Kurapika threw the tabard back on as he walked back over to the platform; Rukei now realized that he was Kurta, though she was sure they were all wiped out years back when Kurapika was about her age, but the Scarlet Eyes were the proof.

Rukei blinked in surprise as the boy reappeared to them. The Scarlet Eyes were gone, replaced with the former grayish-brown they had all been familiar with. As the boy explained what happened with an apologetic look on his face, she was starting to put together that his Scarlet Eyes were probably connected to the reason why he took the exam. He hadn't told her as it was 'personal'.

She couldn't blame him. She too hadn't told them many things,

She thought about the situation again; it didn't hit her until a few moments later.

The Kurta's clan was wiped out by the Phantom Troupe. And Kurapika was the survivor of it. Rukei wouldn't know the suffering and pain Kurapika went through, there was no way she could know, but from what she saw, he had set his heart and eyes on avenging the Kurta.

She pulled back out of her thoughts to listen to him continue his explanation, "To be truthful, whenever I see a real spider, my personality changes and I go into a frenzy."

Gon then proceeded to turn and with such a poor attempt at a whisper that she was sure Kurapika heard them, said, "We should keep Kurapika away from spiders."

And Rukei was always the one that got jabbed at for pointing out the obvious.

The blonde let out a ragged sigh as he slid down one of the stone walls claiming to be glad that his rage still burned as strongly as ever. But as Leorio stepped up to take the next match, Rukei quickly whipped her head upwards towards the monitor over their heads. Something was wrong.

Kurapika's win wasn't counted.

One of the prisoner's stepped forward, a female by the sound of it, claimed that the match had not yet been settled, as Majitani was still alive and hadn't surrendered. She was a bit annoyed at this, but the proposition was a death match.

"Hey, Kurapika!" Leorio turned around to the blonde with impatience lining his tone, "Go finish off that worthless piece of trash."

The answer was immediate and cold, "I refuse."

"What? Why?!"

"The fight is already over," Kurapika reasoned, opening his eyes, "He had already lost his will to fight when I punched him. I will not fight someone who has lost."

Rukei vexation grew, but his reasoning was valid in her eyes and he seemed to resemble Shichi so strongly now that she couldn't say a word against him. The Scarlet Eyes seemed to really throw her for a loop.

Leorio did not see the same thing she did. "Screw that! Then what do we do? They're claiming that the match hasn't ended!"

"Let him handle it," Kurapika replied in a clipped tone.

"Huh?!"

The blonde seemed to be annoyed that he had to continue speaking. She presumed that he wanted to be left alone for a while. "Once he wakes up, we'll have our answer."

Rukei wasn't sure when Majitani was going to wake up, seeing that Kurapika really slugged him hard causing her to glance at her watch in discomfort. Leorio voiced her concerns, "We only have so much time left. We can't afford to sit around and wait-"

"I have no intention of killing him!" Kurapika finally raised his voice.

"Come on-"

Killua stepped in cooly still a bored underlining amongst his words, "Hey. If you don't want to dirty your hands, I'll do it," everyone stared at him, "You haven't killed someone before, right?" Killua's tone had a challenging lift to it, "Are you scared?"

Kurapika seemed to be very frustrated that his point wasn't getting through to anyone but he kept his composure. "I have never considered wether murder is frightening. But this is a one on one battle. You aren't permitted to interfere."

The assassin shrugged his shoulders equally irritated, "Okay then. But you know, we're working as a team, so you shouldn't be too selfish."

"Oh, you do say some useful things once in a while, keep it up!" Leorio cheered.

"But we're the selfish ones."

The doctor gave her the most incredulous look, "This guy is screwing our chances up! What are you getting on about?"

She felt eyes on her as she continued, the green and blue eyes in the back of her mind as she spoke, "We're the selfish ones if we're forcing someone to kill."

The bespectacled man glared down at her, readjusting his glasses, "Now, look here-"

"I'm sorry but I won't be changing my mind," Kurapika finalized the conversation.

Or so she thought as Leorio declared that they would be using the majority rule. O to kill Majitani, X to leave him alive. However the action failed as it was not given by the examiners so the action then changed to a raise of hands. But this action failed, for Leorio at least, as only one hand was up in the air. Which was his.

"You traitor!" Leorio growled at Killua, "Weren't you just lecturing Kurapika with me? We're supposed to be a team, a team!"

"But it's pointless!" Killua shot back, "He's not gonna change his mind."

Leorio quickly turned to the other young boy, "Hey, Gon! Why do you oppose killing him?"

"Kurapika's right. He was on the verge of surrendering," the boy gave a concerned glance towards the blonde before turning back to Leorio, "Let's wait for him to wake up."

"We don't know how long that will take. I should just..."

Tonpa interfered and she really wished she had brought some duct tape or maybe even better, she should just knock him out. "You shouldn't force others to do things. Different people have different circumstances and ideals," he said smugly, as if he followed his own statement. He was just trying to get on the doctor's nerves.

"No one asked for your opinion," Leorio snapped.

"A majority rule implies that you're asking for everyone's opinion, right?"

"Fine! Do whatever you want!"

Leorio proceeded to sulk in a corner.

Rukei presumed the next four hours was grating to everyone's nerves, not just hers as she continued to play with the cube. She was starting to feel a little better though; twisting and turning the cube was always comforting. She brought it to a halt as Killua suddenly stirred, pushing himself off the wall he leaned against and towards the platform.

"Is something wrong, Gon?"

The boy nodded, before pointing forward instead of using words. Rukei stuffed the puzzle back into her bag when she caught on to it. "Good job, Gon."

He grinned at her while Killua headed back over to Leorio who isolated himself from the rest of them as much as possible. "Hey. It's quite possible that he's already dead."

Everyone got up and rushed to the edge at the thought. "Hey!" Leorio yelled out to the prisoners, "We want to check his body! He could already be dead. I can't just take your word for it!"

"Then let's make a bet."

Rukei wasn't sure if she liked where this was going.

"We'll wager time," the prisoner informed, "We will settle our match through a betting game, a gamble. And we'll use time, rather than chips. Look at the monitor on the wall," she instructed. With a beep, two fifties side by side appeared, "We each have fifty hours. However, we can only wagers in hours of ten. We continue placing bets until one of us has zero hours left."

The girl's unease peaked at that. They could lose fifty hours of getting through this dumb tower if things went wrong.

"We'll take turns on what to bet on. If you end up on zero hours, your time limit will also be shortened by fifth hours."

"And if you end up with zero hours?" Leorio questioned.

She continued without hesitating for a second, "Our sentences will be extended fifty years. If these terms are acceptable than I'll check wether he's alive."

"Consider your answer carefully, Leorio," Kurapika cautioned, "If you lose, we'll have fifty hours less with which to escape the tower."

The man scoffed, folding his arms, "You shouldn't talk. After all this is your fault for not finishing him off!"

The blonde seemed to copy his actions, turning away indignantly, "Fine! I won't say another word!"

They were at it, again, and Gon jumped in with a "We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves!"

The challenge was accepted, and Leorio quickly started it off with betting ten hours that the man was alive despite the earlier complaint.

"You're being pretty cautious," Kurapika commented, still turned away from the doctor.

The doctor stepped onto the pathway with a remark that got a rather annoyed action from the blonde, "Weren't you not going to say anything else?"

But as Rukei stole a glance at the teen she caught the concerned look across his face. In the end, he was worried about Leorio too. The woman had a certain way of speaking that set Rukei off. The lady spoke again to say that the man was only unconscious after the doctor had checked.

"This is bad," Killua muttered, "It's possible he isn't going to wake up."

Rukei had the possibility in the back of her mind but it sounded bad to say it aloud so she didn't. Killua however had no qualms against bringing her spirits lower than they already were.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when that woman walked near that guy on the floor?"

"What of it?"

"I thought then that he was already dead. But on the other hand, they'd obviously prefer him to be alive but remaining unconscious. If he doesn't wake up before the test ends, it shortens their sentences by seventy-two years."

Her gaze moved back to Leorio. Right now, they couldn't do much of anything, so all she could do was to put her faith in the doctor and hope he would pull through. It was his turn to make a bet.

"Let's see...," the older teen dragged out, but from his tone, he already had a plan, "How about we bet on wether he's truly unconscious?"

A small satisfied smile made it's way onto her face.

But the question came to how they would determine if he was conscious or not as the woman bet twenty hours that he was actually unconscious. Leorio had a very simple solution.

"I'll just toss him off the edge," the man replied casually. His expression turned more serious as he continued, "If he's just unconscious then he'll fall to his death."

Rukei couldn't see the prisoner's face, but she guessed that she looked pretty shocked, "Are you insane? His match hasn't been settled yet," she reasoned hastily, "We can't accept those terms."

Leorio smiled confidently, "Don't worry. If he falls and dies, we'll forfeit the match which will give you two wins. Is that satisfactory?"

Rukei couldn't help but feel a little proud of the man. He finally got a turn to stand out amongst the others and he was making the most out of it. The woman agreed after a moment's consideration. But she changed her wager, revealing the real truth of the whole event. Forty hours on Majitani's consciousness.

When Leorio let go of him, the blue-skinned prisoner flailed trying to regain balance screaming that he was awake. The doctor grabbed him before he fell over completely into the abyss below and threw him back onto the platform roughly who ran back to his fellow prisoners declaring that jail was safer.

The one that hung over their heads changed to a two.

The woman, Leroute, turned out to be a very pretty lady, which meant trouble. Rukei glanced at Leorio and resisted the urge to slap her forehead. He was doing so well earlier...

"That old man's probably dancing on the inside..."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

The next bet was on wether Leroute was a man or a woman. The brunette scrutinized the supposed female prisoner again, but no matter how she looked at it, Leroute was a woman. So she could only give him a thoroughly confused stare as he bet that the prisoner was a male. She didn't fully understand the situation till Killua cursed the 'dirty old man'.

Rukei decided that it appropriate to face palm with iron face or not.

The next bet was rock-paper-scissors after Leorio shot down Gon's brilliant, cunning, truly genius idea of betting wether Leorio was still in his teens. Rukei inwardly winced at his decision. Rock-paper-scissors was very unstable ground to be treading on especially with this conniving lady as his opponent.

Leorio's face was showing everything that he was thinking. Shichi always won against Glass in rock-paper-scissors and when Rukei asked how, her sister reasoned that men had a tendency to use rock and scissors was one of the least popular choices. Shichi always went with paper when facing a two out of three game; except when going against Rukei. Shichi pointed out that Rukei's favorite appeared to be scissors. It was quite infuriating for the girl.

It was a loss by paper to rock.

Right now, they had fifty-nine hours left, and without those fifty they had less than ten hours to clear Trick Tower.

She looked over the next prisoner. The figure seemed to be tall and relatively well built, and from his voice and speech, she presumed that he was a male. But the voice bothered her somehow, like she remembered it but she couldn't recall from where or from who, but it was very, very familiar. "I'll take on the next one, since I know who's going to go next."

Rukei looked on in confusion as he stepped onto the moving pathway, his shackles on the ground. He rubbed his wrists and cracked them; she could see the odd smile of anticipation despite the cloth that hung over his eyes. How would he know who's going next? It could either be her or Killua... There was no sure way of knowing. Or was it because they were both children?

And as he pulled off the tattered hood, she understood.

"What are you waiting for, Puzzle?"

"Puzzle?" Leorio repeated, staring at the man with dark red hair incredulously, "What the heck is he yapping about?"

"I'm taking this round," Rukei stated coldly, firmly, hoping that her message got across the first time.

The doctor whipped his head downwards, surprise and worry written across his face. "Rukei?! Wait- you against that guy?" He took another look at the opponent waiting across the platform, "He seems pretty tough and you don't even know what skills he has! And he seems to be a bit crazy..."

No. Leorio was wrong. She knew him too well. She knew them all too well. She had memorized the data of every single one of them and she was sure they were keeping tabs on her too.

"Member 89. Age, 31. Position, Strategist's Guard. Codename," Rukei hoped her breathing was normal as she opened her eyes, leveling her gaze with the former comrade, "Rock."

Her friends looked upon her with shock and confusion as she tightened her hand that was held behind her back into a fist, realizing then that she was in that familiar at ease stance.

Rukei glanced back at them before stepping onto the path breaking the moment of silence, "I'll finish this quickly," turning her eyes forward, she added darkly, "I'd never lose to them."

Rock applauded her gratuitously while wearing an impressed face, "Wow! Your memory's as sharp as ever. Let's settle this the old way. Since you're an incomplete one, I'll let you use any weapons or items in your bag. Looks like they replaced your guns for toys though."

Rukei tightened her grip around the single strap of her backpack. "How generous of you."

"You're welcome! Was the replacement Seven's doing?"

"No. Shichi-oneesan had nothing to do with it," she replied with her usual monotony.

Kurapika raised an eyebrow at Rock's words. "Incomplete?" He echoed.

"Oh?" The man glanced between her and her friends, "They don't know yet?"

Rukei forced herself to keep her gaze forward; trying to make sure her words did not sound too rushed or tensed. "You talk too much."

"So they don't know anything?" Rock questioned further, dragging it out, knowing that he had struck nerve, "Not the people you used work for? Not the experiment? Not even your blood?"

With every word she was drowning, falling slowly, as her control on the world around her slowly began to slip away. It was like she was trapped inside a box, a box she had created herself, as she could not refute whatever would come next. Rukei should have told them herself.

Gon leaned over to Killua to ask the question she knew was coming, that would lead everything down into a spiral, "Doesn't she work for the XX Alliance?"

"Eh?! She worked for t-that- that group?!" Leorio yelled at the top of his lungs and Rukei glanced at her shoulders to make sure they weren't shaking. They weren't. Her iron mask was still in place.

Rock looked at her with mild surprise before doubling over with laughter. "Oh man, you haven't changed at all, Puzzle! You'll tell them who you work with now, but you won't tell them about the Zakuya?"

That was it.

Rukei disregarded tone now. As long as she maintained her straight face, it would be okay. "It doesn't matter, does it? I've discarded that name."

"You seriously don't change," Rock noted while placing his hands on his hips, "Do you really think you can discard all those five years with the Zakuya? Look, you're still standing with that at ease stance."

Rukei immediately dropped her position at his point, preparing herself for whatever came next, "You talk too much."

"Guess, they don't know about Zyphon blood either," the man continued to reveal even more of the things she had kept in silence, "Well... It's not like you have an actual ability since they couldn't finish the project."

Rukei let her eyes narrow a little; more like she couldn't help it. "You talk too much. You're wasting our time."

"Right, right, you're on a schedule, my bad," Rock drawled, like he had forgotten. He hadn't changed either, "So it's simple. Zakuya rules. You do remember what they are, don't you?"

Rukei was getting tired of this round about questioning. "There was only one for fighting."

"If you are conscious, you are able to fight for the Zakuya," they recited. Conscious meant two things. Either not awake or dead. They preferred the latter. Surrender was not an option.

Rock grinned at this. "See, told you. It's not that easy."

"Stop messing around."

"You don't mind me using Zyphon do you?"

Rukei straightened her posture. This, she would not tolerate. "I would never lose to a Zyphon experiment."

The man laughed at her, apparently he had found her very amusing. He hadn't done much of anything but laugh at her since they had reunited. Actually, he laughed at her a lot back then as well. "Odd for you to say that."

Leorio quickly looked down at both Killua and Gon asking if they had any other surprising information on the brunette that the rest of them deserved to know about. "Wait, hang on, what the heck is a Zairo-Zeifon- whatever?!"

Killua tilted his head upwards to meet the man's eyes, "No clue."

"Ne, Leorio, what's a 'Zakuya'?" Gon questioned, looking to Kurapika as well as the boy was likely to have some facts on it.

The blonde was the one who answered first, though his gaze switched from the young boy to the girl and the man on the platform frequently. "The Zakuya was a criminal organization that was uprooted two years ago. Seeing that Rukei now works for the XX Alliance, I'm assuming that either she or Shichi worked in the overthrow of the Zakuya."

"Heh. I knew there was something wrong with that creepy stone-faced girl," Tonpa scoffed but froze on the darker looks he received and then shut up.

Kurapika continued on from the interruption, "As for 'Zyphon'...," the boy trailed off, completely focusing his gaze on the about to commence match, "I haven't heard of it either..."

As he did, he was in for quite the shock. Out of the man's arm sprung large, colorful crystals, very sharp in appearance, surrounding his arm like nettles or thorns on a branch. Rukei did not bat an eye at the transformation that even the fellow prisoners gaped at.

"What the he- Is he some kinda monster or something?!" Leorio blurted, his worry for the brunette shooting through the roof.

"It's been a while since I've gotten to do this," Rock chimed cheerfully, looking over the stones jutting out of his arms with amusement, "The reason why I've been transferred to this prison actually is because of this ability. They thought I was dangerous."

Rukei waited for Rock to make a move. "Surely you were prepared for that?"

"Well, I was," the man agreed, "I mean, we all are, aren't we?"

She was annoyed how Rock always seemed to be right even as she evaded his question. "Can we get started?"

Rukei quickly ducked as the brightly colored crystals swept over her head, landing on her hand and spinning her legs out to take down the man, getting nothing but air as the man jumped up in response. She took the chance to spring herself upwards after him, her heel connecting with her opponent's jaw.

She immediately flipped backwards with her remaining momentum regaining the desired distance between them. Rock chuckled, rubbing his bruised bones, "As always, perfect timing."

Rukei replied with nothing, holding her position warily. She instinctively took a step back as he darted for her, appearing a foot away in a matter of milliseconds. He's fast!

It registered in her head seconds later as she quickly pulled her hands up to guard her head from the downward swing of his arm. She found herself hunched over moments afterwards, gripping her stomach.

"And as always, you're predictable as ever."

She barely had time to fend off the next attack, batting away the crystal covered arm, as well keeping an eye out for his feet, after being kneed so hard in the gut. He launched another punch that she very narrowly dodged, and taking advantage of the outstretched arm tried to sling him over her shoulder but he caught himself, stones sticking him firmly to the ground and he easily dislodged his strong hold on the ground to take another swipe at her.

She took a direct hit again, after an exchange of blocking and punching, sliding close to the edge. Loose pebbles fell into the abyss below them, echoing as they fell down the wall. She grit her teeth together facing Rock once more. She really, really would prefer not to resort to that but...

"C'mon, show me something new!" He taunted, the light of the crystals flashing in her eyes, "It's not fun when I know everything you're gonna-,"

Rukei shot forward, ducking past him, but not without cutting her cheek on the brightly-colored crystals. He stared at her in surprise before laughing.

It dripped to the floor; the unnaturally colored liquid making itself clear to herself and her friends.

She wiped away the pink colored blood that rolled down the side of her face. Focusing on the opponent in front of her, warily shifting her position, her gun already in her hand.

"Oh man!" The man had not stopped laughing, "So you can do something new every once and a while. I didn't seriously think you'd risk showing your blood, Iron Face."

She grit her teeth out of anger but no one could see behind her so called 'iron face'. Her gun was quickly knocked out of her hand before she could fire anything, and again she had to retreat, on the defensive once more.

"But in the end, I still know what you're going to do," he managed to stay in between strikes, "You're still using Zakuya techniques. And this will end-"

Her heavy backpack smacked into his face, before swinging back around to her back. He held his nose from the blow, while she had time to recover breath. "I think you've forgotten that I'm training under the XX Alliance right now."

"Okay, Puzzle," he growled, wiping away the same pink-colored blood from his mouth,"I'll take you on seriously."

She didn't let him have the first move this time. As he prepared his next strike, she timed herself to slip underneath his arm and get behind his back. She only needed a second to finish the fight.

Rock fell to his knees, shuddering, clawing at his chest, the crystals automatically shrinking back into his skin. He coughed up blood, the odd color almost caused her to frowned as it reminded her that she was the same.

She still had not removed her hand from the syringe she jabbed into his neck.

"I told you already," Rukei glanced behind her; her grip loosening, "I would never lose to a Zyphon experiment."

"Anti-Zyphon liquid," he forced out between painful yells and breaths, "Of course, you'd have some on you wouldn't you?"

She turned on her heels now, still behind the man, "It was mostly to restrain myself in the possible case that I should go wild." She prepared to knock him out to quickly return to her teammates and to put him out of the pain. She didn't dislike Rock. There was a sort of vague, unspoken bond between Zyphon experiments, complete or incomplete, that they couldn't break no matter how much they wanted to.

"Hey," he called out shakily, and she stopped. She did not know why. "What's your real name?"

She blinked in surprise, before releasing her attack from it's standstill state. But before her hand hit it's mark, she replied to him. "Rukei."

And as he fell to the ground, she heard him whisper, on the verge of unconsciousness. "Rukei, huh?"

The silence was broken by the beep of the machine that added her win to the board.