Chapter 6

Diversion


She opened her magenta eyes and stared into the eternity that was space and time.

It flowed slowly for her, millennia had passed and she was still not clear on how it all worked… exactly.

"Rory… Rory! RORY!"

She ignored the annoying imp in a bird cage on her nightstand as she moved to look at a specific star.

"Come on, pay attention to me!" the small creature moaned.

The being known as Rory summoned a specific star that grew to the size of a baseball once it reached the palm of her hand.

She moved back to the bed made out of clouds and wind and sat down, staring at the shiny sphere.

"Damned new gods… are you still obsessed with-?"

The magenta eyes turned to the caged creature, silencing her immediately.

As she did this, the bright sphere slowly disintegrated in her palm.

The tiny creature was suddenly filled with understanding as she puffed her chest and mocked "Another dead world?"

The dark haired woman was silent for a moment.

"Unfortunately… yes…" she finally admitted.

"Oh? Who ended it this time? Was it that Yeager boy? Or were you just staring at some timeline where those two morons actually went to war and destroyed the world? Come on, Rory, give me some details! I'll die of boredom!"

The dark haired woman stared at the stars for a moment and let out a tired sigh.

"It was a different world. A poor girl was killed and as a result, an evil ice spirit was unleashed, obliterating the planet."

"Oh? And none of this fills you with curiosity, Rory? How would Sadera hold up against a demon like that? Or better yet, could any of the modern earths manage to defeat it? Perhaps the Russians would have liked it? It was an ice spirit, yes? They like the cold, yes? Just plop a gate right in the middle of Moscow and-"

The woman referred to as Rory slammed her hand into the cage, sending the small imp flying into its bars.

"That hurt you damned usurper!"

"Shut up, Hardy, just shut up." The woman hissed.

"Hmph! You know I'm right… eventually the two worlds will get too separated for the gate to be maintained. It happened to your world eventually. Just accept it."

The dark haired woman didn't reply.

"Honestly, Rory, sweetheart, I know you mean well, really I do… but trying to use my gate to help other worlds is… well… boring. As well as useless, but boring! I thought you were being creative by having the Americans go in, but honestly the Japanese would have been just as effective. Well, depending on the version they might run out of ammo, but it would be far more-"

"I have my reasons for choosing them."

The imp scoffed, saying "Yeah? What are they?"

Rory stood up and picked up the cage.

She lifted it up slightly so that it could look at the stars above them better.

"Look at that one, and that one, and that one."

The tiny creature stared for a second, recognizing the scenery in each sphere.

"Okay? Just a bunch of Americans shooting at things form different points in time… whoa, did that guy just cut one of them in half with a-? Look at the flames on that jungle! You know, if a universe had been in range back then I would have definitely opened the doorway in California during the 1960s. Ah, Napalm is so-whoa!"

Rory lowered the cage almost violently, saying "Fool, why don't you ever notice the big picture?!"

The small creature known as Hardy yelled "Alright, alright! Don't be so violent with me, Rory, it isn't nice… but yes, I noticed."

Silence.

"Yes?" Rory asked after a minute.

"You know…" the imp said, grinning.

Rory slammed the cage down and yelled "Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, and Afghanistan- what do they have in common?!"

"W-wars?"

"Idiot! America came to the aid of South Korea to protect its liberty. Their men shed blood so that others could be free. Historians disagree, but this was at least partly the reason behind sending soldiers to protect South Vietnam… yes, self-interest had a part in it, but the fact remains. It was America that led the war effort against Iraq when it annexed Kuwait, and America is the only nation in history that has yet to be ousted from Afghanistan. Not the Persians, not the Mongols, not the British, not the Soviets, the Americans, Hardy!"

"So?"

Rory stared silently at the now powerless has-been goddess.

"You know what lies beyond those walls?" she asked.

"Who cares about that?"

"Would the Japan that I met stand a chance? They not only refused help from their allies, but actively acted against them. Even this japan would likely struggle without help from its allies. Once they discover the secret-"

The imp gasped and then started to laugh.

"You actually think that gate will hold up long enough for them to figure it out? Listen, my dear, you may have picked some examples here and there, but the second the Americans find out that the gate isn't permanent they are bound to retreat through faster than horses on a racetrack! You know as well as I do that they have had their fair share of retreats, of abandoned allies, abandoned wars. But, if it makes for some entertainment I suppose-"

"What makes you think the gate isn't permanently locked in place?" Rory asked with a serious look on her face.

The creature referred to as Hardy stopped cold and eyed the dark haired woman.

"Y-you can't maintain it, it… the rules are clear, the gate can connect two worlds because realities drift closer to each other in time, but they move apart eventually. It would be like connecting two galaxies with a rod and expecting them to remain-"

Rory clicked her tongue, picked up the bird cage and said "Oh, poor, poor Hardy. You only sought entertainment, just like the Romans did. You made the gate to satiate your desires and you never once bothered to really see what you could do with it."

The imp shuddered as the magenta eyes peered into her own.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, it isn't like we won't drift apart from those realities. I can barely manifest there anymore since none believe in me. I believe I could probably communicate with the ones entering the gate, but I can't physically do anything in that world other than observe."

"R-Rory, what are you talking about?"

The jet black hair swung almost hypnotically as the woman moved her right hand to the wall and pointed at two spheres that were not only extremely close, but seemed to be slowly moving along a similar axis in the grand scheme that was all of possible existence.

"Wait… wait, wait, wait… you wouldn't… you… no… why would you do that?!" the being that had once considered herself a goddess wailed as if she was in agony.

"Payment, I suppose. How many died because of you? Because of your desire to entertain yourself?" the dark haired woman asked, still grinning maliciously.

"You cruel, merciless goddess! You gave up my gate! And to them?! You could have given it to a space faring empire or-" the imp began before being silenced.

"I told you, I would use your gate to help people… it's the least I can do after everything."

"But… but you don't even know if it'll work! Just because the two worlds are on a close enough trajectories so that the gate doesn't cause any damages to either reality at any point doesn't mean they will magically fix their problems! And America has retreated from plenty of places and you know it! They abandoned the Russians fighting the Soviets after World War 1, they will betray one ally if it suits them and- and they abandoned South Vietnam after they signed a peace treaty everyone knew wouldn't last! Tell me then why would they not retreat once they realize what they're truly facing?"

Rory smiled.

"All they have to do is try to make things better. I have faith this will be different."

She stared through the sphere at the teenagers, now training with guns instead of swords.

Please don't let me down…

"Faster, God Damn it!" the American sergeant somehow shouted over the overwhelming sound of explosions and gunfire.

"Eren, we're out!" Reiner yelled as the M2 Browning suddenly went silent.

"We need to pull back, it-" Armin's worried voice rang over the diminishing gunfire.

"No! We don't pull back! We can do this!" Eren barked back at him as he fiddled with removing the ammo belt from the box as Reiner quickly flipped the top of the machine gun open.

"Pulling back!" one of the other cadets, Connie, shouted as Mina and Samuel picked up their Browning and used their ODM gear to fly at top speed to another building.

"Yeager, it is do or die! Which is it?!" Sergeant Roy yelled at the teenager.

The sudden shouting in his ears decimated the teen's concentration, delaying him ever so slightly.

Sill, with refined reflexes, he picked up the munitions, steadily placed them on the .50, and-

"Dead… God damn it, get outta here." Sergeant Roy groaned as he moved away from the small machine gun team in training.

The look of shock was soon replaced with a look of despair fell on Yeager as he dutifully picked up the tripod for the machine gun and moved down from the building.

The large steel dummy seemed to mock him as he moved back.

It wasn't long before the entire regiment was suddenly staring at him.

Well, all three of them.

Sergeant Roy made sure of that as the exercise concluded.

"I mean, Christ, I expected a little more from one of the top tenner's in the 104th! What exactly went through your head, Yeager?" the Army sergeant demanded.

Realizing the American wanted a response, the teen swallowed before saying "I thought I could reload the gun in time to kill the enemy, sergeant!"

The man glared back, positively dumbfounded.

"You thought?! You thought?! Well then! Let's see what your quick thinking resulted in! You gave a fat bastard a nice lunch at the cost of killing two of your best friends and yourself, so that's three dead plus you lost all the bullets you were carrying and one of John Moses Browning's works of art!"

Eren refused to even blink as small droplets of spit fell onto his cheek.

"Look, the rule was simple; you fire until the enemy gets within fifty meters, then you pull back, period!"

"B-but the enemy wasn't-I thought I would have the time to reload, sergeant!" Eren said suddenly, quickly, impulsively, and regrettably.

Armin and Reiner wondered if their eyes turned to their third squad mate out of worry or because maybe the statement Eren just made was so dense that it had a gravitational pull of its own.

They didn't see Sergeant Roy grin from ear to ear.

Eren wasn't sure if the sergeant smiling like that was as bad as the subtle snickering he knew was coming from Jean a few meters away.

"Not bad, if the weapons are that good, you could hold any district until air support can arrive." Shadis said as he watched the monitors.

Eren Yeager, good shot so far with the rifles the Americans are training him with, but so are all the cadets. Can't say he's too special even if his ambition could be the death of him.

"Well, commandant, that's the plan."

Good old Cold War static defense…

As the Army sergeant on the screen handed out the punishment, Shadis took note of the always passive Armin.

Armin Arlert, so far a decent enough shot with the rifle, but his diligence seems to be more suited in caring for and carrying logistics, assisting a machine gun position may actually suit him well.

He was still getting used to the newer weapons, but it wasn't too illogical.

Several of these machine guns would be hastily set up on the rooftops of the district in specified locations across from one another, establishing several kill zones for the advancing titans by taking advantage of the ranged weapons.

It had always been that the only way to kill titans was utilizing ODM gear to try and fly into the nape, cut it, and speed away before the titan could react, something everyone, Shadis included, struggled to actually accomplish.

The Garrison cannons, despite their caliber, didn't have the accuracy needed to effectively target the nape of a titan, nor did they have the penetrating power of the American firearms, always needing a bombardment of them in order to effectively kill one or two titans.

Given their long arms and legs, range always seemed to favor the titans when it came to engagements between them and humanity.

With the new weapons, range was finally an ally of the humans.

Shadis allowed a slight smile as Eren continued to be chewed out by the American.

"I won't lie to you, commandant; I was a bit worried your cadets wouldn't be up to the challenge… so far they are all extremely capable. Especially Brown over there…"

"Ah yes, Reiner Braun…" Shadis noted the American pronounced the name slightly differently, but ignored it.

Even with the Browning machine gun, Reiner has been one of the most accurate shots in the 104th. Like he was born for something like this…

They turned to another monitor, noting the individual cadets training in another section of the outer town, firing the modified M1 Garand's at wooden targets.

The crack of the rifle was followed by a high pitched metallic *ping *as the gun ejected the now empty clip and Mikasa frowned slightly as she looked at her target.

She wasn't so much missing as she was barely maintaining accurate shots.

She would aim for the center of the wooden target only for the round to veer slightly off every time.

"Remember to account for wind…" another American called out as the cadets on the firing range moved to reload.

"Wind…" she repeated and adjusted her aim slightly.

*Bang!*

Her eyebrow twitched slightly as the round actually hit the outer edge of the target, exactly where she had aimed at.

Readjust aim, fire, rinse and repeat, until the ever annoying ping reminded her that she needed to reload, and try to ignore the glances from the stoic blonde just a few meters away.

Mikasa was accurate enough with her rifle, she could probably hit someone from a fair distance as she was, but Annie…

Bang-bang-bang-bang- *ping*

"Leonhart, no need to show off… I mean, God damn, take it easy on the gun! Controlled fire, cadets, controlled! You can fire the machine guns later…" The American officer, irritated with the cadet suddenly firing off four shots in rapid succession, shouted.

Annie simply nodded and lowered the Garand slightly and shifted her shoulder, as if firing the weapon too quickly barely caused a strain.

Mikasa didn't really take satisfaction from the mistake the stoic girl had made. If anything, she might have to admit that Annie was far better a shot than she could ever hope to be.

In spite of the recoil, Annie had riddled the center of the target so full of holes that she might as well try cutting it in half with her ammunition.

And even after getting reprimanded, she had simply nodded to the commanding officer, before stretching and inserting another clip into the rifle.

"Not bad, Ackerman." The American said, continuing past her.

The girl didn't respond.

Her performance was acceptable, and while she wouldn't classify her feelings as anything as childish as jealousy, she certainly felt like she could improve.

The thought stayed on her mind until she was eating lunch, noticing that neither Armin nor Eren were in the mess hall.

"Hey! Mikasa, over here!" a girl called.

She turned to see Sasha and Mina waving at her.

She approached the table with her food and sat down.

"Trade you the meat for shooting advice!" the brown haired girl said, grinning a little too childishly.

Mikasa disregarded the girl, turning to Mina.

"Where-?" before she could finish, the dark haired girl simply said "Cleanup. Yeager has to clean out all the shell casings out in the training area and Armin and Reiner have to monitor him."

Mikasa opened her mouth to ask why Eren had to do what was essentially the job of several people on his own.

Mina, again, had the answer ready.

"He spoke out of turn after screwing up and not pulling back in time. Honestly, I know he wants to kill all titans and all, but really, he got Armin and Reiner in trouble too."

Mikasa nodded then.

Eren could still be very impulsive.

"I see…"

"But hey, on the bright side, I'm sure he just needs a little time. It's only been… what, a week?"

Mikasa nodded, looking around slightly.

The "updated" uniform they had to wear simply added more pockets to their jackets, supposedly to carry more ammo, almost forgetting the idea of the blades. Those were now relegated to only two per cadet, only to be used in case of a dire emergency, as the idea was to always use the gear to stay as far away from the enemy as they could.

Buttoned up, it almost looked like the vests the Americans carried around, only brown and lighter.

The foods they received were superior to the food back at their old camp, now multiple meals they had never tasted were included, with steaks that were such a rarity back then that-

Mikasa stopped her internal thinking to stab a fork into the table as Sasha attempted to pilfer the small steak mixed into her lunch.

"Eek!"

Mikasa said nothing.

"H-hey, d-damaging the table could get you in trouble… r-right?"

Mikasa said nothing.

"Uh… about my offer-?"

"Sasha, just stop… It's kind of sad seeing you dig a hole for yourself." Mina interrupted.

"Well, yeah, but Mikasa looked so… I don't know, frustrated with her rifle and I think I know how to help… come, Mikasa, what do you say?"

Mikasa said nothing.

She eyed the girl for a second.

In a swift motion she placed the fork onto the steak and lifted it up to the girl's face.

"Tell me."

"…I think he's coming out."

Overlooking the empty street from a covered up window, a man with a C8 carbine spoke into a radio as quietly as possible.

Through the scope, he watched an alleyway near the edge of the street, right where a decrepit looking old apartment cast a shadow in the mid-morning sun.

The person of interest for the man, however, was still within the shadows of the alley.

"Yeah, got him…" another silent voice replied.

The figure exiting the alley was a tall man with a unicorn patch on his uniform and messy short hair.

A woman somewhere in her late twenties or early thirties chased after him, seemingly pleading.

The British commando frowned, unable to hear the argument.

"Sparrow, what the hell are they saying?"

The man had whirled around and began to angrily shout at the woman.

Sparrow clicked his tongue on the other end of the radio.

"He says he isn't about to pay for her after all of that."

Adjusting the scope on the carbine slightly, the British commando focused in on the arguing pair.

The woman had gotten up and shot an accusative finger at the man.

He couldn't tell if the man had a weapon on him or not.

"Sparrow, be advised, MP is keeping his left hand in his pocket, possibly armed."

"Copy…"

"Okay, Crow, maybe we should move in now. I don't see any weapons but I think we have enough on tape to encourage him to help us out…" a third voice came on the radio.

Crow was about to order his guys to move in when the MP swiftly slapped the woman to the floor with his right hand, removed his left hand from his pocket, revealing a tiny pistol which he proceeded to fire into the woman's face as she got up, smoke covering the body as it slumped to the floor again, dead.

The action hadn't even lasted a second.

Damn…

While not necessarily surprised by the action, the members of the Special Air Service now had a problem on their hands.

"Should we take him now, before people start to look out their windows?"

There weren't any witnesses yet, so maybe-

"Crow, second MP moving down the street, ten seconds-kids got ODM gear!"

That was a problem.

"God damn it, everyone stay put…"

If the MP sees British and American forces grabbing another MP right in front of a dead civilian...

Worst case back home would be that the body count could turn from one to two in a millisecond.

But this wasn't Afghanistan.

The kid had ODM gear, something the Americans and British forces lacked.

While the MPs all lacked radios, retreating and warning others would be a piece of cake in the tightly packed slums within the innermost wall.

If the kid was smart, that is.

Crow knew his men could shoot the kid down if necessary, but…

The kid turned the street corner and saw the gruesome scene.

"Klein, what the hell is this?!" the kid roared loud enough for even Crow to understand.

Crow blinked.

This could be interesting…

"…Sparrow, are you recording still?"

"Affirmative." the reply came.

The streets outside the safe house were relatively empty, aside from the occasional civilian moving about.

Within Wall Sina, the vast majority of people living in the districts were rich folks that owned enough land and materials to provide quality products to nobility and others with enough money to buy from them. Salt, purified water, specially designed clothes, designed carts, artists, all living within the same confined space of Wall Sina.

But even the rich needed servants.

Nobody really questioned who lived in the houses of the working class, so a house near the slums was easy enough to acquire.

From the outside, it just looked like a somewhat broken home.

Nobody could guess it housed some of the most well trained individuals known to the other side of the gate.

And no one would really bother to ask, either.

Few dared to ask questions within the darker parts of the districts.

"Oh, hey, uh… brown-hair seems to be getting some payment from some guy in a hood." One of the Delta operators said as he stared through the camera, recording the transaction.

The blonde woman simply hummed an affirmative as she kept staring at the radio and the operator.

Still no leads on the so called interior police…

They had approached several people, none recognizing them as American except a certain pastor.

At least that guy's still under surveillance she thought, grinning slightly.

Listening devices are just the best…

Her smile slightly dropped as she checked the time.

"Hey, have they radioed in yet?" she asked the operator.

The operator shook his head.

She pursed her lips and shifted in her seat.

Being one of the few operatives that actually needed to step outside and be seen by the local population meant that she actually had to wear what could best be described as "era appropriate" clothing.

That was nowhere near as comfortable as simple jeans, though she had to admit that the long skirt and accompanying undergarments weren't exactly as annoying to wear as she had expected.

At least I don't have to talk to anyone... though that does make the job a bit boring.

As she pondered this, the radio operator gave an acknowledgement and turned to her.

"They're coming back." He said simply.

The SAS team arrived only a few minutes later.

"So… you didn't get to talk to the guy?" the CIA woman asked as the team removed the dirty hoods, placing them on a box.

The CIA and the US military often worked together in hostile territories, which, in spite of the technical classification as a friendly nation, the walled society, particularly the innermost wall, was anything but.

The Nobility and the Military Police certainly don't see us as trustworthy allies.

Oh, not that they blamed them, but it simply wouldn't do, what with most of the expeditionary force quickly finishing up the reclamation of Wall Maria, the US would need to have some knowledge of the mysterious king and his advisory if either side wanted to move forward.

Now, while the American Delta Force was certainly up to the task as the operatives working around her in the empty building showed, there was a slight problem in blending in with the local population… accents.

Even if the locals didn't recognize them as outsiders, the second one pretentious MP decided to ask them a question, the operative would be plunged into a dangerous position, one the US would prefer to avoid.

So who better to assist than the British?

Their accents were similar enough, many of the Special Air Service members could pass off well enough as a working class citizen of the walled civilization with the proper apparel, would make it so the US didn't need to waste time training the others on getting an accent right, and, like it or not, they were just that good if not better in a fight should one break out.

Which rules of engagement prohibit for the moment, but we know how the ball rolls…

"Unfortunately, circumstances didn't allow for it, Ma'm, but we did manage to record something that is incredibly important."

She nodded as the SAS officer placed a drive into the laptop he was carrying before removing his dirty cloak.

The base of operations for the covert operation was located near the poorer districts of the capital.

Far away from the rich folk for the special forces to move around wearing dirty cloaks that made them look like peasants, but close enough that they could spy on as many MPs and politicians as they wanted.

The camera recording popped on the screen soon enough and the rest of the American team gathered around to watch.

Klein Brady, an MP that had been followed around by some of the British commandos, was being considered as someone they could buy information from.

They had recorded him turning a blind eye to certain individuals who kept some packages that went on the carriages leaving the innermost wall, paying certain women for… very inappropriate favors, and overall being fairly lazy.

The CIA team frowned when they saw the man kill the woman in order to avoid paying her. Not exactly unexpected, but it did manage to complicate things slightly. It would make the blackmail easier, though.

Then, from the other street, came the young MP.

Oh, that's why they didn't get him… a witness.

She focused on the footage as the two MPs began to argue.

"Klein, what the hell is this?!"

"Hey! I told you to stay on the street!"

"Why? So that you could go rape and kill some poor woman?"

"Ian, let me tell you something. This is the capital, you need to learn to relax and that idealist that fights for justice and the king needs to grow up. Just aren't that many threats out here and… well, no one will remember her anyway? If anything you should thank me for getting rid of a criminal."

The younger MP simply known as Ian scoffed, saying "Yeah, and traitors like you need to die. Klein, get on your knees."

The older MP laughed and said "Do you actually think-?"

The CIA team winced as they watched the younger kid swiftly kick the man in the solar plexus.

The older man fell to the ground and the other MP was immediately on him.

They watched as Ian began to pummel the man with his gear, blood splattering the street as the older man uselessly attempted to struggle against the onslaught.

Suddenly, the kid stopped and lifted the man back up, saying "There, now you at least look like you killed her in self-defense… don't you agree?"

The older man wiped some blood from his nose, appearing to be about to swing at the younger man when Ian said "You ever hear about the interior police, Klein?"

The man in the recording winced at the sudden mention of the interior police as did the CIA team.

"Watch…" Crow said.

On the recording, Ian appeared to remove a badge from his uniform.

Klein cowered then, stammering out "H-how in the-? I don't understand-"

"First sergeant Klein Brady, I am about to give you the opportunity of a lifetime."

The CIA agent grinned ever so maliciously as she heard the young man on the recording speak up.

"How would you like to help your king prepare for the eventual against the soldiers from beyond the gate?"

Come on, Ilse, you've faced worse, just take a deep breath…

"Alright, let's give it a shot." Doctor Hermann mumbled as the curtain was raised and the lights were flicked on.

Soon the yellow haired titan was made visible.

It was cowering in a corner, hugging its legs.

The underground holding facility was by no means as advanced as anyone would have liked. Ten meters above the eight meter type was a large iron hatch that had been opened and shut during its delivery to Hill Zero One, and now it was just stuck several meters below ground, with thick iron bars and metallic fences blocking his way from the guards that might have been a quick meal out in the forest.

Not so much in a closed off space.

Its fish like eyes, gigantic and frightened, turned to Ilse who stared back at it.

Deep breaths, deep breaths…

"Do you remember me from somewhere?"

It didn't speak.

"…what people were you talking about the other night?"

It didn't speak.

"Hey, Lady Ymir, remember her? Who was she?"

It didn't speak, seemingly comfortable to be in a cell.

Hanji groaned, saying "come on you uncooperative child! We want to help you!"

Speak for yourself…

Ilse grit her teeth and tried a second approach.

"You eat people. Why?" she asked in a dark tone.

The titan didn't speak, but a fearful look manifested on its face.

"Why do you eat people? Tell me why you eat us!" she demanded loudly.

The titan began to claw at its eyes again, this time pulling at its eyelids, tearing the skin as it let out a pitiful groan.

Ilse shuddered.

Hanji shook her head.

"Well… There is definitely some consciousness left in it. Which certainly suggests it had more before, assuming it's recalling events… perhaps?" Doctor Hermann mumbled.

Hanji said "Well, we can't help it if it doesn't communicate. Hey, no-name! Why do-? oh that's right, remind me to name it later- why do you eat people? If you tell us we can start trying to help you!"

The creature rolled to the side and faced the wall away from the humans, letting out painful moans as it continued to writhe in its cell.

Ilse frowned.

I could almost feel sorry for it if its kind didn't eat my entire squad.

Hanji shook her head in disappointment.

"How long until we get those X-ray machines?" she asked.

"Not long, a few days maybe. The problem would be installing them so that we can get a good look at it without... you know… having it try to devour us."

"We could always pin it to the ground with nails and iron stakes." She replied a little too cheerfully for the German scientist to find comfortable.

Ilse didn't really care at this point.

"Need anything else?" she asked, no longer wanting to be anywhere near the creature.

"Oh, right, you are dismissed private."

She returned a quick salute and made her way out of the underground bunker.

She overheard Hanji say something as she left.

"Now, what's this about a mythological Ymir, doctor?"

She didn't care enough to bother listening in, preferring to find the guys that were still working as her security.

To her delight she found Matt and Dave sitting with Petra and Oluo on wooden crates, playing a certain card game.

"So… I can only use red cards or a symbol that is the same as this one?" Petra asked.

"Yeah, and you can change the color using- oh hi, Ilse!" Dave said then as the girl approached the small group.

The girl sat down, now more than accustomed to the Survey Corps elites, glanced at the two Americans and sat down.

"Why do you think it singled me out? Or reacted to me?" she asked quickly, unprompted.

"…well, damn, Ilse, we were just trying to have some fun but okay… maybe you look like this Ymir chick he hates or worships?"

"Geez, kid, can you take it easy with the brutal honesty?" Oluo sighed.

"Hey, she asked! You're not too worked up over it, are you?"

Ilse simply frowned.

Petra and Oluo didn't say anything.

Matt proceeded to slap the back of Dave's head.

"Well sorry! But seriously, Ilse, it isn't that big a deal if you think about it for more than two seconds."

"How so?" she asked with very little energy.

"Are you a titan?"

Ilse didn't say anything, but her annoyed glare said it all.

"It does raise the question, though. Why would a titan know anyone by name… and who was it talking about when it said people?" Petra mused.

"Oh come on, it's obvious." Dave groaned.

"Hey, White, slap him again." Oluo said.

Matt raised his hand but Dave grabbed it, saying "Clearly there's some intelligence behind the titans. Don't you guys have a theory on that or something?"

"Yeah, but… what does that mean? Is it human, titan… something else?" Ilse asked, a memory she was no longer sure was real resurfacing.

I leave this gate to you and… well, whoever is on the other side.

"Well, I don't know… some intelligence, I guess."

"Oh, I thought you were mister know it all."

"Look, old man, I actually answer the questions! Not seeing any of you come up with anything. just seems like theres some kidn of intelligence behind the giant, unnatural, man-eating giants running around."

"Technically everything you said is a theory some of us have considered at one point or the other…" Ilse half replied, half scolded.

"What-? Then why were you asking-?"

"Hey, White! Emin! " another solider called.

"Yeah?" they both called back.

"Get your Humvee ready, we have a situation!"

Ilse and the two team Levi members perked up, but the Army officer said "You three can relax, it's more of a human problem, not a titan one."

"What's going on?"

"Some wagons were spotted making their way to one of the districts to the west, going to check them out."

Matt stood up sighing "Back to grinder, come on, man."

"Damn it… Ilse try teaching them how to play."

Ilse almost protested, but simply nodded as the two soldiers ran off.

"Wagons, huh? Wonder what kind of fool thought it was a good idea to sneak away from the walls before Wall Maria was fully secure…" Oluo mumbled.

"Guess we'll find out soon enough, now Ilse, how exactly does one go about winning this… ooh-no?"

Pursing her lips slightly, Ilse took Dave's seat and looked at the card game.

"Basically you have to get rid of all your cards, you can put down two at once if they are the same card, some cards make the player that goes after you have to take two or four cards, colors or numbers have to match for you to put one card down-"

"Cards?" the unimpressed voice of the Survey Corps captain startled the young scout.

"The Americans were teaching us to play this card game, sir." Petra replied.

Levi looked at the cards, saying "Whats the goal of the game? Are there bets or money involved?"

No, but I hear utilizing the draw 4 can destroy friendships…

"No, sir." Ilse replied simply.

To her surprise the captain sat down, saying "Alright then, show me."

Eren wiped his forehead and stretched as he placed the last empty shell casing onto the box.

At least theyre large enough to find with ease…

"…sorry about this guys…" he mumbled as he walked to the teammates he had dragged down with him.

"Again, its fine. Just don't do stuff like that again. Seriously..." Reiner said loudly, slapping the young man on his back.

"Yeah… I don't know, I just feel better when we're shooting those damned beasts. Can't ever give them an inch, you know?"

Not after everything…

The trio was relatively silent as they walked through the barracks, noting the motor pool in the distance.

Reiner stopped, saying "Would you look at that?"

Armin and Eren turned to look towards the motor pool, noting the M1 Abrams being worked on by the Americans.

"You think they'll teach us how to ride those titan-killers?" Armin sighed in a fascinated tone.

Reiner folded his arms, saying "Maybe someday, but probably not any time soon."

"I wonder how they drive them around. Their jets have to be insanely complicated to control, and if you need four people to work one tank… can't imagine how complicated that process is." Eren said.

They observed the iron beasts in the distance for a minute before Reiner asked "You think they can take out the armored titan?"

"No doubt about it. I bet they can take out ten armored titans on their own!" Eren replied, gleefully forgetting all the backbreaking labor he had been doing previously as he imagined the oppressive beasts getting pummeled by the heavy tracks of the armored chariots.

"Yeah, I wonder where it went off to now…"

"I think I read one theory that there's some kind of intelligence controlling the titans somehow, but I don't think there's any proof. Would explain the armored simply disappearing."

"Armin, the armored and colossal titans were just abnormal types… I would think. Honestly, what kind of intelligence would…" Eren stopped and thought it over.

Cities under siege, an ancient tactic to wear the enemy out… used a lot by humanity in this world, but definitely in the other side of that doorway, names such as Vienna, Jerusalem, and Leningrad came immediately to mind.

"But even if they weren't… we'll beat the enemy back."

I swear it…

Rod Reiss rubbed the pulsing vein in his forehead as Deltoffe continued to read the letters sent by the American representative.

"Your majesty, they continue to claim that the oriental nation of Japan has expressed some concern over the wellbeing of people that are possibly related to them."

"Ah, but our answers are insufficient?"

"They claim that simply not having the records isn't an excuse. Your majesty, they want to allow journalists from different nations into the capital." Aurille said, worried.

Rod sucked in a breath.

Journalists from the other world did not have much incentive to follow his rules.

Journalists from the other world didn't seem to just write what they were told.

Journalists from the other world probably liked to ask too many questions.

"Tell them that they can tour the capital under escort of Commander Pyxis, they cannot interview the king or government officials other than you people. If they ask something they shouldn't, just tell them that you can't share that information…" Rod sighed.

Journalists from the other world needed radios and televisions to report their findings, something that didn't exist within the walls yet, and censoring newspapers was easy.

"Speaking of information, the scouts captured a titan earlier in the week, correct?"

"Ah yes, the talking titan… allegedly." one of the nobles said.

Rod perked up at that, granted confused.

"It… spoke?"

"According to Hanji Zoe of the Survey Corps, they attempted to capture an eight meter type that was not only active during nighttime, upon encountering private Langnar, it allegedly managed to speak, albeit briefly and nonsensically."

Rod raised an eyebrow.

"Did it say anything coherent?"

Deltoffe shook his head, saying "According to Miss Zoe, it simply made reference to some Ymir character before babbling and attempting to tear its own eyes out. Last thing she wrote is that both the scientists from the other world and herself are trying to communicate with the creature."

Well, that's disturbing, but not what we're looking for…

"Get Erwin and his little clique to report to the capital later this month, I'm curious about those working first hand with the Americans, and I want to hear what comes of this talking titan."

"Very well, your majesty… now, we have some worrisome reports that came to our attention recently…"

Rodd raised an eyebrow.

"Worrisome, how?" he asked.

"Well, several people in the poor parts of the capital have gone missing as of late, but no bodies have been found yet."

"Human traffickers?" the true king asked nervously.

"We are worried about as much."

Now more than a little concerned, Rod sank in his chair.

Wall Maria was essentially back in human hands, but that simply enticed criminals to sneak out and try to establish themselves in cleared out areas while the Americans focused on killing what hostiles remained. If the old traffickers and thieves tried something like that and the Americans found out…

It's like control is being slowly pulled away from me…

"Now… my king, the Americans have cleared out most titans within Wall Maria and are available to assist us if needed. Perhaps they could-"

"No, they can't be allowed anywhere near the capital with their weapons or technology. Post more guards in the neighborhoods and send Ackerman as well. He's not really busy right now."

Better to let a few men and women die than to risk going against the will of the Founder.

Deltoffe nodded, unquestioningly.

"Then that just leaves the progress of the ever growing interior police forces."

Rod sat up slightly asking "How are we on that front?"

"Numbers are going up, especially after several of our own found and conscripted some corrupt MPs. We could have a thousand soldiers trained and ready by the end of the month."

Rod smiled at that.

At least there was some good news.

Matt rotated the MK19 slightly as the Humvee rapidly made its way over a hill.

"Jake, I see them!"

"Yeah, got it, Vick Actual, we got a visual on the unknown, we're standing by…" Jake spoke into the radio.

The up armored Humvee crested the hill and caught up to the pair of horse drawn wagons that looked like they had stepped out of the American Frontier.

"Solid copy; all 1st Brigade Vicks, stay in formation, surround but do not engage." The radio crackled.

Three more Humvees moved in from all sides, surrounding the pair of wagons.

An old looking farmer drove the first one. He squinted to look at the Americans as they stepped out of their vehicles.

Jake hopped out of the driver's seat and moved up to the two wagons.

"United States Army, identify yourself." he called as other soldiers exited their vehicles, M4 carbines at the ready.

The whole scenario was off-putting.

The old man stammered something along the lines of "first re-settlers of wall Maria! Please don't shoot!"

A likely story…

Jake turned to Dave who shrugged and moved to the radio to make a call.

"Sir, we haven't fully cleared Wall Maria of titans, it isn't safe to be out here."

"Oh, rubbish, the government is always lying about things, and it's been more than a month!"

Jake glanced at Dave who got off the radio and shook his head.

"Sir, the resettlement program hasn't begun yet. I think you're a month early."

Matt narrowed his eyes as he noticed that the wagon in the rear seemed to be moving on its own, its driver looking mighty nervous as he looked behind him.

A trapped animal…

"Oh, that's true, but we're safe now, aren't we? No titans at all!"

"Sir, we are trying to keep things safe out here, can't have civilians start resettling while we're killing titans. We're going to have to escort you back-"

"No!"

A scream came from the rear wagon and the Americans managed to look in time to see a woman throw a frightened child out of the wagon before getting dragged back in as she attempted to flee.

"God damn it, what the hell is going on back there?!" Jake demanded as the other troops in the rear looked just as confused.

The old man actually leapt from his position on the wagon and dropped to the grass below.

A furious man with a flintlock rifle stepped out of the covered wagon and screamed "Get back- damn it!"

He went to pull back the hammer on the musket, Jake yelling "Drop your weapon right now!"

The driver of the second wagon hopped from his position, moving from the rear of the first wagon and revealing a small pistol, firing a shot at one of the soldiers.

The shot hit the young man square in the chest, pushing him back slightly, dazed but unhurt, he hit the corner of one of the Humvees and used it to keep himself from falling down completely, just as another American ducked and lifted the M4 carbine, letting off a single round that dropped the armed man in an instant, leaving a bloody hole in his chest.

Musket balls stood little chance of penetrating modern day Kevlar armor.

The man still holding a musket dropped it and raised his hands in surrender.

"God damn it! All weapons on the floor! Everybody out of the wagons! Now!" Jake shouted.

Slowly ten people exited the small wagons.

Jake ground his teeth before furiously walking up to the now unarmed man, saying "What the hell is this?"

The man said nothing.

Behind him, three women ranging from young adults to middle aged were bruised and had their hands tied up by ropes.

Then there were four kids, including the one who had been thrown out of the wagon, two boys, two girls, none of them a day over twelve hid behind them.

Three teenaged boys were the last to exit the wagons, their faces burned and disfigured.

"Traffickers! They kidnapped us from… from wall Sina…" the old man coughed as one of the younger women helped get him back up.

"Oh, human traffickers, huh?" Jake said as the other Americans quickly moved to untie the now safe civilians.

"Well, how do they deal with your kind in the walls?" Jake asked, getting uncomfortably close to the criminal.

The criminal only said "I bet they do worse than you."

Jake only smiled politely before saying "Take this… thing away and let Hill Zero One know."

Dave simply moved in with a pair of heavy duty zip ties, he grabbed the man and pushed his arms behind his back, asking "Okay, you comfortable?"

The man didn't reply.

Dave pulled and tightened the plastic restraints on the man's arm until he heard a protest.

"Okay, good." He said, tightly tying him up and then pushing him toward one of the Humvees.

"What makes you think I can teach you anything?" Bertholt asked Mikasa as he cleaned the rifle.

"Sasha says you're just as good as Annie."

"And you all fell for that?" he asked, a look of disappointment in his eyes.

Connie, Christa and Mikasa of all people had suddenly approached him in order to ask him about shooting with greater accuracy.

The three cadets didn't respond, simply eyeing him expectantly.

"Look, it's just training. These guns are easier to handle than our muskets, even if they look scarier." He said with a sigh.

"Oh, don't give me that, Bertholdt, you need to have some technique. Christa said she saw you shoot pretty good, too!" Connie barked back.

The small blonde stammered something resembling an affirmative.

"Whether you help us or not is irrelevant to me, but I admit that it's rather difficult to understand why you're such a good shot if you were afraid of firearms less than a month ago." Mikasa said in an unreadable tone.

Bertholdt sighed deeply, mumbling "I still am…"

They were all silent for a moment.

Bertholdt took a deep breath and said "Alright, if you want my advice, just come with me to the range when we train tomorrow. I can ask the sergeant if it's alright for me to help you."

Satisfied, Mikasa simply nodded and left Bertholdt to the overly thankful Christa and Connie.

Much to his dismay, the young man felt the burning eyes of a certain cadet bear on him before he felt the tug on his shoulder.

"Hey, hey, hey, Bert… how about you teach me, too?" Ymir asked in a tone that somehow, despite the friendly smile, the cheerful energy, and the friendly way of greeting him, felt like a threat.

"Err… sure… just join us tomorrow."

"Good! Come on, Christa, if we hurry we could get to the showers first!"

"Oh, right! Thanks, Bertholdt! See you in the morning!"

Bertholdt waved her away as Connie mumbled "You ever notice how Ymir is always just… appearing wherever Christa is? It's like the girl has a sixth sense or whatever the Americans call it."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Bert replied.

"Just saying, man, it's kind of weird. Like, she looked like she would bite the sergeant in two when he started teaching Christa how to hold the rifle. Better watch out tomorrow, man."

Bertholdt simply nodded and began to walk away.

Connie sighed.

"What is it with some people here? Just trying to be social… and now I'm talking to myself… great."

Karina read the odd information on her barely lit desk.

"Everything okay?" the voice of Lieutenant Troy interrupted her train of thought as he walked into the infirmary.

She frowned at him, still irritated with the Army lieutenant, but willing to still be professional.

"Just trying to figure out the tests." she sighed.

"Still?" he asked.

"Yes, still, Troy! The blood composition has some unidentifiable… something and I can't make heads or tails of it."

"But they're healthy?"

She nodded.

"Could ask them to come back in for more tests." he suggested.

"Maybe, though I don't know how much good it would do; not like the samples were contaminated, they're perfectly normal except for this unknown." She said, emphasizing her point by pointing at the data on her desk.

Troy looked at it.

"It's on all of them?"

"Yeah, but it's on these five where it's most pronounced. Like, maybe it's a genetic condition for people here, but it's just odd that we have nothing to compare it to."

"Did you send it to the other side?"

She nodded.

"Well, maybe they'll have better luck."

She shrugged.

"Hey, you're not planning on sending those kids out to combat soon, are you?"

"God, no, not until we have more air and ground support at the earliest. As good a shot as they can be, no one wants dead kids, let alone ones that died thanks to American intervention."

"Good, I really don't want to worry about treating kids with missing limbs yet."

"Don't worry about it, so far the most you may have to treat is… who's there?"

Troy had been looking at the window and he could have sworn he saw someone duck down, as if they had been peering in.

Like a spy.

"What?" Karina asked, looking at the window.

"Saw someone peering in through the window. Give me a second."

Troy stepped outside and walked around the building, carbine slung on his back, still at the ready.

Out of the medical station he was only greeted by silence and nothingness.

Nothing… must've-

A shadow sped past him just as he turned around to go back inside.

"Hey!"

He chased after the figure as it moved through the mostly empty barracks.

He saw the shadow run through the recently installed bathrooms and followed it inside.

One of the doors swung ever so slightly, as if it had been recently used.

He entered the men's room, flipped on the light switch and looked around.

He heard something coming from one of the stalls, as if its door had just been shut by someone in a hurry.

He walked over to it and slammed his fist on the metal.

"Who's in there?!" he demanded.

A startled girl replied suddenly "Ah! I- P-private Hanna Diament, sir!"

Troy winced, unsure of what to do with the information.

okay?

"What the hell are you doing in the men's room?!"

Silence for a second.

"O-oh? I… didn't notice the sign… in the dark… because it was dark!"

Troy crossed his arms, not buying it for a second.

"Who's in there with you?"

Silence…

"Private!"

"Uh… private… Franz… Kefka… sir…" a young man's voice replied.

Troy rubbed his eyes in frustration.

"You two dressed?" he asked.

"Yes sir!" the quick reply came from both the cadets.

"Good, then get the hell out of that stall!" he ordered, impatience lining his words.

The young pair exited the stall immediately.

Both appeared to be alright despite their faces looking as red as ripe tomatoes.

"What, did you two just get started or something?"

"Sir…" the pair admitted dejectedly, lowering their heads.

"Right, look, its late, you're young, your hormones must be all over the place… I'll overlook this once but you two stay the hell away from each other in public. Got it?"

Or at least don't get caught…

The pair seemed unhappy with the orders, but nodded regardless, not about to complain to a superior's face.

"Good… now get the hell out, go to bed."

"Yes, Lieutenant!" the cadets replied, moving quickly out the door and out of sight.

Note to self, remind the Germans to install more floodlights…

It was too dark out on moonless nights like these, and while the barracks and the main base were mostly well lit, the incident was living proof that they needed to modernize much faster.

Troy hadn't even noticed the small open window in the bathroom.

The Warrior risked a glance through the window into the bathroom as Troy exited without noticing her.

It had been small, but she had managed to escape just as he caught up to her.

It had been a miracle the two lovebirds of the 104th had decided to have a little get-together that night, but she wouldn't complain.

They're suspicious of our blood…but what the hell does she mean by there being five?

She shook her head, deciding to warn the others of her discovery right away instead of waiting any longer.

She doubted their self-proclaimed leader would act on it, or at least, act with intelligence on it, but if the Americans were onto them…

She desperately wanted to see her father again before she died.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and the Strongest Warrior slapped the book he was reading shut, trying desperately to keep his composure. It was comforting knowing that at least books hadn't changed much in a hundred years.

At least some things won't change…

Taking a deep breath, he stood up and moved to the bookshelf to place the history book back when one of his comrades appeared.

"We've been found out." She said simply.

The warrior was actually stunned by the statement, pausing for several long seconds before slowly turning to look at the girl.

"What?"

"The blood they took from us… somehow, they noticed something different, but it gets stranger."

The rather loud chattering coming from the nearby hall shut her up as the strongest warrior simply said "Tonight, past midnight, same spot."

The girl nodded and left, leaving him to think on what had just been said.

He left as he heard one of the Americans move into the area, grabbing another history book and sitting down on another table as the young man walked ahead, eyes on one of the strange devices he had seen the soldiers carrying.

"Damn it... damn it… damn it… damn it…"

He ignored it, continuing to read something about the First World War when the chattering he had heard was finally given a physical form.

"Telling you, these guys are…" the grating voice of Ymir turned a corner, and was promptly silenced when she saw the American on the other end of the room.

"What do you think those things are about?" she mumbled to her ever present companion.

"Ymir, I just want to read up on their monarchies, you can let go of my arm-"

"Oh, my brave little Christa, if only it were so simple! Who knows what dangers lie around every corner in this… mysterious realm of foreign knowledge? Like that guy over there!"

The Warrior refused to look up from his book, despite his fondness for the blonde, the dark haired Ymir always managed to appear whenever someone else tried talking to Christa, which made it so that he rarely got any chance to talk to her.

"Well, go talk to him then, unless you want to read about monarchies."

Ymir seemed to want to argue, but the blonde pulled away from her grasp relatively quickly and disappeared behind a column of books.

She huffed and began to follow when the American in the room spoke up.

"You two cousins or something?" he asked.

Ymir flinched, frustrated that the young man had suddenly decided to start talking with her, but more so by the fact that the question was so positively stupid that she had to reply.

"No. What's it to you?"

The American raised an eyebrow, saying "Nothing, I guess. Just notice that wherever she is, you suddenly show up."

Ymir smirked, saying "You like spying on girls, mister…?"

"Ryan, and no, I just have to keep an eye on the lot of you so that we don't have to deal with suddenly not-alive kids in our base." He replied, shuddering.

"Oh? Are there dangers here? I thought the place was secure…" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah, but two… individuals were caught last night performing… unsanctioned nighttime activities… the type that add their own danger."

That intrigued the teenager.

"Wait, did someone catch Franz and his wife-to-be together in the middle of the night?"

"Wouldn't know, the lieutenant didn't give names and I don't care what you kids do as long as we don't have to deal with an unplanned pregnancy or something."

Ymir narrowed her eyes.

"You make it sound like you're babysitting us."

"We… are?"

Ymir scoffed as she muttered "Honestly, you people may be far more advanced than us, but you have no idea what we can do. We're not children, you know."

She planned on leaving, but noted the flashing lights coming from the device the American was holding.

"Hey hold on, that isn't one of your computer, thingies, is it?"

It's different from…

Ryan glanced down and lifted the device, saying "We call it the Nintendo Switch. Video games on the go… you wouldn't get it."

She cautiously moved closer to stare at the device.

A young… man(?) wearing green clothing stood in an open field, several bars and numbers were on the screen as well, though their meaning escaped her.

Huh… colorful…

"Kinda looks like one of the… moving pictures on the computers… the ones with the tanks?"

"Computer generated imagery; you can create and move around all sorts of stuff with it."

Ymir pushed a button with a letter, mumbling "Sounds like a waste of time-"

The second she pressed it, the little man(?) on the screen made a little hop.

Ymir blinked.

"Excuse me, sir, do you know where the books with the kingdom are? I swear I saw some of them earlier, but…"

Ryan put the device away and said "Oh, Private Lenz… uh, sorry but I haven't really-"

"Got it right here!" someone suddenly said.

Ymir glanced at Reiner who handed Christa a book with an odd flag pasted over several pictures of a picturesque city.

"Oh, thank you, Reiner! I was looking all over for it!"

The teen chuckled lightly, saying "Ah, it's nothing, I was reading it earlier, and it's really quite interesting."

Ymir felt jealousy spike from within but before she could object, Christa said "Well, thank you! Maybe you could help me find stuff in it?"

"Sure, like what?" Reiner said as Christa led him to the nearby table.

"I really just want to know about this Queen Elizabeth…"

The American turned to look at her and said "Huh… She is incredibly polite for a soldier."

Ymir shot Ryan a glare he didn't seem to catch.

"Anyway, I have stuff to do… what?"

Ymir said nothing as she continued to glare at the American.

"Um… what? Are you two… a thing or something?"

"What's it to you?"

"Kid, I don't care, but if you are a thing, just don't go out after lights out."

Ymir frowned but didn't argue as the American left.

Damn it… maybe we still are just a bunch of kids…

General Connor had just started reading the new report when the US representative stormed in and sat down on a chair in front of him.

"Representative Kelly, if you want to vent-"

"The son of a bitch is preparing a force specifically to attack us, we have little to no communication with the central government, we've just about cleared Wall Maria yet the bastards in the inner wall don't even want to meet in person to inspect our work and now the Army caught human traffickers sneaking out of the walls in order to do God-knows-what to several women and children. Hell yes I want to vent..."

Connor blinked, looked up and asked "The son of a bitch is preparing a what?"

Kelly shook her head, saying "The covert team we sent in secret… didn't you read their report?"

"I got it last night- I was about to…"

"You do that…" she mumbled, sticking a piece of nicotine gum into her mouth.

Connor stayed silent as he read through the short report.

"I see." He said after a few minutes.

"I don't get this guy, he doesn't communicate, he doesn't want our help, he doesn't want our technology, and he's paranoid enough to start a special force just to deal with us?!"

Connor breathed and said "We would do the same if a technologically superior force suddenly appeared and if anything they seem to be just as paranoid as us… that said from what the SAS reportedly saw… well God damn, I was trying to downplay this, but this is some shady… stuff. Their other suspicious actions not included. What has the President said?"

"He's pissed off." she sighed.

"Uh…"

"In short, your idea of ignoring the weapons ban in the capital is to be fully implemented should we be summoned, and if we so much as sense a threat we call it out. No provocations, the teams in the capital are to stay hidden, but no more beating around the bush, either we're in this together, or we're not."

"I couldn't agree more."

Kelly and Connor turned to look at Erwin and Levi who were standing at the entrance.

Connor smiled slightly and waved them in.

"So, you sent spies into the capital?" Erwin asked.

"That would be correct, commander. They've been there two weeks now, mostly observing. Glad you could join us."

"Sorry for not telling you sooner, but we hoped it wouldn't be this bad and could simply… not be needed."

The man nodded, and Levi sighed, saying "Can't say I blame you."

"No offense, captain, but despite how it sounds, we don't want anyone to die."

Levi shook his head then, saying "Nobody does, but you do what you have to do."

"Correct, that's the difference between you and the nobility."

The two Americans simultaneously raised an eyebrow.

"Let's be honest, neither of us has been completely truthful with the other. I haven't shared all the information I have on them, and I am certain you haven't shared everything about your world with us, granted we have both been busy with other things."

The Americans didn't reply.

"However, the nobility will constantly deny need to know information, vital or not. Am I mistaken?"

The Americans were silent for a second before Kelly said "We didn't even really know about the interior police until our spies heard rumors about them… and we didn't get physical proof of their existence until yesterday morning."

Erwin nodded.

"I was aware of their existence, but since we were focusing on reclaiming Wall Maria, I didn't get the chance to inform you of them."

Connor nodded, understanding.

"Levi did mention that a… family member?" Connor asked the captain.

The captain nodded.

"He mentioned a family member working with the police in the interior that had expressed some concern, but we never expected… this level of pushback. Or at least, so soon."

I mean, hell, we've been helping them this entire time…

Levi winced, saying "Your spies haven't found Kenny?"

"Captain, they only found solid proof of the Interior Police yesterday. You think he works with the interior?"

The captain frowned, saying "More than likely, though I wondered if he might have been turned into a high ranking MP instead. Regardless, we should try finding him. He seemed to know something when we briefly spoke…"

Erwin nodded, saying "That is just one thing they haven't told you. Have they given any of you access to the old records?"

They shook their heads.

"I don't think those records exist." Erwin said suddenly.

The Survey Corps commander took a deep breath and decided to come clean with everything.

He knew the information he was about to give to them would only raise tensions.

He knew saying what he was about to say would cost human lives eventually.

But even if he didn't tell them, they would eventually start to notice.

"Why do our history books say that we are all that remains of humanity?"

"Well, it's your assumption, right?" Connor said.

Erwin nodded, saying "Correct, but if that were the case, our history books would say it is assumed instead of we are all that is left, now wouldn't it?"

Connor narrowed his eyes, and Kelly asked "Commander… do you think the government is… pushing something on the population?"

The man stared sadly at his hands, saying "My father was a history teacher, and I asked him the same question when I was younger…"

"General, Representative, our history books as we know them are filled with inconsistencies. Your history books will openly point out what is known and unknown. Ours proudly declare with upmost certainty that what any other objective investigator would call a theory is actually a fact."

Connor shifted in his seat, intrigued.

"So, when my father told me the same, I… I decided to tell my friends, my neighbors, anyone who would listen."

He still remembered…

I am telling you, the king wants to control our memories by changing what the history books say!

Why?

Because of control? I don't know, but why else would-

Where did you hear that, young man?

"…I told some military police officers who didn't seem to care much for my theories. My father disappeared later that day and was found dead in an alleyway sometime after that. They said he was mugged, but…"

"Oh, how convenient… not only does this secret police force operate from the shadows, they're also killing any dissent even if it's just an idea… Representative, we need to look further into this."

"Not just that… if the titans appeared a little more than a century ago, how come no one here has any memories of stories passed down from parents or grandparents. Surely there should be more information from back then, even if records were gone." Kelly mumbled.

"Captain, could you talk to one of our sketch artists? Give a description of Kenny so that we can tell our people to try to find him?"

The captain nodded.

"General, what do you plan to do with the information?"

"Trust, but verify."

Erwin winced.

"You believe me?"

"Commander, we in the US try to be fair to our allies, sometimes we aren't, and sometimes we are. If what you say is true, and the government is actively trying to manipulate the people by controlling what information is accepted and destroying… dissidents, well, if it was that on its own, we may have let it slide as long as they didn't try to apply it to us."

Levi stared with the slightest hint of surprise at the brutal honesty in the words, but Erwin didn't react.

"But it seems like they plan on doing just that."

Before they could say more, footsteps came from outside, a guard saying "Miss Zoe?"

"No time!"

Something crashed, several apologies were given, and then Hanji promptly pushed the door open, quickly saluting the officers and trying to apologize while also explaining what she had found out.

Levi approached her as she continued talking incoherently.

"Commandaral-sorr-interrupti-out-lady…. Ack!"

"Idiot, breathe, speak clearly." Levi said after slapping the girls back.

She took a deep breath and started again.

"Commander, general, sorry for interrupting." she sighed.

"It's fine… what's the situation?"

"I sent Moblit back to Wall Rose earlier in the week to mail the report on the captured titan, and while he was there he decided to check the military records for anyone named Ymir in order to... What do you say… to cover our bases?"

Kelly nervously tossed another piece of nicotine gum into her mouth.

"He… he found a single cadet in the entire military that went by that name. A single female cadet in the 104th. Ymir, no known last name."

Connor glanced at Erwin.

As usual, the problems get worse.

"She could always just be from the underground. Many folks down there only go by their first name." Levi suggested.

"Underground what now?" Kelly asked.

"The underground city underneath the capital." the captain replied.

"God damn it, we have spies over there, how is something like an underground city kept a secret?"

"People rarely talk about it. It's just an underground ghetto for the poorest of the poor."

Kelly frowned.

Why didn't they tell us then?

"Given how messed up the records were at the time, it isn't impossible… but if the titans worshipped a girl that looked like Ilse, and the girl wanted to sneak into your walled society to infiltrate us… what better time to do so than after the wall fell?" Erwin said, now more than glad to focus on the titan enemy, distracting from the interior enemy.

"E-exactly my thoughts, commander! I believe it's worth investigating."

Although why she would keep her own name… bah, maybe she didn't think a titan would betray her.

"Okay, so to review… Interior police possibly want us all dead-"

"Excuse me, what?" Hanji asked startled.

"Tell you later." Levi sighed.

"We have that and a possible lead on the Ymir identity… Are we missing anything?"

"Oh, um… the king summoned us to report on the situation."

Kelly popped a third piece of nicotine gum into her mouth.

"Okay, so we know the king and the MPs don't suspect us yet… at least of knowing certain things. Maybe…"

Connor smiled slightly.

"General?"

"Did they say anything about journalists being allowed in the capital?"

"Uh… yes, actually. They're allowed through. Why?"

"How about you three act as their escorts along Commander Pyxis? More people, more witnesses if they try anything, Levi can try to locate Kenny, and if they actually try to hurt one of our own citizens…"

The sound of a rolling Abrams returning to the motor pool outside seemed to emphasize his point.

Kelly popped a fourth piece of nicotine gum into her mouth.

God, I hope the king isn't dumb enough to order an attack…

"We can't attack." The strongest of the warriors sighed as they sat under the starry sky.

"I agree, so let's retreat then." The female warrior suggested.

"Not yet. You said there were five people the nurse mentioned with abnormalities in the blood?"

"No, she said there were five cases where the abnormality was more pronounced. She said everyone in the 104th tested had the same abnormalities. You know damn well what that means!"

The strongest warrior sat on the grass, rubbing his eyes.

"Right, let's go over what we know…" he sighed.

"Why?"

"Damn it, because I want to make sure I haven't gone crazy!"

The other two were silent.

"Right… right… form the top, during the Great Titan War, Marley was able to take hold of… 8 of the 9 titans, yeah?"

The other two warriors nodded.

"Technically the War Hammer titan belongs to the Tybur family, but Marley still has…" he began counting on his hand before stopping.

"That's right… barring the Founding Titan, we only lost the Attack Titan. No one knows what happened to it, right?"

"No, but we know what happened to Marcel." the third warrior said without emotion.

The strongest warrior was silent for a moment before nodding and rubbing his chin, saying "Right… that's right… so… let's assume your theory is correct, and… there are five shifters within the Barracks. Eren is already acting suspicious with his father and his memory erasing syringe, but…"

The warrior was silent, a possibility popping into his head.

"Wait… wait, wait, wait, wait… the Founder promised that if something happened he would… he would act, right?"

The other two warriors nodded.

The strongest warrior stood up and with a manic look in his eyes began pacing back and forth.

"So… Eren- his father, he… he injected him with a serum that made him forget what happened immediately after to the point that he is still unsure how much of what he saw was true or not… assuming all of that is true, the only possibility is that Eren's father must have known something about the attack… guys… what if the Founder… what if our attack got them to act, just not how we expected? What if our attack was so… so devastating that… that the founder actually gave his power away to someone who had no experience? What if… what if the Founder is… has been right underneath our noses all along?"

The other two warriors stood silently in the darkness for a solid minute before the female warrior let out a sigh.

"You're assuming quite a bit there."

"It only makes sense. Either Eren has the Founder or… or someone else here does…"

"What if its neither? What if the one that took Marcel-"

"Oh, that's impossible. Even if it managed to understand how to use its power, it wouldn't be able to understand all of it. My guess, it's still out there, beyond the walls, because there are no other titan powers out there, and I seriously doubt Zeke or Pieck is hiding amongst our comrades."

The warriors were silent.

"We need to narrow it down… we need… we need a plan of action."

"…we could try talking to the Americans, and-"

"Yeah, get the information that way! Talk to that nurse, sneak in and look at her records! Then we can just kidnap them and… then retreat."

Without bloodshed!

"Yeah, yeah, that doesn't sound too bad."

"I was going to suggest coming clean but given your current attitude…"

The strongest warrior grinned slightly, a possible road to redemption suddenly clear in front of him.

Then he frowned.

"That said, we need do a backup plan… just in case."

At this point, the other two Warriors knew better than to argue.

Bertholdt shuddered as Mikasa managed to hit the center of the target with impressive precision.

Not like any of the cadets couldn't hit a target, but several were certainly far more talented than others.

He tried his hardest not to look at Daz as he reached for another clip that was by his feet, carelessly moving the Garand out of the firing range, pointing it towards his own comrades.

He tried so hard to ignore the furious yelling of an American sergeant as he heard what sounded like the poor idiot getting his rifle taken away and ordered to sit down.

Gun safety was no joke…

"Poor bastard can't even get used to carrying the damned thing." Connie mumbled, loading another clip into the gun.

"It's been almost three weeks, he needs to get used to it. Even if he's just going to be carrying ammo." he sighed, not exactly enthusiastic to be carrying a rifle himself.

Christa lowered her rifle before turning to him.

"How come you're scared of guns, Bertholdt?"

The tall teen grimaced as the other cadets turned to look at him.

Gotta tell them something…

"Back when the wall fell we… we had to run away with what we could carry… um… eventually… eventually some guy tried to rob us… not much we had that he could steal but… but food was already scarce. Reiner and I were just kids and Reiner…"

The young man shut his eyes for a second.

"Reiner was a warrior… reckless but… a warrior. He charged ahead and… told me to use one of the hunting guns we had on us. Basically I would land a killing blow and… and he would take our stuff back… should have been easy…"

Bertholdt stared at the target, but his eyes were elsewhere.

He turned to look at the ground and said "I managed to hit the thief, Reiner got our food back but… it didn't solve anything. Guns are… obviously deadly to us tiny humans… having that much power… I guess it scares me even now."

Mikasa walked over to him, put a hand on his shoulder and said "This world is cruel, Bertholdt. It is necessary to make difficult choices that… don't always end with everyone being alive."

He noted the briefest glimmer of sadness in the eyes of the girl, but she quickly hid it away.

"Just know that in teaching us to be better shots, you're helping us survive the world out there." Christa concluded.

"Geez, can we drop the sentimental crap and get on with this?" Ymir groaned.

"Ymir, is it your job to like… ruin moments or something?" Connie asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the girl asked rather loudly.

"I swear on the grave of Mother Theresa that if any one of you breaks a single rule you will ALL be digging latrines for the next month!" one of the American officers shouted, as if sensing a possible argument brewing.

"Right… got a few more rounds to expend before finishing…" Christa said, going moving back into a firing position.

Bertholdt was too busy staring at his comrades to react.

He smiled ever so slightly as he noticed that their aim was in fact improving, even if by a little.

Matt clicked on the dust cover on his M4 once he was certain there wasn't a round in the chamber, then he inserted another magazine and chambered a round before ejecting the magazine and removing the round again.

"What are you doing?" the voice of a girl interrupted his train of thought and he turned to look at her.

"Thinking… passing the time." He replied courtly, placing the lone round back onto the magazine.

"Okay? Heard you got to see some action today..." Ilse said as she moved to sit next to the soldier.

Matt shrugged.

Ilse frowned.

"Anyway, got any plans on what you'll do after the Army?"

Matt shrugged.

"I mean, I think I'll stay here and try to start a business in twon… maybe a book store… I could publish my journal, get some recognition…"

Matt shrugged.

Ilse elbowed him on the ribs.

"Christ, lady! Holding live ammo here…" he said as he showed her the loaded magazine.

"Oh don't be such a baby; you'd need a rifled barrel to get any round to kill me even if it went off somehow. And those rounds aren't in any barrel."

"Yeah, well…" the young man sighed without saying anything.

"What?"

"Human traffickers… I don't know I just… didn't think I would see that sort of thing here even if… even if I knew it happened. I don't know, just feels weird being in another world and… still the same problems."

Ilse shrugged, knowing that humans were humans no matter where they were.

Matt then said "Of course, given your situation and your lack of information… on anything beyond those walls, at least this world has some more mysteries to it."

"That's what you can come up with? We have some neat things, like our ODM-"

"A guy from the 1st armored tried to use one and almost broke his back. We've had more casualties from our guys messing around than from the titans! Honestly, even if it's the only weapon you guys have available, the things are death traps if you have no training."

"Well… yeah… you need at least a year of training to use it, another year to get used to it, another year to use it for combat, and another year just to iron the training in. What even happened to the guy?"

"Shot a tree with it, screwed up with one of the triggers and flew into it. He has a mild concussion." Kane said as he appeared almost out of nowhere.

"How's guard duty?"

Matt turned to look at the ominous gate behind him.

"Boring. I thought they said this place was haunted or something."

Kane shrugged before saying "So… we have another mission together."

Ilse and Matt simultaneously raised an eyebrow.

"We're heading to Shiganshina to observe the 104th in training, but specifically… we're going to keep an eye on a girl that goes by the name of Ymir."

"Alright, cadets, today we are doing something special. Yu have all trained with the fair variety of firearms from the beautiful M1 Garand, to the gorgeous M2 Browning, to the magnificent M87… now, let's assume the armored or the colossal titan appeared today or tomorrow and put another hole in the wall…" Sergeant Roy said as he moved through the columns of cadets standing at attention.

Some of them visibly shuddered.

"Today… we train for the defense of a town with the very weapons you have all been working with. You are all going to be assigned to a team and a specific role, be it a machine gun team or a sniper team or a support team. If you all manage to prepare your positions in a very specific time limit… well, Colonel parker picked out a nice little reward for you all. now, for the teams… Connie Springer, Mina Carolina, Samuel Jackson… you three will man Machine Gun nest…"

Eren felt a rush of excitement.

"Armin Arlert, Thomas Wagner, Private Ymir... Machine Gun nest..."

He was ready.

"Mikasa Ackerman, Marco Bodt… Sniper and support respectively…"

More than ready!

"Milieus Zeremski, Sasha Braus… Sniper and Support respectively..."

No matter what the sergeant gave him he would-

"Eren Yeager, Jean Kirschtein, sniper and support respectively…"

Sergeant Roy hesitated for the briefest instant as he could have sworn he heard someone screaming, but he genuinely wasn't sure if he imagined it. With no way to be certain, he continued reading the list of positions that needed to be manned.

A few minutes later, Eren was silently placing rounds on magazines next to the already frustrated young man.

"I swear they do this just to mess with us…" he heard him mutter.

"You're the one that causes trouble for me, Jean!"

"Just shut up and lets finish working on this… damned exercise…"

"Yeah… right… let's do that…" Eren said, trying to be the last one to speak up.

"Okay, dude, focus or else you might actually die out there." Someone said.

A bored looking American walked over and pointed at the magazine Eren was loading.

"You're putting the rounds backwards."

Eren winced and checked the large magazine.

The American wasn't lying.

"Dumbass…" Jean groaned as he loaded a clip into the modified M1.

"Uh... thanks… you're with the-?"

"First Armored, US Army, not to be confused with First Armored, US Marines... Ryan."

Eren nodded and started to focus on fixing his mistake before saying "You guys going to join us today?"

Ryan shrugged, saying "Just going to escort some group of Army observers coming later today. I hear they're bringing in members of the Levi squad."

Eren felt a chill go up his spine as he turned and asked "You worked with the Levi Squad?"

The American shook his head, saying "Not directly, but I saw them before coming here. Gotta say, considering that they can do on their own what we need an Abrams to accomplish… they're pretty badass."

"Well, I mostly care about getting the job done…"

"Yeah, old Eren here only cares about killing all titans." Jean said in a mocking tone.

Ryan blinked as his radio crackled some information and said "Good, you need the initiative if you want to beat an enemy like them. Anyway, make sure your weapons are ready, even if you won't fire them. I gotta go."

Eren waved before turning to Jean, asking "What did I do to you?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Petra stared at the screens depicting the cadets running through the ruined town just outside the entrance to Shiganshina.

"Well, there she is…" Shadis stated, noting Ymir carrying the tripod for a Browning in one monitor.

"Huh… she kind of resembles Ilse, actually… or is it the other way around?"

"I think I'm older than her, Petra."

"Err…"

"Quiet you two… has she acted or done anything strange that you have noticed?" Eld asked the men in charge.

Colonel Parker turned to Lieutenant Troy who in turn turned to Nurse Karina who in turn said "Well, she was one of the five cadets whose blood has a pronounced… aberration."

Eld took the paper and looked it over.

"Private Eren Yeager, Private Ymir, Private Reiner Braun, Private Annie Leonhart, Private Bertholdt Hoover all have the same oddity in their blood... that said, all the cadets seem to have a specific mutation that we believe all the inhabitants of the walls have, so I'm afraid that it isn't exactly rock solid evidence of much."

Eld nodded and turned to the monitors again.

The cadets were per performing well.

"I'm sure all of them have lost someone to the enemy… it's kind of a stretch to assume one of them is a traitor to an unknown enemy let alone five, no?" Shadis asked.

"Commandant, the lack of information is our worst enemy right now. While we won't do anything to them we need to check everything."

Too often have entire wars been lost because of a lack of information.

Shadis nodded then.

On the screen, Sergeant Roy ordered the cadets to start over.

"So… one of those kids is apparently called Samuel L Jackson…" Jake mumbled.

The Humvee and the Marine MRAP were parked neatly by the entrance to Shiganshina, having a decent view of the cadets training on the rooftops.

"Well, that's neat I suppose." Matt said as they observed the cadets train with the ODM gear.

"Is it?"

"Jake I don't know if you've heard, but there's this guy working with us called Levi, and he isn't exactly Jewish." Dave replied.

"Okay, point, but come on, that's like finding someone called Kanye West, or Taylor Swift, or George Bush on mars or something. Like-"

"If you want to talk about weird, check that out." Kane said as he hopped off from the MRAP.

A dark haired girl used her gear to hop from one building to the next as Sergeant Roy ordered the cadets practice a tactical retreat.

"Oh, the supposed last Chinese person in this planet." Jake said, wide eyed.

"Just goes to show, not even an extinction event will wipe out the reds." Kane mumbled.

"Meh, I'd do her." Matt admitted without any prompt.

"Dude… she's like… what, sixteen?"

"Is she? I thought she was older…"

Kane frowned, saying "Fourteen… her record says she's fourteen… don't you read?"

"Not about her, in all honesty… so… despite her figure, she's… not even old enough to be in high school yet?"

The others collectively shook their heads.

"I remember joking about you being into younger girls, but God damn, dude."

Matt opened his mouth to protest but promptly kept quiet.

"He isn't even denying it anymore. Dude, turn yourself in."

"Yeah, sure… hey, Dave how old was your father when he married your mother?"

"Oh, don't try to change the subject."

"No, really, how old was-?"

"Matt, we get it, Kansas has a low age of consent, but we're not in Kansas anymore. We have laws and regulations that keep degenerates like you from-"

"Who are you and what are you talking about?"

The soldiers and marines turned to look at a bored looking blonde haired girl who was wearing the 104th cadet uniform.

"Nothing much, we're with the Army's 1st Brigade Mechanized infantry." Jake called.

"1st Marines… just escorting some VIPs, miss…"

The girl stared at them before getting closer and sitting down, taking a metallic cantine and drinking from it before saying anything to the Americans.

"Annie Leonhart… Sergeant Roy gave us a thirty minute break. I was a bit curious and wanted to get away from… someone."

Jake nodded in understanding.

They were quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say with a kid sitting there.

She didn't give them much time to think of anything before speaking.

"…do you guys think children should pay for the mistakes their parents made?"

"Well, dad bought a house in Jersey and if he dies I have to pay the mortgage until its paid in full…" Kane mumbled.

"That's not what I mean."

"Oh, we know, but I guess the answer really depends, doesn't it?" Matt sighed.

"…should the… should Germans continue to pay for what they did almost seventy years ago?" she asked.

"Nah, I don't think so. But then again, some of them are still alive… well, it's a complicated question, kid. Should their grandchildren still be forced to pay for what their grandparents did, no, but it was a pretty recent event in our world history… A lot of people still remember what happened so… anyway, why are you asking, you like the philosopher of the regiment or something?" Jake asked.

The girl was quiet for a few seconds before saying "I don't know… criminals still have to pay for what they did, right?"

The Americans mumbled something to the affirmative.

"Yeah… punishing a mass murderer is ultimately fair… the circumstances don't matter, yes?" she asked.

"What are you trying to get at?" Matt asked.

The girl chuckled slightly before standing up.

"I don't know… I was just curious, I guess."

The used her gear to quickly leave the scene.

The Americans stayed silent before Kane groaned and said "You know what the problem is with people here. Everyone is so God damn enigmatic nobody can communicate."

"In all honesty, yeah… the hell was all that about?"

"Don't know, don't care… she was kinda cute, though." Dave mumbled.

He didn't complain when Matt slapped the back of his head.

"Alright, 104th fall in!"

Not bad, not bad at all…

"Alright cadets, not too shabby, you all managed to set up defensive positions about as fast as any of my units could."

Thrice as fast, technically given how the ODM gear helps you, but who's counting?

"So, as a reward for your good enough performance, tonight you all get to experience one of the feature length films the brass has picked out for you!"

The cadets managed something of a smile, exhausted from running and setting up defensive posts all day, and the late afternoon sun was doing them no favors.

"So… while this film may mostly serve for… educational purposes."

The only one to groan was Sasha, getting everyone to stare at the girl suddenly lying on the dirt.

"But papa, I'm huunngryyy…" the girl moaned, eyes closed as she seemed to

Roy hid his sudden concern, asking "Aw, hell, did she pass out?!"

Connie swiftly kicked the girl's side to no effect.

"Oh, no, she may have pushed herself too hard… somebody! Get her some food!" Connie said, worried.

Sergeant Roy narrowed his eyes and approached the girl on the floor.

"Braus, if you don't get up in the next two seconds not only will you not get any dinner, but..."

The girl sluggishly began to stand up without another word, though it was clear that she was out of it.

Roy sighed.

Burnouts were to be expected during training, especially at this age, but soldiers were meant to eventually surpass such burnouts or at least work around them.

And frankly, fainting from exhaustion really wasn't that big a deal in the military.

Roy didn't get any breaks when it happened to him, only reason he was being this patient with the girl was because… well… she was a fourteen year old girl.

"Now, if none of you actors wants to feign a heat stroke, I expect all of you to be ready for tonight. You'll be watching one of America's greatest president's struggle during our bloodiest war, and if that doesn't get you invested then by God nothing will! Dismissed!"

"Mikasa… carry meeee…"

"No."

Sasha wailed as she slowly walked behind the others back into the walled district.

"Eren, how did Jean treat you?" Mikasa asked, catching up to the grumpy teenager.

"Other than his constant whinnying he didn't do a terrible job."

The girl nodded.

"Hey, you guys have any idea what president the sergeant was talking about?" Armin asked as he caught up to the pair.

Mikasa shook her head.

"No, I thought you would know more."

Armin said "I think it could be Lincoln, but-"

"Who?" Eren asked.

"He was president during their Civil War… didn't you read about it?"

Eren thought back to it… suddenly recalling something.

"Oh, the guy who freed the slaves, yeah?" he said, snapping his fingers.

Armin nodded, saying "Well yeah… but I personally hope they show us a film about one of the Roosevelt's… I hear both of them were incredible."

"I just hope the film is calm, it's been a tough day." Mikasa sighed, ribbing the throbbing vein on her forehead.

She had seen several of the informative videos on the computers at the library, and several of those were heavily action packed recreations of large battles between armies.

After an entire day of practicing defensive positions over and over and over again, Mikasa was too tired to focus on intense combat of any kind.

Much to her chagrin, the very opening scene of the film involved soldiers in different uniforms pretty much tearing each other apart as they were using similar muskets to the ones found within the walls.

At least the movie was fairly relaxed after that.

"So… that's how they fought wars back then…" Armin gulped.

Mikasa simply looked around, noticing several of the other Americans were tuning out while the cadets were positively fascinated by the large screen.

One of the tankers was actually focusing on the odd computer like device Ymir mentioned was used by the Americans to play video games.

But then again she was more than certain that Hannah and Franz weren't exactly paying attention to the movie given how close they were.

She glanced at Eren who seemed fascinated by the film.

There was an odd feeling of… normalcy that surprised her.

It was enough to make people forget that so many had died in the district.

But that was then… now, she could at least hope for the better.

The friendly looking president on the screen seemed to emphasize that good things eventually came from the struggles.

"What do you mean we can't detain them?!" Ian growled at Sannes as the wagons slowly passed them.

People from the other side of the gate had arrived in the capital once more, carrying odd devices that looked like weapons as they pointed them at everything.

Were they weapons?

Perhaps not directly, but… anything could be a weapon in theory.

"You're still training, soldier. Besides, the king will give the order if he wants any of them stopped. Besides, you don't wish to go against him do you?"

Levi kept eyeing every MP they passed down the pristine streets of the capital with blatant contempt and distrust.

The young Interior Police officer felt his nails dig into his palm as he balled a fist as the Survey Corps captain made eye contact with him for a half second before moving on.

That traitor wants the king to be deposed, I can just feel it!

But he nodded, understanding that he wasn't yet ready to fight someone as skilled as the man with the title of humanity's strongest.

But those strangers…

"As you can see, the capital is much like the other districts, a trip back in time…" one of them spoke into a device, the odd object aimed right at him.

"…and emphasis on a no modern weapons policy, only allowing muskets to be carried by the military police, and with little to no civilian ownership of firearms…."

"Any of you have a message for the people across the gate?" one of the men with a slightly smaller variant of the odd devices that they kept pointing it at everything stood up and pointed it at a mix of civilians and military.

They simply waved, unsure of what to do.

Ian felt himself groan, wanting an excuse, any excuse to take one down, until he noticed something off about the crowd.

Everyone within it was well dressed for the most part, top hats, canes, dresses, flowers… even the obviously less fortunate civilians were dressed in acceptable attire.

Yet a single bearded man stood with a dirty cloak over his clothes behind it all.

Ian frowned, narrowed his eyes and said "Sannes, I'm going to go chat with that man."

Before his commanding officer could reply, Ian used his gear to hop to a roof and then cross the street, landing close to the bearded man, who noticed him immediately, but continued to focus on the people from the other world.

He didn't seem to care.

"Hey, you!"

The bearded man turned to look at him and pointed at himself, seemingly confused.

"This is a formal event, take that cloak off right now."

The bearded man said "Apologies, sir, but this is all I have. I just want to-"

"Either take off that cloak or get out!" Ian ordered, civilians dispersing slightly as none wanted to get caught up in the situation.

"Apologies, sir, I'll take my leave." The man said, lowering his head, placing a hood over it, and taking his leave.

Ian winced at the fact that the man simply left.

He honestly expected more of a fight.

He wanted more of a fight.

Something about the accent…

Any excuse…

Noticing the man head down an alleyway, Ian began to follow him.

The man walked calmly, but seemed to be occasionally mumbling to himself.

"Crow, he isn't leaving." Ian overheard him say.

The MP frowned and quickened his pace.

The man stopped and turned around, asking "Sir, is something wrong?"

"Who are you speaking with?!"

"Sir?"

"I said, who are you speaking w-?"

A force he didn't expect suddenly pushed him to the floor.

A second hooded figure!

Now the two hooded men ran down the alley.

Furious, Ian used his gear to gain on them immediately, firing a hook into the wall at the other end of the alley, landing right in front of the two men in hoods, and in one swift motion, he unsheathed his blades.

The two men paused, neither saying a word.

"You two just assaulted a member of the Military Police. Cooperate and you may live."

The second man angrily said "Yeah, you were chasing my friend for no reason, what did you think I was going to-?"

"Quiet! Where are you two from? The Underground?"

The two men were quiet.

One of them scratched their ear.

"Do you have permission to be out here?!"

The first man moved ever so slightly to the right.

"What are you-?"

The man slammed his fist straight into his face, crashing his head against the alleyways wall, before swiftly kicking his side.

Ian collapsed to his knees.

Ian held on to his side as he felt like he had just been shot.

Both men took the opportunity to retreat down the alleyway.

Angrily he stood up, confused.

How… quick can they… what?!

"Ian! What the hell was that?!" Sannes demanded as he finally caught up.

The young man straightened, saying "Some people from the underground, I… I think. Must have been… tried to stab me I think, but the cowards just ran off… got me good, though."

He showed the captain his bruised side.

"Can you still move?"

The young man nodded.

"Good, never go off on your own. This is why you need to train more."

Ian nodded, suppressing the irritation.

He never once thought that his life had been in immediate danger.

Which was perfectly fine for the CIA agent, listening to the information on her earpiece as she flipped the safety back on MK18.

"Should have let us taken him. Kid was full of it, his commander was far away… could have gained some valuable intel with little risk to ourselves. Blamed it on someone else, too." Sparrow sighed.

"Yeah, but then the interior police would go crazy looking for him. Kid suspected you were people from the underground, not British or Americans, so until we get the green light, we, unfortunately, have to stay in the shadows and avoid incidents like these… hopefully we won't have to wait too long. I don't think we've fired a shot since coming in here. Damn shame, but we do have to at least try not to blow things up."

"Did the other guys manage to get to their objective at least?"

"Unfortunately, Kenny Ackerman seems to be a difficult man to find."

"Damn it…"

"On the bright side, it seems the Interior Police aren't exactly as great as they want us to believe."

Crow sighed, saying "Honestly, not as dangerous as we thought doesn't mean much when you consider their weapons and gear. Bastards are still dangerous."

She nodded.

We'll have to choose our battles carefully.

"Mister Deltoffe, can you tell us about the underground city?"

The old man maintained his smile as the small group of reporters followed the advisory through the halls of the main government building.

"Ah, yes, the information I have available says that it was built by the first settlers of the walls a century ago out of fear of the damned titans breaking the walls and overrunning humanity. It was meant to be a sort of final wall if you will, as titans would have no access to it."

"Is it true that the people living down there are not treated as citizens and can be subject to prison time if they are caught above ground?" one of the reporters asked.

"I… somewhat… given that many criminals took to living under the capital, simply letting them move freely in and out of there became dangerous to the inhabitants of the capital, so the people of the Underground require more regulation in order to maintain order."

"What about asking the US for help? Wouldn't allowing US forces to police the area make it easier on your police force?"

"Uh, only medicine and other non-lethal supplies are allowed within the innermost wall. No further questions on the matter…" Deltoffe sighed.

"Right, could you explain why two men were caught trafficking humans from Wall Sina into Wall Maria?"

Erwin couldn't help but grin as the journalists from beyond the gate were actually asking important questions, forcing the advisory to stay on their toes.

"Hey, what are you smiling about?" a tired Levi asked.

"Oh, nothing much. It's just… nice to see the advisory so flustered as they try to answer what they can without looking bad."

"You're enjoying taking care of these-" Levi stopped himself.

Erwin gave the young man a puzzled look.

"Sorry, I was about to say these journalists were like children, but then I remembered we have to live with that."

The two men glanced at Hanji who was struggling to carry some of the papers she was about to summarize for the advisory and the military commanders, which included several new discoveries about the nape of the titans and how it functioned.

Poor Moblit tried to help her as well, carrying some, but the tired scout seemed to trip on his own superior and both dropped the reports they were carrying.

"Great…" Levi groaned, moving to help out the hapless scientist.

"Wipe that God damn smirk off your face." He muttered as he did so.

Erwin maintained a smile in spite of the captain's annoyance.

It was a beautiful day.

Eren placed the new tools gently by the small hole that he had just finished drilling into the cement of the wall.

Behind him, Sasha and Connie pushed the first of what would hopefully be a new line of defense for the wall.

The rubber wheels made it easy enough to carry, and as the American helicopter that dropped it off showed, the light gun was easily transported anywhere.

To think we'll install six of these by the end of the week.

Eren grinned from ear to ear as Sasha and Connie shifted the wheeled gun so that Samuel and Mina could begin securing it to the top of the wall.

He got serious.

"Alright, come on guys, remember that this is just an experiment… from what I understand, these aren't exactly as accurate as the tanks or jets, so if we want them to be effective we need to take this next step of the training seriously." He said.

One of the men from the other world laughed as he walked over.

"Oh, come now, child, these are mostly going to be used to target practice, just like you did with the rifles… granted, live, moving targets are harder to hit, but…"

A cobra in the distance fired at a very fast moving 8 meter class, tearing it in two before finishing it off.

"Well, the Americans like their big guns."

Feeling curious, Eren turned to the German, asking "So how's your country like? I hear its very similar to… pretty much most territory within the walls, but…"

The German looked up from the paper he was reading, saying "Well, its… it is a bit warmer than my home state of Schleswig-Holstein."

Eren wanted to say the man had just made the name up, but Connie beat him to it.

"Who named an entire state like that? Sounds kind of dumb." the teen huffed.

"Connie, if you don't hold it in place… come on, man." Samuel groaned as the pair continued to secure the cannon.

The German was silent as he continued to read the information on the paper.

"Alright… that should do it, actually. Make sure it's held tight, I'm going to go check on the other firing points."

"Kind of a quiet bunch, aren't they?" Sasha asked.

"Their country started a huge war back in the day and lost it… I would be pretty depressed even if I was born a whole century later." Samuel said as he stood up, wiping his brow.

"That's not right… shouldn't be right, anyways. It's like being a slave to the past." Eren replied.

"Yeah, but… look man, we both read the book, they did some heinous things back then."

"No, their ancestors did. Blaming the kids for something a parent or grandparent did is just… evil."

We're born free… didn't you learn that after the movie?

Samuel noticed anger in the eyes of the teenager, which immediately disappeared when Mina said "Uh, hey guys look who it is!"

Ymir climbed quickly over the top of the wall and glanced behind her before running up to the other cadets.

"Oh, look who it is… Don't know why you bothered showing up, our job's about done." Connie called.

"Yeah, Ymir, you just vanished on us. Where'd you go?"

The girl kept glancing behind her, even if there was nothing to either side apart from the Marine Cobras patrolling the area.

"I was just… taking a little something." she said, swelling with pride.

"If you got us something from the cafeteria, all will be forgiven." Sasha replied with a mad glint in her eyes.

Ymir grinned and reached into her jacket.

The cadets gaped as she had in her hand the portable video game console one of the Americans had been seen playing with.

"Did… did you just steal-?" Mina managed to stammer out.

"I just borrowed it. That Ryan kid has such a stick shoved up his ass I figured he needed to loosen up a little. Besides, it's not like I won't give it back to him." she said, hiding it back under her jacket.

"Whatever, just help finish tightening this bolt, I don't care if you stole an aircraft, I am not taking the fall for not fixing this up properly." Samuel said, standing up.

"I thought you guys were done."

"That would be inaccurate. Now get to it so that we can head back down."

The girl groaned and moved towards the new gun, something the Americans called an M119 Howitzer.

Eren smiled slightly and glanced around.

The tiny radio they all carried on their shoulders occasionally picked up the Marine helicopters patrolling above.

He heard a slightly garbled "Cobra 2, see anything?"

"Negative, skies are clear, grounds clear. Looks like a perfectly boring day."

"Cobra 2, please refrain from screwing us over by tempting fate."

Eren looked at the district that had been destroyed almost 5 years prior.

From where he was he could see the remains of his old home.

He winced at the painful memory of his mother urging him and Mikasa to run away.

He closed his eyes for a second and opened them again.

That was then… this is now.

He saw the mostly empty motor pool in the distance, the Abrams out on patrol despite the area being already secure.

Oh, yeah, they're escorting some supply convoy…

He glanced at the rifle he now carried, as did everyone in the 104th by this point.

He stared at the new cannon his team, his friends, finished securing in place.

He looked at the areas still broken within Shiganshina.

It would still be some time before it was all fixed up like back in the day, and it would never truly look the same.

But the time to run was over.

No longer was there a need to hide behind the walls like cattle.

No longer would they be under the titan's mercy.

Eren smiled.

Our counterattack has already begun!

"Hey, Yeager, we're about done, so if you could stop spacing out-"

A bright flash of light behind the cadets immediately got their attention.

Like a cruel god, the massive, skinless, face of the Colossal Titan stared blankly at the six cadets from above.

They only had a second to turn to look at it before a powerful shockwave sent the teenagers flying off the wall's edge.

What?! What was-?!

Eren barely reacted in time, relying solely on instinct to shoot the hooks on his ODM gear at the only target they could reach, the face of the wall.

Eren almost slammed into it as he regained his composure.

Mina and Samuel barely managed to do so without dropping their own rifles.

Connie was staring at the floor as his rifle fell to the ground.

Eren could only hear panicked voices on the radio, unable to make out the words.

Ymir was the first to react, screaming "The gate! Don't let him break-"

A powerful crashing sound erupted from beneath them as the reinforced gate appeared to be kicked in.

Nobody smiled as the metal shutters the Americans had installed months prior held their position which gave them hope that the attack had failed.

They all went pale as the shutters simply slid down from where they were, as if the attack had removed them from their foundation, effectively making it a gigantic door that had no framing to hold it in place.

Connie began to stammer, but the voices on the radio spoke for him.

"Shiganshina district has been breached- I say again, Shiganshina has been breached!"

"Oh God… No, God, please… not again…" Mina whimpered.

Eren felt a rush of adrenaline.

It's just… it's exactly like five years ago…

The explosion, the Colossal Titan, its sudden attack, the inexplicable way it appeared…

That was then… this is now!

"God damn it! Why are you all frozen in place?! Our Target is right there! Don't let it get away!" Eren shouted as he began to use his ODM gear to rush back to the top of the wall to meet the enemy.

The American helicopters seemed to have regained their brief composure as the men began to talk in order again.

"…back, pull back and engage from a thousand meters…"

"Copy, getting into position…"

There was smoke… or was it steam?

Adding a little extra gas, Eren flew through it, emerging above the white cloud, easily locating the wall, he landed a few meters to the left of the monster.

It was surrounded, and one of the cobras flew close enough that the steam cleared away, revealing his position to the enemy, but he didn't care.

He didn't even care that the giant was shifting its attention from the attack choppers to him.

"In position…" the radio crackled.

"Copy, hold and engage from current position, one thousand meters, with twenty millimeter rounds in three… two…"

Eren flipped the safety off the Garand rifle and said "Hey… it's been a while."

"…one! Light him up!"


A/N: Okay, first of all, to clarify the opening scene, it was just to explain why the gate opened up to connect our world to the world of Attack on Titan (specifically why it opened up in New York and not Ginza like the main series) while also acknowledging the original Gate cannon happened a long time ago, what with Rory taking Hardy's position and control of the Gate. I kind of wanted to reveal it a little ways down the road, but having her mysteriously appear here and there felt unnecessary, so I figured I might as well explain who she is here.

Anyway, I wanted this chapter to be a sort of "calm before the storm type" given what's coming next, also use it to characterize some of the others a little more, hopefully it was okay and fun to read. Not sure if I forgot something, because I somehow always manage to forget some little detail here or there, so please let me know.

Anyway, let's do a quick Reviewer Response before moving on:

Guest- Curse of Ymir being real.

Probably, I had completely forgotten about Eren Krueger getting sick near the end of his 13 years, but then again, Grisha didn't seem to get sick, so… well, the manga ending can't be too far off at this point. Hopefully it will give some more specifications. Once we know a little more then maybe we can try to have modern medicine try to break it. We'll see.

Guest- Warriors changing sides?

We'll see…

Guest- Earth weaponizing the Eldians? Also will the secret of the basement be revealed?

I doubt the US would actively use the eldians as titans since A) technically it's a form of biological warfare, which is pretty illegal, and B) the way to go about it would horrify everyone from Washington DC to Pyongyang as I doubt even North Korea would be okay with the process.

As for the secret of the basement… we'll find out soon enough.

Guest- will people from Paradis migrate to earth and vice versa? Also is the dark haired woman Hardy?

Not at the moment, but I'm sure it will happen eventually so long as no mass extinction happens on Paradis.

As for Hardy... well, you weren't far off, but hopefully the answer in this chapter makes sense.

Guest- Will you be introducing video games to the cadets?

Sort of… originally I wanted to write a gag similar to that scene where Sasha steals meat in episode 5, only with a different character, so I couldn't have Ymir steal an entire PlayStation and just walk around with it, so I went with a Nintendo Switch… sorry about that.

Guest- Showing the cadets a documentary?

I implied it with the computers in the library on this chapter, though I didn't go into much detail.

Guest- Happily ever after for Mina?

I don't know if she would move out into the US or not, but… we'll see.

Guest- Will the US learn Secret of the Basement?

We'll see…

Guest- Will there be live footage from paradis shown to our side? Also, will the cadets be taught to use our war machines?

Maybe recorded as a lot of the filming would be quite awkward without the proper infrastructure. It might happen eventually, though. As for the cadets learning to drive around in tanks and jets… maybe eventually, but certainly not right now. The US is focusing on bettering their training by combining some modern elements with their old regiment.

Joe- Does the US know about the underground city?

Thank you for reminding me because I COMPLETELY forgot about that place even existing. I kind of hand wave it here as the capital not communicating and everyone else being too busy to focus on that, but yeah… it will certainly add to the already unstable relationship with the nobility. Thank you for pointing that out!

Guest- schools after Paradis is modernize?

Most likely, but you could assume some of them are getting an education from the US simply by being trained by them.

Guest- introducing MREs to the cadets.

oops… probably should have mentioned that in a previous chapter. Thanks for pointing it out, though! So far the US seems to be giving them the regular food you would find at any Army base, though, so maybe later (though I would assume they would at least know about them by now)

Guest- Eren's power?

We'll see… very soon.

Anyway, thank you all so much for reading this latest chapter! I appreciate all the feedback and suggestions, though I reiterate that as is I am focusing solely on writing this fic, so while I love reading your suggestions, I can't guarantee I will be writing anything else for a while.

Also thank you so much for pointing things out when I miss them!

That said, remember that all reviews and suggestions are greatly appreciated, and if anything feels off please let me know so that I can improve my writing.

Thank you once again for reading!