END GAME

Chapter 2: Something Slightly Illegal

Eren was roused from a trance-like state of staring at the two computer screens when the distant knocking on his door became more of an incessant pounding upon the wood, like someone was trying to break down his door. It snapped him back to reality, and the hum that had settled in the air in the last few minutes turned out to be a voice.

"Eren, open the door!" The voice was familiar and Eren couldn't help but smile as it drifted faintly through the wooden door. Eren stood and shut the lids of the two laptops, leaving them on the coffee table as he went to answer the door. He pulled the door open and was instantly assaulted by two familiar faces, a somewhat short blonde boy with blue eyes and a black-haired girl with steel gray eyes.

"Eren, are you deaf?" Armin said, a smile on the blonde's face, "We've been knocking for the last five minutes." Mikasa nodded, tugging her scarlet scarf further up on her face, habitually hiding her mouth from view. Eren grinned and moved to let his two friends in, stopping when he noticed the third companion of their party.

The third companion, who was short, had black hair, bluish-gray eyes, and an irritated expression. How does Levi know where I live? A scowl flashed across his face before he could wipe the momentary irritation away, sweeping it into the corner of his mind for the time being. Armin noted it and smiled sheepishly, "Oh, do you know him? He was here when we showed up so we weren't quite sure."

Eren shrugged and moved back so that the three could enter, half-tempted to shut the door on Levi as payment for being an ass to someone he barely even knew, but he managed to refrain from doing so. Mikasa seated herself on one of the gray chairs while Armin disappeared into the kitchen, rattling around. Levi sat on the leftmost end of the gray couch, away from the laptops and adjacent to Mikasa's seat.

Eren sat on the edge of the couch, as far away from Levi as he could on the cramped couch. It was more out of anger at the shorter man than trust issues or anything of the sort. Eren glanced at Mikasa, who was looking between Eren and Levi. He glanced at Levi next, who was glancing around the apartment with a critical and disdainful eye.

"Has anyone ever told you the definition of clean by any chance?" Eren sighed and leaned his head on the back of the couch, staring up at the white ceiling. He was about three seconds away from throttling that infuriating midget. Besides, he had just straightened his apartment up yesterday after his shift at the Inkblot! It couldn't possibly be that dirty! Unless of course you counted the overflowing basket of dirty laundry waiting in the corner awaiting a wash, the bits of dust clinging along the edges of the walls, and the array of books that littered any available surface, waiting to be put in their proper places.

"What time is it?" he called, desperate to take his mind off of the train of thoughts that suspiciously resembled fingers wrapped around a slim white throat. "It is 6:45," Armin called from the kitchen. Well… Eren thought. That would explain why the light coming through the blinds is getting fainter.

Mikasa glanced over at Eren, her fingers rubbing the corner of her scarlet scarf. "How is your work going Eren?" Eren shrugged, pulling his head off the back of the couch so he could actually look Mikasa in the eye. "It's going good," Eren said. "I've got a new case and I've been paired with this man," Eren gestured to Levi. "This is Detect-" Mikasa shook her head, waving her hand up and down.

"I already know him. He's helped with some of the cases I've worked. I introduced him to Armin while we were waiting for you to answer the door." Eren nodded slowly, his eyes sliding over to Levi, who was picking idly at his thumbnail and staring at the coffee table. Huh... didn't know

"Well, I've been working on unencrypting the man's computer and files. I just set Breaker on the hard drive. Most of the files should be accessible within a few hours, a day at the most." Levi turned his head towards Eren, an eyebrow raised, "Breaker?" Eren nodded, "Breaker is this program that I designed-"

"With the help of your genius best friend," Armin interrupted, his head appearing in the doorway of the kitchen, a blue cup in one hand and a metal spoon in the other.

Eren rolled his eyes with a grin, "Yes Armin, you helped me with what might have been five minutes worth of coding. Anyways, Breaker is designed to unencrypt information, find patterns in documents in order to break codes, and such. Armin coerced me into calling it Breaker." The blonde boy emerged from the kitchen, almost like talking about him had called him, carrying a tray with four coffee cups; a blue, red, green, and gray cup.

"Levi, I wasn't sure how you like your coffee so I just brought some creamer and sugar out for you." Levi waited for everyone else to take their mugs before he picked the gray one up, ignoring the handle and grasping the rim of the cup. "Black is fine," he murmured, sipping at the dark liquid, steam curling around his face.

Eren let out a sigh of exasperation. Why does it seem that he's nice to everyone excluding me? Well, nice isn't exactly the word I would use there. It's more like he's less… agitated at them. Because God knows I did something to piss this man off within five minutes of meeting him, both at the store and at the station. They sat in an awkward silence for several minutes, sipping at their coffee and glancing around, waiting for someone to break the ice that had settled upon the conversation. "So Mikasa, how is your latest case coming along?" Perhaps that would be a good way to start another conversation. Anything to alleviate the awkward aura was fine at the current point. Mikasa absently tapped the side of her red coffee cup thoughtfully with her fingernail, her pale gray eyes roaming around the room.

"It's going well. We've finished accumulating all the evidence needed in order to land the suspect a ten to fifteen year sentence." Levi glanced up at the mention of the case, his eyes on Mikasa. "Would that be the Elwood case?" Mikasa nodded and tapped the side of her cup again before she set it down on the end table beside her chair. "Yes. And thank you for the help you gave us on the case. You found some extremely important evidence to help us."

Levi shrugged and set his cup down on his knee. "Thank Hanji; she was the one to do the rape kit after all. The only thing I did was to suggest that you look for it considering the bruising around the wrists and mouth." He glanced over at Eren. "Do you think you'll have all of the data unencrypted by tomorrow morning?" "Probably," Eren said, shifting uncomfortably at the gray-eyed man's scrutiny. It felt more like he was being sized up like he was an object for sale rather than a person who had just been asked a question.

"It depends on how much has been encrypted and coded." Levi nodded, "Good… I'd rather not wait for ages for this to be over with." Eren felt his fingers clench unconsciously and he struggled to refrain from throwing punches. Irvin would not be very happy if he suddenly attacked one of his detectives, no matter how provoked Eren felt. It was the same way when it came to the spats between himself and Jean, that crazy ass bastard.

"So…" Armin said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a green tin in an attempt to distract the two males from exchanging more snarky remarks. "Who wants cookies?"

Eren leaned back on the couch, stretching his stiff arms and legs, cracking his fingers one by one. He rolled his neck from one side to the other, stretching out the tight muscles that had stiffened in the last eight hours. Levi had only stayed long enough to chat with Mikasa about her case and to ask Armin about a new invention the blonde was working on before departing with, throwing thanks over his shoulder on the way out.

Mikasa and Armin had left ten minutes after Levi. Eren could tell that Mikasa wasn't exactly pleased with how Levi was treating him but he shrugged off her worries and threats directed towards the shorter man. He just couldn't wrap his head around how civil Levi could be around everyone excluding himself of course.

Eren leaned forwards once again, his eyes night-blind from staring at the laptop screens in total darkness since he had turned the lights out around six hours ago. He dropped his pencil down beside his computer. If I never have to write anything else, it will be far too soon, he thought, flexing his hand slowly as the muscles screamed in relief, which had cramped to what felt like the point of no return from the long hours of copying down information. Admittedly, he could have just typed all of the information he had found so far but he was paranoid about his computer breaking down at the worst times, leaving him with nothing but excuses and hopes of getting his computer repaired for a cheap price without having to replace half of it and losing all of the memory on it.

One of the few good things that had occurred in the past few hours was that he had discovered that Masters had neglected to encrypt most of the information within the encrypted folders. Only three folders had encrypted data within them. Eren had pushed those to be run through last, allowing him to access the information immediately ready for examination.

Most of it was information on the Swedish Mafia, ranging from how to identify various sectors of the group to a list of contacts in case heavy-duty weapons or sixty pounds of cocaine were needed at any time. Why anyone would need sixty freaking pounds of cocaine, I have no idea, Eren thought, shaking his mouse and pulling up the copies of the information he had made. Levi and Irvin would probably want copies of all of it, not just the information that Eren had deemed important.

So help me God, if I get any viruses on my laptop Levi will be paying for a new one. Three o'clock is an absolutely lovely time to be awake. Eren stood, leaving the laptops running. Breaker would hopefully finish within the next few hours, which would give Eren at least four hours of sleep. I am so glad I have a day off tomorrow, Eren thought as he stumbled through the dark apartment, hand outstretched so that way he could feel the walls before he ran face-first into them.

He found his bedroom within a few moments and threw himself on top of the haphazardly made bed, not bothering with turning the lights on, undressing, or getting under the covers. Eren shut his eyes and sank into the sweet, blissful surrender of sleep, letting the frustration and other pent-up emotions of the day dissipate into the air as a dark wave dragged him down.

Levi tapped his foot in irritation, glaring at Eren's door for a moment before raising his hand again to pound on the wooden door. He slammed his fist down four times, almost as if the door had committed a personal offense to him, before he raised his right hand in irritation, glancing at the watch. It is 6:42. What the Hell could that brat be doing!?

He raised his hand again, ready to take out his irritation on Eren's door, hopefully by punching a hole through it, when it was pulled open. Eren poked his head out through the crack, revealing a face heavy with sleep and exhaustion, with deep bags under his green-gold eyes and hair like he had a rat nesting in it. "What?" Eren mumbled, covering his mouth to half-heartedly conceal a yawn. "I didn't request a wakeup call."

Levi snorted and rolled his eyes. "Wait, don't tell me. You stayed up all night having sex with strange women instead of actually working."

Eren stared at him uncomprehendingly for several long moments before his eyes widened and his face flushed, "W-what?" His voice shot up higher than normal, embarrassment and shock coloring the single word. "I can't believe you would think that. But no, I didn't have sex. I was up till a couple of hours ago working… going through files… Most of what I wrote down is accurate… I think." The words were punctuated with yawns.

"Go get some sleep Eren. I can look over the files myself." Eren complied, turning around and leaving the door open behind him for Levi to come in as he staggered back into the apartment. Levi shut the door with a click, watching as Eren bumped into the back of the couch before clumsily hiking a leg over the back of it and pulling other leg over before he laid down. His feet ended up dangling over the arm of the couch, the only part of his body visible anymore. Levi rolled his eyes. People these days…

He examined Eren's apartment again, his eyes sweeping over the layout he had memorized for the most part the night before. There were two black chairs sitting on opposite ends of a darkly stained wooden coffee table with a gray couch between the two, facing the wall where a shelved stand stood, containing books, assorted picture frames, and a small, crappy looking television. Levi walked further into the small apartment, cautious of making any noise. He rounded the couch and glanced down at Eren; the boy was already out cold, his mouth parted slightly as he breathed slowly and rhythmically. Levi approached the bookcase, peering at the pictures with only slight interest.

One held the picture of a man and woman standing together, the man's arm wrapped around the woman. They had dark brown and black hair respectively, both with brown eyes and relatively tall. The man stared stoically outwards, a small smile tugging at the edge of his lips while the woman was smiling broadly, looking excited about something. Probably his parents… Levi thought absently, his eyes sliding to another picture.

This one had the man and woman again, but this time it held two children, a boy and a girl. The girl was pale, with black hair that was cut about chin-length and cool gray eyes. The bright red scarf wrapped around her neck and the lower half of her mouth identified her as Mikasa. Every time Levi had seen her she was wearing that scarf, no matter how hot it got. The boy next to her was tan, his dark brown hair half-heartedly brushed out of the way of his green-gold eyes. Definitely Eren, Levi thought. Although I didn't know he and Mikasa were related… Adopted maybe? Or perhaps step-siblings… it's not my business either way.

He straightened up suddenly and turned away and looked at the coffee table. There were two laptops, one large and gray, and the other relatively small and a glossy black, sat side by side, a small pile of papers stacked somewhat neatly beside the black one, a textbook beneath them and a black pen on top. A small round vase painted a glossy black and stuffed with delicate white flowers sat behind the computers. They were probably a gift from a girlfriend, not that Eren seemed like the type to have a girlfriend, let alone one that could stand such an irritating brat like him.

Levi picked up the stack of papers and scanned the words at the top of the first page: Gray laptop – Masters. Copies of all information located on my hard drive – will finish examining at a later point.

Levi carefully picked up the gray laptop and set it down on the edge of the coffee table. He sat down in the chair in front of the laptop and put his ankle on his knee and skimmed through the pages. Most of it was eligible, but the further back his got, the more cramped and shaky the writing became until it resembled something along the lines of mostly unreadable scribbles, obviously done while Eren was half asleep. That coupled with the pen marks that trailed down the paper and the spots where letters suddenly jerked in directions they were normally not written in tipped Levi off.

What an idiot, Levi thought as he settled down to read through the papers. He glanced up at Eren and frowned. He sighed and set the papers back down so he could sneak through Eren's apartment, searching for the boy's bedroom. It took him a minute or two to locate the bedroom and another minute to extract a blanket from on top of the haphazardly-made bed. Note to self: kill Irvin later for letting him force this case onto me.

There was something tickling Eren's nose when he slowly emerged from the cocoon of sleep, assaulting his nose like the sharp scent of coffee that hung in the air. Both brought the feeling of the need to sneeze to mind but it passed after a few moments. Whatever was tickling his nose was soft and fuzzy, made up of many strands. Eren opened his eyes and shifted slightly.

He looked down towards his nose first, his eyes crossing as he stared at the tasseled edges of the blanket that had been draped over his body. Since when was I covered by a blanket? There was a clunk, the sound of someone setting a heavy cup down onto a wooden surface. Eren raised his head and blinked blearily at the chair to the left of his head.

Levi sat in the chair, Master's laptop resting on his legs, the textbook balanced on the arm of the chair. Eren watched as Levi glanced up at the computer screen, the black pen in his left hand moving fluidly across the paper as he copied tidbits of information down. His eyes watched the hand move across the paper, oddly elegant for such a seemingly crass man like Levi. It was strangely hard to tear his eyes away. I blame that on the stress of dealing with this guy. Levi glanced up at him.

"You're awake." Levi set the pen down and put the textbook on the end table to the right of the chair, careful to not knock over the gray coffee cup and the small lamp with its cream-colored shade. "Good. It's almost noon." Eren sat up slowly, the blanket falling away from him. He ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes sliding over to Levi. The other man set Master's laptop on the coffee table and stretched, his joints cracking audibly. "Be ready in ten minutes. We're going down to the station."

Eren swung his legs off of the couch, tossing the soft emerald green blanket to the side and stood. "Is there any chance of eating lunch before we go?" Levi nodded and stood,

"Is Starbucks good with you? It's on the way to the station, which makes it slightly more convenient. Plus I refuse to eat fast food as a general rule."

"Sure, it doesn't matter to me," Eren said. "I'll be back in a moment." He ducked into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against the door and sighed, his eyes fixed on his ceiling. I hate mornings… afternoons… days in general to be honest.

Eren picked at the cardboard encircling his cup, his eyes flickering from the white lid to Irvin and Levi, who were sitting at the same desk as yesterday, peering at Irvin's computer. Apparently I have become the third wheel now that I am no longer useful. This is fucking fantastic. I should have just crawled back into bed for a few more hours. Fuck, I shouldn't have even bothered answering the door this morning. Eren bit his lip, holding back a sigh of irritation.

He spun around in the chair, his head resting on the chair's back. The ceiling spun round and round and round, becoming a meaningless, slow-moving blur above him. "… en… ren… Eren… hey, earth to Eren!" Eren jerked to a stop, a foot catching on his leg. Eren jerked and his head snapped back, his eyes focusing on the irritated raven-haired man who was glaring at him.

"What?" His cheeks colored with embarrassment, turning a color that Eren was positive would not have looked out of place on Mikasa's scarf. Levi sighed and tapped the top of the desk, irritation almost visibly dripping from his pores.

"As I was saying," he growled, "Masters appears to have originated from the Swedish Mafia. More specifically, he was a part of the espionage unit, which is represented by a raven tattoo, typically located on the heel of the left foot. Apparently they sent him to infiltrate a gang, which he naturally refrained from mentioning by name. The gang he was infiltrating obviously realized that he wasn't actually one of them and had him disposed of."

"Wonderful," Eren said, "Was all of this in the last three folders?"

"Most of it," Levi said, his voice thick with exasperation. "We still don't know who or what group might be behind this though. The only concrete evidence we have is what Masters managed to dig up on his fellow mafia members. And there is also the slight problem of one of the folders still being encrypted. I suppose even your program has problems occasionally."

Eren's eyes shot over to Levi, boring into the side of the other man's head, who apparently failed to notice his shock. That's odd... what kind of an encryption could he have put on it? I've never had a problem before… Maybe he used an eternity code. God, I hope he didn't. That's going to be a bitch to work out.

Irvin leaned away from the desk and sighed, kneading his forehead with one hand as he glared at the laptop screen. "We don't have enough right now," he said, his perpetual frown deepening. "The only thing I really can do is notify the FBI and or the Swedish government about the information we have managed to acquire, no matter how little. The only problem is that when I do notify them, they'll take every copy of this information that they can get their hands on."

Levi ejected Eren's flash drive and held it out for Eren to take. "They won't get it all…" Levi said, "Not so long as we don't let them know about the flash drive."

"Um, is that technically legal?"

Both men looked at Eren. Irvin shook his head, smiling slightly, while Levi simply opted to stare at Eren, his gray eyes full of disdain, "Technically, no. Does it look like I care?"

Chapter 2: End

Alright guys, another chapter is out! I hope you all are enjoying it so far and I hope you continue to do so. Another chapter will be out within 2-3 days. I forgot to put this in the last chap but
I do not own SnK/AoT or the characters. Hajime Isayama bears all the rights to those.
Now that I've taken care of that, I bid you adieu.