A/N - Sorry for the extremely long wait, but I can't change what happened, but I can change how much I write in the coming weeks and so on, but enough about that. I hope you enjoy this chapter which took far too long to write!!!
The Female Titan rose to it's feet after it had landed on it's back from the way that Annie had fell from the building after being thrown out by Nick, civilians that were in the street below screaming in terror as they tried to flee from the Titan that had just formed before their very eyes.
The first thing she did was to look at the window she had fallen from to see if he was still there, which he was, although he made no movement at all, not reaching for his gear, not trying to get the woman and child out the building, not even moving himself out of the way.
"Are you gonna kill me or what!?" He shouted at her, confusing her slightly, but using his hand he made a gesture for the mother and child to get away while he was shouting at her.
"Prove to me that you don't care about these people!" He roared at her, challenging her as he did so. "Come on! Do it! Do what you came here to do! Kill the Devils you claim us to be!"
"Nick what are you doing?" Frieda asked as she panicked, thinking he had gone insane at what he was doing, asking Annie to kill him.
"It's the only way to see if she'll side with us, if she doesn't kill me then she doesn't believe that we're descendants of the devil." Nick explained.
"You've gone insane! She's going to kill you if you keep challenging her like that." Frieda protested.
"It's the only way." He persisted, needing to know if it would be worth his time kidnapping and questioning her, he already had most of the questions thought out, he just needed some more information on her upbringing to force his points home.
"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts!" He yelled as she stood still, looking at him in disbelief. "What about your two Titan buddies, what would they do? Would they kill me, or are they as spineless as you are!" He hissed out.
"What's wrong with him?" Annie thought. "He doesn't really want me to kill him does he, or is he stalling for time? Yes that must be it." She realised. "I need to leave now, before Eren transforms to stop me." She thought as she turned around and started to run away from Nick.
"Why hasn't he transformed yet, don't tell me he's having second thoughts. Idiot, I have to do everything myself don't I."
"What would Reiner and Bertholdt think!" He roared, causing her to stop as he jumped out of the window, engaging his ODM gear to land on a rooftop next to Annie. "What would they think about you abandoning them just so you could go home!? I'm sure they both have families back in Marley as well!"
At the use if the word "Marley", she froze, not knowing what to do now. "He knows! If he knows and they capture me then they'll kill me, I'll be no use to them even if I get caught!"
As she was thinking to herself she didn't notice the storm clouds forming overhead, she did however, notice the bolt of lightning that struck the ground two streets over, signalling that Eren had transformed, ready to fight her.
Once the lighting had settled the full fifteen metre form of the Attack Titan could be seen over the two streets between them, his upper body sticking above those buildings, Nick could only hope that Eren would remain in control and not come barreling through the buildings and costing many lives in the quest for his vengence.
"Took him long enough." Nick thought as he quickly got out if the way of the two Titan's in the Stohess District, not wanting to get in the middle of the two fighting it out in the streets. He would need to wait and see who won this fight. If Eren did then he would have to be quick in getting Annie out if there and over the wall where he had his horse and some supplies waiting form him. If Annie won, he would have to go even quicker than in the forest if he wanted to slash her nape and take her alive.
"I guess there's only one way to find out which one I'll be doing."
(15 minutes ago)
"Well go get it, I'll hold her off!" Nick yelled at Armin, signalling for him to start running towards where Eren and Mikasa were waiting for him, he had to trust that Nick would keep her at bay for as long as possible.
"I need to reach Eren and Mikasa as fast as possible." Armin thought, his mind racing as a result. "Annie's gonna kill me, even if she isn't the Female Titan." He thought as he kept running as fast as he could.
He looked back on instinct, only to see Annie emerging from the alley and begin to sprint after him, he was a good distance away from her but she would eventually catch him. He looked back once again to see Nick emerging from the alley, only to use his ODM gear and take off in a different direction. "He better be trying to cut her off." Armin thought, now scared out of his mind at an angry Annie coming after him.
"I can't lead her to Eren." He realised. "I'll have to lead her somewhere else instead." He thought as he turned towards the market, the opposite of where Eren was waiting. He looked over his shoulder to see that Annie was still following him, she had gained a considerable distance on him however. "Come on Nick! I need you." He pleaded to himself, hoping Nick was nearby.
He looked back once again to see that Nick had come crashing down through the market stalls, effectively stalling Annie from chasing him in the process as he had engaged her in combat with the blades.
"I can use this chance to double back to Eren and Mikasa." Armin thought as he ran towards another alley in order to flank around to get to his two companions who were supposed to be waiting for him and Annie to show up.
(5 minutes later)
"What's taking them so long?" Eren asked Mikasa, who was standing at the side of the almost empty street next to him, wearing her hood up like he was so there was little risk of them being spotted. "They should have been here by now." He pointed out.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "It's possible that he needed to convince her to help us and that's what took so long." She offered up.
"What if she saw through the plan?" Eren asked. "Didn't he give you the flare gun before he left to find her?"
"Yes." She responded. "It was rather pointless because only he would know whether to fire the flare." She said. "But he's extremely smart." She acknowledged. "I trust that he has a plan."
"What if it is her?" He suddenly asked. "If what Nick said was true then... she was the reason that Titan appeared so quickly." He clenched his fist, his knuckles beginning to turn white as a result. "All I wanted to do was kill every Titan in existence ... I never thought I would turn out just like them."
"Stop it!" She commanded. "You're not a Titan Eren, you're human, you're not a monster." She softly told him.
"That's not what the MP's think." He pointed out. "And before you start, I know that Nick is an MP now, but he's still working for the Scouts, just at another location."
"I'm not so sure about that." Mikasa said, confusing Eren in the process.
"Huh? What do you mean Mikasa?" He asked. "He's always been helping us one way or another."
"It's just... don't you think it's weird that he knows so much about everything. Like the trap on the expedition, or how he said the Female Titan attracted the Titans to Shiganshina, or even how he knew that Marco was murdered." She pointed out. "It's almost impossible that he knew all of those things without prior knowledge." She explained.
"Are you saying that he's... working with them?" He asked, shocked by her accusation.
"No, that's not what I meant Eren. I just... I think that he knows things about this world that we don't, and he's keeping it secret from us." She explained.
"What could he be keeping from us?" He asked. "You don't think he knows about the outside world? Do you?"
"The King banned the public from talking about the outside world." She explained. "But he once told me that the Noble families don't bow to King Fritz, so that could mean any number of things." She replied.
"Hey look!" Eren pointed out. "Armin's coming... wait why is he running? And where's Annie?"
"Mikasa!" Armin shouted out, still running down the street as he had emerged from an alley. "Mikasa!" He panted. "Where's the signal flare!"
"Calm down Armin." Mikasa urged. "What happened? Why isn't Annie with you?" She asked, fearing the worst when she didn't see her.
"I ran... all the way here." He spoke, still breathing rather heavily from all the running.
"I can see that." Mikasa pointed out. "But why? Did she not take the bait?"
Armin took a few deep breaths to compose himself before he talked again. "I talked to her like we had planned but... she didn't buy my story." He explained.
"Why? What happened?" Eren asked. "Is she the Female Titan?"
"We were talking like I said, but when she tried to leave, Nick stopped her. He told me to run to you guys while he held her off." He told them, explaining the situation to them.
"What happened? Where is he!?" Mikasa demanded, worried that he could be hurt, or even worse.
"Last I saw he was fighting her in the market stalls, he looked like he was winning." Armin told them.
"I thought that Eren was the only family I had, but now I know that Nick is related to me, and I'll be damned if I lose another member of my family." She angrily thought. "If she kills him then there'll be hell to pay for her."
"So it is her then." Eren conceded after a short while after Armin had fired the flare into the sky, signalling to the other Scouts in Stohess that they had failed the first step in their plan.
Before Armin responded to that question he thought back to something Nick had told him yesterday right before he left for Stohess to join the Military Police.
(21 hours earlier)
"Armin!" Nick called out down the corridor to him, just after they had left the meeting to go over the plan to capture Annie the next day.
"What is it?" Armin asked, Eren and Mikasa also turning around as they were walking alongside him.
"I need to talk to you." He told him. "Alone." He added, seeing that Eren and Mikasa hadn't moved away.
"I'll catch up to you guys later." Armin told them, waving them off.
Once they had left, Armin spoke up once again. "What was it you needed?" He asked once again.
"It's about tomorrow." Nick conceded. "And Eren." He added.
"What about Eren?" He asked.
"If Annie transforms in the city tomorrow, and he doesn't see her do it, you need to convince him that it isn't her." He explained.
"But... why would you want me to do that?" Armin inquired. "And we don't know for sure that it is Annie." He pointed out.
"You don't, but I do." He thought to himself.
"It'll be easier for him to transform without any doubts, I don't think he'll be able to fight if he thinks it's Annie." Nick explained.
"Why wouldn't he? He knows what's at stake."
"Armin." Nick began. "You remember how angry Eren got when those men kidnapped Krista, he called them animals."
"I remember that, but why bring it up?" Armin asked, still confused at his request.
"He won't be able to fight if he thinks it's Annie, he sees Annie as his friend." He pointed out. "She also taught him how to fight when I stopped when Mikasa asked me to."
"You think his emotions will get in the way." Armin stated.
"Exactly, that's why it's imperative that he doesn't see her transform, his hatred for the Female Titan won't be there if he has doubts over her identity."
"What you said yesterday... about the Female Titan leading the Titans to Shiganshina... was that a lie?" He asked.
"No. That's what I believe. I was there too, remember, I think it was planned that way to allow the enemies to slip into Wall Rose undetected." He explained. "But Commander Erwin figured that out without my help."
"Is there anything else?" Armin finally asked.
"No, that's all." Nick replied as he turned around to pack the clothes he needed for the Military Police.
"You sound pretty confident that Annie is the Female Titan." Armin spoke up once again. "Do you know who the others like Eren are?" He asked.
Nick stopped in his tracks at that question, internally debating on how he should answer that question, he spoke up after a few moments. "I always thought that you were too smart for your own good Armin, thats why I never liked you." Nick said without turning around, continuing to walk until he turned the corner until Armin couldnt see him anymore.
"What a strange Answer Nick." Armin thought. "How much do you know about this whole disaster."
(Present)
"So it is her then."
Before Armin could respond there was a flash of lightning coming down onto one of the nearby streets, it was followed by an explosion that sent some debris flying across the rooftops above them.
"Shit!" Eren yelled. "Is that her?" He asked.
"Stay here Eren!" Mikasa yelled back, engaging her ODM gear so she could see what was happening. When she got to the roof she was able to see the Female Titan looking at one of the tallest buildings in the district, the top floor was level with her head, so she could look directly at the window of the top floor.
She could hear someone yelling over there, something about Devils, she was able to piece together from the snippets she heard.
"Eren! You need to transform!" Mikasa yelled down to them. "Armin, get out of there!" She called out.
"Go Armin." Eren told his friend as he prepared to bite down on his hand.
Once Armin was clear, Eren bit down hard on his hand, drawing blood from his palm, however no transformation came, instead Eren was still standing where he was while the Female Titan had started to run, he could tell with the tremors that came with her steps.
"Eren!" Armin shouted down to his best friend. "We don't know if it is Annie, it might not be her!" He yelled down, thinking that Nick was right about Eren hesitating.
Before Eren could respond, Mikasa tried to add more fuel to Eren's fire with her own thoughts. "It doesn't matter who it is!" She yelled. "Remember what happened that day Eren?" She asked from the rooftop. "She's the reason that your mother died! She led the Titans to Shiganshina! That's what Nick said!"
"Why do you believe everything he says!" Eren shouted up to his sister, trying to counter her arguments. "I mean seriously!" He shouts. "You believe everything he says, and why? Because he has a tattoo on his back that has your last name!" He ranted on. "And you just accepted it like nothing, like you had known him your whole life!" He yelled at her from the street below.
"Eren save your yelling for later." Armin tried to calm his friend down. "Everyone is counting on you to fight her now Eren, not when you finally accept the truth!" He shouted at him. "Think how many people could die if you don't transform to fight her right now! How many people have to die Eren!"
"He's right." Eren thought to himself. "It doesn't matter who the Female Titan is, the only thing that matters is that she slaughtered the right wing on the Expedition." He thought, getting angrier as he went on. "I have the power to stop her, and I swore to kill them all. EVERY LAST ONE!" He yelled inside his own head, becoming more and more determined by the second to stop the Female Titan and kill her, just a second later he brought his hand up to his mouth and bit down hard, drawing more blood as he felt a spark running through him as a large bolt of lightning came crashing down on top of himengulfing him and the street in a bright flash for a few seconds. As the light settled, the newly formed body of the Attack Titan and the dormant Founding Titan rose up once again to try and lay waste to the Female Titan.
(5 minutes earlier)
"I don't see him." Nile Dok thought to himself as he scanned the nearby rooftops for the escort squad. He knew that Nick was supposed to be assigned to the escort squad. "Why the hell is this boy so difficult!" He angrily thought. "That boy was always trouble, I don't even see why Zackly let him join the military, even though he somehow went from an ordinary soldier in the Cadets to a supposed prodigy in the Scouts."
Nile took the time to massage his forehead as he continued along the streets of Stohess towards Mitras where Eren Yeager would be handed back over to the Military Police, even if it would be the Interior Branch handling the case this time.
"Stupid boy! After all he put me through to find him four years ago after he ran away to the Underground District, he still has no respect for authority!" Nile angrily thought, remembering vividly as Nick managed to escape from his clutches multiple times before the First Interior Squad had stepped in to avoid further embarrassment at Nile's failed attempts to apprehend the boy during his first year as Commander of the Military Police. "He better not embarass me again, beating up three of my men after he sprung a trap we had set for him was bad enough anyway."
He took a moment to run his hand through his hair as he continued on with his thoughts. "I can't believe I almost lost my job because of some spoilt child who had just begun his rebellious streak."
His thoughts on the matter were put to a stop as he heard an explosion going off to his right, wondering what it was he looked up to the escort squad and was about to give the order to check it out until he caught sight of a red signal flare rising into the air.
"That's strange." Nile thought. "They're only used in case of emergencies..."
Meanwhile in a carriage a little behind Nile, Commander Erwin, Captain Levi and his squad who were only there to keep up their appearances on it being Eren that was currently being escorted instead of Jean who was his stand in for the moment.
"Looks like they ran into some trouble." Petra pointed out as she pointed at the red signal flare.
"That's the best possible scenario Petra." Levi pointed out. "What's most likely happened is that the plan has miserably failed on the way to the Underground entrance." Levi explained. "And given the fact that the spoilt brat Meier doesn't seem to be here suggests he had something to do with it." He explained.
"That seems a bit harsh Captain." Gunther countered. "He seems nice enough, he did save my life apparently."
"No." Erwin spoke up. "We have to assume the worst has happened, get your gear ready, we're going to rendezvous with the capture squad." He announced, telling the driver to stop so he could give the orders to the Scouts.
Just as Erwin stepped out of the carriage, there was a bright light that filled the skies of Stohess, shortly followed by an explosion that had signalled the reappearance of the Female Titan given that Eren could only transform if she did.
"I hate it when he's right." Oluo dejectedly muttered to himself.
"You three." Levi said, stopping his squad from exiting the carriage. "Don't engage the Female Titan, instead I want you to get eyes on Meier and if he tries anything related to Leonhart." He stopped to hand over a syringe to Petra. "Sedate him." He paused for a second after handing her the syringe. "And don't hesitate, he will use that to his advantage if it comes down to it."
"Yes Captain." She replied as she followed Gunther and Oluo out of the carriage as Levi also left and made his way over to Erwin who was currently talking to Nile.
She continued to stare at the syringe that had been handed to her by the Captain until a hand on her shoulder stopped her train of thought.
"What is it Petra?" Gunther asked. "We need to get geared up to keep an eye on Meier."
"This is a bad idea." Petra muttered so that only Gunther and Oluo could hear her.
"You mean the plan to sedate him?" Gunther asked.
"If it stops him from doing anything stupid then its a great idea." Oluo added into the conversation.
"He told me he was scared of needles." Petra admitted. "I asked how he couldn't be scared of the Titans on his first expedition." She told them, walking to get their equipment. "If he sees me with this then he might think that I talked about our conversation to somebody else."
"So?" Oluo asked. "It's not like it matters anyway."
Petra took this moment to smack him in the back of the head for his complete ignorance as she went back into her thoughts. "I'm sorry Nick, I hope you don't hold this against me." She thought just as another bolt of lighting came crashing down and lit up the sky once more.
The Female Titan had stopped moving at the sound of the second explosion going on behind her, once she turned around all she could see was the Attack Titan that had appeared a few streets over. "He was this close the whole time! Fuck you Nick, I should've just killed you." She angrily thought, not looking at her surroundings, only the Titan that seemed to be radiating hatred instead of the usual steam that it should be doing.
"No! I have to leave, there's no chance that I'll be able to take him, not within the city." She summed up as she turned tail and started to run away from Eren's Titan Form. "I'll have to fight him at some point though, there's no way I'll be able to outrun him enough to get over the wall. I need to get to open ground."
She was so enticed by her own thoughts at escaping that she now just noticed that she couldn't move her left arm, she took a look to see that the nerves in the shoulder had been severed. On instinct she hardened her nape, expecting someone to take a swing at her as she raises her other hand to swat whoever it was that would try it. To her surprise she didn't feel anything around her nape area, but instead she felt her mouth muscles being torn up from left to right as she saw the Unicorn of the Military Police fly by her, causing her mouth to hang wide open.
"Damnit!" She thought. "He's gotten even more unpredictable than before, I'll need to be faster to stop him." She thought as she prepared for another attack to come for her legs this time.
Nick on the other hand had completed his goal for the moment, he needed Annie closer to the eastern wall for his plan to come to fruition. He had severed the left shoulder nerves so that Eren wouldn't get his ass handed to him like what usually happened when he sparred with Annie, but he also cut her mouth open so there was no chance of her using her mouth to capture him like in the forest.
He landed on the roof of one of the buildings that Annie had passed by only to be hit with a gust of wind as Eren charged by a few seconds later a few streets over.
"Well... at least he hasn't crashed through any populated buildings yet." Frieda tried to brighten his mood with.
"Yeah." He replied out loud. "But those streets weren't cleared of the civilians, so he's probably trampled all over them in his blind rage." He said while looking at his left wrist.
"Oh... well at least Annie didn't kill you when you gave her the chance to."
"She wasn't going to." He replied.
"Hey Nick!" A voice from behind called out to him, he turned around to see Jean, Mikasa and Armin all heading in his direction. "Who were you just talking to?" Jean asked.
"Myself, doesn't matter anyway." He replied, rolling his jacked sleeve down so they couldn't see what was engraved onto his wrist. "We need to inform Section Commander Hange about the current situation, Armin, can you do that?"
"Right, come on Jean." He said, surprisingly getting no protests from the boy as they both shot off in a different direction towards the trap they had set up as plan C in case they were out of options.
"We can't syand around here Nick." Mikasa spoke up, noticing he was looking into the distance. "We can't let her take Eren away." She said as she started to run off but his voice stopped her in his tracks.
"Stop Mikasa!" He yelled.
"What is it? We're wasting time here." She asked.
"Do you trust me?" He asked, grabbing onto her left arm softly as he did.
Did she trust him? That wasn't an easy question to answer considering the circumstances they were in, despite the clear rivalry she had with Annie and the jealousy that she had felt when Eren insisted on training with Annie instead of her, she still saw Annie as a fellow soldier and comrade, even if she had been suspicious over her uncaring personality over the past three years they spent training together. Annie had betrayed them, simple as, she spent three years with them, only to stab them in the back when the oppportunity arose, and not only that, she tried to take away Eren from her, the boy who saved her life, the one who gave her a new purpose to live, the boy she loved more than anything in the world they lived in.
But a year or so into their training, when Nick had showed them all that tatoo he had on his back with her last name on it, she felt surprised, as fat as she knew at the time she was the only Ackerman left, she knew that they were persecuted in the towns and cities, so she had wondered how that he was able to live a confortable life in Mitras, especially after he told her how their family had a history of being great warriors. She doubted the story at first, but seeing as she topped her training class overall, she was only topped by him during their physical aspect of training, she had seen that his ODM skills were... lacklustre at best, she had even tried connecting with him by offering her help with ODM training, as a way to bond over their supposed family link. He had politely declined her request, saying that he needed to get better on his own, that he didn't want to be fed with a sliver spoon like when he was young, but he offered to spar with her on occasion when he wasn't teaching Krista how to improve on her hand to hand combat skills.
He has done nothing in the past three years during their training to give the smallest hint that he couldn't be trusted, although he was quiet most of the time when he wasn't being spoken to, but she was exactly the same, so she couldn't judge on that part. But the question he just asked made her feel... suspicious, why would he ask that? But ultimately, she felt that she could trust him, he had been nothing but kind to her the past few years, even if Eren had voiced his disapproval of her acceptance of him a few times, she ignored him surprisingly, her family was murdered by human traffickers and Nick could be someone she could have an actual family connection to.
"Yes. I do trust you Nick." She replied after her own thoughts on the matter.
"Then you should trust that I'm doung this for the greater good." He replied, tightening his grip on her arm.
""Wha-" She was cut off as Nick used his free right arm to slug her across the face, sending her reeling to the ground, dropping her handles that she still had out while talking to him. "What the fu-" She was cut off once again as she had to block a knee that was heading to her face at the last second, sending her back another few steps as her hands throbbed after taking the hit.
"No, no, no, he can't be working with them! He can't be!" She thought as he came at her once again without uttering another word, sending a flurry of puches at her, some were blocked, but the raw power combined with his superior combat prowess meant that she was on the losing side currently as he kept up on the offensive.
"Stop Nick!" She cried out while blocking a punch at her face. "Don't tell me you're with her!" He didn't respond as he wickedly kicked at her thigh, his shin connecting as the pain ran up her thigh, causing her to wince and stagger backwards once more.
"This is bad, he's going to beat me unless I get some help soon." She thought to herself, panicking at the mere thought that someone who was this strong working with Annie this whole time.
Nick however knew he needed to end this fast, the longer he took, the more likely another Scout will see what's happening and will come to assist Mikasa against him, and since he was wearing the uniform of an MP, he doubted that they would hesitate to help Mikasa.
He could see that she was putting more of her weight on her right leg than before, telling him that he had done some serious damage to make her limp, he then started to focus more of his attacks on her left leg, putting even more force into his punches and kicks than before, he eventually managed to grab her left leg and bring his elbow down onto it, causing the pain to be too much for her as she couldn't stand up anymore.
As he approached to knock her out he grabbed onto her jacket and muttered "I'm sorry." before giving her another punch which successfully knocked her out as he left her in the fetal position on the roof so that she didn't swallow her own tongue while lying there.
"Was that really necessary?" Frieda asked him. "You didn't have to be so brutal about it." She pointed out.
"She would've gotten in the way." He replied. "Her attachment to Eren would have clouded her judgement, it was clear that she would've killed Annie if she was given the chance." He explained. "The risk of the power going back to the mainland or even Marley, while small, is still too big a risk to kill her for."
"So now what?" She asked. "Now that your cousin is out of the way, what do we do now?"
"We wait for Annie to try and get over the wall, once she reaches the top I'll cut her out and we'll head southwest, that's where the other three are stationed at the moment."
"Three? Who's the third one?" She asked.
"Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet." He teased. "Anyway, we need to get out of here before anyone shows up." He said as he ran forward and jumped off the building and shot his hooks forward as he went off to see the current situation of the two Titans who were currently engaged in battle in one of the courtyards.
Just after Nick had left the scene, three Scouts had arrived there, one with a syringe in her pocket.
"Look over there!" Gunther pointed out. "Somebody's down over there!" He called out as the three of them races to see who it was.
"Mikasa?" Petra whispered. "Is she?"
"She's alive." Gunther answered. "Just knocked out, seems like she was attacked given the massive bruise on her cheek." He pounted out for them to see.
"Who could've done this?" Petra asked. "She finished top of her class, so who had the strength to overpower her."
"Isn't it obvious?" Oluo growled. "It was obviously that brat from Mitras, Levi said he was the only one to top her physically in their class." He said, the pieces clicking together for the other two.
"But, why?" Gunther asked. "You don't think he's working with her?" He asked them both.
"Well obviously, what other explanation is there?" Oluo asked.
"No he isn't." Petra stated.
"What?" The other two replied at the same time.
"Erwin already cleared him of working with the enemy, that's why he knew about the plan to capture the Female Titan in the forest, and that's why he was includedin this plan. Captain Levi trusts Erwin, and I trust the Captain." She declared.
"Then what is he doing?" Oluo asked.
"I don't know." Gunther responded. "But we need to get back on track, Oluo, you take Mikasa back to where Captain Levi is, me and Petra will continue following Meier."
"Right." Oluo responded, picking up the surprisingly heave Mikasa and took off back to where Captain Levi is currently at.
"What the hell are you doing Nick?" Petra questioned in her head before taking off after Gunther.
Nick could easily hear the screams of the Female Titan from a few streets away as he was getting closer to the source of the sound, once he was able to get a clear view from down the street he noticed that Eren was sitting inside of a partly destroyed building with his jaws clamped down on Annie's crystallised shin as she continued to hammer away at his head with her crystallised fist to make him let go so she could make a run for it.
With one last scream from her and another fist to the head, Eren finally let go of her leg, the top of his head caved in, with him unconscious and ripe for the taking considering her jaw had now healed fully from Nick's earlier attacks.
Nick however, was surprised when she tirned tail and ran without even trying to take Eren away. "Well then." He thought. "With Eren out of action, now's my chance to take her instead."
At the end of that thought he sped off after her, gaining distance quite easily with the amount of buildings he had between him and her, once he was within striking tange, he swapped the grip on his right blade to point behind him as he brought both arms back and ready to strike, he was about to speed towards the nape until he heard rumbling from behind him, on instinct he turned around to see Eren's Titan form coming at them way faster than he was, his Titan was also on fire and Nick noticed his eyes had turned blue.
"Holy shit!" Nick thought. "Fuck, I can't be in his way!" He thought as he noticed Eren getting closer and closer, only using one arm and one leg to move. Nick quickly scanned his surroundingsand noticed a window he could crash through, so while Eren was coming straight at Annie, Nick altered his course so he could swing through the window and into the building without being crushed.
He went through the window feet first so he would be able to keep his balance instead of landing on his face, his momentum kept him going as he kept moving forward and had to roll over a table that was in the room as a gust of wind blew the table over and on top of him. The sound of the toars outside meant that Eren had caught Annie and was now duking it out with her in the open space next to the wall.
"My fucking back." Nick gritted out as he shoved the upturned table off of him, allowing him to get out of the very unconfortable position of the main body of the ODM gear being between him and the floor. "Who designed this shit anyway?" He asked.
"I believe it was a blacksmith named Angel Aaltonen." Frieda replied. "He was the first person in the walls to kill a Titan by actively searching for its weakness."
"I know that Frieda." He responded. "It was a rhetorical question, I wonder how many people have broken their spine after landing on their lower back while using ODM gear?" He asked to himself, slowly getting ack to his feet, stumbling a few times because of the rumbling going on outside.
"Anyway, we need to get back out there before she gets away." He said, walking up to the window and leaning outside, only to see Annie running for the wall and hardening her fingertips so she could climb the wall.
"Better hurry up or she will get away." Frieda pointed out.
Without responding Nick leapt out if the window and shot his hooks into a building, beginning to circle around towards the wall to prevent Annie from getting away from him.
Eren however had decided to latch onto Annie's left foot as she begun to climb, forcing her to sacrifice it so she could continue climbing the walls with Eren in his Titan form falling to the ground below, currently not being able to do anything to prevent Annie's escape.
Nick on the other hand was still busy circling around, going at top speed so he could catch her before she got to open ground on the other side of the wall.
"Hopefully with her being tired out from fighting Eren, and her thinking that she will escape, she won't be able to hear me coming until it's too late." He thought as he sunk his hook into the wall, racing across the wall to follow Annie up so he could deliver a vertical slice to her nape to cut her out without killing her.
As Annie neared the top of the wall, her hardened fingertips being the only thing that was allowing her to continue upwards to her freedom, once she was a few metres away she finally begun to think that she would be able to see her father again, her fingers reached the top of the wall, her right arm hauling her body up to the top of the wall, right as she was about to pull her other arm up and over, she heard the faint noise of what sounded like gas being dispersed from the gas nechanisn of the ODM gear, before she was even able to think about hardening her nape, she couldn't see anymore.
He had done it, he had successfully managed to cut Annie out of her body without killing her, as he pulled her away from the carcass before she could pull anymore tricks from up her sleeve, he noticed that he had severed her arms from the bicep, leaving rather short steaming stumps in their place.
"Oh well... she won't be needing those anyway." He thought. "Be easier to tie her up as well, wasting less rope in the process." He thought as he swiftly got off of her Titan body before it began to slide off the wall and down to where Eren was below.
"That should hopefully buy me some more time." He mused, hoisting a barely conscious Annie over his shoulder and dropping down over the other side of the wall.
A/N - Whew! That took far longer than I had expected to finish, but oh well. Looks like Nick and Annie are going to have a heart to heart out in the plains of Wall Rose, but the next chapter will focus on some more of Nick's past, specifically his time in the Underground District that Nile Dok hinted at earlier in the chapter. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!!