To say that the encounter with that 'Titan'... the Mechanical Titan, had shaken up a handful of the soldiers present within the refuel station would be an understatement, and even after it had separated from them in order to go about its own business, the surviving soldiers present were all still a little tipsy over having seen such a legendary 'Titan' with their very eyes.
Still though, Jean, being somewhat of a natural born leader himself, ordered for the soldiers to retreat into a deeper portion of the base, with him reasoning that to stay in this specific room, one with a massive hole in it no less, would be nothing more than a death sentence, and without any arguments, the soldiers retreated deeper into the station, with them all quickly finding themselves within the weapon locker of the station moments later.
There, Annie and Mina were able to find a spare set of Maneuver Gear Thrusters and Anti-Titan Blade sheaths to replace the broken ones belonging to the latter, which she swapped out with gusto (these were without gas, sadly), and as she did so, Nac and Mylius joined up with Jean, Rico and a handful of other soldiers to discuss a plan; Jean himself had specifically asked for their opinions on a few of their plans, with him stating that-
"One of the guys had a look into the facility; they confirmed that there's at least seven Titans clumped around in the refuel station's supply room," stated Jean, with him shuddering lightly as he recalled how he had asked for Sandra to look into the station's heart some time prior. That poor girl had the daylights scared out of her and then some when a Titan had come in too close for comfort, though thankfully, none of them noticed her.
Sandra was currently out like a light as she laid on Christa's lap; no one could blame her, considering how she quite literally had a brush with death mere minutes prior, though some were certainly envious of where she had chosen to rest on…
That aside…
"Considering the close quarters nature of the station's interior, eliminating these Titans the traditional way is a no-go, so we'll need to get creative…" surmised Rico, with her rubbing at her cheek as she tried to think of a 'creative' solution to this whole issue, and as she did so, Mylius hummed lightly to himself before looking around the room thoughtfully.
"I… might have an idea, though first and foremost, I'll need a map."
Whilst that group scrounged around for said item, Mina and Annie hung back, with the latter assisting the former in equipping the Maneuver Gear onto her person all the while; neither were particularly good at planning things out, so they saw no reason to butt into an issue that was outside of their expertise, and as they fastened the equipment firmly onto Carolina's waist, the pigtailed soldier turned towards her blonde friend and offered her a sweet smile, eliciting a blush from Leonhardt all the while.
"Thanks, Annie," smiled Mina as she elbowed her friend's… elbow with a smile, to which Annie nodded; sue her, she might've been a horribly neutral individual, but even so, Carolina was almost always able to break through her defenses, one way or another. That aside, however, Leonhardt simply responded to her friend's words with a nod of her own, though moments later, the ground beneath them shook with the force of a tidal wave, forcing everyone present to pause briefly as they prayed that it would pass without issue.
And in time, it did, much to their relief…
"That tremor… do you think…?" began Bertholdt, with him frowning as he stood himself up uncertainly, only for Reiner to cut him off with a nod.
"There's no doubt about it… I know of nothing that could be the source of such a powerful tremor… nothing but the Mechanical Titan itself," stated Reiner, with fear dancing along the surface of his tone as he spoke, and to that, Bertholdt, alongside several others, paled at this affirmation, and as they did so, Mina shuddered lightly and hugged herself with discomfort.
"Hey, uh, Annie… I was wondering… you, Reiner and Bertholdt, you all came from Maria, so…" began Mina, with her scratching the back of her neck as she spoke. As she said this, however, Annie's gaze fell to the floor, with her eyes being shadowed by her bangs all the while, something that made her pigtailed friend flinch as she cut herself off. "A-Actually, never-"
"No, none of us ever did have the… privilege of meeting the Mechanical Titan head on," stated Annie, with her tone reflecting some discomfort as she spoke. Her past in Maria was never truly touched upon by any of her friends out of respect for her privacy (and also because it always felt as though it would be in poor taste), though either way, the blonde soldier wasn't opposed to sharing some details every now and then. "But… we did hear about its exploits from time to time, and… it did inadvertently save us after it had wiped out a pack of Titans that were headed for our village."
"I… I see… well, in any case, I was wondering what you made of it, Annie," stated Mina thoughtfully, with her wishing to have her friend's opinion on the Mechanical Titan all the while, and as she heard this, Annie huffed before crossing her arms.
"What do I make of it, huh? Well, wouldn't someone else's opinion be better? I'm not exactly the best when it comes to giving opinions, you know," stated Annie flatly, only for Mina to reach up and gently flick her blonde friend's cheek fondly. Said blonde blushed faintly at her touch, though outside of a glare, she didn't retaliate against this.
"Well, perhaps… but your opinion is more important to me than theirs, so… I'd like to hear it, please?" smiled Mina kindly, and for all it was worth, her words did cause the blonde's heart to beat a tiny bit faster as she looked away in embarrassment, and moments later, she sighed in defeat before offering her honest opinion on the 'Titan'.
"Alright then, fine…"
"Truthfully, I can't say anything definitive about it… the Mechanical Titan's very existence is an anomaly in itself, but even so…"
Weaving his Gundam from side to side, Mikazuki pulled back on the arm controllers before jerking them back forwards, with both his feet stepping down and pulling back from the leg steppers all the while. The erratic movement of his unit allowed it to cover more ground and to conserve more fuel as it zigzagged through the streets of Trost, bypassing buildings whilst also closing in on the Titans, and as it drew closer to one in particular, Mika readied himself for an engagement.
Said Titan was Thirteen metres in height, with it walking clumsily through the streets of Trost, towards the refuel station, not paying any mind to the inbound Gundam all the while, and with a huff, Mikazuki pulled back on one of his unit's arm controllers and zeroed in on that Titan in particular. With narrowed eyes, the pilot focused in on where the Thirteen metre was standing at, and moments later…
"HMPH!"
… Barbatos swung its arm unit towards it, and as it did so, it threw its Wrench Mace towards it. The damaged snout of the weapon collided with the Titan's body, ripping straight through it before it flew straight through several buildings, only stopping after it had punched a hole through the third, and for all it was worth, the destruction that he had just caused was a somewhat stark reminder to Mikazuki in just how different Titans were when compared to Mobile Suits.
They were weaker, owing to both their organic bodies and their inability to make proper plans, which made them much easier to defeat… but it also made it so that they became obscenely easy to perhaps… overkill at times, and, in truth, there wasn't much fun when it came to mindlessly killing a Titan in one or two hits. Call it some deeply rooted sense of masochism or whatever, but honestly, Mikazuki did kind of miss the challenge provided to him by an actually competent opponent.
That aside, however, the lack of challenge was probably a blessing for the moment, as it meant that he could eliminate these monsters in rapid succession; the less of them there were, the less there would be to assault the refuel station.
"... I can't deny that it's… got its uses. It saved you, for one, and it saved all of us a while back too. You say that it's an intelligent Titan, and you may very well be right on that front, but even so… this presumed intelligence is an incredibly dangerous weapon in its own right…"
"How so…?"
As he confirmed how the Thirteen metre Titan was nothing more than a corpse, Mikazuki was alerted to five Titans encroaching upon the Gundam's position from the sidelines; it seemed as though these in particular were keen on combating it rather than the base itself, and with a huff, the pilot turned his unit over to face them specifically. All five lumbered their way towards him with thoughtless looks in their eyes, and upon identifying their heights, Mika snorted and tapped several on-screen commands into the main cockpit monitor and held onto the arm controllers tightly.
"Let's go," hummed Mikazuki as Barbatos' grip on its secondary weapon, the Longsword, tightened, and in an instant, the unit boosted in. The distance between the Gundam and the Titans was closed in an instant, and as soon as it was upon them…
SHNK!
… Barbatos made the first move, with it swinging its Longsword down and cleaving the first of the Titans, a Twelve metre, from shoulder to hip in but one fell swoop. Both halves of the Titan separated and fell onto the ground in but a handful of milliseconds, though by then, the Gundam was already upon its next victim, the Fifteen metre behind it, with the unit having swung its bladed weapon at its waist, slicing the Titan in half in just one stroke. The bisected Titan fell to the ground, alive but struggling to move, as another Titan, a feeble Five metre, made an attempt to bite at Barbatos' shin armour.
The Gundam responded to its attempts by kicking it into another Titan, a Ten metre, sending it staggering back as parts of the Five metre, that had exploded backwards on impact with Barbatos' foot, made contact with it. Whilst it recovered from that, however, the second-to-last Titan attempted to rush the unit and tackle it down… only to be swatted aside when it was struck by the flat surface of the Longsword, sending it skidding across the ground like a ragdoll moments later, and as what remained of its body began dissolving into ash, Barbatos threw down its weapon and marched towards the final Titan present in the general vicinity.
"Being capable of thought is both a blessing and a curse. If it's truly intelligent, then it can no doubt make plans and plot against us… who's to say that it's not doing just that right now? In a desperate situation, it comes in to save us, thus earning our trust… but who's to say that it won't take advantage of this?"
"..."
"I'm not saying that you're wrong, Mina. I'm just-"
Rising up to its feet, the Ten metre clumsily swung a fist towards the Gundam as it drew closer to it, a feably attack that was almost effortlessly evaded, and as the attack was sidestepped by the unit, Barbatos swung its manipulator into the center of its back and clasped its digits around something, and moments later…
TEAR!
… it ripped its manipulator out of the Titan's back, and with it, the Gundam tore out the Ten metre's spinal column and spine along with it with ease. Upon doing so, the Titan went limp as its body began to dissolve into nothing, and all the while, Barbatos dropped the spinal column down onto the ground before stomping on it, crushing the already dissolving body part into the pavement all the while.
'... hmph,' thought Mikazuki absentmindedly, with him glancing over at the dissolving corpses of the Titans around him. Truth be told… he had been expecting them to put up more of a fight; Keith Shadis did stress to them that Titans as a whole were incredibly dangerous adversaries, but all the same, Keith could never really account for the Gundam to be a factor in all this, and as such… he probably couldn't blame him for this.
tink…
tink…
tink…
"...?"
"You're wrong."
"Hm?"
"I…"
Glancing down when Mikazuki noticed how the proximity sensor of his unit had gone off, the pilot took stock of how the Titan that he had sliced in half some time prior had crawled up to his unit's side by now, with it wrapping its arms around its shin and biting at it in a fruitless attempt at defeating the Gundam. Its gaze was hollow and its movements were jerky, but all the same, seeing it attempt to bring Barbatos down in such a manner was very much humorous to the pilot.
"I trust it. I… trust the Mechanical Titan. It's helped us, it's protected us, Annie… and unlike all of those other intelligent Titans, it hasn't shown any sort of hostility towards us. So… I'm willing to put my faith in it…"
"I… fine then, I guess. Do what you will…"
Though moments later, the pilot got over his amusement over the Titan's attempts at breaking through his unit's armour and aimed one of its Autocannons down at it, and after some minor aim adjustments, he opened fire onto it, blasting a 170mm Autocannon Round into the back of its nape and obliterating what remained of it in but a fraction of a second.
Subsequently, all that remained of the Titan was nothing more than a dissolving, charred mass of flesh and bone, and as it all dissolved into nothing, Mikazuki found himself sighing softly as he rubbed at his wrists with discomfort, with him knowing that this was only the beginning of what was to come.
"... let's continue, Barbatos…"
Sometime amidst the small conversation that Annie and Mina were having, Rico, amongst a few others that were present, had left the room they were all in to retrieve a few items of note, with Mylius and Nac being amongst their numbers all the while. This in itself wasn't all too bad, though it did leave both 104th graduates without a mediator to get between them and their differing opinions in regards to the Mechanical Titan.
There was a light tension between the two, what with Mina's naivete not mixing all too well with Annie's realistic outlook on life, though they knew better than to talk about it now, of all times. Rather, they kept their thoughts to themselves for now as they stood idly by, waiting for their planners to return and give them some advice all the while.
"Should we…?" muttered Connie to Reiner as he took stock of the unease between Mina and Annie, to which the hulking blonde shook his head.
"Do you want to be fried?" asked Reiner rhetorically, to which Connie shook his head violently, and thereafter, things became silent once more, only for it to be broken once more when Rico and the others returned with gusto, with everyone seeing that they had returned with…
"Rifles…?" muttered Annie, confused as she watched Nac, Mylius and several others setting down a set of wooden flintlock rifles. Jean, who was amongst the group of returning soldiers, appeared somewhat sheepish as he motioned for everyone to gather around the map of the refuel station, though after Marco gave him an encouraging squeeze of his shoulder, the ash blonde took in a deep intake of air before exhaling sharply, with him explaining his plan moments thereafter.
"Yes… rifles… everyone present who is confident in their skills in Maneuver Gear combat, please step forwards. We need at least seven of you to be present, and as for the rest… grab a rifle and remain by the back. We'll give you your orders later," stated Jean, with him handing a rifle off to Nac, who felt unsure on whether or not he should feel insulted by that gesture, though he spoke nothing of it as he held it by his side, practicing trigger safety all the while.
Their situation might've been dire… but proper trigger discipline was still important!
"Right, but… uh, Jean? What's the plan, anyways?" asked Reiner nervously as he watched Mylius, Rico and Nac handing out rifles to those that weren't particularly confident in their Maneuver Gear skills, and as he asked this, Jean shuddered lightly as Rico spoke up in his steed.
"If you want an answer, then look to this one. He practically made the plan up on his own," stated Rico, with her motioning towards Mylius as she spoke, and upon hearing this, Zeramuski stiffened as multiple eyes landed upon him, and moments later, he exhaled sharply and began to explain it all…
"Nervous…?"
"... yeah… how couldn't I be?"
Chuckling softly as he heard Mina's response, Nac found himself smiling a tiny bit as he held his rifle in a standby stance, and as he did so, he, alongside several others, loaded themselves onto the main elevator of the refuel station.
This elevator was made to transport supplies from the ground floor of the station up to its higher levels, and when lowered, it would bring them down into the main portion of the station… aka the area that was infested with Titans in the first place.
Normally, one could consider what they were about to do suicide with extra steps, but as things were now… this was all a part of the plan, as, well…
"A-Alright, s-so the plan is simple… in a way. Those who are uncertain about their Maneuver Gear abilities, grab a gun and gather in the elevator on the upper floor. We'll lower you down…" began Mylius, with him pausing briefly as he considered his next few words wisely, though after Nac offered him an encouraging pat on the shoulder, he sucked it up and blurted out the rest of what he had to say. "... into the Supply Room."
"W-Wait… you're gonna send us down there with nothing but these things to defend ourselves against seven Titans?!" demanded Sandra from the back, with terror radiating off her words as she stared over at Mylius with dread in her gaze, and likewise, her words were echoed by several others as she continued. "You do know that guns won't do nothin' to Titans, right?!"
"You kids ready…?"
Rico's voice did little to calm any of the soldiers standing within the elevator, but even so, they found some solace in how their senior sounded just as stressed out as they felt, and with a small smile, Nac offered her a thumbs up. He didn't trust his voice at all at the moment, and with a respectful nod, Brzenska grabbed onto a lever and got ready to pull it.
"Alright then… we'll begin the operation. Happy hunting, all of you," said Rico, with her pulling down on the lever, in turn causing the elevator to begin shifting down all the while, and as it did so, Mina glanced up at her senior with a strained smile.
"Likewise, ma'am," smiled Mina as she shifted her finger to rest atop the trigger of her rifle, and as she did so, she glanced up at Nac, who nodded at her in as encouraging a manner as he could.
"Keep your chin up… you remember how to fire this thing, yeah?" smiled Nac, with him trying to lighten his friend's mood with his words as he spoke, to which Mina smiled lightly before chuckling.
"Yeah… the Commander drilled that into our heads… I remember Mika being very good with a gun… it was almost scary how he kept hitting all his marks, you know?"
"Yeah… it really was…"
"I… do. But here's the thing, though, we're not going to kill them with the guns," continued Mylius with an index finger held up; Nac's encouragement had done quite a bit to raise his spirits, and now, he spoke in a more confident tone. "Rather, this plan hinges on us blindsiding them with our shots.
"With the amount of gunpowder and rifles we currently have, it's not entirely out of the question for us to blind all seven Titans in the room if we fire at them at point blank range. We won't be able to blind them for long, but it'll likely be long enough for the second phase of the plan to commence."
As the elevator lowered itself further into the central station, the soldiers present all readied their rifles and moved to aim them at the Titans. Mylius and Mina took aim on either side of Nac, with them keeping their weapons trained on the Titan closest to them all the while, and at first, it did not react to them whatsoever, though moments later, it abruptly turned to face them head on, with its lifeless smile and hollow gaze causing several of them to tense as their fingers almost pushed down on their triggers.
Mylius himself almost opened fire as his entire body tensed up in terror, especially when the Titan took a massive step towards them, though a gentle nudge from Nac's elbow to his own eased some of his tension, and as he relaxed a tiny bit, the blonde turned his attention up to the scaffolding of the station, and there, the young man made brief eye contact with Jean and gave a small nod before turning back towards the approaching Titans.
"Phase two involves seven of our most capable soldiers hiding up in the scaffolding of the building," continued Mylius as he stared up at Jean, who responded with a nod. "These seven will be the best of the best amongst the few of us who made it here. I nominate the following…"
With her breath seemingly caught in her throat, Annie waited impatiently for the sound of gunshots to ring out into the air as she positioned herself atop the roof scaffolding of the Refuel Station. She wasn't the only one, though, as alongside her, hidden amidst the darkness of the roof, were at least six other soldiers that Mylius had nominated to take out the Seven Titans infesting the base.
Annie herself knew that Reiner and Bertholdt were by her side, and a quick turn of her head confirmed that. Them aside, Leonhardt was aware that Ymir, Rico, Jean and Connie were present to assist as well. They were to swoop down and eliminate the Titans when the time came for them do so, though due to the tight confines of the Supply Room, they would be unable to make use of their Maneuver Gear to reinforce their abilities, though Annie in particular was confident that their physical strength would be able to help them overcome this setback.
"We're gambling everything we have on this risky strategy," continued Mylius as he looked between the seven who were chosen for Anti-Titan duty. He knew that he was putting a lot of pressure onto them, but even so, this was a desperate situation, and… "We get only one shot at this. If you're not confident in your abilities, say it and we'll have you swapped out for someone else."
None of them had backed out. They were confident in their abilities, and Mylius knew it, even as he watched the Titans approach them sluggishly.
"Hold…!" whisper-shouted Marco in place of Mylius as he kept his eyes unblinking and focused on the encroaching Titans, horrified by the idea of the Titan being able to close the gap between itself and the other soldiers in the time that it took for him to blink.
Another step closer, and the rifle wielding soldiers grimaced at how close the bastards were now. It was enough to make Nac audibly cringe while Mina's knees nearly gave way beneath her, but they, alongside their fellow soldiers, held strong as they kept the barrels of their rifles trained towards the faces of the Titans.
Above them, the seven Cadets and soldiers felt their hearts race faster and faster with each passing moment. They knew what the signal to strike was, and they intended on moving the moment it was given as fast as humanly possible, but even so, it didn't mean that they were not at least a tiny bit concerned for their comrades as the Titans drew closer and closer to them.
'It all comes down to us in the end. We must end this in one strike!' thought Annie as her grip on her blades tightened. Absentmindedly, she averted her gaze towards Mina and Nac, standing on the elevator as they aimed their rifles with the confidence of a newborn puppy learning to bare its fangs, and with a scowl, the blonde narrowed her eyes at them as her grip around her blades tightened tenfold. 'You'll make it out of here alive, you two. I can promise you that much.'
"Just a little more!" whisper-shouted Marco once more as the Titans around them took yet another step towards them. They were now standing just barely two metres away from the rifle-wielding soldiers, and the close proximity of the bastards was more than enough to make several of them shudder, though they held firm, with them not making any sudden movements as they knew that in doing so, they could very well goad the Titans into violence.
'One more step…' thought Mylius as his finger moved to wrap around the trigger of his rifle, as did several others around him… and as the Titans around them took that one final step forwards, with the closest quite literally staring straight down the barrel of a soldier's rifle as it moved, Marco opened his mouth to issue his command…
… only for Sandra to beat him to it as she bellowed out the order out of nervousness.
"ALRIGHT, OPEN FIRE!"
Sandra had shrieked out that command whilst it remained momentarily stuck in Marco's throat, and at her mark, the rifle-wielding soldiers all pulled back on their triggers and blasted the Titans before them, point blank, in the face. Not all their shots were able to land on where they had initially intended, but even so, almost all of the Titans present were able to be blinded by the shots…
… and what happened thereafter felt almost instantaneous.
In almost a split second, all seven soldiers who were hidden up in the scaffolding sprung into action, with all of them leaping straight off the supports with their Anti-Titan blades held tightly in their hands. They all had a Titan in their sights ahead of time, and with matching scowls, the seven descended upon their targets and swung their blades at their weak spots.
All seven delivered strong slashes to the napes of their targets, with Annie dispatching her own in but a blink of an eye whilst Rico damn near decapitated the Titan that she had been eyeing for quite some time. At the same time, Reiner downed his own with ruthless efficiency whilst Bertholdt, although somewhat clumsy in his descent, still dispatched his own with minimal issue. Rico's own was taken down with but a single slice, and as for Connie and Jean…
… oh, oh dear…
With widened eyes and her mouth agape, Ymir watched as the slice she had delivered unto the Titan's nape began to seal itself back up within a matter of seconds, and all the while, the Titan turned to face her with an unreadable expression on its face. Likewise, the Titan that Jean had been targeting turned to face him as well, seeming unimpressed as it glared at him in silence, and all the while…
"S-Shit…!" proclaimed Ymir, the momentary shock causing terror to crawl up into her voice as she attempted to back away from the Titan she had failed to dispatch. The Titan, rather obviously, took no notice of this as it stomped towards Fritz, who began to feel her eyes widening intensely in horror. "Ah…"
Before that sentence could be complete, however, the Titan lunged straight at her, causing her to leap off to the side. With a mild grimace, she rolled herself back up to her feet and assumed a somewhat feeble combat stance, though by then, the sound of blades tearing through flesh rang out through the air, prompting her to turn around just in time to see Annie land in front of the big, brown eyed Titan, crouching down low as the blood on her blades began dissolving.
Over with Jean, the poor guy was saved from a somewhat embarrassing demise by Rico, who slashed at the Titan's nape rather well before landing in front of the shell shocked man.
"Good Grief," was all Annie could say as she stood herself back up, wiping the dissolving Titan blood off her cheek as she approached Ymir, glaring down at her with a mildly irritated expression, though moments later, she exhaled sharply and sheathed her weapons, with her lowering a hand down to pull Fritz up to her feet. "Work on your slashes, Ymir. You almost cost us the entire operation."
"Hmph, yeah, whatever. Rub it in, why dontcha?" scoffed Ymir in embarrassment, to which Annie herself rolled her eyes. The freckled woman was many things, but modest was not one of them, but either way, after a moment or two of glaring at one another, the two 104th graduates parted ways, with Leonhardt turning towards the slowly descending elevator all the while.
Right as the elevator hit the ground, the rifle wielding soldiers stepped out of it and rushed over to check on their comrades and/or refuel their gear. Mina and Nac in particular rushed towards Annie, seemingly mildly worried and somewhat worn out all the while, but still alive. And by all means, that was what was most important.
"T-That was… so cool Ann!" proclaimed Mina in between relieved breaths as she smirked and gave Annie a quick thumbs up, one that the blonde nodded in response to. Flattery was something that was more or less worthless to the soldier, but even so, it always did feel different when it came from her friends, and off to the side, Nac offered her an approving smile and a similarly approving thumbs up, something that made the young woman smile just a tiny bit as she felt her chest warming up a tiny bit at their words and gestures.
And at the same time… Annie's chest tightened painfully as other feelings mixed in with the positive ones that she was experiencing at the moment, though she did her best to ignore them for the time being as she refocused on refueling their equipment.
With a scowl, a grunt and a mighty swing of his Gundam's arm unit, Mikazuki swung the back of his unit's manipulator straight into the side of a Titan's face, and as he did so, the Titan's head promptly exploded into a mess of blood and gore before what remained of it was sent careening off to parts unknown, a sight that amused Mika more than he wished to admit.
As the Titan's headless body fell backwards, Mikazuki huffed slightly and tapped his unit's radar system a handful of times; not much time had passed, but even so, according to the scanners of his unit, the Titans within the refuel station's supply room had been dealt with; how this was the case was a mystery to him, but even so, he thought very little of it as he choked it up to human ingenuity. Humans had a tendency to make the impossible possible when push came to shove, after all…
And as he thought this, Mikazuki huffed slightly as a small pack of four Titans began rushing towards his Gundam. All of them appeared very much oblivious to how Barbatos had almost effortlessly tore through several of their kind in the past few hours, not that Mika had expected them to, as they sprinted in the unit's general direction, and as they drew close, the Mobile Suit sprang into action.
The first Titan to reach the unarmed Gundam had made an attempt to lunge at it, only to be caught mid-jump by the unit before it was slammed into the ground, killing it in an instant, and the next made an attempt to swipe at Barbatos through the smoke that surrounded it, though it wasn't able to do so, as the unit had brought its arm unit up to block the hit, an act that broke just about every bone in the Titan's arm as it collided with its outer armour, before it seized the Titan's wrist and used its other arm unit to karate chop it off at the elbow.
Barbatos' manipulator tore through the Titan's elbow like a hot knife through butter, and as it ripped its arm off, the Titan staggered backwards, only to be sent flying backwards after the Gundam jolted forwards and swung its own arm towards it in an upwards arc. On impact, the Titan's neck snapped skywards before it was sent soaring out of view, and moments later, Barbatos used the mangled arm to strike another Titan in the head, with it doing so with such force that, on impact, the Titan's neck snapped as its skull began spinning atop its head like a top, with the Titan itself falling onto its back moments later.
"Hmph…" huffed Mikazuki as Barbatos discarded what little remained of the mangled arm in its grasp, and as it did so, the final, and no doubt the shortest, of the Titans ran towards it. Without even thinking, the Gundam simply reached down and plucked it off the ground, where it brought it up to optic-level without much issue moments later. Mikazuki himself had no reason to do this, but as for Barbatos… "Learn anything new?"
"..."
"Nothing we already know, huh…?"
"..."
"Disappointing, but expected… oh well."
And with that said, Mikazuki promptly shifted the arm controllers of his unit around a little, and as he did so, Barbatos' arm units shifted as well. One manipulator still held onto the Titan's head firmly, though as for the other, it seized the Titan's hip with great strength, and seconds later…
CRACK!
… Barbatos, with but a simple flick of its wrists, snapped the Titan's back, and moments later…
SNAP!
… it promptly twisted the Titan's neck back beyond its natural limits, in turn snapping its spine and causing it to protrude out of its neck moments later. Seeing this made the pilot within the Gundam's chest huff in amusement as he took in the sight of the heavily contorted body of the Titan within his unit's grasp, though moments later…
"...?"
"No. But after what these things did to the people of this world… it just feels nice…"
RIP!
"... to be able to do to them what they've done to so many others with so little effort…"
And as he said this, Barbatos' optics flashed in apparent agreement with Mikazuki's words, but even so…
"..."
"Sorry. The blood goes away quickly, though."
"..."
"Alright. I'll try to keep it off you more, okay?"
"..."
"You're welcome."
And with a huff, Mikazuki shook his head as he tapped down on a button located by the side of the cockpit monitor, in turn causing his unit to expel some steam from its vents. The Gundam was, somewhat obviously, a machine. It needed Mikazuki to move, to act and to do anything of substance, but all the same, it was so much more than just a mere tool. Barbatos was… special, so to speak, and even if what he 'spoke' to him about was nothing more than data flowing through to his end of the Alaya-Vijnana system, Mikazuki was still partially convinced that his unit was alive.
It was a ridiculous statement, one that even Barbatos had, in its own unique way, commented on with its own version of amusement, but even so… it did appreciate how its pilot viewed it as such, but that aside…
"..."
"Is it wrong? To feel angry on someone else's behalf?"
"..."
"... times have changed. The world's more than just Atra, Orga, Kudelia and Tekkadan now… it's… overshadowed them."
"..."
"... I have not grown soft, Barbatos."
"..."
"... shut up…"
"...~"
"..."
"..."
".."
"...?!"
"Hm?-"
And right as the 'conversation' between Gundam and pilot came to a slow halt, the unit's audio receptors picked up a new sound that caught both off guard. It wasn't the sound of screaming soldiers, nor was it the footsteps of Titans encroaching on their current position, but rather, it was…
Ŗ̵̡̨̡̛̹͉̩̻̲͍͙̭͕̝̘̯̪̗͉̟̭̜̪͕̺͊͋̄̍͘̚̕ͅa̷̢̢̧̧̭̪͔̭͎͚̺̰̭̪͖̦͍͔̱͎̦̘̟̭͇̥͚͇̰͓̱̮̞͉̼̅͐̒̀͌͐̒̓̔́̕͜ą̴̨̛̹̯̼͈͈̻̜̼̞̼̝͈̰̤͓̱̣̪̖͎̺̬̰͎̣̪̣͖͙͚̲̉͊̑̈̍̐̅͂̓̏̉͆̏̀̈́͗̏̃͋̅̌͒̇͆́̏̐͆̇̇̍̓̈́͒̀̽̇͗͛͂̈́̋̏̋̕̚͜͝͝ͅA̶̧̧͔̗̤͕̠̮͇̝̺̮̫̬̫̫̺̠͇̯͚͕̳̣̗̻̥̻̮͈̦̞̠̓͊̽͒̀̇̿͜͜͠ͅA̵̢̜̮̭̙̮̥̗̳̺̠͇͍͍͇̯̩̥͆͂͆̈͊̍͌̑̔̈́̔̄͊͝A̵̛͓̩̱̫͉͙̯͗̒̄̐͛͗́̈́̄̊͋̋͋̈̋̉̊̍̄͑͘̕͝ḁ̵̢̢̲̰̹̙͈̭̗͍͕̝͎̻͍̝̩̥̣͈̙̝͕͎̖̲̫̲͇͍̙̟͔̣̪͈̹̩̟̰̿̏̄͂͋̌̎̓͆̉̽̈́͆̆̌̈̌̎̎̽̏̓̂̇̀̚͜͠͠͝ͅͅA̴̲̗̥͚͛̏͊́́̒̀̃̓̉̎̐͂̓̾͜͜R̶̨̛̰̭̺̳̘͚͍̻̦͓̟̝̲̭̦͔͔̓͑̈́͂̈́̇́̔̐̾̑̾̋̚͜ͅg̵̡̢̢̣͍͇̱̞͍̹̦̗̣͔̲̘͓̺͔̙̱̰͍̯͚̰̱̙̼͍̯͖̳̖̲͇̗̰̺̤̻̠̦͔̿͌̑͋̉̂̃̽͑̓̄̔̄̀͑̉̀̅̚͜͝Ģ̸̢̢̡̭̣̲̠͔̠̰̪̖͙̖͚͔̝͚̯̞̱͔͚̟̹̥̥̻̥̥̹̻̟̙͎̺̬̟̻͖̜̜̥̫̰̽̃͒̃͂̾͜Ģ̵̺̤͖̓̀̄̋͒̈́̇̄͌̌̑̋͆̌͐͋͒̀̀͒̆̍̃̀̆̚̚͘͝͝͝ͅG̴̨̡̛͉̻̱͚̣̙̲͈̬͇͎̹̫̺̈͌̆͆̇͌̈́͐́̐̎̽̀̌̀̎́̀̔̂̈͆̊̂̿̿̓͛̽̀̈́́̊̎͋̌͘̕̕͘͜͠͝͝͝ͅͅͅG̸͕͙͔̣̣̝̯̪͎̮͓͓̦̫͍̈́̒̈́̀͐̅̕ͅͅḨ̷̨̟̻̮̥̳̟̙̮̟̜̘͚͉̮̮̃͆̀̍̀̔̔͗̏̊̏̋͑͋̾͊͂̆̓͛͒̎͊̃̔̅̈́̍̚̕̚͘͘̚͘̕͝ģ̵̛̩̭̝̟̪̲̞̹͚͔͎̱̯̮͌̊͐̃̈́̾̽̓̌̅̓̂̒̚͘͠͝!̷͖̗͖̠̩͙͚͉̘͈̫̳̲̭̳̟͔͙̝̰̻̪̙̝̼̼̩̹͔͇̻̝̮̰̞̰͎̽̋́͜͜!̶̦̠̭͔̬̳̻̯̮̬͚̟̰̳͎̥͒́͌̅̍̇͛̀͋͐͛̚͜͜͠͝!̵̛̜͍͉͓͓͔̲̙̬̩͖̫̮͗͂̍̂̀͛̎̌̏͗̈̔͌̊͒̀̓̃̓̒́̀͂̈͋̚̚̚͘͝͝͝!̷͍̹͈͔̫̥̮͔̍̈́̉̎́̀̓̂̊̉͆̈́̍̂̿́͗̈́̆̏͒͂͋̽̍͒̑͌̎̓̃͗̍̀̂̂͌͊̕̚̚͘͠!̵̢̡̛̛̻̻͚̳̌̊̾̒̅̈́́̃̄̍̑̋̏̊̃͋͒͒͒̽̋̓͒͊̋̉̇̂͆̍̓̃́̅̄͊͋̾̚̕͝
"A roar…?"
It was indeed just that. A roar… something that was very much a foreign concept to even Mikazuki himself. Titans never roared, and that in itself was more than enough to spur on some of the pilot's curiosity as he turned towards its source, and as he did so, he narrowed his eyes when he realized that it originated from the Trost refuel station, prompting him to widen his eyes in shock.
NOTICE - NEW POTENTIAL ABNORMAL THREAT PRESENT BY REFUEL STATION
RECOMMENDATION - INTERCEPTION
"Ah… you don't need to tell me twice, Barbatos…"