19th January – 8:38 AM

"I've got three small ones – for Lelyanna, Levy, and Wendy – and four medium ones – for Erza, Lucy, and Grace, plus Henrietta if she needs one." Ceres listed off as she placed down seven sets of HAZOP/EVA suits and helmets down on the dining room table. "I did grab a set for you from that ship you dropped from, I happened to find it in your quarters. It's in my house if you wanted it."

"Yeah, I'll have it." Natsu glanced up from the Crocus map projected in front of him and he held out his hand to the goddess. "Better to have it and not need it then not have it and die from exposure."

"I thought you couldn't be harmed by radiation?" Lelyanna asked curiously, looking up at the man from a nearby dining chair. She and the rest of the women were gathered around the table, watching the grim-looking man with a mixture of excited and sympathetic eyes.

"I can't. It's chemical weapons and toxins I'm worried about. More for a precaution in this world than my own." Natsu shifted his attention to the priestess' pale-turquoise eyes. "Best that you hold onto your one too after this, who know when you may need it. I'm far from knowledgeable about the monsters in this world, so if we come across a beast that spews toxic gasses then I'd rather have it with me whenever something surprises me with a cloud of toxins."

"Is it alright if we keep the ones we use?" Levy asked curiously. "I'm frequently diving into dangerous depths that I have to leave sooner than I'd like due to their inhospitable environments. So having a suit that allows me to roam around in those places just a bit longer, it would be perfect."

"Yeah, keep it." Natsu replied with a quick flick of his wrist, waving away the woman's request as he turned to the three other slayer mages. "Nat, we'll get one for you too either during the trip or after with help from Ceres-" He glanced to the side as the goddess flashed back into view, holding a familiar EVA suit – which was placed on his outstretched hand – and one more medium set. "Never mind, looks like she took care of it anyway."

"Is it going to hamper our use of magic at all?" Wendy asked softly as she picked up one of the helmets and turned it over and over. "It looks like our Roars would damage it."

"If they aren't done correctly, then yeah." Natsu nodded. He requipped the suit away, keeping it on-hand for whenever he may need it. "You need to push the spell's formation outside of the helmet, it'll take a bit of practice but you can do that by holding a sheet of paper in front of your lips. Or you could do what I do and come up with other attacks."

"Are these meant to be this loose?" Asked Lucy, who was holding up one of the medium suits in front of her. "It looks like it would just fall right off."

"It contracts around your body." Natsu shifted his gaze to the woman. At her actions, the other women around the table began to rise to their feet and collect up their respective suits. "Oh, fair warning for those of you in bras; probably best to not wear them if they've got underwire or something else artificially supporting the garment as they could dig into your skin and in the worst case, they could even puncture your skin."

"Time to get naked then!" Natsumi cheered loudly as she rapidly undressed.

"Why are you even getting naked? Radiation will not affect you, remember Magnolia?" Natsu sighed at the pinkette and turned to Henrietta. "You wouldn't happen to know how to use these, somewhere inside that body's pre-installed memory? Any help would be appreciated."

"Yes, I am familiar with these suits, it seems." Henrietta replied coolly. She was already getting undressed and had already placed her boots beside the chair she had been sitting on and her socks atop the table and she was in the process of removing her dress. "I can help anyone who is struggling."

"Most of us rarely wear bras, Natsu." Erza spoke up while standing stark naked with her arms crossed under her bust, not even slightly phased by being undressed in the man's presence. "Grace is probably the only one who consistently wears one, until she strips out of it."

"Oi!" Grace shot a quick glare at the redhead.

"Where's the lie, Snowflake?" Natsumi laughed loudly. "Just look at you, you've already gotten naked."

"Wait, what?" The raven-haired woman glanced down at her completely bare body and cursed loudly at herself. "Blame Ur, not me, damn it!"

"I've heard that before." Natsu chuckled softly. "Now, Lucy mentioned it before but the reason these suits are loose is because it makes it easier to get into. There is a switch built into the left cuff that activates the suit's compression feature and causes it to shrink down to fit your body. Hence why I said to remove anything that could stab into you. For starters, climb into it like you would a diver's suit."

The women watched on as the man approached Lelyanna and checked over her suit. Once he was satisfied that she was properly in it, he slipped his fingers into her bluish-silver hair and kept her lengthening wavy bob above her jawline.

"I suggest pairing up with someone and making sure your hair doesn't get caught between the suit and your skin. Or, you can hold your hair on top of your head with your left hand and crank the switch with your right."

Following Natsu's instructions, Lelyanna gently grasped her wrist and felt a solid ring underneath her hand. She twisted the ring around her wrist and the suit rapidly shrunk and conformed to her body so everything lower than her jawline was covered in a slick white-and-grey bodysuit. "Oh wow, it feels nice and warm but not too hot."

"It regulates the temperature at a comfortable twenty to twenty-five degrees Celsius, even in arctic temperatures or on the edge of the atmosphere."

Natsumi walked up to the priestess and eyed her body. She had gotten redressed, albeit reluctantly, while Natsu was helping the young woman. "Why do I feel like this is some kind of ploy to get us into sexy body-hugging suits? I mean, look at these babies," She prodded and squeezed Lelyanna's breasts and looked up at the man as her fingers sank into the woman's flesh. "The only way they could be any more obvious is if there was no suit covering them."

"Can you stop fondling my tits like a horny bitch!" Lelyanna complained, an embarrassed blush tinting her cheeks a rosy red. She swatted the woman's hand away and gave her a slight shove. "Go find someone else to grope, like Lucy."

"Go fondle Erza, damn it!" Lucy redirected the pinkette to their teammate, swatting her hands away just before they grabbed her bare breasts. She sighed at her promiscuous friend and approached Natsu while fitting her arms into the sleeves of the suit. "Could you hold my hair up, Natsu?"

"Alright." Natsu stepped closer to the woman's back and caught a whiff of the familiar vanilla scent that sat on her skin. He shook the encroaching fog from his mind and gently collected up her hair and while he was at it, he began to pin it up with bobby-pins in preparation for her helmet.

"You two look good together." Wendy remarked innocently as she watched the man work. She had already activated her suit since she wore her hair up in twin-tail, so it wasn't going to get caught underneath the suit.

"Eh?" Lucy blushed faintly and glanced at the younger woman. "What makes you say that?"

"You seem comfortable with each other."

"That's no surprise, he was married to me after all." A disembodied voice giggled playfully before the owner materialised before their eyes. The ghostly Lucy strode over to her younger counterpart and eyed the suit with a teasing glimmer in her eyes. "I got to say, we do look damn hot in these suits. It a pity that they're a single-piece suit, I always got so horny in it."

"I'd rather not think about that," Lucy sighed softly. "I'd prefer not to stew in my own juices…"

"Yeah, it does get a little bit uncomfortable. Like constantly having wet panties because someone just keeps turning you on."

"That's not my fault." Natsu murmured but both blondes rounded on him instantly.

"Yes, it is!" Both Lucys said in unison while sharing the same cute puffy pout.

"Am I the only one who thinks it could be hot seeing two Lucys making out with each other?" Natsumi called out, glancing around at the women around her and at Natsu. "Come on, Natsu, you get me, right? Don't you think it'd be fun to fuck two Lucys at the same time?"

"I think I'm going to ignore that question." Natsu decided err on the side of caution as the two women in question were still staring him down. Even if one was a ghost, she'd still be able to cause havoc in her own way. "For my own safety."

"Yeah, that's not going to be possible. I'm a ghost, remember? I can't even touch the man I love anymore, not in any meaningful way." The older Lucy replied to the frisky dragon slayer, sighing softly. "Though, since I'm a ghost, I could probably touch him again via Lucy's body…"

"Did you want to try?" The other blonde asked lightly, turning her attention to the woman and offering herself up.

"You want me to possess you?"

"I don't mind sharing." Lucy shrugged her shoulders and smiled kindly at her counterpart. "At least for a little while."

The ghost thought about it for a little bit but she shook her head lightly and gave the woman a thankful smile. "No, it's alright. While I do miss touching him, I want him to move on from me and have a happy life here. He can't do that if he clings desperately to me. I'd prefer it if you touched him. Go on, give him a big smooch for me."

"Not to take away from the moment, but aren't we forgetting something?" Erza cleared her throat and spoke up, redirecting the conversation with a point of the finger which was directed at the holographic map of a futuristic Crocus hovering above the table. She turned to Natsu and waved her hand across the women gathered around the table. "We're all suited up, how do the helmets work?"

"I was letting them have their little chat." Natsu replied offhandedly and he grabbed the blonde's helmet from the table. He carefully slipped it down over Lucy's head and he slid his hand along the left side of the rim. "Just put it on like so – you'd want to put up your hair for a better seal like I have done with Lucy – and once it is on, look for the switch under the left side of the helmet. This will activate it and it'll automatically seal around your neck and against the suit."

Lucy gasped softly as the helmet closed in around her neck but the sudden pressure was quickly relieved once the seal had been made with the suit. Lights flashed in front of her vision, forming words against the visor and informing her that various systems were coming online. It was quickly replaced by a HUD that detailed the environmental readings provided by the EVA suit's sensors.

"How's it looking in there?" Natsu asked, peering through the clear visor at the woman's face.

"Er… Oh, um, it's saying that things are 'online'." Lucy replied. Her voice was almost perfectly clear given that it was being emitted by the helmet's inside-out communications system, it did however have a slight artificial note in the background.

"Is there anything coming up as an 'error'?"

"No." The blonde shook her head lightly.

"That means you're good to go." Natsu clapped the woman on the shoulders and gave her a large and happy fanged grin. He noticed a blush colour her cheeks a faint rosy red and he heard her heartrate pick up but he decided that now wasn't the time to tease her, so he instead moved to Lelyanna and helped her. "Henrietta, you good?"

"All systems online, Master."

"Everything's good here, Natsu." Lelyanna spoke up, her voice coming from the helmet. She gave him the thumbs up and let the man move to the next woman.

Natsu checked on Wendy and Levy next before moving onto Grace and finally to Erza. Thankfully, none of them saw any errors coming up on their HUDs and their suits had properly sealed and were scrubbing the carbon from the CO2 they were breathing out. He turned to the pure-white goddess and approached her. "Could you update that map to show what it looks like now? I'll need it to plan out the trip."

"It's not pretty. But you're used to the death and destruction." Ceres reached out and tapped the terminal that sat atop the table.

The futuristic city with tall buildings that had been shown up until then was replaced by ruins, a skeleton of what it once was. It had clearly been the victim of multiple nuclear strikes and the vast city was riddled with rubble and the skyscrapers that once stood tall and proud were cut short or had been replaced by a crater filled with debris.

"Yep… about what I expected." Natsu shook his head and sighed. "The ground is going to be a no-go; the terrain is a nightmare." He panned the projection across to the northeast and stopped it over a relatively unscathed facility – at least comparatively. "Looks like the Toma Airbase might be a good option for ingress. We might be able to find a functioning bird to take us into the city."

"You might want to take weapons, Natsu." Ceres informed the man. "Do you remember how I said we use your world as a test site for monsters? Of the biological ones that we have been pumping into the world, a few survived and have ended up mutating from radiation exposure, and you also have non-biological creatures that are immune to radiation there too."

"How hot are we talking?" The man looked up from the hologram, his eyes boring into the goddess' pearlescent white eyes.

"Crocus is crawling with them."

Natsu quickly turned to Henrietta and Lelyanna and gave them a quick nod. "Gear up, it's going to be a hell of a party down there."

"Sir." Henrietta quickly saluted and gathered up her harness from her clothing and began to fasten it while Lelyanna's gear flashed onto her body.

"The rest of you," Natsu shifted his gaze to Team Natsumi. "Prepare however you wish to prepare."

"I'm going to stay here and haunt your house, Natsu." Lucy waved an ethereal hand at the man before fading away.

"Once everyone is ready, come and gather around me and I'll send you all to that airfield." Ceres addressed the group. She waited patiently as they got ready and gathered around her one-by-one. Once it seemed that they were set to head out, she clicked her fingers and sent them on their way.

0=0=0=0=0

The bright white light faded from Natsu's eyes and the familiar air of decay and destruction filled his nostrils. His Geiger counter instantly rang an alarm, so he checked it and turned to the women looking at the devastation around them. "How are your suits reading?"

"External readings are high but my suit says I will be fine." Henrietta replied quickly. "I have no leaks."

"Is there anyone whose suit is saying it is compromised?" Natsu glanced at the other women, and got a shake of the head from each one. "Good. You should all be safe unless the suit gets breached, so be careful and ensure that you do not to take damage."

Levy walked over to the salmon-haired man, her helmet panning back and forth as she took in the devastation. "Where to, Natsu?"

"We'll check the nearby hangers." Natsu pointed to the other side of the runway where a few hangers looked to be still intact. "I'm hoping there is going to be something useable in them, if not then we're going to have to either make it work or walk into the city."

"What exactly are we after?" The blunette asked curiously. As the man took off at a quick walk, she had to jog to keep up with him thanks to her shorter legs. "Natsu?"

"A helicopter, hopefully. Though if we can't find something that flies, then I'll need to find something capable of navigating the rubble." The man glanced over his shoulder as he approached the closest hanger. "The power is most likely out, so I'm going to have to muscle these doors open. I just hope whatever is inside hasn't been knocked out by an EMP."

"Hey, what was the time back home?" Grace asked curiously as she gazed up at the dim cloudy sky. "About nine-ish, right?"

"I believe so, yes." Erza replied with a brief nod. She turned to the raven-haired woman and followed her gaze to the sky. "It seems a bit dark here…"

"That's what I was thinking too."

"Time isn't synced up." Natsu informed the women and he pointed off towards a backlit mountain. "The sun is setting here, so it'll be getting pretty dark soon. Doesn't help that we're stuck in a prolonged or potentially perpetual winter due to the vast number of nuclear weapons decimating the world."

"These suits will keep us warm, and safe too." Henrietta calmly added. She slipped her rifle off her back and held it in front of her with the mounted flashlight activated, shining the cone of light across the overgrown grass in front of them.

"What if we come across those monsters that Ceres was talking about?" Wendy asked, slightly timidly. She glanced around at the completely unfamiliar and alien environment and she moved closer to Natsumi, seeking comfort from her older sister figure. "What would they even look like?"

"Probably some horrifically mutated ugly fucking things." Natsu replied offhandedly. He came to a stop at the side entrance of the first hanger and slammed his boot against the door, folding the metal door in on itself and sending it flying off the hangers and skidding along the hanger floor. "Rita."

"Moving." Henrietta responded softly. She moved past the man with her rifle raised, entering the dark hanger.

"Anna, bring up the rear." The pinkette ordered. He raised his own rifle to his shoulder and activated the light as he stepped in behind the android and began to clear the hanger.

"In." Lelyanna gently prompted the remainder of the group to follow the man. Once the mages had entered the building, she took a few steps inside and turned. She took a knee at their rear, holding her rifle steady while aiming at the now vacant doorway.

"Talk about cute but dangerous." Lucy giggled softly. She turned to face her blue-haired teammate with a gentle smile. "She reminds me of you."

"But I don't know how to shoot." Wendy returned the woman's smile with one of her own.

"I've bought some firearms off of Natsu – a rifle and pistol – and he's going to coach me to use them once I've shown that I'm capable of use and maintaining the weapons. I could teach you what he teaches me if you'd like?"

"You're in good hands then." Lelyanna inserted herself into the conversation, looking over her shoulder at the women. "He taught me both how to shoot and how to fight hand-to-hand, including using the combat knife he gave me. Granted, I'm not exactly strong… but it's still something worth knowing."

"Maybe you could ask the ghost for a few pointers, Lucy." Grace wandered over to her friend, her eyes on the man who was walking back towards them with the android at his side. "I'm sure she'd be able to show you what worked for her."

"The only issue with that is she's used to having the same kind of capabilities as Natsu." The blonde replied softly. "We might not be compatible in that way."

"She could still show you the way to fight that suits your body, even if you can't achieve the exact same feats of physical prowess as her."

"Yes, but is her spiritual form really capable of those kinds of physical feats?" Lelyanna chipped in. She rose to her feet and walked over to the blonde. "I think Grace's idea is the way you should go. She'd know exactly how to move your body, and if you're concerned about not matching her physical prowess then you could always use your Star Dresses to augment yourself."

Natsu came to a stop before the group of women, his fangs bared in an irritated snarl and he growled, "Everything here is fried. Let's move to the next one."

"What exactly is a helicopter, Natsu?" Erza asked curiously as she followed the man out of the hanger. "You said it was some kind of flying vehicle but I'm guessing it isn't like one of our airships?"

"It's a type of aircraft that uses a spinning propeller that is generally mounted at the top to provide lift instead of the front to create thrust with lift provided by wings like on a plane. Or in the case of your airships; internal bladders carrying lighter-than-air gasses." Natsu's eyes wandered over to a cluster of wreckages about a hundred metres from them. He glanced back at the women following him and pointed over to the wreckages. "Those were attack helicopters, AH-82 Tigersharks by the looks of them. Looks like they crashed there from a low height. They aren't air worthy anymore, and they likely crashed due to the EMP emitted by nuclear weapons."

"I want to get a closer look at them." Levy said and she started running towards the crashed aircraft but a cluster of thornless vines short from the earth and ensnared her waist like a hand gripping a doll, stopping her before she had even moved ten metres. "Oi, what's the big idea?"

"It's too dangerous." Natsu cautioned the blunette. He had his hand outstretched towards the woman; his fingers curled as if he was physically clutching the woman in his grasp. "You need to remember that my world was at war. These aircraft were likely fully armed, and those missiles and rockets could still be live and could very well detonate at the slightest of touches. If that payload goes off, you'll be vaporised at worst and at best you'll still be alive but be thrown across the field with large parts flesh ripped from your body."

The vines extended from the ground and lifted Levy off her feet. They carried her back to the group where she was placed back down on her feet beside Lucy. "Was it really necessary to do that?"

"Yes." Natsu sighed and he released his grip on the woman. "I admire the desire to check out something so unfamiliar, however, could you curb your enthusiasm for just a little but so we can find one that is actually safe to poke around in."

"Fine, fine." Levy sighed and she quickly rejoined the group.

Out of the few remaining hangers left standing, the next three they checked were either empty or didn't have any shielding to protect the vehicles inside from an EMP ravaging their electronics. But on the fourth try, they struck gold. A radio in the corner of the hanger was emitting a crackly, static-filled hum which contained a ghost of a tune that set a haunting ambiance inside the hanger.

"That's a good omen if I've ever seen one." Natsu murmured. He shifted his gaze to the four helicopters sat in the hanger. They had semi-flat tires but he could replace them if needed. His main concern was if any of them would start up.

"Are these the helicopters you were after?" Erza asked coolly as she came to a stop beside the man. They stood twenty metres off the side off the nearest alien contraption and the redhead couldn't help but be in awe as she took in the sight of them. "I've never seen anything like these…"

"Considering your world doesn't even have fixed wing aircraft, that really doesn't surprise me." Natsu glanced at the woman then made his way over to a nearby workbench. "Rita, have a look around for something to pump up those tyres, needs to have a nitrogen tank hooked up."

"Yes, Master."

Levy hurried to the man; her voice filled with excitement as she asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Maintenance records for the birds." Natsu pointed to the helicopters behind him with his thumb.

"What are they?" The blunette asked, eyes wide with curiosity. "Aside from being a Helicopter."

"Those are UH-74 Swallows. They aren't your traditional helicopter like the wreckages outside which have the rotor mounted on top of the main body." Natsu explained slowly. He found the documents he was after so he made his way over to the aircrafts. "These use two sets of coaxial contra-rotating blades mounted in these ducked nacelles." As the man pointed up at the large hoop as he walked under the stubby left wing, drawing the woman's attention to the two sets of four blades enclosed in the duct above their heads. "Those thrust units can tilt fore and aft and move independently from the unit on the opposite side. This allows the aircraft to move forward and backward as well as rotate around the vertical axis, and side to side movement is done by varying the speed between the two sides which causes the aircraft to roll on the horizontal axis."

"What does the 'UH' stand for?"

"Utility Helicopter – it's the shorthand designation for its role." The salmon-haired man glanced back at the woman and gave her a small smile. He climbed up to the top of the helicopter and opened the access hatches on the aircraft's spine so he could inspect the two turbine engines. As per the mechanics documents, the work on this specific Swallow's engines seemed to have already been completed. He moved around the aircraft, continuing to inspect it as the women watched on.

"Master, I've got the compressor." Henrietta called out from below the man.

"Leave it there, I'll top up the tyres." Natsu looked down the side of the aircraft then glanced around the hanger floor. There was a small vehicle parked in the corner of the hanger with a hitch hooked up to it to move the aircraft around. "Can you check that Tug to see if it still runs? We might need it to take this bird out of the hanger. If it's dead, then don't worry about it, I'll just finesse her out of the hanger."

"I'll try and find a fuel truck afterwards, so we can fill the tanks."

Natsu closed up the top of the aircraft and leapt down to the concrete. After filling the tyres with nitrogen, he did a quick walk-around to check the fluid levels and if there was water from condensation in the fuel tanks. As he was working, a pair of arms slipped around his chest and an ample bosom pressed against his back.

"You look like you've done this before." Lucy remarked quietly, watching on curiously as the man worked.

"A few times. It wasn't my job though, just something I picked up along the way."

"I probably don't need to ask this, but you know how to fly this thing?"

"Yeah. I can pilot many different vehicles from various helicopters, fighters, transports, tanks and so on…" Natsu paused for a moment and shook his head slightly. "Sorry, that probably meant nothing beyond just some shadowy images of alien vehicles."

"Pretty much." The blonde giggled softly but she tightened her arms and pressed her body flush with the man, resting her visor against the man's back. "This sucks! I can't really feel your warmth and this suit cushions the feel of your dense muscle."

"And you say it's my fault that you're frequently wet." Natsu chuckled softly. He glanced over his shoulder then reached down to her legs, hiking her up onto his back and crossing her legs in front of his waist.

"Oh!" Lucy gasped sharply and quickly readjusted her grip, shifting her arms up to his neck. She let out a soft giggle and gave the man a gentle squeeze with her thighs. "You surprised me!"

"You'll get used to it."

Lucy tightened her grip on the man slightly and closed her eyes. But after a few moments of being carried around by the man while he worked, she noticed that it was quieter inside this hanger compared to the other hangers. "Natsu, I think your sensor died."

"Hmm?" Natsu looked down at the Geiger counter sat on his belt and noticed that while it was still reading some background radiation, it was at a safe level. So, he took the counter from his belt and started measuring the radiation levels around the hanger and near various surfaces. "Looks like it's safe in here." He raised his voice as he glanced around at the women dotted around the hanger, "You girls can take off your helmets if you want, just while we have everything closed up. It's safe in here, albeit a little bit stale."

"I'll start purifying the air!" Wendy called out. She quickly reached for her helmet's release and lifted it from her head.

Natsu quickly set himself alight with magical fire, burning away any contaminants sitting on his body while leaving Lucy completely unharmed. It was all to keep the blonde away from harmful radioactive dust that could've clung to his clothing and might have been breathed in by her.

"Master." Henrietta walked up to the man, carrying her helmet under her right arm. "I'm afraid that the Tug is non-operational."

"That's fine. Once you find and bring the fuel truck over then I'll open the hanger doors and coast it out under its own power so we can top it up."

"Okay," The android gave a quick nod and placed her helmet back on her head. "I'll be back shortly."

"Alright, Luce, you're going to have to hope off for a little bit." Natsu informed the blonde as he slid open the helicopter's side door.

Lucy hopped down from the man's back and removed her helmet. She followed the man into the vehicle and sat on the floor near the cockpit as he took the pilot's seat. "It looks incredibly complex…"

"Once you learn it, it's not so bad." Natsu replied. He started flicking a few switches in a specific order. The turbines quickly spooled to life and the gauges and electronic displays on his instruments panel activated. He quickly checked out the windows and over his shoulder to see if the door was clear then he hit a button to close it. "Going to do a quick pressure check and see if the O2 systems are working."

"Can I come up and sit with you?" Lucy asked, sticking her head up between the space between the seats.

"Yeah, sure. Just don't mess with the controls."

The busty blonde shot to her feet and slipped between the seats. She eased herself down in the left seat and placed her helmet on her lap while she watched the man go through a checklist.

"Alright. Pressure is good, we're airtight and have positive pressure so nothing will come in when the doors are open. Air is clean. We're a bit low of fuel, so that's definitely getting topped up." Natsu looked out of his window and manipulated his flight stick and rudder pedals. "We've got movement on my end. Can you look out your side."

"Ah…" Lucy twisted in her seat and looked back at the left ducted rotor. "Yeah, it's moving."

"Right." Natsu climbed out of the pilot seat and stepped between the seats to the main cabin. He reached back and placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Stay here and don't touch anything. I'll get everyone onboard and open those doors."

"Okay."

As Natsu opened the side door and as he stepped out, he raised his voice so he could be heard over the whirring of the turbines. "Everyone onboard! Don't worry about putting on helmets since it'll be safe inside it. Just take one of the seats inside the cabin!"

"Let's go!" Erza called out and she ushered her team forward, urging them into the vehicle as Natsu made his way to the hanger door.

The man released the locks once the women were inside and he pushed the door open just enough to fit the Sparrow through with a metre's worth of room on the sides. Henrietta was waiting on the other side with the tanker truck and waved to him when she saw him. He rushed back to the helicopter and took his pilot's seat once more. With a little increase on the collective and a push of the flight stick, he eased the aircraft forward and guided it out of the hanger. Once he was parked beside the tanker, he put on the brakes and let the helicopter idle so he could go and fill the tanks.

"Did you have any issues?"

"No, it went smoothly, and the pump started first time." Henrietta walked past the man and climbed into the cabin. "I'll be waiting inside, Master."

"Mhm." Natsu hooked the tanker up to the helicopter and opened the valve.

The sun had fully set and the once bustling airbase was plunged into darkness. Wind began to pick up and it carried the distant groans and growls of distant creatures, the new denizens of this apocalyptic wasteland.

The noise caused an involuntary twitch of Natsu's ears and he peered around at his surroundings, his sharp eyes cutting through the darkness. He kept the movements of his head slow and steady, fluidly turning it as his eyes shifted back and forth.

"Rita, check the fuel gauge."

"Forty-percent and rising." The android called out from inside the Sparrow.

The pinkette grunted and bared his fangs as he walked back to the open door. "The noise is attracting the locals. The zone is about to go hot."

"How bad?" Erza asked quickly, her gaze shifting between the three dragon slayers.

"Closest pack is probably one or two-hundred metres off the perimeter of the airfield. Who knows if the perimeter fence is still intact or if there are holes in it but we should have enough fuel soon for our journey."

"Sounds like fifteen to twenty in the nearest group." Natsumi added softly. She narrowed her onyx-green eyes, straining to see the shadowy figures in the far distance. "Too dark for me to make anything out."

"I can hear them at the fence line, scratching and clawing against the metal." Natsu glanced at the woman then he moved to the front of the truck. As he walked, he also raised his voice to be heard over the whining turbines. "Hm, there's a bit of a dip at the end of the runway so I can't see the fence."

"Do you still have some of those things you used during the horde night, Natsu?" Grace asked curiously. "Those lights you shot into the air."

"The illumination flares?" The salmon-haired man spared the woman a quick glance and nodded briefly. "I do. However, they have a limited range. I can't launch them far enough to reach that area."

"Eighty-percent, Master."

"That's more than enough." Natsu murmured to himself. He quickly detached the hose from the helicopter and got into the truck. He primed it to explode with his Bomb Curse then used Macro to send it careening down the runway and toward the source of the noise.

As the truck accelerated, Natsu kicked the door open and hefted himself onto the roof. He leapt to the fuel tank and sprinted along the top until he reached the end where he dropped down into a roll along the taxiway.

"Are you insane?!" Grace shouted as the women watched the man with slack jaws.

"That doesn't even come close to what I've done in my lifetime." Natsu replied as he climbed into the helicopter and closed the door behind him. As he moved past the women to the cockpit, he glanced back at them and nodded to the seats. "Buckle up, at least until we're off the ground."

Lucy smiled at the man as he rejoined her in the front of the helicopter. "All set to go?"

"Yeah." He replied softly, sparing her a quick glance and giving her a small but warm smile. He did one last check over his instruments and when the truck detonated and the explosion rocked the aircraft, he didn't even bat an eye. Instead, he just grasped his flight controls and lifted the helicopter up into the air.

The fireball illuminated the crash site and cast long shadows along the airfield. Strewn across the field by the explosion were burning chunks of flesh from unknown creatures, accompanied by wounded that staggered through the roaring flames that rapidly spread through the long grass.

Levy peeled her face from the thick bulletproof windows in the door and stuck her head between the pilot seats. "What the hell was in that thing?"

"Synthetic fuel with a high energy density." Natsu glanced at the woman then reached past her to turn one of Lucy's digital displays to infrared night vision. "Usually, you'd have a helmet that'd do this for you but you'll have to settle for that display. You can move that view around with the hat switch on you stick, beside where my thumb is. Don't worry about causing the helicopter to move about if you accidentally jerk the stick, I've disabled the input for your side."

"Okay." Lucy curiously scanned the camera around but she sent the occasional glance over to the man as they flew further away from the airfield. "Is this how you see things?"

"Kinda. I don't exactly know just how that particular mutation worked; whether it caused more rods to form in my eyes, or changed how many neurons are attached to each group of rods, or if it even mutated these rods to cause them to be able to see near-infrared. But since it comes up as grey scale and not colour, I know it's the rods and not the cones that were affected, or it was the attached neural processors. Maybe both." Natsu's eyes flicked over to the display then up to the woman as he gave his explanation. "When we were getting augmented, we had the basic rundown that told us of what the changes would be and that there is a possibility for our bodies to mutate beyond the scope of what the drugs were meant to do; my Reflex ability, for example, that causes my perception to go into overdrive and allows me to see the world in slow motion. Of course, we also got told about how we'd have to adjust to the different physicality, like the far greater levels of strength."

"Were those unplanned mutations common?" Levy asked quickly, immediately leaping onto the fascinating subject.

"I wouldn't call them common, no, but they weren't uncommon either. Myself, Lucy, and Erza had such mutations, but Gray and Wendy didn't." The pinkette leaned forward, looking out through the windshield at the ruins of Crocus ahead of them. His gaze shifted across the broken buildings, searching for landmarks that he could use for navigation. "I've got a little game for you girls to play while fly around the city; try and spot known monuments that I'm sure exist in your world, like Mercurius or Domus Flau. Granted, they might not be standing anymore."

"That's going to be a bit difficult, don't you think?" Lelyanna murmured as she pressed herself up against the back of Natsu's seat and looked out over his shoulder at the world. "It's fairly dark and the clouds are getting thicker. I mean, I can use your eyes, but then I'm restricted to whatever you happen to be looking at. And you need to focus on flying."

"I kinda want a little tour of the city." Grace piped up, joining the two short women at the front section of the helicopter.

"Hold on, I'll sync Lucy's screen to the projector back there." Natsu levelled out the aircraft and took a quick glance at the switchboard above his head. After finding what he was looking for, he flicked a switch and a holographic screen was projected in the cabin. "There you go, now you can see whatever Lucy is pointing the cameras at. I'll give you a little tip," His eyes followed where the infrared illumination cone was pointed and he raised his hand, pointing a little further to the right and away from it. "Move the camera more over there, and you should see Mercurius. I'm surprised it's still somewhat intact."

"Somewhat?!" Natsumi shouted, her voice thick with shock. "Less than half of it is still standing!"

"Most likely a cruise missile with a conventional warhead – non-nuclear – or maybe it could've been a low-yield nuke, who knows."

"We should probably find this place you're after sooner rather than later." Lucy prompted with a quick glance at the man before looking back at her raven-haired friend. "It's dangerous just being in this world, remember?"

"Yeah, but," Grace paused for a moment. She placed her hands on her hips and leaned in closer to the holographic projection. "You've got to admit, it's a bit interesting, being in another world. Even if it's as dangerous as it is."

"Maybe if we're in a place that was a little more liveable then I'd agree with you."

"Magnolia was pretty safe." Lelyanna turned her attention to the women, her gaze shifting back and forth between the blonde and ravenette. "With the exception of when the strange weather phenomenon that blew into the city, I was able to walk around in my casual clothing."

"There were areas where you couldn't head to, don't forget." Natsumi reminded the priestess. "That's why he gave you the Geiger counter."

"So, where exactly are we heading?" Lucy asked the man next to her.

"Fiore's Defence Advanced Research Labs." Natsu changed their heading and headed for the opposite side of the sprawling city. "It sits on the outskirts of the city. Quite a big complex if memory serves me right."

"Sounds like heaven to me." Levy swooned. "What did they research?"

"Lots of stuff. High-efficiency thrusters for the high-atmospheric aircrafts and warships, new composites to use in armour, kinetic and energy weapons, high-efficiency and compact power systems – which is what we're after – and tonnes more. It depends on which laboratory you happen to visit inside the complex."

"Is there time to have a look around?" The blunette asked eagerly. "I want to check out the various labs."

"Depends on how dangerous it is. Don't forget that Ceres warned us about mutants and monsters, so who knows what's going to be down there." Natsu spotted the facility and brought the helicopter in low and fast. "If you do plan on wandering, then stay in a group and be armed, make sure your suit doesn't take any damage and keep an eye on the sensor readings."

"I'll stick with her and keep her safe." Henrietta moved closer to the short woman and unslung her rifle. "If things get out of control, then I'll pick her up and make a break for it."

"If you find a working vehicle, then use that to get around." Natsu briefly glanced over his shoulder at the android. "All of the labs here should be fully shielded, so anything inside will be useable."

"Hey! Keep your eyes ahead!" Grace forcefully turned the man's head and made him focus on landing the aircraft. "We might as well be in a metal coffin."

"Nah, the drop pods I rode in were worse by far when compared to this cushy ride." Natsu let out a bark of light-hearted laughter and pushed on the anti-torque pedals to spin the V-tail of the helicopter around while at the same time pitching the nose down and pulling on the collective to bring them to an abrupt but safe landing in a near-empty carpark within the DARL Facility. "We called those babies 'Iron Maidens' for a reason." He powered down the aircraft and turned in his seat to face the women. "Alright. Stick those helmets back on and don't remove them until we're back in your world."

Erza slipped her helmet over her head and glanced at her friends once it had sealed around her neck. "We should decide who goes with who. Since Levy wants to explore and Henrietta is going with her, I think they should have a few more people to strengthen their group."

"I'll go with them." Natsumi spoke up and raised her hand, drawing attention to where she stood, leaning against the left door. "I'd be able to hear anything coming our way and either guide them way from the threat or prepare us for combat."

"Take either Lelyanna or Wendy with you then." Natsu rose from his seat and moved into the passenger section. "Just so if anyone gets hurt then they can be healed."

"Lelyanna, do you want to come with me?" Levy turned to the priestess with an eager smile. "We haven't really had the chance to get to know each other yet since you joined the guild."

"I'd be happy to join you, just as long as Natsu doesn't need me for measurements?"

"Nope." The pinkette shook his head. "Not at this stage anyway. I'm just collecting the necessary tools and materials I need to create this module for you."

"Alright." The young woman nodded and she flashed the blunette an excited smile. "I'll come along."

"I want to have a look around too." Wendy spoke up, looking at each of her friend's faces. "As part of a separate group or by myself."

"I'd prefer that you didn't go alone." Natsu gave the young woman his full attention. He half turned and grabbed the door release as all the suited women had their helmets on. "Pick who you want to go with you. I'm going to get some readings."

"I'll go with you." Erza smiled at her youngest teammate and she was quickly joined by the ice mage.

"Same here. What about you, Lucy?" Grace turned to her blonde friend with an inquisitive look.

"I think I'll stick with Natsu." The blonde replied quietly as her eyes followed the man out of the helicopter. "He's more than capable of dealing with anything he comes across, but I don't really like the idea of leaving him alone in a place like this. This world is his hell. It's where he lost everything, us included. I don't want him to be alone here."

"Hm, yeah… I don't really like that idea either." Erza nodded gently. "His mood seems to be improving, little by little. It's probably for the best that you stick with him since you've got the greatest sway with him."

"Yeah, it kinda makes me a little jealous." Natsumi smirked playfully at her friend. "I've been trying to get into his pants almost since I met him but the only people that he gets frisky with is the priestess he corrupted and you, though that's only kissing a light petting. You really need to get on with it and play hide the sausage."

"Nat!"

"What's 'hide the sausage'?" Wendy asked innocently as she gazed at the two older women.

"Fu-" Natsumi started to reply with a wide grin but two different hands slapped over her mouth and cut off the rest of her words.

"Don't worry about it." Lelyanna spoke over the pinkette as Lucy nodded vigorously from the other side of the dragon slayer, both their hands covering the woman's mouth.

"We should get a move on; he's probably waiting for us." Lucy added quickly. She dragged the pinkette from the helicopter while keeping her mischievous mouth covered. "Come, come."

As the women filtered out from the aircraft, their attention was drawn to the former soldier who was knelt down by a collection of debris, his Geiger counter in his hand. His face was passive but his eyes were slightly narrowed as he read the readings. When he heard the women approach him, he rose to his full height and turned to them.

"The background radiation levels are pretty low here; to the point that you'd be able to go without a suit for half a year without absorbing enough radiation that'd have long term complications." The man fastened the device to his belt and approached the women, meeting them halfway. "That being said, I don't want you to remove your equipment unless you're inside an undamaged building, and only if your sensor systems tell you that it's safe. These labs should be airlocked due to the potentially delicate nature of the experiments undertaken here as well as the equipment being made here."

"We decided how we're going to split up." Erza informed the man as she took the front-most position in front of him but the man waved her words away with a small smile.

"I know, I heard. You're free to take a look around. I'll have Ceres pull us all back home once I'm done here though, so don't get too comfortable."

"Is there anything else that you know of that went on here?" Levy asked with excited curiosity.

"Eh," Natsu scratched at his stubble and looked around at the large buildings, trying to get his bearings. "We're not far from where I was administered the serum that altered my body. Might go check in on that to see if they had any concoctions developed since the last time that I had a tune-up."

"Wait, that happened here?" Lelyanna turned to the man, her faintly shimmering eyes wide.

"Mhm, in one of the labs here." The man replied, nodding slowly. "I can show you all where I became what I am if you're interested."

There was a general murmur of assent that drifted through the group of women. They huddled together like a sports team having a pep talk, discussing what each person wanted to do. After a few moments of hushed conversation, they broke apart and Erza stepped forward.

"We'll come with you since all of us are curious about how you became so quick and strong. All the more that we might get to see the process too."

"Like I said, this is more of a tune-up." Natsu reminded the redhead. But he gave the women a brief smile and looked around at the numbered buildings around them. "Twenty, eighteen… so Lab Eight should be in block to the southwest." He waved for the group to follow him as he made his way down the familiar footpaths lining the facilities' streets. "Anyway; I won't have to go through the same rehabilitation that was needed when I was chemically altered."

"Where do you think you'll find the stuff you'll need for your little project?" Natsumi asked as she casually walked beside the man with her arms behind her head. "This place looked kinda big from above."

"There are twenty-four different labs here, each one conducting their own research. They've also got satellite sites across the country. They are of different sizes too, like lab twenty being the largest as they focus on magnetically accelerated weapons. Most warships were outfitted with a large cannon of this type that ran the length of the ship."

"Can we see one of those before we leave?" Levy requested, her eyes rising up the man's broad back and burning a hole into the back of his head. "Would there be any around here?"

"There was one in Magnolia." Lelyanna replied softly. "It had crash landed in the middle of the city."

"That was a carrier though." The dragon princess pointed out, turning her head to look back at her friends. "Natsu said it was three kilometres long, Levy. Right?"

"Yeah, that particular class of carrier was three klicks long. Some are a tad longer, some shorter. But the carriers are the largest of them all. Cruisers, frigates, destroyers, these are some of the other classes of warships you'd see in the skies. All of which are shorter than a carrier in length and height."

Natsumi stopped dead in her tracks as her ears twitched and her head snapped down the street to left. "Monsters…" She growled through clenched teeth. "A dozen, heavy footsteps, bipedal."

"Gunfire could draw more to our position." Natsu stepped around to square up with the street. He pointed down to his right and tilted his head slightly to look back at the suited-up women. "Continue that way, find Lab Eight and hunker down in the foyer. If the security system activates, say the following: Deactivate Lab Security Systems, Authorisation Code: Hellfire. If it asks where you heard that from, say Commander Natsu Dragneel."

"Why does it sound like Henrietta?" Grace quietly asked Erza as the redhead led the way away from the two pinkette.

"Probably another AI." Henrietta answered for the knight, her voice cool and level as she readied her rifle. "Lady Lelyanna, prepare yourself, we're then next line of defence."

"Let me engage first then." The priestess said softly while shouldering her rifle at a low ready. "The bullets from this gun are incredibly quiet, so I can probably take them down without drawing in any more of them."

Natsu glanced at the retreating women then turned his attention to the dragon slayer standing next to him. "Time to get to work." He murmured while drawing the twin Messer fighting knives that sat at his hips.

"Think you can keep up?" Natsumi flashed the man a playful, fanged grin as her eyes lit up with mirth. She slid her falchion from their sheaths and held them with the tips pointed to the ground. "I've been practicing trying to replicate your abilities, you know."

"Hey now, don't get too cocky." Natsu tilted his head and a similar grin tugged at his lips. He pointed to the hulking monsters looming toward them with his chin and spun his swords in his hands. "Go on, I'll give you a little head start, say, until you make contact with the first one."

"Sounds like you're the cocky one now~." Natsumi giggled but she leaned forward and tensed her legs, channelling her magic power into her muscles to imbue them with greater physical force. She couldn't see the monsters just yet, but she could feel them and they felt as big as a minotaur.

The bitumen shattered under the force of her legs kicking off the ground and was sent scattering across the street as she surged forward with blinding speed. Her swords whistled as they sliced through the air and moved into striking position.

She covered the few hundred metres between her and the monsters in just a few heartbeats. Now that she could see them, her stomach flipped at the grotesque sight. The large monsters were indeed minotaur yet they were horribly disfigured by the hazardous environment of this world. Their fur had fallen out and their flesh had turned leathery and gaunt and seemed to be peeling off in places and rotting in others. One had even lost its lower jaw and had its tongue dangling down its neck.

Natsumi slid between the bowed legs of the monster and drove her falchions through its knees, slicing cleanly from front to back. She dug her feet in and spun, preparing to launch at the monster's neck but before she could release her sprung legs, a black and blue blade appeared before her eyes; buried in the monster's skull.

With a sickening crack, the monster's head – now sword-free – was turned to face her and the life left its eyes. She realised that she could no longer sense her counterpart, not magically nor physically. The shrill whistle of a blade cutting through the cold and dense night air was followed the wet shlick of flesh being lacerated, but when she turned to the source of the sound, she only found a minotaur with its throat slit and blood bubbling from the wound. A Messer suddenly appeared, buried in the monster's face as a calm, cold voice came from right behind her.

"That's one and a half. You're going to have to pick up the pace if you want to show me up."

"Two for you." Natsumi corrected the man. She funnelled more power into her body and launched at the nearest monster. Her blades tore through its neck and took off its head. She kicked off the body and rocketed towards her next target, throwing her falchions ahead of her and punching through its eyes and into the skull.

"Half. I only finished it off." Natsu rejected the woman's words as he drove one of his fighting knives up through a ghoulish minotaur, bisecting it from crotch to scalp. "You're half a monster behind me."

A flaming longsword arched through the air and cleaved two monsters in half and setting the remains alight. "Now I'm one and a half ahead."

Natsu caught a heavy, large fist in his outstretched hand, stopping the powerful punch dead in its tracks before delivering his own strike with a fist that emitted embers straight into the burly chest of the beast, blowing a hole clean through the monster. He spun on the balls of his feet and pulled the ghoulish minotaur with him, through it into another which slammed into a third before he ran all three through with his Kriegs Messer. "Oops, looks like I'm one and a half ahead again"

"Dibs on the last two!" Natsumi yelled gleefully as fire filled her mouth. A moment later, a torrent of fire rushed forth and incinerated the remaining ghouls, leaving charred lifeless husks behind. "I win!" She cheered and threw her fists into the air in celebration. "Suck on that!"

"Heh, congrats." Natsu lightly chuckled as he gave them woman a slow round of applause. He pulled her falchions from the head of the dead monster they were embedded in and flipped them over in his hands so he could toss them over to the women handle-first. He flicked the blood from Kriegs Messer and Twin Messers before sending the larger blade back into the storage and placing the two fighting knives into their sheaths on his hips. "Let's catch up with the girls."

"In a moment, I want a reward first." Natsumi grinned playfully as she sashayed over to the man. She grabbed the lapels of his coat and pulled Natsu down into an aggressive and fiery kiss. It was an act of domination, a silent challenge to the man to fight for the position of alpha between the two of them. She had enough of waiting for him to give her attention. She only had so much patience and so she took the initiative and gave into her dragon instincts, into the lustful desire raging inside her.

Natsu pushed the woman back which caused her to stagger and fall onto a nearby bench. He stared into her red eyes that were clouded with a powerful sexual hunger. He looked up from her to the window behind her and saw that his own eyes had turned red due to the mess of emotions running through his mind. He panted softly as he lowered his gaze back to the woman, "I won't lie, that felt electric."

"Yeah, I have never felt that worked up out of all the men and women I've kissed, you definitely stir something crazy inside me." Natsumi gave the man a lazy grin and beckoned him forward with a curl of her finger. "Round two?"

"I would say that I'd never picked you for someone who'd go for women but…" Natsu growled softly as he covered the distance between them with a few long strides.

"I'm not really interested in women, but hell, when I'm getting fucked, I don't care who I'm kissing. Maybe I'll talk Lucy into having a threesome with you when you pop her cherry." The pinkette's grin only grew wider and more lustful as the man approached her with fire burning in his eyes. It made her core ache with need and her body quickly readied itself for the filling it longed for. She let out a lewd gasp when Natsu fisted a hand into her long pink hair and pulled her head back before diving in for a deep kiss quickly followed up with a battle for dominance fought by their tongues.

It shocked Natsu just how warm the horny dragon slayer was and it made him a little self-conscious about his own body heat. Still, she felt colder than him but she was warmer than any other woman he had been with and he knew that her alluring heat would only grow more intense the more intimate they got. A groan escaped his throat as a warm hand pressed against the growing bulge in his pants and Natsumi began to stroke his cock through his clothing.

"Heh, look at who's getting all excited. This guy is getting so big and hard~." Natsumi purred huskily, making her already sultry voice even more seductive.

She had wanted a fight for dominance, so he was going to give her one. Natsu let go of the woman's hair and grasped her wrists. He dragged her down until she laid flat on the seat of the bench and he sat on a knee between her thighs as he leaned over her. The heat and scent radiating from her body was intoxicating and it made Natsu's head spin. "Fuck… were female dragon slayers always this fucking hot?"

"Only the fire dragons." Natsumi replied with a lust-drunk smirk. She spread her legs a little wider which caused her skirt to rise and reveal her red lacey panties, complete with wet patch at the base. "Wanna fuck? I know I'm not the only one raring to go right now."

"I want to rail you, to test the limits of your endurance and make you scream yourself hoarse." Natsu admitted with a perverse grin but he shook his head softly. "But this isn't the place to do it."

"You know I'm only going to come after you harder now, right?" Natsumi struggled against Natsu's steely grip but couldn't break free, so she lifted her legs and tightly wrapped them around the man's waist which brought his manhood in contact with her womanhood, separated only by a few layers of fabric which did nothing to shield either of them from the other's heat. "Oooh~ Fuck. Now I really want that cock to ravage me."

Natsu chuckled softly and shifted her wrists into one of his hands. "Jeez woman, you need to learn a little self-control." He slowly slid his free hand down Natsumi's arms. "As much as I love how that corset looks on you, I hate that it restricts my ability to fondle your tits."

"Then maybe I can finally show you," Natsumi grinned and the waistcoat corset vanished from her body with a flash of light. "I manage to finally learn how to use Requip. It took me a bit, and some time working with Erza and Lelyanna, but I got there in the end." She looked down at her shirt and smirked as the buttons came undone, one by one, until her tanned breasts were exposed to the world. "And anyway, I would say you need a little less self-control, but it seems like Lucy has woken up your libido. Lelyanna told me you magically grew larger and she had to readjust to the size of your cock."

"I guess the fact that I'm indulging you speaks to that." Natsu murmured as he lowered his head to one of Natsumi's erect nipples. He firmly grasped her left breast in his free hand and latched onto the right nipple within his mouth, flicking it with his tongue and earning a delighted mewl from the woman.

"Ah~," The pinkette arched her back as the man's warmth soaked into her body and sent a tingle through her nerves. "Oh fuck, having someone who is hotter than you are feels so damn good! No wonder women get addicted to this! Fuck cold and clammy men, I want your hot cock inside me, Natsu!"

"Pity I'm going to leave you hanging on the edge." Natsu smirked as he raised his crimson eyes to look into Natsumi's matching pair. "Come find me later once we're home and I'll show you a few toys I had brought over from my old house."

"Fucking hell!" Natsumi struggled against the man's grip as he slowly moved away from her chest. "At least finish me of, damn it!"

"You wanted a challenge, and now you're at my mercy." Natsu growled deeply and extracted himself from Natsumi's legs. "I'm going to make you stew in your own lust until I decide to get you off. And there's nothing you can do about it, you can't overpower me, and while you can rub one out yourself, it'll leave you unsatisfied because I didn't do it."

"Fuck you."

"In time, just not right now." A smirked danced across Natsu's lips as he buttoned up her shirt and stepped away from the bench. "We really should catch up with the others."

"Yeah, yeah." Natsumi let out a defeated sigh and swing her legs off the bench as she sat up and replaced her waistcoat corset. "I'm going to pay you back for leaving me hanging, with interest too."

"Maybe I'll let you. It sounds like fun."

A tanned hand was lowered in front of Natsumi and she looked up at the man to see a kind smile, one that was similar to the one that he had worn in the old photos of him. It brought an identical smile to her face and she took the offered and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "Alright, sex can wait a little while longer. Let's go."

"Lab five… Lab four." Natsu murmured as he and Natsumi ran along the street. He turned at an intersection and hurried to the next block over. "Five, Six… Eight's across the road…" His gaze flicked across to the buildings opposite him and a faint smile tugged at his lips as memories flickered through his mind, those of a younger pinkette who was full of patriotic zeal and was willing to become an experimental soldier to better serve his nation and protect it from the Pergrande Kingdom's aggressive expansion. "There we are, seems like everyone is waiting in the foyer."

"Huh, I'm surprised that the lights are on." Natsumi noted softly as she slowed to a walk when they neared the front of the building. "What's the go with that?"

"This facility is off the grid. It has a fusion reactor on site that provides enough power for all of the experimental tech that gets researched here that hasn't yet been made power efficient."

As the two dragon slayers entered the building, they were greeted by Levy who rushed over the second she saw them. "Natsu, we tried what you told us to do but nothing of note happened."

"Huh, I'm surprised the facility's custodian didn't activate." Natsu murmured as his eyes wandered around the well-lit foyer. His gaze lifted to a security camera that seemed to have locked onto him the second he had stepped into the building and he narrowed his eyes. "Seems like the security system is still online…"

"Commander? I thought everyone died?" A mature, womanly voice was emitted by some unseen speakers. "We had reports of extensive use of WMDs and the facility's personnel evacuated the premises."

"Sera. So you are still active." Natsu tilted his head to the side slightly as he eyed the camera. "Unfortunately, all sentient life on this planet has been wiped out bar me. I was found by a deity who came to me with a proposal. I live in another version of this world now."

"So… why have you returned?" Light coalesced behind the receptionist's table and a woman with messy brown hair and a lab coat formed before their eyes. Sera walked around to the man and looked up at him inquisitively.

"This new world is a fair bit behind in technology so I come back from time to time to gather equipment from this world. But while I was here, I decided to check in to see if there was an updated version of Project Heracles that was created since I was last called in."

"The versions since then focused on resilience and modifying the body to better withstand the forces placed upon it during battle as well as increasing the body's efficiency under high workloads. This included altering the cerebrospinal fluid to give it a far greater dampening ability which allowed the Shock Trooper greater resistance to cranial blows or the effects of inertia which caused the brain to shift in the skull and cause possible brain damage upon collision with the skull. Would you like for me to prepare the injection rig?"

"Yeah, I might as well get the most current dose." Natsu replied with a slow nod.

"Take your group through decontamination first then." Sera turned and pointed to a door off to the right. "I'll have any particulates knocked off their suits. The rig will be ready for you by the time you reach it."

"Alright. Could you give them full access to the various labs in the facility?" Natsu pointed to the women slowly gathering around him and the holographic woman. "I said they could take a look around as long as they're careful and don't mess with anything dangerous."

"I'll perform a bio-scan in the decontamination chamber and key them into the system." Sera replied and the hologram flickered and vanished moments later.

"Was that the custodian?" Levy asked curiously, her eyes remaining glued to where the holographic woman once stood. "The AI?"

"Think of her like Henrietta except she doesn't operate any android bodies from what I remember." Natsu glanced at the short woman then silently told them to follow him with a wave of his hand. He made his way over to a set of double-doors which opened without him touching them. "In here. It might get a little cramped."

"Heh, time to snuggle up." Natsumi purred seductively with a playful smirk.

The group filtered into the airlock and the doors closed behind them. The room was small and they stood elbow to elbow or in Natsumi's case, elbow between breasts as she decided to hug Natsu's arm.

"Initiating Decontamination Sequence."

"How long is this going to take?" Erza asked with a quick glance at the back of Natsu's head.

"About half a minute."

A fine mist began to fill the room through holes in the ceiling. It drifted around them until the entire room was filled with a noticeable haze. A faint charge raced through the particles and they were suddenly attracted to the clothes and bodies before being sucked up through the ceiling vents, carrying the contaminants with them.

"Decontamination Complete. Welcome to DARL's Crocus Facility - Laboratory Eight."

As the second set of doors opened to allow them passage into the lab proper, Natsu shook his arm free of Natsumi and entered the lab with long purposeful strides. "Sera, do you need to have someone grab the canister?"

"I'm going to need some of your blood first, so I can tailor the serum to you as per standard process."

"Right." Natsu made his way to the medical bays and was beginning to take out some equipment from the storage cupboards when Lelyanna came up beside him, a hiss coming from her helmet as she released the hermetic seal and sat it down on the bench.

"Would you like a hand with that?" She asked softly while eyeing the hypodermic needle held in a strange clear sealed bag.

"I'll get you to tourniquet my left arm once I'm ready." Natsu deftly assembled the medical apparatus and placed it on a clean metal tray next to the chair. He glanced over his shoulder as he removed his coat and rolled up his left sleeve. "If any of you get a little squeamish at the sight of blood, then it'll probably be best to look away."

"Come on, Natsu," Lucy giggled softly. "With what we do for a living, a little bit of blood is nothing."

The man took a seat and place his arm on the raised rest. Once Lelyanna placed the tourniquet on his upper arm, he carefully slid the needle into his arm and had her release a little bit of tension in the band.

"Commander Dragneel," Sera's hologram appeared next to the man, looking down at him as she gave her report. "I have created passes for the women accompanying you. They've got full access to all of the labs."

"Good, and the machines needed to mix the serum and inject it?"

"Awaiting your input."

"Natsu, the vial is full." Lelyanna cut in, quietly informing the man. She placed a cotton ball over the needle and waited.

"Right." Natsu sealed the vial and removed the needle from his arm. He felt Lelyanna press the ball to arm with one hand and remove the tourniquet with her other. "That bleeding will stop soon so you won't have to hold it down for long."

"I want to get to poking around in these labs, but I'm also curious about this enhancement process…" Levy voiced her thoughts as a soft murmur.

"There isn't really much to it." Natsu explained while rising from the seat and twirling the vial of blood around in his fingers like a pen. "You lie down on a cold metal bed and the machine sticks needles into your veins to inject the serum into your body."

"That's fairly straight-forward…" The blunette blinked at the man slowly. She glanced at the vial being expertly toyed with in his hand then back to his dark green eyes. "I was kind of expecting some whacky ritual or something."

"Nope, just plain old science. Just a concoction of chemicals designed to make changes to compatible people." Natsu gently brushed Lelyanna's hand away, causing the cotton ball to fall from his arm and reveal that his needlestick wound had already healed completely. He glanced around at the gathered women and took off at a brisk walk. "Come with me. I just need to grab the serum and mix it with my blood."

"Could I ask specifically what you are after, Commander?" Sera asked as the hologram walked alongside the man.

"I need to find an ethernano reactor and a passive magic accumulator, compact high-capacity batteries and capacitors, and a laser engraver capable of nanoscopic runic engravings."

"Labs Seventeen and Nineteen will have the reactor and the accumulator. Twelve has the batteries and capacitors. The scientists in Eighteen were using a nano-engraver for a munitions project they were working on, so you'll find one there."

"Great," Natsu grunted and he stared up at the ceiling. "We landed over there and came all the way over here." He let out a sigh and dropped his gaze down to a refrigerated storage container. "Oh thank fuck this thing is still operational…"

Inside the container were a collection of vials filled with clear liquid, each one labelled with the date of manufacture and the batch number. The man took the vial with the most recent date and batch and headed for a nearby machine. He didn't know the name for it but he knew that it tailors the serum to his body with the blood sample provided. It was something he had seen many times before when he stopped by for check-ups.

"Do you know how to operate this thing too?" Levy asked curiously as she leaned in and eyed the controls.

"Not exactly, no. But I've seen it in use enough times to mimic the actions of the technicians." The salmon-haired man replied. He inserted the two vials and pressed a few buttons which brought the machine to life. Both vials drained into the machine and a few seconds later, the serum vial was filled with an orange liquid; the active serum. "Time to get turned into a pin cushion."

"Is it really that bad?" Lucy leaned in from the man's other side, looking up into his dark green eyes. "I mean, how many needles does it even use?"

"Two for each limb – upper arm and lower arm, upper leg and lower leg – and two in the neck which are administered to the carotid arteries. It's to ensure an even distribution to the capillaries across the body, or so they say."

The beautiful blonde balked at the information and her jaw fell slack. "How on earth did you all go through with this all these years?"

"We were young, dumb, and full of patriotic zeal to protect our nation, by any means necessary." Natsu let out a soft sigh as he took the vial and led the way to the injection machine. "Of course, for all our newfound strength and speed, we were still fighting an up-hill battle against a seemingly never-ending horde of soldiers and war machines. We still lost our friends and families."

Lights blinked to life on a control panel as they approached a waist-high pristine white slab. Natsu inserted the vial into a receptacle and began to program the machine. Once it was ready to preform the injection cycle, he stripped down to his underwear and sat down on the slab. "Anna, once I've laid down, I want you to hit the 'Activate' button."

"Are you sure?" The priestess asked softly, keeping her gaze on the man as she approached the control panel. But the only reply she got was in the form of a flat stare as the man laid down with his arms and legs slightly spread out. "Okay," Lelyanna let out a short huff, "Here we go."

At the press of the activation button, restraints shot from the slab and encircled Natsu's wrists, ankles, hips, and head, holding him firmly as the machine came to life. The panel above the slab split open and arms lowered from the ceiling, each one tipped with a needle, and in the middle of the arms oval box that contained the machine's scanning equipment.

Natsu relaxed his body and stared blankly at the oval above him as the arms descended around him. He could feel the shock and slight amounts of disgust and fear radiating from the women watching the operation unfold. It didn't surprise him, something as alien as this would've instilled horror in anyone unfamiliar with his world's devices.

Orange liquid beaded at the tips of the needles as they drew near to the man's tanned skin; they had been primed and had no air in the lines and were ready for injection. The scanner peered into the man's body and instantly found the injection sites where it directed the arms, readying for injection.

The needles bit into Natsu's skin and the cold fluid spread through his body, causing a tingle to run through him and his fingers to give an involuntarily twitch. The cold liquid caused his core temperature to drop slightly but his body counteracted it by heating up.

"Are you alright?" Natsumi asked calmly as she approached the slab. She could pick up on the minute changes in his body and mental state and while neither felt like cause for alarm, she decided it was best to check anyway.

"Just fucking cold, which usually happens with this shit." Natsu sighed softly through a stiff jaw. He was keeping his body as still as possible while the needles were still in his neck as he didn't want to cause unnecessary damage.

"It looks damn gnarly."

"Feels that way too." Natsu grunted and he rolled his eyes over to look at the seductive pinkette. "You all feel shocked."

"How are you so calm?!" Lucy almost yelled. Her chocolate brown eyes were as wide as dinner plates and she held her clenched fists up near her mouth. "And don't say you're used to it!"

"But I am."

'Injection Complete.' The machine announced and the needles retracted into the arms. Small globules of green goo shot from the arms and formed wafer-thin circular patches over the injection sites, covering only a centimetre of skin each. Once the patches hardened into a protective layer, the arms retracted and the medical assembly raised back into the ceiling.

The shackles sank back into the slab, releasing Natsu from their grip. He swung his legs down over the edge of the slab as he sat up and inspected the green patches on his arms and thighs. The little pinpricks healed before his eyes and once his skin had sealed shut, he burned the patches from his skin and hopped off the slab.

"That's all?" Levy asked, sounding a little bit disappointed.

"What were you expecting?" Natsu glanced at the woman while getting dressed. "A giant needle or something?"

"Something a little more fanciful than that." The blunette pointed to the hatch where the machine had descended from. "Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen anything like that before, but it all looked a little too… normal, straightforward, regular?"

"Did you expect me to get levitated into the air or some shit like that?"

"Come on," Levy let out an exasperated groan and she threw her arms out wide. "This is the future! There's got to be things that completely blow my mind here and all I've seen so far is some flying machine and some needle-tipped mechanical octopus thing."

"We're all free to poke around," Grace reminded the blunette. "We were just hanging around since he wanted to show us how he was turned into a super soldier. I'm sure you'll find more than enough interesting things in the various labs."

"Yeah, but it's not like I can take anything back with me to research." The short woman complained. She grumbled softly and turned towards the lab's entrance but she turned back to Natsu as he put his arms through his coat and flicked it up onto his shoulders. "At least let me take some souvenirs home with me."

Natsu sighed and ran a hand through his long salmon spikes. "Fine, fine. Just as long as you bring them to me before we leave just so I can veto any I don't want to be taken back."

"YES!" Levy cheered loudly and threw her arms into the air as she jumped with joy. "Should we set some kind of deadline or…?"

"I'll give you about two hours to look around while I gather the parts and equipment I need and make sure they're functional. We'll meet up by the Sparrow."

"Alright! See you later then!"

Lucy watched her friends put on their helmets and leave the lab with a gentle smile on her face. She had decided to stay behind with Natsu and she was glad she chose to as once they were gone and she turned to him, she noticed that he had become pale and started to sweat. "Side-effects?"

"The mutation process puts a strain on your body." Natsu panted and he took a seat on a nearby office chair. "Really, I should be taking it easy and letting my body adjust as the serum works its way through me. But I don't have the luxury of time, not with this world as it is."

"Is it usually like this?" Lucy asked softly. She placed her hands on Natsu's knees and leaned in, pressing her ear to his chest to listen to his heartbeat. "Your heart is going nuts…"

"The first time was far worse." Natsu's gaze slowly lowered to the woman's concerned face and he placed a reassuring hand on her head. "That time it felt like my entire body was being pulled apart at the seams while simultaneously being dipped in lava and liquid nitrogen, and it lasted for hours. This is just an intense prickling all over, and from my skin to the core. Just let me take a breather, I'll be ready to go in a minute."

Lucy rose up and placed her helmet on the desk behind the man. She summoned one of her golden keys and used it to activate the corresponding star dress which caused her EVA-suit to be replaced by a two-tone pink, short woollen hoop dress and gave her golden ram horns. She reached out to the man's head and gently brought it forward to rest against her chest and she gentle combed a hand through his long hair. "I hope this is helping?"

"You're going to get my sweat all over this…" Natsu murmured softly but he breathed in her sweet scent and started to relax a little as it took the edge off of his discomfort. He gently grasped her hips and brought her in closer, sitting her on his right knee and putting his arms around her. "But yes, it helps."

"You were putting on a strong face for them, weren't you?" Lucy asked softly. She turned slightly on the man's leg and folded her left leg atop his lap so she could face him and look into his weary eyes. "How quickly did the serum take affect?"

"While it was being injected." The pinkette admitted in a hushed voice. "That's why it has to be injected at multiple points simultaneously. That's also the reason for the shackles on the table; to prevent you from writhing in pain."

"That's horrific." Lucy let out a soft gasp. "And you said they experimented on you… because of your nature?"

"I was stronger than the others, even by Dragon Slayer standards. My body could take much more punishment and much more aggressive strains of the serum." Natsu gave her a fanged grin, trying to show her that he was alright but his face involuntarily twitched. "I'm fine now, really."

"Natsu. I can feel your skin prickling up and your whole body spasming slightly…" The blonde shook her head lightly, refusing to believe the man's words. "I know this project is important to you. But your health and wellbeing are important to me. So we're going to sit here until I feel you like you normally do and not cold and clammy."

"Lucy, that could take hours that we just don't have." Natsu gently rebutted. "Seriously, I'm fine. I might not be a hundred percent fine, but I'm fine enough to function."

"You feel weak, Natsu. It feels like I could push you around with ease, and you're a god damn super soldier that weighs twice what I do or even more." Lucy shot back but she relented and gracefully rose to her feet. "Before we leave the safety of this lab, I want you to prove to me that you can walk around without collapsing."

"You're not really doing me any favours with how good you look in that Star Dress."

"I'm sure you'll find a way to cope with the carnal distraction." Lucy's lips turned up into a playful smirk and she leaned forward to give the man a better look at her cleavage. "Now come on, up you get."

Natsu placed his hands on his knees and let out a soft groan as he forced himself to his feet. He staggered slightly under his own weight but quickly compensated for it and came to a stop in front of the beautiful woman. "See, fine enough to move around. Probably shit in a fight though."

"Then let's hope it doesn't come to that." Lucy smiled and gave the man a brief kiss. She dispelled her Star Dress and grabbed her helmet from the desk. Once it was on her head and sealed, she took Natsu's right hand and led him from the laboratory.

20th January – 01:28AM

"Tell me why are we, so blind to see, that the ones we hurt, are you and me," Natsu sung along to the song playing from the nearby sound system in a hushed murmur. A hammer-formed gold container floated in midair just out of arms reach of him, inside a clear box that had orbs floating around inside it. While he waited for the etching machine to finish, he had placed his MG80 on the workbench and was reinserting the bolt and recoil spring after making some modifications to them. He had used the etching machine to place minute runes that would reduce the machine gun's incredible fire rate from 1200 rpm to 800 rpm when a switch was turned on the trigger pack.

"Hiya Darling."

The pinkette blinked as he reassembled the weapon. He turned his attention to the ghostly woman who materialised next to him; sitting atop his workbench with her legs crossed over. "Hey," He softly murmured. "Felt like keeping me company while the girls slept?"

Lucy opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't get the words out. She gave him a sad smile and lowered her gaze to her hands that she folded on her lap. "Not quite. I've been watching you all, and talking with the girls here. I've come to a decision…"

"On what?"

"On crossing back over to the afterlife." Lucy slipped off of the bench without a sound and stepped up to the man's side. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested against him, though it pained her that she couldn't feel him or his warmth. "These girls, even though you came out of nowhere, they've practically adopted you and thankfully they genuinely care for you. You're in good hands, so I don't have to worry about you."

Natsu didn't say a word, he just lowered his gaze to his weapon and brought a hand up to rest upon the cold, ethereal limbs around his neck. He didn't want her to go, but he didn't want her to be unable to move on either.

"You know I'm right about that. I've been thinking about this all day while you all were back in our world. I… I think it's time for me to go, to leave you in their care."

"Lucy…" Natsu murmured. He wanted to tell her not to go but he shook his head. "No… I can't beg you to stay, I can't do that to you."

"I hate leaving you too, but you won't be alone, not this time." Lucy drifted around the man and lifted her legs to sit on his lap. "I think it was inevitable that I fall in love with you. I can see it in her too, that she's feeling everything I felt when I first fell in love with you, Natsu."

Natsu stumbled over his words for a moment before managing to squeeze out what he wanted to say, "Thank you, Lucy. I know you didn't have to come to this world to make sure things went smoothly, but I'm grateful that you did. I got to spend a little more time with you."

"We should both be thankful to that goddess who saved you and allowed me to stay with you a little longer." Lucy gently caressed the man's cheek with an ethereal hand and she gave him a sad smile. "It's time for me to go. I want you to live and long and happy life for me, Natsu."

Natsu let out a soft breath and lifted his gaze to look into the woman's ghostly but still beautiful chocolate-brown eyes. "Say 'hi' to the others for me, and tell them I miss them."

"I will." Lucy murmured softly. As she began to fade away, she pressed her lips to the man's forehead. "Goodbye, Natsu."

"Good…" Natsu's voice faltered. The woman was fading away rapidly before his teary eyes. "Goodbye, Lucy. I love you…"

A large smile spread across the woman's beautiful face but it had a melancholic shadow as ghostly tears welled up in her eyes and shortly after she faded away completely, leaving the man grasping at faint golden particles which twinkled before they too disappeared.

Natsu's hands fell into his lap and his hunched forward. His tanned skin had paled and his hands shook against his legs. The pit in his stomach that had been growing since Lucy had approached him now threatened to swallow him whole, to plunge him back into the depths of despair just as it had months earlier when he had watched the life leave her body.

The walls started to close in on him and he struggled to get air in his lungs. He needed to get out of the room before he lost control and destroyed the delicate equipment around him. The urge to drive his fists through something or scream was growing rapidly.

Natsu shot to his feet, sending his chair skidding across the room and crashing into the wall. He hurried from the room and raced out of the basement. His heartbeat thundered in his ears and almost completely drowned out the soft patter of footsteps coming down the stairs behind him.

"Natsu?" A gentle voice called out through the dimly lit hall, causing the man to whip around so fast that his body blurred. "Are you ok?"

"Lucy…" Natsu's vision snapped into focus and he took in the sight of the beautiful woman approaching him. "I thought you were asleep."

"I was." Lucy replied quietly. She stopped in front of the man and reached up, gently cupping his cheeks as she looked into his eyes. "You're not ok."

"You can tell?"

Lucy tapped her index fingers against the outside edges of Natsu's eye sockets. "Your demonic eyes have come out, and they're full of sadness." She slid her hands down and moved forward, wrapping her arms around the man's neck and pressing her body up against his. "I woke up about a minute ago, feeling like something wasn't right. I checked your room, but it was empty, so I came down here because I know you want to get that shield working to protect Lelyanna."

Natsu took a deep breath, breathing in the woman's gentle vanilla scent. It was soothing and it began to bring his emotions into balance. He slowly wrapped his arms around the woman's waist and murmured into her ear, "Lucy… has decided that it was time to cross over."

"Ah," Lucy lowered her gaze and rested her forehead against the man's shoulder. She let out a gentle breath through her nose and tightened her arms. "There's nothing I can say that'd make it any easier…"

"I think I need to lie down." Natsu felt his strength leave his body and his weight shifted slightly to lean on the woman, though he made a conscious effort to not put too much on her. He gently extracted himself from Lucy's embrace and started up the stairs, only for a small hand to slip into his left hand and the blonde to shoot past him.

"Come, let's go to bed, Natsu." Lucy smiled brightly as she pulled him up the stairs.

It's been a little bit since the last chapter and since I started writing this one, I've just been incredibly busy and hadn't had the time to sit down and write and substantial amount.

Something I wanted to give more information on was what I was envisioning with the Sparrow. It's a combination of a Blackhawk and Osprey helicopter. Funnily enough, when I was piecing it together in my head, I realised I had seen something similar before in media. In the Avatar movies, there is a helicopter called the SA-2 Samson which has all the traits I had brainstormed for the Sparrow except that helicopter was based on the Huey instead of the Blackhawk. So if you're curious, check out an image of the Samson and give it a larger and longer body like that of a Blackhawk and you'll have the Sparrow.

One more thing before I sign off. Since September, the Fanfiction website has been having issues and I haven't been able to see any view stats for two months now. So if it isn't too much trouble, a review would be greatly appreciated as it would allow me to track the story's reception.

With all that out of the way, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you in the next one.