The sight of Titans truly coming at the balcony greeted all the women coming out onto it.
"It's true! Titans are coming!" one of the maids exclaimed, sounding hysterical. Mikasa checked her gas gauges.
"Ackerman! You have permission to engage!" Commander Erwin yelled from the balcony above her.
"Yes, sir." she said, clicking on blades before jumping off the balcony.
"You're going to get her killed!" Hanna shouted at him.
"She's fine." was the reply, and everyone looked ahead to watch her. The women were all unsure of his claims, and they watched her start to fight.
"Honestly, who let's women into the military? I personally wouldn't want all the hassle it takes to train them." said a rich woman.
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Look at her. I've seen other women soldiers. They're never really any good. She's really good. Imagine all the training it took to get her like that."
"Three years as a trainee. I wonder what trainee corps she was part of." a maid informed her.
"How do you know that?"
"My brother, Thomas Wagner, was a part of the 104th Training Corps. I haven't heard from him in a while though." the maid smiled.
Those weren't real Titans. Mikasa thought, landing on the ground.
Mikasa chose a black strapless ball gown and a black jacket. Not an inch of her legs would show in it, thus hiding her 3DMD that she insisted she wear under whatever dress that was picked. Mikasa unbuttoned the top couple of buttons, in a dressing room, on her uniform shirt before pulling that down and tucking it into the tight bodice of the dress. She was sitting in a chair staring at a window as people bustled around her, making comments.
"If you make one more comment about my looks, I'll stab all of you." She bit back, the same memories, of dirty men from her youth, flooding her. Mikasa had been forced to wear make-up, and have her hair done. She sighed, already hating being dressed up. Each comment brought back painful memories, ones that made her want nothing more than to pull out her swords and slash out more Titans, again.
Even if they weren't real Titans.She thought, who makes fake Titans?
Whoever made the ones you just fought. A nagging voice in the back of her mind told her.
Erwin and Levi were at the base of the stairs in the midst of a party, waiting for their third team member to arrive. Their fourth team member was coming separately from them, and both men knew the other person had stopped to investigate the steaming corpses in front of the castle.
"Levi, have you seen Ackerman anywhere?" Erwin asked him quietly.
"No." Levi replied, looking at party guests.
"Commander Erwin! Captain Levi! How nice to see you here!" a fat man exclaimed in a boisterous, slightly drunk voice. It was the man of the hour, the king. "How have you two been?" the king asked, coming closer to them.
"Your Majesty." they replied in unison, bowing slightly.
"It is very nice to see you in good health." the king proclaimed, not waiting to hear their response, "now, where is that Oriental girl you brought with you?" He eagerly looked around.
"It is very nice to see you in good health, as well, Your Majesty." Erwin deadpanned, sincerely hoping Mikasa would appear soon.
"Yes, yes, where is the Oriental?" the king was starting to become impatient, and everyone around him knew it, as they all started to back away from him.
"We had last seen her heading off for the toilet." Levi said, lying through his teeth.
"I have heard many stories about her, Erwin. I wish to confirm them myself. Now, where is she?" he asked.
"Your Majesty, perhaps I could bring you another glass of wine." Erwin offered.
"I wish-" the king started.
"How nice to see you in good health, my king." Mikasa deadpanned, appearing out of nowhere. Erwin and Levi looked at her. The bodice of her dress hugged her body, and the bottom flared out; possibly concealing something. If it had been any of Erwin's other female soldiers, he wouldn't have been concerned. But this was Ackerman. Who knew what she had up her sleeve, or, rather under her dress.
"Mikasa Ackerman! How nice to see you!" the king exclaimed, kissing her hand. She stiffened up and a look of disgust crossed her face. Erwin hoped as hard as they could that Mikasa would not harm the king.
"Ackerman." Levi warned.
"Understood." she said quietly, her calm façade taking over her face as the king straightened up.
"Would you do me the honor of a dance, Miss Ackerman?" the king asked, not waiting for an answer before pulling Mikasa onto the dance floor.
"We should probably monitor her. Make sure she she doesn't harm the king in any way." Erwin said.
"No need. No Jeager, no Ackerman needing supervision." Levi said, grabbing a glass of wine.
"As much as I hate to do this, Your Majesty, but I must ask everyone to head for the meeting." a man in Military Police attire said, addressing the crowd. Mikasa was out of the king's grip in one second flat, curtsying to him before hurrying away from him. The Scouting Legion trio was the last to arrive at the meeting room.
"What's with the fancy attire, Commander?" asked an important looking man.
"His Majesty requested we dress appropriately for the party."
. Mikasa stood in the doorway, pulling out all of the hair pins in her hair. She took off the black jacket she was wearing, careful to cover up something on her collarbone, before starting to unlace her dress.
"Ackerman! What are you doing?" Levi yelled at her, as everyone in the room averted their eyes.
"Getting rid of the dress." she said calmly. The men all heard fabric hitting the wall, and then metal snapping back into place.
"You can all look." Mikasa informed them, sliding into her seat between Levi and Erwin. They all glanced at her, pulling on her cropped Wings of Freedom jacket before fastening her green cloak over it.
"Ackerman, did you hide your 3DMD under you dress?" Erwin asked her, "and how did you fill up on fresh gas and blades?"
"I was prepared for anything, sir." she said, staring straight ahead with cold onyx eyes.
"On that note, thank you all for coming to this meeting. My name is Thomas Zachley; I am the new Commander of the Military Police Brigade. As Titan activity has decreased, we have been finding out about newer bigger problems to our population that call for our attention more than Titans, at the moment. This bigger threat is called, human trafficking." Thomas Zachley said. Levi and Erwin both felt Mikasa stiffen up between them, before they both knitted their eyebrows together. Titan activity had not decreased. They both wondered who Zachley was trying to kid.
"These photographs are of some women and children found in an alley in Wall Sina." he said, passing around a large folder. Each soldier looked through the photographs, appalled looks and horror coming across their faces. Mikasa passed on the folder when it was her turn.
"Miss Ackerman, you should look at the photographs. You need to know what women and children are having done to them." Zachley said, noticing how she had quickly handed the folder off to Levi.
"No, I don't." she said.
"At least look at one." he said, pulling out a thick folder. He handed it to her.
"No, I really don't want to see these." she said, looking at the name on the folder.
"You have to see what they do to people. Just look at the pictures. That's an order." he said, and Mikasa hesitantly opened the file.
She is a pale, dark haired ghost clad in a decorative robe that slouches down her shoulders, revealing far more than it hides. She stares straight ahead, her face expressionless and her eyes—exotic, strange onyx eyes that are gently tilted at the corners —are so very flat...so very dead. She's slim to the point of malnutrition, all angles and awkward limbs. She has a curtain of black hair that hangs in a greasy tangle over her miniscule breasts.
Mikasa looks at the next photo, following the order she was given. The same eyes greet her on the next photo, clouded hues resembling lifeless shells, neither comforting or simmering with any traces of color in them. Completely devoid from any sorts of emotion or value in the depths. Raven hair is tousled into exhausting knots, while her physique is abnormally thin to bear fit of a typical girl her age. Apparent bones are protruding from her body, mostly covered in bruises and open wounds, that are from whipping and constant abuse, in regards to how fresh they are. In the next picture she stares. Blank and vacant.
Her statue-still form and it is noticed for the first time the way her fingers are curled into the folds of her robe, clenched so hard that they think her knuckles are going to bust through. Mikasa's eyes follow the curve of the girl's too-thin leg, in the next picture, to the manacle clasped around her ankle. It's so tight that it has dug into her flesh and the area around it is bright red, infected and looks like rotted meat. Her head is bowed in the next photo, long, dark hair parted shows a scale and claw. A tattoo. The dragon as belonged to one of the underground gangs that ran much of the city. It marked her as property. She is still skin and bone and bruises in the next picture. The terror on her face breaks Mikasa's heart.
Zachley hands her a photo. Mikasa took one glance at the photo and then could no longer focus. The room faded away, and she was all alone. In the dark. Mikasa was cold. Shaking. Scared. Mama? Papa? Blood. Screams. Pain. So much pain. There was so much pain. Suffocating. She can't breathe. Hands on her throat. Holding her down. "Be a good girl..."Make it stop. Please. Help. Help me. Help.
"Ackerman?" Erwin asked her, noticing the obvious distress coming over her face. Her knees gave way.
Mikasa sat down before she could hit the floor, glaring at Zachley.
"What the hell was the purpose of that? I don't like it when others mentally destroy my team." Levi snapped Zachley.
"What happened?" Hanji asked, coming into the room.
"Nice timing, shitty four eyes." Levi said.
"What happened?" Hanji repeated, observing Mikasa in her chair.
"This." Erwin said, holding up a picture.
"Isn't that-?"
"Yeah. What's her name?"
"Mikasa Ackerman, isn't it?" Zachley asked, still not getting the point of saying her name.
"Now read the name of the little girl that all these pictures are of." Hanji said, sliding the folder across the table. The eyes of Zachley widened once he saw the name on the folder. He was silent. "Mikasa Ackerman." he whispered, his fingers running over the name written on the folder.
"What about the plan, sir?" asked a Military Police man.
"Everyone in this room has a specific part of my master plan that I have devised." Zachley managed, seeming to forget the whole scene that took place.
"Your whole plan is about capturing human traffickers right?" Erwin asked.
"Yes." the reply was unsure about what was going to happen next.
"If it's one mission, why do you have a master plan?"
"There's lots of different parts to it."
"Why?" Hanji asked out of curiosity.
"The plan is very complex." Zachley cleared his throat and looked around. Everyone was silent and staring at him. He cleared his throat again, and looked around. They were still looking at him. After a couple of minutes, he started to explain most of his plan.
A/N: I hope you all like this chapter! Thanks to sweatpeaaa, for beta-ing this chapter as well! R&R is appreciated and I'll answer any questions anybody might have on anything about anything I've written. See you all next chapter!
