Trost, Eastern sector

"Steady now, all of you!"

That was the single order issued by Captain Rico as they closed in on the third Titan that her team had come across in the past fifteen metres, and all around her, the soldier's junior's all nodded as they moved in tandem with their superior

The Titan that they were closing in on, a Thirteen metre, had its attention fully affixed onto a civilian that had failed to evacuate in a timely manner, giving the team of four enough time to circle around it and get a clear shot at its nape. Rico herself narrowed her eyes as she focused in on the weak point of their target, though before she could speed up and perhaps strike it down, Nac himself shot past her with great haste, catching her off guard all the while.

"Nac, wait!" cried out Rico as she flinched at the man's sudden movement, though Nac, in an uncharacteristic display of insubordination, had ignored his superior's words as he went straight for the Titan's nape and, with a grunt or exertion, the normally weak man had sliced shockingly deep into the back of its neck, downing it with a single swing before he landed onto the ground below rather harshly, right in front of the civilian that had been chased down by the Titan.

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

"Are you alright, sir?" asked Nac with no small amount of concern as he helped the man up to his feet. When he was up, the civilian gave a very uneasy nod, prompting Tias to smirk as he patted his shoulders, though before long, he felt himself get pulled away from the civilian, courtesy of Rico, as Mina and Mylius moved over to take his place to calm the man.

Widening his eyes as he was dragged away from the civilian, Nac gasped and offered no real resistance as he was pulled over to the side, right in front of his furious Garrison Captain who glared up at him with fury behind her bespectacled eyes. For all it was worth, although not on the level of Keith Shadis or, God forbid, Mikazuki or Annie, Nac did still feel some intimidation behind her glare, though deep down, he knew that she was angry for reasons that extended beyond his admittedly reckless actions.

"Nac Tias, do you care to explain that reckless stunt that you just pulled off?!" demanded Rico as she sheathed one of her blades to jab at her junior's chest with an index finger. Nac himself flinched at the motion as he looked down at his feet, with him feeling the weight of what he had just done fall upon him like a sack of bricks. "You could have been killed!"

"But… the civilian…" began Nac rather weakly, with his tone of voice making it very apparent that he was genuinely concerned over the civilian as he spoke, though be that as it may, the senior soldier still found his actions to be unacceptable, as evident by how, even after a split second of her expression faltering for the briefest of moments, Rico's demeanor hardened once more before she retorted.

"We would have reached it before he was grabbed, soldier," was Rico's immediate retort as the she hardened her gaze. She understood that Nac was a junior soldier, and that he was just a little too concerned over those around him, but even so, he had to learn when to rush in and when to hang back, preferably before he got himself killed through righteous recklessness. "You could have missed the nape and had the Titan turn on you, or what if you killed it and it fell forward, onto the civilian? Did you not consider those alternatives before recklessly charging in for the kill?"

"I-I… well… I… no, n-no, ma'am…" answered Nac, frowning deeply his Captain kept her still eyes fixed on him. The guy did seem genuinely remorseful over what he had done, but all the same, Rico knew from experience that one needed to drill a few things into the minds of their juniors before they realized that the battlefield was vastly different from the training grounds, though sadly enough, before she could give Nac any more of her mind, however, Mina walked up to her side and gently rested a hand atop her Captain's shoulder, drawing her attention towards her all the while.

"C-Captain, what matters most is that Nac took down the Titan," pointed out Mina in defence of her friend, prompting the taller guy to flash her a half smile as she spoke. The pigtailed young woman simply nodded at this before she continued. "Sure, it was reckless, but he still saved that civilian, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did, but… kh…" grumbled Rico, with her seeming intent on grilling Nac even more for what he had done, though she eventually thought better of this as she acknowledged how she didn't exactly have time to do that, not now; they had more pressing matters to worry about, after all, and with a sharp exhale, Brzenska turned towards the taller yet less experienced man beside her and spoke to him with a tone of utmost seriousness. "Nac Tias, I understand that you are going through a rather difficult situation right now, what with your home District being under siege. But please, try to act rationally. I don't want any more casualties than necessary, am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied Nac with a nod and a rigid salute, and with that, the conversation was over. Rico swiftly moved on to direct the civilian towards the closest evacuation point; she did wish to escort him out of here, but alas, as part of the Vanguard, she could not afford to abandon her post, nor could she afford to break her already small team apart.

Whilst she did this, Mylius, Mina and Nac gathered together behind their Captain, with the former two staring at the latter with concerned expressions, and after some time, Zeramuski made his move, with him resting a hand atop his taller comrade's shoulder as he spoke.

"N-Nac, are you alright?" began Mylius, and as he spoke, the man in question let out a sigh as he turned towards the blonde, attempting to give a smile, though he only managed to give half of one as he nodded, ignoring the steam coming up from his cheek as the Titan blood evaporated off his person.

"I am, trust me. It's just that… I guess… I guess my mind is just preoccupied with a lot of stuff right now, that's all," assured Nac with a small smile as he turned to face Mina, who gave an acknowledging nod, as she herself had a feeling that she knew of what her friend was thinking of as she offered him a small smile in return. Upon noticing the eye contact shared between the two, Mylius pieced two and two together before nodding understandingly.

"I see…" muttered Mylius, holding a hand against his chest as he frowned. Staring down at it, Zeramuski couldn't help but offer a small grimace as he clenched it into a fist, feeling horrible for bringing up such a heavy topic at such a time. "I… if you need anyone to… I… no… n-nevermind, I'm sorry… for bringing it up."

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

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

"Hey, kids, we're moving out, now! We won't accomplish anything by standing around, you know!" called out Rico, with her waving at her juniors as she motioned for them to get a move on, and without pause, the three junior soldiers nodded in acknowledgement.

In a flash, the small group of four leapt into the air and began swinging their way around the now desolate streets of Trost, where they kept their eyes peeled for any and all Titans as they moved. Rico led the charge, predictably enough, with the rest of her team keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of movement around them.

After a brief few minutes of uneventful patrolling, the small team of four came across a nearby squadron of young soldiers who most certainly needed some help, and as soon as they spotted them, the group moved to assist. Even from a good distance away, Nac could rather easily tell that the leader of the other team was none other than Eren Jaeger, who was furiously barking out orders to his fellow soldiers as he swung about frantically.

He probably didn't mean to yell out like a mad dog, but even so, his easy to anger personality made him prone to unintentional bouts of fury, and it clearly showed… and by all means, as they drew closer, close enough to hear the guy bark out orders at his allies, Rico in particular began to wonder just who had allowed him to lead a team of his own. They likely thought him competent due to his placement amongst the top 10…

"Come on, I'll distract it! Armin, take it down! Your cut didn't work, dammit!" were among the things that Eren had yelled out at his fellow soldiers as they circled a pair of Fourteen and Nine metre class Titans.

Eren himself was rather aggressive with his slashes, a clear contrast to the timid Armin's more methodical blade strikes and the weaker and more calculated ones given by his comrades, and, credit where credit was due, through his orders and the sheer strength behind his attacks, Jaeger was able to kill the Nine metre before Rico's team got close enough to provide backup, though as for the Fourteen metre, it seemed to be a little more than the Shiganshina resident's team could handle.

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

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Armin was quick to find the lower half of his body trapped in the jaws of the Titan, with him attempting to pull himself free moments latter, though his attempts were swiftly thwarted when the Fourteen metre slowly began applying pressure onto his abdomen. With his vision being clouded by pain and his hearing horribly muffled, Armin could barely hear the cries of his comrades around himself and the Titan that was about to bite him in half. Tears were pouring out of his twin blue eyes as he struggled to pry the mouth of the Titan open to no avail.

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

… and yet, before he could meet his premature demise, the Titan suddenly shot its mouth open, releasing Armin from its jaws and sending him plummeting towards the ground within seconds. Yelling in fear as he fell towards the ground, Armin was, miraculously, swiftly snatched out of the air by none other than Eren himself, and moments later, the blonde looked at his friend with wide, watery eyes.

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

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

The Fourteen metre still remained standing, though its footing was wavering as it staggered to one side, with it shaking its head violently from side to side while flailing its arms around in an attempt to remove something on its face.

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

Before she could be thrown off by the Titan's erratic movements, another member of Mina's team, namely Captain Rico herself, swooped in and sliced straight into the nape of the Titan with surgical precision. Tensing up as soon as its weak spot was slashed at, the Titan swung it's head to the side one last time before going limp, though that final swing of its head was strong enough to snap the blades that were jammed into its eyes, causing Mina to be flung off to the side with a shocked cry.

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

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

"Nice work there, Mina! And that was quite the save too, Mylius!" praised Nac with a smirk as he got up to them. Mina herself mirrored her friend's expression as she gave a thumbs up while Mylius' already red cheeks somehow reddened even further, with him chuckling softly as he accepted Nac's praise. However, that small moment of delight was swiftly interrupted when the three of them noticed Eren, alongside the rest of his team, not too far from the two, cradling Armin in his arms as another member of his team examined the blonde's injured abdomen. "No… Armin…!"

Without pause, Nac rushed up to Armin's side and checked on his injuries without a second thought. His knowledge in the medical department was certainly lacking, but even so, it was still the best out of the recently graduated soldiers present, and as such, he was able to confirm that, in spite of the visible tears in the blonde's skin, alongside the ugly bruises that were present alongside his abdomen, outside of some swelling and pain whilst moving around, his injuries weren't particularly fatal in any way, something that relieved Eren and his team, to say the least.

"It's honestly a miracle that you survived that, Armin. If that Titan had even put a tiny bit more pressure onto your abdomen, it would've pierced the skin, and even if we saved you then, we'd have to worry about an infection," mused Nac in relief, with him reaching behind himself and pulling a small pack off his waist. All teams had at least a single person carrying a medical pack for on-site medication whenever needed, and Nac was his team's designated 'medic', and although there wasn't much inside to properly sooth the blonde soldier's wounds, Tias was still able to make do with what he had on hand to lessen the pain in Arlert's abdomen.

By the sides, Rico watched on, impressed, as Nac did his thing, and alongside her, Mina and Mylius remained on guard as they kept their eyes out for any Titans encroaching on their position. Thankfully enough, there weren't all that many within eyesight, giving them a momentary respite all the while.

"... how strange," muttered Rico, with her rubbing at her chin as she observed the area around herself curiously, to which her teammates, sans Nac, turned to face her curiously. The bespectacled senior was rubbing at her chin thoughtfully as she observed the area around them. Sensing their gaze, the senior soldier turned towards her juniors and posited a question to them. "Tell me… does something seem off to all of you?"

"Well… Titans are invading Trost, so…" responded Mina rather matter-of-factly as she held a finger up to emphasize her words, with Mylius bringing a hand up to his chin as he considered their superior's inquiry, though right as she said this, Rico shook her head in apparent disappointment as she eyed Carolina with an unamused gaze, and moments later, Zeramuski snapped his fingers and gave his specific answer.

"No, it's… the Titans themselves. They're less common, strangely enough," deduced Mylius, with him snapping his fingers a little as he acknowledged this odd shift. In response to this, Rico almost grinned as she acknowledged the blonde's sharper senses. "I read up on some reports about the Fall of Maria and Shiganshina during my time as a Cadet… they said that the Titans were swarming Shiganshina within a matter of minutes after the breach. Within an hour, Shiganshina had been filled with Titans, and yet, we've not seen all that many, even now, after almost two whole hours since the breach was first made…"

"Good observation skills, Mylius Zeramuski," praised Rico, with her glancing off in the distance as she spoke. Mylius' cheeks reddened slightly at the praise, though that aside, their senior continued. "The lack of Titans in the area makes me wonder if we're doing too good of a job at keeping them out of the district… or perhaps… we have an unknown factor in play amidst it all."

"An… unknown factor?" hummed Mylius, with him finding some confusion in Rico's words as he spoke. To that, his superior opened her mouth to explain to her what she meant by unknown factor, though before she could do so, Nac called out to her, effectively cutting her right off, as he waved in her general direction. Opting to shelve this conversation for later, Brzenska moved over to check on Armin Arlert, who now had a bandage wrapped around his abdomen as he remained propped upright by Eren.

"Captain, I managed to stop most of the bleeding around Armin's waist, but he won't be combat ready for a while. I suggest that he evacuates the battlefield before his wounds can exasperate themselves," advised Nac, with him frowning as he turned back towards Armin, who flinched as he propped himself up atop one arm.

"I… I'm fine, Nac! I-I can still fight!" argued Armin, only to be proven incorrect as a sharp pain coursed through his abdomen, causing him to flinch yet again as he brought an arm up to his waist, and as he did so, Nac moved back towards him and held a hand up, motioning for the blonde to take it easy all the while.

"No, you cannot. Effective immediately, Team Eren, you are all to fall back to base, ASAP. you may rejoin the battle after Armin Arlert has withdrawn, but not a moment before; a wounded teammate is a liability out on the battlefield," ordered Rico, with her pointing in the direction of the aforementioned base as she spoke. A few of the soldiers in Eren's group protested this decision, though Eren himself, in a surprising display of restraint, silenced them and answered Brzenska's demands in the positive.

Still though, being called a liability did make Armin pause briefly, even as he was hauled up by Eren and swung off to safety, but that aside, not much else was said as Team Eren withdrew from the battlefield, leaving Team Rico behind all the while. Now back on their lonesome, the small team of four began planning their next move as they reconvened with one another, with Rico crouching down surveying the area around her critically as she tried to plan out their next move.

Whilst doing so, however, Mina, with a soft sigh, moved over towards the edge of the building they were on and held her Anti-Titan blades over the edge, and after pressing down onto a button, she detached their broken blades from their hilts, sending both falling towards the ground, before sheathing them into their scabbards. Whilst she did so, Mylius remained alongside Rico to help her plan their next move, and all the while, Nac walked up to his friend's side and gently set a hand atop her shoulder, with him patting it gently before he spoke.

"I wasn't joking when I said that you were pretty damn cool back there, Mina. It was reckless, sure, but you still saved Armin with what you did," hummed Nac, with him removing his hand from Mina's shoulder as he said this. Hearing him, Carolina found herself smiling a tiny bit in gratitude as she nodded in thanks, though moments later, she found herself growing somewhat silent once more, catching Tias' attention as he raised a brow at her silence. "Is something wrong?"

"I… no, nothing's-"

"You should know better than to try and lie to me, of all people, Mina."

Mina's attempts at dishonesty didn't even make it past her lips, as Nac saw straight through her lies within a matter of moments, and after acknowledging how her friend was too observant for his own good, the pigtailed soldier sighed and spoke the truth to him, with her knowing that she'd never hear the end of it if she didn't.

"... it's just that… I'm worried, alright? Seeing our home like this… it doesn't feel right, like, at all, and on top of that, we haven't heard from Mika for a while. I'm starting to wonder if he's abandoned us… or worse," stated Mina, with her rubbing at her upper arm meekly as she spoke. The older soldier present couldn't help but flinch at her worries, with him, admittedly, sharing some of her concerns despite him not showing it all that much.

Mikazuki Augus was a reliable individual. He was strong, agile, well adept at pretty much all forms of combat and, above all else, tenacious to a fault. Nac doubted that he'd stop fighting if it meant that these Titans could get even a single step further into Trost, though at the same time, he was worried that such a scenario had come to pass.

In essence, his friend was a mountain, a strong, shockingly agile mountain at that… but with enough time and effort, all mountains could be chipped down and destroyed, and Mikazuki was no different. The torrential amount of Titans coming in would no doubt pose a problem, even for someone like him, and seeing as how they hadn't seen any signs of his return in the past hour or so… Nac found his heart settling on the rather bleak conclusion that maybe, just maybe, their friend might be…

"He's fine," stated Nac, with there being a sense of finality behind his words as he punched the base of his fist into his palm. His tone left no room for argument as he said this, and moments later, Mina glanced up at him with just a tiny bit of hope glimmering in her eyes. "You know him, Mina. We know him! Mika's not the kind of person to leave things half-done, and he's more skilled than all of us here combined! If anything, the Titans oughta be the ones running away from him!"

And in response to his words, Mina felt her shoulders rising, if only by a little, as she allowed herself to hang onto that loose strand of hope that remained within her heart, and moments thereafter, she nodded firmly and held a fist up to her chest, a sign of reinvigoration, as she responded verbally.

"Yes… yes! He's still fine, I'm certain of it! I'm sure he's just out there, somewhere, kicking these Titans' butts… there's no doubt about it in my mind!" stated Mina, with her clenching both her fists by her sides as she said this, and to that, Nac could only grin as he watched his friend's mood be lightened by a little, though moments later, Rico was quick to call them over to her and Mylius. Both junior soldiers did as they were told, with them jogging up to meet with their superior and ally within seconds.

Upon regrouping with their team, Nac and Mina were informed by Rico that they were going to continue along with their patrolling for now, with her stating that they would not cross a specific distance away from Rose lest they wished to risk running into a Titan horde that could very easily rip them to shreds.

"The lack of Titans within Trost is a blessing all on its own, but even so, we shouldn't let it distract us. Just because our enemies are fewer in numbers than we had initially expected doesn't mean that we should charge in blindly to take them down," stated Rico, with her imparting some wisdom of her own unto her juniors as she eyed them critically, and much to her relief, they seemed to understand where she was coming from with all this as they nodded, and moments later, they were off.

Swinging through the air at a decently fast pace, Team Rico darted from rooftop to rooftop as they patrolled the area. At times, they saw a Titan or two which was quickly dispatched by their blade; Rico's experience in combat allowed her to command the members of her Team with minimal issue, leading to coordinated strikes that brought down their adversaries with little to no problems.

As the minutes ticked by, however, Team Rico found themselves arriving at a strangely… demolished part of Trost, primarily near the wooded area of the eastern wing. Pausing their advancement as they landed atop a roof, the team of four took in the carnage around them with widened, with all of them feeling their mouths hang open at the carnage that could be seen before them. Hell, even Rico, who had fought in the Fall of Maria years prior, was unable to contain her shock at the destruction set before her.

Crouching by the edge of the building they were on, Nac kept his gaze fixed on the charred landscape before them, with his eyes narrowed and his nose scrunched up as he found himself faintly picking up on the scent of charred flesh and burnt bones. Turning his attention towards where that smell came from in the first place, the man found his eyes quickly widening when he saw…

"H-Hey, guys… is it just me or does that look like a-" began Nac, with his gaze finding itself affixed onto the form of a slowly dissipating Twelve metre Titan that was laying on the ground. What could've killed it remained a mystery to him, but before he could even finish that statement…

"T-TITAN!"

… Mylius finished that statement for him as, moments after he yelled that out, everyone turned to see him pointing up towards the sky, and seconds later, they glanced up to see a TITAN DROPPING DOWN TOWARDS THEM FROM ABOVE! Widening their eyes immensely at this, Rico wasted no time in scattering the team as they dodged away from the impromptu Titan projectile, and thankfully enough, all of them were able to get clear of it before it slammed straight into the building they were once standing atop.

Turning back towards the fallen Titan as they regrouped, Team Rico were ready to face off against it, though, rather than emerge from the wreckage of the building, the Titan instead remained where it was, unmoving, and moments later, it began to dissipate into a cloud of black smoke, signifying that it was dead. Seeing this made the Team realize something… that Titan had not jumped at them, no… rather…

"S-Something threw that Titan towards us… b-but… w-w-what could've possibly…?" began Mina, with her quivering words showing off her nervousness rather easily as she turned towards the general direction from which the Titan was thrown from, and right as she asked this question to no one in particular, Rico found her eyes widening to their limits as she realized something…

"This level of power… I've never witnessed it firsthand, but the reports had all likened this level of strength to one very specific entity…" muttered Rico, with her sweatdropping quite a bit as she glanced over at the forested region of eastern Trost, where she spotted some movement coming from afar. Not only did she see it, though, but after a few seconds, both she and her teammates could feel the movement coming from behind that line of trees, and as they felt it drawing closer and closer, Brzenska turned towards her comrades and swung her arm out towards them. "Brace yourselves!"

And right as she said this, from behind the line of trees, a figure quite literally exploded out of the forest and slammed another smaller figure into the ground. Team Rico all gasped as they felt the aftershock of the impact hit them in full, with Rico and Mina almost being blown off their feet as they stood against the shockwave. Mylius himself was thrown off balance, though Nac alleviated this by linking his arm with his own, anchoring them together all the while.

"T-Thanks, Nac," smiled Mylius as the shockwave subsided, red with embarrassment but stll thankful nonetheless, and to that, Nac nodded in acknowledgement before turning towards the source of the shockwave, and when he did, both he, alongside everyone else present, could only gape at what they saw standing before them.

At the very epicenter of the impact point, standing amidst the cloud of smoke, atop the body of a dissipating Twelve metre Titan, with its head bowed and knees bent was an entity that had become somewhat of a local legend amongst the survivors of the Fall of Maria and Shiganshina. Known by many names, this entity was very much passed off as a myth in modern times, and by all means, many within the military brigade thought it to be nothing more than a hoax at this point…

… but even so, there was no mistaking it. The entity kneeling before them was very much real, and as it stood up to its maximum height, with its dull, lifeless eyes shimmering a bright green hue and the sunlight glimmering beautifully against its predominantly white body, the various members of Team Rico found their jaws falling as they acknowledged just what this thing really was, and within seconds, Mina, in spite of her shock, awe and terror at what she was seeing before her, still found the courage she needed to ask her Captain one very simple question…

"C-C-Captain… I… i-i-is that… i-is it… w-what I think it i-is…?

And without even looking at her, Rico nodded and offered her response.

"Y-Yes… it is, Mina…"

And all the while, the one controlling the Mechanical Titan couldn't help but huff a little as he stared down at the four with a look of mild amusement… and relief.

'Oh… there you guys are.'