I'm really tired right now, even though I'm trying to convince myself I'm not. It's working very well.
It didn't take long for the rest of the troupe to finish the battle after either hearing or seeing the news that both Kurapika and Chrollo had fallen off the ledge. By the time the fighting was over, a few of them had tear streaked faces, but it was covered by blood and grime by that point.
"Are you sure? Feitan, are you positive you saw them fall?" Machi asked, more panicked than Shalnark had ever witnessed her to be.
"Yes, I did. Now please, stop. We have to keep moving now." the transmuter responded monotonously, looking dazed. "We can't find them if we stay here."
"You think there's a chance they're alive?" asked Phinks to Shalnark's left, who had been actively crying during the battle and now had some real time to sit down and do it. "What makes you say that?"
"I don't know, they just… can't be dead."
Shalnark agreed with that. They couldn't be dead. At this point, he wasn't really all too afraid that Kurapika was with Chrollo, just the fact that they were in enemy territory and lost in it. Shalnark went over to where Feitan had said they fell, looking over the edge carefully to look at the cavern walls below.
"Hey, Fei. I can't really tell from here, but what does that look like to you?" Shalnark said, pointing at some part of the cave. Feitan walked over and squinted at it, his eyes opening a bit in realization when he saw what he was directing him towards.
"A ledge."
"Did they fall enough to where they could've hit it?"
"It's possible…"
"Then there is a 50% they're not dead!" Shalnark said, though his mind immediately critiqued him saying that no, that is not 50%, more like .03% if you account the whole cavern itself, but on that half that they fell in it would be 6%, but okay loser.
"That could be true…" Machi said, putting a hand thoughtfully to her chin. "Even though my hunch said that we would get separated somehow, nothing indicated that it'd be bad."
"Wait, you knew this would happen?" Nobunaga asked incredulously, walking forward. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Especially with-"
"I didn't tell anyone because I figured we'd all needlessly try to prevent it." Machi said harshly, but Shalnark could tell she didn't stop the other sentence quick enough.
"'Especially with' what?" Pakunoda asked, crossing her arms. She looked between Nobunaga and Machi, the other woman dropping her gaze immediately when met with the eyes of Pakunoda. Shalnark took this as his cue to get out of there.
"Hey Uvogin, I need to go make an important call before we get any further in this cave, and it'd be cool if you could cover me just in case we need to fight."
"Sure thing Shal." Uvogin smiled, probably taking what he said at face value. What a trusting guy.
They started walking back from where they came from, the feeling of eyes on their back until Nobunaga spoke up.
"So, we have something to tell you guys…"
Within a few more feet the noise from the cavern was cancelled out, and the water drips in the distance replaced their voices, their steps echoing on the rock floor.
"We're gonna have to meet up with them again a lot later, you know that right?" Shalnark asked to the broader man beside him, who nudged him gently in the shoulder.
"Of course I know! If I hadn't, I wouldn't have agreed! Besides, you and I both know that the cell phone reception is terrible in here."
Shalnark laughed. It was true. They probably could've gone in further and gotten connection when hitting the base, but he needed this conversation to be as private as possible.
They arrived at the subway area quicker than Shalnark had predicted, and he ran up the steps to the fresh air of the city, spreading his arms out.
"Isn't this great? You'll probably get a tan before we go back, don't you think?"
Uvogin walked passed him, rolling his eyes.
"I'm already dark enough, you're the one that needs it."
"That's true!" he said, walking behind him as they turned the corner. The hotel they had done their heist on was surrounded by police tape and a few officers who were on guard, but seemed to just be lazily standing around and some were even bunched together and talking. Shalnark did a low whistle at the damage they had done though, the whole front littered in shattered glass and broken items, but no blood or bodies to be found. It was probably a huge mystery to the police.
"Hey Shal, you said you needed to get that call right? You know how long it takes for them to respond as soon as possible, so you should probably do that now."
"Of course." Shalnark said, turning away from the scene smiling as he pulled out his phone, dialing a number he knew by heart at this point. A few rings and a voice picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Berry!" Shalnark said cheerily at hearing the older woman's voice. "I have a request for you."
