Heart of Gold

Chapter Three: Tailor-Shop Disaster, Part. 2

 We all whipped our heads around in horror. A small, circular, blue, device-looking thing with a skull on it sat on the front desk. There was no doubt in my mind; That thing was a stand. It was right next to the hot cup of tea the old man was holding. Steam was still puffing up into the air,
 "That was not the sensation of human flesh.." The stand muttered as it's wheels squeaked as it turned to us. We all stood there in silence before it launched towards us. Jotaro grabbed me and Koichi and threw us to the floor.  It launched across the room and Jotaro got off of us,
 "Are you two okay?" He asked as he eyed our surroundings. I dusted my pants off, 
 "Yeah, I'm fine." 
 "Was that a stand!? Why did it attack the old man!?" Koichi shouted as he jolted up. 
 "It was, and I have no idea why it would've attacked him." Jotaro admitted as he stood up. Before even giving us another chance to think the stand flung itself towards us again.
 "Ora!" I shouted as Hierophant knocked it away. "I don't think we need to know, we just need to kill it." I said bluntly as I turned back to Jotaro and Koichi. Jotaro nodded as Star Platinum appeared at his side, the stand launched towards us again.
 "O V E R H E R E." It shouted before we knocked it back with our fists. It went flying through the window again. 
 "Mr. Jotaro! Ms. Kakyoin!! The killer's here!!" I heard Koichi shout from behind us. We both turned around. Someone's hand was grabbing on to the jacket the old man brought out earlier!

 "We need to get them!" I said as I tried to run towards them. 
 "Wait!" Jotaro said as he grabbed me by my coat.
 "But from what I heard you have no other evidence!!"
 "That could be a trap, something about the way he is just tugging on the coat and not ripping it off and leaving gives me a bad feeling." He explained before letting go. We all stood there, staring at the stand on the floor. What exactly was this guy's power?? C l i c k
 "Watch out!" Jotaro shouted at me and Koichi before tackling us both to the floor as the stand's bomb went off. After Jotaro got off of us I shrieked. The old man's body was gone. Along with the guy grabbing onto the coatrack!!

 "This must've been how Shigechi died and why we couldn't find his body!" Koichi shouted. Shigechi?? I ignored it and quickly stood up. "Gah! Our evidence is gone!! That man is getting away!!" 
 "Calm down and let him go, Koichi." 
 "What?! How can you say that!? We need to go after him!!" I stood there and listened to them argue, but I kept my eyes looking for the stand. Where could it have gone so fast?? 

 "We can't just sit here and wait for him to give us more clues!!" Koichi shouted again, they were finally talking loud enough that I could hear them again. 
 "I wanna chase him as much as you do, but right now we to keep an eye on that stand."
 "Speaking of that stand, do you guys see it anywhere?" I asked as I turned back to them. 
 "I don't see it, but I know it's still here." Jotaro said, I simply nodded.
 "What do you mean it's still here?!"
 "Where else would it go?" I asked Koichi as I looked around. 
 "We should leave through the front door, slowly, and carefully." Jotaro ordered. 
 "If you guys don't see it then how do you know it's still here?!"
 "Koichi, from what we've gathered, and the fact that this guy hasn't been caught for 15 years, I don't think he would attack us with his stand once and then run away. He's too clever for that a stupid stunt like that and if he had he would've been arrested after his first murder.
 "Which means that he intends on getting rid of the evidence."

 "H-Hold on!! By evidence you don't mean-"
 "Yes, I do."  I stared at Koichi, by his face I knew he didn't believe us.
 "Listen kid, we've been dealing with stand users since before you were born. And we know what to do. A quick little tip that I like to incorporate a lot! Observation, not looking at something. I mean scrutinizing it down to it's basic components. And not hearing something or listening, concentrating on every little detail of speech. Otherwise-"  
 "We'll all die right in this room." Jotaro cut me off as he began to slowly walk around the store. 
 "Well! I don't know what you two are trying to imply-" Koichi said as he slightly gritted his teeth. "But I don't see that stupid stand anywhere! And we'd have to be total idiots to not see it, if it were still here." Well I don't know what you're trying to imply, I slightly glared at him. Within the blink of an eye the stand appeared out of no where. Koichi screamed as it latched onto his face. 
 "Ora!!" Hierophant Green shouted as she knocked it off of his face and across the room. Star Platinum caught it and began to barrage it with his fists; Before throwing it to the floor. After all of the dust cleared I was completely shocked. Not a scatch was left on it. 
 Before I could make a comment on it I heard the stand C l i c k
 "STAR PLATINUM BRING FORTH THE WORLD!" Time came to a hault as I ran towards him, "I'd like to end things here right now, would you mind helping me dispose of this stand?" He asked as he turned to me, a small grin on his face. 
 "You know I would!!!" I grinned back before Star Platinum threw the stand up into the air. Hierophant Green and Star Platinum began to punch the stand with every ounce of strength they had. It finally went flying when time resumed, creating a large hole in the floor. 

 "Wow! You must have stopped time with Star Platinum!" Koichi exclaimed, my eyes widened as I turned to him. 
 "You know about that?!"
 "I'll explain everything else to you later!!" Jotaro added. The stand suddenly jumped out of the floor and up onto the shelvings. 
 "This can't be! If Star Platinum can't kill it- then it's basically un-killable!" 
 "Koichi, stay behind us!!" Jotaro ordered. The stand jumped off the shelves and towards us. Leading to another beat-down from Hierophant and Star Platinum. We'd done this so many times my hands were beginning to hurt. The stand once again flew back into a hole, but only to resurface and fly towards us again. 
 "O V E R H E R E!" I grabbed it with one of Hierophant's tentacles and began to force it's mouth open in a desperate attempt to split it in half. C l i c k
 I threw it across the room and out the window as it exploded. Me and Jotaro stood there in silence as we stared at the glass covering the floor. 

 "Y-Your guys' hands are covered in blood!!" Koichi shrieked, I glanced down at my bleeding hands.
 "Eh. I've dealt with worse." I muttered with a shrug
 "You mean the hand thing, right? Because I'm starting to think this is the toughest stand we've been up against."
 "Wh-What are we gonna do now!? You two can't keep going like this!!" 
 "Watch me, and in the meantime you're too close for comfort. Back up a little, I dont' want you getting hurt." I said to Koichi, glancing back at him for a moment before turning all of my attention back to the stand. "Me and Jotaro will do the honor of killing this stand no matter what it takes, right Jotaro?"
 "Right." Jotaro nodded
 "No!! I'm begging you guys! We've already figured out that stand's have ranges, and the farther a stand user gets from their stand the weaker it becomes! But with how strong this stand is- I think the user might still be close to us!!" Koichi explained. 
 "And how are you gonna prove that??" 
 "I'll use Reverb Act 2 to scout the area! And if the killer's still here we can-"
 
 "That's a dumb idea." I cut Koichi off. 
 "You can't tell me that you have no idea of what my stand is capable of!!" 
 "Well, she can't. But that doesn't mean she's wrong." Jotaro pointed out. "Don't you dare try bringing your stand into this. You have only one job right now; Keeping yourself safe." 
 "But-!!" 
 "No buts. Stay put until me and Noriaki deal with this. And before you try to tell me I'm wrong I've done this many many times before." 
 "O V E R H E R E!!" The stand screeched as it slowly started to move towards us again. 
 "You know, I'm starting to notice how complex this stand's movement is. There's no way it's a long-ranged stand at all."

 It continued to move towards us giving us more and more time to observe it. Koichi had gone completely silent by now. It was making me worry, but on the otherhand he could be thinking about what me and Jotaro said. So I left him alone. The stand rolled back up into the windowsill. Staring me and Jotaro down. I prepared myself for it to launch towards us, when it turned. 
 "O V E R H E R E!!" It was facing towards Koichi, it had no intention to attack me or Jotaro. 
 "Koichi, watch out!!" 
 "I think I'm starting to understand this stand a little bit more, it seems to be attracted to whatever object is hottest in the room! Koichi, use Reverb to protect yourself, quickly!!! Me and Noriaki have no chance of getting to you in time even if we stopped time at that range!!" Jotaro shouted as the stand launched towards Koichi. But he just stood there!! 
 "I-I SENT REVERB AWAY TO GO AFTER THE KI-KILLER!!" Koichi screamed as the stand got closer. "I'M SO-SORRY I DIDN'T LISTEN!!!" 
 "YOU IDIOT!!" I shouted at Koichi. "HIEROPHANT GREEN, THE WORLD!!!" Time came to a halt. "You said this stand is attracted to the hottest object in the room?" Jotaro nodded. "Help me make a fire. Fast."