"What The Fuck Is This?" Exclaimed Natsu as his eyes focused on the blonde woman standing next to the Director.
"This Natsu, as you damn well know, is Lucy Heartfilia." Makarov began, only to be rudely interrupted by the currently hot-headed agent.
"I fucking know who she is, I just rescued her and brought her here under direct orders from you!"
"Nat calm down…" Lisanna said, soothingly from a few seats to his left, her eyes on Natsu's own.
Natsu's eyes flash red momentarily as he stood up sharply and punched the table with one hand, pointing at the woman with his other. "She has no training or background in this area, hell she is a celestial mage, someone who has to use magic to open doors to the celestial realm to bring forth spirits, what if we run into a Magic Suppression Field, she won't be able to do jack shit!"
"ENOUGH!" Makarov yelled in anger as he slammed an enlarged fist against the table. "I realise the downfalls of someone like her, but her potential is so great that if trained, she'll be a force to be reckoned with."
A loud yawn broke through the tense room as the dark-haired Dragneel spoke up in a tired voice. "So passing over my brother's bullshit. I, for one, know that Celestial Mages are more than just capable of opening doors to the Celestial Realm, you should know this full well too, Natsu. So, let us cut to the chase and get back to business, some of us have better things to do than to listen to his bitchy crap right now."
Natsu shot his older brother a callous look as his anger hasn't subsided but he relented nonetheless, allowing Zeref to continue talking as he returns to his seat.
"Ah don't look at me like that, we both know that you'll calm down and accept her into our little family here. So Sir, who is it that is going to train her?"
"Well this decision wasn't made just now out of spite but because they have already worked together." Makarov said as he turned from Zeref to the younger Dragneel.
"No! I refuse for fuck's sake!" Natsu loudly stated his displeasure at the situation forced upon him.
"Tough Fucking Titties kiddo, I already had you pegged to train her anyway so man up and do it."
Natsu grumbled and leant back in the chair. "Fine. But she better surprise me."
"Well, I guess I better go put together a training guide, am I free to go, Director?" Zeref asked, letting out another tired yawn.
"Yes, off you go, and get some sleep too, you've almost passed out a few times in this meeting."
Zeref nodded his thanks and got off his chair with a groan. "I'll see you all around." A murmur of goodbyes swept the room, all directed at the tired man as he made his way out of the Meeting Room and headed back to his office.
"Lisanna, could you show her around the base, get her acclimatised and ready for training. Oh and show her to where she'll be staying until she can get a place in the city."
"Of course, Director Makarov." She replied with an eager nod as she rose from her chair and took a quiet Lucy's hand, tugging her out of the room excitedly. She was followed by Makarov's assistant who was trying to give the excited woman the folder containing all related information.
Natsu sighed as he starts to stand. "Can I go now?"
"Yes Natsu you can, go calm down and once you have a level head, think it over and consider how to best go about training the new recruit." Makarov said as he waved his hand towards the door. "There are still things I need to tell the other agents."
"Woopty fucking do, I'll be in the gym if someone wants to fill me in." The pinkette said in a bland and bored tone as he walked to the door. "Tell her if she needs me that I'll be there."
A warm and cheery voice sang out from the table, the voice of his beautiful handler. "Natsu~ don't forget that you have that appointment with Doctor Porlyusica in the Medical Centre."
"Ah shit, yeah… thanks for reminding me of that Mira." Natsu replied sheepishly as he turned to look at the model, the anger from moments ago draining out of him as the melodic voice soothed him. "I kinda forgot I have a check-up with her today."
"No problem." She said with a smile. "Don't push yourself too hard in the gym, we wouldn't want you to sway the results and be put in forced medical care and be unable to go on missions."
Natsu waved a hand at her as he turned back to the door. "I'll try." With a smile, he left the Meeting Room.
"Well, he calmed down quickly…" Freed spoke up for the first time during the meeting.
"They totally screwed each other last night, I bet." Bickslow bantered.
"No~, I just know how to calm his nerves, it's my job as his handler to make sure he doesn't fly off the handle and get hot-headed out on the field." Mira giggled with a hand coving her mouth, her eyes darted to the side as a minor blush erupted on her cheeks. "But maybe there might have been some action last night."
"Nope, they definitely did it, Bicks." Evergreen spoke with a grin. "She didn't come home last night as Elfman and I were having a movie night with Lisanna and when I saw her today she had a limp."
Mira blushed and crossed her legs with a slightly embarrassed look on her face due to being called out by her younger brother's girlfriend.
Gym – Fairy Tail HQ
Natsu stood in a boxing ring, shirtless and puffing gently as his robotic boxing companion stood strong opposite him, ready for the next move.
"Grrraaah!" Natsu growled out in frustration as he pushed forward, ducking and dodging blows where he can as he delivers punch after punch and counter after counter on the simulated flesh of the robot, beads of sweat slowly running down his skin.
As Natsu is about to land a punch to the jaw of his opponent, the machine steps back unexpectedly, causing the pinkette to overextend the punch and open himself up for an attack as the robot twists its body around to deliver a heel strike to the head.
"Fuck." Natsu gasps as he brings up his arms in defence, as the kick meets his forearms he moves back slightly to lessen the power of the strike, in one fluid movement he turned the block into a grapple and grabbed the leg of the bot. "Got you now!"
With a grunt of exertion, he whipped the machine around and threw it to a corner, he followed quickly with a leap only to be met with a swift kick. Natsu caught the foot in his hand and used his momentum to deliver a devastating strike to the face of the boxing robot, snapping its head back and causing it to fall to the ground limply.
"KO!" Shouted an automated message through the speakers around the ring. "Winner Agent Salamander!"
Natsu stepped back to the middle of the ring, puffing and sweating as the robot rose to its feet.
"Another round?" The robot asked as it moved to the centre and faced the pinkette.
"Not this time B103, I have a check-up with the Doc, you can return to your station now."
The robot nodded and bowed to its opponent before leaving the ring and heading to a nearby wall where the other robots waited in standby.
The sound of someone's slow clap reached his ears, causing him to sniff the air while he turned to the sound, picking up a mostly unfamiliar vanilla smell and a peach smell that he knew all too well. "Lisanna? How long were you there?"
Stood by the edge of the mat were two women, one blonde and the other silvery-white, the latter of which smiled and waved as his eyes landed on hers. "We were watching from the beginning of this round. I am showing Lucy around and this was the next stop."
The blonde's knees shook as her mouth watered at the sight of the man before her, battle-scarred skin wrapped tightly around dense muscle that complemented his frame amazingly well, her eyes followed a bead of sweat that as it ran down from his collarbone, down between his pecks and abs to his pants, a clicking hand in front of her eyes broke her out of the trance.
"Lucy you there? I've been trying to talk to you." Lisanna said, worried about her new friend.
"Oh… Sorry, I, err, zoned out." Lucy blushed and looked away from the man who was now leaning against the ropes in front of them.
"That's ok, I was just telling Natsu that our next spot is the Medical Centre and he wanted to know if he could tag along since he has to go too."
"Well, either way, I've gotta head there. Due for a check-up." Natsu said as he slipped out of the ring and stood in front of the girls. "I'm going for a quick shower though, so feel free to show her around here while I'm doing it."
Lisanna nodded as she watched him go off into the change rooms. "Well, that settles it!" She said cheerfully as she led the blonde to the wall with the robots. "I know you asked before when you saw the fight but these are our sparring bots." She waved a hand across the line of robots that range in height and build. "They all pull from a data storage centre that contains the knowledge of all the martial arts in the world, from normal boxing or taekwondo to specialised military hand to hand, like Krav Maga."
Lucy nodded slowly and leant closer as she inspected the robots. "They look so lifelike…"
"Our in-house Research and Development Department noticed that in testing we fought harder and were more cautious against human-like opponents instead of the previous iterations of these training robots." Lisanna said as he ran a hand over the simulated skin. "So they developed artificial muscle and skin and put them on the frames, taught them how to judge when and how to take a hit, they gave them human reaction times, but those of expert martial artists."
"Can someone like me use them right away?" The blonde asked her new friend.
"Yes, you can scale their difficulty to your choice and abilities, they do have a training mode but no one uses it, for that, it is better having a human touch."
"Oh ok, who do you recommend me learning from?" Lucy asked curiously as she looked around the room again.
"Honestly, your best bet is someone who specialises in hand to hand combat, while all of us are proficient at it, people like Big Sis and Natsu, whose magic makes them extremely powerful and very dangerous up close, though Natsu currently is limited with what he can use. They would be the best to train with, my sister and Natsu frequently spar in their downtime, sometimes Gray join in and fights too."
"I never saw Natsu fight someone up close, I only saw him shoot and kill multiple people in the blink of the eye." Lucy said as she looked back to the youngest Strauss.
"Yeah I watched the footage, he has the fastest reflexes out of all of us, even Jet who uses speed magic which allows him to run extremely fast, think of the Flash from those DC comics and shows. But Jet has a top speed." Lisanna said with a hum as she led the way to the exercise machines.
"Natsu can beat someone like that?!"
"Yes, he can, you haven't seen the extent of his abilities, nor what he can do when he is really mad."
"What do you mean?"
Lisanna sighs and sits down on the bench of one of the workout machines, her eyes distant and sad as she remembers what happened.
"What she means is one mission that she and I were on years back, I was drugged and put to sleep by a group of slavers, not unlike Bora." Natsu said as he walked over, clean and dressed in new clothes. His lips split in a vicious snarl. "She also was caught but while I was roughed up, beaten, bruised and bloody, she was stripped naked, abused."
Lisanna looks down, not fond of remembering what happened that night in what could easily be called hell.
"I broke free, killed my captors, then I followed my nose to her."
"Followed your nose?" Lucy asked, surprised at the phrase. "Like a bloodhound?"
"Ah yeah, you don't know. Well, since I guess I'll be working with you and training you then you ought to know, but I'll tell you that later." Natsu said as he scratched his cheek. "When I found her, she was surrounded by men and was bound to a chair while stripped completely bare."
"Oh…" Lucy muttered, not liking where the story was going, not one bit.
"Yeah, you understand now, you understand why I was mad, no, hate and rage incarnate. From the smell I knew they hadn't penetrated her, I couldn't see or smell blood, there were no signs of rape, at least not yet." The pinkette continued as the woman of the story curled into a ball nearby. "Not of the penetrative kind at least, but she was being forced to suck dick, every dick in the room, she was covered in cum, from her tits and face to her stomach and thighs, even her back and ass."
"They used me for their own sick pleasure…" Lisanna spoke up in a small voice, the horror of that night vivid in her eyes. "When Natsu came in, I saw him right away, he was covered in blood, both his own and that of others, but his eyes, those sweet dark green eyes, they were anything but, they were blood red and full of rage, he looked bloodthirsty and pissed. Ready to tear my captors apart at the seams…"
Lucy shivered at the thought of what the poor woman had to suffer through, she remained silent and let them continue with the story.
Lisanna opened her mouth to speak but couldn't get anything more than a small noise to come out past her lips, Natsu sat down next to his friend and pulled her to his chest, he ran a gentle hand through her hair in an attempt to soothe her as he continued, his voice soft but lacking no less impact. "When I saw what they were doing, my mind went blank, all I saw was red. In an instant I had crossed the room and grabbed the guy who had his cock down her throat, I threw him across the room and through a thick, reinforced wall, he died on impact."
He paused as the blonde gasped in shock, her eyes wide in horror and disbelief, only for a quiet voice to come from his chest. "It happened Lucy, every word he has and will speak, it all happened…"
Natsu gently patted his closest friend on her head. "He was the luckiest, he died a quick and painless death… the rest, well… they got what they deserve. We were trapped in an MSF, I mentioned it in the meeting, so we couldn't use our magic, but it didn't stop me, I broke every last bone in their body, but I made sure they were all awake and alive for it all, rage building in me, growing and growing as the smell of a defiled Lisanna swamped me, I kept trying to use magic out of instinct but I resorted to just using my hands."
"He castrated them all Lucy… He fed them their whole genitals as they were bleeding out from the holes left behind, soon his magic found a way out but it wasn't the same, it wasn't normal, it was dark and twisted, hellish, we all know what it was now, but back then… He was the devil, it was as if he rose from hell to personally collect the souls of these damned men." Lisanna said as her eyes rose to meet the eyes of the other woman. "The fire cauterised the bleeding wounds shut, perfectly controlled yet chaotic by nature, but then, one by one, he slowly burnt the men away until only ashes remained… the smell… I'll never forget it."
"By the time I was done, our back-up had arrived in the form of two other Agents, Knight and Frosty, Erza and Gray, they had just shut off the MSF and had made a beeline for our position, it wasn't that hard to find us though, just follow the screams, the begging, the smell of death and burning flesh, the ashes in the wind." Natsu said, happy to be close to the end of the story. "They came in just as I reduced the last person to ash, no questions were asked, no blame was placed, not when they came in and saw why…, why I had lost myself to my rage and decimated them all, Erza gave Lisanna a new set of clothes after she cleaned her up and we went home, even when the footage from our contacts was reviewed and analysed, the only thing that came from me was praise and many thanks from her family, that and lots of tests ran on myself to find out what the power was."
Lisanna slowly moved away from her friend and stood up. "I never left the house for a month after that mission, I couldn't talk to any guy except for my brother, the Director, and Natsu. But I got better eventually, though the memory will stay with me. Come, I don't want to make Natsu late for his appointment." She dusted herself off and left the room.
Lucy looked at the man next to her. "I couldn't imagine going through that…"
"You're lucky that I turned up when I did, or else you would have been in that very situation, probably an even worse one." Natsu reminded the woman gravely as he stood and followed the youngest Strauss out.
Lucy shrunk back a little as she dwelled on his words, her eyes sank to the floor and teared up but her head snapped up moments later when her name was called, she saw Natsu waiting at the door and ran to him.
"You probably don't know where the Medical Centre is and it seems like Lisanna has gone off to do something to make herself happy again after remembering all that. So I guess it falls to me to show you around."
Lucy shook her head and stated that when she was checked upon by the Doctor that she was in the room she was placed in overnight, earning a nod from Natsu.
"Ok well follow me I guess, it's this way."
Medical Centre – Fairy Tail HQ
The centre was like a hive, buzzing with activity as nurses and doctors moved from room to room and bed to bed, checking on the various charges in their care, from the recruits who have suffered injuries in training, to operatives and agents receiving medical attention for wounds suffered out in the field.
The blonde followed her guide into the noisy hospital that provides its services to both the employees working for the agency and the civilians who live in Magnolia and the surrounds.
Natsu walked over to one of the receptionists who looked up and smiled. "Hi, Sylvane. Is the grouchy woman in?"
The woman with seafoam green hair and matching eyes giggled at the comment. "Yes, Mister Dragneel. She is in her office waiting for you, probably a good idea to take a peace offering with you."
"Does a coffee sound like a good idea?"
"No, I think she was talking about food just not that long ago, maybe a chocolate bar or two?"
Natsu chuckled and shook his head. "We'll see what happens, I might get beaten over the head."
"Good luck, Sir." The receptionist said with a smile as she watched the pinkette and his blonde companion head down the hallway.
"There are so many people here…" Lucy said softly, her voice filled with awe as she gazed around but stuck close to the man.
"A lot of them would be regular people who come into the hospital for check-ups, surgeries and anything else they would need." Natsu replied as he stopped by a vending machine, leaning forward to inspect the contents. "This particular part of the facility is open to the public."
Lucy nodded as she looks around, her mind lost in thought as it ran a mile a minute, she barely heard Natsu when he bought some chocolate bars or even hear they hit the collection tray, it's not until something tapped her nose that her eyes come back to focus to see the foil wrapper of a chocolate bar resting against her nose.
"Ah there you are, as I was asking, would you like a chocolate bar? It's a Cherry Ripe." Natsu asked as he brought the large bar back from her nose and held it out to her.
"Oh thank you." The blonde replied and took it from him. She unwrapped one end and began to nibble on it as she saw almost a dozen other bars in his had. "Hungry are you…?"
"Somewhat but only some of these are for me, the rest are for the Doc, come let's go before I get chewed up for being late again." The pinkette prompted Lucy as he turned to head further down the hallway, leaving the blonde behind as she nibbled on a corner of the bar then hurried after him a second later.
A few minutes later the duo reached the office labelled 'Doctor Porlyusica' and Natsu entered without bothering to knock or announce his arrival at all, causing the woman inside to look up briefly from her desk then look back down at her notes as she spoke. "It's common courtesy to knock before you enter you know, still the same brat that you have always been."
"Well, it could be worse you know?" He chuckled as he walked to her desk, followed by a timid yet curious Lucy.
"Oh, how would that be?"
"Well for one, I'm not late. Two, I bought a few gifts. And three, I have actually matured over the years." Natsu replied as he placed all but two bars on the desk for the older woman.
"Hmph, thanks." She murmured and turned her gaze from the paper to the bars and finally to the clock. "And correct, you seem a minute early this time. For a change." The woman looked back at the bars of chocolate and took one, she debated on eating it now or later but her hunger got the better of her. "Sit."
Natsu nodded and sat on the chair opposite her desk, Lucy stood by a wall as she watched the whole exchange.
Porlyusica ate the bar slowly and in silence as she opened the agent's file on her computer. "Looks like you are due for a basic medical review and also a run in the scanner." Her eyes rose to the man before her, a nod was given to her to show his cooperation. "Go to the curtain and strip to your underwear, I'll do your basic tests first then we can move to the scan after."
"Right." The pinkette responded as he rose from his seat, without hesitation, he moved to the medical bed and removed his clothes piece by piece until he was down to his boxers and sat on the edge of the bed.
The doctor gathered up some instruments then moved to the bed, checking his eyes, muscles, heart and lungs, skin condition, bone and joints, movement range, the condition of his genitals, she checked his reflexes then grabbed a small device with a speaker built-in.
Lucy's ears perked up as a neutral tone was emitted from the device, sheer curiosity outweighed her better judgement as she decided to move over to the doctor and patient. "What is that?"
Porlyusica glanced at the woman with a raised eyebrow but continued to test Natsu's hearing, the tone getting quieter and quieter.
"It is a device to check hearing range, it can be used with headphones or standalone, I prefer it like this as we are just checking how well I can hear, not the frequency." Natsu informed the blonde as he looked at the curious woman.
Lucy started to get confused as the sound started to disappear from her hearing range but it is clear to her that the man could still somehow hear it, she opens her mouth to speak but his silenced by his finger on her lips.
A few moments later, Natsu nodded to the doctor to let her know when he has lost the sound, she picked up her notepad and recorded the reading on it, making a list of the various outcomes of the tests. "That seems to have been a quieter result than your previous test, I'd like to make a second pass to confirm the results."
"That's fine Doc, fire away." He replied as the older woman ran the test again, getting a result roughly equal to the previous pass, Natsu watched as the test result were written down.
"Ok now it's time to do a few scans, get dressed and we will continue." Porlyusica commanded as she returned to her desk to type in the results for the standard tests.
Natsu jumped off of the bed and started to pull up his pants, glancing at a blushing Lucy who had just realised his state of dress. He pointed up at his shirt that hang near her head. "Could you chuck me that quickly, the sooner we finish this the sooner we can move on, maybe find Lis though I bet I'd have to call her to figure out where she went."
"Oh sure." She grabbed the shirt and held it out for him as he put his shoes back on. "So about my training…"
Natsu sighed softly and stood straight. He took his shirt from her and slipped it on. "Don't worry, for all the talk I did back at the meeting, I was worked up, that's why I went to the gym and fought the bot, to blow off steam. You are fine now though, I guess I welcome the new challenge." He stretched and gave her a long look up and down, causing her to blush under his scrutiny. "You look reasonably fit, so I'm guessing you are the kind of girl who likes to stay in shape."
Lucy nodded at his observation and stretches her body. "Yes, I do sometimes eat things I probably shouldn't but a girl has to treat herself sometimes now, doesn't she?"
"I'll have to have your medical report sent to me so I can go over it, if you are half as good as I can see then the initial physical side will be easy, at least until you go for the Enhancement Therapy." Natsu said as he walked to the desk and had a quick word to the doctor who gave a single nod and complied with his request.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked as she followed him.
"Enhancement Therapy, or just Enhancement, is a process all Agents go through, with various degrees of success, now mind you each new variant of the formula boosts the success of how well a specific person takes to the Enhancement." Natsu said informatively as he turned to the blonde. "Now in Fairy Tail's employ are two types of 'Spies' to use the slang term, you have Operatives, these can be mages or regular people. Then you have Agents, like me and soon yourself now that you have been inducted, you just need to finish your training." He checked over his shoulder and sat on the edge of the desk, crossing his arms as he gave the woman his attention. "Due to our special nature, the ability to use magic, we are sent on the jobs that would possibly kill a normal being, to help us survive these dangerous situations better and recover after each mission, we get given a special Serum."
"Explain on the way brat, we still have your scans to do." Porlyusica interrupted as she rose from her desk and swept past the man, heading for the door.
Natsu nodded and quickly hurried after her with Lucy hot on his heels. "So continuing, this Serum is first tested against a portion of our blood to test compatibility, if a change is needed to be made then our chemists in the R&D Department will tailor the formula to better suit your physiological needs. But even with that tailoring, some people can only handle so much of the process, it still works, but it won't be to the degree that it would have worked with someone with a better compatibility factor."
"So some of the blood I gave for testing went to this process?" Lucy asked curiously as she looked up at the man, curious as to where he fell on the spectrum.
"Correct, I've heard that you have a high compatibility factor so you'll hopefully take to the Enhancement extremely well. So if we take two examples, we'll use myself and the head of intelligence, Levy. We are both full-blown agents, both have worked out on the field. But, she was only able to take the standard Enhancement amount, with the improvements to the compound that has changed though, but with me, they were able to push it, and push it, and they kept pushing it well beyond anything they have seen before, putting stronger and stronger strains of the compound into my body until I hit my limit."
"So they used you as a test subject?!"
"Calm down, the short answer is yes, but the long answer is more complicated. I wanted it, during the sessions they will debrief you on how you are going, what is happening to your body. When they told me that I was taking the compound better than anything they have seen before, better than the projected values, I gave them permission to essentially go mad scientist on me, I spent a good few months down in RnD having tests ran on me." Natsu said as he walked into the scanning room and over to the machine itself.
"But why?" Lucy asked, bewildered that he would do it.
"Because it would help them develop better and more powerful versions to be used on the other agents, even to this day I am the first to receive the newest batch and run tests to make sure it's safe for the others due to my own natural hardiness."
"So this formula, it sounds like a super-soldier serum you see in movies and comic books, in novels." Lucy said as she crossed her arms under her bust.
"And in many ways it is, but unlike in those things, you don't see any physical changes. Well, not externally."
"Get in the machine already brat! I have better things to do than listen to you spout exposition." Porlyusica half-shouted from the nearby control panel.
"Sorry Doc." He replied before taking off his shoes and laying down on the small bed.
She pressed a few buttons and the bed moved into the full-body scanning machine. "Continue your conversation, I need to check the neurological patterns and make sure there is no damage in your brain."
"And here I thought you were sick of my exposition, Doc?" Natsu joked with a grin clear in his voice.
"Don't test me Boy…"
Natsu chuckled as he stared at the cylindrical wall in front of his face. "As I was saying, you won't see any physical differences, but it still works, we become even stronger, faster, have greater stamina, it expands our magic reservoirs greatly, and these are only a few of the things it does, it does have a curious side effect though, it unlocks a dormant natural talent, more precisely it induces a mutation. Take Mira for example, she can sing beautifully, even before the Enhancement, but after she had undergone the procedure, she gained the ability to perfectly replicate another's voice – male or female – and impersonate them impeccably. Which aids in her skill-set as an Agent."
Lucy's jaw dropped as she stared in disbelief at the man in the machine. "Woah… do you have any other examples?"
"Erza, she is another one, she developed natural psionic powers, while yes one can learn telekinesis with magic, she can do it without the use of magic, which is extremely useful in situations where we are in MSFs, and even to this day she is learning new ways of using her psionics."
"What is yours?" Lucy asked curiously as she bent down to observe the man inside the tubular scanner.
"Reflex. Mine is reflex."
"That doesn't sound all that special Natsu…"
"I know but when I explain it you'll see why it is useful, but let me finish this, afterwards we can sit down for a coffee and talk some more." Natsu replied and went silent for the next five or so minutes, allowing various scans to be done on his body by the doctor.
Café – Fairy Tail HQ
The Agent and his new protégé sat at a table, sitting in a comfortable silence as they sipped their respective drinks, coffee for him and tea for her.
Natsu's eyes were on a newspaper that detailed the on-goings inside the Agency.
Lucy stared into her cup, half full of tea, as she tried to find a way to start a conversation with him, her eyes flicking up to the pinkette then to the paper in his hands and back to her drink. "What are you reading, Sir?"
"Just call me Natsu or Dragneel, we are both equals here, even though I am training you." He looks up from the paper and into her brown eyes. "You, me, Cana over there." He pointed with his mug at a brunette who is currently slumped over a table with a bottle of whiskey in her hand. "We are all equals, no matter our race, sex, abilities or rank."
"Race?" Lucy asked as she sat up fully. "What do you mean?"
Natsu smiled. "Well, for instance, there is a race called Exceed, they are a race of bipedal cats, I have an adopted son called Happy who is an Exceed, their whole race is gifted with magic and can use an ability known as Aera that allows them to manifest angelic wings that they fly with. Most of them have been taught Transformation magic to allow them to integrate with society. Happy included."
"Oh."
"And to answer your first question, this." He waves the paper slightly. "Is an in-house newspaper, Fairy News, it basically contains any news like new gear, any incidents, if any records have been broken, information of missions that have been completed, any events that are happening, chess or fight tournaments, for example, things people wish to sell, and much more."
Lucy continued to watch him read the paper in shock, surprised that there is such a thing. "Who runs it?"
"It was a pet project of one of the Operatives, I can't remember who, but it caught steam and grew from a pet project to an actual approved thing, the Old Man even signed off on a department to run it, that's the new job of that person and by all accounts, they absolutely love it from what I understand."
After a few moments, Natsu finished his coffee then hands the paper to his protégé. "Here you go, I have one slated to go to my desk with each publication."
"Desk? You aren't just a Field Agent?"
"Ouch, that hurt, a lot…" Natsu said with a frown as he held his chest but his expression quickly turned playful. "Nah just kidding, I share an office with Mira, my handler, she's Agent Demon and also works in the field though not in as dangerous situations as myself or Erza."
"Oh." Lucy shook her head at his antics and looked around. "Where is Mira?"
"In her office most likely?"
"You mean your office?" Lucy said with a smirk.
Natsu laughed heartily at her comment. 'I'm starting to like her.' "Yes, my office, how could I forget?"
"Took too many punches to the head from that robot?" She continued.
"Oh, haha, now it sounds like it's personal." He smiled. "What was it you wanted to ask me back during the scans?"
"Oh, what did you mean by Reflex?"
Natsu leant forwards with his elbows on the table. "Firstly what you should know is that these abilities aren't unique to the person, another person can gain the ability themselves when they get enhanced, that being said mine is Reflex, in short, it allows me to react to things effectively instantaneously, not only to things I see or hear, that my natural senses pick up, but also from sorta like an extra sense, it is like situational awareness on turbo-mega-ultra-steroids."
Lucy tilted her head then shook it at his choice of words. "I think I'll have to take your word for it and see it in action."
The pinkette shrugs and pulls out his phone to read his messages. "Looks like Lis went home, do you have a car or anything?"
"No, I've never really needed one." The blonde replied with a quiet voice.
Natsu's eyes narrowed as he could tell she wasn't giving him the whole truth, after a short pause for consideration he just shook his head. "You know that I know what family you belong to, right?." He rose from his seat and began to leave the café. "Come on, we'll get you sorted out at the motor pool."
He led the way to the nearest elevator and got in. "Come, this is faster than walking to it. We'll be going back below ground."
Lucy got into the elevator and looked at the destination panel. "Where are we heading?"
"The Vehicle Workshop. I usually like to walk so I tend to not use these but for the sake of not wasting time." Natsu leaned past her and pressed the button for where he wanted them to go.
"Oh." She murmured back to him as she gazed around the mirrored box, looking at the infinite copies of her.
"Before I forget, you also need to go to the Seamstress to be outfitted with gear, don't piss her off though, she'll jab you with a pin." Natsu rubbed his arm as he remembered the last time it happened, shaking his head he looked down at the blonde. "Per regulation, we are all meant to have fast vehicles to get to and from jobs or to here in emergencies. So whatever you pick doesn't have to be fast to begin with, we'll just make it fast. Pick what you think you'd be comfortable in."
"Alright. I'm not overly great with cars though." Lucy's chocolate brown eyes slowly moved up her companion's leg and body, spotting a red emblem on his upper arm that she never noticed before. "Is that your marker?" She said as she pointed her right hand at it, hers pink and on the back of her hand.
"Hmm? Oh yes, they'll only be visible under certain conditions. One being either here at HQ or at one of our safe houses. And the second is if a member uses a spell we all get taught, it's to show whether it's actually them or someone impersonating them. Neat trick if you ask me. Though I'd be able to tell if it was really them or not in an instant."
After a few short moments, the doors open up, revealing a warehouse-like structure with booths along the far wall, car hoists and various cars and bikes, off to the left there is an open office where both administration and mechanics worked together.
Natsu grinned as the woman slowly exited the elevator, looking around in awe at the various makes and models of cars, he put his hand on her back and walked forwards in an effort to hurry her up a little, causing her to stumble slightly and throw a glance and a casual "Ass." Back at him drawing a laugh out of him and gaining the attention of one of the mechanics.
"Oi! Agent Salamander!" A raven-haired woman with an equally tanned skin tone called out as she walked over, cleaning her hands on a rag. She was dressed in a navy singlet and a pair of blue work pants. She stopped and smirked up at him as she reached the two agents. "What can do for you? Let me guess, trashed your car or bike street racing again?"
"No Ashlyn, I haven't crashed either in a few years ago, at least not when street racing." The pinkette replied with a chuckle. "Lucy, this is Ashlyn Everette. Head mechanic and a mad scientist when it comes to cars. Ash this is Lucy Heartfilia, our new agent codenamed Celeste."
"Agent Celeste, eh?" The slightly taller woman said to the blonde as she gave her a long and calculating look up and down. "Nice to meet you, As Nitrous for brains here said, I'm the mad scientist and this…" She spread her arms and gestured to the workshop behind her. "Is my lab. Now I'd introduce you to Frankenstein's Monster but it is currently in Hotshot's garage." She jabbed her thumb out towards Natsu but brought her hand forward to the blonde, offering a handshake. "What can we do for you today?"
Lucy took the hand and shook it gently as she glanced around then back to the woman's maroon eyes. "I'm after a car…"
"Well of course you are, ya came here didn't you?!" Ashlyn said somewhat loudly to compensate for the background noise, throwing her hands up with a grin then resting them on her hips as she cocks them to the side, she gave Lucy another critical pass. "Hmm, your looks makes me think you like to be showy."
Lucy bristled at this comment but stayed silent to allow the other woman to continue. "But~ I don't believe you want to be showy, you want to be understated correct?"
The blonde blinked her eyes rapidly at the correct assessment. "How…?
"Doll, I have seen many different people working for the FTA, people from all walks of life and from vastly different upbringings. So tell me, something would you like something plain, or something a little sporty, something small, maybe a coupe or convertible?"
"I… I would love a sporty convertible… nothing too over the top though."
The mechanic brought her hand to her chin and gently scratched her jaw in thought, she turned to Natsu with questioning eyes. "What do you think, Mazda MX5 hardtop, 13B from an RX7 FD?"
"Ooo… hmm, sounds good but~ I'd use the 26B four-rotor engine instead of the 13B two-rotor. While the 13 can sing and dance when asked, I think the raw power of its big brother would be better suited for our needs." Natsu said with a thoughtful nod, glancing around the workshop floor for a suitable car.
"She'll need training to handle that kind of power, you know?" Ash said as she pulled a pen and notepad from her back pocket, jotting down notes for the requested car.
"She'll get it, but make sure it is fully set up to handle it, wouldn't want it not being able to put the power down when it counts."
The mechanic gave a nod as she wrote. "Come with me, Agent Celeste, and I'll show you what you will be driving. Though if you want to exchange it later, just let me know, we'll organise a swap." Without giving her time to respond, Ash walked along a line of cars that are covered by dust covers. "Say Hotshot, is it true you jumped that poor bike into the back of a helicopter?"
"Yup, it's true. I was pulling Celeste out of a sticky situation, we were being chased along the highway when Eastwood and Osprey turned up. I jumped the bike off the ramps of a car transport truck and into the open cabin of the bird through the rear hatch. I was actually in here earlier making sure it was all fine."
"Fucking hell!" She whipped around quickly. "Ok I thought you were crazy before with some of the shit you have done, but that? Fuck… You gotta show me the tapes of that one."
Natsu waved her over and dug into his pocket for his phone. "Lucy that is the car there." He said as he pointed with his free hand.
The blonde followed his finger to a covered car. Gathering up one of the corners she carefully pulled the cover off, revealing a pristine Mazda MX5 RF. Gasping softly at the brilliant red, she gently ran a hand over it as she admired the car.
"Well shit, Sal… I'm surprised the bike isn't completely fucked!" Ashlyn hollered a little later with a hearty laugh as she made her way to the other agent and clapped a hand to her back, causing her to almost jump out of her skin. "And you, you have to put up with him? I know he is good but damn, never a dull moment with him."
"I'll take that as a compliment, thanks." Natsu said as he got a phone call. "Sorry, I need to take this."
"Yeah, yeah! So Celeste, what do you think?"
Lucy looked over to the rowdy mechanic and smiled at her. "I love it, but will I be fine driving it?"
"As it is now, yes, once it is all set up though, well~ maybe." Ash replied with a shrug then pointed a finger at her. "It all depends on how well you can drive, but don't worry about that too much, you'll be taught how to handle the monsters I create."
"What will you do?"
"Well aside from putting an insane rotary engine in it, which will be twin-turbo'd and intercooled, I will be setting up the suspension and just making sure that it will be able to put the power down no matter what. Don't worry about the car, just focus on your training. As I said before, if you find that it doesn't suit you sometime down the line then we can always provide you with something else." The raven-haired woman said as she placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder and smiled happily.
"Fuck!" Natsu cursed loudly as he slammed his fist into the wall next to him. "Lucy, you need to finish up here and go find Lis or Mira. I've just been informed by Erza that one of our fellow agents has been captured, the old man has said that Gray, Erza and I are to meet up and make a rescue squad."
"Oh… ok…" Lucy said as she shied away from the situation a little as she watched the man turn and run out of the workshop.
"I wonder who is in trouble…" Ashlyn said quietly as she looked at the wall, her eyes tracing the cracks that spread out from the impact like a spider's web. "But if it's those three… I don't envy whoever captured the Agent…"
Moments later, Natsu sprinted down the hallways, the walls a blur around him. He hit a contact on his phone and made a call. "Gray!"
"I know, I just got off the phone from Erza. We are meeting up in the Main Armoury for a briefing, Makarov will be there too." The icy agent responded coolly through the phone, yet sounding like he too was sprinting down a hall.
"What happened to his partner?"
"According to Erza, Big Smoke made it out, he immediately contacted HQ and told them what happened, how Ignatius got captured."
"I'm 5 min out, coming from the mechanics after taking the new girl there."
"I'm around the corner." Gray took a sharp intake of breath. "Just saw a flash of red, Erza just flew past the intersection ahead of me. See you soon!"
Natsu hung up his phone and picked up the pace, sprinting faster as he dodged the people in the hall with ease, after 3 minutes he arrived at the armoury and followed his nose to find the room they were gathering in.
"Ah good, you're here. It's good to see you again Natsu." Said an assertive yet polite and mature voice.
Natsu grinned as he turned his head to the voice, seeing a beautiful woman with long scarlet hair, she wore black urban camo pants and combat boots with a black singlet, a black Kevlar vest was held in her right hand.
"Sup Erza. How was your mission?" He replied as he walked over to the slightly older agent and hugged her with an arm around her shoulders.
"Rough but successful, I heard yours was the same." Erza replied as she quickly returned the hug but after a moment she returned to the table in the centre of the room as she put on the armour.
"Yeah, cops were trigger happy and jumped the gun before I was off the ship, they alerted the slavers and I had to fight my way out. Then I had a shootout on the Emerald Highway on the way back here." Natsu said with a nod as he turned to the weapon racks. "What's the situation calling for?"
"Heavy Assault, you agents are to storm the compound that the captured agent is being held at, I've ordered Wakaba to fall back to the Safe House." Makarov said, announcing his arrival and moved to the table, setting out his things for the briefing. "He's been through enough."
Natsu sighed quietly and walked to the centre table. "Macao what have you gotten yourself into this time…"
That's another chapter done and dusted, thanks for reading and please remember to leave a review and follow/favourite. Peace and chicken grease! I'll see you all next time.