~ Mikasa Ackerman ~
Annie characteristically shows no shame when she grabs the center of Mikasa's sports bra to pull her straight into the path of a punch; Mikasa dodges this by dropping to the ground and sliding straight between Annie's legs. This move would have been impossible anywhere else, but the tiled floor of the showers is still slicked over with water, and Mikasa shoots underneath Annie much faster than she expected. When Annie tries to unclench her fingers from around Mikasa's clothing, Mikasa just grabs onto Annie's hand instead. With this as leverage, she uses her hip muscles to jack knife her legs straight in the air and over her own head, essentially performing a back flip.
And she would have landed on her feet too, if Annie didn't ruin it by throwing her booty backwards and right into Mikasa's path. As such, Mikasa somehow awkwardly sits on Annie's upper back, all off-balance and unsure of what to do. Annie does buckle slightly underneath the weight, but she compensates soon enough with her hands, transforming the situation into a throw.
A year of 3D Maneuver Gear training has given Mikasa excellent aerial awareness, and even as Annie drives Mikasa headfirst towards the unforgiving tile, Mikasa is still able to manipulate her position enough so that she spreads the impact over her upper back instead of her head and neck. The momentum carries her body over her head and she does a backwards somersault back onto her feet.
She doesn't dive headlong into the fight again; that recklessness is only Eren's style. Instead, she takes a moment to observe Annie's positioning of her body. It's the same as it always is: fists up high around her face, acting as a defense guard to her weakest points. Her punches aren't anything to brag about and it shows in the muscles of her arms and shoulders: present but not powerful. No, her strength lies in her legs, supported by the muscle groups in her lower back, her abdominals, her glutes and quads and hamstrings. Mikasa can see them rippling underneath Annie's bare skin, just poised to strike in that perfect time.
If Mikasa ever places herself in the wrong position, she's going to get a high speed foot in the face.
Mikasa likes her face.
That's why she has to observe every inch of Annie's body, her posture, her fighting style.
(Sasha would draw some horrible conclusions from this…)
"HAAAALP SASHA'S GOT ME munmpblekniwslmcios…"
Mikasa's attention is immediately diverted away from her in-depth study of Annie's taut muscles and out the nearest window. The glass is frosted and meant to deter peeping toms, but now it prevents her from clearly seeing what's going on outside; still, she can just barely make out a small brunette figure dragging a blonde off into the woods. For a full second, all she can think of is (was that Armin? Is Armin in trouble?)
And then Annie's foot smashes into the side of her head and all she can think of is (OUCH that was definitely Annie and I am definitely in trouble—)
Then she realizes that her head has not disconnected from her body and splattered against the nearest wall. See, Annie's kicks have the power to break bones, but now Mikasa's only problem is that she feels like she ran headfirst into a wall. Multiple times.
"Keep your head in the game," murmurs Annie. "If I was truly trying to take your life, you would be dead. Don't get distracted."
"Damn monster," Mikasa gripes, steadying herself against the wall and standing slowly. Hurting Eren, now sparring with her, it's like…
(It's like she gets off on fighting)
And now it makes her blood boil that Annie held back on her—that in an activity that brings Annie extreme pleasure, she restrained herself from going all out because she didn't think Mikasa could take it, as if she was a weakling who couldn't handle her full strength. Plus the monster took advantage of her in a moment of humanity, when she momentarily forgot about herself in favor of family—
Armin!
…But Annie first. She has to end Annie now.
"Treat the world as your enemy when you fight," Annie coaches quietly as Mikasa recovers. "Otherwise you will never win, and you will never be able to go home."
Home. Eren. His mother—her second mother. Armin. Mikasa grits her teeth, steeling her muscles in preparation to fight, to knock Annie out and run outside and save Armin from another abusive lady, one who is probably at this very instant inflicting pain that the little blonde does not enjoy, and Armin is at his wit's end trying to think up some clever way of winning what would otherwise be a long and drawn-out fight.
If Armin was in Mikasa's shoes, what would he do? Slick shower floors are all around her, with Annie blocking her only escape and nothing but their fists and legs as weapons. It's just her and Annie, alone within this tiny space; and with lunch coming up soon, Mikasa can't rely on other girls as witnesses, meat shields, or distractions.
But Armin would make do with what he had with him. Even if the environment was unfavorable, Armin would still manage to turn it to his advantage. He might not be strong, but he has an incredible mind and can pick out the finest details—like what Mikasa could possibly use right now as a weapon, even if it's something that wouldn't normally be considered as a weapon. Her sports bra? Too flimsy, and Annie's already stretched it out so that it's lost its elasticity. A showerhead? Some of them are so old and leaky that she probably wouldn't have much of a problem yanking it off the wall, but could she do it before Annie got her?
A half-baked plan begins formulating in her head as she rushes Annie. Annie plays the defensive, dodging Mikasa's jabs, the tiniest smile on her lips (which is more than Mikasa has ever seen coming from her, and this is coming from the oriental with a great poker face). Hurting Annie isn't Mikasa's goal, though; as soon as she gets within reach of her towel, she grabs it and runs. Annie immediately gives tail, chasing her into the shower room. Mikasa listens closely to the pounding her pursuer's feet, judging Annie's distance by hearing alone
(wind roaring in ears while flying between trees using 3D Maneuver Gear, somersaulting in midair, sensing team members and obstacles alike solely by listening)
Her twisted-up towel is nothing like the piston-shot grapple hook, but she uses it in the same way by looping it around the leakiest showerhead and using it to swing herself as high as she can into the air. Her running momentum brings her forward and upwards, during which she twists herself around to face Annie, faking a kick. Annie mirrors her earlier dodge by falling onto her back and skidding along the ground, but she also coils her legs like a spring, preparing to kick Mikasa as the girl begins her descending swing.
Annie lets out a grunt (or is it a moan) when she fires her legs like a piston, kicking Mikasa's ass very thoroughly and it hurts really bad… but it's worth it, because Annie is distracted just a bit by the success of her attack and didn't notice that Mikasa had also put all her weight into her drop. Water explodes into the shower room as the showerhead snaps off the wall; simultaneously, Mikasa unfurls her towel and throws it at Annie, who's just getting back to her feet. Between those two distractions, encompassing the senses of sight, sound, touch, and temperature, Annie's attention is just slightly diverted—long enough for Mikasa to explode through all of that and plant her fist right in the blonde's face.
Oh, that feels good—and even better when Mikasa lets out a scream of passion.
With Annie knocked off balance, Mikasa takes the opportunity to grab Annie's head and slam it into the wall behind them for good measure, then wrap her wet towel around her enemy's face and shove it into the nearest toilet. Popping bubbles are the only sounds from Annie that reach Mikasa's ears, and it is glorious.
Annie has even more determination than Eren has, because she struggles for all she's worth. Still, with the 15 extra kilograms of muscle that she has over her opponent, Mikasa holds Annie down until the blonde double-taps her frantically. She then releases her hold and rips her towel off her enemy's face, creating a spinning momentum that sends the blonde toppling onto the tiled floor, too weak to do anything more than gasp for oxygen.
For just a second, Mikasa feels the irresistable need to beat her chest and roar in triumph over Annie's heaving, ravished body.
...Instead, she maintains her cool countenance, wraps her soaked towel around her naked torso, walks out of the bathroom stall with a perfectly calm expression, and runs straight into Hannah.
"Mi—Mikasa!" stutters Hannah, stumbling back a meter or so. "Uh… I heard a scream, so I came to investigate…"
Mikasa places a silencing finger onto Hannah's quivering lips. In the ensuing silence, all that can be heard is Annie's desperate panting in the background. "Nothing happened."
In the background, Annie sucks in a breath and coughs out, "That… was just… Round 1. Trust me... I can keep going."
A tiny, traitorous voice in the back of Mikasa's mind whispers that she wouldn't object to a Round 2; but family comes first; Armin needs help. She needs to—
Hannah's voice tears into her thoughts. "Mikasa, what were you two—"
She stares deep into Hannah's eyes, using the absolutely blank expression that sometimes makes the younger girls wet their panties at night. "Nothing happened."
Hannah nods silently, so Mikasa grabs her boots and races outside. Unfortunately, she forgets the fact that it is literally impossible for Hannah to keep her mouth shut.
The bandages on her wrist were soaked by her shower fight and are unraveling now. MIkasa pulls a loose end tighter, concealing it again as she searches the forest wearing only her boots and towel. However, when she searches the forest nearby the bathroom, there aren't any signs of a violent struggle, or the trail of Sasha dragging a body off into the woods.
The truth is that she's almost beginning to doubt ever hearing Armin. She hadn't seen him; there are no windows in the girls' restrooms. She'd only assumed it was Armin because she didn't know of anybody else who would call for help. Maybe Annie's kick in the head had jostled some of her memories and messed up her judgment.
Maybe the kick in her head is why she's also thinking about... things she's never considered before. Like... feeling like she'd been missing an integral part of her life, up until her battle with Annie. Now, searching the woods for somebody who may not even be in trouble, wearing a skimpy towel-dress that only reaches mid-thigh (though it keeps slipping)… Mikasa almost feels stupid.
Maybe the urgency of the moment had been from the thrill of that fight and not from her desire to help Armin…
"Ow! Wah! Not there! Anywhere but there!"
"But it tastes so good!"
That last one was Sasha's voice. Mikasa sprints in that direction, barely noticing where her feet are landing, as she sprints in the direction of the screams and muffled crying. Her protectiveness shoots to the forefront again as she imagines Armin, writhing in pain as Sasha violates him—
She puts on a burst of speed when she catches sight of a blonde hanging upside down from a tree by one foot. His hands are tied behind his back, and the other untied leg kicks spasmodically as a brunette with glowing red eyes grabs his head with both hands and slobbers all over his face.
Mikasa kicks Sasha out of the way before she can ruin the beautiful face of…
Thomas?
"Mikasaaaaa!" Thomas wails in gratitude. He blubbers a couple more words, but Mikasa's too busy mentally ramming her head into a mental wall. She should have realized that Armin's voice hasn't dropped yet. She should have realized that, even from a distance and through frosted glass, the blonde figure was much, much larger than Armin could ever be. But... she does realize that Thomas is the only one here. Armin is not. Sasha would only prey upon one person, right? Then surely Thomas would understand that sometimes a single death can save many lives.
"Wait—Mikasa, where are you going? Help me! No! Don't leeeeave meeeee! Ouch! Sasha, no! Mikasaaaa…"
Mikasa's going to find Annie. After all, women don't have refractory periods—she should be up and roaring for Round Two.
Next time: Reiner's cleavage is discovered…
"How can a stud like you have such soft moobs?"