Hey! is everyone ready for Chapter 4? Cause this is it! Enjoy ;)
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Gajeel walked into the office the next day, his usual irritated mood, with a scowl to accompany it. It was rare that the man ever wore a smile or walked in with a good mood. Today though, it seemed as if he was in an especially foul mood and it was all thanks to a certain blue haired woman.
The way she wouldn't look him in the eye was not only frustrating, but also down right confusing. What had he done to her to deserve that kind of treatment? No matter how many times he went over it in his head, Gajeel couldn't come up with a reason for her odd behavior.
Originally the man had thought it was because of his looks, but after watching her more carefully Gajeel found it was actually his very presence that bothered the pixie woman. Flashes of Levy's torn expression when their eyes meet quickly changing to that of some kind of pity for him only to disappear in an instant and be replaced by an indifferent blank stare.
She was confusing, that was the best Gajeel could come up with.
Laxus barged into the office rather loudly, gaining everyone's attention. "Alright everyone listen up." The blonde man yelled, gathering the people in the office to form a circle around him.
Natsu and Gray stopped bickering with each other and looked towards the screen of the TV. Laxus growled before snatching away the control from the pair and pointing it to the tv. Laxus was still scowling at them as he changed the channel on tv. The screen changed to show the local news reporter standing in front of a building.
"We have another sighting of the Mad Hatter." Laxus barked out in frustration. "He was near Hargeon again. We still have no Intel on him or what his plans are. The chatter has been at an all-time low. He is obviously looking for something. We just need to find out what."
Gajeel growled in annoyance. How is it that that man was always one step ahead of them? Mad hatter is good at flying under the radar, Gajeel will give the sly bastard that much, but he was going to find him and kill him.
Prison was too good for a man like him.
Laxus continued. "Add to this and we have another problem among us."
Natsu groaned letting his head fall and hit the desk with a loud 'thunk'.
Gajeel rolled his eyes and looked back to Laxus who only shook his head at the pink haired idiot's dramatic show. "Someone has been hacking into the city's camera system illegally."
Gray leaned back against his desk with his arms crossed behind his head. "How does that concern us? That sounds like a Metro PD problem."
Laxus rolled his eyes. Honestly, did no one wait til after the full details were given anymore?
"Normally it would be," Laxus grumbled out, "but we could use this hacker. With them on our side, tapping into every camera in this city and the next, locating the Mad Hatter would be a piece of cake. Not to mention it would make gathering information on anything else much more easier for the bureau."
Loud whispers spread around the office. Seems easier work got everyone's interest.
"Let's go!" Natsu yelled out. Clearly he was hyped at the prospect of getting the hacker as our ally. The pink haired doofus was almost out the door when Gajeel grabbed him by the collar of the shirt and pulled Natsu to stand by him.
"We haven't been given an assignment yet idiot." Black Steel spit out at Salamander. "Now shut up and wait for our orders." Natsu shit his mouth, he knew his partner enough to know something was up. If he was quiet maybe he'd find out what it was.
Gajeel was on edge, he wanted nothing more than to go and find this hacker almost as much as the Salamander did, but Gajeel had to do this right. No mistakes, he needed this hacker to help them find the scumbag they were after. Gajeel silently vowed to bring the hacker to the bureau. For Sting.
Laxus looked to the pair. "Gajeel, I want you and Natsu to go pick up the hacker." He slid a yellow envelope over to Gajeel. "Here's the address we tracked them to. Gray and I will continue to search for leads on the Mad Hatter from here." Laxus looked around at the rest of the agents in the office. "The rest of you can continue with your previous work. Anyone who's free gets to help Makarov with filing paperwork. Is everyone clear on our orders?"
A few agents nodded while others were heard mumbling and groaning in 'quiet' complaint. No one likes filing, and the boss had a tendency to give a silly excuse and leave his part of the job to his helper.
Gajeel scanned through the file lazily, not really looking for specific details. Laxus gave them the address all they had to do was get the damn hacker. How hard could it be?
Laxus walked over to Gajeel's desk, "So, you and pyro can handle this one right?"
There was a threat somewhere in the question, Gajeel just knew it. He gave the blonde man a tight nod and turned on on his heel, heading toward the door and dragging his overly excited partner out of the office.
The pair drove in silence, only for a few blocks before Natsu started his usual yapping. He was complaining about Lucy kicking him out of her apartment the night before.
"I was so cozy and next thing I know, BAM!," he claps his hands together hard along with the sound effects. "I'm outside her door in my pj's!" Natsu looks out the window as he huffs and crosses his hands over his chest.
Gajeel was trying and failing at not laughing at his partners stupidity.
"Maybe you should ask to sleep over instead of sneaking into her apartment at night. Girls freak out when someone breaks into their home ya know."
Natsu looked to Gajeel with big tears eyes. "But I'm her boyfriend."
Gajeel sighed. "Salamander, she woke up in her dark room and someone was in her bed holding her. Bunny girl probably thought you were a thief or a rapist-"
"No!," Natsu interrupted. "I would never do that. I was just sleeping."
Again Natsu resumed looking out the window with a kid-like pout on his face.
"Look idiot it's simple just apologize."
"You think I didn't?" He asked a bit hurt. "All she did was tell me to never do it again before slamming the door on my face."
Gajeel's laughter drowned out the roar of the car. "Have you two talked at all today?"
Natsu's chest and shoulders seemed to deflate. "I called earlier, I asked if we could go out." The man rubbed his temple before continuing. "She said no before I even told her where we were going. Told me her and Levy are already going somewhere..."
"What?" Gajeel asked when he heard the girl's name.
Natsu looked surprised that Gajeel was even listening to him but more because of his reaction. He looked to the black haired man from the corner of his eyes.
"Yeah. They are going to some book stores or something like that." He shrugged trying to play it cool. What was up with Gajeel?
Gajeel seemed to battle with himself for a moment before opening his mouth.
"What is that shrimp's problem with me?"
Natsu seemed to think for a moment, which Gajeel thought was amazing within itself. He thought maybe smoke would come out from his ears or something.
"I don't know dude Levy keeps to her self. Other than Jet and Droy no one else knows much about her or her past, so I'd say she's a mystery to most of us."
"But what is her problem with ME?"
Gajeel wasn't an idiot. He saw how Jet and Droy followed her around like loyal pups. The pair were cops, the kind that you see buying donuts and looking for their big break into the title of 'heroes'. They'd tried many times to get the fbi to spill some beans to them to no avail each time.
Nowadays though, Jet and Droy seemed to stick like glue to the blue haired fairy woman. Choosing to let the agents that visit Fairy Tail Bar drink in peace.
What had Levy told those two that they just couldn't seem to let her breathe in peace? And more importantly why would she trust just those two idiots with her life story and not anyone else?
Unless they were friends before? No that can't be they introduced themselves along with the others at the bar when she was introduced. Perhaps they just looked more trustworthy to her. She was 'definitely judge a book by its cover' kind of person after all. Gajeel huffed. Of course she'd trust men with a uniform, no tattoos, piercings and/or permanent scowls on their faces.
'I'm an FBI agent, I don't wear a uniform and tattoos and piercings never automatically make you a criminal. Damn that shrimp' Gajeel shook himself as if that would rid his mind of Levy and her stupid ways.
Natsu tried to read the oh so mighty Black Steel Gajeel, he seemed, worried? Maybe it's important to Gajeel to know what Levy thinks about him? Does he have a crush on her?
Natsu thought he should play it smooth. "I don't know man. Maybe it's because you're a scary person. You are always going around scowling and grunting. Not to mention the fact that you look more like a criminal than law enforcement."
Gajeel frowned. "That's what irritates me about her!" He yells out in frustration, "She judged me by my looks without even trying to get to know me first."
Natsu got this smug look on his face. "You better watch out Black Steel, or people might think you actually care."
Gajeel glared at the pink haired man as he turned into the parking lot of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. "This is it. Let's get our heads in this. No more sissy shit."
Without another word both men exited the car and in one fluid motion pulled out their guns and checked their surroundings. Gajeel gave a hand sign, indicating it was all clear and Natsu nodded, heading over to the other side of the door.
Natsu counted to three and with only one mighty kick from the pair successfully kicked the door down. There was a long, dark hallway that branched off into three different directions. Gajeel was at a loss as to which way to go, he turned to Natsu , who inhaled deeply and after what seemed an eternity, pointed to the last hall on the right.
Natsu went in first to clear it for Gajeel. When Salamander motioned Gajeel to join him the black haired man did just that. They silently made their way down the hall.
There was an open door at the very end of the hall. The lights inside were flickering on and off shining down on what appeared to be computer screens. In the chair in front of the desk sat a woman with short reddish brown hair dressed in jeans and a fluffy sweater with orange fat cats on it.
Gajeel and Natsu crept forward guns trained on the woman. Natsu nodded to Gajeel and both men stepped into the room.
"Milliana. FBI would you come with us please?" Natsu asked. His voice was calm but the gun in his hands made the question a bit more demanding.
The woman jumped, frantically turning around, her eyes assessing the two men before looking for any possible way out other than the door behind them.
Gajeel couldn't help but think that her features held a distinct feline quality, she had that same sly cat-like look in her eyes. Gajeel watch her movements closely.
"Let me see your badges!" She demanded, Gajeel ignored her request and took a step forward. "No! Don't come any closer until I have seen your credentials!" She yelled frantically as Gajeel moved towards her.
Gajeel cursed but pulled out his badge for her to see. Natsu did the same. Milliana assessed them thoroughly, after finding them to be authentic, she visibly sagged in relief.
"I was worried that you were some of the Mad Hatter's thugs. I heard through the grapevine that he wants to find me." She walked over to Natsu, who was the first to put away his gun.
The pink haired man turned Milliana against the wall and put her palms against it. "Spread your legs out. I'm checking you for weapons."
Milliana did as she was told. She purried as Natsu patted her down. When he was sure the woman was clean he backed away, making Milliana huff in protest. That girl was way too much like a cat. It freaked Gajeel out and gave him goosebumps.
"Why would he be looking for you?" Gajeel asked.
Milliana shrugged her shoulders. "His daughter ran away and he thinks I can help him find her so he can bring her back. At least, that's what I was told."
Gajeel and Natsu shared a surprised glance.
"A daughter?" Gajeel asked.
In all the files they have looked through, not one of them mentioned a daughter? How could they have not known about her?
"Yeah. She's about 26 by now." She looked from one man to the other in surprise. "You mean you guys didn't know about her?"
Natsu looked away sheepishly. "Every file we've looked at never mentioned a daughter. How were we supposed to know about her?"
Milliana shook her head. "Can't really blame no one for that. The Mad Hatter tried to keep her existence as secret as possible. She's like the urban legend of organized crime."
"And how would you know this much?" Gajeel asked skeptically.
The woman leaned against the desk and crossed her arms.
"After I heard he was looking for me, I did a little digging. I didn't come up with much, but it was enough to figure out why she ran."
"Did you get her name? What she looks like?"
Milliana shook her head.
"No name and no images of her anywhere on the net. It's like she never existed at all. Everyone always referred to her as 'Alice Hatter' or something like that. No one ever used her name. Whenever she is mentioned, it's in hushed whispers and behind locked doors. Mad Hatter's done a fantastic job of hiding her, I'll give him that."
Natsu shook his head. "Man that's no way to live, locked up never being allowed to go out, be seen have friends?" He fisted his hands tighter and tried to do that breathing exercise Cana, the agency's psychologist had told him to do when we he felt he was gonna lose it.
Gajeel had to nod in agreement. As much as he wished to repay Mad Hatter for Rogue by killing her, Gajeel couldn't help but feel sorry for her too. For no one to know your real name, or doing your existence? Never experiencing life's ups only downs? Still a bit of pity for her was the only thing Gajeel would let himself feel for her.
Milliana nodded and looked back to her computer screens. "Which I'm guessing is why she ran." She saunters over to Natsu and places a hand on his chest. And also brings the question, what do you guys want with me?"
Natsu flicks her hand away from his chest a little too roughly but not giving a damn. "We were only given orders to bring you in. Whatever the boss wants you for he'll tell you when you see him."
Milliana did a weird cat like meow and pretended to claw at Natsu.
Gajeel was getting tired of her and was about to voice his annoyance when shots rang out.
The three people in the room dropped to the floor immediately. "Salamander!" Gajeel roared out.
Natsu nodded and both agents got on their knees and ducked for cover. Gajeel was by the door and Natsu had dragged himself and Milliana behind her desk.
Both agents would pop out, shooting at the intruders and proceed to cover themselves again.
"Expecting company?" Natsu asked smirking at Milliana.
"Now's not the time for any wisecracking Salamander!" Gajeel yelled over the sound of gunfire.
They jumped back out of their hiding places and started shooting again and Gajeel heard an agonized grunt indicating that someone got hit.
The other attackers noticed and shortly after started yelling. "Fall back! Fall back! Let's get out of here."
Natsu heard the sound of boots stampeding fading down the hall. Then the slamming of car doors and tires screeching. That brought the agents and the hacker out of hiding quickly scanning the hall and making their way outside.
Natsu looked at his companions who were equally stunned. "Okay who were they and what the hell just happened?"
Gajeel shook his head, trying to register what had happened as well.
"That was the Oracion Seis. They are the Mad Hatter's choice guns for hire. He hires them to either kill or obtain an item." Milliana explained to the agents.
Gajeel and Natsu looked at each other communicating through their eyes. They both knew they needed to get to the agency and look up the specifics on that group, ASAP.
"He must have hired them to get me." Milliana whispered. She looked between the two men anxiously. "If I help you, do you guarantee that you will be able to take this guy down?"
Gajeel scoffed. "What do you take us for? Of course we'll catch the bastard."
Natsu rubbed his chin in thought. "How are we going to find him though? Where do we start?"
As they walked to the car Gajeel got an idea.
"Easy. We find what he's looking for."
Milliana smiled and nodded in agreement. "If we find her then he'll come to us to try to get her back."
Gajeel grinned, flashing his sharp canines.
"Then let's find that girl."
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