Cassio Montagna

> What's the matter? Aren't you doing what you've told my brother to do all these years? You said it was easy!
>
> Cassio Montagna, taunting his mother as he used Polyphia against her.

###### Character Summary:

*The cool, serious third-in-command of Hitman Team #47, Cassio witness his older twin Francesco die from years of health issues caused by drug abuse, bulimia, and more forms of abuse caused by their mother. He would later use his Stand to kill her and tried to survive in the underground fighting rings before meeting Olio and being recruited into the team. Powerful in his own right, he is also Olio's closest confidant- being one of the only two people to ever see his face behind the mask. His Stand Polyphia represented his desire to turn back time to save his brother, giving him the ability to reverse the flow of whatever he touches. Despite being pedantic and careful of his actions, his dedication to the team and those he deeply care for can be felt through everyone, and his death not only led the team to victory but saved many lives as a result.* * Introduction
* Gallery
* History
* Trivia

## Cassio Montagna

### Namesake

Cassio: Italian for "hollow", in reference to "Othello" character Michael Cassio.Alessandro: Italian variation of Alexander, meaning "warrior". Montagna: Italian surname meaning "mountain".

### Family

Francesco di Aiello (older twin brother, deceased), Unnamed mother (deceased), Unnamed father (unknown, possibly alive)

### Status

Dead

Cassio Montagna is a member of The Hitman Team and a core ally in Fate of Zephyr.

The younger twin brother of Francesco di Aiello, he grew up in his brother's shadows before witnessing and avenging the latter's untimely death by killing their mother. He later worked as a former underground street fighter before joining the team. Cassio is also a mentor figure for Taehyung Pescatore and serves as an unofficial third-in-command for the team before following Giorno and Olio Nero in their mission to bodyguard Gigi Una. He ultimately sacrificed his life to help them identify Father Diavolo, being the first member to join Olio in the mission to defeat the boss.

Cassio is a natural-born Stand user of Polyphia, which he uses to reverse the flow of anything he touches.

## Appearance

Cassio is a young man of average height and has a slim build. He has short wavy blond hair with dark brown roots, revealing that he dyed his hair to be blond, that he wears loosely as a short mullet and sports a pair of simple studded black earrings. Cassio's body is covered in black tattoos from his neck to his hands and feet, and he sports a slight gap between his two upper front teeth like his brother.

As a fan of luxury custom items, Cassio wears a custom made silk button up that he commissioned to create from Gucci. The shirt is buttoned half-way to reveal a simple golden pendant necklace and some of his chest tattoos, and the design consisted of various flora in shades of red and other warmer tones, which also matches with his shoes. Like his brother, the pendant necklace with the letter C, although it is much smaller than the former. Cassio wears simple bright yellow slacks, matching Prosciutto's inner shirt, and no-show black socks, which can be seen when his shoe was removed as he was dodging an attack from Angello. Occasionally, his shirt is rolled up messily, revealing his arm tattoos. He is also shown with black painted nails cut short.

Cassio looked identical to his twin brother when they were younger and had full blond hair. They would begin to look different as years of overworking and drug abuse eventually got the best of Francesco's health and appearance while Cassio was able to develop without his health being as compromised. Cassio ended up being taller than his brother as a result and his hair eventually developed into being brown.

It is believed that Cassio covers himself in tattoos to hide scars he received from his experience as a street fighter. Prior to his time with the team, Cassio was more muscular and often fought shirtless and wearing plain black joggers and matching sneakers. He often wore brass knuckles around his fingers. Prior to joining the team, he kept his hair short to avoid opponents from grabbing him by the hair, and only started growing it when he was accepted into the Hitman Team. When not fighting, he wears a matching black hoodie over his body.

## Personality

Similar to Olio, Cassio presents himself as a serious, cold man who prioritizes the completion of a mission above all else, and avoids showing signs of stress or panic when the situation is against his favor. However, he is also known to have a dry sense of humor, which often takes his team by surprise even today, and will act nonchalant outside of work when he is around Olio and Zura.

Compared to Olio and Zura, he is considered to be the most composed and level-headed. With a competitively sharp memory compared to Olio, Cassio often uses it to keep track of tasks that need to be performed and follows them specifically, preferring step-by-step processes over seeing the big picture due to childhood experiences. As a result, he becomes irritated and annoyed when plans do not go as expected, as seen when he angrily yelled at Anita Cicchetti for going after Olio even though it was planned that only Olio would go in. Preferring step-by-step processes means that also only does what needs to be done- finding any changes to his plans as a hindrance to him.

However, Cassio is also as violent and sadistic when it came to taunting those he believed deserved to be insulted.

ISFP: Pragmatic, Observant, Aloof, Practical, Prepared, Cool

## Abilities

### Stand

Polyphia is a short-ranged Stand who's main ability involves reversing the flow of an object's placement or state as well as creating a hallucinogenic mist that appears if Cassio is rendered unconscious or too injured to fight and causes anyone who inhales it to hallucinate into madness. The latter's level of madness depends on the victim's intuition.

Because of its ability to reverse, it can also be used to recollect evidence supposedly destroyed or moved, so long as the remains are intact enough for Cassio to predict the general sense of what it should have been; a blank torn piece of paper would be more difficult to decipher than a broken window that is still standing. The complexity of the flow can also affect energy, as it can be draining to Cassio if the original placement goes back years, is a complex system of mechanics, or an object is already disintegrated into dust.

### Street Fighting Experience

Cassio was trained in MMA and boxing after his encounter with a fighting gym prior to his brother's death. Experiences in underground street fighting rings helped him develop his skills to incorporate other fighting styles like Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well as incorporate illegal moves. As a result, Cassio is also experienced in self-defense, able to disarm opponents when necessary in order to gain the upper hand.

His preferred weaponry is brass knuckles that was gifted to him by his first mentor but he prefers to fight with no weapons at all.

## References

* "40 Oz" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3o-l1LVNgw
* "OD" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHcAi2FPrTM
* Tim Henson's interview on Guitar Villains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g\_tDsiGDhLE

Tim Henson's appearance used as inspiration for Cassio's appearance.Tim Henson during his "Blonde Era" used as inspiration for Cassio's hair and in reference to Prosciutto.
## Site Navigation

Template:Characters
Template:The Hitman Team

 Cassio Montagna/Gallery

 Cassio Montagna was born Cassio Alessandro di Aiello and identifies himself as Italian.

## Life Before Passione

Cassio was the younger identical twin of Francesco di Aiello. They were raised by their single mother, a former actor forced into retirement upon revealing her pregnancy, after their father last minute left the family before they were born, but both brothers experienced neglect in the early stages of their lives. The mother spent much of their early life living a partying lifestyle, often leaving the two at home with minimal care, leading to Francesco to take up the role as caregiver for his brother. It wasn't until the two of them turned five that their mother began taking notice of the older brother. Despite being identical, their mother began doting on the older more after an encounter with a talent agent suggested both could become movie stars and have the potential to make it in the industry. The mother believed that Francesco had the better potential due to his notably more "mature" personality, a behavior developed from the neglect forcing the older one to care for the younger one, and began Francesco's career as a child actor in order to live vicariously through him. This caused Cassio to be further neglected and separated from his brother, initially building a growing rift between the brothers where Cassio felt resentful of Francesco's supposed abandonment.

The effects of Francesco's career eventually made the two brothers look and act completely different. Cassio's neglect led him to interact with many vagrant children and local criminals who taught him street smarts as his family constantly moved around for Francesco's career and to avoid eviction. Between these moves, Cassio found himself earning extra money as a janitor and messenger boy for local fighting gyms, oftentimes using his "cute face and personality" to be hired by these places and stay away from home longer. Working there led him to learn the ropes of MMA and boxing, which he also used to let out his frustrations of his life. He eventually got himself into children competitions, winning prize money and awards so he could care for himself. Neither his brother and mother were aware of his activities outside of home, as the latter barely cared.

Despite the initial resentment, Cassio eventually learned the truth about Francesco's constant absence and behavior, as Cassio learned of the forced drug intake and harsh working condition his brother had to endure for their mother's fantasy. Cassio continued to work harder, saving money in order to help his brother run away, while not aware of Francesco doing the same with the little money he can salvage after his mother took much of his earnings to feed her wants. Because Cassio is able to earn and retain more money than his brother, he oftentimes tries to use it to secretly buy and feed his brother extra food. The two separately tried to reach out to services and law enforcement but found no success after a few attempts; Francesco eventually told him to stop the pursuit- as it would mean further abuse from their mother and the high possibility of the two becoming separated if they were ultimately saved from her. Unbeknownst to Cassio, Francesco had some evidence that he secretly stashed away in case they were needed; the latter believed the evidence, however, may not be enough to free them from their mother's custody. People that they had tried tor each out to ended up being bribed to discredit the brothers or claim there is no evidence of abuse.

## Death of Family and Street Fighting

Cassio woke up to his brother dead from an accidental drug overdose and years of malnutrition finally taking its toll on his body. The coroner's office ruled it as a self-inflicted suicide but Cassio quickly knew that the inspectors and law-enforcers were bribed by his mother to cover up her contribution to it. Rather than privately mourn Francesco's death, their mother invested herself into a large PR tour that painted her has a grieving parent who's child was a victim of drug abuse and eating disorders. The funeral was made public, against Cassio's wishes, and the media was made to believe that Francesco's death was caused by his inability to fight addiction rather than his mother's years of abuse. Francesco became a poster child for drug abuse in the child acting world and the life insurance that was under his name was given completely to their mother. At the same time, their mother showed no remorse or grief behind the scenes and continued her lavish partying lifestyle. It was clear that his mother considered Francesco nonexistent after he no longer could be used by her.

Cassio discovered his Stand Polyphia several days after his brother's death when he noticed a knocked down vase that his mother loved. When trying to pick up the pieces, he was shocked to find it reassemble itself and placed back on the shelf where it initially fell from; his Stand's actual appearance initially frightened him but he eventually accepted after realizing it wasn't going to hurt him. He attempted to do the same with other objects around the house he deliberately broke and found that touching a street cat caused it to walk back to the trashcan it came out of; he noted it done against the cat's will and realized that his reversal ability aligns more with movement than time. He also found out that he was able to un-lodge a piece of candy that was caught on his throat when he was home alone and decided to use his Stand against his mother in revenge. While eating dinner with her, he used his power to reverse the flow of her digestive system so that she could throw up all her food and eventually stomach acid. Because of the Stand's ability, Cassio discovered that the stomach acid continued to replenish itself despite his mother vomiting, and used it to taunt her and claim what he was doing was exactly what she forced Francesco to endure; whether this was in reference to Francesco's own death or his practice of purging is unknown. The ability eventually caused him to pass out from exhaustion due to its excessive energy use and he wake up to his mother dead from heart arrhythmias caused by constant vomiting.

Upon seeing his mother now dead, Cassio packed up whatever he could and ran away from home. He eventually heard that the coroner's office ruled her death as food poisoning. While homeless, Cassio began working in the underground street fighting venues before he was given a chance to fight for money. He became a known fighter in his community, rising in the ranks and reputation, and not only earned enough money to buy his own place and live more comfortably but gained connections within the mafia world. Many crime syndicates approached him with offers to join their teams as a fighter in exchange for a more stable income and protection, but Cassio refused. It was through the underground fighting ring that he eventually met Olio Nero.

## Joining Olio's Team

Olio encountered Cassio at a fighting ring event, wanting to talk to the other, but was refused due to Cassio's personal policy of not wanting to get involved in anything besides underground fighting for himself. Rather than give up, Olio decided to enter his own name into the tournament and fight off against Cassio. He quickly realized the other was able to win fights by using his Stand, which Olio could see as a Stand user, to reverse his or his opponent's throws last minute. This would cause his opponent to become too open to defend themselves and therefore allow Cassio to land a hard hit without issue. Olio quickly took advantage of this and timed himself to get into defense every time Cassio reversed his own punches. This led to him becoming exhausted from using his Stand more than usual, making him too tired to properly go on the defense, and Olio was able to beat him as a result. He wins the competition and gained the reward for it, causing Cassio's winning streak to finally break after several months of victories.

When Cassio was recovering in the makeshift locker room and preparing for his next potential fight, Olio managed to bribe everyone but him and Cassio to leave the room and not let anyone else in. Cassio was caught off guard when he realized he was alone with his defeater and when Olio approached him with the stack of money from winning their fight. The other hesitantly takes it after going back and forth with him for a few minutes. The two of them engaged in small talk, with Cassio telling Olio how he got into underground fighting- albeit not mentioning anything about his family- and Olio talked about how his cousin's death led him to become a mafioso. It was then revealed that Olio, similar to how he encountered Zura, wanted to meet with Cassio because he wanted to talk about the case surrounding his brother and mother. Olio took out a large file from a suitcase he was carrying to reveal the evidence Francesco had saved regarding his mother. It was revealed that Olio was sent to investigate Cassio's mother's death due to her being a recent partner of a high-ranking mafioso that was collaborating with Passione and wanted to determine whether her death had any connection to the latter. Olio gave the file to Cassio, thinking that he would need it more than him, now that the investigation was over, and the former came to visit the latter. However, because Cassio refuses to talk to anyone, especially if they are trying to recruit him into anything, Olio was prepared to fight him in order to gain a private audience.

Cassio, believing that he deserved to tell Olio since the latter had defeated him despite using his Stand and interested in what Olio was trying to get out of him, reveals why he killed his mother and how he did it as revenge for her treatment against Francesco. He then tells Olio that he did not do it as a means of getting contact with the mafioso but doesn't mind getting killed to appease the "higher-ups" and states he has nothing to live for now. Cassio then asked the other man about his abilities, which Olio then explained was Cassio's Stand. When Olio explained what his own Stand was and how he used it to help him win their brawl, Cassio became suspicious about what Olio's other intentions were besides giving him memorabilia. Olio eventually told the other that he was looking to recruit people into his team and admired Cassio's sense of justice and use of his Stand to do so. Olio offers a position as a means of also protecting him from the mafioso associated with his mother, which Cassio accepts, saying he had to join since Olio beat him in the fight. Despite Olio saying that he wanted Cassio to join on his free will, Cassio decided to join anyway and left his fighting career immediately.

Cassio was placed as third-in-command ofThe Hitman Team and became known as a close-confidant to Olio. When Taehyung Pescatore was found by him and Zura Grattachecca, he volunteered to be a mentor to him; Taehyung, for some reason, reminded him of Francesco.

## Death

Before Cassio died, he found himself standing in front of a modern mansion's gate after getting off a bus. Upon entering the open door, he walks himself to the backyard where a mysterious man is standing near a clear pool underneath an outdoor umbrella. Cassio commented on the house and asked what steps he took to get rich enough to afford it. The man responded by saying that he had no direction, and that it all fell into place. Cassio disagrees with him, saying that things that are done in the present greatly affects the future, and that there should have been some way that the man afforded such a place. The man simply laughed, saying that what's better is looking at the big picture than the details, and to live with no regrets. Cassio only scoffs, saying how he used to believe in such things before his brother's death, and mentions how he wished he knew all the details so that he could have saved him. The man, however, revealed that Cassio still thinks in the big picture, mentioning how Cassio was the one to come up with reassembling the photo. Remembering what he had to do, Cassio tried to dismiss himself and asked when the bus he arrived from will return. However, the man reveals that the bus will never come back to get him, as it was the same bus that got himself here. That moment, Cassio realized he had passed away and then realized the man he was talking to was his brother Francesco. The two of them mentioned how the other looked unrecognizeable; Cassio mentioning how Francesco looked healthier and happier while Francesco pointed out Cassio's tattoos and rugged appearance. Cassio began to cry and apologized to his brother for not saving him sooner, but Francesco tells him that it wasn't his fault. Before the two looked above from the sky to watch Olio and the rest of the team depart, Francesco tells him that he's done a good job and his efforts will save many lives.

Polyphia's ability is able to reassemble the black-and-white photograph that had Diavolo's face, which Cassio is able to do by staying alive as possible and dying just as he hears his team members approach him. With the photo now in possession, The Hitman Team is able to identify the actual face of the boss, which Gigi Una confirmed to be her father's based on similar facial features. Olio made a call to Hitman Team #36 to retrieve Cassio's body and put it in a safe place until they can retrieve his body again.

## Post-Fate of Zephyr

It is unknown if Cassio had any remaining family that tried to reach out to him. Giorno created a memorial for him, which he visits regularly.

* Cassio's character design is heavily based on Polyphia's guitarist Tim Henson and the band's known persona.
	+ The use of Polyphia as a part of Cassio's character and its association with Prosciutto stems from the music video "40oz", which four elderly women are seen playing instruments in place of the band members.
	+ Cassio's ability to reverse flow works as a foil for Prosciutto's ability to age others; while Prosciutto's ability takes items "forward", Cassio's takes items "backwards".
* Compared to other original characters in the Hitman Team, there is no significant character reasoning behind Cassio's name being chosen. The name is famously known in the play *Othello*, where the character Michael Cassio is described as young, good-looking, and flirtatious lieutenant, but the fact was only known after the name was chosen.
	+ In the play, Cassio is accused of sleeping with the titular Othello's wife in order for the antagonist Iago to take Cassio's newly promoted position. However, Cassio is the one who ultimately chosen as Othello's successor and punishes Iago for his crimes.
	+ Cassio is also described to be naïve and innocent as a child, trusting others without being aware of their intentions, and his character traits is what causes Othello to meet his demise.
* Cassio likes smoking Malboro Regular cigarettes, or any Malboro brand, due to it being the most readily gifted to him when he was a street fighter. However, he is willing to smoke any brand if it is available.
* According to the team's documentation, Cassio's code name is Ulivo, which is Italian for "olive". Olives themselves are revered and symbolize wisdom, fertility, power, and purity in various cultures.
	+ According to Roman civil engineer Vitruvius, charred olive wood are best for tying together walls and foundation due to its longevity and durability. Olio considers Cassio to be his foundation to keep him grounded and Taehyung often talked about how his mentor is strong both mentally and physically.
	+ Olives, and olive oil especially, hold significance in Italian culture, as both are not only is used in various Italian dishes but olive oil is especially used in Roman Catholic ceremonies throughout history and even today.
	+ The spelling of "olive" used is not meant as a reference to the Italian center-left political parties known collectively as "The Olive Tree", or L'Ulivo. The alternative spelling of olive is "oliva", which would have been too feminine to Cassio's liking.

## Notes from the Author

Cassio was an interesting character to start with. I knew I wanted to create a Polyphia-based Stand user before creating the series as a gift to my significant other at the time. It was slightly difficult, given how Polyphia subverts the expectations of how rock bands would display themselves- think dripping in Gucci while holding little white dogs but making it look like grandmothers are shredding on guitars- and I initially didn't think having a character to reference Prosciutto would make sense because of that; Prosciutto himself is a serious man. However, hearing The Grateful Dead's music and its use of fusing genres to create an eclectic style heavily reminded me of Polyphia's own style, especially with their albums *New Levels New Devils* and *The Most Hated*. I started to dig deeper into the music videos of Polyphia to figure out what kind of power someone with such a Stand could have, even watching Tim Henson's videos explaining how he made his tracks, when I stumbled upon the music video for "O.D.". The last part of the video showed items being destroyed but then put into reverse, and I thought, "why not make a Stand out of that?". That was part of why I initially had the Stand only called New Levels New Devils, but then decided to incorporate all of Polyphia instead after hearing their *Renaissance* album. Plus, the music video for "40oz" kind of sealed the deal to make Cassio be the stand in for Prosciutto.

The GOAT ability came from nowhere, and I had to use it to reference the silliness the band has but also thought it would be funny to show Cassio with a bunch of goats everywhere. I think maybe in his childhood he had some sort of experience with a goat in a petting zoo that stuck with him and that's why you hallucinate goats when GOAT is activated. Cassio probably finds that effect embarassing, but he doesn't take it for granted; that probably saved his life more times than he thought it would.

Cassio was originally just Prosciutto's younger half-brother. In the original backstory for Prosciutto where he lives long enough to be found by his team, Prosciutto kills his mother in front of his younger brother, who basically tells his brother to get away from him after witnessing what Prosciutto did. But I felt like it would have been way more powerful and sad if they were identical brothers to show the effects of drug abuse, emotional abuse, and how it can affect a person compared to someone who is genetically like them but unaffected. There's a brotherhood these two shared, and I felt like it would be really felt if they were twins instead. So, I altered it, thinking that Taehyung would be the older brother to Pesci and Cassio would be the younger one. It would make their "reunion" when Cassio died more significant when you see how the two brothers had differ and what could have happened if Prosciutto didn't die. I like to think that Cassio and Olio had the conversation with themselves where they wonder what would have happened if they died and their loved one continued to live on; would their loved on (Prosciutto and Risotto) end up being mafiosos like them? Proceed to both of them thinking such a scenario is silly. And then maybe the original Prosciutto and Risotto have thought of the same thing too!

I knew that with a Polyphia Stand user, I had to make the user look like Tim Henson. He stands out in terms of appearances due to being the band's frontman but also having a very feminine, rather soft, appearance contrasted with his attitude and multiple tattoos. Fun fact, which I found out after making Cassio, Tim Henson is actually biracial- half White and half Chinese! Tim's one of those people that look like an anime character in real life, and he's an anime lover himself, so I wanted to have Cassio match that. I did the same thing for Zura too; the both of them have artists that just look like anime characters. It's not even funny. Cassio's style eeply contrasts Prosciutto's more up-tight, prim and proper appearance with his suit and tied back hair. Cassio is just wearing a messy mullet with tattoos going down his arms and neck, smoking as if he doesn't have any lungs, and almost saying "fuck you" to gender roles. He's more up in your face with the luxury, with his shirt being straight up custom Gucci and wearing expensive jewelry to match, compared to Prosciutto's more "wealth whispers" approach. Both still look hella tired and rugged from years of trauma and experience though, but both look like they match with each other despite seemingly clashing.

Despite not looking like a stereotypical mafioso, despite not looking like his brother Prosciutto, he still can command the room and has a formidable Stand to back him up. That's what I really like about Cassio. He's a character that entices you without even doing much enticing himself. I think that's what makes him a good candidate for being third-in-command; where you have two strong personalities leading, it's best to balance it out with a calmer, simpler one, and that's what Cassio represents. In a way, he's like ATLA's Toph, but much more chill. He has his moments where he does show off a stronger personality and deeper characterization, but it's not just because. I didn't want him to be a copy-paste of his brother, so I hope that I was able to do that when writing and creating his character.