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.