Forcing one foot in front of the other on legs shaking from fatigue, Zoë soon reached the floor where her new lab was located. When she rounded the last corner a little lost in thought, she almost bumped into Renzo... who was squeezing the life out of Oliver with his hands tightly clasped around the old man's throat. The weirdest thing about the rather unexpected scene wasn't the old man's tongue hanging out, his eyes that showed only white nor his arms and legs that twitched feebly. No... it was the utter silence of this violent act and the focused concentration of the one committing it.
"Holy fuck," Zoë exclaimed and slammed her fist into Renzo's face. Hard.
Renzo went down like all tall people do when suddenly deprived of balance and wits: ungracefully. Oliver, not tall, but stout, didn't fare much better. Collapsing when Renzo's grip around his throat slackened, he soon sprawled on the floor next to his assailant, weakly clutching his throat, gasping for air, and sobbing.
"Holy fuck," Zoë repeated in bafflement, "what is wrong with you people?"
Clearly, both men were currently unable to give her an answer. After considering her options - walk away? Kick them for good measure? Wait for Renzo to regain consciousness so she could hit him again? - she grabbed the elderly man's arms and hauled him upright. Her back protested with a series of loud cracks. Holy shit, she wanted to lie down. After a hot bath. And sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
"I kinda don't want you to die yet," she told the old man. Dragging him along with an arm slung around his middle, she entered the lab space and dropped him on a chair.
"Light, we need light," she murmured, searching for matches to ignite the oil lamps.
Oliver was still crying when she looked at him once more, with snot coming out of his nose and dribbling down his face, but at least his breathing was slowly returning back to normal. Clearly, nothing vital like a windpipe was crushed. He would live a while longer.
"What was that about?" she asked, absentmindedly shuffling through her notes on the work desk. How long until she could work this out? A few hours? Days? How long ago had she and Levi come down here? It felt like time held no real meaning anymore. And yet... if they were not back on time, and Erwin and the others returned, things could get nasty.
"Documents," Oliver wheezed, drying his eyes and noisily cleaning his nose on his sleeve.
Zoë lifted her eyebrows at him. His white hair was standing on end in all directions. He looked like a crazed chicken as a result.
"Levi had them tucked into his trousers," Oliver explained. "They fell out when I cut open his shirt."
"Huh. You are also a doctor?"
"The best down here," Oliver said proudly, straightening his spine. "I stitched him together carefully so our little firecracker wouldn't get an ugly scar. It's not the first time he ends up on my table, y'know. He doesn't know how to be careful, ever since he was a little boy."
Zoë tried to imagine Levi as a little boy. Awwww, probably super cute. Meanwhile, Oliver continued to reminisce and to heap self-praise upon himself: "... the amount of times I put bandages on his scraped knees! Always with such precision! I did not need any practice. You wouldn't believe how good..."
Enough. "And where are they now, these documents?"
"Here," Oliver patted his round belly. Zoë guessed he had not eaten them but meant to say that he was carrying them on his person. So he had figured out their worth too?
"You should have given them to Renzo instead of provoking him to violence," Zoë suggested.
"He needs to learn how to ask people politely," Oliver murmured. His hand went inside his jerkin and came back out holding a bundle of documents. They were crumpled, ripped and dark from dried blood.
Curious, Zoë came around the desk to have a look at them. She squinted at each sheet but they were almost completely illegible.
"Definitely not worth dying for," she gave the documents back to Oliver. "They're destroyed."
"Hmhmhm," the old man said in what sounded somehow like he disagreed with that assessment. "The row wasn't only about the documents."
"No? Let me guess. Was it about you knowing a lot more about poisons than you admitted to me?"
"Hmhmrgpf, no," the old man mumbled and colored ever so lightly. "But about that..."
"Yes?" Zoë looked at him expectantly. "Out with it. What are you people playing at? I get that it must be a lot of fun to dupe someone from upstairs. And I guess I'd be laughing with you if I didn't feel like shit right now. I'm getting increasingly nauseous and let me tell you, it's not enjoyable."
"I know who you are," Oliver said, looking her in the eyes for the first time since she'd saved him. His were watery blue and cunning, even after the shock he had experienced mere minutes before.
"And...?"
"I wanted to make sure to get everything I could out of your family."
"I don't get it," Zoë shook her head in frustration because really? Her heritage shouldn't matter this much, not after all these years of living in peace. "You poison me, then lie to me about the antidote and that will get you more money? I don't understand. Just let me go back to killing Titans. At least they only do one, simple thing: eat us."
"It's not really an antidote you've been taking," Oliver chuckled. "Or have you ever heard of a poison that requires so many doses over so many days?"
Uhm, what?
"Each dose cures you a little and makes it worse again at the same time," Oliver explained eagerly. "It's quite genius." Clearly, he was talking about himself, the mastermind behind all this. "Providing you with the antidote for the rest of your life would have been such a lucrative business."
Zoë sat down on her chair and groaned miserably. Great. Way to make her feel utterly stupid! Levi was right: She wasn't clever enough for the games these people liked to play.
"But I owe you my life now," Oliver said, "so I will help you get the real antidote to pay my debt. Then we're even."
"Hahaha," Zoë laughed mirthlessly, "and why should I trust you this time?"
"We hate debts in the underground. Like nothing else," Oliver said, like that explained everything.
"Give me those documents," Zoë held out her hand. "I'll give them back to Levi."
Oliver frowned.
"I can also just take them back by force," Zoë smiled toothily. "I'm not really a nice person. Especially not after being humiliated like this."
Oliver swallowed, then pulled out the sullied documents, looking at them with ominous eyes. "You don't know what this is."
"Correct," Zoë snatched them from his hand and put them down her blouse. "But I will find out."
She'd just have to find a way to extract the blood from the paper without also extracting the ink. Easy peasy. Or not. Hmmm... her brain began running through things to try. No risk, no gain. Illegible, destroyed by chemicals... not much a difference.
"And now the antidote?" she pointed at the many tin cans full of ingredients that Renzo had put in here. Hopefully not only for show?
"Right," Oliver nodded and cleaned his face again with his much-used sleeve. "It's not hard. One measure wormwood, one measure feverfew, half a measure goldenseal..."
Zoë sprang into action, measuring and mixing as instructed. Then boiling, cooling, filtering. The final concoction looked abhorrent, a kind of brown that she had seen in the toilet before, but did she want to be picky? With a questioning look, she lifted the glass to her lips, seeing only pure innocence on Oliver's round face. With an inward shrug, she tilted it and...
... the door slammed against the wall, almost having her drop the glass.
"At least make him taste it, you dummy!" Levi snarled.
Oliver lost all color at the sight of him. Possible that her face didn't fare much better, Zoë thought, because her mouth had certainly sprung open. She closed it.
"... and next time, don't let a dangerous man lie around in front of your door," Levi added, throwing Renzo's body into the lab like he weighed nothing. His hands were bound and he was gagged, Zoë noticed - and judging by the fast growing goose egg on his head, Levi had made sure he stayed unconscious a while longer.
"You little show-off," Zoë uttered very quietly, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Levi was out of bed! He was walking! He looked terribly pale but whatever! He had also found a shirt to wear, which was several sizes too big and made him look like a child who was playing dress-up with his parents' clothes.
"Hi, Grandpa Ollie," Levi addressed Oliver. "Fancy meeting you here. So you've turned your apothecary skills to better use, I hear?"
"L... Levi," Oliver gulped, "I am surprised to see you out of bed so soon."
Levi nodded, his eyes blazing. "Ah, I guess you didn't know that my body rejects drugs pretty efficiently. Dose 1: lots of effect. Dose 2: less effect. Dose 3: hardly any effect."
"Really?" Zoë took a step closer eagerly. "Can I do experiments with you?"
"Er, no?" Levi frowned at her. "But I'm glad you were smart enough not to bind me again."
Zoë blinked.
"I see. At least you forgot to bind me again so that I could make it just in time. You!" he pointed at Ollie. "Drink that stuff. We will watch you for a few minutes afterwards before she drinks it."
"Al... alright," Ollie squealed, grabbed the glass from Zoë's hand and took a generous sip. "See?" he handed the glass back, drying his mouth with the back of his hand. "See? It's safe!"
"Sit," Levi growled and stepped closer menacingly so that Oliver let himself fall back onto his chair.
"That stuff Maria gave me?" Zoë told Levi, very relieved that she could share her recent humiliation with someone who was on her side, "it wasn't a proper antidote."
"Are you surprised?" Levi asked.
"I shouldn't be, huh?" Zoë stepped closer to him. His eyes met hers briefly before they swiveled back to the quivering Oliver. She couldn't read him. Was he still in pain? He had to be. His cut lip was swollen and he held himself stiffly.
"You look guilty," Levi observed, peering into Oliver's face.
"Probably because he stole the documents," Zoë fished them out from underneath her blouse.
Levi took one look at them, then shrugged. "Throw them away."
"Nope," Zoë shook her head and put them back where they had come from. How romantic. Carrying something drenched with Levi's blood close to her heart...
"Do you know who has an emblem that looks a bit like a black cat but isn't quite a black cat?" Levi asked Oliver, whose eyes just got larger and more frightened - though they did not quite lose their cunning sheen.
"There are rumors..."
"Excellent," Levi smirked. "Rumors are a good start. Tell me."
"A new type of influence, they have their fingers everywhere."
"'They'."
"Yes," Oliver's eyes took on a haunted look.
"And 'they' do what exactly...?"
"Threaten people."
"That's common," Levi poked his boot into Renzo's rips, "if you want to make it down here."
"They're not from down here."
"I see," Levi's face didn't give away what was going on in his head.
"Kenny talks to them."
At the mention of that name, Levi swore loudly. Now it was obvious what went on in his head: he hated the person who had just been mentioned, with all he had.
"Who's that?" Zoë wanted to know, her curiosity piqued.
"Nobody," Levi hissed - "his foster father and mentor," Ollie said at the same time.
Levi hit him over the head so hard, Oliver passed out and fell off the chair.
"Hey," Zoë frowned at Levi. So it was that bad? "Was that necessary? He's old. And now we can't be sure about the antidote and I must tell you, I feel like shit."
"Take it," Levi growled, "I bet it's safe."
"You bet?" Zoë huffed, "great, what if you're wrong?"
"Isn't betting about risks?" Levi asked, clearly in as foul a mood as was humanly possible.
"Oh, we're really betting?" Zoë felt suddenly quite excited. "Okay! You bet it's safe... I bet it's not. What is the wager? Oh! I know. If I win, you tell me about your youth. If you win, I... hmmm."
Levi just stared at her as if she'd gone mad. Which probably she had, now that she thought about it.
"That doesn't make much sense, does it," she grinned and downed the liquid.
It was so gross she had to fight hard to keep it down. Levi watched her struggle for a bit, then marched over to a shelf and returned with a bottle.
"Take this," he said.
Desperate, she drank deeply - liquid fire went down her throat. "Fuck!" she screamed because it hurt... but the nausea was gone almost instantly and her head felt much clearer than minutes before, even though her throat continued to burn like it was raw and bleeding.
"What is...?" She looked down at the bottle. Alcohol. 80% strong. "You fucking moron," she yelled at Levi, "you can't drink alcohol this strong!"
He shrugged. "You just did. You look better. Is this crisis over?"
"No," she seethed, "no, it's definitely not. What the fuck are you doing here out of bed?"
"Saving you," he answered - and then his destroyed lips quivered and a grin spread on his face. Zoë felt a rush of something strange at the sight, something that made her stagger forward and throw her arms around him.
"Goddamit, Levi," she said, breathing in the Levi scent from his hair, suddenly feeling like she had to... had to fucking cry. Oh god, this was embarrassing.
"Ouch," he complained and she quickly let go, she had pressed his poor body to hers much too violently, and turned around to wipe the treacherous moisture from her eyes. She had been so goddamn worried all this time and now, now she felt like... felt like they had time to breathe, take a brief rest.
"Can we leave?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Back up to our headquarters?" he asked. The only sensible thing really, but no, she would not ask that of him. Clearly, whatever it was that needed to be done down here, it was by far not over.
"No," she said, "no, I just meant... leave here. This house. I'm sick of Renzo being a pain in my ass and I have no particular wish of seeing those women again either."
He thought about her proposition for a moment. "All the hiding places I know are filthy though. And in parts of town I'd rather not have you..."
"I want to return to the hotel," she interrupted him. A bath. She wanted a fucking bath. How he'd laugh at her if she told him!
"Where everyone can find us?" he frowned. "Hm."
"That room is defendable, is it not? Only those narrow stairs. Besides, Maria is bringing the leaves from my lab there. You know that you are meant to fight someone for Renzo in three days? I thought I'd have to wheel you there in a pushcart."
Levi shrugged and didn't seem surprised by the information. "Three days? I'll be fine."
She made a circling motion with her index finger at her ear. "You insane?"
"Want to bet?" he teased.
"Never!"
"I bet you the stakes will be high," he said, sounding pleased with himself. "And it will be crowded."
"Renzo wants you to kill someone. To erase your debt to him."
Levi looked at the crime boss at their feet. "Did he say whom?"
Zoë shook her head. "Anyway, I want you to take those leaves."
"Leaves...?"
"I found them outside the walls a few months ago. They have a great effect on the body if you chew them. It will ensure you won't feel any pain."
"A sure way to kill me," Levi murmured and then shrugged again. "But I'll take your leaves if you wish me to."
"Great!" Zoë got excited again. "We will test them as soon as..."
"Hm, probably not a good idea," Levi said, bending down to Oliver to lean his back against the wall. "You heard what I said before. Tea is the only plant I know that hasn't lost its effects on me after taking it for a while."
Oh, right. The first dose had a strong effect, the second dose only medium, the third no effect or something like it.
"But what if... what if I'm wrong about their usefulness?"
"Well," Levi hauled Oliver up by the arms, "that would be too bad."
"Levi..."
"Don't fret, Hanji. It takes more than a few leaves to kill me. Let's go. We'll take Oliver with us. For his own 'protection'."
He kicked Renzo's lifeless body on the way out, which made Zoë giggle, and then walked out and down the corridor like it was the most normal thing in the world. Zoë hurried up so that she could help him carry Oliver.
"Thanks," she beamed at Levi.
"What for?" he grumbled.
"Everything," she said.
###
Hanji looked like death warmed over. Levi had one goal and that was getting her into a bed and then to guard her sleep. Going to their hotel was so stupid and daring that he actually thought it could work - be bold and be well, a saying in the underground went. There was one big obstacle though and that was Annika - whom he expected to lay in wait for him somewhere so she could strike as soon as she saw him leave Renzo's protection.
He knew that she would most likely be working alone - or at maximum, had hired eyes on the streets. But with her reputation, and the recent troubles she had caused, it wouldn't be easy to find people who'd work for her. Hence, she would have to decide where to strategically place her spies. The best place was always on the roofs.
So he would simply go underground.
"The old sewage system," he explained at Zoë's questioning look when they stepped into a back alley, and pulled up a gully cover with his unbound left hand.
"Oh," she frowned, peering down into the stinky darkness. "We forgot to bring a light."
"I don't need any light," he said and jumped.
Mistake.
The impact hurt like shit and he had to grit his teeth for what felt an eternity until the pain in his knee and his side was bearable again.
"Drop him," he told Zoë above. "Then climb in yourself - there're hands and footholds in the wall. Close the cover after you."
Zoë did as told without questioning him, but he didn't quite manage to catch Oliver as he had planned to. Oh well, he thought, looking at the figure sprawling in the muck, served the old geezer right for mixing poisons that had hurt Hanji. Above him, the light dimmed and then disappeared, as Hanji pulled the cover back into its position.
"Fuck, it's dark," she murmured. He heard her coming down the ladder carefully.
"I'm here," he said once she was at ground level - and grunted when her fumbling fingers brushed a sore spot.
"Sorry," she murmured. She bent down, obviously to locate Oliver's body. "How do we do this?"
"We take him between us again," Levi explained, "you will just let yourself be guided by me. I know my way around here."
"Right," she said and he felt her breath against his face as she righted herself again. "Levi..."
"What?" he grumbled.
"I'd have preferred to be alone with you, at the hotel," she breathed, her fingers seeking his face and when they hand found it, stroking his cheek slowly. "I..."
He heard her swallow and by impulse, put his good hand on top of hers. It was so warm against his face, so tender. Turning his head, he put a soft kiss against her palm.
"Shit," she said breathlessly. "We could just leave him here."
They could. His heart was beating too fast and his legs, not steady to begin with, felt shaky and weak. They could, but they shouldn't. He closed his eyes, glad she couldn't see his face. He wanted to put more kisses on her, in many other places. But they shouldn't. They couldn't. They both knew it. He let go of her hand and took a step back.
"No, it's better this way," he said, though it felt all wrong. He had been a little addle-headed when she had come to his sickbed, but that didn't change the fact that he wanted her - quite a lot. But nothing good would come from sleeping with a comrade, even if it was something he had thought about too many times after their little lapse at the brothel.
"I know that," she said with a sad sigh. "Let's go."
They lifted Oliver from the cold, wet floor, slinging his arms around their shoulders, beginning to shamble forward. Levi knew the sewage system like the back of his hand and it took him no great effort to remember which junctions to take into more elevated tunnels with little water. Still, they were going slowly and apart from the pain that got stronger again, her unusual silence weighed on him. At the very least, he wanted her friendship. He didn't want uncomfortable silence, nor bruised feelings.
"Hanji," he therefore said.
"Hm?" came her voice from the right.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Everything."
"I see," she said curtly. And that was that for a long while during which Levi got increasingly anxious. He had encouraged her at the brothel. He had groped her at Renzo's. And now he was pretending it had meant nothing to him? That was the kind of behavior he abhorred when he came across it in one of those strange books everybody seemed to like to read.
"Hanji," he began again after mustering up enough courage.
"Are we there soon?" she said darkly. "I hate the dark."
Oh. He hadn't realized.
"It's not much further," he assured her. "I'm sorry for not bringing a light."
"It's alright," she exhaled. "I'm just tired."
"Not much further," he repeated, "then you can sleep."
"The first thing I'll do is take a bath," she sighed.
"You will?"
"Yeah, surprise. Even I want to bathe sometimes," she said and he thought he heard a faint smile in her voice.
Can I bath with you? the question burned on the tip of his tongue, but no, of course he couldn't. One of them had to watch Oliver and the stairs that led to their room. They would not have a lot of time alone before either Reno, Annika or Xandra's people would hunt them down.
"You must be hungry," he changed the topic. Thinking about her eating was safer than thinking about her bathing. Because she was a messy, loud eater. Totally disgusting. Sometimes. When she didn't draw his eyes because she was fascinating him.
"I guess," she answered. "Are you?"
He wasn't, but he claimed he was because he assumed that was what she wanted to hear. Getting food near the hotel should be easy, he thought, even at this time of night - there were many taverns that catered to pleasure seekers and were open around the clock.
"We go up here," he decided, stopping at a gully that would take them near a lively street. "I'll try to get Oliver to wake up so we won't have to haul him up."
The old man had begun to stir feebly a while ago, but he was either too afraid to admit he was awake or too lazy and preferred to be dragged around like this. A few light slaps across both cheeks remedied it.
"Where are we!" he squealed into the dark. "Am I blind?"
"You're coming with us," Levi explained, "and you will behave, for your own good. Renzo won't look kindly upon your treason and neither will Xandra. You are safe with me."
Oliver whined and begged and annoyed Levi, but shut his mouth when he kicked him in the shin, and climbed up obediently enough when given instructions.
Levi managed to buy a nice loaf of bread, cheese and wine, all decent quality. They got to the hotel undisturbed. Though he noticed the furtive glances their little party drew, they were in the best part of the underground here, with few criminals drawing attention to themselves openly. There was a different, much younger man at the front desk, but his eyebrows shot up precariously when they entered and it was obvious that he recognized Oliver or Levi, if not both, and he wordlessly grabbed the right key behind him on the wooden board. It seemed that someone had made the connection between the small man with a horrible disguise and the small man who had sent the underground into a frenzy by his return.
"Thank you for holding our room in our absence," Levi said. How long had the room been vacant? Three nights? More? Dammit, it was always hard to know what time or day it was in the underground city.
"No problem, sir. It's an honor, sir," the man said with a series of small bows.
"We want to book the bathing facility," Levi informed him.
"Certainly, sir," the man nodded. "For as long as you want. The next customer booked it for 9 in the morning."
"Levi, what time is it?" Zoë whispered into his ear.
"Feels like 5am," he whispered back.
"Fuck," Zoë exclaimed. "Four hours in a hot bath! I can't wait!"
She immediately went for the bathroom while Levi took Oliver into the small room on top of the stairs.
"Sit," he ordered Oliver, pointing at the bedpost.
"What are you planning to do with me?" the old man asked tearily.
"Bind you. Gag you if I have to. Are you hungry?"
Levi gave his prisoner a third of what he had bought, meanwhile taking off his boots, brushing down his pants and sitting down on the bed.
"Her father is down here," Oliver informed him, his mouth full of bread and cheese.
Great.
"He brought his house guards," Oliver continued.
Levi didn't remember hearing anything about the Hange house guards before. But Oliver was eager to gossip.
"They're all ex-military."
Retired military police? That could get uncomfortable, depending on the size of the party. Levi filed the information away under 'bother about this later' and went about binding the reluctant grandpa to the bed.
"Shut up," Levi barked at the old man when his exclamations began to get on his nerves. When he didn't comply, he gagged him with a pillow case.
Thankfully, Hanji didn't take four hours in the bath. She came into the room not half an hour later, smelling like flowers, her damp her forming cute ringlets at the front.
"I'm done," she said and let herself fall onto the bed next to him.
"You must eat something," Levi gulped, shooting up and bringing over the provisions.
They ate in silence, his eyes returning to her face frequently. It was unreadable, as were her eyes. She seemed absentminded, maybe a little sad. And tired. Of course. Much too tired.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," he finally stammered, unnerved by her silence once again.
"Hm?" she looked up. "Oh. You mean the poison. Yeah, I guess that's the end of that unpleasant experience."
"Hanji, you should leave with your father," Levi said gravely.
"Who said that... Oliver?" Zoë sighed. "I would have told you too. Tomorrow."
"Never mind," Levi shook his head. He wasn't angry that she hadn't said anything even though she had obviously known. "I just want you to be safe. Leave with him. He's influential enough to prevent any court marshals from getting near you."
"No, Levi," Zoë interrupted him. "My father will do something bad to hurt me. He hates me. I'm the biggest disappointment in his life."
"Nevertheless..."
"Shut up," she hit the bed with her fist.
He shut up.
"Just be fucking quiet," she hissed. "Stop it with your apologies for not protecting me enough. You do not need to protect me, get it? I want to protect myself. You do not really believe me capable of leaving you here with this fucking mess you're in? Don't insult me!"
"I didn't mean to..."
"I said to be quiet," she hit the bed again. "We're going to find out who these people are who are creating a mess. And then we'll leave. After neutralizing them. Get it?"
By the Walls, she was so beautiful at this moment, worked up, her face a little reddened, her eyes blazing and her chest heaving.
"I told you I can't help it," he grumbled. He got attached. He wanted to protect. He wanted... he wanted... "Fuck, Hanji. You sleep on the bed. Now. I'll guard the door."
"Don't be an idiot," her voice softened. "You need to sleep too, you know that you look as pale as a ghost? I'll stay here," she patted one side of the bed. "And you stay there," she pointed to the other side.
"It's not that I don't want to," he said just as softly, his good hand coming up to pull softly at a lock of her hair. "But I cannot. Let me take the first watch. You can take the second."
"Just a few minutes. It would comfort me, you understand?"
Her lips quivered, briefly, before she clamped them shut tightly. Beautiful and brave. And she would laugh at him if he ever called her beautiful to her face. So he just called her that in his head. Much too beautiful.
"Okay," he agreed.
She put her head down with a sigh. Levi tucked her in, lingering a little longer than he had to, looking down at her face and the eyes that were drifting shut. Then, he went to the other side of the bed after checking Oliver's bonds - the old man had his eyes closed and pretended to sleep - and very gingerly lowered himself.
Hanji's hand wandered over the covers and found his. Good. His heart was beating so fast now that falling asleep was entirely impossible.