Levy took Gajeel's arm as he led her towards their target. She had expected to be nervous, but she wasn't. There was a warm sense of calm that filled her as she held Gajeel's arm.
Levy had never met Minerva before, even though she had worked there for six months. Levy had spent that time pouring herself into her work, building the infrastructure of Saber Tooth's in-house security and developing their protocols for their client's systems. And yet she had never been deemed worthy enough to meet the woman in charge.
Minerva was tall, very tall. Half her hair was swept up in two knots on either side of her head, the rest fell loosely down past her shoulders. A long violet dress with straight lines and sharp edges made her look as formidable as she was beautiful.
"Gajeel," Minerva greeted them as they approached. "I'm glad you're here. I wanted to introduce you to someone-"
"Mard Geer," Gajeel said without waiting. His red eyes looked coolly disinterested.
The man to Levy's right gave a subtle, calculated smile. Jet black hair framed his face and fell into his eyes while the rest was pulled tight at the crown of his head.
"Gajeel Redfox," Gajeel stated, introducing himself and holding out his hand. Mard Geer took it firmly, looking intently into Gajeel's eyes.
"You remember me?" Mard Geer gave a small chuckle. "I have to admit I am surprised. You always seemed so tucked away in the shadows at Ivan's, so disinterested in the goings on of Ivan's business."
"I wasn't being paid to be interested in Ivan's business," Gajeel replied. "But that doesn't mean I didn't pay attention."
"Hmm," Mard Geer hummed in acknowledgment. "And who do we have here?" His gaze fell on Levy. Something about the way he looked at her made her skin crawl. Instinctually she held Gajeel's arm just a little bit tighter.
"This is Levy, my girlfriend," Gajeel said pointedly. "I actually came over to introduce her to Minerva."
"Levy McGarden," Minerva sang, "there is no introduction needed for such a legendary former member of our team."
Levy felt herself turn red at the compliment. She had no idea Minerva would even know who she was. In fact, it would be better if she didn't. The more she was recognized the more difficult it would become to keep a low profile.
"It's an honor to meet you, m'lady," Levy greeted using the woman's preferred title.
"Gajeel I'm glad you're here," Minerva's eyes turned back to the tall man. "I was just talking about you."
"Nothing too bad, I hope?" Gajeel cackled.
Minerva gave a cold laugh. "No, just the right amount I'd say." Then she glanced at Levy with a blank stare, waiting to say more.
Gajeel turned to Levy and squeezed her hand slightly, "Why don't you go get me a drink," he said lowly.
Levy knew when to take a hint.
She turned on her heel and moved towards the bar. Moving her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear she turned on her earpiece so she could hear Gajeel's conversation.
"Mard Geer has been working with me on that project I mentioned before."
"Yes," the other man added, "Minerva thinks you'll fit the position quite well, and I'd have to agree. I've heard a lot about you."
"Oh yeah?" Gajeel half chuckled. "Who have you been talking to?"
"Let's just say I also know who to pay attention to."
Levy glanced over her shoulder as she leaned into the bar. She could see a sly half-smile across Mard Geer's face.
Looking forward she greeted the bartender and said she needed a minute to decide. She needed to give Gajeel as much time with them as possible.
"So what kind of work is it you plan to have me doing?" Levy heard Gajeel's voice in her ear.
"The Tartaros Family has a product they wish to distribute. We've been developing a way for them to do so. But we need someone to help run the show, so to speak. I can't be everywhere at once, obviously, so I need someone who can deal with our distributors. Manage them. Put out fires. Keep them in line."
"Sounds fun," Gajeel said lowly. "When do we start?"
Levy ordered two drinks and glanced back at the group again. Minerva had a cold smile.
"Now," Minerva said flatly.
If Gajeel had been caught off guard he certainly didn't show it. Levy on the other hand nearly dropped the drink the bartender handed her.
"Minerva," Mard Geer said lowly, "Why don't we speak in private with Mr. Redfox."
Levy moved her glass to her mouth and whispered into the mic connected to her bracelet, "We need to go on that tour Gajeel."
She listened as Gajeel snickered, "Sounds fine to me. Levy wanted to go on one of those tours they were giving, but I'm sure she'll be fine on her own. Business is more important, right?"
Levy grimaced, gripping hard to the stem of her wine glass.
She couldn't really protest Gajeel attending a valuable meeting. But could she really do the work she needed to do all on her own?
"Wonderful," Minerva chanted. "This way," she said as Levy saw her guiding the men away.
"Fine," Levy whispered, "But be careful, Gajeel."
She knew he wouldn't be able to respond. But at least she could keep tabs on him with the earpiece.
A sharp ring sounded in her ear, making her jump. She looked at Gajeel who had swept past a security door.
"Gajeel?" She whispered, barely moving her mouth.
There was no sound through the radio. The signal had been killed as soon as he'd passed out of the room.
Crap, Levy thought to herself. She would truly be on her own this time.
Levy walked slowly at the back of a small group of people as they were led through an immense open room housing desks and high tech computer equipment.
A tour guide at the front of the pack described the function of each department as they moved through the facility, making sure to highlight all the things that made Saber Tooth superior to their competition.
At the end of the room the group turned down a hallway that would take them back to the conference room. This would be Levy's last shot to escape the group. She took a deep breath trying to settle her nerves.
She stopped before turning the corner, pretending to admire a plaque on the wall. She waited until the footprints became a distant thud on the pristine marble floor before peering carefully around the corner.
The group turned down another distant hallway and disappeared.
Quickly Levy slipped off her noisy heels and held them in one hand as she made her way in the opposite direction. The floor was cold under her feet, but she barely noticed, distracted instead by the sound of her heart beating in her ears.
Making her way through the unlit corridors, it wasn't long until she arrived at Yukino's office.
Levy swiped the girl's security badge and the heavy bolts of the lock released.
That was too easy, Levy thought to herself.
But the real work would be getting into the computers.
First step, Yukino's password.
Levy pulled a device from her purse and plugged it into the back of the computer tower perched under the desk. With a few clicks on its number pad, the small screen began flashing lines of letters and numbers in bright green lights. The device would continue running until it cracked Yukino's password, but it could take a moment.
Returning to her purse, Levy retrieved a small thumb drive and installed it in an open USB port.
She tapped her fingers on the desk as she watched the green numbers flash in an array so quick they were almost illegible.
Levy couldn't stop thinking about Gajeel.
What was it Minerva and Mard Geer wanted to talk to him about? Obviously it was about whatever business they wanted Gajeel to be a part of. But what did they have planned for him? Whatever it was, Gajeel was exactly where he needed to be.
She glanced through the blinds of Yukino's window and out into the hallway, sure some armed security guard would walk around the corner any second now and it would all be over.
Finally the flashing green lights stopped, the password worked.
Immediately Levy dove into her work.
First she tracked back the IP address for the computer where the dealing on the dark web was done. Then she checked the other computers in that department to look for similar activates.
Levy looked wide eyed at her screen.
Each of the twenty two employees in that area had been making contacts through the dark web. Levy checked the department name, the "Social Activities" department. The whole thing must have been a cover for moving the drugs.
Levy went into the server and pulled out all the inter-office communications and uploaded them to her thumb drive. There was no way she could review all that data right now, it would take days, so she'd have to take it with her. Then she tediously went through and began adding their activity logs.
Finally she tried to access Minerva's computer.
"Access Denied", the words flashed in red across the screen.
Levy entered a long line of code and tried again.
"Access Denied".
Her pulse began to race as she made multiple attempts to get into Minerva's files, to no avail.
A distant noise made her jump, her heart rising to her throat.
In a flash she switched off the computer, dimmed the monitors, and loaded her gear back into her bag. She stepped into her shoes and just as she stood up the office door swung open.
Rogue stood in the open doorway, his red eyes hooded, his expression grim.
Levy looked up at him in a panic. She clutched her purse tightly.
"Rogue, I-"
"Come with me," he said lowly, an unreadable expression on his face.
Levy's stomach sank. She felt nauseous. Without arguing she stepped out of the room with Rogue. He guided her back down the hallway, keeping an aggressively tight hold of her arm.
To Levy's surprise and utter relief he led her all the way back to the conference room.
"Try not to look so frightened," he said quietly near her ear, "you're supposed to be having fun."
Levy plastered a half-hearted smile on her face as Rogue moved them into a quiet corner of the room.
"I already told my brother once tonight I didn't want to be involved with whatever plot the two of you were hatching," he sneered under his breath. "Apparently you were the one I should have been talking to."
"Rogue," Levy started, but he cut her off.
"What were you doing in Yukino's office?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Levy shot back, at a loss for how to talk her way out of this mess.
Rogue narrowed his eyes. "You left with a tour group- they came back, you didn't. I saw you talking to Yukino earlier, so I took a guess where you might be. Now, why were you there?"
"I..." she started, grasping for words that wouldn't come.
"You were spying for Fairy Tail, weren't you?" Rogue restrained himself from yelling, fury boiling in his eyes. "Fairy Tail is threatened by us and they thought they could send you here to check out our system."
"Maybe," Levy said evasively. It was a good excuse. She could work with that. "But you don't have any proof of that."
Rogue, still holding her arm, tightened his grip.
"One word from me and both you and Gajeel will be out on your asses. I swear I'm gunna kill that son of a bitch the next time I see him."
"Gajeel isn't involved," Levy said quickly, "It's just me."
Rogue laughed coldly. "If you're going to have to lie you better learn to do it better. Besides, I know my brother."
"Maybe you don't," Levy returned defensively.
Rogue glared at her. "I don't know what Gajeel did to cast this spell on you, but you're blind if you think he's anything other than a cold, heartless, prick. When I tell Minerva about this-"
"No please!" Levy said quickly. "You can't, Gajeel can't lose this job, I swear he wasn't involved."
With sharp eyes Rogue scanned her to see if she was lying.
"I don't believe you," he said flatly. "There's something you're still not telling me."
Levy struggled to find something to say.
"What's going on here?" Gajeel's deep gravel voice broke through from behind them. Levy turned to him feeling as anxious as she was relieved to see him. Gajeel glanced down at Rogue's grip on her arm.
"Let her go," he said in a deathly low voice that even made Levy shudder.
Rogue released his grip and turned on Gajeel.
"I told you I didn't want to be involved," his whole body shook with the effort to restrain himself. He looked like he wanted to strangle his older brother.
"If I ever see her here again I'll throw you both out," he continued. Then he turned to Levy. "I won't say anything, for now, but tell your boyfriend he better watch his step."
Rogue stormed away leaving Levy in a startled daze. She could still feel her heart pounding.
"Come on," Gajeel's calm voice said quietly as he slipped his arm around her waist, "let's get out of here."
Levy followed him mutely all the way out of the building to the car. He held the door open for her as she slipped inside.
Once in the safe confines of the vehicle Levy threw her hands to her face and began to cry. She wasn't sure why she was crying, some of it felt like relief, the rest felt attached to the fear she'd been holding back all night.
Gajeel was silent as he got into the car beside her. He said nothing as she wept, simply turning the engine on and pulling away into traffic. After a moment he rested a gentle hand on her knee.
His touch was instantly soothing. After a few more tears she reached out and wrapped her fingers around his.
She didn't ask where they were going- she didn't care at the moment. Leaning her head back against the headrest she let her eyes fall shut as she listened to the slowing sound of her heartbeat. She was safe now, she knew, as she felt Gajeel's fingers entwine with her own.
