A high-speed train rocketed through a tunnel. Inside the bright train window, Georgia, Harry, Frida, and Salvador sat on a group of seats facing each other. Harry was eating from a large tub of yoghurt. A woman sat on some nearby seats reading a book, as her child played with a ball. The ball rolled down the floor of the train car. Dalia leapt out from behind a seat, batting the ball back towards the boy. Georgia stared out of the window, watching the tunnel rush by.

= = = = = = = = = =

Georgia, Harry, Frida, and Salvador were gathered around a hospital bed. Dalia was clutched to Frida's leg, shivering. Harry threw some photographs on the bed – pictures of his apartment in ruins. A bandaged hand picked up the photos.

“And you say there were no signs of footprints?”

“No,” said Harry. “Just the claw marks you see there.”

The horribly injured man nodded.

“Well, you've come to the right place. Ras knows exactly who you're dealing with. His name is Tolk Giger. Ras met him at a seminar a couple times. Last Ras heard of him, Tolk had just broken out of prison. The guards had the same claw marks as your apartment.”

“What was he in for?” asked Georgia.

“Does Ras look like a crime expert to you? With that said... Ras guesses that it probably has something to do with the chimeras he was making.”

“Ch-chimeras?!” gasped Salvador.

“Human-animal hybrids, created through unholy means. He talked about them all the time at the conferences. Tolk apparently kidnapped a lot of animals, all in the name of advancing the human race. Oh, and Ras assumes he also kidnapped humans.”

“Hmm... ok, I think we have everything we need to know,” said Harry. “Frida?”

Frida walked over to Ras, touching his face. Ras's skin turned to metal, and LED lights began blinking behind his eyes.

“Still... why were they even after the feather?” said Salvador. “Did it have some super important hint on it that we just missed?”

“Perhaps it's a hint that's only visible if you have both feathers,” posited Georgia.

“Both?”

“Remember the poem that was written on the feather we found? My twin is not in England/Nor is she in France/She sails not the high seas/Nor the low lands/She sees trucks drive by/But not on their own/Her house is man-made/But not her house's home. The feather we found has a twin. And judging by that poem... it must be hidden in the English Channel Tunnel!”

= = = = = = = = = =

Back on the train, Dalia crawled around with the ball held between her wrists, a confused expression on her face. Georgia turned to Salvador.

“Has Good Vibrations found anything yet?”

“Act 1's searched every car on this train. No sign of the feather.”

“Harry?”

“Not yet. The lil' guys are having trouble hanging onto the outside of the train though, so they might have missed it.”

“Hmm…” mused Georgia. “Well, I guess the only thing we can do now is keep looking. If we do miss the hint, we'll just have to take another train back.”

Harry nodded and continued eating his yoghurt. A light thudding shook the car. The four turned to see what the commotion was. The mother had dropped her book on the ground. She was standing with shaky legs, a look of panic on her face.

“Billy Jean?! Where did you go?!”

The mother dropped to the ground, and started crawling around under the seats. Concern and empathy filled Georgia's eyes. Frida stared at the mother. The ball rolled out from underneath a seat.

“Hold up…” said Frida. “Where's Dalia?”

Silence.

The quartet looked around, over each others' shoulders.

“A stand attack?!” whispered Harry.

“Probably,” said Georgia, “But we don't know for sure until we actually search.”

Harry nodded. “Gotcha. Georgia, you and Frida search the front of the car. Sal and I will check around the back.”

“Understood.”

The four slowly took to their feet. Harry and Salvador walked over to the side of the car near where the mother was crawling, Georgia and Frida moved to the door on the far side of the train car. The pair of girls peeked around corners, and under the seats.

“I hope wherever Dalia is, she isn't hurt…” murmured Frida.

Georgia smirked.

“I thought you didn't care about other people?”

“I, uh, I mean, I don't CARE about her. It's just that, uh, it's... I'm... concerned. Like, Dalia is pretty vulnerable, even for a non-stand user. And she's already been traumatized enough today... I'd hate to see the state she's in if she got beat up again.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with you there. As much as Dalia weirds me out, I don't exactly like seeing her hurt.”

The two stood up and looked to the back of the car. Nobody else was visible.

“Harry? Salvador?”

No response came forth.

“Shit,” said Frida. “This is getting worse by the second. And we don't even know what sort of stand is attacking us!”

“Well... there's one way to find out.”

“Wh-what do you mean?!”

“I'm going back there,” said Georgia. “When I start checking under those seats, make sure to watch me carefully. Once you see how that stand attacks me, you should be able to take it out and rescue us!”

“Hm. That's a brave plan, Georgia. But I refuse to take part in it!”

“Wh-why?!”

“Think about it practically. Assuming that the stand hasn't killed anyone, Dalia and the others are still alive somewhere. Which means they'll need me by their sides to provide repairs as soon as possible! Plus, you're the one with the photographic memory. I should be the one to let myself get attacked!”

“Hmm. I suppose you're right. Well, be careful then.”

Frida slowly stepped away from Georgia, moving towards the back of the car. She crawled down on all fours and looked under a seat. Nothing happened. She turned around and checked under another nearby seat.

“Where the heck is this guy?!” spat Frida. “Don't tell me they decided not to attack us anymore!”

“Hmmm... maybe the stand moved to a different seat?”

Georgia turned away from Frida and leaned over to peer under a seat.

“Find anything yet, Frida?”

Georgia stood back up, looking towards where Frida was. There were no signs of life.

“As I expected,” said Georgia. “This stand doesn't like to be seen when it's at work. The user was waiting for me to turn around before attacking Frida. Unfortunately... they forgot about Shattered Dreams's ability to capture light!”

Shattered Dreams appeared behind Georgia. A light projected from its chest onto the wall. The light created an image of Frida getting pulled into a seat's shadow by a mass of thin, black, claw-like hands. Georgia chuckled.

“A stand that attacks from the shadows. Thank goodness. I thought for a moment there that it might be something dangerous. But this should be no big deal to handle.”

Shattered Dreams retracted into Georgia, and her skin began to glow.

“By absorbing the light from above me, I can create a glow around my entire body. Those hands can't catch me if I don't have a shadow!”

A hand with a star map painted on it appeared from the seat's shadow, and a second arm with a 1950's ray gun attached to it followed. The ray gun arm charged, and shot a red baseball-sized ball of energy.

“What the-” thought Georgia. “What kind of stand is this?!”

The red ball made an arc around the room, breaking the lights in the car's ceiling. The ball landed on the ground, sizzling. The train car fell dark, the only light coming from the ball on the ground. Georgia's glow disappeared, and her face lit up from the red light below her.

“Sh-shit! Shattered Dreams! Quick, absorb the light from that glowing red ball!”

A cluster of hands appeared in the shadow on Georgia's back, and wrapped around her. The hands pulled her backward towards the door at the front of the train car, and she slammed her head into it. She slid to the ground, then looked up. The figures of Tolk Giger and Ray Clarke were standing over her, lit by harsh red light.