Hey, guys! Storm here, and I've got a new story for you guys! Hopefully, since this idea has been bouncing around my head for a while, writing it down will free up my head to think of some ideas for my other stories (like ODaK), but here's the de facto prologue for Spark. Hopefully, this turns into a three part series, but we'll see where this goes. Storm Out!
Sweet Jesus, did he hate this city.
Natsu "Salamander" Dragneel stood perched on the edge of a communications tower overlooking the slums outside the city of Crocus, studiously attempting to ignore the stench of filth and squalor wafting up from the streets below. The people often couldn't afford enough food to last a day, or enough blankets to sleep comfortably at night, but they still clung to the ideas that the Absolution regime put forth. They attended Absolution schools and events, watched Absolution television, and read Absolution-mandated materials. It was worse if you were an Anomaly, like him, because you were the one who could fight back, you were powerful.
You were the enemy.
"Sound off."
The deep voice rang through his earpiece, causing him to wince. The voice belonged to his squad leader, Thor, and judging by the tone, he hadn't found what they were looking for. Natsu listened as he continued to scan the streets of the slums.
"Iceman. Nothing yet."
"Black Steel. I ain't seen nothing."
"Beast. I haven't seen anything."
Natsu put his fingers to his earpiece. "Salamander here. Nothing to…" He trailed off as a flash of movement caught his eyes. He flipped down the goggles that sat just below his shock of pink hair. "MAVIS, give me night-vision." The AI in his ear chirped, and the goggles instantly switch to a green tinted view. Peering back down, and ignoring the increasingly tense calls of his name over the radio, he spotted the flash of movement that had originally tipped him off. A small girl peered out from behind a trash can, and then darted out across the street, headed towards an old warehouse. Natsu's eyes lit up. "Shut it, I've got something." He said, effectively cutting off Thor's shouts. "Does that something match the description of the target?" Thor questioned, sounding tense. "Yes, it does." Natsu said, standing up. He leaped off of the tower, flipping and landing catlike on a roof below, and shadowed the girl, making sure to stay out of sight. He stopped on a roof outside of the warehouse. Suddenly, his earpiece crackled back to life.
"Black Steel here. Something…interesting just went down in the city center." Natsu looked towards the high rise buildings visible on the horizon. Only the rich and the powerful lived in the center of Crocus, where luxury was a normality. Ordinarily, they would never approach it, but they had been in Crocus for a while now, and with no results, Thor was getting desperate. "Interesting?" Thor asked, an edge to his voice. "Explain." "A couple of soldiers just turned a car into a cheese grater. Driver and passenger look to be dead, but I can't identify from here. Should I engage?" There was a barely-concealed edge of excitement to his voice as he asked his question. Natsu shook his head. Black Steel was a brawler, plain and simple. He loved going into a fight, and the disappointment was almost palpable when Thor responded. "Negative, Black Steel. Move to back up Salamander, and we'll bring the Fairy Tail around and pick you guys up." Black Steel grumbled out a response. Natsu grinned, then flattened himself to the roof he was perched on as a low buzzing hum filled his ear. Hissing out the words, "radio silence,"he watched as a black, ironclad dropship flew over his head, stopping and hovering over the roof of the warehouse that the girl was hiding in. Ignoring Thor's repeated calls of his name, he watched as eight Absolution soldiers dropped down onto the roof and crouched, pulling out the Absolution-issued H-38 assault rifles and crouching next to the roof access door as the dropship flew off. Pressing his finger to his earpiece, he hissed out a warning. "Eight Absolution goons just dropped on the roof, carrying H-38s and they're about to storm the building. Black Steel, if you don't get here quick, we're probably going to lose her. Silence greeted his message, then Thor's grim tone sounded out. "Do everything you can to make sure that doesn't happen, Salamander. Black Steel, where are you?" "I'm still about two minutes out. I'm going as quick as I can." Natsu nodded at Black Steel's response, his hand moving to the katana that was strapped to his left hip.
A muffled crunch rang out as the lock on the roof access door broke, and six of the soldiers advanced down the stairs, while two of them stayed behind, their rifles trained on the fire escape that was opposite them. With a growl of "Engaging," he leaped onto the roof of the warehouse, landing catlike and silent on the concrete roof. Racing towards the two guards, he drew his katana and hilt slammed the first one he reached, causing him to double over and drop his weapon. His partner attempted to level his weapon at Natsu, but Natsu caught his arm with a slash and knocked the weapon out of his hand, sweeping the blade up to his throat and causing him to freeze. He was just about to knock him out when a voice rang out behind him. "Drop your weapon. Now." Natsu cursed himself for not taking the other guard out of the equation. "I said drop it, Anomaly!" Natsu kept his blade where it was, slowly reaching for the pistol that sat on his right hip. "I'm not going to ask again!" The soldier said, jabbing his gun into Natsu's back. "Drop your weapon or-ACK!" The soldier cut off with a surprised grunt, before falling sideways. Natsu whipped his katana around and hilt slammed his soldier in the throat before he could react, causing him to grab at his crushed windpipe and struggle for air. Falling to one knee, the soldier collapsed from lack of oxygen, as Natsu turned to be met with Black Steel, his iron scales fading from his skin. "Good entrance, Gajeel." Natsu said, making his way over to the roof access and looking back. "Watch your six, Salamander." Gajeel responded, his scales reforming on his arms. "I'm assuming that the target is inside?" "Yep, along with six goons." Natsu replied, readying his katana, which began to glow white-hot. "Try not to screw this one up, Natsu." Gajeel cracked, a smirk on his face as he drew his sidearm. Natsu glared at him, before rushing down the stairs. Hearing muffled shouts from the rear of the warehouse, they sprinted towards the sound, to see the six Absolution soldiers gathered around a stack of boxes. The leader stepped forward. "Anomaly, face us for the crimes against Absolution you have committed." Natsu grinned. "Sure!" Gajeel said, causing all six to whip around and face them. Gajeel leaped in front of Natsu, hardening his skin as the bullets from the six H-38s ricocheted harmlessly off of his iron scales. When the clips ran out, Gajeel crouched, allowing Natsu to vault off of his back and land, crouched, behind the leader, who went down yelling as Natsu slashed at the back of his legs, and subsequently at his chest, effectively silencing him. Moving on to the two nearest him, Natsu finished them off with ease, and glanced at Gajeel just in time to see him duck a rifle butt and catch the last soldier in the jaw with an iron fist, sending him crashing into a stack of boxes. "Slowpoke." Natsu said, a smirk on his face. Gajeel frowned, then turned towards the stack of boxes. "Hey, little girl? You can come out now, the soldiers are gone." At first, there was silence, and the two men looked at each other worriedly, but then soft sobs reached their ears from behind the boxes. Natsu moved slowly around them, finding the little girl who he had spotted earlier crouched behind the boxes, sniffling. "Hey there." He said kindly, and the girl started and tried to back away from him. "Stay away!" she yelled, putting up her fists. "Easy there." Natsu said, putting his hands up in surrender. Not that the girl could have done anything. Instead, he slowly walked towards her. "Stay back! I don't want anyone to get hurt!" She said again. Natsu smiled kindly. "I won't get hurt. In fact, we're here to help you." "How can you help me?" She asked, scared, but Natsu was pleased to see that she lowered her hands. He crouched down in front of her, smile still in place. "Because we're like you." He said, summoning a ball of fire that sat in the palm of his hand. The fire danced cheerily as the girl stared in wonder. "What's your name?" Natsu said, putting out the fire and standing up, offering a hand to the young girl. The girl took his hand, smiling shyly. "Wendy. What's yours?" "My name's Natsu, and this is my partner, Gajeel." Gajeel nodded to them, his hand on his earpiece. Nodding, he walked over to them. "Laxus is about two minutes out, and then we're heading back to Tenrou." He crouched in front of Wendy. "We're going to take you somewhere safe, and we're going to teach you to use your powers. Okay?" Wendy nodded. "What can you do?" Natsu asked. Wendy looked down shyly, before extending her arms. A brisk wind began to blow through the warehouse, and Natsu's and Gajeel's eyes widened. "That is awesome." Natsu said, wincing as his earpiece crackled to life. "We're on the roof." The voice of Laxus said. "Get up here so we can get out of here." "Roger that." Natsu replied, before kneeling in front of Wendy. "Alright, Wendy, we've got to go up to the roof. Are you sure you want to come with us?" Wendy nodded excitedly, and they made their way over to the stairs that led to the roof.
When they reached the roof, Laxus was there waiting, and behind him was a large Reaper-class dropship that they named the Mage. Laxus spotted them, and walked over towards them, smiling. "We've got to leave soon. Mystogan is running interference, but he can only distract the Fairy Hunters for so long. So, everybody on board, and we'll head towards Tenrou." Natsu and Gajeel nodded, and Laxus crouched in front of Wendy. "We're going to take you to your new home now, okay? Someplace safe." Wendy nodded, and they climbed aboard. Laxus headed towards the cockpit. "Grey, Elfman, get us out of here." The ship lifted, flying low over the rooftops of the slums to stay under the radar. As they cleared the city limits, Laxus turned to Wendy, who was nervously eyeing the inside of the ship. "Are you okay?" He asked the girl, who jumped and stared at Laxus. "Do you need anything? Something to eat or drink?" When she nodded, Laxus stood and made his way to the back of the ship, coming back a minute later with a sandwich and a bottle of water. He handed them to Wendy, who tore the wrapper off and practically inhaled the first half of the sandwich, before catching herself and looking around, embarrassed. The others just laughed. "You'll fit right in, kid." Gajeel said, ruffling her hair, as they heard Elfman's muffled voice from the cockpit shouting, "She eats like a real man!" Laxus stood up and made his way to the front of the ship, stopping at the doorway to the cockpit. "Wendy, I'd like to take the time to introduce the team." He indicated the small group sitting in the ship. "We are Strike Force A, of the Anomaly group known as Fairy Tail, more commonly known as the Dragons. I'm the leader, Laxus, and my codename is Thor. The two in the cockpit are Beast, or Elfman, and Iceman, or Gray." Gajeel cleared his throat. "My name is Gajeel, but when we're out here, I go by Black Steel. Nice to meet you." Lastly, Natsu spoke up. "I'm Natsu, but my codename is Salamander." Laxus nodded. Wendy stood up and curtsied. "I'm Wendy. It's so nice to meet other people like me." They all grinned. "Welcome to the family, Wendy."
"Are you KIDDING me?!" Erza slammed her palm down on the table. "They were here?! In Crocus?!" The soldier cowered, his head bowed as he knelt on the floor in front of her. "It would appear so, ma'am. Out in the slums. When a squadron cornered a fugitive in a warehouse, two of them took out the squad and rescued the Anomaly, and then they disappeared." Erza stood, cold and calculating. "And why was I not informed about this?" She asked, the calm tone of her voice masking the sheer fury she was feeling. "My apologies, Knightwalker, but you were in a meeting with your brother. By the time that you finished, the Anomalies had disappeared." Erza sat back in the cold metal chair. "Thank you for informing me of this. You are dismissed." The soldier stood, bowed to her, and left, leaving her seething. They had been in the city. Within her reach, and they slipped in and out before she was able to notice. She bowed her head as flashbacks took over her mind. Summers spent with a boy, nights spent staring at stars.
Flashes of pink hair.
And there you have it! Chapter one of the Wildfire Trilogy, Book One: Spark! Let me know what you guys think, and I'll see you later. May the wind be always at your back and fill your wings!