Eyes wide open, chapped lips parted, streaks of dried blood trickled down his chin.
There was no doubt about it. Nicholas Lovof was really dead. Killed, in a painful and probably slow death.
While Baldrick was still in a state of shock, Isanna noticed a spurt of blood near the prison bars and crouched. She tapped it with her finger and brought it close to her face, inspecting the crusty blood.
He's been dead since yesterday. Probably, last night.
"Fa.. father.."
Isanna ignored Baldrick's murmurs and stood back up, numerous questions rolling in her thoughts. She told herself to calm down and gather the information they had as of the moment.
Nicholas Lovof, dead. Based on the blood coagulation, he'd been killed some time at midnight. Isanna wondered who was responsible, and why. Nicholas Lovof should have been spending the last five years in silence, so there should be no reason for him to be killed. And even if there was, considering how much of an asshole he was and probably had enemies left and right, why would they wait for five whole years to kill him?
She glanced at the other empty cells.
This compound was supposed to be the center prison ward of Mitras, handled directly by the Interior MPs, but not only were there no prisoners, there wasn't a single MP guarding the place except for the two at the gate.
Everything about this was suspicious. They managed to sneak in without a problem, and reached their target, except for the fact that said target was already dead. As if they had been led on, only to reach a dead end.
Like it was on purpose. A set-up.
A set... up?
Isanna's eyes shot wide open. Right on cue, there was the familiar prickle in her skin. Her ear twitched, and the warning immediately left her lips,
"GET DOWN!"
A gunshot rang.
Had she not grabbed Baldrick by the back of his head and shoved him down, he probably would have been dead.
"RUN!"
While Baldrick was still in a haze, Isanna fisted the front of his shirt and tore down the corridor, dragging him while sprinting at full speed.
Baldrick stumbled on his feet, sputtering, "Wh—"
Another gunshot boomed, a bullet whizzing right beside his head. Baldrick yelped and tried to keep up with Isanna as soon as he found his footing.
"Who—"
"A trap!" Isanna yelled through gritted teeth, the walls blurring as they rushed down the hallway. "They got us! Don't look back!"
Baldrick looked back.
"Fucking—" Isanna didn't even have the time to slap him even if she wanted to.
There was a connecting hallway up ahead, and an MP suddenly came rounding the corner and blocked their escape route.
Shit shit shit—Isanna momentarily let go of Baldrick and ducked, sliding in a crouch just in time to avoid the rain of bullets, while Baldrick narrowly avoided them by frantically squishing himself against the wall. Isanna unsheathed her blade and sliced through the interior MP in one clean swipe, the familiar slash of skin ripping through her hearing.
Baldrick froze at the sight of blood.
"Don't stop! Keep running!" She yanked Baldrick by the wrist and pulled him forward as they continued their escape.
She heard another gunshot, and a stray bullet grazed her arm; thankfully it wasn't deep.
Isanna sputtered a curse and picked up her pace. Corridors were not the ideal place for fighting, and her enemies had the advantage with their long-range weapons. They needed to step out of the building to put up a decent fight.
They're probably already waiting outside and have us surrounded, she thought.
Another MP rounded a corner, but before he could even shoot, Isanna had already yanked Baldrick towards the other corner.
"The exit's the other way!" Baldrick yelled, glancing behind him.
"We'll be running right into their trap again if we exit there!" Isanna yelled back, heading to the upper floors and passing by open rooms. She made quick glances left and right. "Pick up your pace!"
"The gear's so heavy, goddamnit!"
"Tsk." Isanna pulled him closer, bended down, and hooked an arm behind his knees, hoisting him over her shoulder. She grunted at the added weight and continued running.
Baldrick sputtered, an embarrassed blush creeping up his face. "The hell you doing?!"
"It's faster this way!"
As much as how Baldrick was against it, he couldn't retort. They were indeed faster now that she was carrying him, but he wasn't about to admit it out loud. Won't just taking the gear off make it easier?
"Why are you heading to the upper floors?!"
"Shut up!"
God, all this screaming is making me tired, Isanna thought, cursing. She made a mental note to never go into a sneak in mission with Baldrick ever again. That is, if they ever survived this.
When she found a room, Isanna unceremoniously chucked Baldrick inside and slammed the door shut, quickly pushing a shelf and a table in to barricade it. It was a lousy barricade, but it was better than nothing.
"Really?" Baldrick grunted. "The highest floor of the building? You wanna die that much?!"
Isanna was panting heavily and catching her breath. She ignored him and briskly stalked past, heading to the large window in the room. She pushed it open and the outside air came gushing inside, blowing on her face.
"Oi, are you even listening?!"
Isanna scanned the city. They were at the center of the capital. Tall buildings stood not too far. She glanced down and scowled when she saw groups of MPs scurrying around the building, and she could hear a distant bell ringing across the compound, probably their way of alerting for an intruder. Why didn't she hear anyone tiptoeing on them earlier? Her senses used to be sharp.
It seemed that recent events had messed her up worse than she thought.
I've lost my edge.
She cursed underneath her breath, before she heard the sound of running footsteps outside getting nearer.
"Herrmann! I swear to god, if this is your sick attempt of getting ourselves killed, I'm going to—"
She turned and grabbed Baldrick by the shoulder, yanking him so that he stood next to her in front of the window.
"Let's fly."
He blinked at her. "What?"
Shouts and grunts came from directly outside the room. They were ramming at the door, each shove rattling the barricade. It was only a matter of time.
"Fly," she said, pushing Baldrick in front of her. "Put your maneuvering skills to good use. Shoot a hook to the next building."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"You trained for this before."
"That was twenty years ago!"
The barricade was barely holding on. They needed to move, fast.
Because she knew that if only they could get this battle in the air, she could take them on.
Isanna noticed Baldrick was getting paler and paler by the second, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't getting any pity points from her. "Can't I just—just, fly with you?" he suggested, the shaking in his voice evident.
Isanna was running out of patience. She grabbed his gear and pulled the trigger herself, shooting a grappling hook to the next building. The horrified look of utter betrayal she got from him was left completely ignored.
"I'll be right behind you," she tried to reassure him, and stepped back just before he zipped forward into the sky like a catapult. She could hear him cursing her, the gods, and almost every single saint there was in existence.
His muscle memory should help him. Probably.
She darted a quick prayer to whatever heavenly being there was up there for Baldrick's muscle memory to include his training from twenty years ago.
As Isanna stared at his flying figure, the barricade finally gave up and the rest of the MPs came flooding in the room, guns cocked at her and ready to shoot.
"Under direct order of the monarchy, Sergeant Major of the Survey Corps, you are under arrest!"
Isanna could hear several clicks of their guns. She raised both of her hands and slowly turned around.
Even then, she could still hear footsteps rushing in towards them. Probably reinforcements.
"Search for the other one," one of them said. They had no idea that the 'other one' in question was already flying through the skies of Mitras at this moment.
He returned his attention to her, and frowned. "Surrender, and this will end without any unnecessary bloodshed."
Isanna returned his stare, unfazed even with the guns that were all pointed at her. The footsteps outside were getting closer. She glanced at the open door, before she returned her gaze at the man who seemed to be in charge.
She smiled mockingly, catching him off guard, and said,
"Sorry, I only take orders from one man."
Then she fell backwards, dipping out the window of the highest floor.
The surprise of the MPs were drowned by the whistling air, and Isanna could see a few soldiers craning their heads out the window.
With the wind stinging her vision, she twisted her body in mid-air and managed to shoot her hooks to the next building.
Her body swung in an arc, and the next thing she knew, she was flying. Buildings and shops blurred but with her trained senses, she had a clear grasp of her surroundings. Gun shots rang behind, and she looked over her shoulder for a split second to see another group of soldiers chasing after her.
This time, they didn't look like ordinary Interior MPs.
They had a different gear strapped, with silver plates like armors covering them, and instead of the usual blades as weapons, they had guns.
Were they in the compound too?
Isanna shook her head and made a sharp turn to the right, racking up a plan in her mind to thwart her pursuers even for just a moment. Where is Lovof? The idea of Baldrick plunging to his death felt neither good nor bad to her skin.
She scanned around, looking for something, until her eyes caught sight of a large banner with the king's emblem stitched in front. She remembered they were handing out the king's rations this week.
Swinging close, she grabbed the banner and wrenched it away from the pole, ignoring the gasps of surprise from the townspeople below.
Another round of gunshots echoed behind her; her pursuers had average aim, but she was better at dodging. Isanna turned around and released the banner, using the wind to her advantage as the large fabric entangled her chasers in surprise.
It worked. Although the action in the skies was garnering unwanted public attention.
Nobles and merchants all craned their necks and gaped at the battle, confused murmurings streaming through the streets.
Unfortunately, Isanna didn't have the time to humor her audience.
She sped ahead and after a while, finally managed to spot Baldrick on one of the rooftops of the houses down below. He was hiding behind a cupola, crouching low and away from sight, but Isanna knew it was only a temporary shelter for the imminent battle they were about to face.
Baldrick was panting like he'd just ran the marathon of the century. "Herrmann.. If we live through this... remind me to kill you."
Isanna on the other hand, was more composed; shitty situations were not foreign to her. She panted a few times, then said, "Twelve."
"Huh?"
She looked at him. "There are twelve of them. All equipped with some sort of wannabe-3DMG. And they seemed to be trained fighters too."
Baldrick looked like the life had been zapped out of him, and she almost felt sorry that he had to go through this. Almost.
"What the hell are those guys? They don't look like your ordinary Interior MPs."
"Because they're not," she answered, discretely peeking out of the cupola. "They're a more battle-oriented division. Didn't you warn me about them before? Those.. elite squads? "
"It's hilarious," she continued. "Judging by their equipment, it's like they were made just to oppose the Survey Corps."
At this point, she wasn't the least bit surprised to know that the government had a squad like this hidden beneath their sleeves. She knew they always had some sort of vendetta against them.
"No choice. A mid-air battle will have to happen," she decided.
When she stood up, Baldrick immediately tried pulling her back down. "Wait—wait—wait—! There's a dozen of them! And there are only two of us!"
She scowled at him, then wrenched her arm away from his grip.
"Who said you're fighting with me?"
Baldrick gaped at her.
"You—... you're gonna take them alone ?"
When Isanna didn't answer, Baldrick finally stood with her and grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Herrmann, are you kidding right now?" he said. "They have guns. You can't bring swords into a gun fight!"
Isanna looked at him with a straight face, then shrugged her shoulders away from his hold. Baldrick still couldn't believe the audacity she had in her to take on that number of men by herself; he thought she was just doing it for show, but when he saw the determination in her eyes, he realized it wasn't a facade. She was serious.
"Listen here, Lovof, and listen well: it's not the weapon that makes a battle," she said. "It's the wielder."
They could hear gun shots ringing again, but thanks to the cupola, they were protected from the barrage of bullets.
".. I'll fight them for as long as it takes for you to retreat. Wait for me at the warehouse we talked about earlier." Isanna instructed, then ordered him to hand her his spare blades.
She didn't even allow him to give his input on the situation.
"Try to stay alive," she said, then launched herself in their once more to engage their enemies in battle.
When she disappeared from his sights and gunshots pierced through the air, Baldrick begrudgingly used the distraction and flew away from the scene.
Giving me orders.. who does she think she is, Erwin?!
•
Isanna was certain she'd just become the star of the next newspaper headlines.
The Wannabe-MPs—as what she liked to call them—were definitely stronger than the ordinary Interior MP.
The streets were in chaos; overturned stands and crates littered the ground, and the Wannabe-MPs were dropping like flies. Citizens were scrambling away from the scene.
There were only four of the enemy left, Isanna was running out of gas, and she only had two spare blades left.
Dodging a barrage of bullets, she veered to the right and smashed through a glass window of a random room in a random building. She skidded across the floor before she knocked a table and jumped behind it, crouching.
Panting, Isanna tried to catch her breath, until she heard footsteps landing inside the room. They're quick.
"You really did a number on us," she heard a voice say. "If only the MPs killed you at the compound, it would've saved us the trouble of playing this game of tag."
Isanna frowned. She was right, after all. This squad was a different division.
"Four versus one? Not playing fair, are we?" she said, sarcasm dripping through her faux playful tone.
She heard the same voice scoff.
"This coming from the one who killed more than half of us? Sorry miss, but we were told not to underestimate you."
Isanna lightly laughed. She inched her hands around her spare blades and tensed her muscles.
"Don't worry boys, I wasn't talking about myself."
With a grunt, she lifted her foot behind her and kicked the table, crashing it towards one of her pursuers. Isanna stood, spun while pulling her last pair of blades, and chucked it with accuracy towards two of them—dead right in the chest.
Then before the last one could process the death of his comrades, she shot a hook at his gut, piercing through his flesh, and reeled him back to her. Isanna stopped his momentum by grabbing him by the neck.
The man was already dead. She grabbed the holster of his gun and dragged him with her as she stepped closer to the last man, who was still disoriented beneath the table, groaning.
She kicked the table away, then placed her boot on the man's neck, right underneath his jaw.
"Compared to titans, you guys are just cute."
His eyes widened. He choked, "Wait—I—"
"Before I forget. Were you the ones who killed Nicholas Lovof?" she interrupted him coldly.
He stared at her, eyes still wide and shaking in fear. It was difficult to talk without choking when her weight was pressing hard on his neck, and his voice came out off because of it. "We were—.. ordered.."
"By?"
He didn't answer. He probably couldn't, because of her foot, but Isanna didn't care about that tiny detail.
She pressed down harder, the intensity of her glare hardening. "By?"
He choked. His face was getting redder, like any moment longer and his veins would burst. "K—Ken.. ny.. Acker..man.."
Isanna tucked the info in her brain, certain it would come useful in the future.
"What else do you have for me? Make that tongue of yours useful; I'm not known for my patience."
".."
She counted up to three seconds waiting, but he said nothing. With an eye twitch, she grabbed the gun from the dead man in her grasp and chucked him away, before she cocked the gun below her.
"Whoever this Ken-guy boss of yours is, he's definitely good at reading our movements," she started, her finger hovering dangerously close to the trigger. "But he got one thing wrong, and it's thinking that twelve men are enough to take me down."
"W—wait! Forgive me! I only follow orders from above!"
Isanna pointed the muzzle at his forehead. "Unfortunately, I'm not a saint. I don't forgive."
There was a gunshot.
•
"Shit—this is not good. This is not good at all."
It was already evening, and in one of the empty warehouses in Mitras, Baldrick was crouching behind a stack of wooden crates, taking refuge. A newspaper in hand, his frantic eyes scanned through the contents, the growing dread in his chest only eating him away.
Goddamnit, it's been three hours.
He placed the newspaper down and washed his face with both palms, biting back the frustration and anxiety. First, his father's death, now, this?
Mind still a whirring mess, he stifled a panicked yelp when he heard the doors to the warehouse were being pushed open. He tucked himself into a tiny ball as if he could camouflage himself with the crate behind him and prayed to every saint he knew that it wasn't an enemy, promising to be a better man if he could just live through the next day.
"Hey."
Baldrick released a shameful shriek that sounded eerily like an elk.
But when he realized it was just Isanna he calmed down. He placed a hand on his chest. "It's you."
"Yeah, it's me," she muttered, then plopped down beside him in exhaustion.
"Are you... okay?" he asked, mildly concerned. She didn't seem to have sustained any heavy injuries. How is that possible? "What happened?"
Isanna waved her hand dismissively in a 'None of your concern' gesture and changed the topic. "Did you get any new information?"
Noticing that she didn't want to talk about it, Baldrick immediately stiffened when he remembered the papers. He subtly avoided eye contact and felt nauseous, hands clammy.
"You're not going to like it," he said.
"I don't like a lot of things, but I still get shit shoved in my face. Trust me, I can handle it."
Before he could even begin to explain however, Isanna noticed the roll of paper beside his feet and snatched it without a word.
Apparently, she wasn't the only one who had a scuffle with the MPs that day.
The papers said that Levi (his name was printed in bold letters) and a few Scouts had, quote and quote, 'mercilessly slaughtered the MPS' down at Trost district. Her infiltration in the capital prison ward and battle with the Interior MPs were printed above that, written similarly as Levi's.
It was the worst timing possible. With her and Levi's events happening on the exact same day and written side by side in one paper, it only perpetuated the idea that it had been their purpose to wreak havoc with the MPs unprovoked. It didn't help that both her and Levi were two of the most notorious figures in the Survey Corps, too.
But even with all those accusations, Isanna's attention was fixated on the headlines.
"Commander of the Survey Corps, arrested for instigation of murder of Dimo Reeves, owner of Reeves Company. Is this the end of the Survey Corps?"
Baldrick swallowed nervously as he watched her crease the edges of the papers in her hands with a glower, her glare never leaving the headlines.
"What.. are we gonna do now?" he carefully asked, watching over his words in case he'd step on a landmine.
Isanna didn't answer right away. The silence was unbearable, and it only made Baldrick squeamish. Especially with her glare. It was like she was shooting literal daggers at the papers.
He was prepared for her to say something along the lines of "Let's break into the MP headquarters to save Erwin", so imagine his surprise when she just crumpled the paper, aggressively chucked it to the wall, then slumped even lower.
"We continue."
Baldrick doubted his ears.
"We're not... gonna try and save Erwin..?"
"No."
He gaped. "Who are you and what did you do to Herrmann?"
He immediately regretted it though because when she snapped her head at him, she had the darkest glare he'd ever seen in his entire life.
She looked like she was about to snap, but after a few seconds of silence, Isanna just pressed her lips in a thin line and sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose.
"Levi and I already made things worse for Erwin. If I go and start a mess at the MP headquarters, they'll only use it against him," she muttered. "I'm sure.. Erwin has a back-up plan. So we should just trust him and keep moving."
Even though she said that, it took everything inside Isanna not to raid the MP's headquarters. But she was sure that their situation would only turn for the worse. Not to mention she'd have to face more of those wannabe-MPs again.
".. The papers are really painting you Scouts as the bad guy," Baldrick said.
Scoffing, Isanna rolled her eyes. "They do that all the time." They didn't even mention a single word about those Wannabe-MPs.. nor their equipment. Nor Lovof. "It's their usual propaganda."
As the silence trickled in the air, Isanna found the exhaustion seeping into her muscles after a long day. The sky had turned dark and she could already see stars twinkling above through the open windows of the warehouse; the night air had begun to crawl inside, and the lack of fire didn't help make their temporary resting spot comfortable even a little bit.
Baldrick suppressed a shiver and rubbed his hands together, trying to generate heat on his own.
"How are you faring?" Isanna asked not long after. Baldrick seemed to be so surprised at the sudden question that it took him a whole five seconds staring at her with both brows raised.
"What do you mean?"
Opening her eyes, Isanna finally looked at him. The minimal moonlight filtering through the windows did little to give them vision in the warehouse.
"Y'know earlier," she started, uncomfortably shifting in her position. "... Your old man."
She didn't get a reply from him for a few moments. The silence stretched for what seemed like forever, and she couldn't even see the face he was making because of the lack of lighting.
Isanna never liked the Lovof family. She had no happy memories with them, but she still knew it would suck having a family member killed like that.
"I don't feel.. particularly anything," Baldrick started, "I didn't really see him that much for the last five or six years, so it's.. all numb to me."
"Come to think of it, you didn't even try back then." Isanna recalled what happened six years ago. "You just let Erwin throw him into jail. I'd thought you'd put up more of a fight for your pops."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean.. weren't you like.. daddy's little boy or something? 'Wait till my father hears about this' type of kid," Isanna said, making a poor attempt of mockery at his voice. She probably shouldn't have done that considering how he just literally lost his father, but Isanna wasn't one to hold her tongue.
Instead of getting offended, Baldrick only groaned.
"That was one time, Herrmann. And I was a barely over my teenage years.. I was bound to be an annoying kid, cut me some slack."
"I don't think being an annoying kid warrants one to push someone off cliffs, though."
Baldrick sputtered, and Isanna was sure that he was currently flushing red in embarrassment.
"I admit it was wrong! And I didn't think you'd die from that anyway—you're practically built out of steel." He recalled the incident that happened way back over twenty years ago. "Besides, Erwin told me off about it already."
At the mention of the blond, it was Isanna's turn to be surprised. "Erwin? What did Erwin had to do with it?"
He gave her a pointed look. She didn't know?
"Scared the shit out of me when he found out. Literally threatened me to drop the Training Corps.. that guy's all calm and coolheaded, but he's terrifying when he's mad."
"Hold up." Isanna straightened herself and faced him properly, frowning. "Erwin knew you were the one who pushed me? How come I never knew any of this?"
"Hell would I know? Ask him." And with that, a string of silence flowed.
Isanna decided to drop the subject and returned her thoughts to the newspapers—Erwin was somewhere in the Military Police HQ, probably in the middle of an interrogation. The papers said he was to have an audience with the king and the chancellor with all military heads present.
She wondered what she was going to do next now that communication with Erwin was cut off. Look for Levi? She hoped his squad was alright after that Trost battle.
"My father didn't like me that much," Baldrick said out of the blue. She turned to him, a brow arched at the abrupt topic.
"He'd wanted to dismiss the Scouts because he wanted their funds to be expended for the noble families instead," he continued, eyes glued at the window that showed the crescent moon in the night sky.
"For what?"
"You know, typical expenses. Food, clothing, business.. we already had much of those, probably much more than the citizens of the outer walls, but nobility in the capital are greedier than you can imagine." He sighed. "So I joined the military academy, hoping to get into the Military Police and make a name for myself to back him up in the council. All that extra credit, you know."
There was a long pause before Isanna said, "So when you dropped the Training Corps, you got an earful from him?"
Chuckling, Baldrick shook his head. "Nah, he never liked me even before then. I enrolled into the academy to gain his favor. So when I dropped, it just gave him more of a reason to hate.. dislike me."
"Huh. People like that shouldn't be a parent in the first place."
Isanna thought a second too late that she shouldn't be badmouthing the dead, but Baldrick just laughed. It was a weak laugh, though.
"To be fair, he never wanted to be one. It was my late mom, but their marriage was arranged, so, well.. neither really had any choice. My father wanted more of what he already had, and in the end, he lost everything. The end."
Isanna never thought the day would come where she could hold a civilized conversation with this guy. "Even then, you landed a job in the central council. How did that happen?"
"I already told you. Someone was generous enough to defend me from the other councilmen. He told them to give me a chance, and he got approval from General Darius. Long story short, I got accepted, and the person who helped me back then after my father got jailed went missing, so I'm looking for him now. Any more questions?"
Isanna noticed the irritation in his voice after pestering him with all these questions, so she decided to give him a break. She gestured a mocking salute, marking the end of their conversation. As a comfortable silence seeped into the warehouse, Baldrick's snores soon came along, telling her she was the only one awake now.
She leaned against the crate behind her, racking up a plan. Hours from now daybreak would come, and they'll be back outside.
"He told them to give me a chance, and he got approval from General Darius."
Isanna blinked. The General. Come to think of it, she did remember Erwin telling her that he, Commander Pixis, and General Zackly had concocted a plan together, but he never told her what.
She glanced at Baldrick's inert figure by the cold floor and thought of a plan.
•
Before the sun broke out of the horizon, Isanna decided to wake Baldrick up. Crouching in front of his sleeping form, he shook him awake.
"Head to General Zackly," she ordered him while sleep was barely leaving his eyes.
Still groggy, he stared at her with half-lidded eyes. "Huh?"
"General Zackly," she repeated. "He's working together with Commander Pixis and Erwin, so they're on our side. I'm pretty sure they're gonna do something at Erwin's trial. So be there."
"Why?"
"Things are only going to get worse," she replied. "You'll be safe with the General. I'll do things on my own from here on out."
Now that he was wide awake, Baldrick was finally able to think with a clear head. Skeptical, he frowned. "And you?"
"I'll manage." She stood and began walking away. "Just head to the General and work out some plan to get Erwin from that damned trial—I don't care what you do, just make sure my boyfriend doesn't lose another limb while I'm away."
Minutes later, they went their separate ways after exiting the warehouse. With a cloak, they were able to hide from the scrutinizing eyes of the MPs, especially since they were wanted criminals—Isanna, particularly. As Baldrick headed out to find General Zackly, Isanna had one destination.
She was heading back to the prison ward.