A/N: Oof. This is so late. I promise, I actually was planning on updating by Christmas... but now it's July. Honestly, at this point it's like the time gaps between chapters are Hiatuses. So sorry. I have no excuse, other than laziness.

CH 4

That presence Killua felt earlier was back. The crushing, paralyzing power was emanating out of the alley they were heading towards to find this precious teacher, who he had been informed on the way, was also these kids' target. He was starting to get a sneaking suspicion that this teacher was the source of the aura… which would be just about the worst possible thing to happen. An ant of that caliber with no Nen to combat it, going against twenty or so oblivious hopefuls was a recipe for death and destruction.

They rounded the corner and Killua forgot how to breathe. Out of reflex, he jumped back a few feet and poised his hands for fighting, though he knew instinctively that it would do no good. Before him stood a badly camouflaged… thing that vaguely resembled a giant, squishy octopus, but rounder and weirder. The creature was overflowing with power, he could tell, and it was setting off all kinds of alarms in his brain telling him to GET AWAY NOW, that they were all DOOMED. Perhaps even more off-putting than the possibility of total annihilation was the guy's outfit. He wore a baggy button up shirt with the most disgusting flower pattern in existence, a weird pair of boardshorts with three tentacles as each leg, and a tiny fake nose pressed into the center of his bulbous, peachy-colored head.

"What is that, and how did it get here?" He asked, voice masked in calm.

"OH! Killua, wait! Don't freak out, that's our teacher, Korosensei."

Killua turned to look at the boy… what was his name again?... in utter disbelief.

"UGH, I knew it! I can never catch a break, can I?" he groaned, breaking out of his calm persona to complain a bit. "Damn, it took forever to get rid of them last time, at least there's only one now. Okay! Listen up!", he rounded on his traveling companions, all calm, cool and collected once more. "I'm sure you already know, but that thing? He's incredibly dangerous. He could probably destroy this entire planet in a matter of seconds if he wanted-"

"How do you know that?" Nagisa interrupted.

"He's oozing power. Besides, I've fought things like him before-"

"Wait, you know what he his?"

"I was getting to that, but I'm trying to say none of you can kill-"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Karma challenged, "I think you're overstepping a bit, pal. We know him better than anyone else, I think we'll decide-"

"STOP INTERRUPTING!" he took a deep breath before issuing his warning seriously. "As I was trying to say, I've had to fight similar creatures before, and it took entire armies of highly trained professionals with a crazy amount of firepower to kill just a few- a friend of mine was barely alive after fighting one that had LESS power than your teacher, there, and that friend can create literal craters in the earth with a single punch. I'm just saying, you're way out of your league-"

"Fufufufufufufufufufufu~ What do we have here? Another promising young assassin, I see!"

Killua tensed. He was not expecting that speed- in the blink of an eye, the Korosensei was somehow right behind him. He was pretty sure he reflexively sharpened one of his hands a bit, and he put it in his pocket so the others wouldn't see. While the others -Nagisa, mostly- relayed his information, Killua inquired at the beast's speed. The mild Hisoka vibes weren't helping.

"He clocks in at Mach 20" was the reply.

Mach 20? That octopus can go Mach 20? Back when he had his Nen, that would have been nothing-Killua could clock in at about Mach 22 using his Godspeed power. Without Nen, though, he'd only measured up to about Mach 11- granted that was before the Hunter exam, over 3 years ago, and he had undergone much training since then… but the majority of said training was with the help of his Nen enhancing his movements. Killua couldn't be sure that his speed would be enough to overpower this… thing, but he was a highly trained assassin with other skill sets that were equally formidable. Still, he was more than 230x faster than even the fastest normal human runners. These kids… they didn't stand a chance. Even less than he originally thought.

Killua had abilities that nobody here could fathom, and more importantly, experience. After the initial shock of seeing him, he was able to analyze the extent of his power. It seemed that since nobody in this world knew of Nen, all his power was virtually unused, a well of terrifying potential that's been buried deep inside, and his speed and regenerative capabilities were really his only advantages. Because that aura had to be Nen, which means those powers did exist in some form here. Which brought up the question, why was he blocked? Killua wracked his brain over how that could be possible, and all he came up with was that his parents somehow sealed his Nen before sending him away. Why would they do that though? He was mildly disturbed by the notion that his Nen had been sealed, without his noticing. It had to be Illumi. Illumi was never a good part to an equation; if he was involved, something big, and terrible had already been set in motion, and Killua was somehow a part of that plan.

Some good did come out of this realization, though. He wasn't at all worried about this 'Korosensei' now, in fact with a little familiarizing he was confident the teacher would fall prey to his techniques in a matter of seconds. At least he knew how to deal with monsters like that; he had many a trick up his sleeve, including above-average speed and the ability to hide his strength easily. An ambush would be child's play. Almost without his consent, he felt his tense muscles relaxing. The issue is these other kids, with their barely above average speed and strength. Hell, it was surprising they even lasted this long and still had hope of beating the slimy pervert.

"Yo. I'm Killua."

The casualness of his greeting earned a few confused glances.

"Will you be joining my lovely students in their ambition to assassinate me? There's always room in our classroom, if you wanted to join! Of course, you'd have to get screened by the government first-"

"Nah, I think I'll just unofficially hang around. I'm not important right now though, remember? Two of your students were just kidnapped."

"Ah. Yes, of course. It was and , wasn't it? Hmm, this really is a bit of a problem. I can't have any harm coming to my students, if two were to be lost I don't know WHAT I'd do…. Ok, you said they were kidnapped by high school delinquents?"

"Yes."

"Flip to page 287- there should be a list of derelict buildings that ruffians like that would want to spend time in."

Killua raised a brow. This book was oddly specific and almost comically had everything necessary for the current situation. Is there a chapter on which shops sell the largest muffins? Probably. He'll have to take a look at that later.

"Perfect! Looks like there's one only a few blocks away. That's most likely where they went! Alright, well, I could probably fly you all over, but I've never attempted carrying more than 2 people before-"

"It's cool, I'll just run after you."

That earned an incredulous stare from everyone in the group. Killua figured finding an ant here wasn't a coincidence; this was the 'mission' he was supposed to complete, so sticking close was the best course of action, but he for some reason had an irrational urge to show off. That feeling was seldom felt. Killua tried to convince himself that he just wanted to see for himself how their abilities matched up, but… he wasn't very convincing.

"Umm… Killua? That's a nice thought, but you can't possibly catch up. Mach 20, remember?"

"Not carrying three boys. Octopus!" Korosensei jumped when he was addressed. "How fast do you think you can go with all the added weight?"

"... I'm not sure, but I doubt it would be so cumbersome as to lower me to the standard speed of a human." His face grew conspicuous green stripes. Killua didn't even want to know what that meant. He smirked to himself. He could do this. Maybe then the beast would be wary of him. It's always good to have your enemies wary- and as a plus, maybe the school-goers would be intimidated into listening to him.

"You're on."

Still looking bemusedly at Killua, Korosensei shrugged, hefted the kids into his cloak, and blasted off in the direction he'd indicated earlier. Making sure to keep an eye on them, Killua followed at his top speed. Oh. Well, it sure was a good thing he was testing his limits now, then. He hadn't realized how much he'd subconsciously been using his Nen to enhance his speed- he was by no means slow, but he wasn't nearly as fast as he's thought he would be without the extra boost. Killua almost lost them a few times in the shock of this realization, but somehow managed to arrive at their destination only a handful of seconds after the main group.

"Wha- how did- whAT?!" Nagisa eloquently said.

"I told you. You're out of your league."

A/N: This ended kind of abruptly, I know, and I'm not super happy with it, but I figured I've made y'all wait long enough so I'm uploading what I have. This is super short, too, because I suck. I'll probably edit it and reupload this chapter whenever I upload the next one. Please review, it reminds me that people actually want this story. Otherwise, I literally forget about it. Also, I'm sorry for the wait!