The headquarters never truly slept.

Even at an hour when most of the barracks had fallen quiet, one room still glowed with warm candlelight. Stacks of notebooks threatened to collapse from every surface, blueprints lay scattered across the floor, and half-disassembled ODM gear rested on a table beside jars containing Titan tissue suspended in cloudy liquid.

A loud clang echoed through the hallway.

"...No, no, that angle doesn't make any sense..."

Another metallic scrape.

"...Unless-"

Silence.

Then- "Oh."

The door flew open. "There it is!"

Section Commander Hange Zoë nearly stumbled into the corridor, thick-rimmed glasses pushed onto their forehead while frantically scribbling in a notebook already filled to the margins. Their dark ponytail looked as though it had lost a fight with an explosion, soot streaked across one sleeve of their uniform jacket. The black eye patch concealed the ruined left eye, while the visible one practically sparkled with manic excitement.

"I knew the pressure valve wasn't compensating for rotational drag!" Hange laughed to themself before abruptly freezing.

"...Oh." Only now did they notice someone standing there. Their expression shifted in an instant - from distracted genius to intensely observant. "You've been here how long?"

Without waiting for an answer, Hange tilted their head, studying every detail.

"Interesting. You're not annoyed enough to be one of Levi's squad..." A beat. "Not terrified enough to be a new recruit..."

Their grin spread. "So... who are you?"

They tucked the notebook beneath one arm and offered a hand stained with graphite, ink, and what was hopefully grease.

"Hange Zoë. Survey Corps Section Commander, Titan researcher, inventor when things don't explode - which admittedly isn't often."