TO MY READERS: Hello, again, everyone! Here is the newest installment of Mission Impossible. I hope you enjoy it & please make sure to leave me a comment. I really love and appreciate hearing from my readers in regards to their thoughts or constructive criticism on the storyline. Thank you & enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN any of the characters or places mentioned in this story. It all belongs to the original creator, Hiro Mashima.
Five
"Team Blue, Team Pink is in position. Do you copy?" Natsu whispered into the walkie talkie gripped in his hand.
"This is Team Blue. We are in position. Copy," Gray's voice replied over the device. Laying on his stomach on the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the docks, Natsu turned to his right where Erza also lay, waiting to check in on Gajeel's team.
"Team Black, Team Pink, and Blue are in position. What is your status?" she spoke into the speaker.
"Team Black is armed and ready, captain. Just awaiting the signal," Gajeel said. Erza looked back to Natsu who nodded and stared out on the dark waters just a few feet in front of them.
Tonight was the night. Tonight, Natsu and his colleagues would make the first break in an age-old case. They would capture Zancrow's faction leader, force her to talk, and eventually find out where Zeref was operating. Natsu had to contain his excitement. He couldn't believe how big this would be!
As of five minutes ago—and with the confirmation of each team just a few moments ago-everything was set. When Natsu and everyone involved in the infiltration arrived on the scene, the gates led to a building in the middle that overlooked the docks. On either side of the harbor were various buildings for equipment, shipments going out, and shipments which were waiting to be picked up. Natsu broke his team up into three groups: Team Pink compromised of himself, Erza, and Gildarts and had been placed on the roof of the building right in front of the docks. The two other teams are set up on the roofs of the other buildings flanking Natsu's right and left.
We have eyes on all sides, Natsu thought.
Glancing at his watch, Natsu realized how little time they had left. It was twelve fifty-five: five minutes before The Pegasus was suspected to arrive. He couldn't help the shaking of his hands and the coldness inching in his fingers and toes. He wasn't nervous; oh no, far from it. He was excited. After so many years of coming up with nothing when the case was first filed, it was Natsu and his team who were making the breakthroughs.
And this was sure to be a big one.
"Teams Black and Blue, be ready," Natsu ordered into the microphone. "We have less than five minutes before the package comes in." Muffled replies came through his walkie and Natsu looked to Erza who seemed just as excited as him.
This is it. No screw ups.
Just as Hargeon's town bell tolled one, Natsu heard something on the water. It didn't sound like the waves lapping or a gentle breeze blowing: it was the sound of a motor. A big motor.
It's here.
Reaching for his binoculars, Natsu raised them to his face and peered through the lens to see a large white boat approaching the docks. He narrowed his eyes to Erza, trying to keep his movements as limited as possible to avoid any and all detection who carefully lifted the walkie-talkie to her mouth.
"The package is here. I repeat, the package is here," she whispered urgently.
Watching the ship through his binoculars, Natsu saw it come up to one of the docks right in front of the building he and his team were occupying. The only thing he found odd was that the side of the ship with the name printed on it wasn't facing them. Adjusting his vision, Natsu peered closer at the ship in an attempt to see inside. Even from where he was and with the binoculars, he couldn't see much inside. The windows weren't tinted but it was pitch black which he also considered odd. If someone was supposed to be sailing a ship, especially the size of the one docked then, they would need lights. Lots of them. As he scanned the rest of the ship, Natsu also noticed the lights in front of the ship weren't turned on.
Something's off.
"Teams Blue and Black, prepare for an attack," Natsu said urgently. Erza turned to him with confusion.
"Something's not right here," he said. Just as he spoke those words, the sound of gunshots being fired caused Natsu, Erza, and Gildarts to scoot away from the edge of the roof. Flipping over to his back, Natsu pulled out his own handgun and turned to Erza who also preparing her weapon.
"Tell the other teams to get into defensive position," he shouted over the gunfire. Erza nodded and yanked out her walkie, repeating Natsu's order into the microphone. Spinning back onto his front, Natsu shuffled his way to the fire escape at the back of the roof to climb down and get closer to the enemies. As soon as his hand reached the top of the ladder, Natsu swung his left leg around to the side of it and slid down, trying to ignore the stinging cuts on his hands left by protruding pieces of metal all along the poles of the ladder.
When he came to the end of the fire escape, he jumped down a few feet and lifted up his gun as he walked around to the side facing the boat. Suddenly, a figure wearing all black and pointing an AR-15 right at Natsu. Without hesitating, Natsu fired his own gun and quickly side-stepped over the unknown person's dead body. As he got closer to the docks, he heard more gunfire coming from the building to the right where Team Black had been staked out. Allowing himself to take a quick glance at the building, he saw the members of the team—Gajeel, Levy, and Cana—closing in on the enemies. Coming up in front of the building his team had been occupying, Natsu also saw Gray, Juvia, and Jellal—Team Blue—approaching the boat.
A few of the people clad in black were defending the ship itself but Natsu figured there would be more inside. Taking a few more shots, Natsu saw the last of the enemies human barrier go down.
"Go, go, go!" Natsu shouted to his friends. Lowering their weapons only a little bit, everyone quickened their pace to get into the ship. Natsu was the first to approach it and ran up the board leading to the deck of the boat. Once everyone was on it, another round of gunshots were fired and Natsu and his teammates pressed themselves up against one of the walls underneath the bridge.
"Team Blue, go around the deck and take out any of the enemies down here," Natsu shouted. "Team Black, come with me to infiltrate the bridge. Let's go, go, go!" The members of Team Blue on Natsu's left side raised their weapons and ran around their cover zone to search the rest of the deck. Natsu turned to the rest of the members and saw Gajeel open a door behind him. Guns raised and pointed up at the sky, Natsu, Gajeel, Levy, and Cana hurried inside.
Every single light was off and combined with the darkness of the night, Natsu could barely see an inch in front of his nose. Finally, he was able to pull out a flashlight from his belt and held it underneath his gun, pointing the beam straight ahead of him and his team. As they all walked down the hallway, there was still the occasional gunfire which meant either Erza and Gildarts had found some stragglers or Team Blue had already found their targets on the deck.
Suddenly, when they all neared the end of the hallway, three figures popped up and began firing. Immediately, Natsu and the gang bounced back against the adjacent walls of the hall, aiming and firing. While Natsu struggled with reloading his weapon, he noticed a door in front of him on the left side of the hall. He hadn't noticed it before since his beam of light was only focused straight ahead of him. Thinking it was the door to the bridge, he caught the attention of Cana who agreed with a nod to go with him. She turned her back to the gunfire and swung the door open, running into the darkness with Natsu hot on her tail.
Holding his flashlight under his gun again, Natsu scanned the short hallway which led to a set of stairs a few feet in front of them. Cana came up on the first step and pointed her gun up, trying to see if anyone was waiting for them on the staircase. Natsu pointed the beam upwards to give her some light and when she nodded it was clear, they began running upward. Their pounding feet echoed against the metal of the stairs and suddenly two figures appeared at the top and began shooting.
Cana and Natsu tried to press themselves up against the adjacent railing to avoid the bullets but they weren't quick enough. As they took cover, Cana let out a piercing scream and grabbed her left shoulder. Natsu snapped to her and forced her to remove her hand for him to look at the injury. He shined his light on the wound but the mess of blood and severed flesh made it difficult for him to find the bullet. It was probably deep inside, possibly buried near the joint or further in, depending if it went through bone or not. Cana began slipping against the railing to sit on the stairs, gripping her shoulder again.
"Keep going," she whispered. "You can make it. I'll be alright until you get back." Natsu hurriedly grabbed his walkie and pressed the button to get across to Erza and Gildarts. Hopefully, they were both okay as well.
"Captain! Captain, this is Natsu! Over!" he shouted over the gunfire and the ricocheting bullets hitting the metal walls around them.
"Natsu! Where are you? Where's everyone else?" Erza answered.
"We've infiltrated the ship and ended up splitting up. Cana and I started heading up to the bridge when we were attacked. Cana's been injured."
"What?!" Gildarts' voice shouted over as Erza prepared to answer. Natsu glanced at Cana who shook her head and let out a small laugh.
"I'm alright, old man," she said. "Just a bullet to the shoulder."
"Cana…" Gildarts began, but Erza cut him off.
"I want you to retreat, now," she said urgently. "Officer Clive and I have detained enough of the enemy to bring them in for questioning. I don't want anyone else to get hurt, do you understand me?" Natsu sighed heavily but nodded. He couldn't make it up the stairs with two or more enemies shooting at him from up top.
"Okay," he replied, starting to hoist Cana up on his shoulders. "Cana and I are headed back now. Have someone get to the top of our building and sharpshoot the bastards on the bridge. I still want everyone on this goddamn ship in for questioning."
"Alright," Erza said with hesitation. "Just make it back safely, Detective Dragneel." Clipping his walkie back on his belt, Natsu hoisted Cana back up on his shoulders when he felt the ship move beneath his feet. Righting himself and Cana, Natsu suddenly realized someone at the bridge was revving the ship's engine to move it out from the dock.
"Shit," Natsu grumbled, gripping Cana harder against him as he headed back towards the door they came out of.
"Someone's…taking the ship back out?" Cana asked wearily. Natsu narrowed his eyes at her and saw she was becoming extremely pale, her hand caked in blood and more seeping through her fingers.
"Hey, c'mon, Cana, stay with me," Natsu said, hurrying down the hallway as quickly as he could without jostling her too much or losing his grip. "We're almost there and then we'll get you checked out. You're gonna be fine, ya hear me?" All Cana could muster in reply was a short grunt. Natsu kept glancing at her now and again, watching her struggle to stay awake.
Once the two were back on the deck of the boat, Natsu saw how far they had gotten from the docks. Whoever was driving the ship had already steered it a good five feet away. Normally, no one on Natsu's team would've thought twice about making the swim but he was now carrying someone who was seriously injured. And there was guaranteed to be gunfire once they dove into the water. Lowering his partner against the railing, Natsu quickly began removing his shirt.
"C'mon, Natsu, you know I don't like you like that," Cana laughed. Natsu smiled, somewhat relieved she still had enough energy to joke around but when he looked at her, he saw how weak she was, her comment nothing more than a whisper he was just close enough to hear.
"I'm just gonna tie up your shoulder. It won't keep it from getting infected but hopefully it'll stanch the bleeding until we get across," he said, gingerly wrapping the fabric around Cana's shoulder. She closed her eyes and bit her lip through the pain, only whimpering when Natsu tied the knot to secure it. Stepping back for a moment to observe his handiwork, he noticed how quickly the makeshift gauze became seeped with blood.
Not good, he thought. Not wanting to worry her, Natsu smiled and helped Cana up onto his back. Leaning over the railing of the boat, Natsu took a few more deep breaths as he prepared to dive into the water.
"Hold on tight for me, Cana," he said. The docks were getting further and further away, making Natsu feel more uneasy about the swim. He prayed nothing would go wrong.
"I'll try," she said. Flinging himself over the railing, Natsu plunged into the water head-first.
Fortunately, the ocean wasn't unforgivingly cold due to the warm temperatures of late summer. However, as Natsu swam back up to the surface, he worried that in her already weakened condition, Cana would find the water freezing. Just as his head broke the surface of the waves, Natsu heard the gunfire he feared would follow their escape. Diving back under to avoid the bullets, Natsu gripped Cana's hands with one of his own and kicked his legs as hard as he could to make up for being able to use only one of his arms.
Bullets whizzed past him as Natsu forced himself to swim as long as he could without coming up for air. He knew if he did he risked not only getting himself shot but also Cana. However, combined with the overexertion of swimming with dead weight and not being able to see much underwater, Natsu had to graze the surface again to take a breath. Upon his head crowning the water, he could hear shouts from the boat which he could only guess were orders to fire. His cherry blossom pink hair wasn't exactly discreet, especially in the dark. Despite the short amount of time he took to resurface, Natsu was met with a slew of gunshots. He quickly dove back under but not quickly enough. Just as he slipped back beneath the dark waters, Cana let out a waterlogged scream and Natsu saw the blood drifting up in front of him.
Fuck! he shouted to himself. Cana had been hit again and now he had to come back up to let her breathe. Using what seemed like the last of his energy, Natsu kicked up to give Cana some air and swam as quickly as he could the rest of the way to the docks. Thankfully, the gunshots eventually faded but Cana was still moaning in pain. He had taken too long and now she was suffering from two injuries, one of which was completely exposed to the murky waters of Hargeon.
"Help! Help, we need help!" Natsu screamed breathlessly as he reached the nearest dock. Cana let out a piercing wail as Natsu tried to lift her out of the water first but he sighed with relief when he heard thundering footsteps hurtling towards them.
"Cana!" Natsu recognized the voice as Gildarts and guilt immediately shot through his heart. He had let Gildarts' one and only child get shot not once but twice and it was all his fault. He worried how he would face his superior but he didn't have much time because Cana was suddenly yanked out of the water and Natsu heard footsteps pounding away, hopefully towards an ambulance Erza had already called.
"Natsu?!" another worried voice shouted.
"I'm here, I'm alright," he replied, lifting himself out from the water and onto the wood of the dock. Turning around, Natsu saw it was Erza who had called his name in fear. Upon seeing he was completely uninjured, she sighed and pressed her forehead against his.
"I heard the gunshots being fired from the boat and I began so worried," she explained. Startled by her kindness, Natsu couldn't help but look at her with a stunned expression.
"Well, I'm fine," he replied once Erza stepped back. "It's Cana I'm worried about. She was shot in the water while we were making our escape." The two glanced over to the flashing red and white lights behind them back at the buildings Natsu's teams were staked out on. Even from their distance, he could see Gildarts helping the paramedics lift Cana into the back of the vehicle and scrambling to get in.
"Don't worry," Erza reassured him. "She's strong and a good fighter. She'll make it through." She looked back to Natsu who was still staring at the ambulance as it sped away. "And Gildarts won't be angry with you." He shifted his eyes to his captain. "It couldn't have been avoided. You did the best you could. He'll understand." Natsu let his eyes drift back to where the ambulance had stood and rose up himself.
"C'mon," he said. "I want to check back with everyone else and bring in the ones who you and Officer Clive captured." Erza remained silent for a while and Natsu turned to her, a looked of disappointment on her face.
"Unfortunately, we don't have anyone to bring in for interrogation, Detective Dragneel," she said. "Each of the ones we captured all had cyanide pills hidden in their mouths. They took it before Officer Clive or myself could stop them."
Dumbstruck by the news, Natsu stared at Erza in disbelief. It was unbelievable. Just when he thought this would be their first major breakthrough in this case, it went and backfired on them. They would never get another opportunity like this one again. It was their one and only shot and it had been sabotaged.
That's it, he thought. We were sabotaged.
"We've been set up," Natsu said, starting to walk towards his comrades. Erza quickly picked up her pace to walk alongside him, confused.
"How? Zancrow has no way of contacting anyone from his faction and no one knows what's happened to him," she said.
"Well, someone somewhere found out and was able to relay it back to Zeref," Natsu insisted. "He knew we'd be here to infiltrate his shipment so he figured he'd send some goons to try and kill as many of us off as humanly possible in one night."
"So then the real Pegasus is somewhere else entirely and Zeref and Zancrow's faction leaders are there right now receiving the cargo," Erza surmised. Natsu nodded. "Where will we even be able to go from here?" Natsu was silent for a moment before he spoke up again.
"We might've lost this one, but we'll find another way," he said confidently. "This isn't the end, Zeref."
It was nearly pitch black out, save for the large flashlights everyone carried. Lucy and Zeref stood armed and ready by the dock in Oak Town. The two stood next to Ultear, the faction leader in Magnolia who had heard one of her members—Zancrow—had gone missing. She had rescheduled and arranged for The Pegasus the dock in Oak Town, one of the only docking locations near Magnolia besides Hargeon and Cedar. Because of the town's historical significance, the mayor had stepped up security, including over by the docks. Not wanting to draw any more attention than the two big ships scheduled to come in any minute, Ultear made sure herself and her selected faction members disarmed all the cameras around the dock.
It was imperative they weren't caught.
From what Lucy knew of the situation, Zancrow had been missing for a while—almost a two weeks—and Ultear feared it was the doing of Magnolia law enforcement. Word was that the detectives in Magnolia were reopening Zeref's old case, though no one really knew who was headlining the investigation.
Or they did know and Lucy was being kept in the dark.
Either way, The Pegasus shipment had been scheduled in Hargeon, the closest docking town near Magnolia. However, due to fear of compromise, Zeref sent in a decoy to keep the detectives busy while the real Pegasus arrived at Oak Town. Anyone who had been sent on the ship was instructed to kill on sight and if captured were given cyanide. Zeref's hope was that a small number of the detectives on his case would be killed in the fight and the confusion would deter them from continuing their investigation.
But Lucy hoped in her heart of hearts that whoever was looking to take down Zeref was successful.
"Here come the ships," someone shouted from on top of the roof of one of the buildings. Zeref, Lucy, and Ultear approached the dock, guns in hands as they watched the shadows of one large ship and one medium sized ship sail through the waters.
"Both right on time," Ultear smiled.
"Let's hope the decoy has good results before we celebrate, shall we, Ultear?" Zeref said, a hint of anger in his voice. He was upset that one of his most trusted leaders lost track of one her own. Rerouting The Pegasus had been a headache for both her and Zeref and he had taken out quite a bit of his anger on Lucy, whether it was violent sex or just violence. Her breasts were now turning a dark purple.
Once the ships were roped on the docks, two people emerged from each, a pair heading towards Ultear—The Pegasus captains—and the other two walking to Zeref—the decoy captains.
"Your Highnesses," one of them said.
"Kyôka and Seilah," Zeref said. "Please tell me you were successful in your mission." The two women glanced at one another before dropping to their knees.
"We lost many of our and as far as we know, we only injured one of the detectives involved in the investigation," Kyôka explained. Lucy looked from the kneeling women to Zeref who's expression turned dark.
"How utterly disappointing," he sighed. Without hesitation, he lifted his AR-15 and put a series of bullets through the women's heads. It took everything inside Lucy to prevent herself from jumping or crying. The women's bodies fell forward and their blood pooled around both Lucy's and Zeref's feet.
"Get them out of my sight," he announced. Two lackeys hurried to drag the bodies away as Zeref walked up to Ultear to check over The Pegasus's shipment. Lucy stayed behind for a moment to collect herself before joining him.
"Everything is still accounted for, Your Highness," Ultear said, now holding a clipboard with her own AR-15 swung over her shoulders. "You will be able to take your half tonight."
"Excellent," Zeref replied, spinning on his heel. "I'll expect my trucks filled and at the compound in no less than an hour."
"Of course," Ultear replied, bowing to Zeref as he left. Lucy came up on his side quickly and followed him to their vehicle.
"Those damned detectives won't stop now," he grumbled.
"How do you know? They might not have another angle," Lucy said. Zeref laughed and shook his head.
"You don't know them like I do," was all he said. The two stopped at the car and climbed in, Lucy silent as Zeref started the engine and pulled away, heading back to the compound. As they drove away, Lucy kept staring at her boots which were still covered in crusted blood.
A/N: Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks & the new chapter will be up soon.