Chapter 7
Chokepoint
It stared, unblinking, at the physical barrier in front of it.
No humanity emanated from the eyes the size of satellite dishes, but it knew that there was food in that direction, beyond the impossibly solid barrier that stood in front of it.
It didn't know how it knew there was release if it got past it; it just knew that it was there somewhere.
Somewhere, within its dried skin and artificial muscles, the remains of what might have once been an intelligent being managed to spark something resembling a thought.
Move to the left a little…
The monster did so, not feeling much difference in staring at the looming structure that blocked its path.
It didn't care.
It continued staring at the wall as it had, day in, day out, for who knows how long.
Then the monster felt something different, as did the many others that were around it.
The ground seemed to vibrate ever so slightly; the air had subtly been altered as well, as if… something had changed.
Something was beckoning them to head… east.
As one, the horde tilted to their right and with loud heavy footsteps, began to move towards Shiganshina.
…
Eren immediately, albeit a little reluctantly, began to move away from the area he knew would have incoming ordinance as fast as he could.
Even if it was aimed high above him, he knew already that you want to be behind the mouth of death that is the barrel of a gun, and while he hadn't seen them in action yet, he knew that the Attack Helicopters in the distance were titan killers.
And if those guns were anywhere near as destructive as the few he had trained with…
He ducked down the second he heard what sounded like someone was loudly and mechanically clapping their hands.
Turning to look at the enemy, he saw yellowish tracer rounds fly into it as it tried lifting its arms to cover its weak point, smoke obscuring the damage but clearly demonstrating how much the rounds were impacting the monster.
"Good effect on target… All stations atop Wall Maria begin vacating the area, I say again, evacuate the area."
Eren heard on the small radio on his person.
He picked it up.
"This is Yeager, evacuating…" he said, glaring at the beast that was quickly losing parts of its face as the rounds slammed into it like a high pressured stream of water.
He gripped the Garand, considering to fire at the neck, pointless as it might have been.
There were four Cobras, two were concentrating their chain guns on the face, blinding the Colossal Titan, while the others were carefully targeting the neck, and pretty soon the head of the colossal titan would simply fall from the damages despite the massive arms attempting to cover its weak point.
Giant or not, it was made out of flesh and bone, and as the futile attempt at covering his neck by placing its arms up to try and block the heavy rounds demonstrated, 20 millimeter rounds cared very little for stopping upon hitting flesh or bone.
The monster would soon be dead.
Eren wanted to cheer but was distracted by the desperate pleads coming from nearby.
It was the German engineer, barely holding on to the edge of the wall.
Eren ran to the man, grabbing his hand when a surprisingly powerful wind akin to an explosion sent him reeling over the edge along with the German.
Once again on instinct, Yeager aimed his ODM gear and hooked himself to the wall, the German barely holding on to him as he almost slammed them into the wall.
The man kept breathing heavily, as color slowly returned to his face.
Meanwhile the radio began to chatter again.
"What the hell?! Someone got it?"
"Too much smoke, could be a diversion of sorts."
"Switch to thermal imaging, if it's trying to run- wait a second… that's steam…nothing on thermal."
"Damn it! Cobra 3 moving in to get a closer look!"
Eren glanced above, seeing the gigantic cloud of steam coming from the top of the wall.
Almost disregarding the engineer holding onto him, Yeager gunned it up the wall, feeling the heat as he got to the top.
The Cobra flew in, its powerful rotors doing away with the cloud of steam to reveal…
Nothing.
Eren stared at the empty space where the skinless abomination had just been not ten seconds prior. He could see the horizon and fields beyond the wall, he could see the silhouettes of a few slow moving titans behind some hills, and he could see the blue sky that had been obscured by the red face of the giant.
But the giant itself was gone with the wind that dissipated the smoke.
What the hell?
The engineer sat on the firm cement, breathing heavily, shaking like crazy as Eren heard his fellow cadets finally get to the top, all of them moving far more cautiously than he would have liked them to, but it seemed like it wouldn't have mattered much.
Ymir was the exception as she moved quickly to the edge of the wall and stared down, a look of panic in her eyes.
"Did… did anyone see where the hell it ran off to?!" she shouted just as the radio crackled again.
"Cobra Actual, target is gone, I have no visual contact… target is gone."
Eren felt his nails dig into his palm, almost drawing blood, as he cursed under his breath.
"It just vanished?!" Connie shouted as he ran up to the edge and looked over it, still unable to comprehend how that had just happened.
"Uh… maybe they killed it? Titans disappear when they die, so maybe this one was just that big and… and maybe it's actually dead?" Sasha asked as she moved to glance over the edge as well, forcing a smile.
"Damn it… damn it all, this is… this is just like five years ago! How the hell can they just-" Eren was cut off as the radio crackled to life.
"All cadets report to the barracks, I repeat, all cadets report to barracks right now!"
Shadis…
The commandant was still able to instill a level of fear and dread in the young cadets that Eren shut up and moved to evacuate.
It was Samuel that asked "Wait, wait, wait- w-what do you we do with…?"
The German engineer had simply sat down and begun staring at the horizon.
"Uh… hey, maybe we can carry him?"
He's taller and heavier than all of us, though…
The German shrugged, saying "Uh, you kids can go ahead… I will try to walk to the other side of the district from up here, maybe I'll get picked up by one of the helicopters later, I have my walkie- my radio if anything happens… be careful out there."
Eren simply said "Yeah, we have to get moving… God knows how long before the titans notice and the choppers run out of ammo or fuel."
This is what we trained for… just remember that much…
As they hopped down from the wall, the memory of his mother's final moments materialized in his mind.
The young woman had briefly resisted the voracious monster that devoured her, uselessly striking at the hands that lifted her to its mouth before it-
Not again... Never again!
…
The warrior almost crashed through the wooden wall of a decrepit old house as he sought shelter to heal his injuries and hide from the (hopefully) panicked Americans.
He stared at the gaping hole on his side, steam obscuring the severity of the injury, but the pain he was feeling in spite of the adrenaline rush made it clear that it was bad.
He knew he would be dead if it wasn't for the regenerative powers of the titans.
He was just thankful the ODM gear he had used didn't get damaged.
He waited for the flesh to heal as he remembered the maddened look on his leader's eyes when he had given him the order that previous night.
You want me to- here? Here and now?!
Tomorrow, catch them by surprise, kick down the gate, and use steam to hide your escape. Make them think they killed the colossal.
But why now?
I heard officers talking about how they're getting supplies from their main base to refill the barracks, so the tanks will be out of reach, long enough to… to do what we need to do.
As he began to feel relatively better, physically speaking that is, he couldn't help but scowl at the Warrior who had made himself their leader.
Yes, the Americans seemed to be getting closer to finding out the truth, and if what the three of them had uncovered recently was anything to go by, then not only was there no negotiating with them, they would probably face summary execution for their actions.
Crimes against humanity…
The warrior couldn't help but chuckle at that thought.
I thought we were devils…
He pushed himself to get up and glance outside.
The window was dusty and the angle was off, but he found what he needed to see.
He managed to see the cadets jump from the top of the wall just as the last Cobras flew over it, most likely to search and destroy what titans they could before they had to refuel and everything went to hell.
He pushed the guilt he was feeling down as he began to move back to the headquarters.
He didn't know how much more of that he could take.
With a quick glance around, the Warrior placed the somewhat burned hood over his head to hide his identity.
They knew the Americans had eyes in parts of the district, at least on the entrance, but cautious as they were, the warriors had decided to keep their faces hidden by using a raincoat; keep them from being found out should anyone see them.
Surely, American security cameras weren't all that different. Their record keeping would be a bigger problem, however. Hopefully he wouldn't have to wait too long.
Assuming I don't die immediately, what is knocking down the wall going to accomplish?
A distraction... We need to confirm who else here is a titan and we need a distraction to get away, so… when we get the chance we take them and run.
The Warrior sighed.
Obviously, he isn't considering their Aircraft anymore…or maybe he is?
Even as he pulled back, he could hear the chatter of the helicopters engaging targets. The attack choppers would run out of fuel eventually, needing to land…
The beasts outside were starving, and in knocking down the gate, the Warrior had essentially rung the dinner bell.
Just like last time…
The teenager slowed down and stopped, staring at the dirt road under him.
Ruined buildings that hadn't been fixed yet surrounded him. Wood, glass, and stones stared back at him in utter silence, yet he felt as if the inanimate objects were questioning why he had done the same thing yet again.
He had caused this.
He could have objected, resisted more.
But he was just a kid, he didn't know any better.
He moved to the side to vomit profusely as he imagined the horrors he had directly inflicted on a population that, in all honesty, had never done anything to him.
Just bear with it… just bear with it for now… just a little longer…
The mission was almost over if the strongest warrior was to be believed.
…
Hill Zero One was as peaceful as it could be.
General Connor smiled slightly at the very fast progress on the runway construction at Hill Zero One.
Pretty soon they could bring larger aircraft, not just ones that had VTOL capabilities. Scouting ahead and spying on a certain someone would be easier, as would be dealing with enemy incursions should the colossal or armored titans reappear.
He glanced at the squadron of Marine Harriers from the 2nd air wing, diligently being fixed up by their dedicated crew. The old jets stood proudly next to the Army Blackhawks that had arrived recently.
It was a quiet day, and if asked, he would have admitted that he felt kind of optimistic.
Before the thought could finish forming Mike Zacharias appeared to materialize to his left, as if someone had just transported him there in an instant.
"The sealed gate was destroyed by the colossal titan."
The general could only blink in disbelief for a few seconds.
Something that big should have set the sensors off long before it got to the wall. Those kids said there was a major explosion when he appeared, but…
Connor glanced behind him at the gate, a structure that also seemingly appeared without any warning.
Damn it all…
"Tell the flyboys to ready all available gunships, get those Harriers prepped up ASAP, and someone get a message to the inner wall!" he barked into his radio as he began walking back to his office.
He cursed the fact that even if they were ready and deployed right there and then, it would still be a couple of hours until their helicopter air support reached Shiganshina.
They'll have to make do with the Cobras they have on hand… God help them.
…
Ryan stared at the poster of a certain famous woman on the inside of the tank, too bored to do much else.
He was the loader on the main gun of an M1A2 Abrams that had "Harvester" written on it in large black lettering on the main gun.
It was an in joke as all the crewmembers of this particular M1A2 were, in fact, sons of farmers that lived in Iowa, Wyoming, and Missouri.
Nobody tell the jarheads, they hopefully think it's more of a harvester of souls…
Unlike many of its Russian rivals, the M1 Abrams all still used a human loader to reload a shell instead of using an automatic loader to handle it. This decision had a sound logic to it, as it spared parts and material as well as time if the thing broke, and it wouldn't leave the tank useless if there was a malfunction.
However, since combat had been sparse ever since the titans within Wall Maria had been all but wiped from existence, the loader and the gunner didn't have too much to do anymore.
All Ryan had to do was stand around in the cabin, listening to engine as he entertained himself with whatever he had brought from the main base.
It didn't exactly make the job easier or less boring.
To make matters worse, he hadn't found his Switch earlier in the day.
"Martinez, if I find it in your bag…" he mumbled just loud enough for his friend to hear.
"Dude, shut up, I didn't touch your precious Zelda game, why would I want it?"
"Because your family doesn't love you." he replied.
"Those letters your sister sent tell a different-"
"Both of you just shut it! We have a bit of a drive left, so save that for later." the commander spat back, ducking back into the turret.
"Hey, Darnell, if he actually stole Ryan's things, can we get his brown ass out of our tank? And can we send Ryan along with him?" the driver asked.
"Hey, I'm whiter than you!" Martinez spat back.
"So, Darnell?"
"Well now, that's a fine question… I say-"
A voice came over the radio and the commander ordered the platoon of Abrams to stop.
"-breached! I say again, Wall Maria has been breached!"
The men in the tank paled as they heard the news.
"Cobras currently engaging titans, all members of 1st armored are to report to the main entrance… instructions to follow, standby-"
Ryan felt a weight fall on his shoulders as the commander ordered all tanks to return to Shiganshina immediately.
The four Abrams obediently turned as ordered and began to move back to try to defend the district, the supply convoy would have to get there without them.
So much for being bored… damn it all.
…
The Headquarters was in a chaotic mess as staff ran from one place to the other.
Shadis observed the table with a map of the district as Colonel Parker and several other officers drew points in red ink, nervously reminding each other of the situation.
"We have plenty of ammo left here, but the cobras-"
"Yeah, I know, I know… God damn it, how many are coming from the north and south?!" he asked nervously.
An Army engineer turned from his monitor with a pale look in his eyes before straightening and saying "A lot sir… lowest estimate I can give you is around three hundred of them."
They were coming from the flanks of the district.
It had been the case for a while, mostly titans would be coming from the west but every now and then the accumulated masses from the opposite ends of the walls would sense humans on the Shiganshina district, fresh meat, and would move to try and devour them.
The Cobras squadron had done a good enough job keeping the main horde at bay, but the arrival of the Colossal titan appeared to have sent them all in a frenzy as the drone showed the mass of titanic bodies running towards the now exposed district.
A lot of runners…
"God, okay- get Cobra three and four to intercept, one and two will keep watch over the breached wall, I- God damn it is everyone accounted for yet?!" Parker demanded of the young Army captain that had run into the room.
Shadis glanced at the young man, who appeared exhausted.
"Colonel, 1st armored is turning around but they're still twenty minutes out, the supply convoy will arrive ten minutes after that, and…" the American captain took a breath before saying "And Hill Zero One will provide Air Support in two hours. Only Harriers available were in the middle of a checkup when they got the alert."
Shadis felt his nails dig into his hands as he realized that the titans would likely enter the district by the time the Cobras refueled.
Parker simply nodded and turned to the map they had drawn.
"No choice then… Commandant, get the 104th to fall in… we don't have much time."
Shadis nodded and stepped out of the makeshift command center.
…
The eerie whine of the alarm made it impossible for Jean to concentrate as he tried to make his way through the controlled chaos of Americans moving things around.
He saw two Marines pick up a large crate and simply tear it open, removing some kind of large tube that he figured was some kind of weapon similar to a portable cannon, but he wasn't sure.
He was startled as a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"R-Reiner, I- oh, sorry…"
Bertholdt.
He looks like he has just been through hell. Dumb bastard can't even- hey!
"Whoa- hey! What happened to you?!" Jean asked as the young man collapsed to the floor.
"I-I'm alright, just…" the tall cadet tried to lie until a certain blonde kneeled down next to him.
"Here, drink this! We're all scared, but we have to work together if… if we want to…" Christa nervously handed him a bottle of water, which the tall teenager took immediately and started gulping it down.
"T-thank you…" he said after taking a breath.
As if on cue, Ymir appeared with a bashful gleam in her eyes.
She seems out of breath, like she just ran over here…
"Uh… hey, Christa, I'm pretty terrified too…" she mumbled.
The dark haired girl ignored the looks of disbelief everyone was giving her.
"Y-yeah, you focus on Ymir, I… I need to tell Reiner something…"
"Bertholdt you look like you're about to faint!" Christa protested.
"Yeah, but the water helped. I feel much better now…"
"Christa…I feel like I might faint too…" Ymir mumbled.
Only Jean heard her.
He would have been more irritated if he didn't have more things to worry about such as the fact that he had no orders and didn't know where Mikasa had run off to.
Was she just as scared? And Eren is probably out rallying the troops… I'll find her and-
"Fall in line, maggots!"
The sudden shrill actually stopped all activity in the barracks as both the Americans and the cadets turned to look at Shadis.
The Americans forced themselves to ignore the call to fall in line as they had work to do and the man was specifically calling the 104th.
Jean was almost first in line, cursing the fact that he was there when he saw Mikasa run alongside Marco of all people into formation.
How is Marco somehow…?! Never mind…
The two had been put in a team, right?
"Private, are you alive?!" Shadis screaming brought him back into reality.
Bertholdt shifted to full attention, although he still looked like he might faint.
"Alright, all of you have trained a fair bit with your weapons; all of you know the basic rules of engagement… with that said you all need to listen carefully if you want to make it out of here alive!"
Jean felt the color drain from his face as he heard the commandant say "We will be engaging the titans in the next twenty minutes."
…
"Move, kyle!" Karina ordered as she glanced at the Survey Corps members directing the evacuating engineers and non-combatants through the main entrance.
Unfortunately for her medical team, they would need to establish themselves just outside the wall in order to receive the injured.
She glanced at the supplies she was carrying.
God, let this be enough…
"Keep calm! Move in an orderly fashion!" a girl in a green coat ordered as the non-combatants moved aside.
She felt the ground vibrate beneath her slightly, turning in time to see the tanks of the 1st armored move towards the entrance, the Abrams main gun staring ahead.
A young man glanced from the top of the tank at her.
His worried look said it all.
She could only pray it would be enough.
Deep into the district, a fair distance from the barracks, on top of the long abandoned and still damaged buildings that had once been the homes of the citizens of Shiganshina, stood the first line of defense.
Connie gripped the M1 Garand before peeking over the edge as he could hear the booming footsteps of the confused monsters moving in the distance.
All of you know what happened here, some of you saw it firsthand…
He glanced at Samuel who tightly gripped the Browning and sucked in a breath.
Mina shakily placed the munitions next to him.
So you all know what is at stake here and understand why you must fight.
The smiling monstrosities in the distance were advancing somewhat slowly as the homes made a somewhat effective blockade, but the cadets knew the monsters could sense them and were steadily making their way towards them.
I know we are asking much of you, but we need to buy time for our air support to arrive, so a ground engagement and defense of Shiganshina will be necessary.
Remembering the plan, Connie lifted his hand into the air up and closed it, balling a fist.
The enemy is deadly, but unintelligent, remember that.
Across other homes, the same action was taken by other machine gun nests, the titans taking notice rather quickly, their inhuman grins almost widening as they somehow detected the miniscule gestures in the distance.
And remember that you are not fighting alone today.
From the top of the castle walls that had once been the Garrison outpost in Shiganshina, Sergeant Roy lowered his binoculars and spat the piece of gum he was chewing.
The titans had entered the first kill zone and were moving in on the first line of defense.
"Alright, let's not let these kids down. Mark your targets and FIRE!"
From the top of the castle that was now the main center of the barracks, eight teams of Marine and Army personnel had set up as many BGM-71 TOW missiles.
Wire-guided, an effective range of 3,000 meters, and just as deadly, the anti-tank missiles left behind a trail of smoke as the American teams fired at targets within range from the fort.
Connie and Mina saw the trail of smoke of the missiles fly above them and gaped as they saw one slam into a titan, knocking it down immediately, Samuel too focused and nervous on manning the gun to turn to look above him.
The titans that had been behind the ones that perished didn't appear to care one bit for their fallen comrade as they stepped over it. Several almost looked overjoyed that they were now the closest giant to getting something to eat, blissfully ignorant of the fact that others were going down as well.
Mina shouted "Samuel!"
The response she got was a loud, consistent thumping sound as the century old machine gun demonstrated why it was still used in the present day.
Connie glanced to his left, noticing the other machine gun teams opening fire; he admired the yellow tracer rounds that occasionally flew at the monsters, creating a beam of death; a knife that would cut through the flesh of the advancing giants.
He tightened his grip on his rifle, knowing full well that even if a titan got close enough for him to score a one hit kill, the rule was to pull back immediately, so he would have to be careful, but a part of him knew that things wouldn't be so easy.
He could only hope the plan worked as he glanced behind him, the trail of smoke from the barracks dissipating immediately.
He prayed it wasn't indicative of their chances of surviving the battle.
More missiles flew out of the barracks as a response, cutting down more of the giants.
Within the barracks, the situation was just as organized as it was chaotic.
"How are we doing on rounds?!" a soldier shouted from his vehicle.
"Got any more AP?"
"Nah, it's all headed to Alamo, just have the normal rounds here."
"Good enough! They can only hold them for so long, so let's get what we can!" another shouted as he moved as fast as he could to drop off several boxes of ammo into a Humvee.
Mikasa wasn't aware as to why the third and technically final line of defense was being referred to as "Alamo" but she really didn't care.
Men raced to finish packing the munitions they would need for the third and technically final line of defense in Shiganshina at "Alamo", and Mikasa navigated seamlessly through it all, searching for someone.
Most of the vehicles had already evacuated the motor pool near the barracks and were headed to the main entrance, but several still remained.
Marine HMVs were set up with their own Browning .50 caliber machine guns, as were the few Marine MRAPs that were on the motor pool. The sound of gunfire, missiles being launched, and explosions ringing in the distance, she moved forward.
No sign of him…
She noticed at least one Humvee was being equipped with a TOW launcher, the titan killing weapon Mikasa recognized was being used to support the first line of defense. She paid little mind to it as she continued looking around, somewhat desperately, for her-
She stopped.
What was Eren to her?
He wasn't technically her brother, even if they were as close as siblings.
Close family, yes, but she considered this as she stared at a strange circle of American soldiers, heads bowed in what appeared to be prayer.
She specifically stared at the nervous pair of cadets that were seemingly participating in the prayer; the same pair that everyone suspected of getting into trouble with an American officer for "unsanctioned nighttime activities". The bustling barracks around her almost vanished from her mind, her head aching slightly, as a part of her wished for… for what?
She wanted to keep Eren safe, same as Armin, but there was something else and she didn't know if telling him would make it better or-
"Mikasa, here!"
The call brought her back to reality as she turned to face Marco.
The dark haired youth had carried both his rifle as well as the M107 anti-material rifle she would be putting to good use in a few minutes.
In theory…
She nodded, grabbing it and flinging it on her shoulder as Marco reached into a pack, handing her some ammunition.
"I got these loaded as fast as I could… the other guys are freaking out in there, I-"
"Thank you; is Eren alright?" she asked in the commanding tone she simply didn't have time.
The young man nodded, saying "Yeah, Jean and him are loading up on ammo at the armory, it-"
"Thank you, let's go."
Marco sputtered something as she walked past him, heading to the armory.
He forced himself not to groan aloud and gave chase. The girl was an enigma when it came to her obsession with the short tempered Yeager, although he could somewhat understand her attachment.
Still, the way she follows him around…
Marco had never met the titans head on like they had, now he worried the experience is what scarred her into chasing after the usually grumpy teenager like a lost puppy.
Like most in his generation, he shoved the thoughts aside and went on to do his duty, which at the moment meant following Mikasa around like a lost puppy himself.
Inside the armory, however, he remembered that the cadets carrying the rifles that didn't have the spyglass mounted on top, the modified Garands, were those that were excellent shots with them regardless.
Sasha was smiling childishly as she loaded a clip into hers, spouting something about "a big hunt" to a visibly shaking Bertholdt.
"Eren! Are you okay?"
Marco turned to look at his nervous partner and the center of her attention.
Yeager was aggressively packing a third magazine for the anti-material rifle, a somewhat shaken look in his eyes.
Curious, Marco got closer, trying to hear over the commotion.
"It looked at me, Mikasa, I swear it looked right at me…"
"The colossal?" Marco asked, fully aware he was butting in, but he wanted a distraction from the organized chaos surrounding him.
Eren simply nodded without turning to look directly at them.
"Add to it the fact that it struck when there was a nearby horde of titans, and even found the time to knock down that new cannon… those bastards aren't all dumb and brainless…"
It took but a second for Marco to realize the implication.
If titans weren't all dumb, then it wasn't impossible to assume had some small level of intelligence.
The abnormal types had always existed, but…
A titan that could think?
If a titan could think, it could plan, and if it could plan, it could potentially form a strategy… and if it could form a strategy…
A chill went up his spine as he considered it.
"That only means we have to fight even harder than before. We can't get complacent just because our weapons are a bit more powerful than before, right?" he shouted that last part for the rest of the cadets to hear.
No one really replied.
He didn't care, slinging the heavy rifle over his shoulder.
"Eren… if things begin to get dangerous-"
"Mikasa, I don't need you babysitting me and I don't need you distracted!"
"I-"
"Listen! I need you to be ready to fight! We all do… you read the same books, we don't win wars by abandoning our duties!"
The girl blinked, noting that the teenager was, in his own way, worried.
Worried about her specifically? Maybe not, but still…
She nodded simply.
"Right, come on, everyone! We have to get ready to do our part!"
"Jean, that means you too!" Sasha shouted across the room.
"Ack!" the pained yelp came from a desk where Jean had been loading a clip into the Garand.
He had actually been startled when the rifle appeared to bite him as he quickly loaded the ammo into it once he was done reassembling it.
Normally, Eren would have smiled or at least felt the need to do so. But he couldn't.
Not when a repeat of history appeared to be happening before his very eyes.
Not when a successful defense of the district required everyone do their part.
I have to look to the future, I can't look to the past now!
Especially not when Armin was already doing his part...
The young, yellow haired teenager was actually surprised at how busy he was doing his part of keeping the .50 caliber machine gun firing; to the point that fear wasn't really on his mind.
One had to hand it to the designers of the Shiganshina district; the way the streets were put together left the titans not enough routes to reach the few humans inside, slowing their advance significantly.
What Armin could see as Reiner quickly began firing the .50 again, was that unlike the attack almost five years prior, without the thousands of people to cause the giants to spread out through the city, looking everywhere for a meal, these titans were following a fairly straight forward path towards their perceived next meal.
With only a few spreading apart through the mostly narrow streets, the horde of humanoid monstrosities were advancing towards them through a relatively straight path that made them somewhat easy to take out from the maximum range on the M2 Browning's.
Armin finally appreciated just how the 6 machine gun nests that were engaging the titans there and then were not just acting as a forward defense, but as bait to lure the enemy into a designated kill zone.
The titans were almost packed into one of the major streets in the district, allowing for the majority of the monsters to slowly move forward, only focusing on the nearby human targets.
While not a chokepoint in the sense many would assume, and certainly not as good as stopping them at the entrance, it was the best they could manage as they were.
As Reiner immediately began firing the heavy machine gun once more, Armin observed the glowing tracer rounds that shot towards the advancing titans like lightning, combining with the glowing rounds from the other machine gun nests.
One particularly skinny 15 meter class titan saw its head topple as the rounds slammed its neck, acting almost like a razor wire as the uncaring being continued walking forward despite the hot led literally cutting his neck in two.
"G-guys!"
Daz had replaced Eren, a choice Armin understood. Now Armin held on to the extra ammo and helped Reiner reload while Daz carried the tripod and acted as a lookout with the binoculars.
Armin glanced down the street and saw an almost skeletal five meter class titan lumber forward, as if it had been pushed ahead by the shockwave of the larger 15 meter collapsing dead to the floor.
"I see it, guys, we see a five meter class titan moving down the main street now." Armin stated somewhat nervously, speaking into the radio.
Surprisingly, he managed to avoid stuttering.
The problem with the heavy machine guns was that once it was set up, adjusting it for height and elevation could be somewhat complicated when it was being fired from the ground, or in this case, a slanted rooftop; so in theory it was easier to have the machine gunners focus on the larger titans while their support focused on the smaller targets that managed to push ahead in the large horde.
"Yeah, got it, let's kill it!" Thomas shouted over the radio, the reply followed almost immediately by rifle fire.
The modified M1 Garand's immediately proved their worth as the large creature was riddled with holes the size of tennis balls before someone got a hit on the vital spot, completely destroying the neck.
Daz actually laughed out loud, and Armin could have sworn he heard Connie shout out in celebration as the 8 meter slowly vanished into smoke.
With weapons like these… maybe we can hold them here for as long as-
The radio finally crackled to life from the Americans at the Barracks, and the confidence Armin and the rest of the cadets around him had had but a second earlier was drained away.
Armin had read a fair bit about the First World War, men charged fortified positions and trenches, moving across open ground as machine guns tore into them, mowed them down.
The book mentioned that many thought it was proof that large scale wave attacks that only relied on the advantage of numbers were made obsolete there and then.
But then the Second World War came.
Armin had read about the German invasion of the then called Soviet Union, now known as the Russian Federation, and how titanic a struggle it had been for them to stop the German advance.
Twenty Million men, women and children, dead.
While not bad tacticians, the book mentioned that in some cases, the only choice the Russians had was to charge directly at the enemy in large numbers and just have the men "soak up the bullets" until the Germans ran out ammo.
Of course, it wasn't the numbers that won the Russians the war, the book made it clear that the Americans and other allies had been assisting them.
But it prompted a disturbing epiphany within the teenager.
It seemed to have taken the Germans running out of ammo to lose the war after having a "K/D ratio" of nearly one to nine.
The only unit that could claim anything remotely close to that with the titans was the legendary Team Levi, and even then, compared to the losses in the last century it was impossible.
And now, the second it seemed like they were close to begin evening the odds, the second it seemed that mankind might be able to stand up to the monsters plaguing them…
"104th-A Group, that was the last of our BGM-71s, I say again, that was the last of our BGM-71s! We're pulling back to Alamo in five minutes. Hold that line for as long as you can and pull back to Alamo. 104th-B group will take over and begin phase two of the defense!"
As if to punctuate the seriousness of the situation, Reiner's gun ran dry once more.
…
Matt cursed under his breath as he finished checking the Mk 19, once done he hopped from the Humvee and grabbed his Kevlar, securing it to himself just as Jake arrived with an extra box of 40 mm grenades.
"More?"
"Better to not need and have-" he began before Matt pulled open one of the doors, grabbing his rifle.
"Just get it into the old girl! How long until the fat bastards get here?"
An unsure expression on his face, Jake said "Ten minutes, they just ordered the first line to pull back."
"Damn it… where's Dave?!" he growled.
"Dude, you okay?"
"I won't be unless this-"
"Guys!" Dave shouted as he ran up to them.
"Oh, what the hell are you-?"
"Some extra armor piercing rounds! Just in case we need them…"
Matt glanced at the green tipped rounds. He was tempted to correct Dave on their classification, but chose to ignore it.
"Dude, we're all carrying the green tipped rounds."
"Yeah, but extra ammunition is-"
An alarm sounded off.
"Pack em! We have to get moving, now!" Matt said, climbing up to man his weapon.
Jake glanced behind him, noticing the young cadets using their gear to move away.
No older than sixteen…
"Driver! Hey, driver, we aren't paying you to exploit your ephebiophilic tendencies!"
Jake turned to Matt, asking "Dude, what?"
"Jesus Christ! We don't have time for this, man! DRIVE!"
Dear mom and dad, I found out today that if I am going to die, it's because the guys in my unit will literally find time to argue while giant zombies approach us, love Dave.
Not too far from the Americans, Eren felt the wind on his face as he landed on a dusty rooftop, quickly grabbing the M107 and placing the rifle on a stable position as Jean landed next to him with a huff.
"How many?" Jean asked simply, fixing the radio on his vest.
Eren narrowed his eyes as he counted the titans in the distance, now passing the barracks, still following the tail of the retreating machine gunners of the 104th.
Suddenly the titans began to splinter away from each other, the giant mass of bodies becoming a branching tree that spread in several directions.
"I see seven headed our way… I think it's more or less spreading out like that." he replied, removing the cap on the front of the scope and gripped the rifle, keeping his finger off the trigger.
His radio crackled to life suddenly.
"This is private Arlert, team two made it to Alamo, I say again, team two made it to Alamo! We're clear!"
"Private Srpinger, team four made it to Alamo!"
Eren felt a sigh of relief as all the other members of the 104th that had been part of the first line of defense appeared to have made it back safely.
Jean mumbled something next to him, and Eren proceeded to glare silently at the young man.
"Glare at me all you want, Yeager, if you die it'll be your own fault."
Eren huffed and said "You know, I'll give you this much, Jean, at least you stuck with us long enough to fight the titans. You gonna run now?"
"I swear, Yeager, if it wasn't for the Americans I-"
"You would be living it up in the capital or inner wall or wherever. Jean, I don't care, get that through your head. What pisses me off is that you don't keep that garbage opinion of yours to yourself! You're like a walking vacuum of morale and no matter what we do you won't stop."
Jean felt his nails dig into the wood on the Garand, unable to talk back without punching the teenager in the face.
"Come on, they're about to get into range." He mumbled slightly, checking the ammunition.
Jean didn't say anything as the radio crackled in his ear.
"Zeremski and Braus, we're set." A worried cadet stated.
"Leonhart and Hoover, we're set."
"Ackerman and Bodt, we're set."
"Yeager and Kirschtein, we're set." He said after a second.
Eren didn't comment, which Jean wasn't sure if it irritated him more than if Eren had commented, but right now he didn't care.
The radio crackled as the last team reported in.
"Alright cadets, be advised, enemy strength is a little over two hundred strong at this point. Most of these are ten to twelve meter types, but plenty of five and fifteen meter types are sprinkled out. Remember that distance is your friend, cadets. Do. Not. Take. Needless. Risks! I am not about to write a letter to your family saying you died like an idiot because you didn't follow procedure! Now… Mark your targets and fire at will." Lieutenant Troy's voice rang into their ears.
Eren smiled ever so slightly as he felt satisfaction at the orders given.
Without turning to Jean, he said "Keep an eye out for the short ones, I'll take care of those heading our way."
He aimed right at the center of a titan's neck, a particularly fat one that had a dead look in its eyes as it lumbered towards him.
Eren gently squeezed the trigger.
The resulting shockwave from the blast of the anti-material rifle caused dust to fly and small pieces of the ceiling to shift or outright slip down away from the rooftop.
The result on the titan was clear, as a hole briefly materialized on the left side of its cheek, steam coming from the crater of the uncaring monster.
Always account for wind… damn it all!
He adjusted slightly and fired again, this time the monster went down without hesitation.
"Got one." Eren breathed, doing his best to hide his excitement.
"I got one too, and without the scoped rifle!" an excited Sasha shouted over the line.
"Not like that's anything to brag about, I think Mikasa and Annie are going to mow them down singlehandedly." Jean replied, sounding irritated.
"Focus, cadets!" the booming voice of Kieth Shadis came over the radio, silencing everyone.
Eren mentally kicked himself, firing a second shot, grazing the neck of a titan.
Their booming of their steps in the distance was audible in the distance.
Slow, primeval, completely different from the booming of anti-material rifles that responded the booming footsteps of the gigantic invaders.
The teenager aggressively pulled the trigger again, once more missing.
He felt his jaw clench in anger.
These damned vermin… YOU WILL NOT HOLD US CAPTIVE ANY LONGER!
He fired again, earning a second kill a second later.
The battle was just getting started.
…
Ilse recognized the up armored Humvee and ran up to it as it parked itself near an MRAP.
"Guys! What took you so long?!" she demanded.
"We got stuck with the last group to leave-" Jake began but was cut off by the younger scout.
"Are you kidding?! You guys were in the back of the convoy! Why on earth-?! Nevermind! Lieutenant Troy is waiting for you over there." She spat back, pointing at an empty spot near the entrance of the wall.
"Jackson, get that Mk 19 over here now!" the lieutenant shouted.
The soldier drove over immediately, knowing full well the firepower was needed.
All the vehicles that had been in the motor pool that could be equipped with any type of gun were neatly parked in front of the entrance, facing the main street of Shiganshina, the gate behind them open should a retreat be necessary.
It was mostly a mix of Army and Marine mechanized infantry, with the four M1A2 Abrams being the biggest guns in the defense, the four iron carriages placed specifically in front of the main entrance, turrets aimed down the main street, ready to deliver instant death should anything that wasn't human peak over the corner of the street at the opposite end.
The entrance to Shiganshina had been mostly flattened during the repairs, which gave them plenty of room, but the area still appeared crowded, and Ilse knew that retreating would be difficult.
She glanced up at the sky.
She couldn't see it, but knew that there were eyes in the skies above, American remote controlled drones that flew high in the sky, sending a feed to the small command center they had set up, which would warn them if the force became too much for the defenders, hopefully giving them enough time to pull back if necessary, but even she knew that the plan could go wrong a million different ways.
The Cobras had taken care of most of the abnormal titans before having to land atop the walls, but if a group of abnormal types appeared, the retreat would most definitely be attacked before they could all pull back.
And that wasn't factoring in the armored or colossal titans appearing again.
She gripped her ODM gear, knowing that she might have to fight the enemy head on if they got too close.
She glanced at the rooftops around her, seeing the members of the 104th setting up machine gun nests on the rooftops.
"If those kids have to fight, it feels a bit insulting that we have to stand back." She mumbled.
The small contingency of scouts in Shiganshina had been relegated to organizing the evacuation of non-combatants, and were in a sense the final line of defense should the "Alamo" need to pull back.
The ever present sound of distant gunfire drew her attention, and she knew the enemy was close yet again, and she shuddered.
They were exposed.
The Cobras were no longer at the entrance, and even with the damage they had inflicted on the large contingency of titans that got in, if another swarm of the beasts decided to take advantage of the sealed gate… nothing would stop them.
The supply convoy had arrived and begun distributing ammo amongst the Americans, but the fuel necessary to keep the Cobras running could only be delivered through the equipment at the main barracks.
And unless the drone feed was lying to them, that place was already overrun.
Thankfully evacuated, but overrun.
And the Americans had prioritized getting ammo and personnel out, not finding room for the refueling equipment.
Ilse wanted to hit something, knowing that until more air support arrived, they would have to fight like this.
We can only hold them off long enough for the air support to arrive.
She glanced at the shadows forming by a small rock as the sun in the clear blue sky shone on it.
It's been thirty minutes… we need to wait an hour and half at the least.
Glancing at the motor pool behind her, she wondered if the ammo would hold out.
…
"Pulling back!" one of the cadets, Zeremski, was heard on the radio.
Colonel Parker nodded, biting his fingernail as he moved out of the tiny command post they had set up on the top of Wall Maria.
He noted the scale of the district, trying to locate the position of the cadets by the steam emitted form the decaying bodies of the dead titans.
"Redirect, divide and conquer… or at least kill." He mumbled, and soon realizing how futile it was to locate them from that height without assistance, he looked through his binoculars.
The cadets had indeed pulled further to the east of their position, luring several titans away.
God, could this actually work?
He stared at the large contingency of titans, somewhat separating as they all tried to head for different targets now that they had humans closer to them, most ignoring the larger massing of people at the main gate.
"Pulling back." the almost unnaturally calm voice of Ackerman was heard on the radio.
The Colonel actually laughed slightly when he heard her.
She had no need to fall back, but was sticking to the plan.
Every single titan that had approached her and Private Bodt had been slaughtered before they could even begin to close the distance.
"God damn Asians, they really do everything better!" Parker laughed.
She even decided to carry extra blades in case they were necessary… girl should be promoted.
Several Army Rangers were moving around him, some positioning their own anti-material rifles on the wall, waiting for the cadets to completely pull back before opening fire on the titans.
"Sir, it appears that a second large gathering of titans has taken notice and is headed our way." One of the operatives manning a computer and controlling a drone called out.
It was a bare bones outpost, several solar powered computers on the ground with the equipment needed to control the group of relatively small but efficient RQ-11 Ravens that were acting as the eye in the sky.
"Great, so even if we split them up into slightly more manageable clusters another group is on the way… of course." he mumbled sarcastically.
"Colonel, unlike this previous group already inside, most of these other titans- at least, the ones I can see here, are clearly the slower kind. By the time they get here, air support should have arrived."
Parker shook his head.
"Hope for the best, plan for the worst, Mikey. Keep a close eye on the kids, if one of them gets hurt, and I mean badly hurt…"
"Understood, Colonel." the soldier replied.
Parker glanced at the monitor, a ten meter titan going down with relative ease from yet another shot from Mikasa.
The girl was as good as a tank.
Urban combat with giants… a nightmare in the making.
…
"Pulling back..." Yeager's voice sounded on the radio, which might have relieved someone like Mikasa.
But the Warrior felt nothing but dread as he glanced in the direction of the teenager.
This is perfect! The second you get a shot-
You want me to shoot Eren?!
Non-fatal, just… wound him.
With a bullet that kills titans?!
If he is what I think he is, it won't matter unless you hit his spine.
That was true, if Eren was just like him and his two companions, a bullet would sure as hell hurt, but it wouldn't kill him.
The girl he admired so much glanced at him then, wordlessly asking "Now?"
The young man was simply looking at the rooftop in the distance.
The problem is they put us too far away… even if it isn't really too much of a problem for me.
He had trained with firearms before and he had been an excellent shot.
He could faintly see the silhouettes of Eren and Jean standing up.
He noted that Eren was the one carrying the far longer gun.
He took a breath and began to gently squeeze the trigger on the M1 Garand.
Sorry, Eren…
A fair distance away, Eren was standing up, grabbing his things and getting ready to zip away to the next location.
"Four kills… can't believe I'm saying this, Jean, but you did a decent enough job picking off the extra ones." He mumbled, making a point of sounding surprised by the fact that Jean had actually done something for the war effort.
The pair had always been arguing since that first week in training.
Eren wasn't entirely sure why Jean hated his guts, but he did know they were polar opposites to an extent.
Not that it mattered now, titans were still approaching, and the cadets had to pull back if they wanted to continue thinning their numbers to make the horde far more manageable once they arrived at the third line of defense.
"Just shut up, Yeager… I don't want-"
Jean felt something off in the air, like an insect had buzzed past him at lightning speeds.
He wasn't sure what it had been until Eren collapsed backwards, rolling down the slanted rooftop and falling to the stone road below.
The faintest "Huh?" came from the young man who was wondering why the hell his eyes were staring at the bright blue sky when they were focusing on jumping to another roof a half second ago.
His attempt at standing back up was met with no response from either his arms or his legs and he began to get worried.
What- what the hell happened to me? I- I can't feel-
"Dear God…"
Eren stared at the pale face of Jean, staring at him in shock from the rooftop.
"K-Kirschtein! Did you just p-"
A pang of pain shot up through his side and Eren could only glance to look at his torso.
There was a large hole on his left side that was quite literally bleeding like a popped gallon of water.
Since the invention of the modern firearm accidents have abounded, especially during wartime. During the American Civil War, a certain general was killed not by the enemy, but by his own soldiers when he had been mistaken for the enemy. Over forty years later, during the Russo-Japanese war, worried Russian sailors mistakenly opened fire on British cruisers almost starting a war with the British Empire. During the Spanish Civil War, cases of friendly fire were rampant as so many volunteers simply didn't have the experience needed and would often make deadly mistakes. Even in modern times, such as the 1991 Persian Gulf War, cases of friendly fire were a problem often due to mistaken identity. For the US, just about every M1 Abrams that was destroyed during that war was actually done in by friendly fire.
The cadets had learned of these examples, but hadn't taken them too seriously as they had all learned gun safety for the most part, and who on earth would ever confuse a person for a titan?
The baseball sized hole in Yeager's left side seemed to tell a different story.
Jean had no idea what to do so he froze there, staring.
Beginning to shake, Eren forced himself to speak.
No way in hell am I dying because of your incompetence, Jean!
"J-Jean- c-call it in!" he gargled out, unknowingly going into shock.
Eren didn't have to say anymore as Jean immediately grabbed the radio on his vest, saying "E-Eren has been it by… by one of our own rounds!"
If anyone reacted Jean didn't notice then, as he saw the sickening smile of the approaching giants staring at him.
"Jean!"
He snapped back to reality and glanced at his radio.
"Say again! Are you reporting a blue on blue situation?" Lieutenant Troy barked.
"What the hell is a blue on blue?!" Jean barked back, impatiently.
"Did you shoot Eren by accident, cadet?!" the furious voice bellowed back.
Jean shouted "No, but Eren got hit by some bullet and he's bleeding on the floor and- and- and… oh, dear God, his gear is damaged!"
The teenager moved down to the street to check over his comrade.
"Jean, report!" the lieutenant called then.
"He- he's breathing! But he looks bad… real bad…"
Of course he looks bad, dumbass, he just got shot by an anti-titan round! Oh, crap, titans!
"The titans they're… they're getting closer! What do I do?"
Silence for an agonizing second before Troy spoke up again in a very calm and almost disturbing voice.
"Jean, there is a tight alleyway down the street where you two can hide in, I need you to stop his bleeding while we send a team to recover the two of you. Try to keep him alive, but if you get surrounded… don't let him suffer. Stick to this frequency, and stay quiet."
Jean stared at the pained expression on the unconscious teenager.
Damn you, Eren! Why the hell did you have to go and get shot?!
…
Mikasa blanched as she heard the exchange over the radio before it was cut off.
Her lip quivered ever so slightly as Marco attempted to say something.
"Look, Mikasa, he-"
The girl stood up, an unreadable expression on her face, and fired every round she had in almost rapid succession, killing the five titans that were directly headed towards her new position.
She immediately got on the radio and spoke up saying "Sir, requesting permission to assist Jean and Eren!"
Silence on the other end.
Marco stood up, speaking into the radio "Colonel, we cleaned up our sector, if we're fast we can-"
"Do it, God damn it! Just don't try to be heroes and move from behind the firing lines!"
"S-sir! Thank you, colonel!" Mikasa managed to breathe out before jumping from the rooftop and zooming towards Eren's location.
Marco took a breath before doing the same.
Meanwhile at the command post, Colonel Parker got Troy on the radio.
"Troy, how many men can we spare?"
"We have an extra Humvee and MRAP from the Marines, if they stick to the street on the right side of the district, they could get there in ten minutes."
A twenty minute round trip…
"Nurse Joy is also on standby outside, I can call her in and have her bring in some blood and supplies for a transfusion. If private Kirschtein stops the bleeding for a few minutes and we move fast enough…"
Parker rubbed the hair on his head, frustrated as the situation became awfully clear.
A kid was going to die on his watch.
He knew it would be nearly impossible to save a kid who might have taken a hit by a .50 caliber round, but… the kid was the only remaining family for those two, as well as one of the only surviving members of Shiganshina.
The colonel felt his throat tighten in frustration.
He's also one of the few kids here with that abnormality in his blood… the same type as that Ymir girl the Scouts are looking into.
"God… of course… get to it, but if it gets too risky, call it off."
"Understood, Colonel." the lieutenant replied.
Parker glanced at the monitors.
The titans had indeed spread out; giving the sniper teams a decent opportunity to deal with each individual titan with greater ease.
But with one of the teams out of action and the other team moving to assist them, they were converging again.
Parker could only hope this would be enough.
The kid might be more important than he had thought. How the hell had a friendly fire incident occurred?
The eerie possibility of an intelligence behind the creatures sent waves of ice up and down his spine.
Glancing at the formation of men and materials meters down he held on to the knowledge that no matter what it was, they would face it head on.
For better or for worst…
…
Kane eyed the Army lieutenant without emotion.
"So, you want us to head out, ass first into the part of the town that's infested with giant naked cannibals in order to try to save a kid who got shot by a .50 caliber round at the same time that the giants are moving on our position and we may have to evacuate if they get too close?"
"The kid is Eren Yeager, one of the only survivors of the Shiganshina attack half a decade ago, and is a person of interest. You guys don't have to, but you're the only ones with an MRAP that we can spare"
Kane nodded, taking a relaxed drag on the cigarette he was smoking before saying "Lieutenant, we just wanted to be clear on the objective. Come on, Murph."
"Hold it, you guys need to take the Nurse with you!"
Kane nodded, saying "We'll wait right here, sir."
Troy then glanced at the Humvee where an angry Ilse was arguing with her escorts.
"What do you mean I can't come?" she demanded.
"We may need the extra space and this is just a quick recovery operation, not an opening offensive or the begginings of a counter attack!" Jake barked back as he checked the ammo on his M4.
"Oh, but team Levi gets to go?"
"God damn it, Ilse, if you want to help out then go take some extra ammo to the cadets over there! This isn't a game!"
"I know but- but I… damn it!" she balled a fist and yelled "None of you are allowed to die!"
The three men nodded calmly.
Soldier or not, she's still a teenager.
Though truthfully, she knew how serious the situation was, which was why she wanted to help in any way she could.
It would have been perfect if this was a normal combat situation, the ODM gear could get troops to rooftops and back quickly, and combined with modern firearms, no human enemy would be able to hold much.
But of course, the enemy wasn't human, and urban combat was always a nightmare.
This was already a mission that might be better off canceled given that Eren would likely die from blood loss.
Troy noticed Karina moving towards them.
"Come on, Nurse Joy! Move your- hurry up!" Troy called as the nurse ran towards the Marine MRAP, Oluo and Eld running alongside her while carrying some bags of what Troy assumed were medical supplies.
The nurse said nothing, climbing on board the MRAP as the Eld handed her the medical supplies.
"Can we spare any extra troops?" she called.
Troy simply shook his head.
The nurse nodded, mildly frustrated, but five Americans and four elite scouts should hold off any small amount of titans that tried to grab them.
"Don't you worry, nurse. We have a combined kill count of one hundred enemy combatants, as you Americans call them, we'll keep them off you if they start getting close." Eld chimed.
The nurse nodded.
The scout with light brown hair who appeared older than he was glanced around before potting his other two squad mates running up with some heavy looking boxes on hand.
"Petra, Gunther, get over here! What the hell are you carrying?!" Oluo called as he began climbing into the armored vehicle.
Petra placed the crate on the MRAP, saying "Kane, some of the Marines said this would come in handy… whatever that means… any idea what kind of weapons these are?"
Kane glanced at the crate and grinned.
"Well, God damn… I heard they had some of those one-five-threes. Hold on to them, if we get surrounded they will clear a neat little path for us."
Petra could only blink as the Marine both seemed to answer her question and not answer it at all.
It was Gunther that said "Probably another titan killing weapon. Come on, we're low time."
"Yeah, hey Jackson! You boys ready?!" he called.
"Yeah!" the soldier called back.
Jake started the Humvee as Matt finished checking the Mk 19.
It'll have to do…
Kane started up the MRAP just as the scouts got inside, Murphy making sure the mounted .50 caliber machine gun wsa functioning with the common remotely operated weapons station, CROW for short.
"Gun's working fine." he said.
"Great, let's go get ourselves killed! Hoo-rah!"
Lieutenant Troy could only watch as the odd combined force sped away into the district.
Please don't get yourselves killed.
…
You just had to get yourself shot, huh you attention seeking brat?! You just had to drag me into your problems instead of just dying instantly, huh?! Damn you, Eren, even at death's door you somehow manage to make life hard for me!
Jean had found himself awkwardly dragging the unconscious Eren into the tight alleyway that seemed sturdy enough to hold off the titans for a minute or two if they got discovered.
Stopping the bleeding had proven impossible, what amazed him as that the teenager was somehow not dead.
Tossing the now blood soaked cloth he had used aside, he considered his options.
"You know, leaving you here wouldn't work… Mikasa would hate me for it. But if you have no intention of dying can you at least become conscious enough so that I can fly us both out of here?!"
No response except the visibly strained breathing and the distant sound of gunfire and walking giants.
"Damn it all… you better not die after putting me through all this-"
He shut himself up.
*Boom*
*Boom
*Boom*
It wasn't the guns anymore; it was the giants that had been closing in on them.
He moved himself closer to the edge of the alley, just as the giant shadow appeared at its entrance.
A skinny giant the size of the homes around them lay itself down and stared at them from the entrance, unable to follow them in.
Although it can probably reach us if it tries breaking these old homes…
Jean didn't move an inch, not even daring to breathe.
The dead eyed creature simply watched them, unblinking.
A shadow came over them, blocking out the sunlight and making the alleyway appear more like a tomb than Jean would have liked.
A fat fifteen meter titan was staring at them from behind the alley, towering over the long abandoned homes of stone and wood.
Jean blinked, not saying a word as the creature simply looked at them.
Its smile widened after exactly sixty seconds of unnervingly staring at the cadets.
It slowly began to reach into the alley.
Snapping out of his trance, Jean began to desperately search for a window or a door he could break down to escape, but there was nothing.
He gripped the M1 Garand and pointed it at the giant, firing a shot.
He missed the vital neck spot, and the creature was so large even if he had hit it…
Still he fired again and again, trying to knock its eyes out.
He managed that, and the titan froze in place.
"Jean? What's going on over there?" the concerned voice of Mikasa came over the radio.
Jean breathed out a sigh of relief, saying "We're surrounded by titans, just two so far- I managed to knock one out of commission, but it's too-"
"Is Eren…alive?" she asked then.
It's always about him, isn't it?
Frustrated, he turned to look at his wounded companion, saying "He lost a lot of blood, but he's still breathing if that's what-"
Jean went silent.
The titan that had been staring at them from the entrance of the alley had squeezed his hand into the tight space and grabbed Eren by the leg, lifting him up and allowing blood to drip down, as if Eren was indeed a dead farm animal about to be consumed for its meat.
"God damn it, hurry up!"
He didn't even bother emptying the clip, loading another one in and firing at the eyes… until the monster placed Eren in front of its face.
Jean froze, unsure of what he could do.
Behind the cadet, the fat titan was now reaching down to grab him with its bloated arm, its eyes now back to functioning properly.
Jean froze in place, staring at the situation, and understanding coming over him.
"We really can't beat you… huh?"
In the distance, he heard a scream or a shout… it was a girl.
The fat titan fell forward, dead right there and then, Jean barely seeing the recognizable features of Mikasa Ackerman as she sped forward, blades drawn, to destroy the other monster.
"Eren!"
As if it understood what trouble it was in, the creature stuffed Eren in its open mouth, snapped it shut, and swallowed as the girl cut into its nape.
Like all its brethren, the titan died with a smile, and it left nothing behind but grief and despair.
…
Captain Levi always sported a face that suggested that no matter the occasion, no matter the place, no matter the time, he was having a miserable time.
"Come on, Captain! Millions will see your photograph!" the ever energetic Hanji hissed as a man with a cap that had the letters "ABC" written on it stood with a camera aimed at the three officers of the Survey Corps.
Levi didn't reply and the bored looking cameraman stood still.
"Captain, this is a highly important mission, and looking your best is highly important." Erwin whispered, keeping a polite grin on his face.
Levi felt his eyebrow twitch slightly as he forced his lips to curve upwards ever so slightly.
The photographer simply mumbled something along the lines of "That'll do, I guess." and took the picture.
"Levi, how come you have to look dead every hour of every dead?"
"You got your presentation ready?" he asked her, ignoring her question.
"Of course I do! All that's left is for the reporters to set up their cameras and for the interrogation of the nobility to conclude." She said, glancing at the exasperated politicians.
"Many nations from our side of the gate are worried they have people on this side, what would the monarchy's position be if another nation asked for their people to be sent across the gate?" a reporter asked.
"We have no idea what that means, but are open to discussions. Next question…" Deltoffe sighed, trying desperately to look dignified and not like he wanted to die.
"Sir, concerns have been raised about the lack of modernization, are American policies not working as they are or is there something else?" another reporter asked.
"We will begin modernizing this very month, next question." he sighed.
"Why ban flying machines within the walls?" another reporter asked.
"Public safety, next-"
"But sir, with all due respect you have allowed a large percentage of the population to permanently live underground, spreading diseases among other dangers, why exactly-?"
"I said next question… after that one we are done." Deltoffe said, exasperated but firm enough that the reporter went quiet as his colleagues glared at him.
"Does the king have an heir?"
"Yes. Now if you would all kindly take a seat, the Survey Corps will give their report on titans and you can Miss Hanji Zoe all the questions you would like."
Deltoffe noticed the young reporter had more questions, but she simply walked along the rest of the group to the chairs set up nearby so that they could record the information Hanji was about to present.
These reporters aren't as easy to deal as our own, but at least they cooperate… unlike a certain-
"Ladies, gentlemen and colleagues! Good morning to you all!"
Damn it all…
A somewhat flustered Moblit moved around to set up a stand with large drawings and what the Americans called "photographs" in order to present the findings with simplicity.
A large white canvass simply read in both their alphabet and the Americans' "Information Available to us Thus Far".
"Hmm, this should be good." The voice of Commander Dot Pixis was overheard just as Moblit moved the first picture onto the stand.
"I am Hanji Zoe, member of the Survey Corps, in charge of our own efforts to analyze and understand the threat that are the titans!"
Her subordinate removed the white canvass presentation page and placed a picture of a fat, smiling titan before quickly turning it around to reveal show several odd drawings on the back side.
"Due to our technological limitations and resources, we could never really analyze titans head on, however, thanks to some insight from the other side of the gate, and some of their technology, we can definitively conclude that titans are artificial beings."
Some of the military officers turned to each other, unsure of what that meant for them.
Erwin stared ahead, knowing already what she knew.
"The… exact workings of the titans is still not something we understand, they possess no means of digesting their food but other organs still exist within them such as the stomach and lungs and brain- but tests done on our resident titan, Tiny, have shown-"
"Excuse me, but you named the titan… Tiny?" an American reporter asked.
Levi felt the corner of his eye twitch involuntarily.
Don't get her started, don't get her started, don't-
"Yes, and it was a big deal given that we weren't really sure what to name him. originally I was going to call him after a legendary murderer that was forced to eat his own eyes as punishment for his crimes, but then some of the scientists from the other side were talking about these ancient tales called Greek myths and how the titans used to be these incredibly powerful gods, and then we started talking about the titans in their myths and legends and overall we settled on calling the project itself Project Prometheus, after one of the Greek gods, and Tiny was named due to his tiny size compared to the more intimidating fifteen meter types… did that answer your question?"
The reporter blinked, amazed at how fast the woman had stated all of that, nodded slowly and decided it would be wise to stay silent for the rest of the presentation.
"Anyway, where was I?"
"Brains, Miss Hanji." Moblit whispered.
"Ah! Of course! Their brains don't do anything. It's just a pile of… as of yet unidentifiable material that occupies the inside of their heads. All nerves and anything resembling what might be the command center of the body lie either connected to or directly within the nape of the neck. Which lead my colleagues and I to try and get a closer look at the nape of the titan."
Hanji pointed to the pictures on the board behind her. Upon inspection, any one could see that it was a crudely drawn human, strange strings moving across all extremities in the body.
"These are what nerves look like, and this here is a map of nerves on the average human body, to put it bluntly, they are extensions to the brain that allow us to move our arms and legs by simply thinking about it." she greatly oversimplified.
Moblit added another set of pictures to the stand.
"It wasn't easy, but we began analyzing the nape with special machines brought in from the other side of the gate… notice any similarities?
A murmur spread through the crowd, the military officers immediately putting two and two together.
"The… the center of nerves spreading across the titans… from the nape- it… it looks like…" Hanji tried to speak, suddenly worried about the saying the truth aloud, but resolving to go forward.
It was her duty to venture into the unknown and try to understand it.
"It's as if there is a human figure within the titan's nape that connects all the nerves together." She stated simply.
Silence.
Deltoffe sighed and asked "Miss Hanji, how many titans have you tested this on?"
"So far just Tiny, but we have several leads and are already making efforts to capture another. This time a fifteen meter type, and we have a theory that most titans don't have perfect nerves, as some react with pain to getting hurt, like Tiny, while others simply ignore pain entirely."
Deltoffe nodded slowly, though Erwin could see the man was trying to sow doubt. He nodded for Hanji to continue.
"This actually gives credence to some of the theories that titans were originally man made weapons of some sort. Notice that the nerves here don't so much as connect to one stem, but spread out from this… collection of nerves right here. We tried opening the nape, but no matter what tools we brought or what chemicals we applied, the regeneration always kicked in and… and it leads me to another worrisome conclusion."
The nobility leaned in, the reporters stood up with their cameras, and Erwin braced himself.
"Titans appear to almost be… designed to hunt humans specifically, and reading up on the history of the world beyond the gate we do see humans creating weapons for the express purpose of dealing with specific threats- stones and knives to defeat larger animals, spears and bows to defeat knives and stones, swords and armor to defeat spears and bows, rifles and other guns to defeat swords and armor, tanks to defeat rifles and other guns, aircraft to defeat those, and then anti-aircraft guns to defeat them in turn… of course, we haven't had that technology or need of, but it suggests that there is an intelligence behind the titans, human or otherwise."
"Are you saying there is some unseen force leading the titans?"
"Quite likely, it follows the same logic as the other world. Our weapons failed against the titans, so we took shelter behind the Three Walls. For one hundred years we lived free from their threat… until almost exactly five years ago, when the Colossal and Armored titans appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and clearly never before seen. So… maybe the titans are just mindless entities that simply exist and we got unlucky when one that size spotted us… or some intelligence adapted, and designed two new titans for the sole purpose of defeating our walls."
Another murmur spread amongst the small crowd of the nobility, the military, and the reporters.
Hanji remained silent, a part of her desperately wanted to talk about the suspicious individuals within the 104th that was training in Shiganshina, but information was already limited enough, and they would have a report on it soon anyway.
"These are just theories at the end of the day, yes?" Deltoffe asked.
"Of course, but it is what we can assume with the given information we have available. Titans don't get sick, they don't age, they don't eat, and they don't even drink water! They act more like machines than normal organisms."
"They don't get sick?" another reporter asked.
"Oh, one of my colleagues came in a few days ago and tested several diseases from your world on Tiny. The inside of a titan is too hot to allow any organism to survive for too long, so everything injected into it died before it could spread. It was quite fascinating, actually."
Before the reporters could ask anything else, Deltoffe stood up and clapped his hands, sayig "Thank you, Miss Hanji Zoe, American Press, the nobility and the commanders must discuss this information in private, but feel free to look around the government offices! Thank you for blessing us with your presence."
Hanji wanted to protest, but the man had spoken in a polite, yet firm, tone that made it clear there was no point in even trying.
This information was very important to the military, after all; more so than curious questions.
She began helping Moblit pack up her presentation when Levi approached her.
"Hey, four eyes, when you get the chance, give this to the man by the door."
She blinked in confusion as the short captain handed her a small piece of paper and went back to Erwin's side.
She glanced at the door, seeing a man in a trench coat and a dark hat staring at her.
"Huh… the illusive Kenny Ackerman, huh?" Hanji mumbled silently to herself.
"Huh?" Moblit questioned.
"Come along, Moblit. Questions are awaiting answers!" she replied, beginning to walk towards the man in the trench coat.
Moblit sucked in some air and followed her while carrying the presentation materials.
The man in the trench coat noticed the approaching pair but said nothing.
"Hi, there! Have you met our captain?"
Silence.
"He seems to know you from somewhere…"
Silence.
"Well, an excellent point, sir! Anyway, Captain Levi asked us to give you this note, not sure why, mind sharing?"
Silence.
"A very persuasive and enlightening argument! Have a good day, sir!" she said, handing the man the note before walking away.
Kenny Ackerman stared at the note for a second before opening it.
"What the hell was that all about?" Sannes asked, appearing out of nowhere.
Kenny closed it and said "Bah, the captain of the Survey Corps recognized me from way back in the day. Not that it matters much." Kenny mumbled, noticing that Ian was accompanying Sannes.
"You notice he follows you around like a lost puppy?"
Sannes shrugged, saying "He needs to learn how we do things… these people are too inquisitive for their own good." He mumbled, glancing at the American reporters.
Kenny nodded with little care.
"So… is the big guy ready?"
Ian scowled, asking "Do you always speak of the king in such disparaging tone, captain?"
Kenny scoffed, saying "You should have met the previous kings, boy."
Speaking of…
The government room shut its doors, leaving the military commanders and one subordinate to accompany the nobility.
Except they were not alone.
Erwin noted that another nobleman was in the room, looking tired.
He looks strangely familiar…
"Commanders, we are here to address a very important issue." Aurille began to speak.
Dot Pyxis figured they were finally going to ask about the modernization progress, he had several ideas for adapting several weapons and putting them into mass production.
Nile Dawk, the commander of the Military Police had a similar idea, as he had seen the schematics of several century old weapons that they could use in the Military Police.
Premiere Zachary didn't care what the meeting was about.
Erwin thought it was about a progress report, but now he worried it would be about-
"We need to discuss the threat of the Americans on our way of life."
Everyone gawked at the statement.
"Commander Erwin, you have worked with them closely, if they wanted to destroy us… could they?"
Erwin was stunned, saying "Sir, they have rules that they follow strictly! Even if they could-"
"They can and they might… their world leaders keep asking questions, wondering why we won't allow this or that… questioning the absolute rule of the king…"
"To be fair, sir, they have been an incredible help thus far. In less than a year they have retaken Wall Maria, killed all the titans within it, and even began training a force to combat titans with their own weapons!" Pyxis added.
"Are you certain they are planning on using those cadets against the titans? It isn't too far-fetched to assume they would turn them on us, right?"
"But sir, why would they-?"
"Because they disagree with us on a fundamental level."
Everyone turned to look at the man that had been standing around in the room, not saying much.
He looked tired, slightly overweight, and worried.
He sucked in a breath and said "They are a nation of beliefs and laws that go against our own. They carelessly charge ahead, they don't consider the consequences of their actions… Miss Langnar had said they were cautious not to bring diseases however, yet Miss Zoe just confirmed they tested diseases on a captured titan. What if there was an accident?"
"Excuse me, but the test was done deep underground, in a very contained environment and the disease used were deadly but treatable. They were as cautious as they could be when seeking knowledge." Erwin stated.
You would know this if you bothered asking questions.
"As cautious as you were, commander? Captain?"
The two scouts were silent.
"In the days since you took charge Erwin, how many people have died under you? Captain… Please correct me if I'm wrong, but your first squad was killed in its entirety except for you."
Levi felt his nails dig into the palm of his hand despite his emotionless demeanor.
"Excuse me, but who exactly are you?" Premiere Zachary asked then, irritated with the odd man that was apparently just observing.
Silence for a moment.
"My name is Rod Reiss. I am the true king of the walls."
Silence.
Pyxis turned to his just as shocked subordinate, asking "Anka, am I drunk or did I really hear him properly?"
"Oh, you heard right, commander. I am letting you all in on this little secret not because I want conflict but because I want to avoid it. You see, long ago, we had a founder… a god, if you will."
As the man spoke, the military commanders glanced at the nobility, all of whom were watching the self-proclaimed king with a reverence they had never seen before.
"The will of the Founder is why we have our laws, why things have gone so well… if anything, it's going against the will of the Founder that brings misfortune, just look at what your expeditions brought forth, Commander."
Silence.
"Now, I am a man of peace, I will let you know that we have no intentions of fighting the Americans, and Erwin, I want you to deliver that message immediately. But if they choose to strike first, I want all our forces to be prepared."
Silence.
"I have spoken… dedicate your hearts and do your duty as soldiers."
The phrase, much to the shock of the military officers, no longer felt like a call to duty.
…
Unless someone that knew them was to stop to stare, they wouldn't notice the mild shock on the faces of Captain Levi and Commander Erwin.
Nile Dawk couldn't say much about Levi, but he knew Erwin.
The two had actually been in the same trainee unit a lifetime before, and Erwin had always talked about crazy things like conspiracies within the government and history books being used to fool the population.
He had never believed him, of course, but now…
"So… that was something, huh? Feel like I owe you an apology."
Erwin simply said "No need, even I didn't expect this… did you understand any of what he said about a founder and a god?"
"Sounded like crazy talk if you ask me, crazier than any of your theories." Nile replied.
"The nobility seemed to be on board, though."
Nile only nodded, worried.
"Could the Americans actually be… you know… planning something against us?"
Erwin was silent, but it was broken by load yells and a figure running towards them.
"COMMANDER!" Hanji shouted as she stopped in front of the men.
"The- the wall- it- Wall Maria has been breached!"
Levi didn't show it, but he immediately began to worry about his team.
Your first squad was killed in its entirety except for you
"How?! The Armored or the Colossal or-?" he was cut off by Hanji.
"All I know is that something strange happened… not just with the colossal but… something else."
The men looked confused now.
What on earth could be stranger than a giant the size of the walls tearing down the same spot twice in the same decade?
…
The blood of her parents had seeped between the wooden planks on the floor, the men responsible arguing over the death of her mother.
Her mother had resisted.
Her mother had been the main objective.
Her mother was dead.
So she was the next best thing.
Mikasa had landed on the roof of a house but it barely registered as she stared simply at the dead giant.
"E-Eren?" she looked around, as she had moved to quickly when she killed the giant, she hadn't seen it devour Eren.
Moving quickly she hopped down from the rooftop, running to Marco, who quickly handed her back the M107.
"Jean? Where-?" she stopped.
She noticed then the horrified look on both Jean and Marco.
She turned to the dissipating titan.
Mikasa remembered the men had hit her before taking her to a small cottage in the mountain her old home, now reeking of death, had been.
It was raining heavily now, obscuring much of the conversation the killers had been having, but she heard them speak of how she would probably sell for a bit, though not as much as her mother.
She wasn't sure how long she had been there, no longer than a few hours certainly, when the main door opened with a creek.
She didn't see who it had been then, just that the men were angry a kid had shown up unexpectedly.
"Eren…"
"Mikasa, I… I am so sorry to-"
"He's alive." She said simply, gripping one of the blades and running up to the giant.
"M-Mikasa, I don't think-"
"Grab your blades and help me! If he stays there too long he'll suffocate!"
Jean felt like breaking down at his own uselessness.
He gripped a blade and followed the girl instead.
The titan had been fat, which gave them some time to dig through it before it burned itself away, but where on earth would they even find Eren?
…or his corpse?
"Guys, I really don't want to say this but-" Marco began.
"Then don't!" Mikasa spat back.
"But there are titans coming! If we don't pull back now-"
"We can pull back when we find Yeager… come on, don't the Americans have a no one left behind policy?! Hurry up, Marco!"
The freckled youth forced himself to ignore the advancing footsteps of the giants and ran to the dead titan.
More blood, death, screams.
She was terrified as she saw a little boy, no older than her, somehow manage to knock one of her kidnappers to the ground.
However her savior wasn't like anything found in the stories her mother had told her.
She saw how a kid a quarter of the weight of that man managed to knock him down.
The boy had stabbed him- was continuing to stab him with a knife, over and over and over again, screaming like an animal as he brutally ended the life of her kidnappers without a hint of mercy.
Somehow, despite the horror of it all, she felt nothing.
Mikasa began digging into the neck, calling "Eren! Can you hear me?"
"Mikasa, he had lost consciousness." Jean stated as he began stabbing the corpse, trying to dig their (probably dead) comrade out.
"It was worth checking… damn it." she said as she pulled some of the dissipating flesh away, noting there was nothing within the throat.
"Check the stomach, come on!"
Jean grimaced but followed suit.
In the distance, the booming steps of the enemy was now being challenged by a familiar yet still new sound.
Cars.
"104th cadets, this is Private First Class Kane Orville, what is the status of the wounded?"
Mikasa was too busy digging her way through the gigantic corpse to respond.
Marco spoke up, unsure of what to say.
"The Americans had sent an extraction team, it…"
"Good! Tell them to hurry!" Mikasa said, moving quickly as she tried stabbing her blade into the stomach.
Jean couldn't understand or imagine what she was going through, neither could Marco if he was honest, but they could see the subtle signs of panic in her actions, throwing away all rationale to desperately cling to the possibility of her family being alive for even a second longer.
The girl shook slightly as she moved; her eyes were wild as she kept looking, trying to stab a large hole on the side of the dead giant.
Jean couldn't help the pang of jealousy he had always felt when it came to Mikasa paying attention to Eren over him, but he still admired the skilled girl next to him enough to set it aside and continue helping her.
She still felt nothing as the boy freed her from her bindings.
It was as if nothing had happened.
He was friendly, though tense, as he introduced himself and told her everything was alright.
He was the son of the doctor that had been on his way to check her mother.
The memory flew back to her, but she felt nothing despite the gruesome memory.
As she rubbed her wrists she only managed to ask the boy if he had seen the third kidnapper.
He hadn't.
"104th we have visual contact, we have a nurse with us, please respond."
A pair of American vehicles appeared as they passed a corner and appeared on their street.
"Ackerman, what the hell are you doing?!" the radio crackled, though it was another voice.
"Eren was swallowed! I'm trying to dig him out!" she replied.
"Are you out of your mind, the kids dead f the titan ate him!" another voice chimed in.
"I didn't- I didn't see it chew! He's alive!" she cried out.
"God damn it…" someone cursed as the booming footsteps of the enemy became ever louder, the accompanying sound of gunfire had been silenced as the cadets had likely retreated to the third and final line of defense.
We're alone here…
"I know he's alive and unless-" she began, trying not to plead.
As she said this, a fat fifteen meter titan appeared on the opposite end of the street.
"Damn it… Eld, Petra, guys, anyone talk some sense into her?!" Jake demanded over the comms.
"Ackerman, I know it hurts but do you really think he would want you to die here?"
"I will keep looking for him until I find him! Unless you plan on killing me, don't bother trying to stop me."
"That can be arranged, kid." Kane mumbled as the scouts moved out of the MRAP.
Gunther stayed near the MRAP but spoke loudly as the other members of team Levi stood on standby, the remote controlled browning beginning to move to target the giant on the opposite end of the street.
"Ackerman, if the titan devoured him and you killed it, then the heat of its body collapsing would have killed him by now. He's dead and you have to accept that."
"He isn't dead!" the girl barked back, though she had no way of backing this up.
She just knew he wasn't dead, somehow she knew.
"You don't have to accept it! But are you really going to risk the life of your fellow soldiers right now?! Look!"
The gaint had actually stopped to stare at the small feast that lay ahead of it, and it began to run.
The MK 19 opened up before the .50 and the giant fell to the floor, its head decapitated by a short burst from the 40 millimeter grenades.
Matt took a breath and angrily shouted "Will you Hurry up?! Our way back is gonna be crawling with them!"
If not completely blocked off…
Mikasa was silent.
Marco and Jean stood frozen, unsure of what they could say as the American's point was proven with another fifteen meter titan appearing from behind the one that had just been killed.
On one hand, the Americans had proven to be a force as destructive as the titans.
On the other hand, Mikasa was almost a force of nature.
Damn it Eren! I swear y-
Before he could even finish the thought, Jean found himself crashing down into the stone road below him, a powerful wind knocking him and Mikasa away from the titan carcass.
The members of team Levi were pushed to the floor by what appeared to be a powerful shockwave, and Matt almost fell back into the Humvee barely managing to register what the hell had just happened.
The powerful wind spread through the street, heat followed it, and the humans in the vicinity were left confused and thinking a bomb had gone off.
It had happened so fast, completely without warning.
The boy that had introduced himself as Eren Yeager had reached for the knife and the next thing Mikasa had known was that the third man had grabbed him and dragged him to a corner of the room, strangling the boy.
The girl felt a tinge of fear, but finally understood why she had felt numb.
The scene was not very different from the times she had seen a spider capture and kill a fly, or her father hunt a bird for dinner.
The world was cruel.
It's just the way it was.
She had grabbed the knife on the floor besides her, but the small tinge of fear had grown into full blown terror. The knife shaking in her hand grew to her whole body shaking like a flower in the wind.
She didn't want to kill.
She didn't want to see any more blood.
She was shaking too much to do anything.
"F-fight!"
The boy had looked at her and through choked words, beckoned her.
"If… if you lose… youll die! If you win… you live! If you don't fight you can't win!"
The girl stopped shaking.
It took them a second to see the large giant beginning to stand up from the dead titan.
Kane paled as he stared at the titan.
It was different.
The image that came to mind was of Greek sculptures depicting the peak human condition.
Murphy, his gunner, slowly aimed the remote controlled .50 caliber at it, but stopped as he noticed the strange behavior on the titans behind the new monster.
Mikasa blinked, confused as she opened her eyes.
She was even more confused when she noticed the other titans in the area beginning to screech and roar, as if this new appearance was a threat.
The suddenly slow moving beasts actually began to charge at it.
Not at the humans on the ground, but the titan that had just… appeared.
Before anyone could react the, the mysterious titan turned around and grabbed the skinny fifteen meter titan by the neck and crushed it in one swift motion.
The second titan, a nimble eight meter class, was stopped as the taller beast slammed its foot on it over and over again, quite literally turning it into a paste.
For the humans on the ground, the scene was sickening.
Blood almost flooded the street, and Jean found himself doused in it, but he was too in shock to care.
The mysterious titan roared then.
Even within the MRAP, it was nearly deafening.
With two giants dead, the rogue titan glanced at the humans behind it for an instant, and then began to walk away from them, seeing other titans in the distance.
Mikasa stared at the carcass of the giant that had eaten Eren for a moment.
There's no body…
"I-is everybody okay?!" Karina was the first to
Petra barely managed to call out "Everyone over here is!"
"Jesus… what the hell?!" Kane breathed.
"Eren was one of the… one of the people with that abnormality in the their blood, right?" Eld asked Karina who simply nodded.
"If that's the case… then…"
"What abnormality?"
All eyes turned to Jean, who appeared to be fine except for the bruise over his right eye.
Eld sighed, saying
"Need to know information, sorry."
"What are you talking about? I saw that titan just… just pop right out of another! It can't be a coincidence it ate Eren!"
"Of course it isn't! But we suspected… we didn't expect him to act like this… or to turn into… well, that!" Karina yelled back, completely frustrated with the lack of information.
That was all Mikasa needed to hear.
Without a word she began to chase after the rogue giant.
Matt blinked, covered his eyes and said "Of course… a simple recovery op can't be so simple… ever…"
"We can't just let her go!" Jean yelled.
Kane sighed, and grabbed a radio "Of course we can't… Colonel… not sure if you can see this, but…"
Distant roars and crashing noises were heard.
"We have a developing situation here."
…
Armin sat on the roof, eyeing the American machinery below.
That's what a modern defense looks like…
Reiner checked the barrel on the machine gun, saying "Hasn't overheated yet… which is good, but… what the hell is going on over there?"
Armin nervously gripped the M1 Garand.
"I don't know… Eren and Jean had an issue but… they've gone silent and the commanding officers aren't saying anything about it."
He glanced at a far point of the district, where explosions could be heard and seen.
"See-ohs, Armin. Easier to say than commanding officers." Daz breathed, still shaking as he looked down the sight of his rifle.
Reiner ignored him and asked "You think something is wrong with Eren?"
Armin shrugged nervously.
"I… I thought he had learned his lesson after the sergeant chewed him for not pulling back that time but… what if…?"
Reiner frowned just as a scout arrived on the roof.
"Here, another box of ammo. If you guys are running out, supply depot is by the trucks."
"Thanks, I- hey, aren't you that… Ilse Langnar scout?"
The girl seemed exasperated by the question but nodded simply.
Armin immediately perked up, asking "You-you have seen the other world in person?"
Ilse nodded.
"I… anything they haven't talked to us about that you know?" Reiner asked.
Ilse narrowed her eyes and said "Yeah, the leaves don't change color during the fall in some places and people think monarchies are outdated, some places are prettier than others and getting an idea of how big the world is becomes easier once you see how many people there are, any actually important questions?"
Armin opened his mouth but she said "Please save them for after the fight… live through the next hour and we can chat all you want."
The look of worry in her eyes reminded Armin of the situation they were in.
Most of the fifteen meter types that towered over the homes and buildings were dead or too far away to kill without risk, so the plan was to funnel them all into one area and destroy them as they appeared.
For the moment, the main street was eerily silent, though they could hear the booming footsteps of the enemy.
Ryan held on to a sabot round, his ears focusing in on the noise outside.
"All units, be advised, tangos are approaching through the center street, others should appear on the left and right flanks almost at once. Get ready!" The radio crackled.
The Harvester shifted slowly as it calculated the exact position the first titan would appear on the other end of the street.
Outside, Ryan knew, stood exposed Army and Marine personnel with all matter of heavy arms, mostly .50 cals and anti-tank weapons like MK 153s and BGM-71s.
He tensed up as the footsteps of the enemy were no longer being drowned out by the Abrams' engine.
"God, I pray my stuff survives this battle should it come to our demise…" he said loud enough to be heard, remembering he was still missing something quite valuable.
"Dear God, I pray his stuff survives but that I get to keep it."
He wanted to kick his gunner, but the first giant appeared at the end of the street, followed by another and another.
The creatures were running, and given their size of ten meters, it wasn't exactly easy to miss as they tried to push past each other.
Armin felt the ground shake as the Abrams fired first with their main guns before immediately switching to the coaxial machine guns.
The three titans that had been eliminated were immediately replaced by slower ones that appeared behind them.
"Reiner!"
Almost as if he had been in charge of the entire battle group, the entire third line of defense began to fire into the oncoming horde.
The cadets fired both machine guns and modified rifles from the rooftops, the heavy rounds tearing through flesh and bone.
Still they came.
.50 caliber machine guns fired with pinpoint accuracy by trained soldiers tore through flesh as hot led collided with the giants.
Still they came.
Missiles with the express purpose of destroying enemy tanks flew down the street and slammed into their targets a hundred meters away.
Still they came.
Uranium depleted rounds designed to melt through enemy armor tore through the advancing giants, pulverizing the smaller ones as the heat was too much for any of them to put up a fight against.
And still they came.
"Sabot up!" Ryan shouted as moved out of the way.
"On the way!"
BOOM
Two five meter tall titans went down, a hail of tracer rounds following their collapse.
A titan tried stepping over them to try and get closer to them only for a TOW to slam into its chest.
Another hail of tracer bullets followed it on its way to the ground.
The titans smiled uncaringly as their ilk died.
Their destruction was guaranteed and absolute.
So long as the ammo held out.
Ryan frowned, wondering if the titans would run out of bodies or if their ammunition would manage to outlast the enemy.
"Ryan, prep a HEAT round next… let's try to conserve our ammo." Darnell said, quickly bringing the tanker back into the fight.
"Got it!"
…
Mikasa watched as the rogue titan tore others of its kind apart with hatred that she had very much seen somewhere before.
Behind her she could hear explosions and gunfire.
The titans have reached the Alamo…
A worrisome detail she was noticing was that the other beasts were seemingly attracted to this rogue titan.
Which, according to Nurse Karina, might actually be Eren…
She wanted to test that hypothesis, but she wasn't sure how to do it.
Mentally, she was kicking herself for suddenly acting in such an irrational manner.
She had no idea if Eren had suddenly turned into a titan, she had no idea if it was even Eren in there anymore, and she had no idea or interest or time to wonder what implications might accompany that possibility.
All she knew was that Eren was inside a titan one second, a titan came out of that titan after she killed it, and Eren was no longer in there.
Seeing a titan jump up from behind her, she used her gear to break in midair and zoom out of the way.
The giant landed on a home, destroying the roof before turning to her.
She had messed up and forgotten the M107.
No matter, she was more skilled with blades.
The ODM gear was a fascinating piece of engineering, allowing her to move with such speed and control.
Unfortunately for her, the titan leaped right at her instead of staying still.
Quick to adapt she turned and slid across the top of the giant's bald head, seeing the exposed nape, she went in for the kill.
She once again landed on a rooftop and took a breath.
The rogue titan that may or may not be related to Eren had torn three other titans apart in the moments it had taken her to destroy one on her own.
Her radio crackled slightly, intelligible gargles barely being audible.
Of course it got damaged when that titan appeared…
Unsure of what to do next, she noticed the figure of Jean and Marco fly over some rooftops.
She waved at them and they seemed to have seen her.
Marco landed first, taking a breath he said "Are you insane?!"
Mikasa said nothing.
Jean appeared and said "There are way too many titans around the exit of Shiganshina, so we are effectively stuck behind enemy lines until air support can arrive. Mikasa, what were you thinking?!"
Mikasa winced, feeling guilty for dragging her team into it but before she could say anything, Jean simply said "Lucky for you, the Colonel wants us to keep that thing alive…"
The titan roared once more, attracting even more attention from the titans in the distance.
"You know… the son of a bitch really, really, really reminds me of Yeager…" Jean growled.
"Is it possible that it's Eren?" Marco asked.
Mikasa said nothing.
"I don't know, but the nurse and those scouts sure seem to think so… Mikasa, did he ever show any signs?" Jean asked.
Mikasa shook her head as the giant in the distance lifted a skinny twelve meter titan and used it like a bat to swipe at smaller ones.
The MRAP and the Humvee arrived below them and out came the Americans and the scouts, except for the one guy who manned the gun on the Humvee.
The dark skinned driver of the Humvee shouted "How many rounds do you guys have left?"
"I-"
"If you need more it's in the back, got it?!"
Jake walked over to Kane and Eld, worried given their location.
"This'll do nicely." Kane mumbled.
"Will it?!" Jake half asked, half demanded.
"One way street, and its wide enough to turn and run if we have to. The couple of boots up there can warn us if anything we can't handle shows up and we begin to pull back."
"Plus, the buildings are tall enough that we can begin taking them out without risk of friendly fire from your side." Eld added.
"So… you guys handle the street next to us, the cadets act as snipers and- and we hold the street here?"
Kane nodded with a grin.
"Easiest way to keep titans from overwhelming our friend over there and all we have to do is hold for fifteen minutes."
Booming footsteps in the distance caused Jake to turn to look at the end of the street.
"Damn it, if it works… you guys have anything other than the M4?" he asked, noticing that Kane was carrying a simple M4 without an M203 attached.
"Petra? Oluo?" Kane called.
The two scouts placed the large crates they had carried into the MRAP on the ground.
"MK 153 SMAW, two types of rockets… we take down buildings with these babies."
"They gave you thermobaric rockets?!"
Kane nodded.
Jake shuddered at the smiling Marine before saying "Just don't get us killed."
"You wanna live forever?"
Jake said nothing as he moved to the Humvee.
Eld shouted "Good luck!" before using his gear to scale a building, Petra and Oluo following suit.
"So… we hold here until the flyboys arrive?" Dave asked.
"Yeah." Jake replied calmly, grabbing a 40mm grenade.
"Wait, here? What about-?" Mikasa began, Matt cutting her off.
"We keep titans from your precious ken doll, that way when air support arrives in fifteen minutes we can catch him in one piece instead of him being overrun by his own kind."
Damned things seem to want to eat him… which seems to confirm the brass' suspicions…
Mikasa nodded as Dave handed her the M107 once more.
"Don't ever drop this again. I don't care if your radio broke, you don't abandon your weapon."
The girl nodded.
"Alright, now we need you to focus. Get up there and keep an eye out for us."
She nodded.
…
The intense sun of gunfire and explosions slightly distracted parker when the operator shouted "Colonel, titans from the rear are pulling back! They're heading for-"
Parker paled at the words and used his binoculars to get visual confirmation.
Sure enough, the enemy in the back was turning around, heading straight for that long haired beast fighting its own kind further in the back.
"God damn it, could we get our tanks over there?!"
"Colonel… the risk to the tanks would-"
"Can we do it?!"
It violates the rules of engagement, but i am not giving thee bastards the slightest taste of victory!
"I can see about sixty titans storming the Alamo. Once we overwhelm them the tanks could speed ahead and catch up the unit back there, but… It's your order, colonel."
It was risky, but if they did it at the right time, when there were almost no titans between the maybe Eren maybe something else titan, then they could try to capture it, and get some answers.
"Alright, we send two of our tanks forward alongside some mechanized infantry support once the current enemies have been dealt with. We keep the rest of our forces here in case our enemies have some nasty surprises set up."
The armored titan has yet to appear after all.
…
Reiner wasn't sure what he was doing anymore.
He was firing in fairly controlled bursts, albeit long ones, and making sure the barrel didn't overheat, but why bother? There were ten other machine gun positions either occupied by the members of the 104th or the American military and that wasn't including the guns on the tanks and HMVs!
Every time he stopped to reload, four other guns took his place.
Not that it mattered to the monsters still storming their lines.
No, like the nightmares brought to life that they were, the titans advanced and didn't know the meaning of the word "retreat". But it did them no favors here.
Many were still, by comparison to bullets and the war machines the Americans had brought, slow moving, and those that actually ran were too big to miss, so they just became sponges for the heavy rounds coming from every gun not focusing on something else.
They were inching closer, though.
Armin breathed in and actually giggled childishly, something Reiner noted over the gunfire.
Reiner turned to him, asking "something wrong?"
"Chokepoints! We could never get them to work, but… look!"
Reiner stared at the dissipating mound of titan corpses that littered the very end of the street.
Chokepoints were an easy strategy for anyone to understand. Take an enemy army, any size, and put them on a narrow path so that only a small amount of it can ever be facing your men.
Theoretically, you could hold out with a force far smaller than the one you are currently facing.
A single titan facing even a dozen humans would curb stomp them with great ease in an open field, even the Americans had found it somewhat challenging dealing with every single titan in an area as open as the fields of Wall Maria.
But put them at a point where only some of them can attack at a time…
So long as the ammo holds out, any modern force could deal with it.
Provided they were using guns like on those tanks, of course.
He wasn't sure what made the shells being used so effective or accurate, but they were making mincemeat of the titans.
Daz brought him back to reality.
"H-hey! Hey, hey, hey! Look! The titans are retreating! The titans are retreating!"
Wait, what?
Sure enough, the top of some titans could be seen in the distance, moving away from the Alamo, towards…
Reiner could faintly see some smoke in the distance, and he wondered if the forces sent out there were causing more trouble than expected.
But then why would so many titans move towards it?
"I don't understand. There's a far higher concentration of humans here." Armin mumbled just as orders to cease fire came through.
"All members of the 104th, standby for orders, I say again, stand by for orders. Be ready to move out and push the enemy back!"
Before anybody could protest or question it another statement was made over the radio.
"The Air Cavalry has arrived."
…
Gunther landed on the street as a skinny ten meter type crashed into a nearby house, dead.
He grabbed his knee, somewhat pained as he had strained… some muscle within his leg while maneuvering back there and was now feeling it.
Oluo landed next to him, asking "You alright?"
"Titan threw me off… leg got messed up. How is it looking back-?"
"More titans coming! Looks like our friend back there shook the God damned hive!" the small radio crackled.
Oluo chuckled slightly saying "Good news is, we only have to hold on a few more minutes before the air support arrives."
A quick, consistent booming alerted them to a speedy abnormal that ran at them.
With a jerk of its legs, it shoved itself aside and slammed into a building before they could react, demolishing it and crossing into the next street.
Kane cursed as he duck behind the MRAP, debris bouncing off his Kevlar helmet, the browning never letting up as five meter monsters assailed them.
Several had been crushed by the fat fifteen meter type that had just slammed into the street, destroying a building in the process, but several remained.
Its head was pelted with 40mm grenades from Matt's MK 19, aside from tearing the head to pieces, not much was being done in terms of destroying the weak point.
Damned thing was too close for comfort as Murphy moved the gun down, adding more injuries to the wounded beast.
With a shake, the monster began to dissipate.
Just in time for another fat ten meter type to appear.
"Fire in the hole!" Dave shouted, tossing a grenade way down the street.
It knocked down the one titan as it tore one of its legs from under it, leaving a crawling beast to deal with.
"Matt!"
"Got it!"
After two short bursts from the gun, the creature had no head or neck to speak of.
At least the MK 19 was good at that.
Kane checked his M4 for an instant as the cadets above continued providing support.
He had to admit, he was glad that none of the larger titans approaching them could see.
"Kane, the titans are moving in on us, I count forty that stopped their attack on Alamo and are now heading towards us." Mikasa said over the radio they had lent her.
"Got it…"
"They're coming from the broken entrance as well."
Oh, goody, more fun!
"God- okay- oh!"
A fifteen meter titan began to approach from the end of the street.
It moved slowly, but that was due to its large body mass.
Kane pushed all intimidation aside and grabbed the MK 153, which was already loaded.
He fired a thermobaric rocket directly at the neck, a set path the rocket obediently followed.
Whatever was left of the titan fell backwards onto another home at the end of the street.
Kane took a breath, annoyed at the increasing amount of steam and smoke.
"Everyone, we have to start pulling back. Right now! We got incoming from all sides!" Jean shouted.
He had counted ten titan kills so far, which didn't seem like much, and in reality it wasn't, but the amount of firepower the damned things could absorb sometimes was just plain unfair.
He glanced at Matt who was reloading the MK 19 for one second.
You need less time in a warzone for everything to change.
"Look-!" Matt had started to shout.
A titan that crawled on all fours like a spider appeared, the damned thing materializing from behind the cloud of steam and slammed into the MRAP, sending Kane flying into the street.
Where the hell did that come from?!
It ignored the MRAP and lunged at him.
Kane reached for a grenade, not about to be chewed up or crushed, but he couldn't be fast enough.
The cruel grin of the monster stopped inches from his legs as Mikasa chopped of the neck.
It would have been a moment of two different soldiers nodding their heads, as if acknowledging each other if it wasn't for the fact that the titans were beginning to swarm them.
A large hand grabbed the girl as a titan crushed its way through a building attempting to stuff her into its mouth.
Eld was immediately on it, slicing its neck with ease, which appeared to be good news until Mikasa fell to the floor, screaming in pain as she landed on a pile of wood and stone.
The titan had squeezed her enough that her gear simply broke apart.
Kane got up, screaming into the radio "Murph, rev up the car!"
Nurse Karina is still with us maybe she has-
The girl was visibly in pain enough for Jean to hop down and try to help her.
"Mikasa, are you okay?!"
The girl didn't reply as she tried to stand up to no avail.
Dumb question…
Jake ran up, slinging the M4 and helping the kid lift her up.
"Over here!" Murphy shouted, moving the MRAP to them, flipping the back open.
"Jake, we have to move!" Matt called, firing a long burst into a ten meter type that was apparently enjoying the grenades hitting its face and knocking it around.
Nurse Karina, albeit nervously helped the girl on board as Kane supported himself on the door.
"W-wait- Eren, I have to-"
"Kid, stop thinking about it! Now is not the time for-" Jake began only to curse as a fifteen meter tall titan blocked their getaway path.
"Murph?" Kane asked.
".50 isn't responding, man…"
Fire from a rooftop alerted them to Marco, now wielding the M107, knocking down the large titan.
Albeit at the cost of an entire magazine.
"Move!"
Jean grit his teeth in pain because despite his friends efforts, three more titans appeared.
It was just a constant back and forth now.
They killed one titan with varying degrees of ease, two more appeared.
Kane grimaced, realizing how badly they had screwed up.
"Matt! Take care of that building! We're busting our way out of here!" Jake shouted shutting the door on the MRAP and running to the Humvee, leaving Jean and Nurse Karina to care for the wounded girl.
Not that it matters, but we have to try…
"Got it!" he shouted back, turning the full destructive power of an automatic grenade launcher on an old building.
Unlike killing titans, he felt kind of bad for destroying the relatively pretty structure.
The building collapsed and the MRAP sped through it, the Humvee following suit.
"Guys, we're pulling pack!" Petra shouted seeing the two American cars pull away from the incoming titans.
"About time… though it isn't exactly good news for…"
The titan they had been trying to protect was now facing an entire horde on its own, and the damage was beginning to show it.
"Eld, get your people away from there right now!" the radio chattered, Jake yelling the orders.
"Yeah, don't have to tell me twice… Let's go!"
He could see the wall of bodies headed for them over the buildings.
Within the MRAP, the poor girl was restless.
"Mikasa, please!" Jean tried to reason while trying to hold the girl down.
"It's just some broken ribs! I-I can still fight!"
"With what, sticks?! Marco has your rifle and your last blades broke back there!" Karina replied, grabbing some anesthetic.
"We can't just abandon Eren… please… we can't just…"
Whether for pushing herself too far or the pain finally knocking her senseless, the girl began to lose consciousness.
"Nurse… do you really think that titan is-?"
"Don't know, don't ask right now! Just help me keep your friend alive!"
The MRAP stopping suddenly almost knocked the three people to the floor.
Jean looked up, seeing the large face staring at them.
"God damn it…" Kane groaned.
The titan was just lying there on the ground, staring contently at its prey while blocking their path.
He could hear the booming footsteps behind them.
"Is… is there no stopping these things?!" Karina demanded out of frustration.
Jean wasn't sure anymore.
They had thrown everything at them, yet this resilience, this ability to never stop… humanity couldn't compete with that.
He was tired, Mikasa was out of commission and Marco was pulling back with team Levi.
He was too distracted to hear the radio crackle to life.
He was too distracted to hear the off putting music.
He did, however, hear Jake laughing almost maniacally.
The sound of explosions behind them woke him up.
What the hell was that!?
Music?
A man(?) was singing on the radio waves to a steady beat that… worried him of anything as to the sanity of their saviors.
All you women who want a man of the street but you don't know which way you wanna turn… just keep coming and put your hand out to me cause I'm the one that's gonna make you burn…
Kane laughed, "Army First Cavalry! Those crazy bastards!"
"Excuse me, but what is that?!"
I'm gonna take you down- down, down, down. So don't you fool around- I'm gonna pull it, pull it pull the trigger…
"Ah, look up AC/DC after this. Jake, what do you guys see?" he called over the radio.
"Angels with guns, man!"
Glancing outside, Jean saw the helicopters, flying fairly low, firing into streets.
Shoot to thrill, play to kill! Too many women with too many pills, shoot to thrill play to kill- I got my gun at the ready and I fire at will, yeah!
Outside, Petra heard the crazy music and sighed when Marco asked "What kind of music is that?!"
"Ask one of the boys from 1st Cavalry… thank God…" she breathed, sitting down on a rooftop as Marine Hueys and Cobras accompanied Army UH-60s. Rockets and bullets hit from up high, the titans unable to do anything about it.
The roar of jets high above descended as several Marine Harriers began to strafe the ground where titans stood.
Gigantic bodies tumbled like a house of cards when twenty millimeter auto cannons met flesh.
An M1 Abrams rolled in front of Kane's MRAP and the commander waved asking over the radio "You guys okay?"
"Back hurts a bit from carrying this battle for you Army dogs, but…"
The commander laughed, saying "Right, we're escorting you guys back. This area is about to get leveled." He replied as large explosions rang out.
"Yeah, but first, we need to pick someone up."
Jean wondered about Eren or the titan that might be related to him.
He glanced at Mikasa and hoped she could get over the loss.
…
"What the hell is he doing?!" the warrior demanded, even if she couldn't ask it out loud.
"I don't know…" the other warrior sighed, seeing their "leader" cheering as the entire titan horde was blown to bits little by little by American air power.
Wasn't the plan to attack and kidnap Eren if it turned out he was, indeed, a shifter?
Now they weren't even sure what the status of Yeager was, just that something had happened.
For all they knew, it could just be the Americans trying to rescue him… assuming he was alive.
"This was a mistake, we should have-"
"Doesn't matter anymore, we can't do anything with those flying machines now. The four helicopters, maybe but even those hurt me earlier. These aircraft? No way…"
"Humph… I wonder how Mister Warrior over there will spin this."
"He'll probably- wait, what is that?"
A single titan was being dragged by an American tank, its limbs gone, the creature appeared to be dead.
Wait, it is dead!
It was dissipating away little by little.
"What the hell? Did they just shoot it to pieces?"
There was a Humvee driving ahead of the tanks, and the gunner on it suddenly leaped from the car and started screaming and pointing at the dissipating carcass.
Some of the cadets took notice and began to stare at the body.
"Was it supposed to die?" the warrior asked aloud.
The Americans seemingly panicking at the sight answered his question.
Armin appeared out of nowhere and stared at the dead monster.
"Armin, what is happening?" one of the two warriors asked.
"E-Eren was hurt… so they sent a team to rescue him… he apparently was eaten by a titan but when that titan was killed this one just… appeared and started fighting the titans near it, even attracting them to it."
"That's why we wounded up facing fewer titans than we expected?"
The blonde nodded.
"The Americans used their guns to knock it down because they wanted to catch it, but he- it was… it was just chasing after other titans so…" Armin was detached, hoping against hope for what he had been told to be true.
We suspect Eren could be a titan somehow, but that's just a suspicion. Tell no one.
Fate, unfortunately, had other plans.
Matt cursed under his breath as he realized that the giant was clearly dead.
"I don't get it! they regenerate their arms, how is he dead?!"
It was Ryan who said "He was pretty chewed up when we got to him, maybe… maybe one of them…"
Team Levi landed almost in unison, unsure of what they could add.
"Is there anything we can do? Maybe we can-" Petra began.
"No, it's done for… sorry." Eld sighed.
"Not your fault…" Matt replied, albeit frustrated.
It's like the universe wants to play with us…
"God damn it! It's just… this was… he was a huge leap if captured!" Matt said.
"What about the other kids with weird blood? Maybe this is confirmation." Oluo started.
"Yeah, but what if it isn't? What if-?"
Jake stopped the conversation in its track, saying "What the hell is that?"
He pointed at something moving within the neck.
Given the steam it was hard to see, but a figure appeared and rolled away from the neck of the titan, falling to the floor.
Several cadets noticed and ran ahead, some no longer interested in seeing the display of firepower nearby.
"Oh, sweet Jesus…" Matt breathed.
Oluo narrowed his eyes, saying "Well I'll be damned… Guess you guys were on to something."
The warriors that had stopped to look went pale, knowing now more than ever that they were defeated.
Barely breathing, somewhat burned, clearly unconscious, but by all accounts breathing and alive, Eren Yeager lay motionless in front of the forces that had held Wall Maria from Humanity's enemy.
A/N: Merry Christmas! For starters, I want to thank MM995 for suggesting I use Greek myths for naming the titans (although I mostly named the program itself after it), rdawamindra for suggesting I add some music to some scenes, and to all of you for suggesting specific weapons that could work against titans and overall giving me some extra ideas that I could use in the review section! I would also like to apologize for the extra-long wait of this chapter, finals really messed up my schedule, but I tried to make up for it by combining two chapters into one big battle. I originally wanted to make this a two part battle, cut it off when Eren got swallowed, but it didn't feel right to leave you all in another cliffhanger.
Hopefully this was an enjoyable rad as I changed some things from cannon but also kept elements from both the original battle of Trost from AOT and battle of Italica from the Gate cannon, although I think this is where a lot of my ignorance about military procedure really shows.
Now, before this Reviewer response I will have to apologize again as many questions pertain to the future of the story, and while I very much appreciate and love reading these short questions about "how will our world react to x event from the AOT timeline" (seriously, you guys have made me consider some things I had completely overlooked when planning this story, I cannot thank you enough) I can't really answer them without spoiling any material, so any questions pertaining to the ufuture of the story will usually be answered with a simple "we'll see". Apologies.
On to the reviewer response:
Guest- Will you be shipping any of the characters?
Not more than what we see in the anime and manga. Shipping isn't really my strong suit, but given where the events of the manga, I may have to adjust a tiny bit for a certain pairing… or two. I don't plan on shipping OCs with anybody if that's of any concern.
Guest- US weaponizing titans and Eldians?
Personally, I doubt it. Titans aren't very practical in modern warfare, but I do seem some potential in the whole "Ackerman-titan" experiments which could lead to super soldiers. Although I don't see that happening any time soon, which leads me to the next question:
Guest- Shouldn't the nurse notice the oddities in Mikasa's blood as well as Levi's?
I wish the manga gave some more details as to where these powers ended and where they began. We know they are incredibly skilled, fast, and physically strong, but other than that they don't seem to be able to regenerate or grow to titan size or use any of the abilities of the 9 titans… unless that's a reveal for another chapter in the manga… regardless, given that we have seen several Ackermans die from things as simple as knife wounds (Mikasa's father), I think whatever relations they have to titans wouldn't be as detectable or pronounced as someone with the power of one of the 9 titans. But I could be wrong.
Guest- when are they getting their dog tags?
I guess when their industry starts working on them? Honestly, I didn't really prioritize that as it seems that the military within the walls uses patches as IDs so it may take a while to introduce that. Doubt the US would do it as they were focusing on the weapons. Good point, though.
Guest- Will the Big Red be coming to save them?
Sorry, 1st Cavalry was selected to be the relief force along with elements of the 2nd Marine Air Wing.
Guest- thought on the latest manga chapters?
You want my thoughts? Okay! "Isayama, you rat! You made me think one thing so I planned to write it down but you gave ME, your loyal reader the old Spicy Plot Twist! How could you give ME, your loyal reader, the old Spicy Plot Twist?"
Also, I have never felt as bad for Mikasa and Armin and… that person.
Music Man- Distracting titans with loudspeakers and classical music?
I thought about it, but the scenario didn't seem to give much room for it. I even feel the little mission to save a wounded Eren was incredibly contrived, so I can't see a soldier without ODM gear trying to do that… maybe for a later part of the story, though.
Guest- Mentioning Japanese war crimes?
Not a bad idea, actually… could be brought up in a later arc.
Guest- giving the cadets walkie talkies or radios?
Yes, actually.
Guest- why haven't our scientists examined the wall and its composition?
Not a priority as of yet. They're busy looking at titans, searching for natural resources and helping modernize the walled civilization, so it probably won't come up until later.
Guest: uploading schedule for the story?
I try to upload once a month, but given my classes it may unfortunately get delayed.
Once again, I apologize for not answering any questions pertaining future events in the story like what Ymir will do or if the giant Rodd titan will appear, but I do intend on answering them while the plot continues to advance.
Anyway, thank you all so much for reading! I hope this was an enjoyable read, but if there is anything that felt off or could be improved, feel free to let me know!
