Hello all, my awesome readers! Just a heartfelt and quick thank you to DAInspirai for the gorgeous front cover drawing for Banter of the Strongest (the first submission for the image cover for this story!). Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me and it's sooooooo good! Of course, please feel free to continue with submitting any drawings that you guys have/are doing (just PM me for any contact details), any effort is welcome! And last but not least...

Enjoy!

"Rina. Wake up Rina."

I groaned at the voice and threw an arm over my eyes. Squinting through the sleep, I barely made out the silhouette of a girl.

"Rina, Hanji, you need to wake up."

Mikasa. Ah, that's right. We were going to war with Rod Reiss. How could I forget?

"Ok, ok, I'm up." i grunted and heaved myself into a sitting position. "Tell Captain Levi I'll be there once I clean myself up."

With a brief salute, the talented cadet rushed out of the room. Hanji was already on her feet and headed to the bathroom first. I slowly rubbed my eyes and stretched the soreness from my muscles, feeling like absolute shit. Taking a few minutes to mentally wake myself, I soon headed into the bathroom to clean up.

Wrapping my green Wings of Freedom on, I followed Hanji out of the dorm building.

"It's just past dawn, but I don't hear any cannons being fired yet. Rod Reiss must've moved slower than I thought during the night." Hanji murmured, adjusting her bandaged arm.

"All the more advantage for us." I waved a brief hello to passing Survey Corps soldiers. "We need all the time we can get. Speaking of getting, hopefully Armin got your instructions last night."

"I'm sure he did. Question is, whether there is enough."

We reached the gate where soldiers were constantly moving in and out of the Walls and where the wooden elevators crawled up and down the brick barrier. I eyed a load of gunpowder and rope being hoisted up. Hanji grabbed my attention, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You go up and tell Erwin we're here. I'll catch up once I figure out how much of these goodies I have to work with."

"Sure."

Deciding to save my gas, I sprinted for the moving elevator, already three metres up. Vaulting myself up from a barrel, I managed to snag a loose rope and pull myself onto it. Hanji laughed loudly before heading off in her own business. Accompanying the gunpowder and ropes up the Wall, the sight of Rod Reiss almost on our doorstep made my stomach drop as I leapt onto the top.

"Hazura."

"Erwin. Levi." I joined the two on the edge of the Wall, overlooking the ground cannons and the Titan.

"How do you feel?" Erwin questioned, glancing over at me.

"Like shit." I answered honestly and cracked my knuckles. "But that's the least of my worries. Has the firing started yet?"

"You just managed to make it. Rod Reiss is about to breach our perimeter."

Looking over, the Titan made one more move and pulled himself towards us by a couple metres.

"Fire!" yelled a voice. At that, all hell broke loose.

There were two sets of explosions. The first began from down below, muted by the sheer distance we were from it. About 30 ground cannons fired their rounds, littering Rod Reiss' front with ghastly holes. The second followed shortly after and of a much more amplified sound. The wall-mounted cannons had burst into life, pounding the top half of the Titan with more holes of missing flesh. The whole world froze as the smoke cleared and silence surrounded us.

"Did we get it?" asked a brave Garrison guard. Unfortunately, reality answered him, clearing the smoke and revealing an intact giant Titan. Apart from the healing holes scattered all over the torso, there was little damage. Sounds of shock echoed through the Garrison as Rod Reiss began to move again, stretching out another arm.

"F-Fire!"

Another round of cannonballs were hurled forward, pausing the Titan in its pursuit yet again.

"The ground cannons seem to be even less effective than I initially thought." I muttered, biting my lip.

"As expected. The wall cannons barely hit the nape, even with the better angle." Grumbled Levi, crossing his arms as he appraise the situation we found ourselves in.

"What's wrong is that we have an unorganised group of soldiers, with no front line experience, weapons that we managed to scrape together in a few hours and superficial leadership." Erwin stated, his gaze fixed on the Titan. "Unfortunately, that's all we have to work with."

"That much is painfully obvious. Yet another strategy for the Scouts boils down to yet another gamble. Just like everything else."

"You should be used to it by now, Levi." I remarked, giving him a sidelong look. Our solemn conversation was interrupted by an energetic yell from Hanji.

"Erwin!"

We all turned to her and spotted her further along the Wall, standing in the middle of a small hill of supplies. She waved her good hand like a madman.

"I brought the goodies! All the gunpowder, nettings and ropes that I could find! We'll have to assemble it ourselves though."

As we moved closer to the scientist, I realised that it actually wasn't a mess. A large net had been created and laid onto the floor. Around it were scattered lengths of free rope and to the sides were piles of gunpowder boxes and barrels. Levi's squad were helping out Hanji, and under her direction, the supplies became more organised. She moved towards us, grinning.

"Oh and this!" my brunette friend stopped by what I thought was a normal barrel. That is, until she wheeled it out further for us to inspect. My mind flashed back to the invention diagram I saw last night. It was a barrel of gunpowder, attached to some wheels and a 3DMG.

"There's another on the opposite side. The trigger is held in place so when it's fired, it'll wind itself back up just like our 3DMG gear." She patted it proudly before turning to us. "A moving bomb, to say the least. So, is the artillery doing any damage?"

Levi pondered on it for a bit. "Slightly more than a shitting insect."

She made a worried face. "Then, we're really planning on using this?"

"Looks like that way." I replied, tapping her invention gently. "But we're ready."

"Then let's begin. Levi, Rina, Conny, Sasha, Jean. You five head to the other side." Erwin commanded, authority laced in his voice. We clicked into action.

"Yes sir!" and we dashed off. Cannon fire continued to pierce the air, sending smoke up in wispy puffs.

"You think this'll work?" I mused, watching the huge Titan from the corner of my eye.

"It has to." Levi gritted his teeth. "It has to."