"Right," Erwin sighed as he pulled out an aging map of the three walls. Jean peered at the map suspiciously with Marco hovering curiously over the top of the humans below.
"During this whole ordeal with Zackly, I told Pixis to gather the Garrison and guard the wall before we arrived in Sina, killing any titans that attempted to get through the hole that the colossal titan created in Wall Rose. He should have evacuated any remaining citizens and now we plan to draw the titans out of the walls and lure them towards an abandoned castle a far enough distance away from the wall for a mass execution."
"But it took us hours as it is to get here, sir. And the trial used up even more time." Jean commented. "We don't know how the Garrison have held up. The town could be completely overrun with titans at this stage because the higher-ups have their priorities all mixed up with Marco's trial."
"Then it is our job to make sure that no more titans will enter." Erwin responded almost robotically, "We witnessed on the way here that Marco's running speed can reach extraordinary levels when motivated enough, most likely faster than horses. To prepare us for the situation ahead, you and Jean will go ahead equipped with a flare gun. Once you are in a safe enough distance to see the status of the Garrison's work, send up a flare letting the rest of the scouting legion know what to expect. Understand?"
Marco nodded eagerly.
"Good. The green flare will mean that the Garrison has kept the situation relatively under control. Red means that they are in need of help but are still functional. Black will mean that they have lost control of the situation and it has gone horribly wrong. Of course, three simple colours aren't enough to detail us of the entire situation but it is the best we have." Erwin continued to explain.
"But since we'll arrive before everyone else, are we just expected to stand around and wait for you to catch up?"
"Engage in combat only if necessary. Get into the walls in whatever way you can which won't endanger the walls within. However, if you see a deviant titan, kill it immediately. They are too unpredictable to rely on just following us out of the walls. We just need you to keep us updated."
"What will happen when we leave the wall? There are no more buildings or trees to use our 3DMG on. Are we going to use the horses?"
"It depends on the flare. If green, yes we will. If red or black, we won't as it will be too dangerous to steer through any possible wreckage. Marco...I know this might be a bit much to ask, but we need your speed and your vast body space for us to grab onto. We need you to let us attach ourselves to you and to escort us to the castle. Can you do that?"
The titan nodded a little less eagerly at that. He didn't really like the idea of having several grappling hooks dig into his skin, remembering back to the trap in the forest of giant trees.
"Good. Move out!"
Marco effortlessly hoisted Jean up onto his hand, ready to break out into a full sprint. Diving into a slide to get through the readily open gates used to transport larger goods, cupping Jean in his hands to protect him from the shock, the giant briskly leapt to his feet and continued their journey towards the disaster site. With the wind stinging Jean's eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks in an effort to squint at the scenery in front of him in the titan's tightly wrapped fingers, Marco approached the pillar of smoke sourcing from the flash, growing increasingly larger and more ominous. Coming to a halt not too far outside the gates, Marco outstretched his arm to allow Jean to be in range of the walls looming above him. After scaling the wall under the careful eye of a cautionary Marco, Jean was presented with the chaos that unfolded below. Taken aback by the situation, Jean swooped back down onto Marco's awaiting palm and readied his flare gun. Vaguely seeing the silhouette of thundering horses racing towards them, Jean loaded a flare and fired it into the piercing blue sky.
"Red!" Erwin bellowed back to the scouting legion.
"No way in." Jean reported to Marco, "The gates are sealed shut and the last thing humanity wants is a free pass for the titans into the walls via another hole. Are you good at climbing?"
Marco's eyes almost popped out in surprise, pointing to the wall.
"Yep, you're going to have to scale it."
The titan nervously approached Wall Rose, his stomach forming knots. After a mighty leap with his hands slightly shaking, he grasped the stone creating indents for him to assist his climb. Kicking in indents with his feet, he gradually started to scale the wall, with encouraging words shouted from Jean just above him, hanging onto the stone with his 3DMG. Successfully reaching the top of the wall, the titan made a daring leap of faith, creating an earth-shattering shockwave on his landing. Marco's ankles and calves were shattered from the fall, but regenerated in time to meet Jean to hunt the deviants that threatened the rest of their comrades, having almost reached the wall themselves. While scanning the town for any potential targets, the gates were opened, the scouting legion pouring in on their 3DMG, blades shimmering in the sunlight.
The wind harshly whistled in Jean's ears as he swiftly darted in between ravaged buildings to keep up with Marco, carefully dodging obstacles at full speed. The human and titan pair and fought tooth and nail, through an endless swarm of vacant-eyed titans, towards the source of the flash. Jean, straggling behind Marco, kept to his position with the other humans in strict formation, slaughtering titan after titan as their now lifeless bodies shook the pebbles on the ground below with their mighty, defeated thump. Narrowly missing the jaws of a ten metre class, Jean wiped the sweat off his brow with a dirt covered sleeve, almost choking in the clouds of dust that the fallen titan corpses sent billowing up into the air. His breathing quickened while his heart pounded furiously as he saw another smaller, yet agile titan bound after him, saliva stringing from the titan's oddly white, chipped teeth. Before the titan could make Jean its lunch, it fell to its knees, the nape of its neck visibly missing. A blur of shining black hair and the sight of a red scarf zoomed past Jean, the titan blood from Mikasa's swords still evaporating from her last kill. Marco came screeching to a halt and whipped his head around to make sure Jean was still alright, breathing a tiny sigh of relief when he saw him effortlessly land on an adjacent rooftop, puffs of steam billowing from the corners of the titan's mouth. Their brief moment together was shattered by the sound of gigantic bodies slamming onto the pavement, with three titans being slaughtered in less than a minute. Baffled by the speed and cleanliness of the executions, they discovered that it was no other than Levi, who slowed down for a fraction and glanced at Jean and Marco with piercingly serious eyes.
"Don't slacken off, Marco. Zackly has given you this one and only chance to prove you're worth sparing. Don't give him a reason to have you killed." Levi reminded the both of them before a hiss of gas signalled his leave.
Jean turned back to the pathway he had mentally planned out to get to the edge of the town, only to find that the buildings he hoped he'd latch onto were now piles of rubble and steaming, rotting titan carcass. The only other structurally untouched buildings he could hopefully attach his 3DMG onto was too far for the wires to reach, both back to Wall Sina where they came from and out towards Wall Rose. The soldier was stuck in a dead end. His concentration shattered time and time again due to a low boom occurring almost rhythmically. Jean whipped his head around after realising that what he was hearing was the sound of numerous, rumbling footsteps which followed the rest of the scouting legion who fell behind Mikasa and Levi. Panicking because they were swinging right into a dead end, Jean had a small spark of an idea which he knew Marco wouldn't like much.
"Marco I'm sorry to do this, but hold out your arm! Let them grapple their 3DMG onto it so they have a leverage across!"
Marco's face twisted into a grimace as he extended his arm as Jean tried to demonstrate what he was thinking to the rest of the scouting legion. Jean started to swing off the titan's arm and land on it repeatedly, praying that someone understood. Thankfully, Armin deciphered Jean's message and immediately informed the other soldiers of Jean's plan.
"Grapple your 3DMG onto Marco's arm! There are no more secure buildings within our range to use as leverage!" Armin tried to scream to the rest. If they couldn't hear him, then Armin hoped that they could figure it out fast enough to not end up as titan food for the strays following behind them.
The scouting legion grew closer and closer to the gaping hole that was the now shattered Wall Rose, lined by the tired and beaten Garrison. With one mighty swing, the soldiers soared mid-air, leapt through the hole and aimed at Marco's back and shoulders. In perfect timing they fired the grappling hooks from the 3DMG, withdrew the wires and began beeline towards the titan.
"Get on!" Jean called, the soldiers each fastening themselves to the grimacing titan. "NOW RUN!"
Marco bolted as fast as his titan legs could take him, tirelessly being hunted down by a horde of fellow titans lusting after the flesh of the humans on his shoulders. Much to the joy of the frightened 104th, the castle's eerie silhouette grew clearer and clearer, each of the young soldiers praying that it would approach faster.
"Come on Marco," Erwin cried out, "FORWARD!"
"You can do it, Marco!"
"Run, freckles!"
"Move it, Marco!"
"Marco," Jean began, moving close to Marco's ear, "I believe in you."
"Erwin...you are out of your mind." Pixis sighed to himself, preparing the Garrison for their final assault on the scarce titans who didn't follow the bait.
"Pixis," Dok began, "Do you think they'll make it back alive?"
"Well they'll have to, wouldn't they?" Pixis replied, "Erwin's reputation is on the line. Remember what happened with Shardis five years ago? He nearly wiped out his entire branch due to his incompetence. The scouting legion is in good hands with Erwin, and with that titan's abilities on their side, they have a fairly decent chance on making it back."
"If the titan doesn't turn on them, that is."
"Ah yes, there's that possibility..."
"SOLDIERS!" Erwin boomed to the awaiting soldiers lining the balconies and railings of the building, with Jean perched on Marco's shoulder.
Droplets of sweat glistened on Erwin's forehead, his eyes unblinkingly fixed on the incoming targets, eyebrows furrowed. The first target, a scrawny-looking 10 metre class stumbled in clumsily within the range of the 3DMG. This was the only signal Erwin needed to begin the assault.
"The titans are all together in a huddled group!" Erwin began to command, "This creates some problems in terms of getting to their napes. Marco! We'll need you to eliminate the larger classes blocking the smaller classes. They'll make easy targets as they're all too focused on us for them to turn on you, leaving their napes exposed. Once they have been defeated, the rest of us will kill the remainder with you acting as our aid if we get into any trouble."
Marco gently set Jean down next to Sasha, her gaze completely fixed on the titan's moving hand.
"READY?"
The soldiers glanced at each other nervously.
"ATTACK!"
[I think this chapter gave me the worst writing block so far! A lot of things have happened between the last chapter and this one, sorry for taking so long to write it! I hope this has been worth the wait and I'll try and upload the next one a little bit sooner...]
EDIT: Thanks to Satan-Chan for telling me about the huge error before! I had no idea that happened.