Hand in Hand

21. Myth

Levi turned his head at the sound of whooshing ODM gear. As she landed on the roof, Mikasa clicked her gear in lock and kneeled down.

"Armin and Jean are alright," she confirmed. "The men who captured them fell for the disguise. We have them tied up."

There was no response. Levi's gaze stayed low and steady on the crowds below him. Trost was booming with its citizens. The King had announced he would be giving provisions to families in need. The crowd was the perfect setting for Reiss's men to slip through undetected.

"They weren't MPs," Mikasa said louder.

'Just as I figured,' Levi thought. 'Corrupt men being led by a corrupt Lord. Probably thought they'd be compensated heavily for their shitty criminal acts.'

"It doesn't matter who they are now," he replied. "Keep them tied up. They most likely have information Hanji and I can use."

He stood up and fixed the switches on his gear. "Mikasa, there's something you should know and I need you to tell the others."

"What it is?"

"We aren't just fighting titans anymore." He looked up at her. She was a skilled scout, but regardless, she was still very young. Would she be able to kill a human being, even if she was ordered to? "Don't hesitate to use your blades on whoever we're against."

Mikasa's face remained unchanged. "I'll relay the message. Are you leaving now?"

Nodding, he said, "I'll go track down Eren and Historia's carriage to make sure they arrive safely. There's a chance this could all go South. We still don't know for sure who we're dealing with."

The vivid image of Eren tied up and in the hands of the Royal Government boiled Mikasa's blood. "I won't let Eren be taken by Reiss. His life is in my hands and I don't intend to let anything happen to him."

Her comment caught him off guard. Was him pushing (y/n) to go with Hanji any different than Mikasa's innate tendency to put Eren's life over her own? They both subconsciously wanted the people they cared about out of harms way. The only difference was, those two had known each other since they were children. When had he started concerning himself with (y/n)'s safety?

"I'm going now." As he stood at the edge of the old warehouse roof reading to jump, he added, "If you hear gunshots, follow them."

Within a second, his foot lifted off the roof, and he was gone.

'Left, right. Go under the bridge, another left.'

The buildings rolled past him in flashes and street noise was drowned out by the short creaks and whirling of his retracting ODM grapples. To swing his body and throw his arms with his gear, it was all second nature to him.

Missions outside the wall were what Levi had been trained on. The tall trees and falling leaves, moist dirt under his boots, and the crisp air, it was familiar to him. It was easy to fight out there. Trost muddled his thoughts. There was a sea of people below him, anyone of them could be against him and he would have no idea. Houses and buildings were just another problem. Could there be some bastard around a corner, waiting for him with a gun?

'Make a left, hold. The second building to the right. Don't look back.'

Every move was calculated. It wasn't until Levi saw Nifa waiting for him on top of a building that he realized he had been holding in his breath.

"Is it safe to assume that the decoy part of the mission went smoothly?" Nifa asked as he lowered himself next to her. They were on their stomachs watching the bustle below them.

"Very safe," Levi muttered.

"You don't sound too happy."

He wasn't. There was something nagging him in the back of his mind, something like a word on the tip of his tongue that he couldn't quite remember.

"The people captured weren't MPs," he said. "They were amateurs, lackeys. It just begs the question, who are we actually dealing with?"

"At least that part went smoothly. The carriage holding Eren and Historia is being held up by the crowds. We just have to wait it out."

"Yeah, at least."

Levi squinted down towards the street below. The covered carriage was being led by one of Hanji's squad members. He was yelling at the crowds to move. No one down there looks out of the ordinary. They were families and merchants, or low rank MPs. To them, today seemed like any other day. Levi envied their naivety.

'These people are smart,' he thought to himself as he looked at the blocked road. 'Reiss probably planned the King's generous donations too. They're using it to their advantage.'

The possibility of there being a mole within the scouts was not likely, and his initial thought of Reiss hiring illegitimate men had already been proven to be correct. Levi racked his brain to try to figure out what kind of criminal would be stupid enough to accept this kind of mission. Would it be someone the Government already had locked up and promised bail, or could it be a hired assassin?

'No, it couldn't be...'

Looking around, he spotted another lookout a few rooftops over, a man from Hanji's squad. Next to him, Nifa shifted in her position to get a better look at the streets below her. They were alone so high up in the air, but Levi knew that he would know that.

"Nifa?"

"Yes, sir?" She asked, not looking up.

"Have you ever heard about a man named Kenny The Ripper?"

She laughed anxiously, even though Levi's tone was serious. "You mean that mass murder in the Capital? Didn't he murder over a hundred MPs?"

"Shot a clean bullet in their heads every time...." Levi's voice trailed off, just did as his thoughts.

"I thought he was an urban legend."

He shook his head. "He's no myth, he's real."

'Someone who's familiar with ODM gear,' he thought. 'Someone who would have no problem killing for money. Someone who's smart, highly adaptable. Someone who knows how the Scouts operate. Someone like-'

"Captain, do you hear that?"

Levi perked up. There was a loud clicking sound he hadn't noticed before. Behind them. It was the familiar sound of retracting ODM gear.

His next move seemed to happen in slow motion. As soon as he turned around, a long figure shot straight up in the air, ODM wires whirling beside it. With outstretched arms, it pointed two long guns, one for each of them, the sun reflecting off the silver barrels, blinding Levi. His only instinct was to whip around behind the chimney of the building he was on.

"Nifa, move!"

Two gunshots drowned out his voice. One stopped short and the other flew past him. Two more gunshots rang in his ear, one to his left, and another in front of him. Abel and Keiji. Screams broke out on the streets below him.

'The carriage!' He kicked himself for not thinking fast enough. They had Eren and Historia now.

He didn't bother looking down at the street, or to Nifa's limp body on his right. He didn't have time to anyways, because just as he gather his thoughts the clicking sound resumed. The figure flew up in front of his view. Levi could see clearly now. Despite having a gun pointed at him again, he could make out the old man's figure.

"Yo, Levi!" The man yelled in mid air. "It's been a while!"