FalloutJack

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

Indeed, that fateful excursion was due to be rife with potential madness, but before that happened, there were a few other things that had to go on. It begins with Eren asking "So, what happens now?", and...him getting an answer. Maybe not the answer he or anybody wanted to hear, exactly, but it was the one that was inevitable. In short, Hange answered.

"Naturally, with this expedition in mind, we can hardly go into this unprepared. We need to understand how your change works, what its limits are, how we can control or at least direct it, and I believe we're all on the same page on where that should take place?"

She looked to the two other Commanders, who of course were in the know. Erwin nodded, knowing that he had Eren in good if...perhaps overly-anxious hands. He knew Hange would not get too overzealous with this, of course. The only real concern he had was imparted with just a look in Levi and Sara's direction. It was a simple gesture, but the message was clear: 'Your best wisdom on this matter, at all times.' He was positive that certain unknowns were about to come to light, things that he had remained silent on for the good of all, and would remain so until one of the others - or perhaps just Sara herself - broke such a silence. He was going to be busy organizing the expedition itself, and he had a few thoughts on who to assign that would help...

"I must go and get things underway, so I'll leave you in their charge now."

And with that, Erwin left the room. No doubt, they'd be putting Eren back in his cell - probably for his own good - to await heading out to the location in question in the morning. At the moment, Kate was actively distracted before realizing after Erwin left...

"I forgot to ask him for help in getting some of that powder, 'cause I think the MPs aren't gonna just give it after we took Eren from them."

"I'm sure we could sneak away with something on the way out, especially if you need to test them out first."

Speaking of ups and downs, there appeared to be plans of explosive powder theft going on right under their noses here...

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

Only a very exclusive few were aware that there was more than one Titan-Shifter in the room, and it was gonna stay that way until it was important enough to blow that cover. One can only imagine what sort of things go through Sara's head in regards to that confidentiality. Did she fear being put into the same danger as Eren himself was in? Did she regret not revealing herself sooner and giving humanity an edge more publically? One can only guess, but the thing to know for sure was this: Those in this room who were fully-aware of Sara's secret nature believed that it should remain as one, because it truly does go further than 'Oh, we've had a Titan-Shifter this whole time.'. It was more like 'We've known that there are humans who become uniquely-dangerous Titans for a while now, and that knowledge is even more dangerous out in the open than it is quiet.'. After all, someone had to BE the enemy that kicked in the gates. If they knew about this, they'd never be so brazen in exposing themselves at the second wall.

Still, of the people who were in the know, Kate Bellows was not. She had walked into the room quietly, making no noise to disturb the others, no comments to interrupt them. At least, not until there was a great need to speak. This was the job and both the Commanders and Sara had the floor. She wasn't even going to greet her Aunt until she was focused away from Eren...which might take some time. As to Sara's question, Eren said "You seemed to believe in what I said, so I have to return the favor.". As stated beforre, he understood WHY she beat him, and it worked. So, while the Lieutenant was rather intimidating - right along with her cousin - at least things appeared to be alright now. She would see that Kate was indeed relieved, even smiling. It would be a hard road ahead, but now that they were walking the path, they would never stop until the end was reached.

"Will my friends be alright?"

And this is where Kate broke her silence.

"Nothing will happen to them, Eren. They'll be fine. The only problem is that, for obvious reasons, they can't go where you're going. You're our responsibility now, and by that token, everything you do reflects directly on us."

So, if he were to - say, for instance - go completely out of control and have to be put down, possibly killing people along the way...heads would roll, literally, as punishment. This sunk in deep into Eren's understanding...a very seriouss thing...which is why it was completely out from left field that Kate would suddenly get practically tackled and put into a tight deathgrip of affection by Hange Zoe.

"Katherine! When did you get here?! You've grown again, haven't you?!"

"...hi, Aunt Hange... You're the one who arrived unannounced... I've been here."

She released Kate, going "Oh yeah, that's a good point.", and then gripped her hands excitedly.

"I hear the Titan-Shredder is going to be approved for regular use! How's the new project coming along?"

"Got the basics of it down, but I'm gonna need a black powder supply to fill the heads. If I don't test a fully-operational prototype, we won't know how effective it is."

They're both getting that wild look in their eyes over - one would assume - some other invention or even mulitple inventions Kate was working on. What? You thought the Titan-Shredders would be the only thing she could make? Her mother perfected the wall cannons and railing system with a few measurements and some math. This kind of thing was running in the family!

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

It seemed that while her proposal was not fully-accepted, the idea of her teaming up with at least a pair of others under her command was possible. The reason for this, although unspoken, was due to the loss of Zahra in the last battle. NC Ursa Nova had gone right for the mecha giving every one support-fire, and - whether or not the operator even knew she had been coordinating their movements in the field - silenced it. To Terra, this meant that they were attempting a somewhat-decentralized form of organization to keep the enemy from compromising their command structure. It was possible for them to succeed, although the main thing was to be certain that everyone was properly ready for the next assault. Hisako and Tabris had to be ready, without question. Grand Sword Star needed to have all remote access by Red Star removed, and as much defense from Osamu as possible, where possible. The artificial's abilities were uncanny and difficult to handle. But in any case, Terra's response to Theodore's answer had been...

"Very well, Commander. I will coordinate with all others, as needed."

The meeting continued and, among other things, another Denver-Vegas volunteer was among them, it seemed. Funnily enough, and...this actually caught Terra off-guard for a moment, she seemed to have...a similarly-energetic way of being to Kxeyun. She looked from Anna to Kxeyun and back again, wondering if this was just how people were in Denver-Vegas. She had no idea. Kxeyun had been sort of a benchmark based on her being the only 'sample' from the area. This made Anna something of a corralation. The only difference that Terra could see was that Anna probably didn't have the same traumatizing escape that Kxeyun did. Perhaps they should talk. Perhaps they should all talk...

While a few of the introductions were taking place, Adam Philips wanted the room. They couldn't exactly say 'No', and he cut the holo-link to the room. He umm...actually forgot that Terra was IN the room, as Commander Narra had asked her to show up in person. No big deal. The only thing was that he seemed somewhat red with impatience or irritation being barely contained. It seemed to show when he spoke, but Terra could not see why. She left with the others, and then proceeded to walk nearby to Anna Mustang.

"Commander Narra has said it's important that we all know each other to some degree, and I felt my last meeting with someone of Denver-Vegas went well, so I might as well. I'm Terra Laedo."

She extended a hand for shaking.

NCQuest - A Mecha RP: The Defense of Darwin (BeeNCQuest)

@Psychic Loser:

As Anna is a fan of the Reality Games and Kyexun was one of the NC Pilots hunting 'lawbreakers' down, perhaps that can be a reason for them to interact?

@Letter Bee

Personally, I feel this is likely. Kxeyun is suppose to be rather good at those games, so her name would be circulated widely.

EDIT: Actually, Terra is perplexed by the way Anna is energetic like Kxeyun. I could have her initiate conversation too. That'd be another in.

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

With Eren being not particularly threatening and Captain Levi confident that he could end him if he really needed to, Commander Erwin's proposal was easily accepted. The MPs assumed that killing Eren for some fruitless disection and their own peace of mind was a foregone conclusion, but in no way was it this. An advantage, a resource, had to be cultivated properly. They had so very little, on the grand scale of things. They needed this, and they needed the incentive towards a particular goal.

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

In the dungeon, right before Sara and Kate left Eren's cell...

"...the basement!"

The basement?

"There's something in the basement of my home in Shigenshina. My father told me there was something important there, and I have the key!"

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

An incentive, a clue. Eren seemed convinced that his father held something important in his basement. Kate remembered it, vaguely. She remembered the key around Grisha Jaeger's neck during one of their sessions, supposedly the same key that Eren had now. It was a longshot, truth be told, but suppose... What if there was something really there? What if, besides the notion of sealing up Wall Maria, they could learn something new and important? Kate had, of course, no idea what Grisha did in his spare time. He was a doctor and he helped cure her of her trauma from when she was younger. If Shigenshina were targeted because of him...

No matter, for now. We'll have to reach it first. Now...wait a minute. Where'd it go?

People had started getting up and leaving. Eren was being taken away. In the shuffle, Kate noticed that the tooth was gone. Someone must've picked it up, and the only real answer to that was...

"Of course she did."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Eren was still sort of reeling from the trial, or from the blows inflicted upon him by Sara. He was actually kind of surprised he didn't transform. When Erwin greeted him, apologized to him, it was a little hard for him to contain himself. He took his hand almost eagerly. And why not? Erwin Smith was a man of rank, courage, and determination. He was someone to look up to, believe in. Sara, on the other hand, was a bit scary.

"It's okay, though... I understand why it was necessary."

And this was where Hange pulled out the tooth he lost. Good god, she was keeping that? If she did that, you have to wonder...did she have his arm from before too? Probably. Hange seemed to want to test it, and him, for alot. She asked him about the pain he felt and even wanted to see the inside of his mouth, where it was revealed...he had a full set of teeth.

"Commander, are you sure I'm not going to be disected?"

Before the man could even try to reassure him, Hange got in first by a mile, shaking her head wildly with those glaring eyes.

"No no no no! I would never take apart someone as vitally important as you! How could you even suggest such a thing when there's so much more to learn while you're alive? Run some tests, make some notes - certainly. But I have other subjects for the really deep stuff."

Eren was taken aback. He saw several things familiar about this woman. Like he'd seen a face like hers that was alot more calm, but still blessed with that same mad spark of genius. And those eyes. He'd seen those wild eyes before. That was when Eren had the 'Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?' look, for sure.

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

Everything went silent as Sara started beating up on Eren Jaeger. Well, mostly silent. You could see the shock on Mikasa's face right before she was about to go out there and do something about that. Fortunately, Armin stopped her, probably because he saw where this was going. It was a good thing too because...in all honesty, it was impossible to tell just how dangerous that girl really was. She'd thrown herself into training and come out a vicious killing machine, something that surely came out in the battle of Trost. The problem was her singular devotion to Eren, which could lead her into unreasonably...well...wanting to basically kill anyone here, to be honest. The thought of anyone trying to disect her didn't even bring a reaction, since she'd probably just take the knives out of that person's hands and...yeah, let's not dwell on that.

For now, they were all staring at this one-sided slugfest, where Sara was beating the everloving shit out of the boy. Kate was frankly shocked, as well. Everyone was, but for her...she didn't expect this.

Sara didn't...mention this...earlier. Was that a tooth...? Did something just SNAP?

Not everyone was reacting this way. Probably not Commander Erwin. And Levi? He looked impassive enough, but was there just a small smile of approval on his face? Of course, he'd've done the same, probably would have, if Sarah hadn't. Eren continued to take a beating in front of everybody, until the man who'd ordered a gun pointed managed to chime in "Hey, stop it. You might make him angry, turn 'im into a Titan.". Did it seem like his heart suddenly wasn't in it, like he didn't really believe his own words? It might've been more like he couldn't take watching Sara at work, while Kate noticed that Aunt Hange was both shocked and facinated by all of this. Honestly, though, Kate wanted to speak up, as well, stating that Sara might do irreparable harm soon, which would slam home the impression that Eren was still a fragile human, not an indominatable Titan.

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..."