Chapter Text
Lieutenant Eren Jäger had once been an extremely nervous child. He would pick at his fingernails at the slightest raise in anxiety throught his younger years- to the point where they would bleed. He had an awful habit of biting his fingers or hands to choke his crying if he was scolded, and he was terrified of nearly everything; from as little to spiders to death itself, Eren Jäger wasn't one to likely fancy it.
And even as he now had several months of deployment in Afghanistan under his belt, old habits seemed to die hard. The only difference now, was that the young lieutenant was easily able to manage his anxiety in high stress situations- especially when the once cadets he had grown to see as his own brothers and sisters were gunned down at the hands of their own fear and from the wildly distributed AK-47 of the extremists currently residing on Afganistan. While the feeling was picking at the back of his skull, and he knew that it was ever-so present, he managed it. Excellently, as one of his Captains had put it in a precious briefing just before they were deployed.
Eren had been on the front lines in previous missions. Everytime, he had managed to escape unscathed due to the excellent support he received from all of his comrades, as well as the instructions given to them by the higher-ups. He was extremely lucky to be in a group of such highly skilled and intelligent individuals- especially when he was depending on them to save his ass if things didnt go as planned... which they never did.
And now, he was currently positioned in an abandoned building, somewhere around five stories above the quiet streets with two other lieutenants (Lt. Jean Kirestien, Lt. Mikasa Ackerman) and one of his commanding officers, (CG Erwin Smith), all skilled in what they did and definitely worthy of assisting with their current mission.
The Americans currently had troops positioned just outside of the city. While the street was empty below, and the buildings seemed to be barren, Eren knew otherwise. His training knew otherwise. His officers knew otherwise.
There were probably around a couple hundred members of the extremist group gathered in the city after having just taken it days before from civilians. Causality reports stated that the civilian deaths could rank in the thousands- meaning a decently sized group had claimed the area. As instructed by the government and leading officials, it was now the Marines' job to move in and claim it back, while saving whatever innocent civilian lives they could.
The small group had been sent in as a form of a special operations squad to clear and secure the area near the gates of the city so forces could sweep the buildings. That meant taking out snipers positioned from hundreds of meters away with Eren's supressed M40, while the others stood with M4 carbines at the ready- crouched low as to not get their heads blown off.
Currently, Eren was sweeping the city with his binoculars, adjusting the distance and checking every building for signs of life. Already, Eren had spotted around four snipers- all around a quarter to a half klick away, and had taken them out with quiet and deadly precision. When he had started out in basic training, he couldn't shoot a gun for shit. Now, with confidence and skilled hands, firing his M40 had become one of his favorite past-times... when they weren't pointed between someone's eyes, enemy or not.
The enemies lack of training had led to them being incredibly spaced out and solo- easy and undetectable targets for Eren. As he shot, they went down silently and without a fight- not ever knowing what hit them. A quick, painless death, one that Eren preferred, as he wasnt one to be called mean-spirited.
Eren carefully set down his binoculars and adjusted himself onto the crates that had been stacked up near the edge of the building for him to lie down on. At his movement, Lt. Ackerman scanned the remote area with little movement, trying to see if anyone had caught wind of Lt. Jäger's subtle movements.
He felt the wind, deciding how he would compensate. Probably around 20 MPH from the East. Target around a few hundred meters away. Coriolis effect not applicable. Target unmoving and staring down the scope of his weapon, obviously preoccupied with his eyes on something else than what was about to take him out.
Eren gripped the sniper and gazed down his sights, easily lining up his shot with slow precision. He adjusted the sights of the weapon, gently doing so with practiced and simple movements. He knew that his shot would hit, but he wouldn't fire without confirmation from CG Smith.
"Your call," was the man's low and simple response as if he was reading the younger marine's thoughts. He was trusting the lieutenants skill with his life.
He peered through his binoculars, trying to follow the barrel of Lt. Jäger's weapon to see where the enemy was down-range.
Silence dropped amongst the four, the only sound that Eren could hear was the practically undetectable noises of the wind and his own breathing, as well as the subtle click he heard as his finger moved to the trigger, preparing to fire.
The shot didn't ring out due to the suppressed barell, but there was a low noise that came with the weapon being fired. Eren exhaled gently as the bullet flew through the air and struck the man in the head, a pink mist forming behind him momentarily.
"Tango down," Eren spoke, reloading the M40.
Erwin didnt say anything in response, quickly moving his binoculars to where he saw movement. The man who Eren had just shot fatalty had been barely visible from behind a low concrete wall. How he had seen him, he wasn't certain. Erwin was sure that if he had been in Jägers position, he would've missed the positioned sniper.
They would probably be in that exact same position for the entire day, taking out the enemies covering the entrance with patience as to not start a large and bloody fight. While they had somewhat of an idea of the size of the enemy in intermediate area, it hadn't been confirmed by any one of the MIA informants that had been sent in just weeks prior.
One of Eren's close friends and fellow solider, Armin Arlet, was one of the men who had gone missing. Many assumed that they were killed, but without bodies to confirm, they were currently listed as MIA. Hostages, most realistically.
Jean shuffled from behind the two and Eren glanced back, wanting to check his six just to make sure that they were all safe in their current situation.
Lt. Kirestien's face was strained in concentration, listening to what sounded to Eren like the faintest sounds of footsteps climing the stairs from just behind the metal door to the roof.
Quickly and without fright, Eren pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the door. The other two lieutenants stood against the walls next to the door, weapons raised and aiming at the first place where the door would open.
Soon after they all took their positions, Erwin recieved a radio call that several more marines had been sent to their location for backup, since their areial support had spotted a greater number than anticipated enemies swarming the East.
"Hold your fire," Erwin said as he raised his right fist, his left holding his issued carbine, "friendlies were just sent, don't shoot at first glance. Make sure they aren't our boys." His voice was low, just barely heard by the three others.
The door slowly opened as soon as he finished speaking and several marines filed onto the roof, hands raised as to not get shot. Those who had already been stationed lowered their weapons, shoulders relaxing and heartbeats settling back down to their normal pace.
One of those who had joined them on the roof was airforce commander Hange Zoë, leader of most aerial assault missions and lookouts. Despite the serious circumstances, she was wearing a bright grin as she approached the CG with her arms spread widem
"Nice to see ya, Erwin," she completely ditched formalities. The tall blond didn't make a move to hug her, as there was a loaded weapon across his chest. Luckily, she took the hint and didn't try to smother him.
"What's been happening East? We haven't seen much action up here besides snipers across the area," he watched as several of the soilders who had came with the commander took lookout points along the roof of the building.
Zoë just sighed, "nothing good for us, i'm afraid. Came ta get you boys out. We just came back from scouting and it's hopeless- they're roughly 10 times the size of what we previously predicted- most likely from the heavy recruiting they've been doing recently."
The news hit Erwin like a brick. When he heard that the extremists had expanded their numbers, he was expecting a smaller prediction. At this news, his mind went into overdrive trying to think of what to do with his men positioned just outside of the city- men that were now outnumbered probably 5 to 1.
"We have to pull back," the blonde muttered without hesitation, glancing towards the East as if he could see the enemy from 3 kicks away, "fucker's probably planned it like this, too. Hid all of their men until they knew we'd start to filter in. It's a fucking deathtrap, it's the only thing that we can do."
Hange didn't give her input or opinions on his decision, she just listened o the male speak. She trusted him. They had fought alongside each other when they had just started in the military before they climbed the ranks. He was one of the smartest people she had ever met and was impossibly skilled in analyzing the enemy and their goals. It was incredible how accurate his predictions always were when it came to battles.
"Just give the word and I can have trucks here in under an hour. We can have some birds fly in to pick up you boys from this spot. It will give away that we were here but it's even more dangerous to have you all rush back to the gates to meet the trucks- putting all of our men at risk."
Erwin nodded, "call in the trucks and 'copters. I doubt they haven't received word that we're in the area already." Hange seemed thrilled that the CG had taken her advice, "Meanwhile we're just going to have to lay low. Jäger, keep an eye on those snipers, we don't want any of us going home missin' a part of our brain. Oorah?"
Eren reloaded his sniper, glancing over his shoulder at his higher-up.
That was enough of a response for Erwin.