A/N: Finally! This is the sequel to A Series of Bizarre and Mildly Humourous Events! I apologize for taking so long to come out with it. In my defense, the story developed sentience and tried to kill me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story, and do remember to leave a review at the end! I'm trying to update the story one chapter a week, hopefully during the weekends when people have time to read it.

Hunter X Hunter does not belong to me. I do not own the copyright to any of these materials. This is a fanfiction written solely for the purposes of entertainment, and the views stated by the characters do not necessarily reflect the views of the author. If you wish to host this story on a site outside of fanfiction (dot) net, please contact the author for permission first.

Where Things Go Terribly Wrong

The continent of Hun was not a very large continent. With a population of fewer than fifty thousand, it was considered one of the most sparsely populated continents in the world. Looking around, Kuroro could see why. Given the geographical placement of Hun on the globe, it straddled an uncomfortable place between extreme heat and extreme humidity. This had resulted in the Southern half of Hun being dry, arid desert barely fit for life and the other half of Hun being dense, tropical rainforests that gave little room for agriculture. It was obviously not a continent well-suited to human life, and could not be more suitable a land for the Hunter Association to build a bunker on. Hun-ein, the mountain that Pariston claimed was the Fort sat on the tropical side of Hun. Hence, it was at the docks of Northern Hun that the yacht landed.

The moment Kuroro stepped out of the air-conditioned rooms, wet heat wrapped around him like a heavily obese lover who just wouldn't get that it is over.

"Fuck my life," Machi muttered from behind him, dabbing at her face which was already wet with perspiration.

"An accurate description of my feelings," Kuroro agreed, shrugging out of his coat. This was the first time he had ever found the weather too uncomfortable to be wearing his coat in.

"Oh look, whales," Midoya observed idly, dragging her frizzy, rebellious hair, screaming and kicking, into a messy top bun. In the distant, the whales in question were busy sinking a massive ship of a type Kuroro had never seen before. "For the oil and fat these ships run on," Midoya told Shalnark when he asked, "as well as meat, by which I mean the sailors and whatever is in the pantry. Go a little further South of Hun and the waters become freezing cold. These whales need all the blubber they can build up before they start their annual migration down South."

"Cool," Shalnark, who liked random bits of information like that, commented.

"Shall we get off this yacht then?" Feitan, for whom paranoia was at that uncertain stage where it was more than a friend but not quite a significant other, asked. "The whales still look hungry."

"No worries," Pepeka rumbled from behind them, "this yacht runs on normal fuel. The whales don't like anything coal-based." After his initial shock at the entrance of the Ryodan and the discovery of Midoya's sordid other-life, Pepeka had surprised Kuroro by bouncing back rather quickly, all things considered. He wasn't overly friendly with the Ryodan, but he was as polite as he was to most people, which was more than he was to Kuroro (in his defence, no one else in the Ryodan was sleeping with Midoya, whom Pepeka obviously had a crush on). And, he still appeared to love and respect Midoya as much as he had previously, which was the really surprising bit. When Kuroro had asked, Pepeka had simply said, "I've always found Midoya-sensei worthy of my respect. I mean… I guess she's always been June Kito anyway, and it doesn't change that fact, you know? She earned my respect a long time ago, when she was already June Kito and… am I making sense?" Kuroro thought he was but said no anyway, because it made Pepeka so embarrassed, and it was always entertaining to see an embarrassed Pepeka.

"So, we don't have to worry about whales," Nobunaga said from the back. "That's great and all. How about 'em Hunters we came here to screw over?"

"Ah, right," Kuroro said briskly. "Hun-ein mountain. Report." The order had been directed at Shalnark, and Kuroro saw the boy's eyes brighten as he took a breath to start his report.

An oblivious Midoya interrupted him. "Hun-ein is deep inside the Hun continent," she said, utterly insensible of Shalnark's horrified look. "It's the tallest mountain on the Hun continent. It will be difficult reaching the mountain as it is surrounded by dense forests inhabited by horrible, horrible monsters. In fact, I don't think all of us should go to the Fort. It really wouldn't look good on my resume if I turn up at the Fort with half the Genei Ryodan in tow."

"What's wrong with the Genei Ryodan?" Phinx demanded.

"Yeah, what's wrong with us?" Nobunaga echoed, looking equally offended.

Ah. He had expected that. Quickly, Kuroro moved to intercept the growing hostility, ready to teleport people into the midst of the whales if needed. Then Midoya smiled – with dimples

"Nothing except the fact that you are so powerful that the Hunters in the Fort would rather launch a nuke at all of us than try to save me," she said, her eyes glowing with wry amusement. "You do not know how much the Hunters fear the Genei Ryodan, it seems. If I turned up with the infamously undefeated Ryodan, I believe Pariston would lock the door on me and sit in the closet shivering with fear. That would not be very helpful since I came all the way here just to talk to him."

"Oh," Phinx mumbled, looking mollified. "Well, that's quite understandable I guess."

"Indeed, it is very understandable," Kuroro said smoothly. "What do you propose we do then, Midoya?"

Midoya teased her lower lip with her teeth for as she thought. "Pepeka and I will head for Hun-ein ourselves," she said finally. "Kuroro, if you don't mind, could you stay at the nearest town to Hun-ein as backup? That would be… Hun-eindo, according to this map. If all goes well, we should, technically, not need any help. I'll contact you and well… you can do whatever you want after that. I'll probably be stuck in the Fort until my name is cleared. However, if things go down south, I would greatly appreciate it if you could launch an attack on the Fort and save Pepeka and me."

"What about your resume and reputation as a Hunter?"

"Fuck my reputation," she said elegantly, surprising Kuroro with her use of profanity. "I'm quite tired of running from the Association. I'm a fighter, Kuroro, and I really don't take kindly to bullies. This is my last attempt to deal with them peacefully. If it fails then so be it." She smiled coldly. "If it fails, I'm taking them down. They are going to regret the day they messed with me."

"Taking them down?" Pepeka asked hesitantly from behind, looking more than a little intimidated.

"The whole Kito estate will go into destroying the Hunter Association," Midoya said, her eyes burning brightly. "All the mafia of the world will unite under the Kito banner. I will buy over all the civilian governments of the world. All terrorists will join me. All freedom fighters will join me. Criminals, politicians, law enforcement officers and civilians will march alongside against anyone who tries to protect the Association. Those who fight back will be killed. Those who survive the slaughter will have their names dragged through the mud. It wouldn't be a world war; it will be a massacre. I will drag the Hunter Association so far down they will never be able to climb up again for centuries."

Someone in the back whistled. Kuroro stared, considered her proposal and was certain she could get it done if she wanted to. "Hard core," he commented, impressed and very turned on at the same time. "I almost look forward to negotiations failing. Not that the Ryodan will join in the war of course. We're not the warring kind. We'll probably hang off the sides and rob everyone blind while they're too busy watching the world burn."

Midoya laughed. "I would expect nothing less of you," she said fondly.

"And after all the world is burning at your feet, what will you do?"

She grinned widely. "Join the Ryodan probably," she said, and Kuroro couldn't tell if she was joking or not. "Even in a ruined and desolate world overrun by zombies, I'm sure you can find something fun for us to do."

"I'm sure I could," Kuroro agreed. He regarded her for a brief second and thought about how he hadn't even realised she was starting to lose her temper with the association. Midoya obviously took a long time to reach her boiling point, and the process was all but invisible, but when she did, well... That was something to remember and to avoid. An angry Midoya was a very, very scary Midoya, and a very, very scary Midoya was pretty much the end of the world. "We should travel to Hun-eindo through different routes, just in case they are watching the town," he said finally in response to her questioning look.

"Yes," Midoya agreed. "That would be most prudent."

"Wait two days in this port before you head for Hun-eindo. The Ryodan will go there first and scout out the territory. Do not attempt to contact me until you are sure of your position within the Hunter Association. We will find you and we will look out for you, even if you do not sense us."

Midoya's eyebrow went up at his authoritative tone. "Give a man a hint that you may be joining his infamously bad-ass criminal organization and he treats you as if you were already his underling," she said, her voice teasing. "Any other orders, Dancho?"

Kuroro smiled. Just weeks ago, her calling him Dancho would have annoyed him to no end. This time, it actually sounded good coming from her lips. "No, my dear Midoya, that is all."

"Then I'll see you around," she said cheerfully. "With me, Pepeka."

"Yes, sensei," Pepeka said obediently, a look of apprehension on his face.

With a bright smile and nods for everyone, Midoya turned around and strode off the yacht, her back straight and head held high, looking all the world like a queen who had condescended to visit the slums. Kuroro couldn't help feeling rather proud of her.

"So," Phinx commented casually. "Dancho, we're taking orders from Kito now?"

"It's her life that's on the line, and she has a better grasp of this situation than any of us."

"And we're helping her because…?"

"Because I'm Dancho and I said so."

"Of course."

As Kuroro started to walk off the yacht, he distantly heard Nobunaga whisper, "I told you…!"

Immediately upon disembarking onto Northern Hun Port, Kuroro had ordered Shalnark to source for the fastest route to Hun-eindo. That turned out to be a day's bus ride from the port to Hun-eindo. To get from Hun-eindo to the Fort, in turn, was another half a day's bus ride and a half-day trek through treacherous terrain.

"If Kito really gets into trouble, we'll actually be a day away from helping her," Shalnark informed Kuroro. "I don't know how much good that's going to do her."

"She's relying on the Hunter Association's arresting her instead of killing her," Kuroro deduced. "It's not an improbable assumption to make. Midoya is, after all, ultimately one of theirs, and the other Zodiacs not out to get her would probably refrain from hurting her too much, if only because it would look bad in the eyes of the public. If the desire is to take her out of running for the position of Chairman, there is no need to kill her. Imprisonment will do the trick. Killing her might actually backfire and bring a lot of trouble down on them in the form of the mafia or other factions in the Association."

"Why doesn't she just back out of the elections then?" Phinx asked, bemused.

"Her participation is mandatory, as is the case for all Hunters," Kuroro said with a shrug. "It's not like she actually has a choice. She can't stop people from voting for her either. Most of them probably don't see her; they see Netero, and that's who they are really voting for."

"Huh," Machi commented. "That's why I hate politicians."

"I could not agree more."

The conversation lapsed into silence after that, and Kuroro took advantage of that to take a good look around. At the moment, they were standing at a single, rusty metal pole that indicated that the particular patch of dusty ground they were standing on was a bus stop (as opposed to the other patches of dusty ground around them). The buildings near the port were dilapidated little shacks that consisted mostly of zinc roofs held up by thick pieces of wood. Some of the shacks didn't even have proper walls. Even so, that was more than most residents in Meteor City ever got. The residents certainly looked better off than those from Meteor City. At least they did not need to carry gas masks with them when travelling through certain areas in the continent.

With their surroundings as rundown and obviously poor as it was, the Ryodan members, with their relatively cleaner and nicer clothes stood out. Already, the locals, dressed in fish-stained drapes, were giving them curious looks.

"Dancho," Shalnark whispered. "I think we're standing out a little too much."

Kuroro nodded in acknowledgement. This could not be good. If the Hunter Association heard of a group of well-dressed strangers entering Hun (the continent of few tourist pleasures) at around the same time as Midoya, they might draw the connection between them and Midoya. They had to do something about this. "Play along with me," Kuroro murmured, just loud enough so the Ryodan members could hear. Then Kuroro reached deep into his mind and pulled out one of the personalities he often took upon when undercover: the dumb rich boy.

A grin, wide and stupid, spread across Kuroro's face and he slung an overly-friendly arm around Phinx like they were the best friends in the world (and they were, in a sense, not that any of the Ryodan would ever admit it to each other). "Say," Kuroro slurred, altering his voice so it became more nasal and a little slurred. "Say bro. You think the stuff about the buried treasure is true?"

Phinx, to his credit, barely even flinched, though Kuroro could feel his body tense up with discomfort at their sudden physical proximity. "I don't know, man," Phinx slurred back in quite a good imitation of Kuroro's act. "We like got the map and everything that has like an X on it and stuff. It's totally got to be a real treasure map."

"Yeah man," Kuroro agreed, highly pleased with Phinx's performance. "What do you think, bro?" He turned and gave Nobunaga a look.

Nobunaga blinked and stuttered, "Uh. Yeah. I guess. Man."

"If only we like knew where on Hun that bloody X is, man," Kuroro said loudly to cover Nobunaga's obvious discomfort. "It's like… we should have totally learned how to read a map before we came."

"Yeah man," Feitan drawled, sounding entirely too intelligent for Kuroro's chosen disguise. Still, he did appreciate the effort. Shalnark had remained silent, being fully incapable of sounding stupid. Not that it mattered. Kuroro could already see many of those passing by typecasting them as ignorant treasure hunters. Damn if he didn't like bigots: bigots only see what they want to see and then nothing else. It made them the easiest people on earth to dupe.

Next to him, the charade was still ongoing. "Once we get to Hun-eindo, we should figure it out?" Machi suggested. "Um. Man."

Caught up in the character he was playing, Phinx shot her a disgusted glare. "Oh shut up and go back to the kitchen, woman," he sneered.

Machi blinked, too shocked to respond immediately then her stare hardened.

Though he really should have stopped at that, Phinx just had to push Machi further by adding, "Dumb broads." He abruptly stiffened as Machi's hand flashed suddenly.

"Yeah man. Hey the bus," Nobunaga said, looking relieved.

As the bus rumbled up to them, Phinx drew Kuroro even closer and whispered, "Dancho, I got a favour to ask of you."

"Yes Phinx?"

"Gently pull the needles that are lodged in the seat of my pants out please."

After a rather uncomfortable bus ride over uneven, muddy ground and through pouring rain, the bus finally reached Hun-eindo. Uncurling from the rickety seat, which consisted mostly of pieces of metal and wood tied together by rope, Kuroro crawled out of the bus and into the humid, warm weather of Hun-eindo, looking quite different from the way he normally did.

During the bus ride, it had occurred to Kuroro that his face was well-known to the Hunter Association, not necessarily as the Dancho of the Genei Ryodan, but certainly as the mysterious man Midoya had been sleeping with. Thus, taking advantage of some supplies he had tucked into his Fun Fun cloth, he had altered his appearance enough that he doubted even Midoya could recognise him. Away went his trademark coat and blue earrings. In their place was a slightly over-sized white T-shirt that read 'Peace, Love and Harmony' in rainbow-coloured font. Then he had combed his hair down, messed it up, and tied a tie-dye bandanna over his tattoo. A pair of shades with circular lenses went onto his nose. When Phinx woke up from his nap and caught sight of Kuroro's transformation, he had turned purple with repressed laughter. Even Feitan had been amused enough to chuckle.

As he stretched, hearing various joints in his body pop, Kuroro took a good look around. Hun-eindo was, in many ways, quite different from the port. Instead of shacks, Hun-eindo had proper buildings made of cement and bricks. The tiled roofs had proper plumbing, obviously meant to drain rain water to the appropriate pipes so the streets did not flood. Though the small, cosy and rather quiet streets still gave off the pleasant vibe of a small town, the people here obviously did not do as much hard labour as their fellow citizens in the port. The clothing worn by the people on the street were neat, clean and, though still practical, had more frills than most physical labourers would waste on fabric that was just going to get stained with blood anyway. Looking around, Kuroro guessed that the main occupation of the citizens here were small-scale artisanal works given how many tiny shops boasting 'home-made' products could be seen.

Even better, he noticed strangers in the crowd immediately, people who were obviously not citizens based on the way they were not dressed in the fashion of the locals. The sun-hats, walking boots and comfortable clothing suggested instead that these strangers were tourists. Hun-eindo was obviously one of the few places in Hun that had some form of a tourist industry, and that would make it easier for the Ryodan to blend into the town.

As the Ryodan gathered around him, Kuroro said as much to them.

"So we've moved from being misogynistic treasure hunters to being misogynistic tourists now?" Machi asked coolly and Kuroro smiled at a cringing Phinx.

"Oh, not at all. If you like, we can be hippie tourists instead," Kuroro teased, gesturing to his outfit. "Would you like us all to wear flowers in our hair and dance on the streets sky-clad? I'm sure we can find ways of obtaining highly illegal substances here that will help us communicate with Mother Nature. There is a lot of Mother Nature here after all."

"You do all that, and I'll take a video of it and sell it to the highest bidder on the black market," Machi shot back, but a small smile flittered over her face so Kuroro knew she was no longer upset.

"Ah, fear not. I've already seen how you deal with nonsense," Kuroro said wryly. "I promise I have learned my lesson." Machi snorted, but she was still smiling, which was always a good sign.

"So what do we do now, Dancho?" Feitan, never one to beat around the bush, asked.

In response, Kuroro pulled out the map of Hun-eindo and studied it. "First, we find lodgings," he said. "Ideally, as is our modus operandi, I would suggest locating an abandoned building. However, in a town as small as this, there are hardly any abandoned buildings around. In this case, I fear we will actually have to pay for our lodgings. According to Midoya, there is only one inn in this place, a bed-and-breakfast place run by a husband and wife. It's apparently more their private house than an inn so there aren't many rooms available, and we may have to compete with other tourists for space. Shalnark, Machi, I task the both of you with making sure we have a roof over our heads tonight. Set up security measures in that place too and obtain whatever supplies you think we will need."

"Yes Dancho."

"As for the rest of us," Kuroro rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked around to make sure no one was near enough to overhear them. "We're going to explore this little town in pairs. Nobu, you're with me. Phinx and Feitan, you're together. Keep your heads low and try not to attract any attention. Please act like tourists. Visit a few shops. Buy a few souvenirs. Look at pretty things. Don't kill anybody or start any fights."

"Alright," Feitan agreed reluctantly.

"What should we look out for?" Phinx asked.

"I want to know how strong the Hunter presence is in this town. Look out for Hunters or people who may be reporting to the Hunters. I want to know who their eyes are in this town and who we have to look out for while we're here. Then I want to explore the Hun-ein mountain as soon as possible, but we'll leave that for later, in case we accidentally alert the association to our presence." Kuroro paused as a thought occurred to him. "If you do sense that your cover is blown, capture the person whom you think has discovered your identity. Bring him to Shalnark. Shalnark will control him or her, and try to keep things quiet for as long as possible."

"I only have one antenna though which means I can only control one person," Shalnark warned, "so be really careful."

"Got it in one, geek boy," Phinx drawled with the kind of lazy insolence he would never have used against Kuroro, as harmless as it was. "Go do the groceries, little maid."

"Phinx! One more word and I am so only buying vegetables for dinner tonight!"

"Do that and I'll slaughter you and eat you, little maid."

Leaving his Ryodan bickering behind him, Kuroro strode off with Nobunaga beside him to explore the town.

Surprisingly, Nobunaga remained discreetly silent as Kuroro glided from shop to shop, staring with vast interest at the kind of artisanal trades in the town. At each shop, Kuroro made sure to make small-talk with the owners and purchase an item or two. Wind-chimes made of seashells made up the first purchase, along with the information that there has been an unusually large group of foreigners in Hun-eindo at the moment. Pretty little dolls hand-carved from a single piece of wood made up the second purchase, along with the information that this unusually large group of foreigners did not appear to be staying in Hun-eindo and the speculation that they may be staying in the nearby town of Hun-eintoya. Lovely combs made from carefully bleached whale bones were the third purchase. With it came another speculation that this large group of foreigners seemed to be important foreign dignitaries because when they came to town, they always visited the mayor of Hun-eindo. Beautiful earrings made from Hu, a precious stone that looked like a pale blue crystal with purple highlights were the fourth purchase. The owner made many inquiries about who Kuroro was, where he came from and what he was doing here. Kuroro made a mental note that the owner of the jewellery store was most likely a spy for the Association, lied convincingly through the visit, and left with the confidence that his cover had not been blown.

And so it went on. As they made their way towards the ninth shop, Nobunaga carrying all of Kuroro's purchases and growing increasingly sullen, muttered, "Dancho, is it really necessary to buy so many things?"

Glancing at Nobunaga over the top of his shades, Kuroro hid a smile and replied, "Oh yes. When the owners of these shops think there is a possibility of conning a naïve young tourist into paying twice the amount they would have asked for, they become too distracted to ask uncomfortable questions."

"We're going to need to do a really big job after this if you keep blowing your money away like this," Nobunaga grumbled. "What are you going to do with all this crap anyway? I mean, brassier made from seashells and coloured beads? Seriously? Isn't that going to chafe?"

"It does look exceedingly uncomfortable," Kuroro agreed. "Still, maybe Machi will take them."

"Dancho, you must have a death wish making a gift like this to Machi."

Kuroro laughed. "You are right. Well… Midoya can have them if she wants. They are in her size anyway."

"Oh god, Dancho. Too much information."

"Well, it's true," Kuroro replied with a shrug. And it was. The brassier was in her size. Come to think of it, many of the items he bought would suit Midoya perfectly, he mused. The whale-bone combs were bleached a beautiful cream colour that would stand out in Midoya's dark hair. And the lovely Hu earrings were a stunning blue shade that complimented Midoya's pale skin and dark eyes. The wind-chimes would look lovely hung by the window of her penthouse, and would serve as a kind of warning system if anyone tried to climb in through the window. Kuroro had never bought Midoya anything before. There had never been a point to it; she was so much richer than him and had a much steadier source of income than him, so it was not like she couldn't afford to buy the things she wanted herself. It hindsight, it would be a good idea getting her gifts once in a while. It might actually put her in a good enough mood that she might just willingly don the collar for him.

Kuroro Lucifer, Dancho of the Genei Ryodan, was definitely not above bribing his prey into surrender.

With that happy thought in mind, Kuroro proceeded into the next shop, his naïve tourist façade back on.

Three days later, Hun-eindo had been thoroughly scouted and the Ryodan had retired to their room to sort out the information they had. The room in the bed-and-breakfast, aptly named Mama's Bed-And-Breakfast was a small, cosy room, decorated with plenty of lace and flowers. It made up for the overly feminine decoration with a cosy armchair and a nice, plush queen-sized bed. (It was awkward squeezing six grown people onto the bed, so they eventually settled the issue with the standard coin-toss. Machi and Shalnark ended up sharing the bed, much to Shalnark's discomfort.) Kuroro got the armchair by default.

At that moment, the Ryodan members were sprawled mostly on the bed where the maps were spread out, heads bent together as they studied what they had learned to date. In a corner of the room, souvenirs lay piled together in a significantly-sized mound. Phinx and Feitan had not been as discerning as Kuroro in their purchase of tourist paraphilia, and their lack of discernment had resulted in an odd accumulation of the dried out saw of a saw-fish, a small packet of raw fish eyes, a rocking horse made from whale bone and (to their endless embarrassment), half a well-preserved whale penis which they had thought to be something quite different. This gave the room a rather odd smell. Fortunately, the Ryodan were used to living in much more odorous environments.

"So Ryodan," Kuroro said. "Report. What have we learned in these three days?"

"Well," Shalnark, who had been collating the information collected, said, "what we have learned is that there is a pretty strong Hunter presence in this town. We have reports of an unusually large number of foreigners who come into town occasionally, mainly to speak with the mayor. I think we can safely say that those are representatives of the association. From Dancho's interviews with the servants of the mayor's household, we know that these hunters come to town mainly for information and supplies. If our information is good, the mayor is the one who organises supplies to be delivered to Hun-ein. Obviously a town this tiny could not provide enough supplies for the entire Fort, so the mayor is the one who gets the supplies in from other places, mainly the ports."

"Excellent," Kuroro murmured. "We have also learned that some civilians in this town are evidently under the association's pay-check. I know for a fact that several of them have made enquiries about us. To the best of my knowledge, none of them have discovered who we are or why we're here. But that is to be expected. What I find unexpected though… is those supplies."

"Really?" Phinx asked dubiously. "What's so odd about the Fort getting supplies? Isn't it kind of… granted that they would?"

"Not that they are getting supplies, Phinx. What strikes me as odd is that no one outside of the mayor's mansion knows of this. The Fort is Hun-ein mountain, which is a relatively untouched piece of nature. There are very few roads to there, one only in fact, and Hun-eindo lies on this route. If large trucks carrying supplies passed continuously through Hun-eindo, surely the residents would have noticed it." Kuroro clasped his hands and leaned his chin against it as he thought. "But of course, the Association wouldn't want people noticing it. The Fort is the Association's most secret of hideouts; surely they wouldn't want people discovering it through these deliveries. There must be another route to Hun-ein, one on which the travelling time is equal to or less than the route that goes through Hun-eindo."

"How do you know that, Dancho?" Nobunaga asked.

"It's the nature of the supplies. In a place like this where half of the continent is desert and the other half wet, rain forests, chances are, the supplies acquired would be from the sea or bush meat. However, the consumption of bush meat is dangerous because the meat acquired is hardly sterile so anyone living off the local food has to rely on supplies from the sea," Shalnark guessed. "Hun-eindo is only a day away from the ports, so they can still afford to get fresh seafood from there. If Hun-ein has been accepting supplies from the ports, as is most likely the case, the food has to get to them within twenty-four hours or it will rot. Unless the Hunters are happy living off salted and dried meat while they're there…"

"No," Kuroro disagreed. "I am quite sure there is a faster route to Hun-ein than we know of. There's no point having a secret route if it takes that much longer for supplies and people to get to the Fort. It is designed as the final retreat in the event the world comes to an end. A bunker like that is useless if it takes too long to get to it. The nature of the terrain, being rather hilly, means air transport isn't feasible, so an alternate route it is. It will be worthwhile to find it, and as soon as possible too. Midoya should be here very shortly, possibly within a few hours, and will probably head for Hun-ein after a short rest. That will take her another twenty-four hours before she encounters the Zodiac, the most powerful of the Hunters, and possibly the only ones who can actually fight her head-on and stand a good chance winning. That gives us around twenty-four hours to locate this passage."

"How?" Feitan asked.

Kuroro pressed his fingers together in a steeple and closed his eyes. "The only person we know of who knows where the entrance is, is the mayor," he said slowly, thoughtfully. "We have to get the mayor to talk without him realising who we are." That was a mission that was quite up Midoya's street, he realised. She was an excellent tactician, especially when it came to missions of this kind. Well, she wasn't around to give her devious little ideas so it was fortunate Kuroro had quite the devious mind himself. "Shalnark, you are a Hunter, aren't you?"

"Yes," Shalnark confirmed.

"Well then," Kuroro said, smiling. "You are going to be out front man. Try your best to look official and terribly worried; a horrible accident has happened along the supply routes."

"It has?"

"Oh yes, and you need the mayor to provide you transport to get there."

"Ah, I see."

"Once you…" Abruptly, Kuroro's phone started to ring. Surprised, he stared at it for a second, trying to figure out who it could be, before he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Kuroro. It's Pepeka."

"Pepeka? Why are you contacting me? I told you…"

"Stop. Please. Kuroro. I need to tell you something."

The desperation in the voice would have given Kuroro pause any time. What really shut him up though was how… beaten Pepeka sounded. "What is it?" Kuroro asked quietly.

"It's a trap, Lucifer. It's a fucking trap. You need to get out of the town."

"What do you mean? Where are you? Where is Midoya?"

"Forget about us! Listen! It's a trap! Pariston actually came for us! He met us at the Port and took us by an alternate route to Hun-ein! We reached a day earlier than planned! But it was a fucking trap! God, we didn't even think to contact you because we thought we were safe. We trusted that bastard… And he knows you are in town! You need to get out of there! They are coming for you!"

At that exact moment, shouting came from downstairs and the sound of wood splintering under a blow could be heard. The Ryodan had shot to their feet, already prepared for battle. Kuroro remained seated, frowning slightly. "You mean Pariston is the one who was actually going after Midoya?"

"Not Pariston. Not just Pariston."

"Dancho," Machi warned calmly as heavy, hurried footsteps came from the corridor outside their room.

"It's the entire Zodiac! The whole fucking Zodiac was in on this!"

That… changed things. "Where is Midoya?" Kuroro asked sharply.

The phone fell silent except for a strange sound. Crying, Kuroro realised with a shock. Pepeka Timbal was crying.

"Pepeka?" Kuroro demanded tensely as the door to their room started to splinter.

"She's dead, Kuroro. They killed her. They killed sensei."

A/N: And I bet no one was expecting that. I certainly wasn't. This was an incredibly hard chapter to write, because I had nothing interesting to say about Hun-eindo. The interesting parts (for me, at least) take place in the Fort. Hopefully, the story picks up once we get there. In the meantime, do leave a review telling me what you thought about this chapter!

Trivial: It is true that Kuroro had never bought Midoya anything, or even thought of buying her anything. He came from a society where resources were scarce after all. If one needed someone else to provide for one, then one was very, very screwed. Gifts were thus, in some ways, considered an insult of sorts in Meteor City, kind of like saying, "Hey, I know you're weak so in this moment of rare generosity, I'm gonna give you something so you can suffer a while longer before inevitably dying like the maggot that you are." It had taken Kuroro a while after leaving Meteor City to realise that things were different in the Outside, that gifts could come from a place of selflessness, and thus that the act of giving gifts could be harnessed for his own purposes.

In contrast, Midoya came from a society where giving gifts was something of a given. If you want the police to overlook certain business ventures of yours, 'give' them money. If you want to be appreciated by the rich and famous, 'given' them a party to remember. If you want the Hunter Association to stop pestering you, 'give' them your services for a fixed period of time. If you want a rival mafiaso to stop attacking your people, 'give' him a bullet to the head. Hence, from the day Kuroro and her started sleeping together, she had given him many things, including a new watch, clothes, boots and cologne. On one memorable occasion, she had even given him a pair of handcuffs. Afterwards, as they lay curled up together basking in the after-glow of awesome sex, Midoya was certain that never had giving a gift paid off so well for her before.