A.N Hey everybody, AAA here! Well for starters, sorry this took so long. Updating is a lot harder than I thought it'd be. Second, yes I know chapter 2 was short, I know I know. This one is much longer, and I promise the action and heists are coming. The devil is in the details. And guys leave a review, let me know what you think. I'm always willing to listen :D Anyways enjoy chapter 3! Oh and I don't own Fairy Tail. Same as usual

Chapter 3: Not in Kansas Anymore

Lucy's head hurt. Her arms hurt. Her legs hurt. Her butt hurt. Her pride hurt. Her everything hurt. That was the first thing that came into her mind as she regained consciousness, the pain that her body was in. She tried to move any part that would respond, but every single part just screamed in protest. She tried opening her eyes, and found that, yes those too, hurt. There wasn't a single part of Lucy's body that didn't hurt, feel swollen, or probably look bruised. Nothing long sleeves and a shit ton of foundation couldn't cover up though.

She slowly opened her eyes to nothing but bright, white nothingness. She blinked them closed a few times, letting them readjust to the new surroundings, and found herself staring up at a ceiling light. Her memory was hazy, only bits and pieces of it came here and there, as if she were trying to recall memories with a hangover. All she could remember was that she was driving; there was some crazy motorcyclist, and Happy screaming the name Natsu. That must've been "Nathan's" real name. After that, she doesn't remember anything at all.

All she knew was, she needed to get her keys back, she would never forgive herself if she lost any of them. And what happened to her companions who were in the car with her? They had to be nearby, right? All the questions racing through her mind only compounded the throbbing pain rocking her head right now. First and foremost, she needed to figure out where she was. Despite the pain in her head, and intense stiffness in her neck, she managed to turn her head to the right to get a view of her immediate surroundings.

As she looked to her right, she figured that she was in an infirmary of some kind. There were two beds in cold metal frames to her right, each bed about two feet apart. They had crisp, clean white sheets and pillows and looked as if they had never been used before. There was also a matching nightstand, complete with a lamp and digital clock to the right of each bed. She noticed the clock said 2:30, while the date below the time said July 9th. She had only been unconscious for a couple hours. Lucy let out a sigh of relief when she noticed she hadn't been out for two long, as well as a familiar leather pouch, resting idly on the nightstand to her right. She lifted her right arm to reach up and grab it, yet immediately regretted every single part of that action from the very idea of it, to actually attempting to raise her arm. Not only did the pain shoot through her entire arm like a rocket, both her forearms were wrapped in gauze and bandages making movement even more difficult than it already was.

Content knowing her keys were nearby and accounted for, she continued her examination of her surroundings. She noticed her clothes were different. Whereas earlier she was wearing a white sundress, now she was in a white tank top that lightly strained against her large chest, and black parachute pants. She wondered who had changed her and solemnly vowed to kick their ass when she found them. Her mind immediately flashed to Nathan, or was it Natsu? For some reason, the thought of him taking off her clothes and seeing her undressed… Lucy felt her heart begin to race in her chest, and the heat rise to her cheeks and she tried to shake her head in denial. The resulting pain was a good banisher of her lecherous thoughts.

Directly across from her, Lucy could make out three more beds that seemed to perfectly mirror her side of the room. All beds were empty, clean, and unused, with the same set of curtains hanging around, and matching nightstands to the side. The walls behind the beds on both sides were painted a creamy white, reinforcing the idea behind this room being an infirmary. There were a series of three white cabinets, with glass doors mounted on the wall, hanging in the space above the nightstands between each bed. One cabinet had a red heart with a lightning bolt symbol on the right door of the cabinet. "That's probably where the defibrillator is" Lucy said under her breath.

The second cabinet had a red and white fire symbol on its door. "Obviously means fire extinguisher", she said to herself. Her eyes continued to scan the cabinets and her eyes fell on the third and final cabinet.

The symbol on this cabinet had two snakes intertwined around a rod. "The rod of Caduceus, that cabinet must have medicine." she concluded, again talking to herself. She let her eyes wander from the cabinets along wall to get a view of the rest of the room. Lucy eyes widened in awe when she saw the windows of the room.

There weren't really windows in the wall at the opposite end of the infirmary. It was more along the lines of the windows were the wall. She was clearly in some sort of highrise building that probably dwarfed most surrounding buildings, because Lucy saw no rooftops or any buildings for that matter from her position on the bed. The windows were sleek and polished to a point, where it looked as if there were no windows there at all. The sky outside was a bright, light lazy blue with fluffy white clouds which meant it had to be either early morning or midday. The sky reminded Lucy of the peaceful serenity she felt at Hargeon, before it started raining armored trucks.

With a quick burst of effort, she managed to roll her head so that it was facing the left side, and began to survey the opposite side of the room. There were two more beds on each side of the room, again mirroring each other, completing a set of ten beds in the infirmary. The only bed occupied, was the one Lucy was in.

The fourth and final wall mirrored its opposite. It was made entirely of clear glass, which gave the illusion of it almost being nonexistent. Outside the glass, there was a steel handrail framing the edges of a walkway, with metal plating hanging below the railing. It was hard to tell from Lucy's position, but it looked as if glass rose above to the ceiling from the handrail. Then a petite woman, with azure hair appeared, walking along the walkway. She placed her hand on the portion of the glass, framing the left hand wall, and waited. Lucy had to squint, but she could make out two green lines, running up and down her hand, before moving side to side. The glass was scanning her hand. Then she pulled her hand away as the glass slid to the right, perfectly blending in with the rest of the wall and the woman stepped inside, with the door (?) sliding shut behind her.

"Oh good, you're awake. You must have a lot of questions ranging from what happened, to where am I, who are you, how did I get in these clothes and why is your hair blue. And in order: you crashed your getaway car, the Fairy Tail Thieves Guild Hall, my name is Levy, Levy McGarden, I changed you, you're welcome, and blue is it's natural color, so don't judge it!" the petite woman said with a bright smile, except for the last part with her voice rising in defense of her odd colored hair, while placing her right hand on her hip.

Levy was wearing an all-black, loose hanging dress that exposed her shoulders, and reached halfway down her thighs with sleeves on the arms, and black combat boots. A black pistol holster was hanging from her right hip, while a black combat knife holster was resting on her left thigh. She also had what looked like some sort of thin, black gauntlet on her right forearm. She was wearing black, fingerless, leather gloves on each hand. Her body albeit tiny, seemed to be in excellent shape, with toned arms and legs. Her eyes, unlike her stature, were large, and caramel colored. Her nose was tiny as well, yet she had a very big smile on her face. Lucy made a mental note to not try and kick Levy's ass for changing her clothes. After all she couldn't but feel slightly disappointed that it wasn't the man she met earlier, Natsu to do it.

"How are you feeling?" she asked walking over to Lucy's bed.

"I'm feeling great. I've always wanted to crash a car at 70 miles per hour" Lucy replied, while rolling her eyes, the only part of her body she could move without pain.

Levy flicked a random spot on Lucy's arm, and smirked when she winced in pain. "Do you always talk to your doctor like that? It's nothing short of amazing that the worst injury you sustained was some severe bruising and some pretty nasty cuts on your legs." she asked extending her arm with the gauntlet over Lucy's body. She pulled put a pair of clear-glass sports sunglasses.

"You're no doctor. And where were you keeping that pair of glasses?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow, not seeing any noticeable pockets in Levy's outfit.

Levy ignored the question and placed the pair of glasses on. Lucy couldn't tell what was happening, but all of a sudden the glass in the sunglasses came alive. It looked like a series of blue lines had appeared on the glass and had begun to scan the room. Levy lowered her arm, before looking down at Lucy and all of a sudden Lucy could see a reflection of her body, but x-rayed. After a minute or two, looking up and down Lucy's body, Levy looked down at her gauntlet one last time before lowering arm. Levy looked down at Lucy before smirking.

"Wanna meet everyone else in the guild? They're dying to meet the girl who disabled a security guard with nothing but her boobs." she said, desperately fighting back the urge to laugh.

Lucy felt her mouth drop. "That is so not true! I mean yes I did take out the security guard, and yes he may have seen some of my boobs, but I did NOT take him out using my boobs!" she yelled, feeling herself become flushed yet again. "And in case you haven't realized, it hurts to move EVERY SINGLY PART OF MY BODY, SO HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO MEET ANYBODY?" she yelled, trying to emphasize the point by attempting to move, only to have pain greet every single part of her body.

Levy couldn't help but laugh as she saw Lucy wriggle and squirm on the bed, her own body fighting her. "Don't worry I've got just the thing to help." she said with a wink, before turning around and walking to the opposite side of the infirmary. She stood up on her tiptoes to reach for the cabinet with the rod of Caduceus and opened it. Lucy saw Levy reach up and pull out a silver container from the cabinet. Closing the cabinet she turned around made her way over to Lucy's bed. The container was a shining silver, with glass lines running along the length of the canister. It was no more than five inches long by two and a half inches wide. The lines were glowing with what looked like a shining golden liquid inside. Levy pushed a black button on the side, and a hypodermic needle shot out of one end, while a depressor popped out of the other.

Lucy's eyes widened in shock at the size of the needle and the malicious grin on the bluenette's face. "Um, that's a rather big needle…what exactly is that for?" Lucy asked nervously, drops of sweat beginning to form on her face. She felt her stomach begin to swirl again, just as it did before the heist earlier that day.

"This my busty blonde friend, is Fairy Heart. Call it a secret formula amongst the thieves in our guild. There's a lot of science behind it and what it does specifically to the body, but long story short, this is what makes us number one. This is what gives us the edge over other guilds, the ability to run faster, jump higher, and hit harder than any of our enemies. It also works as a kickass pain reliever, and stimulant. It won't magically heal bullet or knife wounds, but it'll completely rid your body of all aches and pains. If you want the effects of this to stay permanent, the Fairy Marker booster we have will do that, but that's only if you choose to join our guild." Levy explained to Lucy. She then turned to look Lucy in the eyes, her expression going from playful to serious in an instant. "You were planning on joining the guild right?" Levy asked with a look that was…pleading to Lucy

Lucy looked into Levy's eyes, and she could see that despite all the secrecy and cockiness, Levy seemed to genuinely want Lucy to join. She couldn't but help let a smile spread across her face. "Not going to lie" Lucy began speaking to Levy gaining the girl's attention. "The main reason I took the job in Hargeon was because I thought I was working with the real Salamander. It's kind of been my dream for a while now to join this guild. Your guild." Lucy finished, never once looking away from Levy.

Levy smiled at Lucy's words. "Well you'll have to talk to the master about officially joining, but Natsu won't stop singing praises about you, and quite frankly I can see he wasn't wrong either. I can't wait to get be friends with you Lu."

Lucy felt herself blush at the nickname. She never really had one before. "I can't wait to be friends with you too Levy." Lucy replied back.

"Then as your future friend, I have two things to say to you. One, I hope you forgive me. And two, you're going to feel this". Levy said as she quickly raised the arm with the needle over her head

Lucy's eyes widened at her words and actions. "WAIT DON'T…" Lucy didn't get to finish her sentence as Levy swung her arm down, and plunged the needle straight into Lucy's chest before pressing the depressor down.

Lucy couldn't even begin to describe the experience that followed. All of the aches and pains in her body instantly vanished, as if carried away by some magical wind blowing them out of her body like birthday candles. Lucy slammed her eyes shut, as some sort of…energy rapidly began to overtake her, filling her up like a reservoir. When she opened her eyes, her pupils constricted, shrinking to the size of a pin before returning to a semi normal size, while her irises went from caramel brown to glowing golden yellow. She felt her senses sharpen to razor points. She could make out the copper filaments in the white ceiling lights above. She could smell the perfume that Levy had worn that day, a mix of lavender and orange blossoms, mixing rather poorly with the smell of antiseptic from the infirmary. She could hear the inner workings of an office building coming from outside the infirmary and down the stairs. She could taste the bitter saltiness of some blood that must've been left over from the crash earlier that day. Her hands involuntarily gripped the metal railing surrounding the bed and squeezed them. Hard.

Lucy sat upright in the bed at such a speed, it startled both her and Levy. She sat up so fast; the syringe fell from her chest and was flung to the floor. She didn't think, she didn't look, she just reacted. Her left hand shot out and she caught the syringe before it had any chance to fall to the ground. She found herself breathing heavily and she looked around wildly, as if she was just looking at the room for the first time. And it may as well have been the first time. Everything was so much clearer now. It was as if she was looking through a clouded window that had just been cleared. She could make out every detail of everything in the room. Every. Single. One.

"Lu, just take a deep breath and relax. Everything is fine." Levy spoke up. Lucy's head whirled to face the woman, and made contact with her. Lucy was angry to say the least, but she was also scared. She'd never experienced anything like this before in her life. She had never experienced such a rush, such clarity before.

This was also a first experience for had both used and seen the effects of Fairy Heart many times, but never has she seen such a…potent reaction to the drug before. She would definitely need to talk to the Master about it later, but she had to calm Lucy down first. "Everything you're experiencing right now is totally normal, for the most part. Like all drugs it affects everyone differently, which is why your eyes are now a different color. But these effects should subside after a few minutes. Just take a breath and relax. I'm right here. Ok?" Levy said, holding her hands up. She spoke calmly and evenly, never breaking eye contact with Lucy.

Lucy felt her heart rate slow, and her breathing did as well. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again they had somewhat returned to their normal caramel brown, yet now they had much more elements of gold yellow in them than before. "Thanks Levy, I really appreciate it" Lucy said with a weak smile. Although her heart rate and the initial rush had died down, Lucy's senses still stayed razor sharp. Everything was beyond crystal clear, it was almost overwhelming.

"That's some bionic grip you got there Lu. I feel sorry for your boyfriend, the poor man." Levy said with a smirk, motioning to the bed railings.

Lucy blushed at her friend's statement. "I don't have a boyfriend, for your information, and what do you mean bionic grip?" She then looked down at the bed railings and found that she couldn't just let go of them. She had to pry her right hand away with her left and stared in amazement at the railing. Her grip was so strong that she could see hand prints on the rail. The rail had started to bend and looked like a crushed tin can from where her hands just were. She pulled her hands away, and stared at them, amazed by what she had just done. "How did I…" Lucy said softly, letting her voice trail away. Never before in her life did she think something like this was remotely possible. Yet then again in one day, she saw one man send a truck hurtling through the air, another drove 70 miles per hour backwards on a motorcycle, and just now she crushed a steel railing with her bare hands.

"Not your average day is it?" Levy asked offering a hand to help Lucy out of her bed.

"Yeah, you can say that" Lucy replied, taking her hand and swinging her feet down onto the floor. She felt her head spin a little bit, as her feet touched the cold white tile floor.

"I told you, it gives you one heck of a boost. But believe me when I say, that's nothing compared to what some of the people in this guild can do. And you're about to meet them. Come on!" Levy said, grabbing Lucy by the hand and pulling her towards the glass door (wall?).

"Wait!" Lucy cried out, pulling her hand from Levy's grip. "Have you forgotten I'm not wearing shoes, OF ANY KIND?" Lucy asked gesturing to her naked feet. Levy handed her a pair of white, fuzzy hospital slippers to put on.

Lucy just stared at the slippers in her hand. They looked her size, and they were like flip flop slippers, sort of. "Again I ask you, where were you keeping those!?" Lucy asked Levy, examining her body for some sort of pocket, or SOMETHING. But alas she found nothing of the sort, AGAIN.

Levy didn't offer a reply and just dragged Lucy over to the door. She did not scan her hand when they approached the door. It just slid, smoothly and evenly, and Levy and Lucy walked through. They walked over to the guardrail, only a mere five feet away.

"Lucy, let me be the first to welcome you to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall".

Lucy was at a loss for words as she looked out over one of the the most famous, and secretive rooms in the Western Hemisphere. And it earned certainly earned its reputation.

The first thing that caught Lucy's eye was the globe, the holographic globe. It was a pale blue sphere roughly six feet long by five feet wide, and Lucy could clearly see the shaded continents as it rotated, suspended 8 feet above the ground floor, the top of the globe, barely reaching the floor of the second floor. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy saw Levy look down at the gauntlet on her right arm, before typing something on it. She then looked back to the map, and noticed it stopped rotating. It stayed there, suspended in midair, then zoomed in on the small country of Fiore. Lucy saw the same symbol that was on Natsu's shoulder early, a weird bird with a tail, glowing bright orange in the southern part of the country. A line extended out away from the emblem and at the end of the line the word Headquarters was spelled out in black letters. The majority of the letters in Headquarters then seemingly disappeared into digital nothingness, leaving behind the label HQ behind.

Several smaller emblems were moving around on the map as well. There were three emblems in total, each with their own tag, and they all seemed to be converging in on the headquarters emblem. The bright yellow emblem was slightly larger than the other two, and it had the tag Thunder Legion branded on it. It seemed to be travelling from the city of Shirotsume in the North. The closer emblems were a bright scarlet red, and a deep violet purple. The purple emblem was traveling south down the rail line from the city of Onibus and it had the label of Mystogan below it. The scarlet one had been travelling north from Hargeon of all places. It had just arrived in Magnolia, almost at the HQ emblem. The label below this one was Titania.

Lucy had to forcibly tear her eyes away from the globe, to examine the rest of the main guild hall. The walls of the hall were made of gray concrete, that seemingly matched the metal walkway was currently standing on. There was an upper and a lower floor, with a staircase on either side of the hall. The second floor of the guild hall was nothing spectacular; it mainly consisted of a metal grated walkway that looped almost in a U-shape, spanning three sides of the guild hall. On one end of the U was the infirmary where they were standing. Directly across from Lucy and Levy on the other side of the hall, there was what looked to be a conference room. In golden letters, the label "Briefing Room" was written above the glass wall, mirroring the look of the Infirmary. And in the middle section, there was no room, just a set of metal doors. On the floor, beneath the globe was a silver emblem that spanned the width of the globe. Written around the edges of the emblem was a phrase written in silver Latin words, "Corvus Oculum Corvi Non Eruit".

She then began to examine the lower floor more. The lower floor for starters was not a flat floor. The floor was separated into levels, each one higher than the next. The levels encircled the globe, including the desks. They revolved around the globe. What surprised Lucy the most was that there were no computers of any kind in the guild hall. In fact, it looked as if the desks were the computers. The desks looked like they were made of Plexiglas, each of them illuminated with blue light, various images flashing on different desks and were apparently touchscreen to boot. Yet desk didn't seem like a good word either. Each was like one long, continuous piece of Plexiglass that touched the floor and curved to create a surface for working.

At the end of the guild hall to Lucy's right on the first floor, there was a set of elevator doors. Lucy assumed that was the entrance/exit to this floor. Opposite of Lucy on the first floor, below the Briefing Room there was a set of doors with the word "Training" written in the same golden letters, yet that was it. Lucy leaned over the edge, trying to see if there was anything below the walkway on her side of the hall. She leaned as far over as she could and was able to make out the words "Armory Lab", before she began to fall over. And on the fourth wall, in the guild hall there was another set of elevator doors, with the words "Crew Quarters" written above them.

"So here's a quick rundown of the guild hall" piped up Levy to Lucy's left, snapping her out of her thoughts. "We're right now outside the Infirmary, if that wasn't obvious. The main entrance to the guild hall is that pair of doors over there." Levy said pointing to the doors Lucy assumed was the entrance. She mentally gave herself a high five for getting it right.

"The Briefing room over there," Levy said pointing towards the conference room "is where you'll request your jobs, and plan them if necessary. On the lower floor, you have the Training Zone, Armory Lab, Crew Quarters, and the Geosphere. I'm pretty sure the labels above each door made that obvious but what you need to know is this: the Training Zone is where you'll work on everything from stealth, to hand to hand combat to parkour among many other things. You'll be trained either by an S-Ranked member or a member who has an S-Rank in that particular field. For example with hand to hand, your trainer will most likely be Mirajane, or if it's gadgets you might be trained by me." Levy explained, pointing to herself and beaming with pride. "Each skill is evaluated by a member who has an S-Rank in that skill, and you're assigned a rating. If all of your skills reach S in ranking, you become an S-Ranked thief. Simple, right?" Levy asked

Lucy opened her mouth to respond to the inquiry, yet Levy started speaking again, not letting her answer. Lucy closed her mouth in dejection as her friend continued to explain.

"Speaking of gadgets," Levy continued "the Armory Lab below us, is where you'll find me, if I'm not out on a job. That is where we store all of the guild's equipment. Everything from firearms to grappling hooks to bombs and grenades-"

"Wait a second." Lucy interrupted holding up a hand to silence Levy. "Did you just say bombs and grenades? You have explosives in an office building?" she asked, her very tone questioning the girl.

"Yes." was all Levy said in response. Lucy felt her face fall, and silently cried to herself. Here she thought Levy would be a normal person in a sea of crazy, yet alas she was proven wrong.

"Anyways," Levy said continuing her mini-tour "the Lab is where you'll find all of the fun stuff" she said with a dreamy, airy sigh, resting her head on her hand, lost in her thoughts.

Lucy snapped her fingers a few times in Levy's face, refocusing the girl's attention. "Where was I?" Levy began. She snapped her fingers as she remembered her train of thought. "Right, after the Lab there's the Crew Quarters, that's where some people live. It's mostly just beds, and a few bathrooms, and a private elevator that leads to the bar on the lower levels."

"Wait a minute, you're telling me, that there are people who live here?" Lucy asked, gesturing to the hall.

"Well live is a relative term. And it's only a few guys who live here. Most of the people here have their own place somewhere in the city. The girls are set up in the Hills hotel across the street. It's nice but certainly not cheap". Levy said with a pained expression on her face. Lucy put a comforting hand on Levy's shoulder. And that's when she noticed the final set of doors on the second floor. Levy hadn't explained what those were for.

Catching Lucy's eye, Levy turned around and noticed the doors. "Oh that leads to the Master's office. That's not labeled because why would we label the room where our boss is? The only people who can freely go in and out of there are the master and the S-Rank's, you have to be with the Master otherwise." Levy explained.

"That makes sense." Lucy said with a nod. "So is there a dress code that I have to abide by?" Lucy asked pointing to the workers on the first floor.

Everyone on the first floor was wearing black. It wasn't necessarily black suit and tie formal attire, but everyone was wearing long black pants, and some form of black shirt and/or jacket. Lucy looked down at her own attire and suddenly felt very out of place wearing a white tank top shirt and fuzzy white slippers. She also noticed several people were wearing leather gloves on one or both hands, and everyone also had a Bluetooth earpiece. None of the earpieces looked anywhere near as high tech as Levy's nor did any of them have a gauntlet like hers, but they all had one. Lucy reached up to her ear and felt even more out of place when she felt nothing there.

"No, no dress code here. Black just looks badass and awesome." Levy answered with a straight face, as if Lucy had just asked a dumb question. "But there is one thing you need to know about the guild before you join us". Levy began.

Lucy turned to face Levy surprised by the sudden development. "And what's that?"

As those words left her mouth, a soft ding was heard, and the elevator doors slid open. And that's when a familiar voice came to Lucy's ear

"WE'RE BACK AND ALIVE! CHIPMUNK GET OVER HERE AND FIGHT ME, I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS FOR THAT FAKE SALAMANDER LEAD!" the voice yelled out. Lucy's head whirled to the source of the voice, and saw a flash of salmon colored hair run out of the elevator.

"Now hold on Natsu, I told you it was a rumor. What did you expect!? That he'd actually be there?" the man apparently known as Chipmunk, yelled standing up from his glass desk.

Natsu didn't answer. He just ran out of the elevator, through the hall and down a Geosphere level before jumping into the air. The only response Natsu offered Chipmunk; was a flying kick to the chest, sending him crashing through several other glass desks that also went flying. The desks that were sent flying began knocking over other members of the guild. Lucy was amazed that none of the desks broke from the impact, or that no one seemed seriously hurt.

"YOU WANNA FIGHT NATSU?" Chipmunk yelled, under a tangled pile of semi-conscious bodies.

Natsu landed on one of the still standing desks, on a knee and just glared at the man. His hood had fallen off as he ran, exposing his face, a mixture of annoyance and anger spread cross it. His teeth were locked and Lucy could've sworn she heard him growl in the back of his throat. It sent a small shiver down her spine, something that didn't go unnoticed by Levy. He put out his hand and motioned for Chipmunk to attack him. "BRING IT!"

"Fights happen, a lot." Levy said; a look of embarrassment on her face. "Now you know why the desks are Plexiglas here and why everyone gets an injection of Fairy Heart. So with that in mind, you still want to join?" Levy asked her with a shy yet hopeful smile on her face.