- Problem-Solving. -

"Milluki."

"Yo."

A tall, lanky man entered Milluki's dark room, his expressionless features illuminated by the glow of my monitors and blinking electronic lights. Illumi tossed him a bag of chips and a Mountain Dew while casually sitting down on the couch off to the side.

"Progress report?" Illumi quietly asked, blank dark eyes glancing over at Milluki's screens with the disinterested gaze that proved he understood nothing of the technical jargon scrolling across the monitors.

Milluki smirked. This family's so old-fashioned. A few keystrokes later, he pulled up a GPS map and zeroed in on Kil's location. Another few clicks later and the database, the Index, emerged on-screen. "Since the reboot, he's made eleven hits, plus three insurances." Insurances being side casualties, acts to silence witnesses, acts of thoroughness, acts of boredom, etc. - these didn't count in his Kilo, of course, otherwise he'd have already more than tripled his goal years ago. The Zoldycks only counted official, paid assassinations. "He's keepin' a fast pace, spendin' no more than half a day in each city."

"He is certainly on task then. Good." He heard Illumi stretch and recline on the couch. "Any unusual responses to the reset?"

Milluki idly spun in my chair, shoving a handful of chips in his mouth. "Mmpfh- nah," he replied with his mouth full. "Essentially, we wiped his memory of the past few years, all the way up to a few weeks before he left the house." He swallowed a gulp of soda and grinned with a shrug. "It's like he never left, and he's on good terms with us."

"I see," Illumi replied, his voice nonchalant.

But Milluki knew his brother. Better than most, at least. It could be hard to guess what Illumi was thinking, since he lived life with a poker face. Except when it came to Killua, like now. "What's eatin' you?" Milluki asked, taking another mouthful of chips. His elder brother didn't say anything for a while, examining his fingernails with the tiniest furrow in his brow being the only indicator that his mind was preooccupied.

… I get it. You're worried about the other one.

Cracking his knuckles, Milluki frown briefly and spun back to his keyboard, tapping in several rapid keystrokes. Searching… searching… Got him.

Over my shoulder, he called, "You thinkin' about the bouncy boy? He's still on that tiny island. Far from Kil by now."

Illumi sighed and stood to his feet, approaching to lean over Milluki's shoulder as he gently tapped the picture on the screen. "This one, Milluki. 'Gon Freecs.' Do you understand why he's the problem?"

Milluki huffed, taking a long swig of Mountain Dew. "Eh, not really. I mean, Kil outclasses him to begin with. We all do. He's injured. Honestly, he's kinda stupid. And he's way out of the action."

"And he's alive."

"Well, yeah." Milluki cocked his head in thought. "Guess the kid can take a hit. Props for him, I mean, his vital went pretty shaky for a while. But he's basically defenseless. What's the deal?"

"Moron," Illumi muttered under his breath, "the 'deal' is that the runt is still alive. That meant Kil overpowered the wipe long enough to avoid the kill shot." (His finger on the screen turned into a fist that made Milluki bristle. He'd better not punch my monitor.) "Gon is alive for one reason and one reason only: mercy. And that is unacceptable."

Well, you're not wrong, Milluki admitted inwardly. After a beat, he groaned and his head flopped backwards, crunching noisily on chips because he knew how much Illumi hated that. "But in the long run, does it matter? He's not a threat to us or the plan. So we just make sure that if they ever cross paths again, Kil ends him. No hesitation."

Illumi began to growl, making the hair stand up along Milluki's neck. "And if he doesn't? Say Island Boy manipulates him into showing mercy again, escapes, and strikes back? He's the Achilles Heel to Kil's focus - he's a distraction. He's… dangerous. We can't let him anywhere near Kil. That goes for all his so-called 'buddies.' Now, do you understand?"

Milluki gulped. An agitated Illumi was not to be trifled with, as he'd learned over the years. He sat up straight and crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing. "Yeah. Yeah, I get the gist. So… what? We keep tabs on him, intercept him if and when he gets too close?"

"I would ideally seek him out and cross him off right now to save time, if that were a practical option. Unfortunately, it's not. We have other matters upon which to spend our energies. But we need to take a couple of first steps. Until we can dedicate more attention to him, we need to keep him occupied." Illumi's long, spider-like fingers drummed thoughtfully on my desk as he thought for a few moments. "You have his telephone number, right?"

Half a minute later, Gon Freecs's cell phone began to receive a call.

"K-Killua!"

- Waiting to Board. -

Kurapika was a morning person. Leorio, however, was not.

The two of them were seated in the airport terminal as their plane was being fueled and loaded with the passengers' baggage. Kurapika sat up straight as an arrow, eyes scanning the other people wandering the airport in the wee a.m. hours. In contrast, Leorio was sagging his seat, long legs wildly outstretched with abandon, mouth open with drool. And his snore was actually remarkable.

Kurapika smiled fondly at his sleeping friend. As soon as Leorio had hung up with Gon, the aspiring doctor hadn't hesitated to reach give him a call. "Kurapika! The apocalypse is coming!" he'd said, dramatically as per usual. After a minute of frantic yelling and shouting obscenities, Leorio finally managed to share the horrible news. And, while Leorio was completely shocked and horrified by recent events…

Kurapika had somewhat expected this.

Not that he had anything against Killua. He had a lot in common with the he white-haired boy, after all. There was mutual respect. Definitely friendship. And on Kurapika's part, there has always been no small amount of wariness towards the younger boy.

The thing was, Killua was very much like himself. When Kurapika's eyes turned red and his rage fueled his Specialist Nen abilities, he was well-aware of that all-consuming obsession - that desire - to kill. To eliminate. To destroy. And he'd seen something similar in the Zoldyck several times over their travels and adventures. When Killua focused, really focused, tapping into that subconscious state of mind ingrained into him as an assassin by training… he was frankly terrifying.

For a while, Kurapika had worried about Gon's safety around such a potential monster. But time and time again, Killua proved himself in control and very loyal to his best friend. He wasn't a threat at all.

Kurapika frowned and squeezed his fist, absentmindedly watching the slight gleam of the silver chains branching from his fingers as his thoughts tumbled in recursive loops.

Killua would never strike against Gon like this. What's changed? What does this mean?

And the million-dollar question: Can he even be 'saved'?

- Tactics and Trust. -

The next morning, Gon awoke to the buzzing of his cell phone. Drowsily, he dug it out of his pants pocket, instantly jumping up in excitement and wincing from the pulling on his chest wound.

Killua Zoldyck, according to Caller ID.

Gon mashed the Talk button so hard he nearly broke the phone, starting to sway for a second and desperately grabbing onto a branch to keep himself from plummeting down to the earth below. Still a bit dizzy. Probably from blood loss. And hunger. But that didn't matter right now.

"K-Killua!" he practically screamed into the phone, sending flocks of morning birds scattering from the surrounding area. "Killua, are you okay?!"

"Geez, Gon, don't yell so loudly, I'm right here," the unmistakable voice of his best friend replied. "And I'm fine."

Gon stutter over his words as he barked a deluge of concerned questions, "Where are you? What are you up to? Where should we meet up? What's going on? Do you need-"

"Gon, shut your mouth for about three seconds, okay? Take a deep breath."

He obeyed, closing his eyes and forcing himself to relax on the tree branch. "O-okay."

"I don't have a lot of time to explain, but… something's up. What I… what I did t-to you, I…"

"Don't worry about it, Killua, I'll be okay-"

"That's not what's freaking me out, baka. It's that-" Killua took a deep inhale before continuing. "So I'm ninety-nine percent sure I'm being controlled right now. I think we both know by who."

Gon grit his teeth, glaring down at his boots. "Your family."

"Bingo. They're doing something, I can't figure out what, but whatever it is, it's working. I'm moving and… doing business, and I can't stop myself. You picking up what I'm putting down, Gon?"

He nodded slowly, wide-eyed, before realizing that he needed to respond. "Tell me where you are. Leorio and Kurapika are coming - we can find you. We'll figure it out together."

"That won't work."

Gon spluttered indignantly, sitting forward. "Why not?"

He heard Killua grunt over the line, and then the sound of something slamming in the background followed by a muffled curse. "Because I'll kill you all."

He wasn't exactly sure what to say to that.

"Look... I need to figure this out on my own, and… I don't trust myself to hold back if you all confront me. I'm not sure how my family is doing this, but it's…" Gon heard Killua's voice crack, and his heart started to ache (or maybe that was just the stab wound throbbing). "It's bad. So don't…. Gon, don't give me the opportunity to accidentally do something I might regret. Promise me?"

What is it with everyone wanting me to make promises that are so hard to keep?! Gon's face scrunched up and he angrily swing his fist at the tree a few times, sending bark flying from each punch. This sucks!

Still. Gon might have been stubborn, but he wasn't quite stupid, nor was he heartless. He wouldn't make Killua fight him as long as he could help it. "Promise. We'll figure this out another way."

He hear his best friend in the whole wide world sigh in extreme relief. There was a sniffling sound - but Killua didn't cry. Did he?

This must be really bad. I can tell when you're scared, and this totally counts. "You sure you're okay, Killua? I'm worried about you."

"B-baka, you're embarrassing me. I can handle it. You on the other hand need to take care of yourself. Don't take crazy risks. Don't challenge yourself while you're injured. Don't be reckless when I'm not around to hold you back, 'kay? Be less oblivious than usual, if that's even possible," he half-heartedly joked, and Gon grinned to himself.

"Of course, Killua!"

"Tch. Not sure if I believe you. I'll text you updates when I can. Bye."

"Bye!"

Click.

Already there was a minor weight off Gon's shoulders. Killua's okay. We'll all figure out how to beat this. And a good night's rest helped him heal pretty well, so he jumped down from the tree and started to walk home. After all, he had to tell Mito-san what was going on and let her know he might be away from home for a while.

But when Gon reached the house and opened the door… He instantly knew something was wrong. It's… quiet. It's way too quiet.

"Mito-san," he called out into the house, closing the door behind him. Quickly, he searched all the rooms. Nothing. Nobody. Not a trace. "Mito-san!" Gon yelled, louder. He checked the yard surrounding the house. Nope, she's not doing laundry.

He sat awkwardly at the kitchen table, feeling a strange sensation in his gut. Where is she? She never did answer his voicemail. Gon decided to call her again.

The phone rang, and he waited, munching on a cookie he found abandoned in one of the cupboards - since there was, for some reason, no more food in the house. Odd, since Mito-san went grocery shopping, and…

Gon's mind went blank. His spine shivered. He started to break out into a cold sweat.

Because he could hear Mito-san's phone ringing. Leaping from his chair, Gon sprang to the trash can and dumped the garbage all over the floor, heartbeat racing faster and faster. Found it.

Mito-san's phone. Broken and barely held together by a few wires. It was remarkable it could still receive a signal. More importantly, it was here in the garbage, and not in her purse.

Gon's thoughts spun, and he sank to sit on the ground, stunned. What does this mean? Where is she?

He was not a worst-case-scenario type of guy. That was always more Killua's schtick. So he knew that Mito-san was still alive, of course. He just… didn't know where she could be.

.

.

.

She must have been kidnapped. By… by Killua. And he doesn't know it. But he has her. He must have her.

Gon sent a frantic text message to Killua: do u have mito-san?

There's a pause, and then a reply: yes

He finally breathed again. She was alive. take care of her! send her home!

Killua seemed to pause. i can't do that

why not?

… they won't let me, he typed, followed quickly by an: i'm so sorry gon

Gon took a shuddering breath, head knocking backwards against a kitchen cabinet in frustration. Why is this happening?

Even though this situation appeared to get worse and worse by the second, he still had faith in his best friend. Killua wouldn't let anything bad happen to Mito-san.

i trust u killua.

But they definitely had to figure this out.

- Schemers. -

Milluki chuckled as he typed the messages to Gon's cell, and Illumi shook his head in exasperation. There was a difference between toying with someone's psyche and just being childish, and Milluki tended to lean towards the latter.

Still, impersonating Kil in that phone call gave Illumi no small sense of pleasure. This Gon kid fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

Because, of course, the two Zoldyck brothers had faked the call and intercepted all the text messages. Killua wouldn't even remember Gon's name at the moment, let alone his (failed) attempt to kill the green-haired kid. Illumi and Milluki just had to tell Gon what he wanted or needed to hear. And to make things easier, the kid was remarkably gullible.

And, naturally, the boy's mother figure, "Mito-san," was long dead. Killua had scattered the remains and cloaked the scent to hide the evidence. But really, it was better this way. Now they could all avoid the Gon kid going on a revenge trip and taking advantage of Kil's weakness towards him. The fake kidnapping gave the Zoldycks leverage now.

Illumi felt his mouth curl into a smile. Once again, calculated movements in advance would reap great rewards. His little brother was safe for the time being. After a celebratory fistbump with Milluki, he left the room.

Time to find Kalluto for the next phase.