Chapter 24: Titans.

The titan's carcass, in relatively good condition, was right in front of Reiner. Its blue-and-white paintwork made it pleasing to the eye, while a white representation of the Greek goddess Athena adorned its structure, as did many of the titans on the battlefield. He quickly re-entered the cockpit, avoiding as best he could the corpse of the light-armored pilot lying on the floor. Almost immediately after entering the titan, the hatch closed gently, causing Reiner to panic as he failed to understand any of the controls in the cockpit. Reiner stared at the titan's interior, slightly septic, and asked in desperation.

"Euuuh, is there a linked AI in there?"

A mechanical voice then sounded, giving the simplest of possible answers.

"Yes."

Reiner gasped slightly, then asked softly.

"How do we pilot you?"

"You're not my Pilot, DNA analysis not in order."

"He's dead..."

Reiner replied, slightly tense and anxious as the sounds of explosions grew closer and closer.

"You're not my Pilot, DNA analysis non-compliant."

Replied the inorganic voice again, making Reiner sigh.

"Okay, I get it, you're a tin can, but if I bring you proof that he's dead, will you believe me?"

"Negative, the possibility that you're an enemy is non-negligible."

"But I have our army uniform!"

"Negative, you're part of the army of the dictatorial Ares. No alliance has been signed between our two countries."

"Seriously, this is not the time! Look around you! Do we look like we're fighting between humans?! We're both going down if you don't help me, and don't tell me how to move you!"

Reiner replied, visibly agitated as the surrounding noises came closer than ever. He was bitterly regretting his rash decision to enter this machine.

"Pilot's heartbeat per minute confirmed at zero. His death added to database."

"Don't you fucking ignore me, you piece of shit!"

Reiner shouted urgently, before adding.

"If you don't trust me to restrict my actions, I don't know! Stop me shooting humans, do something! Let me out at least!"

"Command already restricted since you entered."

"Bastard..."

Reiner replied, rising from the seat he was sitting on, trying to figure out where to open the cockpit manually.

"Risk of destruction of defense objective estimated at 100% if enemy contacts get any closer. Risk calculation..."

" ... "

" ... "

Reiner watched in amazement as a series of small dots appeared on the cockpit's central screen, which had lit up. He didn't speak, simply waiting for the titan to speak.

"Risk of letting the soldier of the dictatorial Ares pilot the titan of the republic of Athena estimated at 15%."

"How can it be that much! We're not even at war! Besides, do I really look that dangerous?!"

"Affirmative."

Replied the robotic voice, before continuing.

"Negligible risk. Isolated superficial fracture of one of the soldier's ribs, minor injury that could prevent escape in the event of rebellions taken into account in the risk calculation. Absolute priority is the defense of the objective, temporary authorization granted. Welcome, temporary pilot Reiner Gersinde."

"Hey! How do you know my first and last name?!"

"Confidential data."

" ... Damn... well, thanks? I think?"

"You're welcome."

"You didn't have to answer..."

Reiner finally added. At the same time, the titan began a quick explanation to Reiner, allowing him to roughly pilot this imposing machine. Although his movements were slow, predictable, mechanical, clumsy and any other pejorative adjective imaginable, he more or less managed to keep moving, and in an incredibly short space of time. But just as Reiner was beginning to understand how to use the titan's arms, and had just retrieved the huge weapon from the ground, the titan spoke again. A faint red light bathed the cockpit simultaneously.

"Threat spot at five o'clock."

"Five o'clock... Wait, where is it again? Ah yes..."

Reiner replied awkwardly, an infantile confidence enveloping him via a very simplistic thought disregarding everything he'd seen before: [ If I fly a big robot, nothing can happen to me, can it? ]. But after all, who wouldn't feel safe after taking refuge in one of these machines, after coming so close to death with no real effective protection?

"Temporary pilot, this confidence is unwarranted, please demonstrate your combat capabilities and take down the threat by retreating to the inner camp."

Said the titan, as if reading Reiner like an open book.

"Since when do you give the orders?"

Reiner replied, piloting the titan backwards while firing at the swarm of monsters closing in on the positions closest to him.

"Since I can eject you from the cockpit at any time."

The titan added as naturally as possible.

"Fair enough..."

Reiner replied mechanically.

"Please use a single language for better coordination of our forces."

"Understood..."

Declared Reiner, visibly sad as he exterminated the enemy monsters as if they were common insects. However, Reiner's pleasant experience and feeling of power soon came to an end at the sound of an unfamiliar sizzling voice.

"Spearhead unit status report requested! Repeat, spearhead unit, status report request!"

The titan's inorganic voice rang out in response from the cockpit.

"Risk of destruction to machine as well as temporary pilot raise. Analysis of the most optimal response to avoid this..."

Barely a few seconds later, the titan spoke again, while Reiner didn't know what to do, dreading the sanctions that would be inflicted if his situation were discovered.

"Spearhead 001 reporting.Heart rate of unit's pilots unknown, jamming interfering, damage to titan negligible, possibility of continuing fight. What are your orders?"

"Damn it!"

Shouted the unknown voice, obviously commanding the unit to which the dead pilot and his titan belonged.

"No other unit in the squadron has responded to me, given a full report on the attack you suffered. Immediately!"

"Very localized high-frequency sound wave accompanied by a strong gust of wind that scattered the unit. Survival probability of the squadron's allied pilots close to zero.Status of other units under your command unknown.""Very well, retreating to camp seems the best option, regroup with the nearest titan squadron. Ignore the status of infantry deployed by the dictatorial Ares, if possible help infantry deployed by other countries, including our own.""Received."

Almost immediately after hearing the titan's reply, the communication cut out, leaving Reiner speechless for a few moments, before he regained his senses and asked.

"What was that order?""Deep rivalry between our two countries. High political tension, cooperation was only considered because of the exceptional nature of the threat. The most logical choice is to let the rival country exhaust itself as much as possible in order to take advantage of its weakness to unify Europe under the same banner.""But hadn't that been deemed impossible after the end of the unification war and then abandoned?"

"Confidential information. The only information I'm authorized to give you is the following: Our two countries are the only ones to have maintained the now useless clone power plants, and are the only ones actively producing clones, and account for over 80% of the clones on the battlefield.""So you'd like to say it was just a facade where each was waiting for the other to show a weakness?"

"Confidential data. Allied unit detected one kilometer behind you. In accordance with the commander's order, please merge with the franking unit."

"But I don't know who that is, and what if they realize I'm not supposed to be there?Besides, they'll be far more talented than me, they'll see we've got a problem...""Spearhead unit 001, in accordance with the commander's orders, request to merge our units. Status of spearhead unit unknown, high chance of being last machine in combat condition of unit, superficial damage to command center making handling of machine complex. Combat efficiency estimated at 40% of standard.Possibility of increasing to over 50% once pilot accustomed to damage."

"This is Postage 001, request received and accepted. We've lost a few members, so reinforcements won't go amiss to protect the camp."

"Received."The titan finally replied, before adding, this time to Reiner."Problem solved, temporary pilot. Chance of survival multiplied by six."

"We're not going to get dismembered for treason when I get out, are we?"

"Unknown. The priority objective is the protection of the camp, any talent deserves a use, no matter its affiliation, or the quality of its talent."

After saying this, the titan stopped talking. Reiner took advantage of this brief moment of calm to order his thoughts while joining the freedom squadron with which he would now be forced to cooperate. But as he approached and was within a few dozen meters of the allied titans, having an emblem of the Greek goddess painted scarlet rather than pure white, he had a bad feeling. As if to confirm it, a communication was established with the whole squad, and their leader spoke.

"Franking 001 to Spearhead 001. Our two groups are the elite of the republic, so even damaged, we're counting on you."

"Affirmative, the feeling is mutual."

Reiner replied, awkwardly trying to give himself a more commanding voice, which prompted his interlocutor to ask a question.

"Your voice is irregular. Have you suffered an injury?"

"Affirmative, but it's minor, I can continue the fight."

"Understood, don't overexert yourself, the objective is to get back alive, not to die needlessly here. So if you feel your limit coming up, let us know.""Roger that."

Reiner replied, secretly relieved that his interlocutor didn't know the pilot who should have been here instead of him. However, one of the words he'd heard made him break out in a cold sweat: "Elite". If this was the elite, how could they get swept up and die so quickly fighting an enemy suffering from overwhelming numerical inferiority?And what chance of victory did he have with his near-zero piloting skills in a fight with demon gods?

Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to think about all the questions that were racing through his head as he headed off, accompanied by the other titans, towards the camp. Quickly, the commander of his new squad opened a communication with all members, speaking with a tense voice."Demon gods spot west of our position... they're getting dangerously close, Ares' infantry has been almost completely swept away. They seem to have merged with a battalion of the Scandinavian Union, but they're in serious trouble and require assistance.So we're going to keep the demon gods busy. Spearhead 001, focus on the monsters and undead running around the battlefield and protect the infantry, giving priority to the colossus accompanying them.Maybe we'll be able to take down another demon god that way."

Immediately after finishing his sentence, he shouted a final command: "Move into position!" to which the whole unit, including Reiner, responded energetically. "Roger!" while adopting a fighting stance as the demon gods looming on the horizon looked more menacing than ever.