Chapter 3: A Simple Mission
Killua had seen some poor neighborhoods throughout his time as an assassin and hunter, but the slums of Lugnica were a whole different level of depressing.
Considering this place has roughly medieval level social policy, there's no safety net for any of the kingdom's poorest people…
Run down houses, some with even the roof caved in, lined the street as Killua walked swiftly, taking in details of the environment.
Those at the bottom of this society are relegated to places like this, where they're left to fend for themselves…
There was nothing he could do to help these people, unfortunately it was a truth in any part of the world that there would always be those who don't have enough.
Most of the people he had tried to question refused to talk to him, likely because of his clean clothes and put together demeanor.
I stick out like a sore thumb…
He had considered using a little hostile aura to coerce some of the locals into answering him, but he had already decided to play it clean, for Gon's sake.
Surely someone here has a more charitable attitude than the others…
As he thought this, he came upon a disheveled man in a green shirt, sitting under the awning of a derelict building.
"Yo, would you mind helping me out for a second?"
The man waved him over with a cheerful look on his face, certainly the first one he'd seen so far in the slums.
"What can I help you with, kid?"
Finally, someone that's actually receptive…
"I was wondering if you knew the identity of a notorious thief that lives around here. She's around my height, has orange hair, and wears kind of a skimpy outfit, any chance you know of her?"
The man gave a quick chuckle, having realized the situation Killua was in.
"You're asking about Felt? Lemme guess, did she steal something from you?"
"She took something from a friend of mine, any chance you know where she lives?"
His unlikely benefactor pointed towards the right, prompting him where to go next.
"It's easy to miss, but her place is two streets down that way. I'd be careful though, I imagine she won't take kindly to you trying to steal back from her."
"I can handle myself, so don't worry. Thanks for the info, maybe I'll let you know how my encounter went later."
"It's no problem, live strong kid!"
Finally having a name and a place, Killua took off down the street, surprising the man who had helped him with his exceptional speed.
"Guess I didn't have to worry about him after all, hah…"
As Killua took off down the dilapidated street, he quickly turned a corner, having not sensed anyone in his vicinity.
*THUD*
Bumping into someone would never throw himself off balance, but he nearly landed on his butt from how surprising the collision was.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry! Are you alright?"
Despite his harsh upbringing and the horrible things he'd seen and done, Killua felt his heart skip a beat when he looked at the woman before him.
I couldn't feel her presence at all until I was literally in her face… And that aura, she's oozing killing intent, yet she's…
Smiling…
"I'm fine, although I must say, you're quite adept at concealing your presence. Otherwise this accident wouldn't have happened."
The woman standing before him wore an incredibly revealing purple and black dress, with a slit in the chest that went all the way down to her navel. Perhaps it was just coincidence, but most of the girls he had run into today wore rather eccentric outfits.
The creepiest thing about her though, was the placid look on her face that betrayed the malevolent aura she was giving off.
"My, my, I'd never expect such a compliment from a child. Perhaps it's to be expected, you were running quite fast and I didn't hear a single one of your footsteps."
"What can I say, I had an unorthodox upbringing."
Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if this woman had a worse childhood than me… To be so twisted internally yet show none of it on your face, that takes a certain level of insanity…
"Hmm? What kind of upbringing would that be? Ah, it doesn't matter, I'm sure we'll cross paths again soon. Consider us kindred spirits."
"Uh, sure… You know, it was nice talking to you, really, but I've got somewhere I need to be."
Before the strange woman could give a response, Killua took off past her in the direction he was originally going.
Once he was around the corner and out of sight, she made a comment to herself, before continuing on in the direction Killua came from.
"Yes… I'm sure of it. I'll be seeing you again soon enough."
…
That woman was dangerous, everything about her was that of a killer… And I don't know how to feel about her saying we'd surely run into each other again…
There was nothing Killua could do short of tailing her , but he already had a task to complete, and couldn't let himself get sidetracked.
After making it down the two streets, he came upon a dwelling that looked straight out of a shanty town.
I guess this whole region of the city is kind of a glorified shanty town, but this fits the bill to a tee …
Not feeling the presence of anyone nearby, he swiftly ducked into what he had to guess was Felt's 'home'.
It was a bit of a mess inside, with no rhyme or reason to the arrangement of her things.
Killua had nearly upturned the entire inside of the place before he was alerted to someone approaching him rapidly from behind.
Guess I've been caught red handed…
Instead of immediately reacting, Killua wanted to catch her off guard.
Based on her stance, she plans to stab me with that dagger in her hand…
Jeez, just because I'm going through her stuff? And I thought I had an anger problem…
The thief called Felt was certainly fast compared to the average human, but she was sloppy in her movements. In Killua's mind, the amount of noise she made with her footfalls was akin to an orchestra.
Right before she reached Killua's position though, she shouted at him angrily.
"Get your grubby hands off my stuff!"
Perhaps she didn't intend to conceal herself at all if she was gonna threaten me before attacking… That means she thinks I'm just a regular kid, heheheh…
Because of his ten, Killua could've just tanked the knife attack without the blade ever touching his skin, but he didn't want to go around revealing his abilities so soon in this foriegn place.
Instead, he decided to duck to the side at the last second, when the blade was only inches from his back.
"It's not nice to try and stab people out of nowhere, you know?"
Felt had a clear look of irritation on her face, having not expected the intruder's insane reflexes.
"Get lost! There's not even anything worth stealing here anyways!"
Killua shifted around Felt so that he was now outside, and playfully shoved her from behind, causing her to trip into her house.
"Well, you seemed to think my friend's insignia was valuable enough to steal, so I'm gonna say you're lying."
"Your friend?!"
As Felt shouted out her revelation, the impact of falling into her home was enough to destabilize the makeshift structure to the point that it collapsed in on itself.
*CRASH*
"Whoops… Are you alright under there?"
There was a brief rustling from the rubble before Felt burst out into the air, launching herself towards Killua.
"Are you stupid or something?! You ruined my house!"
Sighing at the girl's continued struggle, Killua began dodging her attacks one by one, his hands in his pockets the entire time.
"I hate to break it to you, but you're the one who broke your house, not me."
"You shoved me into it! That's your fault!"
Their charade of a fight continued for less than a minute, with Killua continuing to dodge Felt's strikes while showing no effort.
Surely she'll realize this is futile and just talk to me, right?
Despite that being the logical possibility, the hot headed thief showed no signs of stopping her assault.
"Listen, I don't wanna hurt you, I just want the insignia back, alright? I'll even help you fish it out of the rubble."
"I don't know what you're talking ab-"
*CRUNCH*
Before Felt could even finish her sentence, one of Killua's hands had shot out of his pocket and grabbed her blade directly, crumbling it into pieces between his fingers.
"I'll ask again, where is the insignia?"
This time, Killua couldn't help himself from releasing some of his killing intent, having not realized how irritated this girl had begun to make him feel.
The deadly gaze that felt like it pierced into her soul caused Felt's body to seize up, even dropping the handle of her now shattered blade.
"I-I wasn't lying! It really isn't in my house!"
"Ho? Are you going to deny that you stole it in the first place?"
This is what Felt was dreading to answer, even going as far as to reflexively taking a step back, her body preparing her to flee.
However, despite her fight or flight instincts telling her to run with all their might, she knew she didn't stand a chance of escaping this boy.
"Ok, I... I did steal the insignia. I dropped it off at a loot house before I came back here, that's why I don't have it…"
Finally some headway… I wish Gon would accept that we could get things done so much faster if I just put a little pressure on…
"See? Honesty isn't that hard, so how about you lead me to this loot house of yours?"
Realizing she had no other choice at this point, Felt hung her head in shame and started walking.
"Follow me, then. Old man Rom will be waiting there, so don't try anything funny with him."
"I think you've got that the wrong way around, this old man Rom you mentioned shouldn't try anything funny with me."
Killua had a devilish grin as he said this, knowing full well that the old man she brought up wouldn't likely be a challenge.
She seems to have some level of confidence in his ability, but if it's relative in any way to hers, taking this insignia back should be a breeze…
"I get it, I get it. I'll make sure he understands the situation as soon as we get there."
The rest of the walk was silence between the two. Felt's pride was too wounded to try and make conversation, and Killua was genuinely disinterested.
However, as the sun began to near the horizon, an obvious question popped into Killua's head.
"Not that it matters at this point, but why did you steal the insignia? Is there some kind of expensive gem in it that makes it valuable?"
Felt looked at him flabbergasted, although she was growing used to the unexpected responses from this boy.
"You're telling me you went through all this effort to get the insignia back, and you don't even understand its true value?!"
Killua merely shrugged in response.
"I would say it was to help a friend, but I've barely just met the owner, so it's not entirely the truth. More accurately, I'm helping out my best friend, who wanted to help someone he'd just met."
"Your friend sounds really naive, especially if he was willing to get involved with something of this scale without knowing the details…"
Gon is certainly more naive than the average person, but it'd be more accurate to say he was always willing to see the good in people…
Assuming there was any good there to begin with…
Thoughts of Gon's indescribable rage towards Pitou flashed through his mind, reminding Killua that the happy-go-lucky Gon that Felt was describing was only the tip of the iceberg.
"What can I say, he helps balance me out, as much as I hate to admit it. There've been plenty of times in the past where I wanted to run away from danger, but wound up following behind Gon anyways."
While Felt still held hostility towards the friend that Killua was describing, even she had to admit that he sounded like a much more pleasant person than the one she'd wound up confronting.
"Well it's a shame I didn't run into him instead. Actually, I wish I hadn't run into either of you."
"Yet here you are, leading me to reclaim the goods you stole. Reality is often disappointing."
"I don't need you to tell me that! I've spent my whole life in this place, and even if I know I'll rise above it all one day, everything leading up to it has sucked! So don't preach to me about disappointment if you don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about!"
It's almost hilarious how wrong she is about me, but I don't think she'd take very kindly to my assassin backstory, regardless of how tragic it may be…
"Hey, I won't make assumptions about you if you can do the same for me. I never claimed to know you, but you definitely don't know me, so don't act otherwise."
Felt clicked her tongue in response and turned her head away from Killua, the stress of the current situation understandably getting to her head.
"More importantly though, where's this loot house you were talking about? If I find out you've been leading me somewhere else, there's going to be consequences."
I doubt she'd be careless enough to risk her life over this insignia, regardless of how important she makes it sound…
"Do you think I'd be dumb enough to do that after you shattered my knife with your bare hands? We're almost there, so suck it up for a little longer."
Their conversation once again dragged on into silence. While Killua didn't appreciate the tone Felt was taking with him, he would likely do the same if he had to squander his own efforts like this.
There aren't many worse feelings than being powerless before an overwhelming enemy, she can thank her lucky stars that this isn't a matter of life and death…
A minute passed with the both of them remaining silent, however, that silence was broken when felt stepped up onto the porch of an inconspicuous looking building.
Single story, most likely two exits, maybe more considering this place is used to store stolen goods…
It was purely out of habit, but Killua's assassin training was hard wired into him. Surveying a point of interest like this would be a necessity in one of his past missions.
Better to be too careful than too careless I suppose…
Killua stood behind the thief as she approached the door and did a particular knock, knocking twice in slow succession.
It was then that an old sounding voice resonated from the other side.
"For a rat…"
"Poison."
"For the white whale…"
"A harpoon."
"To the noble dragon lord, we are…"
"Shitbags."
He had expected a code of some kind to be required to gain entry to this place, but even Killua was amused by its thoroughness.
Although honestly, I could've guessed the answers to the first two, it's that last answer that'd be hard to crack…
As soon as Felt had answered the last question, one of the double doors creaked open, revealing a giant of a man that Killua had to assume was the aforementioned old man Rom.
This guy looks like he could be Morel's cousin, although even Morel would look timid if he were standing next to him…
The giant he presumed to be old man Rom easily stood at over seven feet tall, but his hunched posture made his height seem slightly less imposing. He sported a bald head with a swirling red tattoo on the right side, the only hair on his head being extremely bushy white eyebrows that swept all the way down to his cheekbones.
He'd probably be an enhancer, although even someone like Morel was a manipulator despite his brolic musculature…
"Back so soon after your last drop off, Felt? I can't imagine you snagged something that valuable since you left."
As Rom said this though, he noticed the hesitant look on the girl's face, looking behind her at the peculiarly dressed boy that gave him the creeps.
"This a friend of yours, Felt?"
Both Killua and Felt entered the loothouse, following Rom to the bar where he offered up two glasses of suspicious looking milk.
"I… wouldn't call him a friend…"
Rom looked confused at his favorite's thief's cryptic answer, although Killua quickly interjected with his intentions.
"The name's Killua, I assume you must be the old man Rom she mentioned earlier."
"Yeah, that's me. And Felt, I thought I told you to not go around babbling about me to outsiders! I can trust your judgment on who you decide to bring around here, but it takes away from the mystery of this place if they come in already knowing who I am."
Felt merely looked down in shame, knowing that not only did she give away precious information, but also had led someone dangerous right to the loot house.
"Let me cut to the chase old man, I know that Felt stole the insignia, and I'm here to take it back to its owner."
Rom's eyes went wide as he looked towards Felt, hoping that this was some kind of practical joke, but when all he saw was a cold look of shame in return, he began to grit his teeth angrily.
"You think you can come into my place of business and make demands? I don't know how you suckered Felt into this, but I won't stand for it!"
"Old man Rom, wait!"
Ignoring Felt's plea, Rom reached for the massive wooden club that he kept behind the bar, however his hands felt nothing but empty space.
"Where the hell did I put that thing-"
As he looked up from under the counter, he saw the strange boy who had called himself Killua spinning his club on his pinky finger, despite never seeing him move to grab it.
"How… When did you…"
"Listen old man, I told Felt the same thing. I don't wanna have to hurt anyone, I just want the damn insignia back."
Rom was visibly sweating as he tried to wrap his head around what had just occurred in front of him.
Did he use magic? No, it wasn't magic… This boy just managed to move so fast that I couldn't even see him in the brief moment I looked away…
"Huh, I'm too old for this kind of stuff. I don't got enough time left to go and throw it away over a single piece of loot, regardless of its value."
Felt let out a visible sigh as he said this, likely just happy that Rom wasn't going to futilely die trying to keep the insignia.
"Glad to hear it. I'd find it distasteful myself having to kill an old timer who couldn't put up a fight."
Rom winced at the insult, having previously held his combat abilities in high regard. Yet he also wasn't a fool, and was willing to admit when he was outmatched.
Killua handed the club back to Rom, who was surprised at the boy's generosity, yet immediately realized that it meant his club was never a threat to him in the first place.
"I can't be too upset with you, Killua. In this kind of business it's only a matter of time before you steal from the wrong person. Wait here, I'll go fetch the insignia."
Having completed his mission, Killua smiled and triumphantly took a swig of the milk that had been offered to him earlier.
"Bleh… Did you water this milk down? I understand life is tough in the slums, but this feels like a little much."
Rom let out a hearty laugh from the back of the loot house at the absurdity of the whole situation.
"Your words hurt me, you know? Also, there could've been poison in that milk, I'm surprised someone as skilled as yourself would drink it without caution."
Killua shrugged at this as he pushed the milk to the other end of the bar.
"You don't have to believe me, but my body is immune to all poisons. Would've made for a great party trick if you'd actually poisoned the milk."
Walking back to the front of the loot house, Rom set the insignia down on the bar's counter.
"After seeing that display with my club, I'm inclined to believe you."
The coveted insignia that sat in front of Killua was triangular in shape, and had golden detailing in the shape of a dragon. Just as he had guessed earlier, there was a small, dark red gem set in its center.
"Is this thing really worth all the hype? I've seen gems in rings bigger than this thing."
"If you're trying to insult my efforts, then it's not working. I was hired to steal this by a client offering ten holy coins, so clearly it's worth more than just the value of its components."
Felt was trying hard not to be agitated by the whole ordeal, but there was a sense of peace within her knowing that both her and old man Rom would be walking away from it with their lives intact.
"Well, its value is irrelevant to me. It was nice doing business with you guys, so I'll be on my way now."
As Killua reached for the insignia, there was a resounding knock on the door.
"You two expecting someone? That didn't sound like the secret knock Felt used earlier."
"It's probably the client who hired Felt, although they're here far earlier than anticipated…"
Both Rom and Felt looked towards Killua, obviously waiting for a cue from him on how to respond to the unexpected complication.
"Go ahead and let them in. I'm curious what kind of person would be willing to go so far in order to acquire this thing. Don't worry, I won't kill them. Wouldn't want to sour the reputation of you guys' 'business'."
Felt got down from her seat at the bar and approached the door, and hesitantly opened it.
The last thing Killua had expected was to see a familiar face enter.
"Oh my, I knew I was right to trust my gut. Following you here has saved me quite the headache."
Standing at the door was the malevolent woman he'd accidentally run into earlier, who had apparently tailed him the whole way here without his knowledge.
I knew she would wind up being a pain in my ass…
"So, you're the one who wanted the insignia? With your level of skill, why didn't you just take it yourself?"
She let out a chuckle that from any other girl may be considered cute, but all it did was make everyone present feel uneasy.
"I'm simply following orders of my own, but none of that is of concern. It would seem there's a greater interest in this insignia than we thought, did you come here to undercut me and run off with it yourself?"
Killua stared her down, a glare of annoyance present on his face as he tucked the insignia away into his pocket.
"No, actually, I came here to take it back by force if necessary. Luckily these two were intelligent enough to make this a bloodless transfer."
The woman walked slowly into the loot house, her heels clicking with each step she took.
"Those are the kind of words only spoken by the strong, and I must say I like that attitude of yours. Unfortunately for both of us, returning empty handed isn't an option for me. Would you be open to selling it to me instead?"
"I'm not gonna lie lady, I may be hard pressed for cash, but I'd be letting down a friend if I took a deal like that. I'm taking this thing back to its owner, sorry if that sours your relationship with your boss."
The smile on her face morphed into a sinister grin as she released an oppressive amount of killing intent.
"So, you're with them, then."
…
Hey everyone, it'd mean a lot for me if you guys left a review before clicking off. I write because I love to explore story ideas with new characters in a different world, but reviews are the only means by which I know whether people are enjoying the fic or not. Criticism is always welcome as well, I just like knowing where you guys are at.
