Sometime during sunrise

Within the Walls which safeguarded humanity, it was common knowledge to most, or at least those living in the south edges of the Walls at the very least, that seeing the Survey Corps return from an expedition was never a sight for the faint of heart.

It never mattered how many Survey Corps had embarked on an expedition, nor how strong, fast or even intelligent they were. In due time, even the strongest of them (with some exceptions) would all be slaughtered outside the walls, courtesy of the Titans. Every expedition was basically suicide to most residents of the Walls, Survey Corp or not. But even so, the Survey Corps never stopped moving outside their safe zones in an attempt to retake the outside world.

And it was mainly for that reason why quite a large handful of people supported them.

The Survey Corps, to those who supported them, were a symbol of hope. They represented the human side of the war they were waging against the Titans for their freedom, and as a result, their supporters usually argued that their idols, the 'heroes of humanity', were winning the battle against the Titans, or at least helping humanity fight back in some way, though that argument was usually thrown out the window when the Survey Corps actually returned from an expedition.

Every single time they returned from the outside, their numbers would always be lesser than they were before they embarked in one way or the other, be it the large number of missing/deceased soldiers or the amount of wounded comrades they had accumulated over the course of a few short days. Family members of the deceased typically had nothing to bury since the Titans often left nothing behind after consuming them.

However, the alternative was arguably even worse, as, on occasion, a Titan would leave behind a chunk of it's victim after consuming it, having failed to consume their target entirely. This meant that they would, on rare instances, have something to give to their fallen comrade's families, be it a finger, an arm, their fallen comrade's entire upper torso, or, on very, very rare occasions, an entire body which was still left intact. It wasn't much, but it was the only way the Survey Corps could think of to say sorry to the families of their fallen soldiers.

Slowly and terribly loudly, the gears that controlled the gate which served as the only way in and out of Shiganshina,slid upwards, with the edges of the gate scraping loudly against it's frame as it rose, allowing the returning Survey Corps to enter via horseback. In the background, the roar of the cannons atop the Walls of Shiganshina could be faintly heard blasting at the Titans who were attempting to get in to little avail, though no one was paying any real attention to that sound as their attention was fully affixed on the returning Survey Corps.

While it was common to see the Survey Corps with missing comrades or heavily injured teammates, the townsfolk who always gathered to see them return were never used to seeing the amount of injuries or casualties the soldiershad acquired. One couldn't really blame them, as almost no one could ever get used to seeing a fellow human with a missing arm, a gouged out eye, or the haunting feeling of staring at a human corpse, though some of the younger, naive children in the crowd tried to say hello to the unmoving carcasses of the deceased. Erwin took note of two children, one which seemed a little enthusiastic about them returning while his… friend, perhaps sister, just stood silently beside him, her expression the complete opposite of her friend/brother's.

To just look at these innocent young souls stare at him with as much reverence as they did… it gave him a small sense of pride… and a massive amount of guilt all the while as he swiftly turned away from them, confusing the young boy as he did so, and he ignored the child from here on as he continued onwards.

Near the middle of the formation, Hanji stayed worryingly quiet and her expression was uncharacteristically neutral as they rode through the crowd. Her fellow soldiers should've been used to it by now, but for whatever reason, they weren't. Even Levi, who had served as a Survey Corp alongside Hanji since their first expedition, was not used to it. After every expedition, Hanji would stay quiet and neutral for at least a week, something which was very out of character for the lady.

A few of her fellow soldiers theorised that this was how Hanji coped with the loss of so many of their comrades, especially the ones whom she had indirectly killed whenever she moved in too close to a pack of Titans. It was a theory which held up, though no one dared ask Hanji why she was sulking to confirm it, as the last person who did so was promptly kicked out of her room.

They were also a little too used to Hanji's endless enthusiasm, cheeriness and even her willingness to learn every last scrap of info regarding the Titans instead of how she was after every expedition, which was the complete opposite. Though thankfully, usually a week after an expedition, Hanji's mood would suddenly take a total 180 change and she'd return to her cheery mood. It was odd, but they never complained.

"Moses…?" came a voice which belonged to an elderly sounding woman out of seemingly nowhere. It took the Survey Corps a few seconds to realize who she was. Average sized and wearing a shirt which didn't seem out of the ordinary in Shiganshina, the lady was known to most as the loving mother of the Survey Corp junior, Moses, and known to others as the lady who always gave her son and his friends random scraps of food during their break periods.

"E-Excuse me, commander…" said Moses' mother as she walked up towards the current Survey Corp commander, Keith Shadis. And just seeing her, with that hopeful look in her eyes and the way she clasped her hands together in the hopes of being able to welcome her son back to Shiganshina with a massive hug made most of the Corps turn away in shame. But it did not stop them from halting their horses. "I… I don't see my son… Moses… do you know where I can find him…?"

Keith only stayed silent for a short moment, creating tension so thick that the people around him couldn't even breath. But he eventually spoke in his usual neutral and monotonous voice, though there were some subtle hints of regret as he spoke. "It's his mother… bring it over…"

And Keith's neutral look nearly shattered when he saw the emotion which the lady was showing. She was clearly feeling a massive mix of different emotions, denial was most likely the most prominent, with shock, disbelief and just a little anger added into the mix. However, it all seemed to blend together into a mixture of anguish when a Survey Corp with a bandage over his left eye handed something wrapped in a white cloth which had a couple blotches of blood to Moses' mother.

The lady's heart pounded intensely in her heart as she looked at the thing, the last bit of hope in her eyes shattering as her mind reached the correct conclusion. She spared a glance up to Keith, who was still looking at her with a somewhat nervous expression, though it was hidden behind a thick layer of neutrality, before she very hesitantly lifted a portion of the white cloth up, only to attempt to cover it back up when she saw what it's content was.

It was an arm, a blood stained one at that. Judging from its appearance, it was just recently severed since it was still relatively skin coloured instead of pale. But at the moment, Moses' mother was not interested in its appearance. She was focused more on one thing, that her son was now dead. It was enough to make her break down into tears, making most of the Survey Corps around her turn away in shame. Keith, on the other hand, felt that he had no right to do so and kept his gaze fixed on Moses' mother.

"I'm sorry…" muttered Keith, doing his best to keep it together. "It… it was all we were able to recover…

At this point, Moses' mother was not listening. Instead, she fell to her knees, holding the wrapping which contained the only salvaged piece of her son closed to her cheek as she weeped silently.

The few seconds of silence which followed was perhaps the longest amount of seconds anyone in Shiganshina had experienced. On the seventh second, Keith knelt down to face Moses' mother. He had intended to perhaps comfort the lady, no matter how embarrassing it may seem for a Corp commander to be doing so in public. But before the man could do so, the lady spoke up.

"But… my… my son…" muttered Moses' mother, her voice soft at first, but it eventually rose in volume. "He… he carried out his duty… right?"

Keith flinched when she asked that, not knowing what to say as two sizable streams of tears flowed from her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Although it may not have been anything significant…" continued the lady, barely keeping her voice steady as she jerked her head up to look Keith dead in the eyes, prompting the Commander to shudder at the amount of anger that was visible on her face. "He contributed to mankind's retaliation somehow, didn't he?!"

By then, Keith's neutral expression had faded away, and the man's proper emotions were on show. He had no answer to that question, a truthful one, anyways.

"O-Of course!" started Keith, wanting to convince Moses' mother that her son's death was not in vain, but he stopped himself. No… he couldn't. While it would have been the nice thing to do, his conscience forcefully stopped him from doing so. It was his fault for the death of Moses, and his damned conscience would not allow him to say otherwise. "No… through this mission… no, through all of our missions…"

Keith paused for a short moment, hesitating to continue. But he gritted his teeth, sucked up his pride, and proclaimed; "We've failed to achieve anything! Because of my incompetence, I've gotten soldiers killed for nothing and failed to learn even the slightest thing about them!"

Behind Keith, the other Survey Corps looked in stunned shock as Keith admitted everything that he has felt since he saw the first Survey Corp under his command die, in public, no less. Even Levi let his neutral emotion fall apart for a brief moment as his eyes widened and his mouth slightly agape as he watched two streams of tears fall from Keith's eyes.

A couple of hours later

Hanji Zoe's room was, in short, a mess.

More often than not, her room would be chock full of stacks upon stacks of paper that littered the place's floor in a very, very untidy manner. Hanji would usually try her utmost best to keep it as neat as possible, though to little effect as it ended up turning back into what one would consider to be a paper wasteland within an hour or two.

As for furniture, her room had a bed which was pretty much always unmade, with her pillow always on the floor every time Hanji woke up from her sleep and her blanket would always be in tangles, more often than not with Hanji herself being entangled within it. Of course, this was whenever she slept on her bed as she had a penchant for sleeping by her desk. And there was a very obvious hole in her pillow which was hastily stitched back together.

Hanji also had, as stated above, a desk which was right next to her bed. And, as expected, her desk was as messy as the rest of her room, perhaps even more so ! It was, and this is someone being generous, at least a little more tidy than their floor, though that was only because Hanji had tried to keep the almost uncountable pieces of paper on the thing neat, often to little success, but it was a good effort nonetheless.

There were at least three corkboards which hung on the walls of her room. Keith had given them to Hanji at Levi's request to try and lessen the mess in the woman's room. It didn't exactly work as, within the week, the corkboards were completely filled to the brim with theories and other stuff Hanji felt like sticking onto it. And it didn't take much more than two days for the room to be messed up by paper, again. The same happened even after she was given the other two corkboards. After she had used up all the space on the third, Keith and Levi gave up on trying to help her keep her room clean and just made sure to stay well away from it to avoid catching whatever potentially dangerous diseases which were likely floating around in there. The same applied to everyone who wished to stay healthy.

Hanji also had a decently sized closet at the corner of her room, though half of the closet held papers while the other half held her Survey Corp uniforms and other outfits she kept for casual use.

Many plans had been made to clean the room by Levi, but he had neither the time, the inclination nor even the courage to step into the room to do so.

Most of the time, when Hanji returned from an expedition, and after the (usually) two hour debrief, she would immediately drop down on her bed to rest and to begin her mental planning for their next trip out into the outside world, trying to figure out ways to lessen the casualties and perhaps tweak their formation for a better and safer expedition, with a few minutes of sulking between the two. It was routine for her to stay inside for many, many hours, sometimes missing her lunch/dinner breaks intentionally just to get a few more hours of planning/rest/sulking in.

Today, however, she did neither of the three. Instead, right after she entered her room after the debriefing, she immediately slammed the door behind her, sending a few pieces of paper flying up into the air ever so slightly as she marched over to her desk. As soon as she was in front of it, she pushed the stacks of paper which were piled on top of it straight off without a second thought, creating a loud boom when they hit the floor, and the resulting shockwave sending those which were already on the floor flying, but Hanji ignored that as she fumbled for a blank piece of paper.

The thump which the impact created made several Corps stare at her closed door, wondering if she had broken something again, but they quickly retreated back into their respective dorms when they heard another boom and Hanji cursing with her usual slang, a slang she used when she was in a good mood, suggesting to some that she was, for perhaps the first time in a long time, not depressed, an admittedly pleasant surprise to most who knew her well. The only soldier who stayed outside her dorm was Moblit, who was, as usual, worried that Hanji had finally given into the stress and snapped.

Back with Hanji, it took her a few moments to find a handful of semi-blank pieces of paper that weren't completely scribbled over with chicken scratch which spoke of her theories regarding the Titans. Without much hesitation, Hanji slapped the semi-blank pieces of paper onto her desk, causing a loud thud to be emitted as several hundred particles of dust were ejected up into the air. After a quick sneeze, Hanji dug the best pencil she had out of her drawer, and after taking in a deep breath, she began drawing/sketching something on her first piece of paper.

It was an image of that 'Titan' which her group had discovered mere hours ago. Sure, it was crudely drawn and extremely misshapen, with non-existent proportions and strange details which she had added to areas which were not visible to them in the night sky, but it did somewhat resemble the real thing (for the most part). As soon as the doodle was complete, Hanji wasted no time in writing down her theories regarding the 'Titan' on the second piece of paper.

Her first theory was also her most pressing concern, how was that 'Titan' using weapons? Titans weren't intelligent beings, or at least the regular variants weren't . Abnormals were a special case, but she hasn't seen any Titan, Abnormal or not, use a Longsword or a Mace before. Even the history books which were presumably accurate had never spoke of such an occurrence in the past.

Other theories she wished to look deeper into in the future included the height of the 'Titan'. Even if it was dark, Hanji, alongside most of her comrades, could quite easily tell that the 'Titan' towered over even the Fifteen metre class Titans. Hanji tallied it at about Nineteen metres, a detail she wrote down on the bottom corner of the paper. The blue flames that were emitted from the 'Titan', namely the sides of its shins and its hips, were also a matter she wished to look into, as was the fact that this 'Titan' was capable of at least some level of intelligent thought, as evident by how it fought the natural flesh-and-blood Titans during the expedition.

As the theories sprung up, Hanji found herself completely engrossed in writing. With every piece of paper she had filled, another would take its place, and within an hour, her entire desk was littered with several hundred slips of paper that were filled with theories regarding this 'Titan'. Her theories ranged from it being an intelligent subspecies of Titan that evolved far enough to consider humans to not be a threat to the thing being a man made mechanical monstrosity that fell from the stars, among other things, with Hanji discarding the latter theory because she thought it was nonsense.

Hanji didn't have any concrete answers to any of her theories, but she didn't mind. After all, the next expedition would take place in a few months, and they would have a chance to encounter this 'Titan' once more, which could potentially lead to more theories. For now, she simply wrote down all her theories without a care in the world.

And it took the sound of her doorknob being turned to snap her out of it. Blinking at that sound, Hanji jolted upright and ripped her gaze away from her latest theory that was halfway written and turned to face the door to her room, only to blink once more when she saw Levi standing there, looking unamused and perhaps a little disgusted as he eyed her.

"Levi!" greeted Hanji with her usual cheeriness, ignoring her comrade's expression as she gave a wave, prompting the short man in question to prop an eyebrow up. He quickly lowered it and shook his head before he took a reluctant step into her room, grimacing at how… unsanitary it felt.

"Good to see you doing something productive after an expedition for once," said Levi in a neutral tone, crossing his arms as he stopped behind Hanji's chair. Peeking over her shoulder, Ackerman raised his brows when he saw the… unprofessional looking sketch of that 'Titan' they encountered during their expedition. He snorted at how strange it looked before shaking his head. "Forget I said anything."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, shorty," grumbled Hanji, her face red with insult as she waved Levi off. The man in question grimaced at being called short, something his insulter took no notice of as she went back to writing her theory. Ackerman himself felt ready to thump Zoe over the head, though before he could do so, Hanji continued speaking, not looking away from her paper as she did. "So, why are you here? You usually wouldn't even step in here unless you were forced into doing so."

"It's simple," replied Levi, grimacing as he lowered his arm. "I was ordered to do so."

"Oh? From who?"

"Keith. Now stop your blabbering and come on."

"Alright…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You're not gonna tell me why, aren't you?"

"No, but I'm sure you know why he wants to meet you, anyways."

"Guess so… anyways! We're wasting time! Let's move!"

With that last bit of friendly banter said, and after Levi rolled his eyes and gave a soft, annoyed sigh, the Hanji shot up from her desk, causing various slips of paper around her to eject up into the air, before she allowed the shorter man to lead her to Keith's office.

Before they left, however, Levi took a peek at the newest 'theory' that Hanji had written down. It wasn't exactly a theory, more of a name for that 'Titan'. Ackerman read it and gave a snort, not minding how simple the name Mechanical Titan sounded, before he turned on his heel to head off.

A couple of minutes later, in the Survey Corp Commander office

The distant voice of Hanji Zoe was the first indication to both Erwin and Keith that Levi had successfully gotten the bespectacled woman to follow him, though it wasn't much of a surprise to either, as Hanji was known to have enough respect for Levi to listen to him with little to no question.

"They're here," said Erwin, stating the obvious as Keith simply nodded grouchily, prompting the blonde man to internally sigh as he positioned his hands behind his back.

This was pretty much a normal thing for Keith after every expedition. Every time after they returned from a mission to the outside, and after every debrief session, Keith would always retreat back to the Survey Corp office to plan for the next expedition and to drown in an ocean of his own guilt for letting so many who were under his command die such gruesome deaths. This cycle would only get worse and worse after every expedition, his regret piling up endlessly, causing him an endless amount of stress which threatened to make him lose his hair.

Though, of course, not everything was completely horrible and depressing. Every time the commander would isolate himself for planning, almost none of the soldiers under him would dare to approach him in fear for reprimandation. No soldier, that is, except for Erwin Smith, the man whom both the other Survey Corps and even Keith himself considered to be the Section Commander's right hand man. The blonde man would usually accompany Keith in his planning/sulking, often times than not giving moral support and as much input as he could on his strategies. If Keith were honest, Erwin was probably the only thing which kept him between sanity and a full mental breakdown.

On this specific day, however, Erwin noted that Keith seemed to be slightly less tense when compared to other times. He didn't scribble as much on the paper which was on his desk, a piece of paper which was meant for planning the formations, and he seemed to be deep in thought, more so than usual. The blonde man had an idea of what was in Keith's mind, but he wasn't necessarily sure about that thought until he asked about it.

"Commander Keith," began Erwin, glancing at said man as he turned to face him.

"Please, Erwin," said Keith with a courteous smile. "No need to use that title when we are speaking in private confidence." Erwin responded to that with a nod before Keith continued. "Now, what were you about to say?"

"Well," said Erwin scratching his chin sheepishly as he continued, remembering how he had told his commander about that 'Titan' not too long ago. "It's a trivial question, but are you thinking about it?"

Erwin calling the unidentified 'Titan' itwas a little unnecessary as no one else was here to overhear them. Still, with Erwin being as cautious as he was, he decided to do so just in case. And, as he expected, Keith knew what he was talking about.

"You're talking about that 'Titan' which you and your team encountered, yes?" asked Keith with a brow raised. Erwin gave a nod, and Keith gave what could generously be considered a chuckle. "Perhaps. What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you seem to be thinking more than usual," said Erwin, scratching his chin. "You usually write and think at the same time. That, and you got Levi to go summon Hanji, who, from what I hear, is currently theorising on the unidentified Titan."

When he finished, Keith gave a soft chuckle. This was why he, more often than not, considered Erwin to be his successor as Survey Corp commander if he stepped down or fell in combat. The blonde could tell that something was on his mind just from noticing such minute details which others would have missed. Such a skill was rare among soldiers, even if there were a couple of minor exceptions.

"Perhaps we should discuss this once our friends come in," suggested Keith, an option which Erwin halfheartedly agreed with. And, within a few minutes… or seconds, someone knocked on the door to Keith's office, sounding a little loud, signifying to Erwin that Levi was the one who knocked. And, after Keith allowed them to enter, the door swung open, revealing Hanji and Levi exchanging friendly banter between each other.

"I'm calling it now, they want to talk about it," said Hanji as they walked in, making Levi roll his eyes. Currently, Hanji seemed to be her usual self. Not her usual self after an expedition, but her actual self. Cheary, enthusiastic, and with a wide smile on her face as she came in, something which made Erwin unintentionally smile. As for Levi, he looked as he always did.

"Yeah, whatever," was Levi's reply as they stood up straight at attention when they were right in front of Keith's table, with Hanji standing straighter more so than Levi, though she was visibly rolling on the balls of her feet as she stood. "Commander, as you can see, I… retrieved Hanji."

"I can tell," said Keith, an attempt at humor which didn't necessarily work as everyone in the room stayed dead quiet for some time. After a while, Keith awkwardly cleared his throat and continued. "Now… I'm sure why I called Levi to summon specifically you, Hanji…"

"Weeeeeeeell… I kinda have an idea why," said Hanji with a thoughtful smirk as she tapped her chin rather playfully. "Kinda obvious. It's about the Mechanical Titan, eh?"

"Mechanical Titan?" said Erwin, an eyebrow raised as Levi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's the codename Hanji gave the 'Rogue' Titan we encountered while outside," translated Levi. Erwin and Keith turned to Hanji, who nodded in confirmation, looking a little cocky as she did. Though that look was wiped off her face when Levi punched her shoulder. "Turns out she was theorising about it for the past hour or so. Shook the building at least ten times when she did."

Keith simply nodded when Levi said that as though he expected nothing less than Hanji theorising on the 'Mechanical Titan' and shaking the Survey Corp HQ in Rose ten times right after she was debriefed. "Well, what a pleasant surprise…" said Keith with a small smile as he cupped his hands together.

"Really?" asked Hanji, tilting her head as she completely forgot about why she thought she was called in. "How so?"

"Well…" said Keith. "It's regarding the Mechanical Titan. I wanted to know what you thought of it."

"Oh… OH!" proclaimed Hanji as her memory caught up with her as she turned to Levi. "Called it!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever," grumbled Levi, crossing his arms as Hanji smiled victoriously and gave a fistbump. Erwin simply shook his head in mock disappointment as he watched, clearly amused as, despite being used to seeing those two Senior Survey Corps bicker every single day, it was always entertaining to watch them go at it.

"Anyways, what do you wanna know, Keith?" asked Hanji after she finished smiling. She approached his table and slammed her palm down onto its top, smirking proudly. "I've got tons of theories and a lot of time, you know?"

"...everything you've theorised on this Mechanical Titan, Hanji," replied Keith after some thought, making Erwin and Levi step back in shock. It was mainly because if anyone were to ask about everything Hanji had theorised on, they would be sitting there for at least three hours, and at worse, eight or even twelve. And, somehow, Hanji could speak without breathing (not noticeably anyways) or drinking water. It honestly made most think she was not human. Even Moblit, the soldier who worked with her for several years, couldn't keep himself attentive for the entire duration of her theories.

Hanji, on the other hand, was elated to hear that. So much so that she ended up jumping up and down, clapping her hands as she giggled like a maniac, making Levi instinctively take a step or two away from her. He was just about to make his escape from the room, though he was stopped when he saw Erwin shake his head at him, his expression telling him that "if we have to sit through all this, then you're gonna sit through it with us.". Knowing that he couldn't escape now, Levi reluctantly remained in the room.

"Gladly!" proclaimed Hanji with a smirk, before she rubbed her hands together like some sort of psychopath, prompting Levi to widen the gap between him and the bespectacled woman even more. And, for the next five hours or so, Zoe listed out practically everything she had theorised on the Mechanical Titan so far.

During this time, Levi found himself falling asleep while standing up with his eyes opened somehow, clearly not interested a single word Hanji was saying. Erwin and Keith, on the other hand, stayed attentive through the entire explanation, with Keith listening more attentively than Erwin, who eventually got confused and lost track, though he got the basics of what Hanji had theorised on this Mechanical Titan into his head at least.

Once Hanji finished exactly at the five hour mark, and after she woke Levi up for the third time, Keith narrowed his eyes as he cupped his hands together and rested his chin on them, thoughtful. He stayed that way for some time, making Levi get a bad feeling at the silence.

"Commander," said Levi, voice sounding rather hoarse as he had not drank anything for the last few hours, prompting him to clear his throat rather intensely before continuing, and when he spoke up once more, the three others in the room had turned to face him. "Please. Don't tell me you're thinking what I think you're thinking."

Despite him not specifying what he was referring to, Keith knew exactly what he meant, prompting the Survey Corp Commander to let out a soft, almost inaudible chuckle.

"Levi," said Keith, sounding calmer than Levi had expected, making the short man flinch slightly. "I know your concerns… but, while I hate to admit such a thing, we are losing this war against the Titans. And currently, any risk for a possible tactical advantage we can take to tip the balance in our favor is one which I am willing to take."

"Hold up now," said Hanji, making everyone turn to see her with wide eyes and practically dancing, bouncing from leg to leg as she contained what Erwin assumed to be anticipation at what she thought Keith would say, though just barely. "Are you suggesting-"

"Yes…" admitted Keith with a resigned nod. "I'm thinking of possibly… capturing this Titan…"

Noting the odd way Keith had worded his words, Erwin quickly figured out what he meant. This Titan… Mechanical Titan, according to Hanji, was potentially capable of some form of intelligent thought, meaning that it could perhaps behave like a human, and like a human, it could perhaps be goaded to join their side. It was a thought which made the blonde wonder if either he or Keith, or both of them for that matter, had lost their minds.

However, Levi, on the other hand, was already thinking that they were out of their minds. Perhaps Keith was too eager to get an upper hand against the Titans to think of any more logical problems that would arise. The largest problem was the fact that there was an extremely, extremely low chance of them even encountering the Mechanical Titan on their next expedition, or perhaps even the one after, and so on. That wasn't even including the thought of how they'd capture it, considering how they have never captured even a regular Titan in the past.

There were many others in the pipeline, but before Levi could even open his mouth to list them out, the door to the Survey Corp Commander office burst open, revealing a Garrison who wore a scarf around her neck. She wore the standard issue female Corp uniform and still had her 3D Maneuver Gear attached to her waist, gear which was painted on. They almost instantly recognised her as Flex Moto Ray, a senior Garrison who graduated on the same day as Levi, Hanji and Erwin.

Most of the time they saw her, Flex would have a polite, calm smile on her face, something which reflected her mannerisms. But here, she seemed panicked, breathing heavily as she hastily straightened herself up.

"C-Commander Keith!" proclaimed Flex, her panicked tone fitting her expression as she held the door frame to the man in question's office as she did her best to catch her breath.

"Yes, soldier?" replied Keith, wondering what the Wall painter was panicking about. He hoped that it was something minor, like a Survey Corp/Garrison breaking a leg or something like that. But unfortunately, this was not his day.

"A m-message forwarded from the Garrison HQ in Shiganshina!" blurted out Flex, the panic in her voice only rising as she continued. "The Wall overlooking the district has been b-breached!"

And the last few bits of calm Keith had left in his system completely shattered as he slammed his palms on his desk and stood up so forcefully that his chair flew back. As for the other three, Erwin widened his eyes in shock while Levi flinched even harder than ever. Hanji was the first one to raise her voice.

"WHAT?!" she proclaimed, and her voice sounded more panicked than any other time Levi and Erwin have ever heard it. "HOW?! THE WALL-"

"A Titan!" replied Flex as multiple other soldiers rushed behind her to get to Shiganshina as quickly as they could. "A… a 60 metre class!"

60 metres… a personal record among the Titans. Even the newly discovered Mechanical Titan was nothing compared to that. But Hanji forced herself to not fangasm now, considering how they were in serious trouble at the moment.

As for Keith, he scraped the last few fleeting scraps of calm he had left and stood up. Turning to Erwin, he gave the blonde a firm stare. "Erwin, Hanji, Levi, you three will be in charge of evacuating the civilians of Shiganshina. Right now, our goal is to protect the civilians of Shiganshina!"

"What about the city itself?" asked Levi, stepping forward.

"I do not know," replied Keith, rubbing the bridge of his nose in an attempt to quell his growing headache. "Though as much as I hate to admit it… Shiganshina is lost…"

A few minutes prior in the outside

The outside world which laid beyond Shiganshina was usually considered an empty wasteland covered by countless trees, constantly patrolled by Titans ranging from three metres to the larger fifteen. No human with even a small degree of self preservation or even basic intelligence had dared to venture out into the outside, not unless they were a Survey Corp anyways.

However, on this day, there was… something else in this wasteland. Somewhere in a small, dense forest which was situated relatively close to the Walls of Shiganshina, the unit which was designated the Gundam Barbatos by most people who knew it, and the Mechanical Titan by Hanji, was kneeling down silently. There was no sign of life in it, with it's glassy, unemotional eyes and unmoving stature. The power symbols on its knees and chest and both its optics that usually glowed pink and green respectively were now blank, signaling that it was inactive.

However, it wasn't the only thing which was 'inactive' at the moment. Within its chest, or perhaps its 'heart', was the boy whom most referred to as Mikazuki Augus, the Ace pilot of Tekkadan and the current and quite possibly the last pilot of the ASW-G-08 F6 Gundam Barbatos. Currently, the boy was asleep in the cockpit of the Barbatos, his Alaya Vijnana unplugged from his Mobile Suit port and with his Tekkadan jacket, something he brought with him in the Edmonton battle just because, draped over his body like a makeshift blanket.

Hours prior, Mika had tailed the adults back to where he assumed to be Shiganshina. It was surprisingly easy, considering how they never noticed Barbatos despite the fact that the thrusters were rather loud and the power symbols on the knees/chest stood out a lot in the dark night. He tailed the group for about three hours, watching as they regrouped with several other groups of adults and, surprisingly, a handful of teenagers, before they had returned to an… impressive structure at dawn.

It was a Wall. Perhaps around fifty metres in height, the thing dwarfed any mobile suit he's seen in his time. The only thing which was not smaller than it was the Isabiri, or any other Armour Assault Spaceship in that case as they routinely reached the length of three hundred metres. Mika had observed the thing from about three to five hundred metres away, and it didn't take much brain-power for him to consider the 'Wall' to be a good place to take residence in… if not for a rather crucial problem.

The first thing he considered was that the people here weren't exactly friendly towards those larger humanoids, mainly because the large ones seemed only interested in killing the smaller ones. And, while he didn't care about causing an uproar, Mika knew that if he just barged in, there was a chance that he would not be able to get Barbatos in there as, most likely at the first sight of it, the residents of the Walls would possibly go crazy and try to 'hunt' him and his Gundam down. And, while they wouldn't be much more than a nuisance, Mika prefered for them to not know about his MS.

His original plan was to just get the leap Barbatos in as he was at least sixty percent sure that it could easily leap well over fifty metres when assisted by all six available thrusters, but the fact that he felt worn out from the battle with the Ein, alongside the fact that humans tend to get tired at night, made him change his mind and decide to go to sleep and think about the plan the next day. And, unfortunately, his plan had hit a snag almost immediately in the morning, when a massive flash of lightning near the Wall woke him up.

It took him a handful of seconds to fully open his eyes. And, unfortunately, right when he managed to open them completely, a rather strong tremor had apparently hit his general area, as Barbatos, a thirty ton or so Mobile Suit, was sent at least a metre or two up into the air. Thankfully his unit didn't topple over, but it did jerk Mika upwards a little and shook him up a little, though not enough to distract him from the smoke coming from where the Walls were at.

And Mika only silently cursed softly as he realized what this would most likely mean.

"This can't end well…"

Before you say it, yes. I did kinda rush this chapter. Please don't kill me.

Alright, in all honesty, this is the definition of a filler episode. Just something here to pad the running time. Hopefully it's alright… hopefully.

I don't really have much else to say, aside from telling you guys that I got a new story up. I ain't telling you what it is, because of reasons, but it's IBO related, so there's that.

Anyways, I don't have anything else to say, so… onto replies?

Yorha: well here ya go

Ulydace: hoorah. And I guess I did over explain it, but I'm a paranoid bastard. Hopefully that ain't bad… hopefully.

Anyways it's one in the morning. I should get to bed… see ya

Edited on: 29/11/2020 with help from my proofreader; Renn