6. The Hired Muscle
Natsu's fists burst into flames, aimed threateningly at the newcomer's head. He could hear keys jingling, and knew Lucy was just behind him. He glared at the figure in front of him, ready to let fly at any given moment.
The man was very tall and very thin, dressed in all blacks. Straps of leather wrapped around his legs and arms, buckled over the top of loose, black clothing. Each leather strap fastened something to his body. There were knives strapped to his upper arms, and small, silver vials lined his arms like bullet cases. There were some items Natsu didn't recognise, like the red strip of metal bound to his leg. It was covered in dark, swirling runes that were constantly moving and changing. He looked like a living weapons arsenal.
"'Complications', huh?" Lucy murmured, matching Natsu's glare. "Just who the hell are you?"
"Who am I? You stole the words right out of my mouth, beautiful," the man smirked, descending the stairs one step at a time. "I wasn't told about any opposition. What a pleasant surprise."
"Answer her question already, creep," Natsu spat. How dare that guy talk about Lucy like that? He was furious.
"Calm down, pinky," the man sighed, reaching the bottom of the stairs at last. He looked bored.
"Pinky?" Natsu growled. "I'll snap you in two!" He vaguely felt Happy release the pressure on his neck and drop to the ground. The exceed took his place next to Lucy, staying out of the reach of any impending violence.
The man raised an eyebrow. "Before you know who I am? My my, that's a bit rash."
"Then tell us already so I can hurry up and kick your ass!" Natsu shot back. Lucy was directly behind him, glowering at the man. She didn't like this sleazebag one bit.
"Me? My name is Redclaw, but I'm just a bit of hired muscle. All I want is a few, well, components. But, If you are who I think you are, we might have a little trouble, Fairy Tail mages."
"Yeah, well I'm all about trouble," Natsu growled. He felt a hand fasten over his shoulder, holding him in place. Lucy stepped forward, still gripping him in place.
"Those components wouldn't happen to consist of sanguis ink, living vapour and the bones of a legendary beast?" she asked, keys in hand. The hit man smiled.
"So, you read the spell book then? It seems you are going to be a complication. No matter, I know exactly how to deal with complications," he said, taking a step back. Taking a deep breath, the man focused on the two mages in front of him.
Then, the weapons strapped to his body slid out of there straps, and started orbiting the man like moons.
Lucy's eyes widened as she realised what was going on. "Natsu, duck!" she yelled, slamming both their bodies to floor just in time. In the wall behind her, the two knives were embedded in plaster, waving slightly from impact. If they'd still been standing, the knives would've torn straight through their brains.
"My magic is unique. I do not have influence over one particular area, nor the ability to conjure. What I have is a magic that allows me to manipulate my very surroundings; Movement Magic."
The man raised a hand, and an old, wooden table rose with it. He splayed his palm, and the table shot forward, aiming to grind the two mages into the ground. Just as it was about to squish them, Natsu attacked. Lunging out with a fiery fist, the table splintered and fell to the ground. Not one to waste time, Natsu ran at the man, enveloped in flames and lightning.
"Iron fist of the Thunder-Flame Dragon!"
Redclaw moved a stone statue in front of him to take the impact, before launching another knife at Natsu. It shot past his head, finding purchase in an overstuffed bookcase. The dragon slayer launched hit after hit, being blocked each and every time.
"You can't beat me. I control the space around you," he gloated, landing a punch straight into Natsu's jaw. His head rocked back, before he shot a punch of his own. It was blocked by a floating book, before another book smacked into the side of his head.
Lucy couldn't watch anymore. She had to do something.
"Open, Gate of the Lion! Loke!" With a golden flash, a man with spiky, orange hair emerged. He adjusted his suit, giving a small nod to Lucy.
"Looking gorgeous as usual, Lucy," he smiled. Loke then turned to the hit man, rings gleaming. "I'll take care of this guy." He darted forward with glowing hands. "Regalus Punch!"
The glowing impact was cut off by a soaring object Lucy couldn't make out. Everything was moving too fast; there was too much inside that he could manipulate. Those two were very physical, close range opponents, and they couldn't land a single punch. If the direct approach didn't work, there was little they could do.
Natsu was being battered by books, most of which were now rapidly burning to ash. The two knives were circling him ominously, shooting forward every now and then. He was barely managing to dodge the flying blades, let alone land a hit of his own.
Loke was facing a similar issue. He was surrounded by flying objects that would barge at him from all angle. Whenever he managed to land a blow and destroy one in a blaze of light, another would take its place. Redclaw's magic seemed a lot like Bickslow's power, but without a limit on the amount of objects controlled. This guy didn't seem to have the same connection with the objects he possessed, though. Maybe, that could work in their favour.
Lucy narrowly dodged a volley of pens aimed at her skull, and tried to strategize as well as she could amongst the chaos. He blocks their every attack; there's too much stuff in here! She ran through her keys again. He's blocking their attacks with the objects around him… Could I block his attacks with Aries's wool? There's only one way to find out!
"Open, Gate of the Ram! Aries!" Lucy cried, gripping the golden key and forcing open a second gate. A young, pink-haired girl dressed in a woollen dress appeared at Lucy's side, looking around nervously.
"I-I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'll do my best."
"Aries, I need you to try and stop all of that stuff flying through the air long enough for the guys to land a hit, ok?" Lucy asked, ducking as something swooped over her head. The little sheep nodded, looking at the ground quietly.
"I-I'll try my hardest," she stuttered, before splaying her palms. "Wool Wall!" she yelled, and a torrent of pink fluff gushed from her hands. In a matter of seconds, the room was flooded with it. There was no visibility beyond the soft, pink mass, and there were no more flying projectiles.
"Natsu! Loke! Attack now!" Lucy called through the fluff. "Aim for where he was standing earlier!"
"Right, let's go," she heard Natsu affirm. "Roar of the Thunder-Flame Dragon!"
"Regalus Blast!" Loke roared. Lucy saw something flash through the pink, and heard a man yell. She grinned to herself; they'd done it!
Just like that the wool vanished, revealing a bashful looking Aries and a huge, blackened hole in the wall where Natsu and Loke's attacks had simultaneously hit. Lucy gave the Ram spirit a warm smile. "Good work Aries! You did it,' she reassured, pulling her in for a hug.
"I'm sorry, Lucy," she mumbled into the embrace. With that, she disappeared in a flash of golden light. Lucy grinned to herself, before going over to investigate the hole. She knelt by the edge, hand on the wall for support.
It led directly outside; Lucy could see the rocks of the cliff face and the blue of the ocean quiet clearly, more importantly, she saw a massive, charred crater carved into the earth. She could see a figure lying spread-eagled in the centre, smoke rising in grey plumes from his body. She couldn't tell if he was conscious, breathing or dead.
Lucy turned to Natsu and Loke, who were both breathing hard. Loke looked relatively unharmed with the exception of a nasty looking gash through the body of his suit. It didn't look like it hit skin, luckily. Natsu, on the other hand, seemed to have sustained a bit more damage. There was a small trickle of blood leaking from the side of his head and a large, purple welt on his exposed arm.
"Thank you, Loke. You can return, if you like," Lucy said, smiling softly. Loke took her hand to plant a kiss on it, and Lucy squeaked. She heard Natsu let out a small growl, which shocked her. Loke then took a step back, bowing his head.
"A pleasure to serve you, my love," he responded, before vanishing in a flash of gold. Lucy scowled at the air he'd disappeared into.
"I'm not your love!" She yelled at nothing. Shaking her messy, blond head, she turned back to her partner. "Should we go investigate?" Lucy asked, adjusting her skirt to it was facing the right way.
Natsu nodded. "Yeah, probably. But where's Happy gone?"
They looked around for a moment, waiting for the little blue cat to re-emerge. Natsu frowned. "Where'd he go? HAPPY! Happy, where are you? HAPPY?"
"Here!" a voice called from somewhere up high. Lucy scanned the ceiling, looking for the source of his voice. Her gaze settled on a small, blue lump sitting at the top of the staircase.
"Happy, are you ok?" she asked, starting towards the exceed. Natsu rushed in front of her waving his hands like an idiot.
"HAPPY! I kicked his ass! Did you see?" he grinned proudly.
"Meh. Lucy did most of the work," Happy replied, swooping down the stairs and landing neatly at the bottom. Lucy and Natsu gaped simultaneously.
"Did you just say Lucy was better than me?"
"Did you just compliment me?"
Happy just shrugged, before going over to the massive hole in the wall. "Should we go check on that guy?" He got no response. Happy frowned, turning around. Both Lucy and Natsu were still shocked to the point they were incapable of speech. "Hey! GUYS! Wake up already!"
Natsu looked at the Redclaw's body for a moment, frowning. He watched, waiting for something to move. When nothing happened, he reached out with his foot, and prodded the hit man's head. No reaction. He poked it again, a little harder. Nothing. As a last test, he pulled his leg back and kicked him hard in the side of the head.
It lolled to the side, bruised and lifeless.
Lucy smacked Natsu over his own head. "Don't be a dumbass about it. The guy's unconscious, he's not going to respond!"
"Unconscious? So he's not dead?" Natsu asked, cocking his head to the side.
"No, look. He's still breathing. Remember, this guy's still a mage. He's got pretty high endurance. Anyway, we should probably take these," she said, nudging the little objects that were still strapped to his body with her own toe. The knives were still up in the building, along with at least half of the other trinkets originally decorating his body.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Natsu nodded. "So, you'll take them then?"
"Uh yeah… Why don't you? I don't really want to touch him," Lucy replied, kicking his arm again.
"Me? Why do I have to do it?" Natsu baulked. "I don't wanna touch him either!"
"Don't be a baby, take them!" she threw back, looking at the guy's body again. The remaining objects were strapped to his upper legs and neck, and she didn't want to go near either region.
"You can't talk, you won't take them either!" Natsu retorted, glaring at his motionless form.
Lucy sighed. "Ok, why don't we both do it? I'll take the ones on his neck, you take the ones on his legs. Alright?"
"Hell no! I'll take the neck, you take the legs!"
"Why won't you just take them already! Are you a chicken or something?" Lucy said impatiently.
"No, I just don't want to be touching around his dick!"
Lucy went quiet. He's not… oblivious about all that stuff? She blinked for a moment, completely taken aback. This wasn't what she expected from Natsu at all. Not the anatomical knowledge or the swearing.
She then realised that she hadn't spoken for a whole minute. "Fine, I'll do the legs, jerk," she muttered, crouching down net to Redclaw's body. Thankfully, the buckles were on the outside of his legs, so she didn't have to get too close. She still didn't like it, though.
"What should we do with this stuff?" Lucy asked, dropping a thin metal club and a vial of green ooze into Natsu's palm. He just gave her a grin.
"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, before promptly setting his hand on fire. Natsu curled his fingers into a fist, and when he opened them, all that remained was a handful of ash. He let the black dust drift to the ground, before looking back at Lucy.
"Great, that's problem one solved with fire. Now, we have problem two," she said, turning to face the towering, three storey shop. "What that guy was searching for. He was after ingredients for that resurrection spell, and they must be somewhere in that house. It'd take hours to find them."
"Why can't we solve that with fire too?"
"Because that's someone's house, Natsu!"
"Isn't this a bit more important than that? If we burn it down, no one will be able to get whatever's inside, right?"
"Yeah, but that's not the poi- NATSU!"
A surge of fire streamed from his hand, setting the house alight. The flames licked up the side of the house, enveloping it in the blaze. Within moments, parts of the house began to fall off. Wooden boards fell off the side, burning as they hit the ground. Lucy stared aghast.
"Y-you IDIOT! I just told you not to set the house on fire!" she yelled, smacking him over the head yet again.
"Hey, I just solved your problem! You don't need to hit me," he complained, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yes, I really do!" She shook her head. "Ok, Problem two solved with fire as well, even if it was incredibly thoughtless. Can you solve problem three with fire as well?"
"Well, what's problem three?" Natsu questioned, grinning confidently.
"That guy was nothing but hired muscle, he said so himself. He has a master, and that master is pulling all the strings here. He's the one summoning the ghosts, and he's the one sending creeps like that out to do his dirty work. We have to stop him. Can you solve that with fire?"
Natsu gave her a smirk. "That's the kind of problem best solved with fire, Luce!"
Finally, a bit of action! Sorry if it's not that great, it was really awkward trying to write a fight scene with Lucy and Natsu at the same time. Plus, Redclaw was a bit of a pushover. I'll do better next time, promise!
Anyway, Chapter 7, coming soon! We'll be heading back to Super Happy Cabin Fun Time with Lucy and Natsu! I'm undecided as to whether I should write them a soft kiss scene, a little lime or a big, sour lemon. What do you guys reckon? At the moment, I'm leaning towards something a little lemony for our favourite pink-haired dragon slayer!
Once again, thanks for reading!