As her feet gently padded through the streets as she waded through the crowds of people, Lucy took a moment to think about how on earth she was going to get through this challenge.
Lucy knew that there was no hope for her if she ran into Mirajane. For lack of better words, Mira would destroy her before she could even hope to sprint full speed in the other direction. While she was confident in her hand-to-hand combat with most opponents, thanks to Erza's brutal teachings over the past year, she was still unable to beat Erza in a hand to hand fight. That wasn't such a big deal as Erza was considered one of the strongest in the whole school, but the knowledge that Erza and Mirajane were equals on the battlefield was a sobering thought for this exercise.
Combat was simply not an option.
Now was the time for distance and stealth, and even then Lucy knew that Mira possessed some crazy demon-like senses, so her entire mental focus was going to be on keeping herself out of Mira's radar.
They had one advantage. Mira would be on the lookout, but she didn't know who for. She hadn't been told which year group would be watching her, which gave them a small amount of time to gain the upper hand before somebody messed up. Thinking more on that, it was more like a double edged sword.
Shaking her head at her negative thoughts, she focused back on the mission. All they needed to do was figure out what drink she would order from her usual cafe and get back to the designated base at the abandoned cathedral at the edge of town.
As she was walking the streets, she assessed surroundings on any reflective surface she could find, trying to keep an eye on Mira and any possible escape routes. In the window of a cute boutique she caught a glimpse of her full body and grimaced. While she always took pride in her appearance, her current state wasn't going to help her stay hidden.
Her blonde hair and full figure already caught attention, and the fact that she was still in her school uniform didn't bode well for her at all. Squinting at herself, she shook her head slightly. She couldn't panic now - panicking meant errors. And errors meant death in the real spy world.
Swiftly taking off her school blazer, she moved towards the market stalls on the other side of the street. Her eyes widened comically when she noticed a cosplay wig stall amongst them.
She grinned. Evasive rule number one. Small change, big difference.
Static crackling loudly in her ear was the only warning Lucy got before Levy's excited voice whirred from the comms.
"Test, test! One, two, one, two! Check in time ladies, code name and position if you please. Over."
"Titania check." Erza's audio was clear, but background chatter was making it hard for Lucy to focus on selecting which wig to get, "Currently sitting on the memorial fountain in the main square. Over."
"Oh! Hiding in the public eye - good thinking." Levy mused, "Next! Over."
Lucy rolled her eyes before subtly brushing her hand over her hair, nudging her earring comms with a knuckle before speaking, "Lucky check. Currently walking the market stalls on the main road looking for a disguise. Over."
The sound of rapid fire typing was the only response she got for a while, but then Levy's voice cut back in. "I've got eyes on you Lucky," She chirped happily, "Look up and to the left. And go for the brown wig I reckon - you'd look goth with black hair. Over!"
Lucy's hand stopped mid reach of the black wig she was assessing, to do as she was told, only to jump slightly as she saw a security camera pointed directly at her. It was from inside an alleyway a bit further up the road and Lucy cursed herself internally for not noticing it before - Aquarius was probably going to dock her marks for the blunder. She hadn't mentioned that the third years were being graded by camera evasion, but Aquarius would probably find a way.
Still startled, she let out a strained chuckle and raised her hand slightly up to wave back before muttering quietly, "Books, I thought Mavis told you to stop hacking private security? Over."
"If she didn't want me to do it then why did she teach me to? Hmm?" Came Levy's haughty reply. Levy's huff managed to be loud enough to cause feedback in the comms which caused Lucy to cringe in on herself, before she continued, "Next! Over."
The line was silent as they waited for the next to respond, but after a minute of waiting, a pool of anxiety sat uncomfortably in Lucy's stomach. Trying to at least appear normal Lucy painted what she hoped was a neutral facial expression on her face as she bought her wig, flashing her father's black amex. As she turned away from the stall, she caught sight of long white hair and swallowed a yelp. Scanning her surroundings, she ducked into the alley where the camera was stationed. It appeared to be a side street the stores used as back entrances and was dim enough that any normal civilians would be spooked off.
Taking a sigh of relief, she darted behind a dumpster to get in the camera's blind spot and quickly tapped her comm, "Lilith has been spotted. I repeat, Backup has spotted Lilith. She's heading east on Magnolia Promenade. Most likely to the cafe - do I engage? Over."
"Hold off on that Lucky. We don't know what has happened with Rain Woman and Sky Dragon. Leave her for now - we'll find her again." Erza commanded, "Bookworm, do we have any information on Rain Woman and Sky Dragon? Over."
"Rain woman was supposed to check in next, from the tracker that was in her comm, she's been at the same markets that Lucy has been in for the last 8 minutes. She hasn't changed positions. Not sure about Sky Dragon. Over."
"Oh! I'm Sky Dragon - does that mean I can speak now?" Chimed a nervous voice.
"Of course, Wendy-"
"-Code names only, Books. You know better. Over."
"Right! Sorry cap-i-tain. Speaking of which, what's your 20 Titania? Over."
"Still sitting on the fountain, but about to be on the move. I can feel eyes on me and with Rain Woman not responding I feel none of us should be stationary. Lucky, continue walking the way you're going and keep an eye out for Juvia, but Sky Dragon I want you with me. What's your 20? Over."
"Um," Wendy started, hesitating slightly before she continued, "What's a 20?"
Lucy stalled for a moment as she fixed the wig onto her head, using the metal of the industrial size garbage bins as a mirror. Surely Wendy wasn't being serious?
Levy's voice responded quickly, "A 20 is your location status!
"Oh! I don't know where I am." Wendy said before muttering, "I've never been to Magnolia before."
"All good, Sky Dragon. You're just North of Magnolia Fountain. Over."
Erza responded immediately,"Perfect. I'm making my way to you, Sky Dragon. Find a place to sit inconspicuously that isn't suspicious - something like a park bench or a ledge to rest on. Over."
Another minute passed before anyone spoke.
"Why are we still doing this mission? It needs to be cancelled! Rain Woman's still missing." Wendy whispered.
"The cell tower's out, must be some maintenance but I didn't see anything scheduled for today - maybe an outage?" Levy musses. "Since Aquarius' isn't connected to our comms line, we have no way of contacting her or any other teacher."
"I just saw Lisanna and her team and alerted them to Juvia's disappearance and they said they'd keep an eye out for her. Sky Dragon, The mission always continues no matter what. We are all worried about Rain Woman, but we can't get distracted. We lose heads, we lose ours. And you need to say "over" when you finish speaking on comms, Sky Dragon. Over."
"Right!" She exclaims before hastily adding, "Over."
When the comm goes dead, it finally gives Lucy a chance to really think about the chaos currently happening. Juvia is still unaccounted for, and they need to cover a first year who has no understanding of what happens in the field. Why Aquarius and Mavis thought that bringing first years outside of campus was beyond Lucy's understanding. Wendy shouldn't be under so much pressure on her first day of highschool. She didn't even know the basics yet, let alone how to navigate a town she'd never visited.
Distracted by herself mentally cussing out the school's decisions, a sudden loud bang causes Lucy's hearing to ring out and her vision to blur, a flash of heat stinging her skin following the sudden rippling pressure from the ground forces her knees to quake. Swallowing hard to keep her lunch down, she whips her head in the direction where the explosion came from, only to feel dread pool like iron in the bottom of her stomach as she sees it's coming from the alleyway she was in just moments ago.
"What on earth was that?" Erza exclaims over comms, completely forgoing in ear communication etiquette. "Is everyone okay?"
"All good here - wait. Lucky! That explosion was where you just were. Are you oka-?" Levy's voice came through before fizzling off but Lucy took no notice. The feeling of her feet pounding on the pavement is the only thing she's thinking about as she sharply rounds a street corner, tunnel vision only showing her the entrance to the alleyway.
Levy's voice cutting out should really be more of a worry, but something inside her gut was wrenching at the idea of leaving the explosion as a second priority.
Sweat begins to sting her eyes from the running and the residual heat but she pushes on faster, urging herself to keep moving as she becomes aware of the screams and chaos going around her. It takes her a couple minutes of pushing through rushing civilians to get to the alley, but when she finally makes it, she stops still before crying out, "Juvia!"
On the floor next to the entrance of the alleyway is Juvia's unconscious body. Dropping to her knees, her shaking hands fumble on her neck to locate a pulse. Air finally manages to make its way back into her lungs once she feels the steady rhythm of a heartbeat.
"Oh thank Mavis." She murmurs, before shaking at her friend, "Juvia? Juvia!"
Juvia's body still remained limp where it had been laid, and as Lucy pushed her body back up into a sitting position, her hands felt the sensations of heat everywhere but the back of her neck. Which felt like ice.
Finally looking around the alleyway, Lucy saw that the garbage bin had been placed next to Juvia's side and just beyond that was the remains of soot, splashed in the middle of the stone ground.
"Perfectly centred." She felt the words pass her lips before she even realised. The sight of it put her on edge.
Nothing was perfect in this world.
Not unless it was by human intention.
Heavy footsteps snap her out of her observation. She twists forwards with a shout, body leaning to cover Juvia's exposed form, only for words to die on her lips when she sees Erza's shocked face looking through her, at their friend's unconscious body.
It's eerily quiet, neither of them speaking. It takes a moment for Erza to speak, but when she does it makes Lucy's skin crawl.
"Whoever did this," She seethes with murder glistening in her eyes, "has hell to pay."
"No, no, no no n- Damnit! Work you stupid machine!"
Banging her fist on her keyboard, Levy feels anxiety bubbling in her gut with an unwelcome fizzle. Her computer was fried, phone was down and somehow the lights in the abandoned storeroom Aquarius had stashed her in had blown a fuse.
Suddenly feeling very exposed, the darkness of the windowless room no longer brought her comfort. She kept her eyes locked on the only door that leads into the room, as if staring at it would deter anyone entering the room.
After a couple of minutes with no sign of anyone, Levy grabbed her laptop and crouched low to the ground, moving slowly towards the door. Cursing their crazy teacher for telling them to go out weaponless, she wrenched the door open suddenly and with her eyes clenched, hoisted her laptop over her shoulders and slams it down with as much force as she could manage, only to let out a yelp when all she caught was air and smacked her very heavy and expensive laptop onto her knee.
Snapping her eyes open, her cheeks flushed red as she quickly looked out to the street to see if anyone had seen her and let out a sigh of relief when she spotted no one. Pretending as if that was a completely normal thing to do, she turned her nose high as she frantically scrambled to make her way down the street.
And in her frenzy, she managed to completely miss the sound of cackling laughter coming from just around the corner.
The alleyway was quiet as the two girls monitored their friend. After being sure that Juvia would in fact be fine, and the cause of her state was most likely a strike from behind, they took the brief peace as a moment to think.
Lucy hastily brushes the beginnings of tears off her eyes and rasps quietly, "What happened with Levy? And where's Wendy?"
"Someone must have tampered with the electricity. Levy's working in the field somewhere. Knowing her, she's probably following protocol and making her way to the rendezvous point to alert Aquarius of the situation. Wendy wasn't at the pick up zone, I was looking for her when we lost touch with Levy-"
"This whole thing stinks, Erza."
She sighed, but didn't disagree. "No names in the field, Lucky. We don't know-"
The sudden sound of a roof tile smashing stops Erza mid sentence, sending them both on immediate alert. Snapping their heads upwards, the sound of scrambling footsteps can be heard.
"The attacker's on the roof!" Lucy yelled in alarm, but Erza was already on the move, eyes locked on the roof as she began sprinting towards the side of the building.
"I'm going after them but comms are still down - if I'm not back here in 10 minutes go see if you can find Aquarius!" Erza shouts at her. "Lucky - stay with Rain Woman and see if you can get through to Books!"
"Right!"
Nodding at her, she snaps her head to the sky, "Get back here you coward!" Erza roared as she brandishes two daggers from seemingly thin air, "I'll make you beg for mercy!"
She leaps on top of the industrial garbage bins, and to Lucy's shock and horror, begins to scale the wall. She wants to shout at her to at least be careful , but Lucy has known Erza for long enough to know that it's pointless. Erza is already on the tiling of the roof chasing after her target.
"I thought Aquarius said no weapons?" Lucy muttered to herself. The sound of muttering snaps her focus on the more pressing matter and moves to shake Juvia on the shoulder.
"Juvia? Juvia, you need to wake up," Lucy pleads urgently with tears starting to sting her eyes. Adrenaline was running low and all Lucy wanted to do was get back to school, take a hot bath, cry and forget whatever the hell this exercise was.
"Mhmm?" came quietly from Juvia, who had opened her eyes briefly, only to shut them tight. She slurred, "Lucy? Whadayadoin? Don't we habe CO? Oh gudd why are you brunette?"
Trying to tamp down on her panic, she forces a smile, "We're currently in CO. I'm wearing a wig. We had a mission to recon Mira, remember? But you went missing only a couple minutes in. What happened, Juvia?"
"Mira…" Juvia's eyes open but are still slightly unfocused as she tries to remember, "Right… We had just split up, but Juvia saw Mira, so I ducked behind a stall in those markets. Some guy came up and told me I was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen." She had a dreamy smile on her face as the memory came back to her, but frowned suddenly, "..And I can't remember anything after that."
Alarm bells were ringing in Lucy's head at the story, and as she helped Juvia to sit up on the wall, she pressed, "What did the guy look like?"
"Oh he was the most handsome man Juvia had ever seen! Probably our age, Dark hair, dark eyes, taller than Juvia, maybe about 5'10, sexies-"
"Juvia!" Lucy scolded, horrified. "This man attacked you!"
"You don't know that!" She defended vehemently, "Juvia can't remember him being anything other than a gentleman!"
This was not going to be a battle that Lucy could win, so she sighed and looked around before responding, "Well whatever happened with him, at least we have a suspect." Juvia pursed her lips at the statement but she continued, "I bet that's the person that Erza is chasing on the rooftops."
"...Lucy. Why is Erza chasing someone on the rooftops?"
"We think your attacker was observing us from above. Erza's going on a bit of a rampage."
Juvia gave a weak smile, "Better them than us."
The insanity of the whole situation makes controlling her chuckle incredibly difficult. Juvia's face cracks into a grin at the sound and before they know it the both of them are about to pass out from lack of oxygen from how much they're giggling.
"We really shouldn't be laughing," Juvia points out as she wipes the tears off her face, "This is so not the time for laughing."
"No we shouldn't laugh, but it's probably justified." Lucy grins at her friend. Looking at her friend she asks as she purses her lips as assesses her up and down, "We do really need to get out of here though. You reckon you can stand without toppling over?"
Juvia shrugged. "No point in being sitting ducks." The two girls push themselves up together using the wall as a balance, and once they're sure that Juvia isn't at risk they make their way out of the alleyway.
As they were about to get on the street, Juvia looked back at the alley. She muses, "What kind of explosion causes an exact radius blast of 1 metre with no shrapnel? It's essentially a firework - it's like nothing we've ever studied in class before."
"I really don't know - that's more Levy's area of expertise, but I think it was meant to lead me here to find you. Like a really loud car alarm." She pointed to the bins used as a shield Erza mentioned, "Those bins weren't placed like that when I was in here before you were put in there - which means that it was intentionally placed there to protect you."
"Huh." Was all she said, tired eyes looking towards said barrier, "Weird."
Panting heavily, Erza could feel the shocks of her feet slamming heavily on the roof tiles through her whole body. The assailant in her sights kept her focused, honing on them like a missile. They had a hoodie and jeans on, but the frame was obviously male. Maybe her age? Slightly younger?
There were about two buildings between them, but she was slowly gaining on him. He was well practised in freerunning and parkour, easily leaping the gaps between them as easily as she was, but obviously lacking the knowledge of the area left him at a disadvantage.
The attack paused for a moment as they reached the end of the street and she felt triumphant at the sight. Still refusing to let her guard down, she approached with both of her blades crossed in front of her.
"Surrender now and maybe you'll see tomorrow!" She growled, but he gave no response. His back was still to her, so, growing frustrated she snapped, "Show yourself!"
"Nah." Was all she heard before the sound of clanking filled her ears. He turned suddenly and lobbed a small looking cylinder towards her. Eyes locked on the item, she tried to catch the bottle, but the heat of it made her drop it and as it hit the floor, it began to pour out smoke rapidly.
Damn it!
Her eyes shot back up, but he was gone. Covering her mouth and nose with her shirt, she moved forwards to look down from the ledge, but she couldn't see him in the hustle and bustle of the town. Cursing, she scaled down the side of the wall, the familiar burn of rusty pipes keeping her senses sharp as she scanned her surroundings.
As soon as she emerged from the alleyway someone's shoulder jabbed into her back, the force pushing her into a dizzying spin. Blinking rapidly whilst automatically moving with the crowd, she saw where she was and groaned loudly.
Before her was the busiest intersection in Magnolia, which split into 5 different routes. There was such a slim chance that she would pick the correct one the perpetrator went down, and that was if he had gone on foot.
Sighing to herself, she noted the location and checked her watch. Her eyes widened when she saw the time and she started to push through the crowds and she swiftly made her way back. Lucy and the others would be converging with the others by now - she needed to get a move on before they worried.
The feeling of someone briefly touching her hand froze her in her tracks and she tried to turn her head to see who it was but the crowd of people made it impossible to see anyone moving down the street.
Unable to look down, she rubs her fingers over what appears to be a piece of paper, eyes scanning everyone and everything around her as she tries to find a secure location to examine the paper.
Finally finding a secure location, she manoeuvres her way towards the town museum and makes her exit, stepping through the crowds of locals and tourists to hide her body behind one of the museum's pillars.
A brush pass? Right now? Erza thought. It was a highly inappropriate time for one, she thought as she unwrapped the paper, She had her phone on her, but it must have been one of the second years attempting a new-
The words stopped her in her tracks. Erza head immediately jerked to look for the messenger, but whomever had given it to her had long since disappeared. Looking down at them once more, memorising the familiar cursive, she feels a cold sweat on the back of her neck.
I know you. I'm sorry.
Suddenly feeling sick, she crumpled the paper in her hand and squashed it over her heel as she trudged forward towards her family at a hastened pace. She didn't have time for mind tricks.
She had people to protect.
The stench of sewer waste eventually managed to lead Lucy and Juvia to Wendy's location, who had unfortunately gotten caught up in a rogue stink bomb before she could meet up with Erza.
"One second everything was fine, and the next everyone in town was running from me because of the stench." Wendy sniffled slightly, and instantly soured her face at the smell of herself.
Lucy placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder, "It's ok! Not all missions are like this - in fact none of them are. Clearly someone knew about us, and what we're doing." Lucy squinted at Aquarius' form chatting nonchalantly with the other first years, who, like Wendy, had been subjected to the stink bomb. "I can't believe we're still out here after we reported everything that happened to us. It was clearly a staged and pronged attack."
The whole group had gotten to the emergency recon location of the abandoned cathedral at the end of town, only to see Aquarius impatiently tapping her foot with a furious look on her face and a sheepish Levy standing a safe 3 metres away.
Erza had been the last to arrive with her hands gripping her arms tightly and eyes drawn to the ground. Lucy had tried starting a conversation with her beforehand but she seemed to be too stuck in her own head to participate in any discussion of the events other than a bitter mention of the attacker escaping through cheap tricks.
The events of the whole mission had apparently gone terrible for all the students. Cana somehow had gotten doused in paint by a stray painter, Lisanna has slipped over some ice and gotten a concussion, and Evergreen had a sudden electricity outage from her secure position by apparently a strange animal clawing the electrical wires.
And Mira, who had apparently been completely unaware of students tailing her but thought best to be kind and ignore them had somehow gotten tased when the street lights went out for a brief second. Tased.
While it was non-lethal and Mira has merely been shocked, this whole thing was making Lucy feel like they were surrounded. It was like these attackers were playing games with them, taunting them. No one seemed to care enough that one of the attackers had used a homemade bomb, for crying out loud!
Feeling too exposed, Lucy threw her head around where they were, even though Aquarius had told them their position was secure. The chill of the wind caused Lucy to shiver, the feeling of eyes on her made the goosebumps feel razor sharp. Paranoia was a spies life line, it was your senses telling you something was wrong, but after such an eventful day she brushed off her thoughts. She just wanted this whole day to be over and get back to their secure campus.
And have a bath. Oh god a bath - she'd been thinking about one all day.
As if reading her thoughts, the yelled commands of their supervisor filled the air around them. "Alright brats, pile up! Anyone who isn't in the van in the next 30 seconds has to walk back to campus - that means no dinner. Now move it!"
The girls all huddled close together, with a gloomy atmosphere among them. No one was speaking except Levy, who was chattering with Juvia about what happened to her. The gut wrenching tug of something being wrong made it hard for Lucy to try and forget this whole thing.
"I say shots when we get back" She hears from up the front, Cana grinning at everyone from over her shoulder. Immediately Mira and Erza started breathing her and giggles started to fill the van.
Lucy grinned at them, stepping her foot onto the van as last to get on, but she heard a clatter of metal on the ground from behind her. Whipping her head backwards, she immediately looked for a threat. She stares long and hard at her dark surroundings, scanning each and every crevice. On the floor at the end of a street was a wrench, but from its weary condition it looked to be years old. Must have been laying on the ground for a while, she thought.
But as the breeze blew her hair in her face, she could have sworn she saw a splash of pink flash by in the wind.
