Dec 26, 2021
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CHAPTER 58: Queens of the Stone Age - Part 4
All around the battered Sunmi, The QUEENS drones dissipate, the infected puppets staring in vacant shock as their mistress collapses. Blood bursts out of her, splattering their faces. The cheap metal locket falls at Moya’s feet, standing over Sunmi.
Some of the quicker witted lunatics move to attack her, but are too slow. Moya is ready for them, unleashing her Stand. “POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP!!!” it roars, its oil flying into the faces of the afflicted. They retch as the oil purges the evil from their systems, then are knocked out with swift blows to their necks. In an instant, all of Sunmi’s thralls are cured and out cold.
“Oh my God…” T’onga murmurs, looking down at the men who restrained her, now unconscious and harmless. “Holy shit!! I can’t believe that fucking worked!”
Moya bristles and stares at her, incredulous. “You can’t believe- Wasn’t this your plan?”
“My plan was to shut the window and get her from outside! I…! I didn’t think she’d see through me! That thing with the spider and HOUSE OF PAIN in the locket was a total gamble!” The Asian woman sweeps her hair back off her face, showing her terrified eyes in full. “I-If she had waited a second longer to open the locket, HOUSE OF PAIN would have deactivated and returned! I… I need to sit down…”
“Oh yeah? Here,” Moya says, walking towards her, “lemme help you.”
The detective punches her in the mouth, knocking her into the nearby armchair. T’onga collides with it, limbs splayed out in shock. She grimaces, rising from the seat in anger, then pausing when she sees Moya looking down at her. In the detective’s hand is the locket.
“Agh… Fine…” T’onga says, relaxing before standing. “Had it coming…” She takes her locket from Moya and quickly places it back into her jacket.
Sunmi splutters, her body wracked and battered. The pair recoil as she reaches a shaking hand at them. “Augh… Ghh…!” the shaven-headed woman chokes, glaring at her enemies. A single drone begins to manifest over her hand.
“Damn it…!” Moya spits, raising WITCH MOUNTAIN to defend. “One more time to finish her-!”
“Wait…!” T’onga says, pulling her back. Sunmi’s drone nearly manifests, then she coughs violently, a gout of blood spilling from her mouth. The drone vanishes and the mad woman lies still, staring blankly at nothing.
T’onga sighs. “She’s done for. Between HOUSE OF PAIN and you working her over, she won’t last another minute. Still, we should bounce, right now. Get back to our people before the cops show and make this even more complicated.” Wiping her bruised lips, she exits the living room and heads down the stairs, without waiting for Moya.
The detective stares at Sunmi’s unmoving body for a moment longer, before following her companion. “It’s our people now, is it?” she calls down the stairs.
The assassin pauses at the bottom, turning back to look up at her. “Huh?”
“I was just thinking…” Moya says, walking down the steps. “You made it pretty clear to everybody where your interests lay, back at the Theatre. Now, it seems, you’ve changed your tune. So what now? Do you want to be Shizuka’s mother, or no?”
She reaches the first floor and eyes T’onga. She goes on, “I told you before, that I wouldn’t let you abandon her again. But… after all this, it makes sense. Opening the door at Anaheim, fighting All-Kill at Mulholland, and just now. You’re willing to hurt yourself to keep Shizuka safe… Why aren’t you able to be there for her now?”
The assassin glares at her. Irritated, she hisses, “I don’t know her. I don’t know anyone called Shizuka Joestar.”
Moya frowns and begins to say more. Then, T’onga’s eyes bug out of her skull and she chokes, clutching her neck. “T’onga…?” Moya says, reaching to support her, then recoils in fright when the Korean woman hunches over.
A QUEENS drone pierces the back of her neck with its stinger, injecting the red substance into T’onga. “No…!” the detective gasps, turning pale at the sound of a low raspy chuckling.
“eEHEhEHEh…” Sunmi laughs, shambling out of the living room. Battered and bloody, scarcely able to stand, let alone walk, it seems impossible that she should be alive, but Moya sees one of Sunmi’s own drones retract its stinger from her neck. “AHeHEHAHaAaAaA!!! QuEEEEEEEnS OF thE stOnE Age!!!”
Moya prepares to leap up the stairs to finish the madwoman once and for all, but T’onga blocks her path. Her eyes are bloodshot but her expression is cold and focused. Filled with an assassin’s intent to murder. She says nothing, even as Moya throws her off and raises WITCH MOUNTAIN to cure her.
But then Sunmi releases her entire swarm. Over a hundred drones, the entirety of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, their buzzing drowning out all other sound. Moya pales, then grimaces.
Leaving T’onga for now, she flees, bursting out of a glass window and rolling into the alley outside the butchery. The swarm follows her, and she prepares to swat as many as she can with her Stand. But the swarm ignores her, instead ascending over the buildings.
“What…?” Moya says, confused, until she notices the drones spreading over the neighborhood, flying inside buildings through open doors and cracked windows. “No…” she gasps, but there’s nothing she can do to stop it.
A howl goes up across Little Armenia. Ordinary people, who hid in their homes and businesses to avoid the carnage outside, now burst onto the street, clutching knives or guns, eager to begin slaughtering whoever they find. Another howl goes up, as the first of the innocent victims are fallen upon, their panicked screaming echoing through the neighborhood.
“Dios mio…” Moya mutters.
***
MEANWHILE, IN HOLLYWOOD HEIGHTS…
“Fuckin’ hell…” Kilo curses.
He, Jerome and Shizuka gather around the rapper’s phone, watching the events in Little Armenia unfold on a social media livestream. All around them are equally appalled civilians, glued to their screens. As the gory details are broadcasted live all over the world, Shizuka suddenly breaks away from the crowd, looking ill. Kilo and Jerome rush after her.
“Shizuka…” Kilo calls.
“We have to go,” she says, frantic.
“Shizuka, hold up…!”
“We have to go, they need our help!”
“I get it, but listen. Even if we get there in time, the cops have set up a barrier around the whole neighborhood. What you gonna do when they turn you away, huh? Attack ‘em with your Stand?”
“But they’re there! Moya and Mom, they’re there, they’re in danger! We have to help them!”
“Shizuka, girl, Kilo’s right!” Jerome says. “Just this once, maybe we outta sit this out…!”
“I can’t sit it out!!! Not while those people are getting torn apart! How can you say that, Jerome?”
“I-I just mean… What can we even do right now?”
“I CAN DO MORE THAN YOU, AT LEAST!!” she roars, shocking her friends, and herself, as she staggers away, mumbling. “I-I mean… I have powers… And you don’t, so… I… I’m sorry…” she hangs her head.
“Is cool… I know, you know? I don’t know shit about Stands. I don’t know why y’all even keep me ‘round, but long as I’m here, I wanna do what I can. To help, you know…”
“But we can’t help. Not this time,” Kilo declares. "All we can do is have faith."
Shizuka sniffs. “…Faith?”
“Faith,” Kilo asserts. “None of us has any way of stopping this. Even if we did, we’re too far away to do anything. So we just gotta trust in Moya.”
“Why her?” Jerome asks.
“Because whatever sort of mind control shit that buzzcut bitch is using, she made a mistake. She went and picked a fight with the perfect counter to her ability. If anybody can fix this, it’s Moya.”
Shizuka crouches to the ground, hugging her knees. “…What if that’s not enough?... what if they’re already…” Jerome crouches to her level and places his hand on her shoulder as she weeps. “She told me she didn’t know me… she looked in my eyes and told me…” She breaks down into quiet sobs. Kilo and Jerome join her. The three of them kneel on the ground, left with nothing but blind hope.
A woman in a hooded jacket leans with her back against the wall, one foot against it like a teenager. He is hunched over, her hand over her mouth as she tries to stifle her laughter. She glances upward and catches the group’s gazes. This makes her laugh even harder, as she gives up concealing herself any longer, doubling over with hilarity.
“Oh-ho-ho shit, dammit… that’s embarrassing…” The woman sighs loudly, and sweeps off her hood to reveal her shorn head. T’onga shakes her head, refusing to believe what she sees.
“Phew! Couldn’t keep a straight face, huh?” Sunmi says nonchalantly, pushing herself away from the wall. “I was hoping the girl’s friends would give you some privacy, but they really don’t trust you. That aside, it’s good to see your face again, Tong-Tong~.”
“H-he…! He wouldn’t… Not you…!” the assassin bleats, her knees shaking.
“You know how that man of mine is,” Sunmi chuckles. “Once his mind is made up, there’s no him!”
Kilo leans to whisper in Moya’s ear. “Who the fuck?”
“I don’t know,” Moya responds. “I don’t know her. I’ve never seen her before…!”
T’onga suddenly hisses and roughly grabs Shizuka by her shoulders. However, she freezes again when Sunmi speaks.
“Ah ah ah ah, slow down there, Tong Tong! Don’t freak out! Nothing’s happening yet! Nothing has to happen. All-Kill said so to me himself, everything you’ve done can still be forgiven! All you need to do is come home with me, and you can talk it over. You, him, and your sweet little girl…”
Shizuka finally seems to regain awareness, turning her head to frown at Sunmi. “Who the hell are you supposed to be?”
“Not now, honey,” Sunmi responds, “The grown ups are talking. Come on, Tong. Just come with me, and I swear nothing bad will happen. You know I keep my promises, don’t you?”
The two women stare at each other. Sunmi’s expression is serious, her eyes wide open like a predator’s. T’onga trembles before her gaze, a small animal seemingly mesmerized by a serpent.
But then her expression hardens. She inhales, then exhales. She tightens her grips on Shizuka’s arms, causing her daughter to wince. Bodily lifting her, she hurls the girl straight towards her friends. Kilo blinks and rushes forward to catch Shizuka.
“GET HER OUT OF HERE NOW!!!” she shouts.
“Mo-!!” Shizuka yells, before Kilo drags her away as fast as he can. “Kilo?!! What are you doing?!!”
“MOVE!!!” he shouts in response, shoving her onto her feet and forcing her to run like hell. Jerome follows them, trying his best to keep up, leaving T’onga and Sunmi together.
Sunmi’s face twists into a delighted, murderous grin. Obviously, she’s pleased with T’onga’s decision as her Stand emerges. Or rather, Stands. There is a metallic buzzing that fills the air as over a hundred chrome plated wasp creatures swarm out of her, hovering on silver-dagger wings. In place of abdomens, each has a hypodermic needle filled with a dark red fluid.
T’onga backs away, then runs. Sunmi’s colony doesn’t pursue immediately, and their master ponders. “Hmm… Who do I go for first? There’s no telling where the Princess will run off to now, so I could snatch her up now… but on the other hand, T’onga’s the one All-Kill’s really mad at…” She rubs her chin, then smiles. “OK~. Decision made. Here I come, T’onga~!”
She claps her hands together. Like a flash of lightning, fifteen of her Stand drones fly towards fifteen random people. These civilians wince in pain as the drones land on their bare skin and inject their red fluid into their veins.
Their bodies begin to contort and they begin babbling nonsense, to the shock and horror of their unaffected neighbors. The white of their eyes fill with blood, turning ominous red. When the convulsions cease, evil intent infuses their expressions.
“Go now…” Sunmi says, raising her hand imperiously, throwing the hooded jacket off her shoulders. “QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE…!!”
END OF CHAPTER 54
family
Sunmi Dal
Chapter 55: Queens of the Stone Age - Part 1
T’onga Kim runs as hard as she can down the Walk of Fame. She dodges and weaves through the bystanders in her way. She doesn’t dare turn around, for fear of slowing down. Bullets of sweat fly off her face. Blind panic gives her tunnel vision, banishing any thought other than escape.
“You run pretty well for someone who was on crutches just yesterday!” exclaims a woman’s voice.
T’onga glances to her right to see Moya running alongside her, easily keeping up. In her rush to get away, she failed to notice the detective following her. She stares, not comprehending her presence for several seconds.
“Anyway, slow down!” Moya says, “Where are we going!? Who was that woman?!”
“WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?!!!” T’onga shrieks in reply.
“Why…? Because I won’t allow you to ditch your daughter again!”
“That’s not important right now, idiot!! If you’re worried about her, then go stick with her!”
“Kilo can handle that! I’m here to keep an eye on you!”
“Fine, whatever!” T’onga shouts, turning her focus back to running. “Just don’t slow me down or I swear I’ll leave you behind!!”
“What’re you so scared for?!” Moya shouts back, “Who is that woman?!”
T’onga grimaces, but doesn’t reply. Clearly, she’s done talking. The two women, one a police detective, the other a murderer, flee east.
***
In the courtyard of the Chinese Theater, something unnatural is happening. The 15 people stung by Sunmi’s Stand start behaving strangely. Some grin and giggle at nothing. Others scowl and drool with bared teeth. A few stare straight ahead with no discernable expression, only breathing unusually fast.
However, most passersby fail to notice. A major city like Los Angeles is no stranger to odd behavior, especially around famous landmarks.
Only animals notice at first. A medium sized Doberman growls and pulls on its leash, which is held in the grip of its owner, a young man with crisp blonde hair. Its growls turn to whimpers as he and his companion, a dark haired young woman, look down at the dog with freaky smiles.
A chorus of screaming ascends throughout the courtyard of the Theater, as everyone starts to run, clearing the area in under a minute. They flee from a grisly scene, as the dog is mangled and torn apart by the two manic humans, crying and squealing in agony.
Upon the canine’s death, the 15 people who were stung immediately descend upon the remains, feasting on the raw, bloody flesh. The young couple, the dog’s owners, share the poor creature’s head. A middle-aged woman and a man in a business suit scuffle over the organs, which quickly descends into a fight. The woman pounces on top of the businessman and repeatedly slams his head into the concrete.
“hoW dARE You!!!” she screeches. “HOW DAre YOu, yoU fUcK, Do YOU KnOW Who My HUsbaND is, i’LL pulL YouR FUCkiNG HeAd OFF!!!”
The other infected laugh, but the violent jubilee stops abruptly at the sound of a sharp whistle. They turn slowly and spot Sunmi watching them with a pleased expression. One of them, an overweight man with long brown hair, becomes instantly upset at the sight of her and sprints towards her.
“RaAAaAArRghH!!!”
“Stop,” she says, raising her hand to his face just as he reaches her. Amazingly, he obeys. “Good. Now… the rest of you, come over here!”
The infected remain still for only a moment, then walk to her dutifully with bloodied hands and faces. Even the man with the battered head drags himself to her side.
“Gooood…” she coos, crouching to pat the businessman on his broken skull. “Doesn’t that feel good? To be released from your inhibitions? You have me to thank for that. Now, I’m happy to let you all indulge yourselves, but first, I need you to do me a favor.”
She stands before the ravagers and produces two photographs from her pocket: one of T’onga, the other of Shizuka. She points to them, speaking slowly, as if to children.
“This is T’onga. And this pretty little thing is Shizuka. They’re both very important. Right now, we’re just going after T’onga,” she says, tapping the photograph, “but when we find her, we’re going to CAPTURE her. We won’t hurt her, or kill her. Same goes for Shizuka, got it? We are not allowed to harm them at all~!”
Sunmi immediately notes the sullen expressions of her psychotic flock, and quickly lightens the mood. “That just goes for them, though, OK? Anybody else is fair game, I don’t need ‘em! Just do this one thing for me, and you’re off the hook! OK~?”
The 15 infected glance at each other, gauging each other’s reactions. Despite their condition, they seem to retain their intellect. After a moment, they grunt in approval, their animal grins returning.
“Alrighty then! Let’s get started!” Sunmi declares, clapping her hands together. At the sound, the infected tear away from the Chinese Theater in pursuit of T’onga and Moya.
***
As the two women sprint down the street, Moya glances back and is met with the sight of the bloodied horde their tail, several yards back. Only one look upon their bloodied faces sends a shiver of fear down her spine. There is evil in their expressions like nothing she’s ever seen before.
Noticing T’onga’s weakening, she grabs her as they reach a turn, Moya pulling T’onga into it. “What are you-?!”, the assassin shouts, as the detective drags the both of them into a coffee shop right on the corner. Their infected pursuers run straight past the turn before stopping in their tracks, realizing they lost sight of their quarry.
“Would you fucking let go of me…?!” T’onga breathlessly demands as she’s led through the cafe, Moya ignoring the scandalized gazes of the employees. She reaches the ladies room and ushers T’onga in before closing the door behind them.
“We can’t stay here…!” the assassin complains, resting her feet by sitting on the rim of a nearby sink. “We need… to keep running…!”
“We’ve lost them for now,” Moya states, barely even sweating, “which gives us a little time for you to explain what’s happening. You know that woman, her ability. Tell me, and we can-”
“There’s no time for that!!” T’onga yells, standing and facing Moya. “Fighting’s not an option! She’ll turn this city upside down hunting for me, so just let me go!!”
“That’s not acceptable. Whatever this is , we can stop it if we defeat the Stand user. If you tell me what the ability is, we can figure out a way to-”
“WE WON’T FIGURE ANYTHING!!! I never agreed to have you tag along! Stay out of my business or you’ll regret it!!”
WITCH MOUNTAIN’s hand suddenly materializes over T’onga’s head and throws a punch. But rather than attacking her, it strikes the bathroom stall directly behind her, pulverizing the flimsy wooden door. T’onga stays very still and listens as Moya speaks softly, her Stand hovering menacingly overhead.
“You don’t seem to understand… We’re in this together now, whether you like it or not. For Shizuka’s sake, I will keep you alive. Now, once more, asking nicely… what is the Stand ability?!”
“Tsk…” T’onga scowls bitterly and backs down. She retreats silently onto her seat on the sink. She crosses her arms and carelessly flips her hair off her face, regaining some semblance of her dark persona. But her arms are crossed too tight, her posture stiff to keep herself from shaking.
“Have you ever had bad thoughts?” she asks.
“Huh?”
“Bad thoughts, like… why don’t I kill that guy over there? Why don’t I rob that store, jump off this ledge, drown that baby? Like that. The kind you push down as soon as they pop up. That’s your brain’s way of double checking your own values, because physically, there’s nothing actually stopping you doing those things.
“The only block in your way is mental. The fear of being caught, or I guess, whatever moral code you subscribe to. A blockade in your brain, protecting you from your worst capabilities. Well, what if that blockade got cleared?”
Moya stares at her in silence. Her bleak expression shows her understanding.
“Yeah…” T’onga continues, holding herself tighter. “That’s QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE. That’s Sunmi Dal, the woman All-Kill fell in love with, and vice versa. Its range is 100 km. It’s made up of over 100 drones, and each one can infect 5 people before running out of juice. At the very least, we’re talking about an entire neighborhood overrun with psycho sadists. And there’s no cure.” She declares this final statement with conviction, stressing the truth of it.
“You understand why I ran now? There’s nothing we can do…” Seeing Moya’s doubtful expression, the assassin’s features soften, and she pats her tall companion on her shoulder. “Look… that girl is probably a target too. You want to help her? Get her out of town while you can. It’s over.”
With that, T’onga moves past her, heading for the door out. But before she reaches it, Moya catches her arm. The detective stares at the tiled floor, considering her options. “Not acceptable,” she declares, to T’onga’s dismay. “Those people are innocents, caught up in our conflict. I won’t abandon them. We have to free them, and we have to stop this Sunmi.”
“Fre-! No, that’s…! Didn’t you hear me?!” T’onga splutters. “There’s nothing we can do! QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE doesn’t drive people crazy, it just… releases the crazy already inside! That evil is their own! Beating Sunmi would make no difference!”
“Even if that’s true, we can at least break her control over them. After that, they could get psychiatric help, to restore them-”
“You don’t get it! You haven’t seen it in action! I am not going to risk my life for the sake of some random people-!!!”
SOMEWHERE IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT…
An Asian woman with cropped bleached hair leans forward in her seat in a diner booth, staring at her cellphone. She finds herself where many a trucker and weary traveller rest along the long roads through the Mojave Desert.
With a sigh, she stares up at the ceiling fan. After a while, she speaks aloud, concerned. “He sounded so agitated. If he’s calling me back to the city, it must be serious…” Abruptly, her voice takes on a whiny tone. “Ugh, but what if he’s still mad about last time?! I can’t deal with him yelling at me again! What do you guys think?” she asks, sighing, turning to the other patrons of the diner.
No one answers. The quiet diner has taken on the aspect of a nightmare. Bodies lay strewn about, blood and gore stain the walls.
There were eleven people in this diner. Only one remains now, a girl in a red and white waitresses uniform straight out of 50s Americana. She kneels amidst the carnage, clutching a knife. It’s the last one she has left. Every other knife in the diner has been plunged into the cook’s back. He did not retaliate, as he was busy pressing someone’s face against the hot grill.
“H-hhhey…!” the waitress mumbles, staring enthralled at the knife in her hands. “Hey! Mm-ma’am, I-I got a question... wh-what do I do now? Everybody’s dead, but... but, but I got one last knife left. Wh-who do I use it on?”
The woman in the booth scratches her temple. “Well, I mean… Whoever you want, I guess. It’s not like- Wait, no! Never mind that! Answer my question! What do I do about this?!” She points to her phone. “My boyfriend told me to come back to LA, but if he’s gonna yell at me about our last fight, then I’d rather not bother!”
The waitress looks up from her pondering of the blade. “Y-y-you said so yourssself, didn’t you? It m-must be s-serious if he’s c-cccalling you bback…” she speaks, her voice gurgly and weird, as if there’s fluid in her throat. “Mmmy boyffriend and me fff-fight sometimes too, but we’re always t-tthere for each other when we need it. That’s what love’s all about!” Suddenly, the waitress has a realization. She looks down at her knife again and clutches. “That’s it…!” she mutters, as if she discovered electricity.
The Asian woman’s mood seems to improve. “ You know what, you’re right! In any case, No point wasting time here. Only way to know is if I get to LA fast and ask him directly!”
She hops out of the booth, stepping over the pools of viscera, then pausing right at the exit. She pats her pockets and feels them empty. “Shit. I’m out of cash.”
She turns around and spies the cash register. Glancing at the waitress, she gestures to it. “You don’t mind if I just take a little something, do you…?”
The waitress doesn’t protest. She gathers random things off the ground, muttering, “Boyfriend, my boyfriend, that’s it…” under her breath. She seems to have forgotten the woman is there.
The Asian woman smiles cheerily and reaches over the counter. She hits the top of the register once. The money tray opens up, unveiling a few dozen crumpled bills.
At first, she just pockets the fifties, but after a moment of consideration, she takes the whole thing, change included. “I deserve a little reward, don’t I?” she asks innocently. “After granting you all the release you craved.”
The eleven dead people with rapturous smiles on their faces don’t disagree as the woman exits the diner, the bell over the door tinkling as she leaves.
As she sticks her thumb out to hitchhike, the waitress emerges from the diner to climb into her station wagon. She speeds out of the diner parking lot, desperate to reach her home in the boonies where her boyfriend waits, unaware of the fate coming to him.
END OF CHAPTER 53