The wait was always the worst part for Aron. From what he had heard from a number of other vets that was pretty true for most pilots. The wait before the deployment, the minutes leading to getting the green light. All the while listening to the sounds beyond the hanger. In space at the least there was no sound beyond what was in the ship, however planetside that was not the case. Every distant explosion, every rumble of vast weaponry being moved, every quake of massive steps let one's imagination wander.

"Maybe they'll be all cleaned up by the time we're deployed, eh LT?" The voice of one of the new recruits came over the comms.

"Would be nice, can act like we did something and come out smelling like roses." Remarked the other.

Aron chuckled. "Hate to break it to you boys, but hear those quakes? Yeah that ain't from our side probably. Hearing that so close means the Feddies are probably making more gains than us." He remarked. That certainly quelled the uneasy joking. Pity, but needed to keep them focused.

He used to feel bad that he forgot the names of the newbies assigned to him. Mech Pilots just couldn't fully go toe to toe with Titans. It was an unfair matchup. A Titan was twice their size, strong enough to tear a mech in half and had crazy thick armor. You could bring them down with mobility and speed and in space they were pretty much sitting ducks, but planetside they were tough opponents to grounded Mechs. Which was what they were. Now, after losing his last three pairs of newbies almost within ten minutes of deployment. Now it was easier to just not bother.

"Lt. Aron Carmen, your wing is cleared for deployment. Titan drop forces have breached the outer limits of the city. Other wings are being deployed to assist. Your callsign will be Sword. Glory to the Republic." Came the voice of the deployment officer.

Aron's display lit up as the indicator turned green and the sound of heavy machinery whirring sounded out. The dark haired man slid his helmet on and leaned back in his seat, gripping the controls as the automated processes for deployment brought the massive thirty meter tall machines up toward the surface. The newbies had grey and blue models with a single wide oculus on the head portion of the mech. Aron's was an older model, dark blue with wider shoulders and two ocular units on the head. Had seen him through a number of years.

The elevators brought them up outside into the open air of the military base and... it was bad. Very bad. The skies above he could see distant ships in orbit blasting at one another with some lasers hitting the ground far into the distance. The base was located on the eastern lightly populated part of the city, so it gave decent visibility without buildings getting in the way. Aron pulled up the map overlay of the city and the overall tactical situation, letting out a hiss through his teeth.

Red dots and arrows indicated the Confederation Titans and automated machines. They were covering the northern part of the city and judging from those explosions and some of the buildings wobbling, that was pretty accurate. "You two, on me, intercept formation. Keep spread and keep moving. Don't stop moving for a second, otherwise you are as good as dead." Aron warned.

"Yes, sir!" They both returned, sounding rather less than confident. Well no time to worry about that as Aron activated the jump systems on his mech and propelled himself forward.

There were plenty of emplacements being formed near the base that were passed by and wounded were being carried toward the base. If they lost Aron didn't exactly see much point in helping the wounded, since everyone was going to die most likely if Titans reached them. The Confederation's tip of the spear didn't exactly worry too much over sparing lives. He sped through the wide streets of the city toward the north. He could see sky craft already rushing overhead. As well as other mechs up ahead.

Aron wasn't a head on person and so he was leading the way around what was likely the front of the enemy through a few tighter streets. Harder to move through but he switched off his jump drive and instead started moving using the legs of the mech. Every step shook the whole frame of the mech. It took getting used to, the constant motion. Indeed most folks found it akin to driving over the bumpiest road they had ever been on.

He could hear the booming steps of a Titan and he brought his Mech's head around the corner of the building and sure enough bounding down the main street was one of them. Helmet clad and with thick armor that put his own to shame, her impressive frame filled the whole of the main street. Armored boots dug into the asphalt and cracked it as she was hoisting a power rifle up. She fired a beam of red light from it and no doubt whatever it hit was vaporized.

"Lt. should we move up?" Asked one of the newbies behind him.

"Not yet. Wait for her to advance. Titan Squads move in threes like our mech squadrons." He said, tapping his fingers along the controls and adjusting his targeting for certain points in the armor.

There was an explosion of the building next to the towering armored giant, toppling some of it onto her. Which might as well have been splashing her with water. She shrugged it off without an issue and stepped forward, the ground shaking and cracking under the weight of her steps. Then came the additional steps from behind her. They all wore the red and gold armor of the Ivaran Confederation, the symbol of a sword through a ring of stars the sigil of their military. They were indeed all women as well. Sixty meter tall women. Evidently it was a trait exclusive to Women, though Men could carry it or something. Hell if he knew why. He wasn't a geneticist. Monsters to most folks anyway.

As soon as the last one of their squad moved down the main street Aron heated up his jump drive. "Now! Aim for the joints in the armor!" He directed as he launched forth.

He brought up his mechs own beam rifle and fired it at the rear most one's back leg joint where the armor was weakest. She let out a scream as the beam lanced right through the joint and into the leg beyond, causing her to fall backward. There were cries of alarm as the rest of his squadron moved as well. Their shots rang out. One scored a lucky shot under the armpit of one and she went down with a horrible cry, very likely fatally wounded. Lucky shot that. The rest rather pinged off the armor of the third.

The third one had time to turn and level her massive rifle at them. One shot lanced right through one of the newbies' cockpit. It was very likely that killed him almost instantly. He was already using his drive to make himself a more difficult target as he weaved into another street. Then he saw what the other one of his newbies was doing. "No, you fucking idiot, don't close with your saber!" He shouted.

"Ahhhhh! You bitches! You monsters! Die!" He was screaming as he pulled out his mech's beam saber and was speeding right toward the uninjured one, moving erratically.

Aron had seen what was about to play out happen a number of times, made it no easier to watch. The saber made contact with the thicker armor of her thigh and did nothing. She kicked her leg out and absolutely smashed the machine onto its back and sent it skidding across the road. By this point another squad of Titans was moving up and when his mech stopped moving it was by impacting lightly against the side of another Titan's foot.

"Wai-wait, aaaaaaa-!" The Titan lifted up her armor clad boot and smashed it down upon where his cockpit was. The thing crumpled and flattened almost immediately under the press of the Titan's strength. Aron winced as there was a little screech in his comm.

Now unfortunately he found himself dealing with fire on both sides as they leveled their weapons at him and started firing. Lasers vaporized floors of buildings and rubble fell into the streets below, crushing anyone who hadn't run away from this section of the city. "Fucking... just my luck the only ladies after me are the giant kind." He growled as he narrowly avoided another laser burst that would have atomized him.

He fired a burst of laser fire, taking care to make his shots count. Sweat was beading on his brow but his mind was as focused as could be. He wasn't worried about anything but the battlefield. One shot pinged off a woman's shoulder armor. Another managed to punch through the joint where her helmet connected to her armor and sent her down hard. The concentrated fire was making it pretty difficult however.

He jumped up to avoid another burst before he felt his entire machine rocked. Red warnings flashed on his screen. The last beam had managed to clip his jump system and as a result was sending him spinning out through the air and toward an untouched part of the area. "Fucking, stabilize, stabilize..." He jerked at the controls. It was no use, he was coming in too hard and the blast had thrown off the center of gravity.

The mech slammed through one of the taller buildings and out the other side. He could feel the impacts jerking him around the cockpit. Was this really it? Was that how he got shot down? That was the last thought he had before his mech impacted another building and his head smacked into his console, filling his world with an instant blackness of unconsciousness.

"...Extensive damage detected to key systems. Propulsion offline. Comms offline. Main power offline. Emergency power limited."

A dull ache on his forehead and an automated voice were what welcomed Aron back into the waking world. His breathing felt exceptionally loud for some reason. His eyes blurred as he opened them, red light occasionally flashing and filling the darkness of what appeared to be his cockpit. There was a very bad crack in the visor of his helmet, making visibility through it a laughable matter really. He reached his hand up and fiddled with the seals on it before tossing it off his head and away.

"Ugh... what the fuck..." He felt like he'd gone a post deployment bender and mixed his booze, scrambling his brain and thoughts.

He lifted a hand to his forehead and came away with a fair bit of blood. As he shifted around he could feel an ache in his side. Pressing a hand to his lower rib-cage under his pilot suit he winced. Something was either broken or bruised. Most pilot gear was designed to absorb crash landings and keep the person alive. Now broken bones, that wasn't exactly easy to prevent and generally crashing was less common than getting destroyed outright these days honestly.

The automated voice was still reading out the damage for him and he winced as he tried to bring up a visual of the outside. Nothing. Either the image projectors were damaged on impact or there wasn't enough power for that. He let out a sigh as it was coming back to him now, his scattered brain slowly gathering itself. He'd been shot down. The battle had happened. The crash and then the impact of his head against the console. Honestly, the most surprising thing to Aron was that he was alive at all. Small mercies.

He reached down under the pilot seat and fumbled around for a latch. He pulled on it and reached into the compartment that opened, pulling out a little box. Opening it revealed some essentials. Bandages, sterilizing spray, a laser pistol sidearm, a few water purification tablets, a couple days of emergency rations and also a beacon for extraction. He took the bandages and spray out and started working on applying them to himself. He wasn't dead yet so didn't seem likely he'd be crushed in the next few minutes it would take to take care of that.

"Wonder if they'll give me the Purple Cross for this one." He mused. He could think of worse ways to get some home leave.

Once he was done tending to himself he set the remaining bandages and spray back into the survival kit and closed it back up. There was a spot on the back of most pilot suits that it would latch onto once he was up and moving out. The dark haired man rubbed at his eyes as the red flashing was making his addled head more disoriented. Without another delay he pushed the emergency release on the cockpit.

It stalled for a moment before whirring open slowly, rubble falling off the top of it and exposing him to the grey skies beyond. He grunted as he pulled himself up out of the mech and out into the world beyond. It was certainly a very rough looking world to be certain. The planet of Decar IV was located on the border of the warring stellar nations of the Vilar Republic and the Ivaran Confederation. It wasn't seen as a very high priority target that the Confederation would attack. A safe posting for most. Well. That was what the theory had been. The practice was the ruined cityscape he was looking at right now.

Was hard to say who had actually won the fighting from where he was looking. There was plenty of rubble and wreckage left behind after all. If he had to place a bet however, the distant and rather familiar quakes clued him in that there might have been Titans around. Which meant he was very likely behind the current battle lines on the Confederation side of things. Not a good place to be for a normal human.

"Right. Need to get out of the city. Into the countryside. Use the beacon and try to lay low until rescue." Aron told himself.

Easier said than done of course. All around him broken and ruined buildings formed a maze of rubble and concrete. Destroyed warmachines as well formed blocks in the roads and side streets and buildings. It would make navigating his way out of here rather difficult. Aron tried to recall where on the map he had been when he went down... before the rumble of footsteps started coming closer. A puddle nearby started to ripple on the ground. The ripples were getting bigger. More pronounced. He could hear booming voices as well.

"...Backline work. Not that I'm complaining mind you. Cleanup crew has its own fun." Came the clear voice of a towering Titan.

"Hey, could always be worse, could be the gals up in space. Was in a space engagement once. No thanks. Absolute hell. Least down here you've got some protection and their craft can't hit you from literally everywhere." Came another voice in response.

Aron knew they were coming this way most likely and so he looked around. The mech was a bad idea. Immediately thrown out. His eyes darted around and he saw a shop nearby with its roof blown off and windows blown out. It was filled with rubble as well. Closest he could get on short notice. He'd just have to hug the wall and hope they didn't notice. He darted over there and dove inside, hugging up against the wall below where the window would have been.

*Boom. Boom! BOOM!*

A massive armor clad foot thoomed down right in the center of the street, bigger than his whole body by a wide margin. Above a brunette with hair pulled into a very tight ponytail loomed, idly looking around the terrain below. Her eyes swept over the ground and noted the mech fallen and broken against one of the buildings. She let out a whistle.

"Well now, don't see one of those everyday." The woman leaned in and looked at it with a keen eye. He sucked in a breath as her leaning in might give her a better look at his current position.

Another pair of massive armored boots slammed down nearby, cracking the asphalt. A short haired woman with lovely brown skin lifted a brow as she looked at the mech. "What, one of the Reps toy suits? See a bunch of them, fuck I'm still scraping some metal bits from my boots." She remarked.

"Nah, the type of suit you dumbass. That's a Peregrine. Last gen Republic model line. Pilot must have been a vet or an ace. Those aren't even issued anymore." The woman remarked as she looked over the mech. She reached down and pried open the cockpit with her finger as easily as punching through tinfoil and tossed it over her shoulder. Her brow furrowed. "Tsk."

"What, scurried off before you could toss whatever pilot was in there in your boot, Vira?" Her partner teased.

"Hey, say what you fuckin' want, Cass. Experienced pilots, I'm telling you, the *best* playthings. They're all toughasses and shit. Makes breaking them in a challenge. Probably got squished by now. Oh well." She shrugged as she used a combat knife to peel off the ID plate off of the mech and set it on her belt.

"See that's way too much effort for me, just grab a handful of the fuckers and go to town I say." The dark skinned one remarked as she stepped past the little ruined shop.

Aron sucked in his breath as he felt the extreme danger of the situation. Some of the ruined building was wobbling as they boomed around nearby. If he moved though it might get seen by either of them in their peripheral and considering the conversation... yeah getting caught by either would be bad. The Titans were absolutely notorious for being monsters to anything smaller than them. Which was pretty much everything. Confederation culture elevated Titans as being above all others. They were the ruler caste there and normal sized folks were second class. When they kowtowed. When they didn't, well, that was why the Republic was at war.

"Challenges, Cass. I'm telling you. Makes it feel so much better." The one, Vira, chuckled a booming chuckle as she stood up straight and started walking back on their way.

Their footsteps were receding into the distance slowly but surely. The ground where they had been stepping was cracked and had imprints of their armored bootsoles upon it. Aron waited for a few moments as they moved away before stepping out from the ruined shop and into the street. He let out a gasp of breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, running his hands through his hair as the full weight of his situation fell over him. They were only two of the no doubt dozens of Titans roaming the city. If a single one of those grabbed him... that was it for him. He was dead or enslaved.

He took deep breaths to try and calm himself. It was a rough situation to be certain but not impossible. His size meant one on one he was basically a bug. However it also made moving through the city an easier prospect for him. They were big girls but they weren't able to like see or hear everything. Their senses were good, but not that good. Grimly, he also mused that if there were any other survivors they would probably be currently being used as fodder for the amusement of the Titans.

He looked up at the sun overhead. The sun on this world rose in the west and set in the easy. So judging by that, he was able to suss out what way he thought east was. Pity all of his equipment was pretty much wrecked. No use crying over that however. Aron threaded his way around the imprints of the footprints those two Titans had left behind and toward an alleyway across the way. Their size and scale when up close to them at a human scale was... mind-boggling. Big enough to crush ten humans under it without breaking stride. He'd seen it happen before. Footprints of Titans ended up being mass graves for those trod upon. Best to avoid that fate. With that grim thought in his head he headed out into the city.

As a soldier of the Republic, Aron was not unfamiliar with the sights of a city fallen to the Confederation. While the Republic held the advantage among the stars, when the Titans managed to touch down onto a planet it was an uphill battle. One that resulted in destroyed buildings, vast casualties and a lot of dead civilians. Usually he wasn't seeing it from the ground level, rather it was from within his mech.

Looking at it all from the rubble filled alleys and side streets the whole affair was rather depressing. There were plenty of dead that had simply been buried under rubble it seemed. Crushed and burning military equipment littered the streets. He was currently passing through a main street after giving a couple glances up and down it. He recognized it, it was the same street they had engaged those squads of Titans. A good landmark. Sure enough, he spied the crumpled form of one of the newbie mechs where it had been crushed under the step of one of the titans. Evidently stomped a few times judging from the damage.

Looking up the road he spied a massive building had snapped in half and the top half now rather blocked the way there. Possibly he could climb it or slip through. The other side of the street had more alleys and the other way down the street was probably crawling with more Confederation Titans. Indeed he could feel distant tremors shake the ground. It was hard not to at times feel like a roach scurrying around on the street.

His injury was flaring up something fierce along his side. He was pretty sure that something was broken from the impact given the level of pain from trying to move too much. Just his luck. He made his way across the main street and toward the alleys on the other side. Then he started to hear a rumble, which had him quicken his pace to dash into the nearest alley. It was choked and blocked with rubble, no passage that way for him. Climbing that steep was out of the question. So he was rather stuck until they passed him by.

The thundering booming steps of a Titan sure enough were coming from the way he had suspected were crawling with them. A younger looking redhead by the looks of her with a light spray of freckles across her face. Couldn't have been older than twenty if that. She had a rather bored look across her face as she was just patrolling along the main street. She idly kicked a wreck that was a tank, a rush of air blasting out from the motion and the clang of the impact sounding out. The wreck smashed against a building in the distance and caused a good half of it to crumble.

"Ugh. No action at all back here." She groaned aloud as she ran her hand through her hair.

Aron sucked in a breath as her foot slammed down right at the entrance of the alley he was in. The man swallowed hard as she was rather blocking the way. It appeared she was looking around some of the ruined buildings and that meant her eyes might well rove over him. He tried to make himself as still as possible as she scanned the upper floors of the buildings. Never had he hoped he was beneath notice more than now.

"Just wanna go to the front and crush some fucking Reps, but nooo, need to get experience first. Experience with what? Kicking rocks in busted toy cities?" She groaned.

She pulled her head back from the building she was looking around inside and then and explosion went off. It impacted her rear, smashing into her armor and... not even scuffing it. Aron blinked before the sound of small arms fire. Solid projectile and not laser fire. There was shouting around the area and bullets flew out, impacting armor and a few managing to hit her face. Those also did nothing.

The redhead yelped and jumped a bit in place as she was being fired upon all of a sudden. "H-hey! What the-" She stumbled back and ended up smashing into the building behind her. She tripped and there was shouting from inside the building as her armored rear smashed into the ruined structure. The structure toppled under her and whatever people were inside of it were very likely either buried in the rubble or crushed under her weight as she boomed down.

Civilian grade weapons. So these were likely just civvies that were hiding out here. So they were pretty much all going to die. That put Aron in a tricky position. This place was about to get smashed into an absolute pulp. He felt for the folks here but doing this was basically glorified suicide. The dark haired man needed to move to another alley or sidestreet that would give him some passage.

"Ugh... Fuckin' goddamn." She groaned as she rubbed at the back of her head. More rounds were pinging off her armor as muzzle flashes shone out through the buildings. Her green eyes narrowed as she stood up slowly and brushed herself off. "Huh."

She seemed rather bewildered as she actually watched the rounds doing nothing at all when they hit her. The explosions also did nothing. She really must have been a new recruit for the Titans as she was just... really amazed. Like she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing as the small arms fire did absolutely nothing to her. Her lips slowly started to curl into a grin, a very broad grin as she set her hands on her hips.

"Wow those little guns really do nothing huh? That's such a shame." She didn't sound particularly broken up by that as she bounded up to one of the buildings with people inside of it.

There were shouts inside of it as people were no doubt scrambling away from the windows. She lifted an armored hand up and pushed her hand into the side of the building. Her fingers pushed through the structure and rubble started to fall down below at her feet. She curled her hand into a fist around the rubble and people inside, pulling out a squirming handful. There were screams and shouts before she curled her fist tightly. There were a series of cracks and pops that sounded out as the screams grew inhuman before stopping completely. She opened her hand and watched the rubble and crushed bodies fall from her hand.

"Oh you little shits are *so* fucked." She breathed, eyes alight with sadistic glee.

Her arm swiped through another building and sent scatterings of rubble and people flying out into the streets below, the impacts killing or injuring the people that fell out of them. Rubble fell into the alley and forced Aron into action as he ran from the alley and out into the street. Her armored foot lifted up and stomped nearby, crushing a fallen civilian under its merciless tread. Her booming laughs sounded out on high as she was clearly running on a high of some kind. Aron winced as asphalt was sent flying from the impact of her boot.

"What a rush, you can't imagine how great this feels you filthy Reps!" She laughed as she gripped the sides of another building and shook it, sending people flying from the windows. She lifted, tearing half of the building from its foundations. Rubble fell around her as she hoisted it up and tossed it down the street. It smashed down, shaking the ground and crushing anyone that had been fleeing that way.

Aron dove to avoid a piece of rubble that would have bashed his skull in. A cry escaped his lips as he landed on his injured side. "Fucking... bitch..." He growled as he forced himself to his knees. The one saving grace he had was she was pretty focused on her rampage in smashing through the ruined buildings and getting to the people inside. Though she was still moving around.

Her foot sailed over his head, rubble and red stains coating the harsh treads of the metallic soles. It came down nearby, spraying more asphalt as she reached right into a building and scooped out what looked like a man dressed in rough street clothes. She flicked aside the gun in his hands with one hand and licked her lips as he regarded the squirming human. Aron turned green as he recognized what was above to happen and he wasn't sticking around to spectate.

"Ya know, my big sister tells me you Reps taste fantastic." The redhead said maliciously.

The screams above intensified as Aron ran for a nearby side street. Her foot shifted to the side and he had to stumble away to avoid being bowled over by it. Adrenaline filled his veins and fueled his running as fast as he could toward the sidestreet. He couldn't see what was happening behind him but judging from the sounds the man was probably kicking and flailing and screaming as the redhead opened her maw wide. Titans weren't human any longer after all, so they didn't care much over eating a person.

Then the screams that he could hear stopped. Even as much as he had fought against the Confederation by this point... Aron still squeezed his eyes shut as he bolted down the sidestreet. As though that would keep the horrible sounds that were going to follow from being heard.

*CRUNCH. MUCNH. CRUNCH.*

Bones snapping under massive enhanced teeth. Jaw muscles working like a trash compactor as they munched away at the man. Aron had seen a number of pilots torn from their cockpits and tossed down the hatch of these monsters before. He had never actually listened to the noise before but had heard infantry folks describe it as the worst thing a person could hear. He had to agree. Much as he wished he could have helped those folks back there as some poor desperate fools fired away with their little small arms, Aron knew the only use he'd have would be back in a Mech. So he ran. He ran and he tried for the life of him to block out the noises of pleasure the redhead was making behind him.

Aron was not quite sure when he had stopped running. It was eventually just impossible to keep going because of the pain in his side and he leaned against the side of a building. Sweat was causing the bodysuit beneath his pilot suit to stick to him in a rather uncomfortable manner. The pain was so bad he winced with every breath. He had a vague idea that he was moving east given that the sun was telling him that from its placement. Its orange glow was casting longer shadows from the buildings as it dipped lower. Night would be here soon probably.

The man stayed like he was for a few moments, leaning against the wall. The sounds had faded a bit ago. The booming of the young redhead going to town on the unfortunate rebels. It was probably going to echo in his dreams for a goodly while. Being in a mech and hovering over the ground was very different from being on the ground level. He felt for the poor bastards in the infantry and armor units where this was their every day. A futile struggle against unstoppable Titans.

Supposedly, every Titan started out as a normal human and were uplifted to their new status. He had to wonder if that process changed the mind. Or if the confederation was just designed in such a way that it was easy for them to dissociate with concepts like mercy or kinship with those smaller than them. Warcrimes were nothing new in war, but the Confederation took them to new heights.

He took a deep breath, wincing from that and stood. Judging from where he was, he wasn't too far from the base he had launched out of. It was probably a blasted wreck, however Aron knew it was located in a less densely packed area. From there it wouldn't be too long to reach the wilderness beyond the city limits. Good a way as any to get out of the city.

As he walked he noted, with a frown, a greater density of booming steps upon the ground. When he came within view of the base it became very apparent why. Giant equipment was placed around the area. Thick armor discarded here or there and field mess kits being started up. The Titans had evidently claimed the area as their base camp for the ones holding down this city. If they were that comfortable doing that, most likely the battle lines had moved far away from the city. Not good.

There were... ten of them that he could see. A couple familiar faces as well. The brunette and the dark skinned woman. All dressed in either sloppily tossed on uniforms or fatigues. Discarded boots filled the streets nearby as well. Each one a building in their own right and casting long shadows with the sun. Trash cast over buildings. Really it was like a normal camp just, very much upscaled.

"Evidently Leena happened across some guerrilla units in the city. Mostly small arms. Civvies probably." Boomed one of them. A blonde with an officer uniform loosely thrown on her rather impressive body. Older than most of the others.

"Not too shocking. Advance gals did a number on the city. Surprised we found as many survivors as we did." Replied the dark skinned one, Cass if he recalled.

"They were pretty pissed. Evidently a pilot killed two of the gals. Then they lost three more from a stray orbital shot. So weren't feeling in a lets take a lot of prisoners mood. A lot more lets round up the fuckers and stomp the shit out of them." Another mused, her hair dyed a rather strange blue tone.

Well. Seemed like he'd had an impact for what that was worth. Just not quite something he wanted to get noticed by any Confederation Titans for. He was already eyeing a way around the camp as best he could. It was rather a jungle of ruined military equipment, buildings, and gear tossed here or there. He noticed some movements by some of the boots and felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise up.

It was very well known that the Titans took some slaves from their attacks. He'd never seen them himself but evidently they were a pretty sorry sight. That didn't really do much justice to the broken looking people cleaning the equipment of the Titans while they set up for the early twilight. They had pretty much only tattered and dirty rags that might once have been clothes. Some didn't even have that, their malnourished forms exposed to the elements. Nearby he could see a few of them crawling out of a pair of large boots, moving on thin limbs with skin stained with dirt and sweat. Their glassy eyed expressions were fairly hollow as they started licking the exterior of the boots.

Aron felt his stomach turning as he watched it for a few moments before swallowing hard. He needed to sneak through the camp it seemed as the light was fairly poor everywhere else at the moment. Much as his aching body wanted him to stop for the night. There was no way he could afford to do that though. Not with the risk that at any point whatever building he hid in might come crumbling down.

"Kinda sucks when they do such a brutal job, doesn't exactly leave much entertainment for the rest of us." One of the Titans remarked.

"Slim pickings, but hey, least there are some pickings. I've been meaning to replace the stupid girl I've got in my boot now. Getting all used up." Another said with a shrug. "How long before the Republic surrenders ya think?"

"Hopefully not too soon, peace is boring as shit. Only been, what, five years?" The blonde officer remarked as she lifted a canteen to her lips and took a drink. "Lasted longer than the Union did."

"Bit like saying a beetle lasted longer under a boot than an ant." Remarked the brunette, Vira. There was a round of chuckles at that.

Aron felt his hackles rise at that. The Union had been a rival of the Republic for a while. And had been completely annexed by the Confederation in about two years of conflict. At first it had seemed like the Confederation was doing them a favor, but many in the Republic now realized it had been foreshadowing. The warlike nation wasn't going to just be satisfied with that after all. And they most certainly weren't. He longed for his mech to wipe the smiles off their faces.

Instead he crept through the field of equipment. He ducked his way around discarded boots and boxes that had probably held some kind of ration food. Everything was going well so far... at least until he tripped over something in the darkness. He let out a strangled cry as he landed on his injured side again. When he turned to look and see what he'd tripped over his eyes widened as the eyes of a woman looked back at him.

She had probably been pretty at one point. Kinda gal he'd have whistled at if she passed by the base. Now she was very much worn down by her time as a Titan slave. Dirty, pale, looking like she was missing a good number of meals. Her blue eyes looked at him almost without comprehension. He lifted a finger to his lips and started making shushing noises. She continued to stare at him for a few moments.

Then she screamed. Loudly. Very shrilly. "Mistress! Mistress! Help! Save me, there's an intruder!" She cried shrilly.

"Eh? What the fuck?" Boomed a voice from nearby.

Shit. SHIT. With that cover blown Aron bolted as fast as he could through the camp. His hope was it was dark enough they wouldn't see him very easily. His blood was running cold as he panted and gasped. He could hear the shifting of the items around him and the booming steps of Titans parsing around.

The only warning he had was a rush of the air. Then he found pressure being applied to his sides. Black spots exploded across his vision as pain made itself known once more. A cry was forced from his lips as the air rushed around him and gravity felt like it was giving way. Soon enough his vision was filled with the face of the blonde Officer from before, the woman looking him over idly with a lifted brow.

"Well, you've certainly got a pair. Sneaking into a Titan camp like this." The woman remarked.

He gasped and squirmed, wincing from the harsh grip of her thumb and forefinger into his sides. "W-what can I say, like to live dangerously."

The blonde actually laughed at that one. "A Rep that can go off of the whole evil monsters script. Will wonders never cease?" She remarked as she started to walk her way back to her fellows. "Grabbed our fun for the night, girls."

One of them leaned forward as the woman seated herself back down, the shifting causing him no shortage of pain. "Pilot suit. Probably a downed pilot judging from the bandages. Well shit, Captain, I'll trade you uh... that Major I found in the base for him. I'll throw in his secretary, sweeten the deal."

"Yeah get fucked, Raina." The Blonde, evidentially a captain, remarked. She reached off to the side and lifted up a small pair of glasses, setting them upon her nose. She sort of almost rocked a librarian look like that.

Without much preamble she dropped Aron down upon the ground. He landed hard, feeling the impact jar his legs. Not enough to break anything but he'd be feeling that one for a little bit. He let out a string of curses over the pain, taking in deep breaths as his adrenaline addled mind was very much trying to come to grips with the very rapidly spiraling situation. This was bad. Like, easily the worst case scenario. Maybe if he could make it until they fell asleep-

*BOOM*

Aron found himself knocked over onto his back as a mighty impact came down before him. The dark haired pilot groaned in his unending agony before blinking away the pain. A large, well worn and mature foot was placed down on its heel right in front of him. It towered over him many times over as the blonde Titan had stretched out and was leaning against a large building. The ground shook again as she crossed her other leg atop it at the ankle. She flexed and curled her toes above in the night air, the glow of the camp light making the shadows it cast seem all the deeper.

"Get to work, Rep, maybe you live another day. Maybe you get squashed to paste. Depends how hard you work." She boomed.

Aron rose to his feet slowly and was well aware the other Titans were watching. Maybe other prisoners from places he couldn't see. He felt his gut roil with anger and indignation. The urge to tell her to go fuck herself was there. But then he knew what would happen. She'd shrug, lower her foot... and that would be the end of it. The only chance, the only thin chance he had for escape was doing what she wanted.

"Well. Don't get made a wing leader without some hard work." He managed to remark as he walked forward, swallowing his pride, and got to work.

There were plenty of horror stories one heard from the survivors of Titan captivity. Plenty of former prisoners generally spoke at length for the capacity for disregard and cruelty toward those smaller than them. An endless conga line of dehumanizing torment. Aron, so far, could see flashes of it in how the Titans conducted themselves. On the surface a lot of their talk was normal soldier stuff. However there were always reminders that these women weren't human any longer and didn't consider themselves so.

Not that he had much time to reflect on that as he was working himself into exhaustion through a good deal of pain to knead at the well worn sole before him. The blonde officer woman had turned her foot onto its side idly at some point as he worked. Aside from the humiliating work there wasn't much attention brought to him yet. Which was something he was hoping would continue until they slept.

"So, after the Republic falls. Who do you think the First Citizen is gonna target next, Captain?" Asked one of the gals as she lifted a squirming and screaming woman over her maw. There were no crunching noises that followed her being dropped in her mouth. Just a single loud swallowing noise that chilled Aron to his core.

The captain scratched her chin. "Good question. Smart money is on the Imperials. Supposedly they've got Titans of their own. So would actually be a pretty decent fight. They've been saber rattling anyway since we took the Union. Not sure why they are all bent out of shape, they've done the same shit." She said.

Suddenly she shifted her feet around and Aron found both soles on either side of him. He let out a yelp before they pressed together, not enough to crush him but enough to pin him firmly and cause a good deal of pain. The captain idly started rolling him between her feet in a sort of fidget as she spoke. It was hard to make out her words as the pilot found himself utterly pinned and trapped between two walls of flesh. His world was spinning around him as he was forcibly jerked around.

The motion made him feel ill, the pressure was also pretty awful as it caused his bones to creak dangerously a couple of times. Eventually he found himself ending up under the row of her toes on her left foot. She idly curled the digits around him, pressing them into him none too gently. He couldn't keep the strangled cry of pain from escaping his lungs. All the while she carried on whatever conversation she was having.

Eventually she released him and he fell to his knees, gasping and panting. "Tired after just a little rough play? Must be some injuries you took on the way down." She remarked. "Don't forget to get between the toes, also I felt your weak ass rubbing. Got a better idea for how you should work."

She splayed her toes in front of him, smirking down from on high. The way the light of their camp caught her glasses made the glare obscure her eyes. "Lick."

Aron blinked at the command. "What?" He hesitated as the command sounded absurd.

"Wow, you Reps are really shitty at following simple commands some times." She rolled her eyes. "Natalie, why don't you have one of your slaves give him a fuckin' visual?"

One of the Titans, a dark haired woman with a scar on her cheek smirked as she reached over and plucked up a rather terrible looking man from away from the camp. She set him in front of her foot and... without prompting he crawled on all fours toward her toes. His tongue extended and he started to lick at the webbing between the digits, looking rather like a dog as he did the work. Aron felt a bit sick looking at it.

"By the time I'm done with your ass, you'll be *just* like that one. I won't even have to say a word, you'll just know." The blonde boomed and it caused his heart rate to heighten. "What? Did you somehow think you were gonna get away? And go fuckin' where?"

Her fingers reached down and tore the box of emergency equipment from his back. "W-wait, stop! Give that back!" He reached up, grasping for the lifeline but it was already far beyond his hands.

There was a faint crunch as the captain idly squeezed her fingers together, causing the box and everything in it to crumple, flattening it with zero effort. Aron fell slack as he watched her tear away his lifeline with the ease one might have in squashing a flea. She flicked the flattened piece of metal away and looked down at the pilot. "The fight on this planet is a formality, Rep. We've got the numbers in orbit, the boots on the ground on the planet. Let's say you did get away with your little beacon or whatever. Wouldn't have mattered anyway." She said with a shrug. "You scrambled and fought and survived your little crash for pretty much nothing."

She said it so easily and casually that Aron sank to his knees as the booming words of the blonde tore into him. He'd struggled his way through the city, dodging and ducking getting crushed or discovered. Striving to get away on the hope he could get back at these women later, when he had a mech back. And with a pinch of her fingers, the blonde had crushed it easily and effortlessly.

"You people aren't human." He breathed, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair.

She smirked. "You're right. We were before. We're better now. We're bigger, will live endlessly unless we get killed by something, and stronger than any human could hope to be. You. The rest of the humans we trample. You're just the old humanity that gets left behind, trampled by the new humanity. Kept around and under heel perhaps, but ultimately objectively inferior." The woman said, looking around the camp. "Look around, all of these women here. Every Titan. If you lived a long life, you'd still be old, weak, frail and grey while we're all the same as you see now. That, Rep, is why we don't really feel bad about trampling our enemies. Would be like feeling bad about crushing ants."

Aron had never actually spoken to a Titan before. Oh there was plenty of propaganda that the Titans were the worst things. That they were evil. That they were just born cruel and merciless. Listening to the blonde and internalizing what she was saying. In a way he could see it. He could see why they wouldn't care. Because they really weren't humans anymore. They lacked any empathy toward what they had been before because humans were so inferior it was like trying to relate to a bug.

He heard a chuckle from on high. "Now, Rep, be a good ant and get on your knees. Crawl forward. And lick between the toes of your betters. Once you've done mine, you'll do the rest of the gals. Then, I'll toss you in my boot and you can come to terms with reality." She said with a sadistic gleam in her eyes.

There was a time where Aron would have said that he would have argued and fought against a Titan to the very end. Just an hour or two ago he would have said that really. Now. Now he didn't feel that way. After looking at the ones they had broken. After she had crushed his only lifeline. After she had broken down why trying to escape was futile anyway. After learning how these Titans really thought. The dark haired man bowed his head. He crawled bent forward, moving toward the slightly dirty webbing between her big and second toes. His mind was numb as his tongue extended and he dragged it along for a slightly salty lick.

The booming chuckle on high would haunt him probably forever, as would the next words she spoke. "Good boy. Also, if you're searching for terms for me. Mistress. That's the word you're looking for." She said as a chorus of chuckles from her fellow Titans boomed in his head eternally.

Suddenly one of the other Titans reached down and plucked him up by the leg. "Now Captain, that just won't do."

There was a vain hope in Aron's heart that ignited that this woman, a rather youthful looking tan skinned thing with her hair cut short, was a potential savior. She held him and had a stern look on her face.

"He's all injured and everything. Work him too hard and he'll kick it before breaking." She finished, snuffing out any of those hopes just as they had started to form.

The blonde scratched her cheek. "Whoops. Got all caught up working myself up." She responded with a sheepish look.

"This is why you *always* end up with dead slaves in like a week. Too rough. Gotta let them rest. They are super pathetic after all. We might not need sleep but they do still." The woman said as she was rummaging around in her pack with her free hand before pulling something out.

Tape. It was a very oversized tape dispenser. Aron blinked at the sight of the thing, not really comprehending what it was used for. At least until she walked over to a rather large boot and it became very apparent. That was when Aron started struggling and flailing and squirming in her hand as he found some kind of fight return to him. "Let me go! Stop! This isn't right, stop!" He shouted as he kicked at the finger holding him with his free leg.

"Eyyy, he does have some fight in him still. Lucky you, Captain." The woman laughed as she lowered him down into the boot and started messing with the tape.

He twisted and turned and tried to avoid the clear piece of sticky plastic being applied to him, screaming and struggling all the while but it was no use. The fingers of the Titan were far stronger than him. He felt the tape adhere to his skin and glue itself to the part of her boot where the arch of her foot would fall. Seemed like it, rather horrifically, had a bit of space allocated in case of prisoners. No doubt a standard design for the Confederation Titans.

He struggled at the tape, trying to free himself and all he did was get the woman laughing at him above through the opening of the boot. "Wow. That is fucking pathetic. Can't even fight their way out of a little tape." She rolled her eyes and set the boot back down. "All ready for ya tomorrow, Captain." She said as her steps receded.

Aron struggled and strained against the tape, trying to push it off but the pain that flared up was making it hard. He was also making zero progress there. He was trapped. Trapped inside the well worn boot. The faint scent of sweat and aged leather was strong enough that he coughed for a moment before falling slack. This was it then. This was pretty much the end of the line. He remembered those pitiful figures that had been slaving away outside. That would be him. At some point it would happen and he'd be like that.

In the end, there was no escape. There was no running. There was being under the heel of the future conquerors of the Republic and that was it. He wasn't sure what broke him more, the helplessness. Or the fact that nothing he could have done would have mattered in the slightest. In the end, like everything else he could have done. It didn't matter.