Shifting Perspectives (Toxtricity/Beautifully x Madd)

[Toxtricity]

The trucks rolled along the off-beaten path, their engines rumbling along in the quiet of the Otolla mountain pass. Marcia's gaze was fixed at some point beyond the soldiers sitting on the other side of the truck. She always loathed this quiet stillness after a battle, the absence of shells screaming through the air, cracks of gunshots from all around, desperate screams of comrades and foe alike, she never missed them, but the calm immediately after felt wrong, somehow. She heaved out a breath to try and get that feeling outside of herself, but the weight on her shoulders only seemed to grow.

At least the operation had been a success. At least she was coming back alive. She grit her teeth. She couldn't settle for that. Coming back alive was the bare minimum. If she wanted to inherit the Cart Titan, she needed to prove herself over her comrades, every time. Had she this time? She'd only seen captain Siphiso during the lulls in the battle. She could only hope he saw her during the firefights. She'd know soon enough. The convoy would rendezvous with the rest of the warrior unit in Orionia Asera before boarding a war train back to Civita. Then she'd know how she was stacking up versus the other members of the unit.

Her thoughts were interrupted violently when an explosion rocked through the convoy. Her body moved into action, reaching to unsling her rifle from her shoulder as her gaze swept the mountainside above them. Another blast went off, the truck behind her and the soldiers inside flying apart. A few gunshots were fired, but no one seemed to have found the attackers either, so no more shots were fired in their collective uncertainty. It didn't stop Marcia from sweeping across the mountainside down her sights.

"Marleyan battalion! You are surrounded!" a voice barked from above, the echo making it impossible to pinpoint. "Lay down your arms, or prepare to engage in a suicidal firefight!" Marcia swallowed the dryness in her mouth as smoke filled the air around them from the burning debris, but she didn't put her rifle down, not until she received the order to. And after a moment of silence, the platoon lieutenant called out.

"Warriors! Lay down your arms! We will surrender to the Mid-East forces!" Marcia followed the order. What choice did she have? They were effectively fish in a barrel, and growing more blind by the second as smoke billowed upward.

 

[Beautifully x Madd]

Apart from the rumbling of the engines, some soft sounds of breathing or shuffling, the air was now quiet. Very quit considering they'd just come out of a mission and a war zone. Stella was one of the ones sitting among those who had made it out alive. They'd all made it through another operation in hopes of being one of the ones picked to inherit the titans. More recently the beast titan had found a new host, but there were still a handful of other titans that would be available for eligibility here soon.

Just like everyone else Stella strove to inherit one, which they seemed to be looking at her for possibility of the female titan. The one problem? They had more contenders to prove themselves against since a few of the leaders decided to look into some of the younger army recruits as well. They would know soon enough how well they were stacking up against others, at least in their particular unit once they reached Civita.

The explosion cruelly ripped Stella back into the moment. Being in the back, close to where the second explosion occurred; ringing immediately overtook her senses while simultaneously going to grab for her own rifle. Her adrenaline was kicking into overdrive again as everyone tried to figure out where the attack was coming from. Sweeping her weapon over the area she didn't dare even consider listening to the demand at first even if the voice was right. Currently in their position it was basically a suicidal firefight. Still.. she didn't want to give up her weapon.

Once the platoon lieutenant gave the order and others started to lower their weapons, did Stella do the same. Still given their lifestyle she found herself unease and on edge.. If she died before inheriting a titan then her family, and grandpa in particular would be screwed unable to afford his medication.

 

[Toxtricity]

After the platoon lieutenant gave the order, there was a silence, then, the sounds of flares being struck and lit,, the hiss filling the crackling air. The bright red flames cut through the smoke as they fell down towards the trucks. "There are flares attached to the ends of the ropes that we have dropped down to you. Send one person up the ropes at a time! If they have weapons on their person at all, we will shoot them on sight! If anyone tries to run from the mountain pass, we will shoot them on sight! The commander will be the last one up the ropes! If the commander comes up early, anyone else on the road will be left there when we drop our charges down! Who is the present commander of your unit?"

"Second Platoon Lieutenant Alessander Rossli, reporting! We understand and will comply with your instructions!" Aleesander called back. Of the five trucks in the convoy, the first and last had been attacked. It had to have been some kind of mines, but he couldn't comprehend how they convoy avoided the mine that struck the last vehicle. Marcia stared up, trying to parse out anything in the dense smoke. "Bravo squad leader, affirm your status!"

"We're okay, sir!" Marcia's sergeant responded.

"Have your soldiers check alpha squad's truck for survivors! Delta squad leader, affirm your status!"

"Everyone here is okay, sir!" Stella's sergeant said, after scanning his squad one more time.

"Check echo squad's truck for survivors!"

"You heard 'em, let's go!" the sergeant ordered his squad as Rossli coordinated the charlie squad's truck to the ropes.

"How the fuck did Mid-East forces get this deep into Marley territory?" the soldier next to Stella mused as he climbed out. "You didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the way here, did you?"

 

[Beautifully x Madd]

The only other thing besides the smoke that Stella could make out was the flares once they were thrown down. Despite trying to make out anything while all the orders, and confirmations, were being given. Just like she couldn't quite figure out what they had done to succeed in sandwhiching them in. Some weapons to accomplish this would have left no room for questions on how they'd managed this. Maybe some kind of remote control bomb?

At least it sounded like the three remaining vehicles soldiers were okay. But was that actually a good thing? For all they knew the dead could be the lucky bastards in this whole scenario.

Stella first gave a small humph of agreement at the other soldiers inquiry. "Kinda makes it feel calculated somehow, doesn't it?" She mused in return since she had no real answers or useful tidbit to give. "Wonder what that means for the rest of us."

Everyone dispersed to check for survivors.

At this point Stella wasn't one to really be fazed by the sight of dead bodies and just quickly searched about for signs of movement or breathing. She also tried to vaguely listen for any of the others signaling that they had found an alive one.

 

[Toxtricity]

"Gotta wonder," the soldier responded in turn, approaching the vehicle to search it alongside the rest of the squad. Like most mine attacks, the truck had been completely torn to shreds, a small lake of fire creeping outwards as the gas and oil that fueled and lubricated the engine rolled out from the wreckage. He could see some body parts, their smell pungent, but saw no movement, nor heard no pained moans. The squad looked until their sergeant called the search off,

"Alright! Back to the ropes!" he barked, trying to stifle his rage. He had just shared a drink with the squad sergeants over their victory in Qandah. But now, he had to leave one of theirs corpses to the birds? He grimaced. Anyone alive would be too dangerous to retrieve anyway. The fire burned hot enough to keep everyone well away.

Marcia tried peering past the flames, but it was no use. When her sergeant called their squad off, she didn't argue. They headed back to where the flares were, which had now been taken off the ropes and put on the ground, alongside a pile of firearms that each soldier was discarding before they began their ascent. Marcia scanned delta squad for any echo survivors. None. She almost felt relieved. Being a severe burn victim, amputee, and a war prisoner sounded like a special kind of hell.

"Alright bravo, you're up!" Alessander ordered when the last of the charlie squad was up the cliffside. Marcia swallowed, almost envying the dead, then began her ascent into their attackers' arms. "Delta, let's go!" came the order, once bravo squad had finished their climb.

 

[Beautifully x Madd]

It wasn't too long of searching to no avail before the sergeant leader called them off and it became an incredibly long waiting game. Stella was more than okay with getting away from the heat of the flames but with only having one go up at a time, it left a good long period of standing around while waiting and wondering. Once the last of charlie was up then came bravo squad.

On occasion Stella took a glance back towards the flames or up at the smoke trying to get a glimpse of anything. As useless as it was she tried to think of any good ideas. At least it was better than drowning in fear, she supposed. Finally she watched the last soldier go up from bravo and next they were being summoned. The soldier beside her was called up first and after she was up came time for her to go.

Stella moved and discarded her weapons into the piles of those who went before her. The waiting, almost, didn't seem as bad now that she was about to follow the others into the new hell that awaited. Still she didn't waste time and part of her just wanted to get this over with. Grabbing onto the rope she began the ascent up to the "party".

Once near the top she was mindful about not moving too much or too fast. If she wanted to survive then doing anything stupid was not an option.

 

[Toxtricity]

Marcia struggled to grasp onto the legde. Fuck, climbing a rope was much harder than she remembered. She pulled herself up, only to find herself staring down the barrel of a pistol. "Come on, then," the voice from before said, and she complied, coming up the rest of the way. It wasn't a moment before she was cuffed around her ankles and wrists, along with all her other... Eldian comrades. The Marleyean sergeants were also cuffed, but chained together separately. She guessed it made sense, but she could read the nervousness etched into their faces.

As Stella was restrained next, then the rest of her squad, Marcie scanned their attackers for information. They bore the crest of the Mid-East Alliance's flag on their arms, and their weapons were that of the Alliance's, but they carried themselves with a precision and intent that Marcia had not seen before. There were only twelve of them, but with four handling the restraining, and the other eight ready with weapons trained on their prisoners, no one dared make a move. Could they be commandos, of some sort? She scrunched her face. Why would a commando unit target a portion of the Warrior Unit  without any of the shifters?

Alessander made his way up to the cliff, his white uniform as dirty with soot and earth as everyone else's. "Is that everyone?" the apparent squad leader asked their lieutenant, who nodded grimly. She motioned to the other Alliance soldiers, two of whom brought forth a bag in each hand. Striking a lighter, the leader lit the two bags ablaze before they were tossed into the chasm, landing with a poweful explosion that shook the cliffside. She raised her weapon to the lieutenant as the fire below roared to life with renewed vigor. "Everyone! Group leena will lead you down the mountain to our rendezvous point. Group theta will head up the rear. If there is so much a whisper of trouble," she suddenly kicked out, her boot catching Alessander in the stomach.

He desperately clawed to try and catch her foot, or something to hang on to, but his fingers only found empty air as he fell back down into the blazing inferno below with a scream. "That will be your fate as well," she said, the scream ending, although the burning of the blaze covering any sound of his landing chilled Marcia to the core. "So behave, and the rest of you will live to see another day."

 

[Beautifully x Madd]

It seemed almost harder now, Stella thought, while climbing the rope. Maybe it was because they'd already had a physically taxing day, or maybe it was a mental thing. Like all the others she found herself staring at a pistol once getting herself to the top but with no other options she continued pulling herself the rest of the way up. Once they restrained her she was left to her own racing thoughts; trying to make sense of what their plans might be. They were apart of the warrior unit; and she supposed it would make sense to attack ones that would be easier to capture and detain if they weren't with any of the shifters.

As more of her squad came up, she looked over the attackers and came across the same observations that others probably had as well. It felt to precise.. calculated.. Was this like some sort of new special ops squad within the Mid-East Alliance? Considering the world's view of Eldians... maybe they were ready to chip away at and terminate the entire lot of them? It had to start somewhere and what if this was the first step. Two birds and one stone; they could start that along with hurting Marley by capturing some of the soldiers that were seriously being considered to inherit a titan. All she knew was this couldn't have been some sort of crazy, over the top, loyalty test because she noted the nervousness from the Marleyean sergeants.

Alessander finally made his way up, and a women briefly questioned him before giving the order of how things were going to go down. Internally Stella winced a bit at both the explosion as well as the screams of the lieutenant falling back down. "Lets go," one of their captors could be heard ordering them to get moving. As they moved, she tried to focus more on just subtly observing whatever she could. Anything that distracted from the crackling of the fire back there that had engulfed the screams, without drawing attention to herself.

 

[Toxtricity]

The Eldians were led down the mountain, five soldiers in front of them, five behind. The two that stayed back also kept the group of sergeants back, and when the Edlians were out of sight, three gunshots rang out. The other soldiers joined the ranks, notably, without the three sergeants. Marcie swallowed. They killed all the Marleyans. Why? She glanced behind her as they walked, briefly studying her comrade. She remembered her last name. Khelor. But her first escaped her. She was in a different squad, so their interactions were a little more limited. She turned back ahead, trying to remember her first name. It was a nice distraction.

They walked for almost an hour down the narrow path of the mountainside. At some point, the stench of the smoke wafted away entirely, as did the sound of the flames. That much, Marcia was grateful for. When they reached the base of the mountain, on the Marleyan side of the range, several more soldiers, perhaps another dozen, awaited them, alongside three towering vehicles. Marcia had never seen anything like them in her life. They were almost three meters tall, over ten meters long, with thick, metal belts that were easily two and a half meters tall on either of their sides, and turrets on their backs, reminiscent of the Cart Titan's armaments. Two two meter tall hatches were recessed into their starboard sides, and were open on all three, where the soldiers were loading in mines and other equipment.

 

[Beautifully x Madd]

When they first began walking it was an easy enough assumption that they'd keep the Eldians separated from the Marleyans. Stella didn't quite expect a straight up execution; well beyond the little show from before to ensure it was in their best interest to listen. But no, the gunshots rang out without hearing any sort of noise or scuffle before that. Pushing aside a small wave of nausea as they were made to keep moving, her already low hopes were feeling even more negative while wondering about the plans these people had for them. Torture for information and then kill? What else could it be?

Almost an hour passes of them walking down the narrow path. Stella kept quiet as she had no interest in finding out if they would throw one of them off the mountain for so much as making a peep. At least they were far away enough not to hear or smell what had happened miles back. The sight they came upon did nothing to quell her internal nervousness once they reached the base of the mountain and came across the rest of the group along with vehicles that was far more advanced than Stella had ever seen. She watched the equipment being loaded up into the trucks while still being lead like sheep to whatever hell these people had conjured up for them. Occasionally her eyes flickered over her other comrades but the majority of her attention was on trying to make sense of their plan, even if she couldn't know until it was revealed to them.

 

[Toxtricity]

"Eldians!" the apparent commander addressed the captured soldiers once the equipment had been loaded away and a headcount had been done. "You will load into our tanks," as she spoke, and some twenty soldiers stood guard, three soldiers went around and began to separate the Eldians into groups of nine. "You have been remarkably well-behaved thus far. Should that continue, we will have a smooth ride ahead of us." The soldiers led each of the groups into the tanks, as the commander had called them. Inside, aside from the munitions and canisters, was remarkably barren, save for a behemoth of an engine towards the stern of the body. Marcia couldn't stop herself from staring, it was awe-inspiring. And, when the tanks roared to life, their engines growling louder than any land vehicle engine that she'd heard before, she suddenly found her suspicions reinvigorated tenfold. Never in all her time as a soldier had she seen such a machine on the battlefield, not from the Mid-East Alliance nor Marley. Just regarded her captors with subtle scrutiny. Just who were these people?

 

[Beautifully x Madd]

Dividing into groups, Stella noted a couple others were from her same unit but the majority she only knew of. Following behind one of the other females, Bartosz, into one of the tanks; their captors referring to it as such. Because of the size it made the inside feel a lot emptier than she would have thought from the amount of supplies the soldiers had been loading up. The engine was just as sophisticated and advanced as the exterior had looked. Just what the hell was going on? It was nothing like she had ever encountered both from Marley or the Mid-East Alliance. The engines, almost deafeningly, roared to life once it was time to get moving. As they did she subtly watched their captors wondering were they were heading.

 

[Toxtricity]

The tanks rolled on at a dreadfully slow pace, Marcia noted, feeling much less intimidated by the technology once she realized how slow it moved. She couldn't glean a damn thing from studying the eight soldiers that occupied the interior with them. They wore the Alliance's crest; they held the Alliance's armaments. The only off thing was their skin tone and the metal behemoths they now were stuck inside. Maybe this was some division from an Alliance nation much further from the frontlines, conducting some kind of experiment with these new vehicles. 'Tanks'. What an odd thing to call them.

They drove for hours in silence, aside from the roar of the engine, Marcia's fears melting into an anxious boredom. She wouldn't try talking to her comrades even if she thought she could be heard over the noise. The weapons that had been lazily trained on them were enough of a deterrent for that. At some point, they stopped for a bit, the soldier hoisting heavy canisters outside before returning with them minutes later, the canisters much lighter. She made note of that as they began forging ahead once again. She wondered how far they were going. Her curiosity kept her distracted from the terror of the situation enough that she dozed off where they sat, in spite of the engine's incessant roar. She was planning on sleeping on the train ride to Civita, anyway.