Erwin felt a bit bad for his squad, on any other day they'd be training, it was a day so they'd probably be in the forest with their ODM gear but instead he'd dragged them along with him to the Underground for a very specific reason. Tomas and Nanaba didn't voice their distaste but their body language said it all, their eyes constantly scanned their surroundings and their hands never left their cloaks. Mike, on the other hand, wasn't afraid to state how much he hated their current situation (no matter who was around).

"I don't understand why we're here Squad Leader, it's filthy! I can feel myself catching a disease!" The younger man whined.

"I've explained it to you many times, Mike" Erwin reasoned, their task here was very specific and required a... unique approach.

"Yes but I need you to explain it to me again because I really can't comprehend the stupidity of it!" Erwin just sighed, Mike was a good soldier but was also really good at complaining.

"Fine, last time okay? We are here to potentially recruit some soldiers for the corps" at Mike's blank stare he continued "We've got reports that they are incredibly skilled with ODM gear and we could use that skill."

"But aren't they criminals? How desperate are we getting for new recruits? And aren't the Survey Corps meant to be the b-" a quick glare front the Squad Leader quietened the man, yes it was a risky move but the pros seemed to outweigh the cons. If the criminals agreed then they'd have new recruits, if they decline their offer they'd spent the rest of their days in jail and if they escaped then they would go back to being the Military Police's problem- a sly streak of satisfaction crept into him at the thought of causing problems for the Capital's lame excuse for a police force.

"Just keep an eye out, apparently they should stand out" he advised his squad, they had no clue what they looked like, the most he'd heard through the gossip was there was 'a midget and his dogs taking the piss' but in all honesty that could be anyone, it wasn't like the residents down here got the correct nutrients to grow in their youth.

The blonde and his squad had been down there for only a couple of hours but it felt like so much longer, the cramped spaces and filthy environment didn't make for a pleasant visit- good job they were here purely for business, if they didn't find any evidence soon he'd relent and they'd head back to base… and straight into the showers.

"Eyyyy look what we 'ave here then!" He heard from his left, he didn't pay it much mind (there were plenty of noises down here) but the sudden broken scream definitely grabbed his attention.

The four of them stood at the back of the crowd that had gathered but, he could clearly see the cause of the commotion, three individuals in blue cloaks were stood tightly together but one- a young looking man with dark hair styled in an undercut- had an obviously drunk man held by the collar of his shirt, the drunkard's bloody hand combined with the other's bloody knife didn't leave much up to the imagination.

Before Erwin could even blink the dark haired man had the other pinned against the wall, the blood slicked dagger pressed against his throat. He leaned in and whispered something to the injured drunkard, before giving him a harsh shove and rejoining his comrades.

The blonde kept his eyes focused on the trio as they walked down the street, a taller man was muttering to the dark haired one, a small red headed girl nestled between them. It took him another glance to realise they actually had ODM gear hidden under their cloaks, interesting.

"Looks like we found our criminals" came Nanaba's chirp and he had to agree, now just to catch them…

xXx

In all the long years Levi's been alive (too many if you ask him) he's managed to survive every threat thrown at him, whether that was dickheads fighting with him for their apartment, creeps who liked his "little body," or random street urchins who looked at him wrong, he had survived it all. So what problem would a couple of police pigs with ODM gear be? None at all. When Isabel had pointed them out he couldn't help but smirk, this would be fun. Levi knew they were good with their gear, they didn't have any military training but the need to survive had forced them to learn.

"We'll loose them in no time, these bastards can't use that gear to save their lives" the raven explained, Isabel was perfectly unfazed by their perusers but Farlan seemed troubled, if his tense expression was anything to go by "we're coming up to the bridge, let's dive."

With that the trio recalled their anchors and tucked themselves into balls, gravity forced them to fall to the floor like diving birds, it lit Levi's nerves alight with pure adrenaline. He noticed the people below running to the edges of the path, obviously eager to avoid being landed on, at the last second he dug his anchors into the belly of the bridge and used his gas to propel him forwards, he was forced to spin suddenly when one idiot didn't get the message to move out of the fucking way.

The dumbass MPs wouldn't be able to follow them through there, they were useless with their gear, none of them needed to be super skilled with the gear, no titans had ever entered the capital after all. The Military Police thought they were so badass, when their job was to practically wipe the noble's asses and spoon feed them breakfast, they'd never been outside the wall, they'd never fought for their lives.

Levi spun around hoping to amuse himself with the sight of those pigs crashing into the bridge, but his eyes widened when he saw all four of the hooded figures follow them with faultless expertise- what the fuck? No MP was able to do that, he knew they didn't train with the gear like the other divisions did, they had no reason to. His eyes widened... other divisions.

"I don't think these are MPs" at that he saw his companions swivel their heads to look at him.

"Then who are they?" Queried Farlan and wasn't that the golden question. He had no clue or be honest but one thing he did know was if they were caught their gear would be confiscated, and that was the best outcome.

"Spin round at this next pillar" they nodded at him and continued on their way. The pillar was coming up quickly, the whirring of wires could be heard behind them, they were gaining on them. As his friends used their gas to propel themselves forwards around the pillar the raven dropped back, he wanted to get a good look at these bastards. As he came to the end of his swing he knocked his head to the right and got a good look at their hunters, and then he saw it.

The 'Wings of Freedom'... fuck.

He knew from the gossip on the streets who these fucks were, they were the idiots who risked their lives beyond the walls, fighting the man-eating giants that had them trapped in the walls, idiots who knew how to use ODM gear far better than the MPs.

"They're Survey Corps" he stated and Isabel whooped in excitement whilst Farlan screeched an undignified "what?!" And to be fair the man had a right to be panicked, these guys were skilled, "we're gonna have to split, meet back up when you're absolutely sure you've lost them," with nods from his companions they took three separate paths through the streets.

Right, now time to assess.

He twirled mid-swing to face their stalkers, now, Levi and his friends had been working together for a good few years now and they still had to use either verbal commands or hand signals to instruct them, but these fuckers just split apart without any signals made- as if they had planned this... surely not. The raven couldn't see any of their faces, their hoods casted convenient shadows, but he could see he had two on him and that's all that mattered.

With that he swung round and shot forwards, he'd have to manoeuvre his environment with all the skill he possessed to get these Survey idiots off his tail but he'd do it, he had no choice.

Climbing higher he hopped from one rooftop to the next, each leap and landing methodical and calculated. If Levi was like a falcon in the sky then he was a feline on the ground, and that was the advantage he had over his pursuers.

He continued to run, not even bothering to check the status of the dickheads behind him, "that's how you get caught" came the bland voice of Kenny in the back of his mind. He turn vaulted over a fence to land on a lower covering, the impact vibrated up his legs, before flicking his legs over a wall and using his momentum to fling himself off the roof- his stomach dropped in a way that sent a thrill through him. The raven anchored himself to two buildings and propelled himself through a small alleyway, the added power allowed him to hop and skip over several sewer pipes and walls- he'd be impressed if they could keep up with him after this.

He carried on moving in sporadic unpredictable ways for a while, making sure to take the most difficult path possible. However, the chase had begun to take its toll on him but he refused to slow down, his chest was screaming in protest at every movement but he simply grit his teeth and pushed through the pain, it wouldn't have been a problem if he could just breath, but that was becoming impossible too.

He realised the sound of wires whirring had faded so he flipped and landed in one of the wider alleyways, after a couple of seconds nothing was heard so he let himself relax for a second, he placed his hand on the grimy wall, leaning heavily on it and ran a hand through his sweat-drenched hair (disgusting). His vision had started to swim, that was probably a fucked up combo between a lack of oxygen and a lack of breakfast- he really was running off fumes at this point, but he'd still lost those fuckers.

Suddenly, the ceiling was falling on him- wait no, it was some guy, a Survey Corps guy to be exact. His muscles moved on instinct, he grabbed the guy's arm and used his momentum against him, sending him flying into a nearby wall, a pained groan could be heard- Levi couldn't help but smirk at that.

Wait, his muscles tensed up, there were two after him, there should be another one somewhere. His steel eyes scanned over the rooftops, nobody was there but he couldn't help but remain tense- then there was movement from the corner of his eye.

He swivelled on his heels and brought his arms up to shield his face, and hopped to the side to dodge the butt of the figure's sword. Before Levi could even think about lunging he was forced to throw himself into a backflip as the bastard span and swung his sword, aiming for his abdomen. The sudden action sent a spike of pain through his torso, he hid his grimace with a cocky grin- he wouldn't let this idiot see any signs of weakness.

He'd had enough.

The man went to swing again but this time Levi dropped back, rolled backwards onto his hands and pushed himself away from the man. The shorter man then swiped his dagger from his belt and swung at the man, their knives clashed, but Levi managed to lodge his dagger in the small wedge between the sword and the grip, sending the blade flying into the wall (he assumed the shriek he heard was from the blade just missing the first asshole), he didn't see the boot flying towards his chest until it was too late.

His back hit the wall hard and it seemed to steal the breath straight from his lungs, his ribs felt like they were ablaze, the laceration on his underarms were almost too much but the adrenaline in his veins pushed that to the back of his mind.

"You downed him Squad Leader?" The Shrieker who first attacked him asked, downed him? Hardly.

Without hesitating he twisted his wrist to hold the dagger in a reverse grip, placed his palm against the butt and launched himself at the man, thrusting the blade up with one target in mind- the fucker's throat. A warm flower of satisfaction bloomed in his chest when he saw the figure's shocked face as he became unbalanced at his attack, that flower was quickly smothered when somehow his attacker lunged at him and grabbed both his wrists in an iron grip.

Levi wasn't going to give up that easily- he struggled against the grip, determined to end this fucker. The struggle made the figure's hood to fall down to his shoulders.

It revealed a man that definitely didn't belong in the Underground, Levi now noticed how tall this idiot was (more like a titan that a man), his blue eyes seemed to glare straight into his soul and his blonde hair was cut into a hybrid of curtains and an undercut- what a fucking weird combination, he could practically the taste gel that held his hair in place. But what stole his attention was the guy's fucking eyebrows, they were huge! The raven had to bite down a snort that threatened to escape him.

With renewed vigour he threw his whole body at the bastard with every intention to skewer his heart on his blade.

"Stop! Look around you" came his even voice, and Levi spared a second to glance around. It's then that he saw Isabel and Farlan being pushed over by the other two Survey cunts, their hands tied behind their backs. The redhead was flinging her legs around shouting "Let me go!" In her high pitched squeak whilst Farlan just walked over with his head bowed in shame muttering "Don't waste your strength, Izzy."

Shit they'd been caught, he didn't mind himself being caught but, he wouldn't endanger his friend's lives more than he already had, so with that he loosened his grip on his dagger, listening as it clanged against the cobbled floor.

"Squad Leader, are you alright?" the bitch holding Isabel asked.

"Yes, you both did well" replied the blonde titan, Levi couldn't help but roll his eyes at the half assed compliment.

xXx

The trio found themselves kneeling in front of the four Survey pigs, their cloaks and gear had been taken away whilst their hands were firmly tied behind them, the raven could also feel the shitty water soaking into the knees of his pants- fucking perfect.

"I have some questions to ask you" stated Levi's attacker "where did you get this equipment?" He held up the ODM grip that Farlan had so painstakingly modified over the years they'd had them, "your manoeuvring skills were impressive, who taught you?" Wow he never stopped with the questions did he. When they stayed silent he moved to stand in front of Levi "You're the leader, right? Have you had any military training?" He held back a scoff at that, if he had military training he wouldn't be rotting away down here, Levi just stared straight into those blue eyes with his own steel ones, he'd tell this bastard nothing.

Suddenly he felt fingers tangle in his hair from behind, his head was yanked backward, exposing his throat to the world. He could only grit his teeth as his face was shoved down into a sewage riddled puddle- he was so close to gagging as the stench of shit invaded his senses., suddenly glad he was finding it so difficult to breath.

"I'll ask you again" the asshole stared down his nose at Levi, like he was no better than the mud beneath his boot "where did you learn vertical manoeuvring?" The shorter male remained silent , he just glared at the blonde through his dripping bangs with pure hatred in his eyes.

"You think we're gonna let some Civil Servant push us 'round? We didn't learn it from anyone!" Isabel snapped, drawing Eyebrow Titan's attention to her.

"Anybody who doesn't know what sewage tastes like wouldn't understand! We figured it out so we could survive in this dump!" Interrupted Farlan, with that the Shrieker shoved his face back into the puddle and suddenly dragged him back up by his hair- his scalp was on fire. He sucked in a mouthful of air, the feeling of the sewage dripping down his face made his eyes water with disgust, a painful attack of coughs overwhelmed him making his ribs ache and his lungs burn. Shrieker still refused to let go of his black locks.

"My name is Erwin Smith" so the blonde titan finally had a name "what is your name" as if he was going to tell this idiot who he was, it would make no difference anyway, he was just some urchin from the Underground "I applaud your determination, but keep it up any we will move onto your comrades" he fought against the hand in his hair to look over to his companions, the other two Survey bastards had their hands tangled in their hair, holding them over the puddle- the threat was obvious.

"If you're gonna do it just do it already!" Isabel taunted.

"What is your name?" Smith asked again from his side, Shrieker forced his face back down, hovering just over the murky puddle.

"You bastard" the raven muttered, if looks could kill, Smith would be wiped from existence "it's Levi" he relented, his name wasn't worth this much hassle, these idiots would forget it soon enough anyway, finally he felt the fingers untangle from his hair letting his bangs fall into his eyes.

"Levi," Smith knelt down in front of him, "would you make a deal with me?" What... the fuck? He expected to be arrested or even put to death, but a deal? That made no sense whatsoever.

"A deal...?" His curiosity got the best of him.

"I will not ask about your crimes. In return you will lend me your strength and join us in the Survey Corp" no no no, he couldn't join them, he couldn't become one of the pigs that ridiculed them day in day out!

"If I refuse?"

"I turn you over to the Military Police. Considering your crimes I don't think you or your companions can expect decent treatment" Smith reasoned, now stood over him "choose whichever path you wish." The raven's mind was going a hundred miles an hour, what was he supposed to do? It was either get handed over to the MPs and face probably horrific consequences for their crimes (he feared for his companions with that option) or go with these idiots, see sunlight and potentially get eaten by a titan- the choices weren't great.

He glanced over at his friends, their eyes said one thing: 'we trust you to keep us safe' and that's all he needed to make his choice, it hurt his pride to spit it out though.

"Very well, we will join your Survey Corps."

xXx

The market was crowded when they were escorted through, Smith had a tight hold of Levi's cuffs, he didn't miss how his companions weren't being held, were they worried he'd run at the first chance he got? He wasn't cruel enough to abandon his family. The raven could feel the stares they were receiving as they made their way through the crowd, the murmuring melded together into a sea of voices around them.

Smith had asked them where they lived so they could pick up thief belongings, but what was the point? They had no belongings to bring, just some dirty clothes that would be better off being burned and some mouldy food. They had nothing sentimental and nothing to really call their own, their gear was their most valuable possessions and these idiots had confiscated it. So, they had refused to give their (old?) address away.

"Oi, shorty! Who'd ya fuck to get outta here?" Came one voice, he carefully kept his expressions neutral (he refused to let them get any sort of reaction form him) but, he saw Isabel tense beside him, he sent her a quick glance and she quickly stood down, he understood that she wanted to stand up for him but they needed to get out of here with minimal issues ideally.

It didn't escape his notice how Smith started walking faster, and soon they were climbing the stairs to the gate.

Ascending the stairs became increasingly difficult the higher they got, his chest was throbbing like some asshole was punching him repeatedly in the torso, he swore he could feel the bruises blooming along his spine from when Eyebrows booted him into the wall. It was awful. Worst of all his legs started to feel weak, why? He didn't know but it made the journey so much harder.

As they came up to the gate it struck the short man how big it was, they'd always stayed away from the exit, there was no point going there as that's where the MPs tended to hover. When he noticed the amount of rust that covered the barrier his fingers itched to grab a brush and start to scrub it off- the sooner they were out of there the better. Isabel's happy vibrating didn't go unnoticed and the female corps member's hand hovered around her tied wrists, as if she was going to bolt any second, she wouldn't, she was just excited to leave this shit hole and Levi couldn't blame her.

"Well well well, what've we got here then?" A slightly creepy voice came from their left.

"These three were caught stealing from the Survey Corps, we are here to take them to trial" explained Smith, he was lying... Why was he lying? They hadn't stolen from anyone today...

The Military Policeman didn't look happy at all with that "we've been after these fuckers for years and you lot think you can come in to take them to a cosy cell? No way, these runts deserve a lot worse, especially this fucker" he pointed directly to Levi at that with a gross leer, the raven looked away from the man's gaze, he was uncomfortable to say the least.

"Well, you didn't manage to catch them did you?" came Smith's voice, the police pig clearly took offence to that but none of them took any notice as the gate began to rise, Isabel's vibrating made her look more like a happy blur.

When they stepped out from the Underground Levi's eyes immediately began to burn, the sudden progression of the depressing dark to the warm sun hurt but it was a good kind of pain, his retinas protested against the light invading his senses but it felt so good. Lowering his head to shade his eyes from the sun he glanced around, people were staring at them and he could understand why, three filthy Underground criminals being escorted by four of the Survey Corps... it was probably the most interesting thing these pompous assholes had seen in a while.

The next few steps were a blur, the sudden heat on his back combined with his aching legs and chest made his head ache so time suddenly became difficult to keep up with. Before he knew it they were being herded into a carriage, with seats covered in the comfiest pillows he'd ever felt, slumping into the seat he concentrated on breathing- in and out, in and out, nice deep breaths- no matter how much the bandages around his chest protested.

The raven just laid his head against the glass and observed the citizens going about their day. He didn't notice his hands being untied or the various concerned gazes looking at him as his breath rattled in his lungs.