"Cut the shit.", Levi told Elaine as soon as we entered again.
"We know you're lying.", I added.
"I'm not lying! It's the truth!", she nearly screeched. "You said you'd let me leave!"
"Reiner, please wait outside.", I gently asked, signaling him to move quickly and shut the door. Things could only go downhill from there and there was no need for him to witness the brutality Levi could eventually subject the woman to. The captain would be leading the interrogation from that point on so I positioned myself against the door, fixating Elaine's expressions as the captain spoke.
"Enough of this shit. Tell us what you know.", he said with a cold stare.
"I don't know anything. I've told you already."
"What was the name of the brat? Lieutenant?", he looked at me out the corner of his eye.
"Marina, sir.", my throat tightened slightly and a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. This couldn't be good, he wasn't seriously thinking of hunting down the girl, was he?
"Exactly. Listen, we can do this the good way or the bad. My patience for your lies is running a little thin, Elaine."
"I don't know anything else. I swear.", the more intensely he questioned her, the more obvious the pattern created on her foot was. He'd soon run out of patience completely if this continued. Precisely after she said this, he grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling it up and closer to his face. Elaine was now face to face with the captain, eyes locked in on each other and that initial ghostly pale face she had when he had entered the room for the first time returned slowly, as the color drained from her face.
"Speak, whore."
"My, my... is this what you people do now-a-days? Capture innocents off the street and interrogate them just like that? Listen, I've told you what you wanted, now let me go!", she demanded, but Levi was having none of it. A quick jab to her stomach and all the air held in her lungs was expelled, leaving her gasping for a few seconds.
"Elaine, it will be easier if you just stop lying.", I said, sighing.
"I'm not.. fucking... lying!"
"What do you do down here, in the Underground?", she'd have to make some mistake and reveal anything, I knew I wasn't wrong, I couldn't be wrong.
"Don't you know? He knows.", she signaled Levi with a head nod.
"So... you're a... whore? Very well then... Why are you so afraid of captain Levi?"
"How are you not afraid? He's a murderer."
"Wha-"
"That's enough of talking about useless shit.", he interrupted. "We know you know something so spit it out."
"I don't have anything to say.", she answered. The captain responded my kicking her chair so she'd fall backwards, hitting the floor with a loud thump. After, he picked her up by the hair again, pulling until she was upright. The captain spoke in a low tone, calm and controlled and described in detail what he planned on doing with Marina if Elaine didn't tell us what she knew. I could barely believe that this situation was happening. Levi threatening a child. And it seemed neither could Elaine, tears beginning to flow from her eyes just as insults rolled of her lips.
"What a despicable man... Is this what the Corps does? The grand Survey Corps, saviors of us all? Putting murderers in charge?", she then looked at me with a horrified look, stuttering with each word she said "How can you a-agree with this... this monster?! I just... please don't hurt her!"
It was painful seeing a woman in so much suffering, just the thought of loosing the girl was enough to make her crumble into a blabbering mess.
"I'll tell you whatever you want... Just don't hurt her... Please..", she cried with a desperate tone. Her boot stopped moving and she sighed deeply. "Promise you won't search for Marina."
"You have our word as the Survey Corps that we will not look for her.", I swore. She was telling the truth now, there was no need for us to pursue anyone other than the culprits.
"I work as a whore for the wealthy and recently I.. I was hired to... go spy on some people who go to that tavern... The whole thing was a fiasco and I left and came here. Marina is a girl I rescued from a whoring house about a year or so ago, she has no one else... Please don't harm her. I swear I'm telling the truth. I thought you were sent by one of the people who hired me and I panicked... I don't know anything else...!", she sobbed, turning limp after a few seconds.
"Elaine...?", I lunged to her, checking for a pulse and it was there. She'd pass out from the stress, most likely. "She's alive but unconscious. What do you think, sir?"
"She isn't telling us the whole truth... We're being too soft."
"Too soft?! Hardly sir, I-", just a few moments before he gave graphic details of all the horrid things he'd do to Marina and he thought that was 'soft'?! The nerve, how could Erwin allow this?!
"Please refrain from getting emotional, lieutenant. Let's talk outside. She won't go anywhere.", I accompanied him out of the room, closing the door behind me.
~~ Inside the interrogation room ~~
Hearing the door close, Elaine raised her head, eyes fixed on the metal knob, just in case they decided to check in on her anytime soon. Clearly they'd never interrogated anyone before, else they'd have searched her for concealed weapons.
It was her lucky day, for that matter, the small knife she kept up her sleeve was swiftly cutting through the ropes that held her hands in place. Just a few more knicks and she'd be free. Once the thick rope fell on the floor, she released her ankles and stood up, stretching her figure. How many hours had passed?
Didn't really matter at this point, they could return at any moment so she needed to bolt, and fast. Opening the window, Elaine peered out, gaging how high up the windowsill was, hearing noise above her. She was barely in time to back away before a couple of feet entered the room.
"Hello there, Elaine.", Roach grinned slightly.
"What are you doing here? We need to leave, they might come back at any moment!", she tried to get passed the other woman but was stopped by an arm blocking her path.
"Not so fast, dear...", with a swift movement, Roach had Elaine in a rear neck choke, pulling her closer, her small knife falling to the far end of the room.
"Wha- arhg- sto-", Elaine couldn't say anything, the pressure on her throat choking her quickly.
"You've been a very naughty girl...", Roach whispered against the other's hair, pressing a light kiss on one of her temples.
"I didn't tell them anything, I swear!"
"Oh, I know... I know, love. But you would've told them anything... I mean... they did threaten poor Marina, didn't they?", Elaine's darted to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of Roach.
"You... were listening...?", Roach nodded slowly, raising her eyebrows.
"Of course... How could I miss this opportunity?"
"Why... didn't you help...? Just let-"
"You go? I'm afraid I can't. Such a pity, though... You turned soft, Elaine. You were never strong... Not as much as me."
"I swear... I'll scream. R-"
"Shhhh, don't go saying my name near her... It would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it? I mean, she probably thinks I'm dead!"
"I'll scream. I swear I will... and they'll come in here and kill you...", Elaine growled.
"Will you? I doubt that, dear... See... I can't let you spoil this for me. I'll get my revenge, no matter what. If you'd just kept quiet, you didn't have to die."
"And you don't need to kill me...!", bitter tears began rolling down Elaine's cheeks, staining Roach's long sleeved shirt. "After all I've done for you?! How can you do this to me?!", Roach merely sighed pulling a knife up to Elaine's neck. "I love you!"
"Who could love this face?", Roach chuckled softly. "I'm not one of your charity cases, you don't need to lie to me. Now, stop spouting nonsense and just relax."
"Feng wouldn't want this! You can stop now! I forgive you...", a wave of anger assaulted the disfigured woman, forcing her teeth to clench and she held Elaine a little bit tighter, before inhaling deeply and calming herself.
"Close your eyes love. I'll make it quick.", the woman began struggling against the grasp of the other, desperately trying to cry out but she was too weak to resist and her mouth was being covered by Roach's hand. Without a sound, the knife dragged across soft skin and a spurt of blood stained the wall.
Turning the limp head to face her, Roach looked fondly at Elaine, pressing a soft kiss to her still warm lips. What needed to be done needed to be done, simple laws of nature. Getting up, Roach left the lifeless body sprawled on the floor, sitting on the windowsill for a few moments, looking at her own hands painted red.
The lock on the door clinked and the wood creaked, and it was Roach's queue to leave.
"Wha- Hey you! Come back!", she heard the familiar voice of Martha scream at her, before she dropped down the second story and began running.
Seeing the intruder escaping through the window, my legs reacted before I could think properly and I lunged towards the open exit, ready to jump onto the street in pursuit. My body however, had very different plans and immediately a sharp gash of pain darted up my back and I was unable to move.
"Stay here with Braun and clean this shit up. I'll follow them.", Levi ordered before going after the person.
"Mam, is everything okay in there?", Reiner asked from another room. Should I let him see this...? Well... It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before...
"No,...-", I was now holding myself up against the windowsill, trying to catch my breath after the sudden pain. "Elaine was murdered. The captain went after the intruder."
"Are you okay? Did they attack you?!", he seemed concerned, looking at my furrowed brow and posture.
"No, no, I'm fine. I was just reminded of my condition in a not so pleasant way. Anyways, let's clean this up.", he nodded, heading out to find cleaning supplies. During these few moments, I tried to avoid looking at the limp body beside me, eyes wide open and already glassy but it was just there, impossible to not notice. What would happen to Marina? She wasn't my kid, and I didn't even know where she was but I couldn't shake the worried feeling off my head.
I'd be lying if I said the way she died hadn't at all reminded me of Kayla's suicide because the gash across the otherwise pale neck instantly brought me back to the cave for a few seconds. The key was trying not to think too much about it, it would be bad if the nightmares returned specially during the mission. But it was nearly impossible to not start thinking and reliving the situation again; even now, picking her up, she was still disgustingly warm for a lifeless corpse and the blood already staining the floor and my hands wasn't cold as well. The mere though of having to witness something like that again made me gag. Nonetheless, Levi had ordered us to clean and clean we would.
About an hour passed before he returned, Reiner still wasn't done scrubbing the floor and I was doing the same with our shirts on a washing board. He seemed mildly annoyed, in his own uninterested way that is, he'd never show too much emotion in front of us.
"Fucker got away...", he sighed, pacing around before sitting at the table, looking at the plans he'd made. "Where's the body?"
"We already disposed of it. Carefully wrapped and bagged, thrown on someone's dump.", I answered. Honestly, this was one of those sentences I'd never think I'd say in my life.
"Shit brains... you should've dismembered it. Did anyone see you?", … dismembered? What even... did he do that when he.. never mind, best not think about his past.
"No, sir. We were very careful.", Braun answered from inside the blood stained room.
"We'll see soon enough. We need to keep surveillance tight until we leave, from now on. Whoever killed that woman might return. Make sure to lock the fucking windows this time, you shitty brat."
"But I locked them, sir..."
"We didn't really search Elaine for weapons sir, I only realized this when I saw a small knife on the ground. She could've easily have it concealed and cut the ropes with it, opening the window herself."
"Doesn't matter. There is no room for mistakes from now on. Double check everything."
"Understood.", Reiner and I answered, not turning to look at the captain.
"Lieutenant, are you done with the washing?", Levi asked after a while, focused on his notes.
"Yes, sir. Do you need anything?", I retorted, wringing out the excess water from the now yellowish white shirts.
"Yes, you did some extra scouting today, right?", he looked up, fixating my eyes.
"Right. Before I found Marina. I checked the house you ordered and a few others around it." I stood there for a few seconds, waiting for some sort of command, before he looked up again, pulling his hair back and leaning back a bit, his back cracking audibly.
"Good. Sit here and mark up locations of interest.", he said finally, pulling a chair near him so that it stood closer to the large map. After I sad down, he continued scribbling notes, while looking at different areas in the map, which I had no idea what they were but I was mostly focused on marking everything he'd asked. Although I was trying my best to not think about unnecessary things, my mind wandered and the only image in my head was Elaine's lifeless body sprawled on the floor. The memory of picking it up because I didn't want Reiner to feel her turning cold, even if he had already been in that same situation. It was something he had to get used to, despite being so young. I'd become much softer in the way of seeing things over the years. Petra and her motherly affection towards the kids had played a huge part in that. Still, the image of Elaine morphed into Kayla and I swear that for a split second I still felt the warm blood gushing through my fingers, even if I pressed as hard as I could. I only realized I'd spaced out when the captain's voice brought me back to reality, calling.
"Lieutenant? Hoy, Martha, are you deaf or something?", he asked.
"Uhm... no sir. Sorry, I was thinking about something.", he merely shook his head slightly.
"Doesn't matter. You done with that?"
"Well, yes. I do have some more not I'd like to add but I can write them separately if you need that part of the map."
"Please, do. There's some more paper in my bag, inside that room there.", I merely nodded and got up, walking towards said room when a hand held my arm in place.
"This is filthy. You should change it right away.", Levi noted, fixating the browning bandage that covered Jaeger's bite, visible since I had only a short sleeved shirt on.
"Oh course. Right away, sir.", I nodded again, thinking he'd let go then but he didn't. Instead, he tugged a little more and waited until I turned my eyes to look at him.
"Don't think about it." he said in a calm, paused tone before letting me go and returning to his work. I realized then I'd been holding my breathe. Exhaling deeply, I went to get more paper for the notes and tried to calm my speeding heart as well. It took me a while to change the dirtied bandage but after it was done, I returned to the table, starting to jot down possible strategies and peculiarities of the buildings around out target.
The afternoon went by swiftly, the captain and I working and at times exchanging opinions on possible strategies while Reiner took care of checking the conditions of the equipment and also sought a moment to take a breather from the stressful events of earlier. It was peaceful, just returning to the old days of plans and maps for a few hours. Of course, the situation was entirely different but I knew this; the maps, the escape routes, all that. And I was good at it. I thought. After the last fuck up, it looked slightly daunting to do it alone but the captain more often than not requested my opinion on the matter, rather than order me to come up with a plan of my own.
I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't trust my decisions that much after what had happened or he somehow sensed that I still wasn't very comfortable returning to the full swing of things but nonetheless, he did ask and that was allowing me to gradually lose that fear.
Before anyone noticed, it was night. Or whatever 'night' meant in the Underground. Although I'd been mostly well throughout the day, inhaling deeply was still a bit painful so, after carefully dosing the liquid painkiller, I gave myself another injection to help. Reiner was ordered to prepare dinner for the three but honestly, he spent the whole afternoon cleaning and slaving for the captain and I so I felt a bit guilty for sitting back while he peeled potatoes with a tired expression.
"Give it here, Reiner.", my voice must've startled him, since he jumped, looking back, confused.
"But I can do it, mam. Captain's orders.", he replied.
"I know, but let me help you. Feels weird to be so idle.", he just shrugged, mumbling a 'whatever you say, mam' or something and we continued working on the preparation.
"So... Reiner.. about Elaine... How are you feeling about this?"
"Well mam... to be honest, blood doesn't really bother me, you know? Back there in the Trainee Corps the commanders were quick to get us used to it. I just wished we could've nailed the guy who killed her."
"Yeah.. me too.", so he wasn't bothered? How things back at the trainees had changed. Either way, it was good that I wouldn't have to worry about him in that aspect.
"She was quite a piece though... lovely face, nice b-"
"Reiner! Come on!", I scolded, for a minute trying to hold back a light smile. Teenagers... not even death can dull the hormones. "But I guess she was..."
"Ya know... you're being much nicer now than before, mam. Is it cuz of Elaine?"
"Nicer? I don't think so.. You worked a lot today and so I thought you could use the extra hand.", the smile I'd been holding back flourished slowly, as I threw another potato into the pot. Thinking about what he'd said... Those last couple of days had been hard to deal with but eventually one needs to start moving forward, right? Now, being down there with Reiner and the captain had turned out into a near cathartic experience. It was a good distraction.. sort of.
When all was finished, the stew was put on the fire to boil and afterwards each poured their own bowls. Levi sat eating quietly, slight dent between his eyebrows and in the meanwhile, Reiner and I were chatting about his village and how he ended up joining the Corps.
"You seriously just joined for Jaeger...? Well I commend you for your loyalty, not everyone would stick together like that.", the Eren kid and his titan speech could even motivate brainless rocks, apparently...
"Well, 'ya know... seeing all that energy really gets the blood pumping! There wouldn't be excitement like this anywhere else."
"I suppose that's true...", I sighed. Perhaps it was a bit too much excitement but, being honest, I hadn't always felt this way about it job. The Corps became my life and home and the possibilities of new discoveries every time we went outside always gave me a rush of adrenaline that was hard to not enjoy. And... maybe Zoe's obsession over titans was starting to rub off on me... just a little, not that I'd ever let her know that.
"And you, sir, how did you end up joining the Corps?", Reiner asked the captain, wolfing down the second bowl of stew he'd poured himself.
"Nothing worth talking about. Now, if you're idle, take care of the dishes.", my eyes darted to Braun, whose smile faded rather quickly. So... no personal questions allowed... noted. My bowl was also finished by now, so I helped the kid with the task of washing and drying everything and, after, I sent him off to sleep, receiving a relieved 'thanks mam' in return.
"Who told you he could go sleep?", Levi's voice broke the silence in the living room.
"He looked miserable, sir. Besides, we don't need three people standing watch at the same time.", sitting down on the couch, I picked up a series of scribbled notes about the target house, revising them quietly. "You know, sir, I'm actually surprised at how resilient cadet Braun is. A lot of people wouldn't get over that scene earlier so easily...", I noted absentmindedly.
"You doing self assessment now, lieutenant?", he commented in a low voice, partially muffled by a mug on his lips.
"Wasn't my intention but now that you mention it... You'd think I'd toughen up after five years, right?", he didn't answer and he didn't need to really. It was true that I'd never been much the resilient, keep-the-chin-up type of person, little things got me down easily but I'was still alive and kicking so I couldn't be doing everything wrong.
"That scene with the woman...-"
"Elaine, yes. What about it?"
"You have any ideas on who offed her?", the conversation was very 'in the air' so to speak. None of us was facing each other and replies sometimes took a few minutes, leaving it almost like an exchange of loud thoughts rather than a chat between two people.
"Hm... I don't know but... if I had to take a guess then... why not the person she was so afraid of? I mean, could be..."
"Eh, maybe. Now she's dead. We have other things to focus on.", I'd forgotten during the afternoon but was remembering something that bothered me severely during the interrogation.
"Hum... sir. About the interrogation..."
"Hm?"
"You weren't serious when you mentioned Marina, were you?", for the first time during the entire duration of our talk, I sat upright and turned back to look at him, sitting calmly on a chair, sipping some hot beverage, tea most likely. His eyes met mine and startled me for a second, it was as if I was leering at him and was mildly intimidated when I was caught. But he remained silent, his stare answering instead. "You were actually willing to hunt down a small child...?"
"..."
"Have you no regard for human life? Is that it?", I didn't know what had come over me but I was getting increasingly angrier at his lack of humanity. How could Humanity's Strongest behave like such a... monster? Without noticing, I'd gotten up and shortened the distance between us until I was across from him, leaning over the table. "A little girl... What were planning to do? Torture her? Kill her?!", should I stop before I regret this? Fuck no! That monster... How could Erwin keep such a man by his side... "Is that what they taught you here?!", this last question sounded almost like a screech, strangled voice with disbelief. But something muffled the ending and in an instant, Levi was holding his hand up, covering my mouth, the tips of his fingers digging into the jaw bones and cheeks with almost painful force.
"Martha, enough of this bitching and crying. I don't have the patience to tolerate these tantrums anymore. Understand this: the Corps is our priority. The girl doesn't matter, why do you even care for her? You saw her once and you're this worked up, you must have your have filled to the brim with shit. This is not the place to be playing house in. Get your shit together before I have to knock some sense into you by force.", he spoke calmly, not raising his voice, like everything he'd said was just matter of fact. And as much as I wanted to let out my anger on him (Why was I so angry? I knew things like this could happen...), maybe it was for the best to just breath in and bite my tongue for the moment being.
"I'll go cool down outside, sir.", I managed to say whilst grinding my teeth, as I sat outside, breathing the night air.
Something was wrong with me. How did I go from usually calm and moderately cheerful to permanently on edge and near the brink of pure fury each time something slightly bad happened? I needed to get a grip, to receive a firm scolding, a punch or two maybe... anything that could put me back to normal; I hated how things were going lately. Marina wasn't even a special kid. She was just that... a kid. Was it wrong for me to want to protect her? No, I guess... just inappropriate for the situation in question, where gathering possible info that could save lives was at stake. But just... thinking about her so defenseless and alone, now that Elaine was dead really tugged at my heartstrings.
By now, I was starting to have a pretty good idea of who was behind that night on the encampment and who was Elaine's mystery contractor. That familiar gesture... could it be? Hm... I was so certain she'd died back then in Shiganshina, I'd completely erased any memories from her and the others – Nate however came back sometimes, despite my best efforts. But if she was the culprit for this... why? What would she gain from doing these things...? I needed to learn more about what happened to her back then if I wanted to know about her now.
Some time had passed, the people walking in the streets now reduced to just a handful, rushing through alleyways with their heads lowered. I was calm now and thought it was time to go apologize for my behavior to the captain. He and the others hadn't been anything but tolerant of me during those weeks after what happened with the Gamma Squad and, thinking about it now make me realize just how ungrateful for that support I'd been.
"Sir...?", called, peeking inside the house, searching for him. Levi was now seated on the sofa, reading through the plans.
"What is it? Done with your temper tantrum?", he asked.
"Hum... yeah. About that sir, I'm really sorry.", I walked inside and sat on the far end of the couch, facing him. "I know I've been a pain these days, I really appreciate the patience you're sparing me. So thank you, sir, for that. It's very kind.", there was silence for a few seconds and then he took his eyes off the paper and turned them to me.
"Yeah, sure. Just get back to normal, Martha, no one likes seeing you like this, it's a nuisance.", his eyes scoured over me, making me feel a little exposed but he didn't seem to be doing it with ulterior motives. "How are the ribs?"
"Better, I guess... I can't really feel anything right now, Hange's medicine is actually good for a change."
"Eh, Shitty Glasses had to do something right for Erwin to keep her.", the captain noted, raising his eyebrows slightly. "I wasn't going to hurt the kid.", he added after a few seconds, focusing on the plans again.
"What...? You... weren't? But you-", I trailed off. It was all bluff? It certainly worked but.. fuck it, I felt a weight lifting off my shoulders and a small sigh of relief escaped my lips. "I'm glad, sir. You've been reading through the plans? What should we do tomorrow?"
"I'll have to think of it. Expect us to do more recon."
"Understood. Oh and another thing sir, what should we expect from the people we're getting the money from? How are we even going to get money?"
"Lowly thieves and scum. They owe me a favor."
"And they're just going to give us money like that? I mean... if they're thieves, sir..."
"You forget I have a reputation here, Martha. People like that wouldn't dare cross me.", after this, I sighed, rubbing my tired eyes.
"I hope you're right sir. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to wake up Reiner, I'm really tired.", he didn't answer and I took it as a 'go ahead'. After getting the blond out of bed, I finally slid under the old sheets, falling asleep almost instantly.