Chapter 14 : Identity Crisis .
"Petra! Fall in." Levi called out for his surbodinate who seemed to leave the formation to talk to someone.
"Y-Yes Captain Levi." She turned her horse and went back in line ,not before for she turn her head back to say farewell.
"Who was that ?" The humanity's strongest asked her when she was behind him
"Sir,do you know about the boy who lived in Titan's territory?
" The boy with the monkey tail?"
She turned back to see Oluo Bozada who had answered her question with another question.
" I'm telling you , Ilse never shut up about it." Her comrade continued , lifting his head "It kinda far fetched ,on my opinion, he would put the entire Scout Regiment into shame if that was true."
"Not really, Ilse said he built a treehouse." Said Eld "It would explain why the Titans couldn't get to him. It's not something too hard to execute if you think about it."
"Very resourceful" Commented Gunther. " I'd bet he used that tail of his to move from branch to branch easily."
"You too?" Grunted Oluo
"It's true ,Olou. Erwin has already briefed me about this." His Captain replied to his distress,then he turned to Petra . "What's he like?"
"Interesting." Before she could say anything ,Hange went ahead of her and decided to answer the question. The elite squad twisted their head to her direction,slightly recoil. "Imagine three years living in that forest, how many Titan's related information that he could have obtained. Oh my gods, can't you see? He is even more interesting than any abnormals!"
"Well,you're not going to talk to him now. But,I think I've spotted one abnormal." Levi said to the now drooling squad leader.
"Where ?Where?"
"Right over …...here" He patted on her head.
A scout was caught in a Titan's mouth,blood streamed out from his wound where the creature was bitting him. Under the lead of Commander Erwin,the Regiment's survival rate had improved. On the hand, excursions into Titans Teritories would always meet the deathtolls of thirty percent. This resulted from the overwhelming strength of the Titans, pushing all odds agaisnt humanity.
"One day-One day, you fuckers will be nothing more than a bad memory." The soldier grunted,thrusting his sword into the giant's cheek "Mankind will triumph. Mark my words,we'll be the last one standing."
Inretaliation,the titan deepened its teeth to his already injured waist ,forcing the soldier to scream in agony. But how fortunately for the Titan,his pains did not break him.
"You fuck,you and your kind shall be slaughtered by Captain Levi."
As he had finished his sentence, a hook flew in midair whistling throught the winds, skimmed the titan's nape. And Captain Levi restracted the cables, hehovered through the buildings blocks and finally cut through its nape,freeing the soldier. Spinning in the air,the captain made his land on a roof.
He strided on the rooftop and searched for another kill. He saw his targets, a 15 meters Titan walking on the street and two 15 meter far away.
His squad also landed on that roof,theỉ cloak heaved when they followed their captain.
"Captain,The reinforcement are here ,sir" Reported Petra
"Good ! Tend to our comrade down below,Petra." He ordered her and then to Eld and Gunther "You two , take out that titan to your right. The lovely couple on the left belong to me."
"Don't be scare ,big guy." Hange said to the mustached Titan she was about to kill "I won't hurt you,crossed my heart. I'll make it quick."
The Titan ignored what she said,it thrusted out it hand to grab her,but she dodge it. The Section Commander bursted into midair ,she pivoted back and sliced clean the montrosty's nape.
She landed on the ground ,blood vaporised on her cloak .
"See? Not a very painfull demise."
The captain of the Special Operation Squad walked towards the merry two Titans. He shot a cable and soared throught the air. His cable went almost around a Titan neck as he spinned himself toward ít nape ,sliced it. With out a rest ,he pivoted in midair, and leap to the next Titan . He swing his blade over his and thrusted them forwards as he ejected them. The shards flew directly to the giant's eyes, causing it to cover them in pain.
"Easy big stuff." Said Levi when he was on top of the poor creature's head "Nobody got times for a crybaby. Let's just take it like a man shall we?!"
He jumped up ,prepared his pair of swords,not forgetting to spin before mutilating the nape of his target. Didn't bother to admire his kills, Levi landed on the roof.
"Disgusting" He sighed when he looked at the blood that was vaporising on his hand and his weapon. He cleaned it off using his handkerchief.
"Captain, I-I can't stop the bleeding." pled the only female member of Levi's Squad when she saw her captain walked in. She was still giving pressure to the wound of her comrade.
"Capt..tain Levi" The wounded scout tried to speak .
"I'm here" He crouched down by him
"Did...did this...make a..different?" He used what was left of his breathes to speak to the captain,reaching out his hand . "Am I going to die without having been any help at all?"
Levi held the bloodied hand of the soldier.
"We made great strive today,comrade. Your strength won't die with you. We will finish what you've started." He comforted him ,reasured his faith "I sware on my life, we shall put an end to the titans."
"Captain, I'm sorry sir, he's gone." Said a tearfull Petra
"Did the man hear what I had to said,any of it?"
"Yes ,matter of facts,I think he heard all of it. Just look ,sir" She and Levi returned to their attention to the fallen one "He's now resting with relief on his face."
"That's good." He commented,showing no emotion like he always had. Both he and Petra stood on their and heard another voice and heaves.
"Levi." Called out Erwin Smith. "We're pulling out."
This was nothing than a bolt from the blue to Levi and Petra . With him and his team been risking their lives and had suffered casualties,pulling off the expedition seemed to be make their sacrifices in vain.
"What do you mean by that?" The short captain made his question "You damn well know that we could pust further. My men didn't die to pave a retreat!"
" There's a swarm of titans moving North" Their superior anwsered ,ignoring the attitude. "They're wreaking havoc in the city. It's just like five years ago. Something tells me this is going to be bad. For all we know the wall has already reduced to rubble"
"This is way worse than fighting the Titans"
Commented Gohan when he looked at the Garrison soldiers who were surounding them. Some pointed guns at them, but most had their ODM gear readied. Despite he and his friends agreement to keep Eren's Titan tranformation a secret, somehow these soldier still managed to discovered the truth ,or to be accurate,what they thought was truth. Without any hesitation,Mikasa unsheathed her blades and put herself in a defensive stance ,covering Armin who was knelling with Eren laying in his arms.
"Much ,much worse!" She added
"Mikasa,don't do anything stupid." Said Gohan who stayed composed . He blocked Miskasa with his right arm stretched,preventing her from any attemp to go forward.
"They're doing something stupid" She replied,Gohan's blockade proved to be unnecessary,for her not even had any attemp to go aggressive. "Pull out your sword,Gohan. We can take them down together if they make any move."
He touched the handles, following Mikasa's order. He was pulling the blades out halfway before dicided to stop, then sheathed them back almost instantly. Mikasa's action had already been an act of aggression to the Garrison, there was no need for him to worsen the situation. He would have to resolve this verbally.
"Let me handle this would you ?" He told Mikasa and turned to Captain Woerman "Sir , I believe this is some kind of misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding my ass ,you tailed freak." The captain's answer recoiled him "We saw him emerged from a body of a titan."
He pointed to Eren ,to whom Mikasa and Gohan turned back to look. Now,that explained it. The garrison must have observed Eren returning to his human form while they were on the wall. This information somehow disturbed Gohan. It made him wondered if the Garrision had seen the thing he did, the Kamehameha. Seeing how they were reacting to Eren's odd performance,he could imagine how they would react to his.
"Did you see anything else?" Asked Gohan.
"What do you mean when you say 'anything else'?" Asked a white-haired soldier.
"Did you see anthing else in paticular that happened before Eren's.?"
"Well,no." Woerman asnwered ,along with many others "Nah".
"That's good." The Monkey Boy whispered in relief,only to be startled when a soldier replied differently.
"Well,I did see you handled that titan when it about to crush you with it back, quite a sight to see if any of you want to ask" The said soldier found himself being shutdown by his captain.
"You need to shut the fuck up!"
Gohan felt a pat on his shoulder from Mikasa. He was doing well ,he now had a possitive opinion from one of the Garrison. Only a couple dozens more to go. Then he remmembered about commander Pixis wanted him to join the Garrison Regiment. He let out a sigh, he would have to break his promise to Erwin if he chose to use this to his advantage.
"I can vouch for Eren." Said Gohan "He killed nothing but titans. He'll be more than usefull to mankind."
"Ha ha ,who are you to vouch for him?" Kitz Woerman questioned him
"My name is Gohan Son" Hearing his answer,all of the Garrison troops recoiled back,with the exception of Woerman.
"Sir ,Gohan Son is the top of the 104th Trainee Corps. All his stats are greater than Levi's." Rico reported to her captain. "Commander Dot Pixis had to coaxed him for our Regiment personally. Doing him any harm could jeopardise his effort."
"Sir, if you let the four of us go right now ," The cadet said to the captain ,saluting. "then I promise you all ,by tomorrow ,I'll be wearing The Garrison uniform."
"He has a point!"
"That's a good deal."
"No, that Titan's still a threat."
"And he's a fucking god!"
"Don't fall for it ,guys. Can't you see he's trying to bribe us."
"Like you'd never taken one?!"
The argument that had been stirred up amongs the Garrison gave out a good sign that things are going up hills. Most of the Garrison now seemed to be more sympathetic toward the four. Gohan's remaining obstacles were the conservatives leftover who were conflicted. All the four need to do was not saying or doing things that may convinced them back to their original intention.
"I'll kill all of you."
'Dang it!' Gohan cream-faced when Eren words ruined all his effort to saving the team.
Eren had chosen a bad time to wake up. The boy who laid in Armin arms had opened his when Gohan and Miskasa decided to glance to him ,briefly.
"Eren!"
He terrified and gasped when he saw the people who were surronding them,wondering why they looked at him like that, like he was some kind of monster. It did not take him too long to notice that they're have they blades unsheathed ,readying their ODM Gears- the tools for titan killing.
"Look at me!" Armin said to him "Eren,hey,can you move?Do you hear me ?Say something. Listen you have to tell them 're terrified but they will understand."
"Did you get that,he said he gonna kill us all" No they will not.
"There's not much else you can make out of that." Added another soldier "Son of the bitch wants to eat us.."
"No,no,no,none of that!" Chuckled Gohan while he pled " He said that his head was killing him. See? He was unconscious, now he wakes up. It's normal to have a headache after being unconscious. "
"No ,he did not." Protested a soldier "He said 'I'll kill all of you' . We all heard it."
"That one, I can explain." Gohan pressed his palms together. "With you all terrified of him, somehow your brains deduced acording to your spychologies. It made you all hear 'I'll kill all of you' when it was supposed to be 'Aw, my head is killing me,you know'."
"Enough with your horseshit,Son." Woerman barked at him and then to his friends "Back to what I was saying. Cadet Eren Jeager ,Mikasa Ackerman,Armin Alert and Gohan Son. You four have jointly commited an act of high treason. Whether or not a swift execution as aresult is depends on you."
"What?" Eren could hide his confusion.
'Back right to the start.' Sighed Gohan 'Why did I even bother in the first place?'
"Any attemp to move from where you stand now,anything I deemed the least bit suspicous we be met with cannonfire."
"Pardon?" The demi-Saiyan turn his head to the wall behind,where already a cannon aimed directly at them on top of it. "What the HFIL are you think you doing?"
"Do Not Test Me!" The angry captain continued "Eren Jeager ,what exactly are you? Human or Titan?"
"Human ,he's human." Before Eren can get any more confused,Gohan jump right in his sentence and answered the question . "Last time I check he's omnivore."
"Last time I checked, I didn't ask you."
"I am his attorney" Gohan placed a palm on his chest. "I speak for him." He turned to Eren. "Please ,for the love of Dende, do not say anything."
"You're starting to get to my nerves ,you freak" Woerman raised his voice even higher "One more word from you and I order the cannon."
Apparently they did not have attorney in this world. This discovery had ended Gohan's hope of turning the table . Everything then depended on his frigthened and confused shape shilfting client.
"I'm sorry ,sir. I don't understand." Eren answered,that one was a wrong answer.
"Sunova bitch's playing innocent. Answer me damn you." As it turned out Eren was actually the one who got to his nerve. "Evasion will get you to nowhere. You don't stand a chance,you'll be blown to hell before you can assume your true form"
"What true form?"
"Please,we have many witnesses. We all saw you emerging from within a titan."
The cadet was still dazed in mor confusion when the captain continued. All Eren saw was the captain mouth opened and closed as he speak, his brain was too focus on comrehencing the captain's reply that it neglected on his hearing.
His tailed comrade was even more dazed ,his eyes wide open when he see all of hissupporters turned they their cloaks . Even Rico,who convinced his captain to accept his deal only seconds later,now the one who was confindent about killing them.
"My strength lies in slicing off flesh" Miskasa step up "If I'm force to desmostrate,I'll show no hesitation. If any of you wish to exprerience this personally. Feel free to approach me."
Gohan let out a sigh and showed off his distinctive stance.
"Shouldn't have come to this."
One of the soldier came up to his commander and shispered to him,Gohan regconised him ,it was Ian Dietrich,the commander of the rear guard.
"Sir,she is Miskasa Ackerman,one of us elite in the rearguard. And Gohan was the only survivor of the Vanguard. Those two alone worth a battalion of soldiers. Losing either of them would be a desvasting loss to mankind. And I think you should consider Gohan's deal,Commander Pixis wouldn't be happy if we destroyed his candidate with a cannon."
"Gohan,Miskasa,you guys can take 'em all on" Armin called out to his friends " Even if you took down a few,there's nowhere left for you to run."
"I have treehouses in Wall Maria."
Everyone was petrified when they heard Gohan answer. They were glared at him like he was some sort of strange object ,his friends were no exception.
"What?"
"Oh ,yeah,right. Uhm,you guys know about what the newspaper said? About that 'Boy found in Titan country'? That boy was me." He chuckled while he scratched his head . "I thought you all know about this."
Even though being informed about Gohan's experience after Shinganshina ,Miskasa and Eren were still a bit recoiled about how Gohan said it out so casually. They did not have many chances to ask him further about it. Considering the current circumstances ,they didn't think they had any chance at all.
"How?" Asked Woerman
"I built treehouses and the Titans are not very active at night." He received his answer almost instantly "So I gathered and hunted when night falls. Oh by the way, I kinda ate all the live stocks down south."
"I see how it is. You're both alike." The captain pointed at Gohan and Eren "This explains you inhuman apptitude and why the Titan didn't eat you back then."
"Now you're just being riddiculous"
"I'M HUMAN" Screamed Eren,which ended the argument.
"So you say. You've left me no choice." He said as he raised his arm ,signaling the canon "Forgive me,but when push comes to shove, all of us are monsters."
The four all saw this and quickly reacted. They could hear Mikasa yelling.
"Gohan ,grab Armin,head to the wall." She was in such a hurry that she dropped her blade as she sprinted and grabbed Eren. "I got Eren"
"Aww,Crap...Baskeeets!" He quickly followed and picked up Armin.
He looked at the cannon while he carried Armin. He thought up something about it,starting with kicking the ball away himself,that could only work if it was a regular one ,but according to the Garrisons this one was a High Explosive one,which would kill him if he tried such thing. He then thought about firing a ki blast at it, he waved his arm to the cannon but ended up with no result.
He could hear the captain waved down behind when he heard the wind flaped throught his sleeve. Without any seccond thought , The first earth-born saiyan rushed to Eren and Miskasa and swung Armin down beneath then hold the three of them under him as he shielded them . Gohan focus all his Ki into his back as the cannon crew fired their weapon. He felt Eren jerked off his embrace when the cannonball went at them.
The ball made it impact,the explosion it made deafened and rumbled the entire surrounding areas. Gohan's last thought was about his mother ,Bulma. No ,that was not his mother ,that was Trunk's,and she was Vegeta's wife. Was that not him? No,Vegeta was his father. No ,Vegeta was the planet he blew up. Wait,when did he blow up a planet?
"Marco,I've had enough." This was Daz "I Can't fight the Titan anymore."
Behind the walls the soldiers were put on stand by,which subsequently not a good idea. The waiting itself had been decreasing the soldiers morale to fight on ,if they had any left.
"What are you talking about?" Asked Marco
"My friends were devoured right in front of me."Daz tearfully answered,kneeling and grabbing Marco jacket . "And I didnt grieve or angry seeing them die like that . I was just thankful from the bottom of my heart that it was not me. Oh my gods, is it our job to keep fighting until we be eaten ? If that how it is then I rather be the one who..."
The scared soldier drew out his blade in an attemp to take his own life,but he failed when Marco decided to stop him.
"Get a hold of yourself! Everyone is battling with fear,you know!" Then he indicated to Sasha "Just look Sasha! She's still swinging even after everything that's happened"
The to Marco's supprise ,she held her belly and screamed.
"My belly hurt,can I be marked down as casualty?"
And Daz continued his attemp while Marco deperately tried to stop him.
Witnessing the incident from afar was Jean,Reiner ,Bertholdt and Annie. Ealier when they joint up with the other cadets who retreated inside Wall Rose. They had been questioned about wht had happened, they did tell about Gohan and the gang survival,but kept Eren's Titan ability a secret. Much could not be said about Gohan's though ,t seemed to be that Connie and survivors from the Supply Depot could not shut their mouthes about it. Although believing in Gohan's survival did increased their morale but on the other hand ,everyone was not very convinced about the story about Gohan's Kamehameha. They came to realise that not giving out Eren's secret was a good idea since it would spread chaos and panic among the troops.
Their thought then disrupted by an explosion ,coming from inside Wall Rose.
"Cannon Fire?"
"But why only one shot?"
"Look ! There's smoke."
A Garrison soldier pointed at a direction where there was smoke poring out. The finding of it origin caused chains panic and disbelief among them.
" It came from inside the Walls"
"What the fuck?"
"Was the flood gate been breached?"
"It's the strongest part of the Wall,there's no way!"
"They must have accidently dropped a HE shell."
Knowing exactly where it was,however,Reiner started to become worried. He shot up a hook and glided upward. Annie ,Bertholdt and Jean followed him. They all running toward the smoke ,roof to roof.
Steam and smoke was pouring out non stop from where the cannon fired. Half a titan disintegrating carcas was revealed over it,giving the Garrison nothing but shocks. Then ,it moved.
"My memory was up to the cannon fire."Armin was still shaking due to the bombardment and the present of the Titan "Then there was a crash,impact and heat. We're insside a Titan..."
"Eren protected us." Miskasa interupted him before she turn to Gohan "Are you okay?"
Not anwsering her, the monkey boy montionlessly kneeled with his arms supporting him. The boy was thinking about something.
"Hey,you guy okay?" Eren approached them .
"Eren,what is this" Asked Armin
"No idea. But it's evaporating already." He answered "Just like a Titan's corspe"
"I don't know what to do in this situation any more. They're hesitating. They can't see us through this." He continued "I don't think I can talk our way out this after showing them this. It reminds me of something though."
He showed his basement key
"This is the key to the basement of my house. Dad said I'd understand everything if I went there. He the one who did this to me. I'll learn the truth about the Titans if I get there."Then he punch the a ribb of the Titan "Fuckin' damn it,The Scouts have been dying left and right finding an answer deep inside the Titan's territory. And the fuckin' answer is in my fuckin' basement?"
"Eren,we have other things to worry about." Miskasa patted on his shoulder.
The Titan colasped after the trio decide to relocate admisdt the smoke. The fall sent another cloud of dust spread further.
"Gohan! Gohan!" Eren tried to shake Gohan back to his feet to no avail,the half-saiyan did nothing kneeling still in the exact position "Get you shit together,I'm leaving this place."
"Leave?Where to?"Puzzled Armin "How?"
"Anywhere but here. I'll climb the damn wall and head to my appartment. Gohan mention treehouses in Wall Maria that he built . I'll have my rest there on the way."
"What about mom?" Asked Mikasa
"Hannes should be able to take care of her. I don't think she'd want a Titan for a son." He answered "I don't know how I can do it,it just like when people can't explain how they can mve their hands. Back there , I was only focused on blocking the cannon. That's why only the left arm has muscle and that's also why the titan quickly fell apart."
Ignoring what Eren would continue to discuss,Armin shift his mind to something else. There was no sign of the Garrison to launch a close quarter attack. If there had been ,Mikasa would have picked up on it faster than a stray cat. Not to mention,some would be hospitalised by Gohan. It would take 20 seconds to reload the cannon. If Eren tried to carry out his plan ,he be deemed as a criminal forever. He then rethought his life,he was nothing but a reliabilty to his friends.
"Eren ,I.." Mikasa words disrupted his thought
"Wait,Mikasa." Eren cut in "I did mention that I had Ideas in mind ,didn't I"
Then he continued.
"Armin,I'll leave everything for you to decide." This sentence puzzled the bolnd "I'm fully aware of how unrealistic my plan is. It'd be the most effective to use this Titan power under the army's command. This might sound stupid,but I think you can convince them that I'm not a threat."
"Why would you entrust me with such a decision?'
"The worse the situation is,the better your decisions are,you know?" Replied Eren. "I'm willing to bet in that."
But before Armin could make any response,Gohan voice interupted him. Actually,it startled everyone .
"IMA FUCKING LIQUIDFY YOU!"
And then charged toward Woerman,who,allong with his subordinates ,gasped in shock.
A soldier could not control himself as he instinctively burst forward with a trail of gas followed him. Six other tried to get a hold of him ,but ended up giving a quick curse and followed.
The first Garrison soldier to the fray swung his blades down to Gohan. The monkey boy quickly hit the flatsides with his elbow,shattering it. Gohan threw a punch to the soldier face with the exact arm that shattered his blades. His fist sent the soldier to the ground,saying fairwell to all of his teeth.
"You petulant!"
The two next soldiers did not get to make any attemp to swing their weapons at him. Instead, one found Gohan knee hit his stomach while the other one got knocked out by an elbow to the back of his head.
"Impudent!"
He then confronted a trio of soldiers, who were quicky dealt with when Gohan grab two of them and smashed their heads together and then he used them as leverage to two footed jump kick another in the chest.
"Contemptous!"
The last one took it easier than the rest when Gohan just simply shoved him to the ground.
"WHORES!"