Angel With A Shotgun [Levi Ackerman x OC] / Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin

Code XLIII: Xora's Theory

The three scientists were silent and unmoving as Levi left, making his way out of the test room, headed for the clinic. He was feeling the exhaustion kick back in, the edges of his vision growing hazy. In his chest, the faint stab of pain every time he took a breath returned from the injuries he had received during his week with Isolde. But as Hanji had pointed out, this wasn't truly abnormal; he was used to living actively on only a few hours of sleep.

Once in the clinic, Levi placed Xora in a bed, wiping away a small trickle of blood from her nose with the back of his hand. It left a streaky red mark on her face, but luckily the flow had stopped.

He jammed his finger onto a button on the wall beside the bed, and went over to the sink where he scrubbed his hands clean. Less than a minute later, Vinicio stepped into the room, concerned astonishment appearing on his face the moment his eyes landed on Xora.

"You called, Captain?" he inquired, tilting his head toward the blinking watch on his wrist.

"Yes," Levi sighed, heading over to their medicine cabinet. "It's nice to finally have a proper meeting, Vinicio. Call me Levi." He went over and gave Vinicio a brisk shake of the hand; Vinicio looked shaken, but didn't say a word. "I need you to treat Xora. I have urgent matters to tend to. On your agent profile it stated that you excel in the medical field. Is that correct?"

"I—I do, yes. I will take care of her as best as I can. What's the matter?" Vinicio's eyes followed Levi as he swiped a container of caffeine pills, twisting the cap open and dumping out three of them. "I mean, what's happened to her?"

"She's exhausted, and she needs a lot of rest. Evaluate her cerebral activities and make sure her neural levels are normal. If they aren't, bring them to normal levels." Levi swallowed all three pills consecutively and headed for the door. "Clean her up a bit, too. And... I apologize for having to leave her in your care so abruptly."

Without another word, he returned to the data room and found the three scientists huddled around the table in the middle of an intense discussion. All of their heads turned the moment Levi approached the table, their expressions almost reproachful.

"I know what you're all wondering," Levi said, defensively raising splayed palms. "But she hasn't ever told me a word of what we just saw. Hell, I don't think she's even conscious of those memories."

"She's a victim of PTSD," Hanji murmured, her thumb and index finger pressed against her chin in deep thought. "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, from that... encounter on mission O-17. What she's told us may be memories her mind created to somehow cope with the traumatic event, but I... I still can't make sense of what we saw."

"This... this 'Eagle' person," Esfir interjected, her steely eyes glinting. "Whoever they are, they killed Corporal Levi's squad, correct? And they managed to about fatally injure Xora, right? Then I don't see why they might have saved her on that mission, O-17."

"Perhaps this was a time when Eagle was not yet affiliated with the Titans?" Armin theorized. "Maybe they used to bear arms with the Iridescent Empire?"

"Then wouldn't that make Eagle a traitor to the IE?" Levi jumped in, his brows knitted tightly. "Shitty four-eyes, check our database of agents who have reportedly gone rogue. I've seen it myself, and I've hunted down a few before, when I was assigned to do so. The list should be immaculate. Maybe we'll find someone who fits the description. In the projection, it was a blonde woman, with blue eyes. By comparing her height to the nearby landscape, I'm guessing she must've been no taller than one hundred and seventy centimeters."

Hanji went to the control panel and began sorting through the database for agents who had turned their backs on the organization, narrowing down the search to dozens of women. A sigh rippled through her as she stepped back, gazing at the portraits of traitors on the large screen. "There's too many... what can we do with this?"