Speech "This is an example"
Thoughts "This is an example"
Word Emphasis "The word in italics has emphasis"
Sounds *Sound*
Spells "This is an example"
A common occurrence followed Ultear whenever she was involved in a fight, that being the magic in the air would become increasingly unstable the more she used her Arc of Time in accordance with Re-Quip. What was actually happening is she was altering the time flow within her storage dimension. Through rigorous training and repetitive trial and error Ultear was actually able to predict the random swings in magic and utilise it well, most of the time.
'I can't follow the magic with this lunatic powering up like that, I need to stabilize this sooner rather than later.' The intense spike in magic combined with the shift towards Dragon Slayer Magic that was emanating from Laxus was messing with her fighting style.
Not that she needed to use her handy trick all that often, it just meant she could handle things better all in all. "Luminous Minutes!" Ultear tossed her orb into the air and as with most of her attacks Laxus was expecting the ball to come soaring towards him, instead he found himself being bombarded with beams of concentrated magic that rained down from the multiplying Lacrimas.
The attack caused little damage and Laxus was quick to retaliate, in doing so Ultear caught a glimpse of desperation in his eyes, almost a madness, a sign of someone who doesn't know why they're fighting. "LIGHTNING DRAGONS ROAR!" Laxus locked his jaw open and a powerful spree of bolts shot from his mouth, ripping up the floor as it approached Ultear.
"Ice Make: Dahlias!" In front of her spawned a large number of Dahlias that formed together to make a sturdy shield that successfully blocked the majority of Laxus' savage attack, the debris from the hit spread out and peppered the walls around them.
Ultear kept her focus on her construct, not letting her control over it fade. As expected, Laxus dived in after his roar failed, coiling his arm back ready to strike at her. While Laxus closed the distance, Ultear quickly hopped backwards, whilst in the air she studied the movements of her approaching enemy, waiting until he was exactly where he had to be.
As soon as Laxus crossed the mark Ultear was watching she cast her magic again "RESTORE!" She had to be fast as she pulled the destroyed shield back to its original position where it had blocked Laxus' roar, the exact spot where Laxus was now stood.
Laxus was halted immediately, being spontaneously encased in Ice gave him little time to understand why before Ultear could capitalise on his immobilised state. She summoned her Arc of Time into her finger and drew a circle in the air, outlining the roof above Laxus. Once she finished drawing the shape the roof above him began to wither and the area she drew around fell, landing directly atop Laxus and covering him in the rubble.
Gajeel wasn't one to hang back either, seeing Laxus was covered in debris from the roof he took his sword and swung it over his head, coming straight down on top of the pile of rubble to strike at where Laxus would be, however before the attack could connect Gajeel found his approach blocked by yet another shield of ice before a tremendous lightning bolt flew from the pile of rubble and sent most of it flying.
"Watch it idiot!" She yelled from behind the man. Ultear knew she wouldn't be able to rely on Gajeel too much but she never thought she'd have to watch over him. Yet another complication 'I'm getting sick of this.'
With her mood on the decline and her patience wearing thin, Ultear seen it was time to put an end to this farce "Midnight Pulse!" Ultear threw her arms to the sky and above the cathedral appeared a large magic circle in the shape of a clock face, the circle had the hour and minute hand placed accurately at the current time of day, it was only when the hands began rapidly accelerating that her spell seemed to take effect.
The time rolled forwards and as it did so, so did the daylight of Magnolia. The hands continued to rapidly spin towards midnight until the whole town had gone dark in moments when the circle collapsed in on itself and down shot a massive beam of light from the centre of her collapsed circle. The resulting attack sent a quake across the darkened town and left every resident in complete confusion.
It was only when the beam of light ceased that the light began coming back to the town and the sky seemed to revert to the correct time of day. Gajeel couldn't believe his eyes when he seen the state of Laxus, his whole body was smoking and it was only his dragon scales that let him stand up to that attack. She was essentially toying with him until that moment, not in a sadistic way but almost as if she pitied Laxus. Well, as if she pitied anyone who was weaker than her to be more accurate.
He turned to the woman and found it hard to see how unaffected she was by the spell, it was as if it didn't even drain her. Ultear felt Gajeels gaze fall on her and she darted her eyes to the side, staring back at the dilated red eyes of her guildmate "What? Natsu's not the only one who knows flashy magic y'know." Without a second glance at the twitching S-Class mage she turned and left the crumbling mess of a cathedral.
Once outside she snapped her fingers and, ironically, as if by magic the cathedral began rebuilding itself, as did any inanimate structure she had studied. It was one of the first things Ultear had mastered, being able to analyse a structure or item and without any incantation be able to restore it to a re-built state.
The whole town bore witness to Ultear's magic and as expected, Erza rushed to the scene. She wasn't sure what to expect, but with magic of that calibre she was expecting some pretty Fairy Tail-esque destruction. It was only as she rounded the final corner and seen Ultear casually striding away from a gleaming town centre that she realised she had no answers for what might have transpired here.
"Ultear, was that your attack just now?" Erza questioned, sliding to a halt in front of Ultear who had also come to a standstill. Erza already knew full well that it was Ultear's attack, she'd never seen anything like it from anyone in Fairy Tail and especially not Laxus.
"It was, but anyway this is done. We're going to the Bureau, now." She stressed as she started to walk away from the Cathedral, it was only when the doors burst open as Gajeel was thrown through them that Ultear paused her step.
Thescratched up body of the new Dragon Slayer came skidding to a halt at Ultears feet, wisps of smoke were trailing off of him from where she could presume Laxus had attacked.
The partially charred body of the S-Class mage stormed through the open Cathedral entrance, his blank white eyes and scaled arms were almost unlike anything Erza had ever seen, almost. She had witnessed first hand Natsu's dragon force and she knew in her gut that this was something similar.
"WE'RE NOT DONE HERE YOU BITCH!" Came the frustrated cry of Erza's rival, someone she used to call a guildmate and now someone she would have to call an opponent. Enemy felt too harsh for the situation, but if things kept going then he would carve that name with his own hands.
Ultear slowly spun on her heel, facing the man before finishing her turn much faster, letting her cloak swish out and rest on her shoulders "Couldn't agree more." Her next attack would kill Laxus. No ifs, no buts, no mercy. Not if he was so insistent in challenging someone so obviously out of his league.
Laxus took his hands and held them close to his chest, forming a ball shape between the space of his hands from which a golden light formed and began to build exponentially in both strength and brightness. Ultear could feel it, the sheer potential of that spell… It was intoxicating to her, to someone who had been seeking the greatest wizard to roam the planet, she could feel it's link to Zeref in some way or another. A name she had been trying to forget as of recent.
Erza felt her stomach turn at the sight of it, recognising the spell instantly "No! Laxus you can't!" She yelled at him, pulling a sword into her hand as she prepared to act.
"What is that?" Ultear asked from Erza's side, almost sounding intoxicated by the light 'That spell's potential, I can't see it. How powerful could that be in the hands of a truly competent caster?'
Erza swallowed the lump in her throat "It's Fairy Law, one of the 3 Great Fairy Spells, it will target and destroy anything the caster deems an enemy!" And the very thought of one of those spells being used against Fairy Tail was just impossible to imagine before today.
Ultear was forced to pull herself from the trance she was being pulled into and brought her senses back to the moment, or rather, she pushed them back in the past, rooted them in the present and threw them towards the future all at the same time. Her focus during a fight surpassed anyone else and she knew it all too well. With her senses razor sharp once again Ultear threw her arms out to the side and began forming two separate spells in each of her palms.
With her magic rising Ultear didn't need to wait long for the preparation to finish, all she had to do was wait until Laxus seemed like he was at peak power and then, once she felt it 'Natsu you're the one that taught me this.' She took the two circles and clapped her hands together in front of her, crushing the two circles against one another at which point she was quick to summon a massive wave of ice, as big as she could summon and spreading as high above Laxus as she could.
The tremendous structure cast a shadow over a large portion of the town before the exploding wave of magic from her Arc of Time caught up to the ice wall, instantly flashing it forwards in time to when it had melted and all of a sudden Magnolia was looking at a flash flood that could wipe out most of the city.
Of course, Laxus was too engrossed in his own ultimate spell casting to truly grasp how biblically screwed he was as Ultear brought the huge wave of water crashing down on him, instantly swallowing him up and battering him with the immense weight of several tonnes of water.
After the initial impact, all Ultear had to do was ensure she was quick with her next spell which shot from her hands again and began rapidly re-freezing the water after it had dealt significant damage to Laxus, leaving a frozen lake several meters above the city, while Laxus was still encased securely in the surrounding water that had struck him.
"Like I said, we're going to the Bureau." If Laxus managed to stand back up from that then it would truly be a miracle, she didn't really expect it to kill him in all honesty but at the same time she wouldn't exactly lose sleep over it if he did perish.
Erza put a hand on her shoulder "Wait Ultear, we need to clean this up, if any of this ice falls it'll cause serious damage. Not to mention the Thunder Palace still needs to be dealt with." As much as Erza wanted to go and see to Natsu, it was still her duty to ensure the people here were safe.
"Laxus isn't going to be able to activate those things anymore, so by the time Makarov busts out of that rune he'll be able to wipe those things out with ease. Let Gray deal with the ice, I'm not the only Ice Make wizard here in case you forgot. So while other people can deal with the problems here, it's only me that can help with Natsu's situation. I'm going with or without you, the details of what went on at the tower can wait if you're going to be stubborn about it." The impatience that had been rising in Ultear was beginning to show more and more despite her growing tolerance for the guild.
Erza couldn't argue that the points she made were sound, and she had dealt with one of their most troublesome mages without astoundingly little damage to the surroundings. There was no real denying that Ultear had done enough already. "I suppose you've de-escalated things enough, I'll tell you what happened at the Tower on the way." Erza was prepared to walk for the train before Ultear stopped her
"We're not taking the train." She said bluntly before expanding "In every local council building there's Lacrima that will teleport you to a select few places so long as you have clearance. If you've got clearance on a calibre of mine, then it can take you to the Bureau. We're going to the Magnolia council offices."
It was hard to act surprised by what the Bureau was able to accomplish at this point, between creating super soldiers, teleportation, espionage, and secret wars Erza was beginning to wonder the more worrying question 'What can't this Bureau do?'
"Believe me they're trying to improve it to allow transportation to places other than the Bureau but they're pretty far off." Ultear and Erza began heading for the local council offices, all the while Erza was giving Ultear her version of the events that transpired at the tower. Everything from the attack at the casino down to Natsu eating the etherion. It wasn't exactly a lengthy trip so Erza knew Ultear would have more questions given how quickly she tried to get through it but for now it seemed to suffice.
What came next would require the pairs full attention as they stormed past the security and Ultear got them into the restricted areas of the small building where sure enough there were indeed Lacrima especially designed to transport users. Ultear handed Erza one of the blue spheres
"All you've gotta do is activate it and it'll do the rest, they're basically pre-loaded so let's get a move on." The Lacrima lit up and in a flash they were launched from a magic circle that ejected them in the rough vicinity of the Bureau.
After the harsh landing Erza cast her eyes up at the huge structure before them, not only did the horrible building tower above them but It was surrounded by massive warehouses and various extensions and attachments. The whole thing looked more like a compound than some under-funded lab like she had been led to believe.
Not wasting anytime Ultear approached the front door, not that she really needed to take any different approach, she knew how twisted the doctor that would undoubtably be treating Natsu really was. She'd want to show off to Erza, to get inside her head a bit.
Once through the receptionists immediately recognized the enraged expression of Ultear and didn't hesitate to unlock the various doors that spread from the main entrance. The last time someone tried to stand in her way she sent their house forwards in time and turned it to dust.
"They're in Medbay C, by the way." A man said from a crouched position behind the desk.
The halls of this place hadn't changed a bit, Ultear could recall every horrible memory she had of being dragged through them to undergo the latest experiment the scientists had concocted for her, or to train in the newest skill set she would need to undertake missions.
Just before she got to the entrance to the Medical wing Ultear stopped, her eyes tracing down a dark, narrow hallway that was seemingly left abandoned and forgotten. It was unsurprising they had decided to postpone the repair of it, after all it was Ultear and Natsu's old rooms. Rooms, cells, whatever more accurately described their living quarters but still, it was the one place that maybe she had a few nice memories kicking about.
That would have to wait for now as she pushed open the doors and headed directly for the Medbay where Natsu was, honestly though it wouldn't have been hard to spot where Natsu was seeing as the temperature in here was stupidly high.
Before Ultear and Erza got a chance to open up the room a voice called out to them from just beyond the door "Ultear, how nice of you to come visit!" The familiar slender form of Natsu's primary doctor was standing next to an ajar door.
"Doctor Mori." Ultear focused on the woman, involuntarily glaring at her as her intense emotions found their way to the surface. "Don't get in my way." Her words were like venom as she reached for the door before once again Mori interrupted
"I would advise against that darling but feel free to join me in the observation room for now." She pulled open the door she was standing next to, a room simply one door down from Natsu's room meaning that sure enough, it would be there to observe whatever was happening in Medbay C.
Ultear entered and Erza followed along, after stepping into the room they once again felt a shift in the heat. Just next to a large desk covered in controls and machines was a window into Natsu's room but the whole thing was covered in soot, smoke and strange blue lights that would vanish quickly.
Before either Ultear or Erza could ask questions, Mori began her prideful speech "On the other side of that heat-proof shield Natsu is in the process of healing himself in an unconscious state. In order to do that we had to first replace the damaged heart and second, we had to rejuvenate the healing potential in his blood. At present he's completely unconscious so while we fill his body up with magic to kickstart his healing, his fire magic is kicking off incredible readings." Mori pointed to the window, specifically strange blue wisps of light that were appearing every now and again.
"Because of the intense heat Natsu is expelling, it's creating small instances of plasma in the air!" She said with excitement, something that ticked Erza off quite a bit. She sounded so proud, so intrigued and infatuated with what she had done to Natsu, as if he were still just a lab rat she'd been given to work on.
"You're despicable for what you've done to Natsu and Ultear." It was unusual for Erza to be so quick to voice negative opinions of someone like so but she simply couldn't help herself at this point.
"Oh please, Agent: D is a key asset to this country. He's accomplished such incredible things and all of them are because I was willing to pursue what no one else dared!" It was clear that the Doctor had some major issues and wasn't new to being given some harsh feedback about the Augmentation program.
"Agent: D? He has a name!" Erza fired back in anger
"Well yes, and so did the other 498 before him but they've since perished long a-"
"What did you say?" Erza almost regretted asking that because she already knew the answer. It was staring her in the face ever since she got here. The size of this facility, the equipment they had available, it all pointed to one fact.
"The D doesn't stand for Dragon or anything ridiculous like that, no that was simply a coincidence. No you see it is actually part of an ancient numerical system where D represents 500. On the front of all of Ultears data is has the far less impressive CDXCIX meaning 499." Mori shot Erza a look as she waited for the response, the expression she'd grown to love seeing on those that disapproved of her work. A perfect blend of rage and disgust.
"What are you meaning to say to me that you're experiments have killed hundreds of innocent children?! You're a monster and I will see to it you face justice!" Erza grabbed the women's lab coat and slammed her into a wall, pressing her forearm into Mori's neck.
"You know Miss Scarlet, you were almost part of this program. I wanted so desperately to get my hands on that impressive body of yours!" The pressure on Mori's neck wasn't so substantial that she couldn't keep running her mouth
Mori brought her voice down to a struggled whisper "Come on, you know you're curious. Imagine how much faster you'd be, how much stronger? It may be too late to fully augment you but I can still tweak a few things here or there."
Before Erza had time to formulate a response a hand slammed into the clear shield looking into Natsu's room, the body was still clouded by the smoke flames but the hand was beginning to quickly melt it's way through the supposed heat-proof shield.
Erza let her grip of the doctor go as an intense rush of scaling hot air came rushing in as Natsu ran his fingers through the melting material, bringing it and the metal walls to a molten puddle on the floor, his eyes were wide open but seemed empty, only showing the bright orange glow of his magic enhancements through them.
The burning orange hue settled on Mori when in an almost lifeless and robotic voice Natsu spoke out "Don't – touch – her." His ragged and paused voice was emotionless, well almost. There was an underlying rage that likely stemmed from his magic. One of the unique properties of his magic is that it is fuelled by magic and amplified by his emotions, and theoretically his magic could work inversely and sway his emotional state.
"Spectacular! Even in an unconscious state Natsu's augmentations are capable of reacting to his minds subconscious demands. Protect friends, kill enemies, whatever it is he's focusing on his body can partially act! Oh, how marvellous!" Mori sounded like a kid on Christmas with how she viewed the finding but she was quick to realise that staying in that room any longer would result in her death, not so much by Natsu's hand but simply the heat was going to boil her alive if she waited any longer.
The three quickly left the room and the door sealed behind them "Well since it'll be a while before we can check on Natsu again, how about we give you the grand tour Miss Scarlet!" Mori's chirpy expression never faded as she turned to Erza
Understandably confused, Erza asked Mori "You want to show me around? Aren't you at all curious I'll spill information to the outside world?" She knew to be cautions around these people but at the same time she knew they weren't stupid enough to let her see anything she wasn't meant to.
Mori waved her hand in the air as if to wave off what Erza had said "Oh please we're going to go public tomorrow so you can see whatever you want." Mori sounded so calm about the announcement, it was Ultear that showed the first real sign of surprise
"What?! We can't go public or we'll get every nation on the continent to go to war with us! The second they get a sniff of a fraction of what we've done to their countries and leaders they'll want Fiore's head on a spike!" And she wasn't wrong, Ultear alone was responsible for fixing political events, skewing census data, assassinating VIP's and so much more so her surprise came with a justified reason.
"Don't be so ridiculous. What we're going to tell the public is the truth we want them to hear. They'll slowly be fed information on the Bureau's existence, then some of the missions we run and we'll simply control what we leak to the media. What we say to the public and what the media get linked are going to keep the public thinking they know the truth. Best part is, we're going to have the trusted name of a Wizard Saint as our primary public face."
'They're going to use Natsu as their face while they lie to the country, and the rest of the world if they have any spies or intelligence agencies.' Erza was well aware this isn't a plan they could have come up with in the week or so since the Tower of Heaven, it was something they had been planning for a long time, more than likely.
"Have you actually asked Natsu about this? How do you know he'll agree to it?" Ultear was clearly still not sold on the plan that Mori pitched.
"He'll be fine with it I'm sure!" The strange doctor seemed confident Natsu would go ahead with everything, which he probably would so long as it was planned right. Before the conversation dragged on too long Mori had led them to a different wing of the facility
"We're arriving in the Armoury, now Miss Scarlet I'm particularly interested in your opinion of Natsu's armour, given your area of expertise." Mori opened the large door to the first room where there were several sealed racks housing parts of Natsu's battle suit.
"My opinion? It's a remarkable piece of equipment and it undoubtably saved his life." She moved closer to a large apparatus that seemed to be holding a few pieces of his armour in its deconstructed form, gently she rest her hand on one of the metal surfaces as she recalled the events of the tower
"I watched him fall from a 9-foot ceiling without so much as a sound and on the other hand I've watched that suit withstand all the damage from Natsu attacking."
Mori loved hearing her invention get complimented, even if she only partially helped with design of the armour she still had a say in various elements. It was only the next part that caught her off.
Erza continued for a moment before adding "-but it seems impractical to put on. It needs Natsu to wear a tight under-suit correct? And then the various plates and pieces are fitted to the under-suit. I assume this is to minimise the noise it makes while moving without compromising the strength, but it needs such a large piece of equipment to fit that takes so much time." Compared to Erza's ability to change armour in seconds, the minutes it would take to prep and fit one of these suits was far too long.
"I don't see why you wouldn't try and teach Natsu re-quip magic to allow him to fit it in one go. It would solve the primary issue and allow him to change damage parts." As clever as the response was, Erza was missing a few key details.
Mori responded with an angered haste in her voice "Well Miss Scarlet to answer that, here." Mori threw one of the helmets at Erza, carefully catching it and holding it in her hands Erza brought the visor to face her as she studied the piece
"If you can re-quip one of the helmets then I'll have the team here create a full suit fit to your size. The estimated cost of one of these is upwards of 87 million Jewel, not including our money spent on R&D. So go, re-quip it." Mori crossed her arms, ready to watch the outcome she already knew would happen.
With an odd caution about it Erza agreed "Very well." She focused her magic as she always would as she tried pushing the item through to her pocket dimension. Initially the helmet began accepting the magic quite easily but as roughly half of the helmet was covered in her magic, Erza suddenly felt her magic struggle against it.
Feeling this struggle Erza really fought against it, using more of her re-quip magic than she would use for any other complete armour set in her arsenal and still, she couldn't get it to go and reluctantly she stopped, the golden light faded and the helmet remained in her hands.
"Even one of these armour pieces contains so many components and magical devices that the item is so complex that no re-quip mage can handle it. Even for someone of your calibre, who is widely regarded as the most skilled user of that magic. Hence why we need to fit it using the current method." Mori struggled not to sound smug as she knocked Erza's ego down a few notches.
Still curious about the item she was holding Erza brought the shell up to her head and spun it to the correct orientation, taking a short but meaningful look inside before putting her head in. The cushioned rear and top of it began to hug her head tightly in place once on and she felt several small clips extend from the neck to try and secure it to the main body piece, however since Erza wasn't wearing any other parts of it the clips didn't latch onto anything.
Once fitted the helmet lit up inside, the visor seemed to be comprised mostly of a moulded Lacrima that had been shaped to suit the helmet, it wasn't just glass. On it there was a small blip on the lower corner of her vision with a ring around it. Erza tried to recall her conversation with Natsu in the basement of his fancy estate
'He said he can channel magic through this thing to create a map around him. I wonder…' She had to try now that she was wearing this thing. She let her magic flow, releasing more into the outer world than she usually would. Not much, but enough that she would be able to feel if there was anything on this that was using it was a power source but she felt nothing.
Mori, while not being incredibly gifted in magic, was still able to sense the increase in magic from Erza. Assuming that the S-Class mage was up to something Mori decided to cut in "The suits won't function unless they've undergone the correct initiation sequence. The whole thing must be fitted before it can be fully activated you see." She straightened her lab coat as she put her hands on the helmet, gently clicking a switch below the neck that allowed her to take it off of Erza's head.
Over in the corner lay a few pieces for the newest suit comprised for Natsu. The suit was assembled for the most part, only missing a few pieces on each shoulder that would attach the final piece. Its form lay hidden beneath a sheet for now but Mori was itching to reveal it.
Ultear on the other hand was getting bored of watching these two geek out over some metal, deciding instead that she would lead them away from here before Erza really did get a suit "Say Doc, why don't we take her to Records? I'm sure she'd want to see a few of the missions we ran."
Mori was slightly less than enthusiastic about the suggestion "I'm not so sure it's wise for Miss Scarlet to be in Records."
"I mean, surely you're going to show the world some heroic footage of Natsu doing good work on the Bureau's behalf right?" Ultear knew for a fact they weren't planning on it, what she was saying was purely to push the harsh Doctors buttons a bit more.
Mori meanwhile pondered the thought… Yes she could pull something out the archives and show it. It would have to be something solid, something that would be hard to twist into a new story and most importantly, one that wasn't part of the Bureau's schemes. 'I know just the one!'
"Well Ultear I think that's a wonderful idea actually. I shall consult the Director about it before tomorrow and see what he has to say. In the meantime, I think Miss Scarlet would prove an excellent target audience to see just how well the footage can be perceived!"
Hearing a response like that wasn't what Ultear was expecting. It's rare the Bureau ever consider adjusting their plans unless there's more money or power involved. Meaning that Mori was either about to change her mind, or she'd already thought about showing one of Natsu's missions.
Before it went any further Erza began asking "I'm sorry but what exactly are you going to show them? I can't imagine reading mission reports is going to satisfy people's curiosity once they learn of this place." She knew she was still just skimming the surface of the Bureau, completely blind to what lay deep below in the belly of the beast but for now she had no choice but to ask and hope they answer.
Mori walked over to the cabinet holding the chest pieces of the suit where she tapped two small Lacrima just above the shoulder. "These here record footage from the suit. What they actually take in isn't anything impressive but we can take the magic signature they create and translate it into video and audio. However, they're probably the most fragile piece of the suit so they do tend to break often." She said, her voice getting quieter towards the end as she mentioned the flaw in the system.
Ultear had already started walking towards Records, hoping Erza would follow suit and truthfully she was hoping Mori would get lost and leave them to it but to no avail, the crazy doctor was behind her again promptly.
"Now Ultear before you leave I do expect your mission report to be completed and submitted for study." Regardless of new developments, everything they did was documented, even if only to be destroyed later and deemed too TOP SECRET to exist.
Before even bothering to answer the question Ultear rounded the final corner to Records and already she knew what she was looking for, the perfect mission to show the public and one that would increase his popularity amongst the majority of citizens.
The doors swung open and the interior almost resembled a library, but with none of the varnished wooden shelves or soft carpets. Instead it was almost exclusively metal shelving surrounded by more shelving. Rows upon rows of boxes lay before her and a few unusual tables were scattered around. "Let's see further back, further back. Nope too far. Ah –" She muttered away to herself as her finger traced the filing sequence that archives were sorted using before settling on a sequence of letters and numbers.
Ultear disappeared down the aisle and returned moments later with a small filing box containing the Lacrima from Natsu's suit and a plethora of files, orders, briefings, maps, equipment orders etc. She pulled the orbs out and made for the corner of the room where there sat a Lacrima that could use illusion magic to read and display the images. Dropping the two in, Ultear turned to face the Lacrima and watched as it finished preparing and began projecting the desired mission into the air.
Erza watched as the clever device blinked into life and she got a clear-ish view of what Natsu would have been seeing during this time. She didn't know when or where this took place, or what the mission actually was but she was eager to find out, and so with her eyes glued to the projection, it began playing.
(Just over 1 year ago, on the outskirts of Fiore)
Natsu stood on the edge of a ship, his armoured hands leaning against the wooden railing as he stared out at the dark night sky, a thick fog separating the ship from the water.
Ultear approached him from behind "Ground team will be arriving any second. You ready?" She didn't need to ask, Ultear knew Natsu was ready but still it was just worth saying anyway.
"Ready." He said, pulling his helmet on and securing it in place before he looked over his shoulder to a young man who was running communications to the ground team Natsu was operating with "Time to target?"
The young operator was quick with his response "ETA 40 seconds for the ground team."
Natsu nodded in response as he stared back down at the thick fog lining the bottom of the ship "Commencing operation." And with that he planted a foot on the railing and pushed himself up onto the side of the ship, with his hands hooked around the beam he was able to pull himself into a crouched position on the outside of the hull where he pushed off and began pierced straight through the fog.
From the video, Erza was fully expecting to hear a loud splash as Natsu just plunged straight off the side of a ship, just she hadn't really considered it was an airship they were on.
Natsu broke through the cloud layer and the black colour of his battle suit blended in perfectly to the night sky above once he was clear of the cloud the airship was hiding behind. He couldn't ignite his fire but even still he was approaching at a tremendous speed. Down below he could see the ground team he was working with approaching fast on modified magic cars that were able to carry a mage on the back.
All of whom had been instructed to fire magic spells that create any sort of orange or yellow bolt. With the added instruction of aiming slightly high it would create a constant stream of colour above the target that would mask the small bursts of fire that Natsu would use to slow his decent.
As planned Natsu found the target below being covered in small orange bolts of magic. It also provided a slightly better visual of his landing zone. The enemy camp, a large field covered in tents and shacks that had become the base of a rebellion army threatening to rise up, Natsu's mission was simple. Get in, retrieve a high priority target and get out. Once clear, Ultear would deal enough damage to cover their retreat and that's where his mission ended and someone else simply took over.
He had no time to run over any extra detail for now as he began letting out very small but powerful burst of fire to redirect him slightly and slow him down so he didn't land too harshly.
Down below the whole camp was in a blind panic, the sudden rush of magic cars blasting magic had caused quite a ruckus and they were all scrambling to get ready and into platoons but sure enough, the camp had came to life and all attention pointed at the northern entrance.
For the brief time he had left in the air, Natsu managed to land a good distance from the enemy front line that was forming. His landing was quick but by breaking out into a ferocious sprint he was able to quickly make progress through the camp, looking for any sign of his VIP.
Even across the horrible muddy ground, decimated by horses, carriages and an army, Natsu wouldn't go slow. He went screaming past tent after tent, most of which still had men coming out of them who would only see a feint blur of a massive black suit of armour come sprinting past them. Too quick to raise an alarm about and too strong to stop.
The same was true for Natsu, he didn't need to stop and deal with these people all he had to do was charge past them, he would only ever throw a single hit if he absolutely had to. All the while his eyes continued to dart from gap to gap in the tents, trying his hardest to see any hint of a person being moved to safety.
He was quickly approaching the back of the camp, having covered almost the full length of it in seconds but ahead he had missed a soldier that had undoubtably spotted him and had enough time to act on it. At the exact same time as Natsu realised the soldier ahead was winding up to throw a spear at Natsu, he spotted several soldiers and a person with a bag over their head being shuffled into a wagon over to the south west.
The soldier threw the spear with a sloppy arm and poor form, there was no way the attack would hinder Natsu in anyway but rather than let it simply bounce off of him, Natsu ducked left and held out his right arm, catching the spear he dug his knee into the ground and initiated a spin across the slippery mud below him, which gave him enough time to throw the spear directly back at the soldier.
The throw was good and it dug into the man's foot and even lodged itself into the ground a good few centimetres. Natsu hadn't sacrificed much speed, in any, with the manoeuvre and he was closing fast. Quickly he kicked his legs out in front of him and rolled onto his side, sliding across the mud. He extended one of his arms and caught onto the spear that was lodged firmly in the ground, using it as an anchor he slingshot himself to the right, immediately he had a direct route to the south west where the carriage was.
Taking a second to send a message to Ultear via their linked augment, he knew the ground team would know where to head to catch up to him after creating the impressive distraction.
With the carriage in sight he leapt into the air and crashed through the roof of the carriage, ignoring the several guards that were suddenly flattened by, what was essentially, a tank falling out of the sky.
Without a wasted motion Natsu grabbed the small frame of his target and front flipped through the front of the carriage, timing the flip to ensure his back was what broke the wall of the carriage before righting himself and continuing the sprint. Once again he confirmed to Ultear the target was secure and the ground team could evacuate and join up with him for extraction.
The yelling and shouting of the soldiers behind him was a quickly fading issue and Natsu knew they didn't have the means to catch him. Unsurprisingly Natsu was the first to arrive at the extraction point at which point he finally let go of the target and took the bag off of their head, using his finger to create a small flame to burn the ropes that were binding them also.
With the bag removed and his target safe, Natsu undid his helmet and pulled it off, shaking his hair out to restore its usual shape. Being kidnapped would be traumatising for most but Natsu was always quick to comfort people "Don't worry, your father sent us to rescue you, Princess."
All of a sudden Erza fully understood what she had just watched, the very event that the Princess mentioned about the first time she met Natsu. A rebel army that had kidnapped her in an attempt to overthrow the Monarch, thwarted by Natsu and Ultear.
The recording stopped and Erza stepped back slightly, leaning against a nearby table "This is how you plan on portraying the Bureau of Magical Development to the country? There's bound to be people who won't be satisfied that you've told the whole truth and if that ever gets out, what you've done to Natsu and Ultear, not to mention the other 498 children. When that gets out there'll be consequences."
Mori took one look at Erza before turning her back to her "I'll make it clear then, if the truth does get out then one fact that goes with it, is the fact that Natsu and Ultear are both accountable for acts that violate all forms of peace treaty and human rights. They'll be executed on the spot not to mention Fiore would get launched into a war we cannot hope to win. If you spill the beans before we deem it the correct time to do so, millions of lives will be in your hands. Live with that, Miss Scarlet." And without another word Mori left the two alone amongst the metal jungle of files, to ponder what might come next in this twisted plot the Bureau is cooking up.
A/N: Player 2 has entered the game as the Bureau make a decent appearance finally! I've really enjoyed writing about the Bureau like this since I don't really recall ever seeing anything like this but me enjoying this is only half the battle so I'm always keen to know what my viewers think.
This will be the last time I keep my new story vote open so please have a look and vote on anything you think might be good.
Stay safe everyone and I'll catch you all later,
Sincerely,
ShesTheBoss19