---
The Marleyan capital slept beneath an orange dawn. Steam rose from the metallic domes and reactor towers that now replaced the old military district. Soldiers patrolled the streets in silence. The war had taught Marley discipline, but it had also stripped away its humanity.
Deep beneath the surface, in a steel corridor humming with cold energy, seven capsules stood in a row. Inside each floated a hybrid. Flesh and alloy. The hum of the reactors echoed like a heartbeat.
Commander Magath entered the chamber with two officers and Doctor Kerlen, the scientist behind Project Restoration.
Kerlen adjusted his goggles. "Subjects 74 through 80 are stable. Neural synchronization complete. They'll follow orders without resistance."
Magath watched the central capsule. The figure inside was a woman, eyes closed, silver veins glowing under her skin. "And this one?"
"Subject 76," Kerlen said. "Designation: Astra. She retains fragments of memory. I recommend termination."
Magath shook his head. "No. Memory means instinct. Instinct means power. We'll need her."
Kerlen frowned. "Power without control is chaos."
Magath's tone hardened. "Then we'll teach control."
He turned to the officers. "Deploy them in two days. Their first mission—recover Subject 73. Dead or alive."
---
Far across the plains, Levi's squad advanced through the ruins of Trost. The air smelled of ash and metal. Time had turned the city into a skeleton of concrete and steel.
Lio walked ahead, steam faintly rising from his shoulders. The world seemed quieter here, almost sacred. He stopped near a cracked wall where someone had carved a name—E. Yeager.
Hange joined him. "You knew of him?"
Lio nodded. "Every child in Marley did. They taught us to fear his name. Said he was the man who broke the world."
Hange smiled faintly. "And yet you're standing on the ground he saved."
"Did he save it?" Lio asked. "Or just reset the clock for the next apocalypse?"
Levi's voice cut through. "We didn't come to debate ghosts. Move."
They reached the old underground tunnels once used by the Survey Corps. Hange activated her map. "If Marley's hybrid production is real, this tunnel leads straight under their supply line. Perfect entry."
Erwin's orders were clear—find Marley's research site, extract the data, and destroy it.
---
Hours later, deep underground, they found the facility.
Hange crouched near a ventilation shaft, listening. "Sounds like reactors… but smaller. Controlled."
Levi signaled. "On my mark."
They dropped silently through the shaft, landing inside a dim corridor lined with pipes. The smell of burnt oil filled the air.
Lio stopped suddenly. "Wait."
"What is it?" Hange whispered.
He pointed ahead. His eyes flickered gold. "They're here."
Before she could ask, a siren blared.
The lights flashed red. The air pressure changed. Steam hissed from vents as armored doors slid open.
From the darkness stepped seven shapes—metallic, tall, their eyes glowing faint blue.
The hybrids.
The leader, Astra, looked directly at Lio. "Subject 73. Return to containment."
Lio's voice trembled. "You're alive…"
Astra tilted her head. "Alive is irrelevant. Purpose is absolute."
Levi drew his blades. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."
---
The corridor erupted into chaos.
Levi struck first, slicing the leg joint of a hybrid. Sparks flew, but it didn't fall—it regenerated, metal and flesh fusing instantly. Hange fired a flare grenade, blinding the others for seconds.
Lio transformed partially, Titan muscle wrapping his arms. He clashed with Astra, their blows shaking the corridor. Every strike left molten scars on the walls.
"You don't have to fight them!" Lio shouted. "We were made for more than this!"
Astra's voice was cold. "You were made to serve. You forgot."
She drove her arm forward, impaling his shoulder.
Levi launched himself, severing her wrist in a blur. "He's right. You forgot who you were."
Astra's detached hand regenerated, blades forming from her fingers. "You mistake rebellion for freedom."
Erwin's voice burst through the comm. "Levi, extraction in 3 minutes. We have the data."
"Make it one!" Levi barked, dodging another hybrid's strike.
Hange overloaded the gas line and shouted, "Fall back!"
Lio grabbed Astra by the throat. "If I'm a weapon, then I choose my target."
He hurled her into the control core. The explosion tore the corridor apart.
---
When the smoke cleared, the squad emerged through a breach into open air. The facility burned behind them.
Hange coughed, wiping ash from her face. "We got the data drive."
Levi turned to Lio. His skin was shredded, Titan steam rising fast. "You alive?"
Lio nodded weakly. "Barely."
Erwin joined them, holding the encrypted drive. "Then we have what we need."
Lio looked back at the burning ruins. "No. They'll rebuild. They always do."
Levi met his gaze. "Then we finish it before they start."
---
In the ruins, Astra crawled from the wreckage. Her metal spine glowed crimson. She stared at the sky, whispering, "Subject 73…"
Then she turned toward the horizon, where the scouts had fled.
Her eyes flickered gold.
Memory was returning.
---
By nightfall, the squad regrouped at an old fort north of Shiganshina. Hange began decrypting the data. Streams of code filled her monitor. "These aren't schematics," she said slowly. "They're names. Thousands of them."
"Names?" Erwin asked.
She nodded. "Every person Marley ever experimented on. Most marked 'terminated.' But there's one folder still active."
Levi leaned closer. "What's it called?"
Hange hesitated. "Subject Zero."
Lio froze. "That's impossible. There was never a Zero."
Erwin's voice was steady. "Apparently there was. And it's still alive."
Outside, lightning split the clouds, illuminating the mountains to the east.
Lio stared into the distance. "Then the war isn't beginning," he said quietly. "It's returning."
---