Exceptional Normality
Noblesse is not mine, I simply exert my will upon the characters.
"What are the two of you doing here?" M-24 asked flatly—put any emotion into it, and he may well have growled like some trapped animal.
Jake took a moment to remove his cigarette from his lips and blow smoke into the air before replying—as though M-24 wasn't worth his time, "You've been taking too long. Just shows that failures are failures even with easy missions like this."
M-24 ground his teeth but said nothing. The man was goading him, and over his years watching over M-21, he'd learned to let such taunts slide off his back.
Jake scowled at M-24's silence, and the look caused a jolt of satisfaction for the giant as he continued to watch expressionlessly.
"We are here to take over the mission since you have proven unable to complete it," Mary stated emotionlessly.
"We don't have many clues, so it hasn't been going quickly, but we can still do the job." M-24 carefully disagreed.
"Heh."
"Regardless, we will complete the mission given us, and you will inform us of what progress you have made," Mary continued calmly.
"Alright," M-24 grunted, "I'll show you to the place we've been staying."
Thankfully, Shinwoo and Ikhan became so involved in the game again that they failed to become concerned or overly interested when M-21 only woke up 3 hours later.
It was the noise that had woken the grey, which meant that it was a grouchy, sleep-deprived M-21 that woke up. Sighing, he shifted the blankets aside and subtly stretched aching muscles.
"Ah, you're awake." Ikhan suddenly observed, "You're a deeper sleeper than even Shinwoo."
Shinwoo promptly punched his best friend in the arm without missing a beat.
"Ouch! Hey!"
As Ikhan and Shinwoo began squabbling, M-21 winced at the noise and breathed deeply to try and quell his burgeoning headache. It didn't help.
Scowling, he plopped himself onto the couch, looked at Rai and almost growled. 'Here I am in pain, and he looks like he could have stepped out of a magazine.'
A few more minutes of noise, and M-21 knew he wouldn't be able to play again anytime soon. Standing, he did his best to ignore the aching of his entire body as he politely made his goodbyes.
"Thanks for having me over, guys, but I need to get back to my cousin."
"Awww, can't you stay any longer?" Shinwoo asked excessively loudly.
M-21 winced and tried to give an apologetic grin. "No, my cousin needs me back soon," he lied. If he was telling the truth, he would have said that he couldn't stand all the noise and needed to get back to the base and sleep.
Ikhan pushed up his glasses in a movement that seemed rather calculating, "Well, you don't have a cell phone, so how can we get in contact with you? Do you have an email?"
M-21 shook his head. "I'll be around for a while longer, and if I have any more free time I can leave a note here?"
The short male was silent for a moment before opening a drawer and pulling out notepad and pen. After writing something down, he tore off the piece of paper and handed it to M-21 who looked at it in surprise.
"Now you have me and Shinwoo's cell numbers," Ikhan grinned. "Try and at least call before you have to go back home."
Embarrassingly pleased, M-21 carefully secured the paper in his pocket and left the house containing his first friends.
As he ran to the base—the faster he went, the sooner he could sleep—M-21 found his hand drifting to the pocket containing that ever-so-important note often to make sure it hadn't slipped away while he wasn't paying attention. However, when he got to the apartment, he stiffened with the strange feeling that someone aside from M-24 was inside.
When he opened the door, his extra sense was confirmed when the sight of a maliciously grinning Jake confronted him.
"Where you been, brat?" The higher agent asked with a shark's grin.
"Around," M-21 replied with a slight sneer—make him think he's being disrespected, and he won't think to wonder where M-21 really was.
"You should respect your betters, boy," the man growled before stepping forward as though to discipline the teen.
"Jake."
One word from Mary, and Jake scowled, returning to the couch where he promptly plopped down and bemoaned the lack of tv and couldn't failed experiments at least provide him with some entertainment?
Thankfully, M-24 took the opportunity to move forward and snag the temperamental teen by the arm to drag him to the safety of the kitchen.
M-21 glared at him and his unspoken words were clear, 'Why are they here?'
"They were sent to investigate, too," M-24 murmured as he continued to cut up a carrot into tiny pieces.
Grey eyes narrowed, and M-21 scowled but didn't say anything in response except for a muttered, "I'm going to my room."
For M-24 the rest of the day went fairly well. M-21 was tired and skipped dinner—a bit worrisome, but it had happened on occasion—which meant that Jake didn't have any more chances to poke and prod at the teen's often volatile temper.
It also gave M-24 the chance to plan how to keep the two away from each other more in the future. He finally struck on an idea the next morning and could only hope that Mary would go for it.
So, as they all ate a simple breakfast in their own little sections of the room, M-24 looked to Mary with as bland an expression as he could. "You know, it might be a good idea if someone kept an eye on the docks in case they try to ship the coffin out."
Mary didn't speak for a moment, but then M-24 could see her slowly incline her head. Jake apparently did, too, because he groaned, "Why are you taking advice from this failure?"
"It's a good idea, Jake." And when Mary said it like that, they all knew someone would be staying down at the docks.
"Well, I'm not doing it," Jake grouched.
"Maybe M-21?" M-24 ventured casually.
M-21 shot him a look that would have made the giant wince if he wasn't concentrating so hard on pretending he had no ulterior motives.
"Why not you?" Mary asked without sounding interested at all.
"I thought you'd want me with you since I have more experience with the infected we made. You mentioned using him to track down the others?" M-24 asked as he continued to stare down at his food as though it made no difference to him which of them stayed.
When Mary turned towards M-21, who met her gaze carefully and unhappily, M-24 knew he had won. "You'll stay down at the docks, watching for anything suspicious."
Biting down on the anger M-24 knew had to be there, M-21 instead said, a bit sulkily, "How will I get in touch if something happens?"
Absently, Mary tossed something small over to the teen who caught it with ease and looked down at the ear bud with a frown. A moment later, Mary tossed one to M-24 then Jake as well, "We'll head out in 5 minutes."
M-24 gently took M-21 by the upper-arm, only to be shrugged off with a glare that did make him wince this time. "I have some things you should take with you if you're going to be staking out the docks." M-21 didn't stop glaring, but he did follow his partner into the kitchen where M-24 handed him plastic bags full of sandwiches and water.
At the sight of the bags, M-21 glared at him with even more accusation, and M-24 just knew what the teen would say if the others weren't so close: 'You planned this, didn't you?'
M-24 smiled, and when his partner left to begin watching the docks, he couldn't help feeling relieved that M-21 didn't get the chance to snarl at him about it.
"I'm going to kill him!" M-21 growled as he angrily headed for the docks, ducking through alleys and dangerous streets rather than going over the roofs where he didn't need to worry about being seen. Let someone come up to him and start something—he'd leave them flat on the ground and feel better for it.
Unfortunately, no one seemed willing to challenge him today, even when he stalked right through a group of thugs shooting the breeze. No, instead of challenging him, they decided to part, not meeting his eyes, like damn sheep! On another day M-21 would have been proud of the accomplishment, but today it just incensed him to greater heights.
If there had been a mirror nearby, he might have understood why the thugs had scattered before him. A hint of long canines could be seen as he clenched his teeth in fury, his whole body seemed a bit larger than it should be for a teenager, and, above all, his hands were curled with short claws digging into the flesh of his hand and leaving blood in his wake as he walked with a predator's gaze and eyes.
The thugs would later convince themselves that they hadn't seen any of this, that it had been the drugs—even the ones who hadn't taken anything yet that day. Teenagers didn't have claws, fangs, or animal eyes. They must have had a weird trip.
But M-21 knew nothing of this, and so he moved on through yet more alleys and empty streets without a single person moving to intercept him. And inside, he seethed and fumed, and seethed more when he realized that M-24 must have thought he was protecting him, which made the whole thing even more degrading.
"He's the one who needs protection," the wolf muttered to himself. "We haven't gotten to test it much, but I'm faster than him and at least as strong."
And it was true. Not long after he had stopped needing to take the medication—though they didn't let the Union know right away so they had extra medicine—he had slowly found himself reacting faster, moving past M-24 with ease whenever they ran.
It was both frightening and exhilarating.
It took all the time getting to the rooftop at the docks, however, before he had rid himself of the rather over-done anger. Really, he wasn't sure, as he stopped and stared out at the ocean, why he had been so angry—maybe because M-24 was now alone with Jake who had no problem displaying his dislike of anyone weaker than him?
Whatever the answer, M-21 unhappily plopped down into a defensible corner and pulled out a snack as he set the ear bud beside him—with his stronger sense of hearing, having it in his ear all the time was not only unnecessary for this type of job but annoying.
He would watch the docks as ordered, but they had never said how he had to watch them.
M-24 carefully held in a sigh as he led Jake and Mary to the building where he and M-21 had created the infected.
'The kid might be mad at me, but I'd definitely rather be watching the docks than following these two.' M-24 griped internally. Already Jake had made several taunts and mocking quips that had M-24 grinding his teeth, but each remark made him even more certain of the decision to send M-21 somewhere else.
The teen was generally calm, logical, and a great partner, but he could have quite the temper and Jake was pushing all the right buttons to spark it. This was proven again when they reached the building and Jake brushed past him with a sneer.
Jaw clenched, M-24 quickly showed them to the room, after which is usefulness seemed to end. Jake, of course, didn't make a show of doing anything useful, but Mary looked through the room and eventually told M-21 that she wanted to use his infected. What for, she didn't say, and he knew better than to ask.
In short, aside from having his patience and control sorely tested, M-24 didn't go back to the apartment feeling like he had gotten anything done.
To make it even more frustrating, as soon as the sun went down, Jake and Mary took off to set up a trap for the infected's former cohorts. M-24 was told to go join M-21 at the docks.
The grey-haired teen had actually had a decent day. During a short break, he patrolled the perimeter, the teen had come across a group of young, would-be gang members who he had proceeded to vent some of his previous frustration on.
He doubted the group would decide to follow through with their goal after such an absolute beating, or at least they would be smarter about it.
It was as he was finishing off the last of his food that M-21 sensed M-24 coming towards him. Frowning, he put the now-empty container back in the plastic bag and focused on the coming experiment. He could sense M-24 easily now since he was familiar, and he had somehow sensed Mary and Jake's presence before. But, like most of his hidden abilities, he had no real idea of how strong this sense was—if Jake and Mary were with him and he just couldn't sense it, he could be in trouble.
So, just in case, he stood, took a definite observer's stance facing the docks, and finally put his ear bud in.
M-24 snorted when he arrived. "Don't worry, it's just me."
With the confirmation he needed, the teen smirked and sat back down. "So, did you get banished out here, too?"
The giant sighed, "They've decided to use the infected to find the rest of the group. It'll probably take them a few days, so until then we're not of much use."
"Why'd you want me out of the way anyhow?" M-21 asked with curiosity and a light glare. The sight of his partner reminded him of what the man had pulled earlier to get the teen so heated.
M-24 couldn't hide his wince fast enough, and the teen caught the expression. "M-24," he growled, "why did you set this up?"
"I…I wanted to keep you away from Jake." The giant admitted as he looked away guiltily.
"What?!"
Squaring his shoulders, the elder gathered his resolve and looked straight into M-21's eyes. "Jake's crazy, and he doesn't like us—especially you. I didn't want you to be in danger."
M-24 then watched with a morbid sort of wonder as his partner's expression became positively feral. It was moments like this when M-24 was forcefully reminded of how much faster M-21 was advancing compared to him. The boy's canines had become longer and more noticeable as M-21 almost-snarled at the elder, and M-24 could swear his pupils were slit.
"Calm down. Can you tell me for sure that you wouldn't have snapped at him?" M-24 asked sternly with his arms folded across his chest.
M-21 made a deep, rumbling sort of sound that reminded M-24 of a canine's growl and looked away.
"Exactly," M-24 said with a nod.
Of course, having his point proven didn't help M-24 much—now the teen was sulking.
Sighing, M-24 readied himself for a long wait when an idea came to him that might solve the problem, "Hey, since I got you stuck out here, why don't I take over for the rest of today and you go look up those friends of yours?"
M-21 stilled and finally acknowledged him with something other than a glare, "Is that safe with Jake and Mary around?"
M-24 rolled his eyes, "They're not interested in us now that they have their own plans. If they do check in, I can just say I sent you to a different area or something then use the ear bud to call you back. I'll keep you updated every hour, too, so you don't have to worry about Jake or Mary listening to anything you say."
Obviously pleased but trying to hide it, M-21 slowly snatched up his ear bud and put it securely in his vest pocket. Despite not being very pleased with his partner, he still asked again, "You're sure?"
"Positive."
M-21 was almost jubilant as he ran away from the docks, and the possibility of getting to see his newfound friends when he hadn't been sure of ever seeing them again made him feel a bit guilty for being so mad with M-24. His partner always had his best interest in mind, after all, and Jake wasn't exactly easy to put up with.
At any rate, he decided to stop by the red-head's house before using what little change he had for the pay phone.
Knocking on the door received no answer, and so to the payphone it was, and after dialing Shinwoo's number, he carefully returned the scrap of paper to the safety of his pocket.
"Hello?"
"It's Hyun Su."
"Oh, hey! What're you up to?"
"I got some free time and wondered if you'd mind some company. I tried your house, but no one was home."
"Yeah, we're over at Principal Lee's house where Rai lives. Just a sec."
M-21 could hear shuffling over the phone and the murmur of voices before Shinwoo spoke again.
"Principal Lee says you can come over if you want. We're just playing board games and hanging out."
"That works for me. Where is it?"
Without a map, M-21 wasn't confident about finding just an address, and Shinwoo's directions were rather poor as well. Finally, Ikhan took over that side of the conversation, and not long after M-21 found himself in front of the door to Raizel's home.
Forcing himself to relax, he knocked on the door, and heard footsteps approaching.
The door's lock clicked as it disengaged, and the door swung open to reveal a man with long, curly blond hair and a picture-perfect smile.
"You must be Hyun Su."
Author's Note: The reason we haven't seen M-24 take his medication is because in the series that scene is largely there to show you how they are 'failed' experiments according to my reasoning. Also, if you really want to know, he tries to take his medication at times when M-21 isn't around to not appear weak to the kid, though really it's a variety of reasons in my mind. Also, some of the timing is different from the series, but, like I've said, change just one potentially important thing and there are a lot of other things that may change as a result.
Hope you enjoyed!