Re-Edited [02.21.23]

Back to regular update schedule, so as always, happy Wednesday people!

and...Onward!

24

-Our Girls-

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt," Edo Cana interjected herself into the conversation politely.

The strategizing group paused to turn their attention to the brunette standing before them with her hands clasped in front of her. "Lucy, the stealth team just called to check in, they need to speak with you." The leather clad blonde quirked an eyebrow, they weren't due to check in for a few days yet. She met her pink-haired partner's eyes with a level of unspoken concern.

"Is everything okay?" Lucy and Gray asked almost simultaneously, and the other blonde shrugged an unsure shoulder as she rose to follow the brunette.

The group watched the girls walk away until Lisanna elaborated for them. "The stealth team is positioned at Sycca, on the outskirts of the walled kingdom. They were specializing in communication and support operations for me and my siblings as the undercover unit, but… well, that obviously isn't needed anymore."

Gray fixed her with a curious glance, and Lucy could practically hear the question on his mind. It was the same on hers. They knew Edo Mira was in captivity, but they hadn't heard anything of their Elfman. Gray's eyes flicked passed her, he hesitated briefly before gingerly asking, "What happened to Elfman?"

Lisanna flinched visibly, before turning cold eyes on him. Then she stood and stalked away from the table without a word, leaving Gray and Lucy to gawk after her. Edo Natsu sighed, running his fingers through unruly bangs and repositioned the goggles he had on his head. "Please don't think badly of Lis, she hasn't always been like that..." he said softly.

"What... what happened Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"Elfman lost his life attempting to free a captured dragon slayer," the pink-haired man replied. It was a blunt truth, not dampened by any attempt to shield Lucy or Gray from the painful reality and Lucy couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips. She covered her mouth with her hands, feeling the sting of tears at the news. It was strange, she'd never met Elfman's counterpart, but learning of his death was like learning one of her own Fairy Tail family had met the same fate. Sighing, Edo Natsu continued when the table remained silent. "He'd always been quiet, gentle, he didn't like violence. He only agreed to infiltrate the guard to protect his sisters, but in the end, I guess he couldn't watch someone innocent suffer. Haru killed him. Mirajane was imprisoned, and Lisanna hid until the opportunity to escape to Earthland presented itself."

Eyes widening, Lucy realized Lisanna's behaviour was making more and more sense, love and loss can do a lot to a person's trust and faith in others. Especially if one of those others happened to have the same face as the man who killed your brother. She dropped her eyes as Edo Natsu quieted again, and everyone sat under heavy silence as they absorbed the information or relived the loss.

"Hey, Other-Me! Other-Gray! –Get over here," Edo Lucy called from across the base, waving them over enthusiastically. The two summoned mages glanced at each other and got up to approach the blonde hovering over a communication lacrima. As they got closer Lucy heard her name being cheered in an echoey sound, she peered around the other Lucy's shoulder to find a fuzzy image of Erza smiling at her in relief.

"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed. Her counterpart dropped into a chair out of the way to give them better access the lacrima, mumbling about how weird it was to see a 'friendly Erza,' as she did so. "It is so good to see you –and Wendy too," Lucy added cheerfully when the pigtailed girl popped up.

"So that just leaves Natsu and Haru unaccounted for then?" Gray asked the redhead, placing a hand on Lucy's back as he leaned over her shoulder.

The way Wendy quickly turned away to avoid their eyes, and the flash of uncertainty that settled in Erza's eyes didn't go unmissed by Lucy, and she suddenly felt uneasy. "Well, uh, I don't know about Haru… But up until yesterday evening, Natsu was with us." Lucy grit her teeth and Erza averted her eyes a moment, "Haru Knightwalker took him."

Eyes flickering over to the considering look her double was watching her with, Lucy clicked her tongue. "Natsu will be fine, he's too strong to give into them. We were just working on forming an assault team with Fairy Tail resistance when you checked in. Jus meet us outside the East Gate of the Kingdom, at noon," Lucy instructed.

Edo Lucy nodded, agreeing with her counterpart's directions as she leaned back in her chair and kicked her heels up onto the table next to the lacrima. "And be ready, we're storming the castle," she added.

Stealth Team Hideout

Erza shifted back in her seat, bidding Lucy a farewell so Bisca could slip in and talk out some details with the two Lucys. She was genuinely impressed with her friend taking charge. The stellar mage was usually quick to offer ideas and help strategize, but she was never the one to throw out commands, least of all to her. The redhead turned to her young comrade who had shifted to another table and was gnawing on some stale bread and dried fruit of some kind with the cats.

"Hey," Erza greeted as she sat down across from Wendy, "we're leaving to meet up with Lucy and the others in a few hours, we're going to get Natsu out and help Edo Fairy Tail take down the Elite Guard."

The teen watched her as she chewed slowly, swallowed and nodded, her eyes dropped to the table momentarily as she pondered something. "Erza, I want to get stronger," she suddenly declared, meeting the knight's gaze with a new fire. "Will you help me train? I never want a friend to be taken or hurt because they are protecting me again."

Erza smiled and reached across the table to take the girl's hand in her own. "You got it. As soon as we get home, I will start teaching you hand-to-hand, but I think you should ask Natsu or Haru for help refining your magic."

Wendy gave her a toothy grin, reminiscent of their pink-haired dragon slayer. Reaching out for a chunk of bread as well, Erza broke a piece off and popped in her mouth. The girls and the cats continued to chat, trying to distract themselves from the upcoming mission. Across the sparse living space, Warren and Alzac were working with another series of radio and recording lacrima that fed them audio and visual feedback within the castle walls. The Strauss siblings had set them up in various key locations prior to being exposed as rebels. Bisca was still chatting behind them and Erza picked up bits of the conversation as the sharpshooter was debriefed on their plan. It sounded like the rebels had access to an armoured vehicle of some kind that they needed to retrieve before the planned departure, in order to accommodate the large group. Erza took a deep breath, internally sending good luck to her comrades.

Halfheartedly observing the activity around her, Erza was taken off guard when the steady approach of a heavy magic pressure settled over her. A subtle look at the little bluenette across from her said she was the only one that had noticed the significant power signature. Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth she stood as casually as possible, trying not worry Wendy.

"I'm going to go check something out, I will be right back Wendy," Erza told her.

Looking at her with a quirked eyebrow, Wendy simply shrugged and let her head off without any questioning. The power Erza felt was definitely a natural magic signature, not the same as the magic she could sense from a weapon like Edo Haru's, so it had to be from Earthland. Lucy and Gray were at Fairy Tail's base of operations, and their magic wasn't this intense anyway... Ideally, that left Haru but she'd only felt him give off this kind of power in Dragon Force. She couldn't imagine, if it was Haru, how he'd managed to enter the state willingly, or what could have pissed him off enough to trigger the shift.

She pulled the hood of her cloak up and hid her face behind her mask again as she exited the building. Looking around to find the streets quiet again, she leapt up and easily scaled the building to the roof. The magic power was moving toward her quickly, but even straining her eyes, she couldn't see anything yet. Then, in the distance she noted a purply aura, prompting her to requip and prepare to meet the unknown threat.

Flexing her wings, Erza launched into the sky to meet the incoming mage. Haru didn't have access to flight magic, so she was officially at a loss. She flew as fast as her Black Wing armour could carry her and cut off the path of the other. She gasped in shock as she took in the wild white hair and bat-like wings of her unexpected guildmate.

"MIRA?!"

"Erza?!"

The other woman tucked a wing to roll to the side, narrowly missing an aerial collision, and Erza spun in the air as Mira went careening by. The white-haired girl quickly spread her wings, slowing her flight and looped around to hover in front of the redhead. "Erza, thank goodness!" she breathed, pulling the knight in for a hug, "it's such a relief to see you!"

Erza was slack jawed as she searched for words, stuttering out in confusion as Mira brought her to arm's length and took in the stunned expression. "No time right now, I will explain later. The Kingdom's got Haru," she said hastily.

Finally snapping out of her stupor, the redhead growled back, "Fuck. They've got Natsu too..."

"Oh no, is Wendy okay?"

Nodding, Erza took her friend's hand, "Yes, she's with me, come on."

Mira followed the other S Class down to a simple building as the redhead began to update her on everyone's locations, in addition to the slowly shaping plan to storm the castle. The women landed on the ground, both releasing their transformations as they entered the temporary hideout of Fairy Tail's stealth unit.

Lucy

"What's up ice puff, can't keep up?"

Lucy's eyes widened as Gray poured more magic into the Ice Make bike. The bike's wheels spun to gain traction and the blonde squealed and wrapped her arms tighter around his waist as the bike shot forward.

She still couldn't get over the 180 degree flip on Edo Natsu's personality. Put him on his bike and he was as a brash, competitive and bold as her own Natsu. "Is that all you got?!" the now aptly named Fireball shot back over his shoulder.

Lucy watched as he recklessly guided the bike with one hand, letting the other slide up the outside of Edo Lucy's thigh on the back of his bike. The fondling didn't go unnoticed by his third passenger, seated behind the blonde. Lucy could kind of make out the sounds of Levy barking at them to spare her eyes after slapping the man's hand.

"He's like a different person!" Lucy called to Gray over the wind.

"He is Natsu! Ya know— aside from the motion sickness—I am itching to punch the smug right off his face."

The pair of bikes sped over the barren ground toward the eastern gate. Originally, the plan had been to have Edo Lucy and Natsu go pick up his six-seater car to accommodate everyone joining the mission. Natsu kept it hidden on the outskirts of a small eastern town because its size made it difficult to keep hidden from the Kingdom. The rebel group relied on Edo Natsu's bike the most because, despite the fire-red colour, it was discreet and easily maneuverable through streets and rural areas alike. But when Gray pointed out that he could mold a second bike from ice magic and each bike could handle the driver and one to two passengers depending on their size, they decided to take advantage of the saved time.

The two Lucys, sandwiched between their drivers and Levy and Lisanna respectively, were in charge of knocking back any attacks from the monstrous desert creatures that popped up sporadically. They couldn't afford the time to slow or stop the bikes, especially with Gray's bike being a constant drain on his magic. So far, they hadn't had to deal with too many interruptions to their trip. The occasional beast popped up and depending on the side, one of the blondes would let loose the stream of power from a magic whip each of them wielded. But when they were truly in the middle of nowhere, about halfway through their journey, a pair of large amphibious creatures burst from the sand to close in on each side of the speeding bikes.

Noticing the tongues springing toward the vehicles, Lucy pulled the whip from her belt again and released its magic power. The bright blue concentration of ethernano unfurled to snap along beside Gray's bike. She snapped the condensed cord of magic through the air to strike out at one frog-beast as Edo Lucy did the same to the one on their other side, a few meters ahead from Natsu's bike. The smaller beast on Lucy's side shrieked and immediately burrowed under the ground, but the larger of the two shook it off and leapt into the air, its shadow falling across the bikes.

Lucy gasped, standing immediately and Lisanna quickly braced her at the hips to steady her. She gathered the magic of her Star Reform when she realized the whip wouldn't provide enough power to prevent the creature from crashing into their bikes. "Star Refrom: Arrows!" she screamed, unleashing a series of large golden arrows to fly over Edo Natsu's bike and into the soft belly of the beast. With a guttural cry, it crashed to the ground, shooting up a plume of dust in front of them.

Cursing loudly, Edo Natsu reflexively whipped the bike around the frog. The side of his bike skimmed the sands as he narrowly avoided the collision while his passengers screamed their displeasure and clung to him desperately. The resulting quake of sand caused Gray's own bike to absorb a rough ride before Lucy had been able to return to her seat and large bump knocked her off balance. The stellar mage yelped and reached for purchase on the ice mage's shoulder, but Lisanna quickly tightened the bracing grip she had on the her right hip and helped ease her back down to her seat before she could fall.

Lucy glanced over her shoulder, and offered a breathless thanks to the white-haired girl as Edo Natsu slowed his bike to fall in alongside Gray's. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, shit, that was a close one!" Gray responded.

"All's good thanks to my badass girl here!" Edo Lucy announced, leaning across the small gap between their bikes to spank the side of her counterpart's ass, pulling a surprised squeak of protest from Lucy.

"Good," Edo Natsu stated, "let's speed this up then, we're almost there."

Natsu

Light assaulted Natsu as consciousness slowly filtered back to clarity. He cracked his eyes open and immediately regretted the action, screwing them shut again as his head throbbed in protest. Swallowing waves of nausea, he slowly opened his eyes again to assess the greenish tone his skin was adopting. He was fully aware of the symptoms of Magic Deficiency Syndrome... Clearly his plan to release as much magic power into the machine as possible whenever he was drained was back firing, hard. And much to his irritation, it hadn't been at all effective.

Apparently, the machine had fail-safes installed, so when the dials crept into the red zones, an emergency shut down was automatically triggered. Natsu rolled his head to the right to find the Iron Slayer's head slumped forward, his mane of unruly black hair falling over his shoulders, hiding his face. On his left, Haru was still awake, though his eyes appeared unfocused. The Water Slayer hadn't been here as long as he and Gajeel, so he wasn't feeling the effects as strongly yet. Natsu had no idea how long Gajeel, had been subjected to magic extraction, alone—mind you, before he was dragged in. So, it was no wonder the other man was in and out of consciousness frequently now.

"Haru, how're you holding up?"

Focus sharpened Haru's eyes again as he returned his gaze. "Better than you, man." Natsu chuckled, though the subtle cockiness he would have expected to hear in his partner's tone was absent. Haru looked him over appraisingly, before adding, "you should stop trying to overpower the machine… you're looking a little green."

The redheaded hunter pushed off the wall with a look of absolute glee. "What happened to all that earlier bravado?" she taunted with a voice that prematurely claimed victory.

The Twin Dragons glared back, fixing her with equally defiant looks, and a mumbled, "Fuck. You." came from the slumped form of the Iron Slayer.

Natsu laughed and gave Edo Erza a lopsided grin as he said, "Yeah, what Metal-Head said!" That earned a slight drop of the woman's amused smile. "We're dragon slayers, it'll take more than your toys to take us down."

"Many dragon slayers before you three, have said so as well," the hunter growled back in counter before Edo Haru wandered in looking as indifferent as ever. Edo Erza turned after noticing his arrival and moved to join him. "What are you doing here, babe?" she asked, running the flat of her hand over his chest and up to the nape of his neck as his eyes raked over the form of his counterpart.

"Fucking weird seeing myself chained up on the machine," he drawled without taking his eyes off Haru's.

The water mage quirked an eyebrow and didn't break the eye contact either. "Yeah? Well seeing myself get groped by Erza is really weird too, counterparts or not." The other two dragon slayers chuckled dryly in response but the Knightwalkers ignored them.

"Just wanted to let you know, I'm headed back out," Edo Haru told his partner as he looped his free arm around her waist and let her pull him down for kiss. When they broke apart, she asked his reason and he replied that he had unfinished business. Without looking at the chained dragon slayers, he told her, "I've got a little dragon to go pick up."

Catching the unspoken message, Natsu threw himself forward against his restraints. "You leave Wendy alone! We had a fucking deal!" he shouted in fury.

Edo Erza glanced back to eye the restrained trio, grinning smugly at the Fire Slayer, "Ohh, so the dragon does roar."

Turning slightly toward them with his staff lazily balanced over his shoulder and his other arm still wrapped around the redhead's waist, Edo Haru shot a derisive look at Natsu. "I did leave your little dragon and the other Erza unharmed, but, I made no promises about not going back for her."

"You touch one hair on her head, and you will regret it!" Haru vowed with an equally dangerous look to mirror his partner's.

The male hunter turned back to the redhead in his embrace, promptly ignoring the wrathful threats from the mages behind them. "I'll be back soon," he told her, kissing her one last time before he strode out of the room, spinning his staff as he went. He could hear the angry shouts of the dragon slayers all the way down the hall as he departed.

Lucy

Skidding the bikes to a stop near the small group of people waiting outside the east gate, the passengers clambered off quickly and Gray let his ice creation dissolve away. Lucy bounced over to the Erza and Wendy cheering out a greeting. But she froze in her movements upon spotting Mira and pointed dumbly at the woman. The stellar mage's mind searched for a reasonable explanation for her presence, had she broken out of prison on her own? Or had Fairy Tail's stealth team done so with Erza's and Wendy's help already?

"Don't hurt yourself Lucy," Mira giggled. Lucy blinked back. Wait… she'd know that taunting anywhere.

"Mira?! What are you doing here?!" she yelped in surprise.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you once we bust the guys out—oh my," Mira cut herself off, a hand coming up to cover the mirth playing at her smile.

Wendy squeaked and spun away, and Lucy took in the blush crawling over the redhead's cheeks before she looked over her shoulder to follow their gazes. Edo Natsu had parked his bike and had dragged her counterpart onto his lap, caging her between himself and the bike's handlebars. They were enthralled in a rather aggressive kiss to the sound of Gray's whistling, and Happy's cat calls. Lucy spun away when she realized she was staring open mouthed at the couple.

Mira leaned toward Erza conspiratorially, "I told you Natsu and Lucy made a cute couple!" she gushed loud enough for the Lucy to hear. Lucy's blush grew exponentially in response to her friends' teasing, and she hid her heated cheeks behind her hands.

Edo Lucy practically leapt off the bike upon noticing all the attention, sporting a bright red blush of her own. She put some distance between her and her boyfriend, clearly not used to public displays of affection that put her in such a submissive position. Edo Levy burst out laughing and immediately launched into taunting the frazzled blonde. "Be careful," Edo Natsu stated, briefly drawing the blonde's attention back just as the two girls launched into a fight. "I'm going to go get the car now, and pick up our reinforcements." Edo Lucy nodded back numbly, and he smiled as he revved the bike and tore back out into the desert sands.

"She looooves him," Happy cooed after taking in the blondes' matching blushes, and, not knowing who he was mocking, the two women barked back in unison.

"SHUT UP! Stupid cat!" both women yelled, causing most of the group peel off in laughter.

Lisanna walked toward the center of the group, a hand on her hip and an irritated expression on her face. "Do I need to remind you all that we have friends to free?" she asked dryly.

"Right," Erza confirmed, "okay, I say we split up into two groups, one goes after Mirajane, and the other, our Twin Dragons."

Edo Lucy nodded, "I agree, we go in hard people, no stealth this time. You run into guardsmen, you take them down, they won't hesitate to kill you if you give them the chance, so don't give it to them," she warned. The team eyed each other, but no one backed down, they nodded their understanding. "Lisanna comes with me to free Mirajane, obviously. We could use one of you Earthlanders as well, in case we lose our weapons…"

"Yes of course, listen up!" The redhead commanded, her air of authority pulling everyone's attention immediately, Edolas or Earthland alike. "Mira and Lucy will take Wendy to find the guys, you should be able to follow her nose. Gray and I will accompany Edo Lucy and Lisanna to help Mirajane." She paused taking in the petit bluenette, not knowing her skill set well yet. "What team do you think your skills are best suited for?"

Levy smirked, "Well I'm not going anywhere with the dominatrix reject over there, unless I have to," she began, ignoring the blonde's angry rebuttals. "But more importantly, I want to get a good look at the machine they're feeding dragon slayer magic to."

"Okay then, we've got our teams, until we've got Haru back to link us telepathically, each team has a communication lacrima. Be safe, and let's keep each other updated!" Erza called.

. . .

Sprinting through the hallways with their magics at the ready, Lucy's group was taking her counterpart's words very seriously. No stealth this time, you run into guardsmen, you take them down!

They moved in a diamond formation with Mira leading the way. Lucy had been more than a little shocked when her sweet friend had obscured herself in a deep purple aura that faded to reveal the fabled Satan Soul, that she'd only heard stories about. Even as Lucy covered their blind spots from potential ambushes from behind, she found herself glancing over Mira's transformation in awe a few times. When had she released her magic power? And what had happened to push her that far?

Their weaker team members stayed between them. Though, Wendy and Levy were far from helpless. Wielding a pair of pistols that she'd apparently designed herself, Levy had already taken out a good number of enemies herself. Her magic pistols were able to channel concentrated ethernano bullets of whatever element she called for. Lucy was seriously impressed with the capabilities of Edolas tech. Mira had asked Wendy to keep a cap on her own magic, unless strictly necessary to protect herself or them, thus conserving her power for the guys. Finally, Carla and Happy flew on either side of the group, ready to get them out if needed.

Mira sent a ball of pulsing dark magic down the hall to bowl over a squad charging them. This was becoming common, the guards taking their presence lightly, as a group of supposedly helpless girls. But Lucy had to assume, at least some of the fleeing people would be alerting the Elite Guard, and King Faust to their intrusion. So far, they'd only come across grunts that were barely a blip on their radar.

"LEFT!" Wendy called, as the team approached an intersection of hallways and without slowing, the foursome swiftly rounded the corner to follow the little slayer's nose. Lucy whipped around, sliding on the balls of her feet when the momentum carried her back. Snapping the basic magic whip she still had in her possession, she knocked out another trio of guards attacking from the back. There was no point in wasting her own magic at this point, the enemies they were encountering weren't worth it. As the men groaned at the strike, the blonde spun to catch up with her group who hadn't slowed to wait.

"RIGHT!" They turned again to enter a wider hallway, and shadow with only dim amber light surrounded them. Until now, the dark had been kept at bay by the natural light of arched stone windows that had punctuated the halls. "The laboratory is right ahead! On the left!"

Likely proving Wendy's words correct, the redheaded hunter stepped out into the hallway, sliding a heavy metal door shut behind her. She turned, slamming the butt of her spear into the stone floor and set a hand on a cocked hip. Mira didn't even slow, kicking off the ground as she leapt forward with a sharp snap of her wings, increasing her speed exponentially. She spun in the air and drove her foot into the other woman's chest, sending both soaring down the hall before Lucy had even registered what had happened. Apparently, years of suppressing her own magic, had done nothing to dampen the demon-soul mage's combat prowess.

Explosions of magic burst out down the hall as the pair collided and Lucy took the opportunity to try to wrench the heavy door open to get to the guys, but to no avail. She snagged Taurus' key off her belt and was about to summon him to smash through with brute strength, when another set of footsteps echoed steadily through the hall.

"I really must thank you for saving me the time of hunting..."

Lucy's head swivelled, the bull's key still in her fingers and her lips parted in surprise at the timely interruption. She eyed the other Haru wearily, as she swapped out the key. Edo Haru stopped to assess them, eye's raking over Lucy and her companions as he drummed his fingers along the shaft of his weapon with an air of indifference.

"And you brought her all the way to Byro for me as well," he added with a sadistic grin at the teen. Levy stepped forward to shield the Sky Slayer and aimed a pistol at the hunter. He simply arched a brow in amusement, "ah, and a rebel Fairy! Think if I asked nicely, I could get you to lead me to your friends?" he asked the petit woman.

"Fuck you."

"Open, Gate of the Lion: Leo!" The Zodiac's leader appeared in the usual shower of gold, clad in his pristine suit and looking much better than the previously dejected spirit she had last spoken to.

He turned to look back at her, "About time you summoned me, Lucy," he said and then he pointed at the man in front of him, "isn't he one of your guildmates though?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, it's a long story, just help me take him down," she commanded with a smirk.

"Alright, you got it." Leo popped a pair of blue tinted shades on and threw her a wicked grin.

They both sprung forward, as Lucy wrapped golden magic around her fists. "Star Reform: strike!"

Caging Edo Haru between them, Lucy and Leo rained magic enhanced punches down on their opponent simultaneously. The hunter struggled to block or dodge the quick, coordinated attacks from the duo, taking a few timely blows. After taking another sharp hit to the jaw he growled, pivoted and struck out with the blade edge of the staff, forcing them both to jump back. He whirled the weapon again, summoning blizzard winds from absolutely nothing. The whirling magic threatened frost bite on contact as the freezing winds overtook the mages.

"Sky Dragon's ROAR!"

The large gust of wind split the blizzard straight down the middle, and Leo charged as soon as Edo Haru was revealed again to exchange blows. The storm began building again, just as fast as it had been dissipated. Lucy heard a pained cry from the other end of the hall and turned just in time to see the redhead's form come soaring back toward them. That scream had stolen her opponent's attention as well. In an instant the other Haru had slammed a brutal kick into Leo's gut before shooting forward to catch his partner's form before she could collide with the wall.

Mira appeared again, sliding to a stop opposite Lucy and Leo. Noticing the standoff and increasing danger, Happy and Carla grabbed hold of Levy and Wendy respectively and whisked them away to a safe distance. Edo Haru eased the redhead back to her feet and turned to stand back-to-back with her once he was sure she was alright.

The five all stood frozen, each waiting for the other to make a move to set up a counter, and then a muffled but anguished scream tore through the silence from inside the lab. The girls' eyes both darted toward the sealed metal door, and the Knightwalkers took that split moment of distraction to attempt a strike. Both Mira and Lucy reacted swiftly to answer the impending attacks. Mira ducked under the thrust of Edo Erza's weapon and launched upward with a heeled boot to knock the long spear away before delivering a brutal spin kick to her enemy's unguarded ribs. As Edo Erza's body crashed into the adjacent wall, Mira kicked off and drove a demonic power enhanced kick into the laboratory door, blowing it right off its track. She skid to a stop on top of the now useless chunk of iron inside the lab.

At the same time, Lucy nimbly twirled around Edo Haru before jumping to back kick the man's spine, sending him right into the path of Leo's Regulas Impact. The celestial mage watched in brief wonder as the powerful combination sent their enemy flying. She and Leo hadn't fought on the same side previously, and yet, their teamwork was instantaneous. Maybe he trusted her after all.

"Go after your friend, Lucy! I'll hold him off," Leo called as the hunter began to rise from his pile of rubble. Lucy nodded and bolted through the doorway just in time to see Mira shatter all three sets of chains with a slash of dark magic, releasing the captive slayers to drop from the machine's panels. She noticed a small man in a lab coat laying in an unconscious heap to the side of the room as well.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried as he dropped to his knees, grunting as he weakly pulled at the cables fastened to various points on his bared torso.

Haru too, was conscious, slumped against the wall and releasing a sound that was half coughing and half laughing. "Called it—" he said as he met Natsu's eyes. Mira briefly released her Takeover to conserve some magic, knowing the battle would inevitably continue. "I knew you could do it," Haru told her as she knelt down beside him, assessing his injuries. Her initial surprise at his words melted to gratitude, offering him a smile in turn as she ran her fingers over the blood stained bandage covering his abdomen.

Natsu grinned at his fellow slayer before turning back to the worried brown eyes of the woman kneeling in front of him. "Luce, I'm so glad you're okay," he told her softly.

"ME? –What the fuck is wrong—" she started to scold. He growled something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'fuck it,' before he cut her off by wrapping a hand around the back of her neck and dragged her forward into a kiss. Mira's delighted squeal followed as soon as she noticed.

Haru laughed weakly at her reaction and she rounded on him, keeping one stabilizing arm around his shoulders she gently smacked him before pointing accusingly at the couple still wrapped up in each other. "This isn't NEW?! And you didn't tell me?!" The Water Slayer looked at her sheepishly and shrugged a shoulder, not even attempting to appease the relentless gossip in her.

"Fuuuck," the third slayer groaned as he came to. Gajeel pushed himself up onto his forearms a bit and turned irritated red eyes on the other occupants in the room. "I guess I should have expected your friends would all be as loud and annoying as you, Salamander." Natsu turned toward his new friend and fixed him with a large toothy grin as another series of explosions sounded from the hallway.

Lucy flinched, jolting her head in the direction of the hall as she felt Leo's magic flicker for a moment, he was taking major damage. "Crap… can any of you even walk?" she asked, trying to formulate their escape passed the Knightwalkers. Her eyes shifted over the three men as Natsu glanced over at Gajeel who was dragging the large metal door toward him.

He laughed, "Gajeel will be just fine, in a moment," he predicted. They watched as the pierced man chomped down on the metal door as though it were as soft as fresh bread and earned a startled gasp from Lucy. "Iron Dragon Slayer…" Natsu trailed off matter of fact. He was entirely jealous, there was no way he and Haru would be jumping into the battle in their current state without access to their own elements. The girls made eye contact, silently coming to the conclusion that the Twin Dragons were essentially… dead weight. At least until they could find them some major magic replenishment.

Gajeel broke off another chunk of the door and popped it in his mouth, before chuckling. "Time to show these two damsels, who the strongest dragon slayer in the room is." A vein popped on Natsu's forehead as he barked back at the blow to his ego and Haru simply rolled his eyes as their fellow dragon slayer marched toward the doorway in search of payback for being used as a damn battery.

Lucy looked back at her incapacitated boyfriend, "Leo's fighting out there, I gotta go help him," she told him, though concern laced her voice. Natsu grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, irritated that he didn't have the energy or the magic to battle with her yet. Where was Erza when you needed her? He nodded begrudgingly and watched as she spun and took off out the door again, Mira followed on the blonde's heels quickly after.

Natsu listened to the telltale sounds of battle in the hallway just outside the lab, trying to get an idea of who might be taking the advantage based solely on the sounds filtering in. "Good thing our girls are strong... I don't know if I could handle listening to Gajeel saving us for Gods know how long," Natsu announced as he slumped back, arms still crossed in frustration. Still, he resolved himself to waiting for their return, they didn't have any other options.

Haru turned to him with wide eyes, "Wha? Our girls? What are you talking about—"

Natsu arched a brow at his partner in amusement, "Sure Haru, you just keep living in denial over there."

Laughing at his partner's indignant expression, Natsu let his head drop back against the cool steel again. He was confident the girls could make quick work of their opponents and then they could go about finding something to power up on... He was positively itching to get some major revenge. As if summoned by that thought, Levy's look-alike walked in, with Wendy on her heels. She held up a pair of large magic pistols in her hands, twirled one around her index finger and pointed it straight at Natsu with a grin. "I hear you guys are looking for some fire and water."

A/N. The gang's (basically) back together, and the next couple chapters are action packed!

For those of you all curious, no Extalia will not come into play, jus' a good ol' fashioned corrupt king beat down.

Big thanks, as always to FireShifter and valerioux for reviewing last chapter!

See you all Saturday!

R&R.

xx Loka Muse