THE LAST WISH - Major Interference (pt. 4)

Warning: This story contains manga spoilers. Consider yourselves warned.

PART 4

Cadet Sieler showed up with food and water, accompanied by other soldiers who served under lady Amsel. There were seven members of the North Unit when they gathered in the cell, including Lara and Aurora… which meant we could take anyone who attempts another assault on our prisoner. However, the chances that the culprits would return were almost zero, and frankly, I doubt we will hear more about them soon.

I’ve found out that, upon her arrival, lady Amsel sent her best soldiers after the supposed Military Police members who wanted to harm Bert. I expect the trail went cold… but no matter how cold it gets, the ‘chameleon’ soldiers (I better call them spies or monitors, since their true purpose was to spy the Government and suspicious people within Walls on Erwin’s behalf) were there to warm it up, or to search for new leads and suspects.

“Commander Smith will be displeased. Are you sure that you want to do this without consulting him first?” Lara sounded worried about her leader.

“He will have to understand. And if he doesn’t… well, I will deal with him in the due time. First things first,” Aurora shrugged her shoulders. She decided to follow her original plan and move Bertholdt into another place until they solve this case. So, after pretty rushed dinner, Bertholdt got to change his rugs into decent clothes. Soldiers brought military robe for our prisoner, including the Scouting Legion covering cloaks. He was reluctant while taking the uniform… and it was no wonder. It must have been a difficult thing to do after everything that happened between us.

Lady Amsel watched through the iron bars into the darkness. The small, orange light of the nearest torch illuminated her face. It was serious, and she was quiet. She was thinking about our options, and whether her decision was the right one… but the plan was already in motion, and now, there was no going back.

“I want to make something clear, boy… what we are doing here isn’t mercy. We aren’t good Samaritans, we are just a bunch of soldiers who follow simple orders. No more, and no less. I am armed, as well as my cadets here. We won’t let you escape or assist you with anything which goes against our military policy. If you try to run, or fight against us, we will take you down. I won’t give this warning twice. We will shoot you on spot if you try to do anything which might compromise us. Therefore, to prevent and avoid such unfortunate events… I will require your firm word as a gentleman that you won’t try to do anything stupid during this mission.”

She was still staring in the distance when she spoke to him. Bertholdt put the cloak over his shoulders, and buttoned it. He saluted Aurora in our standard way, and spoke softly.

“You… you have my word… I won’t do anything wrong. I… I promise.”

“Good.”

I took a good look at him, all dressed-up and surrounded by the Scouting Legion soldiers… and I felt something like a minor twist in my stomach. It was a mixture of sadness, of certain melancholy, and regret for things that could have been, but will never happen. I miss the lie he was living while he pretended to be one of us. I missed the soldier Bertholdt, and his current outfit reminded me of everything he used to be before the great escape.

“Hurry up, everyone. The time is running out,” lady Amsel reminded us. The NU soldiers made a formation of pairs. The first two, Nikolaj and Dimitri, were positioned in front of Bertholdt and me. Lara and Paul took their places behind us. Lady Amsel was in the very front of our little troop, as expected of a commanding officer.

The last two cadets had their own orders. The first of them, Burkhard Krieger, was to remain a guardian of the cell, and the other, Georg Brandt, was to take Berholdt’s place. These two were both tremendous, strong, and very capable in combat. Their primary duty (assigned to them by Commander Smith) was to protect lady Amsel on her spying tasks… but she decided that this time, they were more suited to deal with attempts or threats bestowed upon the prisoner rather than threats to her own persona.

Georg was tall and his body structure was almost identical to Bertholdt’s. However, his hair was a few shades lighter, and his eyes were dark brown. Not to mention that he had sharper facial features and looked very threatening, unlike our prisoner… but he was the best replacement we could provide at the time. Also, I would like to see the outcome of those who would dare to lay even one hand on Georg… he was very hot-tempered and enjoyed breaking people’s bones for less.

Burkhard was even taller than Georg, probably the tallest man in the Scouting Legion (well, Mike Zacharius died, and he was the only one who could be a good comparison) and probably the most muscular one. His hair was light brown, his eyes were grey, and his facial features were quite ordinary. He didn’t fight unless provoked, but he was every bit dangerous as Georg was in close combat. Major Amsel was very confident about leaving these two in the prison while the rest of us get out. They could take care of themselves – and have a lot of fun while doing so.

Even though I appreciated their skills and brute force, I didn’t appreciate how prone they were to violence. These two used to beat up Bertholdt pretty bad before Major strictly forbade them to inflict any harm on him. I still held a bit of a grudge towards them because of their behavior, but I guess I can make myself like them again after they’ve agreed to do this for Bertholdt.

“Cadet Krieger, cadet Brandt...” lady Amsel said, as Georg lied down on a bed, covering himself with a tiny blanket, “…please, maintain this little charade of ours until I secure the prisoner. I will need as much time as I can get.”

“Sure thing, ma’am. We shall provide you with all the time you need.”

Georg turned his back to us, curling up into a fetal position. In the darkness, under the weak light of torches… with that kind of behavior and movements… he may fool everyone that he is, in fact, Bertholdt. Burkhard’s eyes followed us as we all moved past the dungeon’s door. Then, he locked them behind us and sat on a chair near fake Hoover’s bed, and took out his military dagger. He played with the hilt between his fingers, in a very casual manner. That was his habit.

“Worry not about us, lady Amsel. We got everythin’ covered,” he said to his commander. She nodded in their direction.

“Take care.”

“You too.”

- - - - - - - - - - - -

And here goes… smuggling the most wanted fugitive out of prison with the highest level of security. We needed him to leave the place without being noticed, yet alone recognized… and, of course, we had to be prepared for another ambush. Mayor raised her hand to signal us to proceed. We pulled our hoods over our heads, and moved quietly through the first three corridors. The guards were used to lady Amsel’s unit going throughout all prison, so we did just fine for several floors… until we reached the first set of guards that weren’t members of the SL. They were members of Garrison.

One greeted lady Amsel with a fist on his heart, but the other ignored the procedure, and rudely gazed upon our formation. Bertholdt’s eyes were glued to the floor. He kept his back lower than usual, in a weak attempt to hide his height, but there were no other signs of fear, or disturbance in him… he seemed oddly calm.

“Evenin’, ma’am. Workin’ late, aren’t ya?” the rude guard recognized the members of the North Unit, but still stopped lady Amsel. It was, without doubt, in order to prove that no matter how good she was with Commander Smith or Dot Pixis, she still had some rules to abide. He was about to cause us trouble, as it seemed.

“Y’all stayed there for a real long time, ma’am. Somethin’ bad goin’ on with the Colossal Freak?”

Freak? I bit into my lip. Bert’s been called worse… but it didn’t mean I had to like it. Aurora handed her identification without words, and removed her hood to reveal her face to them. She seemed rather bored, and I couldn’t tell whether she was afraid… or if she was a really good actress.

“Still as beautiful gal as eva’. Pity for that scar,” the brute teased her, giving her one nasty look that made me shiver. She remained calm, though she didn’t appreciate the compliment, nor the mention of the deep, dark mark under her left eye.

It’s always a pity when a rare beauty is ruined by such thing as a scar… but Aurora Amsel was beautiful regardless of that slight damage on her face. It made her unique in appearance among military members in this area. It made her special. Many men desired her, yet nobody could have her. She was a noblewoman, a high ranking officer, and Erwin’s close confidant. She was a hard prey to hunt, and too much of a prize for simple Garrison soldiers who behaved this way. And they knew it.

“Yeah, what a shame. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Evan, we are in a hurry,” Aurora said, and made a few steps past him. We tried to follow her, quite bravely if I may add... like nothing was suspicious about us. Like we are just soldiers who finished their duty and are going back to our HQ to have some rest. Right? Right.

“Wait. We aren’t done,” the soldier named Evan spoke, and his colleague sighted almost as hard as I did. He was displeased but Evan continued to talk.

“Hoods off, y’all. Let me see those faces. C’mon.” Nikolaj and Dimitri shielded the rest of us with their figures. My heart skipped a beat. I took Bertholdt’s hand, and pulled him back, while Lara and Paul surrounded him from sides, breaking the previous formation. We raised our hands as if we were reaching for our hoods, but in reality, we used that moment to allow him to slip inside the center of group. His fingers were cold. He was still looking down to the floor, but his hand grasped mine. When the other guard spoke, we stopped in the middle of pulling the hoods down.

“Are you really doing this?” the comrade rolled his eyes at Evan. “I mean, we hardly ever check upon people who go back from there. Going in is one thing. But going back… what could they possibly do?”

“I don’t know. But w’re suppos’d to guard this entrance, aren’t we?” Evan smirked. Aurora just pulled one cigarette and a lighter out of her inner pocket, and lit the tip. For a beautiful woman, she had a really nasty habit. God… how I hated tobacco.

“Hoods down then, boys and girls. Let’s give him his small satisfaction.” She took another long drag, enjoying the taste and the fume of her cigarette, lightly tapping the paper tube in the process. Small amounts of ash got down on floor. “But, know this, Evan… I will remember. I will remember that, of all the people who came here, you’ve decided to suspect the members of the North Unit. You suspected me, the Major, a woman who's spent half of her life serving the Government faithfully and dutifully. You suspected the very people appointed by the thirteenth Scouting Legion Commander, Erwin Smith, whose West Unit and Special Operations’ Squad members brought down the most wanted titan shifters to this prison. Shame on you.” She blew a puff of smoke into Evan's face. “Lara dear… let’s start with you, please.”

Therefore, cadet Sieler was the first one to expose her face, purposely chosen because of the condition she was in. After getting out of a fight, and an un-fair one, she was all covered up in bruises and small cuts. The guards were now staring at her, both visibly shocked. After seeing her face, ours didn’t really seem to matter, even after we’ve exposed them.

“Wha…”

“The Hell happened?”

“Prisoner Hoover was attacked by the Military Police tonight. The same group you were supposed to check upon, but you let them get in and get out as they pleased. I highly doubt you asked them to remove their hoods in the process, or cared to look at their faces twice. Prisoner Hoover was almost hanged, so I was sent to chase after those who violated the military code, and now, you dare to question me? My word? My people? The same people you’ve already seen so many times before? You dare to interfere with our task?” she asked, her voice still calm, but now steel-cold and firm, and the two guards seemed a bit… ashamed after her little monologue. That encouraged her to continue.

“There’s been a fight. My people are all roughed up. Just look at cadet Sieler. And here’s cadet Sohner, you see her every day. Is she suspicious to you? Hm? You also know Dimitri. You know Nikolaj. You know Georg.” She pointed the tip of her cigarette towards Bertholdt when she referred to ‘Georg’.

Oh. My. God. They are looking at him. They are looking at Bertholdt!

I reached for my dagger. This is about to get ugly. This is going to be a disaster…

“Burkhard Krieger is down there, making sure that no one else hurts or kills Hoover due to your incompetence.” Aurora stated coldly. She threw the cigarette fag onto the ground and stepped on it.

“You know what, boys? I am going to write a report. In that report, I am going to mention those who helped me in my mission, and those who got in my way. That report is going to be read by some really important officers, and I will make sure that you two get punished for obstructing the undercover operation even after you’ve been specifically warned not to get in my way,” she added with a deadly glare, and an obvious threat in her steady and calm manner of speaking.

There was an agonizing silence for almost half a minute.  

“We apologize for the inconvenience, Major,” Daniel let us through without further delay. ”And we hope we didn’t cause the permanent damage to your mission.”

“I hope so too, for your own sake,” she just headed towards another corridor, and climbed more stairs. We didn’t have much trouble following her after dealing with those two. Our further march wasn’t interrupted anymore, though it was intense to go through so many soldiers who could recognize Bertholdt within a second… but… the six of us managed to escort him through the whole prison, to the very exit. It was stressful, and it was risky… but we made it. We got out. Bert is out from that Hell.