AN: First of all, I want to thank everyone for their heartwarming reviews. This chapter was now uploaded a little earlier, since I had a little head start on this one. Also, the Rating's changed to T, since I realized that swearing/street language becomes more frequent in this chapter.
Barely one hour later, Sho ordered them another round. As they were waiting for their drinks, Sho let out a deep sigh. "That plan is nuts. And whoever will be prepared to help us must be nuts, too, because there's no way we can manage that one without help." Gerard fought a grin. He hadn't missed that Sho had been talking of "us" and "we". "How many do you think?" Sho crossed his arms and leaned back. "Don't know. At least half a dozen guys or so. We need at least one Geek, one Handyman, maybe two, an Odd One, and a good Cat. And one or two Ironmen, to be sure. And a good preacher man. But even that won't do, because we need someone who knows the scene. We'll also need someone to sponsor us, because this kind of job demands not just brain, or brawn but also the necessary green. And the last two guys should preferably be one and the same." Gerard waved it off. "Don't worry, I know just the guy. We can worry about the rest later. But we should get going. It's getting late." They got up. Sho left money on the table. "Got anywhere to sleep?" he asked. Gerard grinned. "'Course. Your place." Sho lifted a mocking eyebrow. "But you know, whoever we're going to meet, he will still think we're-"
"-Lunatics! The both of you!"
Sixteen hours after they had left the pub, Gerard and Sho sat in a tastefully decorated salon, in front of their potential sponsor. He was a not very tall, balding and currently extremely irritated man. And he was also Makarov, the man Gerard had seen in the news just the day before.
Sho tried to be the mediator. "Look, I know it's been rough for ya recently, but that's no reason to…" - "Shut up!" Makarov snapped. "I respect you for your abilities, and don't think I have forgotten the job you did for me in Khatanor, but I don't give a shit about your faked pity!" Sho scowled, and Gerard could tell that his friend was right before saying something really hurtful, so he intervened. "It's never been tried before."
Makarov gave a short, humorless laugh. "Oh, it's been tried befo-" Gerard interrupted him with a wave. "I know the stories. What I'm saying is: there has never been anyone with a real plan trying to crack this one. All these stories are grab-and-run-jobs, inspired by, mostly, alcohol. Everyone else has been just too chicken-shit to give it a try. Come on. If anything goes wrong, you will have the greatest possibility of getting off the hook. And you should know better than anyone that the job's worth the risk."
Makarov had listened to Gerard, scowling at the beginning, but now he was grinning. Though without any humor. "Sorry, kiddos, but I still have enough money to have better retirement than most people." And with that, he turned away from them.
Sho's scowl deepened. "So that's it? You're giv-" But Gerard silenced him quickly. Grinning, he threw Sho a wink and stood up. "Well, too bad, that's sad, et cetera. Come, Sho. Perhaps Nework will spill us a name."
They were already halfway out of door, and Gerard was counting under his breath, as Makarov, without turning around, called after them. "Just out of curiosity, which casinos did you have in mind?" Sho, now sporting his famous impish grin again, looked at Gerard with faked uncertainty. "I don't know… Perhaps the 'Slumlord's', ridiculous name, really, then maybe the 'Island Queen', and as a finisher, I don't know, perhaps the 'La Serenissima'. Always had a problem with them long, foreign words."
Makarov had turned around at those words, and the look on his was had become incredulous. "These casinos… are Tiran Regemunte's casinos…" He looked between Sho and Gerard. "Come on, guys,… You don't actually intend to rob Tiran Regemunte, right, guys?" The mixture of worry and amusement on Makaro's face was drained of the latter, as he turned to face them fully now. "I was wrong. You aren't just crazy, you guys are completely out of your minds! Even if you pull this job off, he'll come after you! He has a reputation in 'The Business', meaning that everyone else to agree on this job will be just as insane as you." Makarov turned his back to them, as he stalked over to the a strangely old-fashioned-looking cupboard which had been labeled 'Liquorf'. After rummaging around in it for a while, he turned around with a three glasses, half filled with a clear brown liquid. He handed two of them to Sho and Gerard, shot them a sour look, said "Cheers!", and downed the content's of his glass immediaty. After that, he looked up and said "So, who else?"
"We should get the locksmith first. I now one that- humph….gah!" Gerard sat in his chair for a moment gasping for air. He had just taken a gulp of too hot coffee and was now feeling how the scalding liquid ran dawn his throat. It had been two days since the meeting with Makarov, in which Gerard had revised the plan and ascertained a rough financial frame for the operation. Now they were having breakfast at small B&B at the side of the road. A cheap one.
"Bwhy?" Sho managed to mumble around his hotdog. Gerard looked at him, still grimacing from the feeling of having your own private volcano inside your stomach "Dude, it's a break-in. Into a moeny-keeping facility. There's bound to be a vault door there somewhere, and then we'll need a locksmith." In 'The Business', a locksmith was an explosives expert.
Sho chewed for a long time, before he swallowed and said: "No, I mean why the locksmith first." He took another huge bite. "'Cause I think we can strike a good deal with this one. I've done a couple of jobs with him already. Knows his stuff. Good to work with, too. Come on, we're meeting him in an hour." They rose from their seats and went to Gerard's volkswagen. Sho mumbled something incomprehensible. "Speak up. And stop killing that hotdog before it kills you, you moron." Gerard grinned. Sho swallowed a huge portion hotdog, and coughed a couple of times. "I said: And what's the name of this genius." he croaked as he finally got his bearings again. "Do I know him?" Gerard shrugged. "Dunno. You know a guy called Natsu Dragneel? Sorta spunky guy, salmon-coloured hair, hot temper?" Sho shook his head. "You met him on a job or something?"
Gerard laughed as he sat down in the driver's seat. "No, on a New Years Eve-Party. Brought homemade crackers. Made with Napalm." Now Sho grinned, too. "Sounds like our sort of guy. And that was all you needed to know to recognize him?" Gerard shook his head. "Nah, I realized it later, when a… friend introduced us. And he smelled of gunpowder all over." Sho shot him an incredulous look. "Gunpowder?" Gerard nodded as he started the car-engine and carefully steered the car off the parking slot. "It's a tick of his. He uses only homemade devices, and then normally the simple stuff: dynamite, napalm, et cetera. He argues that it makes the whole thing harder to trace, but I think he just likes things to go off with a bang." Sho snorted. "Yeah, right. Good deal, huh?" Gerard gave him a serious look. "It's not like that's the only thing he does. He knows the fine craft, too. Besides, we get a good Catman inclusively to a good locksmith. I'd call that a good deal." His friend gave him an uncomprehending look. "What the-… Now where does the cat come from." A cat, or Catman, was the kind of person you would have crawling through a room full of lasers. Meaning an acrobat.
"I didn't really understand it myself," Gerard admitted. "but apparently Natsu has an adoptive little brother or something, called Happy. I've never seen him in action myself, but Network gave me only positive feedback when I asked about him. Ah, looks like this is the place."
They had arrived in front of what looked like…Gerard thought it had perhaps once been a spruce old mansion, but now the black hulk of a house had long since lost the fight to the scrub, that seemed to choke the house with black-greenish tendrils of half-rotten….well, scrub. "That brings back memories, doesn't it?" Sho asked as he got out of the car. "If this isn't the Tower of Para-shite's closest relative, then I'm not a damn liar. Or what do you say?" Gerard just nodded, though he secretly disagreed with Sho. 'Tower of Paradise', had been the most dreadful place in Gerard's childhood. Since it hadn't been a state-founded orphanage, but a private one, there were next to no inspection's by goverment-officials, which meant that the conditions there degenerated more and more. Gerard liked to think that that place had been the reason why he had fitted in so easily when he had first been in prison. His whole childhood had been prison-time.
On the front door was a sign. 'KeAP ouT' it read. Sho let out a snort. "Professional? I don't know…" He lifted his hand and knocked. They waited for some time.
A long time.
…
Long time.
Gerard was just a bit faster than his friend, "Try and see if it's locked." Sho rolled his eyes, but he tried the handle experimentally. It broke off. They both looked at it like something not from this world. "Sorry to shatter your world, buddy, but either Network is making a really bad joke here, or he's got wrong info." His partner just stuttered. "I-I-I have now idea… He never-" - "I wouldn't go in there if I were you… Except if you plan on crawling out of this shit hole as a pancake." a voice cut him off. Sho and Gerard whirled around.
The first thing they noted about the newcomer was his enough, it was bright pink, and shone in the afternoon-gloom like a second sunset.
"Dude, why do you color your hair like that? You a clown or something?" Sho blurted out, before he even realized it. The stranger just gave him a wry look. "Gerard, who's the funny guy? And, by the way, you should tell his mother that I'm sorry, too." Sho just stood there, dumb-founded. Then he retorted angrily "At least I'm not-" - "No fighting, girls." Gerard interrupted him. "Drop the scowls, guys. Sho, the clown is Natsu. Natsu, the funny guy is Sho. I told you about him." The situation calmed almost immediately. Both squabblers hemmed and hawed, and seemed a little ashamed of their outbreak now. "Sho, huh? You've got quite the reputation, after all what I heard." Sho bowed. "I'm doing my best."
Apparently, the reason for the crappy front door was that it was not the actual entrance to the actual living-area. "The complete lower floor is build with wooden parquet flooring. Of course, through years of neglect and the odd broken water pipe, it's by now probably a rotting pile of very good fertilizer," the man called Natsu explained to his guest as he led them around the house. "The upper floors are okay, though. Just had to haul out some old carpets, which were already beyond every help. Burnt the shit in the backyard somewhere." At this moment, the trio finally arrived at the back of the house, which looked considerably better taken care of. There was a seemingly handmade but sturdy staircase that led up to a balcony at the second floor. Incidentally, it was revealed to the two master thieves that Natsu's 'backyard' was a wide, grassy plain with no visible boundaries at all. He could have burnt the entire house without anyone noticing. "Backyard, huh?" Sho commented.
They climbed up the staircase and were let in by Natsu, who led them into what appeared to be the living room. "You guys want anything? Coffee or whatever?" Sho nodded, but Gerard replied with a "No, thanks."
Natsu disappeared to wherever the kitchen, or what he called a kitchen, was located in what he called 'his home' . Which gave his guests the chance to look around. "This guy's probably the biggest character I've ever met." Sho grinned as he examined a dark, poorly-illuminated shelf overladen with what appeared to be rubbish. "Look, all this junk for instance," he reached into the darkness of the shelves and pulled out an old, battered and slightly creepy-looking stuffed bunny-rabbit from its recesses. "These appear to be mementos." Sho looked closer. "He even labeled them! With the date and everything!" Looking up, he shot Gerard an incredulous look. "There's more." Sho put the stuffed animal carefully back on his place. "And there is a system! He arranged the stuff in a freaking system! Souvenirs!" Gerard grinned from one ear to the other. But before he could give a mocking remark, Natsu came back with a steaming jug and some ridiculously huge stoneware-mugs. "Happy should be here soon, too. I woke him up since I figured we were going to talk business now." He spotted Sho standing at the shelf. He set the patchwork-tea-set on a low coffee table in front of a huge, probably antique couch. "Sit down. But I'm warning you: you're drinking this stuff at your own risk. My coffee machine seems to have a life of its own." Sho, who already had a full mug in his hands, set it down again.
After they had sat down, Sho and Gerard on the ancient couch and Natsu on a floor cushion, they sat there for a moment, Natsu drinking coffee, the other two sitting in silence. "Why are you living here, Natsu?" Gerard finally asked. Natsu looked up. "Huh? What are you talking about? This is my home, so I live here." Gerard sighed. "Last time, you told me you were living with this filthy rich girlfriend of yours in her apartment. Did she kick you out?" Natsu scowled. "First of all, just because her father lights his fireplace with jewel-bills, doesn't mean she can does the same. The two are estranged. And right now, she's on a book-tour in Swanya. I just came back because I like the atmosphere here during spring." At this moment, a person appeared in the doorway. All three looked up.
The newcomer was apparently very young. He was not very tall, and so lean that he looked almost malnourished. His face looked tired, and his eyes were framed by dark rings.
Natsu cleared his throat. "Happy, these are-" The newcomer interrupted him. "Is that coffee? Is that coffee?" Natsu scowled. "Yeah, but watch out when you-" He was cut off once again as the newcomer - who appeared to be Happy - just reached over the table and didn't even bother to fill a mug with the hot, brown liquid. He just lifted the jug to his lips and drank.
Sho let out an impressed whistle after the teen had set down the - now empty - jug. Happy had undergone a complete transformation. The bleary eyes were replaced by a curios look, and his formerly almost oppressively shiftless presence was now bustling with energy. Natsu put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him onto another cushion. "Happy, stop behaving like a brat. Sit down." - "Aye." Natsu turned back to his guests. "Sorry 'bout that." he mumbled embarrassed. "Guys, this is Happy. Happy, these are Gerard and Sho. They have a job for us." Happy shot the duo another curious look. "Let's hear it then." Gerard leaned forward. This was his thing, after all. "Here," he said as he pulled out two plane-tickets and a business card out of the recesses of his coat. "Meet us in Magnolia, Fiore, in two weeks. The adress belongs to Makarov, I'm sure you remember him." Natsu studied the business card closely. "The old man? Sure thing. You going to tell us about this mysterious job there?" Gerard nodded. "Yeah. By then, I will know who else will be in on this as well." Natsu's eyebrows lifted. "You assembling a crew?" Gerard looked at him meaningfully. "Yeah," - "So… this is a big thing you're planning?" Gerard grinned. "Quite."
AN: Yeah, Happy maybe behaves a little OOC, but hey! He's like nineteen in this story, and during this age you're not exactly building churches and helping the poor. Also, Natsu might appear a little calmer than people might expect him to be, but here, he's a professional and anyway, most people are underestimating him anyway.
Five crew members already, six more to go. Stay tuned.