Part 40
Rally
"Eren!" Bellowed Hange, as she landed herself atop the broad shoulder of the Titan who stood near the safety of the wall. Clear now that Reiner and Bertholdt were trying to obtain Eren himself, but to what reason and why was still unknown to the volley of soldiers that Eren now stood in front of. "Think you can get him in another one of those joint locks?!"
His Titan looked on. The Armoured Titan stood a distant away, waiting to strike again as the Colossal Titan still remained latched to the wall itself, continuing to emit boiling steam from its muscled skin, preventing anyone from getting to its nape. Eren's Titan then simply nodded towards Hange, causing the Section Commander to squeal in excitement at Eren's capability to understand.
"Looks like he's calmed down…" Fury muttered, receiving a nod from Armin, who was stood with a silent Mikasa; keeping her watchful eye over Eren. "Eren's already managed to remove Reiner's arm from his lock hold. Do you think he can tear that bastards head off and reveal him?"
"I don't want to doubt it." Was Armin's muttered response. "What Eren needs to do is not only out strength Reiner, but to outwit him too. Meaning he needs to be one move ahead at all times."
"And with all that armour Reiner has on his Titan, our blades can't get to his skin…" Mikasa surveyed. "Even around his nape, it's protected…"
Armin agreed with Mikasa's point of view, however, Fury wasn't buying it. Everything has a weakness. They just needed to find it. At this point, Reiner began a steady charge towards Eren, causing the rest of the soldiers to grip onto their cutters.
"He's fast!" Mikasa exclaimed, as they watched Eren prepare for the incoming onslaught. Though what was becoming interesting was that as Reiner charged towards Eren, his armour began shedding which was what gave him the speed. But at what cost? Was he that desperate to obtain Eren that he'd reveal so much weakness like that?
Fury, along with the others, zip lined upwards and out of the way as Reiner slammed into Eren, pinning him against the wall and then tossing him to the ground as if he was a light bag of garbage being thrown out onto the streets.
"Eren!" Mikasa cried out as the boy moved away from the towering Reiner. "There's nothing I can do…"
"Not necessarily." Hange pointed out, pushing her glasses up. "Warriors, back in the olden days, used to sheathe themselves in armour. But to give themselves free movement, they left spots free of protection like the armpits and groin, or, the spot behind the knee."
"You got this!" Came one of Hange's squad members, Nifa, as they all watched as Eren dodged an incoming attack, causing some who know him to gasp in disbelief as the boy managed to wrap his arms around Reiner's Titan in a tight lock and throw him to the ground himself.
"Holy crap…" Armin spoke out. "That was one of Annie's moves."
"The Female Titan?" Fury asked, as her eyes then landed back on the two Titans who now struggled against each other. "Using their own friend's techniques against them, huh? That ought to dismay him slightly…"
Mikasa, not being able to idly stand by and continue to watch Eren struggle in his lock around Reiner, catapulted herself down to the brawl, opening up her cutters as they sliced through the back of Reiner's knee, seeing that there was no armour there to protect him.
"Nice cut!" Hange exclaimed, as Reiner had lost the ability to use that leg for now, until he healed of course. But this gave Eren the time he needed to tighten his lock around the large Titan. Reiner's plated hand attempting to pull at Eren's arm as he gasped for air.
Reiner, using what strength he had, began to crawl on the ground, carrying Eren with him. And yet Eren managed to remain wrapped around him.
"Rip that bastard's head off! Bring that traitor out into the open!" Roared Hannes, as he cheered Eren on.
And yet, from the sudden screech of desperation from Reiner, it caused the soldiers to all cover their ears from its deep ripple. Reiner continued to call out, but to what?
The air fell silent. "Be on the lookout!" Hange ordered. "I think he's calling for backup!"
"But… there's nothing around…" Fury muttered, her eyes leaning back and forth only to see an open land, devoid of any nearby Titans. One of her anchors suddenly came loose from the wall, causing Armin to quickly latch onto her wrist to prevent her from falling. The wall itself began to shudder and they all looked up.
"Guys! Get out of the way!" Came the distant voice of Connie. The Colossal Titan began to break at its own ribs, which was what was keeping it latched to the wall. Its slowly degenerating body began to lean towards falling from the wall.
"Reiner called out for that thing to drop on them both!" Fury pointed out, though it was no use. The Colossal Titan began its heavy fall towards both of the pinned Titans below, its impact creating a fiery hot wave of force and steam that hit against the soldiers, burning their skins and causing them to retreat.
Fury herself was slammed hard against the wall, feeling the rupture of her back crack slightly as in the process, Mikasa clung to the other females clothes and managed to drag them both up higher and onto the safety of the wall. Though Mikasa herself hitting her head hard in the process.
Hange and her squad were completely knocked out, the rest burning and pouring full buckets of water onto themselves to steady the heat crackling upon their skin.
"… Lay them down…" Armin suggested, as he sat by an unconscious Mikasa who was suffering from a concussion. Fury then emitted a sharp hiss as her eyes opened. Her light blonde hair stained with charcoal from the settling steam around them. "H-hey, be careful! You're lucky you didn't break your back."
Fury lifted her head slightly, one eye open as she looked down at her shoulder, which was medically wrapped in a support. "You dislocated your shoulder pretty bad." Armin continued. "I managed to pop it back in for you, but you're gonna be sore for a few days. I suggest you rest that arm."
"… I'll be fine." She responded in her stubborn manner, forcing herself to sit up and to see the damage caused by the fall of the Colossal Titan. "… Shit. Let me guess… They got away with Eren…"
"By the time the steam disappeared, yeah, they're gone…" Krista muttered, bringing some water over for Fury and checking her arm, which only caused Fury to pull herself away from being touched. "Sorry. After Armin sorted your shoulder out, I wrapped it up for you. I hope it's not uncomfortable or anything…"
"Being injured isn't supposed to be comfortable…" Was Fury response, followed with rolled eyes. "But… thank you, I guess…"
Krista nodded as she then sat down with a sigh. "They've taken Ymir too. I still don't know why. Because she's a Titan too, maybe?"
"Where is he?!" Barked Mikasa, grabbing Armin by his collar and startling the others.
"I told you, they've taken him! There was nothing we could do!" Armin pleaded as Mikasa leaned her body forward, gripping her head as it throbbed in pain. "Take it easy, Mikasa, you've got a bad concussion."
"We… We need to go get him back… Why is no one going after him?"
"Looks like a lot of our equipment has been destroyed…" Fury pointed out, doing her best to hold back her opinions over Mikasa's need to only focus on Eren. "To get any horses over there, it's gonna take some time. Right now… Right now, I need to get back to Erwin. Try and… figure out why the hell these two traitors want Eren to begin with…" She steadily stood to her feet, though with evident struggle and Fury clutched her stomach with her free hand, feeling the bruising form under her skin, her body stiff and aching.
"I just… want to be near him…" Mikasa spoke, burying her face into her arms after she had wrapped her red scarf around herself. "That's all I want…"
"Look… I get that you care for the kid, but…" Fury sighed. Advice was never something she was good at attempting. "Right now, to go after them without a plan would be suicide. We're all Scouts, remember? Tracking is what we're good at. Once we figure things out and follow on Commander Erwin's plans, only then will we go after them and bring hell with us."
Both Armin and Krista nodded with enthusiasm, yet Mikasa simply remained curled up and feeling her pain from not being able to protect her friend. And yet, Fury could only feel like she could somewhat relate to those emotions.
