Gyalzen POV

I will admit, I was almost surprised how fast this Mariah was. I continued to chase her and yet she remained one step ahead of me. She didn't turn to give me a second glance as she kept running. And that's when I noticed it.

Looking at my arm, I saw a metal wrench stuck to my forearm. Without a second thought, I grabbed it and attempted to toss it aside. However to my surprise, I found the wrench now stuck to the palm of my hand. 

Upon further inspection, I saw that I now had a plate stuck to my left leg as well as a few pegs dotted on my body and an old wheel on my back. All these were metal, so I was able to finally figure out what had happened. 

MAGNETISM! That had to be it! When I touched that power outlet, it must have done something that triggered this. That was the only conclusion I could come up with. 

Looking back, I was left furious when I noticed Mariah had vanished from view. Idiot! I'd allowed myself to become distracted by her ability that I'd lost track of her! Great!

What's more, it was very likely Joseph was suffering similar effects given the outlet he'd touched earlier. I had to find him or Mariah, at either point either was okay.

If I took too long, it could soon be too late...

Mariah POV

So... I'd managed to lose him. Good. As soon as I knew Gyalzen had lost sight of me, I wandered until I found a payphone by the side of the road. Stepping towards it, I instantly put in the necessary change as well as the number given.

The phone rang for a second before a voice spoke. "Report."

I smirked, informing my newfound ally. "That old Gyalzen took the bait, in a few minutes he'll be a walking magnet. You can make your move soon." The voice laughed "Excellent, Lord DIO will be very pleased with us."

That alone made my smirk disappear. I hated allying with someone else, I should be the one getting Lord DIO's praise! But HE wanted to form an alliance and I'd already seen what he was capable of. Suffice it to say, I agreed.

The voice spoke "I shall leave you to it. Have fun." To this I finally responded "Best of luck, Gladius..."

With that, the line went dead. I placed the phone back on its stand before taking off running once more. I just needed to give them the run-around, Gladius would handle the rest.

Now it was time to pay Joestar a visit...

Timeskip...

Gyalzen POV

How long had it been? An hour? Two hours? Half an hour? Who knows, one thing was certain was that there wasn't a single sign of either Mariah or Joseph. The magnetism had only grown worse as well, more metallic objects had begun to stick to me. An assortment of random things, plucked me passing them.

My only indication that I was getting closer seemed to be the magnetism, at some points it seemed to ease off only to get stronger at other points. The magnetism did originate from a Stand after all. Safe to assume it had a maximum effective range. The stronger it got, the closer Mariah was. Kind of like getting warmer and colder.

I continued to wander until of course, I finally did find one of them.

It was Joseph, also clearly under the influence of Mariah's Stand. Not just him though, AVDOL was there too, suffering the same effects! 

The two were trapped in a rather compromising position that I daren't describe. Frantically trying to break apart from one another! A crowd had gathered around them, one elderly lady in particular was yelling and hitting them as Joseph screamed "HELP ME, OH MY GOD!"

I got their attention, calling "Joseph, Avdol!" They both turned to face me with Joseph screaming "Gyalzen, oh thank god! You gotta help us!" Then he noticed the metal stuck to me as well and cried.

"NOOO! She got you too?! That witch!"

I slowly got close to them and the next thing I knew, I was jerked forward by the magnetic force! It took nearly all my strength to try and keep my footing. Even that wasn't enough so before I could join them in their struggle, I called. "PAGE OF CUPS!"

(Just for reference, similar to Hermit Purple, Page of Cups makes the Hamon sound when summoned, though this is accompanied by the hiss of steam).

My Stand manifested instantly giving a burst of steam. My attempt to keep my footing caused my boots to scrape across the ground. The friction of which caused more steam to appear. 

Thanks to my Stand, I managed to actually resist the magnetism. The veil of steam surrounding me managed to just about protect me from the magnetic pull. Not that it mattered, it was now a struggle to keep the veil from disbursing.

I desperately tried to regulate my breathing, slowly stepping towards the pair. Combining the steam with my Hamon would only be able to disrupt the magnetism for a short time. Avdol warned me "Don't come any closer! We need to stay as away from one another!"

In this moment, they finally broke apart. With enough force that they were launched over the fence they'd been leaning on and rolled down the grassy bank coming to a stop just by some train tracks. I wasted no time joining them, my Stand vanishing and the veil of steam disbursing and asking "Are you two alright?" 

Joseph answered "What does it look like? That bitch Stand user caught all three of us in her web! Avdol got shocked trying to help me. How did she get you?" I replied "She ambushed me when I went on my walk, I've been trying to track her down and finally come across you."

Joseph muttered "Huh, go figure." Before a low chuckle caught my attention. Snapping my head up, there she was, watching us from the other side of the train track. Avdol and Joseph bolted upright upon spotting her as well.

I spoke "Mariah, so you show your face." Joseph looked at me, asking "That's her name?!" I nodded as we all turned to face our opponent. She made no reaction to us whatsoever. 

Joseph ordered "Avdol, you go from that side." He pointed to the right, Gyalzen, you go on the other side." He pointed left before concluding "Don't let her get away this time. She's cunning, this may be a trap."

I pointed out "Yes, it's best to keep our wits about us, she seems to be making this too easy." We each took a step forward and it instantly became apparent what her plan was! Avdol staggered first and warned "N-no! Mr Joestar! Mr Gyalzen! It seems we've already fallen into her trap!"

Looking down, I noticed what he meant. The railroad tracks! My right foot was already STUCK! There would be no steam to get me out of this one! My left foot was still free off the track, I made sure not to make the same mistake twice as I thought of a potential solution.

Joseph and Avdol both tried to break free only to end up being pulled back towards one another, this time though, as this happened, I lurched forward to catch Joseph only to find myself being pulled in as well.

Next thing I knew, I ended up stuck to both Joseph and Avdol in a massive cluster! Both of them yelled "We're stuck together AGAIN!" I added "Same here!" 

As if things weren't bad enough already. The tracks began to vibrate and a distant bell began to ring. Looking up, my eyes widened as a TRAIN rounded the corner toward us! Joseph instantly went into panic mode.

"It's coming! The train's coming! Gyalzen use your Page of Cups and do that thing you did earlier!" I retorted "That won't help now! Last time I did that BEFORE I was stuck! The magnetism is already too strong!" 

His next idea was "Avdol, use Magician's Red to burn through the tracks!" Avdol tried interjecting "B-but Mr Joestar! If I do that, it'll derail the train and innocent people will die!" I could see why he was concerned. However time was of the essence, what with the train now speeding towards us!

In one desperate ditch effort, me and Joseph called out "HERMIT PURPLE!" and "PAGE OF CUPS!" Respectively, purple vines shot from Joseph's hand while my Stand's arm stretched out similar to my old Zoom Punch trick!

The vines and steam hand both wrapped around nearby poles, it seems we had the same idea. Try and pull ourselves from the tracks, however it was no use! Even Mariah's smirk grew as she looked down at us. 

Joseph exclaimed "It's no use! The magnetic field's even stronger now!" Avdol urged "Mr Joestar! Gyalzen! Keep pulling!" Just as we thought we had our escape safely, both fence pillars snapped away!

We had mere seconds to spare, just as I thought this was the end, Avdol managed to save us. With Magician's Red, he didn't burn away the rail lines itself, but rather the wood between them. This created a sinkhole which we were able to hide in as the train rumbled overhead!

Mariah POV

"HAHAHAHAHA! I've won Lord DIO! Even three on one, it seems I didn't need that Gladius after all! Now to kill Jotaro and Polnareff. Huh?"

Gyalzen POV

As soon as the train had passed, Joseph complimented "Good thinking Avdol! You burned through the railroad ties and dug a hole!" I added on "Yes, good thinking my friend!" Avdol stated "This is it! This, is the image of Mohammad Avdol! This is the role my character plays!"

As could be imagined, Mariah wasn't pleased about that. With the train off in the distance, her yelling was heard clear as day. Her face horrifically twisted in rage! "Clever little bastard! You SHIT-EATING BITCHES!" 

Avdol used his Magician's red to burn away at the tracks, braking away the piece we were now stuck to and freeing up our movement to an extent. Albeit, we were all still stuck to one girder of metal. 

Me and Joseph went back on the offensive, utilising our Hermit Purple and Page of Cups to restrain Mariah. Now we finally had her, she just vacantly stared at us. Joseph declared calmly yet sternly.

"We've got you! Your magnetism's pretty troublesome you know." I added on. "I'd shut it off if I were you young one. I do not want you to be harmed, but you leave us no choice."

Mariah's reaction wasn't what I expected. She looked up, at something behind us and grinned, WAVING.

"You know, it's unfair for three opponents to gang up on little old me. Fortunately, I've brought a friend." As soon as she said this, I spun around and my eyes widened.

A KNIFE was flying through the air towards us! I had my Stand try and swat it away with its free hand, however too my surprise. It proceeded to turn right back around and stabbed itself into my arm before vanishing!

As I grunted in pain, Joseph called out "Gyalzen!" Avdol commented "That knife, it's one of Gladius' weapons!" Mariah smirked and spoke up again. 

"That's right, did you really think I'd be foolish enough to face you three all alone? Without an 'ace in the hole' as it were. Or should I say, 'Ace OF SWORDS in the hole'. A terrible pun, but a lethal combo nonetheless."

She brought a hand to her mouth and laughed "HAHAHA! His Ace of Swords and my Bastet make quite the duo! His weapons are already extremely precise, however the added magnetism makes them a guaranteed lethal strike EVERY time. Alessi lost more than a few fingers and toes for us to test that."

Her expression almost looked saddened "A pity it took some extra persuasion from Lord DIO for him to come around properly. He's quite the fun partner. Here he comes again!" 

Turning back to the buildings we'd come from, I saw another knife lance out towards us! This one was aimed at Joseph's Hermit Purple, likely intent on cutting through it! I acted just in time.

Page of Cups once again attempted to deflect the blade. However the magnetism forced the blade to make its course. Instead of being knocked to the ground, it instead stabbed forward, right into my hand!

The injury on my Stand was reflected on my body, a large cut appeared on the palm of my hand causing me to retract it in pain! 

It seems Mariah also had a trick up her sleeve. I was distracted on a third knife that flew in from the distance, I managed to avoid a lethal blow from that, the next thing I knew, we were pelted by a barrage of scrap metal!

Turning back to Mariah, I saw the metal originating from all over her body! We were launched back as Avdol called out "MAGICIAN'S RED!" In a blast of fire, he was able to burn the incoming metal to ash before it could weigh us down.

We did lose our hold on Mariah though, as we did, she leered down at us. Speaking mockingly. "Your magnetic force will keep growing stronger. Until either your bodies are crushed, or Gladius' homing weapons chop you to pieces!"

With those words, she made a run for it! Avdol exclaimed "She's getting away!" To this, Joseph pointed out "No, she's not escaping. She's keeping a certain distance between us. I'm sure that woman fights by neither staying too far or getting too close."

From this, I concluded "I see, yes, it's so she can maintain her magnetism. If she got too far, it would ware off." Joseph pointed "Exactly. But it seems we've got some extra work on our hands."

Avdol agreed "Gladius is out there. Those were definitely his knives, meaning him and this Mariah are working together. He's taking full advantage of the magnetism. And we have no idea where he's hiding, given his Stand's range for throwing weapons, he could be anywhere around here."

I spoke "Perhaps we focus on Mariah first, if Gladius is as skilled as you claim, then taking him on with this magnetism in effect is too risky." Avdol nodded "He's right, we need to make sure the magnetism isn't a factor before making our move on Gladius."

My attention shifted to Mariah, who continued to watch us from afar. We had a plan now, we would take her down first before settling things with this Gladius once and for all...

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter, I'm so sorry it took so long. I've found this arc difficult to plan since this is where we shall finally get the confrontation with Gladius. I really hope you enjoyed and as always, thank you for reading.