"Petra! Get Eren over the wall and regroup with the corp. Focus on the Armoured Titan." Erwin shouted at her, getting back on his feet.
Levi had already launched himself at the gunman, hurling his blade like a spear. It bounced off the armoured breast pad but gave Levi time to close the gap between them. He got close but had to dodge away when another shooter fired at him.
More than a dozen men and women now surrounded them, all with the same strange equipment the original gunman was wearing.
"Commander!?"
"GO!" he roared, taking off to assist Levi in the fight.
They both turned and kicked their horses onwards. If they could get away from this ambush, Petra could use her gear to carry Eren over the wall. That's even if they could getaway.
"He's over there. After him!"
A squad of shooters chased after them, their unusual 3DM gear allowing them to swing with across the city with one pistol while leaving them free to fire with the other.
Bullets peppered the ground around them, smashing the cobblestone and throwing broken fragments into the air. They made a hard-right turn, only just dodging the next barrage fired at them.
"Idiot! We need him alive, use the tranq."
"I can't get a clear shot. The other one is in the way."
"Fuck it, just bag both of them."
"Petra! What do we do?!" Eren shouted, taking a quick look over his shoulder at the half dozen men pursuing them. He saw a few of them switching out their pistol's barrel and levelling it toward them.
"Get to the wall! I'll carry you ove-UGH!" Petra's clamped a hand over her neck and toppled off her horse like a sack of potatoes.
"PETRA!" Eren pulled back on the reins and brought his hand to his mouth when something hard and sharp impacted against his chest. Dumbfounded, he looked down at the needle sticking through his jacket.
"No..." he choked out, as a burning sensation centred around the needle rapidly spread through his body, sapping all his strength.
Eren slipped off his horse and was unconscious before he even hit the floor.
'If you want to save Mikasa… Armin… All of them… Then you have to learn how to control this power.'
"Wakey wakey, Eren."
"Dad?" Eren slurred out, the memory of his father's last words strangely clear in his foggy mind.
"Ha! I fucking hope not. Don't want no bastards running around…" the voice snorted in derision, and Eren could feel the hot breath against his face. The faint whiff of alcohol made his insides curl.
With great difficulty, Eren's eyes slowly opened. The drugged haze started to dissipate, and he finally saw the person crouched in front of him.
It was the gunman from Hermina, the one who killed the Garrison officer and almost shot Commander Erwin. "There you go, I wasn't sure if you'd been overdosed. Nasty stuff that, bit too much and it can scramble the brain, but just the right amount and it can knock out a horse."
Eren tried to lunge at him, planning on scratching his eyes out with his bare hands. Unfortunately for Eren, the multitude of chains and restraints wrapped around his body had him firmly pinned to the wall.
The man smiled at his helplessness and gave Eren a mocking pat on the head, "Wooh there Titan boy, stop struggling. You don't want to be doing any of that transforming nonsense, now do ya? I mean firstly, you'd just end up crushing yourself down here, but secondly…"
As if on cue, a door opened in the nearly pitch-black room. The quick burst of light it let in allowed Eren to take in his surroundings; it was another cell, but rather than the 'smooth' brick walls of the military prison this one seemed to be dug straight into the earth, the natural stone left exposed and jagged. The open door was the only man-made object in sight.
A woman walked in, pushing a hooded figure forward, causing them to stumble. They struggled to right themselves with the heavy iron manacles tightly secured around their wrists. But before they could, the woman kicked the back of their leg, forcing them to kneel before Eren and the man.
The slight of the slightly bloodied scout jacket they wore caused Eren's heart to sink.
'No… not her as well.'
His captor stood up, brushing some dust off his black trench coat and strutted over to the woman. At the man's nod, she roughly yanks off the hood.
"Mhhgh! Mhgh!" Petra tries to speak, but the gag stuffed in her mouth prevents her from doing so.
"Petra!" At the sight of his teammate being dumped in his cell, Eren immediately abandoned any inkling he had of transforming. He refused to kill someone he cared about just so he could potentially escape, even if that's what the man was banking on.
"Mhhghen!"
"Aw, they're trying to talk to each other, ain't that cute. Caven, help her out."
The woman, Caven, untied Petra's gag and drops it to the floor.
"Bastards! Who the hell are you?! Eren are you alr…" is all she manages to get out before the man grabs her face, forcing her mouth shut.
"Tsk, if you're gonna rude I'm not gonna let you chat. Now listen up, my 'employer' has some questions for you Titan boy, and you're going to answer them." He pulls out a knife from inside his coat, "Normally I would just torture the information out of you, and while your healing abilities would make that very interesting, I don't want you turning titan on me, so we're gonna try something else."
Quick as a flash, the knife slashes against Petra's cheek, carving a straight line from her jaw to underneath her eye.
Petra cried out into his hand, and Eren erupted in a fury, screaming out curses and threats at the man with a vengeance.
He smirked in reply. "If you don't answer the questions; this pretty little thing gets a new scar. You answer with a lie; I'll cut a something off. You keep lying; well, I have some truly fucked up people in my team, so I'm sure we can think of some other ways to make her suffer. Understand?"
At Eren's furious glare, the man frowned and slowly ran the knife once more across Petra's cheek, splitting the flesh like it was an overripe fruit. "You really wanna test me, boy?"
At Petra's pained whimper, Eren tore his gaze away from the psychotic murderer, breaking eye contact and bowed his head slightly in submission.
"Good, at least you're not a complete moron. See Caven, even Titans can be tamed if you use a firm hand." He pulled the knife away and flicked the blood on the blade towards Eren. The specks burnt against his skin like boiling water.
Caven let out a snort, then gestured toward the door. "Of course, Captain. Shall I bring him in, or are you still having fun?"
"Nah, I think they get it now. Go get him."
She exited the cell with a nod, leaving Petra and Eren alone with the man. An oppressive silence filled the cell as the man leaned against one of the stone walls, spinning the still bloody knife between his fingers.
"Ya know," he started, focusing on the spinning knife, "I've killed a lot of people in my time, with a lot of different things. I once killed three men in a bar with only a spoon, but there's nothing quite like getting up close and personal with a knife."
He tossed it up in the air and caught it with practised ease.
"Guns are too quick; just point, shoot, dead. It's boring. You can't savour all the... little emotions; the fear, the desperation, the helplessness. You see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. Most are cowards, but I do wonder what kind of person you two are."
"Who…" Petra coughed, spitting out some of the blood which had dribbled into her mouth, and grimacing at the pain. "Who are you?"
"Well girlie, since the two of us are going to be getting real close soon if Titan boy plays dumb, the name's Kenny, although most people know me simply as 'The Ripper'. A pleasure to meet you."
Petra's blood ran cold, and her heart felt like it was suddenly encased in ice. The Ripper was an infamous serial killer, who's killings were so numerous and widespread that not even the government-controlled newspapers could avoid reporting on. She didn't even know if he was real or just an urban myth, to have killed so many people yet never been caught.
What did this murderer want with them, and where did he get that strange gear? There's no way a criminal like him to get access to a standard set of 3DM gear, let alone whatever he was wearing in Hermina.
Something wasn't adding up here.
"Levi and the corp will come for us. They won't stop until they find us." She hoped she sounded braver than she felt, but the slight waver in her voice didn't fool anyone.
Kenny's laughter echoed through the barren cell, bouncing off the walls and assaulting them from every direction. "You think Levi would come for you? You his side piece or something?" he seemed genuinely amused at the notion.
"I taught that little runt everything he knows, so he knows better than to piss me off. Oh, from that dumb look on your face I see he never told you about me. Well, that's just plain rude; you raise a little brat, and he doesn't even tell his girlfriend about you. What's this world coming to…" He span the knife once more, chuckling to himself as he did so.
That confession stunned both of them; this killer raised Levi? That couldn't be right, Levi might be stubborn and rude, but he was nothing like this sick, twisted man.
But a treacherous voice in Petra's head reminded her than in all the years she had known Levi he hadn't once mentioned his childhood, or anything before he joined the scouts.
And she couldn't deny that Levi had a darker side that he often kept hidden behind his nonchalant attitude; a pool of anger and fury which roiled deep inside him.
Could Kenny be telling the truth?
"You know Captain Levi?" Eren couldn't stop himself from asking.
"He's a Captain now is he? If you told me that when I first met the runt, I would have laughed in your face, then slit your throat for bullshitting me. Funny story really; there I was in this real scummy brothel, visiting someone important and you know what I find in that room? That little bastard, half-starved and knocking on death's door." Kenny snorted, "Humanity's strongest soldier. Give me a break, he only survived because he's an Ack…"
The rest of Kenny's story was cut off by the cell door opening and someone new stepping in.
However, unlike Kenny in his black trench coat and bowler hat, this man was wearing an expensive three-piece suit, a large top hat. His slightly protruding belly screamed non-military for even in the MPs such physically laxity was not permitted.
As he stepped closed Eren nodded he was nearly a whole head shorter than Kenny, barely coming up to the man's shoulders. From a quick look, Eren believed this new person to be even shorter than Armin, perhaps even Krista.
Peculiarly, he wore a single black leather glove on his right hand, the last two fingers curled inwards, out of sight.
The man walked past Petra and Kenny without a second glance, his attention solely focused on the pinned titan shifter. He came to a stop in front of Eren, staring down at him intently as if he was searching for something in the boy's face.
Whatever it was he was searching for he didn't find, as the corners of his mouth twisted into a frown.
"Is this the one? He doesn't look anything like him." He spoke sharply, tearing his piercing gaze away to look at Kenny. The man's voice took Eren by surprise, his upper-class accent and fancy clothes screamed Sina nobility.
Who was he, and what did he want?
"You know of any other Titans within the scouts?" was Kenny's sarcastic reply.
If the man was offended or annoyed at this behaviour, he didn't show it. Instead, he turned back to Eren and took a step closer.
"You are Eren Yeager. The only child of Grisha and Carla Yeager, born 14 years ago in Shiganshina." It wasn't a question.
"Who the hell are you?" Eren spat at the man's feet, somewhat creeped out but still furious at what Kenny had done to Petra.
The man carried on as if Eren had never spoken. "Four years ago, on the day Wall Maria was breached my family was attacked. Using the power of the Titans, a single man wiped out my family. My three daughters, two sons and my wife. Devoured and crushed under hand and foot, while I could do nought but watch."
"But then, not content with his butchery of innocent children, he stole a great power that has been in my family for generations."
"I searched, for years, to discover that man's identity, but all I had to go on was his face and a claim to have come from beyond the walls. My search only led from one dead end to another, and I began to lose hope. But then you appeared in Trost, also wielding the power of a Titan."
"I looked into you, and your family, and do you know what I found? Buried in the military archives, there was a single report, written 17 years ago, listing the discovery of a man outside Wall Maria. A man who claimed to have lost all of his memories, except for his name."
His hands, both gloved and free, curled into fists.
"Grisha Yeager, your father."
"W…what?" Eren stammered out. How was that possible? His father was a doctor, not a killer. And surely, he would have said something if he had come from outside the walls.
The man continued, yet again ignoring Eren's question. "And then it all made sense, I realised it was all linked. Your father infiltrated the walls, murdered my family and stole the power of the founder before he must have passed it down to you. Perhaps he wished for you to use its abilities, or maybe his tenure was up, but his treasonous plot was all for nothing, as only someone of my bloodline can use its immense power."
Had the man not had his back to Kenny, he might have seen the killer look up sharply, with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. He didn't look happy to hear that.
"Your father may be dead, and his plot at an end, but I know he was working with at least two other people. Several months ago, they attacked me and…" his gloved fist seemed to tighten even further, the leather stretching nearly to breaking point. "And they stole something else from me. I want their names now!"
Eren's mind was reeling at this bombardment of information. None of it made sense; His father was a shifter, and what did the man mean by tenure? What the hell was a 'founder' and who were these 'others'?
"What are you on about? What other people?!" Eren snarled at the man. Had they really been kidnapped by some rich arsehole noble who was clearly fucking insane? He and Petra were needed by the corp to stop the Armoured Titan, not sit here and listen to this lunatic.
"You believe they will come to your aid, and rescue you? Your loyalty to them is misplaced, boy. No one will find you here." The noble bit out.
Patience at an end, Eren snapped at the man. "Listen to me you moron, we don't have time for your shitty tales. The Armoured Titan is roaming about inside Wall Rose, and I am the only one who can stop it! Let us go right now, or humanity might lose Rose!"
The man shared a quick look with Kenny. While the serial killer still looked annoyed from earlier, he raised an eyebrow and gave the smallest shrug to the man's unspoken question.
"The Armoured Titan and Wall Rose are of no concern to me; both will be dealt with later. But if you wish to keep their identities hidden from me, then so be it. Your friend shall suffer for your stubbornness, Kenny?" the man waved with his exposed hand, locking eye contact with Eren.
Petra yelled out as Kenny slammed her down on the ground and knelt on her back. She tried to struggle and kick out, but Kenny pressed one hand over the side of her head and forced it against the hard stone.
Her yells turned to screams as Kenny started cutting into her face once more, moving the blade as if it was a pencil on paper. He wasn't just slicing her cheek anymore; he was carving something into it.
"NO! STOP IT!" Eren cried out, trying to fight against the chains holding him as Petra's tortured screams echoed in his ears. They were secured so tightly against the wall he could barely move an inch, only bruising himself as the chains dug into his flesh.
"Give me their names!" the man shouted back, wincing slightly at how loud the screams were in this small room.
"I DON'T KNOW, HE DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING!"
"He passed the greatest power in history onto you, and you expect me to believe he told you nothing?" he scoffed but lifted his hand once more.
The screaming abrupted stopped, as Kenny grabbed Petra by the hair and forced her back up onto her knees. He twisted her head, presenting Eren with her gory cheek, blood pouring from the crude KE and half an N he had etched into it.
The tears of pain that escaped Petra's eyes mixed in the blood, as they trailed down her face.
"You know what happens if you lie again, boy." Kenny calmly stated, before savagely yanking Petra's head back and forcing her to look up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Left or right ear, scout; Which do you prefer?"
"No, don't!" Eren begged the men, his throat raw from the shouting. "Please… he didn't tell me anything. He just… Fuck, I don't know what he did, but he gave me this power and I never saw him again. I barely remember anything of that night!"
The portly man cut off Kenny's reply. "Tell me the last thing you remember about your father, usurper."
"It was just him in a forest. He didn't mention anyone, he just kept telling me I needed to control this power. That's all, I swear."
"That's all you remember? Well, I suppose memory loss during the transfer is common." He mused out loud before his expression morphed into a hard glare. He tore the glove off, revealing a mutilated hand; completely missing both the little and ring finger and the top of his middle. Each looked as if it had been sliced off.
"Well, I can fix that. Let me show you your father's sins." He spat out before jabbing a single finger against Eren's forehead.
Petra watched, horrified, as Eren's body started to twitch and spasm, then jerk against the restraints. The movements became so violent small wisps of steam began to appear from where the metal ground against his skin.
"Stop it!" she yelled; the agony from her facial injury momentarily forgotten. "You're hurting him."
The man ignored her and pressed harder as if he was trying to poke a hole straight into Eren's brain. The choking sounds that escaped through Eren's clenched jaw soon turned into a guttural screaming which filled the cell.
"Leave him alone, you bastard!" Petra tried to surge forward, wanting to tackle the man away from Eren, to stop whatever it was he was doing, but Kenny held her firm. His fingers still gripped her long hair, preventing her from moving, and worse, forcing her to watch.
After a few more torturous seconds, the man yanked his finger away as if he had touched something red hot. As soon as the physical connection was broken Eren fell utterly limp, the deafening screaming giving way to the sounds of his shallow breathing.
Slipping the glove back on, the man brushed down his jacket and looked down his nose at the unresponsive Eren, "Once my wayward daughter is returned, your stolen power shall be returned to its rightful owners, and your father's scheme will have failed. Think about his crimes and accomplices, and know that when you tell me their names, I will ensure your last few days will be more comfortable."
He turned to Petra; lips curled in disgust. "Scout, if I were you, I would make sure the boy reveals their names. If he doesn't, you will suffer for it as well."
She glared back, eyes still burning from the pain. She balled up saliva and blood in her mouth and spat it onto the man's shoes.
"Go to hell!"
The reaction was immediate. The noble stepped back, looking repulsed while Kenny, not having released his hold on her hair, gave a solid kick to her back, causing her to fly forward and smacking her head on the floor, robbing her of consciousness.
"Was that necessary Kenny? I had other things I wanted to say."
Kenny looked down at the two unresponsive captives, then to the clump of torn ginger hair still in his hand. "No, but it amused me, and she had heard what she needed to." He brushed the hair from his hand onto the floor, leaving it for her to find when she awakens before turning and exiting the cell, without another word.
The other man gives a tired sigh and with one backward glance to Eren, follows Kenny out of the cell.
Petra didn't know how long she had been unconscious for, but when her she woke up Kenny and the unknown man were gone, and the burning agony of her face had dulled to a merely painful throbbing. Reluctantly, she traced her fingers over the injury, feeling what felt vaguely like letters that had been cut into her face.
When she pulled her fingers away, she saw they were caked in blood. If it hadn't dried by now, she can't have been out too long. The top of her head also hurt, but when probing at that injury, she found it was too tender to even brush against. It felt like a whole chunk of her hair had been ripped out of her scalp.
That idea was proven right when she noticed a lock of her hair laying behind her. 'Bastard.' she thought bitterly.
She looked over to Eren who was still lying limp in his chains, the slight rise and fall of his chest the only sign of life. With her head still spinning from the heavy blow, she crawled forward, slowing pushing herself to her knees in front of him.
"Eren, are you alright? Look at me."
When he didn't respond, she reached for his chin and after hesitating for a moment, tilted his head up.
His usually bright green eyes were dull and unfocused, but that wasn't what stole the breath from Petra's lungs. It was the nine brilliant white streaks radiating out of his dilated pupil, that moved and pulsated like a heartbeat. The streaks momentarily flared when she touched him but quickly died back down.
She was strangely entranced by the lights, she couldn't explain it, but it felt as if there was a strange connection between those lines and her very soul.
"It hurts." Petra nearly jumps out of her skin at whispered words. She had been so captivated by white streaks she had almost forgotten her intention to make sure Eren was alright. His voice sounded completely different from its normal tone; It was strained and sounded older, much older.
She shuffles closer and cradles his head, not sure of what was happening to him, or what they should do now. They were trained to fight titans, not people. They didn't need to resist torture or how to escape captivity, but now they were facing both.
"They'll come for us, Eren. I know they will." She murmurs aloud, not sure if she's trying to reassure Eren or herself. "We just have to stay strong."
Many days Later
For what felt like the thousandth time Petra ran a finger over the scratched lines on the wall.
With no natural light in the cell, constant beatings and random interrogations, they had long since lost track of time. The hours and days merged together in a blur of pain, hunger and suffering.
Food had become a rarity for them now, a single plate of mouldy scraps was the only thing they had eaten since they got here. Both of them were starting to waste away as their captors held them on the verge of starvation. Every day it became harder to stay awake and active as their bodies started to run dry of energy and were beginning to breakdown muscle and fat to survive. Sometimes even moving from one side of the cell to the other could be exhausting.
Their clothes were filthy, and the stench of stale blood, sweat and bile clung to them like a disease. Petra wasn't even wearing her own shirt anymore, one of the guards had taken it, claiming it needed to be washed clean of the blood, but then 'forgot' to bring it back, leaving only her midriff scout jacket behind to cover herself.
Eren had given her his shirt, leaving him wearing only his jacket but denying the guards the opportunity to perv on her. She was incredibly grateful for that, being able to maintain at least some level of dignity in this hellhole meant more to her than she cared to admit.
They had both received a beating for that, but at least they didn't take any more of her clothing.
The only semi-regular occurrence during their captivity was the brackish water the guards forced down their throats to keep them alive, if only just. So that is what she used to keep track of time.
Ten forced drinks, ten scratched lines.
Had that been the number of days since their capture? She didn't know, but it already felt like they had been here for weeks.
At first, she believed that the corp would come for them, that Levi and the Commander would find them.
But with each new line, Petra found herself doubting it more and more. She had no way of knowing if they were even still alive; they could have been killed in that ambush and the corp would have no idea they had been kidnapped.
Hell, she didn't even know if the corp was still alive. Without Eren what hope did they have against the Armoured Titan? Blades are mostly useless against that thing so unless the female titan appeared again, there wasn't much the scouts could do. Especially if the Commander and Levi were gone.
With difficulty, she pushed those dark thoughts away and glanced over her shoulder at Eren, who was once again pinned to the wall. At least she could move about the cell at will with only her hands restrained, but the guards took some sick pleasure in forcing Eren to stay in that squatted position for hours on end with a metal gag stuck in his mouth.
Between the hunger, abuse and whatever that fat man had done to him, Petra could see that Eren was staring to break too. He had lost weight and frequently drifted between bouts of severe anxiety and depression to times when he's almost catatonic. He was more lucid when the gag was removed, and they could speak normally but would close in on himself whenever she brought up his father or what the man had said.
Neither of them could take much more of this, and it didn't look like help was coming. But there was a single ray of hope in the darkness; at first, there had always been two guards they entered the cell, even if one just leaned against the wall and laughed as the other beat or whipped them, but recently there was only one.
Maybe Kenny believed they were too weak to give a single guard trouble, and in truth they probably were, but if they took them by surprise… Well, they might just have a chance.
Weaken by the lack of food and her numerous infected injuries, primarily the vicious scarring on her cheek, Petra stumbles towards Eren and slumps down beside him. She fought the urge to lean against him and sleep, as they so often did when sitting in this position to share body heat in the frigid cell.
"Eren," she spoke to him in a hushed tone, barely audible even from a few inches away.
They had learnt early on that the thick wooden door to their cell wasn't soundproof. If they spoke too loudly the guard would overhear, and report what they said to Kenny.
Her ribs still hurt from the kicking she received the first time she mentioned the word 'escape' out loud.
"I don't know if the corp is coming for us, but we can't stay here much longer. I have a plan, but it's incredibly risky. There's a chance we won't make it."
Risky would be an understatement and calling it a plan was exceptionally generous. But in Petra's mind, it was better than wasting away in a dungeon, waiting for rescue which may never arrive. She would rather die trying to escape than live as a broken prisoner.
She whispered the plan into Eren's ear, and after a long piercing stare, he nodded.
Unlike some people, Errol Foster loved his job as a soldier of the 1st Interior Squad.
He loved the power it gave him, to act above the law with impunity. He loved the money and the top of the line equipment they received. In his twisted mind, he was practically royalty compared to the rest of humanity, and he wouldn't change that for the world.
Sure, the captain was a psychotic serial killer who had killed hundreds of people. And yes, sometimes he got stuck with the boring jobs, like having to guard and 'take care' of some prisoners, but he always made the best of it.
The first few days of a new prisoner is always the most fun, they struggle and fight back, believing that through sheer grit and defiance they can survive. But after a few days of limited food and water and frequent beatings, they start to learn that acting up will only lead to more suffering.
That's the stage when things start to get boring. Eventually, prisoners stop fighting back and start doing as they're told, when they're told. But Errol was an imaginative man, he found other ways to keep things interesting.
He had limited the amount of food they got since they arrived, so they would be weak and starving by now. He had kept a prisoner without food for much longer before, but with two prisoners, it opened up new avenues of amusement.
Picking up some mouldy bread, he tore it in half and threw the larger piece away. Only one of them would be eating today; maybe he'd make them fight over it or just force one to watch the other eat. A cruel smile appeared on his face as he pictured all the different ways he could torment them.
"I love my job." He mentally patted himself on the back for joining up with the interior squad.
The pistol fitted snuggly in his hand would surely be enough to stop either prisoner from doing something stupid.
It takes a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the cell when he unlocks the door and steps in. The titan brat was still where he left him, pinned to the wall. But rather than the empty look he usually had, the boy was struggling against the chains and trying to speak around his metal gag, all while pointedly staring at the other prisoner.
She was lying face down, unmoving on the dirty stone floor.
He looks upon the women, taking in the curves of her body as she laid there. It was a shame really, she was undoubtedly attractive, even with the mark Kenny left on her, but Errol knew they couldn't keep her. Once the brat was gone, she would no longer be of use to them.
Yet until that day came, she had to be kept alive and not too badly hurt.
Lazily, he strolled over and poked her with his foot, "Wake up sweetheart, it's dinner time."
She didn't respond.
"Oi, didn't you hear me? You wanna eat or what?" he gave her a firm kick, wondering if she was sleeping.
Again, there was no reaction.
He felt a small spark of fear in his belly. Captain Ackerman had wanted them docile and broken, not dead. She was needed to keep the boy compliant, and if she died under his watch, Kenny would kill him.
'Oh shit.'
He knelt down, grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around. "I swear to God, if you're fucking me around, neither of you are eating." Is what Errol wanted to say, but what he actually managed was "I swear to Go…", before the 'unconscious' woman suddenly exploded into life.
Using her manacles as a club, Petra swung her arm around smashing the solid lump of iron across the guard's face, breaking his jaw with a sickening crack. The man falls back, trying to scream through his shattered mouth and broken teeth. He wildly kicks out, catching Petra in the chest and fumbles for the pistol which had been knocked out of his hand.
Just as his fingers brush against the handle, it's kicked away clattering across the floor. Eren can't do much in his pinned position, but he could just about reach the gun with his leg. After this singular effort, all he could do now was watch as Petra jumps on top of the man and raises the bloody manacle above her head.
Errol gives a choked cry through a mouthful of blood, a desperate plea for mercy from a woman he spent the last few days torturing. A mercy he did not deserve and would not receive.
The last thing Errol ever sees is a half-starved Petra bringing the heavy, blood-splattered manacle down on his skull with all the strength she could muster.
For the first time since her internment, Petra was glad that there was no food in her stomach, as it roiled and twisted. The sudden burst of activity and adrenaline had been almost too much for her battered body to handle, especially with the hard kick she caught to the chest.
Feeling something hot and foul rise up her throat, Petra squeezes her eyes shut and turns her head towards the door. The initial wave of sick was solely bile and acid, for any traces of food from her last meal had long since been digested. Although her shrivelled stomach may have been emptied by that first wave, it doesn't stop her body from going through painful dry heaving, as it tries to expel fluid it simply doesn't have.
When the last raw contraction mercifully passes, she wipes a shaking hand across her mouth and turns back to the still guard, finally opening her eyes.
She immediately regretted that decision.
His face had been caved in, his skull not strong enough to resist the force of the blow and the hard stone beneath it. His fingers were still minutely twitching, his ruined brain still trying to send signals down his nervous system, as it fruitless tried to bring life back to a dying body.
Fighting back the urge to throw up again, Petra started to search his body for the keys to their restraints, trying to avoid the blood to little avail. By the time she pulled out the ring of keys and a knife from his inner pockets, her hands had become soaked in blood and other gory matter.
Slumping off the body, she fiddles with the keyring for few moments trying to find the right one. It takes several attempts to find the small silvery key which fitted into the keyhole of her handcuffs. They fall off with a definitive clank against the floor, freeing her hands for the first time since her capture.
She rubs at her raw wrists for a few moments, scratching at the painful abrasions from the endless rubbing of metal on flesh, before moving over to Eren.
It took several minutes to free Eren from his bindings. Several agonisingly slow minutes as her shaking hands, both from psychical exhaustion at the burst of activity and mental anguish at what she had just done, struggled to unlock the many restraints pinning her squad member down.
When the last chain finally gave way Eren collapsed onto his knees, no longer forced to remain in that squatted position he had been trapped in. He tears the gag from his mouth and throws it across the cell.
"Ahh fuck." He spits out, punching the floor as the muscle cramps became too much even for his high pain threshold.
Out the corner of his eye, Eren can see Petra still heavily shaking and notices how pale her gaunt face had become. He had been alarmed when she had thrown up, and his concern for his squadmate was growing by the second. The only other time he had seen her like this was after the failed expedition and the death of her three friends.
"Petra," he asks, "what's wrong?".
"I… I thought the first blow would knock him out. I didn't want to… do that." Her voice is so quiet Eren barely hears it. She stares dead at the wall, refusing to look at the dead guard in the middle of the cell, the pool of blood steadily growing around his ruined head.
Eren regards the body, recognising the guard as one of the particularly cruel ones. He was constantly trying to play them off against each other, making them choose who got beaten up while the other was left 'unharmed'. Eren felt nothing but pure hatred for the man and only regretted not being able to kill the bastard himself.
"If you hadn't, he would have killed you." He grunted out, rubbed his legs as to try and get the blood circulating again.
Petra flinched at Eren's statement. "I know that, but… all my life I believed that soldiers like us served humanity and protected people. How can I call myself a soldier if I've killed someone, Eren?"
"People like him are worse than titans, they choose to be a monster; to be evil and cruel." Now that the tingling sensation in his legs had subsided, Eren stood up and offer Petra his hand.
"Both of us have put down monsters for the betterment of humanity, both titans and humans. We have to; otherwise they would simply go on to hurt others, who might not be able to fight back. That's why you can call yourself a soldier, Petra."
Petra looked up at the shifter; mouth slightly agape. She accepted his offered hand, rising to her feet with Eren's support. "You… you've killed someone as well?"
He nodded. "It was the day I met Mikasa. My father was a doctor and one day he took me with him to meet Mikasa's family, he thought I needed some other friends my age. But when we arrived, we found the bodies of her Mum and Dad." He felt a surge of anger rise within him, as he thought about that day.
"Three scumbags had broken in, killed them and kidnapped Mikasa. Dad told me to stay there while he went to summon the MPs, but even then, I knew those corrupt bastards would take too long to arrive, so I went looking for the murderers myself."
"I found them hiding in an old, abandoned house. They were planning on selling Mikasa into slavery because she's half Asian and not fully Eldian like us. I killed two of the slavers, and Mikasa got the other one. They were monsters, like him. We've both done the world a favour." Eren pointed at the dead guard.
As Petra digested this new information about her teammate, Eren had collected the pistol from across the cell. He held it up, inspecting the small single-shot weapon, trying out its weight.
He had only used a rifle a handful of times during his cadet training but assumed it works in much the same way. Deep breath, point, aim then pull the trigger.
He hoped he wouldn't have to use it after all one bullet won't do much, but having it certainly wouldn't hurt their chances of escape.
"What's an 'Eldian'?" Petra's voice draws his attention away from the gun.
"What?"
"You said the slavers wanted Mikasa because she wasn't fully 'Eldian' like us. What does that mean?"
"It means…" Eren starts before stopping abruptly, his mouth closing with an audible click. He racked his brain for the meaning behind the word but came up empty.
"I… I don't know."
He rubbed his arm, fearing he had started to lose his mind. His mouth was bone dry when he finally confessing something he had kept hidden from Petra, in fear she would think him mad.
"Ever since that man touched me, I keep seeing things. Things that don't make sense. I saw Wall Maria, but from the outside, and I saw what he said about my father and his family. There are flashes of other things as well. Places, people, words."
"None of it makes sense, but that was one of the words I kept hearing, over and over again."
He decided not to tell her about the balloon he had 'seen' floating effortlessly in the sky despite being the size of a house. Then she really would definitely think he'd lost it; such a thing simply wasn't possible.
The hand Petra placed on his shoulder pulls him from those disturbing memories.
"Hey, stay with me Eren. Once we're free we'll figure this all out, about your dad and these memories, okay?" she gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"Come on, let's get out of here."
Despite their initial worries, the flight from the cell had been far more straightforward than they anticipated. Peeking his head out the door, Eren had expected to find himself face to face with another guard or even Kenny. But, to his relief, the whole area was abandoned.
They crept out of the cell, locking the door behind them as to hide the body should anyone come to check on him. Crouching low, the two scouts starting sneaking through the vast complex they found themselves in, firmly clasping their weapons.
Flickering wall-mounted torches lit up the corridors they moved down, casting strange twisted shadows on the walls as they passed. More than once they had been spooked by their own shadows having to clamp hands over mouths to muffle gasps, as their frayed nerves started to take its toll on them.
After a few minutes of wandering through the eerily deserted passages, they stumbled upon a spiral staircase, which they eagerly ascended. It was clear they were underground, so any route that led up was a route they wanted to follow. They climbed what felt like several stories before they reached a landing. Just how deep underground were they?
This new level of the complex was just as disturbingly quiet as downstairs, but they forged on none the less. As they moved onwards, they passed several rooms; sleeping quarters, a kitchen and even what looked to be a shooting range. If this was the headquarters for Kenny's gang, then they must have been active for a long time or had a substantial source of income to have such a well-developed facility.
They could occasionally see dull candle lights escaping from under doors, or overheard soft snoring, reminding them that this place wasn't as abandoned as it seemed.
It was only after a few more minutes of directionless wandering that their streak of luck came to an end.
"Wait, stop. I hear something." Eren grabbed Petra's arm, stopping them dead in their tracks. Coming towards them from the darkness ahead of them was the sound of footsteps. Multiple people's footsteps.
'Shit!' Petra's eyes dart around, surveying the area and looking for somewhere to hide from the approaching threat. There were very few options in this open passage; they could quickly retrace their steps through the compound and potentially find another route out, but then they ran the risk of getting even more lost.
For a split-second, she contemplates trying to ambush whoever is approaching but quickly dismisses that idea. Any fight in their current status would be laughably one-sided, and even though they had a pistol, it wasn't exactly a subtle weapon.
That left only one option.
"Come on." She grabbed Eren's hand and pulled him forward. Eren started to protest about them walking towards the noise but stopped when Petra grabbed the handle of a nearby door and barged through it, silently praying the room would be empty.
It wasn't.
"Kenny, unless you've found Historia, I thought I asked not to be disturbed." The noble from their first day of captivity sat at a large oak desk, signing something with his maimed hand. He didn't even look up as the door clicked shut, trapping him in with the two escapees.
When no answer was forthcoming, the man puts down his quill and looks up, only to find himself staring directly down the barrel of Eren's handgun.
"Oh."
"Scream, and you die." Eren pressed the pistol into the fat man's face, fighting the urge to pull the trigger for all the suffering he had inflicted on them, both directly and indirectly.
He had been reluctant to touch the man after the first time, but fortunately, he wasn't bombarded with any more memories when he clamped a hand over the man's mouth. Petra stood to the side of the closed door, a white-knuckled grip on the knife just in case someone walked in.
They could hear the footsteps and the murmur of conversation growing louder as the patrol approached their hiding place.
"…nny going to be pissed."
"Yeah, you know what the Captain thinks about failure. Normon must be shitting himself, especially after last month's fuck up with that merchant."
"Definitely. I'll be surprised if he's still alive and kicking this time tomorrow."
The drone of conversation started to fade away again as the patrol passed the door without issue and carried on down the hallway.
Letting out a breath he didn't realise he was holding, Eren was finally free to turn his attention back to the man and their surroundings. The room was sparsely decorated; a single desk and chair and a small pull-out bed behind it.
The bed was messy and unmade, a sign this man had been staying in this room for some time. Several pairs of shirts and trousers and a single white robe were all laid out on it, ready to be worn when the need arose.
The desk was illuminated by a single candle that had nearly melted down to the base. Next to the man's arm was a large leather bag that bulged out for the amount of paperwork which was stuffed inside. But it was not this that caused Eren's eyes to widen in alarm.
It was the document the man had been signing as they entered.
The Charter of Humanity
Article 7
Amendment B
In the name of His Royal Majesty, King Fritz the Third, Ruler of the three Walls, Rightful sovereign of all Humanity and Defender of the Faith, from this day forth the organisation known as the Survey Corp is to be immediately disbanded as the third arm of Humanity's military.
By Royal Decree, all assets and equipment belonging to the now-defunct organisation will be divided between the remaining arms, and all non-commissioned troops will be dispersed throughout the Garrison into new squads containing no more than two ex-scouts at a time.
All Commissioned officers of the corp, including Captains and Section Commanders, are to be immediately imprisoned pending investigation for their role in violating humanity's Charter.
The Commander of the corp, Erwin Smith, is to be imprisoned, interrogated and then executed for the crimes he has committed, including; Conspiracy against the Crown, Murdering a Garrison Officer, Assisting Eren Yeager in escaping Scout custody and purposefully releasing the Armoured Titan within Wall Rose.
Any scouts who attempt to escape or resist this decree in any way are to be considered thoroughly in league with their Commander's treason and will subsequently share the same fate.
Signed in the best interest of Humanity by the Crown Assembly.
Underneath the document were five titles; Chief Advisor, Archbishop of Mitras, Minister of the Treasury, Minister of Defence and High Chancellor, but only one of these had a signature.
Next to the Chief Advisor was a name, the ink still wet from the man's quill. The neat flicks and elegantly curved letters told of a lifetime of carefully signing official documents like this one. But Eren didn't care about this man's history right now, he only cared what his name was.
The name of the man who had caused all their suffering.
The name of the man who seemed to know more about titans than anyone else.
The name of the man whose family had been wiped out by Eren father and somehow made him see it through his father's eyes.
And now he finally had it.
Rod Reiss.
The name causes Eren's blood to boil until it feels like burning oil is pumping through his veins. This man, this inbred aristocratic fuck, had them tortured for days on end, forcing him to watch Petra being disfigured and beaten all because he wanted revenge for something his father had done. And now he was going after the scouts as a whole.
The Commander, Captain Levi, Hanji, Armin, Mikasa, and everyone else. This man wanted to destroy them too.
Eren pulls his hand away from Rod's mouth and grabs his cropped black hair before slamming the man's head down onto the table, hard.
"Eren!" Petra hissed out, alarmed at the noise the impact had made.
He ignored her exclamation, slamming his head down a second time before snatched up the piece of paper and tossed it towards her. She caught the offending document, and as her eyes trailed across each line what little colour remained in her face drained away.
Just how long had they been here, and what had they missed for the Government to try and disband the corp?
"What the fuck is that about, Reiss?" Eren spat out the name like it was poison, yanking his head back. "Trying to frame the corp for what your men did."
Blood pouring from his re-broken nose, Rod looked up at Eren with fearful eyes.
'Good,' Eren thought spitefully, "You should be afraid, you piece of shit.'
While Eren went about questioning Rod regarding the document, Petra started looking through his bag looking for more information regarding their regiment. The fact the decree mentioned Commander Erwin by name meant he must be still alive at least, and that hopefully meant Levi was too.
It was ironic really that the only good news they had received in all this time, came from something outlining the worst news.
Most of the paper she pulled out was related to Rod's estates and other government documents, which she dumped on the floor, but there was nothing related to the corp. She dug deeper into the bag until she grabbed something that wasn't paperwork.
When she pulled out a small glass bottle and a metal case Rod went deathly pale and lunged toward her, uncaring of the pistol held against his head. He was wildly swinging his arms, trying to snatch the objects away when Eren slammed him down on the table once more.
"Don't move you piece of shit." Eren growled out before looking at the two objects Petra held. "What's that?"
Ignoring the struggling Rod, she held the sealed bottle up to the candlelight, witnessing a viscous blue liquid sloshing about inside. "It's some kind of liquid. It's blue."
She turned it over and read the brown paper label. Only part of the text was legible to her, the rest was filled with symbols and markings she had never seen before. Was it another language?
"The label says 'Armour'. I can't read the rest."
"And that?" Eren nodded toward the case, leaning more heavily on Rod as to prevent further struggling.
After placing the small bottle into her jacket pocket, she unclipped the metal case and gently lifted the lid. Inside was another sealed container with the same bluish liquid, this time labelled 'Strongest', along with a large syringe and needle.
Petra furrowed her brow in confusion. It was clearly an injection for the blue liquid, but what did it do? And what do the labels mean?
"It's another bottle, but this one has a syringe."
They looked at each other, both wondering what this stuff was and why it had caused Rod to wildly throw himself at Petra. Surely, he must have known it wouldn't work, so what caused him to try something so recklessly stupid?
"What is that stuff?" Eren demanded, pressing the gun into the back of Rod's head and gesturing toward Rod's mutilated hand. "My father's friends did that to your hand, right? Well if you don't talk, I'll finish the job!"
After a tense few seconds, Rod relented. "God." He whispered, almost reverently. "It's the power to bring back a God."
"You want to lose more fingers, Reiss? Stop speaking in riddles."
"This mission is my destiny. I will ensure my daughter takes the founder from your body and is reborn as a God. You are nothing compared to what she will become."
Eren went to smack the pistol over Rod's head when Petra stopped him.
"Leave it Eren. He's clearly mad." Having finished looking through the bag and finding little else of interest, Petra abandoned the whole thing on the floor and pocketed the metal case. While Rod's mad ramblings about a 'God' wasn't informative at all, it was clear that this stuff wasn't normal and letting him keep it wasn't an option.
"We've already stayed here too long; they'll soon find out we've escaped and will raise the alarm. We have to go."
Rod piped up, realising they were about to leave. "Kenny and two dozen men stand between here and the exit. You'll never get past them, traitors!"
Perhaps the thought of his bodyguards catching them had filled Rod with a misplaced sense of bravery, but all his outburst actually achieved was to assist Petra in deciding what to do with him.
"You're right," she admitted with a shrug. "the two of us probably won't get past all of them."
She grabbed Rod by the collar and hauled him up from the table. Even in her weakened state, she was far stronger than this small arsehole. He audibly gulped when Petra placed her knife against his throat.
"That's why you're coming with us."
"How fucking hard is it to capture one girl?" Flecks of spittle landing on the cowering soldier's face as Kenny the Ripper leaned over him.
Normon Nobyl was beyond scared at this point. He thought he would be ready to face Captain Ackerman's wrath when he arrived from his failed mission, but that idea had fallen to pieces almost immediately. When Kenny saw he had return empty-handed and alone, he wasn't just mad, he was furious.
"Please, Captain, it wasn't my fault. The scouts… they've been using a body double. We've had reports of sightings all over the place, and when my team went after one, they were ambushed and captured."
"They what?" Kenny's razor-sharp reply left the area in deathly quiet, sending a shiver down the spine of everyone who heard it.
"They allowed themselves to be captured alive?" Normon could only nod his head in response, praying that Kenny's rage would be directed at them rather than him.
He would have no such luck.
"Then what the fuck are you doing here? You ain't half the soldier some of your team members were, so either the scouts let you go, which would mean you're probably a traitor, or you ran, which makes you a coward. Which one is it?"
"I…I…" Normon took a step back, wondering if he could make it to the exit.
"I…I…" Kenny repeated in a mocking tone, stepping forward and invading the space Normon had created. "I'm waiting."
"Levi was there." He blurts out, raw fear tearing the truth from his mouth. "He's a monster, there was nothin…" Whatever else he planned on saying would be never be heard, as Kenny quickly pulled out his knife and slashed it across the Normon's throat.
Normon collapsed to the floor, hands clawing at his opened windpipe in a futile effort to stem the bleeding.
Less than 20 seconds later, Normon Nobyl was dead. He died suffocating on his own blood.
"I. Do. Not. Tolerate. Cowards in my squad." Kenny announced to his remain soldiers, who stood as still as statues, not wanting to earn the ire of their psychopathic Captain. They watched as Kenny knelt down and clean his knife with the dead man's shirt before putting it away.
"Well played, Levi." The serial killer grumbled to himself, before drawing himself up to his full height. "I'm getting sick and tired of playing cat and mouse with those titan lovers. Caven, I want you to go pay our two 'guests' a visit and make them sing. Enough with the light touches; rip out their tongues or gouge their eyes out if you want, I don't care. I want to know the location of every hideout and bolthole the scouts have. We're going to smoke those vermin out."
"You two," Kenny pointed at two terrified soldiers before kicking the fresh corpse. "go throw this piece of trash out."
"Captain." Caven warned quickly bring up her two pistols and pointing them down the corridor at the approaching trio.
Using Rod as a human-shield Petra pushed forward toward the large group of heavily armed soldiers, with Eren at her back.
This was it, there was no turning back now.
There was the briefest flicker of surprise on Kenny's face before he cracked a wide grin. "Now this is interesting… how'd you wretches get out?"
He cocked his head to the side, noticing the blood on Petra's hands and sleeves. The smile widened.
"I take it that dumbass Errol is dead then. Well damn, I didn't think you'd have it in you. That your first time? Felt good, didn't it?"
Petra's grip on Rod's collar tightened, the fancy material already stained from the cell guard's blood. "Shut up. You try anything, and I'll cut his throat," she shouted at Kenny, bringing up the knife to show her resolve. "Show us the way out and I'll let him live!"
The serial killer raised a single eyebrow at the demand. He didn't care for Rod one bit, especially after finding out he couldn't take and use the founding titan like he intended initially, but he continued to assist the man only because fighting with the scouts, and more specify Levi, was fun and it was the first time he had been challenged by something in years.
"You really need to work on your hostage-taking skills. It's genuinely not a good idea to kill the only thing keeping you alive. Didn't you learn anything from your time downstairs? Always have a spare."
"Kenny! Stop this and free me!" Rod shouted to his 'protector', hoping he would come to his aid. He was thoroughly ignored by everyone present.
"Hush now Rod. Can't you see the adults are talking?" Kenny said as if speaking to a small child.
Petra pressed the tip of the knife against Rod's neck, drawing forth a small trickle of blood. "He's important enough, especially if you serve him. Enough talk, where's the exit?!"
"Bloody amateurs," Kenny muttered aloud, barely stopping himself from laughing. He was right, this was definitely turning out to be highly amusing. "But you gotta start somewhere I suppose…"
After adjusting his hat with a flourish Kenny moved towards the staircase, pushing aside the soldier blocking it. He stopped on the first step and looked back over his shoulder, "Well, you coming or what? I thought you wanted out."
Neither Petra or Eren actually expected Kenny to help, but from the looks of genuine surprise on his squad's faces, and the sudden burst of struggling from their hostage, there was the smallest chance that for whatever reason he was showing them the way out.
While the whole thing screamed 'trap' they had few options but to follow him. His squad parted as they approached, hands resting on weapons but not drawing them. They fell in behind, keeping a reasonable distance away from Eren and the pistol he was brandishing towards them.
They climbed and walked for several minutes, listening to the offbeat tune Kenny was whistling, and the metallic clanking sound his strange 3DM gear made.
Everyone else was silent apart from Rod who had gone red in the face from his repeated shouting. "KENNY! Have you lost your mind?! I order you to stop this farce and free me! Kenny!"
After walking down a final long corridor, they reached a door which was different than the others. Thick metal struts lined it, crossing over one another as to reinforce the door so it couldn't be easily broken.
In the core of the door was a large metal wheel with a keyhole in the centre. Kenny pulled a key from his pocket and inserted it into the wheel, before grabbing it and turning it with one hand.
The whole door seemed to screech like a banshee as the wheel was twisted around, the heavy lock starting to give way. After a few painfully loud rotations there was a loud click, and Kenny took a step back and leant against the wall beside it.
"There you go, the way out." He rapped his knuckles against the door with a smirk. "I even unlocked it for ya. Go on, your freedom awaits."
"Move out the way," Eren demanded, worried that Kenny might lunge at them when they passed.
Kenny did so with a shrug, sliding along the wall and giving them a wide opening. He was still smirking even as they moved towards it.
With a shaky hand, Petra pulls the door open, bracing herself for the blinding light of the sun. Instead, it was dark, perhaps even darker than it had been inside.
'Is it night-time?' she thinks to herself, taking a step forward into the dark unknown.
It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust but when they do, she looks around with growing horror and dread.
'No…'
Unaware Petra had stopped, Eren bumped into her back nearly knocking her over. "Petra, what…" he span round wondering what had caused her to halt their escape. He sees it immediately and his jaw drops.
They both look around, dumbfounded by what they are seeing. What the hell was this place?
Mocking laughter draws their attention back to the building they had been held in. Kenny was standing in the doorway, arms swung out wide gesturing to the vast cave network around them.
"Welcome to the underground city. The biggest shithole on earth."
He and his squad filled out of the building, standing in a line in front of them. Now their weapons were drawn.
"Tell me," Kenny asked with an insufferable grin "what was the next step in your masterplan? Get outside, turn into a titan then haul ass back to your corp, with him as a hostage?" Rod looked at Kenny with pleading eyes.
That was pretty much their plan, but they could have never anticipated this. They had heard stories of the underground city, but none had done this place justice.
A vast open cavern supported by gargantuan stone columns which twisted into the ceiling like giant fingers. The lights of a thousand candles and small fires illuminated the city, and the natural crystals studded across the cave reflected the light and glistened like stars in the night.
Hastily assembled shacks and brick houses were squeezed together in a desperate attempt to house the vast population of this bizarre metropolitan, forming into clusters of shantytowns each centred around a church spire.
Not even this place had escaped the reach of the wall cult.
There would be nowhere for Eren's titan to escape to or hide, and worst, an enclosed urban area such as this was the perfect environment for 3DM gear.
Taking their similar expression of shock and dismay as a yes, Kenny wiped a fake tear of laughter away.
"Well, this is just a real piece of bad luck for you two, isn't it? Oh well, now it's my turn to make demands. You killed one of my men, and while I don't really care that he's dead, I've got a reputation to uphold. Only I get to kill these fuckers when they fail." He gave a 'friendly' pat on Caven's shoulder.
"Now, let that coward go and get down on your knees right now, and in return, I'll only cut off one of her limbs for this escape attempt." He pointed at Petra with a sadistic smile, "I'll even let you pick which one, to show my admiration at the sheers balls you two had to even try."
"Or you can go ahead and transform, the only way out of this shithole is via the tunnels and a titan won't fit through those. Destroy as much of the city as you'd like, you'd probably be doing the world a favour killing some of the scum that lives here, but once you've exhausted yourself and are no longer able to move, I'll cut you out and drag you both back here. Then, I'll cut off all her limbs and feed them to you one by one, titan boy."
"Your choice."
Both of them knew there was no choice there, there may be no place for them to run or hide, but they had already decided they were never going back in that cell.
They'd rather die.
"Fuck you." Eren spat out and bite down on his hand.
Across the desolate and impoverished city, hundreds of people were momentarily blinded by a flash of light so intense it lit up the entire cavern. For some, it was the closest thing to sunlight they had ever seen.
Blinking away their temporary blindness, the denizens of the underground looked toward the source in stunned disbelief. From the starving poor to the vicious mob bosses, everyone watched the impossible sight of a titan, mankind's greatest enemy, rising up from a wall of steam.
With one hand cupped to its chest, the Rogue Titan threw its head back and roared.