"You're squatting?!" Violet yell-whispered towards Sammy as she scanned the dark and cold room where multiple people were sitting and chatting in several groups.

"It's the best we can do," answered Brad from Violet's other side. "We don't exactly have money or a place in this dimension." Arching his eyebrows, he then shook his head before striding across the room to a group of people waving for his attention.

"You've been here for months," she grumbled to his back. "You could certainly have gained money and jobs by now."

"No, we couldn't, Violet." She turned to look at the IT huntress, who regarded the blonde as if she were insane. "We cannot disrupt the flow of this place. Any one of our presences could cause all the dimensions to crash upon themselves. The little we interact with others here, the better."

Violet gaped at the woman as she walked over to join Brad across the room. Sammy's footsteps creaked against the feeble, rotten wooden boards of the room. She groaned and shook her head before lazily looking around the large rectangular room with four dirty windows on the exterior cement wall. The buildings looked like time had forgotten them from the outside, but they were far worse on the inside. Three large buildings, likely once businesses or apartments, were connected. 

They've been living like this for months? Let lady fate deal with your interactions and adjust things; that's her job. Otherwise, your only option is death. Violet slowly spun around, wrinkling in her nose at the sight of dripping pipes spilling dark liquid onto the floors, furthering their demise from rot. Brightly shining pity stuck across her eyes, observing the people living in such conditions after being through so much.

I'm not staying here, that's for sure. Already envisioning Hisoka's giant bed back in the hotel room, she regretted ever having agreed to come with them. Her leg continued to nag in sharp random spikes of pain, which she ignored for safety.

She wandered over to one of the windows to spy out through the caked dirt that clung to the glass from years of neglect. The sun was long set, and darkness was starting to overtake the city for another evening. The street lamps flickered slightly before offering dim light, readying themselves to hold the front line and drive the night and all its dangers back. They formed an integral part of Yorknew's ability to function and play at all hours of the day and night. Not all the electric lanterns could fulfil their duty, as a few street lights remained desolate and dead.

She sighed and pulled her longing vision away from the window, knowing full well one of Hisoka's rules was already broken—be back in the hotel by dusk. I'm an adult. I'll be okay if I'm a little late.

She spotted mould growing on the soaked wooden beams of the building's high, open ceiling ribbing, and her nose wrinkled again. The spore-filled air mixed with the cold, dense soot of the cement parts of the building and created an unpleasant scent and sensation on every breath she was forced to take. Shaking her head, she walked over to the group Brad, and Sammy sat with at a far corner.

"No, it's been four months since we brought in anyone new," she heard a male voice utter. "This is good, another strong hunter, and one who has survived here for this long." Violet cleared her throat, and the group looked at her. Sammy provided the brightest smile that reached her eyes, and the huntress felt her face paint again.

"Sorry, umm," Violet uttered. Sammy stood up and walked across the circle to stand by her.

"Violet, this is Dan." She pointed to an older man with brown hair dusted with greying strands and stress-lines permanently decorating his face. His bright, intelligent brown eyes regarded Violet before giving a curt nod and a short smile. "He was one of the American hunters helping us before- well."

"Before everything went to fucking hell," Dan finished. "Welcome to the shit hole once again, Violet." The woman gave a small side smile. Under different circumstances, she could see herself getting along well with this man. His body might have seen better days, but he had a mischievous glint in his eyes and an attitude that suffered no stupidity.

Against her better judgement, Violet sat with the group and spoke to them for a while. The American hunters were far more suited to this kind of situation than the by-the-book type she had become accustomed to from Europe. Really, what they had needed was a mixture of the two, in her opinion.

"Brad. When are your brother and his team due to return?" Dan asked the tall man. Freezing in the middle of checking her phone, Violet tensed. She regarded Brad, wide-eyed and paling visibly. Sammy snarled, giving the American hunter a quick glare, which the middle-aged man missed.

"He probably won't be back for several days yet," Brad said before yawning. "They're on an information recon and wanted to expand out a bit further for area mapping and a supply run. He said he'd be a least a week out." Dan nodded in understanding.

"Sammy." When she looked over with a smile and bright eyes, the huntress felt her heart skip slightly, as it always did when this woman paid her attention. As usual, the huntress ignored the reactions. "I really need to get going." 

Ignoring the wide-eyed expressions of the group, she headed directly for the exit, despite the echoes of Sammy and Brad racing to follow her path. She didn't stop for them while pushing the creaking, rotting door open to enter a sombre hallway, making the area she just left look like the cleaner option.

"Violet! Wait!" Sammy called as the huntress pushed all her weight into moving the rusted in place, stubborn exterior door halting her quick escape from the building.

Stepped out into the cold, empty street, she took a deep, cleansing breath, savouring air that didn't promise the risk of fungal spores. A few neglected parked cars lined the otherwise dirty but barren streets.

"It's too late to leave now, Violet," Brad announced with a raised chin and angled eyebrows. 

Her lips held a slight downward angle. "No. I came. I spoke to some of the people. I gave tips on surviving here and stories. I'm done." She crossed her arms and fully faced the two. "I'm exhausted, and I want to go back to my hotel."

"Violet, you cannot go back! It's the middle of the night," Sammy exaggerated and pleaded.

"No!" Violet screamed, and it echoed loudly around the empty street, bouncing off the buildings that lined the area. "You said you won't force me to stay! I want to go back to my hotel! I'm a grown-ass adult!"

Sammy's expression soured with narrowed eyes and grinding teeth. "Does this have anything to do with whomever you're looking for on your phone?" Violet stood frozen. "You keep looking at it every ten minutes like a love-sick teenager! We're your people, your family! Not whomever you've found here."

"I- I'm just checking the time!" Violet defended louder than necessary as the dull sounds of the never-sleeping city increased with shrill sirens echoing through the night.

"Bullshit!" Brad and Sammy cried in unison before looking at each other with arched eyebrows.

Violet scowled at them both. The siren screeches of EMT vehicles continued to course through the air and raised to higher octaves in perfect harmony with the three battling hunters.

Brad sighed and turned to the shaking blonde huntress with balled fists and tensed posture. "Violet. It's a bad idea to get involved with anyone from this dimension. However, Sammy is right. You should stay with us. At least give it a night."

"No! I already told you I had a hotel! I'm tired and hungry!" she stubbornly bellowed and abruptly turned to walk down the street, planning to reach a distance far enough away that she could hail a taxi. "I don't want to be here and want to g-"

The woman's rant was cut short, and her eyes were forced shut on instinct as her auditory system took primary control. None could escape the sound of shattering concrete, crushing built pressure exploding outward, and ear-ringing vibrations that travel through the air in a destructive wave making the windows shake and threaten to explode. The sound was followed like a shadow by the buildings trembling, street lamps visible shaking with the parked cars, and glass rattling. The tremours were heard by all three hunters as much as felt through their feet and entire skeletal system. Violet covered her ears and ground her teeth against the uncomfortable resonance in her body.

"I-Is it an Earthquake?" Sammy asked with a shaky voice as the hunters inside the building started crying out, feeling the effects of the vibrations on the unstable structure. The ever-present siren sounds seemingly became louder to Violet as she finally registered them.

The huntress took a step toward the run-down building at the sound of shattering glass as some of the ancient, fragile windows gave out under the pull of gravity after the shaking ceased. The sound of the people's shock rose, prompting the woman to take another step towards them to help.

She stopped when the overwhelming smell of smoke, soot, and fire reached her olfactory receptors. She turned back to the direction of the original sound and saw black, thick smoke rising above the skyscrapers in a dance of death as the cloud took more of the sky. Orange and red flames speckled within the newly rising black mist as it climbed ever higher above the skyscraper-filled horizon.

As the dull, ever-present roar of activity in the city quieted for the first time, the sounds of shrieks, panic, and gunfire could be heard in the far-off distance. The sirens of police, ambulances, and fire brigades continued to play in the background. Violet was suddenly in motion, moving at high speed to the end of the building the hunters currently took up residence. She jetted down an alleyway and used the sides of opposing structures to jump higher until reaching a fire escape. From there, she quickly ascended the numerous levels then moved back to trampoline-like jumping to reach the top of the tall building. Like most Yorknew skyscrapers, the structure above was barren apart from maintenance houses, stairwell exits, and water tanks. She headed for the nearest water tank and climbed the ladder to get as high as possible.

Once at the utmost perch, Violet activated Gyo to her eyes and pushed the iris muscles to their maximum to narrow in on the commotion. She couldn't see the whole scene; however, the explosion had been a massive one, and it wasn't alone. Several more continued to ignite even as she tried to assess the situation of the first blast. Blurs of what she assumed to be people were rushing in every direction as heavy machine guns fired off, although she was too far to hear anything. People continued scattering and breaking lines as they were mowed down. She leaned forward, tensing, trying to hone in on what exactly it was that was decimating them in such high numbers while so heavily armed.

"Violet!" She gasped, lost focus on her Nen, and looked down from her water-tower perch to see Sammy and Brad standing on the rooftop below. "Brad has binocular. Come down. You'll see better with them!"

Violet visibly nodded to the woman but whispered, "Not likely. Gotta keep up the façade, though." She jumped down the last ten steps of the ladder and walked over to the pair, watching Brad use the lenses. "See anything?"

"Yeah, it's bad," he informed the women. "They're closing off the streets. It's like a fucking war zone with all the smoke over there. I cannot see beyond what the police are setting up. Does this happen often?"

Violet shook her head as he handed her the device to spy from. "No. I've never seen or heard of anything like this happening." She used the binocular to double-check what he said. Fuck. He's right. I cannot get through. She passed them off to Sammy.

The huntress sighed and resigned herself to her failure to avoid detection. Pulling the text screen open, she replaced the cheeky text from earlier. "Hisoka. I'm stuck in the city. They're shutting the streets down. Something is going on, and I cannot get through. I'm going to look for a way around." Sending it, she watched the screen for a few seconds longer than necessary, hoping he would immediately return the call for help. War or not, she couldn't stay here. The sweat continued to riddle her skin with the knowledge that Jason was around and could return at any moment. 

"It's bad," Sammy assessed. "Look. You're not going to be able to move through that." The IT expert turned to look at Violet while handing the binoculars back to their rightful owner. "You're best to stay, at least until it settles down. Give it a couple of hours."

"No," Violet stated bluntly. "I'll look for a way around."

"There isn't one," Brad declared just as forcefully. "It's taking up more than half the city."

"I don't care," Violet turned to walk off the roof. I'm not staying here and waiting for your brother to return. I cannot believe I unintentionally ran an entire dimension away, and he's still plaguing me! She felt her heart racing, despite everything she did to try and calm her panic—deep breathing, focusing on other matters, listening just to the things directly around her. It wasn't working. 

"I can mana-"

Another giant explosion let loose, and the number of screams tripled with its aftermath. All three hunters could see it from their new vantage point, significantly aided by the fact that it was five times the size of the last blast. Brad took to the binoculars again and dropped his arms with a course look on his deeply frowning face.

"No one is getting through this," he informed. "Not even our people."

"We're best to bunker down and try to wait it out," Sammy stated. "You can do whatever you like, Violet, but I strongly suggest you do the same. If you stay, we'll give you a place to sleep. You know where our opinions lay on the topic."

Both Brad and Sammy turned to regard the pale, exhausted, and jaw-clenching, Violet James. She flicked her eyes back and forth between their faces, then to the war-like scene far beyond their temporarily safe heaven. The stubborn and steadfast attitude only lasted a few more moments. 

Sighing, she visibly relented before verbally agreeing. "Fine," she grumbled. "I cannot risk going through that, and I'm spent."