Author's Note: Sorry for not updating in a while. Hopefully updates will be faster in the future. Once I'm done this fanfiction, I'll start working on that AU fanfiction I mentioned, along with Fairy Knights. :)
After a couple of hours of discussion/argument, the four came to an agreement: they needed to see the base itself before they made a plan. They headed toward the building as quietly as possible, trying to get a good view through the forest of trees that surrounded the town's police office – the building that the Zeref worshippers had made their base.
It rose only two stories off of the ground, a building of white plaster. The doors, roof tiles, and window frames were black, contrasting against the walls.
"Guys!" Alzack whispered.
Gajeel was the only one who heard him. He turned toward the guns mage, who gestured for him to come over to where he was standing. The iron dragon slayer tapped Bisca's arm, pointing in Alzack's direction. The greenette, seeming to understand, grabbed Levy and followed Gajeel over to the spot where her teammate seemed to have found something.
"What's that?" Bisca asked, staring down at the two wooden doors in the ground.
"It doesn't look like a sewer entrance," Levy answered. "Maybe a cellar?"
"Let's check it out." Alzack pulled open the doors, revealing a set of stone steps leading into darkness.
Levy used her magic to quickly create light, before heading down the steps in front of the others.
It wasn't exactly a cellar. Rows of cells lined both walls: it seemed to be a temporary place to hold criminals while they were waiting to be taken to the Magic Council's prison. It was also very similar to the place where Gajeel and Alzack were being held earlier that day, but since the doors they came in through weren't the same ones they had left through during their escape, they assumed that their former cells were at the opposite end.
"I guess we could attack them from down here," Bisca said. "I could shoot up at the ceiling, and–"
"The ceiling would collapse on us, Bisca," Levy told her.
"…Right. Damn."
"So I guess this is pretty much useless to us, huh?" Gajeel folded his arms.
"I guess so," Alzack replied.
All four of them stood there, still looking around in hopes that this discovery wasn't completely useless to them.
Levy was the one who spoke. "I mean, if we got out fast enough, we wouldn't get hurt by the falling ceiling… and if we attacked from down here, they would come down here looking for us…"
"Right, but for that to work as a distraction, we'd need someone on the other side of the base," Alzack pointed out.
"Why don't you and Gajeel go over there, then?" Bisca suggested.
"Well..." Levy considered Bisca's idea. "…Yeah, Gajeel's the strongest of us four. It's better if we serve as a distraction while he does the actual attacking. But Bisca's pretty strong too, so don't you think–"
"Nah, I can stay down here with you," Bisca answered. "If something happens to you, I don't think I'd trust the other two to save you."
Levy turned slightly pink. "Okay."
Alzack smiled. "Besides, I… sort of don't like it down here, if you understand."
Gajeel nodded, taking one of the communication lacrimas from Bisca. "We'll go find a place to wait outside while you two distract 'em. We'll call you when we've found a good spot."
"Okay." Bisca and Levy watched as the other two wizards headed back outside.
"So, which side are we attacking from?" Alzack asked. "The other side of the building might be a better place, but there are more windows there."
Gajeel shrugged. "It's a risk we can take." They reached the other side of the building, finding that there were many more buildings they could hide behind or on top of. The dragon slayer pointed toward a nearby roof that was well-hidden by trees in the house's front yard.
Alzack nodded, understanding what he meant. "We'd be hidden from the windows, and it's within range for us to attack the base. But – I, uh, have one question…"
Gajeel looked down at him. "Hm?"
"Do you want me to help you attack, or would you rather do it by yourself?" He flushed as Gajeel stared at him. "I mean, I could understand if you don't want any help–"
"Nah." The dragon slayer shook his head. "I can handle it by myself, but I'll be better off with someone to back me up. If I was plannin' on doing this myself, I would've left ya back there with the girls."
Alzack flushed a slightly deeper shade of red. "Okay, let's go." As he walked, he started wiping his face in a futile attempt to get rid of the redness. He assumed the sudden warmth in his face was due to his gratitude toward the dragon slayer for getting the two of them out of the prison cell yesterday.
Once they reached the house they were planning on attacking from, Gajeel turned to Alzack. "You climb up first. You're smaller."
Alzack nodded, grabbing a loose brick and beginning to climb up the side of the house. As soon as he was up high enough, Gajeel followed.
They climbed onto the dark grey tiles of the roof as quietly as possible, scrambling across to reach the tree on the other side of the roof and hiding beneath the leaves. As Gajeel took aim at the building, Alzack picked up the communication lacrima and called Bisca and Levy.
The lacrima in Levy's hand suddenly lit up. The short girl lifted it up so that Bisca could see it as well.
"Found a good spot?" Bisca asked.
"Yep," Alzack's voice replied. "Go ahead."
Putting the lacrima down, Levy looked around. "So, we aim for the ceiling, right?"
Bisca nodded. "We're in the basement, so presumably the enemy is up there in the actual building." She requipped a gun and aimed it at a spot on the ceiling a few feet away, backing up a few steps so that she was a bit closer to the entrance. "Ready?"
Levy nodded, raising her hands as she got ready to use a spell. "We need to get out really fast, so as soon as we've both used our magic, we'll need to turn and run."
"Yep." Bisca peered through the scope of her gun. "Three… two… one… fire!"
What looked like green light burst from the gun, hitting the ceiling. Large chunks of rock rained down, this only increasing as Levy blasted fire at another nearby spot on the ceiling. Immediately, Bisca turned and ran, grabbing Levy's wrist to drag her behind her.
She ran several meters before she realized that she no longer felt the pressure of Levy's wrist within her hand.
"Think they're distracted enough?" Alzack asked.
"Distracted or not, I'm still attacking 'em. Ready?" Gajeel positioned himself to use his iron dragon's roar, taking a bite out of one of the nails he was still keeping in his pocket.
Alzack nodded. Despite Gajeel's confidence, he still couldn't help feeling like something was wrong, but he still pulled out a gun and aimed it toward the police office.
As their respective attacks hit the side of the building, the wall crumbled. Angry and surprised shouts could be heard from inside as the cult scrambled to escape the collapsing building.
"Okay, now we run in and attack 'em while they're weak!" Gajeel jumped from the roof of the building, followed by Alzack.
As the ones who were still able to walk charged toward them, the two Fairy Tail wizards began launching rapid attacks. Thirty minutes later, nearly all of the enemies were unable to stand, the only exceptions being the three who had run off a few minutes earlier to get reinforcements.
Knowing that they didn't have much time before those reinforcements arrived, Gajeel grabbed one of them by the collar and lifted him up. "Alright, where's ya leader?"
The man was practically in tears of fear as he pointed a shaking finger toward the police office. "H-he's in there, sir, please don't hurt–"
His words were cut off as he was dumped back onto the ground. Gajeel immediately turned and ran toward the building, Alzack following shortly behind.