//------------------------------//
// Special Operations Squad: Eve of the Counterattack, Part 2 
// Story: Attack on Titan 
// by Gojizilla54 
//------------------------------//

"You... cowards," said Eren. "JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND INVEST EVERYTHING IN ME!!!"

Levi kicked Eren in the head and face repeatedly 

"What you need now is to be taught a lesson not given a taking-to," said Levi. 

Dhalis sighed and fixed his glasses.

"I've reached my decision," he said.





Eren was placed in the Scout Regiment's custody is preparation for the scouting mission beyond the wall.














Trost District



Old Scout Regiment Headquarters


Eren, now an official member of the Scouts was riding on horses through the woods with Levi, and five other Scout soldiers.

"The old Scout Regiment headquarters," said a Scout with curly, light brown hair with an undercut and small hazel eyes. "Just  as you'd expect from a renovated old castle. It looks fancy and all that sort of thing. But being so far from the wall and the river would be totally useless to the Scouts. That was back in the early days, when everyone had high hopes. Still, to think that this over sized decoration would end up as the perfect holding place for you now."

Eren then looked back at Levi, who just gave him a glare at him. Eren immediately turned back and looked straight. Then, the Scout got next to Eren.

"Don't be cocky, rookie," warned the Scout.

"Come again?" asked Eren.

"I dunno know if you're Titan or what, but don't assume Captain Levi's gonna stick with some wet-behind-the-ears brat like..." said the Scout.

Then, the Scout's horse nearly tripped on a stone that was exposed on the road, causing his teeth to bite down on his tongue, causing blood to squirt out. The Scout yelp in pain, freaking Eren out.





All of them got to the headquarters and started taking the horses to the stables. While the Scout was tending to his bitten tongue and Petra was standing in front of him.

"Talking to a horse is a guaranteed way to bite your tongue," said Petra.

"First impressions are important," stated the Scout. "I had that rookie scared stiff."

"Actually, I think he was shocked at how dumb you are," she corrected.

"Whatever the case, it went exactly as I planned," he said.

"Hey, you didn't used to talk like that, you know," she said. "If, by some chance you're trying to imitate Captain Levi... could you cut it out? You're nothing like him at all, actually."

The Scout looked at her.

"Are you trying to nag me, Petra?" asked the Scout. "If you want to act like you're my wife, there's more you need to do first."

"I wish you had bitten your tongue off and died, bragging all about how many Titans you've killed," said Petra.

"Don't worry. I brag about you too, while I was at it" assured the Scout.

Eren finished tending to the horse and looked at both of them.

"They're the members of the Scout Regiment's Special Operations Squad," he thought. "Also known as the "Levi Squad."

"My god, you're disgraceful!" shouted Petra.




Petra Rall. 10 Titans killed, and 48 kill-assists."

Oruo Bozad. 39 kills and 9 assists.




"They're as elite as they come," Eren thought.

Then, three more Scouts walked past Eren, one of them had brown eyes and long blond hair which had a middle parting and a bun folded at the back to keep his hair tied, and  also had a small beard. Another with a short crop of brown hair that was kept to a point on the back of his head and black eyes. The third one was another female with brilliant amber hair, brilliant gold streaks in her hair, and brilliant gamboge eyes.




Eld Gin. 14 kills, and 32 assists.

Gunther Schultz. 7 kills, 40 assists.

Lightning Dust. 47 kills, 23 assist.




"Each is an accomplished Scout personally handpicked by Captain Levi. And... They're the people who'll end up killing me if I ever go out of control," he thought.





Then, Gunther, Eld, and Lightning Dust stopped and looked at the old headquarters.

"There are weeds everywhere," stated Gunther. "This place has really gone to hell."

"It's been abandoned for years," said Eld. "I bet it's really dusty on the inside too."

"I'm pretty sure there some valuable things on the inside," said Lightning Dust.

Then, Levi walked behind them.

"There's a serious problem," said Levi. "Let's get to work at once."





Levi, out of his cloak and jacket, wearing a mask, opened a dusty window. Downstairs, Petra was sweeping the floor, while Oruo was cleaning the chandler on top. Outside, Gunther, Eld, and Lightning Dust were wasing their ODM gear to clean the windows outside. Inside, Eren took off his mask and went to Levi, where he was cleaning stool of a window.

"I've finished cleaning the upstairs," Eren informed. 

Levi looked back at Eren.

"Where am I going to sleep in this place, sir?" he asked.

Levi lowered his mask.

"Your room's in the basement," answered Levi.

"A basement... Again?" asked Eren.

"Of course," Levi simply answered. "You don't have full control of yourself. Should you turn into a Titan in your sleep, we can keep you restrained right there in the basement. That was one of the conditions I was given when I took custody of you. It's a rule we have to follow."

Eren nodded at his words.

"I'll go check your work," said Levi. "You take over here, Eren."

"Yes sir," said Eren.

Levi then started to walk away from Levi. Eren watched as he walked away and looked down. Then, Petra appeared behind Eren.

"You look disappointed Eren," stated Petra.

Eren quickly turned around to see her behind.

"Oh I hope you don't mind if I call you "Eren" like Captain Levi does," she said. "He sets rules here."

"I see," said Eren. "I don't mind, but did I really look disappointed just now?"

"It's not an unusual reaction," she stated. "He's not quite the great, perfect hero society makes him out to be, huh? The real Captain is shorter than you'd expect, temperamental, crude, and unsociable."

"No, what surprises me his how serious he is about adhering to the higher-ups' arrangement," stated Eren.

"You thought that because he's strong and skilled he didn't have to follow the rules like everyone else?" she said.

"Right," Eren simply replied. "I thought that he didn't take orders from anyone."

"I don't really know the details myself, but I think he might's been like that at one time," she said. "They say before he joined the Scouts, Captain Levi was an infamous rogue in the capital's underground market."

Eren was taken by surprise about Levi's past.

"So how did he?" asked Eren.

"Beats me," she replied "I don't know what happened. but I hear that Erwin dragged him into the Scouts."

"The commander?" asked Eren.

Then, Lightning Dust appeared next to Petra.

"Flirting with the new guy?" she teased.

Petra blushed at Lightning Dust's comment.

"No I'm not," Petra replied. "Just introducing him to to me and Levi."

"So, you're Lightning Dust, the member with the highest kill count?" asked Eren.

"Yep, and the first member to be picked before the others," she replied.

Eren was surprised at the first member of the squad.

"Did you know before she had the highest kill record before I took it," asked Lightning Dust.

"No I haven't," Eren simply answered.

"Well you do now," she said. "Petra even got jealous to the point she asked how I killed so many."

Petra rolled her eyes, while Eren was fascinated with her story.

"When she was picked to be in the squad she started to..." said Lightning Dust.

Her mouth was covered by Petra's hand, who forced a smile on her face.

"I think you need to clean instead of brag," said Petra.

"Okay whatever you say," said Lightning Dust.

She started walking off to the stairs and down. Then, Levi appeared next to Petra and in front of the door.

"Hey, Eren!" he called.

Petra quickly started to sweep the floor, while Eren stood there startled.

"Y-Yes?!" Eren shouted.

Levi looked at Eren with an annoyed look in his face.

"It's completely unacceptable," he said. "Do it all over again."

Eren groaned quietly and started to head towards the stairs. Petra had a little blush on her face as she looked at Levi watching Eren going up the stairs.





Elsewhere, Miche was looking at a window, while Erwin draws up a formation.

"An expedition thirty days from now to establish a logistical base outside the wall and newly-graduated rookies will be participating too," said Miche.

"Assuming any rookies do join us," said Erwin, drawing.

Miche turned to Erwin

"Whatever the case, this all seems a bit too hasty if you ask me," said Miche.

"Eren's current treatment is only temporary," said Erwin. "We need to demonstrate to the central powers as quickly as possible that his existence is beneficial to humankind. Otherwise, the Military Police or someone else will interfere again."

"Are you using rhetoric on me too, Erwin?" asked Miche.

Erwin turned to Miche, who looked away. 

"I see your nose is as sharp as ever, Miche," Erwin smiled.

"Not as sharp as your," said Miche.

"I'll fill you in when the time is right," said Erwin.





Later in the night, Eld, Gunther, Petra, Oruo, Lightning Dust, Eren, and Levi were sitting around a table drinking tea. Levi places his cup on a small plate.

"I assume our orders to remain on standby will last for a few more days," said Eld. "But I heard they're planning a major expedition beyond the wall thirty days from now. And that fresh graduates are going to participate straightaway too."

"Is that true, Eld?" asked Gunther. "That seems pretty sudden to me, especially since the rookies already had to endure this latest Titan attack."

"I bet those brats were scared out of their lives," teased Oruo.

"If they survived the Titan attack, I'm pretty sure they can survive and expedition," assumed Lightning Dust.

"Is this true, sir?" asked Petra.

"I'm not in charge of coming up with missions," Levi stated. "But, knowing Erwin, he's put far more thought into this than we have."

"Indeed, there's never been a situation like this before," said Eld. "So many lives were lost establishing a route to reclaim Wall Maria. Just when it seemed like it went up in smoke, suddenly a completely different ray of hope has presented itself.

Everyone around the table looked at Eren, who didn't say a word.

"It's still hard to believe, but how does this "changing into a Titan" thing work anyway, Eren?" Eld asked.

"My memories of it aren't very clear, but it's like being in a trance," answered Eren. "I set it off by inflicting self-harm though. I take my hand like so and..."

Eren then stops himself and realized something.

"Huh? Come to think about it, why is this the only thing I know?" he questioned.

"You guys know you can't get anymore info out him than what's in the reports," said Levi. "Not that she won't try, of course."

Levi grabbed his cup and drank his tea.

"Better hope you don't end up dead when she tinkers with you, Eren," said Levi.

"Wait! Who's "she"? asked Eren.

Then, all of them heard something crashing into the door . Petra got up and picked up the bar on the door and opened it.

"Good evening, members of the Levi Squad!" Hanji greeted. "How is castle life treating you?"

"You're early," said Levi, taking another sip of his tea.

"I just couldn't help myself," said Hange.

"Section Commander Hange..." said Eren.

"Sorry for the wait," she apologized. "I'm actually in charge of examining two Titan we caught in town. I'd like you to help me with my experiments tomorrow, so I came to get your permission."

"Experiments?" Eren wondered. "What would I have to do?"

"Why... the most exhilarating thing of all, of course," said Hange, smiling and blushing.

"I'm not in position to give permission myself," Eren stated. "I don't have authority over myself, you see..."

Hange turned to Levi.

"Levi! What are Eren's plans for tomorrow?" she asked.

"Cleaning the garden," Levi simply  answered.

"Great! It's decided!" she said smiling, grabbing Eren's hand. "Eren! I look forward to tomorrow!"

"Uh... right," stuttered Eren. "But what kind of Titan experiments are we talking about here?"

"Hm?" asked Hange.

"What kind of experiments are we..." asked repeated Eren.

Then, Oruo broke in.

"Hey, stop! Don't ask that!" he warned.

"I knew it," Hange said. "I thought you might be curious enough to ask."

Then, Levi and the rest of the squad got up from their seat and started walking out of the room, leaving Eren and a smiling Hange in the room

"Have fun Eren," said Lightning Dust, leaving.

Eren looked at Hange, who took a seat on a nearby chair.

"You what to know that badly, do you?" Hange asked. "Well, if you insist, then I guess I'd better tell you all about the little ones we recently caught..."

Eren gulped a bit and was ready to listen.

"I began by repeating the same experiment that we've conducted during the five previous capture," she said.





A couple of days earlier, Hange and a couple of Garrisons carrying sticks were keeping distance.

"Hello!" Hange greeted

A small Titan with short messy blond hair and light blue eyes panted at the sight of Hange and was bound to the ground.

"First was an attempt at communication," Hange said.

'How are you feeling?" she asked. "What's your name?"

"Section Commander! You're way to close!" warned a Scout with short smooth brown hair parted down the middle and light brown eyes.

Hange then moved to another small Titan with short messy brown hair and brown eyes.

"Hello!" she greeted. "Nice weather, isn't it? Are you hungry?"

The Titan tried to bite Hange, but its restrains kept it and Hange quickly backed up.

"Whoa! That was close," said Hange.

"That's dangerous, Section Commander!" warned the Scout.

"Unfortunately, I head to conclude that there's no hope of communicating with these ones either," explained Hange. "However, my time spent interacting with the Titans was fulfilling enough to make me forget how exhausted I was everyday."

Hange walked in front of the two Titans in a circle.

"Once upon a time, there existed a clan that ate humans," told Hange. "And I don't mean you Titans. I'm talkling about a clan of people. They would hide in caves on the mountainsides and attack any travelers who passed by. They would seal their valuables, kill them, and eat their flesh."

"Here we go again. Another of her naming ceremonies," said a male Garrison.

"Yeah. What'd she call the last ones again?" asked the other male Garrison.

"Chikatiloni and Albert," the male Garrison responded.

"Ultimately, they kept this up for twenty-five years, during which time they supposedly preyed upon over 500 people," she continued. "Probably more humans than you've eaten, in fact. They also tried eating them in all sorts of ways Making steaks out of rump meat..."

Everyone surrounding her, cringed, freaked out, sickened or even weirded out at her story.

"Dicing up leg meat and adding it to a stew," she resumed. "Grinding tough meant into patties and frying it. Making sausages from blood clots and innards. Indeed, they initiated the concept of "cooking"! that's where they differ from you."

A couple of Garrisons were throwing up as she continued her story about the clan.

"However, this clan of cannibals was caught and executed after making one signal mistake," she extended.  "That's where you're just like them. You guys made the mistake of attacking mankind and mound up caught."

Hange started to walk towards them.

"I'm going to name you two after the man who was the leader of this clan," said stated.

She pointed to the Titan on the left of her.

"You're, "Sawney", she declared.

She then pointed to the one on the right of her.

"You're, "Beane", she declared.

Beane only growled.

"But don't worry, I'm not going to execute you," she assured them. 

She held on to Sawney's figer.

"Nice to meet you, Sawney," she said. 

She then placed her hand on Beane's hand.

"And you too, Beane," she said.

She got back up.

"Let's all be friends!" she declared.

Both the Titans didn't make a noise.

"And that's how I maned the 7-meter Titan, "Beane", and the 4-meter Titan, "Sawney".

The next day, a couple of Garrison set up a couple of tents over Sawney and Beane.

"Next, I tested out blocking them from sunlight," she said. "From the fact that Titans become less active as the night progresses, this experiment corroborates that they somehow use sunlight for energy."

Inside the tent, Hange was holding a lamp and inspected Shawney's movements.

"You did great, Sawney," complimented Hange. "Good night, I'll see you tomorrow."

Sawney slowly blinked in and didn't move.

"While Sawney became sluggish after only one hour out of sunlight..."

Hange then went to Beane's ten and sat in front of him.

"You sure love to stay up late, don't you, Beane?" shed asked. "That's okay, I'll hang out with you as long as you'd like."

Beane continued to growl, but didn't show any movement.

"...Beane was still his energetic self three hours later," she explained.





"It came as another shock to me," said Hange to Eren. "They don't need food or water,and even though they have vocal organs, they don't need to breathe. The only thing they need is sunlight."

Eren continued to listen at Hange's experiments with the Titans.

"I'm curious to know what happens after prolonged sunlight withdrawal, but I can't risk having them die, y'know?" Hange continued. "We've accidentally killed the previous ones we've caught. We tried decapitating some as an experiment."

Eren was fascinated and surprised at their previous experiment.

"Their names were Chikatiloni and Albert," she stated looking down. "They had such cute smiles. I did something truly terrible to them. I never want that to happen again..."

"Ms. Hange," called Eren. 

Hange then got up to Eren's face, causing him to back up in fear.

"The next step was physical contact with the Titans!" she stated. "I tested to see if they felt pain!"





The very next day, Hange was crying and screaming as she stabbed Beane in the eye.

"Section Commander! There's no need for you to scream!" yelled the Scout.

"I can't do this Moblit and not scream!" she scolded. "Beane is in so much pain! Beane! Hang on in there! Stay strong!"

She charged at Bean with the spear.





Eren, now freaked out about the experiment  didn't say a word.

"I needed to determine if Titans have any weaknesses besides their napes, you see," said Hange. "It was an agonizing task."





Hange stabbed Swaney in the chest, but the Titan didn't roar or any sound of pain.

"Hey... I've stabbed you in the heart... Does it hurt? How does it feel?" she asked.

Sawney didn't move or roared in pain and stayed very clam.

"Compare to Beane, Sawney seemed more introverted, and didn't respond much at all," concluded Hange. 

Then, Sawney started to move.

"What is it?" she asked.

Sawney then attempted to bite Hange, but she backed up.

"Section Commander! Please stay back!" demeaned Moblit.

But much to his surprise, Hange started laughing.

"Almost got me that time, Sawney!" she laughed.

"You're seriously going to die!" he yelled.





Eren looked down and wondered something.

"So Sawney's not very good at expressing himself," she concluded. "He just trying to chomp my head off."

"Ms. Hange," called Eren. "How can you be so lighthearted when dealing with Titans?"

Hange looked at Eren with concern.

'They're our natural enemy," Eren stated. "They've driven humanity to the verge of extinction. Surely you experienced the threat they pose countless times yourself."

"I have," she simply replied. "I've watched Titans kill friend after friend right before my very eyes. When I first joined the Scouts I fought the Titan out of  hate. But, one day, I made a realization after I kicked the severed head of a 3-meter tall Titan. It was light. Unusually light. The Titan's body, I mean."

"What?" asked Eren.

"When you think about it, it shouldn't even be possible for such large creature to stand and walk on tow legs," she replied. "Every Titan was the same. Severed limbs weren't nearly as heavy as they should have been. And when you transformed, I'm told your Titan body appeared out of nowhere. It's belief that how they appeared is nothing like what they really are."

Hange then poured Eren another cup of tea into his cup.

"For decades we've tried an offensive approach that feeds off hate," she said. "I want to try to view the Titans from a different angle than the existing one. It might end up as a waste of time... but I'm going to do it."

Eren then took a sip from his tea cup.

"Joining the Scouts has been nothing but surprise after surprise," he thought. "It's not juts Ms. Hange. Everyone is strange. It's practically a haven of oddballs. Still. a group of people that seeks change... That's what the Scouts are all about."

"Ms. Hange!" called Eren, grabbing her attention. "Would you mind telling me even more about your experiments?!"

"Are you sure?" she asked, blushing.

"Yes!" he simply answered. "I think it would be good to know as much as possible before tomorrow's experiments!"

"Good point," she said. "i did gloss over a lot of things just now I should go into further detail! This could be a while."

"That's okay," said Eren smiling.

"I'll start off with the hypothesis I had the first time we caught a Titan," said Hange.

The next day, Hange continued to talk without any yawns until the morning.

"As such, that experiment provided no new information, she explained. "I'm sure they teach everyone this stuff during cadet training. You knew about this, right?

"Yes.. I knew it all..." mumbled an extremely tired Eren.

"So now I'll explain things further by going everything again with my own theories," said Hange.

Eren's head was about to go down, but he woke up.

"I'm... okay," he mumbled.

Then, Moblit came running down the hall and opened the door with Eren and Hange.

"Is Section Commander Hange here?!" he asked.

"What is it?" she asked.

"The test subjects... Both of the Titans have been killed!" he yelled.

Hange with horror in her face got up quickly. Eren, Hange, and the Levi Squad rode their horses to the testing ground.





When they got to the testing ground, they find Sawney and Beane's skeleton lying on the ground from where they were. Hange screamed at the top of her lungs.

"SWANEY! BEANE!!!" yelled Hange. "No... Tell me this isn't happening!"

Hange fell on her knees and continued to scream. Eren, now sporting a hoodie watched.

"They were such valuable test subjects... Did soldiers do this?" asked Gunther.

"Yeah, they haven't found who's responsible yet," said Eld. "Apparently both were killed at the same time just before dawn. By the time the guards noticed, whoever did it had used ODM to get away."

"Who the hell would kill two Titans if they were stationary?" asked Lightning Dust.

"Beats me," replied Eld.

"So a team of at least two planned this, huh?" asked Gunther.

"It could be one, if their skilled on ODM," said Lightning Dust.

Hange continued to scream and cry at her slain test subjects.

"Just look, Section Commander is raving mad" teased Oruo.

Petra elbowed the side of Oruo hard, causing him to cringe in pain.

"How did this happen?" asked Eren.

"Let's go," said Levi. "The rest is the Military Police's job."

Levi started to walk away from Eren.

"Yes, sir," said Eren.

Eren turned and continued to looked at the sight. The, Erwin then approaches Eren from behind and placed both his hands on his shoulders.

"What do you see here?" he asked.

Eren turned and looked at Erwin's face.

"What do you think the enemy is?" he asked.

Eren only gave a confused expression at Erwin's question.

"Sorry, that was a strange thing to ask," he apologized.

Erwin then started to walk away from Eren and followed Levi, leaving the confused Eren.