We stood at the entrance to the Underground in silence as Erwin and Dita spoke quietly to each other at the side. Erwin's eyes kept darting over towards me as Dita was speaking, and the worried look on his face hadn't gone away. I held my breath as they walked over to the rest of us.

"I'm changing the plan." Erwin boomed with confidence, eyeing each one of us carefully as he continued.

"The criminal is in the centre of the Underground as we speak, meaning he can escape from any direction. We shall individually surround him in a circular formation from the rooftops, instead of our previous formations. This way, we have more chance of bringing him back. If you see him, pursue and capture him on sight, then the rest of us will follow. Any objections?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, everyone threw their arms into a salute and nodded at the commander.

"No objections, sir!" they shouted.

Erwin smiled as he nodded back to his team. With a swift turn, he span around, swiftly walking into the Underground.

"Good luck. Let's bring this bastard back alive. Onward!" he shouted, as the salutes dropped and we charged in after him. I couldn't help but worry about being on my own in this, but it was too late now. I was in deep.

As I stood on a rooftop over the Underground, I realised why Aurou didn't want me here. It as a stone wasteland, almost like a cave with a few ragged stalls set up. I looked down upon groups of homeless people crowding around a fire pit, prostitutes standing on street corners alongside creepy thugs, drunk men fighting amongst each other. There was a young girl laid on the sidewalk who looked like she needed serious medical attention, but nobody even glanced at her. My hands shook and my eyes watered as I took everything in. How could people live like this? How were these people not saved from this hell?

I looked to my left and saw Hanji crouched on her roof, ready to spring into action at any moment. I observed my own body language, stood as an awkward snivelling wreck. I could briefly make out the figures of everyone else in the distance, and they were the same as Hanji. They weren't even phased by the sights they saw here. The Survey Corps have dealt with so much in their lives that I don't even think it hurts any more.

My eyes were drawn to the drunk men fighting, as one picked up a glass bottle and held it to the other's throat. They were both middle aged, one fat and dressed slightly better compared to the skinny, frail man in front of him. I wondered why humanity felt the need to prey on the weak, when we have lived in fear of that very thing for decades? This man was nearly as bad as the Titans in the way he treated the people and the world around him. I felt all the disgust and anger rise inside of me, emotions that I never let out. I wanted to go and attack this man so badly, but I couldn't. I couldn't do it to myself, to the law, and to my team. I had to focus. I looked at Hanji, and she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to the drunkards, or the homeless, or the drug addicts. She was looking for one man in particular, and I realised that I was the worst person for this mission. I should have listened to Gunther when he told me to say no to Erwin. Just like I should have listened to Aurou. They were my best friends and I threw their help back in their faces. I promised them I would come home alive, and even if I failed the mission, at least I'd still mean something to them.

I took one last glimpse at the drunk men, just to cure my curiosity, when another man walked up to them, and with one swift punch, knocked the fat man to the ground. The frail man got to his knees, and I supposed he was thanking the man. It wasn't something you would ever expect. The new man was short in stature, and I would never have guessed someone with that stature could be so strong. He had short dark hair that parted in the middle and hung over his face as he gestured at the frail man to stand. As soon as the frail man stood up, he ran in the complete opposite direction to the dark-haired man, as if he was terrified of him and his strength.

That's when it clicked. This was the man we were here for. I looked at Hanji, and she was still scanning the crowd, oblivious to what had just happened. I couldn't shout over to anyone - we were so far apart that my efforts would have been useless.

I promised Gunther I wouldn't do anything stupid, but what was the stupid thing to do in this situation? Both had consequences. I could ignore the man and betray my team, but that way, I'd stay alive. I could go home to Gunther and Aurou and pretend I never agreed to this. Alternatively, I could go after the man with everything I've got and trust in my team to follow me. It was something that I wasn't sure I could put my faith in - what if they didn't see me?

I knew what was the right thing to do. I took a deep breath and crouched down, double-checking my manoeuver gear without taking my eyes off the man on the ground. Within seconds, I kicked myself off the roof and moved at full speed towards him, but before I could reach him, he span around, his eyes narrowing as he suddenly moved through the air away from me on his own manoeuver gear. My feet skidded along the ground as I brought myself to a halt in the space where he had been. I knew he had manoeuver gear, but I had no idea that he would have that level of skill. I was the fastest of the new graduates, and he was able to avoid me just like that? But I had no time to think about that. I flew in the direction he went, picking up pace as quickly as I could. I couldn't hold back, but something felt so wrong about this whole mission to me. The Survey Corps weren't supposed to fight other humans - nobody was - and this went against everything I wanted to be.

I caught sight of him ahead, kicking my weight off each wall in order to go quicker. I felt the presence of someone behind me, and a gush of relief flooded over me.

That was, until I looked back to realise it was nobody that I knew. There was a girl tailing me, a short girl with scruffy pigtails and a devilish smile. She had her own manoeuver gear, just like the dark haired man, and I realised she was working with him. I realised I'd be trapped within minutes. I tried to move faster towards where the man went, but as I went around the corner, he was nowhere to be seen. I stopped in my tracks in confusion for a split second, but that was my downfall. The second I stopped, the dark haired man was metres away from me, coming towards me at full speed. A speed faster than I could ever go. His eyes were cold, his face expressionless as he charged towards me, swords drawn. My body tensed and I closed my eyes as I braced myself for what was to come.

Seconds passed, and as I woke up on the floor, I slowly opened one eye to see what the hell was going on.

The man was pinned against the wall by Erwin, Dita standing with him as Hanji, Moblit and Mike were forcing his two accomplices onto the ground. The other accomplice was a young man, with short brown hair and grey eyes. He didn't look much older than me, and I found myself wondering how he managed to get himself into such a terrible place. He must have come into contact with Mike from the other side of the centre.I slowly moved towards them, aware of the space around me. I wasn't taking any chances with anyone after the thugs just cornered me.

Hanji rested her hand on my shoulder, as I got up, obviously sensing my discomfort, and I realised that Moblit and Mike had the boy and girl pinned down on the ground, their hands now in chains. The dark-haired man was on his knees as Dita cuffed him and Erwin stood over him, a smug smile on his face.

"Who taught you how to use manoeuver gear? You're faster than our lovely Petra here, and that's something I never would have expected." Erwin smirked, gesturing at me as I tried to hide my face under the hood of my cloak. But the man didn't look at me. He stared at Erwin with his cold eyes, almost looking through him as if he were nothing. As if he'd hurt Erwin at any chance he could. Something about him made me feel strange, but I just couldn't place what it was. Erwin chuckled as the man stared in silence.

"The silent treatment?" he laughed, wagging his finger at Mike for him to come forward.

"You'd better start talking." Erwin spoke, his voice deadly. When the man didn't respond, Mike grabbed him by the hair and jerked his head to look at Erwin as the thug girl cried out.

"Nobody taught us, okay?!" the girl screamed. The young, brown-haired thug looked up at us, hatred in his eyes.

"We learnt on our own." he spat. "We had to, to survive in this dump. Anyone who doesn't know what sewage water tastes like, wouldn't understand".

A felt a twinge in my heart as he said that, and my sympathetic eyes met his angered ones. Even though these people were thugs who nearly killed me, I felt sorry for them. Nobody should have to live like they did. Mike pushed the dark-haired man onto the ground as he walked over to the two thugs.

"Nobody wanted your opinion." Mike snarled, leaning over them. Erwin was still staring at the dark-haired man, their faces showing the same expression now. Pure hatred.

"What's your name?" Erwin said, smiling and crouching down in front of the man. It worried me how Erwin could fake being so nice to someone in order to keep his cool and get what he wants. The thought that Erwin was a fake terrified me. The dark-haired man narrowed his eyes and spat on the ground next to him, missing Erwin's shoes by millimetres. Erwin grabbed the man's hair and slammed his face into the dirty puddles around them, pushing him down for a few seconds before bringing him back to the surface. The dark-haired man coughed water up, and glared at Erwin, blood leaking from his nose.

"Levi."

"Well, Levi, I've decided on giving you two options. First choice, I'll take you to the Military Police as they wanted. But considering your crimes, you'll more than likely be dead within weeks. They're not going to be good to you. Second choice...you join the Survey Corps. We can use that skill of yours. Lend us your strength and I'm willing to ignore all of your crimes."

I gasped at Erwin's words as I tried to comprehend what was going on. We had chased down one of the most notorious thugs in the Underground just to have him join us?

"Fine. I'll join the Survey Corps." Levi spat, realising it was that, or death.

Erwin let out a low chuckle as he beckoned Mike over again, gesturing him towards Levi. Erwin walked over to me, raising his eyebrows at the dried blood around my nose. Without speaking, he walked past me, slowly stroking my hand as he walked past. This time, it didn't comfort me like it should. I felt sick at how Erwin had forced Levi to join us. Even if he was a thug, he deserved to live a life he chose. Everybody deserves the life they want. Erwin had shocked me - I'd seen his good guy façade, and I knew there must be something going on for Erwin not to just turn Levi over to the Military Police like he was supposed to. I felt sick thinking about it.

My hand was cold where Erwin touched, and I finally took my hood off to look at Levi. Our eyes met, and it felt like we were staring into each others souls for an eternity.

His eyes were grey, sharp, intimidating and dull. Mine of amber, glowing, emotional and full of life.

My mother once told me that opposites, always attract.