One

Commander Erwin Smith regarded the newcomers out of calm blue eyes, giving away nothing of the irritation he felt. Captain Levi leaned against the wall, looking bored.

"So, you're the special unit we were told to expect?" Erwin asked the four operatives in his office.

"We are." The oldest of the four, a strikingly attractive man with dark, intelligent eyes and long black hair, stepped forward and offered Erwin his hand. "I'm Tseng. Turks, First Division."

Erwin shook the proffered hand, noticing that Tseng had tactfully offered his left. "Erwin Smith. This is my second, Captain Levi."

Levi nodded, but said nothing and didn't move.

"My second, Reno," Tseng said, indicating a lanky, unkempt man with ridiculous dyed red hair; "Rude," – an impeccably turned-out wall of muscle who stood nearly as tall as Erwin – "and Elena." A slight, blonde woman with large brown eyes, Elena was the only one of the four who smiled.

"You're officially with the Military Police?" Erwin asked.

"Officially," Tseng replied. "We're assigned to protect the interests of the royal family."

"And you're all trained in 3D gear?"

"Naturally."

"Get to use it much, safe inside Sina?" Captain Levi asked.

"On occasion. It does have other applications, aside from killing titans," Tseng replied, unruffled.

"So," Levi said, pushing off from the wall and focusing his intense gaze on Tseng, "assuming you're not all noble volunteers doing this for the sake of humanity, who did you piss off to get this gig?"

Erwin glanced at Levi, but said nothing, curious as to what Tseng's response would be.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say. For your purposes, we're simply new recruits, to be employed as you see fit."

Levi scoffed. "What – we're supposed to accept you into our ranks knowing you have some undisclosed agenda? No fucking way."

"Levi, enough." Erwin looked at Tseng thoughtfully. "We all have our orders. You'll be subject to my command as long as you're here. My absolute command."

"Of course," Tseng replied. "We will serve the Survey Corps as any other recruits would."

It was Captain Levi who replied. "Huh. We'll see about that. Get down to the barracks and kit up. Be on the training ground in fifteen minutes. I want to find out what I'm working with." His tone was neutral, but his eyes were cold. Once the Turks had left the room, Levi shut the door and turned to Erwin. "This is stupid! You know what those people are? Spies – assassins. Putting them in our uniform doesn't change that. As if we don't have enough trouble with those inner wall bastards as it is!"

"This order comes from the top," Erwin said. "We don't have a choice. Treat them as normal recruits."

"Bet they can't fly for shit," Levi said. "If they can't, they're on latrine duty. See how they like the reality of life outside Sina."

"Treat them as any other recruits," Erwin insisted. "If you make your dislike obvious the others will suspect something."

"Of course. I'm not an idiot. It's just – something's not right. Doesn't smell right, as Mike would have said. And that red-haired freak…"

"Reno? What about him?"

"I'm not sure. Reminds me of someone." Levi shook his head. "Maybe nothing. Let's see if any of them can use the gear."

x

"Levi," Reno said, as he bucked the chest strap of the harness, "might remember me."

Tseng looked up sharply. "You've met before?"

"Yeah – met… Must be fifteen, sixteen years ago. Shouldn't affect the mission, even if he does remember. Those were - different lives."

Elena had already finished putting on her gear. Glancing around the bare locker room to make sure they were alone, she said, "Wonder how he's getting on?"

"Don't discuss it, even if you think we can't be overheard," Tseng warned her. "Not indoors. We only talk about the mission in the open, when there's no one else nearby."

"Yes, I know. Must be strange though – to come from the palace to –"

"Elena!" Rude reprimanded.

"Sorry. I guess I'm nervous. I've only done this in training."

"You'll be fine," Reno told her. "Won't be nothin' we ain't done before. You saw their training ground as we came in – it'll be a cinch."

"For you," said Rude, who had always preferred to keep his feet on the ground.

Reno couldn't help grinning. "Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah – can't wait. This whole mission will be worth it if we get a chance to go outside…"

"There are Titans outside," Tseng reminded him.

"Always wanted to go out there, though, you know?" Reno replied, undeterred. "Can you imagine – somewhere without walls? I heard there are whole forests of huge trees. You could fly for hours!"

"Ugh, yes," Elena shuddered, "and straight into a Titan's mouth. The best thing about being in Sina is staying as far away from the edge as possible."

"Better stop talkin' like that if you wanna convince anyone you volunteered for the Survey Corps," Reno said.

"Why would anyone volunteer for the Survey Corps? You know the survival rates! Those volunteers must have a death wish or something," Elena said.

"I volunteered, actually," Tseng told her. "But I came first in my class, and Commander Veld had me transferred into the Turks."

"And I would've, but Veld was the one who sent me for training in the first place," Reno said. "I only got training on the understanding I was joining the Turks at the end of it."

Elena stared at them both. "But – why?"

"It seemed the most challenging choice," Tseng replied.

"Wanted to get outside the walls," Reno said.

"You're both crazy! And what about you, Rude?"

"I was already in the Military Police when Veld recruited me. I'm not built to be good with the gear. I'm a hand-to-hand sort of fighter."

"Ready?" Tseng asked. "Remember – we're just ordinary recruits. Follow orders."

"Why you lookin' at me, Boss?" Reno asked, doing a good impression of innocent incomprehension.

x

When the four Turks reached the training ground, Commander Erwin and Captain Levi were already there. Levi, in full 3D gear, waited with his arms folded over his chest and an impatient frown until the Turks reached him.

Reno looked up through tree branches to the top of a high wooden training target shaped like a seven metre class Titan. "That don't look so tricky," he said.

"Of course not. Those are for rookies. You're supposed to be some kind of special ops unit, aren't you?"

"So what do we do?" Reno asked, unfazed by the Captain's brusque manner.

Levi gave him a cool smile. "Try to keep up," he said. Then he was gone, streaking ahead through the tall trees that surrounded the training ground.

"Damn it!" Reno wasted no more time, off the ground and in pursuit before the others could react. Tseng followed swiftly, then Elena. Rude sighed, but anchored his lines to the nearest pair of tree trunks and kicked off hard. The motion always made him feel a little queasy even after his thorough training. He hoped that the royal brat would appreciate what they were doing to keep his precious ass safe, but he doubted it.

x

Reno was thoroughly enjoying himself. He loved flying. This Captain Levi was a tricky bastard to catch though – the kinds of sudden, tight turns he could make were next to impossible for someone of Reno's height to imitate. But what Reno lacked in manoeuvrability he made up for in the speed of his reactions, and he was just about managing to keep the Captain in sight. Risking a backwards glance he saw Tseng following a little way behind. There was no sign of Elena or Rude.

Judging by how far they'd already come, Reno knew he'd have to be careful not to run out of gas. Using the gear successfully was as much about conservation of energy and the efficient use of momentum as it was to do with strength and balance. It had been a long time since he'd had the opportunity to fly for any extended period of time, and his muscles were already screaming, but exhilaration and adrenaline kept him going. Now he started to plan ahead, avoiding some of the Captain's zigzags in favour of guessing his planned trajectories. It was risky – one serious miscalculation could be enough to let Levi increase his lead beyond visibility – but it allowed Reno to execute long flights that were much more energy efficient than constant changes of direction would have been.

Ahead and off to the right, Reno saw a wooden platform half hidden behind a stand of tall pine trees. Levi anchored a line in the tallest of the pines and completed a beautiful one-hundred and eighty degree upwards arc, swinging around the tree and up over the platform, releasing his line and spinning in midair to land perfectly, facing Reno.

"Show off," Reno muttered, taking careful aim, and managing to fire his grapple to within a foot of where Levi's had been. Using his momentum to follow the same upward arc was no easy feat. Levi was a lot smaller and lighter than Reno, and Reno was forced to retract the line frantically to stop himself overshooting, releasing just in time to make an aesthetically dubious but safe landing on the platform. Reno tried and failed to hide the fact that he was almost out of breath. Everything ached. Shit, he'd forgotten how hard this was!

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Not as bad as I expected. You can fly."

"Not like you," Reno conceded. "I thought I was in shape!"

"Tch. For Sina, maybe." Levi looked closely at the red lines on Reno's cheekbones. "Tattoos over scars…" he began, but at that moment Tseng joined them on the platform, approaching in a straight line without flourishes, but landing proficiently.

"And that's two," Levi said. "You pass. But you were following him, not me. You would have lost me, on your own."

"I can't deny that," said Tseng. "Perhaps our training needs to be more rigorous."

Levi didn't seem to feel the need to reply to that, or to make any attempt to fill the subsequent silence. Reno asked, "So – you must've killed a lot of Titans, right?"

"Yes."

"So, you gonna test us on that, too?"

"You can practise on the training dummies if you want. But we have no effective way of simulating using the gear on moving targets. The only real way to practise killing Titans is to kill Titans. That's why our casualty rate among new recruits is so high; there's no way to prepare them for the terror. People freeze, or try to run." Tseng had walked over to the edge of the platform and was gazing back the way they'd come, trying to catch sight of Elena or Rude. Levi took a step closer to Reno and lowered his voice. "But you're not afraid to die, are you, Crow?"

Reno looked into Levi's eyes. "Huh. Thought you'd remember."

Levi's expression was unreadable and his tone completely even when he replied, "You spat in my face and told me to 'use the money to buy a fucking ladder'."

"That's why you cut me?"

"That's why I let you live." Levi turned away and joined Tseng at the edge of the platform, leaving Reno looking after him thoughtfully. There was no movement among the trees. "Still waiting for your friends," Levi said. "I wonder whether they'll –"

All three men on the platform looked down as the thunk of grapples embedding themselves in wood resounded from under their feet. They heard the whir of retracting lines, and a few moments later Elena pulled herself over the edge of the platform, panting and red-faced. "Had to run the last mile," she explained. "Got a little lost half way. Almost out of gas. When I spotted the platform I thought I'd better conserve the rest to get up here."

"Works on a training run like this," Captain Levi said. "Beyond the wall you'd be Titan food in minutes. But your strategy was effective. Did you see the other one – Rudi was it?"

"Rude. No. He was behind me until I got lost."

"Likely out of gas. We should go. There's a storage locker at the base of this tree. Refill there." Levi put one hand on the planks of the platform, swung himself gracefully over the edge, and shot one grapple upwards into the underside, descending rapidly on the single wire."

"Too fuckin' good," Reno said, shaking his head. "But he always was, yo."

Tseng glanced at him. "I take it he remembered you?"

"Yeah. He remembered…" Reno looked at Elena. "Told you you'd be fine, Rookie. You got enough gas to get down?"

"Yes. Down hardly takes any power. I'll be fine."

"Right."

The three Turks reached the ground with varying degrees of style. Reno managed to look relatively casual about it, aware that Levi was watching him. They were all in the process of refuelling when Rude came running through the trees. He looked at Tseng. "Sorry, Boss. Ran out of gas, and had to track you here. I guess I'm out of practice at this."

Levi looked up at him. "Hey – who're you calling 'Boss'? I'm in charge here, and it's Captain."

Rude's eyes moved back to Tseng before he caught himself. "Yes, Captain. My apologies."

"You'll need to carry extra gas. It's a matter of body size. You must have passed basic training?"

"Yes – third in the class, Sir. But mostly for hand-to-hand."

"Hm. I can see why. Well – you'd have a better shot at punching a Titan than most, although I wouldn't recommend trying it. But if you want to stay with us you're just going to have to get more practise than the others. It's not impossible; Commander Erwin's pretty big, and he learned to use the gear better than almost anyone. Even now –" Levi stopped whatever he'd been about to say, and finished, "People are adaptable. Used to be our one edge over the Titans until the shifters turned up. Resupply, and make your way back to base. If you can remember the way." Then he was gone, flying through the trees so fast that Reno whistled. "He was holding back before. Fuck!" He gave Tseng a rueful grin. "Well – that showed us, huh?"

"Yes, that was certainly a lesson. Well – I always suspected that the Queen's motivation was to remove us from the picture, whatever the King's. We'd better get going. It looks as though we've got a lot of work to do if we want to have a hope in hell of keeping Prince Rufus alive."