-R-

"So, Reiner, how are you holding up back there?" Bemular asked as the two trudged across gravel.

Bemular had taken him to a more rocky and desolate part of Paradis Island. There were only a few Titans in this area, instead mostly populated with normal animals. Bemular had their arms crossed behind their back as they strutted ahead of Reiner. Reiner meanwhile had a knife in his hand, ready to slash it across his other hand and transform into the Armored Titan should anything come their way.

"As well as I can after finding out I'm apparently half alien," Reiner replied. "Though needless to say, my mom's gonna have a lot of questions to answer when I get home."

Bemular chuckled

"We're here," they said.

"Okay, but where is here?" Reiner asked, starting to get frustrated.

"We've reached our first monster's domain." Bemular took a knee and placed their hand on the ground.

"Okay, so what do we do now?"

"Step back. I'm about to summon it."

Reiner did as he was told and took a few steps back. Bemular then focused their energy into their hand, which began to glow red. Reiner then stumbled as he felt the energy pulse into the ground beneath them, causing it to shake ever so slightly. Bemular then stood up and stepped back as the ground began to quake much more violently. Eventually, the ground before them began to deform, and something massive began to rise from beneath the ground.

"Now it's up to you Reiner!" They called. "When the monster emerges, you need to use your Battlenizer!"

"But I don't even know how to work this thing!" Reiner shouted back.

"You'll figure it out! Now be ready!" Bemular then looked back as the monster finally emerged and roared furiously at being awakened from its slumber. "It's time."

-E-

Later…

"Commander, the time approaches," a garrison soldier said to Commander Erwin. He then addressed the rest of the scouts. "TITANS IN THE VISCINITY HAVE BEEN LURED AWAY! THE GATE OPENS IN THIRTY SECONDS!"

As Eren stood, awaiting the expedition to begin, he heard two kids gasping in awe at them. He looked in the direction of the noise and saw the two in their open window. Eren smiled at them as they showed their excitement. After thirty seconds had passed, the gate finally opened.

"FORWARD!" Erwin roared. His white horse neighed, as his and the rest of the horses galloped through the gates together as a unit. "IT'S OFFICIALLY BEGUN! THE FIFTY-SEVENTH RECON MISSION! SCOUTS, MOVE OUT!"

As they rode out of Colonith and into Wall Maria, Hange caught sight of a ten-meter titan with a massively bloated midsection and an equally massive forehead, its face locked in a permanent grimace. Two Scouts leaped out to fight it and protect the rest of the group while they rode off into the distance.

-A-

Eventually, the scouts splintered off into the long-distance formation Erwin had crafted. Many of the Scouts found themselves having close calls with the Titans, but none of them were that damaging to the formation. Among these sections of the formation, Armin found himself riding alone, but guiding a second, vacant horse alongside him, this horse being one of the ones that the two Scouts back at the gate left behind. Armin was relieved that up until now, he hadn't had the misfortune of encountering a titan. However, at one point, Armin saw a black smoke signal coming from a nearby forest. Dieter Ness and Luke Cis, who were tailing the titan, managed to dispatch it together, and Armin cheered the two on.

However, while they were climbing back onto their horses and about to ride off, the two, as well as Armin, saw another abnormal approaching them. But… as Armin looked closer, his eyes widened in terror as he realized what it really was.

"Gah, I hate these things," Ness groaned. "What did we do to deserve two in a row?! It's bad enough that it's an abnormal, but it had to be mete-"

But then, as the two were talking, the fifteen-meter "abnormal" Titan barreled through them, nearly stepping on the two. As they looked up at it as they realized what they were looking at.

"THE ARMORED TITAN!?" They both shouted in unison.

"Reiner…" Armin gasped, as he fired off a black flair. There was no signal for the Colossal or the Armored, as both were presumed dead. This was the best he could do to warn everyone.

Thankfully, it managed to catch the attention of a certain blonde girl who had been stationed near Armin.

"Damn it! We have to keep it away from Arlert!" Ness shouted.

"On it!" Cis replied before leaping off his horse and grappling onto the Armored titan's back.

Cis tried to slash out the nape, only to find that his armor was so sturdy that not even his blades could pierce it. In response to this attack, Reiner grabbed Cis, with both hands and snapped him in two with one quick motion. He then grabbed Ness and did the same to him. Armin screamed as he watched the two veteran Scouts be slaughtered by the Armored Titan who continued to barrel towards him. Things only went from bad to worse as Armin yelped and pulled his horse to a halt when he saw another abnormal in his path.

This abnormal lacked skin in several areas and bore the distinct form of a woman instead of a man like every other titan. The titan didn't move, seemingly staring at the Armored Titan in surprise. Armin could practically see gears turning in her head, but pulled the horses in another direction and tried to run away, but then he heard something odd. The loud clang of two heavy objects crashing into eachother.

Armin looked back and his eyes widened in shock as she saw the abnormal attacking the Armored Titan. Not just attacking him, she seemed to be fighting quite skillfully, throwing punches and kicks instead of just mindlessly lunging and biting. Additionally, the abnormal seemed to have crystalized her fists and feet to make her attacks more effective on the Armored Titan. Armin stopped and watched the fight go on, the Female Titan sending punch after punch to the armored face of her enemy, while the Armored Titan barely had any time to react before the Female delivered yet another devastating blow to him.

-A-

As Annie approached Armin's location, she hopped off of her horse and flicked out her ring's blade, then cut herself with it. She then transformed into the Female Titan, thinking that maybe if she planted the idea in the Scouts' minds that the Female Titan was there to help them, it might be easier for her to argue that she was simply a victim of deception and that she didn't deserve as harsh punishment. After all, this would be the first time the people of the walls would have ever seen her Titan.

However, as she stepped out of the woods to make her grand entrance, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the Armored Titan chasing after Armin. Annie's nerves grew cold as she wondered what she should do now. She had already forsaken the mission, but maybe, since Reiner was presumed dead, they could escape back to Marley together and report back to their superiors.

But then she looked down at Armin. She remembered him trying to comfort her in the closet, and her heart throbbed as she recalled the warmth of his caring embrace. She couldn't describe the feeling he gave her, but it felt good. It was the first time she had ever felt that way about anyone before. Reiner, Bertholdt, Marcel, Pieck, Zeke, even her own father the last time she saw him. No one ever made her feel the same warm, happy feeling Armin did when he embraced her.

'I was loyal to Marley,' Annie thought as she clenched her fists.

'I came here to secure the Founding Titan, and kill the Eldians behind the walls,' Annie thought as she watched Armin veer away from her.

'I planned to return to my father after this mission was complete,' Annie thought as she approached Reiner and slowly hardened his fists.

Reiner for a brief moment thought she was there to help him. That was until Annie suddenly used one of her hardened fists to strike him across the face, shattering the armor covering his mouth in the process.

'My name is Annie Leonheart, and I am a soldier.'

-R-

Reiner was dumbfounded. He didn't have any idea why this was happening, but for some reason, his ally, Annie Leonhart was attacking him, defending the people they were here to kill. It had only been a few days since they were separated. What could have happened that caused a heel turn this extreme?

'Annie, what the hell are you doing?!' Reiner thought. 'Have you forgotten who the enemy is, or something?! Can't you see you're helping the guys who killed Bertholdt?!'

The Armored Titan attempted to fight back, only to be easily countered by Annie. Eventually, she got him into an arm lock and managed to tear Reiner's arm clean off. Reiner howled in pain beneath his mask and stumbled forwards. He glanced to the side and saw Armin watching in amazement, even smiling as he saw that the Female Titan was winning. Reiner growled and glared at Annie, then noticed her looking solemnly at Armin.

'Oh… I get it now. Without me to keep you in line, you got all sentimental for the island devils, is that it?' Reiner's fist tightened in anger. 'You selfish, backstabbing bitch! We never should have trusted you!'

Reiner caught Annie off guard while she was staring at Armin and backhanded her hard enough to knock her to the ground.

"NO!" Armin screamed. He then released the horse he was dragging around and hurried toward the Female Titan to help her.

Annie looked out and saw Armin approaching. She tried to reach out and tell him to run, but she was then pressed to the ground by Reiner, taking advantage of one of the Armored Titan's advantages over the Female Titan: Sheer brute strength.

Annie hardened her back and tried to push herself up, but Reiner stomped down on her head, smashing her face into the ground. However, this gave Annie the opportunity to roll out from beneath the Armored Titan, tripping him, and allowing her to get on his back and start tearing off Reiner's other arm.

But then suddenly, while Annie was about to finish the job on him, Armin saw something floating down next to her. His eyes widened and he called out to the Female Titan.

"LOOK OUT!" He cried.

Annie turned to face the figure and was then subsequently blasted in the face with a red beam.

-A-

Armin gasped in shock as the Female Titan was launched off of the Armored with one shot and sent tumbling away. He then looked back and saw the thing that shot her grow to fifteen meters tall and float down to Reiner's side.

"Leave this rogue to me," the armored figure said to Reiner. "You go find Jaeger and give him our little surprise."

Reiner nodded and charged away. Armin rode up to the Female titan to check on her well-being. He couldn't leave the first Titan to be on humanity's side to die. But then, he saw steam coming from the back of the female titan's neck, as well as loud coughing coming from a familiar voice. Armin's horse trotted around the Female Titan's head, and sure enough, he found…

"Annie?" Armin blurted out as he saw her kneeling behind the Female Titan's nape, her face baring odd scars with steam billowing off of them.

"Armin…" Annie sighed.

Armin then gasped as the silver giant began approaching them.

"Armin, you need to run, now!" Annie commanded.

"W-what? No, I'm staying with you! You need all the help you can get!"

"You misunderstand me," Annie corrected. "I'm not asking you to run because I want to fight them on my own. I want you to run because I know I can't!"

"W-what do you mean by that?" Armin asked.

"I mean, we need to find Jaeger, and while we're at it, get as much help as we can from the rest of the scouts." Annie flicked her ring, and a knife flipped out of it. "Once I cut myself, I'll be enveloped in a massive burst of light, turning me into the Female Titan, and steam will cover both of us. Once we're under the cover of the steam, we need to run as fast as we can. If that horse can't keep up with me, I'll carry you."

Armin blushed a bit as his mind immediately turned to him being carried in Annie's arms fireman style, but quickly shook that off. "What if you can't keep up with the horse?" He asked.

"I will," She replied. She then pressed her thumb against the blade. "Are you ready?"

Armin nodded. With that, Annie slashed a cut into her thumb and an explosion of thunder hit her as she turned into the Female Titan once again. She and Armin then sprinted out of the cloud of steam just before Bemular floated through it. They then watched them run off and chuckled to themself.

"Oh, I just love a good chase," Bemular said to themself. He allowed them a head start before he began chasing after them.

As Armin and Annie ran, their eyes perked up as they heard Jean's call. Armin smiled as he looked towards Jean and called back to him.

"Jean! Thank goodness you're here," Armin called. "We need help! The Armored Titan is back and-"

"We? I think you just mean you need help, considering you have a damn TITAN NEXT TO YOU!" Jean shouted. "And, wait, did you just say the Armored Titan is back?!"

"I'll explain later," Armin said. "But in regards to this Titan right here, as crazy as it sounds, this is actually Annie! And she's helping us!"

Jean was flabbergasted by what he was just told. "EXCUSE ME!?"

"I know it all sounds insane. Honestly, I don't have all the details myself, but we need help! We're being chased by some size-shifting creature wearing armor! It can fly, and it was strong enough to knock Annie's titan around with one punch after she was getting the upper hand on the Armored Titan!"

"Then what do you want me to do?!" Jean asked incredulously.

"We still don't know everything about it," Armin replied while firing off a yellow signal. "Maybe we can overwhelm it if there's enough of us attacking at once. But to do that, we need to regroup with the rest of the Scouts."

"We could always just throw Eren at him and have him go Ultraman on his ass. Problem solved."

"Did I hear you mention Ultraman?" Bemular inquired.

Armin yelped in dismay as he saw Bemular had already closed the distance.

"Tell me, does one of you fine gentlemen happen to know where Ultraman might be?" They asked deceptively politely. "I'd just love to get to meet him~"

Annie quickly stomped on Bemular as hard as she could, while hardening her foot to avoid it suddenly exploding from the force of the stomp. However, this ultimately proved futile as Bemular grew to her height again, and backhanded her Titan's head off.

"ANNIE!" Armin screamed as he saw her body sticking out of the top of the Titan's neck. Bemular raised their hand to grab her, however, Jean was able to swoop in and scoop her out just in the nick of time, before handing her off to Armin.

"She's alright. Make sure she's safe! Now let's get the hell out of here!" Jean shouted.

"Right!" Armin positioned Annie behind him before the two rode off at full speed.

Bemular opened their faceplates and grinned, licking his lips sadistically as they watched Armin, Jean, and Annie ride away. He knew that he had done all he needed to do. Now all that was left to do was wait.

"Okay, yeah, we definitely need to get Eren," Jean said. "There's no way we're fighting that thing off on our own!"

"Right," Annie replied. "We should head to the right wing as soon as possible then."

"Um… I'm pretty sure you're wrong about that, Annie," Jean said. "My report said they were on the left wing."

"Oh. I guess I'm more tired than I thought I was…" Annie replied.

"Actually, Annie, I was told they were in the right wing, too," Armin said. "Which now that I think about it wouldn't make any sense. Putting them in the vanguard would be a poor strategic move."

"Well if they're not there, then where are they?" Jean asked.

"Where do you think? The safest position possible! The rear of the center rank!"

"Alright, to the rear we go then," Annie said.

The trio then veered towards the center rank in order to relay the message to Eren. Unfortunately, Bemular overheard every word they said thanks to their helmet picking up on their conversation. They then pressed his fingers against an earpiece.

"They're in the back of the center rank. Go there," Bemular said.

-R-

"Got it," Reiner replied while speaking into a wrist communicator, his upper half sticking out of the nape of the Armored Titan. "I'm on my way now."

Reiner then submerged himself back into the body of the Armored Titan and charged forwards. Behind him was a field of mangled corpses. One soldier who miraculously managed to survive Reiner's rampage reached up, and with his dying breath gasped out a message.

"Somebody… Tell the others… T-tell them… The right-wing spotters… are all but wiped out… Tell commander Erwin… that the Armored Titan is back…" A bloody tear rolled down his face as he closed his eyes one last time.

-E-

The Levi squad was riding ahead. From their perspective, things were going smoothly. They did see several green smoke signals in the distance, but not too bad so far. Still though, in the back of Eren's mind, he had a sinking feeling that something had gone wrong. That the frontlines had taken a serious hit already. Just then, the group heard two horses galloping toward them. They then saw Armin, Jean, and Annie burst out of the forest next to them. Eren was relieved to see that his best friend was safe, but seeing the panicked look on his face filled his heart with dread.

"Captain!" Armin called. "We have a big problem! The Armored Titan is still alive!"

Eren gasped in shock. He had failed? But how? How could Reiner have survived a fall from that height? But Armin wasn't done yet.

"What's more, he's teamed up with a monster that bares a resemblance to Eren's Ultraman form in both appearance and ability!" Armin reported. "We need someone to relay the message to Erwin and plan a full frontal assault on them!"

Levi nodded, then looked to his squad. "You've heard the kid, Petra. Relay the message to Erwin."

"Sir!" She replied before veering away from the group.

'Reiner…' Eren growled internally. 'You know, I should be grateful I didn't kill you last time. If there's one thing I regretted, it's that I couldn't make you suffer before I killed you.'

Armin looked behind him and towards Annie, who was embracing him from behind, "for stability" as she claimed.

"Annie, are you gonna be alright?" Armin asked.

"Yeah," She replied. "I'm mostly rested up. I can probably transform again if I need to."

"Transform? What are you talking about?" Gunther asked.

Armin tried to come up with an excuse, not wanting to expose Annie's secret too soon. However, Annie simply ended up exposing herself on her own terms.

"I can turn into a Titan, just like Reiner can," she said.

The Levi squad all gasped, except Levi who remained stoic as ever.

"You sure you're alright with them knowing this soon?" Jean asked.

"They'll find out eventually. I might as well make sure they aren't caught off guard by it."

"Hold up, didn't you, Reiner, and Bertholdt all come from the same village?" Eren asked. "What, did everyone in your village have that power or something?"

"...Something like that," Annie replied.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the group, which was suddenly broken by several black smoke signals nearby. Jean fired off a response signal while Eren stared in shock.

"An abnormal!" He said.

"No, there's no way one could have broken through that far in," Armin said.

"You thinkin' it's the Armored?" Levi asked.

"I hope it's the Armored," Armin replied. "Because if it's his partner, we're in serious trouble…"

-R-

Reiner charged forwards toward the center rank. Soldiers tried to slash at it, but to no avail as his armor covered up all of his vital points. However, Reiner simply ignored every attack the soldiers threw at him. That is until Reiner ended up taking a pinpoint flair right to the eye, which stunned him. At that moment, the person who fired the flair called out to his comrades to cut at every point that wasn't armored. The armpits, the groin, the backs of his knees, the ankles, anything that could immobilize him.

'Shit!' Reiner thought. 'I can't dodge this! There's too many of them! What do I do?!' Reiner then glanced down at his hand. Within it, surrounded by Titan muscle tissue, was his Battlenizer. 'Maybe I should bite the bullet and bring out the big guns early? But that might draw out Eren too soon!'

"FOR THE SOLDIERS YOU'VE KILLED!" One of the Scouts shouted. "WE'RE GONNA MAKE SURE THIS HURTS!"

'Gah! To hell with it!' Reiner was about to emerge from his Titan, when suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he heard one of the soldiers screaming.

The Armored Titan turned around and saw Bemular floating next to him. The soldier that was roaring about how he was going to avenge the soldiers Reiner killed was now screaming in abject agony as Bemular's claws pierced his back. Red sparks of electricity surged across the man's body as he howled in pain until he could take no more, and his body erupted into a shower of blood and viscera, liquified by the same attack Bemular used to awaken Reiner's monster. As the soldiers stared on in terror, Reiner proceeded to crush one of them underneath his armored fist, as Bemular floated down to his shoulder.

"Apalogies for the delay, Reiner," they said. "Though I had assumed given your power, you wouldn't have any trouble with them."

Bemular then turned his attention to a soldier that was trying to attack him. Bemular grabbed the soldier's blade in their hand, and quickly snapped it with their fingers, before piercing the soldier's skull with their claws and dropping him to the ground. The seeming leader of the group screamed and tried to ride away. However, Reiner charged at him and crushed him beneath his foot before moving on, soon reaching a forrest of giant trees, which Bemular followed him into.

-M-

"So what's the story?" One soldier on the leftmost wing asked Mikasa. "How far is the commander gonna let us run off course?"

"No clue," Mikasa replied. "We should be heading south, not east."

"No need to tell me twice," the soldier replied. "Especially considering what's just up ahead."

The soldier pointed towards a forest of giant trees, each one about 80 meters tall in height.

"There's no way he expects us to go in there!" The soldier said as they appreached it.

Eventually, Mikasa's group moved out of the way of the trees and rode alongside them. Mikasa rode ahead of the soldier she was talking to, and ended up catching up with Connie, who she saw staring at the trees in bewilderment. Eventually, Connie noticed Mikasa and nervously asked her whatever happened to the formation Erwin created.

"Apparently, it's breaking up," Mikasa said. "The path isn't wide enough for the side ranks, so the only tactical option was for us to go around them."

"But… couldn't we have just avoided them all together?" Connie asked. "What, did the commander read a map and realize it too late?"

"No clue, but perhaps we're here to shake the threat that's been on our right? The trees make a decent cover, I suppose. Maybe…" Mikasa tried to rationalize this decision any way she could.

However, upon remembering said threat, she began thinking about Eren, and started to feel slightly nervous for his safety. While thinking about this however, the group stopped at one side of the forrest. After dismounting from their horses and tying them down, they were ordered to stand guard in the trees and make sure no Titans were to enter the forest. They were given no explanation as to why they were supposed to do this, which only made them all even more confused.

-E-

The Levi squad plus Armin, Jean, and Annie, rode through the center of the forrest, most of them in similar states of confusion. However, it was only Eren who voiced his confusion at the situation to Levi.

"The Armored Titan must be coming up on the right, so what are we supposed to do?! Avoid Titans or defend the wagons?!" Eren asked.

"Would you cut it out already?" Levi replied with an annoyed tone in his voice. "Neither of those are an option now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you noticed your surroundings? Take a look at these big-ass trees."

Indeed Eren did take a look at them, as it quickly donned on him, as well as Armin and Jean.

"Perfect environment for ODM, wouldn't you say?" Levi asked sarcastically. "Take my advice: calm down and use your head. The best survival tool is your brain."

Armin didn't buy that. Simply by observing the other members of the Levi squad, he could tell that they were out of the loop too.

Annie counted her blessings that Armin wasn't paying attention to her at the moment, because if he was, he would probably be able to tell by the look on her face that she knew what was happening. Best case scenario for her, Erwin was leading just Reiner into a trap. However, it was likely that Erwin already figured her out even before she joined, and had planned to lure her out from the start. However, the ladder was the worst case scenario regardless of wether she was working for or against them, because if Erwin had prepared in advance for her, and Reiner was the real threat instead, then whatever trap Erwin had set up wouldn't work on him.

However, everyone snapped out of their thoughts when a black smoke signal went off.

"Crap!" Eld groaned. "Damn thing's been on our ass since the beginning!"

"Blades drawn, now" Levi ordered. "It'll happen in the blink of an eye, so be ready!"

Everyone waited with baited breath as they felt the ground tremble. Their hearts pounded to the rapid rhythm of the approaching threat. Soon, a soldier swooped out of the woods, facing towards whatever enemy he had just escaped from. However, his escape was in vain as the Armored Titan smashed him into a nearby tree, killing him instantly.

"GO! MOVE IT!" Levi demanded.

Reiner's momentum allowed him to shorten the distance between them before keeping a relatively even pace with them. But Reiner was slowly closing that gap, putting added pressure onto the Scouts. Rear reinforcements eventually arrived, but they were almost immediately killed by Bemular, who swooped down from the skies and decapitated one of them with a single kick, before shoving the otherone's sword through his heard. They then landed onto Reiners shoulder, their blue eyes glowing ominously as their victims' bodies collapsed to the ground behind them.

"CAPTAIN! YOUR ORDERS!?" Petra screamed.

"IT'S DANGEROUS! LET'S TAKE THEM OUT! TELL US TO ENGAGE SIR!" Oruo cried.

"I'LL CUT THE BASTARDS!" Eld growld.

Eren grinned and looked back at Reiner and bemular. 'You morons! You're racing to your own deaths! You're facing the best damn team of Titan slayers in existence!'

However, Eren gasped in confusion as he saw Levi wasn't saying anything.

"Captain?!" Eren gasped.

"CAPTAIN!" Petra screamed again.

"WE NEED YOUR ORDERS SIR! THEY'RE GAINING ON US!" Gunther screamed.

"WHO CARES ABOUT HIS ORDERS!?" Jean roared. "IF HE WON'T DO ANYTHING TO HELP US, LET'S JUST TAKE INITIATIVE ALREADY!"

"EVERYONE! COVER YOUR EARS, NOW!" Levi called to them.

Everyone did as instructed as Levi held a flairgun above his head and fired it. And the noise that erupted from it was deafening.