Attack On SPARTAN

by Dr. McWeazel

Chapter 3 is up, folks. Introduced an old friend of ours into the story. Not exactly the kindest person, but she'll be sure to add something of worth to the story. Anyway, thanks for reading. And do I have that TV Tropes recommendation yet? Seriously, though, thanks for spending your time reading my story. [Sorry for the erratic updates. No set schedule for that sort of thing.]

1. New Beginnings

Prologue

Nearly 850 years ago, Humanity brought itself to the brink of extinction. Still recovering, giant beasts, now known as Titans, appeared and started devouring what was left. The rich and powerful fled across the seas in search of shelter. When they arrived, they found 3 great walls, and settled inside of them. After a century of peace, humanity grew complacent, almost ignoring the threat that the Titans were entirely.

5 years ago, the Colossal and Armored Titans appeared, breaking down the gates of Wall Maria, the outermost wall. Humanity lost 10,000 in the time it took to flee to Wall Rose, and lost another 250,000 in what was a thinly veiled attempt to lessen the blow of the food shortage. Now, humanity is getting back on its feet, and are preparing for a counterattack and a real operation to take back Wall Maria. And here is where our story begins.

Chapter 1: The New Beginning

Trost City-District, 850 AD

Eren Jaeger, our hero-to-be, stood on top of Wall Rose, looking over the City-District of Trost. He was confident that humanity was about to beat the Titans back to Wall Maria, retaking the Zhinganshina City-District in the process. Today, He thought, we begin our counterattack. Our attack on the Titans. This day shall be remembered in history as the day humanity struck back against our foe, and won back the lands and, later, the world that we had lost to them. We shall not be caged in any longer. We shall retake this world- Retake what is ours! He looked to his left when he thought he heard shouting, seeing an average height girl with brownish-reddish hair running towards him and a few others that were currently stationed there. "Hey! Guess what I've got?" She shouted, trying to get everybody's attention. Some ignored her, but most were now intrigued. What have you got?, Eren wondered. "Alright, Sasha, what have you got?" Somebody behind him shouted. She ran over quickly and pulled something out of her jacket. "I just took some meat from the supply station over yonder," She answered. Somebody muttered something about how she could get into serious trouble for that. "Well then we'll just have to eat it when none of the officers are around, huh?" Sasha retorted, immediately proceeding to gaze at the meat with something Eren could have sworn resembled lust. It was disturbing, to say the least.

After a few minutes of some not-particularly-noteworthy dialogue, Eren returned to looking over Trost. He was beginning to get a little bored, when suddenly, a thunderous boom bellowed over the City-District, coming from directly behind him. It was a familiar sound, the same one he had heard 5 years ago when the Colossal Titan had destroyed the outermost southern gate. He wheeled around, eyes suddenly blazing with anger and saw what he thought he would: The Colossal Titan itself. A massive rush of steam suddenly blew over the wall, breaking Eren's concentration and many of the weapons that had recently been installed on Wall Rose. Most everybody who had been garrisoned there was suddenly thrown off, many being knocked unconscious in the process. Eren, concentration now restored and fury recently forgotten now reborn, proceeded to return to the top of the wall and engage the Colossal Titan in single combat, though not before it could smash its foot through Trost's gate, sending rubble flying in all directions and allowing innumerable Titans inside the walls once more. It swung at him, he dodged, he swung at it, it blasted steam at him, he blasted at its neck with his Maneuver Gear, swung his blades, and… It was gone. Vanished. Disappeared. Curiously, there were footprints left behind, but aside from those and the gate that looked like it had exploded inward there was no evidence that the Colossal Titan had ever even been there. Eren was absolutely furious, this development coming out of absolutely nowhere, but that train of thought was interrupted when he suddenly became very aware that he was falling and quickly latched back onto Wall Rose, directly above the now-shattered gate. Disappointed in himself for not being able to kill the Colossal Titan quickly enough, and infuriated that the damnable thing even showed its face a second time and remained alive besides, he pulled himself back over the wall and retreated with the others back to HQ.

A plan was quickly devised, and everybody's orders were issued. Before he left, Mikasa, his adoptive-sister who had been with him 5 years ago when Wall Maria fell, warned him to be careful. He said he would be, rather annoyed that she still thought he needed to be watched over. Eventually, he set out with his squad and got ready to face the Titans that were now invading Trost. He and his squad, made up of himself, Armin, a short blonde fellow that he had met long before the fall of Wall Maria, Thomas Wagner, a tall blonde fellow that he had only met recently, as though seemingly just to contrast with Armin, Mina Carolina, a young brunette that he met about the same time he met Thomas and was about Armin's height, and a few others who won't be named because I'm getting a little bored with that. They set out quickly enough, blasting through the town and avoiding combat until they could get where they were supposed to go. They passed by a particularly large boulder on the way and Eren cursed that humanity hadn't the tools or strength required to lift it and move it to reseal Trost. Another thunderous boom, similar to the one that signaled the Colossal or Armored Titan's appearance suddenly resounded through the air. Eren stopped and looked around, very much on edge after that. He didn't spot anything particularly odd, though everybody else had stopped as well. He was certain he hadn't hallucinated that noise, but he couldn't see any sound of the rather abnormal Titans that should've been there. "Hmm... Alright everybody, let's keep going. We can't afford to waste time!" He commanded, and charged onward.

Their approach to the area where they'd be protecting was not uneventful, though. A large Titan, 14 or 15 meters tall, was spotted. Everybody moved to take it out on the way there, but were mildly surprised when it looked right at them. And then leapt. Dammit, Eren thought, An Aberrant. Those things are smarter than the average Titan. What do we do? However, his train of thought was again interrupted- this seemed to happen to him quite a bit today- as he saw the thing was about to pin Thomas between itself and a building. The creature leaped, Thomas screamed a shrill cry that Eren thought would be the last sound he would ever hear that man make, the Aberrant opened its disturbingly large maw, and... Subsequently had everybody above its shoulders blown to pieces? What? Everybody was shocked. Thomas couldn't do much but crash land and proceed to gawk at his good fortune. Eren took up a nearby position and proceeded to join Thomas in gawking at this development, dumbfounded and left nearly unable to speak. Suddenly, a very large craft absolutely loaded with what appeared to be very odd looking cannons flew past. It took him a few seconds to start thinking again after this, but the first thought didn't offer much clarity on the matter as Wait, what?! isn't particularly descriptive as far as deciphering just what in God's name was happening was concerned. "What the hell is going on here?!" He demanded. Mina shrugged, Thomas followed suit, and Armin had a confused look on his face not quite unlike Eren's own.

A turret on the top of this thing- Sky-Ships, Eren decided to call them- fired and blew another Titan- this one 4-Meter Class- to bits, while something that was firing at an insane pace quickly eviscerated yet another one- 5 meters tall- nearby. Eren looked around and saw four more such craft performing similarly. He looked down at the streets and saw what appeared to be a horseless carriage with yet another cannon mounted on the back barrel past, followed by yet more such things. A loud boom resounded through the air as the small cannon fired at another Titan, blinding it. 3 more such noises and white streaks, and the Titan fell, everything above its collarbone having been reduced to a bloody paste on the nearby buildings. He looked into the sky, dropped his swords, and started sputtering. There he saw a monument of a Sky-Ship, deploying yet more of these smaller ones, some of which were carrying the carriages, more carrying what looked to be large mechanical beasts with even larger cannons mounted on them, and yet others which were carrying passengers. Some of these passengers were practically giants, towering over the men and women around them at what appeared to be the size of a small Titan and occasionally issuing orders. Eren shook his head and recovered his senses, as well as his swords, and blasted over to one of these giants-amongst-men.

Unknown Location, 10:48 AM, September 27th, 2556 B.C.E.

Jason-148 stood on the roof of what looked to be a rather old house, examining the situation and attempting to discern just what in the hell was going on around him, and where he was. Given the architecture that was present around this area, though, he thought "When am I?" might be a good question to ask as well. Above him, scores of Pelican gunships soared, occasionally stopping to drop off Marines, ODSTs, Scorpions, Warthogs, and the occasional SPARTAN-IV super soldier. In a more conventional situation, he would've compared it to the D-Day beach landings of World War II, but this was clearly not a conventional situation. After all, Jason had never heard of a world under the UEG's jurisdiction that had walls somewhere between 45 and 55 meters in height around them. At least, not besides the Great Wall of China back on Earth, but these were clearly not that, and it was significantly shorter besides. Even weirder than that, though, were these great lumbering humanoids that Ensign Harold Jones of the UNSC On My Mark had spotted from the observation deck, one particularly huge one kicking in a gate, and later some of them gorging themselves on a bloody feast of humans. More frighteningly, they were live humans. On My Mark's Captain, one Henry Smith, was rather displeased with that idea and ordered a relief effort be organized as quickly as possible. That was less than an hour ago. Now that they were down here, Jason was rather impressed with the fight his fellow man had been putting up against these impossible beasts, though he was very displeased with how little progress was being made relative to every casualty the human side suffered. But that was what they were here for, at least until they could get back to where they were supposed to be, which was following the UNSC Infinity around in her search for Forerunner tech. He got a feeling in his stomach that he would be here for awhile, though, and that he and the rest of the UNSC forces who were on board On My Mark would be doing something very important while he was here.

He heard shouting coming from behind him and turned to see one of these soldiers shouting for a man fitting his description. Well, as descriptive as "Big guy in all-concealing green armor" is, anyway. "You there!" The soldier- he looked to be no more than 16, Jason guessed- shouted. "What in God's name is going on here?!" "I dunno, kid, why don't you tell me?" Jason retorted. The kid looked to be taken aback, but quickly regained his composure. "Alright, fine, but you tell me who you and all your buddies are and what you're doing here right after, alright?" Jason nodded and thought up a few questions. "For starters, just what the hell are these giant man-eating beasts? I mean, what are they called. I can tell what they are, I just need a designation to give to my commanding officer." "They're called Titans. Killed by taking out the base of their necks. Appeared out of nowhere some 8 and a half centuries ago," the young man explained. Jason nodded and relayed this information to Intelligence Officer James Knight. The information was passed around from there. "Okay, where'd these walls come from?" "No idea. Never bothered to ask that question to anybody." Jason sighed and passed this information along as well, for what little good it did, asking for a bit of heavy ordinance as he did so. A second later, he heard a rather loud thud from behind him and smiled. "Excellent!" He exclaimed, with good reason. They'd deigned it alright to send him a Spartan Laser, of all things. The kid cleared his throat rather noisily and Jason turned back around to answer any questions he had about the situation.

Trost City-District, 850 AD

"Alright, so what exactly are you?" Eren asked. "Me? I'm a SPARTAN-II," the near-giant answered calmly. "Okay, what's with all these weird carriages with cannons and those Sky-Ships?" He asked. "I assume you mean the Warthogs when you refer to the 'weird carriages'. They're usually used for reconnaissance and light cavalry, but right now, they seem to be doing a pretty good job blasting these Titans off their feet and into a good position to be killed by you and your allies. The 'Sky-Ships' are called Pelicans. Some are gunships, some are dropships, and that-" the giant pointed up. "That is the UNSC On My Mark. Beautiful, ain't it?" Eren gazed upon the behemoth of a thing, a giant black monument, floating above the world, untouchable and seemingly invincible. The sky itself seemed to part before its power. He was speechless as he looked upon On My Mark. Eventually, though, he snapped himself out of it when he heard some orders coming from somewhere. He looked around and spotted a member of the Garrison giving orders to his squad, and blasted back over. "Be careful, kid! These things could still eat ya at any time, especially if there aren't any Marines around!" He heard the SPARTAN shout after him. He wheeled around and saluted the soldier before turning and landing next to his squad

"There he is!" Armin exclaimed, pointing at Eren. The Garrison member- a corporal, by the looks of him- briskly walked over to Eren, who promptly saluted. "Alright, soldier, at ease," He ordered. Eren relaxed and looked him in the eye. "Now, who is that you were just talking to, what did he just tell you, and what did you just tell him?" He asked. Eren looked up and answered the questions, calmly. "He said he was a SPARTAN-II or something. These things flying through the air are called Pelicans, and they're dropping off Marines from something called the UNSC. They're here to help, by the looks of 'em." "I see, but what did you tell him?" The corporal demanded. "Everything I know about the Titans and the current situation," he responded. "Alright then. I'll send word to command and ask them what to make of this development. In the meantime, I need you and your squad to cooperate with these 'Marines' and help get word out to the rest of the trainees and Garrison that are here to do the same, understood?" "Yes, sir!" Eren responded enthusiastically. The corporal blasted off, back towards the inner portion of Wall Maria, and Eren repeated the orders to his squad. "So we're to cooperate with these guys?" Thomas asked. "Unless it seems unreasonable or impossible to do so, yes. Now lets go!" Eren commanded, blasting off towards a group of Marines.

Unknown Location, 11:09 AM, September 27th, 2556

"So do we actually know where the hell we are?" Corporal Lester Jackson asked. "No, son, no we do not," Smith Allen, his sergeant answered. "But we do know what we're up against, and we do know how to kill them. So you know what we're gonna do?" "We're gonna route these things and teach them that humanity isn't anything to screw around with?" Another member of the squad-Private First Class Fred Carlson, if memory served- piped up. "Oh, hell yes we are, marine!" Staff Sergeant Allen answered with all the enthusiasm Jackson had ever heard him muster. "See, Jackson, this kid gets it? Why don't you?" "Maybe because we're going up against giants? You know, giants that want to eat us and that can run really fast?" Jackson replied. "Well now you're just being a downer about things," another marine- Private Second Class John Jameson - said. "Excuse us!" an unfamiliar voice shouted. Jackson got off the crate he was sitting on and looked toward where the sound originated. "Some of those soldiers that were getting slaughtered before, Sarge. 2 O'clock." "Right. Lets put on our diplomatic faces, everybody. Don't wanna spook 'em," Sergeant Allen joked. The other two laughed, but Jackson kept himself focused. Maybe he was being cynical, like Jameson implied before, but he was convinced that he was simply being realistic. "Alright, kid, you're excused!" Carlson replied with all the humor he could muster. "Uh, right," the kid said as he landed, a little confused by the amount of friendliness in Carlson's reply. Lester checked the kid's face against the data they'd been gaining from this mission. "You match a face, but I see that Captain Jason-148 forgot to ask a name of you. So, please, introduce yourself," Jackson requested. "Eren Jaeger, pleasure to meet you," the kid answered, extending a hand. Jackson looked him over, took his hand, and gave it a firm shake. "Corporal Lester Jackson. The pleasure is all mine," He replied. The kid- Eren- stood rigid and slammed his fist over his heart. Lester blinked for a second and got a little nervous.

"Uh, at ease, son," Sergeant Allen ordered. "He ain't the one in this squad that you're gonna salute to, if you're gonna salute to anybody." Eren looked over to the sergeant with a puzzled look, but chose not to question it. "Now, what are you and your squad here for?" Jackson asked. "Well, we were ordered to cooperate with the UNSC in any way we could and relay in the fastest way we could to get the info I'd collected from your Captain Jason to everybody else in the Garrison and the 104th Trainee Corps. We felt that a good way to do that may be to ask you guys for help," Eren answered, looking around. "Though I see you haven't got any of those... what are they called again, the astonishingly quick cart things? Warthogs?" Eren paused and thought about it for a second. "Yeah, that's what they are, assuming you're talking about the reconnaissance vehicles we've got. We, however, have something even better on the way," Lester said, a bit of excitement in his tone. "What could you possibly have? Unless one of those Pelicans are on they're way, I don't think it'll he-" Fred cut him off. "We've got a Scorpion on the way. May not be as quick, but it is at least as effective as 5 Warthogs." Eren stared, apparently dumbstruck that something that didn't fly could be capable of that. "Wait a second, how could that be? Does it fly, too, or...?" Another one of the kids, short and blond and really oddly feminine looking, queried. "No, it doesn't fly, but the thing weighs a few tons, has superior armor, and could probably reduce one of these buildings around us to rubble," Carlson clarified, a rather large amount of the excitement in Lester's own voice showing up in his. The blonde kid processed this information before coming up with a reply. "How many people does it carry, and is it quick enough that it can outrun a Titan?" "6, 4 on the makeshift seats, one gunner, one driver. We aren't sure how quickly these 'Titans' can move, but, based on the information being relayed, it should be able to at least keep pace and stay ahead of one of those beasts, should we need it to," Carlson answered again. The efficiency of the answers he was giving made Lester wonder if he hadn't planned on being a techie rather than a proper marine, but he quickly pushed decided that wasn't it and came to the conclusion that he was just really good with numbers.

"Alright then. Which one of you is in charge?" The black haired kid- Eren. Dammit I gotta keep these kids' names straight, Lester thought- asked, his tone a little more relaxed and authoritative than before. "That'd be me, son," Allen answered. "I take it you got orders from your higher ups that you were to attempt cooperation with us until otherwise told?" Eren blinked for a second before stammering a reply. "Uh.. Y-yes, sir. How'd you know?" The sarge looked the kids over, carefully and with the calmness that he usually had. He suddenly seemed to practically excrete authority. "You have that look about you," he answered after about a minute. The short, blonde kid gulped, looking around a little nervously, which led to Lester snickering a bit. "E-excuse me, s-sir, but do you have anybody I can talk to about intelligence, o-or something of the like?" he stuttered, nervousness virtually dripping off his voice. "That'd be Private Johnson here," Lester answered, pointing at Johnson. "If you need to learn what we know, he's the man to ask. I hope you'll extend a similar courtesy." The blonde kid nodded and went to talk with Johnson, slightly outside of Lester's hearing range, but at the moment, that didn't seem to matter. What did matter was that he was getting a bit tired of waiting for the Scorpion to show up. It'd been awhile since he'd last driven one of those things, and the excitement was practically killing him. Ah, it doesn't matter. I can wait. Long as I get to drive, everything'll be fine, he thought. I wonder how 99mm of tungsten would affect one of these so called 'Titans'.