"So the Toria gang. Not what I wanted to hear from the arsonist's mouth, going to be honest." Nick pulled a face, his mouth forming a flat line.
Nick had followed me out of the Underground maze and we soon stepped into the cold but refreshing night air. Shoving our hands back into our warm cloaks, we began our trip back into Wall Sina.
"Same here. Miyan gang is easy enough to deal with but the Toria runs in different circles. I don't have any influence there." I tilted my head as I thought, mentally running through my inner knowledge of the Toria gang.
"Speaking of influence, why the Miyan gang?"
I glanced over at Nick. "Let's just say I had a life before I entered the Survey Corps."
"I don't know whether to be scared or impressed by you." he eyed me teasingly.
"Well if you were scared, you wouldn't be with me, right?"
"Touche."
"Identify yourself!" called a voice, cutting through the darkness. I instantly recognized it. Levi. What was he doing here? Surely, he wasn't investigating the case against Erwin's orders? I paused and rolled my eyes. Actually, if the rest of the squad got hurt, then I wouldn't put it past him to try and arrest the offenders himself as justice.
"Your friend is back. What do we do? Run? Confront?" Nick whispered, lowering his head to mine.
"We're the MP. We don't run." I reminded and turned to the roof. Levi stood confidently on the tiles, the moon dimly lighting from behind him.
"Captain. Fancy seeing you here again." Nick greeted calmly, pulling the hood from his head.
Levi shifted in his stance, which I took as a sign of uneasiness. "Nick Fuji. What are you doing here?"
"A better question would be, what are you doing here?" I questioned back, revealing my own face.
"Hazura."
We paused and the cold night overtook the silence.
"You still haven't answered my question, Captain." I noted and Levi's chin tilted up in slight annoyance.
"What's it to you?"
"Well, if you tell us your reason for being here, our choice of whether to arrest you or not is based on that answer." Fuji replied.
"Arrest me for what?" Levi snapped.
"Like he said, that's based on your answer. However, if it has got to do with a certain case that you were previously investigating and where your squad got injured, then we have enough reason to detain you for obstruction of justice. I know Commander Erwin ordered you off the case, Levi. I'm going to give you a chance to repay you for saving us from the confrontation earlier this week. Leave now, stay off the case and we'll pretend nothing ever happened here."
I glanced at Fuji, who nodded in agreement.
"Rina, you know me. Surely you don't think im going to sit my ass on the sidelines and let those who screwed my squad over, run?"
"I'm thinking that you should trust me in the fact that I will close this case. Without your help." I countered back.
He visibly gritted his teeth and abruptly left the scene.
Nick let out a low whistle. "It's not a love life but your life seems as complicated as one."
"Tell me about it." I groaned. "That bastard is just about as stubborn as they come."
After more normal training of the Military Police Academy over the next few days, Fuji and I managed to narrow down the list of weapon manufacturing factories to a select few.
Nick and I now waited in the shadows, anticipating the movement of weapons. As expected, it was late at night. Unexpectedly, it was taking a lot longer than what Nick and I predicted. The bulk order of weapons, enclosed in several wooden crates, motionlessly sat at the back of a factory. Several local workers, as well as a few Military Police officers hovered around the movement of the order.
"How much longer do we have to wait? I'm starving myself here." Nick rubbed his stomach, keeping his eyes on the factory.
"We wait until there's enough physical proof of them moving the weapons out illegally."
"Then we follow the trail and find the next location of movement. I know. I know. But that doesn't help my growling stomach."
"I told you that you should have eaten-"
"Shh!" Nick slapped a hand to my mouth and turned my head to look back at our target. The site was now clear of factory workers and three Military Police officers roamed the area. Four black figures emerged from the surrounding buildings and approached the crates. Instead of panicked yells and the clashing of weapons, there was a silent agreement as the crates were quickly cracked open and a few weapons tossed out into awaiting bags.
"Now?" Nick fidgeted, watching the event silently.
"No, we have to see where they leave the city."
"We're not splitting up if that's what you're thinking. It's too risky."
"No, we leave this order to go anyway and follow the bags instead." As I spoke that last order, the black figures finally tied up their stash and began hauling them away. Sharing glances, Nick and I got ready to move and made our way down to the streets. Careful to keep ourselves concealed in the shadows, Fuji and I stalked the unknown figures through the quiet town until they disappeared into the archway of one of the Underground maze entrances. I gritted my teeth as Fuji caught up to me.
"If we don't follow them, then this whole night would have been for nothing. If we do, then the chance of us being caught skyrockets past Wall Sina. Suggestions?" he muttered, eyeing the arch.
I also watched as my mind reeled with ideas.
"I'm not wasting this night and all the prep we've done so far. We follow from the distance, using their lanterns as an indication of which way they went. Keep your weapon out in case our cover is blown but keep it down. Do you have a string or marker of some type? If our attention is in staying alive, then we're going to get lost in there."
Fuji thought for a second before grabbing a small dagger and ripping through his cloak. Loose threads appeared on the hem and he took one, tying it to a post just outside of the entrance. He then nodded determinedly and readied his gun. I unsheathed my dual blades and we slowly made our way into the Underground Maze. As I said, we kept an eye on the dim light of the lantern they used, watching our back at the same time. We had to be extra careful at every corner they rounded, taking a quick peep before moving, in case a trap had been laid out. Their lantern light swayed back and forth as both of our parties moved further into the maze. It wasn't until the light was snuffed out completely that I began to panic. Holding in the sudden urge to turn tail and run, I bit my lip and waited for a few more seconds. A whole minute passed and Fuji nudged me from behind.
"I think they're gone. I can't hear anything."
Trusting his instincts, we slowly fumbled our way around the corner and was stopped stupid by the view. The dark had been lighted up by random spots of lantern light, revealing an enormous cavern. We currently stood on the top of a long flight of stairs, leading to down to a gigantic city of brown and grey coloured buildings. Despite the ledge giving Fuji and I the cover we needed from prying eyes, we could see everything from our positions, including the stairwell guards that stood a little way from us.
Fuji and I both swore simultaneously. Not only did we lose our weapon stash, we also found out our case's new playing field.
The enormous and infamous Underground City.