In Between The Ends

Chapter Twelve

    "Well, that can't be good." Jean said, taking the lead as they walked quietly towards the end of the hall. He paused for a moment, reaching out slowly to grab the handle and push the door open enough to allow them inside. Suddenly the doorknob was wrenched from his hand and a man burst out, almost running directly into Jean's chest.

The man stumbled back alarmed but relaxed once he realized who he had bumped into. "Oh, thank God! I was just about to make a run for the communications tower!"

"What are you doing here, Onyankopon? I thought you were up in the Liberio settlement?" Connie asked, perplexed.

Onyankopon! The man who flew into the Rumbling! Arya tried her best not to stare at him as he stepped back to allow them entrance to the small apartment. His skin was darker than any amount of sun exposure could produce, beautiful and smooth in color. She had heard that his people were from a distant country, but this was the first encounter she had had with anyone from there. What a gorgeous country they must have if the men that lived there all look this lovely. She thought, then quickly ducked her head down to avoid anyone seeing the embarrassment on her face.

"I was on my way to Veritas to check in, and as usual stopped into Cardend to visit with Levi and the children. But they aren't here!" His voice was frantic, eyes darting between the three of them.

"Do you think they are just out? Reiner is in town visiting." Jean asked cautiously, looking around at the empty apartment. Arya quickly introduced herself to Onyankopon, who nodded tersely, and began studying the room curiously. This was the home of the most famous warrior on earth. It was impeccably clean down to every detail, save a knocked over chair and now cold cup of tea on the windowsill. Something caught her eye through the half opened closet door in the main room. Careful not to disturb anything, she pushed the sliding door over a few inches, gasping quietly in awe. Hanging on a thin metal rod in the forefront of the closest was a green cloak marked with the Wings of Freedom.

"No, I don't think they are." Onyankopon said firmly. "The door to Levi's apartment was open, the lock clearly tampered with. And look." He pointed to a chair near the northeast facing window that was toppled over, scuff marks visible where it had obviously been dragged. "Gobi and Falco's quarters are also empty and look as if they haven't been home in days."

Unease settled into the group as they looked between one another.

"Do you think that they could have just up and left for some reason? Or is there something else going on here?" Arya asked.

Jean and Connie looked at each other in alarm as Onyankopon shook his head. "There was a reason I was headed back to Veritas so much earlier than I initially planned. You probably aren't aware of this, but I've spent the last few years working with a small collective trying to flush out the Marlyean extremist groups running rampant up and down the seaboard. They are a nasty bunch, hellbent on returning Marly back to its' former state." He spat venomously. "And by that, I mean utter domination over the Eldian people, and whoever else they deem "unworthy" of Marly. They are particularly idolizing of Zeke Jaeger and revering of his Eldian mass castration ideal."

He turned to look at Jean and Connie now, who seemed all too familiar with this story. "A few days ago, I intercepted a message between two different extremist locations while in the tower stationed in Liberio. They were discussing a set of prisoners they had captured: four of them by the sounds of it. If that hadn't been concerning enough, just before the transmission ended, I heard the phrase "Zeke will have his retribution." There was only one person I could connect that to, which is why I'm here, and he-" Onyankopon swept his arm to gesture at the room, "is not."

Connie swore loudly, panic flooding his face. Jean flung his hands over his head and shouted, "Oh come ON!"

Arya's face had drained of all color when she finally understood what Onyankopon meant.

The only person the extremists would consider retribution for Zeke would be the man who cut him down.

"Can we not make one god damn move without someone getting abducted?!" Jean was fuming in the middle of the room while Onyankopon looked on, confused. Arya filled him in on the situation over on Paradis, and suddenly he looked just as afraid as she felt.

"This is bad, this is so so bad." Connie was muttering to himself, looking back and forth as Jean moved around the room in a huff. They were floundering now, and they knew it. They were being attacked from more than one side now, and that concept was utterly terrifying in the face of the impossible assignment they were already trying to accomplish. If they didn't get ahold of themselves right now, this entire thing could fall apart. They could let this fear win, or they could fight.

An overwhelming feeling of determination and strength appeared in Arya then, an almost desperate need she did not expect. She did not know these people, only their stories, but it was clear as day what they needed to do, and it was not standing hopelessly in an empty room. With a deep breath Arya let down the wall she had built between her past and present. She had been a Captain once before; she could do it again.

Arya turned briskly to Onyankopon, who was looking at the ground.

"You said you intercepted this message: were you able to pinpoint where the transmission was coming from?" She wasn't entirely sure this was possible but talking felt better than standing there helplessly.

He looked at her with surprise. "Well... It's not an exact science by any means, but yes, I was able to get a rough location of the call that was sent out."

"Are there any known Marlyean Extremist groups located within that radius?"

They were all looking at her now, Jean particularly startled by the authority emanating from her voice. It was clear he had forgotten who she had been in her past life: a Jaegerist Elite.

"Uh... yes, there is. It's between Cardend and the capital, tucked in the northern foothills on the eastern side of the mountain ranges that make Veritas such a well-positioned city. It's small, only a few buildings and maybe a dozen or so men; very remote."

Arya nodded thoughtfully. "I don't know about you, but that sounds like a great place to take prisoners, especially ones that are as well known as the Captain and Reiner." Standing up straight as possible, arms held tightly behind her back, she addressed Jean.

"What I recommend, Commander, is we have Onyankopon send a transmission to the Veritas communication center, letting them know what's going on and for them to send a small unit through the pass. That should only take them a day at most. In the meantime, we can make our way to the Marlyean Extremist complex, assess the situation, and perform an extraction before anything else can go wrong. This is assuming they are still alive, thought from what Onyankopon has heard, I would imagine their condition is fairly similar to the Queen's. The prisoners they have are much too valuable to simple kill. If all goes well sir, we could be back in the capital with Captain Ackerman and our comrades by the day after tomorrow. Consider it a practice run." She finished with a smirk.

Silence followed Arya's speech as they all stared at her in astonishment. It was only broken when Connie caught sight of Jean's stunned face and started laughing hysterically.

"See, I told you," He said between wheezes, "if you need to sneak into an enemy stronghold, get yourself a Jaegerist!"

"Ex Jaegerist." Arya corrected him when Onyankopon looked at her with alarm.

Jean still looked huffy, thought whether it was their current situation or Arya's military-grade levelheadedness, she wasn't sure.

A minute passed before he relented. "Alright, fine, but we do this my way. We are going to treat this like it is the mission on Paradis and nothing less. I am the commanding officer on this trip, and you will follow me as such. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" Both Arya and Connie shouted, suddenly serious. If they were going to do this, it had to be done the way all military missions were done. It was then that Arya got to do something she had never done before, something that filled her heart with a sudden surge of pride she had never expected. Following Connie's lead, she placed her right hand angled over her heart and the other tightly behind her back.