Hello again! I hope everyone enjoyed the last manga chapters as much as I did, as you will be able to tell from this chapter I am a big Mest and Wendy fan. I actually started writing this chapter over a month ago and then had to write the other chapters around it to make it work, it just happened by coincidence that it would be released this week. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
As always, I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for its use in my own creative expressions *bows*
Wendy was finishing up some paperwork at her desk when her cell phone beeped an incoming call. She looked at the display and saw it was Lisanna.
"Hey," she answered. "I thought you were going to Tenrou for the weekend?"
"We were going to, but Laxus has a big case now so we're staying home. We should go out tonight." Lisanna was in her usual cheery demeanor but her voice dropped down lower in the last sentence.
"Why are you whispering?" Wendy asked curiously.
"Because I really don't want to get stuck babysitting all weekend and I thought we could try and get into that new club, you know, the one that apparently is impossible to get into."
"And if your sister or brother heard you making plans they would come up with some kind of excuse for you to stay home." Lisanna's older siblings could be a little paranoid and overprotective, which Wendy thought was understandable since their parents died when they were small and Mira had fought to keep them all together. "You know that you are an adult right? They can't really stop you from doing anything."
"I know," Lisanna was still whispering conspiringly. "But they can make me feel really bad about it, plus I live in Mira's house so it's hard not to do anything without her finding out. Laxus would have Natsu follow us again and we know how well that worked out last time."
Wendy grimaced at the memory, although she knew that Laxus was probably too distracted and busy to order something like that this time.
"Ok, meet me at my place around eight. We could say that we are going to a movie or something and that you crashed there afterward."
"Alright!" Lisanna perked up again. "I will try my best, see you then." She hung up the phone without waiting for a reply. Wendy was all for going out on the long weekend but their plans never went the way that they were supposed to.
The front door chimed, looking up she recognized the two young guys that entered and smiled brightly.
"Warren! Max! What are you guys doing here?!"
"It's not every day that we get more than one call from you," Warren replied. He slapped two file folders down on her desk in triumph. "So we thought that this information must be important enough to deliver in person."
Wendy had to think for a second about what the first phone call had been about, but when she read the name LEVY MCGARDEN written on top of the first folder in black marker it came to her. It felt like it should have been a long time ago that she was talking with Gajeel about the small bluenette but really it had been just that morning. She didn't want to tell them that the information on Levy was no longer needed, not when they looked so pleased with their results, so she pulled the second folder out from the pile.
"What did you find out about the warehouse?" She asked curiously.
"Well, we found the record of sale from five years ago when Cloverfield Movers was purchased by Darkfall Storage, which is who still officially owns it now. What is interesting though is that Darkfall doesn't have any financial records other than the occasional invoice for rental purposes, which always paid for in cash and it's not enough for any liable business to be able to make a profit. So I dug a little further and found out that Darkfall Storage is owned by B&H Industries, which owns over a dozen shell companies like this all over the city and has known ties to the criminal organization Grimoire Heart."
"The two CEOs of B&H Industries, Thomas Black and Michael Hart are thought to be aliases for two Grimoire Heart Lieutenants, Zancrow Agni and Asuma Fawna," Max added to Warren's speech.
"Wow... how did you guys find out all that?" Wendy asked, impressed with their results.
"Umm...Well... we kind of hacked into the FPD Organized Crime Unit's database..." Warren muttered, his cheeks going a little red.
"You what?!"
"Warren hacked," Max pointed out quickly. "I sat beside him and told him not to."
Warren sent him a dirty look at his betrayal. "Desperate calls call for desperate measures, it was an emergency."
"What happens if they catch you?" Wendy got a bad feeling in the pit of her tummy.
"Oh don't worry, I sent them on a wild goose chase. They will be looking up IP addresses in cyber Siberia for the next week if they try and track me down," he replied confidently. She wasn't so convinced but before she could say anything else the front door opened again and two uniformed FPD officers came in. Warren's face became pale as milk and he swallowed audibly, trying to make himself shrink up against the wall.
"Hey Wendy, Warren, Max." The older of the two of them was a man in his 30's, with dark shaggy hair and piercing green eyes. He had a scar crisscrossing the left side of his upper cheek around the eye that Wendy knew he had gotten while undercover in his rookie days. The second officer was younger, with a round, soft face, dimples and kind eyes. His dark purple hair looked black in the dark sunlight and it was combed back neatly under his police hat.
"Hi Mest, hi Romeo, what brings you in today?" Wendy replied, over-politely. She didn't know if it was Warren and Max's sleuth skills or the agency's involvement in the shooting last night that brought them in, or it could have been something else entirely, but she knew she had to act as calm and normal as possible.
"We need to speak to Natsu about something, have you seen him today?" Mest asked in his no non-sense cop tone.
"I haven't seen Natsu since this morning," Wendy replied, relieved because it was the truth.
"Do you know where he was going today?" Mest continued.
"I'm not sure, Laxus has all the guys doing something and it's hard to keep track of them most of the time." Also the truth, she wasn't 100% sure where he was, even though she had a good idea.
"Is Laxus here?"
"He is in his office; would you like me to call him out?"
"That would be great, thanks."
Wendy tried not to be too relived as she punched in Laxus' extension on her phone, he picked up after two rings. "Yes?"
"Officer Doranbolt from the FPD is here to see you." She was hoping that by being formal Laxus would get the urgency of the situation.
"I'll be right out."
Wendy hung up the phone and smiled. "He will be right out," she repeated to them. Mest nodded and they stood in awkward silence for a few minutes waiting until Romeo turned to Warren and Max still cowering against the wall.
"I haven't see you guys in ages." He gave them his signature bright smile. "What's new?" It was a causal question meant to ease the tense mood in the room but it had the opposite effect.
"Oh you know, this and that," Warren mumbled, he shuffled his feet and his cheeks turned red. "Nothing illegal or anything."
Max subtly elbowed him in the ribs and Wendy did a mental read slap, if they weren't suspicious they will be now, she thought to herself. They were saved by the sound of Laxus' office door opening and the big man entered the room. His facial expression was neutral, but he had one of those faces that always looked a little mad even when he wasn't.
"Mest," he greeted the officer while shaking his hand politely. "Romeo." He nodded to the younger man. "For what do I owe this unexpected visit?"
"We need to talk to Natsu," Mest repeated. "Do you know how I can reach him?"
Wendy saw the flicker of surprise in Laxus' eyes for a second before his face became a mask again. "I have him out on an assignment right now, can I ask what this is about?"
Mest eyed Laxus warily before answering. "He is a person of interest in a case we picked up this afternoon, assault and potential kidnapping. It is very important that I talk to him as soon as possible."
"Kidnapping?" Laxus didn't try to hide his surprise this time and Wendy knew that she shared the same look. "Natsu would never kidnap anyone."
"Do you know where he was around 1:30 this afternoon?"
"I told you, he's on a special assignment so he would have been working."
Mest crooked his head to the right slightly, Wendy knew that it was a sign he was thinking hard trying to figure something out. "Does the name Lucy Heartifillia mean anything to you?"
Wendy recognized the name but it took her a second to figure out how, she was the primary contact on Levy's power bill. Why would he be asking about Levy's roommate and not her?
"It doesn't ring any bells," Laxus replied coolly. "Is that who Natsu allegedly kidnapped?"
"We just want to get this figured out." Mest handed Laxus a card. "I'm sure that you have my number somewhere already but give Natsu my card next time you see him and tell him to call me. It would be a lot easier on him if he cooperated and I didn't have to hunt him down. I'll be in touch." When he turned to leave Laxus spoke.
"When did uniforms start hunting down suspects? Isn't that more of a Detective's job?"
Mest stopped and turned his head to face them again. "Usually," he agreed. "But we're a little shorthanded down at the precinct right now; we have to do what we can. Have a good day."
He walked out the front door, Romeo waved goodbye to Wendy before following him out and she returned the gesture . No one spoke for a few long minutes to make sure they were actually gone. Laxus looked down at the card in his hand. "Damn," he muttered.
"Ahem," Max squeaked, breaking the silence further. "Well, if you don't need us anymore we're gonna go too." He grabbed a fist full of Warren's jacket and tried to pull him to the door.
"Hey," Laxus' call stopped them in their tracks. He peered at the boys as if just noticing that they were in the room. "Did you get the information we asked for?"
"Y-yes," Warren squeaked. "Wendy has the files on her desk. Call-if-you-need-anything-else-ok-bye." The two of them rushed out the front door.
Laxus raised an eyebrow. "What's their problem?"
Wendy sighed. "Nothing." I hope, she thought to herself. "Here is the information on that property that Cobra was watching." She handed him the file which she had been holding the whole time. "Still not a lot but more than we had."
Laxus thumbed through it quickly, speed reading the important parts. "Not much," he agreed. "But every little bit helps right now." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's nearly quitting time anyway, go home early Wendy, have a good rest of your weekend off." He turned to go back to his office with the file. "Oh," he stopped and turned to face her again. "Mira is having family supper tomorrow, same time as usual. Can you do me a favor and let those two knuckleheads know or I'll never hear the end of it."
"Sure," she replied, giving him a smile. "See you tomorrow!"
He went back into his office and she started cleaning up the papers on her desk. If Mira was having family supper tomorrow she would be distracted and it would be easier for Lisanna to make an excuse to go out.
She paused when she saw Levy's file still sitting on her desk, unsure of what to do with it. Laxus hadn't seemed interested in it now that they had found her but Wendy didn't want to throw it in the trash can either. She fought the urge to open it, her curiosity suddenly ran into overdrive and she was so tempted to find out more about the other girl. But her conscious ended up winning out, she opened a bottom drawer and dropped the file in with some other papers, she would figure out later how to properly file it or throw it out.
Wendy pulled on her coat and grabbed her purse, making sure she had her cellphone and keys. She pushed the auto-responder button on her desk phone, shut off the coffee pot and then killed the interoffice lights. The sunlight outside was warm on her face and it made her excited that summer was almost here, it was her favorite season. As she walked down the street and the few blocks to her house she was unaware that there was not just one, but two sets of eyes following her every move.
Mest and Romeo went back to their police car after leaving Seven Dragons, neither of them had spoken at all but Romeo was a little curious about why they were just sitting there.
"Sir?" He started quietly. "Shouldn't we go over to the girl's apartment now?"
"We will," Mest answered. "I just want to see what they are going to do next." They watched as Warren and Max left the agency like their pants were on fire, getting into a beat up old gray car and driving away as fast as they could.
"I wonder what that is all about," Romeo observed.
"They were hiding something," Mest agreed. "But I don't think they know anything about Natsu."
"Because of the illegal comment?" Romeo asked. "People always act like that around me now; they see me and immediately think that I'm there to arrest them."
Mest smiled in sympathy. "You get used to it kid. Did you get a look at the file sitting on Wendy's desk?"
"No," Romeo admitted, his ears turning a little red.
"It had "Levy McGarden" written on it. My guess is that Laxus got Warren and Max to do a background check on her and we caught them dropping it off."
"Isn't that the name of the roommate?"
"It is."
Romeo thought for a second. "Why would they do research on Levy but then kidnap Lucy? That doesn't make any sense."
"There is more to this then what we are seeing right now." Mest continued to watch the agency door with sharp eyes. "I think there is something much bigger going on here."
"So we are waiting for Laxus to leave? He might lead us to Natsu."
"No, he's too smart for that. We are going to follow Wendy."
"Why?" Romeo was surprised by his statement.
"Her eyes flickered when I mentioned Lucy's name, plus the file was on her desk."
"So they lied when they said they didn't know anything about her?"
"Yes, but we need to know why they would lie about it."
They waited in silence for a few more minutes before Wendy opened the front door and flipped the open sign to closed before coming out of the building and locking up the door on her way out.
Romeo glanced down at his watch. "It's only just after 4:30, why would she be leaving so early."
"We should find out." They waited until Wendy made it down the street a little ways before climbing out of the cop car and following her on foot. They kept back as far as they could without losing her position, about half a block but the streets were unusually busy because of the long weekend so it was good cover.
They watched as she ducked into a small grocery store and came out ten minutes later with a paper bag cradled under one arm, as she was leaving she waved goodbye to an attendant who was sweeping off the sidewalk in front. She stopped again a block later to smell some flowers from a vendor who was set up on an empty corner lot. She picked a bunch of white daisies and went to pay the old man running the booth, but he waved off her money and instead gave her a single blue rose. She smiled at him and they exchanged words, he reached down and took her free hand, kissing the back of it gallantly. Wendy laughed and thanked him politely before crossing the street.
Mest was so intent on watching her that he didn't notice the curious stares they were getting from onlookers.
"She's so nice," Romeo remarked as they continued to follow her. Mest choose not to answer, instead he started to think about the first time he had met her almost three years ago. She had been a scared teenage kid, quiet and shy, but the last few years Wendy had really come out of her shell and blossomed into a lovely young lady. Mest couldn't help feeling protective over her safety and well-being but he knew that Laxus and the rest of the guys took good care of her.
Wendy turned towards her apartment building which was halfway down one small side street that was almost too narrow for two cars to drive down at once. She managed to juggle all her things enough to get the front door open and disappeared inside.
"Do you think that Lucy could be hiding out at Wendy's?" Romeo asked.
"I don't know," Mest answered. He looked around but saw no suspicious looking cars or a motorcycle parked anywhere on the street, all looked quiet and normal. "It's possible but we don't have enough facts to check it out yet. Let's go to Lucy's apartment, we might find out more there."
They started walking back towards their police car, as unaware that they were now also being watched as Wendy had been before.
More will be coming soon! I hope you enjoyed reading.