"Stop! Do not go any further! If you do, I'll- "
The guard was knocked out swiftly by the blunt end of Floch's rifle. Storming of the capital with the help from the garrison, didn't seem too difficult. The MPs that were left here, were mostly recruits from recent years, or those deemed too weak to face the incoming 'invasion'.
"Clear!" The redhead yelled to the other soldiers, as he started dragging the limp body away.
It was really amazing how quickly the insurgency forces managed to repurpose all the assets seized from the authorities. The scouts made one of the military police outposts into a makeshift prison. Already, it was beginning to fill up with both soldiers loyal to the government, and the administrators.
As Floch threw the unconcious body into one of the cells, the young man wiped the sweat off his brow.
It really all seemed way too easy. Did the government purposedly let them occupy the capital? Most of the MPs didn't seem too surprised with their advances, and simply surrendered to the rebels. Was this just another trap that the manipulator had set up for them?
Nevertheless, it was too late to go back. They had already opposed the queen, and if this little rebellion failed, they would certainly all hang for this.
"Forster!" He suddenly heard from behind.
Upon turning around, he noticed it was Rico Brzenska, one of the elite garrison officers.
"What is it?" The redhead asked, straightening himself.
"Commander Erwin called for you" she explained "they're going to storm the royal palace, and he wants you there."
It was both a great honour and a great puzzle for the young man. The commander of the scouts saying that, was really unexpected. What could he possibly need him for?
"Alright" Floch spoke, before joining Rico.
As the two soldiers exited the outpost, doubts started popping up within the young man's mind. Their cause was certainly just, yet he couldn't possibly get rid of the feeling that they were being led on.
"I was wondering" he started after a moment of hesitation "doesn't all this seem just too easy?"
Rico stopped in her tracks to spare him a glance, before continuing on.
"Whether it is too easy, or not, doesn't really matter" the female officer responded "I don't see a world when all the MPs or the queen could see this in advance…"
"Maybe she provoked us" Floch speculated "it was her who made the first move, after all…"
"You're worrying too much" Rico spoke, rolling her eyes "considering your age, I suppose you're thinking about something… or rather someone else."
Indeed, Mikasa was on his mind all day. The sudden kiss they shared, and their forced separation, made him miss her even more. All the worries, about something happening to her, plagued his mind during all that time he was pacifying the military policemen. After all, she was sent on some important, probably dangerous mission, with only captain Levi by her side.
"Yeah…" he softly admitted.
"Don't worry" the female officer assured "your girlfriend will be fine…"
"How did you…?"
"You two weren't exactly discreet…"
At that, the shade on the boy's cheeks once again matched the colour of his hair. It was something that happened between them in the spur of a moment, and some of the scouts had already made fun of him for that. Nevertheless, the reactions weren't exactly negative.
'Well, maybe excluding captain Levi…"
After a short walk through the city overtaken by Scout Society, they've finally reached the designated checkpoint in front of the royal palace.
"Here you are!" Erwin exclaimed, seeing that they were finally there.
Next to the commander, stood a short blonde boy. Floch remembered him from the meeting that took place some time ago. He was the one whose testimony convinced the rest of the scouts to go against the government.
Upon walking over to Erwin, Floch saluted, bringing his fist to his chest.
"Commander" he spoke "officer Rico said you needed me."
The blonde commander turned to face the royal palace. Its tall towers, and strong walls gave it somewhat mysterious impression. Even though it was built to house the royal family, in a way, it served the purpose of a fortress as well.
"The queen is not home" Erwin explained, still looking at the palace "either we were expected, or the queen decided to join the MPs on the frontlines."
"That's crazy!" Floch exclaimed with surprise.
The commander looked at him, deep in thought.
"Armin thinks so too" he spoke after a moment of silence.
The redhead turned to face the blonde boy.
"If she is capable of manipulating others, it would be reasonable to think that she possesses other powers as well…" Armin explained.
In a world where giant, man-eating monsters roam free, and monarchs of lone kingdoms are able to mind-control others, such a possibility wasn't out of question.
"If this was an offensive move by the queen to lure us into taking Mitras, then we couldn't have possibly achieved anything" Erwin elaborated "but this doesn't make any sense… Why would she let us take the city, and risk losing her power?"
"She has to have some ace up her sleeve…" Floch concluded.
The commander motioned towards the palace.
"I believe, we shall find an answer here…"
The halls of the palace were indeed empty. As Floch and Armin strode through the corridors, a weird thought appeared within the redhead's mind.
"You knew Eren Yeager, right?" He asked out of the blue.
"Supposedly…" the blonde responded "most of my memories with him have been erased.
The young soldier was always wondering about it. And now, he was presented with the perfect opportunity to ask his question.
"How was he?" The redhead asked.
As they neared a slightly open door, Armin stopped in his tracks.
"He was brave" the blonde started "he was reckless. He would always get in trouble."
"And Mikasa?" Floch exclaimed "what was she to him?"
Armin just took the handle, and pushed the door all the way, revealing a very messy bedroom.
"A sister, I guess" the boy explained, walking inside "she lived with the Yeagers, like with her own family…"
This chamber looked more like a guest bedroom, than a regular one. Someone must've used it the previous night, considering the state the bed was in.
'A girl's room?' Floch thought, noticing the red stain on the sheets.
"We need to look for an office" Armin spoke, before walking off.
As the redhead brought himself out of his stupor, he turned around to join the blonde genius.
"And what about you?" Floch asked curiously.
"What about me?"
"You were their friend, right?"
"If you wanted to know about Mikasa's love life, you could've just asked" Armin responded.
The redhead looked down in shame. It was true that he loved the oriental girl, however, sometimes he would just worry about stupid things like this one, for no reason.
"If anything, Mikasa probably hates me, right now" the blonde explained after a moment of silence "I never believed her about Eren…"
Finally, the two young men reached a small, wooden door. All the other rooms they've checked so far, were either bedrooms or meeting rooms. This one, though, looked way different.
When Floch pulled on the doorknob, it turned out that the door was locked.
"If there's a lock, it is there for a reason" Armin stated.
With one strong kick, the redhead forcefully opened the door, breaking the lock in the process.
'Right on the money…'
The two revolutionaries walked into the office. The room itself was filled to the brim with books and folders. A bunch of papers were laying loosely on the small desk. The light coming from the nearby windows was showing that aside from the few things around the table, most of the documents were gathering dust.
The young men looked at each other, before sitting down and starting to look through the papers.
Some of them, were pretty regular. The finances, the state of the military police, the tax revenue…
Suddenly, an odd folder caught the redhead's eye.
'Continental supplies?' Floch read in surprise, picking the file up.
"The Yeager Family case" Armin recited as he looked through the folder he found in the drawer under the table.
"This may be the least of our worries" the redhead exclaimed in shock, as he was reading into the file in his hands.
"What do you mean?"
Instead of wasting time on explaining, Floch simply recited the first paragraph.
"…The mission focuses on the armament of both the immigrants from outside of Marley and the Marleyan Eldians. Our people on the continent seem to be too scared to act, however I believe that the power of the coordinate is enough to make them more interested. So far, we've successfully armed several smaller internment zones, just to the northern coast…"