Wick fixed his tie nervously, his eyes flitting from one end of the room to the other. The hall was filled with guests and so far, none fit the description given to him. Well, of course they didn't. They should have taken the false information and headed for Aux Hotel. The chances of Glass appearing were very low.

In the first place, Wick was a new recruit. Glass wouldn't recognize him. The only thing that unsettled him about the whole ordeal was that Wick wouldn't recognize Glass either. The vague description he received in a rush of 'a pretty man with long, blonde hair and bright eyes' bothered him to no end. Perhaps it was unlikely that they would meet, but the pressure clawed and hung at his mind. Or was that really the cause for his unease? Was there something else that had been missing?

He peeked at the small tube containing only a few drops of the test subject's blood before sliding it back in his pocket. He didn't see the need in bringing it. But his eccentric superior had insisted in giving it to him. It would give him his few moments of happiness before death.

On the other side of the room, a pretty man with long, blonde hair and bright eyes watched Jul Sember carefully. This man had them.

This man's smile sickened him to the core. The blonde struggled to ensure that the feeling that seemed to crawl across his skin would remain only as disgust. He fought to press down the anger that came in unsteady waves. It grew stronger every time Jul Sember's teeth showed in his laugh.

He must endure.

Shichi had received a surprising amount of cooperation from the hotel. Once she showed them her license, they immediately rung up all the neighboring businesses to find anyone named Jul Sember checked into any room or listed in any meeting.

She had also received a surprising amount of luck. Her target stood in the same building she stood in. He was one of the guests in a party that would be ending soon, not a few minutes from now, if it had not already ended. Shichi could tell that much by the trickles of nicely-dressed men and women exiting the hotel to avoid the worst of Jianghai's traffic.

She was right after all. She should contact Glass, but she wanted to see the target for her own eyes. It wouldn't be surprising if he had a couple decoys about. She grit her teeth as she began to push through crowds filing out through the hallways. If he had already left she would be in huge trouble-

She jolted to a stop to regain balance as the whole building shook with a tremor accompanied with an incredibly loud sound. An earthquake?

No! She took off with a new burst of speed towards the source. That was an explosion!

-

Jul had traded the chemical for blood and death. Wick's Ten protected him from the close blast and he smoothed out his collar as he looked over the remains of the corpse and the small dancing flames that spread across the carpet. It was time for him to leave like everyone else already had. He worried about nothing.

"Is he dead?"

Wick stiffened. A sense of horror gripped his mind; he did not want to look up, yet in the same moment he had never whipped his eyes over to someone so quickly. A young man who was not there before, stood a few meters away from him. Glass?!

There was the long, blonde hair and the delicate appearance that his superior mentioned. And his eyes?

'Bright' would not be enough to touch single aspect of the burning Scarlet Eyes.

"I needed to speak with him."

Suddenly the few meter gap felt like a matter between life and death. He gripped the lighter in his hand tighter than he ever had, but it only seemed to become more oily; he was sweating. "How did you know?"

When the man blinked, they had become a cold grayish-brown. Was Wick hallucinating? No. That scorching color, those eyes, they were real. They had branded themselves into his mind. But even if they charred him in there, he could face the ones out here; the normal color somehow gave him reassurance.

"I did not know," he replied, his voice would not betray any sort of emotion or thought. Leveled and iced. "And I am afraid I still do not know. But I believe that you must be my answer."

From the heated and searing pain of the fear moments before, to now the arctic uneasiness that chilled him to his bones now, he thought he was going to shatter. Like glass. Wick's bafflement of the man's reply was his temporary protection, his illusion, that he would not crumble. Was it by chance that Glass was here? Was that really possible? "What are you trying to pull, Glass?"

"Glass?" The blonde repeated. Wick was somehow relieved to find any sort of emotion in his tone; it was confusion and wariness.

Kurapika was suddenly aware of a presence behind him. It swelled with hostility and power, rising like a great wave. What a relief; it was not directed against him.

"And?" The voice was familiar. It was mainly weighed down by her tired tone but its end held a sardonic lift. Behind it all was the very real presence of an overwhelming threat. "They thought they could send a greenhorn like you into our territory?"

She had not changed much. Her smile appeared just exhausted as it did while he saw her in Yorknew. She did not get rid of the tattered jacket or the dirtied boots. She was wearing the same, worn out, white shirt that had obviously been washed too many times. The mismatched cerise globe still hung around her neck.

"If you didn't even know the enemy's face, you shouldn't have set foot into their city," she chided.

Wick had asked them for any other advice or warnings they had to give before he carried out his mission. His advisor first told him he would be fine but in the end he stopped Wick from leaving without some 'crucial words'.

"The chances are close to nil, but if Shichi is with Glass, you better escape. We already have enough members under their custody." He told the recruit uneasily while sorting through a couple pages.

"Shichi?"

"Teenager. Dark hair. She's always carrying around her gun in a hard shell guitar case with a strap," he detailed sullenly, putting out his cigarette as if he had lost the energy to even smoke when he thought about it, "Trying to take on both of them is the worst mistake you could make, Wick. Don't make it."

She did indeed look young, she couldn't be older than eighteen or nineteen. Her hair was a dark color, almost black, and a beaten up case was slung around her shoulder. She was the person he was not supposed to engage.

No, he could tell that much by the display of her aura; he felt so small before her, like he was standing before a tsunami. He didn't want to fight that!

"We meet in another nasty case," Shichi greeted as she stepped up next to the blonde,"Have you been jinxed or something?"

"Have you ever considered that you may be the jinxed one?" He countered cooly, stoic in the face of flames, surprises, and danger, "Because I seem to have the most unpleasant experiences when I'm with you."

Shichi grit her teeth into a strained grin and fixed her gaze forward on the enemy, "Why do I feel like you're referring to my personality and that I should punch you?"

"Exhibit A."

"You basta-" Shichi's attention was drawn back to the enemy who was attempting to escape, but halted quickly enough to throw him off balance. It was a good call; Shichi shot down one of the large chandeliers in his path. The momentary pause was all it took for her to close the distance in between them and land a hit that sent him flying several meters back towards the supposed 'Glass'.

Kurapika realized that he had never seen the woman in combat before. He did not have to feel for her aura to tell that she was tough. The way her eyes lit up brought to light the countless battles they had seen.

Shichi made the mistake of releasing her Nen for a second as she headed back over to put the agent in cuffs. Without the crushing, unbearable pressure of her aura fogging the enemy's mind, he could finally pull himself together to counterattack.

The flames eating away at the floor and climbing up the walls slid together, embers linking and glittering like scales. The roar of the fire became a thirsty hiss.

Shichi's shoulders slumped over as she stared at the giant being leaving trails of charred carpet behind it. A literal tongue of fire flickered as it uncoiled it's body to stand over the them. Wick, it's charmer, stood to his feet proudly as the giant serpent slithered in between him and his opponents.

"You'd get along with Flask," Shichi growled sarcastically as she was suddenly pushed on the run. Kurapika's ability wouldn't be too helpful in this situation, Shichi reviewed in her mind as she quickly spun away from a sudden lunge the snake made at her, devouring any wooden chairs or tables in it's way.

Wick was obviously pretty able if they sent him off thinking that he could escape Glass if Glass showed up. If Shichi could kill him, that would make things easier on her, but the Alliance needed him and information. She had to bring him with his stupid snake in alive.

The first thing she had to do was regroup with the blonde across the room, who stood behind the snake, carefully avoiding it's wildly lashing tail. While his Nen ability seemed unsuitable for this situation, his mind was a different matter.

Wick wasn't making it easy for her. The conflagration was hot on her heels no matter what complicated patterns she darted around with; it's giant body gave her no opening to slip past. She flipped herself onto one of the tables behind her that managed in tact, using it as a prop for extra height in her jump.

The agent scoffed as he watched her leap into the air. She was now sitting prey for his snake, Ophion. She could not change her direction and her stupid bullets couldn't do anything for her now- what was that?!

In a swift movement, Shichi pulled off her coat and extended Wings of Gabriel that finally allowed her to land next to the Kurapika safely. She tied the jacket around her case quickly before slinging it between her wings and looking back up. I actually had to pull out Wings of Gabriel for this. I guess the Zakuya are being pretty careful on who they send out. Greenhorn or not.

She was not met with the happiest news as she stared up at the serpent. It certainly wasn't that tall when it started chasing her...

"It appears that your scuttling around has taken a reverse effect," Kurapika commented, noting the distinct lack in chairs and tables and any other possible fuel that the serpent had gobbled up when it chased after Shichi.

"What," the woman demanded while rolling her eyes as the snake rushed in, "Was I supposed to stand there and let it swallow me?"

Kurapika was unceremoniously shoved behind her as she straightened her posture suddenly, stretching out the white wings as far as they could reach. She grounded her heels into the burnt floor, and he could track her aura spilling into her feathers as she slammed her wings against the air to send it barreling towards the serpent in a heavy and condensed gust of air.

For a second, it seemed like it worked. It looked like Shichi had put out the inferno, like how someone would easily blow out a candle. But the remaining crimson wisps suddenly burst into an oppressive blaze at Wick's rise in aura; the great serpent had returned greater still.

"You are exasperatingly good at making a situation backfire," Kurapika muttered under his breath. He was unfortunately not quiet enough to escape Shichi's ears who in turn gave him a short, curt, and very rude reply mostly consisting of swears.

"Alright, we both know that my ability can still do a little more damage than yours in this situation-" Shichi started with the intent to reason this time before being abruptly cut off by the blonde.

"More damage to ourselves, you mean?" Kurapika questioned before setting his eyes on the agent observing the scene with a rather victorious look for someone so scared not minutes ago, "Our target should be Wick, not the serpent. The problem is that he's always surrounded by those flames... If you can moderate the fire around Wick, I can put him out of action."

The woman exhaled deeply while putting out a little speck of red on one of her feathers, "Make sure you pull through. It's starting to get hard to breathe," she murmured as she proceeded to pour her energy into her wings.

'Hard to breathe'? Kurapika took a sweeping glance about the damaged room. Despite the destroyed floors and seared walls, it was still completely sealed off from the corridors outside. Of course it would be hard to breathe; the conflagration was consuming all the oxygen in the grand hall.

Another gale swept through the room, the air currents slicing through the fiery beast and blowing Wick back- a bit too far back for Kurapika to reach even if he had darted for the man now. But it did not matter, because Kurapika did not move.

Wick did not relax at their lost chance as he brought the inferno back to his side. He had grown more cautious and thus, frustratingly more difficult. Shichi turned to the blonde furiously; her voice snapping like a clap of thunder, "Are you an idiot?! What are you doing?! You-"

Shichi for some reason stopped when Kurapika held up his hand. Perhaps it was the unwavering and clear look in his eyes that calmed her down. "I have an idea."

Shichi sighed and shook her head as she readjusted her grip on the weapon. She never liked going along with someone else's plan that she took no part in creating. But she knew Kurapika had skill; she hated to admit it, but he was exceedingly talented. He learned tricks in the matters of months that she learned only by living her entire life in the underground. He was a Hunter too. She should at least respect that. "This better be the best idea you've had in your entire life."

。。。

Originally, this chapter was supposed to be published with the previous one, but I ended up splitting it up because of it's length. Which is why I said in my last author's note a couple chapters back that things would be 'lit' and events would 'explode'- that was referring to this chapter! Hooray for puns!

... I'm sorry.

School is creeping up on me, which may or may not be a good thing for this fanfic. This summer has been oddly chaotic and busy. I seem to be on here more often around school, and school is coming back. But school is school and has troubles of its own that must be faced. We'll just hope for the best!

Thank you very much for reading! Please stick around!