To say that Hanna and Franz were struggling with their work… would be an understatement, really.
Neither were particularly strong when it came to their swings, nor were they fast, agile or flexible when in combat. They didn't even crack the top 50 amidst the ranks of the 104th Brigade, and by all accounts… they could be considered dead weight, even if Keith Shadis had been kind enough to proclaim them otherwise.
Still though, whilst they were below average when it came to their skills, the duo did make up for it by being decent enough Titan bait, as their movements kept the attention of the Ten metre Titan they were combatting quite well. Its gaze seemed to be affixed onto Franz in particular, who narrowly dodged a swing of its right arm as it attempted to grab at him, and in retaliation, the young man swung his blade at its outstretched arm, slashing at it with enough force to give it a deep cut, though not deep enough to render it immobile.
"Damn it!" groaned Franz as he boosted back from the Titan, which stared at its arm blankly whilst he retreated. It seemed rather… intrigued by its injury as the seconds went by, something that was beneficial to the soldiers as, in its unresponsive state, Hanna had circled around it and was about to strike at it from behind.
"Take this!" proclaimed Hanna as she circled around and aimed her swing at the Ten metre's exposed nape, though somewhat unfortunately for her, the young woman's yell had caught its attention, and before she could connect her blades with the back of its neck, the Titan whirled around and lashed out at her with its right arm, snatching her out of the air and holding her up to eye level all the while. "Gah!"
"HANNA!" proclaimed Franz, with him screaming her name out as he boosted forwards to save the person most important to him. However, before he could even begin to swing towards the Titan, a figure blasted straight past him, causing him to flinch as the aftershock of their movements disoriented him momentarily.
The young soldier could just barely make out a sliver of black hair before the newcomer swung straight towards the Titan, with their target being its right wrist, and, in a show of their combat prowess, with but a single swing of both of their Anti-Titan blades, newcomer had managed to sever the entire right hand of the Titan in one fell swoop, causing Hanna to be released from its grasp and fall towards the ground with a cry of surprise.
Thankfully for her, however, Franz was able to swing in and snatch her out of the air before she hit the ground, with the two landing on the top of a building not long after.
"T-Thanks for that, Franz…" thanked Hanna, her face a horribly dark shade of red when she realized that the boy in question was holding her in a bridal-esc fashion. Considering their current dilemma, the young soldier reckoned that she shouldn't be feeling this way, but sue her, she couldn't help it… though, Franz, on the other hand, didn't exactly feel the same way as he blinked and turned to regard the one who just saved his crush.
"Yeah… b-but that wasn't me that saved you…" admitted Franz, with his voice sounding just a tiny bit revenant as he spoke, and at that, Hanna herself turned and widened her eyes when she saw none other than Mikazuki Augus circling around the Titan as he tried to spot a weak point to exploit, ignorant of the eyes that were plastered onto his figure all the while. "It was him…"
And as Franz said this, Mikazuki, still airborne and circling around the Titan before him, kept his eyes narrowed as he watched its movements closely. After losing a hand to him, the Ten metre's attention was solely affixed onto the pilot, who could only really frown deeper than he usually did as he kept himself moving, and for all it was worth, the beast's large, glassy, soulless eyes manage to send a chill down Mika's spine, much like how it did so long ago, but he ignored that feeling as he slingshot himself high up into the air.
Whilst he was doing so, Mikazuki noted that the Titan was still staring at him, and moments later, it crouched down, with it looking as though it were ready to leap into the air and attempt to grab him out of it within a moment's notice.
Acting on instinct, as soon as he reached the apex of his flight and began slowing down, Mikazuki maneuvered his waist properly into position and narrowed his eyes, and when he was sure that he had his target lined up, he took a deep breath… and fired his Maneuver Gear anchors.
Bullseye.
Both his Maneuver Gear anchors burst out of their canisters and buried themselves deep in both eyes of the Ten metre Titan, causing blood to gush out of them as the Titan, now unable to its target properly, leapt blindly into the air. When it landed, the Titan landed on its stomach. That simple action pulled Mikazuki down towards it, though rather than work against this, the pilot instead used that momentum to swing himself straight at the Titan with greater force than usual, dislodging both his anchors from the Titan's eyes as he did so.
One of his two anchors had ripped one of the Titan's eyeballs out of its socket, but Mikazuki himself didn't really care about that as he had his target in sight: the nape. Not wasting any time, he used the momentum that he had been given to close the distance between himself and the Titan's weak spot, with both his blades at the ready, and with a single, solid swing, Mika's Anti-Titan blades tore straight into the nape of the Ten Metre with such force that he had decapitated it.
Landing on the ground atop one knee, Mikazuki sighed and stood himself back up, with him silently regarding the slowly dissipating Titan for a moment as he sheathed his Anti-Titan blades. The guy was still covered in the dissolving blood of the Ten Metre as he moved to put some distance between himself and the now dead Ten metre, though he seemed oblivious to it as he turned his head upwards to regard Franz and Hanna, with the former still holding the latter bridal style all the while.
Both of them were staring at him as though he had done the impossible, which may or may not have been too far off the mark, especially for someone of his rank, though it didn't stop the pilot from raising an eyebrow as he glared up at them in annoyance. "Are you two okay?"
"Y-Yeah… we're fine!" assured Hanna, with her offering him a shaky thumbs up as Franz finally set her down, and after giving her beloved a small smile, she opened her mouth to ask Mikazuki that very same question, only to close it when a group of Garrison soldiers came into view.
The first to reach them was a man who wore combat goggles. The soldier seemed panicked, as he should be, really, as he landed down beside Franz and Hanna. The man already had his Anti-Titan blades unsheathed as he barked orders at the three Cadets.
"You three, fallback, now!" he ordered, pointing to the Military HQ at the heart of Trost with his blades as he spoke, ignoring the reasoning behind why they did what they did as he chastised his juniors for their recklessness. All except Mikazuki flinched at his words. "You all should've followed protocol, all of you, not rush in and try to act like a hero!"
"But sir, that Titan would've-" began Franz.
"It would've been handled by more experienced soldiers!" retorted the senior, cutting the young soldier off as he widened his eyes a little at how the guy essentially told them to abandon the civilians to their fates at the hands of the invading Titans. Hanna was equally as horrified as her beloved was at these words, though Mikazuki in particular didn't seem all too phased by them as he remained silent. "Now get moving, all three of you!"
"...yes sir…" was all Hanna and Franz could muster up as they turned to Mikazuki, who was simply staring up at them with an indifferent expression. Waving a hand down at him, Hanna called out to the guy in a somewhat resigned tone of voice. "Come on, Mikazuki, let's move!"
"Ah…" muttered Mikazuki absentmindedly as he stared out at the breached Wall of Trost.
It felt so surreal, really… this wasn't his home, but at the same time… it was. He had lived here for an entire year with Mina, Nac, Annie and Martha, and he had grown to see this place as one to protect, and now… it was being invaded by these accursed Titans. And here he was… just as powerless as any other human at protecting it.
'But…' thought Mikazuki flatly as he raised his head up a tiny bit at a sudden realization of his. Well, less of a realization than it was an acknowledgement of how… 'I do have something to even the odds, don't I?'
The entire situation had reminded him so much of the Fall of Shiganshina and Maria, with the soldiers being mostly powerless when it came to combating the Titans. From the few rumors Mikazuki's heard about the incident as a whole, however, the only reason the soldiers were able to evacuate as many residents of Shiganshina and Trost as they did all those years back was because of the Mechanical Titan…
Because of himself and Barbatos having joined the fight…
That thought on its own was more than enough to invigorate something within Mikazuki's heart. Clenching his fist tightly, the pilot almost smiled as he acknowledged how he had a way to keep his home, his friends' and family's home, safe… and even if it was old and less reliable than it had once been, Gundam Barbatos was still very much a reliable asset in this upcoming invasion, and by all means… he was more than willing to bring it in to tip the odds of this conflict towards mankind's favour.
"Mikazuki?" called out Franz as he noticed the pilot's unresponsive form. "We gotta-"
"You guys go on ahead," instructed Mikazuki, with him cutting off Franz's words before pointing towards the Trost Military HQ with one of his blades. "I'll catch up."
"But-" began Franz, only for Hanna to stop him.
"No, he's got a family here, Franz," Hanna explained to her love, with her pursing her lips together as she looked down to regard Mikazuki with a firm expression, one that showed her apparent understanding of his situation as she waved him off. "Go warn them about the breach! We'll meet you back at HQ!"
"Ah," was all Mikazuki replied before he slingshot himself towards the eastern front of Trost, with Franz and Hanna making their way to the Trost HQ all the while, oblivious to just what the pilot was about to unleash upon this new world all the while…
Whilst he swung off towards an old friend of his, however, Mikazuki silently hoped that the lack of maintenance on Barbatos for the past five or so years hadn't made it unusable… though then again, they were able to use it even after 300 years of it being in storage, so he supposed that it would be alright.
Nac always did say to remain optimistic, after all, and for once, the pilot was willing to do just that.
Trost Military HQ
Breathing heavily as they sprinted through the Trost Military HQ, the soldiers, primarily Garrison soldiers and the newly graduated Cadets, did their absolute best to maintain some form of order as they fueled up their equipment and resupplied their blades.
By the time they had gotten here, Nac and Connie had parted ways with Sasha, with he former three meeting up with their fellow soldiers in the gas replenishing station whilst the latter brought Samuel to the infirmary to work on his wounded thigh, among other things. By the time the Dauper soldier got to meet her fellow comrades proper, the soldiers were already divided up into smaller groups, each group placed under the command of a single Garrison soldier.
Or at least… that would've been how things were meant to go, but due to the severity of the current situation, the soldiers present had to scramble all available assets in order to repel the upcoming Titan invasion, thus necessitating a handful of recently graduated Cadets to lead an entire team of greenhorns all on their lonesome. It was horribly cruel of them to do this, but all the same, they were incredibly tight on options at the moment, especially now, after the Survey Corps had left for their 56th Expedition.
What horrible timing…
Sasha herself was grouped alongside Connie, Ymir and Christa, and she didn't have enough energy to complain about that as she walked over to join them, though not before giving Nac a slight nod for 'good luck'. Nac himself returned the gesture before he sheathed his final spare blade and stood up. His team in particular was led by the Garrison senior, Rico Brzenska, and consisted of himself, Mylius and, when they returned, Mina and Mikazuki. Truth be told, Nac was somewhat bummed to know that Annie wouldn't be present with him, though he knew that, with her skills, the young woman would undoubtedly be needed elsewhere.
Nac's group was assigned to Vanguard Duty, something the guy wasn't exactly pleased with for some rather obvious reasons, though before he could express his displeasure on the issue, he had noticed the return of two Cadets, namely Eren and Mina.
Eren was the first to split from the group, moving off to lead his own Vanguard squad, leaving Mina behind to look around for Nac, and upon spotting him, the pigtailed girl perked up and ran towards the guy. Tias himself was beyond relieved to see her alright, but all the same…
"Mina! Thank God, you're alright!" asked Nac, with him sounding somewhat anxious as he rushed up to his friend and hugged her. Mina couldn't even bring herself to pry him off as she recuperated the gesture, and moments later, the relieved man pulled away from his shorter friend and looked at her with concern. "But… w-where's Mika?"
"I… don't know…!" admitted Mina awkwardly as she fidgeted nervously whilst remaining rooted to the spot, though right as she said this, Hanna and Franz both burst into the area as well, with them looking somewhat nervous as they did so. Their nervous state was rather understandable, but even so… "Hanna! Franz!"
Rushing towards their allies, Mina and Nac broke off from their team as they moved to check on them hastily. Rico, allowed them to do as such as she understood that they had a shared friend that they were concerned over, and within seconds, the duo were upon their fellow 104th graduates, with them cornering them like a pair of predators.
"GAH!" squeaked Hanna as she flinched away from the sudden appearance of Mina in front of her, with Franz doing the same with Nac all the while, though the duo recovered relatively quickly from all that as they acknowledged the desperate look in the eyes of their comrades, and moments later.
"H-Hanna, Franz… Mikazuki, is he…?" began Mina, with the concern very much palpable in her voice as she spoke, to which the duo blinked briefly before smiling. Hanna in particular responded to this concerned inquiry from her acquaintance.
"N-No, Mikazuki is quite alright, but… he's gone to warn your mother about the encroaching Titan invasion," stated Hanna, with her holding up an index finger as she spoke. Hearing this made the other two soldiers blink in disbelief, and moments later…
"Y-You're joking, right? Mika… he told me to go tell mum about this before he went off to help you guys! There's no way he would…!" stated Mina, with her recalling Mikazuki ordering her to warn their parent ahead of time. She had done so with great gusto, and by all means, Martha Carolina had been amongst the first wave of civilians to be evacuated because of this! Why would… "Why would Mika do something that he told me to do?"
"Maybe he just wanted to make sure?" posited Franz, with him sounding not so confident in his response as he spoke. He didn't know Mikazuki as well as these two, so his apprehension was understandable, but at the same time…
"Or maybe he's got something he needs to do before leaving the battlefield?" muttered Nac, with him silently recalling how, prior to their military training, Mikazuki would frequently take trips out to some random part of Trost and return hours later for seemingly no reason. Could these strange trips be in relation to his current absence…?
In truth, Nac hoped it to be true. It would certainly beat any other alternative…
Having heard his words, the trio present before him turned and were ready to ask about what the pilot could've possibly been doing at the moment, though before they could ask, Hanna and Franz were called over by their leading officer, who waved over at them whilst calling out. Without many options, the duo parted from Mina and Nac before they rendezvoused with their team, leaving the two to remain concerned with their friend all the while.
Mina especially, seeing as how her bond with Mikazuki had always been noticeably stronger than the others, and upon noticing this, Nac placed a hand atop his friend's shoulder to lightly ease her tension.
"Don't worry about him, Mina," said Nac assuringly as he patted Mina's shoulder gently, causing the girl to stare up at him as she rubbed her upper arm uncertainly. "Wherever Mika is, I'm sure that he'll have everything under control. After all, this is Mika we're talking about. He's practically a one man army at this point."
"Well… yeah, I guess, but it doesn't stop me from worrying, you know?" muttered Mina as she clasped her hands together uncertainly, to which Nac nodded in understanding. Even Mikazuki was aware of how even the best would succumb to opposition if given enough time, and if he were to remain out there for too long, he'd no doubt be killed in action, something that Nac really did not want to happen, but even so…
"I know, Mina. Just have faith in him, alright? Mika will be alright…"
"Count on it."
"...!"
Whirling around as they heard Annie Leonhardt's voice abruptly ring through the air, Mina and Nac found their eyes widening slightly at her sudden presence behind them, but regardless, the former was quick to get over it as she launched herself at the blonde, who reluctantly allowed herself to be held in the pigtailed girl's arms as she held her close; even she was aware of how this could potentially be the final time they interacted in a non-violent context, and as she patted her friend's back, Mina broke off the hug and smiled lightly.
"It's good to see that you're still okay, Annie," smiled Mina as she stepped away from the aforementioned blonde with a relieved smile, eliciting a light blush from Annie all the while. Call her soft, but in truth, she did quite like Mina's show of affection, though that was besides the point.
"Ah. I can say the same for both you and Nac," mused Annie, with her nodding lightly as she spoke. Her friends smiled at this notion, but nevertheless… "I overheard what you two were talking about, though. Mika's MIA?"
"Yeah… I… I'm worried…" admitted Mina meekly, with Nac nodding in agreement all the while. For her part, Annie couldn't help but huff lightly as, deep down, she too was concerned for the pilot as well, but all the same, she had faith in the guy, and these two should as well!
"Me too, but we should hold out hope… Mika's probably still out there, somewhere," assured Annie as she gently placed a hand atop the pigtailed young woman's shoulder. That gesture seemed to lightened Mina's mood, if only by a little, as she glanced up towards Annie, and with a frown, the blonde continued. "He's like that… as long as he's still breathing, Mika'll fight till the last quarter."
"That's what I'm worried about, honestly… he'll fight until he can't fight anymore… which is when he's dead. I'm… worried that might actually happen…" admitted Mina bluntly, to which Annie flinched slightly whilst Nac gently patted his pigtailed friend's shoulder.
"Have some faith in him, Mina. Mika's number two for a reason, after all," encouraged Nac, with him smiling faintly as he said this to Mina, and for all it was worth, the pigtailed young woman glanced back at him and offered him the faintest of smiles.
"Yeah, I guess you're right, huh…?"
And as Mina felt her mood be lightened ever so slightly by Nac's encouragements, Annie felt a pit form at the base of her stomach as she looked away with guilt.
Elsewhere
Whilst the Garrison were preparing to launch a counterattack against the inevitable Titan invasion, the group had their attention set almost exclusively on the southernmost side of Trost, where the wall had been breached in the first place.
With a barbed net hanging loosely over the breach and the Wall mounted cannons unloading round after round into the oncoming Titans, the Garrison had their attention fixated on keeping as many Titans out of Trost to allow for as many of the civilians to evacuate. Their focus was commendable, to say the least, but in their tunnel visioned attempts at holding off the oversized humanoids, none were able to account for, or even noticed for that fact, a singular young soldier making a beeline for the eastern front of Trost.
Using every trick he knew to slingshot himself through the air, Mikazuki made a sharp beeline for the eastern end of Trost without wasting even a second. At times, he had to run atop rooftops on foot, though this didn't really slow him down all that much, as his footspeed was above average regardless.
It took him fifteen minutes just to get to the eastern wing of Trost, and another five minutes passed before the structure that he was looking for came into view. The dilapidated barn housing his Gundam was, surprisingly enough, still standing, and upon seeing it, the pilot huffed and slingshotted himself in its direction. Launching himself skywards, the pilot entered the structure via the massive hole in its roof, and moments later, he landed with a soft thud right in front of what one could assume to be the most powerful weapon within these Walls.
Upon recovering from his landing, Mikazuki tilted his head up to stare at his personal Mobile Suit, and even if he was no expert on the matter, the pilot had to admit that it wasn't as worse for wear as he initially had expected. Its chassis was still mostly intact, and there wasn't all too much rust on its surface. Some of its Nanolaminated Armour was peeled off here and there, revealing some of the silvery grey metal beneath, but aside from that, the Gundam looked just as Mikazuki had left it, kneeling in silence like a sentinel of old.
"... it's good to see you again, Barbatos," greeted Mikazuki, with him speaking to his unit for the first time in four years, and shortly thereafter, the pilot fired his Maneuver Gear anchors at its chest. Both anchors hit the blue chestplate and held on firmly as the pilot swung himself up, with him landing atop the unit's chest moments later. He kept his balance as he ripped the blanket off the cockpit, and, truth be told, he did feel a little relieved to see that it wasn't as dirty as he had initially anticipated.
A few birds and vermin had to be forced out of his unit's cockpit, sure, but outside of that, nothing had taken refuge within the Gundam's chest, which was honestly a miracle all on its own! Sure, the cockpit chair was a little ragged and a thick layer of dust and grime covered most of the inside, but it was something he could deal with rather easily as he removed his Maneuver Gear from his waist, both of which were slotted beside the cockpit chair, and leapt inside.
A sense of familiarity came back to him in full as he wiped the dust and grime off the cockpit monitor of the Gundam. By one side of the cockpit was his 'pilot uniform',.which looked dirty as all Hell, and even if he intended to, the boy wouldn't have worn it. Instead, he simply removed both his Trainee Corp Jacket and blue undershirt and chucked them both off to a (cleaner) corner of the cockpit. With that done, and after cleaning some dirt off the cockpit's Alaya-Vijnana port, the half naked boy plugged himself into the Gundam.
For a moment, nothing came through to him via Barbatos' side of the AV unit, prompting the boy to panic ever so slightly, with him thinking that the Gundam was damaged in some way, though rather abruptly, that panic was quickly replaced with an oh so familiar sense of pain as the Alaya-Vijnanasystem on Barbatos' end of things began pouring data into Mikazuki's.
The sudden amount of data was staggering, and, coupled with the pilot's admittedly rusty experience in dealing with such a powerful data influx, it had caused Mika to flinch in pain as a small stream of blood dripped down from his nose. He arched backwards as his body struggled momentarily to deal with this burst of data, with him gasping in shock at the pain all the while.
Still though, Mikazuki was nothing if not resilient, and although this sudden jolt of pain did cause him some grief, the pilot was able to work his way through it as he forced himself to power through the pain. Scowling heavily, Mika squeezed his eyes shut as he forced himself to lean forwards, with him focusing on moderating and processing the data that was coming his way all the while, and once he was able to get it under control, the pilot finally reopened his eyes…
… and he promptly frowned when he saw that, splattered onto the main cockpit monitor of his unit were a few drops of red, and through the reactivating monitor itself, Mikazuki could see how there was a stream of blood falling from both his nose and his eye. Thankfully enough, his entire eye had not been engulfed in red, but all the same, it was bloodshot and leaking some blood at its edges. Had that data surge gone on for any longer, he'd likely be suffering the same effects as the Edmonton battle…
"Hmph…" was all Mikazuki could really say to that, though, as he brought a hand up to wipe at the bloody trails formed on his face, and as he did so, the Gundam's systems began to warm up. The gentle thrum of the unit's twin Ahab Reactors was proof enough of this, and moments later, the familiar logo of the Eighth Demon of Ares Goetia appearing atop the main cockpit monitor alongside the model number and name of the Gundam itself, ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos.
Just seeing this was almost enough to make the pilot smile, though as things were right now, Mikazuki simply remained neutral as he tapped the main cockpit monitor several times over, causing the cockpit hatch to shut itself up all the while. Thereafter, a basic diagnostic check was ran, with the data flow through the Alaya-Vijnana system slowly drip feeding the young man some data in regards to its current state.
Through four years of neglect, Barbatos' joints had built up an exceedingly high level of rust which would no doubt hamper its movements, and likewise, the Gundam's Ahab Reactors and itsmore advanced sensors were still mostly dormant, with them requiring more than a few minutes to fully awake. The unit also informed Mikazuki of how the 170mm Autocannons were at less than 25% capacity as of now, so he'd have to conserve his ammo from here on out, and likewise, the fuel in both Land Boosters were close to running on fumes, which was also a cause for concern.
Whilst he read through the damage report of his Gundam, however, Mikazuki's Alaya-Vijnana system found itself transferring some data over to Barbatos as the seconds ticked by. Within a handful of seconds, the unit had digested the info in regards to its pilot's four year long training regiment, and upon doing so, it crooned softly as it acknowledged how many acquaintances and friends the pilot had picked up between now and when last they were together.
The gentle surge of replicant emotion flowed through Alaya-Vijnana system, and although subtle, Mikazuki could pick up on it, prompting him to blink in surprise as he glanced down at his unit's main monitor, and moments later, he huffed a tiny bit as he shook his head, with him feeling his unit 'speak' to him via the Alaya-Vijnana system all the while.
"They're… not friends, Barbatos. They're just… allies. Acquaintances."
"..."
"... I'm only doing this for Mina, Nac, Annie and mum…"
"..."
"... you're imagining things…"
"...?"
"... does it matter? I just want to keep our new home from falling…"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"... thank you, Barbatos."
"..."
Speaking to Barbatos had always felt odd to the pilot, but all the same, he was glad that it wasn't all too upset over him abandoning it for just about four years. If anything, the unit seemed to be happy that its pilot had returned, with so many new friends to boot. It wasn't going to stop commenting on that friend part for quite some time, Mikazuki reckoned, though rather than be annoyed by this, the pilot simply rolled along with it as he rolled his eyes in amusement.
"Ready, Barbatos?" hummed Mikazuki, with him grabbing onto the arm controllers and setting his feet down onto the leg steppers of his unit as he spoke, and moments later, the Gundam responded in kind by fully awakening from its slumber.
Steam erupted from the various vents present on its body, and its manipulators curled up into fists as its head unit tilted upwards. Its once dull, lifeless optics reactivated with fury, as did the other lights present all around its body, with all of them flickering online as the unit's internal vent systems howled out with glee, elated to be moving once more.
And all the while, Mikazuki could only huff in amusement as he acknowledged how…
"... it's good to see that you're in a good mood today, Barbatos."
And to that, the Gundam's optics could only flash green in acknowledgement.
"Reload and fire! Do not let any more into Trost!"
Those were the orders barked by a single Garrison Captain atop the eastern side of Wall Trost, with him maintaining some semblance of order up thereas his comrades sent another volley of cannon fire at the Titans down below.
They intended on keeping as many of the monstrosities out, though they were having difficulties doing so. A total of about twenty Titans managed to make their way past their defences by now, and the stress of the situation as a whole was clearly getting to the captain.
And unfortunately for him, that stress was about to get a lot worse.
Without much of a warning, a loud explosion could be heard from the interior of Trost, prompting everyone within earshot to turn towards it. At first, the soldiers thought it to be nothing more than a Titan that had somehow managed to cause a big enough mess within the district, though moments later, that train of thought was proven to be incorrect as they saw the smoke emanating from an isolated region of Trost's east wing.
"What in the world…?" began the Garrison Captain as he watched the smoke rise high into the air, with several other soldiers present all doing the same, and moments later, the sizable cloud of smoke was promptly dispelled when a massive figure, standing taller than most known Titans to date, emerged from its center, with it stepping out of the smoke without a care in the world.
Its demonic figure was a strong contrast to the usually round or lanky bodies of the average Titan, and from where they stood, the soldiers could make out that its chassis was a dull shade of white, blue, gold, red and gunmetal. Its green eyes were as bright as emeralds under the glistening sunlight of Trost, and even though they were over a hundred metres away from it, the Garrison Captain almost immediately knew what that… thing was, with him widening his eyes in terror as he took an instinctive step away from it.
"T-THAT… THAT'S THE-"
"SHUT UP! Don't startle the rest and get back to firing! I know what that… thing is…" proclaimed the Captain as he loaded a flare into his issued flare gun. He then aimed the barrel of the gun skywards and shot the flare up into the sky, launching a Black flare up into the skyline and signalling to the others present that a major anomaly had occurred not too far from the fallen gates of Trost.
The man then lowered his arm as he stared down at the Mechanical Titan, which let out an almost animalistic howl as it bent down ever so slightly, with flames being emitted from several spots on its body, and within a few seconds, the flames boosted the Titan forward, sending it careening straight towards the breach in Trost.
And by then, the Garrison commander noticed that his hands were shaking intensely, with his grip on the flare gun tightening as he gave a sad smile.
'As if this day couldn't get any worse…'
With a sigh, the Mobile Suit overseer who worked under the Seven Star member, Mcgillis Fareed, placed his tablet down and pinched the bridge of his nose. It has been a hard day for the guy, what with all the units he had to repair due to a recent issue in regards to a Pirate Group that went by the Dawn Horizon Corps.
The Dawn Horizon Corps had been dealt with rather simply, with the combined might of Mcgillis' subordinate, Isurugi Camice and the civilian organisation, Tekkadan, though the Mobile suit repairs that came after were nothing to scoff at, and now that everything was over and done with, the MS overseer really wished to get a move on and go home.
Before he could do so, however, a nearby computer screen began flashing, prompting him to approach it with a raised brow. Tilting his head, he tapped the console a handful of times, not knowing why it had activated. It was rather late, with the only units that would be active now, of all times, being those out on patrol up in space or a small handful of ground level patrol squads, and even then, it was extremely rare for them to contact an MS repair bay, of all places.
And then, he noticed how the transmission wavelength was… unfamiliar to him. It didn't match and of the Graze units that they had in storage. If anything, this Ahab wavelength was much more powerful… and it was clear that it belonged to a Gundam.
Or specifically, the ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos, if the quick record scan had told the MS overseer anything.
That couldn't be possible… Barbatos was confirmed to be destroyed in action after the Edmonton battle. There had to be a glitch in the system… there was no other explanation for this.
Connected to the Ahab wavelength was a recorded message, one that he didn't wish to listen to in fear of it being a trojan, and he had half a mind to just disregard this as an attempt to hack into Gjallarhorn's network, but even so… it was probably best to at least relay this information to Mcgillis.
He was his boss, after all.