A HunterXHunter Fanfic (Part XII)

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII
Part IX
Part X
Part XI

September 4th, YorkNew City, 10:01PM

Killua struggled fruitlessly against Machi's iron grip, knowing he was hopelessly outclassed as the eyes of the Spiders adjusted to the darkness.
“Too bad,” said Nobunaga approvingly, “Well, it was a good shot, anyhow.” Something whizzed across the darkened lobby, lodging itself in the marble column just behind Nobunaga's head as he dodged. “It came from the entrance?” he muttered, looking up even though he knew the thrower would have already vanished.
“Oh!” said Shizuku, “The guy with the portable radio was working with them!” She moved to search for Leorio, forgetting that she was forbidden from acting alone.
“Wait! Shizuku!” Nobunaga barked, remembering that they were forbidden from acting alone. “We don't need that guy, we only need these two! Our eyes will adjust in a minute.”
“True,” said Shizuku, “Ah, by the way, Boss, what was Saisho yelling about just n- wait, where is Saisho?” She looked around, turning her whole head side to side like a golden retriever in search of a tennis ball. Lightning crashed for a split second outside, just long enough to show the Spiders short one member. Chrollo was kneeling on the floor, his face one of utter disbelief. In his hand, Nijiiro's black kidskin glove was gripped very tightly, the leather complaining ever so slightly under Chrollo's white knuckles. He was staring out of the entrance intently, insensible to the confusion and darkness around him. Killua saw him mouth a single word: wait. Wait, it said, this isn't right. Nijiiro was gone, and Gon and Killua looked at each other triumphantly. Kurapika had done it. Nobunaga looked at the note tied around Leorio's knife and quickly put two and two together.
“Paku, you okay?” Machi asked mildly, several of her ribs broken and painfully restricting her breath. Machi really wanted to complain about her own pain, but also needed the others to think she was too tough to complain about such things.
“I've got a broken left wrist, and they got a few molars,” Paku replied. In reality, she also had a cracked jaw and a mild concussion, but Pakunoda had a surprisingly high pain tolerance for an information type. “But first I have to figure out what these kids know about what just happened, as fast as possible. Now...to ask the right question...”
“Paku! Wait! This note...is for you,” Nobunaga said, reading the note by the firelight of a brass cigarette lighter. Paku took the crumpled page Nobunaga handed her. Share their memories and I kill the hostage, it said. It was a hostage situation, then. But what should she do? Following the instructions on the note would mean she could be playing into the hands of the chain-user who killed Uvo. More importantly, what would the boss want her to do? She was sure Chrollo would never permit the other members to risk their lives if he were a hostage...but what of Nijiiro? Paku knew better than anyone how seriously Chrollo considered Nijiiro's safety, taking the burden of her safekeeping entirely on himself in his jealous paranoia. The fact that the chain-user, or rather, Kurapika, had left a note that implied the he would be contacting them again. Kurapika would only do that if two things were both true; one, that he wanted to make an exchange, and two, that these two boys were close to him
and therefore valuable hostages to the Spiders. It was entirely possible, nay, probable, that these two had vital knowledge about the chain-user, and his plans, somewhere in their memories, and she could extract the information key to destroying him from the hostages. But then again, Paku had always held a tacit understanding that it was Nijiiro, the original Spider, who was chiefly to be protected when Chrollo said “the Spider must survive above all else.” As the who who most often guarded Chrollo, Paku was privy to far more information from within the Ryodan than the others. She knew the organization leaned heavily on Nijiiro's insights, to the point where one could claim that the Gennei Ryodan itself was threatened with the potential loss of Nijiiro. Of course, Phinks, Feitan, and Machi, the Ryodan's main fighters, would never see it that way, taking a more figurative interpretation of the 'Spider' in Chrollo's directive, but...Chrollo could order them to go against their beliefs, if he truly wanted to, right? Or could he? Which was right? Paku tried to reason it through. 'Chrollo will try to deal with this on his own, which means...if the chain-user wants to double-cross us, the Boss will likely be the first to die, perhaps before the Spider loses half its legs? That's right, what else was in the prophecy that the Boss gave me? 'On a day with very little light/You will face two choices within a small room/ You must choose between pride and betrayal/While the Death-Bringer hovers near...But which is which? Prioritizing the founder above the others, potentially losing half our limbs? Sacrificing Nijiiro to protect the others, perhaps even against the Boss' orders? There are still at least twelve of us alive at this very moment. Killing the chain-user would be easy, if I were to read their memories now, and learn his weaknesses. But the Boss...
“Paku... Paku! Hey!” Nobunaga snapped, bringing Paku's attention back to reality. “Don't say anything for now. Leave it to the Boss.” Paku nodded, but looked at the Boss with obvious worry. How would he balance the lives of the Spiders against their founder? Paku remembered the prophecy foretelling her death. Did she perhaps already know the answer to her question?
Chrollo still hadn't moved from where had landed after Nijiiro took his place in the kidnapping. He couldn't recall her ever physically moving, much less shoving, him before. Had she always been that strong? He was almost ten meters from where he'd been standing when the chain-user launched the attack. He pressed her glove to his forehead. He could feel a kind of agony building deep in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that only existed where Nijiiro was concerned. But for the first time, it wasn't Nijiiro herself who lay at the center of it. This chain-user...would have to pay dearly for his transgressions. Chrollo stood languorously, as though he were underwater, and continued to brood while Nobunaga reoriented himself and the others for a hostage situation.
“I'll take that one,” Nobunaga said, gesturing to Killua. “The attacker bothered to leave a message, which means he'll contact us again. On the other hand, it also means that these two...are valuable as hostages.” He drew his mobile out and dialed Phinks' mobile phone nervously. “Phinks! Get over here, now! The founder's been captured!” His jaw tightened as he heard Phinks' reply, which contained a high proportion of loud, unintelligible cursing to actual vocabulary.
“Paku...” Machi said, moving to stand beside Paku, but looking at Chrollo uncertainly, “don't worry too much about it yet. We'll figure out our next move once Phinks and the others get here.” Machi didn't like this one bit. The last thing she wanted to see was the Boss' pained expression as he worried about Nijiiro, of all people. But... if Nijiiro were to become a noble sacrifice, made to the Spider itself, who was Machi to complain?
Fourteen minutes after the hotel's lights had come back on, Phinks, Feitan, and Shalnark strolled through the gilded double-doors of the lobby with hostile expressions suitable to the gravitas of the Spiders' predicament. The first thing Phinks felt, striding quickly through the lobby to the others, was a kind of chill in the air. He felt Chrollo's aura first, before actually recognizing Chrollo himself, and for a very good reason; Chrollo's aura seemed to be bending the air around him, sucking the light and heat out of everything near him in a frigid mist of rage. The situation was nearing critical mass, and Phinks didn't even have anything to punch. Things must be bad.
As Chrollo's aura became increasingly ominous, hotel guests began clearing out of the lobby as if fleeing a particularly violent poltergeist. The receptionists turned up the heat, and rubbed their hands together or found excuses to leave the reception desk. Phinks made a rare wise decision to grill Nobunaga before asking the Boss for orders.
“Explain what happened,” Phinks said, staring down at Nobunaga. Nobunaga ignored Phinks' usual posturing, and tried to get straight to the point without saying Nijiiro's name out loud.
“The lights went out. We couldn't see. N- uh, the Saisho was taken in that instant. We...underestimated them,” Nobunaga finished lamely, with a furtive glance at the Boss. He would kill to know exactly what was going through the Boss' mind, or rather, to know when exactly he should get out of the way. Chrollo had such a polite and deliberate manner, it was easy to forget that his anger could raze concrete fortresses.
“Why didn't you pursue immediately?” Phinks said. Why didn't the Boss pursue immediately, was the better question, but Phinks didn't exactly have the cajones to question Chrollo in his current state.
“Paku and Machi got several injuries. And our hostages could've escaped,” Nobunaga explained defensively. Shizuku, who still held Gon by his ankles obediently, lifted her captive a little higher in case Phinks didn't know who Nobunaga was talking about.
“Here's the message from the chain-user,” Kortopi offered, holding Kurapika's note out to the frustrated Phinks. Phinks read it in a glance, and looked at Pakunoda. He certainly didn't envy her position in all of this. The note was clearly directed at her, and so too the onus of remaining silent or risking Nijiiro's life to defeat the chain-user who killed Uvo. Phinks himself was certain that the only real solution was to hunt, and then painfully kill, the chain-user as soon as possible. The other Spiders, however, might not be able to see it as cut-and-dried as Phinks did, especially... He turned his head to where Chrollo stood glaring through the walls of the lobby and out into the nighttime of YorkNew City. Phinks, who had always held Chrollo as a sort of beloved older brother figure, deeply regretted the dilemma his Boss faced, but knew that while risking Nijiiro's life was the right move, Chrollo would probably never be able to bring himself to give the order. Paku seemed hesitant to do anything decisive, as well. Which meant it would be up to Feitan and himself to make the right move.
“But why didn't you tail him?” Feitan asked.
“Paku and Machi were both injured,” Nobunaga repeated, as if Feitan could've understood the concept of personal injury in general.
“And?” Feitan answered flippantly, narrowing his already slender eyes.
“He has allies who are pro Hunters,” said Nobunaga, wishing for the first time that Feitan had a better grasp on human emotion. He could feel waves of energy rolling off of Chrollo's aura that made standing in the lobby akin to standing next to a battery the size of the hotel itself.
“So?” Feitan replied.
“Read between the lines, damn it! It means we can use these kids as hostages! If we give chase and they escape, it's over! Saisho has probably been caught in those chains the even Uvo couldn't break! She probably can't just escape on her own!” Nobunaga exclaimed, delicacy be damned. The Saisho had to be protected, or their reputation as Spiders was less than trash, it was as simple as that. It occurred to Nobunaga that not every Spider appreciated her style, but that was neither here nor there when it came to enemies outside of the Ryodan. Besides, Uvo had always given Saisho his unequivocal support, and somewhere along the line, Nobunaga had come to feel the same way.
“Probably?” Feitan asked suspiciously, wondering if any of the Spiders in front of him had been affected in the way that Hisoka had admitted to earlier that evening. It was certainly possible. Perhaps they were still being controlled? Powerful Nen users being controlled by the enemy were enemies themselves.
“I told you! The lights went out! By the time our eyes adjusted, Saisho was gone. We weren't in any condition to give chase!” Nobunaga shouted.
“O-okay, okay, we can debate that later,” Shalnark said, stepping in before Feitan could begin bringing accusations. “For now, we need a plan.” 'And it looks like we won't be getting one from the Boss' he added in his head. Shalnark was utterly terrified of the Spiders' one and only Nijiiro, but somehow, that was exactly why he was averse to risking her life just to sate the machismo dripping off of Phinks and Feitan. Nijiiro would likely fare better than most as a hostage. If they pursued recklessly, and she died, that would also be terrible, but if she didn't... Shalnark had every confidence that Nijiiro would find the idiots who had forsaken her safety and put them in the deepest, darkest holes she could find - permanently. And even if she didn't, Chrollo might. He did tend to take her well-being very seriously, from what Shal could tell. It was then that Phinks' phone began to ring.
“It's Saisho,” said Phinks, a little hesitantly. His caller ID clearly said “Saisho”, but he could not remember having ever programmed such a number into his contacts. He picked up the call.
“Hello?” Phinks said.
“My demands are threefold. The general rule is that my demands are absolute. If you don't obey, I will kill your founder. The first is that you do not attempt to follow me. The second, is that you will not harm the two hostages in any way. The third, is that you will put the woman named Pakunoda on the phone,” said a voice, far too confident to be speaking to Phinks of the Gennei Ryodan. He sounded like a bratty little girl.
“Before that, can I ask you one thing? It's about the second demand...The hostages put up a struggle, and so we had to break a few bones...” Phinks said, smiling at Gon and Killua. The friends of the chain bastard would have to suffice until Phinks could get his hands on the real thing.
“Then we're done negotiating.” Kurapika said briskly, ending the call. Phinks dialed back the number immediately, an exaggerated sort of dismay in his expression that would have made Nijiiro laugh uncontrollably had she been there to see it.
“Sorry. That was a lie. The hostages are fine,” Phinks admitted as soon as Kurapika answered.
“This is your final warning. Do not fool around, or I will kill your founder. Put Pakunoda on the phone, now,” Kurapika commanded. Phinks handed the phone off to Pakunoda, as Nobunaga and Machi enthusiastically clocked him over the head for his stupidity. Pakunoda glanced at the Boss before answering. Chrollo had not moved or spoken in at least fifteen minutes. Paku decided to play along with the chain-user's demands until the Boss told her otherwise.
“Hello?” Paku said hesitantly.
“You're the only one permitted to hear what I am about to say. Move away from the others,” Kurapika said. Paku shook her head at Feitan, who was straining to hear the phone conversation from Paku's right side. She would comply, until he asked her to do something impossible or Chrollo intervened. Pakunoda strode up one flight of stairs and stood on the mezzanine, making sure that she and the others could see each other clearly.
“...Have you made contact with a man named Squalla?” Kurapika continued, unfazed or doing a very good impression of it.
“Yeah,” Paku replied.
“Then you know of a woman named Senritsu, too?”
“...Yeah...”
“Then I can make this brief. Listen carefully to what I say. You are forbidden from communicating with the others. No using Nen. No talking, writing, signaling, gesturing, or making eye contact. None of that is allowed. Understood?”
“I understa- Danchou, wait!” Paku stammered, as Chrollo simply appeared beside her, taking Paku's hand and the phone it contained, and forcefully took the call from her. Paku and Chrollo were standing in front of the others as he spoke, even though less than a second before he had been next to her on the mezzanine. Chrollo looked the phone with a look that might have set it on fire before putting the receiver to his ear.
“What is it that you want?” asked Chrollo. His face and aura being unobservable over the phone, one listening could have said he sounded calm. Too calm.
“Hand the phone back to Pakunoda, and move away,” Kurapika ordered.
“No.” The single syllable held a world of power.
“The offer I am prepared to make is heavily predicated on your ability to adhere to my demands without question,” Kurapika's voice explained briskly, “ I have your found-”
“You have my wife,” Chrollo said, not as calmly. Killua's eyes widened. Gon and Killua looked at each other. 'Those two are married?!' Killua panicked silently. He and Gon had both sort of tacitly assumed that Nijiiro's confident swagger was that of a single woman, but with this revelation much of what they'd observed yesterday made a lot more sense. What remained to be seen was whether Kurapika had received a stroke of luck or an absolute disaster.
“...In any case, you should understand that we are now on equal footing. The penalty for further insolence is singular: our negotiations are over. My demands-” Kurapika said slowly, desperately trying to retain his air of confidence.
“What are your demands? I have no desire to repeat myself in this manner.” Chrollo said brusquely, cutting over Kurapika for a second time.
“Pakunoda will-”
“Pakunoda will remain with the Ryodan,” Chrollo stated flatly. “Whatever impetration you intend to make, will be made to me. I alone will take responsibility. Consider this a demand, if you will, because it is not negotiable. And as the leader of the Gennei Ryodan, my cooperation is of more value to you, is it not? It is far better for both of us this way. So state your demands.” Pakunoda watched Chrollo carefully, but could not see so much as a hint at what she or the others should do. Obviously, he believed there was already some way they should know what to do. Or was he simply keen to take Nijiiro's place in the fire?
“...Very well, under the prerequisite that Pakunoda adheres to the commands I have already given her, I will accept your involvement...for now. You will not speak to or communicate with any other member of the Ryodan. You must come alone, to the place I designate. If your heart rate changes, even in the slightest, I will kill the hostage. Now give the phone to some one besides Pakunoda,” Kurapika said, his blood pressure on the rise. Chrollo complied, handing the phone to Nobunaga, who happened to be standing the closest to him. Feitan frowned at the phone even harder than he frowned at everything else, and he exchanged glances with Phinks. The Boss was being awfully cautious with this chain bastard.
“Here,” said Nobunaga.
“I'll be meeting with your leader, alone. The rest of the Ryodan must return to your hideout immediately. All remaining members must be there. If even one is missing, at any point, I will kill the hostage. If any of you attempt to use Nen, I will kill the hostage. Understood?” Kurapika said assertively.
“Yeah,” Nobunaga grunted. He was getting tired of this Kurapika. Very tired. And if the bastard had taken anyone but the founder, Nobunaga reckoned he would be willing to hound after him, hostages be damned. But the Boss had right to deal with him on a personal level, even more than Nobunaga himself. '...Uvo was my best friend, but Nijiiro is the Boss' wife...That's...on a different level, right?...' Nobunaga thought. He could hunt the chain-user down once Nijiiro was safe.
“Give the phone back to your leader,” Kurapika said. Nobunaga handed the phone back to Chrollo, who didn't bother making eye contact.
“Speaking,” said Chrollo. Machi was startled to see that Chrollo had begun walking away from the rest of the Spiders, towards the double doors of the hotel lobby. He hung up the phone, walked calmly through the right-hand door, and then took off running so quickly Machi barely caught his silhouette as it shot across the busy street and disappeared into the stormy city night. Phinks and Feitan, followed by Machi, strolled after Chrollo, much to the horror of Shalnark and Nobunaga.
“Wait!” Nobunaga yelled after them. They turned back to him, surprised. “Didn't you hear him?The Boss is going to meet with the chain-user alone. The rest of us are to go back to the hideout. Orders from the chain-user.”
“What's your point?” Phinks said, genuinely confused.
“If we disobey, he'll kill the Saisho!” Nobunaga snapped, unsure how Phinks and the others could fail to understand the point of a hostage situation.
“Are you an idiot?” Phinks asked, eyeing Nobunaga with concern, “If he does that, we kill those two, and the chain-user, and that will be the end of it.”
“It's what Saisho would expect of us,” Feitan added, and on any other day he might've been right. “Nobunaga...your cowardly way of thinking is an insult to the Spider.”
“We've got to follow the Boss now,” Machi chimed in, “killing the chain-user is more important than following his orders.”
“The Boss said he would deal with this himself!” Nobunaga yelled. What few hotel patrons remained in the lobby looked around for the one who yelled, then quickly decided not to interfere.
“That's what he told the chain-user,” Phinks sneered, “We're going to make sure the chain bastard doesn't try any shady shit, the way he must've done with Uvo. Or have you forgotten?”
“And what about the Saisho's safety?” Shalnark asked, disappointed in his fellow Spiders.
“Tch. As if the Saisho couldn't handle herself,” Feitan spat.
“What?!” Nobunaga howled, not quite believing his ears. “Saisho's been bound by those chains, ones that even Uvo couldn't break. She can't just get away on her own!”
“If anyone can figure a way out of those chains, it's Saisho. And even if she can't, she'll be fine as a hostage,” Phinks declared solemnly. “That girl could talk the honey out of a fuckin' beehive, I'm sure she's shrinking the chain-user's head as we speak.”
“And if she's already been killed,” Machi said quietly, “The sooner we find out, the better, right?”
“And if she hasn't? Can we really be the ones to say whether she should be killed by the chain-user, just to stroke our own egos?” Shalnark said gravely, looking directly at Machi, who glared back at him in defiance.
“If we keep following the chain-user's orders, then the prophecies will come true,” Phinks said, despite having never actually received a prophecy himself. “And what do you think?” he added loudly, turning to Pakunoda as she stood several meters away. Paku merely made a face that implied she had swallowed something very bitter, closed her eyes and looked away from the others. It was answer enough.
“I agree with Nobunaga,” Shizuku offered supportively, “We should continue to follow the chain-user's orders for now.”
“I concur,” added Kortopi.
“For now?” Phinks said quizzically. “How long do we continue to listen to him? Until 'half our limbs' are gone?!”
“Usually when there's a disagreement, we flip a coin,” Shizuku said brightly, missing the fact that there were clearly more than two people at odds this time.
“He's broken the rules,” said Phinks, looking Nobunaga up and down dismissively.
“Still, I'm going with Nobunaga on this. I don't want the Boss to die, but I don't want the Saisho to die either. Besides, the general rule with Saisho, is that she doesn't follow the rules anyway,” Shizuku concluded. Several of the Spiders blinked, realizing that not only was she correct, it was probably the smartest thing Shizuku had ever said aloud.
“I don't believe what I'm hearing,” Phinks said, turning to leave. “Talking to you is pointless. I'd like to kill you right now, but following the Boss comes first.”
“Hold it!” snarled Nobunaga. He gripped his katana and lowered his stance threateningly. “Take one more step...and I will cut you down.”
“Oh? I'd like to see you try,” said Phinks, glancing back at Nobunaga with a malignant grin. The tension would be short-lived, however, as Shizuku used her demonic vacuum cleaner to knock Nobunaga out cold with a single wallop to the back of the skull. It was a strike Nobunaga never saw coming, nor any of the Spiders, for that matter. 'My god, these people are strange,' Killua thought, wincing as Shizuku landed the audible blow on Nobunaga's skull. In his mind's eye, Killua saw Chrollo casually crushing Nijiiro's hand without warning, an act that became even more grim with the understanding that they were actually husband and wife. Could it be...that a ritual far darker was hiding among the bizarre camaraderie of criminals who spent one minute killing for each other and the next trying to kill each other?
“H-hey, weren't you on his side?” Phinks stuttered, surprised to see Shizuku actually commit to an attack against Nobunaga, and far more surprised to see it stick.
“Fighting between members is forbidden. The rules are absolute,” Shizuku said, as one reciting a passage from a textbook, “and when we reject the rules, we reject the Spider. And we also reject the Boss. I don't want to do that.” Shalnark's phone began playing Nijiiro's ringtone, and he made a sound something akin to a Maltese being trod upon by a sumo wrestler. Shalnark cleared his throat and held up the phone.
“It's the chain-user,” Shalnark announced. Phinks took the phone.
“Hell-” Phinks began, almost pleasantly, before Kurapika cut him off.
“Put one of the hostages on the phone,” Kurapika ordered. Phinks' lip curled.
“Here, kid, it's your mama!” Phinks grunted, and held the phone against Killua's ear as roughly as possible.
“Are they all there?” Kurapika asked. Killua could hear the exhaustion in his voice, thinking, 'I guess Kurapika and the Founder of the Gennei Ryodan are a pretty terrible combination, after all. She's probably already gotten under his skin. He's going to have a hard time keeping a lid on his rage around that woman...But Gon and I are pretty much out of options outside of a prisoner exchange. The Spiders, at least some of them, seem to think their Founder is capable of some miraculous escape that the other member wasn't, whereas Gon and I escaping now is a foregone conclusion. The footing is far from equal. Please, recognize that, Kurapika...'
“They are now, but they're talking about going after the leader-” Killua blurted quickly, before Phinks took the phone away again, glaring daggers at Killua.
“Careful what you say, kid. Hello? Y-” Phinks said, preparing to threaten Kurapika with an assortment of painful techniques inflicted on the hostages if the chain-user dared to cut him off just one more time.
“You have thirty minutes to return to your hideout. If you aren't all present at that time, I will kill the hostage,” Kurapika said, cutting Phinks off smoothly before hanging up.
“Fuck!” said Phinks, with considerable passion. He threw the phone back to Shalnark.
“We won't be able to follow the Boss now,” noted Shizuku, in her endless quest to state the obvious.
“Tch,” Feitan scoffed. He was itching to find whomever or whatever had turned half of the Spiders into sentimental ninnies and reduce it down to a painful, bloody pulp. But to reach the hideout in time, they would have to run at top speed for several blocks and catch the next train on the half-hour out to the edge of town, followed by more running. All while hauling two hostages that must not be allowed to escape, and Nobunaga's unconscious dead weight. What a pain.
“Let's go,” Machi glowered at Killua, more tempted than ever to pay him back for her broken ribs. The pain and shortness of breath were beginning to chafe at her, and now she was being forced to run. Not only run, but run back to the hideout with her tail between her legs. She gave Killua a look to melt permafrost. 'I haven't really done anything to you, you know,' thought Killua helplessly as they began to run, Machi's eyes still glaring daggers into Killua's back as they took off for the train station. He sighed. Moving as a group, with injured members, they surprisingly easy to keep pace with.
Aboard the train, Phinks and Machi muttered to one another angrily, while Feitan eyed the sleeping Nobunaga with a mixture of disgust and suspicion. Shalnark, who had been conscripted into carrying Nobunaga, sat silently next to his burden with a worried expression on his usually cheerful face. Pakunoda frowned at the floor, cradling her broken arm against her ample chest. Killua glanced over to Gon, who was already looking to him for some kind of cue. Killua simply nodded his head at Pakunoda. She was the lynch pin in all of this. If Pakunoda wanted to read their memories, she would be able to do it, and Kurapika would kill Nijiiro, condemning them to die at the hands of their captors. And if she chose to follow Kurapika's orders, it would be possible to make an exchange, assuming the others didn't interfere. It was Pakunoda who held the key to their survival.