It had been a long hard day for Geoffrey Haywood. He whistled to himself as he walked down the streets of Dallas, content to finally be rid of yesterday's events.

"It sure is a good thing those bozo cops were too busy looking for that Speedwagon guy to notice my getaway." He laughed to himself.

He passed by a jewelry store, and out walked a finely dressed old woman into his path. The two bumped into each other, and Geoff stumbled back surprised.

"Watch where you're going young man!" The woman said, bonking him with her cane.

"Yeowch!" Geoff grabbed his head through his hat, "Sorry lady!"

She huffed and continued on her way, "The nerve of youngsters these days."

Geoff smiled once her back was turned, his stand appeared and drifted over to the woman reaching its clawlike hand into her purse and lifting out a stack of cash. It floated back over to Geoff, dropping the bills in his hands.

"Hehe, works like a charm."

He went back to whistling and counting his money as he walked.

If there was one thing Geoffrey Haywood liked, it was money. As a kid, he grew up in one a poor part of rural Alabama. His father was a farmer, it was honest work but his family never had much money to spare. With his stand, Geoff turned to becoming a con artist in town. It started innocently enough, rigging a coin flip to some kids on the playground. Then cheating at cards, using his stand and some special cards to rig the shuffle. His cons and lust for money grew and grew, eventually he'd cheated the wrong people and was forced to leave his home of Alabama. Here in Dallas, he hoped to start a new life. But as most people do, he fell back into his old ways. Eventually, like JJ did, he ran into other stand users. Geoff didn't like stand users. They were the only people who could see through his tricks, catching him in the act. No, he didn't like anyone who got in the way of him and his money.

With nothing but cash on the mind, he finished counting his money and put it into his wallet as he strolled past a hotel. As he approached, he saw out of the corner of his eye two men leaving.

"Gah! It's that JJ guy again!"

Geoff hid behind a pillar, shaking in his boots.

"I can't let him see me, I don't want to pick a fight with him again!"

JJ and the other man walked past the pillar, to a new black car with a chauffeur inside.

"This will take us to the Speedwagon foundation, with this traffic it should take an hour or two to get there." The older man sighed and put on a hat. "I prefer New York to this place, at least there you can ride the train!"

JJ spoke up, "It feels weird going to my father's company... Yesterday I never would've dreamed of such a thing."

Geoff's ears perked up. "Wait a minute, this guy is one of those Speedwagons?" He grinned wide and rubbed his hands together, "It's a pretty uncommon name so I should've realized it before! Maybe it's a good thing I ran into him again after all, he must be loaded!"

JJ and the man got into the car, and it pulled away down the street. Geoff ran out and hailed a cab, hopping inside and yelling to the driver, "Follow that car! We're going to the Speedwagon Foundation!"

The driver turned around and leaned his arm on the console, "Hey pal, you know that's across town right? The fare is gonna be enormous. You got that kinda cash?"

Geoff yanked out the stack of bills from earlier and tossed them at the driver, "Here! Now go!"

The driver's eyes grew wide as he grabbed up the cash and hit the pedal, "You got it boss!"

Geoff smiled in the back seat and silently loaded his gun, preparing for his next meeting with JJ.

"This is gonna be the score of a lifetime."

...

3 1/2 hours later, the car carrying Joseph and JJ finally arrived. Joseph got out of the door and stretched his legs, "Gah! Why does it take so long to get anywhere in this city? The damn roads are always under construction!"

JJ stepped out and gazed in awe at the buildings in front of them. Speedwagon Foundation headquarters, it seemed as large as a college campus and was swarming with people. Before him was a large multi story building, the entrances were 3 large archways and there were giant staircases also leading up to the 2nd floor. Atop the marble looking building were several statues in varying poses, and the path leading to it was adorned with beautiful greenery and trees.

"THIS is the Speedwagon Foundation?"

Joseph chuckled. "Never get tired of seeing it. The brightest minds from around the world gather here to do research. Thanks to your father, their main focuses are environmental conservation and medical research. But there's a paranormal research facility as well, that's where we'll be headed."

"Paranormal?" JJ asked, "Oh! You mean like the Ripple, and my stand."

"Bingo!" Yelled Joseph winking, "The Foundation has helped myself and the Joestar family countless times on our adventures! I might not still be here if it weren't for them."

"What sort of adventures?"

"I'll tell you about them sometime, but for now let's head inside. We need to take a look at your father's office."

Joseph led the way inside, there were several men in lab coats waiting for them, and one in a suit. The suited man stretched his arm to shake JJ's, "Mister Speedwagon! It's such an honor to finally meet you! My name is Huwell Ews, your father left me in charge of running the Foundation according to his wishes once he passed away."

He gestured around, "With Mister Joestar accompanying you, you have free reign of everything you see here! Take this pass, it'll let you anywhere you'd like to go."

JJ shook the man's hand and took the pass, "Uh, thank you sir. I'm still getting used to all of this honestly."

"No matter! If you have any questions or concerns, Mister Joestar and all of our staff are pleased to help. Once again, it's been an honor."

The men bowed and went on their way, Joseph led JJ to an elevator and scanned his pass, then punched the button for the third floor. The doors closed around them and the elevator began to ascend.

"Mister Joestar."

"Hmm?"

"What kind of man was my father?"

"Old Speedwagon? He was a fine man, with unquestionable honor and loyalty. His shoes would be hard to fill for even myself."

The doors opened and the two walked down the hallway.

"It's just... my mother always said he was too involved in his work to ever see her, despite all the wonderful other things she said about him I don't see how someone could ever do that."

"He was a bit of a workaholic, I'll admit. But everything he did had a reason. He risked his life to save me several times, and I'll never forget that. He was an honorable man, but he put his duty and loyalty before that honor. That's what made him Speedwagon."

They stopped at a set of double oak doors, Joseph pushed them open and the lights inside flickered on.

"This is his office, it's laid untouched since his death."

They stepped inside. It was a large room, neatly furnished with a soft velvet rug underfoot, numerous bookcases filled to the brim, a large globe off to one corner, and a sturdy desk with a typewriter and several documents laying about. Everything was covered in a heavy layer of dust, and some cobwebs hung in the corners.

JJ picked a book from a shelf and blew the dust off before flipping through it, "What exactly do you hope to find here, Mister Joestar?"

"A clue perhaps," Joseph inspected the documents on the desk, "Something that can tell us what Speedwagon found in Egypt, or what it was that killed him."

JJ sighed and put the book back, then walked over to the globe and gave it a spin. A big cloud of dust came up, making him cough.

"Hey Mister Joestar, get a load of this."

Joseph walked over and bent down to look.

"He marked some spots on the globe here," JJ pointed at some star shaped markings, "There's one in Tibet, Peru, Egypt, Italy, and some others here too."

"Hmm," Joseph grumbled. "I recognize the locations of some of these," He pointed at the one in Italy, "This is Venice, where I was trained to use the Ripple. And this one here, in Tibet, it's where Straizo was trained."

"Straizo?"

"An old... friend."

Joseph stood up. "It seems like these were the locations of old Ripple monasteries, although many have been abandoned over the centuries."

He looked at the one in Egypt. "That's Cairo... hmm, perhaps that's where he visited. But why was he seeking out Ripple users?"

JJ went back to meandering about, looking at the books. He tried prying one out, but it seemed to be stuck. He pulled harder, the book only came halfway and he heard a click, the bookcase adjacent had popped out from the wall.

"Mister Joestar! Come here! I found something!"

Joseph ran up and grabbed JJ's shoulder, "Nice work kid!"

The two grabbed the bookcase and heaved, the hinges hadn't been oiled in decades and it screeched as they yanked it open. Inside the secret door was a large room with metallic walls and floors, with many glass cases containing artifacts.

"Well I'll be, I guess this is old Speedwagon's personal collection! Let's take a look."

The two stepped inside and investigated.

JJ paced around with his hands in his pockets, nonchalantly peering at the glass cases. Most held nothing of interest to him, slabs of hieroglyphs, skeletal limbs, broken pottery, etc. One large case even held a sarcophagus, with a mummy presumably inside.

"Hey JJ! Check this out!"

JJ turned around to Joseph.

"I'm David Bowie! Check me out!" He'd taken a poofy wig from its glass box and put it on over his graying hair. He did a twirl in place and struck a pose, "Oh yes!"

"Mister Joestar! That wig is probably hundreds of years old! Don't play around!" Shouted JJ as he slammed his foot down with a wooden thunk.

"Huh?" He looked down and saw he was standing beside a waist high rotted wooden box, a board had fallen off onto the floor beneath his foot.

"What's this?" He said peering inside. He squinted to see through the darkness inside the box, what he saw was a skeletal face peering back at him.

"YAAA!" He shouted falling back.

"Hahaha!" Joseph laughed setting down the wig, "What? Is there a mummy in there?"

JJ took a deep breath, "No, just a skeleton."

Joseph walked over and pried off the top of the box. Inside was a large stone, the edges chiseled as if removed from the walls of a tomb. The front was smooth flat, etched with hieroglyphs. And in the center was a human skull embedded into the stone, its mouth agape.

"Hmm, that's odd." He said bending down to inspect it, "It doesn't look like this stone was made around the skull, how did they get it in here?"

JJ knelt beside him, "Mister Joestar, I'm guessing you don't know how to read hieroglyphs do you."

"Why, do you?"

"No, but I can do this."

With a shimmering pop JJ's stand materialized beside them, "KANSAS!" he yelled as his stand punched the slab.

"Holy shit! You didn't have to smash it!" Yelled Joseph.

"I'm not," said JJ as his stand faded away, "Look."

The hieroglyphs on the surface began to wiggle and rearrange themselves, reforming into English.

"Wow... your 'stand' really is something. Nice work JJ boy!" Said Joseph putting his arm around JJ's neck.

"Knock it off Mister Joestar! Read what it says."

Joseph eyed the slab, it read "The power of the pharaoh lies beyond the land of the dead. To gain his power, thou must venture your body to the afterlife and back."

"Huh, what does that mean?" Joseph scratched his head.

"It looks like there's a hole at the back of the skull's mouth, seems to extend about a foot into the stone... I wonder." JJ reached his hand into the skull's mouth, it was a tight fit to get his arm inside but he squirmed it in. He delicately inched his arm further down, until he felt something brush his fingertips. His eyes widened and he quickly retracted his arm.

"What is it?" Joseph asked.

JJ picked up the long thing piece of wood he'd stepped on earlier.

"I think I know what this does... watch."

He stuck the wood into the skull and pressed it to the back of the "throat." The wood shattered into pieces in his hands as a metallic bang came from inside.

"AHHH! That could've been your hand!" Joseph yelled.

JJ sighed, "Do you always have to scream?" He reached his arm back inside.

"Wait JJ!" Joseph grabbed his shoulder.

"I'm fine, old man. Look."

JJ pulled his hand back out, clutching something.

"This is what would've stabbed me if I wasn't careful and pressed that switch."

He held up in his hand a thin wooden stick, thousands of years old. At the end, still sharp as a razor and adorned with gold was the head of an arrow.

"Oh my god..."