Blood in the Water

Part 18

       "So who do we have here?" The mysterious man asks. He walks with confidence and a bit of charm.  Judging by the other members body language, they see him with high regard.

       He's kinda cute for a scary mob boss.

"This is the girl I told you about. The one Hisoka has been so interested in." Machi says. Chrollo makes eye contact with you. You couldn't read his empty expression.

"Fascinating. And what about the other two?"

"Oh you'll love these guys, boss. We caught them trying to get our bounties, but I think they'd be great recruits." Nobunaga says. Feitan scowls. They continue their conversation out of ears reach.

"What do you think they're up to, Y/n?" Killua asks in a hushed voice.

"I have no idea. Planning how they will kill me maybe?" You say somewhat casually. Having them here with you brought a strange sense of comfort in this dangerous situation.

       "Kill you?!" The boys yell whisper in sync.

       "Supposedly, if Hisoka doesn't come I'm as good as dead. I don't know how much I believe it."

       "I wouldn't put it past them. These guys see no issue in disposing of people who can't help them anymore..." Killua explains.

       "It sounds like you should be the one coming up with a plan here, Y/n." Gon adds. Before you could really ponder this, they start speaking in a volume you could hear.

"Hm. For now, i'd like to meet this girl." Chrollo says, turning his attention towards you again. They begin walking your direction.

       "Uncuff her, this is no way to treat an honored guest." He smiles. You swallow.

Everyone watched as a tall woman with short hair steppes forward and uncuffs you without question. Cuffed or not, you have absolutely no way of getting out of this. Unless they had a death wish, nobody would take on all of these nen users at once.  You rub your sore wrists.

       Now if only Hisoka would waltz his ass in here, I could be out of this mess for real. 

       Chrollo begins walking towards a large concrete block in one of the corners. You get the idea and follow. It was littered (or decorated, it was hard to tell) with half melted candles and scattered books. It seems to be his designated section of the hide out. Seems fitting. He takes a seat and pats the empty space next to him.

       "Come, sit with me. I'd like to speak with you." He says with lure in his voice. You oblige, keeping your guard up. Your life could depend on the next few decisions you make. Your pulse rises as you take a seat next to him.

"So, tell me mysterious girl. What is your name?"  He asks. You're aware he already knows this information but your best option right now is to fully cooperate until you see an opening.

       "Y/n L/n."

       "Y/n. What a beautiful name indeed. My name is Chrollo Lucilfer, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." He says. Though his words are kind is tone is very neutral. Instead of faking emotions, he seems to take the route of not showing any at all. Somehow this made him more intimidating.

       "Well I wish the circumstances were different. I really do appreciate you taking away the hand cuffs though."

       "Ah, it's really no problem. It's a peculiar position you've ended up in, isn't it? Hand cuffs or not you are completely and utterly powerless."

       How do I even respond to that? I guess I need to buy some time.

     "You guys are intimidating for sure, but i'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little impressed."

"Resulting to flattery are we? Quite the bold move I must admit, i'm entertained.  So what about us impressed you?"

       "Well.... You have all these different conflicting personalities working together I guess. Seemingly because of their respect for you. You must've had to pull a lot of strings to get to this position." You say.

       "I wouldn't say I had to pull any strings but we've all worked hard to get to where we are today. I guess you could say we all work towards keeping the spider alive." He says. He said so much while keeping away any kind of useful intel. Smart man.

       "Enough about me. Tell me about your nen,        Y/n."

       So that's what you were after.

       "I can change the density of objects around me by fusing my nen with it.." You keep it brief. This man was up to something.

       "That's a very creative ability! Not many manipulators think on a molecular level like that. Most just focus on controlling others, or specific objects." He says, pulling out a book from jacket.

       "Do you mind demonstrating? Not that you have much of a choice i'm afraid." He smiles unforgivingly.

       "....."

       Do all the attractive scary men around here have to be such a dick all the time?

       You reach your hand to your left and set it onto one of the stray books, transfusing your nen into it. He watches intently, with almost a child like gleam in his eyes. You decide to give the book properties similar to lead, the heaviest metal you were able to mock.

       "Try to lifting it now." You smile. He gives it a try, struggling to pick it up.

       "Ah, it's definitely much heavier now. There's a lot of interesting ways you could apply this to combat, yes?" He inquires. You nod.

       "Now there's one last thing I need you to do for me Y/n. And then you can be on your way." He looks up at you with his straight face. He holds his book in front if you. Your stomach sinks deeper.

       Something about this book...

      "If you could lay your hand on the cover." He commands in the kindest of voices. If it weren't for his cold demeanor he would come off as such a sweetheart. You look up at him in utter defeat. Caught in the spiders web.

       Whether Hisoka will show or not is still up in the air. So why do I still feel like i've lost? For some reason I know i'll regret it if I put my hand on this book, but what choice do I have? God, what the hell do I do...

       "...." You feel frustrated tears well up in your eyes as you slowly lift your hand from your lap. Suddenly you hear commotion from the other troupe members. Machi is the first to speak out of the murmurs.

       "It's about time you showed up."

       You follow her gaze and see none other than Hisoka standing on a window ledge across the warehouse. Immense relief washed over you and you tried to get a leash back into your emotions. You still had some fight left in you.

       "A surprise party, for me? Oh you shouldn't have. ♥ " You couldn't see much of his face due to the moonlight coming through the window. But from the silhouette and his voice he was easily distinguishable.

       "Welcome back." Chrollo greets.

       "Get down here. We need to talk." Machi cuts in again. He takes a seat on the seal.

       "I'll consider it after you let the girl go." He utters. Machi looks over to Chrollo.

       "It's your call boss."

        "Hm. Very well. I do hope we can finish this discussion another time, Y/n." He says looking at you with an indiscernible expression. You don't know how, but you dodged a bullet.

        Not a moment too soon, Hisoka.