At the end of the day at 5 o'clock, I took the elevator up to Natsu's office. I had finished his article and I sent it to Jason after Natsu checked over it. As soon as I walked into his office, I saw him sitting at his desk with Erza and Gray standing in front of him. Natsu noticed me and smiled. "Perfect timing" he said and Erza and Gray turned to look at me with a smile. "Hey everyone" I greeted as I stood in between Erza and Gray. I wondered what type of mission they were going on.
"So, first order of business, Erza did you check all the escape routes?" Natsu asked. "I've planned three escape routes. I will report them once the team has arrived" she replied formally. "Good, speaking of which, Gray who have you assigned to the team?" Natsu asked turning his attention to him. "I've assigned Gajeel, Laxus and Erza to accompany you inside and Levy as our eyes and ears from here" Gray replied. Natsu raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Oh? And who is going to protect Lucy while we're gone?" he asked even though he seemed to know the answer. "Me" Gray smirked for some reason. "Why? Don't you love going on these kinds of missions?" Natsu asked with narrowed eyes. "I do but don't you think it would be best to have your right-hand man protecting her?" Gray replied.
"True but tell me the real reason" Natsu demanded. "Plus, I really want to see if you really cleaned your penthouse" Gray replied and Natsu groaned. "I had a feeling you were going to say that" he said as he rubbed his temple. "But you have a point. Alright, please take Lucy to my penthouse and wait there for further instructions. Report to me if anything happens" Natsu ordered. Gray nodded and then turned to me. "Lets go Lucy" he said and I followed him to the elevator.
"Gray" Natsu called out as we walked into the elevator. "Remember, if something happens to Lucy, you'll have Laxus and me to deal with" he said with a light glare and Gray instantly had a look of fear on his face. He's probably scared of making my Big Brother mad. As the elevator doors closed, Natsu laughed at the face Gray made. "That Fire Clown" Gray grumbled when the doors shut but I knew he had a special bond with Natsu. I would describe it as a brotherly bond except one without blood ties. One with mutual respect for the other.
We took the elevator down to the underground parking lot and Gray lead me to a black Mercedes-Benz Sedan. "Get in" he said with a smile as he unlocked the car. I got into the passenger seat while Gray jumped into the driver's seat. He drove out of the building and pulled into the main road.
"So how did the article go?" Gray asked, making small chit chat. "It went well. I got Natsu to check it over before I sent it to Jason" I replied. Gray chuckled, "I'm sure he tried to act cool the whole time" he said. I giggled as I remembered Natsu's posture and answers during the interview. "He did" I replied and he laughed but then suddenly his face turned serious as he looked through the rear-view mirror.
"Shit" he muttered as he glared through the rear-view mirror. "What's wrong?" I asked with concern. "We're being followed. Don't look behind you" he said and then tapped the screen on the dashboard. "Levy" he said to the screen and Levy's face popped up. "What's up Gray?" she asked. "We're being followed by Raven Tail and I need you to disable the city cameras" he replied. "Give me a sec" she said and I heard her typing really fast. "Done" she said a few seconds later. "Thanks Levy. I'll keep you updated" Gray said before hanging up. "Hold on Lucy" he added before speeding up and weaving past all the other cars on the road.
I looked over my seat, through the rear window, and saw a black car following us. My heart raced in fear. In the driver's seat was a stocky purple man with blond slick-back hair. He had a wide smirk on his face as he drove. Beside him in the passenger seat was a man who looked like a snake with black spiky hair, lipstick and eyeliner. He put his arm out of the window and shot his gun at our car. I screamed as the bullets hit our rear window, leaving two bullet holes but didn't break the glass. "Don't worry, this car is bulletproof" Gray said calmly. "How the hell can you be so calm when we're being shot at?!" I screamed. "Calm down. I've got this, trust me" he said trying to calm me down.
Levy popped up the screen again. "Gray, I've informed Natsu of your situation and have mapped out a route to help you get to the apartments safely" she said. Gray groaned, "why did you have to tell Flame Brain?" he complained. "You know I have to report everything" she replied a little annoyed before the screen turned off. "I really need to shoot something" I heard Gray mumble before he turned to look at me.
"Lucy, I'll need you to steer the car" he said. "WHAT?!" I exclaimed. "I need you to hold the steering wheel steady while I fire some shots back" he replied and then started winding down his window before I could reply. I quickly grabbed the wheel and focused on the road as he put half of his body out of the window and started shooting back at the enemy.
I heard a screech and a large bang before Gray pulled himself back into the car. "Got them" he smirked before taking the wheel back. I looked back and saw the enemy's car crashed into a tree with one of the tires frozen. "Woah" I unconsciously muttered. "I told you I got this" he said smugly and then tapped the screen. "Levy, I've lost our pursuers and we are now heading towards the apartments" he informed as she popped up on the screen. "Good, I'll update Natsu on the situation" she replied before hanging up.
Soon we arrived at the apartments with no other complications and Gray parked the car in the underground carpark. He went around the car to inspect the damage. "Looks like Gajeel will need to fix this" he said. "Why Gajeel?" I asked curiously. "He's got a garage shop around the corner from here. He fixes all the mafia's cars and put the bulletproof glass on the windows" he explained. I nodded in understanding.
"Now, lets go see Pinky's penthouse" he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. We took the elevator all the way up to the top and stood outside the penthouse. As soon as he opened the door his jaw dropped. "It's clean!" he exclaimed in surprise. "I told you. I don't understand why you're so surprised" I replied as we walked inside. "It's cleaner than I expected" he replied as he looked around in awe.
Happy ran up to greet me and rubbed his body against my leg. "Hi Happy" I greeted as I pet him. "I'm so going to tease him when he gets back" Gray said to himself as he pulled out his lacrima phone and started taking pictures.