Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 212 LICENSE TO KILL

“Congratulations, all of you,” Netero said. The older chairman stood behind a podium as he addressed us. “You 10 men and women have shown your resolve and proved yourselves to be Hunters over the last 10 days.” I was surprised it was only 10 days, it sure as hell felt longer thanks to the attention of Hisoka. The very confusing man had been ignoring me since we arrived at the Hunter Association Headquarters. I felt a little like a spurned lover. Shaking my head I turned back to face Netero. 

“A few things of note about your Hunter Licenses,” he continued. “They are tied to you, and only you. Now that you have passed the exam you can no longer try for another one. So if you lose it, that’s it. You could turn around and sell it right now for several billion Jenny.” Jenny was the currency of the world. I had yet to receive any, I needed to fix that. “But they also act as visas to enter 90% of countries that restrict outsiders. And 75% of areas that the general public are not allowed inside..” 

I had actually been blocked from entering a few islands because I didn’t have the proper clearance, prior to the exam. It would be helpful to not have to worry about that anymore. 

“95% of public facilities can also be used at no cost. And such facilities will generally be provided at first class,” Netero added. I wondered if public facilities meant travel, but I doubted it. 

“You may now embark on your journeys as Hunters. The nature of your work is dictated by yourself. The Hunter Association may call upon you for future work, but whether you take it or not is up to you. You decide what you want to do with the rest of your lives. Whether it is acting as a bodyguard, deciding to find the lost city of Humilathraw, or going home and drinking yourselves to death.” The old man let out a chuckle as if he had told a joke. Everyone in the audience was still grave, expecting something more to happen.  

“Are there any questions for me?” Netero asked. 

Kurapika raised his hand. “I’ve heard that the Hunter License is basically a license to kill. Is that true?” 

Netero hesitated but slowly nodded. “Yes, it has been called that. This is the 287th annual Hunter Exam. We Hunters have been around for a long time. Over that time Hunters have been in good and bad situations. We are called upon by royalty to guard them when they face a great threat. Or one of our number decides to wreak havoc and kill a few people. The Hunter Association itself is neutral in all matters. Countries have noted that it is easier to let us do our thing rather than try to prosecute us.” He chuckled again. “It is hard for a normal police officer to apprehend you when you can run for hours on end at full speed or break out of handcuffs with ease. They have often found it is best to let us do what we want.” 

“But,” he added, raising a finger. “That does not mean go on some rampage. If it was seen that you were intentionally causing harm, a Hunter could be contracted to kill you. Again we would not step in to help, or hinder. But you get out of the world what you put in. If you seek death and destruction, it will find you as well.” Kurapika frowned but nodded. 

I knew he wanted the Phantom Troupe dead. His people were massacred and killed because they had scarlet eyes. Though he didn’t have red eyes showing, under certain circumstances they would appear. Making him one of the most deadly Nen Users in the world when he faced those he wanted to kill. 

“This is simply the start of your journey,” Netero said. “There is still much to learn and see out in the world. My last piece of advice would be to take it one step at a time.” He bowed to us as a group and walked off. I triple checked the Hunter License was in my pocket. It looked like a playing card. With some basic information about me it had the XX of the Hunter symbol printed on the front and back. Thicker than a credit card I had to buy a wallet as soon as possible. It was going to drive me crazy keeping an eye on the thing. 

“What now?” Jill asked, a wide smile on her face. She appeared a lot better than the night before. A little quiet since leaving the blimp I guessed she was mostly thinking about what she actually wanted to do. 

“Let’s see what the others are doing,” I offered. I was a little lost. Back in canon there had been a short tournament that eliminated Killua. The guy with the piercings on his face was in the group still, but he hadn’t revealed himself. I was curious if things would happen like I remembered. 

We walked out to a courtyard outside of the orientation room. A grassy patch surrounded by the large walls of the Hunter’s Headquarters I came up to Gon and the others as they talked. 

“What are your plans, Weston?” Gon asked. 

“I was thinking of going to the Heaven’s Arena,” I admitted. 

“That’s not a bad idea,” Killua said. 

“What’s that?” Gon asked. 

“It’s a huge tower that people go to fight at. I went there when I was a kid.” Killua was 14, still a kid in my book, but he probably went there when he was 5 years old. Expected to fight grown men at a young age, it was a wonder he was alive. “They pay you the further up you climb in the tower.” 

“Sounds fun,” Kurapika said. “But I have a job I would like to get started on.” 

“Yeah, I want to start prepping for medical school,” Leorio said, waving his card around. “With this bad boy I can get in free. Then start making boat loads of money.” He laughed loudly as the others rolled their eyes. I remembered that he had a noble cause for wanting to become a doctor. Some simple illness killed his best friend and there were no doctors where he grew up. He wanted to eliminate the illness or provide free healthcare to kids or something. 

“It’s been a long time, Kill,” A calm voice said from behind me. My spine tingled as I heard it. Grabbing Jill’s hand I moved her and I out of the way so as to not stand in between Killua and the piercings guy. 

“Who are you?” Killua asked. I hadn’t heard the guy talk once during the entire Exam. I wasn’t surprised he didn’t remember the name he gave either. 

“You don’t recognize me?” The voice asked, confused. The tall man grabbed one of the studs in his cheek and pulled it out. The stud was revealed to have a needle on the end. He started pulling all of them out one by one. Slowly as he pulled the piercings out his face began to change. “Mother must have become lax in her training of face changing.” It wasn’t long until all the piercings were out and a very bored face stared at us. He was the same height, but his bald head now showed a long black length of hair that went down his back. His eyes were wide, emotionless as he stared at us. 

“It’s me, don’t you recognize your older brother,” the man said in a placid tone. Killua had stiffened once he recognized the face. 

“Illumi,” Killua whispered. “But what are you doing here?” It was easy to recognize the fear in the boy’s voice. If I wasn’t confident I could beat Killua, I was positive I couldn’t beat his older brother. Not that they were stronger than me, but they knew way more ways to kill than I could imagine. 

Some quick scenarios played through my mind. I was quickly going through them. The majority were me simply running. It was the best solution. For me at least. I didn’t want to get caught up in some family drama. 

“I needed a Hunter License for a job,” Illumi said. “I had considered revealing myself sooner, but I didn’t see any harm in you earning your license as well. Now that you have, it is time to go home.” 

“Home?” Killua asked. “But I don’t want to go home. I lef-”

“I heard,” Illumi said. “Mother was very upset that you stabbed her when you ran away.” The words were expressed in a matter-of-fact tone. No emotion though Kill had stabbed his own mother. I couldn’t blame him though. From what I remembered, she was batshit crazy. 

“I want to stay with my friends,” Killua said. No longer the calm and confident kid that he had been through the exam. He was a normal 14 year old for once. I tried to back away to leave it, but was stopped by the fear in his voice. I would have felt bad if I left things the way they were heading. 

“Friends? You are an assassin, Kill,” Illumi said as if it was reason enough. “You wouldn’t know what to do with friends if you had them.” Killua clenched his fist, looking to the ground, not refuting the words. 

I almost missed it. Moving so fast I should have missed it. My body acted on instinct. Grabbing the needle a foot away from Gon’s face I held it there for a second. Surprised by the strength it had taken to stop the needle from piercing his forehead. 

“What the hell!” Kurapika yelled, pulling his wooden weapons out from his back. Leorio clenched his fist ready for a fight.

“Don’t!” Killua said, stepping up. “I’ll go home.” 

“You can’t do that!” Leorio said. 

“I have to,” Kill said, walking to his brother. 

“How can you do that?! You almost killed him,” Kurapika said. 

“Did you not hear the chairman?” Illumi said. “We all now have licenses to kill.” His eyes slowly turned to me, boring into me. I felt the same intense fear I did when Hisoka used Nen. Throwing the needle back to him he grabbed it out of the air. Resting his hand on Killua’s head the brother’s walked side by side. Kill’s head hung low as Gon yelled at him to come back. The words were ignored. 

“What the fuck!” Leorio said, yelling as always. “How is that possible?” 

“Killua is part of a family of assassins,” I said. “That guy could probably kill all of us without an issue.”

“Thanks, Weston,” Gon said. “I didn’t even see him throw that…thing.” 

“No problem,” I said. We let out a long silence. “What are you going to do?” 

“What do you mean?” Gon asked, brought out of his thoughts. 

“Are you going to go after him?” I asked. “He obviously doesn’t want to leave. But I doubt that guy will let him go. Maybe you should go to his house. See if you can talk some sense into his parents or something.” 

“You think that will help?” Gon asked. I remembered that Gon had his arm broken and they had to train to open the doors to Killua’s house. I was plenty strong to open the doors so I could make things quicker, but I had no interest. I knew that him talking to his parents wouldn’t help, but they would let him go. 

“I’m sure it would. Give it a few days. Let things calm down,” I said. 

“You’re right,” Gon said. “He wanted to go with us. I should do what I can to help,” Gon said. They thought for a bit. “Um, any idea where to find them?” He could have followed them but I wouldn’t have strayed too close to Killua’s brother. 

“I’ve heard of the Zoldyck’s. They are a famous group of assassins. Guess it is time to test that other attribute of our Hunter License,” I said.

“What’s that?” Gon asked. 

“The Hunter-only websites. You can get all kinds of information on the net with these,” I reminded. We had been given a short tutorial before Netero stepped in. I noticed Satotz from the first exam. The lanky man walked in a long stride like he did when running. “You guys go find somewhere. I’ll catch up.” 

The mood had gotten a little better as I walked off. Jill was still watching Kurapika, unconvinced that he was a dude. Gon had a smile on his face again, and Leorio appeared less pissed off. I planned to keep them on the canon and split from there, but for now I wanted to use my future knowledge. 

“Fellow Hunter Satotz,” I said, stopping the man. He turned and faced me slowly. 

“Ah yes, I remember you from the last group. How can I help you?” He asked. There had been hundreds of applicants, I couldn’t have expected him to remember my name. 

“It’s Weston,” I said. “I was hoping to sign up for the real Hunter exam.”

“The what?” Satotz asked. 

“The real exam, you know, that proves I’m a Hunter. I know that you aren’t really a Hunter until you learn how to use Nen. I want to know how I can do that,” I said. 

Satotz stopped for a moment, thinking, then laughed. “I have been an instructor for many years. But no one has known about this step. How did you?”

“I hear things,” I said. “I was curious if you had a list of people willing to teach me how to use Nen.” 

“We do have a registry,” Satotz said. “But Nen teachers are few and far between. Did you have any idea where you wanted to go after this?” 

“I was planning on going to Heaven’s Arena,” I admitted. 

“Oh really,” Satotz said, smoothing his curly French mustache. “A popular fighting arena. Smart.” He thought for a moment and snapped his fingers. “I actually do know someone that is willing to teach certain people. She is a little…unorthodox to say the least.”

“How so?” I asked. I really wanted Gon’s teachers, Wing and Biscuit. Woah, I just noticed they were both named after food. I pushed that out of my mind for now. I didn’t think Wing would be at the arena for a while, not until Gon and Killua were ready to hit the Arena at least. 

“Her name is Qiress. She is the floor boss of the 240th floor. She won’t even meet with you unless you get to the 199th floor, so I wouldn’t expect to show up and she accept you. Qiress only has an interest in new things. She has a passion for Specialty Nen users. Because Conjuration and Manipulation are the closest to Specialization, she will only take students that are of that persuasion.”

“New things, eh?” I asked. I could probably show her many new things. “Thanks for the information.” I was soon saying goodbye and off to find the others with my Search Quirk. This time I was stopped though. 

“Weston,” a sweet voice said. I turned to find a cleaned up Kiri. She wore new clothes and had a fresh scent that I could smell from our distance away. I eyed her up and down as she walked toward me. Her dark skin practically shining in the light she was out of the cloth sash. Wearing a loose robe her large chest was more prominent. I guessed she was actually a D-Cup. Large hips swaying with each step she wore simple thong sandals. 

“How can I help you, Kiri?” I asked. Not shy about where my eyes wandered around her. 

“I was wondering if you were serious,” Kiri said. “About letting me go with you to the Heaven’s Arena.”

“Oh, interested?” I asked. 

She nodded. “Originally I had thought of going home, but I feel like I need to become stronger. I am not sure I would have passed without your assistance. I feel…a little lost. Like maybe I didn’t earn this.” She waved her Hunter License. I could see her point. I had done a lot of the fighting. Practically giving her a win in the last phase. “I would like to train more. I think I could learn a lot from you.” 

“I was serious,” I said, turning to walk with her. “You’re very beautiful, though. I will probably hit on you a lot.”

“I thought you were with Jill,” Kiri said, not throwing my advances away, which was a good sign in my book. 

“I am,” I admitted without hesitation. “But I find myself drawn to you as well.” I let out a little Lust Aura as we walked. “You know, only if you’re interested.” I left it there. I wasn’t quite sure how things worked in the world, but I had successfully maneuvered my way through a few such relationships. I’d be damned if I was going to stop honing my skills now. 

Suddenly I remembered something. Bringing up my quest I accepted my reward. 

One more bonus added to my list of skills that could be used in my next Challenge, I looked forward to seeing what else I could learn.