44. Metallica Part I~A Little Rusty, There, Bud~

"What is the significance of the Bill of Rights?" asked Arthur.

"Government is powerful. When unlimited, it becomes tyrannical. The Bill of Rights is a guarantee that there are certain areas of a person's life, liberty, and property which governmental power may not touch," replied Miguel.

"What powers of the government are limited by the Bill of Rights?" asked Arthur.

"All powers of the government are limited by the Bill of Rights," replied Miguel.

"Generally, what are these powers?" asked Arthur.

"The totality of governmental power is contained in three great powers:Police Power..."

A man forcibly opens a child's room and points his gun at him.

"Where are the drugs!?" asked the cop.

"What?" asked the kid, raising his hands.

*BANG BANG BANG*

"...Power of Eminent Domain..." said Miguel.

"Please! We don't have a place to live! There are twelve of us!"

"Then you should've thought about living here, lady. Tear the house down."

*SLAM*

"...And Power of Taxation..."

Miguel, in the future, is seen beating a man in the streets with Star Platinum.

"You're going to bring back that poor family's money, or I'll be coming for you!" he whispered, pointing to his face.

"My men will hunt you down-..."

"Then it's a date, Mr. Mayor," whispered Miguel, as he uses his bare hand to dislocate the man's jaw.

Miguel in the past was then patted on the head by his father.

"It's getting late," Arthur said.

"Dad... When Funny Valentino was our President... or... Dictator... were things better?" asked Miguel.

"Things were just about the same, Miguel," replied Arthur.

"They why do people say he was one of the best leaders, while others say he was the worst?" asked Miguel.

"Because he works for the law, Miguel," said Arthur.

"Some of them... the guys who work for the law... do it for money," said Miguel, crossing his arms.

"Yeah," said Arthur. "But some of them do it because they think it's right."

"What if it isn't right?" asked Miguel.

"Read the Bible, kid," he smiled.

"I want to live in a world where things aren't so weird..." said Miguel.

"You think it's weird?" asked Arthur, chuckling. "It's pretty normal at this point."

"I'll try to fix things, Dad," said Miguel. "I'll try to find a way for us to live peacefully. It's a world where people don't have to hurt each other...People always bully me because I talk to myself, sometimes...And I hate it...If people out there are bullying other people like me, too, I'll knock some sense into them."

Arthur sighs.

"Miguel..." said Arthur, rather sadly.

"I have to tell you something."

Before...

Miguel looked outside the balcony of the boat they are on. He looks at the deep oceans below and the vast seas beyond.

Arthur joined him. He leaned on the balcony with his son.

"Hey, Dad," he sighed.

Arthur takes out a cigarette and lights it.

"Dad," said Miguel. "No smoking."

"Could be my last," he said.

"Every smoke could be your last," said Miguel.

"Exactly," he chuckled.

*huff*

*hoo*

"How do I change my fate?" asked Miguel. "My fate is to destroy the world... right?"

"I don't know," said Arthur.

"How do I control it," said Miguel.

"Miguel..." said Arthur. "Nothing, not even Stands, can control fate. Fate is like a river. Throw stones at it, and the river flows over those stones."

"But if you throw enough stones, you build a dam," said Miguel. "Then I'd make a water system for my village and drink from the dam."

"You can't control fate, Miguel," sighed Arthur.

"But Mom said-..."

"Your Mom experimented on her pets when she was little. Don't listen to everything she says," said Arthur, huffing some more smoke.

"So that's it? We can't do anything about our fates?" asked Miguel.

"Kid..." said Arthur. "Fate isn't meant to be fought against. Fate has always been a part of you. You just have to have faith in yourself to see it."

"But I don't want my fate," said Miguel.

"Whose to say you won't like it? You haven't even seen it yet." Arthur replied.

"Ugh..." said Miguel, as he stared outside in the ocean. "Y-You... You never-..."

Arthur turns to Miguel.

"You never played a video game with me before... You always said... You were so good at them when you were younger," said Miguel, turning slightly red.

"Switch?" asked Arthur.

"Sure," said Miguel.

The two walk back inside the cabin. Miguel does a "YES!!!" arm gesture while behind Arthur.

"Saw that, kid," said Arthur.

"Tch-..."

Now...

Arthur spits out blood as he was being beaten by a woman, Lani Los Dios Nero. She has gray hair and a black polo. It has a v-shaped cut around her neck going down her stomach. She has fishnet stockings on her legs and feet and she wears an open black trench coat. She has a black skirt and she has black shoes.

Arthur is tied into a pair of chains from one side of the room to the other.

She runs her hand over his head all the way down his chin.

He then bites her finger.

"Gah!" she shouted in pain. Her finger bleeds.

"Ngeheheh..." he laughed softly.

"Arthur JoJo... You are the one who eliminated our former leader, Padre Damaso," she stared at him, silently. "You are going to surrender to us, or die.I mean... after all...You have no choice but to tell Miguel in the end... about that...About what Salvi really wants..."

"Salvi wants Heaven..." said Arthur.

"Technically, so does your son," she smiled.

"He'll wipe out humanity," said Arthur.

She woges into a white fox-like humanoid. She looks beautiful in this form. With graceful eyes and a beautiful snout, she snarls at Arthur.

"Isn't it great, Arthur JoJo?" she asked. "Even some humans joined our little scheme."

"Salvi is a psychopath, Nero," he whispered. "He's only using you to get what he really wants...He just wants his mother back..."

"Silence!" she shouted, looking sharp as she jabbed his neck. He coughs out blood.

"I'm surprised that you haven't died with the amount of blood you've lost. It's unbelievably stupefying that you people are still alive," she said with a soft, creepy voice.

He begins coughing out more blood.

"Oh, yeah... my Stand turned the iron in your blood into something else..." she smiled.

Inside Arthur's throat are several razors.

"You need to replenish your iron to keep yourself alive... sadly... there aren't any cashews around to help you out there..." she said.

"Technically..." he choked. "These razors are weapons... *gag*... Therefore..."

*drip drip drip*

*splat*

"I can-..."

Suddenly, the razors are gone as the iron returns to his blood.

"Amazing," she said. "You can even control metals in your body as well?"

"Technically, no," said Arthur, trembling in pain. "You know what else is considered a weapon?"

The chains come off as they let go of Arthur's wrist. He runs away.

(theme begins)

Arthur runs away as Nero ran and followed him, taking out the chains and molding them into discs, tossing them like frisbees. Since the ship is metallic, Nero traps Arthur by closing the corridor in front of him.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

His star began to shine.

"Technically... the floor can be a weapon... yes! When you slam someone's face in it!" he whispered to himself. He touched the floor as it opened up. He fell into the hole as he grabbed onto a pipe on the ceiling of the lower floor and swung downward. "I'm still in her range..." he thought.

He kept on running until she appeared before him in another corridor.

"Technically, my blood's a weapon..." he whispered. He then splashed it onto her face as the blood turned into spikes. However, she is unscathed, as she used the metal in the blood to drip it away from her face.

"What the hell doesn't have metal in this world?!!" he asked, as he backed away very slowly.

Metal pipes were thrown at him. Arthur used his precognition to dodge. He leaped, somersaulted, and ran on the walls. However, he is stabbed in the leg by one of the pipes.

"RAUGH!!!" shouted Arthur, as he dropped to the ground. "RANDOM BULLSHIT!!!"

She then turned the pipes into long blades and pointed them to Arthur. Arthur then pulled the pipe out of his leg as it became a blade. He then lunged it toward her. She captures the pipe with her magnetic abilities as she struck Arthur point-blank in the head with it. She then prepares to shoot the pipes at Arthur.

*shwing*

Arthur then somehow slides to the next room.

"Huh?!" she asked.

It is revealed that his vines, during the fight, opened the door to the next room and used his tentacles to segue out of the corridor and into the other room.

He then locks the door and limps to the wall.

He takes some metal and turns it into a machine gun.

*RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

He takes a fire extinguisher into the room and beats the wall open. The door opens, as Arthur slides away.

"Is this your argument, Arthur JoJo?" she shouted Arthur crashes out of the wall and runs outside.

She grabs him using the metal in his body and turns invisible. He is now immobile.

(theme ends)

"You argue that we should be below humanity?!" asked Nero, pacing around him.

"My argument is that no race should be below another," said Arthur.

"That cannot be, Arthur JoJo! How would you understand! Especially a Grimm like you!" she shouted.

Arthur releases Open Arms, but his Stand starts strangling him.

"Nero..." said a man on her radio.

Terror entered her heart. She immediately stopped fighting.

"Don't play with your meals, Nero..." the voice whispered, coldly.

"Is that your boss?" asked Arthur.

*click burrrrrrrrrrr*

"You're afraid," he said. "He must be either a Cattussian, an Aswang, or a Hex..."

"Silence," she said.

"It's a Hex," both of them said.

"Huh?!" she stuttered. "Y-You really can read minds!"

"I need you dead, Nero," he sighed. "With that mindset, you have to die. I'll have to end you..."

"Why are you doing this?!" she asked.

"Because I've made so many mistakes... I flunked my bar exam... I became this irresponsible Lawyer... I failed Ventura... I failed Ricardo... I failed my two sons... I took the lives of two children... I failed my wife..." said Arthur. "But I believe that there's something more to this. I have a purpose here in this world... and through that faith..."

"Faith?! You're relying your fates on faith?!" she asked. "The only way you conquer fate is to take it into your hands!"

"No one conquers fate," said Arthur. "No one does! Why doesn't anyone understand that! Fate is always a part of us! Just-!"

"Have faith in yourself? You rely too much on faith!" she shouted. "Be more realistic, Arthur... Be more rational! Imagine a world of peace and prosperity!"

"-...made from the bodies of a genocided race," said Arthur.

"THEY NEARLY WIPED US ALL OUT!!!" she shouted.

"A world shouldn't be built out of fear and resentment from one another," said Arthur. "We'd be no different than the animals."

"We are animals!" shouted Nero.

"If you choose to be, BE MY GUEST!!!" shouted Arthur.

The two stare at each other silently.

"Do you believe in God?" asked Nero.

"Yes," replied Arthur.

"Then you wouldn't understand-..."

"I lost my son, Nero..." said Arthur. "I relied too much on faith and I lost my son..."

"See?" asked Nero. "What good-?"

"I know it's disgusting, but if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have had Miguel's current self..." he said. "I wouldn't have had a son I've always loved...And no. He's not a replacement.He's someone I could call my son."

"Goodbye, Arthur JoJo..."

Suddenly, she lunges a pipe toward his chest.

*SPLAT*