Growth

                                    

                                          
Erwin POV
“Explain how this is possible?” I demanded staring at Yeager’s machine. Levi stood beside me as we faced Hange. “Last we saw, this thing exploded. Nearly killing Eren.” 
“It’s not Eren’s machine.” The answer came from the blond walking towards us. He looked so young, but they all did in uniform.
“OK, why does it look like Eren’s unit?” Levi demanded.
“Technically it is Eren’s.” Hange stated. “Now any way.” She added when Armin got to her.
“We had all the machines from that day brought here.” Armin back tracked. 
“When we saw that the other units had chairs…” Hange glanced to Armin.
“We were pretty sure Eren wasn’t going to keep his leg. Not with that much blood loss.” Armin explained. 
“Add in the poison, it was a done deal.” Hange said. It was like watching a very bad tennis game how these two were going back and forth. Levi was vibrating. I glanced at him.
“You put him in an enemy cockpit!” his anger was barely under control.
“Really, Captain. Do you honestly think I would do that to him?” Armin challenged the older man. Levi eyed him.
“We scrubbed it. Tore it apart and rebuilt it.” The blond's hard cold eyes matched the grey steel boring into them. This kid was growing up faster than I liked. He pointed to the machine.
“That is Eren’s! His DNA is coded to be the only one who can access it.” He ground out not backing down. That was saying a lot since it was Levi he was dealing with.
“We can’t even access it to work on with out Eren here.” Hange stated. Tentatively she reached for Levi’s arm. “Let me show you?” she waited hand just above touching him. We all held our breath. 
Levi blinked releasing the boy from his glare. He gave a quick jerk of his head towards the mad scientist we all loved, indicating he was willing to see. She smiled taking his arm. She walked him to the back of the machine.
“Tell me, Captain, what do you see?” She asked. Levi and I both scrutinized the unit. All I saw was painted metal. I said as much. Levi agreed with a nod.
“Exactly!” Hange squealed. We looked at her waiting for more of an explanation. 
“No battery back, no coolant lines, no gears. There is no way to sabotage this machine without Eren’s direct consent.” Armin pointed out.
“It’s all inside.” Levi muttered. “If Eren goes Rouge, we have no way of stopping him?” He asked. Hange laughed.
“One your little lover boy wouldn’t go Rouge. Two, there are two was to stop him. An EMP switch.” She led us back to Armin’s control board. 
“It will shut down all electrical elements in the unit for thirty seconds, unless I hit it more than once.” He smirked. “Eren won’t know how many times I have pressed the button. There maybe times during a fight I need him to stop and listen to me. I can hold him for thirty seconds.” He continued on. “If he goes off the rails, I can stop him for as long as I need.” Armin paused there was definitely something they weren’t telling us. The pair exchanged looks.
“The second way…?” I asked. Levi was a head of me. Sometimes I think he hides his intelligence.
“Some kind of explosive, I’m guessing.” He eyed them.
“Sort of.” Hange glanced at Armin.
“Hange wanted to use explosive to blow the cockpit of any machine that went Rouge and we couldn’t stop.” He glared at her.
“But Armin is like a love child between Erwin and myself!” She giggled. High praise indeed. What did he come up with to earn it? I turned to the blond. He pointed to another button.
“It is…” he paused. “It will release a gas, knocking out the pilot, also the door will be sealed so no one, but Levi or yourself, Commander, can open it. Lastly…” His eyes went up to the female in our midst. 
“It locks all controls. Resets them sort of. We don’t destroy the machine, but we regain complete access to it.” She informed us. We all turned when the doors opened up. Jean came walking in pushing Eren in his chair. The kid looked exhausted. Marco walked beside them a smile on his face.
“Good morning.” He greeted everyone.
“You look like hell.” Armin’s eyes were on his friend. Eren raised his to look at Armin.  He really did look bad. It was only twenty-four hours since we returned from the failed mission. Yet Eren looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.
His face was pale, purple rimmed his eyes and bags rested under them. The way he held his arms made me think he almost couldn’t lift them. He sighed sounding even more tired than I thought.
“Started therapy, it’s exhausting.” He muttered. Armin laughed. Gone was the boy who had stood up to Captain Levi. Here was the kid who needed his best friend to protect him from the bullies. Bullies I think, this kid could have easily defended himself against.
“We were showing them your new unit.” Armin was telling him.
“Letting them know I can’t run away with it?” Eren tried for a smile. Levi touched his face tenderly. It melted us all to see Eren lean into the man’s touch.
“Care to open it up, so we can peek inside?” I asked. Eren nodded.
“Forward horse!” He smirked as Jean muttered something about getting even. Levi glared at the boy, I snickered, he slapped me! When I looked over, he was glaring at me.
“What?” I chuckled. He rolled his eyes, marching behind Jean. I didn’t see what Eren did to open then unit up.
“What part of your DNA, is needed? Like blood, finger prints, eye scan?” I asked. The three exchanged looks.
“It’s a bit more complicated than, let’s cut off Eren’s hand to use the machine.” Armin gripped. 
“It goes through the command node. Eren has, or will have access to all machines created in here. The pilot, Eren and myself will be the only ones who can access a machine. Aside from his.”
“Why didn’t you give yourself access to his?” Levi asked. Eren glanced up at Hange.
“She didn’t want anyone to force her to open it so they could sabotage it.” Eren stated.  
“Oh.” Levi looked away. He knew, as I did, this was for Levi’s benefit. 
“Alright, let’s go inside!”  Hange sounded to enthusiastic. Eren sighed. 
“Care for a hand?” Levi asked softly.
“Please?” The teen answered. Carefully, Levi picked him up. He placed Eren in the command chair.
“Dad?” Eren said. We turned. Strutting across the floor with Pixus was indeed Doctor Yeager.
“Are you insane?” The doctor demanded. “Hasn’t he given enough?!” He was yelling at Levi. “Or do you plan to keep him in service until you manage to kill him?” The doctor fumed. He was on the ground with a very pissed of Levi above him. No one had seen the small body move. I gripped his shoulder. No need in killing the doctor in front of his son.
“You won’t ever speak to me like that! Do you think I enjoy seeing him like this? He can’t even lift his fucking arms!” He spat down at the doctor. Grisha Yeager regained his feet. Although he easily towered over Levi, he looked smaller than the man squared up to him.
“Why is he back in that thing?” The doctor demanded with a more normal tone.
“Because “he” still wants to protect his friends.” Eren answered. “See I can lift my arms.” He muttered to Levi.
“I still have final say over the physical ability of all Unit pilots!” Doctor Yeager puffed out his chest.
“You have the physical say, yes. And I will have to undergo a psychological evaluation as well. It doesn’t matter, I will be in control of my unit as soon as I heal.” The Yeager’s glared at each other. Eren sighed, breaking contact first. He explained about the three months to come.
“In that time, Hange, Armin and I will work out bugs in my operation of the unit. Just give me time.”
“Is this really what you want? Do you hate me this much?” Doctor Yeager suddenly looked wearier than his son.
“Honestly, I despise you. I can hardly look at you because of what you did to me. I’m not just talking about my leg.” Eren paused. “Maybe these next three months can be a rebounding, or something.” He muttered looking away. 
“You love him but you hate him.” Armin clarified.
“I will give you the three months. Then you can show me if you are physically capable to handle your machine.” Doctor Yeager nodded.
“Thanks.” Eren muttered. “You want to see inside?” He offered.
“Not today.” The doctor turned leaving without saying anything else. Levi sat in Eren’s lap. Hange and I squeezed in around the chair. Armin, Jean and Marco stayed on the outside.
Eren showed us how he had managed to control the robot the night prior to last night. He walked us around the lab, returning back to the holding spot. Everything was controlled by his arms. We had the same worry about his legs.
“It’s a work in progress.” Hange informed us. After the display we disembarked from the unit. It was growing late in the day. We decided to talk over some food. I led the way to the mess tent. Pixus’ men had set up some extra tents for our people to sleep in. Jean, Connie and Armin would be in one tent with Marco. As soon as the tall man recovered from his injuries.
Annie, a new recruit, was in a tent with Mikasa, Sasha and Hange. Levi and I had separate places inside Hange’s lab, although Levi stayed at the rented house since it was closer to Eren.
It had only been a bit over a week, but already headquarters was coming back. Levi was thrilled the other building burned down. The new one we were building would be fresh and clean. The only down side was the belongings that had burned. Eren had mentioned a lost letter from his mother. This started the others talking. It was a nice way to relax for today. So much had gone on in such a short time. These were teenagers, not battle-hardened soldiers. Yet, they were getting there all too fast. I toasted to them, all cups clicked to mine in silence as we lifted our drinks together, and swallowed what was inside. Tomorrow was another day, right now, we had peace.