Disclaimer - I do not own Fairy Tail!

Natsu was running through the streets of Magnolia, barely held back by the others at all. The only thing holding him back from going full speed was Erza steadfastly refusing to tell him where they were heading. Something about having to make sure that the man they found was actually doing it before attacking him. It made sense in some deep part of Natsu's brain, but right now the rage that he felt over the disappearance of Lisanna was taking over.

"Natsu, you need to calm down. We can't go in there all guns blazing, not like we normally do. We need to find out where they're keeping everyone before we take him down."

Erza was making sense, like always, and Natsu slowed down to a walk. If they did need to move along to the address on the business card, it would be a three-day trip by train at least so they would need to keep their energy up. Natsu was hoping beyond all hope that the guy was still at the hotel.

They could see the hotel from halfway across the city it was so tall. A big towering building of marble and glass, sticking out from the traditional surroundings like a sore thumb. Erza held up her hand, forcing everyone to stop moving and look at her.

"We have to be intelligent about this. We know he's a teleporter so he could get out of there within seconds. We need to take him down immediately, there's no long battle with this one. I know it's not what this team is known for, but we need to be tactical about this."

Everyone looked at each other. The team was more raw power than tactical thinking, and Lucy started to think that they had bitten off more than they could chew with this job.

"Levy-san said the man we are looking for is on the top floor. Charle and I could fly up there and see if he's there?"

Erza shook her head at Wendy's suggestion.

"He might notice what you are doing and get out of there. I suggest we go and talk to the people at the reception, like normal people." The last statement was directed straight at Natsu and Gray, who just ignored the pointed look and directed their eyes to the floor. "We can see if he's even still there, or if he has already left. There's no point going upstairs if he's already gone."

Lucy and Wendy nodded, before following Erza into the lobby of the hotel. Wendy was amazed by the luxury which surrounded them and looked at everything through wide eyes. She was fascinated by a large fire lacrima in the middle of the room, somehow not giving off any heat but still creating the atmosphere of a warm fire in winter. She walked over to take a closer look, before Charle tugged at her sleeve, giving her a disapproving look. Wendy jumped up, running over to where Erza was speaking to the well-kempt woman behind the counter.

"We don't have anyone by that name, and the man who owns the penthouse hasn't been here for about six months… Are you sure that you have the correct hotel?"

Erza's expression remained stern as she regarded the woman, deciding that she was telling the truth at least to the best of her knowledge. She showed the young girl her guild mark, and began to gesture for all the others to do the same.

"We're all from Fairy Tail, and we are investigating the man who owns the penthouse. Would you be able to tell us slightly more about him?"

The woman looked hesitant for a moment, seeming to mull over whether to release the information to the group of mages in front of her. After a couple of seconds, she decided that, after seeing their victories at the Grand Magic Games, she could trust all of the people in trust of her.

"He's very secretive, we don't really know much about him. All we have been able to gather from the few years is that he is some kind of mage, not affiliated with any guild as far as I know. His father owned the penthouse before him, and he was a much nicer man. Made his money through consulting with rich parents as to how to give their children the most powerful magic, I believe. His heart never tended to be in it, though…"

Erza nodded through the entirety of the woman's speech, it was definitely looking like the man who owned the penthouse was the man that Levy met with. If he was a telepathy mage, he would have been able to wipe the minds of the reception staff relatively easily. Her best bet on finding out information about him now would be to go up to the room and have a snoop around. If he was there as infrequently as he led the hotel to believe, he wouldn't mind anyway.

It took a bit longer, and a few chats with the managers of the hotel, to get permission for everyone to go up to the penthouse. Both Erza and Lucy had to use all of their charm in order to get the, admittedly sleazy, owner of the hotel to finally allow them into the lift and up to the top of the hotel.

As soon as they were in there, Erza could tell that it had been occupied a lot more recently than the hotel staff believed. The other thing that jumped out to her, was that the inhabitant had left in a hurry. Half full cups were left on the side, and papers were strewn around the place. Upon closer inspection, Erza could see that they were the translations that Levy provided.

"It looks like he figured out what he was doing and ran out to go and do it…"

Erza sighed. There was no more information to gather from the penthouse, the other rooms seemed almost untouched as if they had been cleaned between the last time they were used and when the occupant left. There was nothing left for it other than to go to the address the man had provided Levy with, a horrendous three-day trek to what Erza assumed was another dead end.

She collected up all of the papers, along with any other books that she could find around the place and gave them to the exceeds to take back to the guild and to Levy and Freed, before instructing them to meet her back at the train station.

"We take the next train out. He has a huge lead on us, and time is running out."

Erza smiled, remembering that the owner of the train company owed her a favour. Maybe she could shave down those three days after all…

A/N - Sorry this chapter is a day late, I am going to try and sort out specific times to sit and write so the chapters are on time/a longer length.

Keep on reviewing, I read and love every single one! 3