Born Without A Heart

Chapter 3

Levy sat awkwardly in the back of the surveillance van she and Gajeel had been given for their new operation. She wore a headset as she listened to Gajeel interrogate Ian, the same druggy he had apprehended the night before. While Gajeel had turned him over to the cops, the guy only spent the night in jail and was released that morning. He was charged with minor shoplifting, but that was all they said they could pin on him.

That wasn't a surprise.  The police in this city had become little more than the loose change jingling in the pockets of the various crime families. Crime in the city had skyrocketed after a mass of political turmoil that had shook the country.  The chaos resulted in a power shift and a myriad of criminal behavior that included a large scale prison break and the deterioration of law enforcement.

The metropolis was far removed from the capital. After three years of silence, it seemed the people in charge were not in much of a hurry to clean up the mess that had been made here.

That was why Fairy Tail had become so important. They were determined to see their city return to its former state of prosperity. For many of them, like Levy, this was their home. They weren't going to give it up without a fight. The state of corruption allowed Fairy Tail to bend some rules, but it also left the many crooked cops and politicians wanting to block them and discredit them whenever they could.

It was an uphill battle, but Levy was willing to play her part in the fight. Even if she felt her contributions were minimal. Fair Tail was her family, and she wouldn't let them down.

All of that made Levy wonder why Gajeel had agreed to join Fairy Tail in the first place. Teamwork didn't seem to be his strongest quality. When she had objected to interrogating Ian again Gajeel hadn't given her a moments consideration. He had not even bothered to listen to her idea, instead talking over her and moving forward with his plan.

What motivated him to even take this job? He was an enigma, and it ebbed at Levy's often insatiable curiosity.

Talking to Ian wasn't exactly a bad place to start, Levy conceded, but she doubted they would learn anything new. Levy had wanted to do more digging into her leads online before hitting the street. Gajeel, however, seemed to be uneasily deterred.

She sighed to herself as she listened to the man ramble on, not giving them anything new to go on.

Gajeel was intimidating, which Levy didn't like. He was loud, she didn't care for that either. He was smug, and arrogant, and... hot. He was hot. And that unsettled her more than all of his other qualities combined.

The back door of the van swung open and Gajeel climbed inside.

"That got us nowhere," he said gruffly as he took a seat beside her, craning his neck to see what she was doing.

"What's that?" He asked reaching around her. Levy felt his chest lean into her as he pointed to a dot flashing on the screen.

"That's us," She said a bit impatiently. "I set up a map of a two block radius from our location. That," Levy said pointing to another monitor with a hazy, black and white picture, "is the camera at the liquor store across the street. It gave me a clear view into the alley so I could keep an eye on you."

"Nice work, shrimp," Gajeel said in his gruff voice. "Let's follow the kid, see if he meets up with his supplier again. He seemed pretty desperate, I'm sure he'll at least try."

Levy shook her head, determined not to let him steam roll her again. "No, we need something more solid than just following him-"

"That's what we're here for," Gajeel said snidely, cutting her off and moving toward the front of the van. Levy followed close behind him.