Lucy smirked, pulling the compact handgun from the leather holster at her right hip. Pulling the plain bullets from her belt between her fingers and spinning them into the barrel, she aimed it at the man before her.
"Bora Nightingale." She called. "For offence of human trafficking and slave trade I hereby call the wrath of the heavens upon you. Surrender or perish!"
The dark haired man before her chuckled and pulled a knife. "Your gun or my knife? Which will hit their targets fir-" Before his challenge could continue, Lucy pumped him full of lead. The blasts ricocheted around the narrow alleyway before diming into nothing.
She narrowed her eyes at the crumpled man before her. "Stand." She commanded evenly. "I hit your legs in a non-fatal vein. You'll bleed, but you won't die. Now stand!"
As her shout swirled, the man rose to his feet, the knife clutched tightly in his grip. He turned demonic eyes on her and charged, swinging the knife wildly. Calmly, Lucy stepped away from ever swing, avoiding the blade with balanced ease.
"I won't go down without a fight!" He shouted, throwing his fist into her face as she dodged to the left. She fumbled for the special engraved bullets on her belt and lifted them into the barrel. "I didn't want to waste these on you, Bora." She shouted. "So I'll give you one more chance to surrender before I pull the trigger. On the count of three, I fire. One."
Bora swung the knife's hilt into her side and she jumped back. "Two."
Bora screamed as he thrust the knife towards her chest. "Die, you bitch!"
With one final blast the gun went off, a blinding flash followed shortly after, giving the man pause as the serrated piece of metal tore through his shoulder. He fell back, blinking to rid his sight of the dark spots.
She held the barrel to the man's head. "Next one's through your skull. Leo's are so hard to make, let's not waste another, okay?"
The man froze. "I surrender." He said slowly, lifting his shaking hands above his head. Lucy grabbed them together in the cold metal handcuffs and latched them behind his back. "But don't feel too confident."
Lucy raised a brow. "If you're talking about your lackeys," She said.
"I've already taken care of them." A voice behind her finished. She turned to see the giant smile she loathed directed right at her. "Did it take you this long just to take care of one weakling?"
Lucy huffed and threw the handcuffed man towards the newcomer, twirling the gold and silver gun around her fingers she slid it back into the leather holster and latched the clasp. "Some of us prefer a more elegant approach to missions."
"And blowing stuff up isn't elegant?" The man protested. To this, she scoffed. "Just get that lug down to the local station. I'm heading home first." She twirled and began walking away, lifting a hand in farewell. "Later, Natsu."
With that said she turned into the street and disappeared from his sight. Natsu sighed and shouldered the bleeding man down to the station.
A regular Friday night.
Lucy stomped into the front door of Fairy Forces, a specialty task force that handled anything and everything in the underground. Their main clients were police stations without the resources or ability to take down an offender in their district. Like Bora, for instance.
She strode right through the front door and back into the backroom, slamming a cluster of bullet shells onto an iron desk before a gruff looking man. "Why didn't you tell me about the flash on these!?" She shouted. "I almost went blind!"
The man sitting at the desk took the casing into his hands and ran a finger over the swirled symbol on the bottom and side. "Leo?" He said. "I thought you knew, I made these a month ago."
She refrained from snarling. "I only use the special ones on the tough customers. Pitiable drug dealers and con artists don't exactly qualify. Virgo's are fine for them."
The man raised a brow. "Yeah, okay." He said. "You done now?"
Growling in frustration she plopped onto the chair in front of his desk, her hands covering her temples and rubbing them harshly. "That man has no sense of restraint!" She shouts loudly, gathering the lingering attention of the few members still present at the late hour.
"We go in the Bora guy's compound stealthily, like I'd planned when out of the blue he starts chucking grenades everywhere." She sent a glare to the man before her. "Don't think I don't know you gave those blasted blasters to him." When the man swallowed, she continued. "So the whole building is in utter chaos, guys running around in a panic."
"The idiot then just charges in with his stupid bombs, laughing like an idiot when I see the very guy we're there to cleanly capture making a clean break for the door. Of course, I pursued and detained him, but that's not the point! The idiot directly disobeyed the plan!"
By this point the entirety of Fairy Forces was staring in pity at the blonde as she huffed and heaved in anger. "That's it!" She then screamed. "I'm going to kill him!"
The man seated at the desk grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. "Whoa there, Bunny Girl." He said. "Let's not wake the neighbors."
She nodded at this, breathing slowly to calm herself. Grabbing the bullets back from the table and pocketing them back into her belt, she sighed. "Thanks Gajeel." She said. "I needed that."
Gajeel nodded. "Nothing to it. Anyway, Shrimp says she's got another mission for you. Not with Fire Face, though. You'll be working with Ice Pants."
Ice Pants meant Gray, and Gray meant an assassination job.
Nodding, she turned to head that way. Gajeel Redfox, master of arms trade and manufacture. He once worked for a Fiorian gang by the name of Phantom. She had too at one point, but that was a part of history that remained inclosed.
Smiling, she lined her eye up with the scanner and entered the Stronghold, Fairy Force's information hot spot. And Levy McGarden was a walking talking Encyclopedia with tabs on everyone and everything, a grade-A hacker and master of machinery.
It was said she'd hacked her older brother's grad school's mainframe to help him pass Calculus at the age of seven.
"Levy-chan!" She whisper-yelled upon entering, "You wanted to see me?"
The blue haired girl sat before a wall sized computer screen, slaying a giant animated dragon with a much smaller, animated elf-like creature with a large golden sword and shield. "Die, Dragon, Die!" Levy shouted and with a series of keyboard clicks, the elf jumped into the air and slid their sword all the way down the dragon's body.
When the life bar blanked, Levy jumped up and cheered. "Yeah!" She shouted. "Beat that, Hibiki! War of the Worlds conquered in less than twenty four-hours!"
Lucy felt her face slacken as the petite woman danced in victory. For all her internet gusto, she's had a competition on who could finish a video game the fastest going on with the DOD's top hacker, Hibiki Laytes, for three years.
So far they were tied.
"Oh, Lu-chan!" She sighed, relieved. "I thought for a second there you were Erza or something. If she knew I used the high speed internet in here to beat MMO's, she'd kill me." With a click of a button on her headset the screen switched from the game completion screen to a mission overview.
"Is Gray not here yet?" The blonde asked as she filed down the stairwell that led past rows of theatre seats.
"I'm right here." A voice said from behind her and she jumped, drawing the gun as she did so and pointing it to his temple.
A deep, sultry chuckle erupted from the boy as she felt the cold barrel of his own weapon press against her back. "You're getting lax, Lucy." He said softly. "Didn't even know I was behind you."
Lucy dared not move until the cool metal was removed from her exposed back and reholstered. Gray Fullbuster was never a man to trifle with. A master of assassinations, Gray Fullbuster was the only man alive capable of forming and firing the legendary Ice Bullet. That and his stoic to the point of untraceable presence made him a legend.
On more personal levels, Gray wasn't so bad, but it took a lot to break that shell.
"What's the mission, Levy?" He said to the petite bookworm, brushing past the blonde as he neared. Lucy bottled the rage she was beginning to feel and strode just behind him.
Levy nodded and smiled, pointing the remote towards the large screen. "Lately, a string of drownings have been identified in the western part of the city district. Usually we'd leave these cases to the FBI or CSI but in this case, the police sanction in that area has specifically requested we step in."
Lucy nodded and watched as autopsy reports and forensic evidence flashed across the screen. "There has yet to be determined a motive, but the strange thing about this case is these." Another image flashed on the screen and Lucy had to squint to see it. "What is that, Levy-chan?"
Levy blew the image up and then Lucy saw it. Carved on every victim, almost imperceptible to anyone else, was the swirled image of an emblem she'd buried to the back of her mind.
She looked straight at Levy and then Gray, watching as they watched her. She stood straight. "Alright," She said. "I'm taking this mission. But I absolutely refuse to let Natsu in on this. His big ego always gets in the way."
Levy and Gray nodded. "I'll be taking it as well." He said. "There's something about this case that gives me goose bumps, the obvious aside. Should we alert Gajeel of this?" Levy looked down and shook her head at this. "I told him already and he recommended you two to go, said he didn't want to get involved again."
Lucy nodded. "I understand." She said. "If there's anyone who would want to cut all ties, it'd be him. But," She clenched her fist tightly. "Someone's getting my revenge for me. And that can't be allowed."
Levy lifted a brow. "Revenge?"
Lucy nodded, saying nothing more as she strode from the room. "It's late. I'm going home, Natsu should be back to report about tonight. Let me know when you want to get this mission done, Gray."
The door closed with a soft click behind her as she strode out the door and onto the streets towards home. She really wished she'd brought a coat that morning. The high-collared sleeveless black dress that ran down to her knees with shorts underneath didn't provide for much warmth. Her arms and legs were wrapped in white ribbon on from ankle to knee and wrist to elbow, concealing heavy steel armor plates such as the one around her waist and chest. She wore a black headband to hold back her ponytailed hair and thick soled black ankle boots, both also reinforced with steel.
The belt around her waist hung sideways, the side with the elegantly crafted gold and silver handgun weighing the rest down. The belt held around five-hundred clips-worth of bullets, a large majority being special bullets Gajeel had designed for her. There were also hidden blades in her armor plates, she'd never again be caught defenseless.
Lucy strode to the front door of her apartment and quickly inserted her key, turning the knob and entering. Once the door was re-locked, she strode in to her bedroom, smiling as her wolfish dog, Plue, followed behind. She plopped onto her lavender couch and kicked her feet onto the coffee table, untying the heavy boots from her feet and throwing them into a corner.
She sighed as the weight disappeared and began untying the ribbons around her arms and legs, freeing them of the armored plates. She tucked them all into the box on the table and then tied it closed. She stood and stepped into the shower, sighing as the sweat and blood of the day washed from her skin like it were never there, as though the scars wouldn't stay and she could be pure again.
She slid into the bathtub next, a nightly routine on mission nights to soothe the stiffness and soreness from her muscles and bones.
"This is an alcohol night if ever there was one." She said to herself as she fished a square-ish bottle of strawberry wine. With a sigh she twisted the cap and took a swig, scowling as the alcohol burned her throat, the warmth coming shortly after.
She smiled as the fuzzy warmth spread over her limbs and with time the bottle became empty. Lucy drained the tub and just lay there in the empty tub, water still pooled at her back. She stood, her vision blurring as she stepped into her pajamas and left the bathroom.
There she stopped. The room was not her bedroom, and it was covered in blood. She stumbled forwards, to be caught by a form covered in blood. Their body was slick and warm, and she screamed.
She held her hands over her face and felt the warm liquid cover her face, the coppery taste and smell invading her senses. The screaming continued and she felt her throat burn. Her head spun with the intoxicating scent of blood and alcohol as it swirled in her nose.
"Stop," She whispered. "No more."
And the world turned black.
So, this is a little darker than my usual stuff, or at least I think, when writing this I have like a muted atmosphere in mind so kinda hold that in mind. These guys are rather out of character and it will eventually be NaLu, maybe. Right now Lucy hates Natsu's guts... for a reason. Oh, I've got a good feeling about this one but I may not update for awhile, I've got a Summer Reading Project to finish this week, but I think I should be able to update it by Wednesday or Thursday.
ANyways, thanks for reading and I'm working on updating my other story, Satan's Saint, but it's just not coming to me well.
