The events of Shiganshina were repeating themselves once again.
The Colossal Titan had once again appeared out of nowhere, broken the gates of Trost District with a mighty kick, and enabled the Titans to march into the populated city while both civilians and soldiers stared in shock and horror, after all…
To them, hours ago the day had been like any other, safe and mundane, and the next moment the buzzing of merchants and bustle of citizens of Trost District had turned to a sea of screams and despair.
Within hours of the breach the district had been flooded with Titans that were numbering in hundreds, and varying in size from three-meter tall titans to fifteen-meter tall ones. Each of the titans had then proceeded to gorge themselves on the civilians who weren't able to get away from the district in time, and on the soldiers of both 104th Training Corps and the Garrison who stood to defend the evacuation effort from the doomed district.
…And as there remained a risk of the Armored Titan showing up and breaking the rear gate of Trost District like it had broken the gate of Shiganshina years prior, the Garrison was forced to seal and blockade the rear gate of Trost District as soon as it was possible, well before the evacuation could be carried through entirely, resulting in the large majority of the district's civilians being trapped within the district- With the Titans.
However, just as the loss of both the district, the civilians within, and the remainders of 104th Training Corps who were trapped within was about to become certain…
…The roar of a Titan, of all things, gave hope to those who had all but lost it.
"...The abnormal titan- It's eating other titans!" Armin Arlert, a blonde and short trainee of the 104th, pointed at the abnormal titan with black hair and way-too-many teeth, the latter of which were currently chewing on the nape of a smaller titan's neck while it was keeping two other smaller titans at bay by digging his fingers into their ears and keeping them still- An unexpected turn of events for the cadets, as the observing cadets had never seen or heard of titans who would attack other titans- or have self-control necessary to specifically gouge the eyes of titans and hold their heads still in order to stop them on their tracks instead of relying on brute strength alone.
"Don't get too close. Abnormals are unpredictable." Mikasa advised and the tall black-haired girl put her hand on Armin's shoulder to keep him still, while others were either staring at the abnormal titan that had attacked other titans, like Bertolt or Reiner, or were futilely looking for a way to escape the doomed district, like Sasha and Connie, and the rest of the cadets were either cowering or looking for an opportunity to flee the doomed district.
The group of Trainee Corps cadets were standing on top of the tall Garrison building roughly at the center of the Trost District, with each of them acutely aware that they were likely the very last soldiers still alive within the walls.
Mikasa knew that couldn't save Eren, who had sacrificed his life earlier to protect Armin. However, she swore to herself that she would honor Eren's sacrifice and protect Armin with all she had… Even though internally she was on the brink of breaking apart, with the psychological load of the past hours creeping in on her mind like a hungry predator at night. The fact Eren had fallen… It had not truly hit Mikasa yet, but she was certain that soon she'd truly realize that her little brother in all but blood was dead- And once she'd do that, she would become useless to everyone for a long time.
As the last of the titans fell around the abnormal titan… So did the abnormal titan fall, seemingly having exhausted all its strength during the battle.
The abnormal titan's eyes closed, it wobbled a bit, and then fell forwards against a nearby house, face-first, breaking through the several storey building's wooden walls with sickening ease.
After that, the abnormal titan no longer stood up.
"Out of steam, huh…" Bertolt mumbled while Reiner's eyes hardened.
"Hey, the abnormal titan opened a way for us. Get going- Bertolt and I will hold the corridor open and take care of that abnormal titan." Reiner gestured his boxcutter-like anti-titan blade at the fallen abnormal titan and urged the other cadets to move.
"Reiner! That titan- It didn't attack any of us, and it just focused on other titans! If we save it-" Armin immediately turned towards Reiner, but was cut off by Bertolt.
"It's like Mikasa said- Abnormals are, um, abnormal. It might be just that it's thinking titans are big, uh, humans." Bertolt was seemingly struggling to put his thoughts to words as the tall man of the 104th stared at the fallen titan. "It might just crush you if you get too close."
"We have to try, if-" Armin argued, but Reiner and Bertolt had already turned away to instruct the other cadets- Most of whom appeared very keen on not having anything to do with the titan which had rend several other titans apart within minutes, with it's bare hands.
"...That titan had a chance to crush me, but it didn't. It's behaviour is abnormal." Mikasa noted, causing Armin to blink in surprise. "It stepped over me and attacked other titans. And…"
"Look! Something's happening to that titan!" Sasha shouted in the background, causing the cadets to turn their attention to the titan as the sharp-eyed if eccentric girl noticed movement in the titan's neck.
And as Sasha pointed at the titan… A form emerged from the titan's neck.
"...Eren?" Armin whispered, just as shocked as Reiner and Bertolt were- But where other cadets of 104th were stunned to silence, Mikasa had already launched the hooks of her maneuver gear and jumped off the building, swing-boosting herself to the fallen titan.
Mikasa stared at Eren, who was poking out of the titan's neck like a bone out of a wound.
Before Mikasa even registered her own body's movements, she was hugging Eren with a desperate grip, wishing against all hope that the Eren she held was real and not a figment of her feverish, numb mind.
Eren's body felt warm in her hands, his heart beating with calm rhythm…
"Mikasa!" Armin's voice came to Mikasa's ears and she realized that she must have been hugging Eren's unconscious body for a good minute or few, and Armin had used his 3D-maneuver gear to travel and land near Mikasa, with Reiner and Bertolt in close pursuit, albeit two tall men were looking quite nervous and were gripping their anti-titan blades with shaky grip, occasionally glancing at each other as if they were trying to communicate wordlessly.
The caution was warranted as a pair of titans, a three-meter and a nine-meter one, waddled into the courtyard of the garrison HQ, near where Eren's titan body lay against a building.
However, it looked as if the newcomer pair of titans were no longer as single-mindedly after Eren's titan form as they had been, possibly due to the fact Mikasa had pulled Eren entirely out of the titan body and caused the discarded body to begin disintegrating- Or perhaps the titan pair's distraction was due the fact Sasha had rallied the cadets of 104th who remained on the roof of the garrison building, and were now shouting insults and throwing rocks at the titans in the courtyard to draw their attention away from Eren and Mikasa.
"How… Eren?" Armin looked at Eren in a mixture of wonder, shame, and utter confusion as he saw that the boy's arm had regenerated after being bitten off earlier. Armin grimaced as he put his hand against Eren's temple and realized that his skin was so hot that it almost burned Armin's hand. "Eren is feverish. We need to get him out of here. I think we should alternate who carries him, since we need to conserve the gas of our maneuver gear if we intend to scale the Walls. It… It looks like Garrison has already closed the rear exit-gate of Trost. We have to try to use Maneuver Gear to reel ourselves up the walls."
"...But why would Garrison blockade the exit already? There's a lot of civilians here still- Don't the Garrison realize they're condemning them all to death by closing the gate now?" Reiner scrunched his eyebrows, and then his eyes widened in realization. "Ah… They thought the Armored Titan would show up again and break the back gate, so they closed and reinforced the gate before it could show up, sacrificing the citizens?"
"That… sounds like how the Garrison would think." Bertolt looked quite pale as the tall man spoke while looking at the scene of carnage that Trost had become. The man looked pale and was shaking quite hard, as the sight around them was clearly sapping his strength as well as his courage. "But we need to get going or we'll get swarmed. Now."
Mikasa nodded, hoisted Eren to her shoulder as stably as she could, and launched one of her maneuver gear's hooks at the garrison building in the distance. "Let's refill our tanks at HQ, and start moving towards the walls."
"Right!" Armin followed Mikasa's example as the black-haired girl used the 3D-gear to reel and boost herself back to the building they had come from.
Reiner and Bertolt glanced at each other for a brief moment before following.
"Ahhh! I'm so glad you guys made it out okay." Sasha, a brown-haired eccentric glutton of a cadet-girl of 104th, was wringing her hands nervously as Mikasa and the others landed on Garrison HQ's roof. "I… would have followed but I got stomach cramps and… Well…"
"It's fine, you helped draw the titans away from us. Right?" Armin tried to reason with Sasha, who looked ill to the point that it looked as if she'd throw up at the slightest provocation. Meanwhile Mikasa merely sent Sasha a neutral, if slightly exasperated glare and then returned to nursing Eren.
"Don't just stand there, start hauling gas canisters and fill up your 3D-gear- Looks like the way to the wall has been cleared by that abnormal titan, we all need to top up and get going before we lose the chance to get away! Don't you want to see your families again?!" Reiner started giving orders to the cadets who looked quite uncertain and were staring at Eren, who had just been pulled out of Titan's neck, but the orders from Reiner pulled the cadets away from gawking and to more productive tasks. A glare from Mikasa sped up the matters, as no-one was particularly keen on becoming enemies with the pretty-yet-incredibly dangerous girl.
The screams from the civilians of Trost drew the attentions of the cadets soon after, however, as the high vantage point of the garrison HQ allowed, or rather, forced the young soldiers to witness the civilians being eaten by titans all around the district. Yet, they were all forced to merely watch instead of intervening, as the remnants of the Corps lacked the strength or the numbers to stop the atrocity that was happening all around them and it was worthless to even try when the exit-gate was sealed anyway.
"Look! The… The civilians are…" Connie pointed at the direction of Trost's exit gate which led to safety of Wall Rose, had it not been closed off prematurely by Garrison forces.
The mass of civilians were pushing against the gate and themselves like rivers leading to a lake, yet for vain as the ones who discovered the gate was closed were no longer in position to turn around and look for safety elsewhere as they were trapped by the mass of people pushing towards the gate.
"Hey, don't look." Ymir put her hand over Krista's eyes as the blonde girl began to shake like a leaf on an autumn tree after seeing the horror that unfolded all around them.
Sasha vomited the rest of her breakfast over the edge of garrison HQ's roof as she saw that the civilians at the gate were being crushed to death by the collective push of the desperate civilians behind them- And the titans were following the flow of civilians, causing the streets to run red with blood.
Reiner let out a hiss of frustrated anger while Bertolt paled and began shaking like a leaf as they saw a fifteen-meter tall titan with the face like a newborn child wobbling towards the civilians at the blocked-off gate.
The fifteen-meter titan reached down, and grabbed a woman who had just pushed her daughter away from the titan's hand, and the titan brought the caught woman's head into its maw… And bit down
The limp body of the woman followed the half-bitten off head into the titan's maw, accompanied by the screams of the dead woman's daughter and then the daughter herself.
"Bastards…" Connie shook in anger as he muttered curses towards the titans, but couldn't bring himself to charge forward.
It would take the cadet almost half a tank of gas to get to the civilians, and if he did, nothing would change- At best he'd delay the inevitable by a few seconds by engaging the titans in melee, as the gate was closed and thus any salvation for the civilians was gone.
…At least, that was the case until something that felt like an instrument made out of screams let out a sound that manifested as a red beam of light.
The red, screaming light pierced through the blockaded exit gate of Trost.
An explosion of red followed, followed by a billow of dust and debris that shot out from the now-unsealed gate-tunnel, sending the civilians who had been crushed against the gate either flying or tumbling away, dead- But the number of those who had fallen were dwarfed by the number of civilians who suddenly flooded through the blown-open gate in a desperate attempt to escape the doomed district.
The cadets of 104th stared at the flow of civilians that began to drain into the gate-tunnel after the dust fell, all the while the Titans were constantly massacring those at the rear who couldn't get to the opened gate faster.
"...The gate… was destroyed?"
It wasn't quite clear who amongst the cadets had spoken the words that everyone had thought- The fact that the Garrison had sealed the exit prematurely was a disaster, an atrocity and an utter failure by Trost's Garrison commander, but the fact the gate that led to the inside of Wall Rose was destroyed entirely…
…Was a prelude to the destruction of all mankind.
Armin was among the first to turn around, tracing the path of the red light to its source…
"...It's…" Armin stared at the source.
"...A titan?" Ymir, one of the cadets of the 104th, commented as she too saw the source of the beam.
There was a twelve-meter tall titan standing on top of Wall Maria, facing down at Trost District on the very spot where the Colossal Titan had looked over the wall mere hours prior before it had broken the entry gate to Trost and let the Titans into the district.
"...A titan climbed the wall." Sasha sounded hysteric as she spoke. "I'm just having indigestion and this is all a bad dream, right? H-hehe, Ymir, could you punch me in the shoulder? I'm dreaming, this is all a nightmare, right? Owch! That huwt!"
Armin barely heard Sasha squeak in pain as Ymir punched Sasha in the rough direction of her shoulder out of instinct without even turning to look at her, resulting in Sasha getting punted in the face. However, Armin was too preoccupied in analyzing the wall-climbing titan to worry about Sasha's plight.
The titan which had climbed the wall had legs that were bent backwards, its entire form was unnatural, and from the distance it looked as if it wore some sort of armor while wielding strange implements that eerily reminded the cadets of their very own mechanical 3D-maneuver gear- Only, the metal titan's 'gear' was even more eccentric than that, with strange implements held in its arms and mounted on its shoulders.
"...That titan blew up the gate." Reiner sounded more confused than the other cadets had ever heard him being, leading to an almost infectious spread of despair amongst the ranks as until now nearly everyone had seen Reiner as more or less an unshakeable giant amongst them…
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"-...It looks like that gate has crumbled. I think you did the right thing, Raven.-" Ayre's voice echoed inside 621's head as Loader-4 cooled the Coral Rifle after firing a stage-two concentrated beam at a gate in the distance. "-Those people were trying to escape, I wonder why the gate was closed…-"
"..."
"-You're right. It doesn't matter now.-" Ayre's voice cleared of doubt. "-Raven. I've analyzed some of these… giants that have gathered here. I'm getting a Coral response from them. It's almost as if they've been infected with Coral and grown to massive size, like the Mealworms that Rubiconians grew for food. For some reason they've amassed here, into this… fortification?-"
"-...Still, why is there Coral in these giants… I'm conflicted…-" Ayre sounded uneasy. "-This place is not Rubicon, so it doesn't make sense to grow people into this size for no reason… And it doesn't seem they are sane. The Coral must have driven them mad, even more insane than the Dosers… Or the method of injecting Coral was different. I believe that the Mealworms were directly fed Coral for them to grow into massive size…-"
"-Raven. We should investigate this. I think, if you opened some of those giants and scanned them, I could try piecing together a database of them and try to figure out why I am getting a Coral response from them.-" Ayre sounded slightly uncertain as she spoke. "-We haven't been able to get into contact with Walter or Carla, or anyone else yet, so I know we don't have a standing mission right now… So… could I request this mission from you, Raven?-"
"..."
"-...I'm glad. …Hm… It's been a while since we've been alone on a mission, just the two of us.-" Ayre's voice grew slightly sly. "-...I think I like these sorts of missions, do you?-"
621 didn't answer as Loader-4 jumped down from the wall, igniting the 'core's boosters and gliding down until the 'core landed on top of a humanoid giant's head and crushed the fleshy thing under its weight.
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"...What the heck? W-what the heck?" Connie vocalized what everyone was thinking as the abnormal metal titan jumped from the wall with spring-like motion and glided down with assistance of what looked like a flame-based form of 3D-maneuver gear, with the exception of having no grapple-hooks and instead having far stronger boosters to compensate. "The Titans have 3D-gear now?!"
"But- that means Pie- eh- Cart- erm- Well, that's… new. I've never heard of a Titan which could use equipment before." Reiner looked very pale and shaken, but shook his head to clear it, causing some of the cadets to regain their nerve as the blonde man broke out of his stupor. "The plan hasn't changed- we… we need to resupply and get ready to climb the wall to escape! We'll get trampled if we try to go through the gate now…"
"Sasha! Please, we don't have time for-" Krista pleaded in the background, prompting Mikasa and Armin to glance at the scene of Sasha stuffing her face with a piece of bread that she had found from somewhere, with a big black circle around her eye as a result of Ymir's 'missed' punch.
"Shushup! I'm nof dying wif mouf tashing of puke! I'fm goingf to fie, I'll fie wif ma belly full!" Sasha 'responded' while stuffing her noise-hole with pieces of bread that looked quite old, as well as somewhat suspect-looking potatoes that the glutton-girl had pulled out from Walls-know-where.
"I'm pretty sure we could use the potato girl's giant ass to plug the hole in Wall Rose if we let her eat as much as she wants before dying." Ymir knocked Krista on the head with her knuckles to draw the tiny blonde girl's attention away from Sasha. "Leave her, Krista. She can stay to eat all the rations if she wants, and when she's alone, she can eat the titans too. Pretty sure she'll chip a tooth on that metal bugger though."
"But…" Krista pleaded to Ymir, causing the two to bicker a bit- Krista with desperation to mask her despair, and Ymir with resigned exasperation to mask her own.
Sasha, meanwhile, seemed to have lost all reason after getting punched in the face by Ymir and seeing the cannon-armed 3D-gear wearing metal titan, as she ran off and disappeared from the rooftop, down the stairs that led down to the Garrison HQ's interior… and its pantry.
"Sasha!" Connie made a move to chase after the brunette, but Reiner grabbed his arm and stopped him in his tracks. "Wait, Reiner- We have to-"
"We don't have the time to try to talk sense into her. If she wants to die here then she can. Alright! Everyone, get ready to boost towards the wall in the east direction! If someone falls or gets grabbed, don't stop for them, or you'll get eaten as well!" Reiner started giving orders to the cadets while keeping Connie in tight hold to prevent the boy from running after Sasha. "Bertolt and I will be rear guard with Eren! Mikasa, you can lead the way- You're the best fighter amongst us so you can clear what titans remain on our path, and I'm the strongest so I can carry Eren with ease! All of you! Once you reach the wall, scale it up with the Gear, and don't look back! If I or Bertolt get grabbed, do not stop for us!"
Mikasa didn't look happy with the plan as it would separate her from Eren, but she grabbed her blades and rose to her feet after glancing at Eren's feverish and unconscious face, intent on getting Eren out as soon as possible even if it meant separating herself from Eren for a moment.
"...If that titan can attack the gate all the way from the top of the wall, and just jump over it with that titan-gear…" Armin's head was almost visibly steaming from thinking the situation over- At least until he saw the metal titan lift the strange weapon-thing in its right arm again, pointing it at the garrison HQ. "It's going to attack again! Scatter!"
The large contraption in the metal titan's right arm let out a sound like an eerie, prolonged scream of a dying person, or perhaps the beam of red light that it launched made the sound as it passed.
A five-meter titan that had been climbing the side of the Garrison HQ flopped down limply, its head and neck blown out by the red beam before the beam dissipated- But this time the beam did so without causing an explosion.
"What- That thing is attacking the titans too?" Armin snapped out of his stupor immediately. "It's- if-"
"...Is it like Eren, then?" Mikasa finished Armin's words, causing Reiner's barking of orders to gag a bit as if the man had swallowed his tongue and needed time to cough it back out.
"Do you know what that is?" Jean came into the conversation and asked Armin the question as soon as Mikasa had spoken, with the tall blonde squad leader of his now-mostly defunct team looking at Armin with eyes that were both determined and waiting. Waiting for Armin to come up with a plan to save them all, like before when Armin's plan had enabled the cadets to reach the besieged Garrison HQ when they had ran out of gas earlier in the fight… At the cost of a large portion of Jean's team's lives as distraction.
Yet, for Jean to still look at Armin for guidance…
"I- I don't know, do you?" Armin turned his eyes towards Jean, and then towards Reiner who shrugged, calm again, and finally glanced at Bertolt who had frozen still while staring at the metal titan, seemingly hoping that as long as he didn't move then the Titan wouldn't see him, and blinking in oddly erratic manner.
"I have no clue what that is, which is why I asked you, but it doesn't look like a titan. Not a normal one anyway." Jean noted with a steady tone of voice, even if the delivery was somewhat muddled by the fact his hands were shaking so much that he barely managed to return his anti-titan blades into their holsters at his hips. "Dunno if these blades do much against that kind of armor… Think we should do the same thing as we did with, er, 'Eren' and wait for that thing to run out of steam?"
"I think… W-why am I making the decisions?" Armin squeaked.
Before he could say more a loud BANG rag in the Trost, prompting the cadets to look over and see that the metal titan had skewered a fleshy fifteen-meter titan with what looked like a rod of iron that had been extended from the large box-thing in the metal titan's left arm, which had then either vented something or exploded outwards as there was a massive, completely disproportionated gaping hole around the titan's back where the metal rod had come out of.
However, the nape of the fifteen-meter Titan's neck was intact and it attempted to bite the metal titan, prompting the latter to use the metal spike as a hook to fling the blown-apart titan away and finish it with the red-beam firing contraption.
The metal titan then moved on to other targets with practiced, almost lazy ease, gliding around the streets on red-flamed gas-boosters with such ease that it made 3D-maneuver gears seem janky and cumbersome in comparison, and occasionally jumping so high into the air that it nearly reached the top of the walls again. But instead of landing on the wall the metal titan used the height to spot nearby titans, and fire at them with the beam-launching contraption.
"...Armin, I'm asking because you look like you have a plan." Jean told Armin, breaking the cadets out of their stupor. "You're the quick thinker amongst this whole bunch. The civilians are getting out now that the gate is no longer sealed. And that metal titan is fighting, but not against us it seems. Should we still try to escape or… what?"
"I…We should…" Armin looked around, gulped, and realized that the cadets were all looking at him- Even Reiner, who had been preparing the cadets to punch through the opening that Eren's titan-form had given them and climb up the wall with maneuver gear.
There was a scream in the distance that came to an abrupt stop, driving Armin's sense of urgency past his feverish feelings of inadequacy in face of the monstrous task that he was faced with- Making a plan that would likely result in all of their deaths.
Armin closed his eyes… And opened them, pushing aside the shame he felt for locking up when everyone was looking for the help that his mind could give them- Even if he himself didn't believe himself to be capable of giving them the guidance that they sought.
Armin came between Reiner and the cadets, and spoke to the entire group after Reiner lifted his eyebrow at Armin and took a step back, informally giving Armin the command of the situation after Bertolt had looked at Reiner and had shaken his head in a dejected manner.
"The situation is dire. Both the entry gate and the exit gate of Trost have been destroyed." Armin began his speech while his mind whirred to the point of exhaustion, analyzing their chances and the situation. "However, because the exit gate has been destroyed, we cannot flee anymore- Not because we don't have the ability to do so, but because we have a duty to stay- To cover the evacuation."
There were murmurs amongst the cadets who realized that their escape plan was about to change into a plan of an attack that would carry risk of certain death, but Reiner sent the cadets a sharp look which quieted them down.
"That metal titan targeted and destroyed the gate but not the people around it, so it isn't driven by feral instinct like other titans. Moreover it had intelligence to aim for the gate, but we don't know if it meant to destroy the gate in order to let the Titans invade Wall Rose, or if it destroyed the gate to allow the civilians to evacuate, so we should not assume its intentions quite yet. It might be allied to the Colossal titan that broke the entrance gate to Trost, or… this might sound strange… it might be neutral or even possibly an ally? It shot the beam-weapon it had at the other titans, aiming at their neck, so there's a chance that it's abnormal in the same way Eren's titan was." Armin turned and looked at the sight of the strange metal titan that was boosting and moving around with fluid ease on the cobblestone roads of Trost, occasionally firing its beam weapon at other nearby Titans. "...However, the regular titans are still threatening the evacuation, and need to be delayed. And once the civilians have gotten away, we need to hold the line until the Garrison can do something to block off the hole in the wall… Assuming they can do so."
Armin's expression was grim, as was everyone else's as they knew that what Armin described was a suicide mission in all but name. Mikasa, however, didn't bother looking up as she was busying herself by wiping Eren's sweating face with a rag as the boy hadn't yet regained consciousness.
Armin spared a glance at Eren and his expression hardened to determination as he saw Eren's helpless state. "We should grab as many gas bottles as we can and set up a refilling point near the gate for when we run low on gas. We can get the wounded out easier through the gate as well. The titans are going to be on their way, but now the people have a way out."
"And Eren? He has to be taken somewhere safe." Mikasa voiced without stopping her tending to Eren's feverish state.
Armin's expression became complicated. "Yes. Ah… Someone must stay and look after Eren in the meanwhile- He's… I mean, the fact he managed to… take control… of a titan somehow means that he will be instrumental in taking back Trost, or failing that, in blocking off the exit gate to Wall Rose so that we don't lose Wall Rose as well! Twenty percent of humanity died when we lost Wall Maria and had to fall back to the confines of Wall Rose… That tragedy cannot be allowed to repeat! Mikasa is… she's the most skilled among us, so she should be the one to protect Eren- If… If Eren can control that titan form once he wakes up, he'll be far more important to humanity's future than any one of us!"
The cadets, pale and shaky, nodded their agreements with some with more hesitation than others.
"...Fuck, I just wanted to join the police force…" One of the cadets sniffed out while pressurizing their 3D-gear from a large gas tank that had been brought up from the basement of the Garrison HQ. "Why us… Why this day…"
"...And that metal titan?" Jean asked, pointing his finger at the metal titan in the distance.
Said metal titan dodged a cannon shell lobbed at it from the top of the wall Rose, as wall-mounted cannons manned by Garrison soldiers were bombarding titans with feverish haste to contain the flood of titans into the city, and seemingly some gunners found themselves either courageous or foolish enough to take a crack at the metal titan.
"Oh." Armin stated with an empty feeling in his chest as he saw the metal titan return fire against the wall-mounted artillery, launching a dozen or so vertical streaks of flare-like fire from its shoulder. The streaks curved down to strike the wall-mounted anti-titan artillery-carts with accuracy that was borderline magic, and with explosive results.
The top of the walls became shrouded in fire, smoke and death in an instant as the smoke-trailing projectiles split up to individually hit the cannons that were strewn across the top of the wall. Several shredded, burning bodies of the gunners and pieces of destroyed cannons fell down to the district below, while the survivors amongst the gunners fled their guns and posts in terror after the metal titan's unexpectedly powerful retaliation.
There was a collective whimper among the cadets as an entire section of humanity's top-of-the-line anti-titan technological marvels was taken out in an instant.
"...We'll just have to hope for the best, and hope it won't come for us." Armin spoke the words that were more or less shared in the thoughts of the cadets- Which was to stay away from the metal titan and hope that it would be content just killing regular titans.
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"-Raven. We may not get a resupply anytime soon. The architecture of this place suggests that this colony only has access to very primitive technology, so there may not be ammunition storages that we can raid or supply drones we could requisition. It might be prudent to be conservative with our remaining the missiles and grenades.-" Ayre noted as the VLS-12 Vertical Launch System's cells mounted on Loader-4's shoulder-slot finished their reloading cycle.
"..."
"-It doesn't seem that Pile Bunker is very effective against these Coral-afflicted giants. The giantism must have changed their biological makeup or structure. I… somehow remember that Coral-infused giant mealworms exploded if they were agitated, perhaps it is a similar mutation but in the opposite direction?…-" Ayre sounded quite confused as she spoke. "-How strange. It's as if I've seen those kinds of mealworms somewhere, but I can't… recall where.-"
"..."
"-You're right, Raven. This isn't the time to worry about that sort of thing.-" Ayre's voice collected herself. "-It seems that headshots have been effective at taking the afflicted humans down. I've not heard of Coral giving regenerative powers, but… I suppose it'd be possible. …Hm, I'm wondering… Could that regenerative Coral be used to refill your AC's generator or rearm the Coral Rifle? I… looked into the specs of your AC's generator and I noticed it runs on… ah… Coral, so….-"
"..."
"-...I'm only partially joking, Raven. Maybe we should give it a shot?-"
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Jean crashed down against the pebble street with a half-roll half-skid after his gas tank ran empty, making his maneuver gear all but useless.
However, his half-fall half-controlled descent had given him the opportunity to slash at the neck of a nine-meter titan that had bent down to grab a civilian girl who had been late to evacuate.
The dead titan steamed from the deep wound in the nape of its neck as Jean looked it over, trying to find the girl he had saved from the titan and guide her to safety… and he realized that the titan had fallen on top of the girl, crushing her dead.
"Fuck… fucking… monsters… DIE!" Jean fell on his knees and hit his fist against the cobblestones in sheer impotent frustration again, and again, until his knuckles bled from the strikes yet his mind still roared with anger towards the Titans. "I'll fucking kill them all… Is this how Eren felt when he said he wanted to kill all of those monsters? Shit… And I just laughed at him like a smarmy toad… Fuck…"
"Jean!" Armin landed near Jean, carrying spare canisters of gas in his armpits. The blonde tactician was not exactly mighty physically, so Jean and Mikasa had talked Armin into the role of a bottle-carrier, who would be carrying gas canisters to Cadets who had either ran out of gas during combat or were otherwise unable to reach the hastily made resupply point near the gate.
Normally the role of resupply carrier would be assigned to the support squad… But after the support squad had failed the cadets earlier by fleeing their posts and hiding in the Garrison HQ, not to mention the casualties they had suffered, meant that very few of the cadets felt like trusting the support squad to bail them out of trouble specifically as they were fighting so close to the gate.
In fact, several members of the support squad as well as some cadets had already fled their posts and joined the flood of evacuating civilians, desperately attempting to get away from the titans to the perceived safety of Wall Rose.
Of course, once the flow of fleeing civilians turned to either empty streets or to an ocean of blood, the titans would soon start pouring into Wall Rose as well, and the notion that safety could exist within the walls would be eradicated as well.
Armin recalled Mikasa, who had departed to carry Eren to the Garrison's hospital within Wall Rose, swearing to return once Eren was safe and cared for- But she had not returned, which was making Armin worried. But he could not lose himself to the worry, not after he had lost himself to doubt once before- When Eren had been devoured by a Titan in front of Armin, only for Eren to return to them in the form of a Titan later.
"Are you alright? Are you wounded?Jean! Snap out of it- We'll have time to… t-talk about this later?" Armin tried to rally Jean's spirits, but for all his tactical genius, Armin was not exactly a leader-type. However, as feeble as Armin's rallying cry was, it was still enough to draw Jean from his anger and self-loathing… If only to flick his finger against Armin's temple.
"...You'll need to work on heroic speeches once this is over." Jean cleaned the blood from his knuckles on the dead titan's disintegrating body. He then glanced down at the pair of small legs that were poking out from under the titan's corpse, which was the only part of the girl that retained a human shape. The rest of the girl's body had been crushed to an unrecognizable state by the titan's corpse
Jean's eyes grew glazed as he once again saw the consequences of his failure. "...I'm sorry."
"Jean, was she someone you… knew?" Armin asked carefully as he analyzed the sight while the blonde boy's eyes were sunken and dilapidated, much like the looks that the cadets had seen in the eyes of Scouting Corp's soldiers upon their return from a mission beyond the wall.
"Never seen her before. But… You're right. We don't have time to mourn our losses and failures now." Jean shook himself from his thoughts and took the canister Armin offered.
A sound of a huge crash accompanied the fall of a fifteen-meter titan who flopped over a house nearby, and ended up lying upside-down over it, with its head hanging by a thread after a anti-titan blade had nearly decapitated it in one mighty blow.
"Reiner!" Armin called as the tall blonde cadet landed nearby and put down a scared-looking young boy who he had been carrying over his shoulder.
"Run to the gate. Don't look back." Reiner knelt down to speak to the young boy. "Go, now."
The young boy let out a scared whimper-sniff, his face streaked with snot and tears, and the boy ran off without a word.
"Getting your good deed for the day, eh, Reiner?" Jean felt angry, impotent bile form in his throat at how effortlessly Reiner saved fleeing civilians and killed titans, and Jean contrasted it with his own failures. Contrasted the fleeing young boy saved by Reiner with the crushed, dead body of the girl that Jean had failed to save.
Jean's psyche strained under the guilt and realization that if he had trained harder, like Reiner, taken the Corps seriously instead of seeing it as just a farce that was necessary for applying to the Military Police… then perhaps the girl under the titan's corpse would still be alive. Perhaps Jean would have actually managed to save someone. If he had trained harder, worked harder…
"It's not… It's not like that, Jean. I just…" Reiner's answer to Jean's 'banter' was unusually shaky, his pupils dilated and face pale as the tall blonde man spoke, the calm facade having evaporated like a mask as soon the young boy Reiner had saved had run off. Armin ran to Reiner to offer him a fresh can of gas, which Reiner took immediately and swapped it into his 3D-maneuver gear. "...Don't die, Jean, Armin."
"I'm doing my best to avoid that. I'll still have to enroll into Military Police, can't do that from beyond the grave." Jean's mouth spoke words on instinct and on autopilot, with his mind somewhere else entirely. It was as if there were two people inside him: The green and untested Jean who could still banter with cocky ease while angling for the easy life of Military Police, and the battle-scarred Jean who could only stand in paralyzed shock and repeat hollow apologies to the crushed corpse of a civilian girl whom he had failed to save.
A pair of fifteen-meter titans stumbled into the street that Jean and Reiner were defending as part of their effort to 'secure the evacuation and hold the line before the exit gate out of Trost District', forcing both out of their internal despair and forcing them both to focus on the moment.
"I can distract them- I can boost in front of them and then change direction to the resupply point, and you two can try to hit those two's necks while they are distracted." Armin proposed and took a step backwards with the empty gas canisters under his arms, determined to return to the resupply point as soon as Jean and Reiner engaged the titans.
"...Shit. Two of them? And fifteen-meter ones?" Jean bit the inside of his cheek to stop his voice from betraying the clattering of his teeth as he stared at almost certain death in the face.
"I'll take the one on the left first. Jean, don't die. Go, Armin, whenever you're ready." Reiner either hid his terror better than Jean or the blonde man was almost glad to see the titans. "We'll take them down."
In quick retrospect Jean understood where Reiner's mood came from- After seeing the terror inflicted on the civilians around them by titans, having the chance to sink one's blades into the ones responsible was positively cathartic.
…Assuming one could stop their heart from feeling the terror caused by the approaching titans. And Jean for one couldn't stop his heart from hammering in his chest like the hooves of a galloping horse against pavement, fear of death overcoming his hatred of titans and making his hands feel cold and sweaty.
Normally it would take a squad of experienced soldiers with 3D-gear to take down a single fifteen-meter Titan, and even then over fifty percent casualties were the norm. For Reiner to speak so easily of taking down two with just three people, after taking down a fifteen-meter solo, made Jean's respect for Reiner's skill rise even higher, and his self-loathing ever more powerful in contrast.
A sudden, foreign hum that was like a gale of air blowing through a narrow pipe accompanied the sounds of metalling whirring in the distance- And the sound was quickly growing louder and stronger.
"Jean! Reiner! Get to the roof, now! It's the metal titan!" Armin was the first to deduce the source of the sound and the trio hurriedly launched the grappling hooks of their maneuver gear at the walls of nearby buildings, drag-launching themselves to the roofs so that they would not be caught unaware by the incoming metal monstrosity's advance.
The trio were just in time as well, as the twelve-something foot creature of metal and fire landed on top of one of the fifteen-meter titans, crushing the Titan's neck under the metal creature's reverse-jointed legs that resembled those of birds of prey more than those of humans.
It was the closest any of the three cadets had seen the metal titan, and all three of them realized almost immediately that there was no way the creature was a true titan in a way that they recognized titans- The metal creature's movements were made with purpose and precision, it's form much too alien to be a true titan, but most importantly, it was not mere armor that it wore- It was entirely mechanical, with joints visible through seams in armor, and it's back and legs had funnels like those in Maneuver Gear that enabled the metal creature to glide and maneuver with ease, even if it didn't seem to be capable of true flight.
Where the Titans were weapons of terror, the Metal Titan was a weapon of war.
The strange weapons the metal titan carried were utterly bizarre and resembled nothing seen before by any of the three cadets- But before the trio could do anything more than freeze for a moment in instinctive fear, the metal titan had driven the rod-weapon in it's left hand through the midsection of the remaining fifteen-meter titan.
"That kind of hit won't kill a titan. What is it doing… oh. Uh." Reiner was the first to comment as the metal spike of the rod-driver pierced through the fifteen-meter titan, snapping the titan's spine and sending a wave of fast-evaporating blood from the massive gaping exit hole, covering the nearby buildings with blood and chunks of sizzling meat.
However, instead of finishing the titan off with the beam-weapon in its other hand, like how the cadets had seen the metal titan move previously, the metal titan dropped the ranged weapon and grabbed the fleshy titan's head with its now-free hand.
The metal titan lifted the fleshy titan above it… And rend it in two, causing a flood of steaming-hot blood that covered the metal monstrosity as well as the street below it.
The not-yet dead half-of-a-titan screamed in agony as the metal titan tore into it, poking the carcass with the rod of the strange melee weapon, seemingly determined to torment the torn Titan to death and bathe in the titan's blood.
The cadets could only stare as the metal titan smeared the fleshy titan's steaming-hot blood all over its metal armor, almost as if it was using the titan's upper half as a showerhead of blood.
"..." Armin and Jean didn't quite know how to put into words what they saw, and a glance to the side showed that the metal titan's 'shower show' wasn't missed by some other cadets as well, nor by the few Garrison soldiers who had the courage to direct the evacuation effort from within the walls of Trost District. Or the Garrison artillery gunners who were trying to salvage what remained of the wall-mounted artillery, and thus had a first-rate view of the horror spectacle below.
Moreover… Reiner was blushing and covering his face in a mixture of genuine horror and… very strange emotion that looked almost like embarrassment.
Armin would have laughed at the absurd look on Reiner's face, if the situation wasn't so dire.
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"-...Huh, so the blood doesn't contain Coral… at least, not in the way that I think… But the spine does.-" Ayre's tone was curious and slightly uneasy as Loader-4 tossed off the broken, torn-apart giant after Pile Bunker snapped the giant's neck and caused its spinal fluid to splash onto the AC's helmet-piece, which contained the unit's scanner. "-I do not like the implications of this. However, it should be possible to gather Coral from the spinal fluid of those giants, and use it to refuel your rifle and the generator if we ever run low. Although, we will need to be more careful in the resupply than just… covering ourselves with it. But that should take care of the immediate issue of battlefield sustainability… However, your AC will still need repairs and maintenance soon. And you'll need rest, Raven. You've been in combat mode for a long time now.-"
"...Yes."
"-Hm… Well, we know that these 'giants' contain a form of Coral. It should be fine to withdraw for now. But…-" Ayre sounded contemplative in 621's head. "-...I can't reach anyone through your AC's communication suite, Raven, and we haven't seen humans around other than those giants, and now these villagers. We should probably try to see if they speak the same language, maybe we should try asking what planet we are on, or if they saw any ships landing nearby? There must be a reason why Snail and Arquebus dropped us here. Surely they wouldn't just release us with our AC after capturing us? Or maybe Carla or someone else saved us from captivity?"
"...Yes"
"-Do you know what happened after Snail captured us? My memories are… fuzzy.-" Ayre sounded slightly sheepish. "-The Shock Rifle must have affected me, somehow. Or maybe it was the fight against that C-weapon…-"
"...Escape."
"-Ah… So we escaped? You'll have to tell me what happened after we escaped from captivity, I can't remember any of it. I'm glad that Walter came through for you… ah… did Walter also manage to escape?-"
"...No."
"-...I see… haah…-" Ayre's sigh was a mixture of sadness and disappointment. "- I'm sorry for distracting you. We should focus on the moment.-"
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"...The wall guns have been destroyed." The current standing commander of Trost District's Garrison forces, Kitz Weilman, stated while he stared upwards at the line of wreckage that burnt on top of Wall Rose.
The bearded man's eyes had a permanent thousand-yard stare as he contemplated the situation from within Wall Maria, as he had ordered the Gate to Trost District be closed a long time ago- Only for it to be blown apart from the inside. "...Sabotage? It must have been sabotage, I heard that someone fired flares and the cannons exploded at the same time. The Gate as well… The enemies of mankind… They have infiltrated us. The flare was a signal. Someone must have placed explosives into the tunnel and to cannon emplacements. Trost… No, Wall Rose… is lost."
"With due respect, captain, if I may finish reporting what I've received… We've gotten reports that the Colossal Titan appeared outside Trost District a few hours ago, broke down the entry gate to Trost District, and disappeared without a trace." Rico Brzenska noted and adjusted her glasses as she had come to the captain in order to deliver reports from other Garrison squads. "In addition, I have reports that a… new type of titan has appeared. It seems to be capable of using some sort of cannon or equivalent ranged weapon, which it used to destroy the exit gate from Trost, according to a few cadets of 104th who witnessed the attack and managed to escape to this side of the Wall."
"..." Weilman's response was a noncommittal grunt, as if he had been so deep in his thoughts that he did not hear anything that Rico had said just now.
"Ahem…" Rico coughed to draw Weilman's attention. "As we speak Titans are pouring into Trost from outside, and as the exit gate is destroyed, then once the civilians are gone the titans will likely attempt to enter within Wall Rose as well. The engineers are suggesting we construct pikes and such to temporarily contain the titans before they reach the exit gate, and try to keep it that way until we can gather enough rubble and cement into the breach that it holds against regular Titans."
"...Hnngg…" Weilman's expression was fragile and strewn with sheer terror while he sweated from the news. "...Wall Rose is lost. We have to withdraw."
"The evacuation effort from Trost has resumed after the gate was destroyed- 104th Training Corps and Garrison Vanguard are covering the evacuation effort, and have reported numerous titan kills and catastrophic casualties. Keith Shadis, the instructor to 104th, reached the breach and began to coordinate the covering attempt, but since the 104th has suffered over fifty percent casualties it's likely they won't be able to hold the line for long." Rico continued despite Weilman's mutterings, all the while she eyed the burning top of the Wall Rose with wariness in her eyes. "We've… also had reports that the new type of titan has emerged, and has been engaging other titans."
"Hogwash. Those things don't work that way." Weilman grabbed Rico's shoulders and shook her. "Snap out of it- Our enemies have infiltrated Garrison to sabotage the wall cannons, and must have delivered some sort of explosive into the Gate to blow it up- They must have a hand in delivering the reports as well! They are trying to divide our attention and give false hope, perhaps even try to turn some of our soldiers to the titan's cause! Do not fall for their propaganda!"
"Yes, of course." Rico adjusted her glasses, which had become wonky after the captain had shaken her. "Release me, sir."
"Ah…" Weilman let go of Rico's shoulders and slumped his in turn. "...Have the Scouts heard our cry for help? Have they come to at least contribute something to prevent the fall of mankind?!"
"The signal flares we've launched have been returned in kind, and the Scouts have departed towards Trost district, but it may take them some time to reach us by horseback." Rico noted. "Several riders have departed towards the Scouts with reports of what has happened in Trost, so with hope and luck the Scouts might have developed some ways of blocking off the Titans when they get here… Although, this may just be wishful thinking on my part."
"We cannot afford dreams and delusions." Weilman's expression was hollow and empty as he stared at the Wall. "...Our role as Garrison is clear. Since the Titans and their allies broke both of the gates despite our best efforts… We can only flee and withdraw to the confines of Wall Sina."
"With all due respect, sir, there is one more thing." Rico noted. "It's related to one of the cadets of the 104th, Eren Yeager, who according to eyewitnesses was able to transform into a titan, but has since returned to a human form… We have trapped him in a corner, and…"
Weilman began to foam from the mouth.
