It had been 3 days since the scouts retrieved Eren from the armoured and colossal, and the ghoul never found the chance to talk to the higher ups about her situation. Most the higher ups were busy with their new discovery, the people in Raguko village turned into titans. Kaya was currently cleaning their new hidden base with her new squad, consisting of her, Eren, Jean, Mikasa, Armin, Connie, Sasha, and Historia. Most of them were bringing in supplies, it was only her and Eren who understood the importance of cleaning before Levi got there, Eren took the kitchen while Kaya took care of all the bedrooms.

Kaya heard the door open and walked towards the loud teens to greet the captain. "Hey can we focus here, we've gotta finish cleaning before the captain gets back." Eren urged his friends.

"What's all the commotion?" Levi said as he swooped his hand under the table to examine the dust. "I'm quite certain I gave you enough time. Never mind, we can discuss your utter failure at a later date. Eren, Hange is anxious to get the experiment underway."

"Yes sir." Eren quickly responded. After they received another order form Levi to get geared up, all the squad made their way to Hange's experimentation grounds.

Kaya, Levi and Hange stood on a cliff edge observing Eren's transformation while the other scouts kept lookout for intruders like mps or any other titan shifters. Kaya was taking notes of Eren's titan form until he suddenly roared and dropped to the floor head first.

"Eren, what's wrong Eren, get up! The future of humanity depends on you, damn it. Get up!" The scientist screamed at the unconscious shifter.

"Looks like he's unconscious, no need to shout." Kaya stated, after writing down what she needed.

"Third time and his forms changed again, he's not even ten metres tall, and some of his body lacks muscle. Plus Eren's scrawny ass is hanging out." Levi said, angering Hange who could already see what was going on. Shortly later, Mikasa jumped from her horse and rushed towards Eren. "Great, brats at it again, of to the rescue, she never learns does she?" The captain added.

"There's no response, we're done here." Hange commanded, using their gear to get closer to Eren. "Hot, think you can ease up on the steam a little?" The scientist said as they tried to pry Eren from the titan body.

"Hey be careful with him, can't you see he's bleeding?" Mikasa pleaded the titan maniac, however her comment was disregarded when everyone saw Eren's skeletal face get ripped from the flesh.

"Ahhhhh, do you see his face Moblit? Quick, we gotta get this." Hange screamed.

"Section commander, have you no compassion at all?" Moblit scolded. Mikasa took the opportunity to cut Eren from his body.

"Not the outcome we hoped for, we're still a long way from being able to use Eren's titan to seal the wall." Levi turned towards Armin.

"We've known all along it would be like grasping on proverbial straws." Armin said.

"The plans strategically sound, and simple in theory. All we need is to get Eren there, this could still work, but it's going to depend on him." The captain summed up.

Kaya however, was a little distracted, she couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched. It wasn't until she closed her eyes and listened as deeply as she could, that she could hear a light shuffle in the distance. "Levi, someone's watching us. About a mile from here." The ghoul alerted.

"Hm, you take Historia and Eren back to the house, I'm going with Hanges group, we're headed for Trost." Levi instructed the girls.

"Sir." Historia quietly answered, no emotion in her voice at all.

"Cmon blondie, time to go." Kaya walked towards Eren and rode a cart back to their cottage.

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It didn't take long for Eren to be moving around once again, however the ghoul wasn't present to order him around since she had taken up the responsibility to go on lookout for a few shifts. Kaya didn't mind being on lookout, it was calming, all she had to do was close her eyes and listen out for footsteps or voices in the distance. The ghoul soon heard horses galloping for the cottage and got out her swords in case she had to fight. Luckily it was just Hange and Levi.

"Hange and the others are back, we're meeting in the main room." Sasha told the rest of the squad.

"Now, what's this about?" Levi asked.

"I'm sorry, pastor Nick, he was murdered. Today in the Trost district barracks." Hange said, causing gasps to erupt from the cadets who knew Pastor Nick.

"I figured the church would want pastor nick dead when they learned he was cooperating with the scouts, that's why I hid his identity and had him stay in the barracks. I never imagined they would use soldiers to kill him. This was my fault, I should have been more careful." The scientist apologised with their head hung low.

"They tortured him, just to know what he'd passed on to us?" Armin questioned.

"Most likely, but these are the interior MPs we're dealing with so you can bet there's something deeper at work here. Now how many nails was the good pastor missing?" Kaya smirked at the captains idea and waited for Hange's response.

"I only caught a glimpse of him, but all the nail bed I saw were empty." The scientist answered.

"People who talk, talk after one. I can't say I thought much of the holy man until now." The thief added.

"Im impressed, whatever his faults he stuck by his beliefs till the end. Which means, they have no idea we know about the Reiss family. But the government is up to something and we've got a target on our backs." Levi informed the squads.

The ghoul took a sip of tea and set it down when she heard Nifa's footsteps in the distance. "Captain Levi sir, I have a message from commander Erwin. I went to tell him about pastor Nick but he gave me this and sent me off." The redhead explained while Levi read the note.

"Get your gear now, we're leaving. Make it look like we were never here." Levi instructed the squads as they instantly got up and gathered their things.

It didn't take long for them to escape onto a nearby hill to observe the mps raid the cottage, they had made it out just in time. "How did commander Erwin know they were headed here?" Armin questioned.

"Because he's a psychotic genius." The ghoul muttered.

"The governments passed down some new orders, there's been a freeze on all scout activity beyond the walls. We're to hand over Eren and Historia." The captain explained to the group.

"Captain, I didn't have time to tell you but some mps came for the commander right after I left him." Nifa added.

"What like he's some kind of criminal or something?" Hange gasped.

"Can't we just catch a break?" The ghoul groaned.

"They're bringing this fight out into the open, no more working from the shadows." Levi said.

"They're going to protect the walls secrets at any cost. But why exactly are they after Eren and Historia for? They don't want them dead, so what are they planning?" The scientist pondered, causing most the scouts to also think about the same questions.

"Who knows, but they want them and they're not being subtle about it, which makes lingering here dangerous. We'll move Eren and Historia to Trost." Most people raised questions about the choice of Trost but Levi soon explained his reasoning. "Heading towards the interior would be worse, with Trost in a panic it should be easy to slip in and if things do go all to hell, we can use these in the city." Levi said as he displayed his ODM gear.

"We don't know the identity of our enemy yet, I have an idea of how we can change that. Hange, I need you to lend me some of your squad." The captain instructed.

"No problem, all right, I'm going after commander Erwin, Moblit's with me, the rest of you will go with Levi." The section commander ordered. Before the scientist could leave, Eren handed them a piece of paper that he said contained a conversation he had overheard from Ymir and Bertholdt. Hange gave a swift nod before leaving the scene on horseback.

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The squads soon made their way into Trost, where there seemed to be some sort of festival in process. "Why's the royal flag everywhere?" Connie asked.

"Today marks the anniversary of the kings coronation, once a year they hand out extra food to celebrate it." Sasha answered the boy. Soon, some MPs stood at centre stage and announce to Trost that the king will be donating most the reserves.

"All that food and he's giving it away?" Sasha said.

"It's not as though he needs it all, easier to control people when they're not starving." Levi replied.

"Besides, at a time like this the king wants to improve public opinions about the government and its military. Especially after what happened in wall rose." The ghoul included.

The squad continued to walk with in the market until the ghoul heard a cart heading straight towards them, Kaya quickly noted that the ones driving the cart couldn't have been very well trained since their method was so amateur. "Behind us!" The ghoul warned.

As expected, the decoys came in useful, both Armin and Jean's disguises work and they were pulled into the speeding cart. However, what the squad didn't expect was that Kaya would also get taken captive. Unforeseeably, the kidnappers grabbed ahold of her backpack and dragged her into the moving cart. Armin and Jean's eyes widened when they saw the thief get thrown beside them, Kaya decided it would be best to continue with the plan until Eren and Historia were at a safe distance.

Yet, even though the scout tried to believe she was captured because of her underground reputation, she couldn't shake the thought of people knowing she was a ghoul. Surely they didn't take her because she used to be a thief, that's too small of a crime.

Some time passed before she got tied to a chair next to the two boys, the ghoul didn't hesitate to quickly get rid of her restraints and put her hands behind her back before their captor suspected her. The ghouls achievement didn't last long because as soon as she looked up, disgust took over her face. Armin was being pawed at. Kaya tried her hardest to tune out the revolting words of the kidnapper but her efforts were deemed fruitless when Armin turned and looked at them. His tearful eyes made contact with theirs and Jean turned away from the scene.

The amber eyed soldier assessed the situation and knew Armin's disguise would be seen through sooner or later, so she tried to save him from the situation while she could. "Hey asshole, get your hands off of her." Kaya said in a threatening tone.

"Huh, don't get jealous, you'll have your turn too." The man toyed, Kaya glared at him before forming a response.

"I'm feeling nice today, hence you'll get one final warning before I cut your hands clean from your wrists. Don't worry, it won't be painful, for me at least." She smirked.

"Haha, I like it when they're feisty." He said with outstretched arms towards her, inching closer by the second.

The ghoul sneakily took her knife from its holster and waited until he got in close proximity. As soon as the opportunity came, the thief took her arms from behind her back and sliced a few of the kidnappers fingers off. Kaya quickly got up from her seat and sent a knee towards his crotch, as payment for what he did to Armin.

"Well, are you satisfied with a few missing fingers or would you have preferred the whole hand? I guess if you're feeling up to it, then the deals still on." Kaya said as she stepped onto the mans wrist, holding it in place and beginning to motion her knife towards it.

"No no! HELP HEL-" Their capturer began to scream until he was cut off by the ghoul placing a cloth into his mouth.

"Easy now, don't want you calling for backup just yet." Stated the ghoul.

Mikasa suddenly burst through the window, prepared to fight until she saw the situation in front of her. The thief frowned and looked at the disgusting man below her. "Looks like it's your lucky day. Mikasa, what's Levi's orders?" Kaya quickly inquired.

"We wait for his employers and get them out of the program, Connie and Sasha are on the roof as backup." Mikasa replied before looking above towards the other two scouts for confirmation. "Act like we were never here for now and we'll catch them off guard." The ravenette demanded.

Kaya nodded her head and dragged the unconscious body behind a few crates, before tying ropes around its arms and legs. Her next move was to sit back into her seat and relax, listening for the bosses to arrive.

"Thank you, ma'am." Armin stuttered. Kaya turned her attention towards the two boys who she somewhat forgot observed her villainous attitude.

"No worries, guess I got a bit carried away with that guy." She said with her hand on the back of her neck.

"All the crap he put Armin through, hell he deserved it." Jean stated.

Kaya smiled at their understanding and put her hands behind her back, she had heard the other kidnappers a while away and needed to wait for Connie and Sasha to alert them. "Everyone get into positions, they're here." Connie shouted from the roof.

The scouts hid where as the three kidnapped squad members stayed put, awaiting the enemy to walk through the door. Their heads lifted and looked in the direction of 4 men walking through the door. "You sure about this? These are the ones we're looking for?" A merchant asked.

"Yeah, they fit the descriptions perfectly." One answered.

"Huh, where's the guard?" Another questioned.

Mikasa quickly cut him short and swung straight into his face, knocking him to the ground instantly. She took out another which then caused the rest of the men to bring out their guns. Before they could even pull the trigger, Kaya and Mikasa leaped forwards, Mikasa kicked a younger man causing him to spin midair. Where as Kaya had to dodge a bullet and bring her fist towards the bosses face, sending him into a wall on impact.

The ravenette grabbed the merchant and pinned him onto the floor, she didn't realise he had a hidden gun in his jacket until an arrow hit directly inside the gun. "Move again and you won't like where the next shot hits." Sasha warned.

"All right, first we get these guys secured, then we meet up with the captain." Mikasa relayed the orders Levi gave her.

"What do you mean?" Connie asked.

"Those are his orders, he left a message too. As of now, it's not just titans, we're fighting humans too." She explained to the squad.

Kaya was about to add to her statement until she heard shots fire from a distance, without thinking, she used her gear and swiftly flew towards the scene. The thief couldn't get rid off the feeling that she was kidnapped because she was a ghoul, no one in the walls knew about her species, did they?