FalloutJack

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

Wasit a good thing or bad that Katherine was this smart, that she was bright enough to figure out confidential matters? Hard to say, but it got Sara to speak to her about the plan and more-or-less reassuring her since...in her mind, there was no way that it could fail. The trial would be a trial, no matter how much the MPs might be howling for blood. There would be a judge, and there would be order. Under those conditions, the right course of action would be followed instead of the wishes of the mob. Kate was able to rest easy on that thought.

The next day, court was in session. She'd slept right up to the point in which she was told to gather. Well...yesterday was exhausting. She hadn't taken REAL rest that day, not with Eren's situation, but now at least Kate had proper energy about her, grabbing food quickly and making her way to the courtroom. Just slightly late, she found things to be tense already and Eren hadn't even shown up yet. Then, after taking her seat and even spotting Sara in there, the doors opened and - Surprise, surprise! - Hange Zoe came in, escorting Eren to the pole in the middle of the room that he was soon chained up in.

She got here so quickly...

Of course she did. It's what she always did, as a woman who excitedly pursued all interests with both legs running and both arms gripping. Aunt Zoe was more of an extremist than her mother, the calm and calculating one who could see a problem for what it was, and - with great detachment - shove a three-foot pipe through its neck- Katherine shook her head, forcing that image away. That was unnecessary now. With Eren chained up, it was time to do her duty, as did they all. One thing that surprised her was the presence of the Order of the Wall, that crackpot religion that made the walls out to be sacred... What was with them, lately? They'd been faiirly quiet and unimportant for years, and then suddenly they were getting extremely vocal, ever since the Colossal Titan kicked in the gates. But that wasn't some sign of higher powers, only bigger feet.

Nevertheless, the court session began, and what it began with was the facts. Witness testimony from all different people, for and against Eren. Eren was there when the Colossal Titan struck. Eren ordered the immediate attack and got nearest to its neck. Eren saved Armin's life. Eren lashed out at Mikasa. It went on and on like this, and they had her reporting her own findings to the court as she had done last night. It was only the fact that Eren were prepared to hear this now that kept him from being freaked out. One thing she refused to do, however, was give the MPs the benefit of untested theory on 'What Eren might do'. For the reason that there was simply no further evidence, she refused to comment further, and was allowed to step down so that the trial could continue. They asked Mikasa about Eren punching himself in the face, something that actually made Kate snort with amusement. She almost lost her composure entirely when the cadet insisted he was swatting at a fly.

Of course, the prosecution was being incredibly damning, painting Eren to be to great a threat to be kept alive and even considered him a conspirator to destroy their way of life, which naturally got everyone - Eren included - riled up. Kate frantically made gestures at him like 'No no no, don't give them what they want! Oh hell, here come the rifles.' as the MPs started pointing guns.

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

She followed Sara until she would stop, noticing that the Lieutenant seemed very distracted for a moment, possibly over the situation overall. Patience eventually bore out, as she noticed that Katherine was following her, and then she asked. This led to the Brunette raising her hand slightly and saying "Many.", as this whole thing was very loaded. And so, unaware that she may be inadvertently speaking OF the plan while asking about the plan, she unleashed her torrent.

"Eren, Armin, and Mikasa are all friends. We came from the same district, the very one that had originally been attacked, five years ago. It seems likely that I will also be a witness, to report on the facts. I would like to be used to help Eren, not condemn him, if at all possible. We should learn from him, make it a matter of all-important study, like I do, or my Aunt does. Let me get Commander Zoe in on this. She'll fight tooth-and-nail to study him, no question."

Kate was kind of a protege to Hange Zoe, and that much could possibly be guessed by her actions, although she was obviously better at machines and materials than biology. Still, it wasn't a widely-spread fact that Hange was her aunt. Generally, if people knew anything about Katherine's family, it was about her mother, the engineer, Myra Bellows... Still, Kate wanted to know the plan and aid the plan, not even aware that she may have just figured out the plan without even realizing it.

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

That was one fact thhat she wanted to withhold from him. She didn't want Eren to hear that, as well, righton top of everything else. But now, he had and Kate said nothing when his eyes searched her for some kind of confirmation or denial. It was better that she didn't speak. She'd already said that he seemed berserk and even in a daze. It couldn't go worse than that. Well...except for the fact that the MPs wanted him dead. Stupid, short-sighted idea... People were already calling the Battle of Trost the first human victory over the Titans. They'd stopped the Titans from crashing through the second wall. They couldn't just kill him. He was too important.

Hence, the plan... Katherine had no idea what it was. She hadn't been told anything, and nobody had had the chance any, since she'd been doing her job, down here. This was all Sara's game, at this point, or rather it was Captain Erwin's. They were gonna find a way to keep him, to battle the titans and maybe retake Wall Maria. Just think... If they could take that all back, and then somehow take on the Titans who caused it all... Not only would that be a great human achievement, but they might finally get some answers.

At any rate, Eren seemed to believe Sara's words - something in the way she said it or that powerful look in her eye - and he agreed to...well...basically hang in there, really. All he could do was not go flipping mad and turn into a Titan or something. That'd get him killed. Katherine was going to wait until the two of them were out of earshot, though, before asking what this plan actually WAS.

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

Upon receiving her approval, Kate turned to Eren and used her fact-telling voice. This was the even-toned one that seemed to detach from the world and speak what is known. Carla Jaeger used it a couple of times when Eren had done something wrong and she needed to know what it was. So then, she looked over her notes and then spoke them to him.

"Eren, Armin reported you having been eaten by a bearded Titan, and then somebody else saw a 15-meter Titan burst from such a creature later on, and that was the first time that everyone in Trost heard it roar. From there, it was witnessed in beating the life out of any Titan within range, and even taking a few swipes at anybody too close. It appeared to be completely out of control, a berserk sort of Irregular. Even still, it didn't seem to pursue humans nearly as much as Titans, and for some reason any nearby Titans wanted to devour its flesh. After removing a number of the creatures had been taken care of, because a Titan that was keen on killing its own kind was too good to give up, it was decided to use this Titan to seal the gate of Trost with a large stone, a plan which was successfully carried out."

Kate's hands fell to her sides as she began to speak normally, once more.

"I didn't see all of this, myself. I was too busy killing any Titans that might be nearby. However, the facts and even the admittance of your friends lead up to the conclusion that you somehow became a Titan shortly after being eaten."

The whole time, Eren's features became both more intense and more shocked, like he was living a nightmare. What he was being told did not make anymore sense to him than it did to others. This idea of a human being turning into a Titan was terrifying, as though the enemy could be standing right next to you and you wouldn't even know. It made alot of people worry for that reason, and because it would seem fairly likely that the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan had to BE somebody. What's worse, though, Eren thought this fill-in of the gaps almost made some kind of weird sense, like he should know it to be true somehow, and yet...and yet how could it?

"You have no memory of any of this, do you?"

"I don't...think so. I don't know... I honestly don't know anything!"

Katherine's shoulders slumped, head lowering down, as though defeated.

"He was in a daze, just like all the others..."

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard ~

You might think that pointing a gun and spraying bullets everywhere was easy. You would be wrong.

Truthfully, every gun in the world was easy to a point, in that it was a machine that did what it did until it was empty or broken. Beyond that, they were hopeless if you were hopeless. The idea of that tiny explosion in a barrel, shooting forth a piece of metal out the tube and into somebody's face... You have to control that, no matter HOW easy that sounds. A machine gun will hit nothing if you don't manage it, control it. Because you're beyond mere explosions, by that point. You've been handed an eruption machine and told to go kill a dozen men. If you don't figure out the rhythm by which the bullets flow and hold it REALLY steady, your machine gun'll go all over the place and be of no use, whatsoever, except maybe as a distraction until you're dead.

Today was the first time Isaac actually saw who he was killing, how they folded before them, how they spasmed and died or cried out as they bled out. Before then, it was just somebody falling over in the trench and then seeing the bodies lying around like he'd always just been there. This was the first they'd seen their faces, seen the look of 'Oh Shit!' as the bullets came flying in. Is this what they looked like on the charge? Could they see all this from that far away? Isaac had questioned that for a bit...and then he'd gotten hot under the collar when he remembered the cavalry charge, which he didn't even want to look at. Oh, they knew alright. They knew every last detail.

The last time he had this ear ache, there'd been a massive headache associated because of the mortar dropping so close. This had been a grenade that landed outside the window after it hit his helmet. The last thing Isaac remembered before telling everyone to duck was hearing some Imperial out there going "Oh, come on!" because of how he'd missed. He and Britta were on the floor, separated by a few feet. They were largely unhurt, just concussed a bit. Isaac managed "Britta?", and Britta confirmed "Ow.", which neatly described the situation. The wolf trainer then put his finger to his lips and slid towards the wall, indicating that she do same, in case somebody came to attack when they'd been disoriented. He'd actually heard what looked like an argument about that, possibly from the guy who'd thrown the grenade, but it was difficult to hear because of the car engine ticking away When he'd definitely heard a "Stop, don't!", Isaac came out of hiding and caught the man charging right out in the open and hit him with an eruption of gunfire.

A machine gun likes to spray wildly, but a firm hand will keep it centered. Isaac remembered when he slipped during the charge and while he was nearly hit, and coldly - soberly - thought 'There but the grace of god goes me.', as he fell. Britta tried to catch his friend, but he ran off into a building. It was about this time, as they were pulling back under cover, that they noticed Gwyn and Ines were gone from this room. Well...he had told them to secure the area around them, and there'd been definite sounds of fighting. It was pretty loud, in fact. Pretty sure a grenade went off, unless that was just the shock and memory from the last one.

"You think they're okay in there?"

Gunshots, screaming, sounds of people dying...

"I think they'll try to be. I don't know anything about either of 'em, of course. We'll just have to wait and see."

Alot of noise there, hard for Britta to hear him.

"What?"

"I said, they'll be fine!"

That would eventually die down, as would the outside. It was quiet out on the street now, except for the armored car. Didn't sound like anybody else was out there. It was almost tempting, that car, tempting to climb aboard and try to force it open. But no one would be stupid enough to do that, not without confirming things first. But then, the car was out of there, pulling out. Question is...was it a trick or was it a legitimate bug-out? That machine gun had range, and it was steady, being hooked into that car like that. The weight of the vehicle kept it from really bouncing around, so you could just fire accurately over a distance. Isaac waited...waited...and then Ines appeared! Isaac started to say "Welcome back.", but they all heard someone call out to them, saying it was safe.

"Alright, we're going back. Gwyn, if you can hear me, we're rejoining the squad!"

After having a look around, Isaac hopped right out the window, giving the others a gesture to follow as they crossed the street and into the waiting company of Squad One, where things were...yeah. Isaac walked in with the rest and stared for a moment, sort of at a loss. Jean looked like hell, Freya looked like someone killed her puppy, and they had a few wounded here, mainly Michael, Luke, and Marathon. Lucia seemed like she'd been worried over Michael, which was understandable. Isaac liked the short guy. You had to have serious strength if you could make it in the army while being undertall. He didn't wanna see him shot up, not at all. At least he was alive. Isaac stepped towards Jean now and reported.

"No casualties I can report. ...plenty of Imperial casualties, of course. That car, though..."

He shook his head.

"Untouchable. We'd need explosives, or mortars, or something."

Isaac was trying not to notice that Jean had obviously had another one of his moments where the war took out a nice big knife and slashed it across his sanity again. It wasn't the car or the wounded that did this. Jean obviously had something a bit more personal happen to him. Dammit, he'd only been gone a little while. The Lance-Corporal then looked him in the eyes and asked...

"What happened here? Tell me."

Meanwhile, Britta had overheard Ines and Freya talking. The thing that stood out about the Oceanic soldier when she walked in was that she'd had that look on her face, but she wasn't even hurt. That's what drew Ines over. That's what drew Britta to listen, as well. When Freya drew attenntion to Jean, though...Britta noticed Franz didn't have anyone while Jean was to be occupied with Isaac Yeah, even though he was a corporal and he'd been with the company since the trenches, it DID seem like Franz was overlooked, sometimes. That was wrong. Britta said to the other two "I'm a friend. I'll go." and headed on over to him to talk. Hoisting her gear on her back, she approached him with a calm tone.

"Franz, are you alright?"

She kind of hated that she didn't talk enough with some of the people around here. Work as a Gunner was sort of constant. If you're not laying down suppression fire, you're covering everyone's backs. And rest time? More chances than not, you're the one making sure they can rest, since you're the one keeping a lookout for the enemy. Becoming a Gunner is hard work, and being one in the field no less-so. She knew Franz was having a hard time of it. Britta herself felt like she was so busy making sure the people around her don't die that she didn't have the time to think about the things they were doing.

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

Eren reported the facts as he knew them, starting from the sudden appearance of the Colossal Titan, as it had five years ago. (No mention of the theft of meat, of course.) The way he spoke, it would be clear to Sara that he was a former resident of Shigenshina, and had seen Wall Maria destroyed and the initial invasion of the Titans, firsthand. He knew that skinless horror, he'd seen that armored juggernaut, and he'd watched the town of his birth get consumed. So, he ordered the attack on the Colossal one as soon as it appeared, though it seemed like it was smart enough to defend itself from having its weakpoint struck. Once it had done its part - smashing in the gate - it was gone, like the last time.

The description of events continued as pretty much as Kate had heard from him earlier, except that Eren was a bit less informal, phrasing it more like a report. He was less disoriented, even if he was still confused. Kate herself remained perhaps just as confused. There was no explanation, as of yet. If it wasn't for his apparent shifting ability, you'd just classify him as an Abnormal, an Irregular, and be done with it. But no, he was uniquely dangerous, wasn't he? Like the two who started the invasion to begin with. Eren stopped once he finished the part where he pulled Armin out of a bearded Titan's mouth. It was practically a superhuman feat, doing that. The fact that Armin had still been coherent later was nothing short of miraculous, given what happened. Still, Eren stopped and he looked between Sara and Kate right now.

"I don't remember anything properly after that. I thought I must've cut my way out, continued fighting. I don't know what happened. What she said..."

He was becoming agitated again. If either one of them had to guess, it would be that Eren must have seen or thought or dreamed something in all of this, some kind of disturbing imagery or even memory relating to this. He was trying to make sense of things, but the sense wouldn't come. It was at this point that Kate spoke up.

"May I tell him what happened now?"

After all, it's not like he wasn't seen...

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

She never even heard her coming. Sara was fast and quiet and professional...and that caught Kate by surprise now. She could've flinched when the Lieutenant walked in, telling her to ease off. She actually might've done, and there would've also been some kind of response that started with 'But...', but that sort of died on her lips as she understood that she hadn't sleeped, hadn't rested, and hadn't done anything but work on this ever since she was presented with the evidence of Eren's current being. It was too much, too quickly. She couldn't put it down, at least...not until Sara reminded her that she was pushing too hard. She thought that the seriousness of things would sharpen Eren's wits. When things got serious, so did he, but...no. Sara was right. Kate gave her a quiet nod of understanding and backed away from the cell. For a moment, she looked down, irritated with herself by the mistake she made, but then she heard Sara again and she sort of stared a moment.

Is she angry with me or...just trying to help?

No, there was just a hint of a smile. She hadn't expected that. Katherine started to return the smile, and then they both got back to the matter at hand. Eren had not started any sort of shouting match or gotten belligerant when he was talking with Kate. He probably wasn't going to start now, but one thing that he knew was that it wasn't likely that the Brunette was going to lie to him. She might not have ever told a lie in her life, simply because she'd be bad at it. Or rather, she wouldn't stand for it, because people not believing her when she spoke the truth of things was simply unacceptable to her. So, Sara explained what was going on and...well, she must have known about their connection back where it all started in Shigenshina, since she introduced Kate to him.

When asked Sara moved on and asked his name, he hesitated only because he didn't know how to place this new woman, and then answered with his stance stiff and upright, "Eren Jaeger, ma'am.". Kate remained silent, as her part in this was now essentially finished until she was asked some piece of information or she needed to interject something. There was no rumor or information at all on how Sara Reinhardt interrogated people. Usually, there wasn't anyone for a Titan-killer to question like this. Kathering waited for the time in which she would be needed now.

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

When she saw Sara looking at her like that, Kate realized just how far she was pushing this. She had gotten to scary qualities with that outburst, like she wanted to beat someone's face in because things didn't make sense. She couldn't stand that. Her life had been led out of the darkness by those willing to stick around her and that which could not break, like math and logical sense. Everything that happened had some sort of cause or trigger to make it happen, and that was the truth. Nothing supplanted this, because even if you couldn't find the cause...that didn't mean it wasn't there. Titans operated in the sun because the light gave them energy. Cannons fired because of black powder. Everything falls to earth because of gravity. Titan-people MUST be able to change for a reason. Otherwise, everyone would do it!

And they didn't all do it...right?

Moving on! Eventually, the next stage was going to happen. Someone would have to take Eren away. This was the part that Mikasa and Armin dreaded, but when they even showed the inclination to interfere, Katherine stopped them with "You must let this pass. We have to make them understand.", and the way to do this was to get the facts, the truth. Kate didn't believe Eren was hiding this. She didn't believe he was capable off hiding anything.

So! Where does that leave us? Well, they couldn't do anything with him until he awoke, and damn-well nobody was touching him while he was asleep, because this...had been where Kate would actually pull some rank. As soon as someone even tried to lay a finger on him before he reached the dungeon, or even as they were locking him up, Kate hit them with a "You know they'll want to know everything about him, study everything they can. He has to stay alive for that, and what comes after.", and then if they asked what she meant by later...they just got this glare like 'Isn't that enough for you, already?!', aaand they'd decide to go.

As a result, Kate WAS down there in the dungeon. It actually made sense, keeping him here. The other Titans grew lax and lazy at night. It'd be hard for him to get the power of the sun down here, and there was hardly enough room for him to do anything other than crush himself in these walls, anyway. Of course, that would crush her too... They'd let her wait for Eren to wake up down here, thinking she'd terrorize him because...apparently, some people seeing her at work were afraid of her. They thought the Shredders were just plain vicious, when they were more useful. Anyway, he did awaken, and as soon as he realized he was in chains, he was more than a little frantic, like he didn't know what was going on. Did he not?

"What...? Hey! Can anybody hear me?! HEY!!"

"I'm right here, Eren. Stop shouting."

The dark didn't help, sitting in the shadows as she'd been. Katherine stood up and approached the cell.

"I need you to talk to me as though your life depended on it."

"Why? What's happening?"

"Your life is in danger, like I said. Don't you know why?"

"How could I? I've been out-cold since I...!"

He looked at her, uncertain, trying to fill in the blanks. He told her he'd saved Armin, tried to get out, but the Titan's mouth snapped shut on his arm- He suddenly looked at his own, expecting it not to be there. From there, he was hopelessly confused, because he didn't remember anything properly after that. He said he must've gotten out, been wrong about his arm being bitten off. He must've been... He still had it here! Kate wrote in her diary, trying to understand. Was he in a daze like all the other Titans? No, it couldn't have been... That thing was Eren, alright. To hold that kind of rage, trying to tear apart the other Titans with his bare hands? Kate interrupted him now, and this was where Sara would come in, overhearing his confused words and the brunette setting him straight.

"Eren, you grew to a height of 15 meters and slaughtered a bunch of Titans. And if you don't know anything about that, you're in alot of trouble. More than you've ever been through in your life."

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

Normally, when a person so so-saturated with thoughts that information passed to them will register and then quickly move on to the backburner, where naturally it would be later recalled. However, there was a part in how Sara addressed her that got caught, something she hadn't expected to hear. She called her 'doctor', and that actually halted her writing, mid-word, as she had been outlining the initial observations of the strange feral Titan. There'd been that slight flinch, then she liked to the Shredders sitting beside her and up at Sara herself in confusion.

"Doctor? No, no... I'm not anything like..."

However, Armin decided to encourage this, saying "You really are, though. How often are you studying?", knowing already that the answer was 'All the time'. He might've been trying to encourage her, but the fact was that she didn't want to be reminded just now of her mother, a true genius. Somewhere in all the paperwork, Kate had a rank and/or title. She didn't really acknowledge it. She assumed that when it was important, people would listen to her because she hopefully made sense, and beyond that...didn't really want authority over people. She responded to Sara quietly.

"Th-thank you. I'm just trying to do my duty."

She again looked expectantly at Armin, bidding him to speak. This time, Mikasa gave him the nod and he began to articulate it, starting from when Eren practically dove into the mouth of a Titan to save him. Kate tried not to let this register, but the way her eyes darted to the unconscious boy and back to Armin, especially when he then said that Eren was eaten in front of him... No one could fail to register just a little surprise. The only reason Sara wasn't catching this was because Armin was keeping his voice down and a pair of scouts had called her attention for a moment.

She wrote down feverishly, almost tearing the page several times. Sara gave her an order to tend to Eren and she simply nodded before the white-haired fighter took a dive from the wall. She wanted to reinforce the others, make easier the evacuation of people from the area. Nothing either of them said accounted for Eren's transformation into a Titan. No other person in recorded history transformed into a Titan when eaten by another Titan. They just died. Why, apart from his overwhelming rage, was Eren so special? It was impossible, a wall of ignorance to the whole thing as thick as the wall they sat on now.

"I don't understand. He couldn't do this five years ago. What's changed between then and now? What did he do?"

He couldn't just wish it, no matter how much he hated the Titans. Mikasa chimed in "He became a soldier. That's all.", stating that there was no difference between him or anybody in training, nothing except the things that made him Eren, which alone were not enough for this... Eren was always like this, even as a Titan. He gave shape to his Titan form, but he sure as hell didn't make it himself! Kate stood up, feeling frustrated.

"Soldiers don't just become Titans, and neither do people! Something had to be done to him to make it happen! Someone has to be responsible for this!"

This outburst come right as Sarah was actually returning unexpectedly to the top of the wall...

Shingeki no Kyojin: Cleansing Amongst Man { Jack & Angel }

It took a moment of intense not-blinking to convince Mikasa to calm herself. Many people had died today, annd so it was more than a little understandable that Mikasa's protective attitude towards Eren would come out. She knew these three almost as well as she knew each other. In a situation like this, with Eren caught in the middle of trouble, this is where they would always be. Still, something in the way Kate was trying to copy Mikasa's intensity must have seemed genuine and trustworthy to her, because she relented, and allowed Sarah to give a hand. A quick look around followed, to make sure nothing was trying to grab them, and then up they went, straight to the top of Rosa. As they did, Kathherine couldn't help but look down at the area of the now-sealed gate, which had originally been where the Colossal Titan sent his fateful kick. She saw-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm broken, sweetheart... Couldn't move if my life depended on it."

"Then, lemme take you somewhere they can fix you!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No no no! Shut up! Shut up! This wasn't like back then! Things are different now! They can fight! They can kill! The Colossal Titan failed! The Colossal Titan... Where WAS the Colossal Titan, anyway? OR the Armored Titan? They were gone again, vanished just as quickly as they arrived. You couldn't get away that quickly. You just couldn't. Someone would see where you went, but those two seemed to appear and disappear at will...and boy did they have will. The only one that might've had even more than that was Eren, followed closely by Mikasa. Who was it that sounded the attack and charged the Colossal Titan as soon as it appeared? This boy, the one now resting atop the wall where it all started. Katherine looked around...then had to blink rapidly.

"Agh...how does she do that thing with her eyes...?"

Honestly, all that intense staring, just to get Eren up a wall where it was SAFE! That hurt! And the sun was still out and she didn't have anything to keep it out. No wonder Aunt Hange wore those glasses. She must've gotten eye-strain all the time, just like her own mother! So, cue Katherine irritably rubbing her eyes for a moment, thankful that there was no sign of another Colossal surprise today, before turning to face the others and pulling out her diary and pen. To be fair, this was not her original diary. Even after drawing and writing small in the original one, she had long ago run out of pages. This was Kate Bellows' Diary the 7th! She found an empty page, put pen to paper, and said...

"I want to know everything."