"So" Yelena asked as she sat down in front of Zeke "what is the plan?"

The man was deep in thought. Events of the Paradis operation caused Marley a huge setback on their plans to conquer the island. The news about them losing the female and the colossal titan spread widely among the enemy nations. Before the military could assemble forces strong enough for the invasion, a coalition war broke out.

"Isn't this great news?" The woman impatiently asked "the war, I mean…"

"For Eldians on Paradis, yes" Zeke slowly responded "for our scheme, not so much…"

Yelena looked down at that. Their actions were treason, but their goals were grander than any other ideals. She suddenly wondered if it was all for nothing.

"Dina Yeager is alive" the man slowly said "she took over Annie's power. It's only sheer luck they haven't discovered how to get around the king's vow, yet…"

"That's good" the female said with hope on her face "don't you think so?"

His silence was enough of an answer for her. In all the time she's known him, she has never seen him this unnerved.

"I don't know how to approach it" Zeke exclaimed as he arched back "honestly, I didn't expect things to get this complicated…"

Yelena sighed out. Her leader needed some encouragement and she had to provide.

"I never had a child" she started "but I'm sure I could never possibly hate it…"

"That doesn't bother me" Zeke suddenly interjected "but she would get suspicious. If she doesn't buy our plan…"

"Do you have some hidden regrets?"

The man looked up right at her with furrowed brows.

"My old folks were the worst" he exclaimed with malice "but they weren't stupid. Both of them would throw everything away, just to fulfil their idiotic cause. I'm sure 'that woman' got everyone there under her thumb…"

"If that's true" Yelena started "then it's even better!"

Zeke looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"How is that any better?" He asked.

"Marcel and Reiner were saying that she was taking care of Eren" she explained "I'm sure, that if she got the occasion, she would try to get her other son back."

Her leader brightened up a bit at that.

"Yeah" he admitted "you may be right…"

All of a sudden, he stood up.

"Okay" Zeke exclaimed with newfound conviction "this is what we'll do…"

'I hope we hadn't overestimated our strengths' Yelena thought as she felt the ship rock violently on the huge waves.

"Captain! No word from the advance party in the two hours since they landed!"

"I know" the man responded as they neared the shore "prepare survey units two and three for landing!"

"The island devils defeated our warrior unit and now threaten the world" the captain cried out "we're letting Marley know what's really going on, no matter what…"

Suddenly the crew fell down on the deck, as a strong force pulled on the ship. The soldiers nearly fell off when they felt the boat raise up in the air.

"Hold on!" Their superior cried out as he looked at what was causing all this.

A titan was carrying the ship over to the shore.

"A devil!"

Sharp tremor rocked the crew as the titan put the ship down on a rocky beach.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen of Marley!" They suddenly heard as a woman appeared from behind one of the rocks "welcome to the island of Paradis!"

Yelena saw that she was being accompanied by two men. One short with dark hair, the other tall and blonde. The short one was holding a hostage who appeared to be their crewmate from the advance party.

"Surrender peacefully!" The taller man spoke out "your lives will be spared if you do so!"

The captain gritted his teeth.

"We won't be answering to any of you, devils!"

"Oh" the shorter man suddenly interjected "did you just forget about that giant monster right behind you?"

Indeed, what Yelena assumed to be Eren Yeager's titan was still there, watching their every move. Once the crew realized this, they started to panic. The captain, however, wasn't having any of it.

"We will not bend to the power of devils!" he shouted out as he pointed his gun right at the welcoming party.

Yelena sighed out as she pulled out her own pistol.

"That is all Marley has to…!"

BANG!

The man never managed to finish his sentence since a bullet ran through his head. As Yelena pointed her gun down, few of her crewmates watched her actions with fear.

"What are you…?!"

"Put down your weapons" she said blankly, pointing the gun at them.

Her frightened comrades were just standing there in disbelief.

"Do what she says" Onyankopon added, raising his own gun up.

Upon seeing that everyone eventually complied, Yelena turned to the surprised Paradisians.

"We surrender" she exclaimed with a smile.

The woman looked up, at whom she believed was Eren.

"I've so wanted to meet you…"

After a while, they were taken to what appeared to be a field military camp. Yelena sipped on the tea she was generously given by the scouts, while the officers were looking through their armaments.

"I see…" Hange exclaimed with awe as she loaded a Marleyan pistol "so this lets you shoot multiple times without reloading…"

"This a standard kit for a Marleyan soldier" Yelena explained "each of the army's divisions consists of about twenty thousand soldiers. With fifty division in total, that comes out to about a million."

These numbers seemed to have shaken the scouts. Even though she was sure the Paradis couldn't even conscript a tenth of the Marleyan army, they wouldn't let her know, trying to act cool.

'Well, if this didn't make them more willing to cooperate, the next thing surely will…'

"Then add the three fleets consisting of twenty-one battleships to the army's numbers. They've also seen incredible progress with new weapons, including aerial ones…"

"Aerial…?!" Hange suddenly cried out as she looked towards the other female scout in the room.

'So, this is Dina Yeager' Yelena thought.

"This seems like a lot of firepower" the commander finally spoke up "please, tell me why we haven't been attacked yet, then?"

"There are two main reasons for that" the leader of the volunteers explained "the pure titans they unleashed here, make any kind of invasion difficult, even with all the new weaponry."

"While originally, a policy to contain Eldians within the walls, this now protects them from any enemy military advances, ironically enough…"

The woman Yelena considered to be Zeke's mother looked down at that. She was one of those pure titans once, if Marcel and Reiner were to be believed.

"The day is about to break and we're just sitting here, sipping some tea" Yelena continued, wondering if what she was thinking could be true "I assume you've dealt with them."

"What if we did…?" The short officer retorted "would you try to inform Marley?"

"No" Yelena replied widening her eyes in disbelief "that's amazing…"

Silence filled the air as the scouts took a moment to consider their situation.

"What's the second reason?" Hange asked after a while.

"Marley has entered into a state of war with an alliance of several other nations. This war started because the pride of the military, the warrior unit has been defeated. The colossal and the female titan were invaluable assets, so after losing them, Marley appeared weak."

"That country has a lot of enemies. In the blink of an eye, those enemies came together and then, the war began."

Yelena watched as the officers digested this information.

"So" the commander started "you are some kind of sleeper agents that infiltrated the army, right?"

The volunteers looked down at that.

"That would be an overstatement" Onyankopon started "we're natives of the lands that Marley has invaded, forcefully conscripted into the military…"

Yelena swore that she could see sympathy in the scouts' eyes.

"Who's behind all this?" The woman, presumably Dina Yeager, asked.

The leader of the volunteers took in a deep breath.

"Zeke Yeager" she exclaimed "your son…"

Dina's eyes widened all of a sudden. Seeing that reaction, Yelena continued.

"He took us in when we were powerless and showed us hope. We shot our officers under his command. We are the anti-Marleyan volunteers."

"Our goal is to free Eldian people…"

That made a great impression on the officers. Yelena was sure of that. Even if they didn't fully trust them now, they still needed their help and with time, they eventually would.

"I have a question" the short man asked once again "who is this guy, who hasn't spoken a word?"

The volunteer in question smiled at him being mentioned.

"My name is Yann" he said introducing himself "I was a renown medical engineer in the Marleyan army. With my guidance, you will be able to replicate the titan serum…"