Previously:
"Huh!?" Eren said as their fearless leader flew back in the direction they had just come from. "No way… The plan was to take that titan alive!?" Looking back now, through the clearing smoke, he could see a myriad of strong cables piercing the titan's body, holding it firmly in place.
Heidi shuddered as she watched them fire another a round. That had been way, way too close for comfort. But then she also exhaled a deep sigh of relief, thrilled to still be alive and in one piece.
"Looks like it stopped moving." Levi remarked as he landed on the tree next to Erwin.
"We can't let our guard down yet." Erwin told him. "I'm impressed you managed to lead it all the way here."
"It's all thanks to the squad behind us, who gave up their lives fighting to buy us enough time. We couldn't have done it without them." Levi answered.
"I see…" said Erwin.
"Yeah… Thanks to them, we'll get to meet whoever's hiding inside the nape of this one's neck." Levi said as they stared down at the captured titan with grim expression. "I hope whoever it is hasn't pissed themselves…"
Chapter 23: Erwin Smith
"Um, Heichou, What should I…?" Heidi asked, wondering whether she should leave and catch up to the others or not.
"Stay here." Erwin ordered her, signaling for Levi and Mike to move into position. "We don't have any extra horses at the moment, and we may need you here." This was their first time attempting to capture a titan shifter. He wasn't taking any chances. "Hange, fire!"
"Hmph!!" Hange yanked the cord and fired another round of restraints at the captured titan.
WHOOM!
"How's that? Now you won't even be able to scratch yourself if you've got an inch!" she told it. "You can't move a muscle and likely won't be able to ever again. It's rigged to tighten your joints as your wounds close!" She let out an excited laugh. "But it seems… That's still not enough to make the important person inside show us their face, huh? What on earth are Levi and Mike doing?" But as she said this, the two men swung into view and hurled themselves towards the back of the titan's neck, which was being shielded by her hands. But it didn't matter. They were going to use all their strength to cut through. Sensing her impending doom, the titan twitched.
"!" Heidi gasped when a shiny, crystalline coating suddenly formed on its hands just as Levi Heichou and Squad Leader Mike's blades came in contact with the back of them. Her eyes widened as their blades snapped in half against it. Levi furrowed his brow and grit his teeth in frustration with a dark look in his eye. He landed near Heidi, and Mike landed near Erwin. Mike held his broken blades up to show the commander and shook his head.
'Looks like she has the ability to cover parts of her body with a hard layer of skin.' Erwin thought grimly as he stared down at the female titan. 'This characteristic is strongly reminiscent of the Armored Titan I've heard about.' He noticed some of the shell around her hands was starting to crumble. 'But unlike the Armored Titan, it seems she can't maintain the solidity of her skin for long. Will she weaken if we keep attacking her with 3DMG? Ordinarily there would be no time to test it, but…' He glanced at Heidi. "Heidi, try breaking through. Levi, follow behind her in case she succeeds." He ordered. With her berserkergang, it just might be possible.
"Heidi." Levi said as the crease in his brow deepened. They both knew what Erwin wanted.
"It's all right, Heichou." She said determinedly as her pupils constricted and then dilated. "After everything that's happened… I can't be the only one playing it safe." He nodded in understanding, and they quickly moved into position. Heidi's attack was swift, but instead of spinning to the side and slicing like Levi and Mike, she flipped head-over-heel and stabbed her blades straight into the shielded hands with so much force that her blades cracked and splintered into small flecks as they ground against the crystal until it finally cracked just enough to let what was left of them slide in; and she fired a grappling hook into the back of the titan's skull, pulling herself up as she kept what was left of her blades dug in to the flesh of its, gritting her teeth against the severe effort of dragging them up enough to expose the nape of the titan's neck. Levi was on it in an instant. The titan's pupil constricted in shock, and she quickly formed another shield over the nape of her neck. Once again, Levi's blades snapped and broke in half uselessly against it, and he was only just barely able to get out of the way as the remains of Heidi's weakened blades broke off inside the titan's hands, and they snapped back into place over the nape of her neck. With the tension broken, Heidi felt herself being yanked hard towards the titan's head, but she was quickly grabbed and redirected by Levi before she could crash into its skull, and they both landed safely on top of the titan's blonde head. Erwin raised his hand and signaled for their demolitions expert.
"Yes, sir?"
"Get some explosives ready to blow off the target's hands." Erwin ordered.
"Yes, sir. But… there's the possibility that the force of the blast will also blow up the person on the inside."
"In that case, try placing the explosives farther back so that they sever her wrists." Erwin said. "Then, at my signal, detonate all of the charges simultaneously."
"Roger!" the demolitions expert said, moving to carry out his orders.
"Heidi, deactivate and fall back." Levi ordered when he saw what they were doing.
"What about Heichou?" Heidi asked, furrowing her brow slightly in concern.
"I'll be fine. And anyway, what we're doing next will require a surgeon's precision." He answered calmly as he ejected his broken blades and reloaded with new ones, but there was a cold and murderous look in his eyes as he stared down at the titan they were standing on.
"… Understood." Heidi said, taking a moment to calm herself and come out of her berserker mode before maneuvering to a safer location, out of his way.
"Hey, why don't you give us a break and come out already? We don't have all day, you know." Levi told it sternly. "What do you think is going to happen? You really believe you can get yourself out of this situation? I wish you'd consider what a pain in the ass this is for us. Now we have to keep thinking up ways to drag you out of there. You've murdered my subordinates in lots of ways, haven't you? Was it fun? Did you enjoy it? Well, now I'm enjoying this. And you're the same, right? I think you, of all people, can understand what I'm feeling." He said darkly. "Oh, yeah… there's something I wanted to ask. Are you all right with having your hands and feet cut off? They'll just grow back, right? I mean your real hands and feet. We can't afford to have you dying on us." The titan's eyes trembled slightly in fear. Levi heard a sharp hiss like a deep and sudden intake of breath. "!" His eyes widened as it opened its mouth and let out a shrill, roaring cry.
"RYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" The female titan's scream was so powerful, it caused a strong gust that that nearly knocked everyone backwards as they raised their hands to cover their ears.
"…" Hange stared up at the titan as it fell silent, stunned.
"What was that, a death throe?" Moblit asked.
"… You bitch… you really startled me there." Levi said as he lowered his hands.
"Get out of there, Heichou! It's dangerous!!" Heidi shouted anxiously, surprising him. Her eyes were wide, and she looked scared. Mike's nose twitched when he caught another scent approaching.
"What are you talking about?" Levi asked as the crease in his brow deepened. "You know it can't move."
"I… It's instinct! It feels like the end of a hunt." Heidi said earnestly. "Something tells me we have to be careful—a hundred times more careful!"
'An emotional outcry? If it was, does that mean she's given up? Or is she up to something?' Erwin wondered. Heidi's reaction worried him. If her instincts were as sharp as her father's, then…
"Erwin!" Mike said urgently, landing right next to the commander. "I smell them coming!"
"What direction?" Erwin asked.
"There's scores coming from all directions! All at once!" Mike answered gravely. Erwin's eyes widened.
"Set the charges now!" He ordered immediately.
"Erwin! The ones coming from the east are almost here!" Mike exclaimed.
"Transport escort squad! Intercept and destroy!!" Erwin ordered. The corpsmen guarding the wagons instantly sprang into action, heading straight for the incoming titans.
"!?" They gasped in shock when every single one of the titans ran straight past them. "They ignored us!? Are they deviants!?"
"Three titans have broken through!!"
"Hey, you bitch… You fuckin' did something after all, didn't you!?" Levi said, stomping repeatedly on the female titan's head.
"Levi Heichou!" Heidi and the others shouted as the approaching titans closed in on him. He quickly fired a grappling hook and reeled himself in, swinging out of the reach of the first one's mouth, then launched himself off a tree round to the slice the back of its neck, and propelled himself forward to finish off the second one in the shape of a sharp S-curve. The third, much smaller one, lunged forward as the others fell and grabbed onto the female titan, chomping down on her leg.
"!?" Erwin said, startled. 'They're coming after the female!?' Heidi, who had already launched herself forward to aid Levi, quickly changed directions and took the third one out before it could do any more damage. 'Don't tell me…'
"Titans are coming from every direction!!" someone shouted.
"All squads, engage!!" Erwin yelled. "Defend the Female Titan to the death!!"
"!?" Everyone gasped, immediately flying in to protect the female as the other titans swarmed and surrounded her. They all fought like hell, but there were too many titans, and too few of them. No matter how many they killed, more came and broke through their defenses, biting and tearing at the female titan's flesh. One of the titans managed to rip off a whole arm, while another tore off the top half of her head. Levi and Heidi were fiercely defending the nape of the female's neck, but it wasn't enough, even with all the members of every squad present backing them up. Erwin knew it was only a matter of time before… He closed his eyes tightly and gave a new order.
"All squads, pull back!!!"
FWOOOOSH!
Everyone immediately got the heck out of dodge before they were completely overwhelmed. The order had come just in the nick of time. Many of them were out of breath and almost completely exhausted from fighting such a fierce and frantic battle.
"Hey… Erwin!" Levi said as he and Heidi landed on the tree the commander was standing on, covered in splashes of steaming titan blood.
"She got us." Erwin said as he watched the carnage happening below. Heidi's eyes widened slightly when she saw the expression on his face, feeling a little unnerved.
"That's some ugly mug you're showing…" Levi told him, wiping off some of the blood on his face. "Why the hell are you smiling?" They just failed miserably.
"The enemy was prepared to give up everything." Said Erwin seriously with a slightly manic gleam in his eye. "I never imagined that she would have the titans devour her… for the sake of erasing all the information we seek to obtain…" The head and neck were completely gone, and there wasn't much left of the rest of the female titan's body. It was now almost completely stripped of flesh, and the skeleton was already starting to crumble and evaporate into steam. Everyone was tired from the battle. They should all move before the titans lost interest in it and turned their attention back onto them. "All troops, retreat!!" He ordered. "Get to your horses while the titans are focused on her remains! We're leaving all the wagons behind! Head west once you're out of the forest, and get back in formation! We're returning to the Karanes District!!" Everyone else immediately started moving to carry out his orders, but Levi lingered to have a word; and since he didn't move, neither did Heidi.
"What a mess… And right after my outburst at the hearing, this is what happens… Heavy losses and nothing useful gained." Levi said grimly. "I wonder what they'll do to us and Eren when we stroll back through the gate after a failure like this?"
"…" Heidi furrowed her brow and frowned with concern as she listened.
"We'll think about that after we get back." Said Erwin. "Right now, we have to focus on returning safely without incurring any further casualties. At least for now…"
"Um, Heichou," Heidi said tentatively, getting his attention, "What should I do? I don't have a horse any more."
"You'll have to ride on the back of mine for now." Levi told her. "We might be able to find you a spare horse once we rejoin the rest of the formation."
'The steam from the corpse is affecting visibility… It could interfere with the signal flares, too…' Erwin thought as they talked, keeping his eyes on the scene of carnage below. "…!" he gasped as something startling suddenly occurred to him.
"I'm going to call my squad back." Levi told him, getting ready to leave. He hoped they hadn't gone too far. "Come on, Heidi."
"Yes, sir." She answered dutifully, preparing to follow him.
"Wait, Levi. Heidi, too." Erwin said, stopping them. "Go refill your gas tanks and get new blades first."
"There's no time." Levi said. "I think we have enough to last… Why are you saying this?"
"It's an order." Erwin told him. There wasn't enough time to explain. "Do it." Levi glanced back at him and saw the look in the commander's eyes.
"… Yes, sir." He said. "I'll trust your judgment on this one. Let's go, Heidi."
"Roger." Heidi said, leaving hurriedly with him to resupply.
