Chapter 18: A Trap is Set
Eren walked into the HQ and noticed that Agents were rushing around more than normal. They seemed like they were getting ready for something, which normally only happened during an attack or a raid on a location. Typically, they only dealt with foreign threats, so Eren was wondering what was going on.
"Senpai, you made it." Miyuki said.
"What's going on?" Eren asked.
Miyuki was preparing his own gear, a Kevlar vest that he wore over his white shirt and didn't bring his normal jacket. He also prepared his pistol, but Miyuki's vest was a little loose and it was clear he was still fresh from training.
"The Director has found a positive ID on one of the Titans." Miyuki said.
Eren's eyes widened slightly.
"You're sure?" Eren asked.
"Yea, he's preparing SAT and snipers to try and apprehend them." Miyuki said.
That concerned Eren. Eren knew that unless a Tian battle happens, capturing a Shifter is next to impossible. Any injury at all can cause a transformation, and the Scouts attempts to capture Annie only ever resulted in dozens of dead Soldiers.
He had no doubt that there would be a fight, and he also knew that Naicho probably doesn't fully understand the situation. His report only recently got to the Diet, and they have yet to release the report to any of their agencies due to their bureaucratic processes.
"Where are they?" Eren asked.
"They?" Miyuki asked.
"There should be another one, the Cart Titan. A western girl with black wavy hair." Eren said.
"Yea, she was ID'd too, but they didn't know if she was in league with the guy." Miyuki said.
"Where is the Director?" Eren asked.
"He's already heading to the spot." Miyuki said. "He wants you near him in case things go poorly."
"Things are going to go poorly." Eren said.
"What do you mean?" Miyuki asked.
"They don't know what they're dealing with." Eren said.
Eren got his own vest and pistol and made sure it was fitted on him. He made sure to have extra ammo, hoping that he could avoid a Titan fight. Especially if it happens in the middle of Tokyo.
"Where are they?" Eren asked.
"Well, apparently they were spotted in a CCTV camera in an elementary school, posing as janitors." Miyuki said.
Eren's eyes widened all the way now.
"They're walking into a trap." Eren said.
Eren grabbed his keys and motioned for Miyuki to follow him. As they walked, Eren double checked his ammo, vest, and any additional things he'd need in case he could actually avoid a Titan fight.
"Come again?" Miyuki asked.
"It's a trap." Eren said again. "I need to get to the Director and tell him to call off the raid."
Eren walked outside and over to his car. Miyuki got in the passenger side and Eren got into the driver seat. He started the car and made his way out of the HQ and over towards the school that Miyuki told him about.
Ai slammed her head into the desk for the third time. She has been trying for three days straight, especially after Ruby's interview to hopefully get them a decent concert. However, President Saitou is being stingy with funding right now as things stand.
"Everything ok mama?" Ruby asked.
Ruby was sitting on the couch with her knees up to her chest and eating her favorite brand of ice cream. While Mikasa and Kawachi were playing in the studio halls, Aqua, Reiner, and Kana were sitting at a table and doing work of their own.
"President Saitou refuses to give any more funding for a concert until we can get a third person." Ai said.
"Really?" Ruby looked sad.
Ai raised her eyebrow at her face. She wondered if she could weaponize that on President Saitou. If Ruby and Ai both pleaded with sad faces, maybe she could get him to cave. Ai still did look like a teenager in many ways, especially with a bit of makeup hiding the very subtle wrinkles on her eyes, so it was possible.
But she understood why President Saitou refused.
"Idols who are in pairs typically do poorly." Kana said. "Most places won't accept groups of less than three since people can get bored quickly. He's making the smarter move."
"Exactly." Ai nodded. "And unfortunately, no other idol or girl wants to be associated with B-Komachi, despite Ruby's recent success at the interview."
Everyone in the room sighed as they realized that there was just another situation they had to deal with. It made Ai upset that once again, her and Eren's past was interfering with Ruby's future and dreams.
"What about those girls with Armin." Aqua suggested.
"The girls from Love Now?" Ai asked.
"Yea." Aqua nodded. "Mem-Cho and Yuki are pretty cute."
Ai noticed Kana pout as Aqua complimented the other girls. Ai had to giggle slightly since she knew that Aqua was only speaking entirely professionally. He was her son after all, so she knew when he actually had an interest in a girl... which was pretty much never...
"Plus, Armin could help us convince them since he's friends with Eren." Aqua continued.
"Great plan, but they know our secret." Reiner said. "I doubt they'd want to be associated with your idol group considering that Eren and I can turn into giant monsters."
"True, but they're still working with Armin despite the issues." Aqua said. "Even that Akane girls seems like a decent candidate."
Ai shook her head at the suggestion of Akane.
"I think Akane has potential to be a star but unfortunately she would bring negative publicity right now." Ai said. "With the situation with Love Now, she's kind of become a fan hated character since she hit that Yuki girl."
"She did what?" Reiner asked, confused.
Reiner thought all the girls were friends. They seemed friendly with each other, so he was surprised that they had issues.
"Don't over think it Reiner." Aqua said. "Those shows are typically scripted. Akane was probably just built up like a villain."
"It actually worked pretty well." Ruby said as she set down her empty ice cream cup. "Even I don't like Akane's character."
"You're really continuing to watch it?" Reiner asked.
"Mostly because Mikasa is obsessed with it." Ruby said. "It's all she wants to watch because of Armin." She giggled.
"Why not try him, I'm sure if you put him in a dress he could pass for a girl." Reiner joked.
"Yea, and then have everything crumble when people find out." Ai giggled. "Though he is the most popular boy on the show. His reviews say they love how boyish he comes off yet there's a level of maturity to him."
Reiner chuckled at that. It wasn't surprising since Armin always acted that way. Though he remembered that Armin did grow and come a long way since they last talked. He remembered his last conversation with Armin was before he betrayed the island.
"You ok Reiner?" Ruby asked, noticing his sour expression.
"Yea, just thinking." Reiner said.
Ruby's eyes narrowed slightly, clearly sensing there was more to his statement. Ruby knew a bit about Reiner's past, at least the idea that he apparently betrayed her papa during their war. While Ruby felt like she should be angry, she didn't feel she could hold that against him.
After all, he was just a Soldier in a different side of a war. She may know nothing of war, but she didn't think that someone as kind as Reiner would be a bad person. But he always seemed to be sad about those events.
"Maybe we should have Reiner be a singer." Ruby joked.
"Right." Reiner chuckled. "Because I can pass for a cute girl."
"Well, you did do better than mama at the karaoke bar, so-" Ruby was cut off.
"That was completely unfair, and the machine didn't know what it was doing!" Ai yelled in indignation.
The group had to listen to the former idol start going off on how the game was rigged and how she knew she was still the best idol in the room that everyone here should continue to worship. Ruby giggled as her mama got so upset. It was the first time in a long time that she actually showed any care or even pride in her past as an idol.
Aqua also had similar thoughts. Despite how she felt, Ai was always fond of her time as an idol. True, it ended poorly and even traumatically, but it was still a profession she loved. Aqua felt that in some ways, being Ruby's manager ignited a small spark of her previous passion for being an idol. A spark she hadn't felt in a long time.
Aqua did smile a bit, glad that Ai was in some way reliving her glory days.
Eren got out of his car over to the staging area near the school. It was out of sight of the elementary school and the SAT and other Naicho agents were preparing for the attack. They unfortunately were unable to evacuate the school or even inform them of the danger, so the school was still full of unaware children and faculty.
"Director." Eren said as he walked up to his boss, who was also dressed in body armor.
"Yeager." He acknowledged. "Glad you made it. We'll need you in case things go poorly."
Eren walked up to him, noticing the glances of his fellow agents who were all naturally briefed on the situation. There was a feeling of fear surrounding them since they knew that there was a potential for this to turn into the mall fight from earlier.
"Call everyone off." Eren said.
The Director raised his eyebrow at Eren's request, confused as to why Eren was making these requests.
"Why?" The Director asked. "We have Snipers getting into position and are going to kill them in a single shot before we have SAT move in to deal with any potential Yakuza members."
"Because snipers won't be enough." Eren said seriously.
The Director looked Eren straight in the eyes, concerned about what he was implying. Eren knew everyone knew about the healing factor, but Eren felt like they didn't fully understand it.
"We're walking into a trap. I'm telling you, that we're being baited into a confrontation." Eren said seriously.
"They're in a courtyard, we can have snipers there any moment. We'll probably traumatize some children, but I doubt they'll survive a bullet to the head." The Director said.
Eren knew that the Government was terrified of the potentials of these Shifters. They knew that it was too dangerous to try an arrest them, so they preferred to at least kill them, even if it meant a blow to the Government's reputation.
"When I faced the Armored Titan, we blew his head completely off. It won't be enough to stop them from transforming." Eren said.
Eren always knew how difficult it would be, and he also knew that Zeke mentioned some kind of consciousness trick. A trick he still didn't know yet.
"Are you saying a shot to the head won't be enough?" The Director asked.
"No." Eren said. "I don't know how, but they have a way of moving their consciousness, whatever that means. But I can promise you, it won't be enough to kill them and will only make them transform."
"Which would lead to a lot of dead children." The Director said.
"Exactly." Eren confirmed. "This is a trap, one intended to make us hesitate since a Titan battle would result in dozens, if not hundreds of dead children."
The Director looked down, his eyebrows furrowed in thought as he considered his next move. He didn't consider the possibility that this was a trap and simply thought they were discovered due to their lack of understanding of modern technology. But if it was true and they were reborn... then they'll be fully familiar with modern security systems.
An advantage they'd probably exploit.
"How do we capture them?" The Director asked.
"We can't unless we engage in a Titan battle." Eren said.
"Really?" Miyuki asked, horrified.
"If we can damage their bodies after their first transformation, the body will be too busy healing to allow for a second transformation." Eren said.
"Second?" The Director asked.
"Experienced Shifters can shift two or three times before getting tired." Eren said. "The Cart can do so hundreds of times though since the Cart Titan has always been known for its durability."
"So, you're saying get dozens of kids killed so get this done?" The Director asked angrily.
Eren looked down for a moment. While there was a time he accepted innocent people dying if it meant saving the island, he was getting tired of that mentality.
"I'll move in with a squad." Eren said. "We'll have no choice but to chase them off as humans."
"Chase them off?" The Director asked.
"We won't be able to get them unless we accept innocent kids dying, so for now all we can do is chase them off." Eren said.
"Won't that cause them to transform?" The Director asked.
"Possibly, but if it's just them, then they won't do it as long as I remain human." Eren suggested. "They know they can't beat me as a Titan and are probably trying to lure me in a position to kill me as a human with a surprise. Either a shot to the head or a quick transformation to devour me."
"Why would they devour you?" The Director asked.
"Only way to completely kill a Shifter is to completely destroy the entire body." Eren partially lied, not wanting to explain the process of Titan powers transferring.
"So, you're hoping to spring the trap and gamble that they'll instead choose to run instead of fight?" The Director asked.
"I've made worse gambles." Eren said.
"And if you're wrong?" The Director asked.
Eren crossed his arms, knowing that odds are, he was playing right into their hands. He was willingly setting the trap and hoping that he'll be able to avoid it and force them to retreat.
"We'll have to bury a bunch of dead kids." Eren said seriously. "But if we do nothing, we risk them reacting first... which would have the same result."
The Director weighed his options. No matter what, they were against an enemy that would gladly sacrifice people in the name of their own sense of right and wrong. If what Eren said was true during the Diet, they have a fanatical hatred of Eren's own race of people, these Eldians... even though these warriors are Eldians themselves.
Though it seemed that there is an ethnic divide between mainland Eldians and Eren's own island Eldians.
"Fine, you and Miyuki will take a squad and engage them." The Director said. "We'll have other squads go in through different directions and begin evacuating as much of the school as we can. Right now, we can confirm they're in the courtyard in the center of the school."
"Perfect for a Titan transformation." Eren said mostly to himself.
"If we can completely evacuate the school... you have my permission to do what you need to in order to defeat these people. However, under no circumstances will you transform before everyone has been evacuated." The Director ordered.
"If they do, I'll have no choice." Eren said.
"I'll also see if I can get the Defense Force to have air power on standby if needed." The Director said.
"Right." Eren nodded.
Eren picked up an MP5 and motioned for the squad of SAT Police to follow him with Miyuki taking up the rear. Miyuki was still nervous, but he looked like he was doing significantly better since he had his first gun fight earlier.
Eren loaded the magazine and made sure a bullet was in the chamber. He has had a lot of training on modern firearms so now he could actually fight more like a modern soldier than a soldier from his own world. He was also used to room clearing tactics that this more advanced society was trained in.
Eren and the squad moved quickly, crossing the street and reaching the entrance of the school. The Cherry Blossum trees, which in a few months would gain their iconic pink hue, was currently turning orange and brown with the autumn months setting in.
"EEK!" A girl, probably Mikasa's age, yelled as she saw the scary cops with guns moving towards the entrance.
Eren moved right past her, a few other squads coming behind to begin evacuation.
While normally, evacuations were handled differently, they had to react and change their tactics considering that there was a literal bomb in the school. They had to treat this as a bomb situation and get people to safety as quickly as possible. Otherwise, there could be a significant number of casualties.
As Eren and the squad moved through the halls, a bunch of kids were getting nervous and moved out of the way. Faculty members saw the police and instantly started moving the kids towards the exits, knowing that any time the police came in force like this, their first priority is to get the children to safety.
Luckily, thanks to the teachers training, a panic was largely avoided, and the kids were beginning to leave in an orderly and calm manner.
Eren, Miyuki, and the SAT Officers made it to the entrance to the courtyard. There was a large stone in the center that had Japanese writings on it as well as a play area for the kids to enjoy during their lunch break. Some kids were still there, enjoying their break and playing or eating Bento boxes that were made from their families.
Since they were the first ones here and the assault had been so quick, the school wide alarm hadn't sounded yet and no one in the courtyard knew that there was an evacuation.
Near the center, was the Jaws and Cart Titans. They were dressed like janitors and looked as though they were cleaning. The Cart Titan was smiling and talking to some kids who seemed to be laughing and enjoying her company.
Eren calmed himself, knowing that he needed to be careful. In the past ten years, he's tried so hard to bury his old self. That man who kept moving forwards and damning the consequences. The man who would burn the world if it meant accomplishing his goals. For once in his life, he wanted to actually be a good person and save people.
He didn't want another Stohess or another Liberio. He wanted to truly save everyone and fight clearly. To avoid his normal rage or his apathy. For once, he wanted to save people and not condemn them in a war they had no business being in.
"Don't move!" One Officer yelled as he pointed his rifle at the Titans.
The entire courtyard got silent as everyone looked over at the Police. After a moment, some of the faculty started moving to get the kids out of here, but the Titans reacted first.
"Don't think about it!" The Jaws yelled as he held up a remote. "If you don't want the bomb to go off!" He smiled.
Eren knew it wasn't entirely false. He doubted that there was a real bomb, but the transformation was basically a bomb. Right now, they had the leverage and the initiative.
The kids talking to them stepped back in fear and betrayal, terrified at the sudden change in tone.
Eren kept his weapon low, knowing that it was pointless since it would do nothing to them. The moment either side attacks is the moment chaos starts.
"Listen." Eren said. "We're not going to fight you, leave and we won't pursue." Eren hoped that he could convince them to simply leave and avoid a fight for now.
"Really?" The Jaws asked. "After setting up this trap, you want us to leave?"
"I know what this is, you think I'll hesitate." Eren said. "To an extent, you're right. I won't transform, but the moment you turn this into a Titan fight, I won't hesitate." Eren threatened.
Eren could tell that the Jaws knew that they won't beat Eren in a fight as Titans. Despite their powers, the Cart is not nearly good enough as a fighter to take on the Attack Titan and the Jaws just as much. Despite the claws and teeth of the Titan, it won't do much even against Eren's non-Warhammer hardening abilities.
"I know." The Jaws said. "I know you won't transform and endanger these kids."
The Cart Titan started backing up a bit, clearly staying ready to transform if need be. She looked exactly as Eren remembered, though a bit younger since he met her when she was older in their old world.
Eren scanned around, keeping an eye out in case there are other Titans ready to surprise him. A favorite tactic of these Marleyans. He looked out for the Warhammer or even Annie if she was here. He wondered if the Cart and the Jaws were the only ones or if there was another one ready to attack.
Eren looked on the second floor above him, checking to see if there are any potential threats there that would transform and bear down on him.
"Just leave, we promise we won't pursue!" Miyuki said, hoping that they could at the very least pressure them to retreat so that they don't put these kids in danger.
A few kids started slowly moving towards the exit out of fear.
"I said don't move!" The Jaws raised his remote higher. "I swear I'll do it."
Everyone froze again.
"I tell you Founder; I've tried so hard to get you at that mall. But I promise you that I will kill you for what you did to my home." The Jaws threatened.
Eren moved his hand up to his mouth, ready to bite.
Suddenly, Eren's eyes widened when he saw a shape in the second floor of the school across the courtyard.
Eren's head shot back.
BANG!
"Eren!" Miyuki screamed as Eren went down.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The SAT and Miyuki reacted, firing towards the Shifters and hoping to do something after they were shot at. The Shifters simply retreated, moving behind the stone. Miyuki saw that they were shot multiple times, but it didn't seem to bother them.
The kids started running all over the place in panic, trying desperately to get to the exits. The orderly evacuation from earlier turned into a mass panic of screaming children. It forced the SAT to stop shooting and take cover.
Miyuki looked over and his eyes widened in horror. One Officer dragged Eren's lifeless body to cover, but Miyuki could tell he was dead. Half of his left side of his skull was missing, and parts of his brain were dangling out of it. His left eye was popped out of its socket and held only by the optic nerve that rested on his cheek.
Miyuki knew Eren said that those others could survive a bullet to the head, but he couldn't.
"We have to go!" One Officer said.
Miyuki looked over and saw a flash of light, the Jaws and the Cart transformed once there were no longer any kids around them.
That was their plan. Get a shot at Eren and ensure he was completely destroyed once there was no longer a threat of collateral.
The Titans started moving towards them, but they had to avoid the yelling and screaming kids as they piled into the hallway. Some of them frozen in fear at seeing literal monsters in front of them.
"We need to go. Eren's gone." An Officer said.
Miyuki nodded. He couldn't grieve now; he had to move and do something. He'd have to process Eren's death later and... oh god... someone had to tell his family. And as his friend, Miyuki felt like it was his dut-
"Ahhhhh!" Miyuki screamed. "He's grabbing my leg!"
Eren's left arm was reaching out and grabbed Miyuki's leg, not letting go. Miyuki and the Officers screamed for a moment at seeing the literal rising of Eren's dead corpse. His destroyed skull started to steam, but only his leftarm was moving.
"He's alive... fucking crazy monster healing." One Officer said. "Grab him!" He ordered Miyuki.
Miyuki swallowed a moment, grabbed Eren's twitching body, and dragged him away from the hall. Another Officer helped him as they tried to drag him to safety away from the mass of running kids and faculty.
He dragged Eren into a classroom, where they barricaded the door and rested Eren against the wall. His left arm and leg were moving better now, apparently the healing was working.
"Miyuki?" Eren asked.
"Yea, I'm here... how are you Senpai?" Miyuki asked nervously.
"I feel like I have a massive headache." Eren said.
"Yea... eto... half of your brain is still in the courtyard." He said.
"Yea, I feel the emptiness." He said as though he was in a daze. "I see the trick... I'm trying to use the other side of my head to store my consciousness."
"Yea... no problem." Eren said.
Eren started flexing his right hand now, trying to get it to move. He seemed like he was relearning how to move his limbs again.
"I am trying to reorganize my right side to compensate for the loss of motor functions." Eren said.
"Functional compensation." Miyuki said. "You're basically trying to make you right half do the job of the left side as well."
"I guess." Eren said. "But I still can't see... I know my right eye is functional, but I can't see. And my healing is slowed down from the bit." He said.
"I'm not surprised, the right eye is connected to the left side of the brain so I don't think you can use it." Miyuki said.
Miyuki realized he was taking this much better than he should have. He wasn't even questioning how weird this situation is.
Miyuki flinched as he heard the sounds of breaking walls getting closer to them, the Jaws Titan trying to find Eren's corpse.
"Do me a favor." Eren said.
"Yea?" Miyuki asked.
"Stick my left eye back in its socket." Eren casually asked.
.
.
.
"Nani!" Miyuki yelled in disgust.
"It's easier to fix what's there than to regrow a new one. Just do it." Eren said.
Miyuki covered his mouth with one hand as he grabbed the dangling eye and pushed it into the empty eye socket.
"Careful." Eren said as he gritted his teeth. "You're getting the eye cord tangled."
"You can feel that!?" Miyuki yelled out in disgust.
"Yes, and it hurts." Eren said. "I'm feeling a need to blink because your hand is on my eyeball." He said.
After a moment, the steam stopped around his skull and now came from his left eye, as if Eren is prioritizing his eye over his brain. After a moment, Eren moved his head so Miyuki would let go.
Eren's eye was unnaturally wide and misshapen, but he looked around and could see again.
"That'll work for the moment." Eren said as he stood up, the steam shifting back to his skull. "Give me your helmet." Eren asked an SAT Officer.
"Eto... sure..." He gave Eren his combat helmet.
Eren put it on and readied his MP5.
"Continue the evacuation, I'll lead the Jaws and Cart away." Eren said as he moved to the door. "I'll get them to a place where I can transform."
Eren rushed out of the classroom and saw an almost horrifying sight. The Jaws was belly crawling through the halls looking for him, trying to avoid kids and faculty who were too scared to move. He barely fit, but his eyes narrowed when he saw Eren.
Eren turned and ran towards a stairwell, barely dodging a lunging bite from the Jaws as he belly slid in the hall. His body scraping against the ceiling lights and ripping posters and other things hanging on the walls.
Eren ran to the second floor where he saw a few Yakuza members waiting for him. The Jaws and Cart had them infiltrate. There were still kids around, so Eren used his MP5 to quickly kill them. The kids screamed as bullets went around them.
Eren got to the second floor and looked around, trying to see if anything else was getting in the way. The Jaws was climbing up after him, so Eren needed to move quickly. Eren turned right and ran down the hall. Less and less kids were around so he felt confident that he could transform soon.
Eren saw to his left a movement outside. He expected the cart, but instead he saw a man moving sideways, almost as if he was falling sideways. The glass distorted his figure slightly, but Eren noticed something ling in his hand.
"What the hell?" Eren whispered.
BOOM!
The wall and window were blown apart as molten copper hit his right arm, blowing it completely off. The man flew towards him in a swoosh, a very familiar sound to Eren. Eren knew instantly what this was.
The figure approached, a curved sword attempting to cut Eren in half. Eren blocking it with his left arm, but the sword cut through and embedded itself into his chest. Eren quickly head butted the attacked, making him stumble back.
The man was a Yakuza, no doubt about that. The tattoos on his arm and general appearance clearly spoke of a Yakuza member. However, around his hips and connected to his body was clearly an imitation of some old ODM gear.
The imitation was interesting. It had what looked like more modern materials for the frame, like aluminum or plastics. The swords themselves were not the typical Titan fighting ones but Katana's that seemed like they could be detached like regular blades.
The Thunderspear he was carrying on his arm was an RPG, a similar trick Eren used when he took down Yoshida. The empty tube was still on his arm but it was strapped so he couldn't just ditch it like Eren normally would.
Lastly, one thing stuck out to him.
"Shinomiya." Eren said when he saw the logo printed on the side of the frame that held the gas canisters.
It was clearly the Shinomiya logo, and a creation of the Shinomiya group.
Eren knew that Gan'an wanted to reverse engineer the ODM gear, and to an extent he was successful. However, without Ice Burst Stones, he was never able to actually generate any kind of power.
Commercial uses of the ODM gear were used primarily for mountain climbers and mountain rescue teams. It was an effective way for people to almost walk up a mountain or to create stretchers that could be employed on a cliff face by rescue teams.
As far as combat application, Shinomiya never produced anything that could actually be used by Military or Police. Even if he did, the amount of training required would make it impossible to effectively use it. It would take too long to train soldiers or police officers to ever be effective.
Which was why during the reorganizing of the Eldian Empire's new Military, there were debates on how much ODM gear should be removed and have the entire Military reorganized into a more modern force. You could literally train a thousand riflemen for the price of one ODM user.
Eren looked out into the courtyard from the hole in the wall. He heard the Jaws approaching and knew that he would be on the second floor in a moment. Eren noticed that the courtyard was empty, meaning he'd be free to transform.
Eren jumped out. Out of habit he reached up to bite his hand but remembered that both of his limbs were blown off or cut off. So, he used those injuries to transform.
A lighting strike and a bright flash of yellow light, and Eren was transformed. He stood up in the center of the courtyard, his head peaking over the school letting him see the tops of the roofs. A few kids were still on the roofs, but they seemed frozen in fear.
Despite there being no kids in the courtyard, Eren had to be careful so as to reduce the damage as much as possible. There could still be a kid hiding in fear in a closet and he needed to avoid causing damage.
He heard the wall behind him break open and turned to strike. The Cart Titan made a jump for his neck, but his hardened fists impacted her face. Before it connected, that damned woman burst out of her Titan, doing another transformation.
Eren looked around him again and saw the Jaws Titan get out of the building and hang on the wall, ready to pounce on Eren at any moment.
Eren was surrounded by the two Shifters, but he also knew that he had the advantage since the Jaws and Cart would not be able to win in a fight like this against him.
Eren saw some men jump off the roofs, these were Yakuza as well, armed in ODM gear similar to the previous one. He counted three men, not including the one that hit him earlier. They all had swords and RPGs, prepared to strike.
This was the trap, Eren realized. Eren assumed that they would have other Shifters to assist them. He never would have predicted that somehow, they'd have Yakuza thugs trained to use a modern variation of ODM gear.
Eren hardened his knuckles and the nape of his neck, prepared to fight these overwhelming odds.
And a bit more action. Hope the action isn't too far apart and that it's interesting lol.
I know this leaves a lot of questions and is a bit absurd, but hopefully you guys will like the answer as to why all of this exists lol.
Even all the way back in A Second Chance, when I introduced the ODM gear, I never intended it to just be a complete one off. I hate that in writing lol. Its significance in the story is more than just one simple cool scene at the end of Book 1. Again, I started planning this since early into Book 1. So hopefully everything is believable and will promise cool scenes later on.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy lol.