BLITZKRIEG
Light glimmered in Trost's southeast quarter. It shone through a startlingly clean window of an ordinary house - undetectable from its neighbors, if not for the mark faintly scratched on the door post: a pair of crossed, feathered wings. Squad Levi's current safe house was tranquil this night. It barely creaked in the wind.
A shrill, nagging voice bounced off the bleach-white walls. "Eren!"
Hanji Zoe held her candle high as she climbed the stairs. She wore a petulant frown behind her glasses. Lack of sleep gave her eyes a watered, wrinkled look and her brunette pony tail hung limp.
"Errrennn!" she called, then whined. "Oh nooo, did he run away from me?" She gasped as she heard the front door shut and then footsteps. A familiar figure wearing a red scarf crossed in front of the stairs. "Aha! Mikasa!"
The young warrior woman shed her coat; 3DMG fully decked her hips and her chin-length hair looked windblown from her walk outside. Patient, she waited for Hanji to reach her side. The Squad Leader took one look around and her hopeful expression drooped. The only sign of Eren was his maneuver gear, unattended on the supper table.
"Awwww! Eren isn't with you?"
Mikasa's dark eyes frowned. "You lost him?"
They stared at each other, non-plussed.
It hit suddenly - BOOM! - like a mountain cracked in half. Both of them staggered and shouted. The candle blew out and the floorboards rippled as the dreadful sound clapped them once again. BOOM!
"Whoa!" Hanji braced against the wall. "HAH! Sounds like BIG trouble. OH!" Her energy-packed body looked ready to explode. "Do you think it's Eren? That crazy boy! I'm going to be so upset with him! He knows he's not supposed to transform unsupervised!"
Mikasa had clamped her hands to the table for support and she rolled her eyes. Sharp voices cut through the house as the rest of the squad woke and called to each other. Screaming echoed through the streets.
"We're under attack," the red-scarfed girl murmured.
"WHAT!" Hanji's expression contorted crazily; Mikasa swore Squad Leader's face was made of molding clay. "The hostages!" With a furl of her cape, she rushed back downstairs.
Mikasa heard cannon fire.
"Eren!" She fixed her gaze on her foster brother's gear and swiped it up.
Eren's fingers locked onto his captain's harness. He breathed hard, barely registering the panicked voices overhead. "Cannons! Cannons!" Hanging from Levi's back, he struggled to brace against the slick Wall. His ankles kicked at forty-five meters of empty space below. And above him, crinkled eyes stared unblinking. The Beast ignored all the other soldiers swarming the gate like insects. Its hand lifted ponderously off the rampart and stretched down.
"Hold on!" Levi's voice blasted. He drew the hand-grips from his harness. Eren hugged the captain's chest tight as they kicked off the Wall and spiraled up with a spurt of gas. The boy's vision blurred. Swift fingers squeezed two triggers; the cables retracted, flipping wildly-!
Long, hairy fingers snatched the wires mid-air.
"AGH!" Levi's waist wrenched upward. The hand-grips dropped and hung from their straps, banging uselessly against his thighs and blade canisters. Both his hands were full with Eren as they swung crazily back and forth.
"Damn!" Levi hissed, pain edging his white face.
"Captain!" Eren's eyes were burning green stars. He risked freeing one hand to put in his mouth. "I can fight him!"
Levi caught the hand faster than a spring-trap. "Bite that hand and I will kill you."
Eren froze. "What!" They were jerked upward and the boy nearly lost his grip. He clung desperately at Levi's neck and shirt, crying out.
"Stupid brat!" Levi snarled. "Your hands are sweaty!" He grabbed Eren's scalp and pulled the boy to his face. "Obey your captain. I forbid you to change form, no matter what happens. Understand?"
They both cringed as a hot, reeking gush of air engulfed them; the Beast had them dangling before its nostrils. Levi and Eren awkwardly spun around, a scant few meters away from its mouth. Bulbous lips split open and saliva dripped down rows of molars caked in rotted flesh.
"So," the Beast rumbled. "Which one of you is the Coordinate?"
It can speak! The hair on Eren's nape stood on end, his whole body electrified.
Levi's glare briefly shifted to the cannons. He smirked.
"Let go."
"Huh!" Eren's grip was shook free; his hands snatched at nothing! "CAPTAIN!"
He plummeted.
In a flash, Levi plugged blades to hand-grips. Brandishing steel, he jettisoned upward and sawed into Beast's fingers. Blood, flesh and hair spattered the Wall; the freed cables zipped back into their drum. The captain arched backward and dived.
"FIRE!" a guard bellowed.
A dozen cannon shots shattered the air and the barrage hit the Beast full in the face. Eren's ear drums burst, all sound compressing into a high-pitched ring. The blinding explosion washed over him; his fall seemed to slow to a float; he could see Levi descending from on high, a stark black shape cut out of the light. He stretched his hand out and Eren reached back.
Next second his lungs ripped out a scream as Levi caught him by the torso. Together, they zoomed down into Trost's streets. Buildings sped by. Their feet clipped the bricked ground and then they launched up again in a stomach-churning arc. Blood rushed to Eren's head and he quickly concluded two things; there was flying via 3D Maneuver Gear, and then there was flying bullet speed via Captain Levi.
He gagged. "Shit! Gonna be sick!"
Levi blanched. With an acrobatic kick he made a sharp turn and landed them on a rooftop. Eren immediately dropped to his knees and retched. Keeping well away from the mess, Levi looked calmly back at the gate. It was obscured in cannon smoke and flashes of fire.
Eren wiped his mouth. "Y-you dropped me!" he gasped.
"I made a quick call."
A mob of citizens rushed down the street below, tripping in their haste to get away from the gate. Panic pulsed the air, thick and smothering as the smoke billowing off the Wall. Levi hooked an arm around Eren's waist and lightly leaped off the roof to the street.
"Back to the safe house," he ordered Eren once he could stand. "Meet with the rest of the squad and equip for battle." He turned and fired his cables.
"Captain!" Eren said between panted breaths. "You just told me I should use everything I have! I don't understand why you won't let me fight-!"
"Eren." Levi's tone cut Eren's voice clean off. He partially faced him, face stone-cold in the street's torchlight.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
Eren clenched his teeth and looked away.
"Go," Levi said.
"Where do we meet-?"
Levi disposed his dulled blades. "I'll find you." He launched off, gone in a spout of gas.
Eren remained, barely aware of the people pushing past him. He looked at his hands; they shook. His whole body shook and a foul patina of vomit coated his throat. The boy spat and spat again, clutching at his sweat-soaked hair. "Damn it!" Blubbered sobs caught his ear and he looked up. A woman with blood-shot eyes dragged her screaming daughter by the hand. The child slowed her mother down, her weight clumsy, her feet useless. Suddenly, the woman dropped her, letting the little girl trip and fall on her face. The woman rushed on ahead, not looking back. Person after person ran by, seeming to not even see the child bawling in the mud.
The sight transfixed Eren where he stood.
Damn this Hell...following me wherever I go...
"Eren!"
He blinked and turned to see Mikasa swooping out of the sky. Nimbly she landed and ran up, carrying something. "I have your gear. Here." She made to hook up his equipment for him.
Furious, Eren slapped her hands away. "I can do it myself, Mikasa!" He buckled on the drum, blade canisters and hand-grips as fast as he could.
Mikasa looked at the crying child. "What's happening?" she asked softly.
"We need to gather the team," Eren said. "Captain's orders." He lifted his determined gaze skyward, but Mikasa put a halting hand on his shoulder.
"Wait," she said, and went over to the child. She picked her up, and narrowed her eyes at the oncoming crowd. Her hand shot into a passing middle-aged man, catching him in his step.
"Hey!" he huffed.
"Take care of this child," Mikasa ordered. "She's yours to carry to safety." She carefully but firmly pushed the sniffling little girl into his grasp. He held her at arm's length, baffled.
"What! I'm not this brat's father, why should I-!"
Mikasa speared him with a look of wintered earth. "If you do not take this child to safety then she will be left here and she will die. Will you let that happen? Will you leave this little girl to her death?"
The man recoiled. "No, no of course I won't! I'll-! I'll save her, I promise!" Fearfully he rushed past the winter-eyed woman and jogged onward, child tight in his arms.
Satisfied, Mikasa turned on her heel and caught Eren's eye. "Now we can go."
He nodded; now they could go. Sureness heated his bones and pumped through his blood once more. They fired their cables and took flight, cannon blasts bludgeoning their ears. The clogged, fire-lit street shrunk beneath their heels and they hit the sky, swallowed in clouds black as ink. As searing winds buffeted them, Eren momentarily panicked and dropped down to a roof. The hard tile sent an unwelcome jab of pain through his ankles.
He crouched, letting his eyesight adjust. How the hell will we fight in the damn dark! We're dead if we fly blind!
"There." Mikasa pointed at blobs of light swinging their way. They could make out two, which became three, plus two more bringing up the rear.
"The team!" Eren stood straight and waved. Squad Levi flew down in formation, all carrying torches.
Jean landed first, tall legs bending expertly to break the fall. "What did I tell you guys," he said as the rest lightly landed around him. "Mikasa left us behind as usual and found him first." He shone his torch in Eren's eyes. "Where have you been? What's happening here? Why are the cannons firing?"
"Get that torch out of my face, Jean!" Eren growled, as someone else rushed up. He recognized the diminutive height and gray, shaven head.
"Did Central launch an attack?" Connie asked.
"Some dumbass attack!" Jean shouted as cannon shot cracked the air. "They're only hurting my ears."
Eren motioned at the others and they surrounded him as close as the torches allowed. He saw many things in their young, tense faces - mostly confusion and uncertainty. It made him sweat, the way they crowded him. Connie and Jean stood so close he felt the heat off their torches. Historia's pale, petite figure stood so far back, he half-expected her to fall out of sight. Sasha fervently looked from side to side, ponytail wagging. Armin locked intelligent blue eyes on Eren, expecting his best friend to provide the group sureness, to fuel them with resolve.
Eren met all their gazes boldly. "It's not Central, it's a Titan! A damn big one all covered in hair. He climbed the Wall and he's probably over the gate by now!"
"He climbed the Wall?" Jean repeated, disbelieving.
Color drained from Historia's cheeks and her blue-bird eyes stared into space. "That one."
"The Beast Titan!" Connie hissed. An ear-shattering blast lit the sky. "I've been wanting to say hi to that fucker."
"The Wall!" Armin cried out. He frantically met everyone's questioning stare. "Eren! From what Connie and Historia told us, that Beast Titan is strong enough to tear off pieces of the Wall! That could be why it's here-!" He flinched at another explosion. "To destroy the gate! We need to-!"
"It's not here to destroy the gate," Eren said in low-toned frustration. "It's after me."
He saw his own, sickened dread reflected in their faces.
"How could you know that?" Jean glared at him. "Just because Titans have tried to capture your kamikaze ass twice..."
"It spoke! It asked me and the Captain which one of us was the Coordinate."
"Great!" Jean's sarcasm could penetrate The Armored Titan. "What a big fucking surprise!"
"Are we going to fight it?" Sasha broke in nervously.
"Yes!" Connie brandished his blades.
The others just backed away from him, giving him incredulous looks. Grimly, Historia gazed down at the chaotic streets. "I think we should be helping the citizens evacuate."
Armin nodded. "I think so too."
Titanic cannon fire electrified the sky. Connie's face burned and sweated like a mad bull. "Come on guys, don't be so weak! We're an elite squad! We can take that bastard!"
"Connie, we don't know what that Titan is fully capable of!" Armin said.
"OH YEAH!?" Connie jabbed his blade boldly in the gate's direction. "I know there's only ONE Titan out there and-!"
"No there's not."
The group turned in surprise at the voice; they'd missed one squad mate in the huddle. Mikasa stood at the edge of the roof, her hollow stare fixed on the gate. First Connie, then Jean and the others joined her side. Their mouths and eyes opened wide. But the nightmare they beheld stole their voices and they could not scream.
The loud blasts of light and fire hadn't been cannon shots.
The Beast perched on the gate, freakishly long arms draped down the side. Every few seconds, a branch of lightning shot down within a hundred yards of him. Columns of smoke exploded wherever a bolt struck. Large, horribly familiar shapes emerged.
"There's not just one," Mikasa said.
Over a dozen Titans lumbered around the gate. Unsteady waves of Garrison soldiers flew in and swung at the creatures with their blades. But for each monster that tumbled, another rose up out of lightning and steam. The cloak of night did not hinder them; hideous faces wrapped in darkness, they stalked the streets and foraged for terror-stricken victims. Countless plumes of Titan steam swept overhead, making it impossible to spot a Titan's vulnerable nape. Rushing in blind, many soldiers found themselves flying straight into gaping mouths. Bones snapped and their screams were swallowed down the cavernous maw.
Squad Levi watched in horror.
"The Beast Titan is...creating them," Armin whispered, awe-struck. "How? How is this possible?"
Connie's voice trembled with rage. "I am going to stick my blade so hard up that motherfucker's ass!"
Focus abruptly returned to Jean's eyes and he took a fighting stance. "Right! Here's the plan, everyone! We need to get people as far away as possible from that monster! We're evacuating Trost and slaughtering any Titan that gets in our way! Ready with me!" He plugged blades into his hand-grips.
The rest followed suit, exchanging nervous glances. None of them looked ready, except Mikasa. The roof suddenly shook and they all turned to see a ten-meter class rounding the street corner. They couldn't see its face, but it was definitely looking at them.
Jean hastily gestured. "There! Eren! Take that one out!"
Eren stared at the enemy, not budging. Even as they gripped his blades, his hands started shaking again.
"What are you waiting for!" Jean yelled. "Change form and kill it!"
"I can't!" said Eren. What's wrong with me! It's not like I haven't killed before...!
"Why the hell not!" Jean looked at everyone else, at their petrified faces, their limp blades. "Hey! Why aren't any of you attacking!"
"Why aren't you attacking!" Connie shouted.
Eren looked at all of them, understanding. They're all thinking it. They know that Titan was just a human minutes ago. They know when they cut the neck, they're actually cutting...! His stomach writhed and he nearly retched again.
He gasped as Mikasa zipped by him. Her cables shot forward, anchoring in the Titan's neck. Two blades slashed in a perfect X; the nape came off cleanly; the Titan jerked and collapsed. Flying around in an arc, Mikasa returned to the roof. She looked hard in the eyes of her squad mates.
"Titans or humans, we must fight. Or else die."
Eren exhaled, an admiring smile in his eyes. He caught the same smile in Jean and the others. Competitive spirit flushed their faces. Connie's face burned with a fresh surge of aggression.
"Time to kick ass!"
Mikasa raised her right-hand blade to the lightning-cracked sky. "With me!"
Six more blades pumped the air and six voices shouted as one. "YEAH!"
"RRAAAAAAAAH!" Mikasa shot off the roof and they all launched after her.
They dove straight into action. Trost's streets became their web, and they were spiders gracefully swinging from spot to spot, target to target. They aimed low, where upturned braziers burned and fires started to catch at the debris piles. By the light of the blaze, two teammates could cut out a Titan's ankle tendons and floor them, bringing the nape into plain sight. In sparks and steam they slashed.
When they could, the squad scooped up citizens to carry out of harm's way.
"I NEED COVER!" Jean blasted out a flaming roof with two screaming kids clinging to his harness. It was all he could do to hang on, weaponless and weighed down. His heart jumped into his throat as a Titan-sized shadow moved over him. He crash-landed on the roof with the kids, staring up at a warped mouth with a huge overbite.
"I got you Jean!" Eren whizzed across. With a scream he shot straight into the Titan's neck and exploded out the other side. Yawning stupidly, the creature collapsed. Its over-sized teeth shattered as it face-planted the ground.
Drenched head to toe in steaming blood, Eren landed on the roof with Jean. The taller solider gaped. "Holy shit, Eren!"
"Learn to share, Horseface." Eren panted, taking one of the shell-shocked kids. "Let's go!"
Many would remember the glory of Squad Levi that night. Mikasa soaked the streets in blood. For every Titan her squad mates dragged down, she effortlessly felled two. She was a red-scarfed phantom, slicing out of the smoky haze before disappearing again to find another kill. Armin and Historia shed a brilliant light for the others as they took up torches in their left hands instead of blades. Like fair-headed angels of death they drove the burning sticks into their target's enormous eyes. Soon several debilitated, flaming Titans stumbled about, easy prey for the others.
In a flash of lightning, Connie came down screaming on the nape of his target. Blood soaked his sleeves then evaporated instantly. He looked up and saw another squad of Garrison soldiers zoom overhead.
"They're headed for the gate!" He hastily switched his blades out.
"Connie!" Jean yelled as he flipped over another brazier in the street. "Don't follow them! Stay away from-!"
Connie was already gone.
"Fucking idiot!" Jean viciously sliced out a Titan's shin; it stumbled, crashing to its knees. Its head fell face first through a burning roof.
"Now, Sasha!"
On the next roof over, Sasha dashed across the tiles. "I'm sorry, sorry, sorry!" She leaped the edge, soaring up in a trail of gas. Her blades drew back for the kill. Metal met flesh and boiling blood went up in steam.
"So terribly sorry!"
Author's Note:
How freaking cool was that? Please follow, review, favorite, all three! I really enjoyed writing the action in this chapter and I'm pleased with how it turned out after the final edit. If you're wondering about the title Blitzkrieg, it's German for "lightning war". It's a WWII military term for a swift, aggressive aerial attack, meant to take out the target in one fell swoop. I found it a very fitting name for this chapter.
Sarah
