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Sitting in the lobby of a hotel, the three had found out that some of the Troupe Members had found out the chain user's identity and that worried Valentine greatly.

Would Kurapika be okay?

String was wrapped around the trio's wrist like a makeshift pair of handcuffs and while Zeus wouldn't fly off without her, the Troupe wouldn't take the risk and bound him as well.

Standing in front of a large pillar, eyes of a bumblebee slowly scanned the room and the color slightly deepened into a dark rusted gold as she observed the area.

If they could escape, there would be a fifty-three percent possibility of it succeeding even if they took the best route and that thought caused a small frown to pull at Valentine's lips.

'Let's wait right here',The leader ordered.

Even if they tried to escape, they were watching anyone who walked through the front door.

'Come on! Don't you know what time it is?'

Hearing the familiar voice, eyes of thunder widened momentarily before snapping towards the direction of the voice and seeing Leorio sitting there, she stopped the smile from forming on her face.

She didn't want to ruin this possible opening.

Curious as to who was shouting, the leader of the Phantom Troupe turned his head and seeing the bispecaled man, he hummed under his breath.

'Idiot! It's the Beitacle Hotel! How many damn times do I have to repeat myself?',Leorio screamed into the phone,'Well!?'

Nothing the two Troupe Members staring at him, a small vein popped out of the side of his head and he quickly snapped his head in their direction, an angered frown on his face.

'What're you looking at kid?',Leorio snapped,'Huh?'

Glancing towards their boss, Shizuku turned her gaze back towards the black-haired man and blankly stared at him.

'Should I kill him?'

Turning his gaze away, the boss turned his head away from Leorio's direction and looked towards the door instead.

'Ignore him. Look the other way'

Turning behind him to see that people were staring at him, Leorio told them off an screamed at them that it wasn't a show, before turning back around with an irritated sigh.

'Look. With failures like you working for me, my future's about to get real dark. Listen, I'm gonna close my eyes, just this once. One more mistake and you're fired! You better get over to the hotel by seven o'clock sharp. Do you hear me?'

With her eyes widening only for a moment, the young blonde had decoded the message within the man's outburst.

At seven o'clock sharp, they would use the darkness for cover and get away.

Glancing towards the clock, the blonde noticed that they had about three more minutes until the lights went out and if she used a bit of Nen to coat her daggers, then she could possibly cut herself free.

Hearing footsteps walking towards them, the three turned their eyes towards the door and watched as Nobunaga and Pokunoda walked towards them.

'Hey, what's this? You guys got caught again',The samurai questioned and chuckled slightly,'Okay, I get it; you changed your minds and decided to join us, right?'

Scoffing slightly, eyes of the ocean glared at the man as he came to a stop in front of them and stared down at the three children with a smile on his face.

'Look, we didn't know anything about your bounty',Killua explained,'It was canceled, wasn't it? We just found out about it'

'You were stalking us and you screwed up again, huh?',Nobunaga stated,'You kids never learn, I guess this must be fate at work'

Glancing towards the clock once more, the silverette saw that there were only two minutes remaining and glancing towards the blonde beside him, Killua watched as Valentine's sleeve moved only for a moment; not enough for the Troupe to catch since they weren't looking right at her.

Moving her arm slightly, the young blonde felt as a dagger slowly fell down the sleeve and tightly wrapped her fingers around the handle.

Two more minutes.

Leaning down towards the children so that he matched their height, Nobunaga smiled brightly and closed his eyes as he beamed towards them.

'Well, let's be friends, okay?',Nobunaga questioned,'I mean, blondie here already knows Shalnark, so what do you say, kid?'

Clearly confused by the man's statement, the leader looked towards the samurai and slightly tilted his head.

'What was that?'

Humming slightly, Nobunaga turned towards the man and gestures towards the golden eyed girl, a small smile on his face.

'Oh yeah, apparently Shalnark knows the kid',Nobunaga stated,'Says he met her a while back'

'...Is that so?'

As the man's dark eyes stared into her own, Valentine shuffled nervously, but didn't let it show in her face and her golden eyes shone with defiance as the two stared into one another's souls.

It was almost as if he was trying to read her mind.

Deciding to take their attention away from the girl, Killua spoke up and so, turned Nobunaga's gaze towards him.

'Fat chance, we were only following you guys just to get the reward',Killua stated,'And to be perfectly honest, I don't even wanna look at you'

Tightly closing his eyes, the silverette turned his head away from the man and Nobunaga watched the boy in shock, his eyes slightly wide.

'Me too!',Gon exclaimed and snapped his head towards the side, squeezing his eyes shut.

Deciding to mess around just a bit, Valentine stuck her tongue out at the man and then, snapped her head to the side as she closed her eyes.

Letting out a loud laugh, Nobunaga stood to his full height and smiled at the three, before looking towards the blonde girl.

'Shalnark was right about you, you've got fire for such a sweet little kid',Nobunaga stated and then looked towards his boss,'What do you think, boss? They've got guys, don't they? Their nerve reminds me of Uvo'

'They're just little kids, they don't even know enough to be afraid'

Feeling a small twinge of annoyance fill her veins, Valentine's left eye twitched as her face scrunched up for a moment and she was tempted to open her eyes to glare at the woman, but she decided against it and kept her eyes closed.

'Anyway, describe the chain user to us'

'First things first. Why don't you check them again, Poku?'

Feeling herself tense up, Valentine listened closely and heard the woman slowly approaching them, feeling as her hand approached her head.

But yet, the young blonde remained silent and hid the smirk that coated her lips.

Even if the woman scanned her memories, she would have to sort through each and every one, look through each place she's been, each person she's hunted and every job she's ever took, just to find that specific memory.

All she had to do, was not think about it and keep it as far in the back of her mind as she could.

A small sensation tingled throughout her head and the blonde girl figured that Pokunoda was already sitting through her memories.

But the woman was too late.

'Tune in next week. This is JFM, and it's 7:00 p.m.!'

As soon as the light had shut off, eyes of thunder snapped open and her hand ripped upwards, a sharp snap echoing throughout the air as her dagger sliced through the rope before sharply moving her hand beside her.

A groan of pain echoed through her ears as she heard a small thump, which meant that one of them had fallen to the ground as she stabbed them, but she heard the pulling of a string and watched as a body flew past her, causing her eyes to widen.

The string was still attached to Gon.

Hearing as Killua quickly reacted, running towards the woman, Valentine realized his mistake and she could feel it as clear as day as he rushed towards her; his bloodlust was leaking through.

Just as her hand tightened around another one of her daggers, arms tightly wrapped around the girl's waist and she struggled as much as she could before the grasp around her tightened, keeping her in place.

Which made the girl quickly drop her dagger, the weapon landing inside of her shoe.

Hopefully it was hidden well enough.

'What a pity. Well, it was a good shot, I'll give you that'

Suddenly, a knife flew towards the man and Nobunaga quickly moved his head to the side, causing the item to be trapped in the wall beside his head.

'It came from the entrance'

'The guy from before was working with them'

Hearing the voice from right beside her ear, Valentine figured that the glasses wearing woman was the one who had caught her and cursed herself within her head.

She should've stabbed her too.

'Forget him! All we need now are these three kids, right? Our eyes will adjust shortly'

'You're right'

Suddenly, the woman snapped her head up and her eyes widened as she hadn't heard one voice yet.

'But wait, where did the boss go?',She questioned.

Thunder crashed loudly outside and lightning strikes, causing the room to be illuminated in a flash of light as the members now realized that their boss was gone.

'The boss is gone',Nobunaga said and then, looked towards the pink-haired woman,'Shizuku, hold this one'

Standing to her feet, Pokunoda held her hand to her mouth and Machi looked towards the woman with concern.

'Are you okay, Paku?',Machi questioned.

Seeing that the woman's cheek was bruised and was holding her hand, Valentine almost felt bad for her but quickly rose an eyebrow in curiosity.

Did the boys do that so that they could escape?

'He broke my left hand and a molar',Pokunoda stated and looked down.

There glistening in the moonlight was Valentine's dagger lodged into the woman's side and Pokunoda's eyes widened for a moment as she glanced towards Machi.

'Oh, the girl seems to be very skilled and it's clear that she could see very well in the dark. She was able to see my outline just enough to stab me directly in my side',Machi stated and looked at the dagger for a moment; it was a nice looking weapon,'We underestimated them'

Taking a knife out of the wall, Nobunaga glanced down at it for a moment and opened the paper that was attached to the weapon.

'You're not going to believe this, but these kids—'

'Wait!',Nobunaga exclaimed and as soon as he had their attention, the man looked up towards the woman,'Pokunoda, it's for you'

Staring at the note in thought, Pokunoda realized that the man from before was hidden in plain sight and stress leaked off of her like a wave as she stared at the paper.

She knew that the abrupt plunge into darkness had delayed his reaction time for a second and knew that it was a carefully planned attack.

But most concerning of all, if the three kids had known the chain user all along, then why hadn't her questioning triggered any memories of him.

If she had told them anything if what she discovered, then the chain user would most certainly sacrifice his friends and kill their leader.

But if she didn't say a word, then the children could be used as hostages and they could still rescue the boss.

'Paku..',Nobunaga called out and the woman only continued to stare at the note within her hands, small beads of sweat falling down the side of her face,'Paku. Paku!'

Shooting her eyes up to meet his gaze, Pokunoda looked at Nobunaga and the man stared at her with a steely gaze.

'Don't say a word from here on out',The samurai ordered,'Got it?'

Silently nodding her head, the blonde haired woman only stared at the ground and refused to meet his eyes.

'Machi, you just focus on your Nen threads, I'll take this one'

With her cheeks puffed out in irritation, Valentine glance towards the woman beside her and saw as Shizuku looked down at her as well, a curious look within her eyes as she looked the young girl up and down.

It was clear that she was studying her.

But the thing that mattered most was that Kurapika had succeeded.

'Since he left us a message, he'll probably try to contact us again soon',Nobunaga stated,'Until he does, these three are our hostages'

Suddenly, bright light filled the room as the light turned on and Valentine winced, blinking for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.

Glancing to her side as she felt someone staring at her, gold and blue connected as one and Valentine blinked slightly, her eyes wide in confusion.

"..What?"

Even though her voice was quiet, the silverette still heard her and slowly glanced down towards her hand.

Looking down, the young blonde realized that a deep cut spread down her hand and ran from her wrist, down towards the center of her hand.

Blinking in curiosity, Valentine hummed slightly and tilted her head in confusion as she wondered how it had gotten there.

"Oh... a cut"

With his eyes widening, Killua looked towards the girl and his mouth dropped in disbelief, an irk mark appearing on his forehead in irritation.

' "Oh.. a cut!?". That's all you have to say!'

Just as she was about to respond, the sound of footsteps approaching filled her ears and as soon as she turned her head, Valentine's eyes of gold connected with those of an emerald.

Shalnark.

Deciding to ignore the conversation as her gaze burned into the boy and Valentine watched as he turned towards her, a small smile forming on his face as soon as he had seen her.

But seeing the look on her face, caused that smile to disappear and a frown quickly replaced it

No matter how much they had known each other before he had joined the Spiders, the Shalnark she knew was dead and there was no bringing him back.

This man in front of her had joined a group that had killed her friend's family and friends.

Had murdered his entire clan.

They had taken away someone who was so dear to her when she was younger.

And for that, she would never forgive him.

'Read between the lines, damnit!',Nobunaga exclaimed,'It proves that we can use these kids as hostages. If we give chase and we let them escape, it's all over! The chains Uvo couldn't break out of are probably the ones that captured the Boss. He can't escape on his own'

'Probably?'

'I told you it was dark!',Nobunaga exclaimed,'By the time our eyes adjusted, the boss had vanished. And with these kids here, we weren't in a position to move!'

Stepping forward, Shalnark had decided to try and calm them down as he waved his hands in front of him, trying to settle down the argument.

'Fine, fine, but let's not point fingers',The boy stated,'For now, we just need a plan'

Suddenly, a phone began to loudly ring and the sound cut through the air like a bullet, as everyone turned towards Phinks.

'It's from the boss's phone'

Everyone's eyes turned towards the man and the Spiders gasped in confusion and curiosity.

Hesitating for a moment, Phinks finally answered the phone and put it up to his ear.

'Hello?'

'I have three demands'

Hearing Kurapika's voice coming through the other side, Valentine smiled for only a moment and before the troupe could notice, it quickly faded away into a void look as Phinks eyes narrowed.

'You the chain user?'

'The general rule is that you will do as I tell you to. If you don't obey, I'll kill your leader immediately. First, do not come after us. Second, do not harm the three hostages. Third, put Pokunoda on the phone'

With a small smirk on his face, Phinks eyes gleamed with mischief and his smirk widened as he stared at the three children.

'Can I ask you something first? It's about your second demand',Phinks stated,'See, the hostages started putting up a bit of a fight so we had to break a few bones'

'..Then we're done here'

It was silent for a moment as the line went dead.

Feeling the glares of his fellow Spiders, Phinks quickly called the chain user back and as soon as he answered, a small drop of sweat fell down the side of the man's face.

'Sorry, I was lying. The three of them are fine'

'This is your last chance, try to take it seriously. Now, put Pokunoda on the phone'

As the blonde handed the phone to Pokunoda, both Nobunaga and Machi walked towards the man and harshly punched him upside the head, causing the man to groan in pain.

'Yes, hello?',Pokunoda answered.

'You're the only one who's allowed to hear what I have to say. Move away from the others'

At the demand, Pokunoda looked towards Feitan and watched as the man glanced towards her for a moment, before she headed upstairs, away from the group.

Hearing a pained groan, the spiders turned their heads and watched as Machi pulled a bloodied dagger out of her skin, before dropping it to the floor.

Staring at her dagger that sat on the ground, a small frown pulled at the blonde's lips and Valentine pouted them out as she stared at her discarded weapon.

Why did it have to be so far from her reach.

As soon as Pokunoda had passed by them, it caught everyone attention.

'Hey, Paku!'

'Wait!'

As soon as the samurai's voice cut through the air, the Spiders quickly turned their heads towards the man and watched as he walked towards them.

'Let Poku go there by herself',Nobunaga spoke up,'We're going to go back to the hideout. Those were his orders'

Looking between them as they talked, Valentine felt as Shizuku placed her hand on her shoulder and made sure that she wasn't going anywhere.

Since she had cut the strings that were once wrapped around her wrists.

'Who cares about that?'

'He said that if we disobeyed, he was going to kill the boss!'

'Are you an idiot? If that happens, we kill the chain user and that'll be that'

Blinking slowly, Valentine looked towards the ground and her eyes narrowed.

But if Kurapika had apparently beaten their strongest member then how would they be able to beat him?

'It's what the boss would want us to do',Feitan stated and looked towards Nobunaga with a piercing gaze,'Your way of thinking is an insult to the spiders, Nobunaga'

His tone was icy and full of darkness as he glared at the man and Valentine looked between them, her eyebrows furrowed together.

'Let's quit wasting time and follow Pokunoda',Phinks shouted,'It's the only choice we have!'

Deciding to butt in, Shalnark poked his head out from behind Phinks's tall build and looked towards Nobunaga.

'He does have a point',The boy explained,'There's no reason that we should let Paku go alone. If we keep following his orders, the fortunes will come true'

'Look, I'm with Nobunaga on this one',Machi stated,'We should all follow his orders for now'

'She's right',A smaller member with blue hair covering their face agreed.

Furrowing his eyebrows in anger, Phinks looked between the group of Spiders and an aggravated sigh left his lips.

'For now?',He countered,'How long that's gonna be? Until half our limbs are gone or what?'

With a scoff leaving his lips, Phinks looked towards the raven-haired woman that held Valentine within her grasp.

'Disagreements are settled with a coin toss'

'A coin toss isn't gonna cut right now!'

Humming slightly, Shizuku tilted her head for a moment and her glasses slightly fell down the bridge of her nose.

'Hmm.. I think I'll have to side with Nobunaga',The Ravenette argued,'Cause I don't want the boss to die right now. Same goes for Pokunoda, I'm sure she feels the same way. I suppose that's why she left without saying a word'

Sighing harshly under his breath, Phinks closed his eyes and turned his head down towards the ground.

'I don't believe this. It's like talking to a wall',Phinks said bitterly,'If it were up to me, I'd kill you right now but Pokunoda comes first'

As Phinks went to leave, a harsh toned voice spoke up and the sound of metal clinking against it's holster filled the air, causing Phinks to look behind him.

And there behind him was Nobunaga with his hand on the handle of the blade as an ominous aura slowly seeped out of his body as he harshly stated the blonde man down.

'I'm warning you, take one more step and I'll cut you down',The samurai warned bitterly.

It seemed as if the room began to grow cold as Phinks' aura suddenly appeared around him and his eyes slowly turned towards the man behind him.

'Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try it'

Suddenly, the Samurai's body fell to the ground and revealed Shizuku standing behind him, with a strange looking vacuum in her hands.

'Troupe members aren't allowed to fight',She stated and a blank look covered her face.

'Aren't you on Nobunaga's side?'

'That's what my heart tells me. But the rules are the rules; you break the rules, you reject the Spider',Shizuku replied,'We'd be rejecting the boss, too. I don't wanna do either of those things'

A loud ringing abruptly pierced through the air and everyone turned towards Shalnark as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

'It's the chain-user'

'I'll take it',Phinks stated harshly and basically snatched the phone out of Shalnark's hand,'Yeah, this is—'

'Put a hostage on the phone',Kurapika demanded.

Hearing this, Valentine harshly bit into her bottom lip and refrained her smile as she stopped the chuckle that was beginning to bubble up her throat.

'You little—... here.'

As he lowered the phone down to Killua's height, small mutters left Phinks' lips and an irk mark bursted through his forehead.

'Are all of them together?'

'Right now they are',Killua responded,'But they've been talking about going after Pakunoda—'

Before the silverette could even finish his sentence, Phinks immediately pulled the phone away from the boy and glared down at him.

'Watch it, kid',He hissed out and rose the phone to his ear,'Still there?'

'Be at your hideout in half an hour. I'm sure you'll be tempted to try something, but then your boss will die. I'll call again soon'

Seeing as they weren't going to be able to go after Pokunoda now, Phinks cursed loudly and hung up the phone, an irritated look on his face.

It was clear to the girl, that Kurapika's revenge against the Troupe was about to come to it's final stage.