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Chapter 2
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"What is she doing? She's not trying to escape!"
"Why doesn't she just use her shock images on him?"
...
Lelouch deactivated the lock on the door and it swung open immediately. C.C. slowly stepped through the doorway backwards, making sure that Lelouch understood she was not going to escape. Then, she ran.
"Dammit! I should've guessed!" Lelouch ran out the doorway and followed C.C. down the hallway.
Lelouch continued his pursuit until they reached a dead end in the hallway.
...
"No! He has her cornered!"
"Relax, Ohgi. She could probably outrun him given the chance. Look at how tired he is! She knows what she's doing."
...
C.C. turned around to face an exhausted Lelouch.
"Are you going to kill me now?" She asked innocently.
Lelouch sputtered out in between gasps for air. "No, but...I need...answers. In that case..."
Lelouch activated his Geass and stared right back at C.C.
"I hereby command you to tell me everything!"
C.C. giggled and walked toward him.
"It doesn't work on me, don't you know that?"
"How? Why isn't this working?"
Lelouch was now squinting in efforts of focusing his Geass power. His face was becoming horribly distorted from the flexing of his facial muscles. Still no effect.
"Now now, don't exert yourself. You look constipated." C.C. reached one hand toward Lelouch's face.
"What are you doing? Get away from me!"
Lelouch backed up but too late, as C.C.'s hand made contact with his cheek. He slumped against the wall then slowly slid down, unconscious.
"That should do it. Now I need a new exit..."
"Operator."
"Lelouch is down. I need a new exit."
"Working on it. The next one is still in the Academy, but the area's clear. I checked it this time."
"So you didn't check it this last time?"
"No! That's not what I meant..."
"Uh huh."
"Anyway, take the service elevator. Inside, there should be an emergency call phone."
"Thanks, Tamaki."
The phone beeped as C.C. hung up. She walked back to Lelouch's room where she found a pen. She then went to Lelouch's unconscious form and began to write on his hand.
"That pen had better not come off..."
...
C.C. woke to the familiar sight of a dark dank room, covered in steel. A scrape of cold metal on metal and she sat upright in her chair.
"You're back!" Ohgi and Tamaki greeted her with enthusiasm.
"Do you have any idea how long it took to orchestrate your jailbreak?"
"Let me guess. Not that long?" C.C. answered.
"Yeah. Good to see you!"
"Thanks. Good to be back. Where's Kallen?"
"Erm...she's in her room. I wouldn't bother her, though."
"Luckily for me, I'm not you. I need to talk to her." C.C. jumped out of the chair and headed for Kallen's quarters.
"Um...! Hey!" Tamaki started after her.
"Let it go, she'll be alright."
...
"Kallen?"
Kallen's eyes, which had previously been fixated on the ceiling, traveled downwards to look at the intruder. For the past half-hour, she had been lying face-up in her bed, staring upwards blankly.
"What." A simple utterance.
"I think I've found our new recruit."
"Is everyone onboard obsessed over the notion of a new recruit? New minds aren't bad, but we really don't have the time to train anymore people."
"If you're too busy sulking, I could train him."
"I. Am not. Sulking!"
C.C. looked at Kallen quizzically.
"You barely noticed that I came back. I think you're sulking."
"Oh. Well. Congratulations. Welcome home. Hooray."
C.C. walked out the door, then turned back at the last moment.
"I'll take your shift tonight, ok?"
A pause, then an exaggerated sigh.
"Whatever."
...
Lelouch woke with a start.
"Suzaku!" A gunshot exploded in Lelouch's mind.
Lelouch looked around himself and realized it was night and he was the only one in the hallway. The building had cooled down substantially since the afternoon heat.
"That girl! Rgh, I should've known she would deceive me! I still don't have answers...what did she do to me?"
Lelouch groaned and rubbed his eyes.
"What...?"
He looked down at his hands and realized someone had written something on them.
Shinjuku Ghetto Subway: Main junction
"What the hell?"
"Lelouch!"
Lelouch looked up to see Milly, Shirley, and Rivalz running down the hallway towards him. He slowly got to his feet.
"Lelouch! What are you doing here?" Milly questioned.
"Yeah, we were getting worried about you when you didn't show up for the council meeting!" Rivalz added.
"Why didn't you call me?" Shirley complained.
"Sorry guys, I didn't mean to worry you."
"What's up with your face?"
"Huh?"
Shirley held out a mirror and the image startled Lelouch as much as his reaction startled his friends. C.C. had drawn all over the entire surface of his face.
"GAH! THAT GIRL."
"What girl?" Shirley and Rivalz said at the same time.
"Ooh, Lelouch has finally found a girl who can put up with his strange but adorable habits!" Milly cooed.
"No! It's not like that at all! It's um...a prank! She played a prank on me!"
"Aww, how sweet! Lelouch, your girlfriend seems so cute. Care to introduce us?" Milly seemed ecstatic that her beloved vice president had finally found a girlfriend.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Lelouch shoved his way past his friends and ran into his room.
"He didn't deny there was a girl..." Shirley paused.
"Oh, so at least we know there is a girl." Milly giggled but Shirley seemed disappointed. Rivalz was just plain confused.
...
Lelouch looked up at the mirror after a solid 10 minutes of washing his face. Permanent marker was no easy task to erase. After he believed the last of the marker had come off, he slumped down into his chair at his desk.
"Shinjuku Ghetto Subway: Main junction..."
Lelouch copied the phrase on his hand onto a notepad.
A knock at the door startled him.
"Who is it?"
"Delivery from BPS." BPS stood for Britannian Postal Service.
Lelouch got up and walked to the door and opened it.
"Hiya, there. Just sign here, please."
"A package? For me? From who?"
"Can't tell. No return address. Have a nice evening."
The delivery man clicked the pen and walked away. The door closed, and this event left Lelouch even more confused. Lelouch brought the small envelope to his desk where he turned it over in his hands over and over. Believing it to be safe, he tore it open.
A black cell phone slid out of the package and clattered onto his desk.
It immediately rang.
"What the..."
Lelouch carefully picked up the phone and pressed the side button. The bottom half of the phone slid out with a loud click* and he slowly put it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Seems you're finally awake, hm?"
"Who are you? Are you that girl who was in my room?"
"Aw, what gave me away?" The person on the other line feigned mock disappointment.
"Tell me what is happening!"
"So hasty. You can have your answers if you pass a little test of mine. It'll test the abilities of that new power you carry. Do you still have the address written on your hand?"
"Yes..."
"Good. Meet there by 3:00AM tonight. The place will be guarded by soldiers. You have to slip through without being caught or killing anyone. If you fail this test, I'll disappear forever and you won't get any answers. Sounds fun?"
"No wait!"
A dial tone sounded on the phone.
"She is really starting to irritate me..."
...
"You're sure about him?" Ohgi took one end of a phone jack and plugged it into a wall socket.
"Yes, I'm quite sure."
"You just met the guy..."
"I know how to choose my contractees and I know how to choose my recruits! I'm pulling rank here, by the way."
"Hm." He took the other end of the line and plugged it into a phone.
"Whoa!" Tamaki cried out as he stumbled over a pile of boxes.
"Jeez guys, I can't see my feet while carrying this big-ass mirror!"
"Well maybe if your big ass doesn't block the mirror, you could use it to see your feet." Ohgi walked over and took the standing broken mirror from Tamaki.
"Oh, shut up." Tamaki grabbed a box that contained a shiny new computer monitor and began to unpack it.
"It's 1:45. Pick up the pace, ladies."C.C. looked at the clock hanging on the wall.
"Do you actually think he will make it through?"
C.C. simply grinned.
...
Lelouch climbed out of the cab, which drove off quickly.
"In a hurry to leave, huh? What's wrong? Don't like the ghettos?" Lelouch called to the cab driver, who was out of earshot.
He walked through the run-down entrance to the subway systems. Everywhere he looked, clean-up crews were either burning or piling up the bodies of those massacred in the firefight.
"Hey! What are you doing here? Don't you see the caution tape?"
A soldier ran up to Lelouch. His clothes were blood-stained and he reeked of garbage and rot.
Lelouch thought quickly. "I can't just order this man to die...that would be against the rules. It would also draw unnecessary attention to myself."
"I came to see if my relatives were among the dead. Is there a list of those identified as deceased or missing?"
"Ha! Us? Identifying the dead bodies of filthy Elevens? You must be joking!"
"Very well, then. Could I ask another favor then?"
Lelouch's eye flashed with the Geass symbol which then took complete control over the man's actions.
"Heh heh heh...of course, your highness!" The man began to laugh uncontrollably, drawing the attention of other soldiers.
"Ay! What's this schoolboy doing in a place like this?" Two other soldiers walked up to the Geassed soldier.
"I hereby order you all to give me safe passage to the main junction in the subway systems." Lelouch said this quietly. No need to attract any more attention than he already did.
Now, all three soldiers began to giggle and laugh uncontrollably. "Heh heh...happily, your majesty!" The soldiers all lowered their weapons and saluted with far too much enthusiasm.
"Great. Now I have a troupe of brainless soldiers following me. I just hope their laughing doesn't give me away..."
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?" 3 more soldiers ran up to Lelouch, who was surrounded by saluting soldiers.
"Not again..."
...
C.C. pulled out her cell phone.
2:57 AM
"He should be here any moment..."
The sound of laughter slowly reached her ears. From the sounds of it, there were at least a dozen people laughing.
The sound grew closer and louder. Correction: a few dozen.
"What in the blazes..."
"HEH HEH HEH..."
"Return to your posts!" Lelouch turned and ordered the soldiers.
"YES YOUR MAJESTY." The soldiers said in unison.
Meanwhile, Ohgi, Tamaki, and C.C. all watched from the shadows. This was a strange spectacle indeed. Dozens of soldiers had been following Lelouch, or rather escorting him, and with a simple word, all of them had disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared. He had quite literally commanded a small army without raising a finger.
"Good God!" Ohgi exclaimed.
"What the actual fuck?" Tamaki was simply confused.
"Well done, Lelouch." C.C. said coolly.
"Where are you?" Lelouch spun around, looking to see where the voices had come from.
C.C. motioned for the others to stay put in their hiding place.
"Sit down, please." C.C.'s voice echoed clearly about the rubble.
Lelouch looked at the center of the room and realized there were two chairs facing opposite each other. In the middle was a table with a single glass of water.
He cautiously walked over to one of the chairs and sat down with just as much precaution.
"Where are you?" Lelouch called out again.
Amidst the noise of the soldiers cleaning up bodies, Lelouch could make out the distinct sound of boots clicking on the cold floor of the subway station. Just then, the clouds unveiled the moon and light shone through a large hole in the ceiling, most likely caused by an artillery round. A spotlight formed on the table and chairs.
Lelouch looked up at the sky, surprised by the brightness of the full moon. The clouds had cleared and it shone much brighter than he had ever remembered.
"Do you still want answers or are you going to keep staring at the moon?"
"WHOA." Lelouch jumped about 2 feet out of his chair. Sitting directly across from him was C.C. She had managed to sneak into the chair while Lelouch wasn't looking. She was good.
"My name is C.C."
"C.C.? What kind of a name is that? Is it a nickname?"
"If I told you my real name, you wouldn't be able to pronounce it correctly. No one does."
"You would be surprised."
"Actually, in this case I think you would be more surprised." C.C. countered.
"Now why is that?"
"You believe you are Lelouch vi Britannia, 11th prince of Britannia. Your sister is Nunnally vi Britannia, your father is Emperor Charles vi Britannia, your mother Lady Marianne was assassinated by an unknown terrorist organization."
"No, you're making a mistake. My name is Lelouch Lamperouge. I'm-"
C.C. continued as if she didn't even hear him.
"The Ashford family had close ties with the royal family and for this reason, they allow you to live on campus with your crippled sister. While this does make life easier for her, the real reason is to protect your identity from being revealed to the public. If the world knows that the heirs to the throne of Britannia are alive, you will be seen as diplomatic barganing chips, and both of your lives will be in jeopardy. As of now, Milly Ashford and Suzaku Kururugi are the only students currently aware of your true parentage."
"How do you know all this...? And Suzaku is a student at Ashford? Since when?"
"I know much more about you than you can even begin to comprehend. As for Suzaku, he will be enrolling shortly."
Lelouch sat back in his chair, dumbfounded. How could she know so much about me? Milly...no, she would never. She may be a ditzy pervert, but she would never betray me like this.
"Do your friends know that much about me too?"
C.C. froze.
"What friends?"
"The ones at gunpoint right now."
"Hey! Get off me!"
"Let us go!"
Ohgi and Tamaki were thrown into the room, followed by the same group of soldiers Lelouch had commanded.
C.C. laughed. "Is this your idea of a joke, Lelouch? They're not here to hurt you. We're here to tell you the truth."
"Hey, shut up! Both of you, on your feet! Move!"
Lelouch looked at C.C. with uncertainty. C.C. tilted her head to the side slightly.
"They...aren't under my command, you know." Lelouch looked nervously from soldier to soldier.
"What? I thought these were the ones following your orders!" C.C. hissed back.
"No...I mean they were...but I didn't tell them to do this..."
"You two! I said on your feet!"
Lelouch and C.C. slowly rose to face the soldiers.
"Hands behind your head!"
C.C. began to raise her arms, but Lelouch just smirked.
"I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you to lower your weapons and retreat!" His eye lit up as he stared right into the soldier's eye.
"What the...didn't you hear me, boy? I said hands!"
Lelouch's Geass deactivated. Why wasn't it working? Was the soldier like C.C. somehow? Immune to the effects of Geass?
"No, didn't you hear me? I say again; drop your weapons and retreat! That's an order!" Lelouch yelled back.
"You dare tell me what to do? I'll teach you a lesson!"
The soldier lifted his rifle.
"No, it's not him you want! It's me!"
"What?"
"I'm the girl who escaped the Shinjuku Ghetto just the other day! It's me you want, not him!"
The soldier called to the others.
"Hey! This girl is claiming she's the one who escaped! Wasn't she pronounced dead?"
"Yeah, she was. What did she do, come back to life?"
"You know, I heard rumors that some R&D division called Code-R was working on an immortality serum. Do you think it worked?"
"Only one way to find out."
"No! C.C.!"
The soldier loaded his weapon and fired at C.C., but Lelouch suddenly pushed her out of the way and they both landed in a heap on the floor.
"Ngh! What are you doing, Lelouch? I'll be fine!" C.C. angrilly pushed Lelouch off of her.
"C.C., what are the limits of my Geass? Why isn't it working?"
"I don't know! It varies from person to person."
"Person to person? You mean you've given this contract to others before? How many others?"
"Drop your weapons!"
"Huh?"
Lelouch, C.C., Ohgi, Tamaki, and the soldiers all looked up through the ceiling. A rather large Knightmare frame stared back down at them. This one was no primitive Sutherland, however. Its sleek form and shiny white exterior clearly labeled it as a custom Knightmare.
"I said drop them!"
"Uh...yes sir!"
The soldiers carefully placed down their weapons, obeying the orders of the white Knightmare that loomed over them, brandishing a rifle.
"Leave."
One word, and the entire group of soldiers scattered.
"You should be more careful with your life, Lelouch."
The hydraulics in the Knightmare hissed as it jumped away and disappeared into the night.
"Now who was that? Someone you Geassed?" C.C. asked.
"No...I have no clue who it could be. Whoever it is saved our lives though."
C.C. got up.
"Now, do you wish to know the truth?"
"Yes."
"Follow me. There's a lot more than just Geass to my secrets."
Lelouch got up and followed C.C. and the others to a different room.
"Don't forget the glass." C.C. called out behind her.
Lelouch stopped and picked up the glass of water which had been sitting on the table.
"What would I need a glass of water for?" he thought.
The room was fairly small, or maybe it was just cramped from all the equipment they brought in. There was a strange chair that lay in the center of the room. To the right of the chair was a large table with an old-fashioned telephone with the rotating dial and the wired handset. There were more consoles scattered about the room but Lelouch had never seen any device at all similar to the ones he saw.
C.C. faced Lelouch and held out a silver container. She opened it, revealing two pills; one blue and one red. She took a pill in each hand.
"Once taken, there is no turning back. Take the blue pill, and you return to your life as a student at Ashford, always hiding from your true past. Take the red pill, and you must face the truth as well as your past."
After a few moments, Lelouch reached out towards C.C.'s hand containing the red pill.
"Remember." Lelouch halted his advance. "All I'm offering is the truth, nothing more."
Lelouch took the red pill from C.C. and swallowed it. He took a swig of the glass of water and swallowed again, washing it down.
Behind them, Tamaki exchanged a silent fist bump with Ohgi.
...