Levy jumped when the heavy door of the van slid open. She watched as Gajeel froze.
"What the hell are you doing here," he snarled at Natsu who was sitting in the back of the van.
"Is that any way to greet a friend?" Natsu quipped with a grin.
"Just get in," Levy hissed. Her heart beat in her throat and she felt ill.
Gajeel climbed inside, shutting the door hard behind him.
"Explain," he growled.
"Hey," Natsu through his palms up in the air as if in surrender, "I'm just here for backup. You did want back up, didn't you Gajeel? That is what you told the whole group on the phone last night."
Levy swallowed hard as she watched Gajeel move toward the front seat. He looked at her, his eyes smoldering.
"Levy," he began to say but cut himself short. His expression was pained. She could tell he wanted to say something. He wanted to talk about last night.
"Natsu is here for backup," Levy repeated Natsu's words. "Sit down," she said as she threw the van into gear.
"We don't need backup," Gajeel said lowly.
"That's not what you told us last night," Natsu said without missing a beat. "You were ready to throw us all into a full blown sting op."
"And Makarov said no," Levy heard Gajeel reply from behind her.
"Since when were you so worried about following the rules?" Natsu returned with casual confidence. Levy could hear the grin in his voice.
"Gear up," Levy called back, ignoring the argument. "We'll drop you a few blocks from the location and then swing back around. I already scouted a spot that should be close enough for us to keep our coms open."
Levy could hear a scuffle of movement in the backseat. At least he was listening to her for once.
"Keep your eyes open, we need you to get us a floorplan of the warehouse. If we do end up raiding the place, we need to know where we're going."
"Wouldn't Gray be more help on this than Natsu?" Gajeel grumbled.
"Hey," Natsu said with exaggerated offense in his tone. "Gray may be head of Security but I've trained with him and his team more than you have. I can watch your back. Don't worry your pretty little head about that, Gajeel."
"You could also get our cover blown," Gajeel responded.
"I'll stay in the van unless things go sideways."
Levy's phone buzzed beside her. She glanced at it. The caller ID let her know it was her boss. If Freed was calling her directly, she knew it was important. She answered it on her headset.
"Hello sir," she said more calmly than she felt.
"Levy," Freed greeted. "I need you to let Gajeel attend this meeting on his own."
"What?" Levy said, stunned. "We can't do that."
"You can, and you will." He said in his calm manner. "Tensions are high and his cover is precarious. We need to play the long game. I want him in there with no coms, period."
"But Sir, that's too dangerous, and we need information."
"And he can relay that to you after the meeting. We can't give them a reason not to trust him. If they catch Gajeel, we lose everything. We lose Tartaros."
"Sir," Levy said, throwing her normally cautious manners out the window. "It's a bad call. I have him geared, he won't be caught."
"Are you challenging my order, Miss McGarden?"
Levy bit at her lip. "No sir," she said grudgingly. "But-"
"Not another word or I'll have you sidelined from this mission indefinitely."
Levy swallowed hard.
"Yes Sir," she said grudgingly.
"Good, I want you at the office tonight. The team is expected to have some of the intelligence you acquired translated for your review. Good day, Miss McGarden."
The phone went dead and Levy realized she was shaking in anger.
Was he serious? How could Freed think this was the right call? The idea of sending Gajeel in there alone was utterly unacceptable. She was his partner on this, and they had partners for a reason.
"What happened?" Gajeel said from over her shoulder.
Levy bit down on her lip again. She had a decision to make. Follow the orders she'd been given, or break the rules and do what she thought was right. Levy always followed orders- rules were rules for a reason. She thought back over the last few weeks. Gajeel would break the rules. That's what he did. Was he reckless? Yes, a million times over. But every step they had taken together had gotten them to this point. She wasn't going to bail on him now, was she?
She felt Gajeel's hand press gently on her shoulder.
"What's up Shrimp?" he asked, concern threaded in his deep voice.
Levy veered the van to the right and slipped into a parking spot along the curb. She took a deep breath.
"Freed wants you to go in alone," She said without looking at him. "He wants me to sit this one out."
"What?" Both men exclaimed in surprise.
Levy turned and met Gajeel's eye. He was barely an arm's length away, his hand still lingering on her shoulder.
"He wants you to go in clean, no coms, nothing. And he wants me back at the office."
"He can't do that," Natsu called from the back, "that could be suicide if things go south."
Gajeel gave Levy a serious look.
"What do you want to do?" He asked, as if she were calling the shots.
Levy bent her brow in determination.
"We stick to the plan," she head herself say with slightly more confidence than she felt. "Locater, mic, and I've got a camera for your watch- though I don't know if you'll be able to use it. They're going to be watching you closely."
Gajeel nodded, giving her shoulder a squeeze before releasing her.
"You're starting to sound more like me," he grinned for the first time.
Levy smiled, but then caught herself. She couldn't trust Gajeel, not with her heart. But as a partner she knew he had her back, and she would have his in return.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Natsu called out, excitement in his voice. She heard him starting to rummage through their gear.
"Levy," Gajeel said quietly so that only she could hear. "Last night, it wasn't what you think-"
"No," Levy snapped quickly, raising up a hand to stop him. "I don't want to talk about last night. Not right now." It took all her strength not to listen to his explanation, but she couldn't bear to relive last night right now. They had a job to do and it was too important. She couldn't let her emotions get the best of her.
Gajeel wore a deep frown but didn't argue, which was a relief.
"Let's go," Levy said, pulling back into the street.
She was about to go against direct orders. She could be fired for this. But Freed had been right about one thing, this mission was important. They needed intel to win this, and if Levy did nothing, Gajeel's own risk would be pointless. Her heart beat hard with adrenaline as she steered them towards the drop point.
Despite her many doubts, there was one thing she was sure of- that she wasn't going to let Gajeel do this alone. She was all in. He had called her brave, and maybe, just maybe, she was starting to believe him.
As they rolled to a stop Gajeel prepared to exit the van.
"Be careful," she heard herself say unexpectedly.
Gajeel's wolfish grin spread across his face.
"I'll see you on the other side," he said with a smirk and, without another word jumped out, slamming the door behind him.
Levy's insides danced with nerves as she and Natsu looped back and parked in a discrete lot where they could see the entrance to the warehouse. She moved to her computer in the back of the van.
"How'd I do?" Natsu chimed lightly, giving her a childish grin.
"Hm?" Levy said distractedly as she remoted in to the camera on the parking lot. she could see the entrance to the warehouse in the far corner of the screen. She watched it intently, waiting for Gajeel to appear.
"How'd I do as a buffer?" Natsu asked playfully. "I think it went great. Did you see his face when he saw me? He looked like his head was about explode! He didn't say a word about last night so I would say my mission is complete," he smiled again.
"Yeah," Levy said distractedly, watching the screen. She felt her stomach doing flip flops.
"Hey," Natsu said, more serious this time. He put a hand on her shoulder. "You know he's going to be just fine, right?"
Levy looked at Natsu and sighed into her hand. Was she that transparent?
"I know," she said quietly. "I just…"
"I get it," Nastu said lowly. "Watching someone you care about be in a dangerous situation is hard."
Levy knew Natsu was talking about Lucy, but she never really thought about it like that before. Not about how hard it must have been for Natsu to watch Lucy at Ivan's, knowing how much danger she was in. And here Levy was watching the man she didn't want to care about walk into a lion's den.
Levy nodded somberly at Natsu and slipped her headset on as she caught sight of Gajeel entering the building. She could hear voices directing Gajeel where to go.
"He's got us here, he's got you here to watch out for him. Nothing will go wrong, I promise."
SNAP- an electronic popping noise came through Levy's headset making her jump., then there was silence.
The coms were down. The tracker went offline.
Gajeel had gone utterly and completely dark.