"What the hell are you thinking, Erwin?!" Rojas exploded, grabbing at Erwin's collar and pulling him down to his level roughly. Most of the people in the room let out a surprised sound and had wide eyes. All, except for Levi, Hanji and myself. With such a risky and dangerous plan, it was easily predictable that the Garrison commander would react like that. The Orvud garrison leaders, Erwin, Hanji, Levi's squad and myself had gathered in one of their private conference rooms. It was here that Erwin revealed to us the plan that had been formed while they rode towards Orvud District.

"You intend to keep the citizens here without evacuating?! That goddamn Titan will be here by dawn!" Rojas continued to lose mind, shaking our Commander by the clothing.

"The Titan is an Abnormal." Hanji stated, trying to break the tension in the room. She had been patched up heavily, with her whole right shoulder and arm wrapped in bandages.

Rojas turned his terrified eyes over to us, sweat building at his forehead. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"An Abnormal titan reacts differently than what normal titans do. This one here is strangely attracted to large densities of people and hence will ignore smaller groups in favour for this fortified city. It ignored us the entire way we rode right beside it. Just imagine, if you were to evacuate the citizens to Wall Sina, the Titan will continue to be drawn to the population and will destroy the Wall and everything else in its path." Hanji paused to let that sink in. "Soon, it would reach Mitras, the location with the greatest concentration of people and would deliver a devastating blow to all of Humanity. We attempted to use Eren Jaeger's power to control the giant, but to no avail." Hanji waved her good hand to the 104th cadet, who immediately straightened at his mention. Despite his grief, I could see Rojas slowly see the logic in Erwin's plan and his fingers loosened their grip.

"If we are to stop the Titan, we must do so outside the walls of Orvud. However, to keep its direction, we'll have the citizens act as the bait." Erwin confirmed, a dominant tone clearly in his voice.

At this, Rojas completely let go of Erwin, his arms dropping silently to his sides in defeat.

"However, this doesn't change the fact that we, as soldiers, are to protect the citizens from all harm. As such, in the case that we cannot stop the Titan, we will take measures so that not one person is killed but everyone will be ready to move."

I then spoke up, following Erwin's train of thought.

"This is where the Garrison come in. You will spread the word and then conduct an emergency evacuation drill. This will ensure that the citizens will be ready to move but without causing huge panic with the news that a huge Titan is raining down on them. And yes, Rojas, like you mentioned-" I looked right at the commander, "-you only have until a little after dawn to get this sorted."

With all this logic shoved right in his face, the Garrison lead could only sigh.

"I guess we have no choice…"

"This Titan has the largest body that we have ever seen. Wall mounted cannons will prove highly effective but rest assured, the Scouts will throw everything we have at it." Erwin assured, power resonating from his voice. The Garrison stared at the Survey Corps leader before saluting to him in acknowledgement.

Being so charismatic, how could you go against him?

After going through a few minor details, we left the Garrison to organise their actions. Erwin motioned for us to follow him and we did, being led down to the cellars.

"Strange choice for a conversation, Erwin." I commented, taking in my surroundings. Dimly lit passageways, rough bricks haphazardly put together and damp air.

"It is here that I can assure no one else is down here. I don't want the Garrison to panic any more than they already have."

Stopping by a bundle of barrels, Erwin reached in and pulled out a piece of parchment. On it, were several diagrams, drawn by what I recognized as Hanji's hand. A rough picture of Rod Reiss' Titan, several doodles of weapons, a blueprint of what looked like a new invention of Hanji's and a detailed layout of the Orvud District and it's Wall. Hanji, myself and Levi's squad gathered around the makeshift table and leaned towards Erwin, ready to listen to his plan.

"The Garrison will no doubt pull all their available ground and wall-mounted cannons to the front lines, however, judging by the size of the Titan and going off statistics from Hanji, they may not have the desired effect that we would like."

We all glanced over at our scientist and she shrugged at our quizzical looks.

"The cannons were created for self-defence against Titans up to 30 metres. We never suspected a gigantic Titan like Rod Reiss would ever pop up."

"So in the case that cannons are not enough to take it down, the Survey Corps will take over." Erwin continued at took out a pencil, tapping against the Orvud map. "We need to stop the Titan outside of the Wall and that is not an option. Like any other Titan, its nape would be its' disadvantage so that is where we'll aim. With it's size, steam and heat, there's no possible way for soldier to get close enough to damage it. So if external forces won't work, we'll have to blow it up from inside."

I raised an eyebrow at the insinuation. "And just how are we going to get into it?"

Conny gasped. "Impossible…you don't mean that someone will have to be in its mouth?"

"Eren, to be exact." Erwin replied. Eren's eyes widened in shock and Mikasa gritted her teeth.

"Is Eren to be bait as well?" she growled, earning her a harsh glare and reprimand from Levi.

"Calm down Ackerman. Eren wouldn't be the bait, he would be our weapon, so to speak. Besides, Eren's Titan form is the only thing strong enough to get close to it. Our 3DMG and human bodies would be worthless against the heat and steam."

Erwin nodded grimly. "Levi is correct. Hanji and Rina will work out the minor details but the plan is to essentially blow up Rod Reiss."

Levi crossed his arms in thought and stared down at the map.

"So what you're saying, is that we'll stuff gunpower down its throat and hope that it's enough blow the nape apart?"

"Correct."

"With the heat that it's producing, we probably wouldn't even need a detonator. Just as long as it hangs its damn mouth wide open like an idiot…"

"Risky but that essentially is the plan." Hanji spoke up and pointed a finger to the Titan diagram. "An external explosion against the nape won't have the desired effect as cutting it out with a blade would do. That's why it needs to be done inside."

"But the target may be protecting itself by dragging its face along the ground." Erwin stated, lazily drawing on the Titan picture with his pencil. I had a flashback to when we were riding beside Rod Reiss. It was as Erwin said, the Titan pulled itself along the floor and not once looked up.

"For all we know, it may not even have a mouth to open. That's the gamble this time."

He paused, letting that sink into our heads. As part of the Survey Corps, none of us were surprised – we were used to risks and gambles by now. But a risk against such a big opponent?

"Once it blows up, we will need to manually cut down any of the remaining pieces. Its vitals would still be one metre high and 10 centimetres across. We've only got one shot and need to destroy the main body completely. Cutting the pieces further will prevent its regeneration and forming of another heat shield. Understood?"

We all saluted automatically. "Yes sir!"

"As for now, go clean yourselves and grab some rest, you've been through a lot. Hanji and Rina, we'll need your coordination with the Garrison. Get them to get whatever you need, Hanji."

"Roger."