Hello everyone! I know it has been awhile since I updated but I have been busy adulting (I am looking into buying a house, eeeeekkk). We are only two away from a hundred followers! Whhhaatt?
As always I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for it's use in my own creative expressions *bows*
Gray was sitting at his desk and staring at his computer screen like he had been for the last hour when his stomach started to rumble. It was well past lunch and he thought that it was time to raid the vending machine down the deserted hallway; because there was barely anyone was working today it would still be filled with all the good stuff.
He thumbed a handful of coins into the slot and made his selection; Gray always made fun of Erza for her bad diet choices but little did she know that he also had a sweet tooth that never seemed to be satisfied. He took his mini chocolate brownies, snack sized chips and bag of cheese puffs to his desk; he would have to eat quickly so he could hide the evidence before she came back. If she came back in today Gray thought while biting into a brownie, she had vowed not to until she found either Natsu or Gajeel.
Gray had no doubt in Erza's abilities as a cop but a seed of skepticism entered his mind as he stuffed the second bite into his mouth which made the pessimist in him think that she was going on a wild goose chase. Before he could start another brownie the computer in front of him dinged, he wiped the excess chocolate crumbs on his pants and clicked the mouse to see what his search had found.
First Gray had tried to find a connection between Levy McGarden and Grimoire Heart but nothing had come up; he got the same results with all of the Dragons including Gajeel Redfox. He even went through all of Gajeel's old files and still found nothing. Changing his angle Gray had decided to try and widen the search and look for McGarden herself, although from the background check before they knew she didn't have a criminal record.
"Bingo," Gray muttered as the program flashed red, which meant it had found something. He read the casefile number and then pulled up the electronic copy through the database; it was an old one that dated almost five years ago. He started to read, curious at first but it soon turned to confusion and then dread. Just then his cell phone started to vibrate from where he had it sitting on the desk underneath the cheese puffs and he hoped that it was Erza telling him she had Redfox in custody. His snacks forgotten he pushed them out of the way before answering.
"Fullbuster," he muttered as a greeting.
"Gray." It was Mest on the line and it sounded like he might be on the job. "Something's happened that I think you'll want to know about, it involves Levy McGarden and Lucy Heartifillia." Mest told him about the break-in at their apartment and the attack on their neighbour when he tried to confront the assailant."
"And you are sure Redfox isn't involved?" Gray asked.
"The neighbour says that it wasn't Redfox who attacked him," Mest confirmed. "Or at least it wasn't the same man as yesterday who we assumed was Redfox. Whoever it was broke in by climbing up the balcony, if the neighbour saw him with the girl yesterday and they went in through the front door why would he need to break in through the window?"
"Is there any chance it could be an attempted robbery?"
"I doubt it, nothing seems to be missing and honestly there isn't much here worth stealing…"
"Ok," Gray replied absently, almost to himself. "Can you send me a copy of your notes and the witness statements? Thanks." Gray hung up the phone; he hoped that Erza would be able to track Gajeel down and soon.
At another police station down town Freed was trying to find out as much as he could about the same investigation without arousing any suspicion. Laxus had called him last night and warned him about the new case file involving Natsu and asked if he could look into it as well. He still had a few contacts in his old precinct and managed to learn that there had been blood evidence found at the scene which confirmed Natsu's involvement.
Freed sighed, sometimes he didn't know why Laxus kept the man around, he seemed to create more trouble than he was worth. He opened a desk door and took out a cheap burner phone; he typed in an encrypted text message and sent it.
"Are you done playing spy over there or what?" Bixlow called from his own desk, turning in the swivel chair to face him.
"How many times do I have to ask you to be more discrete?" Freed retorted with slight exasperation as he looked up at the other man while returning the phone back to the drawer.
"You've got nothing to worry about, ain't no one here but us today." Bixlow didn't sound fazed at all by his partner's concerns.
"You never know who could be listening," Freed insisted. He turned back to his computer and hit the print button, closed the search window and cleared his history. "It pays to be careful."
"You worry too much," Bixlow replied and leaned further back in his chair. "No one suspects anything, for all they know you and Laxus still hate each other's guts."
Freed's mouth quirked up slightly at Bixlow's crude language but he couldn't disagree, it was imperative that he and Laxus keep up the rumor of their falling out. If his superiors were to find out that he was secretly feeding information to his former mentor then at the very least he would be fired, they would probably throw the book at him and he would end up in a jail cell himself.
"We still don't need to take any unnecessary risks," Freed repeated firmly. He knew that his need to have everything under control was borderline obsessive, but he would never let anything happen to compromise Laxus' well-being. He stood up and picked up the file papers from the printer before stuffing them into an unlabeled manila envelope.
"Let's get back to our real jobs for a second." Bixlow broke the awkward silence but hadn't moved from his semi-reclined position. "Are we going to try the stake out again tonight?" The other man asked.
Most people wouldn't have been able to recognize the slight tightening of his mouth or the stiff way he pulled his coat from the back of his chair but it was about as outwardly irritated as Freed ever got. Last night they had had a chance to find out valuable information on one of the most powerful and dangerous organized crime leaders in the city and instead they ended up completely blowing the cover it had taken almost a month to build. Freed knew that Bixlow was feeling guilty for flashing his badge at the club last night and getting them burned but it wasn't like he had done so lightly.
"No, I think it will be awhile before we can try again."
"Common' Freed, it wasn't like we had eyes on Leo anyway and I doubt those idiots I scared off told anyone."
"Regardless, we will stay away from the club and search for a new angle. Making the assumption that he did not find out would be dangerous, we might not make it out so easily a second time."
"Relax," Bixlow leaned forward making the chair squeak. "It was too loud and crowded for other people to hear or see."
"We don't know for sure how many cameras they have or where they are," Freed countered. "It was still a reckless thing to do."
The other man shrugged but looked away and stood up. "I had a good reason." That was as close to an apology as Freed was going to get out of him.
Bixlow was a complicated guy, even more closely guarded than Freed could be at times but he was good at hiding it with his extroverted personality. "I'm not disagreeing with you."
"So you aren't going to tell Laxus about what happened?"
Freed had been anticipating the question and he had yet to decide what he should do. Even though he had known her since she was a small child, Lisanna was an adult and so was Wendy but they were obviously unaware of the risks that they took by going off into strange places alone. The Agency had made more than a few enemies over the years and if the wrong person figured out they could get to Laxus through his younger sister-in-law there would be big trouble.
"No," Freed finally said. "I won't tell Laxus about Lisanna and Wendy this time, but it better not happen again."
He waited for reassurance from Bixlow that he had set the girls straight while taking them home. "Uh," finally replied. "I'm not sure about that."
"What do you mean?" Freed asked warily.
"Well, Lisanna was kinda pissed that we butted in at all. I think she hates how overprotective the family can be and thinks sneaking around is the only way she can get any freedom."
"It's dangerous for her to be out on her own."
"I don't think she sees it that way."
"We are just going to have to keep an eye on her then," Freed concluded.
"What?" Bixlow's face screwed up like he had eaten something sour.
"If we inform Laxus of her behavior he will try and further limit what she does which would cause her to rebel more. If we give her some closely guarded freedom then she will stay out of danger and have the independence she wants."
"You want us to spy on Lisanna?" Bixlow sounded skeptical. "She's going to see us coming a mile away."
"Not if we come up with a plan."
Bixlow winced at the look on Freed's face, he knew it well. Freed had just picked up a new case and it sounded like he meant to make it the highest priority.
Gajeel tried to keep his attention focused on the road in front of him and block out all of the noise around him. The streets were busy and the traffic heavy, he had hesitations about going out at all but he knew that he couldn't get out of going to this family supper.
Natsu was in the passenger's seat, Levy and Lucy in the back, Sting and Rogue were following them in Rogue's SUV. That had been another battle, Sting had insisted that Lucy ride with them to Laxus' house and of course Natsu made it clear then he was going with them as well, but then Lucy wouldn't go without Levy and that was when Gajeel had to step in and assign the seats. He wasn't letting her out of his sight, somebody had to do their job and as always it was up to him to take charge.
Laxus and Gramps only lived a few blocks away from each other so it was thankfully a short drive. Gajeel pulled up in front of the very picturesque house on a street that looked like it had come straight out of a family friendly movie.
"This is where Laxus lives?" Levy asked, she sounded a little surprised.
"Yep," Gajeel answered as he opened the door to his truck and climbed out. Rogue pulled up him and two other men were getting out of a car parked in front of them.
"Hey guys!" Warren greeted them as he and Max stood on the concrete walkway that led to the front door. "You're Levy and Lucy right?"
"Yeah," the blue haired girl answered. "How do you know our names?"
"Oh, me and Max are the ones who-" Max jabbed him in the ribs to get him to shut up before Gajeel could do it himself.
"Never mind about him, my name is Max and the idiot is Warren." She looked at him strangely but before anyone could answer the front door opened and a white haired girl popped her head out.
"You're finally here," she exclaimed happily. "Mira's been so worried that not everyone would show up today."
"Hey Lis'," Natsu greeted before walking passed her into the house, Max and Warren followed him but Gajeel stopped in front of Lisanna's curious gaze.
"Lisanna, this is Levy and Lucy." Gajeel introduced them.
"So nice to meet you, come inside." She herded them into the house like a mother hen. "It's a little crowded in here right now so we set up picnic tables in the backyard. Follow me."
The house was full of screaming kids and busy adults, Gajeel ignored it but the girls were looking around with wide eyes.
"Gajeel." Laxus' deep voice got his attention; the big man was standing off to the side and he waved Gajeel over before disappearing down a hallway. Gajeel went to follow, not noticing the look of curiosity that Levy gave his turned back. That side of the house was quiet because everyone else was in the kitchen or the back yard so they could talk in private.
"I just got a very interesting phone call from Erza." Laxus began as they faced each other. "She let it slip that they know we are somehow involved in Zoldeo's murder."
"She said that?" Gajeel's stomach sank a little, he didn't know how the police could have found out about him or Levy.
"Not in so many words, but she said a murder and that's the only one I know off unless there's something you're not telling me."
Gajeel shook his head so Laxus continued. "She didn't mention you at all and you're name isn't in the official report, yet. Freed confirmed that they are after Natsu for that stunt he pulled with the hair dresser but he had nothing to do with the murder. At the very least they know that you are somehow involved, hopefully they don't start looking at you as a suspect or we could be in real trouble."
If they knew about him then that meant they probably knew about Levy too. "So what do we do?" He asked.
"Nothing for now, we just have to make sure they don't find out what is really going on. We need to focus on the meeting tonight, one wrong move there could get us killed and this is getting more and more complicated."
Gajeel nodded, complicated didn't even begin to describe what was going on here and it wasn't anywhere close to being over yet.
What is in Gajeel's file that makes everyone go Banana's when they read it? Mama Freed to the rescue!
Edit: So while editing this my computer screwed up about five times. I am not sure how throughout I was the fifth time around getting all the typo's :'D so forgive my sloppy skills!