Spider x Final x Night
"So what's Sharusharu playing?" Nohotoke Honne asked playfully, wagging the "ears" of her sweater. She was trying to view the bat-winged phone on which the boy programmer was playing a game. The game appeared to be old, so much that even the black and white pixels were distinguishable, but the game had a strangely realistic feel to it.
"I'm playing a third-person shooter," Shalnark said, smiling, though just as quickly turned to concentrate on the phone. "The objective is to touch the enemy robot with your robot, which can only beat the enemy robot with an injected virus, because no other attacks would work against it."
"Cool! Can I play too?"
"Not now."
"Pleeeeaaase?"
"After I'm done. My doctor said that if I don't get a high enough score in this game, I will have to undergo brain surgery for them to determine how I'm able to pilot an IS. It's like an IQ test. Maybe next time." The girl bugged him like a Chimera Ant; those "ears" were wiggling like some kind of cat or a Pekachu from Pokemonogatari.
While Shalnark was busy spouting what the other members of the Troupe would describe as "complete and utter bullshit", Orimura Ichika and Huang Lingyin were busy fighting the unmanned IS. The problem here was that a Lingyin was beginning to think that her childhood friend was insane for forcing her to fire the impact cannon directly at his backside.
"I don't care anymore!" she screamed desperately.
Ichika used the impact to charge the Byakushiki forward, and with the Yukihara, slash at the unmanned IS. It worked, cutting an entire arm from its torso.
The boy pilot relaxed for a moment, long enough for the unmanned IS to grab his neck with its remaining arm. The Chinese girl behind him gasped.
Yet, Ichika showed no signs of struggling. Rather, he seemed unnaturally calm. "How's your aim?" he asked.
"Just perfect!" Cecilia shouted in reply from the stands, though it sounded somewhat shaky, and pulled the trigger of her rifle.
The blast tore through the metal armor of the unmanned IS, ripping off its other arm and causing it to release Ichika.
And then, Cecilia did something no pilot thought she would try to do: she shot towards the unmanned IS.
She's closing in? Ichika thought in shock. Why is a long-ranged pilot like her closing in?
The unmanned IS fired two blasts from its eye, and then suddenly froze. Cecilia, who had managed to touch the IS, seemed to relax, and then quickly sent her drones towards the IS.
What is she doing? Ichika and Lingyin both wondered.
The IS activated its jets immediately and flew out of the arena, dodging shots from the drones. It was quite mesmerizing how it was able to evade shots sent from the specialized unit that just arrived, and dove directly into the sea. A few pilots from the unit dove after the unmanned IS to salvage it.
In the aftermath of that fight, Shalnark allowed himself one small smirk before walking up to the rich blonde girl walking towards him from the hangar.
"Good job, Cecilia. You've been a great help." Shalnark said. Cecilia remained stone faced.
"Take it off."
"What do you mean?"
"Take off the device that is taking control over my body." She gritted her teeth. "I know it was you! You staged this- uhhhhnnnn…"
"You must be pretty tired." Shalnark said, using the Black Voice from his phone to command her to sleep. "Don't worry. You'll wake up next to your sleeping prince."
He removed the antenna from her shoulder and carried her to the school ward, laying her on the bed next to Ichika's as he said, but her accusation had affected his plans dramatically. If that accusation spread to the school's staff, it could prove incredibly dangerous for him. The amount of time he would have to return home was drastically shortened. He would have to take more careful measures. And there was still that issue with the unmanned IS, and how its function resembled Franklin's.
His thoughts drifted back to the shower, when he was twitching in pain from the sharp sting of the water hitting his skin like Machi's needles. Ichika had entered the bathroom to see what was wrong, and slipped and fell back in shock at seeing the massive black spot on the other boy's thigh. It was the black spot of a twelve-legged spider…
Shalnark waited until nightfall, donning his characteristic vest and pants before climbing to the roof of the dormitory. He took the uniform with him in case he needed to infiltrate the academy again. Heck, it might even clothe some of the Meteor City residents who needed them.
He keyed in the silent transportation command for the unmanned IS to fly over to him on a path that would bypass surveillance. Once it set itself down before him, Shalnark activated Gyo and started to dismantle the IS, concentrating Nen to his hands to make the job easier.
There's Japanese on the cover of the IS core. Shalnark discerned. Buraku Uido?
Black Widow! And then… The Spider! The boss is here!
But he couldn't possibly communicate with us. It goes without saying that he's not careless enough to die from Kurapika's chain by communicating like this. Maybe he meant it as a memento, of the Spider we all used to be a part of.
Several floodlights suddenly flashed at his back. The sound of an energy sword materializing rang through the air.
"Make a move and you die."
"Orimura-sensei, how nice to see you here."
"Don't waste your breath. Save it for the interrogation room."
She turned her sword to point it at his neck. "Stand up." He stood up.
"Turn around and face me, hands on your head." He did so, and had to squint to avert the blinding light from his eyes. Five IS pilots were there to confront him, Orimura Chifuyu and Sarashiki Tatenashi included. There was also a silver-haired girl with an eyepatch and a red eye. Those three red eyes were boring into him, as though Kurapika himself had come to take his head.
"Shalnark-kun…why?" Even Yamada Maya-sensei was there, and she looked sad. Cecilia was here too, though she didn't say anything and only glared at him coldly.
Shalnark only gave the two women a smile and a vague answer. "Sorry, Yamada-sensei, Cecilia, but it's for the Spider." He turned his eyes to address Orimura Chifuyu. "So how did you find me out?"
"I did expect Miss Alcott to be injured fighting against that machine, but a clean puncture wound a few centimeters deep to the back of her shoulder doesn't sound like a possible injury from that battle." Chifuyu explained. "Her movements were also strategically stupid and uncharacteristic of her, closing in on the enemy when she had several long-ranged weapons at her disposal. It all happened after you miraculously hacked the lockdown and lifted the shields.
"We waited for Miss Alcott to wake up, because we proceeded to question her first on what had happened. She told us everything. All we had to do was to leave that hole in the surveillance so that we could catch you in the act."
"I see. So what will happen to me now?"
"You will be taken into custody of the Japanese government. After catching you pulling something like this, I highly doubt that they will give you a lenient punishment. We'll also be milking you for information on the organization that hired you to do this."
"Organization? What could you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You thought we believed you were working alone? We have several other sources before you that point you to one particular organization at the root of your actions: Phantom Task." She smiled in satisfaction at his face turning pale and added, "Of course, should you cooperate, we will consider lightening your punishment."
"I already have my answer."
"Very well. What do you have to say?"
"Your deduction was close and your accusations were fairly accurate. Good job." Shalnark said, and proceeded to explain. "But you were wrong on two counts. First, many of my actions here, however suspicious, were truly accidental. From the moment I heard about this technology called 'Infinite Stratos', I planned to steal it. When I tried, I ended up here by accident. Lifting the lockdown and shields was my intentional doing, though setting them off in the first place was not. I also didn't send this IS here; I merely thought could make good use of it in this situation, and it also contains what I need to return home. The only thing that was staged was my manipulation of Cecilia Alcott. This is also the first time I've heard about the 'Phantom Task', though it doesn't sound too different from my organization: the 'Phantom Troupe'."
"Interesting, but you're still under arrest. What about the second?"
"Second, you assumed I may cooperate with you to begin with. Given the gender roles in this society, a man cooperating with a woman translates to subordination. I like my boss in the Troupe, and I like the Troupe, but I don't quite like you. And I'd rather die than work under someone I don't like." He released his Nen with enough killing intent packed into it to startle all five pilots. "Huh, maybe I said too much."
Chifuyu immediately moved to seize him, but it was too late. Shalnark placed his hand on the IS and disappeared out of sight.
But infusing the IS with Nen had the effect of reactivating it. Five pilots was too much for a damaged IS though, and it was easily deactivated with optical blasts.
Immediately after this had happened, a black IS landed right before them. Chifuyu and the accompanying pilots turned to meet it. The Japanese characters for "Black Angel" were etched into its pointed helmet. Each of its limbs and its torso bore the eerie symbol of an inverted cross.
The IS unraveled to reveal a handsome man in his mid twenties. The blank black eyes, orb-shaped earrings, and slicked black hair, added to the embedded cross in his forehead that was his IS's closed form, seemed to suck them into an endless void.
"Good evening. I am Kuroro Lucifer, the boss of Phantom Task. Thank you for taking care of my subordinate."
None of the five pilots dared to make a move against him. Kuroro, even when forced into Zetsu by Kurapika's Judgment Chain (though they did not know of this), boasted both the intelligence and the combat experience that made him out to be a master of the IS. In fact, they were all wary of him, preparing for whatever move he might make.
"Do not worry. I did not come here to fight you. Shalnark knows nothing about Phantom Task either." Kuroro answered reassuringly. "I simply came to tell you, that in a matter of time, that when Phantom Task merges with the Phantom Troupe, World War III will begin."
Shalnark breathed a sigh of relief as he landed the IS in an obscure location in Meteor City. The Troupe had gone back for the theft, and all in all, it went rather well. There were a few Nen users there this time, but as in Yorknew City, it wasn't much to be bothered by.
The rest of the Phantom Troupe stood there and admired his handiwork. Strangely, a few of them seemed rather jealous.
"About time you get back." Feitan muttered. Shalnark wondered if he was frustrated over the Chinese girl earlier.
"And there are stronger machines in the other world?" Hisoka smirked. Shalnark wondered why he was with the Troupe in the first place. "I'd like to fight them myself." Everyone else instinctively turned away from his crotch.
"So how was the adventure?" Phinks asked. This was probably what everyone wanted to know.
Shalnark looked at them with a smile. "I'd like to go there again."
"And why is that?" Machi asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Shalnark answered, and looked at the IS in front of all of them.
"The boss is there."
END
A/N: Finally, done with my first multi-chapter story! Whew...one idea down, several other ideas to go.
This story may have a sequel but I guarantee that said sequel will not be published on Fanfiction (less likely written) until the other stories have been completely finished. It would answer the following questions:
Why is Kuroro Lucifer and not Squall Meusel the boss of Phantom Task?
When and how will the other cast members (specifically the main cast) of Hunter X Hunter appear in all of this?
Will the characters of IS ever see the world of Hunter X Hunter?
How was the IS core designed and with what materials?
Keep in mind that in the unlikely event that these events are shown to be true, they will remain for all purposes and intentions, non-canon. This also means (again) that I do not own any of the series mentioned in this fanfiction.
"Black Angel" refers to Sensui from Yu Yu Hakusho, who was probably the main basis for Kuroro Lucifer in Hunter X Hunter. Both series are copyrighted to Togashi Yoshihiro. I based Kuroro's IS off of Sensui's defensive armor, and added mecha features along with the inverted cross motif that's present for several of the Phantom Troupe's members.
The name for the core of the unmanned IS, "Black Widow" is not meant to be confused with Palm Siberia's technique with the same name.
The "Pekachu from Pokemonogatari" is a reference to "Pikachu", "Pokemon", and "Bakemonogatari". These are details I am making up that suit the differences in the Hunter X Hunter verse.