Chapter 28: Mercy
"Okay, Mr Jeager, I don't know who this 'Annie' is. But she is the Female Titan and nobody can do anything to change that." An unfamiliar voice pierced Eren's ears, to which he open his eyes to see a civilian brushing some dust off his suit. "It's not about what has happened ,but what will happen." Eren's body felt so numb that he was unable to feel any pain, on the other hand, he couldn't move either. "If you refuse to change,if you just lie down and accept it,people are going to die." What the civilian was saying was awfully familiar to Eren. "The people in Stohess,the scouts in the Survey Corps,your friends, they are going to die." And then the civilian looked right at him "And their blood will be in your hands."
And with that final sentence, everything became blurred and muffled to Eren . The young scout gazed his surroundings as soon as he was able to move his neck. With a few shakes, he could see that his vision was no longer blurred and his hearing no longer muffled. However ,he no longer see the ruin he was in, but a chamber, not a chamber, a great hall ,no, a banquet, a banquet hall for the cadets. He remembered it now, and then he saw him, his mother's savior, his friend, his mentor and his brother-in-arms. Gohan was dressed in his cadet uniform, his tail wrapped around his waist and his ridiculous head band.
"I'm not giving up." Gohan words echoed through his mind "To me,it's not what has happened ,but what will happen ." Eren felt like the words did not come out of Gohan's mouth but straight out of Eren's head. "If we refuse to change,if we just lie down and accept it, then what happens if the wall breaks again?"
"People will die." The civilian's voice answered.
"I saw . .. .too many people die. And I won't ever let that happen again."
"Their blood will be on your hands."
"I'm not joining the scout because of revenge, or because I like to fight."
"The people in Stohess,"
"I'm joining because I want to protect the innocents."
"The scouts in the Survey Corps"
"To protect those who cannot protect themselves."
"Your friends."
"As long as I live, I'll never let anyone be as afraid that I was that day."
"They are going to die."
Then he remembered . What had happened in Shiganshina ,how many people had perished at the hands the Titans. How they had broken through the wall of Maria, how many people had lost their lands, their love ones. And then the suffering of those who remain. How many of his comrade had died in Trost. And how many were murdered at the hand of the Female Titan , Annie. He could feel the rage igniting within him.
"I want a world of peace."
"Their blood will be on your hands"
"I want to see Wall Maria reclaimed".
"They are going to die"
"And for the people to have hope again. But that will never happens if we give up"
"Their blood will be on your hands"
"I want to protect the innocents."
"Their blood will be on your hands"
" I GET IT NOW!" He rose from the debris, ignoring his injuries. Steam bursted out of his body, it could not tell whether it was because of his Titan nature or his fiery rage.
"I KNOW WHAT I HAVE TO DO NOW." He stood up on his two feet, if his vision was not reddened with rage , his eyes were. "I HAVE TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE, I HAVE TO PROTECT THE ONES I CARE ABOUT. IN ORDER TO DO SO, I MUST KILL THE ONES WHO WANT TO HARM THEM BEFORE THEY COULD."
With the aid of the Special Operation Squad, John Ingham managed to push the Semtex cart with ease, following the trail of The Female Titans.
"Okay, can you tell me the fucking plan, Wolf?" Oulo spoke while the SOS and Ingham were still pushing the cart.
"I'm going make it short for your sake ." Answered Ingham, the Top Beta motioned his head to Female Titan whom they were chasing "Aim at her feet."
The squad peeked their heads from the cart to have a better observation at the Female Titan,whom got punch in the head by Eren Titan. With the concusion ,the Female Titan fell into a church ,destroying the building and killing the majority of people inside.
"I don't really get your idea, but I like it." Said Gunther, the squad only barely knew what Ingham was trying, but it seemed that they all agreed to go along with it.
While the Female Titan tried to recover, it would take a blind person not to notice the civilian fleeing from it in panic. As soon as she recovered, Annie attempted to run from the scene,heading toward the walls. Eren apparently saw,this and reached his arms out to catch her, but he fail. Annie could have easily closed her distances to the Wall with her speed, but then she interrupted by a cut on her shoulder. A number of soldier of the MP and some soldiers dressed in civilians clothing attacked her with their ODM gears, and retreated before she could retaliate.
"Who are those?" Said Oulo when he saw the civilians with ODM Gears and MPs headed their way, behind them Annie had resumed her escape and Eren continued to chased after her.
It was Ingham who know exactly who those civilians were and the SOS followed suit when they saw the armband when the ODM Geared unit landed.
"Mr Ingham!" Said Nile Dowk when he approached the Top Beta. "Thanks all the gods that you're safe. Let us get you to safety."
The Special Operation Squad and Ingham abruptly stopped pushing the cart by the arrival of the MP and the Wolfpack.
"Can you please don't try to kill yourself next time , can't you John?!" Said Gleaves before he looked at the Scout accompanied his friend. "Now that the Scouts are here, can we get the fuck out of here?"
"Do you recognize these things, Herman?" Ingham pointed at the content of the cart.
Ingham got really surprised the moment Gleaves looked upon the Semtex ,Gleaves suddenly got nervous when he knew what it was. Herman Gleaves nervously adverted his cream faced facial features to the scouts and then to his best friend.
"Are. . . . . those?" Stuttered Gleaves
"Now we know who stole them." Ingham crossed his armed and motioned his head to the scouts.
"Sir, Mr Ingham, what do you plan to do with them?" Asked Nile, he clearly didn't know what Semtex was.
"Aim for her legs" Answered Petra, pointing at Annie in the distance.
"Mr Ingham ,sir , I don't think that's a good Idea for you to go near a Titan." Protested Nile
"Tell that to clips I emptied into that Titan's eyes." Disagreed Ingham, before he turned to the SOS "I think you guy no longer needed here, go get a good use of your ODM Gears. Nile, I need you and your MPs to help me with the cart."
"Wait, we didn't put on our Gears to push carts." Protested Marlo, the MP Jonathan saved couple hours ago.
"Don't question the man. He the one who pays us. This is still better than fighting the Titans."Nile headed to the cart and started pushing, his surbodinates soon complied.
"Herman, you and the pack help the scouts to the Female Titan, don't attack the Male one." Ingham ordered Gleaves and pushed the cart at the same time. "Don't let the bitch go any further."
"Sir, with all due respect. …. … "A she-wolf protested.
"That's an order ,god damned it!" Hissed Gleaves before he shot up a line to building and steam started to blast when ejected himself "Show these fucking amateurs what you can do."
"Amateurs? We kill more Titans than you do." Oulo and the Special Operation Squad followed him.
It was at the town square that the Female Titan ceased her escape and stopped at a tower to face her pursuer- Eren Jaeger. The two contenders show off their stances before their impending collision ,Annie with her trademark overhands boxing blocks and Eren with Gohan's demon stance.
"You always act like the world around you are unbearably stupid, except that time when you showed off your martial art skill and when Gohan showed his." Thought Eren in his Titan form. "But it's only take a fool to not figure out that you just a terrible liar."
Eren charged his opponent, Annie hardened her elbow as she used it to guard her face, expecting a classic punch from Eren. But then, she was taken off guard when Eren decided to round house kick her and sent her across the block, into another tower.
"Remember ,Eren, a kick is a redundancy but a punch is a deficiency ." Gohan's fighting lessons echoed through Eren mind, which he once took for granted. "Why ,Annie? Why? Why did you betray your humanity,huh? What was all those death and destruction for?"
As soon as Annie Leonhardt recovered , Eren charged her again with three repeating kicks and pinned her to a building. Eren thrown punches after punches at his former comrade ,not allowing her to have any chance to turn the table, but she did. Eren 's combo was cut short when Annie hardened her forehead and headbutted him,pushing him away from her so she could get herself out of the building.
"Gohan though he could change your point of view and I trusted you!" Eren didn't let Annie have a moment of rest, he rushed her, but this time she anticipated his move and severed Eren's lower right leg with a hardened side kick.
However, as how stubborn he was, Eren continued to fight back . He leaped toward Annie in an attempt to tackle her, he failed to do so when she roundhouse kicked Eren right in face, knocking the Suicidal Maniac to another undestroyed building. Annie then gave out metal sigh when she saw Eren nibling on her crystalized leg. She hardened one of her fists and mustered all her strengths to land it on Eren's head.
Series of steams interrupted the Female Titan when her fist was only inches from Eren. The hardened fist fell onto the ground with other six pieces of her arm. She turned her head to the direction of the steams to see the five civilians with ODM from earlier landed on the opposite building, it was then she noticed the Wolfpack armbands on them.
'God damned Wolves. Never thought they would be such a nuisance!' Annie did not even enough time to process the whole situation for from the corner of her eyes , she barely saw three scouts heading toward her, the very three scouts from the Special Operation Squad she had failed to kill in the expedition.
Annie quickly cover her remaining hand to her nape and crystallised it just in time when SOS reached it. But her nape was not what Oulo, Gunther and Petra were aiming at , instead it were her wrist ,forearm and elbow that got severed when the squad went pass her.
"Ready for round two, you condescending bitch?" Said Petra when she and her squad joined the Wolfpack on the rooftops.
"WE, THE WOLFPACK!" Gleaves screamed at the top of his lung as he charge with his blades all raised.
"WE HUNT TOGETHER!" The Wolfpack finished the sentence and followed him.
The now disarmed Annie counter the charge by sweeping her leg at them,but she forgot that Eren was still biting her other leg so instead of killing the Wolves, she tripped with Eren on top of her.
"Ha ha! Syke !" Said Gleaves when he and his pack bypassed the skirmishing Titans. Annie could even bother to be pissed off when Eren regained the upperhand and pounded her with his pair of fists.
"Are those?" The civilians with ODM Gears puzzled Mikasa when they engaged Annie, to her knowledge all civilian clothed scouts were all dead.
"Yeah, those are the Wolfpack!" Answered Jean, impressed by the wolfpack's performance with ODM Gear. "Who would have thought those corporate bastards would be so good against Titans."
Just as Jean finished his words, Annie managed to knee Eren in between of his legs, sending him flying away from her. Annie struggled to get on her feet without her arms, she looked around to navigate her destination and started running again. She only manage to escape the neighborhood where Eren was, but not enough to go interrupted by the Special Operation Squad.
Oulo rushed to Annie nape to cut it but he disengaged when he saw the crytallized hand already fused to it.
"Well, that didn't last very fucking long!" Commented Oulo on Eren's defeat.
"Let's just try not to die this time!" Commanded Gunther, the scout aim for Annie's feet tendon, but his blade shattered when Annie hardened it. Annie retaliated by back kicking him ,to which Gunther barely escaped "Oh ,shit!"
Petra ,unlike her squadmates ,did not attempt to strike Annie with her blades. She glided ahead of the Female Titan and shot a line in the said Titan's path. This attempt to trip Annie also failed , Annie lost her arms ,not her eyes , she quickly leaped through the wires and sent a shock waves ,sending Petra flying away.
"Oh shit" Disoriented by the shockwaves ,Petra was unable to stop herself from the fall.
"I got you!" A Wolf caught her in mid-air ,saving her life.
To be fair ,Petra effort was not really pointless. Although at this time, Annie had managed to concentrate her healing to successfully regrow one arm, she still struggled to get herself back up. This actually gave one of the scout some time to look what at was happening behind him.
"Okay,people , it's time to bail." Said Gunther.
"Why though?" Asked Gleaves just before the ODM unit turn back in unison to see the cart pushing detail was already gaining on Annie. "Oh, shit! Haul ass! Haul ass!"
The Wolfpack and the SOS disengaged Annie and rushed out of the area as fast as their could . As they were retreating, they met Mikasa, who rush toward Annie.
"Hey ,where you think you're going?" Gunther stopped her.
"If the Wolfpack can find the courage to fight Annie ,why can't I?" Said Mikasa who tried to break away from Gunther's hold.
"Because you don't want to go near that thing!" Gunther motioned to the cart bellow and tackled Mikasa to cover.
"Everyone takes cover!" Ordered Ingham when he knew he were close enough to the Female Titan, a couple dozens meters.
"Do it!" Nile grabbed one of his MPs and rushed to an alley ,the other MPs followed suits.
Ingham pushed the cart closer and closer to Annie's feet and when the Titan turned around to face him, he stopped, now the distance between them was just ten meter.
"WOLF FANG KICK!" Knowing too well if he keep pushing the cart he would be killed, either by Annie or the blast he mustered his energy and kicked the cart to Annie.
Powered by the kick,the explosive cart went straight under Annie crotch as if it had engines. Needing just that, The Alpha, in a distance ,squeeze the detonator on his hand.
The soldiers had thought their HE rounds were the loudest and the Colossal Titan was the most powerful, and yet the Semtex combursted into column of smoke and fire that as tall as half the height of the wall and deafened the ears of all the people surround it, all houses within it 10 meter radius were blown to bits. Annie crystalize her torso ,but the explosion was too powerful that it sent her upper torso straight into the Walls where she wished to escape by climbing on.
"What the fuck?" Puzzled Levi by the explosion , none of the explosives he knew of ever so devastating. Then he saw Eren had recovered from the wreckage, and heading toward. "Hey,brat, what're you doing? You've already won!" He followed him.
The Military Police shook their heads to get rid of the ringing in the head, they also rubbed their eyes franticly for the dust from the explosion had gotten into their eyes.
"Gods, what the hell are you guys making in those factories?" Asked Hitch regardless whether or not the subject of the question heard it or not.
"I already told you they're planning to overthrow the king." Coughed Marlo,the poor young man still choking on dust.
"Mr Ingham, I think you owe us some explanations ."Said Nile when he saw the crater the explosive made, the thing was big enough to build another underground city.
The Top Beta ignored the questions from the MPs, John Ingham, whitened with dust, proceeded to tail the Rouge Titan as it approached what left of the Female Titan. The Beta was so focused on following Eren that he ignored all the dust on his body and the fact that his glasses and vision were deterred by the said dust. The man just walked casually with no absolute rush.
It was neither fast nor slow for Eren to approach of what was remained of Annie, her upper torso and head. Annie slowly slid down from the wall, cracking a few piece of it, a blood trail from where she was vaporized in a matter of seconds . The exact moment when she fell to the ground, Eren Jaeger turned her body and lower his maw to her nape, biting it off.
"No!" Horrified at the sight, Hange and her unit rushed to the scene with the ODM Gears. But moment they landed, they stopped when Eren stopped.
Inside the Female Titan's nape, there lied Annie Leonhardt,it was unknown if she was unconscious or not ,but she did not move or opened her eyes. For all the atrocities she had committed, it was unbelievable that there were tears from her eyes, but that was what Eren saw, that's why he stopped. That was a mistake, a crystal cocoon form around Annie body, which also spreaded into the Eren Titan.
A figure came from nowhere and landed on Eren's back, the person's blades percied through the Rouge Titan without cutting the real Eren beneath it.
"You can't eat every Titan you see, it's not healthy ,especially when one is our key witness." Said Levi when he pull Eren out of the Titan. "Did you get this kind appetite from the Monkey Boy?"
Everyone was gathered at the scene when the fighting was all over, The Military Police both with ODM Gears and rifles ,The Wolfpack,Gleaves and Ingham, The Survey Corps, Erwin ,Levi ,Hange, Eren, Armin, Mikasa, the Special Operation Squad and Jean.
Eren's already awaken ,either by himself or by the obvious sound of Jean slashing Annie's crystal in desperation. With all his strength and efforts , the only two things Jean managed to shatter were his blade and his comrades' hope.
"God fucking Damned it! All the shit we've been through! For what? For what ,Annie? Wake up! Wake the fuck up! Give us some fucking answer, you owe us that! All of us!" Screamed Jean, angrily at comatosed Annie.
He raised his sword, which only have the handle now, but before he struck it down, Levi stopped him.
"That's enough, soldier."Levi patted on Jean' s shoulder. "It's over!"
"Someone gets me some wired nets. This thing belongs deep underground!" Ordered Hange as she got a closer look at Annie.
"Oh, that thing belongs deep underground , alright." The Survey Corps were startled by Ingham, the bearded Wolf calmly stepped toward to Hange . "There is no doubt about that. Just, not Yours. Annie Leonhardt is now officially a property of Winter Industry."
"Are you fucking kidding? Do you know how much blood and sweat it took for the Scout to get her?" Protested Jean , he drawn his other sword. "How many lives we lost?"
"He's right , Mr Ingham, she belongs to the Military for the sake of humanity. Not as a corporate asset." Erwin stepped ,face to face with John Ingham. "It is necessary for you to understand her capture."
"We take her as consolation for what you did. And the question I'm about to ask is related to it." Ingham unslinged his rifle from his back and loaded a new clip into it, just before aim the muzzle at Erwin and raised his voice. "WHERE THE HELL IS SON GOHAN?"
"What do you people want with Gohan?" Asked Mikasa as she and her fellow scout drawn the swords.
"Woah, woah, guys, shit went from zero too one-hundred real fucking quick!" Gleave tried to defuse the situation, this was not first time he saw John held somebody at gun point or be pointed weapons at, but when John raised his voice, it meant the situation was bad. "Let's just calm down."
Obviously ,he failed to defuse it because afterward the Wolfpack and the MP pointed their guns at the scouts.
"WHERE IS HE?" Ingham raised his voice again.
"Gohan Son is in a secured location,with the other cadets we deemed suspicious." Unlike Ingham, Erwin maintained his composure.
"Erwin?" Asked Levi when his commander became so cooperative.
"Why?" Asked Ingham with a calmer tone than himself earlier.
"We're unable to find his paperwork, which we believe never existed in the first place." Answered Erwin, he looked deep into Ingham eyes as if he tried to look into his soul. "Maybe, you can keep us enlightened, Mr Ingham?"
"Well, I can say that is someone's fuck-ups." Ingham lower his gun but turned to stare at Nile, who winched. "Stand down!"
To Herman Gleaves' relief the Scout, the MPs and the Wolfpack lowered their weapons, a inter units bloodshed would not look good on his mission report.
"We're taking Annie Leonhardt as consolation for Eren Jaeger and Son Gohan." Said Ingham as he walked toward where Nile Dowk was. "Beside, I doubt that you have the tools needed to get her out of that cocoon!"
" And you do?" Questioned Levi.
"Yes ,we do have such equipments. We'll let you know when we get her out." Answered John Ingham, he then ordered Nile. "Get your men to secure her, I want her at Castle Jutnar before nightfall."
"Hold up, John! Are you out your mind?We're not letting that fucking thing in the fucking Castle! You saw what it's capable of." Protested Gleaves, he must have been thinking that his friend was still concused from the blast.
"The Alpha and the Lady will handle her just fine." Just a death stare from Ingham was enough for Herman Gleaves to comply, then Jonathan looked at the MPs again. "What're you people waiting for , a prep talk?"
"Get some ropes and a cart, we're getting her to Castle Jutnar ,Lady Winters would like to take a look." Nile Dowk order his men, they better be paid extra for this . "Get to work!"
The MPs rushed to find their required equipment ,a detail of them had already pushed the scouts aside in attempt to fetch Annie.
"Commander Erwin, we're letting them take her?" Asked Hange ,she found the commotion unsettling.
"Stand down! If Mr Ingham is right, that Lady Winters has a way to get Annie Leonhardt out her current state, then that means humanity has hope." Remarked Commander Erwin, this must have been the first time he content to have the MPs had their hands on a Titan Shifter.
The thought of being save by the most terrible women of humanity sickened Hange and her comrades. The Titans could be killed but Lady's greed and her manipulation to ruling class could not be. The knowing that fate of humanity laid in the hand of the person who ruins the lives of the living just simply boiled the scouts' blood with disgust. But according to the Commander, it was the only choice they had.
It was nightfall ,the perfect time for the Alpha to hide from the public eyes. The leader of the Wolfpack descended from a bell tower where a duffel bag lied in waiting for him . He had to change his outfit, he knew to well if a ordinary person saw him,regardless of the church or not, he would be tried for witchcraft. His equipment was obviously out of this world, but not of his, the Kevlar helmet, the gas mask, the 5.65mm ammo pouch,grenade lancher flares, grenades and his M4 Assault Rilfe attached with suppressor,red dot sight and M203 grenade launcher.
He turned on the device on his neck while he started removing his equipments into the bag.
"Papa Wolf to HQ, mission reports." He said to the device.
"Took you long enough. Jonathan told me everything." A female voice answered him , though the voice was very close, he know whose voice belong to was far away.
"The Scout Regiment was the ones who took the Semtex from us." He disassembled his rifle into the duffel bag just right after his ammo pouch. "And failed to deliver us the VIPs . Erwin plays us like a fiddle!"
"He's gonna pay for it. Well, that is if he not already has." Without video feed, the Alpha could still see Lady frown through the commlink .
"Met your new company already? Do you like her?" He removed his tactical combat outfit to change with his casual civilian clothing.
"Uh, she's in the bunker right now. I'm struggling with the tools. Extracting her is gonna be a lot trickier than Jonathan said it would." The Lady answered. "I got flashbacks."
The Alpha just giggled in response ,he picked up the duffel bag with ease and about to turn off the comm link but then something halted him. He saw his shadow on the ground,that's weird , it's night time there was no gaslight nearby. Then the answer hit him hard when he looked at the sky.
"Oh, for fucks sake !" He was taken aback that he drop the duffel.
"What is it this time?" Puzzled the commlink for the sudden curse.
"Look out of the window , now!" Answered the Alpha.
"I am in the fucking bunker, there's no window here." Replied the Lady.
"Okay ,let's try again." The Alpha took a deep breath to calm himself "Finish this sentence :You ordered Jonathan to retrieve Gohan before…."
"Oh shit!"
"Close enough."
"Why the first assignment Jonathan failed has to come with such dire consequence?" The other end of the radio remarked.
"Hey ,don't put the blame on our poor Jonathan!" Triggered Alpha "This is all Nile Dowk's fuck-ups!"
"It's still too soon! It's still too soon!" This was the first time in years the Lady became so frantic. "Oh my god. What if he kills someone?"
"Okay, take your breath,maybe we shouldn't overreact over this? He didn't turn. He didn't turn during his two-years training. He obviously has some trick in sleeves to prevent that shit,uhm?!" The Alpha calmed himself, it's time for the Lady too. "I see no reason for him to turn now."
"Okay,good point. I'm still gonna contact Nile." Said the Lady less franticly "Just in case. It's time for the last resort."
"Will he fuck it up this time?"
"He better not or I'll skin him. Get back to the castle ASAP, I'll fetch Jonathan, we have a Code Fenrir."
"Code Fenrir is it!" Sighed Alpha "Papa Wolf out!"
Next chapter: The Beast Titan