Underground - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

We sat around a large table in the meeting room of headquarters, Erwin standing in front of us, deep in quiet conversation with one of the commanders of the Garrison.
Hange sat next to me, busily scribbling notes on a sheet of paper in front of her, her eyes alight with excitement behind her glasses. I could only guess that she was still writing about her study.
Levi entered the room and sat down beside me, leaning back in his chair as he glanced over at Hange and then flicked his eyes to me. He raised a dark eyebrow at me when I met his gaze and asked quietly, "How was being four-eyes guinea pig for the afternoon?"
I lifted my shoulder slightly in a shrug and responded back in a low voice, "It was fine."
He straightened in his chair and leaned forward, his clasped hands resting on the table in front of him. "Did she ask you about that bastard?" He muttered under his breath to me, so no one else would hear.
I nervously played with my fingers in my lap for a moment, averting my gaze away from him before I finally responded in a barely audible voice, "Yeah."
He picked up a pen sitting on the table in front of him and forcefully tapped it end over end against the wooden surface before saying out of the corner of his mouth, "And did you tell her?"
"No." I shook my head slightly, still avoiding looking over at him.
He dropped the pen back onto the table and sat back in his chair again, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so. When he spoke again, his voice was slightly louder and laced with anger. "Well, you should have. That son of a bitch deserved everything he had coming to him."
I couldn't help it. The simmering rage beneath his words made my heart leap in my chest, and a warmth spread through my body as I glanced over at him, meeting his dark, intense gaze. Some part of him still cared about me, even if he wouldn't admit it.
Erwin stepped up to the table, clearing his throat loudly as the Garrison leader he had been speaking to took a seat beside us. He glanced over each one of us, his heavy eyebrows furrowed, and then announced, "You all know why we're here."
"Because there's a gigantic abnormal titan bastard on the loose and none of us knows how to kill it?" Levi spoke up in a dry voice from beside me, still leaned back nonchalantly in his chair, his dark eyes as flat and emotionless as usual.
Erwin ignored his sarcastic comment and motioned to the Garrison leader next to him. "Commander Richston has confirmed our fears. There are no holes in the wall. Which means that this abnormal, whatever control it has over the others, it is using other means to get the titans through our defenses."
Hange's frantic writing stopped and she looked up at Erwin, her brow furrowed in thought as she said, "We know the beast titan can climb the walls. Nanabe's group saw it happen." She put the pen to her lips and tapped it against her skin a few times in thought. "But that doesn't explain how it's getting the other titans inside."
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. A thought that made my stomach drop violently.
"That cadet....Springer." I spoke up in the silence and everyone's attention turned to me. I pushed forward, even though I felt suddenly nervous to voice my opinion. "His village. There were no signs that the townspeople had been eaten. No blood, no gore. But there was destruction. And there was a titan there." I glanced at Levi out of the corner of my eye, knowing if anyone thought what I was going to say next was completely insane, it would be him. I just had to hope he'd let me finish. I flicked my eyes back to Erwin, who was waiting for me to finish. "A titan that couldn't have walked there. It's legs were too emaciated. And Springer said in his report that it spoke to him...in our language...and it looked like his mother." I took in a deep breath. "What if, the control that this abnormal holds over the others, what if it's not just limited to titans? What if, somehow, it's creating titans inside of the wall? Out of our people?"
I finished and everyone was silent for a few moments, taking in what I had just proposed. I nervously flicked my fingers lightly on the top of the table as I waited for the cries of "she's insane" to burst forth.
Finally, Hange, who was now tapping her pen furiously on the table in thought, exclaimed, "She could be right, Erwin. There's no other explanation for how the titans are behind the wall if there's not a hole for them to enter through." Her eyes lit up with excitement and she tapped her pen faster as she continued. "What if this abnormal IS creating new titans out of humankind?"
Erwin spoke up again, his forehead creased with deep lines as he furrowed his brow in thought. "Well, we've never seen anything like this before, but in this crazy as hell world we live in now, anything's possible." He lifted his chin at me. "Good thinking, (L/N)." He turned to the window behind him, his hands clasped behind his back, as he stared out at the base before us. Finally, he spoke again. "So, if that's the case, we stick to our original plan regardless. If we take down this beast titan, and if your theory is right, then the emergence of new titans behind our defenses should cease once the abnormal is taken care of."
I glanced over at Levi, who hadn't said anything since I proposed my theory.
He had his steepled fingers held in front of his lips, deep in thought, still leaned back in his chair. He must have felt my gaze on him, because he flicked his dark eyes, partily obscured by his black hair falling over his forehead, over to me and then said, "This doesn't change anything. We're back to where we started. We still need to take out that abnormal bastard, and quickly." He turned his gaze to Erwin, who was watching him from across the table, and said flatly, "So. You've kept all of us holed up here for the week while you came up with some sort of 'master plan.' I think it's time you told us what that is."
Erwin sat down into his chair with a deep sigh. "I've come up with a plan of attack that I think is our best course of action at this point. I've run it by Hange," He motioned to Hange, who flicked her fingers at us in a slight wave and grinned, and then continued. "She agrees. This may not be foolproof, but it's about the best damn thing we have to offer right now."
Hange stood up and moved around the table to stand beside Erwin, determination crossing her face as she said confidently, "It won't be easy, but if we can pull it off, we should be able to take down the beast titan once and for all." She moved her gaze over to me. "And if (F/N)'s theory proves correct, that should stop the creation of new titans behind the wall."
"Tell us the plan already, four-eyes." Levi spoke up from beside me, a slight tone of irritation in his voice as he sat forward in his chair again.
"Basically, we let the beast titan think it's got us right where it wants us." Erwin rested his hands on the table in front of him, his voice sounding slightly tired as he explained our course of action. "We let it set up an ambush for us, just like it did when your squad ran across that destroyed scouting base."
"However, this time, it will be different." Hange cut in, her voice laced with enthusiasm. "We'll let the abnormal think it has the upper hand. When things are starting to look bleak, we call in Eren. The beast titan shouldn't have any knowledge of the titan shifters on our side. It will think we've been backed into a corner, when really, we've saved its downfall for last."
"So Jaeger takes care of the abnormal bastard for us." Levi said, his voice flat. "But that doesn't account for all of the other hundreds of normal titans it will have on its side."
"He's right." I spoke up again for the first time since I had brought up my absurd theory. "When we came upon the command base, the beast titan had a swarm of titans under its control. We probably could have handled the beast titan on its own, but there were too many other titans in the equation to get close enough to the abnormal safely."
Erwin rubbed a hand across his face, exhaustion suddenly overcoming his features, and I realized how much this had really taken out of him. "We've discussed that. We think it's going to be best if we have the rest of the special forces and survey corps hidden throughout the location. When we send in Jaeger, the rest of the forces will emerge as well, taking on the other titans at the scene."
"We need to try and employ this plan as close to the wall as possible." Hange put a hand on Erwin's shoulder. "If we can keep the wall on at least one of our sides, we'll know that the abnormal won't have a chance to bring in an ambush from that side. And we'll know at least one of our flanks is less of a worry."
I glanced over at Levi, who was sitting silently beside me. I felt nausea fill my throat as I thought about facing the beast titan and its swarm of titan bastards again. What if we couldn't keep them at bay again this time? What if we lost everyone in the plan, just like I had lost Johnson last time?
Without really thinking, I reached out and put my hand on top of Levi's underneath the table, my fingers lacing through his. I kept my gaze on Erwin and Hange, not looking at him, but I needed the contact, even if just for a brief moment. Even if he pulled his hand away from mine, just the second of his cool skin against mine was enough to calm the panicked flutterings of my heart.
But he didn't pull his hand away.
He curled his fingers into his palm, pressing my fingers into his skin, the touch of his rough, calloused knuckles under my palm comforting and familiar. The skin of his palm was cool and smooth under the warmth of my fingers, and I could feel the fear in my throat receding at the pressure of his hand on mine.
"If this is the only idiotic plan you've been able to come up with, even if it has only a slight chance of succeeding, then I'll do my very best to fulfill it and take down that bastard." Levi's hard gaze bored into Erwin's across the table, his voice steely with determination and a slight edge of anger. He ran one of his fingers across mine under the table and then said, his eyes flashing with determination. "And I won't fail. Not for you."
Even though he kept his gaze on Erwin, I knew his words were meant for me. They always had been.