As Marcel grazed the small blade over his finger, Mikasa momentarily grabbed her companions and pulled them down the passageway.
BOOOM!
Bright light shone from the spot Marcel was standing in just a few moments ago. As Eren fell down the stairs, he saw that scouts' blood had painted the walls of the tunnel.
"Are you hurt?!" Mikasa asked the two "Can you stand?!"
Suddenly a giant clawed hand reached for them.
"RUN!" Mikasa cried out as she pulled her friends deeper into the underground passage.
As they were running through the tunnel Armin looked towards Mikasa.
"Did he bite his tongue?!" He asked the girl.
"There was a blade hidden in his ring" Mikasa replied.
Armin gritted his teeth.
"I was sure he really bought that…" He exclaimed "he must've gotten suspicious about the escort mission..."
"What do we do, Armin?" Mikasa asked the boy.
"We join up with team three and get above the ground" Armin said "after that, we follow plan B."
"Eren transforms into a titan and helps us capture the jaw titan."
Eren pondered on that. Was he truly ready to fight his old-time friend?
"HEY!" The leader of team three yelled from the end of the corridor "WHAT'S GOING ON?! DID THE PLAN FAIL?!"
"IT FAILED!" Armin yelled back "PLEASE GO TO…"
BOOOM!
Suddenly a giant fist went through the ceiling, killing the waiting team on the spot. The trio stopped in their tracks.
"What…" Armin couldn't comprehend what just happened.
"Does he not care if Eren dies?!" Mikasa asked.
"It was a gamble" Armin said "He made that hole betting that Eren wouldn't die in the process. It was a crazy move, but a good one…"
"Marcel's desperate to capture Eren."
Armin gritted his teeth, deep in thought.
"What should we do? He's blocking our escape path. Even if we used our maneuvering gear to head through that hole or the entrance, he'd just be waiting for that."
"We can't stay here either…" Mikasa said "…he'd eventually collapse the whole tunnel…"
Eren looked down. It was time to act.
"I'll transform right here" he exclaimed.
His two companions looked at him.
"Are you sure…?" Mikasa asked.
"Yes" Eren said "you two get on the ground. I'll make sure not to collapse the whole passageway, so you can join the fight later."
His two friends complied.
Eren looked towards the hole created by Marcel. He started running towards it.
Levi and Eren were walking through the dark halls of survey corps headquarters. Apparently, the command has decided what to do about the retrial situation.
"We're here" the small captain said as they stopped in front of a door.
Eren took the handle and entered the room.
All the scouts' high command was here. Along them sat Dina and Armin. Eren was surprised to see them here.
"Hello, Eren" commander Erwin spoke "we have a lot to talk about."
Eren slowly entered the room. As he took a sit, he asked:
"What are Dina and Armin doing here?"
"They possess crucial information which is the very reason behind this meeting" Erwin replied.
Eren got interested upon hearing this. What information could they possibly have?
"Armin, could you please start?" Erwin said.
The boy in question cleared his throat.
"We suspect Marcel to be the jaw titan" Armin said.
Eren stood up from his seat in disbelief.
"No way…" He said "…what are you saying Armin?"
"It's just a suspicion" the blonde boy replied.
"D-do you have any proof?" Eren asked him.
Armin looked down.
"He was the one who killed the titans captured by the survey corps."
"How could you possibly…"
"Killing those two required a high level of skill, so he must've used his own equipment, which he was far more familiar with. Then, during the inspection, he presented Marco's gear."
Eren was flabbergasted.
"W-why would Marco be involved?" He asked.
Armin took a deep breath.
"My theory is, Marco must've seen something he wasn't supposed to see. When we found his body in Trost, he didn't have his gear. Me and Marco used to service our gear together. I remember every single dent, every single crevice on Marco's equipment. And that day, I saw Marcel present it to the MPs."
Eren couldn't believe it.
"So" he started "we have no proof."
"Actually" Dina interjected "we can test the theory right here."
Eren looked at Dina with wide eyes.
"What do you mean?" He asked her.
"You were the one who used to be paired up with Marcel during hand-to-hand combat training" Dina started "and you were the one who fought the jaw titan."
"Forget about your feelings Eren" She said looking him in the eyes "Try to focus and remember, if there were any similarities."
Eren knew that Dina was right about his emotions. He remembered his fight in the titan forest. The more he thought about it, the clearer it seemed to be.
"You're right…" Eren finally said with a defeated voice "it was Marcel."
Erwin nodded upon hearing that.
"That is the only confirmation we can afford right now" he said, "we've already come up with a plan on how to use the retrial summons to trap Marcel Galliard."
'Time for another round' he thought as he bit on his hand.
Energy exploded from his spot, and the familiar feeling of being surrounded by titan flesh engulfed Eren. As bones and muscles appeared from thin air, the boy took a swing at his surprised foe.
Marcel definitely didn't see that coming and was sent in the air. He landed on a church far away from the spot he was originally in. As Eren neared the fallen titan, Marcel suddenly stood up and desperately made a run towards the walls.
"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!" Eren heard commander Erwin order.
He looked towards the voice and saw that the scouts assigned to escort the wagon he was supposed to be in had arrived. Eren turned to look at the running titan and launched himself towards him. When he reached Marcel, the latter suddenly turned to face him.
'He hasn't given up on trying to catch me' Eren thought as he took a battle stance.
He noticed they were in a clearing. Marcel must've thought it through. This way the scouts couldn't use the urban surroundings to their advantage.
'I go first' Eren thought as he swung his fist at Marcel.
The latter sidestepped his arm and tried to use it as leverage, but it was just a decoy. Eren suddenly threw a hard kick right in his face. The mask on Marcel's face was so hard that Eren's kneecap shattered.
Eren didn't see this coming. He blew a hard hit to his opponent sending him flying in the process, but now, he couldn't outrun him anymore. Eren fell to his knees and looked at Marcel's titan. His mask was shattered, and beneath it he could see the titan's mauled face.
Marcel seemed stunned, but there was a long distance between them. Eren desperately crawled towards his ex-friend. Just when he was about to grab him, the jaw titan came to his senses.
The titan slashed right at him, with so much force, that a huge portion of Eren's face was sent in the air. Marcel used that moment to make a run for it. As he reached the walls, he used his giant clawed fingers to climb it fast, and before any scout could reach him, Marcel was already at the top.
Eren was watching from the ground, as Marcel took one final glance at what he was leaving here.
He quickly turned his back on them and jumped over the wall.
