Natsu was struck by a wave of frigid air as he walked into the warehouse nestled among the many unmarked buildings by the docks.
It was dark. The only light provided by the full moon, its glow trickling in through the large windows bordering the ceiling along the upper story.
He walked slowly through a labyrinth of steel shipping crates, making his way to the center of the large space.
Natsu moved into a clearing at the end of the crates and stopped cold.
A woman sat in an iron chair, her features shadowed in the cold light.
Her arms hung limply in her lap, her wrists tied tightly with a piece of wire cording. Long blonde hair fell around her face as her head drooped forward. Another cord wrapped around her torso, binding her to the chair.
Ivan had used chloroform to knock the girls out. As Natsu's eyes adjusted to the light, he could make out the figures of Juvia and Cana sitting in a similar state just behind Lucy.
Natsu thought back to the first time he had seen Lucy at the club. Her silhouette poised as it stretched out over a chair on the stage. Her fluid gestures capturing his attention as she moved. Her bright eyes meeting his... Now those eyes drooped shut as she sat motionless and unconscious.
Natsu was glad of that, though. He didn't want her to wake up until this nightmare was over.
The guilt in his chest nearly killed him. Seeing her like this... it broke his heart. He hadn't realized how detached he'd become, how much he had let the job get to him, until her innocent eyes had looked up at him as they stood on the bridge over the river.
She had made him feel again.
But now those feelings were threatening the job he had to do.
When Erza had suggested using Lucy to get Ivan to make a sale Natsu had nearly exploded at her.
But the only way to truly free Lucy from Ivan's reach was to lock him up. And the only way to do that was to catch him in the act.
Upon seeing Lucy's helpless silhouette, Natsu was suddenly overcome with doubt. It was a dangerous plan. If Lucy were to get hurt... He tried to shake the thought away. He needed to stay focused.
Still, the memory of the betrayed look on Lucy's face when he had confronted Ivan in her room burned like a deep crevasse in his heart. She would never forgive him, he knew. But as long as she was safe, it didn't matter.
Despite the doubt he now felt, he knew the plan was solid. Fairy Tail had a team spread out around the warehouse, waiting to move in.
Two operatives were placed on the roofs neighboring the building. They had a clear view through the windows to watch for Natsu's signal.
Freed had brought Levy- a young, brilliant woman from the Cyber Intelligence team, to monitor the radios and work on infiltrating the security system alarms and cameras.
If they could catch the sale on video, the case would be closed. Natsu wore a wire taped to his chest to gather any audio.
But Freed's team needed time to work. Natsu couldn't let the sale happen too quickly or the whole operation would be scrapped. Ivan would likely be in and out of prison within a few years, if he was sentenced at all. Natsu wanted to see the guy behind bars for a long time. No, actually, Natsu wanted him to never see the light of day again. He wanted the bastard to rot.
And then there was Tartaros.
Natsu had found a folder of paperwork and a small lockbox in Ivan's office. The paperwork clearly showed the return Ivan would get if he began moving Tartaros's merchandise. The lock box made it clear what that merchandise was.
Natsu had opened the container to find it full of bright amethyst colored crystals the size of rock candy. Only they weren't crystals- they were drugs.
It was a drug Natsu had never seen before. He had sent a sample of it to headquarters. They confirmed it was a narcotic but said it would take some time to identify it.
It was clear now. Mard Geer wanted to use the girls as mules to move the drugs overseas.
Ivan's already established network meant Tartaros wouldn't need to get their hands dirty or take the time to establish a supply line of their own.
The thought of it made Natsu sick with rage.
He curled his fingers into fists inside his pockets.
Tartaros was set to arrive any minute with the product, and the movers would be here shortly after. If it all went to plan, they would take all of them down in one shot.
"Natsu," Ivan greeted him by his first name, his mouth turned in a crooked smile. "I have to say, I'm very impressed with your business acumen. The Edolas family is lucky to have you."
"So I've been told," Natsu smiled smugly.
"Come and have a seat with me while we wait." Ivan gestured to another pair of worn chairs.
Natsu eased into his seat, keeping his hands in his pockets, his side arm cradled loosely in his right palm.
"So tell me, Natsu," Ivan said relaxing into his chair, "How long have you been with the Edolas family?"
"About eight months," Natsu said, sticking to the story he'd had Gajeel feed to Ivan.
"Interesting... And where were you before that?"
"Here and there. I jumped around a bit, mostly in security. Edolas was the first to bring me in on the good stuff," Natsu smiled. "I guess they saw my potential."
"Yes," Ivan said slowly. "I'm beginning to see that myself."
Inside Natsu's stomach tightened. He checked his watch. Levy should be in the system by now. But where was Tartaros?
"Our friends are running late," Ivan observed, noticing Natsu's glance.
"Punctuality is a thing for me," Natsu said casually.
Just then one of Ivan's henchmen came up to whisper something in his ear. Natsu strained to hear. It sounded like he said the movers had arrived.
"Excuse me for a moment," Ivan said as he followed the man to a group talking in hushed voices. The posture of the men was guarded. They looked uneasy.
Something was wrong.
Silently Natsu stood up and started walking the long open space toward the girls.
"Stop right there, Natsu," Ivan said from across the room, his low voice full of malice.
Natsu tempted fate and took another step toward Lucy.
The sound of sliding metal echoed through the room as Ivan's henchmen drew and chambered their pistols.
"I said stop," Ivan commanded. "Show me your hands."
Natsu froze. He looked at Lucy and the others. If he moved towards them now, he'd only put them in the line of fire.
He turned to face Ivan, slipping his hands out of his pockets and raising them to the height of his shoulders, palms out. He glanced toward a camera peeking out from a corner and shook his head in an attempt to tell his friends to stand down.
"What happened Ivan? I thought we were friends?"
Ivan and two of his men approached Natsu. One of them reached into Natsu's jacket pocket, removing his Berretta, dropping the clip and clearing the chamber.
Ivan laughed. It was a cold, chilling laugh. He paced toward the girls.
"Part of the Edolas family, he says," Ivan said to no one in particular, still laughing to himself. "What convenient timing you have, Mr. Dragneel, showing up in my club when you did. I don't know why I didn't see it before."
"You're not making much sense, Ivan. Tartaros should be here soon, we should really-"
"Enough!" Ivan yelled as he turned back to look at Natsu. His cold eyes burned in fury. "Tartaros isn't coming. They told me who you really are, who you really work for."
Natsu relaxed into a frown. At least he didn't have to keep up the act anymore.
"Look Ivan, you know you've already lost," Natsu said with a hint of condescension. "Just cut your losses, and you and I can call it a night."
"Cut my losses?" Ivan arched his brow. The man turned and moved closer to Lucy. Two men stood close to Natsu, their guns targeting him at point blank range. One stood to his side, the other close behind him.
"Ivan," Natsu demanded. "You're surrounded. You're not getting out of here as a free man. Give up Tartaros and maybe they'll cut you a deal."
Ivan leaned down and brushed Lucy's hair from her face. He took her chin roughly in his hand and tilted her face up towards him.
"I suppose all your little Fairy Tail friends are waiting outside?" He seemed to be inspecting the girl. He reached down and tore the pendant from her neck. "You really had her eating out of the palm of your hand, didn't you?"
Natsu flinched. "She was a means to an end."
Ivan turned and tossed the necklace at Natsu's feet. "Then I suppose it wouldn't bother you to see her ruffed up a bit?"
With the back of his hand Ivan swung at Lucy's face, full force.
"STOP!" Natsu boomed out, the anger in his voice boiling like the blood in his veins.
Lucy's head lulled to the side, a red mark decorating her cheek. But still she did not wake up.
Ivan's laugh echoed through the room.
"Just a means to an end," he repeated, mocking Natsu.
Ivan was too close to Lucy. If his friends were to come in now, it would put the girls in too much danger. Natsu needed to get him to move away from them.
"Ivan you're outnumbered," Natsu called towards him. "Any second now my team is going to come through that door and then you'll wish you'd taken my offer."
"I'd rather spend my last minutes teaching both of you a lesson," Ivan cackled.
Natsu needed to change tactics.
"You're sick Ivan," he said in a low voice. "What you do to these girls, it's deranged."
Natsu saw Ivan's jaw clench in anger. He needed to draw the man's attention back to himself.
"These girls are worthless," Ivan sneered. " Their only value is in being sold by the likes of me. We give their meaningless existence a purpose- and we put them out of their misery once they've fulfilled that purpose."
"You're going to hell, you know that? You bastard."
Ivan turned on his heel. "Shut your loud mouth you-"
In a flash of movement Lucy lunged toward Ivan with her chair, knocking both of them to the ground. Natsu could hear the sound of Lucy's skull hitting the cement floor.
Natsu didn't miss a beat. As the guards stood in shock he stepped back and reached over his shoulder, grabbing the mans gun. He then lunged forward in a sweeping motion, swinging the man around with a hard thud as he hit the floor.
Before the other man could react Natsu was already moving toward him. He threw an uppercut to the man's chin. He grabbed the man's outstretched hand, still holding his gun, and spun around, firing off a shot toward the first man as he was about to pull his trigger.
Natsu crushed the man's wrist as the other fell back to the floor, motionless.
The man behind him cried out in pain. He tried to grab Natsu, but Natsu was already throwing an elbow into the man's kidney.
The guy crumpled to the floor and Natsu moved in toward Ivan.
Ivan was stumbling to his feet as Natsu pressed the firearm to his back.
"Don't move," he commanded in a deathly low voice.
The doors of the warehouse swung open in a rush of light and movement. Spotlights flashed into the room. Figures made their way out from between the shipping crates and poured into the open space.
Natsu held tightly onto Ivan as his team swept the room, disarming the rest of Ivan's men and securing the location.
All Natsu could focus on was Lucy's lifeless looking body on the floor, still tied to that damn chair.