Chapter 83: Friendship vs Vengeance

====Shirley====

This was it. Your first chance to make a good impression never comes again. Shirley had woken up bright and early for her very first day at Ashford Academy. Oh, she could hardly believe it! Daddy was so proud, Momma was practically in tears. This would open doors for her. In terms of athletics clubs and academics, you couldn't beat a school like this. Not to mention, the name Ashford still carried a decent amount of weight within the Empire, even if the family wasn't exactly in favour at the moment.

Not that such petty politics really mattered to Shirley Fenette. Let other people worry about that. Smarter people.

To her great surprise, she was not the first to arrive at the assigned classroom. There was already a girl sitting in the corner. Quietly reading a big, thick book. Oho! Daddy said that a key to a happy school life was to make friends.

So she marched on over to the girl in the corner and gave her biggest and brightest "hello!"

The girl didn't so much as stir. She scribbled something in a notebook, then turned the page.

"I said, hello!" Shirley repeated. This time there was a reaction. The girl looked up at her through some thick looking glasses. "Hi, I'm Shirley. Nice to meet you! What's your name?"

"N-Nina Einstein."

The voice was so quiet Shirley thought someone outside must have said it. Aww! The poor thing must be nervous on her first day of school. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. Obviously, the thing that she needed was a little companionship.

"Whatcha reading?" Shirley asked. No answer. She peeked around to see. "Ehhh... Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, by Sir Isaac Newton. Isn't he the guy who had an apple land on his head?"

"Th-that's just a myth," Nina said, and resumed scribbling in her notebook. "There is no proof that actually happened..."

"Hey now, you should probably leave her alone," a boy said. Oh, another student had arrived? She hadn't even noticed. Pretty tall, kind of cute. Dark hair, violet eyes. "You're an extrovert, right? This is a common mistake. That girl is obviously an introvert. She'd probably be happier if you left her alone."

Oooh! What kind of attitude was that? "With that kind of attitude, nobody would ever make friends," Shirley huffed. The boy shrugged, then took a seat on the other side of the classroom. The trick to bringing a person out of their shell was to engage them in a conversation they would find interesting. "I don't really know that much about Isaac Newton. Was he really all that interesting?"

"Oh, he was really interesting," Nina said. Aha! She knew it, this girl was bursting for the chance to talk about this topic with someone. "While he was most known for discovering gravity, he is often considered the father of modern science and his work in mathematics was exemplary."

Shirley nodded along. Little knowing what she had unleashed. What followed was a little bit above her head, as Nina was using terminology that she hadn't quite defined. A few snippets here and there made sense. It felt like she was swimming upstream, and then noticed a tidal wave coming her way.

Out the corner of her vision, she saw the boy looking smug about something or other. Like she had invited some sort of punishment on herself.

"The rules he set out for science refined Galileo's experimental method, and it's still being used today."

"Of course, gravity is still quite a bit mysterious. We know it's the weakest of the four fundamental forces, but are not sure why."

"He and Leibnitz both independently created what we now call calculus - back then, that was the term they used for mathematics, so you can understand how important that is."

"Pardon me for interrupting," the boy said. By now, Shirley's eyes were spirals, she felt so dizzy, like she was being attacked from all angles! So much information that was above her! "Could you please tell me more about the history of calculus? I'm interested in learning how he developed it."

Huh? What was this, now? It almost felt like this boy was saving her from that overwhelming conversation. That was kind of frustrating. She'd been hoping to make a friend quickly on her first day, but... this girl's interests didn't really align with hers, did they? Maybe they couldn't be friends...?

"Gotcha!"

Strictly speaking, Schizoid Man had her. Shirley herself had little problem landing safely on the lower floor. Nina, on the other hand, wasn't as athletically inclined and was on her way to face planting hard into the metal floor. With her safe, Shirley looked around. A row of doors on either side of the corridor. Not too far apart from one another. Each one with a number on it.

"This must be the cabin deck," Shirley said. There was absolutely no good reason for them to be on this deck. "Come on. Let's move out. We can't let the Chancellor activate the Brain Raid."

"Shouldn't we deal with those Stand users?"

Shirley hadn't expected that question from Nina, of all people. For one thing, Nina always avoided direct confrontation, right up until she had no choice. For her to volunteer an objection was strange enough in itself. Compound that with the suggestion that they should go after the Stand users...

"Hey! Aren't you –" a soldier asked, stepping out of his room. Schizoid Man shoved his face back inside his room and wrapped a padlock around the door. No idea where it got that padlock from, but never mind that.

"Those Stand users are meant to stall us," Shirley said. She walked down the corridor with purpose, Schizoid Man hovering overhead. "The second that Dio activates that Brain Raid, it's already over."

"Hold it!" another guard yelled, opening fire on them from behind. Mid-flight, lumps of glass intercepted them with startling precision. A tiny part of the glass within those lumps pulled back - then slammed hard into the bullet, sending it back where it came. While the shots didn't hit the soldier, he seemed to get the idea and bugged out. Smart man. Trouble was, he'd be coming back with more soon enough.

"We're going to be chased from behind while rushing into more danger," Nina said. "What if we find Milly and Princess Euphemia? We'd have to keep them safe as well, wouldn't we? Let one of the other groups go on."

"So you want to fight every single soldier in this flying fortress?" Shirley asked.

"Some hero you are! Running away from a fight!"

"A real hero doesn't want to fight!" Shirley huffed, and quickened her pace. That was too loud. There was already too much attention on them, they didn't need to bring even more. "A real hero sees that someone has to fight, and steps up of their own free will."

As she said that, Shirley had crossed through an intersection. Those are the worst kinds of places to deal with when trying not to draw attention to yourself. She'd gone through first, herself and Schizoid Man watching all four corridors hectically, looking around making it look like they were waltzing. She reached the other side, and then beckoned for Nina to cross as well.

Nina glowered at her and peered around the corner while Shirley looked the other way. Nobody there -

"Hey, you there!"

Shoot. That soldier was back. Shirley summoned a crate of wine glasses through Schizoid Man and kicked it across the hall towards Nina, sliding on the floor like a hockey puck. It bounced off Nina's leg, and then moments later it burst open, glass shards streaming through the air and flowing around her.

"You're not getting away!"

Then behind Shirley, down the way she'd been intending to go, another soldier had appeared. Schizoid Man could catch any bullets they fired, but they were probably Gleipnir rounds. On that basis - The bullets fired, and Schizoid Man's hands blurred to catch them. The soldiers looked pretty smug, certain that the Stand's hands would now vanish as its image was disrupted.

But Shirley wagged her finger and stepped forward confidently. The bullets were caught by Schizoid Man, and after a moment clattered to the floor. They were plucked out of the air by a pair of tongs, one in each of Schizoid Man's hands. Not quite as cool as she had intended, but that thing really did seem to have a mind of its own sometimes.

Did it just wink at her? Never mind!

"You're in our way!" Shirley yelled while Schizoid Man flexed its muscles menacingly. "Nina! Hurry up and –"

There was a movement behind her. A pair of soldiers coming down one of the corridors perpendicular to those they were fighting down. Stupid! They let themselves get split and pincered! While these bullets were being fired on her, Shirley couldn't defend herself or Nina from an attack coming from behind them both!

"Nina! Hit the dirt!" Shirley yelled, and executed the only move available to her: Quickly stepping to the side. Some of the bullets still tracked her, but that was what Schizoid Man was for. Enough of them sailed on by to fly into those soldiers -

Who, come to think of it, looked identical to those firing on her from further down this corri-

Explosions are often played down in fiction in terms of their volume. Quite often a character would have an explosion happen right behind them, and they can walk it off. Carry a conversation with a friend. It honestly had caught Shirley off guard just how much an explosion takes out of you, even if you're well outside the danger zone.

For a good thirty seconds, all she could hear was the sound of blood rushing through her veins. Everything was a little wavy on the edge there. The soldiers had stopped firing - they had backed off, probably to reload. Shirley looked back. The corridor had been caved in. She pounded the twisted wreckage and called for Nina, not even hearing that, until -

"Nina!" Oh, wow, she'd been screaming quite loudly. "Hold on, I'll get this wreckage out of the way and then –"

Metal flew past her face and struck that wreckage, scraping against it and causing sparks to fly out. A weird looking sword! Schizoid Man went to hit its holder - and found itself face to face with a floating guitar-esque thing.

"Oh, your friend is in good hands," said one of the Valkyries. Staring at her from close by, with eyes full of hate. "Though you'll find me harder to deal -"

"Ora ora ora ora ora!"

Schizoid Man didn't hold back its fists just because it was an enemy Stand. It pummelled the guitar thing, apparently called Through Fire and Flame, which broke the nose on that pretty girl's face and sent her flying back down the corridor.

Now, as she was saying. Schizoid Man should be able to clear this wreckage and check if Nina is alright. All it would take is one good series of punches and -

"Eh?" Shirley whispered. She looked at her hand. "Why are my hands numb?"

Then she saw it. Schizoid Man's hands were covered in little flecks of frost. It was the same effect as using wool gloves to pack a snowball.

"Heh... Heh... heh!" the Valkyrie laughed menacingly, wobbling to her feet. "Better be careful who you ora," she said, and then her nose sort of... fixed itself. It had been broken before, but suddenly it was as good as new. "My name is Liliana Vergamon." She curtseyed. "I've been looking forward to this, Zero."

Schizoid Man had already summoned a hot water bottle by this point. Her Stand had done this? That was it, right? There was something like that before, when the floor had developed ice. Some sort of ice power? Why would a Stand called Through Fire and Flame have ice powers?

Liliana rushed forward then with madness in her eyes and that weird corkscrew sword in her hand. Through Fire and Flame trailing in the air behind her, ready to meet with Schizoid Man. Sorry Nina, it looked like her hands would be full for a little bit.

"Through Fire and Flame! Freeze her solid!" Liliana yelled. While thrusting her sword right for Shirley's throat. Schizoid Man punched it aside, but then Through Fire and Flames was upon it. It reached out towards Schizoid Man - and met a shovel for its trouble.

Clang! That was a satisfying noise. As expected, ice began to form around the shovel head where it hit the enemy Stand. So that is its power? It freezes what it touches?

"Faster than I thought," Liliana chuckled. Shirley backed off a little. Defending herself from that Stand and that sword at the same time... "Let's speed things up a little!"

As an athlete, Shirley has a well honed instinct for understanding how a person can move. She'd been genuinely floored on seeing Suzaku in action for the first time, as he seemed almost superhuman to her eyes. At the very minimum, the peak of human ability. You could not push your body much further than that, no matter how hard you trained.

Liliana, for a very brief moment, broke through that barrier. She moved so quickly that she broke the sound barrier, knocking Shirley back, and yet she was already behind the girl by the time she was stumbling. Her weird sword started to spin, while swinging an arc directly for Shirley's neck.

Clang!

It hit steel. In Schizoid Man's right hand, there was a shovel with quickly melting ice on it. In its other, a rake parrying the spinning sword. Honestly now, couldn't it have grabbed something like an actual sword? It had to go for the comedy item? What was it going to do next, drop it on the floor and try to lure Liliana into -

No, don't you get that look of inspiration in your eyes, don't you let those lips turn up in manic glee! Bad Stand! Bad Stand, this was no time for slapstick! Especially since Liliana was still having those bursts of speed, thrusting and lunging with her weird spinning sword, forcing Schizoid Man to block while simultaneously fending off Through Fire and Flame. How was she moving so quickly? Wasn't her Stand's ability ice based? Then why was she able to move this quickly? It didn't make sense. Unless she'd misunderstood what her opponent's ability was?

"Don't die too fast!" Liliana jeered. "I want to see you suffer. I want to watch the light fade in your eyes."

"Sorry, I don't think we've met," Shirley said. Liliana let out a scream of anger and kicked off the floor, jumping backwards and gritting her teeth, bringing her Stand alongside her. This wasn't just a Stand battle, was it? This girl had it out for her. Why? Shirley hadn't done anything to her. This kind of anger, it must have been something big. Something personal. Yet she couldn't think of what it could be. "I don't understand, why do you hate me so much?"

"Why do I hate you?" Liliana sniffed. The spinning in her sword stopped. Not immediately, like a switch was flipped. More like it slowed down, decelerated. Someone putting on the brakes. "Your name is Shirley Fenette, but your mother's maiden name was Joestar. Right?"

Liliana dropped her sword and casually walked over towards Shirley, turning her head as if to ease out the tension, while cracking her knuckles. Then she reeled back her fist and made as if to strike Shirley in the jaw. Easily caught by Schizoid Man -

"I'm stronger than you think," Liliana said.

Shirley was sent tumbling back down the corridor a moment later, while Liliana retrieved her sword as though she was retrieving a dropped hat. She wiped some frost off it, blowing on it for effect. Then she put it back into its scabbard and dusted off her hands, before turning her attention towards Shirley once again.

"That's your mother's maiden name," Liliana said. Then, her face was overtaken by this... madness. Crazed eyes, a wide grin that had never heard of the word restraint. Her fist flew into an open palm, and... and a familiar figure loomed large in her shadows. All of a sudden Shirley felt sick to her stomach. No... No! Not him! "Care to guess mine?"

====Liliana====

Is there anything so delicious as looking an enemy in the eye right as they realise how screwed they were? Hehehe! Liliana was loving this already, and the fight had only just started. Seeing the brat that killed her beloved uncle Kanyon on her back, kicking away in mortal terror... brought a real smile to her face like little else could.

"What's the matter?" Liliana asked, stepping in with fists at the ready, all the better to cave her face in. "Backing off like that, afraid of your past finally catching up with you?" She hunched forward. "Then let's make this quick."

She pounced like a cat, recoiling off her legs with her fist drawn back. Drawing out the heat from the spinning mechanism of her sword would've damaged the insides - but it gave her plenty of heat to turn into hitting power. The Fenette brat wouldn't know what hit her!

As she closed in, Liliana didn't know what hit her. She was right on top of Shirley, when at the last possible moment something had hit her hard on the head and sent her rolling back down the corridor like a misplaced tumbleweed. Fumbling to her knees, she saw what it was: Schizoid Man had slammed a door open in her face!

Now Shirley was the one on her feet, a distinctly more serious expression on her face. "Backing off like that was to lure you near a door," she said. Schizoid Man floated through the door, pounding its fists together. "I am sorry for killing your uncle. If anything happened to my uncle Joseph, then it would tear me up inside. However..."

She hunched low and dashed forward, Schizoid Man grabbing the door off its hinges. Liliana lifted her hands to catch the door , but then she felt the full fury of Schizoid Man on the other side, pummelling it while repeatedly, obnoxiously, yelling "ora ora ora!" over and over again.

"That's why you're not facing Shirley anymore," her enemy warned. "You are facing Zero!"

Th-this strength and speed combination hit! In spite of her boost in power all she could do was hold the door in place while it rained down upon her. Imagine if it rained and you tried to fight back against the sky, but every drop of rain was a falling sledgehammer. That's what this felt like!

"K-Kyaaaaa!" Liliana screamed as her strength gave out, sending her once again flying back down the corridor. This time, instead of getting on her knees, she stayed on her back as Shi- Zero swept down the corridor towards her. "W-wait! Please don't! I can see it now, the clear difference in our Stand abilities!"

"I did not know West for long," Zero said. "Even so, I know that he would be ashamed that his niece was crying and begging after a mere hit like that."

"Th-that's right! He hated weakness," Liliana said, kicking off the ground to push further back, further still until there was nothing but the wreckage blocking the corridor behind her. "He always felt that those who are strong are those who take control. If you're weak, you can't be in control!"

Zero stopped walking. "Which is why he must have encouraged you to even lie and cheat to win," she said. Schizoid Man punched the floor directly in front of her, causing a chunk of it to fly up into the air, which it then kicked at Liliana. Through Fire and Flame deflected it, but Liliana still cowered. "Freezing the floor in front of me, to try to make me slip."

"I was going to sucker punch you," Liliana admitted. "That is in line with what my uncle would teach me... But he also taught me to expect your plans to fail, always have a backup plan."

She twisted her body in a way that absolutely nobody could call natural and dove right for the corner of the wreckage. It was true that no human being could possibly twist their way through, but right now Liliana was a bit above human limitations. Her already slender frame's flexibility had been drastically increased when she'd drained the heat from the floor. There was a small gap in this corner, the sort that normally only a cat would be able to fit through easily.

"Hey Liliana, need a hand?" a familiar voice on the other side asked. Aha, another of the Valkyries! She grabbed Liliana's hand and pulled her right on through, and not a moment too soon. Right as her feet popped out, she felt a distinctive shaking something hit the rubble.

A muffled "ora" hit her ears. Trying to work her way through, huh? That wouldn't take Schizoid Man long, then. It would be through in no time at all. Trouble was, no time at all was still more than enough time for her to set the perfect trap.

====Nina====

"You've not joined any of the clubs."

Nina looked up from her book, and saw a bright smiling face looking down at her. A pretty blonde girl, with bright eyes and a wickedly charming smile. Of course, she recognised who this was at a moment's notice. Milly Ashford. The granddaughter of the academy's founder and Principal. A force of nature on campus grounds, who routinely made announcements on the school's intercom since the day it was founded, which would be... about a year after the academy was built, so she would have been - maybe eleven years old at the time?

"Um?" Nina said. Quite betraying her own intelligence with that response. Or might it count as a question. Milly leaned in a little closer, making Nina feel all the more self conscious. "N-None of them really suit my interests," she said in a hurry, hoping that she'd be left alone.

"School rules say you have to join a club," Milly said. "Listen, you've got the best grades going in mathematics and the sciences that the school has ever seen. Don't any of those clubs interest you? You could join the reading club –"

"They read fiction," Nina said. "I prefer reality."

"The chess club?"

"The mathematics is too abstract. I prefer practical applications."

Then that wicked grin grew even more wicked. Ah! Nina hadn't meant to say that much! Somehow, this girl had drawn it out of her without her even noticing. How scary. People like this were pretty scary. Not nearly as scary as Numbers, but... plenty scary in a different way.

"Then how about helping to balance our budget?" Milly asked. "Hrm, I can see it now. Nina Einstein, beloved member of the Ashford Student Council! The ultimate addition to your curriculum vitae. Come on!"

The next thing she knew, Nina was being hauled along to the student council building. Quite against her will. She attempted to protest the entire way, but Milly Ashford either didn't hear or didn't care. Before long they arrived, and she shoved open a door while Nina was gasping out of breath.

"Everyone!" Milly said, clapping her hands. "Now, I know, I know. Your attention naturally falls upon me when I enter a room, we've already long established how much you adore me... But for now, allow me to introduce our newest addition to the Ashford Student Council. Nina Einstein!"

"Whooo...Whoooo...Whooo!" Nina adjusted her glasses while leaning against the doorframe. How was she still so full of energy? After a run like that? Looking into the room Nina saw a few familiar faces. Some of whom she really didn't want to see. For her, these were the worst kind of people to get stuck with long term.

"Hey, nice to meet you," said Rivalz Cardemonde, patting her on the shoulder. "You know, I always thought you looked really lonely sitting in class reading alone like that."

"Yeah! It's great to see you here!" said Shirley Fenette. Both of these people were the worst for her to deal with. An outspoken wannabe funny man, and a walking ray of sunshine. Throw in Milly Ashford, and she didn't know how to deal with them. "I'm sure we'll all be the very best of friends. Right, Lulu?"

"Right," said Lelouch Lamperouge, who hadn't said much else until then. It was more like he was studying her. "I'm sure she'll get along with us just fine. Once we give her a little breathing space, as I'm sure Milly pushed this on her without actually asking for permission."

And from there began the worst years of Nina's life. Forced to make friends with a group of oddballs that she didn't know how to handle. All she wanted was a chance to be left alone, with her maths, with her science, with her hypothesis and work. That was how she felt she could best serve the Empire. Not balancing the books of some Academy's clubs, but pushing forward into the field of science. It was wasting her time. Wasting her precious, valuable time...

"Hello Nina. How have you been?"

That was the first thing she'd heard after the explosion left her rattled. The soldiers that had been firing had already backed off, and in front of them were a few familiar faces. Marika, and two Valkyries. No way to know which were copies and which weren't, but Nina felt wary. She knew that the copies exploded already, but didn't know if it was due to the other Stand ability... or if it was part of Marika's.

The Valkyrie were standing pretty close to each other. They probably weren't copies then. They should be worried about the explosion going off, right? Or maybe they were all copies so it wouldn't matter?

"So, now that we've got little miss wannabe hero out of the way, how about you come around to the winning side?"

This was not what Nina had been expecting. She perked up her ears and looked around. The Valkyries were all smiling, the soldier was putting his gun away. None of them were armed. Marika's Stand wasn't even out.

"You want me to join you?" Nina asked. Suspicious, she couldn't quite buy that.

"Of course! We know how it is," Marika said. "That Fenette girl led you in here against your will to rescue that Ashford girl and Princess Euphemia. You don't really want anything to do with this, do you?"

"I can't let you hurt Princess Euphemia."

The Valkyries all shared a look amongst themselves. What it meant was anyone's guess, Nina couldn't read it at all. She had the impression that they knew something that she didn't?

"Princess Euphemia is perfectly fine, don't worry about that," Marika said. "Why don't you come with us, and we'll show you."

"She's alright?" Nina asked. Marika nodded. Nina swallowed, and stepped forward. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"Oh, Nina! Our time in that prison together, suffering the company of the Knight of Nine, didn't that mean anything? Our epic, daring escape –"

"Which ended with you helping Sir Bradley kidnap Princess Euphemia and Milly."

"Water under the bridge," Marika said. "Come on, don't let that girl put silly little fantasies in your head. Be honest with yourself. You never really liked her anyway, did you?"

Nina's shoulders slumped and she staggered forward up the corridor. Marika, meanwhile, stepped forward to take her hand. But the instant she was within reach, Nina encased her in glass all the way up to her neck. Thank you Shirley, that last delivery was extremely useful.

"You must think that I'm a complete idiot," Nina said.

"Eh, not a complete idiot," Marika said. She stuck out her tongue - and then exploded, sending shards of glass in all directions. Those closest to Nina were stopped cold and refashioned into a new shield in the time that the soldiers had rearmed themselves.

An exploding copy. That's the nature of Marika's Stand, Ghost Love Score. Somehow she creates copies of things with her Stand. Maybe just people - no, she also seemed to copy clothing. She could tell it was a copy, because that Marika had stains on her clothes that matched what Marika had earlier on in the corridor.

When you're talking about social situations then Nina Einstein was lost. She had no idea how to react, nor any idea what to do. It was her biggest weakness, by a wide margin. But if you present a problem to her, something with a definitive solution, then her mind starts to excel. The scientific principles established by Sir Isaac Newton, his method of analysis had stood the test of time to this day. Through it humanity had reached towards the stars, and one day through them higher still than those!

So she began with the basics, the fundamentals of all scientific advancement. A question that was vital to her survival: What causes the copies made by Ghost Love Score to explode?

A hypothesis was needed. Then tests must be carried out. From those tests she could refine that hypothesis until she had a theory, and then from there she would have her method of counter-attack. A scientific analysis was the ideal method to use to solve this problem!

"Oh, that didn't get you?" Marika - presumably the real deal - had stepped into the corridor, rolled her eyes, and then dismissively waved her hands at them. "You two, take a crack at her, will you?"

Nina watched carefully through the glass as the other two Valkyries rushed towards her with weird spinning swords drawn. No, no, no. This wasn't proper at all. They were forcing her to develop her hypothesis and testing methods under dreadfully stressful events, did they have no respect at all for the scientific process?

The tips of their spinning blades slammed hard into her glass shield, putting some nasty cracks in it that Nina was able to quickly fix - but almost as soon as she did they hit another location, and another, and another. She could keep up, but only barely, and it felt like their attacks were getting faster and faster all the time. This couldn't last.

"Go away! Leave me alone!" she yelled, putting voice to a thought she'd had for so long. "Let me think! I can't work like this with you interrupting me all the time!"

As if in response to her outburst the glass shield shifted right at the moment when one of the swords was coming in for an attack. It created a very small hole, small enough that the very tip of the blade would exactly fit into it, and when it did that hole moved hard to the right, dragging the Valkyrie alongside it, forcing her to parry her own colleague's sword away.

Then, there was an explosion that sent Nina onto her back, and the shield briefly destroyed. While she shook her head, to clear off the cobwebs, the glass around her formed into a new protective barrier. A dome that covered her crouching body as bullets flew into it.

Deep breaths. Marika was laughing, though Nina's ears were still ringing.

"I see, I see! So that's how fast your Stand can react, and how much damage that glass can take?" Marika cocked her head, the two original Valkyries stepped out, and then Ghost Love Score flew through all three of them one after the other. "We'll be sure to use that information against you from now on. This is how a soldier fights, Nina Einstein! Each unit gains information and territory from the enemy in tandem with the greater whole! Pushing forward little by little until the enemy is overwhelmed! The ultimate expression of 'teamwork' and 'friendship'!"

"Then I'll show you how a scientist fights," Nina whispered, huddled under her glass dome. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Data. Information. Form the hypothesis based on observation, then utilise a testing method. What happened just now that was different to before?

Common environmental factors to be considered in any experiment include lumination, heat, humidity and sound. All four were the same in the moment the explosion had occurred to when the attacks had been happening before. Therefore, they were unlikely to be variables. The question to consider was 'what changed between the explosions?' Not much. Time had passed - though that would be difficult to properly test.

There was one thing that Nina found interesting, though. Replaying the moment in her mind, Nina had found it strange. One had exploded, and then the other. The only variables that mattered were those that had changed. And there were only two that Nina could think of:

Time had passed... and the explosion had happened after one sword had nicked the other's hand. Come to think that one had exploded first, and the second followed suit a few seconds later. Which meant the most likely trigger was probably: Damage!

Marika saluted - and then slipped out of the corridor with the two original Valkyrie. She didn't create any more copies, which was another data point: One copy per person, and she could not create a copy of a copy either. At least, Nina hoped not - best not to suggest it, in case she hadn't thought of it.

"Turtle up all you want, Miss Einstein!" the duplicate Marika yelled.

"There's one of you –"

"-But there are infinite numbers of us!"

The glass pushed up, forming into a complete sphere hovering about an inch off the floor, while the Valkyries rushed in, spaced apart just enough that they wouldn't be caught in each other's blast radius. Though Nina was ignorant of military tactics and formation, she found something almost beautiful in the way they moved. Like a fractal pattern brought to life, perfectly ordered yet seemingly chaotic. All for the intent of attacking her in unison.

"Leave me alone!"

Nina rushed by them, flying in her glass dome. Like this she was alone. Nobody could reach her. Nobody could hurt her. Ignore the duplicates, pursue the real Marika. If she could only make one copy of a thing at a time, then attacking the duplicates would give her the ability to make new ones. With that in mind she navigated over their heads, avoided hitting them at all, while their swords clattered against the protective glass shell. She was a little nervous that they might damage their swords on purpose like this, but -

Something clanged against the glass. A very different sound than the swords, heavier and blunt sounding. Glancing back Nina saw the duplicates cowering away from - a dented thermos, rolling around on the floor.

"Damn thing!" one of them yelled, and kicked it with all her strength. "You were supposed to –"

It hit the shell again, breaking open and exploding after it spilled the water on Nina's glass shell. This was a different kind of explosion to before, where the two copied Valkyries had blown up. Both explosions were coming from the same approximate direction, and had a lot more kick to them than this one. However, due to the spilled liquid also exploding, it was hitting from numerous points all at once.

What did that mean? That the explosion was less powerful, but its destructive effects weren't anything to sneeze at. Where that other one had a mule kick, this one was like being punched on all sides at once. Is it any wonder that her dome shattered under that pressure?

Calling it a shell was quite accurate because it cracked exactly like one - revealing its interior as completely empty. Yes, empty. Even though up until that point Nina had been visible inside the shell, that had only been an optical illusion. Once she passed the Valkyries Nina hadn't stayed idle. She'd moved out in front of the shell to have an extra layer of protection from the enemies behind, while using glass to refract and reflect light in such a way that made it look like she was still inside.

The ultimate expression of introvert behaviour: Make it seem like you are in one place, when you are actually in another. That way people who want to find and bother you, can't.

In the confusion Nina made good on her escape while grabbing glass from the doors she passed by to replenish her supply. She rounded the corner, breaking away from the copies, and rushed forward, glass carrying her much faster than she could move by herself.

"Where is she?" Nina wondered. The floor was a criss-cross of corridors, with rows of cabins dotting the walls. All she could do was search out for the enemy, try to avoid ambushes by using the glass to peer around corners. Though it did seem strange that she would rush away like that in the middle of their fight. Military tactics weren't really her speciality, but it did seem like she was trying to lure Nina into some kind of trap.

"I was helping Liliana play with your friend."

Ghost Love Score rushed through a wall, its hand grabbing Nina's neck and slamming her back against a door. A moment later Marika sauntered around a corner, twirling a Zero mask around on her finger.

"But I'm all for playing with you again for a little while, if you would like."

Is that so? These doors had little windows at the top, so she summoned the glass out of them and made countless small sharp shards. In that time, Ghost Love Score let go and flew back towards its master. Nina didn't waste any time in throwing them, as the glass was being manipulated by her Stand they would be able to hurt Ghost Love Score if they struck it.

But she didn't expect a door to appear in between them. The enemy Stand's cage-like hands were holding out one of the cabin doors and using it like a shield. Ah! She'd made a copy of one of the doors!

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" Marika jeered from behind her impromptu shield. Her cheeky face popped up to stare out through the door's window, and then she tilted it back to wave at Nina. "This sort of thing is no fun if we don't exchange barbs while I kick your ass. Come on, throw me a 'You'll never get away with this', or maybe try some crummy friendship speech."

Why should she? Nina had no illusions about their relationship. They barely knew each other. They'd been prisoners together, and escaped together. That didn't mean they were close. Nina swallowed nervously. Her instincts were telling her that this enemy would send copies of her allies after her and Shirley until she was dealt with, but she'd never intentionally killed someone before. She still had plenty of glass floating around her, so she should be able to -

Movement caught her attention, right at the corner of her eye. Grenades, bouncing by Ghost Love Score's feet. They bounced, the Stand kicked them towards Nina - and their number doubled instantly.

"Sorry we're late!" the Marika at the end of the corridor cheered, as Nina surrounded the grenades with glass to contain the explosions. "Had to borrow some equipment, you know how it goes."

The other two Valkyrie copies were already rushing in again with their swords, so Nina made to block them - but all they did was stab each other. They'd taken damage!

Live!

Suddenly, Nina found herself half way down the corridor being dragged away backwards by glass cuffs on her hands and feet. Marika had stepped out from behind her door, drawn a gun and then very deliberately fired it through Ghost Love Score- copying the bullets mid-flight.

"Eek!" Nina screeched. The cuffs pulled her body aside to dodge them. Doubling up on her bullets mid-flight, how devious! And yet... it was strange, even though the bullets definitely hit the walls they didn't explode at all. Surely they had taken enough damage from that attack to set off the explosion?

Was that hypothesis wrong after all? Then what was the trigger?!

She heard noises approaching from the other direction. The original Valkyries? She'd lost too much glass now, after that wave of attacks. It felt like she was being pulled along on a marionette. Nina stopped, there was only one thing to do at a time like this: Hide inside a cabin!

Nobody in this one. The window was destroyed, then turned into a thin tube that caught the latch on the other side. Then, Nina dashed inside and reset the glass to where it had been. Deep breaths, girl. Deep breaths! This sort of thing really isn't your forte, so you need to take some time to think things through before you head out there. She was alone now. She was safe for a little while. She could concentrate.

The key strength of science is in its ability to self correct. It will rarely ever pronounce something as an absolute fact, until it has been verified thoroughly. Even then, if new evidence comes along to disprove it, then even well established ideas can be overturned. There was evidence to suggest that damage was enough. There was evidence to suggest it wasn't. Which meant the trigger for the explosions wasn't as simple as she'd assumed.

Footsteps interrupted her thinking process. The glass cuffs on her wrists and ankles hoisted her up, above the door, onto the ceiling keeping her back flat against the roof. This was exactly as comfortable as it sounded - not even remotely. It felt like she was being tortured in a truly barbaric, ancient method. Then the door opened, and a Valkyrie popped her head inside.

"Nina, Nina, Niiinaaa?" she called out, looking around the room. She checked the bed, she checked the wardrobe. Nina held her breath. Which didn't help her comfort levels all that much right now.

"Hrm... Maybe it would be more efficient if we blew up while checking these rooms out?" the Valkyrie mused aloud. "In this tiny cramped space, it would be so much worse for her."

Yes, it would. The explosion would be more contained, some of the impact would come back into the room. With this little glass she wouldn't be able to defend herself properly. It was agony. She couldn't even bring herself to blink in case the movement caught that soldier's peripheral vision.

"Nah, it'd just waste time," the Valkyrie shrugged. "Not in here! Let's try the next corridor!"

The door closed, and Nina let out her breath before slowly sliding down to the floor, feeling thoroughly drained of energy. This was when she understood it properly, the nature of the enemy she was fighting. Marika didn't need to get involved personally at all in the fight. She could hang back, set traps and ambushes, have copies of herself and her friends take all the risks while she relaxes. Meanwhile, Nina is struggling for each and every little inch that she can take. It was... insidious, overwhelmingly strong and versatile. A stupidly strong Stand, especially when you had backup.

But she would not give up. She had changed. She had grown as well. Sure, fighting like this wasn't what she was good at, but she'd been able to use her knowledge of physics to make effective use out of this weird, unexplained power. She'd let Marika fight this battle on her terms. Then, shouldn't the best thing to do be fighting the battle on her own?

Alright. She felt better now. Nina stood up and carefully distorted the glass in the window so she could see outside, further down the corridor. Nobody down the right side. But down the left - There was a figure! A girl with bright, vivid orange hair that went all the way down her back! Nina gasped, and practically threw herself out of the room.

"Shirley!"

====Zero====

The wreckage breaks, and Zero looks through the corridors to the side, and straight ahead. No sign of Nina. No sign of Liliana either. How tiresome. What she should be doing is heading up to face Dio so she could save the world, not dealing with a vengeful spoiled hellion.

Still, that ability was dangerous enough that she recognised the need to deal with it here and now. Nina's logic ran truer now than it did before. If she proceeded to confront the Chancellor without dealing with the threats pursuing from behind, they would make life very difficult for them at a crucial moment. Learning of Liliana's personal stake in this made her motivation all the clearer, that kind of person would not be likely to give up the chase and return to their guard post.

"Aw, missing your friend?" Liliana jeered, an immature taunt from an immature enemy. Zero turned to look - there were three women standing there, of similar build and attire. All wearing masks. Replicas of Zero's own. The three spun around each other in perfect synch, moving like cogs in a grand machine, or professional ballroom dancers who knew how best to stay out of each other's way. Above them, Through Fire and Flames floating menacingly in the air, and all three brandishing their spinning swords.

It was like a twisted ballet - no, synchronised swimming was a metaphor she grasped more readily. All three of them lunged forward as one. While sword fighting was still an area she did not readily grasp, even a novice could marvel at their teamwork.

They attacked from three sides at once without any risk of their bodies or strikes intersecting. One aimed for the chest, another the head and the last the legs. The first two would be killing blows, but the last was still crucially dangerous. While it wouldn't kill in and of itself, it would make all subsequent attacks more difficult to defend against. There was no space to dodge, and retreat was awkward because of what was left of the wreckage behind her.

Schizoid Man pulled a length of twisted steel out of that same wreckage and spun it around to block all three swords at once. Without missing a beat, they pulled back and Through Fire and Flame rushed forward, holding a sword of its own that it thrust directly into the middle of the spinning steel.

Somehow, that causes the twisted steel to stop spinning in Schizoid Man's hands. After a moment it snapped clean in two, and a moment after that three swords rushed through to attack her again, one from the left, right and through the enemy Stand. Schizoid Man had to parry the two from either side while using its feet to pin down the last one.

"Eh? Is that –" the girl on the left said, her voice exactly like Liliana's.

"- All you can –" the girl on the right mocked, also sounding like Liliana.

"-Manage with this Stand?" the girl in the middle finished, sounding the same as the other two.

The three of them retreated as quickly as they had attacked, and Through Fire and Flame went after them. Voice changers, embedded in their masks? To further throw her off?

"I'd say you're outnumbered –"

"-But it's not hard to be –"

"-Greater than Zero."

She couldn't stay on the defensive. Not against a group like this. She had to fight against her own instincts to let them come to her, otherwise they'd whittle her down at their own leisure. That was the trouble with fighting multiple enemies at once, you had to focus your attention on one at a time - or turtle up to wear them down. Since the second option wasn't possible, that left the first.

But which to focus on? It was impossible to say, since they were all identical in terms of height, body type and voice. The one she should eliminate first had to be Liliana, the real Stand master, but they were deliberately keeping that obfuscated.

In which case, she would have no choice but to aim for only one enemy. Rushing forward at full pelt, Zero sent out Schizoid Man ahead of her, fist drawn back and ready to strike its target: Through Fire and Flame!

"Rule one of combat - "

"- Never make your –"

"- Target obvious."

Two of the masked Valkyrie rolled to the side of Schizoid Man with their swords out to the side, while the last remained behind pointing a gun squarely at them. It fired a Gleipnir round squarely through Schizoid Man, disrupting the mighty Stand's image while sailing past Zero's shoulder. Then, the two other Valkyries were upon her with swords drawn, her disrupted Stand in front of her - as it threw the item that had been in its hand backwards.

What was that time? A bola. That is to say, a length of rope with two weights attached to either end. It flew backwards with perfect timing, the rope stretching out and striking both swords at once then tying them together in an instant.

"Eh?!"

"What?!"

Both in Liliana's voice. Not that it mattered much. Zero coughed, then clashed their heads together, shattering their masks and revealing faces that were most definitely not Liliana. It felt a little strange getting her own hands dirty like this when Schizoid Man usually did the heavy lifting.

"No way!" the last one yelled. Speaking of heavy lifting. She considered dismissing and resummoning her Stand to repair its presence, but as it was it should be enough now. The last of them, doubtless Liliana, fumbled to put her gun away and draw out her sword while her Stand moved to protect her.

Not fast enough. A fist flew right into the cheap knockoff mask and splintered it easily, revealing Liliana's face in the process. Of course. It had to be her. Thinking back over the way the Stand had moved, this Valkyrie was the one that was nearest to it the entire time. Zero's instincts were telling her that this was most likely the real enemy she needed to fight. So she drew back her Stand's fists to pummel this enemy into retirement -

Then a sound behind her made her duck, right as a sword passed through where her head should be.

"Ah, dammit!" Liliana yelled from behind her. There was a door open behind her. She must have emerged from there. "I go to all that trouble, and you duck at the last moment!"

Through Fire and Flame suddenly snapped towards this Liliana like a rubber band. How strange. In her other hand there was a device like a remote control that was dripping. There was a little sign of discolouration on it almost as if - As if it had been frozen until recently. Covered in ice. She'd used her Stand ability on the remote? Why?

That question could wait a little longer. Zero dismissed Schizoid Man, put a little distance between her and the fast approaching enemy and then resummoned it full and intact. Liliana tossed the remote aside as if it was junk. Actually, it probably was if it had been frozen like that.

How strange, though. In the moment when Schizoid Man had been dismissed there was a perfect opportunity for her. If her Stand could move that far away it should have been able to attack Zero in that moment. She would have been defenseless, vulnerable to being frozen solid. So why hadn't she attacked in that instant? Had she suspected a trap? No, that didn't fit her personality. A perceived moment of vulnerability like that would have at least been attempted, even if it was only to draw her enemy into a trap of her own. So why not attack?

It was almost as if, somehow, the range of the enemy Stand had been temporarily increased and the effect had only just run out...

"Gotcha!" a voice jeered from behind, jumping on top of Zero's back. Her arm, slender yet strong, wrapped around her neck, while the other arm went around the top of Zero's head locking her in place. It was the duplicate! "Hehehe. You forgot about me that quickly? Through Fire and Flames will freeze your head solid - or I'll choke you out! How does that sound?!"

"Like the deal she gave Uncle Kanyon," Liliana said. "Through Fire and Flames! Go for the head."

This confirmed Zero's earlier thinking. A perceived weakness, so she would be bound to attack. Schizoid Man could either deal with the enemy Stand, or the enemy on her back. That was probably their thinking.

How about both at the same time.

Though Zero did not realise it at this moment, it was a good thing she took the action that she did. A blood vessel in the duplicate Liliana's nose had broken, and blood was starting to slowly creep out of her nostril. Schizoid Man had grabbed hold of this copy's hair in that moment, and used its other arm to prise a gap between her arm and Zero's neck. From there, it threw the copy directly into Through Fire and Flame right as the blood touched the outer skin of this copy - Triggering Ghost Love Score's explosive power.

"Gahhh!" Liliana screamed as she was sent flying back down the corridor. Zero, too, was rattled and had to take a moment. From being choked, and then that unexpected explosion... Anyone would be rattled. Anyone would need a moment to recover. "Damn... You!" Liliana seethed, breathing heavily through her injuries, but then she smiled and staggered, wobbling to her feet. "I'll... be back... shortly. Need to get better. Hehehe!"

"W-wait!" Zero grunted. Her own feet were a bit wobbly after that. Shaking it off, she gave chase. By the time she was there Liliana had rounded a corner, and by the time she was there... No sign of her. She could be hiding in a room, any room at all, or maybe she'd turned off down another corridor. "How tiresome," she said. "She really isn't fighting the same way her uncle did. He faced every enemy head on, instead of using hit and run techniques. It leaves me with the sense that she's a coward, when she should be able to –"

Then a door next to her burst open - and of all people Nina Einstein emerged, gawping at her like a startled fish.

====Nina/Shirley====

Thank goodness, she'd been so worried about Nina. She looked a little freaked out, and who could blame her? Shirley's protective instincts kicked in right away. "Nina, are you alright?" she asked, rushing towards her friend.

"I'm fine," Nina said, stepping forward to check on how Shirley was... But then stepping back. She put out her hands. A dreadful thought hit her out of nowhere. "Wait a minute. How do I know you're the real Shirley?"

"The real Shirley?" she repeated. "Of course I'm the real... Oh, I see what you mean." That's right. That Marika girl had the power to create explosive copies, didn't she? Come to think, isn't it possible that Nina might be a copy instead? "This is probably what they were aiming for when they split us up."

Shirley hadn't seen Ghost Love Score in action nearly as much as Nina. She had the sense that Shirley understood this as well. The two of them were keeping their distance, watching each other warily. Nina swallowed. Nothing else for it.

"What did Milly have us chant when we were low on energy?" Nina asked. Of course. Nina was trying to test her memory.

"Guts!" Shirley yelled, pumping her fist into the air. "What did Lulu always skip school to do?" Of course her question would be about the Prince.

"Play chess against the Nobility," Nina said. "From the way Rivalz talked, it sounded like he won every time. Well, no wonder, if he's a Prince." This wasn't working. Their memories must be copied as well at the moment the Stand effect kicks in. They had nothing in common that would act as a tell, since a copy would have been made after they'd already split up.

Shirley was staring at her now, and it was making Nina nervous. She shifted her weight, considering her options. This was a classic game theory scenario. There were two possibilities, and two options, creating four possible outcomes. Either Shirley was fake, or she was real. And either Nina attacked her, or she didn't. Get it wrong and she'd likely die. Get it right, and she lived. What was the clinically safest option to take in this situation? The answer was... split up and -

"I think we should stick together," Shirley said. "At a distance. We can't let mistrust split us apart."

Nina couldn't agree with that. "The only way to guarantee our safety is to split up, and beat Marika. Then the copies should disappear, right?"

"I don't think we can beat them alone. Liliana's pretty sneaky, and Marika's ability by itself might be tough if we cooperate."

"But if we're fighting together, we'll be distracted by the possibility the other might explode!"

"Then we'll fight in a way that means this won't be a problem!"

Impossible! This girl was every bit as impossible as ever! That stupid cheery smile, her positive attitude even in this difficult situation! It was really ticking Nina off. It always had. Why was she able to smile and talk to people so easily, without having the faintest idea of what they were like? How could she have that personality and still become Zero, opposing the ideals she'd been raised in?

Nina was doing it again. Drawing away, retreating into her shell. It was frustrating. Infuriating. She was brilliant, but she couldn't handle people. She hid her face away, looking down and not at people, so they couldn't see how pretty she was. For years, Shirley had tried to drag her out of that shyness, but -

"Aw, what's the matter?"

"Having a rough patch?"

There were enemies on both sides of the corridor, running towards them with their weird spinning swords. One of them, Marika, with Ghost Love Score trailing behind her. It suddenly darted in front, and then the two Valkyries on that side of the corridor fired bullets right through the Stand, doubling them up in an instant.

There she was, Liliana, grinning ear to ear in revenge driven madness. Through Fire and Flame hovering overhead, flying through the light fixtures making the lights further down the corridor flicker as they turned off. A sudden burst of speed, and Liliana was upon her swinging her sword with brutal, swift strikes. This was bad. She was being pushed back.

With what little glass she had, Nina pulled it all up to deflect the bullets, but there were so many of them arriving at once that it was difficult to block them all. All the while the Valkyries were getting closer and closer. She found herself being forced to step back. Closer to Shirley.

This had to be deliberate. The way Liliana was attacking, she wasn't making any effort at all to hit Nina. Only her. That might be explained by her intention for vengeance, but... no, that didn't fit their teamwork.

"Something wrong?" Marika called out as she pointed her spinning sword at Nina. "You see, this is why a civilian normally can't hold a candle to a soldier."

"Your friendship doesn't amount to much, does it?" Liliana said in between her brutally fast attacks. "Can't trust each other, can't save each other."

"That's why you're going to lose," Marika said.

"That's why you're going to die," Liliana said.

This wasn't good. Shirley was right behind her. If she was a duplicate, then... She might have to attack her. Push her away.

They were even saying aloud what their strategy was. A superb mind game, no question of it. A bluff, or a double bluff? With Nina right behind her, she was left with no choice.

"She is, without a doubt... A duplicate," Nina said, then dove to the floor while creating a partial shield out of glass behind her.

"You can't fool me that easily," Shirley said. Schizoid Man grabbed hold of Nina's copy and tossed her right into Liliana. "There was plenty of glass in the door next to her, and yet Nina hadn't used her Heart of Glass since the moment I arrived. Not even to float shards in the air around her."

The copy of Shirley exploded behind her, just as she thought. She'd been watching the girl in her reflection, and noticed that she hadn't summoned Schizoid Man at all since they'd met up. More importantly, one of the Valkyries approaching from that side of the corridor had simply unscrewed a thermos and tossed its contents at Shirley while staying at a distance.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Liliana growled as Nina pounded ineffectually at her shoulders. "This isn't really my size." And only then did she freeze the girl solid.

"Now I get it," Nina said from the floor, while Marika stood back glaring down at her. "Your Stand ability... the copies can only last until they are made 'wet on the outside'. If they bleed, if they lick themselves, if something splashes them - they will explode."

"You didn't freeze her at first," Shirley said. "It's strange you didn't do that. Almost like you had to wait before doing it... wait until the light fixture melted, that is. Your Stand lets you transform drained heat energy into an upgrade of some kind, but only lets you do it one at a time, right?"

====Tohdoh====

The path of history is not one that can be predicted until after it is already written. Still, those attuned to the patterns of the past can, to a degree, foretell likely future events. Drawing upon his own knowledge, Kyoshiro Tohdoh was nervous. Not an emotion he felt readily. There it was all the same. Over the horizon, calamity loomed. Those who were on the side of freedom and those on the side of tyranny were always clashing, everywhere in the world all the time, but every so often their conflict would heat up and boil over, and then everyone suffered. Though they'd suffer worse if 'tyranny' won.

That said, he was now staring at the entrance in abject disbelief as a figure strode in through the door. A figure wearing a dark hooded robe that covered his entire body. Taking a deep breath, he rose to his feet and grabbed hold of the fool's arm, guiding him to the table.

"Are you trying to draw attention to yourself?" Tohdoh asked quietly. He pulled the hood down, revealing the face of no less than the Knight of Three, Gino Weinberg. "I told you to come here incognito."

"What, with a face like this you think anything I do will make it less recognisable?" Gino said. "Sorry, I'm kind of used to being the centre of attention. Should I have worn a grey robe instead?"

Tohdoh irately pushed a menu in front of his face. If this was the calibre of their enemy's intelligence, they'd have nothing to worry about... But as the Empire was so fond of saying, no two men are truly equal. Weinberg might be bereft in matters of stealth, but he had little doubt of the man's pedigree on the battlefield. Even Kallen Kozuki had shown a begrudging respect for his piloting ability, and she gave compliments to Britannian nobility the same way a dog lets go of a bone. Begrudgingly, irritably, and be careful if you try to take it while in their line of sight.

"Wear a hat," Tohdoh said, gesturing to his own black bucket hat. "Any sort will do. Keep your attire and manner casual, try to behave naturally and most people won't pay any attention to you. Even famous actors have been able to behave as mailmen in preparation for a role without going noticed using a technique like this."

"So, wouldn't it be better if they couldn't see my face or body at all?" Gino asked.

"The more you try to hide yourself, the more obvious it is you're trying to hide yourself," Tohdoh said. At this point he'd rather they'd met on the field of battle than in this supposedly clandestine meeting. "Seeing something strange like this sets off a person's natural curiosity. The best place to hide a tree is inside a forest."

"Alright, alright! I get the idea!" Gino said. He looked around. Then his eye seemed to glow with a strange light that Tohdoh only noticed because he was maintaining eye contact. "Nobody's looking at us right now anyway," he said after a moment. "So. How are things going on your end?"

"Badly." Tohdoh took a deep breath and sipped from his tea. Hrm. It felt as though they'd somewhat missed the point. It didn't taste bad exactly, but since it was not what he was expecting it didn't sit well with him. "At this stage it's all but inevitable. Tensions are too high. A dam will burst before too long. At most, a week."

The young man's face showed the correct level of seriousness. "Same on my side," Gino said. "The Chancellor hasn't helped matters either." He clenched a fist, and for a moment Tohdoh thought he might pound the table. "Guys I've worked with for years are following him. That's crazy! Turning their back on his M–" Tohdoh interrupted him by drumming obnoxiously on the table. They both know who he meant without that kind of specifics. Gino seemed to get the idea. "I'm getting the feeling like those caught in the middle are itching to throw down with an external enemy, and there's one left. You get me?"

"There are those on my side who view your internal conflict as yet another military trick," Tohdoh said. "Like that stunt in Africa."

"Tsch! With those things flying around it won't be a war. It'll be..." Gino trailed off and grasped at the side of his head. It was strange, but then again humans often forget that their enemies are humans too. He must have seen the reports first hand, given his position. The death tally, the devastation... From what Tohdoh had glimpsed it had already given him nightmares. What might this boy be enduring? "You know, we're pretty sure we know who was responsible. If you guys hadn't got the records first -"

"It wouldn't help you if you did," Tohdoh said. Besides which, handing those documents over would be above and beyond their little... agreement. Gino, he could probably trust to not use that information against them. Others he would have to share it with for that data to have the effect Gino wanted, they could not be trusted. "All we know is that someone on your side must have done it and that would not be enough to help you."

They fell silent for a moment. This was a key problem with their agreement, and they'd both known that back then, when they were discussing what to do about JOJO. It had been a strange few hours, where it had seemed inevitable that a ragtag group from all three major factions would have to come together to face the might of the entire world at once-

But then, it ended before they finished their first meeting. The world had been saved. Yet it seemed a pyrrhic victory, for now humanity would be plunged into something far worse. Total war, with supernatural powers, F.L.E.I.J.A. and Gods only know what else. And what was Tohdoh fighting for? His nation was free. His people, rebuilding after the occupation.

This was a fight against evil that might destroy humanity. On realising that, and meeting with the idealistic, yet patriotic, Knight of Three Tohdoh had thought he might be able to take a cue from his student. If he could use Gino as the means to affect change from within the Britannian system...

"Do you really think it would have worked?" Gino asked. "Uniting the world against him, by setting himself up as the villain to be overthrown. From where I'm sitting it sure didn't work."

"That is to be expected," Tohdoh said. "For such a scheme to meet success, it would need time. Several months, if not years - and his heart would have to be in it. Whatever else JOJO might have been, his heart was not truly in his actions. He was a vampire in a literal sense, a zombie in another."

"You're half right," Gino said. "His heart wasn't in it - but I don't think it would've worked even if he did."

There was no way to argue that point. They didn't live in a world where the idea could be tested. Was that for better or for ill? Again, no way to know. The die is cast. You could only step forward. The future is always ahead of you, and the past is always behind. Time marches on.

"Should I take it that you are still loyal to your side?" Tohdoh asked. He knew the answer. Gino nodded. A firm, certain nod. Tohdoh felt a reluctant respect. He might not be the brightest spark, but there was a sense about him that he'd burn through steel with his determination. It felt somewhat similar to Suzaku, in that sense only.

"I don't understand people who would go against their own nations," Gino said.

Tohdoh nodded in understanding. "Then some advice: To love something is to love all of it, warts and all. You must appreciate its flaws and its shine. Do not accept the flaws as immutable, but recognise them for the flaws that they are, and then work to polish them." He closed his eyes. What a dangerous path this was to tread upon. "You have seen the merest glimpse of your own nation's cruelty. Work hard to change it from within, as I work to change it from without."

There was a sense between them that neither had gained from this conversation what they had come for, but neither was walking away empty handed either. The information they had hoped to gleam was not forthcoming - but there was a hint of hope for what might come next. Both of them needed that. This was a precious thing. If they could have hope, they could inspire it in others.

"You realise the next time we meet, it'll be on the battlefield right?" Gino said. "I won't be holding back."

"I would expect nothing less," Tohdoh said.

====Shirley====

The club room was quiet. It was in between meetings. A prime opportunity for the aspiring student to get ahead on their homework. Still. Shirley was staring at her physics book without moving a muscle. Staring at the words and numbers on the page. Not writing a word.

"Um..." Nina piped up. "Are - Are you having trouble with your homework?"

"N-no!" Shirley said, accidentally tossing the book into the air. It landed on her head. Split open at a random page. Covering her eyes. Like the world's worst designed hat. "Yes..." she meekly admitted. The book was removed, and she turned back to the traitorous page. How dare it. How dare it claim to be a page intended to teach, when it made no sense at all. "This isn't my best topic."

"Y-Yes, you always seem to have trouble with maths..." Nina muttered. "I still remember when you asked about dividing by zero."

"Why should zero be so special? Huh? Why is it the only number that you can't divide by?!"

Nina stared patiently at her, then adjusted her glasses and looked to the page.

"Conservation of energy," Nina said. "Um... I guess this isn't the best way to explain it. They jumped right into the proof first, when this is the sort of thing best understood by explaining it in words..."

"Amazing, Nina! You understand this?" Shirley gasped. "There's Greek letters in it and everything!"

Nina blushed. "Well... It's not too hard to understand. Basically, energy cannot be created or destroyed –"

"It can only be transformed from one form to another," Zero said, while Liliana smirked. Holding aloft a frozen solid body, a copy of Nina Einstein. "The same could be said of hatred, Liliana Vergamon. The hatred Shirley felt towards West for his role in her father's death must have become the hatred you feel for me."

"Hate you?" Liliana asked. She cocked her head, then lifted the fake Nina's body up into the air. "I don't hate you. Not one little bit." The copy's body was tossed towards Shirley with all the casual ease someone might throw an empty soda can in a bin. "Actually, I respect you a lot for being able to beat that crazy uncle of mine!"

"You're as mad as he is!" Zero yelled. She hated to do this, but Schizoid Man punched that copy right back at Liliana, who deftly sidestepped it with little issue. "Break this cycle, before you pull anyone else into it!"

"Easy to say, when it's your turn to get bit by the cycle of revenge," Liliana said. She stepped back and tapped her chin. "So? You should come get me before she thaws. Right? That's how my power works, right? I can only drain one thing at a time, so you'd better get me first."

She was running away! Again! Shirley shook her head in disbelief, these hit and run attacks were getting very -

Her thought was interrupted when Nina - or her copy - exploded violently. Shirley was lucky, she wasn't standing close enough to it. If not for her moment of disbelief at Liliana's continued cowardly tactics, she would have run right into the blast range. As it was, she'd been sent back, left tumbling, disoriented. Where was she? What direction was she facing again? Her heart was racing in her chest, and -

As she staggered to her feet she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Aw, what's the matter?" Liliana asked. Schizoid Man whipped around - but she was so groggy that its fist went into the wall. Then she was backhanded down the corridor, hard. "Is this really the same girl that beat my uncle? Please. This won't be half the victory it should be."

"Th-that's what this is about?" Zero said from the floor. "You... You want to prove you're better than him?"

Liliana shrugged, and now she really could see the depths of madness running through this family. No, through this Empire. The need to be the best. It wasn't a mere competitive urge, nor a strive for genuine improvement. It was arrogance. Pride in oneself for the sake of that pride. It was pitiable, disgusting, and wasteful. It was a truth she would have never seen, if Lelouch hadn't opened her eyes to it. Having said that... It seemed as though Liliana was also blind to the true nature of Shirley's latest attack.

A steam pipe burst from where Schizoid Man had punched, and spewed its contents over Liliana. Water so hot it was literally boiling, scalding water that no human could bear to be in.

"Drain that, if you dare!" Zero warned. It was an impossible choice for her, now. Be boiled alive, or freeze the water - and risk encasing herself in ice. She shook her head. Phew! A reprieve. "Let cooler heads prevail!"

The next thing she saw was a giant ice fist heading for her face. "Sorry, side effect of the Stand," Liliana childishly chirped. "Total immunity to extreme temperature!"

"Ora!" Schizoid Man yelled, striking the fist with all of its might. The ice cracked. The attack kept coming. Zero was thrown back against the wall and slumped down. She rose up again to her feet. What had she increased this time? Her strength? No, that was a strong attack, but not nearly as strong as it should be. Nor her speed, or agility from the way she was moving. Deep breaths escaped her. What... what had she increased this time?

"You know what did my uncle in at the end?" Liliana said, dancing in place without a bead of sweat on her forehead. "It wasn't you. It was everyone else he'd been fighting. You came in at the end and then you stole the kill. I've got your measure now, you wouldn't have beaten him."

"S-says... You...!" Zero said. Wait... Wait! That was it! At the very end, the thing that had defeated West was that his Stand couldn't... It couldn't replenish his Stamina! But Liliana's could. She'd increased her strength, durability, speed and recoverability... but also her Stand's range and her flexibility already. Schizoid Man lunged forward to attack. Stamina was a useful thing to have in a fight, but right now she would be a bit more vulnerable -

"Says me," Liliana agreed. Through Fire and Flame flew out of the wall at a perpendicular angle and behind Schizoid Man, then wrapped its strings around the mighty Stand's throat. At the instant it did so, Zero felt a tight constriction around her own throat. "I wonder... I wonder..." Liliana said. "What will happen first? Will you suffocate to death, or will this ice melt? If it melts, I'll just freeze your neck, and that's the end of it. Which would you prefer, little girl?"

Zero couldn't answer. She grasped at her own neck, desperate for air. She sank to her knees unable to bear it any longer. Her vision was already turning blurry, she'd pushed herself so hard and now she was being strangled to death through her Stand. Schizoid Man tried swinging its fists, but it couldn't reach far enough to hit with anything like enough impact.

Meanwhile, Liliana was sauntering over with her sword drawn.

"Any last words?" she mocked. The sword began to spin menacingly. "It'll give me a little time to decide exactly how I should kill you."

In response to such an absurd question, there was only one thing Zero could do. The same thing West had done all that time ago. Laugh. Laugh in the face of death. Laugh as her breath was being stolen from her. Laugh until it hurts.

Then she slammed a hand against the floor, and flicked a seemingly innocuous button past Liliana's feet. A button she had grabbed earlier, when she first threw that copy of Nina at Liliana. A gift from her precious friend that she didn't even know she had given.

The explosion sent Liliana flying this time around, colliding hard with the other end of the corridor. As she sunk to her knees Zero rose, staggering, but able to breathe once again.

"G-Go on, try and hit me," Liliana said, struggling to get her bearings. "The second you touch me, I'll freeze your hands!"

Good point. Without saying a word, Zero snapped her fingers, and Schizoid Man brought out a frozen chicken. No heat to drain. Not exactly the easiest thing to wield in a menacing way, but if the look of mortal terror crossing Liliana's face was any indication, she must be doing something right.

"Say... Hi," Zero said between deep sucking breaths.

"H-Hi?" Liliana squeaked, looking up at her incoming doom. Which she probably never expected to take the form of frozen, rock hard poultry.

"Say... Hi... To your uncle... For me..." Zero finished. Schizoid Man rushed forward and pounded the girl in the stomach using the chicken, then alternated its attacks with a flurry of jabs, uppercuts and haymakers that made Zero feel very sorry. For the chicken. "Ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora!"

But then, she heard something. That is to say, Shirley heard something that made her blood run cold. In the blink of an eye she turned around and ran off down the corridor, leaving Liliana behind in a burbling heap on the floor.

====Nina====

"Big deal, you figured it out," Marika jeered. "Learn your place already, Einstein. You can't beat me. You literally can't. Hrm... You're a maths nerd, so let's put it this way. If your friend Shirley was here, you'd have 'infinite ammo'. However, I have an 'even bigger infinite' amount of ammo. So I'd still win."

"A-actually, I'd have a finite amount of power because there's only so much glass in the world," Nina stammered while kicking away on the floor, not willing to take the time to stand because who knows what Marika could do in that time. "So your analogy falls –"

"My point is that she's not here, so you stand even less of a chance!" Marika interrupted. She tapped her sword against the wall, while Ghost Love Score reached out towards her. "Now, be a good girl and die already. With that little glass, you can't do much by yourself."

"I can do th-this!"

A dirty little trick like this would likely not work more than once, but once might be enough. She hadn't actually been retreating, of course. She'd been luring Marika into a better spot to pull this off. Reflect beams of light from the fixtures above using what little glass she had, at perfectly calculated angles, and she created a dazzling beam that left Marika - and also, unfortunately, Nina - completely blind. Now was her chance, she could -

Live.

-Bolt down the corridor using the glass the same way a cat uses its whiskers. If a cat wants to tell if a hole is big enough for it to enter then it will test with its whiskers, which are the same size as its body. By using the glass to rotate around her body she could locate obstacles in her path and navigate around them, until these spots stopped their annoying dance party right in front of her eyes.

"There she is!" came from her left.

"After her!" came from her right.

Both times she adjusted course to get away from the noises. They faded, and her vision slowly returned while she leaned against a wall to catch her breath. When it did she realised she was alone, and that she was no longer in the cabins. How could she tell? Her acute scientific deductive prowess? The change in corridor layout? An instinct? A sixth sense?

"Medical ward," read the sign in front of her.

"I see you!" Marika jeered from in front of her. In front! How did she - Never mind! Nina threw open the door next to her and rushed inside. Not thirty seconds later, Marika followed her in. Holding a pistol this time instead of a sword. "How clear do I need to make this?" she asked, sauntering inside while Nina was at the back of the room. "A civvy brat like you has no place on the battlefield."

Ghost Love Score hovered menacingly in the air in between them. Marika raised her pistol to open fire. Then, the drawers next to Nina burst open. Syringes, beakers, all flew out and formed a shield in front of Nina.

"There's... more glass... in a medical ward than you'd expect," Nina said, maintaining a steady eye contact with Marika. "You... shouldn't... have come alone."

Marika cocked her head. "Nah. I wanted to see your bratty face when I did this."

She pulled the trigger. A bullet didn't come out of the gun. Nor any other kind of metal. Instead it was something usually much more harmless. The meaning behind it flew right over Nina's head until it was too late.

After all, what Marika fired wasn't a regular pistol. It was actually a water pistol in disguise. The streak of water hit Nina's shield. Pain followed. Indescribable pain, but she'd try anyway. Everywhere hurt. Her vision was clouded over with red and misery, and she couldn't even stay on her feet anymore because it hurt to even stand. And to breathe. And to think.

"Hahaha! That expression was perfect! You see, this is what a soldier does!" Marika taunted. "Predict the enemy's movements, and set traps for them! Of course I knew you'd want to go to the medical ward! Of course I knew you'd want their glass! So I copied the lab equipment and had the staff all clear out!"

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. tired. Pain. So much pain, so much pain, so much pain it hurt it hurt everything hurt hurt hurt hurt.

Live.

Nina was dimly aware of a glass stretcher forming under her body and zipping out of the room, to the point of making Marika jump out of the way. She was looking up at the ceiling. She had to be. But it was strange. She was having trouble focusing on the lights. Like she knew that they were there but she couldn't quite retain awareness of them. There were voices, too. Voices off in the distance, shouting her name, and in response the stretcher underneath grew faster and faster and -

"Eh...?" Nina wondered aloud. She reached out a hand to the sky above. "Is that... Jupiter?"

"No, it's not nearly that simple," a voice said from somewhere close by. Nina sat up. Her hands automatically patted her body down. No blood. No injuries. Her glass stretcher was gone. "Nina Einstein. I didn't expect to see you here so soon."

'Here' was not anywhere she recognised. A platform in the clouds, which were billowing around. No land in sight. There was something like - like the ruins of a temple at the top of austere steps, and at the top of those were a figure with their back turned to her, so that she could not see who it was.

"What's going on?" Nina asked.

"What do you live for?" the voice countered. "Until you know the answer, you will not understand."

What did she have to live for? Images flashed around her. The scenery itself showing a slideshow of her life. Working away at a project that was transformed into a weapon unparalleled in its destructive capacity. She would be known as the girl genius who reinvented slaughter. Countless lives lost because of her curiosity, her drive to solve the mysteries of the world - and set her place as a worthwhile member of Britannian society. She saw it all laid bare. Then she saw herself become a Stand user. A freak. She saw herself butcher some Elevens who were trying to take her prisoner. She saw herself hurt Rivalz.

She saw herself hurting others. Again and again and again -

"I see," the voice said. "Then don't live for that."

The images changed. Milly forcing the club into a cosplay contest. Rivalz teaches her how to play poker. Helping Shirley with her homework. Lelouch helped her with cooking. Sayoko sewing up a tear in her uniform. Kallen shared her lunch when Nina worked over the break that one time. Nunnally told a silly joke she heard that day. Suzaku carried some heavy equipment for her.

"Live for them."

A tear rolled down Nina's cheek. "I thought I'd be happy if I worked hard for it. Proved I was useful, showed everyone what I could do." She wiped it off her face. "And it just made me miserable."

"That's right, it did," the voice said. So familiar. A girl's voice, no question of it, but where had she heard it before? "Then don't make the same mistakes that I made. Don't shut yourself away. Don't think you don't need them. Because you do. Because everyone needs someone, and there's no shame in needing help."

"I can't –"

"Trust your friends," the voice repeated. "Trust them, and they'll give you a new reason to live."

"H-H-Help me, Shirley! Please help me!"

The temple around her shattered, and she was in a medical ward on that accursed Siege Perilous. Slouched against the wall, door open, sitting in the dark. She couldn't move her legs. The pain wasn't so bad anymore, but she felt so tired. After a moment, a figure stood in the doorway, and a sob escaped Nina's lips.

"N-Nina!" Shirley gasped. Thank goodness! Her dear friend had arrived. Now... now they could put an end to this once and for all!

====Shirley====

Disgust and rage competed for attention within Shirley's mind, though ultimately both were beaten down by compassion. Hearing Nina's panicked, desperate voice had tripped her protective instincts and compelled her to this room faster than she thought she could move.

Finding Nina in this condition broke her heart. A sobbing bloody wreck, reaching out an arm for help. In that condition it was a wonder she could even move that much. So she moved into the room, but then stopped as a horrible thought hit her.

It might be a copy, Zero thought. Then we should leave.

No, Shirley countered. If that is Nina then -

If it's not, then we risk the Brain Raid activating. It must be stopped. Dio must be stopped, if we're going to save everyone.

If we leave Nina here, then we're not saving everyone, Shirley thought. In her own mind, she was standing back to back with Zero. Herself facing into the room. Zero facing away. If you want to abandon my friend here, then you really are nothing.

That internal conflict now dealt with, she rushed across the room. "Nina, hold on! I'll - I'll stop the bleeding. Oh my god, you'll be okay, I promise!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

While Schizoid Man was pulling out all sorts of bandages and gauze and pins and antiseptic, Shirley turned around to see three of the four Valkyries standing in the doorway. Shortly thereafter joined by a limping Liliana.

"You got a choice here," one of the Valkyries - Gosh, Shirley hadn't even learned her name. "You can fix up your friend and stop the bleeding - "

"Or you can defend yourselves from our attack," said the other unnamed Valkyrie.

"Marika, Marika!" Liliana cooed. "You came up with this, didn't you? Oh, such a cunning plan! We've got them both trapped now. Of course little Miss Fenette would come running if her friend was in danger."

"You knew she was in here already?" Shirley asked. Schizoid Man was still working away, applying pressure to the worst of the injuries, tying up bandages around the rest, even pulled out some sutures from somewhere and started sewing. Really though, her question was just stalling for time and nothing more.

"Duh. There's a trail of blood leading right into the room," Marika said, tapping the floor. "Kind of makes it easy to follow, you know?"

"I... did... know..." Nina said. "A s-soldier... predicts their enemy... and sets a trap. That's what you said... Well, here's something... from a scientist." Then, quite without warning, several glass needles appeared in the air. All of them aimed at the Valkyrie. Impossible! They were moving outside of her range! "Blood... cells... live for up to... two hours... outside the human body."

The glass needles flew into the Valkyries necks, and they shrieked in pain. However, Shirley didn't think it would be over that easily. Her eyes went to Liliana, and Through Fire and Flame. She was up to something. Definitely up to something!

That something was made obvious after a moment when the floor frosted over. She'd drained the heat out of the floor, killing the blood cells allowing Nina to manipulate the glass. At worst they'd have lost a little blood, a bit of bleeding from the neck, but no major damage. Certainly not on the scale of what was done to Nina.

"That was close," Marika said. "That almost cut my throat!"

"Really Marika, did you think I'd let an attack like that get through?" Liliana tsked, reaching up to stroke Marika's cheek, then down to her neck. "So clumsy. Trying to tear into the jugular then not using enough force to finish the job."

"Sch-Schizoid man! Keep patching her up!" Shirley yelled. She had no choice. Even if it was a little time, if she could buy anything at all... She stood in front of Nina with her arms outstretched, defying the Valkyrie with all her heart and soul. "I won't let them hurt you anymore! Even if I have to use my own body to keep you safe!"

"You're probably thinking something like 'he cannot kill me in a hospital and expect to get away with it,' or something like that," Kewell said.

"Nice effort," Marika said. "But without your Stand, you're nothing special."

"Allow me," Liliana said, pounding her fist into her hand. Her injuries from before healed up right before Shirley's eyes. "Any last words, this time?"

"It's really not that complicated."

"Nina, I'm sorry," Shirley said. "I'm really sorry for what's about to happen." Liliana stopped, clearly enjoying the moment. "It all goes back to when I killed Liliana's uncle, that lunatic West. I still remember how it felt. Making my Stand suffocate him to death."

"I'm going to kill you and make it look like an accident by injecting this right into your veins."

"So I'm sorry, Nina," Shirley said. "I'm so sorry."

Describing it as "an empty syringe" was a misleading way to phrase it. Empty implied there was a complete absence of matter within the syringe, but in most common usage empty means something else entirely. It means that only one kind of thing is present that is ubiquitous to the point you don't really think about it as a substance.

"I'm sorry, that you had to deliberately kill them like this."

A substance called 'air'.

Liliana's eyes widened, and her left arm went suddenly rigid. She blinked quickly, then tapped her left arm with her right hand, which then went to her chest. "Wha-?" she muttered. "What's going... What's happening...?"

"Ggggkkkk!" Marika sputtered, bent double. "My- My heart! What's - What's going on?"

"It hurts!" another Valkyrie yelled. "It feels like my heart is bursting open!"

Shirley dropped her guard. Of course she'd noticed it the instant Nina had done it. She'd not been intending to cut them open or anything like that. Her target was more insidious. Those needles had directly pressed air into the veins of all four Valkyries. A series of small air bubbles that would disrupt the heart's rhythms to a fatal degree. It didn't matter that Liliana had drained the heat from the floor, the moment those shards broke skin they were already dead.

"You'll be okay," Shirley said. Ah, let's see... Let's see... "Your blood type is A! Schizoid Man, we need to hook her up, quickly!"

"How did you know?" Nina asked. Let's see now. If she remembered the emergency medical manual correctly - oh, what was she doing, she could summon one of those manuals for reference! "How did you know my blood type?"

"Oh, Milly had me join her on a first aid course last summer. She had me remember every student council member's blood type 'just in case'."

"She did that...?"

"Well, she remembered every student's blood type... so it's more like she guilted me into it."

They shared a little laugh at that. This was so like Milly. In no time at all, Shirley had her set up. Blood flowing back into her of the right type, her wounds patched up. She looked like the walking dead, but that wasn't a comparison she wanted to dwell on right now.

"What are you doing?" Nina suddenly asked. "Holding my hand. Staying with me like this?"

"I can't leave you like this."

"Yes, you can," Nina said. "I... I'm in no condition to move. This transfusion will take hours. If you stay here, then Dio might activate the Brain Raid."

"If I leave you here, you'll be vulnerable –"

To which, Nina lifted the glass off the floor next to her.

What we had here was a battle of mutual trust creating an opposing view of what is needed. A reflection of their relationship, twisted around into something new. Nina wanted Shirley to leave her alone. Shirley wanted to stay with her friend. The reasons this time were different, at least from Nina's point of view.

"Save the world," Nina whispered. "If I keep you from doing that, then my life isn't worth saving."

For a long moment Shirley stared at Nina, feeling a great change within this girl. There was a mutual camaraderie that had never been there before. A sense that she was still the same Nina as before, but a little more open and a little more confident. Living, while her body was on the verge of death.

"Stay safe," Shirley said. "I won't forgive you if you die." Then she ran off with tears in her eyes, cursing at Zero for agreeing with this course of action. She wasn't doing this to save the world. She was doing this to save her friend.

=====Nina=====

Once Shirley had gone, Nina sighed and formed her collection of glass into a pole, to knock some books from a shelf. Oops! Careful! Almost knocked it into the blood pack, that would have been very bad. Good thing she had caught it with that extra glass platform.

Anyway. A medical book. Biology wasn't exactly what she was skilled in, but reading always helped her pass the time. She had plenty of time right now. So she flipped open to a random page and started reading.

"If a patient loses over 7 pints of blood in an injury before receiving a transfusion, they may well seem to recover following a transfusion, only to die hours later of multiple organ failure," Nina read. "This is because... those organs will have been starved of blood, therefore receiving irreparable damage."

Nina looked at the blood on the floor and winced. "Seven pints...?" she said. "Oh...oh dear... I don't think it's quite as much as that..."

Nina Einstein: Retired

Valkyries: Deceased

====Dio====

Why would Dio Brando recreate the Joestar Mansion in his seat of ultimate power? Because he understands full well that one must conquer one's own past to push into one's future. So he did what he always did, he conquered that past. Crushed it into fine powder and then rebuilt it here, a monument to his childhood that set him on his path to glory.

"It's quite pointless running and hiding," Dio said, his voice booming through the grand structure. "Though, please, do not misunderstand. It is not my intention to chase. Why should I, Dio, suffer the indignity of chasing intruders to my castle?"

He smiled, confident in his victory and leaned back, letting his arms hang down as he puffed out his chest. Their intention was clear; their strategy obvious. Lure him into the pursuit. Lay traps and ambushes. They would fail, of course, but Dio Brando had already established his superiority over these lesser beings, these primitive minded weaklings.

Victory was in front of him already. Joseph and his teenage lackeys were the ones pressed for time, not Dio. Let them run. Let them cower. There is no place on Earth that would be safe, once the Brain Raid activated. It was the ultimate act of dominance: To crush his opponent's plans... by doing absolutely nothing. How thoroughly delicious.

"Are you sure that's a good ide~ea?" Joseph's voice sang out, echoing back at Dio. "There's no telling what sort of mischi~ief we might get up to if left alo~one!"

Taunt away, Joseph Joestar. Honestly now even grouped with a bunch of children you're the most immature out of all of... What was that smell?

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Milly Ashford, coming to you live from the Siege Perilous! We're here to party all night, and let me tell you, things are gonna heat up around here real sharpish in a minute!"

That was smoke. Definitely smoke! It began to billow down the stairs, and shortly after it a red flame that spread quickly along the carpet. Those fools! They could not attack Dio, so instead -

Dio snarled and strode into the flames. They licked at his flesh and tasted only the floor at his feet. He strode forward leaving the floor burned black with his footsteps. His purpose was to survey the damage, and so he moved on through it, seeing various patches of fires set out along the upper halls. Voodoo Kingdom quickly extinguished those it encountered through deep, sucking breaths - But the question did remain within Dio's mind.

What if the Brain Raid had been damaged in all of this?

His face burned brighter than any fire, but it burned in anger, not oxygen. Dio strode towards the chamber housing the Brain Raid equipment and threw open the doors: He would not allow them to destroy this work so readily!

"Lord Dio," the researcher by the door said, bowing as is appropriate. "Rejoice, for the Brain Raid is almost –"

When the door had been pushed open there had been several scientists and engineers at work on this mighty machine. Those in the middle of a task had noticed his entrance and continued working - he did not think ill of them for this, as they were working in his greater glory - while others had stopped to briefly kneel or bow or curtsy before resuming their duties. There had been business, activity and noise.

It had all stopped around him. All motion ceased. All human motion, that is. And then a gunshot rang out from behind his head. It struck the back of Dio's head. Voodoo Kingdom could have blocked it easily enough, though there was a risk it was a Gleipnir Round. Far more satisfying to shift the bullet and the damage it caused into the floor beneath his feet.

"A Scandal in Bohemia was written when I was a young man," Dio said. Voodoo Kingdom had already fixed the boy in place with his Geass echoing through it, leaving him no ability to move. Unless Dio himself willed it. "Even I, Dio, was impressed by such a deception, to play upon the psychological weakness of his enemy." Ah, there was confusion upon his face. How had Dio managed to move even within Rolo's Geass range? As if in answer he slowly turned around, revealing his grip upon the head of the researcher that had greeted him. "Now, boy. Your talents as an assassin are remarkable. I had not heard you behind me at all, and your use of Geass was extremely timely. How long can you hold it, I wonder?"

The boy began to sweat, and his breathing grew laboured. It was clear he was struggling, trying to deactivate his power. No. No, those who could not control their own power deserved to be killed by it. That was the way of the world.

But then a strip of cloth flew through the air and wrapped around Rolo's eyes. Alas, his Geass deactivated when eye contact was broken, and then Joseph Joestar rushed in, sprinting with high knees like a fool directly into his own doom.

"Hermit Purple!" Joseph yelled. Dio rolled his eyes and moved to the side. The fool thought to counter his Geass by covering his eyes with cloth? How foolhardy can you -

The vine whip suddenly lurched directly into the side of Dio's face, slapping him hard across his beautiful cheek. It stung for a moment. Not physically. His pride was injured. The impact of the slap itself was merely transferred back into Hermit Purple upon impact.

Dio growled and stepped out to face the grandson of his nemesis. Through Voodoo Kingdom, he took a closer look at the man, then he performed an experiment. He opened the mouth of the scientist he had grabbed, then seized hold of one of his teeth and yanked it out - then flicked it at Joseph, who nimbly stepped around it.

"I see," Dio said, ignoring the screaming man in his grip for he was still necessary to defend against Rolo's Geass. "The hair on your arms are raised up, and sparkling with Ripple energy, Joseph Joestar. You are using them to sense the subtle changes in air from movement around you, fighting without seeing."

"Ohoho?" Joseph taunted, cupping his ear. "So what if I am? So what if that's what I'm doing? What do you intend to do about it?"

What indeed? First, let's dispose of the assassin, shall we? Dio pulled out a certain item from inside his coat. A little unconventional to use it against an enemy, but under these circumstances... It would be beautifully sadistic to kill him in this way. Blinding himself to the sight of Dio, he would instead show that boy the gift... of the face of the God before Dio!

""What do I intend to do?" Dio mockingly asked. "I intend to make you suffer, Joestar!" Then he threw it, the Stand creating arrow, directly at the boy hunched over trying to recover from his own weakness. Then he threw the scientist at Joestar as well, having no more need of the man -

"No!"

Only for something more delicious to happen. That ordinary, boring boy Rivalz Cardemonde pushed the blinded Rolo aside from the incoming attack only to take it himself, directly into the chest. That weak willed boy had no chance of developing a Stand of his own, certainly not one he could control. Being pierced by the arrow could only kill him.

"R-Rivalz... No! You did it again, didn't you?" Rolo cried, blindly feeling out for his... friend. How thoroughly unbecoming of an assassin. Dio might have to retract his compliments for the boy's skills, it would devalue them if he complimented so lightly. "Stop trying to protect me, this world isn't one you're meant to be in."

"Rivalz!" Ah, and now the Ashford girl saunters out. Her compassion is almost equal to her beauty, as she cradles the boy's head in her lap. How touching. While she does not return his blatant romantic affections, she does still care for him. "Don't you dare, not you. You were meant to get past all this, the worst thing that was meant to happen to you was being a bit lonely for a while."

"Dio!" Joseph yelled, and then Hermit Purple was around Dio's throat. "I can sense you watching them like a carnival side act. Should I put on some tricks for you, would that keep you entertained?"

Ah, there was the typical Joestar outrage. "Useless," Dio smirked, having his invincible Stand punch him in the head - an impact that he then immediately transferred into Hermit Purple. "Useless, useless, useless! Your attempt to distract me was quite thoroughly useless!"

One last punch came in, and this time Joseph was sent flying, landing right in front of a certain Princess in disguise, trying to approach the Brain Raid equipment. Euphemia stumbled back in shock, giving Dio the chance he needed to grab her, drag her in. "You wish to see the Brain Raid, your highness?" Dio mocked, taking care to hold her body in between him and the others. "Very well then! You shall see it in all its glory, now!"

"Lord Dio, the Brain Raid is fully prepared for your use."

"No!" Ah, it seems that Rolo had decided to rejoin them. He lifted a gun, and took aim at the machinery, but it was a trivial matter for Voodoo Kingdom to block. Even those spinning bullets were no threat to him, and that one shot was all he was going to get. He'd taken that cloth off from around his eyes so he could take that shot, leaving him vulnerable once again to Dio's Geass.

"Chancellor Brando, you will let me go this instant!" Euphemia protested, struggling in his grip, quite pointlessly as well. He ignored her protests and took his seat, or rather his throne, using his Stand to restrain her while he attached the equipment to his head.

"You are all far too late," Dio said. "I will be magnanimous, and allow you to behold my vision for the world. I will elevate humanity by eliminating the weak and cultivating the strong."

"You don't have the right!" Joseph yelled.

"I do!" Dio yelled back, Voodoo Kingdom wrapping its hands around Euphemia's neck. "For mine is the wisdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever!" he raised his hand into the air, and slammed it down onto the activation button. "Amen!"

"...Tsk... Your next line will be... useless, useless, useless..." Joseph muttered, trembling in something like fear. Such a thing did not matter. It was unimportant in the face of Dio Brando finally meeting his destiny head on.

"Hello Dio. I'm disappointed."

What? That voice... Jonathan?

"If you are hearing this recording, you attempted to make use of the Brain Raid after my activation. Dio, after all of our games of chess, over so many decades, did you truly believe for one moment that I would leave you this avenue?"

A hazy mist fell over Dio's vision. It couldn't be... It couldn't possibly be! Jonathan had anticipated he would recover the Brain Raid and set up a failsafe even Dio couldn't detect?!

"We grew up together, Dio. Even after all this time, it is hard for me to say that I hated you. I knew that I had to stop you, I knew that you had condemned me to this fate. You were the cause of so much of my suffering, and that of so many others. Yet, you were still my brother."

Jonathan! Even though you're dead - Even though you're long gone! You are still a thorn in Dio's side?! Anger began to fill Dio's soul, quickly outweighing his normally unassailable confidence. He felt the machinery around him spark and spit, frying as an image of Jonathan's face flashed in front of his mind's eye.

"Goodbye, Dio. This time, I call checkmate."

Something shot into Dio's brain as the equipment around him failed. Trying to... interfere with his Geass?! This was JOJO's trap! Rob him of his power! JOJO would not be so cruel as to leave him a vegetable, but he had made one miscalculation. He would have thought that Dio would be too isolated to protect himself. At his moment of triumph he would surely have nobody near him.

But he did have someone. A hostage. The perfect candidate to transfer this interference into! He sent it into Euphemia's brain - whatever it was - before it could have its effect on him. She collapsed. Her body went limp, wide eyed and twitching before he dropped her to the floor.

"Useless!" Dio screamed, tearing off his helmet. The researchers and engineers fled from the room rather than risk his wrath. As well they should! "Useless!" Not detecting JOJO's trap! "Useless!" he yelled. Voodoo Kingdom began to punch the pointless machinery. "Useless!" It was obvious! Blatant! Of course Jonathan would take that kind of precaution! "Useless!" Before Voodoo Kingdom's furious fists it was reduced to scrap in an instant. Yet his anger abides. His fury unsated. His pride wounded in a way that his Stand could not repair. He rounds on movement in the corner of his eye. Euphemia's twitching body. "Useless!"

But Joseph took the blow instead, protecting her with his body. The Joestar was sent sliding across the floor, nursing an obviously broken arm. Wait... What had Joseph said before? His previous prediction?

"You knew," Dio snarled.

"I suspected," Joseph admitted. "Hmph. My grandfather was a lot of things, but he was no fool."

Of course. Of course. The Brain Raid wasn't his real concern, was it? He was worried what Dio would do in the aftermath. Rolo was still held captive by his Geass. He made the boy lift the gun to his own head, but held off a moment on pulling the trigger.

"Set a course for Pendragon," Dio said into the intercom. Then, on releasing it, he chuckled and told his enemies "If I cannot have ultimate power, then none can. On arriving, the Siege Perilous shall crash upon the capital city. Rogue elements hijacking the craft shall be blamed, and in the confusion I shall rise to the top as I always have. No more Royal Family. No more Emperor. Only Dio shall remain. You shall all be a slave to my power."

Then, for the second time within ten minutes, Dio took a flying motorcycle to the face. A trivial thing to deflect into the ground. Nonetheless... Something felt different that time. Upon impact, the pieces of the motorcycle began to glow with a strange energy, and then flew back towards the door.

"Th-Thanks," said a boy, leaning against the doorframe with an arrow sticking out of his chest. The impossible had happened. Even Dio could hardly believe his eyes. "I was wondering what I should call this thing."

And in front of him, a motorcycle revved its engines, then the front of it opened up to reveal a beast like maw. Oh ho? What was this? A new punching bag for him to take his frustrations out on?

"A normal boy like you would oppose me?" Dio asked. "An ordinary boy like Rivalz Cardemonde had developed a Stand?"

"I'll show you," Rivalz said, barely on his feet. "I'll show you what an ordinary person can do!"

[To Be Continued |\|]

Powerslave

User: Rivalz

Destructive Power: C

Speed: B

Range: B

Durability: :C

Precision: C

Learning Potential: A

Abilities

Enter the Risen Osiris: Possess one inanimate object at a time, turning it into a beast.

Slave to the Power of Death: The user's only control over this Stand is the ability to summon or dismiss it. When summoned it will automatically attack the person viewed by the user as their most dangerous enemy. Damage is not reflected on the user, as this is an automatic type.