END GAME

Chapter 10: Ilse Langner

Levi slammed the folders onto the desk, his face twisted into an incensed scowl. "There were three kidnappings, three, in one night alone! Damn it all to hell!" He whirled around and began to pace, his hands clenched behind his back. There was nothing new to go off of, only the same clues and connections as before. None of the parents had heard or seen a single thing, the cameras at one of the homes failed to pick up any footage whatsoever, the video feed too corrupted to even be accessed. It's like playing a game of cat and mouse, only the cat is invisible and we're sitting ducks, useless and in plain sight.

Levi sighed in frustration. How could there be nothing new to go on? There were no signs of struggle, no splatters of blood, and no fingerprints. They had nothing to go on. They were at a dead end, with three more children at risk of being murdered. Levi pinched the bridge of his nose and twisted around to face Eren, taking several calming breaths as he did so. "This is absurd…" he muttered, glowering at the white cinderblock walls of the station.

His gaze flickered to Eren; the other man was sitting in a chair, staring at the ground, his face pale and drawn. He had said very little so far, although considering that there was nothing new to discuss, it made things a little harder. Even so, normally the obnoxious brown-haired boy found some excuse or another to talk. Perhaps getting shot the other day had shaken him up more than he was letting on. That thought brought another pang of guilt along with it, dragging at his tired mind. He's alright now, so stop feeling guilty you moron.

Levi dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling, running the facts through his head. To say that the case was going in circles was an understatement of extraordinary proportions. It was more like they had taken five steps along the path of the case before slamming face-first into a wall, one too damn tall and too damn thick to break or climb over. There was nothing resembling a ladder to help them over, nothing to give them any leads. This case is going to drive me mad. Levi sighed in exasperation and snapped his head back upright. "Have you got any ideas Eren?"

Eren glanced up before his eyes darted back down to his hands, scratching at his knuckles anxiously. "Nothing…" he mumbled, his voice barely audible over the sound of Petra beating Oluo over the head on the other side of the station. Levi tapped his foot on the ground and his frown deepened. Things had gone from bad to worse, and there seemed to be no hope of finding anything that might give them a lead on the case. Levi ran his fingers through his hair. The red slash meant something, but what? Could it be the sign of a gang or a cult, or even a radical religious group? Aliens even? Levi scoffed at the last idea; that was something that Hanji would have declared as a possibility. She believed in the paranormal and certainly in extraterrestrial life forms. The deranged woman even carried a bag of purified salt and holy water with her, along with a silver rosary. She watches too many sci-fi movies.

Levi clucked his tongue when he realized how far off topic his thoughts had gone, tugging them back. Perhaps it's time to consult a specialist. We need Ilse.

A woman of average height with shoulder-length dark brown hair that flopped in front of her brown right eye opened the door, the expression on her face irritated before recognition registered on her face and a smile tugged her lips upwards. "Levi, it's been a while! How have you been? Good I hope, although knowing you, I'm not positive."

Levi shrugged his jacket off as Ilse Langner welcome them into her spacious apartment, shutting the door behind them. The apartment was just as Levi remembered it; white walls covered with photographs of distant places, dark-brown hardwood floors, furniture made of wood and cushions in bright, expressive colors, and a replica of the solar system hanging from her ceiling, just above the coffee table. Books and papers adorned almost every surface. The spaces that weren't occupied by books and papers were instead occupied by vials of discolored liquids and various floating things. Most of them had lids on them. Levi couldn't help but wince at the mess. If Ilse would give him an hour, just a single hour, he could have her place cleaner than an operating room.

"I'm assuming you haven't murdered Zoe yet, which is good. I need my research partner to remain intact, especially once I'm allowed to get access to the body! The patient lived with a bullet in his skull for three weeks. Is that not the coolest thing ever?" She must have noted Eren, who was probably looking at her with an expression of vague horror. Levi didn't bother to turn around to check, instead pulling out the file from his black briefcase and dropping it onto her coffee table with a smack, narrowly missing a container that held an eyeball in a clear white-yellow liquid. "Hey, watch the experiments!"

Levi rolled his eyes and turned to Ilse and he folded his arms across his chest, his fingers tapping his elbow in irritation. Ilse and Hanji were so damn irritating sometimes that he could hardly stand either of them. Maybe that was why he rarely ever visited Ilse, preferring to text the woman instead so that way she had to stay more-or-less on task. "Ilse, we came for your help, not to hear about the latest people you've cut up or what organs you've put in different solutions to see if they'll last longer. Just look at the report will you?"

Ilse grimaced and stuck the tip of her tongue out but she sat down on the couch anyways and picked up the folder. "You two go ahead and make yourselves comfortable," she said with a wave of her hand, the other going up to her head to pull the pencil from behind her ear. "And by the way, that solution has kept that eye fresh for three weeks at room temperature, so don't even think about knocking it over. And if you feel the need for a drink, avoid the top shelf at all costs. And any Mason jars you see. I can't guarantee that it's all safe for human consumption."

Levi and Eren sat down and exchanged looked; Levi's was exasperated and Eren's was confused and startled. "There's another like Hanji?" Eren mouthed, "Is that even possible?" Levi shrugged his shoulders, not bothering to respond. If Eren thought that those two were bad separately, he did not want to see it when both women got in the same room, or worse yet, a science convention. They had gotten him to go along with them one time and one time only. It had been an event more akin to Hell on earth rather than a science convention.

The sound of Ilse flipping page was the only sound in the apartment for a long time, filling the void of silence. Ilse would let out the occasional hum, some of them intrigued, some of them mystified. The time came at last when she flipped the last page over and restacked them, tapping the papers against her knee to get them back into a nice and neat stack before she closed the folder.

"You two certainly have a strange case…" The words were murmured as she stared at the wall just beyond Eren's head, near where she had a diagram of a bird's wings tacked up. Levi watched as she tapped her chin with the pencil, the pink eraser hitting the tip of her nose before falling forwards only to come back up and hit her nose again. "That red slash… it sounds familiar. What do you guys think you're dealing with, a small group of people operating on their own, a gang, some kind of radical cult, or mafia? I doubt that either of you think anything from the supernatural origin could be behind this, so I'll leave that out… for now."

Levi glared at Ilse before he sighed and leaned back, pulling his leg up till his ankle rested on his knee. "We're not sure…" he said truthfully, "There's nothing giving us a clue as to whom or what it might be."

Ilse nodded and tapped her nose again, her eyes fixed thoughtfully on the folder. "… Those old cases… Did anyone ever find a culprit for any of the kidnappings? Any leads at all, other than the ones that match up to the ones that you have now of course."

"Nothing," Eren said, breaking his prolonged silence. "The only thing we found was that all of the children had or have the same blood type. Four of the children from the previous case were never found while the rest were burned. So far we've had three charred skeletons." Ilse nodded and a grim frown slowly cropped up on her face.

"The odds are not in your favor boys," she said after a few moments. "This case could end just like the last one; suddenly dropping off without another trace until it crops back up again in God knows how many years. Or these kidnappings could keep going. You never know. I can't see anything to help you guys out. I'm sorry about that, really. The mark sounds familiar though… I just can't quite put my finger on it." Ilse handed the folder back to Levi, a regretful smile on her face and led them to the door. "I'm sorry I couldn't help Levi, Eren, truly, I am." She gripped the edge of the door, her brown eyes burning into Levi's. "I'll find out what I can. It might take me a while though. I'll let you know when I find something. Until then, stay safe Levi. Try not to screw up till then."

Six more children were reported missing by the afternoon of the eighth of October, bringing the total up to twelve children. The three children that had been kidnapped on the fifth had been found, their charred skeletons lying in the middle of the remains of a bonfire-esque setup. They had been found on the sixth, the day two additional children went missing, children by the names of Antonio Gonzalez and Lucia Long. Then Joshua Green and Camilla Edwards on the seventh, followed by Bruce Springs and Molly Whitney being reported missing on the morning of the eighth.

The only thing Eren and Levi had to show for their efforts was a static-filled video feed of a strange person entering the Long's apartment and not coming back out, leaving the window in Lucia's room half open. No contact was made with any of the parents, no ransom notes left. Twelve missing children, six of which were already little more than scorched skeletons stuck underground in caskets. It was disheartening when they looked at the big picture, especially considering the case from '89. The likelihood of finding any of the kids, living instead of lying in a pile of ashes, was slim to none if the pattern stayed consistent, which it probably would.

Eren leaned back, his head hitting the back of the couch as he stared up at the white ceiling. The turmoil in his mind was unbearable, a mixture of confusion and irritation fed from what seemed like a million, no, a billion different sources. Nothing seemed to make sense, not anymore. He was waging a war against himself, fighting to keep his mind on task, fighting to keep it from straying to the path lined with thoughts of Levi. But in the end, didn't they all seem to lead to the gray eyed man? Hadn't it been like that since the first case? It seemed like so long ago since they had met, but in reality, hadn't it been a month at the most?

A month since the first case and now we're on our third case… Time flies doesn't it? Hm… I never did finish unencrypting those folders... The folders! Eren lurched back upright so he could shake the mouse, realization slamming into him. The screen brightened and Eren hesitated a moment before he clicked on one of the folders, a vague memory pressing against his mind. There was something he had forgotten, something he had overlooked. There was something that had been right there from the very beginning, a clue leading to something else.

The thought nagged him, driving him onwards. But what is it?! There had been something, a mention of red slashes, children, and 1989, a mention of those somewhere, somewhere, but where? A memory of something so fleeting that it had been deemed unimportant at the time. Or was he just going mad, his mind so fixated on the case that he was seeing the things he wanted to see in places they weren't really?

He opened the folder he had copied the files and data from the Masters case into. He only put two words into the search bar; red slash. He had seen it before, somewhere other than the current case, he was certain of it. A small loading circle appeared and it moved slowly as it gradually searched through all of the data and narrowed down his search. Eren waited with bated breath as the documents and folders slowly disappeared one by one.

He was left with two things; one of the encrypted folders, an accessible folder, and a document simply labeled with a 'T,' something that he had overlooked the first time he had gone through since the beginning contents had seemed unimportant concerning the case. The pointer hovered over the document for a moment before Eren opened it up, the word document springing up after a moment, the scrollbar quickly narrowing as the document totaled the pages and words up. Eren selected the Find option and mulled over the choices he had. His fingers darted across the keyboard as he typed in the first selection; 1989. After a few moments he was redirected to page 49 of 50. The text near the center of the page, bolded, centered, and separated from the rest, was highlighted. Eren glanced at the information beneath it, his breath bated as he read through it.

1989

01/11/1989:
Project E begins. M wants to take many; more success she says. G says we need to be discreet. S says that they're all idiots and that we should test the virus before they actually use live subjects. M says that there's no time, that she's done waiting. I can't say I blame her. We've been waiting long enough. It's time for the plan to begin. G is still making a fuss about it all, but he'll see soon. We need the subjects and we need them now. L and J are the best; they can get the subjects without getting caught. Even if they do, they'll die before they talk. Although they had taken the liberty of adding special touches to the subject's rooms; red slashes left on the walls, just above vacant beds. How sadistic of those two. Twenty-four isn't that many. G is just bitching about it too much. He knows the projected survival rate. He should be thankful we're not taking more. He should be thankfully we're not considering taking his once it's matured. God knows M would stick that kid full of the virus if it didn't have a chance of killing the mother at the same time.

2/01/1989:
The first two have been taken. S has already given them the virus. She's unsure of how long the virus will take; it varies from blood sample to blood sample. M is impatient for results.

2/05/1989:
Both original subjects are now dead. C is burning them right now. L and J have already brought back two more, a little younger this time. M is hoping for success.

2/12/1989:
Four dead now, four more captured. L and J got bold this time. M is becoming irate at the lack of success. S and G are working on ways to make the virus compatible. I'm unsure if they've had any luck as of yet.

2/15/1989:
Success! One of the subjects survived from the last batch. S nearly thought we had lost her at first when she began to flatline but she managed to restart the heart. The subjects name is Clara Bell. They're giving her to E so he can raise her. L and J brought in two more kids.

2/20/1989:
Another success, that's two out of ten. S says that it's pure luck that the virus is compatible with them, especially since only one out of every hundred or so blood samples actually took to the virus without destroying itself. M doesn't care; she's set on obtaining a few more successful subjects before she stops. L and J brought in five more this time. The subject, Fares Ekman, is being sent to H.

2/26/1989:
None of the five survived. We're 2 for 15 now. M is infuriated by that. She nearly killed S earlier. L and J brought in three more children. I think one is S's daughter. She stayed away from those kids and kept crying about how it was her fault. I'm not sure what she did but it must have been serious.

3/01/1989:
Only one survived; not S's daughter. It was the boy, his birth name being Johann Bloch. He'll be sent to B. S isn't talking now; she's just staring at the body of the girl, horrified at what she's done. I can't say that I feel sorry for her. Once you're in, you never leave. I'm afraid that M might have her disposed of though, especially if and when she becomes a liability. L and J brought back two more this time.

3/09/1989:
We thought one of the boy's might live this time; he lasted until this morning, when his heart finally gave out. It's sad really, how he was so close to living. S doesn't look too good. G is refraining from doing anything that would get his own kid pulled in, even though the brat is still in the womb. L and J brought three more in. M says that these will be the last ones, success or not. She's afraid of the police catching on, afraid of L or J making that one fatal slip.

3/15/1989:
The final round of subjects brought one more success; Lin Yao, who's being handed off to D tomorrow morning. S has gone missing. She's probably dead. It doesn't surprise me. M doesn't need to threaten us in order to keep our mouths shut. We know what she'll do. We know she'll keep us alive for days on end in an endless agony as she takes her sweet time before killing us. No, none of us will speak, not if we want to survive this. We'll wait for the kids to mature before the next stage begins. Till then, I'm being sent to watch the Swedish Mafia. Let's just hope I come out without a bullet in the brain.

There was only one entry left on the last page, separated by the others by a few spaces, no year title inserted above it.

9/17/2013:
M is dead. G killed her last night. He says he's going to change things now, this time, they'll be better. He says he's going to lead us to a new Golden Age. I'm not sure I believe him. I'm not sure I can. He thinks I haven't noticed but I have. I've seen L and J loitering about. I found the cameras hidden in my apartment. They're coming for me. I won't live much longer, especially since I let some things slip. They won't send C of course; he can't risk C botching my execution with his stupidity. I think they've drugged him too, given him the virus or something. Either way, it's going to be L or J coming for me. They're the best we, they, have. There's no point in protective custody or running away. They'll find me no matter what. But maybe, just maybe, I can put a bullet in J's brain, maybe even L's, before they put one in mine.

Eren stared at the text for several long moments, the pieces slowly falling into place. Masters had been a part of this, whatever this was. Marion had been a part of it too based off the assumption that he had been fully aware that those bags he had dragged contained bodies. The doctor, Meridew, hell, he had probably been a part of it too, part of an older division of it, but the same thing nevertheless. They were experimenting on these kids, filling them with God knew what, seeing who survived and who didn't. Eren felt sick on his stomach at the thought of being strapped on a table, unable to move as the needle bearing his death drew ever closer. God, those kids must have been terrified.

Eren highlighted the text and printed the selection, the two pages worth of information printing quickly. It was too late to take it down to the station now and he still didn't know Levi's address. He'd had to wait until the morning. Eren fired a text at Levi and hoped that the man would look at it by tomorrow morning. Admittedly, tomorrow morning was only twenty minutes away if a person really wanted to get technical, but as twelve o'clock wasn't a time when people were usually awake, it was safe to assume that a more logical hour would be one when the sun was actually in the sky. Eren shut his laptop down and left the papers in the printer. He rubbed at his eyes, both exhausted and wide-awake. It was going to be a long, sleepless night.

Levi stared questioningly at Eren once he had finished looking over the pages. "You're a bigger idiot than I thought," he said with a sigh, tossing the papers onto his desk. "I can't believe you completely skipped over something like this. Although… I suppose it's a tad excusable since we really had no idea that these were connected till now."

Eren shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, staring at a fixed point over Levi's head. He couldn't meet the other's eyes, not right now. It was just too… strange. Eren nodded, "I've already started unencrypting the folder again. I'm not sure how long it'll take, but hopefully it won't be too long."

"Don't hope," Levi said, leaning his head into his hand, his black hair falling across his face. Eren's eyes were drawn to Levi's face like moths to a light; irresistible and deadly. "Hope is something you start to lose after you've been in this line of work for a while. Sure, some people hold onto it, but in the end it all seems to come down to luck and skill. Either you're dead on the ground or you're standing. In the end, things rarely come down to how much hope you've got inside you. It always seems to come down to the winner being whoever is more likely to take the final risk. So tell me Eren, why hope for an outcome when you can force it to happen?"

Eren couldn't formulate a response for that. "Just tell me when you find an answer," Levi said after he watched Eren frown and think for a while. The sound of a phone ringing jarred them from their world, which had narrowed down from the noisy, cluttered office down to the two of them. Or at least, that's what it had done for Eren.

"This is 911, what is your emergency?" Nanaba's voice carried across the station, which was relatively quiet. "Levi and Eren? Alright, I'll get them. What's the address?" Both of their heads rose as their names were mentioned. Eren could see Nanaba scribbling something on a piece of paper. "Yes, I'll give it to them now. They'll be there soon." Nanaba dropped the phone back into the cradle and practically sprinted across the station. He pressed the paper into Levi's hand before he spun away.

"Is it another kidnapping?" Eren questioned, leaning to try and see the paper in Levi's hand. He couldn't read the text upside-down so he sat back and waited for Levi to say something. Levi looked up at Eren, his pale face grim and his eyes narrowed. "Not a kidnapping this time," he said. "No, this time it's a murder."

Chapter 10: End

Heh heh, things are being tied together. Things are in motion now, finally.
On another note; Guys, I was being dead serious about telling me how to improve the last scene from Chp8. If anyone is willing to endure me sending them smut-oriented scenes and can help me improve on them, you're more likely to see more of them. Seriously, that is an area that desperately needs to be improved. I'd ask my RL writing friends but neither of them like yaoi or write smut. As far as I know. So please, if anyone is willing to help, just PM me about it. I would really love to include more in later chapters and to rewrite the last one and improve it drastically.

Also, I'm planning on starting two more stories, both AoT/SnK. One will come out on Halloween as it will be Halloween-themed. There will be no romance, just action and the works. If there's anyone you want to see in a specific costume, just let me know. The other one will be longer and is projected to come out Nov. 1. I am also open to you guys PMing with requests for stories, which do not necessarily have to be AoT/SnK.

calleyrose: Of course I won't tell you, that would ruin the surprise! An author must guard the plot with their life!
Hitagi-San: And I not-so-secretly hope it gets better.
blackirishawk: ... You're gonna be waiting a while... Sorry...