"Step right up! We have here an arm wrestling contest." Leorio announced as a crowd swiftly started forming around them. Gon sat in front of a wooden table, stretching, as Killua stood by the side holding a cushion with a diamond resting on it with his eyes closed peacefully and his expression carefully blank. Leorio then gestured to Killua, or more specifically, the diamond in Killua's arms. "The prize is a diamond worth 3 million, bought today with a certificate of authentication from the shop right behind us! The first one to beat this young man wins the ring. 10,000 jenny is needed to participate! Now, who's up first?"
Immediately, cheers and roars resounded out from the crowd as they pushed to be the first to challenge Gon. Gon arm wrestled with man after man, pretending to have difficulties along the way. Soon, sweat started dripping down his face involuntarily although he hadn't really had to put in that much effort but the sheer amount of challengers was slowly starting to tire him out. The crowd was getting rowdy as more and more people pushed to get a closer look or to be the next challenger. Then, suddenly, a girl moved forwards and held out a 10,000 jenny note to Leorio.
"Ooh. Our first female challenger!" Leorio exclaimed as the black haired girl sat down in front of Gon. They braced themselves with their left hands, right hands clenching each other. As soon as Leorio signalled the start of the match, she and Gon started pushing each other. They grunted with the effort but, slowly, Gon pushed the girl's hand down, lightly tapping it against the wooden table.
"Too bad! You lose!" Leorio announced as the female thanked Gon and walked off, disappearing into the crowd and easily making her way through the dense crowd of people as Killua moved up to talk to Gon.
"How did it go?" Franklin asked as Shizuku joined them at the edge of the crowd.
"I lost… He's tough." Shizuku replied as a person in the crowd started exclaiming about lost money, a 10,000 jenny note to be exact.
"You weak, Shizuku." Feitan commented bluntly.
"Awww. And I wanted that diamond too." Shizuku whined.
"You should have used your left hand." Franklin remarked, petting Shizuku's head comfortingly.
"Yes. Why you no use your stronger arm?" Feitan asked.
"Oops. Oh yeah. He put out his right arm so I just went along with it…" Shizuku realised. "I want to try again."
"No. We no have time." Feitan rejected immediately. "We have job to do."
"Besides, buying and bidding is against our ways." Franklin said, starting to walk away. "We're a band of thieves."
"We take what we want." Feitan ended, malice glittering in his eyes. Shizuku sighed in disappointment, casting wistful glances back at the crowd but let it go, hurrying after the departing Feitan and Franklin. They met up with the rest of the group involved in the heist at the back of the auction building.
"What took you so long?" Falcon asked.
"Shizuku got distracted by a diamond." Franklin replied honestly as Shizuku jabbed him in the sides in revenge.
"Sorry…" Shizuku apologised sheepishly to the gathered group.
"Well, whatever." Falcon shrugged it off easily. "Anyway, the plan is simple. Me and Shalnark will enter through the front gate using our Hunter licenses. We will bring along Uvogin and Shizuku with us. Feitan and Franklin, the two of you will go in through the back. Then, Feitan and Franklin, you will act as a staff and enter the auction hall before getting rid of all of them. Uvogin and Shalnark will head for the vault while me and Shizuku stay behind to make sure no one escapes. Machi and Nobunaga, enter through the back with Feitan and Franklin but go up to the roof and keep a lookout. There should also be a hot air balloon there for our escape. Got it?"
All the present Spiders murmured in acknowledgement and Falcon shooed them away to start the plan. He, Shalnark, Uvogin and Shizuku brazenly entered through the front gate, pushing through the crowd of mafia men. They flashed their Hunter license to the security, indicating Shizuku and Uvogin as a form of 'plus one', who allowed them to go past without much trouble.
As soon as they entered, Shalnark and Uvogin split off from them, following the blueprints of the building that Shalnark had gotten before the heist to the vault. Meanwhile, Shizuku and Falcon lingered outside of the auction hall even as the arriving mafia men rushed to head inside before the auction started.
Inside the auction hall, there were large crowds of people chattering loudly to one another. Mafia bosses from varying standings conversed, either trying to build good relations or delivering veiled threats. The chatter stopped abruptly as Feitan and Franklin, both dressed in black suits, walked up on stage. The gathered mafiosos and bodyguards turned to face the stage, looking at Feitan and Franklin expectantly.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen." Feitan started as a slow smirk drew itself across his face. "Let us do without the formal greetings shall we? ...You can all die now!"
The guests jumped in surprise as the tip of Franklin's fingers detached, hanging off the rest of the finger by chains. Then, Franklin flared his Nen, activating his Nen ability. Nen bullets shot out of his fingers at top speed, heading straight for the guests. He laughed boisterously as the guests started falling and blood started pooling on the auction floor.
Then, two suited men dashed out from the rain of the falling bodies but Feitan and Franklin made no move to stop them, instead watching in amusement. The large muscular male bent down low and charged forwards, slamming the exit door open, only for Shizuku to crush his skull with her Nen ability.
Meanwhile, the female gasped in fright and terror, quickly taking off down the corridor. Shizuku stood still by the male's corpse, watching her progress blankly and making no move to stop her. Suddenly, the female dug her heels into the floor, coming to a stop when Falcon walked out from around the corner.
"Hello. Sorry, well not really, but I can't let you go. The existence of any survivors will ruin my plans for this heist you see." Falcon greeted, waving a hand cheerfully. Then, his eyes hardened as he dashed forwards and placed his palm over the female's face. "And I don't like having my plans messed with."
*All the air in your body is now pure Oxygen.* Falcon murmured. He released the female, watching coldly as she twitched and gasped wetly, her hands clutching her chest and eyes fearfully tracking Falcon's. Shizuku walked up to him, gazing down at the female in morbid fascination.
Finally, she died just as the chorus of screams and gunshots from within the auction hall abruptly cut off. Shizuku then sucked up all evidence of her existence with the vacuum cleaner that was her Nen ability and followed Falcon into the auction hall.
"That didn't take much effort…" Franklin commented as he and Feitan walked down from the stage and looked out at the corpses littering the floor.
"I didn't even get to do anything." Feitan complained. Falcon hummed in approval at the scene in the auction hall as he gestured at Shizuku.
"Let's go Blinky." Shizuku said, prepping up the vacuum cleaner as she positioned it slightly above the corpses and at the side. "Suck up all the corpses and their blood as well as their personal belongings from this room. The chairs as well."
Everything in the room was rapidly sucked into Blinky, leaving the room bare except for a man groaning in his own puddle of blood in the centre of the room. The 4 Spiders eyed the man, surprised that there was someone still alive.
"Who… are you? No… no matter." The man spat out, anger lacing his voice. "The mafia will track you and your families down! Every single one of them… will suffer... the pain of death!"
Feitan lunged at the man just as he finished speaking, cutting off his head in a swift motion with his bare hands. Blood spurted out of the neck hole, spraying the ceiling and coming down on the headless body like a bloody rain.
"Family? What's that?" Feitan asked, smirking as Shizuku dutifully sucked up the mess he had just caused.
"I would assume that it refers to you guys." Falcon replied blandly as he strode out of the auction hall, leaving behind 3 stunned Spiders. They hurriedly followed after him, making their way to the vault.
"What are you implying?" Franklin asked, crushing a man's hand under his foot.
"I view the Phantom Troupe as my family. Or at least, the me before I lost my memories did. I'm starting to view you guys the same way honestly." Falcon replied.
"No jokes?" Feitan asked, taking the time to purposely crush a man's skull as he followed Falcon. Brains and blood splashed everywhere, making Shizuku have to reach around the hallway with Blinky to get all the blood and gore.
"Yes. No jokes Feitan." Falcon replied, sending Feitan and amused glance. "And please stop doing that. You're making things harder for Shizuku and I don't particularly want to have to wait for you to steal another pair of shoes."
Feitan sniffed but stopped crushing the skulls of the men they passed by, allowing Shizuku to continue her job without any further trouble. Soon, they reached the open door to the vault, leaving behind an empty and pristine hallway. Falcon peeked in, glancing at Shalnark and Uvogin who were standing at the centre and boxing in a mafia men who had collapsed onto the floor.
"Hello." Falcon greeted, stepping into the vault. He glanced at the terrified mafioso curiously, wondering why the 2 Spiders hadn't killed him yet. "What's going on here?"
"Captain! We've been waiting for you! Or more specifically, Feitan." Shalnark exclaimed, turning around. He then jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the mafioso. "Can you interrogate this guy Feitan? Ask him where all the items that were supposed to be on auction are."
"They're not here?" Falcon asked as he gestured for Feitan to go ahead with his head.
"There was nothing in the vault when we arrived." Uvogin said, stepping away from the mafioso as Feitan quickly got to work. Falcon sighed, tapping his fingers against his thigh impatiently as screams and sobs started to echo around the room.
They were working on a very tight schedule as all of the bodyguards around the venue were likely starting to get a little suspicious. Not to mention that they hadn't really bothered to take out the security cameras nor hack them to stop them from transmitting the footage. Finally, Feitan walked back over to them, wiping his hands on a piece of cloth he had torn from the corpse of the tortured mafioso.
"All the items were relocated a couple hours ago." Feitan informed them, casually throwing the bloodstained piece of cloth to Shizuku who sucked it up along with the corpse.
"Let's get out of here first. Uvogin, call Chrollo." Falcon instructed as Shizuku released her Nen ability. The 6 of them quickly ran up to the roof, grabbing Nobunaga and Machi as they squeezed into the basket of the hot air balloon. In the end, after much shuffling, Falcon huffed in irritation as he climbed up and sat down, balancing on the balloon itself.
"Yo Boss. The vault was empty." Uvogin reported, putting the phone against his ear.
"Empty?" Chrollo repeated, a little incredulously.
"Yeah. There was nothing in the vault. According to the auctioneer, all the items were relocated somewhere else a few hours ago. As if… they were expecting this heist." Uvogin elaborated as his eyes narrowed slightly. He pressed on when Chollo hummed lightly. "Their timing was too perfect Boss. There's a Judas among us."
"No. There isn't." Chrollo refuted almost immediately. "And besides, I don't consider Judas to be a traitor. They say that Judas sold jesus for 30 silver coins. How much would this traitor sell us out for? Think about it. What would he gain by selling us out to this traitor? Money? Fame? Status? Would that really gratify any of us?"
"No. Nobody is like that." Uvogin replied hesitantly.
"And one more thing. Say that there really was an informant among us. The Mafia's response sounds pitifully inadequate seeing as we are Class-A bounties. If they had really known we were coming then shouldn't the security have been better or at least more alert?" Chrollo added. "From what you tell me, the Mafia had only decided to be a little more cautious than usual. The guests were warned, they came unarmed. So, here's my theory. They got a tip. But, it was very vague. Even so, someone in the top brass trusted it enough to decided to do something about it."
"I don't really get how this information is travelling." Uvogin admitted, scratching his head. "Well, whatever. What should we do then?"
"Did you ask where the items went?" Chrollo asked.
"Yeah but, the auctioneer insisted that he didn't know until he died. Feitan was the one to interrogate him so it must be true though." Uvogin said.
"I feel most sorry for him." Feitan smirked at the reminder of his latest torture victim. Then, Uvogin blinked as he suddenly thought of something.
"He did tell us who would know. The mafia controls the underground auction and their leaders, the 10 dons, each have their own turf in 10 regions on 6 continents. This is the one time in the year that they all meet up, discuss their plans and issue orders. The much vaunted 'Shadow Beasts' then execute these orders. Each don contributes their best man to the team." Uvogin added, scratching his chin thoughtfully.
"I see. The fact that they weren't there lends credence to the theory that they didn't know we were coming." Chrollo muttered.
"That's true. The security was laughably weak." Uvogin grunted.
"So how did they transport the items?" Chrollo asked.
"That's the thing. One of the shadow beasts showed up himself. The vault was about 25 square metres and filled with stuff. He had no tools at all, entered and left completely empty handed but the vault? Bare and empty." Uvogin said, puzzled. "It was apparently some tall guy who called himself 'Owl'."
"So he has a Nen ability similar to Shizuku." Chrollo mused.
"Probably. The mafia must have already realised by now that, since about 500 guests vanished, they must be dealing with Nen. They probably would have sent some Nen users or more men at least." Uvogin smirked suddenly, one replicated by all the other Spiders standing in the basket of the hot air balloon. "We can take them on can't we?"
"Sure. Make a big enough disturbance to draw out the shadow beasts." Chrollo agreed easily as yells and shouts came from below them. Then, there was a pause but Chrollo spoke up before Uvogin hanged up. "By the way, where is Dha-Falcon?"
"The Captain? He's enjoying the breeze, and view I guess, from the top of the balloon. Why?" Uvogin replied, sending a glance directly above him.
"Just wondering. You haven't seen any signs of the two boys that Machi was talking about right?" Chrollo asked. Uvogin glanced at the other members who all shook their heads in response.
"Nope. To be fair, we don't have a very accurate description of how they look. But none of us have seen two boys asking around about the Captain if that's what you're asking." Uvogin said softly, trying not to let Falcon hear.
"Good. As far as possible, make sure that they don't find him, or us." Chrollo said in satisfaction. "Well, that's it. Go crazy."
"Got it Boss." Uvogin replied and hanged up. He flipped the phone shut before he crushed it in his hands and dumped the remains over the side of balloon. "The Boss said to lure out the shadow beasts. We're going to use the reinforcements that are chasing after us to do that."
The Spiders nodded as a shots started flying through the skies around them. A bullet hit the balloon, puncturing a hole which caused the air within to start rushing out at the chance for freedom. Falcon dropped down, grabbing onto the side of the basket to stop his descent as Shalnark started directing the balloon to a good landing spot before it fully deflated.
The hot air balloon landed on a mountain encircling a valley and the Spiders clambered out, looking on as mafiosos started rushing into the valley. Falcon snorted as the gathered mafiosos shot their guns into the air and started yelling at them to surrender.
"Wow. Look at the reception we got!" Shalnark whistled as he placed his hands on his knees and bent down slightly, looking out over the crowd of mafiosos.
"I don't have to clean this up right?" Shizuku asked tiredly.
"No. We want big scene." Feitan replied as Falcon cringed at his grammar but otherwise made no comment.
"I'll take care of them. You guys stay out of this." Uvogin said, taking a small step forwards. Falcon shrugged easily and Uvogin slid down the slope to the bottom of the valley. The mafiosos immediately aimed their guns at Uvogin but a man stopped them and stepped forwards to meet Uvogin.
"Did you kidnap the guests?" The man asked, placing a gun underneath Uvogin's chin.
"Yeah." Uvogin replied casually, looking down at the man he towered over by virtue of height and size alone.
"Did you think you would get away with it punk? Who's your leader?" The man asked. When Uvogin didn't reply and merely smirked at him, the man gritted his teeth angrily and fired the gun. Uvogin's head was knocked back… as he caught the bullet with his teeth.
Uvogin smirked down at the man, spitting the bullet aside as he bent the man's head with a simple swipe of his hand. The mafiosos stood still like statues, stunned by the sudden violence. Uvogin grabbed the body as it started to fly away from the impact and crushed it with his bare hands. With a loud terrified yell, the mafiosos started shooting at Uvogin haphazardly.
"It's like the movie 'Godzilla'. It's Monster vs Ants." Falcon commented.
"Guns will never be able to scratch Uvogin's body." Franklin said.
"His body is toughest in troupe." Feitan continued.
"They just keep on coming." Nobunaga said with a whistle.
"Can't they see that they're just going to end up dead?" Franklin asked. None of the Spiders replied him though, none of them really caring about outsiders whom they did not know. Instead, Shalnark pulled out a deck of cards, waving it in the air invitingly.
"Who wants to play?" Shalnark asked as he plopped down on the ground.
"Deal me in." Machi agreed readily.
"I want to play!" Shizuku said, putting her hand up in the air.
"Deal me a set." Nobunaga said as he sat down and placed his sword by his side.
"Me too." Franklin said.
"Captain? Feitan?" Shalnark asked, shuffling the cards.
"... I'll join." Falcon agreed after glancing down at Uvogin whose fur clothes had just been burned off by a bazooka.
"I lookout." Feitan declined as he settled himself down behind Falcon.
"Sure. Captain, you can go first." Shalnark said with a shrug before he gestured to Falcon.
"7 of Diamonds." Falcon said, taking the aforementioned card from his hand and throwing it down on the ground at the centre of the circle the gathered Spiders who were playing were sat in.
"Bluff." Shalnark said immediately as Falcon cast him a confused glance.
"Why would I lie on the first card?" Falcon asked Shalnark in bemusement, turning the card over to reveal that it was indeed a 7 of Diamonds. Shalnark groaned, taking the card and adding it to his hand.
"I don't know. It just seemed suspicious that you had the middle number." Shalnark replied, looking over the cards in his hand. Then, he threw down a card, glaring challengingly at the person beside him, Machi. "7 of Diamonds."
Machi snorted and calmly threw down two cards. "7 and 8 of Spades." Shalnark stared at the 3 cards, struggling mentally but eventually sighed and let it pass. A bad move going by the smirk on Machi's face when he did so.
They took turns throwing down cards, suspiciously looking at each other's expressions as they did so to try and determine if the other was lying. Shalnark kept calling bluff on most of the people, everyone except Shizuku who he insisted was unable to lie, and thus, his hand grew bigger and bigger.
Finally, Shalnark had about half of the deck, most of his cards collected from the other Spiders when he wrongly called 'Bluff' on them. Shalnark constantly fumbled with his cards, glaring reproachfully at Falcon whenever he chuckled at the sight.
"I'm out of cards." Machi announced first as Shalnark was busy sorting through his massive pile of cards. Shalnark snapped his head up, looking stunned at Machi as she showed her empty hands. Nobunaga laughed as he placed down his last card, also announcing that he was done. Then, the other Spiders placed down their own cards and showed their empty hands to the stunned Shalnark silently.
"One more time!" Shalnark said through gritted teeth as he gathered up the cards on the ground and started shuffling them once more.
"Sure. But if you lose then you have to get me a phone." Falcon agreed, smirking at Shalnark.
"Ooh. Then I want a new sheath!" Nobunaga said.
"I would like more cloth. All of you tear your clothes, and get them bloody, too much." Machi said, glaring at Feitan in particular.
"I want some gems." Shizuku said softly.
"Beer. A whole crate full of them." Franklin demanded.
"Fine! But only for the first two people to win! And if I win first, all of you are buying me… the latest computer!" Shalnark agreed as he dealt out the cards. The other Spiders glanced at each other and shrugged in agreement. As they were halfway through the game, Feitan suddenly spoke up.