Floch Forster
Floch sighed as he heard a knock on the door.
He hated when his rest was disturbed. Forster worked like a mule, and when he finally found a moment to relax, someone always wanted something from him. He probably should reduce the number of his clients. Lately, he was earning enough anyway.
It couldn't be urgent. Just another peddler who wanted to sell him something he didn't need.
The knock repeated, however. Floch closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was lying in a tub filled with hot water, full of bubbles. He hoped the stubborn person would leave him alone and go away. He woudn't abandon this place for anything in the world.
But then something strange happened.
Floch heard a loud noise, which he asocciated with opening the door by force. The next were the steps in the hallway. The man's eyes widened in terror. What's that supposed to mean?
He wanted to get up, but was too afraid to move. It suddenly occurred to him who might have been causing all that fuss, but it was too late. Floch saw the bathroom door swing open, hitting the wall. A tall figure in black glasses appeared in front of him. The man was wearing a shicky black coat with a hood. As he pulled off the hood, Floch saw a slender face with fair, large beard.
"No! Please!" Floch cried, raising his hands above the head. "Zeke, please! I swear I wanted to call you back, I just was really busy lately!".
The man continued screaming while Zeke dragged him out of the tub by force and then pulled him into the living room. There, he threw him on the carpet and stepped on man's naked chest with his shoe.
"Zeke, please! I had too much work! Every client wanted something from me! You know I would help your boys eventually..."
"Shut up your mouth, you fucking cunt" Zeke growled, then lifted the corner of his mouth. He looked around. "I see you've rented a new apartment? Awesome place! Don't you think, brother?".
Only then Floch noticed that Zeke was not alone. The other man was just as tall, only a little thinner. Floch also stated that he must be a few years younger than Zeke. Was it the younger Yaeger? How was his hame… Eren?
The boy was wearing a brown jacket. He had just taken the hood off his head, exposing his face. Long brown hair fell over his forehead. He pushed them away and, like Zeke, looked around the apartment. He only answered to his brother's question with a quick nod.
"You must have a lot of money, Floch" Zeke muttered, his eyes returning to the naked man who was shaking on the carpet from the cold. "I wonder, thanks to whom you get your pockets so full".
"Zeke, please!" Forster raised his voice again. "I'm sorry I didn't call, I just...".
"Close your fucking mouth!" Zeke took a swing and kicked the man in the stomach. Floch groaned in pain. Eren grimaced and looked in the other way. "Since I'm paying you so much money, you have to answer every phone!".
"I know! Forgive me, please!" Floch shouted, trying to shield himself from the next blow. Wet, red hair stuck to his forehead.
"I don't need a lawyer who doesn't do his fucking job" Zeke's eyes narrowed dangerously. "For the future, I advise you to be smarter. If not, we'll talk differently".
"That's enough, Zeke" Eren interrupted, taking a step towards his brother. "I think we should go now".
Zeke didn't answer. Instead, he put his foot on the naked, shrunken penis. He trampled it harder, and because of that Floch screamed with agony.
"Aaaagh!" He howled, as the tears rolled from his eyes. "I'll answer every call! Please…".
Eren gritted his teeth, trying not to look at this scene. Apparently it was too much for him. Zeke, however, kept looking in his direction.
"I hope so. Have a nice bath, Floch. Come on, brother".
Zeke went towards the door. Eren quickly followed him, not even glancing at the lawyer who was lying on the carpet, sobbing softly.
Eren
They went back to the nice, neat staircase. Two brothers started walking down the corridor. Zeke looked relaxed, he didn't rushed, maybe because he didn't want to look suspicious. But that was impossible, not in his case. Not with black glasses, a hood, and a intimidating figure.
Some of the doors they passed were open. Shocked or terrified faces was peecking out to them. Floch's neighbors must have heard his screams and cries. Some father holding a little girl in his arms glared at them.
"Who the hell are you? Please, go away or I'll call the police!".
Yes, Eren thought to himself. That was the plan.
Zeke stopped to look at the stranger.
"You'd better come back inside, sir".
The man frowned slightly, but must have noticed something about Zeke's posture that worried him. He said nothing more and quickly closed the door.
Eren and Zeke started walking down the stairs when they suddenly heard a noise.
"They're on the fifth floor! I think they're hurting someone!" The voice came from the ground floor.
"Thank you, madam. We'll take care of it, please stay here. Louis, this could be some gang, call for reinforcements".
Eren looked at Zeke, his face went pale. His older brother sighed, but didn't seem concerned at all.
"Well, time for plan B".
Zeke grabbed Eren's arm and pulled him towards the emergency stairway that connected one building to the other. They started running down the stairs. Fortunately no one chased them. Once they were on the ground floor, they ran to the covered parking lot. But the exit turned out to be... closed. They saw a police car with a flashing beacon on its roof. Two men were standing next to the vehicle.
Zeke grabbed Eren by the collar and pulled him to the ground. They huddled behind one of the cars and exchanged glances.
"How will we get past them?" Eren asked, his face still was pale. He looked stressed. The boy hoped Zeke couldn't figure out what was the main reason of his state. "Our car is a long way from here… Zeke, if you attack them, more of them will show up here. Can you hear it?".
Police sirens wailed in the distance.
"Eh. See that door over there?"Zeke pointed to the place that apparently led to the trash containers. "We'll run in that direction. Even when they will notice us, we still can make it. Grisha has trained us well. If you get caught, you have to deal on your own. You know what to say. Or rather, what not to say".
"Yes, I know. But I also think we can make it" Eren prepared himself to run.
"Ready?" Zeke grinned suddenly. His teeth was yellow from smoking cigarettes. He looked like he was having a great time. "Show me what you got there. You've never managed to outrun me yet".
They started the race, running side by side. They passed by the parked cars, still having the two policemen behind their back. Hopefully, they looked in the other way.
Zeke was the first to reach the door. He opened it, let Eren in ahead, and jumped over the threshold himself. They walked past garbage cans and continued on running without looking back. Zeke caught up with Eren and went ahead. He ran down the alley between the blocks, dodging between the cars parked there.
Suddenly a silhouette emerged from among the cars. It was a fairly short man, dressed in the anti-drug department uniform. He had a gun in his hand.
"Fuck…" Zeke snapped at the sight of him.
Eren, on the other hand, felt his heart racing.
He looked at Levi for a split second. Though he saw the tension in the man's eyes, something familiar flashed in them as well. Trust? Composure? Eren didn't have time to analyze it. He just felt that whatever happens now, Levi trusts him. It was enough for him to move on to the next step.
"Zeke, get down!" The boy called and pulled his brother to the ground.
Levi - the day before
Mike shook his head.
"No, no, no. His head is too big. He looks like Hoover, not Zeke, you know? He had a long face".
He was leaning over Erwin's shoulder, who was in the process of creating a visualization of their operation for tomorrow. Their main goal was to surround Zeke.
Erwin looked at Mike with amusement. Their faces were quite close to each other.
"Sorry, but I've never had the doubtful pleasure of seeing Zeke Yaeger with my own eyes. Besides, it's not an official draft! I just wanted to show the details of the operation. I know I'm not an artist. I wanted to picture it, you don't even have to look at it".
"If this is supposed to help us, it should be at least a little bit realistic..." Mike laughed, seeing Erwin's inconsolable expression. He tapped gently his hand on the man's shoulder. "You are a brilliant strategist, but a hopeless artist, sorry, Erwin".
Levi set the silver tray with cups on the table. Either he was oversensitive, or recently Mike and Erwin were teasing each other more than ever.
Well, not that he cared...
"We've almost got it all, right?" Hanji asked, sitting in front of Erwin. She reached for one of the tea cups, prepared by Levi. "Wow, it smells really good".
Eren, who took a seat next to Hanji, looked at Erwin's drawing. In addition to numerous chaotic notes, there was an illustration of him and Zeke in the center, Levi and Erwin, tasked with stopping them, and Hanji and Mike, waiting on standby a bit further.
"It looks fine to me" Eren said, resting his chin on the hand. "Zeke looks very realistic, I think it's the stubble that makes his face look big. But I would improve a few things. As for me, I should have longer hair. And mister Ackerman looks like he was the same height as miss Zoe...".
Mike looked at Eren in surprise, then tossed his head back and laughed out loud. Levi growled angrily and took the salver away before Eren could reach for his cup.
"There's none for you, brat".
"He fucking showed you!" Mike laughed, putting his hand on Levi's shoulder. "I like you already, kid".
"That kid should pray that tomorrow I won't handcuff him and throw him into jail for twenty-four hours" Levi muttered, sipping his cup of tea and staring hostile at Eren. "I can always withdraw from our arrangements".
"Sorry!" Eren held up his hands and grinned at Levi. "I just couldn't help myself..."
"Yeah. I also won't be able to help myself tomorrow..."
"What's up with this misters and misses"? Mike suddenly asked, looking around in surprise. "Call us by our names, Eren. My god, I feel old because of you".
"Well, you should, you're the oldest here" Hanji remarked as she sipped her tea. "Okay, let's summarize everything. Eren, according to you Zeke will be tomorrow in Trost to meet some lawyer who doesn't do his job. Your brother is very impulsive so it could get ugly. He won't be surprised if the neighbors will call the police. We will try to send a patrol there. Zeke will try to escape. It won't be particularly hard with the ordinary policemen... If you two will manage to run out of the building, we will be waiting for you there. It is unlikely that Zeke would like to get involved in shootouts with special agents, so he'll probably tell you to run for the car, while we'll try to negotiate with him into turning himself into our hands. If he will start the shooting... Well, we'll reply with the fire. Anyway, then you'll come in, take him into the car, we'll miss like those white guys from Star Wars, and you two will leave together, happy and safe. Does that sound okay?".
"Yes, it sounds perfect" Eren said and smiled at Hanji.
"Oh, you are so cute... Hey!" The girl's eyes widened as Eren grabbed her cup and took a sip of tea. "Oh, you trickster!".
"What? It smells so good! And agent Ackerman took my cup away...".
"You asked for it".
Eren
Eren could feel his heart racing like crazy. Now everything would be decided. The only thing that bothered him was why Erwin wasn't here. He hoped that the man was okay.
Eren and Zeke hid themselves behind one of the cars. His brother immediately reached for the gun. Eren shook his head.
"Are you crazy? We can't kill him! Grisha will be pissed!".
"Then what's your plan?".
"Get up and show me your hands so I can see you!" They heard Levi's voice.
"Talk to him, try to stop him somehow. Buy me some time. I'll sneak out and get the car while he is alone" suggested Eren, still being all pale. "Try not to get killed, and I'll be back in a moment".
Zeke shook his head this time.
"No, I'll get the car. They are looking for me and you are clean. They have nothing on you, and besides, you're still underage".
Eren widened his eyes, but nodded quickly. Zeke couldn't notice that something was wrong.
"It's true" he agreed with his brother as if nothing happened. "Father will get me out of arrest much easier. Okay, go get the car. Then pick me up or run if they catch me".
Zeke nodded, tapped Eren on the shoulder, then stood up and began to move slowly, huddled so that no one would notice him.
"Surrender now! And nobody get hurt! I'm counting to five!" Levi suddenly called. Eren glanced after Zeke, who had just disappeared into the narrow passage between two buildings.
"One!" Levi counted. "Two...".
Eren got to his feet and emerged from behind the car. He did not wait, but quickly approached the detective. Ackerman raised his eyebrows at the sight of him.
"Eren?".
"Zeke wanted to get to the car by himself... Or maybe he just wants to leave me here, I don't know. Where is Erwin?".
"He stayed with the police officers, so no one can spoil our operation... But anyway, we have to deal with it quickly".
Eren nodded. A trickle of sweat ran down his forehead.
"Zeke is supposed to come back soon after me... Unless he will change his mind and leave alone". Eren suddenly widened his eyes, something occurred to him. He looked at the detective seriously. "Hit me".
"What?" Levi frowned and fixed Eren with a shocked look.
"Hit me! Quickly, before Zeke gets back!".
"You're crazy, I'm not gonna hit you! What the hell, Eren?".
"He left me here, so he assumed something might happen to me. Quickly, before he comes back! Don't you think it will look great? Grisha will be glad that I got involved".
"What kind of father is he?". Levi shook his head. "I don't know...".
"If Erwin were here, he would've done it without hesitation!" Eren interrupted him.
"Well, I'm not Erwin!".
"I know, that's not the point! There's no time!".
"Okay!".
Levi looked at the young Yaeger doubtfully. He still didn't seem convinced. He swung, however, and hit Eren on the cheek with his fist, so that the boy staggered in place. Eren sucked in a breath and rubbed his face, then looked at Ackerman again.
"One more time" he said, standing straight.
"Eren...".
"Do it!".
Levi clenched his fist and sent the blow to the boy's face again. Ackerman's eyes was filled with guilt. But Eren didn't seem concerned at all. His green gaze has never been so determined.
"One more time, Levi! It has to look like you beat the hell out of me, so my father won't..."
Ackerman didn't let Eren finish. He also didn't comment the fact, that the boy had used his name for the first time. He hit him again, with such force that Eren slammed his back against the trunk of the car they were standing next to. Blood spurted from his split lip. Levi hit him again, blackening his eye. He tried to step aside, but Eren grabbed him by the collar.
"Again...".
Levi pushed the boy away. He gave him a scolding look.
"Shit, Eren, that's enough! You look like a potato already. If that won't convince your father, then I don't know what will". Levi pulled out a gun to have it ready in case Zeke suddenly returns. He looked in the direction where Eren's brother had run. "That bastard's not coming back. Other detectives may appear soon. I'll have to pretend I just got here too. Follow him".
Eren nodded.
"Thanks, Levi".
Ackerman winced at the boy's face.
Blood was dripping from his lip and eyebrow, the bruises were under his eye and on his cheek... Levi hoped that his action will be worth the price.
Eren turned around and followed his older brother.