Levi's feet love faces. It doesn't matter whose, as long as they're ugly and asking for it. Faces belonging to skin-headed men in alleys fumbling around with girls too young to fight back are particularly inviting.
This guy is on his knees. His knees are on his own blood. Levi sends the toe of his boot to the underside of the guy's already-blue nose. He'd heard once that if you do that to a dog it pierces its brain and kills it. Levi doesn't see any difference in this situation; the punk is already dead.
Let this scum's brain be pierced.
As he looks down on the body, at the unmoving torso bent back over twisted legs and a face scattered over the cobblestones, Levi is aware of the person standing behind him.
"Enjoy the show?"
There's a long pause, long enough for Levi to wonder if the man is going to reply at all. Then comes a deep voice.
"I don't enjoy mindless violence."
"It wasn't without mind."
"Oh?"
"Would you call taking down a man about to put his dick inside a six-year-old mindless?"
Another pause. "Who are you?"
"Who are you?" Levi retorts.
"I'm Officer Smith. Scouting legion."
Levi turns to get an eyeful of Officer Smith. He's a young guy, blonde hair neatly parted, fucking enormous but not particularly threatening in face. Behind him at the end of the alley are three other men.
"What do you want?"
"You. More specifically, you to join the trainee corps."
Levi snorts. "And why the fuck would I do that?"
Smith gestures to the punk on the floor. "Because I just witnessed you kill a man with too much skill for it to be regarded as a one-time offense. In fact, I know it wasn't a one-time offense."
"Been stalking me, Officer?"
Ignoring him, Smith continues. "I can either hand you to the authorities who will arrest, charge and imprison you, or you can join the trainees and, after a few years graduate into the survey corps as part of my team and put your skills to use."
Stepping over the body, Levi walks up the alley away from Smith and his men. "Thanks for the offer but I couldn't give a shit about what you want."
"It wasn't an offer."
"Too bad I don't take orders from anyone with a dick that small."
"I suggest you reconsider."
The light at the end of the alley is gone, blocked by three men. Levi spins, glaring down the alley at the officer, approaching fast, green cape floating in some invisible wind. With nowhere to run, Levi prepares himself for a kick to the bastard's balls, but Smith grabs the scruff of his neck and yanks down, forcing Levi's face to the floor, and then one of Smith's knees is on Levi's back and his hands are being twisted and bound.
"Get the fuck off me you piece of shit! What do you think you're doing -"
Levi's eyes are covered by cloth. "You'll be better off in the corps, trust me –"
"I don't trust nobody, brat –"
"Get him in the carriage."
"What –"
Hands haul him up under his arms and he's dragged back up the alley. He feels his feet knock against the body of the pervert before he's turned and pushed hard through a small door, shins knocking painfully on metal steps. He collapses sideways onto an upholstered seat, and there's a shift in the carriage room as someone else gets in.
"What's your name?" comes Smith's voice conversationally.
Levi spits, the saliva running sideways down his cheek. The carriage door is snapped closed and there's the sound of horse hooves as they begin to move.
It takes a long time for Levi to writhe himself into a position where he can sit up. That Smith guy was probably watching him the whole time.
"What kind of shitty pervert are you, Officer?"
"You think I'm a pervert?"
"What other reason would you have to tie up young men and force them into cars?"
"I've already told you."
"I mean if you wanted me to suck your dick that bad –"
"We're short on good soldiers in the scouting legion."
"You mean good assholes to fuck, obviously."
"Crude humour is a thin veil for cowardice, kid."
"Says the guy who's all pomp and bullshit."
Levi hears the officer chuckle. "Maybe with a little refining we can get you to be top in the game."
Levi sits back, ignoring the strain in his arms, and lets his voice fall flat. "What I'd give to be humanity's most suicidal fuckup. I can't imagine you guys would have any reason for getting massacred by titans other than you have a severe masochism kink. Maybe on this car ride you'll realize what a terrific waste of money and lives your stupid legion is."
"Did you use your entire foul vocabulary in that sentence?"
"Yeah, my first words as a baby were 'spank me and call me a good boy'."
Officer Smith doesn't reply.
Unable to see out of the windows, Levi lets his thoughts wander to the scouting legion. This is basically kidnapping, he thinks to himself. Not that his mother would care. When was the last time he saw her? His dad? Nah, his dad would care. He'd be fucking grateful to this bastard for taking him away. Maybe joining the trainees wouldn't be so bad. He has no interest in the military police, nor titans, for that matter. The guard mostly sit around drinking, which seems like a good option to Levi. He's a lazy bum and he knows it, fuck any kind of justice.
There's a sudden jolt and the sounds of horse hooves stop. There's shuffling around right in front of him, a noise like the carriage door being opened and then Levi's shirt is grabbed once again and he's yanked once again, falling out of the carriage face-first into dirt. He swears up at the officer loudly, not giving a shit if he wasn't the one who did it.
"Officer Zoe," comes Smith's voice, "meet your new pet."
There's a laugh. "What's this in honour of? My outstanding scientific breakthroughs?" The voice is female, but hearty and rich. Levi imagines a hulking woman with a wide stance and wider face and feels dread curl in his stomach.
Officer Smith tsks. "Just make sure he doesn't step out of line. He's a wild horse."
"More like a pony." The female officer's voice draws closer, and then Levi's blindfold is tugged down around his neck. He raises his eyes to find an odd-looking young woman with tan skin and a nose too big for bright eyes shrunk behind thick-lensed glasses. Her gaze bores into his, sending a cold rush down his spine.
"What's his name?" Eyes now passing over Levi's head, Zoe addresses the other officer.
"He wouldn't tell me."
"Pssh. Stubborn one, eh? 'Kay, I'll deal with him. Thanks, Erwin."
Smith grunts a reply and Levi hears him walk away. Officer Zoe rises to her feet and extends a hand down to Levi. "I'm Hanji."
"Great. Now untie me." Levi shakes his arms in demonstration. Hanji laughs, smacks her forehead with the heel of her hand and moves to crouch down behind Levi.
"Whoops, sorry, Squirt. I'm a bit of a ditz sometimes."
"Squirt?" The word washes around bitterly in Levi's mouth as he flexes his freed wrists. Hanji heaves him up under his arms and spins him around to face her. She looms embarrassingly high above him.
"Nothing personal, kid, just a name. One of the perks of being my underling. Plus you are, uh…" One of her hands comes down to hover over Levi's head. "Pretty short."
"I ain't a kid."
"Sure, sure. So what's your real name, or do you like Squirt that much?"
He lets his gaze drop from her too-bright eyes and instead surveys the courtyard. Officers are busying from one building to another, leading horses to carts and talking with papers in their hands. Officer Smith is talking to a group of what looks like trainees. He looks confident. Important.
"My name's Levi," he replies flatly.
"Levi what?"
"Mr Levi. I don't have any other names."
"Ooh, Mr Levi, is it? I like Squirt better." Hanji laughs, "Or should it be Mr Squirt?" Levi watches her with a careful nonexpression as she laughs again. "Ohh, man, we're gonna have some fun. C'mon."
Hanji begins to stride across the courtyard, indicating for Levi to follow. He watches her for a moment, observing the quick thuds of her boots and the wide stripe of her shoulders, then grudgingly follows at a quick pace. They exit the courtyard through a covered alley and appear in a wider yard, still dirt but bordered by four large wooden huts. Levi could see more of these structures behind and beyond the closest ones, like a small village.
"I'll take you to the room you'll be staying in," Hanji calls over her shoulder without dropping speed. "It's the trainee barracks, so don't expect too much, kid. If it weren't for whatever ruckus you were in for Erwin to bring you here himself you'd be standing right over there with the regular trainees." She jerks her thumb to the left where two hundred or so people are being handed their standard issue trainee uniform. "By the way, what actually happened? Must have been quite a scrap, never seen anyone get dragged here before."
Levi shrugs before he remembers she can't see. "Uh, that Smith guy broke up a fight I was in. Well, I can't really call it a fight when I was beating the shit out of this punk."
Hanji whistles. "Let me guess, he breaks it up, 'suggests' to you that you join the trainees, you say no aaaand… You're essentially drafted?"
Levi sniffs. "Essentially."
"Aaah, don't worry kid. You should be honoured. Erwin Smith's the real deal, got his sights set on becoming Commander, y'know? He knows what he's doing."
He glares at her ponytail. "So you just blindly follow him, is that it?"
"Why not? I mean sure, we're the same rank now, but there's no way I'd ever be Commander. I want to lead a team, y'know? I think I'd be cut out for that. But Erwin – Erwin's got his head in the right place. You should trust him. Ah, here we go."
The two of them reach the southernmost building framing the yard. It doesn't look too grim, Levi muses to himself. Clean on the outside, at least. Hanji turns on her heel to face him.
"Now this here courtyard is trainee territory. The only officials who come in here are people like me to check up on you guys. Otherwise it's all self-contained. You've got your superiors rooms over there on the left of the yard. They'll be giving you your basic training – fighting, gear, etcetera. They're very shouty, but some of the riff raff like you need discipline." She ignores his huff. "Anyway, since you've been left in my care I'll go over most of the stuff with you. Over to the right is the mess hall. You get your rations there. At the moment you've got weekly ration cards, but if and when things start to get tight – usually after a mission – it'll be downgraded to daily rations. That sucks, so be prepared. Everyone at the base gets the same, don't worry."
"Do I look like I eat a lot?"
Hanji leans in closer and tilts her head. "Do you eat more than a slice of bread a day?"
Levi drops his gaze.
"Right. About the rooms. You'll be sharing with about ten other guys. How old are you?"
"Eighteen."
Hanji stops and closes her mouth, looking him up and down. "That's unfortunate."
"Why?"
"Because by eighteen your body's stopped growing."
Before Levi can think of a retort Hanji has turned again and is marching up the wooden steps and into the barracks. A growl escapes Levi's chest and he jumps after her, almost tearing the door from its hinges. He follows behind the officer down a long, dim corridor lined with doors.
"Hey, would you stop picking at my fucking height for two seconds?"
"Afraid not, Squirt," she sings without looking back. "If you want me to show you the ropes, you've gotta put up with it."
"And what if I don't want you to show me the ropes? What if I don't give a shit about the ropes?"
Hanji stops in front of a door marked 3-C and turns her face down to look at him. Her eyes spark in the shallow light.
"That's enough."
Her quiet voice sends ice straight to Levi's balls.
"Listen to me close, kid. You aren't here because you're special. You're here because we need scum. You might have been some tough shit back in whatever hole you crawled out of, but here you're nothing. I'm gonna break you. I'm gonna take any shred of self-importance you think you have and tear it to pieces. And by the end of the week if there's even a molecule of the dumb-punk-in-over-his-head attitude I've seen here today then you can kick me in the clit."
Officer Zoe walks past him back up the corridor as he stands rooted to the floor in front of room 3-C. He can see her long shadow paused at the front door, stretching in the orange evening glow.
"You report to me. I'll be back at eight tomorrow morning to start your training. From now on consider yourself part of Team Hanji."
