Natsu wasn't exactly sure how to start his search for Marde and Jackal but he figured the best way to go about it was the internet. As he stared at the screen he wondered what exactly he should even be searching for. His top priority was finding out who the leader was, who Marde really was.
He figured that since Marde didn't let many people know his name that maybe his fake name was a hint to his real name. Like a middle name or initials or something. He hesitated before he began typing, but when he did he typed in Marde as well as Magnolia in hopes that maybe it would match up with someone in the town. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he had heard that name before and that he should know it.
Marde brought up two hits. One was a man named Jeffery Marde who had been dead for about twenty years, and another man named Marde Geer who was currently very much alive. Natsu wasn't sure that this could actually be the person they were looking for; maybe this person was a relative of the first guy. But after looking through family records he found the man had no surviving family members.
There was no way though that a leader of a drug ring would use his real name while running it. Gajeel had said he was egocentric but that didn't mean he would be arrogant enough to believe that he could use his real name without being caught.
Natsu still pulled up the file on Marde Geer only to feel his stomach drop. Now it was looking a bit more likely that if this was the man he was looking for, he could easily use his name without getting caught. Marde Geer was a local politician, and not some random one who people only voted for because they could remember his name. He was running for mayor, practically unopposed with large amounts of public support.
He clicked over to another tab and typed in the man's name and began to look at the first few sites that had popped up. He had about three blogs that were mainly dedicated to him, apparently the community loved him. A woman on one talked about how thanks to local legislation that Marde not only drafted but made sure passed, saved her daughter's life. How Marde did this he still wasn't sure, but every post on her blog thanked Marde for every day she had with her daughter.
Another just talked about how he was apparently a stellar politician who would save them all from the horrible depths of the money driven democracy and talked about him like he was the next messiah or something. The final one was filled of pictures of Marde doing charitable work, Marde helping build homes, Madre volunteering at a local shelter, many of him serving food to the homeless and him visiting hospitals.
Natsu also manages to learn that Marde had been in office for about ten years and donated most of his money to local charities. Apparently he didn't have any close family and he claimed it was so he could devote all his time to the people. Honestly he seemed like he was a picture perfect figure of society which for some reason made Natsu even more suspicious of the man. He wasn't going to jump to conclusions but he was planning on looking into Marde a little more; maybe even call him in for an interview about the numerous gangs that plagued Magnolia.
He decided to set aside the search for Marde and instead turn towards how he should find Jackal. He knew he couldn't just type that in online, he would just find himself learning about a wild dog. There was a chance though that he would find himself a lead on the database though. Criminals were sometimes given nicknames, and maybe this was just a guy who decided that the best way to stick their middle finger up to the law was to go by the nickname they had given him.
So Natsu switched his search from good ol' google to the FBI database. Typing in Jackal he waited anxiously for any kind of results, anything that might help him out and for once the world decided to listen to his request.
Up popped a report about a bomber that had terrified the city of Magnolia for a good six months. In those six months he had set off approximately seven homemade bombs in various public places. Even after he had disappeared citizens had still been hesitant that he would pop up, or blow up, again. The key word in the entire file was the word disappears. One day the attacks suddenly stopped. The signature letters that had been arriving at the police station, telling the police where he was going to set off his next bomb and always including a stamp that had a jackal on it, stopped coming.
He had just disappeared off the face of the earth as quickly as he had shown off, and as if icing on a cake, he had been dubbed Jackal.
It could be only a coincidence; maybe this guy just really appreciated jackals or something. But that was no reason for Natsu to not believe that he might have a connection. While it wouldn't help much since there was no name for this man there had been suspects which could be helpful and probably a good start for locating Jackal.
He mentally reminded himself to call Gildarts about it later, according to the file he had been on the police unit that had worked with the FBI on the case. He'd also have to get permission to get the full file, every piece of information and everyone that had been a suspect. It was a start but Natsu had found possible leads for both of them.
Running his fingers through his hair, he decided that he should maybe skip corralling Lucy into eating out with him tonight. He really needed some sleep and when he ate with Lucy he ended up talking with her more than he had planned. He had trouble keeping track of time when he was with her; she was easy to talk to, he felt strangely comfortable around her. This kind of scared him though, to feel that kind of closeness with someone after knowing them for less than a week. He figured it was best not to get attached to someone he would only spend time with for the span of one case, it was hard enough for him to keep up relationships with his coworkers, he didn't want to think of how hard it would be with someone he didn't work with.
Taking his phone out from his pocket he considered calling Lucy to talk to her about what he had found or if he should go down to the lab. He had actually gotten more comfortable being there since the first time; he wasn't as stiff there and didn't look down at his phone to avoid conversation with people who were not Lucy. He still didn't talk to anyone, except maybe Levy but normally he only nodded at her in greeting, but he at least knew his way around the place.
He figured he could pop in and see how Lucy and the bones were doing when his phone began to ring. He looked at the number and saw it was an unknown number. His finger hesitated over the answer button but he finally accepted the call. Putting the phone next to his ear he answered "Hello."
"Hello Natsu, it's Jellal" Jellal said, the background noise muffling his voice.
"Jellal" Natsu said, genuinely surprised that he was actually the one calling him "What are you calling for?"
"I found some more information on Tartaros for you" Jellal said as Natsu swore he heard what sounded like breaking glass in the background.
"Really, thanks man" Natsu said.
"I overheard it from someone who's a part of it actually" Jellal said "And all I can say is that Tartaros is in bad shape right now."
"So they are in a war right now?" Natsu asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Yep and just like you thought it's against each other" Jellal said, an audible sigh coming from him "It never ends well when a gang fights amongst itself."
"Do you know why this is going on?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah I unfortunately do, it's for control over the gang. According to the member I talked to it's between their leader and the guy's right hand man. Apparently they go by the names Marde and Jackal. The Jackal guy is trying to overthrow Marde, their current leader. Jackal has claimed that if Marde gets elected he won't be fit to run the gang" Jellal said and one word caught Natsu's attention.
"Elected?" Natsu asked "For what?"
"I don't know and neither does the guy I talked to" Jellal said.
"Well I guess I'll have to look at people who are running for an office of some sort" Natsu said with an awkward laugh. This helped his theory that Marde was Marde Geer, but at the same time it re-enforced it which means this would lead to one hell of a chase for Natsu. He couldn't just arrest the man running for mayor for a crime that no one would believe he committed. It was going to take a lot of evidence and some digging to even be able to arrest the guy, and the only way to get him convicted would have to be a confession for the public to even accept the arrest.
"I suppose so, but if it's true that this guy is running for some sort of political position, you'll have a tough time pinning him as a leader of a drug ring" Jellal said.
"So what else can you tell me about this war that is going on?" Natsu asked pulling over a pad of sticky notes towards him; he needed to write this all down if he wanted to remember it.
"Well I know the gang is taking sides, right now you're either with Marde or Jackal. If you don't take a side you're either going to end up dead or being forced onto a side. It's a pretty big thing, some are saying that it's practically mutiny for Jackal to tell Marde to step down if he gets this position and there are those who say that Marde needs to step down, that he's ruled for long enough and he has caused enough trouble for Tartaros" Jellal said, pausing to see if Natsu was going to ask anything.
"What kind of trouble are they accusing him off?" Natsu asked picking up a pen, clicking it open he waited to hear anything interesting
"They're blaming him for all the problems they've been having recently, like all the drug busts and spies. They say he's losing his touch and if he can't keep them safe than he shouldn't run them, so I guess this is when Jackal stepped in and said he would be glad to take over Marde's position" Jellal said as Natsu clicked the pen again.
"So this is a power struggle than?" Natsu asked.
"I suppose so; it's more like a coup than anything" Jellal said "But there are some pretty dominant people showing up for this war though."
"What kind of people?" Natsu asked, clicking his pen again as he hovered it above paper, ready to write down whatever he heard.
"They're the ones that you hear on the news" Jellal said. "Whenever Tartaros claims an attack as theirs, it's normally these guys that had some hand in it."
"So it's the top members besides Marde and Jackal" Natsu said.
"Yep, there's about seven of them, each of them siding with either Jackal or Marde" Jellal said.
"So in a way they're helping make sure this war continues" Natsu said. "You'd think they'd try to stop it."
"Apparently some of them agreed with Jackal that Marde needed to step down" Jellal said. "So who do you want me to start with, I figure you want to write this all down."
"Doesn't really matter to me" Natsu said. "I'll take anything."
"Well I guess I'll start off with the one who worries me the most. Her name is Kyoka and she is one scary lady apparently. The guy I talked to told me a lot of people changed sides once Kyoka picked who she was siding with" Jellal said.
"Which was?" Natsu asked as he wrote down the name.
"Marde, kind of surprising but I guess it did help Marde out if one of their strongest members chose to stay by his side. Apparently she is known for torture, it's her signature, if any of the members died to something that seems torture related than it was probably her who did. She is one people you'd want to try and stay away from" Jellal said.
"That's going to be kind of hard" Natsu muttered as he wrote down Marde and torture next to her name.
"Another person that you should try to be wary of is another woman named Seilah. She isn't known too much for fighting but she does make others do the work for her. Seilah can hypnotize people apparently and once she has them under her spell she can make them do about anything for her. So the best thing I can say is keep your eyes off her if you ever end up meeting her. The guy I talked to said she uses some old methods but they all work. She's on Marde' side as well" Jellal said pausing, giving Natsu some time to finish writing.
Underneath Kyoka he wrote done Seilah before writing Marde and mind control next to it. "So Marde has some pretty scary people siding with him. You'd think this would end with people being too scared to fight him."
"While Marde has some tough people on his side, he doesn't have as much support in numbers as Jackal does, that's why no one had backed down yet" Jellal clarified. "There's one well known hit man in the underground that's sided with Marde, their name is Tempester. There's not much to tell for this guy, just know that he completes every job he is given without a hitch."
"Okay" Natsu said as he finished writing down Tempester. "So far I have to worry about a torturer, a mind controller and a hit man. This is starting to sound like so much fun."
"That's not even half of the people I'm going to tell you about" Jellal said, ignoring the sarcasm in Natsu's voice. "The next guy is siding with Jackal, his name is Keyes. This guy is some underground doctor with a few screws loose."
"Define a few screws loose" Natsu asked as he wrote down the guy's name.
"He likes to dismember his patients and experiment on them; he also has a bit of an obsession with corpses. If there's ever a repost on grave robbing, it was probably him who is responsible" Jellal said. "You don't need to worry about him unless he has you strapped down to his operation table."
"Dully noted" Natsu said as he finished writing down notes for Keyes.
"The next two are partners; their names are Ezel and Torafuzar. They're a pair of hitmen, not much to say about them really. By themselves they aren't much but when they're together, well that's a whole 'nother story. So I'd suggest that if you'd go after them to do so separately. They both sided with Jackal so it's not like they were divided by war. They're still trouble" Jellal said before continuing. "The final person I'm going to tell you about is Franmalth."
"Let me guess, another hitman or something?" Natsu asked as he rolled the pen between his fingers. He was beginning to think he might leave some of this extra information out of the report he'd be sending Makarov tonight, this would be enough to convince Makarov that Natsu should be taken off the case. But if anyone else was put on the case would they really think to go after Marde, would they even be brave enough to face a politician or would they choose to just ignore those facts? Natsu didn't want to find this out so the best bet was making sure he would stay on the case.
"Nope, Franmalth is the ring's spy and informant. He's apparently really good at his job" Jellal added.
"Do you think you have some competition Jellal?" Natsu asked, humor creeping into his voice.
"How could I have competition when I work with the FBI, that's practically ever informant's dream, it pays the best" Jellal said with a laugh.
"Considering you almost never accept any money I don't know how much that claim of yours sticks" Natsu said. "Or is this your way of asking for money?"
"Oh no, this information is free of charge" Jellal said. "I only take money from those I don't trust."
"That seems like a bad idea Jellal" Natsu said with a sigh. "Do you want me to tell Erza you said hello again?"
"No it's fine" Jellal said "She was downtown the other day after I talked to you."
"I told you didn't I?" Natsu said. "She's going to hunt you down when she finds out you're in town."
"I know but still…" Jellal said guilt heavy in his voice.
"Don't beat yourself up" Natsu said. "Just try to find some way to meet up with her so she at least knows you're alive and well."
"Maybe" Jellal said before changing the subject. "That's all I have to tell you, so until next time Natsu."
"Okay Jellal" Natsu said. "Make sure not to get yourself arrested." Jellal didn't respond and soon the tone dial was ringing in his ear. Closing his phone he looked down at what he had wrote down. It wasn't much but it was a start to taking down the main parts of Tartars, once their strongest members were gone there wasn't much for them to do besides dissolve their group, hopefully.
Natsu was about ready to just leave and call it a night when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head he was greeted by Lucy's smiling face.
"I have some news" she said. "It might not be good news, but it's still news."
"Oh, well pull over a chair and tell me about it" Natsu as he pointed over at Gray's chair. "I don't know how you do it, being around dead bodies all day I mean."
Lucy shrugged as she rolled over a chair by Natsu. "I'm used to it, it's my job and I don't think too much of it" she said as she sat down in the chair, folding her legs and clasping her hand together she continued. "Anyway the three bodies I have at the lab have all died differently, and based on all of the reports I looked at it's the same for the other bodies."
Natsu nodded his head as he added "I was able to find out that there is a full out war going on inside the gang, it explains why there is so many of dead Tartaros members showing up but none from any other group."
"Really?" Lucy asked. "How did you find that out?"
"I talked with one of my old friends and before you ask he is not shady, well he is a little shady but still, he's a police officer so he knows this kind of stuff" Natsu said before Lucy could ask if he met up with some underground informant or paid a member of Tartaros to tell him everything they knew. She needed to lay off the cop shows for sure.
"Oh, okay, that's a start for sure" Lucy said as she rested her head in her hand. "If only you knew something about the people who are part of Tartaros."
"Well" Natsu said as Lucy glanced up at him "I kind of have."
"Really?" Lucy asked her head leaving her hand. "That's great! What did you find out?"
"I have a lead on who their leader might" Natsu said, biting his lip as he wondered whether or not he should tell Lucy what else he had found out. Maybe he could just tell her tomorrow, they both needed to get some sleep. If he was only getting about five hours of sleep, she couldn't be getting much more.
"Who do you think it might be, a corrupted cop, or is it some tough criminal that's been in and out of jail?" Lucy asked bouncing in her seat.
"Not exactly" Natsu said "The guy goes by the name Marde."
"Marde?" Lucy asked as her brow knitted together.
"Apparently this whole war thing started because Marde is running for some sort of public office and one the members claimed he wasn't fit to run them if he got elected in" Natsu said as he waited for Lucy's response.
"So the leader of the drug ring Tartaros might just be Marde Greer?!" Lucy exclaimed, jumping up from the chair. "The same guy running for mayor?"
"It's just a theory" Natsu said, standing up as well and placing his hands on her shoulders. "But even if it turns out to be true it's going to be hard for me to pin him down for this. Apparently the public likes him which makes it even harder since he's a politician. I don't know how I'm going to get anything to stick to him."
Lucy was quiet for a few seconds, just staring at Natsu which in turn made him panic for a few second because did he have something on his face or something. "I think I might know someone who could help us pin down Marde" Lucy said breaking the silence.
"Really?" Natsu asked feeling like this was too good to be true "Who?"
"I know someone who works at city hall" Lucy said avoiding his eyes, she was hiding something. "I'll talk to them tonight and ask them about Marde."
"That would be great Heartfilia" Natsu said not pressing any further, it's not like he hasn't hid who his sources were to her, she had every right to do the same. "So are you heading home?"
"Oh um yeah I guess" Lucy said fiddling with her hands "I just figured you'd want to eat out or something, it's silly really but since we've done it every night I guess I just adjusted my schedule to it…."
"Do you want to eat out somewhere?" Natsu asked, cocking his head, did she actually want to…hang out with him or something. He didn't know if adults hanged out or if it was just for teenagers or something, what would it be called for adults meeting up?
"I don't want to feel pushy or anything I'm fine, we don't need to-" Lucy said before Natsu patted her on the shoulder.
"No need to hide it Heartfilia" Natsu said as a smile fell across his face.
"Hide what?" Lucy asked feeling a bit nervous with what he would say.
"That you enjoy my company" Natsu said as his smile turned into a smirk.
"What-how-wha" Lucy said as she sputtered for the right words before managing to get out ."Don't let your ego get too big agent."
Natsu just laughed as he said "It's fine, I think I'm starting to get used to being around you. Who knows, maybe we won't just get a boost in our jobs with this case, maybe we'll even become friends because of it."
"Oh be quiet Natsu" Lucy said as she rolled her eyes. "Drop the sarcasm."
"What?" Natsu teased. "You don't think we'll end up being best friends after all of this?"
"This isn't a movie" Lucy said as she headed towards the elevator.
"Or one of your many crime shows" Natsu added, earning him a glare from Lucy.
"I don't know why I even bothered to offer you company" Lucy said with a huff.
"Oh don't get yourself so worked up" Natsu said "Come on lets go get some pie, best way to forget about the stress of work."
"I need it" Lucy said with a sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"Don't worry" Natsu said as he pressed the button to go down "I'm sure this case won't last too much longer, than you can go back to looking at your mummies."