Chapter 3 - The Specimen
"You'll be permitted to use this ODM gear for the assessment. Try not to break it, these things take a while to build." The scout explained as he handed the equipment to the spartan.
"What's the load capacity on this?" Chief asked, examining the flimsy looking gear.
"A hundred fifty kilos maybe, we've never had to test it."
"Thanks for the offer, but I don't need the rest of it." Chief detached the swords from their wires, securing them to the magnetized holter on his back, and returned the rest of the useless equipment. It would take three times the limit to move him. Not possible for now, but modifications could make it work once they salvage the dawn. Chief returned to Erwin who was ready to begin the trial.
"Are you sure a single titan is an adequate measure of skill? It hardly seems difficult."
"Standard military training doesn't include actual titan subjugation. Far too many people die on their first encounter with a titan. It's a far greater feat than you realize. Besides, this assessment is more for the sake of my men than for yours. The scouts singled out an eight meter titan. As soon as the gate closes behind you, the scouts will lead the titan to you and the test will begin." Chief took the wheel of the hog and the gate opened; Chief floored the hog through the gate, kicking up dirt and a cloud of dust as it gained traction. His target was the abandoned village a few hundred meters out, it was the most advantageous location for combat.
Chief parked his hog at the village center and swung around to the gun. He aimed down the center lane as a couple horses began to approach and soon the titan with them. The troop of horses split to the left and right of Chief as he began to unload upon the thundering rounds tore through the titan's leg, bringing it down into a building and burying it in rubble. Chief dismounts from the hog and scales the neighboring building to overlook the rubble. He readies his shotgun as he surveys the thick blanket of dust. A hand shoots out from the smoke and slams down on Chief's position who side steps it cleanly, the impact rumbling the building he's standing on. The titan stands to face Chief at eye level; its eyes had a strange amount of humanity to it, so much emotion for a seemingly mindless creature. The titan lifts its hand and swipes it towards Chief. In a snap, he releases one of the eight gauge shells into the titan hand, the pellets shredding the titans hand into a useless mass. He pivots and shoots another into its face, blinding it. As the titan recoils from the assault, Chief draws one of the swords and leaps towards the titan, plunging the blade into the titan's flesh, his weight dragging him down to the ground. Feet back on the ground, he rips the sword though the titan's good heel and fires another shot into the regenerating one. He prepared to finish the beast off.
Erwin watched the assessment from atop the wall; the man he was watching, barely a spec in the distance, but the effects his action had were impossible to miss against the eight meter titan. He thought he was naive and suicidal to reject the ODM gear, but seeing it now, the worry was unnecessary. In moments, the titan's life would end.
"He's more incredible than I would have thought," Commander Pixis landed behind Erwin and joined him in overseeing the trial. "I regret not offering him a position in the garrison, though given his circumstances, I doubt he would have accepted."
"Indeed, even our most skilled soldiers would be unable to kill a titan larger than 3 meters on foot." A few moments passed before Erwin spoke again. "Do you believe what he said yesterday?"
"Believe what he said? Ha, I hardly even understand what he and his little blue friend said. But, if there's one thing I want to believe, it's that we're not the only humans out there."
A stream of smoke flies up into the air. A black plume fills the air just over the horizon.
"Remind me what black smoke means Erwin."
"An Abnormal, I was naive to think it was too soon for any to make this far. I didn't send anyone capable of dealing with one out there." He commanded a nearby soldier to gather all the scouts in the city and turned back towards Dot. "Can I ask for your assistance in this matter, Pixis."
"If I must, but you owe me a bottle of wine when we return." The two descended the wall and readied their horses.
The titan dissolved beneath Chief, the viscera coating his armor fading with it. He stowed his weapons and turned to return to his vehicle.
"I'm not sure how we'll get around their decomposition. We need to capture one alive if we wish to study them.
"That won't be as simple as you make it sound."
"I'm sure you'll find a way."
The shot rang out a few hundred meters away. Chief locked onto its origin immediately and launched right back into action. He threw the hog into gear and floored it towards the source of distress.
The scouts were fighting for their lives, though fighting was a bit optimistic of a term. They fled as fast as they could, but it wasn't enough. The plains made it impossible to use their gear to escape and those who tried to fight the abnormal were immediately pulled out of the air by their lines. Their horses were their only hope, but even they were being picked off one by one. The hyperactive titan, while small, roughly five meters, was incredibly fast and agile.
A quiet rumble soon came into earshot and gradually grew louder. It wasn't long before the warthog burst over the hill and onto the battlefield. The new target quickly caught the titan's attention, allowing the scouts a brief respite.
"This is quite a unique one, and not too large as well. This may be a good candidate for capture. Why don't we give it a shot?
"You really don't waste time, do you?"
"It's inefficient, we have an opportunity right in front of us. Why waste it? Now let's get to work."
Chief leaped from the hog as the titan pounced on it, the attack causing the vehicle to tumble away. On the ground, Chief analyzed its movements. It was fast for sure, but not fast enough. Based on what it did to the warthog, he'd place its strength on par with a Hunter; Its temperament that of a baserking Brute. In any case, it was a strength gap he could contend with. The titan pivoted and rebounded towards the spartan. He braced for the attack and on impact he grappled the titan's arm, using its momentum against it. Chief was shocked at what he felt; Despite its strength and size, the titan was surprisingly light. He expected to redirect its attack and force it into a tumble. Instead he was able to lift it completely off the ground and over his head, his swing carrying it in a loop and slamming it down into the ground, stunning it momentarily. This made things easier.
Chief adapted his strategy and waited for the titan to recover. Back on all fours, the titan charged once again. It leaped forward just as Chief slid between its legs, grabbing its ankle in the process. The opposing forces yanked it back into the ground again. Chief dragged it against the ground and drew one the swords he had, plunging it straight through the back of its knee, imbedding the sword inside and pinning the leg to the ground. He took the other sword and repeated with the other leg before jumping up onto its back. Positioned around its midsection, he pinpointed his target and drove both his hands into the titan's upper arms taking hold of the bone and tearing it free, severing its left arm and then doing the same to the right. The titan was now immobile for at least the next few minutes and he'd have to do it again.
"Not very elegant, but effective."
"The job's done isn't it?"
"You're correct about that. Now how do we move it?"
Erwin and the remaining scouts arrived on the scene as Chief finished his work. They dismounted their horses and stood speechless before the writhing titan lying beneath the Spartan, bloody steam burning off his armor. Several scouts dropped to their knees dumbstruck while pixis bursted out in amazed laughter. Erwin just continued to stare.
"I think we passed," Cortana concluded.
The next day when word of what had happened reached the scouts' headquarters, the fourth squad leader grew restless. She'd dreamed of something like this for years and now that that moment was almost upon her, she couldn't contain her excitement. She desperately wanted to see not only the capture, but also the mysterious soldier who captured it. Chatter started to erupt outside and she quickly dashed through the halls. Horses and foot soldiers began to flood into the complex, each moment felt like an eternity and soon commander Erwin came through.
"Where is it Erwin?" she ran up and questioned the commander, her speech very exasperated.
"Hange I understand your excitement, but please try to control yourself. You're starting to drool.
She wiped her mouth but pressed on, "That doesn't answer the question."
Erwin sighed before relenting, "Look behind us."
The warthog pulled on through the gate and in tow behind it was the five meter titan chained and staked to the wagon. The squad leader immediately rushed over to be face to face with the titan. It struggled and tried to bite her, but its restraints were far to restricting for any meaningful movement.
"We're going to have a lot of fun together later. I think I'll name you…"
"Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to step away from that thing. It's not exactly standard." Hange turned to face the two meter man.
"So you're the one who captured this beautiful specimen and you're telling me you not only caught a five meter titan, but a five meter abnormal," Hange ran up and got as close to the man's visor as she could, "You need to tell me how you did it."
"Hange!" Erwins shouted at his subordinate, "Control yourself!" He lowered his voice. "You wouldn't want to anger that man."
"Commander, I am only asking a simple question of this mystery man. It shouldn't be that much of a problem."
"I will explain the events of the past two days during our meeting later. For now that soldier deserves some rest, he's done more than enough to earn it." Hange reluctantly halted her advance and Erwin led Chief away. "I apologize for our squad leader's behavior. She can be a bit eccentric, but she's the most knowledgeable on the topic of titans. Considering your friend wants to study them, you'll be working closely with her.
"It's quite alright, I imagine our presence here has caused quite the disturbance. Besides, we're not strangers to crazy." Cortana spoke through the speakers in Chief's helmet.
"That's good to hear, but it's odd hearing you speak without being able to see you." Erwin noted.
"You'll get used to it, it's far from the strangest thing you'll experience going forward," Chief interjected. "Now what do we do from here?"
"We'll offload the titan into the courtyard and nail it down for later study as we wait for the remaining scout leaders to arrive. As for you, you not only completed your trial but far exceeded any of our expectations. You'll be granted rank within the scouts as per our agreement. Once I show you to your quarters, you'll be able to use our facilities as you see fit." Erwin finishes guiding them and leaves the duo to their own devices as they enter their room. It was a simple room with a wardrobe, some wooden furniture, and a cot. Something standard for a peasant class of the time. Chief moved the wooden chair aside and began to lay out his arsenal to take note of supply.
The squad leader arrived back at headquarters to a rather chaotic commotion among the soldiers which blocked the path for the horses. His order to return to base didn't contain much detail on the matter, so seeing the chaos in front of him left him a bit annoyed.
"Alright people get your shit together and make room! I don't have time to deal with a bunch of screaming children!" His order echoed throughout the compound.
"Yes Captain!" The chatter ended as all the soldiers fell in line and made room for the squad coming in.
"You there," the captain pointed towards the nearest scout, "Would you mind explaining to me what this is all about."
"You don't know what happened Captain?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking," the captain spoke in his typical no-nonsense manner.
"Of course," the soldier responded dishelvedly, "A short while ago, the commander returned from Karanese district with a captured titan in tow."
"What!"
"Everyone's still not quite sure what they should do."
"Well the answer is obvious, stop acting like a bunch of headless chickens and get back to work. The matter clearly doesn't concern any of you."
"Yes, Sir!" The soldiers scattered back to their posts as the Captain's squad finished returning their horses. If what the scout said was true, some big changes were about to happen and there'd be a lot more work because of it.
After a few hours Erwin returned to Chief's quarters, who had returned after examining the base's facilities, which unsurprisingly given the time period left a lot to be desired. Erwin led Chief to the meeting room which overlooked the courtyard containing the captured titan. Inside the room sat three people, the woman from earlier as well as two newcomers. A tall scruffy man, although height was relative considering chief dwarfed them all, with dirty blonde hair was on one seat and in the other, a shorter, more well kept man with jet black hair.
"Now that we're all here, let's begin." Erwin took his seat at the head of the table. "As you three have probably seen on your way to this meeting, we have a captured five meter abnormal in our hands, and that man was the one to do it." Erwin points to Chief standing on the other end of the table. "Chief, allow me to introduce you to these three. They are my three best squad leaders, humanities finest soldiers. You've already met Hange, these other two are squad leader Mike," he motioned towards the taller man, "And Captain Levi," he pointed to the other. "Now to begin, yesterday after arriving in Trost as a refugee from wall Maria this man underwent a test to join the survey corps and not only did he succeed, but he did what we thought was impossible. Regardless of whether or not you believe this statement, it does not change the fact that we have a valuable asset in our hands, and we must decide how to proceed."
Hange didn't hesitate to speak up first. "We should start experiments immediately. Given the fall of wall maria we need to learn as much as we can as fast as we can in hopes of reclaiming it."
"Sit down four eyes," Levi cut Hange off before she could spiral out of control, "Sure we may be able to learn a bit more about titans, but what can we learn that will actually help us fight them. Our problem is numbers, there's an endless number of them and only so many of us."
"What about their origins?" Cortana joined in. The three squad leaders went on alert after hearing an unknown woman's voice in the room.
Erwin's usual stoicism falters for a moment as he lets out a small chuckle. "That's right, you three haven't met her yet. Chief, would you like to introduce them to your friend? You three may want to sit back down." Chief removed the chip from his helmet and placed it on the table, the blue girl emerging once more.
"That's better, sorry for startling you three. I forgot you people aren't used to seeing something like me." The three's reactions differed from the rest, Mike looked confused, Levi was on guard and skeptical, while Hange seemed to beam with energy. "I'm the A.I. Cortana. In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly from around here. Commander Erwin can explain it to you later, but for now just know that where we come is far more advanced than your civilization."
"Now that I think about it you arrived in that strange Iron wagon and are wearing that weird armour. I was so focused on the tian, I didn't even realize," Hange recalled.
"In exchange for the support you'll be providing us moving forward, we want to offer our knowledge to help you research titans," Chief switched off.
"What kind of research do you two have in mind?" Erwin re-entered the discussion.
"We want to study their blood."
"And how does titan blood help us?" Levi inquired.
"Your people wouldn't know this," Cortana picked the conversation back up, " but blood can tell us almost everything about a creature. From its evolutionary history to biological strengths and weaknesses. In simple terms we can find out where titans came from and possible ways to kill them outside of traditional combat. If we're lucky we could learn the source of their regeneration and either how to disrupt it or even reverse engineer it."
"And how do you plan to do this?" Erwin took over again.
"We should have something on hand to start off, but we may need some heavier machinery later. If you follow us to the courtyard, we can begin."
Erwin pondered for a moment before answering. "It's an enticing proposition. Do any of you oppose the idea?" He consulted his comrades.
"I'm excited to see what they have in store for us, so no problems here," Hange agreed first.
"If Erwin trusts you then I won't oppose." Levi relented. Mike just turned to Erwin and nodded, having not said a single word during the entire meeting.
"Very well then, let's see what you two can do." Chief recovered Cortana and exited the chamber with the scouts in tow. They exited out to the yard where the titan continued to struggle. As Chief approached the beast, the others kept their distance. A compartment on Chief's left thigh and he removed the trauma pack within it. From the pack, he removed a handheld device and a needle extended out from it.
At the sight of something new and mysterious, hange drew closer intent on inquiring about its function, Cortana took notice and spoke out before she got too nosy. "It's a blood analyzer, under normal circumstances you'd use it to quickly learn a person's blood type for transfusions as well as any genetic conditions to be aware of during medical examination on the field. We're going to use it to get preliminary readings on the titan's blood. It's not the best item for the job, but we should be able to learn its basic composition as well its differences compared to human blood." Chief plunged the needle into the titan's skin which writhed at the sudden invasive action. The devices drew in blood continuously so as to avoid the problem of its decomposition. The machine began to feed out its results.
"That's unexpected," Chief spoke as he read the result.
"Indeed, we may need to rethink the gravity of what we're trying to accomplish."
"What does it say, what makes up the titan?" Hange grew impatient at their cryptic statements.
"We got an overload error which is something I didn't think possible," Cortana answered her inquiry.
"And what does that mean?" Erwin pressed on.
"It means the titan's blood is far too complex," Chief finished explaining, "The analyzer doesn't have enough power to analyze DNA this dense. It shouldn't have happened this soon, but It was an eventual inevitability. We're going to need stronger equipment to continue."
"And the only place that would suffice is the wreckage of our ship. Not to mention we lack a way to transport blood without it evaporating so we're going to need to bring the titan with us in order to analyze it."
"I see, "Erwin responded, "Then it's settled, our next expedition outside the walls will be to your wreck. I'll leave you two in charge of titan transportation. Let me know of anything else we need to bring and I'll ready it. For now, you're all dismissed." Chief returned his attention towards the titan and Hange joined in. Mike went his own way and as Erwin left, Levi followed behind.
"Erwin, are you sure about this? How can you be sure you can trust them? Don't you think it's strange how this man showed up the same day the wall fell and somehow captured a titan. We should be more cautious."
"Levi, do you think you could rip a titan's arms off with your bare hands."
"Huh? What kind of question is that?"
That's what that man did yesterday. He pinned the titan to the ground using swords he took off of the ODM gear we tried to lend him and he ripped its arms off like it was nothing." Levi stayed silent. "Before the fall of the wall, he didn't even know what titan's were, yet since then he's faced three titans on foot and defeated all three. He denied using ODM gear because it wasn't strong enough to be useful to him. He has a contraption that moves faster than any hose with a gun on it that fires faster than anything we have and can rip through a titan at ranges that exceed even our canons. It's not that I fully trust them, it's that if we became enemies he could kill hundreds, if not thousands, before we could hope to stop him." Erwin stopped walking and turned to face levi. "I don't doubt your abilities, but even so the best I can picture if you two fought is a draw and your death would cripple humanity. I don't believe him to be an enemy of humanity, but rather than risk instigating conflict with them, I'd rather learn as much as we can from them while our interests still align. You don't need you to trust them, I only ask that you trust me and work with them for the time being. We can decide our future actions once we know more."
"Understood." With that Levi left Erwin alone in the corridor as he stared back out at Hange and the others in the courtyard. The only thing on his mind was what the future had in store for them.
Hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long to come out. The last two months have been full of distractions and I just haven't been in the mood to write most of the time. I'm going to try to be a bit more consistant going forward and do at least one chapter a month but I can't promise anything. This chapter was much longer than the others as I wanted to originally make it two chapter, but I felt the two halves weren't long enough on their own, so if the chapter feels like its paced poorly I apologize. While I haven't been writing, I have been planning where I want the story to go, I think you all will enjoy what I have planned. Thank you guys for reading, I appreciate all your feedback, and I can't wait to share the next chapter once its done.
