Chapter 1: Bastards
"The worlds gone to complete shit nowadays, you can't take a piss without the government asking what color it is."
Robin whispered as we stepped up towards the gate to enter school. As much as it bugged me, he was right, things weren't the same lately…. At least not since the rebellion started. Even before the uprising began Robin complained, nothing seemed to satisfy him.
"Remove all metal objects before stepping through the gate, if you fail to clear on your first attempt, you will be asked to stand aside until the end of the check in."
The gatekeeper announced as he scanned the crowd. He must have been new. Normally the keepers remain silent and stare coldly off into space. This new guy seemed nervous, even though he was armed with, to my count, three guns, a hunting knife and a baton.
"The line seems to be moving faster than usual, maybe we can make it in time for breakfast." Robin whispered as he stretched over the heads in front of us.
We weren't always on time for it, but when we did make it on time the food sucked. Most of the time it's the left over rations from a week before or something we could easily hustle from the market. Though the food wasn't best, Robin would always try to drag me out early for it.
"Robin we're almost up next, start emptying your pockets. I won't be waiting for you to get rechecked again." Ben grumbled as he removed his headset and started to empty his pockets. "You know Benny, sometimes I think about … you know just giving up." Robin mumbled as he removed his belt and emptied his pockets.
Ben quickly shot Robin a judgmental glance as he removed his leather jacket.
With the line drawing closer towards the gate the crowd's level of agitation suddenly heightened. As if instantaneous, the crowd began to shift slightly backward and then forwards. Confused, Ben stretched overhead to get a better view of what's happening.
"What's happening man, I hope they aren't fighting again!" Robin shouted over the crowds now loud roars.
"It's worse, some guys are going after the guard … something must've went wrong." Ben shouted over to Robin who was now leaning overhead as well.
"Stay back! I can't let you through the gate without being checked first. If you refuse to stand aside, I will remove you from the line myself!" The Gatekeeper shouted to the crowd. Though intended to sound intimidating, his voiced cracked as the beads of sweat ran down his face as he faced the erupting crowd head on.
"I couldn't give less of a fuck about this line, stand aside fat ass or I will move you." A hooded figure shouted at the now armed guard. With a puzzled angry expression the guard unlatched his gun, holding it towards the hooded guy and the approaching crowd.
"Kill his ass Joey! Show that asshole why the Titans aren't to be fucked with!" Someone off in the crowd shouted towards the front of the line, stirring up the crowd even further.
Almost as if the gang was answering the cries of the crowd, two more hooded people glide through the crowd towards the front of the line. Fights were common around the outer districts, but I had never experienced an uprising against the authorities, at least not this close up.
"Raise a hand against me, and I will see to it that the authority captures each and every one of you little fucks. Things aren't like they used to be!" the gatekeeper yelled over to the three hood figures now in front of him.
"You see… we've been granted shoot on sight authority." The gatekeeper mumbled as he unsheathed his hunting blade. Normally I'd have been the first to call him on his bullshit but he wasn't lying, lately the inner districts where passing new laws for the outer district enforcers to maintain the 'Pest'. If there had ever been any freedom before, it's surely to be gone now.
"Honestly I couldn't give less of a fuck what laws are passed, never really followed them in the first place. You speak as if the inner district holds any weight outside of their little walls, clearly you are mistaken this is Titan land." The first hooded person screams to the guard as he gestures for the other titans to surround the guard.
In unison the hood people begin to chant "DEATH TO THE AUTHORITY" soon accompanied by the crowd. Seeming to finally realize that his death was slowly approaching, the guard began to back towards the school gate.
"Robin we should leave, some serious shits about to go down and we shouldn't be in the middle of it." Ben shouted behind himself reaching for his friends arm too retreat from the oncoming slaughter. "Robin? Robin!" Ben shouted as he shifted his gaze through the crowd in search of his friend. Diverting his focus and hurting his ears, a loud screech rings through the yard. Ben recognized the sound, it was the alarm alerting all guards to arm themselves.
Turning his attention back towards the gate, Ben notices the gap between the guard and the titans had shortened. Now armed with blades of their own, the hood figures begin their assault on the distraught guard. Shrouded by the alarm and the screams of the crowd, the guard's screams for assistance soon become cries of combat.
Trained in multiple forms of Martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, all guards within and out of the inner districts are equipped all forms of training necessary to handle any form of revolt. Besides the noble families, these guys were the best suited for combat.
"You scum better know your place, raising a hand against me is like standing against the president himself. Leave now and I won't shove your heads up your asses!" Now more composed in his stance, it was as if a switch had flipped inside his head, turning the oversized gatekeeper into the soldier he was intended to be.
Now armed with weapons and malicious intent the titans swiftly close the gap between themselves and the gatekeeper. Initiating the assault, the shortest of the three titans, from the size presumably a girl, raises a short blade and lunges at the gatekeeper whom is now cornered against the school gate.
Agile for his size, the once cornered gatekeeper swiftly maneuvers himself away from the edge of the blade, grabbing the girls arm snapping it as if it were a twig. Screaming in excruciating pain, the nimble figure retreats back towards the crowd. Jumping too her aide, the larger figures, more than likely male, drive their blades into the gatekeepers sides.
As if amused by the attempt, the muscled guard disarms the titans laughing as he strikes and drags his blade into the stomach of one of the titans while knocking the other to the ground.
"You little shits honestly thought you could take me? Know your place!" The gatekeeper yelled as he dropped the limp of the titan to the ground." You are ants beneath my boot, you outer district scum are so ungrateful. The nobles could kill you off anytime they want and they don't, you saw what happened to that mongrel Noah! They supply you food, appoint you authority and yet you try this shit?"
Noah the rebellious king, the man the outer district worshipped, the president outside the wall, the salvation for the weak. He stood by many titles, and he died with them all during the last district war. He fought for those who were incapable of fighting the wars, he was the man every outside rat wanted to become. He fought with the power of the nobles, it was strange to everyone, we never understood what kept him from joining them inside the wall, hell I would've. To mock the name of Noah in front of the outside people, the gatekeeper must have been insane beyond belief.
"You speak as if you know anything about me… where I come from, my past, my future... You know nothing about us and yet you speak through that shit hole you call a mouth! In reality you're no better than the rest of us, hell you're lesser!" the weakened titan shouted as he stumbled to his feet.
"I'll kill you, the nobles and any other fucker that dare look down upon us!" the hooded titan yelled as he removed his hood, revealing a bloody nose, and flaming red eyes and a youthful face.
"Wait… what the fuck is this?! You're a noble?!" the gatekeeper yelled as he stumbled backwards towards the gates entrance covered in sweat. Once a fierce hunter crushing his prey, the guard was now quivering, shaken to the depths of his soul, as if he had seen a ghost.
Swiftly closing the stretch between himself and the guard, the battered teenage titan grabbed hold of the guards arm, ripping it from its socket dousing himself and the guard in blood. Now limp from his loss of blood, the guard falls to his knees in submission cradled in the titan's arms. Raising his head to the crowd, the titan released a war cry as he removed the guard's head from his shoulders, releasing a fountain of blood.
5