Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 370

[madimpossibledreamer]

That might be a Resident Evil reference.  Maybe.

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Ivete and Daniela try to find anything further that Rush is hiding in the area.
Word Count: 1118
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

         While waiting for the Slayers to check out the area underneath the house, Giorno’s face is darker than Buffy’s ever seen it, except maybe that time he was pretending to be his treacherous subordinate, when he stares into the flood waters. “What’s wrong?”
         His voice is soft and a little terrible. “Flooding is not unknown in my native Napoli. The dangers of floods are not limited to drowning or crushing; floods also often carry disease. And here in the Amazon Rainforest, unknown cures and unknown disease likely lurk in equal measure. That’s discounting anything Rush may have cultured himself. We should make sure to heal after every exposure.” His bright smile is no less a pronouncement of doom. “Using your hamon to stimulate our existing immune systems, perhaps. My healing is less than pleasant and I’m not sure it would be effective against living things in any case.”
         Maybe it’s a good thing the others had gone out there in scuba gear—at least it’s a little more protective than even the adventurer’s gear they’re wearing from exposure to the flood waters. “Well, it also helps that Slayer constitutions are better than normal humans. And if I’m remembering right, Josuke said something about Stands also helping?”
         “You’ve made your point, Mr. Giovanna, Ms. Summers, please stop trying to scare me,” Antonio moans. Buffy glances over. She’d forgotten he was even still here. Their pilot is looking...a little green, actually.
         “My warning is meant to save your life, actually.” It’s hard to tell from his expression or body language, but Buffy gets the idea Giorno’s actually insulted by the idea he’s just telling frivolous ghost stories when they’re already enough on edge as it is.
         “We’ll make sure you don’t die to some mysterious disease out here,” Buffy promises, but if anything the man looks even more nervous.
         Which is, of course, the point where Ivete pops up out of the water, actually making poor Antonio scream. She pulls out the mouthpiece before any of them can warn her about potential dangers of lurking bacteria. “Sorry,” she apologizes, clearly bemused about the need to apologize but not wanting to be rude. And then she fills them in on what they’ve found so far. “Maybe it’s for the best that you didn’t have to deal with the electric eel. You probably would’ve panicked, and it might’ve felt threatened.” That also doesn’t seem to help, but at least Antonio seemed to have realized on his own that he’s starting to get a little hysterical and is working on calming himself down. Mostly by breathing. Meditation had never helped Buffy before, mostly because her mind was prone to wandering, but she hadn’t also had the Ripple before, and having a weapon ready and at hand had always been reassuring, so it’s more useful than it’d ever been.
         Buffy didn’t manage to find the next lead, but as a lovely consolation prize it turns out that she’d been right about a potential unique use for the Ripple. It’s the only thing that finds the little metal trap door underneath the stairs, in fact. Maybe that’s because Antonio, the guy whose equipment this is, happens to be stuck with Giorno and Buffy inside the wooden house while the other two check out the area. They have to leave behind some of it, too—probably equipment that’s not meant for underwater use.
         The Slayers have to dig it out first, though, and while the water had been cloudy, it’d gotten only muddier after they’d had to painstakingly remove everything above it. It seems like an extravagant pain to have to dig yourself out and then cover it again every single time you want to enter or leave, but Rush seems like an extravagant sort of guy, so it fits him. Besides, it’s probably not flooded every time he wants to do this, or maybe he has extra entrances somewhere. That’s probably more likely.
         “Daniela’s clearing away the mud. We’ll set up the Speedwagon Foundation contraption after we’re done. Just wanted to fill you in,” she finishes, puts the mouthpiece back, and dives again.
         Antonio seems to be doing a little better, but maybe she should keep him talking so he has a distraction. “So I’m guessing you don’t do a lot of diving?”
         He smiles sheepishly. Clearly he actually is doing a little better. He’s not a hunk, exactly, as her younger self would’ve said, but that kind of self-humor is kind of attractive. “I have two complementary jobs. Most of the time I’m flying tourists into the Amazon. I’ll occasionally travel with the boats, but for the most part after I finish ferrying them in and out, I’m done. Some groups offer diving, but unless you choose your spot very carefully, it’s pretty disappointing, since you don’t get to see much of anything. The fertility of the river is a mixed blessing; it’s what supports the beauty you see around you, but it’s also some of the cloudiest waters on the planet, or so I hear.”
         He’s interrupted by a monkey who has walked over to wait, politely, until he’s done talking. “Yes?” he asks cautiously.
         The monkey chatters a little bit at him, then hands him what looks like a banana.
         “Thank you?” he responds.
         Seemingly content with the way that played out, the monkey then ambles back to the rest. Giorno looks vaguely amused, which with his tendency to not show too much on his face probably means that he’s incredibly amused.
         “So, what equipment was Ivete talking about?” Buffy asks after it’s clear Antonio either had actually been done with what he’d been saying or, she considers more likely, had completely forgotten what he’d been saying.
         To her surprise, Antonio grins at her. “You’ll see.”
         They do, in fact—it turns out that it’s a combination of a metal ‘wall’ and a water pump moving the water from inside the area fenced off (they’d decided to cover the entire house, rather than just the stairs) to outside. The monkeys are very loud about their shock, pointing and laughing or yelling, running around excitedly. Giorno’s smiling, the boa curling looser around his shoulders.
         “The Speedwagon Foundation developed this—they do some archaeological work, occasionally in underwater areas. It’s based on airlock technology, and, of course, is almost impossible to install in running water with higher pressures,” Antonio explains, and then glances at Giorno. “We still should probably make sure to take precautions and have a checkup after, though—just because the water isn’t there doesn’t mean whatever it carried isn’t deposited.”
         “Of course,” Giorno agrees serenely.
         And then, when the loud pump turns off and the water is finally gone, they descend.