Itsy Bitsy Spider

56. The Dots Connect

The only reason Feitan hadn't noticed Phinks was following them around was because he technically wasn't.

He wasn't following the rest of his group. He wasn't considering intervening from behind to give Feitan an opening to wreak havoc on the attackers and let all hell break loose. And he wasn't keeping his eye on Temmi's short, brown, boring brat. What Phinks did keep a close eye on though, was the person who was slinking too close to them for comfort.

His gaze hardened with suspicion as the person he was looking at pulled out their phone and picked up a call.

They'd gone separate ways, but had somehow ended up at the same lodge. Phinks saw Lucky taken in there with his blood dripping on the ground along the way, but Machi should have been done fixing him now, so why wasn't he walking around with everything fine so someone could just notice the person watching them already? The dude was clearly an amateur. Perhaps he was too amateur-ish and Fei chose to actively ignore him?

Phinks also agreed that the man wasn't a threat in anyway, at least, not a threat he couldn't wring the neck of in half a second. His existence couldn't possibly hurt the Spiders in any way, but he was wary all the same. Of his intentions, possible connections, what he was clearly hiding... and his past. He didn't know where he was from or who he even was, but that brat had called him "zeppelin" or "zepelli" or some other stupid name.

The man got off the phone with a sulking face, as if he'd just been yelled at. Phinks was considering jumping in and pulling out information from him on the spot when he held up his phone and made another call.

When the man settled down, so did Phinks.

He didn't know what the man was planning to what degree, but his nose was keen for sniffing out people who were working against him. And for all the smiling Phinks had seen him do, there was another face to the man and Phinks would strip off his mask personally if it came down to it. It was just the 'what' that was troubling him. He didn't have a clue on what he was planning. Guessing the inside of a box was so much harder than just ripping the packaging open and looking at it. Deductions were more Chrollo's thing.

"Hey, hey, give me a break!" The man was suddenly shouting into his phone. "You said you'd cover for me! If you find a counterfeit of mine, you bid on the lot ... You don't have to worry about the bidding money, remember? The job I'm taking right now is paying some serious cash. I'll pay you back ... What? What do I look like, a con? ... Yeah ..."

When he heard those words, his heart rate spiked. Phinks tried to cool himself down, but the blood flowing through him had always been hot to the touch.

Because nine months before she'd given birth... the Spiders had been at an auction, right?

*     *     *

"Go away."

Lucky sat down instead, holding in a hiss at the injuries that hadn't quite healed yet.

"Go away," Feitan repeated. "Sit in bed. Not sofa."

Killua grunted in agreement, not looking up from the game he was playing on his beetle phone. "That lady said you're supposed to be bedridden till the weekend."

Biting his lip, Lucky shook his head. "It's not... I need to tell you all something."

With a few minutes of pleading and refusing to go lay down until they agreed to hear him out, the rest of the group gathered in the room. Lucky had mentally rehearsed for this, but his breath was still quiet when he said, "It's about my bracelet."