A/N: Happy Tuesday!

I was about to ugly cry watching the last episode of AOT until my husband said, "Wait, Armin's not a woman!?" SMH man, SMH.

Anyways, hoping to wrap this fic up soon cuz yeah I hate to leave my very first fic incomplete. It took a direction I wasn't expecting but hey so does life. The next few chapters will be short but the last one will be longer. Maybe. No promises.

Thanks to Greenprozium for your loyal review!

Without Consequence

"Did you hear that? Gunfire from downstairs…" Armin saw Ymir reach for Historia. Connie couldn't stop Jean from bolting out the room to go and see what had happened.

Jean was halfway down the stairway when he caught Mikasa lying facedown on the floor to the guest room, full of bullets and glass shards from its now partly destroyed state. He was beyond relieved when she slowly lifted her head to check for any imminent danger. A gun-wielding blonde jumped into the room cautiously stepping over the broken glass.

Underneath the guest bed Levi shielded Eren. A forceful jump to the floor couldn't have been good for his already broken bones. When Levi turned to make sure Mikasa was alright, Reiner started shouting, "Don't you fucking move!"

"Reiner, I'm not moving ok? Just tell me what you want us to do." Levi calmly initiated negotiations. Reiner didn't see Jean charging at him from the doorway. The gun in his hand went off and Levi instinctively clutched at Eren.

Mikasa finally jumped to her feet and helped Jean restrain Reiner. "Shit, how did Zeke know our location?"

"Zeke doesn't know. Reiner followed us." Levi stood up and pointed at the car outside the broken window. "And he's not alone." There was clearly someone lying unconscious in the passenger's seat. Once Levi squinted enough he recognized Annie. Did that mean Bertholdt was hiding around somewhere?

"Pretty sure someone's gonna call the cops. We have to get out of here." Eren struggled to get to his feet. He was right. Mikasa looked to Jean. They had just found a safe haven and now they were forced to be on the move again. Reiner went off about getting rid of all the clones and abominations Dr. Fritz put no earth. Mikasa hit him with a punch no one saw coming. It did its job: Reiner was out cold.

"Why the hell did you do that? He could have told us where Zeke is." Jean half-chastised. Everyone was grateful for her shutting him up.

"Jean, we can't stay here. Both Zeke and Kenny are after us. Putting everyone else in danger isn't going to accomplish anything." Mikasa turned to Levi. "We have to keep going."

Eren sighed. "Where are we supposed to go? Levi's wanted and anyone could know who you are."

They all looked up when the others stepped into the room. Even though everyone was together, they felt cornered and helpless. There really was nowhere else to go.

"Let's not run anymore." Eren suggested.

Mikasa frowned. "Eren…"

"We could get him to confess to making Dad brain-dread. Expose what he's been doing all these years. Something. I for one am tired of playing spy here."

"Wouldn't Eldia-Marley be the best place to start? I have clearance." Levi offered. A chorus of unsure faces formed in response to the plan. If no one was onboard, it would be scrapped. They looked to Armin for the final thought on the matter.

"Eren's right," the blonde admitted. "If we keep running Zeke or Kenny or someone working for one of them is bound to find us." The siren of a cop car a few blocks away put everyone back on their toes.

Levi asked Ymir for the keys to the her van. She handed them over much to Mikasa's annoyance. "You're really going to go through with this?"

"Considering how I'll be out of a job either way I don't see what my other options are."

On those words Levi placed Eren's arm around his shoulder and shuffled out the house towards Historia's driveway. Armin begged Mikasa to follow. She looked at Jean as if asking for his approval. He told her to go and find a story the world needed to hear.

"So what could possibly be in Zeke's office?" Mikasa questioned as she climbed into the backseat with Armin. Levi shrugged. "That's what we're going to find out." As the vehicle sped off they narrowly missed the arrival of policemen responding to a call about gunshots in the area.

xxxXXXxxx

Hange convinced Kenny to let them take a detour to the office. When he asked why the hell Levi would even be there, they explained that Levi would most likely be looking for the psychologist there. Kenny accepted Hange's line of thinking and sat shotgun to them gun aimed at their torso.

"You don't have to keep that thing aimed at me. I learned the first time not to cause any trouble," they shuddered.

"Yeah but I don't trust you."

They did not say another word until Eldia-Marley came into view. Hange wondered if their presence would trigger Moblit's suspicions. There was not way they could call their assistant without Kenny catching on to them. C'mon, I have to think of something, they grew frustrated as the barrel brushed against their temple. "Alright, we're in. Take me to him."

"Yes, let's go to the labs. That's why Levi always finds me." Hange walked up the steps to their part of the campus slowly.

"How long did it take you to recover after childbirth?"

"What?"

"After Levi was born. Reiss never told me about you doing that."

"Reiss keeps secrets from his own daughter. What makes you think he would not keep any from you?" Hange snapped. Only a few steps further until the lab. Perhaps Moblit was staying late transcribing Paradis encounters? It was definitely a possibility.

Department of Behavioral Psychology

Kenny barged through the door dragging Hange by the hand. He shoved them forward and called out for Levi. The office was still and quiet. "He's not here," he almost growled but Hange swung around and hit him with something blunt. As Kenny fell to the tiled floor his firearm slid under a lab table several feet away. The room started spinning. He rolled onto his back and saw Hange holding a blood-stained Paradis prototype. A heavy one that they happened to leave by the exit on their way home last night.

"You've gotta be fucking shitting me," Kenny started laughing. "Bested by a damn woman."

"I'm not a woman. And I didn't give birth to Levi. You were stupid for believing me." Hange went to go pick up Kenny's gun. They returned aiming at Kenny, slowly fading from consciousness. "I was given immunity for giving up the research done on you and your teammates that allowed those clones to exist. Dr. Fritz was going to send them straight back into the battlefield. I wanted to let them live normal lives."

They almost pulled the trigger until they could have sworn they heard Levi's voice.