The Razor's Edge [[Feitan x Reader]]

14: The Trade

   Phinks got a phone call from Nobunaga while we were on our way to the hotel. He told us to hurry up. The boss had been captured. 

   "Okay, so what happened?" Phinks asked as we walked into the hotel lobby, heavily dripping with rain from the storm outside.

   "The lights went out," Shizuku answered.

   She was holding one of the two kids that they'd taken hostage—a bright-eyed boy with spiked hair. Nobunaga held the other kid: a boy with white hair and cat-like eyes. These boys looked so young, they could barely have been 12 years old. How had they managed to outsmart the spiders?

   "The boss was captured in the confusion," Nobunaga added.

   "Why didn't you go after them?" Feitan asked the others while Phinks read over a message that the chain user had left behind.

   "Machi and Paku were injured," Nobunaga told him.

   "So?"

   "So he has allies who happen to be pro hunters."

   "So?"

   Nobunaga snapped, tired of having to defend himself in such an infantile line of questioning. "Come on! Read between the lines, dammit! It proves that we can use these kids as hostages. If we give chase, and we let them escape, it's all over. The chains Uvo couldn't break out of are probably the same ones used on the boss. He can't escape on his own."

   Nobunaga continued on to recount the exact circumstances of the boss's capture, explaining why none of them could go after the chain user in the moment. Before Feitan and Phinks had a chance to criticize him, Shalnark cut in, pointing out that it was pointless to argue over how things should have been handled since the only thing that really mattered now was that we come up with a plan for how we would move forward.

   No one spoke. We all stood, letting the tension hang around us. It was broken by the sound of Phinks's phone ringing in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the ID.

   "It's from the boss's phone," he told us before answering the call. "Hello? . . .You the chain user?" There was a long pause as he listened to the voice on the other end. "Can I ask you something first?" He said. "It's about your second demand. See, the hostages started putting up a bit of a fight, so we had to break a few bones." He smirked at his bluff, feeling pretty proud of himself.

   The line clicked.

   Phinks, you fucking idiot.

   He dialed back. "Sorry, I was lying. Both of them are okay."

   He handed the phone off to Pakunoda, likely at the chain user's request. Machi and Nobunaga both hit him for being so dumb and jeopardizing the boss's safety.

   Pakunoda went up to the second level of the lobby so that we couldn't overhear what was being said and was soon joined by Nobunaga. The rest of us stayed down below, arguing over what to do next. Feitan, Phinks, and Shalnark all wanted to go after the chain user, considering him to be a great threat to the troupe. The others wanted to follow his demands, not willing to risk the boss's life.

   Eventually, Pakunoda came back downstairs and walked right out the front door of the hotel. Phinks tried to stop her, but Nobunaga wouldn't let him, telling him that the rest of us needed to go back to the hideout, per the orders of the chain user.

   Phinks's fists balled at his sides. "Who cares about that?"

   "He just said if we disobeyed he was gonna kill the boss!"

   "Are you an idiot? If that happens we'll kill the chain user and that'll be that."

   "It's what the boss would want us to do," Feitan said. "Your way of thinking is an insult to the spiders, Nobunaga."