I really wish there was more fic with the KSA's battle couple. Their WTF is very entertaining.

The KSA helps show how how the Union has enforced humanity's helplessness, and the anger and desperation this has to engender in the people who know it's really only a matter of time until the Union takes over their countries - especially when I'm not sure how clear the rest of the world is on the fact that Lukedonia is the reason the Union didn't take over centuries ago. The KSA didn't really seem to get how big a threat Lukedonia was to the Union, talking with Frankenstein, so they probably really did have no idea why they weren't conquered yet and were stuck waiting for the axe to fall. Sangeen and Yonsu are very desperate measures, given what the Union would do if they found out, but if you're doomed anyway...

It's interesting to think about how the relationship between humans and nobles during human pre-history would have affected both species. They were a major factor in our environment, so how would we have evolved to take advantage of that? Note that in the Noblesse 'verse, nobles were probably around before humans started using words, so it's not actually 'primitive humans were stupid and mistook nobles for gods,' it's 'when humans were coming up with words to call the various things in their environment, they called those tall brown and green things trees, that blue thing up there the sky & that red-eyed thing over there a god.'

There's this hilarious FMA fic by Meredith T. Tasaki where Ed has this line: "Which is why I have to kill him! I can't let a bunch of crazies like the State get their hands on my research! What if they understand it! We'll all die!"

This takes place after the meeting between the KSA and Seira (with Regis as her attendant) re. Lukedonia assisting them against the Union. In the webtoon, that meeting was crashed by Ignes Kravei, after Crombel set her off. He's dead, so Ignes, Roctis and the Ninth Elder are still alive and Muzaka's still sealed. For now.

M-21knew that if he wasn't enhanced, he'd be complaining about having to get up early to meet the KSA people before work. Still, they need the KSA to know the tracking system to catch people roof-hopping Tao'd set up around the city and how he'd be sending them certain information so they could evacuate civilians. It wasn't like Tao'd have the time to coordinate that himself when the next attack came, not when he had RK's tactics to manage. And it would be good for the KSA to do their jobs instead of endangering the students.

He didn't want to meet up with them (saving Sangeen from Cerberus was different), but M-21 couldn't skip out on the meeting and let Tao go alone, or only with Takeo. The numbers would be even then, even if the KSA's enhanced humans weren't anything on the upgrades Frankenstein'd given the three of them.

That just meant Tao's body would be really valuable to the Union. Maybe enough for them to look the other way to South Korea making enhanced humans without telling them.

"You look like you have a question," Tao said cheerfully to the KSA representatives.

"I know that we don't have a right to ask questions after everything you've done for us," Yonsu said, looking away and scowling. Obviously she still wanted to pry.

"Go ahead and ask," M-21 said even though he didn't like them, remembering what Frankenstein told him about asking questions. That he couldn't tell him everything, and there was a lot Frankenstein knew that M-21 wouldn't have trusted himself with, things that would put people in danger if the Union knew, but he'd still give him answers if he asked.

The married couple looked at each other. Sangeen was the one to start talking, carefully and a little slowly, watching them in case he needed to stop. "When we thanked Lukedonia's representatives," the 'children' at their school, "and wondered why they were coming to talk to us separate from the Chairman, they said that the actions of the Chairman – and someone else? – were separate from those of Lukedonia's government, although he wasn't unrelated to it."

"That sounds like politics," Yonsu chimed in. "You don't have to tell us if it'll cause trouble, but the last time the KSA got caught up in politics?"

The power struggle between Crombel and the Twelfth Elder had almost wiped out the entire organization. M-21'd heard that everyone in their headquarters was killed except their Chief, so all they had left were the people who hadn't been there.

M-21 wondered if the trainees they sent to test their candidates had survived, but when they'd attacked the high school kids he didn't care enough to ask.

Takeo was looking at Tao, who had his hand behind his head, laughing a little nervously, clearly trying to make it casual and apologize for not being able to tell them anything.

"It's because he's human," M-21 said. Of course Frankenstein would want them to know that.

Everyone turned to look at him. Sangeen and Yonsu had their mouths open in shock.

"I know!" Tao said.

"We were shocked as well," Takeo agreed.

"He's really… That's what an enhanced human is capable of?" Yonsu asked, but she didn't look happy or hopeful. Just sad, a little angry at herself. Probably because she and her husband hadn't been strong enough to protect their comrades at the KSA, despite volunteering for unauthorized experiments at incredible risk of the Union doing its considerable worst.

"So he survived leaving the Union by allying with Lukedonia, but he's not under their authority because he's not a noble?" Sangeen asked, pulling himself together.

"No no no!" Tao said hurriedly, waving his hands. "The Boss was never part of the Union!"

"I'm not certain how much more we can tell you," Takeo said, "but that is something you need to know."

"It's probably a natural assumption to make, when he took us in and we were Union experiments, but it's a good thing you didn't make that assumption anywhere he might hear it!" Tao warned them. "The Boss despises the Union."

Both of the KSA agents shuddered: they'd seen Frankenstein angry.

"You don't have to tell us anything more," Sangeen said. "When we asked him who he was he wouldn't tell us anything except that he was the Chairman of Ye Ran High School.'" Sangeen frowned at himself. "Oh, right, you were there."

The three of them looked at each other. "It was weird," M-21 was the one to say, since he'd been with them longest. "He's always answered our questions. I didn't know much, but that was because I didn't want to risk it."

Tao perked up. "They aren't part of the family." So Boss would tell them things he wouldn't tell allies, because they were special?

Takeo nodded. "The Union already went to the KSA for information once. We know he took precautions in case they captured these agents."

"Right!" Tao slammed his fist into his palm. "We should tell them something." He turned to Sangeen. "You know how we called ourselves RK?"

"Yeah, I… wondered about the masks." Wondered what they were thinking, probably.

M-21 wondered if these two thought they were all as crazy as Tao and Frankenstein. Not that he cared.

"We're the Raizel Knights!" Tao declared, striking a pose.

"No, you can't recruit them," Takeo said firmly, trying to head Tao off. "They're sworn to defend South Korea, and Raizel occupies a position in Lukedonia's government."

"Government?" M-21 blinked. "There's the Lord, but… I guess they are kind of in charge."

"They're nothing like the Union, or the governments of the countries DA-5 operated in, but monarchy is a form of government. I hope it's not a problem that the clan leaders are here helping us out so much." Tao looked thoughtful. "Does Boss have to take orders from the Lord? I mean, he wouldn't because he's Boss, but isn't the Lord the ruler of all nobles? He is a noble. Maybe that's why Regis and Seira said that we weren't unconnected with Lukedonia, since he's a Lukedonian official."

"Since he swore an oath of obedience, perhaps," Takeo agreed, looking a little surprised.

M-21 frowned. "Oath of obedience? You really think he'd be okay with something like that?" He was still baffled by the idea of Raizel being government. Weren't they like the Union Elders, controlling things? He couldn't imagine Raizel in charge of anything, ever. He had his powers and could give orders, but mostly he sat there, drinking tea or looking out the window, minding his own business, until one of his classmates decided that they were going to go play Counterstrike or something. M-21 really wasn't surprised to find out that the Contract with Frankenstein and Frankenstein calling him Master was Frankenstein's idea, so Raizel went along with it.

"He usually lets humans do what they want, so if that was what the Boss wanted to do?" Tao shrugged. "I hope not, though. He wouldn't like it much."

"'He?'" Yonsu asked, attempting to mimic the particular emphasis.

"He," Tao corrected her helpfully. "You know, the kids call him Rai. Drag him away from fights if you can, okay? He's really nice, and it bothers him to have to kill people. And when he's sad, everybody's sad, and when Boss is sad?" Tao shuddered dramatically and wailed, "He spring cleans!"

M-21 and Takeo looked at each other. They wanted to say that Tao was being overly dramatic as usual, but… Yes.

Takeo nodded his head slowly at the KSA agents, forced to acknowledge the truth of Tao's words. "The janitor at Ye Ran must be a saint."

M-21 nodded. "He puts up with it because if the Chairman wasn't a good person the kids wouldn't be so happy there."

"He's happy there, and he wouldn't be happy unless the kids were happy," Tao chimed in.

"Rai… Cadis Etrama di Raizel? The Ye Ran student who finished off the Twelfth Elder but didn't come to our meeting with the Lukedonian officials? He wasn't exactly attentive," Sangeen said.

"And he always had an excuse for getting out of PE," Yonsu added. "Although that makes sense." All of them knew about having to hide enhanced strength. The other nobles also got out of PE while the KSA agents were watching the students.

The agents couldn't possibly have missed all of them looking sad. "He stares out the window all the time," Takeo said – they'd seen him in the classroom through that window, when they were patrolling the campus. "He's… used to that. His life before he met the Chairman was… lonely."

"That's why he wants us to be happy." M-21 said, looking to the side, wondering why he was being so talkative. He didn't like these people, why did he care what they knew about anything? "He knows what it's like to not get to have a normal life."

"He's saved all our lives," Tao said. "That's why I make RK, to protect him."

Yonsu gave him a skeptical look. "Protect him? He killed two Union elders. What does he need protection for?"

M-21 didn't even realize he'd taken a step towards Yonsu before Tao and Takeo grabbed his arms. He swallowed and grabbed hold of his temper. "Right," he forced out through gritted teeth. "He said that before me, no one except F-the Chairman had ever wanted to protect him." Raizel'd said Frankenstein's name once on the battlefield, but he hoped the KSA agents were too overwhelmed to really catch it. He didn't want them assuming things based on the Union's old lies.

When he stepped back so they could let go of him (not that Tao did), Tao and Takeo looked at each other, frowning.

"Sangeen really didn't…" Takeo looked at Tao, puzzled. "I didn't notice how… important," Takeo said, after failing to find a better word, "he was until later, but they saw what he did to the Twelfth Elder, and heard why."

Yeah, M-21 hadn't realized that Raizel was anything special, he'd faded into the background behind Frankenstein somehow, but then M-21 had seen him use his power and whatever was keeping him from realizing that Raizel was important couldn't fool him anymore.

"It's one thing to not notice us, or Boss, but three nobles sitting right there with the kids he was supposed to observe, and he didn't think they were important?" Tao nodded. "They must have been doing that thing that makes you not notice them. Probably only during class. It's interesting how the school's so used to them now. You get a lot more attention, M-21," Tao said, squeezing his arm before he let him go. "From the Union's data, a modified human who looked like them should make everyone freak out, thinking they're wrong and probably sick because they look too perfect. Uncanny valley. I guess it's because humans and nobles used to live together, you know? It's funny to see people just… pay attention when they see him or Miss Seira, even little Regis, but once they get over the shock it's just 'oh, nobles,'" Tao waved a hand nonchalantly, "and they're like… just nice to have around. You'd think that Miss Seira'd have a fan club like M-21, but it's like she's a really gorgeous sunset or something that's just nice to look at and M-21's actually hot."

"I have a fan club?" M-21 asked, shocked, even knowing that this was Tao and that reaction was exactly what he was going for.

"You're lucky you were considered a failed experiment," Takeo told him, looking away, voice grim. "I'm lucky that… she decided to play the game she did. Dr. Aris isn't the only Union official with a known fondness for pretty things, but Crombel labeling you a reject meant they left you alone." Trash wasn't a status symbol. "Tao is correct. Humans don't seem to see nobles as sexually available. It would be… noticeable if they did."

"We're working at a high school," Tao said, with a cheerful grin, the kind successful data-gathering gave him. "Hormones and young love all over the place. It's a lot of fun to watch," after Shinwoo asking them for advice made them all realize they just didn't have a clue.

Or maybe Takeo did, and that was why he'd fled the scene? No. DA-5 was very closely monitored, and Dr. Aris probably wouldn't have let anyone else play with her toys. M-21 knew that some experiments still talked to each other, even if he and M-24 were out of the loop because they were failures and no one wanted to be tainted and terminated by association. Takeo was friendly and Tao was designed for intel gathering and monitoring, so they would have been more hooked in than most.

"The nobles were tampering with our minds so we didn't notice them?" Yonsu demanded.

How was that her business what they did to hide them from the Union and keep everyone safe, M-21 wanted to growl at her, but right. Her country. Tampering with their minds, though? "That can't be right," M-21 said, frowning. "It must work some other way."

Tao tapped his fingers together thoughtfully. "Regis thought it was okay to try to Jedi Mind Trick the boss into letting him stay at your place, right? He was okay with the memory wipe on Ikhan and the others, but that was to save the kids from the Union, and it was the boss that did it. He just didn't stop Boss from doing what he wanted. There are still more traitor nobles at the Union, so we should probably ask Boss how all that works. If he's thinking about intel leaks from the KSA, then it wouldn't be a bad thing for them to come too, right?"

For some reason they looked at M-21, who shrugged. If Frankenstein wasn't worried about these agents getting dissected by the Union even after they'd had plans for his students, he wouldn't have had those vials. It was probably because he approved of humans sticking up for themselves, and people defying the Union to create enhanced humans. If Frankenstein wanted them to get lost, they'd get lost. If they ended up running away from the school with their tails between their legs, good. It'd keep them away from the students.

"They are psychically null, like werewolves," Frankenstein said, sitting at his desk in the Chairman's office, giving the five of them a look over his glasses before zeroing in on a specific target. "Which is part of why I did not want them in possession of any information," Tao. Of course it wasn't hard for him to know who was responsible for this. "I took a look at their enhancements. While the KSA's program doesn't have the Union's particular institutional incompetence," inventive underlings without patrons were massacred, like the Union's South Korean lab, by someone who wanted exclusive knowledge of that research, "or propaganda, the doctor who worked on them had to make much of it up as he went along, and was of course completely ignorant of the historical context of enhancements and the reality of humanity's position on this planet. He entirely shut down their natural psychic abilities thinking that would help keep the Union from detecting them."

"Humans are naturally psychic?" Tao asked, acting heedless of the fact the KSA agents were right here and he was asking for information when they'd hear it.

"Yes. Verbal communication and symbols are far more effective and generally useful, so obviously we evolved to prioritize language, but we still use psychic abilities not just as a method of clarifying meaning, but for data transfers. That's why nobles can learn languages and how to fit in so quickly: it's being uploaded to them. There's a certain developmental stage when it becomes very obvious if a child lacks psychic powers – it's a communication disability. They have to learn what other children simply download."

M-21 glanced over at the KSA agents to see them just stunned. Sangeen was a little better at hiding his emotions than Yonsu, he guessed, but M-21 was used to nobles, so he might as well have had his jaw dropped.

Someone just knew all this, and talked about it so casually? Handed out the kind of knowledge the Union killed hundreds, thousands of people like M-21 to obtain?

"I've developed techniques for assisting students like that, of course," Frankenstein went on, thoughtfully.

There wasn't a transition from scientist to high school Chairman. That was another strange thing about Frankenstein, to M-21. That scientist mode and 'looking after people' weren't mutually exclusive to him. Wasn't science supposed to mean cruelty and detachment? Frankenstein could be cruel (training came to mind) and he could detach himself from a situation (in order to be sure he saw everything) but it was always for the sake of being kind. For being sure that he was taking the best care of all of them.

"Since the condition is better known these days and it was almost time to leave Ye Ran, I was considering having the next school be preschool through high school, and getting some of those techniques out there. Of course, I'd have to let the teachers think they'd figured out those tricks themselves; it's not safe for me to publi-" Frankenstein blinked at them, finally noticing that something was wrong.

"Leave Ye Ran?" Takeo asked, pale.

Leave the school, leave the students? Leave the first job M-21 was happy to do?

Frankenstein held up his glasses, tilted them in the light so they would see the bifocal lenses. "I'll teach you how to manage as immortals, but the most important thing about faking aging is, don't bother. It's incredibly time-consuming and all of your brains are still adapting to manage your changing bodies and abilities. You need your rest. It takes a certain number of years for a school to become an institution, to develop the quantity and quality of tradition that will let it endure changing political winds, the temptation to prioritize prestige over truly doing good for the students and the world, assassinations… The varying hazards of the educational field. When the KSA asked me how I was able to mobilize the government to give their organization what they needed to recover so quickly, I told them that I was the Chairman of Ye Ran High School." He smiled at Sangeen and Yonsu. "Because it was as the Chairman of Ye Ran High School that I placed a call to our alumni association. It's always rewarding to watch children grow up and spread their wings."

Turning back to the school security's infamous 'Parachute Trio,' he told them, "Yet the fact that my students were able to take the KSA's problems – aside from the surgery – off my hands means I could now move on knowing that Ye Ran would be in good hands." He smirked, more proud than anything. "But, Master has friends and a life here. Don't worry. You won't have to leave Ye Ran anytime soon." He chuckled. "It isn't as though I haven't been called a peacock before. There's nothing wrong with letting people think I'm a little vain and spending far too much money to hide the signs of aging."

Takeo and Tao were relieved, but, "Immortal?" M-21 asked. He'd known that Frankenstein just had to be really old when he thought the two of them were 'noblesse,' and then he'd found out that Frankenstein was human and Raziel had been asleep for 820 years.

M-21 had always known that the Union just hadn't gotten around to terminating a failure like him yet. Frankenstein and his master had given him a chance to live a longer life, but he'd known that the Union was going to try to kill them all.

Now immortality was on the table?

"Physical immortality is not difficult," Frankenstein told him. "I primarily use a variant on the noble method since the werewolf method comes with the risk of mutating substantially away from the human baseline. I suppose it doesn't benefit the werewolves or traitor nobles in the Union for humans to develop or refine abilities that the other species already possess: they want to help themselves, not humanity. Dr. Aris had a pair of disgusting creations, made by turning humans into machines that wore out their lifespan." They sensed Dark Spear's aura flare around him, Frankenstein and his soul weapon united in their hatred of the Union.

Turning humans into weapons? That was what happened to Dark Spear.

"I should have made more of an effort to try to periodically stamp out those cockroaches." Frankenstein's eyes narrowed and M-21 considered taking a step back. There were only flickers of Dark Spear in the air around him, but they'd cut M-21 if he came in contact with one. Sure, these days his werewolf heart's power was strong enough that the wound would actually heal, and heal fast, but it still hurt. "They didn't have the sense to stay under the radar unless someone was keeping them in their place back in my day, but I shouldn't have assumed." That other people were doing their jobs and keeping the Union suppressed?

Sangeen and Yonsu, who had seen Frankenstein summon Dark Spear in a fight, were eyeing the door and window. M-21 saw Takeo move closer to the window, shaking his head to warn them not to even think about going through it.

Frankenstein didn't even seem to notice the sparks. "But six traitor clan leaders – seven, unless I manage to kill Ignes before Roctis Kravei – and an unknown quantity of clan leader-level werewolves would be a bit much even for me. Especially with Dark Spear sealed."

And Frankenstein wasn't like the Union. He wasn't going to turn other people into soldiers for him.

"It's okay!" Tao said, broadly smiling. "I mean, half the Elders are dead, before they even really had a chance to get started! They wouldn't have been so overconfident if you'd been kicking their asses for centuries, Boss."

"Yes, but eight hundred and twenty years?" He rubbed his temples. It was strange how often someone enhanced like him got headaches…

Oh. Dark Spear, even if the sparks had gone away now that Tao'd made Frankenstein think about something else. It couldn't be happy that the Union was allowed to thrive.

"It isn't as though I didn't keep busy trying to find Master. Locating Sanctuaries and get into sealed spaces is a challenge even if you are the bonded of someone with authorized access. Dimensional physics was not my field. Thank goodness I already knew the security system was tied to the movements of the moon and other celestial objects."

"Oh!" Tao realized. "That's why the data in your lab wasn't encrypted?"

His boss stared at him. "It was encrypted." Obviously. "Everything except you three, the treatment plans I put together for you to follow and a general explanation of what I was working on with you written for the layman, because you had a right to understand what was being done to you. And the finalized recipes, for Miss Seira," he added. "It was the general explanation that made those files so dangerous. The Union keeps its members unaware of major, foundational concepts, so they have made very little headway on the theoretical understanding necessary to actually design and optimize enhancements instead of trying random things to see what happens." The M series. "When Master and I left for Lukedonia, I left you enough information to continue to stabilize and enhance yourselves safely," he reminded Tao.

"The overview I left you wasn't just based on the understanding of the theory I had 900 years ago – even though I haven't been experimenting with human enhancement since then, I have had a great deal of time to consider the matter. In order to find and hopefully help my master, I was also working on developing an understanding of high-level noble abilities. The type of ability that allowed a single person to create Lukedonia and the Sanctuaries that concealed Master. I've also been hoping to free the souls imprisoned in Dark Spear, and have made some attempts to nail down that theory. Obviously I didn't write out 'How to Attain Godhood In Four Easy Steps,' but if someone knows the theory, the rest is just engineering, and of course a member of the Union is going to be looking for the most twisted ways they can apply any knowledge they can discover. Drs. Aris, Crombel and the Ninth Elder already saw humans as raw materials! They've been mining for lead to make water pipes, with no idea that the 'worthless dross' they discard as soon as possible can be turned into nuclear weapons!"

Frankenstein shuddered. "Imagine if Dr. Crombel had known what the hell he was doing! Billions would die!"

Tao drew in a breath, and M-21 turned to see him pale as ice. "Boss, can we… change the subject? Before… I think I should… Can I please not remember what I just figured out?"

He winced, standing up. "My apologies."

"I don't want to know." Tao wrapped his arms around himself. "I really, I really don't want to know. Because I would. To protect everyone. I would. And then the Union might find out it's possible." He shuddered. "That's why you gave him your blood. Because you think of things like that." He shook his head, staring at something only he could see. "I don't want to be the kind of person who would do that. I don't want to be like the Union. But they made me, and if any of you died I, I couldn't let them… If I had that kind of power, he wouldn't have to fight but he'd have to kill me, wouldn't he, I don't want to do that to everyone…" His hands lifted up, clutching his head.

"It's not the temptations you're faced with that define you, Tao," Frankenstein said, coming around the desk to put a hand on Tao's shoulder to steady him, meeting Tao's pleading gaze when the former Union killer dared to look up at him with compassionate blue eyes. M-21 couldn't see even a trace of Dark Spear's violet hatred. "I would never hate you for wanting the power to protect others. The fact you're now able to recognize that there are some prices which should never be paid is progress."

The KSA – the outsiders who threatened the kids shouldn't be here for this, M-21 knew. The way Frankenstein put his hand on Tao's shoulder reminded him of Raizel putting down his tea and standing up to walk over and pat Frankenstein's shoulder when Frankenstein saw the damage to the school from M-21's fight with Yonsu and Takeo's with Sangeen.

…Well, who else would Raizel have learned to do that from? Nobles didn't do touchy-feely stuff.

"No, I'm not wiping your memory," Frankenstein told Tao. "You're actually intelligent, and you've seen theory in action. Once people know it's possible to do something, others will figure out how to accomplish it, which is why the KSA's doctor was able to create these two without data from the Union. When you were in the Union, you weren't allowed to have scruples. Now that you're a free man, you're going to have to learn how to overcome temptation. How to choose the principles you will live by and stick to them."

"…can't you threaten to feed me to Dark Spear or something?" Tao asked, trying to joke.

Frankenstein gave him a look. "If I was alive to stop you, then you wouldn't feel the need to do it. I know this is a radical concept to someone who only remembers the Union, but power is not the be-all and end-all of existence, and just because someone can think of a way to become more powerful doesn't mean they have to do any such thing. …Of course, if I'm not alive to stop you from doing that, then I won't be alive to stop Dark Spear from eating you for it."

He patted Tao on the shoulder and returned to stand in front of his desk, leaning back on it a little in a deliberately casual pose, changing the subject. "Unless something goes apocalyptically wrong, the KSA won't need the ability to detect nobles, so the only issue is the lack of the… muscle, let's say, that resists mental domination." Which was the problem under discussion.

Looking thoughtful, he frowned briefly. "Werewolves are also psychically null, but their method of fending off mental assault seems to be a scorched earth policy and the ability to constantly generate new neurons. Originally, I thought werewolves were another clan of nobles, but the way they handle fundamentals is so different. Two powerful races on this planet with completely different origins. Then some early human generated enough of a psychic signal for nobles to notice our existence, werewolves had a much easier time having a relationship with the ancestors of modern humans than another werewolf, and within living memory for nobles, here we all are," he mused looking around the room.

Two Union-designed enhanced humans; two independently enhanced humans – stealing data from the Union was too risky; one enhanced human (originally) based on samples he'd obtained from mutants with abilities originating from nobles; and one human with a werewolf heart.

M-21 stiffened. "There are humans who are descended from werewolves?" How many? How like him were they? Maybe he was one even without the heart? Maybe that was why he was compatible enough with it to be the only M-series to live. Was it a clue to his identity?

Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein, shook his head absently. M-21 kept getting hit with how strange it was to see someone in scientific mode and have it not be scary at all, although who knew when Frankenstein would decide to go over to scary mode, especially with the KSA here. M-21 wasn't the only one who wanted to scare them away from the students. Maybe another part of it was the school, seeing the teachers here? Mr. Park proved people could know things without seeing everyone else as things?

"Most if not all werewolves are descended from humans – their traits are strongly dominant due to how their abilities function. According to Muzaka there's no correlation between percentage of human ancestry and power level – what I've observed from you would explain it." Frankenstein tapped the table with a pen, having picked it up absently. "I wouldn't be surprised if all werewolves were chimeras. I'd like to have a theory on either noble or werewolf origin, but bar a stroke of luck we'll probably never know. Nobles didn't keep historical records until recently – they didn't have a language or writing system to record them with. All they have is what is within living memory, but the Previous Lord believed that weight of history was strangling Lukedonia's future and took much of it into eternal sleep with him." Frankenstein chuckled. "I'm sure future historians will wish they could wake him from eternal sleep so they can murder him."

He paused, and M-21 saw his realization. Ah yes, there was a point to this conversation. "Modern humans still subconsciously recognize nobles because our ancestors spent a few hundred thousand years benefitting from the fact that nobles would protect us. It's instinct to rely on them. On some level, Agent Sangeen, you knew they were nobles, otherwise I'm sure you would have assumed they were modified humans and reacted accordingly. Most people are 'stunned' the first time they see a noble because their psychic abilities are grabbing for a larger share of brain function. This usually isn't something they've experienced before, and the natural assumption is that they are paying particular attention to this person for a reason. Shinwoo Han thought Master needed looking after," which made Frankenstein smile in approval. "Interesting, when it used to be the other way around."

Tao would have reminded them of Ikhan's adoption of fellow shortie Regis, but he was leaning against the wall close to Takeo. M-21 hoped it wouldn't take him too long to get back to normal.

"Is that why they said that it was… normal for them to help us now that the Union was attacking?"

"They haven't done anything about the Union before," Yonsu added.

"No, I won't be giving you intelligence on Lukedonia's political situation," Frankenstein told the KSA agents, putting his glasses back on. "And don't try good cop bad cop on me, you're a thousand years too early," he added, giving them a look over his glasses. M-21'd bet he'd put them on again instead of fiddling with them just so he could do that. "If the Union's intelligence is as inaccurate as it seems, then we all want to keep it that way. Any society will produce criminals, and needs mechanisms to keep them from abusing the weak. Because the nobles were ordered to live on Lukedonia, most human contact with nobles within our recorded history has been with criminals and traitors. Then there's the Union's recent propaganda – they've been gearing up to invade Lukedonia, and managed to inspire rather suicidal overconfidence in their main battle fleet."

Suicidal enough for an ops team to run into the Noblesse's manor house and fire warning shots into the ceiling in front of Frankenstein, expecting people they must have assumed were nobles to surrender to unenhanced humans.

Seeing the plaster fall onto the floor, M-21's life had flashed before his eyes.

If Tao hadn't managed to knock them all out while Frankenstein was still too stunned by seeing his property (technically Raizel's, but that just made those soldiers even more screwed) damaged to react, M-21 did not want to think about what would have happened to them.

Frankenstein smiled, the kind of pleasant that didn't mean anything good for whoever he was smiling at. "I would ask you whether you would try to help Regis and Seira if Union agents were about to kill them, but your actions are those of South Korea's government and you cannot afford to antagonize the Union."

There was a reason he'd said 'try to help' instead of actually help. If Frankenstein (or M-21, for that matter) was interested in being fair to the KSA, they weren't anywhere near as strong as M-21 was after Frankenstein had worked on him. The two of them being able to help out Regis, much less Seira?

Regis fought up close like M-21 instead of being ranged support like Tao and Takeo because even if he was the noble version of like ten or twelve (M-21 had his memories of being a child wiped, he didn't know how to figure out people's ages), he was still a pureblood noble and the strongest out of the people Tao managed to drag into his RK… thing.

M-21 ignored the little voice that said that Tao had managed to manipulate Regis into joining up and even wearing the stupid tiny mask because Regis was a kid, and Takeo was Tao's comrade from DA-5 and probably felt compelled to tag along to try to rein Tao in a little. What was M-21's excuse?

Sure, it was fun to do the hero thing, and to get to deny the Union something – no, someone – they wanted, but there was a reason he'd said no to acting like they were some kind of hero team like the ones Shinwoo liked to watch.

Seira was a clan leader with a soul weapon. If some Union Elder was about to kill her, the KSA agents weren't strong enough to matter in a fight or fast enough to get her out of there. If Sangeen was faster, it would have saved M-21 a lot of trouble when Tao decided that they had to rescue him from Cerberus.

"I could ask you whether or not you would allow ordinary, human children to be put in danger on your watch, but you sent trainees to attempt to beat up one of my students, when accidents happen." Frankenstein's smile was edged. Oh yes the Chairman of Ye Ran High School was going to bear a grudge for that, even if he'd eventually forgiven M-21.

M-21 wasn't sure why Frankenstein and Raizel had forgiven him for putting the children at risk. At the time he hadn't thought about it, but once he had thought of the children as people, like him and M-24, and how wrong it was to treat the children the way the Union had treated them? He wasn't sure if he could forgive himself. That was why it was so hard to forgive Yonsu, for ordering something like that without taking a minute to think about the fact that Shinwoo was a kid, an ordinary kid with a chance at a life, and she was putting that in danger. Taking that away from him, when M-24 died to keep them alive, so they had that chance!

"Still, ordinary, decent human beings will try to save a dying child, and nobles in general are no different. Lukedonia's age of majority is two hundred, unenhanced humans are more fragile than noble children, and the reason that human and noble psychic abilities are so compatible is probably because our ancestors evolved to better imitate a noble child in distress. Under ordinary circumstances, which the past seventy thousand years have not been, nobles reproduce once in a few million years. Children are rare and infinitely precious. Ask an ordinary, decent noble whether or not unenhanced humans should be protected even at noble expense, and they would have trouble understanding the question. Of course, when the question finally was asked, the fact that it was so hard for nobles to find words to give an answer would not have helped matters.

"Unfortunately, as with the parent-child bond in both species, instinctive trust holds great potential for abuse if the one in a position of power is not trustworthy. I enhanced my psychic abilities to an extreme degree trying to block what I thought was external mind control instead of instinct. In hindsight, it was not a coincidence that I found my way to the one person on Lukedonia able to tell two clan leaders on a mission from the Lord to get lost… I didn't want the Union to know that my master had returned, but he told that werewolf to tell them, in hope it would make them think twice. Then again, obviously the werewolves don't want the rest of the Union to succeed, so she may not have warned the traitors to either the nobles or humanity. I don't want to hand information to the Union because I underestimated their selfishness." What to do…

"Regardless," he told the KSA agents, "the Union certainly has the knowledge of how to give someone psychic abilities they can use to become trusted. Yuri demonstrated that. The two of you need mental shielding in case anyone at the Union realizes it might be worth inserting a cuckoo in the KSA. Please do tell your own doctor that. I'm afraid I cannot assist you in that regard: the last time I let anyone at my work, the Union happened."

"When Regis fought the rest of DA-5, his mind control was really useful," Tao said, clearing his throat and making an effort to be back to normal, "but we didn't even notice anything when the Central Order Knight tried to ask us questions, right guys?"

M-21 and Takeo nodded.

Frankenstein frowned, then looked a little worried. "Perhaps I should go over your modifications with you in more detail. All of you consented to being stabilized, and the minimal modifications necessary to undo the damage caused by the Union's incompetence and keep you alive, even before you requested that I actually upgrade you. I should have remembered that the Union doesn't consider the life expectancies of its agents a priority, so your idea of the basic survival package is probably very different from mine. Mental shielding was one of the first things I worked on, since it was useless to try to fight vampires without it. As for Lukedonia's attitude towards mind control…"

The darkness began to rise up around him, that contempt appeared in a bitter smile, the hatred directed at himself more than anything. "I can't quite point fingers, now can I? They tamper with human memories because otherwise the Union will take anyone who encounters a noble, I tampered with noble memories to keep the clan leaders from rescuing the criminals and executing them before I was done with them… Seira would have gotten a hotel room, but I wasn't expecting to have nobles suddenly shown into my office. I believe Regis felt traces of Master's soul from me, and made an impulsive decision because he was drawn to it. He's only a hundred and ninety-nine: if I couldn't forgive children for doing childish things, I'd have no business being an educator."

According to the Noblesse S novel summary/translations, 'Parachute Trio' is an in-universe nickname for M-21, Takeo and Tao, the… strange new members of Ye Ran's security.

Don't worry, M-21, despite Tao you're more of a Quirky Miniboss Squad than something sentai. Then again, I don't know if that's much better…