Quick AN: the start of this chapter happens roughly fifteen minutes before the end of the previous one

Trost, Eastern sector

"Steady now, all of you!"

That was the single order issued by Commander Flex as they closed in on the third Titan her team had come across in the past fifteen metres. The Titan, a Thirteen metre class, had its attention fully fixed on the civilian before it, giving the team of Five enough time to circle around it and get a clear shot at its nape. Flex herself narrowed her eyes as she zoned in on the weak point of their target, though before she could speed up and perhaps strike it, Nac himself shot past her. "Tias, wait!"

Ignoring his superior for perhaps the first time since that incident with Keith wishing for him to smack Mina back in the day, Nac went straight for the Titan's nape. And, with a grunt, the normally weak boy sliced shockingly deep into its nape, downing it with a single swing before he landed on the ground below rather harshly with a slight roll, right in front of the civilian that had been chased by the Titan.

The Titan itself wobbled ever so slightly before falling to its side, crashing into the side of a building in the process. Nac himself stood up as it fell over, staring at the Titan as it crashed into the building, giving a very slight, self congratulating smile as the civilian he had just saved stared at him with wide eyes. After a slight moment, however, Nac turned over and jogged towards that civilian and knelt down before him.

"You alright, sir?" asked Nac as he helped the man up to his feet. When he was up, the civilian gave a very uneasy nod, prompting Tias to smirk as he patted his shoulders, though before long, he felt himself get pulled away from the civilian as Thomas and Mylius moved over to take his place to calm the man.

Widening his eyes as he was dragged away from the civilian, Nac gasped and offered no resistance as he was pulled over to the side, right in front of his furious Garrison Commander.

"Nac Tias, what has gotten into you?!" demanded Flex as she sheathed one of her blades to point at her junior with an accusing finger. Nac himself flinched at the motion as he looked down at his feet, at least a little ashamed for disobeying orders. "You could have been killed, kid!"

"But… the civilian…" began Nac, only to be cut off by his commander.

"We would have reached it before he was grabbed!" was his immediate retort as the Garrison hardened her gaze. "You could have missed the nape and had the Titan turn on you! Or what if you killed it and it fell forward, onto the civilian?! Did you not consider those alternatives before recklessly charging in for the kill?!"

"No, ma'am," answered Nac, frowning deeply his commander kept her still angered eyes fixed on the Cadet. Before Flex could give Nac any more of her mind, however, Mina walked up to her side and gently rested a hand on her commander's shoulder, catching her attention.

"Commander, what matters is that Nac took down the Titan," pointed out Mina in defence of her friend, prompting the taller boy to flash her a half smile. "Sure, it was reckless, but he still saved that civilian, didn't he?"

"He did, but…" grumbled Flex, seeming intent on grilling Tias even more, though she had to pinch the bridge of her nose in order to keep herself calm. They had more pressing matters to worry about, after all. It took her a second, and once that time was up, she turned to Nac with a more passive expression. "Nac Tias, I understand that you are going through a rather difficult situation right now, what with your home District being under siege. But please, try to act rationally. I don't want any more casualties than necessary, am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied Nac with a nod and a rigid salute, and with that, the conversation was over. Flex swiftly moved on to issue an order to Thomas specifically, and as the senior issued her orders to him, Mylius, Mina and Nac gathered together behind their Commander, with the former two staring at the latter with concerned expressions.

"N-Nac, you alright there, bud?" began Mylius, resting a hand on his taller comrade's shoulder. The boy in question let out a sigh as he turned to the blonde, attempting to give a smile, though he only managed to give half of one as he nodded, ignoring the steam coming up from his cheek as the Titan blood evaporated off his person.

"I am, trust me. It's just that… I guess my mind is preoccupied with a lot of stuff," assured Nac with a small smile as he slowly turned to Mina, who gave an acknowledging nod. Upon noticing the eye contact shared between the two, Mylius pieced two and two together before nodding understandingly.

"I see…" muttered Mylius, holding a hand against his chest as he frowned. Staring down at it, Zeramuski couldn't help but offer a small grimace as he clenched it into a fist, feeling horrible for bringing up such a heavy topic at such a time. "I'm sorry… for bringing it up."

"There's no need for an apology, Mylius!" protested Mina as she gave Mylius a gentle punch to the chest. The blonde winced at that, something that made Carolina snicker as Nac smirked, though before long, their expressions turned stoically neutral once more as the former sighed. "But still, it would've been nice if you didn't bring it up…"

Trailing off as she concluded her sentence, Mina slouched her shoulders as she crossed her arms, frowning deeply as she looked to the side. Both Mylius and Nac's faces fell a handful of metres upon hearing her rather hopeless tone and seeing her even more hopeless expression, with the latter ready to try and comfort his friend, though before he could even do so, their commander marched back up towards them, her voice drowning out his first few words.

"Let's keep moving, kids! We won't be getting anything done by standing around!" commanded Flex, adjusting her scarf as she approached them. Nac, Mina and Mylius nodded in acknowledgement, though Mylius did ask about Thomas before they departed. "I told him to escort that civilian Nac had saved to the evac point. He'll be joining the Rear Guard later on so don't expect him to return anytime soon."

"Bummer, now we're one man down," muttered Nac as their Commander swung up into the air, with her Cadets following her closely. Nac and Mina flanked her sides while Mylius brought up the rear, and the now group of four kept their eyes peeled for any nearby Titans…

"Strange, the Titans around the Eastern Wing of Trost aren't as plentiful as I had expected!" pointed Nac as he landed on the top of a building. Not stopping for even a second, the Cadet sprinted atop it and slingshotted himself off the edge.

"Weird, but I'm not complaining!" responded Mylius almost immediately, swinging himself up into the air as he just barely caught the sight of Mina snickering ever so slightly, something that made his face heat up in embarrassment as, rather unfortunately, Mylius was the least competitive combatant of the team, even when Thomas was still present.

And right as those words had left Mylius' mouth, the small team of four came across a nearby team of Cadets who most certainly needed some help. As soon as they spotted them, the team moved to assist. And even when they were roughly fifty metres away from the group that required help, Nac could rather easily tell that the leader of said team of Cadets was none other than Eren Jaeger, who was furiously barking out orders to his fellow Cadets.

"Come on, I'll distract it! Armin, take it down! Your cut didn't work!" were among the things that Eren had yelled out at his fellow soldiers as they circled a pair of Fourteen and Nine metre class Titans. Eren himself seemed rather aggressive with his slashes, a clear contrast to the timid Armin and the weaker and more calculated ones given by his comrades, so much so that Jaeger was able to kill the Nine metre before Flex's team got close enough to provide backup, though as for the Fourteen metre, it seemed to be a little more than the Shiganshina resident's team could handle.

"I've got it!" shrieked Armin as he closed in on the Fourteen metre's nape as one of his comrades held its attention. However, just as he was about to get within slashing distance, the Titan shot its head up and bent itself backwards to face the blonde that was coming at it, and Armin himself widened his eyes immensely when he saw that he was now headed straight for the upside down face of the Titan. As best he could, the blonde attempted to change course, but momentum wouldn't allow it as the boy was sent straight into the now open mouth of the Titan.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Arlert attempted to pull himself out of the jaws of the Titan, but his attempt was swiftly thwarted when it slowly began applying pressure onto his abdomen. With his vision being clouded by pain and his hearing horribly muffled, Armin could barely hear the cries of his comrades around himself and the Titan that was about to bite him in half. Tears were pouring out of his twin blue eyes as he struggled to pry the mouth of the Titan open to no avail.

"ARMIN!" was what he could hear Eren yell as he felt some of the skin around his stomach tear.

However, before he could meet his premature demise, the Titan suddenly shot its mouth open, releasing Armin from its jaw and sending him plummeting towards the ground. Yelling in fear as he fell down to the ground, the saliva covered Armin was swiftly snatched out of the air by none other than Eren, and the blonde looked at his friend with wide, watery eyes.

"E-Eren…?!" proclaimed Armin, his voice strained by fear as Eren nodded at him with his teeth grit. "T-Thank you… so v-v-very much!"

"That… wasn't me who saved you…" admitted Eren as he and his friend landed on top of the closest building. Jaeger wasted no time in laying Armin down on the roof and checking on his now bloodstained abdomen, though he did spare a glance at the Fourteen metre Titan, only to widen his eyes when he saw its current predicament.

The Fourteen metre was now standing on both legs, shaking its head violently from side to side while flailing its arms around in an attempt to remove something on its face.

That something, as it turned out, was none other than Mina, who was currently latched onto the face of the Fourteen metre, both her Anti-Titan blades jammed into both of its eye sockets. The Cadet still held onto her blades firmly even as the now blinded Titan attempted to shake her off, with her simple response to it's efforts being to jam her blade deeper into its eye sockets, grimacing fiercely as she did.

And before she could be thrown off, another member of Mina's team, namely Commander Flex herself, swooped in and sliced straight into the nape of the Titan with surgical precision. Tensing up as soon as it's weak spot was slashed, the Titan swung it's head to the side one last time before going limp, though that final swing of it's head was strong enough to snap the blades that were jammed into its eyes, prompting Mina to get swung off to the side with her eyes wide and mouth agape.

Before she herself landed on the ground, however, her blonde comrade managed to swoop in and snatch her out of the air. Rather unsteadily, Mylius swung both himself and Mina up to the roof where Eren and Armin had landed on. He was semi-successful as both he and Carolina managed to get atop it, though their landing was not exactly graceful, with Mylius himself rolling to a stop while Mina landed right on her back.

"Thanks… for the save, Mylius…" thanked Mina as she stood herself up, staring at her now broken Anti-Titan blades as she did. Zeramuski simply stayed on his back as he breathed in and out heavily, though he did offer a shaky thumbs up. Mina snickered ever so slightly at that as Nac landed down on the roof and jogged towards them.

"Nice work there, Mina! And that was quite the save, Mylius!" praised Nac with a smirk as he got up to them his friend down. Mina herself mirrored her friend's expression as she gave a thumbs up while Mylius simply gave a thumbs up, not sure if his voice would work at the moment. However, that small respite was interrupted when the three of them noticed Eren, alongside the rest of his team, not too far from the two, cradling Armin in his arms as another member of his team examined the blonde's injured abdomen. "No… Armin…"

Stepping forward as he spoke, Nac intended on moving to provide at least some moral support to Eren's now demoralised team. Before he could, however, a hand seized his shoulder and stopped him from doing so, prompting him to turn around and spot Flex staring at him with an expression that told him to hang back. The taller teen was reluctant to do so, but Flex's gaze hardened, telling him that she was not willing to take no for an answer, so he complied, prompting the Garrison commander to nod in approval before approaching Team Eren.

As she did, Tias turned back to Mylius and Mina. The boy watched as the latter hoisted the former up to his feet. The girl smirked and thanked the blonde for his assistance, prompting the boy to chuckle in embarrassment as he waved her compliments off as Tias approached them.

"Even so… was pretty cool of you, Mina, what with how you saved Armin," responded Mylius with a wave of his hands as Nac got up beside Mina, who turned and regard him before she looked back at Mylius. "That, and I didn't do that much…"

"But she could've become a stain on the ground if not for you," pointed out Nac with a smirk as he gently punched his blonde friend's shoulder. "Sure, you didn't do too much, but you still helped in some way, y'know?"

"I suppose…" muttered Mylius, sounding rather defeated as he gave a nod. And, with the conversation over, the three of them turned and looked over at Team Eren, who were being given new orders by their Commander. The trio couldn't catch what Commander Flex was saying, though they didn't exactly pay much attention to her as they kept their attention on their surroundings, making sure that no Titans would come too close for comfort. "I hope they'll be fine."

"Yeah, likewise," agreed Nac with a nod, though as he spoke, the boy's eyes trailed off to the side, locking onto Mina, who had her attention affixed entirely on Team Eren. Her expression worried Nac ever so slightly, seeing as she seemed rather… off, perhaps? She did appear worried for the team, but she also seemed to be thinking about something else as she did… something perhaps more personal.

With a quirked brow, Tias opened his mouth to ask his friend a question, only for her to walk over to the edge of the roof they were currently on. Nac watched as Mina moved over to stand right at the edge and replace both her broken Anti-Titan blades, flinging the shattered blade stumps off the building and storing the handles in a sheath that held fresh blades. Once the deed was done, Mina released her grip on her Anti-Titan blades and and crossed her arms, rubbing her right upper arm in a rather worried way as she stared out into the distance. Turning to Mylius, the black haired boy motioned for him to stay put as he sheathed both his Anti-Titan blades and walked up to Mina's side.

"You alright there, Mina?" began Nac as he stopped beside his friend, lifting a hand up to rest it on her shoulder. Mina didn't reply, prompting Nac to sigh ever so slightly as he lowered the hand he held on her shoulder and moved both his hands behind his back, looking over at what Mina was staring at herself.

The breach.

Mina was staring intently at the breach in Trost. Though she appeared rather passive as she stared at it, the girl seemed visibly angered. Nac himself noted that her fists were clenching and unclenching from time to time, with each clench seeming more intense than the last, and her breathing seemed to hitch every so often.

'She's angry,' thought Nac as he eyed his friend, frowning as he rested a hand over the handle of his Anti-Titan blade. Seeing her like this… it made Nac slouch his shoulders as he bit his bottom lip. The boy wished that he could calm her down, to tell her that things would be alright… but he knew that he would by lying as well. The fact that Nac himself was, admittedly, close to blowing a fuse himself wasn't exactly helping matters at all.

Despite his calm appearance, Nac was having an internal struggle with keeping himself calm. If anything, he was surprised that he had kept himself cool for as long as he has. To see Trost, the very District he grew up in, be invaded by the Titans was… unpleasant to say the least, almost enough to make him snap and rush to tackle the largest group of Titans he could find with all he had, but he kept that emotion in check. Acting rationally was difficult, even for him, but it was best if he did so.

Of course, the fact that a certain someone had been gone for an extended period of time, someone that both he and Mina really did care about didn't really help calm either of them.

"Hey, Nac?" muttered Mina rather abruptly, snapping Nac out of his mild trance and turn to his shorter friend, who was now staring at him with worry apparent in her eyes. The taller boy gave a gentle grunt as he nodded, giving Mina the go to continue. "Do you think… Mika…"

Biting her lip as she stopped herself from finishing that sentence, Mina grimaced rather intensely as Nac turned his head down to stare at his feet, reluctant to answer Mina truthfully. Despite himself not wishing to accept it, Mikazuki's extended absence from their team was… worrying to say the least. There was no way Mika was lost. Nac himself gave the boy a full tour around Trost back before they became Cadets, and even if he did somehow get himself lost in the District, his Maneuver Gear would've helped him navigate around the District with very little issue…

So… the only real logical conclusion to Mikazuki's fate…

"He's fine," lied Nac, going against his conclusion to his friend's fate as he turned to Mina, giving her a forced, optimistic stare. Mina herself seemed skeptical, but her expression hardened as she nodded, willing to allow the false hope of Mikazuki still being somewhere out there to keep herself going as she turned to Tias. "This is Mikazuki we're talking about, the second best in the 104th Trainee Corps. I'm sure that he can handle himself better than either of us."

"Yeah, you're right…!" agreed Mina, clenching her fists as she gave a small smile directed at Tias. "He'll be fine… I'm certain of it!"

In response to that, Nac couldn't help but give a smirk, allowing Mina's newfound confidence to affect him as he gave a thumbs up. However, before they could get ahead of themselves, their attentions were directed towards Mylius, who called out their names.

"Hey… Mina, Nac?" called out Zeramuski rather nervously, prompting the two in question to turn towards him. The blonde, alongside Commander Flex and Team Eren, had their heads craned up into the air, staring up at a Purple Flare that had been shot up into the air. Flex herself was kneeling over Armin as she stared up at the Flare, and as soon as she saw it, she stood herself up.

"An emergency this early into the battle…?!" proclaimed Flex, sounding less calm than usual as she grimaced. Mylius himself gulped as Mina and Nac raced up to his sides, eyes wide as they joined the others in staring at the Purple Flare that was slowly ascending up into the heavens. Flex, however, turned away from it after some time to turn and regard Eren and his teammates. "Eren Jaeger, get Armin Arlert out of here, now! You and your team are to withdraw from the battle!"

"Commander, with all due respect-" began a member of Eren's Vanguard Team, only to be cut off by Flex.

"With all due respect, Cadet, you have an injured teammate. Get him some medical attention," ordered Flex, her voice firm as she retorted to her junior, pointing towards the innermost Wall of Rose. "If you wish to help us, get us some reinforcements, am I understood?!"

"...yes, ma'am," was her reluctant answer from that Cadet as the rest of Team Eren moved to withdraw from combat. Eren himself was shockingly fine with withdrawing, though Nac suspected that the fact that Armin was injured had something to do with him being willing to fall back.

As soon as Team Eren had withdrawn, with Armin being cradled in the arms of Eren as they boosted off, Team Flex behind to stare at the still rising Purple Signal Flare with growing apprehension.

"Commander… what are your orders?" asked Nac reluctantly as Flex gave a mild grimace. That single grimace made her teammates shiver ever so slightly, and they knew what she was about to order them to do before she even said it.

"We're moving to investigate," ordered Flex, pointing the tip of one of her Anti-Titan blades at where the Purple Signal Flare originated from. At first, none of them spoke up, staying uncertainty silent as they let what their Commander had said sink in. Before long, however, Mylius responded to Flex's order with a rather reasonable inquiry.

"With all due respect, Commander… but why?" inquired Mylius as calmly as he could, earning him a raised brow from his Commander. "It's a Purple Signal Flare… an emergency! Whenever it's used, it's used to signal that something extremely bad had happened! If it's so bad that the properly trained members of the Military Brigade can't handle it without backup, then what makes you think we can handle it?!"

"We're not going to handle it," answered Flex as she walked past Mylius, towards the edge of the building to stare at where the Purple Flare was shot from. "We're simply scouting out whatever caused the Garrison stationed there to fire that Flare and report it back to the rear guard. I myself am fine with going alone, so if any of you wanna withdraw alongside Team Eren, I won't stop you…"

Mina herself thought that she heard Flex mutter 'wussies' at the end, though she ignored it as she stepped forward, undaunted by the danger they would certainly be put in if they followed their Commander.

"Like Hell I'm gonna let you go alone, Commander!" proclaimed Mina, clenching a fist as she nodded firmly. Nac himself was quick to agree with his friend, and Mylius reluctantly did so, prompting Flex to smirk.

"Looks like Keith did a good job whipping you kids into shape!" proclaimed Flex with a fierce smirk, only to motion for them to move. "Come on, kids, let's move!"

And with that, Flex herself sprinted off the edge of the building and slingshot herself towards where the Purple Flare was shot from. Mina, Nac and Mylius followed close behind her, with Mylius himself lagging behind out of fear.

"So, what do you reckon caused that Flare to be shot up?" inquired Mina as she twirled herself up into the air. To her side, Nac shrugged as he slingshot himself into the air and fired his anchors into the side of the nearest building.

"There are many possible reasons," began Nac, sounding rather thoughtful. "The Eastern wing of Trost is well known for being excessively hot. Titans are known to linger around the warmer regions, namely the southern locations, or in our case, the south-east segments of Trost. If I were to make a guess, the southeast sector of Trost is being overruned by Titans, too much for the Garrison there to handle."

"That's an unpleasant thought…" admitted Mylius, swinging to the side to avoid slamming into a building. To his side, Mina gave a soft snicker.

"But hey, who knows? Maybe it was a misfire, or perhaps a cannon that fell off the side of the wall."

And both Nac and Mylius both hoped for Mina to be correct on that front.

Not too long after

Whatever that emergency was, it was definitely not a cannon that fell off the Wall, and the entirety of Team Flex could attest to it as they now stood on the top of a still standing building that stood nearly fifty metres away from a massive cloud of smoke that surrounded… something.

"What in the world is that…?" began Mina as what appeared to be an elbow could be seen emerging from the cloud of smoke, only to disappear back into it as whatever was at the epicenter of the cloud launched a punch, as evident by the fact that a sound that was akin to a skull being smashed open could be heard.

"Does anyone else hear the sound of… pistons… and gears…?" asked Mylius in an attempt to make sure that he was not hearing things as a flash of green could be briefly seen in the cloud of smoke.

"Yeah… and… does that thing look… mechanical? Or am I just seeing things…?" muttered Nac in disbelief as a 'foot' came into view, dragging itself out of the cloud of smoke before bolting back inside, perhaps to launch a kick or strike something with its knee.

And finally, after roughly a minute of wide eyed silence, their Commander spoke up with her voice dripping with disbelief.

"Impossible…" muttered the senior Garrison, catching the attention of her three juniors as her shoulders slackened. Turning towards her, Nac, Mina and Mylius raised their brows as their Commander widened her eyes to their fullest extent. "The Survey Corps had been looking for this… thing for the past Five years without any real luck, and now, when Trost comes under siege… it returns…"

Before any one of her fellow soldiers could ask her what she meant, the massive cloud of smoke was dispelled rather abruptly, accompanied by a strong shake of the ground beneath them, prompting the three Cadets and their Commander to lose their balance ever so slightly before whirling back and stare at the now dispelled cloud of smoke, only to widen their eyes at what they saw.

With its white armour atop a greyish skeleton alongside a massive 'Mace' in its left arm and what appeared to be a massive sword sheathed onto its back, the… thing's appearance matched the fabled Mechanical Titan of Shiganshina to a tee. The mere sight of the Titan, a Titan that was never meant to exist, was enough to make the three juniors step back in fear while the lone senior seemed frozen in place, though the entire group still managed to see what it was doing.

The Mechanical Titan was kneeling down on one knee, its back facing them as its left hand held onto its massive Mace-like weapon while its right had its fingers wrapped around the neck of a Fifteen metre Titan, a Titan that had its left arm and both legs missing. Its right arm was missing at the elbow and was slowly regenerating, though it didn't get too far before the Mechanical Titan crushed its neck, in turn squashing its nape.

"The rumors really were true…" muttered Nac as he stepped back, a gesture that was mirrored by the other two Juniors. Flex, however, remained passive as she watched the Mechanical Titan turned over to face an approaching Four metre Titan. "The Mechanical Titan does exist…"

Right as those words left his mouth, the Mechanical Titan took a step back, and right as the Four metre Titan was about to reach it, the mechanical monstrosity swung its leg at it, kicking it with the strength of a tidal wave. On impact, the Four metre Titan combusted into a rain of blood and guts, something that made the entirety of Team Flex wince.

Following up from that, and after the Mechanical Titan slammed its foot back down onto the ground, it turned to face a pair of Titans that were roughly Fifteen and Twelve metres. The first to be eliminated was the Fifteen metre, who attempted to tackle its much larger counterpart. Instead of sidestepping the tackle, however, the Mechanical Titan did something rather unthinkable.

Crouching down ever so slightly as soon as it saw the Titan charging, the Mechanical Titan itself was unmoving for a short while, and right as the Fifteen metre was about ten metres away from it, the 18.8 metre sprung up into the air, an act that made at least Mylius gasp in shock. It was justified, however, as the Titan did just leap up nearly fifteen to twenty metres into the air.

At first, Nac had expected the Mechanical Titan to land away from the Fifteen metre Titan. However, he was swiftly corrected when it had landed right on top of it. Upon landing atop it, the Mechanical Titan quite literally liquified it under its massive frame, creating a rather noticeable shockwave and kicking a massive cloud of smoke as it landed. That shockwave was enough to make Team Flex step back and shield their eyes.

The Twelve metre was able to stay on its feet in spite of the shockwave. However, within a few seconds, a hand shot out and grasped its head. And, emerging from the cloud of smoke, the Mechanical Titan stood itself up and lifted the Twelve metre up to eye level. Team Flex watched with mildly baited breath as the larger Titan stared at the shorter, organic one.

And finally, the Mechanical Titan quite literally threw the Titan straight over the Wall of Trost, lobbing it straight over the Fifty metre wall with seemingly no effort. A splat could be vaguely heard on the other side as it landed, and that simple display of strength was enough to make both Team Flex and the Garrison atop the Wall the Twelve metre was tossed over drop their jaws.

'The Titan that kills other Titans and supposedly spares humans,' thought Flex with apprehension as the 'Titan' moved to stand in a more natural, upright position. Without any warning, steam was expelled from multiple vent-like structures on its chassis, partially clouding it from view, though it didn't stop the Cadets and Garrison Commander from staring at its partially obstructed figure with wide eyes.

The three Cadets were both in awe and disbelief at the sight of the Titan that would theoretically never exist. To even Mina, who was known to believe some outlandish stuff, the Mechanical Titan was nothing more than a myth made up by refugees of Shiganshina/Maria following the collapse of the District/Wall, perhaps as a way to cope with their losses. Never in their lives would they believe that the Mechanical Titan was an actual entity that existed, at least until they saw it with their own eyes.

As for their Commander, she herself was more shocked than fearful at the sight of the Mechanical Titan returning from its nearly Five year disappearance. To see this… thing return to 'assist' humanity, so to speak, was oddly calming to the Garrison, though her instinctual fear of this… thing was more than enough to keep her on edge.

"C-Commander…" muttered Mylius as soon as he regained his marbles, prompting the Garrison senior to snap out of it and turn to face the blonde, who seemed close to having a panic attack. The boy gulped as he stepped back, tightening his grip on the handles of his Anti-Titan blades immensely. "W-What are your orders…!?"

Turning to Nac and Mina, the senior could tell that they were almost or perhaps just as tense as their blonde friend, with the former appearing to be close to experiencing a heart attack while the latter shook rather intensely with fear. And it took about a second for Flex to figure out the best course of action.

"We're falling back, now!" she ordered, and her three juniors offered no complaints as they turned on their heels and sprinted away from where the Mechanical Titan stood. Flex herself made sure that her Cadets were all off the roof before she herself sprinted after them.

Right before she leapt off, however, Flex took one final glance at the Mechanical Titan, only to feel some of her blood freeze when she saw that it was now staring at her with those cold green 'eyes'. Almost immediately, the Garrison Commander snapped her head back forward and leapt off the roof and swung off to catch up with her Cadets.

"That… that's the Mechanical Titan, isn't it?!" was the first thing Flex heard Mylius yell as soon as she caught up with them. The team didn't stop for a moment, simply doing their best to increase the distance between themselves and the Titan of Myth, and Flex wasted no time in responding.

"Yes, it is!" she answered almost instantaneously, doing her best to force herself from turning her head back to stare at the Mechanical Titan behind them. To that end, she barked out an order to her Cadets, one that was so simple that even a civilian could perform it. "We're going to inform the Rear Guard about this, am I understood?!"

Flex's voice told the rest of her team that there was no room for argument. And even if there was, none of her teammates raised and objections as they kept moving onwards. However, not too long after Flex had issued that order, Mylius, who was noticeably lagging behind the team ever so slightly, noticed something coming their way from the left. Shakily turning his head to see what it was, the blonde could only widen his eyes before he yelled out: "INCOMING!"

Right as he yelled that one warning, the entirety of his team snapped their heads to the left and widened their eyes as a Five metre Titan came barreling straight at them. Mylius himself had to slow down in order to avoid a head on collision with the Titanwhile Mina, Nac and Flex were required to speed up in order to evade it.

Fortunately for all three, they were able to evade the Titan, who crashed straight into the closest building not long after. Mylius used that as an opportunity to zip past it and catch up with his team, and right as he regrouped with them, the Five metre Titan had recovered from its crash into the building and sprinted after the four.

"Tsk… this Titan's acting odd," muttered Flex with a grimace as she gave a mild glance back, raising her brows in terror when she saw the Five metre closing in on her team. "Definitely an Abnormal!"

"Any plans for dealing with it, Commander?!" exclaimed Mina fearfully. Her response was a grimace from Flex as she put some thought into Mina's question. Her occupation as a Garrison had robbed her of the experience that most Survey Corps had, and as such she had no real experience with dealing with Abnormals, so much so that she was stumped as to how they should go about combating this one.

"I-" began Flex, only to be cut off by Mylius.

"INCOMING!" exclaimed the blonde from behind them, prompting the team to whirl around and widen their eyes when they saw the Five metre Abnormal leap straight at them. Fueled by adrenaline, the entire team scattered as soon as they saw it.

"This thing's tenacious…" muttered Nac as the team regrouped, keeping their eyes on the Titan that had crashed down onto the ground. To his left, Mylius gave a nod while Commander Flex grimaced. And as for Mina… wait… where was Mina?

That was when the team realized that Mina was not by their sides, and it didn't take long for them to spot that the Five metre Abnormal Titan had her smaller by comparison body in its grip. Mina herself struggled to free herself from the Titan's vice-like grip, though her efforts amounted to nothing more than wishful thinking.

"Mina-" began Mylius, getting ready to state the obvious, only for Nac to shoot past the blond, charging straight for the Five metre Abnormal at with rather impressive speed.

"MINA!" was all Nac could really yell out as he moved to swiftly close the distance between himself and his longtime friend. Back during and even before they became Cadets, Nac had sworn both a personal and verbal oath to himself and Ms Carolina, respectively, that he, as the oldest child in the Carolina household, would protect the three that were younger than him. With Mikazuki supposedly dead, Nac himself could barely keep himself together. And as soon as he was faced with the sight of Mina's small body in the grip of the Titan, ready to be consumed by the foul beast, something within the boy snapped and sent him barreling at the Five metre Abnormal at top speed.

"Nac Tias, wait!" exclaimed Flex, who was hoping that they could perform a coordinated takedown to reduce the risk of having two Cadets be taken out, but the boy in question was past listening to orders at this point. Another one of his friends was quite literally staring death right in the face, and if he didn't act now, she would be lost.

'Come on…' thought Nac as he narrowed his eyes, his vision locked firmly onto the nape of the Five metre Abnormal. He estimated that he would take, at best, roughly five more seconds to reach it, though to his horror, Mina was already being moved close to the Titan's mouth, prompting Nac to grit his teeth and grip his Anti-Titan blade handles harder. 'COME ON!'

Despite being rather far from her, Nac could see that Mina herself was quite visibly bawling at this point. While her crying was definitely expected, that expression was more than enough to make Nac feel his eyes water up as he clenched his teeth harder against one another in desperation.

Mina couldn't die here, she couldn't… the two of them still had so much to do! To explore the wonders of the outside world together with Mika and Annie. To join the Survey Corps. To help with mankind's victory… that and so much more. To have it end right here, with Mina being so unceremoniously killed in action… it was something that Nac downright refused to let happen!

'ALMOST THERE!"

His determination only grew when he saw the Titan open its mouth, ready to insert Mina's head into its jaws and gnaw it off, and though the girl did make an effort to resist, the Titan very easily overpowered her and shoved her head into its mouth. Upon seeing that, Nac widened his eyes immensely. He was roughly a second away from reaching Mina… and within a second, she would be dead…

"MINA!"

And right as the name of his longtime friend left his lips, Nac heard it.

It wasn't the sound of a Maneuver Gear, far from it, actually. No, it sounded more like a primal roar of sorts, one that was vaguely similar to the roar of a furnace, only amplified by a hundred. Upon hearing this strange sound, Nac himself found his focus fading as he turned to stare at where it originated from… only to be knocked out of the way when a massive 'body' blasted straight past him.

Despite having only a split second to register what had just happened, Nac was still able to catch a glimpse of what the thing that had knocked him back looked like, or at the very least, he was able to spot it's oddly white 'skin'…

And as soon as it blasted past him, Nac saw the Five metre Abnormal Titan disappear into a massive cloud of smoke as the newcomer slammed straight into it.

Grimacing rather intensely as she coughed, Mina required roughly a second to get her bearings back together as she took in her surroundings.

Strange… wasn't she just in the mouth of that Titan, about to have her head be bitten off? For her part, Mina knew that she was supposed to be dead. She was certain of it…

So why was she lying on her side on the strangely cold concrete ground of Trost, inside a massive cloud of dust and smoke? Where did that Five metre Abnormal Titan go? And more importantly, how was she still alive?

And the newest question: why did the ground beneath her feel oddly cold…?

The answers to all three of her questions came rather quickly, however, when she stared down and saw that she was currently laying on a massive metal hand. Swiftly widening her eyes beyond belief, Mina shot herself upright, only to stop when she felt a mild ache go through her back. As the aching dulled, Carolina felt her head instinctively turn to eye the hand she was sitting on.

The entire hand, fingers and all, was perhaps the same height as Mina from top to bottom and perhaps twice as wide as her. Each of the fingers were curled up around Mina's smaller by comparison body, practically trapping the girl in its grip. However, Mina's eyes were quickly torn off the hand she was sitting on when she heard what appeared to be several pistons and gears shift right in front of her, prompting her to snap her head back forward, only to audibly gulp when she saw twin green 'lights' aimed directly at her.

Those green 'lights' and the hand she was currently sitting on gave Mina a good idea of what had just 'saved' her, and her thought was confirmed as the clouds of dust slowly parted in a way that allowed her to see segment after segment of the Titan, though within five seconds, Mina could confirm that this was indeed the very thing that her team was trying to avoid. And she could only widen her eyes immensely at the mere sight of it.

Kneeling down in front of her with its twin emerald green eyes boring into her light greys, her 'savior' had of its arms outstretched towards, namely its right arm whose hand she was sitting on, while the other hung by its side. If Mina was calmer and more focused, she would have noticed that the Five metre Abnormal Titan's corpse was underneath her 'savior's' massive metal frame, apparently having been run over by it.

Unfortunately, being calm and focused was nearly impossible for Mina as of now. One couldn't blame her, however, as she was now right in front of the ever infamous Mechanical Titan, the Ghost of Shiganshina and Maria.

And the fact that she was sitting on its hand only made her sweat profusely as she felt her eyes water up at least a little.

'Oh shit…'

So after quite a substantial amount of rewrites and me barraging my proofreader who was kind enough to sit through my shit, Chapter 13 is up. I think the fact that I have a 1 month break from college helped as well.

What? I have a proofreader? Actually, he's a friend whos kind enough to help be point out inconsistencies and errors. I love him in a non-homo way.

Anyhow, as you can see, this chapter is entirely told through the eyes of Mina, Nac, Mylius and Commander Flex. She's the only OC who'll be shown more than once, I promise. The next chapter will most likely include more of Mika's side on all this, so stay tuned.

I'll just reply to the reviews now

Andromeda: yes, she will

Artyom-Dreizehn: thanks for the thumbs up!

noobie53: trust me, the way they'll find Mika proper is gonna be weird, even by my standards. And yes, love triangle. Because I hate my sanity.

CT7567Rules: yes, yes it is

RaiserNT: ah shucks, thanks.

Hangzoed: firstly, you're most welcome. Secondly, I won't lie when I almost made the Trainee arc at least one chapter longer but thought better of it. Thirdly, I do hope for that as well. And finally, thanks for your luck!

Guest 1: unfortunately I haven't seen Gen:LOCK just yet. It seems… interesting I suppose, but I haven't come around to it. That and something about Rooster Teeth calling it 'the most original' back in the day kinda detracts it to me, but hey there's a chance for me making a story on it. And in regards to Code Geass, I'm a little ashamed to admit I never watched it… heheh

Guest 2: here ya go my friend

ExTrEmE42: why thank ya my dude. Character development is what I love focusing on, and slow and steady often works better than fast and rickety. Also, here's more :D (by the way, while I was typing this reply I couldn't help but notice how the Es and the T in your name were capitalized, so I read your name as ET :P)

Hey fun fact, the previous chapters were relatively easy to type out thanks to the fact that they were essentially rewritten versions of the original story. From here on out, the TNK RM will be going in a separate direction from the original version, so I can't exactly just rewrite the older chapters, so updates will take a little longer than usual to get pumped out.

That and I'm also a lazy bastard who needs to get off his ass and write 5 other stories he has under his belt. The next chapter to be updated will most likely be The Devil and his Angel, though it ain't confirmed.

Place your bets now, everyone. Will the next chapter to be uploaded be The Devil and his Angel Chapter 3, Iron Blooded Heroes Chapter 7… or will Stryker go insane and write Oh hey, Barbatos is a giant woman now.

Hopefully the latter doesn't happen.

Anyhow, I've rambled on for long enough. Time to sit back and take a breather. Shin Godzilla seems like a good movie to help me unwind. As a matter a fact, I'm listening to 'Who Will Know' as I type this outro out. Great song. I for one blame Godzilla King of the Monsters for getting me into the franchise again.

God, that movie was amazing…

GREAT I'M RAMBLING AGAIN.

SEE YOU GUYS NEXT TIME.