And so here we have like, 7.3k of notes on what would have been the next arc so hopefully y'all understand why it took me so long to get this together. The next ones should come together a bit sooner (i.e. not three months) but will still take a bit; the final chapter count will be 100 so two more after this! My notes (as you can see) are really fucking detailed and I've found a couple plot holes here and there that I've wanted to fill in.
So from the chapter title you can see that this arc is basically about Marco decrypting the drive that Levi and Eren found and everything that comes out of that. There's so much of this arc that I wish I'd been able to write but I just do not have the time and energy necessary to devote to this and I think once you get through these notes you'll see just how much was left and this isn't even the whole remainder of the story. If you look at the chapter count there are still two more after this one so yeah. Also I'd like to note that 90% of this arc was plotted in Sept/Aug 2014 and ALYNA as a whole has been almost fully plotted since July 2015 so about a year ago now lol
I hope you enjoy reading the "Decrypted" arc as much as I enjoyed plotting it out :)
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Black hat hacker: An individual with extensive computer knowledge whose purpose is to breach or bypass internet security. Black hat hackers are also known as crackers or dark-side hackers.
White hat hacker: A computer security specialist who breaks into protected systems and networks to test and assess their security. White hat hackers use their skills to improve security by exposing vulnerabilities before malicious hackers (known as black hat hackers) can detect and exploit them.
Recruiting Marco
- Eren and Mikasa meet with Jean who is hella pissed that they / the Survey Corps want to ask Marco for help with decrypting the hard drive
- Eventually relents when they fill him in on what's going on / the basics of what happened in Shiganshina
- Makes them promise to not be pushy and that he will ask if Marco is okay meeting them; also makes them promise to be less detailed about what they tell him
- They all go to Marco's house a few days later, planned with Marco so that his parents aren't around at all (he has moved back in with them while undergoing intensive physical therapy, especially since they live in a detached suburban house and Jean and Marco's apartment was not on the ground floor)
- The three of them arrive and speak with Marco; Eren explains the basics of what's up and Mikasa is the one who asks for his help
- Marco is reluctant at first but when Mikasa reveals more about what happened in Shiganshina (e.g. Eren and Levi being shot at – Jean and Eren not happy about that) he agrees to help them
- Jean and Marco have largely patched up their friendship; Jean now drives Marco to his doctor appointments when his parents are unable to
- Marco and Jean are going to "hang out" after his doctors' appts one day (actually going to meet up with the Survey Corps to talk about the hard drive)
- Erwin is all business and brings Marco up to speed on what's going on; Marco asks to take a look at the HD and accompanies Hanji to their workstation
Marco at Work
- Jean and Eren end up sitting at the table together while Marco works and Hanji sits with Marco and gives him a rundown on their workstation as he gets started
- Eren is kinda-sorta watching Erwin and Levi having what is clearly a very tense conversation in the kitchen; Levi looks unhappy with whatever Erwin is saying and Erwin clearly isn't happy about it either
- Levi catches Eren watching them and makes eye contact for a moment before turning back to Erwin who says something brief before leaving the kitchen to go see how Marco is doing
- Jean is visibly uncomfortable as Erwin passes and continues to be when Levi sits down with them, especially when he doesn't say anything and they're all just sitting in silence; eventually asks where the bathroom is and excuses himself
- Eren and Levi are left alone; Eren asks how Levi is doing (no better or worse than the last time he asked – implication that they've kept in touch via text since getting back but haven't seen each other in person)
- Levi asks Eren the same; fewer nightmares but also the result of less sleep because he's working on his thesis (Levi gets grumbly)
- Hanji calls Eren over and Marco asks if there are any words / dates that Grisha may have used as a passcode for accessing the HD
- There are only a set number of attempts (idk maybe ten?) before the drive erases itself and Marco has already used up four trying to access it (set number of characters, numbers-only, I swear I would have researched this more before writing this section)
- Marco tries Eren and Mikasa's birthdays (no luck) and asks about Carla's birthday (also doesn't work); Hanji asks if Eren maybe knows their wedding date (he does not) and so they go to look it up
- Most info about Eren, Mikasa and Carla is gone or obfuscated digitally but Carla and Grisha's wedding date has been fairly specifically been left on-record
- Marco tries the date and is able to successfully decrypt the drive
The Drive Decrypted
- Able to see that there are numerous files and folders but they are each individually locked as well
- So in Microsoft Word you can lock files with alphanumeric passcodes making them a bit more difficult to crack brute force even when you know what you're looking for (e.g. code could be 02June or 02june or 2-june or anything)
- Marco decides to hack the system to get around it (I fucking swear I was seriously going to research this so much more; this is actually pretty difficult to crack)
- Able to get into a couple files and discover that there are some that appear to be digitized copies of physical files
- At this point Marco is too exhausted to continue and they have to pack it in for the day
- Marco jokes that doing this work is doing more for improving fine motor control in his hand than physical therapy has while leaving him way less exhausted (work on giving him an actual personality that isn't wallpaper paste and the source of Jean Angst)
- Jean takes Marco home and Eren hangs back to talk with the SC and look at the couple of files that Marco was able to gain access to
- Some of the files look like digital copies of the ones that were lost in Shiganshina; others were clearly meant to match with specific things (decoding the paper files)
- Levi remarks that it looks like they may have ended up with some of the files they thought had been lost anyway and Erwin agrees but emphasizes that it's sheer luck
- Hanji remarks that they look like medical records but when Eren and Levi take a closer look they realize that these files are actually different from the ones that they had found in the storage locker
- Lost files looked like individuals' records while these look more like groups of individuals and in some cases, coded formulation notes
- Even though only a fraction of the files have been made accessible Hanji wants to show what they already have to Nifa since she's a doctor
- There's not much more to discuss so Levi offers to give Eren a ride home
Ride (Interlude)
- They end up talking a bit more about how they're both holding up now that the atmosphere isn't as tense as it was
- Eren talks a bit more about how his thesis is going and admits that he's decided to put off grad school for a year what with everything that's been happening recently
- Levi's injuries are healing okay and he's sleeping somewhat better; Eren makes a snarky comment about whether or not he's eating actual food
- Eren insists that he should make Levi something as a thanks for everything and Levi comments that he shouldn't plan on making anything too complicated given that he has almost no cooking utensils at his apartment
- Eren is surprised that a) Levi didn't put up any resistance and b) assumed that Eren meant to cook at his apartment and not just hand off already-cooked food
- They make vague plans for some point in the future but mostly Eren is in shock and doesn't really say much for the rest of the drive
The Drive Decrypted (cont'd)
- Marco continues to work on decoding files over the course of a week or two
- Survey Corps getting agitated over something although none of them say anything about it
- Eren has taken to hanging around when Marco is working; Jean stays about half the time but clearly isn't comfortable
- Explains to Eren that it's not just that he's uncomfortable being around the SC, he's trying to put some distance between him and Marco
- Marco has said he doesn't want to be dependent on Jean always being around and Jean is trying to put some legitimate effort into getting over Marco (somewhere in here I was hoping to make it clear that Marco is aro/ace and not just being a dick or anything)
- Jean is not there today so Eren ends up working on his thesis while Hanji and Levi clean their grapple gear nearby (Erwin is around but not in the immediate vicinity)
- Marco calls out that he's finally done and Hanji goes over to take a look
- Levi shifts and starts talking quietly not really to Eren, but near him about how there's a hacker who has been trying to breach their system recently and who is also suspected of attacking other secure systems within Trost as well; Erwin wants Marco to help track down the hacker and develop a better firewall / security system for them
- Eren remarks that Marco has done enough already; Levi looks unhappy but says that Erwin has already asked and Marco has agreed
- Eren is pissed that Erwin seemingly went behind their backs and asked Marco to help and potentially pressuring him into it
- Levi doesn't disagree but states that Marco is legitimately the only person who they trust who has the specific skills that they need
- Eren presses for more information about the hacker; Levi doesn't tell him much but says that they're going by "Heisenbug"
- I'm sorry but Marco is so frequently not really useful in fics and yeah this is totally why he lived and Mike and Nanaba died instead (other reasons but mainly I had Plans for him later in the story)
Hei-sen-bug /ˈhaɪ-zən-bʌg/ A software bug that disappears or alters its behavior when one attempts to probe or isolate it. [A pun on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics]
Heisenbug Pt. 1
- 104th find out about Heisenbug / Marco helping the SC; not happy
- Marco puts his foot down and insists that he wants to do this since the SC is pretty sure that Heisenbug is working with the Titans and he gets heated about wanting to get back at them in some way for everything they've done to him / the 104th / the SC
- States that Eren, Jean and Connie are able to contribute in some way in spite of being non-heroes and he has even more reason to want to help than either Jean or Connie
- Goes on a fiery rant, it was going to be fun to write, very non-wallpaper-paste-y
- Doing more than just his basic physical therapy exercises for his hand is speeding up the recovery of his right arm and hand although the rest of his right side is still weak and he's still tired a lot of the time
- Tracking down Heisenbug is incredibly difficult in spite of all the higher profile stuff Heisenbug is doing since every time Marco gets close to finding them everything gets more complicated and nothing is straightforward; explains that Heisenbug is sending everything through hella proxies and clearly some things are scripts being set to run based on a timer while others are not (yet another thing I was going to put a lot more research into)
- Marco talks about how difficult it is and that he's mimicking it in a less complicated way so as to not give away the SC's headquarters or where he himself is located
- Doing both SC work as well as PT and other doctor appts is starting to take its toll and in spite of his mobility improving Marco is getting very worn down
- Jean loses his shit at the SC after Marco faints while he's with Connie visiting Krista at the coffee shop where she works; Ymir is there as well and helps get Connie to her and Krista's apt since it's the closest
- The 104th are all hella pissed and Erwin agrees to ease off and that Marco should take some time to rest and recover
- They won't proactively search for Heisenbug while Marco rests up (not that they can without Marco) but Erwin makes clear that he will be asking for help if something larger does come up
- Marco's health begins to improve but he's still in rough shape
- Heisenbug's attacks become worse / more impactful without Marco pushing back
Actual Legit Ereri Bonding I'm Sad to Not Be Writing
- Eren goes to Levi's apt and very awkward cooking and conversation ensues; Eren jokes that he has no idea what to talk about now that they aren't being hunted / that he doesn't know much about Levi
- Levi is visibly uncomfortable but offers to answer some of Eren's questions since he's already started to talk about himself before (e.g. the tattoo and Farlan and Isabel)
- End up talking about small and relatively innocuous things; Levi likes cats but is too busy to have a pet, Eren responds that he wanted a dog when he was a kid but there was no way they could afford one – Levi empathizes since he couldn't have a pet as a kid either
- Eren cooks a food, idk what but something simple / comfort food
- In spite of Levi's offer to talk about himself Eren avoids asking anything too personal since it's clear that they're only just starting to actually relax and get comfortable around each other again and he doesn't want to spook him; eventually they get closer to how things were on the Shiganshina trip minus the "are we going to die?" tension
- They finish dinner and are drinking tea, Levi starts to ask a little about Eren's past in the process of asking about how he's been holding up with everything going on
- Eren gets Levi to begrudgingly admit that he also isn't thrilled about how hard Erwin is pushing Marco although he hints that Heisenbug is affecting the SC more than they've been letting on; tells him that Heisenbug is definitely working with the Titans based on recent activity
- When Eren tries to probe further Levi shuts him down and bluntly tells him that he'll give him a ride home now
- The ride starts out uncomfortable and they don't talk; Levi ends up speaking first and thanks Eren for cooking and that he enjoyed it; Eren is surprised at first but realizes that this is sort of like an apology for being so abrupt earlier and he's not actually mad, just can't really talk about things with Eren and is an awkward aardvark
- Atmosphere lightens considerably even though they don't talk again (Eren realizes that he's starting to be able to read Levi pretty well)
- When they get to Eren & Mikasa's apt Eren hesitates getting out and offers that he can come by Levi's again to do dinner later in the week; Levi explains that since he works at night (and given what his work is) he usually doesn't eat much for "dinner"
- Eren offers to do "breakfast" instead which makes Levi smile and is clearly amused and RUFFLES EREN'S HAIR BECAUSE I HAVE NEEDS
- They agree to see what their schedules look like and plan from there; Eren goes upstairs and it sort of hits him how much their relationship has changed in the span of a month
- In the apartment he finds out that Mikasa and Armin were watching (well, "watching" in Armin's case) him and Levi outside (totally random happenstance they swear) and Mikasa asks Eren about his relationship with Levi and Eren admits to previously having been in lust with Levi (which Mikasa was aware of Jesus, Eren she's not blind) and while he still has a crush he doesn't want to miss out on being friends
- Mikasa is sort of like ? oooookay you wanna do that sure but I question the object of your romantic overtures and will end him if he legit hurts you; Armin gives a similarly reluctant position and points out everything that is happening / has happened
- Eren gets defensive – it's not like anything is happening between them anyway – goes to his room to do work; Armin talks to him briefly stating that Eren is entitled to his own choices, he just wants him to know that he and Mikasa care about him
Heisenbug Pt. 2
- Eren is at the coffee shop Krista works at with Marco, Jean, Connie and Ymir (who brought Krista lunch because adorable lesbians)
- Marco is working on his laptop and Eren and Jean are all "this better not be Heisenbug crap" but no, he's working on improving the SC's firewall (Jean is exasperated because it's basically the same thing ffs)
- Suddenly Marco goes dead silent and eyes wide in panic and tells Eren that he needs to call Mikasa and if she's home she needs to shut Armin down NOW and if she isn't they need to get over there and do it asap
- Heisenbug is trying to get through the less robust firewall around Armin in order to access the SC that way since Armin is now heavily integrated into their system
- Eren calls Mikasa who is not home and is out shopping with Sasha like normal 20-somethings for once; Marco and Eren get into Jean's car and drive to Eren & Mikasa's apt as quickly as possible while Ymir, Connie and Krista follow on foot
- As soon as they get to the apt Armin reiterates what Marco has said; someone is trying to access his system and he's not sure what has been compromised – Armin will need to be shut down fully to halt any potential damage
- There isn't enough time to do a full shut down so Marco has to go through as abbreviated version that may / may not compromise Armin's "brain" and they will not know the extent of what may have happened until he's turned on again (so I guess I predicted Armin's canon maybe-death back in August 2014? Idk I am not caught up on the manga from Sept 2015-present)
- All of them are very shaken and stay at the apt until Mikasa and Sasha are back and continue to stay together
- Marco says that he absolutely needs to talk to the SC and that he needs to start working on finding Heisenbug again since he can't trust turning Armin back on again until Heisenbug is eliminated as a threat
- Everyone hangs around while Marco calls the SC; Erwin immediately wants Marco to come to them and start working, Hanji and Levi are audible in the background (though they don't know what they're saying) and Erwin relents – they will meet bright and early the next morning (Jean gets pissed b/c Marco has PT first thing tomorrow so they agree to late morning)
- Eren and Mikasa and eventually left to themselves and hyperaware of what the silence around them means; don't really speak to one another and drift back to their respective rooms
- Eren receives a text from Levi checking in on the both of them; does not answer but is appreciative that he would think to check in
- Entire 104th goes to meet the SC along with Marco; all kinda looking for a fight given how pushy Erwin has been and Marco is already a bit tired from PT that morning though better than he has been since he's had time to rest the past week
- Start in immediately looking at how much damage was done to Armin's security and whether there were any breaches with the SC's system; after a quick look at their system Marco says it doesn't look like they didn't have any serious damage but quietly states (and Eren overhears) that Armin's system suffered extensive damage before being shut down and that's a huge part of why the SC's system isn't totally hosed; basically Armin was sacrificed to maintain some of the integrity of the SC's system and may / may not come back online
- Marco starts to take a closer look at the SC's system now that he has an idea of where things might need to be reinforced or fixed
- Erwin and Hanji are sitting near Marco as he works through everything and asks them the occasional question while the 104th all sit around the table placed a little further away and stare at them like a murder of crows (idk I like the image of watchful protective shingeckos)
- Marco finishes making some quick fixes that should hold up against another attack but doesn't have the energy to do anything with tracking down Heisenbug right now barring a cursory look that implies this attack started in real time and not off a timer like some of Heisenbug's other larger jobs
- Also can see in what he can access from Armin's logs that there are records of smaller attacks that Marco had been largely disregarding as false positives that originate from the same rough location as the final Heisenbug attack on Armin
- Seems to be coming from the warehouse district of Trost but in an area that's been re-developing so it's a bit more difficult to pinpoint the source; Marco will look into it tomorrow after he's rested up a bit
- Next day Jean drops Marco and Eren off but has to go to class; Erwin is not around then anyway and he's way less concerned about leaving Marco with the SC when it's "just" Levi and Hanji since Levi basically leaves Marco alone and while Hanji is curious and asks questions they don't really put any pressure on him
- Eren is doing school work and chatting intermittently with Levi who is sitting at the table with him; Hanji heads to the kitchen to make a pot of tea for everyone and while there everything goes haywire
- Marco is kinda-sorta panicking and tells them it's Heisenbug and they need to shut everything down now
- Hanji runs out of the kitchen over to Marco and starts to go through the shutdown sequence but Heisenbug's bug has essentially total control over the system so everyone is all "shit shit shit"
- Levi just kind of runs out of patience with the whole situation and drags Eren off and tells him to throw the main breaker while he disconnects the backup generator and the network UPS
- They're all left basically in the dark minus what light is coming through the windows (most of it blocked out by neighboring / taller buildings so it's p dark in spite of it being early afternoon)
- After a very long pause Hanji flips out that they just killed the power to the entire building when they have so many things running that really should be shut down properly
- They argue about whether Levi did the right thing cutting power to the whole building since it will take hours to restore the basic important things and days to get everything else running after having the main breaker thrown
- When they finally get some battery-powered lanterns turned on the three of them see Marco looking totally shell-shocked and silent at the computer in front of him; takes him a few minutes to collect himself but explains that Heisenbug clearly did get past the SC's security during the attack on Armin and had a piece of code set to essentially "detonate" when some specific condition (he can't be sure if it was a time or an action) was met
- Can't be sure about the extent of the damage / how much might have been transmitted to Heisenbug until power has been restored; Hanji is about to start in on Levi but Marco says that doing an immediate hard shut down of the system might have actually been the best course of action
- Eren helps Hanji and Levi to get the basic stuff turned on / ready to be turned on again while Marco rests since it requires a lot of running around and moving things and he's not up for that
- Hanji contacts Erwin about what has happened and he says he'll be back asap
- When he's back he's super not happy about most of the power still being out and that they weren't able to trace Heisenbug but concedes that yeah, maybe cutting all power wasn't the worst idea given that Heisenbug had control over their system already
- After they've done a sort of debrief Levi gives them a ride to their respective homes
- Ride is dead silent and weird because Marco hasn't really been around just Levi and Eren is very rarely in the car with anyone but Levi now
· They're about halfway to Marco's home when they pull out of a side street and their car gets rammed by a larger car
· All are dazed by the crash and Marco gets grabbed out of the back seat; Levi and Eren aren't entirely with it and Hanji calls and Levi tries to pursue them but the car is too damaged
- Both are picked up by Moblit and Nifa and brought back to HQ
- Neither is badly injured, just shaken and pissed off about the whole situation
- With their system still down they can't do anything to track Marco and the kidnappers; contact the rest of the 104th who all go fucking ballistic over the situation
- SC promises they're going to work on finding him as soon as everything is working again but it will take the rest of the day; reassure them they'll let them know what's going on as soon as they have any info
- 104th are forced to give up for the time being since none of them are nearly as tech savvy as Marco and with Armin shut down they don't really have someone / something to fill that gap (MARCO IS ACTUALLY A USEFUL AND INTEGRAL PART OF THE GROUP)
Rescue
- Finally hear back from SC later the next day and convene at the same location they were using to plan the previous rescue of Eren and Marco since their HQ is still not entirely up and running again; Marco's parents have been informed and SC told them a kinda half true bullshit story about thinking that he was kidnapped again because of his work with AI development (his fam does not know that his friends are the 104th/ superheroes)
- Moblit is present as well since he has been running some of the info they have through Trost PD databases and using their resources while the SC's system was down; he and Hanji were able to pull some info about where the planted bug in their system was sending info and trace it to a more specific address in Trost's warehouse district
- Everyone agrees that given the circumstances and the fact that it's going to take days to get everything up and running again they're just going to roll out and hope for the best
- Ymir points out that this is kind of dumb and doesn't want to take an unnecessary risk and Erwin counters that they may as well since their intel isn't going to get much more precise until everything is back to normal for them which won't be for days now
- SC insists that Jean, Eren and Connie not tag along given the lack of intel and the fact that they aren't heroes / have essentially no training
- Connie and Jean get pissed but after everything that happened on the Shiganshina trip Eren doesn't put up much of a fight and begrudgingly admits that they might end up jeopardizing the mission if one of them got in trouble at which point Connie and Jean back off
- SC have Nifa come and get the three of them to transport them to a safe house for the duration of the mission to ensure that the Titans don't use this as an opportunity to get at Eren; Moblit will join them after he brings the SC and 104th to the drop point
- At the drop point the SC goes over how they're going to sweep the warehouse (it is under construction / renovation but empty for the day); reassure the 104th that they are absolutely not sending them somewhere out of the way and admit that without Mike and Nanaba they're kind of fucked and can't dismiss the 104th having a decent amount of experience this time around
- As a show of good faith they pair off so that it's Mikasa with Levi, Krista and Ymir with Hanji and Sasha with Erwin; balancing out skill sets / abilities and ensuring that the kiddos are kept with someone experienced
- They only have the address of the building and not an exact location in the building so they're going to fan out and work their way through the four floors; each group has a detector for a network signal similar to Heisenbug's but it has a narrow range of detection so they'll need to sweep all the floors fully
- Meanwhile, at the safe house everyone is just nervously chilling and Nifa is looking over the files that Marco decrypted when Moblit shows up and tells them that the SC and 104th are now underway with the rescue mission
- They can't have any contact in case it's tracked to the safe house so they won't know what happens until everyone joins up with them there; Connie points out that someone could have followed Moblit who admits that okay yeah fine but given the circuitous (and partially on foot and underground) route that he took it is highly unlikely
- Basically just awkward introspective silence and Moblit tries to distract them by getting them to play a card game since there's essentially nothing else to do there
- Before they start their sweep Mikasa thanks Levi for watching out for Eren since she realizes that she hadn't really done so earlier and tries to poke at him to ascertain how he feels about Eren / what he is like as a person given Eren's crush and her not really knowing him
- Levi isn't particularly thrilled with the convo and tells her that while it's his fucking job to watch out for Eren he does legitimately want him to be okay because he doesn't deserve all the crap that's happened to him; adds that Mikasa doesn't deserve to have dealt with all of this shit either
- Both get kind of awkward about Levi being legit honest about giving a shit for non-professional reasons and set off to do their part of the building sweep not really talking
- All of them had agreed that they would sweep in a certain pattern and would rejoin at a specific location within the building; Mikasa and Levi are starting the final building section they were assigned when they get radio'd by Erwin that he and Sasha are close to the source so if everyone could start heading their way that would be great because they're about to go in
- Everyone convenes and find a very frustrated Erwin and Sasha because the source of the signal is just a router hub and a computer that's being controlled remotely; it's clear that nobody has been there for a bit given that there is a layer of dust and no sign of recent footprints
- So yeah basically it's a bust and they contact Moblit to request a pick up; while they wait Hanji and Erwin have the rest clear out while they look at the computer and modem in case it is rigged with explosives like the decoy lab in the Pallisades warehouse
- Able to disconnect it without issue and have it shut down and ready to go by the time Moblit shows up
- Nifa, Jean, Connie and Eren are all on edge when Moblit heads out since all they know is that he's going to be picking them up and not what happened
- When they show up without Marco Jean gets hella pissed, doesn't calm down much when Hanji mentions getting the computer because it's just another piece of info to be looked at and not Marco
- Hanji says they'll work around the clock to get their system up and running so they can analyze the data on the laptop and hopefully get a lead off of that; Erwin quietly says that he has someone he might be able to tap who can help them out a bit (Eren hears and nearly asks about it but Levi signals him to not say anything; he shouldn't have heard at all)
Heisenbug Pt. 3
- A couple days later the SC's system is back up and running partially because Hanji was helped out by an anonymous ally; while bringing everything back online they've dealt with multiple remote attacks from Heisenbug
- SC's anonymous ally has also been analyzing the data on the laptop but it's been slower since they keep changing locations so that they can't be tracked
- 104th are all brought to SC main HQ this time to go over what they have; told that they will be going over what they have and might be leaving from there depending on if they get the info they need by that time
- All join up except Jean and Connie who have work but Hanji insists that Eren be brought with so that he can be kept somewhere safe in case the Titans go after him (esp since they have no fucking clue what they're up to since it's just been Heisenbug fucking with them and not the Titans directly)
- They have a different location that is in Downtown and with it being almost evening things should be slightly less busy since work will be getting out soon and they'll have a bit more freedom to move / fewer civilians being impacted
- Location is narrowed to a two block area of relatively low-lying buildings and they will again be splitting off but individually besides Ymir & Krista so as to cover more ground faster; Nifa will be staying back with Eren, Moblit is on-duty so transportation is sort of scattershot with Levi's car also being totaled
- Eren is sort of just doing whatever while Nifa continues to go through files and crosscheck data with info that they have access to via the city and the SC
- Nifa suddenly goes completely still and stops working, asks Eren to confirm that yes indeed that this is the location that they just sent their comrades to and he's like "yeah? Why?"
- Turns out a name / signature in the files matches a doctor located at an office in the area everyone else just went to
- Eren recognizes the name and freaks a little; the doctor Nifa is talking about is Marco's physical therapist
- Eren and Nifa cannot get in touch with the rest and so they get into Nifa's car and head out to try and find everyone else to tell them what's going on (it is not too far from HQ)
- On getting to the location they circle around in Nifa's car but don't see anyone, circle around again slower and Eren notices a shadow moving along a fire escape; it's a bit of a risk but they pull over into an alley and follow them (they're short so Eren assumes it's Levi since Krista is with Ymir and this person is solo)
- Eren gives Nifa a boost onto the fire escape and she helps him up after; they climb up to the next floor in pursuit of hopefully-Levi
- When they enter the building they can see the person ahead of them startles and look back (it is indeed Levi) and Nifa quickly explains the situation
- Levi tries to contact everyone else but their signal is jammed; he knows roughly where everyone is doing their sweep so if they can find the next closest person they can split off and find the next and so on
- Says he will accompany Nifa and Eren back to her car since it's pretty close and doesn't want anything to happen in that short distance then he will head out looking for everyone else and please get the fuck out of here
- On the way back out they realize they're in the building with that doctor named in the files and Nifa gets Levi to agree to detour and at least give it a look; nighttime lights are on but it seems to be empty, Eren feels really out of sorts since he's been there a lot during the day when it's full of people and light out
- Nifa goes to the reception desk and Levi is like ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS WE NEED TO GO but she wants to grab some stuff before anything might happen
- Is rifling through files and stops suddenly and is like… this isn't just a physical therapist / general practitioner office and like yeah I work with dead bodies but these files look a lot like the Shiganshina ones except not quite and more detailed and this shit is dealing with really invasive procedures
- They hear a noise from a back office and Levi is like PLEASE STAY HERE FOR FUCKS SAKE but Nifa and Eren are like nah and follow behind him
- They approach the office slowly and open the door to find Marco sitting on a couch in the office looking really dazed but otherwise physically okay; does not react to them entering
- Levi steps through the door to approach Marco and once in the office realizes that there is a person sitting in a chair off to the side wearing regular street clothes like just jeans and a hoodie pulled up but their mask is still partially visible (so clearly a member of the Titans); there is a gun on their lap glinting in the dim light
- They all freeze up and Marco continues to stare dazedly off into space not acknowledging them; Titan starts to speak specifically to Levi since Nifa and Eren are still slightly behind him and not readily visible from where they're sitting
- The Titan mocks that Levi doesn't have any backup and isn't really armed, gestures also to the fact that there is a rigged explosive in the room and they have the detonator in their other hand; explain that they would rather not blow up the office since it's only him who is there (still doesn't see Nifa and Eren)
- They will stop the frequency jammer if he wants to radio the rest of the SC and it's a 50/50 on whether everyone gets blown to hell or they are able to stop the masked person and save Marco though they joke that they're not sure there's much left to save
- Tells them that Marco was dosed with an experimental serum when he was kidnapped with Eren making him susceptible to mind control / conditioning and his PT appointments have been mostly further conditioning and experiments and he's been Heisenbug the whole time and basically just competing against himself
- At this point he is too burned out to continue due to the pressure both sides were exerting on him and given what they already got from the SC with "Heisenbug's" hack they've already gotten a look at the data they needed; continues to mock them that they have no idea what they're up against / what they're doing
- Points gun at Levi and starts to walk towards him, tells him to radio everyone else and he refuses; person finally notices Nifa who tasers them
- Titan had a dead man's switch detonator so the explosives the room was wired with start a one minute countdown; Nifa rushes over to Marco to flash a pen light in his eyes to check for responsiveness (he's not entirely there but isn't totally gone) and hoists him up so his arm is around their shoulder and he's half walking / half being dragged out of the room
- Levi tries to grab the Titan to bind their wrists and bring them with them but they come-to and knock him away; he tries to pursue them back into the office to where they're trying to escape out the window
- Eren is seen by the Titan and they freeze for a split second and decide to go and defuse the bomb instead
- At the 10 second mark Eren has basically dragged a pissed off Levi out of the office and Nifa and Marco are almost out in the hallway when the Titan realizes they won't defuse it in time and elects to escape out of the window
- When it's at the 2 second mark Levi shoves Eren forward and into another office down the hall and covers him; it's not a massive explosion but it does take out the office and the doorway / part of the hall are blown out by the explosion
- Levi stays covering Eren for another minute to make sure there isn't a chain reaction set to go off; reassures him that he's okay and everything is going to be okay and he will be right-the-fuck-back but he needs to check on Nifa and Marco
- Eren is still really shaken and sits down against the wall while Levi goes out into the hallway; radio frequency jammer was destroyed in the blast and Levi's radio starts receiving messages again though it is staticky and broken up
- Hanji is radio-ing that there has been a severe injury (due to static they are unknown) and Mikasa and Krista both check back in as unharmed (so presumably Ymir is okay as well); Levi radios back that he's received the message and after a pause radios that he needs a black bag and a stretcher