A.N. = Here's the first chap. Not much edits but yeah. Enjoy!

2010

"That's not how you do it, you little shit!" Hearing the yelling of an instructor followed by the scream that sounded like it came from a child, I sighed before turning back towards the metal target around 350 meters away.

A couple of flashes of blue light followed by even more screams were heard as a few more heads turned towards the commotion with a slight trace of pity in their eyes. Meanwhile, I focused on the target in front of me, or more particularly, on the red dot in the middle that was called the bullseye.

Following a pattern that I had unconsciously made and accepted as normal, I coated my ears with a small amount of protective nen, tilted my head about 35 degrees to the east, closed my left eye and lifted my right hand. Armed with a black revolver with only 1 bullet in the six slots, I calmly aimed down the sights towards the target.

Bang!

I lowered my arm and dashed quietly towards the target. The bullet had fired normally. And had left a large hole in the target exactly where the bullseye was.

Perfect as always.

Slowly walking back as I conjured a couple bullets in my hand this time and enveloped my nen around it, idly noting how thick the bullets were as compared to normal ones. Flicking the gun sideways, the cylinder popped out. Swiftly fitting it in adjacent slots of the cylinder, I brought them to the front of the barrel.

Carefully standing in the same spot as before, I followed through the same routine as before. Coating ears with a small amount of protective nen, tilting the head, raising my right hand and aiming down the sights. And pull.

Bang!... Click ...Bang!

Following this same pattern was how I had spent years training to perfect something that was already flawless. The only thing that varied was the type of bullet I could fire every other day. One day it was a normal bullet, then the next day was a bullet that disintegrated its target. One type of bullet would shoot out acid vertically from where it hit, while another would just conjure a cushion. The devil knows how many types of bullets I could fire and I had no control over what type of bullet I could use every day. Wondering what it would be the next day served as a release from this monotonous life of mine...

"Subject 4-50, follow me." A sudden familiar voice broke me out of my thoughts.

Hmm? Subject 4-50? That was my code, I believe. But what did this instructor want from me? From what I could remember, I hadn't done anything wrong. Staying quiet in one of the corners, I had just been practicing one of my abilities as instructed.

"Of course." Responding back even though it wasn't a request but a command, I followed him towards one of the other private training rooms. Exiting the large white hall through an identical coloured door, we entered an even whiter hallway.

Still silent, I followed the instructor, one known in particular for his sadistic tendencies and his dreaded 'teaching' sessions. He also was the person assigned to punish the subjects if they had done something wrong, with a couple of them not surviving after he was done with them.

His detestable existence aside, I wondered what I had done to warrant a punishment. Everything that I had done so far had been exactly as expected from the 10-year-old boy hailed as the Masterpiece of the White Room. There was nothing that warranted punishment.

Stopping in front of another white door, he turned towards me with a rather twisted smile on his face. "You must be confused, right? Thoughts like 'what did I do to deserve the punishment?' or 'am I going to survive?' must be going on inside your mind." Opening the door, he entered it and invited me inside.

I didn't bother to respond to his provocation, instead focusing on the familiar simplistically decorated room. A chair with straps sat in the middle of it, with white-tiled walls and floor surrounding it. A room that I had visited a lot more times than I wanted to. I wondered if I should just make a break for it.

No, it would just make things worse.

"You see brat, your statistics show that you have failed in progressing much this month, something which the higher-ups don't like. So, I have been sent to provide you with some well-deserved motivation through one of my sessions." With a gleeful smile on his face, he explained the entire situation to me.

Sigh. It seems that I had become a bit too careless. I should have just taken 4-03's advice and be a bit more careful.

"You know the routine, don't you?" Mentally sighing, I nodded and headed towards the chair and sat on it. Straps with small and delicate patterns appeared and wrapped around my arms and legs, locking me in my place. Totally unbreakable by nen, the only way to destroy these straps was by something physically strong, like a drill or a large chainsaw.

The smiling instructor approached me with a bucket in his hands, which I knew was full of chilled water. It was just the right degree of cold, enough to amplify any physical pain like whips. Not that whips were any less painful, especially the conjured whips.

Splash!

He poured a bucket of cold water down on me, leaving my white robe wet and my skin sensitive. Chilling me to the bone and reducing my skin's resistance to electricity, this was a common method of torture and a piece of inspiration to this instructor.

Paying my silence no mind, the instructor approached me while donning a pair of rubber gloves. Conjuring the familiar taser onto his hands, he clicked it menacingly a few feet away from me. Mentally sighing, my instincts braced my body for the pain that was going to come, however useless my action may be.

But if everything went according to my expectations, then I doubt that it would hurt much this time. An excessive amount of exposure to electricity was bound to give me a tolerance for it. And I am sure that I had enough exposure to electricity in this entire month.

Or else, why would my overall performance deteriorate if not for me being distracted by something else?

"Get ready, kid. Here comes the first shock of motivati~~" Just as the instructor was about to electrocute me, he froze in his place, a large unique knife under his throat. Blood dripped down onto the knife as the instructor stood there in shock, not able to move for some reason.

Paralyzing poison.

That would be the most probable reason for him to suddenly stop. I couldn't sense any type of Hatsu being used by the man behind him, further pinning the cause of paralysis down to the knife.

"Are you fine?" Helping me out of the chair, he easily snapped both of the nen straps on the chair with his bare hands. Eyeing him warily, I tried to remember everything I knew about this unknown and possibly dangerous person.

A new instructor, he had joined just a few days ago. Although he was rather young as compared to the others, he wasn't lacking in anything nen related. With a rather fearsome aura, he had shown no hesitation in punishing the subjects when needed. The only thing separating him from some of the other instructors was the fairness he showed. Many instructors were biased against some subjects, something that he wasn't.

Giving me a hand, he pulled me up to my feet as I subtly put some distance between the two of us. Hesitantly stepping onto a small puddle of water onto which the taser had fallen, I sighed in relief as nothing happened. It seems that my experiment was successful. Instantly fixing my gaze back on the younger instructor to see him send me an amused glance, I watched him conjure a book on his right hand.

Maybe a Hatsu?

Shifting through pages swiftly, he stopped as he reached a certain page. Raising his right hand, he pointed it casually towards the older instructor as a couple of fish-like creatures appeared out of thin air behind him. Floating towards the direction where his fingers were pointing, the two nen beasts bared sharp fangs at their nearest target, it being the sadistic instructor.

Turning towards me with a small satisfied smile, the around 20 years old instructor tightened his white coat around him and held out a hand for me to shake.

Staring at the black-haired instructor for a couple of seconds, I accepted his handshake.

"I am Chrollo Lucilfur. Nice to meet you." With a pleasant, inviting smile on his face, he looked like a really kind person, that is, if the fishes behind him were not taking large bites out of the old instructor.

What a brutal ability.

"Thank you for helping me." Not caring to introduce myself since he was bound to already know me, I just thanked him.

His eyes went back to the hurt instructor that had fallen to the floor since the fishes had eaten his legs. "It's fine. I never liked him anyway." Neither did I but I am sure that's not why you saved me. This was the White Room. Kindness was unwelcome here.

"Is that the only reason?" Narrowing my eyes, I carefully positioned myself in case I needed to make a quick escape. This new 'instructor' was far stronger than me right now. Escape was the only option in case he showed any hint of aggression.

Chuckling slightly, he replied. "Mostly, but I also didn't want you to get hurt." Diverting the topic with a vague answer, he still hadn't revealed his actual reason.

"And?"

"Have you ever heard of the Phantom Troupe?" Abandoning the topic entirely, the instructor asked me a question instead.

Phantom Troupe, huh?

I did remember hearing about it some time ago, something about them being a new group of thieves that were strong and stole whatever they were interested in. Ranging from normal aesthetic items to nen infused objects, they had become rather infamous as thieves.

Appearing as normal people most of the time, the only way to distinguish them was to see if they had an inked spider tattoo on their body with a number printed on it.

"Yes, I have." Responding shortly, I waited for him to explain the reasoning of his question. On the other hand, the older instructor from before stayed on the ground, twitching slightly as the paralysis faded off. Surprisingly, even though he was missing large mouthfuls of flesh all over his body, he still wasn't bleeding.

"Well then, I am the leader of the Phantom Troupe. Knowing you, there's no point in beating around the bush with you so I will just be clear. The reason I helped you is to recruit you when you grow up. Your monstrous potential will be a blessing to the spider. So, will you join us?" With a calm expression on his face, he gave me an offer. A good one at that.

Considering the phrasing of the offer, I probably wouldn't be able to join them until I was about 15 or so. And if I did, I shudder to think what that man might send after me. Nen made the enemies unpredictable and annoying to take care of, unlike non-nen users.

Also, stealing was just not how I preferred to do things.

"I will think about it." Not refusing for now, I left the topic for later. Most probably, I wouldn't join and this offer will just gather dust and be forgotten eventually. Although the instructor might be disappointed for a while, there are a lot of stronger nen users that would jump at the opportunity I was given.

"I see then. While I would have preferred a simple answer, I can wait. I hope to see you again in a few years." Opting to stay silent, I let my hand comb through my hair which was wet due to the bucket of water before.

Taking short steps towards the door, he suddenly turned back towards me. "I would suggest getting away from here. There is going to be a loud commotion in a while." Giving me a helpful warning, he departed through the doors, not before snapping the book in his hand shut. The fishes also disappeared along with him, leaving me along with an old instructor on a floor and a wet me.

Sighing, I exited the room as the pain finally came back to the old instructor. Today was a troublesome day. I just wanted to practice my abilities and I almost got 'tutored' by an instructor.

One interesting thing that I did learn from this entire encounter was how a spark of electricity had traveled through the water and towards me. Although, it just left a warm feeling around my body when it did, somewhat like ten. It wasn't able to hurt me anymore, something that I noted gladly.

Most likely, my body was absorbing it and storing it like nen inside me for me to release it whenever I wished. Apparently, a rare few people could awaken their hatsu due to trauma or if they wished hard enough. This was most probably a combination of wishful thinking and continuous exposure to electricity over the past month.

How exciting. Now I had another ability to defend myself.

Walking through the corridors, I could finally hear the pained screams of the older instructor from before it echoed around me, triggering any and all alarms that it could. Blaring red lights and sirens rang around me as I quietly slipped into the large hall from before the entire situation.

It was pretty easy, seeing as the hall was full of chaos, mainly from the subjects of multiple generations having been grouped together. Not many paid me a glance, unlike a certain white-haired subject from the 4th Generation.

With a curious gaze on his face, his blue eyes sparkled in interest as he looked towards me. Just sending him a couple of nods which was the equivalent of 'will explain later.', I successfully delayed two out of two tasks.

That aside, I walked swiftly towards my main training spot, which was somehow untouched by the chaos. Although the other subjects normally steered clear from anything related to me, it was still surprising to see that it applied to panic situations too.

How nice of them.

Stepping towards the corners of my area, I observed the chaos that had struck the Lab. If this had been a student instead of an instructor, everything would have been taken care of silently, but this situation was different. Not only was an experienced instructor killed, but the murderer was also part of the staff too. That was bound to create a ruckus.

The higher ups had never expected such a betrayal.

But in a facility like the White Room, this was bound to happen eventually. This facility was designed to create the strongest hunter to ever exist without any restrictions placed on him. A strong nen user always came with a set of restrictions to them, something to limit their capabilities.

Professor Ayanokouji intended to create a Nen user that was strong as well as free of restrictions. And with his ambition was the White Room born. Employing methods that would easily be illegal enough to jail a person for life, the white room denied human rights to its subjects from Day 1.

And some of us were starting to dislike such a life.

-x-

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A.N. = So, a few changes in this chapter. I changed Kiyo's Hatsu and it's easier to understand now. Basically, he gets 5 types of bullets at random to use for a day and they change everyday. They can be useless or deadly, depending upon your luck. The revolver is a normal one this time and only the bullets are modified.

And his electricity is now because of some trauma plus his own wishing. Kinda like how Bisky's body transformed when she wished for it hard enough

Now, I mentioned 4-01 and 4-03. The former is the jokester Masaki while the latter is a canon character of WR 4th gen. Yep. That's Shirou. I'm gonna use the new v0 characters here.

Oh, and Happy new year, Happy new year in advance and belated Happy new year to all of you. I wished three times cause timezones. (I updated on New Year. Pretty pog right?)

So, share your ideas if you want, Follow and Fav if you like it, and as always, have a good day.

Bye