I do not own Attack on Titan or any of the characters.

Showdown

Adam stood off to the side from the others, watching Reiner and Bertholdt carefully while they spoke with Eren. Bertholdt kept glancing at him, but while he did, Reiner seemed to be ignoring him. Adam wasn't sure what to make of that. Suddenly, a blonde Garrison Regiment soldier climbed up over the edge of the wall.

"There's no breach anywhere," the man said.

"Are you sure?" Hange asked.

"We've been searching the wall all night," the man said. "I can assure you that at the very least the stretch from Trost to Chlorba is intact. What's more, we haven't run into a single Titan."

"But we definitely met titans," Armin said.

"Are you sure you searched thoroughly, Hannes?" Eren asked. "Or is it possible you're still drunk as usual?"

"As if I'd drink at a time like this!" Hannes snapped. "Come to think of it, why are you guys even here?"

Everyone fell silent.

"Well, with no breach in the wall, we have no choice but to call the operation off," Hange said. "For now we'll be on standby in Trost District."

She glanced at Adam knowingly and Adam sighed. If they were in a major population center, Reiner and Bertholdt wouldn't be able to use their titan powers without exposing themselves. It didn't give him much of an edge, but it gave him a little. However, the questions of the titans getting in was still a problem. He stared at Eren and Ymir. Unless they were already in.

"Hange," Adam said, jogging over to her. "How do you think the titans got in?"

"Maybe a tunnel," Hange said. "Why?"

"I...might have a theory, but it's really crazy," Adam said.

"Let's hear it," Hange said.

"Well, Connie was telling me about a titan covered in fur, like a monkey, that he called the Beast Titan," Adam said. "He said it seemed like the titan was controlling the ones that attacked the castle. If that's true, that would make the Beast Titan intelligent. So...what if the person inside the Beast Titan had a way to transform humans into titans?"

Hange and the scouts walking with her all stopped, staring at him. "That would...explain a couple of things."

"It might also explain Eren, sort of," Adam said. "Connie said that his mother, who couldn't move, was missing from his village, like everyone, but that there was a titan lying on his house who also couldn't move, because its arms and legs were shriveled. That titan couldn't have gotten there on its own, and titans wouldn't carry one who was essentially useless around. So, it would have had to already be there somehow. Connie even said it looked like his mom."

"That would explain that titan," Hange nodded. "And how there's no breach. But what about Eren?"

"Well, what if Eren was turned into a titan at one time too, but doesn't remember it," Adam said. "I don't know how he turned back into a human and gained the power to transform at will, but if there were a way to turn someone into a titan, maybe Eren accidentally found a way to turn back. Ymir too."

"And Reiner and Bertholdt, if you're right about them," Hange said.

"I am," Adam said, glancing back where the two were talking to Eren alone again.

Just as he did, Reiner pulled his sling off, Adam catching Hange's arm and turning her. Reiner pulled the bandages off of his arm, steam pouring out, revealing his healing arm. Everyone stared.

"Jesus," Hange breathed. "It's true."

"We're screwed," Adam breathed. "Eren can't fight them both, especially if Bertholdt turns."

Then, just as Reiner stepped toward Eren, Mikasa stepped past Eren, one of her swords removing Reiner's right hand and splitting his left halfway up the forearm, getting stuck in his cheek bone. Then, Mikasa released that blade, leaving it where it was as she drove her other at Bertholdt, managing to halfway sever his left wrist and cut into the side of his neck, hitting his jugular, Bertholdt shouting in fear and holding a hand to it. Then, as she drew another blade, she leapt at Bertholdt, only for both titans to transform, the resulting blast hurling everyone, except Eren, who Reiner caught. Bertholdt had only formed half of his body, however, and Adam pushed himself up, sprinting at Bertholdt. He was ending this. No colossal titan, no reinforcements for Reiner while he fought Eren.

As he ran forward, Bertholdt grabbed Ymir. He attached a cable instantly, swinging up to his wrist and spinning, his blades slicing off Bertholdt's hand instantly before he flipped, attaching on to the ground and returning, catching Ymir and sprinting away from Bertholdt. Bertholdt reached for him but Mikasa swung past, catching him and pulling both him and Ymir away from Bertholdt before detaching her cable from Bertholdt's back.

"Thanks," Adam said, setting Ymir down and turning back to Bertholdt. "Now let's kill this-"

He was cut off by another explosion as Eren transformed, slamming a punch into Reiner's face, blasting him into the wall and dropping the rest of the way to the ground, Reiner crashing down a moment later. Adam turned back to Bertholdt, gritting his teeth. One blow. That's all it would take. He attached his cables to the back of Bertholdt's neck and shot forward. However, before he could get there, Bertholdt began to shoot steam off of his back, Adam's forward progress instantly halting. He grit his teeth. It was scalding hot. He could feel himself burning. He grit his teeth. He was finishing this. All he had to do was reach Bertholdt. He opened his gas all the way. He'd have about five seconds.

One.

He slowly creeped forward, the heat getting worse the closer he got.

Two.

He screamed as his skin began to blister.

Three.

So close now he couldn't open his eyes more than a crack, and that only for a second. But he could make out Bertholdt's skin now.

Four.

He was close. He could attack now. Just in time. He pulled his arms back, but before he could slash, he felt a sudden jerk of his cable and was suddenly flying through the air, the heat vanishing after a moment. He retracted the cable fully and swore. It had broken free, and now he was out of gas and a hundred feet up. He braced himself for death, only for Hange to catch him, landing heavily on the wall and setting him down.

"You okay?" Hange asked.

"Yeah," Adam said through gritted teeth. "Just a few burns."

"Those look pretty nasty," Hange said.

"It's fine," Adam said. "How's Eren doing?"

"He's getting destroyed," Hange said, both looking over the edge of wall where Reiner was absolutely demolishing Eren.

His armor was leaving Eren's strikes completely useless, while his own were devastating.

"I assume blades can't get through his armor," Adam said.

"Yours might," Hange said, handing him new gas tanks, which he attached instantly. "Maybe Annie gave them to you to deal with Reiner."

Adam stared at them, then down at Reiner. She was right. He might be able to do it. But not unless Eren could hold Reiner still. Reiner was too skilled and too smart to let Adam anywhere near him with his crystal blades. Then, as both moved to punch each other again, Eren slipped under Reiner's arm, catching him in a side choke and flipping him, smashing him to the ground and mounting him. Then, Reiner flipped him off, getting on top of Eren, only for Eren to catch his arm and twist it outward, wrapping his legs around Reiner and squeezing. Suddenly, Reiner's armor cracked. Adam's mouth fell open as he watched. Reiner pulled one of Eren's legs away with his free hand and Eren flipped them, getting on Reiner's back and trapping Reiner's right arm before breaking it completely off at the elbow.

"Woo!" Adam cheered. "Go Eren! Fuck 'im up!"

Eren stood, retreating back to the wall as Reiner stood, walking after him. Adam sighed, raising his blades. He was about to have his chance. Time to see if his blades were really as good as he believed. Then, Reiner charged at Eren to tackle him as Eren adopted a combat stance. Reiner plowed him into the wall sideways and punched at him, but Eren avoided it, wrapping his arms around Reiner's leg and falling to the ground.

"Don't go to the ground Eren!" Armin shouted. "Get up!"

"Hey, do you want to try wrestling the Armored Titan?" Adam called out as Eren pushed Reiner away and regained his feet. "Then shut up and let Eren beat the shit out of him. Eren scored high on hand-to-hand combat, remember?"

Reiner tackled Eren again and Eren caught his neck, crashing to the ground before wrapping his legs around Reiner's waist and wrenching on his neck, the armor at the back of Reiner's neck beginning to crack.

"Now!" Adam said, leaping off the wall.

He attached a cable to the back of Reiner's neck and shot down at him, pulling his swords back. Then, as he reached Reiner, he slashed. His sword met the armor with a loud screech, but cut through with only slightly more resistance than a normal sword would a titan's skin. After a moment, Adam had carved out a massive gap in the armor, exposing the weak point. All he had to do was take a nice big chunk out of Reiner now.

"Adam, MOVE! ! !" Sasha's voice shrieked.

Adam felt his body react of its own for the first time since Trost. Within the span of time it took him to realize he had even reacted, he was swinging away from Reiner. A half second later, Bertholdt's titan form crashed down on Reiner and Eren, exploding into a massive blast of dust, debris, and steam, hurling Adam and several other people into the air. Adam flipped, swinging down to the wall and landing in a roll before stopping, groaning before checking his blades. They were just as sharp as ever. He stared at them for a moment before smiling. Annie's last gift was even better than he had hoped. He froze as that thought repeated through his head. He grit his teeth. No. It wouldn't be her last gift. Well, maybe her last gift, but not because she was going to die. And she wasn't staying comatose. Metal may not be able to chip the crystal, but he was sure he knew something that could.

He looked back at the wall, seeing steam still exploding up from below. It seemed that his body had managed to make him the only person not really effected. He walked to the edge, looking at the base of the steam as the Armored Titan ran out of it, Bertholdt on his shoulder and blood running down the titan's chin. Adam returned his gaze to the base of the steam and saw Eren's titan body lying on the ground, the nape of its neck bitten out. He trailed his gaze up the wall, seeing some of the more senior scouts, including Hange, hanging from their cables against the wall, and Mikasa as well. Adam walked over, holding his hand into the steam and pulling it back. It was cool enough. He stuck a cable into the wall and let it out as he rappelled down the side of the wall, stopping beside Hange and Mikasa, grabbing both and carrying them both back up to the top, several other scouts copying him and grabbing the rest of the bodies.

They were all laid on top of the wall and their wounds were quickly tended to, Armin sitting beside Mikasa. As they did, Adam looked after Eren, then back toward the others. There weren't enough to go after them, and none that could outrun a titan. With their horses stuck on the wrong side of the wall, all they could do was wait.

Leave a review.