END GAME

Chapter 14: Critical Error

Eren sat the green coffee mug down on the coffee table with a soft clack, steam rising over the rim from the light-brown liquid within. He dropped backwards onto the couch, thankful that he didn't miss it. It had happened once before when he had misjudged the distance. Armin had brought that up for months afterwards whenever he could. Eren tapped one of the keys on his laptop and leaned back for a few moments, his gaze fixed firmly on the ceiling. The laptop began to hum and buzz quietly as it started up.

His mind began to drift around as he waited for it to completely start up. Mikasa's almost done with her new case… What was it about? Oh, right, two guys in their twenties charged for attempting to rob a convenience store. She won't be able to talk since she's getting the final touches on her closing statement tomorrow. Armin certainly won't be able to talk since his face is probably attached to Annie's. Or maybe they are just watching a movie. It's hard to tell with him sometimes…

It would have been nice to have someone to distract him from the case. He and Levi had been unable to find out anything else earlier, but he might still be able to unearth something during the night before he went to the station in the morning to go over some last minute details and arrange the patrols for tomorrow night.

Levi had sketched out a rough draft before Eren had hastily left the station only hours earlier. It was a horrible sketch, with lumpy square-like circles representing the patrol cars, wavering lines that barely resembled straight lines, let alone streets, and crude boxes to represent the buildings. The only things on the rough draft that have looked decent were the little X's that represented the officers and their respective positions. That had led to Levi snarling at Eren, his exact words being: "I'm a damn detective, not a fucking art major!"

Eren chuckled at the memory and raked his hands through his hair, messing it up even more than it had been prior to the touch of the careless hands. Being around Levi… it was confusing under half of the circumstances, distracting the other half. He's infuriating; he's confusing; he's irritable; he's smart; he's hot; he's – I really need to stop this train of thoughts before it gets too far. His computer let out a string of notes as it finished starting up, the usual popups of Windows Live Messenger and a Java update begging for attention appearing on the screen.

Eren closed both of the windows and opened one of the folders that cluttered the desktop. He clucked his tongue, shaking his mouse around aimlessly before he minimized the folder and opened another one. A shift and click of the mouse had the scroll bar going down a little bit before he reached the bottom of the folder. Eren double-clicked the program and waited patiently for it to load.

A small white window popped up, just a small blank square across the center of his screen for a few minutes before it disappeared, only to be replaced by a window that was actually capable of being manipulated. Eren maximized the program's window and waited for the last of the information to load. The Breaker program finally finished loading, only the small blue circle in the upper left hand corner signifying that it was actually still doing something. A white line swept through the circle, moving in a clockwise motion, reminiscent of radars or of some types of loading circles. Eren looked at the status bar beside of the circle. 68% of 100% complete.

Eren ran his hand over his jaw, the slight stubble growing there scratching at his palm. If it had taken almost three weeks to get up to sixty-eight percent, there was a possibility that the decoding wouldn't finish up for at least one to two more weeks. That was one to two weeks that they didn't have. Hell, they barely had a single day, and that was just to prevent another double homicide. That wasn't even counting the unpredictable kidnappings that were occurring, scattered across the city with no rhyme or reason for why these children would be the victims.

An angry breath blew out of his nose and Eren kicked the leg of the coffee table, sending the vase of carnations wobbling. His arm shot out and stabilized the vase before it could tip and sending water and withering flowers all over his computer, table, and floor. Eren sighed and minimized the program, leaving it to chip away at the eternity-esque code. Who knew how much longer it would take to crack? Hopefully it would crack before any drastic changes occurred, like another change in the pattern. Maybe whatever that folder was holding would give them an idea of their plans, maybe it wouldn't. Eren could only hope that this wouldn't be a hit-or-miss occurrence, because God knew they needed a boon for this case.

He pressed his palms together and pressed his forefingers to his lips, leaning back and blowing a breath out against his fingers as he stared at the screen, his thoughts tumultuous despite the calm outwards appearance which he bore. Eren bit his lip and rose from the couch. He made his way to the bathroom for two things, two things he kept swearing he wouldn't touch. The bottle of sleeping pills was only half full. The razor still had a smattering of blood staining the otherwise clear metallic surface. A wry smile crossed his lips. It's a twisted life I lead.

"Jean Kirschtein, you will be in a group with Sasha Braus, Mary Louis, Gabe Harrow, and Brian Singer. You five will be patrolling Sun Street. Thomas Wagner, you will be in a group with Vivian Moore, Britt Helm, Alec Conrad, and Sarah West. You five will be patrolling Treble Street. Connie Springer, you will be in a group with Mina Carolina, Derek Little, Ginger Smith, and Gabriel Hawthorn. You five will be patrolling Starfall Street. If you don't recognize the names of some of the people in your group, that is because they are from the Yalkell District. Those were all that they could pull together for this, but the curfew has already been set and will hopefully be enforced by the remaining officers of the Yalkell District."

Levi watched as Irvin passed out the folders to the five officers that had either been selected or had volunteered for the patrol. He would talk to them himself but Irvin had a way with people that kept the debates to a dull roar without threatening to strangle them. Thomas still appeared to be nervous around him after the last time he had tried to handle a group of officers on his own. It's because they're all morons… Petra, Oluo, Erd, and Gunther were the people I would have picked. Damn Irvin for not letting me borrow his best officers.

On top of that, Irvin wouldn't let either Levi or Eren go out on the patrols either. That was excusable in Eren's case since the man probably still didn't even know how to hold a gun, much less fire one without nailing himself in the foot. That, however, did not excuse Irvin's resolution of keeping him out of the fray. Irvin knew God damn well what he was capable of, but no, that blonde bastard wanted him back at the station.

Levi shifted his weight and leaned back on the edge of a desk so he could cross his ankles. Eren stood beside him, his eyes darting around, his mouth sealed shut for once. That seemed to be happening more often as of late, although Levi was unsure as of why. "Are we allowed to shoot on sight?" The question came from Jean Kirschtein.

"Only if they resist arrest or reveal a firearm or weapon of any kind. Otherwise, you are to refrain from shooting anyone until they can be identified as either a suspect or someone out past curfew. It would be nice if you refrained from shooting the civilians though. It would certainly give me less paperwork to deal with."

Levi snorted. Of course Irvin would care about the paperwork right alongside of the civilians. Eren's head cocked towards Levi, a questioning look on the young man's face. Levi shook his head, his lips turned in both half of an exasperated grimace and half of a miniscule smile. There was no point in explaining and Levi didn't want to give Irvin the chance to drag out the briefing any longer by repeating himself because he felt that he couldn't be heard or some shit like that. Sometimes Irvin could be almost as infuriating as Hanji, and that was a high bar that Hanji had set too.

"Your groups will be patrolling the assigned street. If there are any problems you are to shoot a flare into the air and wait for backup, using any means necessary to control the situation till help arrives, but try to exercise caution while doing so." Irvin pulled the box of flares off of the desk behind him. They rarely used flares, but Levi knew that Irvin believed in being prepared for every scenario. The blonde even offered a special bomb defusing class on weekends sometimes.

"We will be giving you flares that will produce some light so that they will be visible once they are fired. Green is for if you have successfully captured a suspect. This does not include civilians. Based on Levi and Eren's theories, there are several suspects. Anyone travelling in groups should be immediately stopped and a flare should be launched as soon as possible. Yellow is if one or more of the suspects has managed to escape. Point the flare in the direction of where they are headed and backup will adjust accordingly. Use red if the situation turns hostile in any way."

The five officers nodded silently, their eyes fixed on Irvin. None of them had used flares before so it was vital that they pay attention. "The Yalkell officers are getting the same rundown so there's no need to explain anything to them. Are there any questions?" All five shook their heads. "Good. Now go start preparing for tonight – it's going to be a long one. You are expected to be ready by six, so take care of what you need to by then. Anyone later than six will be left behind and can expect consequences." The five nodded solemnly at Irvin's words and stood, tucking the folders beneath their arms and moving away. Irvin turned to face left, a small smirk on his face. "You could probably do that too if you didn't come off so intimidating."

Levi rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Shut up," he muttered, "I'll go about things like I want to."

The smile held Irvin's lips up for a few moments longer before they dropped down, his face growing serious. "What do you two plan on doing tonight?"

Levi shrugged and looked at Eren, who merely shrugged in response. "We'll probably stay here and see what else we can do concerning finding information. Which means Eren should probably go out and get enough coffee to last us a month or two." He could see the indignant look crossing Eren's face before the brown-haired man smiled and stuck out his tongue and turned away. Levi's eyes tracked Eren as the younger man left the station, a vague feeling of disappointment rattling about in his chest.

Where had the sarcastic replies, the cheery smiles, the witty remarks, and the energetic vibe gone? They had disappeared as of late, instead being replaced by awkward silences and comments, even by Levi's standards. Levi sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. There would be time question that later. For now he needed his mind on the case in hopes that they could iron out a few final details before six o'clock, which was three hours away.

The five selected officers left at five till six. They would remain in contact with Irvin, Levi, and Eren through a network of cellphones and payphones. Levi set sand colored coffee cup onto the desk with a soft clunk and leaned back, his eyes fixed on the board where the map and pictures had been tacked up. Eren joined him a few moments later, a midnight blue cup steaming gently in his hands. "Do you think we've got a chance of getting these Titans tonight?"

Levi shrugged and tapped the desk, his nails clicking away on the hard surface. "I believe we have a chance. We've narrowed down the places to search so at least we know where to look. On top of that, we also have a general idea of when they plan to strike."

Eren nodded and sipped his coffee. That is assuming that they stick to the pattern of course. Levi left the thought unspoken. It was best to hope that they erred and stuck to their pattern. He glanced at the clock; 6:15. It really was going to be a long night, with the uncertainty about the entirety of this damnable operation and the anticipation that tonight could be the beginning of the end for the Titans. Levi wrapped his fingers around the rim of his cup and raised it to his lips, curls of steam wrapping around his face as they rose towards the ceiling.

A square-shaped blur, white and red, shot by the front of his face. Levi reflexively inhaled some of his coffee in surprise, sending it burning down the wrong part of his throat. The object hit his desk with a smack and a soft hiss followed it as it slid across the slick surface. Levi coughed to clear the coffee that had slipped down the wrong pipe before he looked at what had passed his face by; it was a deck of cards. He glared up at Eren who smiled sheepishly in return. "What? I thought it would be a way to pass the time."

Eren, as it turned out, was surprisingly proficient at a variety of card games, bluffing his way with some skill through rounds of poker and showing restraint when they played Black Jack. Irvin had joined them for a few hands of poker when he took a break from his paperwork at around seven. The hands of the clock had slipped on by, seven turning into eight without the reappearance of the blonde man. Levi dealt the cards with practiced ease, creating a third imaginary person to be their dealer.

Despite the lack of money being wagered it was still at least somewhat entertaining. It's been a long time since I played for money… Levi thought absently as he checked his cards; a king and an ace. Oh, Eren was so screwed with this hand. Hell, it's been a long time since I played, period. I suppose you don't lose skills ingrained upon your mind despite the years away.

Eren tapped the desk and Levi passed him a card. The green-eyed man looked at it and groaned. "Damn it! I should have left it as is. I bust," he said as he flipped his cards over, revealing two tens and a five.

Levi flipped his own cards and the cards of their 'dealer' over. "That's because you're an idiot who can't settle for what you've got." Eren stuck his tongue out and swept the cards up again, shuffling them around a bit before tossing them out again. "I'll get you with this hand."

Levi snorted and raised the edges of his cards up. "I'd like to see you try."

Twelve o'clock brought them no news about the patrols aside from the snide reports from Jean about how "nothing is going on aside from our asses falling off from the cold you bastards." A fresh pot of coffee had been made a half hour ago and finished off within fifteen minutes. The cards had been discarded in favor of reading through the reports in Levi's case and reading a book swiped from Petra's desk in Eren's case. Levi couldn't be bothered to look at the book, much less check the title. Whatever it was, Eren seemed to be thoroughly engrossed, his head bowed towards the book and his bright eyes fixed upon the text.

Levi sighed and rubbed his temples, his thumb and forefinger moving in slow, meticulous circles. The night was dragging on more than usual. He had been so focused on making the plans for the night as solid as possible that he hadn't even considered the down time that they would have throughout the night. Levi sighed and shut his eyes. The station was quiet; only the sounds of the nightlife, the rustle of pages, the sound of fingers scratching at fabric and something else.

Levi opened his eyes again. That last noise was recent. He glanced to his right, where the sound was coming from. His eyes focused on Eren, and to be more precise, what Eren was doing. The brown-haired man was scratching at his forearm, a small ring of white visible beneath his long black sleeves near his wrist. Levi watched Eren for a few more moments. He scratching became more incessant, almost desperate, but his eyes were still fixed on the book.

Levi's hand shot out, although whether it was on its own accord or not, he couldn't say. Perhaps it was just instinct that made his hand move to grasp Eren's arm. His fingers curled around Eren's wrist, pulling him from his reverie. Startled green eyes met hard and concerned gray ones that were filled with questions.. A brown eyebrow arched upwards over one of the green eyes, confusion sparking in its depths. "Levi…? Did I do something wrong?"

Eren appeared to not have noticed that Levi was gripping his arm. Levi dug his fingers in and pulled Eren's arm closer so that he could pull the sleeve back with his other hand. White bandages, stark against his tanned skin, were revealed. The bandages were mostly white except for the splotches of red coming through the underside. "What?" Eren said defensively, attempting to tug his arm back to his body, but Levi's strong grip on his arm prevented it from going anywhere.

Levi gripped Eren's shirt collar with his free hand and pulled his face close till they were inches apart. "I thought you healed quickly," Levi hissed, his voice unsettled with worry and anger. "So explain why this isn't. This is the third time I've seen something like this, so either you fall a lot or there's something you aren't telling me."

Eren's face went from tan to a vibrant red and he tried to pull away from Levi, jerking backwards against the tight grasp he couldn't break. "I-It's nothing, I swear! Someone just… they just tripped me when I was walking home. It's just that sometimes these things don't heal." The words spewed from his mouth too quick, eyes shifted around too much, body fidgeted too much to be coincidental. He was lying.

Levi glared at Eren but let him go. Eren pulled back into his seat, clutching his arm to his chest and breathing hard for some reason, his face still crimson. Levi watched as Eren glanced up at him once more before he twisted away, his back facing Levi. Great… I guess he's claustrophobic too. Way to go Levi, real smooth there. Levi let out an angry huff and leaned back, concern creeping up onto his face.

Why are you hurt Eren? Just what are you hiding?

Jean, Mina, Sasha, Connie, and Thomas all dragged themselves in Sunday morning at six o'clock, heavy bags beneath their eyes. Their miserable and agitated faces said it all; no one had showed, not even an innocent civilian out past curfew. By ten o'clock, no news of any double homicides had come in.

It seemed like they had gone back practically to square one, only this time they had more information than they had originally had. It was still frustrating, infuriatingly so. Levi had been forced to resist the urge to start strangling anyone that walked past him for a good thirty minutes after the five officers returned from the failed patrol. "They changed it again," Eren murmured, looking down at the facts that they had accumulated.

Levi could see that the green eyes had long since glazed over from exhaustion and tired confusion. He wasn't even sure if Eren actually comprehended anything he was reading at the moment. "They're smarter than your average criminal group," Levi murmured, scanning over the note again and again. "These Titans keep trying to throw us off their trail. They know we can't keep patrols like that up for extended periods of time. They know exactly what they're doing."

"Maybe… maybe we could get the Yalkell District to see up five man patrols…" Eren's words were punctuated sporadically by gaping yawns. "If we can arrange patrols like that nightly… maybe we'll have a chance at stopping them…"

Levi shook his head, "Have you seen the size of the Yalkell police division in its entirety? It's kind of pathetic really. They can barely field a hundred men and women for the entirety of their district, and you've seen the size of Yalkell. They need every one of those men and women they have just to handle their own cases." Levi shook his head, "We're going to have to handle this on our own for the most part. This should be just fucking lovely."

Sunday night brought them no calls concerning any new kidnappings or double homicides. Eren had left the police station around ten. Getting home had been quite the experience considering he had crashed hard after the surplus of caffeine in his bloodstream finally left him. It was hard enough getting his feet to move in a straight line, let alone to retain his balance. He had no doubt that some might have mistaken him for a drunk on his way home, but Eren couldn't quite bring himself to care at that time. After several attempts, he finally managed to get his apartment door open, barely taking a few moments to lock it behind him before he crashed on the couch, his face pressed into the gray fabric.

He woke up around seven o'clock PM. The dark sky was visible through open curtains, the stars above actually visible. Eren scrubbed his eyes, wiping away the last remnants of sleep before he rose and stumbled into the kitchen on stiff legs. A half pot of coffee and a bowl of cereal later, Eren plopped himself back down on the couch in front of his laptop. He lifted the lid and hit the power button, waiting patiently for it to start up. He closed out Windows Live Messenger and the Java Update popups, going straight for the file containing the Breaker program. He opened it up and sat back to wait once more as it loaded.

His eyes wandered around the apartment, flickering over everything and lingering on nothing. There was nothing of interest to bother keeping his eyes on, no point in even bothering trying to find something. Everything was just so… monotonous. Eren leaned back and sighed, his hands rising to cover his face as he closed his eyes. I'm tired… Not even in the sense that I need to sleep. I'm just… tired.

The case certainly wasn't helping his mind, which felt as fragile as a spider web looked, simply a pattern held together by thin and delicate-looking strands. He could feel it bending, straining, and breaking beneath the pressure of the case, going back to how it had been, regressing. Eren shuddered and clamped his hands on his arms, digging his fingers into the sleeves and the flesh beneath. He could feel them closing in, the walls of his mind. He could feel the dark corners growing with every moment that passed.

A beep, soft but still audible, pulled him from his darkening thoughts, back into the real world. His eyes focused back on the screen. A small popup box had appeared in front of the Breaker program, a red circle with a white X through it on the left hand corner of it. Fuck… This can't be good. His eyes darted across the popup, skimming the text.

A critical error has occurred and has corrupted most to all of the specified data. The corrupted data will now be purged from all locations on this computer.

Eren's jaw went slack, his mouth dropping and his eyes widening. "Fuck!" His hands flew to the keyboard and mouse, bringing up a command prompt for the popup. He entered a line of code: Sorry, an error has occurred. He entered another line of code, his fingers flying across the keyboard: Sorry, an error has occurred. Sorry, an error has occurred. Sorry, an error has occurred. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Again and again and again, no matter how many codes, how many lines he entered, the same message cropped up again and again and again after each input. Failure! That's what the red text screamed at him. That's what the computer screamed at him. That's what his mind screamed at him. Failure, failure, you're nothing but a failure! Sorry, an error has occurred.

The command prompt closed on him before he could begin entering another string of codes, one that would have been a last-ditch attempt to keep the program from shutting down. Eren watched in numb horror as the command prompt disappeared, taking the warning popup with it. The Breaker program disappeared, leaving him with a blank screen. Another small, white window appeared a few moments later, the black text painfully visible against the white background.

A critical error was detected within the system. The system has purged all infected and corrupted files. The total percentage deleted is: 98%. The remaining files have finished decoding and are available for examination.

Eren stared at the screen for a long time, his eyes fixed on the screen but unable to read, to comprehend, the text for almost the entirety of that time. His stomach churned with fury and confusion, building up like a volcano about to erupt. He slammed the lid shut and booked his fingers under the bottom of the laptop. White-hot rage coursed through him, making his thoughts irrational.

A part of his mind knew it, the last shred of rationality within him, but he didn't want to listen to it. The majority of his brain screamed at him to break something, break the source of the horrified rage that filled him. It screamed at him to break the laptop, to take out his frustration on something, anything, that would keep him from doing something far worse. The remaining files have finished decoding and are available for examination.

Eren froze with the laptop suspended halfway up off of the coffee table. The scraps of fury filling him melted away with that single rational thought. He set the laptop back down on the table and took one breath. That wasn't enough to calm him completely so he took another. I can't believe I almost destroyed it. I'm such an irrational idiot. Eren sat still for a few minutes, his eyes shut and his breaths flowing in and out slowly.

He opened his eyes again after a few minutes and lifted the laptop lid, the soft blue glow greeting him once more. The little window was still there, a small light of hope that had remained even after the crushing blow of darkness that had hit moments before. Eren opened the folder that contained the information they had acquired from Masters' computer. Two folders were gone, leaving only one of the encrypted ones in its place. The small lock icon was gone now, the folder accessible for scrutiny. Eren opened it, his body tense and his breath caught in his throat.

A double click of the mouse opened the folder, revealing two documents labeled 'Project Eoten and 'Titans' respectively. Both documents were available for reading. Based on the details given, neither document was over ten kilobytes, nor had they been edited in a long time. Eren clicked on the first document; chary about what corruption it might be carrying but too desperate to not open it. The document window popped up, the text taking a few extra seconds to load before the document completely settled. Eren swallowed nervously and began to read.

Chapter 14: End

Hi darlings~ I hope you enjoyed chapter 14! Haha, I would have had this up an hour sooner, but I ran some ideas through an awesome person~ Before you ask, yes, the information was deleted for a reason. Alright, it's late, the time when I should actually be awake comes too soon, so here we go:

callyrose: Only your niece... XD You're too amusing for your own good sometimes, you know that?
layer14: Haha, I just keep on teasing them, don't I? I hope I clarified things I bit, but just let me know if I didn't and tell me what I can clarify on concerning what we were talking about earlier.
iciruzuka: Mmhmm~
TheOtaku2: Thank you~ I suppose it's because I thought it over for so bloody long XD
blackirishawk: Haha, and there's lots more to come~ As for the last parts... well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?