Chapter 10 - Dinner with the Devil

The main hall was eerily quiet as everyone sat in wait, malice in their eyes as they were still digesting the news that the man they were searching for had been found. Each member had their own score to settle with their target, and each member was currently imagining their own brutal way to pay him back for what he did to them.

A loud crashing noise could be heard echoing throughout the hall, followed by Gray's very audible groan.

"'Bout time that empty headed moron showed up," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his naked chest. "Now we can finally get down to business."

The moron in question bounded through the main hall, shouting as loud as he could. "Where is he?! I'll burn that asshole until he's crispier than burnt bacon. By the time I'm done with him, he'll be begging for mercy."

"Natsu, sit down and shut up." A large hand grabbed hold off the overzealous pinkette and the man was forced onto the bench. The Master wiggled his nose as he retracted his arm back to where he sat at the bar.

A soft chuckling could be heard from two of his teammates as Natsu crossed his arms over his chest, huffing at being manhandled so roughly.

The Master stood on top of the wooden countertop of the bar. "I can't believe you made us wait all this time because you turned off your communicator," the old man scolded. Natsu looked away as his teammates chuckled slightly louder. "We'll discuss that later, however." He cleared his throat, quieting any stray noise that might have risen, and he was quickly met with the silence that filled the hall only moments before.

The Master glanced at Lisanna at his side for a moment before beginning.

"As you may have heard, our target was spotted earlier today in the Magnolia Media Group building." A large projected image appeared behind him of their target.

Natsu clenched his fists and fought the urge to destroy the table he was sitting at. He's was just there, himself, and he didn't even notice that evil bastard was in the same vicinity as he was. How could he miss that? He kept his mouth shut, however, not needing anyone else to know that he missed the target.

"There is no set information on exactly how long he'll be in town, where he's physically staying, or if we'll even see him again," the Master continued. "I currently have a mole at the building right now, as we speak, and the last I heard our target is scheduled to make a few more appearances within the next couple of weeks. It seems our man has been pretty busy, buying the company, running the company from parts unknown. What my contact is going to try and find out is if he has business anywhere else in town, or in neighboring towns. He isn't going to get away from us as easily as he did before."

A loud thud was heard, and Natsu stood from his seat. He had been unable to hold in his anger any longer, and punched the table.

"So where is he now?" the younger man shouted. "There's no way he knows we're here. Let's find out where that bastard lives and let's kick his ass before he even has a chance to wake up from his soft, cozy bed! Where's Erza? I'm sure she'll agree with me! Erza!"

The people around Natsu scattered as Master's enormous fist squished the pinkette to the floor.

"For obvious reasons," the Master said, the weight of his fist keeping Natsu pinned to the ground, "Erza left earlier on an urgent mission that will take at least a few days to accomplish." He retracted his hand. "Naturally I want to capture him before she returns. I want to at least have a chat with him before she kills him. Which brings me to what I have planned." The projection behind him shut off. "Normally he's surrounded by his body guards, but I was informed that he has dinner plans for tomorrow night, in which he'll be alone; or, without his bodyguards, at least. I want him taken from the restaurant. Without his bodyguards, there will, hopefully, be less chance of major damage. We were lucky to get by with some flimsy story about the explosion last week, but I don't know how lucky we'll be next time."

The Master sighed as he rethought his next few words. Rubbing the back of his head, he mumbled, "I need Gray, Gajeel, and Natsu to retrieve him."

The hall erupted in commotion, the loudest shout from Salamander, crying out his excitement. Master moved his hand from behind his head to rub his eyes. He knew he would get this type of reaction - everyone arguing with his decision except the three he mentioned. However, instead of stopping the members of Fairy Tail, he let them vent. He felt a small presence next to him, and he chanced glancing from behind his palm to see the concerned eyes of Lisanna.

"Are you sure that's wise?" she whispered. "You did say you wanted the least amount of damage…"

Sighing, the old man let his hand fall as his gaze fell upon the three in question. "I did say that, but they are the only ones with enough power to come close to the prowess of Jellal. Well, the only ones present, anyway." He waved his hand and hopped off the bar. "I'm going to bed. Brief them on their mission once everything calms down."

Lisanna nodded, watching the weary old man shuffle away. Glancing back out to the crowd, she doubted they would calm down any time soon, seeing as how chairs were now starting to be thrown at unsuspecting heads.

~.~

"Another hot date, Lucy?"

Lucy's cheeks flushed red as, once again, she was bombarded by Cana in the break room. Yes, she did have another date, but this one wasn't one that she was willing to talk about. She crossed her arms as Cana threw her arm around her shoulders.

"Unfortunately," the blonde mumbled. She hadn't bothered to dress up too nice, but she was in something different than her normal jeans and t-shirt getup that she normally wore to work. Compared to her date with Jason, she didn't try as hard to look nice. Instead, she dressed for comfort, wearing a light blue tank top accompanied with an ankle length, white loose skirt.

"Are you going on date number two with Jason?" Cana slid her arm from Lucy's shoulders and sat in the chair next to the blonde.

Levy sighed as she placed the coffee pot back onto the hot plate and took a seat on the opposite side of Lucy. Naturally, Lucy told Levy everything, but she didn't want anyone else to know, in case someone got the wrong idea. She didn't want rumors to fly that she was dating the boss to either further her career, or end her career and live as his mistress. Neither was true, and the hassle of trying to clarify the truth wasn't worth the stress.

"Jason never called her back," Levy said. "So, instead of sitting around waiting, she's moving on."

Cana gasped excitedly. Lucy didn't want to know what sort of conclusion the brunette was coming to. "Who is the new lucky man?" she asked.

"No one from this department," Lucy mumbled, laying her head on her crossed arms, which were laying on the table. "In fact, he doesn't even work here. So we should just drop it, okay?"

"Blind date? How exciting!"

The two younger women tried to deny that it was a blind date, but Cana was in her own world already.

"Just imagine, seeing him for the first time," she rambled. "He's sitting at the bar, looking cool and suave. He turns to you, and it's like an arrow sticks right into your chest, and it's absolutely love at first sight. You only sit with him for a whole minute before realizing that he's the one, and you two suddenly can't keep your hands off each other. Within moments you two are barreling into a hotel room -"

"Uh, absolutely not." Lucy stood from her chair, not wanting to think about her dinner any longer. "I'm going out with him for this one night, and, hopefully, we never see each other again." With that, she walked out of the break room.

Cana blinked at Levy as she took a flask from her purse and began pouring the liquid into the coffee mug the blonde had left.

"Is it really that bad?"

Levy shrugged. "She just isn't looking forward to it, is all. I'm pretty certain she's going to refuse any sort of...romantic notions he may slide her way."

"Sucks to be him then." Cana chuckled as she took a sip of her spiked coffee.

~.~

Lucy fidgeted with her purse strap. All day she had been on pins and needles, nervous about her dinner, her job, and just her life in general. When had things gone upside down for her? She wasn't supposed to be living on the edge.

If going to an impromptu dinner date with her boss was living on the edge, then her life was sadder than she thought. Sighing, she leaned her head against the back of the taxi seat. She had received an email from Mr. Fernandes - she refused to call him by his first name - stating that he was going to send a company car for her. She politely refused, without his knowledge, and called for a taxi. Had he not mentioned the name of the restaurant, she wouldn't have been able to take a taxi. But he did, so she's riding a taxi.

About halfway to the restaurant she started regretting her decision. What if he gets angry? Would he fire her because she didn't take the car he sent for her? What if he mentioned some random restaurant so she would take a taxi, when, in reality, dinner was somewhere else?

She groaned and leaned forward. No amount of conspiracy information was worth this.

"Are you going to be sick, Miss?" the driver asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

She sat up quickly and waved her hands in front of her. "No, no. I'm fine. Thank you." Sighing, she turned to look out the window. Her stomach flipped as she realized they had reached their destination. She paid the driver, and stepped out of the car, suddenly regretting her clothing choice, if but a little.

He had chosen the most fancy, five star place in town - of course he did! - and she felt extremely underdressed. Oh well, if he had a problem with the way she was dressed, then he could just cancel their dinner. She wondered if she should wait and see if he was coming after her, but as soon as she saw a man in a spiffy tuxedo open the door, she doubted she was the first one to arrive.

The man smiled at her, noting her hesitation. "Mr. Fernandes is waiting for you, Miss," he said, holding his arm out to her. She gulped and stepped passed him, stepping into the dark restaurant. The windows all had the blinds closed, and the lights were dimmed, to give an intimate feel to the place. Her heart pounded as she realized the place was empty, save for a single man sitting at a table near the back.

Of course he would reserve the whole dining room at the most prominent restaurant in town. As if he hadn't flaunted his money enough when she met him the previous day when he made it perfectly clear that he was the boss. What the hell was he thinking? Likewise, what the hell was she thinking agreeing to go out with him?

Taking a deep breath, she decided to just get it over with. Just bite her cheek and suffer for a few hours, if that, and go home happy. Who knows? Maybe she could manage to get him to open up about everything she'd been wanting to know about Oak Town, which could possibly lead to more information about her new stalker. She was a trained reporter, after all. She bit her lip in silent resolve. Time to make the best out of a sucky event.

As she approached the table, her boss stood and smiled at her, moving around the table to pull her seat out for her. Even though they were the only ones in the room, his outfit still made her feel underdressed. Even though he wore black slacks, and a white button up shirt, he still looked more formal than she was.

Once she was seated, he retook his spot across from her, she allowed him to order whatever their finest wine was. She took that moment to really observe her surroundings. The dining room itself was fairly small, fitting about only ten tables. So, not only was it the most expensive, it had to also be the most exclusive joint. Again, she found herself wondering how much money he dished out to reserve the whole place.

"What's the special occasion?" she found herself asking, glancing back at Jellal, who was currently browsing the menu.

"I'm not a very sociable person," he said, glancing up at her, "so when I decide to eat out, I like my privacy." He smiled as he folded the menu and set it aside. Lucy took that as a sign that he was ready to order, when she didn't even know what type of food was served in a place like this. She grabbed her menu.

"Do you always take random girls from the companies you own to places like this?" She browsed the food items, and nearly fell from her chair when she saw the prices. There was no way a garden salad cost the same as her monthly rent. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but it was still way too overpriced.

"Don't worry about the cost. Get whatever you like." He smirked at her, and she regretted showing him her surprise. Okay, so she'd never been to some place so fancy. About ninety percent of the world's population has probably never been to a place like this, so who could blame her? Live it up, Lucy, because you'll never get another chance like this in a million years.

Deciding on steak and lobster, she closed her menu and smiled at him. Instead of numbers, the menu told her that it was market price. She didn't feel as bad if she didn't physically see how much her dinner would cost, and she was actually looking forward to her meal.

"I'm not that type of man," he said suddenly. She blinked at him, confused why he said that. He chuckled as the waiter brought their wine. He waited until the man poured the red liquid, then left. The bluenette grabbed his wine glass, twirling the stem in his fingers. "I don't pick girls at random for a date when I come into town. Like I said, I'm not very sociable. This is the first date I've had in nearly ten years."

Lucy choked on her drink. Ten years?! A handsome, rich guy like him? Okay, he had to be lying, making himself seem more sensitive and genuine than he actually was. He probably had a secret room in his home where he housed at least twenty gullible young women. He shrugged at her reaction, seeming a little embarrassed for having admitted what he did.

"I want you to know that I'm not expecting anything from you," he continued. "This is just a casual dinner between boss and employee. Let's call it something along the lines of getting to know each other?"

Lucy glanced around them, unsure how to take what he was saying to her. There was no way a man in his position would pick her for a social dinner, not when he took her to a place like this, reserving the whole building so they were alone. He wanted something from her, and he was playing the "friend" card to get what he wanted. Well, Lucy Heartfilia was harder to convince than most blonde women her age. Game on, Mr. Fernandes.

"No offense, Sir, but I'm sure there are other women who are more than willing to sit here with you." She discreetly placed her hands in her lap. "Why would you pick me? You have to know that I'd rather jump in front of a bus than put myself in such an uncomfortable situation like this."

"I thought you agreed to come here to save your job?"

Among other things...But she didn't voice that thought out loud. She shrugged. "I never said I was proud of my decision to agree to come here."

"So you put your pride on the line to come to dinner with a complete stranger, your boss, who's said to be ruthless, mean, and all around unpleasant? Just to save your low paying job as a low level reporter? You really have no hidden intentions to get me to promote you?"

She blushed at what he was insinuating. "No. Nothing like that. I put my pride on the line for a job that I absolutely love, despite the amount of money I get paid. Not to mention you also promised information that I'd be interested in. I'm a reporter inside and out, and I can't just turn away when someone tells me that they have information on something, no matter who that person may be. You just happen to be my boss, is all."

"So you're doing a story on the Oak Town explosion?"

"Uh, not really. Just research."

"Your supervisor must not be working you hard enough if you have time for a little bit of side research on something that's been settled a year ago. What will you do with the information you find?"

She shrugged, honestly able to admit that she hadn't really planned that far ahead. What she was looking into was more for her own personal gain, and if there was something that she found that could change the outcome of what was told, then she'd feel obligated to share it.

The waiter appeared again and took their dinner order. She smiled politely at him, feeling a little uncomfortable as she felt Jellal's eyes on her. But, as she took in the appearance of the waiter as she gave him her order, a flash of familiarity hit her. The room was dark, so she wasn't quite sure what it was...Until he turned away from her and she notice he had long hair pulled into a ponytail. She kept her eyes on him as he walked into the kitchen, but not without glancing at her and her date before disappearing through the door.

It couldn't be...what was he doing there? Was it even him? She fought the urge to dig the picture out of her purse. He looked like the tallest of the trio...if only she could clearly see his eyes. He didn't have any piercings on his face, so she started to doubt herself...but his hair looked exactly like that man's.

She discreetly glanced at the door behind her, where the man had ushered her in. If she remembered correctly, he had short black hair, black eyes, and his skin was incredibly pale. Maybe they were just look alikes? That had to be it. She'd been obsessing over those men ever since she first set eyes on them, that other men were starting to look like them. Besides, Salamander was missing. It was just a coincidence that these men looked like his partners. That's all it was...a coincidence.

"Is something wrong?"

She jumped and turned back to the man in front of her. He blinked at her behaviour, but all she could do was laugh it off with a wave of her hand.

"I'm fine. Maybe it's the wine?" Even though she only had a couple sips, but she could pretend to be a lightweight.

"I'll have them stop serving you, then." He reached across the table and snatched her wine glass. "Just water for you for the rest of the evening."

"That's probably best." Though she was a little sad at being denied the alcohol. She didn't want to try to get through this dinner without it. "Can I be forward with you?"

Jellal nodded, handing her glass to the long haired waiter. She stared at the waiter, who glanced at her, narrowing his eyes slightly. She was making him uncomfortable, and she felt a little bad for it. She blinked back to the man in front of her.

"You really lured me here with the promise of a secret about Oak Town. I know that you were only a member of the board, but can you tell me what really happened to that facility?"

He smirked at he placed his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers together to create a platform for his chin to rest on.

"Everything that was reported was what really happened, Miss Heartfilia."

Her heart sank slightly as the waiter brought out their food. One good thing about being the only patrons in a place like this was that the food came out them fast.

"But I can tell you what the researchers were working on when the explosion happened."

Lucy had been in mid-cut of her steak, and the waiter tensed slightly. She glanced at him as he proceeded to set down Jellal's dinner, along with condiments. Should they be discussing this with the waiter around? Then again, this place being so exclusive, they're all probably used to hearing things they shouldn't hear. Part of the job description for a place like this had to include the ability to keep their mouths shut about conversations they'd overhear.

"The company said they were researching products to better humanity," Lucy stated quietly, setting her knife on the plate to take a bite of the piece she just cut. The waiter left, only to return shortly after with the wine bottle to fill Jellal's glass. Her boss waited until the man had returned to the table to continue.

"They were. They were researching a cure."

"A cure?"

"A cure for various human diseases. Now, at the time, this particular cure had been approved for human testing. The people they were trying to help felt the researchers were trying to hurt them, not cure them. They began angry, and one of the patients got a hold of a flammable substance."

"I'm confused. What was the cure for?"

Jellal smiled, but it wasn't his usual, charming smile that he had been showing her all evening. This one was dark, and it sent shivers down her spine. The waiter had long since left with the wine bottle, but was called back to the table as Jellal took his glass and gulped the liquid quickly. He waited for the other man to approach the table before continuing.

"Weakness," he whispered. Lucy bit her lip, feeling a mixture of excitement and fear at the same time. "The researchers developed a cure they called Dragon Force, and, when applied to a human subject, said subject developed the aspects of a dragon. Or, a very large lizard, anyway, since dragons aren't real."

Lucy glanced at the waiter as the man poured the wine, seemingly unmoving. She became alarmed when the liquid overflowed, dark red wine spilling all over the table, and onto her white skirt. She quickly jumped up, her chair toppling to the ground. Everything that happened next happened so fast that she pretty much missed anything important.

One second, she was standing next to the table, quickly wiping the wine off her skirt with her napkin, positive that it was going to stain; the next moment she was in a man's hold, his arm locked around her throat, his other arm grabbing her arm, twisting it back so it was held between her body and his.

She only managed a small squeak at the realization that it was Jellal holding her, and the waiter was in front of her, a large knife in his hand pointing at the man behind her.

"Let her go," the waiter growled, causing Jellal to chuckle behind her.

"You people must have thought I was stupid not to realize you were following me." He lifted her arm higher, sending a shock of pain from her arm through her whole body, causing her to cry out.

"I won't hesitate just because you have a hostage," the waiter said, shifting his knife so it was pointing at her neck. She could feel herself begin to panic. Would he seriously hurt her to get to her boss?

"I think you will," the man behind her whispered. "This isn't just some random chick I picked up off the street."

"I never said I'd kill her, but I will do what it takes to make sure I take you down, Jellal." Without a second thought, he jumped forward, slashing his arm, the knife barely missing her face as Jellal jumped back out of reach. It was then that Lucy saw the waiter wasn't holding a knife, but his hand was the knife. How the hell…?

A loud explosion sounded behind her, and she was forced out of Jellal's hold, crashing against the table they were just sitting at. Things were about to get messy, and she was caught in the middle of it. With no time to ponder what was going on, she grabbed her steak knife - the only form of protection she could muster in such a short amount of time - and she quickly made her way to the back wall, the only safe place in the room so far. When she turned back to the commotion, she saw that the front door, and part of the wall, had been blown away, and suddenly Jellal was fighting, not one, but three men.

Her fear quickly diminished as her excitement took full control. She wanted to be the one to get the pictures this time, and she would be the one to get credit for writing the true story behind what was going on. The fight was moving outside as Jellal kicked Salamander out of the building, and she wasn't going to miss a single moment.

She jumped for her purse, which had fallen off her chair when she crashed into the table, and pulled her phone out, knowing which buttons to push for the camera without having to look. Was what she doing dangerous and stupid? Probably. But this wasn't the worse thing she'd done for her job.

Jellal was surrounded by the three men, each one now wearing masks, though the blue haired man didn't seem concerned in the slightest. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying himself. Much more so now than when he was sitting at the table with her. Lucy only allowed herself a moment to feel offended by this fact.

"Long time no see, boys," Jellal said, glancing at each man. "How is everyone?"

"Getting your room ready," the ice man said. "They're all so excited that you're coming over for a visit."

"Are they? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I hadn't intended on actually making an appearance."

"That's why we're the ones sent to bring you there," the metal man said, his knife hand growing until it was a large sword.

"I wonder why Makarov sent you peons. Where's Erza?"

"Don't worry about Erza," Salamander shouted. "Your fight is with us!"

With that, he jumped towards Jellal, his fist a burning ball of flames, which the blue haired man dodged with ease. The other two attacked at the same time, a mixture of ice and iron descending upon Jellal. Their attacks created a small explosion, nothing like what happened the last time she met these men, but it was still enough to make her take cover inside the ruined dining room. When the smoke cleared, she watched as the three men fought with her boss. Was he still her boss? There was no way he'd let her keep her job now, if he intended for her to live.

Jellal kept up with their attacks, seemingly at ease, like he was used to being attacked by three men in the middle of the street. The three men in question looked like they were working hard against him, flames, ice, and metal shards scattering around them, though they did manage to corner him. Lucy kept her phone camera rolling, not wanting to miss a single moment of them apprehending a bad guy - was that they were even doing? She didn't seem concerned at all that the roles might have been switched. What if Jellal was the good guy, and these men were actually bad?

She suddenly felt like she was commentating a comic book. Her focus was solely on the fight in front of her, however, that she failed to notice the figure behind her.

Jellal smirked as Salamander threw a flaming punch at his head, which he easily grabbed and stopped, the flames not bothering him in the slightest. He tightened his hold on the younger man's fist, and threw him onto Gray, and the pair was sent flying into a parked car across the street.

Gajeel took that opportunity to dive in from the side, his sword arm slashing towards Jellal's middle as the other man's body was turned from the force he used to throw the other two. In a flash, Jellal jumped out of the way of Gajeel's blade, the edge of his shirt barely catching the sharp tip. As he jumped back, however, his heel caught an uneven edge on the sidewalk, and stumbled, allowing Gajeel to thrust towards him again, this time, his blade running through the other man's shoulder. Luckily for Jellal, Gajeel had been ordered against killing, but the sense of victory as his blade traveled through the man's shoulder was still a good feeling.

The victory was short lived, however, when the body of Jellal burst into dust. Gajeel stumbled forward from the force he used to stab the other man, but he regained his footing quickly, looking around for the other man. Natsu and Gray fought against each other, scrambling over each other to get off the now destroyed car.

The three of them froze when a woman's cry was heard. They looked back toward the restaurant, only to see an untouched Jellal holding Lucy in another arm lock, though it looked like he wasn't holding back this time. The woman gritted her teeth to keep from crying out again against the pain she was feeling in her arm.

Natsu jumped off the car, and he held his fist up against Jellal.

"Let her go! She has nothing to do with this, Jellal."

The blue haired man chuckled. "I think you know differently, Salamander. This girl holds a very important key to my future; to your future. Say goodbye, gentlemen. This is the last time you'll see this woman alive."

Natsu charged for Jellal, but his attack fell upon open air as the pair before him disappeared without a trace.

~.~
AN: It's over 5,000! Words, that is. I figured, since it's been so long, I'd give you guys an extra long, action packed chapter. But then I was evil and left it at a cliffhanger. I figured it was a good place to end, seeing as how if I had kept going this chapter would turn into an Energizer Bunny, and it would see no end! Anywho, hopefully this should keep you readers sated for awhile. If there's errors, of it seems choppy, let me know. I've been working on this thing all day, and now that it's 1:30, I realize that I've been awake for almost 24 hours now...I might go over this chapter at a later date and make it better, but for now, I give you this. I hope you like it. Please let me know. ^_^ I enjoy receiving reviews, whether they're nice, mean, or constructive. It means that people are actually reading this, and that gives me incentive to continue, even though my updates are few and far between.