Birdie (Levi x OC)

six

Chapter 6

It didn't take long for the rest of the month to go by. The whole time I had been holed up in my workroom, working on the special target restraining weapons. Fortunately, my burn had healed significantly after a week. Hange was able to help during the first week, allowing me to quickly finish the prototype. We had then been able to test and finalize it, allowing us to mass-produce them. With the help of a few like-minded engineers and the rest of my squad, we had completed multiple cannons. We managed to fit 7 harpoons within each barrel and placed the barrels in a frame of six so that it was one cohesive weapon. We were initially concerned about how to prevent a titan from throwing the weapon units and running off once trapped, barbed hooked and all, but we came up with a solution. Each special target restraining weapon would shoot hooks out of its back. This meant that while simultaneously shooting at the titan, it would anchor itself to whatever was behind it. In our case, the weapons would anchor themselves to the trees in the forest where we were planning our surprise attack. The concept in itself was very simple, however, the execution had been complex, requiring days of trial and error before the final product had been produced.

I knew a lot was riding on my invention, this mission had to succeed or Eren may have to be taken into the Military Police's custody to be potentially executed. Commander Erwin had made a deal with the head of all three military branches, Commander-in-Chief, Darius Zackly. During Eren's trial after the re-taking of Trost, Commander Erwin had gambled that Eren would prove himself useful to humanity and assist in this expedition being a success. Therefore, if we failed in capturing whatever intelligent titan the Commander was sure we were going to come upon, Eren may be taken by the Military Police and killed. This fact made me worried. I had gotten to know Eren a little during the past 30 days, and despite him accidentally burning my hand, I had grown fond of the head-strong boy. I prayed that we would succeed in keeping Eren safe.

We had finally made it to the day of the expedition and were now in Karanes District. With the boulder plugging up the gates of Trost, we had to take a detour to Karanes before leaving Wall Rose. Due to our busy schedules, I had only seen my Grandfather once during the past month. He was saddened that he was unable to see me off on my first expedition, but, to make up for it, had sent a letter instructing me to be careful and to win for all of mankind. He expressed deep concern for my well-being and safety within the words of his letter. I promised myself I would write him back as soon as I got home from the expedition.

We were double-checking on the supplies and horses before we set off. I was tying down the carts carrying the special target restraining weapon, ensuring the tarps were still pulled securely over the weapons, as not to raise suspicion among my fellow Scouts. Only a few individuals knew of the hidden agenda of this expedition. Those who had survived for more than 5 years in the Survey Corps were let in on the secret. And me, of course, having created the trap.

I had begun to suspect that Commander Erwin knew a lot more than he let on. I had wondered why the Commander was so confident that an intelligent titan was going to show up during this expedition. In that sense, I was clueless. However, I trusted the Commander's judgment and decided not to question him and do my work quietly.

I finished securing the contents of all the carts with my squad, double-checking the ropes as we walked past them. My nerves were beginning to pick up. In a matter of hours, my contraption would be put to the test. I knew it would work, but what if something like the Colossal Titan showed up? We didn't have enough weapons to hold something that large. I shuddered at the thought. It was too late to worry about that.

Thankfully, where I would be placed in the long-range scouting formation was fairly simple. I had not had time to learn the intricacies of the scouting formation, so the simple placement was going to make the expedition easier on me. Hange's entire squad was placed in the center near the front, beside the carts. We were placed there so we would have as much time as possible to lay our trap for the unsuspecting titan. Commander Erwin's group was directly in front of us, while Captain Levi and his squad were in the center row, near the rear. The rest of the formation consisted of the rest of the Scouts, alongside the recruits.