Chapter 12: The Plan

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

Previously: Eren is distraught about the 57th Expedition and proposes a sneakier plan to capture the Female Titan, partially motivated by his reluctance to take Annie on in a fistfight.

NOTE: Canon Eren will be referred to as Eren II. I've started doing a shared narrative between the two Erens, so it feels weird to call Canon Eren "Other Eren." Had to calibrate my brain to read "Eren II" as "Eren" with the "II" just to help differentiate which Eren it is.


[Two Days Ago]

Erwin dismissed everyone but Levi and Eren. He needed to talk to Eren before they could move forward.

Eren slouched in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "Alright," he said, sounding like he was preparing himself for a scolding. "Let's get this over with."

"I think your plans might work," Erwin said outright.

"What?" The boy's mouth fell open. "Really?" He straightened in his chair. "We're really going with one of my plans?"

"Since we can actually test your theories beforehand, only if we can successfully conclude they have a decent chance of succeeding we'll go with one of them."

Eren nodded readily. "Yes, of course!"

"I hope you understand that this means we'll have to run experiments on you," Erwin warned him. "Are you willing to do that?"

Eren paused, contemplating before nodding firmly. "I'll do it."

"Very well, then. I'll make the preparations and let Hange know. She should be back in a few hours. We'll start tomorrow morning. And keep this to yourself. No point in telling the others if it doesn't come together in time, or if it fails."

"Got it. I mean, yes, sir!"

"You're dismissed," Erwin said and Eren nodded, getting ready to leave. But he stopped, spacing out, as if he was remembering something. "Something on your mind, Eren?"

"Hm? Nothing. Just thinking about Christa," he replied, distracted. "Funny story, I actually thought she was the Female Titan at first."

"Oh? Why is that?" Erwin asked.

"He—I mean, I never really liked her. She always seemed really fake, acting like she was such a nice person so I never hung out with her. She kinda looks like the Female Titan, too. Actually, Armin visited me the other night and mentioned she saved him and some others when she brought them horses. It's weird she was moving around by herself and during her first expedition, too. That's being nice to the point of suicidal. If I didn't already know it was Annie, I'd think it was Christa who was the Female Titan. I always thought she was kind of shady—er, suspicious."

"I see." Erwin's mind raced, wondering if they could use that piece of info.

"You're really going to go with Eren's plan?" Levi, who had been silent during the entire exchange, finally spoke after Eren left.

"He made some excellent points."

"I shouldn't be too surprised. You do like to gamble big."

"I also wonder if he's hesitant to fight her because she's a friend." At his words, Levi scowled. "In any case, I must agree with Eren about changing our perception of the enemy. If we can get someone to create that card contraption and drug her with a substance that works on Eren, we could capture her much more efficiently."

Levi snorted. "I can't believe you plan to get her high out of her mind."

"We made the mistake of thinking their Titans' physiology is the same. There are different types of Shifter-Titans, the Armored, the Colossal, the Female, so it would stand to reason their physiology may be different as well. But their human bodies are a different matter. She ages, needs sleep and food, and she gets tired like other humans do. So assuming the drug can affect Eren's body, larger than hers and possibly more tolerant because as Eren pointed out, she has probably been a Shifter longer, it should also work on her."

"What if she doesn't buy the story? Eren said he saw the Female Titan use Annie's special move."

"That makes the original plan of Eren and his friends confronting her and trying to get her to come down into the tunnel even less likely to succeed than this one. She would see through it immediately." And the lack of people around would also stick out like a sore thumb. They were going to need soldiers in civilian clothes walking around to make the setting look more natural.

"True," Levi said with a nod. "It will be difficult to explain why he's not suspicious of her after she used her technique."

"Hopefully," Erwin explained, "Annie will attribute the Female Titan using her style of martial arts to Eren's dislike and suspicion of Christa, thinking she was only trying to throw him off by making him believe she was Annie." If he was there in the room when Nile questioned her, he could feed her that, well, actual bit of truth, and trick her into reaching the false conclusion he wanted her to reach.

"Makes more sense than approaching her for help and ignoring what he saw for no reason," Levi commented.

"Annie is expecting us to come for her, not Nile. It will be much easier to manipulate him into thinking Eren's gone off after Christa, believing her to be the enemy Shifter. Because Nile will be so convinced, it should trick her into thinking she's safe and her cover's not blown. At least not with him, so she'll let her guard down."

"She's probably figured out by now what a greedy, useless bunch the MPs really are, and that they pose no threat to her."

Erwin nodded. While his old friend wasn't corrupt, Nile was lax about enforcing strict adherence to the law lest commanded by the Assembly of King Fritz itself. Perhaps I should leave it all to him. If he was present it would put her on edge. His lack of presence led to a lack of control but that would make it seem more genuine and less of a potential plot to trick her into letting her guard down. Who would believe the leader of the most incompetent of the three military branches was playing a role in possibly the most important mission in humanity's history?

The more Erwin thought about him being there during the questioning and having an acceptable answer to everything, the more it appeared to be too perfect and convenient. A bit of risk was required to make it more realistic. Erwin decided to make the final decision regarding it later. He'd still ask Nile for permission to be there during the questioning, just to be safe.

"If she isn't knocked unconscious by the drug, we'll only need a few seconds for her to lose control of her senses to do it the old-fashion way. Maybe we can even use something to penetrate the base of her neck, effectively rendering her a quadriplegic," Levi suggested. "If the blade is left there, the wound will heal around it and she won't be able to control her body below her neck. And with the gag in place, biting her tongue is out, leaving her with no way to transform even if she gets back control of her mental faculties."

"That is precisely what I had in mind. Once Hange runs her experiments, sees what works and what doesn't on Eren, we'll have a better idea. If nothing works, no harm done. We'll go back to my original plan."

"If it does work, how are you going to drug her?"

"That part I'm still working on." Erwin crossed his arms. "Maybe fake a letter from Nile as Eren said? That will be easy enough. We'll send the letter quickly after Nile talks to her. I don't think she'll try and chase after Eren since she doesn't know where we're keeping the recruits, thus where Eren and the others are headed."

Levi grunted in agreement. "If she's not an idiot she'll know better than to break her routine now, knowing she's under suspicion for potentially helping Eren escape because they knew each other."

"It's not our usual method, but this plan greatly reduces the chances of sparking a battle between Titans. Like Eren, I, too, would like to succeed while keeping casualties to a minimum." And the government, Erwin thought, would take it better than a partially destroyed city. Not to mention they were going to need those soldiers for upcoming battles where a direct fight may be unavoidable. They still had two other Titans to contend with.

Unsurprisingly, Levi was onboard. "I'll take the somewhat overly complex plot to trick her and deliver a letter over bloodshed of innocents any day."

Erwin knew Levi hated the idea of innocent lives being wasted.

"Also, I hope you realize that if this plan works we'll never hear the end of it from Eren."


[The Present]

"I know, pretty genius of me," Eren boasted as he grinned, looking rather proud. Around him in the small underground room, Armin and Mikasa gaped at him while Hange chuckled. In his mind, Eren II was also stunned speechless.

"So the whole trying to lure Annie into the tunnel thing wasn't the real plan?" Armin asked, sitting across from him and next to Hange.

"It was, just in case it had worked. But if it became clear she wasn't falling for it, Commander Erwin said to let her go and we'll go to Plan B."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Eren II asked, disappointed at being kept in the dark.

"Because sometimes you're really annoying and I wanted to troll you," Eren replied smugly. "And you're too much of a hothead. I was worried you might snap if she refused to come down into the tunnel because it would confirm she was the Female Titan. And I was right." His twin had lost his cool and was about to blow it.

"That's why you were so laid back about 'failing' the mission," Mikasa said, nodding in understanding. "Because there was a backup."

"Exactly."

"Horses are vital to our division so we always have large amounts of ketamine on hand. We tested it on Eren and it's safe to say it should also work on Annie," Hange supplied. "In fact, we used the dosage we plan to use on her on several horses, which were easily ten times her weight, and they were out for a while and very quickly, too. Let's just pretend that she has an extremely high metabolism. She still won't be getting up soon from the dosage we plan to give her. We tested and ensured the validity of this plan first before deciding on it so we're very confident about it."

"While I was resting in your body and preparing for the fight, you were—and I believe the appropriate term your people use is—getting stoned?"

Eren made a face. "That was not fun." It was not at all how he imagined his first time getting high would be like. He had imagined getting high while at university with Armin, Jean, and Connie, over a pot of brownies or edibles. It would have been fun and exciting and trippy. Instead, he had almost felt detached from his body, leaving him feeling slow and sluggish and extremely confused before thankfully passing out, all within a couple of seconds.

Hange gave him an amused look. "The point wasn't for you to enjoy it. And the drug effectively addled your senses and messed with your motor functions and knocked you out, so it was a success."

"If the dosage you plan to use can knock out a horse," Armin said, sounding taken with the plan, "then Annie should be no problem."

"Even if it only lasts a fraction of the time on Annie as it did on the test animals," Hange said, reading her notes, "it'll be more than long enough for our plan to succeed."

"I'm sure it'll work," Eren declared confidently. "It was the only plan that was tried and tested."

"Is Commander Erwin dealing with setting it all up now?" Mikasa brought them back to the present.

Hange inclined her head. "Nile will call Annie in to question her, then she will receive a letter from him delivered by Nifa. She'll open it and get a face full of the powdered drug and be knocked out—inhaling is one of the fastest methods of drug administration since the substance will go directly to the lungs and then quickly to the bloodstream. By some chance it doesn't happen, there will be Scouts disguised as MPs nearby to take her out. Even if she manages to transform, she won't be in full control of her mind just long enough for our soldiers hiding out on the roofs nearby to take her out."

Armin was amazed. "I still can't believe the commander went with your exploding card plan, Eren."

"It worked when we used baby powder to test the exploding mechanism," Hange said. "Next we used the drug and had Eren open the card."

"And you put the blame on poor Christa," Armin said mirthfully.

Eren shrugged. "She really was my first guess as to who the Female Titan was."

"Erwin is good at making a compelling case." Hange leaned back in her chair. "And Nile's an old friend of his. He'll buy it."

"What if the MP commander decides to investigate and finds out Christa was with a ton of witnesses when the Female Titan was caught in your trap?" Mikasa asked skeptically.

"Nile has no reason to believe Erwin is lying. And the only people who can testify to Christa's whereabouts are in Wall Rose. During the expedition, she was with the other recruits, under Nanaba's supervision, and they're all with Mike's squad right now. Even if MPs are sent to question them, by the time they get there and back, we will have already executed the operation."

"What will you do once the drug knocks her out?" Armin asked.

"The first thing that will happen is we'll insert a blade into her neck, between the C1 and C2 vertebrae. The brainstem integrates motor commands from the higher brain levels and sends it to the spinal cord. The spinal cord is what controls skeletal muscles in accordance with the brain's commands, or they move because of reflexes. And the spinal cord lies in the center of the bones of the spine. So by leaving the blade in her neck, the physical barrier will cause a disconnect between her brain and her body. This will make her quadriplegic. Lastly, we'll gag her. And the hard part's done."

"So even if by some chance she comes to before she's taken to an underground prison," Armin concluded, "it's hopeless. It won't matter what signals her brain is sending, her body won't, can't, respond. I know she's the enemy, but it sounds terribly unpleasant."

"You have no idea." Eren shivered, recalling the utterly terrifying feeling of being trapped inside one's own body. He had never been claustrophobic, but he imagined that was what it felt like. It had been suffocating and scary and not something he wanted to experience ever again. And that was all when he had been expecting it and knew what was happening. Eren felt a small tinge of pity for Annie. It quickly vanished, recalling Gunther and Oluo's deaths as well the other soldiers.

"They tried it on you?" Mikasa shot Hange a glare. "You stuck a knife in his neck?"

"I volunteered," Eren said quickly. "It was the only way to know for sure it would work."

The door opened and Moblit entered. "Squad Leader," he greeted Hange before addressing them all. "Commander Erwin would like you on standby in case something goes wrong. The letter will be delivered soon." He placed a black bag on the table, unzipping it to reveal cloaks with a green unicorn logo.


"Stay calm," Eren II advised, sensing Eren's nerves. "I'm here to take over if necessary."

"I see movement." Using a spyglass, Mikasa peered into the room Annie shared with a girl called Hitch, who was being distracted by a Scout. "Annie's taking the card out. She's coughing and starting to sway."

Summoning his courage, Eren snuck a peek over the roof and squinted.

"She's unconscious. Nifa's got the blade." Mikasa closed the spyglass and pocketed it. She pulled out the flare gun and began to load it, but Eren couldn't tell what color.

Before Eren could panic and demand to know what happened, Nifa threw open the window and gave a thumbs-up. Eren slumped in relief.

"It worked," Armin said, eyes wide.

Mikasa shot a yellow flare to alert the other soldiers. "Let's go."

They landed on the ground and ran toward the eastern exit of the building. A carriage was waiting in the alleyway. Keiji, a member of Hange's squad, quickly carried the gagged and immobilized girl out of the barracks. A dozen other soldiers were present, coming out of their hiding spots. "We nicked her hand, just to be one hundred percent sure it was her, and the wound healed just like your injuries do, Eren," Nifa said.

"It's really her." Armin watched almost sadly as they loaded her into the carriage.

"Hey! What're you doing?"

Eren turned to see a girl and boy his age run out of the building. "Where're you taking Annie?" The boy with the bowl cut demanded.

"You're not Military Police," the girl, who Eren realized was Annie's roommate Hitch, said suspiciously. "I don't remember you from orientation," she said, staring at Eren, Mikasa, and Armin.

Eren opened his mouth but Hange jumped from the roof and landed before them. "You are correct. They're not Military Police. We're soldiers of the Survey Corps." She turned to the Scouts. "I want you all to escort the carriage. I got this."

"Understood!" The soldiers replied, taking off to the sky.

As Eren deployed his gear, he heard the two speak.

"But you can't use the 3D here without authorization." Bowl Cut's voice was full of confusion.

"What the hell's going on here?" Hitch asked angrily.

Eren noticed Moblit waving at them as they passed by a roof, standing with his foot on a long, rolled-up metal net with spikes. "This is one of the two roads around the Military Police barracks that's wide enough for her Titan body to move through with ease," one of the soldiers said. "We covered the other one, too."

"I can't believe there were two backup plans," Armin said, astonished, as they flew. "A total of three plans would have to fail before it came to a fight. The underground tunnel, the card with the drug, the net trap."

"Commander Erwin said we had to be extremely cautious since we were no longer dealing with mindless Titans but intelligent human enemies."

"He really took your words to heart," Mikasa said to Eren and he swelled with pride.

After ensuring the traitor was in confinement in an underground cell, the soldiers exchanged celebratory words and cheered at their success. Annie had yet to wake and Eren almost wished he could be there when she did to see the look on her face. And gloat. But he had somewhere more important he wanted to be.


"...seems pretty anti-climactic now, but I was so nervous I wanted to throw up." Eren finished explaining Operation Exploding Card. The title was still a work in progress. Even if the mission was already done, he wanted to come up with a cool name for when he would brag about it later.

"That's wonderful, Eren," Petra said, sitting up in the hospital bed, bruised and bandaged. "Your plan wasn't just successful in capturing an enemy, you also saved the Corps a lot of resources, not to mention all the lives."

Eren beamed at her praise.

Soon as Annie was locked up tight and after the MPs confirmed the military did indeed have an enemy Shifter in custody—Nile had been less than thrilled about being tricked and used a second time—and Jean had been set free, Eren had run off to Karanes to visit his squadmates after Erwin granted him permission. Armin, Mikasa, and Levi had tagged along. His friends came because they wanted to and Levi had come to keep an eye on him, plus to check in on his injured subordinates.

"By the way, which room is Eld in?" Eren asked.

"He's next doors but his fiancée is visiting him right now."

"How long did the doctors say you'll be stuck here?" Levi asked, sitting on her other side.

"A month, easily. I hurt my back so the doctors say I shouldn't be surprised if I need more recovery time. They'll know for sure in four weeks. Hopefully, it won't take longer than that. I'll need a week or two to get back in shape after I'm released. I should able to return to active duty in less than two months, if all goes well."

"What about Eld?" Eren asked.

"He's better off than me. When the Female Titan tried to kick me, Eld had to slam into me to save me," Petra explained, visibly upset. "Instead of taking the full brunt of it, I was only clipped by her foot. We were sent flying and he used the gas to break our momentum and cushion our impact with the ground."

Eren could almost imagine them tangled up and bouncing on the forest floor before sliding to a stop, wincing slightly. "Don't be too hard on yourself. I also know of a certain idiot who froze up when he was fighting Annie." He meant his twin, but she would assume he was referring to himself. "But the important thing is, you're both okay and we've got her now without anyone else getting hurt."

"What about the Armored and Colossal Titans? What's the plan regarding them? How soon will it be set in motion? How—"

"Don't worry about that. Just focus on your recovery," Levi said to her. "That's the best thing you can do."

Eren wondered how his own real body was doing. Were his parents sitting by his bedside like this, too? Keeping him up to date with the Thunder Spears' latest games—he had left his body during basketball season, unfortunately. If time passed the same between the two worlds, Zeke would have returned from his trip overseas. Eren could almost picture the hospital room full of flowers and teddy bears courtesy of Dina and his grandparents. Aunt Faye probably brought the Yu-Gi-Oh cards. At the age of ten, he had ended up with a broken leg after falling out of a tree. While his friends were at the park playing around and he was stuck at home by himself, his aunt would come over and entertain him by playing Duel Monsters or watching cartoons with him.

"What're you thinking about, Eren?" Petra asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"You had such a wistful expression on your face."

"Just think about my family," he said truthfully.

Petra nodded sympathetically. "You must miss them a lot."

Eren sighed. "Yeah, I do." And his beloved PS4 also.

Suddenly, the door flew open, revealing a distressed Armin. Even Mikasa appeared somewhat worried. "What's wrong?" Eren was on his feet immediately.

"We just ran into Moblit outside. We have to leave," Mikasa said with a look that freaked him out. "Now."

Levi stood. "What's going on?"

"We've got a problem. The—" Armin cut himself off, lowering his voice and closing the door behind him. "Titans were spotted. Wall Rose has been breached."

Levi let out a string of curses.

"Of all the times!" Petra said, eyeing her broken body in frustration.

Eren groaned loudly. "It hasn't even been a day! C'mon, universe!" It had taken almost three hours to get to Karanes and they had only been there for barely half that time now. He thought there would be plenty of time to relax and rewind before the next mission.

"Let's go," Levi said, careful not to place weight on his injured ankle.

Eren rolled his eyes. "And where do you think you're going? You're hurt. What're you gonna do, hobble the Titans to death?"

"This is an emergency. I can't just sit back." Levi's gaze fell to his injured leg. "I at least want to meet up with the rest of the group."

Bidding farewell to Petra, they left. The evening sun greeted them when they stepped out of the building. Moblit was waiting for them in a wagon. "Squad Leader Hange wants us to meet up at the Ehrmich District," he told them.

Three sets of 3D gear were placed in the wagon. They jumped in and began putting them on as Moblit yanked the reins and the horses took off.


"The Armored and Colossal Titans must have broken through," Eren II said grimly.

Eren couldn't hide his fear from him. "What the hell are we gonna do? I'm the only member of Squad Levi who can fight. If we're forced to battle, maybe we can take one of them, but both?" At least Mikasa and Armin were with him.

"Have some confidence. Thanks to your plan, we took out a Shifter without throwing a punch." There was a grudging note of respect in Eren II's voice. "Anyway, I'm the one who's gonna be fighting them."

"And I just get to be your stupid cheerleader." Eren huffed, wishing he knew martial arts. Armin, Mikasa, and Levi turned their attention to him. He shook his head, staring off into the setting sun. Eren continued to worry. He should have spent less time watching MMA on TV and more time actually learning how to fight in real life.

When they arrived in Ehrmich, almost everyone was gone.

"Moblit!" Nifa hurried over to them. "Captain Levi." She nodded to Levi. "Squad Leader Hange and everyone left a while ago. I have an important message to share." She gave Levi a piece of paper.

"What's it say?" It was easy to read over Levi's shoulder. "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me!" Eren said in disbelief when he saw the name scribbled on the document. When Levi switched papers, Eren let out another groan. "C'mon!"

"What's wrong?" Mikasa looked between Eren and the papers.

"There were two others in the 104th group who came from the same village Annie's records say she's from. Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover," Levi answered, holding up the documents.

Armin gasped and physically recoiled while Mikasa jerked her head in surprise.

"Using the chaos caused by the fall of Wall Maria five years ago," Nifa quickly told them, "causing an influx of people entering the interior without complete family records, they were able to sneak in among them as refugees. And that's not all. Their unit was given the false information about Eren's position being the right wing of the formation."

"That's where the Female Titan first appeared." Gears seemed to be spinning behind Armin's eyes. "They must have passed on the info to Annie."

"Hold on, you can't just accuse them of being the Armored and the Colossal based on that," Eren II argued, denial springing up. He couldn't bear to think they were traitors, too. "Tell them!"

"I don't know, man. It might not be enough to condemn them but you gotta admit it's pretty damn suspicious." Eren felt his twin fall into brooding silence when Armin told them about what had happened during the 57th Expedition, with Reiner showing interest in Eren's location and how the Female Titan went in the right direction after staring at her hand that Reiner had carved up. "So what's the plan?" Eren finally spoke after Armin finished.

"I brought the spare card." Nifa held up a square envelope. "Squad Leader Hange said not to use it on the Wall, though." She handed it to Eren. "It's always windy at that height. If the drug could get blown away. Or it might end up in your face and knock you out instead, Eren."

"Don't let them know we're onto them," Levi said. "And obviously don't let them know about Leonhart's capture. Maybe they're her accomplices, maybe they aren't. Either way, if you don't get the chance to use the same trick to knock them out, the best thing is to lead them underground and confine them."

Eren nodded along with Mikasa and Armin. "Who should I use on it if given the chance? I can only use it on one of them."

"Use it on whoever makes an easier target when you meet them. Now, go eat dinner and rest. We've got a big day tomorrow."

"We're not going after them right now?" Mikasa asked.

"No point in leaving now," Levi replied, checking outside the window. "We're all tired. Besides, it's past midnight and the Titans can't move at night so it doesn't matter. We'll sleep here and leave tomorrow morning. The Garrison soldiers will have found the breach by then, too. We might end up being late to the party but we'll get there when Eren's Titan is needed."


Great, we'll be riding for hours in a wagon again. Eren groaned internally. My butt is going to be so sore when we get there. Too bad his healing abilities couldn't make that go away. He perked up as an idea came to him. Nifa was sitting with Moblit in the front and Armin was with Levi.

"Really?" Eren II bit out, annoyed and jealous.

"Now, now, we don't wanna tire out before we get to the fight." Eren tried hard to keep from grinning like an idiot. "Hey, Mikasa, can you move over?" She gave him a questioning look but complied until she was sitting on one end of the bench. A brief look of hurt flashed in her eyes when she assumed he wanted to sit as far away from her as he scooted in the opposite direction. Her expression changed to one of embarrassment when he lay on the bench, his head in her lap.

Levi gave him a look that portrayed it all. "Not the time nor the place to be getting romantic with your girlfriend, brat."

Eren closed his eyes. "I'm resting up."

"You had all night to do that."

Eren had spent most of the night restless. His twin had returned to Eren's comatose body to "sleep" in preparation for the fight, leaving Eren without his comforting presence. Anxiety had kept him up until the late hours.

He was surprised when Mikasa woke him, combing her fingers through his hair and calling his name. "Eren," she said softly. "We're almost there."

"Thanks," he yawned, sitting up. Can't believe I actually fell asleep. The nap made him feel well-rested and he stretched. When he caught Mikasa smiling gently at him, she blushed, and so did he. Eren saw Levi roll his eyes while Armin grinned from ear to ear. Eren II huffed jealously in his head.

"Let's switch now," Eren II grouched and Eren relented.

By the time they arrived, Erwin, the Scouts, and surprisingly even the Military Police were present. They were lowering soldiers, wagons full of supplies, and horses on the other side of Wall Rose. Only a handful of soldiers remained on top of the Wall.

"Good timing," Erwin said, turning to face them. "The preparations are close to finishing and we were just deciding whether to wait or leave without you."

"The hell happened here?" Levi eyed the injured soldiers.

"Eren!"

Eren II turned his head to see Christa rushing toward him, Connie and Jean on her heels.

Christa appeared stricken. "You have to help! They took Ymir!" She grabbed his hands.

Eren II gasped as images suddenly poured into his brain.


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