"Oh HELL no!"
Upon seeing the clown gracefully bust through the window, you stood back up and immediately threw your science book at him, making sure to use ko to reinforce it. Hisoka deftly dodged it, and where it had impacted the wall, it left a small crater.
From behind, Hanta whistled.
Holding his hands up placatingly, Hisoka gave you all a wanton smile. "I'm not here for trouble, [N/n]." Nobody made a move to attack him yet, not even Vlad King.
"Then what the fuck are you here for?"
Finally, his smile dropped, golden eyes narrowed. "If I hand you over to the League, I won't get to fight you, so I guess you could say . . . I'm switching sides~."
Not trusting him for a minute, you scoffed. Hisoka was the least trustworthy person alive, and you weren't stupid enough to fall for any of his tricks. Sensing this, Hisoka continued. "You and that 'Katsuki' are their targets. Are you really going to let yourself sit in here so you can be hand delivered to the League of Villains and Pariston Hill?"
God, you knew he was just trying to trick you, and yet, you were falling for it. You didn't want to stay in this building, but the others...
Glancing over at Vlad King imploringly, you ran through your current options and their possible outcomes. ". . . He's right. We need to get somewhere more secure."
This surprised Hisoka. "You're not going to fight?"
Annoyed, you shot over a withering glance, crossing your arms. "If they are really after me, the last thing I need to be doing is charging into battle. I'm not stupid."
"Oh, you do know how to surprise me.~"
At Hisoka's characteristic moan, you shuddered, nearly gagging. "Okay. Okay. Please fuck off, you Dollar Store John Gacy."
While your reference was lost on Hisoka, Mina and Hanta immediately began to choke on laughter, the former clutching onto your arm as she wheezed. Hisoka just gave a sly smile.
"As you wish — After all, I do want to pay another visit to Gon.~"
That certainly was enough to erase all humor as your eyes widened in outrage. "You stay the FUCK away from my brother, you asshole!" If it weren't for Mina, Eijirou, and Rikido all holding you back from charging at Hisoka, you would have definitely started a fight. Instead, Hisoka gave another amused look before waggling his fingers and going back out the shattered window.
Well, if anything, he at least knew how to make quite the entrance.
Breaking free from your friends and rubbing your temples, you groaned. "Vl— Kan-sensei," you corrected yourself, scratching the back of your neck. "We need to get somewhere with more cover. No windows, preferably," you tacked on, eyeing the broken one warily. For a moment, you thought he would deny your request, but then he gave a sharp nod.
"Eraser Head told me you were reckless, so I expected you to go running off," he admitted in a gravelly voice. While you were affronted, you didn't say anything, letting him continue. "Let's go. You kids go first, I'll cover the back so I can see everything better."
It was a solid plan, and soon you all had left the classroom, only to run into another gaggle of people — thankfully, just more classmates.
"Tenya?"
Tenya looked stressed and frazzled, and he wasn't the only one. With him were Mineta, Mashirao, and Koji, each having varying stages of panic written on their faces. Vlad King was quick to explain what was going on.
"You four follow me — we're going to a more secure spot."
Unsurprisingly, there were no objections.
With your little ragtag group, you all continued to head further down the hallway, everybody tense and keeping an eye out for anything even remotely suspicious. Nobody said a word — and because of that, it was only natural for you to jolt as Ai spoke up in your head again.
Somebody's nearby.... Please be careful, [Y/n]!
On instinct, your en flared out, footsteps slowing as you took in everything; only to feel something fast approaching the hallway wall from the outside.
"EVERYBODY, LOOK OUT!"
You had managed to give everybody just enough warning as the wall collapsed inward in a bright, cyan blaze, sending you all flying backwards. It was hot. Even if the flames didn't touch you, the heat emanating from it was intense, as you fell backwards, hitting your head on a brick. For a moment, you were dazed — it wasn't enough to knock you out, but you were dizzy for a second.
"[Y/n]!"
Somebody was shaking you, and you groggily looked up to see a stressed Mina shaking you aggressively. You blinked a few times before taking her hand to help you sit up.
The force of that blast had sent you and a few other members of your group through the wall and into the room behind you all — it was probably a lounge, although rubble littered the floor now. Standing up, you wiped at your head, feeling the familiar wetness get on the back of your hand.
"Where is everyone else?"
Only a few people were in the room with you — Neito, Denki, Hanta, and obviously Mina. Hanta gave a concerned glance out into the hallway. "They might still be out there."
On cue, somebody else walked into the destroyed classroom, although it wasn't anybody you recognized — spiky black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a black trench coat made him already look edgy, but what stood out the most were the crinkled, purple scars that covered his whole body, stapled together to his normal skin like some sort of weird, Frankenstein's monster type of deal.
"Who the fuck are you?"
The person grinned, stepping forward casually. "Wouldn't you like to know, doll? And don't worry — your friends are out there — at least, until nomu destroys them."
Gritting your teeth, you huffed. "I actually would like to know. That's why I fucking asked, you raisin-looking asshole."
Your insult easily rolled off the man as a blue flame hovered above his palm, and you tensed. "Let's make this easy — you either come with me willingly, or I also turn you into a 'raisin-looking asshole' and bring you by force, as well as incinerating everybody else in here. Get it, doll?"
Being called 'doll' was not something that you liked, but you bit back any retort you had, thinking carefully. There were no windows in this room — the only exit was the demolished doorway where the scarred man blocked, and judging on quirk strength and his range, getting past him would be practically impossible. And then, even if you could get past him, there was nomu. If you focused, you could hear fighting out in the hallway and outside, most likely Vlad King holding off the nomu while your other classmates (hopefully) fled to somewhere safer.
Waiting for Vlad King to attack the man wasn't logical. Who knew how long it'd take to beat nomu, and the scarred man didn't seem to be so patient. Going with him was obviously not an option, either. You weren't going to be some martyr — you'd get yourself and your friends out of here, even if it meant risking your life.
Unfortunately, you weren't in your hero outfit and you were indoors. You had no seeds or wild flora to manipulate, leaving you only with your normal nen — wait, no. It had been knocked down in the initial explosion (was it an explosion? You were guessing nomu knocked the wall down, and the scarred man just used fire), but there was a potted plant on its side on the tile floor. It was a common decorative plant that you recognized as Swedish ivy. It wasn't even technically an ivy, but that didn't matter. What did matter was that it was a plant, and that was all you needed. You just needed to get closer to it without raising suspicion.
Beside you, Hanta had realized your plan, and you smiled over at him, winking before turning back to the scarred man. Shoving your hands in your pockets, you leisurely kicked a rock.
"I'm guessing you'll take me back to the League and Pariston Hill, right?"
The scarred man's grin turned more into a smirk. "You know more than we expected, but yes. That's what's going to happen."
Thank god he didn't call you doll this time.
Slowly, you started to walk over to the counters, where the plant had fallen from. When you saw him tense and blue flames rise, you immediately removed your hands and held them up in a placating manner. "Chill! I'm just pacing and thinking, damn."
He didn't chill, but thankfully didn't attack as you continued speaking.
"So what happens if I go? Y'all gonna just kill me or something?"
A bit closer... Just a bit more...!
You couldn't see his face change as he replied. "If you know what's good for you, I'd quit stalling, doll, or else I'll make the decision for you."
At that comment, you stopped walking, crouching down and stroking the leaves of the ivy. "I have a question for you, Mr. Patchwork." You looked up at him to see that his eyes narrowed at the comment — however, he didn't say anything, allowing you to continue. "Have you asked your doctor recently if shutting the fuck up would be good for you?"
You gave him no time to retaliate, channeling your nen immediately into the ivy. Like before, when you first had discovered this ability, the leaves and stems shot out immediately, and you focused your mind on making it into a nen infused wall for you all to hide behind. The plant had quickly divided the room, sealing you off from the scarred man.
Immediately, you could feel the onslaught of flames barraging your make-shift shield, and alarm coursed through you for a moment as you feared the flames would break through. Thankfully, you had channeled enough of your nen to render the flames useless, and you sighed in relief as the villain on the other side let out a slew of swears.
"That was cool, [Y/n]!" Mina cheered, and you nodded once, keeping your hand on the wall. If you left it for a bit, it would be fine, but could be corroded down — if you wanted to keep this barrier up, you'd have to use a shit ton of nen to do so.
Giving a strained nod, you looked over your shoulder at them. "Not sure how long I can keep this up. Any ideas?"
You took in stock their quirks — electricity, tape, acid, and a copycat. If only Katsuki or Shouto were here...!
The first one to come up with an idea was Hanta. "Mina, could you use your acid to melt through the other side of the wall?"
Mina swiftly confirmed, with Neito offering to copy Mina's quirk so he could speed up the process. As those two went back towards the wall, Denki came up beside you, putting a hand on your shoulder. "The others are still out there... What should we do?"
Fucking hell. Every cell in your body was screaming to not leave them behind, but what choice did you have?! Nomu and the villain were here because of you. Your best option was to escape and hopefully lure those two away from the others — no, right now, it was your only option.
Crack. Crack.
Hearing the wall crack behind you, you glanced back in confusion. That wasn't a product of the acid Mina and Neito were producing, right? Sure enough, the two had stepped back quickly — a part of the wall was corroded, but the cracks had to be coming from the other side.
What . . .?
Only a minute longer and a chunk of the wall just disappeared as if it had never been there, an even worse figure stepping through the wall. While unrecognizable to everybody else, they had sensed the danger and stepped back, falling in line with you. In your horror and shock, you had let go of the plant barricade, hands dropping to your sides. Only a couple more blasts of the villain's fire, and the plant was crumbling to ash, allowing him entrance again.
Two exits now — but again, both were blocked.
"[Y/n]. It's nice to see you, again." Even in such a serious situation, the hints of a smile tugged at his lips, gray eyes staring straight into you — straight through you.
Stiff, you gave a robotic nod. "Chrollo. Wish I could say the same, but really, I'd rather eject myself into space than ever have to see you again."
Your snarky response, received a wry smile from the leader of the Phantom Troupe, although it didn't quite meet his eyes. Those were sharp and piercing, calculative as always.
From behind, the other villain cleared his throat. "Hate to break up the reunion, but we do have an objective here."
"Don't worry, I am well aware."
Trying to hold up against one powerhouse was bad enough, but two? Panicking as a book appeared in his hand, you interjected. "Wait, why are you even doing this? How does this benefit the Phantom Troupe at all?! You have your nen back, so just go back home!"
This did cause him to pause, regarding you carefully. His eyes flicked back to the villain behind you, and then to you again. "The truth is, I'm not with the League of Villains, or anybody else besides my own group. I never said that I was going to take you back there, just that I'll be taking you with me."
Out of your peripheral, you saw blue light up, the villain behind you clearly unhappy with this change in plans.
"I knew it was either going to be you or that clown fucker. You really think you'd be able to get away with this? You're in our domain, and I'll be damned if you're the one who fucks up the Vanguard's first mission."
You weren't sure what/who the vanguard was, but you were sure that it was going to evolve in a fight here soon. Chrollo, on the other hand, remained unbothered as he looked back at you.
"Join the Phantom Troupe. I'd be able to help you with your hatsu, and you wouldn't have to worry about restrictions or rules ever again. Everything you could ever want, it'd be yours for the taking." His offer was delivered with the same air of charisma as the first time you had met him back in York New City, but it had been months since then. If he thought you'd take him up on the offer, he had another thing coming.
"How are we going to get out of this?" Hanta muttered to you, and you pursed your lips. Your life was guaranteed, at least for a bit longer. Your friends, though . . ? You couldn't leave them to fend by themselves, and escape wasn't really an option. Not unless....
Your mind went back to the bathhouse the other night, when you had been telling the first year girls about the Five Calamities.
"Don't ever speak it out loud unless you're in danger."
Speak it out loud . . . Speak it out loud . . .
Taking a deep breath, you pivoted so you could see both Chrollo and the scarred villain in your peripherals.
"Ai! I wish for you to get me and my friends to safety, far far away from here!"
At once, the ground had started to rumble, alerting everybody as Mina and Denki both clung onto you.
"Ai!"
There was no time for anybody to react as an inky blackness covered your group, leaving you all in a weird, thick haze.
"W-what's going on?!" You couldn't see your friends, the haze obscuring all vision, but that was definitely Neito's voice. Grimacing, you squeezed your eyes shut, waiting for everything to go back to normal. Your friends were all in different states of panic, with Mina practically on top of you, yelling.
After a few, nauseating seconds, the haze cleared, the world snapping into place in a manner jarring enough to cause you to fall on your butt. Through your eyelids, you could feel the bright sun on you all, and you finally cracked your eyes open, only to see that the five of you were sprawled in the middle of a road. At once, the smells and sounds hit you, nearly causing you to throw-up from the immediate overstimulation. Beside you, your friends all looked to be feeling the same as you — nauseous, confused, and very frazzled.
"Are we . . In Musutafu?"
Standing up, you looked around — it certainly seemed like it, but also . . . Not quite. Looking up, you saw a huge, red blimp leisurely soar above the buildings, and it was then that you realized just what happened.
Um, Ai....?
No answer, and you could feel yourself start to sweat. "Um, guys . . . We have a problem."
All eyes were on you as you gulped, giving a hesitant and sheepish smile. "So, um . . . Ah, I'm not sure how to really say this, but..."
"Just spit it out already!" Neito demanded, light blue eyes boring into you.
". . . So, yeah, we're not in your guys' world. This is my world — um, welcome to York New City, I guess?"
. . .
"WHAT?!"