Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 169

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Buffy continues her fight with the Siphon.
Word Count: 1246
Rating: Teen (Buffy|Jojo's level violence including Araki-style body horror)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

          “One thing will change,” Severin snarls, breathing heavily.  He’s attempting to catch and ride the rhythm back into the fight, but he’s having trouble.  “You’re not walking away this time.”
          “News flash: I’ve died twice.  You’re not scaring me.”  She punctuates the statement with a matter-of-fact crossbow bolt to his throat, only he blocks it with a hand.  The bolt goes straight through, but as he breaks it off, glaring, it looks like the tip barely scraped his throat because there’s only the slightest trickle of blood.  Maybe it’s stupid to be talking and wasting precious oxygen, but this is as much a mental battle as it’s a physical one.  His glow’s died down, just a little, but he’s still got what looks like yellow lightning cracking around him just a little and his eye does appear to be regrowing slowly (though, obviously, faster than your average human, considering your average human doesn’t regrow eyeballs).  It’s too bad he hadn’t stayed up at the catwalk.  Smoke rises, so if he’d stayed up there even just a little more he’d be just that much more weakened. 
          By the way he narrows his eyes, that wasn’t something he’d known, which is…kind of surprising on her end, too.  She could’ve sworn everybody even tangentially associated with the Watcher’s Council knew that little tidbit, unless they weren’t ‘in the know’.  “You didn’t even have a Slayer girlfriend, did you?” she guesses, burying another bolt through his left lung (the angle on that one is kind of tricky, given ribs, but she has the advantage of a relatively short distance and might’ve missed a little given the slight sound of cracking bone).
          Maybe that was a little bit of a misstep, because she’s pretty sure the look of grief and rage that crosses his face is actually genuine, and his breathing grows closer to his battle rhythm even as she’s forced to cough by the growing smoke on the air.  There’s a crackle and a roar as one of the crates breaks behind her and goes up in flames, which means the timeline has accelerated.  It’ll spread pretty quickly through the pile of boxes at this point.  Probably a stray spark caught the wood and slowly plotted its demise.
          The problem with her plan is that while Severin needs to breathe to fight, so does she, and she’d guess her stamina is about as good as a Slayer’s, if not better.  She’s got no clue about what he’s like unpowered, but even if the initial technique is Sendo-based she’s got a feeling once he’s absorbed the power, it’s not all about the breathing anymore.  She’d gotten a confused vampire/demon vibe from him that she hadn’t before, and it’s probably based on the bodies and ash.  Seems that, for Severin, you really are what you absorb.  That probably means good things for her backup plan, but for all she knows, given his Siphon powers, he has a touch of the whole ‘undead don’t need to breathe’ shtick.  Not fully, given his earlier gasping, but that probably also depends on how much of that power he’s spent.  “She’d been turned into a vampire—what’s that campy term you use?  ‘Vamped’?  …Stop that,” he growls, allowing the next shaft to bury itself in his arm, ripping it through his skin with no heed for the flaps that are now dangling.  She’s spent probably weeks in sewers if you add up all that time, but even so, that’s just nasty.  He bleeds like a human with every wound, for a total of, what, two seconds?  Until there’s a slight crackle flash of light and it’s like he’s at least healing all the blood vessels up.  “…You’re just delaying the inevitable, you know.”  Healing’s definitely a thing this martial arts style does well, and she hasn’t missed that his concentration and focus on breathing seems to have accelerated the program.
          “That’s life, honey,” she replies sweetly, managing to actually pin him to the warehouse wall this time with a last-minute aiming change, because at least the buying time bit is working.
          In retaliation, he pulls out the necklace, focusing on it and his breathing, and he’s learned because this time he doesn’t go for the straight-from-the-source laser but one at a different angle that manages to go straight through her side.  It doesn’t feel like it hit anything and from the feel of it actually cauterized the edges of the wound.  Probably not an intended side effect, but it wouldn’t even give her pause if not for the fact she’s pretty sure the smoke is finally starting to make her slightly lightheaded.  “I had to put her down.  Just like I’ll put you down.”  He’s straining against the bolt.  She’d buried it pretty deep through his shoulder and the wall.
          “I don’t think she’d approve of your change of occupation,” she retorts.  The fact that his empty eyesocket is slowly, slowly still being filled again is not a good sign, particularly since it sped back up.  He’s accelerating his own issues, too, since even with those super long deep breaths he’s still going to be breathing in an unhealthy, damaging level of carbon dioxide or whatever it is that makes smoke so dangerous and hurting his lungs.  Then again, maybe he’s expending the power he absorbed to heal that right back up, too.
          His reply is lost in the roar as the fire consumes the rest of the stack of crates at her back, lighting the area up so brightly it’s almost blinding.  Which is probably a good thing, because it means he misses the voice that suddenly, quietly, whispers in her ear.  “No wonder Cous took a shine to you.  What’s the plan now, hightailing it?”
          There’s no one there.  No one to see, anyway, but she can feel a body next to hers, and unlike a vampire, it’s warm.  She hadn’t felt anything, but then, concentrating is getting a little more difficult.  Now there’s something faint, not like a vampire or demon, but like Jotaro or Kakyoin or Josephine.
          “If we leave, he’ll be able to breathe again.  Maybe not immediately, but his healing is out there.  If we don’t, I’m probably going to pass out,” she whispers back, crouching down which, huh, has a pretty quick impact, even if it’s not a magic pill solution.  The woman behind her also crouches.
          “Will being able to turn things invisible help?” her new ally asks quietly, following along, which is appreciated.
          “It might.  You’re not related to a Marcie Ross, are you?”  Given her introduction, it’s not likely, and she doesn’t even remember if Marcie even had a cousin, but it’d be an interesting coincidence.
          A slight pause follows the question before the woman takes it back in stride.  “Sorry, don’t know a Marcie.  I’m Shizuka Joestar, and this plan is reckless enough to be one of Josie’s.  So…?”
          An instant of hesitation, but nah, as it is it’ll be hard enough to get to the door and get out.  And then, as if to stress the urgency, a siren starts in the distance, and, well, she’s not sure if Severin can recharge with humans, but she doesn’t want to find out.  If she can lure him away even just a little, it’s worth it.  “Let’s relocate,” she agrees with a nod, and then they’re running for the door.  If he doesn’t follow, they’ll deal with that when it comes to it.