I was wasting my time.

I had been searching everywhere for close to 10 minutes and the best I found was a 10 franc bill and a few knick-knacks. I could eat for a 2 days with that, but that was it. And there were two mouths to feed now. The objective was to get enough money so that I'd never have to do it ever again.

Damn it. What if someone decided to go upstairs? A key component to all infiltration was speed. Get in. Get all that good shit. Get out before someone notices. And I wasted my time for 3 sandwiches.

The basement was the final destination, no sense to delay it further.

That's when I saw [Mistral Gagnant] coming my way. That wasn't a very good sign, was someone coming upstairs?

That's when I heard the shouts from the guards. We were discovered. Of course it went wrong. What kind of moron would try to infiltrate a gang safehouse? I read too many wormfics. How did they find out about me? I didn't make much noise. Which meant someone saw Louise's stand. There was a stand user in the building.

Gah! So stupid! Of course there would be a stand user there! There literally was a nutjob going around at night shooting people randomly with some sort of stand-giving arrow. Why wouldn't he shoot a nazi at some point? And then why wouldn't they put the guy with superpowers on guard duty?

I desperately tried to gather my wits despite the panic that I could feel mounting. I had to get out immediately. But would that be the right move? If they knew I was a stand user, they should know I could go out by the window easily since I already did the climb. If I was them I would post myself in front of the building, waiting for the robber to go out of the window and then catch him in a position of weakness.

My only choice was to stand my ground and take them down. I only had a few moments to prepare myself, but I had to make do. I shot some strings around the place, making tripwires and other basic traps. They weren't going to take the tugs down, but it would create an opportunity to strike.

"Louise, I'm going to need your help to getting rid of them."

I could hear the sound of feet going upstairs. I put myself out of view, in the corner next to the stairway. The moment a foot reached the floor proper I got out and kicked as hard as I could with my stand. It reached a torso, I could feel bones cracking under the hit. The poor guy was sent backwards and hit three guys behind him. Unfortunately it was a spiral staircase, and the nazis that weren't in the direct path of the body could shoot me just fine.

A few bullets embedded themselves in the wall behind me under the thundering roar only guns fired indoors could make. They had guns. Of course they had guns. I fled to the back of the floor as fast as I could. I wasn't thinking really straight right now, my mind was solely focused on my survival, I had to get in a better position.

I tripped on one of the wires I set up earlier. How stupid. Losing time like that. Enough time. A few bullets flew by me as I got up. I had to get into a more confined place where my fists would have a better chance at landing than their weapons.

I went into the closest room to me and hid behind furniture. I waited. Damn it, where was [Mistral Gagnant]?

After what seemed like an eternity two guards passed through the door. My heartbeat was going crazy. They had their guns in hand. They went closer. Closer. Even Closer. I striked. [Iron Maiden] grabbed the barrel of the gun closest to me and with the other hand punched the stomach of the guard as hard as it could. The poor guy vomited on the floor.

I grabbed him from behind, turning him in a human shield. The other guy clearly was hesitant to shoot his pal. I took advantage of it as I launched effortlessly my meat shield to him with my stand. The speed enough to put these two out of commission.

I had just enough time to pick up a gun on the bodies before someone else passed through the door. I tried to shoot on reflex, but he was faster. As a bullet hit my shoulder, my own aim was messed up and hit nothing.

From then on, everything went terribly fast. The 4 guards that were left started to pour inside the room. That's when Louise intervened. The bird passed through two guys in a row. The first started to float while the other one fell to the floor barely moving. I launched a hook to the weightless goon and brought it over to me where I kicked him through the plaster wall.

No time for caution. I launched myself at the two others. They desperately tried to shoot me down before reaching them, but my stand blocked the bullets. In a few hits that sent their teeth flying, they were left unconscious on the floor.

It was over. The whole confrontation didn't take more than 10 seconds. But I was victorious. I did my best to calm down. I was safe.

That's when I remembered I was shot in the shoulder. I barely paid attention to it with the adrenaline, but it happened. I wasn't bleeding. My clothing was pierced where the bullet hit, but not my shoulder. There was only a bruise. Did my power come with superhuman toughness?

No. It was invisible to the naked eye, but now that I was paying attention to it, I could feel it. Just as my stand's body was made of its hooks, they somehow manifested themselves on my body, acting as a chainmail. It was not physical, but rather because my stand had this added protection, I had it too?

While I was musing this, the man that was downed by Louise started to get up, so I kicked him the face.

"Alright, let's go get the money then." I said to Louise. She went ahead.

God what a night. With some luck I would not have to repeat such a stunt anytime soon. With the money I should get from this it would not be hard.

I reached the stairway when I noticed there was only one man out for the count in the stairway. I was forgetting something. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7… I got only 7 of them, but Louise said there were 8. Where was the last one? And for that matter where was the stand user?

"If you're looking for me, I'm right here."

A man was climbing the stairs with assurance. Despite being in his twenties he was scrawny, especially compared to the brutes that were the other guards. He didn't seem unhealthy, he simply looked like he hadn't worked-out a single day in his life. He was not completely shaven, three strands of hair, one on each side of the head and one on the top, gathering in a ponytail. This haircut should have looked atrocious, but somehow, as well groomed as it was, he made it look great.

Was he trying to stand apart from the other skinheads? When you looked at his attire the answer was instantly "Yes". He wore a red shirt with intricate silver motifs and black suspenders. Standard baggy pants completed the ensemble. Definitely not usual skinhead ensemble. The suspenders may have been common in those groups at the time, but the fashionable flashy shirt? Really? Maybe he was enough of a top dog that he wanted to differentiate himself from the others, which is kind of contrary to the skinhead trend but whatever.

Something was caught in his left hand. It was trying to break free as hard as it could, but the grip was unmoving. [Mistral Gagnant]. How did she get caught so easily?

"Oh ho... look at what I caught there. Since you're not writhing on the floor, I have to assume that this is a by-product of your real stand. But you are looking pretty nervous right there. Is it not yours?" Shit, was I that transparent? "Yes, definitely not yours. But don't worry for your friend, I'm not trying to crush it. Yet."

A hostage situation huh? Why did I think bringing a kid in there was a good idea?! I have no idea how to manage those kinds of things!

"So, are you going to stop looking constipated over there and start talking? It is pretty rude. Do you even realize how long you made me wait in front of the building? Was it foresight, instinct, or simply panic that made you stand your ground? Or perhaps a bit of the three?" So I did make the right call by staying inside. If I tried to jump who knows how it could have ended.

"The last one, I think. And sorry to have kept you waiting, I was a bit busy with your boyfriends over there." I really wasn't in the mood to talk smack, but I forced myself to in order to quash the nervousness.

"Oooh...Looks like you're not mute after all. So maybe you can answer this little question for me. Who the FUCK are you?! You're not one of those commie bastards. They may be completely moronic, but they at least know better than to leave their fucking stand in the middle of one of our safehouses. If you were with the police, there would be more than two of you and without stands to boot. Which answers my first question: you're a nobody. And the only reason a nobody would come here without knowing there's a stand user posted here at all times is for theft. Second question: who the FUCK do you think you are?!" His somewhat neutral expression turned furious. His grip on the bird started tightening.

"You THINK you can just WALTZ up in here, STEAL our money, and THRASH my men?! So listen carefully, I will give a lesson to both of you: I will slowly beat you to a pulp, then we will go find your friend and I will follow with looooots of questions." I really did not like the sound of that. But as much as I loved the integrity of my body, Louise's took priority. I was the one who dragged her into this mess.

"Look, I'm not going to say I didn't beg for a good sucker punch there." Perhaps even a Darwin Award. "But let this stand go, she's just a kid, she shouldn't have to bear the responsibility of my mistakes."

Surprise appeared on his face. Then confusion. Then laughter.

"Hahahaha! Did you really think I would fall for that? You don't look like the type to put kids at risk, and we both know what would happen the moment I drop her. I don't really know what this stand's abilities are, but I doubt it's just scouting" Having a nazi calling you out, even though he didn't even know it, was a new low for me.

And he wasn't wrong. There was a good chance Louise would attempt to retaliate the moment she was free. On top of that she was a hostage: without her he would have to fight head on an unknown stand user. With her in his grasp, I was at his mercy.

There really was only one way to get out of this. It made me apprehensive. If I messed up I had no way to know what he would do to Louise. I didn't know what he was capable of. But capture was out of the question. I steeled my nerves.

"Great. And what if I refuse? I'm not going to get on my knees for some petty thug." Was that taunting enough?

It was. With a self-satisfied smirk he put the hand holding [Mistral Gagnant] forward, putting a bit more force in his grip, making sure that the threat was on full display.

That was exactly the reaction I wanted.

Promptly I sent a thread around the hooks littering the corridor from my useless preparations against the other goons. It was blindingly fast, if I couldn't actually feel it I would have said that the thread just appeared in this position instead of being placed there. And in the right sequence I made the hooks disappear while retracting the thread. In essence it was the same tactic I used against Louise, but this time I wasn't aiming to capture, he would still have his hostage if I did that. My goal was to harm.

The ring of looping thread caught the end of his extended arm, tightening around and violently twisting his wrist.

"AAAAARRRGH!"

Even though I was the one responsible, I couldn't help but flinch. It did not seem broken, but the look of the twisted flesh under the looping wire, tainted by the blood that came out where it dug too deep screamed "Painful".

But my goal was achieved: his grip was broken.

"Now! Run! I'll take care of this." Louise quickly obeyed and flew towards the room with the open window. Good. I did not want to put her in jeopardy again, once was far too much already.

"Alright. Do you want to think back on your terms of surrender now?"

The man was in agony, his other hand clutching at his still tied up injured wrist.

"FUCK YOU, YOU SACK OF SHIT! [GRAND FUNK RAILROAD]!" As soon as he said those words a weird yellowish contraption appeared upon his back. Tentacles with strange teardrop motifs were attached to his limbs while the head of the stand was looking over his shoulder. It had no face to speak of, there were only concentric circles behind some white vertical bars.

That's when it shot an intense beam of light that blinded me. The thing was a fucking spotlight?! What kind of power was that? Well an effective one at least. Even if it was only light it bears to remember that the only source of lighting before was the glow of the moon through the windows. My eyes screamed in pain from the sudden influx and I reeled back in shock trying to keep my composure. It didn't help that the light was just weird. I didn't know if it was due to being generated by a stand, but the colour was not something I ever saw before.

That's when I heard a detonation and felt my shoulder getting thrown back. Of course he had a gun.

Blinded and shot at, I dropped my hold on him and rushed in an adjacent room.

I hid behind a wall and collected myself. I had to find a way to get to him, but his eldritch spotlight was not going to make it easy. I could just run blindly towards the light, but that would be pretty stupid. I knew I could trust my chainmail to block bullets, but it still hurt like a bitch and were I to stumble I would certainly be dead. This fight was going to be a pain in the ass.

I had been behind that wall for a while and I had no plan to speak of. Turns out that someone that blinds you when he looks at you is difficult to deal with. But he hadn't done anything either. He could have tried to shoot through the wall, even though it would certainly be a waste of precious ammo.

And then I saw it. Rays of the strange light were coming through the wall behind me. I didn't have time to react. His hand went through the wooden wall an grabbed my throat.

"Urrk" was the only thing I could say as he pulled me back. God that was a strong grip, I didn't expect such a scrawny guy would have such strength. Another thing I didn't expect was to pass through the wall without any resistance. I barely felt it, It was as if the thing was just dust at this point.

The spotlight was right in my face, all I could see was a faint silhouette of the guy within the flare.

"Alright. Now tell me who the FUCK you are!" he half shouted at me. He was pissed, but he also sounded genuinely curious. He got over his injury fast. He loosened his grip on my throat so I could at least talk. I told him that first thing that came to mind.

"You know, I expected you to say "Vee haff VAYS of making hyu tok"" He punched me in the face, hard. Even through the chainmail it felt powerful. That was a great decision Captain Smartass. But even dazed I could retaliate.

"[Iron Maiden]!" I could feel the banshee-like stand form and as soon as I could I punched him back. He dropped me and stumbled backwards.

As he turned away from me, I could see him a bit better without the damned light in my face, there was some blood at the corner of his mouth, but that was it. A kick from my stand sent a man flying. How tough was this guy?

And then the stand's face went right back at me. So, it was independent from the direction of its user's head. I didn't want to go back on the defensive, I had to press whatever advantage I still had. I rushed him. He kicked me.

I flew.

In pain and confusion, I felt myself hitting and passing through something tough. The only thing that saved my back was [Iron Maiden] who took the brunt of the collision.

I got up in the ruins of the wall. He was advancing on me. I had to get out of there and fast.

I flinched. I didn't fight seriously often so I wouldn't know, but if I had to guess, my ribs were not in top shape. I pushed through the pain and did my best to move out of the light. God, I felt heavy.

I wasn't going to win a straight up brawl against this monster. I had to get out of his line of sight.

I absconded through the wall I hit into another room. I used the little time I had to touch everything there, putting the terrain to my advantage.

He came barreling through the wall. He was fast. Fast enough for me.

I tripped him.

The thread held under the force and he fell in a tumble. I sidestepped him as he hit the wall and immediately jumped him. I tied him to the ground and jumped on his back, forcing the gaze of his stand upwards with a thread under its neck. It visibly affected the user, a furrow forming under his neck.

I continued choking him until a creaking noise came from the ceiling. The wooden ceiling was cracking under its own weigh.

I got off his back as the ceiling fell, bringing with it more pieces of the infrastructure and some pieces of furniture that were sitting in the roof space.

Amidst the cloud of dust, I could feel him ripping free from his restraints, his silhouette got up.

"I think I figured out your ability. At least beyond being a portable spotlight." I called out to him. Banter, stall far a bit of time. "The ceiling was doing just fine until you shone your light on it, same for the wall earlier, I went through it like it was papier-mâché. And not just the building, I admit I felt myself feeling heavier under your light. That's what it does doesn't it? It makes what it touches weaker."

He clapped condescendingly "Not bad, not bad. You're observant. But there's more, [Grand Funk Railroad]'s ability is not to weaken, it's to steal. The light does not come from my stand, it's your strength leaving you." So he ramps up over time as I myself get weaker. Fuck.

"Wait, if the light comes from me, how come it blinds me? That's not how light works."

"When did stands ever follow the rule of physics?"

And then he was upon me.

He was too close for his stand to properly blind me, but it didn't matter. I tried to keep up, my stand was still slightly faster and stronger than him, but he was more skilled. He avoided my hits like a damn pro, while I barely managed to block. And then I overextended. He grabbed my arm, and judo threw me through the floor.

I landed through a poker table.

I did my best to gather my strength, as I shakily got up. How much time did I have before he came back? I had to be ready.

"You know, I have to admit, you're pretty good. Not good enough to beat me, but pretty good." He was slowly going down the stairs as he talked, the bastard was taking his time, certain of his victory. "You got a good head on your shoulders, and your stand is pretty interesting, I admit I was caught off guard at first, but it's obvious you need a bit of setup to use it to its full extent."

"Alright, I'm awesome, what's your point?"

"You're not THAT awesome, but you're, as I said, pretty good. And we could use a pretty good stand user."

"Wait, are you throwing a recruitment pitch at me?"

"Of course. You would be a boon to the cause. Having you, and possibly your friend, join us of your own free will would be enough to look past this little fight. Forcing you to join would be useless, press-ganging is useless to any respectable organization anyway, why would you fight alongside someone who wants to stab you in the back?" Hahaha. "Respectable"?

"Yes, respectable." I said that out loud? I must have been more banged up than I thought. "I know people think of us as no more that thugs, idiots that gather under a banner to feel strength in numbers. But we're not. Some of us may have been thugs, but unified under a cause, we are brothers!" Damn, he was enthusiastic. Was I really going to let myself get sucked in an ideological debate with a literal Nazi?

Yes.

"You may be brothers, yes, but brothers of hatred. What good is your unifying cause if it is founded upon oppression and ignorance?"

"It's everyone else who is ignorant for not addressing the problem at hand. Our country is struggling, and it is better off without dead weight."

"Dead weight? Who decides who is dead weight? What makes someone dead weight? Why wouldn't you be the one this country is better off without? And what would you do with them huh?! Millions died decades ago by this moronic ideology; do you really want to do that again?" I was getting a bit angry, as Nazis tend to make you.

"The past is the past. What is important is us as a community. It is the sum of our views. Even if there's leadership we each bring something to the table that steers the whole thing in a certain path to the same objective. This feeling of purpose and taking part in something greater than yourself, you don't have it do you? You have nothing to strive for. What kind of desperation and disregard for your own safety pushes a man to enter a well-guarded safehouse?" Ouch, touché. But this nonsense had to stop.

"I get it. Living as a part of a "community" is great. Hanging around and fighting with people you can count on, it's intoxicating. It's one of the best drugs in the world. But it's easy to forget that there's more than your own feelings to take into consideration. Look at those around you, not as comrades, but as people, and tell me they are good persons."

He was glaring at me now, my incredible rhetoric seemed to have pissed him off. Good, I was pissed off too. Luckily, this little bout was long enough for me to recover. I was standing in the ruins of the poker table. Blood was flowing from my split lip, a good portion of my body was numb from contusions, and there was a wet spot on the back of skull. Despite all of that, I never felt so focused in my life.

"You piece of shit, you don't know what you're talk-"I interrupted him when I launched the broken table at him. He didn't expect it, his line of sight was broken for a few seconds. I had to capitalize on it.

I felt every single hook I placed in the house. I knew where they were, and I knew that with a mere thought I could reach them.

I reached to one that was on the floor above, behind the man. My thread phased through the floorboards to reach my target. And I pulled. I went flying behind the object I threw, fast enough to be just behind it when it was smashed away, fast enough that when I kicked him, he stumbled back a few steps. I didn't give him time to recover.

"RAAAAAAAAH!" I roared with my stand as it punched him as fast as it could, hitting him over and over and over again.

But I knew it wouldn't be enough.

A flash in my eyes. A fist in my face.

I was on the ground, blood flowing from my mouth. I didn't have much strength left.

"That was a nice try, but it's over." He was looking down on my slumped form. I had to give it to him, despite his coming victory he still took it seriously, he was the type of guy to treat the loser with respect.

I had to remember to at least do the same when we switched place.

"Yes, it's over now." Those words didn't come from his lips but mine.

Pink threads flew from my stand through the hooks I attached on him in my frenzied attack and ended on the ones I set up all around the place. Then I cut my own link to them. He was now stuck, dozens of threads linking his flesh to various points around the house. It wasn't perfect, he had some leeway, but he wasn't going to punch me anytime soon.

As I shakily got up, he thrashed around, pulling at the strings to try dislodging the various hooks around, using his stand to weaken his anchors. It was working, but not fast enough: I was now behind him.

The fight had been going on from some time now, his body was now too strong for me to directly harm. The punches I gave earlier knocked him around sure, but he was barely grazed. Even earlier, in our little exchange of blows on the upper floor his skin felt like rock. So how did I manage to strangle him then? The answer was obvious.

I punched the head of [Grand Funk Railroad]. Its user spat blood. That was all the confirmation I needed.

"ADIADIADIADIADIADIADIADIADIADI" I hit him. Last time I was mostly concerned with the number of hits, to put as many hooks as I could on him. THIS was the decisive blow. I made sure every punch landed with as much force as I could muster where it would do the most damage. I poured my soul into it.

Eventually the stand faded. I gave the courtesy back. I made my hooks fade. And as he was falling to the ground like a puppet without strings, I delivered one last punch to his bloodied face, letting all the stress and tension of the fight flow out of me in this single action. His skin didn't feel like steel anymore.

"ADIEU CONNARD!" He flew and embedded himself in the wall.

It was over, I won.

I picked up some bills on the ground that undoubtedly came from the poker table, it had to be enough, I wasn't in the mood to search for more anyway.

There was a plate on a table in an untouched corner. Spaghetti Carbonara, it looked tasty.

The police or reinforcements would come here eventually. I couldn't stay longer. So I left.

"I'm taking the spaghetti!"

That hadn't been very respectful, but I've never been a good winner.

Stand Name : [Grand Funk Railroad]

User: Luc Verande

Destructive Power: C

Speed: C

Range: B

Persistence: A

Precision: B

Development Potential: C

Ability: [Grand Funk Railroad] is capable of absorbing the strength of everything it looks at and transmit it to its user. The flow of "strength" takes the appearance of a beam of light of strange color due to its supernatural nature, as such only stand users are able to see it. If something is left under [Grand Funk Railroad]'s gaze for too long, it will lose its integrity, the "strength" keeping the matter together dissipating until the object simply disintegrate.
It is also notable that it has a blinding effect, the light coming from the back of the eye interfering with the photoreceptors on the retina.

A.N.: Alright, it's finally done. To tell the truth, I almost didn't release this chapter. After all this time simply not working on it, the plans I made on the story felt a bit cringy to me. Not bad, but I put it off indefinitely. So it sat there in my folder, half finished for a few months. But everytime I opened Word, it looked at me, whispering in my ear to at least conclude this mini arc.
Well I did it now. I hope you liked it.
Frankly, there's a good chance I won't write this story anymore. my original plan was to create a story parallel to Stardust Crusaders, showcasing how the events of that story influenced those in a French city. Nothing too overt, I didn't want to have a wild DIO encounter, but maybe some cameos, a few lines here and there. Basically an original Jojo story in the established Jojo universe.
But I fear this may have been overly ambitious. Not to mention how the SI idea felt way better a year ago. There's also how hard it is for me to allot time to writing over my studies and other stuff.

I at least hope you had a good time reading my story, as short and unfinished as it is, and I hope to meet you again maybe in a future chapter or another story.