CHAPTER 10

Eren groggily pushed himself off the cool floor. He groaned, a loud thumping in his head making him more nauseous than he already was. He looked around to find that he had somehow made his way to the bathroom of his shitty apartment.

Half-dried vomit and saliva was plastered all over the toilet and swimming around in the bowl was a nasty mixture of orange-colored puke with chunks of the food he had eaten before heading to the party. From it, a putrid smell emerged suffocating the entire room. Eren was close to vomiting once again just from the sight and smell of it all.

Turning his head and closing his eyes, he flushed it all away hoping to keep down what was left in his stomach. Eren wanted to leave the room immediately but he wasn't sure he could. His whole body felt a thousand pounds heavier. So instead, he pushed himself away and got himself into a sitting position, resting against a wall. The green-eyed boy was about to rub his face when he noticed how awful his hands smelled and decided against it.

Why did the sink have to be so high?

He threw his sticky hands onto his lap, opting to clean them after everything around him stopped swaying so violently. He took a few deep breathes to try and recollect himself. As he did so, memories of the night began poisoning his mind. The anger and humiliation started tingling all over his body, regret adding onto the pile of already suffocating emotions.

What had he done last night? Why had he accepted going in the first place? The only thing that consoled him was that he would never see that group of people ever again. As for Armin...

Rrriiinngggg! Rrrriiinnngg!

Eren jumped at the sound. A big mistake as it would cause the thumping to come back full force.

"Fuck!"

The brunet angrily snatched the phone that had been carelessly lying on the floor. He was about to throw it through the open door of the bathroom when his eyes caught a glimpse of who was calling.

'Jonathan.'

He didn't really want to pick up but he was scared what would happened if Eren were to ignore Levi's calls so he begrudgingly answered.

"Hello?" He muttered.

"Oh, good. I thought you were dead from alcohol poisoning." The voice answered.

Eren's eyes narrowed, "Hmphf, you know you could sound a little more excited to hear that I'm not dead."

"I could." He simply stated.

Any other day the brunet would've just waved it off but Eren had woken up in the worst of moods and that small comment shot through him like a fire arrow.

"Yeah. Well I guess we could all do a lot of things." He said in an overly-aggressive tone.

"Don't sass me or you'll wish that hangover is the only pain you feel."

Eren quickly fell silent. After having seen the man slice two throats open as if it were as easy as cutting open a loaf of bread, threats like that weren't to be taken lightly.

"Anyway," the older man continued, "I'm guessing you'll be staying in all day?"

It was a Sunday which meant there was no work that day. The boss used Sundays to drink and gamble- and even if there would've been work that day, Eren wouldn't have gone. Not with that headache and especially not with Armin there. He didn't have much food and drinks in the small refrigerator but he felt way too shitty to leave the apartment. Really, his game plan for that day was just to sit still until he either felt better or died. Whichever came first.

"Yeah, pretty much." He muttered.

Someone knocked at the front door. Eren ignored it. Only the Gods could pick Eren off the floor in that moment.

"Good. I'll take off then. There are some errands I have to do concerning the two men that attacked you."

Eren became tense, "Like what?"

"Nothing you have to be concerned with. I'll take care of everything. Anyway, Olou will come around a couple of times to check up on you. You know how it is though, anything happens call me immediately. Understood?"

Eren hummed a response. It was not enough for Levi.

"I said. Understood?"

The brunet huffed, "Understood."

Another knock.

"I'll be back tomorrow in the morning. Open the goddamn door brat. It's me."

Even practically lurched to his feet, "Ah! S-Sorry I didn't know!"

Just as he was about to take a step his vision became hazy and his stomach churned. He bent over the sink half expecting to puke all over again.

"Oh, oh Gods... shouldn't have gotten up so fast..."

Even could hear Levi sigh through the phone and even though the brunet couldn't see his face he was certain that the older man was rolling his eyes in that moment.

"Whatever, I'm just going to leave it here, come get it before someone decides to rob it from you. Drink water. None of those energy drinks you guzzle down every day. You'll feel better if you do, trust me."

Eren only heard half of what Levi had said as he was ferociously swallowing back whatever was trying to come out. A beeping sound indicated Levi had hung up. Eren placed the phone down and slowly opened the faucet. He meekly washed his hand. Once they stopped feeling sticky, he pooled the water into his hands and threw the liquid onto his face. He rubbed his eyes, his cheeks, his lips, his chin. It wasn't much but it made him feel better. Eren caught a glimpse of his reflection in the small round mirror hanging on the wall.

Shit. He looked like shit.

Eren averted his eyes. His mood was bad enough, dwelling on his looks would only make him feel worse.

Drink water. He didn't even have water. Not unless he drank it from the sink. He'd just have to live off of whatever soda he had in store.

He trudged his way to the front door. Luckily, the curtains were closed so the main room wasn't too bright. He meekly opened the door and looked down.

On the floor was a box full of big water bottles. Eren chuckled.

Shit, no excuses now.

"Here's your tea, anything else I can help you with?" The waitress smiled at her customer, taking note of what a lovely shade of grey his eyes were.

Levi took the cup, "Thank you. I'm good for now."

The girl bit her lip, wondering if there was anything she could say to start a conversation but nothing came to mind, "Alright, well if you need anything I'll be here in a jiffy!"

Levi nodded in response. Noticing that the waitress was still standing there, he looked up at her with a quizzical expression. The girl quickly came to her senses and hurried off, a blush forming on her cheeks. Levi didn't think much of it. He didn't think much of anything that didn't concern his job.

The cellphone he had just bought that morning vibrated against the wooden table. He swiftly picked it up, "Ready?"

"Yep! Next location is to the west. It's quite hidden so I've got a good feeling about this." The voice was also male yet a lot softer in comparison to Levi's.

Levi hummed, "Who knows, this might all just be a waste of time."

"No, no. I'm certain something will come of this. I'm telling you, this café stuck out like a sore thumb to me. All the other locations the phones connected to made sense if they were following your client but this one is so much more far away than the rest. They must've come here for a reason."

"And yet we haven't found anything in the places I've already checked. I'm thinking of just calling the whole thing off and heading home. Ever since I got this client I haven't had a moment to myself. He's a really paranoid brat, you know?"

He scooted further into the booth and rested his back against the wall. Even though he wasn't saying anything particularly conspicuous he still made sure no one was close enough to hear any of his words.

"Listen, I've been working with you for a couple of years now and if there's anything I've learned in this time is that if you've got a feeling about something, chances are, there's something there. Plus, there are only two places left so we'll just quickly get through these locations and you'll be home with a drink in your hand by 5pm!"

That did sound nice.

Levi took a sip of his drink, "Alright then, send me the details and I'll be off."

"I'm sending you the info as we speak." The tip-tapping of the man typing away at his keyboard could be heard.

"Thanks Moblit."

"Happy to help."

Both men simultaneously hung up.

Levi drank his tea as the phone began receiving the messages. Maybe Moblit was right. The place was a small warehouse. According to Moblit, it didn't receive much attention but was visited once in a while by what appeared to be workers. The raven lost himself in thought while staring at a photo of the place. In reality, he wasn't even sure why he was there in the first place.

The attackers had been communicating to someone else via cellphone where they gave updates of their findings. In said conversations, there had been talk of "picking up a package at the location" around the time that they had been hired for the job. Moblit and Levi had deduced that said location had to be close to the café but it was nothing more than speculation.

The two men had already planted a false lead via fake updates and whoever the person on the other side was didn't seem to be too suspicious at the moment. However, Levi didn't know for how long they could keep it up. Said person had stated they would be calling soon and while an excuse could be made, it would alert the person to the fact that something was off.

Not to mention... the files, the syringe he had found, Eren Jaegar. There was something nagging away at Levi. He didn't know what but he had a feeling that there was a lot more to the story that he wasn't aware of. Of course, his only job was to protect Eren, he didn't need to know his whole life story. After all, most of his clients preferred privacy and Levi was happy to oblige. Yet this time, Levi felt the need to investigate further than usual.

Gulping down the last of his tea, the bodyguard asked for the check and paid what was due. The waitress thanked him for the generous tip he had left with a smile and a wink. The waitress stood there as he grabbed his backpack and took off, hoping the raven-haired man would say something else to her. He didn't even notice how the girl pouted as she watched the handsome man walk away without saying another word.

Upon arriving, the first thing he did was scout the area. He didn't get too close though as to make sure he didn't appear on any camera or get caught by any "worker". Sure enough there were a few cameras and even a tall metal fence separating the warehouse from everything else.

The street as a whole lacked activity. To the left there was an abandoned building that was falling apart. On the right, there was an Auto Part shop that was closed due to it being Sunday. On the other side of the street there was an unkempt park with dying trees and yellow grass.

The warehouse was steel structured, the once white paint now a greyish shade with rust adorning it here and there. Just like it appeared in the pictures, it wasn't very big. Maybe fifteen feet by twenty. The main entrance was a huge white curtain but there was also a door on the left wall. Levi took note of the fact that there were no windows. On the top of the metal fence there were barbed wires to keep intruders from climbing in.

Levi looked around. The only person in sight was a bum passed out on the yellow grass of the park though the stillness of the body was eerie. He didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon.

At least Levi didn't have to worry too much about being seen. That pesky fence was really bothering him though. The man made his way to the abandoned building on the left. It appeared to have been a house once. Trash like worn blankets and empty food cans suggested homeless people would use the place to spend the night. The building was two stories high so he walked upstairs and found a dusty corridor opening way to two rooms. The doors had been torn off at some point and laid in the hallway broken into pieces. Levi stepped over it and entered the room on the far left.

The walls were a pale pink and though bare, the room was decorated with litter. The only thing that wasn't trash was an abandoned horse rocker sitting in a corner. A toy meant to cause joy now existed in that lonely corner emanating a sinister energy. A remnant of a past that would never come back.

Levi was not there, however, to contemplate any of that. He was there for a job. So, he made a beeline to the already shattered window. There. He could get in from there.

He put the backpack on the ground and from it took out the gadgets Moblit had made for him. He opened one up forming a bow and then took out the arrows. They were nothing fancy, just arrows that would latch onto surfaces, in this case, arrows to block the view of the cameras. He aimed at the camera right above the door and hit it with the ease that would only come with years of expertise. He then did the same to a second camera attached to the warehouse.

That would have to do. Since he couldn't climb in, however, he took out his gear and began putting together his 3DMG belt on. Before anything else, he sent Moblit a message.

'I'm going in. Stand by.'

Just as he was putting on a set of black gloves and a face mask, he received an answer.

'Gotcha. Standing by.'

In a swift movement he propelled himself forward and latched onto the roof only to slowly lower himself onto the ground. He pressed a button that caused the claws to loosen and he retracted the cables back into the belt.

Levi eyed the place once again. Everything was silent. No alarm had been set off, no person could be heard. The only thing that was left was to open the door. He approached and examined said door with a lock that could be picked, no problem. He reached into one of the pockets of his belt and took out his lock picking supplies. He picked it until he heard the telltale clicking sound.

The man sighed. He quickly put the utensils back and took a handgun out in its place. He slowly pushed the door, the creaking sound echoing through the warehouse. Midway, a bullet cut through the air, barely missing Levi's left shoulder. Levi quickly reacted by shooting at the offender all the while running to get behind cover.

A barrage of sloppy bullets shot his way though luckily none hit. He hid behind a stack of boxes. As soon as he was out of sight, the shooting ceased. Levi listened. He heard ragged breathing. Maybe one of his bullets had landed.

"H-Hey! Get outta there!" The stranger heaved, "You're gonna get... get me in trouble..." Those last words came out soft, almost like a whimper.

"Ooof..." Levi heard a smacking sound.

With his gun aimed and ready to go, he poked his head out. A man laid against a wall, slowly falling to the floor as his knees gave in. A hand was placed on his chest were blood oozed out and trickled onto his white T-shirt. His face was a sickly pale white and it accentuated the heavy bags below his eyes. The man was tall yet skinny to the point of being skeletal. Levi cautiously approached the man though he knew that the stranger meant no danger to him. Not anymore.

The stranger did nothing but collapse to the floor. In fact, he let go of the gun so that he could place his hand on top of his other bloodied one. He wheezed, a wheeze Levi knew all too well. The man didn't have much time left.

"I... I'm sorry..."

Levi raised an eyebrow. The raven wondered who he was apologizing to. He never did get an answer as the last breath escaped the man's lips. His eyes went dull and his body went limp.

Still, the raven kicked the gun out of the corpse's reach thinking that safe was better than sorry. He spun around, scanning the area to make sure there were no more like him in the warehouse. However, there was nobody there.

Feeling a bit more assured, Levi took in his surroundings. The warehouse was full of stacked boxes, ready for shipping. Some small, some big. Metal shelving units filled the right wall. A couple of trolleys where scattered here and some pallets there. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The raven looked back at the corpse. The dead body belonged to what had once been a young man- maybe around Levi's age. He had wildly curly brown hair and a matching beard. His clothes- a white T-shirt and washed out jeans- were torn and ragged. Levi tsked in disgust. If it weren't evident by his appearance, the odor that emanated from the body signaled at poor hygiene. At least he had the barrier of his face mask to protect him from the stench.

Further away to the left of the corpse there were a couple of blankets and a bland pillow strewn about. A make shift bed it seemed. Levi frowned.

Levi took a step closer. The sheets were as dirty as their owner. The raven noticed a stack of porn magazines next to it. A girl cupping her hefty breasts stood proud on the cover. Just by looking at the pile he could tell they were a sticky mess. Levi looked away at the repulsive sight. He instead turned his attention to a room-no, more like a closet in the corner. He laid a gloved hand on the doorknob and turned it. Inside was a very small bathroom. A small space to shower, a toilet and a sink crammed in there. Levi looked back at the corpse.

As he did so, something caught his eye. A neon green he recognized. Levi hadn't seen from where he stood before but he now saw a syringe placed behind the stack of magazines. A syringe just like the one he had found in the car of Eren's attackers. He crouched to get a better look.

What the hell were in those things anyway?

The bodyguard had sent the syringe to Moblit for examination yet he hadn't gotten word back on what exactly was inside of them. He picked up the needle and placed it high in the air. The color of the liquid was so... unnatural.

While he studied the strange substance, his eyes focused back onto the dead stranger. He briskly walked back and grabbed one of the pale arms, checking the inside of the elbow and the forearms.

Nothing.

He checked the other arm.

Bingo.

The telltale scars of drug usage. So it was a drug after all? Levi turned back to the stacks of boxes. Something told him that they weren't exactly shipping bunny dolls and rainbows.

He walked up to the closest stack of boxes and took out a knife, opening the box with the precision of the surgeon. Cocaine. Lots of it.

"What kind of mess did you get yourself into brat?" He muttered.

CRASH!

Levi spun around. Someone had thrown a jar of a viscous dark liquid onto the ground and then-

BAM!

The door had closed.

The bodyguard ran up to it, avoiding whatever had been thrown onto the ground. Had someone found him? Or maybe the boy had alerted someone before Levi had entered and killed him? But Moblit hadn't said anything. No point in questioning it now. He simply had to deal with the situation at hand.

Just as he got to the door, a loud sound made the warehouse tremble. Taking out his gun once again, he turned the knob and slammed into it, hoping force would be enough to break it open.

Much to Levi's dismay, the door had opened just a tad bit but stopped as it hit something on the other side of the door. Something very heavy.

In other words, Levi was trapped.