The stench from the Victorian backstreets was enough to make even the strangest man weak at the knees. People scurried from one end to the other, trying to miss the attention of the shifty looking souls that were scattered around the walls. But through the smog, there came the hurried footsteps of a man, his breath was ragged and his eyes wide with fear. Before he could pause for breath another, considerably smaller figure ran toward him, cudgel in hand. The man had only taken three steps before he was tackled to the ground. Everyone in the area scattered into the houses on either side or down the other end of the street as the short man looked down at his prisoner.

"Marcus Dullham, I'm arresting you for the murders of Alan French, Fern Dickson and the rape and murder of Lillian Soul, now get your disgusting face out of the shit, I can't stand it in here."

"Another successful case Mr Ackerman" The red haired smiled showing him the paper which read, 'WORLD RENOUND DETECTIVE SOLVES ANOTHER CASE'. Mr Ackerman merely grunted, before turning back to his forms, his dip pen quietly scratching at the paper before him.
Pouting, the red head ruffled the paper, "Come on sir, you must be at least a bit happy, you've been after this man for weeks." Another grunt was all she got; sighing dramatically she headed toward the door.
"Oh also," she called back, "Mr Smith would like to speak with you."

Mr Ackerman ran a hand over his face; sure he'd been after the man for weeks, but that bastard had killed again before he'd got his hands on him. He couldn't help but feel guilt for the family of the girl; she had only been 17 when he'd raped and murdered her.
Getting up slowly he headed for the door, taking his jacket as he left. The usual buzz of the Survey Agency filled his ears; phones rang, papers ruffled voices called, Mr Ackerman thanked his boss for giving him a sound proof office.

"Good morning Mr Ackerman"
"Good morning sir, congratulations on the case"

The same usual greetings as he nodded, mainly upward to his co-workers. Finally he reached Mr Smith's office and without knocking, he opened the door.
Inside a tall man with blond hair slicked back over his head, sat in a large chair reading that days newspaper. He looked up over his spectacles and smiled.

"Hello Levi, I would like t-"

"Congratulate me on my case, so what?" he interrupted, "He killed again before I could get my hands on him, and by that point I knew who he was as well; I should have been quicker."

The blonde looked at the small raven haired man, he knew all this work meant a lot to him; he had a strong sense of justice and would beat himself up if he let the criminal get away with another crime after he'd notified his identity.

"Well there is no point on beating about the bush Levi, what's done is done and anyway I wasn't going to talk to you about that, though it has something to do with the man who is currently swinging from the gallows."

Levi's eyes flicked up to him as he took a seat, his eyes now on his boss.
"It seems" Erwin began, "that the last few murder victims were targeted; all ten victims, not including Ms. Lillian Soul, had been associated with an organisation," Erwin picked up a piece of paper handing it to Levi.
"We can tell by the ring they wore on their person," a detailed drawing of a ring was on the page, it had an interlaced set of initials which read 'EJ'. "It seems that whatever the people did, it was against the organisation they were working for. The man you caught and the others as well, all bared the same ring."

Levi nodded, putting the paper back on the desk; he now had to find out what this organisation was and who ran it, judging by the versatility of victims, it was a wide spread organisation.
"So, fancy taking up the case Levi?" Smirking Levi nodded, standing up. Erwin stood to and headed for a side door. "Glad to here you'll take it on, but I've got one more thing, you'll be getting a partner."
At this Levi's brow lowered, he had a strict rule of working alone in the feild, especially went it came to these kinds of cases. His brow went even lower as a small, but not as small as him, youth entered, he looked like a miniature version of Erwin. He had large bright blue eyes and a bowl cut of blonde hair. He clutched a large sum of papers to his chest and a nervous look on his face.

"Levi, this is Armin Arlet; he works in archives and has shown great potential in both the field and the office-"

"I don't want a partner" Levi stated bluntly; Erwin's face made no change and to his surprise, neither did the youth; if anything he looked like he was expecting it. Completely ignoring the raven haired detective Erwin went back to his desk saying lazily, "Armin, show him what you've found so far."
Nodding hurriedly Armin placed his papers on the desk and opened up a file. If he was honest Levi did need and want to know if they had any suspects or evidence at all, but this brat for more of a better word, there was no way he would come with working on such a case.
"I've been on this case of a week and have come up with three potential ring leaders of this organisation" the blonde explained, "One is Dott Pixis; head of the shipping company known as the Garrison, he's been known to deal with pirates in china and as a fleet dedicated to smuggling opium." Levi's left eyebrow rose, impressive, but all could be find in the files if one looked for long enough. Not waiting for a question or reply he went to the next, "Second is Keith Shardis; he runs most of the underground prostitution groups and as a lot of power under his belt. And lastly," he showed the picture of a handsome young man with dark hair and an innocent smile. "This is Eren Yeager, spelt with a Y not a J; he's the only son of the late Lord Grisha and Lady Carla. Hid family was killed by the police after a false accusation of them plotting against the queen." Levi nodded; he had discovered the mistake on his first week in the Survey Agency.
"He's in charge of their medical business, it supplies every hospital and surgery in the empire."

This kid wasn't half bad at the paper work, Levi mused as Armin looked at both for approval, "Not bad I suppose" Levi mumbled looking away, "but we need to narrow it down to just one of them; I doubt its Pixis, he's rarely sober and I think you'll need an actual brain to come up with this shit."
His new partner nodded, "that's true sir-" "If we're working together" Levi interrupted, "just call me Ackerman alright? Levi if it's an emergency. You got it?"

They then agreed to narrow down the suspects list; the easiest two to poke out were Pixis and Shardis. Levi was surprised again when Armin said he already had contacts in both areas. So it was decided that Armin, being less known went to the prostitution parlour whilst Levi went to the docks. They agreed to meet back at the Agency the following morning.

As Armin walked down the stairs back to his work room, he couldn't help but feel excited to be working with the famous Mr Ackerman. But it was easy to see that Levi was not pleased with having a partner; like most of the people in the Agency Levi looked at and treated him like a child. This made Armin even more determined to prove to Levi he was a good, no great partner. Nodding to himself he grabbed his coat and headed into the late afternoon bustle of the town.