Ti Amo

Chapter 12

Joseph stepped into the offices of the Speedwagon Foundation in Manhattan. Jojo saw Speedwagon was at his desk, on the phone. Joseph saw his usually kindly eyes were narrowed, darkened as he looked down intently.

As Joseph approached, Speedwagon kept speaking to whomever was on the line.

"What?! How could you let this happen? Keep me apprised."

Speedwagon's eyes glanced up, spotting Jojo for the first time. The older man put the phone receiver in its cradle, the merry eyes back instantly.

"Joseph. What can I do for you, my b - "

Joseph's hand flew out and clipped his uncle on his jaw.

Joseph hissed, "How could you? You cloned Caesar !!!"

The old man went down immediately. It took eight men to hold Jojo back, two pulling each of his limbs. When his uncle got up from the floor, blood was trickling down his nose.

Speedwagon held a handkerchief up to his face.

"Let him go."

"But, sir - "

"Go. And give us privacy."

The Foundation employees regretfully let Joseph go. They walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Joseph's glowered. "I didn't even hit you as hard as - "

"- you could. I know. Just like your grandfather, the first time we met."

It was true. If he had used his fist, he would have sent Speedwagon sailing through the plate-glass window behind the desk.

"Sit down."

"I'll stand. You're going to tell me everything," seethed the Joestar. "Or I'll - "

"Sit. Down ." The kindly eyes were gone, and the voice was hard. A man stood there whom Joseph did not know. "Or you'll what? I could buy your puny real estate company up and shit it out a hundred times over. You'd lose everything. Now sit down ."

Joseph sat.

Speedwagon walked to a cabinet and took out two snifters and a bottle of brandy. He poured two drinks and handed one to Joseph. "I'll explain everything. Drink. You're going to need it."

He watched Jojo, who sat stiffly, holding his glass in his lap.

"No? Suit yourself."

Speedwagon took a sip and began. "In 1894, I read about Hans Driesch, who divided the cells of a sea urchin embryo, making an exact copy. But then I met your grandfather and I forgot about it until 1902, when Hans Spemann, another German scientist, did the same with a more complicated embryo of a salamander. He used a strand of baby hair to divide the sticky cells. Ironic, isn't it? Using baby hair to ... make a ... never mind."

He drank some more brandy, then continued. "At that point I had the Foundation. We dabbled in lots of science, but we had never attempted anything close to cloning. I went to Erina, who at that time was raising your father George. I told her I might know a way to possibly bring her husband back so she could be with him again. Erina turned me down emphatically. I was not surprised, but I was disappointed. So, I never thought about it again until ..."

Joseph choked out, "You ... you had no right."

Speedwagon slammed his fist on the desk. Joseph flinched. Speedwagon thrust his angry face right against the startled Joestar's.

"I had every right! You stopped practicing Hamon when you got married! It would have died out!"

"How then? How the hell did you clone him when his body was bloody pulverized?"