Wicked Game

Chapter 5

            Natsu turned down a dimly lit ally a few blocks away from the club. He had his hat pulled low and his collar turned up. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, the fingers of his right hand rolled tight around the hilt of his Beretta 9mm.

He stopped in the middle of the ally under a busted out street light. A light misty rain had started to darken his already black coat.

"You gunna follow me all night?" He called coolly out into the darkness.

For a moment there was nothing but silence. Out of the corner of his eye Natsu caught sight of movement among the shadows. He turned to face the stranger.

A large man with a black fedora and tan trench coat stood before him in the rain.

"What tipped you off?"

Natsu cocked his head to the side. "Besides the noise of your cement brick footsteps?" Natsu snorted. He stared hard the large man, sizing him up. "You know, if you had a reason to look into me, you'd already know not to sneak up on me."

"How long did you know I was there?" The low, coarse voice rumbled.

"Since you started tailing me five days ago," Natsu shot back smugly. He could just make out the anger in the man's red eyes. The guy had long unruly black hair and silver piercings along his brow, nose, and chin.

"Look, let's cut to the chase Gajeel- it is Gajeel, right?"

The man nearly snarled in response, clearly pissed-off by his cocky, pink haired target.

"My company has had their eye on you for a while. You've been on our conversion list since you were still at Phantom Lord with your little pal Juvia."

"Leave Juvia out of this," he growled protectively, taking a step forward.

Natsu held up one hand and let his side arm peek out from the other. "Just hear me out," he said. He'd misjudged the guy's reaction. Apparently he had a heart after all. Natsu could use that.

Gajeel said nothing but maintained his distance. Natsu took that as a go-ahead.

"We want you to join our team."

"Oh yeah?" Gajeel cackled, "and who's 'we'?"

"Fairy Tail, we're a private security contractor and we're working on a case against Ivan at The Blue Kitten. Whatta you say Gajeel? Feel like working for the good guys for once?"

The glare Gajeel gave Natsu was as sharp as a steel blade.

"Let me get this straight," he said, taking a step closer to Natsu. "You know I'm working for Ivan, that he's got me lookin' into you. But you think you're gunna stand here and ask me to double cross him, and I'm just gunna what? Roll over and take it, just like that? Take your word that you work for Fairy Tail," Gajeel laughed. "Scrawny kid like you working for the best security contractor in town?" He scoffed. "Not likely."

"Well then you tell me, what do I do?" Natsu stared him down. "You've been following me for nearly a week already, plenty of time to figure out what some wealthy bar patron does for a living, right? But you've got no clue. You don't have a scrap of information to fetch back to Ivan do you?"

Gajeel's hooded eyes turned dark, his brow bent in anger and thought. Natsu held firm. He wasn't going to let this guy intimidate him. He'd dealt with far worse in his time.

But he wasn't about to let the man blow his cover, either. If he didn't agree to come on board, someone would have to get him out of the way, in one fashion or another. Natsu preferred it not to come to that.

"You said you've looked into me before, when I worked for Phantom?" Gajeel's voice was low and calm, but anger boiled beneath its surface.

Natsu nodded. "You got outta there just in time, you and Juvia. We took Phantom down a week later."

Gajeel tilted his head. "I heard they got popped. Didn't hear anything about Fairy Tail being involved, though."

"That was the idea."

The man brought his hand to his chin in thought. "So you'd want me to, what, tell Ivan I found nothing on you?"

"No," Natsu said with a shake of his head. "I know exactly what I want you to tell Ivan, if you're up for it."

The rain picked up, beating down steadily as the two men faced each other.

"What's in it for me?" Gajeel said finally.

Natsu shrugged. "Help us out with Ivan and we'll bring you on full time. Good pay, maybe not as much as you're getting now, but the works steady. And for once you wouldn't have to worry about getting caught by the cops for someone else's mess."

The gears behind Gajeel's eyes turned. Natsu went for the kill.

"We can also make sure Juvia gets out clean."

Gajeel's scrutinizing gaze hardened. "I'll have to think about."

A sly grin worked its way across Natsu's mouth. "Makarov said you were smarter than you looked, I guess he was right."

"You better shut your damn mouth or I'll tell Ivan exactly who you are."

"No you won't," Natsu said turning away and pacing slowly down the alley. "Find me tomorrow and we'll discuss the details." He threw his hand up in a wave.

He could still feel Gajeel's steel gaze boring into his back.