Phantom Troupe's Web

Chapter 50.

Illuki walks into the hideout after her visit to Kurapika, Leorio, Killua and Gon. Her fingers interlock behind her back as she skips into the open loft, noticing Nobunaga standing before a seated Hisoka with his sword wielded and a frown on his stubbled face. "Did you sell him out? Did you sell Uvo out?" his voice rings throughout the deteriorating building, eyes glaring at the uninterested magician who was shuffling through his cards. "I'll take that as a yes..," the long-haired swordsman goes to attack the magician but is stopped by Franklin and Shalnark blocking his way. "Get outta my way!" he orders, sword lifted.

"Hold on...Let's hear him out," Franklin tells the man, taking a step forward.

The petite woman strolls past the commotion, settling on the crate beside the troupe's leader and slipping her hands underneath her exposed thighs, leaning forward to watch Nobunaga, Shalnark, Franklin and Hisoka while softly humming to herself.

"Just calm down. Didn't the boss tell us that there are ways to avoid the events in the fortune?" the happy-go-lucky blonde tells the swordsman, turning the redhead from over his shoulder with Franklin.

"Hisoka, explain what happened this week," Franklin orders.

"I cannot," he responds, looking uninterested at the trio. "All I can say is that the first poem was true...Nothing more."

Infuriated by the response, Nobunaga demands Shalnark and Franklin to move out of his way so he can attack the magician but is refrained by the pair. "Hisoka, why can't you tell us?" Shalnark asks. 

"Because it would amount to telling you what I can't say. Therefore I can't tell you. But it's not that I won't tell...I can't say anything more. That's all I can say," Hisoka explains, staring at a playing card with blank eyes before lifting his pupils to look over at the group – noticing Illuki's sudden appearance. "If you won't accept that as an answer...Then I'm prepared to defend myself," he stood up from the crate he sat on, holding a deck of cards in his right hand.

Behind them, Illuki exhales and leans her head back, letting out an inaudible groan. "Why do we put up with them?" she mutters to herself, referring to the always-annoyed swordsman and the power-hungry magician.

The room falls silent for a moment, both men ready for a fight when Nobunaga clicks his tongue, turning away from the cruel magician and sliding his sword away. "Forget it. You're a pain to fight," he began, walking away before pivoting on his heel and lunging at the man. "Yeah, right...like that would stop me, fool!" he exclaimed, preparing to draw his sword when the swordsman suddenly disappeared and reappeared on the ledge above them.

"Nobunaga," Chrollo calls, directing their attention to where he sat with his Bandit's Secret book in his hand and their Web's head resting her head on his shoulder – her eyes skimming over the novel's material. "Be quiet for a minute," he instructs the long-haired man.

"Please. You're giving me a headache," the dichromatic-haired woman groans, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Did the boss just do that?" Phinks asks, turning to look at Machi.

"Probably. Iris appears to be tired of Nobunaga as well," the pink-haired thief responds, looking back at the Web.

Chrollo glances over at Hisoka from the corner of his eyes, holding the book in his right hand. "Hisoka, I'm going to ask you some questions. You don't have to answer if you can't," he tells the sinister red-haired male before turning to the written fortune. "In the fortune, what does the 'taking secrets' part mean?"

"The powers of the Troupe's members," Hisoka answered, blankly staring at where Chrollo and Illuki sat beside each other. "Seven. No, eight. You, Uvogin, Shizuku, Machi, Franklin, Pakunoda, Shalnark and I add up to eight," he corrected himself.

"So you only found out about Kortopi's ability yesterday?" the slick-back ravenette asks, looking over at where Hisoka stood away from the troupe members. "And you don't know Iris' abilities fully?" he added, the female resting on his shoulder smiling with her eyes closed.

After Hisoka confirms the leader's questions, Chrollo goes on to ask about the chain user – in which, the magician repeats the same phrase over and over again. A knowing smile appears on the man's face, the ravenette gently shutting his book and setting it down on his thigh before addressing to the other Spiders.

"The 'red-eyes customer', the chain user, has two abilities at the very least. One would be the ability he used to capture Uvogin. The other would be the ability that restricts Hisoka's actions," Chrollo explains to the group. "Since the fortune uses the phrase 'sword of law', it must force a person to obey a set of rules. Like, 'don't lie to me' or 'do not reveal anything about me'...something like that. I would also guess that he planted something inside of Hisoka," Illuki removes her head from Chrollo's shoulder, sneaking a glance at Hisoka to see the smirk that appears on his face. "The first half of the poem mentions a trade, but the second half only describes what the customer took. This suggests that the 'sword of law attacked' Hisoka. In other words, the 'sword of law' attacked Hisoka and forced him to betray us."

'Partly true,' the Zoldyck female thought, allowing the man beside her to continue his analysing monologue, drowning out his voice to think to herself. 'He does have such abilities, but the clown wasn't forced to betray us. I could tell everyone that, but I'd rather inform the boss of my discoveries in private because of the side mission he's given me.'

"Let's review everything," Shalnark's voice broke her train of thought, the former assassin's head snapping in his direction. "The enemy uses chains. A Manipulator would be using real chains. If he's a Conjurer, he killed Uvo with Nen Chains," the blonde says.

"So is there a difference?" Shizuku asks, holding the fortune in her hands.

Shalnark and Franklin turn to the short-haired woman. "A big one. A conjurer can appear to be empty-handed. That's a huge advantage," the blonde male tells her.

"I see. Conjurers have to do lots of visualisation training...but once they've learned that, they can make their weapon appear at will," the glasses-wearing female states.

"Our problem is the ability that's restricting Hisoka."