Titan Drillman in A.O.T - Chapter 11: Chapter 11

"That thing, it appeared straight from... from where?" Reiner said to himself quietly as he stood, leaning against a wall, the wall of the food storage unit.
It was crowded with people since that's the best those of Wall Rose could do for those who came from the other wall. Best he stays quiet, or try and be subtle with his words as much as possible since it would seem... concerning if someone else heard him.
Many days had passed, probably a week by now, and even before they had arrived, it was excruciating . It was all filled with constant pain that just didn't want to go.
They lost one of their companions before making it to the walls, and once they did make it, already with one loss, they were disrupted for a short amount of time because of that... thing. That red demon that just suddenly appeared from behind, stuck its metallic limb into him, and raised him up to get a good look at him. He was fortunate enough to grab Bertholdt and bring him up upon the walls.
And now they are barely even hanging on. Only holding on to a string to keep to themselves alive. For a while, none of them are going to be able to transform.
They have no energy for that.
Bertholdt was alive, luckily, in a critical on the verge of death kind of state after that explosion.
It was a miracle he's still alive. Right now, he's trying to recover, doing the most he can using his titan healing abilities.
He could see him laying down, breathing from where he stood.
Their mission was hindered all because of that red demon. Whom they weren't even sure if it was dead or not. It was built out of what seemed like pure steel or some other durable metal. It could easily knock down the walls if it wanted to, which it seemed to have the mind to not do.
Either way, as a warrior that he trained himself to be, he can't let this halt his progress. Retrieving the founder was necessary.
But how would he or Annie and Bertholdt be able to do anything at this state. They're injured, and getting into the residence of the royalty would be difficult.
Especially with the walls having already been breached.
He put his hand against his head. He could feel his head throbbing with pain, his body having almost no reason to do anything extreme.
If only they could push a little bit further. Be the warrior he needed to be. But it seems like this would take more than the time they thought it would.
He looked up and saw the other warriors on the resting rug. Annie and Bertholdt aren't in any state right now to do much. It's all on him for now.
They would be fine from where they were.
Nothing should happen to them since everyone else here is just equally terrified.
He pushed himself off the wall and began moving towards the exit of this structure. Hopefully, he can figure out a thing or two for himself, maybe know something about the royal family.
As he passed by some people, his eyes were caught by something. A little chatter going on. He turned his head slightly and saw two children and a mother. One boy and one girl, both younger than him, maybe by just a few years.
The boy specifically was arguing his mom, something about enlisting in the cadet corps once he was of age.
But his mother would argue against it. The other girl was there just watching in silence.
Interesting, it seemed. Wait, why is he paying attention to this? Either way, he kept going along. Their voices faded slowly until it became nothing as he left the building.
Joining the military? That seems... memorable, could be a way to get close to the royal family without having to depend on using their titan forms to constantly break through each wall.
But perhaps not right now, especially since he had to make sure his friends were still recovering.
Recovering from using too much of their titan powers.
Activity around the city was heavy, very heavy, with some shipments of food supplies coming in from what he saw so that all the people from the other Wall and this district could be fed.
People were already forming the lines to receive their rations.
Might as well get his, too, although he might hand it to Bertholdt and Annie instead, and the lines were currently getting long.
He went to go claim his spot in the absurdity of this long process, but it all came to a halt when a couple older men stepped abruptly, pushing him.
"Apologies, but we were here first, young one," one of them said in a patronizing tone that was just irritating to listen to.
Devils these people were. They were devils indeed, acted like devils.
But there was no point in fighting them right now and cause such a commotion. He had no reason to make himself as low as them. So he stepped away and moved towards the end of the line behind the group of men.
He will get his portion of food, if there was any by the time it was his turn, and give it to Bertholdt and Annie since they needed it more.
After that, he will go explore around the district or go further to see what he can find.
This line was just slow, as he could tilt his head over and see people at the front already complaining about needing more food.
Disgraceful.
Pigs are fighting over minor rations, and they probably won't make it until the next season.
Eventually, after what seems like half an hour of watching, people absurdly fight each other to steal one's share. The line had moved enough where it was his turn. Of course, the soldiers handed him the ration, but he didn't need the entire thing.
He took a small piece and ate it. Taste was a little dull. He went back to the food storage house to leave some for his friends and then headed straight out again.
He walked out onto the streets, with no current sense of direction.
He couldn't just walk out of this district, transform and speed his way to the capital, and can't just blitz his way in and steal whomever possesses the founding titan.
That's just stupid, and also, despite training like hell to be a warrior, his body can't last that long.
He walked around the streets, buildings all lined together with symmetrical wooden framing. He was looking around, seeing how people went about their day, moving around, heading wherever it was they needed to be.
As he continued his stroll, to find just about anything, regardless of what it was, something caught his ears. It wasn't audible at first, but he got a little closer as he noticed a couple of men who seemed like they were tied to a shipping company here of sorts.
Saying something along the lines of, "You've heard?"
Then the other man replied in a croaked voice, "Heard what? I don't need to hear it if I'm being sacked."
"The government is planning a massive farming operation of some sorts to put all the refugees to grow crops and make more land..." he had to catch his breath for a moment, "since you know, the food is running stupidly low."
The man then said, "eh, finally, put those bugs to do something other than taking up what we have left."
"All while we get to watch from the side and we get to fill our shoes." He seemed really joyful about it, like the stars are aligning themselves to him.
"Thinking if we instead recommend our boss to cut the food going out here, he'd give us a promotion, maybe finally let us live in the inner wall while he and his friends get fatter."
Reiner couldn't help but be reminded once more. These were devils, the devils his superiors told him and the other warriors about.
But then their little rough on-the-spot conversation ended once they noticed someone else coming towards them. They seemed rather annoyed by the lifestyle they've been living, had the expression equivalent to a worn-out rug. "You two, go help out, lazy rats with a dream."
The men grunted or groaned, annoyed themselves as they hesitantly moved towards the area where the shipments arrived.
"We better get that promotion." One of them said before their figures disappeared as they turned the street.
Reiner wanted to follow them, his foot was already taking a step in that direction to keep moving, but his brain had that pain again. He one of his hands against his head, putting pressure, damn. It was a bother, but maybe he should've eaten more if that was possible. His powers take a toll on him, seriously.
Maybe he needs to rest, he decided that would be it, perhaps, he could always learn more from these "people." His feet now moved towards where his friends were resting, back to that place.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, where the men were delivering the new shipments of food meant for the refugees.
"I don't know what, but they should be paying us more for this!" One of the men barked out.
"Can't really expect that to happen." The other one said, struggling to speak a bit as he was helping the other man carry a crate of food. Which was considerably heavy than that it should've berb.
"Yeah, yeah, but the work I give should make my pay its actual worth!" He said, letting out a sharp breath of air as he adjusted his hold on the wooden crate.
"I really ought to make a complaint to our boss about this," the man said to himself without receiving a word from his other coworker as they eventually made it to th place where they were supposed to drop the food off.
Grueling that journey was, didn't help, they were being given some stares.
"Alright, we're done here. Let's go!"
The sounds of their footsteps and rumbling eventually faded away till it was eventually just nothing.
Coast was clear.
A rather fast whizzing like sound was heard, small holes were made in the box, the cover was lifted, and a figure rose. "A bit uncomfortable, but since when was life ever comfortable with the skibidi toilets causing destruction," Chief Drillman said to himself.
He got out of the crate and had to shift himself through some food rations.
Some of it was probably inedible.
Feel bad for whoever had to eat that.
There were some clean ones, ones you can eat without dying. So he grabbed some, didn't see how much, between 3-5, enough to feed the Jaeger family. Shoved them in his coat.
Now it's time to watch over them. He placed the lid back on the crate, just leaving it there, no problem.
Still daylight, people idling around or still waiting for their rations, move carefully, or be exposed.
But something felt odd. He felt like as if he wasn't the only one in this area. In his immediate bubble.
He checked his rear and found someone standing right there, looking straight at him.
A soldier.
The soldier's face showed some partial fear thanks to the widened eyes.
Chief Drillman didn't have a clue of what else to do, other than raise his finger in front of the Drill as if he had a face with lips and did a shush like gesture. He had been at this, sneaking in for only a few days, and he had been caught, the one thing to avoid. He wanted only to provide food for the Jaeger family and watch over them, only thing to do besides attempting to figure out more about this society.
The soldier with the insignia of a rose on his uniform parted his lips and was about to utter something, but Chief lunged himself at the soldier.