Noblesse is not mine, I simply exert my will upon the characters.
As M-21 was looking forward to the following night, Raizel was returning home where Frankenstein immediately picked up on his master's disturbed mental state.
"Master, how did it go with the children today?" I hope he wasn't defeated again.
"I did not experience death as often."
"That's wonderful, Master!" Thank goodness.
"But someone strange was there."
"Master?" Frankenstein's forehead furrowed in obvious concern. "A strange person? What did they look like?"
Raizel stayed silent for a few moments, and Frankenstein's agitation rose, "Did he do something, master?"
"He taught me how to stay alive longer."
Frankenstein was thoroughly confused.
"They called him Hyun Su, but he was not a normal human."
"How so, Master?"
"He was a being who didn't belong anywhere."
There was silence for a long moment as Frankenstein tried to puzzle out his master's words, then, "A power user, master?"
"…"
"Would you like me to look into him, master?" Frankenstein asked professionally—it would be difficult to find out anything about someone he had never seen, but maybe if he followed from the rooftops he could get a good picture… He really needed someone he could entrust this sort of thing to.
The Noble continued to hesitate for a few more moments before finally nodding. "Be discrete. He doesn't seem to mean the children harm, but…"
Smiling, Frankenstein bowed, "Of course, master."
The day leading up to the expected night had M-21 irritable. The teen would go from being incredibly thorough as they searched to being surprisingly reluctant.
'Of course,' M-24 mused, 'he's never gotten this close to having friends, much less friends his own age.'
Not that M-24 wasn't his friend, but they were comrades above all else.
'It's gonna be hell when we get home and he's got nothing to distract him from the time.' M-24 groaned to himself, though with only a little annoyance—seeing M-21 acting his age and looking forward to something normal made the giant happy.
M-24 suddenly frowned as he continued to watch M-21's decidedly hyper-active behavior, 'I'd still prefer that to him sleeping like he usually does. I keep expecting him to just not wake up one day.'
'Damn, I wish I could take him to a doctor.' The giant growled internally. 'Can't take him to the Union, can't take him to a normal doctor even if we get free of the Union…'
Blinking with the suddenness of a new thought he began to muse as he took long strides towards where M-21 was now glaring at a hissing cat—the felines never took to him—his mind processed something that he had considered impossible only a few months ago. 'If they find something, I could probably erase their memories.'
M-21's abilities may have grown more quickly than his own—as well as more powerful—but he had been practicing mind control on people when he could, and with some more time and practice… He could probably do it.
'There's still the matter of getting away from the Union, especially since I still depend on the pills, but in a few months I could control someone at the Union to get more pills then fake my death or something.'
Now, M-21 was questioning what looked like a run-away teenager with much more patience than he would have previously, and M-24 noticed the difference and smiled. 'Well, we've lasted this long. They don't really pay attention to us anymore, so we have time.'
M-21 trotted back. "I gave her ten and she said we might have more luck with a gang down at the docks that specializes in smuggling—apparently, they're the only group people can go to for some illegal travel."
"Good job, kiddo," M-24 grinned as he did his best to push his plans onto the back-burner; they had a job to do. He ruffled M-21's hair as a distraction from his thoughts—the gray-haired teen was extremely good at reading him—and because it amused him to do so.
Scowling, M-21 muttered his usual admonishment, "Not a kid," before rolling his eyes and heading off in a new direction. "We might as well go check it out now."
M-24 hesitated. "I was actually thinking of heading back pretty soon and starting an early dinner in case you don't get it at that kid's house."
It was easy to see how the reminder of his plans had M-21 coming to an abrupt stop. There was even a bit of uncertain movement as though he was about to turn back before he finally seemed to settle on an idea, "You go ahead; I'll check out the gang and be back later."
It was a good idea, but M-24 still hesitated. He really hated leaving the teen alone for things like this.
Snorting, M-21 smirked at him, "I'm not as big as you, but I'm still more than a match against normal humans. Plus," he suddenly continued with a hint of cockiness, "you've never beaten me in a race."
Chuckling, M-24 tipped his head in acknowledgement, "I'll see you later, then. Just remember not to find us what we need too quickly, huh? Don't want to leave yet."
"I know," M-21 stated solemnly.
That done, M-21 began his trek across rooftops towards the docks as M-24 turned back towards home.
If there was one thing M-21 actually liked about what the Union had turned him into, it was that he could move like this.
The wind rushed by him, and he took a leap that sent him flying onto another roof with an ease that was definitely super-human. As the docks became closer and closer, he could smell the sea in the air and hear it in the calls of shore birds and the flapping of sails. It didn't register to him that most people would still have a ways to go before they could hear such things, and there was no way for him to have known such a detail.
All he knew at this moment was that M-24 was silly to worry—who around here could possibly compete with this level of physical prowess?
Plus, he'd be able to pick out the scent of gun oil and residue with ease, and they'd end up shooting at the wind.
A few minutes later, he was crouched mere roofs away from the beginning of the dockyard. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he tried to watch for anyone suspicious and instead found himself wishing that he had a pair of binoculars.
Frowning to himself, he focused on moving closer while still avoiding the line of sight of any camera or worker nearby. It was almost a game, and he mused that Ikhan would have enjoyed doing this in a game while Shinwoo would have been too impatient and constantly set off alarms.
The thoughts gave the mission a more interesting twist, and he began to see it as a challenge to keep out of sight rather than the chore he usually saw it as, especially without the cover of full night to help him.
As minutes slowly morphed into an hour and he still didn't see anything, he carefully back-tracked then began his journey back to the house. He felt a bit guilty about saddling M-24 with the boring task of observing the docks, but he could make it up to him another time.
"Maybe I should cook dinner later," he murmured. M-24 had shown him how, after all. Plus, he added sardonically to himself, following directions was what Union members were supposed to be best at.
An appealing smell was wafting from the apartment once he got back, and M-21 smirked in anticipation. He couldn't tell exactly what it was—M-24 seemed to enjoy surprising him—but he could pick out some sort of spice, along with rice, soy sauce, pork, and some vegetables.
"Another new recipe," M-21 stated as he walked in.
"Kind of. I didn't have a specific recipe, just one that I used as a guide for how much of the rice and sauce to use."
"Smells good." M-21 said with a satisfied smirk as his partner handed him a bowl filled with the delicious meal.
"Yep," M-24 responded then chuckled as the teen began to eat a bit faster than usual. "The food's not going anywhere, you know," the giant teased.
"I know that," M-21 growled at him then forced himself to slow down. Shinwoo and Ikhan had just said that night—they hadn't given a specific time to be there—and he had all night to hang out. Even Ikhan had been rather enthusiastic about it, talking about how they could drink soda and have snacks and play games until early in the morning.
He wasn't sure what the appeal of passing out early in the morning was, but the rest of it sounded good.
M-21 approached Shinwoo's front door eagerly, and only paused for a moment before knocking. From inside he could hear yells—Shinwoo—and then footsteps approaching the door. Ikhan suddenly opened the door and held it open in invitation to the teen—no longer wearing his usual vest and long jacket but instead a plain, white button-up.
"Hey, you're here!" Shinwoo shouted with only a brief glance away from the television screen.
M-21 started in surprise as he noticed Rai was sitting on the sofa and composedly drinking what smelled like tea out of a colorful mug.
Ikhan evidently noticed his surprise as he looked up at the grey-haired teen. "We figured it wouldn't be fair not to invite him, and this way we can play two on two. Plus, you were able to help him a lot before, and this game isn't too different—it's just a controller instead of a keyboard."
"Ah," M-21 responded, still surprised somehow—maybe it was because the brunette didn't look like he belonged at something like this; it had been like that at the PC Bang, too.
"There are sodas in the fridge, and help yourself to anything on the table," Ikhan added before plopping down next to Shinwoo and goading him on as he continued…wrestling a wolf? His eyes widened for a moment at the unexpected sight before he shook his head slightly and re-directed his gaze to the couch.
A moment later, he took a seat on the couch next to Rai.
Though he appeared to be staring at the screen and paying attention to the game—helped along by the fact that he occasionally joined Ikhan in goading the red-head—in truth, he was watching the boymanguybrunetperson sitting next to him.
The foreigner was so…refined?
Or maybe the right word was remote.
His silence and lack of interest in anything around him made him appear secluded, as though there was a wall around him that could never be penetrated.
Of course, it was Shinwoo who broke the silence between the two several long minutes later.
With a controller thrown at M-21 that he caught only by virtue of his very good reflexes.
"Nice catch!" Shinwoo praised with a grin as he let plopped himself down on the couch to M-21's left. On the experiment's right, Rai appeared to be eyeing the controller Ikhan had handed him quietly—almost as though it was a dangerous animal about to bite.
Smirking, M-21 playfully pushed Shinwoo off the couch, "You shouldn't throw things at people."
"Eh, you caught it, right?"
"Whatever." M-21 rolled his eyes and looked down at his own remote, "How does this work?"
"Seriously?" Shinwoo shouted in wonder before looking over to Rai and noticing the same confusion as Ikhan slowly showed the brunette how to hold and operate the device. "Were you two born under a rock?"
Scowling, M-21 ignored him in favor of Ikhan's explanation. It seemed pretty simple, and he positioned his hands like Ikhan had and began using the directional buttons to scroll through the different missions on-screen.
Eventually, he ended up back at the beginning of the list and decided on the first mission—the assumption being that the first should be the easiest. Decision made, he turned back to look at Rai who was still staring at the controller blankly despite Ikhan's instructions on which buttons to use for shifting weapons, using grenades, crouching…a lot of things.
Shrugging, M-21 selected the mission and found himself in the outskirts of a small town that seemed fairly normal except for the silence of it and a few strangely parked cars. A figure stood beside him, and he turned to look at Rai's character who was…a woman?
"Why is Rai a woman, Ikhan?"
"It wasn't my idea; it was Shinwoo's. Besides, she's a good character."
Rai just looked clueless.
A little irked on Rai's behalf, M-21 chose to ignore it and did a quick test of the controls before abandoning his own controller to make Rai do the same. Shinwoo wasn't being much help, laughing when the brunette almost hit M-21's own character, a man in his 20s who didn't have the raw strength of Shinwoo's previous character but was instead quite agile, and the experiment rolled his eyes before carefully moving his own character out of harm's way.
Preparations complete, M-21 began the mission with Rai following along behind him—at least he seemed able to move now.
"The goal is to get through the town safely, but we have to take out a few groups along the way," M-21 muttered before abruptly stopping his character as he caught a flash of movement from the street.
Carefully, the experiment and Rai—who had to be reminded how to crouch and instructed to do so—concealed themselves behind a car, and M-21 carefully peeked out from it.
"You're gonna get killed," Shinwoo stated bluntly. "There's five of them and you don't have much cover; want me to take over for Rai?"
Tempting. Very tempting.
M-21 reluctantly shook his head even as he scolded himself for being overly-soft towards the elegant brunette. "They haven't seen us yet, so we still have a chance. Rai, I'll go from the front, and you go from the back—when I say 'go,' we both step out and start shooting. If you see one begin to shoot back, hide behind the car again."
Red eyes stared at him blankly. 'I didn't think people could have eyes like that,' M-21 thought to himself in wonder before abruptly pulling himself back to the mission at hand.
"You got it? Okay, we're in position and ready…set…go!"
Chaos ensued, and M-21 could barely hear Shinwoo and Ikhan shouting in the background as he concentrated on wiping out as many of the enemy as possible. He really didn't think Rai was going to be much help in this except as a distraction, so it was up to him.
Eventually he stopped firing as no one fired back, and all three boys stared at the screen in shock.
Player 1: 4 Killed
Player 2: 2 Killed
Abruptly, all three turned to Rai with surprise, and M-21 was almost sure he saw the brunette's head tip ever so slightly down as a hint of red colored his cheeks.
"Good job," the gray smirked as he turned back to the screen—not, of course, until he had noted the tiny bit of extra color the acknowledgement brought. M-21 stayed alive by being observant, after all.
The rest of the mission went just as smoothly, or perhaps even more so as the two gained a better understanding of the controls.
They spent the rest of the night playing through the various missions, eating an assortment of snack foods M-21 was sure his partner would disapprove of, and drinking a truly colossal amount of soda.
At sometime in the early morning, M-21 and Raizel found themselves staring down at the two other boys who had fallen asleep on the couch—potato chips and wrappers strewn around them.
M-21 looked around the room, at a loss for what to do, and eventually found a spare blanket that he draped over the two as M-24 sometimes did for the youth. His next order of business was then to begin cleaning away the wrappers, and he was surprised when Rai joined him in cleaning.
He hadn't minded the brunette's lack of assistance before, though he had been a bit annoyed at it.
The task took considerably less time than he had thought, and he quickly found himself clueless once more. Well, at least until his vision suddenly became blurry and his body weak as the urge to sleep hit him like a train.
He desperately blinked the sensation away, but he knew from experience that he wouldn't be able to hold out for long.
'I used to worry about needing to take the medication, and now I have sleep all the time or I risk collapsing during a mission.' M-21 scowled, though the effect was ruined by the way his eye lids kept drifting down without permission.
Sighing, he turned to Rai who was watching him with one of his non-expressions that M-21 was too drowsy to make out now.
Blinking heavily, he looked about for somewhere at least semi-comfortable where he could sleep—if Shinwoo and Ikhan were then it must be okay—and eventually settled on dragging a few pillows to a bare, carpeted section of the floor.
Even as quickly as his nest was ready, though, he was so far gone after only those brief minutes that he essentially forgot Rai existed as he focused on getting comfortable before the darkness closed in.
Raizel was used to being ignored. Many of the Nobles had wished he didn't exist, and he had kept largely to his manor in order to make them more comfortable—himself as well since he had no desire to be well-known among others and thus spread the fear and general disquiet he caused.
Based on these facts, it shouldn't have disturbed him that the new boy, Hyun Su, had promptly fallen asleep on the floor without so much as a murmur.
But it did.
Frowning, the Noblesse approached the strange teenager and observed how his breathing was already deep and even, but there was also something deeper. Power hummed inside the boy's body, emanating from the heart but certainly not confined there. Even as the brunette stood feeling out the power, he could feel the slow changes spreading across the grey's body—changes that were taking a human and turning him into something entirely different.
'Werewolf,' he thought as he focused on the power, and a moment later he turned away and reached out with his mind towards a certain blond scientist.
Frankenstein was working—too anxious about his master spending the night with children of all beings to go to sleep, and it was a weekend anyway.
'Frankenstein.'
The blond abruptly jerked and immediately turned away from his computer. 'Master? Are you doing well?'
'The children have fallen asleep.'
Confused, Frankenstein gave a guess as to why his master felt the need to call him, 'Would you like to to return home now?' Perhaps he was unsure if that would be appropriate? Frankenstein wasn't sure himself, but he was certain that having his master back with him would be pleasant—they could leave a note for the children.
'Hyun Su is…ill.'
'Ill?' Frankenstein murmured the questioning thought, 'I shall come to the house and check on him if that is acceptable, Master?'
'Yes.'
Communication ended, the scientist quickly put together a small bag of diagnostic equipment before heading towards Shinwoo's house—he had made sure to memorize the address in case his master needed him—over the rooftops.
Back at Shinwoo's home, Raizel returned to observing the grey-haired teen once his conversation with Frankenstein was finished. The boy's power made him uneasy—not for himself or the children, but for Hyun Su himself—and the boy was supposed to live a human life, yet something had changed that.
He was neither werewolf nor human, and Raizel knew too well the pain of being different from everyone else. The grey hid it well, but he was so happy just being around Shinwoo and Ikhan; their presence made the loneliness and pain the Noblesse could feel from the stranger lighten.
Like it had for Raizel as he had realized how Frankenstein cared for him despite how powerful he was—like occasionally the Lord had made him feel when he was babbling and being his usual, eccentric self.
Several long, silent minutes later he turned towards the door as he sensed Frankenstein approach, and the scientist quickly let himself in and bowed to Raizel.
Blue eyes flicked to the grey hair visible on the floor, and Frankenstein quickly knelt down, carefully pulling back the blanket to reveal the newest source of discontent in his and his master's lives.
"Outwardly healthy, no signs of stress in sleep, breathing normal," he murmured to himself under his breath. "He appears to be in an ongoing deep sleep, which means I can proceed with the diagnostic now," he murmured before turning back towards Raizel after a quick look at the two normal boys. "Master, would you prevent them from waking before I am finished here?"
A nod was the all the answer the scientist needed, and he quickly went back to work, quickly noticing how nothing seemed to disturb the teen' sleep. Such a heavy sleep was possible naturally, but considering Master said he was sick, it was likely a symptom of his condition.
Still, Frankenstein was nothing if not thorough, and he quickly found himself agitated at the idea that it was likely he would never get the boy into his own laboratory to know for sure what he was looking at.
Not that he couldn't give a reasonable guess, of course.
"I would like to see him while he is awake," Frankenstein murmured, "but it looks like he has received an implant—possibly an organ, but I can't be absolutely sure—in order to gain power. However, his body can't take the strain that this power is causing him, but the specifics would require a more in-depth diagnostic."
It was disappointing, really. The boy had likely had this implant for some time if he was walking around and not confined near medical equipment, which begged the question of why he hadn't already died or at least fallen comatose from the strain. Plus, aside from such a deep sleep he seemed otherwise healthy; his body was fighting against itself without severe problems as of yet.
"Like that tug-of-war game," the scientist murmured thoughtfully before turning to look at his master.
A master whose eyes were now trained on his own blues with curiosity.
Quickly, Frankenstein thought back to what his master wanted to know and alighted on a simple answer, "Tug-of-war is a game where a piece of rope is held at each end by different individuals and force is applied to try and gain hold of the other side."
The Noblesse nodded, and Frankenstein smiled and stood up with his diagnostic equipment back in its bag. "I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do right now, Master, unless you would allow me to take a blood sample?"
The brunette turned serious eyes down on the teen they were discussing before shaking his head as a negative.
"I see," the scientist sighed. "Well, I will return home then, Master. Will you be joining me?"
Another slight shake of the head.
"I will see you later then, Master. Take care." That said, the scientist removed himself from the house despite his misgivings—Master should get to sleep in his own bed and have a perfectly prepared cup of tea, not standing in a messy room with three sleeping teenagers.
'I will have to make sure to have appropriate snacks and tea when he returns.'
Raizel stared absently at the door Frankenstein had left through for several long minutes before turning to look back down at the mystery teen.
'I should not interfere if possible,' he thought coolly to himself. 'He wishes to seclude himself from most; I must respect his wish for privacy.'
Decision made, Raizel took a seat in the solitary armchair and quietly monitored the three teens. He had no notion of anything else he might do in the company of unconscious others.
Strangely, or perhaps not considering that Shinwoo was an incredibly deep sleeper, Ikhan was the first to awaken. Blinking sleepily, he felt along the surface of the end table by the couch arm he had used as a head rest until he came across the familiar shape of his glasses. Mission completed, he blearily put them on then blinked a few times as the world came into focus around him.
He didn't even need the ability to see to tell that Shinwoo was on the other side of the couch—he had forced Ikhan into a ball so that both could fit, and the red-head was sprawled over most of the couch. The sight of Rai sitting, silent and immovable, in the arm chair surprised him. The brunette must be an early riser if he was looking so composed while Ikhan felt decidedly tousled.
It took him several long moments after that to recall that there should be another occupant of the room, and he frowned when grey hair was nowhere to be found.
A little more clear-headed, he sat up, adjusted his glasses, and turned to Rai, "Where's Hyun Su?"
The brunette simply shifted his gaze from a picture of Shinwoo's family on the wall to look at the ground on the other side of the sofa.
Confused, Ikhan carefully stood and walked over where he could see that Hyun Su had apparently cocooned himself using a light blanket usually kept on the couch along with a pillow that had somehow escaped from the couch before Ikhan and Shinwoo could collapse on it.
Shrugging, Ikhan turned back to the tall brunette, "Hungry?"
A pause and then a small nod, and at Ikhan's motion Raizel followed the teen into the kitchen.
It was as Ikhan was having a bowl of cereal—Rai had some, too, but he was just staring at it for the moment—that Shinwoo entered the kitchen with groggy eyes and a yawn. Almost like a zombie,' Ikhan thought with an inward snicker.
When they had all finished, the three re-entered the living room only to find that the grey was still asleep despite all the noise Shinwoo had made when Ikhan had started teasing him about Yuna.
Not thinking much of it, Shinwoo and Ikhan resumed playing the game while Rai looked on—it was yet to be determined if the brunette could play without Hyun Su.
When two hours of their noisiness still hadn't woken the grey up, the two teens became curious, and Ikhan noticed that Rai joined them in observing their newest friend.
Smirking, Shinwoo left the room and came back with a feather boa.
"Should I ask why you have a pink and black boa?" Ikhan asked pointedly as he adjusted his glasses with a mischievous smirk.
Shinwoo simply rolled his eyes, determined to carry out his plan and not be distracted by Ikhan, "Mom used it for a costume a few years ago." Obstacle gone, Shinwoo grinned and approached his unsuspecting target with malicious glee. Carefully, he peeled back the blanket from Hyun Su's face and dangled the fluffy accessory so that it just barely tickled the teen's cheek.
Nothing happened.
Frowning, Shinwoo experimented. He used more boa then less, checked every spot on that head that he could for ticklishness or some sort of reaction, and he received no success. The grey was as responsive as a stone, and only the gentle movement of his breathing informed that he was still alive.
"He's probably not used to staying up so late—he did say he hadn't played video games before." Ikhan muttered, but there was a slight frown as he did.
"Well, let's get back to playing," Shinwoo finally declared. "He'll wake up eventually."
M-24 watched Mary and Jake approach and was unquestionably grateful to whatever stroke of luck or fate had M-21 safely away.
Lips pressed into a grim line, he looked at Jake's smirk with well-hidden fear and began to plan.
'How can I keep M-21 away from this bastard?'
Sorry for the long wait! I didn't want to come out with a sub-par chapter just to be on time, but I wish I had been able to finish this sooner! Also, sorry if you don't like that I'm leaving it off like this, but I think sometimes a bit of a cliffhanger or at least ending with something important happening makes me more excited for what comes next. :-D So, yeah, I'm being manipulative, but it's for a good cause! I sooo want to write more of this while I'm stuck with Contract, and I'm quite pleased that this came out longer than the last chapter—personal goal and all that.
Let me know what you think!