![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerJojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Johan faces Rush.
Word Count: 1575
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
Johan manages to get the gears and equipment between them. It won’t slow a Pillar Man down for long, but even buying a few seconds will help. Putting together the ‘how’ of the ambush comes easily enough. Rush had used water to muffle the sounds of his footsteps.
Now, he sees Xander pull out his Stand, and he smiles at the sight of Pretender. Mocking him, humoring him the way a parent would at a child who thinks, with young and boundless imagination, that they can accomplish far more than they can in reality. “You wouldn’t hurt a man wearing glasses, would you, Joestar?”
“You wouldn’t hurt a man with just one eye, would you, Pillar Man? Oh, wait. You already did. More than once.” Not just his arm, just now, but Rush had plucked out his eye and used it to spy on the people he cared about.
“My name is Rush.” It’s hard to read him, whether he’s irritated by the mirroring of his mockery or not. Probably part of the point, really; showing emotion, whether in battle or in a gamble, is a sign of weakness. Perhaps feigned weakness, but either way it signals to the opponent details that it seems Rush would rather keep to himself. Still, even the choice of reply was perhaps unwise. It just proves a suspicion Johan’s had.
Rush wants to be known simply as himself, thinks he’s above his fellow Pillar Men, or at least doesn’t want to be compared to them. All that despite the fact that he still shared many characteristics; a vulnerability to hamon at the very least. That’s the kind of personality trait that’s begging to be exploited.
And there’s something else, too, now that he’s paying attention. Rush hadn’t used his actual Stand, there. Just his own strength—which is, possibly, making him a little more touchy about being a Pillar Man, if he’s currently mostly relying on traits common to all Pillar Men. Interesting, from the scientist perspective. Johan would have thought he’d keep testing his Stand until he was satisfied with the results, and then try to kill them all off as quickly and efficiently as possible. The fact that he’s not—is he actually...unsatisfied with the Stand? It’s great at protection, but is it not actually that deadly?
Ripple breathing is helping with the pain, but he doesn’t have the time to reset his arm. Rush will be on him in an instant. Gramps will have this with Crazy Diamond, but he has to make it to him in more or less one piece, or at least not that much more hurt than he is right now.
And, interestingly, something else he’d missed before—Rush is moving slower as he approaches, the casualness of his movements menacing in its simplicity. Not a lot, just enough to be barely noticeable. He’s not limping and he’s not having the kind of allergic reaction your average human would have had, but thousands of wasp stings weren’t entirely without an effect, either. Willow knows he’s in trouble, so help is probably on the way, and with any luck Rush will be just as oblivious to an ambush as he’d been not five minutes ago. All he has to do is stall. Which, fortunately, he’s pretty good at, running his mouth. Rush doesn’t seem interested in your average villain speech, but even for the types that think they’re above it all, wanting to be understood, to be seen and admired is a near-universal trait. “So, what’s your big plan?”
Rush could just ignore his attempt at a conversation, but he takes the bait, halting and raising an eyebrow. “What?”
He might as well draw from his long list of experiences with the various Big Bads, Scooby and Joestar alike. “I mean, come on. Clearly you’re the big bad guy. You’ve got all the looks and attitude and menace down. What’s your big plan? Taking control of the world of science? Conquering the world? Restarting the universe? Kars was Mr. Ambition when it comes to Pillar Men, and you basically said his plans were cliché, so that implies you dream bigger.”
Rush looks completely bemused.
“I mean, you have me dead to rights. You planned out all of this, right? You nabbed the book on the Joestars from Fitz’s bookstore, and the researcher’s notes on Stands, including most of our own. Though I’m not sure why you needed that when you had Sarde right there.”
“He wasn’t particularly forthcoming about his past employment, and had little interest in being a test subject. By the time I required more information on the Speedwagon Foundation and your family, he had already gone missing. Fortunately for him during our acquaintance, his mercenary mind correctly identified that he was still valuable enough to keep around for the time being, We tried...what was her name?” Rush corrects, which is a good sign.
Encouraged, Johan gives him the name. “Courtney Love. And you used her statues for smuggling and traps, too.”
“Right. But she sniffed us out. So I didn’t have a good sample to work with. I was able to learn a great deal about Josephine from him, however.”
That’s obviously bait, but Johan can’t help falling for it anyway. “You bastard.”
Rush’s smile is all teeth, joy in seeing his pain. But at least he’s willing to sit there and hear Johan out rather than punching a hole in him or popping his head like a grape or anything else he could actually do.
As someone, probably Giles, put it, at the moment the only way out is through. “Kept tabs on the Arrow through your Wolfram & Hart connections, grabbed it when the time was right, killing Angel in the process, and then discarded those connections when they were no longer of use to you. You even went after Styx when he was going to give away your identity, and then kept him from coming and helping us out. After your raid on Wolfram & Hart, it’s pretty obvious that you put a lot of thought into your plans. And now you’ve actually managed to give yourself a Stand—what was the hard part, getting it to pierce your skin? Figuring out how to infect yourself with the Stand virus? Compared to you, I’m really new at this, and those files you got your hands on probably say as much. I’ve been using the Joestar Secret Technique all my life, but actually fighting? I’m going to try, obviously, but I’m realistic about my chances. If I’m going to die, I’d at least like to know what I’m dying for.” He tries his best to match Rush’s casual stance, though his heart’s hammering in his chest and Rush obviously will know that. Pillar Men probably have better hearing than humans do, if they’re at all related to ancient vampires like everything suggests.
“Sharks are one of the most evolutionarily successful predators on the fossil records. Some debate as to whether trilobites surpass them, but definitely sharks are near the mark, having around 200 million years of success in their current configuration.”
Johan’s brow furrows as he looks at Rush. It’s working, but Rush seems to have taken the Shakespearian villain route with his answer. “What?”
Rush has clearly been wanting to expand on this for a while. It might get hard when you can’t be honest with your fellow villains without having to kill them. “The notion that the most successful predatory strategy requires long-term planning is a particularly anthropocentric viewpoint, and a rather arrogant one. Humans have existed for 10,000 years, with some precursor species that vastly outlived them, and yet you assume that the best predators have plans. Sharks spend most of their lives drifting around the ocean, grabbing occasional food morsels that catch their eye. The dinosaur needed no long-term strategy to stand as the dominant lifeform for eons.”
This, Johan suspects, is what Jotaro grumbles about with the whole funding ‘practical application versus pure science’ discourse. These days, no one wants to fund research or conservation efforts unless it could have some benefit to humans. Seems Rush has decided where he falls in that debate, probably without ever having to deal with funding in the first place. “So you’re a shark or a dinosaur.”
“Not exactly, but at any rate I don’t seek luxury, experimental data, and power to attain some greater end.” Rush raises his arm.
Johan hears footsteps on the landing, and grins.
“I suppose you fight more like Joseph Joestar,” Rush guesses. Given that Johan’s generally on the weaker side compared to some of his relatives and has grown up having to use his wits or his babbling to get out of situations, he’s not entirely wrong.
Xander’s not too surprised when he works out that pooling the water around himself like that with a guy who can channel the Ripple through his Stand is a bad idea, and just like before manages to get the water away from his body before he can even hope to get through the Stand’s protective capabilities. “To be honest, I knew you’d see the trap coming. I was kind of hoping it’d do more damage, but I was mostly trying to cover up sound and buy time. Time enough for someone to be able to stop time to show up.”
Jotaro sounds pretty pissed, which is about as reassuring as his presence. “Star Platinum!”
Chapter Summary: Johan faces Rush.
Word Count: 1575
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
Johan manages to get the gears and equipment between them. It won’t slow a Pillar Man down for long, but even buying a few seconds will help. Putting together the ‘how’ of the ambush comes easily enough. Rush had used water to muffle the sounds of his footsteps.
Now, he sees Xander pull out his Stand, and he smiles at the sight of Pretender. Mocking him, humoring him the way a parent would at a child who thinks, with young and boundless imagination, that they can accomplish far more than they can in reality. “You wouldn’t hurt a man wearing glasses, would you, Joestar?”
“You wouldn’t hurt a man with just one eye, would you, Pillar Man? Oh, wait. You already did. More than once.” Not just his arm, just now, but Rush had plucked out his eye and used it to spy on the people he cared about.
“My name is Rush.” It’s hard to read him, whether he’s irritated by the mirroring of his mockery or not. Probably part of the point, really; showing emotion, whether in battle or in a gamble, is a sign of weakness. Perhaps feigned weakness, but either way it signals to the opponent details that it seems Rush would rather keep to himself. Still, even the choice of reply was perhaps unwise. It just proves a suspicion Johan’s had.
Rush wants to be known simply as himself, thinks he’s above his fellow Pillar Men, or at least doesn’t want to be compared to them. All that despite the fact that he still shared many characteristics; a vulnerability to hamon at the very least. That’s the kind of personality trait that’s begging to be exploited.
And there’s something else, too, now that he’s paying attention. Rush hadn’t used his actual Stand, there. Just his own strength—which is, possibly, making him a little more touchy about being a Pillar Man, if he’s currently mostly relying on traits common to all Pillar Men. Interesting, from the scientist perspective. Johan would have thought he’d keep testing his Stand until he was satisfied with the results, and then try to kill them all off as quickly and efficiently as possible. The fact that he’s not—is he actually...unsatisfied with the Stand? It’s great at protection, but is it not actually that deadly?
Ripple breathing is helping with the pain, but he doesn’t have the time to reset his arm. Rush will be on him in an instant. Gramps will have this with Crazy Diamond, but he has to make it to him in more or less one piece, or at least not that much more hurt than he is right now.
And, interestingly, something else he’d missed before—Rush is moving slower as he approaches, the casualness of his movements menacing in its simplicity. Not a lot, just enough to be barely noticeable. He’s not limping and he’s not having the kind of allergic reaction your average human would have had, but thousands of wasp stings weren’t entirely without an effect, either. Willow knows he’s in trouble, so help is probably on the way, and with any luck Rush will be just as oblivious to an ambush as he’d been not five minutes ago. All he has to do is stall. Which, fortunately, he’s pretty good at, running his mouth. Rush doesn’t seem interested in your average villain speech, but even for the types that think they’re above it all, wanting to be understood, to be seen and admired is a near-universal trait. “So, what’s your big plan?”
Rush could just ignore his attempt at a conversation, but he takes the bait, halting and raising an eyebrow. “What?”
He might as well draw from his long list of experiences with the various Big Bads, Scooby and Joestar alike. “I mean, come on. Clearly you’re the big bad guy. You’ve got all the looks and attitude and menace down. What’s your big plan? Taking control of the world of science? Conquering the world? Restarting the universe? Kars was Mr. Ambition when it comes to Pillar Men, and you basically said his plans were cliché, so that implies you dream bigger.”
Rush looks completely bemused.
“I mean, you have me dead to rights. You planned out all of this, right? You nabbed the book on the Joestars from Fitz’s bookstore, and the researcher’s notes on Stands, including most of our own. Though I’m not sure why you needed that when you had Sarde right there.”
“He wasn’t particularly forthcoming about his past employment, and had little interest in being a test subject. By the time I required more information on the Speedwagon Foundation and your family, he had already gone missing. Fortunately for him during our acquaintance, his mercenary mind correctly identified that he was still valuable enough to keep around for the time being, We tried...what was her name?” Rush corrects, which is a good sign.
Encouraged, Johan gives him the name. “Courtney Love. And you used her statues for smuggling and traps, too.”
“Right. But she sniffed us out. So I didn’t have a good sample to work with. I was able to learn a great deal about Josephine from him, however.”
That’s obviously bait, but Johan can’t help falling for it anyway. “You bastard.”
Rush’s smile is all teeth, joy in seeing his pain. But at least he’s willing to sit there and hear Johan out rather than punching a hole in him or popping his head like a grape or anything else he could actually do.
As someone, probably Giles, put it, at the moment the only way out is through. “Kept tabs on the Arrow through your Wolfram & Hart connections, grabbed it when the time was right, killing Angel in the process, and then discarded those connections when they were no longer of use to you. You even went after Styx when he was going to give away your identity, and then kept him from coming and helping us out. After your raid on Wolfram & Hart, it’s pretty obvious that you put a lot of thought into your plans. And now you’ve actually managed to give yourself a Stand—what was the hard part, getting it to pierce your skin? Figuring out how to infect yourself with the Stand virus? Compared to you, I’m really new at this, and those files you got your hands on probably say as much. I’ve been using the Joestar Secret Technique all my life, but actually fighting? I’m going to try, obviously, but I’m realistic about my chances. If I’m going to die, I’d at least like to know what I’m dying for.” He tries his best to match Rush’s casual stance, though his heart’s hammering in his chest and Rush obviously will know that. Pillar Men probably have better hearing than humans do, if they’re at all related to ancient vampires like everything suggests.
“Sharks are one of the most evolutionarily successful predators on the fossil records. Some debate as to whether trilobites surpass them, but definitely sharks are near the mark, having around 200 million years of success in their current configuration.”
Johan’s brow furrows as he looks at Rush. It’s working, but Rush seems to have taken the Shakespearian villain route with his answer. “What?”
Rush has clearly been wanting to expand on this for a while. It might get hard when you can’t be honest with your fellow villains without having to kill them. “The notion that the most successful predatory strategy requires long-term planning is a particularly anthropocentric viewpoint, and a rather arrogant one. Humans have existed for 10,000 years, with some precursor species that vastly outlived them, and yet you assume that the best predators have plans. Sharks spend most of their lives drifting around the ocean, grabbing occasional food morsels that catch their eye. The dinosaur needed no long-term strategy to stand as the dominant lifeform for eons.”
This, Johan suspects, is what Jotaro grumbles about with the whole funding ‘practical application versus pure science’ discourse. These days, no one wants to fund research or conservation efforts unless it could have some benefit to humans. Seems Rush has decided where he falls in that debate, probably without ever having to deal with funding in the first place. “So you’re a shark or a dinosaur.”
“Not exactly, but at any rate I don’t seek luxury, experimental data, and power to attain some greater end.” Rush raises his arm.
Johan hears footsteps on the landing, and grins.
“I suppose you fight more like Joseph Joestar,” Rush guesses. Given that Johan’s generally on the weaker side compared to some of his relatives and has grown up having to use his wits or his babbling to get out of situations, he’s not entirely wrong.
Xander’s not too surprised when he works out that pooling the water around himself like that with a guy who can channel the Ripple through his Stand is a bad idea, and just like before manages to get the water away from his body before he can even hope to get through the Stand’s protective capabilities. “To be honest, I knew you’d see the trap coming. I was kind of hoping it’d do more damage, but I was mostly trying to cover up sound and buy time. Time enough for someone to be able to stop time to show up.”
Jotaro sounds pretty pissed, which is about as reassuring as his presence. “Star Platinum!”
