The first thing that Hanji noticed was the cold piercing through her body. She couldn't see anything, but she could tell that she was lying on the floor, her hands uncomfortably tied on her back. The woman tried to get up, but a sudden pain in her shoulder made her stop her intention. Would someone hear me, if I screamed? – she wondered.

"It seems like the woman woke up," she heard a voice. So there was someone in the room.
"Doesn't look awake," another voice countered.
"I could swear she just tried to get up."
"So what if she did? We have orders not to touch her, so shut up already."

Then, silence. Hanji couldn't tell how long she was lying there like that, until she heard a door being opened.
"What the fuck is she doing on the floor?"
The new voice was a familiar one. It was Levi's. She heard footsteps coming towards her.
"Oi, Miss Scientist, are you awake?"
"Mhm."

Although she couldn't see anything, she could feel his amused look on her.
The next thing she felt was a tight grip on her arm, dragging her up. Then the blindfold was removed. She had to blink a few times until her eyes get used to the light in the room.
The first thing she got to see in front of her was Rivaille, with a knife in his hands.
"Don't worry, I just want to release your hands," he said.

"Now," Levi started, turning around to the two other persons who were in the room before he got in; "who the hell did this to her?"
The two men in front of him were scared stiff.
"We … we just tried to obey the orders from above," one of them stuttered.
Levi stepped closer to them.

"I don't remember ordering you such a thing," Levi's voice was furious.
"No, but Mr. …" the other guy tried to say something, but he was to slow. Levi's fist punched him in the stomach, making the guy fall to the floor. Unintentionally Hanji remembered how he has done the same thing to her, two days ago.

"Now listen, you scum. Don't you fucking dare to come even close to her, understood? She is under my control and my protection. The next time you do something to her and it wasn't me who ordered you so, I'll kill you," he snarled.

Then he turned back to Hanji. "I'll drive you home."

In the car, she was afraid to even look at him. She couldn't even remember what had happened. The last thing in her memory was the dinner with Rivaille and his boss and after that stepping outside from the hotel.

"You shouldn't have refused my offer to drive you home," he said suddenly, breaking the silence in the car.
Hanji finally managed to look in his direction. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Look, I can't always run around to save your ass. Keep in mind that you're

Then again, silence until he stopped in front of her building. "Do you know where the "Titan" is?" Levi asked.
Hanji looked at him, confused; "The nightclub?"
Levi rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed. "Are there other buildings named like that?"
"No. I just don't get it, why you bring up a club now," she stuttered.
He leaned to her side.
"Because, sweetheart, there's a pretty meth-lab in the cellar," he whispered conspiratorial.
"4 p.m. don't you dare being late!"

As she stood on the sidewalk, looking at his BMW driving away, Hanji tried to convince herself that her heart was beating faster because of the shocking experience from tonight, and not from Levi's sweetheart.

/

Levi was sitting at the bar in the "Titan". Mike was behind the counter, cleaning glasses. Nanaba, Mike's first assistant was sitting on the bar stool next to Levi.

"I don't get it why you're so upset," she told him. In the time waiting at Hanji, he has told them about what happened yesterday.
"You know that they catch every potential new member, and keep them in the base, waiting for Smith's approval to let them free or to make them disappear," the woman reminded Levi of the procedure he should know.

Levi harrumphed, taking another gulp of his drink.
"Since when do we throw them on the floor? The last time my squad was in charge of this, we let them sit on chairs," he mocked.

Mike giggled, pouring more whiskey in Levi's glass.
"They had a guy who tried to escape. He fell down, including the chair, and broke his arm," he said.
"Anyway, why are you so obsessed with this girl?"

Levi just gave him a killing glance, looking at his phone. "She's late."

Nanaba leaned to him, so that she could see the display as well.
"5 whole minutes. Somehow I like this girl. She's the first one that doesn't obey you completely and she's still alive," she said perkily.

"If he would kill every person that pisses him off, he'd have killed you a long time ago," Mike barged in.
"He's right," Levi nodded and finished his drink.
"Oh come on! I know that shorty loves me," Nanaba laughed and hugged him.

/

Since she could remember, Hanji was an unpunctual person. It's not that she did it on purpose, but sometimes it happened that she simply oversaw the time. Like now.
She ran down the street like an idiot, ignoring the stitch, gasping for air.

Finally she could see the 'Titan' in front of her. Although Hanji has never been there, she knew that it was very popular, but now, at the bright daylight, it seemed abandoned.

She stopped in front of the door, looking up on the building. She wondered if they were very angry at her. Well, Rivaille surely was.

"Just grit your teeth and do it," she mumbled to herself and stepped in.