A/N: Hey guys! New story, woot! It's been a while since I decided to write a multi-chap story so I hope that you all enjoy this! With all the SNK crossovers I was inspired by a really cool drawing of a secret agent-like AU and that's how, 'Above and Beyond,' came to be. Hope you all like it! Oh and no set pairings as of yet, still deliberating.
Disclaimer – I do not own SNK if I did a lot less people would die…
Chapter 1
"Have the charges been set?"
"Roger. Safe to detonate at the designated time."
"Good, you have five minutes to leave the premise. Don't do anything reckless and just get yourself out of there quickly Eren." Although Armin tried to keep his tone professional, the wavering of his voice gave away his true feelings of unease.
"Don't worry so much Armin, this isn't that first time we've done this, besides, Mikasa has already gotten rid of most of the guards outside plus the guards by the door, I just have to sneak past the few left inside." The brunet replied, trying to be as reassuring as possible. He knew his friend tended to be excessively precautious. It was best to try and calm Armin's nerves, especially on a mission.
It was silent for a moment as Eren carefully crawled out of the air vent. Making sure to keep both quiet and vigilant, he cautiously maneuvered around the corner and down the maze-like corridor. He took Armin's silence as a good sign, seeing as he was no longer badgering him to be careful. Armin was smart, he knew better than to distract Eren as he was undergoing one of the most crucial parts of the mission, he had to get out and he had to do it fast. However, leaving a heavily guarded enemy facility without being detected was no easy feat. Eren needed to focus.
After two minutes of stealthily making his way past the remaining guards inside, he was one hall away from his destination. His lithe body seemed to ghost past the camera's and guards, undetected until…
"Eren?" Mikasa's voice came over the receiver at precisely the wrong time.
With the momentary distraction, Eren was unable to side step the range of the camera and the alarm went off. Almost instantly, all the guards in the hall converged on the spot where the brunet been spotted.
"Shit." Eren all but growled out.
No longer worried about being seen, he made a bee-line for the exit sprinting in order to make it there before more guards crowed the hall.
"What's wrong Eren? Are you alright?" Mikasa's voice was now far from its usually aloof tone.
"I'm fine, just be ready to run when I get outside." Eren spoke, his breaths becoming labored as he tried to outrun his pursuers.
"You've been seen?" She asked, almost in a panic.
Shouting could be heard in the background, "He just entered the main hall, cut him off before he gets to the door!"
Eren turned his head to see half of the pursuing guards take a different route from his own. He cursed once again under his breath. "Don't worry, I'm almost out."
"But Eren-" Whatever Mikasa said after that was lost to Eren as three guards reached the exit before he did, one already aiming his gun in Eren's direction. As he stopped to turn around he saw that there were five guards on their way to help the others surround him at the main entrance. A confrontation was now inevitable.
"Don't move or I'll shoot." The impatient guard yelled in a shaky voice, already aiming for Eren's head.
"Tsk." Eren scoffed, he really didn't have time for this.
His turquoise eyes glistened dangerously in the light, and in a split second he was on the guards' right side grabbing his forearm and disarming him with a hit to the hand. He then elbowed the burly man in the stomach, knocking the guard out with the swift blow. As the other two finally recovered from the shock of the young man's speed and pulled out their own weapons, Eren spun to his right, using his momentum to rapidly kick both guns out of the hands of the guards. He punched the first one square in the jaw, sending him hurtling to the ground as he easily crouched to dodge a kick from his other opponent. From his low position on the ground, he rotated his body with his leg extended, tripping the man above him and then quickly knocking him unconscious with a jab to the face. He looked up to see the remaining five guards drawing their guns. As quickly as possible he stood and dashed to the door that was now only a few feet away.
"Stop!" One guard yelled, running to catch Eren and firing his gun in the process. It just barely missed, skimming the side of Eren's left arm.
As the others began to fire on Eren as well, he reached the door and yanked it open nearly tearing it off its hinges. He managed to run out quickly only sustaining one more bullet wound to his right leg.
"Eren!" He heard Mikasa yell over the gun-fire. He turned and ran in the direction of her voice, avoiding the onslaught of bullets left in his wake, making it down the stairs and into their getaway vehicle without further injury.
"Go! We have less than a minute to get out of range." Eren yelled frantically as his jumped into the car.
"Don't you think I know that?" Mikasa replied seriously. In the next instant she revved the engine and slammed her foot on the accelerator, forcing Eren's frame to sink into the fabric of the seat he was in. Not even half a minute later the charges placed strategically around the facility went off all at once. The two young agents had made it out of the blast zone just in time, the car only swerving slightly from the receding impact of the explosion.
"And we made it." Eren mumbled, both relieved and satisfied. Another mission had gone smoothly.
"Are you two alright?" Armin's voice came over the communicator in the car.
"Yeah, we're both in one piece and on our way to the rendezvous point." Eren replied still slightly out of breath from his recent exertion.
"Thank goodness. I'll meet you there in three minutes." The relief that was heard in Armin's voice was almost palpable. No matter how many missions they went on, Armin's reaction at the end of every one would be exactly the same.
"See you." With those parting words from Eren, Armin temporarily shut off communication.
As Eren was about to lean back into his chair and relax, Mikasa's voice broke the silence in the car.
"How did they spot you?" As usual, she was blunt.
"I didn't notice one of their camera's in time." Eren replied, still upset about the incident.
"Did I distract you?" Mikasa was very perceptive and her no-nonsense tone unnerved Eren.
Eren was silent for a moment before he finally replied with a curt, "no."
"Liar. Are you hurt?" Her voice was laced with both concern and disappointment as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
"Not really, a couple of their shots just grazed me. They're really shallow it should heal in a day or two." His voice was steady as he spoke. He wanted her to know that he was really alright and that she had nothing to worry about.
Still, Mikasa frowned slightly. She felt guilty knowing that she had almost cost Eren his life. He was, after all, the most important person in her life, the only family she had left. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she were the cause of his death.
"I'm really fine Mikasa. You can't feel guilty over every little thing. I might have made a mistake anyway. What matters is that I'm still here and as long as we are living, we have to keep fighting and moving forward. There is no use getting stuck in the past Mikasa, you know that." He was stern this time, his fierce eyes staring straight at Mikasa, ordering her to let it go and move on.
As always, Mikasa was set straight by that intense green gaze.
"I know. I'm sorry."
As their conversation came to an end, they arrived at their rendezvous location. Mikasa parked the black Honda in the garage of the plain building and covered it with a matching black tarp after they had both stepped outside the vehicle. She and Eren made their way to the basement where Armin was most likely already waiting for them. After a short elevator ride they arrived at the basement and were promptly greeted by their blond-haired friend.
He welcomed them with a warm smile, but it faded as soon as he saw Eren's injured arm and bloodied leg.
"I told you not to be reckless." Armin nagged Eren sternly.
"Calm down, it's just a scratch. They'll heal soon and it doesn't even hurt." He tried to convince his friend, but he could tell it wasn't working.
Armin scrutinized the wounds before deciding for himself the level of their severity. The blue-eyed boy sighed after a moment and turned his gaze back to his friend.
"It doesn't look serious but you should still go to the infirmary to get it disinfected, Mikasa and I can get started on the report without you."
"But-" Eren tried to retort but was cut off by the girl beside him.
Mikasa placed a hand on Eren's shoulder to silence his complaints before she spoke. "Armin is right Eren. Go and get it cleaned and then come back, it shouldn't take you long and it would make both of us feel better." She squeezed his shoulder lightly but still firmly, urging him to give in and go.
Eren met her eyes evenly and sighed in defeat, no matter how much time passed Mikasa would still act like his mother.
"I'll be back soon, don't finish the report without me." Eren replied, making his way back to the elevator.
"Will do." Was Armin's cheerful reply as he bid Eren farewell with a triumphant grin.
Eren glanced back at his friends with a rather displeased look on his face before boarding the elevator to the third floor.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
After reaching the third floor Eren was greeted with the familiar sight of endless white walls. He never did like hospitals and the small infirmary they had in the building looked and smelled exactly like one. He had on a look of discomfort as he made his way to the front desk. After checking in with the receptionist, he was escorted into an exam room by one of the nurses. She asked him to remove his black shirt and roll up his right pant leg. As soon as he did so, she went to work on assessing the extent of the damage of both wounds. The nurse delicately touched the skin around the wound on his arm after she had put on her latex gloves, but Eren did not pull away from the touch even as she repeated the process with the wound on his leg. As he had previously stated, the wounds were shallow and did not require stitches only a thin layer of bandaging to help it heal. After thoroughly examining both wounds the nurse, who had come to the same conclusion as Eren, stated that she would return shortly with some bandages and other supplies to dress the wounds.
As Eren sat there, obediently waiting for the nurse to return, the voices in the room next to his, caught his attention.
"Corporal please stay still, I know you're anxious but I can't stitch you up properly if you keep moving."
"I told you I didn't need stitching in the first place Hanji, I don't have time to just sit still and do nothing. My team is in chaos right now, if you insist on the stitches hurry the fuck up."
'Corporal? As in THE Corporal Rivaille?'
Although the pair in the other room–that was merely separated by a thin white curtain–seemed to be arguing over something important, Eren was dazed by the thought of being able to finally meet the legendary, greatest operative of the organization.
However, when his mind finally came back to reality he realized that this amazing agent had been injured and something grave must have taken place for his team to be in such disorder, that even the Corporal was worried. Now the hot-headed brunet was wondering what on earth could have happened.
"The remainder of your team is in the main wing of the infirmary getting treated themselves. You can afford to sit down for a few minutes and allow yourself to be treated as well, Levi. Irvin is capable of handling things on his own for a while. Besides you've been going at it none stop since you returned from the mission. Lie down, get some rest and let me work or so help me I'll sedate you and force you to help me with my experiments." The woman's voice had an eerily cheerful tone to it, even as her words were meant to be taken seriously.
It was silent on the other side for a moment and then a low growl could be heard from the male in the other room. "Just hurry up Hanji, I still have to fulfill my duties whether I am tired or not." The reply was somewhat soft and resigned, but the man's words were still unyielding.
"You got it Corporal! Just hold on a sec while I get more stitches since you made me lose so many when you were moving around." Eren failed to realize that the woman's cheerful voice was getting closer, which meant that she was about to open the curtain and he would be caught eavesdropping.
When she emerged from the other room Eren was still looking in the direction of the pale curtain and the woman's eyes met his for a split second before he averted his gaze.
She paused for a moment as her grin dropped at the sight of Eren in the neighboring room, but just as fast as it had faded, her grin returned and this time it was more devious. "It seems you aren't very stealthy for an operative, must not do too much recon, huh?"
Eren turned his eyes back to the tall brunet woman in front of him, this time his face showed irritation rather than surprise. "I beg your pardon?"
Before the spectacled woman could answer, an annoyed voice was heard from the room she was currently exiting. "Who the hell is stalling you Hanji? Hurry up and get those dammed stitches so I can leave."
"Oh, sorry Corporal I was just teasing a cute little puppy is all." The woman, Hanji, replied as she turned her grin in the direction of the aggravated male.
Footsteps were heard approaching the curtain that divided the two rooms, at the end of her statement. "A puppy? What the hell are you talking about?" As the voice drew near, Eren became exceedingly nervous, was he going to be punished for eavesdropping?
A moment later the rest of the curtain was pulled back, revealing the figure of the man Eren had been anxious to both meet and avoid at that very moment.
Lance Corporal Rivaille was not exactly the picture perfect agent. He was shorter than most and always looked like he was bored or irritated. Although his frame was small, he had a sturdy build and most could testify to his immense strength. Eren didn't quite know how to react in his presence, so he tried his best not to stare at the shirtless man before him. His chest was littered with light pink scars and there was a deep gash on the left side of his abdomen only half stitched and still bleeding.
"It's not polite to stare, brat." Eren was snapped out of his daze as his attempt to not stare had obviously failed.
Eren stuttered as he scrambled to his feet, saluting in respect.
"Forgive me for my rudeness Corporal, I did not mean to pry into your business." He looked directly into the harsh gray eyes of the shorter man as he spoke, trying desperately to not make it seem as if he were looking down on the Corporal.
Eren stood his ground as Levi approached him, never daring to break eye contact.
When the Corporal was only a few inches away from Eren, he stopped his advance and stared up at the youth.
Levi looked Eren up and down, "Have you not been around long enough for someone to teach you manners, brat?" He asked the younger man, once again locking their eyes.
"I-" Before Eren could even get the first syllables of his sentence out, Levi proceeded to punch him in the face.
"Aw, Levi he's just a puppy, don't be too harsh on him." Hanji said, still smiling from ear to ear as she pestered the Corporal.
Levi scoffed and began to walk out into the hall. "He should know better than to eavesdrop on a commanding officer."
As Levi began to leave, the nurse that was attending to Eren made her way back into the room, surprised to see Hanji and the Corporal in the room with Eren.
"Levi, where are you going?" Hanji asked him.
"Hurry up Hanji, I want these stitches finished before two." Before he walked out into the hallway, he paused briefly at the door and turned to Eren's nurse. "I apologize for further injuring your patient, some ice should leave him good as new so don't worry too much."
"A-alright, I'll take care if it Corporal." The nurse stammered out as she watched the two odd agents walk into the hall and out of her sights as Hanji bellowed a, "See you later puppy," before the pair was completely out of earshot.
Eren was still in a state of shock over the whole ordeal. He really didn't know what to make of his first encounter with the Lance Corporal and was overall confused. He finally snapped out of it when the nurse worriedly asked him if he was alright.
"I'm fine, sorry to worry you." As Eren held his stinging cheek and let the nurse dress his wounds, the only thing on his mind was the man that had given him the new injury.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
A/N: It's finally out in the world and I hope you guys enjoy it! X3 R&R and let me know what you guys think, yeah? More coming soon, and again, no set pairings yet even though I'm hinting. =3