Inti approached Harry Warhol, brandishing a manila folder. Harry stumbled backward, retreating from the woman who was a contorted figure just moments before.
“Who... who are you?!” sputtered Harry.
“Hmm... good question,” chuckled the Peruvian. “I suppose a man is justified in wanting to know the nature of his conqueror, eh? Very well then. Inti Infante, former member of La Squadra di Cacciatori di Taglie, at your service!”
“You're... from Passione?”
“Indeed. Girasole's team, if you remember him. Though recently, I've been following the orders of a... different leader,” said Inti. “I must say though, Warhol, I'm shocked. Of course, the clue etched into the M25 motorway led straight here, so it was obvious that someone from Arca Foederis would show up sooner or later. But I didn't expect you to show your face without backup. It's a real shame. I hoped there would be some challenge for my invincible Bad Brains…”
“Arca Foederis?”
“Oh? Surprised I knew the name of your little club?”
Inti opened the folder, and began leafing through it.
“Yes, my darling Franc managed to collect 13 full pages of info about you cultists. She truly is the most incredible woman I know – and a great leader, despite what she thinks,” said Inti, gently brushing a red hair off of one of the pages. “Although... I'm not entirely sure you Arca Foederis people ARE a cult. You'd think a cult would be more concerned with spreading their message than hunting for gold and killing random stand users. Anyway, that's besides the point…”
Harry stared in fear as sparks of green electricity arced around Inti Infante’s upper body. Inti stretched her arms behind her, and the electricity formed into the shape of a human nervous system. What seemed to be a circular watermelon slice appeared below the electricity. The disc grew downward with a squelching sound, forming into a pair of green legs with grey polka dots. Pink hands grew on the ends of the electrical arms, with dark green spiked knuckles. Magenta bricks ejected out of Inti’s skull, and slid together to form a pink pyramid on top of the stand. A pink eyelid on the front of the pyramid winked open, revealing a piercing green eye.
Bad Brains had appeared.
Harry shook in his clothes, positively panicked at the sight of the enemy stand.
“Wh-what are you going to do to me?!” stuttered Harry.
“Oh, you haven't figured it out yet? My Bad Brains has the power to re-arrange the functions of your body. Even I don't know which body parts will be affected. The power alone won't kill you, of course – but the effects aren't pretty.”
Inti leaned to the right. Bad Brains dove forward and unleashed a barrage of spiked punches.
“Rapture!”
Rapture's humanoid form arranged itself in front of Harry, launching its own attack rush. Bad Brains tagged Rapture in the chest three times. The pieces of Rapture swapped around, but the stand generally stayed in a humanoid shape. There was a grumble from Harry's abdomen.
“Interesting…” murmured Inti. “So your Rapture doesn't reflect Bad Brains's effect onto your person. A useful property, for sure... but it won't be enough.”
Inti ducked down and rolled underneath the clashing stands. She grabbed Harry by the lapel and pulled him to the ground. She wrapped her legs around her foe. Harry struggled, but he couldn't break free of her grip. Inti chopped Harry in the side of the neck, and he let forth a hacking sound. She repeatedly chopped him in the neck. Some pieces of Rapture broke off of its back, but enough stayed behind to continue blocking Bad Brains. The little Raptures grabbed onto Inti's dreadlocks and yanked backward. Inti winced.
Bad Brains vanished, and Inti pulled her legs away from Harry. The remaining cluster of Rapture turned around. Harry stumbled backward, trying to get to his feet. Inti placed her hands on the ground and performed a quick handstand. As she did, she kicked Harry in the face, Bad Brains's lime leg appearing around her own. Green spikes lining the stand’s feet poked into Harry’s skin.
The cells of Rapture let go of Inti's hair. Harry's mouth and nose retracted into his body – and in their place grew a long tuft of hair and a left hand. Harry’s gaze turned down to his left wrist, revealing a bleeding nose where his hand once was. Harry looked to the side. In place of the ponytail on Harry’s head was a pair of lips, inside of which could be seen a bloody tooth. The mouth let out a blood-curdling scream.
Inti paced back and forth in the Paris catacombs. Harry writhed on the ground in pain, continuing to scream from the mouth on the back of his head.
“So, here we are,” chuckled Inti. “Harry Warhol... completely at my mercy! I wish I could tear that head off right now to deliver to my sweet Franc... but, I suppose I should probably ask a few questions first. Now tell me, Mr. Warhol. What are Arca Foederis's goals? Why did they kill Ms. Risotto?!”
“I- I've never heard of Arca Foederis! Or Risotto Caligula!”
Bad Brains appeared and stomped on Harry's right shin. The shin and foot suddenly disappeared. A clearish-yellow liquid started pouring out of the stump. A leg-shaped bulge grew out of Harry's mid-section. Inti opened the manila folder and flashed its contents at Harry.
“Dumbass!” spat Inti. “This employment record proves that you know who Ms. Risotto is – as if knowing her full name and being at the scene of her murder weren't enough. Now, I'll ask again! What are Arca Foederis's goals?!”
Harry started panting heavily, clearly in pain from the leg in his stomach. His eyes were focused on Inti – he did not scream. Bad Brains slammed a foot on two of Harry's right fingers. The fingers grew out of Harry's eye sockets, pushing his eyeballs out like stalks. His corneas appeared where the fingers once were.
“Harry Warhol! Can you hear me?! Anyone in there?! ¿Quieres que hable español?”
Bad Brains lifted its leg, preparing to stomp on Harry's hips. Harry turned away and winced. Suddenly, from the catacombs rang a high-pitched voice.
“There!” said the voice. “I think Harry went this way!”
Inti stepped back, Bad Brains returning to her side. She looked through the passageways of the catacombs, peering into the darkness, before turning back to Harry.
“So, your allies followed you down here?” grumbled Inti. “Well then, I suppose this interrogation session is over!”
Bad Brains pulled back its fist, then shot it downwards towards Harry’s chest. As soon as Bad Brains broke the skin, a spike of metal was shot into Inti's chest from behind. Harry's heart appeared where his ear was. He feebly balanced on one foot as Inti wheezed from the shock. Two cells of Rapture entered from down the hall – each holding a string of flesh.
“I got the idea from the kid you attacked earlier,” said Harry’s voice from the pair of fleshy strings. “If I separate my vocal cords from my body, I'll be able to talk at a distance! And that second of hesitation before you went in for the kill... gave me enough time to set up for my ultimate attack!”
Bad Brains dashed forward and punched Harry's right hand. It was swapped with the foot in his stomach. Harry chuckled.
“You don't get it, do you? You've already seen Rapture's primary form, the army. You've seen Rapture's second form, the man. But now, I was able to have Rapture's cells fuse with the minerals in the catacombs, creating Rapture's third form – AUTO-RAPTURIAN! In this state, Rapture is completely undetectable, and any damaging injury dealt to me is automatically reflected towards the attacker! So, prepare yourself, Inti Infante!”
A bunch of Raptures sat on a nearby support beam and giggled. The support beam already had some missing chunks taken out of it. One of the cells spat a spike of metal out, stabbing into Inti's hand. Inti stepped backwards nervously, bleeding heavily.
“Hmm... I see your plan,” said Inti. “I can't eliminate Rapture if I can't even detect it in the walls. Any ‘damaging injury’ dealt to you is dealt back to the attacker? That must mean... anything that doesn't cause direct injury won't be reflected! And... your Rapture can't free you from being restrained if it's fused into the walls!”
Bad Brains flew forward, jumping legs first. It wrapped its legs around Harry's neck, then grabbed his legs and lifted him into the air. Harry smirked.
“Here's a tip, kid,” chuckled Harry. “Just because you feel the need to be honest about your stand's powers and weaknesses... doesn't mean the rest of us have to stand by that same code!”
An army of Rapture’s cells dropped from the ceiling. As it fell past Inti, each cell shot a blast of metal at her. Blood splashed out as metal hooks wrapped through and around the woman’s flesh. Inti stood motionless, twisted into a sculpture of metal spikes.
“I swear…” wheezed Inti. “Harry Warhol... if you dare lay a finger on Franc, I... I'll…”
Inti’s eyes closed, and Bad Brains disappeared. Harry landed on the ground, his body parts slowly returning to their rightful places. A pair of Rapture cells carrying vocal cords climbed into Harry’s mouth. He stood up and walked over to Inti, picking the manila folder up off the ground.
“Well, Ms. Infante…” said Harry with a smirk, “You'll have 5-star accommodations in the hospital for a while. Though, once everyone on Earth works for me, I hope you don't mind me taking a cut out of your paycheck. We can't have you taking too many paid vacation days, now can we?”
Harry sauntered out, waving goodbye with the folder.
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