10 Chapter 10

"Remind me again why I have to be a part of this." Liam said as he swept dust and dirt out of a room, a white cloth covering his nose and mouth.

"Because I said so. Now keep quiet and continue working." Levi replied as he cleaned the windows of the same room.

"What if I refuse?"

"Then I'll have you sleep on the grass outside. Does that sound pleasing to you?" Levi questioned turning to Liam who raised a brow at the 'threat'.

"Right." He muttered sarcastically as he continued sweeping the room.

They had gotten to the castle but unfortunately, it was filled with dust. Levi being the neat freak he was, ordered the cleaning of the HQ to be their immediate priority.

Liam wasn't bothered by the order seeing as how he too enjoyed a clean environment but Levi's standards were borderline unrealistic.

He wanted to get back to leveling Alchemy but that would have to wait until they gathered ingredients for him to use. He was also looking forward to experimenting on the titans, he had a lot of things he wanted to test.

-[Later]-

It took them most of the day to finish cleaning the interior and exterior of the HQ. Even with the rest of Levi's squad and Eren being involved, it still took quite a bit of time.

It was nighttime and they were currently in the dining hall, seated around a table and drinking tea.

"We'll probably be ordered to stand by for a few more days, but I heard we're supposed to be going on a large scale extramural expedition." A blond haired man said in a sober tone as he dropped his cup to the table. "We'll be taking the new graduates with us as well."

"Is that true, Eld? Isn't it awfully soon?" Another man with brown hair that stuck out behind him asked. "Even considering that they handled this last Titan attack quite well…" he trailed off, showing wary.

"I heard those kids' pants required multiple washings to remove the shitstains." A smug man with slightly curly, brown hair styled in an undercut said as he raised his cup to his mouth.

"Is this all true, Captain?" The sole female of the group asked Levi who sat at the head of the table.

"I'm not involved in making our plans. It's Erwin, he's likely considering far more variables that might occur to us." Levi answered.

Listening to what they were saying, Liam could confirm that the trial along with other things were still going as he thought.

He wondered how the expedition would go now that Annie wouldn't be trying to capture Eren…at least he hoped she was smart enough not to try it.

He tuned back in to see that they were all staring at him. "What?" He asked, confused.

"I get why Eren is here but none of us have heard anything about you until today. The graduates haven't decided which unit they are going to so you're probably not part of them…" Eld trailed off, the silent question hanging in the air.

Liam turned to Levi who simply stared back, not offering any answer.

"You can ask Levi. He's the one who invited me here after all." Liam answered, throwing the attention to Levi.

The members of the Levi squad were all handpicked by Levi himself due to their skill. Liam looked too young and there was the fact that he had never been seen among the scout regiment.

Liam turned to see Eren staring at him intensely with confusion. "What is it, kid?" He asked, snapping Eren out of his daze.

"I'm sure I've seen you before. I just can't remember where." He muttered the last part lowly.

Liam was dumbfounded as he looked at the boy. 'He's not joking.' He realized. 'Do I look that different?'

"Who do you think it was that pulled you out of that titan the first time?" Liam asked with a deadpanned expression, a look of realization appearing on his face.

"That was you?! Why do you look so different?! And what's with the glasses?" Eren fired off, causing Levi to sigh, drawing the attention of the entire table.

"This is Liam. While I didn't see him in action, a few eye witnesses say that he was responsible for slowing down the titans' advancements long enough for Eren to seal the gate." Levi explained, taking a sip of his tea. "Aside from being part of this squad, he'll be assisting Hange with her experiments."

"Another weirdo." The smug guy from earlier muttered with a scoff but it was heard.

"Says the guy who can't ride a horse without trying to bite off his tongue." Liam threw back as he sipped his own tea.

The guy froze as the sole female of the group tried to stifle a laugh. The others managed better but it was still obvious, causing the man to frown, opening his mouth to shout only for Levi to interrupt.

"I'd advise you not to beat him up. Hange will be upset if you beat up her first willing assistant." Levi warned, causing the man to quiet down immediately. "Besides, she'll soon be here."

As soon as he said that, the door burst open to reveal an excited brown haired woman in glasses. "Good evening, gentlemen of the Levi Unit!" she greeted.

"Have you made yourselves at home in the castle?" She asked.

"You're early." Levi said in response as the woman walked into the room.

"How could I stay put?" She asked as she went straight for Eren. "Sorry for the wait, Eren. I'm charged with experimenting on the two titans we caught alive in the city. I want you to help me with tomorrow's experiments."

While Eren looked confused, Levi interjected. "Hey Hange! Your new assistant is right there."

"I couldn't possibly forget!" She said as she turned to Liam. "It's nice to meet you. It's been a while since someone willingly wanted join me."

"I can't imagine why." Liam muttered as he shook her outstretched hand. "Before that, seeing as how I didn't attend the cadet academy, I'll need you to educate me on what you know about the titans so far."

"Hmm?" Liam looked at the woman with a raised brow. His statement was very clear.

"I said I'll need you to teach me what you know about titans." He repeated, ignoring the gestures from the others that tried to tell him to stop.

Hange's smile widened as her eyes were hidden by the light reflecting off her glasses. "Ah, I knew it. We're going to be great partners!"

The others at the table suddenly got to their feet, exiting the room together, leaving Liam, a confused Eren and Hange as the only ones remaining in the room.

'This is going to be a long night.'

-[The Next Day]-

It wasn't as bad as he thought. Hange's 'lecture' was quite informative and detailed, though he could do without the few redundancies it continued.

All in all, it left him with many tests he wanted to run on the titans they had captured. Eren who had been enthusiastic at first, ended up falling asleep at some point in the discussion but the other two were as lively as ever.

With him lacking ingredients to level [Alchemy], he was free to return to Trost district with Hange to see the captured Titans.

With Annie not killing the two titans due to his intervention, he had two subjects to freely probe…which led to where they were now.

Hange and Liam were back in Trost district with the bound titans in front of them and a decent number of Garrison soldiers present with them.

"From what you explained, their bodies act as batteries. Sunlight is their energy source and it's stored within them, allowing them to move around in the day." He muttered, confirming what she had said. "You said that this one was still active three hours after you denied it sunlight while the other only lasted an hour…"

Hange nodded, interested in where he was going with it.

"Going by that, we can assume that while they can both absorb sunlight, their storage capacity isn't the same. The same way there is a difference in stamina between two people, there is a difference in their energy storing capabilities." Liam continued as he looked to the titan who was staring back at him and making unintelligible noises. "How fast is their regeneration ability during the day? How fast is it when they're inactive? What is the time difference between the two periods? Does their bodily temperature change when deprive of sunlight?"

Though he already knew most of the answers from watching the anime, there were a few areas he wanted to figure out. He also couldn't tell them that titans used to be humans, he had to gradually lead them to it.

Turning to Hange, he saw that the woman had a very excited look on her face. A man with short parted brown hair sighed in exasperation.

"Moblit, get the tarps!" Hange ordered in her excitement as the brown haired man released another sigh as he run to get said tarps. "This is going to be so much fun!"

Liam stared at the two titans with narrowed eyes. 'People describe their intelligence as mindless beasts but that isn't completely accurate. Seeing it up close, it's more like their brain regressed. Like babies throwing tantrums.' He thought as he turned to face the second titan.

'The question is, if by chance I could temporarily boost their intelligence, what would happen? Will their minds be as it was before they were transformed into titans or would they be something else?' He wondered, finding himself a bit excited.

"By the way Hange, there's something I want you to help me with." Liam said, catching the woman's attention.

"Hm? What's that?" She asked curiously.

"I have an idea for something that will be useful in studying these titans but I need your assistance in building it." He said, causing the woman to blank out.

"Where have you been all this while?!" Hange screamed in uncontrollably excitement. "We'll get started right away!"