![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerJojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Did Rush make a mistake?
Word Count: 1193
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
“Hey, Jotaro-san, we did it!” Josuke hasn’t gotten over the temptation to celebrate early, it seems. Johan had definitely had that temptation, but he hadn’t actually given in.
Rush might look like a Roman statue at the moment, but it has to be part of his plan, somehow. The Pillar Man had planned out this encounter, so maybe he hadn’t been randomly wandering around. Maybe he’d actually had a plan. Xander’s looking around the area, trying to figure out what it could possibly be, and—there’s a sewer lid close to where he’s stuck in place. It’s possible he’s still miscalculated when he set up the traps, just like with Wolfram & Hart, but that doesn’t feel right, either.
“Stay away from the sewer,” he orders tersely, Jotaro giving him a tight nod in return.
Kakyoin’s already investigating the scene from a distance using Hierophant, but he’s notably taking an extra precaution—he’s ready to cut off the tentacles like an octopus (and the sudden pang of loss at the reminder of LJ hits again) if, say, Rush tries to run water over them to reach the Stand or User.
“I actually brought my handcuffs, if we want to arrest the guy,” Josuke keeps talking, and he’s not cluing in on the very real danger they’re in.
“Pillar Men can still absorb life in their stone form, right?” Robin clarifies. Josuke makes a disgusted face and takes a couple steps back involuntarily before Johan can even answer.
“Yeah, people and blood. Too bad I don’t have Joseph’s hammer. You can actually break them like real stone if you’re a safe enough distance away, but managing to pull that off is harder than it sounds…” Something about the scene looks wrong, but Johan can’t exactly place it. Willow puts a hand on his shoulder. He turns to look, but she’s muttering something under her breath, probably trying to use a spell to pinpoint what’s wrong.
“Whisper doesn’t notice anything specifically,” Darling reports, dagger in hand and ready. “The town’s a lot more empty at the moment than I would’ve thought. Though…” and now she’s frowning thoughtfully, “...didn’t the coppers say they were going to be patrolling looking for this bloke? He didn’t see any, which isn’t usually something I would be worried about, but right now...”
“Hey. You think this big famous sword will do anything?” Buffy asks, hefting it over her shoulder. By the way she says it, she’s been itching to use Luck & Pluck on something again and is grateful for an excuse (which, yeah, saw that coming).
“I mean, it definitely could, but I wouldn’t—Buffy, put the sword down and step away from the statue. He could have placed a bomb, or…” Pretender’s not Star Platinum. He’s not good for the details, even if Johan channels Jotaro, who’s right there. “Going by the angle of the sun, it’s about noon, isn’t it? Just about right overhead.”
Jotaro grits his jaw, still on edge about the loss of his watch, probably. “Nearly high noon,” he agrees. He doesn’t have to voice the rest—that it’d be a decent time for a standoff.
“It’s moving,” Kakyoin states, trying not to sound as alarmed as he probably is.
“Oh, ha ha, you’re just trying to freak me out, very funny. It’s not moving…” Josuke complains, getting a step closer and getting yanked back by the back of his shirt by his daughter.
“We’re not, papa. The statue’s missing an eye, look.” Josephine points, ignoring her dad’s exaggerated gagging noises.
“Something’s moving under the stone, down toward the elbow,” Giorno agrees, Gold Experience lurking behind him. “That’s the right shape and size for a human eye. Or not so human, in this case. Tell me, Cugino, can a Pillar Man normally manipulate their body in such a way?”
“They can break and reform their bones and twist themselves to enter small places, including entering the human body…” Johan begins, and shakes his head when Willow actually turns to look at him, disgusted and curious. “Don’t ask. You really don’t want to know.”
“So in other words, you’re unsure,” Kakyoin clarifies. “In any case, Giorno-kun is right. It’s an eye, but the question is, is it his own, or another’s? If it was his, shouldn’t it be stone like the rest of the body?”
“It should, but nothing else here makes sense.” And sure, Big Bads make mistakes, but Rush isn’t that kind of villain. Everything in Xander’s experience, everything in Johan’s experience, is screaming that something is wrong. Terribly wrong. Xander’s instincts are screaming that discretion is the better part of valor and the only reason he’s still standing here today and hasn’t been vampire chow. Johan’s tell him that when something isn’t adding up, it’s just that he hasn’t figured out the enemy’s plan yet and he really needs to do so quick if he’s going to have any chance of beating him. “Rush is a really careful guy. He’s managed to go this long with only a single photograph being taken of him. He’s made mistakes in the past, yeah, but he’s been able to pivot to turn the situation back to his advantage every single time. How would he have made the kind of miscalculation that would get him stuck in stone until nightfall, way past the deadline he’s aiming for for this ritual of his, unless—” A thought strikes Johan. “...Unless he hasn’t missed his deadline after all. I kinda remember from Wesley’s ritual—he had a Red Stone of Aja with him. Did you find it, or was it missing?”
Not that he knows why Rush would need it, exactly, but if Kars could figure out a way to make the concentrated light work for him, then Rush probably could, too.
“We were a little distracted with you—but no, I don’t remember seeing it,” Josie tells him, downplaying her grief with understatement.
Which is when the sewer lid bursts from the street from sheer water pressure. The water rains down, sparkling in the light. Johan barely manages to duck out of the way of getting brained by the intricately carved stone lid. Kakyoin immediately severs the tendrils, moving back. It doesn’t smell like actual sewer, thank goodness, but water of any kind near Rush is bad news, and there’s also the issue of where the water’s from. It probably doesn’t come from the actual Well; it seems unlikely that the town would actually hook up their waste to their sacred water, but the river coming into town runs nearby, and maybe it’s from there, or maybe Rush diverted it for reasons they don’t know and are probably just about to find out.
Jotaro notices it first, yelling for everyone to move back. Johan notices just in time to be too late—there’s a hole in the middle of the stone arm, a slit that looks disturbingly the right size to be from an Arrow. He gets to just watch helplessly in horror as a spear of water skewers the Captain’s shoulder, ripping through flesh and actually tearing off a chunk that lands wetly on the street.
Chapter Summary: Did Rush make a mistake?
Word Count: 1193
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
“Hey, Jotaro-san, we did it!” Josuke hasn’t gotten over the temptation to celebrate early, it seems. Johan had definitely had that temptation, but he hadn’t actually given in.
Rush might look like a Roman statue at the moment, but it has to be part of his plan, somehow. The Pillar Man had planned out this encounter, so maybe he hadn’t been randomly wandering around. Maybe he’d actually had a plan. Xander’s looking around the area, trying to figure out what it could possibly be, and—there’s a sewer lid close to where he’s stuck in place. It’s possible he’s still miscalculated when he set up the traps, just like with Wolfram & Hart, but that doesn’t feel right, either.
“Stay away from the sewer,” he orders tersely, Jotaro giving him a tight nod in return.
Kakyoin’s already investigating the scene from a distance using Hierophant, but he’s notably taking an extra precaution—he’s ready to cut off the tentacles like an octopus (and the sudden pang of loss at the reminder of LJ hits again) if, say, Rush tries to run water over them to reach the Stand or User.
“I actually brought my handcuffs, if we want to arrest the guy,” Josuke keeps talking, and he’s not cluing in on the very real danger they’re in.
“Pillar Men can still absorb life in their stone form, right?” Robin clarifies. Josuke makes a disgusted face and takes a couple steps back involuntarily before Johan can even answer.
“Yeah, people and blood. Too bad I don’t have Joseph’s hammer. You can actually break them like real stone if you’re a safe enough distance away, but managing to pull that off is harder than it sounds…” Something about the scene looks wrong, but Johan can’t exactly place it. Willow puts a hand on his shoulder. He turns to look, but she’s muttering something under her breath, probably trying to use a spell to pinpoint what’s wrong.
“Whisper doesn’t notice anything specifically,” Darling reports, dagger in hand and ready. “The town’s a lot more empty at the moment than I would’ve thought. Though…” and now she’s frowning thoughtfully, “...didn’t the coppers say they were going to be patrolling looking for this bloke? He didn’t see any, which isn’t usually something I would be worried about, but right now...”
“Hey. You think this big famous sword will do anything?” Buffy asks, hefting it over her shoulder. By the way she says it, she’s been itching to use Luck & Pluck on something again and is grateful for an excuse (which, yeah, saw that coming).
“I mean, it definitely could, but I wouldn’t—Buffy, put the sword down and step away from the statue. He could have placed a bomb, or…” Pretender’s not Star Platinum. He’s not good for the details, even if Johan channels Jotaro, who’s right there. “Going by the angle of the sun, it’s about noon, isn’t it? Just about right overhead.”
Jotaro grits his jaw, still on edge about the loss of his watch, probably. “Nearly high noon,” he agrees. He doesn’t have to voice the rest—that it’d be a decent time for a standoff.
“It’s moving,” Kakyoin states, trying not to sound as alarmed as he probably is.
“Oh, ha ha, you’re just trying to freak me out, very funny. It’s not moving…” Josuke complains, getting a step closer and getting yanked back by the back of his shirt by his daughter.
“We’re not, papa. The statue’s missing an eye, look.” Josephine points, ignoring her dad’s exaggerated gagging noises.
“Something’s moving under the stone, down toward the elbow,” Giorno agrees, Gold Experience lurking behind him. “That’s the right shape and size for a human eye. Or not so human, in this case. Tell me, Cugino, can a Pillar Man normally manipulate their body in such a way?”
“They can break and reform their bones and twist themselves to enter small places, including entering the human body…” Johan begins, and shakes his head when Willow actually turns to look at him, disgusted and curious. “Don’t ask. You really don’t want to know.”
“So in other words, you’re unsure,” Kakyoin clarifies. “In any case, Giorno-kun is right. It’s an eye, but the question is, is it his own, or another’s? If it was his, shouldn’t it be stone like the rest of the body?”
“It should, but nothing else here makes sense.” And sure, Big Bads make mistakes, but Rush isn’t that kind of villain. Everything in Xander’s experience, everything in Johan’s experience, is screaming that something is wrong. Terribly wrong. Xander’s instincts are screaming that discretion is the better part of valor and the only reason he’s still standing here today and hasn’t been vampire chow. Johan’s tell him that when something isn’t adding up, it’s just that he hasn’t figured out the enemy’s plan yet and he really needs to do so quick if he’s going to have any chance of beating him. “Rush is a really careful guy. He’s managed to go this long with only a single photograph being taken of him. He’s made mistakes in the past, yeah, but he’s been able to pivot to turn the situation back to his advantage every single time. How would he have made the kind of miscalculation that would get him stuck in stone until nightfall, way past the deadline he’s aiming for for this ritual of his, unless—” A thought strikes Johan. “...Unless he hasn’t missed his deadline after all. I kinda remember from Wesley’s ritual—he had a Red Stone of Aja with him. Did you find it, or was it missing?”
Not that he knows why Rush would need it, exactly, but if Kars could figure out a way to make the concentrated light work for him, then Rush probably could, too.
“We were a little distracted with you—but no, I don’t remember seeing it,” Josie tells him, downplaying her grief with understatement.
Which is when the sewer lid bursts from the street from sheer water pressure. The water rains down, sparkling in the light. Johan barely manages to duck out of the way of getting brained by the intricately carved stone lid. Kakyoin immediately severs the tendrils, moving back. It doesn’t smell like actual sewer, thank goodness, but water of any kind near Rush is bad news, and there’s also the issue of where the water’s from. It probably doesn’t come from the actual Well; it seems unlikely that the town would actually hook up their waste to their sacred water, but the river coming into town runs nearby, and maybe it’s from there, or maybe Rush diverted it for reasons they don’t know and are probably just about to find out.
Jotaro notices it first, yelling for everyone to move back. Johan notices just in time to be too late—there’s a hole in the middle of the stone arm, a slit that looks disturbingly the right size to be from an Arrow. He gets to just watch helplessly in horror as a spear of water skewers the Captain’s shoulder, ripping through flesh and actually tearing off a chunk that lands wetly on the street.
