The last two years had been hard for the Corps and well as everyone else. Food was low as was funding, meaning the corps could only get what the vitally needed; so Imelda and Hanji's equipment was put at the bottom of the priority list. This made both very irritated, but both had their own ways of showing this. Hanji, being the vibrant flam she was went straight to Erwin to complain; but Imelda….she started to, borrow things. Soon people were saying a thief was stalking the area, stealing gun powder and clay, both vital materials and thanks to the wall being breached, now in very low supply. Levi had a nasty hunch that he knew this mysterious thief and headed straight to Imelda's workshop. There he found the culprit sitting in the middle of the floor, placing a wick in a small clay ball, and then lighting it
"Imelda"
He said sternly and she let out a squeak of surprise as the clay ball slipped from her fingers. Her eyes filled with horror as she scrambled to her feet and propelled herself at Levi crying.
"GET DOWN"
Her arms went around his waist as he fell backwards and before they even hit the ground there was a bang like that of a rifle. The smell of gunpowder filled Levi nose as Imelda pushed up to see just who she'd knocked over.
"Ah errrr papa ehe, didn't realise it was you eheh, umm you doing okay?"
"What"
He said flatly looking up at his adopted daughter
"Was that, Imelda?"
Her face twitched up into a nervous smile before sitting up and scratching her head in the way she did when she knew she had been caught red handed. But then she stopped as if she remembered something and she span around to see what the item had done. Scorch marks covered the floor as did the shrapnel from the bomb.
"THE BOMB WORKED"
She cried happily before a sharp slap to the back of her head brought her down to earth,
"You stupid child, you could have killed yourself"
Levi snapped angrily, glaring at her. Imelda looked down at her feet, ashamed and rubbed her head again. Levi stood up rubbing his back looking down at the small child.
"What the fuck were you doing with a bomb?"
He asked, poking her back with his boot. Imelda got up and walked over the too the desk on which piles of paper were stacked and more of the round clay balls were placed.
"I was making bombs to see if the explosion would be big enough to kill a titan,"
Levi stiffened,
"Cannon fire can kill them as long as it hits the neck, and since these are designed to explode on impact and to be used for long rang, these bombs could possibly help soldiers see the next sunrise."
She finished, rolling up the papers and clipping the bag of gun powder shut. Levi had been staring at the clay balls for quite some time; could these really make a difference? Then he remembered why he came to find his retched child in the first place; for stealing clay and gun powder .
"Where did you get all these materials from Imelda?"
Levi asked taking the bag of gun powder from her as she tried to move it behind her back. Her face went a flushed red and her ears literally started steaming; another sign of her hiding something.
"I errr well you see-"
"You were stealing"
Levi deadpanned, but Imelda obviously wasn't going to admit to it straight away, she would, as Levi had predicted, try get out of her very sticky situation.
"But stealing is such a strong word and its not like they were using it, that clay was the rough stuff you make with pots; everyone had pots do why need the clay?"
Imelda looked at her papa's face; it hadn't moved, and sighed dramatically in defeat. Another sharp slap behind the ear and then the banging of her door told her that Levi was gone. Rubbing her now rather bruised head, she sat down and scribbled the explosion in her note book mumbling,
"Needs more powder, thinner wick and thinner shell"
Before snatching up one of the bombs to go and show Hanji.