Mystique - Majestic Class Yacht, Calm Sea, 4:46 AM

The RHIB coasted into the docking bay of the Mystique. Erza shut off the engine as a set of cables came down from the ceiling, hoisting the boat up to the landing. "Alright, everybody off."

"Thank Kami…" Natsu yawned as he stepped off and started helping each person off the boat. The door behind him opened and outstepped the Captain.

"Welcome back." Craig Davis smiled at the agents and glanced at the new guests. "I see you brought along some refugees?"

"Yeah." Zeref grunted as he was helped aboard by his brother. He walked over to the Captain and turned back to the group. "Lamia Scale asked us to pull them out of there in one piece. The one in cuffs, however, is the mastermind."

"Is she going to be a problem?" The man asked quietly as Ultear as escorted through the door by Gray. "She seems familiar…"

"Don't think too much on it." Zeref advised sternly, looking the older man dead in the eyes. "As for if she'll be an issue. I don't think so, we've taken measures to ensure that she won't hurt herself or anyone on this ship."

"Come with me." Erza coolly addressed the Lamias, waving them to follow her as she started to leave the hanger. "I'll find somewhere for you all to bunk."

"I'm about ready to pass out." Lucy murmured as she stopped beside Zeref, looking up at the black-haired man tiredly. "When's debrief?"

"I'll save it until after dinner today. That'll allow everyone to get some much-needed rest." The man clapped the woman on the shoulder with a happy smile. "You should be proud of yourself, you did very well for your first combat mission."

"Makes me realise just how much more work I need to put into training." The blonde mumbled as she rubbed her forehead. The headache had mostly subsided, she only had a dull ache now but she was certain that'd go away with a good few hours of sleep. "I'll probably be lights out the second I lie down. So if you need me, try and get Natsu's attention."

"I'll make sure no one disturbs you. Get yourself some good rest."

Lucy wrapped a hand around Natsu's wrist and half-led half-dragged him all the way up to their cabin. She was rubbing her head softly with her other hand, dying to get back into the comfy bed and get some sleep in Natsu's heated embrace. Once they reached their cabin, she became coated in a dull glow as all of her gear and clothing vanished from her body. She launched herself across the room and landed starfished on the bed, nuzzling her face into the soft pillow. "Finally!" She groaned in comfort. She felt a weight press down on the bed next to her so she turned her head and smiled at Natsu who had donned black satin pants. "I feel weightless."

"Keep presenting yourself like that and we won't be able to get any sleep." He chuckled softly as he nudged the woman's legs closed and laid down against her side. He wrapped his arms around Lucy's waist and brought her back against his warm chest. A dull flash appeared under his arms as the blonde put on yet another one of his pilfered shirts. "Damn, woman, how many of those did you sneak out of my house?"

"A fair few. I'm surprised it took you so long to realise." Lucy giggled cutely as she curled into a ball and dragged the sheets over them. She smiled and closed her eyes when she felt Natsu's strong legs come up under hers and his body heat wrap around her, fighting off the late winter's chilly night air. "Mm. It always feels so nice cuddling with you."

"I'm not surprised." Natsu replied softly, giving her a small grin as he slipped his arm under her head and the pillow so she can nestle her smaller body into him. "What are you planning on doing once we get back?"

"Ash should have my new car ready, I hope, so I'll be testing it out and seeing if it suits me." Lucy replied slowly, raking her mind for possible things she could do. She turned over and pushed the man onto his back, moving to lie on top of him. "Probably write some more. Definitely grocery shopping… Oh, I need you to train me harder in hand-to-hand too."

"Sounds like a plan." Natsu placed his hands on the small of her back, soothingly rubbing the arch as Lucy got comfortable on him. He yawned softly as his fatigue hit him like a truck. "Mmn, fuck me I'm tired…"

"I can help with the first part~." The blonde giggles softly before letting out a cute little yawn and rest her head down on top of the man's chest. "Later though, need sleep now." A few moments later, the woman was out like a light and breathing softly against Natsu's chest as she slept peacefully with Natsu succumbing shortly after.

The five Agents sat around the dining table with Zeref at the head, Natsu and Lucy on one side, and Gray and Erza on the other. "I'm going to patch Makarov through now." Zeref informed the group as he tapped at a holographic display in front of him. The clock over his shoulder ticked away, the hands displaying 5:45.

At the other end of the table, a new window opened with a broken circle spinning at its centre. It quickly blinked and revealed Director Makarov sat in his office. He was currently in his full-sized form, standing just shy of 5'7". It was a form he usually took when addressing members of the Media. "Good afternoon." The old man smiled as he sat down at his desk and glanced around at his Agents. "Good to see you all in one piece. I trust that the mission went well?"

"The Cultists have been eliminated. We've ensured the safety of the locals. And nothing remains of Deliora." Zeref leant forward, resting his elbows on the table as he gazed at the screen. "We had a run-in with Phantoms while we were there."

"Do you know if they managed to get a message back to the mainland before you neutralised them?"

"We're not certain." Natsu cut in quickly. "I had one of their radios on my belt. They fell quiet not long after initial contact was made during our assault. They had fallen back to Deliora's cavern and were no longer using their radios." He tossed the said radio onto the table, a faint magical glow trailing it.

"Our priorities were to ensure the safety of the prisoners and Lamia Scale's personal." Zeref continued, his tone remaining crisp and professional. "However, we uncovered something arguably worse than Phantom's constant involvement in domestic terrorism. The involvement of a Councillor from the Magic Council…"

"Who?" Makarov pressed. He rocketed up from his chair and slammed his hands down on the table. This was an unforeseen turn of events. Who was the councillor and who were they affiliated with…? This is what the Old Man demanded to know. "Who was it, Zeref?"

"Ultear." The man replied calmly. He sighed softly and clasped his hands on the table. "We currently have her in magic cancelling cuffs, however, they're unlinked to allow her some degree of freedom in exchange for information. We have found out that she was hoodwinked by Precht who goes by the alias Hades. She was promised that her actions won't matter once they find me and have me create a new world for them. Or some shit like that."

"I trust that you have taken precautions to prevent any harm to befall her?"

Natsu pushed his right sleeve up on his long-sleeved tee shirt and held up his arm, revealing his Etherious markings. "We made sure that she can't hurt herself or anyone on this ship, nor can she remove the cuffs."

"Ah, yes." Makarov gazed at the Hybrid with a questioning look, his eyes narrowing at the black markings. "I was alerted to the destruction of the seals the other day. Care to explain why?"

"The main reason was that Lucy was suffering from extreme motion sickness, a side effect of her mutation it seemed. I had noticed it when I was taking care of her after she left the Med Lab, she seemed green in the car." The salmon-haired man explained carefully as he waved to the woman next to him. "She was barely keeping it together not long after we left Magnolia so I asked Zeref about possible solutions. The best one we came up with was Macro, since it has no side effects. But I couldn't use the curse due to it not being an emergency or having authorisation."

"You know I had no choice, Natsu. The council forced my hand when they ordered me to put a leash on you. To be fair, you almost caused an international incident. Do whatever it is that you think is right, I just hope that it doesn't happen again." Makarov sighed and shook his head, refocusing on the matter at hand. "I won't reseal your powers, but I'd like for you to keep their use to a minimum. Don't let people know that you have access to them again. Unless it'll be the last thing they see." He turned his attention to the blonde, noting her perfect complexion. "It seems that his efforts bore fruit?"

"Yes, Director Makarov." Lucy nodded quickly with a bright smile. "Ever since Natsu helped me block out the unwanted sensations and stimulations I've haven't even felt the slightest bit sick. I've yet to set foot inside a car but I believe I'll be fine there too." Her smiled dropped as she gazed thoughtfully at the screen. "I've also noticed more clarity in rapid successive uses of Traverse. Previously I had experienced a slight distortion or vibration in the White World I can see. With every use of Traverse, a ripple would be sent out and if I appeared in the path of the ripple then I'd get hit with the wake. Successive jumps would produce a discordant effect that would overload my senses, jarring my thoughts momentarily. This is gone now."

"Sounds like you are beginning to get a good handle on your mutation." The old man noted, slowly returning to his seat and shrinking in size to his famous small stature. He smiled at the woman before turning his attention to Natsu once again. "How did she go?"

"Aside from the usual shit that happens when you first kill people, and having that feeling grow and grow as she killed more and more people, she did very well. Didn't even puke once with all the blood and gore, however, she was shaken by it." Natsu replied while Lucy lowered her gaze and slowly nodded along. "Combat-wise she is stellar, pardon the pun. Due to her training being conducted by me, she syncs up pretty well when we fight together. I started to relax how much focus I had on her positioning reasonably quickly."

"I wish to be more proficient in more lethal techniques though, to be able to fight near a level that Natsu can. He and Mira taught me how to fight combatively, but if I'm going to be thrust into situations where I need to kill large numbers as quickly as possible, then I need to be trained to efficiently kill." Lucy's gaze rose up to the window, watching the Director calmly observe her. "I've seen Natsu in action now, seen how quickly he can move through a large group of hostiles. If I am to work with him, then I need to be able to do the same or close enough that I don't slow him down. I know I can't match him in a magical fight, and I guess in a physical fight too, but I can outmanoeuvre him with Traverse and due to being female I can move in ways he can't."

"That is a good idea. I advise you to get started as soon as you can." Makarov nodded as he smiled proudly at the woman. "On that last point that you made. I advise that you talk with Mira - she'll be back tomorrow morning – and see if she can help you use that flexibility against your opponents. Talk with Levy too, she has a Neural Sim set-up that Natsu had been trialling, that'll help you with fighting large groups with no risk of harm or death outside your avatar."

"Yes, Sir."

"Now, tell me about the prisoners that you mentioned, Erza." The Director turned his gaze to the redhead.

"We found them in a horrible state. Natsu and Lucy got the drop on two Cultists who were trying to force themselves on a new captive and the two of them were dispatched by Natsu. The prisoners were treated worse than animals, they were tortured; abused, physically and mentally; given no amenities; they were malnourished and dehydrated…"

"You can stop. I get the picture." Makarov held up a hand, silencing the woman as he let out a sad sigh and shook his head. "I trust that the prisoners are in good hands now?"

"Yes, Sir." Erza gave a quick nod. "We checked on them before departing the Island. Zeref ensured that they are receiving proper treatment. And we destroyed the film that hung above the Island to prevent further mental degradation of the resident demons."

"Good, good. Is there anything else?"

"What will we do with Sherry Blendy, Yuka Suzuki, and Toby Horhorta?" Zeref asked curiously as he leant back in his chair, happy to round off the meeting and get onto their dinner. "We also recovered Lyon Vastia but it's to my knowledge that he holds no affiliations outside this little group of his."

"I've organised an Osprey to ferry their entire group – including Lyon – over to Lamia Scale's HQ. A little gift for Ooba for helping us with the Galuna Island situation. Their data probably saved their operatives." Makarov glanced over at another screen for a moment before returning his attention to the call. "Ooba has promised me to look after Lyon Vastia and guide him back onto the right path. We will most likely see him again in the future, in the service of the LSA."

"That should be everything." Zeref noted while his hand hovered over the control panel next to him. "Have a good evening, Director."

"You too, Agents."

The black-haired tapped on the panel, closing the call. He let out a small sigh and glanced at the other agents. "Well, the mission is officially over. And thankfully we didn't get reprimanded all that much in regards to busting those seals." Zeref groaned quietly while stretching out his limbs. His stomach grumbling quietly. "Alright, let's get our guests in here and have some dinner."

"I'll go grab Ultear." Erza said while rising up. She stretched her arms above her head and let out a surprisingly cute moan. "I can finally relax properly since it's all finished."

"Well, I'll go grab Lyon and the others then." Gray added as he stood up and started heading towards the nearest set of stairs.

Zeref turned to his brother as he pushed himself up off the chair and stretched his limbs. "I'm going to check on the kitchen staff and let them know our meeting is over. We should be able to get Magnolia's News channel so if you could pop that on the TV?"

"Will do." Natsu replied offhandedly as he got up and walked to the nearby TV, hearing all but Lucy leave the dining room. He flicked the TV onto the news then threw himself down onto a nearby couch and spread out on his back. He yawned softly and blinked but when he opened his eyes, he saw his beautiful blonde partner leaning over him from the front of the couch – he hadn't heard her move from the table. "What's up?"

"You look very cute for a very deadly agent." Lucy giggled softly and brushed some non-existent dust from her black pleated skirt.

The movement from her light-pink woollen jumper informed the man below her that her breasts were hanging freely under the garment – as usual, it seemed – and since he saw her getting dressed he knew that jumper was the only thing covering the upper half of her body. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Lucy gave the man a small cute yet seductive smile as she straddled his hips and sat on his lap, her hand sliding up under his shirt to feel his scarred skin stretched taught over hardened muscles.

"You know, you give off a kinda innocent girl-next-door feel, but when you're alone with someone you know well, you end up revealing your not-so-innocent side." Natsu chuckled softly before grabbing the neck of her jumper in his fist and dragging the woman down into a kiss. "I like it."

"You can probably chalk it up to the Dragon and Demon parts of you, but you are incredibly irresistible." Lucy mumbled softly between gentle moans as she fought his tongue for dominance and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It explains a lot."

"If I had a Jewel for every time I heard that, I'd be able to buy another bike." Natsu murmured playfully against her lips and released her turtleneck, placing the hand on the small of her back as the other slowly slid up her thigh and under the skirt. Lucy's soft gasp allowed his tongue to further dominate in its battle, earning more quiet moans and gentle whimpers of pleasure.

"Ahem…" Lucy instantly sat bolt upright at the startling interruption, a small trail of saliva still connecting the duo. She quickly wiped her mouth clear and turned to the source of the sound, coming eye-to-eye with a smiling redhead. "Sorry to interrupt your little playtime." Erza crossed her arms under her bust with a sly and playful smirk. "But dinner is about to be brought up. And Gray and the others are on their way up. So, providing you two aren't currently connected at the hip, it's probably best to come back to the table."

The blushing blonde stood up on her knees above the man's hips, showing the older agent that they were only making out. "As much as that is a very appealing idea, he had only pulled me into a kiss." Erza gave her a knowing smile before taking a seat at the table. Lucy sighed softly and lain back down upon Natsu. "Although, a nice hot load sounds very~ good right now." She purred quietly while drawing a finger along his jawline and giving him a playfully perverse grin. "So nice and creamy inside of me~. Or maybe you could shoot it onto my tits this time~?"

"Gods, woman." Natsu chuckled quietly. "Talk about a one-track mind." He gently grabbed the woman's hips and lifted her up, allowing him to get off the couch. He placed her on her feet and took a seat at the table just as the rest of the group turned up.

Once they were all gathered at the table, Zeref smiled at the stragglers. "Once we get back to Magnolia, you'll be taken home on one of our Ospreys. Hopefully, your boss doesn't give you too hard of a time."

"Knowing Ooba… she'll send us through a spin cycle until we hurl…" Sherry muttered apprehensively while slumping down against the table. "Well, we deserve it for going AWAL."

"Last time she did that it felt like I couldn't stop chasing my tail!" Toby complained loudly as he fisted his hands in his hair. "It was maddening."

"You don't have a tail, Toby." Yuka pointed out flatly as he raised a thick eyebrow at the dogman. "But I agree, it was very off-putting."

Lucy giggled quietly behind a hand as she watched the Lamias bicker back and forth. "I didn't realise that other companies behaved like ours does, very informally." She whispered and shot a glance out the corner of her eye to the salmon-haired man sat next to her.

"You'll be surprised just how relaxed the majority of them are, you do get some hard-arses like the Phantoms and Sabers. But for the most part, our allied companies are fairly laid back, they have to be since our jobs are very stressful. We are all given a fair amount of freedom to do whatever we want." Natsu replied quietly, leaning closer to her ear so she could hear him better over the group's idle chatter. "That's why we bumped into Hibiki, a Pegasus, on the Duke Job. He was there to relax and blow off steam after a rough mission."

"What happened to him?"

"Apparently they had a tough fight. One of his Flight Wing got shot down as they were gunning it back from a strike mission. By the time they got a rescue chopper in to pick up the downed pilot, both Hibiki and his buddy Ren were low on fuel, had no Air to Air missiles left, and were almost out of rounds for their main guns. They were also barely holding their jets together from what Hibiki was telling me when I called him after we got home from the job. Ren had to punch out – to eject from his aircraft – when his wing snapped off close to their Air Base. Only Hibiki managed to get his wheels on the ground, and he was shot to shit too."

"I hope they are alright…" Lucy murmured quietly as she met the man's gaze.

"They all made it back alive. Apparently, Eve had minor injuries, he had to take cover behind his wrecked plane while getting swarmed by militia in Bosco. But they were held off by constant strafing from Ren and Hibiki, between defending from jets and MANPADS."

"MANPADS?"

"Ah, sorry." Natsu smiled apologetically. He forgot that the woman still wasn't fully familiar with all the jargon. "MANPADS are Man-Portable Air-Defence Systems, shoulder-fired anti-air systems like Stingers and Iglas."

"What kind of planes do they have?" Lucy asked curiously as the ship's staff started placing plates down on the table, lining it with mouth-watering food.

"I think Hibiki's Flight Wing were running a heavily modified F-15 STOL/MTD, called an F-15X. Basically, they took a single-seat version of the already experimental F-15 variant and threw some of their own tech into it. Including fully modernised instruments and some insanely powerful hybrid magic jet engines with 3D Thrust Vectoring. I've seen them in action, they can pull some insanely impossible manoeuvres, more so than a standard version of that plane." Natsu replied between mouthfuls of food. He noticed that Lyon, Toby, and Yuka were all shovelling the delicious food down their throats like staving animals. And while Ultear and Sherry were more composed, they still looked like it was their first decent meal in a long time. "I've even had the pleasure of being behind the stick of one. It was one hell of an experience."

"Wait. You know how to fly aircraft?" Lucy instantly looked up from her meal, her chocolate eyes shining with curiosity. "You never told me that."

"I never had a reason to bring it up. But yeah, I know how to fly all types of aircraft. It came from a little Cross-Training program that we had with Blue Pegasus. We did some mock dogfights too. I flew the wings off their F-15Xs while I had the chance. They are machines." He sighed softly and looked out the window at the sea. "It's a pity they destroyed the ones they crashed. I wouldn't mind having one just to fuck around with."

"You boys and your toys." Lucy giggled softly. She let out a cute squeak of shock when she felt a hot calloused hand start travelling up the middle of her silky thighs. She squeezed her legs shut, trapping the hand at the apex of her thighs as she glanced around the table to see if anyone noticed. "Meany~." She purred quietly and started rubbing her thighs together, keeping the hand sandwiched between them. "Save it for until we have finished our food~. Then you can stuff me with a different kind of meat." She gently jabbed the man's cheek with her fork and released his hand from its prison.

Thanks to the shared efforts of the group, the table was cleared rapidly, leaving the ten of them blissfully stuffed. Zeref rose from his seat and smiled at the group. "Well, it's going to take a few days to get back to Magnolia's port, so kill time however you see fit."

"Let's go catch up some more." Gray glanced over to his childhood friend as he started heading to the lounge room next door. "Sherry, Toby, Yuka, coming?"

"Yeah, just give me a moment…" Sherry muttered softly as she rubbed her stomach. "That food must have been crafted by the gods, it was the best thing I've had in a long time."

"Let's go check out the stars." Lucy whispered eagerly as she took Natsu's hand and dragged him out to the rear deck of the ship. She smiled up at the stars, instantly spotting the constellations belonging to her friends. "Hello everyone." She murmured with a bright smile. The blonde glanced back at the man whose hand she was holding, her eyes practically glowing in the moonlight as she raised up on her toes and kissed the man slowly and softly.

When he felt a light but constant push against his chest, he started to move back but Lucy moved with him, not once breaking the gentle kiss while she guided him. Natsu felt his legs bump up against something low and Lucy started to push him down onto it. He laid down upon the deck chair as the woman straddled his hips and finally broke the kiss.

"Mm, perfect~." Lucy murmured quietly. She pecked his lips and smiled sensually at him. "But there is one thing that'll make it so much more perfect~." She slowly slid her hand down his chest and underneath her hips with a vulpine grin.

FTA HQ, Magnolia, 12:10 PM

The bus pulled into the garage, passing through the security checkpoint at the entrance without a hassle. Madeline pulled off to the side and came to a stop, looking over her shoulder at the group of ten. "Welcome home."

"Thanks Madeline." Zeref replied with a kind smile as he walked to the door and stepped off the bus. He turned back to the vehicle as the group gathered before him. "Gray, take your buddy and the Lamias and head up to the courtyard, there should be an Osprey waiting at the top of the lift for them."

"I'm just going to stick my stuff in my car quickly." The raven-haired agent quickly took his travel bag over to his car and stuck it in the boot. "Alright, let's go."

"I'll take Ultear to see Makarov." Erza told Zeref as she grabbed the woman by the arm, just below the shoulder, and led the cuffed councillor towards a separate elevator from Gray's.

"Time for paperwork…" Zeref sighed quietly and ran a hand through his hair; turning towards his brother and Lucy. "Maybe Mavis is waiting for me… I could just go home?"

"You could just give her a call and see where she is. I need to work out where Happy is too, so if you could ask her?"

The vehicle lift opened on the far wall, revealing a yellow Honda S2000 and a grinning Head Mechanic. Ashlyn drove the car over to the trio as Zeref stepped away with his phone. The tanned woman stepped out of the car and rubbed her bare arms, her coveralls were held up around her waist by their sleeves, leaving her blue and white sports bra. "What do you think, Blondie?" The loud raven-haired woman called out. "It took a bit of digging but I managed to find one. It was in good condition too but I have given it a major service and made sure absolutely nothing is wrong with it."

"Looks nice." Lucy smiled and left her bag beside Natsu as she walked around the still-running car. "You haven't done anything else beyond service it?"

"The only thing I've done is put a new exhaust system on it from the Headers back, and a new intake then tuned it to the new parameters. I did upgrade a lot of the parts to top brand parts when I was replacing the aging OEM parts so there will be non-Honda branded parts in there but those won't change how it runs." Ashlyn replied while reaching under the steering wheel and opening the bonnet. "Aside from those few changes, it is the same car that came in here. You'll barely notice a difference between stock and this, aside from being a little louder and more responsive."

The blonde stood in front of the car and lifted the bonnet up while shooting an uncertain look over at Natsu. "Could you please check this…? I don't know cars." She murmured quietly, prompting the man to come over and inspect it himself.

"Yeah, she's telling the truth." He whispered into her ear as he pointed out the intake. "That's a custom job, and from what I can see of the headers, those are custom too. She'd have fabricated it all from scratch for you. I can see where she put the new parts in, but don't worry about those since they don't add power, it's more about reliability and efficiency."

"Alright." Lucy gently closed the bonnet and smiled at the mechanic. "Let's go for a spin?"

"Hell yeah, let's go!" Ashlyn moved to the left side of the car and got into the passenger side. "Stick your bag in the boot, I've got all the paperwork we need in the glove box."

"Have fun." Natsu chuckled as he clapped the woman's back softly. He stuck his bag into the back of his car then made his way to the elevator bank where Zeref was waiting for him.

"Mavis said that Happy had organised to be at a friend's house today, so she had dropped him off. Apparently, the kid was a little disappointed when it wasn't your car."

Natsu laughed heartily, slapping his brother's shoulder all the while. "Poor Mavis. Ah well, at least I know he's alright. I'll send him a message to let him know that I'm back in town." He took out his phone as the elevator dinged open, allowing the two Dragneels to entire. Natsu hit the button for the offices and typed up a quick message to Happy. "Hopefully, I don't get too many strange looks for coming back with black embers all the way up my arms."

"I'm sure some will be curious – the new ones, that is – but others will know what they are. You should be okay, I doubt anyone will bother you about them." Zeref chuckled quietly as he glanced over. "Hell, you might even get a bunch of compliments. Anyway, Mavis is in our office, so I'll see you around."

"Alright, Brother." Natsu smirked at the black-haired man as the doors opened to the office, even on a weekend there were still people working, though less than the usual amount. "Keep the noise down, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah." Zeref shook his head with an amused smile. "See you around." He said as he headed down the hall to his office.

The pinkette walked down the other way towards his own office, but as he reached out to grab the doorknob for his office his stomach grumbled loudly. He placed his hand on his stomach and shot a glance down the hall towards the Café. 'Guess I should grab a bite to eat before I get to that paperwork.'

"Welcome home, Sir." Said the leader of a passing four-man patrol of guards. She snapped off a quick salute which was mimicked by her fellow guards.

"Thank you, Saruri." Natsu nodded to the patrol as he passed by and entered the Café. He saw Lisanna manning the counter and smiled at her before looking up at the menu board above her. A tap on his shoulder made him glance behind him, coming face-to-face with the dark blonde-haired woman, Genevieve.

"Bonjour, ma chérie, tu vas bien?" The maid's emerald green eyes shone with happiness at the sight of the Agent.

"Hello, Genie. I'm good, how are you?" Natsu smiled at the Midian woman and watched her twirl around him and stood in front of him, fluttering her eyelashes.

"I'm doing good. Eef you are looking for lunch, I recommend today's special. Ze quiche. Eet's not like a usual Midian quiche, but eet tasted très bien when I 'ad eet for lunch just before ze rush." Genevieve said cheerfully while turning and pointing it out on the menu board. "Eet 'as got bacon, 'am, and sausage. Eet's also cheesy!"

"Sounds pretty good." The man smiled at the bubbly maid, she seemed even happier than usual. He stepped up to the counter and gave Lisanna a smile. "Hiya Lis, can I have that quiche and a coffee?"

"Sure. How did the job go?" The white-haired woman asked curiously as she got out a plate and placed his quiche onto it along with a knife and fork. "The coffee will be a sec."

"The mission got a bit messy, I'll spare you the details but it wasn't pretty. But all-in-all it was successful, we took out Deliora and ensured the safety of the locals." Natsu took the plate and smiled softly. "I'll find a table, just put the cost on my tab."

"I'll have Genevieve take it over once it's done."

"Thanks." The pinkette headed to a free table and sat down. He didn't even get a chance to start eating when he was joined by a petite blunette.

"You're back." Levy noted as she fell down onto the chair opposite him and placed a newspaper down on the table. "You doing anything after this?"

"I need to write up a Post Mission Assessment for Lucy. I'd better get it done sooner than later."

"That doesn't take much focus, I got something down in R&D that I want to show you." The short woman left no room to argue as Genevieve placed Natsu's coffee down.

"Bon appétit, ma chérie~." The maid cheered happily with a slight roll of her tongue at the end. She placed a quick gentle peck on the man's cheek and returned to her duties, sending a small wink over her shoulder at him.

"Ma chérie?" Levy questioned while shooting a glance between Natsu and the woman's back. "I thought she always called you Monsieur Salamander?"

"She did. She loved how it rolled off her tongue, said it was better than Monsieur Natsu. However, since the job at the Estate, she has taken to calling me ma chérie." Natsu chuckled and smiled at the back of the blonde. "She's quite beautiful when she's let her hair down."

"Mhm, and when she let her dress down too, I bet." Levy smirked playfully at the man and brought up her newspaper between them. "Anyway, we've finished your set of armour. Granted it had to be strengthened even further just to be able to handle being attached to you. I want you to come and put it through the wringer."

Natsu sighed and took a sip of coffee before digging into the quiche. "Mm, Genie is right, this is really good." He pointed his fork at the blunette and frowned deeply. "I really need to do her report. As the person responsible for her training, I need to properly assess her and report my assessments."

"Then find a fucking tablet and bring it with you." Levy grumbled with an exasperated sigh. She pulled the paper aside and shot him a light glare. "I know damn well that Mira has one, I've seen her walking around with it while working."

Alright, alright. Unknot your damn panties, woman." The pinkette groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Natsu sat back and stared at the woman flatly while sipping his coffee. "Fine. You win. I'll stop by the office and borrow that tablet from her. Then we can head down to R&D and test the armour. But if I feel like it is slowing me down, then I'd probably prefer using our regular armour."

"Regular armour is good for regular missions, but if shit is about to go down then you'd need proper protection." The blunette replied quickly. She placed the paper down and leaned in, resting her arms on the table. "Think of it this way. We all know that we going to go to war with Phantom Lord, and that it'll happen very soon. And unlike all the people we generally deal with, Phantom has tonnes of highly trained soldiers, infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, planes, heavy machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, various explosive devices, anti-air weapons, et cetera, et cetera. They are a full-on military, and we need to be equipped to put them down and not get put down."

"I hope shit doesn't hit the fan until after Tuesday…" Natsu sighed and finished off his food. "Happy has an athletics carnival on that day and I offered to help set up the stuff."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you get the call midway through that." Levy chuckled softly and sighed softly. "I hope the day goes well for you."

"I guess we'll find out if it all goes tits up or not." The man downed the last of his coffee and stacked his dishes on top of each other. "Alright. Let's get this over with."

"All done, ma chérie?" Genevieve asked politely as she stopped by their table. She bent down and brushed one of her dirty blonde bangs behind her ear. "Am I right to take zese?"

"Yeah, Genie." Natsu glanced up at the woman and gave her a fanged smile. "Thank you for the suggestion too, it was very delicious."

The maid smiled and picked up the dishes, flashing the man a bright smile as she turned and headed back to the counter. Levy grabbed her newspaper and stood up quickly, she adjusted her headband slightly to keep her bangs away from her eyes and turned her attention to the pinkette. "Come on."

"Coming, coming." Murmured Natsu while he rose from his chair. He started making his way to the office with Levy in tow. He pushed open the door and glanced around the room, spotting Mira at his desk with her feet up on it; her eyes closed. It seemed that she was sleeping so he inched over to her and gentle caressed her cheek, lowing his voice to a whisper. "Hey Mira~. Wakey wakey~."

"Hmm…?" Mira leaned into his hand and slowly brought a hand up to hold it gently to her face. "Is that you Natsu?"

"Yeah, we just got back not long ago, I stopped at the café for some lunch before coming here but I've been roped into something by Levy." Natsu smiled as the woman opened her shining sapphire eyes. She blew him a quick kiss and kissed his palm before letting him pull his hand away. "I'm going to borrow that tablet of yours so I can write up Lucy's assessment."

"Alright, Hot-stuff, just let me nap here. It was a long drive back and I'm still recovering from the event." Mira replied as she shifted in the seat and into a more comfortable position. "Where's Lucy?"

"Test driving her new car." Natsu said as he walked over to her desk and rummaged in her draws. "Hopefully she likes it."

"What's the car?"

"A Honda S2000. Ah, here it is." He fired up the tablet and input his credentials. He immediately got started on the report, hoping to finish it as quickly as possible to be done with it. "She'll probably be here soon."

"I'll try and keep an eye out…" Mira murmured as she drifted off back to sleep, her breathing evening out and her chest rising and falling slowly under her navy dress.

The salmon-haired man returned to Levy and followed her to the nearest elevator bank. He typed the report quickly as the petite woman led the way to R&D department. Levy looked up at the man and noticed the black embers peeking out from under his black leather jacket's cuffs. "You're back to normal I see."

"Hmm?" Natsu glanced over from his report and blinked before her words finally sank in. "Oh, yes. We had a little issue on the ship with Lucy's mutation. It was causing her to have extreme seasickness. The best solution was to break my seal so I could make her ignore the sensations with Macro. Plus, it's been some time since the trial, we figured I've been restricted long enough."

"I just hope the armour can withstand your powers…" Levy muttered to herself, silently going over the specifications of the armour in her head. "Ah well, it should be fine."

The doors dinged open and the two agents stepped out, both being saluted by a passing patrol. Natsu glanced over at the blunette next to him as he gave Frank a quick wave when they passed his security booth and between the two bickering guards. However, R&D was a stark contrast to the offices above as there were only a few handfuls of people floating around and between the workshops, booths, and adjacent rooms.

Levy led the man through one of the hallways and entered a room full of rows of large upright containers, some larger than others but each one seemingly able to fit a person comfortably. "This is where we are storing the armour. There is a set for each and every agent that is currently fit for combat." She moved down row after row before turning in and heading along one. "The prototypes were put through rigorous trials and managed to survive sustained heavy weapons fire for a period deemed long enough for the Agent to escape or reposition out of fire." Levy came to a stop in front of a container labelled SALAMANDER and pointed to the palm scanner on the front of it. "The armour is modular and can be changed to fit the mission profile, we've currently set yours up as Heavy Assault since you enjoy being in the thick of combat."

"While I wouldn't say I enjoy it, it does happen often enough that I'm comfortable in a hail of lead." Natsu corrected her. He submitted his report and sent the device away in a brief glow of light. After which, he placed his hand on the scanner. "What is Heavy Assault?"

"Maximum armour possible while retaining the full range of movement. Next configuration up has been colloquially dubbed Tank, officially it's the Heavy Support. That's Elfman's kit for the coming war, it has heavy plating designed to deflect munitions away from the wearer when properly positioned mainly on the leading side, like when he'll be using that heavy machine gun he had me rig up."

"So you're saying I should be able to move naturally while in the gear?" Natsu asked as the front of the container split in two and moved to the sides, revealing a pristine set of dark grey full-body armour that had SALAMANDER printed on the right breast in black, with a slightly lighter coloured undersuit to the side. "Huh, this actually looks decent."

"As I mentioned before, this is your Heavy Assault loadout. We've made the Helmet standard across the variations, it is atmospherically sealed and has a built-in O2 system with rebreather. The visor can be polarised with a toggle feature, allowing it to switch between two-way and one-way pass-through. The torso armour, boots, and shin guards are all standard as well but that's where the variations start coming in." Levy reached into the case and pulled out the undersuit, holding it up in front of the man. "As per standard protocol, all combat-related clothing is rated up to and including 7.62x51mm cartridges. The BDU will replace your current combat outfits. It comes with a specialised camouflage system that adapts to its environment. This isn't invisibility or "Active Camo", it merely means that in Urban combat it will show this pattern, in Forest combat it will show green, white for Alpine combat. Put it on."

"Okay, okay. Sounds good so far though. You said the armour is modular, where's the rest of it?" Natsu asked quickly as he shed his clothes and shoes and started getting into the undersuit, finding out that it could be separated at the waist to be pants and a top for ease of use – similar to a race car driver's suit.

"Behind the dividing wall of the container. Behind the allocated armour. That's where the storage for the other armour modules are." Levy informed the man while reaching into the container once again and banging on the visible back wall. The reverb showing that it was hollow behind it. "With the armour, you are completely free to customise it however you see fit. Be it mixing and matching parts or painting the armour with a design. Just be aware that if you paint it that you'll reduce the camouflage's effectiveness."

"Maybe I want to stand out? I mean, come on… If my spikey salmon hair wasn't already a big enough Here's Agent Salamander then I doubt putting some kind of design on the armour will change that. Granted I'd have a helmet on but for individuality's sake I'd probably end up throwing something onto it." The man grabbed the armour and started placing it on his body, working slowly from the boots up. "It looks a little bulky."

"Don't forget that it's modular." The blunette reaffirmed. She grabbed the torso armour out and held it ready for the man, a small smile gracing her lips as he seemed to be coming around. "Give this layout a good shot, you can change it up at a later date."

"Are these the finished product?" He asked, curiously, while slipping into the offered armour and starting on the arms, beginning with his new gloves.

"Yes. I was doing the testing myself along with a few others I coerced into helping." Levy answered, simply, while grabbing the helmet and putting it on his head then powering it up so that the pass-through microphone activates as well as the Visor's HUD. "Let me know if things are muted."

"Well, since I can hear your heartbeat just fine, I'm going to say that things are good. Except for the lack of smell… that'd probably annoy the shit out of me eventually."

Levy blushed slightly at the mention of her heartbeat which only served to quicken it by a few bpm. She lightly whacked the armoured man's chest and shook her head softly. "Ass." She murmured before moving her fingers around the armour, checking the fitment between it and the undersuit. "Is it comfortable?"

"It's not pinching my balls if that's what you're asking." Natsu chuckled lightly before stepping back from the touchy-feely woman and striding the length of the room a few times. "Feels pretty good. Not putting uneven pressure on anywhere though until I go for a good run or even take a pass through a Kill House I can't be totally sure."

"Alright. How's your vision?" Levy stood up on her toes and brought her face close to the transparent visor, visually checking the fit of the helmet. She could tell that it sat snugly on his head from how it moved seamlessly with his body and didn't rock or bounce about. "Do you still have full visual range and clarity?"

"Yep, I can count every single lash on your eyes and perfectly see the goosebumps on your skin, feeling cold? Oh, and I can see everything in my peripherals."

"The undersuit insulates your thermal signature, of which you stand out like a sore thumb normally so it's a good thing that it's begin suppressed." The petite woman sighed softly and gazed into the onyx orbs housed behind the bullet-resistant visor. "So yes, I'm feeling cold now that you aren't providing your usual lovely warmth."

"We've established that it fits right and that it doesn't feel like it impedes my movement all that much. Let's go and try it out in a Kill House."

"Alright." Levy replied quickly before hurrying over to her own locker and opening it up. Light danced around her slender body, her orange dress vanishing quickly and leaving her in a set of rather plain-looking light-yellow undergarments. Unperturbed by the man's presence, she started to don her own armour – the more streamlined Light Assault armour configuration. It took her next to no time at all as she placed each piece upon her body with practised ease and set her Glock 18 upon her right thigh then slotted two spare 33-Round Magazines into loops in her equipment belt with extra inside a pouch. She glanced over at the pinkette and found him with his helmet under an arm and a wide, toothy grin plastered on his face. "What? It's been a while since I had some time with my sweet little Merlene." Levy patted the custom-built pistol at her side with a small smile. While it shared the inner mechanics of the parent Glock 18 that it was built from, it had a lengthened slide and barrel with the slide measuring nine inches long while the barrel poked out even further – its threaded tip allowing for a suppressor to be mounted on the end. Merlene didn't use the common 9x19mm Parabellum and instead used the 9x21mm Jager which worked superbly in the automatic pistol.

"Just thinking that it has been some time since we have fought together, even if this will be a trial." Natsu replied with a brief chuckle to himself. He mimicked the woman's motions and placed his twin pistols on his thighs with ammo on his belt. "Has to have been about a year now?"

"Before Lucy joined and most of your attention became directed at her." Levy walked past the man, lightly banging her fist against the man's armoured chest as she went. "I still remember you flipping out in that meeting. Was kinda funny to see you blow your top like that, considering you do your best to remain calm in most situations." When she reached the doorway, she glanced back at the pinkette with a thoughtful expression framed by her blue bangs. "I think it has been about a year. Makarov had decided that my usual team wouldn't cut it in the kind of information gathering mission I was tasked with so he paired me up with you."

"Yeah, well… Droy and Jet are good agents and all, but they do need to focus more on the mission and less on coddling you." Natsu rolled his eyes lightly at the image of the two protective men hovering over the undoubtedly competent blunette flash before his eyes. He lightly ruffled the woman's hair as he passed by her and left the room. "I know for a fact that you don't need it. Feisty little witch, you are."

"I'll show you feisty if you call me short again." Levy grumbled hotly, sending a brief glare at the man which earned her a sharp bark of laughter. "I mean it."

"And I don't doubt that. I've seen you angry. And you know what they say…" The man quickened his pace in anticipation as he bared his glistening white teeth at the woman in a fanged grin. "…the shorter they are, the shorter the tempers!"

"That's it!" Levy called out in semi-mock anger as she sprinted after the laughing agent. "Get your ass back here so I can whoop it!"

"You're not helping your case, Lev!" Natsu chortled while booking it through the R&D Department. Even in the armour, his footsteps barely made a sound on the floor. The boots must have in-built sound-deadening – magical or otherwise.

As they blitzed past the two security guards, Levy began to summon her magic – a mostly harmless but pack with power Solid Script: Water Jet – and sent it blasting towards the salmon-haired man. Yet the man sensed the attack coming and pounced into action, literally. He pushed down on his leading leg and abruptly changed his direction, pushing up and rotating his body, twisting and turning horizontally as a mass of blackish-red flame welled up in his right palm. With a grin shinning in light cast from the ominous flames, he whipped his arm forward – palm first – and released the conflagration in a jet directed at the incoming spell.

The blunette watched on, partly shocked by the dramatic reveal of his once sealed fire. In a display of showmanship and control, the man snapped his hand shut, closing it into a fist and snuffing out the gout of flame in its entirety after it had consumed the spell's magic. "Show off."

"You knew I was unsealed, Short-stuff." A short chuckle escaped Natsu's throat before he turned on the spot and raced up the nearest set of stairs. "You should know what that fire is capable of!"

"Get your ass back here, NATSU!" Roared Levy as she tore after him like a banshee. She chased him all the way to the nearest training room that was outfitted for Close Quarters Combat training.

Alright, I think I'll leave it here, it took me a bit longer than I was expecting to get this chapter sorted out since I started stagnating after the Café scene but I felt that it had to be included since it debuts the new armour which was tailored to each individual agent. I decided to contrast the armour that Phantom Lord uses, which is very much a mass-produced kind of armour, like modern militaries. But with how Fairy Tail strives to make advances technologically – in all fields – I decided to draw inspiration from one of my favourite series, Halo. The same visual aids and communication tech from the contacts and mic/earpiece combo are found in the helmet, and the tac-com will still strap onto the Agent's arm as usual – it slots into the vambrace on their preferred side.

In regards to the armour's looks, I figure a visual representation will aid visualisation, it resembles the ODST Battle Armour from the Halo series. Specifically, I mean the artwork for ODSTs found in H3/Halo: Fireteam Raven (these can be found under ODST Battle Armour on halopedia-org/ODST_armor just replace the hyphens with dots).
- Light Assault is the ODST/DEMO variant.
- Assault is the ODST/TAC variant.
- Heavy Assault is the ODST/HVY.
- Finally, the "Tank" Heavy Support configuration is visually similar to Heavy Assault but has a heavily armoured leading arm with wide plates to act as a shield, it also has an add-on guard that sits on top of the leading shoulder and protects the wearer's neck and lower head from incoming fire as they lay down heavy fire in return. Think Jorge from Halo Reach.

All in all, the armour pieces are as follows: soft armour suit with boots and gloves (suitable up to FMJ high powered rifle ammunition, won't stop dedicated AP ammo or a .50 Cal), this has an adaptive Multicam pattern; add-on pieces of armour for the boots; shin guards which go up to the knees and around the back of the calves; thigh guards; torso armour with crotch protector and equipment belt (don't want your bits shot off); vambraces that extend up behind the elbow; shoulder guards that extend from the elbow and up to the top of the shoulder (various permutations); the up-armoured accessories like the neck guard and the shield style vambrace and shoulder guard; and finally, the fully enclosed helmet.

Well, that's all for now, so I'll round it off here. See you all next time.

(Just a little PS I'm slipping in here about a day or so after uploading: I've decided to go back and fix up the early chapters, bringing them into the new format I came up with in Chapter 20 and bring them to a better state than how they were when I wrote them two years ago and closing.)