Fanfic / Streetlight Pursuit

Being a PI isn’t all fun and games. I know that better than most, being employed where I am, but that doesn’t mean I won’t smile through it anyways.
I hope Rita isn’t too discouraged. Seeing her happy for the first time in a while was nice. I know Sally will be fine–that girl doesn’t get put off by a lot. As for me, I know in any other circumstance I might have tried to continue behind my boss’s back.
DOOM flickers to life on the screen before me, and I settle back into the game, knowing Brienne won’t chase me off or tell me to do anything else until morning comes.
The fact of the matter is this: I trust Brienne. Maybe not as much as Amanda, but it’s a close thing. She saved me too, after all. If she says we’re better off working on the cases she gives us, she probably means it.
And even if she has ulterior motives for calling them off–for being so harsh–I know she means the best by it. In a job like this, you won’t be able to get much done without trust.

—Stella 'Morgan' Becquerel

Streetlight Pursuit is a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fanfic by digitalpen, FluffyRoRo, leafgilly, and Pianolote. It is the story a group of private investigators in 1993 Manhattan, New York.

Summary: It's 1993 and the Stand users from the Dio incident are still scattered and in hiding. New York City is a big place with lots of people and its own group of Stand users. The only problem: where there are Stand users, there are usually Stand battles. The women of Informer Co. do their best to deal with all of the supernatural happenings in the area without hurting the general public. They're a small group, but they're willing to work as a team (most of the time).

'Mask Den' is the first book of the Streetlight Pursuit duology, taking place between Jojo Parts 3 and 4. The sequel, 'Born to Run,' is currently being written and released. It updates on Mondays.

You can read Streetlight Pursuit: Mask Den here, and the sequel Streetlight Pursuit: Born to Run here!

---

This story contains examples of:

• Action Girl: Every female character satisfies this trope. The five women of Informer Co all are competent investigators, reliable in a fight, and capable of badassery. The same can be said of all the female antagonists.
• Anti-Hero: Amanda and Brienne. Amanda served Dio in the past and is the most willing to kill of the investigators. Brienne is ruthless in her pursuit of justice, and she will sacrifice anything or anyone in the name of the common good. However, both are firmly dedicated to protecting the city in their own ways.
• Badass Bookworm: Sally Reed is a forensic scientist with a masters degree who also has a powerful combat Stand ability. She uses her scientific prowess to give her an edge in investigations and battle.
• Badass Crew: The women of Informer Co are True Companions who investigate, fight, and arrest criminal Stand users. As a team, they fight a wide variety of Stand users and other villains.
• Band of Brothers: The women of Informer Co bond through battle and shared danger and grow closer through their victories. For example, when Rita and Amanda win their fight against Calvin Klein and Victoria Secret, they grow closer as a result of their shared struggle to survive.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Amanda had a challenging life before she began working at Informer Co, but Brienne offers her a new name and a new life as an Informer Co investigator, effectively saving her life. As a result, Amanda is extremely loyal to Brienne to the extent that she will ignore signs that Brienne might have ulterior motives.
• Befriending the Enemy: Morgan will make every effort to avoid deadly confrontations and often attempts to befriend enemies rather than fight them. Not only does she successfully befriend the Phantom Thief and Patagonia, but she also extends a hand towards Colombia, who Morgan knew had killed man in cold blood.
  Morgan: "Everyone has bad days. And when you spend however many years you spent living in a weird vampire cult, it tends to do a number on your spirit. But that’s okay, because we’ve got enough heart to share with you."
• Black-and-Grey Morality: On the one hand, DIO’s loyalists are clearly evil and intent on spreading destruction. On the other hand, the Speedwagon Foundation are not above manipulating loyal employees behind their back to combat those loyalists, and don’t distinguish between those who followed DIO out of loyalty or duress.
• Calling the Old Man Out: When Rita discovers that Joseph Joestar is cheating on his wife, she dedicates all of her time and energy to uncovering the depths of his infidelity and revealing it to his multiple girlfriends. She then confronts Joseph, where she challenges him on his attitudes towards women.
• The Case of...: Each 'arc' in the work is a self-contained story and is delineated by a case number, such as "Case 0: Informer Co."
• Central Theme:
  • Everyone deserves a second chance.
  • Friendship has the power to break the cycle of violence.
  • True faith in someone is different then blind trust.
• The Chessmaster: Brienne is a master of manipulation. She prepares for encounters with other people by learning every detail of their lives. Every move she makes is calculated including all of the confrontations with vampires that the team encounters. She uses her Stand to cover her tracks and will give herself an entirely new identity if necessary.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Amanda is yellow, Brienne is blue, Morgan is pink, Rita is red, and Sally is purple.
• Conflicting Loyalty: While Brienne is the owner and manager of Informer Co, she is also a Speedwagon Foundation agent unbeknownst to the rest of the Informer Co girls. This leads to conflict when the Speedwagon Foundation demands Brienne arrest Amanda for her history as a follower of DIO.
• Cool Old Guy: From fighting the ancient Pillar Men to traveling the world to kill a 100 year old vampire, Joseph Joestar has seen it all. He’s older now, though, has settled down in Manhattan with his wife, and has multiple run-ins with the women of Informer Co when Rita begins investigating his love life and he helps arrest Amanda.
• Crazy Enough to Work: The girls rely on crazy schemes to defeat their enemies on multiple occasions, as is normal for Stand battles, from using magnets to stop moving vehicles to playing Thriller to make a horde of zombies dance.
• Creature-Hunter Organization: The Speedwagon Foundation, which the girls unknowingly work for is actively hunting down Stand users, vampires, and other supernatural creatures.
• Cryptic Conversation: Brienne has multiple conversations with a mysterious unnamed coworker who seems strangely invested in the status of Informer Co.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Amanda was a follower of DIO before she joined Informer Co. She is actively running from her past mistakes, and eventually has to confront numerous past allies who now want to kill her.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Oftentimes defeating an enemy directly leads to them becoming friends with the girls. This is almost always the case with Morgan, who befriends the Phantom Thief, Patagonia, and Jean after winning in a fight against them.
• Defective Detective: Brienne has an unhealthy relationship with her work as the manager of Informer Co. She is in the office almost all hours of the day, does not take breaks or vacation days often, and numerous times forgoes food or sleep in favor of completing her work.
• Disappeared Dad: Rita’s father Crab Louie Zeppeli disappeared mysteriously when she was younger. While technically missing, she and her mother suspect that he was killed due to his line of work as a Speedwagon Foundation operative.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The followers of DIO are set up to be the main antagonists of the story, but it is revealed at the end of Mask Den that the New York mafia are the real main antagonists of the story.
• Edible Theme Naming: The Zeppeli family members all have first names based on salad dressings, including Caesar, Margherita, and Crab Louie.
• Equippable Ally: Rockin’ Robin, Neon Trees, and Disturbia are all capable of being used as tools.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Something in Amanda breaks when she learns that Brienne had been lying and manipulating her to lure out DIO’s followers. After this reveal, Amanda’s demeanor towards Brienne changes. Amanda also develops depression after she learns this.
• Face Your Fears: A key component of Amanda’s Stand, Disturbia, is that it or Amanda can transform into anything Amanda fears, as long as she’s overcome said fear.
• Family Theme Naming: The Zeppeli family members all have first names based on salad dressings, including Caesar, Margherita, and Crab Louie.
• Fly Or Die: In Case 16, Rita’s Stand develops the ability to fly.
• Foreshadowing: Throughout Mask Den, there are many scenes with Brienne, where she alludes to her plans to betray Amanda later in the story.
• Found Family via Work: The main characters originally come together because Brienne hired them to work for Informer Co, but they develop a deep bond over the course of the story. Even if Brienne intentionally manufactured that bond, their familial love for each other is a central theme.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: When the girls need to infiltrate the Speedwagon Foundation, they call on Phantom Thief Diamond to help them sneak in.
• Good Is Not Nice: Brienne. She is regularly short, mean, and cruel to the girls (Rita especially), because she believes that is the easiest way to help them work through difficult choices.
  Brienne: "I do not believe in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people. If I did, I’d surely consider myself to be in the latter category. Rather, I believe in good and bad actions."
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Amanda suffers mortal injuries numerous times, only surviving thanks to her vampiric healing abilities. She has an arm cut off, gets thrown to the ground from multiple stories up in the air, has her head caved in, and even has a hole punched through her stomach, all of which is healed.
• Guile Hero: Morgan embodies this trope. She often relies on her charm and wit to mislead their enemies.
• Gut Punch: In the fight against Georg A. Paisley, Rita is forced to compromise her morals and kill him. Also, when Amanda learns that Brienne had been using her throughout all their time working together, she breaks down, while Brienne acts uncharacteristically regretful.
• Hate Sink: Dr. Burberry goes out of his way to be antagonistic and cruel to the main cast, all while showing no empathy to the girls. He has no redeeming qualities.
• Heroes "R" Us: Informer Co recruits and trains Stand users to protect New York City.
• Info Dump: Villains almost always explain their motivations and Stand abilities in detail before the battle ends.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Dr. Burberry is sexist to Anne, one of his employees. This results in her literally stabbing him in the back.
• Loner-Turned-Friend: While Patagonia spends a lot of time with Morgan after they meet, she never works alongside the main girls.
• Manipulative Bastard: Brienne manipulates the girls throughout the entire story. While usually she works through lies of omission, she intentionally redirects the topic of conversation by criticizing Rita’s desire to not kill people.
• Make Some Noise: Sally’s Stand, Eurythmics, has the ability to play music. Anyone who moves to the beat of its song for four beats falls under its control.
• Monster of the Week: Every individual ‘Case’ focuses on a different villain Stand user who they need to investigate and defeat.
• Musical Theme Naming: Every Stand’s name is a musical reference. For example, the main girls’ Stands are named Eurythmics, Disturbia, Neon Trees, Paperback Writer, and Rockin’ Robin.
• Night of the Living Mooks: In Case 16, Columbia raises an army of undead.
• Only One Name: Patagonia has no given surname. Also, while Brienne does have a stated surname, she only ever uses it for official documentation.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Morgan is cheerful to a fault. When Patagonia nearly kills Amanda, there was a clear shift in tone when Morgan implied she didn’t want to be Patagonia’s friend anymore.
• Recruited from the Gutter: Brienne saved Amanda’s life in more ways than one when she offered Amanda a job at Informer Co. Not only was she fleeing an organization that would kill her if they found her, but Brienne also gave her a new name and identity.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Brienne and Rita, Morgan and Amanda, and Amanda and Patagonia.
• Reference Overdosed: Every villain is named after a fashion line/brand, and every Stand is a musical reference.
• Sliding Scale Of Idealismversus Cynicism: While many of the girls value friendship and mercy, they are not always able to follow through on those ideals. In Case 7 Rita is forced to kill Georg A. Paisley in order to save Brienne’s life.
• Theme Naming: All the villains are named after fashion brands/stores, including but not limited to: Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, and Patagonia. Additionally, all Stands are musical references, some examples including: Paperback Writer, Disturbia, and Rockin’ Robin.
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: Case 4 centers on Amanda’s backstory, which is retold through a flashback using the Stand Caravan Palace.
• Uplifted Animal: The pigeon is much smarter than a normal street pigeon.
• Villainous Legacy: The plot of Mask Den is heavily influenced by DIO Brando’s legacy, as many characters are either haunted by his influence or still seek to fulfill his original goals.
• True Companions: The members of Informer Co grow into this, even if Brienne was originally manipulating them. All of the investigators have a mutual respect for each other and trust each other, and by the end, are willing to quit their jobs if they aren’t allowed to stay as a team.
• Was It All a Lie?: In Case 18, it is revealed that Brienne created Informer Co as a front to hold Amanda in place and lure the followers of DIO to them. Amanda asks Brienne if their time together was a lie, and Brienne does not respond.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Brienne. She firmly believes in justice and keeping the world safe. She is willing to lie, manipulate, kill, and betray her teammates if she believes it is for the greater good.
• Wham Episode: In Case 18, it is revealed that Brienne had knowingly manipulated and betrayed Amanda and the rest of the team. This reveal has significant lasting consequences on the team’s dynamic.
• With Great Power Comes Great Perks: Even after Rita acquires her Stand, nothing significant about her day to day life or personality changes.

---