He lied on the ground. "Someone," the soldier said. "Help me!" An 8 meter tall titan with puffing eyes and a curved smile towered over him like a city-wall to a puny child. The soldier's hands shook and his eyes widened. It took another step and stretched its smile out more. "Someone kill this fucking thing, god damn it!" He looked at his right leg and bubbling red goop secreted from all parts of it which smelled like rusty iron. His jaw fell and he collapsed on his back into the city-ruin tiles. A thud echoed paired with vibrations for each step the titan took closer.
A clash of metal on metal rang when he drew a shattered blade from his holster and squinted his eyes. "Oh really, bitch?" He tensed his fist and veins appeared along his arms before he pushed his chest outward and showed his gritting teeth, grinding against each other almost tiger-like. The titan stepped closer, now in attacking range. "I've fought too many of you shitheads, to die to a puny one like YOU!" The titan moaned and stretched out its hand.
Like a titan himself, he growled and rammed the blade into the ankle of the titan. The titan grabbed him.
A gas "Pssshh" sound moved closer each moment and a metallic "snip" shot out before red blood flew everywhere. The titan roared and its grip loosened. The soldier fell out of its hand "Ugh!" and landed with a "thud" on the ground. He looked and saw people in the air with 3DMG gears in blue cloaks. They zipped past him with a "Pssshhhh" before he placed his hand on his head. The soldier took a deep breath and shook his head. "Holy hell, that was close." The titan's body began steaming and dematerializing.
They landed on the rooftop and skidded their gas to a halt. There were five of them. The one in the center with paper white hair stepped forward and faced his team members. "Urin," He said. "Heal the injured soldier and stay alert while doing so."
"Aye, sir!" She turned and jumped off the roof.
"Everyone else," He said. "Conduct a surroundings-check."
"Aye, sir!" They sounded off in unison before walking to different scouting positions on the roof.
"Damn," The injured soldier said. "My leg's still beat to shit." He turned and saw another survey corps member. She landed on the ground as quiet as a ghost after jumping from the roof and looked to be 19 or so. The soldier reached his arm out. "About time, you're-," He paused from a sharp pain and grabbed his leg. "You're the medic right?" Urin saw soldier who seemed like a vet, maybe late 20s in age. She then saw the wound and sniffed the air. It still smelled of irony blood and grimy titan saliva.
She ran and crouched beside him. "Yeah," She said already stretching her arms out. "I'm a medic."
A green aura glimmered from her hands as she held them close to the soldier's leg. He looked down and his jaw dropped before he let out a series of laughs like a school kid. "This must be my damn luckiest day ever then. Not only do I get a medic, but a medic from the Volten clan too?" Urin laughed a little. The leg reformed and the flesh looked brand new.
"Yeah, things are kinda strange these days. Plus, being a combat soldier is way deadlier than being a medic."
The soldier looked at her. "Thanks!" Urin stood and turned back to the roof before turning back for moment. "Good luck!" She said and turned back. "Wait a sec, who saved me from that titan?" Urin paused for a moment. "Well…," She thought. "My team's probably waiting on me . . . but I'd want to know too."
She turned back. "Him? He's Squad Leader, Spencer Lokari. And I gotta go now." She hooked the top of the building and sped away with a "psshhh" of 3DMG gas.
The soldier stood up and dusted himself off with his hands. "Man... so the elite squad's here, huh? They must think shit's gonna go down then. Whatever, my 3DMG's still good but I need some blades." He faced behind him and hooked onto a building and gassed onto the roof. He landed. "So we sent a whole four squads out here just to search for old tech from the Equinox Empire?" He said then looked down at his tattered blue cloak. He ran his fingers along its edge feeling like cloth shark teeth, minus the sharpness. "Last I checked, the Equinox haven't been shit for ages, especially their tech."
A giant mouth expanded out from the roof floor. "Agh!" He yelled. Bricks flew each with a "thud" or "crack". The titan growled and its hot breath rolled over the soldier sticking to his skin like glue. It devoured him whole.
Urin landed on the roof. "I'm back." Spencer faced her. "Goo-" The explosion sound echoed through the area and debris flew overhead from the direction Urin came from. Every member of Team Spencer snapped her heads back to see the titan devour the soldier whole. Then again, this wasn't any special sight in their line of work.
Spencer stared forward, Urin's face turned red and she glared, the others drew their blades and prepared to fight. "Do not engage!" Spencer said. "That's a fruitless effort if I ever saw one."
Off to the right in the sky, a purple flare bolted through the sky. "About time," Yukio said. "It's the retreat flare." "We're retreating to the main force at hills," Spencer said. "Move."
All of them hooked and object and left the roof with a "pssshh" of gas with Spencer in the lead. He hooked from a building to the series of taller trees they used to get here earlier. They stood above all the others like brown-stone towers mounted with outward faced green spikes at their peak. Urin was close behind Spencer as Yukio was to her as well as the other two were to them.
"Well," Spencer thought. "Wasn't that a waste of a decent soldier? What can you do?"
The wind bashed against them as their blue cloaks fluttered rapidly.
One 14 meter class titan appeared ahead of them and one 7 meter class slightly to their left. Spencer adjusted his blades. "I'll take the one up ahead. You all engage the 7 meter class!"
They veered off the left and swarmed the 7 meter. That area had a few more buildings to work with, making it generally safer. Ahead of Spencer, the trees and building cut short. It was a large clearing of flatland, but past that, the main force would be close.
The titan noticed him and smiled. Spencer glared and clicked off the limiter on his 3DMG, tripling his speed with a "zwoosh". -40 Meters to Target- It opened its mouth wide revealing an abyss. "You see…" He stretched his arm to the side and snapped it back and detached his blade with a "zing". It flew and stabbed into the titan's right eye. -20 Meters to Target- "You tried me."
"AGHHH!" The titan bellowed and grabbed its eyes. He rotated like a spun-bottle, hooked the ground, and dropped in altitude quickly then flew past and under the titan, up by a hook on the head, and then sliced along the nape. The titan fell and he sped back. A "thud" whispered behind him.
"Squad Leader!" Urin said. "Five Crawlers Spotted!" far up ahead. Spencer replaced his blade and ticked the 3DMG limiter back on. "Retreat and regroup on me!"
He zipped toward them while they retreated.
"Jumping crawlers!" Yukio said. A ruin building collapsed. More crawlers poured out from them.
"Shit," Urin said. "Guys move faster, faster!" Three crawlers jumped. Their white teeth glimmered cold like white death. They tore into the flesh of Yukio, Veren, and Aria. "Run n-"
Sounds like "crick" and "crickle" seared out from his subordinates burning shattered bones.
Red bubbling blood showered onto the nearby roof Urin was on.
Spencer balanced in the air beside her. "We're still retreating. Move!"
They both bursted away toward the clearing.
"Spencer," Urin said. "They all died! 60 percent of our team died!" Spencer faced her. "I know. However, we have more pressing matters. Don't let their deaths be in vain by making sure you don't get killed instead of mourning on the field."
"You're . . . right."
"Cmon," Spencer thought. "Another three elite soldiers dead in only two months? Then again, I've got some good reasoning for this one at least. Elsewise, I suppose Rin's never been on an elite team before then. Deaths like those are common sights here." Spencer dragged his blade in front of him and analyzed his reflection. "Now, to return to the main force."
[Team Spencer returned from mission: Equinox Tech Recovery – Orenin City Ruins [1] with 2 of their 5 deployed members, Squad Leader, Spencer Lukari, and Elite Medic, Urin Volten.]
-Later at survey corps HQ-
Spencer, a few other squad leaders and their tacticians stood outside the commander's door. It opened with a slight "Erk".
They filed in, wearing their blue and white uniforms, and took their seats.
The room was furnished like a mini-mansion would with shiny white cushion couches, food on the side, elegant carpets, of course with the Altekin symbol for their nation, and crystal clear windows along the walls. In the back of the room was the commander and her stand. She rose before the wooden stand and took a breath. "On the Equinox Tech Recovery mission, little to no gear was discovered. This is good. However, we ran into numerous rigged ruins filled to the brim with crawlers of the jumping variant by the Equinox Empire."
Spencer and some others showed no expression while around 3 of the 7 squad leaders rose their eyebrows.
"Question is, how they managed to pack crawlers that tightly inside of buildings. Of course, this isn't even including the fact that all of them were of the jumping variant."
"Isa," Spencer said. "Based off our Intel, what's our current objective now?"
The other squad leaders scoffed at him for being so personal with the commander. He cared less as they were on same the team for ages before anyway.
She turned to him. "Heh, I suspect the Equinox are preparing an extreme counter-attack likely by use of the titan form because they'd have no technology other than resorting to those to handle crawlers so carefully."
"Well then," Another squad leader spoke and placed her hand under her chin. "It shouldn't be much of a problem, they're just titans, after all."
Isa turned to her. "That may be so, but we will remain on guard. Otherwise, our core objective is still the same. Capture the remaining titan seals behind their walls."