Zipping through the air, Petra looked behind her at the forest, a feeling of doubt rising in her chest. A few miles back, her squad had encountered 2 Titans, and the forest had remained quiet since then. It was too quiet for her, but she decided she would keep her mouth shut, for the sake of not putting everyone in false alarm. But still…something was off, but she didn't know what.

After a few more minutes, everyone had stopped to rest and regroup. As everyone else talked, she stood guard, trying to decide what was wrong. Suddenly, someone put their arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer.

"What's wrong?" Oluo asked, obviously trying to be the ladies man of the squad, yet again. Not hesitating to think, Petra pushed him away and gave him a dark look.

"Do that again, and I'm feeding you to the Titans," she said darkly, not wanting to be bothered. Oluo frowned, then moved to talk with the others, seeing that he was getting nowhere with her. Petra refocused on the canopy of the terrain, hearing Oluo talk loudly, probably about his bruised ego and how he had , yet again, failed to be the charming person he wanted to be. Petra then shook her head, shaking away her thoughts. Right now, she didn't need anyone near her that would disrupt her train of thought.

It's too quiet…. something must be up. I mean, Titans don't just attack and everything goes silent unless…. Her eyes widened as she realized what was wrong. There were probably more Titans in the area, and possibly heading straight towards them.

As she turned around to tell the others, she saw a hooded figure heading towards the group. It appeared to be one of the greenhorns that had just recently joined the regiment, but something wasn't right. Why would one of the greenhorns approach the Special Operations Squad? Much less know where they were located in the formation? Unsheathing her blades, Petra advanced towards the figure while trying to predict what her opponent would do next.

"Petra! The hell-" Oluo began, but he didn't get to finish his sentence. There was a huge blast of steam, the force of it blowing Petra back, but she was still able to advance with some difficulty. A huge Titan emerged from the steam, appearing to be female, it's ice blue eyes piercing through the mist that had now settled on the forest floor.

After a few moments pause, the Titan's hand shot towards her with an unbelievable speed, threatening to smash her against the trees that stood behind her. Thankfully though, she maneuvered upwards, avoiding the intended death blow and retreated back next to Levi.

"Sir! Orders!" she shouted, containing her fear and remaining calm. Levi kept his gaze focused on the Female Titan, then responded after a moments silence.

"Protect Eren at all costs" he said calmly while drawing his blades from his gear. She nodded as he looked at her and began to engage the Titan, but Levi quickly grabbed her arm, stopping her from doing anything.

"Petra… be careful" he said quietly, then let her go. She gave Levi a small smile of determination, trying not to show that she was scared. Apparently, it was working, as far as she could tell.

"Since when am I not careful? I won't die Heichou, you have my word. I don't go down that easily" she responded with courage, her voice challenging the fate of what was to come. He nodded, a slight smile appearing on his face. Before they could say anything more to each other, Petra moved into action again, taking the female Titan head on.

As she approached it, she quickly plummeted a few feet to avoid the hand that reached out to grab her. As she descended, Petra then maneuvered forwards and slashed at the Titan's legs, but her blades shattered as it met a crystalline type substance covering it's skin.

Shit… she thought as the Titan caught sight of her and slowly grinned. Her eyes widened and tried to retreat as the female Titan raised her foot, but she was too slow. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath while trying to get her gear to move faster. Thankfully, she managed to escape the blow by a few centimeters since the Titan had misaimed, but she was blown backwards by the ferocity of the Titan's stomp.

Taking deep breaths, she calmly maneuvered towards the branches of the trees, and stopped to look at the situation.

Her squad was barely getting by with the skin of their teeth, Eren doing slightly worse than the rest of them. She saw him pause as the Titan was about to grab him, and hold up his hand to his mouth. For the slightest moment, she suspected that the Female Titan had intelligence and wanted Eren. That was probably the reason for why they were out here.

Petra put her thoughts aside and moved into action, going at full speed towards Eren. In the moments that followed, Petra quickly tackled Eren out of the way and maneuvered towards the trees with him in her arms. After hiding in the densely covered areas in the tree and putting Eren down, she turned back to look at him and crossed her arms, trying not to lose her cool.

"Eren…" she began, but wasn't able to finish her sentence. An idea immediately came to her, and she froze as she thought it over. Right now, it was the best alternative her squad needed. As she continued to think, Eren looked at her in confusion.

"Yes Petra-san? What's wrong?" he asked, taking a few steps toward her. She looked up at him and grabbed one of his shoulders.

"Eren… Do you trust me?" she asked as she looked directly into his eyes. He stared back at her, obviously not sure what to say, but he eventually nodded. Petra then let go of his shoulder and backed away a little, still keeping eye contact with Eren. She let silence settle between the both of them before speaking again.

"I have a plan… It's crazy, but I'm sure it'll work." she said confidently, then relayed her plan to Eren. As she spoke, Eren's eyes widened and immediately spoke as soon as she was finished.

"Petra, shouldn't we tell the others? We need time to regroup, to think-" he began to say, but she had heard enough already. Time was definitely something they didn't have.

"Eren, we don't have the time to regroup. Everyone is struggling to defeat that thing, and we need quick actions instead of a well thought out plan. This is the best shot we have in short circumstances. And we can't tell the others, am I understood?" she asked, her voice a bit harsh. She didn't want to be too abrasive, yet she didn't want to be taken lightly either.

Eren nodded and got ready to engage the female Titan and looked back at her.

"When do we proceed Petra-san?" Eren asked, obviously reluctant to do anything, but yet understood that this was their only option at the moment. Petra closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath.

"Now" She whispered, signaling Eren to move towards the Titan.