Slipping into Trost was far easier than any of them had expected it would be. The city was in such a mess that the inner gate remained unguarded, allowing them to just walk through and into the city.
The plan was to use Jean and Armin as body doubles, just like they'd done in Stohess. Eren and Historia were nearby in a covered up cart, driven by Keiji, one of Hange's squad that she had lent to Levi, while on the rooftops watching out from afar were Goggles, another one of Hange's squad, Eld, and because the government didn't seem to know his identity, Lukas was with Petra, who was keeping an eye on him until Levi returned.
The rest of them were walking through the city, all wearing their coats, with their hoods down. They were trying to stand out, it would be obvious to anyone with half a brain, but fortunately for them, the ones that were after Eren and Historia didn't seem to have a brain.
Though it didn't go as they imagined it would, because barrelling down the street came a horse drawn cart, with two men on it, one grabbing Jean and the other grabbing Armin at high speed and throwing them onto the back of the cart.
"Arm- I mean Krista and Eren! Those bastards are running away with them! Sasha corrected herself, but it was a nigh on miracle that the kidnappers didn't stop and turn around as soon as she spoke. Her performance was... less than convincing to say the least.
It was done in broad daylight for one, which was not a good look, especially because of the civilians watching nearby. Which was good for them, because there was no need to report Scouts that were going after people who had been kidnapped.
The rest of the team followed behind using their ODM Gear, making sure to stay out of sight. They had successfully trailed them all the way to a warehouse, watching as Jean and Armin were dragged inside the building, which gave them time to surround the building. As expected, they had tied up Jean and Armin across from each other.
And while the disguises had worked well, it seemed they had worked too well, because Armin had one of the kidnappers all over him, whispering perverted things into his ear and feeling his chest all over.
Jean had to look away from the scene in front of him, seeing all that was horrifying, Armin had shut his eyes tightly and he looked like he was about to scream as the kidnapper kept going.
Oluo, the one who was leading the group of cadets, was disgusted at what he was seeing through the window. He had half a mind to go in there and kill the man himself, but that wasn't what he was ordered to do, so instead he moved away to talk to Captain Levi, and thanked the lord that it wasn't Mikasa who was looking in there, because she definitely would've burst through the windows and killed him, potentially botching the whole plan.
"How's everything going on inside?" Levi asked Oluo as he landed on the roof.
"If we wait any longer, they'll see through Armin's disguise Captain." Oluo reported. "The guy inside, he's... it's not pretty."
"I see..." Levi pondered for a moment. "Did you notice, some of these kidnappers are obviously rank amateurs. Why wouldn't they use professionals for a job like this?"
"They're underestimating us Captain." Oluo replied, confident in his answer. "We'll show them they should've never underestimated us."
"You can handle the rest on your own." Levi stood up. "I'm gonna make my way to Eren. Come and meet up with me when you're done taking out the trash."
A couple of streets over, Lukas and Petra were currently camped out on a rooftop, watching the cart with Eren and Historia slowly go through the streets. As far as they knew, the diversion had gone just as planned, so with any luck, they'd know soon who was coming after them.
"Does any of this feel off to you?" Lukas asked Petra. "I know you don't exactly want to talk to me, but surely you feel it as well. This is all wrong."
"I think you're just being paranoid." She curtly responded. "Have faith in the Captain's plan, he's never let us down yet."
As soon as Levi landed, Petra gave him the report. "No MP's in sight Captain. How did the body double plan go?"
"It was a success." He answered without so much as a glance.
"You don't make it sound like that." Lukas pointed out.
"The kidnapping was sloppy." Levi explained. "The Military Police have the decency to be cautious, especially when their reputation is on the line. So, why change tactics now?"
There was something else going on here, Levi could feel it, but he couldn't work out what it was. There had only been two people in his life that were able to read him, one was Erwin, and the other... it wasn't possible, he was dead in a gutter somewhere, he had to be.
"Petra, Lukas... have either of you ever heard of Kenny the Ripper?"
"Oh shit... I completely forgot about that..." Lukas gasped out.
"What? What did you forget?" Levi pressed.
"When I was in Mitras, I was after the Noble Franz Baumeister, he told me that Kenny the Ripper worked as a personal hitman for the Queen." Lukas quickly explained.
"How the fuck could you forget something like that?" Levi had a look of anger on his face. "The crown having a serial killer as a hitman would've been very good to know."
"That's not all." Lukas stopped him there. "He was there too, he had a whole squad of MP's under his command. Baumeister called them the Anti-Personell Control Squad." Levi's eyes widened at that, how did Kenny become an MP?
"The ODM Gear they used, it wasn't blades, they used guns. He said it fired buckshot rounds." Lukas explained further. "I knew this all felt wrong, I-"
As soon as he heard it, the sound of something on tiles, Lukas darted across to Petra, reaching out before it could happen.
"Look out!" Levi yelled.
Petra was shoved back without warning, over the top and falling just behind the chimney on the roof, and the last thing she saw before the red was Lukas' face, his eyes dulled, and in an instant, his head exploded like a burst watermelon.
Levi swiftly moved around the chimney to take cover before the bastard could reload. In the distance, screams and gunshots could be heard, sounding like the others had been killed.
"Lukas..." Levi glanced over to where Petra was, she looked horrified, his body was laid out on the roof, blood pouring from the head. There was no way he survived that.
"Petra, he's dead! Leave him!" Levi yelled snapping out of it. "Scatter!" He ordered.
"Long time Levi." That voice, it was him. The clinking of empty shells could be heard clattering onto the roof tiles. "Still a runt or have you grown some?"
As Kenny shot his grapple onto the chimney, Petra finally regained her senses and shot off before she would be shot as well.
Over the top of the roof, Kenny flew over the top of Levi, his hat falling off as he swooped over Levi with a whoop, pointing both guns at him. "Nope, don't look like you've changed at all boy."
Levi drew his sword, yelling in a rage at the top of his lungs. "KENNNNNYYYYY!" With one swift motion, Levi threw one of his blades at Kenny, spinning through the air as it flew towards the killer.
Kenny though, blocked it at the last second with one of his pistols, using the other to point and fire at the aforementioned 'runt'. "Boom!" Kenny yelled as he fired, though Levi threw his cape, using it to hide from the shot, which hit the chimney behind him.
Moving back over to the other side of the roof, Levi took one last look over at Lukas' dead body for any sign of steam before he made a run for it, he couldn't see any, so he ran for it, narrowly avoiding two more shots from Kenny that sent tiles flying as Levi dropped off the roof, using his ODM Gear to accelerate away from the psychopath hot on his heels.
His first thought was to go after Eren and Historia, he was close, but after rounding the corner, he could see Keiji's dead body rolling on the street while one of the MP's had taken over the reigns.
Right as he rounded the next corner, three more MP's were right in his face. Acting quick, his hooks were fired behind him and into the ground, another near miss as they missed their shots as he sped away down the street. Levi was fast, and he was agile, dodging shots and sliding under another cart that passed the criss section of the street.
He dodged several more shots, speeding away from the MP's, then he saw a shadow, Kenny's shadow. Turning, Levi saw that same twisted grin on his face as he fired another two shots at him, with Levi turning on a dime to avoid them blowing his organs out.
Levi went down an alley, the MP's above raining down a volley of death that was somewhat avoided, with Levi taking a scrape from one of the pellets to the face, and once he exited the alley, he turned left and went straight, flying through the doors into a bar at the end of the street.
"It's Levi!"
"The Scouts!"
"Please make yourself at home Sir!" The bartender was terrified of what would happen next.
"Ready or not." Kenny was already outside, he was just as fast as Levi, and with those weapons, even deadlier. "It's the damndest thing. I seem to be smelling a rat in this fine establishment. Come on out little rodent."
Kenny then leapt through the swivelling doors to the bar, pistols in hands. "The sheriff is here! And I aim to exterminate all the vermin I can find! Bang! Bang!"
Kenny looked around, all he could see were the terrified barman and the gobsmacked customers. No Levi anywhere.
"Oh come on! You here or not?"
"Right here Kenny." Levi answered, ducked behind the bar counter. "Been a while. I really thought you'd be dead by now, what with all the MP's you butchered. Now you're great friends huh?"
"Yeah, well adults do plenty of things kids like you don't understand." Kenny responded. "Oh right, my mistake. You're supposed to be an adult now, but you're still such a runt it's hard to tell."
"Can't believe I let the bitch with you get away though." Kenny recalled the moment where he missed, rather he shot the same one twice. "Damn Scouts all trying to be hero's, bet she went back to cry over him rather than come save you."
"Wasn't he one of your friends Kenny?" Levi asked, confusing the killer a little. "He's just like you, a murderer, you even caught him killing one of your new noble pals in Mitras."
"What?!" Kenny roared, a reaction Levi did not expect, but it bought him valuable time. "You gotta be kidding me! That was him? I had special plans in mind for him." Kenny complained. "I was gonna help those two crazy Titans fall in love, it was going to be the most beautiful thing."
Kenny's face then hardened, picking up an empty chair and throwing it at the drinks behind the bar, shattering the glass and spraying booze everywhere.
"My grand scheme has failed, by my own hands no less... oh well." He shrugged. "Killing you can alleviate the pain for me."
"I'd like to see you try, old man." Levi taunted from behind the bar.
Kenny narrowed his eyes, but decided to continue his monologue. "You must've become a Scout for a reason, and I think I know what that is. We were forced to survive in that little hellhole, giving everything we had just to stay alive. So when we found out just how big the world really was, you can bet it hurt like hell. But you know what saved us?" Kenny picked up another empty chair to throw. "Found something we enjoyed doing, just that simple. Every man needs himself a hobby, maybe the only source of fulfilment he'll find in this wretched world."
"Oh I see. Is that why you blew off my people's heads then? Because it was fulfilling?" There was a dry tone to the sarcasm in Levi's voice. Though he did reach up and turn a bottle, so he could see Kenny in the reflection.
"Yup." Kenny was honest. "To achieve my grand goal, I'll kill as many that get in my way. And you're no different, you kill too when it benefits you."
"Yeah..." Before Kenny could react, Levi used the rifle under the bar, flipping it over and firing at Kenny, the blast catching him and throwing him back and out the bar.
"Thanks for the help old man." Levi leapt onto the counter, handing the rifle back to the barman as he set into action. He threw a chair out the window as bait, and when they shot at the chair, he jumped out the window.
He used his hook to grab an MP, pulling him across the street and onto the opposing rooftop, using him as a meat shield to protect himself from more buckshot. When the shooting stopped, Levi dropped the body and drew his blades, cutting the first two MP's he saw in half, cutting through them like butter.
Then he was after Eren and Historia, who were still in the district, and he was hot on the tail, coming up right behind them as the cart turned a corner.
Another MP came from behind and tried to shoot him, but he shifted to the side, hitting him with a hook, pulling him in and slicing through his gut, and luckily for him, the others who were still alive, including Petra were right behind him.
"Follow the wagon!" He ordered.
As they were chasing, Levi explained what they were dealing with. "Listen up, these soldiers were trained to fight other people. They've already taken out three of ours, including Lukas. If you hesitate for so much as a second, you're dead. The moment you see an opening, go for the kill. We must recover Eren."
"Sir." Mikasa responded instantly, she knew what needed to be done. Though Jean was struggling, he had signed up to fight Titans, not other people.
Levi was first forward, using his hook once again to stab the MP on the wagon in the throat, pulling him off and onto the street.
"Armin! Secure the wagon with Jean." Levi ordered. "We'll keep you two covered."
"Sir!" Armin responded.
"He killed him..." Jean wasn't as eager.
"Come on!" Armin encouraged, him and Jean landing on the wagon, and when the driver turned around to shoot them, Mikasa flew by and kicked the woman in the face, knocking her into the back of the cart while Armin moved to take the reigns.
"Don't move!" Jean threatened the woman with his sword, she ignored him and moved anyway. "Stop!" It was too late as she knocked the sword away with her pistol, putting Jean on his ass with a gun pointed at his face.
"Jean!" Mikasa, backed up by Oluo, rushed in to save him, but they were late, a shot had been fired... by Armin, who had shot the woman in the back and had saved Jean from a certain death.
At that moment, more MP's arrived, aiming at Armin and Jean, with Sasha and Levi swooping in to save them, pulling them off the cart at the expense of Eren and Historia.
At the same time, Petra was caught in no mans land, she was too far away from cover, and there was an MP above her, aiming at her. She was convinced she was going to be shot, there was nowhere to go.
But at the last second, a hook came from over the building, impaling the MP in the ribs, throwing off her aim, missing Petra by about a foot, and when the MP lost her head from a blade, Petra couldn't believe who it was.
"Lukas?"
The MP's loaded up onto the cart right as it went through the gate, the remaining ones following close behind as Eren and Historia were taken away from them. Into Wall Rose, where they couldn't follow.
Mikasa tried to follow immediately after them, but Levi was stopping her, holding her back.
"Let them go. We're running on fumes." He told her.
"No!" Mikasa struggled against the Captain, who had to restrain her from doing something stupid. "EREN!"