Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 200

[madimpossibledreamer]

Happy chapter 200 to you, folks!  it's actually beta'd on time for once

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Fitz gets the attention of Miss Murder.
Word Count: 1100
Rating: Teen (Buffy|Jojo's level violence)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

Several minutes before

           Jojo’s thoughts are racing.  He’s lived this moment—okay, not the dozens and dozens of times that are the fight at the mansion, or the one in the ship (which, now that he thinks about it, is a really weird feeling; he actually remembers dying like it really was him and he was there, and if he hadn’t been freaking out about the dreams at that point he would’ve concentrated on that more)—but still, more than a few times.  Enough to have a pretty good idea of the area, before the rebuilding efforts anyway.  Enough to know that Pixie’s perfectly capable of getting creative—or, at least, Miss Murder is.  Like that Knight training ground.  A chamber where knights fought to the death seems like it fits the tragedy criteria pretty well.  He’s so lost in thought he accidentally tunes what Pixie’s saying out, and only realizes he’s been ignoring her as background noise when she stops talking.
           Xander turns to stare at Fitz, incredulous.  Styx seems pretty speechless, too, for a change.
           For his part, Fitz looks entirely unapologetic.  “What, she was villain-monologuing.  I just put her to sleep.  Just because I’ve learned deadlier powers in the meantime doesn’t mean I lost that from my arsenal.”
           Styx finally finds his voice.  “How long does it last, young man?”
           The Speedwagon heir shrugs, still keeping a careful eye on the unmoving girl.  “It depends on the dose, but at the very least several hours.  I’d have a better estimate but I’m still getting used to the water pistol as a weapon.”
           Which doesn’t sound like he hates it or the idea of it anymore.  But before Johan can congratulate himself further, the sound that interrupts them is a sound Jojo’s fairly sure a rabbit has never made before, a furious, murdery sort of scream.  (Though, maybe they do.  Animals make some weird sounds, and his brain seems determined to give him more nightmares.  Given the whims of the Slayers, he very well might find out someday, and isn’t that a pleasant thought.)  He tries to match the blond’s casual tone.  “Well, it seems like Miss Murder might be automatic or at least autonomous, because she’s still out, and the zombies are here, and kind of angry.”
           The blond shrugs, but he looks a little amused.  “At least if they’re chasing us, they won’t be chasing Robin or Darling.  Time for that Joestar Secret Technique, I think.”
           “Oh man, it’s not much of a secret technique if everyone knows about it,” Xander complains, and takes a deep breath before the two of them are darting away, Styx’s parting blessing echoing in their ears. 

Present

           Now, despite his complaints, Jojo’s not really that put out.  He’d been retreating at high velocity before he’d even realized it was a style, and used it early and often to perfect the technique.  Others might find it cowardly, but presented with the option in a world where it seemed like practically everyone was stronger and faster than you and sometimes had other cheating power-like things besides, sometimes the unexpected option of at least running until you found Buffy or someone with a car was the only strategy you had.  Even with powers now, he finds he doesn’t mind, because now he gets to think about things like optimal battlegrounds and traps.  Buffy and, well, Willow especially could get a bit too cocky and forget that sometimes even your average vampire could bring a surprise to the party, too.  Mostly that had been a ‘getting too into the fight’ thing, but even then, it could be pretty dangerous.  Such practice also, luckily for a later-in-life hamon user, helped perfect his ability to breathe while running, even if he ends up multitasking and talking or yelling as he’s running.
           That being said, it’s probably a good thing Fitz came up with the ‘draw the forces away on purpose’ tactic, because it wouldn’t have occurred to him.  Sure, the demon magnet thing might’ve still been in full force, but no one had seriously considered using him as bait, probably because they’d all considered him a little too squishy to risk.  After years of being told ‘no’ on that front, his mind had kind of set that aside as a valid possibility.  Being flexible in a fight, especially with a Stand, might just keep you alive, though.  Maybe other blind spots exist that he’s missing.  Good thing he’s got other people to watch his back and they can brainstorm these kinds of things together.
           “So, uh, how detailed is this plan?”  It helps to know the endgame, and if they need to come up with anything else.
           “I was hoping putting the Stand User to sleep would be the end of that, and, barring that, keeping Darling and Robin from further harassment.  I know the area a little from description, but it’s not the same as having lived such things in my dreams.”  Fitz, too, is certainly not out of breath, but despite the whole hiding as a bookseller thing, he’d kept himself in relatively good shape.  (And previous British bad boys retiring to work with books seemed to be a thing.  Which is one reason why Johan thinks he’ll get along well with Giles.)
           “I know where things used to be,” Jojo corrects gently.  “Which matters for the purposes of this Stand, I know, but it’s not as easy finding landmarks when they don’t exist anymore.  When we’d just been flying overhead, I wouldn’t have even recognized it.”  He grimaces and kicks the dog zombie trying to sneak up on his bad side.  “I could’ve done without the man-faced dogs, though.”
           “Well, at least this Speedwagon has a Stand, even if he doesn’t have hamon.”
           “So you don’t need me to try to awaken the Hamon Warrior in you?” A bit of mischief, really, and given the unimpressed look Fitz gives him, he knows it, too.
           “If you really feel the need to try, at the very least I don’t think this is the time for such things.  I suppose the best thing to do would be to try to ascertain if the girl’s Stand really did bring back Dio Brando, especially if the others are on civilian duty, this time.”
           “I can probably find the graveyard.  If nothing else, people don’t tend to repurpose graveyards.”  The blond’s expression doesn’t change; he just raises an eyebrow, which suggests that he’s probably wrong about that.  Weird.  But then most people don’t consider zombies or vampires as a health hazard if they pave over a graveyard, maybe?