Indefinitely - Armin X Reader

Chapter 36 | Beginning Of The End

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The plan to capture Annie

It was a week later when our plan was finally put in motion. It would hopefully require little strenuous activity on my part, if it went smoothly, however I was still prepared to put up a fair fight if needed. The ache in my side had subsided, and was only hurting if I moved in certain ways, so I was praying this would go well. This plan was elaborate, and found myself needing to put on a façade like never before. As I had imagined Annie had done all these years, I hid my true feelings, and unlike her, let a kind smile grace my features to mask the rage I felt inside.

Eren, Mikasa, Armin and myself were walking calmly down the cobbled street in Stohess, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, with Annie leading us a few metres ahead. As unreadable as always, she didn't look back at us, staring straight ahead and waking with an air of authority that came with being apart of the Military Police. It made sense to me now, how she never seemed to fret over anything - what would she have to worry about when she could turn in to a fifteen metre killing machine at will.

She had agreed to be our escort as Jean took Eren's place on his way to court. Today was the day that Eren was supposed to be handed over to the Military Police, and they would most likely terminate him as soon as they got their sick experiments over and done with. Erwin however had decided to take advantage of their plan, using Jean as previously stated as a decoy, while Eren, Mikasa, Armin and I would attempt to 'escape' through the tunnels. In reality, it was all a farce to finally capture the Female titan.

The air was cool and anxiety gnawed at my stomach, my eyes glued to the blue sky, looking for any signs that we'd been caught. I was expecting at any moment for us to be discovered by the Military Police, but it never happened. Jean and Eren may look similar at first glance, but once someone who had already met Eren had seen him, I knew it wouldn't hold up. The dark green rain coat draped around my shoulders flapped annoyingly at my knees, it's purpose to hide my ODM gear from sight.

We were finally nearing our target, the staircase leading to an underground passage. I caught sight of it ahead and let out a sigh of relief.

"We made it. I can't believe it was so easy." Eren breathed, disregarding Mikasa's short word of warning for him not to speak. "The military police hard at work - I'm almost surprised they bothered to show up at all."

"We should be grateful that they're all shit at their jobs." I muttered.

"Let's just keep moving." Mikasa urged, trying to get Eren to shut up, however it was no use.

"Hopefully they haven't noticed my stand in yet either." He added. "It's not gonna hold up under close scrutiny. After all, Jean and I look nothing alike."

"It's close enough." Armin reasoned tiredly. "You both have that same angry scowl and the same bolder sized chip on your shoulder."

"And you both seem to be unable to have a calm conversation without getting emotional." I teased.

"Yeah, well, I don't have his horse face!" Eren bit back quietly.

"Hey." Annie interrupted dryly. "If I had refused to help you guys out, then what was your plan B for getting over the wall?"

"We would've used our ODM gear to barge right through the check point." Armin whispered.

"That's stupid. Why didn't you just avoid all this trouble in the first place? You could've escaped before reaching Stohess, right? I mean, why wait till now?" She asked, turning her head slightly to look at Armin

"I felt that this town's complex layout would allow us to squeeze a bit more time out of our body double ploy." Armin explained quietly, meeting her gaze evenly. "Of course, a head on assault is ill advised, so as long as the convoy acts like it's following orders, then everyone keeps their defenses down."