Preparing for Battle
While Erwin, Hange and Armin investigated the possibility of Zeke Ghallioht being Titan's linchpin and worked on formulating plans to take Titan down, it fell to Levi to train the others. Jean was already showing improvement in his powers of observation and increased control over his powers. He was now able to literally blast the clothes and armor from the practice dummy and even blow the dummy itself apart from the inside out all using the power of air.
All of them were gaining increased powers of observation and perception since Levi used the same tactic he'd used with Eren; moving objects in the room around, removing objects, placing new ones in the room, altering an object in some small way, even adding sounds and smells for them to notice and mention. Failure to notice these changes resulted in creative punishment; everything ranging from cleaning the bathroom with nothing but a bar of soap and a toothbrush, to weeding the non-existent garden outside, to being used as Levi's demo target when showing the others fighting moves or as target practice for Faerie. Sasha was the only one that never failed to notice all of even the tiniest of changes. Eren only failed to notice one change once. Being uses as target practice for Faerie's powers once was more than enough for him.
Jean got whacked up the back of the head and sent to the bathroom with the soap and toothbrush when Levi caught him very obviously hunting for changes rather than simply observing them in passing. Mikasa's punishment for not bothering to notice even after Levi told them all to pay attention, was to have to clean the bathroom with a toothbrush alongside Jean. The woman visibly shuddered as she dejectedly carried her toothbrush in to join the man everyone knew had a crush on her. They both showed marked improvement after that day.
As far as Ymir and Krista went, they always worked together, so though they often missed a few things as individuals, as a team they managed to notice everything. Levi had to explain this to the others when asked why the two were never punished for failure to notice changes.
Levi saw to it that all of them knew how to use a gun. He trained them relentlessly in hand to hand combat (which Eren excelled at). He also ran them through brutal obstacle courses and stamina runs. "Damn, Levi," Ymir laughed breathlessly after a particularly challenging obstacle course. "I always knew you were a sadist, but this took it to a whole new level!"
"My heart bleeds root beer," he replied coldly.
Eren raised up his hand from where he lay sprawled on his back on the floor. "If it's as cold as your tone, I'll take a gallon!"
Armin, who had joined them for training for the day, raised his arm from where he lay gasping. "I'll take two!"
"Fuck you," Levi retorted, though there was no real bite to his words. "Tomorrow we begin true combat training. The system is a series of combat scenarios in multiple settings and landscapes. The facility is another 150 feet below us and has been used by the Scouts as a training grounds since the beginning. It was designed originally by Erwin Smith and perfected by Hange Zoe. You will be required to fulfill your mission without collateral damage. In other words, you're going to have to differentiate between innocent bystanders and enemies. Word of warning, the way these scenarios are set up, even if we repeat the same 'mission' several times, it will never run the same way twice, so be on your top form tomorrow."
The first mission was an absolute clusterfuck that had Levi groaning in misery as he watched from the control room. Everyone got in everyone else's way. At first, everyone had just been over awed by the size and technological sophistication of the facility. It was a combination of real terrain mixed with hologram enemies and dummies controlled by a computer system designed by Hange. There were city streets, small towns, ghettos, sewers, forest, mountain, rainforest, desert, open plains. The variable terrain combined with the holographic targets that were completely unpredictable and not all enemies and the highly complex missions made the simulations very difficult. To add to the realism, each participant wore an armband that would zap them if they were 'killed'.
It began simply enough on the cityscape section. They were to 'rescue' a hostage in a basement of one of the buildings. Armin tried to formulate a strategy, but they were out in plain sight as they moved, not listening to T-Bab or Faerie, and the instant an enemy showed up, Jean went after it blindly. Mikasa immediately pushed Eren behind her to try to shield him as more enemies popped up. Some enemies were actual dummies that fired rubber bullets. Sasha was hit by one and zapped as she tried to pull Jean back. Jean face-planted on the pavement as he tried to dive for cover only to get zapped as he was 'killed'. Mikasa was zapped as she attempted to punch one of the enemy holograms. That left Eren, Armin, T-Bab and Faerie. The noise attracted more enemies and a flash grenade took out the remaining four.
Levi had purposely not prepared them for the true scope of the first simulation so as to ascertain in what areas the group needed the most work. Again, that first mission was an absolute clusterfuck. "Teamwork," Levi told Hange and Erwin with a groan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "They have no clue how to work as a team."
"No kidding," Hange agreed in awe. "They're so bad they even got T-Bab and Faerie killed."
"That was definitely bad," Erwin concurred. "Maybe we should run a simulation to show them all how we work together."
They left the control room and gathered the others together. "This may shock you, coming from me, but even I can work with a team better than you brats. Your teamwork isn't worth two shits," Levi told them harshly. "If you guys can't work as a team, you'll all be dead before we even get near Titan. Worse still, you'll get the rest of us killed with you. Bad enough you didn't listen to Ymir and Krista telling you not to all cluster together and walk out in the open, but you blindly attack the first enemy you see without any plan or backup."
"I clearly gave you all too much credit. I assumed you would all at least be smart enough to formulate a plan before waltzing in there. Erwin, Hange, Ymir, Krista and I are going to run this same simulation. I want all of you to watch from the observation deck to see how a team operates."
The dejected group went up to the observation deck as the five veterans set up to run the same simulation. "It's been a while since we've all practiced together," Ymir commented excitedly as she put her armband back on.
"I know, right?" Hange agreed. "The last time we did this was before we met Eren and company. Mike nearly . . ." They paused when they mentioned their fallen comrade. The others were also silent.
Finally, Levi spoke up. "Snap out of it. Let's show these brats how it's done."
The others looked on as the team below gathered around Erwin who held the printout with the mission parameters and was giving them their instructions. The group the silently broke up and set about their assigned tasks. The recruits were in awe of the efficiency of the veterans. The team worked in a way that played on the strengths of each of its members. A gasp of awe went up from the recruits when Levi suddenly dropped to a crouch, right hand on the ground and a glowing black magic circle appeared around him and Hange. How does black glow? Even Armin and Hange can't answer that question. Either way, rubber bullets bounced off of the invisible shield at the circle's perimeter. Fifteen minutes later, the mission was complete, and the simulation ended.
Levi flew up and landed on the railing of the observation deck. "That is how it's done," he told them. "You're going to run this simulation again, but this time you're going to pay attention to the advice of the veterans, you're going to listen to Armin when he tries to give you a strategy, and you're going to work together as a single unit, not as a bunch of untrained individuals. I've been teaching you how to observe your surroundings and how to fight. Use what you've learned."
The second run through was far from perfect, but at least the group succeeded, albeit after more than an hour. Two weeks later and they were successfully running much more difficult simulations with the entire team. The veterans corrected any mistakes made by the recruits. After Levi gave Jean a particularly hard dressing down for a mistake, Hange leaned in and whispered to Eren, "I think the little box of grumps needs to get laid tonight. Think you'll be up for it?"
Eren choked and his face immediately turned crimson. "How do you even know we're like that?!"
Hange winked at him. "He's my best friend. I know everything whether he tells me or not."
"And you're not upset about it? I mean . . . um . . . I mean I know you and Erwin are with him and all."
Hange laughed. "Why would I be upset that my best friend is in love? I mean, yeah, the sex was phenomenal, but we all knew it was just that; sex. Erwin and I still have each other. So, make sure my little box of grumps gets some tonight, okay?"
If Eren could have sunk through the floor in embarrassment, he would have.
Levi was perched in his favorite spot on the top of the Mitras Tower spire. He had created a portal from Site C to the heart of Mitras near the Mitras Tower. This was his third night on the streets, trying to stem the increasing tide of crime in the city. It had been quite the discussion with Erwin trying to convince the man to let him come out to at least try to make a dent in the criminal activity. Eventually, with a little help from a very convincing Hange, Erwin relented, knowing that Levi was probably the only person capable of taking on a Turncoat.
It had been nearly three months since the Scouts moved to Site C. Supers around the world were still dying at the hands of the Turncoat clones. Many Supers, heroes and villains alike, were in hiding. This had the side affect of non-Super crimes skyrocketing with no one to stop it. Police forces were ill prepared and overwhelmed by the sudden increase in criminal and gang activity. Mitras was currently under martial law with a 10pm curfew.
Funds were tight for the Scouts because none of them were working. They'd had to leave everything behind, including their jobs. Thanks to Sasha and himself hunting and foraging, food wasn't a desperate situation yet, but there were other problems, including ammunition, transportation and equipment that could not be replaced.
After just two nights of patrol, the jail was bursting at the seams with thieves, drug dealers and gangs that Levi had nabbed. I'm surprised Titan isn't making a move on me. It's been two nights. I'm the only Super on the streets right now. Not even the Super villains are out. I was expecting a Turncoat clone to attack me the first night. What are they waiting for? Or are they waiting for others to get a false sense of security and come out of hiding? None of the clones have been spotted in the area for a few weeks. Maybe it's just taking time for one of them to get here. Maybe just one Super isn't enough to draw them . . . well speak of the devil!
A commotion on top of the Reeves Trading skyscraper several blocks over caught Levi's attention both mentally and audibly. A quick flight brought him to where not one, but three clones had a young man surrounded. The man was only a little shorter than the Commander, with sandy-blond hair, dark blue eyes and all muscle. That guy looks a little like Aegis, Levi thought as he landed right in the middle of them all. "Real brave. Three against one," Levi deadpanned at the three women. "He must be pretty dangerous for three of you to take him on. Of course, I can't imagine it's too easy to use super hard armor against someone."
"Raven Knight," one of the clones sneered as if the name left a bad taste in her mouth. "We do want this one dead, but we're really here for you."
"I see. So, I'm the one you're so afraid of. Too bad for you, though, that three of you isn't going to be enough."
"Oh, shit! Shitshitshitshitshit!" The man behind him cursed as his armor began to form and harden. "I'm not doing this!"
Levi glanced over his shoulder, unconcerned. "Relax. Don't resist them. They can't hurt you with your power alone, and, unless you're as strong has Harbinger was, you can't hurt me either."
"I have Super strength, but nothing like The Commander," Aegis stated as he felt his body lunge and strike at Levi. The armor made Aegis impervious to bullets, impact and piercing, but it also made him slower and less agile. This meant that by the time his fist should have connected with Levi, the Super was no longer there. "You have no idea how trippy this feels. I have no control over my body right now."
"I know," Levi said as he hovered in the air, well out of reach. "What brought you out here in the first place?"
Aegis looked up at him with glowing yellow eyes. The man's jaw moved when he talked, but lacked flexibility, so Levi could only assume that the armor was not fused to the man's lips. "One of these bitches murdered my best friend and his wife," Aegis snarled with contempt.
"You mean Stretch and Whiteout."
"Yeah. Only their real names were Bertoldt Hoover and Annie Leonhart," Aegis replied. "I figured you should know in case I don't survive tonight."
"You won't be dying tonight unless you work for Titan," Levi assured him. He looked down at the clones. "Are you two constipated? You both look like you're trying to take a shit, but the shit won't come out."
"What's wrong?" the third clone demanded of her sisters. "Why is he still airborn?"
Levi rolled his eyes. "Because these wings are a part of my natural physiology, dipshit. No Super power involved. Let me show you another part of my physiology." He extended the retractable claws and dove at the clone controlling Aegis. She attempted to bring Aegis over to use as a shield and her two sisters also moved to protect her, but Levi was much too fast. Before anyone could fully react, the first clone's throat was torn open.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU KILLED MY SISTER!" one of the remaining clones shouted as she drew a pistol lunged at him in blind rage, Aegis all but forgotten.
Bullets bounced uselessly off his wings as he swept the right wing back, sending the clone flying. "How dare you get pissed at me," Levi snarled. "Don't act like you're the only one who feels pain when a loved one dies. You've all murdered countless men and women and left countless families and friends in mourning because of your senseless murders. So, you have no right to get pissed when someone puts a stop to your rampage. You pathetic copies have nothing on the real Turncoat. That woman was nothing short of impressive. She controlled not only others' Super powers, but she had the utmost self control as well. She never killed anyone; even though some certainly deserved death. She was a better hero that any of us will ever be."
Both clones let out enraged screams as they lunged at him again. "Too easy to piss you off," Levi observed as they charged. One of them jumped high in the air, having drawn a scimitar and brought it down swiftly. She wasn't fast enough. She spat out blood, a shocked look on her face, still not fully aware of what had just happened as the sword clattered to the rooftop. Levi had shifted his position just enough to avoid being struck and had thrust one of his daggers into her heart as she had descended on him. He wasn't concerned about where the last one was.
Having flown into a blind rage, both clones had forgotten Aegis. As she had lunged at Levi, screaming, Aegis slammed both of his armored fists down on the nape of her neck with all his might as she passed him.
"Disgusting," Levi muttered as he cleaned the blood from his dagger. He then glanced around the rooftop and the surrounding buildings. "You should tell your bosses that the clones have failed. They're not smart enough or strong enough for the job. Too emotional. Next time send more. I'll be waiting."
Aegis let his armor evaporate with a sigh. "Good to have my body back," he said with a grin. That grin faded quickly though, when Levi strode purposefully over and placed his hands on either side of the larger man's head. "Um . . ."
Moments later, Levi pulled back. "I'm sorry. But I needed to be sure you weren't with Titan, either willingly or unknowingly."
Poor Aegis just looked thoroughly confused. "I just read your mind, Reiner Braun; went through all of your memories."
Reiner looked surprised, but eventually shrugged it off with a grin. "Okay. That's cool. Nice to know they haven't gotten into my head or brainwashed me or nothin', cuz then I'd be even more pissed at 'em."
Levi raised an eyebrow. "So, Titan invading your mind pisses you off, but my invading your mind doesn't? Because it would sure piss me off if someone did that to me. That's why I swore I'd never do that without that person's permission. But with things being as they are . . ."
"I get it, man. You gotta be sure of who your allies are." Reiner extended a large, open hand. "As you know, I'm Reiner Braun; aka Aegis."
Levi accepted the handshake. "I'll give you my real name later. For now, Raven will do. What are you doing out here? Every other Super is in hiding right now."
"I've been wanting to get in touch with the Scouting Regiment. When I got wind of Raven Knight being out on the streets cleaning up, I had to come out to talk to you."
"Fine. But not here. Too many ears." Levi headed over to a maintenance door and went inside the building. Reiner followed him down four flights of stairs. Levi stopped on the landing, and opened a portal to the underground safehouse he, Eren and Jean had used months ago. He grabbed a startled Reiner by the shirtfront and dragged him through.
"Woah-ho-ho! That was so cool!" Reiner exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"
"Magic," Levi said blandly, tired of always being asked that.
"Ha ha, funny. Seriously though . . ."
"Seriously. I use magic. That's why those damn clones can't control me. All of my so-called powers are either a natural part of my biology or are pure magic. I have no true Super powers."
"Way cool!" Reiner said in awe.
"You don't need to pretend that you're fine. I can feel your emotions, remember?" Levi told him.
The young Super's shoulders slumped, and his smile vanished. "Yeah. Sorry. Force of habit. Gotta pretend I'm not madder than hell and grieving my best friends. Couldn't get close to Titan if they knew I was holding a grudge against them."
Levi raised a slender eyebrow. "You got near Titan?"
"As close as I could. Damn. I mean, talk about eyes and ears everywhere! They got their fingers in everything! I got this friend who's a crazy awesome tech wizard and hacker, and he found Titan's influence in every one of the world's top 50 corporations! Crazy, right?"
"We already know that."
"Okay, so what my buddy found was that the connections Titan has is like this really intricate spider's web and all the threads lead back to Wellington Technologies. I mean everything leads back to Wellington. He said that most of the top officers of the top 50 companies are directly connected to Titan. He also tracked funds and expenditures of these companies and found that billions of dollars are funneled each year through Wellington Tech and into some kind of research facility called YMIR. Creepy thing is, that even my buddy couldn't find out anything about YMIR other than the fact that the only point of contact is Zeke Ghallioht who just happens to be Marley Wellington's personal assistant. In fact, Zeke Ghallioht's name came up a lot in my buddy's research. I have a hard drive with me with everything he found. But here's why I wanted to talk to the Scouts so bad; every year, all of the execs of the top 50 companies that have ties to Titan hold a conference in Utopia. That conference is next month. Three weeks from tomorrow to be exact. My buddy said evidence suggests that YMIR is in Utopia as well. If we can hit Titan during that conference, we could bring it down!"
Levi's bored expression betrayed nothing of what he was thinking. "Color me impressed. I don't think you took a single breath during that entire spiel." Reiner's jaw dropped as if to say, 'That's all you got out of that?' until Levi continued. "First of all, your friend is in danger. We need to get to them before Titan can. I can assure you they are very aware of the intrusion."
"We know," Reiner replied. "He's waiting for me in the basement of the old Paradise Apartments."
Levi immediately turned and opened a portal to the abandoned apartment complex. "We'll grab him first, then return to headquarters."
The portal brought them to the middle of the abandoned underground parking garage of the Paradise Apartment complex. Twenty years ago, these apartments had been the height of luxury. A downturn in the economy that only lasted three years was enough to leave the complex abandoned fifteen years ago to slowly decay. Reiner led the way to a series of storage units below the apartment building. He cautiously entered one of the units where a young man with dark hair and freckles was typing away furiously at a laptop, pink tongue peeking out the corner of his lips and brow furrowed in concentration.
"Daniel Bodt's boy," Levi said, recognizing the young man he'd met at Brigade all those years ago during the hostage situation. "I should have known. Still a whiz with technology, I see."
The young man looked up in surprise but immediately smiled in recognition. "I remember you! You're the one who defeated Argos and Digit when they tried to steal Brigade's database!" he said as he stood and came over to shake Levi's hand. "It's Raven Knight, right?"
Levi nodded and shook the man's extended hand. "Yes. And I had help from T-Bab and Faerie back then." As soon has he had the young man's hand in his, he locked gazes with him and began to scan his mind. Wow. Never knew anyone could be this genuinely nice. Seriously, who is this constantly positive and upbeat? All he wants to do is help. But he's got courage. This whole Titan thing has him scared shitless, but he's helping anyway. He can also fight if he needs to. Not bad. Thank God Titan hasn't gotten hold of him! "Good. You're clear."
He looked confused. "I am?"
Reiner clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Relax, Marco. He just means he read your mind to make sure you weren't working for Titan and hadn't been brainwashed by them."
Marco paled. "He read my mind?"
"I'm sorry," Levi apologized. "I don't like invading people's privacy like that, but right now, with Titan on the rampage, it the only way I can be sure if someone is working for them or not."
Marco frowned. "Yeah. I get that," he agreed. "They're everywhere. I mean, I can't walk down the street without wondering how many of the people I see are with Titan in some way. It's really scary."
"No shit. But it still makes me sick to do it without permission like that. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Marco insisted with a kind smile. "I understand completely. In your shoes I'd do the same thing."
"Doesn't make it right," Levi mumbled. "Listen, I'm going to go back to headquarters real quick to pick up Codex. They can scan all your tech to verify that Titan hasn't infected it or traced it in any way. They can also check both of you for bugs and tracers." He opened a portal and stepped through before either could answer.
Everyone in the common room looked up in surprise when Levi stepped out of a portal, grabbed the nearest trash can and began dry heaving. Eren and Hange were both at his side in an instant, rubbing his back until he calmed. "What happened?" Eren asked.
"You killed someone, didn't you?" Hange guessed.
"And I just read two minds without permission," Levi added in a voice strained from heaving. He took a few deep breaths. "Hange, I need you to come with me for a few minutes. I have a couple of allies to bring back, but they have a laptop and a hard drive with valuable information about Titan and I need you to scan them."
Hange nodded quickly. "Okay."
Levi opened a portal back to Paradise Apartments. "Three of the Turncoat clones are dead," he told everyone before he stepped back through.
Ten minutes later, Levi and Hange returned with Reiner and Marco in tow. "Marco! Reiner!" Eren and Jean exclaimed almost simultaneously. This was followed by an ecstatic, "REIN-DEER!" from Sasha. The two newcomers were surrounded by Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Sasha and Jean.
Hange giggled. "They all go to uni together."
Levi cleared his throat to get everyone's attention once he noticed Erwin, Krista and Ymir enter the room. "So clearly you lot all know each other from school, but for us old-timers, the newbies are Marco Bodt and Reiner Braun aka Aegis. My name is Levi aka Raven Knight."
"I'm Hange Zoe aka Codex."
"Erwin Smith aka The Commander."
"Hi. I'm Krista Lenz, but you know me as Faerie."
"Call me Ymir. I'm T-BAB. That's Totally Bad Ass Bitch for those who don't know."
"I'm called Huntress."
"Levi calls me She-Wolf. I like it, so I'm keeping it."
"I'm Northwind."
"Aka Horseface."
"Eren! That's not nice!" Armin chided.
"Yeah, Eren, aka Suicidal Bastard."
"Wow. Can you feel the love tonight?" Ymir asked sarcastically.
Levi shook his head and looked to Erwin and Hange. "Marco and Reiner have been tracking down Titan. I know Marco is a tech genius, but he's also a brilliant hacker according to Reiner. If what you find on Marco's laptop and hard drive proves even half of what Reiner told me about Titan, then we are insanely lucky. This will be the biggest break we've ever had," Levi's excitement died suddenly. "Thing is, knowing Titan as we do, we'd be fools to assume they don't realize that they've been hacked. The fact that they never found Reiner and Marco seems too good to be true."
"Which means it probably is," Hange surmised. "But they just tried to kill both you and Reiner."
"It was too easy," Levi replied. "My gut is telling me that once Titan caught on to Marco and Reiner, they made sure they found out about the conference in Utopia to draw as many Supers out as possible."
"The Global Business Conference in Utopia is a meeting for Titan?" Erwin questioned.
"According to what Reiner told me, yes. Kind of explains why you and Shadis were never invited to those things," Levi answered. "They're either going to move the conference, postpone the conference, or hope that Marco and Reiner told other Supers so they can lure us all into their trap. Thing is, scanning their minds can't tell me if Titan is feeding them false information or not. It just tells me if Titan has brainwashed or manipulated a mind somehow."
"And here's another tidbit," Levi continued. "They have a company in Utopia that all of Titan's funds get funneled to called YMIR."
"YMIR?" both Hange and Erwin parroted.
"I know. Crazy coincidence. Sounds like that may be where they do all of their research and bio-engineering." Levi surmised. "If I remember correctly, Ymir is another name for the Norse god Aurgelmir. Or rather, the first being. Something about being created where ice and fire meet and being the father of all giants and some weird ass shit about a man and woman grow under his arm and six headed son from his leg; gross. Then this cow who fed him milk licked salt stones that became Odin's grandfather or some shit like that. Gotta wonder what they were on when they came up with these stories."
Erwin and Hange both looked at him in a mixture of awe and surprise. "Wow, Levi. Where did you learn all of that?" Hange asked.
"I don't have a real job," Levi explained. "So, the only thing I could do with my spare time was go through Eyebrows' library. Read damn near every book in it, including the one about Norse mythology. Thing is, the myth kind of fits in with what Titan is trying to do. They're trying to create gods, and they're likely doing it at a facility in Utopia."
"Which means all of the missing doctors and scientist could be there as well," Erwin added. "But like you said, the odds of Titan being unaware that we have this information are pretty much zero. We'll have to proceed under the assumption that this is a trap."
Hange was already delving into the hard drive that Marco had provided. Their eyes widened with combined excitement and awe. "Holy mother of Sina!" they exclaimed. "Titan may know we have information on them and that we know about the conference, but I seriously doubt they know we have all of this!"
"What is it?" Erwin asked, rushing to look over Hange's shoulder.
"This is information even I couldn't access with my powers," Hange explained. "The firewalls were too strong. Marco is absolutely amazing! And what Levi told us is correct; all funds lead back to Zeke and to YMIR. The funds come in from literally all over the world! This is gonna take me a couple of days to go through. HEY, MARCO!" Hange called excitedly. "COME OVER HERE AND BRING YOUR LAPTOP AND BIG BEAUTIFUL BRAIN!"
Levi tugged on Erwin's elbow. "C'mon. Let's go. There'll be no communicating with them until they're done and come to us."
"I'll stay here and watch. I've been waiting forever to get this information!" Erwin responded.
Levi shook his head and walked over to the others, mumbling, "I'll wait for the summary." As he approached the sitting area, he addressed Armin. "You better go over and join the Geek Squad. Your insights will be valuable."
Armin got up to hurry over to Hange's workstation. "Um, okay. Thanks."
"So, what are the rest of us gonna do?" Ymir asked.
"Actually, I have a couple of questions for you," Levi started. "We are already well aware that you have nothing to do with Titan, and I, at least, know that you grew up in foster care. Do you know anything at all about your real parents?"
Ymir frowned in concentration. "Not really. I never knew them. Hell, I don't even have a real birth certificate! The government had one created when I entered the system at about a year old. I was just deposited at a church on night. Police never found who left me there. Don't even know what my real date of birth is, for that matter. They just chose a year before the date I was found. How messed up is that, right?"
"How did they choose your name?" Levi asked.
"My onesie that had a strange Norse style face on it and YMIR in big letters when I was dropped at the church."
Levi smirked. "Did you know that you're named for the First Being in Norse mythology?"
"No. But that's really cool!"
"Not so much. They killed him and made the earth from his body and the seas from blood," Levi retorted.
"Gross!" Krista chimed in.
"Kinda explains why the oceans are so salty," Eren added.
"Double gross!" Krista's nose wrinkled in disgust.
"The reason I'm asking is because we've found out that Titan is funneling money through Wellington via Zeke Gaillioht into a hidden company called YMIR."
"Wow! That's weird," Ymir said. Then she frowned.
"Next question," Levi continued. "When did you first notice your Super power?"
"I've always been able to do that. Since I can remember. Totally freaked out the nuns at the church," Ymir answered with a chuckle. "Why?"
"Because based on what we know of Titan's experiments, it's entirely possible that you were stolen from YMIR and left at the church by someone; possibly one of your parents. I'm thinking it's possible that you were the result of one of the early experiments, which would mean that the Turncoat clones would have no affect on you." Levi stood and motioned Ymir to follow him over to Hange's workstation. "Marco, pull up that logo for YMIR that you found."
Marco did as instructed, then turned the laptop for the others to see.
Ymir's eyes widened. "That's the face! I held on to that onesie for years hoping I'd be able to find my parents. Kinda gave up when I was a teenager, though. Think I lost it changing foster homes."
"Wait. What? You know this logo?" Hange asked.
Both Ymir and Levi rolled their eyes as they relayed Ymir's story and Levi's theory a second time. They hadn't even finished before Hange was rolling up Ymir's sleeve and swabbing it down preparing to draw blood. "I'll compare it to what I know of other known Titan DNA experiments and to Eren's DNA."
A sadistic smile spread slowly across Ymir's face. "Kinda poetic justice if your theory turns out to be fact. One of Titan's own experiments coming back to destroy them."
"Yeah," Eren agreed. "It's up to us to avenge all those who've been destroyed by those experiments and by Titan in general."
"Down, boy," Levi chastised. "Save that anger for the actual battle. We don't even know how we're going to go about this yet."
"Besides, Eren, you will be staying here where it's safe," Erwin said.
"What?! Why? This is my fight too!" Eren yelped.
"I agree with Eren. The Fates told me that we can't take Titan down without Eren," Levi stated. "Furthermore, his rapid healing and immortality are a trump card we may need."
"And what do we do if Titan gets ahold of him?" Erwin challenged.
Levi deadpanned. "If we fail, it won't matter. They'll get ahold of him anyway. It's only fair that he be allowed to fight alongside us for his freedom. Especially since I went to all the trouble of training him to fight. He's not the useless college brat we saved from a filthy attic nearly a year ago. He can hold his own against Titan, I assure you."
"I'll think about it."
"No, Erwin. He's a part of this and he's coming. I'm not going up against Titan without him. We can't win without him."
"You trust the Fates that much?"
"Of course, I do. I've known them for countless lifetimes. They don't always give you all the details you want, but they never lie."
Erwin sighed. "Very well then."
