Discord's Requiem

Chapter Sixteen

A/N: I will now be using past tense, just because I believe it will be easier for this story. Several of my other works use present tense, but for some reason it’s harder for me to write fanfics in present tense. 
    “I just received word that the Ten Don have deployed the help of the Shadow Beasts and amatuer bounty hunters,” Dalzollene said after looking down at his phone in his lap.
    “What, why? They’re just going to get in the way,” Kurapika stated, a bit annoyed at the idea that the Ten Don had been desperate enough to enlist the help of lowlives with probably little experience, let alone experience with nen. 
    “The Shadow Beasts are ten incredibly talented nen users. The Phantom Troupe won’t stand a chance.”
    “I wouldn’t be too certain,” Kurapika replied, rather sure of himself. 
    “Yes, I believe Kurapika is right. The Phantom Troupe are extremely good at their jobs. Involving untrained people will just make things more dangerous and messy,” Melody agreed. 
    “Look, it wasn’t my decision, okay?” Dalzollene responded upset, tossing his phone at his feet. “I doubt that the Spiders will defeat the Shadow Beasts, but if somehow they do, we can have a crack at it ourselves. Does that make you feel better?” 
Dalzollene rolled his window down and leaned his head out the window. There were canyons surrounding them deeper into the desert as they went. Other crime bosses' cars were ahead of them, who were also aware of the Spiders’ locations and were on their way out to confront them. 
Kurapika looked straight ahead with his hands balled into a fist, gathering some of the fabric of his clothing into his grasp. There was rage built up within him, although he did his best to appear calm on the outside that was far from how he felt. Just beyond these walls of stone and dirt lay the people who plucked out his brethrens' eyes. They had managed to escape his watchful eyes while he and Melody were patrolling the outside of the Underground Auction, but not this time. 
Then the mood in the car shifted. Everyone’s bodies tensed and the silence was piercing and nearly deafening. 
Kurapika could feel it. The sudden wave of bloodlust crashing all around them. It was definitely one of the Spiders encountering either bounty hunters or the Shadow Beasts, all with unrelenting pure strength. It felt merciless. 
They quickly were approaching the location of the monsters, and Kurapika was eager to see the Spiders. See the faces of monsters. What did monsters look like? Similar to himself? I suppose in searching for these monsters, he had started transforming into one himself. He had realized it, slowly as time went by. Revenge was an ugly word, and an even uglier process. It strips away joy and peace, replacing those light revealing states of consciousness with darker and more terrible thoughts that ate away and consumed all but the dark, ugly void. 
    “Can’t we go any faster?” Kurapika mumbled under his breath impatiently.
    “If I did I’d ram into the guy in front of me. Just calm down okay? We’re almost there.” Dalzollene said, tightening his grip on the driving wheel. Kurapika was pissing Dalzollene off. Kurapika had this obsession with the Phantom Troupe, that was beyond obvious, but no one in the group knew why. And this obsession was causing everyone to suffer, as they too were dragged into his darkness. 
    “Look! See they’re stopping up ahead. Keep a cool head Kurapika, or I’m putting you on guard duty for Neon. Away from the Phantom Troupe. Is that understood?”
    Kurapika said nothing as he unbuckled his seatbelt once the car had come to a stop, his attention on something beyond Dalzollene. 
    “Is that understood?” Dalzollene asked again, this time grabbing a fist full of Kurapika’s shirt at the neck, forcing him to make eye contact. “I don’t need you doing anything seriously stupid that can get us all killed. Do you understand?”
    “Get your hands off of me,” Kurapika said with his eyes flashing a bright red, before returning to their natural color. 
    Startled and thinking he was seeing things, Dalzollene took his hands off of Kurapika, and watched as he got out of the car to observe what was going on in front of them. Dalzollene and Melody followed suit and also exited the car to join Kurapika outside. 
Before them they saw a large man with long spiky green hair taunting a group of men in suits, likely bodyguards affiliated with the Ten Don. They were armed with normal guns and some bigger weapons, all which might work on a regular individual, but not someone with experience in advanced nen. They were out of their league, which made Kurapika anxious for their lives, but at the same time he needed to know this individual's nen abilities and if he really was a member of the Phantom Troupe or if he was just someone pretending like the man in the Trick Tower had.
Above the man was a group of other unidentified people just sitting on the rocks edge, casually playing cards as they watched the large, green haired man taunting the men in suits below. They looked so casual and nonchalant about their friend being surrounded. Either they believed he could handle it, or they truly didn’t care whether he lived or died. Perhaps it was somehow a little of both. 
They’re disgusting and vile. This was enough to make a sour taste appear in Kurapika’s mouth. 
The large man briefly looks back to see a small figure dressed in green from head to toe enter join in the pit below. From a distance it was hard to make out the figure’s face and much of a shape besides the smear of green, but it was obvious that this individual was also skilled in nen. However, this user’s abilities were a bit less cultivated compared to the larger man beside him. But the raw talent was undeniable. It felt almost familiar to Kurapika. The intensity of the raw power and talent reminded him of both Gon and Killua who he had grown close to in the Hunter Exams. It almost made him remember that he was supposed to meet them in Yorknew City around this time, but he quickly shook his head of these thoughts to return them back to the two likely Spiders in front of him. 
As the small figure joined the larger man, they both soon began attacking the Ten Don’s bodyguards, but the larger man held back to allow the smaller figure to participate in more of the fighting. As if this were a sick training exercise, instead of them taking the lives of people just for fun. The fury began eating at Kurapika as he watched these two individuals slowly take down each of these bodyguards with swiftness and accuracy. 
Both of them appeared to be enhancers. However, the smaller figure used abilities that were similar to a transmitter and emitter’s type. Kurapika could take the smaller one without much of a problem, the larger one had such raw strength in general that he didn’t know if the chains he conjured could hold him, but he needed to find out. If his chains could hold him, they could hold any of the Phantom Troupe. 
As the bodyguards were picked apart, one of the bodyguards pulled out a rocket launcher and sent it crashing into the larger man. He took the hit without concern, it did no damage but it did tear his shirt. 
“Give me those binoculars,” Kurapika said to Dalzollene. He could make out a small picture on the back of the larger man and needed to see what it was. 
As he peered into the binoculars he could feel the heat rushing to his eyes. He was certain of what he saw. A large spider imprinted with the number 11 was on his back. 
So it is a Spider.
Kurapika then turned his eyes to the smaller figure next to the larger man and couldn’t believe his eyes. 
“Gon,” he said beneath his breath. “What is he doing with the Phantom Troupe?”
Surely there was a reasonable explanation Gon had managed to be with the Spiders. Held captive? Unaware of who they truly are? No matter how many things raced through Kurapika’s mind he couldn’t figure out one that was logical enough to fit. Gon wasn’t dumb. Far from it in fact. And here he was fighting alongside a monster and aiding in slaughtering the Ten Don’s bodyguards all with a smile on his face as if he were enjoying it. 
Kurapika put the binoculars down then took a step towards Gon and the Spider as he was mentally preparing to fight against both if necessary. 
Suddenly a ginormous worm drilled itself up from the ground to block Kurapika’s way.
“We can handle this. We are the Shadow Beasts.” 
Three other individuals approached from behind, each odd in their appearance, but each also gifted in their nen talents. The worm reentered the earth and began traveling towards Gon and the large green hair monster, leaving a trail of unturned earth in his wake. The others snickered as they passed Kurapika and the others, going so far as to call them amateurs and to head home before they got hurt. 
Although this angered Kurapika, he tried not to let it get to him. He had far more pressing issues at hand than being insulted as if he were in grade school. He was more concerned with how Gon was affiliated with such a group of murders. 
As the Shadow Beasts kept walking towards them, Kurapika could see the large man smirking with such arrogance through the binoculars. He then turned to Gon, who had taken off his jacket as he too smiled at the approaching Shadow Beasts. 
On Gon’s shoulder was the tattoo of a spider with the number 10 etched into its abdomen. 
As Kurapika put the binoculars down all he could see was red. Everything else melted in nothingness around him. 
“Spider,” Kurapika muttered.