Summary: [Hey, can you and M come to the park right now~? I've got something to show you~] It seemed like an innocent enough text from Tao.

Set after season 3.

…I thought this would only be about 200 words, tops. :l

Twist

By Dark Ice Dragon

[Hey, can you and M come to the park right now~? I've got something to show you~]

It seemed like an innocent enough text from Tao so Takeo and M-21 had left the house to meet him.

"Why the park?" M-21 asked, frowning as he scanned the dark area around them. The sun had set a few hours before, the blue streetlamps lighting the area.

"I'm not sure." Not that they could ever figure out Tao's reasoning behind things (even after Tao had explained it), but there had been reports of small explosions happening in the city. Tao hadn't found anything yet, which pointed towards Union activity. It had stopped a little while ago, but the agents could have gone into hiding.

Takeo pulled his phone out, triple-checking if he'd received any new messages or misunderstood Tao's text. Had Tao been in trouble…?

There was a fluttering sound high above them – and it was getting closer, moving fast.

"Shit!" Takeo and M-21 moved so they were back to back, and Takeo tried to find – there!

He had already shoved his phone away, reaching for his pistol when he saw the wide grin, the flash of white amongst black hair.

"Oh, fuck…" Takeo murmured, letting go of his gun.

"Bwahahaha!"

He could just make out the black cable Tao was holding above his head, attached to something elsewhere, and then Tao lifted his other hand towards him and M-21, two cable spearing out towards each of them.

The cable wrapped itself around Takeo's torso, crisscrossing all over and the breath snapped out of him as he was yanked off his feet, following Tao as he continued the arc of his swing.

"Tao, you fucking asshole-!"

"What do you two think?" Tao yelled before the cables started drawing them up to him.

"I prefer roof hopping," Takeo said, holding onto the cable, trying to stabilise himself and keep facing forward, the streets already far below his feet.

"And it's faster," M-21 said.

"Aw, but this is more fun!"

Of course Tao would worry about that.

"We are not letting you watch anything again," M-21 growled, and when Takeo looked at him, he was spinning a little. "Ever."

"What do you mean – this is totally an awesome idea!"

Takeo watched the buildings speed by as the two continued to argue, checking if anyone was following them. There didn't seem to be, for the moment. It was a cloudy night, so it was unlikely that unmodified humans would see them.

"Watch out!"

He snapped his attention to what was in front of them.

A building.

They were heading straight for a building.

"Aha!" A jerk, and they were swinging away from it, around the corner. "Don't worry – I've got the hang of it now!" Tao assured them.

Now. Now. Takeo groaned, closing his eyes as he realised what that meant.

"We're just about to land, so please keep your limbs inside the vehicle at all times." Tao snickered, finishing the tip of his arc and they were falling towards a rooftop.

"There's nothing to keep our limbs in," M-21 muttered as Tao let them go and their feet hit the rooftop.

"Juuust in case," Tao said, grinning as the cables slithered off Takeo and M-21's bodies, going back to Tao.

"You're the one damaging the buildings," Takeo said, watching him.

Tao chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah… Not anymore, but it took me a while to figure it out."

"Does Frankenstein know?" M-21 asked.

Tao's smile twitched. "Heh… Yeah, he does," he admitted. "I'm paying for the damages, so I won't be able to buy anything for a while." He sighed, pouting.

"You have enough for all three of us anyway," M-21 said, his lips lifted in a teasing smirk.

"Do not." Tao stuck his tongue out at him. "And I was thinking about buying you two gifts for my next purchase." Tao span in a slow circle, his face tilted towards the sky. "But I guess that's on hold until I pay the damages off."

"We won't ask," Takeo said, shaking his head. With Tao, he would probably change his decision right before buying anyway.

"Good." Tao held a finger up to his lips, his grin snapping back into place. "'Cause then it wouldn't be a secret."

Or he wouldn't tell them either.

Tao's grin widened. "So you think jumping's faster than swinging…?"

Takeo started to smirk in response, knowing what Tao was going to say, tensing.

"Race ya home!" Tao had already shot a cable out from one hand, cackling as he sped away.

Takeo and M-21 left the roof at the same time, overtaking Tao in a few bounds.

"What?"

While swinging from buildings was 'more fun', rooftop hopping meant he and M-21 could move in a straight line.

"Should have made a bet." M-21 huffed, but the wind helped Takeo see his smile.

"Maybe not," Takeo said, glancing over his shoulder to see if Tao was catching up. "He's probably got something up his sleeve."

"Then we should hurry up."

"Mm, yeah."

xOx

Tao was laughing when he landed in front of Takeo and M-21 in front of the house, a few minutes later than them.

"We won," M-21 said, his arms crossed, a sharp smirk on his face.

"Yeah, I know," Tao said, waving a hand. "On the other hand, I've got a better mental map of the city now, heh." He threw his arms around Takeo and M-21's shoulders. "So I owe you two coffee," he said as they walked into the house.

"You have enough money for coffee?" M-21 snorted.

"Why do you think it's just coffee?"

Takeo would have answered, but Frankenstein opened the door to the entrance before they'd changed into their indoor shoes. They all stopped and looked at him.

"I was starting to wonder where you three were," Frankenstein said. Had Frankenstein mentioned he'd wanted to see them? They weren't due for another check in a while… "Dinner's being put on the table."

Ah. They hadn't been keeping track of the time…

"Heh, sorry about that, Boss!" Tao said. "We'll be there in a minute."

Frankenstein nodded at them with a smile, and left.

"Okay, so I need to figure out how to be faster on them," Tao mused.

"Are we helping with that?" Takeo asked, putting his indoor shoes on.

"If you want."

"Not if you're crashing into buildings," M-21 added.

"That – shouldn't…happen… Yeah." Tao cleared his throat.

"Later," Takeo said. Everyone was waiting for them.

"Yeah, okay, later," Tao said, he and grabbed Takeo and M-21's elbows, tugging them into the house. "I'm starving."

Once they were done, he and M-21 just had to monitor the next things Tao tried to watch in case he got more ideas.

The next thing Tao watches/reads is Shingeki no Kyojin, haa… So pulling system AND swords! 8D

Thanks to Erokoneko for this, pfft.