"He's gone."

Regis entered the spacious living room and sat on the black leather couch with an undignified huff. It was the third time this week and it was Friday today. Tao was on the floor, cross legged, and was looking through the camera footage for the past month while Takeo was leaning on the back of the couch, making two different kinds of lists. Seira was cooking in the kitchen; the children would probably be coming round in about an hour. Frankenstein was in his lab, looking through the data for their modifications and Rai sat elegantly sipping a cup of peach tea.

One of their members was missing and not for the first time, either.

M-21 has been disappearing every now-and-then during the evening and won't be back until early in the morning. At first, it was a rare occurrence that M-21 would go out on his own, and he would usually be back within the hour, but as the months went on his outings became more frequent and they would never see him for, at least, four hours.

"How did he get out this time?" Tao asked with his eyes still glued to the screen.

"His window, I'm guessing. It was open." Regis replied. There were a few odd patterns that the others have kept note on. One of which was that, sometimes, he would not leave by the front door, sometimes it was his window, jumping off the balcony during the night (Tao saw this one night as he was flicking through the camera channels he's set up around the house), even climbing into the attic, via access through a ceiling and ladder in the hallway, and finding his way onto the roof. Tao and Takeo, upon realising, tried to pursue, but they never actually realised how much of a runner M-21 was and lost him quicker than expected.

"What did he take this time?" It was Takeo who asked. He glanced at Regis, pen at the ready.

"He took nothing this time." He picked up his sweet tea and took a small sip. They've started to make two types off lists; one for the items he takes with him and one for the items he brings back with him. Sometimes he takes a few items, food at times; mostly it's either a black bag full of books, of some sort. On a rare occasion he takes nothing but comes back with a handful of papers.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you can just simply ask him, rather than go through this kind of trouble?" Seira gracefully sat down with a cup of tea in hand on the back-less couch, opposite Regis and Tao.

Tao peeked over his computer screen at Seira with a mischievous gin growing on his lips "Now, where would the fun it that be?" this comment raised several eyebrows in his direction. Before he returned back to his screen and started to type vigorously "Besides, if it isn't such a big deal, like occasionally going for a walk, why would he need to sneak out and, plus, he never talks about it."

There was a small silence as most- with the exception of Rai- were thrown into thought on the subject. Questions were flying through their heads, but one was at the front of everyone's mind-

What is M-21 up to?

Hello Interneters,

This originally was supposed to be a One-Shot, but I think this could go down as a multi-chapter. If you want me to continue, tell me down in the reviews and- if you want- what are your theories and if there are any good ones I'll quote them as character thoughts (and I'll give you credit for it – obviously)

See you later,

From

LittleBlueTabby