It was a cold Monday afternoon, the last day of the semester and the start of winter break. For Gajeel, it meant that his new mission was to be put into full effect. He wore a black leather jacket with a beige sweater underneath and a black beanie on his head, not the same one he wore for missions though. He was warming up his car, so when Levy got out of the school building. Due to the lowering temperatures, it was smarter to just drive to school than walk. He wanted to hang out with her as much as he could before break, thinking Jose's new task might take a while. The warehouse was in the port city of Hargeon, about two hours from Magnolia by car; sure, it was out the way, but it was pretty far to transport hostages, but at least it gave them time to prepare.
When they came up with the plan, they knew they couldn't predict who they'd run into, so each of them made their own chart on who they would handle. Juvia volunteered to fight against the speedster, the firestarter, and the illusionist. Gajeel said he could take on that lightning rod, the snow man, and the other man Totomaru had mentioned. While Totomaru would fight the wood duo and Artificer. The fire mutant only volunteered to take her because if she was actually Levy, he could go easy on her and keep her relationship with Gajeel peachy. But if she knew it was Gajeel fighting her already, it was pretty surprising that she hadn't said anything. He'd been sitting on the information for a few weeks, but he personally didn't want to look into it, it wasn't his business anyway.
Levy walked out of the school building with Lucy, Natsu, Erza, and Wendy. She wore an oversized orange sweater turtleneck, a brown faux leather skirt, with black stockings and brown boots. They had told her that they were going to meet up with Mest at the movies, and asked if she wanted to go, but she said she and Gajeel had plans. Waving goodbye, she walked to his vehicle, getting in to feel the warm air meeting her finger tips. He had been playing music from a little playlist he'd made for her, a mix of songs they both liked as well as some that made him think of her. The song playing when she got in the car was I Want You by Savage Garden. Gajeel had always liked the song, but when he met Lev, it held a whole new meaning; and though he'd never admit it, he thought it would be the perfect song for making out. She smiled at hearing the song, bobbing her head and singing along as he started to drive to their destination. Since it was only two-thirty, they planned an impromptu date. Since the Jose incident, he had kept Levy out of the house, taking her out more and watching their show in public instead. Since it was winter, he thought ice skating at the sports complex was perfect; he still wasn't good at it, but at least this time he could hold Levy's hand the whole time. The sports complex was a few minutes away from the school, so it gave them some time to listen to some more tunes and talk.
"Any plans over the break Gajeel?" Levy perked up when they stopped a light, putting her head behind her ear.
"Yeah, Jose's got us going out of town to Hargeon, but it's not much of a pleasure trip. He's working and just wants us around." Gajeel shrugged, lying by omission.
"Hargeon is beautiful this time of year, we went on vacation there one year when I was little. The snow mixed with the smell of the ocean is unforgettable." Levy's smile only hid her idea of what work Jose would be up to over the break.
"Yeah, too bad I can't bring ya Shrimp. But it's a fishing town, they might mistake you for some seafood." The raven-haired boy let out a horrible joke, only followed by Levy giving him a small giggle.
"Very funny Gajeel, ha ha ha." She said sarcastically.
Pulling up to the sports complex, they hurried out of the car and into the building. They got tickets to skate, Gajeel paid with new found wealth. Holding hands, they went out on the ice, Gajeel was still kind of shaky, but Levy was there to help stabilize him. They started out slow, just so he could keep his footing, before they skated around the rink a little faster with the people around them. Levy would say she had a lot of fun, maybe it was because they were comfortable holding hands, or maybe it was just the atmosphere, whatever it was, it just felt right. They went around a few times, just laughing and having a good time. When their time was done, they went to the food area for some warm drinks. Apparently, the sports complex tended to have a few seasonal offerings, so Gajeel ordered a hot chocolate while Levy ordered a steamed milk. Levy didn't mind it just being milk with no flavor, she just liked the warm feeling it gave her, unlike her boyfriend who wanted a little substance. She even made a small jab at him by saying his drink was just hers with a few extra steps, he only grinned and let out a sarcastic "sure."
It was still pretty early, but Gajeel had the bright idea to get ice cream, just like they had before they started dating. The temperature was a little lower than when they first entered the sports complex now, but it was still decent enough to walk to the ice cream shop. Walking in, they saw the same old man as last time, greeting them as they ordered. This was a rare time when Levy would change it up, getting peppermint bark ice cream. It was white and milk chocolate ice cream swirled around with some chunks of peppermint candy premixed into it. Gajeel chose what the man dubbed "coal ice cream," it was essentially just black cherry ice cream with black food dye. It looked metal, so he got two scoops of it, with some star sprinkles on top per Levy's recommendation; making his metal looking ice cream look more like a soot sprite hoarding konpeito. Rather than eating outside like before, they sat at a table indoors. Levy was beaming about the flavor of her ice cream, making Gajeel joke about it being mint chip with extra steps, which also wasn't wrong. His own ice cream being good, better than the rocky road he ordered before.
"This is nice, just like before we started dating." Levy licked her ice cream, a small smile appearing on her face.
"That was the plan. Make you remember that day, our first date in a sense." Her boyfriend said with a small smirk, eating his ice cream with little grace.
"That wasn't really a date Gajey, it was just two friends hanging out. Besides, if that constitutes a date, then any time before then would be a date."
"Not really, we were solo, so it was totally a first date of sorts gihi." He let out a cheeky grin, lips and teeth stained black from the ice cream.
"Don't kid yourself, if it ends with me being upset with you, then it wasn't a date." The blunette reached her hand to hold his.
Gajeel shrugged, smiling back as he gripped her hand. "Guess you're right there Shorty, but you can't deny anything after that. Every other time was totally a date, even this."
Levy's face got kind of red, knowing he was right. "I can't, but all of our dates have been really nice, even this one. I never pegged you as a romantic honestly. Especially with that cold, hard exterior you put on when we first met."
"Had to protect myself somehow, right? Besides, with you, I can be anything I want. You know, you actually helped me trust people outside those I live with." Gajeel closed his eyes and leaned his head back, thinking of how he was before he met his girlfriend. "Back then, I only trusted the people at the orphanage, not really family, but I knew I could depend on them if I needed to. Totomaru and Juvia were my age, so we got along better…but there were two others, Sol and Aria, they were older and we didn't interact unless we had to. Jose told us the world was cruel to mutants, so I kept my guard up, while also scaring people off with my powers. No one's gonna bully the kid with steel skin, right? But no one was gonna make friends either. Then you came along, always trying to be my friend, being kind. It's actually your fault Natsu is my friend, and Juvia would've never felt comfortable even asking out Gray. All cause of you Shrimp."
Levy sat, ice cream already finished, but a bit surprised, feeling special, knowing that Gajeel thought that of her. "I never knew that Gajeel, I feel touched. I just thought you needed a friend, you know? That steel exterior wasn't going to stop me, not when I could tell you were lonely. You know, the world isn't always cruel to mutants, there are people out there without the gene who are kind, those who treat you like you aren't any different. We both know people like that already, Lucy is one of them actually. Despite her father's prejudices, she treats mutants and humans the same way."
"Hm, never knew that about the cheerleader. I guess when you spend as much time with her as you do, there's bound to be things you pick up on." Gajeel stood up, taking their trash and throwing it away. Coming back, he held out his hand, motioning for her that it was time to leave.
On the way to the car, she told Gajeel that she forgot that she needed to be home by four-thirty. He nodded, noting that it was only four o'clock, so they had time to drive back to the mansion and chill out for a bit. They held hands on the way, Levy being particularly close to him as they faced the cold air. Getting in his Jeep, the playlist started up again, this time playing the song Akin Ka Na Lang. It was one of Levy's songs. She told him it a song her dad used to sing all the time, telling her it was one of the many ways he managed to woo her mom. The song was pretty dear to her for that fact. It was about a man telling a woman that he was better for her than any other guy out there, it was pretty sweet. In no time flat, a few songs, they reached the mansion, it was around four-fifteen by then, so they had time to just enjoy each other's company outside the gate. Sitting there, holding hands while the car was running, Gajeel's song came back on, I Want You. But unlike earlier, he actually acted on his idea of this being the perfect song to make out to (*Please feel free to play the song*).
The raven-haired boy leaned across the center console, gentling cupping Levy's cheek as he pulled her face to his. Their lips met, it was soft and slow, just like the song, as the guitar in the song got louder, Levy moved her own hands from her lap; one going to Gajeel's face while the other went to caress his neck. Gajeel wanted the kiss to be natural, not wanting to deepen unless his Shrimp wanted to, and she did. The blunette, though timid when it came to moments like this, was very familiar with how kissing went in her books. She leaned further into him, parting her lips ever so slightly, inviting him to follow suit, and he did. Soon, they were having a full blown make out session that could rival Juvia and Gray. Gajeel's free hand moved lower to grasp Levy's hip, leaning over her until her head was against the passenger window; he was trying to be conscious of his weight and where his body was so he didn't accidentally take the car out of park or shift any other gears up front. The small blunette moaned a little as one of her hands grasped his shirt, the other holding his arm. Upon reaching his ears, he took the opportunity to steal her breath, sucking the air from her as he let his hand wander from her hip to her upper thigh now. Everything was getting hot and heavy until an annoying buzz was heard from Levy's pocket against the seat. Their lips separating, she took the phone from her pocket to see who was calling, before she could even read who it was, Gajeel snagged it away and answered it unceremoniously.
"I'm sorry, Levy can't come to the phone right now. She's too busy smooching the man of her dreams. Please leave your message after the beep. Beep." He made sure to sound like a male version of the voicemail lady, trying to hold in his laughter.
Levy yelled while giggling, "Don't just say that Gajey!"
"Oh, the study buddy, right? Well, can you please tell Levy that it's…almost four-thirty? She planned to help us out around the house tonight. It's pretty important, and if she hurries, she can definitely go back to smooching you tomorrow. Alright?" The voice on the phone was an older man, Gajeel was sure it was the same one who greeted him a few months ago. It was kind of weird though, when he mentioned them smooching, it sounded like the man was talking louder.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll pass it on." He hung up the phone and handed it back, leaning back into the driver's seat so Levy could compose herself once more.
"Sorry Gajey, duty calls. Promise to call me, tomorrow right?" Levy quickly gave him a peck on the cheek and opened her door.
"Promise!" He gave her a thumbs up as she shut the door.
Levy looked at the time, it was 4:28. They were supposed to go on patrol at five-thirty. It never took an hour to get ready, but she always liked to freshen up a bit before going. She had enough time, so it was no problem; it was actually nice to see that Gildarts checked in on her, making sure she wasn't late. She practically sprinted through the yard though, making her way to the front door. Pushing it open, she found two men standing before her, Gildarts and Laxus, one with a wide grin and the other pinching the bridge of his nose. Yep, Laxus definitely heard about them smooching.
"How's that study buddy of yours?" Gildarts winked at her
"Heh, he's fine, sorry about what happened on the phone." She let out a halfhearted laugh and scratched her neck.
"Go on ahead and get changed so you and the rest of Shadow Gear can go on your patrol." Laxus looked at her and let out a sigh.
"You good…you sound tired." Levy walked up to her old crush, peering up at him.
"Kind of, nothing I can't handle." He said, shooing her down the hall.
When she was out of sight, Gildarts spoke again. "Jealous much?"
The blond mutant scoffed, "I am not jealous."
"Sure, you aren't." Gildarts gave him a pat on the shoulder and walked away.
Laxus was kind of jealous, but he wasn't going to admit it. He just needed to get over their relationship. Him not dating Levy was one thing, but seeing her with another guy was another. It wasn't like how an ex gets jealous, but more like seeing a person you care about change in front of you. Plus, it was her first real relationship, but not her first heartbreak, Laxus was pretty sure he was her first heartbreak.
Levy freshened up by taking a quick shower to wash the day away and put on her gear. She knew Jet and Droy were already dressed, passing them on her way to the bathroom. They all had special winter gear to help hold in their body heat. It looked similar to their usual gear, just with a little more padding. Tonight, they were doing patrols around the downtown Magnolia area, primarily traveling on the building tops to keep from being seen. Makarov had started doing patrols after the museum incident, and everyone rotated. No one really chose who they'd go with, but it definitely wasn't random, or else she wouldn't have been paired with Jet and Droy. But with them all together, it meant that Team Shadow Gear was back in action. Putting on the final touches, Levy pulled her mask over her head and put on the voice modifier, making sure it worked right.
They met up in the foyer, all getting ready, they needed to be there to start at five-thirty, but they were just waiting for Gildarts to come down and drive them. He wasn't going to accompany them, just drop them off and pick them up when they finished. Usually patrols in the downtown area took about an hour and a half to complete, going around a few times before going home. Sometimes it wasn't really crime fighting either; they might save a person from falling in the street or the cliché cat stuck in a tree, but they were always careful to remain out of sight. The ride was quiet, aside from Gildarts and his humming. The sun had almost completely set by the time they made it downtown. He dropped them near an alley where they could climb to the roof of one of the buildings. He bid them goodbye and told them to use their communicators when they got done, as personal cell phones were prohibited when in costume.
At the top, they were walking and talking, hopping from roof to roof as they went. However, none of them had noticed the drone that had spotted them. It was Jose's, he had been using the drones around town to catch glimpses of their enemies, but he was always a little too late to see where they were coming from or where they were going. With the footage he gathered, he instructed his underlings that it was time to strike. Jose, in addition to getting the warehouse, was given a van for transport, courtesy of Alexei. Totomaru, Juvia, and Gajeel quickly got ready, and filed into the van for Jose to drive, going to an alley close to where the drone was. They saw the footage, seeing the other trio being a bit more casual than their last encounter. Gajeel also noted the color schemes, chuckling and telling Totomaru he got a "two fer one deal." The raven-haired boy asked if he wanted to lighten his load and up one of his targets, which Totomaru agreed to. However, Gajeel expected his teammate to keep the plant guy, but Totomaru surprised him by wanting to keep the little girl. He wanted to argue about fighting with an advantage, but not in front of Jose. They got out of the van, leaving Jose inside while they went to one of the rooftops. Both Juvia and Totomaru could get there using their powers, but Gajeel actually had to climb up. Once on top, they looked out around them to see which direction the other trio went and started jogging.
"Kurogane, I really don't want to fight Artificer…she was so kind to us last time." Juvia said, looking away from their leader as she spoke.
"Right, I remembered you said they were decent people last time. Even the ones who captured me were okay at best." Totomaru replied to her.
"A job's a job. They were nice, but this was never about making friends. We need to get the job done, that's all. Let's just hurry and find them so we can get this operation done." Gajeel knew Juvia didn't like it, but they needed to focus on the task at hand.
Wanting to poke a little more fun at Totomaru, he turned his head to him. "You sure you wanna take on that girl Shinobi? Grass man would be easier for you."
"I just want to get to know my enemy. You fought her twice, that's not very fair." Running ahead, Totomaru took the lead to find the trio first.
While jumping from roof to roof, Totomaru did actually spot them first. His teammates weren't far behind, but if he could reach them first, maybe he could ask them to come quietly, without any violence. The trio had their backs to him, jogging along the rooftops themselves, there was no way for him to get their attention without it being seen as a threat, but he had to do something. He went into a full-on sprint, nimbly jumping so he could catch up. Finally getting not too far behind, he flipped to get in front of them, falling to a crouch before them. It caught the trio off guard, one of them shouting in surprise about it being the ninja from the forest. Totomaru held his hands in a defensive motion, telling them if they came quietly, no one could get hurt. This only made the trio go into a fighting stance. Speedster with his fists up, Artificer with her kubatons at the ready, and Plantman with vines already creeping up from one of the building sides. Next thing they knew, Juvia and Gajeel were behind them, also ready to fight. Everyone was on guard, but no one knew who was going to throw the first punch.
Feeling antsy, Jet sped at light speed to Totomaru, getting behind him and restraining him, causing him to struggle, using his flame powers to get away from him. Despite the setback, Gajeel and Juvia stuck to their initial targets to start.
Gajeel went after Plantman, not giving any sort of playful banter, just going for it. Plantman dodged his punches, while also having a little bit of strategy to try defeating his friend. He had never fought Gajeel before, but he'd fought others in the house, so Droy knew his strengths lie in defense. Rather than making any moves himself, he summoned vines to gently creep around Gajeel's legs, pulling him from under himself, making him fall on his face. But before Droy could pull him using the vines, Gajeel ripped them from his legs, hurrying back on his feet again, going straight back to throwing punches.
Juvia bypassed Artificer altogether, going straight for Speedster. With that, it left her and Shinobi, she really didn't want to fight him, but she needed to do what had to be done. She gripped her kubatons and stalked close to him, watching him keenly before he held up his own fists. He struck first, but she could tell he wasn't giving it his all, and wasn't actually trying to hit her. It was strange, his heart wasn't into it, not like what Droy and Laki told her of after they fought him; for starters, he wasn't even using his powers, just fighting her with his fists. She did manage to get a hit on him, but when it landed, she heard a voice from a bit away, it was Gajeel.
"Shinobi, get your head in the game. Don't go easy on her because she's a girl!"
This made Shinobi, Totomaru, reply with a halfhearted, "right." Yet, he didn't land a hit on her. It made her wonder why he was going easy, especially when his comrades were going all out.
From Levy's fight, it looked like she had developed a new skill with her powers, forming watery blades around her arms, trying to cut her opponent. But Speedster was too fast, moving around her like a game. He lured her further away from the group to use the same trick he did on Shinobi in the woods. He wasn't sure how effective it would be since she used water instead of flames, but he knew they breathed the same air. Dashing around her as fast as he could, he noticed she was already gasping for breath. Although she is in this predicament, Rainwoman had one trick to get out of this. She made a pool of water around her, making the roof slick. This caused Speedster to slip, having not noticed the water, making her slip, slide, and tumble into Plantman across the roof, knocking them both out before Gajeel could land his own punch.
With her two friends out of commission, Kurogane and Rainwoman were free to assist Shinobi. They could tell he wasn't giving it his all, but they didn't interfere with him, just closing off any escape routes.
Gajeel spoke up first as team leader, "You're surrounded, Pipsqueak. Best to just surrender while you can."
Without turning from Totomaru, Levy replied to him. "You said you'd fight us if we got in your way. So why did you attack us?"
"Like you said, you're in our way, so you gonna surrender or do we have to beat you into submission."
Juvia spoke up, "Artificer, if you surrender, we promise not to harm you or your friends. Please…"
She looked over her shoulder, seeing that she was actually very reluctant. "I don't know what you guys want with us, but fine, I'll bite. I surrender."
"That's what I wanna hear, now drop your weapons." Gajeel smirked under his mask as he saw her weapons drop to the ground, then barked out an order. "Hands above your head."
Levy complied with his request, holding hands up a little higher than the top of her head, palms facing Shinobi. Then her world went black with sudden pain from the back of her skull. Gajeel had knocked her out, knowing that they'd need to be discreet when transporting their captives. At this, Juvia let out a yell, getting angry at him for hurting Artificer. Kurogane just looked at her and said he didn't remember agreeing to any promises she made. With their enemies out, they needed to take them back to the van where Jose was. Gajeel threw the two boys over his shoulder and said that Shinobi or Rainwoman could carry the girl, it didn't matter to him.
Once they got back to the van, they used rope from inside to bind the hands and feet of the hostages. This would be a long drive. The van had a partition between the front cabin with passengers and the cargo area, which allowed the front cabin and the cargo hold to be soundproof. This meant they wouldn't be able to hear their cargo in the back, but it also meant they couldn't hear their plans in the front. After making sure they were secure, the trio got back into their seats in the front; Gajeel sitting next to Jose. He commented that it took shorter than he expected, making Gajeel roll his eyes, saying they were professionals. Driving to Hargeon was a drag with Jose, he was so serious, wanting them to stay as focused as possible for this mission due to the nature of the assignment, they couldn't let their guard down. Jose didn't even let them listen to the radio, they were either going to discuss the task at hand or sit quietly, so they sat quietly.
The trio in the back of the van were still unconscious when they arrived at the warehouse, making it easy to set them up. It was an old shipping facility near the harbor. Although the other buildings were operational, this one was seemingly abandoned, but had regular use from Alexei and his underlings. The warehouse was large and empty on the inside aside from an elevated office space where a manager would be. That's where Jose would set the prisoners up. They hung them from their hand bindings on to ceiling hooks, leaving their legs dangling while still tied together. Jose's trio stayed outside of his office space, just walking aimlessly around the expansive warehouse, waiting for whatever to happen. At some point, their captives had woken up, as they began to hear screaming from the office. It was sickening, Juvia couldn't bear it, especially since she had the naive thought they wouldn't harm the three of them. Shinobi zoned out from the screams, not wanting to hear them for fear that his hunch was right, that those were their peers. Gajeel himself didn't enjoy the cries of pain, but when it came to Jose, it was necessary evil.
Inside the office, Jose was using a cattle prod to torture on of the three, Speedster, he didn't get his name, but he also didn't care. He had asked a simple question, where their base was and who they were. The boy didn't respond, so Jose wanted to give him a little incentive, pointing the cattle prod at him and letting it rip. Sure, Jose knew he could just take their masks off, but he knew there was no fun in that, it was easy, but definitely cheap. Forcing them to reveal the information he wanted was a lot more rewarding in his opinion, not to mention more fun for him. The screams brought a smile to his face, and removing the instrument from the boy's body, he posed the question to the other two, neither of them bringing forth an answer. This made the slimy man shrug, walking to the other boy, looking at the eye shield and asking the same question, but in a lower tone. With a head shake from his hostage, he jammed the cattle prod into his side, keeping it there, causing his screams to get louder, and making him plead for mercy. Levy couldn't handle the screams, feeling tears well up from the pain he was in.
"Fine, please, just stop! I'll tell you what you want, just please stop hurting him!" Levy's voice was weak and painful.
"Oh, well then. Tell me, where is your base and who are you?" Jose gave a creepy smile and stopped shocking the boy before him and turning his attention to the girl situated in the middle.
"W-we-we're from Magnolia, that's where our base is. We're Team Shadow Gear…"
"Tsk tsk, you and I both know that's not the answer I was looking for. Maybe I should shock you here, or here, or maybe here…unless of course you give me a real answer." Jose leaned in close to her face coverings, his voice giving off the idea of him trying to seduce the answer out of her. What made it worse was that he allowed his free hand to roam her bodysuit, lingering on the areas he could shock; going up from her thigh where Gajeel had just touched her hours before to her stomach, and finally to the center of her chest, right where her heart would be. It made her sick, the idea of this grown man even alluding to that made her nauseous.
"Like I said, we're Team Shadow Gear, and we're based in Magnolia." Although shaky, her voice was filled with determination.
"Suit yourself." Jose said simply, using the instrument to shock her directly in the stomach.
Levy didn't know how loud her scream was, but the pain was enough to make her body writhe with pain. Taking the prod away, Jose set it on a desk and looked back at the three panting do gooders, saying that they should think of their answers when he comes back. Leaving the little office, Jose looked out at the expanse of the warehouse, noticing the behavior of his group. Juvia was holding herself, Totomaru was staring into space, and Gajeel had his eyes closed while just lying on the floor. He let out a yell, telling them to pull themselves together, and people don't get anywhere without a little blood being spilled, even if it's not their own. He shook his head, coming down to gather his team, instructing them that there may be a high chance that the rest of the vigilantes will show up at some point. He told Shinobi and Rainwoman to keep watch outside, while Gajeel gave him support in the warehouse. Jose himself would help out using his powers, creating a shadow army to fight on his behalf. It was a solid plan, so there was nothing to worry about.
Back in the office though, the trio were catching their breath and trying to formulate a plan to escape. Droy had already tried summoning some plants, but no dice, there wasn't even a speck of greenery around them. Jet couldn't break his binds either, he could move his hands a bit fast, but not enough to break the binds. That left Levy, it was uncomfortable, but she managed to make a knife in her hands, she made sure to make one that was small enough to be concealed, but still big enough to cut the rope. She started, trying to go quickly, but then the door opened, Jose was back. She was very quick to hide the knife, despite the fact that she was so close to cutting her binds, her feet were still tied up, meaning there wasn't time to cut while he was there. He had that ugly grin on his face still, probably imagining how much more pain he could inflict upon them. Shutting the door and picking up the prod, it was like he was a predator, stalking his prey as he walked around the trio. He didn't say a word at this point, just stalking around them, every so often, he'd run his instrument of torture up and down their bodies, thankfully it was turned off right now. Then he stopped, right in front of Levy, getting way too close for comfort, causing her to start cutting her binds again, slowly. She wasn't paying attention to what he was saying to her, but when she felt the final thread of her binds, she cut it and immediately turned the knife downward into Jose's shoulder, causing her body to drop and him to step backward with a yell.
"You wench!" Jose pulled the knife from his body and smacked Levy's mask with the prod, which was still off.
She tried to scramble away, but she didn't make it that far, getting a painful shock from the cattle prod. Jose was mad now, shocking the girl before him while his other hand held the small knife covered in his blood. He kept a good grip on it while upping the voltage on the cattle prod. Her screams just added fuel to his fire, knowing how much she regretted what she did. Jose could also hear the other two pleading for him to stop, but he felt like she needed to learn her lesson, know what it means to be a good captive. Before he could continue anymore, a voice came through a hidden walkie talkie he had in his pocket. It sounded like Totomaru.
∿ Jose, we got company, a lot of it. Over. ∿
Now, Jose wasn't the type to panic, but this had caught him off guard. If he hadn't been stabbed, he'd have a lot more composure. He conjured up two shadow people, commanding them to hold the girl in place. He wanted to torture her more, but the rest of her friends came to spoil his fun. Of course, Jose wanted to interrogate her about who she was underneath the mask, but now he was forced to do it himself. As she weakly struggled against the shadow figures, Jose's hands got closer and closer. Then, feeling her mask and voice modifier being ripped away, her eyes stared in horror at Jose's, seeing the realization hit him before that disgusting smile formed on his face once more.
"Now this changes things. I had a hunch that you were your father's daughter, I just couldn't prove it. Jose sneered, walking to the door and calling out to Gajeel. "Boy, I need you in here now!"
"It's pretty counterintuitive considering the enemy is right outside. It better not be anything stu-" His voice cut off, and his eyes softened as he stared at his girlfriend.
"Surprising right? And to think, all this time, she'd been hiding this from you. Lying to you Gajeel, the girl you care for oh so dearly, keeping this from you." Jose made sure to sound like a snake while speaking, putting emphasis on certain words to manipulate Gajeel.
"This can't be real…" Gajeel whispered.
"Oh, but it is, now, I want you to tie up some loose ends." Jose said, handing Gajeel the bloody knife. "Like father, like son, right?"
Gajeel's eyes widened, understanding what Jose was implying. No, he wouldn't, he couldn't. For once in his life, he disobeyed Jose, sucker punching his de facto father. Jose stumbled backward, a bit disoriented from the punch. Before reacting, he was hit again, this time being hit by Gajeel's steel fist, being knocked to the floor. Gajeel's punches were relentless, like he was in a blind rage. At some point, the shadowy figures disappeared leaving Levy on the floor. Though weak, she was able to form another small knife in her hand, cutting the rest of her binds as well as those of her partners. With all of them free, they turned their focus to Gajeel, who was still beating on Jose, who was definitely unconscious. The small blunette inched closer to her enraged boyfriend, whispering his name to get his attention. But of course, when he heard her, he turned, but it wasn't the face she expected. She thought it would be a face of concern for her, but he looked angry, disgusted. He didn't say anything to them, simply getting off the man he saw as a kind of a father and leaving the room.
Gajeel was livid as we took long strides through and out of the warehouse. He saw his team being overwhelmed and immediately stopped the fighting.
"Totomaru, Juvia, we're going home. No need to keep fighting, we lost. Gajeel walked past a lot of who he once saw as enemies and went straight to who he knew as Raijin. He looked confident, but definitely angry at the situation.
"Where are they?"
"They're inside, left a little present too." Gajeel said walking toward the van they came in, his crew in tow.
Getting inside, Gajeel drove them away, he didn't want to talk, listen to music, or even exist at this point. It was like his body was on autopilot the whole drive. He didn't even realize they had made it home until he was coughing up water, he guessed Juvia was trying to snap him out of it.
"Now that we have your attention, what happened Gajeel? Why did you use our real names? And where's Jose?" Juvia's voice was a mix of concern for her friend as well as a hint of anger.
"A lot happened. I used our real names because It didn't matter if we used them or not. And by now, Jose's in their care." Gajeel got out of the car.
Totomaru followed, "That didn't answer Juvia's questions."
"Fine, you want all the answers here! Levy was the girl we fought, all three times, the one I almost killed! I used our names because it didn't matter. Levy knew it was me, thus she knows it was all of us. I left Jose there because I beat him up badly…he wanted me to tie up loose ends."
"Wait, if we were fighting Levy…does that mean I had to fight Gray." Juvia squeaks, blushing and becoming anxious, thinking about how horrible she may have been to her love.
Totomaru looked away, whispering, "I'm sorry…maybe this would've been different if I…"
"If you what?"
"If I told you my hunch. Back when I was captured, I heard Raijin talking about someone's boyfriend, saying their partners don't hold back. I didn't wanna say anything, but I had a hunch that maybe he was talking about you, and Gray and Levy."
"So, you kept it to yourself this whole time? And you just sat there, you watched him hit my girlfriend and stood by as she was being tortured." Gajeel lifted his teammate up by his shirt, angered more that he knew.
"I didn't want to hurt you all, and it was inevitable."
"Inevitable, Totomaru, if I had had to fight Gray this evening, I would've been as livid as Gajeel is now, but I know you wanted to keep us from feeling this way. Let him down, Gajeel." Juvia touched his shoulder, seeing that he was fighting back tears.
For Makarov and his kids, they all made it home with little fanfare. Almost everyone had come out to save Team Shadow Gear, even Mest, though he was there for moral support. If they hadn't had trackers, there wouldn't have been a way to find them. Gildarts thought it was odd that after an hour, there was no contact, but thought that maybe they went out for some fun after their rounds. But after another hour and a half, he knew there was a problem. Seeing their suits in Hargeon, he didn't know what could've happened; but he thought the worse, human trafficking, kidnapping, or they were going to be killed. He didn't see himself as a father, even having his own biological child, he was far from a dad in his own eyes, more of a cool uncle, but his parental instincts kicked in. Once he told Makarov the urgency of the situation, everyone was suited up and ready to go, not knowing what lay ahead, but ready for a fight if need be. They chose to take the team's jet, it never really got used, but when they needed it, it was there.
Gildarts was almost in tears when he found Shadow Gear, Laxus was only enraged. The cattle prod had made a few tears in their suits, exposing a few bits of their skin to the electricity it emitted. The skin that had been exposed showed signs of acute burns, nothing too serious, but still concerning. Then they looked at the bloody, beaten man on the floor who caused all this, taking him into their custody. He was pretty badly hurt, but Porlyusica could fix him up as well. They had many questions to ask, once he was a bit healed up.
Laxus, Makarov, and Gildarts all spoke together privately about Jose, trying to figure out what they'd do after the interrogation. Laxus would be the lead on this, though the older men both knew that he'd go just far enough before killing the man; but given the circumstances, it seemed fitting. Makarov suggested, Meat permitting, that his mind be wiped of the whole ordeal. If they could make him forget that night, and even a few other things, it could be safe to let him leave this place, but how far back should they go, no one knew. That call would have to be up to Mest. It wasn't like them to keep prisoners, so they needed to figure out something.