Dis Aliter Visum - Chapter 88 - 2,652 words
Note: I was nearly done with this chapter when Nessie disappeared and well... Yeah I'm sort of still reeling from that, though she's been back home a couple of weeks.
Beta-reader: Lea Summers.
Chapter summary: Kurapica is a trouble-magnet.
Chapter 88
Kurapica took out his cellphone for the umpteenth time in the past three minutes. He felt Kuroro's eyes on him and hastily put it away.
There was a moment of silence.
Kuroro opened his mouth, but the blond cut him off.
“Shut up.”
“I didn't say anything,” Kuroro pointed out.
“You were going to.”
They fell silent, creating a few minutes where they were both lost in their own thoughts, until the blond took his phone out of his pocket again. He heard Kuroro stifle a snicker and he elbowed him lightly.
“Shut up,” he whispered again.
“Do you not believe in your friends?” the Spider Head asked him. “Do you not believe that they will pull through?”
“I believe in them,” Kurapica whispered back, his tone angry. “I'm just worried, that's all.”
“Doesn't that mean the same thing?”
Kurapica had to think about that for a few minutes.
“I believe in them,” he finally answered. “I know they'll hold their part of the plan, I'm just worried they'll get in trouble for it.”
“Like I said,” Kuroro whispered back, “doesn't that show that you don't believe in them? If they're good, they'll pull through and get out of the situation unharmed. Believing anything else is proof that you have no trust in their abilities.”
The blond opened his mouth to speak up, but Kuroro suddenly tensed up and placed a finger on Kurapica's lips to silence him. The blond tried not to get upset, tried not to get nervous, tried not to blush, but failed spectacularly on all counts.
“Time?” Kuroro asked, his whisper barely audible.
Kurapica slid his phone out yet again, wondering what was different for Kuroro to be allowed to know the time, and not him.
“Zero-thirty-eight,” he whispered back.
The Spider Head nodded, head cocked to the side, obviously listening intently for something. Kurapica strained his ears, trying to hear whatever it was that Kuroro was listening for, but he could barely make out the sound of booted feet, deep inside of the building.
“That isn't good,” Kuroro commented, but the easy grin on his lips contradicted his words.
“There is more security than when we visited?” Kurapica asked for confirmation.
Kuroro nodded, then listened intently for some time, his fingers still hovering over Kurapica's lips. The blond kept his phone out and glanced at it every few seconds. The footsteps receded deeper into the building and all was quiet for a minute or so.
“Zero-forty,” Kurapica murmured.
Kuroro nodded a fraction of a degree. Quieter footsteps could be heard now on the street down below.
“He is really good,” Kuroro commented, “but then he also is a former assassin.”
He flashed Kurapica a slight, happy-looking grin.
“I can barely hear him at all!”
Kurapica had to agree. Both of his young friends were quiet, but one set of footsteps was markedly less audible than the other.
“You're not thinking of recruiting him, are you?” he asked hesitantly, worried to the very core of his being.
Kuroro didn't answer, but then, he didn't really need to. The young Hunter opened his mouth, looked at his phone, remembered the time and wisely closed it.
“Door,” Kuroro whispered, and they took positions on either side of the rooftop emergency exit.
Kurapica kept his eyes on the clock display counting down the time. As the minutes before taking action turned into seconds, the blond lifted a hand, displaying the seconds they had left with his fingers. He was certainly strong, but in a town famous for nen training and with just one chance to get this right, it was better that Kuroro be the one to force the door open.
Five fingers, four, three - Kurapica sucked in a breath and held it - two, one.
Muffled by the thick wall, the alarm started screeching, shrill and loud, and Kuroro kicked the door in, the bolt locks snapping easily under the strength of the blow. They slipped inside and Kuroro jammed some strange blocks in the doorjamb before pushing it shut. They silently went down the metal stairs. Kuroro hid behind some crates, Kurapica behind a locker. He quickly shoved his cellphone into his pocket.
At first, all was quiet, deafeningly so when the alarm was cut, but the blond soon heard the sound of footsteps coming their way. Noiseless as a cat, he slipped inside an empty locker and pulled the door mostly shut. He soon saw human silhouettes running about the room, and he held his breath. Zetsu. Like an animal on a hunt, disappearing to the senses of even the most paranoid living creature. He may be forced into it by the bind on his nen, but he still willed himself to disappear to the sense of the men and women in the room. He didn't exist, was part of the decor, wasn't breathing, hell, he intended to stop his very heart from beating for as long as he could.
There were a few muttered words, a lot of moving and shuffling, some grunting and a stack of boxes fell over. This prompted a few nasty words from people a short distance from the locker, then more noise from all around the room. Finally, the footsteps receded and quiet descended upon the room.
Kurapica waited quietly, expecting some sound from outside his locker, either to indicate that someone was coming back in, or that Kuroro was coming out of hiding.
Silence stretched, on and on. Kurapica carefully slid his phone out of his pocket and tried to look at the time without making any sound in the cramped space.
Where was Kuroro?!
He was starting to feel rather claustrophobic. He needed to get out. The blond strained his ears, listening for any noise that would indicate that there was anyone - friend or foe - out in the room.
Minutes trickled away in absolute silence and finally, Kurapica couldn't take it anymore. He silently pushed the door open and peered out. The room was empty, as far as he could tell. He took a deep breath in and ran across the floor to duck behind the crates where he'd last seen the older man. There was nobody there at all. Kurapica wasn't entirely surprised; he sort of figured that the boxes he'd heard fall had come from this stack, so it was likely that Kuroro had slipped away.
Kurapica took a deep breath in, held it, then slowly let it out.
This was all right. This was fine. Kuroro had probably just slipped outside of the room. There was no point in sending him a text; they both had their phones on silent without vibration.
Slowly, quietly, Kurapica searched the entire room. Kuroro was nowhere to be seen. Creeping along on silent feet, he went to the door and opened it. Kurapica held his breath and popped his head out for a quick glance around. He found himself in a dark stairwell, with absolutely no one in sight. Carefully, he made his way down two floors, mentally going through the floor plans that he had studied with Kuroro.
The building was eerily silent, and Kurapica nearly felt like he could hear his own heart beating, slow and steady. His feet barely made sound on the metal steps, then the white tiles as he crossed another backroom filled with artifacts to be sorted, studied and filed. He finally found himself by a door, which according to the plans, led into the main exhibition.
He stood by silently, his ears straining to hear any sound in the building, quiet as it was. He didn't have access to his nen, but his hearing was thankfully excellent to begin with. He didn't know where Kuroro was, and that unnerved him quite a bit, but he knew that whatever may happen, the Spider Head could take care of himself. Kurapica, with or without access to his nen, was strong enough to get through this on his own.
If he remembered correctly, he had to cross one hall, turn left, cross another room and he would find himself in front of the precious eyes. He took a moment to steady his nerves then stepped inside of the exhibition hall.
That's when his luck really changed.
Immediately, his sense went on high alert, although he wasn't quite sure what had changed, at first. His instincts screamed at him to run as far as he could. Something was definitely wrong.
He glanced behind him at the stairwell, but it was still dark and empty. Someone could access it at any time from the floors above and below. Kurapica's exit was definitely compromised. It would be safer to retreat, but who knew when he would be able to sneak in again? He probably wouldn't get another chance like this.
“Hey!” he heard, coming from a floor above him.
He froze, not even daring to breathe. Where could he hide? His eyes desperately searched the darkness around him.
“Darylo!” the voice continued. “Darylo, you there? Your radio's broken, I think.”
“Yeah!” This one was coming from so close, Kurapica had to resist the urge to run, the sound of which would definitely give him away. “I'm right here; what's up?”
“Jörg just called - apparently there's a display on your floor that just vanished. Like, the entire thing, case included. Can you check?”
“From which room?”
Kurapica slowly, silently crouched behind the door, just inside of the exhibition hall.
“The last one,” came the answer from upstairs. “It's those creepy eyeballs, man. Just gone, apparently. Keep your eyes peeled.”
Kurapica let go of the breath he'd been holding in. If the eyes were gone, that meant that Kuroro had gone ahead with their plan. All Kurapica had to do was return to the top floor and wait for the Spider Head to arrive, then they could leave through the roof exit and they would be in the clear. Their hotel was just a short distance from there, if they ran on top of the buildings again, like they had done on their way to the museum.
“All right,” the man named Darylo answered, then Kurapica heard his footsteps on the stairs, coming towards him.
The blond froze momentarily before looking for a better hiding place. In the end, he ducked behind a large display case and crouched low. The door leading to the stairwell opened fully, then closed.
“What the...?” he heard the guard mutter out loud. Then, “You're still in here, aren't you, thief?”
Kurapica held very, very still, holding his breath, listening to his own heartbeats echoing in his ears. He heard the man move around the large room, obviously looking for the intruder, looking for him. Kurapica needed to hide somewhere safer again. The darkness was the only thing helping him, and the guard could have an ability that helped him see.
There was nothing, no niche to slip into, no cupboard or closets, or anything, really, aside from display cases and that one door leading into the stairwell.
Kurapica glanced around the wooden stand he was hiding behind, peered around the dark room and spotted the security guard by the light of his electric torch. He waited until the man was far from the door, his back turned to the blond. Silently, Kurapica slipped out from behind the display, and after a quick glance back to the guard, he escaped back into the stairwell. He held the door before it had time to shut and slowly, minutely guided it so that it would close noiselessly.
Gods, that had been far too close for comfort.
The young Hunter crept slowly up the stairs, hyper-aware of his surroundings. He could still feel his heart thrumming in his fingertips from the adrenaline rush. He was as quiet as he could be, but it didn't feel like he was quiet enough.
He slowly made his way up the first flight of stairs, then the other. He'd nearly reached the top floor, when a door opened on the landing he'd just left behind.
“Hey!” he heard behind him, and froze. “You, there! What are you doing here?!”
Muttering a few choice words under his breath, Kurapica flung himself up the last few steps and into the large room. He'd only taken two steps into the room, when he realized his mistake. The lights were on, blindingly bright. Momentarily blinded, he barely caught sight of a few armed guards and immediately took a step back, only to collide with an unflinching, hard surface. Arms wrapped around him from behind and he let himself drop to the floor, slipping through the choke-hold as if he were made of water. Crouched low and leaning onto his hands, he kicked in a circle, hitting both of the man's ankles. The huge guard fell with a curse; then the lights went dead.
He heard feet rushing at him from three directions and threw himself towards one of his attackers. He was fairly sure that man or woman was alone, and he'd have a better chance of getting out of this if he had only one person to contend with. He was very much aware that this town was known for its strong nen users and without his own abilities, he knew his chance of winning this altercation was very, very slim.
He was going at it blind, but his eyes would adjust fairly soon. He slammed into the person's - definitely a woman - midsection with his shoulder and made to jump over her when she doubled over, but she grabbed his ankle and pulled hard. He connected with the floor and it knocked the wind out of him, but he kicked at where he estimated her head to be. He didn't manage more than a glancing blow and she caught his other foot. He twisted on himself and her nails left gouges in his right ankle, but his show caught the abuse on the other side. He was barely starting to see her form - a deeper shadow within the darkness - but that meant she could see him, too.
She made a grab for him and he scrambled to his feet. He felt more than heard something whistle above his head, which meant that at least one of the thugs had brought a weapon into the fray.
“Now!” he heard behind him, and he whirled on himself just in time to have an intense spotlight turned on and aimed straight at his eyes.
Blinded again, he vacillated, eyes screwed shut against the intense glare. Someone grabbed his ankle, right where the woman had scraped some of the skin off, and he hissed in pain. Someone caught the hood of his sweater and pulled, nearly strangling him. He heard the jiggling of chains and felt cold iron fasten around his leg. He kicked blindly with his other foot and got that one fettered as well for his trouble.
Someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and slammed him down onto the floor. His vision blurred, but he still managed to land a punch in someone's face. A man, as the grunt he heard was definitely male.
Kurapica put his weight onto his hands and tried using his bound feet to lash out at his attackers, but someone anticipated the attack and grabbed the chain. Kurapica was lifted off of the floor, then thrown back down again. He saw little flashes of light explode behind his eyelids. Disorientated and in pain, he managed to find his mental footing just in time to feel and hear his wrists get bound by more of the heavy chain.
He immediately tested his restraints, knowing that a real, regular chain wouldn't stand a chance, even if he didn't have access to his aura to strengthen his arms and legs. There was no give at all. The metal was obviously imbued with nen.
He was caught.
Beta-reader: Lea Summers.
Chapter summary: Kurapica is a trouble-magnet.
Chapter 88
Kurapica took out his cellphone for the umpteenth time in the past three minutes. He felt Kuroro's eyes on him and hastily put it away.
There was a moment of silence.
Kuroro opened his mouth, but the blond cut him off.
“Shut up.”
“I didn't say anything,” Kuroro pointed out.
“You were going to.”
They fell silent, creating a few minutes where they were both lost in their own thoughts, until the blond took his phone out of his pocket again. He heard Kuroro stifle a snicker and he elbowed him lightly.
“Shut up,” he whispered again.
“Do you not believe in your friends?” the Spider Head asked him. “Do you not believe that they will pull through?”
“I believe in them,” Kurapica whispered back, his tone angry. “I'm just worried, that's all.”
“Doesn't that mean the same thing?”
Kurapica had to think about that for a few minutes.
“I believe in them,” he finally answered. “I know they'll hold their part of the plan, I'm just worried they'll get in trouble for it.”
“Like I said,” Kuroro whispered back, “doesn't that show that you don't believe in them? If they're good, they'll pull through and get out of the situation unharmed. Believing anything else is proof that you have no trust in their abilities.”
The blond opened his mouth to speak up, but Kuroro suddenly tensed up and placed a finger on Kurapica's lips to silence him. The blond tried not to get upset, tried not to get nervous, tried not to blush, but failed spectacularly on all counts.
“Time?” Kuroro asked, his whisper barely audible.
Kurapica slid his phone out yet again, wondering what was different for Kuroro to be allowed to know the time, and not him.
“Zero-thirty-eight,” he whispered back.
The Spider Head nodded, head cocked to the side, obviously listening intently for something. Kurapica strained his ears, trying to hear whatever it was that Kuroro was listening for, but he could barely make out the sound of booted feet, deep inside of the building.
“That isn't good,” Kuroro commented, but the easy grin on his lips contradicted his words.
“There is more security than when we visited?” Kurapica asked for confirmation.
Kuroro nodded, then listened intently for some time, his fingers still hovering over Kurapica's lips. The blond kept his phone out and glanced at it every few seconds. The footsteps receded deeper into the building and all was quiet for a minute or so.
“Zero-forty,” Kurapica murmured.
Kuroro nodded a fraction of a degree. Quieter footsteps could be heard now on the street down below.
“He is really good,” Kuroro commented, “but then he also is a former assassin.”
He flashed Kurapica a slight, happy-looking grin.
“I can barely hear him at all!”
Kurapica had to agree. Both of his young friends were quiet, but one set of footsteps was markedly less audible than the other.
“You're not thinking of recruiting him, are you?” he asked hesitantly, worried to the very core of his being.
Kuroro didn't answer, but then, he didn't really need to. The young Hunter opened his mouth, looked at his phone, remembered the time and wisely closed it.
“Door,” Kuroro whispered, and they took positions on either side of the rooftop emergency exit.
Kurapica kept his eyes on the clock display counting down the time. As the minutes before taking action turned into seconds, the blond lifted a hand, displaying the seconds they had left with his fingers. He was certainly strong, but in a town famous for nen training and with just one chance to get this right, it was better that Kuroro be the one to force the door open.
Five fingers, four, three - Kurapica sucked in a breath and held it - two, one.
Muffled by the thick wall, the alarm started screeching, shrill and loud, and Kuroro kicked the door in, the bolt locks snapping easily under the strength of the blow. They slipped inside and Kuroro jammed some strange blocks in the doorjamb before pushing it shut. They silently went down the metal stairs. Kuroro hid behind some crates, Kurapica behind a locker. He quickly shoved his cellphone into his pocket.
At first, all was quiet, deafeningly so when the alarm was cut, but the blond soon heard the sound of footsteps coming their way. Noiseless as a cat, he slipped inside an empty locker and pulled the door mostly shut. He soon saw human silhouettes running about the room, and he held his breath. Zetsu. Like an animal on a hunt, disappearing to the senses of even the most paranoid living creature. He may be forced into it by the bind on his nen, but he still willed himself to disappear to the sense of the men and women in the room. He didn't exist, was part of the decor, wasn't breathing, hell, he intended to stop his very heart from beating for as long as he could.
There were a few muttered words, a lot of moving and shuffling, some grunting and a stack of boxes fell over. This prompted a few nasty words from people a short distance from the locker, then more noise from all around the room. Finally, the footsteps receded and quiet descended upon the room.
Kurapica waited quietly, expecting some sound from outside his locker, either to indicate that someone was coming back in, or that Kuroro was coming out of hiding.
Silence stretched, on and on. Kurapica carefully slid his phone out of his pocket and tried to look at the time without making any sound in the cramped space.
Where was Kuroro?!
He was starting to feel rather claustrophobic. He needed to get out. The blond strained his ears, listening for any noise that would indicate that there was anyone - friend or foe - out in the room.
Minutes trickled away in absolute silence and finally, Kurapica couldn't take it anymore. He silently pushed the door open and peered out. The room was empty, as far as he could tell. He took a deep breath in and ran across the floor to duck behind the crates where he'd last seen the older man. There was nobody there at all. Kurapica wasn't entirely surprised; he sort of figured that the boxes he'd heard fall had come from this stack, so it was likely that Kuroro had slipped away.
Kurapica took a deep breath in, held it, then slowly let it out.
This was all right. This was fine. Kuroro had probably just slipped outside of the room. There was no point in sending him a text; they both had their phones on silent without vibration.
Slowly, quietly, Kurapica searched the entire room. Kuroro was nowhere to be seen. Creeping along on silent feet, he went to the door and opened it. Kurapica held his breath and popped his head out for a quick glance around. He found himself in a dark stairwell, with absolutely no one in sight. Carefully, he made his way down two floors, mentally going through the floor plans that he had studied with Kuroro.
The building was eerily silent, and Kurapica nearly felt like he could hear his own heart beating, slow and steady. His feet barely made sound on the metal steps, then the white tiles as he crossed another backroom filled with artifacts to be sorted, studied and filed. He finally found himself by a door, which according to the plans, led into the main exhibition.
He stood by silently, his ears straining to hear any sound in the building, quiet as it was. He didn't have access to his nen, but his hearing was thankfully excellent to begin with. He didn't know where Kuroro was, and that unnerved him quite a bit, but he knew that whatever may happen, the Spider Head could take care of himself. Kurapica, with or without access to his nen, was strong enough to get through this on his own.
If he remembered correctly, he had to cross one hall, turn left, cross another room and he would find himself in front of the precious eyes. He took a moment to steady his nerves then stepped inside of the exhibition hall.
That's when his luck really changed.
Immediately, his sense went on high alert, although he wasn't quite sure what had changed, at first. His instincts screamed at him to run as far as he could. Something was definitely wrong.
He glanced behind him at the stairwell, but it was still dark and empty. Someone could access it at any time from the floors above and below. Kurapica's exit was definitely compromised. It would be safer to retreat, but who knew when he would be able to sneak in again? He probably wouldn't get another chance like this.
“Hey!” he heard, coming from a floor above him.
He froze, not even daring to breathe. Where could he hide? His eyes desperately searched the darkness around him.
“Darylo!” the voice continued. “Darylo, you there? Your radio's broken, I think.”
“Yeah!” This one was coming from so close, Kurapica had to resist the urge to run, the sound of which would definitely give him away. “I'm right here; what's up?”
“Jörg just called - apparently there's a display on your floor that just vanished. Like, the entire thing, case included. Can you check?”
“From which room?”
Kurapica slowly, silently crouched behind the door, just inside of the exhibition hall.
“The last one,” came the answer from upstairs. “It's those creepy eyeballs, man. Just gone, apparently. Keep your eyes peeled.”
Kurapica let go of the breath he'd been holding in. If the eyes were gone, that meant that Kuroro had gone ahead with their plan. All Kurapica had to do was return to the top floor and wait for the Spider Head to arrive, then they could leave through the roof exit and they would be in the clear. Their hotel was just a short distance from there, if they ran on top of the buildings again, like they had done on their way to the museum.
“All right,” the man named Darylo answered, then Kurapica heard his footsteps on the stairs, coming towards him.
The blond froze momentarily before looking for a better hiding place. In the end, he ducked behind a large display case and crouched low. The door leading to the stairwell opened fully, then closed.
“What the...?” he heard the guard mutter out loud. Then, “You're still in here, aren't you, thief?”
Kurapica held very, very still, holding his breath, listening to his own heartbeats echoing in his ears. He heard the man move around the large room, obviously looking for the intruder, looking for him. Kurapica needed to hide somewhere safer again. The darkness was the only thing helping him, and the guard could have an ability that helped him see.
There was nothing, no niche to slip into, no cupboard or closets, or anything, really, aside from display cases and that one door leading into the stairwell.
Kurapica glanced around the wooden stand he was hiding behind, peered around the dark room and spotted the security guard by the light of his electric torch. He waited until the man was far from the door, his back turned to the blond. Silently, Kurapica slipped out from behind the display, and after a quick glance back to the guard, he escaped back into the stairwell. He held the door before it had time to shut and slowly, minutely guided it so that it would close noiselessly.
Gods, that had been far too close for comfort.
The young Hunter crept slowly up the stairs, hyper-aware of his surroundings. He could still feel his heart thrumming in his fingertips from the adrenaline rush. He was as quiet as he could be, but it didn't feel like he was quiet enough.
He slowly made his way up the first flight of stairs, then the other. He'd nearly reached the top floor, when a door opened on the landing he'd just left behind.
“Hey!” he heard behind him, and froze. “You, there! What are you doing here?!”
Muttering a few choice words under his breath, Kurapica flung himself up the last few steps and into the large room. He'd only taken two steps into the room, when he realized his mistake. The lights were on, blindingly bright. Momentarily blinded, he barely caught sight of a few armed guards and immediately took a step back, only to collide with an unflinching, hard surface. Arms wrapped around him from behind and he let himself drop to the floor, slipping through the choke-hold as if he were made of water. Crouched low and leaning onto his hands, he kicked in a circle, hitting both of the man's ankles. The huge guard fell with a curse; then the lights went dead.
He heard feet rushing at him from three directions and threw himself towards one of his attackers. He was fairly sure that man or woman was alone, and he'd have a better chance of getting out of this if he had only one person to contend with. He was very much aware that this town was known for its strong nen users and without his own abilities, he knew his chance of winning this altercation was very, very slim.
He was going at it blind, but his eyes would adjust fairly soon. He slammed into the person's - definitely a woman - midsection with his shoulder and made to jump over her when she doubled over, but she grabbed his ankle and pulled hard. He connected with the floor and it knocked the wind out of him, but he kicked at where he estimated her head to be. He didn't manage more than a glancing blow and she caught his other foot. He twisted on himself and her nails left gouges in his right ankle, but his show caught the abuse on the other side. He was barely starting to see her form - a deeper shadow within the darkness - but that meant she could see him, too.
She made a grab for him and he scrambled to his feet. He felt more than heard something whistle above his head, which meant that at least one of the thugs had brought a weapon into the fray.
“Now!” he heard behind him, and he whirled on himself just in time to have an intense spotlight turned on and aimed straight at his eyes.
Blinded again, he vacillated, eyes screwed shut against the intense glare. Someone grabbed his ankle, right where the woman had scraped some of the skin off, and he hissed in pain. Someone caught the hood of his sweater and pulled, nearly strangling him. He heard the jiggling of chains and felt cold iron fasten around his leg. He kicked blindly with his other foot and got that one fettered as well for his trouble.
Someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and slammed him down onto the floor. His vision blurred, but he still managed to land a punch in someone's face. A man, as the grunt he heard was definitely male.
Kurapica put his weight onto his hands and tried using his bound feet to lash out at his attackers, but someone anticipated the attack and grabbed the chain. Kurapica was lifted off of the floor, then thrown back down again. He saw little flashes of light explode behind his eyelids. Disorientated and in pain, he managed to find his mental footing just in time to feel and hear his wrists get bound by more of the heavy chain.
He immediately tested his restraints, knowing that a real, regular chain wouldn't stand a chance, even if he didn't have access to his aura to strengthen his arms and legs. There was no give at all. The metal was obviously imbued with nen.
He was caught.