Broken Hearts, Severed Limbs (Levi x OC x Erwin)

|65| Preparations

With lots of convincing and reassuring, and talking, Levi allowed Nathalie to get back to work. She was still bitter about needing his permission to do something, but she knew it was just his own way of showing how much he cared. She would spend the afternoons in the labs beneath the royal palace. Nathalie with Hange and Moblit would prepare the huge amounts of the serum that they were going to be taking with them on the mission in Shiganshina. But in the mornings, the three scientists, along with Levi and their brats, they ran hardening experiments with Eren, collecting all the TSF they could get.

One of those experiments led to another crazy idea that Hange and Moblit had. The Executioner from Hell. Or else, a contraption outside the walls of Trost, made by Eren’s ability to harden his titan body. They would put a soldier as bait, and the titan would reach close enough. A large, thick tree trunk would come crushing down right on the nape.

Or at least in theory.

But the first time they had gathered on the wall to try it, Hange and Moblit were both way too excited. Keiji was the bait. A member from Hange’s Squad. Nathalie had to admit. She was excited too. They were going to be collecting lots of titan spinal fluid. They needed it for the mission. The sample that they had collected from Mrs. Springer was in no way going to suffice.

Connie had been given the permission to stay with his mother a few weeks, and learn exactly what had happened on Ragako. Mrs. Springer said a fog spread all around the small town, and a large scream came before her nightmare began. Before all the people of Ragako were turned into titans. Nathalie was sure. That fog was Titan Spinal Fluid in gas form, and not just anybody’s. It was the Titan Spinal Fluid from a member of Royal Blood.

Only members of Royal Blood could order titans around. And since a loud scream resounded before the people’s transformation, then it was the only way she could explain it. But this also meant that this person had inherited one of the Nine as well, and if she was to guess who that was, then it could be no other but the Beast Titan. The titan who had talked to her after squeezing Mike to death. Nathalie had let Erwin, Hange, Moblit and Levi know right away. Erwin was expecting to find the Beast Titan with the Colossal and the Armoured Titans in Shiganshina as well.

Nathalie had explained it all. The Beast Titan. Strong, capable of hardening and ordering other titans around. Capable of throwing objects with great accuracy and immense destructive power. And then, the Colossal Titan. The more the Colossal Titan transformed, the thinner its skin would become, which was going to make it easier for their ODM to hook on it. Of course, there was the problem of getting burned because of the large temperature of the steam that it was emitting. Nathalie and Levi had been searching that library beneath the royal palace trying to find answers on how to deal with that. Of course, it was going to take some time to find the right book, since the only one who could read the language was Nathalie.

And then, there was the Armoured Titan. A tough one to deal with. Hange and Moblit came up with another crazy idea. She called them thunderspears. They had yet to try these, but a couple of them were ready for use. Not to mention that the glowing ore from the underground cavern beneath the Reiss Chapel, was also going to be used in the mission. They gathered as much of that ore as they could. It was going to light their way because they were going to get there in the night when most of the titans would be inactive. That was Armin’s idea. That kid was just brilliant. 

When the mission to retake Wall Maria was only a few weeks away, Erwin ordered that the Special Operations Squad returned to the Survey Corps HQ in Trost. Nathalie couldn’t say she liked it, but it was closer to their job. The ride to the interior was far shorter and she could get to the labs beneath the royal palace in only just a few minutes. Their Squad continued training with the other squads, and new recruits soon joined the Survey Corps from all other Regiments.