#t'onga kim

[achtung-attitude]

After 6 years of work, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Achtung Attitude has come to an end.

We'd like to thank everyone who's taken the time to support us, reading our story, giving us feedback, asked us question, reblogged and even made fan art.

This has been a wonderful learning experience for us, and we will forever cherish the story of Shizuka Joestar, looking back fondly as we move on to new, original projects in our journeys as creators.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank everyone who came on this bizarre adventure with us.

-NoJo Comics

[achtung-attitude]

5 years of Achtung Attitude

[achtung-attitude]

The Assassin and her Stand

[achtung-attitude]

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[achtung-attitude]

CHAPTER 85: Throw Your Arms Around the World

A chilly wind blows through the muggy, smog-choked sky over Los Angeles, painted gray by thick silver clouds rolling in. Fall is coming.

Shizuka leans against a tree in Calvary Cemetery, a few yards away from a headstone that reads: ‘KILO STAPLES. Beloved Friend. A good man.’ A few rows down, stands the stone reading ‘MOYA PEZZENTE. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’

Six days have passed since the fight on Mulholland Drive. T’onga awaits her trial in a small penitentiary. Shizuka has not gone to visit her, due to the contents of the letter smuggled into her blazer when she was being ‘held hostage’. While under medical care, she read the letter countless times. Now, against the tree in Calvary Cemetery, she reads it again.

This is the way it must be. The police could not know they were related. For all they knew, T’onga was no more than knife-wielding maniac, and Shizuka the innocent hostage she had threatened. This is what T’onga herself wanted. Shziuka knows this, but still hates it. For the hundredth time, she reads her mother’s small writing.

A̶e̶-̶j̶e̶o̶n̶g̶

M̶y̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶A̶e̶-̶j̶e̶o̶n̶    

D̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶A̶e̶

Shizuka

First off, sorry for springing this on you. I already know. ae-jeong is just the name i gave you. doesn’t mean it's the one you want. If you don’t want it, discard it. live how you want.

While I'm at it, sore REALLY SORRY about what i’m about to do. holding you hostage, I mean. it has to look real for the cops, so can’t tell you (should have apologized for that first. sorry)

As for why, i already told you i don't want you to live the same way i did. thats why All-kill had to die. That's why i have to do what I'm gonna do. without this show, the two of us will be nothing but a pair of creeps looting the ruins. But with this, you’re just an innocent bystander. This way, you can still have a future. I wont take that away from you.

But again, I already know what this will seem like. Another abandonment. for real this time. no excuses.

This’ll sound like a bad joke, but I have faith in the justice system. They can’t prove I killed anyone, but can pin me with threatening with a deadly weapon. That’s a life sentence. But with a decent lawyer and some money I have saved up, I can bump that down to at least 14 years.

I'll serve that time quietly. Eventually they’ll let me out. early, if I'm very well behaved. Then if you’ll have me, I will come back to you.

I want to see Upstate. the Finger Lakes. 

This is NOT goodbye.

Your loving mother,

Kim T’onga

PS. i almost forgot. Kim is spelled 김, but if you prefer, you can go with Yeoh: 영. Your choice.

At the final line, Shizuka softly smiles. She folds the paper until it's small enough to once again be stowed away in her blazer, alongside the silver disc. The disc of LONELY BOY and SATURN BARZ, and whatever else came before. Sensing someone approach, she looks to see Jerome approaching her.

“You OK, girl?” he asks.

“I’m fine,” is her answer as she stands. “What about you?”

“Me? Ay, don’t worry ‘bout me…” The rapper looks sombrely towards the graves. “It’s good. He woulda liked it this way. Buried next to Moya… He never woulda let on, but I think they was best friends…”

With a frown, Shizuka exclaims, “Eh?”

Jerome responds in kind. “Eh?”

“...What do you mean?”

“...What you mean ‘what do I mean?’”

The girl cocks her head, fixing the rapper with her gaze. “You were Kilo’s best friend. Duh.”

“Me…?” Jerome exclaims. “Me, huh…? Nah… I don’t think so. But fuck it… I was close enough. That’s good enough for me.” He smiles at her, and she smiles back at him. “You got your ticket?”

Producing a plane ticket from her blazer pocket, Shizuka answers, “All booked. It’s time I went home. Vacations are lots of fun, but… they have to end sometime.”

Nodding, the rapper offers, “Sure you don’t want a ride or nothin’? I can hook you up. Shit, I’d take you myself.”

“Jerome, you’ve already done so much for me. I feel so lucky to have met you. You don’t need to do anything more, the Speedwagon Foundation is sending someone to pick me up.”

“Pleasure was all mine! Oh… Uh, speaking of the Speedwagon Foundation… Would you mind keepin’ a secret for me? Thing is, I… I been keepin’ a record of’ all this. Like, in journals and stuff…”

Shizuka is surprised. “Oh, wow. Really?”

“Yeah… But, like, not for anything bad! I ain’t tryin’ get no one in trouble, I just… Just, can you imagine the type o’ music I can with this kind of material?! It’ll be off the chain! A secret supernatural war in the heart of LA! Shiet, it’ll be my best ever! Like, fuck Platinum, I bet I could reach Diamond! 10 million units! It… It’d be a bummer to have it seized, you know…”

Shizuka laughs, wearing a mischievous grin. “Hahaha~! I’ll consider it… but you gotta make me a promise: the MOMENT the album’s finished, I want a copy. I wanna be the first girl in America to hear it.”

C-King’s gold teeth flash. “Was gonna do that anyway. Anything for my number one fan.”

A shiny black car pulls up on the nearby path as the pair embrace. “Don’t forget about me when you get back home,” whispers Jerome.

Shizuka answers, “I’ll never forget you. I’ll never forget any of this.”

Two men in suits emerge from the car and approach them. They present cards bearing the stamp of the Speedwagon Foundation, at which Shizuka nods and follows them to their car. Leaning out of the door frame, she beams a gleaming smile at Jerome and waves eagerly. He waves right back, with as much vigor. They continue waving even as the car pulls away, Shizuka leaning out of the backseat window until she finally loses sight of him. 

Slipping back inside the vehicle, she places her hand over heart, feeling the outline of T’onga’s letter in her inner pocket with a small smile. Grinning deeper, she then touches the spot where the Stand disc is not.

In the cemetery, Jerome Adetokunbo, known to the world as C-King, abruptly notices the feeling of something round and flat in his front hoodie pouch. Reaching inside, he grins to discover the silver Stand disc in his hand. “When’d she do it?” he wonders. “When we was huggin’...? Damn…” 

Glancing around, he stows the disc back away and strolls toward the cemetery exit. Back to LA. His city. He hums under his breath, and there’s a spring in his step. Autumn wind brings blessed relief to the sun-baked town.

The Speedwagon agents’ car bypasses the constant traffic on the main highway, instead rolling smoothly down the streets of East LA. On its way, they pass by a dilapidated old building, graffiti covering the sign over the double doors that reads “Juarez Boxing and Fitness.”

Leaving East LA, they pass into Lynwood, whereupon they’re stopped by a collision on the freeway, and the delays it causes. Typical Los Angeles. From Lynwood, if you were to look south down Long Beach Blvd. and squint, you can see as far as East Compton.

In the end, it takes them 57 minutes to reach LAX, thanks to further delays at the toll road, up there on the tall suspended freeway writhing over the city streets like giant snakes. From up there, Venice Beach can be seen in the northwest, and Santa Monica beyond that. Head east, you soon find yourself in Beverly Hills. Continue east, and the Hollywood sign shows its face.

In these hills, a general blissful ignorance lives among the people, attempting to fill their days with as much excitement and purpose as possible. Every so often, they look downward to see the sweepings of the street, and every so often, they leave behind a token of charity. A single dollar for an old man. If only for the sake of soothing a guilty conscience. Yet a dollar is a dollar.

It takes another thirty minutes before Shizuka is finally on a plane. The captain mumbles some incoherent message, and the aircraft rumbles up the runway. Soon, it soars into the air and banks left. Shizuka gazes out of the window and sees the metropolis laid out before her. Her gaze lingers on the great, dirty city, until she smiles and settles into her seat.

[achtung-attitude]

T’onga’s hand clamps roughly over her mouth and she holds the blade of the pearl-handled knife to Shizuka’s throat. “NOBODY FUCKING MOVE!!!” she screeches with such ferocity that it stops the cops in their tracks. “Don’t come here or I’ll cut this little bitch open!!”

The policemen exchange startled glances, maintaining a safe distance with their guns trained on their unhinged target. One of them, a sergeant, raises a hand. “Hey! Just calm down! Don’t do anything crazy!” he chides.

“SHUT UP!!! FUCK YOU!!!  GET AWAY FROM ME!!” T’onga roars, “I’m walking out of here or I swear to God, you’ll live with this girl’s BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!!!”

The sergeant orders his officers to keep their distance, then turns his attention to T’onga again. “C’mon, just listen to me! We’re here to help!! We got calls about a house collapsing, we just wanna know if you’re OK!!!”

Shizuka’s mother waves her knife erratically in the sergeant’s direction. “I don’t give a SHIT!! I'm just here to loot the place!! Now back up, you fucking pig bastard, or she gets it!!”

Things go back and forth in this way for a while. Shizuka’s eyes dart around in every direction, between the policemen slowly but surely surrounding them, to the hand over her mouth, to the wildly swinging knife. To the sideways glimpse of her mother’s desperate face, just beyond the crook of the elbow holding her head in place.

Everyone is shouting. It becomes a dull ringing in her ears. Her heart pounds hard enough to hurt. 

Suddenly, a car backfired and she jumped out of her skin. Shizuka then notices smoke emanating from one of the firearms trained on them, then further notices that nothing is gripping her face anymore. She turns to see her mother collapsing with a dull clatter into the rubble. A bullet hole is in her shoulder. Flecks of blood speckle Shizuka’s face. She dabs at it absently.

T’onga groans, still alive. Relief swells in Shizuka, but then the cops descend upon them. One pulls her away, the rest converge on T’onga and slap handcuffs on her. 

Someone was talking to her. Telling her everything would be alright now. She’s safe now. She didn’t listen. She watched her mother being hauled away by the police, literally carrying by her wrists and ankles out of the ruined mansion towards their squad cars.

She would live. In spite of her injuries, T’onga was strong enough to survive. Long enough to be placed on trial, be found guilty, and be sent to jail for a very long time. Which is exactly what she’d been counting on. Through her seizing panic, Shizuka soberly realized her mother’s intentions.

Shizuka tried to fight. To struggle against the cop’s protective hold. Shouting and screaming wordless cries of anguish. But the battle with All-Kill had taken too much out of her. There was nothing she could do. Nothing at all.

Later, in the back of the ambulance that arrived after the police, its sirens blaring as it tore down Mulholland, the only comfort she can find was the circular outline of the object in her jacket pocket. Even as the EMTs treat her injuries, she reaches to pull it out and gaze at it. 

To gaze at Kilo’s Stand disc.

[achtung-attitude]

Not ten minutes had passed since Shizuka and T’onga laid hidden amidst the wreckage of All-Kill’s mansion. Shizuka’s spirits had fallen lower than they had ever been. Her friend was gone, his memory desecrated and corrupted by the man who had stolen his Stand, and was using it to tear the place apart in search of them.

It was then T’onga revealed the truth.

“You and All-Kill were born with your Stands. And you probably know better than I do, a Stand isn’t just some ghost, but a physical manifestation of a person’s will. 

“That’s the difference between me and you. Your Stand is yours, since the moment of your birth. But me? And Kilo, and Moya, and the rest? We had to make our Stands our own. Dust gave us the Stands of evil people with powerful wills we had to overcome, otherwise they’d destroy us. 

“All-Kill got desperate. That’s where he slipped up. He thinks he can just take SATURN BARZ and make it his own? Hell no. You can’t just take another person’s soul without a fight. It takes time and effort. He’s like an untrained genius swimmer going up against a champion Olympian with years of experience. He might have the talent, but if you put him under pressure, the fool will sink. That’s how we can win. If my plan doesn’t work, that’s the only way we can win. Put him under pressure. Annoy the bastard to death. Shake his resolve to the point his own Stand rejects him.”

Shizuka stared, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of their hiding spot. “There’s… no way to be sure that would work.”

T’onga frowned. Beads of sweat bud on her forehead. “Maybe. Maybe not. But…” Shizuka’s mother paused, unsure of what to say. She glanced out of their hiding spot and saw All-Kill looming overhead, still scouring the wreckage for them. “We owe it to your friend…” she quietly says. “He isn’t gone. He’s up there.”

She jerks her chin up at the madman above. “He took him. All that was left of him and warped him into an ugly parody… For all the wrong that I've done, even I know… evil like that can’t be allowed to pass.”

She turned to her daughter then, forcing an encouraging smile. “You can do this. You can free yourself from that man the way I never could. Do it for Moya, and Kilo. But most of all… For yourself…”

***

These words inspired her, even in her moment of weakness over Kilo’s remains. Every ounce of pain and torment, desperate planning and hasty preparations, all to keep a single step ahead of All-Kill. “You can already do so much awesome stuff with your powers! You can make it rain! Sure, it’s deadly scalding acid, but still. I’m sure you can make it snow!”

“It’s not… It ain’t that simple. I can’t just…” Kilo searched for the words, but ultimately gave up “Ugh, whatever. Yeah, maybe. One day…”

And in the end, her efforts at last bear fruit. Her determination blossoms and she stands to full height. By blood, she is T’onga Kim’s child! By commitment, she is the child of Joseph Joestar! She is Shizuka Joestar! “Hah… hah… Now you’ll say…” she gasps, “Ah, screw it! I’ll just cut to the chase! This whole thing, All-Kill… All of this was part of my plan!”

“You… You damn…!” All-Kill chokes out as Shizuka strikes a triumphant pose, in spite of the radiation sickness wracking her body still.

“I stacked the whole deck!!” she declares.

The man in black rages, doing what he can to pry LONELY BOY’s hand off of his neck. But the Stand does nothing but stare with the blank slate where its eyes should have been. As he squirms, the flesh of his neck begins to bubble. “Ahhhhh… AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!” he howls. Steam the color of flesh emerges from beneath LONELY BOY’s hand, as though the upper layer of All-Kill’s neck was being turned to mist.

“Kilo…” Shizuka mutters, dropping her victory pose.

It only gets worse for All-Kill. His eyes bulge as he feels a rumbling in his body. A dense shuddering that rapidly escalates until his insides as a whole vibrate. Even more blood seeps from his mouth, as well as his eyes, nose and ears. He recognizes the sensation and gags. “GAAAAAAHHH!!! This… This can’t be…! LONELY BOY… It’s… It’s canceling out my… my order… Grraaaghh… H…HOUSE OF PAIN…!!”

Shizuka watches in awe at the culmination of her own plan. Even she had not expected this; betrayed by his own Stand aside, LONELY BOY had further doomed All-Kill by setting loose her mother’s Stand, still active in his body, but made dormant by the shut-down power.

Shizuka watches and her cocky smile slowly fades as All-Kill’s doom is confirmed. The terrifying, unstoppable enemy she faced is no longer here. All that remains is a middle-aged man choking on his own blood. Her hand balls into a shaking fist.

But nothing else follows. She merely exhales, relaxing her hands. With a snap of her fingers, the laser lights disappear. There is no longer anything more to do. She limps past All-Kill towards the destroyed forest.

“What… Where do you… think you’re going?!” he shouts as she passes, but prompts no reaction from her. LONELY BOY’s attention also turns to Shizuka as she moves weakly past. Strands of hair from her head. “You… You’re not going ANYWHERE!!” the man in black shrieks.

LONELY BOY’s free hand blurs, swiping at Shizuka. Both she and All-Kill gasp in surprise at its movement. Shizuka tries to duck away, but it’s too late. It’s hand has taken her arm. She feels BLACK KEYS sliding through her sleeve and penetrating her skin. The shock melts from All-Kill’s face, replaced by a vindictive scowl. LONELY BOY turns its wrist.

CLICK!

A huge gasp escapes from Shizuka, but… It’s not her last. Rather than meeting death, her body is reinvigorated. LONELY BOY regards her solemnly as she inspects herself, her hands, body and hair. All-Kill stares, aghast. Only one answer is possible.

“The… The radiation…” Shizuka softly exclaims.

The man in black writhes in the Stand’s grasp. “No… NOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

[achtung-attitude]

Her mother, bleeding. All-Kill’s apparent resurrection. The Stand floating at his side, an ugly parody of her friend’s Stand. Her friend who is now gone forever. Feeling more fear than ever before, these images race through Shizuka’s mind, her panic making her insensible.

After everything they had gone through, it wasn’t enough to defeat All-Kill. She falls suddenly, tripping over rubble and collapsing into the wreckage. With that impact, something slips.

“Oh no…! No…!” she thinks, but she can’t stop ACHTUNG BABY’s malfunction. The rubble and ground around her turn invisible, as if a sphere of matter has disappeared. “ No no no…! He’ll find me like this…! Oh no no no no…!”

She tries to rein her ability in, but fails. Her failure exacerbates her stress, expanding the invisibility bubble. She scrambles to run through the wreckage. The bubble follows her through, leaving a trail right to her.

Shizuka trips again and falls face first on the driveway. To any observer, there is only the sound of loose gravel being displaced. Softly groaning, she looks up to see…

“Kilo…” she whispers.

He lies on his stomach, face turned to the side. Still invisible, she crawls over to kneel at his side. Slowly, the invisibility recedes and she reappears, silent beside his unmoving form. 

“I’m sorry…” Shizuka whispers. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this… If you’d never met me…” She falls quiet, and stays that way for a while. 

Run… says a familiar voice. Shizuka raises her head sharply. “Who said that?” she says.

The voice answers, Run. You don’t stand a chance…

“J… Jotaro…? Where are you…?”

You heard him, a different, but equally familiar, voice cries. You’re in no condition to fight! Just run!

“Big bro… H-how am I hearing you-?!”

Jotaro’s voice speaks again. Good grief. You’ll never beat him like this…

Her shoulders slump, bowing her head so deep that her chin touches her collar. “You’re right… What am I supposed to do…? There’s no hope… Do I just give up…?”

That isn’t what we meant, sweetheart.

Shizuka shivers. “Daddy…” she whispers.

You can’t give up, but you have to run for now! I didn’t raise you to be weak, but in your condition, you can’t win! You have to retreat and calm… Calm your mind! 

The voice, which calls out from inside her head, begins to change. Joseph’s warm tones sharpen, becoming more harsh, yet more feminine. Just like before, it’s unmistakably familiar. “Mom…?” Shizuka mutters.

Only with a clear mind can you put an end to this bastard! Run now, then win later!

The technicolor girl is motionless, until finally, she pulls a smile. The voice, which at first seemed to be T’onga’s, is in fact, her own. “Oh, I see… It’s not really you guys… It’s just me, talking to myself…”

You heard ‘em, girl… Just run.  

Shizuka blinks, gazing at her friend’s body. Hearing his voice in her head. She rubs her eyes roughly. “Yeah… Yeah! That’s it! I can do it! I already… Have everything I need!”

A clattering of debris comes from the destroyed mansion. All-Kill approaches. Shizuka snaps out of her daze and stands, sparing a final look at Kilo’s body before she sprints down the driveway. “This is it…” she declares, “The strength of the Joestar family… the strength of my mother… and the strength of my friends! This is my foundation!”

A moment later, All-Kill emerges from the wreckage. As casually as he’s able, he makes his way down the driveway. Spotting the deceased Kilo, he pauses by the body and looks down at it. “Thanks for the Stand.”

BANG!!!

A bullet flies at All-Kill from behind. LONELY BOY thrashes the air surrounding its user, freezing it in mid-air. All-Kill regards it with mild surprise.

BANG!!! BANG BANG BANG!!!

More shots ring out, but each bullet is frozen without coming near their target. The man in black turns, sauntering over Kilo’s body, to the source of the shots: the bushes near the mansion’s side passage.

LONELY BOY pulls the foliage aside to allow All-Kill to peer inside. He is met by Jerome’s shaking hands, the barrel of the pistol pointed at him. But the man in black simply turns his back on him. “Get off my property,” he commands, “You’re not worth dealing with.” With that, he walks away. Jerome's hands continue to shake as he grips the pistol.

[achtung-attitude]

CHAPTER 80: Lonely Boy - Part 3

All-Kill convulses from inside-out, falling amidst the rubble of his home. T’onga watches him, keeping her footing for a moment, before her eyes roll back and she falls to one knee. Shizuka dashes to her aid.

“Are you OK, Mom?!”

“No…” the former assassin groans, then makes a hacking cough. She reaches down her throat and pulls out a strip of torn purple cloth. Her ripped sleeve, used to plug her throat. “No, I am not alright…” she concludes, extracting a shattered tooth alongside the cloth. She tosses both into the wreckage. Shizuka looks on in horror, but comes around when her mother extends her hand. “Help me up.”

Shizuka takes her hand and throws it over her shoulder to carry her through the rubble. T’onga mutters to herself as they stagger through. “Can’t believe that worked… HOUSE OF PAIN was never meant to be used like this… Used on lockets, bottles… my own fucking mouth…!”

Shizuka smiles guiltily. “When people are around me… They tend to do pretty crazy stuff…”

“Heheh…” T’onga chuckles, and then they are both standing over All-Kill’s frame. Their smiles fade.

“Is he…?” Shizuka whispers. 

“…HOUSE OF PAIN’s been kind of hit-or-miss lately. Can't hurt to make sure…”  T’onga then slips out of her daughter’s support to kneel over her fallen former boss. She first places two fingers on his neck. He doesn’t move. Neither does his pulse. Then she leans down, gripping the lapels of his jacket to stare at his face. No breath scapes from his slightly open mouth or his nostrils. His glasses are over his forehead. His eyes are half-shut and glazed over.

Finally, T’onga stands. Shizuka goes to help her, but she is waved away. The former assassin stares at All-Kill’s body for some time, then kicks him hard into his side. “Haugh!…” she groans, losing balance and having to be caught by Shizuka. Even then, she tries to kick him more, her face a mask of desperate fury. 

“Mom!” Shizuka cries as she drags her away from the body. Only then does T’onga cease her assault. She stares at the man’s unmoving figure, and her eyes go wide. She covers her mouth like she’s about to throw up.

“Mom…? What’s wrong?”

“It’s… nothing…!” the former assassin stammers. She turns, brushing away from Shizuka’s support. She faces a collapsed section of wall that allows her to see the LA city lights in the distance. 

“I hate this fuckin’ city…” she says after a moment. “Too many people. And it stinks… Can you keep a secret?”

Shizuka blinks. “Y-Yeah, sure…”

“As messed up as it is… I liked Morioh. It was… uncomplicated. Quiet. I didn’t hate that town. More time there would have been nice…”

Silence. Shizuka stares at her mother’s back. Seemingly working up courage, she says, “T-there are places like that Upstate!”

“Yeah…?”

“Yeah! During summer breaks, me and Daddy and Mamma Suzy Q would stay in this cabin near the Finger Lakes! You know, to get away from the city once in a while!”

“Oh… Cool…” T’onga says, looking away from her daughter’s eager expression. She softly sighs and turns fully around. “We, um… We need to bail. Cops and all the rest will be here soon enough. We can’t be here when they-”

Something pierces her in the side. Her vision goes white, but searing pain brings her back to her senses. “Mom?” Shizuka says, but T’onga can’t focus on her. She gazes upon the gash in her side, below her diaphragm, slicing between her ribs. Shizuka sees it and gasps.

“No…!” T’onga hisses through clenched teeth. “It can’t be…!”

But it is. The rubble crunches as All-Kill rises with jerky, painful movements. He glares at them both, clutching his side as he stands. LONELY BOY manifests next to him.

“Go, Shizuka, go! Get out of here!” the former assassin says. Her daughters stare in horror, the sweat pouring off of her as their enemy approaches. T’onga shouts “I said GO, God damn it! Turn invisible, now!!”

Tears well in Shizuka’s eyes. Her gaze darts between T’onga and the approaching All-Kill, until finally she sobs and disappears from sight. The man in black keeps coming. He hears Shizuka’s unseen feet scramble over the rubble, but doesn’t pursue, instead staggering towards T’onga.

He releases the air blade in her side, but catches her by the jaw before she drops to the ground. As he holds her up, LONELY BOY jams its fingers into her open wound.

T’onga bellows, “AAAAAAUUGHH!!!”

All-Kill lets her scream. Glaring hatefully into her eyes, he draws close to her. “It turns out… LONELY BOY can freeze individual organs in place. Just enough to keep them functional. If not for that, HOUSE OF PAIN would have finished me. That’s also how I stopped my pulse, by the way…”

The former assassin says nothing.

“What? You had so much to say earlier. Don’t you have anything cute to say?” LONELY BOY pulls its fingers out of her, and she nearly passes out from the pain. All-Kill shakes her awake. “I’ve frozen your liver. Without it, you have little over an hour to live. And that’s you’ll  how die T’onga; standing here in agony, listening to me butcher your little girl.”

T’onga meets his gaze without flinching.

“…You would’ve got me. You made a good call, using my overconfidence against me. But no more of that. Thank you, T’onga, for reminding me.”

He releases her jaw. She stays standing, but not on her feet, which scrabble around, instead held up by her own frozen liver. She snarls futilely as All-Kill turns his back on her.

[achtung-attitude]

He trails off, noticing something. Something flies out of T’onga’s mouth. Not blood, not teeth. Something alive. A fly. And also, even as she is shunted away from him, she pulls a red-toothed smile.

“What?” he mutters. Before he can complete his through, he feels every inch of body rattle from the inside out. Through the convulsions, his scattering thoughts land on realization. “Inside her mouth… The fly… A closed space!! HOUSE OF PAIN!!!”

A torrent of blood burst from his nose as T’onga collapses to the ground. She scrambles, looking on triumphantly as All-Kill tips over his air platforms and collapses into the rubble of his once-beautiful home.

END of CHAPTER 79

[achtung-attitude]

mother and daughter

[achtung-attitude]

The glass bottle has shattered, yet the pieces remain suspended in place. Even the droplets of liquid hang frozen in mid-air. LONELY BOY holds the bottleneck loosely. All-Kill appears as surprised as his enemies.

“Fascinating…” he mutters, grabbing a piece of glass and inspecting it. When he lets it go, it remains right where he left it. LONELY BOY too releases the bottleneck, and as if frozen in time, it remains perfectly still.

“What the hell…?” Shizuka says, but T’onga spares no time for such questions. With a grunt of pain, she rips the letter opener from her shoulder and hurls it at All-Kill. But with a wave of LONELY BOY’s hand, it too freezes in mid-arc.

The ghost of a smile flashes across All-Kill’s face. “Kilo Staples… Well now, Shizuka Joestar… Your friend’s power was to control molecules, yes? Induce phase-shifting between states of matter… It seems his ability has adapted to me. I can now halt molecules completely. I could get used to this… But I do wonder…”

Upon a mere thought from its master, LONELY BOY opens its hands before All-Kill’s face. From each steely gray palm, BLACK KEYS emerge. The man in black exhales with some relief.

Finally, he regards the women again, and a new chill runs up their spines. The eyes beneath the thick spectacles have changed. Gone is the passionate, unflinching intensity from before. Now there’s nothing. A thousand yard stare of a man with nothing to lose. 

“T’onga. Shizuka…” he says. “I understand now. I’ll give up on having you join me. I’m just going to murder you now.”

T’onga blinks in surprise. She forces a smile across her lips to hide her discomfort. “Y-You… You finally got the message, huh?!” Quick as ever, she darts to the cutlery drawers and rips it out of the counter. The silverware flies everywhere as she hurls the drawer and its contents at him. 

All-Kill doesn’t even blink. LONELY BOY’s arms become a blur, freezing most of the metal implements. But not all. Some slip past the barrage and pelt All-Kill on his head and shoulders, forcing him to inch backwards.

“New Stand, new abilities…” T’onga thinks. “No one learns to ride a bike without falling over once! You can’t have full control over it already!!”

With a grunt from All-Kill, LONELY BOY splinters the drawer with a punch before it reaches the man in black. “Always with you and your little tricks…” he fumes.

T’onga shrinks back. “Shizuka! Now would be good!!”

“Already on it!!” Her mother glances over and sees ACHTUNG BABY maneuvering its hands in circular motions, as if manipulating an invisible ball. Probably before she pulled the drawer, Shizuka had been working with her Stand.

With the power inside cut, the ambient light had grown dim. Only the natural firelight from outside provides light, casting all else in thick shadow. ACHTUNG BABY guides this luminescence between its hands. Though both Stand and master remain crouched behind the kitchen counter, All-Kill sees it happening, reflected in the blade of the frozen letter opener.

Through that reflection, he watches the light build into a glowing impossible triangle between ACHTUNG BABY’s hands. “Now what is this?” he says.

The refracted light gathers into the triangle’s form, then builds within the center of the shape. Compressing smaller and smaller into a single point. Shizuka creeps out from behind the counter and squints, taking aim at All-Kill’s face.

“This has to hit him…!” she thinks. “No matter what new power he has, if I can blind him permanently, then we have a chance to beat him! We CAN beat him!!”

The light compresses within the impossible triangle until it can shrink no more, until finally, Shizuka cries out, “ACHTUNG BABY: ULTRAVIOLET!!!” 

With that, the compressed light is released in an ultra-thin beam emitting an audible “PEW!!” T’onga looks on in astonishment, a sense of pride over her girl’s strength swelling within her. But this hopeful feeling is squashed immediately. 

The beam traveled at the speed of light, faster than any human eye could see. And yet, LONELY BOY had stopped it dead, having raised its hand before Shizuka had released it.

Beneath Shizuka, the ground seems to crumble. Her mouth hangs agape as All-Kill inspects the frozen beam of light. It remained where it was, reaching across the room from Shizuka to him, shining like a neon sign. 

“Well, look at that…” All-Kill says. “LONELY BOY can even stop light itself from moving. I can stop your power in its tracks, Shizuka…”

Finally, he takes a step towards the women. ACHTUNG BABY recedes into Shizuka as she remains crouching, frozen by shock and fear. The man in black glares down at her. “Shizuka Joestar… you have no chance.”

END of CHAPTER 78

[achtung-attitude]

two men contemplating the moon

[achtung-attitude]

T’onga yelps in pain as she pulls the letter opener from her back. On the hilt, she notices bloody fingerprints. Clearly belonging to her former boss. Shizuka stands protectively over her, gazing in horror as All-Kill creeps into the room.

He isn’t bleeding. From the stump of his amputated wrist, no blood comes dripping. The rest of his arm hangs limp.

“I shut it down with BLACK KEYS,” he says, nonchalantly pointing to the stump, “Just in case you were wondering… I wasn’t sure what I could do, but I managed to reach the letter opener on my desk. Thanks to BLACK KEYS, I didn’t have to worry about blood loss or passing out from shock. See?”

Shizuka gulps. Behind her, T’onga presses on her wound, trying to stem the blood. The man in black stares at them, feverishly. In his remaining hand, he summons his Stand. “This is all I have left now. The only thing which is really… mine… So, Shizuka, T’onga… Let’s wrap this up already, eh?”

END of CHAPTER 76

[achtung-attitude]

All-Kill moves first. T’onga bats his right fist out of the way, but she’s too slow for the left hook to her gut. She gasps, the wind knocked from her. This is cut short as he grabs and pulls her up by her neck.

With all his might, All-Kill slams her against the wall. Her fingers claw pathetically at his wrist. With a faint smirk, she says, “Still not… going to kill me…?”

The man in black shudders. She’s in his grasp. He can manifest BLACK KEYS in his palm to embed in her throat right now. Clenching his teeth, he tightens his grip, forcing air to wheeze out of T’onga’s mouth. All-Kill stares into her face, hearing her kick her legs. Her eyes roll back… And he can’t do it.

The titanic grip on her neck releases, and T’onga falls to the floor, sucking air into her lungs. All-Kill stands over her, at a loss. Without speaking or moving, he stares down at her.

“Can you believe it?” she chokes out, clutching her neck. “I joined you because I was afraid that you’d kill me… Yet here we still are, after everything I’ve done to you… I really am your favorite, aren’t I? As long as you have me, your bullshit family sitcom routine can survive.”

“Bullshit…?” All-Kill whispers.

“Bullshit.” T’onga spits, “Every fucking word a lie, for the last 20 years. And you had to have known, but you didn’t want to, did you? You wanted to pretend you were the good guy. A man protecting his family. Well, look at your family now, Ganmyeol! Everyone who ever loved you is gone! You think taking my daughter will make up for that?! All this because you couldn’t let go of the one person who never believed you. The only one who really knows you. You told me yourself, that very first time…”

She leers at him, standing before him to meet his red-rimmed eyes. As he trembles, she delivers the final bow. “Just like me, you have no heart.”

The dam finally breaks. His strike comes faster than anything, not even generating BLACK KEYS in his fist. Driving straight at T’onga face with the power to crack concrete, All-Kill howls, “YOU BIIITCH!!!”

The punch goes through T’onga’s head and punctures straight through the drywall, up to the crook of his elbow. For a half-second, panic grips him. But when she moves her head away, revealing no damage to her face or skull, he realizes his error.

The illusion of T’onga before him disappears, replaced with the real thing, standing a meter away from him with her hand on the wall. They stare at each other. All the malice from the illusion’s eyes is absent. There’s nothing in the real T’onga’s gaze.  “Did you close the door to the kitchen?”

Shizuka appears at the study door, her expression rattled. All-Kill regards her from the corner of his eye. She had been lying in wait, listening.

“Did you get the door?” T’onga repeats.

“Ah! Yup…” Shizuka says.

“OK,” her mother whispers, inhaling deeply. “HOUSE OF PAIN…”

The bristly Stand emerges from under T’onga’s palm and scuttles around before fusing with the wall. All-Kill gasps, the muddle in his mind clearing. 

HOUSE OF PAIN takes effect in the kitchen, separated from the study by the very wall he punched through. With his arm stuck and his hand in the next room, All-Kill has inadvertently made himself both the target and part of the closed space.

“Damn it… DAMN IT!” he cries, pulling his arm with all his strength. He lurches backward, pulling his elbow free, but still trapped by his wrist. By then, it’s too late. HOUSE OF PAIN is in effect, locking him in place as the vibrations rip through him. T’onga steps around him nonchalantly, ignoring him, even as he screams bloody murder. “AAARGHH!!! RAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!”

Shizuka winces at his scream. Her mother turns her away, leading her by her shoulder to the living room. Spouts of blood burst from his ears as he watches them with a final desperate gaze.

The two women enter the living room, tuning out the heavy thudding from the study. Shizuka walks listlessly, staring at her feet. Beside her, her mother whispers “What?” She doesn’t react immediately, until she notices HOUSE OF PAIN morphing out of the kitchen door to return to its master.

“It’s back… It’s… over…?” Shizuka asks.

T’onga replies, “It hasn’t even been a minute yet…” With gentle, but firm hands, she stands her daughter in the middle of the room. “Wait here. I have to check…”

“Ah…” Shizuka begins to protest, but T’onga’s already out of the door, creeping into the hall. Rather than pursue, the girl insteads creeps into the kitchen. There’s still water on the floor since her shenanigans, thankfully no longer electrocuted.

With mixed relief and disgust, she sees All-Kill’s bloodless hand jutting from a hole in the drywall near the fridge.

[achtung-attitude]

Shizuka, T'onga, and All-KIll