It took a while, but they managed it.
Jean Kirstein, alongside most of the other Cadets and Garrison that were holed up in the Trost refueling station had managed to make it out of there in one piece. Kirstein himself was the first who managed to swing himself up onto the top of Rose, with him landing on all fours, breathing heavily as he struggled to get up. He didn't allow his exhaustion stop him from turning on his heel to see if anyone else would follow him, however.
And much to his relief, several other Cadets and Garrison were quick to follow him up to the top of the Wall. The first to make it up after him was Sasha, who landed rather awkwardly with a roll, and Connie, who went limp and fell flat on his belly as soon as he was sure he'd make it up there. Following them were several other soldiers, all of whom landed with varying amounts of success, and Jean couldn't help but sigh in relief at the amount that had managed to make it out.
'We barely lost anyone,' thought the young man as he watched Mylius fling himself up a little too high into the air, flailing his arms around rather dramatically before he crashed down onto the top of the Wall. Marco was quick to help him up, and the blonde thanked him for his assistance. 'It's less than I hoped, but more than I expected…'
And following that, several of the soldiers began recovering from their near death experiences and started speaking to one another to calm themselves down, though Jean wasn't keen on doing that. He simply wished to catch his breath, as evident by how he slouched over and got ready to fall flat on his back…
"Cadet, report."
As if on cue, a new voice cut in, prompting Jean, alongside several other soldiers who could hear that voice, to turn on their heels and spot a rather short bespectacled young woman staring at them, though her attention was fixed squarely on Kirstein in particular.
Though they had never met her in person before, the Cadets knew who this woman was. Though slightly shorter than Jean, the woman before them commanded an air of respect with just her presence alone, especially with her position as a member of the Elite Garrison Squad. Her platinum blonde hair, silver eyes behind those spectacles and small yet secure build reinforced her position as an Elite, and Jean needed less than a second to recognise her.
"C-Commander Rico!" greeted Jean as he offered a rigid salute, with Rico Brzenska frowning as several other Cadets mirrored his gesture. Saying her name did catch the attention of a certain other Garrison soldier, however, prompting her to stop speaking with Mylius and turn her attention towards the Elite.
"Spare me the formalities, Cadet," groaned Rico as she crossed her arms, her gaze as sharp as her Anti-Titan blades as she glared at her junior, who visibly faltered under her glaze. Rico did not allow that to deter her, as she began grilling him. "Report in, what happened to your squad? We received reports of Titans swarming the Trost refueling depo and even more unconfirmed sightings of the Armoured Titan running around that place. You and your squad came from there, so tell me-"
"Rico, spare the Cadet all the chatter," came a new voice, prompting Jean to turn and spot Flex walking up to them rather confidently. As soon as she saw her, Rico raised a brow and watched as her junior Garrison member gave a rigid salute, much to her dismay, while Jean watched on in mild relief. "Commander Flex, reporting in, Rico."
"Spare me the formalities, Flex, and report," ordered Rico, prompting her junior to sigh as she turned to wave the other Cadets and Garrison off. Without a second thought, they dispersed and headed into the interior of Rose, though Jean did seem a little reluctant to leave. He was quickly goaded into leaving by Marco, however, who assured him that the commander had things under control.
"There's not much to report, Commander," explained Flex as soon as she and Rico were alone. As she spoke, Flex and Rico walked towards the edge of Rose to both get a good view of the situation below as they spoke. "The Cadets and Garrison that were with me escaped the Trost refueling depo after we refueled and cleared it of Titans."
"Impossible," rebutted Rico as Flex winced at her straightforwardness. Some people never change, she supposed, and Rico was amongst that group of people. Of course, five years wasn't much by regular standards, but by Military Brigade standards, that was practically a lifetime or two. "There are simply too many Titans surrounding the depo, and undoubtedly some inside it. There's no way you managed to retake it in such wretched conditions."
"Well, we didn't do it alone, so to speak," quipt Flex as she rubbed her chin cheekily. In response, Rico raised a brow and placed a hand on her hip, a clear sign to her junior that she wished for her to continue. "As hard as it is to believe, we had help from Titans."
"Have you gone mental, Flex?" inquired Rico almost immediately, prompting the Garrison in question to roll her eyes. Rico, despite being an Elite, wasn't exactly too believing in such fantastical things. During the Fall of Maria, she had not fought in the frontlines, instead being relegated to the rear guard and tasked with protecting the retreating civilians and protecting Rose, and thus had not met the Titans Flex had seen in the past. The type of Titans that possessed some form of intelligence, or in a certain Titan's case, possible humanity.
"Perhaps, but as unbelievable as it is, we did receive help from Titans," rebutted Flex as she crossed her arms. "The first was encountered by Cadets Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert and Connie Springer. The soldiers have taken to calling it the Rogue Titan."
"We've seen it from afar," confirmed Rico as she turned towards the refuel depo, frowning at it as she spoke. "Some of our scouts tell us that it allegedly attacks other Titans, but I'm skeptical. Titans, even when Abnormal, do not act this way."
"Believe what you may, but it played a part in us retaking the depo," assured Flex as she smirked. Rico, on the other hand, shook her head, still doubting Flex's claim.
"You said that this Rogue Titan was the first. This implies that there is a second, yes?" continued Rico, and at that, Flex's smirk grew wider as she remembered seeing that thing for the first time in over half a decade. That smirk made Rico grimace a little, though before she could comment on it, Flex spoke up.
"Indeed. This second one… it was the Mechanical Titan."
Within Rose
"This is bad… this is bad… this is bad…"
Upon hearing Mylius repeat that phrase several times in quick succession, Marco found it prudent to perhaps check on the blonde fellow, with him breaking away from Jean and approaching the guy rather swiftly.
Amongst the Trainees of the 104th, Mylius had quite the reputation for being a jumpy sorta guy. He was easy to scare and just a little cowardly, though he could pull through if given the proper encouragement. As things were now, however, Mylius appeared to be on the verge of a mental breakdown, something that made Marco worry for the fella just a little as he approached him.
"Hey, Mylius, you good?" inquired Marco as he placed a hand over the blonde's shoulder, prompting him to jolt upright as he glanced at him. As soon as he noticed Marco, however, Mylius loosened up just a little and offered a small smile. "You alright? You seem rather tense."
"Yeah, I'm fine… it's just…" began Mylius as he clenched his fist rather tightly, confusing Marco just a little. "It's just that… well… you see…
Elsewhere
"I can't seem to find the rest of my team…!"
Annie Leonhardt had seen quite a lot of weird things in her lifetime, and she had even lived through most of them.
Be it herself and Mikazuki claiming that Sasha's fart was the noise that caught Keith Shadis' attention all the way back during their Trainee days or her, alongside many others, witnessing the collapse of Trost mere hours ago, Leonhardt had convinced herself that she would be ready for any and all strange occurrences that would pop up, especially after the latter incident occurred. Hell, she had steeled herself for anything that could potentially happen, both physically and emotionally.
And yet… here she was, baffled into silence at the fact that she, alongside every other Cadet that had stayed behind at the Trost refueling station, were all standing atop the Mechanical Titan, allowing it silently to carry them towards Wall Rose. Annie herself stood silently on the left shoulder of the 'Titan', grabbing onto what appeared to be a piston on its collar for support. If she squinted, Annie thought that she could see several Garrison members staring down at them from atop Rose, their mouths agape as the Mechanical Titan carried them closer.
Instead of doing that, however, Annie instead turned her attention back to the Trost refuel depot and eyed the Longsword that the Mechanical Titan had left behind. The blade was still stabbed into the ground, remaining behind solemnly under the unforgiving sun of the District, as the 'Titan' trudged on silently. Strange, how it was so willing to leave behind one of its weapons just to carry more of them to safety, though due to their current circumstance, Annie wasn't willing to complain. As for its 'Mace', the Titan dragged it along in its left hand, creating a rather sizable crevasse in the ground beneath them as it walked.
'I suppose it was nice of the damn thing to leave its second weapon behind…' thought Annie rather bitterly as she turned her attention towards the Mechanical Titan, whose right hand was held up to chest level. In its hand were Mikasa, Armin and the still unconscious Eren, with Ackerman cradling her thought to be dead younger brother tightly in her arms as Armin crouched by the two. By then, Mikasa had stopped crying and was simply holding her brother close to her chest, refusing to let him go, and Annie had to bite her lip just a little to hold back some of her guilt.
"You alright, Annie?" came Mina's voice rather abruptly, snapping Leonhardt out of her thoughts rather quickly as she turned to see her twin tailed friend not too far from her, sitting rather calmly on the leftmost side of the Mechanical Titan's chestplate. Beside her was Nac, who sat right on the center of the Mechanical Titan's blue chestplate as he stared at her alongside Carolina. Both of them seemed strangely calm in spite of their current dilemma. Of course, the shakiness of Mina's smile did break her calm facade, though Leonhardt opted to not point that out as she simply nodded.
"I'm fine," assured Annie as she nodded solemnly, staring out into the distance as she spoke. She ignored the looks she was surely given by Reiner and Bertholdt on the other shoulder of the Mechanical Titan as she did, her grip on the collarbone piston tightening as she forced herself to stare forward. "Just a bit overwhelmed."
"Didn't expect you, of all people, to feel that way," admitted Nac as the Mechanical Titan crushed a Three metre Titan beneath its feet, not even staring at it as it trudged on.
"We're letting a Titan carry us to safety," deadpanned Annie, her voice showing some of her irritation as she eyed her friend, though her irritation was masked by her uneasiness as the 'Titan' they were on continued on. In response, Nac chuckled awkwardly as he waved his hands in the air, seeming rather oblivious to the fact that he was sitting directly in front of the Titan's head. "This is a Titan that's more powerful than the average one that roams this world, and we've put enough trust into it to let it carry us."
"True, but it doesn't seem to wanna hurt any of us," pointed out Reiner from the other shoulder. Annie turned towards him and saw that Reiner was peeking out at her from under the Mechanical Titan's chin, prompting her to frown as she glared at him. To his credit, while he did wince, Reiner still continued speaking. "It's done nothing more than protect us thus far, so we don't really have any reason to fear it…"
The mild quiver in Reiner's lips as he spoke told Annie that he wasn't entirely truthful on that, though she kept her mouth shut as she nodded in defeat, only to wince when the Mechanical Titan trembled a little.
"What the-" began Nac as he jolted up, only to wince when the Mechanical Titan took a sudden step to the left, inadvertently dodging a lunge from a Thirteen metre Titan in the process. The Cadets that were on it were riled up by the act, to say the least, with Nac nearly being thrown off the chest, though thankfully enough he stayed on.
The Thirteen metre crashed rather hard onto the ground, and before it recovered, the Mechanical Titan raised its right, Mace wielding arm, and aimed that weird black box-like thing it had under its forearm at the recovering Titan. At first, all present Cadets were confused at the gesture… and that confusion turned to shock when the black box clicked and discharged an Autocannon round straight out of its barrel. The ear piercing sound of the thing discharging made all present Cadets, with the exception of Mikasa who simply cradled Eren's head closer to her chest, bring their hands up to their ears.
The Autocannon round that was shot out flew straight for the Titan's nape, tearing straight through it and killing it before the Cadets could even recover from the sound of it firing. And by then, all they could do was stare at the dead Titan in amazement… and terror.
'So it even has ranged armaments…?!' thought Annie as the Mechanical Titan lowered its arm and continued walking on, ignoring the dissipating corpse of the Titan it had just dispatched. In front of her, both Nac and Mina were slack jawed at the discovery of the Titan's ranged armaments, both seemingly aware of the newfound threat this thing posed, and Annie didn't even need to look to know that both Reiner and Bertholdt were now experiencing a massive amount of terror due to this new discovery.
And as for Armin, Mikasa and the unconscious Eren, they didn't seem to care.
They didn't know that they were being watched, which was fine, Mika supposed.
Though Barbatos was facing forward, the Gundam's optics were still locked onto every Cadet on its chassis. For some strange reason, Gundam Frames allpossessed four optical sub-units within their optics. This allowed the Gundam to see extremely far or, if needed, lock onto multiple targets all at once. Or, in Mika's current case, observe the current state of everyone who was on Barbatos all at once.
Annie was on edge, that much was obvious. Her nervous glances towards Barbatos' head unit proved that notion, and overall she seemed ready to kick off his Gundam's shoulder and launch herself off to safety at the first sign of hostility. Reiner and Bertholdt, who both stood on the other shoulder of his unit, seemed just as nervous, with Bertholdt seeming more nervous than Reiner and Annie combined, though that was to be expected of him by now.
On his palm, Armin, Mikasa and Eren didn't seem to pay much attention to their current situation. Or at least, the latter two did not. Armin himself took occasional glances back at the Gundam to make sure that it didn't attempt to do anything to them, and whenever Armin stared at Barbatos, his 'serious expression' made Augus smirk just a little.
Meanwhile, both Nac and Mina simply sat on his unit's chestplate, a lot more silent than Mika was used to by then. On the average day, those two would be running their mouths like there was no tomorrow, a trait that reminded Augus of Shino, however heartbreaking that was. And yet, they were silent, which was to be expected, he supposed. Their District was being invaded and they most likely believed that Mika himself was either missing or killed in action, so their silence wasn't entirely unwarranted.
"You're still thinking about him, aren't you?" came Nac's voice rather abruptly, catching Mika's attention as he turned towards the cockpit's on screen display of Nac, who had a hand resting gently on Mina's shoulder. Annie was glancing down at her as well, though she remained silent as she stared down at her friends with just a small amount of worry.
"W-Whaddya mean, Nac?" inquired Mina in response, smiling weakly as she waved her hands in front of her face, eliciting a frown from both the boy in question and Mika. The two of them knew Mina well enough to recognise that tone of voice, a tone of false joviality to convince others that she was fine. Unfortunately for her, Tias didn't fall for it, as he continued on.
"Mika. You're still thinking about the guy, huh?" rephrased Nac rather sadly as Mina's shoulders noticeably slouched, telling Nac that he hit the nail right on the mark. His confirmation did more than that, however, as Mika felt something inside him shake when Mina unintentionally confirmed Nac's question.
"I'm that predictable, huh?" joked Mina as she gave a bitter laugh, hugging her knees in the process. Nac didn't reply to that, instead opting to stay silent as his pal continued, and Mika found himself reaching a hand towards the cockpit monitor, ready to mute all local comm-links so as to not distract himself any further, though a slight surge through the Alaya Vijnana system stopped him from doing so… if anything, it felt as though Barbatos itself was urging him to hear Mina out.
And reluctantly, Augus did so, even if he did hover his hand a little away from the mute option.
"I'm just worried, alright? We've been through quite a lot together in the past five years. From just goofing around to actually being serious in training. We made some good memories together… and I want us to make many more… together," continued Mina as she hugged her knees tighter, frowning deeply as Nac rubbed her back in an effort to comfort his friend. Annie herself did seem keen on speaking up, though she eventually thought better of it and remained silent.
"I… I just want to know if he's alive. Mika's tough, I know that, but he's not unkillable. I don't know if I could stand the thought of him dying out here… alone… and that's why…"
"That's why you're still holding onto hope," piped up Annie, frowning as she voiced that out. Mika turned to glance at the cockpit's heads up display of his blonde friend and raised a brow when he saw that she appeared strangely solemn as she spoke, with Mina and Nac both glancing her way as well. "You hope for him to survive all this. For all of us to survive this. A ridiculous thing to hope for, but that's fine. But sometimes you have to face reality and realize that…"
Annie trailed off before she could finish that, biting her lip as Mina's shoulders fell further. Meanwhile, Nac shot Leonhardt an uncharacteristically harsh glare, with the blonde shooting him an annoyed glanced in response.
As for Mika… he simply lowered his head as he allowed all that to sink in.
And once it did, he ended up chuckling bitterly. This was all wrong… all of it. While he did see this coming long ago, Mika found that he was still emotionally unprepared to return to the cockpit of his Gundam, especially after making such great friends. The guilt that he currently felt was enough to make him lose himself for a brief moment, though Barbatos didn't stop moving as he frowned deeply and closed his eyes.
'If only I'd never met you, Mina. All of this could've been avoided,' thought Mika somewhat bitterly as he glanced at his friend through the cockpit monitor, frowning rather deeply as he did. His expression softened just a little, however, when he noticed just how genuinely distraught his friend appeared… distraught over his disappearance, and at that, he sighed and shook his head, tearing his gaze from Mina in the process.
"He's alive, I'm sure of it," restated Mina, slamming the side of her fist against Barbatos' chestplate as she spoke. Mika himself heard the thonk when her fist made contact with the metal, and he was quick to raise a brow at that. "He's stronger than all of us combined… I know that. You know that too, Ann," a brief pause for Annie to look away in a strangely sheepish manner, "somewhere out there, Mikazuki is still alive! He has to be!"
Heh… to think that Mina would think so highly of him. It was enough to make Mika smile a little as he shook his head, chuckling at the irony of her worrying for his safety when he was arguably the safest person within these Walls, breached or not.
"Well, who knows?" piped up Nac after a short moment of silence. "For all we know, the Mechanical Titan might be Mika! After all, Eren was a Titan, so…"
Smiling at that, Nac shrugged rather suggestively as the others remained silent. Mina herself turned to glance at Barbatos, looking it straight in the optics as Mika bit his lower lip.
Either Nac was much more preceptive than Mika would give him credit for… or he was extremely lucky on his guess.
Rather unfortunately, Mika was unable to put much more thought into that as he was rather abruptly pulled out of his thoughts when his end of the Alaya Vijnana system flared up, alerting the young pilot to something that was approaching him at a high velocity. And almost immediately after, the cockpit flashed red, with an on screen alert warning Mika of an approaching projectile.
To say that the Cadets were not expecting the Mechanical Titan to leap off to the side without any warning would be a bit of an understatement.
The 'Titan' had jumped so abruptly that everyone present was taken aback by the sudden jolt, with Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner nearly falling off its shoulders in the process. Both Mina and Nac winced as they nearly slid off its chestplate, and on its palm, Mikasa held onto Eren tighter as the Mechanical Titan leapt off to the side, with Armin gasping as he grabbed onto the gaps between the Titan's hand to keep himself from falling off.
"What in the world?!" demanded Nac, his eyes wide beyond belief at the sudden act from the Titan, only to be silenced when the ground where the Mechanical Titan once stood at exploded, causing everyone to flinch a little as they shielded their eyes from the smoke that was ejected into the air.
And as soon as the smoke cleared, the Cadets all saw what had caused the Titan to leap off to the side; a metal sphere that was currently embedded into the ground where the Mechanical Titan once stood.
"A… cannonshot?" muttered Reiner, with Bertholdt turning up and stare at the top of Wall Rose in disbelief. Narrowing his eyes, the tall guy could just barely see a cannon aimed at where the Mechanical Titan once stood, and if he focused harder, he would be able to notice the Garrison atop the wall yelling at the gunner for his incompetence at shooting such a massive target.
"They… they see the Mechanical Titan as a threat!" proclaimed Bertholdt as another shot was fired at the Titan in question, who weaved to the side to dodge the cannonball, which crashed into a nearby building, obliterating it. The shockwave was enough to cause several of them to wince, though the Mechanical Titan was unfazed by it, as it leapt backwards rather far and knelt down.
The Mechanical Titan was quick to lower its left hand down to the ground, and taking the hint, Armin, Mikasa and the still unconscious Eren got off. Meanwhile, the Cadets atop its shoulders and chest got the hint as well, as they slid or leapt off the thing, landing on their feet rather harshly.
As soon as they were off, the Mechanical Titan was quick to stand back up and swing its Mace in an upwards motion, smashing it into an inbound cannonball. The shockwave that came after riled up the Cadets as they shielded their eyes from the smoke, though as soon as they recovered, they saw that the Mechanical Titan mostly unfazed, its Mace held out to the side, still smoking from the impact but otherwise unscathed.
And for a brief moment, the 'Titan' stared down and the group of Cadets, who eyed it antsily. The 'Titan' made no further attempts at helping them from that point on, however, as it simply expelled some steam from the various vents on its body, clouding it in a thick layer of fog, before it leapt back.
What followed were a few seconds of silence, with the small group silently pondering on their next course of action. Before long, however, Bertholdt spoke up in a rather timid voice.
"Can we just get out of here now… please…?" pleaded the tall guy as everyone turned to stare at him.
And for once, no one objected to his cowardly suggestion.
Atop Rose
"You fools! The monstrosity is over Fifteen Metres tall! HOW CAN YOU MISS IT?!"
Those were the words that erupted from Kitz Woermann as he glared at the Garrison gunner that was closest to him with those sunken in eyes that would give even Keith a run for his money. A grimace was plastered onto his face as he leaned in close to fix his glare on the gunner, so close that his thick brown beard nearly brushed against the guy's face.
"S-Sir… it's moving faster than we can aim!" reasoned the gunner as Kitz groaned out loud and turned back down to glare at the mechanical monstrosity. By then, it had emerged from the smoke and was standing perfectly still, prompting his grimace to grow in size as he swung a hand out towards it.
"But it is stationary now! SO FIRE!" proclaimed Kitz as he pointed at it, and in response, the gunner nodded and fired the cannon. The sound of gunpowder combusting within the cannon could be heard as a 170mm cannon round was discharged from its barrel, tearing straight through the air as it closed the distance between itself and the 'Titan'.
And within the blink of an eye, the Mechanical Titan swung its Mace-like weapon upwards, colliding it with the cannonball right before it could make contact with it. At first, the Garrison gunners thought that they were simply seeing things, as they assumed that the 'Titan' had been hit by the cannon round, though they were quickly proven wrong when the Mechanical Titan leapt backwards, dissipating some of the smoke in the process, and began hovering away, out of cannon range. The realization of it still being alive made Kitz growl rather stressfully as he pointed at the 'Titan' in anger.
"KEEP FIRING! DO NOT LET IT ESCAPE! I WANT THAT THING WIPED OFF THE FACE OF THIS WORLD!" demanded Kitz as he swung his arm out towards the fleeing Mechanical Titan, signaling for the gunners to open fire upon it. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! DO NOT LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHTS!"
"But… sir! It's out of-" began a gunner, only to be cut off when Kitz swiftly closed the distance between himself and the gunner and seized his collar.
"I DO NOT CARE! DO NOT LET IT ESCAPE!" cut off Kitz as he shook the junior that attempted to reason with him with all his might, showing that he was not about to let the 'Titan' leave unscathed. The junior flinched as he was released. "THIS MECHANICAL TITAN OR WHATEVER IT IS COULD BE A DETERMINANT TO THE DEFENSES OF WALL ROSE AND AS SUCH, WE MUST SHOOT IT DOWN NOW!"
In response to that, the gunners atop Rose gulped as they reluctantly manned the cannons, though they were less than confident about being able to hit it.
'At this range, we won't be able to even hit anything that's as far away as that thing is!' thought one of the gunners as he placed a cannonball into his cannon and attempted to aim it at the fleeing Mechanical Titan. 'These cannons were made to hit stationary or slow moving targets at roughly Eighty metres away… this thing has to be at least double that amount away from us! To add on, it's moving much, much faster than any regular Titan! There's no way we'd be able to hit it from here!"
And yet, the soldiers who manned the cannons, though they were mostly senior soldiers were still at least one rank below Kitz Woermann, who held the rank of a Captain, Captain of the Elite Garrison Squad, comprised of the best the Garrison had to offer, no less, making it close to impossible to disobey a direct order from him. If they weren't gonna be killed by the Titans, they'd probably be killed by their captain for disobeying one of his direct orders. Kitz did look like the sort of man who'd kill his fellow soldiers for insubordination, after all…
So, without at least some hesitation, the soldiers got ready to essentially bombard Trost as soon as Kitz gave them the order to do so.
And right as they got ready to lose their shots…
"Hold it!"
At that, all gunners ceased their aiming and turned towards the source of the new voice, and they raised their brows when they saw yet another pair of their Garrison seniors sprinting towards them. They didn't need any introductions to who they were, even if they didn't know them personally, and a vein popped up on Kitz's forehead as he watched them approach him and his gunner squad.
"Rico Brzenska, Flex Moto Ray, why have you stopped the gunners from bombarding the Mechanical Titan?!" demanded Kitz as the two Garrison members came to a stop in front of him, both of whom were frowning deeply as they began to reply.
"Because firstly, you won't hit it!" began Flex as she pointed a finger at Kitz, a gesture that made him flinch just a little. "At this range, the cannons are more likely to hit any random building than they were to hit the Titan itself! We're Garrison members! We protect the Walls and the stuff that are within it, not tear it all down just to get one target!"
"A necessary evil in order to make sure that the Mechanical Titan does not attempt to harm anyone!" reasoned Kitz as he pointed at the Titan in question, not noting how it was combatting two Titans at once as he continued. "The risk of this Titan attacking the civilians of Rose is too great! As such-"
"As such, you will do nothing, Captain," shot Rico as she stepped forth, frowning at Kitz as she spoke. Kitz himself was a little taken aback by someone of a lower rank speaking to him in such a way whilst his Gunner squadron found some form of satisfaction from it, though before he could respond, Rico continued on speaking. "Though you may view the Mechanical Titan as a threat, I've had several scouts, Cadets and fellow Garrison members report that it has shown no interest in attacking anything human. In fact, this Titan seems more interested in attacking other Titans. It made its presence known during the Fall of Maria, where it helped hold off several Titans long enough for a majority of the civilians to evacuate. That should be evident enough to how it is on our side, or at the very least, a neutral participant in this war."
Kitz was taken aback by that statement, as were several other Garrison gunners, and rightfully so. Kitz had not participated in the Fall of Maria to a major extent, as he had mostly hung near the back and assisted the civilian evacuation process. So to him, the Mechanical Titan was nothing more than a fancy Abnormal, and a Titan that did not attack a human was unheard of.
"Rico, have you gone mad?!" demanded Kitz, still not believing his junior as he swung his arms out to the side to show his bewilderment. "The reports are clearly incorrect! There is no such thing as a Titan that does not attack humans, much less other Titans!"
"Really now? If so, then why don't you take a good look at what it's doing right now," quipt Flex as she stared out towards the general direction of the Mechanical Titan, her arms crossed and a smile on her face as she spoke. In response to that, Kitz and Rico both turned towards its general direction… and were rightfully shocked at what they saw.
While the Titan was rather far away from them, so much so that it wasn't entirely possible to see what it was doing without things being a bit blurry, the Garrison atop Rose were still able to see what the Mechanical Titan was doing with enough clarity that it made them widen their eyes. All except for Flex, at least.
The Mechanical Titan was a fast one when it was moving out of range from the cannons, but Kitz quickly realized how much faster it was when it was in combat. With speed that seemed to be impossible for something as massive as it was, the Mechanical Titan dodged a lunge from a Ten metre Titan and, before it could land, grabbed its ankle and began swinging it around like a makeshift club. Several other Titans were knocked aside by the thing before the Mechanical Titan finally released its ankle, sending it flying straight into a nearby building.
Quickly following up on that, it turned on its heel to grasp onto the wrist of a muscular Fifteen metre that attempted to grab its shoulder. The Fifteen metre only had a second to stare at the taller Titan's face before it launched its knee directly into its jaw, obliterating its skull and sending it tumbling back. Before it could fall onto its back, however, the Mechanical Titan shot its arm out and grabbed its wrist once more and pulled it towards it.
As soon as it was close enough, the Mechanical Titan pulled its arm back before blasting it forward, burying its entire forearm in the Fifteen metre's torso. The sound of metal tearing flesh was not heard by those atop the Wall, though several did wince at the sheer brutality of the 'Titan'. Their shock only grew, however, when the Fifteen metre's torso suddenly exploded from the inside, causing a rain of blood and gore that splattered the Mechanical Titan and the area around it.
"This thing… it's a monster!" proclaimed Kitz as he watched the Mechanical Titan, drenched in evaporating Titan guts and blood, turn to look for its next target, a Five Metre Titan, though by then, he had turned towards his juniors and stared at them in shock. "I do not see why-"
"Allowing it to run loose gives us the opportunity to bolster our defensive plans for Rose," explained Rico, clenching her fist to emphasise her words. "This 'Titan' has not stopped its rampage. It does not tire, it does not feed, and it is not hostile towards non-Titans. Allow it to run loose, Captain Woermann. It is our safest bet."
And to that, Kitz simply grimaced deeply and groaned in defeat. Rico herself couldn't help but feel just a little satisfied when her superior motioned for the gunners to stand down and let the 'Titan' do its thing, and Flex offered a smirk as she turned out towards the edge of Wall Rose…
Her smirk was quick to fade, however, when she just barely noticed a small group of Cadets near the bottom of Wall Rose. Strangely enough, they weren't using their Maneuver Gear to traverse the battlefield… though Flex was quick to notice how they appeared to be dragging an unconscious Cadet behind them.
"Hey, we've got some soldiers down there that might need a lift," informed Flex as both Kitz and Rico turned to face her. At that, Flex pointed down towards them and, prompting the tow to turn down and spot the Cadets. "Permission to go down and greet them?"
"Granted," replied Rico with a nod. And at that, Flex smirked and swung down, ignoring that envious look on Kitz's face as she did. Rico, on the other hand, noticed it and offered the faintest of smirks as she turned to face him. "Is something wrong, Captain?"
"Nothing!" was her response from Kitz, who thought it unnecessary to mention how he was envious of Flex's courage. "Get back to your post!"
"Right away."
Flex was quick to meet up with the group of Cadets below Rose, and to say that she was surprised when she saw them would be an understatement.
"Mina, Nac, Annie?" began Flex as soon as she was close enough to see who they really were, and in response both Nac and Mina widened their eyes as their small group came to a stop. "Reiner, Bertholdt, Armin and Mikasa too! And, erm… whoever you have there. I thought you were with the group!"
"Well, it's a bit of a long story," explained Nac sheepishly as Mina offered an awkward nod. In response to that, Flex raised an eyebrow as she got the feeling that they were hiding something from her, though thankfully for them, she didn't find it important to speak of just yet.
"Well save it for later. Let's get you guys out of this place," instructed Flex as she moved towards Mikasa to perhaps help her haul the unconscious guy up Rose, only to raise an eyebrow when she refused to allow her to do so.
"I'll bring Eren back up," was all Mikasa said as she walked past Flex, who appeared just a little bewildered.
"Eren… Eren Jaeger? But wasn't he… dead?" inquired Flex, and in response, the group of Cadets all began fidgeting awkwardly, adding to Flex's confusion.
"You guys have some explaining to do as soon as we're atop that Wall."
Have you guys heard of Monster Hunter World? Great game. Been playing it a lot… so much that I kinda forgot to write.
But hey, I'm back with the updates. I am not dead, and will remain alive for however long my body feels. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on who you are.
But enough about me being not dead. The chapter is up, a month has passed in this year, and DOOM Eternal is less than a month away. That, and the Metal Robot Spirits Barbatos Lupus Rex is scheduled to be released in May. DOUBLE HYPE.
Review time
jc133757, treyshawnhorse, UndeadLord22, HanKanoya and daggercloak000: well here's the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed it!
UndeadLord22: cliffhanger has been broken!
Donovan2771: well to be fair, she would probably be more worried about Eren tripping and falling more so than similar names
Touhoufanatic: why yes, it really is
Lioth: it takes a lot to kill me, dammit
Honestly there's not much else to say. Special thanks to my proofreader as per usual for proofreading this slow burn chapter… and see yall next time.