A pair of huge eyeballs devoid of emotion were hungrily peering up at her.
With an expression that was equally blank, Mikasa held the titan's gaze for a few more seconds before she teared her eyes away from it and glanced at the direction far deeper inside the forest that had used to be quite a popular tourist spot before the tragedy of the fall.
A distant round of noise had erupted earlier somewhere deep in the forestry. What on earth could be happening inside there?
They were currently roosted atop the branches of the trees that were forming the tree line of the woods, as per orders from their superiors. She casted a cursory glance around her fellow cadets and could see the same bewildered expressions.
Nobody knew what was going on anymore.
"Mikasa.."
Mikasa glanced to the next branch and saw an anxious-looking Sasha crouched while staring at the horizon of green land. She had a potato in her hand (Mikasa had no idea where she managed to pull that out) and was munching in her corner quietly.
"What was that sound, in your opinion?" Sasha asked, still looking at the horizon before them. "It.. sounded like cannons are firing inside the forest.."
In that moment, another burst of rounds came echoing. Flocks of startled birds fluttered away high up in the sky.
The soldiers stationed outside the forest were all tense.
".. Probably." Apprehension building up inside her chest, Mikasa turned to look at the shrubbery behind her. Was Eren in there? Was he safe?
Meanwhile, in another tree branch, Armin and Jean decided to evacuate to the next tree seeing that a titan was starting to gain vantage ground by climbing.
"He's gradually getting better at it," Jean remarked as he flew over, a mild glare at the titan that was hungrily eyeing them while it was climbing up the tree.
Armin curtly nodded. "It means it can learn.. that's a scary thought. Although, that too, varies from individual to individual."
Just as the two boys landed on the branch, Jean decided to speak up about something that had been bothering him ever since they had been ordered on standby.
"Say, Armin. There's something going on inside this forest right now.. and I think I now have a guess as to what."
The blond looked at him and waited for him to continue.
"We've lured that female titan all the way here to capture it, am I right?"
Armin didn't answer, and that was all Jean needed.
He lightly clicked his tongue as he looked back at the titan that was still in the middle of its tree-climbing adventure and was eyeing them like they were its next lunch. Unfortunately for the big guy, Jean had more important businesses to tend to than becoming titan lunch.
"I just.. don't understand why only a select few knew about the plan." He swallowed a pit of saliva. "In the Scouts... there are spies who are trying to destroy the wall... am I right, Armin?"
As Armin confirmed Jean's thoughts, their conversation stretched on about how Eren's existence was the primary reason for the veteran Scouts to enact this operation, and how their enemies, whoever they were, had now abandoned their goal in breaking down the walls and redirected their priority to capturing Eren.
"But still..." Jean's voice trailed off, tightening his grip around his handgrips. "I still think more people should've been let in on the real plan. If the soldiers knew about the intelligent titan beforehand, they would have fought her differently. Maybe more lives would have been saved. What exactly... is the Commander thinking by letting so many of us die without knowing that there was a plan in disguise?"
For a few seconds, Armin was silent. He pressed a hand to his temple, feeling the bandages around his head. He had incurred the injury earlier during his encounter with the female titan. The same female titan.. whose identity was slowly becoming clearer to him.
"No. The Commander wasn't wrong."
A confused brow twitched on Jean's face. "Huh? What wasn't wrong? Didn't you hear me, Armin? More people would have survived if the Commander told more about the plan!"
Armin lowered his hand and turned to him. "Jean. Everyone can make a choice after they've learned what it will result in. It's so easy to say 'we should have done it this way' afterwards." He briefly paused, chewing the inside of his lips. "But... you can't know what your choice will result in before actually choosing."
The more Armin thought about it, the more he realized how Erwin was in the right when he chose to only limit the soldiers who should be aware of their plan. There were still so many questions unanswered, so many factors—both known and unknown factors—and they had to formulate the plan while keeping their guards high up in the case of any eavesdropping ears. They enacted this operation knowing the consequences.
"The veterans.. and the Commander.. they were left with no choice. They didn't know anything, but the time keeps moving. It won't stop to let them acquire the information they needed. So they had to make a choice."
He looked at Jean in the eye.
"The Commander may be a heartless person for what he did, but that's just fine by me. I'm sure he considered every possible factor.. and he had to choose: the lives of one hundred of his comrades, or the lives of all of humanity living inside the walls. And.. he chose to throw away the lives of a hundred of his comrades."
As the silence trickled in to fill the gap of their conversation, Armin thought about the operation to retake Wall Maria four years ago, the same mission that took away the lives of more than a hundred thousand refugees, including his grandfather.
He thought about Commander Pixis, the General-in-chief Zackly, Commander Erwin—and all the other high figures in the military.
Tell me.. how do you kill a monster without becoming one?
"I haven't lived long enough," he continued, "but there's something I firmly believe in. The people who have the ability to change something in this world, all of them.. have the guts to abandon things important to them if they have to. They are those who can even abandon their humanity to outdo literal monsters."
And even Isanna-san.. had no choice back then.
All those high figures had to make the sacrifice four years ago. Just as how Erwin chose to sacrifice a hundred of his comrades in this operation, all the military heads also chose to abandon twenty percent of humanity back then for the remaining population.
Armin balled his fists at his side, a twisting gut in his stomach at the thought of his grandfather being just 'one of the sacrifices' that had to be made. This was the hard part of being the bigger person; even if you're hurt, you still try to understand. I'm sorry, grandpa.
And in that moment, Armin understood. He understood why Erwin Smith was appointed to be the leader of the Survey Corps.
Because he had the courage to make choices nobody else could ever dare to make.
"People who can't throw away something important.. can never hope to achieve anything."
•
Isanna wanted to release a sigh of relief, but she couldn't afford to lower her guard just yet; she knew their mission was far from over.
Hearing the zipping sounds of a 3DMG wire hooking, she glanced and saw Levi swiftly landing on the tree branch beside Erwin. She latched a hook to the same branch and landed on the blond's other side as the three of them peered down at the bounded titan that had both hands wrapped around the back of her neck, shielding her weak spot.
"Looks like it's immobilized," Levi pointed out with a bored gaze, his blades already out just like Erwin.
Isanna scoffed without looking at him. "You don't say?"
Before Levi could retort back, Erwin had already stepped into the conversation. "We can't let down our guard yet."
Isanna left the two (boring) men to their conversation and stepped forward, squinting her eyes at how the female titan was trembling in an effort to escape the wires—which was a futile attempt because their special enemy restraining weapon was especially put together to be able to hold down monsters with titanous strength such as hers, kudos to the one and only Hanji.
"At any rate, good work in guiding it to our trap," she heard Erwin acknowledge Levi.
"It's all thanks to the rear squad who gave up their lives fighting to back us up," Levi replied as he glanced at him. "It wouldn't have been possible without them."
Isanna was silent as she registered his words, remorse wallowing up inside her at the lost comrades. All that effort just to get their target right where their trap was waiting. She was grateful.
If she were to be honest, she had not expected for them to reach this far in the plan, because again, she was not exactly the most positive person in the world.
"Thanks to them," she heard Levi say, "we can meet the shithead in this thing's nape." He went on to remark how he hoped the person inside the titan wasn't pissing themselves.
Isanna wrinkled her nose at the thought. "That'd be so uncomfortable and disgusting."
Erwin was unbothered at their side comments, their tones seemingly so casual as if they were not in the middle of the most important part of their plan. He dismissed their nonchalance and told Levi to get ready to slice the titan's wrists off.
Levi confirmed his order before he glanced at Isanna. "You slicing it up with me?"
She stared down at the soldiers below her, particularly Hanji who seemed to be having another one of her monologues while she pulled the rope trigger of the capture equipment, shooting another hook at the titan; she looked like she was having fun—most likely excited at the thought of performing experiments on their target when they get home.
"Hm, I don't know," Isanna drawled, attention still on the immobilized titan. "Should the three of us with Mike throw some rock-paper-scissors to determine who gets to cut this dipshit up?"
"Seriously?" Levi scowled at her. "You want to play a fucking game?"
"I am all for equality and fair chances."
Erwin stared at the two with an exasperated frown.
Separately, both Isanna and Levi were capable of making sound decisions and act as responsible leaders. But put them together and in one way or another, their maturity level would drop down a notch.
A side effect, Erwin thought.
"You know what—" Isanna sighed in defeat and waved a dismissive hand— "forget it. You and Mike can take her, he's better than me when it comes to muscular strength, anyway."
Levi clicked his tongue in irritation, resisting the urge to strangle the woman, not caring that she was practically his superior as he imagined himself dropkicking her over the branch they were currently standing on. "You could've just said so in the first place; now we wasted precious seconds because of your stupid shit."
Isanna didn't snap back, but she did roll her eyes and mockingly imitated him in a tone that was a few octaves higher while making a weird face. "Now we wasted precious seconds because of your stupid shit."
"I don't sound like that."
"I never said you do."
"We're in a middle of an expedition, you shithead. Stop being so annoying unless you want to die."
"Bold of you to assume I don't want to die already."
Erwin decided to step in. "That's enough, you two."
He then turned to Levi. "Get down there with Mike."
Levi and Isanna shared one last look, the former in a light glare and the latter in a triumphant smirk, before Levi jumped to the branch where Mike was perched.
Once they were alone, Erwin gave Isanna a pointed expression—the disapproving 'dad' look—but she casually avoided his look with pursed lips.
"Refrain from fooling around," he chided.
"I'm not." She shrugged her shoulders, still not looking at him. "I was serious about the 'wanting to die' part."
Erwin decided to ignore her last comment (and made a mental note to start looking for a therapist for the Survey Corps—he had a feeling Isanna wasn't the only one who needed it) and drop the subject altogether as he shifted his attention down at the titan below them.
In short moments, Levi and Mike finally went to work on the female titan's hands as they angled their blades and simultaneously dropped down on its flesh, bringing down their weapons.
A flash of blue layer that resembled crystal glass suddenly formed on the titan's hands, causing their blades to shatter into pieces, their attacks rendered useless.
Isanna narrowed her eyes at the crystal shards that began to slowly fall off from her skin—it seemed like it could not maintain its solidity.
"Isanna, order the squads below to ready the explosives; we're blowing off its arms," Erwin spoke up, his steel gaze fixed on the female titan's hands.
She turned to him after a thought. "I'm all for blasting shit up, but the explosion might kill the fucker inside."
Ignoring her vulgarity, Erwin considered her words. "Then bombing her wrists will do. Tell them to wait for my signal before detonating from a short distance away."
Isanna nodded and jumped off the branch, making sure to latch a gear line to slow down her descent as she relayed her Commander's orders to the soldiers below, them quickly rushing off to obey. She watched from the side as some unmounted the explosives from their cargo, steadily lifting the fragile bombs and heading towards the female titan.
Everything seemed like it was going according to plan.
But of course, luck was never on the side of the Survey Corps.
Isanna widened her eyes before she quickly raised her hands to cover her ears in an attempt to block out the animal-like, ear-shattering shriek, and it took her a moment to register that the shrill voice was coming from the female titan herself.
All soldiers within the vicinity were taken aback at the sudden screech as they covered their ears. Well, everyone except for Erwin, who just lightly tipped his head backwards in surprise— because he was built differently.
What the fuckity fuck piece of shitty shit was that all about? Isanna slowly lowered her hands and craned her neck to look at the titan, noticing that Levi was atop its head.
Unbeknownst to her, the fuckity fuck piece of shitty shit—which happened to be Levi, had pissed it off.
Isanna turned back to the soldiers and parted her lips, about to tell them to carry on with the explosives when her ears twitched when it caught wind of something.
Oh my god, you've gotta be kidding me.
She quickly shot a hook at the branch high up in the air where Erwin was on and propelled her figure upwards, landing on the bough at the same time as Mike did, who was wearing the same anxious expression as her. They both shared knowing looks, seemingly reading each other's thoughts, before he turned to Erwin.
"Erwin! The stench!"
The Commander looked at the two and caught on to what Mike meant. "Its direction?"
"It's everywhere," Isanna grimly answered this time. "And they're getting closer."
As if to prove her words, the rumbling quakes of footsteps came echoing from the east.
Erwin glanced down at the soldiers below. "Hurry up with the artillery!"
"Too late for that," Isanna mumbled as she turned to the east direction while Mike warned Erwin that the titans were already within sighting distance.
A thick brow twitched on Erwin's face as he shot a brief look at the horde of titans that were coming through towards them. "Carts Convoy squad, intercept them!"
Isanna stared as a few soldiers flew towards the titans with their maneuvering gear, but her brows shot up in confusion when the rushing group utterly ignored the soldiers and headed straight towards where the female titan was being held.
"Four titans broke through!" one of the soldiers yelled with his topnotch eyesight. As if four gigantic humanoids weren't obvious enough.
Isanna narrowed her eyes and leaped off the branch, gravity pulling her figure downwards in declension while her small ponytail whipped above her head as she pulled her blades from her gear and swiped the flesh of the nape of one of the titans; at the same time, Levi had jumped off from the female titan's head and took two out.
A much smaller titan passed through the two soldiers and latched onto the female titan's leg, beginning to eat her flesh like it was some high-end meat.
Isanna crinkled her face. "Disgusting!"
Erwin on the other hand, was able to understand the female titan's intentions; she was hellbent on protecting the information she carried to the point that she was going to sacrifice herself. "All soldiers, engage them! Protect the female titan at all costs!"
Fucking hell, this bitch really made a fool of us, Isanna thought with gritted teeth as she flew around, hooking her 3DMG line here and there while slaying as much as titans as she could, steaming titan blood curling around and clouding the area. However, no matter how many titans she killed, they were clearly outnumbered.
"Damn it!" she cursed as she hooked a line to a nearby tree and suspended her form, furiously glaring at the carcass of what was once the blonde titan, fumes of smoke scattering around the unnumbered mass of titans below. She clenched her grip around the handles of her blade and slammed a frustrated fist on the tree bark behind her. "Shit!"
All those deaths..
Before she could even sputter another string of curses, Erwin gave the order to pull back.
With one last murderous look at the titan corpse, Isanna swiftly clicked her handgrips and dropped her blunted blades down before she flew over towards the branch where Erwin was, who was currently in a conversation with Levi; apparently, the former had ordered the Captain to refill his gas and blades before he was to regroup with his squad.
There was mixture of annoyance and confusion in his expression as Levi told Erwin that he still had enough, but the latter was firm in his order. Levi eventually relented and went off to the supply wagons.
"What's going on?" Isanna walked over to Erwin with a frown, the clattering of her gas tanks hitting each other with each step. "We should focus more on returning with no more deaths, Commander."
She watched as the blond fixed an intent gaze at the steaming corpse below. "Remember Hanji's theory? About the spy in the colossal titan being equipped with maneuvering gear in order to disappear in the vapor?"
Isanna paused in her tracks. "But didn't we discard that because even Eren couldn't lift a finger after separating from his titan?"
Erwin's frown deepened as he finally shifted his attention towards her. The female titan had the ability to harden a part of her body and call other titans over with her scream. "If titan abilities vary on each individual, then it was a mistake to gauge our enemies based on a novice."
"Then I should go with Levi," she replied after a long pause of silence at his theory. She thought about Eren's safety and how the boy was now in a tight situation because of their miscalculation. "We'll meet up with you outside the forest when we're done—"
"No, I forbid you," Erwin swiftly cut her off, mildly surprising her as she noted the stiff look on his face. "Head out first and gather the soldiers who are outside the forest. I'll lead the veterans out after cleaning up here."
"What? But Eren is in danger—"
"Orders, Isanna," Erwin interjected with a stern frown. "I expect you to obey me."
She clamped her mouth shut and curled her fists. If he said it like that, she was now obliged to listen. He really had a way of getting people to listen to him with his compelling, authoritative voice.
Erwin knew this was no time for them to continue this conversation, so he dropped the matter. "Hurry and head out. After gathering the soldiers outside, keep them a distance away from the forest and wait for me."
"... Yes, sir," she mumbled through gritted teeth.
After a mental debate, Isanna then rounded her heel and dropped back to the ground with her gear. She mounted back on Fish and kicked her sides to burst forward, away from the foggy area of titan steams. She could hear the yells of the soldiers getting distant the farther she got away from the place, and soon she was riding alone through the mossy pathway that led out of the forest.
"Damn him," she cursed under her breath as she rode through the forestry, her eyes squinting on the road ahead.
All those weeks spent in preparation only for their enemy to pull out a hidden card in their sleeves had thrown them off track. She should have expected things weren't going to end well for them.
Everything inside her was screaming to turn around. Turn the fuck around and head to Eren. She was worried out of her wits, yet here she was, complying to orders.
.. But she could always choose to disobey.
.. What the fuck, Isa? She thought to herself with a clenched jaw as she tightened her grip around her reigns. Disobeying on the field? Really? Is this how we roll now? You were the one who told Eren to trust in his comrades and here you are, itching to disobey just because you're worried?
Hypocrite, she told herself.
Besides, when on the battlefield, the commander's orders were always absolute, and she wasn't usually one to go against orders. No matter how much she disliked (not hate, that was too much of a strong word) his guts, she never directly went against orders from Erwin.
Isanna thought about the shifter who had been riding the female titan. If they had more experience and was well-trained in controlling their titan powers, which they most likely would be, they would probably be more skilled than Eren even in titan form.
All their effort would be for naught if the enemy actually managed to kidnap Eren.
Multiple questions were circulating her thoughts. Who were they up against? How many traitors were left hiding inside the walls? Who exactly was their enemy?
The Scouts had no fucking clue, and it was frustrating as hell. They just kept on losing more lives and the questions only kept on piling even higher, with no signs of them ever getting answered.
Presumably, Eren's basement held the answers they had been fighting for all these years, but even just getting there alive was a dim hope in itself.
If only they had more information.. and if only the world wasn't such a dick to them.
Another voice was egging her on to turn around and fly over to where Eren was; like a devil was on one shoulder, taunting her with enticing whispers of "Go on! Save the titan boy! Who cares about Eyebrows?", while an angel was on the other shoulder and reasoning with her saying "No! Don't disobey, Isa! You're better than that!"
She chewed on her bottom lip as she heard the drumming of her heart getting louder inside her ears.
The galloping of horse hooves were suddenly drowned by a screeching crackle of lightning in the distance, as well as the sky glinting into colors of white and yellow in a flash; it sounded from deeper inside the forest—and that was Isanna's cue to be an idiot.
"Fuck it. The worst thing that could happen is Erwin putting me on probation."
And with that helpful thought, she pulled her horse around.
•
In hasty minutes following Isanna's departure, Erwin led the remaining soldiers on their horses, hooves clopping away from the scene as they passed by the occasional strip of sunlight peering down through the dense shrubbery of trees that surrounded them.
Hanji asked the Commander why he had Levi refill his gas when they were pressed for time and had to return to Karanes district immediately, with the blond explaining to her his suspicions about their enemy now blending amongst them while looking for Eren.
Erwin had no choice but to send his best soldier away in hopes of fending the female titan off and protect Eren.
A bolt of lightning came from the skies, alerting everyone of another titan transformation. Just as Erwin had deduced, their situation had turned even worse. He mentally scolded himself for his error of judgement on their enemies.
Hanji gulped back a lump of worry, shooting an uneasy look over her shoulder and towards the direction where the lightning noise had come from. She shared a troubled glance with Mike.
While Erwin didn't look back, his eyes narrowed ahead of the path while he tightened his grasp around the reigns of his stallion, assuring himself that he had already sent their strongest soldier to battle.
Erwin had a hundred trust in Levi's strength and knew he was more than capable of handling it by himself, so he wasn't all worried.
But.. he couldn't put a finger as to why there was a brewing uneasiness inside him.