Chapter 46

Tank

"Ha! I can't believe we actually got away with it!" Eli exclaimed.

"At first, I thought he was going to catch on, but he really is just a dumb dragon! I couldn't have been more obvious!" Ryn said as they entered Obsidian Tribe headquarters.

"Is he out?" Eli asked one of the masked mages that were carrying the small, unconscious dragon slayer.

"Yes, sir."

"Great. Put him in the tank," he commanded, walking up the stairs to his office. "I need you all to be on high alert."

"Until when, sir?" One mage asked.

"Shut up! That's a stupid question!" Another mage said, elbowing the first mage.

"A stupid question, indeed," Eli said. "Obviously, until the slayer comes for his son. Then, there will be a fight. Now, whether that fight is big or small," he said, turning to face his subordinates. "Is determined on how fast you dimwits get him in the shitty tank before he wakes up!"

"Sorry, sir!" The mages carrying Zeke scrambled to get him into the subbasement.

"Come with me, Ryn," Eli said, making his way up to his office. "Shut the door behind you."

Ryn entered his office and sat down in her usual spot across from his.

"I've never had a rookie implement a plan and succeed this flawlessly before," he said, taking off his jacket and sitting on his desk directly in front of her.

She was eye level with his abs, and they were only maybe a foot away from her. Why he was sitting directly in front of her, she didn't know. She was only used to them being on opposite sides of his desk, but she was not about to complain about being so close to this eye candy, especially with the button-down shirt he was wearing that was tighter than it needed it to be.

"I-I'm no rookie, sir," she couldn't keep from defending herself, and that's what he liked about her.

"Please, call me Eli." He smiled at her. "'Sir' is for those guys down there. You are worth so much more than them." He just wanted to hear his name from her mouth.

"Sir… I mean… Eli," she stuttered.

Oh man, he loved that way that sounded.

"This is only the first half of the operation, we shouldn't get too excited," she said, averting her gaze.

"You're right. Though, this was supposedly the hard part. Kidnapping a dragon slayer's child is an immediate death sentence, buuuuut," he said, getting up to stand behind her. "When you have someone as smart as you on your team…"

She felt his breath on her ear and instantly got wetter than she'd ever been before.

"S-sir…"

"Now, what did I tell you?" He smirked. "It's Eli."

He wanted to take her right there, but he needed no distractions. His plan needed to be 100% complete. Although, he loved torturing her.

"Well, then," he said, finally sitting in his chair. "How should I commend you?"

'Oh, I can think of a way,' she thought to herself as she chewed on her bottom lip.

"I know what you want, Ryn," he stated.

"Oh? And what is that?"

"Same thing I want."

They'd never spoken their attraction for each other into existence, but he was dying to know for himself, and not just assume.

"Well, you know what you say," she purred. "Business… before… pleasure…"

"Damn it, Ryn," he said through clenched teeth. "I just wanna…"

"Then do it."

He let out a sharp breath through his nose. "No distractions."

Levy woke up the next morning with an urgency. She wasn't quite sure why she felt something was wrong, and she ended up brushing it off as her hormones being out of whack. However, she did want to just go home and apologize to Gajeel. She knew he was probably going through hell being emotionally alone. Hell, she felt the same way, but it was her decision to leave, so the only thing she could do was suck up her pride and apologize.

She was jerked out of her thoughts by creaking noises coming from Natsu and Lucy's room and decided that was her cue to leave. 'I'll just leave Luce a note telling her I've gone home.' She was happy to be going back home, but something just wasn't sitting right with her.

"Maybe when I see Gajeel, it'll be better," she said to herself as she rubbed her belly.

As she walked home, she wondered how he was going to react when he found out. She suspected he would be happy, especially since that meant she was going to put that weight back on. She groaned internally. That weight that she worked so hard to keep off would be making a return. She knew all pregnancies were different, and that gave her a little bit of hope, but she noticed she was already having a hard time keeping the weight away recently, so it was a slim chance of her skipping the weight gain.

She'd been walking about fifteen minutes when she saw something small and black shooting toward her.

"Levy!"

"Lily? What is it?" She'd never seen such a terrified look on his face.

"ZEKE!" Gajeel tore through the house, looking everywhere he could have been, with no luck. He knew he hadn't left, as it was extremely unlike Zeke to leave the house without permission, especially in the middle of the night. He knew his son, and he cherished sleep as much as his father if not more.

Lily came padding out of his room, slightly annoyed from all the yelling.

"Gajeel, what's going on?" He asked, trudging down the hallway.

"Lily!" The dragon slayer rushed over to the cat and grabbed him, lifting him off the ground. "Have you seen Zeke?!"

"No," the startled exceed replied. "Not since last night. Why?"

Gajeel roared and tore through the house, looking in any nook and cranny that he may have been in.

"Gajeel! Calm down for a second, you need to think straight," Lily said, changing into his battle form just in case he needed to subdue the slayer.

"How the fuck can I calm down when my son is missing?!" He fumed. He needed to do something, fast.

"How about this, you try sniffing him out, and I'll fly above the trees to see if I can find him," the cat suggested.

Gajeel would literally have done anything at that point, no matter how menial or silly it may have seemed. He ran out of the house and shouted Zeke's name in hopes of him hearing… wherever he was.

He sniffed around, picking up Zeke's trail, only for it to disappear after several yards. Gajeel must have followed that short trail fifty times before he came to the conclusion that whoever took Zeke was clearly smart about it.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Gajeel punched holes clean through a tree with each curse, slowly entering his iron shadow dragon mode. He knew he would have a hard time containing his rage once he was fully changed, but there was nothing he could do to stop it from boiling over. He needed to find Levy. Slipping into the shadows, he darted off toward Flame Brain and Bunny Girl's.

Lily took to the trees and quickly scanned the surrounding area. No luck. He flew back toward their house to see if Gajeel got a lead, but he was nowhere to be found. 'Maybe he got a lead on Zeke?' …Or maybe he got angry enough to reach snapping point and was off losing his mind somewhere. Either way, he needed to find Levy. He took off toward Natsu and Lucy's house, internally cursing those two for choosing now of all times to fight.

Eli's plan was coming together smoothly. They had the slayer and the father surprisingly hadn't found them yet. He was going to have to give Ryn more credit. Her magic may not have been the best, but she definitely knew how to use it. Fortunately, so far, he hadn't needed to use his magic. 'Only for drastic measures.'

"Ah, you're awake," Eli said, hearing shuffling noises coming from the chaise lounge Ryn was laying in.

"Mm, yes," she replied, stretching. She was getting a bit tired from being on duty all night and he let her take a nap for an hour or two to recharge her batteries. Truthfully, he was tired too, but he was so close to achieving his goal; he wasn't going to stop when he was so close to the finish line.

"Thanks for letting me get a quick nap in," the busty woman said as she stood to stretch her legs.

"No problem," he beamed. "I need my best person on their toes, especially since we're so close."

"Sir," she said, trying to hide her blush. "Wouldn't it be beneficial for you to get a little sleep as well? You've been up just as long, if not longer than the rest of us."

"Eh, it's nothing a bit of coffee won't fix." He got up and poured himself a cup of the warm java. "Thank you for your concern, though, Ryn."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, both wondering what to say to each other. They both just wanted to fuck each other's brains out right there on his desk, but she agreed that there should be no distractions when they were this close.

"Would you mind checking on the little slayer boy?" He asked, handing her the key to the subbasement.

"Sure."

Zeke's eyes fluttered open slowly as he took in his surroundings. He was in a weird glass tank filled with a mysterious liquid, with an oxygen mask attached to him for breathing purposes, and what looked like several intravenous tubes attached to his body.

He knew he was in a bad situation and he'd been training with his dad just in case he was captured. The only problem in this case, was that he seemed to be losing his magic power, so his strength wasn't where it needed to be.

He tried to tune into his senses to see if he could hear anything since smelling was out of the question, but the only thing he could hear was the sound of rushing water in his ears.

He just wanted to cry. He wanted his parents. He wanted out of this situation, but he had to be strong. He heard his dad's voice in his head, 'Sometimes it's gonna get hard, but ya can't give up, bud.' But what could he do? He couldn't move, he didn't have enough magic to help himself, and he couldn't use his senses.

Through lidded eyes, he saw the door of the room he was in open, and a brown-haired lady walked in and stood in front of the tank. It looked like she was saying something, but he couldn't make out what it was.

Ryn saw that the boy looked to be regaining consciousness and saw him trying to move.

"Ah, ah, ah," she said, waving a finger. "There's no point in struggling. You're only going to tire yourself out." She walked to the collection chamber that was situated behind the tank, satisfied with how much it had already filled.

"You are going to make Eli very happy," she said, beaming at the boy and exiting the room.

Zeke had a temper like his father, and they didn't know it yet, but Gajeel was nothing compared to Zeke. He was getting angrier by the second, and the fact that he couldn't do anything to help himself only made the anger worse. He wasn't quite sure how to handle this rage, as he'd never been this upset before, but there was a first time for everything.

He tried to calm himself as his mom taught him to do when he was losing his temper. He closed his eyes and took slow deep breaths, but the longer he was in the tank, the angrier he got. 'I wish I could leave this place!' He thought frantically to himself, his eyes now screwed shut. 'I wish I could break this bubble and get out of here!'

He suddenly felt the pressure in the tank change as his eyes flew open. He saw a large crack in the 'bubble', that gradually grew. 'Yes!' He then realized, he was going to have to fight once he escaped, and he wasn't sure how he was going to do that given how weak he was.

He had to think quickly. 'If I can get out of here without any noise…' Just as the thought crossed his mind, the tank shattered, and his eyes widened. He was going to get caught, easily. 'Oh, no! Quiet, please!' He screwed his eyes shut again, bracing for the sound of glass and water hitting the floor, but heard nothing.

He opened his eyes after landing on his feet, seeing the word 'quiet' in tiny letters written all over the floor. 'D-did I do that?' He wasn't too sure what happened, but the only explanation was that it was him. Who else could it have been?

He removed the tubes from his body and stepped onto the cold, wet floor, noticing how weak he actually was. He needed iron if he was going to fight. He was lucky to not have made any noise when the tank broke, but he was still stuck on how he managed to pull that off. 'No time!' Using his nose, he scanned the room for any iron, and perked up when he found some iron pipes in the corner. Chewing on a large piece of metal, he felt his magic almost regenerate completely, giving him a surge of new magic he'd never felt before.

He got angry again. Angry at himself for getting caught up. Angry at these people for taking him. Angry that his parents were probably going crazy looking for him. He looked at his hands, a dark blue aura glowing from them and scales forming over his entire body. He hadn't gone over the Shadow Iron Dragon mode with his dad yet, so this power was very new to him, but for some reason, he knew how to handle it. It was like something clicked in his brain that allowed him the ability to automatically know how to use and control it. He was still able to think rationally, and that was amazing.

He went to the door, only to find it locked from the outside, and the only other way he knew how to get out of that room was by force and he was trying to keep quiet. He closed his eyes and concentrated as he slipped into the shadows, just like his dad, and slithered through the crack at the bottom of the door. Using his senses, he picked out the best place to sit and watch without being seen until he could take down each and every person in this building. He was going to make them pay.