Titan Janitor

Hidden secrets

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Eren greeted the ravenette.

Erwin moved among the other students ushering them deeper into the tunnels. Furlan had Isabell with him, together they were passing out drinks or snacks to people. Hange stood with Moblit helping a boy who looked like he had come from outside. He had scratches and scrapes all over any exposed skin.

"They are on the helping committee. So, when the sirens go off they get to help control the masses." Levi snorted.

"You just came along for the fun of it?" Eren chuckled. Levi slapped him in the gut.

"I came because of you, not to mention the fact we all need to be down here." He scowled.

"Wait, all these tunnels connect to each building?" Eren asked. Levi took his hand.

They threaded their way through the mass of bodies. Armin clung to his roommate as they went. Eren nodded to teammates, friends or people that called out to him. As the crowd began to thin some, Levi turned a corner. He pressed his hand to the wall in a series of percise movements. A door clicked open. Levi led the other two inside.

The room was dark, even after Levi lit the gas lamp beside the door. Dark wood paneling framed the walls, dark leather furniture sat around. There were two large easy chairs facing a massive desk, a couch sat against the far wall with a table housing four chairs near the other side. Levi moved around lighting the other lamps. He leaned against the desk when he was done watching Eren.

"Are there secrete rooms all over in here?" he asked. Levi nodded a tiny smirk on his lips.

"Story is that the main four buildings used to be here back during prohibition, mafia, all of that stuff. They were burnt down a few times but these tunnels have a lot of secrets." His eyes danced in the flickering light. Armin knelt before the wide fireplace.

"Does this work?" he asked.

"Dunno, genius out there hasn't been able to figure out how to get it to." Levi shrugged one shoulder as he sat the lamp on the desk. Armin began to tinker with it.

"So, they say,  these tunnels are hundreds of years old. Various populaces have used them for different things. Smuggling humans, spices, you name it, to hideouts during mafia wars, or as a village sanctuary from..." He gestured to indicate the raging storm.

"That's pretty cool, I never knew you liked history so much." Eren smiled across the room at him.

"Oh, Erwin loves history." Armin piped up as he twisted some knobs.

"He talks about all these random facts. It's not all our history either. He has studied other cultures too." He added more as if he were talking to himself than them.

Levi nodded trying not to laugh. Suddenly there was a whooshing sound. Eren had barley gotten to Armin in time to yank the blond back away from the grate before a huge flame tore out of the opening. It settled down a moment later, somehow not catching anything on fire. Levi sprang forward to replace the protective shield over the now roaring fire. Eren patted Armin down making sure there weren't any sparks on him.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Erwin charged in demanding. He saw the roaring fire.

"Who figured it out?" he asked. Levi pointed to Armin.

"You need to turn it down." Armin moved forward twisting a knob hidden in the intricate design of the frame work. The fire dimmed to a normal sized cozy light.

"Oh, so they hid the controls. So neat. See I didn't think it worked. I was sure it was another secret passage!" Erwin bent over the fire place as Armin moved to his side to point out how he managed to get the thing to work.