"Passports?" The guard shouted, shining his flashlight on the occupants of the rail car. People began shuffling through their luggage searching for their passports.
"These two are with me!" Artyom shouted, pointing at Pavel and Armin. He flashed his ranger tags in place of producing a passport. The guard nodded and continued to check over the passports the others handed over. Satisfied, he turned off his light and motioned them forward. The handcar rattled down the tracks, past gun emplacements and floodlights. Artyom wondered if those would be any help against titans if they were to crawl down the tunnels. Eren said the weak point was in the back of the neck, what good could guns do at this angle? They pulled up to a crowded platform, teeming with travelers, tourists, and pilgrims. "This is Lenin Library, one of the 4 stations that make up polis." Pavel and Armin followed Artyom as he hopped down to the tracks. They continued down to the tracks until they reached a second platform, completely empty, except for a single ranger guarding a steel door labeled "Maintenance".
"Hey Artyom! You're back!" The ranger said cheerfully, in stark contrast to her threatening appearance.
"Is anyone here?" Artyom asked.
"Yes, Melnik is here, and Kornayev just arrived from D6." She answered.
"Good…good… Do you have a key?"
The ranger reached in her pocket and handed Artyom a key, with a Moscow University keychain. He unlocked the door and stepped in.
"This…this is just amazing!" Armin exclaimed. "An entire society underground! I can't even imagine the technology it took to build all this!"
"It wasn't built to be a city," Artyom explained. "You were on the surface right? That was the city, that's where I was born. All this around you, these were transport tunnels, meant to carry people from one side of the city in a matter of minutes."
"That's incredible." Armin said
"This is only a shell too, mankind used to be masters of this world, we once numbered in the billions, stretching all across the world outside." Artyom said. "Now we scurry like rats in the dark. Living off the scraps that were left behind."
"Masters of the outside?" Armin asked, "Does that mean… have you seen it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Everything, the world, water like fire, mountains of ice?" He answered, a twinkle of excitement in his eyes."
"Well I can't say that I have. I was a toddler when the bombs hit. Pavel here was around the same age. But, I do have some old magazines in my home, plenty of pictures of the outside."
"Wait, what bombs?" Armin asked, dismissing he magazines.
Artyom and Pavel stopped. "I didn't tell you?" Pavel asked. The two turned around to face Armin
"No, I don't think you did." Armin said. Pavel looked to Artyom, who nodded in response.
Well, 20 years ago, there was a war." Pavel began. "See, back then most countries had all sorts of fancy military gear, among them was a bomb capable of leveling an entire city, and poisoning, the water, air, and soil in the process."
"That's… why would they…?" Armin seemed to have trouble wrapping his head around the idea.
"You have to become monsters, to defeat a monsters." Pavel continued. Armin was surprised by Pavel's choice of words. That was exactly what he had told Jean during the 57th recon mission. "As a result, the countries built millions of these things. It was said that one of our nation's rivals had enough to destroy the earth twelve times over. Then, well, we don't know exactly what happened, just that the bombs fell everywhere, and now we're here. They say the rest of the earth is nothing but scorched desert and thickets of mutated forest."
"How, how could people be willing to even use that kind of weapon?" Armin said. Artyom was not surprised, Eren expressed similar feelings when informed of the bombs.
"If you want more info, talk to Kornayev." Artyom said, turning around and continuing down the hall. "He was in one of the control centers when it all happened."
They continued down the hall until they reached a door. A piece of paper with the name "Melnik" was taped to the door. Artyom could here Kornayev's distinct deep voice, he was likely talking to Melnik. He knocked twice. "Colonel Melnik! Colonel Kornayev! It's Artyom!"
"Artyom? Come on in!" Melnik shouted back.
Artyom opened the door, Melnik was in his wheelchair behind his desk. Across from him was Kornayev, sitting in an old wooden chair. Artyom saluted. "Colonel Kornayev, I managed to—"he suddenly stopped himself. Kornayev was wearing a dark olive green jacket with the same dual wings motif as Eren and the others, one of his sleeves was empty. Artyom was about to ask when he noticed Melnik looking back at him. Standing next to Melnik was Kornayev.
"What! How!" Artyom stammered, looking back between the two Kornayevs. They were exactly the same, from their blonde hair and blue eyes, to their bushy eyebrows.
"Artyom," The Kornayev standing beside Melnik began. "This is Erwin Smith, we believe he is associated with the individuals you found. You did bring them here, correct?
What the hell was I thinking? Letting the three of them go with Khan to god knows where! "I have one sir," Artyom said, stepping inside and leaning against the wall beside the door. "He's right here."
"Armin Arlet… where there others?" Erwin asked.
"There were three others… they were…" Artyom fumbled through his satchel and pulled out his diary, and flipped to the back page and read off the names "It was Eren Jaegar, Jean Kirschtein and Mikasa Ackerman."
"And where are they at?" Kornayev asked."
"Well they went with Khan, sir, we met him in Teatr. They are looking for Hunter, Khan claims he is still alive."
"Why didn't you bring them to us first?" Melnik demanded.
"Well Khan had this theory… He seems to think these people came from a parallel universe, and quite honestly, I kind of believe him." Melnik and Kornayev gave Artyom a quizzical look. "You see, I brought this man, Pavel Morozov." He pointed to Pavel, leaning against the threshold of the door. "Khan says that each of these people appearing are ourselves in a parallel universe. For example, Armin and Pavel here are essentially the same person.
"This is complete madness!" Melnik exclaimed, the man had always been skeptical and mistrusting of Khan.
"It makes sense…" Kornayev said. "Look at our friend here, you yourself said that he looks exactly like me. Armin and Pavel have quite the resemblance too."
Melnik studied them, the evidence was there, and there was no denying it. "Perhaps…" He said.
"The Eren kid also looked like me, Jean like Khan. And lastly, Mikasa encountered Anna during a train ride to Teatr. The two looked a little alike, Mikasa certainly looked to be more Asian.
"How old was this Mikasa?" Melnik asked.
"I don't know, 14 or 15 maybe?" Artyom said. "I know that Anna's mother was Asian.
Melnik reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet, there really wasn't any need for one, since bullets were used as currency. He opened it, inside the card slots were bits of paper with codes written on them. He reached into innermost slot and pulled out a picture. He slid it across his desk. "Does that look like her?" he asked.
Atyom stepped closer and picked it up. It was a picture of a girl around 15, dressed in a snowsuit and a gasmask on her belt. In her hands was a Preved rifle. It was Anna, she looked almost identical to Mikasa in this picture. Beside the girl was a younger Melnik, also in a snowsuit, his hair only just barely greying. The picture was taken after the war, in the metro. Melnik must have paid a fortune to get this. Artyom held the picture to Pavel and Armin.
"That definitely looks like her." Armin said.
"Anna looked a lot more like her mother in her earlier years." Melnik said.
"Anyway, what I was saying…" Artyom continued. "We talked about people we knew, hoping to find others. So they went with Khan to find Hunter, yes, I know… but Khan is convinced he is still alive. We think Hunter has a counterpart named…" Artyom paged through his Diary again. "Levi Ackerman."
"Captain Levi." Erwin began. "He's one of my soldiers, one of the best."
"That does sound a bit like Hunter." Melnik said.
"If I may ask, what do you propose we do if we do find everyone?" Erwin asked. "I mean we can't just keep collecting them."
"Well, ideally we find a way to send you all back." Artyom said. "Perhaps when Khan returns he could help us figure out how to go about that."
"Perhaps the smartest of us can shed more light on this." Kornayev said.
"What, the scientists here in Polis?" Melnik asked.
"Not quite. Artyom, take a look at that keychain you used to get in here."
"What are you planning?" Melnik asked.
"You know me," Kornayev said. "Another gamble."
Erwin chuckled to himself. "I guess you really are my counterpart."
"Um… Kornayev…" Artyom said, examining the keychain, the Moscow University coat of arms. "You're not thinking-"
"I am, it's time to finally make contact with Emerald City…