Natsu's House, Ebony Hills, Magnolia. 10:24 AM

Rock music filled Natsu's bedroom, getting an annoyed groan from the man as his eyes fluttered open. "Who the fuck is calling me?" He muttered quietly, his lips tugging into a small snarl which bared a fang. The pinkette tried to reach out to the corner of the bed but his movement was restricted by the blonde woman who was weighing down his entire left side and had his arm and leg entrapped. Natsu complained under his breath and just held out his hand, resorting to using Macro to make the phone jump into his hand so he could answer it. "Hello?"

"Natsu, it's Makarov." Fairy Tail's director introduced himself quickly, he had an important message to give to all of his agents. "I'll be making this quick. You said in your message last night that Lucy is with you, correct?"

"Yeah. She's staying at my house." Natsu replied tiredly, muffling a yawn behind his hand before he rested it on the blonde's hip. "Is something wrong?"

"Good, that's one less person I need to contact." The old man said quickly. "I've received an emergency communication from the good Captain. He wants to make his move tonight at midnight."

"Shit…" The fog in Natsu's head instantly cleared as he processed the situation. "Hold on, let me wake Lucy so she can hear this too." He lightly shook the woman's hip and then her shoulder urgently. When her eyes snapped open, he gave her an apologetic smile and pointed to the phone, showing her the caller ID. Natsu switched it to speakerphone as Lucy sat up beside him. "Alright, send it."

"Lucy, as I just mentioned to Natsu. The good Captain has sent us the following message…" A click was emitted on the other end of the line and Gajeel's voice came through the speaker. 'Checkmate, Checkmate, Checkmate. Zero-Zero-Hundred Hours. Tonight. Repeat: Checkmate, Zero-Zero-Hundred Hours, Tonight.' "I require all Agents to be at Headquarters by Noon for an emergency meeting. Head to Meeting Room One. We'll be going over what we know starting at exactly twelve. Don't be late."

"Yes Sir. We won't be late." Lucy responded professional, her back straightening sharply which caused her loose breasts to bounce and earn a chuckle from Natsu.

"As Lucy said, we'll be there soon." Natsu grabbed his pillow and shoved it against the woman's tits to keep them in place as he flashed her a cheeky grin. "I'll have Happy organise a sleepover with a friend so he is taken care of."

"I'm sorry for the short notice, and on a weekend of all days. However, the situation calls for immediate action. I want everyone in place before the Gajeel makes the first move." Makarov said softly. "Since you are near the edge of the city, I'll let you two go so you can get ready and be here in time."

"Don't worry, Sir, if we're running short on time then we'll just get some food once we get there. See you in the meeting." Natsu replied, and after receiving a farewell from the old man he closed the call. Lucy slowly laid back down on top of his left side and slid the pillow under his head, her chocolate eyes boring into his onyx ones. "Something on your mind?"

"Just that I wasn't expecting it this soon after our last mission."

"I know what you mean." He groaned softly, throwing the phone aside and covering his eyes with his right hand as his left returned to her hip. "I won't lie, I wanted a little bit more of a break to help your disposition in combat. But I guess that will have to happen out in the field… Nothing like a hard night – and possibly day – of combat to harden oneself up."

"Well, we should be mostly safe in our armour, right?" Lucy asked softly as she leaned up and lightly nibbled on Natsu's jaw along with a small kiss on his lips after a few moments. "That's why it was designed right, to face this threat?"

"Yeah. The main reason for this armour is for situations where we are up against near-peer opponents such as Phantom Lord. Our armour is more advanced and definitely tougher than theirs, but that's because we don't have a tonne of Agents. Think of us like extremely well-equipped commandoes to Gajeel's infantry and armoured fighting units, which is technically what we are in a general sense since we specialise in covert operations, 'Black Ops' as some would call them." Natsu took his hand from his face and waved it in circles before resting it on her arm and stroking it softly. "My point is that we should be fine in most cases unless they roll out the big guns like tanks and IFVs, which would happen eventually. I think we'll be ordered to use Rifles chambered for 6.5CM Fiorian Military ammo, and I for one will definitely be taking nothing but Black Tip armour piercing ammo to guarantee that I punch through their body armour."

"I'll probably need you to help pick out suitable weapons." Lucy informed the man as she glanced over at the attached bathroom and slowly climbed out of bed. "We better get ready."

"Yeah… No rest for the wicked yet again, it seems."

FTA HQ. 11:57 AM

Natsu and Lucy entered the meeting room with only a few minutes left to spare, both carrying a bag and a travel cup full of coffee and tea respectively. Natsu spared a quick glance around the room at his fellow Agents, every last one of them was present, even if they had to be recalled from their mission. "Sorry we were cutting it close, we had to grab a bite from the café. This is rare, for everyone to be here." Natsu remarked as he took a seat in one of the two remaining spots. He turned his attention to the man who stood at the centre of the horseshoe-shaped table. "So, Sir. We're all here now, let's get this started."

"We were just waiting on you two." Makarov replied as he clicked on his remote, snuffing the lights and activating the room's holographic projector. Lights swarmed around the room and formed various profiles and 3D displays of the various bases belonging to Phantom Lord. "As I mentioned on the call. We have received word from Captain Gajeel 'Black Steel' Redfox that he plans of making his move tonight. He's moved all of his forces within the main base situated outside of Oak City, sitting atop one of the many hills in that region."

"For those who aren't familiar with the base, why don't you give them some info on it." Laxus cut in, giving Lucy a quick nod as the most recent example. "And it could serve as a reminder for what we are dealing with."

"Excellent idea." The Director moved over to one of the numerous bases and dragged the largest to the centre before blowing the size up to fit within the horseshoe. "This is their main base, codenamed: The Peak. It's size rivals that of some of the largest bases belonging to the Fiorian Military. As you can see, it combines both an Airforce base and an Army base into one large military complex with a size equitable to a large town or small city." The man waved his hand over the twin large airstrips running along the western side of the base. He clicked his remote and the hologram was replaced with a satellite live-feed of the base which showed a large transport plane coming into land, along with a dozen F/A-18 E and F Super Hornets lined up near some hangers with more being moved out of them, further along the airstrip sat numerous AH-64D Apache attack helicopters. The zoomed-in feed shifted across the base, revealing a mix of M1128 Stryker MGS, LAV-25A2 IFVs, and Leopard 2A5 tanks in a Motor pool near the front of the base. "Suffice to say, this won't be an easy fight. Your actions will dictate whether you live or die, see that you make the right call." Makarov slowly looked around the table, illuminated only by the holograms around him. "If it comes down to it, prioritise yourselves over Gajeel's forces."

"As harsh as it may seem. We have no other choice." Mavis added as she rose from her chair and moved around to stand beside the Director. "Our survival reigns above all other priorities. Maki, do you have anything else you'd like to add before I take the reins?"

"Just one more thing. We'll be leaving after sundown and setting up a Forward Operating Base near The Peak in the surrounding forests. I've had modifications made to half a dozen of our Ospreys – designated as XV-22 Nighthawks – with the help of technicians from Blue Pegasus' own R&D facilities. They are designed to be substantially quieter than our standard Ospreys and possess infrared suppressors, specially designed rotors to minimise their operational noise, RADAR absorbing coatings, and so on. We'll be using these birds to carry us as close as possible so we can set up our FOB without alerting the base."

"Our FOB will be placed on the eastern side of The Peak to remove the risks induced by crossing the airfield. We'll touch down two klicks away from the Base's perimeter and start on building our FOB once we secure the area." Mavis used Makarov's remote to switch the live feed back to the 3D map of the mountain. She moved across to the eastern side and drew the Landing Zone's circle on the map. "We'll retain security of the FOB until the operation begins. However, we may send in a small team of infiltrators to prime key operations of the base for detonation, such as the base power supply along with the backup supply, RADAR facilities, air defence weapon systems, and so on. While the operation commences, we'll retain a portion of our fighting force within the FOB to ensure the security of command personal such as myself and Zeref, as well as those handling communication and data linking between our forces and our allies. This brings us to the next point."

"Due to lacking airborne firepower, we have contacted Blue Pegasus and have organised with them to provide air cover once the fighting kicks off." Makarov continued as the emblem for the company appeared behind him with a blackened steel-coloured dragon's head appearing next to it. "Our three factions will share a Data Link, so all friendly units will have active Identification Friend Foe enabled and will show up on each individual's HUDS. Gajeel's forces will be shown as hostile leading up to when the fighting begins at midnight, upon which they'll switch their IFFs to show friendly. I cannot stress this enough; Infiltration units must not engage anyone they see while carrying out their tasks. I do not want to risk blowing the operation before it has even begun."

"Huh, maybe I'll get to see what Hibiki has been raving on about finally…" Natsu murmured quietly and popped a hot chip in his mouth, having finished off a burger while listening to the meeting. Lucy shifted closer to the man and rested her shoulder against his arm, causing Natsu to give her a small smile.

"Our targets are Jose Porla and his top commanders; Aria, Sol, and Totomaru. As well as their own lieutenants." As Makarov listed off the targets, each mugshot appeared behind him with Jose sitting atop the pyramid. "I don't care if you choose to kill or capture any of these people. However, if you capture them then they can be tried with corruption and various terrorism charges. I've already been in contact with the Queen, she will be charging the company either way. Even if they have to be posthumously convicted."

"All three of them are very strong and well trained so exercise caution when combatting them. They each control a certain division within the PMC – the Airforce, Armoured Calvary, and Infantry. Gajeel is the head of their special forces, and his own personal troops are loyal to him and not Jose, they are the ones we are assisting in this operation." Gajeel's and Juvia's photos emerged from the Dragon Emblem at Mavis' explanation. She waved at them and glanced around the room. "Under no circumstances are we to harm any of the troops under their command. Rules of Engagement are that any hostile should be eliminated but if they surrender then they are to be taken into custody for later processing. Remove their ability to continue fighting to remove the chances of them trying to get the jump on us. And make sure they are cuffed with magic cancelling cuffs and are placed under watch so they don't try and escape them."

"What are the recommendations for gear?" Erza asked professionally, sitting a few spots down from Lucy. "Aside from our armour, do we need specific ammo and weapons?"

"Take rifles chambered for either 6.5mm Creedmoor or 7.62x51mm Military, make sure you are using the tungsten carbide cored armour penetrating ammo as you'll need it to punch through their armour. If you are planning on taking shotguns, then use either double-aught buckshot or slugs and ensure that they are either steel or tungsten loads to ensure better penetration. For those seeking to use sniper rifles, follow the same guidelines as standard rifles, 6.5 or larger. If you are like Elfman and want to use heavy weapons, then anything above 6.5, in his case he'll be using his .50 BMG Man-portable Gatling Gun, if you want to use 40mm grenade launchers, rockets, an M2 machine gun, or anything similar then feel free."

Lucy leaned her head up closer to Natsu's ear, keeping her voice quiet to not disturb the meeting. "Yeah, I'll definitely need your help with picking out gear."

"Alright, just tell me what you want to take later when we are in the main armoury."

"Are there any more questions before I wrap things up?" Mavis asked as she gazed around at each of the Agents in the room, giving them half a minute to speak up. "No? Alright. See that you collect your gear and are waiting in the underground hangar bays by six pm tonight."

"Dismissed." Makarov called out, and a collective murmur filled the meeting room as various groups of Agents came together or left the room.

Natsu threw his rubbish in the bin next to the door as he left the room, followed by Lucy, Erza, and Gray. He turned on the balls of his feet and started walking backwards towards the nearest elevator bank. "It's finally time, huh?"

"Seems that way." Erza replied softly and glanced at a polished black stone monument on the wall nearby that showed the names of the fallen men and women of Fairy Tail. "I wonder who will be one to put a bullet in the bastard?"

"I'm doing it the first chance I get, screw what the rules are." Natsu grumbled quietly as they paused by the monument and moved closer to the wall to allow people to pass by. "If I find him while I'm setting charges to prepare for the main event, I'm blowing his brains all over the wall."

"Are you two going to sort out your gear now?" Gray asked as he looked between the blonde and the pinkette.

"Yeah. I don't really know what I should bring for something like this, so I'm going to sort it out right now since I don't know how long it'll take." Lucy smiled and moved closer to Natsu as a particularly large group of people squeezed past the group of Agents. "And I'll need Natsu's help for it since he knows weapons better than I know my spirits."

"Plus, I want to customise my armour." Natsu shrugged and grinned at his friends. "What's the bet that we'll be teamed up again?"

"Very likely. It's only sensible to group us four into a team due to previous experiences. Also, Lucy has only worked with the three of us when it comes to combat missions." Erza replied as her stomach grumbled quietly. "You two will probably be part of the infiltration team as well. Thanks to the report that Zeref wrote up with our last mission. Anyway, I'm going to grab myself some lunch, smelling the food you two brought in has stirred up my appetite."

"Same here."

Natsu glanced at his two friends and shrugged lightly. "Alright. Well, see you two later then." He gave them a quick wave and spared a quick glance at the memorial, finding Macao's name almost instantly before turning and heading to the elevators. He sighed softly as he entered one and found it empty, he stared at his reflection in the mirrored wall before his attention snapped to the blonde who emerged from his back and moved in front of him, giving him a concerned look. "I'm alri…"

The man was cut off mid-sentence as Lucy's arms wrapped around his neck and brought his head down, allowing her to kiss him softly. She spun him around carefully and reached behind her, hitting the button for the floor that had the main armoury. "Shh, I know you aren't alright. But you'll be alright once this is all over. Then we can go see my mother, she's dying to see you after all."

Natsu sighed softly and rested his hands on the woman's hips, leaning down once more to kiss her. "Once this is settled down, we can go and see her. How will we get there, are you driving or…?"

"Either we'll get picked up or I'll drive us there." Lucy replied and placed kisses along his jaw before stepping back and smiling with her hands held together behind her back, pushing her chest out a little. "I can just drive us if you want to feel normal?"

"Yeah, I think that'd be best." The man ran a hand through his hair and glanced up at the floor counter. "About your weapons, I want you to bring an automatic rifle chambered for 6.5, preferably a full-length rifle at that."

"Should we put our armour on right away?"

"You can." Natsu's eyes drifted back to his beautiful blonde partner and a smile grew on his lips at the cute but deadly woman's curious expression. "I want to personalise my armour a little before I get mine on. But yeah, probably best to get acclimatised to the armour since we don't know how long we'll be fighting in it later on."

"You just want to watch me get dressed." Lucy teased playfully as she pressed against his chest and kissed his chin. "That's why you want me to go first."

"Luce, we got dressed in front of each other this morning. And while it is a sight worth seeing over and over, it isn't my motive." The pinkette replied and prodded the woman's forehead, pushing her back a little with a grin. The elevator dinged and he led the way down the busy hall and to the armoury. When they entered, they found it almost empty save for the armourers. Natsu crossed the room and used the palm scanner at a hidden door that opened to reveal the storage room for their armour. "Do you need my help putting the armour on?"

"Maybe. I'll try and do it myself, but if I need help then I'll ask." Lucy gave him a quick smile as she slipped past and jogged down to the C-line. Her melodic hums filled the room as she opened the sealed container and started ferrying her armour back to a work table in the main room. By the time it was all out on the table, Natsu had brought out his own armour and was sat at the table behind here with a felt-tip marker. She leaned over his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her breasts against his back as she watched him work. "What are you up to?"

"I'm going to etch a shallow dragon scale pattern into the armour." He answered softly, focused on his deft hands. He felt Lucy start rubbing her cheek against his stubble and he chuckled. "What, you got an itch or something?"

"It feels nice, like a tickling scratch." She mused before lowering her voice to a whisper as she brought her mouth closer to his ear. "Plus, it feels utterly delightful on certain sensitive stretches of skin."

"Shush you, go back to putting on your armour." Natsu murmured and lightly rapped the tip of her nose with the back of the marker.

"You don't want to watch me get undressed?" Lucy purred playfully as she backed away, drawing her fingers along his jawline and turning his head by the chin to follow her. "You seem so entranced by me last night~."

"And you were embarrassed that I was watching." Natsu shot the playful jab back at the woman, reaching out and lightly smacking her ass before turning back to his armour. "Let me know if you need a hand with that."

"Alright." The busty blonde stepped out of her sneakers and unbuttoned her sandy-coloured shorts, pushing them down her thighs and off her legs. She grabbed the combat pants from the pile of clothing and slid them on while humming the tune of a song she heard on the way to the HQ. "I feel sorry for Happy. We didn't get back all that long ago and now we all have to go on an emergency mission, leaving him all alone."

"He'll be alright providing we aren't tied up with Phantom Lord for too long." The salmon-haired agent replied as a high-pitched whirling drew Lucy's attention. She put on her boots and came to his side once more, finding him running two fingers over the vambrace in his hand, cutting shallow grooves into the armour. "How are you doing that?"

"I'm using one of the curses I know, it's called Calamity. Basically, I've created a very high-pressure mini cyclone at my index fingertip, and by using some sand that was stuck in my boots from our last mission as grit, I'm able to etch the pattern into the armour just a millimetre deep. And I'm funnelling high heat from my middle finger onto these tiny etchings to give it a burnt bluish tint so it'll shine when the light hits it."

"Isn't that counterproductive? You know, by making it more obvious?" Lucy kissed his cheek and went back to her gear. She pulled off her shirt and replaced it with the combat jacket, doing it all the way up to the high collar which hugged her neck but didn't feel restrictive.

"I mean, if you're up against me then it's probably better to know what you're in for rather than some random agent in armour. I know we've got our names stencilled on the chest but I doubt someone would say 'hey, what's that written on your chest?' in the middle of combat." Natsu placed the vambrace down and turned to the woman. "I know they have everything we need built into the helmet, but you should probably put your usual mic and stuff on as well as a backup. Just in case something fries the tech in the helmet."

"Alright. I'll keep the contacts in their container on the belt for now, but I'll put the mic and earpieces on now." The equipment formed from a dull glow in her left hand and were placed down with the rest of the armour. Lucy strapped the throat mic to her neck and placed the earpieces in then paired them to her Tac-com but put them on standby. "Any more words of wisdom?"

"Do your best to not get hit by bullets." Natsu chuckled and lightly hit her lower back. He stood up and moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on top of her head. "How can someone as cute as you be anywhere near as dangerous as you really are?"

"I could say the same for you." Lucy giggled while turning in his arms, she pushed up onto her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck as her lips crashed against his own. After a few moments, she pulled back slightly and smiled widely. "A big bad monster? More like a big softy~."

"And you call Mavis and I lovey dovey." Zeref made his presence known as a warm giggle erupted behind him, his blonde wife appearing moments later. "What's with Dragneels and liking blondes?"

"I didn't realise there was something wrong with blondes?" Lucy shot back as she turned her back to Natsu – facing the door – and pressed back against his chest. "Mavis, is there anything wrong with blondes?"

"Aside from us being very pretty, no I don't believe so." Mavis giggled and crossed the armoury to Lucy's workbench. "And even then, it's not so much of an issue. Right, Honey?"

"No babe, no issue here." Zeref replied meekly, scratching the back of his head and grinning lightly over his failed jab.

"Wah-chhhh." Natsu grinned as he flicked his wrist like he was cracking a whip before roaring with laughter moments later at the glare shot at him by his brother.

"Well, you've certainly lightened up a lot since Lucy came into your life." Mavis noted kindly as she pushed herself up onto the workbench and dangled her legs over the edge. "I remember you being very serious, even Mira and Lisanna couldn't make you this cheery this often."

"Well, he is a big softy after all." Lucy giggled and smacked Natsu's shoulder. "Seriously, you wouldn't even think that he's very dangerous when you look at him right now." She leaned up and kissed his cheek before escaping his grasp and getting back to putting on her armour.

"You two are so cute~." Mavis tittered as she tilted her head at the duo. "Though, you are correct. He used to have a dangerous air around him, the one he gets when on missions. But it seems that you wore that away over time."

Lucy put her left boot up on the edge of the table and started strapping on the armour as the high-pitched sounds started up again behind her. "So, moving on from Natsu and I. Will you two be on site?"

"Yeah, we'll be at the command post at the FOB." Zeref replied while watching his brother work, instantly catching onto what the design was. "We'll have a small team with us to help maintain the network and keep all parties up to speed."

"Hmm, since you two are here. I want to make a recommendation." Natsu murmured as he placed the other vambrace down and started working on the leg armour. "As I mentioned to Lucy, I think it's a good idea that we have the standard mic, earpieces, and contacts on hand just in case something fries the tech in the helmets and we need to use them."

"I agree." Zeref nodded quickly and took out his phone. "I'll make a note about it and discuss it with the others once we are on the ground."

Once Lucy's legs were fully armoured, she lifted the torso armour and lowered it over her head while feeding her arms through the sides. She tightened the fastenings to ensure it wouldn't move about and grabbed the armour for her arms.

"Sounds like you are getting through that fairly well." Natsu threw over his shoulder while he remained focused on his work. "That's good."

"Shh~ you're distracting me, don't make me kiss you again."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It is, because we won't get anything done."

"Stop being so cute~!" Mavis laughed while Zeref hid his chuckles behind his fist. "You two are worse than Zeref and I. So, has anything new happen in the life of Lucy Heartfilia?"

"I had a fight with my drunken landlord."

"Oh, I hope he's alright?" Mavis gave her full attention to the woman instead of half watching the two of them. "And you, of course."

"I'm perfect. Him, well, he most likely needed a change of underwear after Natsu dealt with him."

"I thought it was meant to be the knight in shining armour that rescues the princess, not the dragon." Mavis giggled and pushed off the table. She skipped across to Natsu and leaned over his shoulder to watch him work. "Mr Big Bad Dragon coming in to save the day, huh~?"

"He's just a big softy, Mavis." Giggled the busty blonde with a glance back at the woman. "Though, he was pretty intimidating~."

"So, what happened after?"

"Natsu offered me a place to stay at his house, and I took it up." Lucy fastened the armour to her arms and slotted in her Tac-com then gave herself a quick once-over to be sure. Once she was satisfied, she grabbed the helmet and sent it to her pocket dimension for safekeeping. "I'm all set, Natsu."

"Alright. Get yourself some tungsten carbide cored 5.7mm ammo for your Ruger and load up half a dozen mags while you wait for me." Natsu glanced back at the blonde and looked her up and down. "You'll only be using your sidearm in emergencies like if you're in the middle of reloading or it's faster to grab your pistol than your rifle. But it'll still pay to get ammo that would do better against armour than the regular full metal jacket or hollow point ammo. Though if I could offer a piece of advice; don't go for their armour if you find yourself using it, go for unarmoured areas like the face or gaps in their armour. Their gear isn't like ours, it's basically mass-produced trash but it still protects them."

"Well, we'd better collect our own armour." Zeref reminded Mavis of the original purpose of their visit. He patted his brother on the shoulder as he passed by. "We'll see you two later."

"Catch you later, Zeref, Mavis." Natsu waved, his words parroted moments later by his blonde partner from the ammunition storage. The man didn't even hear the two leave the armoury due to his focus on his work, and it wasn't until he finished putting the final touches on the final piece – the helmet – that he sat back and took in his surroundings, finding the busty beauty leaning on the other side of the table, watching him intently. "Sorry, were you trying to get my attention?"

"No, I've just been watching you work." Lucy smiled at the man and leaned across the table, placing a light kiss on his lips. While she was waiting, she had tied her hair up in a bun at the base of her skull to keep it out of the way when she put her helmet on. "Suit up already so you can help me with weapons."

"Alright, alright." Natsu quickly put on his armour and placed his pistols on his thighs and knives on his lower back. He made his way over to the weapons rack designated for 6.5 CM rifles and looked over them. "I want you to be carrying something capable of full-auto fire, but keep it on single shot to ensure accuracy." Natsu glanced over at a nearby armourer and waved them over. "Do you have any 6.5 converted HK G28s?"

"Yes, Sir." The man replied as he brought up a list on the tablet he was carrying. "Currently we have a few G28E2 and E3 models in stock."

"Get a G28E3 for Agent Celeste here, and if possible, modify a G28E2 to have a twenty-inch barrel for me. Preferably with the capability to have a suppressor attached."

"I'll have someone get to work on your rifle right away, Sir." The man saluted before turning to the blonde woman and saluting her too. "Your rifle is out the back, I'll go grab it right now and bring it out to you, Ma'am."

Lucy watched the man hurry off before turning her attention back to the pinkette who was pulling magazines out of a box under the shelves. "Matching rifles?"

"Almost. It means that if one of us are short on ammo then we can just grab it from the other. We'll both be using twenty-round box mags." Natsu lined up a dozen each and placed the box back under the shelf. He walked over to the ammo storage and grabbed a large box of armour penetrating 6.5 CM then returned to the woman. "Better start packing mags, we've got a fair bit to do. Once we are done, one will go into the gun, six will go on our rig, and the rest will be stored in our pocket dimension."

After a few minutes, the armourer returned with both the rifles and placed them on the bench next to the magazines. "Sorry it took a while, I wanted to bring both weapons out at once."

"No worries, thanks for the assistance." Natsu replied and grabbed the shorter barrelled G28E3. He held it out to Lucy to hold and inspect. "These are military spec HK417s. Your one has an eleven-inch barrel, angled foregrip, and a 1-8x24 PM II scope from Schmidt & Bender, arguably one of the best optics manufactures in the world. My E2 comes with a 3-20x50 PM II scope and normally a thirteen-point-four-inch barrel but since I'll be using mine as a marksman rifle, I had the twenty-inch installed and will be sticking a bipod on it. Stick a suppressor on it too, we may be using full-power rifles but nullifying the muzzle rapport goes a long way in combat." He grabbed a small box from a nearby shelf and handed it to the woman. "It's compatible with the barrel thread and rifling. I'll be putting the same on my one."

"Alright." Lucy got to work on her rifle, sliding the suppressor over the muzzle brake and fastening it down. She noticed light etchings on the barrel and looked up at Natsu. "Hey, what are these for?"

Natsu finished fastening the bipod in front of his foregrip and leaned over to the woman, looking closely at where she was pointing. "Ah, those are runes, most likely to keep the barrel cool. You'll find them on fully automatic rifles and machine guns so the barrels don't warp from excessive heat."

"So, this works like the M27 IAR that I was using in training?" Lucy asked as she slipped an empty mag into the rifle and started to dry cycle it.

"Yes, but with more punch due to being a larger calibre than what you're used to. Here, let me demonstrate how it'll feel." Natsu moved the blonde so the rifle was parallel to his torso – with the ejection port facing him – and used Marco to cycle the weapon as if it was firing on her trigger pulls. "Good, you're very stable on single-shot, so switch it to full-auto and give it a rip."

The woman did as instructed and flicked her thumb up to the fire-selector, switching it from semi to full-auto. When she pulled the trigger, she was knocked back by the slightly higher than expected recoil before almost instantly leaning in and making the rifle rock-steady.

"Good, good. You seem to have a good grasp on things, so finish getting loaded up and lock that rifle onto your back." Natsu smiled and relinquished control over the rifle's internals. He turned around and slotted a full mag into his DMR and strapped it to his back with the safety on and no round chambered. "Keep it cleared but have a full mag in and ready."

"Got it." Lucy replied smoothly, placing the rifle on her back once she was done. She placed three extra mags on the carrier over her stomach then places the remaining eight in her pocket dimension. "All set for weapons. Will I need grenades or anything else?"

"Maybe three frags each. If we need more grenades then we can just grab them from any Phantom we drop." When Lucy returned with three grenades in her hand and three more held on her belt. As he placed the grenades in pouches near his right hip, Lucy leaned up to kiss him on the lips. "You really love kissing me, doing you, Luce?"

"Yep! You make my lips tingle and your warmth sticks around on them for a bit after the kiss. Plus, I get all fuzzy inside."

Natsu tapped the tip of her nose and stretched his arms above his head with a groan. "Alright. Normally I'd carry a second weapon but since we are going into full-scale combat, it'd be better to just settle for a rifle and my pistols. And my knives too. Anyway, let's go meet up with the others." Natsu grabbed his helmet from the table he was working at as he passed it on his way to the door. He slipped the helmet under his left arm and held the door open for his partner who pushed up onto her toes to give him yet another kiss.

FTA Hanger Lifts, 5:48 PM

"Listen up!" Barked Agent Salamander as he paced the length of the assembled Agents. Gone was the cheery pinkette, replaced by the battle-hardened and highly respected Agent. "Once we step on these birds, we'll be on a one-way trip to hell! We have been outfitted with the best armour we can develop at this present time, but that doesn't mean we can relax! We are Agents of Fairy Tail, we are the fastest, strongest, and deadliest troops in Fiore! And as such, our names carry weight; when the enemy learns of an Agent on the battlefield, they fucking piss themselves and run instead of confronting us! We won't let that motherfucker Jose Porla and his fucking Phantoms get away with their crimes, but what we will give them is a belly full of lead and a pool of their own blood to drown in!" The man came to a sudden stop in front of the Agents, his steely onyx eyes roaming left to right as he stood tall in his customised armour with his helmet under his left arm. "Am I Right, Agents?!"

"Sir, Yes, Sir!" The gathered Agents chanted in precise unison, a booming stop echoing around the hanger followed immediately by a whoosh as they all snapped off a salute.

"Mhm. Damn fucking right. Load up! It's time to exorcise some motherfucking Phantoms!" The salmon-haired Agent ordered before sensing the Director approaching off to his left. He turned and quickly saluted the incoming man. "Sir, we're all set for take-off."

"Good, thank you for covering for me while I sorted things out with Bob."

"Sir, if you don't mind my input. With all the equipment we'll be acquiring from Phantom Lord after this war. I think it would be best to sell them and put the money toward financing cutting edge equipment for the left-over forces." Sal turned and started walking toward the Nighthawk that he was assigned – where his team was waiting for him – with Director Makarov beside him. "Especially since we won't have the same amount of personnel that they currently have. It would be better to shrink the equipment pool and get more advanced equipment for the remaining troops. As per our usual ethos."

"We may close down some of the bases to cut operating costs, either selling them off to the Kingdom for the Military or for Cities to turn into airports. And shift personnel to the remaining bases or base." The old man came to a stop at the foot of the ramp and turned to the Agent. "But I agree with your input, it's something I'll have to work out after this whole situation is sorted out and has settled down. I know you don't require authorisation anymore, but take this as such; you're free to use your full arsenal in this battle, curses and spells."

"Thanks, Sir." The pinkette snapped off another salute and took his helmet from out under his arm, placing it on his head and polarising the visor. "We'll check in once we're boots on the ground." Sal gave the man a nod and headed up the ramp.

"We're all aboard." Agent Knight announced to the flight crew and the ramp was raised behind the man.

"Ghost One to Tower: We are ready for departure." The pilot called out over his radio.

"Ghost One this is Tower: Proceed to Lift One and Hold."

Knight returned to her team, congregated near the rear hatch. "So, what's the plan, Stygian?" She asked the nearby man who stood next to his wife.

Stygian glanced at the redhead and joined the group with Fae coming to stand next to him. "Once we land, I'll have the majority of our force secure the LZ while a small team – most likely you guys – head out and check the surrounding area for security devices."

"Celeste is a good pick, but there is a possibility that I won't be able to hear the devices operate." Sal noted as he leaned back against the wall of the aircraft, crossing his arms in front of him. "At least, not with a helmet on unless something can be done with the audio passthrough to suit my hearing."

"I might be able to help, I didn't have the time to do it since I showed you the armour." Agent Gale informed the man, the petite blunette moving away from her small team of three and approaching Sal. "Just let me do some quick tweaks on it now, it shouldn't take me long."

"Alright, here." Sal lifted the helmet off and handed it over. "Saves me from having to change the colour of my hair, and it lowers my thermal signature." As the short woman returned to her group and sat on one of the fold-out seats, Sal returned his attention to his older brother with the faint whirling of the rotor blades reaching his ears. "Agent Spark would be another good candidate for securing the area, he'd be able to sense the electrical currents and short them from a distance."

"Good point, I'll let him know once we touch down. I want you and Celeste to set out immediately, scout the surrounding area then report in. I'll have further orders for you two once you have."

"Have Black Steel and Storm been contacted?" Sal asked as he focused his ears onto the surrounding airspace. He could hear the other helicopters rise up to their level followed by the engine pods turning and their aircraft flying forward.

"Yes." Agent Fae replied, nodding her head slightly. "We gave them the basic timeline of our activities. Chances are that if an allied Phantom spots you, they'll turn a blind eye."

"Alright. I'm going to be upfront, watching the skies ahead." The salmon-haired agent smiled at his team and started making his way through the crowd and to the cockpit. He could see the last few city lights disappear under them, leaving only the occasional set of headlights.

"Ghost One to Ghost Flight: Time to fly dark. Switch to night optics and fly a staggered two-column formation. Once we get closer, we'll fly under their RADAR to prevent them spotting us." The pilot ordered before turning off the interior and exterior lights and turning his attention to the newcomer. "Agent Salamander. What can I do for you?"

"Just watching the sky. I didn't mean to disturb you."

"You're good. So, this is it, huh? First-class trip right into the belly of the beast."

"Eh, I'd call it the beast's flank instead." Sal chuckled and leaned his shoulder against the wall beside the gunner for the belly turret. "But yeah. Hopefully, when you return to the Peak, it'll be in our hands and you'll be landing on the runway."

"And hopefully, we won't be needing to Medivac any injured Agents." The co-pilot added as she quickly glanced back at the man. "You guys are confident with that new armour of yours?"

"Agent Gale was telling me that they were rigorously tested and should prevent any of the man-portable weapons they have. However, I'd rather not put that to the test."

Speaking of the blue-haired woman, Gale stepped into the cockpit, her entrance perfectly timed with the man's words. "Sal, try this out."

The man took the offered helmet and placed it back on his head. He activated the electronics once again and took a moment to listen to his surroundings. "It's much better, but it still feels a little muted. Could you make it a little bit more sensitive?"

"Yeah, but not much more so you may have to settle with slightly muted." Gale took the helmet from the man once more and started fiddling with the insides. "Just give me a few moments."

"Alright." Sal turned his attention back to the dark skies ahead. At the speed they were flying, it shouldn't be more than twenty minutes to their LZ, at the very least it would be ten minutes.

"Ghost One to Ghost Flight: Descend on me, we're entering RADAR range."

"I'll let you guys concentrate." Sal lightly slapped the pilot's shoulder before ushering the blue-haired woman back into the cabin.

"Here. That's the best I can do." The petite woman gave the helmet back and crossed her arms over her armoured chest while the man put it on.

"It's close enough." He said after giving it a moment to listen to his surroundings. It was still a little muted but far better than what it had been originally. "Thanks."

"No worries. If you run into any more tech issues between now and midnight then let me know, I'll do my best to fix them before the operation commences."

As Sal returned to his informal team and rested his shoulder against the wall of the aircraft once more, Celeste glanced over and moved a little closer. "Did you get it all sorted out?" She asked quietly as she gazed up into his polarised visor, able to see the man underneath thanks to her Traverse sense.

"Yeah. It's much closer to my natural hearing now. Not perfect, but close enough." Sal took his rifle off his back and flipped down one of the seats near him, sitting down with his rifle resting against his chest – the buttstock wedged between his thighs against the seat. "Think I'll get some quick shut-eye. Wake me when we are close to the LZ."

6:40 PM

"Two Minutes to Drop!" The pilot called out over the Nighthawk's intercom. "No room to land so you're going to have to jump!"

"That's fine with us!" Stygian replied as he moved to the rear hatch. He glanced back at his sleeping brother then at the agent's team. "Someone wake up Sleeping Beauty over there."

Agent Frost walked over to the dozing man and knocked him on the top of the head with his fist. "Wake up, Buttercup. Time to move."

"I'm up." Sal grumbled and knocked the man's hand away. He lifted his rifle and rose to his feet. "What's the situation?"

"There are no clearings large enough for us to land, so we're dropping through the trees." The raven-haired agent informed his friend as he led the way back to the rear hatch. "T-Minus two minutes to drop."

"Gotcha." The man murmured and raked the charging handle – chambering a round. He felt the helicopter swing around as the hatch opened to the cold night. Agent Salamander took the lead, leaping out the opening and down to the ground fifteen metres below into knee-high mountain snow. Two his left and right landed Agents Knight and Frost, with Agent Celeste appearing two metres in front of him just above the snow – their armour rapidly adapted to the surroundings and shifted from an urban colour scheme to the whites, greys, and faded greens of their snowy environment. "Stygian, we're going to push out and secure the immediate area."

"Copy that. Operate under Callsign Wolf."

"Understood. Wolf Squad moving out." Sal replied as he trudged through the snow, pushing west toward the Peak. "We're switching to Channel Two." He tapped his Tac-com and set up his comm system before glancing around at his team. "Comm check." One by one, each member checked in and the pinkette nodded briefly before bringing his rifle up and taking the lead. "Celeste, keep your eyes on the trees. If something stands out in that white space of yours then point it out."

"Alright."

As the four agents slowly made their way around the immediate area, they quickly found out that there were no sensors of any kind. A quick check with Agent Spark – who had been scouting around with his own team – confirmed their findings. They decided to expand their range, trudging through the snow until they got a call to return to the FOB.

Upon their return, they were greeted with half a dozen large white tents hidden under the tree canopy with dustings of snow, small branches and leaves. Wolf Squad entered the largest tent – which stood in as the FOB's command centre – and were met with various holographic screens showing the viewpoints of various active units, along with one large screen laid out on the main table which displayed the satellite feed with a heatmap overlay for Phantom IFFs as well as the positions of their own units.

"Wolf Squad reporting in." Sal announced as he approached the main table in the centre of the tent. He took his helmet off and placed it down on the table, disrupting the edge of the projection slightly. "No signs of surveillance or sensor devices within three klicks of the FOB."

"We've had a similar report from Tiger and Badger squads." Stygian glanced up from the table at his brother's team before drawing a circle around the FOB and marking it green. "It seems our helicopters did their job perfectly; we were able to approach the Peak without drawing any attention." The black-haired agent glanced at the time projected near the wall; it was 8:42 PM. "Deadline seems to be rapidly approaching, a little over three hours until go time."

"Sal, could you take Celeste into the base and start on rigging key targets for demolition." Agent Fae requested as she joined her husband and brother-in-law at the table, a tablet in her hands. "I'm sending you a list of targets and their locations. Take your time, I'd rather that you don't get spotted. Take out their sensors first before you rig the explosives, that should allow you to move about freely."

"Will do." Sal replied quickly. He leaned over the table and took a look at the projected map. One of the buildings near the centre of the complex became illuminated and the man placed up, seeing the blonde woman smiling at him. "That'll be a pain in the ass to reach. I want Celeste to hold off on using Traverse to move about until the combat starts so she will be in the best condition possible. So, it looks like we'll be doing it the old fashion way. We'll stay under Callsign Wolf"

"No making out while on mission~." Sang Fae, teasingly. She hid a giggle behind her hand as her green eyes shined with mirth.

"Yeah, yeah. Tell that to her." The pinkette rolled his eyes but smiled softly. He grabbed his helmet and crossed the short distance to his team. "Knight, Frosty, chill out around here until you receive new orders. Celeste, we're going into the base, same deal with the Temple Ruins from the last mission." The two agents took their helmets off and left the tent to find somewhere to relax, leaving the blonde alone with her mentor. "Let's go. When radioing command; I'll be under Wolf One, you're Wolf Two."

"Yes, Sir." Celeste responded and followed the man out of the tent at a jog. "You mentioned not using Traverse?"

"Since we don't know how long the combat will be going for, I want you to minimise the use of it before midnight to keep yourself fresh in the head."

"Alright." The armoured blonde looked up at the trees then glanced back to the man in front of her. "Should we move up to the branches? So, we don't leave tracks in the snow?"

"These trees aren't the best to do it with." Sal glanced at the nearest tree and frowned. "It would stop any tracks leading back to the FOB… We'll have to stick to the ground though, since it's night and it's cold, sound travels much further than it normally would. So, I don't want to risk snow dropping or a branch snapping under the weight of our gear."

"Right. I'll stick to your trail then." Celeste replied and moved from a little off his back right to right behind him, making sure her footsteps land in the same spot as his. "What channel will we be on?"

"We're sticking to the same one as before; Channel Two. Keep your rifle ready but don't fire until I give the order." The salmon-haired agent shouldered his rifle and picked up the pace. His legs cut through the snow like it was butter as he sprinted uphill through the cold night.

Celeste dropped to a knee and swept her G28 across the flat land ahead of them, gazing through the two tall chain-link fences which bordered a two-metre-wide concrete trench. "Sir, how do you want to pass this? I can bring us to the other side?"

"We'll just jump across. The boots will suppress any noise from the landing and when running across the paved ground." Sal took a step back and crouched down. He leapt over the high fences – just missing the razor-wire loops at the top – and landed into a roll on the other side. A moment later, he was joined by his partner and they dashed behind the closest building – their armour fading from whites to dark greys.

"Wolf Squad, it's Stygian. Just letting you know that I'm linking the satellite feed to both of your HUDs and am highlighting the targets for you."

"Thanks." The man replied as a mini-map opened on the bottom left of his HUD, and as he glanced around, buildings became outlined with their names hovering above them, allowing them to quickly identify where they needed to go. He spotted the sensor building, a tower in the middle of the compound. "Yeah, that'll definitely be a pain in the ass… We better deal with it now."

"Alright." Celeste moved to the corner of their building and glanced around the corner. She frowned and quickly pulled back, moving a hand behind her and resting against Sal's chest plate to stop him from moving further. "There is a camera facing this way from the building across the street. Should we divert to the Security Office?"

"Ah shit. One sec." Sal brought his hand up to his helmet, switching channels on his mic as he peeked around the corner. "Wolf One to Command: I need a channel opened with Lieutenant Storm."

"Copy that, Sal." Agent Fae replied quickly. "I'll make contact and patch her through to Wolf Squad's channel."

The armoured pinkette took his hand away from his helmet and moved back. He gazed down at his partner, his shoulders rising and falling as he let out a sigh. "Gotta hold tight." Sal leaned against the wall and fiddled with his rifle. Celeste moved next to him and placed her right food back against the wall. Holding her rifle in her right hand only with its muzzle pointed to the sky. After just over a minute, they were finally greeted by a third person in their comms.

"Agent Salamander? It's Lieutenant Storm."

"Sorry to disturb you, Storm. But who is in the security room?" The pinkette asked quickly as he peeked back around the corner. He heard a truck approaching and quickly waved Celeste to his side and nodded to the next building – counting down on his hand.

"I'm not sure. I'm not far from it, I could check?"

As the truck rolled past the gap, Sal's hand closed into a fist and both Agents sprinted the short distance and passed the camera's field of view. "Please do, I'd feel better if I knew we had allies in there and we won't trigger any base alarms."

"Is there anything else I can do?"

"Stay on the line if you can. We may need you after." Sal stopped by the next corner and checked it, thankfully there wasn't a camera facing them so they continued to move. 'Strange, she normally uses third-person speech…'

"How do you want to deal with the target, Sal?" Celeste asked as they turned the corner and ran across the street, their movements blurred due to the speed they were going. They were beelining it towards the tower that had dishes and antennae strewn around it.

"Can you see any power cables leading into the building?" The man asked as he came to a stop in the shadow of the building and looked down at the blonde woman.

"Yeah, there is actually one right below us…"

"Ok, next question. If you send something like a sheet of paper into a pole, what happens?"

"It'll displace the existing molecules… Oh, I see what you want me to do." Celeste looked around at the ground, searching for something she could use. Something rustled next to her and drew her attention. Sal was holding out a blank notepad for her to use.

"Agent Salamander, I'm entering Base Security now." The Merc went silent for a moment, leaving the two agents in unintentional suspense.

While they waited, Celeste tore off three lots of three pieces of notepaper and folded each group in half to increase the thickness. She handed the notepad back to the man and waited for Lieutenant Storm's report.

"Base alarms have been disabled and I've fried the drives, the computers won't be able to record to them anymore. You can still be seen on the cameras but there is nothing they can do about it short of spreading the word manually but I'm sure you'd hear them coming."

"Thanks, Storm, we're just setting up some fireworks. We'll be out of your hair soon." Sal gave the blonde a nod and the paper vanished from her hand. The faint hum from the building behind them ceased as the windows went dark and shouting erupted from within. He grinned within his helmet and started moving to the base's power supply.

The duo raced back across the street and darted between building after building, staying away from heavily travelled paths as they skirted around the fringes of the base. Celeste kept her attention around them, keeping track of hostile personnel and stopping her partner whenever needed to prevent them from being spotted. They came to a halt against the wall of a building next to a concrete bunker.

"Is this their power facility?" Celeste asked quietly. She closed her eyes and focused her sixth sense, cutting through the thick layers of concrete and steel to the innards of the bombproof building. "Security looks really tight in there. We won't be able to waltz through the front door."

"Fuck… I was hoping to put off using Traverse for as long as possible." Sal's fist slammed against the brickwork beside him as a snarl spread across his lips. He placed his rifle onto his back and took an M10S in his right hand, his left coming to rest on the woman's shoulder. "Take us into the control room."

"Alright." The armoured blonde readied her rifle and took a short deep breath. An instant later the duo appeared in a room full of monitors and five technicians.

"Alright! Everybody put their hands up and come to the middle of the room!" Sal ordered as his left hand snapped to his second pistol and brought it up. The two agents moved apart and corralled the technicians into the centre of the room. "So, this is how things are going to work; I'm going to give you an order and you will follow it to the letter. At midnight tonight, you'll cut the power to the entire base and you will not turn it on until a member of Captain Black Steel's unit tells you to. Now, I want to make this perfectly clear, us two…" The man nodded to his armoured companion without taking his gaze off of the technicians. "We were never here; you did not hear us or see us. But if the power comes back on, then we'll be back."

Celeste kept her rifle trained at the Phantoms while slowly moving to her mentor's side. She pressed her left shoulder against his side and checked the building's surroundings. "I'll take us as close to the next target as I can without dropping us in the thick of hostiles." The armoured woman murmured while adjusting her grip on the G28. After an almost imperceptible nod from Sal, she pulled them out of the room and onto the rooftop of a building. Celeste lowered her rifle and moved in front of the man. "We're about a hundred metres off the next target, it's on ground level but there are people around."

"Alright. Let me check in with Control." Sal holstered his pistols and brought his right hand up to his helmet. "Wolf Squad to Command: The power plant has been dealt with; the power will shut off at midnight."

"Understood. Proceed with the rest of your assigned targets. Make it quick as the clock is ticking ever closer to midnight."

"Moving." The man lowered his hand and sighed softly. He moved to the edge of the roof and crouched down, peering over the edge at the path ahead. Thankfully, it was a moonless night which shielded them from view even though the base was still well lit, none of its lights were shining up at them. "Let's make this quick. We'll finish up over at the RADAR Station by the hangers. From what I understand, it controls the base's Air Defence Network. Which makes it a priority target."

"No air support unless we blind them first?"

"Pretty much. Not sure what BP have cooked up for us. But since Black Steel's group aren't Phantom's Air Force, we can't expect them to give us any air cover."

Celeste put her armoured boot up on the raised edge of the roof and looked down their scope at their next target. "Two guards armed with rifles at the door. There are even more inside, with more rifles I think."

"Hmm." Sal stepped back and pulled up a detailed map, their helmets creating an Augmented Reality projection in front of the man. "That's the Main Security Offices. Storm dealt with that one for us. Let's move onto the next target."

"Agent Salamander. My Captain has gotten in contact with me. I'm going to disconnect from your channel and rendezvous with my soldiers."

"Understood. See you on the battlefield, Lieutenant."

"Do you trust her?"

"No. Not fully, maybe twenty or thirty percent." Sal replied honestly. He sat down on the edge of the roof beside the woman and placed his rifle across his lap. "But maybe that'll change tonight. Don't let the trust issues stop you from helping them though, they are our allies. So, we need to cover them when they need it."

"But prioritise our own forces, right?"

"Yeah." The pinkette grunted and looked out across the large base toward the airfield on the opposite side. "This'll be tougher than I expected." He muttered and turned his attention up to the armoured woman next to him. "I'm hearing a lot more people than I thought there would be, plus there are people over in the motor pool talking about tanks and stuff."

Celeste sighed and placed her rifle on her back. She lifted her helmet up and held it at her hip while she breathed in the fresh mountain air, though it was slightly tainted by fumes and exhaust. "Yeah… I can see them. It's a little overwhelming, all these people, not knowing who is and isn't friendly."

"Can you tell if they are carrying weapons?"

"Depends on how close they are. The further away they are, the less defined they become. Think of them like three-dimensional shadows, or pegs that stand up from the ground." The beautiful blonde looked down at her partner and knelt down in front of him. She placed her helmet on the roof and took his off, placing it next to hers. "Quick question?"

"Shoot." Sal replied quietly as he ran his hands through his hair, evening out the spikes.

"Why aren't we also disabling the vehicles? You'd think that would be one of the tasks as it would limit the hostile force's ability to attack."

"I'm sure there are other infiltration teams doing just that. Most likely through non-destructive means since those vehicles will be in our hands once this is all over." Sal placed the butt of his rifle against the roof and rested the gun up against his shoulder as he stared into the woman's chocolate eyes. "We should move on before we fall behind schedule and get reamed for it."

Celeste held out a hand and pulled the man to his feet. As she leaned down to pick up the helmets, they began to levitate up to them. The blonde huffed softly and smiled at her partner, she plucked her helmet out of the air and slipped it over her head. "Thanks."

"No worries." The man set the helmet on his head and shouldered his rifle while gazing at the next closest marker. "Wolf Squad to Command: We're bypassing the Security Building as it has already been taken care of by Lieutenant Storm on our approach to the Power Plant." Without waiting for a reply from the FOB, Sal took a few steps back and sprinted toward the roof's edge. He leapt across the gap and landed on top of the security building, continuing on without a fault in his step as he could sense his partner hot on his heels.

The two agents leapt from building to building, moving from one target to the next and either disabling or rigging critical components for demolition along the way. Eventually, they had to drop down onto ground-level and dart past patrols when they came into open ground. They had to set charges on the air defence platforms around the airfield and make their way to the control centre that had the RADAR domes nearby before the offensive began to ensure that they started with dominant control over the base's facilities and hopefully could reinforce their hold before Phantom Lord could organise their units.

"Sir. We've got an eight-man squad of potential hostiles approaching the building from the opposite side. They are well-armed and armoured, far more than the group we faced in those ruins. They'll get there before us at this pace."

"Fuck." Sal came to a halt and half turned to the woman behind him. He quickly reached out and grabbed Celeste's shoulder with his left hand. "Put us inside the front door."

"But there are guards on the inside too."

"Then we'll deal with them first before they get reinforced. Take us in." The pinkette shifted his rifle to his back and drew an M10S in his free hand, readying himself for close-quarters combat. In an instant, the duo were standing between a group of four soldiers.

The Agents attacked in a heartbeat, moving in perfect unison as their fists demolished the ceramic armoured chest plate, sending the two guards slamming into the wall. They quickly whipped around and drove their armoured boots into the remaining two guards, knocking them into the opposite wall and leaving all four extremely winded and groaning in pain from their cracked and broken ribs.

"Stay down. Don't even try to radio for reinforcements." Sal growled as he pulled his second M10S from his left thigh. "If any of you try anything, I'll come back and finish you all off." The man started walking down the short hall with Celeste walking backwards after him, her rifle trained on the guards and the doorway. The salmon-haired agent came to a stop in front of a closed-door – where he could hear people and computers on the other side – and brought his boot up, slamming it into the centre of the door and busting it off the hinges.

"Everyone on the ground now!" Celeste yelled as she swept past her partner and moved into the room, her muzzle sweeping left to right across the Phantoms.

"Cuff 'em, quickly." Sal ordered quietly as he followed the woman in and aimed his dual pistols around the room. "Hurry."

The armoured blonde blinked around the room, forcing each person down to the floor and snapping magic cancelling cuffs on their wrists behind their backs. Once the dozen personnel in the room had been subdued both Agents took their place on both sides of the door frame, waiting for the incoming squad. Seconds later, the door they bypassed opened and the squad filtered in. Now that they were closer, Celeste was able to get a better look at them with her sixth sense. "They're definitely better equipped than the grunts we fought before. Helmets with detachable ballistic masks. Heavy-duty body armour on the vast majority of their body, with overlaps on the joints – for better range of movement, right? Seems to be a mix of metal and polymer armours, not as good as ours but would still be a handful if we can't get a jump on them. They also seem to be carrying FN Mark Seventeen Battle Rifles of varying configurations…"

"We'll take the first two that enter hostage until we can properly ID them, but they sound like Black Steel's units." Sal brought his pistols up near his head and pressed his back firmly against the wall. He could hear the voices of the Phantoms as clear as if they were right next to him.

"What happened?" An unfamiliar female voice came down the hall, her voice quiet as she asked one of the downed guards.

"Two unknown assailants appeared between us… before we knew it, we were on the ground and gasping for breath." A man groaned through his pain, a grunt escaping his lips. "Ouch, fuck. Careful! It was all over in an instant."

"What did they look like?"

"One was slimmer than the other. The first to speak was a man. I heard the other shout from down in the control room, a woman." Another grunt echoed down the hall. "They were both heavily armoured with gear that I've never seen or heard of before, yet they both moved as quick as lightning."

"Any defining features?"

"Just on the taller one, the man. He had a pattern etched into his armour, some like of lizard scales with a fanged grin on the front of the helmet, below the mirrored visor."

"Any names on the armour?"

"I'm sorry, Sergeant. They moved on before we could get a decent look at them. They should still be in the control room."

Silence followed the final words of the guard, then the rustling of clothing and armour slowly came closer. Sal quickly nodded to Celeste and adjusted his grip on his twin M10S pistols while she readied her Gerber knife and Ruger 57. Seconds later, two Phantom soldiers breached the doorway, splitting left and right but were snatched up faster than they could react.

"Hands in the air!" Celeste yelled as she and Sal escorted the two captured Phantoms to the middle of the room, the rest of the soldiers filing in with their SCARs trained on the duo.

"Let me handle this." Sal let out a quiet but long sigh as his eyes drifted across the various individuals. Unfortunately, they had their emblems on their right shoulder, which were all turned away from the duo due to each one being right-handed. And with Celeste being to his right, he couldn't check the one she was holding for visual ID, nor did he want to lean around the one he was holding and chance being shot at. "Let's all make this easy for each other. Whoever the leader of your squad is, please identify yourself."

The woman who spoke earlier stepped forward and lowered her rifle slightly. "I'm Sergeant Crystal Fisher, a commando of Phantom Lord's Special Operations Group."

"Black Steel's division, right?" The man asked, wanting confirmation before he gave even an inch of leeway.

"Yes."

Sal watched the woman carefully; he couldn't sense any falsities in her voice nor anything unusual from her emotions that would indicate lies. After a few moments, he pushed his hostage away and lowered his pistols – a move that was copied by the blonde agent. "I'm Agent Salamander, my partner is Agent Celeste. We're with Fairy Tail."

"I figured it was you Agents that did a number on those guards… No other organisation moves like that, dispatching a group of armed hostiles in mere moments. You guys get new armour or something?" Sergeant Fisher lowered her rifle and held it to her chest – the rest of her squad following suit a second later. "Last time I saw you guys, and you specifically Salamander, you had rather light armour with winter camouflage."

"The only time recently that my gear would fit that description was back at the arms deal at the start of winter." Sal's snarl was hidden by his polarised visor, the memory of his exposure to Sarin was grating on his nerves. He placed his pistols back onto his thighs and tapped his helmet. "Lessons were learnt from that mission. Our new gear protects us from inhaled exposure, though it can still get onto our skin. Anyway, enough pleasantries. I'm guessing you're all here to deal with this place?"

"We received orders to take control of this building, yes. We're supposed to prevent it from falling into their hands and keep the guns off friendly aircraft."

"We were tasked with disabling the anti-air systems for the base, all of which are controlled from this facility. With the personnel inside having been taken out of the picture, it satisfies our objective. I was meant to rig it for demolition to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. The SAMs and Triple-A have already been primed, and we were just about to set this place up when you all came in." Sal glanced over to Celeste who took position beside him with her rifle held across her chest. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to rig critical components of this RADAR facility to blow – to neutralise this facility should it start firing on allied aircraft – regardless of whether you lot are garrisoning it or not." He took a few steps back and put his hand on a nearby computer console. A web of fine yellow lines shot out from under his palm and started spreading across to the various computers in the room and along the walls. "I suggest not occupying this room."

"Got it." The Phantom Lord Commando replied before turning to her squad. "Start moving the captives toward the front-most rooms and bring those guards in their too. But make sure that none of them have any access to weapons." When her unit followed her orders and started moving people out of the room, she started approaching the armoured agents but was stopped when Celeste snapped her rifle up at the commando.

"Come no closer." Celeste warned sternly while the ever-expanding explosive web slipped into vents in the floor and ceiling, spreading further throughout the building. Her HUD was highlighting the commandoes in the room with red, their IFFs still showing them as hostiles, so she was still keeping them at arm's length. "We'll be done shortly, and then we'll be on our way."

"Rel…" Sergeant Fisher started to reply but was quickly cut off by Agent Salamander.

"I noticed you didn't give any vocal orders to breach the building and then this room. That and the fact that you lack the radios I saw you all use last time we crossed paths leads me to believe that you are using our gear?"

"Yes, the Captain provided all of the commandoes loyal to him with FTA mics, earpieces, and contacts, along with Tac-coms compatible with the hardware. He told us they were a gift from your director and had us get accustomed to using them. It took a bit to get used to, but it made me realise just how you Agents can flawlessly work together without obvious communication."

"We train together a lot in simulated combat with various objectives – hostage rescue, HVT capture or elimination, counter-terrorism, international and domestic information gathering, even infiltrating various social circles. So, it makes sense that we'd be used to using our gear to great effect, especially when working in small squads. Not to mention having a small force allows us to focus more funding into R&D, which provides us with gear and facilities far more advanced than available to regular forces or even you Phantom Commandoes." Sal took his hand off the computer as the yellow glow faded from the explosive web, leaving it almost invisible. He moved up to Celeste's side and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Our time here is up; all of our objectives have been completed. Good luck on the battlefield, Sergeant Fisher."

"Where to, Sir?" Celeste asked just as Sal wished the Commando luck, her head turning slightly to her man yet her rifle didn't budge from her target.

"The very top of the Air Traffic Control tower, on the rooftop. It gives us the best overwatch position in the base." The man instantly replied. And a single heartbeat later, they disappeared from the room.

"I'll report our progress to Command." The armoured blonde raised her hand to her helmet and toggled her comm channel as she stepped away from the man. "Wolf Two to Command: We've completed all assigned objectives and await further instructions."

"We've got nothing more for you at the present time. T-Minus thirty-five minutes to Operational Start. Sit down somewhere and have some food, make sure you are both well-rested for what will most likely be a full night of combat." Agent Fae responded kindly, happy to hear from the duo. "I see that you two have set up in a good sniper roost, be sure to use it well before you get detected."

"Understood." Celeste replied and shifted back to their own channel before removing her helmet and returning to Agent Salamander who was sitting on the roof with his rifle resting on its bipod nearby. "Do you have any food? I'm hungry…"

"Yeah, I have some MREs that were prepared before we left. I just have to heat them up." Sal brought out two sealed packages from his Requip dimension and heated them up in his hands – after removing his gloves – before handing one over to the woman with a spork. "It's slow-cooked beef ragu that Lis and Mira had been working on after the meeting. They were handing out packets to everyone. Usually, you'd need a heating sleave to heat it up with a chemical reaction, but since you've got me here, I can do it easily by adjusting my body temperature." He removed his own helmet and sat it down next to Celeste's then opened his MRE as the blonde sat next to him with a light groan.

"Thank you." Celeste kissed his cheek and rested her cheek on his armoured shoulder, she closed her eyes and smiled. "I'm going to enjoy this while I can if that's alright?"

"That's fine by me." The pinkette replied while activating his contacts and earpieces to keep track of the situation while they ate their food. After minutes of comfortable silence, he glanced down at the beauty on his shoulder. "I know you're hiding it well, but you're scared, aren't you? I can feel it, deep down inside you."

The busty blonde stiffened and nuzzled into his neck. "Yeah…" She whispered. "Yeah, I am. I mentioned before about the sheer numbers of them… I hope we can get away relatively unscathed… all of us."

"Some of us will die. It's unavoidable. This is war, after all." Sal wrapped his arm around Celeste and placed a hand on top of the woman's head and slowly stroked it to comfort her. "Casualties are par for the course. All we can do is make sure we survive this and avoid taking hits from anything larger than a heavy machine gun."

"All units, fifteen minutes to Mission Start. Ensure that you are in position."

"We better put our gear back on to hide our heat signatures." The pinkette sighed softly and grabbed his gloves and helmet. "Command, can you patch me through to Agent Gale."

After a few moments of silence, the requested blunette switched to the comms channel. "What can I do for you, Sal?"

"Do you have that Railgun on you? I'm perched up on the ATC Tower and was thinking of using that to pop some heads."

"Yeah, but I'm at the FOB operating the Data Link between all factions and being on hand in case something fucks up."

"Alright, I'll send Celeste back to collect it." Sal replied and gave the woman next to him a nod. "You can use Traverse to speed things up since we'll probably be up here for a little bit."

"I'll try to get back before time runs out." Celeste smiled and put her helmet on. She vanished shortly after, leaving the salmon-haired agent alone on the tower.

Sal glanced up at the top right corner of his HUD at the time; it was now 11:48 pm. Time was ticking away quickly, and they had to be ready for the hell that was about to break loose. The man laid down on his stomach and looked through the scope of his rifle, adjusting the zoom so he could get a better look at a growing group of Merc near one of the barracks. They were fully armoured and carried SCARs like the squad they had just run into. A soft whistle reached his ears from behind him and he rolled over, finding Celeste standing over him with the large rifle slung down her back and a pouch in her hand.

"This thing is huge." The woman murmured in awe as she pulled the weapon from her back and held it out for him in her free hand.

Sal sent his G28 to his Requip dimension and grabbed the pouch first placing it on his hip. "Yeah, you should see what it does to soft targets. Haven't tried it against armoured vehicles yet though." He replied as he took the rifle from her and set it down on the bipod. "Looks a little different, she did say she was modifying it. Guessing it works the same."

"Do you need to test it out?" Celeste asked while lying down next to him again. "Oh, pass me your rifle. It'll be easier spotting things with that."

"I ought to be fine with it." He brought the rifle out once again and handed it to her. "That's less quiet than this railgun due to the magic runes etched into it. So only fire if you're comfortable and know you can hit the target."

"Alright." The armoured blonde pressed the stock into her shoulder and gazed down the scope. "Hey, that group by the barracks. Those are ours, correct?"

"Yeah. Same gear as the group we crossed paths inside the RADAR Station. If you want to direct my attention to a location, I've got a ping module set up on that gun, the button is at the front of the trigger housing so just flick your finger forward and you'll put down a ping where the scope is pointing." Sal reached over and tapped the front of the trigger guard which put a ping on the group of commandoes.

"Five minutes to Operational Start."

Celeste breathed out slowly at the alert, steadying her nerves while she stretched her fingers on the rifle. Her heart was slowly speeding up as the time ticked on in the corner of her HUD. She glanced up from her scope when a hand lightly landed on her lower back and turned her attention to the man next to her.

"Breathe slowly, don't let your nerves get the better of you." Sal murmured kindly. "I know this is going to be one hell of an experience, but keep a level head and focus on the mission and you'll get through this no problem."

"How bad do you think it's going to be?"

"Well, depends on how decisive Black Steel's first move is. Considering he has stationed people by those barracks, I think he is going to subdue as many people as possible to cut down on the sheer difference in numbers between the two forces." The pinkette removed his hand from the woman's back and pulled a .338 calibre slug from the ammo pouch and slipped it into the breach of the rifle then closed the bolt to engage the weapon. "But things will most likely not go to plan."

"How certain are you?" Celeste glanced at the man once again before refocusing down the scope and gazing around the area ahead of them. "Wait, don't answer that… Murphy's Law, right?"

"Exactly. And you have to remember who we are dealing with. These guys aren't push-overs, well… I mean the higher-ups aren't. Plus, there is a fuck tonne of them."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Two minutes to Operational Start."

"I see multiple groups starting to mobilise around the base. Moving quickly." Celeste informed her mentor. She closed her eyes and focused on her sixth sense. "All over the base."

"You know. I know it's a bit late for it. But I kinda want to fuck with the base's PA system." Sal chuckled softly as his eyes flicked over to the main near the centre of the sprawling complex. "You know, for psychological warfare reasons."

"You just want to blast rock music as loud as possible, don't lie." The armoured blonde giggled lightly, the tension in her body fading quickly.

"No, no, no. I swear it's purely for warfare reasons." He grinned and nudged the woman's side with his elbow. "It's definitely not because I want to bust some speakers and ears."

"You've told me that you play guitar. You could always hook it up to the speakers and start playing it?"

"I don't carry it on me. It's at home in one of the spare rooms." The pinkette moved his hand lower on the rifle's grip and started strumming out a tune while humming the notes. "Remind me to play it for you when we get home."

"Sounds like a plan." Celeste purred and smiled to herself. She sighed through her nose and shifted her position to get a little more comfortable.

"All units: Operation starts in Three… Two… One… Initiate."

"It's showtime." Sal muttered as the lights all across the base shut off, plunging the entire complex into pitch-black darkness. In an instant, his HUD lit up with a flood of green-coloured friendly markers among the specks of blue for the Agents dotted around the large base.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, it's been a blast writing it. I've been brewing this in my head for a long time now and it's taken various different forms. We'll see how it pans out in the next chapter, that's where the majority of my ideas are focused but as usual, I'll be adapting to the situation as it plays out while keeping the base framework in mind. Again, I hope you've liked this chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one.