Maybe it was having his idol watching over him that did it, but Gajeel genuinely unleashed some impressive strength this time, coming out on top in the three way brawl against Natsu and Gray. Though as far as Kabe could tell, the real deciding factor wasn't Gajeel's strength so much as those two old rivals going way too hard on each other and completely forgetting Gajeel was even in the fight. Not that it mattered to him either way. Money was money.
"Pay up, pay up. What a haul today!"
Kabe unceremoniously swept the pile of cash off Macao's table, principal and interest both, then happily went off to split the winnings with the handful of others who'd also bet on Gajeel. Watching his money, barely warm in his own hands, get snatched away just like that left Macao close to tears.
Once he'd finished happily divvying up the winnings, Kabe figured, with most of the guild still gathered, he might as well recruit people for the job right there on the spot.
"Everyone, quiet down for a second. I've got a job that needs some extra hands. Any volunteers who want in?"
The words had barely left his mouth before two hands shot up.
"Me, me, I'll do it!"
"Big bro Kabe, take me too!"
The voices belonged to Lucy and to Gajeel, still wrapped in several layers of bandages. Lucy raised her hand because she needed money, a lot of money, and whatever job Kabe had probably paid handsomely enough to make up for the extra difficulty. Gajeel's reasoning was even simpler: how could he possibly turn down his idol? He wanted nothing more than to work alongside Kabe.
After the two of them, quite a few more hands went up around the guild.
"That's enough, too many of you. This job's got some real difficulty to it."
With that, Kabe began calling out names from among those who'd volunteered.
"Gajeel, Gray, Natsu, Happy..."
The three rivals, who had just been tangled up in a brawl minutes earlier, exchanged a glance at hearing all their names called, gave a matching cold snort, and pointedly looked away from each other.
"Lucy, you've got the strength for it, but you're still a little short on experience. Think of this as a chance to broaden your horizons."
"Awesome!" Lucy pumped her fist happily.
Finally, Kabe's gaze landed on Yukino, sitting off to the side without having raised her hand, looking like she wanted nothing to do with any of this.
"Yukino, this job concerns you too. You're coming along."
Yukino pointed at her own nose in disbelief, clearly not expecting to get called out, and shot him a thoroughly exasperated look.
"That settles it for now, then. I'll be leading this one, so none of you need to worry about a thing."
Once Kabe had things sorted out, Makarov, who'd stayed quiet up until now, finally set down his drink, blinking groggily.
"Kabe, kid, what, what's going on? Why do you need to lead a squad yourself for this one?"
"It's Element 4. Word is they've started stirring lately, so I've been asked to put together a multi guild joint team to deal with these pests once and for all."
The news left everyone shocked, and murmurs broke out at once.
"Element 4? Those rats from the Balam Alliance are getting bold again?"
"We've been hunting them for ages. Can't believe they actually have the nerve to operate inside Fiore now."
"If they've crawled out of their hole, then it's about time we exterminated the vermin once and for all!"
"Take me. I'm going too."
The voice rang out beside Lucy, and she turned to find Ultear on her feet, her expression visibly darkening.
"Brain. I'm the one who's going to finish him myself."
It was the first time Lucy had ever seen Ultear carry this much killing intent toward anyone. Shrinking back a little, more than a bit unnerved, she quickly turned to Meredy for an explanation.
"Um, who's Brain? And what exactly are Element 4 and the Balam Alliance?"
After a worried glance at Ultear, Meredy leaned in and quietly filled Lucy in.
"Brain's Ultear's sworn enemy, and also the leader of Element 4. The Balam Alliance is the evil coalition formed by Element 4, along with Tartaros and Grimoire Heart, the three largest dark guilds, banded together specifically to stand against the official guilds. Plenty of dark guilds fall under the Balam Alliance's banner, including Eisenwald, the guild Natsu and the others just ran into. Just going by numbers alone, they're strong enough to rival the Magic Council itself."
"Th, that strong?"
Hearing all this, Lucy suddenly found herself regretting how quickly she'd jumped at Kabe's invitation. She was just a weak, unremarkable rookie, and facing off against an enemy that sounded exactly like some grand villain organization straight out of a novel, this early in her career, felt like more than she could handle.
But Kabe wasn't about to give her a chance to back out. After answering the Guild Master's question, he addressed the group.
"The actual operation still has to wait on word from Hisui. Until then, everyone get yourselves ready."
He turned to Ultear, her eyes burning with stubborn resolve, and gave her a nod.
"Ultear, you're in on this too. And Guild Master, if you could reach out to your contacts, it'd help to have friends at other guilds keeping an eye on Element 4's movements as well."
On a matter like this, Makarov wasn't about to slack off. He sobered up almost instantly, set down his unfinished drink, and went off at once to contact his old friends.
Once Makarov left, Ultear let out a long breath and dropped back into her chair. Thinking back on all the deranged experiments Brain had run on her, and how he'd deceived her and her mother, a surge of fury and killing intent rose up inside her. The cold, hostile air radiating off her left Lucy too intimidated to even speak to her, and she quietly shrank a little closer to Meredy instead.
Elsewhere, on learning that their target this time was Brain, Gray was already cracking his knuckles in anticipation. Ever since Brain had slipped through his fingers once before, he'd spent a long time stewing over it, and now that he finally had another shot, he swore he'd make this scum, the man who'd torn his master and his senior apart, wish he'd never been born.