AN: Sorry for the wait guys, internet was down for a few days and my dog got really sick so I didn't have much time to do anything but take care of her! Thank you all for the reviews, I'll be trying to reply to them as soon as possible and hello to new followers! Thank you guys too!
I scrapped this chapter and restarted multiple times so I don't feel much towards this right now, sorry about that. Also no Eren's view in this chapter because I couldn't fit it in ~ and besides he's gonna be the main focus of the next one and I am so excited to write chapter 4 you have no idea.
Without further ado, I hope you guys enjoy! I have a date with animal crossing and sharknado in the meantime.
Warnings: Graphic depictions of blood, violence, character death, and potentially male/male
Extended Summary: Eren is a serial killer who's enjoyed the sight of blood since he killed 2 men when he was nine and saved Mikasa and, eventually, Armin. Nothing special since then, just your typical murders with Mikasa and Armin disposing the bodies, hiding evidence and sending the cops off their trails. That is, until he gets bored and starts setting the murders up. Making a game out of it. Enter special agents Levi and Irwin, the FBI's best for the job. It's a game of hide and seek against the killer, who's under their nose the entire time. A battle of wits to the end in a game of hide and seek.
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Downtown Trost
Lawson's Food
15:50, October 2013
Special Agent Levi
…
He was stupid. So goddamn stupid. How the fuck did he even forget the kid in the first place? Those damn eyes should have been a dead giveaway. Hell the kid should have fucking flinched or something.
But no, the kid hadn't done anything. He'd just been a good worker and fetched the nice FBI agent his coffee, gave him service with a smile then went on his merry way out the door.
God fucking damn it.
"It's too much to have the place surrounded, isn't it." Levi sighed.
"Is it a suspect?" Irwin asked.
Levi pinched the bridge of his nose. They were gathering too much attention; a couple of people stopped to stare at them, a kid whispered something to their mom on the way out. It was too obvious. "He was there at the scene then left when everything went to shit."
"Are you certain it was him?"
He was about ready to snap. "I'm certain, agent Smith."
Irwin frowned at Levi's tone but did nothing to retaliate against it. "Then why didn't you stop him earlier?"
"Because I have a migraine eating me up the ass and I forgot." Levi spat. A couple walked up to the other barista working at the stand, pointing over to the two agents. Probably asking what was wrong, he glared at them. There was a flash of brunette hair behind them walking and towards the back of the store.
Him. That had to be him.
There was a hand on his shoulder, then the other's voice. "If you think that's him, go. I'll talk to his co-worker, get his name and address and a phone number if possible."
That was all he needed.
He took off, walking around the coffee stand and straight down the card aisle after the flash of hair. It wasn't running, but it was fast enough to make more people overly concerned and move out of his damn way. He pushed past a cart being driven by an old man, nearly sending it into one of the display racks. Enough of a distraction to lose the kid around the corner. Levi cursed and picked up his pace to a run.
Around the corner, taking a straight run past the freezer section and straight towards the employee exit; He ran past the damn idiots who didn't know how to move out of the way. Right at the alcove that lead to the exit, he caught up. Levi's hand grabbed the kid's shoulders and with a quick flick had him flipped around with his back against the wall. The woman closest to them gasped and quickly walked away with a horrified look.
Levi looked back over his shoulder at her retreating form. Good riddance, he mused. He turned back to the kid he had painfully pinned and felt his mood go downhill. He was around the same height with the same hair color, except his hair was completely different. Same with the clothes, same with the face. This one's eyes were blue. The other's were green.
"Is... there a problem, officer?" he shakily asked. There was a whistle behind Levi. Another glance over his shoulder showed Irwin holding a slip of paper. He waved it, crossed his arms and waited.
"You were walking too damn slow." Levi practically growled and threw the kid further towards the exit door. He tripped and fell on the ground. Weak. Pathetic and so irritable for getting in the way of an investigation-
"I apologize for his behavior. We're looking for someone and we mistook you for him. It would be wise, however for you to be on your way." Irwin's voice. Levi didn't realize the hand practically forcing him away by his arm. The kid nodded and scrambled to slide his ID card through the scanner and ran out the door.
"Tell me those kids gave you some fucking good news for once."
The blonde nodded and handed Levi the slip of paper. It was a piece of the coffee shop's memo pad with 'Roast' printed in the corner. The name 'Eren Jaeger' was scribbled out largely in pen; an address and a phone number was too.
"His coworker was helpful, thankfully. He said that Eren got a text from his sister and took off. He wasn't even supposed to be in to work today."
"Well that's fucking helpful." Levi sighed. He shoved the paper back into Irwin's hand. He pulled out his phone, checked it for messages. Nothing from Hanji yet.
"Levi, did you hear anything from their conversation before they realized we were there?"
"Depends on what you mean."
"Bertholdt Fubar is apparently a regular there."
Levi met Irwin's eyes at that. "As in our MIA guard?"
"Exactly the same one."
"You think this Jaegar kid had business with him that morning?"
Irwin shrugged.
They walked back towards the car. Levi practically threw open his door and slouched in his seat once they got there. The food from earlier was left in a plastic bag on the floor and his coffee was still in the cup holder. His coffee was cold, thankfully the food wasn't. He popped the plastic container's lid and dug into the Chinese food, needing something in his system. If not, his thinking would be muddled. Something else could slip by him like that scene back there.
"Well, it's a possibility, isn't it? Whenever Hanji calls us to tell us that Fubar is there for questioning, we'll go in. After that we'll call Jaeger and see what we can do about him."
Levi snorted and sunk further into his seat. He waited for Irwin to finish his food, waited for his phone to ring, which he knew it wouldn't. Not this soon; Hanji never got off her ass to do important things or actually call at a decent time with information. If she did call before tomorrow, it'd be about her damn experiments and the blood samples she was messing with. Nothing about the victim. Nothing about the missing wife. Nothing helpful. And even worse, he'd be able to tell because of her shitty ringtone, and that fucking picture of her shitty glasses flashing across his phone's screen-
His phone vibrated against leg again and what sounded like screeching erupted from his pocket when he took it out. Speak of the devil and she'll appear, he sighed. His eyes narrowed into a glare as he clicked the 'answer' button.
"Hanji."
"Levi! I'm surprised you didn't let it go to voicemail like usual!" she laughed. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose in return.
She just continued, "Are you with agent Smith?"
"If you wanted to talk to him you should have called his god damn phone."
"Yeesh, what's got you in a bad mood? Anyways that's not why I called. Listen-" her side cut out for a moment while there was the sound of papers being shuffled. Probably digging for something on her hell hole of a desk. She apparently found it because she laughed. "Bourgston's been found. I've got the address here, you ready?"
"Wait, when the fuck did that happen?"
She hummed for a second. "Mmm about half an hour ago? I thought someone would have called you, but I had to call you anyways so it was my job. Sorry about that!"
Oh dear lord he was going to strangle her the next time he saw her. Levi took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he snapped his phone. Or threw it out the window, whichever would break it faster and make her shut up.
"They aren't touching the body until you get there, just a heads up. You and Smith get full control over the scene since you're FBI and what not. Ral wanted me to tell you they did some basic ground work though."
"Great," Levi sighed. "Just give me the address and we'll get over there."
"Alright. Call me when you're done, would you? Tell me what you've found out so I can compare it to what I'll see."
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Downtown Trost
Garrison Pub
16:30, October 2013
Special Agent Levi
…
The Garrison Pub was a small joint shoved off to the side of the busy main street, crammed in between an old antique shop and an alley. Looking like it was put together by bricks years ago it was underrated. Unappreciated. The tacky neon sign that was constantly left on was finally off, now just sitting void in the window. Even from here Levi could make out the roses that glowed bright red most of the time.
"Brings back memories of first joining the force, huh?" Irwin chuckled darkly. He stepped out of the car to join Levi and zipped up his windbreaker. The clouds overhead were slowly turning dark and it was starting to reek of rain.
Levi responded with a snort and dug for his flashlight in his pocket. He clicked it on and sent the beam down the alley's mouth. Halfway down where the employee exit to the pub was, a group of field agents were bent down. The half that wasn't was setting up a tarp over the body. The body itself was roped off with caution tape and laying flat on the ground.
"Minus the dead body and a fuck ton of alcohol? Yeah."
As soon as they walked up, Levi could make out agent Ral crouched over the victim. She had her own flashlight out and shining on the victim's face. The beam traveled down its body, then back to the notepad that was perched on her knee. When she heard their footsteps she turned to offer a tense smile and wave her pencil in a 'hello'.
"Did Hanji call you?"
"Albeit a little late," Irwin returned. Stiff and proper as usual. He knelt under the tarp and held it up for Levi to do the same.
It shouldn't have surprised him that he already knew who it was. Hell, everyone probably did before they arrived. Felix Bourgston - although a little splotchy and starting to bloat, it seemed - lay there, hands over his chest and one leg bent inwards. His eyes were wide open and staring up towards the greying sky.
He picked up Bourgston's arm with one hand, let it drop back on to the asphalt. The body wasn't stiff anymore; the rigor mortis stage was over. "Who found him?"
Petra closed the notepad and stood. She brushed off her legs and pulled her coat tighter around her. "Hannes, I think his name was. The owner of this place. He said he came to dump the garbage out and... found this instead."
Levi snorted and held his flashlight up to the victim's face. He shone it in one eye. Then the other. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for contacts.
"Probably shit himself then," he sneered. "hand me some gloves, would you?"
She handed him an evidence bag along with them. A few seconds later and one contact was removed from one of Bourgston's eyes.
"Contacts?" Petra tilted her head. "That's odd, the reports didn't say anything about him wearing contacts."
Then why would the killer do this? Is it another clue leading to the next victim? Their wife now?
"What else did the reports say," he handed her the bag.
"You mean Hanji didn't give them to you?"
"No, she didn't." He growled. Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful.
"You do your thing here. I'm going to go talk to Hannes and the rest of the agents here, see what we have so far." Irwin muttered. Levi nodded.
"Petra."
"Hmm?"
"Tell me what you know."
She took a deep breath. "Well, he's been dead for over 72 hours. He's gone through rigor mortis, and is starting to bloat. Why he hasn't completely yet is beyond my knowledge," she paused to move her hand towards Bourgston's sleeve. She knelt down again and rolled it up, showing off skin that was going from green to black. "Medical team did look at him. His abdomen is about the same.
"There's a gash on the back of his shoulder," she picked him up and leaned him forward against her arm. "along with one along his back. They're deep, blood's dried and there's trace of infection. But with as deep the gashes are... it'd make sense for how much of his blood was at the last scene."
She dropped him back down onto the asphalt and threw her gloves in a spare bag with a grimace. Levi pressed his hand down on Bourgston's arm, then his wrist. His hand flexed, and the fist opened. A piece of paper fell out and to the ground.
"Well, well, look what we have here." he grabbed it, stuck his flashlight in his mouth while he unfolded it.
"Another letter?" Petra looked over his shoulder.
He didn't say anything. He pried the note open, trying not to tear it. The crease lines wore away at the pen marks. There was something scrawled on it, shakily. Levi turned the paper over. On the back was a number for some business, he assumed. The writing itself was near illegible to him, however, and he couldn't make the language out.
"Is that... Swedish?" Petra was still looking over his shoulder. He shook his head, tossed the note on the ground. His hands flew to Bourgston's pockets in an attempt to find anything else. Anything. Jacket pockets were bare, pants pockets empty. In a last ditch effort he removed the shoes from his feet to see if anything was stuffed in there. Nothing.
"Agent Levi? What are you doing?"
"Case I worked a while back had the same thing happen. Note in the hand, but the killer fucked up and left things. A different slip of paper in the pocket with a print, hair. Anything. Just something."
He stopped. There was something.
"Shoes."
"What?"
Endless questions. Where the hell was Irwin when he needed him? "His shoes."
"What about them."
Levi held one up again. He had to use his flashlight to see it clearly. The beam also lit up the makeshift cover. Rain was starting to fall.
"They're too fancy. His wife is a teacher, right? Some low-grade job this day and age. She doesn't make much, and with him being a prior rapist, he's not going to get hired. He'd be lucky if some shitty dive of a diner hired him."
He handed Petra the shoe. She turned it over to look at the tread on the bottom. "No scuff marks, nothing. They're almost new, but they're not. Take a look at the inside and it's worn down. Not a lot, but enough. They're not his."
Who's are they? Upper class, obviously. Most likely belonging to someone in Stohess. Our next victim again? Do those contacts belong to them too?
The rain was starting to pour harder. Some of it splashed against the ground and hit the body.
They were running out of time.
He shoved the note into the shoe and practically threw it at her. "Put this in a bag. Is Bossard here?"
"He's with agent Smith I believe."
"Tell him to get off his ass and start getting pictures again. Vantage points, viewpoints. There's two entrances here, I need you to have someone sweep every inch from this side to that. And fast. We're losing evidence here."
This is why he put the body here. Bourgston was killed elsewhere, obviously. But the way the rain is falling, it's sweeping straight through this patch here and washing his work away.
Someone nudged his shoulder and he stepped aside. He recognized Erd Gin among the medical examiners; he helped pick the body up and moved the body bag away.
Irwin joined him a few minutes later. He handed Levi a camera. "There's your pictures from both last scene and this. They swept the area before we showed up. Apparently the locals learned their lesson from last time."
"'Bout time." Levi muttered. He shoved it into his pocket and turned his flashlight off, doing the same.
"This place was the site of Bourgston's first act," Irwin threw into the silence. He nodded towards the office building across the street. There was a cat in the upstairs window. "A man up there called it in. It's no coincidence that he was placed here."
Levi frowned. There was a movement behind the curtain. The cat walked off.
"Oh?"
Irwin sighed. They both watched the other agents scramble around to pick up the equipment they had set out. Levi couldn't be more thankful for the lack of onlookers this time.
"What did you find?"
"Body was at least three days old, the contacts - which you were there for - fancy ass Italian shoes, and another note."
"Note," Irwin echoed. "Another?"
"Surprise, surprise there wasn't a fuck ton of blood this time," he replied. The officers around them finished packing up; they moved to the side so they weren't in the way. When Petra left last, they followed out and towards their car across the street. "just pen and haphazard beyond belief. See if someone at the lab can read it. Ral thought the language this time was Swedish."
"It didn't seem like there was any blood. Hannes didn't report it and I checked with everyone else. The body was just there like that. Just pristine and laying there."
"There is a gash on his shoulder and another on his back, though. But they weren't dressed like Grimes'. They were left open like the killer didn't give a shit."
"Changed his MO?"
"Dunno. Could be someone else, we don't know yet." He replied. He slipped into the driver's seat and waited for Irwin to hand him the keys. He started up the car, cracked his window a bit, and turned on the heater. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Irwin take a file out of his windbreaker.
"Auruo gave us the file on Bourgston to look over. I figure you'd appreciate that. After all, you've barely brushed his case in your years."
He hadn't thought that it'd be extremely necessary to anything they'd do, Levi wanted to spit back. Irwin put the folder in the back seat, though, and waited all too patiently for a response. Levi's response was to merge the car out and into the street.
"I'll look it over when Hanji calls us in."
The conversation was dropped, just like that.
It wasn't an uncomfortable silence while they drove, Levi was thankful for that. Honestly, it was why he and the blonde got along so well. They didn't need to say anything that wasn't needed, and they didn't need to have constant conversation to feel at ease. It was a balance between personalities. He'd even go far enough to say he was thankful for Irwin being on the case with him, if only for how he dealt with people. Irwin had people skills that Levi lacked. Levi had the authoritative and rogue aura that made people listen. Something that he'd learned from the first time they met. Why he decided to reflect on this as he drove, he really didn't know. It gave him a distraction at least from the case.
He stopped at a red light. The rain still hadn't let up. In fact, it'd even gotten worse. The sky was an angry black now, making it hard to see, and the car's wipers were doing absolute shit to help keep his view clear.
He saw a green light and put his foot on the gas.
Right into a new problem.
He had to hit his brakes fast, and the figure he nearly hit slammed a hand down onto the hood.
Irwin jumped in the seat next to him.
Levi waited for the guy to move, but he didn't. He flashed his high-beams twice and caught a startled face with green eyes underneath the makeshift umbrella the guy was holding.
It took him a split second before he realized who exactly was standing right in front of his car.
"Son of a bitch," he muttered. He unbuckled his seat belt and was ready to throw the car door open before he lost him again. Irwin attempted to grab his arm, but he brushed it off. Eren Jaeger stood there for a second more before the rain made him realize he had to move.
That was Levi's cue.
"Oi! Kid!" He yelled. The car door slammed shut behind him. He faintly heard Irwin's open, but the damn kid turned around and gave him a confused look.
"Sir?" he questioned. He took in Levi's stare and practically paled. "Look I'm sorry about walking in front of your car, really-"
"Jaeger right?" Levi interrupted. Those green eyes blinked and Eren nodded his head cautiously.
"Are you busy right now?" He asked.
Eren pulled his jacket tighter around him, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Nervous, Levi noted, the kid was nervous.
"No... not entirely," Eren replied.
"You wouldn't mind if I asked you a few questions then?"
"Who are you guys, first off?" His tone slipped into something defensive. Levi was about ready to slam the kid onto the ground if he kept it up.
"FBI. We want to ask you about the murder of Michael Grimes."
Whether it was the realization that he had left the scene, or that they were the same officers from before it didn't matter. Something flashed in Serene eyes that made Levi breathe in relief. Nerves... fear... something.
Either way, Levi had finally caught up.
"There's a cafe right around the corner. Let's talk."
They were finally making progress.