狼 |✧⃝•͙𝑴̲𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 c.lucilfer

━𝑺𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑵 .₀̲₀̲₇

She was only a few moments away from uncovering the big truth. A few moments away from disaster and so, Selene decided for the obvious solution. Taking both Pakunoda and Phinks by surprise.

"...Did she just punch herself?"

Phinks looked from the unconscious woman in his arms back up to Pakunoda. He has catched Selene after she knocked herself out and fell back into his chest. Pakunoda was wearing a confused expression. Quickly, it switched to realization. "She has something to hide. Now we definitely need to take her with us."

Both exchanged looks, before the blonde haired man groaned out in frustration. Of course he had the honor again of carrying that dead weight around. He might just charge that brat for all the trouble, especially after he hasn't even gotten what he wanted.


"What happened with the pretty girl?" Shalnark asked, briefly looking over the unmoving figure of Selene on Phinks shoulder before staring at the man that was carrying her while walking towards the rest of the group. "Lost your cool again?"

"Shut up, she fuckin did it to herself." The other man grumbled with a hard glare and before Shalnark could ask why, he continued. "Pakunoda was about to use her ability on her again."

Now all their heads turned to the woman in question. She too was walking towards the circle of the other members as she chimed in. "I asked her about the auction and the Silver Beast, but before my hatsu could activate to get the answers, she just knocked herself out."

Curiosity, surprise and tension started to pass through the group as they exchanged looks. An excited gasp sounded from Shalnark when he jumped closer to Phinks. "Woah! So she means big exciting news for the boss, right?" He leaned in to take a closer look at Selenes face that was now dripping with a little blood again.

Meanwhile Franklin tried to connect the dots with so little information. "Wait- so that confirms basically that the mafia really has the SIlver Beast...and she has depending infos about it?"

"I hope so." Pakunoda nodded, she came to a similar conclusion. Yet it felt like a piece wasn't really connecting. "But... she doesn't seem to have anything to do with the mafia."

"Why else knocked out herself?" Feitan grumbled in distaste when he stared at the limb body as Phinks placed her against a rock.

"That's why I want to keep her for now. To find out her purpose. If she were connected to the mafia, it's unlikely to act the way she did today."

The Phantom Troupe was very well known and feared in the underground scene, the mafia was no exception. They knew what threat they initially meant for the underground auction. So someone from the mafia with important information such as the Silver Beast wouldn't just be walking around with some children to chase after a bounty that is completely out of reach.

"Hm...should I call the boss?" Shalnark mused since he couldn't come to a plausible answer himself, but he knew that Chrollo must be busy right now. The last time he saw him was in the apartment they broke into, a few hours ago. Now he should already be on the way to the auction with that fortune teller girl.

"No, the boss has better things to do right now. We are just gonna wait until our current objective is finished." Franklin answered the question for Shalnark.

"And act as babysitters for the brat?"

"Yes, if we must."

"Why not just let Nobunaga do it, he seems fond of the job..." Phinks grumbled unamused but Pakunoda only sent him an annoyed look. One she rarely shows.

"It shouldn't be much of a hassle for us, right?" Shizuku blinked with her big eyes, not understanding what the problem with Phinks and Feitan was. She could only guess that they couldn't stand the girls teasing.

"Right...because you're not the one carrying her around!"

"Hey, watch it." Machi finally joined in. "Don't scream at Shizuku."

Phinks only scoffed at that. "Why don't you two carry her then?"

Shalnark pressed a piece of paper against Phinks chest with a groan. "Guys, stop it. We still need to go through the plan once more. Now that we have that woman with us, there is some replanning to do."





━━━❝ Selene POV




Once again I was waking up on a different spot than the last one that I can remember. Yet this time I could feel that I was moving. I noticed different lights through my eyelids while my body was rocking around in an uncomfortable position, which forced me to suppress a groan.

Before I would open my eyes, I listened carefully to what was around me. The roaring of an engine and the distinct smell of leather had me guessing that I was laying in the backseat of a car. Now the only question is who was driving that car.

"Good evening, sunshine!"

A loud and cheery voice boomed from the front of the car, which made me drop my act of still being asleep. Slowly I tried to sit up as my eyes fluttered open, but I felt something restraining my arms behind my back. "Sorry about that, just some measurements to make sure you're not running away."

Finally my eyes would set on the person that the voice belonged to and this time it was the other blonde guy, the one that wasn't as aggressive and tense as Phinks. He was sitting in the driver's seat as he sent me a friendly smile through the rear view mirror.

My head fell back with a groan.

"You punched yourself rather hard. Need painkillers?"

My head whipped back up again when I now noticed the second person in the car. It was Pakunoda of course.

"If you haven't noticed by now, I rather like pain." I grinned sarcastically as I swung myself up to be able to sit without the help of my hands. "Where's it going?" My question came rather quickly to avoid whatever the woman was about to continue. I knew exactly why I was still with her.

"You're gonna have to wait and see." Pakunoda slowly scrutinized me through the rear view mirror while I made myself comfortable in the middle of the backseat. "Until then, you can tell what you have to hide before I will come see for the answers myself."

I really need to get out of here, but until then I need to play for time. Luckily it was already dark outside, which gave me a better chance of escaping successfully.

"Everyone has something to hide. You're gonna tell me a secret in equal trade for mine?" My head tilted to the side as I cocked one eyebrow.

"This isn't about trading, this is about taking."

"We are the Phantom Troupe, remember?" Shalnark chimed in with an innocent smile that couldn't be more sinister than it actually was.

I scoffed when I threw myself back against the seat. "Right..." A quick idea popped into my head. "But isn't that so boring? Why not make a game out of it?" I leaned forward again with feigned excitement to look in-between them too. Still keeping enough distance to make sure Pakunoda wasn't just going to touch me even when she had no struggle reaching me if she really wanted to.

"We don't play games here, girl. So listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you."

I swallowed nervously and looked at Pakunoda as she turned her head towards me, getting a strange feeling of deja vu.

"You're gonna stay put, wait like a good girl until we are finished and then we will have a really intense conversation about what you know of the prized jewel."

The car came to a sudden halt after Shalnark pulled over. "Alright ladies, let's begin with the fun then. Shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, he opened the door to the driver's seat and jumped out of the car. Pakunoda on the other hand would linger for a moment longer.

"Or we could get this over with now, what do you prefer?" She tilted her head with a daring undertone and I narrowed my eyes at that.

"The Silver Beast isn't a prized jewel." There was no point in acting like I didn't know when she was already certain that I knew about it. I couldn't bite my tongue when she talked about my being as an object.

"Well, for us it is." She sensed that she was getting onto something and tried to push my buttons for reactions. That's exactly what I would do and so I played the game. Shortly grinning dryly.

"Then the prized jewel will ram its teeth into your throat." My grin faltered.

Our heads turned to Shalnark when he returned with someone else. The stranger opened the door to my right and pulled me out of my seat with some effort while Shalnark was typing around on his phone.

"Alright, I got a mafia lackey. They are patrolling around this area." His eyes lifted from the little display of his mobile device to give me a short quick over, checking if the restraints around my wrists were still in place.

That's when I started to scan my surroundings. We were in a more desolated area, adjacent to the long street we came from and a park with different kinds of trees. I was able to see some of the larger buildings over the treetops, which indicated that we were now more in the center of York New City again. If I had to guess, close to the building that holds the underground auction when the mafia was patrolling around here.

Which made me question what the mafia lackey was doing here to hold me in place while the other two were going over their designated plan once more. A quick look made me notice the weird antenna sticking out from his neck, accompanied by the unhuman characteristics he displayed. Face completely expressionless, the eyes dull and lifeless as if waiting to receive any commands like a mindless puppet. Connecting the dots, it was easy to decipher the origin of this cause: Shalnark was a manipulator.

Well, I was glad that he didn't choose me to be his puppet at least, but the thought was still very unsettling to be around two individuals that had two very different ways of forcing me to get what they wanted.

I sweat dropped when their attention turned back on me when I was just thinking about escaping while they were distracted. Well there goes my little chance, for now.






_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐ [a/n]

It's funny how I actually guessed the spider number of Pakunoda right before it got finally revealed in the latest chapter. Yess she's number 9 while Shalnark is number 6! It was never cleared up until now.
Which makes me a little sad about thinking how it actually got revealed, Chrollo left the ninth spot vacant since her death :((