Even if the world trembled in its remains, criminals still found time and ways to hurt it more. There shouldn't even be a need to steal from the houses people lived in with all the deserted areas around them and yet the families and others who had been through so much had to suffer burglary on top of it.
"I guess those fuckers likes the rush." Levi muttered as he and Erwin walked up to the latest block of flats to suffer a robbery. "If I wanted something I'd go take it from one of those abandoned houses, why the fuck do they need to take it directly from someone…?!"
"You know, taking from one of those houses would still be stealing… We need all the materials we can gather to rebuild." When Erwin said "we" he meant humanity, Levi had figured that out quickly. "You would pretty much be taking from our future."
"Tch, leaving them there rotting won't help us much either, you want to blame mother nature for stealing them?" Levi knew it was hopeless, Erwin would have some smart answer to come back with… A really irritating man. "Which floor?"
Erwin looked at his phone and stepped inside the elevator to push one of the rusty buttons. "Third, they said that the robbers have left but they want us to check if there's anything we can use as evidence. To identify the robbers."
"You won't be getting anywhere, standing there. The elevators work only in the newer buildings, closer to the centre of the city." Levi said, trying to hide the hint of triumph in his voice. There was always a small success in outsmarting Erwin. Even if it was only in knowledge of the area. He started walking up the stairs and Erwin followed him with a small smirk planted on his lips.
The third floor was a mess. Old newspapers covered the floor and the dust was so thick their shoes hardly made traces in it. Water from leaky pipes had left traces of mould on the walls and Levi could almost taste the smell,. He glanced at Erwin, wondered if he would have the grimace of a rich boy too good for this kind of place, but Erwin simply walked past him to the door with the right number. He had a polite but firm way of knocking and when the old couple answered the door he spared no time for idle chat.
"Good morning. You're the Springer's, I presume?" Erwin waited for them to nod before he continued. "We are here to investigate your home and to make a list of what got stolen."
The couple stepped back to let them inside and the elderly woman was quick to offer them coffee, Erwin was equally as quick to decline it. "So, let's start with the list, shall we?" He took a notepad from his pocket and sat down with the couple.
There was no sign of a break in, Levi noticed. The lock on the door was intact, hardly a scratch, and the windows couldn't be opened except for a small one with a net permanently attached to the frame. With his eyebrows furrowed he looked at the small shelves and the pictures. Family pictures, some holiday memories and neat little angel statues at some of the portraits, small wooden crosses at others when the couple had run out of angels. The titanium had been harsh on them, taking their entire family except for one boy with a shaved head.
"…the burglars took our silver too… We had some really expensive cutlery from the nineteenth century and that would probably go for a high prise at the…what do they call it? The black market?" the old man looked at his wife for confirmation and she gave him a quiet little nod. Levi glanced at the shaved boy.
"Where did you keep your silver?" he asked and the couple seemed a bit startled at his voice. Mrs Springer pointed to a white chest of drawers under the window and Levi opened the top drawer to look inside. Either the Springer's had cleaned it up and messed with the investigation or the burglars had been very neat with their thievery.
Maybe the burglar had felt a need to be gentle in this house in particular?
"Where's your grandson?" Levi picked up the picture and placed it at the table in front of the couple. "He's gotten married or something?"
"I don't…see how that has to do with anything…" Mr Springer said and gave Erwin a questioning look. "We are talking about a burglary are we not?"
Erwin seemed puzzled as well but he gave Levi a small nod to go on, wanting to see where Levi wanted to go with this.
"Yes we are. Did your grandson steal your silver?" Levi saw no point in going around the subject, the Springer's were old and he didn't want to waste time here. "The one breaking in had a key or you let him in, I see no other way of getting inside here."
Mrs Springer let out a soft gasp and she gripped her husbands hand tightly. She lowered her gaze to the table, her head heavy with what Levi assumed was shame. Mr Springer's face got stern with anger and he opened his mouth to protest but Levi silenced him with a stare. "We all get fucked up from disasters like this, your grandson is no exception. We'll get you your insurance money or whatever if you're honest with us, understood?"
Erwin gave Levi an amused smile before he talked the couple through how their situation was going to be handled from now on. The police would try to find their grandson and bring him back to them and hopefully they would recover their cutlery too. When Erwin and Levi rode back to the station on one of the streetcars Erwin leaned back and sighed. "You are quite the troublemaker, Levi…"
"Oh?" Levi raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. He knew these kind of areas, he had grown up on their streets. When he was a kid, the streets had never been this empty but now that almost everyone got a fresh start whether they wanted it or not many had chosen to occupy the apartments close to the centre of the city. When they got the electricity working again they didn't want to waste it on an unnecessarily big area. "How so?"
"I don't know who you where before and I won't ask about it, but it's clear you've never been one who give authorities much respect. Am I right about that?" Erwin looked terribly out of place in the dirty streetcar sprayed with graffiti. Next to him, people ridden by disease and poverty stared at what Levi could only assume was their bleak future before them.
"I show respect to people I know deserve it, nothing more and nothing less." There weren't a lot of people that deserved that respect though… Well, at least Levi showed respect to his boss and to Erwin, he did rank above him, and that was good enough. "Does that bother you?"
"It surprised me." Erwin always seemed to have full control of himself. Not always calm but always knowing what he felt and what he was expressing to his observers. "How did you know it was their grandson that did it?"
Levi sighed and sat down on one of the dirty seats when a passenger left the streetcar. "The burglar, or burglars if he had his friends helping him, left the home without making the slightest mess… or the grandparents cleaned everything up perfectly even though they knew that would make it harder for us to track the criminals. My guess is they wanted to get some money for the stolen things without having to turn their grandson in. And lucky for me, that's exactly what happened."
"I see… Either you are a very observant person or you have experience with these kinds of things… It doesn't matter, your knowledge will probably be a good thing to have in this line of work." Erwin didn't hesitate before sitting down next to Levi as another person left the bus.
"Don't talk to me like I'm a new recruit or anything, I've been here for more than five years." Levi was getting really tired of how good Erwin thought he was. Yes, Erwin was a good police but Levi was too. Probably better, he hadn't been on a break since the titanium plagued the Earth.
Erwin smiled, that smile always seemed amused when he talked with Levi, and he rested his arm on his briefcase. "I apologize for that. I keep forgetting that I've actually been of the force for quite a while."
Levi raised an eyebrow and turned to look out the window instead. "I've noticed."
After Levi found Eren he had struggled with getting them food. The government was quick enough with their food rations and he got a box full of baby things that had been collected from stores and hospitals. Money didn't get back in use in town until after a few months so most of the people relied on what the city could give them.
Levi quickly realised that wasn't enough.
He already had plenty of knowledge and experience when it came to house robbing and thievery and even with a baby on his back it was very easy to steal food from abandoned houses. He took everything canned he could carry and traded it for infant formula, any weapons he found he either hid or traded for fresh food. Levi kept a gun though, to protect himself and Eren if anyone got desperate enough to attack them.
When he found Eren, he cleared the Jaeger house of anything he could make use of and carry. If he couldn't carry it he would be back for it soon enough, like the cradle or the other baby supplies. What he didn't check was the basement, he couldn't find the key for it anywhere and even to this day it irritated him. Who knew what would be down there? Jams, pickled food, weapons, a pirates treasure? He had no idea!
Of course he looked for the key a couple of times, after getting all the baby stuff out of there he searched the whole house, but he couldn't find anything. He tried breaking in but the door remained firmly shut.
It irritated him that he didn't know what was hidden and that Eren wouldn't know either. Levi couldn't tell Eren much about his parents except for the few things he knew himself, and that really wasn't a lot.
Right now, Levi wished that he could tell Eren more. Maybe that might help him deal with the whole amputation thing, make him feel better about it if he knew what his parents might think about it. Of course Levi could ensure Eren that his parents would want what was best for him, what kept him safe and at his healthiest, but that was a thought too abstract. Levi had tried.
He sighed, leaning back in the couch and placing the cup of tea down on the coaster. Eren sat quietly at his little desk and played with one of the toys from the TV shows he liked so much. Levi had searched through many houses to find the toys for Erens birthday.
"Have I told you about my new co-worker, Eren?" Levi asked. He patted at the couch pillow next to him and Eren slowly raised himself before limping over. Levi didn't want to bother with the small footstool and simply pulled Eren up beside him.
"You didn't… Is there something special about him?" Eren seemed almost curious, an emotion Levi was glad to see. The days after being told about the amputation, Eren had been down and very silent. He had hardly said anything at all.
Levi nodded and put his arm around Erens shoulder, pulling him a little bit closer. "He is a very strong man. I bet he could lift you up to sit on that shelf if he felt like it… " Eren looked at the shelf that Levi couldn't reach without something to stand on and when he looked back he had a small smile on his face. "But his physical strength isn't all there is to him. He is strong in his mind too. Like the leader from your show."
"Oh…" Eren tilted his head slightly. "I've never heard you talk good about a co-worker before. The others were all stupid and slow and you would work better alone than with them." He grinned. "What's so special about this guy?"
"Well, he is stupid and slow too… but he is a pretty good guy." Levi didn't want to praise Erwin, that would only give him higher horses to stand on. "And he is kind of similar to you."
Now Eren was getting interested, Levi could tell. He couldn't keep still. "How is he similar to me?"
Levi shook his shoulders. "Strong, pretty smart…can be really annoying…" He looked down at Eren with a little smile at the corner of his mouth. "You know, you two could really get along together…"
"What do you mean?" Eren was getting a bit impatient, he knew Levi was planning something.
"I was thinking about inviting him over. For dinner or something." Levi saw Erens smile pale a bit and he raised an eyebrow. "You should get to meet some new people, Eren. Me and the doctors aren't nearly enough."
"Yeah, but…" Eren hesitated before he continued, kicking lightly with his healthy leg. "What if he…fears me like all the others? Have you warned him?"
"He won't fear you. Erwin isn't much like anyone I've ever met before." Levi ruffled Erens hair and his small smile grew a bit wider.