"GIMME BACK MY POTATO, YOU JERK!" Sasha's loud voice exploded through the mess hall. There was the screech of her chair being shoved back before two figures raced out of the eating room, one after the other. Levi pinched the bridge of his nose while the rest of the Special Ops squad chuckled.

"Let it go, Levi." I suggested, poking my tongue out in amusement. He glared at me.

"There is only so much nonsense I can take in one day."

"I didn't know you could take on any nonsense." I gasped dramatically, earning myself a howl of laughter from Brian and a I-will-kill-you glare from the one and only. A loud bell resounded through the air, signalling the end of the lunch break and for training to begin again. I stood up slowly, stretching, still feeling the last of my lunch being digested. The Special Ops squad stood as well.

"Time to revisit that castle again." Steve sighed. I flinched. Castle equalled cleaning. Well, in Levi's eyes it did. That was the one thing I was relieved of when I became a Squadron leader.

"You lucky bastard." Brian swung an arm over my shoulders, thinking the same thing as I was. I laughed in relief.

"There's only so much cleaning that I can take in one day." I mimicked Levi, holding a hand to my forehead.

"Shut up, brat." The Captain scolded. "Let's go. We have a castle to-"

"-clean?" Sophie glumly finished. With that, the team followed the Captain out while I waved brightly behind them. Once they were gone from my sight, I skipped over to my squadron. They looked up warily, confused at my happy state.

"…yes?" they questioned carefully.

"Um, are you sure you're feeling all right Squad Leader?"

My squad trailed behind me, now completely scared out of their wits. After all, it wasn't every day your leader swung a giant basket of food from her arm with the intent to go on a picnic.

"Yes, I'm feeling perfectly fine. Just…happy."

"Right. And what is your definition of 'happy', exactly?" Mikoto questioned.

"Food is. After all, I asked for a little favour from the Provision Officer in charge. I mean, I did just save his life before and now I was calling in the debt for a little bit of food to share with my squad. Is that so wrong?"

"No, what's so wrong is that you're leading us into the training woods." Liane pointed out. I paused on the edge of the training area and sighed, putting down the food basket. I spun around to face them, crossing my arms.

"Nothing gets past you guys anymore, does it?"

"Well, it was pretty obvious to begin with." Smart-ass Mikoto shot back. "Plus, we just finished lunch so using food to bait us…"

"I didn't see any of you complaining. Now, I'm being honest, you do get the food."

The squad's faces brightened and they shifted forward slightly. I whipped up a palm, stopping them in their tracks.

"If you can get it from me."

Yaru instantly pounced forward, arms stretched towards the basket. I quickly slipped a foot under the holding arch and kicked the basket up into my arms. I instantly shot a cable back into the trees. With my free right arm, I drew out a blade and shot off into the training woods, still facing them.

"You want it? You'll have to work for it."

The squad glanced at each other, unsure, their motivation levels low.

"By the way," I called, "it's not really extra food. It's actually your dinner."

With that, the four squad members yelled in protest and shot up after me. I trained them for the next two hours, watching their techniques as well as avoiding them and keeping the food basket safe. After the incident on the recent expedition, I figured some extra training couldn't hurt.

"Too slow!" I called out into the forest from my hidden position, watching the team pause in hunting me. I nibbled on a small piece of bread as I gazed in amusement as they split up into uneven groups. Their weapons were out, determined looks on their faces. Who knew that food could bring out the best and worst in people?

"What had your spirits lifted, boss?" joked Yaru as my squad surrounded me. They were all breathing heavily but were scarfing down the food that I gave as a reward for their hard extra training. We had come back out of the training woods and made ourselves comfortable on one of the wooden tables spotting the training grounds.

"I can skip out of cleaning duties." I grinned. "However…"

I trailed off as I glanced at the group. "I do have some people to baby-sit."

The squad began to voice their objections loudly and I grinned, teasing.

"Actually, you don't. Mark, take over. Hazura, a word please."

I turned to the voice to see Commander Erwin again. Mark nodded at me as we switched places. My squadron immediately stood up and saluted, earning a nod of acknowledgement from Erwin in return.

"Uh, yes sir." I stammered and followed him into his office again in silence. I gave a quick wave to my squad before they moved out of my sight. We soon reached his office in the confines of the Survey Corps headquarters.

"Sit, please." Erwin motioned to a chair in front of his desk as I closed the door behind us.

"Erwin, please, you're scaring the shit out of me. What's going on?"

Erwin folded his arms on the top of his table. "The Special Operations Squad went out on a mission last week."

I blinked. "I'm currently not part of the Special Ops. Should you be telling me this?"

"They were attacked near the Underground City East entrance by Wall Sina. This was shortly after a message was sent to me saying that they had a lead. The lead was believed to connect a notorious weapons dealer with Military Police officers. After that, they were attacked by a large group of gang members. Linda, Sophie and Brian were badly hurt and are still in the hospital wing receiving treatment. Jack and Steve had minor injuries and are off-duty for the next few days. Corporal Levi was unhurt and managed to secure two thugs before the rest of them fled."

I took in shaky breath. While I was safe and sound, training cadets, my old team had been threatened and hurt.

"I take it you know where Levi started?"

My head jerked up at the question. "The Underground City."

Erwin nodded grimly. "This whole case seems to have ties with the Underground. To hold this case up in High Court, Levi can no longer be a part of the investigative service. He could be connected and put in as a personal vendetta if it comes to someone he knows. The Military Police are hard to trust because of the possible involvement of some of their officers. I have a few trusted people within Wall Sina but they don't have authority to investigate the case themselves."

He paused at this and glanced up at me. My head quickly put the remaining pieces of his thoughts together.

"You need a Military Police officer inside to solve this case. You want to transfer me over to the MP?"

Erwin remained silent, confirming my train of thought. His ice-blue eyes stared right through me. I grimaced at the idea of joining the stuck-up snobby MPs.

"Considering your own personal network of contacts from before your joining of the Survey Corps, the position of being a MP officer would allow you easy access to the rest of the city, including the Underground. We have to keep Levi away from the case and the case away from Levi. From what I could tell from Levi's facial expressions, there was someone that knew him, someone that recognized him. If the lawyers spin it the right way, our side of the case could be completely overturned."

I mused at the overall question. "What do I get if I agree?"

"My respect?"

I chuckled. "Erwin, we already respect each other. Be realistic."

"You receive the collar for the case and you get to protect Levi."

I pondered on the issue further. Leaving the Survey Corps and joining the Military Police was the last thing I wanted to do but protecting my best friend and the Special Ops squad was my first and foremost priority. Did that cancel each other out?

"I'm in."