"And I have a proposition. For each of you."

In our silent corner of the airship, those words rang out with force. The whining noise of fluorescent bulbs sounding like mechanical, demonic insects. Our situation felt surreal, the high-pitched drone sounding worse than possible. A blaring screech past was audibly possible.

Surprisingly, Leorio's voice snapped us out of our imaginations. He glared at his phone before speaking.

"Ok, what do you want?"

"I'll start with you first, Leorio Paradinight. You wish to be a doctor, correct?"

Leorio moved his glare on to me. I shook my head, refuting any possibility I leaked anything. I just found about his goals a few minutes ago. There was no way...

"Oh, it wasn't James. I know all about you three. Even Gon."

We tensed up. My teeth threatened to snap from how hard I clenched them. Leorio gripped his fists, while Killua's eyes turned dangerous. Kurapika was the calmest out of all of us. But he even stood stiffly, his hands folded in front of his face as he thought things over. Concealing his emotions...

Kurapika could posture all he wanted, but she had the upper hand.

Completely.

If my theory from early today was correct, she would always have the upper hand. She'd always be able to predict what we'll do. At least these three and Gon...

I closed my eyes and frowned. My head hung down at my mistake. I just opened the Lament Configuration...

"Don't take it too hard, James. Their paths would have crossed with mine, eventually. I just wanted to make sure it was sooner than later. And I needed to get something out of my investment in you. Even if you fail the Exam. And you still need to pass the Exam, so I'm rooting for y-"

Killua cut in, his voice cold, "Don't think because you know about us means you're in charge..."

"I've bought your services several times, Killua. I've been in charge ever since."

Killua's face was cold and murderous. I was terrified at the amount of blood lust he gave off.

"So you know I want to be a doctor. So what? I wouldn't join you if my life depended on it," Leorio said dismissively. Yet his face was tense...

"So what if your ability to become a doctor depended on it?"

Kurapika leaned forward, his eyes widened as he connected the dots before all of us, "You can't have that much influence..."

Leorio looked at the rest of our concerned faces with confusion, then his eyes widened in fear as the pieces fell into place.

"You can't be serious. T-that's impossible!"

"Oh, anything is possible in life. If you have enough money and power, that is. Refuse me and you'll find it impossible to get into any school, no matter how far you go or what remote corner of the planet you travel to. It won't matter if you have a Hunter License. You'll never be accepted into any school."

"That's... that's..."

"Let me paint you a picture, Mr. Paradinight: You try to join any school for a premed course, 'rejected'. All applications 'lost' or 'rejected'. For various, sometimes outlandish, reasons. No matter where you go, you'll find nothing but dead ends."

"You can try to teach yourself, sure, but it'll be so very difficult to help people when you aren't really a doctor. Every organization you try to join will deny you. And every practice and clinic you open seems to end up in flames, so to speak..."

"All the money in the world will not get you what you want if you reject me outright..."

"People like Pietro will continue to die."

We stared at Leorio. He was shaking and sweating. His face sickly pale. She didn't need to threaten his life. She did far worse.

As I stared at Leorio, I realized I'd rather be beaten up a thousand times then see someone's soul being taken away from them. I... I didn't know what to do. I was paralyzed with doubt. All I could do was watch this massacre continue because, well, I already fucked up by calling Evira...

What if I did or said something to make things worse?

"Please, don't be upset. That'll only happen if you don't come to York New City to speak with me. You don't even have to say yes. I simply want to talk. After the Hunter Exam," she said, as pleasant as a plum.

But there was nothing pleasant about that exchange...

Leorio didn't say a word. What could he say?

"Kurapika! I'm pleased to finally speak with you, sadly not in person. But I do-"

"Please stop with the affability..." Kurapika whispered, his eyes as dangerous as Killua's. He did not enjoy watching his friend's dream be threatened any more than I did.

"Hmm, very well. I'll get to the point. I will assume everyone except for Killua knows about your origins, correct?"

Killua looked at me with confusion. I sighed and waved my hand to Kurapika. It was his story to tell, not mine. Killua turned to Kurapika, who stared back at the former assassin with searching eyes. The blonde closed his eyes, lowered his head slightly, and sighed.

"Correct," he opened his eyes and turned to Killua, "I am from a clan called the Kurta. I am the last of my people, all massacred by the criminal group known as the Phantom Troupe. They were killed under the orders of her."

The way Kurapika glanced at Leorio's phone was just as blood freezing as when he did it to me at the swamps...

"Did I now?"

Kurapika snarled and leaned forward, hovering over the phone with fury, "Don't play dumb! My investigations pointed to you being the first purchasers of the Scarlet Eyes, as well as the one who bought the majority of them!"

"Well, that is true. I will not deny that."

The silence that lingered after that statement could have shattered glass.

Kurapika stared at the phone, his teeth visibly clenched. His usual calm demeanor completely gone by Evira's brazen attitude.

"Why are you playing games! Why don't you simply admit the truth?!"

"Well, I haven't lied yet," Evira said, exasperated.

Kurapika trembled with wrath. He wanted to take out his anger on something, but he only had a voice who danced around his questions.

This, this was where I could help.

I walked over to Kurapika and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned up to me, his face scrunched up in such ferocious rage I felt like I was staring at a feral animal. I shook my head in response.

"She's pushing your buttons."

"Ah, so you can learn, James! Though, not as quickly as your supposed intelligence implies."

"Fuck you," I snarled.

"Ah, another failed test. How unfortunate."

I let go of Kurapika's shoulder, closed my eyes, and breathed. An entire day of being furious and frustrated... I was done with it... enough… enough...

When I opened my eyes a second later, I was as calm as I could be.

"What do you want, Evira? Stop antagonizing them. Stop antagonizing me. You're just putting us off balance, aren't you?"

Immediately, the atmosphere changed. Like someone waving away a cigar smoke. No longer suffocating or oppressive...

"Hmm. I take that back. You passed at the last second."

Kurapika took a cue from me and relaxed, closing his eyes and breathed. When he opened them again, his eyes were no longer grey contacts covering red...

"You didn't order my clan killed, did you?"

"Ah, there we go. Finally, using a little of that intelligence you Kurta are known for. A strange mix: anger and intelligence. Similar to James there. Over your shoulder."

Kurapika ignored the insult and the blatant power move of pointing out my position from a continent away. Kurapika was in the zone. He wanted answers...

"If you didn't order it, why take the eyes? Why save one of my clan members?"

"So James told you… I'll tell you why if you come to York New City. As to why I saved a member of your clan... I didn't. Mayer's previous apprentice saved Pairo."

Kurapika's eyes widened as it was now his turn to tremble. His body slackened as his eyes scanned the air in front of him. It was obvious he was seeing all the memories of the two in front of them. His mouth opened slightly in disbelief.

While he was reliving the past, my mind was in the present. Working on how to counter Evira. I never told Kurapika about a clan member... Kurapika came to that conclusion by himself...

She hasn't been stalking me. She activated her power when I called her from another person's phone... that was that silence and shuffling... some requirement maybe...

Shit, I wish I had more information to build something off of this. But at least I knew she wasn't omniscient or omnipresent, she had limits...

She can have my soul all she wants, but I refused to let her take their souls.

Before I could think any further, Evira continued, shattering my train of thought.

"The report by the first Hunter at the scene, Mayer, reported one hundred and twenty-eight bodies. Exactly how many were in your clan: but that didn't mean your entire clan was there. Mayer's dear apprentice managed to save Pairo and your Clan Elder, but Fate always demands an equal price..." she ended in a sad tone.

Kurapika's eyes continued to search, running his intelligence to its limit as he pieced together the clues. Somehow his eyes widened at something, "That's why..."

Evira spoke, but it wasn't with the smooth confidence of before, but respect and sympathy… and regret "Your Elder he... he took his own life shortly afterward. The things he saw... I do not blame him at all..."

Kurapika leaned forward, his body balled up, physically in pain from revelations that tore through him. He raised his arms into the air in fury and brought them down. His face a grimace of pain and his wide eyes filled with tears…

He stopped his arms before impact, just above the surface of the table. He then gently placed his hands flat on the table and hung his head. Blonde hair served as a curtain to hide his face as tears streamed down. He looked... tired.

His world was upside down.

"Mayer brought Pairo to me for protection… I have been protecting him ever since."

"For all the things I am, Kurapika of the Kurta Clan, I do not lie. I am fair. I understand. That is how I stay in power when surrounded by liars, scoundrels, and thieves: I give people an alternative. As I am giving you all an alternative..."

Before Kurapika was beaten into submission by words, Killua cut in again, his voice dangerously low, "And what about me? You haven't offered me anything."

"My offer is something everyone else has: nothing. Or from your perspective: freedom."

Killua closed his eyes and gave a cocky smirk, "Tch."

That's when we felt it.

My stomach dropped. My heart began pounding through my chest. Tightened fists felt weak. Skin felt cold, dry, and clammy. I began to sweat profusely. Too much saliva in my mouth, yet I couldn't swallow. Hard to breathe, yet hyper-ventilating. The world was shrinking, vibrating, crushing me. As if the walls were closing in all around me. My vision became disoriented, surreal, and tilted. I was light-headed, but my body felt heavy…

Worse than any anxiety attack I've felt… since earlier today in the swamp.

Sheer supernatural terror.

The phone radiated... danger... death...

"Run... Run... Run..."

It was the same sensation that Hisoka gave off when I was in front of him, his hands against my throat...

But far worse.

Killua's eyes became wide as saucers as he stared at the phone. His body trembled uncontrollably. I don't blame him. I was shaking as well, the terrifying Aura all around us. Crushing. I had no clue what was going on, or how it was happening.

Kurapika and Leorio were frozen in fear at the sensation, staring at the demonic communication device. They never felt this sensation before, and it should have hit them harder than either Killua or I, but somehow Killua was reacting the worst.

"Die!" the phone vibrated horrifically as we felt soul-rending terror swallow the area; it bathed the world in purple and shadows. I turned to my left, and Killua was gone. We turned upwards to find this trained assassin in a corner, hanging on the ceiling. He was shaking and looking hatefully at the phone. In his eyes held genuine fear.

Evira tutted. Color returned to the world as she released our minds from her unnatural terror. It had felt like an enormous maw swallowing us whole...

"Oh well. Think on it, Killua. One thing you all share is your green friend's well-being. So, you should all be happy to hear I know how to find Gon's father."

We stared at the phone as though she said she held the location to El Dorado.

"All of you, come to York New City after the Hunter Exam. If you do, all of my threats will be void. You don't even have to accept, just listen to my offer. If you don't come, then I will assume you are rejecting my deal. You can imagine what will happen if you do…"

She yawned.

"It's late. About ten P.M. here in York New City. You boys should get some sleep. Focus on the Exam for now. I hear Trick Tower is a real doozy. Now, Killua, if you could bring the phone to Gon. I would also like to speak to you alone."

Killua dropped to the floor and hesitantly walked towards the phone. His hands shook as he reached out towards the device. None of us could see his eyes beneath his hair, but we didn't need to see his eyes to know what expression he had. We all held the same expression...

When he grabbed the phone, he lethargically turned around and walked away down the hall. His footsteps as silent as always. The moment he turned the corner, he might as well have disappeared into thin air...

I turned to the Kurapika and Leorio. My hands hurting as I clenched them in frustration, my eyes filled with guilt. I felt like I set them up for an ambush. It felt like I was set up for an ambush...

The worst thing to me... they didn't hold it against me...

We didn't sleep well that night. I certainly didn't.


I woke up early. Actually, I woke up on the same day, just a few hours later. Our conversation ended around one in the morning. It was around seven, and six hours of sleep seemed to be good enough for my body.

I was charging my laptop while surfing the void, figuring out Trick Tower with limited resources to draw from. It was hard when you didn't have Wikipedia or a zillion wikis to help. Just old websites... Still, it felt good distracting my brain from the conversation the four of us had last night with Evira... even if these websites suck ass.

What helped me save time was the database on the laptop. There was an entire hard-drive filled with information on the Hunter Exam and related stuff. It was massive. Well, by nineteen-ninety-nine standards. Just a lot of text documents and some images. He also had info on a lot of the other Hunter candidates, which would come in handy.

Some of the info I found on Trick Tower was that it's the tallest prison in the world. Also, it was this world's Alcatraz. You sent the worst people there to stay there. The only picture I found was a grainy, black-and-white image of a giant pillar-like building on a giant pillar-like mountain with sheer drops all around it. There was a small entrance at the top of the tower where they brought in prisoners after they were delivered by airship.

I don't know what the fuck we were doing by going to prison for the third phase, but... It had to be worse than the second phase. We started with over four hundred applicants and it was whittled down to a little more than fifty. Considering how there seems to be a concerted effort by the Hunter Association to kill all the Hunter applicants, I'm going in with my guard as high as humanly possible. And that meant researching as much as possible...

Sadly, nothing about Nen other than what Panza taught me. Which was Nen of the Flames. But considering Panza's incorporeal-ass didn't teach me real Nen or even explain that what he taught me was Nen of the Flames, I assumed that he assumed Mayer would teach me the rest...

I also take back everything I said to Mayer about Nen. Considering I almost died because I couldn't control my Aura, I now fully agree with Mayer's choice to not teach me jack shit. You play with fire, you better know how to control it. If I was any less 'talented' (I guess? Whatever that means) there would be fifty-one Hunter candidates on this airship instead of fifty-two.

I'm not fucking with Nen until I have some long, uninterrupted time to sit down with it. Safely. Without being surrounded by dangerous people. I can only turn it on and off. Like some comic book super power: no subtly at all.

But I haven't turned it back on to test it out either... There has to be some way to control it. I want to control it...

And since Zetsu is one of the four things Panza taught me... and a principle of Nen of the Flames, a good guess the other three are parts of Nen as well.

Zetsu meant tongue, which I doubt Hisoka was referring to his act of lip-licking... But Hisoka called my ability to hold Aura inside my body as Zetsu...

Dictionary... dictionary... Zetsu 'Tongue', also 'Suppress' or 'Null'. Aha! Makes more sense than tongue! Now to-

"Whatcha' doin'?" someone whispered right in my ear.

"Fuc-!" I yelled in surprise as it felt my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I leaned over to my left side, teetering on the edge of the bench like a Jenga tower. I slowly lost balance, slid to the floor, and onto my back.

With a frown, and my laptop by held against my stomach (like an otter hugging his favorite stone), I looked up over my laptop monitor. It was Killua, staring at me with a smirk.

"Heh, I knew that time on the train was a fluke."

"What?" I said while squinting at him with leftover sleepiness.

He looked back at me with a confused face, "You noticed me when I walked up behind you. On the train? Remember?"

"Oh. That's because I was tensed up and felt the air move on my hair and neck. Like cat whiskers or something."

"Really? That's actually pretty advanced..." Killua said with a face of surprise.

"Well, I might not be the best at fighting, but I got good spatial awareness and self-awareness. I have some stealth detection skills. I guess it comes with having good perception," I said with a shrug, before getting up and brushed myself off. I was happy I was in my suit again. It dried last night, and I picked it up when I awoke.

My eyes scanned Killua. I had good perception, but he was practically invisible if he wanted to be...

I flexed my back, cracked my joints as I stretched. I spoke up with a yawn in my voice, "You wanted to talk to me, right? We didn't have much time last night, since, ya' know..." I said, my face darkened. Killua's face mirrored mine before hurrying on.

"Yeah. I wanted to know what happened in the swamp. Between you, Kurapika, and Leorio."

I shrugged and turned to face the window, putting my hand and my laptop on the headrest of the bench.

"Just a misunderstanding. Kurapika wanted to kill me because I was a Tao Long. Specifically, he thought I was one of the higher-ups who ordered his clan dead. I convinced him not to kill me by dangling information about a clan member in front of him. I would have told him last night, as a peace offering to bury the hatchet, but Evira..."

Killua nodded his head. His eyes grew serious as he lost himself in thought.

I didn't know what he was thinking about, but I could guess it was the offer she gave him. He did talk to her alone. I wanted to broach the subject, but I also wanted to know where the fuck Gon was. Besides, that sounded like a better topic to ease into, before we jumped into the rest...

"Where was Gon last night anyways? I haven't seen him anywhere."

Killua snapped out of his thoughts and turned to me, his face serious. It quickly disappeared as a flash of annoyance came on his face. That flash of annoyance turned into sheer pissed-offness. He wrapped his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling, sneering.

"We were playing a game with that old man, Netero. He said if we grabbed a ball from him he'd make us Hunters on the spot. But he's way too strong. He was just playing with us! We barely got him to use his right arm or left leg! It made me so angry I knocked out these two idiots before I saw you last night..." Killua said, salty as shit.

"Oh, so it was you who was staring at me before I entered the bathroom. Well, I could've told you he was strong. He's Mayer's Master, therefore my Grandmaster," I said, smugly.

"That's not what Grandmaster means. Grandmaster doesn't mean anything. It's just a made-up title that's different for every martial arts school," he said, his arms glued to the back of his head and a dismissive look on his face.

"Oh, wait... So it's not like my grandfather in martial arts? But isn't he the Grandmaster of his school? He's the master of my master..." I said, disappointed…

Killua stared out of the corner of his eyes with a disbelieving look on his face, "Yeah? But that doesn't mean he's your Grandmaster. Only if you were a part of his school. Which you're not..."

I shrugged, letting the matter drop. I don't know shit about martial arts. I know how to fight. But I don't consider myself a martial artist. I know how to hit things really hard and really fast. That's it. I'm more of a swordsman, really…

I stared out at the window with my laptop in hand. Killua stared off as well. We enjoyed the silence for a few minutes, just staring at the clouds.

"Gon is still probably sleeping in the room we 'played' in," Killua said, salty, breaking the comfortable silence.

I chuckled, "Gon doesn't seem to have any self-awareness does he? He just does. Everyone else has to hang on," I said with a smile as I remembered how he spoke to me when the duo rescued me. Or when he slid down the hill with no hesitation or worry about giant, violent pigs. Which I warned him about before we even 'hunted' for them...

"Yeah, but that's what makes him interesting. Ya' know?" Killua said with a smirk.

I nodded my head before chuckling some more. I stared down at the ground hundreds of meters below us and spoke.

"Yeah. I used to be like that..."

I looked up and stared out the window. The clouds flying past, like gentle petals.

I frowned.

"Sometimes I wonder how it'd be to be like that again..."

Killua nodded with a smirk before speaking, "I wouldn't want to be an idiot, if that's why you're getting at. But I get your perspective... Never having to doubt your actions. Always sure of yourself. To know what you want to do..."

I turned to Killua, his mind far off into clouds. He wasn't smirking anymore.

He tilted his head slightly, his eyes longing, "I... always wondered what it would be like to be born into a normal family. To be normal, ya' know?"

I nodded.

"Me too."

My eyes scanned the flying landscape in front of us as the morning sun said hello.

I laughed. Killua turned to me, confused.

"I don't feel sky sick anymore. Ain't that something?"

He shook his head with a small smile, "Idiot."

"I think we'll get what we want, Killua. A purpose and some normalcy. Eventually."

"Aren't you working for your Family?" he said with a raised eyebrow

"Aren't you an assassin for your Family?" I said, matching his eyebrow and adding a smile.

"Nnn..." Killua said with a sneer and freeze of his body.

I turned back to the clouds and frowned, my eyes steel, "Heh, you ain't gonna' do that tricky bullshit on me. I'm too good for that..." I said with a smirk.

Killua looked at me for a long time, before turning back to the clouds and laughed, "Who said you were good?"

"I'm the shit, bro."

"Your self-confidence makes no sense. Who calls themselves shit?" The cotton ball said with one eye squinting.

"It makes no sense not to have self-confidence!" I finished with a laugh. Killua looked at me sourly, unable to defeat my stupidity or comprehend my Earth slang of 'shit'.

"Id-iot. Hey, you sure it's ok teaming up with those two?"

"Why wouldn't it be ok?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes, "Because they beat you up and tried to kill you? I'd have thought you'd be angrier..." he said with an eyebrow raised and an angry vein.

I took a deep breath before answering, "I already said it was a misunderstanding. I punched him back yesterday, the moment you and Gon left. What else am I gonna' do? Stab him for good measure? I'm not gonna' be salty about it for the rest of my life. Water under the bridge, I got shit to do," I said as I walked over and sat on the bench.

I hissed as I sat my battered, bruised, sore, stiff body on the wooden bench.

As I leaned forward on the bench, like my body was one giant bruise, I spoke, "Aaah... jeez. Besides, I know the feeling of someone close to you being killed. I don't blame him."

Killua walked over and stared at me, a disbelieving look on his face from either how forgiving I am or how fucked up my body was.

"Huh, yeah? That's nice of you, considering it looks like shit got done with you. What does salty mean, anyway? Is that annoyed?"

"Don't fuckin'... steal my style of speech! My stupidity is my own. Go find your own language, ya' leech," I said with a dismissive wave of my hand.

He shook his head with a smirk and closed eyes, "Your in a better mood today."

I shrugged and sighed before looking at him seriously.

"Well, I was dealing with a lot of stuff yesterday. Death, death, more death, my close calls with death. Lots of death, man. Then a cooking competition! Yaaay..." I laughed a little at the insanity of yesterday, "Sleep helped... Yeah, I'm better today, but I don't think I will be for long."

I looked away and moved my lower jaw as I thought about how to broach the next subjects.

"So, remember how I was cranky and tired yesterday?"

Killua rolled his eyes, "Kinda hard to miss. I thought it was nerves."

I had a fever, and the only prescription was a clown touching me. That wasn't gonna' fly if I said that.

"It was nerves, but aggravated by a condition," I said, moving my hands as I spoke, trying my best not to sound insane.

"What?" he said with an eyebrow raised.

"You know anything about Nen?"

"Yeah, Nen of the Flames? What about it? My grandpa is always telling me to study it. It's boring though. I thought it was some kind of philosophy," he said with two hands in his pocket. He lazily kicked the floor for punctuation.

I looked out of the corner of my eye, made a face, and wiggled my hand, "Weeell, not really... It's real and not strictly a philosophy. Before you woke up, I was looking for information on it. Nothing useful. It's all the same shit on the internet, the fake stuff."

"What d'you mean?"

"Does your family have any magic powers?" I said with a suspicious squint of my eyes. Sadly, not very different from how my eyes normally look now.

He nodded, then his eyes widened.

"Wait, you're telling me that's Nen? I thought they were special techniques?"

I rubbed my face in embarrassment for him, "Come on man, you're not even dumb! How?!"

Killua pointed a finger at me like a loaded gun.

"HEY! Who are you calling dumb, you moron! It's not like you knew about it either!"

I held my left hand out, while my right hand was on my chest, offended, "First, I didn't call you dumb. Second, hold on! At least when people say 'this is magic', I don't instantly believe them! I was suspicious the moment I saw crazy shit. 'Hey, what the fuck is this?', 'Hey, what the fuck is that!?' Ya' know? I was just denied the opportunity to learn it. For good reasons," I finished with my arms crossed, head tilted back, and jutted my chin out in arrogance.

Checkmate, Swol-dick.

Killua gave me the angriest face ever. I couldn't even see his eyes from how hard he narrowed his eyes at me. Steam was practically coming off his head. He'd have kicked my ass if I said Swol-dick outloud. Heh, Swol-dick...

I think he assumed I was thinking it, because his finger was now closer to my face. I kept smiling as I turned my head and leaned away from his finger.

"You're full of yourself, you know that?! I'm pretty sure I know what you're thinking! I can see it on your face!"

He can't prove anything, hehehe...

He crossed his arms and looked away, peeved. He wasn't even looking at me. Childish victory was mine! Woo!

Killua deigned to give me a sideways glance as he spoke, a small frown on his face, "The only ones I've seen were my grandpa's Dragon Dive and Illumi's needles-"

I flinched at the word needle. Killua noticed. Immediately his eyes widened as some connection danced in front of his eyes...

"Gittarackur..."

That was not where my train of thought was going.

"Wait, what?" I said, tilting my head.

"My brother uses needles to control people, but what if he could use needles to control himself? To control his appearance? I don't know anything about Nen, but it could be possible…" He said as he stared down at the ground, thinking out loud.

"You lost me. I have no clue who or what you're talking about," I said with a shrug, a shake of the head, and two hands in the air.

"Your lie was actually right. My brother is probably here to bring me back..." Killua said as he looked at me, his face full of concern.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON, MAN!" I fake yelled in annoyance as my hands shot into the air. I was frowning like a globfish.

"Huh, you don't know about my brother?" Killua said, looking confused at my annoyance.

"No... I only met you two days ago," Oh wow. A lot happened in those two days... "I only reacted to the word needle was because of something Hisoka said."

I saw the memory dance in front of Killua's eyes. The memory of Hisoka whispering bitter, horrifying nothings into my ear before he knocked me the fuck out. All based on the fact Killua's eyes widened ever so slightly.

Killua grew serious, his eyes hardening as he looked at me, "What was it he said?"

I grimaced in irritation before answering. The memory was not a pleasant one.

"He said, I quote, 'Quite the little manipulator, aren't you? Saying whatever to control your loved ones in an effort to save them. It gives me pins and needles. Especially a Zoldyck.'

Killua looked at the floor, as though it offended him personally. For a moment he just stood here. Then his right arm shook. Like he was trying to move it, but couldn't. This was followed by his entire body beginning to shake, his teeth bared in rage as he struggled in the spot he was standing in. With a frustrated stomp of his foot, he cursed and turned away.

"Hey, you ok?" I said as I shot up from my seat.

He turned around to me, but I couldn't see his eyes underneath his silverish white hair.

"I'm pretty sure my brother did something to me. And I can't do anything about it. My body won't let me."

He looked away. When he spoke, his voice was no longer a pretend kid's voice. It was his actual voice. Deeper. Controlled. Adult.

"I did find it odd that my family and the Butlers had strange abilities, but I just chalked it up to something I'd learn someday. But last night, when your aunt..."

He turned back to me, fire in his eyes.

"Now, at least I know it's not entirely my mind. I'm positive my brother put one of his needles in my head. I can guess why, but I didn't think my family would use it on me..." he looked away in frustration for a second, before turning back to me with the same intensity in his eyes and voice, "You said it was Nen?"

I looked at him with confusion and pity. I nodded.

He ignored my look and continued his sleuthing, "Is that what allowed you to jump across the train cars? Is that what Evira used to 'see' us last night?"

I sighed and changed my expression to one appropriate for the conversation. I narrowed my eyes and frowned as I thought back to the train two days ago.

"I think so... I think the life or death situation forced me to use it subconsciously. Like a mother lifting a car to save their trapped child. With how stressful everything was, it was probably the last thing to push my 'Aura nodes' to begin activating in full. The final kick start, so to speak... as for Evir-"

Before I could continue, we heard people getting up in the surrounding rooms. Tossing, waking up and leaving dreamland. Immediately I shut up.

I frowned.

Damn it. We wouldn't be able to discuss Nen, Evira, or anything serious with so many people around. And we needed everyone else's input, especially Kurapika's...

Besides, the last thing I want is Netero or one of the Examiners to kick our asses for talking about Nen in the open. Fucking magic taboo. Even if they didn't beat me even more black and blue, I didn't want to lose an advantage I had over the other candidates. I rather avoid someone who has interacted with Nen before…

I placed a finger on my lips and shook my head. Killua nodded, getting it immediately.

I nodded back, a thumbs up, and a small reassuring smile, "I'll try to figure out some stuff. For now..."

"Yeah. We'll concentrate on Trick Tower," Killua said as he looked out at the white tower. It was slowly approaching...


My left arm was above my head as I looked down on Trick tower, the rest of my body leaning against the glass of the airship. I watched the slowly approaching Trick Tower. We were so high up the massive structure looked like a tiny, white chess rook.

The picture on the internet had shown a large, square entrance at the top of the tower. I saw no such thing like that. Just a wide, open space on the top of the tower. As our ship sank towards the Earth, the tower roof swallowed the rich, green landscape around us. White blotted out everything.

The lurching of the ship and the sudden stop felt like being on a massive elevator on a bobbing ship. A physical, harsh reminder that all the fun and games from the last phases were over. Not that there was much of it to begin with.

At more than half a kilometer tall and with the circumference of a small stadium, Trick Tower would be one of the biggest structures back on my old Earth. At about six hundred and forty meters tall, or about two hundred and twelve feet.

Here it didn't even break the top ten. Everything was bigger than life on this planet. Even the fucking prisons. No one ever escaped Trick Tower. Officially, that is.

I don't know how reliable the websites I read were, but there were rumors of escapees. Whoever they were must be monstrous, because this place should be inescapable and impenetrable.

To put it in perspective, one of the Mafias used several helicopters to break out one of their captured Dons. All the article said was that, 'the members of the Mafia could not enter the tower. Only two were captured, while the rest perished to prison security.'

The shortest prison sentence was a hundred years flat. The highest was seven hundred and eight life sentences. That's for a member of the assassin group called the Magi. The life sentences were for how many separate cases of murder and mass murder he committed. Supposedly he's still in there, but an article said he's not...

Shit like this sends a chill down my spine. There are criminals, then there are psychopaths and serial killers. I can understand money, power, or committing crimes from desperation. But killing for pleasure? For fun? That makes my skin crawl...

I looked down the airship gangplank and sighed. I wasn't with my four comrades, but we spoke before we landed. We decided to postpone our discussion of Evira until after the Exam. Or until we had enough time to talk about it at length and hash out a strategy. Not like we had any actual options other than to go to York New City.

We still had an exam to pass, so we needed to focus on what was in front of us...

I picked up Stick and followed the rest of the Hunter candidates out the door and onto the bright, reflective, blinding white and tan stone of the tower. The morning sun beat down with too much intensity for January... and the wind up here was whistling something ominous. Especially when it wasn't supposed to be a windy day.

When I looked up, I could see indistinct shapes high in the sky. Hiding in the blinding white orb that was the Sun. I had to squint and see through a crack in my fingers to make them out...

"What's wrong?" I heard Gon call behind me as I walked to where Mr. Beans and the rest of the Hunter candidates were.

I turned around to see the rest of our group. I wanted to be alone before we touched down, so I had separated myself from my group. To meditate and focus. I needed to be at my best if I was going to' fight people around my level of strength. I was one of the first off the airship. That's how ready I was for this...

I also felt guilty for putting them in the cross-hairs of Evira. I understand she had plans for them from the very beginning, but still...

Also, I was also still their opponents in the Exam. And we didn't know if we would fight each other...

The four of them walked up to me, nodding and greeting me in their own ways. Kurapika gave a polite head nod. Leorio a lazy wave with his suitcase over a shoulder. Gon carried his fishing rod over one shoulder while giving an excited wave and enthusiastic smile. Last, Killua gave me a chin raise with one hand in his pocket and his skateboard under his other.

I glanced at them for a second before looking off towards Mr. Beans, "There's something up in the sky. Hiding in the sun's glare. Don't look, most of the other applicants haven't noticed yet."

I could tell Killua noticed the creatures too. But with the way others looked at me, I think it surprised them at how sharp my perception was. They shouldn't be. I was at one-hundred percent, or as close as I could be after yesterday. No bullshit Nen issues. No fucking around, period. My guard was up, my emotional state fine, and my mind was working at full capacity. I was at the best I could be...

I had to be...

The information I read on Trick Tower was... disturbing, to say the least. It was as if someone rolled Arkham Asylum from Batman, Butcher Bay from the Chronicles of Riddick, a pinch of Abbott State Penitentiary from the Suffering, and shoved it all into Azkaban from Harry Potter for good measure. But instead of being surrounded by water, it was surrounded by a forest filled with man-eating beasts, with civilization hundreds of kilom…

... Ya' know, I could go on for hours, but there's no point. Just truly stupid amounts of horrific security measures, both man-made and natural...

And those things in the sky, if I had to guess, were the Tower's version of Dementors. And not Prison Mike's Dementors...

If those creatures were even half as dangerous as I think they are, then I'm surprised even two people survived the botched prison escape.

We settled in and waited for the rest of the applicants to come out. One-one-one Anita, eighty Siper, one-nine-seven/eight/nine the Amori brothers, three-zero-one Gittarackur, two-five-five Toto the wrestler, fifty-three Pokkle, one-nine-one Bodoro, three-eight-four Geretta, thirty-four Ryu, three-seven-four Goz, forty-four Hisoka...

I turned to my four comrades. Them too...

Those were all the people that could and will defeat me in a straight fight. That's from what I've seen and experienced. The information from the database on the laptop I have. And gut feeling...

I clenched my teeth. I wish the Hunter Exam ended during the last phase. Instead, I might have to kill some applicants. Survive against some applicants. Or fight my friends...

The four of them turned to me, I closed my eyes and looked away towards Beans. I had Stick resting over my right shoulder, a backpack on my back, and my knives under my suit. I had to consider those my only allies...

I could still feel the phantom pain in my right hand. The memory of the pain almost as vivid and visceral as if I experienced it a few minutes ago. The image of Zhulong, then Evira passed through my mind...

I hated having the uncertainty of death over my head, like a guillotine inches above my head. Or a giant finger hovering over my head like a little ant...

Now I knew for sure if they wanted to kill me-

Gon's voice cut through my thoughts, "Hey, James! No matter what happens, no hard feelings. OK?!" I opened my eyes to see Gon looking at me, a determined smile on his face…

I could see he really cared and believed in me. In all of us.

The rest of them nodded. I barked a small laugh and shook my head. I suddenly felt less tense. I don't know how this kid does it.

"Yeah," I said with a nod of my own.

We heard a clearing of a throat and coughing. It was Mr. Beans, the disturbing thing he was. Everyone turned around towards the bean-shaped thing... He started with a genial smile and his hands behind his back.

"Everyone, this is the site of the Hunter Exam's Third Phase. You'll be competing here at the top of the Trick Tower. In order to pass this phase, you must reach the base of the tower alive. The time limit is seventy-two hours."

Everyone began looking around at the nothing around us. Just empty flatness...

Mr. Beans raised his hands toward us and spread his finger, a smile on his face, "And with that, the Exam's Third Phase will now begin. Good luck to each and every one of you."

And with that… nothing happened. He just turned around, walked up the ramp and into the airship. A blast of wind from the airship's turbines and the giant craft was gone.

For a few minutes, most of the applicants just stared around in confusion. I did the same, trying to figure out the 'trick'. The small entrance I saw on the internet might as well never have existed. There weren't even any signs it ever existed. I began studying the stone floor as my allies walked over to stare over the ledge.

There was no way we could hope to climb down this thing. Those creatures in the sky wouldn't give us a chance. Trap door or hidden entrance? Most likely...

I inspected the floor by tapping the stone with Stick. I played All Along The Watch Tower in my head while acting annoyed and frustrated.

There must be some kind of way outta here
Said the joker to the thief…

A curse here, a foot stomp there, a whack of Stick against stone. This hid my actions and kept the other candidates away from the crazy, angry guy with a wooden stick. They think I'm an angry idiot, cool. They'll be surprised later...

I am those things, but only on my own terms. Not on theirs.

And definitely not now. I had no time to play around...

Seventy-two hours sounds like a lot of time. But we're more than half a kilometer up in the sky. If your given that much time for anything in life, that probably means you'll really need it.

So I'm expecting this shit to be super hard. I had to reassess my situation: this was going to be harder than the first two-phase and the train together. Definitely harder than 'hunting' for the only pig in the area.

I found several hollow sections that had to be hidden doors of some kind. I was ripped away from my task when a horrifying screech caused everyone in the area to turn towards my four allies. Giant, demonic, red, flying babies were flying away with a doomed applicant in their mouth. Their mouths. In multiple parts.

I immediately jogged over.

"What the fuck happened?"

"Those creatures… devoured a candidate trying to descend the tower by hand," Kurapika said, somewhat shaken at being front row to a man being torn apart.

Killua shrugged, "We warned him about it, but he didn't listen."

"Hmph," was all I could really say. What can you do if a guy doesn't listen?

I positioned myself to my group so that my back was to anyone who could read my lips. Just in case another Killua prodigy was around.

"Listen, I found some entrances. They must have reconstructed most of the tower, because the pictures I saw of this place were different than what's here..."

I informed them about Trick Tower.

I was slightly nervous. The fact they removed the entrance made me uneasy. As I stated before, this place was impossible to escape. Why?

Well, the base of the tower was actually where they held the worst prisoners.

This sounds counter-intuitive, but the walls down there were ten feet thick with reinforced metal, concrete, and probably magic-space metals or something. Even Mayer's Hulk strength would have trouble punching through that shit.

So, if you wanted to escape, you would need to climb a windowless tower. Which was mostly impossible because they filled it with traps, wardens, other prisoners, and other horrible shit like deadly magical beasts and even deadlier regular beasts. And, if you manage to get through all that and to the top... now you have to figure a way down a skyscraper tall building with flying demon babies...

That was the 'Trick' to Trick Tower. And why it was nigh-impossible to get out. It was designed to make even the thought of escape feel painful and impossible, and the actual process of escape as close to impossible as possible. That's why I really, really hope those rumors were false and no prisoner ever escaped this hellhole...

I kept the worst of the information to myself. It wouldn't help morale to make the other four nervous. Well, eh, Killua and Gon wouldn't care. But Kurapika and Leorio would. They just needed to be prepared for what was to come.

Kurapika grabbed his chin for a moment and looked down. When his head came back up, his eyes were filled with plans.

"I knew this was a prison of some type, but knowledge on it is scarce. How did you find so much information?"

I shrugged, "All information is accessible on the internet," while everyone here in nineteen-ninety-nine was figuring out what a search engine was, I had a fourth-degree black belt in google-fu from twenty years in the future. The internet was minuscule here, but still incredibly useful. Also, incredibly not secure…

He nodded, "Then we are fortunate you have a personal computer."

Leorio pointed at my bag and grinned, "Yeah, a laptop like the one you got usually costs close to half a mil' in Jenny."

I looked at him with a frown as I did the calculations in my- JESUS CHRIST! More than three thousand dollars?! I stared over my shoulder to my backpack. Like I suddenly had a gold in it...

Leorio's eyes became dull and half-lidded as he noticed the face I made, "You didn't buy that laptop, did you?"

"No, I found it… on the floor..." I turned away and whispered, "in the tunnels..."

He squinted at me, his face in disbelief, "You really are a criminal, ya' know that?"

I rubbed my face with one hand while holding Stick over my shoulder with the other, "Finders-keepers... look, I don't know what will be underneath these doors. It could be other prisoners, could be animals, could be traps. Could be nothing! All I know is, you guys gotta' be ready."

Killua shrugged, but the rest nodded. I led them over to the trap doors I found. They all stomped or otherwise examined them in their own ways. I stood back as they inspected them, making sure none of the other candidates got the idea to steal one of our doors.

Kurapika took one last look at the hidden doors on the floor before he turned to the rest of us.

"Judging by the size of the doors, only one applicant can use them at a time."

Killua nodded and raised a finger, "I'd bet only one person can use each door. I'd also bet that means there are a limited amount of entrances into the tower."

Leorio crossed his arms and frowned, "Huh, so we might have split up..."

"No hard feelings if one of them's a trap!" Gon said with a smile as he turned to all of us.

This fucking kid... I couldn't help but smile. I swear, this kid would look happy running into the gates of hell...

Leorio shrugged and pointed a thumb at himself, "Works for me. Seems like luck is part of the game or something."

I grimaced, "I hope not. My luck is garbage. So far all I've won are free assbeatings," I finished with a shake of my head.

Kurapika chuckled, a bit guiltily, and walked forward towards the center of our circle, "It can't be all bad if you met us. Now, if there are no further objections..."

I gave thumbs up to everyone, while Gon and Killua both nodded with a smile. Leorio gave a quick nod as well.

Kurapika nodded, "That settles it."

We all moved to the trap doors and turned to face each other.

Leorio looked at us we a smile, "On the count of three, we all hop in at exactly the same time, okay?"

For some reason, I felt excited instead of dread. Positively optimistic instead of terribly pessimistic, "Before we start, I want to say... I hate you all for making me feel excited about going to prison."

They shook their heads and had the courtesy to chuckle at my joke.

"I guess that means this is goodbye for now, guys," Gon said reluctantly.

Kurapika nodded, "We'll meet up at the base of the tower. That, I do not have any doubts," he said with a smile.

Killua smiled, his face alight with excitement, "Let's do this. One..."

"Two..." Gon answered.

And with one hop, we all cried.

"Three!"

We fell into Trick Tower.


Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well and continue to do well.

Today is 5/3/2020 and Togashi's birthday was last week, so happy belated birthday ya' genius!

Thank you all for the reviews! I appreciate them immensely!

Story-wise: Nothing to comment on, other than the fact that Evira is scary. James is fucking everything up canon-wise, and tricky-dicky tower.

See you next chapter.