Cyberpunk: Titan Smashers

by DMtotheAAFan

When an experimental emergency teleport sends a recently beaten Adam Smasher to the Attack on Titan universe, the murderous cyborg finds himself reluctantly assisting the human meat bags against the uglier more disgusting meat bags trying to eat him. Ymir willing, he'll be changing the course of Paradis, and perhaps the world, before he knows it. Settle in for a ride chooms!

21. Asking The Right Questions

An Undisclosed Location in the North of the Wall's

Thick unblemished fingers, unmarred by cuts, scars, or even calluses, reached for a cube like device. It resembled a Rubik's cube crossed over with Boggle, entirely white with each smaller cube resembling the word game pieces. As the hand approached, the device lit up with a blue energy, before it split off into individual cubes, all hovering in place. The fingers grabbed a cube at random, before placing them in a small receptacle that was right next to where the device was parked. The fingers retreated, it's owner pulling them back to rest in his lap, as he leaned back in his chair and waited.

Soon, an interesting tune began to play, never heard on Paradis, or really anywhere in the world. In this world, anyway.

"Come touch me like I'm an ordinary man

Have a look in my eyes

Underneath my skin there is a violence

It's got a gun in its hands

Ready to make

Ready to make, read'

Ready to make sense of anyone, anything

Anyone, anything

Anyone, anything

Anyone, anything

Anyone, anything…"

Rod Reiss gave the song a full minute, and after it was up… determined he found the tune rather pleasant. He continued to let it run, lightly tapping his foot to the beat. It soothed him, relaxed his mind and his nerves, as he let himself drift away, just a bit. Let the worries of the day wash away, let all the machinations, the plots, his enemies… let them be but a distant dream, just for this moment…

"Y'know, some folks might think you were a terrible, terrible hypocrite for engaging in such forbidden outsider knowledge, my liege." Kenny's rough and unpleasant voice interrupted Rod's relaxation, and with a sigh he opened his eyes, the faintest flicker of light coming from his pupils as he put the song on hold.

'Bullets by Archive. Add that one to the playlist.' Rod both thought and acted with his mind alone, before he deemed to grant Kenny his attention. "This is hardly the worst of the outsider's knowledge I've indulged in Kenny. That we've indulged in. I think if one were to have a full unfettered view of our treasonous actions, they'd probably ignore this little act of heresy entirely."

"I dunno, you hear some of the music on those things? Some of the lyric's, if the kids heard that I can't imagine how corrupted they'd turn out." Kenny offered a shit eating grin as he took a seat. "Blood, bullets, tits, and fucking your mama? I swear more than half of these song's were made for people like me, you let that get out into the local populace you'll have a whole bunch of Kenny the Ripper wannabe's, I shit you not. Won't somebody think of the children?"

"Was there something you wanted Kenny?" Rod raised an eyebrow, trying to ascertain if this was a serious visit or Kenny's habit of wasting time. Why Uri had put up with it for so many years, Rod sometimes couldn't say. The Ripper's skill was only matched by the man's lack of manners and foul mouth.

"Well, I personally don't give a fig, but there is that meeting going down tomorrow with a couple of important people we supposedly aren't ready to murder and tip our hand to just yet." Kenny kicked back and placed his feet atop Rod's desk, smirk on his face and body relaxed like he truly didn't care. "Thought you might wanna, I dunno, double check the script was ready or something, maybe make an appearance to inspire the troops. Those pig sucklers ain't exactly the best under pressure, there's a good chance they'll cave and give the tin plated toy soldier whatever he wants."

"They won't." Rod deemed fit to turn and address Kenny fully, his own soft gaze holding that look of being both knowledgeable and lost. "They'll do what they're told, and declare the King's order, my order, as they always have. For the good of the Wall's, and for themselves.

"Will they though?" Kenny's face betrayed how much faith he shared with the portly man across from him. "Speaking from experience, the moment you put the screws to those whiners who've sat in luxury literally their entire life's, they are just so quick to change their tune. I don't even think Adam will have to crack any skulls, just a good bellow and even that fake you've got on the throne will get on his knee's and beg for mercy."

"True, he is a frightening individual just from a glance, and has no doubt just taken what he wants throughout his life. I doubt anyone can really say no to him." Rod nodded in agreement. "Fear will be a very powerful motivator here. Fear of Adam, fear of the Titans, fear of the unknown. All of that will be present and standing before them tomorrow." Rod allowed a small smile to tug at the corner of his lips. "Which is why I have absolute faith they will whither the storm. They'll encounter just a small taste of what's to come, of what's threatening the sanctity of these Wall's. How can they possibly fear anything Adam or the Scout's might say or do, when so much worse lies on the horizon?"

"Lies on the horizon nothing, it's already knocked on their door and invited itself in." Kenny chuckled. "You think the stuffy shirts will take offence that their dear duplicitous leader has been lying to them as well, not just the ignorant masses?"

"I don't doubt they will have words to say, perhaps they may do something even drastic." Rod tapped the side of his left eye, were just the faintest sign of blemished tissue lay. "Indeed, some people have strong emotional responses to being deceived."

"Hey, you knew what was coming when you confessed all to me." Kenny shrugged. "Shoulda been honest from the get go. Stringing me along for so many years was in incredibly poor taste."

"Considering your reaction, are you really so surprised I was less than truthful with you? I happened to like my eyes, Kenny." Rod minutely glared through half-lidded orbs, the cybernetic replacements allowing him to see more than his organic ones ever did.

"Well, consider it the payoff to our new working relationship. We both learned things that day. You, what happens if you try to screw me. And me, about literally everything, including this bold new direction you've chosen to take us in."

"I'm forever grateful you gave me a chance to say my piece. And that you decided to stay, you and all of the Anti-Personal Squad." Rod replied, utterly sincere.

"Yeah well, it was a good sell, how could we do anything else? Specially given the state you were in when you did it, I honestly didn't see that coming." Kenny rolled his neck. "Was a real Uri move, your brother would be impressed. You've really changed in the last year."

"I'll take your word for it, I honestly think he was closer to you than me in his final years."

"Heh, jealous?"

"A tad envious, but mostly grateful. He actually looked happy having you by his side." Rod leaned back. "But back to the matter at hand, I'm confident our partners in these unknowing crimes will do their part. They'll keep the threat they imagine is coming this way in their mind's, they'll do what must be done believing it's the only way to restore our lives to normal. And in the end, by the time they realize they've been deceived, it'll be too late."

"All in the service of this new vision of yours, huh." Kenny brought a hand up to tilt his hat forward, hiding his face for a moment, before he looked up with an all teeth smile. "Well, if you're absolutely certain no fuck ups will happen tomorrow, then I suppose I can find something else to do. Maybe get to work on recruitment. Caven's taking the lead but I'm sure she'll need back up in the persuasion department, she's not exactly a people person."

"Why Kenny, were you going to offer to be on stand by to take on Adam Smasher should he prove belligerent?" Rod's face actually showed his amazement, in both Kenny willing to do such a thing and the fact the man thought he had a chance of fighting the cyborg with his present armaments.

"Eh, what can I say? He's just such a tempting target, him and all those Titan Shifters lying in wait on this damn Island. It's like my birthday is right around the corner, I can't help but want to open my gifts and see what's inside." The dark chuckle accompanying that statement indicated Kenny was being a bit literal there.

"Patience, you'll have your chance. If you are really so eager, might I suggest checking in with our mutual friend? I'm sure he can give you a sample of what's in store, an appetizer as it were."

"I might just do that. He's suppose to be going out later today, might just tag along. Get me a show, talk shop, maybe even try out some of his toys again." Kenny gave a nod, liking this train of thought, before turning on his heel and making for the door. "Oh yeah, I can see this being a fun night out."

Rod watched Kenny's departure right up to the moment the door closed, then leaned back with a sigh. That hadn't been exactly unpleasant or tiresome, but there was something about interacting with Kenny that always felt like a chore, even with their improved relationship, built on the desire for rewards and power. For Kenny at least, Rod had his own desire in all this, one that thankfully ran parallel to the killer of over 100 MP's.

Finding the desire to listen to music no longer enticing for the moment, Rod decided to check in with his Advisor himself. Perhaps he'd have new insights to share? Rod had just been contemplating how to make his daughter's last moments on this Earth perfect, he could use a second opinion on if keeping the Jaw Shifter alive was a realistic goal. He exited the fine decorative door of his office, approaching the service elevator to bring him down deep into the bowels of his true castle, his fortress, his factory.

'The easiest solution would be to simply kill my daughter's protector, or even just not contact her at all. Let Historia run free and wild ignorant of what is to come.' Rod admitted to himself, as he looked out the elevator's windows to observe the factory, massive in scale in its underground keep, so many individual projects underway. 'But surely there's no harm in me trying to be a father to her? Let me grant my daughter happiness, just once. I'm sure we can accomplish that.'

Exiting the elevator, he strode forward, gazing up at the most recent acquisition from beyond the sea, dutifully being assembled and standing tall at eighteen meters. Impressive as it was, it was not the most dangerous thing in Rod's arsenal.

But it would be instrumental in allowing Rod to make amends.

Yes, before everything else was done, he would see his daughter again, and treat her right.

Even if he had to drag her here kicking and screaming to do it.

---

Scout HQ, The Morning After The Operation

Levi awoke to the familiar feeling of the morning rays slinking in, the cry of the rooster welcoming the sun, and once again, nothing covering him but his loosest trousers.

'Managed to hog the covers, AGAIN.' Levi internally grumbled, as his guest had buried themselves in a makeshift cocoon, their loose brown hair the only thing visible. With a sigh he made to get up, sitting upright in his bed and accidentally kicking away an empty wine bottle when his bare feet hit the floor. 'Really wasted no time in celebrating, huh. Can't really say it wasn't deserved, but now we're down to two."

Moving to pick up the bottle and place it on the table to dispose of it later, Levi decided now was as good a time as any to wake up his bed mate. Approaching the cocoon of cloth, he crouched down and gazed into the mop of brown hair. "Oye, Shitty Glasses, time to get up already."

The cocoon shifted, before the "top" opened up as a slowly emerging but eternally grinning Hange exited their nest, looking positively radiant with the morning sun shining on them.

Not that Levi would ever admit that.

"A fine good morning to you too my grouchy bean." Hange squirmed and wiggled to get themselves free, and sat up with a laugh. "Was it a good dream this time, or a bad one?"

"Good. After you finally settled down and stopped kicking me in your sleep, I actually had a pleasant dream against all odds." It honestly had been one of the better ones. The one where his mother was alive, using the one memory he had of her looking healthy and full of life, and what he imagined she'd be like if she were here today, using the many memories of her caring for him despite wasting away to nothing. Sometimes reality overcame fantasy, and he'd be treated to his mom becoming a hollow corpse before his eyes, charming. But this time it had been good, he'd even gotten to introduce her to Furlan and Isabel, who didn't hate him despite everything.

Of course, it was just a dream.

"Take that as a sign. That even you have to admit, yesterday was a good day." Hange rolled their neck as they stood up, their naked body on full display as the covers fell off. "No casualties, over a hundred Titans dead, an absolute haul of scrap for us to use, and, for me personally, new Titans to ponder! Come on, I think we can afford to be a little lax in our duties, enjoy the taste of victory a little longer?"

"We are. We've slept in a full five minutes past when the sun rose, and I'm willing to give you thirty to get dressed. I've never been so wild and free." Levi drawled, which had Hange snort so loud Levi instinctively raised his arms to avoid anything that might come out of their face holes, but he needn't have bothered. He rose to his feet to stand almost shoulder to shoulder, and produced their glasses, retrieved from the table. "…Yesterday was good. Hate to admit it, but that shitty bastard delivered and then some. Eren too, the brat's really taken to that Titan of his like a second skin."

"Right, right?" Hang beamed, eager to pounce on this opening Levi was giving them. "The way he moved, the way he fought, it was so brutal and savage, and yet focused and coordinated! And the way his wounds healed, I'd swear he's actually figured out how that works, how long it takes and maybe even how to prioritize which parts heal faster! First thing we're doing is getting a full debriefing from him, then after that, heading on back to get a good look at that armour lying around. Oh, if we can get some of it retrofitted for Eren, his arsenal will expand even further! Oh! I also wanna take a look at that hammer he left out there, and see if KIPO can help brainstorm some alternatives-"

"First put on some pants, then we can talk shop." Levi interrupted. While he certainly didn't mind the view, there was a time and place to be soldiers. Turning around, he opened his closest to find his attire for the day. "And before we do that, there's a couple other things on the agenda I want to cover first."

"Is one of those things mercilessly interrogating that poor Krista girl?" Hange snickered as they walked on up to wrap their arms around Levi's deceptively built waist, resting their head on his shoulder and smiling. "I stand by what I said, she's just a poor victim in this."

"Is the this her being the instrument of Adam's weird joke, or her unknowingly shagging who we suspect might be one of the worst war criminal's in our people's history?" A hand switched out from reaching for his pants to running his fingers through his bed mates hair. "Because I'm leaving that last part up to you, my business is with Smasher."

"Oh good, because I'm running a delicate investigation and I really don't want you being a part of it. You are't quite cut out for the sneaky stuff."

"…I can be sneaky." Levi squinted his eyebrows in confusion at Hange's accusations. "I can."

"In the right settings, sure. But asking around town for information, and disappearing for days from the Scout's with nobody noticing?" Hange shook their head back and forth, pausing only to give a quick kiss on his cheek. "Sorry, you're too popular, and everyone here knows you're a workaholic. There's no way they'd buy you actually used up some vacation days and weren't doing some job somewhere."

"…Okay, you've got me there."Levi relented, before gently shrugging Hange off as he made to get dressed. Hange helped themselves to their set of clothes, already hanged up and waiting curtesy of Levi's advanced planning. "…I know I just said I'd leave it up to you, but answer me honestly. How fucked are we if Ymir is the Armoured or Colossal?"

"Definitely less so then we'd be without Adam and Eren, that's for sure. But I still couldn't tell you how big a difference that is with the available data. Eren is easier to hypothesize, Adam a bit trickier, but it would still be conjecture." Hange replied all serious, even as they were buck naked and bent over to pick up a pair of boots off the ground and made for the bed. "We've only encountered the Colossal twice and the Armoured once in five years, it's pretty much impossible to figure how well a fight against them would go down. Even with yesterday against those tin plated beauties, figuring out how well Adam's weaponry would square against the Armoured Titan's defences is impossible."

"So if they, and by they I mean very possibly Ymir, decides to transform in the middle of us heading outside for the Expedition…"

"We'd be looking at massive casualties from the initial explosive transformation, pandemonium, and almost certainly would be helpless for a few more minutes, long enough for Ymir to finish the survivors off and make a break for it." Hange slide up their pants, and reached for a yellow shirt.

"Wonderful." Levi sighed. "Got any good news?"

"Actually yes, to a degree. We're quite certain at the very least Ymir is not the Colossal." Hange revealed.

"How'd you figure that out?"

"Mike works fast. Had Abel go to Trost and asked Pixis to do a little digging, while also causally asking the newbies what went down that day."

"That certainly sounds like a good way to tip the enemy off." Levi observed.

"Don't worry, he knows how to be subtle. A rigorous training exercise here, congratulations on doing so good there, light banter, being the fun commander, and soon enough, the kids start sharing without being asked. Add in the Garrison digging up the aftermath reports, and we have several witnesses putting Ymir in the courtyard the same time the Colossal showed up. Same goes for sweet little Krista, in case you were wondering if she's in cahoots." Hange finished by putting on their jacket, turning around to see Levi patiently waiting by the door.

"I was wondering that, yes. Won't dismiss the possibility she'd rush to Ymir's defence if we are following the right lead and make a move on the girl. But I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and chalk that up to naïveté, love makes people do stupid things."

"Like taking a pretty thing like me by the hand and sharing a tender moment?" Hange fluttered their eyes and smiled sweetly.

"Case in point." Levi rolled his eyes, but there was no real annoyance behind the gesture. "Come on, I have a poor victim to track down and make miserable. You run interference and give a good excuse why her possible Titan in sheep's clothing can't come with. Maybe share all your theories about Titans, that should last all day."

"Oh, good idea! I could really get some feedback from a potential expert, and if she shows any signs of me being wrong that could help or hinder our investigation! Like the Titans regeneration, I'm curious if Eren is just as invincible as them and can only be killed by cutting out his nape in human form…"

As Hange blathered on and Levi masterfully filtered out the important words from the blathering nonsense, he observed as the floating ball that was rapidly becoming KIPO's main body flew through the halls briefly, before going out the window.

'…Nope. Hange is still weirder.' He didn't know why, but Levi felt it was important the hierarchy of the bizarre in the Scout's remained intact. No human Titan's, metal men, or light people could ever be more odd than his bed mate.

Call him a sentimentalist.

---

The Mess Hall

"Okay, so, what about the sun? Don't you miss feeling the morning sun on your face and the wind blowing through your hair? The smell of nature, the warmth of the day?" One of the Scout's that had crowded around the Survey Corp's newest hero asked their question, just one of many that had done so all morning.

"Do I miss the heat and sweat that comes from that? Getting burned skin and needing water to survive? The stink that nature provides, and don't act like that's not a thing, I've seen you all cleaning the stables." Adam replied. "Nope, don't miss it. Counterpoint, solar power. You theorized Titans get their energy from the sun? So can you, an alternative energy source to power your mods."

"Okay, but what about touch in general? Isn't it weird not to feel anything when touching things?" Another Scout tried, running their hands over the wooden tables of the dining hall, their pants, even moving their thumb and forefinger against each other.

"Eh, I honestly forgot about all of that. You can get mods that will still let you feel that junk if it's that important to you, but I don't miss my old hands. No hangnails, no cuts, broken fingers, broken fingernails, accidentally touching something painfully hot…" Adam listed. "Counterpoint, the ability to crush a rock into powder and win a fight in one punch."

"Okay, then what about about food?!" Sasha's voice broke in, and from the look on her face she seemed confident she'd found the one thing Adam couldn't just brush off. "Don't you miss all the tasty food you used to enjoy? Delicious meats, sweet deserts, eggs, toast, drinks? Don't tell me you don't miss that!"

"True, I can't eat. But I also can't get hungry, or get stomach cramps from food poisoning, have to rush to the can. Or be poisoned in general, that's really handy." Adam crossed his arms and tilted his head, from his seated position atop a Specter produced chair made to support his bulky frame, he just oozed smugness. "And counterpoint, with the right software I can actually tune into what other people are tasting. Actually did that with Armin a couple of times, and honestly? Your cooking leaves a lot to be desired, even in the Interior. Dishes back home would blow your socks off."

"Gah, you're inhuman!" Sasha threw her hands in the air, which another Scout took to mean it was their turn in this game of "Get Adam to admit there's something about meat that's better than metal." They'd been playing all morning, ever since a Scout by the name of Lynne had nervously but determinedly approached the cyborg and thanked him for saving her. Which led to Adam brushing her thanks off as unnecessary, which led to her asking if she could eat beside him, then polite inquiry, then other's joining in seeing Lynne was doing it (both the sitting near him and asking him questions), which lead to this improv run down of cybernetics and all the advantages they bring.

"Boy, they changed their tune real quick. Turns out all you need to think lopping off your own limbs and replacing them with fakes is a good idea was the poster boy giving a live demonstration." Jean observed from his seat at a table a fair distance from the crowd.

"I don't think that's what's happening Jean." Armin spoke up from his spot at the table. "It's more like… they're becoming more comfortable around him? Saving the day yesterday with Eren, suffering no casualties while eliminating over a hundred Titans… it'd be impossible for that to not win over anyone. But I don't think we're at the stage of people converting to cybernetics. Least… not en masse."

"Yeah, lay off, Jean." Eren offered his two cents, directly across from Jean. "So everyone's less afraid of Adam and is actually interested in how he works. Doesn't mean the whole Scout Regiment's going to turn into copies of Adam Smasher."

"That's not what I'm… ah, forget it." Jean sighed, turning around to resume his meal. "Just find it a little off putting how eager everyone is all of a sudden. Like, just yesterday they were keeping their distance when they could, everyone was terrified of the guy. But now? He's almost as popular as Captain Levi."

"Is that the little guy who's always frowning?" Pieck asked from her spot by Jean's side, dipping her her bread into the yolk of her eggs. "Never saw him before today, it was a real shock to find out Humanity's Strongest is so…"

"If you value your life, I advise you not to say whatever it is you're thinking out loud." Mikasa cautioned, pouring a fresh glass of milk for herself and offering the same to her friends, of which Eren accepted.

"He's a big fan of corporal punishment then?" Pieck cheekily grinned.

"Doesn't have to be, his disapproving glare is enough." Jean shuddered. Pieck laughed, but seeing the haunted or nervous looks from the others, her amusement died half way.

"But anyways, it's great to see you again Pieck!" Armin smiled. "It's been a while since graduation, how have you been doing? Your new job better or worse than the last one?"

"Oh better, definitely better!" Pieck clapped her hands once in glee. "For one thing, I actually get a liveable wage. Another thing, I get to travel everywhere and sleep on the road, thanks to Vivy! She's such a good girl, doesn't even need me at the reins, she knows where she's going.

"The mail service gave you all that?"

"They did indeed Armin. You have to sign a contract that states should you attempt to flee with the company cart and wagon, not to mention the pass allowing you into the Interior, you'll be hunted down and sold into forced servitude to pay off your debts, but it's really a good job." Pieck took a bite out of her yolked bread. "The only downside would be so many of the senior postal workers dump off their deliveries at the general collection houses for us new hires to finish delivering. That's how I got that letter from Stohess to give to you, the postmaster there saw it was addressed to here so she figured I could take it the rest of the way."

"That, and the King's official decree." Jean rubbed his head to ward off the incoming migraine. "Seriously, how lazy a messenger do you have to be to ignore an order from the KING? Like, are you trying to get strung up or something?"

"Would the King really do that?" Mikasa asked, looking to Armin for clarification.

"Maybe. Definitely some kind of punishment would be warranted, I can imagine." Armin turned to the more cheery girl in the group. "We're very grateful to you Pieck for getting it to us. Adam's been waiting for this for a while now, he's practically thrilled!"

"I'll… take your word for it Armin." Pieck turned to look at the man, who seemed to be discussing the many benefits of no longer having to breathe. "He really… he's really a walking suit of armour then?"

The four Scout's present all looked to Pieck, then to each other, memories of yesterday coming to them…

---

Yesterday, not long after returning from the Scout's successful mission

"Holy shit Pieck, how have you been?!" Connie loudly exclaimed, to Jean's annoyance as the shaved headed kid butted in on what was supposed to be a tender moment. "Actually, where have you been, I feel like it's been ages since we saw you!"

"What, did my dear sweet pea neglect to mention I was out looking for gainful employment?" Pieck directed her smile to Connie.

"Well, no, but it's Jean we're talking about here. You know he sucks at giving details. It was a quick "She's doing fine and we might see her, who knows," and that was it." Connie stuck out his tongue. "Didn't give us anything juicy or nothing."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Jean stepped up between his girlfriend and (sadly) his good friend. "What exactly does "juicy" entail?

"Oh calm down Jean, like you don't know your love life was the hottest gossip back in the Cadets." Ymir stepped up, her earlier bafflement from Krista's interaction with Levi replaced by her most favourite pastime in the world, making others deeply uncomfortable. "Pretty girl won over by your charms, or lack there of? How could we not want a constant update on the romance? To hear if the two of you had tied the knot or common sense had kicked in and she'd run for the hills?" At this Ymir looked Pieck dead in the eyes with an utterly sincere expression on her face, "Seriously, I'm not convinced you weren't the subject of a cruel hypnosis trick and someone forgot to say the magic word to snap you out of it. If I say… fully awful, are you gonna start screaming?"

Pieck snorted, before stepping up to Jean and wrapping her arms around his, smiling all the while. "Oh Ymir, I can honestly say I've missed you the most of all."

"Seriously?" Jean scoffed.

"No, but I find people really like it when I say that to them." Pieck smiled before leaning up to give Jean a quick peck on the lips, which the ash-brown haired boy perked up immediately at.

"Oye, are we all shirking off our responsibilities at the first opportunity?" The most feared disapproving voice in the Scout Regiment spoke up, and Jean had to fight the instinct not to rip his arm out of Pieck's grip. Instead he settled for subtlety poking her in the side, the action tickling her and causing Pieck to release her hold on him. He stepped in front of her while simultaneously saluting.

"Sorry sir, just overcome by the sight of a friend." Jean replied, hoping the Captain was in an indulgent mood. The operation had gone extremely well, but you could never really tell if that was enough. "This is Pieck Finger, she joined up in the barrack's during our second year in the Cadet's as a cook's assistant. She's a hard worker, who always made sure our food, clothes, and living quarters were up to standard." Jean hurried to get out, hoping painting his girlfriend in a good light would ease up Levi's scrutinizing gaze.

It did a little, as the that last sentence seemed to pique Levi's curiosity. "Oh?" He quirked an eyebrow, peering past Jean's side to get a look at the shoulder length haired girl who likewise was doing the same. "That seems a little above and beyond what a cook's assistant's responsibilities entail."

"Really? Wish my bosses had told me, there were a lot of sights in the boys barracks I could have done without seeing… girl's too, know that I think about it." Pieck directed a look at Ymir, which the freckled girl looked affronted by the silent implications. Before Ymir could speak to defend herself, Pieck had already turned back to the Captain with a smile. "But my father always said cleanliness is close to godliness, and I honestly felt compelled to help out as much as possible, to make up for not joining up in the Cadets."

"Found your call to service a little late, did you." Levi tilted his head. "You could still join up, they take people older than the official enlistment age."

"I'm afraid I must decline. After witnessing Shadis and what my poor snuggle bear here went through…" Pieck made to hug Jean's middle, rubbing her face in his side to the boy's embarrassment.

"C'mon Pieck, not in front of the Captain!"

"Yes, please, save that for later." Levi sighed. "Well, can't argue with your reasoning, Shadis was always a hardass. But I can respect your work ethic, specially in keeping things tidy. You picked a real winner here, Kirstein."

"Oh? Uh, thank you, sir." Jean replied, baffled by his superiors words. Was he… okay with him and Pieck being affectionate?

"Which makes what I'm about to ask somewhat annoying." Levi tched. "I'm going to assume the two of you are going to be chatting it up, amongst other things, correct?"

"Um… yes sir?" Jean hesitantly confirmed. "Is that a problem? Should I not do that?"

"Not necessarily. You have the free time now, and your girlfriend has just arrived so she is entitled to stay here for a couple of days til we can load up everything we'd like delivered onto her wagon, so it would be unrealistic to not let you take advantage of that." Levi replied, matter of fact. "However, there is the matter of her being a civilian. There are some things we might not want to be so quick to share. Things like-"

"Excuse me, but I was wondering, was there any mail at all from Stohess?" A suddenly cheerful and unwanted voice interrupted Levi, who groaned as a familiar pink light entered his peripheral vision.

"Her. Dammit, who let you out?" Levi directed a half lidded glare at KIPO, before taking in her appearance. "And what the hell are you wearing? Scratch that, when did you start wearing… anything?"

"Do you like it?" KIPO smiled, before doing a twirl on one foot, letting everyone take in the pink Scout uniform she'd fashioned for herself, almost entirely accurate save for the colour design and the emblems. Instead of the Wings of Freedom, she had taken to displaying the Arasaka three branched emblem on her back, shoulders, and left breast pocket. "I thought as I have officially participated on my first mission with you all, I should make efforts to be a part of the team, so to speak. What do you all think?"

"It's… nice KIPO." Ymir offered, and it was. Up til now, KIPO had looked like she was wearing a skin tight suit, cut off at the wrists and neck to display her more detailed head and hands. Nobody had really thought much of it, seeing as they were more invested in the holographic girl herself.

But that wasn't really the issue here.

"G-g-g-gh-gho-" Pieck pointed with a shaky finger to the shiny pink girl, who turned back to look at her original point of inquiry.

"Hello there, my name is KIPO!" The hologram warmly smiled, offering a wave. "I was wondering if you had any deliveries from Stohess? Armin was hopeful but he didn't want to leave Eren's side, since he's so tired from today's mission. So I offered to come by and check for him!"

Pieck felt her legs giving out from under her, she was actually tittering when a flurry of shimmering grey appeared over KIPO's shoulder, which the pink see-through girl held up a palm upwards to have float above her hand.

"If you could direct any relevant letters or parcels to me, I can take care of delivering them, thank you."

That did it, Pieck felt her legs give out from under her and she was falling on her knee's. Or would have, if Jean hadn't caught her.

"Whoa whoa whoa, easy there." He gently guided her to the ground, and seen she wasn't going to faint, rubbed her back soothingly. "Breathe, just breathe. I know, she's a lot, but she's not going to hurt you. It helps if you think she's a helpful spirit or something."

"Well, there goes that." Levi groaned. He directed a glare at KIPO once again, who smiled oblivious to the trouble she was making for him. "Alright, Kirstein, I was going to ask you to be careful about what you share with your girlfriend, and that still applies. There's no hiding KIPO now, so feel free to explain that and put her mind at ease. Adam, you can explain him too as I don't see the harm, not like anyone could do anything with that information."

"What about today sir?" Connie butted in. "Should Jean really tell Pieck he almost killed himself saving our lives against the armoured Titans?"

If Jean's hands weren't full of Pieck right now, he would deck Connie, hard! As it were, he was now occupied by having to come up with an explanation that didn't sound so bad as Pieck was suddenly feeling a lot better right now, if her sitting up and giving Jean a look was any indication.

"I'm sorry Connie, what was that?" Pieck asked, still looking at Jean. "I could swear I heard you say someone about Jean almost dying?"

"Hey now, you knew I was signing up for the worst of it…" Jean tried, and immediately winced as Pieck's look got a lot more intense. He'd never actually seen her upset before, so this was defintely a new experience. "Honestly, Connie makes it sound worse than it really is! Or was, seeing as I'm back here safe and sound with everybody else! Really, you can stop that!"

"Stop what, Jean?" Pieck asked so sickengly sweet that it actually hurt to hear for all the wrong reasons.

"Stop looking at him like he's got a lot of explaining to do." Ymir offered, for once actually trying to help her friend. "Really Pieck, it was a bad situation but Jean literally saved all our lives. Or at least a good chunk of our lives, those of us following behind him. Seriously, he and Reiner are heroes, on top of all the other heroes of the day."

Pieck's eyes popped open in surprise as she turned to Ymir. "Wait, Reiner's here? I thought he joined up with the Interior?"

"Not anymore, he transferred to the Scout's!" Connie grinned, looking behind him in an attempt to pick Reiner out from the others. "Think I saw him following Sasha, who was following KIPO's bugs…"

"Nanites, Connie. They're called nanites." KIPO spoke up, causing Pieck to startle a little, she'd actually forgotten the shiny pink light girl was there. "And you are correct, Miss Braus saw my expanded swarm exiting their hiding spot amongst the salvage and chase after it with Mr. Braun in tow. Apparently, she was concerned I was going to have all of Specter take refuge in Armin, in her words, "Cause him to go pop!". Rest assured, I am having the excess nanites take refuge in the armoury, Armin is quite safe."

Pieck stared, blinking, as she attempted to understand what the… girl(?) was saying. She looked around, to gauge if anyone else was having difficulty understanding.

To her disappointment, the other's didn't seem that lost. Even Connie seemed to follow!

"Well, guess there's no better spot for them." Levi remarked, before looking down to Pieck. "…Kirstein, I leave it up to your judgement as to what to share about KIPO, Adam, and since Springer here blabbed, the broad strokes of what we encountered. Naturally anything else is confidential, I trust you understand not to share future deployments or operations?"

"Certainly sir, thank you sir." Jean sighed in relief, pleased he didn't have to type toe so much around Pieck. Not like he was going to blab every single thing to her, but he doubted he could keep the truth about Adam a secret, what with KIPO revealing herself and people talking about cybernetics at least once a day.

He would have preferred to have kept a lid on his near suicidal desperate attack on the Titan (in fact he was still processing that moment, whoooooa boy…) but cat was out of the bag he supposed.

"Peachy. Now, Pieck Finger? I do believe you said something about having something for Commander Erwin…"

---

At that point, Pieck had managed to put aside her burning questions ("What exactly happened? Are you hurt? What exactly is up with that weird light girl who won't stop waving at me? And if you're going to just tell me Adam is an outsider I will bop you!… Would I like to take a seat?") long enough to deliver everyone's letters and parcels. It was the typical standard fair, families back home wishing their loved ones the best, some gifts and reminders of home, occasionally a baked good that hadn't gone bad or been pilfered by the delivery service.

KIPO had been quite pleased on Armin's behalf to indeed have something for him. With a flutter of Specter coming in to take the letter out of Pieck's hand, she'd walked off (actually walked off in a show of solidarity, never mind how inefficient it was) to deliver the good news. Pieck had watched her depart, then turned to Jean who did his absolute best to explain everything. Pieck should have been honoured, she was the first civilian to get the truth before anyone else.

The armoured Titans had been brief, all Jean had said on that really was they were giant pains in the ass, but the Scout's managed to kill all of them. That, and that Eren and Adam had been monumental successes, Jean actually felt like he was going to live to see the end of this, yesterday's little mishap not withstanding. That had taken a bit of soothing and assuring Pieck he wasn't been reckless or a suicidal moron, he had to make a call and it worked. Pieck more or less understood, but she couldn't help the extra strong hug she gave Jean, or the tiniest shake of her shoulders. All Jean could do was hug her back and kiss the top of her head, promising he wouldn't be in such a spot again, waiting for Pieck to finish.

When she had, and was able to smile again, Jean continued. He'd been brief on Eren, just confirming "He's a Titan, and he kicks ass. Pretty much nothing else has change." Discussing KIPO and Adam, that took pretty much the rest of the day. He was able to explain they were products of science, but it was honestly easier to think of them as fairy tale beings. KIPO, the helpful spirit, and Adam, the walking suit of armour.

Explaining Adam had traded his human body for one of metal sounded straightforward, but it was so mind boggling impossible to fathom at the same time. Pieck found it difficult to even think of the man as human. But, as long as he increased Jean's chances of returning home, that was enough for her.

(And being something the General's back in Marley would definitely consider worth the wait, that was also enough.)

Jean was pretty much done then, which lead to small talk, then to Pieck giving Jean a kiss for coming back safe, then another for going so long without her company, to them finding the most secluded spot in the castle for a quick romp. Pieck, and anyone else if they were nosy could attest, he'd earned it.

Now Pieck was here, eating breakfast with the Scout's, looking at Adam as if staring would help her understand him better.

"He's definitely not what I was expecting for an outsider. Do you think they're all like that, all metal?" Pieck asked.

"KIPO said he's the only one. Something about, "96 percent conversion rate," whatever that means?" Eren scratched his head. "She showed us a lot of pictures of others though, with different combinations of metal arms or legs, sometimes eyes or mouths. Honestly it is a little freaky."

"A little." Armin admitted. "But it's also kind of interesting to think about. If people could move past the mindset it's an unnatural practice, having artificial limbs, that would unlock a whole new set of doors to healing and saving lives! Soldiers, miners, workers, all who've become amputees in some way, they could get everything back. We can even replace diseased body parts or organs, it's amazing!"

"Organs?" Pieck tilted her head. "Like, you mean you could replace someone's heart without killing them?"

Mikasa nodded. "That's what KIPO tells us. We have a Scout by the name of Gunther, his father is sick, who want's to replace his bad lungs with artificial ones, and thanks to today we just might be able to do that."

"…Will that really work?" Pieck's hesitancy in believing such a thing, as well as her wonderment, were both genuine and equal. "You could really… "fix" someone like that?"

"Hey, no better proof than Adam right over there! He's got the full package except for his brain, so lungs, heart, stomach, it's all fake and working inside of him." Eren boasted. "We just want to replace one thing. So compared to Adam, it should be easy."

Pieck blinked at Eren's smile, and offered one of her own. "Yeah, if you put it like that… you let me know if it's a success, will you? I can't say I need or want anything replaced myself, but I do like happy endings. Here's to Gunther's father!" She reached for her cup of milk to raise in a toast, which the others joined in, even Jean despite his personal feelings on the matter. Pieck downed her milk, while her mind wandered to her sickly father, always coughing from all his work cleaning out factory smoke stacks…

"Hey Pieck, I just want you to know it means a lot you aren't treating me any different." Eren's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"I was worried you'd freak out about me like you do KIPO, it's nice to see I'm not as scary to you!" Eren grinned.

"…Oh Eren, I could never be scared of you. Titan or human, you're just Eren to me. Brash, hot headed, impulsive, the kind of guy to leap before he looks…" Pieck listed off.

"Those are all the same thing Pieck…" Jean pointed out, which his girlfriend just shrugged.

"It is his defining trait."

"Truer words have never been spoken." A cheeky grin directed Eren's way, which the green eyed boy took immediate offence to.

"…On second thought, maybe the reason Pieck is comfortable around me is because she had to put up with you, Jean Boy!"

"Seriously?" Jean's grin disappeared to be replaced by a scowl. "Can't you just take a joke? I actually thought you were getting better, thought the Scout's had beaten that attitude out of you…"

"I was, but you just keep pushing me!" Eren protested. "Like earlier, when Pieck brought up her horse, I had the perfect remark all set up! Could have said, "Careful Jean, looks like Pieck's moved on," but did I? No I didn't!"

"Oh for the love of- in what way do I resemble a horse?!" Jean growled. "You are literally the only one who sees it, starting to think being a Titan has screwed up your eye sight. Should we get Section Commander Hange in here to do some tests?"

"Sure! Could use some practice picking people up. Let's see which is heavier, you, or an actual hors-"

A hand slapping over his mouth cut Eren off, while a pair of hands grabbing his shirt to pull him into a kiss silenced Jean. The three across from them could only stare as Pieck defused her fiery boyfriend in the most effective way possible. An effectiveness that spread to the rest of the table, as Eren suddenly lost the urge to keep verbally sparring.

Pieck exited the kiss, and smiled. "I think we can both agree you boys are both pretty and witty, yeah? What say we call this a draw?"

"He started-" Jean began, only to get another peck on the lips. "You can't-" Another. "Would you-" Another. "Fine! Okay! Oye…"

Pieck merely giggled, and made to rest her head on Jean's shoulder, who rolled his eyes but adjusted to get comfortable. He said nothing, merely moving to resume his meal. The Shinganshina trio were suddenly feeling quite awkward, and unsure of how to break the silence.

"…So, Armin… are you gonna tell me what was in that letter? What did Annie have to say?" Eren tried to change the subject, which had the blonde looking betrayed, and Mikasa confused. As Armin hurried to show the letter was from a friend named Hitch (or rather the envelope, he was surprisingly defensive about showing the contents), the group of friends enjoyed the familiar feeling, thought lost with their graduation from the Cadets.

It was nice to know this was lasting a little longer.

---

"No, I can't swim. I sink like a stone, and if I don't have any boosters or equipment on hand, I'm pretty much walking all the way home." Adam's voice continued to reign supreme, as he was now answering a question Dita had asked, the bandana wearing man standing next to Ilse who was perched beside a large stack of books, courtesy of Pieck's delivery service.

"Shoot, really? I mean I figured with you being a metal man and all, but to be that helpless against a large body of water…"

"Who are you calling helpless?" A clearly offended Adam stared the man down, his optics flaring up.

"Whoa now, didn't mean nothing by it!" Dita held up his hands in surrender. "Just saying, we can probably rule out any lakes being an ambush site in the future."

"…Do we?" Petra inquired. "I mean, if he doesn't need to breath, couldn't we lure some Titans in a lake he's resting at the bottom of, and he can pick them off as they pass by?"

"Do Titans swim?" Adam asked, his earlier offence forgotten as he entertained the idea.

"They mostly just flail on the surface, but they can cross a lake in a couple of strokes. Hange thinks it's the steam inside of them, gives extra buoyancy." Petra answered. "Though there have been a few reports of them being completely submerged for surprise attacks…"

"Well if you have a large enough body of water you can trick the Titans into entering while not getting eaten yourselves, talk to your Commander and we'll give it a whirl. Could even make you some scuba gear, that's equipment that does not require you to undergo any surgery, it's just like your ODM gear." Adam clarified automatically. "You could escape to the bottom of the lake and stay there til the Titans are dead, or swim around them. Doubt you'd be able to effectively cut through them with your blades in the water, but with me there you wouldn't have to."

Yet another statement from Adam that had the Scout's murmuring in amazement, only this time, Connie couldn't keep his contained. "Holy… you are just amazing Adam! You've got an answer for everything! And the way you just kill Titans so casually… seriously, how do you do that?!"

"Years of experience. You might have enlisted younger, but I've got nearly a lifetime of violence, war, and colourful freaks that could do just as much damage if not more as any Titan." Adam informed his newest fan.

"Enlist? You mean you're an actual soldier?" Oluo asked, scrutinizing the cyborg as if his physical appearance would confirm such a thing.

"I was. Got caught and brought up to army standards at the age of sixteen, then shoe horned into the most rag tag elite force the world barely knew about." Adam leaned back, nostalgia coming to him in waves. "It was a simple time back then. Just me and eight others, each expected to be an army of one, defending our home from unknown enemies in whatever way we could, trying to stave off societal collapse."

"Just like the Scout's!" Eren exclaimed from his spot away from the main group, his four friends a bit surprised by the shout, ignoring all the Scout's turning to look at him as he beamed at Adam. Petra for her part, was very interested in what Adam had to say.

"Adam, when you mention war and fighting to protect your home… do the people of the outside world really fight each other?" The brown haired woman asked, already knowing the answer but asking anyway.

Adam for his part, didn't doubt the intelligence of Petra but answered anyway. "Are you surprised? Surely you have your conflicts inside the Walls here, you do have a military force to protect and govern the people, can't imagine you haven't had civil unrest or criminal activities, maybe had to suppress a rebellion or uprising."

"…Well, not in my life time, but my dad did mention a noble did try an armed insurrection once." Petra recalled the story, how the King had been merciful and had only executed the noble himself, sparing the rest of the rebellion in a monumental display of mercy. "…But that was just a one time incident, and the casualties were only… it was hardly a war."

"Well bravo to you then. Your population of just over a million in its hundred years of history has maintained peace with only a minor hiccup. I mean, aside from the Titan invasion." Adam stated. "But that's just for you, a people who are of one race, one religion, a smaller population, and have a very real and present threat to unite against."

"We're also not suffering a resource shortage right now." Armin spoke up, the blonde seeing where Adam was going with this and doing what he did best, explained things for everybody. "Don't forget, we found ourselves on the brink after Maria fell. If the King hadn't… if we hadn't done what we did, things would have gone a lot worse. Societal collapse and the military having to turn their blades on the people level of worse."

"Armin?" Mikasa looked to the blonde, who displayed no anger or sorrow, merely logical summary. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, try picturing what we went through five years ago. How we were hungry, desperate. What we did to make it through the day. How if things didn't change, there was a very real chance we'd have gone to extremes to survive. Turned on our neighbours, taken what was their's and leave them for dead, maybe even try and storm Wall Sina." Armin explained, while holding up his hands. "Not that I'm saying I have any plans on doing that, just trying to paint a picture here."

"Well, it's pretty well painted, but I'm not quite following how that ties in to Adam's people killing each other?" Gelgar rubbed his head, his interesting haircut bobbing under his fingers but never losing shape.

"It's just, we can't act like we wouldn't fight each other if pushed to extremes." Armin clarified. "It might not be the exact reason, but if Adam's people were starving and their neighbours had food they couldn't share, or vice versa, would we really be surprised if they fought and killed so they themselves could live?"

"Well, no… but Adam's home looked so rich and vibrant." Petra explained. "I guess I'm just wondering why a people that live in such splendour would still be at war."

"Was at war." Adam corrected. "That splendour is the end result after enough people died and everyone had pretty much gotten it out of their system. And Armin wasn't far off. There's a whole host of reasons why people would kill each other in mass conflict. Money, power, religion, hate, glory, or just because, but when it happened for me, it was just full on societal collapse. Happens to the best of them, countries or empire's that have lasted for centuries just one day slip up and fall to pieces, and everyone is scrambling to take the biggest one. My squad and I tried our best, but we were just a band-aid applied to a chest wound, it was inevitable war would break out, and went on for several years."

"How big a war?" Pieck suddenly asked, while simultaneously holding up her hands. "Sorry, sorry. I know, not one of the group, civilian outsider here. But I'm having a bit of difficulty picturing this… Jean mentioned you have a map, could you show us?"

"…Armin, Specter." Adam ordered, and almost instantly the blonde had unleashed the nanites which formed a grey basketball sized scale of the globe, hovering in the centre of the room where mostly everyone could see. "Would be easier with KIPO but she's busy dicking around right now, so this'll have to do. Pretty much every point here is where the fighting took place." At Adam's words, his eyes lit up, and little spikes jutted up at several points over the world model. Then more. Then even more! By the time it was done, the model resembled a Morningstar!

"Holy- just what the fuck happened?!" Jean swore in shock. He got up from his seat to get a closer look, hoping that he was just mis-seeing things, "How the fuck does your empire falling lead to the whole world killing each other?"

"It was actually a country, but at a time a very rich one. Still was, and it held enough of its riches it wasn't going to give them up without a fight, even try to take back what it lost. Anyway, long story short, it mostly succeeded in keeping itself together, and everyone who wanted a piece suffered for it. Including the original holders of the pieces, yikes."

"And this happened when exactly?" Armin inquired, his eyes scrutinizing the globe.

"Just over fifty years ago. The actual big war itself lasted about four years, but the unrest and trying to keep it at bay was going on well before the the official declaration was declared." Adam finished, waving his hand as the globe crumbled and retreated back into Armin's hand. "But since then, peace."

"The whole world… and we had no idea about any of this…" Armin looked into his palm, trying to picture the model globe that was under the surface of his skin. Around him, similar degrees of shock and bafflement were occurring, but there was also some degree of hope and relief. It was a lot to know humanity in the outside had engaged in such a huge conflict, for a people whose entire world was the Walls, picturing it was… overwhelming. But it did seem like such things were in the past, so any fears of leaving one hell for another were dissipating.

Never mind if their only witness was only offering half truths, giving a history for a world that was not their own.

"Another mystery to solve once we've made it to the outside. There were the few countries in the world that managed to avoid the fighting, declare themselves neutral or safe havens or had really good connections on the world stage. Couldn't say which one you were a part of, or why they subject you to the Titans, but hey, we'll find out together." Adam shrugged. "And after that, the world is your oyster. I plan on heading straight home, but I'm not opposed to setting up a connection to Arasaka here for you all. They'd be more than happy to set you up on the world stage."

"Arasaka, which is based in… Japan, right?" Ilse recalled. "Who have also set themselves up in your home of America, primarily centred in Night City, yes?"

"That's correct, glad you were paying attention to KIPO's ramblings." A thumb's up for good measure, it was nice to see everyone was slowing getting up to speed.

"It was hard not to, she is a very enthusiastic speaker." Ilse smiled. "She especially gave praise to you in keeping the peace in Night City, saying you were the last line of defence in preventing total anarchy."

"Whoa, for real?!" Connie cried out in shock. "Oh my god Adam, you're so fucking cool holy shit!"

"Thanks for the praise Springer. And KIPO… might be embellishing a tad, there. Don't go thinking I bust up crime rings and bring in criminals on a daily basis like a paragon of truth and justice, alright?" Adam clarified. "We have actual police and MaxTac for that. I'm just what's called when someone get's drunk off their own implants and starts tearing up the place trying to be Adam Smasher 2.0, a new legend of Night City. A genuine Cyberpunk."

"A what?" Dita asked.

"Cyberpunk." Adam repeated. "Picture Eren here, suddenly getting too big for his britches and starting to tear up the Walls, smashing buildings and overthrowing the King. Succeed or die trying, make enough of an impact people would remember. That's pretty much your typical Cyberpunk, not nearly as big but just as destructive, and almost always ending up dead."

"Because of you, right?" Eren asked, eagerly to Jean's concern.

"I can take credit for a large number of them, yes. Get called in, put them down, and that's that. Only thing left is to see if there's a new drink added to the Afterlife."

"Oh, is that part of your religious practices?" Nanaba spoke up, mildly curious what kind of faith lead an entirely different people. The Church of the Walls certainly had some interesting sermons and teachings, not that she was a follower, but it was fun to ponder. Now she had an entirely different religion to hear about, for a society that did not pray to a physical construct to protect them from the outside monsters.

"What? Oh, no, Afterlife is the name of a bar where all hopeful legends frequent."

"Oh." Nanaba's disappointment was immense, she could not hide that.

Gelgar on the other hand was suddenly very interested! "Please, Adam Smasher sir, tell us more!"

"Not much to tell. Afterlife is the dive where everyone who want's to be remembered as someone goes to to find work that will help put them on the map, interacting with other actual legends and trying not to get killed before their time. For every one that succeeds, does something impressive enough and going out in a blaze of glory, they are immortalized as a new drink being offered."

"Well that's too bad." Oluo smugly asserted, putting on airs as was common for him. "I'm cursed with practically living forever, guess nobody would get to taste a Oluo Bozado."

"Riiiiiight, I'm sure everyone would be clamouring for one of those." Gelgar dryly remarked, before perking up. "But I certainly wouldn't mind having a drink named after me."

"What, you think you qualify?" Darius asked, one of the oldest Veterans in the Scout's scrutinizing the younger one with a disbelieving gaze. "From what we've heard, you need to be on Mike's level at the very least."

"Hey hey, don't sell everyone here short. We go out there risking our lives every time, no promises of success or even that our sacrifices will make a difference. But we do it anyway, fighting an evil that has no right to exist, instead of hanging up our swords and living an easy life. I think we qualify for at least a mug of ale to be named after us in some drinking hole somewhere, don't you?" Gelgar concluded his passionate speech, turning to Adam expectingly.

To his glee, Adam didn't disagree. "You certainly have more stones than a lot of the meat back home. Under-equipped, outnumbered, massive casualties, and yet you keep on fighting a monstrous enemy… yeah, people back home would be calling you all legends."

It was a simple statement, hardly the grandest or most revealing thing Adam had shared in his time here. But the fact he, as prickly and disapproving as he was, would acknowledge the Scout's efforts, and even put them on par with the legends of his home…

Needless to say, everyone was grinning, even the more cynical of the group.

"Well dang, maybe we should plan out what our drinks are gonna be." Dita joked, only to be surprised as Petra agreed with him.

"Should we go in order of the best Scout's? Because then the Captain is definitely a beer."

"But he has to die first, right? And that's never gonna happen." A Scout named Jurgen pointed out.

"He still should know he'll get a drink, right?" Lynne suggested. "Thought maybe he'd prefer tea instead…"

"Tea?" Gelgar spat out his tongue in disgust. "Come on guys, Captain deserves a drink that will feel like it's actually punching you when you drink it!"

Nanaba snickered. "Okay, I can't argue with that, but I don't think we have enough variety in drinks to cover everyone. Unless Adam is willing to share new recipes we haven't discovered?"

"Well I can certainly introduce drink mixing to you people. As the name implies, mixing in different alcohols and other drinks to make something new." Adam offered. "In fact if you'd all just take a teeny tiny little implant into the base of your skulls you could sample literally every food and drink invented ever. As I don't have a mouth it certainly would help if someone volunteered?"

"Or we could just borrow the Commander's Braindance?" Petra tried. "That memory you gave me, I experienced everything. Felt it, tasted it, saw it… couldn't we just do that?"

"…Yes, we could do just that." Adam relented, clearly disappointed. "Swear none of you are going to exchange any meat for metal."

"Nope!" Sasha grinned, before prancing up. "Now what's that about experiencing food through this Braindance?! How do we do that?!"

As Adam sighed and shifted away from his desired topic about cybernetic conversion and gave an explanation on how the Scout's could be privy to more experiences with no risk, no one had the heart to point out breakfast had officially ended an hour ago.

---

"Someone want to explain what I missed?" Levi's voice cut in, as he entered the dining hall accompanied by Krista. Adam, who was now standing in the middle of the room turned around to face the Captain, staring down the two of the shortest members of the Scout Regiment who couldn't be further apart in skill if they tried. "Why am I hearing the big oaf talking about drinks and meat? Is someone planning a party already?"

"No sir!" Petra's voice called out, always helpful. "Adam was just recalling us with tales from his homeland, in the spirit of improving relations. He just told us of a tradition back home, where a memorable life and death earns you a drink named after you."

Levi frowned, but it was his confused frown and not his disapproving frown so that was a good sign! "Can't say I was expecting that. Really hadn't figured your society for a bunch of boozehounds." Before Adam could make a comment on that, Levi continued. "But since you're being so sharing right now, how about you spill about whatever that was you had her say yesterday?" A thumb pointed over his shoulder to Krista who flinched at the attention she was receiving.

"…I told her to say that to someone she would absolutely never say anything to unless she had to, I.e you. It was a test of her resolve, to see if she'd qualify for my squad." Adam answered.

"And why that specific sentence?"

At that, Adam chuckled, and brought up his hands to press them together. "Okay, that's actually a funny story. Back in the day, I actually had a team, a squad, who I served with for several years. I actually was just telling everyone here about them." Adam waved behind him to the others gathered. "For one of our missions, we were all gathered to provide assistance to an ally's forces. The leader there, a Captain, he came in with this absolute putz of a second in command. This guy, he was… he was what would happen if Armin and Krista there had a child and shoved all their happiness and belief in humanity into it. Just nauseatingly happy to the point you had to question if he lived on the same planet as you."

Despite being unable to emote, one could tell Adam was grimacing. Levi for his part turned to Krista, then peeked around Adam to glimpse Armin. Both of them looked offended, and a bit put down.

"…That sounds horrible."

"It was. We couldn't believe a guy like this was serving in the army. Or that he was the Captain's right hand man. As they walk by us, the guy takes a moment to look at the sunrise and say, "You know Captain, every year of my life I see that the wise and the beautiful, bring out the best and the pure in us." And we were just standing wondering what was the deal with this guy, it was surreal." Adam was very animated now, gesturing with his hands and pacing back and forth, he was really getting into it. "So the Captain gives us our orders, best spot to ambush and infiltrate yada yada… but on our way to our first objective, Lugo speaks up."

"Lugo?" Levi raised an eyebrow.

"Squad-mate. Real funny guy, always kept his sense of humour. Ridiculously wealthy too, which was impressive considering what was going on at the time… Anyway, out of nowhere, he says, "You know Captain, every year of my life I see that the wise and the beautiful, bring out the best and the pure in us." in a clear imitation of that lieutenant. And then he does it again. And again. Somehow always picks the right time to say it, in that stupid voice. It got to the point when he tried it again after we just brought down a missile, Griggs had to yell, "Shut up Lugo!"" Adam laughed, and unlike his normal ones, this one actually had mirth to it. He tapped it off with a wistful sigh, the sound emanating from his voice module, not a breath of air to be found. "…The real punchline came, after we made our way back at the missions end, about to be sent off, when a new Captain and his lieutenant showed up. And it was divine inspiration guiding me, as I said…"

"You know Captain, every year of my life…?" Eren spoke up, his voice trailing off.

"Gold star Eren, you earned your nickel for the week." Adam snapped his fingers to point to the kid behind him, without looking away from Levi. "Anyways, that's the story. Feel free to borrow that joke for yourselves, you have my permission."

"…"

"Grhgbffff, Jufffff!" Everyone turned to the sight of Jean, his hand clamped over Pieck's mouth who clearly had something she wanted to say, but her significant other was not letting her, for all their sakes. Eren looked confused, mouthing "Nickel?" to Armin and Mikasa who both shrugged. Oluo seemed to be going over the story in his head, as did Petra. One person coughed.

Levi honestly didn't know what he should be feeling right now. Anger? Disappointment?

…Pity?

In the end, he settled for a long, weary sigh, and turned to look Krista dead in the eye. "You're on stable duty for a week, for subjecting me to this. I am in no mood for complaints."

"Understood sir." Krista bowed her head.

"I think that's enough sharing for today." Levi rubbed his forehead. "Right, Petra, I'll be needing you for that thing Erwin discussed later. Armin, go find Erwin and go over the proposal with the King, you can run later. Adam, you're staying here, I know Ilse has some things she wants to go over with you and I'm not in the mood to track you down. And someone get make sure to get KIPO later. As for the rest of you, you've had more than enough time to finish eating up, time to work your meals off. Laps around the castle, hop to it!"

A mass cry of "Yes sir!", followed by a scrambling of activity as everyone moved to clean their plates and get to the exit. Ilse stayed behind, as she directed Adam's attention to the books she had brought. Before the cyborg could follow, a voice rang out.

"Thanks for sharing all of that Adam!" Sasha declared, waving goodbye as she headed out the door. It only took four seconds before Connie followed suit.

"Yeah, thanks! Nice to know you're warming up to us!" The shaved headed boy's words echoed out, and that seemed to be the encouragement the others needed.

"Thank you Adam! For your stories and yesterday!"

"I didn't get all of it, but I'd like to hear more!"

"Maybe have KIPO along for visual aide, I'd like to see more of Night City!"

"Thank you!"

"Thank you!"

The Scout's all filtered out, save for Krista who Levi mercifully was allowing to get breakfast, he wasn't a total sadist, and of course Ilse.

Krista walked over to retrieve an apple and loaf of bread, and directed a stern pout in Adam's direction. Adam ignored her, in favour of Ilse retrieving a dictionary she'd had delivered, along with her prized book collection from home.

"That was certainly very open of you." Ilse remarked. "When I first met you, you were… well, you didn't seem like the sort to share such stories."

"I'm in a good mood." Adam shrugged. "The success of yesterday is carrying over to today, so I felt like sharing, in the name of fostering better working relations. That, and stressing just how much better you all would be taking just one enhancement into your body."

Ilse smiled as she extended the book towards Adam. "I'm sure everyone has seriously taken your words under advisement. Right now, they probably feel like you and Eren can take on all the Titans without them having to sacrifice a bit of themselves, not yet anyway."

"Well, at the very least they can get some better weaponry. Those armoured Titans yesterday were a boon, we can probably outfit the whole Regiment with long range attacks that can bring down a Titan." Adam carefully took the dictionary and began flipping through the pages, his translator already noting the patterns and forming a basic script.

"Really?" Krista couldn't help herself, her ire temporarily forgotten at what sounded like tremendous news! "That's great! When could we expect those?"

"Soon. Got to talk to the King first tonight, get his blessing or whatever, but then we can mass produce armaments for the whole Survey Corp. A quick hop back to the gates and Specter heading down to break all the armour into something useful, and we're laughing." Adam was half way through the dictionary now, his fingers flipping through the pages at rapid speed, amazingly without tearing any of them.

"Wow… do you think this might be the final year of the Scout Regiment then?" Krista asked Ilse in wonderment. "I mean, it sounds like we might actually get rid of all the Titans before we even make it to Wall Maria. When that happens… what next?"

"Well, we'll still need to go beyond and officially make contact with Adam's people, and uncover why we've been subjected to the Titans without anyone noticing. So we're not going to be obsolete immediately." Ilse noted, while Adam was just finishing up his speed reading. "I know your eager to feature home, but I do hope you'll help us in establishing first contact?"

"I'll try to give you all a few pointers. If your King isn't a total jackass, definitely could see you establishing a partnership with the Arasaka Corporation." Adam handed the dictionary back, waiting for Ilse to retrieve another from the stack.

"And then we can see if we are indeed cut out for Night City, right?" Ilse chuckled. Krista tilted her head in puzzlement and moved closer to ask the woman what she meant, then back to Adam.

"I'll fill you in later. We've got time, after all we're going to be working together."

"Ah, right. Yes, that is what will be happening, yes… us working together." Krista confirmed, more for herself as she couldn't quite belief it had been that easy. "That also means Ymir is on your squad too, yes?"

Ilse's hand only paused briefly for her book, as Adam nodded. "Yep, I'm a man of my word. Though I'm surprised she's not here to hear the good news, from what I saw you two are practically glued at the hip?"

"She was with me, but we kind of got separated. The Section Commander just swooped in and starting talking her ear off while Captain Levi had me come with him, I couldn't save her." Krista winced, actually feeling bad about leaving her poor Ymir to suffer.

"Oh, ick. Well, we'll just consider that endurance training. Now eat up and get running outside, my squad has no room for slouchers."

---

Outside In The Castle Grounds

"Fifty… fifty one… fifty two… fifty three… wow look at him go." Reggie whistled, clear admiration in his voice.

"Hey now, don't stop counting. Reiner needs to burn off all that weight he got living in the Interior, if he stays chubby he's liable to be grabbed by a Titan, and that'll bring down the whole mood, you know?" Ymir declared, her arms and legs crossed as she rhythmically went up and down as if she was riding a seesaw.

"No worries Ymir, I've been keeping track this entire time." KIPO reported, a simulated whistle in hand as she wore her pink track suit with pride, taking her role as coach very seriously. "Reiner is in excellent shape regardless, but if this workout is deemed necessary, he only has thirty nine push ups left to go."

"That's great KIPO, but I think Reggie is the voice Reiner would prefer hearing keep score. Ain't that right buddy!" Ymir looked down to her beast of burden, who lifted himself up off the ground yet again.

"Certainly… prefer… either… of them… to… you!" Reiner gasped out, several more push ups completed. "Really… I don't… need… your help… hah…"

"Yeah, you do." Ymir smiled, patting Reiner's head. "I ain't taking any chances, you've been gone too long and got soft, don't try and deny it. Yesterday proved nothing, until you complete an Eren training course with the rest of us, you exercise at twice the pace we do. And that means, double the laps, double the sparring, and additional weight added for pull ups and push ups."

"That… might do more harm than good, Ymir." Reggie offered, but made no move to get Ymir off Reiner's back.

"Don't worry Reggie, I calculated that Ymir's weight was in perfectly acceptable levels to not seriously injure Reiner!" KIPO provided.

"Yeah Reggie, haven't you heard, I'm a dainty delicate flower." Ymir cradled her face in her hands, pursed lips and a fluttering of eyelashes for extra effect.

"Dainty… ha…" Reiner got out, only to receive an elbow in between his shoulder blades for his remark! He had just risen up, and the half hearted strike was making it impossible for him to lower again! "Gah! Ymir!"

"Sorry, you got something to say, huh?" Ymir asked through clenched teeth, her smile not at all appearing happy or kind.

As Reggie spoke up on Reiner's behalf, the Armoured Shifter could only stay in position and wonder how he'd gone from the hero of the day to this…

---

After the adrenaline had died down yesterday and everyone had taken stock, it was eventually noticed that Reiner's uniform was torn up. His right sleeve was just gone, and the back had a deep tear through it, most likely caught on the armour of the Titan when he'd been prying it off. He hadn't even noticed it himself until Armin had pointed it out, at which point KIPO had taken that as her cue to make a good first impression. Before Reiner could even blink, the excess Specter swarm had taken a second out of it's flight path to swarm him and take apart his Military Police jacket.

Then, after a quick fly by to the barracks for the spare uniforms and leather reserves, had come back to give him a fresh new one, adorned with the Wing's of Freedom. It had deposited the jacket right into a stunned Reiner's hands.

"Hey Armin, do you think you could turn bread into meat?" Sasha had asked, which was so absurd (and worrisome to picture) that Reiner couldn't help but laugh. He kept laughing even as Reggie came by to check on him, actually hugging the blonde in relief.

"For Walls sake, are all you 104th weirdo's determined to take on the entire Titan horde by yourselves?!" The older boy couldn't help it, watching Reiner plunge headfirst into danger on his first day had been terrifying. "You earned that bacon, no doubt about that."

"Ah, could you maybe not mention that right now?" Reiner begged, looking at Sasha who was giving him the stink eye again. Before he could once again try and placate the foodie, a pink glow had come up from around the corner. That was Reiner's reintroduction to KIPO, so came in gleefully informing Armin he indeed had a letter delivered! Armin had hastily taken it, then after assuring Sasha he was in no danger of going pop, had resumed his trek to the medical room to watch over Eren..

Leaving Reiner with Reggie, Sasha, and KIPO, who was eager to officially introduce herself proper. It had been interesting, meeting someone who knew a lot about you but you next to nothing about them. The fact KIPO had been there all that time in Stohess, seeing everything Armin and Adam had seen, everyone they'd met… it was a bit surreal.

But it was also valuable Intel. Learning what KIPO was, it was a bit over Reiner's head, but he could confidently say she was smart, knowledgeable, and most importantly, just so eager to chat. She would go on for hours about her homeland, he literally just asked where she came from and that lead to her giving a lengthy explanation of Arasaka, Night City, and all the wonderful marvellous things that could be done for the people here.

The people that were cheering over what was a major victory for them. The people that had no idea what they'd faced was just the tip of the iceberg for what awaited them outside. A people that didn't deserve any of what was coming their way.

Reiner put such thoughts in the back of his mind, focused on extracting everything he could from KIPO, with helpful translations provided by Sasha and Reggie who were a bit ahead in the understanding department. If the mission was to be a success, if the bloodshed and death was in any way going to end soon, he had to focus on being a proper Warrior. For his comrades, his family, and… and for the people here.

---

That had been yesterday, getting caught up to speed on almost everything he'd missed by being in Stohess. Today, he was getting back into shape, working off the fine food of the Interior. He certainly hadn't compromised his build, still built like an ox and sporting a six pack, but he definitely had gotten just the tiniest hint of flab. So there he'd been, all set to have a work out before breakfast, Reggie offering to spot him and KIPO flying down from her perch on high at the top of the castle, seeing the two of them and wondering if she could participate.

It had been an ideal trio, work out, get some more Intel out of KIPO, all before the first meal of the day.

And then Ymir had come into view.

Ymir, looking pouty and depressed, as she had been denied from following Krista, by the Captain no less. Her sharp tongue had backfired on her, what Levi had planned was anyone's guess, but he was in no mood to have the wise cracking Ymir around to derail it. Even worse, he'd sic'ed the Section Commander on her, who had only let Ymir go in search of reference material to have the freckled girl gloss over. Needless to say Ymir had ditched in the opposite direction, away from her Krista but desperate times called for desperate measures!

Thus, here she was, wandering all slumped and with a grey cloud hanging over her head, so pitiful even Reiner who'd arguably endured the brunt of Ymir's "jokes" felt sorry for her.

Before he could stop himself, Reiner had called out to her. Which led to Ymir looking up, scowling, and about to make a flippant remark, before KIPO stepped in to ask the taller girl if she'd like to join them for helping Reiner get some exercise in.

Which led to Reiner's current predicament. Turns out the fastest way to cheering Ymir up was indeed letting himself suffer, who knew?

"Come on Ymir, that's enough." Reggie calmly but firmly spoke up, giving the freckled girl a hard stare. "Seriously, you're going to hurt him."

"Oh lighten up Reggie, this is just 104 light teasing." Ymir snorted, but she did as asked and remove her elbow, allowing Reiner to resume completing his set. "By the way, you're at eighty fiv- eighty six now."

"Thanks." Reiner exhaled, as he aimed for the full hundred.

"After this, a quick bout of hydration, then we'll go for a jog around the castle, no more than five laps!" KIPO declared.

"Is that really necessary? He's already done the pull-ups, sit-ups, and tug of war, I think he's back in fighting shape." Reggie asked, doubt on his face. "Not that he really wasn't before. Seriously man, you're probably the most in shape out of everybody in the Scout's, and I include the Captain in that statement. Surprised you didn't just strangle the Titan."

Reiner smiled, Reggie's words giving him the strength to finish his second to last push up. Just one more to go and he could call it quits. Just as he was rising up though…

"Gaaaaay." Ymir declared from her perch, and several things happened at once.

Reiner's arms gave out in surprise, and he fell right into the dirt with his passenger coming down with him. Reggie stared slack jawed at Ymir in shock, before quickly running to help Reiner, pushing a laughing Ymir off in the process. KIPO blew a digital whistle she'd conjured, penalizing Reiner and Ymir.

Yep, he hadn't missed this in the Interior.

"The hell Ymir?!" Reggie helped Reiner up, nice and gentle into a sitting position on the grass, allowing both boys to glare at Ymir.

"What, just calling it like I see it. I get it, you've got a thing for the beefy guys, really into Reiner's chiseled physique. But you really shouldn't let yourself get carried away man. The Scout's are no place for little crushes and pining after some hot blonde. You need to be a professional about things, like me."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Though we are in no immediate danger, the expression related to one's face "freezing like that" does come to mind." KIPO chimed in, the boys incredulous open mouth gaping being countered by Ymir's self assured smugness.

Reggie shook his head, then turned to Reiner to whisper into his ear. "Is she being serious or not? I can't get a read on her."

"I honestly don't know. Half the time I'm convinced she's a brilliant chess master, the other, the least self aware person I've ever met. And you've met Sasha and Connie, right?" Reiner whispered back, only half serious.

"Oh geez… was there something in the drinking water this year at the Cadet's or something?"

"No, definitely not… though I wouldn't be surprised if she drank her own bath water so it wouldn't go to waste."

"Or Krista's. She does remember we literally saw her yesterday just… go to town on her right in front of us? Like, I was concerned she was going to inhale the poor girl."

"Don't have to remind me about that… I was too busy keeping an eye out for Titan's, but maybe she got thumped on the head by some debris?"

"Should we thump her again? Maybe that would knock her brains back into plac-"

"Oye, if you're going to start snogging and ignore my sage advice, at least give me a warning!" Ymir's voice cut in with a snicker, causing the two conspirators to look up with a glare, then blink as they saw KIPO right behind the source of their ire, gazing at them with rapt attention and her clenched fists held in front of her mouth.

"Uh…KIPO?" Reiner hesitantly asked. "What's… what are you doing?"

"Oh please, don't mind me." KIPO waved off. "Just pretend I'm not here. In fact, I can dissipate my projection right now to give the illusion of privacy should you prefer?"

"Uhhhhh, no? Why would I want privacy?" Reiner hesitantly asked, already suspecting he wouldn't like the answer. 'And what did she mean by "illusion?"'

"Why, so you may court in private?" KIPO answered. "I've been told it's best to grant privacy, but I do confess I was hoping to perhaps subtlety observe this development."

Give Reiner credit, he wasn't choking on his own tongue like Reggie was. Offering a comforting hand on the older boy's shoulder while ignoring how that must look right now to the two goofball's observing them, Reiner cleared his throat, set his best "no nonsense" face into place, and got this conversation under control.

"KIPO… Ymir is just messing around, she does that. I don't know how well you're acquainted with her, but it's really safe to just ignore everything she says. Really, you won't miss anything."

KIPO blinked, turned to Ymir, then back to Reiner. "Then, you and Reggie Marigold are not interested in each other?"

"We literally just met yesterday KIPO." Reggie stressed, finally managing to speak and have Reiner's back.

"What, don't you believe in love at first sight?" Ymir grinned like the devil she was. "C'mon guys, the whole motto of the Scout's, hell, of the Wall's is we do it now or don't do it all. Life is fleeting, yesterday had its share of close calls! Reiner, you almost died on your first day even though you were literally the safest out of everyone! Before that happens again, go out there and find someone! Preferably someone whose got an added perk like meat you can share with your dear friends, like me."

"You just said the Scout's were no place for crushes and… pining after hot blondes." Reiner pointed out, fully aware of how pointless it was to do so.

"That was then, this is now, when I'm fully in support of a friend living his best life while he can." Ymir brushed off. "Seriously, Reiner, none of us have time to sit around and wait for love to fall in our lap. You've got to get while the getting good, and I see a real catch for you right here." Ymir gestured to Reggie.

"I'm… flattered, I think? But, is that really true?" Reggie asked, seeing a possible opening to redirect the conversation.

"What, don't have faith in yourself? I'll admit, you could go for a better haircut, but-"

"Not that! I mean about us not having time. I know we're Scout's and everything, but… doesn't it feel like we might get to live to old age? With Adam and Eren, we could… retire. Hang up our capes and live for ourselves, yeah?" Reggie offered with a grin. "Doesn't it feel that way?"

And suddenly like that, the mood had gone from uncomfortable to uncomfortable and depressing.

If only Reggie knew he was talking to two Titan Shifter's, two beings with the power to move mountain's and shatter countries. Two beings who had the power of life and death in the palm of their hands.

Just not their own.

A miserable thirteen year life span hanging over their heads in exchange for this power, now down to eight at best.

So no, it didn't feel that way to them.

But of course, they'd never let Reggie (or each other), be aware of that.

"Well dang Reggie, don't tell me you're considering the possibility of being anything other than a Scout." Ymir chuckled. "What, planning on running the ol farm after inheriting it from ma and pa Marigold?"

"Well, I wasn't. Figured I'd be dead… fuck, I've lost count how many times. But after yesterday… I think I might have to actually plan for the future. Actually have to consider, "Shit, what do I do after this?", y'know?"

"I do know. Believe it or not, my dear sweet Krista has a wonderful dream for the two of us, of going beyond these Walls with Adam as our guide, seeing the whole wide world." Ymir smiled fondly. "I hadn't really planned on it, but she… she's amazing, having big dreams like that."

Any ire Reiner had been feeling towards the freckled girl disappeared. She looked… so happy.

'Fuck, why do I have to be surrounded by such clueless idiots? Good, kind, stupid people.' He cursed, but managed a smile. "That sounds nice. Anywhere in particular?"

"Well, obviously we figured we'd follow Adam to this fabled Night City we keep hearing so much about. Apparently you can get anything there, isn't that right KIPO?"

"Correct. Night City is an unprecedented hub of commerce and opportunities, dealing in all matter of business. Arasaka itself offers a wide variety of services, including affordable housing to anywhere in the world." KIPO helpfully recited, holding up a globe of the world to demonstrate the reach of her employer.

"…What about… outside of the world?" Ymir hesitantly asked, which had Reggie and Reiner look up from the map in front of them to stare inquisitively at the girl. She looked extremely embarrassed, but pushed on. "Your people… you managed to get to the stars, right? So is it possible… could any one here go too? Up there?"

"Ymir, that sounds… that's quite the leap forward." Was all Reggie could say. "Just… skipping past the whole planet?"

"But it is possible?" Reiner asked, curious himself. "KIPO, is she right?"

"She is. Space travel technology has progressed to the point that colonies, research posts, and even industrial complexes. The moon, Venus, Mars, and even the moons of Jupiter all house such places." As she spoke, each celestial body mentioned appeared, with images of the buildings they housed coming into view. "Right now, the moons are ranked the most desired tourist destinations. Callisto and Titan have thriving colonies, and a wide variety of activities."

"…Well shit, I was just gonna ask if it was possible to get married on our moon, but if you're offering!" Ymir laughed in amazement. "Holy… I thought I was gonna feel like a hick if I ever made it into the Interior, but this is just ridiculous!"

"Oh have no fear Ymir. I would be more than happy to help prepare you for space travel!" KIPO chirped, her clothes shifting to become… some weird puffy thing. It sorta reminded Reiner of a deep sea diving suit, she even had a helmet tucked under her arm, but it definitely wasn't that. "I have hundreds of Braindances recorded into Erwin's headset, and there are several courses you could study that are so simple it's comparable to learning how to drive a car."

"That's a horseless chariot." Reggie provided to Reiner. Unneeded, but Reiner nodded anyway, before shaking his head.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a second." A deep breath, trying to take this all in. "If you really have gone to the moon and beyond, then why haven't you seen us here? You could see the planets but not us down on the planet you live on?"

"Yes, it's quite peculiar how you were hidden so well from our sight, and frankly miraculous we stumbled across you at all. What was a simple accident has proven to be quite the revelation, and turn of good fortune for you all." KIPO nodded sagely. Reiner couldn't help but feel she was dodging the question, but he pressed on.

"That's another thing, how did you and Adam come down here? I heard you were the Falling Star, but… well, wasn't there an easier way to falling from space?"

"Like I said, it was an accident. Adam was doing repairs on my station when a malfunction occurred, sending him hurtling from me and towards the planet." A new display, this time of what appeared to be some kind of floating fortress, dark and imposing and absolutely mesmerizing. As the three watched, a tiny explosion occurred, where one Adam Smasher was indeed sent flying away. "I was only just able to send Specter out to cushion his fall and provide support before he was pulled out of range."

"Pulled? By what?" Ymir asked.

"Gravity. You see-"

"Hold that thought KIPO, just a sec." Reiner interrupted. "I'm sorry, it's just… where is this?" He gestured to the "station," before looking to the bright blue sky. "Is this… are you saying this is really floating up above? Up there?"

"Yes, I am. My home, my station, it lies above, hovering in orbit like the moon itself." KIPO beamed. "If Erwin grants me permission, I could construct a telescope to help you see it. Would you be interested in that?"

"Uh, yeah?!" Ymir grinned. "Hell yeah we wanna see it! I've got to take a look at a genuine flying castle! Right guys?!"

"I'm getting weak kneed just thinking about it, but… yeah, how could we pass that up?" Reggie ran a hand through his hair, looking to Reiner for confirmation.

"Damn straight. We're Scout's, how could we pass this up?"

"Heck yeah! Way to go Reiner, second day on the job and you've discovered something new for everybody, I can't believe we didn't bring this up before…" Ymir slapped her forehead.

"Well, he did graduate second in his class. Makes sense he'd be a cut above the rest." Reggie offered a fist which Reiner took a look at, then bumped, grinning.

"Yeah yeah, gush over your boyfriend all you want, my Krista still leaves you in the dirt."

A collective groan from the boys, which turned into malicious smirks as the Section Commander finally tracked Ymir down, the freckled girl going white as a sheet at hearing Hange's enthusiastic cry. A particular fun game of debating if they should help her escape, which was unfortunately cut short as Levi came out with the Scout's for their morning drills, was the finale to Reiner's workout routine.

---

Reiner was grateful he was allowed to go to the Mess Hall instead of joining the others, as much as he felt like running a marathon to just have something to do, starving himself wouldn't do anyone any good.

His mind was bursting with all that KIPO had shared, not just from this morning but yesterday too. He was going to have to write several letters to keep Annie and Bertolt in the loop, and that was on top of locating Pieck, wherever she might b-

"Well, long time no see stranger." Reiner almost tripped over his feet as the very person he had been hoping to see spoke up from behind him. "Got a quick minute to catch up? I'm really just sitting on my hands here until Jean finishes that slave driver's commands. Do you have to do that every day?"

"Not sure, I just got here yesterday, and that had me getting geared up for an operation before my feet even hit the ground." Reiner walked up to his comrade and placed his hands on her shoulders, pleased to see she'd made it here. "It is such a relief to see you here. How'd you pull that off?"

"Postal service. Was actually here yesterday, but I was being caught up on Adam and KIPO and apparently, armoured Titans?" Pieck smiled at Reiner's affection, but her confusion and need for answers was very clear. "I certainly wasn't expecting half the things I learned about, am still learning about."

"Likewise." Reiner released her shoulders, running a hand over his forehead. "It's just one thing after another, transferring here was the right call."

"Definitely, though I have to ask how that came about?" Pieck quickly glanced around to make sure they were alone in this hallway. "Did you hit a snag in the Interior?"

"No, we're doing fine, we just decided it would be more effective to gather intelligence if we had a man on the inside. Not because we didn't have faith in you," Reiner hurried to assure his friend, "But we definitely will learn a lot more with me actually being a part of their ranks. And we need to know everything we possibly can. Pieck, I've got a plan, and I just think it'll be what finally allows us to go home."

Pieck's eyes widened, but she kept calm and professional. "Tell me."

And so Reiner did. It was a decent plan, possibly even a good one, Bertolt and Annie's acceptance had confirmed that, but Pieck's nodding and agreeing with it really helped do wonders for Reiner's mood, and faith he was on the right track.

"I see… yes, I can see how that might work." Pieck held a hand to her chin as she pondered the plan. "Do you have a time table in mind when we move forward?"

"Well naturally when we head on outside, Eren, Adam, and especially Armin in a location where Annie can grab him. I'll try to work out the finer details as Erwin comes up with the plans for the next Expedition, how everyone will be formed up, the ideal time to make a move. It'll certainly be affected by what the King declares." Reiner likewise was running through things in his head. "…If he actually does give Adam the go ahead on buffing up the armaments of the Scout's, then that'll complicate things."

"You mean, like the Scout's getting long range weaponry that could hurt us?" Pieck grimaced.

"Possibly. If that happens, then we may have to back Annie up, possibly also sabotage the Scout's gear. At worst… I might have to time a transformation where it'll do the most damage. Make a hole in the Scout's, give Annie an opening, maximize casualties and distortion." Reiner sighed, already hating how that sounded. "It won't be pretty, but the element of surprise is a definite trump card."

"I hate to ask, but is there a reason we can't just… tie up Armin while he's asleep and smuggle him outside the Walls?" Pieck tentatively suggested. "That could go a lot easier."

"I considered it, but you saw Specter, right? I have the sneaking suspicion it would cut through any bindings we use, and possibly us if we provoke it."

"But not Titan flesh?"

"Not Titan flesh. I saw it yesterday, when ever it got close to any steam, it was like… it was like smoking bee's, they all just fell out of the sky, dead." Reiner rubbed his scalp. "So as long as one of us has him while we're transformed, Armin can't escape… Oh, I should probably mention KIPO can take over his body and make Armin the best fighter ever. So we'd also have a sleeping Armin kicking our asses to deal with if we tried anything, not fun."

Pieck took a second to picture that, and snorted heavily before bursting out laughing. She quickly covered her mouth to muffle it, but the thought was too funny.

Reiner chuckled too, yeah, it was kinda funny to picture. "Anyways, that's why we can't go the quick and easy route."

"Yeah, I see your point." Pieck nodded, getting herself under control. "Probably for the best. Suppose Adam had faith Armin wasn't in immediate danger and actually took the time to plan with Erwin. We'd have a coordinated attack heading for us and wouldn't even know it."

"Yep. Which is why we need Adam to be reactive and arrogant in the heat of the moment and chase after Armin. And Eren too, if we're lucky."

"One Titan Shifter, one metal man, and the nice guy who they listen to against three Warriors…" Pieck hummed. "…We might actually have a fight on our hands. Rule out Armin, but Adam and Eren…"

"They're tough, I'll give them that. Any hope Eren is an utter novice went out the window yesterday, he's gotten used to his Titan and he knows how to fight. But he doesn't know everything, and he's still hasn't fought another Shifter. I can take him, and Annie definitely can beat him."

"And Adam?"

"Definitely going to be a challenge, but Armin is definitely important to him. He needs the little guy to give him ammunition, new weapons, and repairs, that's a fact. He sees him about to be crushed, he'll hopefully back off long enough for us to plead our case." Reiner shrugged. "Otherwise, we stomp him flat and take him back home by force. Leave that to me, I've got the weight and the durability, I can shrug off his attacks long enough to bring him to heel."

"Then it's just getting Bertolt out of danger, and before he thinks things have gone wrong and he needlessly kills a whole District, and then we're home free." Pieck smiled, an honest smile of hope and relief, and it did Reiner's heart a fair bit of good seeing it.

Hopefully what he was going to say next wouldn't ruin it.

"One thing we do have to go over." Reiner held up a hand, causing Pieck to raise an eyebrow but her smile remained. "Something came up in the Interior, and it got me thinking about you. Now, I want to stress Pieck that I trust you, you're my friend, and I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

"Oooookay?" Pieck's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "I hope you realize that's making me a little nervous here, hearing you say that."

"I do realize that, yes. I apologize, but what I'm about to say might put you on edge, and I don't want that." Reiner sighed, already seeing how badly this was going. "Alright, I'm just gonna come out and say it. Again, there's no reason to be alarmed."

He cleared his throat, took a quick look around to make sure they were still alone (helpful the majority were outside right now), and bit the bullet.

"It's about Jean. You… you really love him, don't you?"

Pieck was no longer smiling.

"Please, don't take this as an accusation or feel worried in any way. This isn't an intervention or me about to question your loyalty to Marley." Reiner held up his hands, making sure he didn't make any sudden moves. "I have no issues with you and Jean being together."

"Really?" Pieck's tone made it clear she didn't believe that for a second. "Because I can think of several issues myself."

Reiner sighed again, nodding. "Yeah, okay, I can think of a few issues with it, but… I was hoping you had a realistic solution for them, yes? Please?"

"…First things first… why aren't you upset about this?" Pieck carefully asked, her guard up but giving Reiner the benefit of the doubt. She didn't believe he was as okay with this as he said… but she very much wanted to.

Reiner lowered his hands and rested them on his hips, yet another sigh, as he took in the stone floor. "I… I couldn't escape the truth anymore. As much as I denied it, the fact is I've gotten close to these people. Closer than I realized. It's… insane to pretend I don't care about them. And it's even more insane to pretend that's not the case for all of you, too." A mirthless chuckle, as he glanced up. "Can I ask, when did you realize it? That you felt something for him?"

"…Believe me, it was an uphill battle. He can be a bit of an ass when he's trying to impress someone." Pieck took a gamble, banking on her years of friendship and that Reiner was being genuine. "But overtime, I got to see him as a friend. Not just a friendly local I could exploit, but an actual friend. And then… I realized I liked him as more than a friend."

"I can believe it. Yeah, he was… he can be an egotist, but Jean is a good guy. Shoulda seen him at Trost, he was worried for you and his mom, and when he told us he was joining the Scout's…" Reiner smiled, trying to ignore the bad that came with those memories. "I'm glad you found someone you care about that much. I just… I'd like to know where do you plan to go from here?"

To Pieck, what she saw on Reiner's face wasn't fear, or desperation, or even assuredness. Just acceptance. Whatever she said now, he was prepared to accept it.

It honestly broke Pieck's heart, seeing him prepare for the worst.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me defecting or abandoning the mission, I'm still a Warrior." Pieck smiled, ready to put her friend's worries at ease and hopefully brighten his morning.

"Pieck, I told you I didn't-"

"You sure did, but I'm confirming it." Pieck interrupted. "Hypothetically, let's suppose I ran through my head all the courses of action I could take, after falling for Jean. Maybe I considered telling him everything, defecting to the people here, helping them get up to speed in what ways I could, using my power and knowledge. That's about eight years helping out this tiny little island against the whole world, that is rapidly coming closer to coming here to annihilate them, any day now."

A sad look, before Pieck shook her head and kept going. "Even if by some miracle the Founder gets off his or her ass and finally fights back, or Adam and KIPO actually do have enough wonders and miracles in their back pockets to make a difference, the end game will still be me dead, my father sent here to die, and Jean most likely… no, definitely dying when Paradis is razed to the ground. It wouldn't do any good."

"…And doing any good means… saving Jean's life." Reiner caught on. "And the best way to do that… would be to take him away from here?"

Pieck nodded. "You catch on quick. Believe me, I know there's so many problems with that idea, the biggest being Marley of course, but I did figure bringing in Adam Smasher and KIPO in addition to the Founder would distract the General's long enough I could plead Jean's refugee status to Zeke and Magath."

"Bold plan." Reiner remarked. "Definitely banking on luck, the generosity and grace of our superiors, and a whole lot of circumstances."

"You don't know the half of it. I actually consider that part to be the easiest stage in all this." Pieck chuckled, the words just coming out of her, so pleased she didn't have to hide this from Reiner anymore. "I actually don't have a better plan for getting Jean out of here than "Be transformed and hope he'll be around so I can grab him and flee without compromising the mission." Really, it'll all be up to fate if I get the opportunity. And that's not even going into how he'll take all of this. When I reveal I've basically kidnapped him from his home forever, which will die in his lifetime while he gets to live in Liberio, alone, after my term is up…"

A hand on her shoulder, causing Pieck to jump, she hadn't even noticed Reiner had gotten closer. His face was grim, but he was smiling.

"One thing at a time. First you focus on getting him out of here while completing the mission. Then, we'll help him adjust to his new life, make him realize it's not all bad." Reiner offered a comforting squeeze. "He can be stubborn, and he might hate us at first, but you can win him over. I know you can."

Pieck blinked, stunned. "You mean… you're…"

Reiner nodded. "I have to focus on the Founder, and by extension Adam, so I'm at least helping there, you can leave all of that to me. But anything involving Jean will have to be solely up to you. You work it out, if you have a more concrete plan then feel free to share, I'll see if I can work it in without compromising the mission. And if you do see the chance and you trust it won't put us all at risk, then yeah, take him along with us."

"…Reiner, that's… that's way too generous." Pieck argued, aware she was sabotaging herself but unable to stop. She knew how selfish and detrimental to the others this plan that was more of an idea was. It was one thing for her to hypothesize, maybe even put it into action in a spur of the moment, but to hear Reiner actually give her his blessing on it? "There's no way we can look at this as anything but my own selfish interests. It's not fair to you or the others to let me consider this."

"Maybe, but then again our lives have been anything but fair." Reiner argued. "Believe me Pieck, I'm fully aware of how bad this is to consider from a mission perspective. But I also know you. You are one of the best Warriors I've ever known, and you have a good head on your shoulders. I trust you. If you believe you can do it, that you can save Jean without getting us all killed… I don't see a reason to stop you."

"But… why?" Pieck asked, wanting to believe but still hesitant. "Why?"

"Easy, because you're my friend Pieck. And Jean is my friend. They're all my friends, and I want to do right by them as a friend should… but I can't. I can't save any of them, I'm… I'm not strong enough." It hurt, it really did, to think of how he was going to betray all of them. How he could do nothing for them. He had his family to think about, his Warrior comrades who were relying in him to take them home. He'd come to terms with the fact he couldn't trade their lives and happiness for the people here, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to feel it when the Warriors made their next move.

"…I can't do anything but hope our paths won't cross. But… it would be nice, if some of them could be saved. Even just one…" Reiner rubbed at his eyes, trying to fight the moisture gathering there. "…Fuck, why'd these people have to be… just have to be so honestly good? Why can't I just hate them?"

"Because the world isn't that simple." Pieck smiled sadly. She stepped forward, and gave Reiner a hug. "I wish it was. I wish it was so I wasn't considering this incredibly stupid plan and risking it all for a boy I met. I wish I was a good little Warrior still."

Reiner laughed, and patted the shorter girl's head. "No you don't."

"No, I don't." Pieck looked up, beaming. "Thank you Reiner. I promise, I won't make any mistakes. An honest assessment if I can pull it off when the time comes, I swear."

"I believe you. And it would honestly be unfair if Annie was the only one who got to bring someone back home with us."

Pieck blinked, her smile disappearing for confusion. "What do you mean? What's Annie got to do with this?"

"You didn't notice? Guess that's fair, she is kind of subdued even now, but she is honest to god in love with Armin. Or at least, cares about him enough to… well, to make a point." Reiner ran a hand over his face, the memory of that night bringing up some phantom aches and pains, healing factor be damned.

"…Oh no, you two didn't…" Pieck winced.

"It was honestly my fault. I said some things I shouldn't have, made a bad call that she was right to refuse… but it worked out. Got my head on straight, and I can say for certain Annie is still with us. Honestly the fact we'll be taking Armin works out great, she'll fight tooth and nail to get him and keep him safe, so we can be confident in her success." Reiner said with a grin.

A sigh of relief from the Cart Shifter as she was pleased to hear the Warriors weren't split, and that her suspicions about Annie had proven true. "Well, that's good to hear. In more ways than one, I'm glad Annie has someone she cares about that much, aside from her father. And that she won't have to chose."

"She deserves a break. We all do, but it's nice she can be happy about something for once." Reiner nodded. "…At least, I'm assuming she is, still haven't seen her smile even once…"

"I think we'll have to be content with Armin witnessing that miracle." Pieck joked, finally stepping back to give personal space. "…Speaking of miracles, the one I've been sent to collect just gave the most interesting little story at breakfast this morning. About how the entire world was engulfed in a war around fifty years ago."

Reiner blinked. "…I know I wasn't the best at history in Warrior training, but…"

"There wasn't any conflict that big, no. There was our war with Estovakia that lasted half a year, but it definitely wasn't on the scale Adam was talking about, and it definitely didn't involve his home on the other side of the planet. And it definitely involved Titans, which Adam is still claiming he never fought. I could see him embellishing a war to make himself look better, but to lie about that…"

"Makes no sense." Reiner agreed. "…Don't know if this helps us understand him any better, but KIPO showed me that thing you said mentioned when we were first talking about the Falling Star, that structure that was spotted? She calls it a "space station," not quite how you described it, but unless there's more than one up there I think it's safe to say it's where Adam and KIPO came from. She even showed us how he came here, some accident blasting him away and he fell down to the planet."

"I see… that's certainly… something." Pieck rubbed her head, thinking.

"…It is exhausting dealing with this."

"It really is." Pieck agreed. "I'm trying to picture how someone gets up there and then falls back down to here. And that's on top of him telling everyone here things about the outside that are just so wrong, like the map he showed."

"Was it upside down?"

"Among other things." Pieck gave a muffled scream inside of her mouth, before exhaling. "I just want to write him off as a terrible liar, but I can't. Because even though I know he's wrong, I can't explain anything about him."

"Marley is definitely going to have a fun time dealing with him, that's for sure." Maybe the Warriors could listen in, they certainly would have earned that right. "KIPO was actually saying she could let us see it, her home in space. If she does it fast enough, maybe you'd be allowed to get a glimpse?"

"That might be nice. Might help make the thought of him falling here a bit more… real."

"We can only hope."

The rest of the conversation soon came to a close, as the two had managed to exchange all the relevant information and bring each other up to speed ("Armoured Titans… No, that shouldn't be the War Chief, we still have three months at least. Just to be sure, I'll head out and see if I can spot him, pop by the beach in case."). About time too, as Reiner still hadn't eaten and the Scout's were finally trickling back in. Pieck immediately made off to intercept Jean when he arrived, leaving Reiner free to go to the Mess.

He was actually feeling pretty good right now, his talk with Pieck could have gone wrong in a number of ways, but it had gone great! He really hoped Pieck succeeded, she looked so happy around Jean, they would be good for each other. And Reiner was sure Jean would come around, yes, it would be rough going, but he was a smart guy. Jean would be able to see Pieck was honestly doing him a favour, a monumental one that could only be from an act of love.

It was this good mood and these thoughts that carried Reiner to the apples and milk, and a nice loaf of bread. He had been expecting to see Adam (Pieck had mentioned Levi had confined him here), but it looked like the cyborg had bailed, oh well. Reiner had just taken his first bite when Ymir came in, sweating like a pig and looking just dead. Not dead inside, not dead tired, just dead. His instincts to be helpful ever present, Reiner made to grab a pitcher of water as well as a mug and bring them over, his own meal tucked in his arms.

He set his breakfast down, then poured a full mug. "Here." He offered.

Ymir took one look at the mug, then made to take the pitcher out of Reiner's hands and guzzle down it's contents.

"Oooookay then… careful, don't want to get sick." He tried.

A finger held up, as the pitcher was light enough now Ymir could hold it with one hand. When it seemed like she was actually about to drink all the water, she finally stopped, catching her breath.

"Oh, by the Walls!" She cried in relief. "Thank you Reiner, I take back every mean thing I ever said about you."

"Really?"

"Yep. Every mean thing I said, from today, repeatedly, in my head." Ymir nodded. "All while I was running the length of Wall Sina while you were content to kick back in here, some very choice words floated about in my noggin."

"Ah." Well, it was fun while it lasted.

"But that's all done and gone away with now. You are now my favourite person in the Scout's! Hold that honour high, before Krista knocks you out that coveted position any second now." Ymir laughed, before a wave of exhaustion hit her and she made to sit down, least her legs give out from under her.

Reiner merely rolled his eyes, before he made to set his breakfast down (out of Ymir's reach, mind), and made a quick break for the utensils section to get himself a knife.

It was just as he was heading back to his table that he was greeted by Krista, who out of nowhere, wrapped her arms around him and squeezed as hard as her small frame could manage.

Well, can't say Reiner or Ymir saw that coming.

"Uh…" Reiner looked down, as Krista kept hugging. "Krista?"

"Wasn't your fault."

"Huh?"

"It wasn't your fault." Krista looked up, and wiped away a tear. "You… you don't have to blame yourself. Nobody could have done different. Okay?" She tried to smile, but it was wobbling something fierce. "I just want you to know, we all love you Reiner. So don't… don't go getting yourself killed, okay? Because that would make all of us sad."

"Okay?" Reiner really didn't get where this was coming from or what exactly Krista was talking about, but he would accept the hug. "I'll… be sure to do my best to not let that happen…"

He honestly couldn't tell of that was the right or wrong thing to say, as Krista made to bury her face in his chest again, a familiar loaf of bread was incoming. As he worked on simultaneously avoiding injury, saving his breakfast, and warding away Ymir's ire…

Reiner's good mood was still going.

---

Inside Scout HQ, After A Refreshing Set Of Laps Run

"Adam, sir! A moment of your time!" The cyborg found himself being called out to as he walked down the hallway with Ilse. He was just on his way to retrieve his digital niece and get her to provide the survivor of the 34th Expedition some new stories for her to read, while he had a more thorough conversation about the notes and books he'd translated.

Most of it had been irrelevant, scratch that, all of it. He gave credit to the primitive understandings the Scout's had had of Specter and his fragment (a piece of his torso, from his left side), they had done pretty well with the means at their disposal. And the book's Ilse had, apparently they were all from different countries before the Walls were erected. For a brief second, Adam had hoped to find a clue to the outside world, some history or reference to when the Titans first appeared! But instead he'd found story books, poems, an astrology guide, useless really.

He did find it somewhat interesting some of the languages were already translated, as in they were the same back home. One book was written in Japanese kanji, another in… Norse Viking? That had been the story book, full of tales that only mentioned giants once, so Adam couldn't even try and interpret that as history disguised.

Anyway, he was trying to give one of his more tolerable Scout associates something nice while he discussed his findings, when he found himself being beset by one Jean Kirstein, and his girlfriend. Despite having just run laps around the castle, he wasn't even breathing hard as he ran to catch up to the cyborg. Unlike his girlfriend, who was sluggishly following after, pausing to rest her hand on Jean's shoulder and take deep breaths.

"…She's not going to fall over dead is she?" Adam pointed to the winded meat bag, who waved away the question.

"I tried…running a lap with Jean…severely misjudged how strenuous that would be…" Pieck explained, as she slowly got her breathing to normal and was able to stand on her own power.

"Really? I can't say I see the Captain approving of you interrupting a military exercise like that." Ilse commented.

"Was an extra lap." Jean explained, grimacing. "Got into an argument with Jaeger, and in the process we missed that we'd already completed the run two laps ago, so Pieck joined us to tell us we were done."

"And yet, she's more tired?" Adam looked to the black haired girl, who simply shrugged while smiling. "Weak."

"Hey, watch it-"

"It's okay Jean. I've firmly accepted my role as being a helpless damsel in distress." Pieck laughed, then leaned into her man. "After all, we wouldn't have met if I was as strong and capable as you."

"In that you would have avoided the cart slamming into you, or managed to not mooch off my mom?" He asked, which got him a bonk on the head and a laugh.

"Was there something you needed, or can I actually get some work done?" Adam asked the happy couple, his annoyance growing and the need to escape the mushiness in front of him ever present.

"Ah, yeah. Yes, there is something I needed, from you. Something I needed to ask." Jean collected himself, separating from Pieck.

"…Yes? Do I have to guess or are you going to say it?"

"…Well I had a question myself, how old are you exactly?" Pieck spoke up, to everyone's surprise. Adam looked to the black haired girl who had a causal smirk on her face, even as she not so subtly used Jean as a human shield. "I couldn't just ignore that, you're over fifty years old, should everyone be worried about catering to a senior citizen? Any danger of a broken hip, or forgetting where you are?"

Jean would later testify, the mood of the room was so, so familiar to the day Sasha had questioned Shadis knowledge about potatoes that it physically hurt.

Jean had turned to look over his shoulder at his at this moment pain-in-the-ass girlfriend and spoke through clenched teeth, "If we die today, I'm absolutely blaming you."

"Sorry, I just couldn't help but be inspired by you." She retorted, not making eye contact as she stared straight ahead at Adam.

"Inspired?" Jean asked, incredulous.

"Asking the big scary man a less than pleasant question, what kind of a girlfriend would I be if I didn't show the same bravery?"

"The fu- a great one! You'd be a great one!" Jean hissed. "And the hell do you mean, "the same bravery?" I was just going to ask about his work, you're just outright insulting the guy!"

"Oh Jean, that's… okay, yeah, that's completely fair. But it's also important, how do you know this guy's still in fighting shape? I'm more than a little worried about putting your life in his hands."

"His hands were working just fine yesterday, no worries there. And I'd rather not have him demonstrate that today on you!"

"Jean," Now Pieck did turn to face him, "Are you really saying you don't have faith in your comrade? You really believe he'd harm a hair on my head?"

"Yes, I absolutely would." Adam spoke up, causing the couple to jump. "And you can be rest assured, my brain and my body works just fine. Especially my hearing. And I'm ninety-four, which is honestly the new forty back home."

That little announcement caught everyone off guard, they'd naturally come to the conclusion he was old if he'd fought in a war over fifty years ago, but ninety-four?!

"…Honestly couldn't tell." Ilse remarked.

"My boss was a hundred and fifty-eight by the time he kicked the bucket. Not natural causes." Adam helpfully provided, before turning back to his current source of ire. "You have about a hundred and fifty-eight seconds to ask me something less stupid then mop head over there. Who I will shave if she says something else stupid, don't think I won't."

Pieck paused in opening her mouth, and simply smiled, making a gesture of locking her lips tight and throwing away the key. Seeing that, Jean nodded, before facing Adam, staring into his optics.

"How do you… how do you justify taking a life?"

"…Ah, I see." Adam finally said. 'It's going to be one of those conversations, is it?' He internally sighed. Figures someone from the collection of literal children in this army would be a little iffy about Adam's work, even if he'd sugarcoated it to hell.

"I just… I know what you said, that it was war or they were people who were dangerous and out of control. But… I just can't get it." Jean explained. Behind him, Pieck was looking at him silently, while Ilse was giving Jean a look of sympathy from Adam's side.

"…You are a soldier. And yet, the idea of taking a human's life is upsetting to you." Adam stated. "You've experienced war, seen people die. You were at Trost?"

"I was."

"But picturing killing a person is horrifying."

"Yeah, it is." Jean nodded. "Believe it or not, I never put on this uniform expecting to kill people."

"No, you were just expecting to fight an evil, monstrous enemy that nobody in their right mind would lose sleep over killing, coughHangecough." Adam brought up a fist to his voice modulator for added effect. "It's actually interesting. A soldier who never imagined killing another person, not even an enemy soldier. You're not a pussy, you've fought and killed, but you still have these values… unfathomable."

Jean scrunched up his face in confusion. "Uh… okay?" He didn't know what else to say, as the unblinking stare of Adam looked him over, scrutinizing him.

"Why are you asking me this? Does it bother you to work with a killer? Turn your stomach? Are you going to quit if I don't give a good answer?" Adam asked his own questions. "Why do you want to know what goes through my head when I take someone's life?"

"Because then maybe I could understand why someone would break down the Walls."

Adam fake blinked.

Sometimes, you just needed to fake blink.

"You put a lot of thought into this."

"Too much thought." Jean sighed. "We all know it now, the Colossal and the Armoured are people, like Eren. They are human beings, and they broke down the Wall's, and let in the Titans to eat us alive. And tried to do it again! I'm just… who does that? What kind of fucked up do you have to be to do that?"

"I'm guessing, fucked up like me?" Adam offered. Jean grimaced, but nodded.

"I don't have a lot of options for getting a reference. Eren and Mikasa did kill some slavers once in defense, and I assume some of the Scout's maybe had to do… well, had to go there, maybe." He looked to Ilse, who offered a single nod. "But it's not the same. It's not mass murder on a scale like they did. But you fought in a war, fought monsters… fought people, over and over. So to put some part of my mind at ease, how do you do it? Why would you do it?"

'Elika, give me strength.' Adam begged. This kind of shit was her forte, not his…

…So why not use that?

"Well for me, it was because I don't really care. Yes, horrifying, I know." Adam remarked at the look on Jean's face, nice little frown. "But that was just me, having grown up in a world where stabbing someone was considered an acceptable means of ending a conversation. But then I knew other people who grew up in that world and didn't end up mass murderers. Or they killed for fun. Or money. Or to save lives, sacrifice a few to save the many. The reasons and the justifications or lack there of are as plentiful as the Titans out there."

Adam stepped forward, and rested a hand on Jean's shoulder. It was extremely uncharacteristic of him, as he was not about to intimidate the boy, but Adam never was one to take the easy way out of a fight.

"As a friend of mine once said, you can never expect another person to have the same values that you do. There are so many factors at play, that makes someone who they are. Family, life, wealth, friends, teachers, and one's own mental health. A person coming from a good home would not have the same mentality as someone who came from a bad one. Or maybe they would, in spite of so many factors. It's not an exact science, it's simply life, which is always and forever going to be chaotic. Is any of this making you wet?"

"WHAT?!" Jean spluttered, clearly caught off guard and almost looking like he'd wig out like a cartoon character. "What the actual fuck?"

"Well at that point it became clear Lugo wasn't really waxing philosophy so much as he was trying to get into Elika's pants." Adam answered with a straight face, which only made Jean's expressions even more hilarious, and his girlfriends curious, as she didn't react at all.

'Guess her hair is her weak spot, good to know.' Last thing he wanted was another unstoppable jokester, specially since he'd agreed to one on his team, oye. "The point was," Adam continued, "I can't give you an answer. I can only say that if it's your turn, try not to let your morals get in the way. You can wonder if it was the right thing all you want, when your alive and safe with the people who will mourn you when you die."

He release Jean's shoulder, and stepped back. "Anyways, I have somewhere to be. Mull that over if you like. Or find KIPO, or Armin, and see what they think. They could probably give you a better answer."

"Maybe." Jean rubbed his shoulder, deep in thought. "Thanks for trying. That… didn't quite answer my question, but it kind of helped."

"Great. I hope we can continue to work together, and you won't suffer any crisis of conscience watching me mow down the enemy."

"Yeah, no worries there." Jean confirmed. "Though I have to ask, Lugo?"

"He was the team jokester, kept on cracking wise right…"

---

"You left me to die! Don't you get it!? It's all a lie! You're no fucking hero! You can't save anyone! This is all. Your. FAULT! YOURS!" A gold mask stared him down, blasting away with an auto shotgun. Caked in the sands of Madagascar, all Adam could do was take it and return fire, as he killed Lugo for the second time.

---

"…kept on cracking wise." Adam finished, shrugging off that memory.

"I was really going to say, you have friends?" Jean smirked, only to take a half step back, as Adam glowered.

"Wow, you bounced back real quick. Is it the new thing around here to see how far someone can piss me off without me chucking them over the Wall?" He turned to Ilse, who looked apologetic. "Am I being too nice? Is that the problem? Be honest with me, I've gotten soft."

"I'd say you're simply being very accommodating, which I have seen be more beneficial than hindering." Ilse tried playing the diplomat. "I'll talk to Levi, maybe you can have some more authority, deal out push-ups and stable duty?"

"Or I could just punt them."

"I don't think Levi would allow that."

"Course he wouldn't. My way's more fun." Adam turned back to Jean. "When I punish the next person unreasonably for a joke they will play at my expense, I will point them in your direction so they know who to blame."

Jean snickered, only to stop halfway at Adam's bone white face looking right at him. 'How does he come across as being completely serious without changing facial expressions?' He could only ponder, as Adam resumed his journey with Ilse following.

"In all seriousness, I would love to hear of your comrades in arms. I'm sure they must be very impressive." The Scout offered.

"They are. Some of the best, they'd have really put a dent in the Titans before the week was done. Elika, Griggs, Lugo, Konrad, Visor… actually, forget Visor, he was… just forget him." Adam shook his head as he rounded a corner.

Leaving Jean standing there, his first official meet with Adam Smasher done and done.

'I think that's enough fun for one day.' He sighed, before a pair of hands grabbed each of his shoulders from behind, and the familiar feeling of Pieck's hair brushed against his head.

"…Just so you know, I am wet right now." Pieck purred into Jean's ear, causing the boy to stiffen up. "You talking all this philosophy talk… you and me, my delivery cart, right now."

Jean almost melted, especially as Pieck actually nibbled his ear. "Pieck…"

"Jean…" She whispered back, her cool breath sending shivers up his spine.

"…Race you there?" He offered, figuring he could get his hormones under control with the five to ten minutes it would take for Pieck to catch up, so they could elope with clear heads. Safety first.

Imagine his surprise when Pieck left him in the dust and had everything set up by the time he arrived…

---

One Bar Miles Away From Anything Important

In a village located in the west side of Wall Rose, just a few miles shy of Klorva District, the long honoured tradition of drinking the working days woes away was in full effect in the finest bar in the land (at least that's what was advertised on the door). Many a patrons were downing ale like it was water, having done a full shift in the fields, the mines, or even military service. Some were content to drink in solitude, while others preferred it be with company, as then they could cheer, joke, gripe, and moan with friends.

Two of the less rowdy customers who had just ordered their drinks of the night, watched as a grey-haired, glasses wearing woman left in a huff. She'd already been there when they'd arrived, but she hadn't been drinking. Rather, it looked like it was her partner at her table who was doing all the in taking of alcohol, a man with a brownish redish beard and terrible sunken eyes. If he wasn't drinking he was lying face down on the table, clearly upset, which his partner shared as she seemed to be pleading with him, maybe asking him to pull himself together?

Whatever she had been saying, the end result was her leaving, and the man still drinking.

"Oye Rob, what do you suppose that was all about?" One of the two customers remarked, a tall well built fellow who looked like he did heavy lifting all his life. He had a inquisitive look about him, though his speech gave the impression he was slow witted. "Trouble at home perhaps? Think she wanted him to shape up for the kids?"

"Huh?" The other identified customer Rob looked up from his beer, then followed his companions line of sight. His one good eye blinked, before rolling up in his socket. "Ugh, why do you have to do this every time we go out for drinks Wag? Can't you just mind your own business and not reason why?"

"What? I likes peoples watching. It don't hurt no one."

"It hurts me. I get a headache from hearing you talk and asking dumb questions…" A quick swallow, before resting the mug back the table and sighing. "Alright, pay close attention, because I'm only giving the rundown on this once. You see that man there, nursing his beer and looking like his dog just died?"

"Yeah?" A look of horror, sympathy, and sadness overcame Wag's face. "Oh no, did his dog die?!"

"No you dunce. That there is Captain Kitz Weilman, and he done royally fucked up back home." Another swig, an exhale as the alcohol burned his throat, before exhaling. His thirst now quenched, Rob was ready to explain properly. "So, member we almost bit it not too long ago? How them fucking Titans were about to do to us what they did to Wall Maria five years ago?" An enthusiastic nod. "Well, as we all know that luckily wasn't the case, as we're still here almost completely clueless that Trost was breached, if not for the papers spreading the good word."

"Was real nice of them, that was. Talking about Ernie Krueger and this Adam outsider, really interesting stuff." Wag offered.

"Yeah, real nice. Telling us we got our very own Titan that can take the fight to the bastards, and how the outside world exists and is here to help, first bit of good news we've had in fucking ages." A sneer that stretched the scar that went over his right eye to the bottom of his chin right over his lip conveyed Rob's distaste, but he kept going. "Well anyways, when all was said and done, Trost is still ours, the Scout's have something that will actually give them a win for the first time in forever, and life moves on. Except… turns out, some idiot almost fucked it up for everyone. Eren Jaeger, the Titan? He was almost gunned down on the spot. Our best hope in forever was going to be killed and Trost was going to be lost and then the rest of Wall Rose and we were all going to be Titan chow, right then and there."

"That… that doesn't sound right." Wag remarked.

"No, no it doesn't. Would have been the single greatest blunder in our Walls history it would. It wasn't, but it could have been. And that's enough for people to think, "Hey, maybe we should transfer the trigger happy idiot away from anything important before he actually does irrevocably fuck things up." Which is why we see that idiot now, Captain Kitz Weilman, drinking his sorrows away in this stinking bar."

"Well now that does seem a bit harsh maybe? Circumstances and unknowns and those things, anyone could have done similar. Don't the Garrison believe in second chances? I'm sure if another Eren pops up he'll know not to try and execute them?"

Rob snorted into his mug. "Maybe, but that wasn't the only reason. On top of getting the stink eye for Eren, people were looking on who to blame for losing so many in Trost in the first place. Lost a lot of new recruits day one, which meant a lot of grieving families who wanted someone to shout at and demand the head off. Really, getting booted here was a mercy."

"Ooooh, that's a crying shame. He probably isn't up to such things, seeing he be a Garrison boy and not a Scout. Those are the one's who have to experience that a lot, yeahs." Wag nodded, reaching for his drink.

Rob for his part, was briefly impressed by his companions insight. "…Yeah, guess you're right about that." When Wag didn't offer anything more, that seemed to be the sign Rob had sufficiently answered the question of who the miserable drunk was, and why he was so miserable.

Would be content to keep being miserable, cursing his luck, Eren Jaeger, and the Titans, if he wasn't due for an intervention. The door to the bar opened, and in walked a striking blonde woman, eyes cold as ice and face like stone, and making a bee line straight for Kitz Weilman's table. He made no effort to greet her, or even lift his head to peer up at the waist that had obstructed his vision.

Caven for her part didn't seem to greet the good Captain with so much as a hello, she simply kicked the seat out from under him, bringing Kitz to the floor.

"Gah!" Kitz called out as he collided with the ground, hard. He blearily looked up to the ceiling, blinking, his alcohol soaked brain trying to comprehend what just happened. Still trying, as Caven prodded his form with her steel toed boot.

"Captain Kitz Weilman." She recited. "You have been summoned by order of the King. I need you to sober up, and follow me."

"Fffffff…. Fuck off." Kitz attempted to bat away the leg that was ticking his sides. "Don't… don't have to go nowhere… I'm not going anywhere…"

"You do. As washed up as you are, you are still a soldier, and you will follow orders." Caven brought her foot up to press down on Kitz's chest, not pressing down hard but still pining the man in place. "I realize you are in no shape to make a rational decision right now, so I'm going to ignore any insubordination or back talk for the next ten minutes."

"Fuck OFF, you bitch!" Kitz bellowed, managing to locate and wrap his hands around the offending ankle belonging to the offending foot currently getting the front of his shirt dirty!…er. He squeezed and tried to yank it off of him, but to Kitz's surprise, the foot wasn't moving.

"Like I said, I'll ignore that." Now Caven was pressing her foot down, and it was enough to make Kitz wince in pain. Her point made, Caven stepped off and walked over to the bar counter, removing her jacket and delicately handing it over to Wag. "Hold this please."

"Uh, yes ma'am?"

Nodding her thanks, Caven turned around just in time to avoid a chair being thrown at her, as a fuming Kitz had scrambled to his feet and was already moving to smash another chair on the floor, finding the broken off leg a suitable weapon.

"Decent accuracy despite being intoxicated, and already moving to arm yourself with something that fits your fighting style better… there's something here to work with." Caven observed, as Kitz brandished his make shift club. He approached slowly, drunk as he was, his anger and adrenaline were shaking off the effects to enough of a degree his tactical mind was able to offer some advice. Like how he should try to take out her legs first, before going for a body shot, less liable to miss…

Caven tilted her head to the side to avoid the mug Kitz sent flying her way with a solid kick, he rushed forward, looking to sweep her legs out from under her before bringing down the wrath of the Garrison on her person!-

And suddenly he was kissing splinters, as Kitz found the top half of his face smashed into the bar counter. His weapon was gone, now in Caven's hands, who wasted no time in striking the back of his knees, then his free hand which rose in an attempt to fight back. The sound of wood hitting the ground as Caven released the chair leg, then grabbed Kitz by the back of his uniform jacket's collar, dragging him outside. What amazed everyone was that Kitz's feet were actually off the ground!

"That's a healthy gal." Rob stated.

The bar was silent, as everyone waited with baited breath for the sounds of… well, they weren't sure, but surely something.

Ah, there it was. Water being disturbed. Most likely from the horse's drinking station. It was a familiar sound, quite a few times someone had dragged off their friend there to clear their heads, seeing a nice refreshing non alcoholic drink as the perfect solution.

Or perhaps, attempting to drown them. That happened too, sometimes.

Splashing, spluttering, eventually coughing… and Caven finally returned, not a hint of being soaked or being even slightly wet from the splashing. She wordlessly approached Wag, and turned around, extending her arms out slightly. Wag got the hint, and helped put her coat back on, one sleeve at a time.

"Thank you." Caven buttoned her jacket up, then retrieved a stack of coins from the breast pocket. Surveying the room, then the coins, she put five of them on the counter. "For the mess." She informed the bartender. And with that, she was off.

Nobody said anything, as she left. The sound of a heavy load being hoisted onto a cart, then the clack of it's wheels hitting the ground as it took off, was the only noise heard.

"…Think she's his ex-wife perhaps?" Wag asked Rob, who sighed and requested another beer.

---

"Come here." Caven ordered her cargo, taking her eyes off the road for a minute to attend to Kitz's injuries. Most of it she could ignore and let it heal later, but his nose…

The slightly more sober and absolutely defeated Captain complied and crawled on over so that Caven might do her work from the drivers seat. Slowly he made his way over, all thoughts of defiance beaten out of him, and placed his face in her hands, like a whipped dog. With careful placement of her thumbs, she fixed his nose back into place with a CRACK, the man grunting in pain and falling backwards, clutching his face.

"The frontal lobe." Caven remarked.

"What?" Kitz breathed out, his sunken eyes trying to focus, his beard glistening with the droplets of water left over from his impromptu face wash.

"The frontal lobe of your brain. As a whole, it is responsible for higher cognitive functions, such as memory, emotions, impulse control, problem solving, social interaction, and motor function." Caven recited.

"…What?" Kitz repeated, not following a word of what Caven just said.

"Science has deduced the reason why you are a paranoid coward."

The bearded man shot up, indignant and full of rage. "I am not-"

"You are. You ran away at the first sign of danger to save your own skin, and left inexperienced children behind to buy you time to escape. And you almost killed Eren Jaeger, rather than weigh the risk vs the rewards and come to the same conclusion Commander Pixis did. You did everything you could to stay alive, instead of protecting the Walls." Caven declared, not even bothering to look back and address her cargo.

"To hell with you! You weren't there! You didn't see those… things! All that slaughter! I lost good men and women that day, I could see the situation was hopeless!" Kitz ranted and raved, the need to defend his actions and justify himself bursting out of him. "What good would it have done if I stayed, huh? Another casualty to toss into the fires?! I never asked to fight the Titans, I'm not a damn Scout! If anyone else had been assigned to Trost that day, would they have done any better?!"

He huffed and fumed and waited for his captor to answer him, to deny him like the others.

"No, probably not. But the fact remains it was you that day, and as a result, your career and life are finished. Pixis didn't demote you, but he's certainly made it so you won't get in anyone's way."

Kitz knew that, and he wanted to curse out the old drunkard… but the sad part was, it had actually been a favour. A way to run away while still keeping his job, and not have to face down the angry mob that demanded answers, of both the people and his colleagues. Thinking about those faces…

"…Then why does the King want me?" He sighed, slumping back down with a thud. "You said it yourself. I'm a failure as a Captain, and as a soldier."

"That's exactly why. His majesty is looking for the lowest of the low, and wants to build them back up." Caven deemed fit to glance over her shoulder. "You're going to meet him. He's going to tell you everything, and I do mean everything, including why Trost happened. He's going to make you an offer to be a part of his elite guard, and you will accept it."

Sunken eyes lit up at the blondes words. "The Anti-Personal Control Squad? But, I never-"

"Huh." Caven was actually impressed that the man had managed to find out about Kenny's forces, they were supposed to be a secret. "Yes and no. It's something new, something that will make you a new man. You'll see exactly what I'm talking about, but for now? Sit back and take in the sights."

She did turn around fully now, to stare Kitz right into his eyes, taking in his features, the dark rings around his orbs She really had doubts he'd accept what the King had in mind for him, but if he did go through with it…

"…Good thing we fixed the nose."