Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 161

[madimpossibledreamer]

relevant song is relevant because no one knows how to mask or social distance: Monk Opening (It's a Jungle Out There)

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Yukako and Hol Horse fight the Stand User mercenaries.
Word Count: 1024
Rating: Teen (Buffy|Jojo's level violence)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

 

        It might not seem like it, but Hol Horse does respect Yukako.  She’s not quite his type, but she’s Koichi’s, and that’s good enough for him.  Besides, she’s still a lady to him, even if he’s fairly certain she’ll never act like one in her life.
        She grits her teeth, lowering Koichi to his side on the floor as he jerks around, seemingly having a seizure from the pain.  Hol had heard of that, vaguely, but never bothered to pay attention.  If they deal with the Stand User, hopefully he’ll be back to normal.  Koichi’s generally a good guy, better than some of his previous partners in almost every way (among other things, he doesn’t mind hanging out with the guy outside of the work), and he’s also a good partner.  Getting a new friend or a new partner would be both sad and a hassle at this point.
        “You’ll pay,” she hisses, radiating pure waves of rage.  Hol thinks about some of the women Stand Users DIO had also recruited and concludes that she would have fit right in.  Peter Gabriel doesn’t look concerned at all, snapping the crocodile jaws at her, and she manages to pull herself out of the way with her own hair.
        “Do you take cash or credit?” he asks, smug—but he’s too smug and isn’t looking to cover his own back.  For one thing, despite the synergy of their Stands, the duo don’t have good teamwork, and for another, that lack of fear is characteristic of some idiot believing themselves to be Number One.  Because he’s glimpsed something, a possible weakness.
        “Can you keep his jaws open?” he asks quietly, though given the close quarters their enemy’s just as likely to hear him as his ally is.  Yukako grins, bloodthirsty, and moves quickly, hair wrapping around both jaws and wrenching them apart.  Acting quickly is the way to keep their advantage. 
        Hol follows it up, each of the bullets at Gabriel’s feet flying up and flying through Sobek’s open, straining jaws, following a path through the man’s mouth to his brain.  Sobek melts away, and the man collapses at Yukako’s feet as her hair comes free.
vThere’s the sound of another shot, and Hol feels a streak of pain across his arm.  Two thoughts run through his head: the first, that Lacuna Coil is a horrible shot, and the second, that he hadn’t really tried to learn because it doesn’t matter.  Not with Apophis.  He might even enjoy watching his enemies writhe in pain and die, dragging it out for torture’s sake.
        “I’m impressed.  I suppose your Stand is your gun, there, and you can control even the bullets that seemingly miss.”  He’d thought that was a good move, himself.  “Unfortunately for you, any little break in your skin is enough for my Apophis to get in.  You’ll earn me a lot of money.”  He’d already worked that out, feels the bite as little black bugs crawl over his skin.  It hurts, and he feels himself tipping back, legs collapsing beneath him.  But he finds himself grinning, just a little.
        “You’ve forgotten someone,” he manages, blocking one more shot with a bullet of his own, hand sure for the second before it spasms and Emperor disappears as the agony engulfs him.

        He wakes up in pain, but he’s awake and can move, even if it hurts to do so.  He glances over to find Coil on the ground, as he’d expected.  “Did you kill him?” he coughs, slowly pulling himself into a sitting position, using the wall as leverage. Yukako has Koichi in her lap, still and upset.
        She shrugs, to his surprise.  “I didn’t hear a crack, but that’s only the second time I’ve actually tried to kill someone.  I might’ve missed it.  I just squeezed until his Stand disappeared.”
        Koichi’s first sign of life is a desperate cough.  While Hol sympathizes, they aren’t about to get the remnants of the poison or venom or whatever it had been out of their system like that.  When he can finally breathe with something resembling a normal rhythm, he manages, “I remember Jotaro-san saying something about not being able to use your Stand if you’re suffocating.”
        “That has even more of an impact than simply passing out, yeah, though of course it depends on the Stand.  An automatic Stand, for example…”  Koichi nods and winces, the movement a little too much.  Hol gets it, he really does.  “I hope my partner and his wife aren’t permanently harmed.”  He tries to stand, but admits, reluctantly, that it’s not time yet.
        That inspires laughter and then coughing from Koichi, and he’s at least grinning inside.  Even Yukako looks like she might be fighting off the hint of a smile.  “Even now, you’re trying to act the gentleman?”
        “Act?” Hol asks.  It’s mostly mock outrage, but there’s a little bit of actual pride in there, too.  He does enjoy being charming to the ladies, and even if he might use them a little, he always wants to at least show them a good time.
        She ignores him, which he’s beginning to learn is a response in of itself from her, and turns back to Koichi.  “Well, if it was just you, Ko-chan, I wouldn’t mind being your very own personal nurse, but as it is I suppose we should get to the Speedwagon Foundation instead.  I don’t know a lot about it, but they’re used to dealing with Stand injuries, correct?”
        “We should get the documents to them as soon as possible, and I’m worried that they might realize the Stand Users they sent failed and might send more if we don’t get out quickly enough,” Koichi admits, still a little breathless but there’s still a strength to his voice that wasn’t there before.  “You’ll have to carry us, dear.”
        “That’s easy.”  Her hair wraps around Hol, lifting him easily, and oddly enough, it feels…comfortable?  He feels safe and secure, enough to drift off again, knowing his current partners have the situation well within control.

「Peter Gabriel, User of Sobek retire 」

「Lacuna Coil, User of Apophis retire 」