A/N:Hey, to all the people favoriting or following this story by this point, I apologize, I intended to update yesterday, but life threw a curve ball at me and I was at work all day yesterday, so I apologize.

Anyways, read and leave a review please.

~Boyy2k


Chapter 2: Hawk Squad vs Gavina


Gavina's POV

I stare at him for a few moments, trying to process this.

"I apologize, Prince Lelouch." Callous says for me, sensing my immobilized state. "But I am afraid that I cannot fight anymore currently. Certainly not against one of the most deadly warriors in the Britannian Empire."

"Of course." Lelouch replies. "Perhaps later, then."

Callous kneels in a simulation of respect, before standing and heading to the trailer, turning around, kneeling and wheeling in backwards. I stay inside of Callous while Shan starts up the truck and starts to head out.

I gulp as we leave the caves inside of Mt. Kumotori, and shake as we begin to head back to Tokyo.

Lelouch… How many years has it been since last you were within a mile radius of me? I wonder, my grip on Callous' controls tightening. I tried so hard to prevent any of you from finding me. I kept tabs on your activities, and while everyone from your Hawk Squad was occupied, I surfaced for a few hours, before submerging into this flow of life again. I went to school under a false name, in hopes that a student would be overlooked. Never allowed myself to stand out in any way…

But even so, how did you find me after so long? I think.

"Gavina." Xiu says over the radio. I jerk my head up to see her on the screen, obviously contacting me via her laptop. "Callous has grabbed your sniper rifle and your staff. What's happening?" I swipe Xiu's feed to the side, and look at the map that Callous presents.

"Oh, we are so screwed." I say, my eyes dulling.

"What?" Xiu asks.

"Xiu! Get into your Sutherland, now!" I yell at her. She cuts the feed, complying. "Shan! Open the rear door on my command!" I order in the radio.

"Understood." He replies, deadly serious.

I look at the map. There are seven transmitting IFF signals colored red. A signal transmitted by Lelouch and his Hawk Squad.

"Looks like you have me in a bit of a bind brother." I mutter, before narrowing my eyes. "Callous, which one of them is Deadeye?" One of the IFF signals turns blue, marking it. I look at it, and my position. "So, she's high on the mountain, eh? Very well. Which one is the Black Prince?" Another one, following our truck at a long distance turns black, signifying all I need to know. "And Ironclad?" One next to Deadeye turns purple. "Perfect." I mutter sarcastically.

"Ready, Gavina." Xiu radios in.

"Good. Now listen up, both of you." I order. "We're facing off with Hawk Squad, Prince Lelouch's personal squadron, and seven of the best fighters that Britannia has to offer. Now, Xiu, you will remain in the trailer on standby, and if I order, you'll launch in defense of Shan only. Until such time, I'll take on these seven."

"But, Gavina-!" Shan begins, sounding a little panicked.

"Shan." I cut him off. "Lelouch is my brother. I know how to beat him. I copied his brilliant little mind once, recall?" He doesn't reply. "Look, even if I am outmatched, likely, I won't get killed. Don't worry; just meet me at meeting point Delta." They remain quiet for a few moments.

"Understood." They say, and I can just imagine their faces, jaws clenched and hands trying to squeeze their respective controls to death.

"Shan, now. Callous, now launching!" I yell, before the door opens, and I shoot out of the trailer, only a moment before the door slams shut.

'Radio codes changing constantly, unable to hack currently. Apologies, Gavina.' Callous informs me.

"It's alright, Callous." I say, letting out a heavy breath, seeing two of the seven begin to converge on me from both front and behind. The one behind is approaching at a pace a little faster than Callous himself can go.

I tap it and change the mark to green. "So that is Quickstrike, which most likely means that this one," I tap the other converging on me, and change it to yellow, "is Hammerhead."

I take another shaky breath, to calm my nerves, and then store my staff on my back, before grabbing my sniper rifle, and aim directly at Deadeye, firing while moving, nearly scoring a direct hit.

It would have been, if Ironclad hadn't popped up in front with its shield to defend Deadeye. I fire thrice more at five second intervals before storing it and drawing my staff again.

About thirty seconds later, the Black Prince begins to move, and I hop off of my road, down the side of the mountain to intercept him, and barely blink as the two converging on me alter their course to try and intercept.

I see the one that is nearly now in front of me, one of the two not marked, move to block my course. I keep on, and about half a minute later, I find this to be a massive mistake.

I barely manage even crouching as the twin Gatling gun user of the Hawks opens fire at me, very nearly clipping one of my arms off.

Thankfully, the recoil of his weapons is so great he has to fire in bursts or risk simply falling over. Then he'd be useless.

I charge him, using every evasive move that I can when he fires, and finally get in reach to hit both of his arms away with my staff, directing the Knightmare's guns away from me, and slice through his left arm with my free right hand.

'Tear him to pieces! Do it!' Callous says with joy in his letters.

I swiftly swap my staff between hands, and trying to take care of his other arm, only to find myself being struck from the side.

I find myself jarred away from the Heavy Gunner, and turn to see Quickstrike turning to bear down on me again. I flip backwards out of his way and slice through his leg, only for the Heavy Gunner to hit me with a few rounds from his remaining Gatling gun. I fall, and rise only to evade him once more, though this time much more sluggishly, considering the damage that he did to me. I close on him again, only for Callous to interrupt.

'Moving.' He states, taking control and bending over backwards to avoid a sniper bullet from Deadeye that would have taken his left arm off. He bounces up again to jump on top of the Heavy Gunner and slice its head off and then running his hand through the side exposed by the Knightmare's missing arm, triggering the auto eject before exploding.

'Relinquishing.' He states, giving me control.

I roll after the Black Prince once more, though this time I'm slow enough that the Hammerhead is fast enough to be gaining on me. Quickstrike is down, his leg completely severed, and the Heavy Gunner is officially out of the game, however, I am damaged enough to slow me down considerably, and there are still five units pitted against me, and all of them have highly experienced pilots.

I ignore these facts and keep on after the Black Prince, though I keep an eye of both Hammerhead pursuing me, and Deadeye, in case she fires at me.

"Callous, status and predictions." I say, checking the status of my energy levels. Fifty four percent.

'We've lost thirty-seven percent of our full speed, enough to fight most of them, and enough to outrun any but Hammerhead or Quickstrike, however, I would not advise fighting for more than seven minutes from now.' He states. 'The Heavy Gunner damaged the Yggdrasil drive and we are losing power faster than normal. If you want to be able to make it to Shan and Xiu, you need to leave in seven minutes to have a chance to make it. We have also lost our Slash Harken firing system, and the rifle has a bullet hole in it.'

"Understood." I say, ignoring that half of my weapons have been taken out, instead reversing course to take on the Hammerhead.

'Radio link hacked.' Callous informs me.

"She's headed straight for you, Hammerhead." Lelouch says over the radio. I smirk.

"Understood. How do you want me to handle this?" My brother's second in command asks.

"Test her, and if you can't capture her, take her Knightmare down or wear out its battery." He orders. I scowl.

I'll never surrender. I think obstinately.

"Understood." He replies.

"Sure you don't want me to take her down, boss?" I hear Deadeye ask. "It'd be cake to take out her landspinners."

"No. She's too good to get taken out by even you, Deadeye." Lelouch states. "Let Hammerhead-."

'Signal lost, radio communications damaged.' Callous informs me.

"Great." I mutter as the Hammerhead appears ahead of me. It's close in design to a Sutherland, only it has the same paint scheme as Quickstrike and the Heavy Gunner. He draws his two swords, and then something I've never seen happens.

His blades seem to condense in width, and they turn a cobalt blue color.

"What are those?" I ask, slowing down and turning to circle him cautiously. He matches my course, and we start circling each other.

'MVS blades.' Callous replies. 'Don't let them touch you. But still tear him apart.'

"Great. Just great." I mutter as I turn to face him directly and halt. He does the same.

"I don't suppose you'll surrender." He says over an open channel.

"Sorry." I reply, my voice altering thanks to Callous. "I don't do surrender." I glance at my energy level. Forty-one percent. "Uh, Callous dear, are you sure that we'll make it to the meeting point?" I ask after closing the channel.

'No.' He replies simply.

I nod and look at Hammerhead, shortly before charging. He charges in return, and when we meet, his swords approach on both sides of me. I jump over them and slash down at him with my free hand, which he maneuvers one of his blades in the way only a moment before it connects.

I land and jump back, starting to spin my hand at the wrist, making the staff twirl like helicopter rotor blades.

He charges me, and I swing my spinning staff at him, tearing one of his swords out of his hands, and nearly removing his head. He rushes back, and we get into another circling motion.

I store my staff on my back and pick up his lost MVS blade, holding it in my left hand. I activate my Geass and enter his mind, noticing my window of time shrinking too much for comfort.

I glance at the map, and see the last unmarked sneaking up behind me. She'll arrive in maybe two minutes.

Not much time.

I charge Hammerhead and swing his blade, and he intercepts, before I spin and attack the other direction, slowing his reaction time with my Geass long enough to cleanly slice through the waist of his Knightmare. I jump back and salute with the sword, before turning and booking it at full speed.

"Likelihood that Deadeye will be firing?" I ask Callous, knowing the answer, but wanting a second opinion, even if it is an AI.

'98.962%.' He replies. I tilt my head.

Better than I was hoping. I think as she fires. I duck beneath it and continue on.

She fires, with short three second gaps between every shot. I duck, turn, and jump above every single one. It takes me a full six minutes to escape her range, and by that point, the ones who are pursuing me are too slow to catch me.

"Callous, can we make it to the meeting point?" I ask.

'Barely, but yes.' He replies. 'I'll tell Xiu and Shan to be prepared to help me into the trailer, and put a new energy filler into me.' I smile.

"Take over wouldja?" I ask, yawning. "That really tuckered me out."

'Of course, Gavina.' He replies.

I fold my arms beneath my head, and close my eyes as I relax and the lights dim, courtesy of Callous.


I wake up to the cockpit opening.

"Oi, Gavina, get up, ya lazy girl!" Shan yells at me from where he is perched on Callous' shoulder. I rub my eyes and yawn before looking at him.

"Where are we?" I ask. He grins at me.

"Home base in your adopted family's warehouse." He replies. "You had us worried there a moment. You came back with such damage to your Knightmare."

I look at the key.

"Callous, time to go." I say, and all the lights shut off. "Callous, in the key." The red lights turn on after a moment. "Really?" A few guilty moments later, the blue light around the key spot turns on, at which point I remove the key.

I hop out of the cockpit and jump to the ground, rolling as I land to try and stop me from breaking myself.

I walk a little ways away from my Knightmare, and turn to look at it.

Oh… I think as I look at its proud standing figure, marred significantly by several large bullet holes on its legs, as well as three in the chest, which is what damaged my Yggdrasil drive, I suppose, and Callous' right hand is damaged, which is probably from hitting that MVS back in the fight.

"Gavina?" A voice calls, causing me to flinch and turn slowly to see my adopted father, Duke Alexander Branwen, bearing down on me with a definite scowl in place. "What have I told you, don't get into fights that could kill you!" He stops next to me, forcing me to look up to look him in the eye, and walks all around me, checking for injuries as he speaks. "I know that you always choose the lethal matches, and while I don't approve, I know your skill is usually enough to keep you from the scrap heap. But just because you want to destroy Britannia is no reason to get yourself killed!"

"Dad!" I shout, interrupting him from going into lecture mode. He stops in front of me, looking me in the eye, patiently waiting. This is one of the times I wish he didn't have such piercing blue eyes. "I defeated three of them before I had to retreat, under constant fire, besides, I won the match easy peasy." He raises an eyebrow. "Not a single scratch." He looks at Callous before looking back at me in disbelief. "Okay, um." I bite my lip as he waits patiently, standing with his arms folded. Fortunately, Shan comes to my rescue.

"This damage was done outside the arena." He states, causing my adopted father's head to whip up in alarm. "She was faced with an elite team of Britannian soldiers, some of which had Sixth Generation Knightmare prototypes." My father turns his head towards me slowly and glares at me. I cringe a little on the inside.

"And why were Britannian elites after you, my young daughter?" He growls.

"It was," I begin, looking him in the eye, "Lelouch and Hawk Squad." He takes a deep breath, the tick mark on his forehead very pronounced, before taking a deep breath to calm down.

"And how did your older brother find you?" He asks, voice sharp. I struggle to not gulp under the pressure of his gaze.

"I don't know." I reply. "I thought that what I was doing to avoid detection was enough, but-." I cut off by my father raising his hand and sighing in resignation.

"It was bound to happen eventually." He grins at me. "Guess your schedule is pushed ahead a bit now, huh?" I nod, and he walks past me, beginning to issue orders to his staff.

I turn and breathe a sigh of relief at Xiu and Shan, who nod in agreement.

My adopted father cares about me, and he is willing to help me reach my goal, but he is scary when he needs to be.

"Well, we're outta here!" Shan says cheerfully, turning and heading over to his Sutherland. "We've already gotten your share of the winnings deposited, so you should have a substantially greater amount. You got more than you usually get, Gavina. Congrats!"

I smirk and shake my head, before turning to walk after my father.

"Hey, dad." I call, gaining his attention.

"Yes?" He asks.

"Could you give Callous a paint job? I think it's time all that black got changed, don't you?" I ask. "It is a dead ringer to let people know that it's me they're fighting, and even if I've gotten lucky so far, it needs to change."

He nods.

"Sure. I'll go for a white paint scheme. That should make its maker happy." He winks at me conspiratorially. I smirk and nod. That would make Lloyd exceptionally happier.

"Thanks." I say, giving him a quick hug before setting out for home.

It takes me around twenty minutes to make the walk to my motorcycle, and then another fifteen minutes to drive over to where my house is near my school.

I take a look at it as I drive by.

Ashford Academy. It's a nice place, but the student council has a right strange President.

I pull though the gate of my home, which the guards opened when they saw me, and ride up to my personal parking space, before shutting it off and heading in. The door is opened by one of my adopted fathers' butlers, and I thank him before heading to my room.

I walk over and quickly fall onto my bed, exhausted.

"Tired, milady?" Someone asks. I turn my head to see Sayoko smiling at me. I nod, before turning my face back into my bed.

"I really got a run for my money earlier. It was tiring for me to do all on my lonesome." I reply, my voice muffled by the bed. "I had to take on seven experienced Knightmare pilots. It really tuckered me out." I hear Sayoko chuckle.

"Well, if you ever want dinner, let me know." She says. I don't reply as she near silently walks out.

I stand after a moment and go over to my computer, before checking my bank account balance.

$16749328?! I think in shock. But that's-! I pick up my log book that I keep next to my computer and find it to be nearly eight million dollar difference.

"Who the heck cast a bet on me that made it go that high?" I ask in shock.

Well, my plan has just moved forward a lot. I think.

I go over and fall on my bed, swiftly falling asleep.


So, what did you guys think? I don't know how I did in your eyes, review! Please. And again, I apologize for the delay. Why do I keep apologizing? I did it thrice now. Okay, we're all good here. Moving on!

Anyways, I'm going to be saying this right now. Because of the existence of Lelouch's personal Knightmare squad, a.k.a. Hawk Squad, I am going to need two or three more Knightmare pilots for the Black Knights.

So, I will be holding a sort of contest in which anyone can submit a person of any background and personally designed Knightmare and weapons choice, with skills that while are not absurd, are good enough that they can hold their own in a fight, and can take down ye old grunts on his/her own. Anyhow, just submit a design and a person for the Black Knights, should you wish.

It doesn't matter if they are recruited a little later on by the Black Knights, or if they are a part of Oghi's group, but give them some sort of entrance as well, unless you don't care, in which case I have a few ideas. And please give a way for them to get their Knightmare's; that would make everything simpler. I don't care if it's from a Brit, EU or CF person, just please give a person who made it. (and if you hate me, you can make it Lloyd and make my life that much harder…)

Note that this contest will be held for the next couple of weeks, so you have a little time to think.

Anyhow, review, leave a design, if you would, and I'll see you people next week.

~Boyy2k