Ymir bent to one knee, hand over her mouth, before vomiting once into the toilet. She remained there, panting heavily and making sure that no further residue would come forth from her stomach. Straightening, she put a hand on the wall of the stall before swearing under her breath.

What the hell do they put in this fucking food?

Laughing slightly in amusement and disbelief, she exited the women's room and walked casually back down the hall. The doctor had put the time for Krista's discharge at about a week in time, as the surgery had gone perfectly. The more rest she got, the faster that date could approach and she had made it very clear she didn't want to be there any longer than possible. And so she was asleep now, and Ymir, keeping true to her promise to not leave her side, was wasting time wandering the hospital's vast corridors and sampling food that did not agree with her digestive track. She strode by a peculiar sculpture of a bear with a short man sitting near its back and gave it a look. Artistic persuasion aside, she had no idea what the significance of the man-bear combo was.

"Got a second?"

"Jesus FUCK!"

Ymir jumped as the man sitting at the bear's side spoke; stepping into the light, he revealed himself to be Levi. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head.

"Fuck man… don't do me like that."

He didn't apologize. She didn't expect him to.

"So uh… what's up?"

With a jerk of his head, she joined him at a bench by a window that looked out towards the setting sun. They remained there a moment, Ymir idly waving her feet, Levi sitting stock still.

"Have any of you ever had any trouble with the Klan?"

Huh?

The question caught her off guard.

"Like… Ku Klux?"

He gave her a look that said 'Who else?' She shifted; she hadn't thought about this in a long time.

"Yeah, we had a run in with them over a year ago."

"Care to elaborate?"

She gave him a glance.

"That necessary?"

"Yes."

She snorted; as always, he was playing no games. The information she was about to divulge was fairly personal and hadn't been discussed between any of them since it had happened. But Ymir would always remember. And despite how cold and mysterious Levi was, she found herself having trouble trying to think of a reason not to tell him.

"We uh… got screwed by some kids on a deal. Found out they were members of the Klan and one night we followed them to their encampment. Plan was to find them, drag them off to the side, and strongarm them a bit. Make them scared. We found the place just like you might imagine, tents, fires, loud redneck assholes all about. We knew it'd be hard to find the guys we were looking for, so we dodged into a tent to make a new plan. Inside… well there was this older guy. Probably about forty, He had two kids with him, boy and a girl, eight or nine both. He was… doing stuff to them."

"Molestation?"

Ymir swallowed.

"Yeah. Anyway, the boy starts struggling a bit, and the man says something like, 'Don't resist me now boy, or I'll have to hurt momma again'. And the kid stopped."

She scratched the back of her head.

"I think we were all probably a little mad. But Mikasa… she… she went crazy. Ran in, threw him off the kids and started pounding away at him. Krista grabbed the kids and pulled them out and she just kept hitting him. Wouldn't stop. Hit him till you couldn't recognize his face anymore. Took three of us to drag her out of there while Ilse made an anonymous call to the police saying that if they came to this place, they'd find two abused children and a lot of drunk rednecks. We never saw any Klan after that, but we read the stories in the papers the next day."

Shifting her position, she looked and saw Levi still staring out the window. For a solid minute, she thought she was going to have to ask him if he had slipped into a coma. Then,

"The Klan knows."

"Huh?"

He finally turned to look at her.

"They've apparently been tracking you guys for a while. It seems they had security cameras around their compound. Caught you guys running off."

In her chest, Ymir felt an icy hand grasp her heart.

"Now, like you said, they're not particularly smart. Took them this long to find you all. Now, through some low connections, they've gone to Kenny and tried paying him for some hits."

"How… how do you… "

"Gunther. His cousin is a member, but works for us as an insider."

Ymir sat back, stunned; Levi rose beside her.

"I don't know what correlation that has between the hits that have already been launched on you guys, but the Klan apparently isn't happy. Gunther says that it won't be long before they come looking for revenge themselves."

He adjusted his coat.

"Tell Hange. Tell her we can aid where we can if manpower is needed."

With that, he turned and began to walk off. Through Ymir's spinning head, she found the voice to call out after him.

"Levi!"

He stopped.

"What."

"You called him Kenny."

He said nothing,

"We just found out his name recently and Hange says she hasn't been to you with that information yet."

Silence.

"How do you know his name?"

He stood there for a long time. Then, he glanced back and spoke just three words before leaving her even more stunned then before.

"He's my father."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

When the mess had finally been cleared and she had trusted herself to stop swearing unnecessarily, Hange returned to her office where she heaved a huge sigh. Glancing at her computer screen, she realized that hours had passed since she had received word that Annie and Mikasa were at the airport; by now, that meant they were probably home or at least close. She had given strict instructions that they were to see her as soon as they arrived, not to berate them for lack of communication, but mostly to see with her own two eyes that they were okay.

It took her a moment to realize that Joseph was gone; she considered getting ahold of him to let him know that the subject of his agony and self-loathing would be arriving soon, but decided against it. Right now, it was probably best to leave him be. Right now, she had other things on her plate.

Sasha… Ilse… you two had better just be fucking each other in the back of a pickup, if something's happened to either of you..

She wanted not to think about where they could have gone, but she had a few ideas, each as unappealing as the last. They could have gone off to extract some well-earned, but ill-advised revenge. They could have gone off snooping and got themselves into more than they were looking for. Or they could literally have just been grabbed and…

Nope. Don't say that.

Her office door swung open and she spun in her chair to reprimand Mike for barging in, but was instead greeted with the sight of Annie and Mikasa. The anger vanished from her eyes as she sprung to her feet.

"Mika… "

"Hey Hange."

If she hadn't already known what Mikasa had been through the previous night, Hange wouldn't have known anything was wrong. But as it was, the dark-haired girl was quite possibly the most skillful person on the planet when it came to hiding pain.

"You're… okay?"

Mikasa cocked her head.

"Been through worse."

Hange could tell she did not want to pursue the topic further and she obliged. Sighing and sitting as though it was just another day at the office, she asked,

"Did you learn anything pertinent?"

From the side, Annie gave an antagonizing snort.

"Not enough to be worth getting raped."

The sudden bitterness and tension she sensed between them was surprising; Hange made a mental note of it as Mikasa ignored Annie and revealed all she had found out. When she had finished, Hange leaned back, bobbing her head in thought.

"Our friend Kenny seems to be quite the Renaissance man. May have better luck digging up his past with a knowledge of his prior jobs… "

She smiled.

"Carven though… that could be what could give us an edge."

Mikasa frowned, crossing her arms,

"We don't know that for sure. My father said they knew each other before we went off the grid for a few years."

Hange's smile grew as she looked up.

"And Ymir said that Kenny said that very name to a woman who left his compound seconds before she entered."

A glimmer of a chance was shining and she was very ready to grab it.

But first…

She stood purposefully.

"That is all very good, but we have a matter to attend to first."

Annie gave her a look.

"That being?"

Hange gave her a grim look.

"You weren't the only two to vanish off the radar."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ilse released the man's head an instant before Sasha swung; her fist smashed their victim across the face throwing it to the right for what felt like the umpteenth time. Taking a deep breath, Sasha stepped back, taking the roll of quarters from her fist to shake her hand out.

"We can sit here for a good while friend. This ends faster if you just spill it."

The bruised and bloody man looked up from the chair he was tied to.

"And what end is that?"

Sasha shrugged.

"You wanna find out?"

He shook his head and lowered it weakly.

"Go fuck yourself, whore."

Responding to the head jerk from her friend, Ilse pulled the man's head up and let go as another blow sent his head snapping to the left. As he coughed, blood dripping from his mouth, Sasha paced in front of him.

"If masturbating counts as fucking myself, I promise that will come in time. But for now… "

Positioning herself, she slammed a foot into his privates; he howled, his voice echoing off the walls of his house.

"… for now, I got no problem taking as long as I need to get you to talk."

Gasping as he finished his cries, the man blinked rapidly.

"What do you want?! What do you want to know?!"

Sasha lost her patience.

"What do I… ?"

Stomping over, she bent in front of him, lifting his bloody jaw and waving her fist in front of him. Ilse, while certainly concerned about her friend's behavior, was far more interested in what he had to say.

"You were at the hospital! I watched you drive in, pull out a gun, and just sit in your car. Waiting."

His dignity regained, he smiled back at her.

"Waiting for what?"

Shouting a curse, Sasha straightened and belted him again, his head swaying like a branch in the breeze. She stepped back and began pacing to calm herself. As she did, Ilse bent low to the man's ear.

"You know, it would probably be better for everybody if you just tell her what she wants to know. She doesn't normally get this mad."

She watched another smile crawl onto his face as he watched her friend pace.

"Bitch like her would get that worked up."

Sasha spun to glare at him with a newfound hatred; she took a step forward as if to hit him again, then stopped. Looking over his shoulder she stomped past both of them and, drawing her sidearm, smashed the nearest window to pieces. The man tried to twist behind him to see what was happening behind him, but Ilse forced his head forward. Sasha bent for several seconds, then returned to stand in front of him, several shards of glass in her hand.

"Last chance. What were you doing at the hospital?"

He looked unsure of what to say and unsure of what she was going to use the glass for. Regardless, he managed a halfhearted,

"Eat my ass."

Sasha looked to Ilse, smiling.

"Salad tossing… haven't been privileged to that myself in a while."

Then, she reached forward and thumbed him in the eye. He cried out in pain and, as he did, she took the chance to jam the glass into his mouth; forcefully closing it, she punched him again in the jaw. He gave a muffled scream and she hit him again. And again. She then tilted his head up to look him in the eyes as tears started to stream down his face. Raising her fist, she smirked as he pleaded something incoherent.

"Sorry, couldn't catch that."

She stepped back and he gasped, blood spilling from his mouth; he was able to form very fragile words.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about, I was just… "

Sasha grabbed him by the bottom jaw.

"I can hit you until glass juts through your cheeks; won't be pleasant I promise."

He stared back at her for several seconds before dropping his head in defeat.

"Please… just take the glass out. I'll tell you everything."

Ilse met her friend's eyes, who looked extremely suspicious, and shrugged.

Why the hell not? If he gives another smartass response, I assume she'll stick the glass up his ass instead.

Sasha plucked out the shards and gave the man a moment to cough blood over his floor.

"What were you doing there?"

He didn't look up as he replied.

"I was supposed to look for an opportunity to carry out a hit on Hange Zoe."

Ilse exchanged glances with her friend.

"I sat there for a good while, but more of you started showing up, then she called in some people to watch the place and I bounced."

Sasha knelt in front of him.

"You work for Kenny?"

He looked back.

"Yes."

She stood and walked slowly to the side of the room. Remaining there for a good minute, she then drove her foot into a cabinet with a smashing splinter of wood. Spinning, the looked furiously at him.

"I have to ask… what exactly did we do to you fuckers that makes your boss so goddamn inclined to rub us out?"

She slapped him.

"Huh? What did we do that was so wrong?"

Then, oddly enough, he smiled.

"You can ask him yourself."

Not taking his cryptic sass for a moment, Ilse grabbed him by the hair.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

He looked back at her, the forwards to Sasha, then back to her; he started chuckling. It started low then increased in pitch as he spoke.

"You… you seriously don't think I just let you walk into my house so you could torture me for information? You seriously don't think I wanted to lay on my doormat when you tripped my motion sensor alarm and gun you to pieces with an AA-12? You seriously don't think I reconsidered and have been buying time with you two while waiting for the backup I called in to arrive?"

Just then, a heavy thud sounded on the front door. Sasha dropped into a roll and flattened herself against the wall, drawing her gun again and looked out towards the darkening sky. She looked at Ilse, her eyes ripe with conserved panic; Ilse grabbed the man from the chair and threw him to the ground, placing a knife against his throat.

"You fuckin' cocksucker… "

He coughed blood and laughed.

"Whatever you say… "

Then he pounded the ground with his feet and fists, howling at the top of his lungs like a child,

"IN HERE! I'M IN HERE WITH TWO OF EM'! IN HERE! IN… "

Ilse threw his forward to the ground, leaping on top.

"Shut the fuck up… ! You wanna fucking die?!"

He smiled back at her.

"My life doesn't matter. I managed to use my life to get my boss's hands on two of Zoe's best operators. These guys don't care if I die in the process of taking you."

He struggled briefly to reposition himself more comfortably.

"What you two skanks should be thinking about is how much they're gonna hurt you… they're gonna break so many of your fuckin' bones, they'll rape you with fuckin' kitchen knives, they'll make you eat your own goddamn shit, you fuckin' dumbass…"

Having heard enough, Ilse slammed his head to the ground, silencing him. She rolled away next to her friend as another heavy thud sounded from the front door.

"Well… what's the plan?"

Sasha chewed the inside of her mouth, eyes blank as her mind worked furiously; she finally shook her head.

"Get as deep into the house as we can… hide out… try and play around them, sneak out when we get a chance."

"Sounds pretty up in the air, Sash."

She shrugged.

"It is."

After a few more moments, there was another bang; Sasha closed her eyes.

"Ilse… I'm sorry. I didn't want it to go down like this."

She sighed and leaned back against the wall.

"I thought it was a good lead."

Ilse grabbed her arm.

"It was. We… just didn't take the precautions we should have. Just do me a favor."

Sasha looked to her.

"I won't be leverage for Kenny to get at Hange and the rest. If it comes to it… "

She laid a hand on the top of Sasha's gun.

"… don't let them take me."

For a moment, Sasha looked dumbfounded. Then, a fierce will appeared in her eyes.

"Won't happen. You're getting out of here."

"Sash, we're gonna try, but… "

A hand clapped over her mouth.

"No buts. You're getting out of here."

She pulled back the slide on her gun.

"Even if it's without me."

They met eyes and Ilse felt a rush of affection as the front door exploded in on itself.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The sun had fully dipped beneath the horizon as the three men were forcefully ejected from the bar. Not that they cared; they were in such fine spirits that being asked to leave by complaint of noise did nothing to their morale.

They talked as they walked, bragging about who had made the girl scream more, who had hurt her the most, who Kenny was the most pleased with. He had given them all the night off, and they were doing well by way of enjoying themselves; the town was their oyster.

Diverting into an alley that led to some lesser lit streets, one of them suggested they walk over towards the Boneyards where they could pick up a cheap high. There was enthusiastic consent and they turned left onto the road that led to the dark steel towers beyond. They loomed in the distant like a dark impenetrable fortress that awaited their attempt at conquering. One of them made a Lord of the Rings joke that was met with heavy laughter.

The man in the back was least intoxicated, but his special awareness was still not particularly keen. With the dark settling on the area, he would have been hard pressed to find a reason to look down one particular alley as they walked by. As such, he never saw the swing of the bat that ended his life.

The two out front turned in mild surprise and the dull thud that sounded. They got only so far as turning to face the toppling body of their companion before that same bat whipped around and smashed into the head of the one on the right. He screamed as his eye socket splintered, collapsing in on itself and spraying blood all over the sidewalk. The final man, stared in bewilderment before deciding that perhaps it would be a good idea to draw his gun. His pistol never stopped pointing at the ground before the bat came down on his wrist, breaking it immediately. He had a chance to fall backward, screeching in pain before the bat came down again, caving in his skull.

The next two minutes consisted of thuds and whacks as the bat came up and down with absurd frequency. The wielder payed no mind to the flashing traffic lights as they changed color, nor the moon as it dipped over the mountains, nor his phone as it buzzed in his pocket. His sole focus as his crazed eyes pummeled the bodies of the three men into deformed, bloody husks, was trying to imagine each and every one of them raping the girl who now lay in the hospital.

At long last, he ceased his swinging, sweat dripping from his brow as he panted for breath. He stood there looking around at them for a good several minutes, before walking calmly back to his motorcycle. And without a look back at the bodies, Joe sped off into the night, trying to ignore the fact that the girl he had imagined them raping had been his own love, not Franz's.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

AN: Winding down the remainder of this story; still a good few chapters to go, but we are nearing the final act. I won't deny I haven't already started thinking about a sequel, but we'll see how this one ends up. Hell, even I don't even know how this one's going to end at this point.