"ENOUGH!" Clovis shouted. The day was going from bad to worse, helped along by the incompetency of everyone around him. Already a third of his Armoured Cavalry had been wiped out while there was still no sign of the Specimen. "Tighten the enclosure. Put up Quincy's group! And send Lerus in, too!"

Bartley stammered, "But our perimeter…"

Clovis ignored him. The infantry would do for defence. It had to do, "Enclose them! Concentrate your firepower!" He might have been no general, but he had read up on Cornelia's campaigns like any good younger brother would have.

"A communication from Orion squad, My Lord! They're calling for permissions to call Artillery strikes on entrenchments captured by terrorists!"

"Belay that!" ordered General Bartley, turning around in surprise, "I had ordered the Guns to be on stand-by!" Another of the captured bivouacs, Clovis guessed. Early on the battle, one of the operational Honorary Britannian bases had been taken over- no doubt helped along by the treacherous Elevens- and attempted an ambush upon an unsuspecting Purist. Dame Villetta had neutralized them without casualties- but then again Honorary Britannian APCs had but one sub-machine gun and no other weapons. Still, that'd meant two squads had to be diverted to neutralize the rebels.

One of the G1 Staff at the controls interrupted them with a frantic message. "Communication from Sir Dowling! Enemy Infantry have taken over the Weapons' Dump at H6!"

General Bartley turned to Prince Clovis, "My Prince, we must retreat and regroup. Squads must be sent to investigate the…."

Clovis ignored him. "Ignore the pinpricks! Focus on the head of the general!" Cornelia, what should I do?

"The Security of the Perimeter, my Prince!" Bartley insisted.

"Call for Artillery support from Squad Lazarus. Terrorist Glasgow, Point F7-3. Enemy Infantry, Point W3-5. Call for Artillery Support from Squad Orion. Enemy Infantry, Point W4-1. Captured APC, Point W5-7. Captured Medical Facility, Point…"

"That can't be true," called out one of the G1 staff. "This was secure a mere moment ago…"

"Orders, your Highness! We are dying here!" screamed a voice from one of the Base Communicators. What should I do, Cornelia! Schniezel!

"Communication from Lord Asplund, my liege! He protests the actions of the Royal Guard…"

"Glasgow spotted at Sector F8!"

Clovis gritted his teeth. Just how many Glasgows were there with the Terrorists? But all the reports… "Their main strength is at Sector F7!" He ordered. "Order artillery strikes on the isolated positions. Tell the infantry to break the stalemate in Sector W! Give Keegan the coordinates from Orion and the others! Centralize all units upon Sector F7! Ignore the infantry! Isolate the enemy Knightmares! Crush them! Right in the middle of our formation! Crush them!"

As the Knightmare squads rushed to fulfil their orders, Clovis felt strangely carefree. Yes, all was well. He would defeat the terrorists here and take back the Specimen. She was his only hope. After what happened with Luthor and Marrybel's travails...No, He will prove himself worthy. A line of immortal soldiers for Britannia! What else can be more useful? The Emperor will acknowledge him. And-And Schniezel too, Cornelia, Guinevere...It had been a stroke of luck finding those ruins at Kaminejima; He would have to properly research the island once he got some time to spare.

"My Lord," one of the G1 Staff broke into his reverie. "Lord Asplund is insistent upon an audience. He says…"

One of the G1 Staff shouted in a tone of pure panic, "What is Lord Keegan doing! The Guns are targeting…"

Then there came Hell upon Earth.

"Awesome!" Tamaki's excited voice sounded from the radio as Karen looked over the battered hulls of what had, till recently, been almost fifty Sutherlands of the Britannian military. The ghetto was ruined, maybe irreparably so but this...this was awesome; A victory on the scale of Itsukushima. Whoever that voice was, he was brilliant. The fighting wasn't completely over; for some reason there were still the distant thuds of Artillery strikes echoing across the ghetto, but for the Shinjuku Resistance though, there were no enemies standing within sight.

"Well spoken, Karen. That earthquake was a bit too much in my opinion, but this is amazing to say the least! We didn't even suffer a single loss!" exclaimed Ougi. Suddenly, a reverent tone came into his voice. "Hey, Karen, Ishida! You don't think this is Toudou himself, do you? Maybe that's how he learned our names and led us so effectively."

No, thought Karen. He knew your names. But he also knew mine. And the miraculous Toudou would've never called freedom fighters struggling against Britannia…

"Terrorists, this is Zero," came the stentorian tones of their unknown commander. "All conditions have been cleared. Neither the Tokyo garrison nor the Royal detachments under General Bartley now have the strength in armoured cavalry to oppose us. Ougi, how long will it take for the evacuation to be complete?"

Ougi's voice was apologetic. "Inoue and others are trying their best, Zero. But given how big this place is…"

"Excuses do not interest me," was the bored-sounding retort. "How long?"

"Twelve hours, maybe, if the Britannian infantry assault doesn't let up" was the terse reply. "There are still many enemy units in the ghetto."

"Infantry squads and APCs," mused Zero. "Very well… I have no more commands for now. Go amok, terrorists. Double down on the evacuation. Neutralize any infantry or tanks you come across, and keep an eye out for VTOLs."

"Hey, Zero!" came in Tamaki's excitable voice. "The Britannian pigs appear to be fighting amongst themselves near that old park! Knightmares, to boot! I'm going towards them! Ougi, give me back-up! Two or three…"

"That's me and my men, you idiot!" snapped the now irritated Voice. "Return to your post and await orders. Ougi, ignore any Knightmares you see unless I tell you. Without IFF, you'll all just be shooting at each other. And ignore any Knightmare activity in the vicinity of their Base. I'll see what can be done."

"Zero, I…" Karen found herself speaking up before she fell silent.

"Any concerns, Q1?"

Yes, who are you? Why are you helping us? Why are you helping me? How do you know my father's name? For years, Karen had feared the prospect of one of her foes knowing the truth of her double-identity; now someone who assuredly wasn't an ally of her's did- but… He was clearly an enemy of Britannia, as the ruins of over eighty Knightmares now scattered all over the ghetto attested- but…

"Nothing, Zero. What are my orders?"

"Follow my orders to Ougi. Inoue, you head Logistics now. Make arrangements for securing the Sutherlands I've gifted you. N group, a column of APCs is going down Route-32. 17 machines, probably their primary infantry push. Ambush them. Another APC Column moving parallel to it. They might link up with some of the remaining Knightmares. P1, I want your squad to take out the stragglers milling around the old subway entrance. Use the Knightmare sniper rifles from the Train."

"But that's so far!"

Zero ignored Tamaki's protests as he continued barking orders, "B4 and B5 and B1 will attack and push enemy infantry down to Route-27, where the crossfire from B6 and B2 will wipe them out."

Ougi broke in, "Zero, they're probably Honorary Britannians there. We can…"

"They're enemies. Take note of all my orders. I will be leaving the field soon and won't be able to help you then. After disposing off them, Group B and Group N will secure the Perimeter as the rest of you double down on the evacuation. Q1, change that Glasgow for a Sutherland if you wish, and take down any Knightmare that attacks your positions. None will, but stay prepared. I will try enforce a Ceasefire in the meantime. Stand ready for all eventualities." For a moment, no one spoke, no one responded or even moved a muscle. Then Zero snarled, "What are you all waiting for? Move!"

Jeremiah Gottwald limped into the ruins of what had once been a Britannian Field Base Camp.

Carcases of men and machines alike lay scattered around him as far as the eye could see. Wounded soldiers, bleeding technicians, confused engineers, frustrated doctors, weeping Knights were everywhere; all semblance of any chain of command long lost. The very mud stank of oil and blood, and rose-pink Sakuradite-fueled fires, unquenchable by water, burnt wherever Jeremiah had remembered seeing a Base prefab when he'd set out that morning. As he walked past the undefended primary entrance, he spotted a Purist pilot- battered, bloody, and with his sole remaining arm in a sling- splayed out on the muddy earth and crying openly. The Britannian military machine, the force that had brought a third of the globe to its knees, had been tested that day and found sorely wanting.

But that had hardly been the dearest blow they'd suffered.

Jeremiah still had almost four miles to walk when he'd seen the shells rain down. The first volleys- 15.5 explosive shells from the twenty massive Field Guns at the Viceregal Armouries- had struck, judging from the maps Jeremiah had seen that morning, around Sectors L3 and L4- where the Honorary Britannian squads had earlier reported fierce fighting. The second had come down around Sector F3- an iffy proposition, considering that Jeremiah had been planning to get his leg looked at by the medical outpost there, but it wasn't unexpected that the terrorists take over a poorly defended bivouac during a battle.

But he had already been in sight of the G1 when the final round of strikes had come down upon the Base itself.

The standard Sakuradite-charged 15.5 Shell had a sure-kill radius of over a dozen metres. Jeremiah had seen four-inch think armour torn into ribbons from one such hit. An entire volley, shrapnel flying all around and Sakuradite fires sucking the very oxygen from the air, choking men to death as far as half a kilometre away…

Jeremiah Gottwald had been in the vanguard of the Seto push in the War a decade ago. He had volunteered for it, even serving in the Forlorn Hope at the assault upon Awaji in some of the fiercest fighting the World had seen since the Great War- but even the bloodiest battles he'd been in, paled in comparison to… this… A vast wreck of Steel, Silk, and Sakuradite reared its once-great head in front of Jeremiah Gottwald, angling dangerously to the right, its purple shell punctuated with shattered portholes and more sinister-looking breaks in the steel structure. Its Knightmare ports yawned like open wounds, empty of the machines they ought to have contained. A mass of troops milled around the base seemingly without any direction, like ants tearing around without reason after young boys had torn down their anthill, orders being shouted by a hundred different voices at once. In the distance, a flaming tower of rose-pink marked where the fuel depot had been set up- & the smell of ozone and dust and blood and shit was everywhere.

Flagging down one of the few troops around who didn't look so shell-shocked as to have been rendered useless. "Who's in command here, soldier?" he barked.

"Lord Starkey has taken command, my Lord," stammered the terrified-looking soldier.

"Claude Starkey? The Baron? Where's Bartley?"

The soldier's eyes were darting from side to side like a hunted animal's. He bent forwards slightly, "My Lord, you may not know this but they're executing the High Command. The Royal Guard told us… After the terrorists attacked G1 and the fuel depot, some of the Knightmares brought in for repairs betrayed us. The Guards had been called off. They destroyed the machines, and destroyed the supply carriages, and then they…"

'The Guards have been called off,' Princess Cornelia ordered a seventeen-year-old soldier on his first assignment.

Jeremiah grabbed the terrified soldier's shoulders, nearly shaking him like a rag-doll. "Where is the Prince? Are they safe? Where is he? Did Starkey save him?" He all but snarled.

"I don't know, Sir! I don't know!" squeaked the man, "I was just told to guard the entrance by Lord Soresi! I don't know…"

Kewell? At least someone in this dump retained his wits… "Get back to your position," Jeremiah snapped at the man. "I walked in here at will. I ought to have you court-martialled and shot!"

"But, My Lord," protested the soldier, his eyes wide with terror. "The Terrorists shelled the Base itself! They have Knightmares, My Lord, Knightmares! They nearly toppled the G1! See my Lord, how…"

"Lord Jeremiah!" Lord Soresi jumped down from the Humvee that had just pulled up. "Thank God, you're safe. We had almost written you off as dead."

"Kewell," Jeremiah nodded in relief. "What is going on? What on Earth happened here? Where is the Prince?"

Kewell grimaced as he helped Jeremiah clambered into the vehicle. Dismissing the now-sobbing soldier, he ordered his driver to help him gather a suitable defence for the entrance. Climbing behind the wheel himself, Kewell started towards the motor. "It's good that you're back and still fit for command, Margrave. I couldn't find General Bartley so I took command myself as a Viscount of the Empire. One of the men found Count Lerus alive and well, but he still hasn't stopped screaming yet."

Weakness. Jeremiah suppressed a surge of anger… There could be no room for doubt or weakness while serving one's Lord- and in such a situation… Jeremiah knew this better than most. Kewell, of course, had spared no time in claiming Power- but then again. "The Prince…"

"They tell me Starkey, damn him! He and his men managed to evacuate the Prince and most of the G1 Staff just as the rogue Knightmares attacked. I and some of the new recruits managed to stop them but then the friendly fire started... We put a stop to it just before you turned up but our boys are likely still killing each other out there. No matter, their duty is to the Prince first. That had been around the time Prince Clovis announced the Ceasefire."

"Ceasefire?"

"You've been out of it," Kewell circled the Humvee around a burning line of trucks. "I would've been too- but after that… earthquake, I managed to catch sight of a passing medical transport. Lucky, I guess." He winced. "I was at the edge and my Sutherland auto-ejected; most of those ahead off me… killed by the dozens. We have a ceasefire now, aid to all. Britannians and Japanese alike."

Jeremiah looked through the 4-inch thick glass. Those that were still able to walk, looked like corpses. Medics were finally coming out in force now, shouting out orders and succouring the wounded. Jeremiah watched as a soot-caked man thrust his own leg into the air and started laughing wildly. "You'd have a hard time getting this Army to do anything." Then he recalled… "What rouge Knightmares are you talking about though? There was a Purist that attacked me. I dismissed it as an accident then. Was it us here…?"

Kewell frowned as he stopped the vehicle in front of the burning carcass of the G1, jutting its mighty ruin into the darkening Tokyo sky. Some degree of order had been restored here; reinforcements from the Viceregal Palace and the North Barracks were trickling in – as well as several ambulances from local hospitals and several Knightpolice frames. There goes the lockdown, Jeremiah thought grimly as he spied the cadaverous Diethard Reid practically dancing in front of a hassled-looking EMT.

"Get some men on him, Kewell," Jeremiah told his subordinate. "The Media and the Civilians must go."

"I will," nodded Kewell as helped the Margrave get out. "But not the medical support. There were at least three traitors, Orion squad members I suppose, and since Prince Clovis had stripped us of all Armoured Knights, we couldn't do anything until Lady Arana could bring her Frames from outside the ghetto. Also, Lord Jeremiah," Kewell's voice fell into a whisper as he looked around furtively. "I've suppressed this but I think you should know. There were Purists among the traitors." He went on as a shocked Jeremiah tried to find the words to reply. "Dowling's Frame was the one which attacked the fuel depot. We brought him down- but there was someone on foot who'd already sabotaged the communication channels to the Palace." Kewell sighed despondently. "It was Villetta."

"Suzaku," came a voice he would never forget in his life, the voice of his first true friend.

Suzaku opened his eyes to a cramped half-shadowed interior which stank of anti-septic and alcohol. He tried to move his arms- but found they'd been strapped in place. A moment of panic corrected itself when he realized that they were in a moving ambulance, and the bands only in place to secure… him.

A figure darker than the half-darkness around him asked again as he switched on the dim lights. "Suzaku, can you hear me?" And then there was Lelouch in front of him again. His hair was out of place, his brilliant purple eyes lined with red and circled with skin so dark they almost looked like bruises, his white shirt was stained with dirt and sweat, but it'd been more than 7 years since that day in the shack in the backyard, that proud face was all…

"Lelouch! It's you!" explained Suzaku, his eyes filling with tears. Despite everything, despite all the years, despite all grief and sorrows, he was with his friend again.

"Who else could it be?" snorted Lelouch as he helped remove the restraints and poured out some water for Suzaku from a carafe into a plastic cup. "I asked the EMT in the front. You didn't seem to be in danger. How are you feeling now?"

Suzaku noted his bandages had been changed. This one even looked more professional than earlier when…"I have been better," he said absentmindedly as he tried to recall what had happened after those nice folk… Damn the morphine! "Where are we? This doesn't look like a military ambulance."

Lelouch, Suzaku noticed, was staring at him with narrowed eyes. For a few seconds, both of then sat in silence; Lelouch squinting in concentration at something while Suzaku fidgeted under his stare. "No… You don't either…" muttered Lelouch before he regained his old jaunty smirk. "Of course, not. As if the Military would spare a vehicle for a mere Honorary Britannian cannon-fodder."

Suzaku grinned. "They'd spare one for a Prince."

"If father knew who or what I was, he'd be sending nothing less than an Army led by all twelve Knights of the Round to bring me down!" Lelouch carefully leaned back, and Suzaku saw that they weren't alone. Another figure lay on the stretcher at whose foot Lelouch was sitting. The roar of traffic they could hear through the walls of vehicle was beginning to recede, sign that they were entering the more residential areas. For some reason, Lelouch had covered all windows with masking tape… Until Suzaku remembered. The cannister. The girl. The Royal Guards. The scientists. How he'd been shot and then woken up inside a Britannian base camp with Dr Asplund and Dr Croomy tending to him. How Dr Croomy had grimaced as the eccentric grey-haired man had started singing how they had the missing device at last, and how they'd returned his father's watch to him. Dr Asplund had just started talking- praising some Knightmare he had created when the Royal Guard had barged into the chambers.

The Guards had demanded Suzaku; for the girl in the cannister, Suzaku guessed. Dr Croomy had refused, saying that he was injured and needed rest. The Guards had insisted; Dr Asplund had told them to 'get stuffed unless you can bring me Jerry boy or better'. Then the Guards had ordered reinforcements who started thrashing the place over the screams of the technicians. The two doctors had argued, cajoled, bribed, even threatened them with someone named "Zel" or something, but the Guards hadn't heard a word. In the meantime, one of them had ordered for Suzaku to be put under sedatives again, and one of Dr Asplund's more patriotic medics had rushed to obey.

Suzaka hadn't protested; he had deserved it; though he couldn't have wished less for the headache he had now. He groaned as he sat up, knocking his head on the low roof, and held his heads in his hands. "Lelouch… That girl in the cannister…"

"Aye, she is alright. See for yourself!" Lelouch patted the sleeping figure by him. Suzaku's fears must've shown on his face but Lelouch put his finger to his lips. "Let her rest for now."

"The Royal Guard was searching for her, Lelouch. They even turned up at those Scientists' for me. If they find her…"

Lelouch waved off his concerns. "They've been searching for Nunally and me for nearly a decade now. Clovis' goons aren't the smartest people on the World." He looked supremely unconcerned as he lounged… lounged back, took out his phone, & began checking for something.

"Lelouch…" Suzaku frowned. The pain in his abdomen was no lie.

"You worry too much, old friend. Rest." Lelouch was looking… bored, of all things. Suzaku knew that look well; it was the look Lelouch got while playing opponents at chess too far below him. He'd go into a weird trance, humming at everything told to him and ignoring everyone in general.

"If you say so… But Nunally!" Suzaku pointed out but as Lelouch hummed that away as well, the soldier sighed and decided to drop the matter. "How is Nunally? Is she doing well?"

Lelouch put down the phone and turned his full attention upon Suzaku. "Ah yes. We live at Ashford Academy under the name Lamperouge."

"Your mother's maiden name?"

"The same. You remember about our friend Milly, right? They have been kind enough to take us in. You won't…"

"Not a soul, Lelouch. It's nice to know both she and you have somewhere to live in peace now." Suzaku knew of Ashford. Located at the outskirts of the Settlement, it was the finest and most expensive educational institution in Area 11, and almost every Britannian colonist family of note sent its children there. Suzaku had even heard they maintained a squad of Knightmares for the students to study… "Lelouch, what happened… I remember there were these two Britannian scientists who had helped, and then there were two of Clovis' Royal Guard who…"

Lelouch nodded, his face in half-shadow. "They gave you a sedative and were probably taking you to a quiet spot where they could murder you. Thankfully, I had managed to track you down by then. After Prince Clovis broke the Perimeter, it was an easy matter to get you on board a free ambulance."

"They listened to you?"

"Let's just say they saw the benefits of cooperation."

Something told him there was far more his friend was unwilling to elaborate upon. As it was, Suzaku was grateful. "You said Prince Clovis broke the Perimeter? What happened back there while I was out of it, Lelouch?"

"I wouldn't know, Suzaku. I got out of there as soon as I got what I wanted." Lelouch shrugged and replied with what seemed like a click of impatience. "Forget it. Shinjuku is not our concern anymore. I'm taking you to somewhere safe; you can meet Nunally tomorrow. It's a peaceful place."

Suzaku's eyebrow rose. "You are bringing a soldier there though?"

"That is true. You have joined the Britannian Empire, the very Power that destroyed your home."

"I…" I wish I was someone else… "I had to, Lelouch. With good service, maybe I can…"

"Convince my father of the reliability and loyalty of the Elevens?" Father? Did that mean… "Appeal to his non-existent sense of mercy, ask him to show pity upon his fellow men? Make that megalomaniac psychopath see reason?" Maybe not… "Turn the stony hearts of the gluttonous Imperial nobles towards the light?" mocked Lelouch. Yet again, like in the old days, he had read Suzaku like a book, even though he shouldn't have, not on this at least. "Change over forty years of Imperial policy? Bow long enough and they'll stop walking over you? I wouldn't do it. No sane man would."

Here we come to gist of it, Suzaku sighed. When he had woken up and seen his old friend, for a moment he had hoped that his friend had found closure, that he had made peace with his father's betrayal of his mother and Nunally. But he should've known better. Even as a ten-year-old, Lelouch had demonstrated that he knew how to keep a grudge. "You haven't forgiven him still."

Lelouch was quiet for a moment, his eyes inscrutable. "He killed my mother. I will kill him."

Oh Lelouch, do you blame him for her murder now? "Lelouch, he is…"

"An eye for an eye." Lelouch intoned in a voice that would brook no disagreement. "A tooth for a tooth. A mathematical equation. There's nothing more to it. No matter how many nations bow to him, it won't change my mind."

Suzaku sighed. "You're right there. I can't imagine you bowing to anyone…" If only Lelouch knew what Suzaku himself...

"It's not what you'll be doing either." The same iron voice remarked and Suzaku's eyes shot up.

"Lelouch?"

His friend lounged back as the feel of the drive changed; the ambulance was clearly pulling into a suburb; there was no doubt they were nearing Ashford- or some nearby place where they could sneak into the Campus in secrecy. "The Royal Guard wants to kill you, remember? Me, as well- but I'm not the idiot soldier who wants to return to the military. As for the Honorary Britannian system itself, ah…" Lelouch's phone rang and he languidly answered. "Yes? Yes. Yes, that is well done. Get rid of the vehicle and purge the evidence. The EMTs must do their best. I won't tolerate failure. I will…" Lelouch checked his watch, the luminescent dial shining neon green in the half-darkness. "It is 2309 hours. I will be there by 0500 hours tomorrow." Lelouch switched off the phone, patting the unconscious girl's head as he did. "As I said, the Honorary Britannian system is merely a façade to give the Japanese hope. No one really…"

"Lelouch, who was that?"

Lelouch's eyes were wary- but almost challenging. "You aren't the only person in the ghetto who needed my help."

"I see." Suzaku said quietly.

After a while, Lelouch spoke evenly, even a tad carelessly. "Quite a few among the Settlement nobility owe me favours. As corrupt and decadent they are, it is a marvel the Empire is as powerful as it is."

Suzaku nodded. That explained the Ambulance then. "Lelouch, those two Britannian scientists I told you about…?"

A yawn, "Forget about them. You can't go back to the military anymore, Suzaku. Your plan was stupid in the first place."

"No. You don't understand, Lelouch." It is all I deserve. It is what I really deserve. "It is something I have to do."

"They have shot you once already. They will kill Suzaku Kururugi if he returns." Lelouch said this as a fact. Suzaku knew it was.

Yet he protested. "They tried to murder us. That was criminal. The Military…"

"Runs on murder. But I won't try to change your mind." Lelouch snapped his fingers. "As far as I can see, you have two options. One, you persist with your delusional ideas." Suzaku couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lelouch vi Britannia? Respect someone else's opinions over his own? "But not as Suzaku Kururugi."

What? "Lelouch?"

"I told you several of the…" His friend snorted, "Superior Britannian Nobility owe me favours. And who cares for one Honorary Britannian, no matter whose son he is?" Lelouch was now positively… caressing the girl's head. "I can arrange for a new identity for you, Sado Airbase possibly or even Okinawa. They always need men for all the Construction they do, preparing for a Federation attack that will never come."

"That… That sounds… sounds tempting, Lelouch."

"And they're both isolated islands," his friend went on as if he hadn't even heard Suzaku speak. "With Britannians being such a large proportion of the population, there's practically no terrorism. You won't have to fight your countrymen there. Think about it. With your strength and skills, you will rise high there." A fey grin played on the Prince's face. "You might even make Warrant Officer in a decade, if you join the stevedores. A peaceful life, a successful life."

A life I don't deserve. "That's wonderful, Lelouch!" Suzaku exclaimed happily- at which Lelouch started chortling, trying to throttle his amused chuckles with his right fist as he slapped his thighs with the other.

"There's nothing wrong with being a Warrant Officer," grumbled Suzaku.

"No, I suppose not!" Lelouch huffed, the manic grin still on his face. "The great Kururugi Suzaku," He said mockingly. "A stevedore, of all things, running a shop." He snorted again and Suzaku felt a surge of irritation. Lelouch sniggered a bit and then, controlled himself, speaking plainly again. "But there's another route. Listen to me. You know as well as I do the Honorary Britannian system is nonsense. Even if it wasn't, there's no chance one man- even if it's you, Suzaku- could make any difference of note. You might make Warrant Officer in a decade, Suzaku. Maybe you might even retire at forty as a Captain, marry someone, open a store there."

Retire? Marry? I don't deserve…

Lelouch went on, unheeding of what Suzaku was thinking. "This present conflict… Suzaku, it can't last. Father's Empire might be built on blood and fear, but he isn't stupid. He isn't some European Imperialist vote-monger; he knows it's better to break the Numbers' spirits than their bodies. Soon every trace of Japanese society, Japanese culture, a Japanese past… All will be gone. In fifty years, Japan will be like Area Seven- all but a part of Britannia. In a hundred, like Quebec- and then they'll look at you askew if you tell them they were Numbers themselves once."

And just like that, you destroyed my one hope for repentance, Lelouch… "I don't… Won't that be good, then?"

Lelouch went back to patting the girl's head. "If we consider that it's 'good' if no one in a hundred years knows that a language called Japanese ever existed or who Oda Nobunaga was… I suppose, it's okay if you're a Britannian Supremacist. And there's the question of Race as well. I doubt Areas whose natives aren't originally from Western Europe would ever get full rights in the Empire."

"But still…"

"It's immaterial what one Honorary Britannian thinks or does, Suzaku. This conflict will end one day, the Elevens will forget they ever had a country. Maybe in fifty years, there will be local Eleven Britannian nobility- barons and such, no one too powerful- but nobility, nonetheless. That's how the Empire is. I mean- what is the chance you will ever do anything to impress anyone of note? Would the likes of Gottwald the Purist or one of the Refrain-selling swine like Vinci recognize you even if you did? Vile as the average Britannian noble is, they'd just steal the credit for anything you accomplish."

"But all Britannians aren't like that, Lelouch! Nunally and you aren't. And there were those two scientists who helped me today."

"What did they want in exchange for…" Lelouch raised a finger. "Saving you?"

A white and gold key twirled around a finger before a black gloved fist of steel closed around it. "They wanted me to be a test-pilot… The lady mentioned a new Knightmare Frame…"

"Camelot, I've heard of them" Lelouch nodded, and Suzaku's heart leapt with joy. "They're one of the Prime Minister's Research Units." For a second, Suzaku wondered whether Lelouch could help him get in touch with them again, if only for a simple thanks but Lelouch's next words put an end to that. "Suzaku, they're not under Clovis. Your scientists might be hallway across the World by now. Forget them."

"But Lelouch…"

Lelouch frowned. "Why are you so hung up on them? In any case, finding them now would be like looking for a needle in a prairie. Forget it. They must've just run out of guinea pigs for their experiments when they met you. Once their tests were done, they'd have sent you off, with a guinea if you're lucky. You'd be better off joining that stevedore crew."

Suzaku bowed his head. No, Lelouch was right as usual. He was just someone they'd found on the street… A replacement for Jerry boy, whoever that was. Though that lady had been kind to him. "You are right, I guess, Lelouch. You said you can arrange a new identity for me?"

"Of course. And it might be safer for you… as son of Japan's last Prime Minister." Lelouch drummed his fingers on the metal walls. "You could even visit Nunally and me at times!"

"That would be nice. You mentioned Sado, right? I have been there; it used to be a nice peaceful place- before the War, that is. I wish I could've taken..."

"You didn't hear the second option." Lelouch interrupted, his voice low and serious. "I can't bear the sight of poor Nunally suffering like this anymore." Neither could Suzaku, even back then. But what they could do? "The kingdoms of India are some of the world's leading industrial powers, as good as Britannia itself. But as with Britannia, far too much potential is wasted in military matters instead of on medicine…"

"You want to migrate with her to India then, Lelouch?" As a member-state in the Chinese Federation, Britannian agents kept a close watch on any citizen of the Empire travelling there. Whatever it was, Lelouch wouldn't risk Nunally… And If he did, Suzaku would just have to make sure the two didn't get hurt. "But, won't that put you two at risk of detection?"

"That is correct. So, instead I'm planning to bring them here." Lelouch said to his friend's shock. "Today's near-escape taught me how frivolously I was wasting my time. I will start my own Company, the sooner the better. I already have a nest egg hidden away, and Baron Ashford- that's Milly's grandfather- owns several properties around these islands. Most of them are worth next to nothing… but they can be developed. We can go into weapons' design first; that's always profitable. Once we are rich enough, we can start Medical research in parallel; I once read something about how neural implants could help build better Knightmares."

"If that's true, it might be possible to control machines with one's thoughts alone…" Suzaku mused before his eyes lit up in joy. "Mechanized arms for workers… Artificial legs. Eyes, even!"

Lelouch was now looking positively ecstatic. "Imagine that, Suzaku! We can help Nunally, we can help the Japanese. So many were left crippled and wounded after the War. And beyond that, the suffering millions of the World!" He waved his arms around like a conductor with a baton. "Don't you see it? A way to help Nunally, to help Nunally. Why waste years on some pier on some island like a limpet!"

Forgive me, father. "You are right. The wars, the terrorism, even if you say they will end, Lelouch, they won't end soon enough. More will suffer. But if we succeed in your plan…"

"But I can't just leave Nunally alone to go wrangle with researchers in Satsuma or Suppliers in Calcutta. And I will have to depend on local labour since I can't go around hiring Britannians who might recognize me."

Suzaku nodded. Immaterial as it was to him whether he died tomorrow or the day after, if his life helped Lelouch and Nunally even in the slightest… "That's why you need my help, is it?"

"Precisely." Lelouch was laughing now, a happy laugh, the laugh of someone… Not someone talking about murdering his own father.

"Of course, I will join you, Lelouch!" Suzaku laughed as well as he stretched out his hand. "We are friends, aren't we?"

Lelouch took it, with the biggest smirk Suzaku had ever seen on his face. "Thank you, Suzaku. Together, there is nothing we two can't accomplish."

Suzaku is the anti-Lelouch in canon and the first order of business for any Re;Lelouch ought to be to neutralize both him & the Lancelot. Now, the easiest way to counter Lancelot is to hit at its weakest link- the personnel at Camelot. Suzaku arrested by geassed Guards who smuggle him to Lelouch, Clovis' Guard thrashing a personal project of Schniezel, and a Geass suicide attack on the Base will knock out Lancelot from the fight- and a lot of time to come. Also- while Suzaku is an idiot with a death-wish as well as a hero complex, he's someone who cares for his friends and has had pretty much no one show any affection to him for nearly 7 years now. Enter Re;Lelouch who tells him- that Japan will be happy even without his sacrifice, no one in Britannia actually cares for him except Nunally & him, and how he'd only be too happy to help Suzaku to carry on with his death-wish but alas, he needs someone to help save the pretty damsel-in-a-wheelchair.

The Battle of Shinjuku has been far different from canon. Re;Lelouch has used what must've been one of Clovis' greatest assets- his own Royal Guard, so trusted and influential that they knew who CC was- and turned what was, in canon, a straight-up Terrorist-Britannian fight into one between the Terrorists, Geassed Britannians, Clovis, and just confused folk who can't distinguish friend and foe. Re;Lelouch takes advantage of the fog of war, and drowns Clovis with Data just as the latter is at the fever-pitch of his plan so Clovis just ignores the coordinates being sent to Artillery and the fact that his infantry are being diverted to a kill-zone. Meanwhile he has the Royal Guard kidnap Suzaku, thrash Camelot, kidnap Clovis, and waltz out of the front door.