"The queen has declared the state of emergency" Erwin spoke to the rest of the Scout Society "she's saying that the walls have been breached by titans."

Murmurs started to spread across the room. This special meeting has been called specifically because of that news. Another attack by titans could be devastating to the people of the walls, and the former scouts needed to discuss their course of action.

"This doesn't make any sense…" Hange stated, deep in thought "they didn't specify where the wall was breached, but insist on evacuating all the southern towns…"

"If it had been really breached from the south, we would be the first ones to discover this" Mike concluded.

They were gathering in the Trost district, which was on the south. If the titans had really attacked here, there was no way they wouldn't notice.

"This obviously has other implications" the commander spoke "the queen is doing something sketchy, probably in the southern regions. She's even concentrating the MPs there…"

To Mikasa, all this was beyond weird. Such an occurrence was way different than the attack from five years ago. That day, the people of Shiganshina were the first ones to learn of it…

"What's even weirder, is that the garrison soldiers are supposed to be evacuated as well" Hange added "shouldn't they be the first ones to act? Moreover, aren't they the ones who noticed the attack whatsoever?"

"Nevertheless, this presents us with a great opportunity" Erwin exclaimed after a moment "we shall take advantage of the absence of the MPs…"

Some of the older scouts widened their eyes at that.

"So soon…?"

"No way…"

"Yes, my comrades" the commander said with confidence "we have allies within the rest of the military. Last week, I met with Zackley and Pixis, who apparently shared my worries. We will move in and take the capital. Then, we will force the queen to abdicate…"

"That's crazy…!"

"Shut up! This is what we were planning to do all along…"

"Prepare yourselves" Erwin spoke "everyone except for Levi and Mikasa, head out! Dedicate your hearts!"

"Yes, sir!"

As Mikasa stood there in stupor, she could only look at the departing forms of the scouts, one of which was Floch's. The boy gave her a sad expression, to which she responded with a kindred smile. During training, he really grew on the girl. To think that this was the moment they would be separated from each other, really broke her heart.

Suddenly, she got a wild idea.

Just before, the redhead left the room, Mikasa ran up to him and grabbed him by his jacket.

Before the boy could react, she lunged forward.

The unexpected kiss grabbed the attention of some of the scouts, who whistled at the couple, merrily.

"Be safe…" she whispered, separating her lips from his.

"You too…" Floch responded, his blush being nearly as red as the colour of his hair.

Before her own face matched his in colour, the oriental female turned around and walked back towards the surprised commander and a very annoyed captain.

"You're done?" Levi asked with a raised eyebrow.

At that, the female looked down in shame. Those circumstances were dire, and one would expect her to be more serious, yet she just couldn't bear with the possibility of losing yet another person, who was close to her heart.

"Don't give her such a hard time, Levi" Erwin spoke unexpectedly "sometimes, simple gestures can be enough to move mountains."

"Yeah, sure" the short captain retorted with a hint of doubt "what did you want from us?"

"One of my contacts within the MP has been tailing Kenny for some time" the commander explained with a more serious tone "currently, he should be stationed in the Orvud district…"

"Really?" Levi asked with disbelief "that's all the way to the north!"

"If you travel through Stohess, you'll be able to meet him in several hours and discuss everything that he has learned about him so far. His name is Marlowe Freudenberg, his haircut should be more than enough to tell him apart."

All that was pretty interesting. Tailing Kenny was something of importance, as he was probably one of the queen's closest people. Considering his criminal past, it wouldn't be hard to get some info about the man, yet somehow, up to this point, he remained under the radar of anyone, trying to get close to him. If they already had an agent tailing him, this could give them some advantage…

"You will exchange information with Marlowe" Erwin continued "from there, you will take over the investigation of Kenny. We need him neutralized for our cause."

"You got it…"

"You remember me?" Mikasa asked in surprise, trying to wipe the tears off her face.

"When we were kids… I saved you from a bunch of bandits…" Eren responded with wide eyes "…we were living together…"

"Oh, Eren!" She cried out, embracing the boy tighter.

The others were watching all this in shock. Especially Kenny was eyeing the oriental female curiously. Suddenly, he gasped in realization.

"It's you!" The roughish man exclaimed "we've met in that forest…"

"Yeah" Mikasa admitted with closed eyes, still hugging the boy.

Suddenly, the old rogue started laughing hysterically. Upon such a strange sighting, Ymir, Historia and Levi looked at him, as if he was deranged. Even Mikasa opened her eyes, and Eren turned his head around to get a better look at this weird reaction.

"What a day!" Kenny exclaimed between his laughter "all the Ackermans in one place…!"

This time, it was Levi's turn to be shocked.

"What?" He asked with alarm "Ackerman appears to be my last name as well, but you're talking…?"

"Oh, this is just too good!" The old rogue interjected.

This time, Levi couldn't contain himself as he lunged towards the man, grabbing him by his shirt.

"Tell me what you know!" He shouted with anger.

"Of course, you're an Ackerman" Kenny explained, raising his arms, trying to appease the short captain "my ol' sister had you before she died…"

"My mother…" Levi whispered, loosening his hold "you never told me…"

"Didn't feel the need" the old rogue explained with a soft smile "our folks ain't exactly welcome here, ya know?"

The short captain looked at him with a shocked expression. This development was the most unexpected. First, they encounter Eren, then it turns out that the person they were after isn't exactly hostile.

"It's because of our special ability…" Kenny spoke enigmatically.

But Mikasa knew what he was talking about. She had experienced it first-hand, and she had been acting upon it for the last five years.

"The immunity to mind control…" The oriental female spoke with wide eyes.

At that, the roughish man looked at her with a smile.

"Exactly" he affirmed "come on, everybody, I believe we need to talk…"

The next hour was spent on exchanging all the information. Kenny had told them about their conspiracy, the coordinate, he even revealed the truth about titans. Suddenly, everything they could possibly dream of, wasn't that different from reality.

To say that news was devastating was an understatement. At first, they didn't believe him about it, but after a quick demonstration from the girl named Ymir, Mikasa and Levi decided not to ask further questions, and just listen.

Apparently, the outside world hated their race to the core. Pretty much everyone wished for their extermination. The queen however, devised an ingenious plan to deal with that.

"Alright, I get it" Levi retorted, once Kenny was finished with his explanation "what I don't get is why you decided to go against her. If she's so great, why even bother?"

At that, the rogue looked in the distance with a vague expression.

"I stopped caring" he explained, before pointing towards Eren, Historia and Ymir "but those three have some other reasons…"

Looking into her childhood friend's eyes, Mikasa could only see hurt. Frieda needed to have done something extremely vicious, judging from his expression.

"When you hugged me" the young man started apprehensively "I regained some memories from my childhood, but I still don't remember what she had done…"

The other girls' silence only added to the fury that was beginning to rise, within the oriental girl.

'She's dead…'

"Alright!" Kenny spoke, while standing up "if that little coup d'état of yours is to be successful, we're gonna need some big guns to keep Frieda at bay."

The two officers looked up at the man. With all the information they've just received about the queen, Erwin's rebellion was pretty much doomed to failure. Yet, this man was somehow standing there, saying that not all was lost.

"From what you've just told us, it seems that with her titan powers and mind control powers, nothing can possibly be achieved" Levi said dejectedly.

"Oh, come on!" The old rogue exclaimed with confidence "we're damn Ackermans! This situation is perfect for us."

Then, he pointed at Eren and the other girls.

"You three will help us, won't you?"

After the trio hesitantly nodded, a wide grin spread across the man's face.

"Alright! Let's start the fire!"