Including this a little earlier due to computer issues. Hopefully I can get them resolved, but luckily I can use the local library to continue my uploading schedule in the meantime.

With that said, here's where shit hits the fan.

Breakfast at the prison was busy as usual as Jolyne, Atroe, and Rainbow sat down. "Gotta admit," Jolyne said, "Prison meals are a lot better than what you see in media." "What do you expect?," Atroe said, "They're feeding us on the taxpayers' dime." Rainbow looked around. "Hey, what happened to Ermes? She's usually here with us." Atroe looked surprised. "You mean you two haven't heard? You came here at the same time she did, right?"

Jolyne shrugged. "I dunno much about her life before we met here. All I know is she got arrested for armed robbery." Atroe nodded. "I see. So she hasn't told either of you." She looked around. "Now, I only read about this in local newspapers. The thing is... Ermes got herself sent here on purpose." Jolyne and Rainbow looked stunned. "Why would anyone want to go to prison?," Rainbow asked in shock. "I think it has something to do with her older sister, Gloria Costello," Atroe explained, "At twenty years old, Gloria inherited a restaurant from her Mexican immigrant father. It was a small place, but she had a steady stream of customers."

"Ermes never mentioned having a sister," Rainbow said, "What happened to her?" "It was when Ermes was seventeen," Atroe said, "Ermes was trying to get into college, which was at odds with Gloria wanting her to help with the restaurant. Ermes had just barged out of the joint to avoid a fight with her sister. And a good thing too, because shortly after that... Gloria spotted what looked like a mob execution. She was actually planning on keeping quiet about this, for the sake of her restaurant. Until she saw Ermes also running by the scene."

Jolyne clenched her jaw. "Her hand was forced. She had to call the police... To protect her sister." Atroe nodded. "As you might imagine, it didn't end well for her. They found her body in a gutter a few weeks later. It wasn't her fault, it was the police. Florida had recently institutionalized capital punishment, and this criminal was infamous enough to have the police on his trail for years. So long as Gloria gave her testimony, the police could insure he would never breathe free again. In exchange, they would protect her and her family. Only..."

"Only the bastard got to her anyway," Rainbow realized. "Well, he had someone else do it," Atroe clarified, "I've heard of the bastard in question, a mobster named Sports Maxx. Because the only eyewitness was killed, Maxx got only five years for tax evasion and inflicting bodily harm on a human. He only got five years, while Ermes lost everything..." Jolyne sat back in her chair. "So that's it... Ermes wants revenge against him, here in the prison where he's completely defenseless." "But Maxx would have gone to the male ward, right?," Rainbow asked. "Yeah," Atroe replied, "But there are places where both male and female prisoners are allowed to enter, especially before breakfast."

Ermes had found one such place, the prison chapel. She grinned when she saw Maxx near the front, taking a rose from the flower pot. She then raised an eyebrow when the priest who showed up after their fight with Lang appeared. She didn't yet know it was Pucci, the person they were opposing. "Good morning, Father," Maxx said, "I hope you don't mind. I've gained a love for flowers recently." Ermes scoffed. 'I can't do anything while there are witnesses. Besides, I need to make him remember what happened to Gloria.' She didn't see the odd maggots appearing on the rose Maxx picked.

Ermes had been observing Maxx's movements for days, ever since she confirmed where he was. He always seemed to come by the prison graveyard, leaving a bouquet on one of the graves. He would also hang around the workshop and work on his taxidermy, or bribe guards to slink off somewhere with some female prisoner or other working as a prostitute within the prison. As she continued to watch Maxx and find a place to get him alone, she didn't know that the other girls were watching her.

"Think we should stop her?," Atroe asked. "Think we could stop her?," Jolyne pointed out, "If she wants revenge that's her business. But at the very least we can make sure she does it in a way that doesn't make her a murderer. That's not something you want on your conscience." They noticed Ermes heading off in a different direction than Maxx and concluded her observations were done for the day. Unfortunately, nothing could have been further from the truth. She had actually spotted them and deliberately headed in a different direction.

Meanwhile Maxx was walking through the workshop hallway when he spotted a picture with a familiar face taped to one of the pipes. Raising an eyebrow, he took the picture. "Looks like you remember," Ermes said as she came out of hiding, "That's good. This would have been pointless if you didn't comprehend why I'm doing this." Suddenly, an identical pipe came and slammed into Maxx, surprising him. Before he could react, he was trapped inside the two pipes.

Ermes nodded as she held up one of her stickers. "The pipes here aren't made so that humans can't fit in them, but it makes a great coffin. Even though I got this power here in prison, I still consider it an act of God. Fitting, isn't it Sports Maxx? Just like how my sister Gloria got thrown in the gutters." Maxx tried to pry his way out with his bare hands, but Ermes was ready for that. She knelt down and grabbed another sticker she had applied to the pipe, sealing the whole thing shut with a third pipe.

"How's that feel!?," Ermes said, "Now you'll know what my sister felt when you had her killed!" Instead of the scream for help she was expecting, all she heard was mumbling. "Limp Bizkit...," Maxx said, "The one who emerges from the dark... Return with me..." Just then, a glass bottle broke on the table behind Ermes, causing her to whirl around. However, she didn't see anything. She was about to dismiss it, until several paint cans shot off the table, leaking paint onto the ground. Ermes' eyes widened as a bird's footprint appeared in the paint.

There was a familiar sound of flapping as Maxx kept chanting to himself. Before Ermes could react, something started spearing her as if with a needle, cutting holes on her face and tearing off one of her fingers. "Kiss!," Ermes called out. Her Stand lashed out and managed to hit something, but whatever got hit only slowed down a little. "This has gotta be a Stand," she realized. Suddenly, she felt something start to pull out her carotid and quickly applied a sticker to her vest, using the copy to grab the invisible creature.

It tried to peck its way out, but Kiss was faster, slamming its fist into the form of whatever bird it was. To Ermes' surprise, a nearby taxidermy bird was damaged at the same time Kiss attacked. Her vest fell limp, meaning whatever attacked her was not getting back up to try again. 'Shit... I can't believe Maxx turned out to be a Stand user,' she thought as she clutched her bleeding abdomen, 'Jolyne said she learned a trick of fate in Morioh... That Stand users tend to be drawn to each other. Question is... Was Maxx a Stand user naturally, or did he get a Stand disc from Pucci?'

She managed to stand up. "Hang on... Why would Pucci need to make another Stand user with the discs at this point? We already won. We got Gwess' disc and had it returned to her in spite of his best efforts. And I have a hard time believing he's a sore loser. There must be some other reason he had Maxx made into another Stand user." She approached the pipe. "Well, if he did get his Stand from a disc, then I can take it and his memory disc and find out when he's dead."

At that moment, something upended one of the tables in the workshop, getting Ermes' attention. "Now what!?" Something was dragging a chain attached to an RC car with a mouse driver over to a taxidermy alligator. Before Ermes' eyes, the invisible thing took a bite out of the car before stepping on a nearby spray can. "Oh fuck me...," Ermes muttered, realizing what was going on. She quickly ran for it, the invisible creature running after her.

Luckily she was more or less faster than the invisible creature, easily getting to a higher pipe as something impacted against the larger pipes. "I guess this really is Maxx's Stand," Ermes noted, "Somehow he's bringing life to his taxidermy. He's gotten quiet in there, but he must still be alive if his Stand is active." "Uh, not necessarily," Jolyne said as she showed up with Rainbow and Atroe, "Dad told me about this obscure relative named Giorno, who once faced off against a Stand that could survive even without its user."

Ermes blinked. "Fuck me sideways!" Atroe winced as something bit off her leg. "Atroe!," Ermes called out. "It's fine!," Atroe said, "My Stand's active right now! But man does this smart!" Sure enough, her dismembered leg was dissolving into plankton, which Jolyne immediately punched at to reveal what was chasing them, since it had the severed leg in its mouth. Sure enough, the black gunk revealed an alligator head. "Welcome to Florida," Jolyne noted as she launched her strings around the gator's mouth.

Rainbow, meanwhile, flew up to help Ermes. "So, I'm guessing this Stand belongs to Maxx? Atroe told us the whole story." Ermes sighed. "Yeah. He's there in the pipe. I'm guessing that's why he attacked. I don't know if he's a natural Stand user or if he has a disc." "Uh, girls?," Jolyne said, "We have a slight problem!" To their shock, the gator had managed to open its mouth to break the string, something normally impossible due to a gator's specialized jaw muscles, more suited to biting down than opening up.

"Fuck me sideways up the ass!," Ermes called out. "It's okay," Atroe said, "Part of the plankton making up my Stand still got in mouth. I can track him using it. Foo Fighters!" The familiar form of Foo Fighters they had first encountered appeared, aiming for where it felt the gator approaching and slamming its fist into the creature's skull hard. The effect worked, as indicated by the taxidermy gator's head exploding. "Same thing happened when Maxx used some sort of bird earlier," Ermes noted, "I think that means we got it."

Atroe shifted back to her normal body, not a sign of the damage she took earlier. "I'll need to get some water to recharge." "Here," Rainbow said, getting soda can out of her pocket, "Bought a cola from the prison's duty-free shop." Atroe took the soda and downed it. "Yeah... That hit the spot." Ermes sighed. "So... Think that's it?" Just then, the pipe Maxx was in burst open, a handprint appearing on it. "I'm gonna go with 'no'," Jolyne quipped.

Maxx had managed to make his way out of the pipe, covered in sewer water. "So thirsty... Need to get water... Need to gargle..." He stumbled through the prison. "What was I doing...? Right... Pucci said he needed me to find that body." He shook his head. "First I need to wind down." He smiled when he saw one of the prison prostitutes standing there. "Perfect." He offered some money to a nearby guard, but he seemed to ignore him. Insulted but encouraged that the guard wouldn't do anything, Maxx went over to the woman.

"So," Maxx said as he rubbed her shoulder, "Care to join me for a drink at the cafe? And maybe a little fun afterward?" To his surprise, she slammed her leg into a nearby male prisoner. "Bastard!," she said to the guy, "You don't get to touch me unless you pay first!" Maxx narrowed his eyes at the man. Sleazeball though he was, he respected the rules of the oldest profession. "You heard her! No touching without paying up first!" He plowed his fist into the stomach of the confused man, which caused the woman to get confused as well.

Back at the workshop, the girls realized that whatever came out of the pipe wasn't attacking them. "That's the pipe I stuffed Sports Maxx into," Ermes realized, "Is he still in there? It's too dark to see inside." "Just what sort of power does Maxx have?," Rainbow asked, "Controlling ghosts?" "No ghost would be so savage or strong," Atroe pointed out, "The gator bit my leg clean off, and probably would have chomped it to pieces if I hadn't detonated it to let us track him."

"Atroe's right," Ermes said, "It was closer to some sort of living corpse, just invisible. I remember Maxx chanting the phrase 'Limp Bizkit' before the first one attacked, so I'm guessing that's his Stand's name." Jolyne blinked. "That Akira guy from Morioh was right. So many Stands wind up with some sort of musical reference." "Oh yeah," Ermes said, "I remember something I was thinking of as I got attacked. I think Pucci has some other purpose for Maxx and his Stand besides just attacking us."

Jolyne nodded. "That makes sense. Our goals were accomplished, so what other reason could Pucci have to keep attacking us? But what could that reason be? I mean, there's so little we know about Pucci beyond the fact that he was helping Johngalli attack Dad in revenge for DIO. We need to find Maxx's memory disc. But how are we going to search the pipe? And more importantly, what happened with the pipe in the first place?" Rainbow's eyes shot open. "What if Sports Maxx's Stand can also affect himself?"

Sure enough, the woman Maxx had seen was looking in confusion as something invisible dragged the man she had just assaulted into the nearby graveyard. Things got more crazy as some cash got pulled out of the man's sleeve, he started getting stripped, and a syringe with some drugs was grabbed from him, filled up, and injected into thin air, not leaving any drips. As Maxx injected himself, he saw the drug cause some sort of liquid to burst out of his body. "The hell is this...? Wait... This smells just like the sewer!"

He suddenly felt himself overcome with a horrible hunger, and grabbed the woman as she tried to flee from the odd scene, ripping the top of her head off and biting into her brains. 'So I died... And Limp Bizkit's power let me come back as a zombie myself. It wasn't thirst I was feeling... But hunger! That bitch... Gloria's sister! She caused me to drown!' He whirled around when he heard running sounds. It was the four girls, having tracked down Maxx and spotting him dragging the dead woman into the graveyard.

"How many more ways can we get fucked at this point!?," Ermes called out. "Me and Rainbow are still exploring," Jolyne quipped as she shot out Stone Free's strings in all directions, slamming the door to the graveyard shut and wrapping the whole room in a web that even covered the highest walls. One of the strings on the ceiling got disturbed, and Atroe reacted. "Foo Fighters!" Her hand shifted into a gun and fired, managing to hit a center of mass and causing blood to spill out of the invisible corpse.

However, Ermes spotted the same injuries on the dead woman. "Shit! That's wasn't Sports Maxx! His Stand created a second zombie!" She looked around. "Rainbow, what about your flight field?" "Useless in this case," Rainbow pointed out, "He's invisible, remember? Even if my field does stop his attempts to attack, we can't see him to counter-attack. I'd need to disengage my field to fight him properly. And just extending it could negate Jolyne's web, preventing us from tracking him."

"Besides," Jolyne said, "We've already been trapped by him. Think about where we are." Ermes then remembered they were standing in the middle of a graveyard. "I am so terrified I can't even make a lame quip." Sure enough, the various graves were opening as all the dead spirits were given physical life by Limp Bizkit. "Now what?," Atroe asked. Ermes sighed, then walked in the middle of the room. "Ermes, what are you doing!?," Jolyne called out, "You can't still be thinking about revenge right now!?"

"Sort of," Ermes said, "But not mine. Sports Maxx is the one looking for revenge right now. So once something attacks me, you'll know it's him personally. He won't let anything else do it. What he did to my sister, horrible as it was, was just business to him, which is why he didn't mind using a proxy. Besides, it was never about the revenge for me. It was just about making sure I could remember Gloria as she was... Before she was killed and thrown in the gutter like so much trash."

Several of the zombie grabbed at Ermes, tearing chunks out of her as the girls could only watch. Suddenly, one tried biting down on her head. But Ermes had already thought of that, and placed a sticker on her head to split it. "There it is! Kiss!" Kiss made to attack but only hit thin air. Maxx smirked. "Nice try, but I suspected you'd do that." He was actually holding his severed head to trick Ermes. "Listen, this is really all your sister's fault. She should have minded her own business."

He replaced his head, then went to grab the sticker and pulled it off. Ermes smirked. "I can't hear your voice, but you're probably saying something along the lines of how all this is Gloria's fault. Wrong... It's mine." Maxx looked confused. "Someone like you could never understand," Ermes explained, "But Gloria was fully intent on keeping quiet... Until she saw me running by the same scene she witnessed and got scared that I'd be targeted instead. So really, you've been blaming the wrong person this whole time. Also... It was a stupid idea to swallow, bastard!"

As the two heads merged together, Maxx gasped in shock as the chunk of flesh he had bitten off tore its way out of his body. With the blood as an indicator, Ermes kicked right above it, successfully nailing Maxx's head. "That was for Gloria!" She then placed a sticker on Maxx's head as Kiss made to rip it off, causing the split head to come off. "This one as well!," Ermes called out, "And the next, and the next... Well, you get the idea." She ripped off the sticker as Kiss pummeled Maxx.

Two discs appeared in midair, revealing that Maxx was gone for good. Ermes let a tear fall from her face. "Descansa en paz, Gloria," she said, "Goodbye." Ermes then collapsed from her injuries. "Ermes!," the other girls called out as one. They ran over to her. "She's still alive," Jolyne said in relief, "But she needs medical attention." "Hey!," Rainbow said as she got the door to the graveyard open, "Guards, we got a wounded inmate over here!" Atroe managed to treat the most serious of Ermes' injuries, but she still needed to be rushed to the prison infirmary. Meanwhile, the other girls decided to check the memory disc of Sports Maxx, hoping it would lead to some clues about Pucci's motives.