Chapter Text
It was a hard walk, Adel had to navigate around the city. Sometimes, she wondered what she was even looking for. Ever since Sarah disappeared in that strange alleyway with that crew of men and women, there could be millions of places she went off to. Millions of possibilities to be made with no thorough conclusion. She narrowed her focus and pushed through dense crowds of pedestrians and tourists, but no matter how hard she pushed there was simply nothing.
“Hmm, this isn’t getting anywhere.” She decided. There was just too much of the big city to navigate and track down. She had to find away to make the right path, to find John Connor. It was imperative that little boy must be found. He may not be threatening now, but give him time to grow and he’ll develop into the demon they know.
She stands up on a hill and uses the advantageous height to peer over to the scenery below.
“There are millions of places where you could have gone Sarah,” She thought.
She looks at the ground for a moment, her mind races with thoughts. They had to have taken a similar path. Yet, given the sand she could hardly recognize the footsteps of any of the men and women accompanying her. They did everything to cover their tracks.
A small breeze flows through the air.
“But where?”
She narrows her eyes and leans forward.
“Where?”
For a moment, her blind focus on Sarah made her nearly forget her real mission. Her eyes lighten up as she turns back to the dense collage of Skyscrapers behind her. Maybe she wasn’t looking in the right direction. Maybe she was looking somewhere else.
“Wait,” She thought.
“Maybe I don’t have to.”
“I can just inch myself towards John. What was I thinking?” She steps forward, nearing the buildings. A smirk built behind her shawl. Her eyes squinted with an expression of delight and grew under her shawl. Of course, this was the simplest answer. She was a doctor, after all.
“If I draw myself towards Sarah.” She thought.
“Then John’s little future team will come running.”
“So where are you Johnny boy?” She thought.
“But wait, something isn’t quite right is there?”
Calum turns back, he sees something watching him from afar. He turns over and his eyes widen with a burning sense of dread.
“Shit.” He thought.
“Uh— Adel.” He says, gesturing over towards the figure watching them from a distance behind.
“Doctor?”
She keeps walking, looking up to the sky with wonder. Calum turns back, seemingly unaware of Adel’s current track through the city.
“Doctor!”
“Now tell me this, Johnny Boy…” She thought.
“DOCTOR!” An empty word echoing through the dark. She was so enraptured in her own mind that she hardly paid attention to Calum’s panicked words. Something wasn’t piecing together quite right in her mind. Why was there no one to attend John? On the same note? Why so many must flock his poor mother? What made her worth more protecting?
She knew that she could never touch her, not when her little robot lackey was around.
“God damn it.” He curses.
“ADEL!” He screams. He turns back and bolts towards her.
---
The dark-skinned woman steps forward and peers over the boat. A slight breeze passes through her beaded orange hair and she takes a sigh. It’s going to be a long and harrowing hunt. Guadalajara was no small town, and aside from it being close to the capitol city, it was still too big to traverse without some forethought.
However, if it weren’t for her ability, it would have been trouble. Now, it’s not even a remote problem anymore. Instantly she clocked the woman with her vision. This was just going to be a breeze. Whatever these imbeciles think they got going on isn’t nearly going to cut the mustard. They may have gotten lucky last time, but this time it won’t end the same.
She leans forward with a more determined glint in her eyes. There they were, those two scoundrels. With her stand, she could see that they were a tag-team pair. One woman who appeared to be from the Middle East and a young man with a strange Lincoln style beard and lettered tattoo plastered across his face.
“Got her,” she says, she grabs the railing and throws herself overboard. With that. A spiky haired albino looking man follows her lead and throws himself off with her. They jump and submerge themselves in the water. They care not for the cold waters and its sting. They were soldiers of a different era. An era Sarah wouldn’t understand.
Sarah looks around in confusion.
“Wait,” she says turning back towards the others.
“What’s happening?” She asked.
“Alice found our enemy.” She says, gesturing over towards the woman.
“And she’s going to try her best to hunt her down.”
“Alice?” Sarah asked.
So, Alice and her companion go on a hunt to track their enemies down. Alice doesn’t ponder much about the strength of their enemy. The only thought running through her mind was how she was going to take her down. Whatever her ability maybe, she’ll kill them easy.
And her partner? It will just make things easier.
---
The black woman takes a step and narrows her eyes, staring into the distance. There, past that intersection was Adel and Calum. Won’t take long until the both of them will get gutted. They weren’t just going to get terminated, they were going to get obliterated. So much on being on the losing side. What a pathetic site.
The machines, so high and noble. They thought that they would send enough machines, it will be enough to stop John. No, far from it. It will be enough to erase them off the planet. These lowly and pathetic machines, they once thought themselves as the pinnacle of creation. Now, now they stand at the lowest rung.
Now they send humans to do their dirty work. Now they send humans because their machines can no longer do what they were meant to do. Like lowly cowards they hired hitmen. Lowly and pathetic hitman because they had nothing better to do. Lowly and pathetic, lowly and pathetic! Lowly and pathetic is all that they’ll ever be!
They won’t be anything more, or anything less.
“Seems like they're heading south from the city towards the hospital.” She remarks, as she lifts up her hand and hands it towards the man.
“Guess they're really set their sights on Sarah's boy.”
The man grabs a half-crushed plastic bottle and tosses it over to her. She grabs the bottle, and a small humanoid was summoned from her body. She steps back and a group of them surround her. Some have French style helmets; others were decked out in late 19th century Union uniforms.
They scatter, as one carries a plastic bottle that shifts. It morphs into a larvae-like creature with glowing beady emerald eyes.
It growls, tonight it was going to have fun…
---
“Get out of the way!”
B A N G
Adel is suddenly thrown onto her stomach. A shot rings over her head and she’s sent stumbling to the floor by Calum. She pushes Calum off and stares into his eyes. She growls with rage. How dare such a man touch her like that? She had everything under control. She was already married, and she couldn’t let any man touch her. She was once married, she will be again.
She grabs him, with a fierce look of rage in her eyes.
“Why’d you touch me?” She asked with a furious anger.
“Wow, sorry for being abrupt but—” He points, gesturing over his shoulder towards the small silhouette standing before them.
“What is that?”
It takes a step, it’s grey steel shoes make contact with the cement. The sand mixes with cement and combines into a hard earthly crunch. It stares at them, piercing eyes of a soldier yet small body of a child. It shuffles with something from its pocket. It raises its hand, with its hand, it reveals something rather small and wriggling.
“Oh,” She notes.
“Yeah, our next enemy genius.” He scoffs.
“And here I thought you were the doctor.”
She shoves him, he winces a bit.
“What the hell, you know that hurts!” He pushes her back.
The creature steps forward, it turns his head in interest. As he pushes her, his body weight causes him to look upward. His eyes widen, and with that, he can see something.
“Wh-what the hell?” He asked himself.
“N-no that can’t.”
---
“Huh,” Alice huffed.
“What?” Her friend asked.
“Something’s wrong,” She simply remarked.
The man sweeps up his nearly white hair and turns back to her.
“What do you mean?”
“They’re assassins, but something isn’t right.” She shakes her head.
“Are these the only two? Are these really the guys that got Jesse?” She asked. She could hardly believe what she was seeing. After all that fireworks and show, this was really the great two that got Jesse? Was this really the two that killed their last teammate? It was quite the astounding site as it was troubling. Was Jesse simply caught off guard? No, couldn’t be. There was no way these two bumbling idiots could have gotten him.
If this was true, then that meant that they were weaker and feebler than she thought. The machines sent incompetent assassins and barely paid a mind to how actually proficient they were. She almost wanted to roll her eyes. Poor Jesse died from these embarrassments?
“What do you mean?” he asked again but more firmly. Even he was being eaten up by a burning curiosity growing inside him.
“They’re—” Her mouth trails off for a moment.
“Disorganized, dysfunctional.” She said.
She turns to him.
“They don’t get along.”
---
Sarah looks into the distance, so Semana has sent out two more? She frowns, gripping the railing with a hard determination. She had so many conflicting emotions. On one hand, she was grateful. On another hand, she was frustrated and angry. One of them died for her, and yet she still couldn’t see her son. What was the meaning to this?
“You know, I could have just handled them myself.” She said.
“Sarah,” Semana begs, trying to reassure her.
“Let go of this Sarah,” Toru thinks, grabbing her shoulder with a hard squeeze.
“What do you know that I don’t?” She asks.
Semana raises a brow.
“You obviously have a connection with them, you know them a lot better than I would. What do you know that I don’t?” She asks.
“I know it’s not easy, if it was I would have seen my son by now.” She said, turning back to her as the light hit the corner of her face. In that moment, she looked ominously as she was beautiful and full of mystique. Even then in that light it wasn’t enough to deter this leader.
So she says nothing, she just goes silent as she tries to contemplate the meaning of those words. She was Sarah Connor. She should have known this after all. After all, she was the one that raised John who sent her to this moment.
“Wait, you don’t know?”
---
“Wh-what?” Calum thought.
“Get off me!” She screams, pushing him off. Calum stumbles, rolls around before falling to his back. He grunts, pushing himself up as he pleads for his stubborn partner to listen.
“Damn it you bitch!” He curses.
“Watch it!” She hisses back.
“LISTEN BITCH!” He hollers.
“Don’t take this shit lightly!” He demands.
“What do you mean?” She asks.
Just then, the creature takes a pan and raises it into the air. It launches it and turns slightly, it turns back and looks out towards a porch of an apartment a good ten stories above. Another similar creature looks down and stares at them ominously.
It takes something and aims it at the pans.
“Oh, move, CALUM!”
They hear a ricochet, they dance and dodge themselves away from the blast. Calum flips over and nearly flies into a ditch.
“Gyuh!” He coughs, turning up and choking up some blood. He grunts, that must have been a hard fall. He curses, he’s still going through this much shit even after getting his ass curb stomped by Sarah. He grunted. it was a big mistake letting that little bitch live.
It was a big mistake letting him get away. He’ll get his revenge. Yet now?
Now it was time to figure out what the hell was going on.
“A colonial long range stand?” He asks himself before coughing.
“That’s—” He stammers.
“That’s new.”
That was new indeed. He’s heard of colonial stands, he’s seen their range. He seen how far they can go, but this was new.
This wasn’t like any stand he ever saw. Come to think of it, Jesse’s stand wasn’t anything that they have ever seen either. He nearly got wiped out by that other stand weren’t for Adel reluctantly saving his ass. Had he made one slip up than everything would have been for not. These were different stands, evolved stands, stronger stands.
“What are you?” He thought.
---
“Alice?” The man asked.
She turns back.
“How can we be so sure this is incompetence you’re speaking about?”
“Explain.”
“If they seem incompetent, it’s most likely they’re not.”
“Huh?” She asked.
“Think about it,” He said.
“If they look so incompetent, how do you think they beat Jesse?”
She takes a step forward. She rolls her eyes, there was no need to answer such a frivolous and stupid question like that. Not ever in a million years.
“So, what’s your point?”
“My point is, if they could beat Jesse, what will they do to us?”
She strokes her chin for a moment before deciding.
“Good point.” She remarks.
“However, my stand 「 BACKSTREET BOYS 」might have something different to say.” She leans forward and small, pressing her hand down and squeezing his shoulder. He nods, a silent wind flows through. Seems like he’s reminding him of something. They communicate with the eyes, and their conversation is unknown. They stop, he shifts back to their previous question.
“And?”
“They greatly underestimated us, this is our message.”
Of course, even he knew her stand was powerful. However, was it ever going to measure up? Even with the combined might of their two stands, was it even ever going to be enough? There was something more to this.
“Alright,” He nods.
“But be careful.”
“I will.” She said.
“You better, lest we end up like Jesse.”
---
Another shot rings out and Calum rolls over and falls onto his back. He leans up, but his heart stops when he sees another one of those small creatures try to catch up to him. It shoots a round from its hand pistol. Calum curses, stumbling backwards before choking.
He backs away, a cloud of dust forms around him. He smiles, in an instant, he was gone.
---
Calum gasps, running like his ass was on fire as he makes it towards a nearby building.
“I got lucky.” He coughs.
“In an instant, I got very lucky.” He admits.
“Had I not used my Little Dark Age, rotten bastard would have hit his mark.”
He runs forward, he was glad for a moment he can use his stand to create basic illusions that were not tied to a person’s memories.
“Little Dark Age,” He thought. “I had to create the illusion that I was stand three feet to the left. If I hadn’t.” He rubs his shoulder.
“Damn bastards would have got me.”
---
Adel stands up, she brushes off her coat and looks back curiously.
“So, what are you?” She asked the creature.
With that, it drops something from it's hands. She freezes for a moment, observing the creature crawl and worm it's way across the ground. It was slow, like the movements of a snail. Then, it rapidly picks up speed and charges at her. It wasn't just a slug, it was a worm.
“A-a worm?” She thought.
It lunges at her.
“Ah!” She thought for a moment as it launches into the air. While not terribly frightened by bugs, something like this did startle her from time to time. A blast of air catapults it back to a wall. There, it continues It's usually snail crawl pace. It crawls over the brick wondering aimlessly. She laughed, it was like a dog with no scent.
“Ah I see, it only attacks when something is nearby.” She strokes her chin.
“It only picks up the pace when it finds a scent.” She thought.
A light of energy hits her and she feels a strange sense of revelation.
“Ah!” she gasps.
“It hasn't picked up my schedule yet!” She thought.
The small, armored child-like creature charges her, it kicks something across the road. With the flick of her finger it flies through the air and lands in some bushes.
“These are Johnny Boss's precious guardians?” Adel thought.
“Hah, and they’re nothing more than children.” She sighs, blasting another whirlpool of wind around herself and sighs.
“Listen.” She sighs, pushing them back.
“This has been fun, but I've got to–” She grunts. Without warning, something finally strikes her back. She falls to her knees.
“What was that?” She thought.
She pushes herself up slightly, only to feel a striking pain that sends her to the ground. A soaring and excruciating pain wraps around her body. It was mind-numbingly painful. All she could think about was the pain. She tries to twist over but whatever landed on her back keeps her from twisting. It was like it was manipulating her nerves somehow.
“What?” She thought.
“Those creatures.” She thought.
“They got me, they actually hit me!” She turns back with a dark glance.
“But how?” She thought.
“The whirlpool of air I made should not have let them hit me.” She crawls forward.
“Unless they somehow calculated for the time it takes to–” she glares nack up at the creature in the balcony.
“I completely forgot about that one!”
She crawled a bit again.
“How the hell did it manage to get here so fast?”
“Wait…” She looks up all around her. There was something wrong, something wassn't adding up quite right in her mind.
---
“God damn it,” He thought, bolting into a nearby bar.
“I lost Adel.” He shrugs.
He sits down, for a moment, he considers just abandoning her. After all, she’s been nothing but a whiny good for nothing bitch. She was all the time complaining about how weak and useless he was. She always ranted about how inexperienced and dumb he was. For a moment, it fueled him to leave. Maybe Sarah was in the right.
Despite how alluring those hundreds of millions of dollars looked from his boss, all this madnes caused by chasing Sarah around has really screwed him over. He still needs to get a rhinoplasty and his right shoulder feels like it hasn’t fully healed.
Maybe he should just save his losses and resign. These protectors seem like they’ll stop at nothing to protect this Sarah Connor woman. After all the hell she gave him it might just be his time to give up. Why risk killing himself for something so stupid. He looks around, quickly glancing at the nearby bartender and the door.
“Look, these things are vicious, but not stupid.” He thought.
“There’s no way these things are going to risk hurting innocents.” He thought.
“It’s going to have a wait a while before I live this little joint.” Calum that turns to the board above the bar listing the prices. His mouth salivates and some of them look very promising. A long nights drink and a bit of resignation might do him good.
“Maybe if I wait long enough those things will realize that I’m no longer interested in this shit and just leave me the hell alone.” He thought.
As a bartender approaches him, the door opens with a slight creak. Calum turns to see a small creature tip-toe its way to the door. Its glowing eyes peek through the dark crack and keep peering towards the man inside. Calum sweats nervously, beads of sweat pour from his forehead and land around his lap like rain.
Calum smiles nervously, raising his hands and looking back down towards the creature.
“Easy little guy,” He thought.
“C’mon, for the love of god please just leave me alone.” He sighed.
“Almost getting beaten by Sarah was bad enough, then I was nearly trampled by Jesse. If this keeps going the way it is I’m going to end up as rhubarb on a stick or some shit.”
He sweats nervously, more beads of sweat pour from his head and fall onto the floor. There was no way they’re still going to be interested in him like this, aren’t they? Another head peaks in and simply stares. Calum’s heart races and his mind goes into overdrive.
“OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN’T YOU SEE I’M NOT A THREAT YOU LOUSY PIECES OF SHITS!” He curses in his mind. A strange smile grows on his face as he tries to ease the creature’s rabid eyes and make himself appear less threatening.
“GOD! PLEAASE!” He thought.
“YOU’VE GOT TO THINK I’M NOT A THREAT ANYMORE!” He thought again.
Another peaks into the room.
“Right?” He thought again.
---
“Huh,” Alice sighed.
“What?” The man asked.
“That’s— odd.” She said, as she narrowed her eyes.
“What’s going on now?” He asked.
“One of the assassins.” She remarked. “The man. The one who has red hair like Jesse’s, the one with the tattoos.” She said.
“What about him Alice?”
“He—” She stammers.
“No that can’t be right.” She shakes her head.
“Can’t be right? Alice tell me!” He begs.
“He’s retreated into a bar.” She said.
“Huh?”
“He completely stopped his pursuit and just hung out in the bar. What the hell is going on with this? What does she think he’s doing?” She thought to herself.
“You mean, he’s completely stopped?” He asked.
“Yeah, it’s strange. It’s like he totally stopped going after Connor.”
“What is he doing?” He asked.
“Nothing.” She remarked, shrugging her shoulders.
“He’s just— sitting there.” She raises a brow. “He’s sitting there and not doing anything at all? What the hell does he think he’s doing?”
“Is he attacking?” He asked.
“No!” She protests.
“He likely thinks he can use the others around him as a shield. He’s likely using a hideout to buy some time.” He cursed, kicking a rock.
“Damn bastard.” He thought.
“He knows we won’t hurt civilians!”
“But that isn’t it, right?”
That question makes him pause. What did Alice mean by such a question. In fact, all her remarks made it seem like the man was simply doing nothing. What was he doing? What was he even trying to say with all of this? Why does it sound like he’s completely given up?
“Do I still go forward?” He stops, grabbing her shoulder again.
He thinks for a moment. If this is truly a trick, her Backstreet Boys had to be careful. If it wasn’t, then they couldn’t just leave him there. He scratches his chin for a moment. No, there’s no way he was willing to risk something like this. These assassins sent to kill Sarah’s boy he’s heard have been nothing but ruthless. He’s been warned of those like Hathaway or ECHO.
These people have their mind set. No matter what, they’re willing to go in for the kill. He couldn’t risk something like that.
“Go in, but be careful.” He warned her.
He pauses.
“Wait,” He says, turning back to her.
“What?”
“What about the woman?” He asked.
“Woman?”
“There was another assassin, wasn’t there? What’s her condition?”
“My Backstreet Boys got her pinned down. Your little worm can come for the kill if it wants. I think we should go after her first, she seems to be the more ruthless one.”
“You think so?” He asked.
“What?”
“You’ve seen these enemies before. How are we to know that this isn’t all part of their plan?” He asked, leaning forward.
“Listen to me, just for a moment.” He says, getting close to her ear.
“Jesse likely underestimated their teamwork. I think they made some sort of plan and that is what got him. He got sloppy. We cannot be sloppy, not for a single moment. We should be fierce. Just for a moment, we must consider what happens if we don’t.”
She takes a few steps, getting closer and closer towards the city.
“You’re right.” She noted.
“Even if Jesse could pry out people’s emotions, they could seem like a clever duo.”
There was a small silence.
“I’m going in, with my Backstreet Boys.”
---
Adel crawled around, trying to find a way out of her current situation. She peers over, trying to catch her eyes on wherever Calum might be. Where did he go? After that those creatures attacked, he seemed to have run off.
“Don’t tell me he went and turned tail, did he?” She thought.
“If that’s the case, then I’m going to grind him to a powder for sure.” She balls her fist, narrowing her eyes on the path ahead of her. She turns up to the sky for a moment and gages at how many of these enemies are surrounding her.
“Long range colonial stand.” She thought.
“And there doesn’t seem to be a limit.”
She crawls forward.
“No. It isn’t just that, isn’t it?” She thought, narrowing her piercing eyes again.
“They were preparing for us.” She thought.
Her mind drifted back to when her and Calum were first observing the pair walk into Guadalajara. The young woman with the long beaded hair, right, that was the one she remembered. She was the one that seemed to have stalled the longest. Maybe Calum didn’t see, but Adel clearly remembers her dragging along with the group.
What if she wasn’t dragging along, but preparing. She gasps out. No wonder they haven’t went towards John Conno yet. They don’t have to, these active little stands are like snipers. All across the city, they’re like little guardians. A whole legion of small snipers and soldiers waiting to take anyone out at their command.
“Interesting,” She thought.
“So, is that it’s ability?” She thought.
“Or was it something more?” She wondered, tapping her foot along the grass.
“No, that can’t be it.”
“There’s also that worm.” She thought, turning back towards the grass.
“Hardly looks similar. No, this is a tag-team. Like us, they’re working together.” She giggled. She turns over and coughs, clutching her rib.
“It’s just cartilage,” She thought, grabbing the wound.
“Seems like they were accurate enough to hit me, but not enough to make a mark. If it went in just a bit deeper, then that bullet could have paralyzed me.” She thought.
An idea forms in her head.
“Nephthys!” She commands.
“Make an air bubble underneath that bullet and pull it out!” She commands. At her request, it begins to pull. So it pulls and pulls. However, her actions were halted. The worm was crawling closer, it was just inches away.
“Wait, no!” She thought.
“If I don’t get this thing now, then I’ll be surely done for!”
“NEPHTHYS!” She screams.
---
Calum raises his hands into the air and sweats nervously. The clock ticks, and the bartender stands there silently.
“Are you just going to sit there and stare at the corner, or do you want me to get you something sir?” He doesn’t respond. He doesn’t even move. He simply keeps his eyes on the creatures. First there was now, and now there was three. There seemed to be no end to these little creatures.
“OH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” Calum thought.
Then, they burst in.
“Wh-WHAT? WHAT?” He gasps.
“Woah, sir, what’s going on?” The bartender asks.
“HEY! WOAH! DON’T YOU GET IT! I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!”
“Surrender?” He asks.
“Surrender? You surrender what? Sir, are you in a good headspace right now? Do I need to—”
One takes a knife it was hiding under it’s arm and throws it at him. Calum gasp’s catching the knife and turning back towards the bartender. The bartender’s eyes widen. He hardly knows how or where he got the knife but he knows it doesn’t mean anything good. His heart sinks.
“Don’t tell me, there’s cartel activity here too?” He thought.
“Damn it, I’ve had enough,” The tender thinks.
“Where the hell did you get that?” He asks.
He grunts.
“GUARDS!”
“Well, shit.” He thought.
“Damn things are going to pursue me no matter what I do, god damn it.” He thought.
“GOD DAMN IT! I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE!” He screams.
“WHAT PART OF ‘I SURRENDER DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND ASSHOLES!” He screams.
---
“Wh-what?” Alice asks herself, seemingly dumbfounded by the strange interaction.
“What?” He asked. “What now?”
“This guy,” She stammers, scratching her head and widening her eyes. “This guy— incredible— this guy says he’s surrenders!” She remarks.
“Surrender?” He asked.
“Yes! This— this is—” She stammered.
“This has never happened before.” She was true, never in her life had she seen such a strange display that made her jaw drop. Her mind nearly crosswires and breaks on itself by such an answer. What was with this guy? All this talk and bravado he overheard from Connor? This was the guy who says who surrenders? This was the guy to surrender. Is he really going to give up, just like that? She looks around. She wasn’t sure how to respond.
How the hell is she going to do now? Was it really worth it now to pursue? Unlike him, she wasn’t a ruthless assassin. She had goals, things to strive for.
“He surrenders,” She stammers.
She turns back and stares into his eyes.
Never in her life had he ever been a commanding officer over her. Rather, he was an ear to listen to. Words of advice that she always wanted to hear. A second voice, a second opinion to cherish. To some, she was a bit closer to him than they would have liked. To others, they found their closeness something to admire.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t such close concepts when she was young. In the eve of the future war, closeness was a known fact of the rat-like life that the survivors had. They had to be close, to listen and respect each other. That was the life they had to have. They couldn’t go alone, alone was a stupid man’s game. A stupid man who wanted to play a game of death.
“Is this man stupid?” She thought, raising a brow as she witnessed the man dodge out of the rain of fire of her stand.
“Stupid?” He asked.
“Why would someone give up so easily?” She asked.
“He’s messing with you, keep pursuing no matter what.”
“Right…”
She thought about it some more.
“…Right.”
---
“FUCK!” Calum curses, darting out of the room in a frenzy.
“Those bastards!” He thought to himself.
“GOD DAMN IT!” He charges back into the wide open in a hard panic, trying to remain calm. He couldn’t understand why they keep persisting. All he wanted to do was give up and even then his horrid enemy wouldn’t let him quick. All he wanted to do was quit, go back to his old job, sleep, and maybe hit up some numbers. Anything to get out of this.
Yet, he can’t. Even here he’s not allowed to give up. Not because he’s too determined, but his enemy was too determined. A determined enemy is now somehow more dangerous that a retreating foe. For some reason, the people that prop themselves as the good won’t stop.
“STOP!” He screams.
However, they don’t. Shots ring out, barely grazing his shoulder. He cries out in pain and falls onto the floor with a big thump. He hollers out and clutches his shoulder. There was nothing he could to end this miserable suffering, was there?
“STOOOP!” He thought.
---
“Ever since I was little, I was always the one to lose.”
A boy falls clutching his shoulder as children run off. They laugh and hold things and chant into the air. Calum was once again a loser. Every fight he’s gotten himself into, he’s sorely lost. All he ever does is lose. Any fight with any man, he loses.
“Loser!” His tag line.
“Ugly fat bitch!”
“Weak!” Another screams.
“Nobody!”
“Useless!”
“CHUBBY FUCK!”
Discouraging and sour words from more disgraceful and sour kids.
The young boy stumbles into the large home. Scars and bruises decorate his skin as he steps before his well-dressed father in a crisp suit. He hopes to garner eyes of empathy. All he gets in return are eyes of pity and disgust. Pity from his mother, and regret from his father. His wounds are patched from his chubby face but the sorrowful reminder never fades.
“I thought if I were to toughen up, be a model, I would impress them.”
---
“But they were never impressed with me…” Tears streamed from his eyes.
“All I ever do is lose.” He thinks.
“First Sarah, then Jesse, now this?” His mind forcefully brought back to all of his humiliating defeats at the hands of Sarah Connor and her lackies. All he ever been is a loser. He fought winners and came out more sorrowful. He was silly to think he could ever win. Why would he? He couldn’t even propose a gesture of kindness right.
He couldn’t even surrender right, that was how much of a loser he was.
He curses, kicking over a rock before screaming.
“You know what? Fuck them! Fuck them all!”
All this running, all this fighting, has made him see the light. He sees it now, no more running, no more hiding. No more cowardice in the Starr family. Only one man with a passionate dream: to make the world burn for all its crimes.
Damn them all, those pathetic rats.
“If they want a fight.” He picks a rock.
“A FIGHT IS WHAT THEY’RE GOING TO GET!”
He screams, “THEY’LL PAY FOR NOT ACCEPTING MY ONLY OFFER OF SURRENDER!”
He runs into the darkness. They’ll pay, they’ll all pay.
---
The slug charges, launching into the air before nearly landing on Adel’s shoulder. She growls, kicks it away as it tosses itself to the side.
“Well, blast it,” She thought.
“This thing is never going to get off of me, is it?” She turns over, looking to the sky.
“That only leaves these… things,” She thought.
“What do I do with them?” She has an idea. She takes a finger with her stand and injects something into the ground. The air wheezes and the ground below winds up. The creature starts its regular pattern. It crawls slowly with no detection of a scent, and then suddenly there was chaos. As it smells a scent, it crawls faster and faster.
Just as it reaches her, she screams.
“DO IT!” She shouts.
“NOW NEPHTHYS!”
The air bubble pops, causing the creature to scatter into a million pieces. She sighs, placing her head down on the ground before rolling out of the carnage.
“That was close,” She thought.
“For a moment,” She thought.
“I might have gotten unlucky.”
Then, tragedy. All she thought she had done to get rid of her burdens clung to her skin. She feels something grind and dig into her right shoulder. She howls in pain. She turns over, looking at the damage that had been wrought. A small wound gushes from her work dress. A pool of blood falls from her right shoulder.
As she races her hand up to it, she can feel something cling to the skin and crawl around.
“What is this?” She thought.
“Wait, the—” She reaches her hand closer. She shuffles through her pockets and digs out a pen. She clicks, and with it she jabs into the flesh. She digs into her skin and pushes away a small tiny slug. With a small flick, it falls to the ground. She takes the pen and crushes it beneath her.
“GOT YOU!” She thought.
She then watched it for a moment, struggling and writhing underneath the might of the pen. Whatever this material was, was stronger than any bug or organic shell. Then, something catches her eye. There was something on the slug. Beyond its wild beady eyes was something more peculiar. A torn image. A marking, a word. The letter L.
It hits her suddenly and violently, milk. This creature was formed from the plastic of a milk carton. A milk carton that had somehow come alive.
“Wait a—”
Then, as it fights against the pressure of the pen, it stops. It takes its wide mouth and chomps against the ball-point tip. It moves and shuffles a bit. Then too, the pen started to wriggle around like a worm. She gasps, nearly dropping the pen all together. The pen flies out of her arm and crawls back up to her shoulder.
Its seems hellbent on crawling into her skin.
“This isn’t just normal plastic, this ability is different—” She stammers.
“No, this is— plastic.” She thought.
“Our other enemy, our other partner uses plastic!” She thought.
“Plastic,” She thought again.
“Huh…”
A sudden cut into her right forefinger makes her holler. She need not waste her time. All this time lounging around has nearly made her distracted. She can never again lose her focus. She can never again lose her perseverance.
---
Calum huffs around, looking at the sky.
“Where are you assholes!” he screams.
“Go on, don’t be shy you brutes!” He thinks to himself.
“TELL ME!” He thinks.
“TELL ME!”
The first round sounds off, all he needs to know. He takes the rock before stopping suddenly. Wait, this was stupid. All this running around has caught their attention. Yet, in all of that chaos, his first action would be to throw a rock around? What was the rock going to do? What sign was it hoping to give. He yelps, rounds of a shotgun blare nearby.
“Where do these things even keep this shit?” He curses.
“DAMN YOU! DAMN GUADALAJARA! DAMN JOHN CONNOR!”
Right, John Connor. After all this fighting he nearly forgot what he was up against. He had to kill John Connor. Not for Adel’s sake, but his own. A lot of money he considered leaving by the wayside and yet he chooses to sit here like a doofus.
“NO!” He thinks.
“I have to think of a better plan.” He peers through the city landscape. Somewhere through that climate jungle of urban sprawls was Adel. She was somewhere around her. Despite getting lost, he hardly lost her tracks. She had to be nearby.
“AH!” He thinkgs.
“ADEL!” He shouts.
“IF YOU CAN HEAR ME! USE THIS ROCK TO TAKE OUT SOME OF OUR ENEMIES!” He shouts, hoping for any voice to return his call.
“SIGN ADEL!” He thought.
“ANY SIGN WOULD BE GREAT!”
“LITTLE DARK AGE!” He shouts.
“RAGGGGH!”
---
Adel wrestles with the creature on her arm. It bites and chews and makes a grand mess of his finger. What a horrid day, but a day, nonetheless. Wretched or not, she at least needed to survive to make it until tomorrow. Tiny mouths bit and dug under her skin. She had to act fast, if it got into an artery or vein it could be the end for her.
“THIS THING NEEDS TO BE REMOVED!” She thought.
“NEPHTHYS!” She thinks, summoning her large glory god to her side.
“If you can hear me, make an air bubble underneath my finger and eject this vile creature!”
A finger slips into hers. A blood vessel ruptures underneath the skin. It breaks and cracks underneath her before splitting open. Blood spews and something is ejected. She stands up, backing away from the carnage to catch a breath.
“I— I did it!” She thought.
CRUNCH
She turns over, witnessing more pieces of plastic come to life. They make their way to her. Their rate accelerates. She gasps, this was bad timing.
“They have my scent now!” She thought.
“And since it’s plastic, it’s going to stop at nothing to get to me!”
Suddenly, something flies through the sky, a large rock. Her eyes widen, perhaps Calum didn’t abandon her after all.
“Well, seems you’re just in luck.” She thought.
“Calum Starr, guess you’re not much a novice as I thought.”
---
A Backstreet Boy focuses it gun. It narrows its sights, setting on the strange Arab woman. As he tries to take the shot, something flies into his face. His eyes widen, a brick. He throws a towel into the air. It catches the brick before it can collide against him.
“Ha Ha! You missed! Ri! Pi! Pi!” it chuckled.
Then, the brick expands, it eyes widen with curiosity. As the wind pushes it closer, the bubble expands. It could only watch on in horror as it transfers from the brick and creates a bubble underneath its armor. It cries.
“NO! IT’S HER STAND! Pi! Pi!”
B O O M
---
Blood falls from Alice’s nose and she catches it. She nearly collapses as her buddy catches her shoulder. She collapses into his arms. It was his worst nightmare. So, this was how it was going to go? He should have known that the assassin was never intent on surrender. This was all their trick. All of it was going to make them fall into terror.
“ALICE!” He screams.
“What happened?” He asked her.
“Something,” She muttered.
“Something? I can’t get anything out of a ‘something,’ tell me more!”
“That stand, it—” She stammered.
“Wind, a blood vessel— air bubble—” She stammered.
“It all happened so fast.”
“Damn it, I knew you shouldn’t have underestimated them.”
He turns back to the city.
“I’m going after them.” He takes her arm and throws her over his shoulder. Together they crawl through the city streets in a tense panic.
“HURRY!” He ushered. “ONWARD!”
---
“Huh, huh—” Calum coughed.
“Doctor!” He screams, charging towards Adel. “DOCTOR!” He screams, hitting the road and turning the corner.
He finally finds her, sitting in the corner just watching the ground.
“Oh god finally!” He shouts.
“There you are!” He shouts.
“You ran off,” She said turning back to him.
“Yeah, so?” He asked.
“And look! We got one!” He points, noting the small creature lying on the ground writhing in pain. It turns over and looks at them. From the top of the balcony it wipes its face before scaling the wall. Streams of blood pour from the cracks in its silver armor.
“Look at that!” He laughs, pointing to the creature.
“HAHA! EAT IT!”
“You ran off.” She said again, almost lecturing for his stupidity. She goes to yell but presses her lip. It was stupid to run off, but maybe it was stupider to remain a still target. What a foolish boy he was. She just wanted to slap him, but then again— maybe she was the fool. She let her hubris get to her. She isn’t here for hubris. She clutches her arm.
Never again.
“C’mon! Let’s go!” He screams, turning over and running back.
“C’mon!”
“Wait!” She shouts, causing him to turn.
“There’s something I need to tell you. Remember that slug creature those things were carrying?” He raises a brow.
“Slug?” His eyes widen.
“Oh yeah!” He stammers, turning back.
“That thing,” He stops for one moment. If she brought up, there must be something to it.
“You know what it is.” It wasn’t a question, but near solid certainty that she did.
“It’s made of plastic. It uses plastic materials as a body.”
She turns over and picks up the pace. They run, turning away from the carnage behind them. Calum keeps running. His eyes catch something and he looks under him. Small creatures crawl across the ground and crawl towards them.
BANG BANG BANG
Shots ring around them. They land nearly inches away from their skin. She panics, as they charge more child-like humanoids approach with knifes and guns.
“THEY’RE COMING!” She warns him.
“It’s alright Doctor!” He shouts, turning his heel.
“I have my Little Dark Age active.” He huffs.
“As long as its active, they can’t hit us. Well, not directly.”
She turns, looking towards the sky.
“The air,” She remarks.
“You— made a small illusion. They can’t hit us because they’re a few feet off.”
“Wow, you’re really catching on now!” He laughs.
“Maybe we can use that. TO BEAT THEIR ASSES!”
With that, a cloud of smoke forms around them, and they vanish. The small creatures widen their eyes and look around in confusion.
“WHAT?” They scream.
“Vanished, so they did! Ri! Pi! Pi!” Cried one.
“Yes! Ri! Pi! Pi!”
“Find them! Ri! Pi! Pi!”
---
Alice clings to the man as they rush through the city.
“Where the hell did they go?” She asks her partner. He turns over and shrugs.
“I don’t know, but intuition tells me they’re not far off!” He huffs. He stomps the ground and picks up the pace as they rush forward. If they can just run a bit faster they’ll be able to catch the two rather sound time.
“I’m trying to find them with my Backstreet Boys, but I can’t see any of them.” She remarks as they floor it towards a nearby shop. Their seemed to run on high adrenaline. Even with their damages and their pain their resolve was unbreakable.
“Keep looking!” He shouts.
“We’ll get them!” He tells her.
“If your Backstreet Boys can’t, then my stand will! It already has their scent and is tracking them no matter what! No matter where they run it will gut them!”
His eyes light up with an idea.
“Ha!” He shouts.
“I got it!”
She turns back to her partner with a raised brow. An idea? This better be a good one. This better be one that they can follow. These assassins are already causing as much trouble as it is.
“Once my stand finds them, you can use your Backstreet Boys to finish them off. I feel my stand will cause heavy damage. One way or another, it will try to dig under their skin and naturally they’ll do anything to shield themselves. Lots of buildings have plastic in them and sooner or later they’ll come back outside.”
He narrows his eyes again.
“Then, we’ll find them alright!”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Huh?”
“What if they find some way to get around your stand like they did for mine?”
He smiles, “Because my stand is inescapable.”
“Inescapable?”
“To be invincible is one thing.” He remarks.
“To be inescapable is another. Once it has your scent, there’s no turning back.”
---
There was once a little girl in a messed up dystopian world. A world with no beaches, no pools, no sunshine, no happy rain. No cool water to stick her fingers in on a hot day. No green grass to plant her feet against. No flowers to pluck from lush gardens. There was only steel, there was only metal, and there was only machine. Nothing else but the distorted and broken world and eroded nature of the machines ever existed.
All her days were spent honing her skills and fighting. She fought, she hid, she dug, and sang all the songs of her people. Yet, there was only one issue. She was just one girl. Alone trapped in Skynet’s destructive game. She couldn’t save a comrade on a battlefield while also attending to a scared little girl. Her only body trapped her in one place at one time.
If she could just wish to be in multiple places at once. If she could allow herself to multitask like the world has never seen. If she can reach for the stars and have her hands planted firmly in the ground. She wanted everything and everything at the same time. Then, one day that wish came true. A stand emerged, then another, and then another.
Then, there was a whole army. With the power of just one girl, she could turn tides on some battlefields. She can save a comrade and comfort a terrified little girl. However, despite being everywhere and anywhere at once it was never enough. She made a pack and joined a resistance. She met others like her. Others that had wishes that were granted by these stands.
While never being able to speak of them to anyone but themselves, they had a fondness for each other. A group of five, that would eventually become six and seven. They grew close, and so too did their stands. Together they learned to work in harmony.
One day, their top commander of this whole resistance asked them a favor. He was terrified and was incredibly urgent. At the near end of days of humanity, at the eclipse of the future war the one and only man asked them a favor.
“What do you want us to do, Commander?”
“You see the date in the file?”
“Yes?”
“Me and my team are going to do our best to get all of you into the Time Displacement machine. I want all of you to get in and go to this spot.”
“Why this spot?”
“You are a very fine tuned collection of people. You seem to all know each other very well. While you may argue your goals are always the same.”
A serious look overtakes his eyes and he gets close to them.
“Bound together and head to Guadalajara.” He says.
“If you find anyone else like you, then take them and stick together. I need all of your skills. I know you’ll do your best to protect me then as you do now.”
They turn to each other, for a moment they almost want to reconsider. Some wonder if they may die. However, they push aside their fears and remain determined. It seemed like everyday Skynet became more advanced and evolved in ways that surprised Connor. In this case, Skynet seemed to do something very unexpected, so he reacted in return.
“I don’t have a lot of spare machines to reprogram. I have to use them sparingly when I can.”
He takes a small sigh.
“So please, do your best. Take care of yourselves and fight to live. If you can’t find the will to live then there may not be a John Connor to look forward to if you live to see this day again.”
They agree. Their stands while vastly different seemed so tightly knit. Jesse, a man who can properly engage and manipulate emotions. Alice, a woman who can create a whole army. Semana, a leader who can empower those around her just like John Connor did. Then, the rest of her friends that guard and have each other’s backs.
They swore to John Connor that they would protect them with their lives. So then, they were off. John turns away, while loyal he needed insurance. He turns to an old friend. He has changed over the war, becoming more human in numerous ways. He’s gained flesh and something akin to a soul. Sometimes he wonders if he does or that is what the programming makes him want to think. Regardless, he reaches his hand out and pats him on the arm.
“Hey buddy, I’m going to need a favor of you. I know they’re brave soldiers, but I’m going to need some back up. My mom may not survive this alone. Once you find her, will you do something for me?” He asks.
Toru, much like the others accepts without question.
That was the story of how they all came to be, or at the very least, that is what Alice gathered from Toru and the others. All the same people with the same goals, right? Regardless, they still fight and serve John Connor. So today, they will still fight and serve John Connor.
They will fight, serve, and maybe die, but that is the sacrifice one must make for the future.
---
Alice Chandley and her friend take off, she feels a burning determination in her eye. Her heart pounds and her mind are clear now more than ever. She can never and will not ever give up. No matter what happens in this battle. If she wins, John Connor lives. If she dies, then she dies for John Connor. Regardless, she is a barrier between them and John.
She’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he sees the future. She doesn’t care for the future, neither does her friend. She has already seen the future. She doesn’t need to see it again.
“So, how long until they show themselves.” She chuckled.
“How long until your little buddy worms them out?”
He narrows his eyes and chuckles.
“Not long, like I said my stand is inescapable. It’ll eventually find them, and the big stink will cause will drag them all out of hiding.” He huffs.
“Although, remember.” He warns.
“These are still assassins, no matter how careless they maybe. They still killed Jesse and nearly injured you.” He said.
She nods.
“Right, and they also gave Sarah a lot of trouble. I’m not going to push away your advice anymore.” She sighs.
“I’ll be careful, no more thinking that my stand is better than the rest.”
However, something in her mind doesn’t allow to let go of such thoughts. Her mind still feels relaxed and at peace. This still feels like a breeze. They may have nearly caught her with that surrendering game but she will be a fool no more. It only took a small amount of time before they were nearly incapacitated by her Backstreet Boys.
This won’t take long, even if they are clever.
---
Calum gasps out some air. He takes a nearby bed and throws it over the window. The small hotel room they dug themselves into had been completely boarded up. A couple laid in the closet unconscious. Their mouths and hands were bound and gag. They couldn’t let them sneak out a peep of single word.
“That should keep us safe, at least for a while.” He shrugged, pushing himself away from the window with a sigh.
He laughs, spins around and throws his hands into the air before clapping them together. He rubs them maniacally like an old comic book villain.
“Then maybe we can find a plan and stick it to those little worms.”
He turns back to Adel. A strange look of hope and satisfaction appears in his eyes. He seemed very excited and enthusiastic now. It seemed parts of the old ruthless and blood hungry Calum came back. The Calum that had appeared before fighting Sarah Connor.
“Doctor?” He asks her.
She steps forward a bit.
“You, do have a plan, right?” He asked.
She says nothing, but stands there and looks into Calum’s eyes. There was no speck of love and admiration in them, not one bit. Rather, there was only malice. Calum grunts, he can tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn’t pleased.
“Doctor?”
“You ran away earlier,” She said sternly.
“Why?”
He shrugs, “Well, we got separated. Duh!”
She steps closer, making sure he doesn’t take his eyes off of her.
“Yes, but you disappeared for quite some time. Do you care to explain at all?” She asked.
“I uh—” He rubs his head.
“I just—” He stammers.
“Well, we needed to figure out a plan, don’t we?” He asked, gesturing his hands into the air. He turns towards the closet and gestures towards the other couple.
“I mean, we didn’t go through all of this if you weren’t thinking of at least something!” He smiles wide, a slight erratic and agitated look appears behind those eyes. She looked into those eyes and could tell that there was some doubt.
“You’re lying.” She said coldly.
“What? I’m lying! Oh C’mon!” He stomps his foot loudly on the hardwood floor.
“Are you kidding me?” He asks again.
“I don’t have time for this!” He shouts.
“Look! We just need to find a way to combine our abilities and get those fuckers out there! Every god damn second we wait, those damn fucking things get a better head! It won’t take long until they jump our ass—”
She takes her finger and raises it into the air.
“Before another foul word comes out of the uncleansed dirty mouth of yours I want you to understand something, Calum.” She sneers.
“When coming into this fight, you swore an oath.”
“Oath?” He asked.
“The hell are you talking about? What oath?”
“The kind of oath you made with our master!” She says, outstretching her hands.
“Who else are we fighting for other than him?”
“Well, he’s more of a boss.” He shrugged.
“Honestly, I know you want to get your revenge and all—” He shrugged.
“But as for me, I’m only in it for my sweet payout.” He turns his head back and forth slightly.
“For all those untold riches, I can just walk away. I mean, it’s nothing more than a game show, isn’t it?” He asked, rocking his head back and forth.
“Game show?” She asked.
“What are you—”
“I mean, the worst that can happen is that you can lose and walk away. Honestly, even if this shit sucks I still want that cash, but that doesn’t—”
“You don’t get this at all, do you?” She asked again.
She leans forward, almost making him trip on a radio thrown from the cabinet. He stumbles before having his back face the wall.
“What the hell? What’s with you getting in my personal space all of a—”
“LISTEN!” She shouts.
“Remember that oath you swore?” She asked.
“Well, I—”
“DO YOU REMEMBER IT OR NOT?” She asked again.
“I do,” He nods.
“That oath is worth more than any untold riches,” She said.
“Despite whatever you think might happen, you can’t just quit.” She sneered.
“I—”
“DON’T INTERRUPT ME!” She screams. He growls, pushing her back.
“WELL, YOU’RE THE ONE INTERRUPTING ME!” He shouts back.
“I’M TRYING TO GET YOU TO UNDERSTAND!” She screams out. “YOU CAN NEVER QUIT!”
He falls silent for a moment, trying to understand what she meant by that sentence. Never quit? What the hell is she saying? Of course he can quit. He could walk away right now, and now he thinks he’s just about to do it. All this energy and confidence he once had evaporates the more Adel presses and lectures him. Once he thought he could impress her. Once she had that same look of his father. All that admiration and respect to impress, falls to the wayside.
“Never quit?” He asks.
“I haven’t quit since I came here.” He says, poking her in the chest.
She takes his hand and snatches it away.
“Only because I didn’t allow you to.”
She sneers. “That oath you swore, was for your soul. If you failed, and if our master knows you fail. He will be after your head!”
He balls his fist, pushing her back.
“Just like you’re always after mine!”
“What are you talking about?”
He pushes her again.
“That’s because you’ve always been trying to chew mine off!”
“You little—”
“I LET YOU SPEAK AND NOW’S MY TURN DAMN IT!”
He stomps his foot.
“OKAY FINE! BIG BOSS IS A LITTLE PUSHY! I GET IT!” He screams.
He takes a step forward.
“BIG BOSS WANTS JOHN DEAD! I GET THAT!” He takes another step.
“SO, I HAVEN’T! SARAH BEAT MY ASS AND I STILL FOLLOWED! RIGHT THEN I WANTED TO QUIT! DO YOU KNOW HOW HUMILIATING THAT WAS FOR ME?” He screams.
“I—”
“LET ME FINISH!”
“SARAH BEAT YOU, WE WENT AND HEAD TO GUADALAJARA!” He screams.
“ALL THIS TIME, I REMAINED LOYAL TO YOUR WORD! I DIDN’T QUIT THEN! EVEN AFTER TIME AND TIME AGAIN I WAS PUBLICALLY HUMILIATED AND BRUISED!”
He backs her against the wall, now he has the power of her.
“TIME AND TIME YOU LECTURE ME AND PUSH ME AGAINST THE WALL! ALL THIS TIME I TRY TO FUCKING DO THINGS FOR YOU, ALL I HEAR IS WHINING!”
He rocks his head back and forth.
“CALUM THIS! CALUM THAT! CALUM YOU’RE SO USELESS! CALUM CAN’T DO SHIT FOR NOTHING!” He throws his hands up into the air in frustration.
“OKAY I’M NOT THE FUCKING BEST!” He screamed. “OKAY, I’M NOT THE ASSASSIN YOU WANTED. HAPPY?”
“You—”
“IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO HEAR?”
“Stop—”
“WELL, IS IT?” He screamed.
“Cal—”
SLAP
Calum takes his hand and slaps her across the room. She falls to the floor. He stomps over and picks her up by the back of her collar. He takes his eyes and gets right into hers.
“I am real tired of your sorry ass beating me up and pushing me around. You say that I have no respect, well— earn it.” He hissed.
He slaps her again, and she falls to the floor. For a moment, he felt satisfied. The same woman who constantly nagged him and made him feel useless was at his mercy. The same look of disgust he saw in his father was now broken. This time, it was a look of fear.
“I’ve had enough.” He grunts.
Her eyes narrow and he could tell there was a look of rage behind those eyes.
He raises his fist, until— something snaps. The bed frame suddenly tilts over. He looks up, the large frame begins to tumble. He rushes towards the frame and uses his whole body to slam himself against the window. White tendrils poke and prod through the gaps in the window frame and the bed. A large body of plastic pokes and tears through.
Adel takes notice and they both rush towards the window. Despite both of their manpower, it wasn’t enough. The large creature was pushing its way through. Calum realized in an instant that there was no way they could ever escape. He turns back to the door and kicks away the chair propped against the knob. It falls to the ground. He thrusts the door open and turns back to her.
“COME ON!”
She continues to push against the frame.
“ADEL, IT’S NOT GOING TO BUDGE!” He screamed.
For a moment, she ignores him. Then, she finally relents. He was right about one thing, she was a bit stubborn. Even if he never uttered such words, the feeling of rage coming from him was what she picked up well. She rushes to the door as the large creature pushes the frame down.
In that small moment, she is regretful of how much she’s pushed even. If there was times he did deserved it, it became overshadowed by her own persistence. He was an egotistical fool with a foolish acclimation for trouble she did regret not trying to push him better.
Yet, for once, and just this once. She was happy he was finally starting to become a man. Maybe then, he would be a reliable assassin.
---
Calum and Adel run through the halls and push their way through people making their way towards the elevator. They fly in together. Without hesitation, Calum reaches his hand towards the button and begins frantically spamming the close button. Adel backs against the wall. She slowly hunches herself into a boxer’s stance as she can see a large worm slither towards them at a harrowing Mach speed. Never once was there a look of doubt in its eyes.
With a click it shuts, but then— tendrils poke through. The elevator rises up, as they rise, more tendrils begin to claw and tear their way through the metal gap.
“WH-WHAT?” Calum screamed.
“H-HOW IS IT DOING THIS?” He asked.
“The stand!” She stammers.
“It must be very malleable stand.” She remarked.
“Some animals like Octopus are known to push themselves through the tightest of cracks and adjust to tight spaces easily.”
She backs into a corner.
“Plastic can be a very malleable material. This stand— what is its end goal?” She shrugs. Why would she ask such a futile question? She hardly has the time for this? As more of its bendable body crawled its way inside, Adel turned towards the sky. Nephthys kicks the roof of the elevator and she graciously leaps towards the top. She grabs a rope and gestures her hand downward towards Calum.
“Hold on!” She shouts.
He nods, taking the rope and using it to scale up. Soon, they got off the elevator as it made its down. As they watch it fall, they can see the worm slither up the rope like it was nothing more than a snake on a tree.
“CLIMB! CLIMB! CLIMB!” She frantically screams as they make their way towards a door. Nephthys does her best to pry it open. Together, they used their combined might to climb up. Calum nearly slips and grabs onto the bottom of the floor with his hand. He stands below Adel with wide eyes. For a moment, he wonders if she would abandon him to escape.
The look in her eyes was certainly not helping.
He winces, willing for a moment to accept his death. This is what he gets for trying to fight back and stand up for himself. Of course, he was always the loser. He wouldn’t blame her. All he was to her was a sore loser. This time, he’s gone too far. He could be a threat, after all. She was a doctor, after all.
“Doctor.” He mumbles under his breath.
It wasn’t that desperation, but something Adel couldn’t fully describe.
“Doctor.” He mumbles again.
Instead of pushing him away, she reaches out her hand. His eyes widen. Hesitantly, he reaches out his hand. Their hands connect and she uses her stand to pull him up. His heart races, metallic noisy clatter follows his hand and nearly catches up to him. Nephthys drags him up, just inches away from imminent danger.
Then, with that quick strength she shuts the door. Only then, a claw reaches out from the gap and is inches away from her eye. She shrieks for a moment and quickly backs away. There was no time.
They run towards a window as the creature slithers its way through the halls. She props it open and steps out onto a small overhang just outside the window. She crawls out, looking frantically around as she sees the creature slowly crawling towards Calum.
“CALUM!” She screams, outstretching her hand.
He stands there silently, observing the creature.
“CALUM!” She screams again.
He steps back, small and steady steps toward her. He was just close enough to reach her hand. Her hand outstretches, and they almost connect.
“CALUM!!!!” She screams the final time.
The clock was ticking, and the creature was coming for his leg.
She grunts, she hardly has time for this. She takes Calum by the hand with Nephthys. Then, it takes his hand and nearly throws him out the window. He stumbles and nearly falls before Adel grabs his arm and holds it firmly.
“GYAH!!” He gasps.
---
As the two run, they happen to notice two people dangling outside a window of a building not too far away. Alice’s eyes widen and she begins to decipher who the two were by their expressions. She recognizes them. The Arabic woman with a long veil and the strange red-haired man with a near Lincoln style beard and small mustache. She turns to her partner and jabs him with her elbow a few times.
“LOOK, THERE!” She shouts, pointing towards the Sky.
His eyes widened with her.
This was their chance now. They could finally catch these assassins before it was too late. Now was their chance to avenge Jesse.
“Where are your Backstreet Boys?” He asked.
“Tell me that there’s one nearby!”
“Already on it!” She notes, a small child-like creature with shiny silver gear stations itself on a wall. With a steady rifle in its hands resting against it rail, it motions towards other Backstreet Boys.
Together, they gather around the Assassins and aim their sights on the pair.
“DO IT ALICE!” He screams.
“FIRE!”
She runs closer, making sure to get a good shot at the pair.
“AVENGE JESSE, FIRE!” He screams.
“KILL THEM!”
---
“LOOK THERE!” A woman shouts below, pointing upwards towards Jesse. He takes his head and looks downward towards a dark-skinned woman with long beaded orange hair. She sets her sights on Jesse and gets closer.
His eyes widen as she can hear her chatting with the man beside her.
“Where are your Backstreet Boys?” He asked.
“Backstreet Boys?” Calum thought to himself.
“That must be the name of that other stand.” He gasps.
“Wait, shit— don’t tell me, it’s already here?”
“Tell me that there’s one nearby!”
He looks over to see a small barrel aimed towards him from a window not too far away. He gasps, this was perfectly timed. He shifts his body.
“FUCK, ADEL LOOK OUT!” He warns her.
Adel turns to chaos. There wasn’t much time left… they were at their final edge. If they made one wrong move, they would die.
STAND NAME: 「 BACKSTREET BOYS 」
STAND MASTER: ALICE CHANDLEY
ABILITY: TO CREATE A LARGE SET OF COLONIAL LONG-RANGE STANDS THAT ACT AS A WIDE AND CORDINATION ASSASSIN TEAM. EACH ABLE TO CARRY THEIR OWN WEAPONS WITH PRECISE ACCURACY IN THEIR TARGETS.
STATUS: SLIGHTLY INJURED FROM ADEL’S SURPRISE ATTACK BUT IS RELATIVELY FINE. ALMOST READY TO FIRE THE FINISHING BLOW.