Born Without A Heart

Chapter 17

Levy jumped when the heavy door of the van slid open. She watched as Gajeel froze.

"What the hell are you doing here," he snarled at Natsu who was sitting in the back of the van.

"Is that any way to greet a friend?" Natsu quipped with a grin.

"Just get in," Levy hissed. Her heart beat in her throat and she felt ill.

Gajeel climbed inside, shutting the door hard behind him.

"Explain," he growled.

"Hey," Natsu through his palms up in the air as if in surrender, "I'm just here for backup. You did want back up, didn't you Gajeel? That is what you told the whole group on the phone last night."

Levy swallowed hard as she watched Gajeel move toward the front seat. He looked at her, his eyes smoldering.

"Levy," he began to say but cut himself short. His expression was pained. She could tell he wanted to say something. He wanted to talk about last night.

"Natsu is here for backup," Levy repeated Natsu's words. "Sit down," she said as she threw the van into gear.

"We don't need backup," Gajeel said lowly.

"That's not what you told us last night," Natsu said without missing a beat. "You were ready to throw us all into a full blown sting op."

"And Makarov said no," Levy heard Gajeel reply from behind her.

"Since when were you so worried about following the rules?" Natsu returned with casual confidence. Levy could hear the grin in his voice.

"Gear up," Levy called back, ignoring the argument. "We'll drop you a few blocks from the location and then swing back around. I already scouted a spot that should be close enough for us to keep our coms open."

Levy could hear a scuffle of movement in the backseat. At least he was listening to her for once.

"Keep your eyes open, we need you to get us a floorplan of the warehouse. If we do end up raiding the place, we need to know where we're going."

"Wouldn't Gray be more help on this than Natsu?" Gajeel grumbled.

"Hey," Natsu said with exaggerated offense in his tone. "Gray may be head of Security but I've trained with him and his team more than you have. I can watch your back. Don't worry your pretty little head about that, Gajeel."

"You could also get our cover blown," Gajeel responded.

"I'll stay in the van unless things go sideways."

Levy's phone buzzed beside her. She glanced at it. The caller ID let her know it was her boss. If Freed was calling her directly, she knew it was important. She answered it on her headset.

"Hello sir," she said more calmly than she felt.

"Levy," Freed greeted. "I need you to let Gajeel attend this meeting on his own."

"What?" Levy said, stunned. "We can't do that."

"You can, and you will." He said in his calm manner. "Tensions are high and his cover is precarious. We need to play the long game. I want him in there with no coms, period."

"But Sir, that's too dangerous, and we need information."

"And he can relay that to you after the meeting. We can't give them a reason not to trust him. If they catch Gajeel, we lose everything. We lose Tartaros."