"268593, step forward please" No matter how many times I say it, they just don't listen, do they.
"I have a name you know," I mumbled smugly, accepting the carrot colored scrubs. Waiting for the familiar ring of the resident 'approval' stamp to sound through the chatty hallway leading out to the courtyard, I glanced briefly at the guard I had most definitely annoyed in some way, shape or form. 'Hmmm, Bora, have we met before?' I wondered walking silently down the empty corridor. Bora. Where had I heard that name?
"268593! Head up, face straight!" Yelled the guard I'd come to know as Kageyama. Smirking in the spiky black haired man's direction, I left out an uninterested scoff and resumed my trudge forward through the Eisenwald Correctional Facility. Ha, correctional my ass. The people working in this hell hole are more fucked up than all the Death row inmates combined. "What was that, pretty boy?" Before I had any time to respond, Kageyama latched himself onto my collar with death in his eyes. Breathing in slowly, I kept my face indifferent to the death glare he was currently staring me down with, the longer we stood in that old dank hallway, the more pissed off Kageyama got.
"Kageyama! What have I told you about interacting with the inmates." Rolling my eyes, I smirked internally as my gaze landed upon the king of prison himself. Erigor, the big man running everything in this messed up facility. "Mr. Dragneel, I see you're causing trouble with my staff again." He stated, boredom dripping from that arrogant mouth of his. Turning my full attention to the smaller male standing regally in front of me, I gave him a quick once over and shrugged.
"Only to have these little moments together," I replied smugly, expecting what was to come next. When the feeling of a rough, calloused hand came in contact with my cleanly shaven face, all I could do was an evilly contemplative smirk. "Now do you have to be so mean?" I asked deviously, the dark glint shading my deep emerald green eyes to an almost midnight black, made Kageyama and the incompetent pair of guards everyone referred to as the Eisenwald Twins, cower behind their boss in favor of living.
"It seems to me you've forgotten what exactly happens to punks like you," Erigor stated crossing his flimsy looking arms over his small chest. Smirking at Erigor's feeble attempt to match me, the subtle nod of his head told me I was going to be taken by the Twins. "Take him to Solitary." He said, an arrogant touch of pride lining each word thickly. Scowling at his egotistically overbearing personality, I begrudgingly began walking to Solitary. This jackass's going to make me do something neither of us is going to like if he can't keep his domineering mouth shut.
A couple of hours later, I found myself sitting with my back to the wall and a tennis ball in my hand. Cliche, right? Figures as much, most every prison movie out has the whole 'throw a tennis ball at the wall out of sheer boredom' type scene. Something's off though. It isn't anything with the staff or the old rickety building keeping the lot of us inside, just the day. Waiting a couple more minutes, just listening for anything usual, I continued bouncing the back and forth between the wall and me, finishing out my time.
But it wasn't until late, almost 3 A.M if I had to guess, that I finally heard the strange noise I had been pining to hear. The low hum of the sliding cage bars opening up to let through a guard. Smirking to myself, I could immediately guess who it was. The dark blue haired man that just so happened to step in the light of the barred window on the door only served to confirm my suspicions. 'Bora.'
"Ya know Dragneel; I just thought that I'd finally struck out. Got enough stashed away to live peacefully on some island somewhere, wreak havoc just for the fun of it and move on to the next place but something told me one more gig would do me good. A simple retrieval mission, but it turns out I needed to save your sorry ass." Bora growled in annoyance, disappointment coursing through his thick voice. "What 'd ya do this time? Steal a priceless painting? Go after some rich bitch for her jewelry?" He said sliding the key into its lock, opening the titanium-plated door.
"It was a simple Money Laundering job, one that we could have easily done within a week but Gray and I found something much more valuable. So we spent another couple months there before we eventually got caught and I took the fall for everything. I assume Gray sent you with a care package?" I asked with a smirk.
"You and your Motley Crue are gonna get your asses handed to you by the government, and I swear I ain't gonna do a thing to stop it." Bora sighed, giving me a laundry sack with a simple black v-neck, some dark jeans, and a brown leather jacket. I recognized it as the jacket a friend of mine used for an escape costume a couple of years back. "Come on; we've only got 15 more minutes before securities gonna recognize a tamper in the security tape," Bora said pushing the door closed and briskly walked back down the way he came.
"So, a simple retrieval mission huh? How much did Gray have to pay you for this to happen?" I asked unbuttoning my scrub shirt and replacing it with the shirt Gray had packed for me. Hearing the humorless chuckle escape Bora's mouth I could only imagine it wasn't as much as he'd been hoping to get.
"You better shut your mouth before I call this whole thing off and leave you with Erigor." He said directing me down another passageway. Letting out a sharp 'Ha' at the thought, I rolled my eyes and kept going. I could handle myself against that twig; he couldn't lay one fragile finger on me even if he tried. "Stop here." Coming to a corner, I quickly finished dressing keeping my head down to hide from the cameras. As I was fixing everything up, I heard a quiet 'oomph' before a body fell to the ground.
"Not bad old man," I said coming around to see Bora standing over the man with a look of annoyance.
"Who are you calling old man, pinky? I'm only a couple years older than." He said defensively.
"Yeah, I'm not the one retiring." I snapped back with a glare. Throughout my history as a con-man, Bora and I have run into each other on more than one occasion. First was when I was 18 and he was 23. I was a freshman at Magnolia University while he was running credit card scams to pay off his med school tuition at Hargeon. He got caught a few months after but we ran into each other a year later on an embezzlement job.
"Look, I know you're gonna miss having me around, but it's for the best Natsu. My times almost up and if I don't get out soon, I might end up stuck in the exact situation you're trying to get out of." Bora said pulling me through a stairway down. "Now we gotta hurry, we only got…" He took a slight glance at his watch, "5 minutes before the alarms gonna sound." He said pushing me towards an empty wall.
I knew it was an illusion so I followed blindly behind him until we reach the wall. Bora banged his fist slightly on the top of what seemed to be a ventilation tube and place the scrap piece of metal beside us on the floor. Motioning for me to go, I crawled through quickly and followed the directions he was whispering to me from behind. 5 minutes later, we were home free. The getaway car was parked right outside the barbed fence Bora had the keys too. That's when the alarm sounded. Too little too late Eisenwald.
Once I reached the black rusty pickup truck waiting just outside of the camera's line of view, I turned to look back at the concrete shithouse keeping me captive for the last 3 months. Smirking at all the chaos I had created for the guards within the facility; I gave a small 'hang loose' hand signal as a wave of relief washed over my entire body. I picked up a habit of using the sign from my time in Kauai pulling an environment scheme.
"Aye, Firebug, getcher ass in this car right now or I'm leaving you here," Bora growled, his gruff voice thick with worry for the potential risk of getting caught. I rolled my eyes at the old nickname he gave me a while back when I accidentally set a forgery he had made on fire. Huffing silently about how that happened 3 years ago, I swiftly got in the car, and we sped away.
"That was one time Bora and you know it was an accident. How could I have known you were coming up to show Freed the forgery? You knew I was testing the flamethrower Gajeel had brought in from his weapons trade and yet there you were, walking up and not paying attention. Now that I think about it, my burning the forgery was entirely your fault." I stated pointing an accusatory finger in his face.
"No, no no no. It wasn't communicated to me that you were 'testing' the flamethrower, therefore, leading me, and everyone else I'm sure, to believe that you were just fucking around out of boredom and destroyed my beautiful masterpiece for no damn reason." Bora claimed with certainty, and I felt my arrogant smirk falter slightly.
Something about Bora's conviction could make even the most trustful most people doubt their opinions. Even if he was wrong, he could make a compelling case out of nothing and still make you believe him. I knew this about Bora even before we got to know each other. That's why I always gave him such shit for wanting to be a doctor instead of a lawyer of something.
"Well, I still maintain the fact that you walked up behind ME, and weren't paying attention, 'therefore' you got your forgery burned. I was merely the poor unfortunate soul you ran into." I said crossing my arms over my chest and looking childishly out the window.
Upon hearing Bora scoff at my childish behavior, I felt a little bit of my smirk return when he didn't have a comeback to my retaliation.
"You know arguing with you is like trying to argue with a brick wall that has no purpose. You refuse to believe that you're wrong and, acknowledge the fact that you screwed up in some way." Bora huffed, and I knew he was fed up. Even so, I could contain my smile. There's the Bora I know and semi-love, semi-hate.
"Glad to have you back Bora," I said patting his shoulder lightly. Paying no mind to the utterly confused look on Bora's face I directed my attention back to outside the window. Old tattered abandoned brick buildings turned into luxurious looking hotels and expensive stores lining the street. We cruised down the road in no particular rush to get anywhere.
"Gray's got a sweet new setup now," Bora said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. Rolling my head against the headrest towards Bora's direction I made a light humming sound to show I was listening. "Laxus hooked him up pretty good with one of his grandfather's many penthouse apartments overlooking Magnolia." Exhaling harshly through my nose, a wave of tiredness washed over me.
"Awesome." I drawled out slowly. Who knew escaping prison would take so much energy? Eisenwald was just a weak security shit hole on some wasted marsh land just outside the city; it shouldn't have taken this much out of me. "Gramps has pulled through once again," I muttered proudly. That man maybe old but he gets around better than anyone I've ever known.
"That man is bat-shit crazy; I heard from some of the guys that back in his 'golden days' Makarov would pull off the most insane heists known to man," Bora stated proudly, an unbelieving smile plastered on his scruffy face. "You know one of his last hits was the MGM during its busiest time of year?" Bora asked, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Shaking my head, I scoffed incredulously at this newly found information. "W-w-wait, you're telling me that that old geezer stole from one of the biggest casinos here in the U.S?" I asked skeptically. Bora nodded his head, his proud smile confirming my suspicions. "No fucking way."
"Yeah and apparently he planned the entire thing out by himself, occasionally taking help from Bob and Goldmine but knowing them, they barely did a thing."
"What the fuck?! How did I not know about this?" I asked staring down at my bouncing leg trying to think if I might have missed it from one of the many Makarov talks I droned out thinking of some completely different. Doesn't help that I, admittedly, have the attention span of a goldfish.
"Hey, maybe the old man just doesn't trust you like the rest of us. You do tend to forget all the rules to being a prime con man to have a good fight." Bora offered knowing it didn't help.
Glaring harshly at the dark blue haired man, I huffed in annoyance at the possibility that he was right and crossed my arms childishly. Ignoring Bora's snickering from the driver's seat, I watched in excitement as we pulled into the garage of a fancy looking apartment building.
Exiting the truck, I smiled at door but turned around confused when I didn't hear another car door slam. Leaning into the window, I sighed deeply when I remembered Bora's words. 'My times almost up and if I don't get out soon, I might end up stuck in the exact situation you're trying to get out of.'
"So this is the end of the line for you, isn't it," I stated trying to sound indifferent, but even I could tell there was some little bit of sorrow stuck in my voice.
"Yeah well, what can I say? I've been running this game since you were still in high school, it's about time I take my leave of this life and start a new one. One where I don't always have to look over my shoulder every time I go out." Bora said, and I could hear the pain in his voice. He didn't want to leave either, but anyone in his position would do the same exact thing. That didn't mean people had to be happy about it.
"Everyone upstairs?" I asked looking towards the elevator. Turning back towards him, I saw the slight nod and a far off look in his eyes, but that lasted a total of 40 seconds before disappearing altogether. "Alright well hasta la vista bratwurst, enjoy early retirement," I said with a laugh.
"Yeah yeah Firebug, take care of yourself will ya? We don't need me coming back out just to save your sorry ass again" Bora returned with a genuine smile. I could tell he was sincere, with Bora it was an easy thing to see if he was lying or not, if you know him that is.
"Can't promise you anything but until I place that special call, Aloha brah and enjoy yourself," I said smiling while giving him a Shaka. Laughing at his confused face, I backed away still smiling as I reached the doors. "Until we meet again Bora." Pressing the up button I gave my friend one last smile which he returned before driving off. Slowly the door closed and I began moving up, up to my scandalous life as a conman.