Sorry if Laxus is a little OOC
Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. Not me.
Chapter 4: Searching
Laxus arrived at the guild very early the next morning. The guild needed to come up with a plan on how they were going to get Juvia back. The faster they thought of a plan, the faster they can go out and look for her.
Laxus walked through the guild doors and almost immediately spotted Makarov. Laxus quickly made his way over to the old guild master.
''So? Do we have a plan old man?'' Laxus asked. Makarov nodded.
''It may not be much of a plan now, but it's all we have.''
''Well? What is it?'' Makarov sighed.
''The guild has decided that the best way to look for Juvia is by finding information first. Cana, Wabaka, Macao, and Laki are combing the streets as we speak, trying to get information on this Zander person. Alzack, Bisca, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna are scouring the Fairy Hills and the woods surrounding it to see if Juvia's kidnappers left some important clue behind. Levy and Gajeel are in the library trying to dig up information on Zander. And everyone else is on a job.'' Laxus nodded. Then an idea came to him.
''Have you checked the prison?'' he asked. Makarov shook his head.
''No.'' Laxus sighed.
''Good. My team will go there and see if we can get any information from the guards. That should help, right?'' Makarov nodded.
''Yes, that would be a great help Laxus. After all, that is where the prison break occured. Maybe the guards have some information on Zander and his people.''
''You're right. I'll get my team together now.'' Laxus was about to walk away when Makarov stopped him.
''Laxus wait.'' Laxus turned around.
''What is it old man? You know we don't have a lot of time to waste.'' Laxus said.
''I know. I just want you to take Team Natsu with you.''
''Why?''
''Because they might be of some help.'' Makarov explained. Laxus sighed.
''Fine. But they had better not slow me down.'' Laxus replied. And just as soon as he came, he was gone.
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''So, where is this prison exactly?'' Lucy asked.
The Thunder Legion, along with Team Natsu, have been making their way to the prison that Zander was held at. The Black Hole was a maximum security prison in the middle of nowhere. It housed some of the worst criminals and some of the strongest mages. The mages were kept under constant surveillance and were forced to wear magic-resistant hancuffs constantly. The only time that they were allowed to take them off was when they were eating. And even then, they were in a special room that was resistant to magic. The other inmates, the non-mages, they weren't kept on such a tight leash like the mages. But it was still prison so it's not like they were completely free. But compared to the mages, they were just like free men.
''The prison is just up this hill.'' Freed answered. And he was right. As the two teams walked over the hill, they spotted it.
''Wow. That has to be the one of the largest and scarest buildings that I have ever seen.'' Lucy whispered. And she wasn't wrong to say that.
The Black Hole was broken up into four wings. North, South, East, and West. And each wing was a good 400,000 square feet, which would mean that the whole prison was about 1,600,000 square feet. The prison was surrounded by barb wire with razors at the very tip. The place was guarded heavily. Guards were everywhere, holding guns and weapons to subdue mages.
''This place gives me the creeps.'' Happy said. Laxus glared at the flying blue cat.
''Well, if you are so scared than just go home. I don't need nuisances like you slowing me down. It's not like you'll be of much use anyway.'' Happy lowered his eyes. Natsu glared at Laxus.
''What the hell is wrong with you? Just because Juvia isn't here, it doesn't give you the right to be a dick.'' Natsu said. Laxus turned around and grabbed Natsu by his scarf.
''Shut the hell up! I don't have time for you idiots. I will find Juvia and I don't need babies like you slowing me down! And if you have a problem with the way I'm acting than just leave! I don't want or need you here.'' Laxus growled.
''Laxus, calm down-'' Freed started, but quickly shut up after Laxus turned his angry glare on him.
''Don't you dare tell me to calm down! This is not the time to be calm. Juvia is out there somewhere, being tortured by that psychopath Zander! The more time I waste standing here and doing the nothing, the more pain she is in! And I just can't let her get hurt anymore! And if that means searching for her myself, than you damn well believe that I will do it! If you guys don't want to help me find her, than go waste someone else's time!'' Laxus yelled out. Freed sighed.
''Don't be ridiculous Laxus. We all want to help you find Juvia.''
''Really? Are you really sure about that Freed?'' Laxus said condescendingly. Freed frowned.
''What are you implying Laxus? That I don't care if Juvia gets found or not?'' Laxus shrugged.
''I'm just saying that maybe you would be okay with us not finding Juvia. I mean, you two aren't exactly best friends, so why should you care if we find her?''
''How can you say that? Of course I would care if we didn't find her. Juvia and I may not be best friends but she is my guildmate and that makes her my family as well. I will do whatever I can to make sure that she gets to the guild safely. And how dare you suggest otherwise! Maybe the only reason you're acting this way is because you aren't confident that you can find her with your own abilities.'' Freed stated. Laxus glowered at him.
''What did you just say?'' Freed snorted.
''You heard me, or are you so blinded by your anger that you can't hear properly?'' Freed remarked rudely. Laxus sneered at him.
''You had better watch what you say Freed. Or else things might get physical and I know that you don't want to get hurt.'' Laxus snarled, lightning flowing through his body.
''If that is true than I won't be the only one getting hurt.'' Freed replied and started to pull out his sword.
''Enough!'' Evergreen shouted. The two men stopped to look at her. She glared at them.
''Can you two shut the fuck up! We don't have time for you guys to be acting all macho and shit! Juvia is out there somewhere, alone and hurt, and here you two are, fighting over absolutely nothing! We should be spending our energy on finding her, not fighting each other! Now, can you two grow the fuck up and stop acting like a bunch of babies so we can do what we came here to do! Or is that too much for you to handle?'' Evergreen yelled. Everyone looked at her. They had never seen her get so worked up before.
Laxus and Freed looked at each other before nodding.
''Evergreen is right. We shouldn't be wasting our energy on fighting. We came here to find information and we need to focus on that.'' Freed said.
''Hmpf. I guess you're right.'' Laxus agreed. Evergreen smiled.
''Good. Now that that is settled, let's get to work.''
The group of mages went on to the prison with no more interruptions. When they reached the prison gates, a guard stopped them.
''Who are you and what do you want?'' he asked them. Laxus stepped forward.
''We're mages from Fairy Tail. We want to know what happened on the day of the prison break.'' he explained to the guard. The guard nodded.
''Follow me.'' he told them. He led them through the courtyard of the West Wing where some of the prisoners were walking around.
''Hey! Get back to your cells!'' The guard yelled at them. He continued to lead them through the West Wing and into the East Wing where the breakout occured. He stopped in front of the East Wing courtyard where several people were seen cleaning up debris.
''Here we are. This is where the breakout happened. And as you can see, we are still cleaning up.'' The guard said. Laxus nodded.
''Yeah, thanks.'' Laxus and the everyone else made their way through the courtyard.
The place was a complete wreck. Debris from the building was falling down. The ground was distorted. Dirt and mud was everywhere. There were scorch marks everywhere and there was a giant hole in the barb wire fence. When Laxus got a better look at it, he noticed that the hole in the fence was molten. Which could only mean that someone burned a hole through that fence. Laxus spotted a guard picking up the fallen bricks.
''Hey, let's go ask him if he knows anything.'' Laxus said and gestured for the group to follow him. The guard looked up when he saw them approach.
''Can I help you?'' he asked. Laxus nodded.
''Yes, you can. Do you mind telling us what happened here?'' Laxus asked. The guard sighed.
''It was terrible. One minute, we were doing our job making sure that the prisoners didn't cause any trouble, and in the next minute, we were being attacked. A girl came out of nowhere and started shooting fire at us''
''Fire? Is she a fire mage?'' Natsu interrupted excitedly. He liked the idea of fighting someone that fought with the same element as him. The guard shook his head.
''No, I don't think she was a fire mage. Because after she used the fire, vines started to come out from under the ground. The vines wrapped around us and trapped us. We couldn't do anything as the prisoners escaped. We were forced to just sit there and watch. It was aweful. I never felt so helpless in my entire life.''
''About how many prisoners do you think escaped?'' Erza questioned. The guard shrugged.
''I don't know. I'd say about a fourth of the prisoners from the East Wing escaped. Not a lot, considering the size of this place, but an escaped prisoner is still an escaped prisoner. It doesn't matter how many escaped. One is still too many. When a prisoner escapes, it makes us guards feel like we failed. Now we have let some of the most wanted criminals in the country escape. We have endangered hundreds of lives by letting them escape.'' The guard muttered, his hands clenched at his sides.
''It wasn't your fault. You had no way of defending yourself.'' Erza said, hoping that she sounded comforting. The guard shook his head.
''But I still feel like I failed. Anyways, that's all that I can tell you. Sorry.''
''Really? You can't remember anything else?'' Laxus asked. The guard shook his head.
''No. I'm really sorry. I wish that I give you more information but I can't. Things just happened so fast and I can hardly remember.'' The guard looked at them with sympathetic eyes.
''I'm terribly sorry, but I have to get back to work.'' Laxus nodded.
''Alright. We understand. Thank you for your help. We really appreciate it.'' The guard nodded and went back to work.
After talking with the guard, the Thunder Legion and Team Natsu left the prison and headed back to the guild. Laxus sighed.
''I wish that that guy had more information. Than maybe we might know a little more about what we're getting into.''
''Well at least he had information to give. Now, we have to go back to the guild and hope that the others had better luck than we did.'' Freed said.
Laxus nodded and together they made their way back to the guild.
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Laxus and everyone else made it back to the guild in about an hour or so. When they walked through the guild doors, Makarov was standing by the doors, waiting for them.
''Did you guys find any information?'' Laxus asked. Makarov nodded.
''Yes. Gajeel and Levy found some information in the library on Zander's associate, Yukkia. Unfortunately, they couldn't find any information on Zander.''
''That's fine with me. Any information is good information at this point.'' Laxu said. Makarov nodded.
''Alright Levy, you can start now.'' Levy nodded and turned to face the guild.
''So, what Gajeel and I found in the library is that Yukkia has been working with Zander for a while now. When she heard that he was arrested, she tried to break him out. She recruited some people for her cause.''
''But, why would she even want to help this guy?'' Gray asked.
''Yukkia's parents were murdered right in front of her eyes. Zander found her and promised to help her get revenge on the people that did it. She has been following him ever since.''
''Do you know how many people she recruited?'' Cana called out. Levy nodded.
''We found only one person that she managed to recruit. His name is Clay and his magic is simular to Freed's. But from what we know, he can only set up rune barriers. Besides him, we couldn't find anyone else that she recruited.''
''Do you know what magic Yukkia uses? The guard from the prison told us that she shot fire at them and made vines sprout from the ground.'' Freed said. Levy nodded.
''Yeah, it turns out that she uses solid script magic. She also uses a type of dark magic called Shadow Memories. But we didn't find any information on what it does. We can only assume that it affects a person's memories.''
''Did you find anything else?'' Lucy asked. Levy shook her head.
''No. That's all we found.''
''Well, at least it's better than what we got.'' Cana said. Laxus turned to her.
''What did you guys find out?'' he asked. She shrugged.
''Nothing much. The townspeople didn't even know who this Zander guy was. That was a complete dead end.'' Cana snorted and took a sip of her beer. Lisanna stepped up.
''Well, our group found this syringe in Juvia's apartment. Maybe Zander injected her with something?'' Lisanna said uncertainly.
''We also found this.'' Elfman said, handing Makarov a ripped piece of paper. Makarov took it and examined it.
''This is a job request. Juvia must have dropped it when she was kidnapped.'' Makrov looked at his children.
''We'll come back tomorrow and regroup. With this new information, we can finally start searching for Juvia. Everyone go home for now. I'll see you all tomorrow.'' Everyone nodded and left.
With one last sigh, Laxus left as well.
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