Sun shone above the Stohess district. Single rays of late morning light pierced through the bedroom windows of one newly appointed military policeman.

"Ahh…" Yawned Marcel as he stretched his arms. He looked at the position of the sun, and realized he was running late. He quickly got over with the rest of his morning routine and got down to the meeting hall. Several of his colleagues were already waiting for orders.

"Hey Marcel!" He looked towards one of his comrades.

"Morning, Marlowe" Marcel replied as he lined up with the rest.

"Why are you late Marcel?" Marlowe asked looking at him with curiosity "usually, it's you who gets here first."

"I had a rough night…" He responded.

Marlowe looked like he wanted to ask more, but their superior walked in. Everyone saluted the captain, but he just waved his hand at them.

"I told you… no salutes" the man said as he entered the hall.

Marcel's short experience with the military police told him enough about the standard within the ranks. Usually, the only thing they all really cared about was living comfortable life in the interior, so the corruption was spreading far and wide.

"Today you're going to be doing something a little different from your regular chores" he said, "listen up."

"This concerns the summons of a survey corps party to the capital. They'll be going down center street in town today and it's the military police's job to escort them."

Marcel looked up at that. The royal government wanted to retrial Eren. Maybe he'd be able to meet with his fellow trainee during the escort mission?

"You'll be given temporary permission to use maneuvering equipment inside the city. Follow alongside their convoy and reinforce their security. That's all."

That was alarming. Why would they be given vertical maneuvering gear? Did the royal government fear that Eren may use his power to escape? Or maybe, they expected someone else to crash the party.

'Just in case…' Marcel thought as he put on his secret ring.

He listened as Marlowe asked the captain a question similar to what he was currently thinking about. Marlowe was a good policeman who wanted to root out the corruption from the brigade. It seemed to be a hard task for anyone, however Marcel knew that with enough conviction, nothing was impossible.

"You seem reliable" the captain handed Marlowe a document listing all the details "I'll leave this to you..."

"Officers are busy" the man said as he turned away and opened the door to the office "try not to botch it, okay?"

Through the door they could see that the officers were indeed busy.

'Busy with slacking off' thought Marcel as he looked at the little party his superiors were currently having.

Listening to Marlowe and Hitch argue was probably the best part of Marcel's day. He really admired Marlowe's wish to 'clean' the brigade and serve the public, but he also understood where Hitch was coming from.

"I'm different" Marlowe said, "I'm not like any of you and I'm not worthless."

"Oh!" Hitch exclaimed mockingly "so you're one of 'those' guys."

"Listen you two" Marcel interjected "if you want to quarrel all day, just get married already."

That seemed to throw them off, as they both looked to the ground.

"Anyway" Marcel continued "we've got a job to do, right?"

"Yeah" Marlowe said looking at the documents "but I meant what I said!"

"I'm going to handle every mission perfectly, starting with this one."

Everyone began to walk out of the MP station. As Marcel followed them, he started thinking about the whole operation.

"Marcel…" He suddenly heard from behind a corner.

The boy in question turned around to see a familiar face.

"Armin…" He said looking at him "what are you doing here?"

"I see you're a full-fledged military policeman" Armin said with a smile.

Marcel looked at the boy's form. He was wearing a raincoat even though it was quite warm.

"What are you wearing?" Marcel asked Armin.

"The rain gear is to hide my equipment" the smaller boy exclaimed as he lifted his cloak to show what he was hiding.

"What's the matter?" The young MP asked.

Armin looked around to see if there was anyone close by.

"Eren needs your help…"

That picked Marcel's attention. Wasn't Eren supposed to be transported through the city today?

"What do you mean?" He asked Armin.

"The royal government intends to capture him right before the trial" the blonde answered, "our contact from the capital gave us this info."

That worried Marcel. No one could know what would happen to Eren if the ruler of the walls got his hands on him. Marcel couldn't ignore this.

"What can I do?" He asked Armin.

The smaller boy looked up at him with a smile.

"So, you'll do it?"

"Yeah, sure" Marcel responded, "just don't let anyone see me with you."

As Armin was leading him to some back alley, he started getting suspicious.

"Marcel" he heard a voice from the back alley. He looked up and saw Eren along with Mikasa.

"Eren" Marcel said with a smile "you're in trouble again?"

"This time it's not my fault" his friend exclaimed with a pout.

After some walking, they reached what appeared to be an entrance to an underground passage.

"So, what's the plan?" Marcel asked Armin.

"We'll use the ruins of the underground city to get away from the district. After that we'll go into hiding until the royal government decides to retrial Eren in the exterior."

"We're going though here."

The trio walked into the dark passageway.

Suddenly Marcel stopped in his tracks.

It was a setup.

"Marcel, come on!" Armin cried out as he was walking down the stairs.

"Armin" the young MP started "let's cut this charade right here."

The trio turned to look at him.

"W-what do you mean?" Armin asked.

"I don't know why, but I haven't seen a single person around us for a while."

The confused look on Armin's face turned into a serious expression. Eren and Mikasa were staring disbelievingly.

"What was my oversight?" Marcel asked them.

Armin reached behind.

"Marco…" He said as he revealed an alarm gun.

BANG!

As Armin fired from the signal weapon, a dozen of scouts jumped at Marcel tackling him down.

'I'm sorry, everyone…' Marcel thought as he pressed on his ring to reveal a tiny blade.

A trickle of blood was drawn from the small cut.