...
A/N: Greetings and welcome to my new story! This story will serve as a prequel to the Amnesiacs Anonymous story I wrote. If you're here from Amnesiacs Anonymous, welcome back! Hopefully this prequel will explain a lot more. Without further ado, may I introduce you to Amnesiacs Anonymous -1: Phoenix Rising!
This story takes place post-R2 and follows the canon storyline.
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Chapter 1 - Attack at Ashford
...
"The Emperor has been assassinated! The Emperor is dead! The Emperor has been assassinated! The Emperor is dead!" The voice projecting from the loudspeaker faded away as the procession marched off to proclaim the good news to other parts of the city.
"Well...you did it, Lelouch. It's over, now." C.C. knelt before the altar in the local church. She tried to stop it, but she could not take back the single tear that slowly rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away angrily with her sleeve. It had been centuries since she had allowed herself to cry over someone's death. To her, tears were a sign of emotional weakness, and she was far from weak. Her tears said otherwise.
Lelouch Lamperouge, Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia, Zero, whatever you want to call him. He was the first and perhaps only person she had ever remembered crying over. Mao didn't count. She had only done so out of pity and regret, and this was out of motherly care. How could such an arrogant schoolboy affect her so much, being the immortal unbreakable witch she was?
Although she never saw it with her own eyes, the video would be all over the internet within the next few hours. The entire scene would be replayed in full on news stations, as if it was an incredible football play highlighted on the sports channels.
"Lelouch! Why didn't you tell us?" Rivalz was pounding on the concrete divider that separated him from the royal procession that had now turned into an impromptu funeral procession.
Suzaku paused in between each word he spoke. To the crowd, he did this for dramatic effect. To himself, he had to choke back a sob in between each difficult word.
"I. Will. Create. A. New. Britannia!" He thrust his bloodied sword high into the air for all to see, the sun gleaming off its tip. Cheers erupted.
"Long live Zero! Long live Zero! Long live Zero!"
Police and medical crews were already on the scene, removing Lelouch's lifeless body from the parade float. Even though he was despised amongst the entire populace, the bloody corpse of an assassinated Emperor lying in the middle of a parade was not the most appealing display to have. The most difficult task in removing him from the procession was taking him from the surprisingly vise-like grasp of his younger sister, Nunnally. She had refused to accept her brother's death as a payment for world peace. Despite her resentment of his deplorable methods for obtaining peace, she still clung to him as the only family she had left. She was the only family he had left as well.
The ambulance slowly pushed its way through the hordes of people who had run onto the streets, celebrating Lelouch's death. The sirens that were a signal to move out of the way did the ambulance no good.
"Eh, no need to rush. He's dead anyway!" The driver tapped idly on the steering wheel then reached down for the soda he had placed in the cup holder.
"Cheers to that." The nurse in the passenger's seat scoffed as she looked down at the dying Britannian Emperor.
Their ambulance arrived at the mortuary quickly. They carried off his body on a stretcher and brought him into an operating room. He was declared dead upon arrival.
...
"During the royal procession a masked man, believed to be Zero of the Black Knights, assassinated the Emperor at close range. The alleged murder weapon was a longsword that authorities also belive to be Zero's.
"The masked assassin dodged the machine gun fire of the Emperor's Knightmare escorts, ran up to the main float, and proceeded to stab the Emperor through the chest. Emergency crews rushed to the site, but upon bringing him to the hospital, he was declared dead on arrival. Empress Nunnally vi Britannia now succeeds her late brother. A moment of silence please, as we mourn the passing of a great leader."
The flatscreen TV clicked and went dark. C.C. whirled around to face whoever turned off her television. Technically, it was Lelouch's TV, but since she practically lived with him for a year, the once solid line that stood between Lelouch's property and C.C.'s property had faded to a near-transparent one.
"I miss him too." It was Kallen. She had changed out of her prisoner's garb into her school uniform, in order to look like a normal student in the Ashford Academy dorms.
"I never said I missed him." That wasn't quite true.
"That doesn't change the fact that you still do." Kallen shrugged. "I can see that you like him. I can see why too."
C.C. scoffed. "Absolutely not. I have had no romantic relations with him at all." That wasn't quite true either.
Kallen shrugged again. "Well, have it your way then. Why did you come back? I mean, this is Lelouch's room, after all."
"I don't exactly have a place to live, so I stayed with him for a bit. I came to pack up the rest of my stuff."
C.C. began walking to Lelouch's room where she grabbed a large suitcase from under the bed. She began systematically taking clothes off of the hangers that hung up in the closet and laying them on the bed.
"So you lived with him too. There's only one bed in his room, though. For two people. Did you guys ever-"
"No!" She threw down her fist in denial. A crunching sound came from it. She looked at her hand curiously and realized she had punched the straitjacket she wore, though she didn't remember it making crunching sounds when she wore it. She picked it up by the hanger and shook it upside-down viciously. A small piece of paper fell out.
"What's that? A note?" Kallen peered over.
"I-I don't know..." C.C. picked up the folded paper. On one side it read:
"Do not open until the time is right."
She turned the paper over to the other side. This side read:
"You will know when the time is right."
She nervously opened the paper. It was a note, addressed to her. The date on the top said it was written yesterday.
C.C.
If you are reading this, everything has gone to plan. I am sorry I am unable to give this to you in person, but we both know that it is impossible. I leave this new world to you as a parting gift. I regret that I was unable to complete our contract. In your suitcase under my bed, you will find I have left you a generous sum of money in the form of cash. I hope it will be enough to get you back on your feet. I wish you luck as you search for your new contractee.
Lelouch.
"Is there something you would like to tell me?" Kallen looked expectantly at C.C. who folded the piece of paper and pocketed it. She took a deep breath and sighed.
"Lelouch planned his death. The whole thing."
"This was all him? The whole time?"
C.C. nodded. "He realized that the people needed something to hate. It is human nature that makes us need to hate something. Lelouch wanted to be the object of everyone's hatred. Once he died, so would hatred."
"Who is pretending to be Zero then?"
"Your classmate, Suzaku Kururugi."
"Impossible! I killed him!"
"Not quite. And he's not pretending to be Zero. He has taken on the full responsibilities of the Zero we both knew."
Kallen paused, taking this all in.
"I'm sorry, but that is the most God-awful stupid-ass plan I have ever heard of! Of all things, why couldn't he just make the current Britannian government the object of hate? Everyone hates them already! Why couldn't he just tell us? Why did he have to die?"
"It wasn't my plan, so don't ask me. I can't say I can blame him for wanting to die, though."
"But you can't die, can you?"
C.C. looked up. "What do you mean, I can't die? Of course I can die."
"No...wait a minute...You're an immortal, aren't you?"
"Wha-what are you talking about?"
"I knew something about you was wrong after we fished out the Gawain from the bottom of the ocean. I saw Lelouch walk into the cave alone, while someone else crashed it into the ocean with Jeremiah! That was you!"
"I have no clue what you are saying."
"You took Jeremiah's Siegfried to the bottom of the ocean with the Gawain! When we examined the wreckage, the entire thing had been crushed into a block of metal! There's no way you could have survived that because the escape mechanism was still attached! You're an immortal!"
C.C. remained silent.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't spread that around. Not many people are aware of that."
"Did he know? Lelouch?"
"Of course he knew. His powers came from mine. I had to save his live too many times for either of us to count. Sometimes, I died instead of him."
"Wow...you must really have a thing for him."
"The only thing I had for him was a contract. It would have caused problems if he died."
"He was supposed to kill you at the end of your contract, wasn't he?"
C.C. still said nothing. Lelouch's letter did say to tell Kallen the plan, so she might as well explain it as well.
"You catch on fast." C.C. plopped onto the bed, dissatisfied that her secrets had been revealed.
"Is that why you gave him powers of the Geass?"
"...yes."
"You should've known it would have killed him first, giving him those powers."
"That was always a possibility."
"Then why did you encourage him to fight Britannia? Why did you give him those powers?"
"Hang on, weren't you fighting Britannia as well? You were a terrorist long before Lelouch even received his Geass. The powers I gave him saved his life on multiple occasions."
"He would've never had to save his life if he wasn't in danger in the first place!"
"Again, what are you trying to say? Weren't you the one with as much reason to destroy Britannia as he? I'm not quite getting your argument."
"I'm saying you are the reason he is dead!"
"You're wrong! And why do you care that I gave him Geass? It was his own plan to sacrifice himself eventually, with or without Geass!"
"Why do I care? Because I loved him too!"
C.C. couldn't help but be surprised. She had known Kallen took up a special interest with Lelouch, but she didn't expect her to scream it at her. Then again, actions spoke louder than words. Kallen had a knack for getting into provocative positions with Lelouch, especially when she was wearing little to nothing, sometimes nothing.
"This is all your fault!"
"Ridiculous!" C.C. was taken aback.
"He was dead the moment you walked into his life! You killed him!"
"That's...not true..."
"Tell me you never loved him."
"What?"
"You said you didn't love him. So tell me again. Tell me you felt nothing for the man you repeatedly sacrificed your life for!"
"I...I don't know..."
"Well you can take your time deciding. He's already dead." Kallen left the room, leaving a confused C.C. sitting on Lelouch's bed.
...
"Uh...hi Kallen..." Rivalz stared awkwardly at Kallen as she walked down the hall. Her firey red hair was spiked in every direction and she wore the key to her Knightmare Frame around her neck as if it were a dainty charm necklace. Gone was the frail schoolgirl who was sick every other week. She was replaced by someone Rivalz didn't think he would ever get used to seeing. It's not every day you get to share school desks with a terrorist.
"So...you'll be taking classes with us again...?"
"Yes. Is that a problem?" If looks could kill, Rivalz would have been dead where he stood.
"No, no! Of course not! Problem? No problem! What problem? No problem at all! None!" He was getting quite nervous with this terrorist staring him down.
"I know, I look different, but it's who I am. It was really hard putting up a façade all the time, you know?" Kallen laughed.
"Eh...yeah..." Rivalz forced a nervous laugh. "So is your name still Kallen? Or is that made up too?"
"No, I'm still Kallen."
"Ah, at least I won't have to get used to a different name. Where are you going now? I'm headed to the student council room."
"Oh, really? Me too!"
The two walked down the hallway to the student council room. Kallen's new look turned many heads of the students and teachers who knew her. So many celebrities in this school...
"It's quite sad, actually." Rivalz stated.
"What is?"
"A lot of our student council is gone. I mean, it's just us now really. Milly graduated, Nina went off to become a military scientist, Nunnally is the Empress now, Shirley...well...you know. And Suzaku went off to war..." His voice trailed off as he began listing the former council members who had since passed on.
"And Lelouch...can't forget about him."
"No, Rivalz, we certainly can't." Kallen stared out the window in the student council room thoughtfully. She couldn't forget him, even if she tried. The memory of him was burned into her very mind. You can't simply forget about someone like that.
"Ah, so you liked him too?"
"That doesn't matter now."
"I knew it! Well I suppose-"
The clatter of gunfire shattering glass startled both of them and Kallen grabbed Rivalz as she dove for cover.
"Get down!"
"Holy crap!" Rivalz was grabbing his the back of his head as he looked around.
"What the hell was that?" Kallen had her back to one of the pillars that supported the roof of the student council room. The concrete behind her was slowly wearing away as bullets chipped away at the structure. More glass shattered and she could hear the screams of passer-byers.
"I don't know! You're the terrorist here! Can't you do your fighting stuff now?"
"I don't have a gun!"
"Why not?"
"I'm at school, you idiot! Do you expect me to be carrying one all the time?" Rivalz sure could be dense at times. Kallen reached into her pocket and whipped out her phone.
...
C.C. sat on Lelouch's bed, still folding her multitude of clothes. She had her straitjacket, her Black Knights uniform, her other Black Knights uniform, her spare Zero costume, her other Black Knights uniform...
She was now faced with perhaps one of the most difficult decisions in her 700-plus years of living. Did she love Lelouch? At times she thought she did, considering how many times she risked her life for him. Then again, she reasoned, she was just protecting her contractee from dying, because as we all know, that would cause problems.
The shrill ringing of a cellphone interrupted her thoughts.
"Hello, Kallen. I haven't made up my mind about Lelouch, if you're wondering."
"C.C.! Student council room! I need help!"
"Why, have you been caught with your pants down again? You should really carry an extra change of clothes with you from now on." She drolled on.
"That's not funny! Someone is shooting at me! Either you get down here with some weapons or you take the guy out!"
"Take him out? Why are you so incredibly interested with my love life?"
"If I die now, I'll haunt you in my afterlife for the rest of my afterlife!"
"Sounds terrible. I'll see what I can do." She closed the phone.
"Dammit!" Machine gun fire tore up the student council room. Kallen could faintly hear the blaring of a police siren, but she doubted it would make it in time.
"Why is this girl always getting herself in trouble?" C.C. ran down the hallways of Ashford Academy. It wasn't her abnormally green hair that turned heads however. It was the 4-foot long sniper rifle she had strapped to her back.
"Who is that?"
"Is that a gun?"
"Now that's kinda hot."
C.C. ran to the roof of one of the science laboratories. Looking out toward the student council room, she looked amongst the buildings that faced it. She couldn't see the bursts of a muzzle flash, and deduced the assassin must have been using a silencer. A glint of sunlight reflected off the marksman's scope into her eye. She turned her rifle toward the reflection.
"Got you now, you bastard." She whispered to herself as her crosshairs began to line up. Suddenly, he stopped shooting at the council room and turned towards her direction.
"What the-"
The railing she hid behind was blasted to bits as incoming fire rained upon the roof.
"How did he see me? At least he isn't shooting at Kallen now..."
"What are you doing? You're gonna get shot!"
Kallen cautiously peeked out from behind the pillar and looked out the window. She could still hear machine gun fire, but it was not being directed at the building.
"She made it!" She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Who made it?"
"A friend."
"One of your terrorist buddies?"
"You could say that. Now let's move."
Kallen grabbed Rivalz by the arm and half-led half-dragged him to another part of the council room. The phone on the wall began to ring.
"Come on...pick up..."
"Hello?"
"Kallen, I'm drawing their fire! Get out of there!"
"Where are you?"
"On top of the lab! Don't go after me, go after him! He's on the roof of the Ashford Library. I'll cover you."
Kallen ran out of the back exit to the student council room. C.C. looked over the battered railing on top of the roof and machine gun fire immediately forced her back down.
"Damn, he's got good aim."
She cautiously peered over the edge, but was once again forced to stay down. In a bold move, C.C. jumped out of her hiding spot and fired off several rounds as suppressing fire causing the gunman in the library to duck down under his own railing. This allowed Kallen to run up the pathway to the library. .
Kallen had reached the top floor and was inside the stairwell that led to the roof. A small hole in the door revealed the rooftop. Kallen bent down and cautiously peered out the small hole. She could clearly see the back of the kneeling gunman. He carried a long assault rifle with a silencer on the barrel. He was dressed in full tactical gear, which must have been near-impossible to sneak past everyone in the library. Kallen drew her pouch knife that she always kept on her person and activated the blade. The lethal point jumped out, ready to serve its owner.
Suddenly, the man whirled around and began firing at the door.
"How did he see-?!"
Bullet holes appeared and sunlight streamed into the dark musty stairwell. More gunfire sounded and the brick wall behind the door in the stairwell began to crack and shatter upon the bullets' impact. All went quiet as the gunfire stopped. A boot rammed into the door, collapsing it onto the floor. Behind it stood the masked gunner. In front of him stood...no one. Kallen was nowhere to be seen.
Kallen crouched above the doorframe, hanging onto a bundle of copper pipes. She raised her knife, ready to strike, but the gunman spun around, as if sensing she was there.
His weapon went up quickly, but Kallen jumped down from her perch, grabbed the barrel end of the weapon, and smashed it into the railing next to them. She bent her arm inwards and drove her elbow into the man's face, causing him to drop the rifle over the rail.
Her knife quickly darted out, slashing the man's jaw, barely missing his jugular. He stumbled back, feeling his injury and at the same time drawing his own knife. He took a wild swing at Kallen, which she barely managed to dodge. The tip of his knife caught on her Knightmare lanyard which dropped from her neck as he slashed through the material.
In an unexpected move, she dropped to the floor and used a sweeping kick to knock the man's legs out from under him. She successfully caught one of his ankles and yanked with all her might. The gunman fell and landed on his backside but the knife remained in his hand. Kallen jumped over the railing onto the floor below, picking up the rifle. She ran back up the stairs, chasing the now-fleeing gunman.
"Who are you? Why are you trying to kill me?" Kallen had the rifle aimed at the gunman, who was now backing up to the edge of the roof.
"That is irrelevant." he replied flatly.
"How did you get into Ashford without being seen? This is a school! Why did you open fire in a school?"
"Your questions won't help you survive the coming storm. War is coming. This is but the start."
With inhuman speed, the assassin drew a pistol from behind his back and the clap of a gunshot reached her ears. Kallen flinched as she heard the shot, but she was unharmed. The man let go of his knife and dropped to his knees. A bullet had ripped through his back and had come spinning out the front. Blood gushed out of his wound.
"Who are you? Dammit..." The man's eyes glazed over and his breathing stilled.
Kallen's cell phone rang.
"You're welcome."
"C.C.! I was trying to figure out who this guy was! Why did you have to kill him so fast?"
"Ah, forever the ingrate. I saved your life."
"I had him in my sights too!"
"Who was he?"
"I couldn't get him to talk."
Kallen fished around in the man's pockets, hoping for something useful that would give her information. Several minutes later, C.C. appeared in the doorway.
"I think I found something..."
Kallen pulled out an identification tag attached to a lanyard. It had several numbers and a picture, as well as a magnetic strip, most likely used to gain entry to a building.
Kallen read out the text on the tag. "Code-R Research Facility...ever heard of it?"
C.C. froze. Code-R was the science division of the Britannian military that was devoted to performing experiments on a certain green-haired immortal. After a long pause, she finally turned to Kallen.
"Yes, I have heard of it. I was a part of it."
"You were?"
"Not in the way you'd imagine. Code-R was a secret R&D division of the Britannian military. They experimented on me, in hopes of harnessing the power of my immortality for themselves. After they were shutdown, I don't know what became of them. Apparently, they're still out there. But that's odd..."
"What's odd?"
"The crest. The symbol on the tag. It's not the Code-R insignia. It's the symbol of the Geass Order."
"That's impossible...we destroyed the Geass Order!"
"We did. I'm sure of it. V.V. was their leader and he was killed by Emperor Charles. Without V.V., the Order was leaderless and hopeless."
"Well as we can see, they're back. But why would the Geass Order be working with Code-R? Doesn't Code-R perform experiments on people with Geass? Why would the Geass Order want anything to do with mad scientists like that?"
A vibrating in Kallen's pocket told her someone else was calling.
"Kallen."
"You're alive! I heard that the entire school was under attack!"
"No, just me. And he's dead now. Listen, I need you to find whatever information there is about a science division called 'Code-R'. Code-R is former Britannian military, so talk to Schneizel."
"I'll get a meeting going. It'll be on the Ikaruga. If Code-R is from the government, I don't know who we can trust."
Kallen closed the phone and shot a glance at C.C.
"We need to go. Ohgi just called a meeting onboard the Ikaruga. I'm curious to see how Suzaku handles this one."
...
The room was eerily silent. Gathered around the table was the senior staff, which included the likes of Ohgi, Tamaki, Tohdoh, Kallen, and others. Most importantly, Zero sat at one end of the table. In the middle of the conference table sat a hologram of the daily news channel. The assassination of Lelouch was being replayed for the entire day.
Everyone stared at Zero.
"...who would like to...second this meeting?" Ohgi asked the members.
"I'll second this meeting." Kallen stood up and sat back down.
Ohgi nodded. "Alright, the meeting has been seconded. We may now proceed. As for-"
A fist slammed on the table. "Just who the hell are you, Zero?" Tamaki and his usual bombastic behavior always made its appearance in delicate times like this. However, this time his usually disapproving comrades jumped in with him.
"Who are you?"
"You killed Lelouch!"
"I thought Lelouch was Zero!"
"He was! So who the hell is this guy?"
"Say something, dammit!"
"Why weren't we informed of your plot to assassinate the Emperor?"
"Yeah! We should've been told if you were gonna do something like that."
Accusations flew around the room, all directed toward Zero, who was showing no reaction. Finally, he spoke.
"My comrades! I believe I have told you this before: it matters not who I am, but the actions I take."
Kallen stood up "Do your 'actions' include assassinating our leader? Lelouch used us, but he was still our great leader!"
Even though she knew full well who this new 'Zero' was, she had to keep up appearances. She was quite used to it by now. In addition, Suzaku was still under the impression he was completely anonymous. If she blew his cover now, it could mean a disaster. "For now, just play along" she thought.
"Take off your mask! Lelouch did, so how about you?"
"At least he showed us his face in the end!"
Zero spoke again. "As I recall, you all tried to hunt down Lelouch intending to kill him after he revealed who he was. Now why would I want such a thing?"
"Why? So that maybe you can live a litte longer!"
Tamaki stood up and loaded his pistol, aiming at Zero. Kallen jumped up in alarm, aiming her own weapon at Tamaki. Zero dramatically flipped his cape open and drew his own pistol, also aiming at Tamaki. Ohgi stood and drew his weapon on Zero. The meeting was thrown into disarray in a matter of seconds. Everyone was on their feet, screaming at others to calm down while slamming the table with fists. Irony at its finest.
"Don't shoot him!" Ohgi screamed at Zero.
"Show us your face, you imposter!" Tamaki spat out. His weapon sights were trained on Zero's mask, threatening whoever stood behind it.
"He can't do that! Not now!" Kallen had her pistol pointed at Tamaki, whose eyes darted back and forth between his weapon sights pointed at Zero and Kallen's weapon sights pointed at him.
"Why is she protecting me? She can't know who I am...and even if she did, still! Why?" Zero-Suzaku kept his weapon level with Tamaki's narrowing eyes.
"Sit down! All of you!" No one noticed C.C. who stood at the other end of the table, opposite the accused imposter. Her voice was stern and commanding, and even the great and mighty 'Zero' slowly sat. Tamaki reluctantly unloaded his pistol which dropped back into its holster at his side.
"Well, well! Zero's mistress finally makes an appearance!" Tamaki sneered. "Is this really Zero? You guys basically slept together, so I figured he would tell you everything. OW!"
Kallen reached over and swiftly punched him in the nose, disgusted by his crudeness.
"Finding the identity of Zero isn't the priority of this meeting. Finding out what Code-R is. Ohgi."
Ohgi nodded towards Kallen. "An assassin managed to sneak into Ashford Academy today and attempted to kill Kallen. Luckily, she survived, but we have reasons to believe this was a government strike. The assassin belonged to a former Britannian science division called Code-R. We need to find know their whereabouts and contact the Britannian government to sort this out. I received this hologram recording from Schneizel. He might be able to tell us something."
A hologram in the middle of the table flickered and the face of Prince Schneizel faced everyone around the table.
"Greetings, Black Knights. I have created this recording with hopes that this information will be enlightening. Code-R was founded secretly under direct orders by Emperor Charles zi Britannia. Director Bartley Asprius was placed in command of the research team.
"The purpose of Code-R was to develop weapons using the powers of Code and Geass. These I will both explain. Emperor Charles zi Britannia believed that these two ancient powers were the key to winning the war. In a moment, you will learn why. The power of Code allows the Code bearer to become in effect, immortal."
"Immortal?!" Tamaki asked dubiously.
"Shh!"
"The powers of Geass are slightly more complicated. Geass is known to manifest differently in every user. As you already know, Lelouch vi Britannia, formerly known to you as Zero, possessed the "power of absolute obedience". You can already imagine how useful this tool would become in battle."
"Yeah, we have an idea." Tamaki spat.
"Shut up, already!"
"Code-R hadn't produced any significant technology for the government for the past few years it had been operating. It was finally was on the brink of discovery when they were told to shut down. The test subject escaping was the last straw for the infuriated Emperor. All government funding was lost, and the team was forced to disband due to lack of income."
"So how are they still here?" Kallen yelled at the hologram, forgetting he was only a recording.
"You're telling me to be quiet?" Tamaki yelled back.
"Both of you! Quiet!"
Suddenly, a large explosion sounded and the ship gave a massive heave.
"Alert. Hull breach. Radiant Wave Shielding activated." The robotic voice echoed throughout the halls and corridors of the Ikaruga.
"What's going on?"
"Are we under attack?"
Another explosion sounded and the ship rocked again. The entire vessel had been tilted sideways, and the crew struggled to get to their feet.
Ohgi grabbed the intercom system that hung on the wall. "Attention all decks! Battlestations! We are under attack!"
"Kallen! Alert the Britannian military of our situation! Send them our coordinates. Ohgi, get us in the air! The rest of you, report to your stations!" Zero issued out orders.
"Who the hell is attacking us?"
"How should I know? Think it's Code-R?"
"I don't know! I was asking you!" Tamaki and Ohgi ran to their respective stations on the bridge. Zero stood at the front of the room, observing the enemy through the main monitor.
"Ohgi, get us in the air!"
"Our Sakuradite generators were damaged in the attack. We're barely coping with the incoming fire, since much of our energy is being used by the Radiant Wave Shielding."
"Do whatever it takes to get power back up! Divert energy from the main weapons battery to the float system. We're useless on the ground!"
Ohgi began typing furiously into his terminal, trying to raise the power levels. Inside the Ikaruga generator room, the Sakuradite reactors were spinning furiously, almost to the point of overheating.
"Where are they attacking us from?"
"I'm reading incoming fire bearing three-one-zero mark zero-two-five! It looks like a Monsuta-class battleship, but I've never seen anything like it!"
C.C. called over from another console. "Incoming fire! Hadron cannons!"
The Ikaruga rocked violently as the Radiant Wave Shielding strained against the onslaught of raw energy fired by the Hadron cannons.
"Kallen! Tohdoh! Try to buy us some time!"
"But there's only two of us!" Kallen exclaimed.
"You're the best we have! Just draw their fire away from the ship! We need to get in the air!"
"Come on!" Kallen and Tohdoh left the bridge for the hangar bay.
"Ohgi, status!"
"Energy levels are at 62 percent capacity. Estimate 5, no, 6 more minutes until we have optimal energy to fly."
"Make it faster!"
"I'm trying!"
...
"Target their generators...fire!"
"Hadron cannons firing."
"Tactical reports direct impact, sir!"
"Excellent..."
"Their generators are already back online!"
"What? Impossible!"
"It appears there are two Knightmare frames shielding the Ikaruga! Their forcefields are able to withstand our Hadron cannons! The generator room has suffered only minor damages."
"No! Deploy the Gefjun disturbers!"
...
"We're up!" Tamaki shouted.
"How much longer till Britannian reinforcements arrive?" Zero tapped nervously on his console.
"We're not sure! We never heard back from them!"
"They're going to leave us out in the cold! C.C., once we've gained altitude, lock onto their cannons. We'll take out their weapons!"
"Zero, this is Kallen!"
"What's going on?"
"They deployed a Gefjun disturber net! We're still on the ground!"
"Dammit! Ohgi! Put us in front of them! Don't get too close, though. There's a Gefjun net active down there."
"I'll try!"
The Ikaruga slowly flew forward, placing itself between the other battleship and the two Knightmares. The Hadron cannons still rained fire mercilessly upon the Ikaruga and the Radiant Wave Shielding buckled under the pressure. The Ikaruga's Hadron cannons replied with a barrage of short bursts, taking out a few of the enemy's cannons.
"Zero, we can't keep this up for long! Radiant Wave Shielding is at 22 percent! Overall energy capacity is at 34 percent!"
"Kallen! Tohdoh! Get out of there!"
The ship shuddered, this time louder than all the other times. Slowly, the Ikaruga began to pitch forward, but did not stop. They dove faster and the ship's nose was pointed toward the ground. Everyone shouted out in surprise as they tried to hold onto something stable.
"Mayday! Damage control reports our main thrusters have been destroyed! We're falling!"
"What?! What about our Radiant Wave Shielding?"
"Not responding! Attempting to compensate for our dive rate...it's not working! Crash is imminent!"
"No..." Zero pressed his gloved finger against the intercom. "All personnel, abort! All personnel, begin evacuation sequence alpha-one! Evacuate the ship!"
He switched radio channels to the Knightmare frequencies. "Kallen! Tohdoh! Get to a safe distance! We're crash-landing!"
"What?"
"You heard me! Run!" Kallen and Tohdoh jumped out of their Knightmares and began to flee the battlefield.
All the members on the bridge scrambled to find a Knightmare frame they could evacuate with. Ohgi set an autopilot sequence that would slow down their rate of descent before running off the bridge.
"Hangar bay doors open! Let's go!"
A small stream of Knightmare Frames poured out of the crashing Ikaruga. The few Knightmares with a built-in float system hovered a few moments to watch the destruction of the Ikaruga as it crashed nose-first into the ground below. As the Ikaruga came to a stop, the Knightmares turned their backs to follow the rest of the evacuated crew.
"Oh, now the military decides to show up."
A row of battleships and carriers approached on the horizon, all bearing the Britannian flag. Hundreds of Knightmares launched from the carriers while the battleships charged their Hadron cannons.
...
"Sir! The Britannian military! We weren't expecting this level of firepower! Recommend we retreat."
"Noted. Helm, bring us around! No point in getting ourselves killed..."
...
"Is everyone alright?" Kallen ran over to the group of survivors who began climbing down from their Knightmares.
"Roll call reports 2 injured. No casualties, however" C.C. read off a clipboard.
"Who were they?"
"My guess? Code-R." Zero replied.
C.C. felt her pocket vibrate as her phone received a call. Who could possibly be calling now? She pulled out her phone and read the screen.
Caller ID: Unknown
"...Hello?"
"C.C." That voice...
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"This is Lelouch."
...
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!