"What did you just say?"
"I said, I want to join them."
Levi was glaring at Jason. The demigod knew that the demand was ludicrous, but he needed this.
The scouts had arrived in the busy city of Ehrmich, currently being filled by refugees from Wall Rose. The priest, seeing all the refugee's faces, crumbled under the guilt, and revealed the identity of someone that was vital to the people within the walls. After that, a scout by the name of Sasha came in with a report indicating the home town of Annie, and two others from the 104th that happened to be from the same town. Jason only recognized Reiner's name. He couldn't pronounce the other one.
But Jason didn't care about any of that. What he needed was to get stronger. And to do that, he needed to join them on their mission to plug in the wall.
"Were your ears not working when I said that you were my personal prisoner?"
"No, they were working. I just really don't care about that right now."
"What?"
Jean tried to pull Jason back, but he wouldn't budge. "I promised Jean and Armin I would protect them. I'm going with them." Jean let go of his arm. The other scouts stopped what they were doing and witnessed the ensuing argument. Armin looked worried.
Levi poked Jason's chest, "You're not going anywhere. You don't even know how to use basic military equipment."
"That's exactly why I need to go." Jason didn't know where he was getting the confidence from, "I need to learn how to use this gear if I wanna stick around you lot."
"It takes three years to learn how to use our equipment."
"I'm a fast learner." Jason replied quickly.
"And who's going to teach a newbie how to move around in titan infested territory?"
"She is." Jason pointed at the girl with the red scarf.
The girl raised her eyebrows.
"She's the best person at using ODM gear that I've seen, other than you. And since you're not going, she'll have to do."
Jason walked away and began putting on the ODM gear. It was surprisingly light. He saw Armin and the others put it on earlier in their important discussion, and tried to copy what they did. He wasn't succeeding.
"Oi. Oi!" Levi yelled at him. Seeing that Jason wasn't responding, he grabbed his arm.
"You're not going anywhere."
Jason ripped his arm away from his grip. "I am NOT your subordinate!" He yelled at him. It was only then that Jason noticed the crowd watching them. Jason let go of the equipment and sat down on a box. It irritated him how much Levi ordered him around.
Levi noticed the crowd. "Get back to work." He said calmly. The Scouts continued getting ready for their mission.
After a moment of silence. Levi began to say, "I'm not going to send a man to get killed."
"I won't get killed." Jason replied.
"You can't guarantee that."
Jason looked at him, "You can't keep me trapped here. I need to learn how to use your equipment. I need to get stronger."
Levi sat on the box across from him.
"You know I'm strong, you saw me in the forest!" Jason raised his hand in frustration.
"And yet you died before coming here?"
Jason covered his face, "So you were listening."
"I heard some of your ridiculous story. You're not very creative."
Jason looked at the Captain through his fingers, "You saw me in the forest."
Levi leaned forward.
"You wanna know what I saw," he snapped, "I saw a scared little boy taking his anger out on a monster, almost getting himself killed in the process. If I send you out there now, you'll die a dog's death."
Jason leaned back. "Why do you care whether or not I die?"
Levi leaned back. "You have information we need."
"I really don't."
"We'll decide that for ourselves."
Jason suddenly got an idea.
"If you let me go on this mission, I'll tell you everything. You wanna know where I'm from? Why I'm here? Whatever questions you have, I'll answer them."
"What kinda…" Levi was about to curse before Hange stepped in, "You'll answer all our questions?"
"Yes!" Jason shot up.
The scouts, getting prepared for the mission, stole glances at the conversation. The girl with the scarf seemed particularly interested.
Hange slapped Levi on the back. "Why not let him come along. I'll watch him for ya." The hit pushed him to stand up.
Levi glared at her, "And if he escapes? Or dies?"
Hange looked offended, "I'll take responsibility. I'm not the same bullheaded girl I used to be, ya know." She gave him a big smile.
Levi gave her a good look. I wonder how he weighs his options. Killing me here, or obtaining information later. Jason had a sinking feeling he would choose the former.
He groaned, "Can I borrow Moblit?"
Hange's smile widened. "Of course you can! Moblit!" She called her officer.
After getting some gear ready, Moblit approached them. Levi gestured for the scarfed girl to approach as well.
"I'm officially handing the prisoner over to the Section Commander. While she deals with the operation, you two will personally look after him. It will take you guys at least five to six hours on horseback to reach Wall Rose to find the breach." He exhaled.
"The prisoner will not be on horseback."
Jason heard Armin gasp. Jean dropped whatever he was holding.
"If he can't keep up with the rest of the squad, you leave him behind. The mission comes first, do you understand?"
Mobilt and the girl gave the Captain an uneasy look. They then looked to the Section Commander for confirmation. She raised her hands. "He is in charge of the prisoner, I'm just holding on to him till we come back."
They gave an uneasy affirmation. Before they could leave, Armin approached the Captain. Jason could see he was about to object to his terms. Jason, however, stopped him by raising his hand in front of the boy.
"It's okay, Armin." Jason gave Levi a sly smile, "I accept the terms of my release."
He then looked at the red scarfed girl. He pointed at the ODM gear, "So, how do I put this on?"