"Whhhaaaaahhhhh!" Sanji screamed as she ran up to the immobile female titan. "Look haichou, look! It's her! It's the talking Titan!"
The shorter captain swung down to Sanji, his blank expression plastered to his face.
"...Oh."
The female growled down at the midget of a captain. Hanji looked like she had stars in her eyes. "We caught her! We caught her! Oh, this is the best day of my life!"
Levi sighed, and looked up at the Titan. Interest sparked into his eyes as he realized that this was the same Titan that they encountered in the forest. "Hmm..." He mumbled to himself, ignoring Sanji's mini-celebration. The Titan's eyes narrowed down at him, meeting his gaze. As a Titan, she wasn't very afraid of him, but if she were human she'd be cowering in fear.
"Everyone!" Hanji called to the other members. "Let's tie this Titan down and get her going!" However, the moment people started to surround the Titan, she growled and her throat expanded slightly. The crew faltered. Levi had turned away, but glanced back at Cat's Titan as it inhaled. His eyebrows lowered menacingly, as he simultaneously figured out 5 different ways he could swing around and hit her neck in that instant.
The Titan's throat sunk, but as it did, a high-pitched noise came out, she didn't even have to open her mouth for it. People started covering their ears and shaking their heads in annoyance. Levi rose, and grappled onto the building behind her, and flew right next to Cat's neck, slicing another one of her air sacks in the process.
"Save your breath for when you need it." He mumbled, before swinging back to his original position in the span of another second. As he went down, the Titan blew out the rest of her air at his back, hoping it was strong enough to at least send him flying. Levi tripped a little as he landed, managing to stumble noticeably before regaining his position in front of Hanji. He didn't bother looking at the Titan again, assuming that would be enough to set her off. "Hurry up with the capture." He said to Hanji, as he glanced behind him, wondering why the Titan was being so rebellious. Most Titans wouldn't even bother at this point, so why her?
"Midget." was all the Titan said, loud enough for all to hear. It's obvious who the insult was directed at. Most Survey Corps members held in laughs, but Hanji burst into a fit of giggles. Levi's face, however, remained stone cold. He made no attempt to acknowledge the comment, as he withheld the urge to slice the Titan's head off. She chuckled. Knowing him well enough from watching him and reading about him to know she heard him. She wanted to mess with him more. "Levi...Ackerman. Rivaille."
Hanji's jaw dropped. "Captain! It knows your name!"
"Wrong. Rivaille is not an alias of mine." He said flatly, as he turned back to Cat, his expression remaining one of impatience.
The Titan tilted her head. "I thought it was your real name...? And Levi was just a nickname..."
"No."
"Good to know. Thanks, Shorty."
Hanji tugged on Levi's shirt excitedly. "Captain! Captain! You have to come with us underground with her! She's talking to you!"
A dark aura floated around Levi's body. "No." He repeated, shuddering at the thought of being stuck with a Titan this annoying.
The Titan pouted. "I'll only talk to him."
Hanji looked horrified at that. "CAPTAAAIIINNNN, PLLEEEEEEEAAAAASSSEEE!"
Levi sighed. "The last thing I plan to do is verbally torture myself. So, again, no." He said bluntly. Hanji's head spun to look at the Titan. Cat stared back silently, abruptly stopping in her playful banter. Levi looked from Hanji to the Titan, confused as to what she was doing.
The Titan stuck her tongue out at Levi. "I will only talk to you. Any question within reason, I will answer." Hanji gave her captain puppy dog eyes. His eyelids lowered a little, weighing how much he could regret being with this Titan. Unfortunately, the stakes were not as bad as he anticipated, after thinking them over. After a moment of silence, he sighed. "Fine."
Hanji jumped and down in glee, hugging her captain. "Thank you, thank you, thank you Captain! Now!" She turned to the men who had wrapped ropes around Cat's limbs and throat. "Let's get going! The sooner she's underground, the sooner we can talk with her!"
After freeing himself from Hanji's grasp (which took more effort than he had preferred), he walked off, his left eyebrow twitching in silence, hands tucked stiffly behind his back.
"Bye-bye, Levi!" the Titan called in a teasing manor. "Say hi to all those Scouting Legion recruits for me!"
He grunted a reply, and began to walk faster.
Reiner and Bertholdt stared at the tired-looking teen after he had filled them all in on their current situation. Jean was talking to higher-ups, discussing Cat's MIA. Brian sat on his bunk, cross legged, his chin resting on his propped-up arm. "So, what now?"
Reiner scratched the back of his head. "I don't know. Have you guys ever screwed up THIS badly before?"
Bert stared at the wood floor. "She won't be able to stay a Titan for long."
"We've never done this before, Reiner. So, to answer your question, no." He turned his head to Bertholdt. "Yeah, that's what I'm mostly worried about. What if she fuses with her Titan or something?" Bertholdt looked to his blonde friend, and when their eyes met they both looked very serious and gloomy. Brian just stared back and forth between them, waiting for a reply.
"It's... a possibility..." Reiner mumbled, looking down. The smaller teenager's eyes danced off to the wall in silence.
"But, there are also many other things that could possibly happen." Bert reassured Brian. "We just have to think of a plan to get her out before anything horrible happens." The other boy swallowed down his fears of losing his friend in a giant screaming beast, which seemed to have physically manifested into his throat, and he nodded, looking back to Bertholdt. "Er, yeah. A plan."
"It's gonna be hard, considering the security..." Reiner added. "We won't have proper clearance." Bert scratched the back of his head. "Maybe we could...Somehow convince the guards we're with Hanji? Or we could ask Hanji herself if we could see the Titan...?"
"Hmmm..." Brian pondered Bertholdt's ideas quietly before the door creaked open as Jean walked in. The curly-headed boy's eyes darted to the door as it opened, and he proceeded to look in the opposite direction, blushing lightly. Jean sat in a chair begrudgingly. "Well, Cat's officially off the hook. So are you." he nodded to Brian, still looked upset.
Brian hesitantly looked to Jean. "Oh, that's good. What'd you make up, out of curiosity?"
"Cat died," he muttered, "and you got injured trying to save her."
"She died!?" He blinked. "Waitwaitwait, does that mean-"
"Yeah." Jean finished for him, sighing depressively. "And when we get her back, she's gotta go through some major facial changes..."
"Our situation keeps getting worse and worse..." Reiner said, sinking into his chair. Bertholdt glanced to everyone then sighed and sat down on the floor. "First, let's work on getting Cat back as quickly as possible..."
Brian nodded. "Yeah, that's top priority. If we don't get her back, then..." His voice trailed off unhappily.
"Bad things happen" Jean provided for him, giving him a sympathetic look. The other boy sighed.
"Yeah."