“And that’s where we’re at. All good so far?” Cajole Joyride sat back down, having explained the plan to Skyburn Dash.
“All that happened while I was in the loo?” Skyburn rubbed his stomach. Even now, he was still feeling inklings of bowel movement. Whatever the enemy Stand master had slipped in his drink earlier must’ve been quite potent. “Wish I could’ve given that Stand master a good beating. What do you think took her out?”
“If I have to hazard a guess, another enemy Stand did so.” Sunset planted a hand on top of her head, where her precious hat rested. “Seems like a dangerous Stand, whatever it was. It seemed like it invaded her mind.”
“Have you dealt with anything like that, Sunset?” Cajole asked. “Summer and I haven’t. I don’t have any experience in this area.”
“I’ve dealt with a Stand like that before.” Sunset gripped the top of her hat firmly. “But I’ve never had the opportunity to have my mind taken over. Skyburn’s grandma would be able to tell us more about it. I had to fight her to break the enemy’s control over her mind.”
“Achtung, I’ve managed to take over a few surveillance cameras and a drone,” Joshi told them as he sat down drinking a soda. “They are clearing the streets and marking out a path for the French president’s car to travel down. It looks like he will be here in less than an hour.”
“How many sodas have you had?” Skyburn looked at the can in his hand. “I swear, that’s all I’ve seen you drink since meeting you.”
“Well it’s not like I can drink the German brew yet,” Joshi said. “And juice these days tastes like pisswasser. It’s all artificial anyway, so I drink soda.”
“You could try water…” Skyburn mumbled. “Or a sports drink. Those are pretty healthy.”
“Eins, I have tried sports drinks. And because I’m not so active, it wouldn’t be healthy for me to drink it as much as I drink soda.” He held up a second finger. “And zwei, you clearly have not been to Germany. Water there had become contaminated during the process of rebuilding Berlin. We can no longer just drink water out of the taps like you Americans can.”
Sunset looked around. She could see some military police looking types cordoning off the main road and setting up patrols around Angers.
“Where are all the people?” Sunset asked. “You would think the president coming to town would be a big deal.”
“That was the idea.” Cajole looked around. “It seems this publicity stunt isn’t too well received. Hey, at least the French government isn’t in total disarray like the UK government. I don’t know how much longer they can last before anarchy rears its ugly face. At least France still has a fighting chance.”
“Not if Die Die Riches succeeds here today, they won’t,” Joshi said. “Remember, the president takes all priority. He cannot die.”
“Agreed,” Sunset said grimly. “We need to make sure that whatever Die Die Riches tries to do, we stop them.”
“Not an easy task when we don’t know the enemy’s plan of attack…” Skyburn pointed out. “And that’s if they decide to attack with a Stand. It could just as easily be a bomb or a sniper attack too.”
“The police will have those secured.” Sunset pointed to the rooftops. They could just make out the shape of an armored police officer leaning against the edge with a long barrel in his hands. “But they won’t be able to put a dent in a Stand.”
“You think they’ll play a presidential anthem like they do back home?” Cajole laughed. “Like, you know, Hail to the Chief.”
“I have no idea, Cajole. But we’ll have to keep our eyes out.” Sunset looked around the streets. “I’m sure people will be out of the buildings once the convoy comes through. Like you said, it could be a bomb, or a sniper, but I’m willing to bet my gloves it’ll be a Stand attack. Die Die Riches knows we’re here. They’ll know that we can stop them.”
“I wonder what the others are doing now?” Skyburn tapped a finger to his head as he pondered. “I hope they’ve found the leader of Die Die Riches. Twilight and Spike are strong. I know they can handle themselves.”
“I can say the same about your cousin, Skyburn,” Cajole added. “He might not be too quick on the draw for homework, but he’s a fine fighter. Especially with Down Under at his side. That thing’s like a tank.”
“Not forgetting my granddaughter and Daring Do.” Sunset chimed in with a bout of laughter. “They’ve pulled me out on more than one occasion. Shiho might be a delinquent one, but she’ll still do what she can to protect those around her.”
“Ja, you all have the blood of Berliner Helden in your veins!” Joshi flexed an arm. “We will earn victory today and Die Die Riches will cease to exist!”
Skyburn sighed and rested his head on the table. “But what’s to stop another group from rising up? As long as the world continues declining, another Die Die Riches would certainly show up again.”
“Then the world will have to change.” Cajole tapped his fingers on a table top. “Perhaps we should start lending our efforts to the Crusaders after all this is over.”
“Ja, and not to mention Weather Alternate will have your back as well,” Joshi said proudly. “True German engineering at your service, the finest in the world. If not for the dwindling resources and the rise in prices, perhaps we could just give our machines away for free.”
“We’ll figure it out, Joshi. We will.” Cajole thought about the future of this world. Perhaps what they needed was a Stand that could just recreate resources from nothing. At least that way they’d have one less problem to deal with. “So what’s the plan for the president?”
Joshi looked at the time on his lightphone. “The president is still fifty six minutes away. Too bad Josher isn’t here. I could use a card trick or two now. Or at least a brew of fine German design to take my mind off the terrible French drinks here.”
“Looks like we’ll just have to sit here and wait…” Sunset sighed and tipped her hat over her eyes. “You’re all capable Stand users. I’m an old woman and I need my nap. Wake me when it’s time.”
Sunset was jostled awake by Cajole and nearly fell out of her chair. She lifted her hat off her face and looked around with blurry eyes before yawning; it seemed she really needed the nap.
“What time is it?” she asked with a stretch of her arms.
“Right on time.” He pointed as a white car rolled around the corner with two police motorbikes in front of it, flying the French flag behind them.
The car was pristine and sleek, rounded at every corner and the glass was tinted so black that there was almost no reflection from them. From behind it, there were two more motorbikes, then an armored truck with an automated swiveling turret on top of it.
Some people had already flocked to the streets during Sunset’s slumber and though there were barriers keeping them back, some of them attempted to climb over, forcing the watching officers to push them back down.
They began yelling in French, but Sunset guessed they were likely telling the president he was wasting his time doing this.
“Any sign of Die Die Riches?” Sunset asked as she stood from her chair. It was time to get to work.
“I’ve seen some suspicious ones. In the crowds,” Joshi said as he looked through the surveillance systems. “Breathing masks and hoods. They look like rioters. Could be Die Die Riches waiting to strike.”
“Everyone at the ready then.” Sunset shot an arm out at her side. “We’re about to start.”
The sound had reached her ears long before she had paid any attention to it. It was a low hum, almost like electricity buzzing, but she didn’t think much of it. It was only when she saw sparks flying from under the closest motorbike did she start to pay more attention to it.
Without warning, a portal opened up underneath the motorcycle as the humming expanded into a boom of something that sounded like static. With nothing under him now, the man and his vehicle fell right through the orange portal, completely disappearing from sight as it closed behind him.
The entire convoy stopped moving as officers began barking orders and warnings at one another. That was when the hooded people began moving. Two women from the right side of the street pulled pins off two cylindrical objects before letting them fly, trailing red smoke in the air as they made their way over to the convoy.
The police on the streets were already pulling out their firearms and civilians were already scrambling for safety as more masked individuals arrived to toss in their own share of red smoke.
“Six, no, seven. Maybe eight!” Joshi began saying as his head turned from left to right.
“Tenacious D!” Cajole called out as he hopped up on the back of his Stand and sped towards the fray.
The others nodded to each other, then ran along after him.
The first activist was caught completely off guard as Tenacious D sped right into him, launching him into the air as it grabbed the neck of another activist. The man squirmed in its grip and pulled a pistol from his side, firing it at the Stand’s face, but it just swiped the bullets and gun away with one arm, then punched him in the face before tossing him aside.
“Two down…” Cajole said and turned to face another member of Die Die Riches who was running for the presidential car.
A strange humming began to fill his ears and as he had his Stand throw a punch at the approaching activist, a portal suddenly appeared in front of him with a burst of staticy sound. Tenacious D’s arm went through it and immediately, Cajole felt an icy grip sting his skin. He looked into the portal, which was dark as night and pulled his Stand’s arm back as something black slithered across its arm. And it was just in the nick of time too as the portal closed not long after Tenacious’ hand was out of it.
“There it is again…” Cajole breathed. “I was sure if I didn’t pull Tenacious’ hand back, it would’ve gotten chopped off.”
“There are worse things in there than having your arm chopped off…”
Cajole hopped off his Stand as he had it swing around with a punch. He didn’t recognize that voice and it had to be the enemy. But just as they turned, a portal closed behind them and Tenacious D hit thin air.
One of the president’s officers had gotten off his motorcycle and was in the process of shooting down another activist when a portal opened under him. Cajole had Tenacious D race over to grab him, but even with Tenacious’ speed, he could only pull the man out halfway before the portal closed, cutting him off at the waist. The man coughed up blood and his head slumped down.
“Shoot. Too late.” Cajole put his body down and looked around. “The enemy can traverse by coming through portals seemingly anywhere. How do I find them?”
Already, the other members of the president's security unit were running around, trying to find their enemies in the thick smoke. The snipers up top were unlikely to see anything with Die Die Riches’ smoke cover, but at least Cajole still had his Stand to aid the president. But first, he needed to deal with the enemy Stand master.
“This enemy can open portals between spaces…” Cajole said to himself. “But if it can just open a portal to anywhere, then it could already take the president. The fact that it has yet to do that means its portals could be limited in small spaces…”
“Thinking out loud, are you?” the voice came again. It had a tinge of French, but at the same time, something else. Maybe Scottish. “But you’ve caught me. Noir Desir cannot open portals in smaller spaces. Unfortunately, I am not as educated as you privileged people are, but I know it has something to do with density. So I won’t be able to get the president from inside his vehicle, but I can still get him from the outside…”
Cajole spun his Stand around to attack again, but by the time he looked at it, the portal had already shrunk to the size of a pin, sparkling off orange energy before disappearing from sight.
“An enemy that can open portals and appear somewhere else…” Cajole spun round and round. “Even with Tenacious D’s speed, I might not be able to hit him. I’m going to have to do this with brain over brawn.”
There was the hum in his ears again and he looked down just in time as a wave of static burst in his ears. He leapt back from the opening portal under him as the enemy Stand looked out at him from inside. It had grey features and looked like it was wearing a pair of sunglasses as it pointed a finger at him. It sank back into the portal as it swirled to a close before Cajole could think to rush forward to grab it.
He gritted his teeth together as he thought of a way to deal with this enemy. There was an electrical humming each time before its portals opened, so it took time to do so. He would be able to tell before one appeared, but it was hard to tell where it would open from. And attacking the Stand inside of it was out of the question. Should Noir Desir decide to close its portal, whatever was still out here would be sliced clean off, and he wasn’t about to stick his Stand’s arms in there to try and get the enemy Stand out that way. And if he were to jump through the portal after it, there was no telling how long he would survive in there. From his experience of having Tenacious D’s arm inside, there were some freaky things beyond the portal and the feeling they were giving off told him he didn’t want to mess with them.
“The others can handle the other Die Die Riches activists…” Cajole breathed and waved his arms at his sides. “You’re mine then. Watch me, I’ll find a way to beat you yet.”
“Enough games. It’s time to end you, Stand user,” a voice said to his left. Cajole didn’t even have time to turn his head before a fist found its way into his cheek, knocking him down.
But from all the training he received from his aged father, he dropped to his fingers, then breathed in as he spun around, swinging his body back up as Tenacious D did the same with its bottom half, but before its wheels could connect with the enemy, Noir Desir leaned back into its portal and it shrunk into nothing.
“His portals warp the space and air around where it appears,” Cajole said and ran forward into thicker smoke. He already had an idea forming in his head. “That’s why it creates a humming in the air, before filling our ears with static once it appears. But if you don’t strictly pay attention to it, you could easily miss it opening. I’ll have to be careful and rely on my ears instead of my eyes.”
Cajole forced himself to calm down and listen carefully. He channeled all of his concentration to his ears, which was not an easy task with the commotion that was going on. The president’s car was surrounded by police and other armed law enforcement that were pointing their guns at anyone who came too close to the president’s vehicle.
Then there it was again, amongst the gunfire around him. A low buzz of the air, slowly getting heavier and heavier. Cajole readied himself and Tenacious D, then closed his eyes and listened. Someone screamed in the distance, then something heavy dropped to the street before more bursts of gunfire was heard.
And then the hum had built up enough and it was released in a burst of static to his rear. Tenacious D put its wheels into reverse and swung an arm back. The muscles in its arms bulged as its fist made its way through the air. Cajole felt it connect with something and there was a gasp of surprise before he closed Tenacious’ fingers down around something rounded.
“Got you now,” Cajole grunted as Tenacious D pulled hard and he felt the Stand drag something out.
“I thought you’d try to find my portals based on sound…” the voice said, sounding unfazed. “I was prepared for this.”
“What?” Cajole blinked, then looked through the portal.
He thought he had grabbed the enemy Stand’s head, but as he looked through the portal, he had a large dark tentacle instead. It squirmed in his grip, then shot out and wrapped itself further along Tenacious’ arm.
Cajole tried to recall his Stand, but it was caught in a vise-like grip. The tentacle had a death grasp on Tenacious D, and was slowly dragging the Stand into the portal. Tenacious D’s wheels screeched on the floor as it tried to back away, but it was a losing battle. Whatever was in the portal was far too strong. Cajole ground his teeth and pulled harder with Tenacious D. Normally only a Stand could affect another Stand, and Noir Desir this tentacle was not. Unless it opened a portal to some other eldritch place that didn’t obey the rules of Earth.
“That’s right. You will soon become a feast for the denizens of this universe!” Noir Desir began laughing, raising both arms at its sides as it gazed at him through the portal. “They only know one thing and that is to consume all they can. You are just the next to fill their bellies!”
“Tenacious D!” Cajole threw a hand out. “Time warp!”
His Stand’s wheels began to spin and it would’ve sped off to the other side of the street, but the tentacle held tightly and instead, Tenacious D was blown off its wheels and soon found its back on the ground. Without anything keeping it away from the portal now, the tentacle pulled and Cajole’s Stand began sliding along the road towards the portal.
“Aagh!” Cajole got pulled along as he grabbed his arm, trying to break free from the creatures in Noir Desir’s portal.
“I’ve got you now! It’s over for you!” Noir Desir laughed as it stepped to one side, giving way to a man with black hair slicked down on side of his face. He had black eyeliner and bright red lips. “You’ll live with the darkness for the rest of your life! Even I don’t know what happens to people dragged in here!”
As Cajole continued to glide along the ground towards the portal, he eyed the dark denizens behind the enemy Stand and its master. This wasn’t it. He was going to find a way to beat this, but he had to do it fast before they ate his soul or something.