Lieutenant-Commander Katherine Wright was in the commander's office on the ninth floor of the Juggernaut Station. She had spent the last three days cleaning it up, filing all the documents in alphabetical, chronological, and geographical order. She personally vacuumed the place and wiped any countertops, topped up the bottles of liquor, refilled the coffee capsules and the tea sachets (which she ordered by their numerical value on the color wheel). The room was allowed a breath of fresh air, and felt somewhat more homely.
She sat on the abstract chairs with a grim look in her eyes, mouth and nose covered by her hands and her elbows rested on her legs, leaned over to stare at the last file left in the room that hadn't been put in the filing cabinets. A red 'confidential' stamp covered its title, making it unreadable from this distance. She had remained in this position for the past hour and a half after having sent away someone from the communications department with whom she exchanged a heated conversation (rather, she delivered a heated monologue which the person obsequiously stood through), and simply stared at the document, fearing it like a good vampire would fear garlic. Word had come back from the Middle-East: The Beast Titan and the Harbinger Titan have launched a covert attack on the FLU forces (and five allied Titan Aspects) who partook in Phase Two. They made up 90% of the total number of FLU soldiers and operatives, and are currently assumed to be killed or -according to the optimists- missing in action. A cleanup unit of the US Military departed from the Al Anad Base an hour after reports of lightning strikes, and collected dog tags (if the bodies could not be found). Captain Marama Anderson of the 105th has been identified and confirmed to be killed in action (crushed under a pile of rubble). Captain Sergio Mariola of the 107th has been identified and confirmed to be killed in action (shredded apart by projectiles). Captain Hasan Köse of the 106th has not been identified but his last known location was the USS Millville, which has been blown up by a missile strike; missing in action. The Attack Titan's Wielder is confirmed to be alive, but has gone missing an hour after the cleanup crew's arrival. The Cart Titan's Wielder has complied with the US Military forces and helped to locate many fallen soldiers, but disappeared when the bodies were loaded onto trucks to be driven to the Al Anad Base. The Jaw Titan and the Colossal Titan's Wielders were not located and deemed missing in action.
Lieutenant-Commander Wright kept getting updates every hour when someone from the communications department (a different one each time) brought her a new list. On the left side, names were written down one after the other. Names of people she knew, trained with, served with, and some close friends. One the right side, their status. All entries were marked as killed in action. But two were missing, and she clung to some loose and foolish hope that it might be different. Someone knocked at the door, but she didn't bother to look up or respond. The door creaked timidly as Gabrielle Lawrence stepped in with a new file in her hands.
"Ma'am," Gabrielle said and waited a few beats for an answer. The silence scared her. "We've received an update… regarding the Armored Titan."
Wright remained in the exact same position, and only her eyes darted to the side.
Gabrielle breathed in. "It isn't exactly a trustworthy source, but an untraceable message pinged our servers half an hour ago, signed JK. The message confirms that the Armor's Wielder has been consumed by the Harbinger Titan."
Wright did not react to this information. She did not move, flinch, or snap. She simply sat there, and her eyes turned back to the confidential files on the floor. She took a small breath. "And the Commander?"
Gabrielle's throat dried up and drops of sweat coalesced along her hairline. She nervously looked between the piece of paper she held in her hands and the lieutenant-commander. "His dog tags were recovered on a mountain near the town," her voice started to shake. "Commander Julian Ridgeway of the United States Forward Liberation Unit has been killed in action."
Wright simply stood up and walked towards the windows with her arms behind her back. "Thank you, Gabrielle," she announced. "That will be all."
Gabrielle swallowed dryly and saluted her with a tremoring hand. "Yes, ma'am," and shut the door as she left the room.
Katherine Wright stared out into the New Mexican desert. The full weight of the world, all of the misery and inherent evil that it wrought came crashing down upon her, forcing the floodgates of her eyes open as tears came gushing out. She held her hand to her mouth and sobbed, using the window sill as support for her weakened legs, which grew unbearable as her sorrow soared. She turned around to face the room and her knees bent under the pressure of the news and she slid down along the wall until she sat with her legs close to her chest. She held her skull as she cried and her eyes danced around until her gaze landed on the file, the title of which was now readable.
In a cold, black on white, Times New Roman font, it read: Phase Two.