Chapter 37: Propaganda.
Yamcha spent the entirety of that day's morning training Levi and Mikasa with the Kamehameha. None of them could able to perform the Ki blast yet, but Yamcha could see some progress,or rather, feel it. He could sensed the Ki concentrated in the two's hands and exited where they intended it to be. Connie, Jean and Sasha successfully ran around the castle for exactly 100 laps, but barely, they panted and colasped immediately after they finished their exercise. Although Jonathan was more of a spy rather than a fighter, 15 years training with Yamcha made him skilled enough to handle Petra, Oulo and Gunther, who were beaten seven times fighting him. Eren and Ymir surprisingly committed in meditating more than what Yamcha had anticipated, should the Alpha had not wake them up, they could have achieved transcendence .
Yamcha stopped their training and led them in the dining room for lunch. The food were so plenty, as if they were trying to feed twenty people. The dishes were the things that Bulma,Yamcha and Jonathan had bet that the locals never knew existed: pastas and pizzas.
"Holy molly, meat." Said Sasha before she devoured her ration. And her comrades followed.
"The hell is this?" Asked Levi as he held a pizza slice.
"That's pizza, a meat lover pizza to be precise. The other two are Cheese Lover." Explained Yamcha as he nawled his spaghetti . "Because we have no sea, there's no Seafood Pizza here, that's unfortunate. What fortunate is there is no pineapple here,either."
"What's pineapple?" Asked Eren with his mouth full.
"Exactly!" Remarked Yamcha.
"A fruit!" Answered Jonathan.
"Who would put a juicy sweet fruit in a delicious salty dish?" Gasped Jean, relishing on the new food he was enjoying. "That's heresy!"
"I wouldn't mind! As long as it good!" Said Sasha.
"Of course you wouldn't!" said sarcastically Jean.
"How do you know about a fruit you've never seen before?" Questioned Ymir.
"I read! Yes, I do read! And no, I do not like the idea of putting fruit in a salty dish,either." Yamcha answered her without giving out any information, even the one he kept to himself. 'except for tomatoes.'
"I didn't think I'd eat all of these, but damn, I'm keep goin'." Petra remarked at her own appetite.
"That's because the damn training!" Spat Oulo, at Jonnathan. "God damned,Wolf. Did you need to go that hard on us?"
"I went as easy as I could on you!" Shrugged Ingham.
"About that, Alpha, is this why Gohan eats so much?" Gunther came up with something.
"Yes and no! Gohan eats a lot since birth, and the excessive training didn't really help much to his appetite." Yamcha answered. "Malnutrition kills him and his kind more than it kills us!"
"Wait, his kind?" Puzzled Mikasa, which later also the squad.
'Oh shit!' Ingham and Yamcha became pale.
"That, makes sense!" Nodded Gunther.
"His tail, his Ki thing, his unbelievable strength, his kamehameha." Levi started to come up with something. "Not to mention, he turns into a fucking giant ape every time he looks at the fullmoon. We have so many questions on how he got such inhuman prowess, turns out the answer is obvious, he is INHUMAN!"
And then the scouts all stared at Yamcha and Jonathan.
"So, Jiece!" Yamcha slammed his paw on the dining table.
Petra's eyes widen as she noticed the Alpha was looking at her. "Are you referring to me?"
"Yes, your callsign. It's Jiece. You're Petra Ral,right?"
"Yes?"
"So, you're the one who got our Gohan …... Petrafied!" Yamcha and Jonathan let out a strained laugh.
"Don't change the subject, asshole!" Gawked Oulo.
"Let's just say he's a demi god!" Yamcha quickly shoved a mountain of pasta into his mouth to avoid this conversation.
"Annie Leonhardt has wakened up, we has get her out of her shell!" Ingham did a save by changing another subject.
"Wait really?" Barely distracted from Gohan's real heritage, Eren asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, the Lady interogated her this morning. Must have been done by now!" Confirmed Jonathan.
"Wait, the Lady?" Connie raised his eyebrows. "The Lady interrogated Annie herself?Seriously?"
"C'mon, guys. She's Gohan's mother." Yamcha had regained his confident. "And besides, Bulma has faced worse."
The moment Bulma's name was mentioned, the only scout who was not flinched at the name was Levi. The scouts behavior slightly anoyed the Z fighter.
"Kami damned it. Bulma,Bulma,Bulma! Has I slitted my own throat? And 'Blue haired bitch' okay?" The Alpha gave them a scolding and then to Ingham. "The damned thing was this guy's whole idea. I was a good idea at first, but now it's out of hands."
"Should she be handed to the Survey Corps?" Levi got the room back to the topic.
"Only the Wolfpack have the secured and secluded location to contained her." Jonathan Ingham started to clean his glasses.
"And where would that be?"
"Only a handful of people know about that location. Those handful of people being me,the Lady ,the Alpha and Master Gohan." Calmly,as he ussually was, Ingham explained to the Captain. "That how secluded it is."
"And secured?"
"It was designed for greater threats." Now it was Ingham's turn to slip up.
"Greater Threats?" Eren jolted off the chair. "What can be a greater threat than Annie and the like of her?"
"Gohan going rouge." Yamcha came up with a lie. "As the Oozaru!"
"Oh."
"Seriously,guys, when I first heard about the Female Titan, I thought it would have worn apron and managing the Titans' kitchen." Yamcha cracked a joke, to which has no response.
The door cracked open, and a Blue-haired figure leaned inside and saved Yamcha from utter ackwardness.
"Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Are you having happy meal?" The scouts stopped eating when the Lady greeted them.
"We are, my Lady." Yamcha and Jonathan bowed at her.
"May I borrow Alpha and Mr Ingham for a moment, please? I require they treasured service." Asked Bulma nicely, but everyone knew it was an order.
"No problem,my lady." Said the scout in unison as the Wolves left the dining room.
"Thank you!"
Just right under the stair, right outside the dinning room , in the Hall was the Trio of the Old World as they dubbed themselves to be. Yamcha and Jonathan waited for Bulma to speak, but it seemed to be the Lady was too hesitated to open up.
"How our guess in the bunker?" Lost his patient, Yamcha opened up.
"Had to zap her at first! Thanks Kami we've decided to put that implant in her neck." Bulma shook her head. "Gohan's name put her in the leash. It's either out of respect and/or fear of Goku Jr that get her to open up."
"Or something else!" Yamcha implied something.
"You're shipping her with Gohan?" Bulma knew exactly what Yamcha was implying. "She killed tons of innocents!"
"That didn't stop you and Vegeta!" Yamcha folded his hands.
"You bringing this up?"If Bulma was her old self ,she would be angry
"Let's not get off track." Jonathan cut in. "What did you get from her?"
"Appearently my first theory was right: The Walls is an isolated civilisation. There's others beyond these Walls." Bulma's reveal got everyone gaped.
"What? A civilization beyond these shit Walls?How isolated are we?" Said Yamcha
"Enough for whoever out there to develop their techs."
"How advanced are they?" Asked Jonathan.
"More than the people here, less than us. That is ,according to Annie's exspresion ,they got access to electricity. My speculation they must be somewhere near the early fossil fuel era."
"Great War, Interwar shit?"Asked Yamcha.
"Most likely!" Bulma shifted to another subject. "And Annie didn't have to answer this, but we already known this, the Scouts probably have figured this one out, the Titans were all humans."
"In the name of Kami! That's fucked up!"The only person in the trio who was surprised was the Papa Wolf. "How they turned into Titans? Like the zombie shit?"
"I don't know how, but the Titan we found in Ragako will prove to be perfect test subject. Out of her ,I may somehow reverse engineer the cause, and from that, hopefully, the cure."
"Her?" Confused Yamcha.
"Alpha, the Titan we've founded in Ragako, share the same facial traits to Connie Springer's mother." Explained Jonathan.
"Krillin with a Nose?"
"Affirmative, that person's maternal parent!" Nodded Jonathan.
"But that's not why I'm here! I can brief both of ya on those matters later." The Lady got firmer. "We have a code Loki."
That meant there a traitor/spy in their misdt.
"That's insane!" Reacted Yamcha. "Who would betray us?"
"The one who gave the Semtex to the Scouts. I've looked into it, the security in the factory was solid." Explained Bulma. "Has to be an inside job. The worker couldn't have done it, it must have been Wolves. It's deffinitly not me or either of you!"
"Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down? There's 200 Wolves in the pack!" Exclaimed Yamcha.
"199, after Vince." Informed Jonathan, before turned to Bulma. "I'll look into it!"
"You have more important task!" Shook her head, Bulma did. "You'll take a few personnel to the PR mission you were assigned."
"You mean propaganda?" Snickered Yamcha.
"Propaganda, Psy-ops, PR, pretty much the same thing." Replied Bulma before continued with Jonathan. "See it done!"
"On it!"
During the day, Jonathan and his fellow Top-Betas oversaw from afar when several workers of Winters Industry spread words of Gohan Winters to all the streets of Stohess. Most of their words were rather redundant, since everyone had already known of Gohan's deeds. His training, his merits in the battle of Trost, his outdoor live in Titan's territory, his slaying of the Armoured and Colossal Titans. But then it started to be interesting,when some said he was a demi-god ,that his father was a god from the heaven while his mother was lady Winters,explaining his inhuman prowess. And the rumor saying that he was as strong as ten thousand Titans had little to no dispute agaisnt as many MPs and Garrison soldiers 'confirmed' this. Until sundown , the people of Stohess and nearby districts in Rose and Sina had given him names like: 'Gohan Godsent or Gohan Gottgesandt,' 'Humanity's Champion', ' Gohan the Demigod' , 'Strenght of Ten Thousand Titans' or 'Gohan Agaisnt Ten Thousands' and 'Soldier of Three Armies'. By Jonathan's estimation , the mass would keep boast about the Monkey Boy until the boy's popularity exceed all other known celebrities.
The night was the real job, Ingham descended from the rooftop with a duffel bag in his hand,followed by Gleaves,Bury, Raeder and Donitz. The Betas chosed the least crowded street so they could start doing their work, the least crowded street here meant that there was absolutely no one there.
"I still hear the peasant dissing the Lady in the morning." Grunted Bury to his fellow Wolves. "After all she has done for them."
"Not really bothered me, top! As long the workers don't."Karl Raeder attempted to calm one of his superior down. "When they work for the Lady, they will change they attitude, when I haven't join the Pack, I didn't like her either."
"I grew up in the pack, I didn't pay attention to the difference. May you enlight me,Kar?" Asked Erich Donitz.
"She pays her workers more than other employers pay theirs!" John Ingham dropped the duffel bag once the group faced a wall and took out spray cans from it.
"Maximum wages for maximum effort!" Gleaves took a spray can from Ingham. "And minimum wages for minimum effort."
"And good welfare,too. You can't find a fairer boss." Raeder took one.
"Mr Raeder, Mr Donitz, you two handle the wings." Ordered Bury after he grabbed a can himself.
The Top Betas and the Betas started spraying on the wall, the grafiti would take hours to complete, Reader and Donitz were more artistic than their Tops so their work would be easier.
" I must say, I prefer the beard." Commented Gleaves while he was spraying carefully, on Jonathan's new apearance.
"Not this again, Hermann." Bury shook his head, defending his senior Beta. "John is not vain like you."
"I didn't really think of it,much. It just the Lady ordered me to shave."Still focusing on the graffiti.
"Lazy much,John?" Giggled Gleaves. "I seriously though you grew that beard on purpose."
"Said the guy who never got his hair trimmed." Bury answered for Ingham,commenting on Hermann Gleaves' long hair.
"Hey, he kept his beard 'cause he was lazy. I never cut my hair because I want to look like the Alpha. We are not the same." Replied Gleaves.
"So you're a Alpha's fanboy. You think if you look like him you would get to the secret bunker?" Snickered Bury.
"There is no bunker! You'd never get there because it doesn't exist." Said Ingham in a cold commanding tone. "Now focus on the work."
The Wolves stood in front of the artwork after couples of minutes later. They admired their hard work as their nodded and stared at it.
"You think the people will like it?" Asked Gleaves.
"If they like Gohan, they'd like it." Commented Bury.
"Master Gohan!" Corrected Ingham.
"Is he really?" Questioned Bury. "Or he just a random orphan just like us?"
" I knew him, the Alpha met him before, the Lady is his mother!" Cold and composed as he was, the Betas could still sense anger in Jonathan's voice. "If you ever had such questions like that again, that blue armband of yours will turn into white!" And Bury had no further commentary.
"The wings are rather assymetrical." Commented Raeder.
"We did our best,Karl! It looks fairly good to me!" Replied Donitz.
"Let the people be the judges of our work tonight." Said Jonathan as he applaud at his surbodinates. "You did a hardwork today, and I appreciate. Let us return to the Castle and have some shut eyes."
And then the Wolves dispersed as they were heading back to Castle Jutnar, but then Gleaves was stopped by Ingham.
"Hermann, why did you gave the Scouts our Semtex?" Herman turned to his friend, his face was paled.
"No, I didn't. Why would I?" Hermann Gleaves gave Ingham the same expression to when he saw the Semtex carriage.
"That face right there! Is the same face you made back when we fought the Female Titan, when I showed you the Semtex." Ingham pointed at his friend's face. "I thought it was because you were surprised, or that you has anticipated what I was going to do back then. But now, I know you were thinking I was going to question you."
"John, listen, I can explain." Hermann's answer gave him away.
"Explain it to the Alpha!"
Gohan had started to learn how to get accustomed to the Military Police uniform the moment Bulma told him about the plan for the Royal Government. Lady Winters had to do a lot of convincing to have the politician sanction her with the invention and production of the Arisaka bolt-action rifle they were currently using. Kani knows what they would do to her if she introduced anything more advanced than that. Bulma's plan must succeed,no matter the cost.
He heard the door behind him creaked open. He looked behind him and saw Boris Feulner.
"Sir, they're here!" The soldier saluted him.
"Get everyone ready!" Gohan patted his surbodinate's shoulder.
"Yes,Captain!"
It took Gohan a few minutes to converge on the gate of his Headquarters. Twenty Winters Industry carts loaded with crates,several Wolf Pack's Betas surrounded the cargo and the Lady's carriage. And there was even more commotion outside.
The Lady stepped out off her carriage, she was flanked by two Wolves before she approached the MPs. "Captain Winters!" She greeted him.
"Mother!" And he greeted her back.
"My Lady!" His surbodinates greeted her.
And then commotion outside distracted him from the conversation.
"What on earth is happening out there?" Asked Gohan.
"You should see for yourself." Ordered Bulma. "You're a captain,now. Have some authority!"
"I'll try!" Gohan turn back to his soldiers. "Sergeant Adler, Feulner, you take it from here. Help the Wolfpack unload the crates, bring them inside, and start working on the rifles."
"Yes,sir." The MPs got on their work just as Gohan started to departure. He walked out the barrack and headed straight to the direction where the commotion was about.
He walked across the morning streets of Stohess to the crowd that had gathered itself at a building. That must be where the commotion is. The people blocked his vision ,he couldn't barely see what they were looking at. Just head back,Gohan. He changed his mind and turned away, and then changed his mind again. No, Bulma's fingerprints are on this, I need to see this.
"Sir, if you can excuse me." He tapped on a male civilian's shoulder to get his attention, the man turned around, a tad anoyed, then he gasped when he realised the MP who anoyed him was Gohan Winters.
"Holly shit, it's him!" The man shouted out and got the others civilian's attention. The crowd looked at Gohan and gasped,they stared at the Monkey Boy for a minute, ackward silent while they did. They bowed at Gohan and moved aside, showing him what they were looking at. And it was not the building they had watched ,but something was painted on its wall.
The graffiti was him, was Gohan, in his Survey Corps uniform. He was with his ODM Gears,blades out, combat ready. He had this combat readied ,yet calm epression on his face as he was depicted in the painting. His headband was replace by an actual white halo above his head, and there was a pair of big white angelic wings spreaded out from his back. And what concerned him was the writings. Above the painting, encripted the words:
"All under Heaven."
And under the painting:
"Son of Heaven."
Gunshots rang across the barrack as the MPs, Gohan's MPs, practiced with their new semi-automatic at the red targets laid before them.
"M1 Garands! Semi-automatic riffles! No need for pulling the bolts!" Explained Bulma, behind the target-practicing MPs, just one second before the Garands' Pings. "Hold the pin back as you reload, it can cut your thumps off."
The MPs follows her instruction, once they insert new clips, they could felt the pin tried to force forward. They remove they hands from the pin to see it shifted forward with a force that could have stumbed their fingers.
"Seriously? We risk our fingers for this shit?" One soldier commented.
"If you don't want to lose your fingers! I have a solution." She signaled one of her Betas, who took out shorter riffles from the crates. "M1 carbines, 15-round mags feed system, semi-automatic. But the downside that it doesn't have the 'ping'. And less stopping power."
"I don't think I will mind, none of the criminals has access to these babies, and most of them don't even have the bolt-actions." Said Hitch, avoiding eye contact with the Lady. "the Ping and the stopping power won't be a problem. I love my thumbs."
"Noted." Hitch flinched as the Lady replied.
Bulma hanged back as the Wolves handed the Carbines and the magazines to the MPs, who quickly resumed to practicing. She took out a ciggarete, a cannabis ciggarette, put the joint onto her mouth, and lighted it with a match. In her first inhale she could see Gohan approached her.
"Mother, a word, please!"
Bulma nodded and pointed at a corner that would isolate them from the practicing soldiers. The 'mother' and 'son' duo move to the said corner and started conversing.
"What the HIFL did you do back there?" Questioned Gohan,
"The promotion to your Hegemony! Our plans are in motion, little conqueror. A little bit of propaganda to boost the mass' support to you!"
"Would that put a target on my back? The royal government will go after me after this. Did you and Ingham think this through?"
"Please, Gohan." Bulma chuckled, before prudently checked around for would be eavedropers. "The most intelligent person here is only as cultured as Vegeta, I doubt they'd ever figure out the meaning."
The gunshots masked their conversation , and Gohan knew for sure there was no one around, yet he peaked out to check for sure.
"And you wish the ordinary people would understand that ?Your argument contradicted your intention for the propaganda!" Gohan retorted.
"Ha-ha-hah-hah. And I thought you're the smart one, in fact,you are. Just that you're so green in the field of politics." Bulma burst out a laughter that so loud that Gohan flinched in the fear that others could hear her. "When the time comes, they must understand. That's the power of the victors have upon their defeated."
Gohan now started to understand what the 15 years in this new world had done to Bulma. She had become a scheming ,cold-blooded snake that would not hesitated at all the means to get to her goal. And her goals happened to have him involves. And of all means, she would make him became like her, which he was unknown if he can compel it.
His thoughts were interupted when she put her hand on his shoulder.
"There will be a letter from Nile this afternoon to …..inform ,well, to assign you to your latest mission. Your assignment will be involved with a past of your new friend. You'll be interested in this, as you will make sure what had happened to her will never happen with anyone else."
She pat on his shoulder before parted to the courtyard, Gohan turned and followed her, aiding her in familarising the troop with their new equipment .
Hermann Gleaves anxiously sitting on his chair, fidgetly looking at the door of his interrogation room, The said room would be located in the Wolf's Den, one of Lady Bulma Winters' many outposts. He had not been totured, or beaten for his betrayal yet. He gave the ones who interrogated him everything they needed to know. Why did he betray them? He didn't, he though he was helping them. Who else is involved in this? A worker whom he bribed for the Semtex.Why did he hand the explosives to the Survey Corps? The Pack and the Corps had the same purpose, to free humanity from the yokes of the Titans. Does he make contact with any other action or individual? None!
The Alpha, John and Peter said nothing afterward. Peter had reached under neath his jacket, where his revolver was located, but Alpha signaled him to not to. His friend was going to kill him!The Alpha and his Top Betas just simply exited the room instead. They are deciding his fate. Had John had not let him go to the restroom before the interrogation, Gleaves would have pissed his pants when the door shut before him.
"Just shoot him and be done with it!" Said Bury, disgrunted of the fact that the Alpha had stopped him killing the traitor. "He's a Code Loki,you shoot them!"
"Not before the Lady's here, Mr Bury!" Yamcha crossed his arms and glared at him. "You're in a quite a haste to execute your fellow Wolf."
"He's a traitor, Alpha. God knows how many time did he stab us in the back?" Retorted Bury.
"In that regard ,Peter, it is still too early to assume he's told us the truth." Ingham resorted to defuse the situation as he clean his glasses. "It is inadvisable to kill him now."
Before Bury could open his mouth to rebut Jonathan ,Yamcha interupted him.
"Mr Bury,you're dismissed. Go back to the castle. Have some rest." Peter Bury frowned,rolled his eyes, and complied. Yamcha waited for the silhouette of the blond top Beta to disapear in the stairway that he let out a breath of relief. "Most impressive, Jonathan,how the hell did you figure it out it was Gleaves?"
"Instinct!"
"Instinct?"
" Yes, that...and a few vague clues I picked up." Ingham looked at his mentor to show him his evil grin. "It's my job to pick up clues, it's my expertise, the one you and the Lady have trained me for."
" You think he tells the truth?" Yamcha looked at Gleaves' cell.
" I know the man for 15 years, he the first friend I made in this world. I know when he is honest and when he's not." Compose as his face was, the sadness showed in his eyes.
"So there's nothing more we can pry out off him?"
John Ingham shook his head. "And we know what that means."
"Peter wants him dead, Bulma probably wants him dead, even you want him dead. Those 15 years have done to us." Sighed Yamcha as he leaned on the wall.
"Regrettably. It has to be done..." Then Ingham realised that the Alpha did not list himself. "You want him to live?"
"Yeah, why not? He has a very legit reason for his actions. It's actually benefits us and match our goals." Said Yamcha. "I maybe able to sway Bulma to..."
Then they heard footsteps coming from the stair, and reveal a shade of blue hair coming up.
"Speaks of the blue-haired bitch!" Exclaimed Yamcha.
"Get down stair ,grab your lunch , young Jonathan. You hard a tought night." Bulma dismissed her top wolf.
"I'd rather you not calling me that." Ingham climbed down the stair to leave the hall for his two superiors.
Bulma glance through the barred window of Gleaves' cell to see the Top Beta siting behind the table, who then recoiled when he recognise the Lady.
"What you had out of him?"
"His motif's compatible with ours. The poor boy just wants to aid the scouts' war effort. No grand conspiracy what so ever !"
"You've soft ,have you?" Glared the Lady. "He betray our trust, he forfeited his loyalty. He has to go."
"The boy has good intention of crossing us,Bulma." Yamcha crouched down as if to beg his old friend "After all, aren't we doing the same thing he did? Helping the scouts?Helping humanity agaisnt the titans despite what a excuse the people here are?"
"What you proporse we do? Huh? How we can trust him after what he did? We can't remove out of service, he knows too much,Yamcha." Retorted Bulma, she crouched down to Yamcha's level, expressing the same facial expression as him. "He betrayed us once, he went under our nose, I offered him trust, and he repaid it with disloyalty."
"I have a way to test his allegiance, you have trust me. He will die, for us,regardless." Yamcha reached out his hand. "I need your gun."
"Don't you bring yours?" Confused Bulma.
"Yes, I do. But yours' a revolver." Bulma eyed widen at the game she knew her Alpha was going to play .
"You sick bastard, even after what happened at the salt mines, I never thought you have it in you." She tucked her hand into her jacket and pull out her sidearm, she slam the grip to Yamcha's palm. "You're going to leave his fate to chance? If he dies, he's gonna be traumatised in his last momento, and his odd is even lower with that thing."
Yamcha took a firm grip to the gun and walked to the door, and open the door.
"It's not chance, it's choice!" And he walked in and closed the door behind him.
Hermann's face was even paler than the last time he was interrogated, the moment he saw the Alpha at this hour he knew that his time has come. Alpha grab an extra chair by the room and dragged it to the table that Gleave sat behind, slowly, and sound it made tortured his soul and ears alike.
"Stealin' the Semtex for the Scouts in order for them to win against the Titans, really?" Yamcha sat down in front of him.
"They need all the help they can get. I cannot bear to hear the horror of casualty of the scouts or the story that been told of happened in Marria, no longer, I just can't." Gleaves started to shed tears, which he had never done in the interrogation.
"And it's happened to help the Pack?" Yamcha rolled his eyes.
"You help people, the Lady helps people. You've invented things that no one has been allowed to. Military, Medical, I can even bet that we can create more to help more people." Hermann's hands were shaking , in corespondence with his entire body, except for his eyes which stare straight into the Papa Wolf's. Never did he knew that one could be so brave when most afraid. "That then I know, that the Goal of the pact intertwines with the Survey Corps'. And with the Angel of Trost, Master Gohan, I know I was, I am right."
"Very, very touching. But don't bother explaining no more, we've passed that stage. We're clear of your good intention, young lad." Yamcha frowned, before smiling at his prisoner, and flipped out the revolver Bulma had given to him. "But the council had decided your fate."
Hermann Gleaves froze at the sight of the gun, he knew he was done for. "T...th...the...coun...the council?"
"Yeah, me, the Lady, Peter and Jonathan. Only I the one who votes 'live'."
"Eve... even John?" Glaves felt the room temparture was lowered.
"Ja, it grieves him to make such decision." He raise the gun to plain sight. "But... I insisted to let live, so we come to a compromise. Take it up to chance. A life for a life."
" Chance? A live..." Before Gleaves could finish , Yamcha showed the gun closer to his face, not the barrel, but the gun.
" Only one of us will walk out of this room alive." Yamcha wiggled the gun to his face. "Smaller than your standard revolver, I know. But the same design, structure and mechanics."
Yamcha opened the cylinder and poured out five bullets from the gun. Gleaves knew what was happening, they were gonna play roulette.
"Five chances to live, one to die. Two men in, one goes out." Yamcha took a deep breath before pressing barrel to his own temple. "Since I'm the one who insists that you should live, I'll go first."
"Wait!" Screamed Gleaves, but it was too late, the Alpha had already pulled the trigger.
*CLICK*
"Few, the chance of the first time is the one is statically high." He gave Hermann the gun. "Your try."
"Sir, please. Just kill me. I don't think the stress..."
"That's not how the game works. Don't you see? This your punishment." He pressed the gungrip to the Top Beta's chest. "It's either your execution or pardon. So take it like a man, youngman!"
Gleaves reluctantly grabbed the gun and slowly point it to his head, his hand were shaking,cocked the hammer. And he couldn't bare to pull the trigger. Thirty seconds passed, then a minute ,then two...
" The waiting only gets worse if you stall!" Complained Yamcha.
*CLICK *
Hermann Gleaves dropped the gun onto the table as he breathed heavily, Yamcha was right, delay the trigger squeezing only got the dread worse. Yamcha rolled his eyes in respond to his former surbodniate's scarediness ,he frowned at the top beta and grabbed the gun.
"Your first time facing certain death? I've faced it once before, you know?" Yamcha aim the gun to his temple. "By an obscured ,inferior enemy no less, I can't never wash that shame away." And squeezed the trigger.
*CLICK *
"Welp, perhaps third time is not the charm." He place the gun back on the table. "This is the last time either of us see eachother."
"Pro...mise me you help the scout, promise me you'll free humanity, retake Wall Maria." Gleaves retrieved the pistol with his shaking hands, the gun was still shaking when he pointed the barrel at his forehead. And squeeze the the trigger.
*Click* Two more shots left.
Satitically, the next shot would probably be the one, more likely Yamcha would be kill by this one. He took the gun and stared at his prisoner.
"You in no position to make demands, Hermann." He took the gun to himself. " 50/50, this is good bye." And fired. *CLICK* And Hermman sighed in relief for the Alpha before gasped in terror of knowing of his own certain doom. "Tough luck!"
Gleaves knew this was it, there were six shots in a revolver ,and they have already tried five, the chamber with the bullet must be his turn. He was statically dead. The man collasped from his seat and started to sob, his body shook even more manickly . He put his hand on the pistol, gripped it tightly. He could have missfire it but he magically didn't. The gun's nose shook crazily in accordance to his hand, as if if he fire, the gun may blasted to the soft part of his face. He knew this turn was dead, he would die when he pull the trigger. Tear poured down from his cheek.
"Aaaaaarrrrrgh!" He mustered all his courage and frustration into his index finger and squeezed the trigger.
*CLICK*
"Huh?" Gleave faced puzzled as the gun clicked, and he was still alive.
"You knew could just shoot me instead, right?" Yamcha relaxed his face and snatch the pistol from Gleaves and tucked it in his belt. "Tauren 9mm, 5-shooter,not six , the thing was empty all along."
"What?"
"You could have pointed the gun at me and shoot, but you didn't." Yamcha smiled at Gleave, and patted on the wolf's shoulder in approval. "You chose certain death before betrayal!"
"It was a test?" Gaped Herman, puzzling of what would happen if he had chosen to attempt to shoot the alpha instead, which was never appear in his mind. "You would kill me on the spot if I chose to shoot you right?"
"Doesn't matter! You've passed." He open the door before exiting the room. "Welcomes back to the Pack, Top Beta!"
As the Alpha left the room, the Top Beta breathed in relief, happy at what he has done.
Night, Wall Rose.
When Bulma told Gohan he would be assigned of a mission regard of one of his new friends' old past, she meant Mikasa. Nile Dowk had assigned Gohan and his retinue to track down and take down a group of human traffickers.
Gohan had spent an hour to read Mikasa's file, and these human traffickers use the same method of conduct in her kidnapping. They would kill the father and/or husband of the family and snatch the children and women. They would sold them to rich nobles or civilians that wanted free larbor and with twisted fetishes. Fortunately ,for this world underdeveloped medical advances, there was no organ harvesting, so most likely the victims were still alive.
An escapee from these human traffickers had approached the Military Police a few months earlier. Slacky as they were, but their had narrowed down the human traffickers' base of operation in the woods near the Karanes district, inner wall. They resided themselves in side a large wooden cabin in the woods, the light inside eluminated the windows.
Gohan had brought with him a contigents of 20 military police soldiers. Seven of them armed with M1 Garands, whilst the rest were equiped with the M1 Carbines. The only who was not armed was Gohan himself.
The though of these criminals' atrcoccitities boiled the Monkey Boy's blood. Though he aimed to use non-lethal methods to take down those criminals, he had no intention to restrain his subordinates from lethal approaches, and he also to maim the human traffickers as badly as he could.
"I suggest we blaze all our firearms at that cabin from here." Suggested Boris in their tactics. "It would surely kill many of them, and suppress any survivors, they would surrender. On top of it,it would save us from any casualty."
"I see the benefit of that tactic, herr Feulner." Replied Gohan as he blush that away. "However, I would like to take as many of them alive as I can. Furthermore, we can't rule out the possibility that they have prisoners of their own, I hate the idea that we might harm them with any stray bullets."
"Up close and personal then." Hitch remarked. "Either option, we get to get these babies do their works." She tapped on her carbines.
"Surround the structure! Ready to breach it in many points of entry." Gohan ordered his troops to move forward. In a matter of seconds the troops stacked behind the front door, hid by the back door and ducked down beneath all the windows.
"Do I kick it?" Asked Marlo as he pointed his Garand at the front door.
"Step aside!" Whispered Gohan, he stretched out his Ki sensing, he found inside 20 Ki signatures , he yearned out for details and figured that only 16 of them were going strong, indicate the other four were either hostages or asleep.
He knocked on the door and put his palm on it.
"The Hell?" The troops could hear commotion inside, and rumbling of the voices of the hostiles.
"Go check it out."
Gohan closed his eyes, sensing a person was approaching the door, he held his breath and when the person touched the door, he used all his strength and pushed the door. The door unhinged, and flew straight into the criminal sending him away.
"Fire!" Ordered Gohan. The troops outside picked their targets and started firing. Blood begun to splatter.
Three of the human traffickers were riddled with bullets and lied down in an instant, the rest of them aside from the one who was knocked out by the door,knocked over the tables and chairs to take cover. At least half of them drew out their flintlock pistols and return fire, but their weapons were absolete, not to mention inaccurate and had low rates of fire, missed all the MPs.
One of them , no two, took out their knives and charged the only MPs who wasn't armed, Gohan. The monkey boy lazily dodged the two thrusts of the knifemen. He slapped at one of the two's knife hand and disarmed him, and he screamed in agony and puzzle his 'friend' in the process. Gohan did a swipe kick to remainder criminal with a knife and knocked him cold before he could figure out his friend screamed in agony for a hand-slap. Gohan then spot on of the enemy gunmen aimed at him, and he used the one he disarmed as an meatshield before the flintlock fire. Apperantly his action was redundant as the shot missed, he threw the one he was grabbing aside and jumped at the shooter. Both of Gohan feet landed right at the said shooter's face,under his shoes he could felt the man's jaw broke. A serrie of semi-automatic shots fired, Gohan could sensed the bullets flew right by him, and hit a crook that was charging him from the side. The young captain vaulted over a knocked-over table , and grabbed two human traffickers hiding behind and smashed the heads together, putting them both out of commision. He could heard the soldiers' Garands pinged, but before they could reload, the remainding human traffickers went prone with they hands covering their heads.
"Stop it! We surrender! We surrender!" The crooks finally yielded. Gohan had heard his enemy surrendered before, that were Bertholdt, he ignored it, but he was not going to ignore these.
"Cease fire! Cease fire! Stand down!" Ordered Gohan, to which his retinues followed. "Casualty report!"
"None wounded, no one dies!" Reported Marlo.
"I second that!" Report Boris.
"I concur!" Said Hitch.
Gohan used his energy sensing to confirm, just to be sure, and he sensed 20 of his posé were still healthy. He nodded and pointed at the criminals who laying on the ground.
"Secure them!" He ordered his troops before shifted his voice to the crooks. "Which one of you the leader?"
One of the traffickers pointed at the dead body near him.
"Lores, is Lores, he's dead!" Gohan sighed and leaned down at the crook who had just spoken.
"You had taken some one a day before, where are you keeping them?"
"Down the basement,sir!"
"Hitch, Marlo, with me!" He waved at the two MPs before he led them to the basement's entrance.
The door was locked, Gohan could have just kicked the door down, but he afraid he might kicked it into anyone inside so he signaled Hitch.
Hitch remove her magazine and inserted a new one into her Carbine and aimed at the lock, and fired. It took her five shots to busted the lock open. The MPs opened the door, to see 4 females tied up to the chairs, 2 young women and 2 children.
"Untie them!" ordered Gohan to Hitch and Marlo who strapped their rifles to their back and rushed to the children to untie them. Gohan approached the two women and ripped off their restrains. "We're the Military Police, you're safe now."
"For now. For us." One of them hugged Gohan, tears in her eyes. "But things like this are happening as we speak, and it will continue to happen."
"I promise you I won't let thing like this happen again!" Said Gohan ,craddling the woman in his arms.
"How, Captain? It's not like something this is in your control." Said Hitch as he carried one of the little girl in her arms.
"Until I do!" Gohan hid his grin.
Next Chapter: The Interior Police.