The gang ended up finding a big lead and that brought them right where they had to be. They seem to have found the villain's hideout in an old mine. The place was huge with tons of equipment.
"Look at this place. Are we in Dr. Frankenstein's lab?" Gray said.
"Maybe not that far off." Lucy said as she was getting a bad feeling about this place. "Let's have a look around. Maybe we can find some answers around here." Lucy, Gray, and Erza got moving and tried to find something that could tell them was going on. As for Natsu and Happy, they remained where they were.
"This place is really creepy." Natsu said. "Okay, Happy. We have another chance to prove we're detectives, so... Happy?" He looked around for Happy and saw him playing around with some sort of control panel. "Happy, get down from that thing." He said, but Happy played around with it and pressed a few buttons. When he did, they were making some strange sounds. "Hey. That thing does look like it's fun with the noises it's making." Natsu got into it himself and started playing around with it like a freestyle music machine. "It's like we're beatboxing!" The two of them loved it, but they aren't aware what they're really doing. As for Gray and the girls, they had a look in another room for clues.
"Jackpot! A computer!" Lucy said as she found something that can help. "Now maybe we can get some answers." She said as she tried to gain access to it.
"This is interesting." Erza said as she looked at some paperwork. "Phone numbers for places like Russia, China, Israel, and a whole bunch of other countries. What is this doing here?"
"Here's something else strange." Gray said as he found a book. "A book called "War of the Brain". This is actually a psychology book. What would something like this be doing here?"
"Hold on a second." Erza said as she thought of something. "Attacking the museum to initiate some fear, doubt, and doom seems a little too...personal. The way the Robot General talked was like he understood...emotions."
"Is that weird? Aren't robots and machines programmed these days to understand that sort of thing?" Gray asked.
"Maybe, but I'm starting to think this Robot General might be more human than he appears." Erza said.
"Oh my gosh!" Lucy said as she found something on the computer. Whatever she found appears to be quite shocking.
"What did you find, Lucy?" Gray said.
"I... I found something in here labeled Project O-Tech. It's... It's unreal..." Lucy said in her stunned state. "It's to have technology combine with...organic matter... This Robot General wants to turn...people into robots." Gray and Erza couldn't believe it themselves when they had a look. It was a horrifying thing to think about. "This... This has to be the most vile case we ever had. Who could be psychotic enough to do something like this?" This wasn't good. They need to figure out this mystery and stop this. Meanwhile, Natsu and Happy continued to play around with the control panel, but there was something they weren't aware of. Their actions created more robots and they were online.
"I could play with this thing forever." Natsu said as he found amusement in this.
"Yes! Continue to play!" Both of them looked up and saw the Robot General. "You fools! You just caused my army to grow!" The Robot General said as he showed the robots that Natsu and Happy accidentally made, and more were being made. They were in real trouble now.
"Hey! What's going on in there?!" Gray called as he and the girls came back and saw what was going on. This was real bad for them.
"Would you believe us if we told you it wasn't our fault?" Natsu said. Happy backed up a little, but he accidentally pressed more buttons on the panel, but that caused something else to happen. Inside the biggest machine, a compartment opened up and out came some sort of gold metal large disk.
"No! The drive!" The Robot General called as that sounded like something important.
"Gray, grab that thing! That must be what powers the machine making these robots!" Lucy said. Gray moved fast and was able to grab a hold of it and pulled it right out. When he did that, the machine lost all power and stopped making robots. Erza moved fast herself as she found the switch for the lights and shut it off to cover their escape.
"Someone get the lights back on!" The Robot General called. He got his wish as the lights came back on, but the gang was gone with the power source to his machine. He heard the sound of squealing tires and knew that the gang managed to escape. "No! Find them! Destroy everything if you must, but bring back that power source!" Whatever it was the gang just swiped appears to be really important to the bad guys. That means the gang can't let them get it.
...
The Gang
Once the gang got out of there, they made it back to the van and drove as far away as they could. They managed to escape, but now those things are going to be coming after them.
"That was close. Natsu, what happened back there?" Gray questioned.
"We screwed-up... Again..." Natsu said as he knows this is all his fault. Happy felt just as guilty. It's because of them their situation is a whole lot worse.
"Lucy, what is that thing we swiped?" Erza questioned.
"I don't know, but it seems to be pretty important to them." Lucy said as she tried to examine the thing. "This thing must be like the motherboard for that machine that made the robots. As long as they don't have it, he can't make anymore."
"Let's break it and put an end to their plans." Gray said.
"That won't stop the ones that have already been made." Lucy said. They're in a real situation now. They've got to figure out how to beat those things or a lot of people could be doomed. Just as they were about to reach town, they felt something hit the back of the van. Gray took a look and saw the robots came back with a truck.
"Those things can drive?! You've got to be kidding me!" Gray said as he was having trouble outrunning it. The truck rammed against the van again and Gray was beginning to lose control of the van with it nearly crashing just as they got into town. "I think we're running for it!" All of them hurried out fast and tried to get off the road.
"The disk!" Lucy said as she accidentally left it behind.
"I got it!" Natsu said as he grabbed a hold of it just as the robots pulled over and loaded out of the truck. The gang tried running for it with them going in different directions. Gray and the girls took off in one direction while Natsu and Happy took off in another. As for the Robot General, he was in the truck himself and jumped right out.
"Get them!" Robot General ordered as he wanted to get his power source back.
...
Gray and the Girls
Gray, Erza, and Lucy took cover inside a sports store, but the robots busted down the doors and started searching around for them. The three of them tried to keep a low profile so that those robots didn't see them.
"This way, quickly." Gray whispered as they tried moving in the opposite direction of where the robots were searching. They took cover behind some shelves and tried to keep themselves hidden. "Now what do we do?"
"Aren't you the one that usually comes up with a plan?" Lucy said.
"Me? Well, why do I? You're the smart one of the group, Lucy. You're suppose to have all the answers." Gray said.
"Why am I the only one who has to come up with anything?" Lucy said. "I have the money, the brains, and much more."
"Guys, shut up or else you're going to say something you can't take back!" Erza said as she could see where this was really going. "And for the record, you both do more than me. All I do is copy what you guys do." This did not look good for the gang. They never found themselves in a situation like this. "Oh man. Look at us. We're letting what that stupid Jacob Howl say get to us."
"You're right, Erza." Gray said. "We all worked like a well oiled machine before that guy opened his mouth and tried to ruin our reputation. Are we really going to let what that stupid reporter say bring us down when we all the truth?"
"No because he doesn't know us." Lucy said. "Erza, help solve the mysteries. It doesn't matter if you have your own thing. What matters is that you help."
"And Gray, Jacob was just trying to twist your words around, turn them against you like you said." Erza said. "He claims he is just trying to expose the truth, but he's just full of it."
"You're right, and what he said about you, Lucy, wasn't cool. You know you're money doesn't matter to us, right?" Gray said.
"Of course not. And Natsu and Happy might... Wait. Where are they?" Lucy said as she noticed they weren't here. "They've got what those robots are after! We've got to find them and get it! Maybe we can use it against them."
"Let's go. We've got to find them and..." Gray didn't finish that as one of the robots grabbed a hold of him and pulled him away with the girls getting scared. It had Gray by the neck and he was in real trouble, but Erza acted fast as she grabbed a metal bat and smashed it against the robot with enough force to get it to release Gray. That was when two more came at her, but Erza actually flipped passed them. Then, she started using that bat like it was a sword. Gray and Lucy were actually a little impressed.
"Batter up!" Erza said as she swung it again and bashed it hard against a robot's face, but the bat was becoming unusable. "Oh boy." As the robot grabbed it and yanked it out of her hands, another one reached out for her. However, Erza kept out of their reach with fancy movements like a martial artist would use.
"Did you know Erza could move like that?" Gray questioned.
"No." Lucy said. Erza wasn't done fighting just yet as she grabbed a weight that she could throw. She threw it as hard as she could and it bashed right against a robot's head with it being taken out, but there were still two more. Wondering what to do about them, Lucy noticed the sprinklers and got an idea. "Erza! Lithium doesn't mix well with water!" When she called that out, Erza noticed the sprinklers. Now she just needed to turn them on. She looked around to see how she could do it and soon spotted the switch for them.
"Erza, watch out!" Gray said. One of the robots came at her, but she ducked down and swirled around. She even climbed over the shelves and made her way over them until she leaped for the switch and turned it on. When the sprinklers came on, the robots started to short-circuit and broke apart. Once that happened, the three of them ran right out to the store. "Erza, that was incredible! How did you do all of it?!"
"Just did." Erza said as she didn't really have a better answer. However, they weren't safe as more of those robots were coming after them.
...
Natsu and Happy
"Quick, up here!" Natsu said as he and Happy jumped up to a fire escape and made their way up. They continued to climb their way up until they reached the top level and ducked inside an abandon apartment. "We should be okay in here." He said as the two of them tried to catch their breath, but everything was sinking in. "We really screwed-up this time, Happy. That reporter was right about us. Even when we do something right, it's only by mistake. We tried being more serious, but we just made things more difficult for the others." They hated this. Those guys are the first real friends Natsu made and he just seems to drag them down. Just then, the door was busted down and they were faced with the Robot General himself.
"There you are." Robot General said. "Give me my power source at once!" Natsu and Happy knew they couldn't do that. "Don't try to escape. Your friends will pay for it." He gestured out the window and they both saw their friends were in real trouble with the robots chasing after them and it seemed like they can't escape.
"Watch it or I'll smash this thing to pieces." Natsu said as he was ready to smash it against something.
"Do that and your friends will pay the price for it." Robot General warned. That's something Natsu didn't want. "There is nowhere to run or hide. You and your friends have finally met your match. Your friends will also make fine robots when I turn them into machines." Natsu had to do something, but what can he do without messing up. He had to help his friends and they are needed to save the day. There was only one thing Natsu could do.
"What if we made a deal?" Natsu said.
"What could I have that you want?" Robot General questioned.
"I'll give you this thing back...if you let my friends go. In exchange...you can take us instead." Natsu offered. Happy was even willing to go with that.
"You would sacrifice yourself for them?" Robot General questioned. For the first time, Natsu is sure he's making the right call.
...
The Gang
Gray and the girls tried to save themselves, but they were all chased into a dead-end. The robots were blocking their way and it seemed like there was no escape for them now. Just as the three of them thought they were in real trouble, the robots were receiving orders to fall back. They did and just left them alone.
"What the heck?" Gray questioned. "Why are they pulling back?"
"Let's find out." Erza said as the three of them hurried to see what was going on. When they ran out, they saw the truck was about to pull out, but they could see the Robot General in the back with Natsu and Happy in there.
"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy called and got their attention. They hurried over to them, but the robots blocked them from doing anything. "What are you guys doing?! Get out of there!"
"They can't. We have a deal." Robot General said.
"A deal? Natsu, we can't let them get that disk thing back!" Gray said.
"Well, he's going to keep his word. These two will have the privilege of being the first organics turned into a machine." Robot General said with their friends horrified on what might happen to them. "The two fools of your little gang actually made a smart decision, and all they ask was for you three to be spared." The other three couldn't believe that Natsu and Happy are really doing something like this.
"No way! No!" Gray called as he hurried to them.
"Time to pull out of here!" Robot General said as he was about to close up the truck and they were about to leave.
"Catch!" Natsu said as he pulled a fast one and tossed the power source over to Gray before the truck closed and drove off.
"Natsu!" Lucy called as she tried running after the truck, but it was already gone. "Natsu! Happy!" She cried, but they were already long gone. Natsu and Happy actually did act like heroes. They just sacrificed themselves for others and gave them a chance.