It had been a gruelling journey for Armin and Jean. He still was feeling the effects of the bullet. They'd arrived back. It was late at night intentionally so there was less people to see the delivery.

"so, we're back." Armin announced upon finding Levi at the meeting place. A small hidden lab Hanji liked to use when it was important to keep secretive. She'd given Levi the key long ago in case something happened to her.

"did you get everything?" asked Erwin given that it was rare that they got the opportunity.

"yes…. are you sure everything on that list was essential for the plan?" asked Armin

"uh yeah…. pretty certain." Responded Erwin. He had to admit he had got them to do some of the groceries at the same time.

"you don't know what we went through." Stated Armin truthfully.

"how bad can shopping be?" asked Erwin feeling that it shouldn't have been difficult.

"firstly, look at how we are dressed." pointed out Jean still unhappy for having been put in a dress.

"secondly you asked for weird stuff." Added Armin still completely confused over what she needed.

"thirdly I got shot." Pointed out Jean showing the treated bullet wound.

"Wait—how exactly could you possibly get shot?" asked Erwin completely confused at how Jean had managed to get shot.

"ran into Rico." He stated slightly embarrassed. It always seemed whatever he did it related to Rico.

"did she recognise you?" asked Erwin concerned if their cover had been blown

"not this time." He admitted. If she'd known it was him, her general habit was to punch him.

"so, she just has an innate desire to hurt you?" asked Erwin noticing how many incidents seemed to occur between Rico and Jean. He knew he had been responsible for the first one with a certain degree of assistance from Connie.

"it was an accident." Jean claimed somewhat hopefully even though there was likely a certain degree of truth to it.

"was she aiming for your head?" teased Erwin knowing Rico's shooting was considered to be legendary.

"no!" Jean explained.

"ah look Eren and Levi are back." Noticing a somewhat annoyed Levi and a swaying Eren.

"are you ok Eren?" asked Erwin seeing the very clearly drunk Eren.

"no, I'm so hammered that girl looks like Jean in a dress." Seeing the figure next to him looked familiar.

"it is Jean in a dress" responded Erwin "did you learn anything?" the commander had assumed the meeting would be an effective distraction but he also hoped the meeting would prove useful for information.

"I'm going to protect Mikasa." he announced in a sloshed term.

"like you could actually protect Mikasa." Jean responded back loud enough under his breath so that Eren could hear.

"I will protect her." He reiterated. Eren knew that despite how drunk he was, protecting Mikasa was one of the most important things he could do.

"you aren't strong enough." Jean declared. After the day he'd had he wasn't going to humour Eren.

Eren now knew that it was Jean and regardless of how drunk he was he was now annoyed "I'll use my strength and show you I'll protect her from anything" as he said this Eren unknowing crushed the bottle in his hands. Instantly they say it Eren's titan form emerged.

"uh-oh" was all Jean could say.

Erwin was speechless

"good going jean…now we have a drunk titan to deal with" was all Levi could think to say.

"so what do we do?" asked Jean wondering what to do with this situation he caused.

"well Eren doesn't seem particularly violent right now." Noted Levi seeing that there was a tumbling titan. Clearly still feeling the effect of the alcohol.

"the biggest risk seems to be accidental damage." Noted Erwin.

"what do we do?" asked Armin. There was a general assumption that they wouldn't get any other help to sort this problem out.

"Hanji set up a trap to catch any titans who come near for research purposes. We could use that."

"that's non-lethal, right?" asked Armin concerned for his friend.

"it's Hanji. She would never willingly kill a titan she easily could capture" pointed out Levi to a general acceptance from the rest.

"so how do we lure that into a trap?" pointed at Eren who seemed to be patrolling. Armin assumed it was some primal need to protect Mikasa.

"well I have two ideas." Declared Levi.

"what are they?" asked Armin apprehensively. Ordinarily he would come up with a plan but he was too concerned about his friend to try to come up with one.

"well it's a drunk teenage boy I guess an attractive girl could seduce him to the trap." Suggested Levi

"we don't have any girls." Noted Jean looking around. Given the fact that it would inherently be an embarrassment for the survey corps to have lost control of their top weapon they obviously couldn't use anyone apart from the people they could trust.

Armin had noticed that while there may not be any girls there were two people in a dress "you don't mean us…. right?"

Levi smiled. "who else? But don't worry I only need one of you for that role."

"what will the other do?" asked Jean looking for a way out.

"well my back up strategy will require one of you to shout at Eren from horseback but I'll only use that plan if the first one fails."

"so, who gets which role?" asked Armin not liking the sound of either role. Armin didn't like being in a dress and wanted to get into his normal clothes as soon as possible. It wasn't that h felt there was anything wrong with people cross dressing but he certain wasn't someone who felt it as a comfortable experience.

"you two decide amongst yourself." Levi decided to let each choose their doom.

"so, what happened?" asked Hitch. Her and Marlow had temporarily been assigned to deal with the initial investigation of the incident. It wasn't difficult to work out the reason for the dead body given that the party responsible was the person who asked for assistance.

"well this guy tried to pull a knife on me." Pointing towards the corpse Rico indicating the responsible party.

"and then?" prodded Hitch. She knew there was something up.

"well a girl intervened which gave me time to fire off a shot." Explained Rico still feeling a bit perplexed at the entire situation.

" reports indicated that the sight indicated a woman leaving the scene with a wound."

"I think my bullet grazed hi—her." Rico knew she had seen a woman however something in her reminded her distantly. Rico felt it was possible she may have known a relative given she felt such a masculine vibe from her.

"who was she?" asked Hitch

"no idea." Responded

"we'll you to need to give a description to our sketch artist." Declared Hitch indicating at Marlow as the sketch artist.

"what for?" asked Rico feeling nervous having admitted to the girl's presence. She realised what the military police were thinking.

"technically this person fled the scene of a serious crime. That's an offence." Confirmed Marlow assuming Rico would see "so, what did this person look like?" asked Marlow

"tall." Was all Rico could think of. She had no intention of giving up her rescuer.

"how tall?" asked Marlow hoping to establish specific details.

"about 8ft" Lied Rico. She knew Hitch would see through her lies but that wasn't a problem. She just needed to buy her rescuer escape time.

"8ft." responded Hitch very sceptically.

"give or take a few inches." Rico added to make it sound more plausible.

"hair colour?" Asked Marlow

"blond and straight with a hint of grey." She chose to make it blonde to match the girl but wanted to change it slightly so that it would make it hard for Hitch to find the girl.

"what sort of eyes." Asked Marlow sketching an image of the person

"sort of cross eyed...one eye was blue and the other was green" Rico wasn't sure which eye colour was better so she went for both

"what sort of nose." Asked Hitch sarcastically

"a really long crooked one." Lied Rico again.

"mouth shape." Asked Marlow still taking Rico completely seriously.

"small lips. Bright red lipstick." Rico lied. She was starting have fun with this. The girl she had seen had in fact been wearing very little make up.

"what sort of head shape?" asked Marlow trying to adjusting the image to as accurate as the description.

"sort of square with a pointy chin" Rico wasn't sure how long she'd have to do this.

"anything else distinguishable?" asked Marlow nearly having finished the sketch,

"only had 4 teeth. Two on the top two on the bottom" she then pointed out 4 of her teeth to indicate where the person she was inventing had teeth.

"She had a small birthmark on her cheek in the shape of…the moon." Rico was running out of material to come up with the blatantly fictitious person.

"crescent moon?" asked Marlow still genuinely convinced.

"no full moon." Answered Rico. She figured she might as well make it somewhat plausible.

"so…round?" asked Hitch finding Rico somewhat incongruous.

"precisely" teased Rico. Wondering when Marlow would realise.

"so, she looked like this?" asked Marlow showing Rico the sketch.

"that's an amazing likeness." Responded Rico trying to keep a straight face.

"thanks." Responded Marlow happy to receive a compliment

"you're certain?" asked Hitch to see Rico's resolve.

Rico nodded "can I go now?"

"sure, we'll be in contact if we find out anything." She warned before watching Rico leave.

"so, where do we start searching?" asked Marlow once he was sure Rico left.

"judging from this sketch the circus." Responded Hitch "you do realise she was lying to us?"

"obviously." Responded Marlow not actually suspecting anything "why do you think she is lying?" asked Marlow hoping Hitch would fill in the blanks

"she wants to protect the person who saved her." Explained Hitch. She saw it in Rico the moment she explained the crime.

"you think she knows her?" asked Marlow

"possibly." Admitted Hitch but she couldn't rule out it was purely a co-incidence given that if Rico had known the person she may have not mentioned them at all. "but I certainly think the military is involved in this somehow."

"what make you think that?" asked Marlow unsure of how Hitch could be so certain.

"you recognised the body yet?" asked Hitch having recognised the corpse straight away. She was actually somewhat glad to see this guy dead. He'd not been directly connected with any crime but he'd been associated with too many incidents that Hitch felt it was possible he wold soon.

Marlow shook his head

"look closer." Suggested Hitch.

"do I have to?" asked Marlow not wanting to look at the corpse.

"yes." She ordered. She couldn't handle Marlow's squeamish nature when it came to bodies.

Marlow reluctantly looked at the face. He was certain he had seen in before. He looked through his sketch book and realised another image he had drawn in a similar way "wait isn't this the guy from the café that got into the argument with Eren and Mikasa."

"precisely." Answered Hitch. She had spotted it immediately.

"we need to keep looking for clues." Decided Marlow

"I have one idea." Hitch had a plan. "there's blood trail there in the direction Rico said the person left." Hitch pointed out. It was hard to make out given that it was dark but Hitch knew this was their only chance to follow it giving they were expecting rain.

"we're going to follow it?" asked Marlow hoping Hitch would agree. He knew it would be difficult given the time. But it could lead to an interesting result.

"we are" Hitch responded definitively.

Krista and Mikasa had been granted one of the smaller rooms to share. Marie used that There did happen to be two single beds in the room.

"you comfortable?" asked Krista noticing that despite being ready for bed Mikasa seemed lost in thought.

"yeah I'm fine." Responded Mikasa, if she was being honest she was processing the day's events. Putting on a real wedding dress made it seem real.

"As we're finally alone can I ask you a question?" asked Krista. It was rare she got an opportunity to speak with Mikasa like this.

"sure." Agreed Mikasa. She did trust Krista for the most part even though she was never sure of the difference with Krista and Historia.

"do you actually have romantic feelings for Eren?" asked Krista

"why would you ask that?" responded Mikasa still flushed red.

"I'm just curious if this is real for you or just a mission" explained Krista. She knew Mikasa was the sort to see any mission to completion.

"it's everything for me." Admitted Mikasa honestly.

"really?" asked Krista surprised Mikasa was that committed. She'd have expected Mikasa to say she had a crush on Eren but an admittance of love was surprising.

"I've been in love with Eren since I was 9." Admitted Mikasa. She had decided to overlook the circumstances that caused it as Krista didn't need to know. But she knew she was in love with him.

"but are you willing to be a lover?" Asked Krista bluntly. It was important that she knew Mikasa. While so far, she wasn't intending to take Hannah up on her offer it has certainly raised questions for Krista.

Mikasa froze for a moment blushing intently "a lover…." Was all she could utter before she got lost in thought.

"well?" asked Krista. If Mikasa said no it would raise some questions and give her a free idea.

Mikasa "honestly I would but I wouldn't want to force Eren. I know he doesn't feel the same way"

"what would you say if Eren walked in right now and said he wanted to have you right now." Suggested Krista

"I would say…" Mikasa then pondered for a moment before deciding exactly what to say "could you please leave Krista. "

"you'd ask me to leave?" asked Krista feeling like Mikasa was almost avoiding the question.

"no offence but I don't like to share." She teased. She was hoping to end the conversation.

"but you wouldn't initiate?" Asked Krista hoping to get to the core of the issue.

"I don't want to force Eren." Responded Mikasa honestly. She felt Eren would feel some sort of obligation for the mission if she initiated but there'd be no true passion unless he wanted.

"if you don't someone else may not give you an option." Warned Krista

"I trust Eren but if he didn't chose me I'd…. have to accept it." Admitted Mikasa. she loved Eren with everything she had and wanted to give any chance she could but she believed Eren didn't feel the same.

Moblit awoke he was still in the room Marie had chosen for him. He was still in bed but now he was tied up.

"So Moblit."

"Hannah….what are you doing in here? And why am I tied up?" asked Moblit trying to establish the situation. Last, he remembered he had been in bed asleep but he had not been tied up.

"oh, don't worry about that. How about a glass of water."

"ok." Moblit Began to drink from the glass. He wasn't sure why but the more he drunk the more honest he felt

"well Moblit I felt our las conversation went well. I wanted to do it again" she reminded him of the previous conversation in her toom with the church.

"ok but why am I tied up?" asked Moblit slightly hoping she was coming on to him.

"I felt it was more appropriate." Hannah responded. Given the truth serum had a limited timescale she couldn't waste time. She had a few minutes at most. Luckily the commander's wife has a suspicious amount of rope.

"so, what exactly do you want?" asked Moblit somewhat hoping it was what he was hoping for.

"I just want to ask you some questions" responded Hannah.

"go ahead." Moblit wasn't sure why but he felt like being incredibly honest.

"tell me your deepest secret" she ordered.

"I have a crush on Hanji." Admitted Moblit in a secret he desperately tried to keep quiet.

"anything that's not immediately obvious?" responded Hannah. She only been with the survey corps for a little while an it was so easy to see.

"well I know Hanji doesn't feel the same way and will probably start banging Levi soon." Admitted Moblit. It wasn't like he couldn't see the writing on the wall.

"ok let's try what is the survey corps biggest secret?" asked Hannah hoping being precise might help.

"the fact that Hanji draws erotic art of the titans, her friends and certain visitors and Erwin sells them to make money for the survey corps" explained Moblit regrettably. He wasn't exactly proud to admit that.

"including me?" asked Hannah concerned.

"yes, for some reason she drew erotic art featuring you being deflowered by Jean." Admitted Moblit. He actually considered it to be one of Hanji's better attempts even if he had been somewhat inaccurate on Jean's proportions.

"ok I'm not a virgin for the record and if I was jean wouldn't be on my list." Admitted Hannah a little insulted.

Hannah was a little offended by this and Moblit could tell "she didn't know that at the time" answered Moblit honestly.

"do you have any others?" asked Hannah hoping for at least something usable.

Moblit tried desperately to say nothing but eventually he couldn't stop admitting about what had happened earlier "I saw jean and Armin cross dressing it was..."

"any that might have some vague significance to the church?" interrupted Hannah not seeing how this could be relevant.

Moblit couldn't think of anything that could be relevant to the church. He'd been thinking about Armin and Jean but Hannah had just told him that wasn't relevant. "well I heard rumours Erwin has a secret plot I think I'm not supposed to talk about."

"ok well I'm sure you can tell me." She insisted.

"I think he's going to start an adulterous relationship with Marie Dok." He informed her. He figured that might be something the church might care about.

"this is not going to work." Hannah as seeing that Moblit was a hard nut to crack. She wasn't sure if the truth serum she placed in his drink wasn't working or if Moblit was just an amazing secret keeper.

"what exactly is going on here?" asked Marie Dok. She had walked in to tell Moblit she was just going to tell Moblit to be quiet.

"she's tied me up." Moblit pointed out still unable to lie.

"why?"

"I'm not sure she keeps asking me questions but I'm not sure why." Then something made Moblit concerned "and for some reason I keep answering."

"well you are a man after all" responded Marie unconcerned

"are you suggesting Hannah's flirting with me? Not really after secrets" asked Moblit hopeful.

"well I doubt she's after your secrets given you are the worst secret keeper in the survey corps. Even I know if you knew anything you'd have given it away straight away" answered Marie. She wasn't sure what Hannah was up to but she knew exactly how Hannah would react.

"of course, it was just a game. But you spoiled it now." Interrupted Hannah trying to save some face. Knowing If Moblit was a terrible secret keeper then she had picked the wrong target.

"I'm still up for it." Admitted Moblit still under the influence

"I'm sorry my love it's never going to happen for us" before walking off to her room. She had rolled the dice but she had rolled poorly.

"sorry about that Moblit." Marie now had her views confirmed, Hannah was clearly trying to get information from Moblit. This meant Erwin was up to something and Marie always enjoyed a game with Erwin. Marie decided to ponder her next move. She decided she'd make sure Hannah went back to her room.

Moblit noticed Marie leaving and realised there was a very clear problem. "can someone untie me?"

"so Armina go be sexy." Ordered Erwin to a completely mortified Armin.

Armin wasn't sure what the worst part of this was, the fact that he was in a dress, the fact that he was being asked to flirt with his best friend, the fact that jean and Levi were watching, the fact that his best friend was a titan or the possibility that if Mikasa found out he'd been flirting with Eren Mikasa would kill him. He once promised her after all.

"Hi...sexy" Armin tried flirting hoping he could get this done with quickly.

The titan just looked at Armin.

"what's a big boy like you doing in a place like this?" Armin tried again. Armin had no idea how flirt in general. Let alone as the opposite sex. He tried to think what Marie would do. He considered copying Mikasa but in all honesty, that would involve not admitting your feelings and completely missing the obvious.

"uh follow me and I'll show you a good time." Armin was completely out of any idea if this failed.

The titan just looked at Armin with a confused look.

"this isn't working, is it?" admitted Armin out loud.

The titan luckily had no idea what was going on.

"so, what do we do?" asked Jean apprehensively clearly seeing plan a was failing.

"you've got the horse ready, right?" Asked Levi to Jean in response.

"yeah I have it saddled up." Stated Jean. If there was something Jean was good at it was saddling up horses.

"is the trap ready?" asked Erwin hoping it was. He knew Armin was getting no-where.

"yeah I set it up. It needs a manual activation of the lever" Responded Levi. Hanji had been exceptionally proud of her trap.

"so, what's the plan?" asked Jean

"Jean, you lead the horse. On an exact diagonal path. When you get Eren to follow you we'll let you pass by and then trigger the trap." Levi explained

"so, this trapdoor …. are you sure I won't be caught?" asked a worried Jean

"I'll make sure you have passed before I activate but ride fast to make sure." Suggested Levi. He knew Hanji's trap would do the job.

"how do we lure him?" asked Jean knowing that would be the difficult bit.

"just shout something at him that will get him to follow you." Suggested Levi.

"even if you have to take drastic measures to do so." Levi ordered before decided to inform him "ride fast if you do." Levi felt that should be common sense but when it came to Jean sometimes it was necessary to be blunt.

"wait for us to get in position Armin's still distracting Eren." Ordered Erwin

"how will I know when you're ready?" asked Jean

"I'll launch a flare." He informed. It was how they usually worked

"good luck jean" Levi didn't want Jean to die after all the training.

"Hey Eren follow me." Jean shouted at Eren to get his attention.

"Eren you're a jerk!" Jean tried escalated but Eren didn't even seem to acknowledge Jean

"Eren I'm going to steal Mikasa!" declared Jean. The titan turned to him but then quickly continued looking for a danger to Mikasa.

"that didn't work." Jean was confused as to why this had not seemed to concern Eren. Even though Eren had never shown Mikasa the affection jean felt he could give her Jean felt given his previous anger that this would be what would set him off

"it's because subconsciously he doesn't believe you have a shot with Mikasa. It was only when you said he couldn't protect Mikasa. He doesn't think you could do anything." explained Armin.

"ok…. fine then." Jean was annoyed. He didn't know what to do to make the titan sufficiently annoyed and was offended that he wasn't being taken seriously. However, then Jean made a mistake that would god down in infamy "it's ironic your mother died by being swallowed."

"jean…too far man." Armin knew that was ill advised. If there was one rule with Eren it definitely was never to insult his mother.

"oh shit." Jean realised what Armin meant immediately.

Eren as a titan was scary enough but there was a point where his anger almost made it seem like he was on fire. Eren rarely reached this state without facing a titan the strength of the female titan. Jean didn't need to be told to run. Jean had the horse running at maximum pelt

"Levi pull the lever." Ordered Erwin.

As Levi pulled the lever the ground gave way sending Eren titan form. Jean had managed to get sufficiently far enough ahead of Eren to avoid the trap. There was one bigger problem. Stopping. Jean was trying hard to stop the horse. He pulled back on the reins to stop the horse and this sent him flying backwards

"jean you dead?" asked Levi knowing falling off a horse could potentially be dangerous.

"not this time," insisted Jean sitting up clearly hurt.

"well that's a relief." Responded Armin.

"when do we let Eren out?" asked Jean knowing that Eren probably was still furious at him.

"when he calms down." Responded Erwin

"so what do we do if we do if anyone asks why we have Eren trapped?" asked Jean given he didn't want any difficult question.

"it was a training exercise." Declared Armin knowing that was the normal lie.

"good idea Armin." Agreed Erwin as a training exercise was the easiest way.

"can we go get some sleep now?" asked an Exhausted Armin.

"no, I think you two need to store away the stuff from the mission." Suggested Erwin as some form of punishment.

"next time try not turn Eren into a titan." Ordered Levi and left to go to bed.

Jean and Armin looked at each other in complete dismay.

It was still late but Hitch and Marlow had made progress following the blood by the small handheld candle, however a thought occurred to Marlow. "are you sure it's ok for us to leave the scene?"

" I left some rookies to deal with the body." Informed Hitch

"is that a good idea?" asked Marlow a bit worried that they could have done something wrong.

"what's the worse they can do? The guy is already dead" pointed out Hitch

"good point." Marlow realised as they arrived at the shop where the blood seemed to be leading too. "Let me do the talking." ordered Marlow trying to prove to Hitch he was a real man unlike what Marlow teased.

"absolutely" agreed Hitch immediately realising Marlow didn't know what kind of shop this

"that's a first you've never agreed with me." Noted Marlow. While this wasn't completely sure this was accurate it was undeniable Hitch normally teased him a bit.

"you'll see why." She teased. She was genuinely excited to see Marlow's reaction. Given the late hour it was surprising to see the place was open. Marlow walked in first.

"hi. What can I help you with?" asked the shopkeeper

"oh…hi." Suddenly noticing the type of shop they were currently in. A lingerie shop. "help."

"nope you do the talking. Remember" she reminded him.

"looking for something for your lover?" asked the shopkeeper

"she's not my…." Before he realised how much Hitch was enjoying this. "we represent the military police."

"I see." The shopkeeper was not surprised given she already knew Hitch who was a regular.

"did you get any unusual visitors yesterday?" asked Marlow hoping to get back on topic.

"no-one in particular" the shopkeeper remarked. While it had been a busy day it wasn't particularly unusual.

"I noticed there is some blood leading up to this place. Any idea why?" asked Hitch to get things back on topic.

"the shopkeeper remarked. I cleaned up some earlier on, in a job like this I felt it prudent not to dig too deep." Admitted the shopkeeper. She often felt better not to know.

Marlow blushed a little at the shopkeeper's implication "anyone you recognise from this sketch book?" Moblit pulled out his sketch book that he had sketches of all the people related to the wedding investigation. Unsurprisingly she looked at the last image he drew and simply shook her head. The shopkeeper looked back and recognised one image.

"actually, I saw her" Pointed out the girl from Moblit's sketch book. Mikasa.

"I saw her." She the pointed at a picture of Hannah

"and her" she then noticed the image of Hanji

"this one as well" and the pointed at the image of Krista

"her too." Finally point at the Sasha

so Sasha, Mikasa, Hanji, Krista and Hannah were all here. Hitch thought to herself.

"there was also an older woman with them. Her name's Marie. She's a regular." Marie had become somewhat infamous for buying some extreme attires.

"anything unusual happen with them?" asked Hitch hoping to establish something that directly linked.

"no nothing they tried on some interesting pieces and bought some but nothing apart from that."

"any idea where they went?" asked Marlow

"no, I'm afraid not." She regrettably responded. She felt bad that she wasn't helping Hitch and the clearly

Marlow bowed slightly at the shopkeeper so she wouldn't feel bad. "thank you for your assistance."

Hitch and Marlow left the shop. They didn't say a word until they were far

"suspicious now?" asked Hitch feeling her point was no proved.

"absolutely." Responded Marlow. He now saw what Hitch did. He couldn't think of another logical reason for the two places to be connected.

"any ideas?" asked Hitch hoping Marlow had a similar thought on how to progress the investigation

"officially we're investigating the shooting. We may just ask a few more questions." Suggested Marlow

"sounds like fun." Admitted Hitch. She'd had a similar thought.

"so, where do we find them?" asked Marlow. He was suddenly enthusiastic about the investigation. Armin's books had been somewhat of a dead end and Marlow still didn't know all of hitch's plan.

Hitch knew exactly where they had gone "well I suggest if they are here the only place they would be is Marie's house,"

Rico was somewhat perplexed over the actions earlier. She'd definitely killed a man and yet all she was concerned about was that woman. The woman who had saved her life. She wanted to find that woman wherever and whoever she was. After all, in a way she did love her.