Three days later and not much had changed, except for the two new bodies that now lay beside the first one and a large pile of files from numerous different coroners. All of which depicted how the original sixty-seven bodies had died, and hopefully they were all truthful. Lucy was cautious about believing that they were all one hundred percent correct, she knew that autopsies of those who society didn't like could easily have details that had been overlooked unless the coroner was unbiased in their examination.
The two latest corpses brought the total toll up to seventy total bodies. Each of the new victims had died differently though neither of them had been as well thought out as the first body she had examined. The one body they had been sent to examine the day they had told their bosses of their findings had been stabbed multiple times, six to be exact, and had died due to blood loss.
The second body that had only been found the day before had died of a punctured lung from a bullet. Not much else could be said about the bodies other than they had the Tartaros tattoo but that didn't stop her from cleaning the bones so he had their skeletons, she had always found bones much easier to work with. The autopsy reports didn't help much either. She had spent a good chunk of her day yesterday sorting them all out. Putting the ones that were similar together until she had about thirty different piles, it seemed that if it the deaths had something to do with the turmoil going on in the group than it wasn't just a few people doing the killings. It was like the entire gang was in a full out war against one another, disposing the bodies throughout the town, maybe in hopes no one would be able to figure out that the deaths weren't sporadic.
Natsu and her had been communicating mainly through texts and phone calls, though Natsu had managed to convince her to eat with him once a day so they could share any information they had found. She was only able to report on the little she had found from the bodies, all three of the bodies seemed to have similar remodeling's, extensive remodeling on their phalanges and they all had the Tartarus tattoo. Other than their deaths, not much set them apart once she got down to the bones.
Natsu hadn't seemed to have much luck either. He didn't dig up much on the other two gang members, they both had misdemeanors on their record and both had been in jail for at least a year at some point. But other than that the only thing that connected them was the tattoo. Natsu seemed to be getting antsy, he wanted to find something ground breaking in the case or at least something that moved it further instead of keeping it at the stand still it was in currently.
He had texted her earlier that he was meeting up with someone to talk about Tartarus and see if he could get any information on their leader. Though he added that at this point he'd be happy getting anything to do with Tartarus that they didn't know.
Lucy had decided that she was going to piece this all together and figure out how all of these different deaths fit together, like pieces of a puzzle. Sometimes bones talked just as much as a person.
/
Natsu hadn't been able to find much on Tartarus, the FBI database and the internet could only tell him so much. From what he had been able to scrounge up, Tartarus had only emerged about seven years ago, or at least that was when they entered the law's vision.
They were filed as a large drug ring that sold drugs not only in Magnolia, but also having connections in other cities where they shipped out the drugs they made and got a profit back from those who sold them. They were mainly only seen as a drug ring, not that it was better than being a full out crime gang, but occasionally they had claimed responsibility to some gruesome murders.
They had claimed responsibility for the Sabertooth Pharmaceuticals Massacre, fifteen scientists that worked in the labs were brutally killed and in addition a large amount of the chemicals they were working with were stolen, and the murder of the mayor a few years back. Their record still held many gruesome killings they claimed were their work. Some didn't believe that Tartarus had done it, but that they were claiming responsibility to get some street cred.
Natsu wasn't too sure though. It seemed like they were strong enough to do these things, especially with everything that had been happening recently. But Natsu wasn't getting anywhere just sitting at his desk looking up information. He needed to get out into the field or at least meet up with someone, and he had an idea who.
Taking out his phone he dialed a number he had never thought he'd actually call. As he waited for them to pick up he wasn't too sure if they'd actually pick up. The two of them had never really seemed to see eye to eye, but now was a good time as ever to get over their differences.
He heard the call being accepted before a gruff voice said "Hello, who the hell is this?"
"You can drop the tough guy act for a few minutes" Natsu said as he tried to figure out how to convince the guy to actually meet up with hm.
"Natsu?" The man asked "Why the hell are ya even callin' me? I don't remember ever giving ya my number."
"Since you are a police officer who is currently in the middle of an investigation, it wasn't too hard to get your undercover phone number from Gildarts" Natsu answered.
"What did ya bribe 'im with?"
"Why on earth would think I'd need to bribe your boss to get my best friend's phone number?" Natsu asked, feigning hurt "I thought you knew me better than that."
"Oh shut up Natsu."
"I bribed him with getting him a six month subscription to that stupid pervy magazine he likes" Natsu admitted, it wasn't too hard to bribe Gildarts if you knew what he liked.
"Geez, it took that much to get him to give ya my number?" he asked, amusement in his voice "Has his prices gone up that much since I've been gone?"
"It's has been three years Gajeel" Natsu said as he leaned back in his chair.
"So I take it ya didn't just miss yer best friend" Gajeel said "So what do ya want?"
"I want to meet up with you to discuss some stuff" Natsu said.
"Wow, ya got to the point for once" Gajeel said, surprise in his voice "It must be important."
"It is, I don't want to tell you exactly what I need to talk to you about on the phone, where can we meet up?" Natsu asked.
"I guess we can meet up down at the docks, warehouse seven" Gajeel said as Natsu wrote it done.
"Okay then, see you in few" Natsu said as Gajeel gave a gruff noise of agreement before he hung up. Looked like he was going down to where one of the murders had taken place, maybe he should even use this as an opportunity to look around for anything, not that there'd be anything left behind most likely.
So Natsu headed out towards the docks, as it was so lovingly dubbed; in reality it was actually known as Hargeon Port, to meet up with Gajeel Redfox. Gajeel was a cop who, for the past three years, had been working undercover in the crime gang Phantom Lord which was actually another one of the Spriggan 12's many branches.
They were nothing too big, but over the past few years it had been gaining ground in Magnolia, causing the police to take some kind of action. But even when it seemed they had the leader, Jose, in custody for good he would somehow be bailed out either by politicians saying he was their financial manager or by a police officer who would normally spout out some code that would magically get him out of trouble.
So they had decided the best way to take it down was by sending in someone who could infiltrate the operation successfully and get close enough to Jose to gain his trust before gathering enough evidence to take him down. Gajeel had been the one chosen for the job for many reasons, as Gildarts had put it; Natsu sometimes wondered if it was because he already looked the part well enough.
"Speaking of the devil" Natsu thought as he walked towards warehouse seven, seeing a very pissed off man standing beside it.
"Dragneel" Gajeel practically growled when he saw the other man "What the hell did ya drag me out here for?"
"Well Redfox, like I told you over the phone, I need to discuss some sensitive material with you" Natsu said as he leaned against the wall of the warehouse, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"I know, but still, ya obviously look like ya with the FED's, decked out in that suit" Gajeel said with a huff as he followed Natsu in suit, leaning up against the wall "Ya know it was already risky enough for me to meet with ya, one slip up and I'm done. Everythin' I've worked so hard for these past three years are thrown out the window."
"I know Gajeel" Natsu said "But what I need to talk to you about is important."
"Even more important than taking down some gang thinkin' it's all high and mighty?" Gajeel asked, sarcasm already edging its way into his voice.
"Considering I'm here looking for information on a gang myself, I think we're about equal" Natsu said.
Gajeel was quiet for a minute after that but he soon asked "What gang are ya dealing with? Hopefully not Phantom Lord, I'm almost ready to begin my final stage in my infiltration and I don't need some federal agent coming in and messin' it all up."
"It's not about Phantom Lord, but it is about one of the Spriggan 12's branches" Natsu said "So you don't need to worry about me messing up that nice little promotion you'll be getting when you complete this."
"Hey I need that to take my girl out, three years of only talking on the phone and meetin' for about five minutes once a year, she deserves somethin' nice after not just breaking up with my ass" Gajeel said, his usual gruffness fading when he talked about "his girl."
Natsu had never met this said girl, nor could he remember what her name was. All he knew that she managed to keep Gajeel straight so he figured she must be some sort miracle worker or a very scary ex-military officer. "Uh huh" Natsu said "Anyway, the gang I'm dealing with his Tartaros."
Gajeel whistled. "Ya got yourself a real big one there" he said "They're pretty tough based on everything I've been told. I tell ya what; Jose is scared out of his mind of those guys even scared of their minor thugs. Won't let us get start fights with them, let alone get near 'em."
"So you'd say that they're pretty strong then?" Natsu asked.
"I guess" Gajeel said with a shrug "I mean they are pretty high up there in the whole system. Phantom Lord is considered one of the weakest so Jose is trying to make sure that we act on our best behavior, or at least as good as we can be as gang members, so we stay in Zeref's good graces."
"Pretty hard to get into those I guess" Natsu said under his breathe.
"And once you're in it's pretty hard to get out, huh?" Gajeel asked, glancing over at Natsu he waited for his response.
"I thought we promised our dads that we wouldn't act so childish to each other" Natsu said, putting on his best fake smile.
"I'm just sayin' that if anyone had the upper hand in these cases it be ya" Gajeel said with a sigh "Ya probably know more about all these gangs than anyone you ask."
"I don't know what you mean" Natsu said, glaring at him to change the topic back to the matter at hand.
"Fine" Gajeel said, rolling his eyes "Ya can't pretend forever, eventually it'll all catch up to ya."
"I'm beginning to think having two people know about my past might be two, too many" Natsu grumbled before asking Gajeel "So do you know anything about Tartarus?"
"Well yeah" Gajeel said with a shrug "I know about the same amount of stuff about them as any outsider to the gang has."
"So does that mean you know nothing?" Natsu asked, he hoped that this was just Gajeel being Gajeel but….
"Well I know as much as any gang member would know about them" Gajeel said, clarifying what he had said earlier "I forget sometimes that I'm not actually talking to another member."
"I see" Natsu said "I hope you don't forget that you're a cop too, it might end badly if you end up becoming an actual gang member."
"Ha ha ha" Gajeel said, his tone deflating with each laugh "Wouldn't that be a news story."
"I can see the headline now" Natsu said as he stuck his hand out, emphasizing each word "Local Police Officer Forgets His Job While He Is Undercover; Becomes Part of a Local Gang."
"Didn't ya have something important and urgent to talk to me about?" Gajeel asked "I don't have all day."
"I see you can dish it but not take it" Natsu said as Gajeel punched him in the arm, probably not jokingly.
"Anyway, Tartaros" Gajeel said changing the topic back to the original one "So besides the fact that Phantom Lord has been pretty much trained to be scared shitless of them, there's a lot. They're pretty vicious, once when I was walking the streets one of 'em tried to start with me. Just walked up to me and got in my face, asking me why I was giving him a funny look. He didn't like it when I told him it was because his oddly shaped head was distracting me."
"Listen" Natsu said as he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose "I didn't meet up with you to hear about the many interesting stories I'm sure you've accumulated these past three years."
"Okay fine spoil sport" Gajeel huffed "I do know they've been losin' a lot of members recently. Jose keeps talkin' about it and how if this keeps up we may have the chance to rise up in the rank" Gajeel rolled his eyes at this before continuing "Word on the street is that they're in the middle of a war."
"With who?" Natsu asked, though he had a good idea he knew the answer.
Gajeel shrugged "Not too sure, lots of rumors of who it may be though. Some say it's another Spriggan 12 gang, some say it's a gang that isn't from around here and some say it's the gang itself that's waging a war against itself. But I really don't know shit about what the truth is."
"I'm pretty sure it's a war inside the gang" Natsu said as he tapped his foot. He wasn't getting too much from Gajeel at the moment but he figured with a little more waiting he would get something.
"Really?" Gajeel asked as he raised his brow "How do ya know?"
"The only dead gang members I've been finding in the past six months are Tartaros" Natsu said.
"Well" Gajeel said "That ain't good at all now is it. A gang waging a war against itself, there is no way this could end well."
"Trust me" Natsu said "I have my worries too."
"Anyway" Gajeel said "There leader goes by the name Marde in the circles he messes with, not many people know his name though. Before you ask, no I don't know his real name. All I know is that he is one egocentric bastard who is obsessed with Zeref and follows any orders he is given. He's like a well-trained dog, and let me tell you Tartaros' bite is much worse than their bark."
"So I shouldn't take them lightly" Natsu said "I kinda figured that from the beginning."
"They're a lot worse than ya think, hell a normal drug ring is like a church compared Tartaros" Gajeel said "I don't know much else about them but I do know about one of their members. The guy is like Marde's right hand man, goes by the name Jackal. He had a bad temper from what I hear and an even worse fashion sense."
"Good to know" Natsu mumbled.
"Listen, knowin' if someone wears fur coats all the time should really effect how ya see them" Gajeel said "Anyway, ya should be careful and before ya can tell me how everyone else has been tellin' ya that, just know that I've learned how these guys can act. I don't want to read in the paper about how an FBI agent died while pursuing a drug ring. That's not how ya should go."
"How should I go than?" Natsu asked, amusement creeping its way back into his voice.
"In a blaze of fire and glory" Gajeel said with a chuckle.
"Is this your way of saying I should have been a firefighter?" Natsu asked.
"Maybe, I always saw ya as the type. You're a bit of a pyromaniac, I think ya set all ya food on fire on purpose" Gajeel said as he uncrossed his arms and stuck his hand in one of his pockets.
"I'm just accident prone" Natsu said as he watched Gajeel pull a pack of cigarettes out from his pocket "Please tell me you haven't started using those cancer sticks."
"Sorry man" Gajeel said as he took one out of the crinkled package "I only smoke like two a day."
"What packs?"
"Listen" Gajeel said as he put it between his lips "When my girlfriend finds out she's going to make sure I quit so until than I will smoke the cancer sticks I have become addicted to."
"Fine" Natsu said with a huff "But this means you'll probably be going due to lung cancer."
"Say all ya want" Gajeel said as he pulled out a lighter "But I'm sure you've made worse choices."
"I…won't argue there" Natsu said "Anyway, I'm going to head back. Try not to get yourself killed, alright?"
"No promises" Gajeel said "But I'll try my damnest to stay alive."
"Good to know" Natsu said before he turned around and headed back to the car. He had been looking around the docks and from what he could tell; there was too much fish blood on the docks to actually tell if any was human. So he headed back without even bothering to look for anything, plus it was getting late and he didn't want to be caught at the docks past dusk. His new goal is to figure out who these two members were, and where he can find them, so his best bet was heading back to base.