After a while, both Harry and Pakunoda opened their eyes again while the other members of the Phantom Troupe were staring at them. Usually Pakunoda would have the information almost instantly after touching her target and asking the necessary question.
"And?" Feitan, the dark-haired member, wearing a bandana with a skull crest over his mouth.
Pakunoda looked at Harry as she shook her head, "I can't read anything from him. He has an ability to protect his mind."
"That is an oddly specific ability. And limited." Machi wondered, "Is he even strong enough to be a member of the Troupe?"
"He faced me while holding back." Chrollo stated while Harry smiled at him.
"Really? With a Nen Ability that Protects your Mind?" Nobunaga asked towards Harry.
"Who said that is all I can do?"
"So what can you do?" Franklin the scarred Giant asked.
"Hmm, you know what? Why don't you shoot some of your Nen Bullets at me?" Harry asked.
"Members aren't allowed to fight each other!" Franklin replied firmly.
"Just for demonstration." Harry said, throwing a look at Chrollo. He was the newcomer and should reveal a bit of himself to gain their trust. He knew every member knew about Hisoka's Bungee Gum, but he didn't know about all their abilities.
Joining the Spider wasn't as simple as just being invited.
Not only did you need to have a certain level of strength, but you also had to gain their trust.
As Chrollo nodded towards Franklin, the scarred giant said, "Okay, don't die." No longer hesitating, the caps of his fingers on the right hand opened as he aimed it at Harry, and a stream of his Nen Bullets was released from them, "Machine Gun!"
Harry lazily stretched his hand out, and the familiar dark purple miasma spread from it, capturing all the incoming bullets. "I can use my ability 'Space' to transport incoming attacks somewhere else," then a knife appeared in his other hand, glowing dark purple for a moment before he threw it away, "And use my knives to transport myself somewhere else."
Reappearing beside his knife, Harry looked at Franklin, who stopped his machine gun. He probably wouldn't be able to replicate the machine gun itself; he had no interest in changing his body in such a manner, but absorbing and analyzing them allowed him to raise the level of his Emission Mastery.
Of course he wouldn't reveal his true capabilities, just what he had already shown to Chrollo. While he was confident that he could fight and survive the Troupe, there was no point in underestimating them.
Their true talent had always been their high combat intelligence, but they also had some Nen abilities that could theoretically kill almost anyone. Like Phinks, who could basically charge up the strength of his punches by winding up his arm. There had never been stated whether a limit to that ability exists, so he could do it theoretically endlessly, and at some point, one hit would kill him.
In the end it wasn't really the current combat ability of the Troupe that brought him here, but their experience, training, mastery over Nen, and their support division. The troupe had so much more to offer to use for his plans.
For a moment his eyes rested on a dark-haired girl before they moved towards the leader of the troupe.
Chrollo watched him, and Harry had no doubt that he suspected that he could do far more. After all, what he showed had nothing to do with mental defenses, but they were also wise enough to not dig too deeply. Everyone had their secrets.
Once he had showed sufficiently off his ability, they continued with the introductions. It was a bit disappointing that he couldn't get them to shoot more of their abilities at him; unfortunately, it would just give Chrollo a hint about what else he could do.
After all, someone who could replicate the abilities of others was a completely different level of danger than teleportation and a defensive application of it.
"What do you mean we are leaving?" Nobonuga asked disbelievingly as they began to talk about the next steps.
"Just like I said, we are leaving tonight." Chrollo confirmed calmly, "We'll get the rest of the loot tonight, and that's it."
"Not yet." Nobunaga said annoyed, "I can accept that you recruited a new member from the Nostrade Family, but we still need to find the Chain User!"
The atmosphere began to get serious.
"Don't get hung up on that!" Chrollo warned him.
"How could I not?"
"Nobunaga, knock it off!" Franklin decided to interfere, "It's the leader's decision!"
"Are you really speaking as our leader, Chrollo?" Nobunaga ignored the looks on him and stared at Chrollo.
Exactly that is Chrollo's misconception about the Spider. In his eyes he had created a perfect system with a ruleset for their group to fulfill their goals. If everyone would keep following the rules, the Spider would be unbeatable and always survive.
But even after walking into the cruel depths of Mankind, witnessing the full darkness of Humans, they still were Humans themselves. All of them had their emotions.
Like Nobunaga, whose best friend had been Uvogin. His Partner in the Spider. A childhood friend. Of course he wouldn't just go and leave his friend unavenged!
After a moment of silence, Chrollo activated his Nen ability, Skill Hunter, and summoned 'Bandit's Secret.' "Nobunaga, answer my questions. When is your birthday?"
"Huh, what's this about?"
"When were you born?" Chrollo repeated unbothered by the annoyance of the Samurai lookalike before he made him write all that down on a piece of paper.
Then he activated the Nen ability he stole from Neon Nostrade, 'Lovely Ghostwriter, that allows one to tell the future in the form of a fortune. A Ability Harry had complex feelings about.
Divination is the one branch of magic he doesn't have any interest in. He could say he hated it; after all, it had cost him his parents lives. Harry prefers to take the future as it comes without relying on the information obtained through such an obscure art.
It's also the reason why he didn't even attempt to get the ability from Neon while she was using it. While it was conjuring a Nen Beast, a more fascinating aspect of Nen, he would abstain from even getting it.
But then the Fortunes of the Spider were predicting they would lose half of their members next week. Which made them automatically change their action; instead of robbing all the auctions, Chrollo chose to leave after robbing the last underground auction.
Leaving the legal ones untouched.
At the same time, Harry watched as Hisoka faked his own fortune to make the spider stay. After all, the Killer Clown had never been a member of the Spider. He only joined to fight Chrollo one-on-one.
Still, it didn't matter anymore; the decision of the Spider had already changed. Even after Hisoka tricked them into staying with a fake Fortune. Most likely, if they targeted the regular auctions, they would have gained the attention of pro hunters like the Zodiacs, which would have resulted in half the members dying.
While they decided to stay in the city, Chrollo finally realized why Neon Nostrade came to the auction. After all, for a Body Part Collector (which is information available on the Hunter Website), there were not many items of interest even in the Underground Auction.
The Scarlett Eyes are the one item standing out.
Kortopi's ability allowed him to locate the copies of the items he made; they are part of his En.
In the end they decided to split up and hunt down Kurapika after having located him.
"Are you not forgetting something?" Harry said as Chrollo got ready to leave with Pakunoda, Machi, Shizuku, Kortopi, and Nobunaga.
"Right." Chrollo nodded as he summoned his book again, opening a page before touching it and ripping the page out, which disappeared in light. "Here, it's done."
"What? Was that the Fortune Ability? Why did you give it back?" Nobunaga asked, confused.
Before Chrollo replied, Harry chose to answer, "Because that was part of our deal. She was my client and employed me to guard her. With that I fulfilled my duty."
"Hah, and why should we listen to you? I could just kill her!" Nobunaga pointed out, annoyed, clearly disliking Harry because he didn't tell him about the Chain User.
"I also saved your life. While you are avoiding your fortunes. The Death of Half the Spider. Are you aware of what happens if a Nen user dies?"
Post-mortem Nen makes Nen stronger. If someone put Nen on someone, it would become much stronger, since Nen relies on the feelings of the user; it could act like a powerful curse.
Of course the members of the troupe knew that and nodded.
"Well, you just used the Nen ability of someone else. It's still Neon Nostrades Nen. Her father earns all his power and wealth with that ability. What would happen to her if she should no longer be able to use that ability?" Harry asked quietly, already aware that Neon had died in the future.
The eyes of the Spider Members widened; Chrollo remained calm as Harry had already explained it to him.
"Correct, she would hate the people who stole her ability. Her fortune now sticks to you even if you avoid it. Her hate against you would make it stronger even if you avoid it. Half of you would die."
"That's why you rejected your Fortune!" Machi realized as she looked at him with suspicion, "Why didn't you say anything?"
Harry nodded before adding, "Your actions are your own. This is between you and him. Be happy that I already helped you by returning the ability. She shouldn't even have realized the ability had been gone. So you are safe now."