When Push Comes to Shove [Private Mission Salrynn and Lex]

Spoiler:

Lex sat alone at a corner table at an Italian style restaurant in the thick of Motor City. A glass of red wine sat before him, halfway drank already. He was watching the sun set on the large city, who knew what would come out from hiding once the darkness enveloped the land. He lifted the glass to his lips to take another small sip, the wine was rather tasty, merlot at least five years old, nothing too expensive but it was not the cheapest on the menu. Lex was always horrible about saving money, whenever he got some in his pocket he ended up blowing it on food, booze, or boys, his three vices in life. Today though he was not worried about his lack of money, he was supposed to be meeting up with one of his fellow guildmates at some point and do a mission today. He was not aware of what the mission was but just knew that the two of them were supposed to meet at this restaurant at sundown, in Motor City.

Lex had gotten here a bit earlier than the woman due to the fact that he fancied a glass of red wine alone with his thoughts first. He had not been a member of Golden Phoenix for very long, he was still trying to get the lay of the land so to speak. He had met this girl, Summer, before but only briefly.  From what he knew of her though this would be an interesting mission, she was after all rather hyper active and had some unique ability to force ghost into this world. In fact the first time he saw her she was doing cartwheels through a busy street on Phoenix Island.

As the suns last rays started to dip below grey skyline of buildings, Lex tossed back the last sip of his glass of merlot. Where he was in the restaurant was not directly in view of the door so he would have to wait for the waitress or host to show Summer to the table. He picked up the wine list once more and flipped through it, he was debating to order a second glass or not. If he did though he would surely need to get a hearty meal, some lasagna or pasta, to soak up the wine so he could preform on the job without any issue.

400 Words

Lex sat there skimming the menu when a wave of calmness filled not just himself but the room as well. What does a wave of calmness look or sound like? Well the table that was beside him complaining about their food taking long suddenly apologized to their waiter and said that it was no issue. The screaming kid on the other side of the room suddenly stopped. For Lex the small bit of alcohol that he had consumed seemed more like an entire bottle rather than a glass. His muscles relaxed, his eyes fell heavy for a brief moment, and he seem to sink right into his chair. It was the sound of a cheerful voice that eventually snapped him from his lackadaisical state. He shot up from his slouch and stood up as she approached the table. “Oh hey Summer and Summer’s pet?” Lex had not seen this fairy, the other day she had one with her but it was not this color, at least he did not remember her being this shade of pink. As he sat down Summer started to go into details about the job that the two of them were supposed to take together. This was the first job he was going on while in Golden Phoenix and had been partnered with the newest of the Aces, an interesting twist of fate in Lex’s eyes.

Lex listened to Summer carefully, the mission seemed rather cut and dry but there was probably an aspect that he was not fully comprehending. The only part that Lex found an issue with was not using magic. Was this not the whole reason they were asked to take on this matter in the first place? They were mages after all. Lex might not be the strongest but Summer was an ace of one of the top legal guilds, she must have some sort of power lurking in that body of hers. Perhaps her power was that this chick never ran out of energy and people could just not keep up with her. “I’ll admit it I’m a bit confused. Why would we not want to use magic? Surely we will have the advantage against those that are not proficient with it; I’m sure you a B rank mage could easily take on a swath of non magic users. I’ll be the first one to say it, my magical skills are lacking, but even I can beat your average Joe in swordplay.”

Summer had also introduced him to the fairy of the day, Laysha. Appearently she was a flirt, little did she realize that her charm would get her nowhere with the gay mage. She floated near Summer’s face and introduced herself to Lex. “Charming to meet you.” It seemed that Summer had no time to sit and enjoy a nice meal, she was already wanting to get going Lex was not opposed to getting this job done sooner rather than later but he was hoping to at least get a breadstick or two in. “Do.. did you not want to eat anything before we head out Ms. Summer? I thought that we would meet here and enjoy a nice meal before we go. I’ve already had a glass of wine myself but I’m sure they can bring you out one if you like.”

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Lex listened to Summer’s reasoning on why they should not use magic, she did have a point. He had not much idea on the magic that she used but he did see her side of it, damaging the area could potentially cause the one that contracted them out to be irate. Well lucky for Lex he was pretty capable with just a simple blade, in fact since he was young it seemed that no weapon was a stranger to him, though he was prone to breaking them much easier than normal, perhaps it was because he did not know how to hold back his strength. She was the higher ranked mage and an ace of the guild, those two things put her in charge of this mission so he would abide by the rules that she placed, as long as it suite him though. As he pondered these rules that she was putting in place she made the comment about her magic which shed some light on why she was nervous about the use of magic. Being able to control fireworks was a rather unique magic. Fireworks were composed of gunpower, a highly explosive substance that was not normally found in Fiore, to learn such a magic Lex wondered if this woman was indeed from this country or another.

It seemed though that Summer was game to grab a bite to eat, thank goodness. Lex smiled as she sat and made a motion with his hand to call the attention of the waiter so that Summer may order a drink at the very least. Though she had a smile on her face the woman peered out the window and made a comment that made Lex feel as if she was not wanting to stay here too long, too bad he could have gone for another glass of wine and a learn more about the firework woman. The waiter walked over to the table and asked the woman what she wanted to drink and if the two were ready to order. Though he had been there longer than the woman, Lex was still not ready to order his meal. He peered at the menu glancing over the different pasta dishes, the fish dishes, and the ones that caught his eye the most, the steak dishes. “I’m thinking about this garlic butter sirloin, how about you Ms. Summer, anything look good to you?”


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Just fries? This was something Lex never understood about women, how could they be content with just a side item? Was she planning on trying to steal some of his steak when it came? Lex would not stand for that. That’s what these women try to do, say they are not hungry and then when the food shows up they ask for a “few” bites from the guy’s plate. Lex’s grip on his wine glass tightened as the thought of having his steak taken from him took over his head. He tried to keep his composure though and try to get the truth from this snacker! “Will fries really be enough to satisfy you Ms. Summer?” Summer then started to ramble on about her love of fries, this calmed Lex’s anger of her possibly trying to take his steak, he believed her. Just as their waiter was walking over to take their order Summer bolted up from the table. Lex’s eyes widened, what was this chick doing?

She pointed out the window and made a comment that some bypassers on the street were “them” who is them though? She started speaking a mile a minute it seemed and was rushing towards the door leaving Lex and her fairy behind. “Damn it, I was looking forward to a nice steak.” Lex fished around in his pocket for some money and threw it on the table to cover his wine and the inconvenience that the pair were causing the poor waiter. Lex then rushed towards the door hoping to catch Ms. Summer. Though she did not want to use magic she said nothing about using weapons. Lex had three daggers hidden on his body and if things were to go south he could whip them out in a flash.

“Ms. Summer please slow down, you’re moving quite fast. I think the factory will still be standing when we get there, no need to rush as much as you are.” Lex only said that because he really did not feel like breaking out in a sweat, it was not befitting of a man with his looks. Plus he needed to make a good first impression with Summer, her thinking that he was weak or slow was probably not the way to do that.

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Summer quickly slowed down once she realized that Lex was left behind and confused. As they got to the door of the establishment Summer held the door open to Lex and bowed to him. He was rather confused on what she was doing but he gave her a short smile and thanked her for keeping the door open. As he stepped outside the cold air assaulted him, this caused him to pull the jacket he was wearing closer to his body. He hated winter, it would not be spring fast enough in his opinion. “Burr, well lets get going shall we? I believe you saw them or something? Did you perhaps see what way the men went?” He asked casually though it occurred to him that he was not fully aware who these men were, was it the people that was hiring them out or perhaps it was the people that was extorting them.

“Ah Ms. Summer, who were the men that you saw anyways? I just don’t know who to be on the lookout for. Perhaps if you could tell me who they were and what they were wearing I might be able to help spot them out with you.” He had only a single sensing like ability and was skeptical about summoning his ring since Ms. Summer had told him not to use magic. She was the higher ranking mage in this job therefore she was the leader more or less, Lex could not go against his leader, at least not within the first few minutes of the mission.

Lex kept looking into the crowds of people walking the street looking for anybody that might have been suspicious. Lex could not see anything that he would count as that though, but like the saying goes they could just be wolves in sheep clothing. Lex hated not being able to use magic but as long as he had his daggers to back him up if anything happened. Though he had these items he had to put some faith in Summer, she was a higher ranking mage and an Ace of one of the strongest and largest guilds out there, that had to count for something after all.


2,112 Words

Business suits huh? Lex’s eyes scanned the crowed even more now. What Summer had said was true, there was a good deal of rather odd looking people that walked the streets of Motor City. While this city was more industrial than most, the people still looked like they fit in a story book. Lex was dressed rather meh today, he did not stick out as much as a man in a business suit but he was just wearing a long peacoat that was a dark grey color, underneath was a deep burgundy shirt, and blue jeans. He looked like your normal citizen. The coat was perfect since it had a couple hidden pockets that held his daggers, while in his front outer pocket was a simple looking zipper that he could use to grab another weapon or two from his home if he needed it. The zipper worked somewhat like his re-equip magic but these items did not require the hieratic core to be in them like his magic did.

“Don’t worry Ms. Summer we will find them. I’m sure that they could not have gotten far.” It was at this moment that Lex wished he was one of those famous dragon slayers, he had heard rumors that they had senses that greatly exceeded that of a normal human, they could have been of use right now. Summer grabbed his arm and started to pull him off in some random direction. She was strong, even for a woman of her size, where this strength came from was beyond Lex. She pulled him towards some alley way and where she thought was towards the factory. As the two darted into this alley though Lex caught sight of a few figures turning the corner up ahead in it. “Yo Ms. Summer did you see that? There were some people up there in the alley, perhaps that is them I could not see.” Once again he wished he could call his Ring of Jinx from his pocket dimension so he could sense everything around him but he would wait until Summer gave him permission to use magic.

That’s when it occurred to him, he did not want to go magic free forever and if something went down at the factory the two would need a code word or something to use so that Lex would know when to use his magic. In fact Summer probably did not even know what his magic was. “Wait Ms. Summer, we need some sort of plan though before we go after these people. What if this goes south, what could you say or do as a code word to let me know to use magic? Also I think it would be best if you knew the magic that I used; my magic is a type of Re-Quip that is an anti-mage type. I’m more of a close range type fighter. Use that information anyway you see fit.” Being a higher ranking mage he assumed that she was probably a capable strategist and could think of something to do in this situation.

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Summer was sure of the no magic rule, Lex was kind of bummed but if she insisted then he had to comply, for now at least. The three of them stood still waiting for the group of men to continue along their path to the warehouse. Lex did a slight mental check though on all the items he had on his body at the present moment: three daggers, a ring that controlled metal, and a simple zipper that could open a dimension up that could retrieve other items he had stashed. These were all simple trinkets and weapons but they all had a function that could save him in a pinch. The daggers could be used without magic and Lex’s strength alone was higher than your typical guy, it also helped that his skills with weapons was above that of the norm, a simple dagger like these were nearly double in strength with his guiding hand. Only downside was that they would break rather easily so he would have to prioritize when he would draw them.

Once Summer made the comment that they could move the three did so in unison. Lex then had another idea, if she did not want him to use magic would she want to plant a sneak attack? He could enter the building at an alternative entrance and lay in wait until things got dicy, if he did that it would be easier to pull off if he did use magic but he could make it work with just strength alone. He would just need to be in a spot that he could rush somebody quickly and pin them before they could harm Ms. Summer.

“So Summer, would you want me to hide until you needed me? Give us the element of surprise? Or are we doing this right at face value? I’m just nervous that these men will be more trouble than they appear.”

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“Okay okay okay, we will play this at face value I guess. Nothing sneaky, nothing magical. I trust that your exploding fist will be more than enough to protect us from whatever these thugs will try to do.” The two entered the building at a rather lax pace though Lex was ready to whip out a dagger at a moment’s notice. Summer stopped what she was doing and looked at Lex, the chance in her facial expression caused some concern for Lex. Shit, what is the matter with her? Are we about to walk into a den of lions?

[b]”There’s more coming!”[/color] “Shit.” he muttered under his breathe. Well this was all the two needed was to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of these thugs. They were already at a disadvantage as is, what else could go wrong? Would Summer be incapacitated right away leaving Lex alone to deal with these hooligans? He was a confident man but not confident enough to handle a swarm of goons.

Summer broke in a sprint towards the old man that had hired them shouting at him not to pay the thugs. Lex’s pace started to pick up slightly but he hung back, if an ambush was to occur then they would need some distance from the two of them to properly counter it. As Lex jogged behind he heard the men make some sexual slur at Summer, an act that not only seemed to anger him but the firecracker of a mage as well. A crack of sparks and flames erupted from her hand the moment that she struck the man’s cheek. This alone caused Lex to stop in his tracks, he was going to have to wait and see how this would play out before blindly charging into the fray.

Lex was no further than 5 meters from Summer when the rest of the thugs walked into the door. He took a few steps closer to her when he saw a man appear directly in front of the young woman. He bite his lip, should he obey Summer’s order for him to not use any magic? He could easily teleport right behind the man and have a dagger at his throat before anybody would even notice that he was in the room, but was this worth the scolding that Summer would give him? She had already shown that she was able to deal some damage with just the touch of her hand but so could Lex, he was rather strong, even for a melee based fighter.

Lex sighed. He knew he was probably going to get scolded for this but hey, you’re only young once right. The boss of these guys was not very far from him, maybe 14 meters at most, more likely he was around 13 meters. Lex put his hands behind his head and let out a louder sigh that was probably more noticeable than the first. With his hand behind his head he not only activated his ring of magnetism but he also summoned his Ring of Jinx, though this new ring would not have been seen by anybody.

With the Ring of Jinx on his body he became more aware of the situation than he was before. There were two of these goons, one was whimpering from being hit by Summer, this guy that seemed to be able to use teleportation magic, he was the main threat in Lex’s eyes, two other men that were standing close to their boss, and the head honcho who had a nice big ol’ shotgun in his left hand. Assuming like most people that the left hand was indeed his weaker of the hands Lex aimed to exploit that shotgun and test the loyalty of the boss.

Right as Lex was about to use his spell the job creator shouted some rather rude statement that made Lex for a moment think about causing the large chains over his head to fall right on top of him and end this job and problem for everybody but then he would really get scolded by Summer. Instead he had another idea. He focused his ring’s skill and ripped the shotgun from the boss’ hand and had it hover right by his head and cock and loaded it for dramatic effect.

He also at the same time targeted one of the men’s submachine guns having it over in the air pointed at the group of men. Of course he did not want to fire these weapons but they gave him a bit of leverage and if these goons thought they could just shot Lex down they would be sadly mistaken when he would teleport right to their boss with a dagger posed at his neck this time.

But before this escalated Lex would speak up as the men would still be in shock at their guns being ripped from them and aimed right back at them. “Geesh guys let's all take a deep breath and calm down now. Is there any reason to be catcalling Ms. Summer or invade her personal space? I’d go ahead and shoot you buddy right in the foot but seeing how she already put you in your place I’ll leave you be. But just remember in the future, women are not objects but people too…” He hoped that Summer was remaining calm and could handle her own, he had not aimed a gun at the teleporter since it would be wasted effort if he just poofed away the second he fired, plus he figured Summer could easily handle her own.

“Now I know that you guys have beef with this rude old guy over there and thats cool and all but you’re gonna have to drop it right now or your head is gonna be blown off with this shotgun. Trust me, I don’t wanna scatter grey matter all over this guy’s building because knowing him, he’ll make us clean it up, but I’m also not about to be bullied by some thugs. I’m sure you already heard the gun cocking, let’s not play a game of chicken boys.”

Lex had a smug smile on his face, while his plan was not flawless it at least left him in a position of power, he had the boss hostage and the other’s at gunpoint. If they tried to fire a gun at him then poof he was gone, if Mr. Shadow dude tried anything it was poof from Lex or bang from Summer. Perhaps she would not be too mad at him for this, it's not like he directly has hurt anybody...yet.

1119 words + 2,952 = 4,071 words

Spells used:
Summoned Ring of Jinx
Activated Ring of Magnetism