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

Code XLVII: Safe & Sound

"Xooora?" Eren's muffled voice called, jolting the agent out of her stupor.

"I—I'm down here!" Xora yelled in reply.

"Yeah, I know you're down somewhere, but down where?"

[underwear]

"The closet in the one bedroom. The one with the messy bedsheets." She backed up out of the secret chamber in time to see a curious Eren poke his head down the entrance to the basement-like storage room. His jaw dropped when he spotted her in the corner of the spacious room, disappearing momentarily only to reappear feet-first. He was followed by Esfir, who looked just as astonished as the younger boy did.

"It's over here," Xora motioned to them, beckoning them to the second, smaller secret room. The two flitted over and sucked in sharp gasps when their eyes, too, landed on the grand masterpiece. It was truly there, right in front of their eyes.

"It—that's really it?" Eren breathed, his viridescent eyes glittering.

"Confirmed." Xora gave him a sharp nod. "We need to move this back to HQ immediately, along with Eagle."

"Agreed," Esfir said hastily, already slipping on a pair of protective gloves. She moved into the room and produced a special fabric from a case on her hip, unfolding it and draping it over the painting. Carefully, after wrapping the fabric around the edges, she gripped the painting tightly, prepared to remove it from the stand—but stopped when she remembered that traps were possible.

"It's all clear," Xora said with a single shake of her head. "Hanji scanned earlier. Besides, I don't think they would so willingly set a trap right where such a priceless piece resides. It's likely that they thought they would be able to transport it elsewhere in time before we would interfere."

"Alright, sounds good. I will proceed to transport it back to HQ." Esfir removed the painting with extremely delicate hands, both she and Eren assisting each other to transport it above ground. Xora stayed behind for just awhile longer, stuffing herself in that small, secret room. She glanced around the stand and beneath it, scouring the walls for some kind of strange symbol or sign, but found nothing.

But she didn't really need it; their suspicions had already been confirmed. Eagle, Alan Clark, and his criminal coworkers, Piquet—they were all connected to the Titans. The thought that someone associated with those monsters was still imprisoned within their HQ disgusted Xora, but she couldn't kill him quite yet. He would still be useful; Blanchet would surely come looking for him when she realized that the Mona Lisa was gone.

Once Xora felt satisfied that the room contained no more treasures, she returned to the hole and gripped onto the ledge, pulling herself up and over. Once back above ground, she trekked outside to find that Eren and Esfir had safely transported the painting into their vehicle and were already boarding. The area looked to be an extremely rural neighborhood, dimly lit by a sun that was still partially covered by the horizon.

"Ready to go?" Eren called, climbing into the passenger side of the large van. Xora nodded at him and slid one of the side doors open, slipping inside before shutting it and locking it. Settling into large open space beside the secured Mona Lisa, she leaned back against the passenger's seat and let out a deep breath. The feeling of being in the back of this van with a precious artifact was strangely familiar; Xora could feel an exhilarating wave of nostalgia wash over her along with a tsunami of drowsiness. Almost instantly, she knew—it was like that night of O-17. Except, there were no Titans nearby (hopefully) and she knew she could trust Esfir and Eren in the case of an emergency.

And this time, if there were to be an ambush, she was ready. She wasn't a small, fearful girl anymore; this time, she knew she would fight back and protect her comrades. Defeat had to be impossible.