Chapter 26: Undercover & Uncover
"Okay guys are you ready?" Lucy asked Wendy and Sherria, the two smaller girls nodded in reply. Lucy smirked at them and peaked her head out of the alleyway the three were camped out in, it was pretty late at night so not too many people were out in the street which was perfect for their plan, less chance of people getting hurt. Lucy looked up at a nearby building's rooftop where Meredy was crouched on the ledge they made eye contact and Meredy gave her the signal they had come up with. Lucy nodded and looked back towards the small girls again who had gotten dressed in outfits that disguised their faces. This plan had to work, they had come up with it a little while after the two newly formed teams had left the restaurant the day prior. Lucy rubbed her eyes and let out a small yawn, she hadn't gotten any sleep last night yet again, her brain just focused on how they were going to get Natsu back.
"Lucy...Are you sure they will come?" Wendy asked with uncertainty Lucy nodded her head. It had to work.
"Positive. You two just need to cause a big enough scene."
"Yeah Wendy! Don't worry! Besides it could be fun, when's the last time you and I sparred?" Sherria grinned, and Wendy beamed at her friend.
"Hey, you're right!"
"That's the spirit!" Lucy grinned and once again peaked her head out of the alley Lyon sat inside a car parked on the side of the street, he flashed his lights a few times once he was positive there were no innocent people on the street that could be hurt.
"Showtime…" Lucy muttered while ducking behind a few boxes they had strategically stacked, Wendy and Sherria nodded in unison.
"You ready?" Wendy asked her friend who braced herself for Wendy to attack her.
"Yeah...Show me what you got!" Wendy's smile turned serious as she inhaled a deep breath and let out a vortex of wind from her mouth similar to Natsu, and Gajeel. Sherria made no effort to avoid the oncoming gale and was sent flying backwards onto the empty street. She flipped in the air.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" She yelled out playing up her role, while she was in midair she formed a ball of black wind in her hand and shot it at Wendy who dodged the blast allowing it to hit a nearby lamppost causing it to fly out of the ground. Wendy leapt into the air and conformed her hand in the shape of a claw, when she was close to Sherria she swung it at her face, Sherria raised her arm to block and sent Wendy crashing into the ground with a lightning quick kick. Lucy watched as Sherria floated back onto the ground, Wendy stood back up and the two continued their stage fight.
"Come on…..Please show up…." Lucy prayed looking around, their plan was simple enough. Wendy and Sherria were going to fight in the streets like they were now hopefully causing enough of a commotion that Mard Geer's taskforce showed up to put an end to it. When they showed up, Lyon, Lucy and Meredy would ambush them and incapacitate a few guards allowing them to sneak into Nirvana in disguise while Wendy and Sherria entered as prisoners. From there they would need to figure out where they were keeping everyone and come up with a way to break them out. Another loud crashing sound came from the street as Wendy had sent Sherria flying back into a window of a nearby store. Lucy winced as she watched it happen, her hand drifting to the scarf tied around her neck, she could still smell the faint smell of her salmon haired friend it immediately helped in calming her nerves.
Meredy looked down from the rooftop in which she had perched herself. She hoped this plan worked out, she owed Jellal and Ultear so much and it was her turn to help them out, she would be damned if she let them down. In that sense her and Lucy had seen perfectly eye to eye they both were taking it upon themselves to save the people who had saved them countless times. Meredy let out a sigh as Wendy and Sherria connected fists causing a large gust of wind to erupt from the contact.
Lyon was sitting inside of his car watching his young guildmate fight in awe at her talent, but he was also on the lookout for anyone to show up to put a stop to the fight, ever since he had heard that Ultear had been taken prisoner he had wanted nothing more than to find the freak responsible and beat them senseless for imprisoning his cousin. His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed two large black vans turn onto the street and begin driving towards Wendy and Sherria's fight. He grinned.
"It seems like phase one was successful.." He ducked down so that the people in the vans didn't see him as they drove by. Lucy and Meredy had also noticed this and began getting ready, reaching towards her belt Lucy gripped her whip, her fist tightening around the leather handle. Her mind replayed Natsu's advice from when he taught her how to hold her own in a fight. The memory seemed so distant, but right now she could remember it in vivid detail.
"You'll need to teach yourself more than just how to use that whip. Here put that down and get into your best fighting stance…" Following his instructions Lucy placed her whip down and got into a mediocre stance, Natsu smiled at her.
"What?" She questioned raising an eyebrow at her. Shaking his head he walked over to her.
"Here, the way you are standing right now all I have to do is this…" He gently pushed her and she stumbled, almost falling over.
"And you're vulnerable, so here, squat down a little bit more…That's good, now bend your knees a bit, perfect." Lucy was following all his instructions, and when Natsu attempted pushing her over, she didn't budge. Natsu nodded.
"Good, now stay in that position, the thing to keep in mind is you will more than likely be smaller than the other guy, so you need to be faster, and use their momentum against them.
"Okay I think I understand…"
Lucy peaked her head around the corner as the black vans came to a stop, Wendy and Sherria stopped fighting and were standing across from the vans in fighting positions. They watched as the sliding doors to both vans opened up and a group of roughly sixteen men and women came out each and every one of them wearing matching SWAT gear and held onto shields and batons. The members of the taskforce circled around the two girls who stood back to back.
"What is this?!" Sherria demanded her voice remaining calm despite the situation they were in.
"Allow me to explain…." A feminine voice came from the van, Lyon, Meredy, and Lucy all watched intently as a beautiful white haired woman emerged clad in a deep v-neck dress that left little to the imagination made entirely of white feathers, complete with white feathery wings on her back. Her white hair was done in a style where it curled in the shape of a halo.
"Angel…" Lucy stated in recognition of the woman, she was a member of the fake Crime Sorcière that Mard Geer employed Lucy recognized her from the broadcast that aired the night Natsu got taken by them. Angel walked with a sway in her hips all the way until she was in front of Wendy and Sherria who were giving her their best death glares.
"You are hereby under arrest!" She pointed a finger at the two dramatically, all the onlookers sweatdropped.
"No thanks….Now could you scram we were kind of in the middle of something…" Sherria shrugged Angel off confidentiality and then turned to face Wendy once more smirks on their faces. Angel's jaw dropped at their disrespect.
"E-Excuse me!" She stuttered her face turning red in embarrassment as the two girls continued ignoring her.
"I said…..EXCUSE ME!" She shrieked puffing her cheeks out as if she was throwing a tantrum, her cool demeanor vanishing immediately.
"You're excused ma'am!" Wendy smiled brightly at the woman who grew more furious at the two of the young girls. Sheriia giggled at her best friend, but hid it behind her hand to try and keep the image of them not liking each other. Lucy also cracked a smile at their antics, she looked over to Lyon's car where he was stealthily getting out of it he motioned his head at her silently telling her to follow him. Lucy nodded and tiptoed quietly across the street and joined Lyon in hiding behind his car. Meredy had also gotten down from the roof she was on and joined the other two. They continued to watch as Angel lost her temper at the young girls who were ignoring her.
"So...What's the plan" Meredy asked looking over to Lucy who was studying the scene and formulating a plan.
"We need to somehow break them apart…..Any suggestions?" Lucy muttered looking at the amount of guards that surrounded the three females. Lyon smirked.
"I got an idea…" Lyon whispered the two girls looked at him confused awaiting for him to elaborate but instead he slowly stood to his feet.
"You two wait here…." He commanded and walked away.
"Where are you going?!" Lucy hissed, Lyon just held up his finger to his lips shushing her. Lucy sighed and ducked behind the car again. Lyon sneakily moved over to one of the two parked vans, he looked over to make sure the situation between Angel, Wendy and Sherria hadn't escalated yet, thankfully it hadn't and Angel was just standing there in disbelief while Sherria and Wendy pretended to argue about something, they got right up in each other's faces and screamed.
"Atta girl Sherria…" Lyon smirked proudly and ducked behind one of the black vans. He ducked down and slid over to the driver side door, he attempted to open it, but it was locked. He sighed and placed his fist on his palm, the air turned cold as he formed an ice replica of the van's key. He used it to unlock the door, and once he climbed into the driver's seat he placed it inside the ignition and used it to start the van. Without wasting any time he hastily put the van in gear and sped off. The guards, Angel, Meredy and Lucy all watched on in absolute shock as the large van drove away.
"W-what are you all standing here for? Go get it back!" Angel yelled at her guards who all nodded, just as hoped they broke off none of them going back into the other van instead they all ran after it by foot, a handful stayed behind with Angel as she returned her glare on the two small girls.
"I have had enough of your games….Get the collars!" She yelled out at the guards who had stayed behind. Two ran towards the young girls who got into fighting positions. They knew they needed to get captured for the plan to work, but they also had to pretend to resist in order to keep their allusion up. As the guards closed in on them they moved to attack them, but Angel must have predicted they would do that. She flipped two golden coins into the air and a bright white light blinded the two young girls, when the light faded they found themselves looking at a large, muscular, bearded man holding a large golden hammer.
"What the heck?!" Sherria exclaimed as the man swung his hammer down onto them, they had no time to evade the attack and were sent back onto the ground. The man disappeared and the guards returned to what they were instructed to do as soon as he vanished.
"That's why they call me Angel…" Angel giggled as the two young girls still had trouble processing what had happened, was that a vision of some sort? Meanwhile Lucy and Meredy had run off in the direction Lyon had driven off in, They turned a corner and found the car parked with all four tires frozen solid a few guards were attempting to break the ice while others were standing around on guard duty.
"Psst...over here…." Lyon's voice whispered from an alleyway directly to their left they ran into it without a second thought where they were greeted to the sight of a grinning Lyon dressed in one of the guard's outfits. Lucy looked and found that there were three people frozen to the side of a building all of them knocked out, the one man was clad only in his hot pink boxers, Lyon blushed slightly.
"I uhhhh felt uncomfortable taking the clothes off an unconscious woman so I figured I'd leave those two for you…" He pointed at the other two guards frozen to the building, Meredy chuckled slightly while Lucy just rolled her eyes.
"Well then go away and let us change…." She hissed at him, he blushed slightly before putting his mask, goggles, and helmet on making him completely blend in with the others. He walked out of the alley leaving Lucy and Meredy to break the two girls out of the ice and remove their outfits. It was still slightly chilly out so Lucy and Meredy stripped down and got dressed in the guard's attire as fast as possible, they also felt bad at breaking the male out of the ice, but they still hid them under piles of garbage bags. Lucy stuffed her other clothes in a plastic bag and threw it behind a dumpster. Luckily she wore clothes she really didn't care about, she made sure to wrap Natsu's scarf under the guard uniform for safe keeping, and hooked her whip onto the belt loop of the uniform's pants. The two girls walked out of the alley just in time to come face to face with Angel who looked annoyed.
"There you two are! You're lucky I am nice enough to not just drive off without you! Hurry up and get in the van!...NOW!" She yelled at them.
"Yes ma'am!" Lucy and Meredy replied in unison. They rushed over to the van that previously had it's tires frozen solid. They climbed into it and found two open seats, Wendy was in the van as well she sat in a chair, her hands in cuffs and a strange collar on her neck. She sat across from the two Sherria or Lyon wasn't present in this van which meant that they had been separated. Lucy let out a shaky breath trying to calm her nerves, adrenaline pumped through every bit of her body, but so did anxiety. She was terrified for what came next, the easy part of their plan was taken care of, now came the hard part, successfully breaking their friends out of a supermax prison for incredibly strong people. She heard a strange noise besides her that sounded like someone sniffing, she looked around for the sound and that's when her eyes landed on somebody in the van that sent a shiver down her spine.
"What is that delectable parfum...it smells familiar." The short redheaded man muttered as he sniffed the air.
"Oh God….not him…." Lucy shut her eyes tightly and attempted to ignore the sniffing sounds.
"Excuse me, miss…..Have we met before? Your parfum is most familiar to me." Ichiya looked directly at Lucy who gulped.
"Shut up! Time to get this show on the road!" Angel smacked the back of his head as she walked into the van and slammed the door shut. She looked around for a seat and came to a stop in front of Meredy.
"You're in my spot." She muttered glaring down at the disguised girl, Meredy clenched her fist, but nonetheless stood up.
"My apologies…" She spoke insincerely and took the seat next to Wendy. Angel looked over to Lucy with a strange expression on her face.
"I don't believe we met before...You must be new huh?" She asked, Lucy looked down at her hands that she had in her lap.
"...That's right…." She responded, Angel smirked.
"Huh, that's cool….What's your name?" Lucy glanced at Meredy uncomfortably.
"...My name?" She asked awkwardly, Angel rolled her eyes.
"Yes….your name is that so hard?" Lucy swallowed nervously.
"Uh...it's umm...Lu...Ashley…" She stuttered, growing more uncomfortable by the second.
"Lu Ashley? That's a strange name…." Angel said but just shrugged and pulled out her phone as the van began moving. Lucy let out a shaky breath this was going to be a long drive, but she was so close to reuniting with Natsu, nothing would stand in her way now.
The sounds of a keyboard being typed on filled Levy's bedroom as she sat on her bed cross legged staring at her laptop screen, her eyes danced across the words on the screen from behind a pair of red glasses with a wing design, her bed was cluttered with several papers, and news articles she had printed out.
"This is insane….I can't find anything about Mard Geer…." She muttered to herself as she reached up and took off her glasses she stretched and cracked her neck and hands. She had been at this for hours, she had searched all across the web and all she could find were stories about his campaign and eventual mayoral victory.
"That's cause you ain't looking close enough…" A new voice in the room caused Levy to whip her head towards the window and let out a yelp. The large figure who now stood in her room had his arms crossed, he wore black jeans, a heavy metal bands t-shirt and a black leather jacket.
"Gajeel?! What are you doing here?!" Levy asked the man in disbelief who closed the window he had climbed through and took a seat in the chair next to her bed. He crossed his leg over his other one and gave the blue haired girl a grin.
"I told ya that you were going to need help. That's why I'm here gihee…" He reached into a bag that he had plopped onto the floor and pulled out a folder, he opened it up in his lap and pulled out a cutout of a newspaper. He handed it to Levy who took it curiously and studied the picture, however she had already seen the very same image online and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. It was just a picture of a restaurant that closed down five years ago.
"What am I looking at exactly?" Levy questioned the man sitting next to her. Gajeel smirked again.
"Do you know what restaurant that is?" He quizzed her and she rolled her eyes at him.
"It was some old steakhouse my parents used to take me too when I was a kid….what about it?" She dropped the picture onto her bed with the rest of her research.
"That's what they wanted you to see...Lucky for you I grew up a street rat so I have connections." Gajeel reached back into his file but Levy blinked at him a few times.
"You were homeless?" She asked gently and slightly saddened by the thought. Gajeel shrugged and stopped flipping through his folder.
"For awhile...My pops died when I was young, eventually I was taken in by Phantom Lord and Jose." Levy frowned.
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that…"
"It's fine….." Gajeel looked down at the ground.
"I-umm, I'm also sorry…." He muttered, Levy looked at him confused.
"For what?"
"You know….for the stuff I did when I was in Phantom Lord….like when I knocked you out." Gajeel rubbed his neck awkwardly. Levy stared at him.
"It's okay…" She smiled brightly at him causing him to look at her confused.
"No it's not….I did some really bad things."
"Yeah you did...but you're making up for it now! You helped Natsu fight Laxus...You joined Fairy Tail…." Levy started as her mind wandered to when Laxus had shot a blast of lightning at her, and Gajeel had jumped in the way, suddenly her heart began to flutter.
"You saved my life…." She added softly, and Gajeel blinked a few times a pink dusting grazed his cheeks.
"Yeah, well…...Don't go getting used to it…" He blushed and Levy smiled softly.
"Awww so the big bad woof is capable of being embarrassed." Levy joked, Gajeel made a face.
"Shutup!" Gajeel hissed at her causing Levy to giggle.
"Okay, okay….Now tell me what did your connections say about this place?" Levy changed the subject holding up the picture once more, Gajeel's blush subsided and he returned to being serious.
"Right, well they told me that back in the day that restaurant served as one of several fronts for the Balam Alliance, they made a pretty penny from that place and it served them well until they were caught." He explained, Levy listened to him intently wondering how she hadn't found that information out earlier.
"Interesting, but what does this have to do with Mard Geer?"
"I was getting there ya shrimp. So after I had heard this I used my detective instincts to look through the transaction history of that particular building and I found out who had bought it back then." He pulled out a piece of paper that looked to Levy like a receipt. She read it over and found the name of the purchaser.
"M.G. Tartaros?" She read out loud and confused Gajeel grinned.
"Tartaros is the head honcho of the Balam Alliance, and M.G. could stand for…"
"Mard Geer?" Levy finished. She glanced at Gajeel, a grin growing on her face.
"That is incredible, you are pretty good at this…" She smirked, Gajeel shrugged at the compliment.
"Jose used to have me do stuff like this all the time back in the day, guess I just have a knack for it."
"Apparently so…" Levy looked down at the newfound evidence, at the very least it was a good starting point in connecting Mard Geer to the Balam Alliance. There was a knock on the door and it opened seconds later.
"Levy dear dinner's ready…" Her mom walked in and blinked a few times taking in the disaster that was on Levy's bed, her eyes then met Gajeel's who glanced at Levy confused.
"Oh...Ummmm….Whose this?" She asked her daughter in regards to Gajeel.
"Oh! Mom this is Gajeel, he's my friend from school, we are working on a project together…" Levy lied, Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow at her.
"Friends?" He asked her, she smiled warmly.
"Yeah we're friends!" Levy chimed, and something warm filled Gajeel's gut as he looked at her. Friends? He had never had one of those….and he liked the sound of it.
"Oh that's lovely! Nice to meet you Gajeel...would you like to stay for dinner perhaps? We made sushi." Levy's mom beamed at him, Gajeel's stomach rumbled, it had been ages since he had a home cooked meal, he glanced at Levy again silently asking if that was okay, but she had spoken up for him.
"He'd love to!"
"Oh that's perfect! I'll let your father know to make an extra plate!" Her mother smiled brightly as she walked out of the room, Levy followed her mother, but Gajeel stayed rooted in his chair.
"Oh come on ya big lug, my dad makes the best sushi!" She then walked out of the room leaving Gajeel to awkwardly follow behind her.
The van came to a stop after an agonizingly long ride that had lasted hours. Angel stood up from her seat next to Lucy and stretched letting out a big yawn.
"Looks like we're here...Alright! Start unloading the prisoners!" She commanded and walked over to the sliding door and hopped out. Lucy stood up as did Meredy the two of them grabbed Wendy who somehow could tell it was them and pushed her out.
"I demand you release me, this is no way for a gentleman to be treated!" Ichiya yelled out as a couple of guards threw him face first onto the ground. Lucy looked around and found Lyon still in disguise holding the back of Sherria's shirt. She looked around the large room in surprise, it was huge. The guards all stood facing a large sliding door that had opened up revealing a tall figure with dark skin, and white hair wearing a lab coat he grinned wickedly and had his hands crossed behind my back.
"Ah, Angel it's nice to have you back...I see you brought some new prisoners." The man noted glancing between the three in cuffs.
"Obviously Brain, now if you excuse me I am going to see my sister…" Angel tried to move past him, but Brain lifted a hand to prevent her from going around him.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that, we have started prisoner five's ethernano removal procedure, so she is a bit preoccupied as is patient seven...that traitorous Hoteye is getting what he deserves for turning his back on us…" Angel glared at Brain and got right up in his face.
"You told me you wouldn't touch Yukino!" She snapped anger present in his voice, and Brain just shrugged her off.
"I didn't lay a hand on her...I have more qualified people than me operating on her…"
"Damn you…" Angel glared at him and stormed forward bumping her shoulder with him as she stomped past, Brain smiled deviously.
"Oh angel will you do me a favor….Tell Cobra that if I catch him visiting prisoner two again I will have no other choice than to move her to solitary….She's not of any use to me anyway I have already drained her ethernano…." Angel nodded her head and stormed off through the sliding doors. Lucy gulped as the man known as Brain turned his attention on them.
"Welcome to Nirvana! As of right now you are hereby known as prisoners nine, ten, and eleven...You will best follow the rules, I do not wish to harm any of you….yet….Keep yourselves in line or else you will find yourself in a similar state as prisoner eight…." Wendy made eye contact with Sherria horrified by the man in front of them. Meredy felt her skin crawl as his eyes landed on her, and Lyon stood there perfectly still, Lucy however wondered who this prisoner eight was and why Brain singled him out.
"Those collars around the three of your necks are there to nullify your special traits….so in other words you cannot use your powers. We control you from now on, how you live, when you eat, sleep, drink, even when you use the bathroom...guards give them their jumpsuits and then take them to their cells!" Brain commanded and then turned to exit the room. A bunch of guards followed the order, they thrusted grey jumpsuits into Wendy, Sherria, and Ichiya's arms.
"Follow me." One guard with his helmet off revealing his white hair spoke to Lucy, Meredy, Lyon and the guards holding Ichyia. They all nodded and followed him down the halls. Lucy tried her best to keep her nerves steady, they had come so far...but this place was intimidating there were guards everywhere. Men with lab coats also walked around all over the place, they passed what Lucy assumed was the cafeteria due to the large swarm of guards sitting down conversing while eating. Finally they turned down a hall that was lined with prison cells on both sides. They began walking down it slowly, Lucy looked at them, each of them was filled with a single person and a number on the side of it. Meredy and Lyon grew stiff as they passed a cell with the number four on it, Lucy glanced at the woman inside and recognized Ultear watching them with a glare. Suddenly the man they were following came to a stop making them all stop in their tracks as well. He chuckled and banged on the glass.
"You okay there number eight? You look like death." He laughed at whoever was inside the cell, Lucy saw the number written next to the cell, eight. Lucy awaited for whoever was in the cell to reply, but after a few seconds with no reply Erigor spoke up again.
"Ohhhh the silent treatment huh? Fine be that way...bout time you shut up anyway." With that he began walking forward again, Lucy couldn't help but look inside the cell as she walked past. Her heart broke the second her eyes landed on the man inside, he was bruised and battered, his colorful hair was covered in dirt, there were bags under his eyes, and strange purple marks all over his body, but despite all this Lucy recognized him at once. He looked up and his green eyes normally so energetic and full of love looked at her's, she hoped he recognized her, but then she saw the look in his eyes, they were cold, full of sorrow and hate...What had they been doing to him?
"Natsu…" She whispered sadly, so quiet that not even she could quite make out the name she had spoken. She forced herself to look away unable to watch him suffer like he was right now. She needed to get him out of here, as she walked passed though he actually spoke.
"Wendy?..." He asked quietly his voice was hoarse, and cracky it sounded like he hadn't had a sip of water in days. Erigor stopped yet again and walked back up to Natsu's cell.
"You know her huh?" He grinned maliciously, Lucy felt her blood begin to boil, she just wanted to start beating the crap out of every guard she saw.. Meredy was in the same boat as her eyes and found Jellal who was watching her intently as if he knew something was up.
"When I get out of here Erigor…" Natsu growled, and limped over to the glass staring Erigor down.
"Oh come now Salamander...we both know you'll be dead in two days...you aren't ever leaving…But now I have thought of another way I can tortue you…" He grinned while Natsu snarled at him. Erigor turned around and pointed at Lucy who was processing the statement he had just made about Natsu being dead soon.
"You there! Bring prisoner ten over here now!" He commanded. Lucy stood stationary for a second in defiance. Erigor clenched his fist and glared at her as he marched forward.
"I said bring her over!" He grasped Wendy's collar and pulled her out of Lucy's grasp. He stalked back over to Natsu's cell who was glaring daggers at him.
"If you lay one finger on her!" Natsu threatened, but Erigor chuckled.
"You'll what? Kill me? I don't think so...I know you hero types….you can never cross that line...Which means I can do this…" He pulled out a knife and slashed Wendy's cheek who yelped in pain. Sherria growled and tried to charge at him, but Lyon held her back tightly. He hated this as much as her, but they had to stay strong if they were going to get everyone out of here. Natsu pounded at the glass in an attempt to break out of it, but Erigor just laughed.
"And you won't do a thing about it…" Erigor finished and put his knife back. Natsu continued pounding at the glass. Erigor kept laughing as he walked away.
"I'll see you early in the morning….Sweet dreams Salamander…" Erigor dragged Wendy away leaving Lucy to follow behind slowly, she snuck one last look at Natsu who gave her a dirty glare unaware that it was her underneath the disguise. Her heart hurt as she looked away.
"Please hang in there Natsu, we'll find a way out of this…." She whispered her heart balling up in a fist gripping her chest area tightly where her heart was beating rapidly. She heard Natsu begin coughing while Jellal told him to take it easy as they opened three empty cells for the new prisoners.
Chapter 27: Frozen Flames
MERRY XMAS! :D