rummaging through her bag, looking for something.

Joachim saw Nikola had about enough of the games. He sneaked his hand behind Michael to take back his cap, hopefully unnoticed.

When he went in for the quick steal, his hand was blocked by a strong force. A huge yellow spade shaped shield appeared behind Michael.

‘No, no no no’, he said, disapprovingly. ‘This is now rightfully mine, if you want it back, you’ll have to play!’

‘God dammit!’, Nikola shouted as he held his hand. 

To make his point even clearer, a grid of several small spade shields appeared around Nikola, keeping him prisoner. 

‘Oh well, thieves go to prison anyway, no more playing for you.’

Michael turned his attention to Joachim. ‘Again?’, asked Michael. ‘You start.’

‘Alright’, said Joachim. He looked at Marie and she gave him a thumbs up.

Since he won the last round, he got the throw first. Once more the dice rolled over the small table, and landed on a total of fifteen. 

‘Ok, that’s fine, the chances he will throw lower are a bit higher’, said Nikola. 

Michael picked up the dice and threw. Two of his four dice landed on one, which would automatically mean he lost again, no matter what the other dice landed on.

‘What?! Two times in a row? No way!’, he said as he scratched the shaved side of his head feverishly.

‘Let’s go!’, Marie shouted. 

Joachim didn’t even notice that this time, Little Piece of Heaven had placed itself back on his coat. 

‘Again!’, demanded Michael. 

‘Seems like someone is a sore loser’, said Nikola, his intentions clear. 

Joachim threw the dice again and they landed on eighteen. 

Michael, seeming stressed out, took up the dice and threw. In his current state, he threw the dice a little too hard, and one rolled off of the table. 

Joachim expected him to pick up the lost dice and re-throw it, but he didn’t. Michael sat stunned for a second and then carefully counted the three dice on the table. 

‘Sixteen’, he said, the dice before him counting one six and two fives. ‘Impressive throw wouldn’t you say? Now I have roughly a 67% chance of winning, 17% chance of getting a draw or 17% chance of losing, depending on what the fallen dice counts’, Michael explained.

The dice had rolled all the way underneath the seats at the other side of the aisle. Michael almost had to lay down on the ground to be able to reach it. 

‘A ONE?!’, he shouted in surprise and… was that a hint of fear? ‘This is impossible!’

Joachim’s headphones returned to their usual spot around his neck.

‘One item to go’, Joachim said. He hoped to continue his streak, somehow he was convinced he would. He picked up the four dice, hopefully a last time. Before he could throw them, he felt a strange sensation on his hand, a tickling of sorts. 

He looked at his hand and had to hide his shock so as to not raise suspicion. He saw a decently big, light brown spider crawling up and over the dice in his hand. It creeped away over his hand to the wall, and then climbed up to the ceiling. Any reaction would warn Michael of some interference. This was no normal spider either, Joachim could barely tell, but he saw the small blue-pink stitching marks on its small body, signifying this was in fact a disguised Chemical Romance.

To continue the game, he threw the dice. Almost magically they all landed on high numbers, the lowest one being a four. They added up to twenty one. 

‘No, that’s impossible, you are too lucky! Ace Of Spades would know if a player was cheating!’, Michael shouted. 

‘So?’, Joachim said, ‘are you going to throw?’

‘This is impossible… I can’t win this! But even though my odds are so slim, I’ll still throw!’

Michael grabbed the dice and threw. His throw came nowhere near the twenty one Joachim threw.

Joachim held up his hand and like clockwork, Nikola’s cap appeared in it. 

‘Utter… defeat…’, said Michael, who was again scratching the shaved side of his head. 

Joachim gave Nikola his cap back. 

‘Well played, JoJo!’, he said, putting his cap back on, backwards as always.

“ENOUGH FUN!”, said Ozzie loudly through the intercom. “WE ARE ARRIVING IN BRINDISI!”

Michael stood up, head bowed down, sulking at his loss. He walked through the aisle to the nearest exit.

‘Wait, Michael!’, shouted Joachim. Michael turned around, but didn’t say anything. ‘You are here by the Order’s invitation too right?’

Michael slowly nodded.

‘Will you help us defeat them?’, continued Isaac. ‘You can join us.’

‘You are planning to fight them? Do you have a death wish or something? I’ll pass, I can’t even fight anyways’, he said and he stormed off the train.

‘Well, it was worth a try’, said Marie.

They all stepped off the train as well and were instantly met with the striking ocean breeze that hung in beautiful, serene Brindisi.

‘Now what?’, asked Nikola as the train’s doors closed behind him.

‘Now what, indeed’, repeated Joachim.

CHAPTER 24: Sailing Through Stars

Leaving the station behind, the group ventured into the port city. Brindisi was a place Joachim had never heard of, and seeing the place now made that fact even stranger. Joachim felt tourists should be swarming to this place. There were lots and lots of shops, bars and restaurants nestled in ancient streets and buildings, the rocky ocean shore lines with boats and over in the distance stood proud a tall rectangular monument with a statue on its front facing the port. Most likely, its more popular counterpart, Venice, took up all the attention of tourism.

‘Oi, I’m hungry’, said Nikola out of the blue. 

Joachim agreed, seeing all the terraces and bars, he was longing for something to eat as well. It was already noon after all. 

‘Yeah, me too, let’s find a nice looking bar or something’, added Marie.

‘Well that’s settled then’, said Isaac, ‘let’s grab a quick bite while we figure out how to find Wilhelm.’

On the edge of the busy street and a pier, the group sat themselves down at a table in the outdoor seating of a bar. Nikola took the spot that was still in the shade, and so did Max. Joachim, Marie and Isaac would enjoy the rays of the bright shining sun. It wasn’t too hot, thanks to the refreshing ocean breeze.

They each ordered a cold beverage and a small meal. While they enjoyed the food, seagulls would swarm around the streets of Brindisi to scavenge any leftover foodstuffs. The yelps they let out being slightly annoying, but adding to the ocean-side feel of the city.

‘Marie…’, started Joachim, ‘I was wondering, in the train, that spider I saw, it was your doing right?’

Joachim saw a sparkle in Marie’s eyes. ‘It was me, indeed! All I needed was my bag, so I thought with a little push, I could get it back quickly.’

‘So then… how did you influence the throws?’, asked Joachim.

‘That spider you saw, it’s a Darwin’s Bark spider, it has the strongest webs in the entire world, a full net could even hold a person!’, explained Marie.

‘Eww… why do you have that in your bag, you’re ruining my food’, complained Nikola.

‘I, uhhh, have my reasons’, Marie said, shuffling in her chair. ‘Anyways, I had Chemical Romance attach webs to the side of the dice, to increase its chance of landing on those sides.’

‘Very clever, you were puppeteering the entire game, huh?’, said Isaac.

‘Pretty much!’, said Marie proudly.

‘Then I’m surprised Michael didn’t spot that you were essentially cheating’, noticed Nikola.

‘I mean, neither did you, right?’, returned Marie.

‘That’s… that’s different’, sulked Nikola, taking to his cold drink.

‘But still you did great too, thanks to you I had enough time to set my plan in motion, you kept Michael distracted for just the right amount of time’, added Marie, to cheer Nikola up however she could.

‘See, we’re a good team still’, said Joachim

‘So, how do we find out where the order took Wilhelm?’, asked Isaac to address the elephant in the room, or rather in the entire city.

After a short quiet, Joachim said, ‘Socrates mentioned a boat to Greece, we could start looking for it.’

‘There’s dozens of those boats coming and going here on a daily basis though’, said Nikola, taking a bite of the giant pizza he ordered.

‘We could just take the first boat with destination Greece, right?’, asked Marie.

‘Well, we’d still be stuck on the same problem, right?’, noted Joachim, ‘whether we arrive in Greece first or not we still have no idea where to start looking.’ 

‘How about the cards?’, asked Nikola.

It was a bit controversial to bring up the card’s maps, since they were told to stop trusting them. But after consideration, it wasn’t that bad of an idea. They could use any hints they could get.

‘I’m not really fond of that idea, but it’s worth a shot’, said Joachim, since he saw the others were not on board with it.

‘All right, let’s see what they have to say’, agreed Isaac. 

Joachim took out his black card and the others followed suit, except Max. Joachim put all four cards next to each other on the table, on the side that showed their maps. 

‘They all seem to show Greece’, Joachim said. 

‘Seems so’, added Marie.

Then Joachim noticed it. ‘Wait, there’s a small difference, they all lead to the general area, but pinpoint to a different destination.’

‘So they still don’t lead us to whoever kidnapped the kid’, said Nikola, halfway through his pizza.

‘What about… Max, can I see your card for a second?’, Joachim asked.

He didn’t expect any reaction from Max, but he also didn’t expect he’d give him the card so easily. Max reached into his hoodie’s pocket and fetched his black card.

Joachim took the card carefully. He saw the “13” on the front of it, together with the outline of a face, which he now recognized as Devil’s.

He turned the card over to the map side, its steel edges shining in the glistening sun.

On the map side, Joachim saw something completely different, a map of Brindisi, a time and coordinates. 

‘There’s other info on this-’, Joachim started. But before he could analyze the numbers, a seagull swooped down and stole the card right from his hands.

‘WHAT?!’, shouted Joachim, turning back to spot the seagull flying away with Max’ card. 

‘Uhm… what now?’, asked Marie.

‘Did you get what was on the card, JoJo?’, asked Isaac.

So many questions, but only one answer roamed in Joachim’s head.

‘Chase it!’, he bellowed, as he threw over his chair and followed the seagull to the shores.

The others folles him as Joachim ran along the street, parallel to the beach. He looked at any and all seagulls he could see, which wasn’t easy since there were dozens upon dozens of them flying around.

‘Why are there so many?!’, complained Nikola. Joachim had to agree on this one too. 

‘There’s like three times as many seagulls then I’m used to seeing in England!’, Marie joined in. 

‘Stop complaining and find this bird!’, shouted Isaac.

‘There I see it! It’s-’, Joachim immediately lost sight of the bird again, as he was stunned by a flash of light. An open window must have reflected the sun into his eyes right then.

‘Where? Where is it?’, asked Isaac.

‘There it is! Over at that food stand!’, yelled Marie. “Agh!”

Joachim looked back to see Marie covering her eyes. The sun was merciless, it seemed.

They ended up chasing the bird through the blinding sun so long, it almost felt like an hour or two went by. They were long outside the city by now. The shore was now just a bunch of rocky dunes. Joachim looked up to see a huge boulder with what looked like hundred seagulls staring him down on top of it. It was a pretty unsettling sight. 

They chased away all the birds, and climbed the rocky edges of the nesting. Most of the seagulls flew away, except one that stood to guard its nest. 

‘There you are, you dumb bird’, said Joachim with all but good intentions.

He could only catch a glimpse before he would be flashbanged again. The bird had a cover of mirrored feathers over its wings, almost doubling its wingspan. Held open in an aggressive manner, it stood before a nest with a ton of shiny objects and jewelry. 

Joachim’s vision went white, whiter than fresh snow, as he faltered and fell back down from the boulder he just climbed.

If not for Isaac and Nikola catching him, he would have fallen to the ground from quite a height. Joachim grasped his friend’s arms waiting for his eyes to recover. 

‘The damn bird…’, he said, ‘it is trying to blind us. It has a stand!’

He couldn’t see their reactions, but he felt them staring at him in disbelief.

‘A bird? With a stand?’, asked Marie. 

‘You have to believe me, shield your eyes, it has Max’ card in its nest!’, said Joachim with a hint of desperation.

‘You recon it could have gained a stand after getting cut while stealing the card then?’, theorized Isaac.

The bird took off and was circling above them now, its silver reflecting wings at full display. It seemed to leave a trail of light in its path. 

Everyone did as Joachim told them, holding an arm before their eyes. It must have been a sight to see a couple of young adults blindly climbing a rock.

‘This won’t work!’, shouted Marie.

‘Any other suggestions?’, asked Nikola. 

‘Bait it with food maybe?’, replied Joachim. “It’s still just a bird right? A pretty powerful one… but still a bird.’

‘Anyone got any food on them?’, asked Isaac. 

‘I got a pizza crust…’, answered Nikola.

‘Why do you still have pizza on you?’, asked Joachim.

‘For later?’, said Nikola like it was a blatantly obvious fact.

The chaos only increased further as Nikola tried laying down some bread crumbs while Joachim climbed towards the nest, only to get them both blinded.

‘It’s not interested in the pizza!’, shouted Marie.

‘My god damn pizza crust!’, shouted Nikola back devastated.

‘It’s only interested in… shiny things…’, said Marie, who covered her eyes again. When Joachim regained his vision again, he quickly did the same. 

‘Oh!’, gasped Marie suddenly, ‘Shiny things! Joachim!’

‘Huh? Yeah? What?’, said Joachim, confused.

‘Summon Fistful Steel!’, shouted Marie at the top of her lungs.

It took a moment for things to click in Joachim’s head. 

‘What would we do without you, Marie’, said Joachim as he summoned Fistful Steel, holding out an arm towards the stand-bearing seagull.

Fistful Steel’s corporeal metallic coating shined brightly yellow and orange in the harsh light of the still shining sun. The bird didn’t seem to react to it at first, but soon it directed all of its attention to the silvery stand behind Joachim. It flew at top speed towards him. 

‘Is it attacking?!’, asked Joachim, unsure if he should prepare a counter attack or shield his eyes.

‘No, wait!’, shouted Marie back.

The bird dived in towards Joachim, not in attack, but to land on Fistful Steel’s shoulder and nestle next to its head. 

Joachim sighed in relief. Now that the bird sat safely still beside him, he could see the wound on its webbed feet. It must have been caused by the card, and finally resulted in it gaining a stand ability somehow. 

‘It worked?’, asked Nikola, rhetorically. 

‘I get it, Fistful Steel would be the shiniest object nearby, and since the bird has a stand, naturally it would spot that too’, said Isaac, who made way to retrieve Max’s card. ‘Got it!’, he said, landing on his feet after jumping down the rest of the boulder’s remaining height. 

‘Cool, the bird is tamed, the card is got, now what?’, asked Nikola. 

‘Should we give him a name?’, asked Marie.

‘Who?’, asked Nikola confused.

‘The seagull! He’s like JoJo’s pet now, right?’, Marie explained.

‘Uhhh, I don’t know’, said Joachim, feeling slightly awkward.

‘Kepler, how does that sound?’, Marie suggested.

‘Oh! That works perfectly actually! Wasn’t Kepler a pioneer in optical physics?’, said Joachim.

Kepler let out a yelp or two in agreement.

‘Well, let’s see what’s on this card then’, said Joachim.
They gathered around and looked at Max’ card. It had a date on it, a time, and a location. 

‘This is obviously an arrangement for a meeting’, noted Isaac.
‘With whom?’, asked Marie, ‘And why Max alone?’ 

‘We won’t be sure, unless we go there’, said Joachim. ‘The date is… today, the hour is… five pm… an hour from now’, he read. 

‘Location would be…’, Isaac paused, ‘that building over there.’ 

He pointed at the tall monument looming over Brindisi’s port in the distance. 

‘We can make that, right?’, asked Marie.

‘Should we go then?’, asked Joachim, but no one replied with a sure answer.

‘We go’, said Max, breaking the silence. Up until now he had just run along, not saying much. 

‘We… we don’t know what, or who, we will face there’, warned Joachim, just to be sure he knew what he was doing.

‘I know’, said Max, with an emphasis on “I”. 

Max turned around and started walking along the dyke, back towards the port. 

Joachim undid Fistful Steel’s summon, leaving the seagull to its own devices again. Joachim and the others hastily followed him. The sun, now starting down its path to the horizon, turned the sky a warm orange behind Brindisi.

‘Wait, wait, then tell us what we are getting ourselves into now’, asked Joachim, addressing Max. But he had reached his talking quota of the day. 

CHAPTER 25: Macabre Monument (1)

By the time Joachim and the group arrived at the monument’s premises, it was already close to five pm, the designated time of arrival. The monument called the Monumento Al Marinaio, stood mighty and proud well above the rest of Brindisi. Up close it looked even taller.

The big street leading up to it ended into a park of sorts, lined with tropical trees and tranquil fountains with benches. Right at the entrance stood a ground plan of the structure. If not for that, Joachim would have never noticed it was shaped like a bird. The tall tower was the head and its side wings shaped like actual wings. It was a pretty cool detail to him. 

The huge doors to the tower were still opened. Inside Joachim could see pillars and arches, giving it this temple kind of vibe. It was however very slim inside, probably only between ten and twenty meters in width. 

‘Do we need to buy a ticket or something?’, asked Marie.

‘Well, I haven’t seen any ticket booths anywhere, must be a place open to the public’, answered Joachim.

‘You know… I also haven’t seen any people around’, noticed Isaac.

Joachim realised it as well now, ever since they entered the garden area at the front, he hasn’t seen a single soul. 

‘It’s peaceful and quiet… but too much so’, said Joachim.

‘And kind of creepy’, added Marie.
‘Huh, I like it better this way’, pointed Nikola out.

Joachim entered the monument. A small aisle led all the way to the other end, where he could see a statue of a christian figure atop some pedestal. At the sides of the aisle stood lines of black foldable chairs, in threes next to each other. Hundreds if not thousands of names on black laminated marble slates lined the walls, lighted by strong floodlights. The light inside bounced off the washed yellow sandstone to give the interior an orange aura.

‘It’s a memorial of the world wars’, noticed Isaac.

‘Why would the Order be here?’, asked Joachim.

‘They must like old culturally significant places I guess’, Nikola tried his best at explaining.

Moving in a line between the rows of chairs, Joachim at the head, they reached the cross-section to the wings and the tower. A gust of cold air passed by Joachim’s neck, startling him. It came from the tall elliptical stairwell to the top. 

They continued to the back, where they stopped at the small statue of Christ.

‘So who was Max supposed to meet here?’, Nikola asked, looking directly at Max himself, who stayed silent in return.

Suddenly, as if perfectly on cue, the doors to the monument were thrown shut. 

‘Welcome!’, said the voice of a man with a vaguely Scandinavian accent. ‘I see you didn’t come alone, Max Araya. Well, I guess it wasn’t specified.’

Joachim could see how Max got tense at the sight of this mysterious person. He had a tall slender posture, probably even taller than Isaac already was. Joachim couldn’t see his face as it was obscured by a long, dark red hooded robe with a spiral pattern on it. 

‘Who are you?!’, asked Joachim.

The robed figure took a long bow. ‘The name is Aristotle, pleasure to meet you.’

‘Aristotle?’, asked Nikola. 

‘His code-name, he must be an Order official, be careful’, warned Isaac.

‘I know what you came here to do’, Aristotle said, still bowing down. Then he straightened up and started pacing the room. ‘Wilhelm, a young invitee disappeared.’

‘Disappeared? He was kidnapped by you people!’, shouted Marie.

‘How so certain?’, teased Aristotle. ‘Got any proof of that? It’s not like you saw it happen’, he laughed. 

‘You know where he is though, don’t you’, Joachim challenged the Order member. ‘You’re just putting up a show.’

‘And what a show it will be…’, he said menacingly.

Aristotle lifted up his hood to reveal his face. He had face paint on, resembling some sort of skull, his eyes piercing red with long contrasting white hair that was spiked up in an awkward way. 

He took a deep, heavy breath and raised his arms like he was about to conduct an invisible orchestra. He held up a sharp looking metal baton as well. That’s when Joachim saw the black aura gathering around him to the soft tunes of flutes. 

The flutes began to howl louder and faster, amplified by the monument’s acoustics. 

‘I’ve… heard this before…’, said Marie, weak on her legs.

Joachim felt it too. He felt his muscles weaken as the music was invading his ears. 

‘Cover your ears! Quick!’, shouted Joachim, but it was too late. His limbs refused to listen to him.

‘I welcome you as my audience tonight…’, Aristotle mused, as he bowed down in a wide gesture once again.

Behind Aristotle now appeared a grim figure. A skeleton so distorted and disfigured, it barely looked humanoid. The four arms had not one, but two elbows and each hand had seven fingers. It had no feet at the end of its short legs and a massive rib-cage. Its black bones had holes all over them, some covered by the boney fingers of one of its four elongated arms, creating the gentle sounds. From its shoulders sprang a white silk gown with a similar spiral pattern in red. Its skull was covered by a creepy mask, leaving only its ghastly mouth visible.

‘Witness… Dance Macabre!’, Aristotle announced, and the stand moved its bones in a different position, its spindly fingers dancing across the holes.

The fast, rhythmic song it produced was intoxicating. He didn’t want to, but Joachim’s legs started bopping to the beat. His hands moved to slap his own thighs to the rhythm to create percussion to the song. It wasn’t just him either, he saw that all of them had succumbed to the music. 

‘Let’s have some fun, shall we?’, said Aristotle.

Joachim was too confused to see how, but the music fully completed itself, somehow adding multiple layers and even a beat. 

Joachim’s body moved completely out of his control. To the beat, he walked over towards Isaac, who was stomping the ground rhythmically as well. Joachim’s arm threw a punch at Isaac, who was forced to fully take the blow. 

‘I’m sorry!’, shouted Joachim. 

‘I can’t control my body either!’, said Isaac back, as he in turn threw a punch on the next beat. Joachim took that one straight to the face too. 

Max, Marie and Nikola joined the brawl as well. Joachim’s eyes widened when he saw that even their stands were unwillfully summoned. Luckily their puppet master had taught them to dodge, otherwise Joachim would be a pulp from several stand attacks.

‘Now this is a dance I enjoy watching! Well done my puppets!’, cheered Aristotle. 

Joachim saw Fistful Steel grab onto one of the chairs in the aisle. It threw the chair at Marie’s direction, luckily again, she dodged. Joachim was sure Aristotle could just let them continue until they beat each other unconscious, but he didn’t. He wasn’t sure if he should be thankful or worried by this.

The chair flew past Aristotle, who stood still, knowing the chair would fly past him. But what was unexpected to him as well was that the impact of the chair threw the door to the monument back open. 

‘I think that’s about enough playtime, no?’, said Aristotle lowering his arms and the baton.

His stand, Dance Macabre, slowed down its playing. The beat disappeared, and the notes settled on a longer, softer nature.

‘What are you… doing?’, asked Joachim, helpless as he still couldn’t move.

‘Completing my original goal. Retrieval.’

‘Retrieval? What does that mean?’, asked Marie.

‘I was supposed to pick up Joachim after he was taken captive by Solon’s toy’, Aristotle explained. ‘But you, Marie, stood in the way of that.’

‘That ninja we encountered in the gardens…’, realized Joachim. 

‘Who is this Solon you speak of, what do you mean with “toy”? Are we just a means of entertainment to you?’, asked Nikola angrily.

‘Man, quit your complaining, it’s ruining my vibe’, Aristotle said.

‘Answer us!’, shouted Nikola.

‘I’ll see to it that the leader answers your stupid questions. I’ll bring all five of you in as a means to make up for that chick’s failure’, said Aristotle. ‘It’s bedtime, children.’

Joachim felt his limbs get weak again, he felt his legs give way, his eyes closing. He couldn’t think, he barely remembered where he was. The only thing that was real was the lullaby being played by Dance Macabre. 

Contrasting against the orange light of the setting sun outside, Joachim saw a second figure appear next to Aristotle. Small of stature with a dark blue-green owl on his shoulder. Wilhelm. He just stood there like he had been waiting for his cue to enter the stage. His stand, Owl City, spread its wings wide and from its huge eyes pulsed blue energy.

‘Wh- What…?’, managed Joachim to say, right before drifting to sleep, alongside the others.

He still heard the tune, deep in the back of his mind. He wanted to push himself awake, but couldn’t. Like something had built up a wall in the very space of his thoughts. 

A dream began to form, sloppy and strange. Joachim visualized a glass window in front of him, he was knocking on it. Behind it stood a quiet, shivering Wilhelm, surrounded by falling feathers and two huge eyes staring at him from the shadows above him.

Joachim looked up, and instead of the scene shifting upwards, he felt his body move upwards. For a few moments, he fell upwards, or at least it felt that way. He saw sets of spiraling stairs flash by him. 

Suddenly he found himself at the top of the monument. He could see the entirety of Brindisi’s port and beyond. His eyes landed on a cruise ship that just left the bay. The building-sized white ship started to dissolve into the sea. Its steel structure softened and washed away. 

Joachim felt a push from behind, which toppled him off the edge of the monument. While falling, no, it felt more like sinking, he saw a person wearing blue now standing at the top of the monument. It was Nikola, but at the same time, Joachim felt like it was not him.

While he sunk down like a brick, so did the cruiseship in the distance. When it was fully gone, a small island surfaced in the bay. The island bore one huge Greek temple, almost identical to the Parthenon, but in its better days.

Joachim’s fall quickened, and he got scared he would hit the ground any second now. He smashed into the ground below and felt himself sink into it. Joachim gasped for air but only felt water enter his lungs. 

He surfaced and splashed his arms towards the nearest land. On the shore, someone grabbed his hand firmly and pulled him up. Joachim looked up towards his helper, and saw it was Max. But not just Max. He had a distorted wide grin on his face, his pupils were tiny, almost invisible, and the toxic green veins of corruption were spread out all over his face. 

Demon Max pulled him out of the pitch black water and behind Max, Joachim could now see the newly arisen Greek island. Like a window of flame, a fire raged between two big pillars, ever burning and not spreading. In front of the pillars sat Marie and Isaac, chained up and unconscious. 

Joachim wanted to scream their names, but his mouth was sewn shut. Max pulled Joachim over to the flaming gate. The fires began to ripple, but before Joachim would see the other side of it, the dream washed away like fresh paint on a canvas.

Everything went white as Joachim opened his eyes.

CHAPTER 26:  Macabre Monument (2)

Joachim struggled to open his eyes, it was as if they had been glued shut. What had he just seen? This couldn’t be a vision like the other time, it was straight up madness. Was this Wilhelm’s doing? All of these dreams and visions?

When his eyelids finally pulled themselves apart, Joachim saw a fight going on, with deafening screeching… of two birds. The blue-green Owl City was clawing and being clawed at by a seagull Joachim recognized as Kepler by the mirror plating on its wings. All the while, Wilhelm was rubbing his eyes thoroughly. 

‘What is…’, Jaochim started while he sat himself upright. He looked around him and saw the others waking from the hypnosis as well.

‘Is that… Kepler?’, asked Marie.

‘The goddamn seagull from earlier?’, asked Nikola.

‘It is…’, said Isaac.

‘You useless brat! What even is this seagull doing here?!’, screamed Aristotle. He seemed to ready himself to repeat the melody, lifting up his baton.

‘Oh no, not again!’, panicked Marie, who covered her ears.

Joachim had to stop him, he quickly summoned Fistful Steel and dashed in Aristotle’s direction. Wilhelm shouldn’t be a problem, he figured out his ability is only useful when the target is asleep. All the more reason to not let Aristotle do as he pleases. 

While Joachim ran toward Aristotle, Marie summoned Chemical Romance, transforming it into a second Kepler using one of its feathers that came loose after the struggle with Owl City. 

Both birds and Joachim now charged in at Aristotle.

With a ray of light, Kepler tried to incapacitate Aristotle. The light hit him straight in the eyes. Aristotle faltered as he put his hands up to his eyes to cover them. 

“This is our chance to get him!”, thought Joachim, as he went in for a full force stand rush.

But unexpectedly, Aristotle’s stand reacted. With surprising force and speed, two of its arms karate chopped Kepler and Chemical Romance onto the ground. Joachim could hear the two birds squeak as they hit the stone cold floor.

Joachim felt a sudden push underneath his chin, as the stand threw an upper-cut with its third arm. Joachim felt himself swing up and landed backwards on the floor, back where he started.

Joachim must have been distracted for a moment, because he missed when Aristotle opened his eyes again to counter-attack. Shaking his head to regain his senses, he sat up and looked at Aristotle, who still had his eyes closed. Joachim tasted blood, he must have bitten his lip from the force of that punch.

‘What a neat little trick this bird has. Sadly, it won’t work on the likes of me!’, Aristotle chanted. He lifted his foot and put it firmly down on Kepler’s right wing.

‘NO!’, shouted Joachim. To his own he wondered how he came to care as much as he now did for a seagull. But that seagull was more than any other, it may have saved their lives here, and now it was in danger.

Joachim realised only one seagull was left on the floor, so Chemical Romance had disappeared. Joachim looked behind him, where he saw Isaac holding an unconscious Marie. Blood was running down from her lips.

‘No… Marie!’, Joachim said in shock. ‘Is she okay?’, he asked.

‘She’s out cold… but breathing. The impact was too much to take for Marie. The damage to Chemical Romance was translated to her in a higher factor. Since a seagull is less durable than a human, the impact hit her harder’, Isaac explained.

‘Then Kepler… Kepler must be severely injured too’, Joachim said. ‘But how…’, he turned back to face Aristotle. 

‘“But, oh great Aristotle! How were you able to utterly defeat us with your eyes closed?”’, Aristotle said in a funny voice, imitating what Joachim was about to ask next. ‘My Dance Macabre doesn’t only control your brain, it infects it, allowing me to know, see or hear what you do. That’s how I knew where you were going to strike’, he explained. ‘My job is to collect information, and what better place to find that than the brain itself!’

Joachim wanted to respond, but didn’t know how. He couldn’t think straight to figure out a plan to counter this. The brute force of Fistful Steel, Vengeful One or even Max’ Devil stood useless before a psychologically attacking stand such as this one.

‘Don’t underestimate Order Officials kid. You may have defeated two of them back to back, but don’t think for a moment you can easily repeat that feat. Those two, that old, senile creature and that disease freak were unstable and weak anyway, if anything I’m thankful to you. I was surprised they held their title for as long as they did, mostly thanks to Draco’s wishes, but now finally someone more deserving can take their spots’, Aristotle said.

‘Take your foot off of Kepler!’, Joachim demanded, keeping his mental fortitude as intact as possible. Of course he didn’t expect things to be easy. But hopelessness was a strong enemy too.

‘Kepler? You named a seagull? Well I guess it is a special specimen. If not for its stand, the bird would have died by now. I should take it back to Draco, he’ll love this one’, Aristotle said, twisting the food under which he pinned Kepler in place.

‘You evil bastard! Why are you doing this?! What do you gain from this?’, shouted Isaac from behind Joachim.

‘Evil? I call it… ambitious, I only do my job. What do I stand to gain? Fame. I will gain fame when Draco’s reign stands tall’, he grimaced as he answered. 

In the corner of his eye, he saw Nikola stand up and slowly walk towards Aristotle.

‘Oho… what do we have here, my colleague’s new subject walking towards me’, Aristotle scoffed. ‘If I remember correctly your stand has next to zero offensive potential!’

Nikola stayed in a silent rage, walking steadily.

‘Nikola no! He knows what we’re thinking!’, Joachim shouted, he could not bear what would follow if he continued. 

‘You want this? I’ll play for you again then’, said Aristotle as he lifted the baton once again. Dance Macabre followed suit and started playing a new melody. It was slow, but heavy, not as light as the one that put them to sleep earlier. It sounded like a scythe was being held across his neck. Joachim felt his heart rate increase greatly and breathing became almost impossible. A painful panic set in. Joachim pressed his hands unto his ears as hard as he could, but it did not help, that stand’s ability was in his head.

‘Wait…’, he heard Aristotle say. ‘Wait wait wait! Why aren’t you stopping! I… I can’t read you! There’s only rage!’

Joachim struggled to keep his eyes open and fixed on Nikola. He kept walking in a straight line, fists clenched.

With a flash of light and a scream from Aristotle, Kepler used all his strength to blind Aristotle. Blind and stumbling backwards, Aristotle wiped in his eyes. Kepler was freed from Aristotle’s foot and quickly jumped up and hopped to safety, where it lay down and picked its hurt wing.

Joachim realised that Aristotle still may be able to see Nikola from Joachim’s perspective, so he turned away his eyes and closed them.

In a panic, Dance Macabre attacked the area in front of him, where he expected Nikola to be, but little did he know, Nikola in fact walked past him.

‘WHERE ARE YOU?!’, Aristotle screamed. 

Nikola had now reached Aristotle behind him and summoned Acid Rain, which held one hand menacingly over Aristotle’s head.

Aristotle desperately pinked his eyes to regain his vision. But before he could, Acid Rain unleashed a waterfall that washed Aristotle away completely. 

Beneath the gushing sounds of water, Joachim could only hear a faint scream. He figured it would be safe to look again. 

Aristotle sat on his knees, with a vacant expression on his face, drenched to the bone. Nikola stood behind him, still holding his hand over Aristotle’s head. He also noticed Wilhelm had disappeared, he must have ran away when he saw Aristotle was beaten. 

‘How…?’, was the only thing Aristotle whispered as he dropped his baton.

Nikola let Acid Rain disappear, and Joachim spotted water running from Nikola’s ears. 

‘I used Acid Rain’s water to transform the sounds captured by my ears. Your stand couldn’t even reach my brain’, Nikola said. ‘But you’ll never know what that means’, he followed up. 

He said that because he must have completely wiped Aristotle’s memory. 

‘Can’t believe I needed the help of that seagull to keep him distracted long enough to get close’, Nikola said as he walked back towards the group, avoiding eye-contact.

‘Well done, Nikola’, said Isaac. 

‘Thanks’, he reluctantly replied.

Nikola reached out his hand to Joachim, who still sat on the floor. ‘Yo, you good, JoJo?’

‘I… yes I am, good work there Nikola’, Joachim said, grabbing Nikola’s hand. 

Joachim heard a couple of coughs coming from Marie as she came to consciousness again.

‘Did… did we win?’, she asked.

‘We did thanks to Nikola there, again’, said Isaac, witholding a laugh. 

‘Nikola did?’, asked Marie with a hint of disbelief.

‘He did indeed’, confirmed Joachim. 

‘Guys, it’s time to leave about now’, Nikola warned. ‘We don’t wanna be here when that freak comes to.’

‘Can you walk, Marie?’, asked Isaac.

‘Yeah, probably, I… I think I broke a rib or two though’, she answered. ‘Where’s Kepler by the way?’

‘Over there, in the corner’, Joachim pointed at Kepler, who was still picking at its broken wing.

‘Oh no…’, said Marie worryingly.

Joachim went over to Kepler, who sat surprisingly still, looking at him. ‘We’ll take ‘em along and get him patched up as well, when we get to somewhere safer.’ Kepler let himself get picked up by Joachim.

‘What about Wilhelm’, asked Marie.

‘Forget about that scrub’, answered Nikola. ‘We’ll leave him here with his Order foster parents.’

‘Hey, he’s just like us!’, argued Marie.

‘He put on that “oh, I’m just a little child help me” act to fool all of us. He did some weird shit to you when that freaky skeleton put you all to sleep, you know’, argued Nikola back.

‘He’s… he’s right Marie, taking Wilhelm along will only cause us more problems in the long run’, said Isaac. 

‘The dreams… visions’, said Joachim, joining the 

conversation while holding a seagull in his arms. ‘I’ve had them before, do you think it was Wilhelm as well?’

‘Likely, to lead us into traps set by the Order, this probably being one of them as well’, said Isaac.

‘But, what he made me see this time, was a mess, a fever dream. Usually they’d be pretty straightforward…’, thought Joachim out loud.

‘I know, the vision looked like it was put together with tape and bits of string like he was in a rush’, said Isaac, confirming he had the same dream.

‘Alright, anyways, Nikola is already outside’, said Marie, pointing back at the front doors.

‘Oh! Dammit, let’s go!’, said Joachim in a small panic.

As they walked past the vacant staring Aristotle, Joachim could hear him groan and mumble a few words, he didn’t understand much of it though.

‘Jo… Jo… H-… Hell’, were the only words Aristotle mumbled that Joachim could make out. Joachim stopped next to the Order official for a second, in surprise.

‘He’s out of it, but not for long!’, shouted Nikola from outside.
Joachim came back to his senses and ran to the exit, deciding not to dwell on Aristotle’s mania.

Joachim closed the monument’s doors behind him and they hurried back to the streets of Brindisi, where they saw a familiar face in black and yellow leather clothing.

CHAPTER 27: A Heated Cruise (1)

‘Michael?!’, shouted Joachim.

Startled, Michael Kilmister looked over his shoulder, pinpointed where the shout had come from, turned around again and started speed walking away from them.

‘Hey, wait up!’, continued Joachim.

He slowed down his pace, probably realising he can’t ignore Joachim’s calls.

‘Hey… what’s with all the shouting?’, he asked. ‘Also, is that a seagull?’, Michael pointed at Kepler, who was still held in Joachim’s arms.

‘That’s Kepler’, answered Marie, ‘we accidentally gave him a stand.’

‘Okay…’, he paused for a bit, taking in the sight of Kepler and its wounded wing, ‘you don’t look so good, have you beaten any Order members recently?’, asked Micheal.

‘Yeah, actually, just now a couple of seconds ago’, boasted Nikola. But all he got was a weird look from Michael.

‘I would turn back if I were you’, said Michael.

‘Then why do you pursue them?’, asked Joachim. 

‘I… because I must. Anyhow, I got a boat to catch. If you wanna keep chasing after your demise…, then come along, I guess’, Michael proposed.

Michael turned around and walked away. Joachim decided to follow him, for one, to find the answers he was still looking for, and out of curiosity over Michael’s motivations.

‘What do you mean “you must”? We’re not the only ones whose lives are on the line. We’ve seen what they did to others…’, Joachim thought of the boy called Adam, who was experimented on by the Order. ‘Is it that important? Is it really worth it?’

‘I can ask you the same’, Michael answered. 

‘Well, I guess that’s true. I…’, Joachim debates whether he would tell Michael the truth or not. ‘I’m looking for answers. You see, my father is… was… the leader of the Order. Now this Draco… he might have planned a coup or something and now all hell broke loose. I’m sure my father entrusted us in putting things right’, he explained.

‘You made that up, right? He’s making that up’, said Michael, pointing at Joachim while looking at the others walking behind them. None of them said anything. ‘Wow, dads, am I right?’

‘Yeah’, Joachim agreed.

‘You see mine gambled all of our livelihoods away. He left me and my mother in poverty, never to be seen again’, he paused for a bit, ‘the Order… they came to me and promised me a lot of money. Like a lót, heaps’, Michael said, putting extra emphasis on the amount, gesturing a pile with his hands. ‘I want to help out my family with it.’

‘I see’, said Joachim. He now understood people’s varying reasons to pursue certain things. Even within their group, their reasons differed. ‘I have a feeling that what they promised might not be exactly what you expect. Adam… another invited person… was promised to be cured from his disease, and well…’, started Joachim. 

‘What became of him?’, asked Michael.

‘He was cured, but became a brainwashed powerhouse after the Order did some sick experiments on him, and he ended up self-destructing.’

Michael turned into deep thought. ‘I still can’t pass up their offer. If your dad was a good man… then there must be some good Order members left, right?’

‘Honestly, I’m not sure at all. That is, whether my father was a good man, or if there would be any good members left. Draco looks to be eliminating all opposition.’

They walked the rest of the way to the port in silence, though it wasn’t an awkward one. They were all too tired to talk, with too much going on in their heads. 

A couple of minutes walking later, they arrived at the dock where a sizable cruise ship awaited its passengers. Joachim bought the tickets using Giorno’s enveloppe and after a short wait everyone boarded the ship. 

They must have lost Michael in the mass of people boarding, because he was no longer to be found. Joachim decided to leave him alone though, maybe they’d bump into him again later after all. 

‘Man, I’m tired, my chest hurts’, sighed Marie.

‘Well, according to our ticket, our rooms should be down this hallway’, Joachim pointed down the most narrow corridor known to mankind.

‘It’s rooms of two beds each right?’, asked Isaac.

‘Yeah, I got three rooms, so one goes to Marie and then…’, said Joachim.

‘Would you share a room with me this time around?’, asked Isaac.

‘Umm, sure, no problem’, answered Joachim, slightly nervous. He wondered why Isaac was so keen on sharing a room with him. He decided to not worry about it, it could be nice having Isaac as a roommate, who knows.

‘Alright, so that leaves Nikola and Max. You both won’t cause any trouble right?’, concluded Isaac.

‘It’s just a room, who cares’, said Nikola in his snide tone. ‘No worries.’

‘Hey, I’ll take care of Kepler then’, suggested Marie, stretching her arms out to take Kepler from Joachim. When buying the tickets they had to momentarily hide him in Joachim’s jacket. It was either that or leave the poor thing behind. Luckily no one noticed or they might have raised some suspicions.

‘Alright’, Joachim said as he handed her the bird.

They each entered and explored their rooms, although that didn’t take much time since the room was barely larger than a few square meters. It was fitted with two one-person beds, one of which served as a fold-out couch, a closet with a coat hanger, a mini-fridge and a tight bathroom. 

Joachim took off his jacket and hung it on the coat hanger. While in the enclosed bathroom, Joachim refreshed his face with tap water and heard Isaac sit down on the hard couch with a boom.

‘Ouch, this thing is almost solid’, Isaac complained.

Joachim joined him and sat down on the bed, which was considerably softer. 

‘How are you feeling?’, asked Isaac suddenly.

Joachim was a bit overthrown by it and couldn’t immediately find a fitting answer. Normally he’d just say “yes” and think no further about it. Now every fiber in his body wanted to say the opposite, but he also disliked making others worry.

‘Not good, eh?’, said Isaac as if he could read thoughts. ‘I think all of us aren’t doing too well.’

‘Why are we here?’, asked Joachim. 

‘That’s part of what I wanted to talk about. I was wondering how far you are willing to go, this is barely the start’, said Isaac.

‘My father. I didn’t know anything about him until a few days ago. This whole thing… I need answers, but I don’t know if the price of asking the questions is worth it anymore.’

‘So that’s what’s been on your mind.’

‘You know, Isaac, I never expected someone with your… vibe… could be so caring’, said Joachim with a small laugh.

‘Let me tell you something more about myself then. I haven’t been to open about myself, and I feel like I can trust you, JoJo’, Isaac said, making Joachim feel a little flustered. ‘I grew up caring for all the children in the home, as you know. But I was a shitty kid before that. I guess my aunt and cousins are to blame for that, and my own choices of course.’

‘Your aunt?’

‘I lived with her for a year or two after my parents disappeared. I might not remember much from that time now, but it must have been bad.’

‘And that’s how you got to the…’, Joachim struggled to call it an orphanage to Isaac’s face.

‘The orphanage, yes. But those years were the best I could ask for.’

‘So… your parents… do you know what happened to them?’

‘No, they were both private detectives, they really made a name for themselves, you know. But one day, they went out to Greece, business stuff probably. They dropped me off at my aunt’s place, where I would end up staying. And I assume it was my aunt’s jealousy of her sister, my mother, that made my time there so awful…’, Isaac leaned back on the sofa and looked at the low ceiling.

‘I… I’m sorry to hear that’, said Joachim. ‘Well if it can cheer you up… Nikola is the only one with both parents still present, and you saw how he turned out.’

Both laughed their worries off for a few seconds. 

‘Maybe my upbringing was not so bad in the end’, said Isaac.

After a pauze, Joachim realized he had overlooked one piece of the puzzle Isaac gave him.

‘You say your parents went to Greece… just like we are now. Do you suspect the Order to be involved?’, asked Joachim.

‘I do. It’s the only lead I have, and if it wasn’t them, then they must know who it was instead, right?’, admitted Isaac.

‘But they invited you to come here, wouldn’t that be a risky move on their part?’

‘It’s not risky, it’s bait… blackmail.’

‘Oh…’, Joachim averted his eyes. ‘But if you know that, aren’t you walking straight into a trap?’

‘Maybe. But as long as you guys are with me, I feel like we can do this.’

‘That’s right. Together we’ll figure this whole mess out.’

‘What do you say we get some sleep then?’

‘Exactly my thoughts as well.’

They both lay down in the small, but relatively comfortable beds. Joachim was scared he wouldn’t be able to sleep, with all that had happened. He was scared he would brood over several things at once again. He was scared he would dream again because of Wilhelm’s stand ability. But the gentle bobbing of the ship and the faint sounds of gushing water had Joachim fall asleep faster than he expected. 

He would also be woken up faster than he expected. An alarm loud enough to penetrate the walls started blaring outside their room. Joachim sat up and wiped his eyes open. Isaac got up as well. 

‘What’s going on?!’, he asked.

‘I have no idea! Isn’t that the evacuation signal’, Joachim answered.

And just as he said that, a small television monitor turned itself on with an awkwardly bright jingle. A woman appeared and started explaining the evacuation plan of action, telling every passenger to stay calm and follow the instructions. 

‘Let’s go’, said Joachim, taking his jacket off the coathanger. 

‘Yes please’, said Isaac, and followed Joachim.

Out in the corridor they found Marie, Nikola and Max, equally as confused as them. 

‘Does this really have to happen now? Five AM, really?!’, complained Nikola to no one in particular. ‘It’s like it’s personal’, he added. And Joachim hoped it wasn’t.

In a panic from the loud sirens, even Kepler came flying through Marie’s room’s door, gawking loudly.

‘Aaahg! Get the bird out of here!’, shouted Nikola. Joachim was just glad Kepler was fine again. It nestled itself in Marie’s arms and quieted down.

‘So, what if it is personal? What if someone got on this ship to hurt us?’, asked Marie, and Joachim shriveled up inside, he didn’t want to think about that at all.

‘Whatever the case, let’s just go out to the life-boats, come on’, spurred Joachim on. ‘It’s just a floor up to the deck.’

The group ran up the stairs and pushed open the heavy door that gave access to the upper deck. As soon as the salty ocean wind hit them, Kepler spread its wings and took off, leaving Marie’s arms. Once on the deck, through the dozens of people that had already gathered there, they pushed themselves to the balustrades where the lifeboats should hang. But there were no such boats present anymore.

‘The boats are gone, I swore they were here when we set off!’, said Joachim.

‘JoJo, look!’, shouted Marie over the blowing wind, pointing at a sort of cable attached to a pulley. 

‘What in the world?’, Joachim said, as he tried to comprehend what Marie had spotted. The cable was cut off, hanging loosely over the edge of the ship. But the end of the rope was actively melting as they looked on. Every so often a liquid piece of the rope would drip off. And then Joachim noticed the same phenomenon on the cables that used to hold the other boats.

‘Someone clearly doesn’t want us to escape. This is an attack’, concluded Joachim.

Panic set in as more people arrived and realised their route to safety had disappeared. 

Max, who was inspecting the pulley, ripped off some sort of paper ticket, and handed it to Isaac. 

‘This ship won’t reach its destination… for I have melted its heart’, Isaac read out loud. ‘Cryptic indeed, kind of cheesy too.’

‘Someone is planning to sink this ship?’, asked Nikola. ‘Alone?’

‘What about all the passengers?’, asked Marie worried. 

‘What could they mean with “melting” the ship’s “heart” anyway?’, asked Nikola.

‘I’m not sure, but…’, started Isaac.

Joachim finished his sentence; ‘The machine room. They are planning to stop the ship in its tracks and take it down before we get close enough to the shore.’

‘How can we get there? Won’t that place be locked down?’, asked Marie.

‘Unless it’s a crew member attacking… the doors should be wide open, considering the note hinting us where to go as well’, reasoned Isaac.

‘C’mon, we got to keep this ship floating!’, said Joachim as he ran back to enter the ship.

CHAPTER 28: A Heated Cruise (2)

The noise of shouting passengers deafened as the door shut closed behind them. At this point Joachim felt the ground he was standing on was no longer level. It was slight, yet noticeable. 

‘We have to find some sort of floor plan to find out where the engine room is situated’, said Marie.

‘Usually down, towards the middle or back of the ship’, said Joachim.

‘Can you show us the way?’, asked Isaac.

‘I uh… let’s find a map’, admitted Joachim. Though he knew roughly where to find the engine room… Joachim did not know how to get to it in every ship ever built. ‘The central area should have one, right?’

The cruise had a central plaza two decks down from where they were now. Right in the middle of that stood a two-dimensional replica of the ship, with all its compartments labeled. 

‘Should be here’, said Joachim pointing his finger to the small boxed area called “Engine Room”.

‘Well, I can see that, but how do we get there?’, asked Nikola.

‘We’ll have to ignore a few “no unauthorized access” signs, I believe’, replied Joachim. ‘Follow me.’

Joachim made his way over to the back of the ship, where there should be access to a staircase that leads to the lower levels of the ship. But before they could reach there, a security guard blocked their way.

‘Hey! What are you kids doing here? Lost the way to the decks? It’s right around there, back to the central plaza and up the stairs you know?’, said the big Italian guard.

‘We uh…’, started Joachim. 

‘The lifeboats went missing, don’t you know? A friend of ours came looking here to see if there were any reserves left’, saved Isaac. ‘He’s been gone for some time now, we got worried and can’t seem to find him.’

‘Where do you suppose they went?’, asked the guard. ‘I saw nobody pass here.’

‘Ah he must have gone that way then!’, said Isaac, ostentatiously pointing to the other side of the ship to gather the guards’ attention away from them. Joachim wondered how Isaac was able to sound so convincing. 

While the guard was unaware, Isaac tapped Nikola’s arm, as some sort of signal. Joachim understood what Isaac’s plan was now. 

Marie, Max and Joachim sneaked behind the guard, who was still entwined in Isaac’s tale. Meanwhile Nikola summoned Acid Rain and with great precision poured water down the guard’s neck. 

‘All clear, let’s go’, whispered Nikola. He had erased the guards memory of them passing him by. As long as they didn’t get spotted again, the guard would never know of their existence. They had to leave Isaac, though, because he had no way of slipping by without raising suspicion. That or Nikola would have needed a lot more water and risk being noticed too.

The group stepped down the steel staircase as silently as possible, for each step made a hollow metallic sound. Once down far enough, they faced a large steel door, with a crank at the face of it. It looked as heavy as it probably was.

‘How do we get that open?’, asked Marie.

‘Let’s see’, said Joachim as he placed his hands on the wheel and pulled. 

It gave way just a little bit, until it got stuck on something, and Joachim was unable to turn it any further. 

‘Damn’, said Joachim with a huff. ‘I guess it’s not only heavy, but locked from the other side as well.’

‘So we can’t get in’, said Nikola.

‘Hold on, I have not run out of options just yet’, assured Joachim. ‘This door will open. Fistful Steel!’

Joachim willed his stand to punch the door wheel several times, placing as many gears on it as he could. After a few seconds, he then commanded the gears to rotate, each pulling on the wheel. The gears turned until they hit the barrier that Joachim also hit. 

‘Will it be strong enough to force the door?’, asked Marie.

‘We’ll see soon enough’, said Joachim confidently.

Though at first glance the gears looked to have come to a halt, Joachim knew they were still in action. He could hear a sort of creaking noise coming from the other side of the heavy door.

‘Ready yourself!’, warned Joachim. 

Following Joachim’s lead, all four took a step back and shielded their eyes. Not even five seconds later the gears blasted the wheel completely off the door, having completely shattered the lock system by brute force.

Joachim let Fistful Steel disappear and stepped towards the heavy steel door. He saw the wheel that had once been attached to it had now wedged itself into the wall beside them.

He gently pushed the door, and it swung open with ease. 

‘I hope security didn’t hear that’, said Joachim. ‘But, we’re in!’

Nikola, Marie and Max joined Joachim on the other side. The engine room was dark and damp. The sound of rattling machinery was almost deafening.

‘Now where is our target?’, asked Nikola rhetorically, while cracking his knuckles as he stepped onto the iron catwalk that led over and around the engines and machines. 

‘Wait!’, said Marie. ‘This might be an ambush, let me scout out the place first.’

‘Good idea’, agreed Joachim.

The less they had Nikola going around heading into danger head first the better. He had by now proven himself to be a strong and useful asset to the team, but that was not reason enough for Joachim to not fear for his safety. 

‘I need an animal that is fast and quiet’, said Marie as she summoned Chemical Romance. The pink stand manifested beside her, looking straight up at the ceiling for some reason.

‘Do you still have one of Kepler’s feathers?’, asked Joachim. 

‘Yes, but that won’t do. Not quite enough, plus a bird won’t be able to effectively fly in this place’, replied Marie. 

She had a point, though. The engine room had a spacious area that lay central. But everywhere around it were small corridors twisting between the engines and machines, that provided many hiding spots for a potential ambush.

‘There!’, said Marie suddenly. Chemical Romance reached out its hands, stretching out until they found their target.

‘Eww! Why? What do you need that for?’, said Nikola disgusted. 

‘With these rat feces, I’ll have exactly what I need’, said Marie. 

It kind of weirded Joachim out how quickly Marie was over the fact she was picking up literal feces. Though it was actually only the stand that extracted some DNA, not that she actually had to touch it. 

‘Ok, that’s perfect’, said Joachim, suppressing a small gag reflex.

‘Why are there even rats on this ship?’, asked Nikola. 

‘There are rats everywhere, Nikola’, answered Marie.

After that, she closed her eyes and focussed. Chemical Romance transformed into a rat, with some pink and blue stitch marks all over it, and ran away into the darkness.

Nikola and Joachim patiently waited for Marie to find anything, while Max nervously looked for anything moving in the shadows cast by the eerie orange glow of the engine’s interfaces.

After a minute or two, Marie opened her eyes, let out a loud gasp, and fell to her knees. 

Joachim instantly sat down beside her, holding her by her shoulders. 

‘What happened? Did Chemical Romance get attacked? What did you see?’, asked Joachim in a slight panic.

Marie was breathing heavily, so he hoped he didn’t overload her with those questions. But slowly she came to her senses again.

‘I… I’m alright, nothing attacked me’, she said.

‘Thank goodness’, said Joachim, relieved. 

‘I saw… I saw…’, stuttered Marie.

‘Saw what?’, asked Nikola abruptly, which got him a stare from Max. Max’ sense of hostility was as sharp as ever.

‘Hey, take it easy’, said Joachim. He wasn’t sure at who it was directed. Marie? Or Max and Nikola.

‘There were bodies everywhere… all the workmen… they looked like they had been melted’, said Marie, avoiding eye-contact. 

‘Melted?’, asked Joachim, hoping to get a little more details. 

‘Their skin was peeling off, I don’t know how to describe it. And their clothes were as well. And bits of the engines too.’

‘What in the world is it gonna be now?’, asked Nikola rhetorically, heading out into the engine room.

‘Wait, Nikola!’, said Joachim. In the end Nikola continued, and they were forced to follow him.

Going across the iron grated walkways, they saw now what Marie had described. She was too scared to look at the bodies herself, scared of seeing them with her own eyes. Joachim couldn’t blame her, it was a horrifying sight. 

Like wax statues of once living humans, they looked like they were melted in an oven. Facial features left unrecognizable due to the skin dripping off their faces, revealing muscle and bone. Dismembered limbs ending in a half liquid goo. They looked almost like old movie graphics and prosthetics, but they were real. Joachim fought through the gag reflexes to keep up with Nikola. 

‘What the hell…’, said Joachim, covering his mouth and nose. ‘This smell… it’s like candles, but combined with burnt… meat.’

‘Maybe we should be more careful?’, asked Marie. ‘I’m in no rush to end up like them soon…’

‘Nikola! She is right, slow down and think about this!’, said Joachim with a stern voice, to get through to Nikola. He was successful, as he froze in place. 

Joachim, Marie and Max caught up to him. ‘This is not how we should handle everything!’, said Joachim. But looking over Nikola’s shoulder, he saw the real reason why he came to a halt.

‘That must be him, no doubt’, said Nikola, awfully calm. Joachim feared too much confidence had gone to his head, bringing back his recklessness more than ever.

Joachim averted his attention back to the oddity inside the main open space of the engine room. He saw a guy moving, almost dancing, his way through the space, whistling something eerie as he did so. There was no tune, no melody, just incomprehensive whistling. He wore black, coal stained overalls, over a messy and ripped shirt. He had long black hair, ending in bright red, almost white points, over which he wore some sort of safety helmet. 

Then Joachim noticed he was leaving bloodstains on every machine he could reach, from a deep cut in his hand. Everywhere he left blood would burst into dark red flame in mere seconds. 

‘Yes that’s him’, agreed Joachim.

The stranger, who looked to be around Isaac’s age, noticed their presence and stopped in his tracks, leaving deep red flames behind, burning and melting the engines. 

‘Joachim Jovi’, he simply said. ‘You found the note.’

‘Who are you? What do you want?’, asked Joachim in return. 

‘You’ll never reach Greece, or learn the truth. Not for what you did.’ 

As he said that, a blackened stand manifested beside the stranger. It was bigger than any other he had seen and looked to be built like an industrial furnace. Joachim could sense the heat coming off of it, even when standing several meters away. 

‘What…?’, said Joachim. 

‘Even if it costs me my life, I cannot allow this ship to make it across. Remember my name “Ludwig Lindemann”, grandson of “Rudolf Lindemann”, or as you know him, “Plato”’, Ludwig said.

In a swift and strong motion, Ludwig swept his arm across a machine next to him that hadn’t met the melted fate of the others just yet. He held his arm stretched out beside him, tilting his head the other way, biting his lip. 

It took a second for the stream of red blood to leave Ludwig’s wrist and drop to the floor in great quantities. 

‘What are you doing?!’, shouted Marie.

‘Sinking this god forsaken ship’, Ludwig replied, pain resounding in his voice. ‘Rammstein!’, he yelled, and his stand reacted by flaring up and creating a loud rumbling sound. Ludwig’s blood that lay on the floor caught deep red fire, and a huge gap was melted into the floor.

Joachim felt like he was nailed to the floor, he could do nothing other than watch as a spout of seawater entered the hull of the ship.

‘Sink’, Ludwig said.

CHAPTER 29: A Heated Cruise (3)

Water kept flooding in through the hole made by Ludwig’s ability. Sooner than Joachim realised, the water was already standing up to his ankles. 

Ludwig resumed his erratic movement, making sure to spread as much of his blood as he could, before he probably bled to death. Red splashes hit the walls of the ship, and with a snap of his fingers, they also caught flame.

‘Nikola! Put out those fires before he makes even more of those holes, I’ll stop him from getting his blood all over the walls!’, shouted Joachim over the noise of struggling machinery and crashing water.

With big splashes Joachim approached Ludwig. But he was stopped by Nikola.

‘JoJo, wait, I can’t do that!’, said Nikola. ‘Think about it, if I use Acid Rain, this ship will only sink faster.’

Joachim looked over his shoulder in disbelief. Nikola refusing to fight? There must be some reason right?

‘He is right, JoJo. Look at the hole in the floor. The fire is still melting the floor there, even though it’s submerged. I don’t know why, but it seems to be immune to the water’, said Marie.

Joachim’s head was racing, the fire was burning disregarding all physics. There must be a way to get out of this situation, a way to stop the ship from sinking. He remembered the dream Wilhelm made them see before they left off shore. The first thing he saw was a cruise ship sinking. This cruise ship. Did Wilhelm predict the future? Will the other things he saw come to be a reality too?

‘JoJo! We have to get out while we still can!’, shouted Nikola. ‘We’ll find a different way off the ship!’, he added.

‘But what about all the people on board? There are no rescue boats anymore! We have to take him down and fix this!’, Joachim heard the desperation in his own voice. 

‘Look man’, started Nikola, angrily pointing a finger at Joachim. ‘For once, I am not charging in head first. I can’t believe I’m saying this! I always get shit on for being “aggressive” and “uncontrollable”, but when you go off like that it’s suddenly fine?!’

Joachim didn’t know how to respond. There was a clear threat standing before them, he had to save the ship. It’s the only way.

‘What? Got nothing to say?’, asked Nikola provocatively.

‘The threat is right there in front of us!’

‘Guys…’, said Marie to try and stop Nikola.

‘What’s that going to bring you? Those answers you so badly want? You all got this high and mighty reason to chase this evil organization. Why am I here, huh? I shouldn’t be here, I should’ve never stepped on that train’, shouted Nikola. He stared at Joachim for a few seconds, before turning around and wading away through the knee-high water.

He looked back after a few meters to say one last thing. ‘I ain’t gonna die in some ship’s oil dump for nothing!’

Joachim felt a terrible pain rise in his chest. A worse feeling than any other pain he has been through, these last couple of days included. He didn’t know what to say or do.

‘Joachim… are you ok? What should we do?’, asked Marie.

Ludwig started whistling eerily again. Joachim had almost forgotten about his adversary. 

‘Too… late…’, Ludwig said, gasping his last few breaths of air. 

With another snap of his fingers, the very water around Joachim’s legs caught fire. Like oil, Ludwig’s blood was drifting on top of the water. 

‘You can’t stop me!’, Ludwig cried out. ‘Die!’

The blood red flames licked on Joachim’s pants, melting the fabric as they did. He wanted to avoid getting it on his skin at all costs. He ripped the bottom of the pants off and threw it towards Ludwig, careful as to not get burnt. Or melted.

‘Don’t try to be a hero, or actually, you can, you’ll all sink with me either way’, said Ludwig, while slitting his other wrist on another machine’s sharp edge. It was so quiet, Joachim barely heard it. 

‘Fistful Steel!’, said Joachim, loud enough to get Ludwig’s attention. Joachim figured he was within punching range. That was his only option, for there weren’t many things around that he could launch at him, things that weren’t on fire yet. 

As far and as fast as he could in this tight space, he commanded Fistful Steel to unleash a rapid barrage of punches. All he wanted right now was to seriously beat the shit out of someone. And Ludwig was the perfect candidate.

Rammstein had enough time to move in front of its user. Joachim thought the heavy metal stand would block each and every attack, since Fistful Steel looked like an aluminum can compared to it. But, when its punches reached Rammstein, they blew clean holes in its armor, like it had rusted away from the inside. Could it be because Ludwig was slowly dying?

The damage was translated to Ludwig, who now began coughing more blood out of his system. Joachim saw he was really trying to cough as hard as humanly possible, to spread even more flames. 

At least he won’t last much longer now. The guy was already as pale as a ghost, but now he looked like a blank sheet of paper.

Joachim felt a slight itching on his lower arm. His reflexes had him scratching the itch, but what he felt there struck him with fear.

‘JoJo! Watch out!’, he heard Marie scream.

Instead of scratching, his fingers sank into the hot melting skin of his arm. 

‘Shit! He got it on my stand, and on me as well!’, Joachim panicked.

Joachim heard Ludwig’s dry laugh, while he attempted to restore his skin. At least Fistful Steel faded away, so the flames couldn’t spread. 

By now the blood on the walls had ignited and melted holes into them as well. Water gushed into the hull from all around them.

‘We have to escape’, said Max, clearly torn between following Nikola and staying with Marie. Joachim was leaning more towards escape now too. 

Suddenly, with a loud bang, a heavy door flew open close by. Isaac came into the engine room through the door, followed by a second person whom Joachim didn’t recognize. Behind them, on the other side of the door, Joachim spotted the frozen body of one of the guards. Shocked, he thought it was just his imagination.

‘Guys! Are you alright?’, asked Isaac, as he took in the scene before him. Red flames melting the ship, water pouring in from everywhere, a stand-user with one foot in the grave… It was quite something.

‘We are okay!’, shouted Joachim back. ‘For now…’

‘Where is Nikola?’

‘He… he left to go find a way to safety’, Joachim replied. He almost said that Nikola ran away, and he hated himself for thinking that.

‘We have to find a way for everyone to get off this ship!’, added Marie.

‘Impossible’, replied the person behind Isaac.

‘Who is that?’, asked Max. 

The guy wearing a winter coat that must have been several sizes too big, introduced himself: ‘My name is Nathan Edison, I cannot allow this ship to sink… but it looks like it’s already too late.’

Joachim could barely see his face because of the light blue and white fluffy collar, but he had blond hair with light blue highlights in it. 

They were interrupted by Ludwig’s loud groaning and coughing. The guy was still hellbent on sinking this ship, and he would succeed as well.

‘What the hell’, complained Nathan. ‘Anyways, this is going to be unpleasant for a bit, don’t take it personal’, he added. 

After that, he took a deep breath and let out the longest sigh Joachim had ever heard. Or was he just exhaling? Nathan then repeated this process a few times. 

‘Um, what’s he doing?’, asked Joachim. 

‘I have no idea, but did you just feel a cold rush of air?’, asked Marie

She was right, though the flames were still burning, it felt like the temperature in the room was dropping.

While exhaling, Nathan spoke two words; “Snow Patrol”. Upon hearing those words, a pointy eared fox-like stand appeared to crawl out of Nathan’s fur-coat. It was white with light-blue lines, and had snowflake-like structures around its neck and paws. The piercing red eyes made it just a little more menacing than cute. It took Joachim a few seconds to realise the furry collar on his coat was actually the tail of the stand itself.

It was when Joachim saw his own breath that he discovered the temperature had already almost dropped below zero. He felt a cold wind rushing through the room and around the machinery. 

A ton of new questions danced around Joachim’s mind. Was this Nathan’s doing? Is he an enemy too? Why is Isaac with him and not doing anything?

Joachim looked behind him, to make sure he wasn’t the only one feeling the cold air. And sure enough, he saw Marie with her arms crossed, pulling her vest tighter around her in an attempt to shield her against the cold. He even noticed Max trying to ignore a shiver.

‘Isaac? What is the meaning of this?’, asked Joachim again. But Isaac didn’t reply, only gesturing to stay calm. 

The rising sea-water reaching up to their thighs wasn’t helping. Joachim felt like his body temperature was dropping. 

‘Everything… so… cold’, mumbled Ludwig, before collapsing face first into the burning water surface. 

‘At least that guy finally g-gave in’, said Joachim, shivering. ‘Now, high time to get ou-out of here.’ 

‘J-Joachim…’, said Marie with a shivery voice.

Alerted, Joachim looked back behind him to see both Marie and Max shivering. Temperature must have dropped well below freezing point by now.

‘S-so c-cold’, shivered Max.

Suddenly, with a swirl of cold air, a scarf appeared around Max’ and Marie’s necks. It was fluffy and light-blue in color, like Nathan’s coat. Two pointy ears and paws poked out from the fut and grabbed both of them by the cheeks, putting its sharp nails into the flesh.

‘Joachim, what’s happening?’, asked Marie as a white frost rapidly spread out over her face. The same happened to Max.

‘It’s the guy who Isaac brought in that’s doing it!’, shouted Joachim to his two friends with a now frozen expression. He turned himself to Nathan and Isaac, and saw Isaac was also freezing from the fox-scarf. 

‘Are you trying to freeze us all to death?! Why?!’, screamed Joachim. Is this what he did to the guard laying outside too? Can he even stop it at this point? At this rate his friends would be turned into living ice-cubes within seconds.

Joachim summoned Fistful Steel once more, and tried to reach out to Nathan. Joachim quickly discovered he was way out of his range, and the water was blocking his path to get closer to him.

‘Tch, I told you it would be unpleasant’, Nathan replied, ‘it sucks that I have to freeze such a pretty girl there, but it’s for your own good. If you can’t trust me, trust your friend here’, he pointed to Isaac, who was almost fully encased in ice now.

‘I don’t understand?’, said Joachim. He felt a shiver going up his spine, to his neck and finally his teeth. As soon as they clattered, the fox tail wrapped itself around Joachim’s neck too.

‘I’m on your side, Joachim’, said Nathan as he showed the black invitation card they all had. It showed the number “12”.

‘What about the other passengers? What about… Nikola?’, was Joachim’s final question before he got numb everywhere.

‘Have a good rest’, said Nathan. After which he stepped down from the door and swam towards them. ‘You owe me some mint-gum for this.’

“Mint-gum?”, thought Joachim, before losing consciousness.

CHAPTER 30: Hello Patras!

Joachim felt like he woke up from the most uncomfortable sleep ever. His limbs have never felt this sore before, even his bones felt wedged together. He struggled to open his eyes again, and when he succeeded he was stunned by the brilliant rays of the summer sun. He tried to move his fingers and felt sand slipping through them. Slowly he regained his senses, as the frost on his body faded away. 

“The ice!”, Joachim remembered. That guy, Nathan Edison, had frozen them all. And the ship, did it sink after all? But Joachim was still alive and on land. He worried about the others.

Joachim managed to sit himself upright. He reached one hand to his head that was hurting from brain freeze as if he had just eaten an entire iceberg. 

‘Where am I? What time is it?’, asked Joachim to the vast ocean in front of him. Other than the waves, sand and a few rocks, not much more was around. No shipwreck, no people.

‘Greece’, said a voice coming from behind him. ‘Wednesday afternoon, fourth of July, America’s independence day.’

Joachim turned his head around and to his surprise, his eyes met with Sukiba’s. He remembered the ninja girl from the gardens in Florence. She was sitting nonchalantly on a rock above him. 

‘Sukiba?!’, exclaimed Joachim, raising his guard. Her stand was not summoned, but if he remembered correctly, her ability was activated after making eye-contact. ‘Why are you here?’

‘Shiranai’, Sukiba said. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Wait, were you on the ship too?’

‘I was.’

Sukiba moved a loose hair behind her ear, and switched up her seated position, putting the other leg on top. Who knows how long she had been sitting there.

‘You don’t have to be so on edge, I’m not here to take you to the Order, not this time.’

Joachim stood up to face her. ‘Why the sudden change of heart?’, he asked.

‘Don’t know’, she answered, looking away from Joachim.

‘Where are the others? Where are my friends?’

‘I haven’t seen them.’ Sukiba leaned over towards Joachim. ‘It seems like it is just you… and I.’

Joachim felt his face go red. He had no idea where to look, but was steadfast in keeping eye-contact. He must admit, Sukiba’s outfit was quite… distracting.

‘What will you do from here on out then?’, asked Joachim. 

Sukiba pulled back and crossed her arms.

‘I’m thinking of going to see my mother.’

‘Your mother? Does she live nearby?’

‘Not my biological one. My guardian, the Order official that cared for me and trained me.’

‘The Order official…’

Sukiba stood up and jumped off the rock she had been sitting on. Her feet landed in the sand below without even displacing it.

Joachim remembered the things Socrates and Aristotle had said. How the Order uses stand users it creates to achieve Draco’s wicked goals. And how Sukiba had been used by them, much like Adam and the others.

‘Sukiba, wait! You shouldn’t go back to them!’, he shouted. 

Sukiba turned her head back to Joachim. 

‘If you really agreed with their goals, you would have finished the job. You would have captured me, or even killed me… but you didn’t.’

‘What are you getting at?’

‘Do you want to know the truth?’

‘Hai. Yes.’

‘The Order…’, but before Joachim could go on, Sukiba interrupted him.

‘The Order tricked me, used me. They made up a fake history. I want to find my mother and ask her directly if it’s true’, she said.

Joachim stood there speechless. She already knew these things? Since when?

‘You already know? Well, I’m afraid it’s going to take more than simply asking to learn the truth,’ Joachim said. ‘Is that why…?’

‘That’s why I didn’t kill you, because I might need you’, Sukiba admitted. ‘Ever since the gardens, I have been following you from the shadows. I heard and saw everything.’

‘Okay, I’ll help you find out your truth. If you will help me find my friends, deal?’, suggested Joachim.

‘Deal’, Sukiba said. ‘I’ll lead the way.’

Joachim followed Sukiba, still aware of any possible threat. A girl that once tried to incapacitate him is now leading him to her foster home, which was likely run by a high ranking Order member. 

‘So where are we headed?’, asked Joachim. Half of his intentions were out of curiosity, the other half to test her. She wouldn’t give away the location if she was bringing him somewhere unsafe, right? Then again, whatever she answered could be a simple lie. Joachim’s head was bursting, still hungover from the cryo-sleep Nathan had put them through.

‘Municipal Art Gallery of Patras’, Sukiba answered. ‘That is where we will be able to find her.’

‘Municipal? Like, in the middle of the city?’

‘Hai. Is that a problem?’

‘Well… no, but… Patras is the third largest city in all of Greece, will you…’, Joachim decided it was better to be safe than sorry and not mention his thoughts on whether Sukiba would simply enter the city wearing her kunoichi outfit.

By now they were off the rocky beach and onto a road that twisted around, running parallel to the ocean, heading to Patras. Luckily the currents didn’t put them far away from the city’s coast.

Joachim followed right behind Sukiba, who didn’t say even a word. To break that silence Joachim decided to ask her something that had been on his mind for a while now.

‘So… how did you get into the Order?’, he asked.

Sukiba continued to walk on, not responding. 

‘Sorry if that is a touchy subject, my bad’, Joachim apologized. 

‘I was adopted’, replied Sukiba after all. ‘By a woman named Solon. She is an artist, and she adopted a good few children.’

‘Did this Solon lady train you to be an agent for them?’

‘Hai. She taught me the things my family could not.’

‘Your family? Do you mean your real family?’

‘Hai, we were the last clan of ninjas. Solon taught me.’

Joachim realised how difficult it was to communicate with Sukiba. She was responding to his questions like a robot. He was fine with this trait of hers, though, he liked when machines actually responded to his input. Joachim thought anyone but him would have a difficult time talking with her. 

‘Where are they now?’, asked Joachim, preparing for the worst answer.

‘Gone’, she simply answered.

‘I see. What about the other kids?’ 

Joachim kept asking, as Sukiba didn’t seem to mind. 

‘I do not know, I was never allowed to see them.’

Joachim walked on behind Sukiba in silence. He now had a rough idea of her upbringing. Though all the points added up, Joachim couldn’t help but feel that something was off, something Sukiba herself probably didn’t know about. An Order official wouldn’t simply adopt a girl like Sukiba and train her to be an assassin. Joachim let that thought sit, he would get the answers from the source itself soon enough.

A few minutes later they entered the city, which seemed to be very active today. They hadn’t even reached the city center but the roads were bustling with people. At least half of them were probably tourists, carrying maps, photo cameras and ice-cream cones. 

Joachim noticed a lot of people eye-ing them, especially Sukiba. For being a ninja she wasn’t very stealthy. 

‘Um, isn’t there a more… discreet route we could take?’, asked Joachim nervously.

‘This week, an art festival is held, we will blend in.’

“Will you though?!”, thought Joachim to himself, not wanting to offend his new companion. He continued to awkwardly follow her, trying to ignore the stares from locals and tourists alike.

The closer they came to the center of Patras, the more street artists Joachim spotted. Dancers, singers, artists of all kinds of practices. And like Sukiba said, they started to blend in. Some dancers, both men and women, were dressed even more extravagant or explicit than Sukiba herself.

‘We’re close’, Sukiba said, suddenly.

Patras got so packed he had almost lost track of her. At least he didn’t have to worry about the stares anymore.

Sukiba stopped in front of a large white apartment building. The all glass front door and large vitrine windows made it clear they were standing before an art gallery. 

‘Wait’, said Joachim, ‘before we go in and find Solon, do you know her ability?’

‘Her stand?’

‘Yes, she’s an Order official, right? She’ll have a pretty powerful one, if I had to take a guess.’

‘I do not know. I never saw it.’

‘Nothing at all?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Well, then we have no choice but to go in blind and prepare for the worst.’

But Joachim knew he had seen enough of what stands can be, or what they can do. He knew there was no way of preparing one-self for something like an unknown stand.

‘She was always painting, when I was not being trained’, added Sukiba. 

‘Explains the whole art gallery thing.’

Joachim stepped up to the front door of the building and placed his hand on the handle.

‘Well, here goes’, he said as he pushed open the door, with a ring of a bell. 

They both stepped inside and were greeted by an office clerk. Up to this point Joachim hadn’t even thought about the fact they might need to pay an entrance fee.

‘Miss Sukiba, you are back! Shall I notify the manager?’, asked the clerk. 

Of course she would know Sukiba if she grew up here.

‘Hai.’

‘And who’s this young man you brought along? Is it…’, the clerk teased. Joachim felt himself get nervous. He looked at Sukiba and wasn’t surprised to see absolutely no reaction.

‘Alright, alright. While you wait, why don’t you have a look around the gallery?’

‘Thank you’, said Sukiba.

The gallery was bigger than Joachim would have thought. It was a maze of white walls, occasionally decorated by one framed work of art. Joachim read the names adorning the artworks, wondering which ones were done by Solon.

Joachim was never really into art. He didn’t understand why some people would be interested enough to visit places like these, let alone buy them for prices sometimes ranging into the tens of thousands. To Joachim, they served no purpose. The things he wanted to build would be impactful in a clearer way.

A gentle tap on the shoulder sent a shiver down Joachim’s spine. He quickly turned around in surprise. 

Sukiba stood next to a tall woman, dressed in a green-ish gray coat, and black leggings which she wore a plastic sort of skirt over. The coat and plastic skirt were marked by a few paint stains here and there. She had sharp facial features and slick, tied back, dark green hair.

‘Really sets your thoughts racing, this one. It’s one of my proudest works’, said the lady next to Sukiba. ‘Though it isn’t what it used to be.’

Joachim realised this woman must be Solon, the Order official that raised Sukiba. He had let his guard down, but braced himself to fight, ready to summon his stand at any moment.

‘There’s no need for that, you are a friend of Sukiba’s I take it?’, the lady asked. 

Her voice was kind and gentler than he expected. 

‘I… I am’, said Joachim, trying to relax just a little.

‘My name’s Solon, I am Sukiba’s mother’, Solon said with a warm smile. ‘Come on, would you like something to drink? I’m aware we have a lot to discuss, after all.’
Solon turned around and headed to a room at the end of the hall. Before Sukiba could follow along, Joachim grabbed her arm.
‘Do you trust her?’, he asked in a tone quiet enough to make sure Solon didn’t hear. 

‘No, not anymore.’

Joachim let go of Sukiba’s arm and she made way to follow Solon into the back room. Joachim knew how Sukiba must feel right now all too well. A parent figure in a mysterious organization, this longing for the truth, it was gnawing at both their minds.
Following the both of them into some sort of workspace, Solon showed Joachim to sit down and relax on a sofa. The room didn’t have much features, aside from the sofa, the only things Joachim could see was a second door leading someplace else, more paintings lining the walls and an easel facing away from him with a few cupboards around it holding painting materials.

‘Sukiba, dear, why dont you go get Joachim something to drink, while I quickly finish up this painting?’, asked Solon.

Sukiba nodded her head and opened the other door in the room. It seemed to lead into a kitchen area.

When Sukiba had passed through the door and into the kitchen, the door flew closed behind her and, with a loud click, locked itself.

‘I’m so glad you are here Joachim, Sukiba did so well’, Solon said from behind her easel. 

‘What’s going on?!’, exclaimed Joachim.

‘Your new friend finished her job, JoJo, that’s what happened. I honestly can’t believe someone like Sukiba, a puppet without emotion could lure you with words, ha!’

With a few strokes from her paintbrush, Joachim felt cold steel wrap itself around his wrists, ankles and chest. He tried to move, but found himself locked in place. The cuffs pinned him down to the sofa, but Joachim couldn’t see them. 

How could he have fallen for this trick? It was so obvious as well. Joachim hated himself for it. And now he was at the mercy of an Order official, restraint by an invisible force.

Continued in JJBA: Steel Shadows Season 4!

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