Itsy Bitsy Spider

24. Stormy Weather

"I can't think of anything!" Gon yelled. He threw up his arms and crashed onto his bed, frustrated. "The Spiders were super powerful the last time we met them. Distracting them for an entire second?" He mulled over their part of the Chain User's plan before he turned to her with a small pout on his face. "Can you think of anything, Rein?"

She wasn't lying when she gave her answer. "No," she sighed.

The Chain User was not underestimating the Spiders' power, understanding that the mere moment his chain shot out, they could jump out of the way. Thus, a need for a distraction, which he left Gon and Rein to figure out. It wasn't going well.

If this were about distracting individual Spiders, then maybe with some thinking, Rein could have come up with a way to succeed for a second. Perhaps she could relentlessly tease Phinks, or make a show of mistreating Shalnark's phone, or trip and heavily scrape her knees on the rough sidewalk in front of Machi. For individuals, she could think up of many methods. But this was about distracting at least half the Troupe, perhaps even more. Distracting all of them, even for a second, was extremely difficult. All of them were so sharp, cunning, quick and observant. She wasn't sure she could distract them all even if her life depended on it.

Fortunately, it didn't. Quite the opposite, actually. For things to work out in her favor and not the Chain User's, the Spiders had to be not distracted. If they weren't, they could capture Gon and Killua in retaliation to what the Chain User did to Uvogin. With that bit of an upper hand, they could kill him.

"Rein, keep thinking," ordered Killua. "And Gon, did you figure out a plan for the auctions yet?"

"Yeah! I have an idea," he burst brightly before trailing off.

Killua squinted at him, earning himself a nervous laugh. "And? What is the percentage of possible success for this 'idea' ?"

"For my plan, seventy, eighty percent," he estimated. Gon smiled sheepishly before adding on after a pause. "...sixty percent?"

"Gon," Killua sighed heavily, "look—"

"What auction?" Rein interrupted.

"The Southern Piece auction. There's this game that I really want to get! It may have a clue for finding my dad, or maybe just get to know what kind of person he was."

Ah, the legal auction. "Nice. But do you have money to bid?" She laughed and rubbed her stomach, still full even after six hours had passed. "You must have used at least a few thousand jenny on the picnic alone."

"Yeah." Killua huffed and crossed his arms. "What's your 'plan' ?" he asked, with clearly no faith in his friend.

Gon was getting ready to answer when Leorio knocked on the door and let himself in. "Everyone." He didn't have to say the reason for his intrusion for them to instantly know why he was there. The serious look on his face and his light but grim smile gave it away, and the air in the room seemed to thicken under the pressure. He looked each of the kids in the eyes. "It's time to get ready."

"See ya," Killua said, walking out with his hands in his pockets. He squeezed in a last couple of words before the door clicked shut. "Good luck."

*     *     *

Everything was going just great. Peachy, in fact. Dandy! Couldn't be better. Lucky grit his teeth as he looked around him. Just wonderful.

He was normally not one to delve into bitter sarcasm. He was more the optimistic type if anything. But the past day felt like an eternity, and the circumstances were not helping in the slightest. First of all, the way things were looking he was so going to miss his test. Second, he was sleep deprived and the only place he could sleep was surrounded by cold concrete walls. Third, he was aching all over from being forced to run for infinity by his kidnapper. Oh yeah—he almost said aloud this first part—and fourth: He was kidnapped. By the Phantom Troupe, no less.