A.N.: A short two-parter, because total thing feels too long for a single chapter's reading. The second half should be up in a few days at most. Still cruising through the introductory set-up stuff, but we'll see more deviant changes right in the next part.

ZZZZZ

As the massacre of the Shinjuku ghetto raged on, a temporary moment of peace existed within one of the numerous warehouses that made up Shinjuku's industrial zone. Though soldiers and tanks and knightmare squads outside slaughtered the Japanese by the hundreds, the ten Britannian soldiers inside the warehouse found themselves incapable of violence. They could not fathom shooting Japanese children, or smashing through Japanese homes.

All that existed in their minds was the wait for Lelouch vi Britannia, their true lord and master, to command them.

Lelouch, for his part, observed the reverence and expectation on the soldiers' faces with a calculating eye. The power that had been waiting to burst free from within him had been made manifest, and even without knowing the details of how it worked, the soldiers before him gave a good enough idea. Obedience, unquestioned and unavoidable, from anyone he chose to make his target, and in a stroke of luck, he'd chosen the most useful command possible for the soldiers.

Continued obedience.

"Move away from him." Lelouch ordered, watching with a dark delight as they saluted him before following his command. Evrard slowly rose to his feet and spat blood on the officer's boot before he retreated to Lelouch's side. Lelouch didn't miss the careful, wary look Evrard gave him, but he also didn't miss that Evrard placed himself between him and the soldiers. He smiled, just a bit.

"Now, you rank and file soldiers." The nine soldiers stood at attention and saluted once more. Lelouch paused, giving thought to what he could have them do. The limitations of his new power were unknown, but so far, they had followed his few orders without fail. I wonder if they can handle complex commands? "Head outside and call in only two knightmare units for backup. As soon as they arrive, get the pilots out and kill them, but make sure you get their keys and activation codes, then bring them to me. "

"Yes, my lord!"

They acknowledged it, at least. Lelouch followed their departure with his eyes and waited for the last soldier to leave the warehouse before he turned to the remaining officer. There was no telling how precisely the soldiers would follow his orders, or even how long the command of 'Obey me!' would last. The officer would prove another theory, but later. "Captain, follow me and obey any further orders I give you."

"Yes, my lord!"

"Evrard?" The schoolboy in question glared at the officer one last time, then turned around to face Lelouch. He looked a little bloody and beat up, but otherwise seemed together. In a morbid way, he only barely looked as though he'd nearly been shot to death moments before. "How…are you alright?"

Evrard scoffed, but smirked wryly. "About as good as I should be after almost dying. You?"

Lelouch's face twisted. That was such a flippant response, as though it wasn't even a big deal. Still, at least Evrard was alive. Britannia hadn't taken someone at least. "I'm fine. We shouldn't stick around long, though. Once the Sutherlands get here, we should try to get away."

"Right." Evrard glanced back at the Britannian officer. He stood silent, eyes still red-rimmed and waiting. Evrard frowned. "What about…them?"

A gunshot rang out, causing Evrard's head to whip towards the doors leading out. By the time the second shot fired, he'd already started pulling Lelouch behind the officer and had stolen the man's gun from him. He kept it aimed at the doors, using the officer's shoulder as a brace, and ignoring Lelouch's attempts to free himself from his newfound discomfort. A few seconds passed, and the soldiers from before marched in as one unit and stopped in front of the officer.

"My lord!" One of them stepped up and saluted. "Two Sutherlands and their access requirements, as ordered!"

Lelouch smirked and pushed his way past Evrard and the officer. He held out his hand and the soldier gave him two keys. "AZ834-YD3Y, and YEW33-N9NE, sir!"

"Well done, soldiers," Lelouch turned and handed Evrard the second key. He paused and considered the soldiers for a moment. There were plenty of things he could still have them do, but given the situation and the conditions so far, it was all far too crude and had too high a chance of coming back to bite him later. There was also the concern of how long they would continue to obey him; they could be his eternal servants, or, more likely, they could snap out of whatever magic his new power had them under at the worst time.

A gunshot blasted from behind Lelouch and nearly caused a heart attack, but after a moment passed, it was one of his brainwashed soldiers that fell to the ground and not him. The sound repeated two more times before Lelouch turned and watched Evrard put down a fourth soldier and another before he could reach the other boy. Lelouch grabbed at Evrard's arm and tugged it away from the soldiers, grunting from the effort.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lelouch huffed and stared into Evrard's eyes. Evrard looked calm, but his eyes were wild with a cold anger. Lelouch immediately recognized the anger, but pressed on. "Well?"

"They're threats, Lelouch. I don't know how long your magic obedience thing works, and I'd rather not take our chances with it." Evrard turned back to the soldiers and aimed the officer's gun again. "Besides, they were ready to kill us without a second thought. Even if you can keep them under your control, they're still just grunt soldiers. They aren't important enough to keep alive."

Lelouch frowned. It wasn't as though he entirely disagreed with Evrard. The soldiers had pretty much expended any efficient use they might've had by getting the Sutherlands. None of them had enough standing in the military to affect anything other than maybe getting a good assassination done, and that was just a waste of his power. He grabbed Evrard's arm again and stepped forward, catching the eyes of each of the soldiers with his own.

"At least save your bullets, then, Evrard." Lelouch felt the power, still inside him, just waiting to be used. It wasn't as pressing as before, where it had been an ocean raging against a dam. Now, it waited, patiently, for him to bring it to the surface. "Common soldiers, hear this final command; Die!"

To Lelouch's shock, an ecstatic grin spread across the faces of each of the soldiers as they drew their guns and pressed them up against the bottom of their chins. Each soldier gave a smart salute to him, then returned their hands to their rifles, and with a jolly "Yes, my lord!" each, they blew their own brains out. A splash of blood landed on Lelouch's cheek, and he numbly watched their bodies slump to the floor, the happy grins still fresh on their faces.

ZZZZZ

Evrard couldn't fight off the shudder that ran through his body. He'd stared right into the eyes of one of the now dead soldiers, and when Lelouch had commanded them, those red-rimmed eyes just exploded with joy. It was as though the soldier hadn't even considered the fact that he was about to die, just that he was obeying Lelouch's orders, like they were the word of God. Even now, corpse cooling on the dirty ground, the soldier's eyes still glimmered with that fulfillment.

He grabbed Lelouch by the shoulders and dragged him away from the bodies, rubbing the blood off the other's face with his shirt sleeve. Lelouch followed numbly for a few seconds, then came to with a shake of his head. Evrard let him pull away and watched carefully as Lelouch began to regain his composure. It was like watching someone piece together a cracked, broken mask. Lelouch went from numb and quiet to calm and assured in a matter of seconds, just in posture.

"…You see? Much safer for us my way." Lelouch grinned, looking impishly coy and teasing. He looked just like any teenage boy would, poking fun at a friend. It was impressive and disturbing at the same time. "You even get to save bullets, which we could need."

"Tch, sure, Lelouch. " Evrard lightly punched Lelouch's shoulder and accepted the knightmare ignition key he offered. He turned the key over in his hand a few times, admiring it, then walked over to the remaining Britannian officer and glared at him. "Hey, prick. Gimme your jacket. "

The officer paid him no mind. In fact, it was as though nothing existed in front of the officer's eyes. Evrard stared, and the empty, waiting, red-rimmed eyes of Lelouch's brain slave stared back. "…asshole. Hey, Lelouch!"

"What is it?" Evrard heard the foot tap behind him and could pretty much see Lelouch standing like a bored girl, even without looking. "We need to get moving already. We're lucky we haven't been found by any other soldiers yet."

"Tell your puppet to fork over his jacket. I need it." Lelouch sighed, but a few seconds later, Evrard had the coat hanging over his arm and was moving towards the green-haired girl's corpse. He knelt in front of her and placed her inside the coat, then folded it around her and picked her up. Lelouch eyed the girl's face from within the coat as he approached.

"Is there a reason you're bringing her body with us, Evrard?"

"She saved our lives, Lelouch." Evrard grumbled. He looked down at the bullet hole in the girl's temple and bit his lip. "Threw herself in front of a bullet for us and gave us whatever powers she gave us. That's a hell of a lot for two strangers. She at least deserves to not rot in this shithole."

Lelouch went quiet at that, his eyes dimming, and Evrard waited for him to snap out of it before continuing. "Let's just get going, Lelouch. Deal with your slave soldier and let's hightail it."

Evrard readjusted the girl's body, then walked out of the warehouse. Two blue Sutherland knightmares knelt outside behind the corpses of two more Britannian soldiers. He kicked one of the corpses over and looked into the soldier's face. The man had died in shock, his face still locked in questioning fear. Evrard smirked. That's how you bastards should die. Not with fucking smiles on your faces. He moved past the body and crawled into the cockpit, taking care not to hit the girl's body on anything.

Once he'd set the girl on the floor out of the way, Evrard stood and waited for Lelouch to enter his own Sutherland. Lelouch and his soldier stood at the door, and he watched as the brainwashed officer pulled out a radio and spoke into it. A few moments later, Lelouch also spoke into the radio, his face grim and hinting at fear, but as soon as the officer took the radio away, that fear broke away just like it was another mask.

Lelouch boarded his own Sutherland and Evrard closed the cockpit and turned the metal war-machine on. The panels hummed to life and with a flick of a switch, the screen flickered as the eye-sphere transmitted the image of the streets before him. To his side, Lelouch's Sutherland rose from its kneeling position and turned to head into the streets. Evrard moved to copy, but took one last look at the Britannian officer first. The man saluted Lelouch's departing Sutherland, then withdrew a gun from his waistband and casually shot himself in the skull.

Evrard smiled viciously as he pulled away and joined Lelouch on the roads.

ZZZZZ

Lelouch read the screens popping up on his monitor quickly, some of them barely flashing on-screen before he finished and moved onto the next one. Each of them told the same story, though; even in knightmares, he and Evrard were trapped in Shinjuku, surrounded by an entire army of Britannian soldiers under Prince Clovis' command. The unit map alone reported at least 50 assembled tanks and knightmare units, and that didn't take into account the foot soldiers Britannia had scurrying about, killing the Japanese civilians.

This isn't a good situation, but it's not impossible. Lelouch groused and pulled out his cell phone. The last call message displayed Shirley's name and number, from when it had nearly gotten both of them killed in the warehouse. He dialed and waited for her to pick up. Time for some information.

After a few rings, Shirley picked up and Lelouch relaxed just a little. "Shirley, I-"

"Lulu, how dare you take Evrard out gambling! And don't try to deny it; Rivalz told me all about your chess match! How dare you lie to me like that!"

Lelouch grimaced and pulled the phone away from his ear. Rivalz, you idiot. He tried to start again, but Shirley was still in the middle of a tirade. "-better not have him in trouble, Lulu. I asked because I thought it was for Nunna, but then I find out you're wasting your time gambling again and getting Evrard involved-"

"Shirley!" Lelouch shouted, and Shirley actually stopped. He felt a twinge of guilt, but waved it off. He needed information to help keep the boyfriend she was ranting about alive, so a little rudeness was necessary. "Listen, Evrard and I need your help. Find a T.V. and check the news about Shinjuku, and please hurry."

He tapped his foot impatiently on the cockpit floor while she found one. It was nerve-wracking to just be standing behind a building for cover in the middle of a massacre. One wrong step, or even one foul fit of fate, and they could be dead, just like the girl. Just like Suzaku. "…Well?"

"They're saying it's closed off because of traffic problems. Lulu, what's going on? Are you two okay?" No, they were certainly not okay, not with the military keeping the entire ghetto under blackout until they'd killed any witnesses. Lelouch scowled. It was still a bad situation, but it made their options a little clearer now that he knew for sure what they were doing. His eye-sphere locked onto a broken chess set in the street, and the image sparked the beginnings of an idea in his mind. If I had the pieces, then maybe… "…Can I talk to Evrard, please?"

"He's…busy, Shirley. Look, we're both okay. We just ran into a little trouble, but we're getting out of it. Don't worry. Tell Nunnally that I'll be home late tonight, alri-"

"Lelouch! Follow me!"

"That was Evrard! Lulu, let-" Lelouch snapped the phone shut. He'd worry about Shirley being upset later, when Evrard wasn't racing from behind their cover onto an open road. He caught up and noticed what had attracted Evrard's attention. A one-armed Glasgow knightmare frame, very similar to, if not exactly, the one that the red-haired terrorist girl had manned, was being chased by two military Sutherlands much like their own.

"Fuckin' military bastards!" Evrard's voice was vicious, more a snarl than anything else. "Let's see you take a fight on equal grounds!"

One of the Sutherlands slowed and turned around. Lelouch's radio crackled a bit, then produced a woman's voice clearly. "Back-up? Good, lend your aid and Lord Jeremiah and the Purist Faction will not forget it!"

"Understood!" Lelouch answered, cutting off Evrard's violent response before it could come out. The woman's Sutherland turned back and continued chasing the Glasgow. Lelouch opened his comm. link to Evrard's Sutherland and waited.

"…Fuck. What's your plan, Lelouch?" At least Evrard didn't sound too upset with him. That made this easier.

"Follow them, but wait for my signal to attack." Lelouch veered off to the side and started for a building that his map display had in its sights. It would work perfectly for what he was about to do. "We'll take those Purist Faction soldiers out and prepare our counter-attack in one move."

"Tch. Fine, let's do it."

Lelouch smiled and grabbed the radio he'd picked up from the terrorists' truck way back in the beginning of the whole mess. He'd been planning on using it as a means of buying their safety from the military, but with how things had proceeded. It would serve a new purpose.

"Glasgow woman, take the west entrance and use the tracks." Lelouch grinned, feeling the surge of power and confidence he'd felt when the soldiers had been forced to obey him. He'd been dragged into this pointless skirmish of Clovis', and payback was the perfect way to make the Britannian forces pay for what they'd done. "If you want to win, then obey me."

ZZZZZ

Still fuming, Evrard followed the two Purist Sutherlands in their chase of the red Glasgow. It was infuriating to have to endure working alongside such slaughterers, but even from how short a time he'd known Lelouch, Evrard could tell that the other was by far the better strategist. If Lelouch told him to wait for a better chance to strike, then he'd wait. At least the controls for knightmare frames weren't stupidly difficult to learn. He followed the other frames up onto a set of train tracks with ease, then spotted the incoming train just a short distance in front of the fleeing Glasgow.

What's your plan, Lelouch? Hell, what's your signal supposed to be? Evrard scowled. Ahead, the Glasgow leapt onto the train, and as the lead Sutherland moved to stop the train, he realized what the plan was. The train slowed to a crawl in the hand of the male Purist's Sutherland and the female Purist jumped from the tracks onto the train's top in pursuit of the Glasgow. Evrard gripped the controls of his knightmare and laughed with cruel joy when Lelouch's slash harkens shot out from a nearby building and smashed into the woman's Sutherland, breaking its eye-sphere and knocking it off the bridge.

"Now!" Lelouch commanded from his radio, and as the male Purist roared in rage at Lelouch's knightmare, Evrard charged. He accelerated and tackled the Britannian knightmare frame, lashing out with his own Sutherland's Stun Tonfas at both legs while Lelouch fired his rifle from the building. The tonfas smashed one leg's land-spinner clean off, while the other leg was mangled and bent too far to function, and within seconds, the man's Sutherland crumpled to the ground in a heap of metal. The ejection function kicked in and launched the man's cockpit away from the tracks, but by then, Evrard had moved on to check on the Glasgow.

"Don't mention our names if you can help it, Evrard." He watched Lelouch's frame disappear back inside the darkness of the building. "We still don't know if we can trust them with our identities."

"Understood," Evrard replied. He moved his eye-sphere to take in the Glasgow's status. The older knightmare looked like shit. Even if it didn't have a missing arm and numerous bullet marks all over, he doubted the thing would've looked good. He configured his radio to adjust to the terrorists' frequency and hailed the Glasgow's pilot. "Hey, you alright there, Red?"

The Glasgow turned and faced his Sutherland, but kept silent for a few seconds. Evrard couldn't blame her; just moments ago, she'd been chased by three such Sutherlands, not knowing if death would take her or not. "Y-Yes! I'm fine." Oh, so it was the red-haired girl from before. "Who are you, though? How the hell did you get a Sutherland?"

"Hey, calm down, huh?" Evrard groused, looking around for Lelouch. It seemed like he didn't plan on joining them. "My pal and I are just some folks the military pissed off by getting us involved in this shit. We got some Sutherlands from some assholes trying to pick a fight, so we decided to help you guys out, a'ight?"

"You guys stole them right out of Brit hands?" The terrorist actually sounded impressed. He wasn't sure if that was the best thing for them right now, but it was better than her being suspicious, at least while she was still in a functioning, if garbage, knightmare frame.

"Hey, Kallen! Thank goodness, you're safe!"

A group of Japanese men and women approached. Evrard tensed at the sight of their weapons, knowing full well that an aimed rocket could cause his cockpit to explode, but he relaxed a bit when he saw their faces. None of them looked ready to shoot him, and most of them were smiling in what looked like relief at the red Glasgow.

One of them, a man with loose, black hair and a headband, waved his radio at the two of them. "Your friend there mind letting us in already? Yoshida and I came here like the voice said."

Evrard paused and mulled it over. He didn't know why Lelouch wanted the terrorists all on the bridge, let alone what sort of plan he could've thought up in the short time between the chase and now. "…Let's ask him, instead." He flipped his radio off and used the personal comm. link between the two Sutherlands. "How 'bout it, Lelouch?"

"I summoned you all here to receive my gifts, your tools for victory." Lelouch's voice crackled over the terrorist radio channel, cold, but confident. Evrard chuckled at the look of shock that spread across the faces of the terrorists. Maybe they hadn't really expected him to get results? "Fresh Sutherlands, IFF's wiped clean, as well as energy fillers and spare parts. All yours to use, provided you follow my orders."

As the terrorists clamored over the contents of the train, Evrard returned to his direct link to Lelouch. "Looks like you've evened the odds." It would be wrong to say he was impressed; what Lelouch had done was damn intimidating. Evrard knew he'd broken out of cover to help the Glasgow in a flash, leaving Lelouch with only the time between that and the chase to plan for the Sutherlands, as well as contacting the terrorists. Lelouch was damn scary to think that quickly, that accurately "What's next, miracle maker?"

"It should be obvious, Evrard." Lelouch laughed, sounding assured and relaxed, even in the hellhole they'd almost died in. "I'll create a miracle, and turn this massacre right on Clovis' head!"