Summary: M-21 stared, not believing what he was seeing in Karias' hands. He couldn't have…

Set…somewhere in season 6? Post-season 6?

Prompted by Markky-Mark.

Overuse of ellipsis, for once. XD;


Initiative

By Dark Ice Dragon


M-21 stared, not believing what he was seeing in Karias' hands. He couldn't have… "Tao…" he said slowly, not turning his head to look at Tao, his attention still caught by making sure it was what he thought it was.

"I didn't!" Tao protested. "I don't even-" He sighed and walked over to Karias while M-21 stayed where he was. "Yooo, Karias, how did you find out about the masks?"

Karias smiled, lifting it up. It was similar to their own, but now that M-21 had a better view of it, he could see it wasn't exactly the same, the material duller, the shape wider. "Seira and Regis told me about it."

Right… They hadn't told Seira or Regis to not tell him about the RK-5.

"A group devoted to serving and protecting the Noblesse?" It…looked like he struck a pose… "Yes, I need to be a part of it.

"They showed me their masks and I created my own." He smiled at them proudly. "They were surprised I hadn't already been made a member yet."

There had been a reason for that.

Silence.

"Can it stay on?" Tao eventually asked, and M-21 raised his eyebrows, turning to look at him. Tao's arms were crossed as he studied the mask critically, frowning. Huh. Did that mean…?

"Ah… No," Karias admitted, looking a little sheepish. "That, I haven't been able to do – even when I tried on their mask."

Tao sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's because I had a mould of everyone's face – only the person I made it for can wear it." He shook his head. "I'll make one for you."

Karias beamed at him. "Thank you."

"No problem," Tao said, waving a hand, dismissing it. "Give me a day and it'll be ready."

He got a nod before Karias left, humming.

M-21 smirked in Tao's direction; it wasn't often someone off-balanced him.

"They wouldn't match," Tao grumbled, not looking at him, crossing his arms again. "It would have been bad for our reputation."

"We don't have a reputation," M-21 said dryly, snorting. They made sure any recorded traces of themselves after a fight were destroyed.

"When we have one. We can't do much about everyone who sees us."

Apart from trying to track down every single person, and that was never going to work.

"Aaanyway," Tao said, shaking his head, "Karias'll be a challenge to manage, but I'll totally be able to do it." He grinned, daring M-21 to disagree.

He kept his mouth shut, in case Tao somehow tried to make it into a bet.

"Boss scanned him a couple days ago," Tao mused, tapping his chin, "so I'll be able to get his face measurements from there. …Hmm."

M-21 eyed him, know when Tao made that noise, he was planning something.

"I wonder if I should update the mask design…?"

Fuck. "To what?" M-21 asked him warily.

"Oh, I have an idea," Tao said, looking pleased with himself. "Just you wait – you'll love it."

Before M-21 could say anything else, Tao was gone, leaving M-21 by himself. Shit.

Exhaling, M-21 went in the opposite direction – the others would need to warned so they wouldn't be too surprised by whatever Tao created next.


Tao had called Regis 'Number 3' within Karias' earshot, basically, haha.

I need to get a better handle on Karias' voice. Orz;;