Hey all, hope you are well!
Now for reasons unknown to me, this chapter has somehow become my largest one yet. Nearly 12k words, which just surpasses chapter 19 by a few hundred words, and yet unlike the Ripper and Shadow King, this chapter feels like not much really happens *shrug*.
Hopefully, you enjoy this chapter as I continue to explore the consequences of AMs actions and bring back some old faces...
Hermina District - Wall Sina
Minutes after Eren and Petra's kidnapping
"Levi, sit still, I need to get that fragment out." Erwin placed a firm hand on Levi's shoulder, trying to steady the man. His knife was sunken half an inch deep in Levi's other shoulder, trying to pry out a small metal shard that had struck him.
Mercifully, apart from a few minor cuts and bruises, that was the most significant injury either of them had received during the ambush, but certainly not from a lack of trying from their assailants.
"Forget that, Erwin. He's taken Petra and Eren. We need to go after them. Now." Levi grunted out through gritted teeth. Erwin had practically ordered him to remove his jacket and shirt when he saw the growing stain of blood, but despite his protests, Erwin had stood firm.
"Kenny is one of the most dangerous men alive. He's a vicious psychopath, who kills and tortures for fun." Levi tried again, grabbing Erwin's knife-hand. "Damnit Erwin, listen to me!"
"I am listening, Levi, and I believe you, but you're not thinking clearly." Ignoring the scathing look he received, Erwin shook off Levi's hand and was finally able to dig out the fragment. Levi grunted in pain as Erwin tossed the bloody shard aside and started bandaging the wound. He had plenty of experience dressing wounds during his service, but a bullet wound was a new one for him.
"It's just the two of us right now, against at least two dozen skilled and well-equipped opponents, and we have no idea what their intentions are or where they're heading. That's not a battle we can win."
Erwin could feel how tense Levi was as he wrapped the bandages around his shoulder. The muscles in his upper back and neck were pulled taut, like a wild animal trying to break free of its restraints so it could tear its foe apart.
Whoever this Kenny was, his mere presence had enraged the Captain to such an extent that Erwin could only recall one other time he had seen Levi this furious.
The five-year-old scar on his right hand tingled at the memory.
"Levi, we will get Eren and Petra back, but we'll need to regroup with the corp and come up with a plan. And that means we need to deal with the Armoured Titan first." Erwin promised as he finished tying off the bandage and carefully inspected his field dressing. He'd be damned if he lost his best soldier to an infected wound.
"How?" Levi demanded to know. "How are we supposed to beat that bastard without Yeager?"
Erwin rose to his feet, offering a hand to help the Captain up. "I'm not a cripple," Levi grumbled, lightly slapping the hand away as he stood under his own strength.
Erwin relented with a mental shrug and allowed his hand to drop to his side. Levi could be stubborn at the best of times, and it only got worse when he felt he was being coddled. He probably would have tried to stand on his own even if he had a pair of broken legs rather than accepting any more help.
"It's not invulnerable, Levi," Erwin informed the man, taking a momentary pause as he carefully considered his next words. "As Petra reported, your team managed to slow the shifter down and cripple some of their limbs by attacking the exposed areas between the plating."
Of course, what happened after that short-lived success hung over the two men like a storm cloud, and while it was left unsaid, the implication was enough to cause Levi to tense up.
His squad may have found a weakness, but it hadn't saved them once the shifter sped up its own healing cycling. And now Erwin was building a plan based off a strategy that had cost Eld, Gunther and Olou their lives, but he pushed on nonetheless. Better a flawed strategy than no strategy at all.
"With the whole corp in support, and you leading the attack, we can cripple its ability to move, and then use the restraining cannons to pin it in place. Without any momentum behind them, the shifter won't be able to break free like before, and from the tests we've done with Eren, we know a shifter can't remain in their Titan indefinitely. We can wait them out."
The tension in Levi's shoulders didn't dissipate as he grunted, not even trying to hide how unimpressed he was at that plan, and frankly, Erwin couldn't blame him. Even he wasn't exactly confident in it, knowing there were countless factors beyond their control, any of which could lead to disaster. Would they be able to gather the corp and cannons in time? How many lives would be lost trying to cripple it? Would Levi even be able to do it?
Neither of them was strangers to dangerous gambles, but Erwin had always tried to stack the deck in their favour. This time, however, they would be going in almost completely blind.
"Tsk. That's a shitty plan, Erwin. Even by your standards." Levi disparaged, grimly buttoning up his bloody shirt and tugging the 3DM straps back on.
With a simple nod, Erwin showed his agreement with Levi's assessment, "I know, but it's the best plan we have with the time, information and resources available to us."
As Erwin turned to face Hermina's outer gate, he inspected the path of devastation left behind by the ambush with a critical eye. Their escorting garrison squad had been wiped out, taken totally by surprise and having no experience in fighting other people, they were easy pickings, shot down one by one without mercy.
Their attackers had not gotten off lightly for their butchery, with the one-man army that was an enraged Captain Levi, leaving nearly a dozen bodies (and a few limbs) littered all over the district. They may have had an advantage at range, but as soon as Levi closed that gap, they quickly discovered that their strange armour did little to protect them.
But despite the gears' inability to block swords strikes, Erwin was very tempted to strip the equipment from one the corpses to get a closer look. From the precious few seconds Erwin had to observe it clearly (when he wasn't focusing on his own survival during the brutal, blindingly fast battle through the city), he could see it was unique. It was clearly based on standard 3DM gear, but more robust and compact, lacking the hip-mounted blade containers and gas canisters that stuck out like a sore thumb.
Instead, a single large capacity gas canister was mounted on the upper back, allowing the cables to travel under the user's arms so the anchors could be fired from those dual purpose hand cannons. It gave the user a great deal of manoeuvrability and directional awareness, even if it did briefly lock them into their swing.
While his brilliant mind was already picking up on additional faults and limitations to gear, namely its complete lack of anti-titan capabilities and its two-shot capacity before a reload was needed, Erwin could see the potential of such advanced technology if it could be integrated into their own gear.
But even as he started to silently redesign his soldier's gear, Erwin found the question of how these people had acquired such technology was burning in his mind. To have developed such weapons and train some many people to use them must have required extensive connections, both in the arms industry and the military itself, and the costs involved must have been astronomical.
There were very few individuals or organisations with those sorts of resources, and they would almost certainly be being watched by the government. There is no way they would have been able to raise this private army without being noticed.
Pressure built up behind his eyes and Erwin had to stop himself from rubbing them. There was only one organisation that could achieve this feat, only one which had the resources and foreknowledge of Eren's location.
Erwin had no love of the government, and part of him wouldn't be surprised if they had designed weapons purely to combat other 3DM users, but for them to make a move against Eren now when the fate of Humanity hung in the balance? It was utter madness.
Could they really be that rash and short-sighted?
In truth, he already knew the answer to that question. He had known it for years. But to see it confirmed so brazenly with his own eyes was something Erwin just hadn't been prepared for. So brazen, in fact, that this attack had achieved something that many people considered impossible.
It had shaken Erwin Smith to his core.
It wasn't the multitude of near-death experiences from the ambush that had shaken him. It wasn't the faces of the two men he had killed, locked forevermore in a twisted mix of pain and fear as he drove his blades through them. Nor was it the sight of Schmidt's head being blown apart, splattering him in blood and viscera.
No, Erwin Smith had not been shaken by the spectre of death, for he had long since come to terms with his own and other's mortality, but by the fact he had been caught entirely by surprise.
He had planned for his colleagues calling for Eren's head after the failed expedition. He had prepared for some lone wolf attack during the journey to the Capital by some misguided civilian or a disillusioned soldier. He had even planned for the possibility of the Armoured Titan coming after them directly, in another attempt to capture Eren. That's why he had himself, Petra and Levi gear up before leaving; with two of the corps best, himself and Eren fighting side by side, Erwin believed they could have beaten it.
But an ambush by a clandestine government force whose equipment and gear far surpassed their own, and being led by a man who had some previous unknown connection to Levi, attacking them in the middle of an emergency situation had blindsided him.
And now he had been left in an impossible situation of having to face the Armoured Titan without their most powerful asset, and perhaps the only one who could decisively defeat it.
'No... not the only one.' Erwin slowly corrected himself, as the wheels in his brilliant mind started to turn.
There was one other who could do it. Their identity, allegiance and purpose were all unknown, and they had potentially been hiding in his corp for years, not once lifting a finger to help Humanity before.
But when the Armoured Titan attacked them directly, tearing through their formation like tissue paper, the Female Titan had chosen to reveal herself. Whatever her true intentions or reasoning may have been, it was clear they shared a common enemy in the Armoured Titan. So maybe, just maybe, she'd be willing to help them again. But first, he'd have to find the shifter.
'If I have to I'll gather up the entire corp, fall on my knees and beg her to help us.' Erwin swore to himself, feeling the burning weight of Eren's basement key in his breast pocket hardening his resolve. He had been planning on returning the key to the young shifter today and was relieved beyond words he hadn't already done so. It was one of the few silver linings in this debacle of a day.
'I won't let my pride get in the way, not when the truth is so close...'
The truth about the Titans and his father's theory. It was there, inside Eren's basement.
All Erwin had to do was reach it. And if he needed the Female Titan to beat the Armoured, then he would beg like no man had ever begged before.
'I WILL reach that basement… I swear to you, father.'
"We must move quickly, Levi," Erwin called to his Captain, turning to face him as he did so. "We've already lost too much time here."
Levi made no indication he was willing to move and turned his murderous expression against Erwin. "So, you're really going to leave Eren and Petra behind? After what I told you about Kenny." With his open challenge, Levi had thrown down the gauntlet.
Without pause, Erwin answered the challenge with brutal honesty. "Yes. For now, that is what we must do."
Before Levi could even begin his furious response, Erwin cut him off at the knees. "We all took an oath, Levi. Me, you, Eren and Petra, all of us. We swore to do everything in our power to protect Humanity, no matter the cost. And that must come first, even if it means leaving two of our own behind. They would understand."
There was a long pregnant pause, as Levi's jaw snapped shut with an audible click. Anger radiated from his tense form like a physical presence, buffeting against Erwin like a howling wind. "Is that an order, Commander?" He eventually ground out between clenched teeth.
Erwin almost winced. It had been a long time since Levi had spoken to him like that, but he understood why. He had just told the Captain that he intended to leave the two surviving members of his squad in the clutches of an apparent psychopath, and was asking him to do the same.
He had asked a lot of Levi since they had become acquainted, but this? This was something else entirely.
The two men held each other's gaze unblinkingly, waiting to see if the other would buckle first. They both knew that Levi would not willingly abandon his squad, especially after what happened to the others only days prior. Still, Erwin also knew that Levi wouldn't disobey a direct order. He was too good of a soldier to do that.
Ultimately, that left Erwin in the unenviable position of removing the illusion of choice from his subordinate. As his lips parted to break the silence, Erwin had a fleeting moment of curiosity as to whether or not Levi would strike him for what he was about to say. He wouldn't blame him if he did.
"Yes, Captain," His voice was hard and unwavering. Spoken with the finality of a man who had sent countless comrades to their deaths, all for the greater good of Humanity. This was the voice of the cold and calculating Commander of the Survey Corps, and it booked no further room for argument. "Consider it an order."
The blow he received was not a physical one as he half expected, but a verbal one. It was something he had heard countless times before, in more variations than he could count. Usually, such words simply washed over him like water over rocks, but the way Levi said it, with contempt and disdain dripping from every syllable, hurt Erwin more than any punch.
Perhaps it hurt so much because he knew it was absolutely true.
"You're a cold bastard, Erwin." Levi spat, his face twisting into a livid scowl as he shoved past the silent Commander and stomped off towards the horses, each step taking him further away from the two people he was supposed to protect.
The wagon shook violently as it thundered over the uneven cobbled road out of the city, carrying it two drugged and hogtied prizes away.
Kenny could hear his underlings behind him celebrating the successful capture, and taking turns humiliating the unconscious scouts in a number of petty ways; spitting at them, pulling their hair, resting their feet on them. They seemed awfully pleased of themselves for catching the Titan boy and his pretty bodyguard.
Idiots, all of them. Total fucking idiots. They had NO reason to be celebrating, and Kenny would remind them of their incompetence once they returned to their base.
They had outnumbered the scouts nearly seven to one, (Kenny didn't even bother including the Garrison in those odds. An infant with a spoon was more of a threat than they were.) and had caught them in an ambush where they should have had every advantage they needed.
Yet, despite all of that, they had still lost eleven of their own number, all to his child-sized nephew.
He would have to remind them what the punishment for incompetence was in his squad. Even if the little brat was an Ackerman, Kenny took the pisspoor performance from his team as a personal insult. Had they learnt nothing from his training? How many more examples does he have to make out of incompetent fucks-up to finally drive his lessons through their thick fucking skulls?
Only Caven had picked up on his quiet displeasure and had wisely avoided the 'celebrations' by sitting next to the driver and navigating the wagon to the rendezvous point, where the other team, if they've done their damn job, should already be waiting with little Historia in tow.
With his head full of creative ways to deal withhis squad's incompetence and his gaze still firmly fixed on Hermina's shrinking inner-gate, Kenny allowed his lips to curl up into what some might generously call a smile. At the very least it looked like that midget hadn't forgotten what he had taught him, and that pleased him greatly.
'Be seeing you, Levi.' Kenny silently vowed, leaning back against the wagon's side with a smirk.
This was going to be fun.
Grounds of the Scout Ranch - Wall Rose Territory
Sometime Later
The grounds of the ranch were unrecognisable.
Dozens of vast Titan-sized footprints had been stomped into the ground, crisscrossing each other in a baffling nonsensical pattern. From above it would have looked like footwork of a stumbling drunkard, who had been thrown out of a closing tavern.
At the epicentre of cratered ground, where the proud ranch had once stood, now lay a ruin wreathed in flames, its crushed timbers walls and thatched straw roof providing the perfect fuel needed to sustain such a scorching inferno. Such was the size and intensity of the blaze that all man could do was sit by and wait for it to burn itself out, for trying to fight such a fire would be a folly of the highest order.
Towering columns of ash choked smoke rose high into the sky, like a vast shadowy scar painted into the air. It could be seen for miles around and had guided the two stony-faced scouts towards the chaos.
They had spotted it almost as soon as they left Hermina, and both of them had expected the worst. But the sheer devastation they found had been beyond anything they could have imagined.
"What the hell happened here?" Levi wondered aloud, the first thing had said since leaving the city. Erwin found himself thinking much the same as they cautiously approached, already feeling the heat of fire prickling at their skin.
As they drew closer, Erwin finally spotted the one thing that had been missing from the ravaged landscape. Something he had been expecting and dreading in equal measure. The bodies.
He could see several, carefully laid out at the edge of the forest, away from the burning ruin and the torn-up earth. Most had been covered in plain white sheets which had already turned that reddish-brown colour of dried blood, except for one which had been set slightly apart from the others.
Kneeling beside this notable smaller body was a young female soldier who was in the process of placing her cloak, emblazoned with the Garrison Rose, over the fallen soldier's face and torso. She gently laid a hand on top of the unmoving chest, lightly curling her fingers in the green fabric as she spoke a few quiet words. Her downcast face was obscured by dark hair, tied into two long pigtails which reached down to her quaking shoulders.
But while her face may have been hidden from his gaze, nothing could hide the tears that dripped down onto her trembling hand.
As they quietly dismounted their horses and approached the girl, they heard her choking back tears as she whispered a name.
Erwin just made it out and felt a wave of resignation pass through him. The body belonged to one of his 104th recruits, and one of the youngest if he remembered the boy's file correctly. Still closer to fourteen than fifteen when he graduated, the lad had only just started his teenage years, and now he was dead.
Erwin issued a silent apology as he mentally penned out the letter he would have to send to the boy's parents.
He doubted it would be the only letter he'd need to write by the end of this day.
Removing her shaking hand from the body, the girl wiped her wet eyes and said a final goodbye to the painfully young scout. Unsteadily rising to her feet, the young soldier looked up and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the Commander of the Survey corp and Humanity's strongest standing in front of her.
"C-c-commander!" She stammered, her puffy red eyes going wide. As the immediate shock wore off, she went ramrod straight and hastily slammed her fist against her chest in a salute.
"At ease, soldier," Erwin called, bringing up his hand in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. Now much closer to her, and without the hair hiding her face, it became clear to Erwin just how young she was.
'Another 104th graduate.' Was his natural conclusion to the sight of such a full and youthful face, that was currently dealing with a light breakout of acne. But it was her eyes that truly told him she was one of the 104th. They were the eyes of a much older person, sunken and hollow, filled with grief and pain from the horrors she must have witnessed at Trost. Almost all of his recruits had those eyes.
For a brief moment, Erwin wondered when Humanity had decided it was okay with sending children to fight their battles for them, but he quickly pushed that moral and ethical quandary aside. Now was not the time to develop a consciousness about these things.
"We received word that the Armoured Titan had been spotted in this direction. I need a report. Who's in command here, private…?" He prompted, knowing time was of the essence and painfully aware that the Titan was nowhere to be seen.
"Private Mina Caroline of the 17th Southern Engineering Squad, Sir." The Garrison trooper allowed her salute to drop but continued to stand bolt upright, visibly nervous in the presence of two almost legendary figures. "Captain Hannes is in command, sir, he's tending to the wounded. I-I can take you to him if you'd like?"
"Thank you, Mina, that would be appreciated."
With a final sombre glance at the shrouded boy, Mina nodded and led the two men away.
As they carefully circled around the ranch, giving a wide berth from the roaring flames, Erwin, out of a sense of responsibility for the fallen, found himself compelled to speak. "Did you know him well?" He asked, having to speak up to be heard over the fire.
The question caused Mina to miss a step as she tensed up. For a few moments, she stood still and silent before her shoulders dropped.
"No, sir," Mina replied in the quietest of voices. "Not as well as I should have. But there's so few of us left now after what happened…" With every word her voice grew fainter until she simply trailed off and turned her head away from the imposing Commander and resumed her trek.
She didn't want the Commander to see her cry. Not again.
Seeing this reaction, Erwin recognised, somewhat belatedly, that it may have been better to keep his mouth shut, rather than needlessly dragging up what must have been some painful memories for Mina. He could practically hear Levi rolling his eyes at his faux pas.
The rest of the brief walk was completed in awkward silence with Mina marching over to several wagons which had been tied up by the outer fence which had once defined the boundaries of the ranch. A dozen men and women of the Garrison were weaving around, carrying bandages and water to tend to the wounded scouts loaded up onto the wagons.
"Captain." There was an audible tightness to Mina's voice as she called towards a tall, well-built man who was in the middle of wrapping bandages around an unconscious Nanaba's head. Despite hearing the call, the man didn't turn about.
"Mina? Ah, good timing. We're running low on bandages, and I reckon we need at least a few more rolls to finish patching this lot up, especially if more of your friends come out of the woods. Could you search through the supply packs and see if you can find any or something else we could use?"
"Aye, Captain," Mina nervously looked between her Captain's unturned back and the awaiting Commander, feeling trapped between two different authorities. "But, err, Commander Erwin needs to speak with you."
That was enough to make the Captain turn about. While he was just as surprised as his young recruit was to see a division Commander and the Captain Levi staring at him expectantly, his reaction was more restrained. His golden eyes widened, then blinked twice as he brought up his free hand and placed it over the centre of his chest in a half fist, all the while holding onto the untightened bandage with his other.
Had he offered such a bastardised version of mankind's salute during bootcamp or inspection we would have likely spent the next several minutes being loudly and publicly chewed out, but Erwin cared infinitely more about one of his soldiers being tended to than getting a proper salute.
The Garrison Captain's pencil moustache twitched as he opened his mouth to speak, "One moment, Commander." Quickly waving Mina off towards the supply wagon, Hannes turned his head and called over another one of his soldiers. "Hey Phil, take over here for me." He commanded, handing over the bandages, before turning back to face the two scouts.
"Captain Hannes," Erwin addressed the man. "I need a report. What happened here and where's the Armoured Titan?"
"Of course, Commander." To Levi's distaste, Hannes rubbed his hand on his trouser legs as he answered, wiping off the smears of blood from his palms.
"Unfortunately I can't really answer the first question, as it was like this when we arrived. I tried to ask one of the kids." Hannes jabbed a thumb over his shoulder toward a gaggle of shaken recruits huddling together just out of earshot. "But from their answers, I think most of them are still in shock."
'Yes, I'm not surprised. Seeing one of their 'friends' turn into the Armoured Titan must have been fairly shocking.' Erwin agreed, sparing the recruits a quick glance. There were less than he had hoped for, but more than he had feared. And the Captain did say some of the recruits were still hiding out in the woods.
He hoped the woods is where most of them were, rather than getting caught in that firestorm.
"As for the Armoured Titan, well that's a bit of a strange story." Hannes cocked his head toward Wall Rose, looming in the distance. "My Squad and I were on top of the Wall, when whatever it was that happened, happened. Just a standard patrol, inspecting the tracks and lifts, and checking the Wall for cracks. The basics really, to help break in our new recruit."
"We had stopped to replace a few sections of track which had started to rust, and about halfway through the job, we heard this almighty crack and saw this orange lightning several miles inside Wall Rose."
"I…" Hannes stopped, his expression changing from a tight, tired smile into an open grimace, as he recalled a day he'd rather forget. Quietly, in a voice that seemed a decade older, he resumed his tale.
"Before I was assigned to Trost, I was based in Shiganshina, in one of the guard squads." A derisive snort escaped his nose. "Pride of the Garrison we were… Just a bunch of drunken layabouts, believing we had found the easy life."
With a shake of his head, Hannes sighed as he pushed those memories of a simpler time. "I was there on that day. I saw the Colossal and watched it break the gate, but more importantly, I saw that exact same kind of lightning strike hit just before it appeared."
"I heard the same thing happen at Trost, and Mina was on top of the gate when it actually happened, practically came face to face with it, so we both knew what that lightning meant… or thought it meant."
"The Colossal." Erwin provided, knowing the Captain was wrong but understanding how he had reached that conclusion. And it reminded him to talk to Hanji about those lightning strikes; perhaps there was a way to identify what Titan they would be facing based on the size of the strike. A great many lives could be saved in the future if they knew which enemy they were going to face.
Hannes nodded, thinking of the giant skinless face. "Aye. I thought it had somehow gotten into Rose and was attacking one the districts from behind, but as we looked towards the strike, we couldn't see anything. Even with the distance between us, we should have been able to see it, especially with how bloody tall that thing is."
Again, another understandable mistake. Upclose the Armoured Titan might seem larger than life itself, but from miles away, on top of a 50m wall, even a 15m Titan would have been near impossible to see. Especially if you're expecting to see the Colossal.
"I'll be the first to admit that I was... indecisive in deciding what to do, as we weren't properly outfitted for a full combat mission, but in the end, I made the decision to investigate the strike. I sent two of my people to Trost and Krolva to raise the alarm, and the rest of us mounted up, and started making our way here."
Erwin felt his respect for this man growing. Even after Pixis's shake-up following the fall, the quality of officers within the Garrison could range wildly from corrupt, complacent cowards, to men and women whose bravery and dedication to Humanity matched some of his best.
This Captain, who was brave enough to admit his own hesitation and indecisiveness to a senior officer, still rode to fulfil his duty of facing down what he suspected at the time to be the Colossal Titan, one of the deadliest foe humanity has ever encountered.
'He could have made a good scout.'
Unaware of Erwin's inner thoughts, Hannes continued on, none the wiser to the silent praise he had received. "After what must have been 10 minutes of hard riding, we heard this God awful noise getting closer and closer, like some horrible mix of a screaming baby and a howling animal. It was spooking the horses, and us to be perfectly honest, so we pulled off the path so we could prepare for what was coming."
Hannes shivered. "Got out the way just in time, as a few seconds later that big Armoured bastard came barrelling out of the woods towards us."
"It charged you?" Levi interrupted, his lips curling in disgust at the thought of the shifter killing more people. "How'd you fight that piece of shit off?"
A sense of bitter resentment started to rise within the diminutive Captain. How had this random garrison squad, led by a self-proclaimed ex-drunken layabout, managed to survive the Armoured Titan attacking them while his own squad, made up of some of the finest Titan slayers in history that he had trained personally for years, had been massacred?
What kind of sick twist of fate was that?
"We didn't," Hannes answered with a shrug, "We never got the chance to. The Titan just ran straight past us, like we weren't even there. Someone must have fought it though since half its face was missing. Didn't stop it screaming bloody murder the whole time though, even without its jaw."
"I see," Erwin said quietly, not really seeing but still taking in the information with gusto. "So it took no hostile action against your squad? Is it possible it didn't see you?"
Hannes rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow. "Unless you count scaring us and our horse half to death, then no, it just ran on by. And we were pretty exposed on the side of the road. I mean, it's possible the Titan didn't see us, but that seems unlikely."
Erwin's expression didn't change, but internally he was left frowning and more than a little mystified. So far, Hannes' report had been equal parts confusing and intriguing, and it had left him with far more questions than answers, especially this newest development.
After carving a bloody swath through their formation to reach Eren, it seems strange that the shifter would leave the Garrison squad unmolested. But then again, the shifter would have spent enough time in the military to know that outside a handful of men and women most of the Garrison lacks the experience or combat skills required to be a legitimate threat to them.
This selective pacifism appeared to be a dismissal of the Garrison rather than an unwillingness to fight.
"Indeed…" With a quiet murmur Erwin prompting Hannes to continue. "Something else must have had its attention. Where was it heading?"
The answer he received was the stuff of his worst nightmares. One of the few things that truly scared Erwin Smith, and could cause him to wake up in the dead of night in a cold sweat.
"It was heading to the Wall," Hannes answered gruffly, and in an instant, Erwin's head was filled with memories of the fall.
Filled with the memories of his first day as Commander; the confusion, the fear, the panic.
Hastily assembled defensive points which were swept aside by swarms of Titans in their hundreds with sickening ease.
Countless delaying actions fought all over the southern territories, as his corp and the broken remnants of the Marian garrison desperately tried to hold back the Titans long enough for the terrified civilians to escape. Hundreds of casualties and countless civilian deaths later, they had been forced to disengage and retreat back to Rose along with the rest of Humanity, no longer able to hold back the numberless hordes spilling from the shattered Shiganshina gates.
And then, as Wall Rose was sealed shut and the initial shock wore off, the human element to the disaster started in earnest.
The refugee crisis, famine, diseases, overpopulation, riots, looting, killings. A spiralling maelstrom of chaos which threatened to bring about the total collapse of human civilisation, until, on perhaps the darkest day in mankind's history a decision was made, and the most drastic step imaginable for Humanity's survival was taken.
The government ordered a cull, and called it an operation.
250,000 people, a fifth of Humanity, were sent out to reclaim Maria, most armed with little more than pitchforks and kitchen knives.
Less than 200 people made it back alive.
It was a massacre of unparalleled proportion, but it allowed Humanity to claw its way back from the brink, if only just. Food shortages and rationing were still rife, and tension between the surviving Marians and Rosians still ran high in the impoverished and overpopulated Districts, as mankind struggled to sustain itself from the limited arable land left within Rose and Sina.
All of that from just one Wall falling… A second one would likely be enough to finish them off for good.
Blinking hard, Erwin forced himself to remain calm. He hadn't got to his position by losing his cool at the mere possibility of a breach.
"Is the Wall secured?" Erwin asked, already running through the breach contingency plan in his head. It basically called for the corp to charge straight to the breach and hold it for a long as possible to buy time for the evacuations. It did, however, grant him the authority to requisition whole battalions of the Garrison to assist in this 'defence', and with his own division scattered across Rose, he might have to make that last stance with Pixis's soldiers instead of his own.
However, Erwin's planning came to a screeching halt when Hannes's face split into a toothy grin, and he let out a small laugh.
Levi looked less than impressed, and his eyes narrowed dangerously at the chuckling Captain. "Something funny?" He snapped, instantly wiping the grin from Hannes's face.
Chastened, and more than a little intimidated by Levi's glare, Hannes quickly apologised, sheepishly rubbing his arm. "Sorry… and yes, the Wall is secure. Rose is a tough old girl, and she didn't let us down."
As Levi grumbled something under his breath about drunkards, Erwin permitted himself to relax just a fraction. If the Wall was still standing then Humanity got to live another day.
"So, what happened?" He asked, curious as to how a single Garrison squad had managed to defend the Wall from the Armoured Titan.
"Well once we regained our bearings, I ordered a pursuit. Wasn't very successful though, as our horses aren't bred for speed, and bravery like yours are, so we quickly fell behind. I honestly thought it was all over for us as it approached the Wall and crashed into it."
Despite the presence of the no-nonsense Commander and his infamous Captain standing right in front of him, Hannes struggled to keep the grin from sneaking back onto his face. What other reaction could you give after seeing one of mankind's worst enemies charging headfirst into the Wall only to smash clean off it and land sprawled out in the dirt?
"That ugly bastard found out the hard way that the Wall is a lot tougher than the gates. It barely left a mark, but Rose sure as hell left a mark on it. Practically pulped what remained of his head."
Erwin's eyes grew large, the first real crack in his mask since the start of this whirlwind report. That was… unexpected.
"Is it dead?" he cautiously ventured, almost daring to hope. They may have been ordered to attempt a capture, but at this point with Eren lost to them, the shifter killing themself would be a more than acceptable outcome.
The frown that appeared on Hannes's face quickly extinguishing Erwin's brief flicker of hope. He shouldn't have been surprised really, their luck had already been terrible today, why would it improve now?
"For a little while, I thought so. It was just lying there on the ground, dead silent and unmoving. We started getting closer to it, to see if it really was dead when it sat back up."
"I thought it was gonna start screaming or running again when it got back on its feet, but it stared at the top of the Wall for a moment, even with most of its head caved in. Then it just walked up to the Wall, calm as you'd like, and started to climb up the bloody thing." Hannes explained with a shake of his head.
"Does the bastard think it's a spider or something?" Levi sneered, mainly to himself but loud enough for the two other men to hear. Something wasn't right here, and Levi could feel a sense of unease growing within him, but regardless, if the shifter wanted to behave like some filthy insect that was fine by him.
He'd crush them like one.
"Yeah… summin' like that." Hannes answered, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as he tried, and failed, to banish the image of a 15m tall armoured plated spider from his mind. "Anyway, by the time we got into attack range, it had already reached the top of the Wall, and after a really long roar, it just jumped off the other side into Maria. It tore apart a few 10-metre class Titans near the foot of the Wall which got in its way before it just legged it straight south. That was the last we saw of it."
He may not have shown it, but Erwin was left reeling by this, almost overwhelmed by the twin contrasting emotions of dread and relief.
Relief that the Titan was gone, and dread that it was now roaming free within Maria.
None of this was making any sense. Why would the shifter reveal themselves, only to flee over the Wall? They had had the perfect opportunity to attack one of the Rose districts from behind, where defences are practically non-existent. They could have crippled Humanity and doomed it to extinction in a single stroke. Why would they waste it?
Was it possible that the shifter had somehow discovered his original plan to capture them and decided to flee before Eren could arrive?
An icy chill crawled up Erwin's spine. 'Screaming… He said the shifter was screaming.'
Was the shifter calling for someone, the Colossal perhaps, to warn them their identity had been compromised? Or were they screaming for another reason, a more primal reason?
Were they… afraid of something?
'If that was the case, what could have possibly scared them so much? Surely not Eren or Levi since they had no issue going after them during the expedition. The Female Titan perhaps? Possibly, but even then their fight didn't seem one-sided enough to cause that level of fear...'
Truthfully Erwin was at a loss. He had no idea what could have scared the shifter so much that they had quite literally run away screaming.
But whatever it was, it must have been something truly terrifying, and Erwin wanted nothing more than to find it and use it for Humanity's benefit.
'Or try and make a deal with it. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.'
While Erwin's reaction had been one of reserved reflection, as he set about disseminating the new information, as to try and gleem an understanding from the shifters bizarre actions, Levi's reaction was the polar opposite as his growing suspicion was confirmed.
"It ran away?!" The growl that escaped Levi's mouth sounded like it should have come from a wild animal rather than the pride of the scouts. Deep and rumbling, the savage growl caused the hair of everyone who heard it to stand on end.
He shot Erwin a dark look, as what little of his anger had cooled since being forced to leave Petra and Eren behind returned in full force. They had come all this way, away from Kenny and his squad, for nothing. The cowardly fucking shifter had turned tail and ran.
"This was a fucking waste of time, Erwin." He started to rant. "You let Eren and Petra be taken for this shit!"
"That's enough, Captain." Erwin quickly rebuked, annoyed that his old friend had just blurted that out in front of the Garrison Captain.
The silent anger and resentment Erwin could tolerate, but he would not accept Levi's bitterness at him to overrule his normally rational mind. The fewer people who knew about Eren and Petra kidnapping at this stage, the better.
He returned Levi's dark look with one of his own, cold and firm, and spoke to him in the tone usually reserved for soldiers that had failed him. A tone of disappointment and dismissal.
"I want you to look around for Mike. Find out what he saw then report back to me."
While this dismissal was masked as an order to gather additional information (and one Erwin did want to be fulfilled) the real message behind it was clear as day to the scowling Levi.
"Leave, and don't come back till you've cooled off."
Once again, the two men stared each other down, each wondering how much more strain their rapport would endure this day. If it kept up like this, it wouldn't be long before one of them said or did something they would regret.
With great effort, Levi forced his fist to uncurl, relieving the pinpricks of pain where his nails had pressed into his palm. Then, without another word, Levi simply turned and walked away.
Erwin watched him go with a slight frown. What a mess this day had turned into. The two of them would be having words later, but right now he needed to deal with this slip up before it started to spread like wildfir-
"Someone took Eren?" Hannes's stammering voice drew Erwin's attention away from the retreating Levi. Hannes's golden eyes had grown wide with fear, and he abruptly stepped forward, coming within touching distance. For a moment, it looked like Hannes was about to grab the Commander, but he managed to keep his twitching hands by his sides. "W-what happened? Is he okay? Where is he?!"
Erwin almost stepped back, somewhat startled at the man's sudden change of demeanour. Whereas before he had been calm, if slightly laidback, Hannes was now frantic and worried, and the way he asked about Eren was full of genuine concern for the young shifter, far more than he had expected from a soldier of the Garrison, or anyone really outside of Eren's close-knit friend group.
If Erwin didn't know any better, he would say that Hannes sounded almost… protective.
"You know Eren?" Erwin asked, playing for time as he blatantly sidestepped the questions. He really didn't want news of Eren's kidnapping to be spread about within the scouts, let alone the other divisions, but thanks to Levi that cat was already out of the bag. Now the best he could do was control the damage.
"I was a close friend of his parents, hell, my wife and I even babysat Eren for them when he was a toddler. He's practically family! Please, Commander, tell me what happened? Is he alright?" Hannes stressed again, practically pleading with the Scout commander.
Erwin knew he didn't have to answer the questions. He could pull rank and say nothing, not being beholden to a Captain, or he could give the age-old military answer of 'it's classified' and refuse to say more.
But the look in the man's eyes, one of genuine consternation for young Eren and the fact he had tended to his scouts in their time of need was enough to convince the Commander that Hannes deserved at least part of the story.
"There was an ambush in Hermina. They killed some of your compatriots and kidnapped Eren and another scout. We don't know where they have taken him or their intentions." Erwin answered softly, conscious of who else might be listening. "I am sorry," he added, noticing how Hannes' shoulders slumped in defeat.
Looking down at his feet, Hannes spoke in a broken whisper. "W-what about Armin, and Mikasa? Are they okay? They would never have let Eren be taken without a fight."
Erwin didn't doubt that, and a part of him wished they had been there. Especially Ackerman. "They weren't there. Both of them are with our chief researcher on a training mission."
"They don't know…" Hannes fell silent and looked down at his feet, trying to process the body blow that was Eren's kidnapping.
Erwin was averting his gaze to give the man a moment of privacy to collect himself when Hannes said something which changed everything.
"The people who took Eren, the attackers… they were MPs, weren't they?"
If his head had swivelled his head back to the Captain any faster Erwin would have broken his neck.
"MPs? How-" He exclaimed before cutting himself off. He'd be a massive hypocrite if he finished that sentence and blurted out his suspicions about a shadowy government force attacking them, especially after reprimanding Levi for speaking about Eren.
"No, Captain, it wasn't the MPs." He stated, keeping his voice level. 'At least not ones in uniform anyway.' "Why do you ask?"
"When we arrived here, we found a few MPs amongst the dead. They looked like that had been caught in an explosion, so we couldn't identify who they were, but we could still make out the badge on their clothes." Stiffly, Hannes looked over his shoulder towards the recruits. "They said the MPs attacked them, and that they wanted to take one of their friends."
Erwin let out another small breath he didn't realise he had been holding. If there was one thing he had learnt in his life, it was that very few things in this world are truly coincidental.
If what the recruits had told Hannes was right (and seeing as there was no reason for the MPs to be here otherwise, he had little reason to doubt them) then there had been two nearly simultaneous attacks on his corp, both of which seemed to have the same goal of taking someone.
These attacks were connected, and Erwin would bet his right arm on that.
'So, while Kenny and his men waited in Hermina to take Eren, the MPs came here to take one of the recruits. But something must have gone wrong, and that caused the shifter to reveal themself.' Erwin started to theorise, feeling some of the pieces starting to fall into place. It wasn't the perfect theory by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a start.
He was still left with many questions as to what exactly happened here, who it was that the MPs wanted, why the shifter decided to flee over the Wall, and perhaps most importantly, the true identity of the shifter.
Fixing his icy blue eyes onto his new recruits over Hannes' shoulder, Erwin made his decision. They must have seen the whole thing, and it was time for him to get to the bottom of this, once and for all.
"Is that so? Well, I believe it's time for me to talk to the recruits. Thank you, Captain. Your report has been of great help, and you have my utmost gratitude for your team's actions today." Erwin quietly thanked the man, taking a mental note to mention Hannes to Pixis, next time they met. "I trust I can rely on your… discretion about what we discussed. For his sake."
Hannes dimly nodded to Erwin's words, still reeling from what happened to Eren to do much else. He felt like he failed Carla again, letting her son be taken like he allowed that grotesque smiling Titan to take her, and not even the knowledge that at least Armin and Mikasa were safe was enough to shake off the feeling. They would be devastated when they find out what happened.
A firm hand landing on his shoulder made Hannes jump. Lifting his eyes from the ground, he saw Erwin's resolute and determined face looking down upon him with a reassuring smile. "We'll get him back, Hannes. We won't rest until we've found him. You have my word on that."
Hannes wanted to ask if he could join them in searching for Eren. Desperately so, to the point where the question was on the tip of his tongue when he was stopped in his tracks by an old memory.
"Stop being so lazy!" The high pitch voice of a seven-year-old Eren Yeager rang in his ears. "You're a soldier, so go do soldier stuff!"
"Damn it Eren, you don't kick a sleeping man, it's bad luck ya' know." His own voice answered back, laidback and happy, even if he had been kicked away from a drunken nap. "Anyway, I'll have you know we are doing 'soldier stuff'. We are maintaining order and security in the district by keeping watch here in the market square."
"You were asleep!" Eren had shrieked, which with his young, squeaky voice, had felt like a hot poker being shoved into his hungover brain. "Someone could have stolen something off Mr Clavis's stall, and you wouldn't have seen it."
"Ah but they didn't, because we were here to deter them."
Gods he had been such a carefree lazy ass back then. No wonder Shigashina fell so quickly with people like him defending it. Even as a kid, Eren could see that, and every time he had tried to change that Hannes had just ruffled the boy's hair and laughed him off.
"That's stupid! You didn't do anything. But when I grow up, I'm going to become a soldier and show you lot how a real soldier behaves. I'll be the best soldier ever!"
A real soldier. That's what Eren had wanted from him. He didn't want the bone idle drunkard or the lovable idiot, he had wanted a protector, a hero, someone who was willing and able to defend his home and family while he was still too young to do it himself. And Hannes had utterly failed him, allowing his home, his mother, to be taken by the Titans because he was too much of a coward to do his job.
It was a failure Hannes had dedicated half a decade to atone for. Five long years of hard work and training to become that 'real soldier' that Eren had wanted. Five years since he had last slept on duty, five years since the last drop of alcohol had touched his lips.
But in those five years, he had not just become a real soldier, but a real Captain as well, and that meant something.
He had a duty to maintain his post, no matter what and defend the Wall with his life. He was charged with leading and protecting a squad of brave men and women, one of which was Eren's own classmate. When he had taken his oath of Captaincy, Hannes had sworn to himself that he would die for them, and never again would he abandon someone like he had Carla.
But now that promise was being tested. On the one hand, there was Eren, the son of the woman he had failed, while on the other there was his squad and his duty, which he had vowed never to fail in her memory.
Hannes was torn, but once again it was the memories of Eren which helped him choose.
'He always said I was a lousy soldier back home, but look at me now. A proper Captain, with a proper squad and mission. He'd probably be proud of what I've become.' Hannes thought with a weak smile. 'And he would be absolutely furious if I abandoned that, even if it was to search for him.'
That just how Eren was; bull-headed, uncompromising and stubborn to a fault. And it was why Hannes loved him like the son he never had.
A son he knew he'd had to trust to the scouts to bring him back safe and sound.
'Forgive me, Carla… I hope this is the right decision.'
"Thank you, Commander," Hannes whispered, finally trusting his voice again. Then he gave a proper salute, before asking a favour of the man whose hands he was leaving Eren fate in.
"When you find him, could… could you tell him how proud I am of him? I never got the chance before after he signed up."
Erwin inclined his head. "Consider it done, Captain."
It had been a long, long time since Levi had felt useless. He was 'Humanity's strongest', the slayer of countless Titans, an unstoppable force of nature given human form. He could carve his way through a dozen titans without breaking a sweat.
But right now, as he stormed away from Erwin to fulfil some bullshit order to find Mike, Levi didn't just feel useless, he felt like a fucking joke.
What was the point of all his strength if he couldn't even defend his own goddamn team?
He could have saved them. He could have cut down every single son of a bitch that tried to lay their filthy hands on Eren and Petra. But instead, he decided to go after Kenny.
'He baited you away from them.' His inner voice scorned. 'And you fell for it completely, like a stupid kid.'
Levi didn't even try to defend himself. It was true, every word. One look at the smirking face of the man who had abandoned him and he had lost it. Red filled his vision, and he charged after him, screaming his name like a curse. No thought was given as to why Kenny was here, only blind fury and an overwhelming desire to make him pay for what he had done.
He should notice something was wrong the moment Kenny started to fall back, laughing and jeering, purposely leading him away from his squad. But he didn't, and now Eren and Petra were gone.
He had failed her during the expedition, failed them both in Hermina and then failed them again when he listened to Erwin and allowed himself to be led all the way here.
'They could be anywhere by now, all because you abandoned them. To HIM.' The voice sneered, twisting the knife. 'Tell me, what do you think he'll do with them? His newest playthings?'
Memories of blood and death flashed before his eyes, scenes of Kenny's brutality in action or its aftermath, both of which he knew too well. Fighting against this wave of memories, Levi tried to force them down. He didn't want to see those things again or remember the screams that often accompanied them.
But the voice continued, ignored his fight and worse, dragged up one of the bloodiest memories of his childhood.
'You know what he's capable of. Remember that MP? The one you found in his 'workshop'?'
'Enough.' Levi's hand shook at his side and curled into a fist. There were very few things that made him feel physically sick, but that memory… that was one of them.
'So much blood… How long had he kept that poor fucker alive for? Hours? Days? Weeks? And Yeager heals doesn't he... Whole limbs growing back in a few hours. Imagine what Kenny could do with that, torturing that kid over and over and over again. And what about Petra? Just imagine what he could…'
'ENOUGH!' Levi roared in his mind, using the white-hot fury in his heart to banish the voice and that memory away. 'I will find them, and I will get them back. And if Kenny has put a finger on either of them, I'll cut his damn head off.'
Letting out a breath at the merciful silence in his head, Levi continued to walk, the hard look on his face more than enough to stop anyone from approaching him. He would find them, even if he has to turn over every damn stone within the walls.
He must have been walking several minutes when Levi came across a sight that made him stop and let out a disgruntled sigh.
That really was his luck. He couldn't keep an eye on his squad, but he could wander in a random direction with his mind clouded with rage and self-loathing, and somehow managed to come across the very person he had been sent to find.
Striding over to Mike, Levi looked down at him and folded his arms over his chest. "You look like shit."
While looking down at Mike might have been a slight exaggeration, seeing as how even when sitting in the dirt, head tilted back and leaning against a tree, Mike still came up to Levi's chest, the looking like shit comment was entirely accurate.
Half his face, from his sharp jawline to his hair was covered in a deep bruise, with a sickly yellow blotch located right in the middle of the unsightly injury. One of his eyes had swollen completely shut, while the other remained half-open but was bloodshot and glistening with pain.
His upper lip and chin were caked in partially dried blood, with more still dripping down from his badly broken nose. In one hand Mike held a piece of cloth which he had been using to stem the worst of the bleeding until the rag had become so sodden and saturated with the red liquid that it just couldn't hold back anymore.
Mike's one good eye focused on Levi, before growing wide in recognition. Then, with painful slowness, his bloodstained lips parted, and he started to speak.
"I feel like it," he grumbled, wincing in pain as the very act of talking pulled at the bruised skin around his mouth. "Where the bloody hell have you been?"
"Dealing with our own disaster," Levi answered truthfully, grimacing as blood continued to drip from Mike's nose with every word.
Clicking his tongue, Levi yanked off his cravat and tossed it to Mike. Even with his injuries robbing him of normal vision, Mike caught it with ease and gave its owner a strange look.
Rolling his eyes, Levi gestured towards the bloody mess coating the man's lips. "Wipe that shit off your face, it's disgusting."
Mike raised an eyebrow but nonetheless did what was asked of him without a word, gingerly cleaning off the worst of the mess from his mouth, while taking care to avoid touching his damaged nose. When he pulled the cravat away, Mike's face was still a mess, but at least now Levi could look at him without feeling his skin crawl.
"Get rid of that thing when you're done with it," Levi said, eyeing the befouled necktie with barely contained repugnance. He had plenty of spares back at HQ and had no desire to touch, let alone clean that one.
Throwing the cravat aside, Mike attempted a weak smile. "You're a terrible nurse Levi, you know that? I've seen Titans with a better bedside manner than you."
"I'm hurt..." Levi's reply was as dry as mid-summer's day during a drought. But despite his callous remarks, Levi was genuinely relieved to see Mike was alive, and subtly looked him over him, double-checking for other injuries. He couldn't see any, but then again he wasn't a doctor.
"What happened?" He asked, more out of his own curiosity than Erwin's order.
With a rattling breath, Mike's head tilted back again, and his eye flickered shut. For a moment, Levi wondered if he had just passed out. As he prepared to reach out and shake him awake, Mike started to speak again. "What didn't happen… You want the short version?"
Levi's immediate reaction was to nod but stopped himself from doing so, noticing how Mike hadn't re-opened his eyes. Mildly annoyed, Levi instead let out an affirmative grunt. "Save the rest for Erwin. He'll want the full story."
"When doesn't he?" Mike asked with a sigh, mentally preparing himself for one of Erwin's exhaustive debriefings. "Alright, short it is…"
"You remember Erwin's plan, right? Keep the recruits distracted and unarmed while we waited for you lot to arrive? Well, we followed that, and at first, it was going well. Told the kids to sit pretty inside while we 'set up the field' and started to gear up. Fell apart when those damn MPs arrived." Mike sighed.
"MPs?" Levi asked, unsure if he'd heard that right.
"Yeah, a bunch of them turn up acting like they owned the place. Marched up to us and said they were looking for one of the recruits: Lenz, or Reiss, or whatever her name is. Demanded we turned her over to them. I told them where they could go shove that idea, but they didn't like it and jumped us. Took down most of us easily, but Nanaba and Gelgar put up more of a fight. MPs made them pay for that though. Fucking bastards..." Mike spat out, his pain and discomfort momentarily forgotten as he recalled what happened to his squad.
Levi's eyes narrowed as he pursed his lips. Ambushes, attacks, kidnappings… this was sounding familiar, uncomfortably so. The only difference was that the MPs had carried it out instead of Kenny's ilk. But that did raise the question of why the hell the MPs and Kenny would be working together?
The only answer Levi could think of was that these MPs must have been a bunch of messed up masochists with a death wish. Why else would they cooperate with a man who made his name butchering their comrades like animals?
"They took the girl then?" Levi asked, wondering what was so important about the Lenz girl that it would cause the MPs to work with Kenny.
Before today Lenz had only partially registered in his mind as one of those snot-nosed kids that joined up after Trost. In fact, the only reason he wasn't completely ignorant of her existence was the fact that during the month leading up to the disastrous expedition he had seen her sitting next to Yeager's blond friend in the mess hall. For a brief, bewildering moment, Levi was sure Hanji had spiked his tea again because he saw double.
That moment had wriggled it ways into his mind's eye, and from that point onwards, it became impossible to unsee. And it only got worse if he saw them from behind. Same height, hair colour, posture, and both carried themselves with that confident stride, missing that general awkwardness most teenagers possessed as they grew into adulthood.
Frankly, Levi was sure they did it on purpose just to trip people up.
The issueof seeing them from behind came to a head a few days before the expedition when Levi had caught a quick glimpse of a short, blond-haired scout walking down the HQ's empty corridors. Without thinking, Levi had called out to the kid, assuming it was Arlert to tell him that four-eyes was looking for him, only for Lenz to turn around and levelled him a look which could have been anything between a smirk or a frown.
After that, Levi found himself identifying the two blonds by who they were with, rather than risking another awkward moment like that. After some subtle monitoring, Levi determined that if the blond was with that tall, freckled girl, then it was Lenz, and if they were with Ackerman, then it was Arlert. He had spotted both the blonds hanging around Ackerman once or twice, so it wasn't a perfect system, but it would do.
But in all of his observations of the girl, he had seen nothing which would indicate she was important in any way. Sure, she was a decent soldier and competent 3DM user (compared to the other brats that is) and seemed to be well-liked by the other kids, but that was it. Nothing that would connect her to Yeager, or convince the MPs to get off their arses, let alone get them to work with the Ripper.
'Unless...' Levi paused, running an idea through his head. 'Unless she's the Female Titan.'
It was a wild, baseless assumption, no more than him grasping at straws or just throwing shit at a wall just to see what sticks. Yet this shit stuck hard.
It was clear that Kenny and his gang went after Yeager because he was a shifter, that much was obvious. So was it such a leap to assume the MPs went after Lenz for the same reason? With both Yeager and the Armoured, there were already two shifters in the 104th, so what was one more thrown in the pile at this point.
Mike scrunched up his face and slowly shook his head. "No. They never got the chance."
"The shifter." Levi breathed out, his theory regarding Lenz shoved aside and replaced with a cold fury.
"Aye." Mike wasn't surprised that Levi knew about the shifter, after all, he had been in that meeting between himself, Hanji and Erwin. "He and another girl came out to stop them. Lenz's… friend. They argued for a while, but then the MPs shot the shifter, and he turned."
"Who?" Levi's voice was cold as ice.
Mike wearily opened his eye and looked at the Captain. He knew precisely why Levi wanted the shifter's name, after what he had done to his squad. Mike doubted there was a single person in the survey corp that hadn't heard what happened to the special operation squad, or how brutally it was done.
Levi and himself had served together for years, as Humanity's strongest and second strongest, and after their rocky start, they had become close comrades, perhaps even friends. But he knew Levi had a darker side, and that it must have been screaming out for blood at what the shifter had done to his squad. Telling him the shifter's name was basically akin to signing the kid's death warrant.
It was a strange feeling that. Mike wanted to see that traitorous bastard suffer for what he had done to Humanity and his comrades. He wanted justice for them with every fibre of his being.
But something was niggling around in the back of his mind, whispering doubts and uncertainties into his very soul. The way the shifter had reacted both before and after he changed, just felt distinctly wrong to Mike.
He may not have heard everything the kid had said to the MPs, but the way he stood and spoke seemed to be filled with genuine fear and concern, both for his squad and the recruits in the ranch.
Something just didn't add up. Why would he bother to help Lenz at all? Why shove the other girl out of the way? Why take the bullet? Was it some 'heroic' act to make him seem more trustworthy in their eyes? Surely the kid must have known that being shot would force him to reveal his abilities, and no amount of existing trust would help him then.
And the less said about the incident after the change, the better. It was like the kid had a breakdown or something, trying to tear his own face off like some back-alley drug addict after a bad hit.
'What the hell was going through the kid's head?'
"The name, Mike." This time Levi didn't even attempt to mask it as a question. This was a demand, an order, and while they may share the same rank, Mike knew this wasn't a hill he wanted to die on. That kid had made his choice.
"Braun." He blurted out, looked Levi dead in the eye. "Reiner Braun is the Armoured Titan."
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and the return of Mina and best EMA uncle, and I hope you have been left at least somewhat confused about what the hell is going on with Reiner. *evil grin*
And I hope didn't find Levi too OOC (like the 104th last chapter I made him a bit more emotive than canon seeing as this all happens just two days after he lost most of his squad and then had to deal with Kenny for the first time in years. He's more than a little on edge.)
Now one last thing before you go I wanted to ask what your preferences were for chapters. Do you like these monthly 8-11k chapters or would you prefer me to do smaller chapters (maybe 3-5k) hopefully every fortnight?
There are advantages and disadvantages to both so let me know what you think.