Yay! They're getting Eren back... unlike in the manga. Hopefully next (manga) chapter we get some Badass Eren Ain't Takin' Your Shit Anymore with a solid helping of Ackerman Ass Whoopin'
So I save my ALYNA docs both on my OneDrive so that if my computer kicks it (I swear it's going to be any day now) I don't lose everything. This means that I've been breaking it up into chunks so that it can upload faster when I save changes and this chapter marks me needing to start a third ALYNA doc since I do them in 25 chapter chunks. How freaking crazy is that?
Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
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Thus far they had only run into a couple of rats. The first one had spooked the four of them given the tense atmosphere; but after that they barely reacted. They had decided that Ymir should be the one to lead given her appearance and – if necessary – her razor-sharp claws. Mikasa had taken up the rear and Sasha and Krista walked abreast between the other two. They kept silent as they moved; rats weren't the only things in the tunnels.
"I think we're getting close." Krista's voice was barely above a whisper. "Dr. Scientist said that it shouldn't take much longer than twenty minutes and we're coming up on that now."
"Well, everyone keep their eyes peeled for some sort of entrance." Mikasa's voice was authoritative and more forceful than Krista's had been and there was a faint echo of it within the tunnel. The four of them walked a bit faster, eager to leave the tunnels and to rescue their friends. It took only another few minutes before they were standing outside of a large metal door.
"It looks pretty rusty. We should be care –" Sasha's words were cut off by Mikasa grabbing the door and wrenching it open, the hinges groaning loudly.
"Good going there. I don't think anybody heard that." Ymir's voice was sarcastic and Mikasa leveled a glare at her.
Sasha aimed the flashlight upwards, illuminating a dusty and rubble-covered concrete stairway. As they steadily made their way up the stairs they had to clear planks of wood and step around piles of broken bricks and chunks of concrete. They stopped at the landing at the top where there was another heavy metal door. This one looked like it would fall off with just a light push given that the hinges were barely holding. This time, Krista moved to open it but Ymir caught her wrist and stopped her.
"What's wrong?"
"It smells like explosives."
"Great. Not that I don't want to find Eren and Marco, but if those lunatics have a ton of explosives then I really wish the Survey Corps found them." Sasha set her jaw and took a deep breath before turning towards Ymir. "Can you tell how big of a collection they have?"
"It smells more like…" Ymir paused for a moment. "It smells like a lot of explosives have already been used."
"We aren't going to just sit here and guess about things. Now come on." Mikasa barely pushed on the door before it was falling outwards.
The four of them stared in shock at the open pit that they had just walked into, clearly the footprint of a demolished building. Most of the building's remains had been cleared away, but there were still substantial piles of rubble. The four of them moved further out into the pit, staring around at the empty space.
"This didn't happen in the last twenty-four hours."
"No shit." Mikasa snapped at Krista and turned to walk away.
"That is no fucking way to talk to Krista." Ymir stepped in Mikasa's path and blocked her, glaring at her furiously.
"Hey guys, look we're all pretty pissed off okay?"
"Shut the hell up, Sasha."
"We get it. Your brother is missing and so is Marco. They are both our friends, so how about the two of you calm the fuck down and we can figure out what to do next." Sasha's eyes flicked between Ymir and Mikasa, hoping that they would back down before she and Krista would need to get involved.
Ymir put her hands up in a gesture of truce before backing off a few steps. Mikasa continued to scowl and turned suddenly to the side, slamming her fist into a piece of concrete. They all watched as the human-sized chunk of concrete fractured into pieces.
Levi was grateful that the majority of the fourth floor was being used as a storage space, the stacked crates offering ample cover as he moved around, allowing him to avoid anyone he came across. As much of a bonus as the extra cover was, it was also a severe detriment to being able to search the floor thoroughly or find a set of stairs to the third floor. He ended up winding through some areas of the maze of crates more than once before finally finding an exit.
When he finally found the stairs (and an elevator) there was someone already standing there leaning up against a stack of crates and facing away from Levi. I could take them down pretty easily, but then I'd have to hide them somewhere and who the fuck knows how long I'm going to be in this place. They shifted around and Levi was forced to duck slightly further down behind the crates. He listened to their movements and stayed still for a few minutes, hoping that they would move away. When they still hadn't moved a few minutes later, he decided to give it up as a lost cause and try to find another way down to the third floor. As he turned to leave he realized that he recognized the crates. These look a hell of a lot like the crates they've been moving around down at the docks. Guess I should probably take a closer look this time around.
Levi moved back through the maze of crates, giving them a cursory glance for any distinguishing markings or one that might be easier to open. He focused intently on the noises around him; the thrum of a ventilation system, the skittering and squeaking of rats and mice below the floorboards and the occasional cough or sneeze identifying the rough location of a Titan. When he was in a more secluded location, he started to look at the crates more thoroughly. It didn't take much longer for him to find a couple of boxes that had their contents marked on a label and a feeling of dread slowly took hold of him as he stared at the words. He touched at his wrist briefly to activate their separate radio channel and spoke only as loudly as he dared.
"Hawk here. Found multiple crates of explosives. Quantity and class unknown. Over."
"Squad one copies." There was no second confirmation from Mike or Nanaba and Levi glanced at his watch. They won't be out of the tunnels for another five or ten minutes. I'll repeat it then if Erwin or Hanji doesn't call it first.
Levi continued to make his way around, looking for another set of stairs, now more anxious than ever to get everything over with and get out. Thankfully it didn't take too much longer to find an exit that lead him down to the next floor. While he was glad to no longer be in a room that had an unknown quantity of explosives in it, he realized as he cracked the door open that there was almost no cover in the hallways, save some metal shelves shoved haphazardly against the walls. Levi opened the door a little wider to further inspect the area. The floors were made of old wide-cut planks that didn't lay completely flat. Fantastic. That's going to be fun to try and walk on quietly. The walls were a dingy grey-yellow that might have been dirty white or another color just faded out. Chunks of plaster from the wall had fallen and crumbled on the ground, revealing the wooden laths beneath and leaving patches of dusty white powder on the floor. So I guess there's pretty much no way to move undetected is there? This fucking blows.
He fully exited the stairwell, grateful that the hallways were empty at the moment and moved forward cautiously, listening for signs of other people. Behind one door Levi could hear the slight movements of someone walking around slowly and pausing periodically. Probably someone on a patrol or some shit. I could avoid them, but it might actually be worth it to bump into someone. Levi opened the door cautiously, checking to see where they were facing. Realizing that they were facing away from him, Levi moved quickly; the radio was out of the other person's hand before they even had a chance to even raise it to call for help. They turned to face him, their body slack with shock and their face obscured by the warped features of a Titan mask. Levi took advantage of their unsteady posture and managed to quickly bring them to their knees and get them into a headlock.
"You have two kids. Where the fuck are they?" Levi slackened his grip slightly as they tapped frantically at his arm.
"Down the hall. Only two doors. It's on the right. Probably three of our guys." Their voice was raspy from Levi's grip, but also painfully young. "Please don't kill me."
Levi didn't answer and tightened his grip again until they went unconscious. He rose from the floor and was about to walk away but found himself caught there for a moment. Bending back down, Levi took the mask off of the unconscious body. Jesusfuck. He's even younger than the fucking kids that he helped to kidnap. He placed the mask back down next to the body and quickly made his exit.
The hallway was still mercifully empty and Levi followed the simple instructions that he had been given. There were indeed only two doors and he took a moment to listen at the left one first. Hearing that there was nobody he chanced a quick look in; there was only dim illumination coming from the streetlights outside the boarded up windows. As his eyes scanned across the room they caught on a chair with restraints on it and he suppressed a shiver. I am getting those two fuckers and we are getting the fuck out of here as soon as fucking possible. Stepping backwards and letting the door close quietly behind him, Levi crouched to listen at the door across the hall.
"…didn't know anything." Okay, that's one person.
"All of this was kind of a waste then, wasn't it?" Two.
"Not entirely."
"Well he was pretty fun to knock around."
"I guess if you're into that." And that's three.
Levi leaned back from the door, debating how he wanted to handle entering the room. After a weighing his options for a moment he stood up and firmly knocked on the door.
"Jesus Christ, Jackson. You seriously forget your key again?" Levi grinned to himself as he listened to the footsteps of one person coming closer to the door. When he heard them stop he waited for the handle to begin to shift before throwing all of his weight forward into the door. The thud of it hitting the other person's face and the quiet crunching noise of their nose being broken gave Levi a small amount of satisfaction. He paid them no mind as they dropped to the floor. Okay then, only two left now. With the both of them frozen in shock at his sudden and violent entrance, Levi was able to take one of them down almost immediately with a stun gun before the final person was able to move. That person also unfortunately seemed to be the only one who actually knew how to fight. Not in the mood to draw it out for any longer than necessary, Levi blocked a few punches before he was able to catch their wrist. Wrist in hand, he gave it a harsh snap and quickly shoved his other hand over the mouth of their mask and used his thumb under their jaw to keep their mouth closed and stop them from yelling. He held the position for a moment, their arm pulled forward as he pushed back on their face before sweeping their legs from under them and sending them crashing backwards to the floor. The dull thud of their head hitting the wooden floor hung in the room.
Levi didn't bother to check for a pulse on any of them before making a quick search of the room. There were two other doors besides the entrance and Levi was putting his money on the heavy door with the padlock on the outside being the one he was looking for. It only took a quick search of the three groaning and hopefully-breathing bodies to find a ring of keys. Anxious as he was to grab the two kids and get the hell out, he unlocked and opened the door cautiously, uncertain as to what might be on the other side.
It was only on instinct that he managed to dodge the person that hurled themselves forward at him. As the partially-crouched form turned to pounce on him again, Levi noticed their uneasy footing and quickly had them laid out on their ass and staring up at him.
"Eren?"
"…Levi?" The look on Eren's face was disoriented as he stared and blinked slowly.
"What the hell did you charge at me for?" Levi paused a moment and took a moment to study Eren. "Okay never mind, more relevant questions. One, did you really just try to shank me with a rusty nail? Two, what the fuck happened to your hands? Three, where the hell is Marco?"
"Those are all related… I think." Eren squinted upwards but made no move to get up. "I thought you were one of those fuckers. I pulled a nail out of the window sill because Marco and I were going to shatter the glass on the window and escape. And Marco… they took him somewhere else. Definitely yesterday since it happened when it was still light out. What time is it anyway?"
"After midnight. Give me a moment." Levi touched at his wrist and turned slightly before beginning to speak again. "Hawk here. Primary acquired, secondary is still MIA. Squad two: explosives of unknown quantity and type were found on the fourth floor. Over."
"Squad one copies!"
"Squad two copies. We only just surfaced so we'll be moving fast to catch up. Over."
"How do we want to handle extraction? I only have our primary." Levi's brow furrowed at the silence that followed and his head jerked up as the sound of something heavy hitting the floor came from above them. "Please advise."
"Stick to the –" Hanji cut themselves off suddenly and there was a pause. "New instructions: Get clear, then radio for extraction."
"Wilco. Hawk out." Levi turned back to fully face Eren.
"What about Mikasa and my friends? They aren't involved at all?"
"Technically, yes. Actually, no."
"And what the hell does that mean?"
"We figured out where you were being held and we sent them somewhere else."
"They're going to be pissed."
"And they're all going to be safe. Or did you miss the part where I said there are a shit ton of explosives upstairs?"
"You said you didn't know how much." Eren tried to stand up and immediately stumbled and leaned against the wall for support. He tried to move again and this time Levi grabbed his arm as he fell forward, stopping him from falling face first onto the floor.
"Fine. Upstairs is jampacked with crates and I'm pretty sure more than half of them are full of explosives."
"And your teammates don't need to know that?" Levi helped to steady Eren as he stood up fully again, staying close in case he fell another time.
"The moment explosives are mentioned you're on high alert. Quantity doesn't matter. You just assume shit can go south quickly." Eren stopped and put his hand on the wall to stabilize himself and brought the other to his mouth, his face growing paler. "Are you okay?"
"Not… not really. Nauseous and dizzy. They drugged me with something and questioned me. It's really fuzzy."
"Looks like you got knocked around a bit too."
"Yeah. How bad does it look?"
"Your hands look worse. What the fuck did you do to them again?"
"Pulled a nail out of a window sill."
"Fucking gross." Eren's mouth was open and he was halfway to making an angry comment when Levi grabbed Eren's left arm and pulled it over his own shoulder. "Can you at least stand up and not fall on your ass like this?"
"Yeah." Eren stopped leaning against the wall and stabilized his weight against Levi. "Um, yeah, this works."
"Good, because I want to get the fuck out of here as fast as possible." Levi hefted Eren's left arm up further and hooked his right arm behind Eren's back to further stabilize him. The two of them moved slowly past the three still-not-quite-conscious bodies as they exited into the other room.
Levi could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising as they walked into the still-empty hallway.
"There isn't anyone here?" Eren's turned his head slightly to face Levi, confusion evident on his face.
"Something's not right."
They paused; the air in the hallway was still and uneasy and eerily calm and was completely shattered when a shockwave rippled through the building. As he was thrown off-balance Eren put all of his weight onto Levi, unbalancing him as well and pulling the both of them to the ground. The dim lighting from the streetlights outside made the dust particles in the air spark and reflect, giving the hallway the illusion of being filled with lightly falling snow. The both of them stayed down for a moment longer, waiting.
"What the fuck was that?"
"An explosion. Somewhere lower." Brief concern flitted over Levi's face before resolving back to his usual neutral expression. "We need to leave and contact for an extraction."
"What about everyone else? Are you serious?"
"Yes. Now get up and –" Levi's ankle buckled as he stood and he ended up mimicking Eren's earlier action of stumbling into a wall. "Fuck."