358. The Iron Reaper ~Tundra of Emotions~

Nocturna sighs as she polishes her nails. "Honestly..." she sighs. "Black Topaz Facet-3ZJ10 Cut 7Z! Get in here!" she yelled.

"Yes, my diamond?" asked Black Topaz, a tall towering female alien with gray skin and black armor with short black hair. She is incredibly muscular as well. Black Topaz does the diamond salute.

"Do I look cute?" she blushed.

"My... Diamond...?"

"Come on! Do I look attractive!? Answer me!" yelled Nocturna.

"Yes, my Diamond! Of course! Why?"

"Because... Black Topaz... I have a date... With DESTINY!!!"

"I don't understand what you mean, my Diamond. But I a very grateful for your date with this destiny!"

"God... fucking-! We've been on Earth for over 50 years! What the hell is wrong with you!? Learn the language! Christ!"

"What universe do you think they are, again?" asked Bruce.

"This one..." Jotaro points to a floating orb that levitates above Miguel's hand.

"That place is off-limits," said Bruce.

"Says who?" asked Jotaro.

"Says *BURP!!!* Me... Kuuujoooo..." said Rick, as his hologram appears before them.

The JoJoCorps stand before Bruce, who sat at the table. Before them is Miguel, casting a spell that allows them to see multiple universes.

"But... That's where the Jump Force might be!" yelled Gabrielle.

"No..." said Rick. "That leads to a path where the Jump Force might have *BURP* (gone) *BURP* to. You know that that universe is a flight risk!"

"We'll be fine," said Jotaro. "Just give us access to it."

Rick sighs. "Your funeral."

The coordinates are then sent to them via email.

Later...

The CoolDudeBus enters an unknown universe that is practically a tundra.

"So... apparently, this world was affected by a massive world war that ended with nuclear winter..." said Gabrielle.

"Caused by who?" asked Josuke.

"In this world, The Crusaders won against Salvi and never met you guys," said Gabrielle.

Josuke's eyes widen.

"So, the world failed to survive Stefan, who is currently dictator. Currently, the Iron Reaper is fighting against Stefan," said Gabrielle.

"'The Iron Reaper?'" asked Josuke. "To think Mr. Reaper would've thought of a better name... Honestly..."

Meanwhile, Jotaro and Miguel play chess together in the library.

"Checkmate," said Jotaro, pinning his King between a Rook and a Knight using a Queen, a Bishop, and a Pawn. "You're awfully bad at this."

"Yep!" smiled Miguel. "I was kind of the class idiot!"

"But your file says that you were an honor student."

"Yeah... But I was the lowest in class. I was in a Star Section and I was last place."

"You mad about that or somethin'?"

"Obviously..." sighed Miguel. Miguel looks outside in the snow through the window.

Below, the tires have transformed into jets allowing the CoolDudeBus to levitate above the snow.

"Is it depressing that my mother only 'loved' me when she was going to die?" asked Miguel.

Jotaro sighs. "Well... I get it. My Dad went touring around the world. He never really came back."

"Parents, am I right?"

"Psh! Yeah!"

"What kind of languages are you able to speak?"

"You first?"

"Uh... English... mostly... Tagalog... Japanese... Hebrew... Arabic... Chinese... Korean... Hindu... English... Spanish... German... Russian... Italian... French... Greek... Malay... Swedish... Norwegian... And mostly Latin... I mostly learned these languages from studying alone for 3,000 years... I'm also fluent in Asgardian, Floran, Gem, Celestial, Saiyan, and Kryptonian..."

"I uh... learned Japanese from my friends and English from my Mom. Then I learned Arabic from my good friend Avdol before he died. I learned French from Polnareff... I also learned Chinese from JiiJii and I picked up Hebrew, Hindu, Malay, Tamil, Tagalog, and Urdu, from our adventures. I finished studying all these languages after my journey with the Crusaders."

"Who do you think would win? The Crusaders of your Earth or The Crusader of Earth-Grimm?"

Jotaro sighs. "Honestly the Crusaders of Earth-Grimm have a massive advantage against us."

"How about Jump Force or the Crusaders of EG? Excluding Miguel JoJo's Stairway to Heaven!"

"Jump Force."

"Gotta stand with the home team, huh?"

"Yep..."

Meanwhile... Shizuka and Irene are painting Yurielle's nails.

Yurielle blushes. "Do I look pretty? I honestly can't tell... Heheh..."

"Yep," smiled Shizuka. "You look pretty!"

"Thanks!" smiled Yurielle. "I can't see, but I think you're really pretty, too! Based on the image appearing in my head when listening to and smelling you."

Shizuka gets weirded out. "Oh... Kay..."

Meanwhile... Gabrielle continues eating some cookies while Josuke drives.

Gabrielle gives a cheery smile while purring.

"You purr a lot, huh?" asked Josuke.

"Yep!" smiled Gabrielle. "You're an Aswang, too. How come you don't purr?"

"I dunno. Just a bit weird to me."

"Purring is weird!? We live in a post-hiding society! How is purring weird!? Our ancestors had bodily aches because our ancestors had to stop themselves from purring!"

"I don't know! Fine! Uh... Purring's weird because purring has no actual purpose to us!"

"It soothes us and helps us express our emotions!"

"Yeah. So does therapy," said Josuke.

"But purring's free!" yelled Gabrielle.

"You got me there."

"Anyway... Hey, Kuya Josuke. Do you think my bust size is ok?"

Josuke choked on his own saliva and spits it out. He coughs out of horror. "Gabrielle... You're practically an alternate version of my daughter and you're my sister-figure! Dude!"

"But Narcos said that my boobs are fine, but then Merci was telling me that F.F.'s are bigger."

"They're... alright I guess."

"Tench u! <3! Better than F.F.'s right?"

"We~ell..."

"Wut...?" asked Gabrielle.

"We're talkin' size-wise... So-..."

"Come on, dude! What!? Are they that small!?"

"WE SHOULDN'T EVEN BE TALKING ABOUT-!"

*CRASH!!!*

"Oh..." said Gabrielle, seeing that they hit something... or... someone... "This is all on you."

"Shit... Shit... Shit!" yelled Josuke, running outside.

"There's no blood anyway!" yelled Gabrielle. "I can still tell that they're alive using my Hound Nose. You should be able to tell that, too. Also, why do you swear now? Before, you didn't swear..."

Josuke sees that it's a statue made of wood. "What the -...?"

Gabrielle sees the statue. "Kinda odd-looking..."

The pair sees that the place is filled with these statues. They're statues of the five Crusaders except for Jessica Polnareff. They hit a statue of The Reaper. The others are Cutlass, Wolfsbane, Cheetarah, All-Star, and Killer Kuta.

"Oh... Is that..." said Gabrielle. "Daddy...?"

Meanwhile...

Bruce sighs and facepalms. "Arthur... I've tried making fun of you... Mocking you... Destroyed your morale..."

"You're afraid... aren't you, Bruce...?" asked The Joker. "You've lost so much... Even after you've drowned yourself in the ocean of darkness... And you still didn't save Robin from drowning..."

"Stop it."

"'Fear... is the mind-killer.' You always said that. But you're a liar... Because you're afraid... And you know how others fear... So you dressed up like a fucking bat... Because you're afraid of aerial rats... Is it ironic that your niece is one? Gabrielle...? Yeah... Kind of a fuckin' mindfuck right there."

"Arthur... You know being violent toward you won't work..."

"You're tired, huh? Of all this shit I offer to you... Blow after blow... You falter... You gave in, actually... But you couldn't bring yourself to kill me... Fear held you back from killing me... Because you're afraid... that without me... You would have no meaning...Dad wanted to make a difference... But... he got his hands dirty in doing so... Batman... I learned a different lesson... That life has no meaning...People say we're both sadistic..."

"I'm not..."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Because I don't enjoy it. I'm tired of hating myself."

"You killed. Yes, you did. You enjoyed it. You enjoyed bathing in their blood."

"YOU KILLED MY SON!!!" Bruce slams the table. "AND YOU GOT AWAY WITH IT!!! YOU ALWAYS... GET AWAY WITH IT!!! RACHEL!!! MY PARENTS!!!" Bruce slams his head on the table. 

"OUR PARENTS!!!"

"GOD-!!!" Bruce tries to strangle The Joker, but he stops himself. "Dad would probably be crying right now..."

"I'd say... he'd be laughing..."

"Where are... The Jump Force...?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-!!!"

Bruce slams his fist into The Joker's jaw.

"WHERE ARE THEY!?"

"Uh... Mr. Wayne?" asked Peter.

"Spider-Man... was it?" asked The Joker. "Heheheheheheheh..." 

"What is it?" asked Bruce.

"Could we talk?" asked Peter.

Bruce sighs. "Alright..." Bruce walks outside of the interrogation room and crosses his arms. "Yeah?"

Peter grabs his arms and puts them down. "Why do we fall?"

Bruce sighs. "This is a waste of-..."

"Why do we fall, Mr. Wayne?"

Bruce rolls his eyes. "To pick ourselves back up."

"And what do you do when someone pulls you down with them?Do we cut the rope?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"Keep climbing."

Peter sighs. "We're never going to get anything out of him, Mr. Wayne. But if you taught me anything... We have to keep our spirits up. Keep being the Friendly Neighborhood Heroes the people think us to be."

"I feel like I'm about to falter and accidentally cut his throat at any second."

Bruce and Peter sit down together at the table.

"I've done things I'm ashamed of," said Bruce.

"When Aunt May died..." said Peter. "I got rageful... I got bitter... I almost stopped pulling my punches... but I didn't. I didn't, Mr. Wayne. But I wanted to..."

"When bad people do bad things, good people rise up to the occasion and stop them," said Bruce. "Not everyone gets remembered, though. But that's never the point. I'm afraid that I may become someone I'm not again... I'm afraid... that I will kill again..."

"I'm scared that I'll start killing..."

Bruce pats his head. "That's why I'm here, kid."

Meanwhile...

"Apparently, in this universe, Mr. Reaper caused Unbreakable's creation... again... But in this universe, unlike ours, Stefan Rivers managed to kill him because we weren't around to help Mr. Reaper... So the Fortisite Blaster was never discovered by Spongebob to injure Stefan," said Josuke. "So... it's as if Mr. Reaper was supposed to meet us, or it all goes to shit..."

"It's as if a salty internet kid is angry and yelling out that they were right since the Marvel movie they were arguing was better sucks compared to the DC movie which was for once successful. I could hear him now. 'Wrong! Part 4 should never have happened! Absolute trash!'" said Miguel, appearing next to them.

"Uh... huh..." said Gabrielle and Josuke, confused.

What the hell are you talking about? Nobody ever comments!

"That's what they all say!" yelled Miguel. "I'm going to go back to the van and go change everyone's minds about DC movies."

"Wait!" yelled Gabrielle. "You could do that!?"

"Hm?"

"Could you also change everyone's minds about how the world sees my father as a hero?"

"Gabrielle... I can't just do that! That's against my oath of abusing my powers!"

"But you'd change everyone's ideas about DC!?"

"I was joking!"

"Huh... What else could you do?"

"I could-!"

*FLASH!!!*

Suddenly, they're several hundred meters away from the CoolDudeBus.

"Whoa. I couldn't fully sense that! Haha! Nice!" laughed Miguel.

The Iron Reaper, The Reaper who wore a silver version of the armor, stood before them.

"Hey-ho!" smiled Miguel. "Who are you supposed to be?"

The Iron Reaper squints their eyes.

"Hoy! Hoy! I've heard you're an alternate version of me! Speak up, will ya!?"

A ninja-like Stand appears behind her who immediately slashes its blade toward Miguel.

*CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!!!*

"Hooray for strengthening and speeding spells!" smiled Miguel.

Miguel kicks the Iron Reaper away. 

"Well..." said Miguel. "You look tough... I just used my X-Ray vision on you... How am I not surprised?"

The Iron Reaper squints their eyes.

The Reaper, for some reason, zooms toward him with incredible speed, and Miguel immediately shocks The Reaper with lightning. Miguel then uses his sticks to blast fire at the vigilante, who slices the flames with their katana.

"I could totally read your mind!" laughed Miguel. "Hoho! Dirty thoughts about me, huh?"

The Iron Reaper blushes.

"Haha! Yeah...! Despite looking like a hobo, I am quite attractive!HYPNOSIS!!!"

The Iron Reaper looks away and zooms in circles around Miguel.

Miguel is unamused as he pushes his sunglasses in his face. "Hay Naku..."

Miguel grabs The Iron Reaper and pushes her spirit out of her body. "Good thing you're not a god. If you were, I wouldn't be able to beat you so easily..."

The soul is revealed to be...

Jessica Polnareff...

Jessica blushes upon seeing Miguel.

"Huh... You're adorable as usual..." said Miguel, smirking. "Now... What the hell happened on this Earth."

She, while blushing, takes out her Ninja Stand. "IRON CHARIOT!!!"

"HORA HORA HORA HORA HORA!!!" Chariot slashes at Miguel with dual-wielding katanas, but Miguel blocks all of the attacks with his index and middle fingers. "Gladly, you don't have infinite speed. I could totes track your movements! Y'know I could possess your body right now... And do things..."

Jessica woges in her spirit form and hisses.

"I'm kidding! Hahahaha! Sheesh! Anyway! You are hereby cursed you to be bound by strings of magic!"

Jessica's eyes widen.

Jessica returns back to the Iron Reaper's body.

Miguel sighs. "Where are the others, Jess? Honestly... I literally bound you so you can't move. That's what you call... a curse... Kind of one of my super-cool abilities, though!"

Jessica's Iron Chariot is summoned and tries to decapitate Miguel, but the string constructs stop the Stand from attacking Miguel. Miguel's eyes turn white and turn Jessica into stone. 

Miguel sighs. "Just keep struggling..."

After five minutes... Miguel decides to stop the petrification spell and brings Jessica back, who gasps out of horror.

"Heya!" smiled Miguel. "Well? Ready to talk?"

"They're back in your Universe!" she sighed.

Miguel closes his eyes. "Nope! Nope! You're lying."

Miguel looks back at her and begins petrifying her.

"NO, WAIT-!!!"

She is petrified once more.

"Geez... DIO was a handful... Apparently, Silicon-based organisms can't get petrified... Speedsters are way easier to be defeated... Honestly..."

Miguel unpetrifies Jessica.

Jessica gasps out of horror, panting. "They're in the Reapercave!"

Miguel closes his eyes. "Alright..." Miguel unbinds her. "If you travel through time or try to phase out of reality, I'll turn you into a conscious and sentient piece of stone again."

"That felt like... drowning without dying..."

"Exactly. Now... Go on... Show me..."

Jessica grabs Miguel as they end up entering the Reapercave in almost an instant.

Miguel turns red as Jessica held Miguel in her arms. "You could put me down, now!"

"Right... Sorry..." said Jessica, putting Miguel down.

Miguel looks around. "What is this place?"

Jessica turns on the lights.

"Oh... It's this place..." said Miguel. "On my Earth, the neighborhood outside was kind of a bulldozed version of the forest Gabrielle lives in... And the Reapercave is just the cellar."

Jessica sighs. "They're all asleep because I knocked all of them out... There..."

They're all in the interrogation room.

"What makes you stay in my Universe? Here, Stefan rules with an iron fist. So..."

"Oh! We're here to find the Jump Force. We've detected evidence that they went here..."

"You mean this?" asked Jessica, offering a pen to him.

Miguel touches it. "Yep... I can sense that this is Koichi Hirose's ballpen."

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"What does your Stand even do?"

"Oh! I don't have a Stand, exactly. It's more of a Beyond than a Stand. The Beyond allows me to be a god, basically. I am the Messiah, after all."

"You're the Messiah on your Earth?"

"Well... I am one on every Earth."

"Is it a sin that I was attracted to you on this Earth?"

"No... Technically, all of us are free to do whatever we please..."

Jessica immediately kisses Miguel, whose eyes widen.

He pushes her away and grabs his mouth. "What the f-...!?" Miguel stops, seeing her eyes.

"Sorry...!" she giggled. "It's just that... I've missed your variant on this Earth so much... I wasn't expecting to see him again... You may not act exactly just like he did... But you have his spirit..."

"Uh-huh..." said Miguel. "I feel harassed, so..."

Jessica wraps her arms around his neck. "Perhaps... But I know you're tempted to -..."

Miguel teleports away from her. "Yeah! How about... not..."

Jessica sighs. "Your version of Anne cheated on you, huh?"

Miguel's eyes widen.

"My Miguel had the same eyes when I kissed Tyrone in front of him."

Miguel's eyes quiver.

"You also lost your mother... recently even...I know how you feel... You just want to tear the whole world apart...But you just care about us enough to not try it...My Miguel ended up snapping and he killed his father out of anger... Disgusted of his own actions... he killed himself... And in the end, everyone... Anne, Kariel, Jedan, Lord, Weeb Town... All of them were killed because no one could stop Stefan.But you... you have a stronger heart... I could tell..."

Jessica puts her hand on Miguel's cheek. "I'm literally the last woman standing... The last Crusader...Only you could kill Stefan... And... we could even end up together..."

"Sorry... But I love Anne..."

"But unlike Anne, I would never cheat on you."

"I deserve to be cheated on..."

"You? How could someone like you deserve to be cheated on? You don't deserve that. You will never deserve that...What? Did people label you as the bad guy? You're not a bad guy, Miguel... You're just like everyone else... But people hate you because of the burden you have... you didn't even choose to have this...Gods don't choose... Gods take..."

Miguel's eyes quiver. He feels like he's about to cry.

"You don't really love Anne... So why bother? It's not giving in unless it's actually cheating... Right...?You know who you really wanna love... You know who you really deserve..."

"I do... So get off of me." Miguel pushes her arms away. "I have a feeling that you hurt me in this universe, too. It's just that you regret it enough to try and seduce me... I honestly feel used and lied to... And you're doing it as well... What makes you any different?"

"Anne cheated on you. I never will."

"Anne cheats on me because she's sick. It's not her fault that she has sex addiction because of years of abuse... I just blame myself because I was too much of a coward to try and save her. I should've saved her... Because I love her."

Jessica's eyes widen. "But-!"

"And I don't care how many times I get humiliated... Because I'll save this world and show this fucking world that I earned it! I earned a place to be respected! And I will!" Miguel is crying. 

"Miguel... It's this world that owes you an apology. You don't owe the world anything... You've suffered enough... I could tell... You have his eyes... Please, Miguel! You have to understand that you don't have to fight for the world anymore! The world is the one that should fight for you!"

"No... I don't deserve that... Because I haven't saved them yet!"

"I've heard of you... You're Miguel Ibarra... right...?You're a legend in the Multiverse... No... Omniverse, probably... A story about Miguel Ibarra... The only version of Miguel Ibarra who offered his life so that his family and the world wouldn't get hurt any further... You sacrificed your life so MABUS won't hurt the world you lived in... But in exchange, MABUS succeeded in offering your world absolute anarchy.It's tragic, your life, really...But... You have to realize... You gave everything up for them... You busted your ass for everyone... You don't need to fight anymore... You gotta settle... and let go...You're not a machine...You're a person..."

Miguel's eyes widen. 

"You're just a kid... looking to be loved... You've earned it... People are just assholes... Stefan is a kid, too... Just looking for someone to dare love him... You're afraid that no one ever truly loves you... And that's okay... Because I do."

"We've just met."

"We've met years ago... It's our fate...It's fate that I love you..."

Miguel kisses her. She kisses him back. They kiss for quite a long period. He stops. "I do owe this world... one thing..."

He remembers Little Gabrielle.

"I owe all worlds... for that one thing... As long as she still lives... I can keep going... I can still have a purpose... But don't get me wrong, I'm happy... because now I know that my Jessica was legitimately heartbroken for letting me die... And that means so was Anne...So I can't be with you... Because I want this... I know... it's gross... But I want this... I want to suffer... For her..."

"Or... is she just an excuse so you could hurt yourself more?Why do we fall?"

Miguel's eyes quiver. "I don't know..."

"If you won't be with me... Then could you help me?"

Miguel breathes in and out through his nose. "Okay."

Later...

"Okay! Welp! This place is a nice start!" yelled Miguel, as he developed a bubble forcefield to protect himself and her from the blizzard. "So! Where are we gon' start in this place where the snow glows white in the mountain tonight where not a footprint to be seen?In this kingdom of isolation where it looks like I'm the queen?"

Jessica sighs. "He'll be here... I just need you to help me kill him."

"Whoa! I don't kill, dude!"

"That's why I'll do the dirty work. You'd just be a compliant helper..."

"Oh! Guess that works, too! Noot, noot!"

*rumble*

Suddenly, light appears on the horizon as the blizzard clouds are cut in half.

"Holy shit!" laughed Miguel. "That's so OP!"

*THUD!!!*

"That's so friggin' menacing!" laughed Miguel.

Stefan lands before Miguel. "JoJo...?"

"Yes, and no!"

Jessica zooms away.

"Whoa... Whoa, wait!" yelled Miguel.

Stefan throws a hammering fist down toward Miguel, who dodges it.

Miguel warps out Kryptonite and uses telekinesis to turn it into rock armor.

Miguel's elbow strikes Stefan and he does a backhand punch. He then does a cross-hand punch and beats Stefan over and over again.

Miguel then produces Kryptonite shells for his sticks. "You wanna go, jackass? Let's go!"

Miguel punches his fists together.

He then parkours up through step constructs in the air and charges toward Stefan, who blasts his way toward Miguel, flying toward him at full speed with fists forward.

"JOJO!!!"

"St. JoJo..."

Stefan takes out Rock Bottom as the Stand tries to punch him over and over. Miguel blocks all of the punches as he does a back kick into Stefan's chin. Miguel then jumps, spins, and does a lower cut as he punches Stefan's temple, making him drop to the ground.

Miguel lands on the ground by making a vertical portal in front of Stefan inches below Miguel's feet. He drops on Stefan's head and maliciously beats his face over and over again. He develops Kryptonite claws and scratches one of his eyes out.

Stefan shrieks as he shot heat vision toward Miguel, who creates a forcefield bubble and blocks it.

Miguel then uses telekinesis to hold Stefan down as he beats him with several jabs over and over.

"You killed Anne, right? Asshole..." whispered Miguel. "You'll pay for that..."

Miguel does a front kick and kicks Stefan in the chin as he is thrown backward.

Miguel then opens a portal behind him and punches Stefan back to himself.

Miguel plays ping-pong with Stefan over and over as Miguel ends with hitting Stefan in the face with a Kryptonite stick.

Jessica zooms in and tries to stab Stefan, but Stefan grabs the katana.

Jessica phases her katana as Stefan is unable to grab her katana.

She then phases her katana through his chest and solidifies it, as he shrieks in pain.

"YOU... BITCH!!!"

Stefan freezes her feet with his cooling breath, but Miguel blasts fire at her feet, melting the ice as Jessica kicks Stefan's face over and over again with Iron Chariot.

"HORA HORA HORA HORA HORA HORA HORA!!!HORA!!!"

Stefan then punches a hole in Jessica's chest. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!Well, well... You've failed... JoJo..."

Stefan's eyes widen as Jessica slowly transforms into a statue.

Suddenly, Stefan sees that there are hundreds of Iron Reapers before him.

"I kinda cloned myself and turned them into Jessica Polnareffs. Well, Stefan? Which one? Which one? Or do you give up?"

Stefan blasts his heat vision and zaps all of them in half.

"Ah well..." Miguel thought in Stefan's head. "None of them were the real Jessica... or me... Well? Do you feel annoyed yet?"

Stefan roars so loud that the very planet shakes.

"Sheesh! You don't gotta be that angry!"

Suddenly, Stefan somehow leaves his body. "NO!!! WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"

"Using Astral Projection to take you out of your body..."

Jessica, wearing Iron Chariot-like armor with a Kryptonite sword, prepares to stab Stefan.

"No... Wait!" yelled Stefan.

*SHING!!!*

*SPLAT!!!*

Stefan's headless body falls to the ground.

Jessica grabs his head.

Both characters retract their Stands.

"Haha! Noot, noot!" smiled Miguel. "Glad we thought.... ahead...!"

"Do you ever think about killing yourself?"

"Every time. Actually done it already. Can't die."

"Wait, I thought you're not allowed to kill?"

"It doesn't count on me because I have a severe case of immortality."

Miguel and Jessica view the beautiful skies as the blizzard stopped because of the shockwaves from the battle.

"Thank you..." said Jessica. "I've... wanted to do that for so many years... I just didn't know how to leave the Universe to get Kryptonite... Every time I tried, I'd get lost... And... Meeting you... I knew... You were a legend, Miguel..."

"You're welcome... Thanks for reminding me that people out there think I was the good guy of that story..."

Jessica nods.