Chapter 7: The Getaway

With all that happened within such a short amount of time, Kyousuke had a hard time trying to process it all at once. He's already figured out that his situation was much more in-depth and complicated than he initially thought, especially when they were going to take Gajeel and use him as a living weapon, not to mention Kyousuke having a burst of uncontrollable power come out of him at his worst. As much as Kyousuke had a hard time trying to understand why they would do that to Gajeel and use him as a weapon, he was even more confused over the officer saying that they were initially planning to use Kyousuke himself. What was so unique about Kyousuke? Aside from the fact that he had a very traumatic and abusive upbringing, he wasn't anything out of the ordinary, or, at least it seemed that way. With that burst of dark energy that came out of Kyousuke, who knows what was up with him. Maybe there was something that Kyousuke himself wasn't even aware.

Despite all of the confusion, their first order of business was to get the hell out of this place. With all the damage that Kyousuke created from that shockwave he sent out, the security system went off, and Kyousuke and Gajeel were the prime targets within the base. The two managed to get out of the area they were initially trapped in and get at least to the room where all their stuff was confiscated in, including their clothes and what-not. Getting there was surprisingly easy; then again it wasn't expected of them to break out of such tight security so easily. Taking as little time as possible, the two ditched the prison suits and got back into their regular outfits, now ready to get moving and get the hell out of this place.

"You'd think it would be a lot harder to get here, especially for as tightly secured as this base is." Kyousuke wondered. Gajeel didn't think much of it, instead focused on getting out of here most of all.

"Who cares, let's get the hell out of here," Gajeel told him, preparing to get a move on as Kyousuke followed.

Immediately leaving the room and preparing to head out, the two ran into a large hallway that went both ways, laser equipment being hung amongst the hall as it tracked anyone who was walking in and out of the entrance. Now that the security system has gone off, the lasers immediately hunted the both of them and prepared to fire off at them, firing lasers as the two dodged them and hung close to the walls. Facing outward from exiting the room they were just in, Kyousuke followed Gajeel down the left side of the hall as they tried to find their way out. By sticking to the walls of the hallway, they managed to keep out of the laser's range most of the time, even if they had to jump back and forth from wall to wall just to do it. After navigating and avoiding being burned by the lasers, the two eventually came to another intersection within the base. With this, if they continued straight in the same direction, they would enter another hallway booby-trapped with complicated laser setups. However, if they took another left and went down this hallway, they would come across some security guards in the base and give away their location. Kyousuke didn't know what to do, so he kind of had to rely on Gajeel's instincts to get them out of here.

"We ain't getting through that anytime soon," Gajeel explained, hinting at the booby-trap ahead of them, "Looks like we're gonna have to get through them instead."

"Just be alert; who knows what kind of weird crap they've got stored for us," Kyousuke informed. Knowing that Gajeel went in and went straight for them; there were only two guards there. They both had weapons in their hands, but before they could fire them, Gajeel managed to get to them first and take them both out with a single Iron Dragon's Club, rendering them out of commission. Kyousuke followed shortly after, seeing how Gajeel quickly made easy work of them without much effort. "Well, that was easy."

"Did you really think they were gonna put up much of a fight kid?"

"Honestly, with what weird crap my dad had in store for me, I'm expecting the unexpected," Kyousuke explained, approaching one of the knocked out guards. "Though having you on my side makes it a lot easier." He further went on, Gajeel grinning in response. Kyousuke then went through the guard's pockets and what-not, Gajeel's expression soon turning to wonder as he watched Kyousuke.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Getting what we need," Kyousuke stated. He pulled out numerous security cards and managed to take a weapon for himself, getting up and handing Gajeel the security cards. He scrutinized the security cards with wonder as Kyousuke grabbed the shotgun that he got from the security guard and actioned it, getting ready for any kind of combat. "These passcards will help us get through some tightly locked chambers. With these, we basically have access to the entire building."

"Come on, we don't need those. I can break down those doors myself." Gajeel countered, putting his fists together as he said it. Kyousuke knew that but had other reasons for getting them.

"Can you break down every door? For the ones you can't, we've got the cards." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel understood what he meant by that, but didn't think that it would work anyways. As they prepared to get a move on again, a large sealed door in front of them suddenly opened, following in with security guards that immediately aimed at the two and prepared to fire off at them.

"Don't think we're gonna be using them anytime soon!" Gajeel alerted, preparing to fight back as Kyousuke did the same. The guards immediately fired at the two, prompting Gajeel to guard himself as he advanced towards them, hopping from wall to wall as he did so. In that fashion, he managed to approach them and take them out with an Iron Dragon's Sword that he swung around to his right, taking them all out and slamming them up against the wall. Kyousuke was ready to fire at one of them, but when he got ready, it seemed that Gajeel already took care of business. He just stood back and sighed in response. With that, the two ran out through the door that they opened, immediately coming across an elevator that led the guards to there in the first place. "A dead end huh?" Gajeel observed, watching as Kyousuke went up to the side of the elevator and came across a control panel.

"No, it's an elevator. We're probably higher up in the building." Kyousuke explained. Analyzing the panel, Gajeel came up and looked at it himself as Kyousuke clarified it all for him. "It says that we're on the third level," He pointed out, pointing at the three highlighted on the panel, "so we need to get down to the main floor if we want to get out of here."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Gajeel questioned, prompting Kyousuke to press the button that led to the main floor. The main door leading to the elevator slowly shut closed, and the two slowly moved down in the elevator. This wasn't your average hotel elevator; being a high-tech security base and all. The two had to wait a bit before they got down there. They did manage to get down there though, and the door opened to the main floor, which resembled a strangely large hallway that led to many doorways and continued on. The two slowly started to move out of the elevator, only to stop when the panel started flashing red and beeped rapidly. Kyousuke turned to it in wonder.

"What is it doing?" Kyousuke questioned in wonder, slowly becoming fearful as it slowly came to him what was really going on. Gajeel though realized it quicker, getting to Kyousuke and grabbing him by the arm.

"Dammit kid, that's a bomb! Get the hell out of there!" Gajeel yelled, grabbing Kyousuke and jumping forward out of the area as it exploded, creating a massive blast that sent the two flying out from the elevator, landing and rolling on the ground as Gajeel held onto Kyousuke. After they hit the ground, the two got up and looked to see that the elevator door automatically shut after the explosion took place, the alarm system sounding once again as a new announcement was made regarding the situation.

"THE SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED, REPEAT, THE SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY." A robotic voice announced and repeated over the loudspeakers. The two now had a new problem; forget security guards, the whole place is going to blow up on them.

"What the hell is up with this damn place; somebody's gotta be paranoid around here," Gajeel exclaimed, noting how everything was set up. With the building able to be set to auto-destruct that quickly, there must've been something that the government was hiding or was trying to keep secret. As Gajeel turned to Kyousuke, he saw him just standing there thinking. As Kyousuke thought about it more, he realized what really happened and why the bomb was set off.

"Crap, it was a trap!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"That panel must've used eye-identification; it blew up as a defense mechanism against intruders!" Kyousuke explained. In frustration, Kyousuke put his hands over his head as he got frustrated over the whole thing, feeling like he was the cause of another problem. "I should've seen this coming!"

"Come on Kid, we don't have time to worry about that," Gajeel yelled, grabbing Kyousuke again, "we gotta get the hell out of here!" He took off with Kyousuke as he managed to get going once again. Now that the entire base was going to explode, everyone in it stopped focusing on Gajeel and Kyousuke and instead started evacuating through any means necessary, more concerned about their own lives than persecuting the two. Running down the main hall, the two tried to look for any way out of the building that they could use.

"Keep a lookout for anything that has bright, flashy colors. It's probably an emergency exit." Kyousuke informed, just as Gajeel saw something of that description.

"You talking about that?" Gajeel alerted him, heading towards a small door with a yellow and black striped border around it. It was an emergency exit, and the two headed straight for it. Gajeel went straight to the door while Kyousuke went straight to the activation pad, only to get frustrated and bang his fist up against the wall.

"Dammit, it's password locked!" Kyousuke said in frustration, watching as Gajeel barged right in to do something about it.

"Get out of the way! We don't have time for cracking codes!" Gajeel shouted, aiming to destroy it as Kyousuke started to freak out.

"Wait, what are you doing?! Stop!" He shouted in shock, watching as Gajeel smashed the pass lock himself. Somehow, in a surprising turn of events, it worked to their advantage and the door leading out opened up. Seeing it work, Gajeel didn't take any time to admire it, going ahead and heading into it first as Kyousuke followed, overwhelmed by the adrenaline going through him. It was an extended ventilation system that leads down into the underground of the base, which possibly would direct them out of it. Now inside of it, the two slid down the ventilation system as it took several turns down throughout it to their destination. However as the two were sliding down the vent, suddenly one of the floor plates dropped underneath Kyousuke, following with him falling in. As Kyousuke fell through screaming, he tried to grab onto the plate in front of him, coming across a massive wall that continued downward that connected up to the ventilation system. In the short amount of time that ensued, Gajeel managed to turn around and grab his hand, preventing him from falling. In that same moment, he used a couple iron spikes that protruded out of his feet to latch into the tunnel, preventing him from sliding down and allowing him to help Kyousuke back in.

"You alright?" Gajeel questioned, Kyousuke looked up to see him looking down at him, holding him up just by his hand. Breathing heavily from the fall, Kyousuke slowly calmed down as he came back to his senses.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kyousuke informed. It took a few seconds before the two of them heard the floor plate hit the ground, signaling how far the drop really was. Hearing that, Kyousuke tried to pull himself back into the vent as Gajeel helped. "I don't feel like dying today."

"I didn't think so," Gajeel stated, pulling him up and getting him back into the tunnel. "You need to watch yourself, you almost got yourself killed."

"If that floorplate didn't break off I would be just fine," Kyousuke explained calmly. Ignoring it, Gajeel retracted the spikes from his feet, letting himself slide down the vent as Kyousuke slid down right behind him. Continuously going straight for a little bit, the two eventually came across a floorplate with ventilation holes in it, the two breaking through it and falling to the floor as they landed on their feet. The two after landing immediately scanned their surroundings, observing where they were. However, there was a peculiar sight that instantly got their attention. "Some kind of portal?"

"Looks like they've got it set up as an exit," Gajeel explained, acknowledging another yellow and black striped border with the portal built inside of it. The two slowly approached the entrance and observed it, unsure of whether or not they should head inside.

"Well...if that's the case, then hopefully we can trust that they have this portal under control somehow," Kyousuke explained.

"You don't know that for sure," Gajeel added, Kyousuke taking a deep breath as he thought about it. Gajeel was right, but in this situation, time wasn't a luxury they had.

"You may be right, but we don't have much of an option. I say we head for it," Kyousuke explained as Gajeel affirmed it.

"Alright, but if anything happens to us, I'm blaming you for it," Gajeel stated as Kyousuke just nodded in response. With that, the two prepared to head into the portal, Gajeel stepping in first with his right foot. At that moment, Kyousuke grabbed onto Gajeel's arm with the idea that they won't get split up, also stepping into the portal as the two continued on. Within seconds of entering it, the two suddenly vaporized into thin air, disappearing from the area as it took them in. In that time, they managed to get out at least ten seconds before the base they were just in self-destruct. The process was quick and short-lived, the building exploding as destruction took over the entire building, wiping everything out within seconds. The portal the two just went in was also destroyed, rendering it useless and unfixable as the base quickly became nothing but a massive pile of rubble. As far as anyone was concerned, that was the end of that, and for good riddance. If there were any critical information anyone needed to save, they would be too late as it was wiped out with the building's destruction.

Within the time it took for the two to get through the portal, it eventually opened in some sizeable dense forest that resided near a city. In a few seconds, the two came flying out of the entrance, taking a rough landing as the portal quickly disappeared after they exited. Getting up from having landed, the two turned to look behind them as the portal they came out of was nowhere to be seen. All that was in front of them now was a vast, dense forest full of trees and grass. As strange as it was though, Kyousuke couldn't care about it. Seeing a tree next to him, he got up and walked over to it, sitting down against it as Gajeel got up and approached him, standing and watching him as Kyousuke lied up against the tree and stared at him.

"Ever since you got here my life has been a rollercoaster," Kyousuke explained, watching as Gajeel sat down against the tree next to him. Kyousuke expected him to make some sarcastic remark about him sitting down and was a bit surprised when he didn't, but he just let it be. "Now you're just as caught up in it as I am."

"Yeah," Gajeel said. He didn't have much to say about it really; it was just bound to happen with what Gajeel wanted to do. Helping Kyousuke out of his situation was going to make him a target as well, but that was just a risk he had to take if he wanted to help Kyousuke out. At that moment, having been delivered by the portal to some forest outside of where they were at, the two lied against the trees and passed out, resting while they had the chance. They needed a break, or, at least Kyousuke did. With time now being a luxury once again, the two took advantage of it and rested.


Meanwhile, working behind the scenes was a familiar face that the two have met up with before. This one found herself in a large building that was dedicated to underground secret agencies that would meet up for trading deals. You had to have exclusive access to just get into the building and even then, you have to have even more to get into specific locations within the structure, such as being a higher up of a secret organization or such. However, despite her being or having none of these, she was smart enough to maneuver her way around these, she was smart enough to break into these locations undetected, maybe even with a little bit of help on the side.

Walking into the central area of the building, she found herself headed to a specific location where a particular meeting was going to take place.

"This should be easy; all I have to do is get into this meeting. Everything is falling into place," Roxanne told herself, moving along through the building. Having infiltrated the building herself, she wore a business suit and attire with black shades, concealing her identity and wearing a black-haired wig on top of it. Roxanne went through a lot to get through this; the real question is why? Moving along, she came across a large desk with another woman working it. This one, in particular, checked for individuals that would pass on through, confirming their identity and letting them in and out. Seeing Roxanne approach the desk, the woman went ahead and asked her for information as she continued typing on a computer screen.

"Credentials?" The woman asked in a strict tone.

"Susan Renegade, codename: Stryker R of the Project X team," Roxanne explained, using a different identity. The woman went ahead and entered her details, confirming her and handing her a set of files about the meeting that she is heading to.

"You are free to continue Ms. Renegade." The woman told her, prompting Roxanne to move on ahead. Coming across a large door past the left side of the desk the woman was working at, Roxanne had to use an eye-scanner to once again confirm her identity before she could be allowed in. Getting up close to the retina scanner, she grabbed her shades and pressed a button on her glasses, one that fired a red-light laser into the retina scanner. This somehow jammed the retina scanner in her favor, providing her access inside as it opened for her and let her in. With that, Roxanne went ahead inside and found herself in a large hallway surrounded by metal walls and doors leading to various rooms, the door behind her closing almost immediately after she entered.

"Nobody's going to realize that these glasses give me full access to almost anywhere; so much for retina scanners right?" She told herself cunningly, moving on ahead as she went to find the room that the meeting was taking place in. Moving on forward, there happened to be a particular room that had a specific meeting that was taking place. A large group of men sat at a large table discussing important matters, one of which pertained to the incident that Kyousuke and Gajeel were involved in with the killing of the former's father.

"With the data that we have gathered, we can conclude that these two individuals are significant to the process of Project X, this one in particular." A large man in black stated in a deep, gruff tone, pointing to a frozen screenshot of Kyousuke in his house, one being displayed on a large screen in front of all the members. It seemed that the house was full of hidden cameras that monitored Kyousuke on a constant basis, explaining how they got this information in the first place. "As you can see here, Kyousuke Watanabe is the main subject matter of this project."

"Excuse me sir, but what about the other one? He's the one that killed his father in the first place; I suspect that he would be quite the threat to Project X." An older woman asked the man, picking out Gajeel in the frozen snapshot. Understanding her point, the man continued on.

"The other one is someone who we have identified as Gajeel Redfox. From what we have gathered, we can easily claim that he is the real threat in this case; if we don't stop him, Project X is guaranteed to fail." The male in charge of the meeting explained. With the frozen snapshot of the two, it was moved to the side as another set of images took place on the right side of the screen. It was a frontal portrait, a side shot, and a 3D render of Gajeel that rotated slowly around him. With this, the one in charge went onto explain. "The concerning thing about Gajeel Redfox is that he is not in any of our government databases and we have no data regarding him, with the expectation that he is a copyrighted character that belongs to a TV show, or as some would describe, an Anime/Manga series called Fairy Tail."

"Excuse me," another male interrupted, going on with his question, "Are you telling us that this Gajeel Redfox is fictional? I don't understand why we should be concerned if he isn't real sir."

"He 'was' fictional." The one in charge clarified. "The reasons for it are unknown, but it is clear that Gajeel Redfox is anything but fictional, despite initially being made out to be a fictional character. The video footage proves it." The one in charge further clarified. With that, he zoomed back in on the frozen snapshot and repeated a section of the video that took place, showing an angled view of Gajeel killing Kyousuke's father with his Iron Dragon's Hard Fist, whether it was intentional or not. Leaving the section on repeat, the one in charge went onto explain as the other members of the meeting took notes about the situation. "As you can see, Gajeel Redfox is very clearly a dangerous threat and already has broken government law by murder. He is to not be underestimated under any circumstances, is that clear?" He explained.

"Yes sir," Everyone else acknowledged. With that, the one in charge went on further to explain.

"From what we have gathered, he has inhumane abilities that allow him to transform his physical body and harden it, giving it metallic properties. From the research that we have conducted, this is called 'Iron Dragon Slaying Magic.' It gives the user the ability to transform any body part into an iron component of their desire and allows for them to, 'slay dragons.'" The one in charge explained. With that, the other members almost started laughing, some chuckling while trying to keep it under control. In this day and age, the idea seemed almost comical and even childish, but this wasn't just a story anymore. "It seems inconceivable and ludicrous, but it is, in fact, a reality, as here in the video footage, he was able to kill an average human with a single punch. Granted, the human in question did have a smoking addiction and a weakened immune system from lung damage. Regardless, Gajeel Redfox is a highly dangerous individual; do not take him lightly or he will kill you like he did this one."

"Sir, if he is so dangerous, how should we go about eliminating him?" The older woman asked, prompting the guy to explain.

"Of course, we have been working on the development of a unique weapon that utilizes a special type of energy that he is vulnerable against. This energy has been classified as Radiative Particles, the video clearly showing how Gajeel was affected by a shotgun blast containing the particles." The guy explained, reversing the video and show Gajeel reacting to getting shot in hand with the magic shotgun. It seemed that the entire scene was caught on footage, giving further reason to believe that there was something bad going on if Kyousuke being greeted with a shotgun by his own father wasn't even getting across to them, or if they cared. "The weapon in question is capable of firing a massive blast of charged Radiative Particles that directly target the nervous system of the opponent, overflowing them with the particles and paralyzing them, rendering them immobile. Of course, this was tested on an average human without any special abilities. In this case, actual usage may differ." The one in charge explained.

With that, he turned behind him and pressed a button that caused something to suspend down from the ceiling, supposedly the weapon in question. As it slowly came down, the one in charge went onto explain the gun itself.

"The weapon is currently codenamed the Hyper Ray and is still a conceptual weapon. Further design elements are being made to fix flaws and ensure efficiency and power of the weapon." The guy explained, the weapon slowly coming down and coming to a stop. Surprisingly, everyone stared at it in confusion, wondering what was so unique about it in the first place.

"Uh, sir, so the weapon is a grenade?" Someone asked, prompting the one in charge to stare back at the weapon. His expression quickly turned to shock, realizing that something was wrong.

"Wait a minute, that's not the weapon!" He shouted, the grenade suddenly exploding as the entire room was suddenly covered with a vast amount of smoke. The members started coughing as the smoke covered the whole room, the one in charge coughing as well as Roxanne popped out of the ceiling from where the weapon suspended. How she got up, there was beyond them, but let's just say she managed to figure out how to get around with the ventilation systems built in. She landed on the table where the weapon was supposed to be and went ahead to grab the hard drive that was hooked up to the screen, the one which contained the data of Kyousuke and Gajeel's incident.

"Thanks for the info and the gun; I'll be taking this for myself," Roxanne said, stashing the hard drive away as she suddenly did something unexpected. Out of nowhere, she managed to conjure a giant glove that fit on her right hand, almost like a requip. The glove was called the BX-3000, and Roxanne immediately put it to use by punching straight into the ground, sending out a massive shockwave that sends everyone flying into the walls. They were helpless to stop her as she went ahead and got going, running out of the room and taking the weapon and the hard drive with her. Recovering from the smoke grenade that Roxanne detonated, the one in charge tried to get something done about it.

"We can't let her get away with this! Signal the alarms!" He shouted, trying to get towards one of the alarm switches as he coughed from the smoke. Meanwhile, Roxanne, now having the data and weapon that she needed, made her getaway. With the alarm system going off not long after she left the room, Roxanne came to the door that she initially entered in the first place, blasting it open with the BX-3000 and running out the door. The woman working at the table jumped fearfully as Roxanne ducked out of sight, avoiding the debris flying about as Roxanne ran out. Having gotten what she needed, she ran straight out of the building's main entrance, heading straight for one of the elevators at the end of the other side and taking it out of the central area. Riding it up to the top, it eventually opened and revealed a couple secret agents waiting for her, prompting her to immediately attack with the BX-3000 and send them flying out of the way.

"I better be careful; I can only use it so much, or I'll just drain all my power," Roxanne stated to herself, getting rid of the glove as she immediately started running. Heading out of the elevator, she found herself in a large parking garage with a bunch of parked vehicles. Running down for a little bit, Roxanne came across her Audi TT and got into it, quickly getting it started and driving off with all her newly acquired items. The agents were unable to stop her now; she was long gone and now that she had what she needed; she could ditch her disguise and avoid being caught entirely. No one would think that Roxanne Laurel was responsible for invading the base; they only know that it was Susan Reneage. She took the car out of the parking lot, heading right out of her parking space and driving down, quickly turning left and heading down the next parking lot. Roxanne then took a quick right and sped down the central area of the garage, drifting left out of the parking garage as Roxanne found herself on the streets again, quickly driving off and leaving the area as Roxanne went on. Now a safe distance away from the building, she took off her shades and ditched the wig, immediately pulling out her cell phone as she called someone in particular.

"Hey, I finished my mission. You got what you were supposed to?" Roxanne questioned the one she called, who apparently did as Roxanne smiled in response to it. "Good, let's meet up. I think we just got one step closer to figuring out what's really going on here." Roxanne explained, driving off with her new findings. With that, she got one step closer to figuring out the real deal behind everything that was happening, and she could help Kyousuke out of his situation. It's always good to have someone helping you out of trouble, even if you have no idea.