Chapter 1

Contact

Her dark hair swayed silently in the breeze in a stark contrast with the horrific screams that filled the air around her.

She had survived, somehow.

It was almost coincidental when one thinks about it, but right then she had no time to think about the odds of her being just out of reach of the swarm that had engulfed her squad. The monstrous humanoids that had come from the nearby forest continued to chew apart what remained of her brothers and sisters in arms as she forced herself to watch it happen. One of her not yet dead comrades tried to dodge one of them only to be grabbed and promptly stuffed into an open mouth by another, his screams quickly joining the cacophony of wails that came from dying soldiers.

She was the only one left.

Her horse had run off earlier, dumping her into a small stream as it had been spooked before disappearing from sight; whistling to it now would only attract the attention of the monsters nearby. She had no way of communicating with the rest of the formation without the flares that were still in the old farmhouse, and her 3D Maneuver gear, a soldier's lifeline in these lands, had been badly damaged when she had fallen.

Deep down she knew there was no stopping what was coming, and nobody would blame her for just staying there and turning a broken blade on herself, preferable to waiting for the screams of her comrades to cease, hoping that, once that had concluded, her demise would be quick unlike their own.

She dumped anything that wasn't necessary or broken and ran instead.

Nobody could blame her for trying to run, though some might have called it naive.

The enemy was slow, which didn't mean a lot when most of them were the size of a house and their footsteps were enough to clear a city street in the time it took a person to run the distance, but if she could get enough distance between them…

Maybe it would be long enough to write down what had happened?

In fact, why wait?

Removing the small notebook from her breast pocket, she began scribbling down what had transpired only moments ago, the sun setting behind her.

"My name is Ilse Langnar. I am part of the 34th Expedition beyond the walls, Second Battalion, in charge of perimeter defense. On our way back, we encountered some Titans. I lost everyone in my squad…"

She continued writing as fast as she could, perhaps her one talent, while running away.

She wasn't sure how far she had gone before she decided to take shelter in the thick forest nearby.

The sun had set, and a heavy rain was beginning to fall. She hid inside a large tree where hopefully she would go unnoticed until morning. The enemy was mostly inactive at night, but without any lanterns, and such heavy rainfall, the last thing she needed was to accidentally stumble upon an abnormal that didn't mind that there was no sunlight.

The rain continued late into the night, and while no sane person could manage sleep under such circumstances, once the rain settled to a drizzle, the young member of the Survey Corps managed to close her eyes for a little while. Yes, there was exhaustion, but it was her training, really. The facts of the corps and its high mortality rate were never once sugarcoated. Most new members didn't make it past their first expedition, and sometimes those who did wished they hadn't. In fact, what happened to her entire unit, all her brothers and sisters, every last one of them, had also happened to countless other units or squads, a sole survivor occasionally managing to retreat to give word to the main body. The only difference was that she had no horse to retreat with and by this point, the rest of the expedition was probably well within the walls, safe and sound.

Like many before her, she would likely be forgotten in a day or two by the officers, and if life was good, a year by her family. She was too tired to focus on the fact that she was actually hoping her family forgot about her quickly.

But then again, they had hopefully been prepared for such an outcome.

That was an undeniable fact in this world and one she knew well enough by now, the high mortality rate was something every family member of a Survey Corps scout had to get used to.

Her thoughts lingered on her family, she wondered if they would accept her loss, she wondered if there was any hope of seeing them again, desperately wanting to cling to the possibility that there was, but also knowing full well her chances were too low to hold such high hopes.

Her thoughts were a chaotic whirlwind as they went in circles over the logic, wanting to live while knowing it was impossible forced her eyes open once more as the rain let up, taking her notebook and scribbling a little more in the darkness before closing it again for the night.

Writing in this notebook is more important than just confirming what happened…

But despite all of what had happened that day, or most likely because of it, in the relative quiet of the night, and in the perceived security of the tree, she managed to get some rest.

She would need it if she wanted any chance to return to the walls.

…

The rumbling woke her up.

Her eyes shot open only for the early morning sunlight to briefly make it difficult to see as it shined off the humid leaves nearby, casting little rays of light on the shaded area below the tree, as if the water drops were reflective gems or tiny crystals.

It would almost be a pretty sight if she wasn't in danger, and she didn't need to see well to know it.

Even if she had kept her eyes shut, there was no mistaking the booming noise those monsters made every time they took a step.

The smile was the first thing she really noticed in the distance. Just about every one of these abominations maintained a cruel, mocking grin that spread from cheek to cheek, almost as if someone had taken hooks to their mouths and pulled them back as far they could before freezing them like that. Even in the shade of the large trees it was a noticeable feature. Their other most recognizable characteristic was that their form, if compared to normal humans, would be one of mostly malnourished or even deformed bodies with disproportionate arms legs, or even heads.

And that was ignoring the massive size of most of them.

More than a dozen of the large monsters were slowly making their way towards her from deeper in the forest, somewhat struggling against the natural blockade of the trees and thick brush, but that would only hold them for so long.

She allowed the slightest whimper to escape before standing up and running back out into the open field.

This had to be it. Her entire plan had relied on her capability to avoid any titans between her and the walls.

She could only run for so long before they caught up to her.

Notebook and pencil out, she began to write down whatever she could think of as fast as she humanly could.

"I have encountered multiple twelve meter tall titans- they're caught in the thick forest, but they are forcing me to run south, away from the walls… even if I could run forever, eventually…"

It dawned on her once more that she would never see her parents again, never enjoy the simple things in life again, never meet that special someone, never have a life beyond a file in the military's record office that maintained that she had been "Missing in Action" until her notebook was found… if it was found. She would contribute nothing to humanity.

Her legs hurt, her shoulders ached, and she began to tear up as despair tried to pull her down further.

But still she tried to push herself up a slight hill, quickly turning to look behind her without stopping.

She didn't need to count to know how abysmal her odds had to be. Though still struggling to come out of the forest, the slow moving, towering humanoid creatures were ever so slowly advancing after her. a hopeless situation if ever there was one.

But hope is a finicky thing that won't die so easily…

She needed to keep running, even if they were making her go in the opposite direction.

Maybe she could cut them off.

She willed herself to run just a little further, going down the hill and beginning to run up another.

She stopped suddenly, almost dropping her notebook.

She stood dumbfounded as she suddenly found herself in front of a structure that hadn't been there four seconds ago.

It somewhat reminded her of the temples the Cult of the Walls had built in some areas, but the design looked far more ancient and grand than anything she had ever seen in the walled enclaves of humanity.

Pure, white marble columns held up a roof that from her position looked triangular, not unlike most houses in her hometown had, but the fact that it appeared to be green and clearly shone off the morning sunlight implied that it was made of emerald or some other form of precious mineral. The scale of it was just as impressive as the material it was made of, since it was at least twenty meters high. Despite all that, no light emanated from within, as if the inside of the structure absorbed all light and didn't reflect any of it back, leaving only a pitch black and empty darkness.

Said pitch black opening stood silently ahead of her, with no sign as to where it led.

She had never seen anything quite like it in her life and she wondered how she had missed it before. It should have been visible from the forest she ran from the previous day.

Would have made a fine place to rest, too…

But then again, she had been so distracted by the monsters behind her that maybe she didn't notice? Human minds could be so focused on something they would miss huge things, after all. She had heard stories of veterans focusing on getting a titan kill only to be grabbed and devoured by a second of the monsters they had missed.

Regardless, she couldn't stay there.

The enemy was advancing and their footsteps were growing ever louder. She turned to run around the structure and try to escape the monsters when-

"Hm-hm-hm, my oh my, have you found yourself in a conundrum." A sultry voice chuckled before she could continue running forward.

Out of the darkness of the structure a bizarre woman stepped forward. She was hard to describe, as her clothing implied she was a noble, and something about her movements gave an almost ethereal image. She seemed kind and welcoming with the smile and purple lipstick. But despite all that, there was darkness in her voice which made the young girl's hair stand on end. The long, jet black hair and magenta eyes made her seem more threatening than friendly.

Welcoming, but threatening; ghostly but still there… much like the structure the strange woman had emerged from, Ilse had never seen someone like that in her life.

But still, she seemed human… could this be an entrance to a shelter?

She had heard that when the wall fell some people had dug living spaces under the ground. She wondered if she had stumbled across one of these.

"Y-you… I need… help…" Ilse managed to speak as she took several slow breaths, her adrenaline dissipating.

At least until the sound of the enemy finally crashing some trees behind her caused her senses to go into overdrive yet again.

The woman giggled lightly before speaking.

"Your whole world needs help, young one… there is so much death and cruelty here…" she stopped, a serious expression forming on her face before she spoke up again.

"But I don't have much time to waste, I belong to another world, all my own; one which benefited greatly from this gate. I leave it to you and your people now." she said, coming off as an elder passing down advice more than anything else, gently moving her hand across the surface of the marvel columns, completely ignorant of the deadly monsters still pushing out of the forest in the distance.

Or perhaps she didn't care about such trivial matters such as life and death anymore. Ilse didn't know, nor did she think about it too much, especially since the woman was making little sense to her.

"World- Gate? What are you talking about? There isn't any time for-" she began to say, glancing behind her. A few of the larger Titans had tripped coming out of the forest, creating a loud crashing sound, but instead of standing up they had begun to slowly start crawling, which benefited her for the moment. However, as if to even out her good fortune, several other monstrosities further away were suddenly alerted to the commotion and began walking towards her at a slow pace. The ones closest to her were only behind a pair of hills.

"I can see that, but I don't belong here and cannot help you myself right now. My world no longer needs this, thus I leave it to your world and... Well, whoever is on the other side. Rush through it, you will find help at the end of the tunnel, this I can promise. Go!" the woman ordered.

Not wasting time with all her questions, Ilse took a breath, clutched her coat, and ran down the dark corridor, never realizing the woman behind her disappeared with the breeze as if she had been made of dust, the only trace of her was the girl she had ordered to run through the darkness with a vague promise of help on the other end.

That didn't matter to them one bit. All they cared about was the fact that their meal had run off.

The monsters stopped briefly as they approached the structure.

There was no way the sun could reach them in there, even if they fit almost perfectly, and that was a problem for them.

They didn't leave, though.

In spite of that lack of sunlight, after a brief moment, their senses kicked in, and on the other side they knew there was plenty to eat. The unmistakable scent of human pulled them like a group of hungry beasts, which wasn't exactly far off from what they truly were.

But they did not hunger for nourishment.

They hungered for release.

Slowly, but surely, the whole of them struggled in an attempt to enter the gate after the young girl they had spotted, though not because of the size of the entrance. Given their lack of consciousness and self-preservation, several had tried going in at once, wounding and breaking themselves as they tried to push past each other, barely managing that in spite of the size of the structure. Their wounds didn't matter very much, however. All the patches of dried up skin that had been torn away seemed to evaporate as the injuries healed themselves in a timely manner. They had to slow down in the darkness, but if their booming footsteps were evidence of anything, it was that they would cross the distance and catch up to their target soon enough.

They always did.

They were, after all, the top of the food chain in this land.

And none in this world could ever stop them.

…

Ilse didn't stop.

Her heart raced as she figured that the enemy could only be a couple of minutes behind her at the most assuming they were going even slower in the darkness. She might be able to extend that if she continued running, but her legs felt like they would collapse soon.

She still forced herself to go faster, her desperate breaths echoing in the empty darkness.

In the silence of the dark place, the questions she still had begun to nag at her.

What is this? It isn't a tunnel…

Does it matter?! She said it leads somewhere safe!

How can it be safe if there are titans behind me?!

Maybe there;s a door or something that I can close?

What if there isnt?!

Figure it out!

How much further do I have to run?

She had been able to see some light in the distance, so she ran towards it, but it was further away than she had expected. Without stopping, she turned her head slightly to look behind her. Sunlight was still coming from the other end, but off in the distance she could faintly hear the enemy's footsteps.

Suddenly a pair of huge shadows seemed to materialize in the entrance she had taken, completely blocking the light behind her.

She still needed to clear a fair amount of distance in a short amount of time and that was all the motivation she needed.

Help is on the other end, help is on the other end, help is on the other end…

She had ignored the other comments the strange woman had made, something about not belonging in this world, but since her world didn't need this gate anymore… she didn't know what that meant, but maybe it was just her strange way of saying it would eventually lead to the underground city under the innermost wall, maybe there was an exit or entrance that was open now, but it could be sealed shut soon. Or maybe it was just a shortcut to some other place within Wall Maria, which would make things far more difficult, but slightly less so than her current situation.

Either outcome was preferable to what lay behind her. The "how" was not important at all right now.

As the light in the other end seemed to grow, she began to notice that a strange noise was coming through. Music? People talking?

People!

Her pace quickened, and she could see figures in the distance. Whether they were friendly or not didn't occur to her, she just wanted someone, anyone, to be there, because where there were people, there had to be at the very least some semblance of civilization. Someone she could give her account to, someone who would hopefully at least know of her fallen comrades if she didn't make it.

Just a little further…

Sunlight engulfed her as she ran out of the dark gate. The woman's words echoed through her head, before she looked around.

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

She had actually expected to be blinded by the sun when she ran out of the massive structure, but there was plenty of shade. This shade, however, wasn't due to any trees or any number of natural causes; no it was something that finally caused her knees to give way.

The first thing she had seen was the strange men in blue jackets with bizarre hats on their heads and tools she didn't really recognize on their belts.

The second thing she had noticed was the large crowd in front of them, all of whom were dressed in rather odd clothes that both seemed to match a sort of trend, and yet didn't at all.

The third thing she had noticed was the tall grey buildings that stretched to the skies and surpassed the height of the walls.

Some by a lot.

Some looked to be made out of glass in their entirety, and some had strange screens with moving pictures, all things she had never even dreamed of. Banners that resembled flags flew in many buildings, but one in particular was flown just about everywhere she looked.

A red white and blue banner with fifty white stars that moved with the breeze.

"Aw, Christ, miss, is this part of a show? Does your boss have a permit to perform here?" one of the men in blue asked her.

"Telling you, nothing's scheduled for today." another one told the other.

"Miss, can you hear me? Are you okay?" the third one asked.

Well, she understood them in spite of the strange accent, but she didn't know what to say, staring past them.

She was almost mesmerized by the amount of colors on display around her. The buildings were grey, but on a lot of them shinning lights drew bizarre figures she didn't recognize, along with words she couldn't read and the strange flags she had never seen in her short life were everywhere along with other incredible banners that materialized and vanished on their own. It was as if some invisible person was painting a portrait on a large canvass, but faster and on a larger scale than anything she could ever imagine before erasing it and drawing a different one just as fast.

"MISS!" the stranger in blue yelled, startling her.

"Do you have any identification? Can you even understand me?"

"I-I… my identification…" she was at a loss for words.

They're all wearing the same kind of uniform… are they military?

"Well, she speaks English, so that's a good sign... Kid, you alright?" the third man in blue approached her and she noticed that he was clearly the oldest amongst them, so he was probably their officer or at least the one in charge.

She stood quickly to attention, startling the men and surprising herself as she figured she would just collapse on the spot.

"I-I-I am Ilse Langnar! S-second battalion, survey corps 34th expedition!" she yelled her identification, doing her best to control the fear in her voice.

The men in blue frowned.

"Alright, Ilse, is this a… college initiation prank…thing?" the oldest one of them asked.

She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by all of that, but she understood that he was asking if this was some kind of joke.

"Prank? No, I am… I'm a scout in the Survey Corps! My squad was… was destroyed by… I… um…" she stopped as the men in blue were looking at her as if she was crazy. Behind them the large crowd was doing… something with odd colored rectangles of different shapes, colors, and sizes. Some were holding them up to their faces for some reason, while others were tapping them with their thumbs and fingers while occasionally looking up, confused or maybe intrigued.

"Alright, Ilse… I'm officer Callahan, New York Police Department… does that mean anything to you?"

Police department?

"I… no… it… doesn't… sir."

She knew of the military police back home, but police departments not attached to the military were as alien to her as the name New York.

Just… where did I wind up on?

"Hey is this a play thing?" someone from the crowd asked.

"I-"

"Are you supposed to be from another world?" another voice asked.

The Police officers turned to look at each other, as several people tried asking the strange girl questions, two of them moved past her to analyze the huge structure.

"You ever see anything like this, Cal?"

"Naw, Roe, you'd think the security cameras would've already shown us her setting this thing up." The oldest officer replied.

"Maybe if it was inflatable… but look, it's solid, and… it's pitch black in there." the third one noted.

"Ah, could just be trash bags used to darken the room. But the fact that it isn't inflatable…" the older Callahan tapped the marble columns.

"Feels… legit… hey, dispatch, get some more men down here; see if we can get some of the folks higher up to look at this cause something weird is going on." He said, talking into his radio while glancing at his fellow officers.

The other officers nodded, as if adding to the conversation with dispatch, before turning to the girl who seemed to be overwhelmed by the mostly confused crowd asking her questions.

"So… you're not an actress?"

"No! I AM NOT ACTING!" she yelled loudly, finally losing her composure when she was asked for the eighth time if this was a play or an act or whatever the hell these people were asking. She hadn't even been able to warn them about-

"Alright, Miss, if you could come with us we'll take you somewhere you can stay and tell us your story."

The girl suddenly recoiled and turned to look at the pitch darkness.

"They… They were following me through! You have to close that gate now!" she yelled in complete desperation.

That worried the officers.

"They?" Callahan asked.

"Who?" Roe asked.

"The Titans!"

"The what?!" all three officers half asked, half exclaimed.

Ilse winced at the men's confusion of the word.

They've never heard of titans…

She turned to the gate again and tried to focus under the sound of the city, which was utterly difficult with all the chatter and noises coming from bizarre carriages that didn't seem to need horses.

But it wasn't impossible.

She could faintly recognize the warning sound of the enemy in the distance.

Heavy booming footsteps advancing towards them… always advancing.

Officer Callahan followed her panicked line of sight and looked into the darkness. He grabbed his flashlight and flipped it on.

Although it could barely reach the distance, it managed to just barely shine on something large advancing towards them. Like a gigantic tree trunk shifting slowly around in the emptiness that no amount of trash bags could effectively recreate.

Best guess, fifty yards at the least, and moving slow.

As in advancing for a second and pausing before moving again, but still, something big was moving in the darkness… towards them.

"Miss Langnar, in all seriousness, and please be honest… is this a prank?" he asked her. For all he knew this was all an elaborate set up, but the booming noise, and the look of sheer terror on the girl's face was not something any police officer could ignore so easily.

"No! I swear to you that the Titans will kill everyone here if they aren't evacuated! Please, I'm begging you, please believe me!" she cried out in desperation.

Even evacuating this huge place may prove impossible, but we have to try something! The gate has no doors and there's very little here to close it…and I have no blades or gears to fight with!

She had run enough, and if the titans followed her here and started killing innocents… she could never forgive herself for that.

Callahan nodded. The absolute desperation in the girl's voice was more than enough for him to know that she was telling the truth about something dangerous.

"Roe! Tell these people to back off we may have a problem."

Roe winced at that. "What are you talking about?"

"Listen… you hear that?" Callahan asked, pointing his flashlight into the dark.

Roe strained himself to listen over all the cars and people talking… in spite of New York;s typical commotion, there was something different.

*boom*

*boom*

"Aw, Christ… Everyone! Out! We may have a bomb threat on our hands! Everybody clear out! Clear out!"

"Bomb threat?" the young girl asked taking the opportunity of the dispersing crowd to back away from the soon to be dangerous area near the structure.

"Eh, best way to clear a crowd here… not very ethical, but… Hey, Toby, think you can get a call to HQ, tell them to send some back up out here, we need to Clear people from Times Square, we got a possible security threat."

"Ah- got it!" the younger one gunned it to the white and blue car while Callahan moved to the car.

Ilse heard the man called Callahan grab a little black box that hung from his jacket and speak some numbers and code phrases she didn't understand.

She glanced at the gate again.

*boom*

*boom*

Closer…

She swallowed, a bead of sweat materialized on her forehead as she wondered what she could do to help. Her mind was too panicked, too exhausted to think properly, as she mentally kicked herself for ditching all her blades. At least if she had kept even one she might have bought someone a few precious seconds more than if she didn't have the blades.

She then realized that the area around the gate was clearing out far more efficiently than she could have ever expected. It was chaotic in a way, but controlled as well with several men in blue that had been nearby assisting in the effort to divert people away from what she had heard was a square, though it was nothing like the squares in the towns back home.

She looked around, Callahan had grabbed a strange looking tube that reminded her of a musket, but… it was off somehow.

"A musket will do very little against them." she said; a quiet urgency in her voice.

"Well, Miss Ilse, this is a shotgun, not a musket. And you should probably start getting out of here. Whatever is coming, they're pretty damn slow, but they sound much closer." he said, somewhat calm.

He really has no idea what they're about to face…

"Don't let their speed fool you! They're tall, deformed beasts that appear human, but need no nourishment and only exist to devour us!"

*boom*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

"It doesn't matter where you cut or burn them, they'll grow it back. The only way to kill them is to cut the nape of the neck!" She said, quickly stepping further back, Callahan followed closely as he stood behind the white and blue police car.

"Back of the neck… okay, I get that. Could you shoot it off? Cause I don't know how you fight against… whatever they are." The officer said, now genuinely more nervous than he'd been in a while. He checked the gun, making sure it was loaded.

*BOOM*

She was about to answer when the first one materialized as it exited the gate, and Ilse slowly turned, despite her dread, just in time to look in horror at the monster smiling as the natural daylight shone ever so slightly on its dried patches of skin in spite of the large buildings. Its impossibly wide smile looked like a mix of dumb and dangerous, similar to an animal in a way. It had long and skinny arms that appeared to be skeletal while its legs were reminiscent of tree trunks.

It stopped only to take the new surroundings in, not knowing that simply by stepping out of that gate it had broken the fact of life in the United States that no hostile forces had managed to put boots on the ground in the nation in the past two hundred years.

The immediate area around the gate was practically clear, but the officers and a few people still nearby couldn't help but look at the giant out of a mixture of fear and of curiosity as they continued to evacuate the vicinity.

The giant turned to look at a crowd of quickly dispersing humans to its left, its toothy smile frightening them into a slightly faster retreat, though not yet panicked.

"Hey!"

Callahan, half out of fear, half out of worry that shooting that thing might make things worse had yelled at the top of his lungs in an attempt at grabbing the monster's attention. The police officer and Survey Corps scout were a bit closer than the crowd to its left, an easier target in theory.

Still smiling it took a step towards the pair hiding behind the police car. Callahan quickly took a step forward. It was only a few meters away, but he wanted his aim to be right.

"What are you doing?! We have to run!" the girl screamed.

"Step back or I will shoot!" he yelled at the creature, attempting to communicate, keeping one eye on the giant and the other on the gate, as another one seemed to be getting closer. It did let him see the arm, though.

The giant began to reach for him at an unnerving speed, so Callahan backed up and took the shot, smoke and fire spat at the creature, actually hitting one of the eyes and stopping the giant from grabbing him. It took its arm up to its damaged eye…

…and quickly looked back at Callahan with the same cruel grin as a white smoke emitted from the now healing eyeball.

Not a bit bothered by the damage.

"Miss Langnar… get in the car… right now." he said as other officers opened up with their smaller handguns.

Ilse was not exactly sure what he meant by car, but he had pointed to the white and blue… carriage?

Is car short for carriage? NO TIME FOR THAT!

She complied and hopped in the back of the police car, unable to focus on how much more comfortable the seat was than the horse drawn carriages in her home.

"Roe! T! Come on!" he yelled, shooting the other eye, stunning the monster. The civilians were clear, and most of the other officers were also starting to realize that 9mm rounds weren't really going to do much against these monstrosities and began pulling back, shell casings littering the ground they stood.

Roe ran for the car, near the gate. A second giant stood at full 15 meter height and attempted to grab him. He barely dodged as he approached Cal's car while the first giant covered his damaged eyes.

Toby had simply retreated with the crowd, and no one could blame him, as a large amount of drivers simply abandoned their cars and ran off.

With Roe in the passenger's seat, Ilse in the back, and Callahan driving, the police car quickly reversed and retreated along the other cars that had seen the situation and had quickly tried to drive away, barely maintaining a street open for the police car to chase after the other retreating vehicles. A third giant exited the gate, while the second one attempted to grab an officer who hopped into one of the nearby stores by shattering a window.

The beast stared inside briefly, simply standing there as if dumbfounded. It then pulled its arms back and punched through the fragile glass with enough force to shatter many of the windows in the building without even touching them, the glass flying as if a bomb had gone off.

It did give enough of a distraction for the police car to speed past.

"Eleven-Nine-Nine Emergency, I repeat Eleven-Nine-Nine Emergency! We have hostiles in Times Square! Weird, freaky, gigantic bastards! Need help immediately!" the second Callahan had switched the radio on multiple calls came through in response or requesting assistance from the well refined machine that was the New York Police Department.

"This is Benson, en route."

"Jesus! I see your situation from here, coming up through the 7th now!"

"Got a chopper in the area?"

"Negative, setting one up now."

"Christ Almighty! Officers down! Officer-" a desperate voice came over the radio.

"Officer Cole, do you copy? Officer Cole, respond."

The fact it cut off at that…

Callahan glanced behind him as some smoke was beginning to rise from Times Square as an old looking car was tossed into a shop. Not too far away from that, a small crowd of people that had exited one of the buildings was quickly retreating back inside as a giant tried to grab them.

Ilse had covered her mouth in horror as they saw one titan step into the street behind them, gleefully staring down the cars that couldn't go forward and couldn't back up fast enough.

From the front seat, Callahan got her attention.

"Miss, you have plenty of questions to answer."

…

"…so, we were staring down like fifty of these guys, right?" the young man in Army BDUs told the men at the table.

"Six…" his companion groaned.

"Eh, fifty, six, whatever. So Matt had thought the CO will have our asses if we don't at least try to defuse the situation. So what do I do?"

"You called their mother a slut and implied they were all half-brothers or something." the young Army private sighed. His friend was supposed to be on break with him and this was supposed to be a family visit… he did not expect his friend to have so many family members from Chicago willing to travel to their training center in New Jersey.

Or… really anywhere for that matter.

"So… you got your ass whooped by some hillbilly hicks?" one of the men asked.

"What the-?! No! We kicked their asses!"

"By politely requesting they back off before the nice sheriff got there."

His friend groaned as the others on the table laughed.

"You should've joined the Marines. They'd whip you into shape. See, Marines don't take-" the older one managed to say before he started gulping down another bottle of Jack Daniels, cutting his sentence short.

"Alright, come on, Matt, you tell them something we did. Tell us about your combat experience." He said sarcastically, something his stoic friend didn't seem to pick up on.

"Dude, we haven't seen combat. Stop saying we did something more badass than blowing up some targets during practice. Hell, we aren't even due for a joint exercise until… what, next month?"

His friend frowned.

"See, in the Marines we would have you getting into fights much more… often. The army is just full of wannabe-" the older man made a strange face before getting up out of the table and heading to the bathroom.

"See, Matt… now paw's mad. You could've told him his son was out kicking all sorts of-"

"Dude, you're older than me, yet I'm the one that has to rein you in so that you don't get into a brawl at a bar. You know the el tee told me to make sure you don't blow up the ammo supply? Swear to God, Jake, I may not have cool combat tales, but I sure as hell have plenty of stories to make you look bad."

His friend sulked slightly.

"In fact…how about the time you attracted a wild wolf to the camp?"

The other men on the table raised an eyebrow, wordlessly asking for more while Jake rolled his eyes.

I'll take that as a yes, please embarrass me in front of my visiting family.

"Okay, so… we had our first training exercise in… where, the mountains?"

"Uh… no." Jake mumbled.

"Well, point is Jake here has night shift, and guess what he stumbles across?"

"A wolf?" one of the men on the table asked.

"A baby wolf, which isn't a good sign for you, cause Mom is usually close by. So, Jake, being a gentleman…"

"Ha!"

"He tries to shoo it away by tossing some food into the trees so that it would get distracted… that was your plan, right?"

The older recruit rolled his eyes, not even bothering to answer.

"Anyway, that didn't really bother the pup, but the mom… oh boy, the mom… that-"

The young man stopped mid-sentence as his phone rang.

Jake checked his phone, seeing a message.

"What the hell?"

"Says to report back to-"

"I can read, dumbass!"

The seventeen year old frowned slightly, placed his phone in his pocket before getting up from the table and apologizing to the others for the short notice call back to duty.

Well, base duties, but still.

…

"MP looked spooked to you?" Jake asked.

Matt shook his head, he had turned in his phone and wasn't really sure what was going on. While some drill sergeants in the Army did allow their recruits some cell phone privileges after they earned them, their drill sergeant and subsequent Commanding Officers didn't really see the whole phone thing as a necessity on the fort.

A pair of New Jersey Police helicopters flew low and fast in the distance.

"Hey, something going on?" Jake asked one of the passing men who seemed to be on a hurry.

"Uh, not sure, but they're saying New York is under attack. I'm heading to my bunk to find out."

"Wait, what? No word from the sarge or-?"

"Sarge up and let us go, headed to their briefing room."

Matt frowned. He had been too young to really remember 9/11, but his parents still did and he had witnessed several terrorist attacks in his lifetime from the Boston bombings to the Paris attacks a few years earlier. He swallowed his fears of another 9/11 occurring and moved to where the rest of their platoon was sitting around.

"Matt, Jake, get called back early?"

"Yeah, had to leave the family back there, so this better be more than just some bombings."

"Dude…" Matt and the rest turned to look at their comrade.

"Just saying, terrorists nowadays always do the same damn thing. Go to a crowd, and then blow themselves up, maybe drive a truck into them instead."

"Well, as a Muslim, I apologize we don't use more colorful methods to terrorize whole civilian populations." One of the men said in a sarcastic voice.

"Dave, you're not a Muslim, you're Turkish." Matt sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Eh, same difference." the man said in an unreadable tone.

The men stood around for a bit before Dave spoke up again.

"So… I think the cafeteria is broadcasting the news… if you guys want to check it out."

"Well, you're all just sitting around here, so…" Jake added.

"Yeah, but that's because the news wasn't really talking about it. They're focusing more on something Kanye said. Knowing our media, that means the attack can range from a stabbing to an attempted bombing." He mocked.

"Oh, I see. And what did Lord West say?"

Matt held in a tired sigh.

He could only hope the situation was not so bad that the military had to be called in.

But from the looks of it, maybe it wasnt so bad.

If the news wasnt even talking about it, then maybe it wasnt a big deal.

…

Unbeknownst to the men, the news hadn't been focusing on gossip for the last half hour as news of the situation suddenly became clear and the facts started to come out as the American communication lines were flooded with calls and online forums started digging into camera footage for information.

But it was someone else's job entirely to go in there and report…

An ABC news chopper circled around Times Square; the worried Newswoman was unsure how to describe the situation for those still watching far away from the chaos. Flying in lower to get a better picture was not something they wanted to risk. They weren't sure what those things down there were capable of, but they didn't want one getting smart and throwing a car at the chopper.

"Uh, from what I can see, most if not all of the massive, humanoid creatures have sort of stuck to Times Square. It is uncertain at this time what it is they are after, but we can see that at least a few have… at least tried to attack the people in their reach… some around there, n-near the Toys-R-Us have become stuck trying to enter to building. We are being told that those who were unable to escape have hidden in the lower levels of the store- others climbed up to the higher levels, basically as far away as they can get from these creatures… The NYPD has formed a line around Times Square cutting off all traffic to the area, but we aren't sure if that will hold since most of these giants have not made a serious effort to move away from-"

"Well, we got one trying that now…" Callahan groaned as he shut off the car radio. Backup had arrived as other officers blocked the streets with their cars. A single, fat, ten meter tall creature was slowly making its way towards them. Rifle fire from the reinforcements took out its eyes, slowing it down even more, but it still tried to stumble forward, reaching for the buildings on each side of the street as it did so.

Ilse was writing down frantically what was happening, glancing at the armed officers who maintained a sort of controlled chaos as they switched firearms for increasingly larger ones.

"They have a variety of weapons… capable of firing multiple times in rapid succession and with reloading procedures being much faster than the muskets back home… this land is clearly much more advanced than us, but they have no means of fighting the titans that I have found effective as of yet. I can only hope the people in these tall buildings are safe from harm..." she wrote before glancing at the older officer.

"Uh- officer, d-didn't you say you had flying machines?" she asked over the gunshots.

"Yeah, but they're still about five minutes out… you said the back of the neck, right?"

"Yes, but the back is…"

"Noted…" he mumbled, reloading his shotgun.

"Cal, its eyes are getting fixed up…" Roe yelled.

Some of the other officers that carried assault rifles took careful aim and fired several rounds directed at the monster. To everyone's surprise, the giant covered its face with its arms.

"Well… um… didn't you say they didn't have intelligence?" Callahan asked, sounding more inconvenienced than terrified.

"How are you so calm?!" she yelled.

"Well, they're pretty slow and… look, I'm a good actor, can you tell us if there's any other way of stopping them?!" he yelled over the gunfire, some of his desperation bleeding into his words.

Ilse rubbed the throbbing vein on her forehead, trying to formulate a strategy with the weapons available under the cracking of firing rifles near her.

Accurate, but small rounds of ammunition capable of destroying the titan's eyes, fast moving carriages that don't use horses, and flying machines that they don't really have for the moment…

"Um… maybe- you can trip it with your… car?"

They would have to move fast, but it could give them enough time to get around the back and destroy the nape of the neck… assuming the car wasn't crushed. It was a terrible plan, but she genuinely wasn't sure what else would work at this point.

She stopped as she heard a noise similar to the one of the few flying machines surrounding the area, but this one was much closer to the ground.

A white and blue helicopter appeared from behind a building.

"Oh, thank God- Hey! This is officer Callahan, aim for the back of the neck!" he yelled into the radio, the titan ignoring the helicopter for the closer police officers.

"Copy, we received the information earlier. Engaging…"

Ilse stared in awe as a rifleman aboard the helicopter began firing directly at the Titan's nape.

Crack

Crack

Crack

Ilse saw the recoil being exerted on the shooter by the large gun, yet the monster still moved forward.

"Oh- Damn it! Shoot out its eyes again!" an officer yelled, prompting all the officers around her to begin unloading their own weapons, aiming at the face to little avail. Ilse covered her ears as best she could while looking on in horror.

The rounds weren't stopping the monster, who wasn't noticing that his neck was getting punctured by 7.62mm rounds. Add that to the officers on the ground firing everything they had left, the monster seemed to be unstoppable.

No different from back home…

"I'm out!" one of the officers yelled, beginning to step back from the approaching giant.

More officers were still en route, but until they arrived the small line of police cars was the only thing standing between the titan and the mostly vulnerable civilians still in the streets not too far away.

Ilse continued to look on in horror, thinking things couldn't get any worse. She had brought a horror to a peaceful land, one where it appeared they had no chance to defeat the enemy that haunted her world.

Callahan's frustrated look as he fired his last round was enough for her.

Even if the police retreated, she would give herself up if it meant buying them some time. That's just how it is, isn't it?

She wasn't some hero of the survey corps, or humanity.

She was supposed to be dead by this point after all.

Her squad had died and given her plenty of time to escape, and that had been mostly dumb luck.

Maybe this time she would buy time for someone else.

"I thought you said the neck-" Callahan's panic brought her out of her almost comatose state of mind.

She was about to tell the men to run away, when the panicked shooting was suddenly replaced by immeasurable relief as the giant suddenly stopped, seemingly confused, and dropped to the ground, a mere five feet away from the police line. Smoke began to emit from the corpse as it very slowly dissipated away.

"Jesus… is it…dead? Well?" one of the officers asked.

She barely managed to nod.

For the second time that day, Ilse allowed herself to collapse to her knees in relief. As the helicopter moved on to shoot down any of the other Titans in the square she overheard Callahan talking on the radio.

"We got one hostile down, repeat, one hostile down…"

Even though there were a dozen or so more of them just a little further ahead, she realized how relaxed the people around her were, a little shaken but still, relaxed. The problem was, she realized, essentially resolved. The Titans couldn't fly, and it appeared the helicopter was capable of flying just out of reach of the taller ones. Ilse found it hard to believe that merely an hour earlier she had been running away from certain doom, delaying the inevitable, but now she was somewhere were the threat of Titans was essentially trivial even if more arrived.

She managed to sit down on the sidewalk, and began taking it all in. she was still shocked at how quickly things transitioned from desperation to relief.

Ilse found that she could breathe much easier.

Now she could focus on the bigger questions.

"Um… officer… Callahan?"

"Yeah?" he said, placing the radio down.

"I… don't know where I am… where this is… or how any of this works…" she said, glancing around.

The old police officer took a breath and sat down next to her.

"Well, to be honest, we don't know where you're from or how any of this happened. How come they only go down if you cut or hit a certain part of the neck?"

"We don't know. In my world, the titans appeared a little more than hundred years ago, consuming almost all of humanity. The survivors were able to find shelter behind the three walls called Maria, Rose, and Sina. Wall Maria fell due to a massive Titan we had never seen before tearing apart its gate. We've been trying to retake the land but…" she nervously sucked in a breath.

The officers looked at the tired girl, patting her back softly, and then turned to look at the street where the helicopter continued to fire from a safe distance and the crashing sound of a titan collapsing would be heard.

"Got another hostile down. Uh… they're kind of moving to us… we got no shot right now. Any other units nearby?" the radio crackled.

"Yeah, this is 2-2, we're a minute out. Hold tight." A response came.

"What kind of insane problem just came knocking on our door?" Roe muttered to himself.

"I don't know, but I can already tell this is the beginning of something…"

Ilse raised an eyebrow at the older cop.

"Well, you'll find out soon enough, but throughout my life our country- hell, this world, has had plenty of crazy challenges thrown at it, and so far we've managed to come up on top. Things will be alright."

She looked at the officer as more helicopters flew in to assist.

That was the first time Ilse had actually believed that the phrase held truth.

…

Matt stared in disbelief at the images coming from New York.

On paper the casualties didn't sound all that bad and the damage mostly involved several broken cars and windows, nothing unusual from that. Deaths were few, and the injured were mostly due to the people running from Times Square.

But the deaths had been horrific.

"Six officers of the NYPD lost their lives earlier today combating hostile forces of unknown origin… these… giants is the best way to describe them, appeared out of a structure that as of this moment, no one is sure where it came from. Camera footage shows the Romanesque structure quickly materializing in the middle of Times Square, you later see a single person who briefly spoke with the nearest police officers, seemingly warning them of the incoming threat, saving countless lives in doing so. The identity of the person has yet to be identified. What this means for our nation and the world…"

"Yeah, lost their lives... Nice way to put torn apart and eaten alive by giant freaks from another world…" Dave groaned as the cafeteria's TV continued to review the events in question.

Jake was quiet, staring at his palms.

"So… we got a portal in Manhattan that leads to God knows where, and the first visitors include a scared girl and about twelve gigantic monstrosities that stumbled around the nearby area before being gunned down, which leaves us with a scared girl, six dead cops plus several wounded civvies, and a portal to another world… now what?"

"Well, I say we go in there, nab ourselves some more scared girls and-"

"Dave, seriously… the COs have all been out of sight the past three hours… how long until they show up to tell us we have guard duty over there or something like that?"

Dave pointed behind him as the door opened and the officers entered the room.

Lieutenant Troy wasn't someone who enjoyed the jokes made about Army Lieutenants being blind graduates that didn't have any idea how to actually lead and had only gotten their rank thanks to passing a simple test.

So he had made sure to live up to the stripes on his uniform by trying to be as competent an officer as he could.

And now he had orders to give.

His first orders that were actually serious, really.

"I'm sure you all know by now… things are happening in our neighbor state…"

The men in the room nodded.

"I was told New York's National Guard would be keeping the area under lockdown until we can understand more of the situation, but be advised… we might be joining them soon enough. Maybe even going through…"

That surprised the troops.

Realizing he shouldn't have said that last part, the lieutenant backpedaled immediately.

So much for breaking stereotypes… damn it all…

"Now, this isn't confirmed, but we are some of the closer units to the area, and when the Marines go in the Army always backs them up with the heavier equipment, something they will need in order to stop the threats on the other side… so, if the announcement comes I want all of you to be mentally prepared to move out. Other than that, things will continue as per usual… now, about that joint exercise in Canada…"

…

Ilse stared at the room she had been given, or better put, placed in. It was in a very clean and pristine looking hotel known as the "Marriot" and the men that brought her there had been very polite. The place was genuinely something she had only seen in books, and at the same time more. It was small, but the quality of the furniture made it look just as good if not better than what the residents of the innermost wall had.

She could not ask for a better place to rest if she tried, but she was still a bit bothered by what had followed after the Titans had been taken care of.

Several men in strange suits that seemed to wrap up the wearer in a manner similar to a bubble had taken her and the police officers to an area where she was checked over. They had explained that they were worried she might have carried some illness over from her world, which while not impossible certainly seemed improvable in her mind. Still, they insisted in keeping her under observations until they were sure she wasn't carrying something.

Or was susceptible to something from this world…

It was made clear she wasn't carrying anything fairly quickly as she was allowed to leave as the sun set, with comfortable new clothes to boot. Men from a group called EFF-BEE-EYE picked her up and asked her some questions as they drove her to the hotel, but even the questions surprised her.

What's your name?

Did they treat you okay back there?

How are you feeling?

What do you like to eat?

She frowned as she sat down on the impossibly comfortable bed. She was a soldier, one of the best of her trainee squad, a member of the Survey Corps, trained to go into the unknown and face the monsters that loomed over humanity, and they were treating her like a little girl. She didn't mind the provisions she was being given, though.

What bothered her was not being able to go back and bring help fast enough.

Suddenly, a possible way to not only seal wall Maria again, but to destroy the titans once and for all was within grasp. She still had no idea what this world was capable of bringing out when it came to firepower, but the fact was that simple flying machines and powerful guns were more than enough to stop the titans in their tracks.

But right now she couldn't do any of that.

It was frustrating, being exposed to such technology and weapons and being just as helpless to help her people as she had been back in that field.

She didn't want to think about it, but now that she was safe, it was hard not to remember her fallen comrades.

My helplessness…

Before her emotions got the best of her, there was a knock on the door.

Ilse walked over to open it and found some of the men that drove her over with a white bag that had something written on it in green lettering.

Have to get deciphering this written language…

"I wasn't sure what you would enjoy more since you don't really have a favorite food, but Subway has some pretty good sandwiches so I figured you might like at least one of these." The young man said.

She looked skeptically at the wrapped up pieces of bread with reds and greens among other ingredients on it. Some she recognized, others she had no clue what they were.

One was what the agent called a "steak and cheese". She recognized the ingredients and went for it first.

Her eyes widened in delight and surprise as she had never tasted something so delicious in her life.

She had expected this to be simple bread with some meat and cheese on it, but the taste, the quality, the warmth… She genuinely wondered if this was food for royalty.

"I… why are you treating me so…?" she began to ask after a moment of savoring the delicious meal.

The man whose name she didn't know by memory raised an eyebrow.

"Well, this… you helped us quite a bit back there, and- hell, thanks to you, casualties were at a minimum. The least we can do is give you a place to stay and some food."

"But this is all so much. I feel like royalty and… I don't really deserve to feel like that." she said sadly.

The man frowned.

"Your world… is nowhere near as advanced as ours?"

She nodded.

"Life is peaceful for the most part… but most of us that join the corps aren't expected to live very long… my whole unit found that out…" she said quietly.

"I'm truly sorry to hear that. Not sure if you've noticed yet, but while tragedies happen here, they're all very different. Humanity has been at the top of the food chain for thousands of years, and even in areas where we're not at the top we have the weapons to keep ourselves safe if we visit them. I can't imagine how hard it is out there." The man said, seemingly uncomfortable with the subject.

It had been thousands of years since humanity was lower on the food chain, he couldn't imagine a world where that was still the status quo.

"Um… then… you can help us? Humanity has been on the defensive for a hundred years in my world and the titans have only gotten closer to driving us into extinction these past few years… I can already tell you have the power to make sure those who gave their lives didn't die in vain. Your people can-"

"Sorry, but you're talking to the wrong guy. The Secretary of Defense, congress, the President… they're the ones that decide what happens next, I'm just a government servant." the man said, raising a hand.

"Congress? The President?" she asked, now more than a little confused.

…

The American president stared at the report on his desk. On the wall nearby, Fox News anchors were discussing the events of the last twelve hours while showing live footage of the NYPD setting up barricades while Army engineers rapidly constructed a structure over the large gate in order to prevent other hostiles from exiting into the city.

"…the question now is do we go in there? Initial reports from police as well as footage from civilians confirm that humans exist on the other side; the girl that exited the gate before these… things proves it. So maybe we have a doorway to a nation in need; something that could probably benefit us."

"Well, that's one way to look at it. I think caution would be more advisable since we have no idea where this gate came from, no idea how long it will stay here, no idea how it connects to some other world or dimension or wherever it leads… personally, I say we wait a bit before any action is taken."

"Well, that sounds reasonable, maybe we could send some scouting parties ahead, see if-"

The president shut off the TV.

Today was not supposed to go like this at all. He was originally planning on heading out to a meeting with NATO leaders in order to discuss budget issues and he had planned on pissing off the leaders of the European countries investing less of their required GDP on defense.

It should have been easy, fun even… hell; it would piss off the opposition and strengthen his own base.

But now that job was in the hands of the soft spoken vice president and everyone knew the most that guy would do was politely remind the NATO leaders that the US paid much more than most of them in the defense of Europe as a continent and that it wasn't a very fair deal that most European countries didn't pay as much and leave it at that.

Assuming the budget remained a topic of discussion after today, of course.

But no, suddenly some weird gate that looked to have been built during the classical era just appeared in the middle of New York and a bunch of giant naked monsters started chasing people around. He had always figured that if some major crisis were to happen during his presidency it would have been much more serious than this, but so far only half a dozen people had been killed, and while there were plenty of injured it was nowhere near as bad as some of the areas hit by natural disasters he had to send federal aid to.

The problem is that portal in New York…

"So, boys, caution or action?" he asked the military advisors and scientific team assembled in the room. All of whom were somewhat stunned by the simplicity of the statement.

As if the president cared more about how this affected his schedule more than how it affected decades of scientific hypothesis and rewriting.

But some appreciated him for that very attitude.

"We would like to wait a while, Mister President. We need to get the materials ready, we need information of what we're dealing with on the other side… plus, the risk of the portal disappearing is a very real worry we have."

"Yeah, the last thing we need is a bunch of our boys stuck in the middle of nowhere with no backup…" the president muttered.

"We could prepare a recon team that goes in and out real quick. Send some drones first to get a good idea of what's on the other end…" an advisor suggested.

"That could work. We could monitor the gate; see if it gets affected in any way by the brief traffic." One of the scientists said.

"Great, great, approve that mission. What about these naked weirdos, what's their deal?"

It took a while, but the NYPD had essentially managed to handle them once their weakness was known.

They sure as hell weren't an organized force…

"Well, we have some information from the girl that came out of the gate this morning."

"She speaks English, right?"

"Accented English, some strange mix of British, French, maybe even some German oddly enough, some words have more of an accent than others, but yes sir. She says that all that is known for sure about these giants, titans she calls them, is that they appeared about a hundred years ago and quickly drove humanity to near extinction since the only way to kill them is by cutting the nape of the neck, something that wasn't known at the time. What was left of mankind retreated behind three major walls, where they reside to this day. Uh..." the man flipped through several sheets of papers, transcripts of the interview the girl had undergone but a few hours earlier.

Finding what he was looking for, he continued.

"About three years ago, a Titan larger than the walls broke through the outermost one, causing humanity to lose a third of its land and a good chunk of its people as the campaigns to take it back have resulted in total disaster. Miss Langnar is part of a branch of the military whose job it is to survey the land beyond the walls called the Survey Corps. Her unit was destroyed by a group of titans they encountered."

"Awful… send her my regards- actually no, let me know when she's available, I'll call her myself… Now, no one has found that huge titan again?" the president asked.

"According to her, no. Some believe it was an abnormality that was too large and died on its own. There are, after all, multiple titan types."

The president nodded before changing the subject.

"Her people don't have any modern technology?"

"Mr. President, the way she describes it, they're barely out of the medieval ages and early industrial age. They have muskets for the military garrisons, but the primary weapons they use are these things called 3 dimensional maneuver gear, which seems to involve a complex system of gas, hooks, and gears that allows them to fight the titans by grabbing onto trees or buildings and using special blades in order to cut the neck. She lost hers during her retreat, so we don't have much to analyze other than her own description of the things."

The president nodded.

"What kind of government do they have?"

"An absolute monarchy from the way she describes it. They have some pretty strict laws when it comes to the heads of government, but despite these she says the current king is rather appreciated by the population."

The president's eyes lit up.

That could work…

A land ruled by a king where the people lived in fear of being eaten alive by deformed humanoid giants that lived just outside their walls sounded like the perfect situation for America to swoop in and save the day.

"Say we send troops in there… what would we do against these giants?"

"Well, from the footage from New York, we saw one titan try to get a person hiding in a car. It managed to flip the car, break it a bit; but the titan was unable to grab the person inside, though that was seemingly due to lack of coordination; some appear to be dumber than others. Another camera shows us that while they had no trouble shattering the glass on windows and even breaking some cement columns, these titans were unable to seriously damage the surrounding buildings, and that's without mentioning their disorganized actions. I say we send armored battalions as a spearhead, with mechanized infantry with heavy weapons as backup. Once the men have established a Forward Operating Base, we can send light attack helicopters and other aircraft in order to conduct much more effective strikes. Once we clear the Titans from the surrounding area we will go ahead and seal the damaged wall. Hopefully by then we would've at least established some contact with the locals, but if we don't, we can always just march in there and tell them how we reclaimed their lost land after a few quick days. Gain their trust that way."

The president nodded.

There was no visible downside to this if the gate didn't close down.

Send the troops, clear the area of titans, seal the wall, march in as heroes, get tax breaks and establish business deals that benefit both parties, giving the US a much better deal before including other nations to it of course, and selling weapons to a nation, nay, a world that needed the firepower… not bad, not bad at all…

All that was needed was for that gate to stay in place and not disappear.

…

Matt tried his hardest to keep himself from shivering too much. The lightly chuckling Canadian soldiers a few meters- YARDS- to his left were standing around in the snow like it was nothing. He knew they were laughing at him, no one else to laugh at nearby, but he couldn't blame them. He was supposed to be standing straight as he kept watch during the night along with the Canadians, but he had slung his carbine on his back in order to wrap his arms around himself, he kept his legs together and bent slightly in a desperate attempt at keeping somewhat warm, which in it of itself was futile.

In short, he looked stupid.

"Quit fighting the cold, just embrace it!" one of them said smiling kindly, seemingly not bothered at all by the low temperatures.

These people are half ice…

Matt kept quiet. No need to open his mouth to talk since the balaclava would probably muffle what words he had in mind. It wasn't a problem for the Canadians; they had their basic winter gear and seemed to be just fine with it. Meanwhile the Americans had their own winter gear and some extra stuff families sent, but some still felt it wasn't anywhere near enough for the cold temperatures of the Canadian wilderness.

Damned Joint training exercises…

The American and Canadian joint exercise up north was both good and bad news from what he understood.

On the one hand, that meant that things were going on as normal; life went on even after a portal to another world opened up in New York City.

On the other, hand, a last minute addition of American Armor had been added to the exercise, which wasn't exactly unusual, but he wondered if that was confirmation that the higher ups were indeed planning to send forces through the gate.

Or maybe they were just sending some of the rookie tankers to train just because they didn't have enough experience. It could be that. But every minor change was now being speculated of being related to the gate opening.

MRE shortage? Probably due to the gate.

Training involving AP rounds instead of the regular ones? Probably due to the gate.

Jake can't find any good girls in the God forsaken tundra? Gate.

With nothing to really bother them in the dead winter of northern Canada, Matt eventually found himself doing very little until the next morning, where he was getting breakfast at the cafeteria.

So cold not even the Polar Bears try to leave their caves…

"Hey-hey-hey! The news! Turn on the news!" Jake demanded of the guy in the cafeteria.

"Why?"

"I overheard the officers talking. The Marines sent a couple of scouts through the gate in New York today and they just got back!"

The man blinked and in a swift motion flipped the television on. A tired reporter moved awkwardly around civilian and police that were surrounding an area near the gate.

"…Marine MRAPs returned earlier this Wednesday after a brief reconnaissance operation beyond the gate situated in Times Square. The vehicles were sent at approximately 12:30 AM EST, and returned a little after 8:00 in the morning. As you can see from the recovery footage, the second vehicle has suffered some damage… there…" he added, pointing.

The men in the cafeteria stared with concern at the second MRAP being shown on the TV screen.

Some of the armor on the left side had actually been indented, as if a wrecking ball had hit it. The .50 caliber machine gun on the top was visibly dislocated, probably out of commission, and while hard to tell, the bullet proof glass on the driver's side was slightly cracked.

"Those things are designed to tank IEDs, what the hell hit them?" one of the older Canadian soldiers asked out loud. Everyone knew the titans were large and dangerous, but also slow and quite stupid. They all shuddered at the possibility of something worse living in that strange land.

The reporter seemed to have an answer.

"We interviewed one of the Marines briefly and managed to ask him about the damage. The Marine, Afghanistan veteran Wesley Thomson had this to say…"

The footage cut to an earlier take of the Marine hopping out of the MRAP, unhurt, and a reporter asking

"Sir, what happened out there?"

"Huh? Oh, just one of them freaky bastards tried to grab us."

"I thought most giants were slow."

"Well yeah, but some are… well, freaky bastards that crawl. Crashed right into us." the soldier stated, rubbing his neck.

"Just how bad is it over there?"

"Uh, well, it ain't Afghanistan, but I mean that in a good way. Naw, there's a lot of them around, but it seems rather nice for the most part… I think we got it on camera too. I guess it's pretty pleasant, but I wouldn't vacation there." he said, lightheartedly.

Typical Marines…

…

Ilse stared at the television screen in shock.

"They got attacked by a titan, head on, and all it could do to their car was dent it a little?" she asked the FBI agent that was sitting in the room with her.

"Well, those are basically armored cars that can survive pretty harsh explosions. Have you read up on the Iraq war yet?"

Ilse shook her head. On the table were plenty of discs that she could put inside a box which would then play them on the screen bolted on the wall.

"Well, play it after you get through the Cold War."

It was vital to have her know as much as she could about their world if she was to act as an in-between. In the past month after the incident, Ilse had been staying in the small apartment the American government had essentially rented out for her, even granting her a Visa, some odd document needed for staying in a foreign nation, and teaching her how to read, something that wasn't as difficult as she originally thought given the similarity between languages.

This was all in preparation for the inevitable.

The US was planning on sending at least a division of its military across the mysterious gate and into the strange lands that existed beyond it.

"The US carried this operation despite objections from UN officials, some who claim the natives to the other side might see it as an act of aggression."

The statement got her attention.

"Wait, what? No one has lived in Wall Maria's territory in almost five years. Only humans any recon operation might encounter are with the Survey Corps… why are the United Nations against sending soldiers in there?" Ilse asked the FBI agent.

"The UN worries about all the entanglements another world might involve. You say Humanity only exists within the walls, but let's be honest, you could be wrong."

Ilse frowned, but nodded at the statement.

In fact, she had never even considered that a possibility.

It was actually quite odd how accepted it was by everyone that they were all that remained of humanity.

But then no one dared question the king or his advisors. Not out of fear, though, the king had been effective enough, and all previous kings were greatly revered. Why would they lie?

And even if they weren't alone, what good would it do them? Assuming there were some pockets of humanity out there, they couldn't communicate with each other, and if the old records were to be believed, they would also be under siege by titans… right?

The agent continued, interrupting her thoughts.

"But even if the walls are all that's left, it's still an entire nation that exists within another world. Assuming we send troops and destroy most if not all the titans, it might make management even worse as people branch out, which they will eventually do. Maybe new countries will form, maybe people will want independence, maybe they will want us to help them, and a whole lot of other possibilities. I guess it's just opening a can of worms for them, something they really don't want to do right now."

Ilse nodded.

But there has to be something I can do to gain support for sending help back home…

…

The ground shook as she maneuvered gracefully above it. She had been a wondrous addition to the arsenal the American military had been so proud of all the way back since Reagan injected so much money into it in the 1980s. Even some of her older sisters were still around, almost thirty years later. But she was new, and recently upgraded. Oh, some complained, declaring her Russian rivals could mop the floor with her, that it was time for the American military to look into something else.

But her time wasn't over yet.

She was still capable of protecting those that served with her, and her capabilities had been proven again and again in the battlefield. Many were confident that even her older sisters would be able to stop a Russian incursion into West Germany, should history have gone a little differently, and even now she was ready to destroy those that got in her way.

But if she could think, she would probably be somewhat confused as to why her enemy was no longer a vehicle, or even a person, but a large wooden humanoid model that was supposed to be indicative of her new enemy.

The M1A2 Abrams maneuvered itself through the field, reaching a slight elevation on the ground before taking aim at the large wooden target, her main gun obediently moving to position.

The 120mm smoothbore gun fired a single uranium depleted sabot round, disintegrating the top of the target from half a mile away.

The US Army general inspecting the field sighed.

He was old, tired and planning on retiring.

He wondered if he was one of the last generals that remained in service that had lived and trained through the Cold War, preparing for a conflict that never came, only to realize that the new big threat to his country came from guerilla groups in a backwater land that didn't even have a basic concept of what existed beyond the dessert. And just when he was planning on retiring, yet another threat emerged that needed neutralizing.

And just like that, tactics had to be changed again with a new threat literally on America's doorstep.

"Will that do it?" he asked, turning to one of the few observers.

The girl seemed impressed. She was still just a kid from the looks of it. It didn't surprise him from the descriptions he had been getting on the news, but it still broke his heart that underage boys and girls had to do the fighting in such desperate situations on the other side of the gate. But what other option would anyone have in such a scenario?

"I… would think so." She said, but for some reason he didn't buy it. Something in her eyes suggested uncertainty.

Deciding to treat her like any other subordinate, the old man turned to face her.

"Are you sure? Looks to me like we haven't convinced you yet." he said, remaining stoic.

The girl winced at that, before turning to look at the other observers, which were just an Air Force colonel and a Marine general, both of whom returned the same glance.

"If something needs changing, tell us." The marine general stated.

The girl looked at the men, took a breath and spoke up.

"Well, I know how destructive tanks can be, and I'm no general or high ranking officer… but I can't help but worry that no one takes the Titan threat as seriously. Even with these weapons… I know how much punishment some titans can take. I heard one got blown to bits by cannon fire and still healed itself…. I don't want anyone dying because I forgot to give someone their advice."

The men nodded.

It was a good point, underestimating the enemy had cost every great empire at least one battle.

"Well, this is uncharted territory for us, Miss Langnar. We don't want to lose a single one of our boys to the enemy on the other side. We appreciate any and all advice you can give us."

That got the young girl to smile slightly.

"Well, all you have to remember is that the nape is the main weakness to kill them." The girl repeated, starting to feel like a broken record.

"I think uranium depleted rounds will do a bit more than destroy the nape…" the general mumbled.

"Yes, but some are capable of moving with insane speeds." She said, her bizarre accent manifesting itself.

The men nodded. They had all seen the footage from the first reconnaissance operation.

"Abrams move pretty fast… but as usual, we plan on sending support units with heavy machine guns and grenade launchers."

"And guided projectiles?" she asked, using the term she had recently learned.

The men nodded. Not too far away from the Abrams a couple of Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles fired two TOW anti-tank missiles at another target. Though these were outdated models, they still performed spectacularly, annihilating the target entirely, leaving only charred remains and smoke.

Ilse wondered if she was worrying over nothing, staring at the beasts in the field. The Abrams main battle tank weighed over sixty tons; no way a titan could move it.

Maybe I am worrying over-

A cell phone rang, interrupting the girl's thoughts.

None of the military personnel were carrying theirs.

Ilse picked it up and put it to her ear.

Such inventions would greatly benefit her world if they ever got there…

"Uh huh… wait, now?" she said, surprised. "B-but the message says… oh… I read it… wrong…"

The General raised an eyebrow.

"She's supposed to do a big interview to rally support behind us…" the Air Force colonel said.

"Well, most Americans have their minds made up on whether or not we should go; I doubt a single interview will change minds." He mumbled a response.

"Yeah, well wait until you see who wanted to book her."

…

He looked at himself on the mirror.

Good enough…

While his late night show was considered by many to be about comedy, the man was well known for his commentary on political issues facing the nation. He tried to be… well, objective wasn't the right word. …Agreeable?

Some, the president included, weren't really fans of his show or what he said.

Not a problem…

His political leanings were no secret, of course, but he still tried to express his point of view in a way that wasn't condescending to people on the other side.

For the most part at least…

Like many political commentators in the US, he had received plenty of heat for saying something some didn't agree with, or some felt he was being offensive, or some felt he wasn't being offensive enough…

But that came with the job, especially if you were the most viewed late night show host in the US.

But even knowing all of that, he was still caught completely off guard when someone he had ridiculed plenty on the show had showed up wanting to talk to him.

No, not just talk to him…

The secretary of state was offering him money to interview the girl that had come out of the gate a few months prior. If this was offered to a regular small time reporter, or even one of the more well-known ones, he was sure they would take it in a heartbeat, however…

"No, I will not act as a propaganda spewing-" he had begun, he knew exactly why they were asking him to interview her. He, along with many US citizens, didn't want the US to get too involved with the world on the other end. It wasn't that they didn't want to send help; they just didn't trust their own government to keep itself in check and not annex an entire planet. And that was just one of the many reasons why. Ignoring all the political complications, the fact that the other world more than likely contained unknown diseases, had a high risk of death, and the possibility of becoming another Afghanistan were reason enough for every US citizen to be, at the very least, wary of another military operation.

"Propaganda?! I know you don't like the administration, but this is the interview of a life time!" the politician protested.

"Oh yeah? Answer me this, why has the FBI kept her out of the public eye for so long?"

"She's sixteen, Jim!" the politician stated quietly, even a little angry.

That had caught the show host off guard.

The politician continued, saying "I know you and many others have concerns over whether we should get involved in this… other world, but no one in the mainstream wants to talk about how bad the situation is over there. Every time the president brings it up he gets called a fear monger, and when someone backs him up or tries to clear it up the news networks demand to interview Miss Langnar, something she's not really willing to do considering most major news networks want to hear her denounce the president."

"That isn't-" he paused. While knew in his heart that most news networks still at least tried to give the full truth in their story, it wasn't an exaggeration that most news networks and websites had been needlessly biased in the last few years. Talk show hosts like himself constantly commented on how, at least politically, most Americans made up their minds on something without all the facts coming out, simply preferring to base their opinions on who said it first.

"Yeah, even if ABC or CNN have well versed and polite reporters, she doesn't really trust them after all the crap some of their hosts have been spewing."

"Well, to be fair, our president gives them plenty of material to hit him with." He replied, getting the other man to roll his eyes.

"She still thinks you're way more believable than them to deliver the truth."

He took a minute, not contemplating whether he would agree or not, that was already decided, but he still had to mull over the fact that the reports coming from the White House weren't exaggerated.

"Still, I… I mean sixteen? They have child soldiers on the other side?"

"Again, the president hasn't exaggerated this. We've been trying to get her to get interviewed, but all she agrees to are these written statements, and for some reason no one in the mainstream wants to trust those. CNN didn't even bother airing the last ones."

Can't imagine why…

"She finally agreed on doing a video message, but she insists that she be interviewed by a Late Night Show Host… like you."

He crossed his arms.

He would agree, but he wanted to see the politician squirm a little more.

"Says you're as genuine as they get, even when you lie or exaggerate." the politician stated.

"So, she watches my show?"

"A little, she's mostly catching up on world history now. What do you say?"

And so, he found himself on a plane to an Army base Michigan where he learned she was talking with high ranking officers on taking out the giants that plagued the other side of the gate. He found it impossible to ignore the motor pool in the distance, where several men were working on their vehicles with an urgency often seen in ants.

The brass is itching to go through…

He couldn't stand how bloodthirsty the military could seem sometimes. It wasn't that they were, he knew as much, but the eagerness of some military officers to go off to kill was something he couldn't stand. Still, he knew that this wasn't as easy as calling Iraq a pointless war. People on the other side of that… gate clearly seemed to need help.

Especially if they have child soldiers fighting giants to survive… where is-?

His heart sank when he saw her.

Sixteen, she looks like she should still be in middle school…

"Hi… Ilse Langnar… 34th expedition… Survey Corps…" she mumbled without making eye contact.

He was surprised at how nervous she looked.

He introduced himself, telling her it was okay.

"S-sorry… I guess… knowing that a million people will see what I have to say… you know… scares me… which is stupid because I have almost died multiple times… yet…"

"Hey, come on, now… you're alright." The man he assumed was her body guard said.

"Thanks… how is it I faced Titans for a living and I am absolutely petrified of a recorded interview?" she almost wailed.

"Hey, hey, don't worry about it. I interviewed the president right before he became president. Should've seen how nervous he gets before going on camera." He said, as friendly as he could make himself sound, actually getting a light chuckle out of her.

Laughter is the best medicine after all…

…

One would have imagined things would be more relaxed after a joint exercise with the friendly neighbor to the north, but training had been nonstop since they returned. Random drills, a new training on how to engage Titans, which mostly involved grenade launchers, which led to every troop in the battalion training with different types of grenade launchers themselves.

For lieutenant Troy, the only thing missing was the order to move out.

The soldiers under his and his commanding officer's watch were more than ready at this point, and he knew damn well that if any team would be going through the gate to support the Marines, it would be them. It wasn't just opinion either; it was the fact that they were both green and available. Units being sent overseas both to allied and non-allied nations weren't about to be called back, and having some trained troops from New York's neighbor would make the logistics much easier.

At least, in his mind.

He stared at the footage on the computer screen. It was a few months old at this point, but the MRAPS sent previously had gotten some pretty decent footage of the recon op.

Green hills, tall pine trees, the occasional farm house… kind of looked like Germany, except with Giant freaky humanoids wondering around.

"Amber Actual, this is Amber 1-2, you got visual on the walls yet?" a voice was heard on the radio.

"Negative Amber 2, you seeing the size of some of these?"

One of the cameras had actually captured footage of some of the larger titans looming over the trees in the morning sun, not unlike lovecraftian nightmares; only letting their prey live because they were thankfully unaware of them.

"Yeah… unsettling sons of- Woah!"

The moment in question…

It was hard to tell, but it seemed that as the crew had been slightly distracted by the giants in the distance, when they passed a decrepit farm house a freaky titan crawled on all fours from behind it, not unlike a spider, and moved towards Amber actual at a terrifying speed. The camera swerved along with the vehicle, obscuring the beast, but it was clear it had rammed it, spinning it slightly, maybe even causing it to almost flip. The 50 caliber machine gun opened up as the driver audibly struggled to move out of the way as much as he could in order to avoid being rolled upside down.

Troy narrowed his eyes, wondering if the rumors proved true.

As the MRAP managed to turn, and Amber 2 whirled around to support and…

"Huh… Would you look at that?"

He hadn't been the first to notice, but the rounds tore entire chunks of the creatures head off, including the eyes, before a tracer visibly entered through the open mouth and exited through the top of the neck.

If aimed right, .50 caliber rounds could cut through parts of the titan's nape even if they were going through the front.

"Think your boys can handle that?" his commanding officer asked.

"This is what Miss Ilse called an abnormal?"

"Correct, fast little devils… well, large ones…" the older man chuckled.

Troy shrugged. Despite his unit being sent through, all they were getting were Humvees. Yeah, Humvees armed with .50 cals and Mk 19 automatic grenade launchers, but still, outrunning that beast might be much more problematic than what he would like.

Not a problem… a challenge… didn't sign up for the easy jobs, Troy, remember that…

"I think we can handle it. We got some LAVs coming along, right?"

"Yeah, but other than the platoon of A2s, we're mostly contributing with the bunch of Bradley IFVs. Don't know if it'll add too much, but Ilse describes that some of them are about 9 feet tall. I think the Bradley's guns will fare pretty well against those without risking our men and help the Abrams conserve their ammo."

Troy nodded.

"Ah, and before I forget, orders from the brass. Congratulations."

He looked at the paper…

"Well… that's… interesting…" he mumbled, glancing at the late night show exclusive.

An interview with a certain girl…

"So… after all these losses, a government that doesn't give people too much freedom, after everything, you keep pushing to help your world. Why is that?" the talk show host asked in a polite manner.

"Because I have to live for them… for the ones that died…" the girl said slowly and quietly.

…

The motor pool had plenty of noise to distract any newcomer, but Matt's still stared at the girl barely a year younger than him. Right now she was wearing civilian clothes, blue jeans and a light green blouse, but it wasn't attraction that was keeping his, as well as the rest of the men's, eyes on her.

Jake winced, pointed at her, looked at Dave, then back at the girl.

Lieutenant Troy stood tall next to the small girl.

"Alright boys, I bet you already know who this is."

"Well, yes lieutenant, but… what is Miss Langnar doing in… here?" Jake asked, genuinely unsure.

The girl shifted nervously. As if she wasn't sure she should be there.

"We'll be escorting her as we cross into the Gate. Rejoice gentlemen, it is officially our job to establish first contact."

The sounds of the motor pool continued without interruption as the younger men stared in surprise.

"Not to sound… like a prick, but shouldn't this fall on the Marines, El-tee?" Matt asked.

"It sort of did, actually. We get a Marine escort when we start assisting them with recon, but Miss Langnar will be staying with our unit until the Marines finish up the establishment of an FOB after we cross."

The men glanced at each other, unsure.

"Any objections?"

"Hell No, Lieutenant!" they all answered.

"It's… an honor to be working with you all!" Ilse said after a second, extending her arm to shake hands.

Matt, who was closest, shrugged and reached for it.

"Matthew White, go by Matt… probably the, uh, most responsible one here. Jake over there will steal anything you consider dear, Dave is Turkish, so we prefer to call him a cockroach-"

"Matt, let the others introduce themselves." Lieutenant Troy said before moving to the side of the Humvee to check some papers.

"Yeah, Matt, can't go one day without getting scolded by our lovely commanding officers, Matt!" Dave huffed, grinning as he shook the girl's hand.

"Dave Emin, which by the way means trustworthy in my parent's country."

"Shut up, Dave, everyone knows you're as trustworthy as a Chinese workshop… Jackson Jackson, also known as Jake Jackson, team leader-"

"Team Guys, give me some of your condoms if your parents send any so that I can pretend I got more tail than all of you, but sure, team leader."

"He drives our Humvee." Matt said, deadpanned.

"Hey, unlike you two, I can drive and- shut up Muhammad! No one asked you! Anyway, pleasure to meet you."

Ilse blinked, and barely stifled a laugh before laughing loudly.

The men were unsure how they should react to the laughing girl.

"Sorry, it's just… I guess soldiers are soldiers no matter where you go." She said, wiping her eye.

"Did… she did not just compare us to third world armies… listen, missy, the US Army is-"

"Hey! Introductions are over! Miss Langnar will be staying in her own bunk until tomorrow. I want you and the rest of the unit ready to leave for New York by 0500 on the dot! Am I understood?" staff sergeant Roy yelled in the way Army staff sergeants usually do.

Of course, it immediately got the men to scramble to finish working the old Humvee and Ilse to fluster over what she could do considering she wasn't US Army.

"Excuse me, but your bunk is this way Miss Langnar." He said, leading her away.

"Damn it… of course the sergeant would take away the only bit of eye candy we've had in months…" Jake groaned.

"Dude, she's like sixteen…" Matt said, frowning.

"Which is why you should the angry one here…" Dave pointed out, grabbing some crates of .50 caliber rounds to put in the trunk.

"Excuse my God damned French, but what in the hell are you trying to imply? I'm eighteen; she's like… a kid…"

"Only in age, baby face." Dave said earning a frown from Matt.

"Actually, he has a point. She's seen more combat than any of us…" Jake said, surprisingly somber for once.

That got them quiet for a second, Matt continued working on the Mk 19 while Jake checked the ammo before Dave brought more over.

"Well… maybe… but you know what? They didn't have tanks, or even regular cars. So this won't be a combat mission, this is more of a… vacation! Yeah, let's call it that." Matt said, suddenly trying to sound chipper, which only made him come off as childish, which wasn't helped by the fact that his uniform looked a bit large on him even though it fit him fine.

The men shook their heads and kept working.

"Uh… okay, no one heard that…"

"No one heard what?" the two replied in almost perfect unison.

"Thanks."

Not too far from the men, the officers were discussing the plans for the incursion, the sun setting in the distance.

"So we have no idea how many hostiles we could be facing once through?" Troy asked.

"Negative, drones have and are still being sent, but they can only fly so far once on the other side before the signal becomes too weak, and the fact is that titans move around, so while we could have plenty appear one day, none may be there the next."

"Right, but from what Ilse mentioned, these giants don't move much at night. Would securing the area around the gate before sunrise be an option?" the lieutenant asked.

"Afraid not, partly due to political grandstanding from both parties, and partly because we want to engage the enemy as soon as possible." Another officer replied.

"Political grandstanding?"

"They want to show us off to the city, give them a good look at our mean green mach-"

"And because we want to engage the enemy ASAP. Assuming few titans are in the general area, we can assume they will be arriving quickly, probably able to smell us or something. Regardless, orders are orders. Remember, the enemy is very stupid, but still dangerous."

"Like our politicians?" one of the younger officers muttered.

Troy glanced at his fellow officer. The kid looked like he had just graduated and had zero experience in the field. Maybe he did; wasn't like he had much experience either.

"Actually, that's a good point, are we fully prepped for this? I know we haven't had as many budget cuts, but still." another officer asked.

"Gentlemen, we are clearly more than ready. Once we link up with the rest of the Marines, we organize our vehicles into a convoy formation, tanks in the front, IFVs right behind them, and anything else behind those. Tanks set up a perimeter a fair deistance from the Gate, IFVs reinforce it, mechanized infantry reinforces them from way in the back. Remember, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, but the screw ups will really have to be on our side if we get pummeled by an enemy that can't figure out how to open a simple car door." The Commanding Officer said, eliminating any possilble doubts as to how this would end, even if it wasn't the safest plan.

But then again, what was?

…

"I think the last time New York had these many tanks and APCs was back in 1946…" the Marine lieutenant mumbled.

"Yeah… kind of crazy they turned this into a bit of a… Supermodel show?" Lieutenant Troy half mumbled to the fellow officer.

"Supermodel show? Nah, more like Broadway, and I think New York wouldn't have it any other way."

Times Square was filled to the brim with the military hardware and vehicles neatly parked so that it would enter the gate easily enough. A stage had been erected near it, and several military leaders as well as a certain US politician were expected to speak at the force that would go through the gate.

However, several NATO personnel were present as observers, specifically, Britain, France and Germany.

The three representatives had special chairs set aside on the stage in order to observe from it, but everyone suspected they would follow the American expedition the second an FOB was established.

Around the area sealed off for the soldiers by fences and plenty of police officers was a large crowd of civilians and news crews reporting from outside, which was added to the media presence within the military circle.

Matt, Jake and Dave were standing around their Humvee along with most of the other men in their unit.

"Kind of glad most of them are cheering… or at least not attacking us." Dave sighed. He'd been fairly nervous since they got confirmation their platoon would follow several others through the gate, and his worries weren't exactly quelled by the rumors of anti-military protests.

Thankfully, they were the peaceful types that just quietly kept up some signs about not liking their city becoming a military base.

Which it really wasn't, but you couldn't tell from looking at times square.

The place genuinely looked like a motor pool with the battalions of Marine and Army tanks, IFVs, HMVs and LAVs.

Plus the several thousand soldiers that were standing around, waiting for the call to fall in, listen to the speech and get into their cars in order to charge through the gate.

"Man, let me tell you, when the recruiter said I wouldn't regret this… look at all those girls back there…" Jake said, waving at a few that were nearby.

"Don't hit on the camera crews… unless you want your ugly face on TV, which…" Matt shut up as other men in the unit suddenly started making noises at the nearby girls, who thankfully only rolled their eyes and went back to work.

He frowned, forcing himself to remain the mature one in the unit, keeping himself straight while all the others acted like children.

He winced as he noticed a flash from not too far away.

A reporter!

She had snapped a quick picture, smiled and snuck back into the crowd along with some tall guy that was also holding a camera. He only saw her face for a second, but he already knew the woman planned on using it on some piece, maybe pro military, maybe not, but a piece on a public platform where anyone could see him nonetheless.

Times like these really make me wish I smoked…

"Callahan! Roe! Toby" Ilse exclaimed, seeing the officers she had met when she first crossed into the planet.

"Hey, Ilse. Long time no see." The older one said.

"I heard you guys got medals!"

"Yeah… no big deal." the older man said, seemingly embarrassed. The Medal of Valor was indeed comparable to the Medal of Honor in the US military, but Callahan didn't feel he had done enough to earn it, at least not during the emergency.

"…I never apologized for what happened last year…"

"Don't… Now listen here; you are probably the bravest kid I know. Even when you thought you were going to die you kept going. Not only that, thanks to you, your world may get a genuine chance in order to better itself. Don't forget what you said."

"Live on for those who died…" she said, determination coursing through her.

"That's it. Now go show that world who owns it!"

She nodded and ran back to the unit she had been assigned to.

"Ilse, here!" Lieutenant Troy called.

He walked over and handed her some Kevlar armor to wear under her Survey Corps uniform.

She nodded, throwing it on quickly.

As she did so, a man stepped up to the podium, looked around seemingly ready to start talking.

She recognized him as the American president, the big man in charge. All the men stood to attention and the crowd went silent, awkwardly leaving her unsure of where to stand. Nervously, she sidestepped next to the guys she had briefly met the previous day and stood next to them just as the president sucked in a breath to begin his speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it has been many months since the incident here struck deep in our hearts and minds. A discovery of unparalleled comparison… a gate to another world. Something so crazy and unexpected… nobody could have seen it coming, nobody… on the other side lies a hostile world, where remnants of humanity struggle to survive no longer at the top of the food chain. We have the capacity to turn their situation around. We have the weapons, the technology, the heart and soul to repair this world, and we will. Thanks to the planning of our great generals, advice from the scientific community, and support from both parties, we can finally commence this great endeavor. Let the rising sun behind us signify more than just another day, but let it mark that a new era will begin. A new world where American values, freedom and liberty, and the right to work to achieve your dreams inspire the people we meet. And with God's almighty guidance, we shall be victorious…"

"Dave... Dave for God's sake, the president is talking!" Jake hissed.

"Dude, I know, but I didn't vote for him and I just want to sleep in the car… just a bit, I-"

"Sergeant Kilroy is giving you that look…"

Dave stood at full attention immediately.

Matt grinned slightly, but then noticed the girl they were escorting was eyeing the small monument erected to honor the victims of the attack.

Ilse was specifically staring at a family of three; the mother and young son were visibly struggling to keep their composure while the father was standing still, almost like a statue.

It reminded her of her own family…

The one that thought she was dead.

She swallowed her fear of returning to that hell and glared at the closed door of the gate.

No fear this time.

Live for them…

The president finished his speech and a final briefing was held with the officers.

Drones had been sent, but the sun was barely rising in there as well.

They should definitely expect hostiles once through, but the exact amount was unclear.

Construction equipment would be going through shortly; a Forward Operations Base was the prime objective for the first day.

Set up some effective defenses, dig in, and if things get really bad, everyone hide in a tank or APC and wait for reinforcements, just stay close.

Above all, don't die to something so stupid it can't even walk right.

With that, the men scrambled to their vehicles, rounds were chambered, engines started.

The Abrams first roared to life, the jet engine making everyone in the audience look on curiously.

"All hunter teams, button up."

"Instruments are all good."

"Fuel's good."

"Are we happy?"

"Hell yes!"

"All right then. All tanks advance!"

Two by two, the Marine and Army variations of the Abrams main battle tank lurched forward, advancing into the now open structure, ready to crush anything in their path, their 120mm guns staring down the darkness, as if daring it to blink, to spawn more man eating giants, their heavy treads appeared to shake the ground below them.

They entered the gate without issues.

Matt stood in the Humvee, holding on to the Mk 19 mounted on the top. He swallowed. He wouldn't admit to anyone how nervous he was, not now, not ever.

Ilse took a breath, nervously buckling into the seat next to Dave, earning Jake's attention.

The Humvees soon followed the LAVs into the darkness.

Deep into the hell that awaited them on the other side...

The darkness enveloped them; Matt looked to his sides, unsure if they were walls or an infinite stretch of darkness. Unsettled, he focused on the convoy ahead of him. Behind them were several other HMVs, including Marine MRAPs with their own .50 cals.

Support for the big guns…

"Alright… how's it looking?" Troy checked in.

"All good so far."

Lieutenant Troy was probably more nervous than any of the men under his command, but he couldn't show it. None of them honestly could.

Don't get scared then, get scared after…

"Hey, you okay?" Jake asked the girl in the backseat.

She shakily nodded.

"You ran through all this way back then, right?"

She nodded again.

"Scared?"

"Maybe."

"Yeah, same… but you know, once things get cleared up, you'll probably be known as the heroine of your world or something."

She still looked unsure.

"Or… at least the one that answered Freedom's ring?"

"Good God, Jake, focus on not veering off whatever keeps this ground solid!"

"Yes your highness." Jake said, making a face Ilse saw in the mirror.

She allowed a smile.

Treads and wheels rolling through the darkness, the Abrams were the first to clear the exit and begin to advance across a grassy hill, each one moved to set up a perimeter.

No problems.

They reached the top of a second hill, eyeing the beautiful rising sun; a whole new world ahead of them, green and mostly unknown, but as the only visitor they had once described, it wasn't all that different from their own. Trees in the distance cast shadows in the early morning light in criss-crossed patterns as a soft breeze swayed them left to right.

Another world…

They advanced past a few more hills before…

Problem.

They were rising from a slumber to meet them.

Dozens of them.

Tall, deformed, seemingly malnourished, smiling, and even within a tank there was some dread at the sight.

"Contact! Eight hundred meters!"

"Got a few over on our left, six hundred meters out."

As the LAVs and IFVs exited and began to position themselves along the tanks for support, the Humvees and MRAPs stopped to establish a small perimeter of their own around the gate.

The few men that dared exit their Humvees swallowed. They had no witty lines, their enemy was right there, trying to intimidate them by standing taller than most of their houses.

Ilse opened the door, but stood on the edge of the Humvee, worried as young men moved with their rifles to hide behind their vehicles, mostly to help as observers.

This was truly it. Success here meant a chance for her people to reclaim their world…

She clutched her green coat; the wings of freedom once again flew in the familiar breeze of her world.

Here's where it begins…

"All units stand by to engage…" the radio crackled.

"Matt, you remember what to-?" Jake began to ask.

"Yeah, I… I know…" he said, somewhat nervously, making sure his mounted weapon was ready to provide fire support to the armor.

The sun finally illuminated the new battlefield.

The humanoid beasts saw their smaller challengers and widened their smiles, drool pouring from them as they readied to devour as much as the now risen sun would allow them to. The booming noise their steps made as they advanced was a reminder that they would never stop until they had found release from their nightmare.

The Abrams' turrets swiveled and marked their targets, which were all standing at full height now, but the 62 ton Abrams awaited them with uranium depleted rounds for each. The size of the target was irrelevant to them; they wouldn't stop until their enemy had been neutralized.

The story began.

A/N: First things first, credit to Jackie Robinson and UN Peacekeeper for the inspiration to write this. Thus, the French Foreign Legion Fought There and War of the Worlds are pretty solid reads on their own and if you want to read about our world interacting with the Attack on Titan world, look no further. I was actually surprised there weren't that many fics where a doorway leading into the AOT world opens up somewhere in our world, and while this certainly isn't the only Attack on Titan/Gate fic, it was these two that got me wanting to write this. Fair bit of a heads up, Thus the French Foreign Legion Fought There and War of the Worlds are pretty different from each other, for example one has way more action than the other, while the other is a fairly interesting take on the Gate concept. Again, both are really good, but I wanted to write something different, though if it ever seems to resemble any other fics do let me know.

I was also surprised that there weren't that many Ilse Langnar fics out there, which… okay, she wasn't that big a character, but still, when I was mulling over how this fic would play out I kept going back to that first AOT OVA and this idea of having her go through the gate just sort of stuck. I mean, it allowed for less carnage during the attack so… plus? I don't know. Not entirely sure if she will remain as a major protagonist, that's still Eren's job, but I figured she would add to the whole "what if" of the story, cause that's what this is. I want to focus on how the Attack on Titan story would change if the modern world was suddenly made accessible to the main cast and hopefully this (maybe too long) first chapter is telling of events to come. Unlike some of the other fics I have, I did plan a fair bit for this one. The one thing I worry about is the US Army guys. I'm no soldier, and despite my love for history and the military, as well as the fact that I have several family members in the Armed Forces, I can easily make mistakes (I once wrote that an M1A2 Abrams had a 150mm main gun) and screw up the lingo or call signs or even protocol so any advice on that front would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, what did you think of this first chapter? Reviews are always greatly appreciated, and if there is anything I screwed up or could do better, please let me know. Thanks for reading; hopefully this can turn into a good read for you all.