Cougar sees me struggling and pushes through the room trying to get to me. Katana lady gets there first and neatly slashes through the men, felling them left and right. There are only five masked men left standing, and they all turn on me.

One of them throws a large knife towards me, but it hits me blunt side first and bounces off. I scream loud though, and call for help because I’m completely surrounded. The last five men are armed with guns and the Stand members are backing away.

One of the men aims his automatic rifle at my heart. Right as I’m about to make one last desperate attempt to fight them off, I am almost knocked over by a huge white and gold scaly beast. Soren luges into the room with a blood curdling roar and clamps his jaws over the man with the gun.

Soren tears the man's gun away from him, tearing his arm as well, and turns to the other four. He mows them down in seconds, as the Stand members shriek and run for cover.

Soren finishes off the last of the masked men, throwing them against the wall, stepping on them, and sweeping with his huge tail in a rage and fury I’ve never seen before.

Cougar grabs a broken piece of piping and begins swinging it fiercely at Soren. Some other join in but most have fled out the open door in panic.

“Stop it!” I scream hoarsely, running forward to protect Soren, “Don’t hurt him!”

I have to push everyone back, and Soren is just backing away nervously.

“Soren turn back quick,” I shout to him, “they’re scared of you, they’ll kill you!”

Soren hesitates and then shrinks back down to a human body, falling panting to his knees. He’s sweaty and bruised but not hurt. I rush over to him, ignoring that he’s not wearing anything, and protect him from the frightened Stand members who are staring at us in shock.

“Everyone calm down,” I demand, “don’t freak out, It’s genetic engineering, he was at BioMod, remember?”

“What the heck!” Screams Cougar in a shaky voice.

“Hang on,” says the katana sword lady, bending down over the body of one masked man. She points to a badge on the mans clothing. It’s the BioMod logo.

“I know of BioMod,” says the woman, “this man must have worked for them.”

Me and Soren share a look. BioMod is looking for him. Cougar is staring dumbfounded at Soren, choking on his words.

The other Stand member still in the room is a quiet young lady I have never met. She has long, straight black hair and pale skin. She approaches me and Soren bravely, and talks quietly, not looking directly at us.

“So these men,” She says, gesturing to the bodies, “they are not from the Collective?” She has an accent I can’t place.

“Well I don’t know. You could check for the brand.” I suggest. The lady walks to the nearest dead masked man and rolls up his sleeve. On his upper arm is burned mark, showing the symbol of the Collective.

There is a hush around the room. Cougar finally pulls himself together to talk.

“W-Wait, so BioMod is working with the Collective?” He says in shock. There is a moment of realization and Soren buries his head in his hands.

“Soren what is it?” I worry. He shakes his head and refuses to answer. Cougar interrupts and asks if he can bring Soren some clothing. I had almost forgotten Soren was still unclothed.

I tell Cougar there’s a plastic basket of our things in the bedroom, he can get the clothing from there. Cougar leaves the room, stepping over bodies and shrapnel.

One of the two woman leaves in the room and goes to the solar powered computer console to check damage. The other walks outside through the wrecked metal door to check on the Stand members who fled.

I look into Soren’s eyes and tip his head up to look at me.

“Soren, do you promise you’re telling me everything?” I ask very seriously. Soren fidgets anxiously and pulls away from me.

“Soren…” I coax.

“Petra I can’t tell you!” He cries in anguish. I want to keep asking him about it, but I hold back because I know he can’t handle it.

Cougar comes back from the bedroom carrying our plastic basket of belongings in one hand and torn rags in the other. I take the basket and thank him, and he holds up the rags. I realize that the rags are the remains of what Soren was wearing earlier. I guess that’s what happens to clothes he’s wearing when he transforms.

I hand Soren an outfit and he hurriedly dresses as some brave Stand members start to trickle back in from outside to figure out what’s going on.