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.
Vengeance the Ryodan Way
The first time Pepeka Timbal had met Midoya June Kito, he had been on his way to kill himself.
All fourteen years of his life spent in a quiet sea-side town, Pepeka had been aware, thanks to the highly conservative society he grew up in, of the difference between him and his sister. There are some things boys can do that girls can't. Boys can run around shirtless if they wanted to, while girls shouldn't. Boys can stay out later than girls into the night. Boys can venture into the town centre where the bars are by themselves, but girls needed to have a chaperon. Boys should go out and find a job while girls should prepare to have five babies. At fourteen, Pepeka had known that there were some things that could happen to girls that couldn't happen to boys, that girls were vulnerable and needed to be protected. Pepeka wasn't too sure about that, given how his sister was older, stronger and taller than him. At age fourteen, Pepeka had been short, skinny and pale, more prone to sitting around indoors than running about in the outdoors. Still, he knew that girls should be protected; there were some things that only happened to girls.
There were some things that only happened to girls. That's what Pepeka thought, until he had, one night, walked down an alley and ran into brothers Gerald and George King.
Later, limping and bleeding, he had somehow made his way to the police station, scaring the elderly men there out of their wits with his appearance. He managed to make it through his statement before throwing up.
And that should have been that. Gerald and George King were arrested and put on trial. They should have been prosecuted – but they weren't.
"He was wearing tight jeans and a singlet. We thought he was a fag."
"He was asking for it, walking down an alley so late at night like that, and in jeans like that. He was just asking for it."
"He looked at us when he walked past. We thought he wanted it too."
"It was his fault. It was entirely his fault."
In the end, nothing Pepeka Timbal said made a difference because he had been wearing skinny jeans and a singlet. The brothers went free and Pepeka Timbal was left to deal with the aftermath of the attack. The looks, half-pity and half-disgust, the whispers that followed him everywhere he went even when people deliberately avoided him. His parents stopped talking to him. His friends disappeared. If his elder sister had been around, she might have stood up for him, but she had left a year ago. "Girls shouldn't be protected by limiting their freedom, telling them they can't wear the things they want to wear, can't go the places they want to go. Girls should be protected by teaching them how to be stronger and smarter than those that hunt them. I'm sick of being told I can't do anything because I am supposedly weak." With that, she had left, and now Pepeka was all alone. There was nothing left but the whispers.
He asked for it. It was his jeans. Why would he wear jeans like that if he wasn't asking for it? It was his fault. He tempted them. Maybe he's gay. Children these days can't be trusted; they are too aware of what they can do with their bodies. He tempted them. Maybe he wanted a new computer; he's always on his computer. Maybe he was selling himself. He tempted them.
And after a while, Pepeka wasn't sure what was true or not anymore. Had he tempted them? He wasn't sure. He tried to remember what had happened that night in the alley. The overwhelming odour of rubbish that had been left out too long; powerful hands, sweaty and brutal; the pain, sharp and searing; his screams, echoing helplessly in the empty night. Had he been screaming in pain or pleasure? Had he been struggling to get free or writhing for more? Had they paid him or had they taken his money?
The sense of filth that had never left him came back with a vengeance and suddenly he couldn't stand it; he couldn't stand the looks, the whispers. So that night, while his family slept, Pepeka Timbal crawled out of his bedroom window and headed for the sea.
Most of the beach near the sea was flat with beautiful white sand. There was one area though, which all parents forbade their children to go to: a cliff that led to a forty foot drop straight into treacherous, frothy seas. That was where Pepeka ended up at, standing at the edge of the cliff, staring down into the churning sea below, dyed black in the night. Would the sea cleanse his body or would it stain it even darker? Would he vanish silently into the vast ocean or would his body wash up on the beaches for his neighbours to stare with revulsion at?
"Oh you horrible piece of metal trash."
The voice, so unexpected in the darkness of night, jerked Pepeka out of his stupor. Startled, he spun around, trying to look for the source of the voice, and almost put himself over the edge before he was prepared for it. The sudden loss of balance jolted fear and panic through his bones, and he ended up falling onto his knees, desperately clutching the dirt as if it could stop him from falling over.
"You should be careful," the voice said without any real urgency or care. "You're very close to falling over."
Finally, from the darkness of the night, the silhouette of a woman emerged. It was no surprise Pepeka hadn't spotted her earlier, though she was sitting incredibly close to where he was, for she was dressed entirely in black. Now that his eyes had picked her out though, Pepeka could see her clearly even in the dark. She was a short woman, a good head shorter than Pepeka, and pleasantly plump. Her hair was dark, frizzy and unevenly cut, and fell over skin so pale it was almost luminous in the faint moonlight.
"Hi," the woman said brightly once he had stopped struggling. "I don't suppose you know what's wrong with this, do you?" She held out a device that looked a little like the controller of those motorized toy cars.
For a moment, Pepeka considered telling her that she was interrupting his suicide attempt. However, that seemed quite… embarrassingly melodramatic. So, instead of protesting, Pepeka wordlessly climbed to his feet, took the device and turned it over in his hands curiously. What was it? With the little antenna and the strange display, he thought it might be some kind of mini-computer. Despite himself, he felt himself gaining interest in the little device and he started pressing buttons left and right in an attempt to get it to do something. Finally, he spotted a small panel at the side of the device. Carefully, he pushed it opened and peered inside. "Uh… you need to put the batteries in," he finally said.
"Oh! Batteries! I didn't even think to bring any." The woman laughed, the sound bright and eerie in the dark. "Well, that's a quite a conundrum I'm in." Conundrum? Who used words like that? Her accent was unfamiliar to him, but he recognised the sound of an expensive education in it. "Ah, but I think we wouldn't need it. My dear, don't move."
A low growl came from behind Pepeka and he froze in shock. He met the woman's eyes and she smiled, not looking alarmed at all. That gave him some courage and he slowly turned and peeked over his shoulder.
A massive head the size of a small car stared back at him. It was sleek and wet-looking, shaped like a lizard's but rounder around the snout. Large eyes the size of basketballs stared at him, glowing green in the moonlight. A long, thick neck held the entire head up, joining it to a massive body perched on the side of the cliff. The mouth opened slightly, releasing the odour of decay, and a long, snake-like tongue flicked out.
Pepeka made a sound and a powerfully hand clamped on his wrist. "Don't move," the woman said so softly he could hardly hear her, even in the relative silence of the night.
The massive head moved closer to Pepeka and large nostrils flared as the creature sniffed him. The hot air blasting from the nostrils whipped Pepeka's hair around and left a sticky, itchy feeling on his skin. His heart was racing in his chest, terror and awe leaving him dizzy and light-headed. Sweat ran down his face and he wondered if the creature could smell him, if it was going to eat him. That thought was enough to turn his knees to jelly. Just when he thought he couldn't hold himself up any longer, the creature turned away with a snort and disappeared down the side of the cliff.
The hand on his wrist disappeared and the woman said, "Very brave of you", as if she hadn't noticed his racing pulse and the sheen of sweat covering his entire body. Damn, she even sounded sincere. Before Pepeka could comment, she dropped to her stomach and edged to the end of the cliff. "Come on," she whispered, "get on the ground here." Pepeka, legs still weak from terror, thought that was a good idea, and joined her on the ground. "Look."
Pepeka looked then made a startled sound. "Damn," he gasped, amazed. There were at least five of those same creatures in the seas below, moving together away from the cliff. Even from a distance, they looked strangely graceful and majestic as they glided through the water, heads held high above the water by their long necks. The large heads that looked so scary a moment ago, seemed noble and proud in the dim moonlight, held as high as they were. "What are they?" he whispered.
"Lacerta Gigantus Aquatic," the woman replied, her voice breathy with excitement and delight. "There are a very rare species of herbivorous sea lizards. They feed on the vegetation that grow near the sea or on seaweed. That school of Gigantus down there have tags on them. I've been following them as a favour for a friend. It seemed they had been migrating further and further south lately, and he's trying to figure out why. I thought this was going to be one hell of a drag, following a school of lizards around, but I was wrong. Look at how beautiful they are! Goodness, it was quite worth the trip. What magnificent beasts they are!"
Pepeka looked at the school of lizards again. One of them tossed its head, flicking droplets of crystal water into the air. Its head gleamed black in the moonlight, the long, thick neck as graceful as a swan's, as it glided smoothly through the water. Pepeka's heart fluttered again, but not from fear. "They are gorgeous," he agreed.
"Aren't they? It's so rare to find someone who agrees with me. Most people turn and run when they encounter these beasts. That's not a good idea; they think you're acting them if you do that, and will kill you. I've never met anyone who reacted as calmly as you have to them. You should totally come along with me while I track these beasts." she beamed. Without waiting for a reply, she launched into a long lecture about the lizards, showering Pepeka with random facts about them and her long journey tracking them. Pepeka didn't fully understand half of what she was saying, and she was speaking too fast for him to interrupt politely. Still, he let her talk. There was something calming about the delight and excitement in her voice as she described the feeding habits of the lizard that washed away the earlier despair that had brought him to the edge of this cliff. For the first time in a month, Pepeka felt himself relaxing as he listened attentively to her.
Finally, she paused for a breath, and Pepeka said to her, "I was going to kill myself."
Something tickled the back of his throat. He coughed once and suddenly started to cry. He hadn't cried during the attack, he hadn't cried while making his statement and he hadn't cried when the brothers went free. But now, he sobbed like the child he still was, hands pressed to his eyes as he wailed. Somehow, he managed to stammer out what had happened through his tears. He told her about the attack, about how repulsed he was with his own body. He told her about the looks, the whispers. He told her about his stupid memory which kept changing on him. He told her about wanting to die. It came out incoherent and confused, but she never interrupted him for clarification.
When he was done, she didn't say anything, so he sat still, holding himself and rocking as his sobs quieted down. He felt drained, exhausted, but good, like a heavy burden lifted from his chest.
"Huh," she said finally.
Pepeka stared at his knees. That wasn't the reaction he expected. He thought she might be sympathetic or repulsed; he hadn't expected… indifference. Still, it wasn't her problem, he supposed. She was just a stranger. "Sorry about blabbering on like that," he managed to say through his arms.
"Hey, you listened to me blabber about lizards," she replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, I guess." Pepeka smiled weakly, avoiding her eyes.
"Are you still going to kill yourself?" she asked, as if she were asking about the weather.
Pepeka thought about that. "I guess not," he said finally. "It seems kind of pointless now that I think about it. I mean, what do I accomplish? Hell, I have no idea what I could accomplish by living, but I guess… if I continue to live, I will have a chance to find out, right?" He tried to inject enthusiasm into that statement and failed.
She didn't say anything to that, so Pepeka just sat there, staring at the sea and thinking about beautiful, giant lizards, swimming out into the open ocean.
"I have a proposal for you," she said finally. "You say you have no idea what you can accomplish by living, but I do. You can take revenge. I can give you the power to take revenge. It will be extremely dangerous and there's a pretty high chance you'll end up dying. Come to think of it, even if you end up living, you may not like the kind of life you end up living. But if you want, I can make you strong enough to take those men on. I can give you the power to stop them from doing the same thing to other people." In the dark, her eyes glowed with a black light. "Will you try?"
Pepeka met her eyes and was drawn relentless into them. "Yes," he told her, "I'll try."
Two days later, Pepeka walked into a bar that the King brothers frequented. His shirt was torn and tattered, his jeans dirty and stained with blood. As he walked through the bar, he drew looks from the patrons, but he ignored them all until he reached the two men who were smirking up at him. Without a word, Pepeka raised a fist, glowing with the strange power she had released from his body, and hit the nearest one in the face.
Once he started, he couldn't stop. They fought back hard, but the brutal hands which had seemed so powerful just days ago felt like paper against his reinforced body. They screamed, and he crushed their bones between his hands. Someone tried to hit him with a metal pipe and he felt the pipe rebound off him like rubber. The scent of blood filled the air threatening to overwhelm his mind, but Pepeka didn't stop until the screaming did.
Once he was done, Pepeka slumped to his knees, his heart pounding wildly. Revulsion and relief coursed through him in equal portions.
Someone gasped.
Straightening up, Pepeka looked around the bar, now filled with the elderly policemen, staring at him as if he were a monster. He supposed he was. His hands were covered with blood, dripping onto the floor. No one said anything. No one moved to arrest him. So he stood there, staring at them staring at him.
The door to the bar opened and the woman he had met by the sea came in. She glanced idly at the carnage on the floor then at him. "Felt good?" she asked.
Pepeka thought about it. "No," he told her. "It didn't feel good. It felt right."
She nodded and started to move towards him, but one of the policemen grabbed her shoulder and voiced a shaky warning. She shrugged him off. "I'm a blacklist hunter," she said, showing him her license. The policeman let go hesitantly and she walked forward until she was standing in front of Pepeka. "These men aren't on the blacklist though," she told him. "But half a year ago, they were in York Shin City. They raped a young man. They were arrested, but never prosecuted. They claimed that the shorts the boy was wearing were too short. He tempted them, they claimed. The judge agreed." The woman smiled faintly. "That young man worked for me. He was a kitchen boy, training to be a chef. That day, he had been out buying chocolate for me. I paid for the lawyer that would prosecute the men. I thought it was quite a clear case, and I left on a business trip assuming that it would work out in his favour. I was wrong. By the time I got back, the young man had hung himself."
Pepeka nodded. "You knew who I was before you spoke to me," he said. His voice sounded strange, as if coming from a distance. It was odd. Despite what had happened, despite what she was revealing he felt nothing inside. He felt numb. It was an incredibly peaceful feeling.
"I did," she admitted. "I came here because I heard of your case. I knew the King brothers were in town. I was coming here anyway, which is why my friend asked me to check out on the lizards if I had time." Her eyes were calm and cruel. "I came here to kill them. I do not take violence done to my people lightly. I would have made them suffer for what they did. But I thought it would make you feel better if you did it yourself, if you could return the pain they dealt back to them. They took your life; I thought you would want to have a chance to take theirs." One of the bodies on the floor groaned in agony. "Guess I was wrong. Why did you let them live?"
"Because…" Pepeka thought about it. "Because it didn't feel right killing them. They are the criminals, not me. I just wanted them to… stop. I didn't want to kill them. Just stop them… from haunting me, from doing this to other people." He shook his head. "Criminals shouldn't get free. The defenceless should be protected. That's what I believe in, and that's not going to change because of what these… men did to me."
"Is that so?" The woman smiled faintly and Pepeka thought he detected something in her enigmatic smile, something… approving.
"You asked me if I wanted to follow you while you tracked the lizards. Is that offer still open?"
The smile widened. "Of course."
"And that power you… taught me…" Pepeka clenched a fist that felt warm with blood and that strange energy. "I can feel… like… something tells me… there is more. I want to know more. I want to know how else I can use this power."
She laughed, delighted. "And you will," she said, looking pleased.
Somehow, the warmth in her voice sank into his chest and settled there. "We haven't been formally introduced," he realised. "I'm Pepeka Timbal."
"Midoya Kito," the woman replied. "That would be Midoya-sensei to you, apprentice."
Many years later, Pepeka Timbal, bloodied and battered, pressed his huge hands to the blood-soaked ground where his sensei's life blood had stained the ground red, and howled desperately as the ground swallowed up his tears.
Whoever was on the other side of the door was taking their fucking sweet time knocking down the door.
Standing on alert, Machi drew one of her Nen threads between her hands and eyed the door with annoyance. For all their disguises and stupid tourist acts, their cover had been blown anyway. One of them must have screwed up somehow. Machi was putting her money on Phinx and Feitan. Those two idiots might be good at fighting, but they couldn't blend into a crowd for nuts. Dancho would have words to say about that.
Machi glanced at Dancho, who was still on the phone, to see how he was reacting to the situation. It only took her one look at his face to figure out that something was wrong. "Dancho?" she asked hesitantly. Her voice attracted the attention of the other Ryodan members and they turned as one to stare.
Dancho was sitting frozen where he was, his expression a strange mixture of shock and annoyance. It was rare for Dancho to look so discomforted. In fact, he only reacted like this under very, very limited circumstances.
"Who's dead?" Feitan asked bluntly.
Let it be Kito's loud-mouthed disciple, Machi prayed.
"Midoya," Dancho replied, his voice tinged with irritation.
Oh. "Fuck," Machi said with awkward sympathy. "What should we do now?"
"Indeed, what should we do now?" Dancho murmured, cocking his head as if he was thinking about what to eat for dinner. "Let me think. For now, just kill the hunters outside." His face having regained its usual composure, Dancho turned back to the phone and asked, "Where are you now?"
The door splintered some more. "This is taking forever," Phinx grumbled. "We should go out and pummel them."
"Good idea," Shalnark agreed. "Nobu?"
"On it," Nobunaga growled and slashed through the door, and the two people behind it with one swing. "Come on!" he yelled at the corridor filled with stunned hunters. "Come to your death, you motherfucking monkeys!" With a roar, he flew at the hunters, slashing through them easily, Phinx and Feitan close behind.
Machi and Shalnark remained in the room, standing between Dancho and the door.
"Pepeka, listen to me," Dancho was saying, his voice quiet but urgent. "This is not the time to argue with me. Tell me where you are and we will come for you." He paused then frowned, looking impatient. "Will you stop that? Martyrdom is quite unflattering. Midoya really should have weaned you off your ridiculously romantic ideas." Then a lot more sharply, "Pepeka, do not push me. I am not in the mood to be trifled with. Thank you. Now, I'm going to give you some instructions, and you are going to follow them strictly. Very simply, I want you to hide until we reach Hun-ein. If you sense any of the Ryodan's presence nearby, come out and find them. Do not engage with any hunters you meet, no matter how weak they are. Do not let anyone find out you are still alive and on the mountain. If your cover is blown, kill whoever finds you and move to a different location immediately. Do you understand?"
A lone hunter, dressed entirely in black, dashed into the room, glowing fiercely with Nen. He met Machi's threads head-on, breaking through them, only to run into Machi's fist. It knocked him backwards and Shalnark kicked his legs out from under him, bringing him to the floor. In a flash, Machi had the man wrapped up with Nen threads.
"So you're actually on the mountain, not in the Fort," Dancho was saying. "Not a problem. There are plenty of places to hide on a mountain. Do you have a map of the Fort? I see. Very well then. We have no choice. Before you hide away, I need you to find the blue prints of the Fort and send the data to my phone. Any other information would be great too, including security measures, number of hunters and so on. You know the drill."
The screaming in the corridor was fading to silence. The three of the Ryodan outside should be almost done cleaning up the attackers.
"One last piece of information before you hang up," Dancho said, his voice as smooth and cold as snow. "Who was the one who killed Midoya, Pepeka?"
Machi and Shalnark glanced behind.
"I see. Of course, I should have thought so. Midoya would not have fallen to a lone hunter," Dancho said. "I would have expected nothing less from her. Now, carry out my instructions, and be careful."
Dancho hung up his phone just as Phinx, Feitan and Nobunaga returned to the room.
"Dancho?" Shalnark asked.
Dancho clasped his hands together and looked at them appraisingly. "Do you remember what Midoya said when she mentioned the possibility of negotiations failing?" He smiled, and it wasn't a pleasant one. "I do. She said she will destroy the Hunter Association so thoroughly they will never be able to climb back up for centuries. That's what we're going to do, Ryodan. We are going to destroy the Hunter Association, starting with those who killed Midoya. The Zodiacs are our prey."
"All of them?" Phinx asked. To his credit, he only sounded slightly incredulous.
"It took all of them, attacking in groups, to subdue Midoya. Pepeka, who was on the phone just now, isn't sure who actually dealt the final blow, but he knew she fell while fighting all of the Zodiacs. Hence, for fairness's sake, I hold the entire Zodiac responsible for her death."
"That's very fair," Shalnark agreed diplomatically.
"We're going to launch an invasion of Hun-ein," Dancho stated. "We will save Pepeka Timbal from the Fort, where he is now, and we will kill every single hunter hiding in those bunkers. If we find any treasures in that place, we'll take it." Nobunaga cheered, a gleeful look in his eyes and Machi smiled grimly.
"Should I call the rest of the Ryodan?" Shalnark asked.
"No, we can handle this ourselves," Dancho said. "Rather, I would prefer not to delay our attack waiting for the rest of the Ryodan to turn up. I would prefer to extract Pepeka Timbal alive if possible and I do not want to give the hunters time to escape or plan a counter-attack. I hope you are all ready for a little excursion?"
"Of course," Feitan said as if insulted.
Dancho nodded and then looked at the Hunter wrapped in Machi's threads. "You," he said, coming to stand next to the hunter. "Tell me about the route the hunters use to travel from Hun-ein to Hun-eindo. Do not bother telling me it does not exist; I know it does."
"Bite me," the hunter snarled back.
Feitan took a step forward, ready to begin the interrogation but stopped when Dancho casually planted a foot on the man's head and crushed his skull. "I have no time for ill-manners," Dancho said calmly, scraping his boot against the floor. "In five minutes, we're going to attack the mayor's house. I hope for his sake that he will be a little more polite. Be ready."
"Yes Dancho," Machi said as she released her Nen, letting the threads vanish so the corpse dropped limply onto the floor. She watched Dancho retreat to a corner where he whipped off the silly hippie shirt and pulled on a black top and his old coat. Then with a flourish, he tugged the tie-dye bandanna off his head and carefully slicked his hair back, revealing the cross tattoo on his forehead.
"Yes, we're going in as the Ryodan," Dancho said, his back still to her, and Machi jumped.
"That's uh… nice, I guess," she said awkwardly. "But why are we doing this?"
Dancho smiled coldly. "The Hunter Association is going to find out Midoya's mysterious roommate is Kuroro Lucifer, Dancho of the Genei Ryodan," he said, smoothing down his coat. "And, they are going to find out, he does not respond well to others taking what is his. No, not at all. Midoya would kill me if she heard me call her mine, but she is mine, and they are going to pay for taking her away from me."
"Sacred Bunnies and Tits, that was tiring," Piyon moaned, stretching out on the conference table before the rest of the Zodiacs. "I can't believe it took all of us to actually take that Kito brat down."
"Don't be stupid. She was Chairman Netero's last disciple, his prodigy. He put more effort into her than into any of his other disciples," Ginta growled. "Of course she was powerful."
"Yeah, and for all his efforts, she still turned out like this," Piyon sniffed, holding a palm out as if that demonstrated the extent to which Midoya had fallen. "You really can't do much with a bad apple now, can you, even if you are the great Netero?"
"Did you just insult Netero, Piyon?" Ginta growled, his voice rising with ire.
"Oh come on, Ginta. I meant Midoya was so rotten even Netero couldn't save her. Get off my tits, you ugly fatso."
"Why you…!"
Someone clapped loudly and all of them turned with varying degrees of reluctance to face the clapper. "You guys did well," Pariston beamed. "Midoya is often thought of as invincible by many people. Well, we have proved those who say she is wrong and proved the Zodiac does not take rubbish from anybody, even Chairman Netero's last disciple. I think we all deserve a pat on the back."
A stony silence met his comment then Cheadle, very coldly said, "You deserve a little more credit than us, Pariston."
"Oh? Why do you say so Cheadle-san? I firmly believe that it was our combined efforts that finally led to her defeat, even if I dealt the last blow."
"In the fight yes," Cheadle agreed. "But how did that even come to be in the first place? If you hadn't lured her here, we would never have gotten the chance to take her down."
Pariston's smile widened. "I did well then?" he asked teasingly.
"Yes, you did well; far too well," Cheadle said coldly. "It was underhanded, disgusting and dishonourable."
"Cheadle-san, you wound me."
"I wound you?" Cheadle snapped. "You told her you would provide protection for her. You told her if she came to you, you would help her negotiate with whoever was hunting her. You swore to provide sanctuary for her. All those lies just so you could get her here so we could take her down. You betrayed her, Pariston, in the worst way ever. Midoya might have done some horrible things in her life, but at least she was open and honest about them!"
"I'm actually more pissed Pariston didn't consult with any of us before he initiated that plan," Gell said, sharp snake-eyes fixed on Pariston. "Why didn't you tell any of us, Pariston?"
"Because it would have meant failure," Pariston beamed. A roar of protests met that and he held up his hand till they quieted down. "Midoya is an infinitely resourceful woman," he explained calmly. "I do not know what kind of spies she might have within the association. If word got out that the entire Zodiac was hunting her, she would have disappeared and we would never have found her. So, the only way I could get her was to encourage her assumption that only parts of the Zodiac were after her, that the hunt for her was driven by the elections. If I did not offer what I did, we would have not been able to complete this mission." Smiling widely, he leaned over the conference table, planting his hands firmly on it as he looked at the people around the table avoiding his eyes. "Now, if there was anything I could have done differently, tell me."
The silence at the table grew increasingly tensed until Ging said gruffly, "You could have not involved Quincy. We could have attacked her before Quincy made her antsy enough to leave her penthouse. We could have ended it there. And why the hell did you give her body to that sick pervert anyway?"
Pariston shrugged. "A fight between all twelve Zodiacs and Midoya would have levelled the entire city. You saw what it did to the east side of Hun-ein. I doubt any vegetation will grow there for years despite the fertile soil and ample rainfall. Quincy had a better chance at getting to her without destroying the city. That he failed and forced my hand was a pity, but no matter. Midoya is no longer a threat, and that is the important thing, no? And Quincy was promised the chance to study her, so it is not like I could just back out on that promise."
"You mean unlike the way you backed out on your promises to Midoya?" Cheadle asked hotly.
Abruptly, Pariston's laptop started to beep frantically. Surprised, he hesitated for a second then flipped the laptop open. He stared at it quietly for a moment. "Well, well, well," he said quietly and started plugging the laptop into the projector so the rest of the Zodiac could see what was on the screen.
"What are you doing?" Cheadle asked suspiciously.
"I have a video call incoming," Pariston said, sounding entirely too serious. "It's from an address that I know to be Midoya's."
The silence around the table turned electric as the screen of Pariston's laptop flickered onto the large screen in the room. Without seeking permission from the rest of the Zodiacs, Pariston picked up the call.
A handsome face, pale and lovely, with intense black eyes and neatly slicked back hair stared out of them from the screen. The forehead sported a tattoo in the form of a stylised cross and heavy, blue earrings hung from delicate ears. White, luxurious fur framed the beautiful face, making it appear slightly surreal.
"Good afternoon," a voice, low, smoky and masculine said. "I presume I am speaking with the Zodiac?"
"Yes, I am Pariston of the Zodiac and…"
"I know who you are." The large, intelligent, cold eyes scanned the room. "You must have guessed from my voice who I am."
"Indeed," Pariston said, smiling widely. "You are the man who had been staying with Midoya. I recognised your voice from hearing it from some of Quincy's recordings."
"Yes, my name is Kuroro Lucifer, and I am Dancho of the Genei Ryodan."
Shocked noises erupted from the table. Pariston's smile blinked out of existence before it returned with even greater intensity. "That's a… surprise. We noted the similarities, but no one honestly believed you were Kuroro Lucifer in person. We thought you were a look-a-like that Midoya had picked up on a whim. She does like toys that way. Her report about castrating you, a false one I see now, did a lot to convince us of that that."
"But of course. Both Midoya and I took precautions to ensure no one ever linked the two of us together, until we were ready for it."
"Hold on a minute!" Ginta interrupted agitatedly. "You're Kito's boyfriend, aren't you? You mean to tell me Kito has been dating you, the Dancho of the fucking Genei Ryodan? Did that ungrateful bitch really sink that low?"
The lovely eyes glanced at Ginta, dark sooty lashes half-covering his eyes and he said, "One might say that. Given how it is this hunter here who lured her to her death with promises of safety though, I can hardly say that dating a Class A criminal instead of a hunter is much of a downgrade. I am a criminal. I am untrustworthy. I do not claim to be loyal, faithful or even monogamous to Midoya. But at the very least, I have never lied to Midoya about any of that."
Ginta's face snapped back as if he had been slapped, and his mouth opened and closed in an unflattering manner.
"What do you want, Lucifer?" Cheadle asked calmly.
A smile ghosted over the face, as beautiful and as chilling as blood spilled over fresh snow. "I want your deaths," he said emotionlessly. "I want the total destruction of the Hunter Association. I wouldn't be able to do it the way Midoya would have done it, through buying governments and rallying the mafia with her status and power, so I'm just going to have to kill all the hunters until there are none left in this world. I'll start with everyone in the Fort at present."
The table erupted into furious shouting and Pariston raised his hand again. "Ah, but surely we can negotiate something," Pariston said brightly. "You must have contacted us for a reason…"
"Negotiations are not acceptable," the beautiful stranger said calmly. "I merely contacted you to let you know the Genei Ryodan is coming and we will not leave till your corpses litter the floors."
"It will be your death!" Kanzai roared. "We will kill you and your fucking Ryodan!"
And the stranger started to laugh, a silent, mirthless laugh that sent chills down Pariston's spine. The entire table fell silent as they watched him laugh. "We are from Meteor City. Surely you know how we function by now," he said, still chuckling. "Go ahead and try. Even if we fail now, others will come, and still others more. There are so many of us in Meteor City. It will never end until we have avenged Midoya. That is our way. When one of us is murdered or wronged in anyway, our culture is to line the funeral pyre with as many corpses as possible, and there are so many people in the Fort that can contribute to Midoya's funeral in their own little ways." He smiled at them coldly. "Midoya was a very special individual. I have never met anyone like her before, and it is doubtful I will ever meet anyone like her again. I will not forgive you for taking her away from me. Prepare yourself, Hunters, prepare to fight for your life and to die screaming in agony. There will be no easy death for people like you."
Abruptly, the Dancho of the Genei Ryodan hung up on them and the Zodiacs exhaled a collective sigh of relief. There was something about that man that compelled them to sit obediently and listen to him berate them like naughty children; there was an intensity bordering on insanity in those eyes that had stolen their ability to resist, and it was not something that sat well with the Zodiacs, twelve of the most powerful Hunters on the planet.
"You've brought a shit load of ruin down on us," Kanzai growled. "What do you propose to do about this now, Pariston? Unlike Kito, that fucker isn't going to listen to any of your bullshit. There's no negotiating with those crazy fuckers."
"What do I propose we do?" Pariston asked, looking amused. "I propose we kill the Genei Ryodan before they can kill us, of course. We are all Hunters with Stars, no? Well, let's act like it. Prepare the hunters for battle. There are only thirteen members maximum in the Genei Ryodan. We have a hundred hunters here and the Zodiac. We will defeat them, no worries."
"No worries," Ginta grumbled as they got to their feet to leave. "You always say that, and look what's happened now? We're about to be besieged in our own super-secret bunker by the undefeated Genei Ryodan and their leader who likes Midoya enough that he wants to avenge her. Good god, if only Netero was here instead of you, Pariston. If only…"
Hanging up on the Zodiac, Kuroro leaned back in the comfortable leather armchair and smiled with grim satisfaction. It had been surprisingly easy to intimidate some of the hunters he had just spoken to. That wouldn't do. He wanted them to fight back, wanted them to resist. All the better for him to break them.
"Was that wise, Dancho?" Shalnark asked from behind the heavy oak desk in front of him. "Letting them know we are coming for them? It gives them more time to prepare or flee."
"On the contrary, I did it precisely so they wouldn't flee," Kuroro replied. "If they don't hear from the hunters sent to kill us, they would know that they have failed and we are still alive. By letting them know that we are coming for them, it is more likely that they will bring all the hunters scattered around Hun into the Fort to strengthen the defences and to protect any lone hunters from being picked off by us. After all, they know that we are nearby, so they don't have time to flee. The only other option is to hold up and hope they can survive our onslaught. The Fort is their safety bunker, and they feel safe there. They will think it is easier to protect themselves from within the Fort than leave it now. It saves us the trouble of going after stragglers too."
"You're so determined to kill all hunters?" Shalnark asked uneasily. "I'm a Hunter too, you know?"
Kuroro smiled. "Shalnark, you are a Spider first and foremost. There is no reason for me to kill you at all."
"Oh good," Shalnark said, looking relieved. "Just checking."
"Idiot. Like Dancho would waste his time killing a geek like you," Nobunaga snorted, coming over to join them.
"I was just checking!" Shalnark whined, and Nobunaga snorted derisively.
"How's Feitan doing?" Kuroro asked, putting an end to the fight he knew was coming.
"Not bad, if the amount of blood on the ground is any indication," Nobunaga said, nodding towards the corner Machi and Feitan were in.
Kuroro's eyes looked in the corner indicated where a corpulent, naked man was kneeling between Machi and Feitan, screaming in agony. Machi had her Nen threads wrapped around him and Feitan was doing something invasive and violent to him with an ice-pick. Machi looked bored. Feitan looked amused.
"I… I swear… I told you… everything…!" the man stuttered through the blood flowing down his face. "P… please…!"
"I wouldn't know that," Feitan said, sounding entirely too gleeful. "Perhaps you are a very loyal follower of the Hunter Association and are willing to brave all manners of mutilation and amputation to protect them. There's only one way to be sure. Lift his arms, Machi."
Machi did so with a flick of her fingers and the man screamed a horrible, gargling scream that barely sounded human. With a satisfied gleam in his eyes, Feitan stepped back from the figure and nodded at Machi who let the man drop carelessly onto the ground.
"What does the mayor say?" Kuroro asked as Feitan approached him.
"Not much. He did scream a lot though. Mostly, he screamed about a tunnel that runs from the port, straight as the bird flies, through to Hun-ein. You were right Dancho. A straight pass that bypasses all the waiting, driving over curves and turns and bumpy roads, would reduce travelling time significantly." Feitan smiled. "The dear mayor also obligingly revealed that there is a second entrance to the tunnel that is in the basement of this mansion. We can be in Hun-ein within six hours."
"Excellent." Kuroro stood up and strode over to the quavering man on the floor. "The tunnel will, undoubtedly, be guarded. The Zodiacs know Pepeka is still free somewhere, and would presume that he has given us information about this fast and direct route straight into the Fort." Leaning over the man, Kuroro asked, "How many Hunters are in the Fort?"
"I… I don't know. A hundred or so, the last I heard… mostly part-time hunters," the man gasped, hands clamped to his stomach.
"Thank you for your help," Kuroro said gently. Over his shoulder, he nodded at the Ryodan members watching him. "Let's go."
"Should I kill him?" Feitan asked, gesturing at the man on the ground.
Kuroro glanced down at the shaking, gasping man trying to hold his internal organs in. "No matter," Kuroro said with a shrug. "He'll be dead in a few minutes or so anyway." His phone beeped and he pulled it out. A glance at the screen brought a smile to his face. "Pepeka has come through with the maps," he said, pleased. "It is time to start our assault."
Stepping into a luxuriously carpeted corridor littered with the dead bodies of the mayor's household staff, Kuroro touched the tip of his forefinger to the tip of his thumb, feeling the Nen burning in his hand as he did. Rubbing gently, he felt the Nen start to heat up his fingers until a spark sprung from it and dropped onto the carpets that smelt of gasoline. Immediately, the entire corridor lit up in flames and the dying man in the room screamed in horror.
Ignoring the screams, the Ryodan descended into the basement where a long tunnel awaited them, at the end of which was vengeance – sweet vengeance served the way only the Meteor City residents knew how: over-the top, bloody and gory.
A/N: And that's another chapter. Next chapter will be the attack on the Fort!
Trivial: Pepeka's sister, Kikita Timbal, hadn't been kidding about learning to protect herself instead of relying on a man to protect her. Shortly after leaving her hometown, she journeyed up the Mountain of Golden Sheep and trained with the Monk Sit-On-A-Blade-Of-Grass to become a top kungfu master. After that, she travelled to the Desert of the Dead to learn the art of fighting on horseback. Her next stop was the City of Heroes where she became the master of several weapons, including the sword, the spear, the axe, the bow and arrow, and the morningstar. Given her progression, it was almost inevitable that she would eventually find a master to learn Nen from.
Shortly after mastering Nen, Kikita ran into Midoya on a mission. Kikita was protecting a group of treasure hunters scavenging for treasures in a protected ancient tomb and Midoya was there to stop the treasure hunters from robbing a protected historical site clean. Given that they were on opposite sides, they proceeded to beat the crap out of each other. After they fought to a draw some twenty-four hours later, Midoya treated Kikita to dinner. In return, Kikita treated Midoya to drinks at a bar.
Sometime in between the tenth shot of pure vodka and the sixth shot of tequila, Midoya managed to convince Kikita that the treasure hunters were the scourge of the earth and Kikita managed to persuade Midoya that it was a smashing idea to take all the treasures in the ancient tomb for themselves. By the time they left the bar, both of them were so drunk they couldn't walk straight. The bar was also on fire, but that was beside the point. The point was, though they were still up to their eyeballs in alcohol, they both had perfect memories of where the treasure hunters and where the ancient tomb was.
Subsequently, the both of them, still drunk and giggling incessantly, had killed the treasure hunters and stolen all the treasures from the ancient tomb. The next day, they woke up in Midoya's hotel room in varying degrees of undress, with a pounding hangover, a pile of corpses and an even larger pile of gold statues occupying Midoya's floor. The next two weeks was spent trying to cover up their drunken escapade while blaming each other viciously for the stupid mistakes.
Up till now, they have remained the best of friends.