The Reason We Fight

Chapter 16. The Broadcast

"Ah, Mr. Nostrade. Your daughter is resting in room 501 on the fifth floor.", the guard said at the entrance.

I need to find the right moment... the right moment to slip away, thought Kakume, following Light Nostrade and Kurapika into the building.

All three went to Neon's location. Light was getting restless about the whole situation, expecting a coup of some sort. Kurapika tried to reassure him, and called for reinforcements from Senritsu and Basho. She was annoyed, glaring at Kurapika begrudgingly. Traitor, she thought, bitter. Look at him, licking the boots of that bourgeois asshole. Why did I feel so conflicted earlier?

But of course, she knew. She rose, irritated by her own weakness, irritated by his lax, malleable attitude. "I'm going downstairs to wait for their arrival", she said sharply, then slammed the door behind her.

She did go downstairs, but then left through the door. I can't look back. If I look back, I am lost. Kurapika... please don't do anything foolish.

Then she left, never to look back. She swiftly called her contact.

"Yes. Now", she voiced, unequivocally. "YSBC. Yorkshin Broadcasting Company, on Floor Street. Ten minutes. We're doing it. It's time."

-

Vernon was a thick brown man, very homely, but for his eyes. His eyes looked like liquid amber. He assisted her as she arrived. He was a Nen user, which would prove practical when they barge into the place and claim their equipment. The other men were equipped with weapons, which she had paid for with the money she had stolen from Mallory. The money she had gotten from Heavens Arena, she spent elsewhere.

When the group burst in, the telebroadcasters offered little resistance. A shame. For Vernon's Nen was very special indeed. He activated it on the broadcasting equipment. Vernon was a believer, like her. He was not bought, nor hired. He knew that you couldn't win without bloodying your hands. He put all his aura into the recording machine, imbuing it with his Nen.

Kakume put her Wraith mask on, then nodded to him. He clicked on the video recorder to activate it. She used a voice modifier. All the television sets in the country turned on to the channel.

"Brothers and sisters!", she started. "Too long have our heads been down. Years upon years, being crushed underfoot by those in power, blind to the abuse and the oppression. But blind we are no longer!"

The slides began, and with them, the incriminating evidence. "In 1988, a program was started. Mafia Dons Maggiorno and Carter 'The Dentist' Banks cooperated with Yorbian senator Aresto Warton to drop a heavy narcotic into the slums of Yorkshin. Its name? Dilasporat. Their goal in this endeavor was to get the people hooked, and then arrest them for possession. Why would they do this, you might ask?" She showed a photo of an assembly line. "Profit", she concluded.

"How many of you know people, lost to Dilasporat? All this, just so that corporations can find a loophole around slavery? Is that what we are? Slaves?" Kakume was fuming.

She continued. "In 1991, the Lapet Republic fought off their oppressors, the East Kingdom Company of Yorba. In 1992, special unit coordinator Laurian Fitt sent a force of Pro Hunters to the country. Mercenaries, to snuff out the revolution. Millions dead, all law-abiding citizens, like you and I. Decent people, looking out for their children's future. A new dictator in charge now, as a result - a puppet controlled by Yorbian masters, who hold the resources of the continent in their heavy pockets."

Her speech continued on, undeterred. Suddenly, she heard the door slam open, and people coming into the building. They are trying to stop the broadcast. The TVs are all Nen-controlled... they cannot stop it by turning off their televisions or even unplugging them. She had to wrap it up.

"Alone, we are small. We are scared, and we are powerless. We are beaten down into subservience. But subservience can be unlearned, and control can be retaken. Together, we take arms. Together, we stand! Unite!" She stopped the broadcast and flew away before she could be killed.

As she left in a hurry, in the edge of her vision, she saw a tall man, staring at her. The world slowed down. He was grinning from ear to ear, as pleased as a cat that's got the cream. He had a five o'clock shadow and dark hair. His green, predatory eyes glimmered in the shadows, and his raging bloodlust made it hard for her to even move. Tam. We will meet soon, but not now... She had only just begun.

-

Basho and Senritsu were taking too long to get here. The whole route was blocked, and traffic jammed the streets. Light Nostrade was walking in circles in the room, losing patience.

"Kurapika, you will stay here to watch Neon until the others show up".

Kurapika objected, disgruntled. "But my assignment was to take care of the Troupe..."

Nostrade interrupted him. "That was before we had no way of relocating Neon from this compromising position. You will stay on your post. Ranek is taking care of it." His tone brooked no argument.

The ambulance arrived with the medics. Kurapika was feeling restless. He approached Nostrade. "I should do something to help out. I should at least patrol the building".

His boss acquiesced reluctantly. "Alright... but you must come back immediately if I call. My daughter's safety comes first". Kurapika went downstairs.

Everyone here is either a gang leader or a big shot, he thought. They're endangering themselves just to prove they aren't afraid of the Troupe.

"It was the Red Hands, I'm telling you!", he heard a voice call out from the crowd. "The Phantom Troupe doesn't do things like that".

"Yikes, our dirty laundry's out for all to see", another one said. "Maybe I should just get out of the business, now that I have a chance... the things they have revealed..."

Kurapika wondered what that was all about. A few of them grouped to look at the playback on a small recorder. He heard masses outside shouting: "Unite!". Where is Kakume? She was supposed to be here... Is she in trouble? he wondered, nervous. The Spiders causing mayhem, the people in disarray... It was chaos out there. He was stewing in his worries, when he got a sudden call. Gon?

"Gon, you catch me in a bad time... I'll have to call you back".

"Wait!", he responded quickly, before he could hang up. "Killua and I... we ran into the Phantom Troupe. Actually, we got captured by them".

"What? What were you guys thinking? Don't you realize how dangerous they are?", Kurapika yelled, cross.

They argued for a moment. Kurapika couldn't let them get in danger like that, no matter what. But Gon was just so stubborn. And they had information about them, it seemed. But... I can't risk it. "I have to go", he said succinctly, then hung up. The Spiders were approaching the building.

-

The Phantom Troupe was wreaking havoc in the city, she heard. Good, she thought. I need to find a way back into the auction house unnoticed. The people were wreaking havoc too. They are rebelling against the powers, the Mafia, fighting on along with the band of thieves. The lines are blurring, nobody knew who was right and who was wrong. That was concerning. She made her way to enter the building, stepping on the corpses of the dead outside.

Behind her, suddenly, Nobunaga called her out. "Oi! Kakume, is it?", he started. "I recognize you. You're Tam's daughter, aren't you? All grown up. You the one who made the people in this city act all crazy?"

She nodded, but was annoyed that he would call it that. "I suppose you could say so".

He laughed heartily. "Why don't you give us a hand, killing those Mafia bastards?"

"Maybe next time", she answered, frosty.

She then called Kurapika, almost by instinct. But when he answered the phone, she found herself unable to face him, and hung up swiftly, shamed. I can't. Not right now.

"Nobunaga", she called back. "Can you tell me where Hisoka is?"