Levi Has A Pet
Summary: Levi has a pet, an unusual one, but it's a pet and he likes it with all of his dark little heart. It's small, undemanding and, most of all, clean. But it's a blast from the past and when word gets out, everyone wants it. Levi has to make sure his unique pet remains his and free. Eren, already done with this BS 2000 years ago, gets dragged into it. He's not complaining, despite his complaining.
When they got back to Misaki's penthouse, they found that Sasha, Connie, Gabi and Falco were mostly alright and hadn't been attacked by the Russians playing mobsters at all. Connie and Falco had some minor gashes and bruises from where they had hit the ground or covered their female companions when the glass from windows came crashing down after bullets shattered them and the two brunettes were only slightly sore, but everyone was overall alright.
Mikasa also seemed to finally relax when she noted that neither Eren nor Levi sported any injuries except a shallow cut on Eren's knee and a rip in Levi's new hoodie. She narrowed her eyes when she noted that it looked like the result of a knife fight but Levi shook his head at her so she dropped it. There was no need to worry the others when his skin wasn't even grazed by the blade he'd thrown into a passing garbage truck while they were making their way back. It was of startlingly good quality so he couldn't be sure if a KGB (or now FSB) agent would put trackers in such a good weapon, therefore he'd ditched it. Better safe than sorry and all.
Zeke and Isabel were keeping an eye and an ear out for the incident that had transpired on the streets today and it seems that the cover was what the public bought: just some sort of criminal group trying to get some money or fame. Levi cared little for what the public was being fed, though, and instead eavesdropped on the conversations the two CIA agents were having with their fellows over the phone. Mikasa had already been kind enough to reassure him that Misaki wasn't behind it and that he was still keeping his mouth shut regarding the Ackerman and his unconventional, unorthodox pet. The Hallucigenia remaining a secret was ultimately Levi's biggest concern and that actually made him relax a little. But only a tiniest bit.
That had been too close, way too close, especially with the end all but in sight now.. Levi can practically already start counting in hours until they were ready to implement the plan that will secure the Hallucigenia remains out of human hands for good, or at least for a very long time to come. They can't afford to be caught now. Therefore Levi refused to go out until they're ready to go through with their plan and Eren seems to have the same idea. Hange and Zeke actively encouraged this course of action and Armin even advised they stay away from windows if they hear a helicopter outside. It was a bit annoying to be confined to one place after so long living on the open road as he avoided all sorts of pursuers, but he knew it was necessary.
It made it a bit awkward to avoid talking about the elephant in the room with Eren, though, especially as they still shared one room every night. It was clear Eren was also holding back his desire to talk about it, too, and Levi was thankful for that because they can't afford to focus on anything but the shitshow they were currently a part of. Levi had all but promised Eren that, whatever happens, they will talk about this thing between them as soon as the Hallucigenia is safely deep within the Mariana Trench and before then, they had both agreed other things take priority. They were, perhaps unfortunately, far too good at letting non-personal things take priority.
The thing that had Levi the most on edge was the mysterious figure which had observed them in the alley that day but hadn't made a single move to apprehend them. The person had just watched, followed them halfheartedly for a couple of blocks and then gave up. Levi doubted they had lost the figure, because Levi hadn't really been trying just so he could see how the person would react. If the person had kept following them, Levi would have taken a different route and would have dealt with them before Eren could even become aware of their new pursuer. As it was, Levi was far more unsettled by the easy surrender than he would have been by just about any type of attack. If that person had just left them be, it means one of two things: either they were confident they can easily find them again later ... or they already knew where to look. Neither option was ideal and Levi, unfortunately, had a feeling he knew who this opponent would turn out to be.
After all, the only person who could so confidently let him go and believe they'll be able to find him is Kenny himself. Kenny might not have his old memories nor Ackerman abilities, but that didn't make him any less dangerous. After all, the only real difference between Levi now and the Levi before the Hallucigenia had bitten him and returned his powers was the strength, speed and senses. The skill was still there, the body just needed to be retaught through training. Both Kenny and Levi picked up on such things faster than anyone else and even their stamina and muscles were better than any non-Ackerman human's.
If anyone was going to give Levi trouble and have him feeling this uneasy, it was Kenny.
And that just spelled bad news so close to their 'mission'.
But Levi didn't tell anyone besides Mikasa and Hange about that. There was no use to let the others begin panicking over Kenny the Ripper coming to hunt their asses down again. Annie already had some serious issues regarding him - as they had apparently met while the three Warriors had still been in training camp their first few years on Paradis - and the way she'd talked about him had left Reiner paranoid, especially after he'd heard rumors and then even the personal accounts of Levi's squad of brats, how two thousand years ago Levi had been the only human strong enough to defeat Kenny Ackerman and that was probably the case in this day and age, too, especially with a lack of Titans and Titan powers.
Mikasa and Hange took the news with quite the amount of trepidation, remembering all too well just how troublesome Levi's uncle could be. Hange tried to be optimistic - for all their sakes - and suggested Levi might have imagined it was Kenny and not someone else but Mikasa had an impressive frown on her face. She knew, like him, about that one special feeling, a sensation deep in one's bones, that made an Ackerman aware of an equally dangerous opponent: another Ackerman. Seeing them both so serious, Hange had abandoned hoping she was right and had just helped Mikasa adjust their plans to get to the docks. Once they were on a boat, they ought to be safe for at least a couple of hours, but that doesn't mean shit won't happen until they get there.
After two days of intense work and preparations, which included but wasn't limited to a lot of buying and/or renting gear, bribery of the local authorities, messing with foreign and local secret agencies, designing a safe route to travel by, making contingencies in case of Erwin Smith, (secretly) making contingencies in case of Kenny Ackerman, making contingencies in case of Zeke Jaeger - Levi didn't trust the guy as far as Armin could throw him - getting in touch with a ship already doing research near the Mariana Trench so they could just use them and their gear instead of risking taking a big ship out - a fishing boat ought to make things a lot less conspicuous - and making sure everyone knows what role they are to play, how, when and where.
Floch really came through for them - Eren - and Mikasa's ties with such a strong yakuza made things a whole lot easier. Hange was a demon when put behind a screen and a keyboard, Armin was a lot of help when combined with Levi in predicting how Erwin might approach this chase. Eren gave everyone basic diving instructions, just in case any of them might need it, even though it will be only Levi and Eren making the deep dive. Pieck took over most of the work on the really strong homemade remote control that would release the Hallucigenia and Moblit, after he'd somehow finally managed to track Hange down in his worry - which was both impressive and would be quite alarming if Levi didn't suspect Moblit was designed by Ymir Fritz/the Hallucigenia to have an inbuilt Hange-radar - helped in Hange's stead as much as he could; he wasn't so much a scientist this time around but he was still very good at following instructions and Hange was still mostly available to help out when she had the time.
The only ones who left the penthouse were Annie, Reiner and Bertolt, as Levi and Eren were the least seen interacting with them and Reiner and Annie were taught some self defense while Bertolt was just really tall and could see over the crowds on the streets if someone suspicious was around. That and, well, he could calm the two blonds before Annie started bullying Reiner or Reiner said something to piss her off. Reiner and Bertolt also helped Isabel and Zeke to figure out a maneuver that would allow for Farlan to fly them off in a helicopter instead of them risking it by all of them piling up in cars and going by the roads. It was a bit risky but Farlan and his co-pilot knew a guy who works with one of the local news stations who owes them a favor so they would fly over and hover in place over their building while their helicopter takes off and they would then proceed to fly one over the other until they came as close to the docks as a news choper would usually go during a casual traffic and/or weather report shooting. The plane pilots assured them that when two vehicles were over one another in the air, the radar has difficulty identifying and separating them, so the risky maneuver would definitely hide Mikasa's private chopper, too. The move would be risky but Farlan was confident in Bozado's and his co-pilot's skills to match Farlan and his own co-pilot.
Levi and Eren had just exchanged a glance at learning that Olou had become a helicopter pilot and said nothing. Hange was the only other person close enough to the man besides the two of them to recognize his surname. The two former squad mates resolved to find him and check after this whole mess was over, just to be sure it was Olou and not some random person with the same name, or maybe even one of Olou's siblings.
Since the helicopter can take only so many people at a time, Zeke, Eren, Levi, Mikasa, Hange and Armin would all cram into one and Farlan and his buddy would fly them as close to the docs as he can, where they will get out the same way they had the other day, only Moblit had brought along more of Hange's ODM gear so they could all get out at once in a safe manner. Levi, as the one far more secure in his abilities and strength, would take the Jaeger brothers while Hange would take the lighter load.
The rest would either stay at the penthouse or move to aid in other parts of the operation. Reiner and Bertolt, for example, had to go with Marco to calm down Jean's parents and their guests who flew in with them from Spain, considering not only was the wedding pushed back a bit but their son and soon-to-be daughter in law were barely in touch with them. Jean proposed he and Annie keep an eye on Misaki at Mikasa's parent's place and Pieck and Gabi were to make sure Isabel doesn't follow any order she might receive from Zeke or any of their CIA higher-ups that could lead to a betrayal or a devastating fail in the mission. Moblit insisted he go with Connie to meet up with them at the docks and no one protested, as they all knew they'd need Hange's right hand man at some point. Floch would be keeping police patrols away from the fishing boat they had rented and would be taking out but he won't be going with them, thankfully. Sasha had wanted to go with Connie, too, but they had managed to convince her to remain in Mikasa's penthouse and act as a sort of headquarters to help coordinate the various parts of their mission and Gabi was staying to help her and to act as a guard should Misaki or anyone else, for that matter, try something.
With all that planning, Levi just knew something would go to shit. Best laid plans and all.
Still, the first plan, on the day it was all supposed to go down, went without a hitch, which was a blessing. Farlan was a really good pilot, which Levi was very proud of, and he had a talent in recognizing talent in others, as the pilots working with them that day in both helicopters performed perfectly. The commotions Mikasa had arranged for ended up being a 'gang war', as they'd call it in America, on top of some smaller bank robberies, a reported bomb in some middle school, a staged hostage situation in a mall and several car crashes all over Tokyo, including two huge ones that blocked any ground access to the docks that didn't involve at least a forty five minutes detour. On top of that, Hange had hacked into any and all traffic lights, making quite a few intersections so flooded that not even a literal god would be able to fix the whole mess.
Marco and Jean seemed to be perfectly capable of pacifying the families, Isabel was behaving herself, Moblit and Connie were in position, waiting for them along with the captain of their rented fishing boat and Hange and Levi had executed their maneuver perfectly, getting their four passengers down to the ground safely, even though Zeke looked a bit green in the face. Levi had been tempted to drop him, at one point, probably an urge from their last life, but he'd fought against it and so it took them only about ten minutes to get to their boat and cast off onto the open sea.
Their first problem was rather minor, as in that Armin was apparently quite sea sick when on a smaller boat that rocks with every wave. He spent the first hour of their trip bent over the railing, puking his guts out. The second problem was more of an annoyance, quite literally at that, as Hange kept annoying the captain and his scarce crew of where they ought to guide their boat. Levi had to drag her away before the fishermen decided to throw them overboard. Or, well, try to, anyways. But as quick of a study as he was and as necessary that a boat license was for a fully trained diver, neither Levi nor Eren were ready to test out their piloting skills on the open sea, on a boat of that size with no prior experience in a situation quite like this. At least there were no language barriers, as Mikasa and Hange were fluid in Japanese - as expected of two women who'd lived their whole lives in Japan - and Levi knew enough to understand what was going on and hold simple conversations. It was enough to make sure these people didn't double-cross them.
No further minor problems occurred after Armin was given some medicine to help with his sea sickness until they got within reach of the marinology research boat some odd ten to twelve hours later and Hange and Eren hastily contacted them. They tried to weasel out more money but, well, Eren was terrifying and Hange was scary when they want to be to your ordinary person. Levi let them handle it and instead just watched the ship they were approaching warily.
Mikasa joined him, the wind whipping her hair around as she tried to tie it. "It's been easy so far." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, clearly sharing his sentiment. "Too easy."
"Sasha reported no problems on their end?"
"None," replied the woman with a shake of her head. "It's been, and sorry for the pun, smooth sailing so far." Levi actually snorted at the pun but that didn't erase the tension from his frame, nor the way his instincts were ringing alarm bells in his head.
"I have a feeling we're walking into a trap," Zeke said, joining them, looking out at the ship they were fast approaching. "I've checked Zoe's research. It's pretty extensive and some of the things she's been tackling have become extremely popular and of interest in the past few months. It wouldn't be hard to put two and two together, especially for someone of Erwin Smith's intelligence, if what Reiner and Bertolt have been telling me all those years ago was true. And it's rather suspicious that the scientists over there are badgering for more money, considering the funds we've offered them for their research. Any more money than that would be suspicious without a publicly announced donation. It feels like they're trying to stall us."
"Levi-heichou!" Connie called at that moment, running up to them. "Eren says that someone is talking in Chinese to the scientists in the background and giving them some sort of instructions that they are relaying to us. It seems that the ship has been compromised, sir!"
Levi cursed under his breath as he hurried towards the captain's cabin, the others following. Even Armin managed to wobble along, though he was swaying on his feet. When he got into the cabin as quietly as he could, Eren immediately turned to him with a grim expression. "What's going on?"
"The scientists speak all sorts of languages on that ship and usually operate on English, Spanish or German to communicate with each other on a daily basis, so we have an opportunity to find out in detail if we can find a language that one of us can speak but not whoever is giving orders on their side," he explained. "So far, it seems that the scientists are trying to stall us while whoever is with them is trying to urge them to bring us onboard as quickly as possible."
"What, so they don't speak Japanese or something?" Armin asked, clearly not on his A game. Levi was almost tempted to tell him to sit this one out.
"They asked if we understood them in a plethora of different languages," Eren replied with a shake of his head. "Any we knew were not acceptable, probably because whoever is on there with them knows it, too, because they just kept asking in another language. I think they asked in some Hindi language or something at one point but neither of us speaks it-"
"I do," Moblit suddenly cut in, also having followed them to the cabin. "I speak a lot of languages that can be understood by larger numbers of people from different countries even if they don't understand the exact words I'm saying. It's part of my job as security and/or event coordinator."
"Then get to it," Levi said and Moblit just nodded before going up beside Hange, silently asking her to give him the communicator.
"Namaste. Mera naam hai Moblit. Aapakee kya sthiti hai?" The relief was almost audible from the other side when the person replied and they had a short conversation before Moblit turned to them and finally spoke in English again. "Twelve Americans barged onto their ship before dawn. They've injured their onboard security team and commandeered the ship. The boat they used to get out here is hidden on the other side of the ship. They're demanding to know how many of us are onboard and if Levi Ackerman and his 'worm' are also here. They're demanding we hand you over and go back."
Mikasa had Zeke by the collar before Moblit even finished speaking. Zeke was also defending himself and denying responsibility for the twelve onboard in the same breath. Levi frowned, for once not believing Zeke to be the problem nor the enemy. He walked over to his best friend and her assistant and took the communicator. "Oi, you son of a bitch, how dare you leave my mother to fend for herself against that rotten potato you call a boss just to go on a fucking goose chase?"
After a moment of stunned silence on both ends, there came a crackle from the other side before a familiar voice reached his ears. It started with the annoying laugh but Levi actually relaxed when he realized Kenny didn't sound like back when he'd been out to kill and/or maim Levi two thousand years ago, the last time he'd worked for the Reiss. "You really caught on fast, huh, you damn runt?" Kenny said by way of greeting. "What gave me away?"
"Well, the fact that the only other American who could have staged this shit isn't involved, the fact that only twelve people were needed to do it, the fact that you were playing Peeping Tom the other day and the fact that you made the scientists and crew on that ship feel the need to protect us from you, meaning you're not an official organization. That and everyone else demands for my pet by its specie's name, except you, who still sees it as a worm."
"It is a worm," insisted Kenny and Levi rolled his eyes.
"I mean yes, but not really," Armin began but Eren was kind enough to put a hand over his mouth before he gets started. At least it seems he was a bit better now. Might have been the adrenaline rush clearing his head. He should be better once they were on the bigger, far more stable ship.
"Back to the real shit," Levi said with a roll of his eyes. "Are you going to blow our brains out when we get on the ship or can we just get on already? I have a sea sick person on board and if I see him puke one more time, I'm throwing him overboard."
The captain, who was just standing by and eyeing Armin judgmentally, seems to agree.
"I promise I won't blow your brains out," replied Kenny and Levi narrowed his eyes.
"Nor will you point your guns at us in a threatening and/or deadly manner. Or are you still Rod's lap dog?"
The growl Kenny released from the other side definitely sounded like a feral mutt but Levi didn't say anything about it. This time. "If you must know, I'm actually here on behalf of your Goldilocks cousin."
"... Historia?" The younger Ackerman asked, both skeptical and surprised.
"Yeah. She's a real feisty one, that girl. Managed to swipe my contract from under good ol' Roddy's nose right nice and easy." Kenny released a cackle that had Moblit, the captain and his crew looking uneasy. Mikasa and Eren just narrowed their eyes, Hange looked bored and Zeke seemed intrigued by the difference in personality between uncle and nephew who've been living together until two years ago. "Uri sued him!" He crowed in pride and Levi felt his lips twitch up into a vicious, victorious, bloodthirsty grin. Perhaps spending some time around the Ackermans had taught Uri how to be lethally efficient and mercilessly righteous. Good. Uri was too nice and kind to be taken advantage of by the world and his dick of an older brother. "So, yeah, I'm here on behalf of the good side of the Reiss, not the dick side. So no, I'm not here to forcefully get you back home or nothin', since your mom would kill me, nor am I here to capture the Jaeger brat. I'm just here to keep you safe until Uri and Historia get Rod fuckin' arrested for his shady dealings."
Levi wanted to ask if Kenny would be implicated in said shady dealings and have to serve out a sentence for his own crimes done in Rod's name, but another part of what his uncle said had old instincts and priorities from two millennia ago stirring. "Wait, what do you mean 'capture the Jaeger brat'?" He demanded and all but felt the shift in the atmosphere around him. "Kenny, what the fuck is going on?"
There's a moment of silence before Kenny spoke again. "Just get your asses onto the ship already, shrimp. Then we'll talk. I can promise that me and mine aren't a danger to you and yours. If we were, we would have already fought in that alley two days ago."
The line went silent after that before a scientist answered again and told them they were allowed to approach. The captain took back the wheel and just guided their boat closer, no one saying the world as they said that little bit of distance between them and the bigger ship. Kenny was waiting at them on the starboard side and was the one to throw them down two rope ladders to climb aboard. Levi and Mikasa went up first, since they were arguably still the best fighters in their group, and only after seeing that none of Kenny's men - most of whom turned out to be from his once upon a time the Interior Military Police's own Anti-Personnel Control Squad, AKA Kenny Squad, including the ever-loyal blond woman, Caven if he remembers correctly - were armed or looked ready to rush them did they invite the rest of them onboard. The fishing boat accepted the rest of the payment Zeke and Mikasa owed them and went on their merry way, leaving the 'crazy foreigners' to deal with their shit without endangering them. Smart men.
Levi was honestly surprised Eren didn't tear Kenny apart when the tall man swooped in and hugged the shit out of Levi. Their relationship this time around was significantly different from two thousand years ago, in that Kenny wasn't as reserved to show Levi he fucking gave a shit about him. Levi hugged his uncle back and tried not to feel bad about worrying his family for so long. If Kenny was like this, he didn't want to imagine what his mother might be like when they eventually, hopefully, reunite.
"What's this?" Kenny said as he pulled back, analyzing Levi from head to toe. "You haven't grown an inch!"
Levi responded by punching him in the dick, making him double over and howl in pain. The casual violence towards such a dangerous man seems to have finally had given the scientists some peace of mind that they weren't going to get killed for being involved in this shit like this. Levi ignored his writhing uncle and instead turned to Caven, who was effectively Kenny's right hand woman. "Can you tell me why Kenny said anything about capturing Jaeger?" He asked in his best resting bitch face, deadpan expression and the woman very well nearly matched him as she responded.
"Since Dina Jaeger nee Fritz has agreed to side with Rod Reiss during their little battle of ownership over the company and family riches, her husband asked a favor that his illegitimate son and the son's mother be tracked down."
"What!?" Thundered Eren, marching up to Caven threateningly and looking ready to start another Rumbling if he just had the power to do so. Levi snatched the backpack holding the Hallucigenia from him before he could get any ideas. Better safe than sorry and all. Besides, he wanted some alone time with his pet before he sets the creature free once and for all and (hopefully) never sees it again, for everyone's safety.
"Not to worry," Caven reassured dispassionately. "Ms and Mr Reiss would have none of it. As soon as the boss' contract was within their grasp, they had use locate Mrs Jaeger-"
"Actually, my mom's maiden name is Yiğiter," Eren interrupted and Levi turned to look at him incredulously. Not once in the nearly two months since they've reunited had Eren told him his mother's surname, nor the fact that he also might as well have it. But he had to admit that Eren Jaeger definitely suits him better than Eren Yiğiter. But Eren did say his mother was of Turkish origins ... And with the fact their marriage was a scam by Grisha ... No wonder Carla wouldn't want to be Jaeger. Now Levi couldn't help but wonder how she felt about Eren taking his father's last name.
"Right, my apologies. Nevertheless, the point is that she is safe. We had to escort her to Mr Reiss' home last week, but she is perfectly healthy and safe. Mrs Reiss good care of the security-"
"Mrs Reiss?!" Levi couldn't help but interrupt this time, because he rather doubted Rod's wife gave a damn about anyone but herself and Uri was as gay as can be, being married to Levi's uncle no less, so that could only mean-"
"Yeah, little Historia got married." Levi's jaw dropped when Kenny said that. "Gotta be honest, the freckled chick's definitely good for her. Swear those two have been datin' for two weeks before they decided to tie the knot. One more reason to piss Rod off, I guess, especially since Ymir takes shit from no one."
Eren suddenly started laughing, Connie and Armin gave a little cheer and even Mikasa smiled. If Levi remembered correctly, Ymir the freckled one was very nearly Historia's lover last time but, for some reason, sacrificed herself so Reiner and his lot wouldn't return empty-handed to Marley. And not just empty-handed, but with one Shifter less than when they had set out to Paradis. A pointless sacrifice, really. Ymir would have done them all far more good if she had stayed with them and protected Historia herself from everything she perceived as a threat and danger to her. The Battle of Shiganshina would have definitely been completely different if they had had one more Titan Shifter. Reiner would have been dealt with far more easily for starters. Not to mention all the information she could have given them. Even outdated information on Marley could have changed things significantly. They would have at least known early on that they had an enemy beyond their Walls of the human nature, not just Titans.
"So Eren's mother is safe, you're technically on our side and this ship isn't compromised?" Hange asked, making everyone focus back on the important things, Namely the time constraint they were all subjected to.
"If these people are your allies, then yes, that is the case," a voice said and they all turned to it, finding a relatively tall, pale, black haired, serious-faced woman. Something about her was familiar. Levi just wasn't sure what. She had a heavy German accent and she was definitely not the voice speaking to them over the radio.
Eren went stiff beside him again, all humor from before rapidly leaving his body. Clearly, he knew this woman.
"Hange Zoe," their resident scientist introduced herself with a smile, which the woman returned stiffly as they shook hands.
"Lara Tybur, the leader of the German expedition in these waters."
Ah. Now he understands why she was so familiar. The WarHammer Titan, the one Eren had eaten back in Marley. It was probably about time she showed up somewhere near them, he guessed. Now was probably not the most opportune moment, though.
Levi looked up when Eren moved closer to him, standing almost protectively behind him, glare edging on threatening. When he met Levi's gaze, he shook his head. "I don't trust her," he said quietly as Hange and even Armin talked the woman's ears off. Now that he looked at them better, though, Levi knew both of their best friends were as on edge and suspicious of this development as Eren was. Well, Levi was, too, but he was suspicious of everything. Paranoia had been his best friend for the last few years so he wasn't sure if his distrust towards something and/or someone was valid at this point. And since Mikasa was looking ready to fight and even Zeke seemed uneasy at the presence of his once ally ...
Hell, Moblit, who had no memories nor had he ever met Lara Tybur in their last life, didn't seem to trust the woman.
"Something fishy is going on here," Zeke said and both Levi and Eren shot him a deadpan look at the (unintentional?) pun. "Oh, come on! I know the situation is dire but that was a good one!"
"I'm throwing you overboard with an anchor tied around your neck."
"I'll attach the anchor if you'll throw it overboard," Eren offered.
"I knew I trained you well."
"He's not a dog," Zeke desperately pointed out as both Levi and Eren turned towards him.
"No, but he was my subordinate and he took orders from me long enough for it to be ingrained to bark like a dog if I say so, so he might as well be."
To prove his point, Eren let out a very deadpan, very sarcastic "Woof".
Connie, who was watching the drama, sniggered.
"You don't trust that broad, either, huh?" Kenny suddenly asked, inserting himself into the conversation after he'd recovered from the punch in the family jewels for insulting Levi's height problem. "Me neither," he said, discretely throwing a suspicious glance in Tybur's direction. "She and her German pals arrived only this week, whereas everyone else has been here for two months or more. Something fishy is going on around here."
Levi and Eren both groaned at yet another pun while Zeke crowed in victory that someone had the same shitty humor as him and Connie looked like he was about to die from laughter.
"So you're saying that the German expedition might be made up of spies?" Levi asked, trying to ignore the cringiness going on around him.
"I don't have proof to say yes, but I also don't have proof to say no," replied Kenny and Zeke seemed to refocus at that.
"I'll have Isabel look into it, though I do feel I ought to tell you that Willy Tybur is one of the top ranking officers within the BND, even if Lara Tybur was never mentioned."
"BND?" Levi asked even as the CIA agent walked away to make a phone call.
"Bundesnachrichtendienst," answered Eren. "Or, to roughly translate it in English, federal intelligence service, practically the German CIA, if you will. Or maybe FBI? Doesn't matter," he waved himself off. "It's an intelligence agency working for the German government."
"Shouldn't you know this?" Connie asked, finally officially joining them in the conversation. "I mean, you have been chased by all these organizations in the past two years, right?"
"I also killed Titans in the two hundred count and do you think I could describe each Titan to you now? Do you think I ever figured out why some were Abnormals?"
"Okay, fair point," Connie admitted. "So, what, these guys might be a step closer to finding us than anyone else?"
"It's a possibility," Levi answered before grabbing Eren by the hand and dragging him off. "Let's go."
"Where are we going?" Connie, who'd followed after them, asked as Levi led them towards the cabins of the ship. Thankfully, everything on the ship seems to have been labeled in English and it didn't take Levi long to find the room containing gear. "Wait, you're not going to dive without supervision, are you?"
"That was always how we were going to dive, Connie," answered Eren. "We can't let them see us release the Hallucigenia, after all. These people aren't even aware that it's on their ship. Don't you think a lot more commotion would be going on if they did?"
"You're diving?" Kenny asked, also having followed after them. "Didn't know you knew how to dive, Levi."
"And yet you used to throw me overboard on Uri's yachts whenever you felt like it."
"I knew you could swim," countered his uncle and Levi just rolled his eyes at him. "That aside, is it even safe to dive out here? I mean, the currents ought to be extra shitty out here and isn't the Trench, like, beyond what humans can dive into by a couple dozen meters?"
"Try a couple of thousand," corrected Eren even as he got to inspecting the diving gear they had available. "The deepest dive in human history done by a human is 332 m, a record set by Ahmed Gabr a few years ago, if I remember correctly. The deepest submarine dive was 10 927m if I'm not mistaken, but the pressure could kill you a lot sooner. I mean, theoretically, a human can dive about 35 km deep before the water pressure destroys the bones, but humans are made up of more than bones and the lungs would be the first to explode way before that point, even with proper technique and proper equipment." He turned to more bulky looking diving suits. "In these babies, humans can safely dive down to about 700 m. Atmospheric suits are rather good for exploratory diving like these scientists would be doing. But the Mariana Trench is, as far as we know, mind you, 10 849 m below the surface of the ocean, give or take about 25 m at the deepest point known as Challenger Deep. However, there are speculations that the instruments that were used to measure the depth have miscalculated due to the pressure of the water down there and that the true depth is somewhere around 11 034 m instead. And while, hypothetically, a human should be able to survive that, no safe dive has ever been done beyond the current world record, let alone at the bottom of Challenger Deep." Eren turned to look at Levi, who was a bit flabbergasted by the amount of information Eren had on this matter, even if he knew what the brunet was studying. Connie has his jaw on the floor at this point. "I suspect someone like you would be able to reach the outlinings of the Trench, which is about 3000 m, in one of these suits, but that's still very dangerous and I wouldn't recommend it. In fact, I wouldn't recommend going beyond the 1000 m drop because if something on the suit malfunctions for even a second, you could die a very painful death."
"I guess we'll have to check with Hange and Moblit the range of their homemade remote," Levi mused with a frown. He knew Eren was right to be so cautious. With all the facts he'd just given them, even with the amount of pressure those suits could potentially take, it was still risky to go beyond any limits or even try to reach the ones set by the suit testing so far, Ackerman prowess or not. A Titan Shifter, though, would have probably been the safest to try something like this. In case of emergency, they could just transform and their bigger bodies could take the pressure more easily, especially since the human body inside the name is fully protected by bone, flesh and muscles and they had regenerative abilities that would fix any damage the pressure might have caused. Not to mention that they were stupidly hard to kill, all things considered. Fuck, this had to be the first time since he was reborn that Levi missed Titans and their bullshit.
"Why not take one of the submarines?" Asked Kenny, as he was not as in the know and that made the most sense to him.
"Those have cameras whose signals are directly connected to the observation decks of the ship," replied Eren. "What we're trying to do is a bit more secret than we'd like the rest of the world to know."
"Right. Your pet worm is worth quite the penny these days, isn't it? Had I known, I would have rented that thing at the local zoo and we could have been filthy rich!"
Levi responded by punching Kenny in the dick again, just as Caven walked into the room, paused to watch Kenny wither on the floor, before turning to Levi. "We have a problem."
Eren already looked so done with this shit and Levi couldn't agree more.
"Of course we fucking do."
Translate:
Namaste. Mera naam hai Moblit. Aapakee kya sthiti hai? - Greetings. My name is Moblit. What is your status?
