Partners in Crime Fighting

17. The Victor

LEVI: Once we had retrieved our guns, we cautiously roamed the hallways in a conglomerate to find Mikasa's mom, Officer Ral and her backup, and Dr. Jäeger.

I had slipped one of my hands into Hanji's. Hanji squeezed my hand.

"When we get out of this, will we ever be able to have some downtime without someone getting kidnapped?" Hanji laughed.

"H-hey!" Eren interjected.

"It was a stupid idea in the first place," Mikasa said, "I can't believe we went along with you."

"You guys know I would never join these assholes, right? This was all just a plan I had concocted without you or Armin knowing. It was the point to get kidnapped, and to learn all of their secrets. At the next raid, I was gonna find you two and tell you everything. Then we were gonna kick serious Titan ass and arrest them all at once." Eren confessed.

"That's a shitty plan and you know it," I said. "If you had wanted to do so, you should've just told us."

"You would've said 'no'," Eren pointed out.

"True, but at least we would've known about the plan." I shrugged.

As we neared the end of the hallway, we noticed it opened up into a large room. In the center of the room sat Dr. Jäeger in a large chair, like a king on his throne.

"I see you've made it through my labyrinth; well done," he said. "Now, I suppose your prizes are in order."

He gestured for two Titans to bring out Sayaka Ackerman.

"In the time we had waited for you to complete the maze, we had our last little kicks with her." Dr. Jäeger said, a nasty smirk on his face.

"You heartless bastard," Mikasa growled, "how could you even have the audacity to raise me as your own child for eight years?!"

"It wasn't easy, seeing as how I wanted to take you back to the Titans like we had intended, but I managed just fine with Sayaka." Dr. Jäeger replied. "Now, one last thing before I allow you to capture me."

He stood up, drawing a switchblade from his jacket. "Levi, I understand you were a skilled combatant in knife fights?"

I shrugged, pulling out my own switchblade.

"How about a duel for your prizes?" Dr. Jäeger offered.

"Considering we're already poised for battle, I don't see how I could decline the offer." I said.

He smirked, and ran at me with the knife glinting in the single bright light in the room.

I dodged, whirling around and aiming for his back. He dodged my attack as well. I hadn't expected this man to be able to move so quickly, since he seemed to be fifty years of age at least.

My back faced the wall, and I had very minimal room to move if he charged straight for me. Just as I expected, he charged. I jumped upward, kicking off from the wall and tackled him onto the ground. We were dangerously close like this, and I scrambled to get as far away from him as I could.

Dr. Jäeger kicked my knife out of my hand, and it skittered away. He pointed his knife at me. "Looks like I am the victor. I suppose you have to die now."

A gunshot went off, and a bullet-sized hole appeared in Dr. Jäeger's chest. Blood seeped out from the wound as he fell to his knees.

I scrambled to my feet, watching Ymir blow the smoke off her gun. "It looks like I'm the victor."

"Ymir!" Historia shouted.

Ymir glanced at her. "Just because I did you this one favor doesn't mean I'm coming with you, sweetheart. Now get the hell out of here. The police are already freed and coming to arrest Dr. Jäeger...or at least dispose of him."

"Ymir...thank you," I said.

"I don't understand, why can't you come with us?" Historia asked.

"Because someone's gotta lead these Titans now," Ymir shrugged. "Move out, boys; I'm in charge now."

Ymir and the two other Titans disappeared into the darkness as Officer Ral arrived.

"Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?" She asked.

"We're okay," I told her, "but Dr. Jäeger, the former leader of the Titans, is dead."

Officer Ral ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay, I'll notify Officers Jin and Shultz." She unclipped the walkie-talkie from her belt and spoke into it, "This is Petra, I'm gonna need a bodybag down here, largest size we have. Over."

Mikasa helped her mother to her feet. They conversed in Japanese for a moment, and Mikasa translated: "She said she's very sick and needs immediate treatment. Please, do all you can to help her."

"We will, kid," Officer Ral nodded. She held up the walkie-talkie again. "Petra again, we have a sick woman down here in need of immediate transport to the hospital. Please contact the hospital. Over." 

"Alright, let's get out of this hell hole." I said, wrapping an arm around Hanji's shoulders. 

When we had made it out of the labyrinth, we had realized that the massive network of tunnels had been underneath the city connecting the WALLS systems.

The moon was so bright and full that it cast moonshadows. The lights of the police vehicles and the arriving ambulance washed the moonshadows out.

Officer Bozado grudgingly wrapped blankets around the kids' shoulders. I wrapped mine around Hanji and we sat on the curb.

"Pretty crazy night, huh?" I looked up at the stars.

"Mm-hm." 

"Are you alright? You had another panic attack down there, which you haven't had in years." I pointed out.

"I'm fine. I just worried we wouldn't all make it out."

I faced Hanji and drew our faces closer together for a proper kiss. Hanji's fingers combed through my hair. 

When we pulled away, I looked up into those wild brown eyes that looked tired with lack of sleep.

"I suppose our work isn't done here, is it?" Hanji asked. 

"Our work is never done," I admitted.

"Hey, Levi, Hanji!" Eren shouted excitedly as he and the rest of the kids ran up to us. "We gotta capture Ymir, Reiner, and Bertoldt! When do we start?" 

I sighed. "You know what, Shit Glasses? I think it's time we had a vacation from work." 

"Really?" Hanji beamed excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm sick of all this Titan shit for a while." I said. 

"Where are we going?" Armin asked.

"You aren't coming along; this is for Hanji and me." 

"Aww, but Levi; if they're left alone, they might do something stupid like go after the Titans by themselves again!" Hanji insisted.

My eyes widened. "Fine, you're coming along." 

"Well then, while you have fun lazing around on your vacation, I have to win Ymir back." Historia said. "I'm going to work alongside the police from now on to help catch the Titans and win Ymir's heart."

"I think you already won that, you just need the rest of her," Armin teased.

Historia blushed. "Shut up! I will have Ymir someday!"

"Good luck with that, kiddo," I said. "For now, we're going to take a load off."