A/N some dark themes ahead. Fair warning. I don't tend to hand hold my readers much, the "M" rating should be warning enough but I figured I'd lay that out there. Many thanks as always to the reviewers who keep me motivated to keep writing. This sort of things consumes a good bit of time but I enjoy it alot. Without any further ado though, please enjoy chapter 21...DESNA

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Bickslow exchanged a quick look with Gray outside the dressing room doors, the sounds coming from within weren't hard to decipher. They had rehearsals in 20 minutes and had to get into costume so there was no waiting in the hallway since they were running late.

Bix had warned Gray that it was best to get there early get suited up and out into the club to warm up. Madam tended to move in on the dancers she wanted that day close to rehearsal time, so if you lingered or ran late you were either open to being part of it or got drug in in some way. Even the married dancers at least had to endure watching or listening depending on where their station was in the community dressing room.

Jet had been hired as a bartender/dancer in training. Madam liked his look but said he needed to refine his skills so he attended rehearsals and training with them and worked the bar or waited tables until the Madam decided he was ready for the stage.

Gray was hired to dance and while Bickslow was pretty relaxed about it now, Gray simply had no issues with stripping, he'd done it most of his life for free and found it funny he was getting paid for it while they were on this mission.

While Juvia hated it, Jellal had her working at Devils Gate for men though with Meredy and Sorano. Cobra had even gotten hired there as security and a fill in bartender for the busy weekends along with Macbeth who worked the bar.

Having four people in where they had nobody the first time had seemed wise since they hadn't been able to really even look into that club before.

Meredy had come back after the first couple of days a little horrified. "They have one woman there who is a slave, the singer, she dances and sings, a strange kind of Mage I've never seen before, she's got a restraint collar on though and they don't let her talk to anyone." She'd told them.

Jellal had looked at Cobra who nodded "I'll see what I can find out about her, it wont be easy, her soul sings in a different language I don't know, its…beautiful… but foreign." He admitted. Levy pounced on that. Getting Cobra to start writing down what the language sounded like, words he heard.

She sang in common Fioran, and spoke it fluently when anyone heard her speak, but she rarely said much, Madam had two guards on her at all times and Shade in particular, had a deep and clear interest in her.

"Yeah he's fucking her and he's pretty damn happy about it though the images I get make it clear she sure isn't." Cobra told them after the third night in a disgusted tone. He'd looked at Levy hopefully then "Any idea what language that is yet?"

Levy shook her head and handed him a notepad "Write me out some more, I've narrowed it down to either Boscan or Minstrellan, I wish me or Bix could hear it…" She sighed.

The woman never spoke the language out loud, but it was all her soul spoke, it made getting information on her very difficult.

Her stage name was Vixen, she was some sort of shapeshifter that specialized in Fox forms since she sometimes took the stage with a fox tail and fox ears. She had long copper colored hair and large yellow eyes that always seemed sad unless she was singing.

Her voice was incredible, and she filled the club. Even the boisterous male crowd would quiet down when she sang and there were tons of requests for private dances but they were never given. She seemed to be Shades personal play thing.

While Cobra and Levy worked toward figuring out Vixen, Bix, Gray and Jet were trying to get the Madam comfortable with them so another shot at getting into the mansion might open up.

They still had the copy they had made of the manifest from a few weeks ago and Midnight had gone to the warehouse already and recovered all of the boxes the manifest said contained souls.

There were 10, each contained 50 containers and Bix had looked at them in trepidation. Sorting through them was going to be miserable if he was left to do it. The council had not yet determined if they had a method of doing so themselves.

Bickslow knew they didn't, and had said as much to Jellal.

"They killed all the Seith mages they have ever found, the only way they could get through those containers and handle them humanely would be either with illegal soul handling spells or a Seith. The illegal spells and aritfacts that can handle souls are beyond dangerous too because the person using them stands a real risk of their own soul getting pulled by the spell or artifact." He had said.

Jellal could only nod with a troubled look on his face. "Well we can't handle them ourselves, that puts you too much into question, the council will know how limited their options are and would wonder how we would be able to do what they can not. We have no choice but to wait and see what they come up with. For now the souls are safe, we have them well secured." Jellal had assured him.

Bickslow had no choice then but to trust Jellal and concentrate on what he was trying to do. They had to dismantle the empire Madam Mantis had built, it was what protected the trade of souls Shade had started, gave him the influence, access and means to do it.

The other team would be taking down the stronghold in Darknay, but the operations in Hargeon required more careful precision. Hargeon was a large city and mostly filled with legitimate business' and honest people trying to live their lives, resorting to leveling the place wasn't an option like it was with Darkbay.

Right now though Bix was drawing a breath along with Gray and stepping into the dressing room. They just didn't have time to wait.

Sure enough Madam was busy with one of the dancers, she had no shame or shyness when it came to, as Panther put it "Collecting her piece of ass now and then."

Devil was the one on her menu today and Bickslow and Gray had to gingerly step around the pair, Madams private guards had the tall redhead restrained in his chair and Madam was getting all she wanted out of the mans body but Devil briefly made eye contact with Bickslow and indicated he and Gray should just move on.

Panther and a couple of the other dancers struggled with how rough Madam was, but Devil always seemed fine with it, he likely wouldn't even miss his set later.

"Almost every day since I started…shit... I'm kind of glad Jet hasn't gotten back here yet, she'd break him." Gray breathed as they sat at their stations.

Since both Bix and Gray were married they had stations at the back of the dressing room now where the other married dancers were.

It was definitely better. They made less money by a long shot than the other dancers, though they still had to work private dance requests and sometimes those involved women that really didn't care about the rules, but they weren't there for the money and anything that made what they had to do a little easier to stomach both for them and for their significant others they were both all about.

Gray pulled a note off his mirror and groaned "Shit, this chick is nuts…" He grumbled. Bix shook his head "The blonde again?"

"Yeah, I had to get security involved last time, she always buys out an hour in the exec room, keeps trying all she can to get me to agree to…well" Gray sighed and Bickslow glanced around carefully, the place was just too well watched for them to talk about anything that might betray them, so they had to maintain looking like co-workers.

"Maybe see if Madam can send someone else in with you, like me, then you could tag-team it, keep her off you better and still give her a decent time without having to ban her from the club. Madam hates it when she has to do that shit." He suggested.

"Bandit is right, I hate doing that, and that's exactly what you'll do, Bandit, when Grays set is over and he heads to care for his executive request, you go with him, you handle your private requests really well, maybe Gray just needs a little guidance." Madam had walked around a station, not surprising either man.

This was why they had to so carefully keep up their covers in the club, if Madam wasn't watching over cameras, listening through hidden microphones or having dancers spy on each other she and Shade would sit quietly in hidden spots and try to catch their employees doing things.

It was always hardest to trick a trickster, and if they wanted to out play players on this level, they had to be careful.

Gray was having trouble with a wealthy female client who really didn't want to take no for an answer and short of blowing his cover, he'd done all he could with her to this point. Bix slapped him on his shoulder as he rose to head to rehearsals and gave Madam a smile, not reacting when she grabbed his ass as he passed her. It was all she ever did now, small grabs and touches, she'd slammed Gray back in his chair and had her tongue down the mans throat for a while one day, but the pressure for more was gone.

Criminals had codes, strange standards they lived by. Respecting marriage by not forcing sex on a married person was one of Nightmares few "codes". It only held for people members or employees and business associates, but it was something Bix was glad they could exploit.

He had been trying to think of how to talk with Levy about the subject of marriage since before Christmas. She had never really told him how she felt about it, especially in relation to him but glancing down at the thick gold band on his hand, he knew it was something they needed to talk about.

If she didn't want it at least someday, he was at a point he needed to know that. He hoped they were close to on the same page there, wished he knew how the hell to bring it up. He'd never even thought about it before he had fallen in love with Levy. It had always been an abstract "Yeah I'd like that someday" he never really thought he'd have a chance at.

Now though, he knew he was ruined, he was hopelessly in love with that woman, couldn't even imagine being with anyone but her anymore. He knew she loved him too but the depth was a question.

If he was just boyfriend material, not a guy she saw herself with forever, he still wouldn't give her up, he couldn't and he knew it. However sad it might be, he'd stay at her side for as long as she'd love him and just hope that lasted as long as possible.

He didn't know how these things worked, relationships that got this deep, because he'd never even had a girlfriend before Levy. He'd wondered if maybe that was a bad thing, if he wasn't throwing himself in too much because he'd always wanted this and had never gotten past the night or two of wild sex before.

All he could do, he realized as he started his warmups, was hope and try to talk to Levy as soon as he figured out how.

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Levy looked over the notes Cobra had written out for her and grinned at him. "You know what it is?" He asked hopefully. She nodded, no doubts now.

"It's Joyan. I know it allright, Bickslow is fluent in it, let me translate what we've got so far, you need to learn the basics of it and I can teach you that. Once Bickslow gets home from rehearsals he can double check everything but yes, I'm sure that's it!" Levy beamed, it had finally come together, four nights of Cobra jotting down what the enslaved singer Vixen was thinking in her soul in a foreign language he didn't know

They had decided to include getting the enslaved singer out of the hands of Shade was going to be part of their job while here. Cobra had brought it up and continued to be determined to see her free. Meredy and Sorana both had made efforts to try and get anywhere near the woman but had been firmly told if they tried again they might not live through being told to stay away again by the guards who were always posted around the woman.

Levy had been working with Hibiki on trying to track down what sort of mage the woman might be. She had used fire magic in her act the third night and apparently set off some sort of rube barrier that was around her that had caused her to simply vanish from the stage.

Cobra had been clearly upset and furious nothing could be done to even see if the woman was allright but she had performed the 4th night as if nothing had happened, this time without fire and had seemed unharmed though Cobra knew from listening in on Shade that he'd tortured her badly for whatever she had done. He just hadn't left any marks where it was visible.

Cobra had managed to get a run down on the contents of a warehouse supposedly listed officially as storage for props and equipment for The Devils Gate clubs and Midnight, Bickslow, Cobra, Levy and Erza were going to visit the warehouse that night and see what was actually in it since Bix and Cobra both had the night off from their respective clubs.

The Seith Mage was thrilled when he got in from rehearsals to find Levy had cracked what language the enslaved singer was thinking in and he went over what Levy had deciphered so far as well as what she hadn't done yet. Knowing what language it was made it a lot easier to figure out how to decipher Cobras Fioran common notes into Joyan.

"God..she's fucking miserable." Bickslow sighed, putting down the notebook while Levy nodded, looking up at him from what she was working on.

"I'd like to skin Shade." He added.

Cobra snorted from where he was reading through what Levy had translated so far "Too good for the asshole, I'll handle him personally as soon as we get the green to start taking them down."

She was an orphan, identified her magic as "Kitsune Fire" and all she wanted was to be free. Shade had owned her since she was 14 and had been raping her since he'd bought her, she was in her 20s now and the more her body had matured, the more often Shade raped her.

Nobody else was allowed to touch her except for Madam Mantis, who was not unkind to her, but resented her because her husband wouldn't allow them to both indulge in the woman. Madam Mantis kept Shade from really getting rough with the woman, because her singing was so valuable.

Her life had been horrific until she had been old enough to start singing in the club, once she'd come under Madam Mantis' protection though, her life had gotten better but she was still miserable, lonely, suicidal and desperate to be free.

Her situation struck a cord strongly with Cobra, Sorano, Erza and Jellal who had all spent so much of their own lives enslaved they couldn't bear to watch anyone else endure it.

Cobra though was the most effected, he looked hard at Bickslow as the Seith mage was rubbing his eyes, more than a little unsettled by what he'd just read.

"I want to learn Joyan, Levy has already started teaching me, I can learn fast from her because I can read her while she teaches me but she says you're more fluent in Joyan." Cobra said, Bickslow met his gaze and nodded, the Seiths never failing smile lifting his lips.

"Yeah, you know, we can probably work on that until it's time to hit the warehouse. I teach both of you at once and you can read Levy so you can understand easier as we go right?" He offered. Cobra nodded and Bickslow looked down at the papers all over.

"Lets use all of this, might as well learn from who you most want to understand huh?" Bickslow eyed Cobra and the Poison slayer narrowed his eye.

"I'm not following you." He said slowly.

"You've got something going for this woman, you really want to help her, which I am totally behind. So lets use her thoughts to learn from, the way she's speaking. It will maybe make what you want to do easier? I don't know, we'll just work on it and see where we get to." He sighed. Levy put down what she was working on and the trio pulled chairs closer to the coffee table with all the papers so they could all work from the same materials.

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Gajeel smiled faintly, they had isolated a building on the edge of Darkbay where a small team of slave hunters stayed when they were in town. Mest was now porting in and out of their camp, gleefully taking criminals with him as Laxus' team snatched them from the bosom of their lifestyles.

He couldn't remember the last time he had enjoyed a job this much. Each slime bag he got to beat bloody and haul back to camp just made him feel better and better.

Lucy had even lured a couple to him. She, Lisanna, Cana and Ever were taking turns carefully entering the outskirts of the town. They had stolen clothes from the brothel and from them Lucys maid spirit had been able to provide full outfits for each woman so they could slip in and out of the town mostly un-noticed.

If someone noticed them and dared to try and follow them, they ended up in the darkly happy grasp of either Gajeel or Laxus who could both knock them clean cold out before they could utter a word.

It was a chore Natsu wanted desperately but that Laxus was reluctant to give the impulsive mage. If Natsu got too "fired up" all of Darkbay would be alerted to their presence and they weren't ready for that yet so with Lisanna and Lucys help Laxus kept Natsu unhappily guarding their camp with Droy and watching over Wendy.

It took them a little over a week of steady recon into Darkbay to work out a map and figure out where things were roughly including where slaves were brought in, processed then separated into holding areas waiting for ships to their various destinations.

Darkbay itself had its own traps and wards so Freed had been working long and hard to undo or re-write them to allow them passage in and out of each building.

Lucy hung back in some shadows with Cana they were waiting until Gajeel had knocked out the idiot who had been wandering in a drunken haze on the edge of town and seen them both, he'd staggered toward them hollering about being happy to find some fun and Cana had lured him close enough for Gajeel to get a hook around the man and yank him into the undergrowth.

Lucy had to admit, she was almost enjoying this work and she knew Gajeel was. They had picked off at least 30 criminals including 17 Nightmare mages now nd nobody was the wiser about it because of the constant coming and going that happened in the town.

Not to mention the brawls and pretty regular killing of each other the criminals did. No law meant no safety for anyone at Darkbay.

This was a dark region in general, the sky almost never cleared, endlessly gray during the day and lacking stars or moon at night because of the clouds. It rained at least a little every day and night and while the temperatures were not cold, it was easy to become chilled.

The region had a lot of names and was cited as having large haunted areas all over it because of the endless gloom that hung over it. The never ending dark lent it easily to being a haven for Darkbay and its denizens. Hell, even the waters the ships sailed in and out of at the port were called the "Graveyard Sea".

Lucy was going to be glad to go home when this was over, she saw the need, and wanted to destroy this place, but it was taking its toll on her. As a Celestial Mage she needed exposure to the stars at least a little, and she did get some, now and then the clouds would break at night and she would sense they had and would wake and leave her tent.

Gajeel hadn't missed it once when she had either, he seemed to be watching over her with a fierce intensity here, something she attributed to the atmosphere of the place.

She, Cana, Lisanna and Evergreen had all now seen women getting beaten, raped, even gang raped and killed since they had started this so while she wouldn't admit it ever, Lucy was grateful Gajeel was as watchful and protective as he was, it made her feel slightly less like every step she took here might be her last.

With the way basically clear and knowing Gajeel would be moving with them in the shadows out of sight as they made their way along the back of the town to their goal for the night.

Living quarters for a team of slave hunters. The four men were in and settling down for the night.

Lucy crept forward carefully feeling Gajeel right with her, she had grown comfortable with his shadow form the last few days though at first it had sort of creeped her out, now it was comforting and since she had grown used to it he would touch her sometimes, keeping her moving or just reassuring her that he was right there.

She pulled out Lyra and the harpist appeared, bowing silently, Lucy had already told her what the plan was. Setting herself up the little harpist began a soothing song designed to lull the men inside into the deepest sleep possible.

Gajeel tensed when the music began, hearing the men move in their beds, one asking where the music was coming from. "Who the fuck cares, shut up Baker, it's nice, just sleep asshole we have to be up at fucking dawn." One of the others snapped.

Gajeel listened, and when breathing evened, heartbeats had slowed and some snoring had become steady he touched Lucys ankle and she waved to Cana.

The vaporous drug they both carried in vials would send the men into coma-like states and make them easy to remove, return to camp and hand over to Mest.

These four were wanted for a lot of things, slave trading being the worst of a long list of violent crimes each man had to his name.

Once they were taken, the ship set to sail at dawn would be without a Captain and first mate, and they had a plan to deal with that that could potentially save the 125 lives already locked in the belly of the ship.

Once Lucy and Cana had held the vials under the noses of each man and made sure each had breathed in a hefty amount they corked them again. Opened a window and stepped back as Gajeel entered and emerged from shadow.

He nodded to the pair, hefting each man and shoving him out the back window of the small house to land in a heap below.

Lisanna rose up, coming out of the cat form she had been hiding in and switched over into a horse as Gajeel and the women came back outside.

Lucy sent Lyra back while Gajeel tossed bodies over Lisannas back and they pushed into the undergrowth for a ways finally meeting Droy who opened a path for them then closed it behind them until they reached their main trail back to camp.

Once at camp they all relaxed, the men were each leaned back against a fallen tree while Laxus flipped out the com lacrima he had in his pocket and winked at Cana who smacked his ass and neatly sidestepped his half hearted attempt to grab her that was put to an end when Lahar appeared.

"Excellent, I have the men ready to port in with Mest and take the places of the ones you grabbed. You'll be able to disguise them you said?" Lahar asked for what Laxus figured was probably the 50th time.

"Yes Lahar, we have it set up, just get their asses here so we can get them disguised and back in place before the fucking ship has to leave." Laxus snapped. He had no patience left for the mans obsessiveness.

"Fine, Durnbolt should arrive shortly." Lahar sniffed and cut the com link. Laxus cursed under his breath giving Gajeel a hard look when he heard the other Slayer snickering.

"Just picturing you electrocuting the tight ass if he were actually physically present." Gajeel said, hugging Lucy to his side so Laxus was less likely to try and shock him in his irritation.

The lightning slayer sighed but then his mouth quirked up into an evil smirk "Hopefully I'll get my chance when this is over." He said darkly, turning and heading over to where Durnbolt should port into the camp.

The man in question appeared with his 4 special forces Knights in tow just a couple of minutes later and followed them over to where the men were propped up. Lucy called out Cancer and the spirit went to work disguising the Knights so they were identical to the criminals they were replacing.

"Ok, so with these four in place they can get the ship to where the Rune Knight ambush is set up to take control of it. I'll take these four back to headquarters to be held until trial and Lahar will of course let you know as soon as we have the ship under our control, have you started on preparations for the next one?" Durnbolt asked.

"Yeah, we'll have the Captain and 6 of his crewmen including 2 slave runners for you tomarrow night, it will be a few hours earlier since that ship is set to sail after midnight, have their replacements here by 4pm so as we get the men here their replacements can be set up to go back in as soon as possible." Laxus responded.

As soon as the men were ready Gajeel led them of with Droy to get them back to where they needed to be. Lucy sent Cancer back with a warm thank you and went back to her tent to wait for Gajeel to come back. The whole thing just had her shaken tonight and he would know it and be more cuddly with her because of it.

She smiled as she curled up and started reading one of the books she'd brought, they were obstinate, rough, stubborn and infuriating, but Dragons sure had their advantages.

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Bickslow crouched low atop Papa and Pupu. Hovering not far inside the window of the warehouse. Midnight was already inside with Levy. There were rune traps and other safeguards in place that had to be taken care of before everyone could come in.

Bickslow had disabled the cameras already, putting loop spells on them that the council had provided for them. He couldn't help with the traps though, that was all Levy.

She had been coming with him in the mornings to work out and he had been teaching her some basic acrobatics. She had a knack for it and had started to really enjoy it.

Bickslow hadn't been too surprised, with her legs and petit body she was pretty much built perfectly for it. Bickslow was a fairly large man at just over 6 feet with better than average muscle mass to be doing it but he'd been doing it since he was small so the skill was well in place and the flexibility had never lessened even when he'd hit his full height and put on more muscle than he'd really wanted to because of genetics.

She moved gracefully through the warehouse isles, negotiating stacks of boxes with easy jumps that a couple of months ago she wouldn't have been able to manage and wouldn't have even tried.

He smiled faintly, watching her with pride. She was utterly amazing to him, and never seemed to stop surprising him.

Far below the Seith Mage Levy vaulted up onto another stack of crates, moving up to the top of it so she could get a look down at the trap on the next isle and start taking it apart.

She didn't even hesitate anymore with how she moved. Since she'd been working with Bickslow her usual clumsiness had all but vanished, she couldn't remember the last time she had tripped and actually fallen. She still tripped, still bumped into things, she couldn't help it, a good book was a damn good book, but she hadn't taken an unplanned tumble in a while.

She glanced up briefly. Bix was still hovering above, ready to come down and catch them up if something happened with the floor but so far Levy hadn't missed any of the traps or barriers, the mage who had done them had been sloppy and they were almost kindergarten level designs.

The others were moving in behind her, starting to systematically look into crates and boxes and see what all was actually in the massive warehouse.

"Shit." Cobra hissed, looking wide eyed into the crate he'd pulled open. "Weapons.." He said softly. Erza came up beside him and looked into the crate. "Enchanted too, I can't tell how many are in this crate but this Katana on top is old, and the runes look…mean." She admitted.

Levy finished dispelling the trap on the next isle and dropped down from the crates so she could peer into the one Cobra and Erza were looking at. She gasped "Don't touch it, holy shit those are dark…evil runes…Bix? Can you look at this?" Levy called and Bix drifted down. "nothing in it I can see…but I…there's something that has my magic getting all creeped out." He admitted.

He saw no soul or hint any had been in the sword..no…that wasn't right…"Fuck…it holds souls…there aren't any in it right now but it can steal them…God don't touch it!" He warned. Erza nodded, and she and Cobra put the lid back onto the crate. Bickslow had the babies get under it and lift it out the window he'd been sitting by a minute earlier and take it to set it on the roof so they could get it out of the area and secured with some of the other things they had already decided didn't need to remain in criminal hands.

When his babies returned to him he hopped back up and went back to his spot watching out the window and over the warehouse carefully.

It took them a two hours to get a basic understanding of what the warehouse contained, how it was organized and to remove what little they were able to look at and decide needed to be out right away.

They didn't find a single prop or item of club equipment anywhere though.

Levy heaved a sigh, smiling faintly her eyes riveted on the man 30 feet above the floor. Bix was getting in his early morning work out. Levy had finished her basics up and already gotten her shower and was dressed sitting with Meredy while Bickslow focused on his own work now that he was done with Levy. "God, I had no idea our guild had anyone in it that could do this sort of stuff." Meredy breathed quietly.

Like Bickslow Meredy had the day off from the club and she'd been up when Levy and Bickslow had come out to head for the warehouse where they trained while they were in Hargeon.

The operation the night before had uncovered some unsettling things and they had all met with Jellal to discuss it all and catalog what was in the crates before they had gone back to their apartments to sleep.

Meredy hadn't slept well and was up early not wanting to be alone so when she had seen Levy and Bickslow come down the stairs into the lobby of the building they were all living in while in Hargeon she had jumped up smiling.

Glad of company the woman had asked to go with Levy and Bickslow and the couple had happily agreed though Bickslow had shaken his head. "Gonna be boring if you're not gonna work out, you two should hit the coffee shop or something and I can join you when I'm done." He'd offered but Levy had refused.

She wanted her lessons with him and besides, she loved watching him, and today he was working with his babies, doing maneuvers with them to sharpen up coordination. Right now he was in a handstand, one hand on Papa, the other up along his side, balancing himself entirely on one hand 30 feet in the air.

He bent his arm slowly then pushed off Papa, catching Popo with his other arm and straightening again into a handstand now 35 or so feet above the ground.

Papa came up alongside Popo and the two tikis held Bickslow up for another few moments until Pupu and Pipi were in position then Bickslow pushed off from where he was and tumbled down landing on his feet on the other two tikis as Meredy gasped and Levy grinned.

Once Bickslow finished his workout and had showered and dressed the trio headed out into Hargeon to relax for a change. Meredy seemed to almost feed off of Bickslows bright demeanor, and she settled in easily with his teasing and jokes so the three actually were having a good bit of fun sitting outside the café having a light breakfast when Cobra appeared.

The Poison slayer had honestly followed their scents from the warehouse to the nearby café. He was still thinking a lot about the enslaved singer, pissed off about the weapons and just felt the need to be around people he was comfortable with.

Meredy he knew well, Bicklow was down right relaxing since aside from being obnoxious he was quiet and had this calming effect on Cobra that the Slayer attributed to him being a Seith mage skilled in managing soul magic including soothing souls.

His girlfriend the little script mage was also pretty calm, she was thoughtful and her soul was neatly organized and never seemed to go haywire or get crazy unless she was watching her boyfriend do something that triggered her libido, which was relatively often but was always threaded through with so much love the woman had for the man Cobra couldn't find it in himself to label it annoying.

Though he would never admit it, being around three couples so into each other and their different but very strong love for each other filling their souls was a nice change of pace for the Poison Slayer.

He particularly liked Levy. It might have been because he couldn't tell what Bickslow was thinking or feeling in response except by using physical senses, but Levy was "cute" in the way she loved the Seith Mage.

She admired about everything the man did, took delight in his personality (which honestly Cobra did as well.) lusted after him and loved him with every part of her organized, orderly soul. He didn't doubt that if he could listen in to Bickslow, he'd find love for Levy on the same level judging by the way the man looked at her, touched her, held her and so forth.

Being around that sort of thing was just uplifting, even for a man as bitter and prone to being grouchy as Cobra was. Being on a tough emotional mission like this and having people around that provided that light, uplifting feeling? That was fucking priceless and Cobra knew it, so he had sought them out.

The now one bigger group of friends finished breakfast and headed farther uptown into the market areas where the imports were on display. Bickslow, grinning, led them to a chocolatier, divulging his source for the Boscan chocolate but threatening them all with painful retribution if they told anyone.

Bickslow had a tremendous sweet tooth and took them to one more candy shop before finally allowing Levy and Meredy to take over their direction. He and Cobra walked behind the two brightly chatting women idly munching on the taffy both had bought large bags of. Cobra had a voracious appetite for sugar himself and had been delighted to discover two new high quality sources.

"Sevanese Taffy is always the best, they use a kind of syrup for it from a tree that only grows in their central region and they somehow always get the flavors really bright." Bickslow was saying and Cobra smiled faintly, the damn Seith mage had been right recommending the stuff, it was the best he'd ever had.

He now had a big bag of Sevanese Taffy, a bag of lollipops (a vice of his) and bags of four other varieties of candy, enough to last him hopefully through this mission, he planned to buy more before he left though, that candy shop had some damn good stuff.

The girls hit just about every clothing booth they came across and soon both of the men were beyond ready to take a break and eat something other than candy.

They found a restaurant that served vegetarian dishes and agreed they were all willing to give it a try, though Bickslow eyed Cobra suspiciously. "You sure you're a "Dragon" Slayer? I mean, I've never met a dragon that preferred salads to sheep and candy to blood…maybe you're a Daisy Slayer?"

"Least I don't play with dolls." Cobra smiled

"You know those blow ups count as dolls right?" Bickslow shot back with a grin.

"Fuck you…" Cobra began to snarl but Meredy grabbed his hand, something she never did and he jerked his head around to look at her then followed her wide eyed gaze.

Sitting in a booth at the back of the restaurant was Vixen. She had a guard to either side of her in the booth and Shade was sitting across from her. "Shit, that's Vixen." He said. Bickslow and Levy both managed not to be obvious looking. "I want you to repeat everything you hear from her ok Cobra? I'll remember everything." Bickslow told him and the slayer nodded, trying to sift through the "noise" of the people around them and find Vixens unique voice.

The waiter came and they placed their order then Meredy started talking about idle things and Levy joined in while Cobra started quietly repeating to Bickslow everything he heard from the sorrowful looking beauty sitting between the two massive guards.

They couldn't help her right then, couldn't do anything without blowing their covers. It wasn't a stretch at all that they could be friends, all working for Madams clubs it happened a lot, most of the dancers knew dancers from the other clubs and the Security men were often shuffled from one club to the other based on needs.

Still, as soon as they had finished their meals they agreed to split up. Meredy went with Cobra and headed back toward the apartments and Bickslow and Levy decided to go the other way and hit some more shops before going back.

It turned out to be a good move because Shade was taking Vixen shopping it seemed, buying her things, not that she seemed happy about it buy he kept picking up articles of clothing, holding them up to her then choosing things. She muttered a few things now and then and Bickslow actually was wide eyed by one of them.

"She called him a puss and flea infested rat penis. Really sweet tone, no accent, Joyan is absolutely her native tongue." He said and Levy narrowed her eyes.

They couldn't risk following the group for long and broke off, there was nothing they could do right now for the woman so taking their bags they started back.

Levy was in a dark mood until Bickslow decided to stop into a mens clothing store, smiling at her "You have ripped off three of my shirts recently, I need some new ones." He whispered. She giggled, she'd ruined three of his button downs, totally not her fault though, he'd not removed the clothes when he'd started playing with her, worked her up and she'd needed to get her hands on his skin.

A clerk came and started helping Bickslow sort through the racks upon racks of clothing.

"It might be a good idea to get your husband measured ma'am. We don't have a lot in flexible fablics and he would look very good in some of the silks we carry, it wouldn't take but a few minutes if you'd like to ask him." Another clerk suggested to her and she'd been stunned when she had heard "Your husband". It made sense, Bickslow had the thick gold band on and she was wearing the set she'd been given, of course any observant shop clerk would notice.

Still, there was something that just made her feel good all over hearing Bickslow referred to as her husband. "Yes, I think we should, that's a good idea, I'd like him to have some silk shirts." She smiled.

"Bix? How bout you let them measure you?" She called. Bickslow looked at her and shrugged "Sure, I know what size I wear though." He replied.

"Yes sir but we have a very nice line of silk shirts your wife would like you to try and those require measurements since the silks do not stretch much." The clerk by Levy told him and she grinned at Bickslow who nodded and followed the man to the fitting area.

He looked at Levy and smirked when they asked him to remove his shirt so they could get the measurements done. "I see what's going on here, you just wanted my shirt off." He grinned.

Levy sat in one of the chairs, watching him in the mirror. "And I'd like to see you in one of those silk shirts too."

As soon as the measurements were taken one of the clerks hurried off and returned a few minutes later with a selection of shirts in various rich deep colors. Levy pushed Bix back when he started to reach for one and he snickered but backed away and let her choose.

She chose several, but made him wear the dark blue one back, deciding that if she had her way, he'd wear little else but these well fitted shirts in the future.

The silk hugged him, it fit perfectly, but also sat against his skin in such a way that his muscle showed from time to time as he moved, nicely hugged by the soft silk. It also felt good when he put his arm around her. She was going to need to get herself something made of silk before they left Hargeon that or she'd just steal one of his new shirts.

Levy smiled wickedly, that would be what she would do, let him wear it so it took on that delicious spicy smell of his then she could use it as a nightshirt. When she reached down to grasp his hand as they walked she smiled again, feeling the ring warm on his finger. She had to come up with some way to keep that there.