To the other denizens of the underworld, Levi is the best at what he does. He is the lightest on his feet, the most audacious in his planning, the most ruthless when crossed. Although he tries to keep a level head regarding the superlatives that are so frequently thrown his way, he has yet to see someone match, let alone exceed his level of prowess at separating the gullible from their money and separating the throats of the people who dare challenge his superiority.
He does try to give back, distributing some of his gains amongst the poorest in the underground city, tossing gold coins to starving children, semi-anonymously donating sacks of food and clothing to the local orphanage. He feels it balances his karma, will maybe someday cleanse his soul of all the men he's killed. Yeah, he thinks, maybe in a million years or so.
Tonight, he has broken into the warehouse of a corrupt businessman who has been selling adulterated bread to the citizens of the underground city. Clearly-marked bags of plaster and sawdust sit next to sacks of flour, waiting to be combined into bread that will feed — and likely sicken — hundreds, if not thousands of people.
With a grim smile on his face, Levi slashes open the bags with his sword, leaving only the flour untouched. He grimaces at the mess he has made, but concludes that it is proper comeuppance for a man who sleeps easy while the poor fill their starving bellies with trash and poison.
No, he corrects himself, the proper comeuppance would be to creep into the businessman's window while he sleeps and wake him up just long enough to know that his life will soon end. This businessman has close ties with the King, though, and his death would surely bring the Military Police to his door. Despite his dominance over the underworld, Levi is not ready to take on the full might of humanity.
Not yet, anyway.
After Levi does away with the bags, he kicks in the door to the businessman's office and searches the room by candlelight until he finds what he is looking for: a secret panel in the wall that conceals three burlap sacks full of cash. As he counts the money, always needing to know exactly how much he is taking, the dim light from his candle starts to flicker and he grabs the bags and runs back out to the main storeroom, which is lit by the light of the full moon.
As he counts, he hears the unmistakable noise of breaking glass and, as a reflex, Levi rolls behind a set of stacked grain barrels and unsheathes his sword, ready to spring onto whoever is unlucky or foolish enough to interrupt him at his work. He lies in wait, listening for the sound of footsteps. Years of criminal activity have gifted him with hearing so finely tuned that he can tell someone's gender by the weight of their footfall.
He waits for minutes before he realizes there are no footsteps. A fraction of a second later, he curses himself as he notices that the money is sitting out in the open, unattended.
He pokes his head out from behind the barrels long enough to see a slim black-clad form glide through the air in an inverse parabolic arc, swooping low to the ground. A thin arm reaches out and picks up one of the sacks of cash, then the thief flies up and out toward the windows that line the top of the warehouse. A shaft of moonlight illuminates the thief, and for a moment Levi is sure the thief wants him to know exactly who robbed him.
The thief looks to be a slim young man clad in black, fair-skinned and dark-haired from what Levi can see; everything below the man's shadowed eyes is obscured by a scarf the color of dried blood.
The thief pauses, seemingly hovering near the warehouse ceiling. The man then waves at him, kicks out a window, and disappears into the night. Levi grabs the remaining bags of money and decides to throw caution to the wind, retreating in case anyone else is on his trail.
He counts his money at home, swearing that someday, he will find the thief with the red scarf and recoup what he has lost, either in cash or in blood.
The second time Levi sees the Red-Scarfed Thief, he is still willing to think it a coincidence. By the fourth, he is convinced that the man is following him on his nightly rounds and pilfering bits of his hard-won earnings. After the tenth time he sees the thief, Levi decides that he is definitely going to kill him.
He wouldn't mind so much — after all, the law of the streets is every man for himself — but most times he sees the thief, the guy fucking laughs at him, this deep, dry chuckle that he swears he can hear in his dreams, as he runs away with most of Levi's takings.
Now, Levi is prepared. He makes a contact in the military who brings him a crate full of surplus three-dimensional maneuvering gear and teaches him how to use it in exchange for a small bundle of cash. Levi's gymnast's frame, small and compact, takes easily to the straps and wires, and within days he is soaring across the underground like a bird of prey.
He starts taking long walks around the city at night, disguising the bulk of the 3DMG gear beneath a cloak, praying that the Red-Scarfed Thief is stupid enough to follow him. A few small-time thugs try to mug him for his gear but he dispatches them quickly with a vicious punch to the side of the head if he is feeling merciful that evening and a dagger across the throat if he is not.
But the thief does not appear. Night after night, Levi looks for him, but finds no trace of his whereabouts. He even goes back to the places where the Red-Scarfed Thief stole from him, which he knows is foolish, but as the days pass his desire for revenge starts to overpower his rational mind. He needs to kill the thief, dreams about slitting his throat or slowly strangling him as the life drains from his body.
A few weeks later, Levi goes back to his hideout after yet another fruitless night of searching. Pinned to his front door is a note that says, "LOOKING FOR ME?" He rips the note off his door, his eyes wide with fury, and decides that he needs to move immediately.
He becomes frantic, reckless, chasing strangers who resemble the thief, planning more dangerous heists in the hopes of attracting the Red-Scarfed Thief. Levi feels a deep sense of disappointment even as he absconds with the wealth of the undeserving rich. His coffers start to overflow, so he gives most (but not all) of the money away. Nothing seems to matter anymore, nothing except revenge.
Levi wonders if the thief can sense this. He does not see the man at all for months, until Levi is forced to conclude that the thief will not come out again until he forgets about how much he wants to choke the thief to death with his own scarf.
He finally gets his opportunity on a cold December evening, snow lazily falling from the sky in fat flakes as he creeps into a military storehouse to steal more gas tanks for his 3DMG. He is stuffing tanks into his knapsack when he hears footsteps behind him, then a low chuckle.
"It's you," he says, turning around and brandishing his sword. "Show yourself."
"Drop your sword," comes a raspy whisper from the darkness.
"Fine," Levi replies, letting the blade fall to the ground. His sword clatters against the wooden floor, the sound reverberating in the otherwise silent warehouse. He is pleased to think that the thief may not know about his prowess in hand-to-hand combat. The thought of killing the thief with his bare hands makes Levi grin maniacally, moonlight glinting off his bared teeth, making him look like a wild dog.
He feels a cold rush of air as the thief runs toward him. The shadows shift, black on black, and Levi calculates that the Red-Scarfed Thief is leaping through the air, aiming his fist toward his face. He waits, simply standing there as the thief bears down on him, until the right moment approaches and he sticks out one booted foot, catching the thief square in the chest.
The Red-Scarfed Thief seems to fly backward, his momentum interrupted, before he skids across the wooden floor. He coughs deep in his chest, then tries to get up, but is too winded to bring himself to his feet. Instead the thief starts crawling away, gasping and wheezing. Levi walks toward the retreating man, his footsteps nearly silent against the floor, and kicks him in the ribs. The thief falls and turns away from Levi, who takes the opportunity to land a swift, vicious kick to the other side of his ribcage.
"Fuuuuck," the thief groans, still trying to crawl away. He moves slowly, each motion punctuated with a pained grunt. His breath is heavy, audible even from beneath his thickly layered scarf.
"Be still," Levi hisses, and the thief finally stops. Levi bends down and picks up the thief by the lapels of his jacket. The man is larger than him but Levi handily drags him to a part of the warehouse that is illuminated with moonlight. He wants to see the man's face before he chokes the life out of him. Levi throws the thief down and straddles his chest, pinning his arms down with thickly muscled legs.
His breath hitches in his chest. He finds himself almost giddy at finally being unable to unmask the Red-Scarfed Thief. Levi's fingers scrape at the scarf, trying to find one end of it. He wants to make this interminable for the thief, wants the man to have ample time to reflect on the consequences his actions have brought.
Levi begins to unravel the scarf slowly, peeling layer after layer of crimson wool from the thief's face. First he gets a good look at his eyes, luminous and dark and ringed with thick black lashes. A little pretty to be a man's, Levi thinks, but perhaps the thief is much younger than he thinks. A little lower, Levi reveals a slim nose and, below that, full, pouting lips.
He looks at the thief's face for a moment, eyes wide with disbelief. It takes him a moment to realize the man who has been irking him for months is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.
And he doesn't kill women. At that realization, Levi seems to deflate atop the thief, still pinning her to the floor.
"What are you waiting for?" the thief rasps between labored breaths, her dark eyes boring into his. "Kill me."
"You want me to kill you?"
She shrugs, wincing as she does so. "Why not? I knew the risks."
"'No women, no children,'" he quotes from his limited moral code. "No matter what."
The thief looks disappointed. "Even ones who steal from you?"
"Even ones who steal from me," Levi sighs. "I wish I hadn't taken that stupid scarf off."
The thief laughs, which turns into a barking cough. "Shit, you really got me in the chest," she gasps. "How did you do that? I thought I had the advantage over you."
"I just broke at least two of your ribs and you're talking strategy?" he asks, incredulous. A low chuckle escapes from his throat.
"Just trying to be good at what I do," she croaks.
"You are good," he admits, gazing down at her. After a moment, he gets up and retrieves his sword when he hears the clatter of approaching boots — two sets, then ten, then fifty. "Shit," he hisses. The thief tries to pull herself to a standing position. She is barely able to sit up on her own, but has managed to put her scarf back on. Levi frowns, curses the one shred of honor he apparently has left, then runs over to her.
"Put your arm over my shoulder and hold on tight," he whispers in her ear, crouching down next to her. She does so, sucking in a pained breath through her clenched teeth. He stands, pulling her up with him, and she bites back an anguished scream. Levi engages his 3DMG, sending them flying into the air and over the heads of the gathered soldiers. The soldiers exclaim as they see the thieves overhead, then point their rifles skyward and start to fire. Levi changes course with a quick shift of his body weight and soon they are careening away from the gunfire and out through an open window.
"You should have left me," the thief says as they escape. "But thank you."
"I was actually thinking," Levi replies as they soar across the city, the icy wind rushing around them, "do you want a job?"