"Just open the fucking door!" Artyom said irritably, pounding on the door to Revolution. "We're obviously not one of those things."
"Fine, fine." The man on the other side answered. The massive metal door shrugged, and opened to a grinding sound. Eren took a step back, not expecting the shrill sound of metal on metal contact. Artyom motioned the squad in, and the door shut behind them.
"Who's the new guy? The major asked, pointing to Eren. "A stalker or something?"
Artyom opened his mask, breathing in the stale air of the metro. "Yeah, a stalker." He said bluntly. Artyom and the others pushed passed the Red barricades and into the inhabited section of the station. We have two rail bikes, both are two seaters. But there's five of us… "You three take the bikes back to Polis, inform Kornayev and Melnik about what we found. I'll take a caravan back to Polis with the kid"
The rangers saluted and walked off. "You can take off that mask, boy." Artyom said to Eren. Eren pulled of the mask, his face contorted with disgust as he took a breath of the metro's atmosphere. "It's just something you get used to down here." Artyom said," taking Eren's mask and hooking it to his belt.
"So, you all live down here?" Eren asked. "It seems a little small."
"Well, there are other stations. They are all connected by tunnels." Artyom explained, "This one is Revolution Square, we are trying to get to Polis, the largest station. That's where I live, and where the rangers are based.
"So did you all hide underground when the titans came?" Eren asked.
"Huh?" Oh, he must mean those creatures "No, the titans only appeared a few days ago. We hid here after nuclear war killed everything else. That was 25 years ago.
"A war? With what?" Eren asked, "What's a nuclear?"
"Nuclear bombs, a weapon that can level an entire city and poison everything in the blast radius. That's why we have to wear masks outside. The bombs were created by humans in the millions, meant to be used on other humans. Now nothing is left but us few in the metro."
"What?" Eren seemed astonished, most kids were, upon hearing exactly what a nuclear weapon was. "Why was something like that even created?" Artyom detected a twinge of anger.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Artyom said, "I was a mere child when the bombs fell."
"So, you're telling me that humans destroyed themselves?"
Artyom felt like Khan, that crazy old philosopher, explaining the truth to a young man. "Yes, and now we're still killing each other. These people around us, they are from the Red Line. 5 years ago they tried to conquer the whole metro, but the Rangers stopped them."
"And you still trust them?"
"I'm a Ranger of the Spartan Order, I am sworn to protect all human life in the metro." Artyom said proudly. "Right now I have to take you to my leader, he'll want to talk to you." Artyom motioned forward, the two pushed their way through the crowded station. Eren's strange attire drew the eyes of many metro dwellers. The station next to them was Teatr, they just needed to cross over and they could find a caravan back to Polis.
"Do you have a pass?" The Revolution Square guard asked. Artyom flashed his Ranger dogtags. "Alright, go on ahead. Artyom and Eren walked down the hall and came to the door to Teatr. Guarded by two rather bored looking soldiers.
"Hey, it's another one!" The guard said to his partner, pointing at Eren. "You find that kid on the surface too?"
"Another one?" Artyom asked, showing his dogtags. One of the guards nodded and unlocked the door.
"Yeah, another one." The other guard said. "Some of our boys came down from the surface with some little blonde kid wearing the exact same getup." He pointed at Eren again.
"What? Where?" Eren demanded.
"He's at the hospital, he was unconscious when the Colonel brought him in."
"We have to find him, now!" Eren said to Artyom.
"Alright, alright. Maybe he'll know more than you." Artyom said, pushing past the guards. The door opened to the station platform, a caravan had just arrived, the area was crowded with travelers. He spotted a small group arguing with the immigration officers. A familiar face caused him to do a double take, it was Anna! Accompanied by Misha. That's right, they were going to see the Bolshoi. Another thing caught his eye, a dual wing insignia on the back of a young girl's jacket. The same insignia that was on Eren's jacket.
"Mikasa!" Eren shouted, running forward through the crowd. "Mikasa!" Artyom tried to grab his collar, but missed it by an inch.
"Dammit, get back here!" Artyom growled, running after Eren. People yelled obscenities as he shoved them out of his wa. Eren made it to the dark-haired girl and began talking to her. She lunged forward and gave him a hug. "What the hell kid?" Artyom asked angrily after he caught up to them. He looked up and found himself eye to eye with Anna.
"Artyom? You're here?" She said.
"Papa!" Misha shouted, giving his father a hug.
"Artyom, this is Mikasa." Eren said. "She's my sister."
"How did you get here?" Mikasa asked Eren. The two began conversing, but Artyom paid them no bother, he was more interested in talking to Anna.
"I arrived from Revolution," Artyom explained. "we were up on the surface fighting those things—"
"The Khondunki" Anna corrected.
"Whatever, we found this kid and brought him down here." Artyom leaned forward. "He just appeared in front of us, I think he might be insane." He whispered.
"Well this girl just appeared in the tunnel." Anna said, pointing to Mikasa. "She seems a bit out of sorts too."
"Artyom?" Eren said, tapping on his shoulder. Artyom looked over to him. "My sister needs a doctor, can you get us inside?"
Artyom walked to the guards without saying a word. He showed them his dog tags. "Let the girl through." he said. The guard nodded and opened the gate. Artyom and Eren walked through, A stalker helped Mikasa through. They moved through the crowds of people, all gathered in bunches watching musicians and other entertainers perform. They reached the clinic and stepped inside.
"This girl needs help." Artyom told the doctor, pointing at Mikasa's leg."
"Sure thing, just sit right here miss." The doctor said, moving a chair to the center of the room.
Out of the corner of his eye, Artyom spotted a young man with long blonde hair laying in one of the cots, unconscious. "Hey," Artyom said, getting Eren's attention. He pointed to the kid.
Eren quickly walked over. "Armin? Armin are you awake."
"Well, I'll be damned…" A voice said from behind. Artyom whipped around to see none other than Pavel Morozov standing on a pair of crutches. "Artyom! Chuvak! Long time no see!" He said, smiling.
Artyom punched Pavel right in the face, sending him tumbling backwards. The doctor quickly rushed over and helped him back up. "Now, we're even." Artyom said, shaking the pain out of his hand.
"What the fuck was that for?" Pavel said, rubbing his jaw.
"Let's see… you betrayed me to that bastard Korbut!" Artyom shouted back. "I spared your life, but don't think that makes us friends!"
"Do you think I wanted to betray you?" Pavel shot back. "I saved your life back at that concentration camp! We killed those Nazi's together!"
"And I saved your life when you ambushed me at Red Square, but I never got to repay you for selling me out to Korbut." Artyom responded. "So, now we're even."
"So… we're good?" Pavel said, a shimmer of hope in his eyes.
"We'll see how it plays out."
"Okay…okay…" Pavel said, staring at the floor. "So… who is this kid, is he your son?" He pointed to Eren.
"What? No!" Artyom answered.
"Really? You two look a lot alike." Pavel said. Artyom had definitely noticed some resemblance when he first found Eren, it was actually kind of spooky how alike their personalities were as well.
"What about that kid, he looks like you as well." Artyom said, pointing to Armin.
"I suppose," Pavel said, trying to dismiss it.
"So what was his name?" Artyom asked, Eren had said it earlier, something with an A…
"Uhh, I can't remember exactly" Pavel said, scratching his head. "I think it was like… Arminius or something.
"His name is Armin Arlet!" Eren chimed in. "Do you guys know what's wrong with him? He won't wake up"
Mikasa let out a small yell in the other room. "Hold still!" The doctor ordered. Eren got up and walked over to check on her.
"So where do you think they came from?" Artyom asked Pavel.
"I haven't the slightest idea." Pavel replied.
"I believe I may have an answer." A voice said. Artyom's blood turned to ice. No, I know that voice! A hand fell on his shoulder. Artyom immediately whipped around, breaking loose from the man's grip.
"Khan! Where the hell did you come from!"