Enemies of Humanity's Past

by Random Crossovers

Humans had always feared the Titans, but they begin to learn that they are nothing compared to what was coming. As Humanity learned more about its past, they begin to face the aftermath of an ancient war between humans and a species that could control massive monsters. Humanity must fix its broken pieces and fight alongside the Earth's remaining monsters to save their world.

13. Secrets and Betrayal

Chapter 13: Secrets and Betrayal

News of giant monsters attacking the Walls eventually reached the Mitras Capital, where Carla could hear many nobles talking about it from her window. When she listens in on their conversations and hears about the Scouts and the Garrison fought bravely against the monsters, Carla wonders about Eren and if he managed to survive the encounter. Regardless, Carla knew she could not do anything about it anyway. She moves herself in the wheelchair towards her bed and decides to lay down, hoping to sleep the day away. Just as she expected, she could not force herself to sleep and stared at the ceiling until Marlowe and Hitch came along and knocked on her door.

"Mrs. Jaeger, would you like to try and practice your legs again ?" Marlowe asks.

Carla sits up and responds to him, "I would prefer not to today."

"You heard her. Let's get the hell out of here," Hitch says as she begins to leave, but Marlowe holds her back.

"I understand if you're not comfortable without Dr. Serizawa, Ma'am, but I really think it's best if you continue with these exercises. Commander Nile believes that you shouldn't have to be restricted in your room during your stay here."

Carla sighs as she decides on whether she wants to stay in bed or continue using her prosthetic legs. After Serizawa left, Carla felt lonely and depressed. She cared about him as much as Eren and Grisha, but hoped that he would be the one to stay by her side until she became well again. Thinking long and hard about what she wanted to do, Carla decided to make herself well on her own. She gets off of bed and puts on her prosthetic legs before heading to the door.

Marlowe and Hitch help Carla practice using the legs around the building's courtyard for a couple of hours while other soldiers watch. She slowly gets better and better with each step, becoming more determined now than ever, which greatly impressed the two MP soldiers. However, they were unaware about the presence of Kenny and the Wall's true king, Rod Reiss. The two men were both focused on Carla's fake legs and were fascinated by the technological marvel, yet Kenny was suspicious of who had made them. It reminded him of the metal vessel that Ozaki escaped in from the other night, but he felt like it could be some coincidence. Rod and Kenny approached Carla with sinister intentions, but they hid it well enough to avoid suspicions. Once Carla completed her designated goal of achieving a certain distance, she, Marlowe, and Hitch turned to see the two men coming towards them.

Kenny looks at the two MP soldiers and orders them, "Ya mind giving us a little privacy ?"

"Who the hell are you ?" Hitch asks rudely.

"Someone who's a higher rank. Now why don't you and your friend go about your other duties while we look after Mrs. Jaeger for a bit."

"Oh, s-sorry, Sir."

Marlowe and Hitch leave as the two men approach Carla. However, Marlowe was a bit suspicious of them and wondered what they wanted.

"Do you think we should just leave them alone ? It doesn't seem right," Marlowe tells Hitch.

"Well, what can we do ? We're just recruits and that guy with the hat clearly seems like someone with bigger authority than us. Don't worry about it."

As Marlow and Hitch were gone, Carla worryingly asks both Rod and Kenny, "Can I help you, gentlemen ?"

"Not at all, Mrs. Jaeger," Rod assures her, "My name is Rod Reiss and this is my associate. We just simply like to know if you have been in contact with your son recently."

"I haven't. I thought I wouldn't be able to contact my son while he is in the Survey Corps' custody."

"Oh, yeah ? What makes you think that ?" Kenny asks curiously.

Carla thought about it and replied, "I'm not really sure, but…I figured that he would be too busy for that kind of thing. You know the Survey Corps and how dangerous their job can be, right ?"

"Why, of course we do," Rod answers her, "We understand completely about how much the Survey Corps sacrifice themselves for the betterment of humanity. Speaking of which, I have a way for you to see your son again."

"What are you talking about ? Wouldn't my son be too busy as of right now ? Especially with the issue about the giant monsters roaming around ?"

"I have my ways and I can assure you that I can arrange for Eren's temporary dismissal from the Scouts. I shall escort you to a chapel just outside of the Orvud District while my associate goes and retrieves your son from the Scouts."

Carla takes a moment to think about Rod's offer and calmly tells him, "No."

"I beg your pardon ?"

"As much as I want to see my son again, Mr. Reiss, I don't intend to distract him from his duties. He has a rather important role now and I want him to embrace it however he can. I never expected him to be special, but he is, and I can't do much about it. I'll always wait for him as long as it takes until he finishes what he needs to do. Humanity needs him right now and I am willing to wait for his return until he fulfills his purpose."

Carla walks past Rod and Kenny, returning back to her room. The two men were astonished by her answer and decided to resort to their backup plan, despite Rod being uncomfortable with it. As Carla makes it to her room, she leans against the door and hopes that she made the right choice. Even if Rod's offer was a good chance to see Eren, she didn't want to risk distracting him from the Kaiju and Titan threat. Carla goes over to her bed and sits down to rest after hours of practice, trying to remove her prosthetic legs. However, she hears faint footsteps coming to her door and Kenny suddenly kicks down her door, startling her in the process.

Kenny turns to look at her and smiles sadistically, "I didn't want to have to resort to this kind of action, Mrs. Jaeger, but I just can't help it. Now we're gonna have to take you by force !"

"But why ?! What do you want from me ?!"

"That's a need to know basis," Kenny says as he slowly approaches her, "But it's like you said….your son is special and very valuable !"

Carla didn't hesitate to throw her chair at Kenny, disorienting him enough for her to escape from the room. Kenny quickly runs after her and slowly catches up as Carla was having trouble running. She initially tried to call for help to Marlowe and Hitch, but it proved useless. Although it was the first time that she ran with the fake legs, her fear of getting caught by Kenny forces her to push through her limits and run for her life. Eventually, Carla begins to run a bit faster and slowly outpaces Kenny until a blonde-haired MP soldier tackles her to the ground.

Kenny stops and chuckles, "Nice catch, Caven. I was beginning to believe those legs of hers were actually magic or something."

"Or maybe old age is finally catching up to you," she told him.

"The hell you mean by that ? I ain't that old," Kenny said while fixing his hat, "Anyway, let's just hurry up and get her to the chapel."

"Please, Sir, you don't want to do this here ! The Military Police will arrest you !"

"Well, the good thing for us is that we are Military Police. There ain't a soul that's gonna be saving you now. Not the government and especially not your son. And just in case…"

While Caven holds Carla in a headlock, Kenny forcibly removes Carla's prosthetic legs and smashes them against a wall, breaking them beyond repair. At that point, Carla knew that she could never escape these people and was forced to be stuck with them, afraid of what they might do to her. Kenny proceeds to knock her out, causing Carla's vision to turn black.

After a while, Carla slowly opens her eyes and squints to a bright area. Once fully opened, her eyes reveal to her a massive cavern consisting of crystals. She then turns to see herself all tied up and on a wheelchair, struggling to free herself. Carla stops once she hears footsteps and turns to see Rod and Kenny walking up to her. Trying to hide her fear, Carla tries to remain calm and not cause a scene, hoping that the two men will not do anything harmful to her.

"You know, I was surprised that you chose not to see your son again. However, I really didn't want it to come to this," Rod said to her.

"Why are you doing this ? What do you need my son for ?"

"You might not know this, but...your husband stole something that rightfully belongs to my family. The very same thing that your son currently possesses."

"The...power to turn into a Titan ?" Carla guessed.

"The power to control Titans," Rod corrected her, "In my family, it was known as the Founding Titan. I believe your husband passed it onto your son and I intend on taking it back."

"Then just take it back !" Carla raises her voice, "Extract it from my son and just leave us alone ! You don't need me here !"

"It's not that simple. I can't just extract it from him. I'd tell you more, but I fear it will only cause you more distress."

Rod turns to Kenny and orders him, "Go and find her son….and my daughter as well."

Rod leaves while Kenny pushes Carla in her wheelchair until she tells him, "Please…don't do anything to my son."

"It's not me ya have to worry about. You should just sit back and relax until I get your son."

"What's going to happen to him ? What are you two going to do to my son ?"

Kenny chuckles before leaning to her ear and whispering to her, "Let's just say that he's going to die. And you're gonna sit back and watch it."

While Kenny smiles at what he said, Carla becomes shocked. Unable to do anything, she sits in her wheelchair with a face of despair and stares emotionlessly at her surroundings. The stress that she accumulated throughout recent events involving Eren has become severe and it begins affecting her mind. It is only going to get worse if Kenny manages to capture Eren and Carla wasn't sure how much more she can handle.

---

During the aftermath of the Kaiju attack, the Garrison, the Scouts, and even the Military Police worked on clearing the corpses of the Skullcrawlers in the Ehrmich District. The body of Jet Jaguar, currently in human form, was taken and experimented on by an excited Hange while Levi and his Squad interrogated Ymir about her powers. In the meantime, Pixis stood on the North gate of the District, focused on trying to fix the damages on the Wall. He looked at the entire District and saw it in ruins before sighing and shaking his head in disappointment.

"What a stressful day this has been. I sure hope it doesn't get any worse."

Just as he goes to monitor his troops, a Garrison soldier approaches and informs him, "Sir. Minister Nick wishes to speak with you…again."

"Might as well bring him up and get it over with."

The soldier goes and retrieves Minister Nick, who was panicking and ranting about covering up the damages on the Wall.

Pixis tries to calm him down and says, "I know, I know. We're still fixing the Wall like you said. You don't have to come every now and then to tell us this."

"When I heard news of a giant monster attack on my way, I thought it was just more nonsense until I heard unpleasant sounds coming from Ehrmich ! I'm quite disappointed to see that not only have you not been making any progress, but now you have allowed more of the Sacred Walls to be destroyed !" Minister Nick shouted.

"We're doing the best we can with all the available soldiers we have. You should just head back and-"

A Garrison soldier accidentally steps on an unstable part of the Wall, causing a chunk of it to fall to the ground. Although no one was hurt, Minister Nick begins panicking even more and pushes Pixis out of the way, making his way towards the newly destroyed part of the Wall.

He quickly points to a Garrison soldier and tries to order her, "YOU ! HURRY AND COVER THIS UP BEFORE THE SUNLIGHT TOUCHES IT !"

Pixis holds him back and orders two other soldiers to restrain him, "What's gotten into you, Nick ?! Have you gone mad ?! You could have…gotten….hurt ?"

As Pixis turns to see what Minister Nick was worrying about, he is shocked to see the head of a Titan sticking out from inside the Wall. With a stern face, Pixis turns to Minister Nick and begins to question him of what was happening.

"Can you care to explain this ?!"

"Uh…ah….I-I refuse to do so !"

"And why is that, exactly ?! Why can't you tell us about that Titan in the Wall?!"

"P-please ! We have to cover it up before sunlight hits it !"

Pixis, not wanting to deal with another fight, decides to follow Minister Nick's instructions and has multiple soldiers cover the head of the Titan with a large cloth tarp. Once they ensure that the tarp was secured and not able to fly away with the wind, Pixis turns his attention back to Minister Nick, who tries to escape.

"Where do you think you're going ?" Pixis asks while grabbing Nick's collar.

"I'm quite a busy man, Pixis, I must get going to my duti-" Nick was interrupted as Pixis began to lift him.

"You think that I'm just going to let you go like nothing happened ?!"

"So you're going to torture me ?! Then, kill me if you must, but I won't reveal the secrets of the Sacred Order !"

"Kill you ? No, no. I'm not going to kill you," Pixis stated as he calms down and puts Nick back on the floor before patting his shoulders, "Apologies for the hostility."

"That's um…more like it. Now I'll be making my…way…" Nick stops as Pixis suddenly ignores him and watches him walk to the edge of the Wall.

Nick curiously walks over next to Pixis and looks down at Ehrmich, seeing it in ruins.

"Such a shame, isn't it ? Titans have never made it this far, but these giant monsters sure did."

"Yes, how devastating. Now I must get goin-"

"Why don't you come with me for a bit ? You should relieve some stress," Pixis said as he drags Nick to the lifting, taking them down to the base of the Wall.

As Pixis and Nick walk through the streets of Ehrmich, they watch as several groups of citizens walk past them with miserable faces and dirty, ragged clothes. Nick, although feeling a bit emotional seeing the citizens, looks away as to not feel any guilt. Pixis notices his action and chuckles, finally finding out a way to get Nick to talk.

"Go ahead and look away all you want, Nick. This is reality as we know it. The result of our struggle against Titans and now…giant monsters."

Nick remains silent as Pixis continues, "You know, even if I managed to get information from you, I must admit that I wouldn't even know what to do with it. Which is why taking you to the Scouts would be better than keeping you with the Garrison."

Nick widens his eyes after hearing Pixis' true plan, but keeps quiet as to not lose his composure. He considered running away, but fears that Pixis would catch up regardless. Rather than do anything else, Nick felt forced to follow Pixis towards the Scouts.

Stationed at a barrack in the Ehrmich District, Hange was examining Jet Jaguar's body with intense focus and was creepily feeling the metal surface of his body while blushing. Despite being uncomfortable of seeing Hange acting this way, Moblit and the other members of the Squad continued looking for tools that could open up Jet Jaguar's body. After her examination, Hange turns her attention to Jet's damages and looks inside of them, seeing a bunch of colorful wires and other things that she doesn't know what they were. She arrives at the conclusion that Jet Jaguar isn't actually a man in a suit, but an extremely complex machine that no human in the Walls could have the knowledge to construct. The only thing that confuses her the most is what technology enabled Jet Jaguar to grow and shrink in the first place, but she had a feeling that it would take her a while to figure it out.

"Hey, everyone ! Have you found anything to open this guy up yet ?" Hange asks her Squad.

"Not yet, Squad Leader, but I don't think any of our tools would even work," Moblit answered.

"Awww…We got to try something to pry this guy open or we'll never find out his secrets."

"This is gonna take forever," one of the members, Abel, said to the others.

As they continue looking for tools, Erwin then walks into the barracks, curious about Hange's progress on Jet Jaguar.

"C-c-commander !" Hange's Squad said in unison while quickly saluting until Erwin acknowledged it.

Erwin then turns to Hange, ignoring her odd way of examining Jet Jaguar's body, "Have you managed to discover anything significant about him yet ?"

Hange shrugs before replying, "Weellll, I did find out that it's not a suit. Turns out that it's just a reaalllly strange and complicated machine. For some reason, there's only an abundance of wires, gears not like the ones in our maneuvering gears, and these flat...green….things with a bunch of black squares and golden spikes of sorts."

Erwin takes a look at Jet Jaguar and sees the things that Hange describes, becoming just as clueless as she was.

"This machine stood by our side when those monsters arrived. Whoever built this knew about the monsters and came to our rescue by sending it."

"Hmmm, I wonder who these people are ?" Hange asks herself before turning to Erwin, "They definitely have to be from beyond the Walls, right ?"

"There's no other reason for us to doubt that theory," Erwin remarks, "Speaking of which, I believe that our newly discovered Titan Shifter might have originated from outside of the Walls."

"Oh ! Have you guys gotten anything out of her yet ?!" Hange asks excitedly.

"I'm not quite sure. Levi and his Squad are currently working on interrogating her."

"Then, let's get going. I have a question to ask of her," Hange then turns to Jet Jaguar, "And I'll be back for you later."

Hange and Erwin leave her Squad alone with Jet Jaguar and head towards one of the Skullcrawler corpses where Levi, Mike, and the rest of the Scouts were at. They could see Krista, who revealed her name to be Historia to everyone, standing in front of Ymir. Although she was trying to defend Ymir from the interrogation, it quickly fails as Petra easily holds her back in order to allow Levi and the others to continue the interrogation while Mike stands back and watches.

Oruo was the first to talk to Ymir, but did it in a creepy manner, "So…you think you could've kept your power a secret and we wouldn't find out eventually ? Why's that, huh ? Afraid we would've done stuff to you like we did with Eren ?"

"Easy, Oruo," Gunther calms him, "We don't wanna scare her."

Eld speaks up afterwards, "If you were to keep this secret for so long, I'm quite curious on what exactly motivated you to reveal your secret. Care to tell us ?"

"Please ! Just leave her alone !" Historia cries out to them.

Levi ignores her and approaches Ymir with a threatening aura, "Why have you kept your power a secret until now ?"

Ymir remains silent as she stares at Squad Levi before chuckling, "Should I really have to answer these questions ? The moment I revealed myself, I knew that I would either get killed or experimented on right away. I guess I was somewhat correct when I learned what Eren went through."

"Since we only have custody of Eren, it might be possible that the witnesses who saw you transform may bring awareness to the Government and you may be taken away. There might be nothing we can do unless you tell us what we want to know."

"Yeah, I kind of expected that. Before they find out about me and take me away, I suggest you ask me all the questions you have."

"You're not going to try to run away ?" Levi raised a brow.

Ymir sneakily looks at Historia and replies to Levi, "There's someone here that I don't want to leave behind. I have no reason to run away unless I can ensure their safety first."

"Besides all of that, how long have you had these powers for ?" Levi asks curiously.

"Hmm…about…a couple of years before I joined the Training Corps. Before that, well…there's not much to talk about."

Hange approaches them both and interrupts them, "Oh ! I have a question for you. An important one, indeed."

"Um…go ahead, I guess."

Levi steps back as Hange prepares to ask her question, "During the 34th expedition of the Survey Corps, a soldier by the name of Ilse Langnar encountered an Abnormal Titan and learned that it was able to speak to her. In her notes that we found from her corpse, she stated that the Titan mentioned a name, which happens to be your name as well."

"And ?"

"What's so important about you that a Titan, who was able to speak, say your name ? Specifically, the phrases that Ilse wrote were 'Lady Ymir' and 'Subjects of Ymir'."

Although Ymir acted like she didn't know, she remembers the phrases from her past. A history that shaped her to become the person she is now. What started as something that gave her purpose leading to years of torture as a Titan came back to haunt her once more. However, looking back at Historia reassures her that things have changed and she was no longer going to live by someone else's rules like she used to. Deciding not to tell Hange everything, Ymir gathers her words and tells her what the name actually means.

"That Titan wasn't referring to me. It was referring to the one that I was named after. What I remember was that Ymir is someone with the blood of the kings and whoever that Titan was…worshipped them very much."

"Is that the whole truth ?"

"That's basically all I know. Are you not satisfied ?"

Hange took a moment to examine Ymir's words and whispers to herself, "Blood of the kings ? Would that have something to do with the King of the Walls ?"

The interrogation is cut short when the Scouts turn their attention to Pixis escorting Minister Nick towards them.

Erwin walks to the front of the group and asks Pixis, "Is there something wrong ?"

"Very. You will not like it one bit, but…we've recently discovered Titans within the Walls themselves."

Erwin slightly widens his eyes while Levi, Hange, and everyone else in the Scouts are completely shocked.

"That's not all," Pixis said as he pushed Nick towards them, "He happens to know about those Titans for some reason and I'm quite surprised that he isn't yapping his mouth like he always does."

"I'm not going to reveal anything to any of you ! I won't talk no matter what !"

Nick, however, turns to see the upset faces of some of the Scouts, especially Levi and Hange. With the Scouts' mission to find information about the Titans in order to defeat them, hearing news about how Minister Nick has information about the Titans has angered them to the point where Hange goes and grabs Nick by the collar of his apparel.

"You mean to tell me that you have information that we Scouts have sacrificed so much to achieve ?! You kept this hidden from us all this time and you didn't bother to share it with anyone else ?!"

"Hold on, Squad Leader !" Moblit shouts as he tries to stop her, but Levi holds him back and allows Hange to continue.

She pulls out one of her blades and puts it up towards Nick's neck before continuing to threaten him, "I could kill you right now and no one here will stop me from doing so. Unless you want your body to fall into a puddle in your own blood, I suggest you start talking before I silence you permanently."

"Go ahead !" Nick told her, "Just as you are loyal to the Scouts, I am loyal to my Order and you will see that I would never give in to such pressure ! I would gladly die if it means I have truly fulfilled my duty !"

He grabs the blade and pushes it deeper to his neck while closing his eyes. Hange pauses for a moment before pulling the blade away and tossing him over to Levi. She begins to softly laugh before sheathing her blade.

"I'm not really going to kill you, but it has been a while since I've had this feeling of dread," Hange says to Nick before turning to Levi, "I guess it's your turn now. Hopefully you can get him to talk."

"I might have a few ideas," Levi told her as he approaches Nick until Pixis stops him.

"Hold on there, Levi," Pixis then turns to Erwin and whispers to him, "Torture won't be necessary for him. There's another way you can convince him without any…violence."

"You sure about that ?" Erwin questions him.

"I do. The man might be stubborn, but he can be taken down with guilt from what I saw."

"Guilt ? I didn't take Nick to be a person that could feel guilty for anything."

"Trust me. I seen his face around the people."

Erwin decides to follow Pixis' suggestion and turns to Nick, "Minister Nick, we currently live in confusing times and Titans are not our only enemies anymore. Right now, any information that we can use against these threats is highly valuable and we're not going to be able to persevere if you hold on to these secrets."

"Even if I were to tell you, what difference would it make ? What I know involves only the Titans, but not these massive creatures."

"Hmm…follow me."

Erwin then brings Nick over to see one of the Skullcrawler corpses laying on top of a pile of debris, "This is the result of not knowing our enemies capabilities and allowing them to gain the upper hand. If this continues further, not only will the Walls fall, but everyone within them will perish and we will become nothing more than nourishment to both Titans and these massive creatures."

Nick stares at both the Skullcrawler before turning to see several survivors grieving over their lost ones. Unable to look away and eventually feeling a bit of regret, Nick succumbs to the sight of the survivors. Titans were one thing, but the Kaijus were far more destructive and problematic than he realized. Even so, he still could not give up his vow and decided for a better alternative. He turns around and looks at Historia before turning back to Erwin.

He whispers to the Survey Corps Commander, "I still won't talk even I want to, but that soldier over there with long, blonde hair might tell you things that I and the Sacred Order of the Walls cannot. She is your best chance as she is not bound by the rules of the Wall, but you must beware of those who wish for her death."

"What do you mean by that ?"

"She was originally placed within the Military for the purpose of dying on the frontlines. If the same people that put her there find out that she is still alive and giving information to you all, then they will surely come for her."

"I appreciate this, Minister Nick, but I believe that it might be better for you to be placed elsewhere for the time being."

"Where do you plan to put me in, Commander ?

"Somewhere within Trost. It's safer if you stay away from the Inner Walls."

"Well, if you insist. I fear that someone is bound to know of our interaction."

Erwin guides Nick to a wagon and instructs a couple of Scout soldiers to escort Nick to Trost. As Nick leaves Ehrmich with the soldiers, Pixis approaches Erwin.

"Did he tell you anything worth knowing ?"

"Possibly. You could say that we might be putting ourselves in danger."

"Danger ? It definitely is worth knowing," Pixis points out while softly chuckling, "Well, in that case, you need to keep a look out then. I hope you all manage to do something about this whole situation that we're in with that information. I wish you all good luck."

Erwin nods and he turns back to the Scouts before loudly ordering them, "Gather all of your belongings and prepare to head out for headquarters ! We leave at once !

Despite wondering what was going on, the Scouts did not hesitate to follow Erwin's orders and began packing everything up. Hange returns to the barracks and retrieves Jet Jaguar, placing him onto a wagon. Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and all of their friends got up on their horses and followed the lead of Squad Levi. Erwin leads the Scouts through the south gate of the Ehrmich District and makes their way back to the castle base while Pixis stands on top of the Wall and watches them depart as the day slowly becomes night.

---

Up above in the sky, the EDF ship transporting Ozaki, Muasaka, and the Mutants had finally reached their destination at the Walls. Using a portable monitor to show what Jet Jaguar was seeing, the Mutants were a bit disturbed to see Hange being so attached to Jet and continued watching until they saw that he was put onto a wagon. They switched to a two-dimensional tracking display on the monitor to show the Mech's exact location and the direction he was heading for. Using the nighttime to their advantage, the pilots proceed to activate the ship's cloak and choose a landing area in order to drop the Mutants off.

Once they landed in a secluded spot far from the castle base, Muasaka leads Ozaki and the Mutants out of the ship and informs them of the plan, "I understand that keeping our existence from these civilians is no longer important to the EDF, but I still highly suggest using stealth for this mission. I don't want to create any more problems for these people after all they've been through."

Muasaka then turns to Ozaki and explains to him, "Ozaki. I know you have a bit of experience roaming around these cities during your earlier missions, but remember that some of these people have seen your face and caught you with one of our ships. They may be keeping an eye out for us, so be absolutely careful when you go solo."

"Don't worry about it, Muasaka. Even if they try to catch me again, I'll just slip away. They may be fast on those grappling hooks, but we're faster."

"I hope so. Just don't start causing any trouble," Muasaka warns before watching him and the other Mutants make their way to the Scouts' castle base. He then proceeds to head back inside the ship.

At the same time, Miki leaves the landing gear and heads inside of the ship. Once the pilots prepare to take off, Miki decides to wait until they are in the air. The ship flies above Trost and hovers in the air while the pilots await their next order.

Miki reveals herself to Muasaka and the pilots and says to them, "Excuse me."

Startled, Muasaka accidentally pulls out a gun until he realizes who he was aiming at, "Ms. Saegusa ? How did you get into our ship ?"

"A long story, but I need a bit of assistance from you."

"What kind of assistance, Ma'am ?" Muasaka asks.

"I fear that someone valuable is in trouble and I need you to drop me off at the Capital of these Walls," Miki tells Muasaka.

He continues to question her, "I assume that the superiors do not know of this action of yours. Who exactly is this VIP that you're trying to save ?"

Miki sighs, "Please understand that this person is Carla Jaeger, the wife of Grisha. I believe that she will be facing some trouble very soon and it will be Grisha's fault for putting her in this situation. I don't want anyone else to suffer because of him, so I really need your assistance to get me to her location in the Capital."

Muasaka takes a moment to decide on what he is going to do before responding, "We'll take you to the Capital, but I recommend that you make haste before the Mutants complete their mission."

Miki nods as the two pilots drive the ship towards the Mitras District. In a couple of minutes, the pilots reactivate the ship's cloak while flying above the building where Miki believes to be the building where Carla was. Muasaka heads over to Miki and opens the hatch door before giving her a communication device.

"If you manage to get into any trouble, don't hesitate to notify me and we'll also let you know of any updates that the Mutants will give me."

"I'll try to be quick," Miki tells Muasaka as she exits the ship and lands on the roof.

As she watches the ship flying back into the sky, Miki makes her way down to the lower floors of the building and ends up inside the courtyard. She quietly makes her way to Carla's room and manages to avoid the sight of several MP soldiers in her way. However, Miki continuously searches through each room of the building and fails to find Carla in each of them. Just as she reaches the last room, Miki notices that the door was broken down and the whole room was messed up. Miki leaves the room and heads down a hallway until she turns to find pieces of Carla's prosthetic. Miki picks up a piece and realizes that Carla failed to escape her kidnappers. Instead of giving up and heading back to the ship, Miki decides to use her psychic powers once more and focuses on pinpointing Carla's location. After a few minutes of using her powers, Miki finally sees Carla within a massive crystal cavern, but it doesn't give much hints on where the cavern was. Miki focuses harder and looks above the ground of the cavern, only to find a chapel of some kind. The chapel itself was located somewhere north and it was all she could find as Miki took a break. Afterwards, she experiences a headache and tries to leave the building.

With her vision slightly blurred and a headache causing her to stumble through the hallways, Miki does her best to navigate out of the building without bumping into any MP soldiers. Unfortunately, Miki was spotted by Marlowe and Hitch, who were on guard duty for the night. They were just across the hall when they saw Miki struggling to walk and decided to check out the situation. However, Miki turns to notice them coming and quickly starts to run. Marlowe and Hitch begin to suspect her and proceed to pursue her.

"What's with this girl's problem ? Why the hell is she running from us ?" Hitch asks Marlowe.

"She's probably an intruder. She must be the one that ransacked Mrs. Jaeger's room earlier."

"You know, if we actually catch the culprit that kidnapped Mrs. Jaeger, then we might get that promotion after all."

"There's no time to think about stuff like that. Mrs. Jaeger's life is in danger and that lady might have something to do with it."

Marlowe and Hitch manage to trap Miki in the courtyard and cover the exits so that she cannot leave. Slowly, they both force her into the courtyard's garden until Miki trips and falls on the ground. Marlowe and Hitch slowly approach her and place their guard up in case she tries to retaliate.

Marlowe begins to question her, "What did you do to Carla Jaeger ?! Answer us or we'll be forced to arrest you for intrusion !"

"Or better yet !" Hitch added, "We can just beat the information out of you !"

"We're not going to do that !"

"Well, how else are we gonna interrogate her ?! Ask her nicely for Mrs. Jaeger's whereabouts ?!"

As Marlowe and Hitch argue, Miki took the opportunity to use her powers again and took over both of their minds. It was a risky move, but her years of experience with using her psychic powers made it easy to control the two soldiers. Marlowe and Htch are instantly in a trance and they cease their movements as Miki gets back up. She then forces them to stand next to each other while coming up with questions.

Learning that these soldiers knew Carla, Miki tries to ask them, "What was the last thing you remember of Carla Jaeger ?"

Her powers successfully cause Marlowe and Hitch to reveal what they know in unison, "Carla Jaeger was practicing her artificial limbs until two men arrived and requested a private conversation with her."

"What did these two men look like ?"

"One man was a noble with dark hair and the other wore a hat and...some variation of the maneuvering gear," they replied vaguely.

Miki is visibly shaking and decides to temporarily release them from her psychic powers before dropping to the ground. Marlowe and Hitch shook their heads in confusion as they slowly regained control of their minds. Miki breathes deeply before getting back up and turning to see the two soldiers react to what had happened to them. Marlowe was a bit surprised yet curious about what he felt while Hitch was shocked and extremely puzzled.

"What the fuck did she just do to us ?!" Hitch shouts at Marlowe.

"I don't know, but...it was something unlike anyone's seen before."

"Look, Lady ! Just leave us the hell alone and we'll stop bothering you, okay ?!" Hitch suggested as she tries to pull Marlowe away.

"Hold on !" Miki stops them, "I really need your help right now so that I can find Carla Jaeger."

Marlowe releases Hitch's grip on himself and stays to hear her out, "Wait, you didn't do anything to her ?"

"No, I'm an acquaintance of Dr. Serizawa," Miki explains to them, "I came here to save Carla from those two men from earlier, but it appears that I was too late."

"Yeah, obviously !" Hitch rolls her eyes, "We got in deep trouble for that shit and now we're stuck doing both day and night guard duty for a whole month !"

Ignoring Hitch's complaint, Marlowe instantly believes Miki's words and decides to help her, "Maybe there's something we both can do to help you rescue her."

"Help her ?! After she did that weird mind…manipulating….thingy ?! Why should we even believe her anyway ?!"

"Because she might be right about those two men. They were the last ones that interacted with her and we should have kept a better eye on them instead of leaving them alone."

"It wasn't our fault. How were we to know anyway ?"

Marlowe turns to Miki and questions her, "Do you have any leads on where Mrs. Jaeger might be ? We should hurry and find out quickly."

Miki could sense Marlowe's thoughts and learns that he was a good person, ultimately deciding to trust him, "The only thing I know is that she is held at some chapel in the North. I just don't know where it is."

"A chapel ? Hmm…there could be a list of chapels that Hitch and I can search for in our military's directory. We can find a way to sneak into the office and…"

"Wait a minute, Marlowe," Hitch interrupted him, "We can't just leave our post after what happened with Annie. Our higher-ups gave us a lot of crap for that and they'll definitely notice us missing in mere minutes."

"That's fine, I can go on my own," Miki told them, "This situation is more bigger than you think and I wouldn't want to get the both of you involved any further."

"Okay, cool. I guess that's that," Hitch tries to quickly end the conversation, "You go do your thing, Lady. We'll just be on our way and hope to never see you again."

Hitch grabs Marlowe and pulls him away just as Miki realizes that she doesn't even know where the directory was. Rather than going back to them, Miki decides to head off and search for it using her powers. Marlowe and Hitch watch as she exits the building before resuming their night guard duty.

"I still can't believe you helped her," Hitch said to Marlowe, "Either way, I feel sort of proud of you. You really broke the rules big time."

"I did it for the right reason. After Mrs. Jaeger went missing, our superiors wouldn't even bother investigating her disappearance. Even with the mysterious power that she displayed, that lady seemed really trustworthy."

"What makes you think that ?" Hitch asks while thinking of a wild assumption, "You think she's pretty hot, huh ? That's why you decided to trust her."

Marlowe immediately blushes and argues with her, "N-n-no I do not ! That's completely false !"

"Oh, yeah. I reaaallly believe that," Hitch says playfully.

They both continued on with their duty and went to clean up the remains of Carla's prosthetic legs, along with fixing up her room. They took a liking to Carla's company during their time taking care of her and found her to be possibly the best part of their job since it was peaceful and unlike the work they are forced to do by the higher-ups. Nevertheless, they moved on, hoping that Miki was truly going to save Carla.

---

At the castle base, the Scouts were currently unloading their supplies and other belongings while Erwin was deciding on his next move. He anticipated that the government would call forth a meeting to discuss the recent events. The only thing was whether he should address the Titans in the Walls in the meeting or continue keeping it confidential so as to not create more stress after the Kaiju attack. After all, Erwin thought about Minister Nick's words and grew suspicious of the higher-ups in the Inner Walls, wondering who exactly knew about the Titans in the Walls. If Minister Nick had prior knowledge about them, then Erwin believes that there should be others who also knew. Using Hange's theory about the King of the Walls being connected to the Ymir name, Erwin couldn't help but think that the King might be responsible for the Wall Titans in the first place. However, Erwin wasn't sure how exactly Historia fits into this situation or how she would be able to help the Scouts. He goes over some files containing Historia's information that he had sent a soldier to pick up earlier before they left Ehrmich. After a while, Erwin was a bit confused about some things, mostly about Historia's father. He couldn't understand how a nobleman like Rod Reiss would have anything to do about the Wall Titans or the King himself.

At the same time, Hange and her Squad were still trying to pry open Jet Jaguar's exterior within the castle basement. Levi and his Squad, along with most of the recruits, have decided to come and watch. While Levi was unconcerned looking at Jet Jaguar, his Squad and the recruits were absolutely amazed at Jet Jaguar's design and inner machinery. It was something they had never seen before and something that they believed could help them defeat the Titans, along with any Kaijus that would possibly arrive in the future. Just like Hange, Armin was quite curious about the advanced technology used to create Jet Jaguar, but even he was clueless on how to remove the exterior without significantly damaging it.

With no ideas on what to do, Hange decides to use her last resort and picks up a hammer and a chisel, "Well, looks like we got no other choice."

Hange proceeds to repeatedly hit the chisel around Jet Jaguar's chest plate until she manages to several holes in the exterior. Hange's Squad then use metal rods and insert them into the holes before lifting them up in order to pop the chest plate off. Fortunately, they successfully remove Jet Jaguar's entire chest off and place it aside. Everyone leans in to see more of Jet Jaguar's inner parts, revealing some kind of mechanical heart connected to tubes that spread throughout the body. The mechanical heart also has some kind of device on it that displays Jet Jaguar's height on it, along with a vertical bar holding some kind of glowing liquid.

"This is probably the craziest thing I've ever seen," one of Hange's squad members, Nifa, remarks.

"What the hell is all of this stuff ?" another squad member, Keiji, asks with a confused look.

"Well, this must obviously be the heart," Abel points out, "But these other things…uh…Squad Leader ?"

Hange examines everything more closely and creates a theory, "Hmmm…these tubes attached to the heart must be the muscle, allowing this guy to move just like a human. As for this thing on the heart, it must be what causes him to change size, but I don't really know how it works."

Armin stands next to Hange and asks her, "Do you think there's any way for us to control him ?"

"I'm not quite sure. It could be possible that this guy managed to work on his own. I mean, it's not like someone could control it from afar."

"I guess you're right," Armin scratches his head, "If only we could somehow speak to it. If we knew how to make him operational again."

"Well, this is advanced machinery, Cadet Armin," Moblit tells him, "It could take us years to figure all of this out and maybe even longer to create more like him."

"I'll be more than willing to reduce that time," Hange says proudly.

Deciding to leave Hange and Moblit to their work, Squad Levi and the recruits left while Levi, Eren, and Connie stayed behind.

Before she gets to work, Hange notices that they haven't left yet, "Do you guys need something ?"

"We need to talk, Four Eyes," Levi said, "We got a situation."

"Um…okay."

Hange places her tools down and they all sit down on a nearby table before Levi continues, "Earlier today, when those giant monsters arrived, we searched Wall Rose for any possible breach with the Garrison until Cadet Connie over here led us to the Ragako village. We didn't find any survivors, but we may have found something even worse."

"Worse than no survivors ?"

"Yeah," Levi answers before turning to Connie, "You mind telling her the rest ?"

Connie nodded his head, "I went to my families' house in Ragako to search for anyone still alive, but there was only a Titan there and it destroyed the entire building. Before we left, the Titan spoke and said something to me. After looking more closely, I realized that the Titan was my own mother."

"So…you guys finally found out the truth," Hange said in a calm manner, surprising both Levi and Connie.

Eren already knew why Hange was so calm after hearing the news since Minilla was the one that told the both of them about the Titan's true identities. Hange, knowing that she finally has evidence to support the idea of Titans being humans, explains to both Levi and Connie about Eren's conversation with Minilla from when Eren first joined the Survey Corps. She also explains the reason why Minilla refused to kill all of the Titans in the first place, which Levi now understands completely. After explaining everything, Hange watches as Levi and Connie were taking in the information with concerned looks.

"Now that you have your proof, what are you gonna do about it ?" Levi asks her.

Hange takes a moment to think and decides, "Tomorrow morning, I'll go over to Ragako with Cadet Connie here and analyze some things to further support the proof. I want to make sure of some things."

"Squad Leader, what about the metal man ?" Moblit wonders.

Hange turns to look at Jet Jaguar and replies, "We'll just have to put a hold on him for now. In terms of priority, I believe that finding out how humans could turn into Titans should be our number one. Metal Man can wait."

Hange then turns to Levi, "Before we depart for Ragako, you should inform Erwin about what's going on. With this information along with everything we've learned so far, it'll take us one step closer to stopping the Titans."

"Understood," Levi agrees and turns to Connie and Eren, "Let's get out of here, both of you."

Just as Levi and Connie left, Eren tells the Captain, "Um…I need to speak with Hange for a moment."

Levi allows it and leaves with Connie while Eren stays behind with Hange and Moblit.

"What is it, Eren ?" Hange asks.

"Something's wrong with Godzilla," Eren informs her, "I don't know why, but…he's been silent for a while and I'm worried for him."

"Well, in his case, it's understandable if he gave us the silent treatment. Godzilla doesn't think like we humans do, so he might have taken his words very seriously. If he truly doesn't want to help us anymore, then there's no reason for him to say anything else to us. After all, we didn't really treat him fairly despite what he's done for us."

"It's just…if there are stronger monsters that have yet to come, then Godzilla needs to be here when they come."

"Until that day comes, Eren, we need to focus on our own problems first. Titans are becoming nothing more than an inconvenience to us now, but we're actually closer to defeating them compared to the giant monsters."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Still though, I can't help but wonder what Godzilla is up to right now."

"I know, right ? Maybe he's somewhere in the world sleeping peacefully under the stars," Hange theorizes.

---

An Xilien soldier awakens with a flaming room as he gets up and looks around for any survivors. The last thing he remembers was escorting the Doctor to Facility 4 and then the transport ship was blown up. He approaches an opening of the ship and looks to see the five Kaijus continuing their fight against each other. Minilla roars loudly as he slaps King Caesar in the face and pushes him back while Gamera rams Anguirus into the ground. The Xilien soldier then turns his attention to the Doctor as he shoots X-65 in the head. Learning that the Doctor has become a traitor, the soldier moves to a communication console and tries to send a message to X, informing him of the Doctor's betrayal.

The Doctor heads over to the Molecular Integration device where he activates a console displaying the three Kaijus' designated orders. He effortlessly works on the console and focuses on releasing King Caesar, Anguirus, and Rodan from mind control. However, the Xilien soldier tries to shoot him down, but misses, causing the Doctor to turn and look. The Xilien soldier, despite being injured and limping, desperately tries to kill the Doctor. However, the soldier easily fails once a piece of debris knocks the gun off of his hand, allowing the Doctor to move in and pin the soldier down on the ground. Grabbing a nearby shard of metal, the Doctor stabs the Xilien soldier in the head and waits until the soldier becomes nothing more than a lifeless body. The Doctor gets up and returns to the console, continuing his work on releasing the Kaijus.

Minilla and Gamera continued their assault on the three Kaijus until something odd began happening to them. King Caesar, Anguirus, and Rodan violently shake their heads in pain. They were both unaware that the Doctor was behind the excruciating mental pain, but it was finally over as the Doctor completed his work and freed the three Kaijus from his people's control. King Caesar, Anguirus, and Rodan slowly became aware of their surroundings and became confused as to where they were. Minilla and Gamera let out deep breaths as they felt like they could finally relax after a long fight. As the fight between the five of them came to an end, they all directed their attention to the Doctor, who stood on a platform staring at them. While the other Kaijus are wary, Minilla approaches the Doctor and looks down at the Xilien scientist. Minilla feels something familiar with the Doctor, but sets it aside and acknowledges him for pacifying the Kaijus. The Doctor moves on to his next move and heads to the Facility's control center in order to send Minilla and the Kaijus back to Earth. However, the Doctor was unaware that X had received the soldier's message and was getting ready to make his way over to Facility 4.

---

In the middle of the night, every recruit in the barracks had gathered around Ymir and decided to ask her various questions, despite Historia's protests. Rather than interrogating her, the recruits asked a flurry of questions such as who would win between her and Eren in their Titan forms. Ymir ignores them while looking around and becomes a bit annoyed by all the attention she's getting.

Historia loudly tells the other recruits, "Guys, please ! No more questions ! Just let Ymir rest !"

Mina argues, "Come on, you two. You both gave away your secret identities and you expect us not to say anything about it ?"

"Yeah ! First, Ymir turns out to be just like Eren and then you turn out to have a fake name ?" Sasha spoke up.

"It's not like we're interrogating Ymir or anything. We're just asking her questions."

"Really ?" Jean raises a brow, "It still sounds like you guys are interrogating her."

Armin realizes something and turns to Ymir with a curious look, "Speaking of which, Ymir, I was a bit surprised that you answered those questions from earlier. I would have figured that you'd stay silent and not say anything else to Captain Levi and Squad Leader Hange."

Ymir looks up at Armin and comments on his words, "It's not like I had a choice, Armin. Maybe I could have just kept my mouth shut, but what's the point of that if they're just gonna torture me for that information ?"

"Well, you could have just run away to save yourself. Wouldn't that be a better option instead of putting yourself in danger ?" Armin suggested.

"Yeah, that would have been better, but there was someone here that I couldn't leave behind," Ymir said as she looked at Historia for a brief second, "Besides, there was absolutely no way I'd leave this place with nowhere to go."

"Maybe you could have gone beyond the Wall," Armin told her, "It's something I would have done."

"Same here," Eren added, "But that's never gonna happen."

Ymir looks at Eren with a worried look and asks him, "Do you know if you're still being sent to the Military Police ?"

Mikasa begins to feel distressed while Armin sighs deeply, but Eren calmly replies to Ymir, "Yeah, I still am. Not even that giant monster attack could stop the Military Police from getting custody of me. On the bright side, at least I'll get to see my mom again."

"You probably won't be alone. I believe the Military Police would try to get a hold of me as well once they hear about me."

"I probably doubt that," Eren argued, "With me gone, I suspect that Commander Erwin will try and keep you here to replace me. After all, the Scouts need a Titan Shifter by their side at this point."

"What about your mother ? Any chance they'll let her go once they get their hands on you ?"

Eren was silent and showed a sad look, indicating that he doesn't actually know. Ymir stares at Eren and begins to feel pity for him, allowing her selfless nature to take over and decide on what to do for him.

The door to the barracks opens up and Ness walks in to find the recruits still awake, "Hey, what are you all doing this late in the night ? Get some sleep or you're gonna have a hard time working tomorrow."

Everyone returns to their beds and goes to sleep while Eren heads back to the main building. Entering his room and sitting on his bed, Eren refuses to sleep since he knows that tomorrow might be his last day with the Scouts. Even after a month, Eren felt close to Squad Levi and Hange, beginning to see them as his friends. However, there was nothing else he, or anyone else, could do to prevent him from leaving. The only bright side was seeing his mother again, but their lives would never return to normal. Especially when he will get dissected by the Military Police. The thought about the situation made him more stressed, causing him to become exhausted yet unwilling to sleep. He decides to think of something peaceful and the first subject that comes to mind is home. Specifically, the one house where his father received from one of his clients in order to give him and Carla a second chance after Shiganshina fell. Although his first home was peaceful during his childhood, his second home gave him hope that his family could persevere through harsh times and allowed them to have a second chance at life.

Eren slowly remembers details of the house in Trost and dreams of his mother's smile as she stood beside Mikasa and Armin. However, the house wasn't like he remembered as all of the furniture was missing and there was an abundance of cobwebs and dust everywhere. Unable to move from his position, Eren was forced to stare at the front door as it opened. To his surprise, he saw his father slowly walk in while closing the door behind him.

Grisha slowly approaches Eren and looks him right in the eye before saying, "Are you ready ?"

Eren didn't know what his father meant by that until another voice that he doesn't recognize replied to Grisha, "Let's get going."

This vision that Eren was experiencing was very similar to the one memory he saw after he and Minilla plugged the breach at Trost. Compared to the one where he was in a forest with his father, Eren figures out that this new memory might not be his, but wonders who it actually belongs to. With his exhaustion getting the better of him, the memory starts transforming into a set of rapid flashes that obscurely displays different memories at once until it suddenly stops. Eren begins feeling a slight headache and falls onto the bed. He eventually closes his eyes and sleeps as the mystery of that memory lingers within his mind.

---

In the early morning, Serizawa was putting together a report of his covert mission in the Walls and had trouble thinking of what to include. He comes to a realization that the only useful information he provided to the EDF was the location of Grisha's basement. If it wasn't for the Mutants that managed to find the basement, then Serizawa would have to deal with a rougher consequence from the EDF leaders. He finishes writing the report and details his mission in a concise format before heading over to the conference room. After explaining everything he did in his mission within the Walls to the EDF leaders, Serizawa awaited his next orders as the leaders muttered among themselves.

Namikawa speaks up among the leaders, "Serizawa, there's no doubt that your skills as a chemist have provided usefulness towards our medical division over the years as well as our weapons division. However, we assume that the Xiliens are preparing for an imminent return and we have a list of issues that we need to solve before they do. One of them being those Titans."

"I take it that no one has made a breakthrough yet."

Namikawa nods, "Ms. Otonashi has made several attempts to analyze the Titan's DNA and informed us of the evaporating tissue once removed from the main body. Now that you have returned here to headquarters, we must ask you to assist Ms. Otonashi with the examinations."

"I understand," Serizawa stands up from his chair, "I'll get right to it."

Just before he left, Naotaro advises him, "By the way, I suggest you stop by Ms. Saegusa's room and have her return to the surveillance center."

Serizawa nods and leaves the conference room, making his way to Miki's room. He knocks on her door several times and receives no answer. He knocks again and continues waiting, but still receives nothing. Serizawa figured that she was meditating and slowly opened the door, allowing himself in. However, Serizawa sees that Miki is not there and believes that she might have gone to do something else. Rather than to go look for her, Serizawa decides to make his way to the surveillance center, knowing that Miyuki was covering for Miki.

"It's been a while since I was here," Serizawa thought to himself while walking through the base, "Forgot how cramped this place was."

Upon reaching the entrance door to the surveillance area, Serizawa enters and finds Miyuki sitting in the corner of the room looking at Ozaki's progress in the Walls. He approaches her and lightly taps her shoulder. Miyuki then turns around in confusion.

"Yes ? Oh, it's just you."

"Hello, Miyuki. I came here to get you so that we can work on the analysis of the Titans."

"Oh, sure thing, but I need Miki to come back here to take her spot back. Can you go and get her from her room real quick ?"

"The thing is, she's not there and I don't know what other duties she has other than surveillance, so I thought about asking you where she is," Serizawa explains.

"That's odd, Miki was given time to hone her powers by Namikawa. She isn't supposed to do anything else."

Miyuki stands up from her chair and announces to the people in the room, "Attention, everyone ! I would like to ask you all to search for footage containing Miki Saegusa this instant and pinpoint her location !"

The staff of the surveillance room search through various cameras throughout the base, along with Miyuki and Serizawa. They soon resorted to looking in recorded videos from the last few hours until one of the staff members managed to find Miki in the hangar from last night.

"Ma'am, I believe I found something," the staff member spoke up, causing Miyuki and Serizawa to approach him.

As Serizawa, Miyuki, and everyone else looked at the person's monitor, they saw that Miki had snuck onto the ship that was taking the Mutants to the Walls. Once the ship had taken off, there was no other video that showed her whereabouts. It was a complete mystery as to where Miki had gone, but Serizawa and Miyuki knew that if anything were to happen to her, then the EDF would lose one of their most valuable assets.

"What was she thinking ? Going out into the Walls without any companions ?" Miyuki ponders to herself, "What reason could she possibly have to venture into the Walls without saying anything to anyone ?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to find her fast before something bad happens," Serizawa stated.

Miyuki turns to the people who reported Miki's departure and orders them, "Go alert the superiors about this situation and tell them that we're on our way to retrieve Miki Saegusa."

The person nods before getting up and leaving the room while Miyuki and Serizawa head for the hangar in order to take a ship. Once they reach the area, Gordon and Komura are seen supervising the group of pilots using a simulation of the controls that they will be using in the Mechs. The two men notice them both and put a pause on the training before going up to them.

"Well, well, well. If it ain't Serizawa," Gordon smiles as he puts his hand out and shakes Serizawa's hand before hugging him, "It's been a while. Glad to have you back."

"And it's nice to see you again too," Serizawa agreed, "I don't want this reunion to be short, but Miyuki and I require a ship to bring us to the Walls."

"What for ?"

"It's Miki. We saw her sneak on a ship that was taking the Mutants to the Walls. We don't know why she left, but we need to get her back."

"Then count me in. I've heard different kinds of things about the people in the Walls, so you're gonna need protection."

"We appreciate that, Gordon, but we don't want to leave Komura here alone to train the pilots," Miyuki said concerningly.

Komura protested, "I can handle these soldiers on my own. It's not like I'm a feeble old man anyway."

"Well, that settles it," Gordon said as he picked up a sword next to the training area before putting on a brown trenchcoat, "Ready to go ?"

Serizawa and Miyuki nodded as Gordon led them to a transport ship. Gordon warms up the ship while Serizawa and Miyuki constructed a list of possible locations of where Miki might be. Just as Gordon goes and opens the hangar doors leading to the outside, Serizawa and Miyuki turn their attention to Namikawa and the other EDF leaders approaching them.

"Leaving again, Serizawa ?" Namikawa rhetorically asks.

"Afraid so. I will have to put the Titan experiment on hold for a bit, if you don't mind."

"Just get her back here safely and quickly," Namikawa advises him, "If the Mutants complete their mission before you find Miki, we'll have them regroup with you and they can assist you in any way."

Serizawa nods, "Thank you."

Namikawa and the EDF leaders watch as Serizawa, Miyuki, and Gordon enter the transport ship and leave the hangar, departing for the Walls. Not a whole day had passed and Serizawa couldn't believe that he was already returning to the Walls, but he knew that Miki was too important to lose now that her powers have returned. Another thing that he was worried about was meeting Carla again and wondering if he might accidentally cross her path once more. Nevertheless, Serizawa ignores his conflicted feelings and continues working with Miyuki on locating Miki.

---

Just as Erwin had predicted, an MP soldier came by during the morning to deliver him a message from the council, asking for him to give a report of the recent events. However, the letter also stated that all Scout activity is to be put on hold until further notice, causing Erwin to become more suspicious of the Government. Erwin notifies the Scouts about the letter before leaving for the Inner Walls while Hange gathers a group of soldiers, along with Mike and Connie, before heading out to Ragako in order to find more evidence of humans turning into Titans. With Moblit in charge of keeping an eye out for Jet Jaguar, Levi and his Squad looked out for the recruits and cleaned up the Meganula corpses that were scattered all over the base from the previous fight. However, Erwin had informed Squad Levi about Historia's file and where she originated from before leaving, prompting them to protect both her and Eren. Until Erwin returns from the meeting, the decision to give Eren to the Military Police remains uncertain.

Ozaki and the rest of the Mutants sat among the branches of a group of trees in the distance, using binoculars to survey the Scouts' activities. Once Eren was found and identified, Ozaki looked around for any possible places where the Scouts could have stationed Jet Jaguar. Unable to determine where Jet Jaguar could be, he rechecks the monitor display.

"All right, you guys. Let's start moving into position. Isolate the target and get that key," Ozaki orders as he continues checking the monitor while the Mutants swiftly travel across the grassy land to reach the outskirts of the castle base.

They all hid in various places in order to determine the number of Scouts that were present and potential areas to lure Eren and retrieve the key. Ozaki looks at the Scouts picking up the remains of the Meganulas and was impressed that they managed to take all of them down.

"Gotta hand it to them. Without modern guns, they sure beat the hell out of those bugs," Ozaki points out.

In the meantime, the Mutants notices that one of the voices sounds like Eren and peeks while hiding. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were all lifting a Meganula corpse together and slowly dragged it across the ground before leaving in a pile with the other bodies. Everyone else was also struggling to carry the insect carcasses, but managed to carry them to the pile where Eld and Gunther were starting a fire. The fire successfully starts and Eld burns the Meganula bodies, which took a while longer than anyone expected. What the Scouts didn't expect was that the Meganula bodies were actually cooking rather than reducing to ash and began emitting a smell that caught everyone's attention.

"Wow, I didn't think they smell so much like meat after being lit on fire like that," Sasha said while drooling.

Jean felt disgusted, "I really hope you don't start eating them. It's not like they're cattle or anything like that."

"But it smells so good ! Maybe we should get a taste !"

Levi approaches the recruits wearing a white cloth like a mask and tells them all, "No one is getting near those bugs. You're all getting cleaned up this instant before proceeding with further orders and no one gets breakfast until the smell of blood is nonexistent from your clothes."

The recruits follow Levi's orders and excessively clean themselves and their clothes within the main building, which went quicker than expected due to Levi's methods. While some of the recruits were still cleaning themselves, Eren makes his way back outside and sits on a bench next to a tree. As he was peacefully relaxing under the shade, one of the Mutants sneaks up to him and tries to look for the key around his body. Once she sees it hanging on his neck, the Mutant reaches her hand out to grab it until she senses that someone is coming and withdraws her hand. Mikasa and Armin arrive and sit next to Eren, forcing the Mutant soldier to retreat for the time being.

As the three friends reminisce about good times, Ymir unexpectedly walks up to them with Historia standing by her side. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin all stood up and wondered what they wanted.

"Hey, Eren. You mind if I talk with you for a bit ?" Ymir asks.

"Uh…sure," Eren replied as he got up from the bench and they both left Historia, Mikasa, and Armin by themselves.

Eren and Ymir walk around until they are isolated and Ymir turns to him before saying, "Can you promise me something, Eren ?"

"That depends. Why are you asking me ?"

Ymir sighs, "I'm…considering taking your place and turning myself in to the Military Police."

Eren becomes shocked and tries to protest against her, but she stops him, "Before you say anything, I've already thought about it last night. I'm sure the Military Police can make an exception."

"Why are you doing this, Ymir ? We barely know each other that much for you to do something like this for me."

"Well, in all honesty, I'm doing this partly for Historia as well. I realized that you're the only Titan Shifter between the two of us that can communicate with Godzilla, who is one of our best chances against what's outside of the Walls right now."

"You know, you can speak to him as well," Eren tries to reason with her, "You can take over for me and speak with Godzilla on my behalf."

"I doubt that. You already have the experience and Godzilla might not even let me talk to him."

"What about my mother ? I still don't even know if they'll release her."

"I'll try to do something about it, but…I will help free your mom."

Eren turns back to see Historia and his friends before turning to Ymir, "You and Historia have always been close together. You're really gonna leave her behind ?"

Ymir pauses before continuing, "This is my choice. I want her to be safe and I know that you're the only one that can ensure her safety, which is why I'm trusting you with her."

Eren walks away and tells her, "You're not gonna replace me, Ymir. And I'm not going to be sent away. We can do something about this and we can all stay here with everyone."

"You really believe that ?"

"I do and there's no way in hell I'm gonna stand around and do nothing."

Eren angrily leaves while Ymir stands alone as she was a bit surprised at his response. However, she believes that Eren would have no choice to comply so she returns to her chores and waits. Eren walks back to the main building with Mikasa, Armin, and even Historia. As Mikasa and Armin walk at a faster pace, Eren looks behind to see Historia barely catching up. She shows a dejected look while her head was down, causing Eren to believe that Ymir's plan must have left her sad. Eren slows down and walks alongside Historia, who notices him besides her and decides to know what happened in his conversation with Ymir.

"What did you think about Ymir taking your place ? Does it make you happy that you and your mom can be free while she suffers ?" Historia asks scornfully.

"It's a horrible idea," Eren answers honestly, surprising Historia, "Even if it means my mom and I will be free, I can't wish whatever kind of suffering the Military Police will perform on anyone."

"Even if you say that, Ymir won't change her mind. She's set on trying to protect me however she can, but it…it doesn't mean she has to sacrifice herself to do it."

"You're the only one she'll listen to, Kris…I mean, Historia. Tell her what you really want."

"I…I can't…" Historia confesses, "I…want to respect her decision. I don't wish to force her into doing something she doesn't want to do, but I also want to be able to save her."

Historia stops walking as she becomes even more distressed, causing Eren to stay and comfort her.

She continues, "I don't know what I would do without her, Eren, but it seems like she can do fine without me. Am I just holding her back ? Is she so willing to die for my safety that she doesn't believe that I can handle myself ?!"

Eren would try and calm her down, but instead, he just allows Historia to get her emotions out. Historia breathes heavily before soothing herself.

She then becomes embarrassed and tells Eren, "I'm sorry. I know I'm not the same girl that I used to be. You could say that the Krista everyone knows is no longer present. Looks like you all will have to deal with the real me."

"Well, I actually prefer you like this," Eren admits to Historia, who was a bit confused.

"Really ? Why's that ?"

"Hmm…I just…always believed that you weren't really legitimate. Everything you did as Krista never felt natural and it kind of annoyed me."

Eren smiles at her and continues, "Seeing you like this. It's nice to know that you're just an ordinary person like everyone else."

Historia felt somewhat happy to hear Eren say something genuine to her. Historia reveals her true self to another person, expecting disappointment from them, but she didn't think that they still accepted her no matter what. She feels more relaxed, knowing that she doesn't have to hide who she is anymore. With this newfound confidence, Historia becomes determined to try and speak with Ymir about what she really wants.

Eren and Historia were unaware that Mikasa was watching them the whole time, causing her to feel a bit jealous. With a pouting expression and her fists clenched, Mikasa squeezes herself between Eren and Historia, making the two soldiers confused about her action. They all walk back to headquarters in an awkward manner while the Mutants watch their target leave.

It gets even worse for the Mutants as Hange, Connie, Mike, and everyone else arrives from their trip to Ragako. With the increased number of people in the area, Eren was harder to reach and the Mutants had no choice but to retreat for the time being. As Hange and the others unpack their supplies, Levi approaches them, noticing that there were injured soldiers.

"What happened over there ? More of those monsters ?" Levi asks Hange.

"Nah, it was actually Titans this time. They ambushed us at Ragako, but the Garrison were there to assist us before we could lose any soldiers. It turns out that the Garrison were rounding them up and hunting them down since last night. Lucky for us since the Titans could've attacked our headquarters and taken us out at any time."

"Odd. You said those monsters had wiped out the Titans since the recent attack."

"Well, looks like I thought wrong. However, the number of Titans that the Garrison reported does match the number of villagers that originated from Ragako. So it seems that my theory…is true."

"Titans really are humans," Levi said as he was slowly filled with guilt of killing all those Titans in the past, widening his eyes at the thought of it, "This whole time, I've actually been killing people."

"You just didn't know it back then," Hange reassures him, "Now you do and our only hope of figuring out a way to revert the Titans back to humans falls to that Historia girl and whatever knowledge she possesses."

"Now that you have your proof, when are you going to tell Erwin about it ?"

"As soon as he gets back from the meeting. Let's just hope that he doesn't have any problems with the council. In the meantime, I should get to work on Metal Man."

"You're really sticking with that name ?" Levi raises a brow.

"I'll come up with something different later. I'll try to make it catchy and significant to his ability."

"Well, I'll be supervising the recruits then. Make sure and call us for help before you do anything stupid," Levi said while walking away.

"I'll be fine. Moblit will be there to do it for me," Hange replies before heading inside the main building of the base.

Levi was still a bit shocked to hear the news and he turns over to see Connie telling the same news to everyone else. Excluding Eren, the recruits all had a more exaggerated expression than Levi did. Some took it well, but others were horrified to the point where they didn't feel like fighting Titans anymore. He can't say that he blames them, but Levi knew that they would eventually have to deal with it or else they'll hesitate and possibly die in a future fight. Levi regroups with his Squad and they all continue their duties until Erwin returns.

---

Within the main building of the Mitras Capital, Miki casually walks through the hallways wearing a Military Police uniform that she stole from a nearby barrack. So far, no one has suspected her and Miki quickly walks around, hoping to find possible details of where the chapel might be. Unfortunately, Miki came up empty handed after searching various rooms for a while, even the ones that were guarded by the MP. Miki sits on a bench in a hallway and rests until she decides to use her powers instead. She surveys the entire building using clairvoyance and tries to find information from people rather than just the files. A group of men within a large room catches her attention and she focuses her powers to hear what they were saying.

One of the men, who was named Aurille, says to the others, "This situation is getting out of hand ! Giant monsters running around and completely decimated most of Ehrmich ! Any further and we'll be the ones ending up in the ground !"

"Calm yourself," another one of the men, Roderich, reassured, "The Military has already dealt with those creatures. We need to focus on trying to get a hold of Eren Jaeger as well as Historia. Rod is getting impatient."

"We're trying to put our plan into motion as quickly as possible !" Aurille remarks before turning to someone else, "Have you already announced to Erwin about pausing all Scout activity, Deltoff ?"

"Of course, I have. Hopefully, they will remain at their headquarters until the Interior Police get there and extract both targets."

The last man, Gerald, informs his allies, "Once the Scouts are dealt with, we still need to conjure a reason for their 'disbanding'. Otherwise, some of the citizens will become suspicious of their sudden disappearance."

"There is a possible alternative," Roderich suggested, "We can disband the Scouts ourselves by saying that it is the will of the people."

"Why, exactly ?"

"We convince the citizens that the Scouts are responsible for the monsters attacking because of their curiosity of the outside world. They bring back the unknown and undiscovered from beyond the Walls, putting our lives in danger. The citizens may support our claim because of these recent events and they will force the Scouts to permanently disband and lower their morale enough to weaken their defenses."

"Hmmm…Not a bad idea. The only problem might be if the Scouts would believe it themselves."

"They will, eventually. They'll be constantly reminded by those who'll believe us."

Miki stops using her powers for a brief moment in order to take in the information that she just learned. She realizes that if the Council manages to get their hands on Eren, then the Mutants will be unable to find him. Another thought that comes to her mind is Carla's disappearance and the reason for it. If Eren resists against the Military Police, then they would use Carla in order to demoralize Eren and convince him to give up. Finally knowing why Carla was captured in the first place, Miki makes it her personal mission to save Carla and prevent her from being used as a hostage. However, she knows that she must make haste.

Just as Miki walks away, she accidentally bumps into Erwin and tumbles onto the floor. Erwin reaches his hand out to her and pulls her back up before apologizing.

"Please excuse me, Miss. I didn't mean to accidentally push you."

"Oh, it's okay. I wasn't paying attention anyway."

"Then, I shall make my way. Apologies for interrupting your duties."

Erwin leaves while Miki goes the opposite direction, but stops when she comes up with a plan. After hearing the Council's plan, Miki realizes that she must try and prevent Eren from getting captured just in case she doesn't make it to Carla in time. With Erwin nearby, Miki decides to convince him to send a message to the Scouts via telepathy. She follows the Survey Corps commander back to his temporary room in the building and watches him close the door. Miki takes a deep breath and heads to the door. Just as she raises her hand to knock, Erwin opens the door and startles her.

"If you're going to tail someone, try to make sure you're out of every line of sight," he tells her while pointing at the reflection from the windows in the hallway.

"I'm not very good at field operations. I'm mostly used for other purposes."

"Did the Council order you to follow me ?"

"Truth be told. I'm not Military Police or any other regiment within the Walls."

Erwin becomes curious and lets her into his room before closing his door, "Who exactly are you ?"

"My name is Miki Saegusa and I have come to warn you of the Council's plan before Eren Jaeger gets into trouble."

Erwin focuses all of his attention on her and listens intently. Miki reveals everything she's heard from the Council's conversation to Erwin, from disbanding the Scouts to using Carla as a means of getting Eren. After Miki finishes explaining, she notices that Erwin was not furious, but smiling.

"Why are you happy about this ?"

"Because…I'm now one step closer to the truth and I must thank you for that."

"So will you send a message to the rest of the Scouts ?"

"Of course, if it means that they can be safe from Military Police. I'll write one this instant so that you can send it."

"Um…I actually have another idea," Miki suggested as she puts her hand in front of Erwin, confusing him, "I know that this is strange, but trust me."

Not seeing any other choice, Erwin did not hesitate to hold her hand. Once Miki makes physical contact with Erwin, she examines his inner thoughts and tries to see the kind of person he was. She sees his history as a very curious child who sought the truth of humanity. Miki witnesses him conversing with his father about a theory of the humans being manipulated by the King and how his father had died. Seeing that Erwin was nothing more than someone who was willing to sacrifice his dream for the sake of others, Miki decides to trust him completely and uses telepathy to reach the Scouts at the castle base.

Levi was currently cleaning his room when it started to collect a small layer of dust. With almost nothing to do, Levi feels a bit bored around the headquarters and decides to head down into the basement to see Hange's progress on Jet Jaguar. As he walks along the hallway, he hears a feminine voice in his head calling out to him.

"Captain Levi ?"

He looked around, wondering who was calling his name. Levi didn't recognize the voice and became wary of it. However, his suspicion quickly vanishes when he starts hearing Erwin's voice.

"Levi ? Can you hear me ?"

"Erwin ? Where the hell are you ?"

"I'm…apparently in your mind. Just for you to be sure, I'm not a hallucination."

Levi pauses for a moment, trying to take in this strange event. It was too real for it to be only his imagination, so he decides to comply with it despite it being a bizarre experience for him.

"The only odd thing right now is that this doesn't really surprise me, Erwin. Talking through minds like this, that's supposed to be Eren and Godzilla's thing. I'm wondering how you're able to do this at all."

"I would like to explain everything if I was not so restricted on time, but I must ask of you to do something for me."

"Tell me."

"I fear that I might not return back to base anytime soon. I need you to evacuate all soldiers at headquarters and retreat to Trost for the time being."

"What's going on ?"

"I received word that the Council has dispatched Military Police personnel to headquarters. They are going to take Eren and Historia, but I fear that the King has sinister plans for them."

"While we hide ourselves from the MP, what are you going to do ?"

"What I have in mind is a big risk, but I hope that it'll be beneficial to humanity. I'm going to attempt to overthrow the Government with the help of the military leaders."

"Overthrow the government ? That is a big risk."

"I know, but we can't afford to lose Eren and Historia to them. Especially when the King and this Rod Reiss person have knowledge about Titans. Who knows what they'll do to them ? I trust you and Hange will lead the Scouts to safety in my place."

"You can count on us, Erwin. We'll have everyone out immediately."

"Until we meet again," Erwin declares before his voice is gone from Levi's mind.

Erwin lets out a deep breath after he feels a slight sting within his head and turns to Miki, "I never would have imagined ever doing something like that in my life. Are there more people with this ability from where you come from ?"

"Unfortunately, I'm the last one left alive. The others…were long gone."

Erwin notices her sad expression and decides not to press her further, believing that they have more important matters to do, "I must thank you for warning me and my regiment, Ms. Saegusa. After we deal with the King and the Government, I would like to propose an offer to you about joining our ranks. I believe you will be beneficial to our goal of finding the truth about the Titans and everything else."

"Well…I must kindly refuse your offer, Commander, but I'm already a part of a group dedicated to finding the truth as well. The thing is, our problem is a lot more complicated than you and everyone else within these Walls can comprehend."

"Then let's hope that our paths cross again. The next time we meet, I expect that your group and the Scouts will be working side by side."

"I really hope so too. It was very nice to meet you," Miki shakes Erwin's hand before departing his room, resuming her search for Carla.

Erwin sits down on a desk and thinks about his encounter with Miki. He was trying to find out Miki's role within the recent events, but the complete strangeness of all the things that have occurred made it difficult for him to decide where Miki belongs. In the end, he believes that Miki could possibly be involved in Jet Jaguar's arrival. Despite the appearance of giant monsters and Jet Jaguar and Titan Shifters, Miki was a more calming presence and a breath of fresh air from all the stress of dealing with everything that has been thrown his way and the Scouts. Instead of lingering on that thought, Erwin redirected his focus on writing a letter to Commander Pixis about his plan of overthrowing the Government. After finishing the letter, Erwin holds onto it and waits for an opportunity to hand it to Pixis. In the meantime, he thinks about the Scouts and wonders about whether Levi will get them to safety in time.

Levi stands in the middle of the hallway, thinking about what to do to help Erwin. Despite still feeling a bit of doubt about whether Erwin's voice was real, Levi took the chance and heeded his words. If the Military Police are after the Scouts, then it may be possible for him and everyone else to create a plan to capture one of the MP soldiers and interrogate them for information. It was a good place to start, but Levi knows that he and the Scouts may be forced to use extreme measures when dealing with potential human threats. He doesn't know how the recruits might deal with it, but hopes that they adapt to it soon.

Reaching the basement when Hange was experimenting on Jet Jaguar with Moblit and her Squad, Levi opens the door and approaches them in a hurried manner. He notices that Hange was pulling some of the wires and trying to cut it with a scalpel.

"Hey, Four Eyes. I need to talk to you about something," Levi tells her.

"What ?" Hange replies as she successfully cuts the wire and instantly feels a shocking sensation that causes her to drop the scalpel and shriek in pain.

"YYYYOOOWWW !"

"Squad Leader ! Are You Okay !" Moblit cries out as Hange begins to laugh hysterically.

"WOW ! WHAT A CRAZZZY REACTION ! LOOK, MOBLIT ! MY HAND IS SHAKING !" Hange shouts as she smiles madly with her mouth agape.

Levi grabs her shoulders and holds her still, "Hey, Hange. Listen to me for a second. It's really important that we pack up our things and get to Trost quickly."

Hange calms down and stares confusingly at Levi, "Huh ? Why ?"

"I got a message from Erwin and the Military Police will be here soon to forcibly take away Eren and Historia. Apparently, it's not gonna be good."

"Where would we even go in Trost ? If we pack up all of our things, we would need to find a place to put our stuff."

"I'm not sure, but the barracks is our only option."

"The place better be big enough to hold our stuff because I really doubt that," Hange says honestly.

"Unless you have a better idea on where to keep our stuff, then I suggest we discuss it while we get the hell out of here," Levi said as he leaves the basement while Hange and her Squad begin packing up their possessions and Jet Jaguar.

Just outside of the barracks, Historia was standing in front of the doorway, staring at Ymir, who was sitting on a tree stump by herself. Historia thought of what Eren told her about telling Ymir what she really wants. Despite having the confidence earlier, Historia begins to feel nervous and hesitates to talk to Ymir. After a few minutes, Historia takes a deep breath and walks over to Ymir, reaching her hand out to her shoulder. However, she stops and decides to withdraw her hand. Historia sighs before walking away, unable to gather the courage to speak to her.

"You got something to say to me ?" Ymir asks Historia, who turns around in surprise.

"Ah…umm…," Historia wasn't able to get her words out and she became too nervous to say anything.

Ymir goes up to Historia and softly places her hands on her shoulders, "What are you stressing yourself about ? You know, you can tell me anything."

Historia calms down a bit and stutters her words to Ymir, "Uh…I-I-I want to…p-p-pro…"

Ymir patiently waits for Historia to finish, but the arrival of Petra interrupts their moment as she orders them both, "Hey, you two. Start packing all of your belongings and head to the wagons immediately."

"What's going on, Ma'am ?" Ymir asks.

"Captain Levi has given us orders to clear out headquarters and make our way to Trost. We have some kind of issue and Commander Erwin won't be returning anytime soon."

"Any idea what the issue is ?"

"I do, and it might be worse than you think. Just finish packing and head to the wagons," Petra said before heading back to the other Scouts.

Ymir turns to Historia and tells her, "When you're ready, you can just tell me what's on your mind later. Let's just get this thing over with."

Ymir leaves with Historia following her lead. Historia felt a bit disappointed that she couldn't say what she wanted, but she was also a bit mad at herself. Once she and Ymir finished clearing their bunks and headed to the wagons with everyone else, Levi and Hange double-checked everything before giving the order to move out. The Scouts, except for Levi and his Squad, made their way to Trost while the Mutants watched the whole thing take place. Levi and his Squad proceed to walk over to a certain distance away from the castle base, waiting as the day comes to an end and night arrives. Just as Levi expected, the Military Police had surrounded the castle base, proving that Erwin's voice in his head was real. Levi and his Squad then leave their positions and head to Trost, ensuring that they are not being followed.

---

Ozaki and the Mutants run across the land, heading towards Wall Rose. Upon reaching the Wall, Ozaki effortlessly jumps past more than half of the Wall's height before kicking his foot into the Wall and pushing himself up even further, reaching the top. The rest of the Mutants followed his lead and they all reached the top of Wall Rose together before advancing towards Trost. Using binoculars, one of the Mutant soldiers searches all around Trost for the Scouts and manages to find them stationed at a local barrack. As the Scouts were unloading, the Mutants tried to discuss various plans to get Eren's key. However, Ozaki manages to spot something troubling to him and one of the Mutants notice his distressed look.

"Hey, Ozaki. Is something wrong ?"

"Yeah, something is definitely wrong," Ozaki said, "We're not the only ones doing a bit of stalking."

On a couple of rooftops away from the barrack, Ozaki finds Kenny and his blond subordinate spying on the Scouts. Knowing how troublesome Kenny was during their first encounter, Ozaki becomes suspicious of what he wants with the Scouts.

"Keep an eye on that guy and let me know if he makes a move," Ozaki said while opening up his communication device and calling Muasaka.

The Mutant leader answers, "Got any updates yet ?"

"Yeah, so far, we suck at extracting a key from a single person," Ozaki quips, "But seriously, I think that there's a possibility that someone might be after Eren and his group. It happens to be the same guy that caught me sneaking around the capital."

"That's definitely troubling. Since he knows who you are, then he might anticipate your return."

"But he won't expect a full squad. I think I have an idea on how to deal with him when the time comes."

"Just make sure that you get everything. The Key, Jet Jaguar, and that's it. Whatever happens after that doesn't need our involvement."

"Got it," Ozaki confirms before ending the call.

"Hey, Ozaki. Those guys are leaving," the Mutant tells him as Ozaki looks back through the binoculars.

Kenny and Caven grapple away with their 3DMGs and retreat into the night. Ozaki and the Mutants then notice a couple of Garrison soldiers coming their way, forcing them to jump off of Wall Rose and into Trost. They all landed safely on the ground before running through the streets.

"You really think those guys will be a threat to us ?" One of the Mutants asks Ozaki.

"Nah, but they'll cause us trouble when we try to get Jet Jaguar and that Key," Ozaki replies, "If they make a move on the Surveillance Corps before we do, then we all better hope that they don't get the jump on us. Now let's find a place to rest for the night."

---

On his way to Facility 4, X became extremely dissatisfied after learning of the Doctor's betrayal. The Xilien soldiers, afraid of facing their leader's wrath, avoided getting near him. X then proceeds to throw a fit and uses his telekinetic powers to grab a soldier and toss him into a wall with great force. The others flinch in their leader's action as he begins ranting.

"After everything I have given him. Entire facilities throughout the galaxy, advanced scientific technology from every known species in the universe, and even different specimens under his control and he…"

X sends a massive shockwave that temporarily disables the ship and continues his rant, "STABS 'ME' IN THE BACK !"

"Um…Sir….we're approaching the Facility," an Xilien soldier says to X, who calms himself down before turning his attention to a holographic image of Facility 4.

The Doctor continues entering the coordinates to Earth while Minilla, Gamera, and the other Kaijus watch him. Excluding Minilla, Gamera and the other Kaijus were skeptical of the Doctor after what they knew about him and the Xiliens.

Gamera growls at Minilla and asks him, "Why are you so trusting of this individual, Lizard ? Are you not aware of all of the atrocities that he and his kind have committed ?"

Minilla argues back, "Not directly. However, he has gone through the trouble of freeing the others and prevented us from hurting each other further."

"Hmm...that explains why I do not recognize you. You were not part of the army yet."

"Army ?"

"These Xiliens have been capturing monsters from different worlds in order to conquer those who have resisted their rule. My creators were one of those very few species that fought back with all of their might, but eventually fell, leaving me alone to fight against the Xiliens."

"How long have you fought them for ?" Minilla asks curiously.

Gamera lets out a big sigh, indicating that he fought the Xiliens for a long time, "I estimate about….several centuries, but my creators fought for longer than that."

"Yet, you somehow survived this long against them ? I must admit that you are a very capable fighter," Minilla compliments, but Gamera thought otherwise.

"I wouldn't consider myself a capable fighter, if I hadn't done anything of significance yet. I fought and fought for years, yet I've never been able to deal a serious amount of damage until now. The monsters they've accumulated over time continue to grow stronger while I am alone with no support from any being."

"Support ? Do you not consider us to be support ?" Anguirus says as Minilla and Gamera turn towards him and the others, "Now that we are freed from their control, would it not be better for us to fight along your side ?"

King Caesar adds, "The Xiliens have utilized us for years, causing us to bring harm to the living beings of the universe. We remember every second of it and it is something that I do not wish to happen again."

"I, for one, despise the idea of classifying us as the weaker creatures of their army," Rodan stated, "If we had control of our minds and bodies, we would have proven our true strength."

With Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar deciding to fight alongside Gamera, Minilla has doubts of his own. He has seen his predecessor in battle against the Xiliens' strongest monsters and fears that their teamwork would not be enough to deal against them. However, his desire to protect humanity convinces to join the Kaijus in their fight against the Xiliens.

Moments later, the Doctor and the Kaijus could hear the sound of the Xilien transport ship approaching the facility. The Doctor, realizing that he was out of time, decides to enter a random coordinate on Earth rather than the specific location he wanted before activating the Facility's thrusters. The Facility shakes a bit before slowly moving in a certain direction while the Doctor heads back to the destroyed transport ship he arrived in, hoping to give the Kaijus time to escape. As Minilla appreciates the Doctor's selfless act, Gamera and the others were confused, yet thankful for his actions. The Facility begins picking up speed and the Xiliens try to chase them down, only for the Doctor to crash his ship into theirs. In mere minutes, the Facility containing the four Kaijus was gone in a blink of an eye and the two transport ships were stuck in space.

The Doctor, laying on the floor of the ship after the impact, watches as several Xilien soldiers appear and take him onto the other ship. X waits within the main chamber as the soldiers bring in the Doctor and toss him in front of the Controller. X walks over and approaches the Doctor before lending out a hand to him, hoping to deal with the situation calmly, but the Doctor rejects it before getting back up on his own. X then clenches his fist and punches the Doctor in the torso, causing him to fall back down on the ground.

"It hurts me, knowing that I have to resort to this act of violence, old friend," X says to him.

"You're not my friend, X. You only used me for your selfish means," the Doctor responds, which X finds insulting.

"I'm not….your friend ?!" X asks angrily before punching a wall, leaving a large dent in it, "I never saw you as anything else except as an equal ! I never did any of this for my own benefit ! I did it for us, our people ! If anyone here is selfish, it's you ! The one who turned on his own kind !"

"You were the one that did it first. When you killed the previous Controller and took control."

X laughs, "And yet, you didn't stop me. Did you forget that you went along with my plan ? That you had doubts about working with humans just as much as I did ? And might I remind you….that you were the one that came to me for help ?"

The Doctor was silent, knowing that X was right about everything, but argued back, "I've regretted it ever since. I should have just allowed the humans to defeat us. I should have gone the other route."

"Well….if you were to do that, then our people would have perished years ago. Because of you, our people became the first species to achieve eternal life and you were going to throw all of that away...for them ?"

"...Yes. I have witnessed human suffering for nearly two thousand years and I can't bear to handle any more."

X stares unemotionally at the Doctor before getting a weapon from one of the soldiers. He starts up the weapon and aims it at the Doctor's head. The Doctor closes his eyes and accepts his fate, but X purposely misses and fires past him. The Doctor opens his eyes and is surprised that X didn't kill him after learning of his betrayal.

"You really thought I'd kill you without trying to find out your plans first ? You really are tired of eternal life," X snaps his fingers and two soldiers restrain the Doctor, "But I'm afraid you're gonna have to live just a bit longer, old friend."

X signals the soldiers to take the Doctor away and they leave the main room. With the ship damaged, X contacts the Mothership and informs them of the situation. Meanwhile, the soldiers lock the Doctor in a cell until help arrives. Removing his glasses, the Doctor cleans them and puts them back on. With the Kaijus on their way to Earth, the Doctor hopes that someone he knows on Earth can lead them to victory against the Xiliens. The only thing he worries about is whether they still possess the power or if someone else has already taken it. The Doctor sits quietly in his cell as he patiently waits for the moment to escape.