AN: Yosh, we got a good haul in the previous chapter, thank you so much folks! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.


Also, in case any of you are interested, I have this little Code Geass RP forum called "Irregularity Code" going on, and the basic premise is that 5 Off-Worlders(People from our world) get thrown into the world of Code Geass, some getting put into bodies of off-screen characters, some getting OC Bodies, and some getting dropped in as themselves.

And well, an Off-Worlder spot just opened up, and we do need more players anyway, so I hope you'll join up.


"Speech"

'Thought'

[System Message]

«"Friendly/Neutral comm

«"Enemy KMF Open comm

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything.


"Man that thing looks unsettling." Ryo muttered, looking at the Gouf as he sat on the open back of a transport truck carrying his Alexander unit, well, the remains of it anyway. With the loss of their leader, the Knights of St. Michael had started retreating, or at least that's what the small garrison of vehicles sent to pick the Wyvern Squad had told them.

"I'm more surprised that it hasn't run out of power yet." Ayano replied as she looked at the green Knightmare keeping up the pace with the vehicles with the Landspinners that folded out from the back of its legs.

"It's not like we could leave it there, and there wasn't any room for it." Yukiya shrugged, more interested in the effect it had on the long-range radio, which had cleared right up when it deactivated its wings. Although, there was still a small, neglectable amount of static in long-range radio.

"Hey Boss, how's the unit handling?" Ayano asked, opening a line to the captured Gracchus.

«"I'm good Ayano, the controls are surprisingly similar to an Alexander's."» Leila responded from within the captured Gracchus. «"How's the status of your unit's power supply Mr. Barrett?"» She asked, looking over to the at the towering machine.

A small screen opened up on the upper right corner of the center screen of the Gracchus' cockpit. The screen showed a young man, not much older than Leila or her troops, at most only by two years, black hair hidden underneath red beanie, eyes hidden by the light reflecting off from circular glasses the pilot wore. «"Still fresh."» the young man, Edgar reported, before a lopsided grin spread onto his face. «"And please, don't call me Mr., I'm a spry young lad, not a saggy ol' geezer."»

"So where the hell did you and that machine of yours come from anyway?" Ryo asked, tapping into the comm line his earpiece was still connected to.

Edgar paused, scratching his goatee as he considered how to answer the Japanese teen's question. His memories of Code Geass' geography, both political and actual map-wise were spotty at best, not that he was good with Geography anyway, but he'd rather not accidentally point to place that couldn't really house life, let alone build a state of the art mech in secret.

Ah, fuck it, he'd borrow shite from "Eyes in SEED", altered to fit his needs.

«"Well lad, ever heard of a group called Wings of Talleyrand?"» Edgar asked, fishing for some info about this world at the same time. Sure, he figured that the Black Rebellion had already happened, but what about other events, ones that if they never happened wouldn't cause big enough of a change?

He couldn't afford to be blind-sided by the sudden appearance of the Glinda Knights, or some other "Non-Canon" element just as he was about to accomplish an important task, like crushing that Hypocritical dog under the heel of his Gouf, and taking Lelouch away from Britannian forces.

«"You mean the ones responsible for bombing Pendragon?"» Leila asked. While the Anti-Britannian lead by Wilbur Millville might not have been public for long, they certainly made their presence known to the world. "If Britannians themselves were ready to rebel against their oppressive Emperor, then didn't that make the fight against Britannia a just and noble one?" was a thought that came onto the minds of multiple people across the globe, no doubt even among some Britannians.

«"Aye, those chums. Ya see, the branch I was in were responsible for building the Gouf, in case the main branch fell."» An easy way to explain away the advanced tech, make them think that the Gouf was built from tech stolen from Britannia, the ever-advancing titan in the field of KMF Development.

«"But the brits found us, I was told to take the Gouf and ship my sorry ass out before the base's fail-safe, a big-arse bomb, activated."» And of course, an excuse as to why he appeared alone, intended to tug on those heartstrings of their humanity, possibly eliciting some feelings of sympathy.

"Alright, so how did you get here then?" Ayano asked, now interested in the tale their new…"Teammate"? Associate, yeah, associate was telling.

«"I dunno, was just passing by something the history buff of our crew called a "Thought Elevator", don't what it was, but the symbol on it started glowing, couldn't see for shit, and bam, I'm falling towards a city."» And as a last touch, a sense of mysticism to drive those willing to investigate towards the truth.

"Well that's fuckin' informative." Ryo scoffed, laying his back against the arm of his Alexander unit, deciding to catch some Zs.

"…" Akito said nothing as he sat in front of his Alexander's remains, looking at the body bag in front of him.


[-4 hours later, Warsaw, EU Army post-]

The sun had fallen by the time the retreating soldiers arrived at Warsaw's army post, and although the guards at the front gate had given them a few odd stares, well, not them exactly, but still, people had been staring, scant few even with their jaws hanging wide open as they saw the Gouf rolling past them.

However, as the 8-car envoy passed the front gate, they were met by a small welcoming party, composed of 9 men, all but one of them holding assault rifles in their arms, ready to open fire if need be.

"Yo boss, seems like we have a problem." Yukiya noted. While he might've not been a real soldier, well, at least not for more than a little over a month, he could tell when people were high-strung and prone to lashing out, even ignoring the aching from his left hand.

"Is there a problem?" Leila questioned as she exited the Gracchus. In response, the man in the middle, dressed in the common EU uniform, the dark shade of the blue, along with the peaked cap and medals singling him out as the leader of the assembled men.

The man adjusted his peaked cap, looking down to meet Leila in the eyes. "In a manner of speaking…" he answered before clearing his throat.

"I am Commandant Hans Blum, in charge of this Army post's security." the blonde-haired man introduced himself, his blue eyes cast in shadows by the peaked cap on his head. "And I ask that the pilot of that Knightmare Frame," he pointed to the Gouf. "Exits it immediately, and follows us to answer a couple of questions we have."

"Commandant, Mr. Barrett is one of my recruits, so if you have questions to him, I demand to be present there when they are asked."

"And that will be allowed, Lieutenant Colonel Malcal, but he is not an European soldier, so he will have to be detained and thoroughly questioned." Blum explained.

"And of course, the captured Britannian soldier will have to be moved to the brig until they can be moved to a proper facility." the Commandant added, glancing at the cuffed Jeanne, who was now being lead out the back of one of the armored vehicles.

"If you'd please get in contact with General Smilas at the Paris HQ, I'm sure that we could solve this matter without resolving to any violent means." Leila requested,

"…Very well, but they'll have to be detained until we are ordered otherwise." The German Commandant finally said. Many high-ranking officers had heard of the oh-so famous W-0 unit, and their use of Eleven pilots, himself included. Personally, he had no quarrel with the people of former Japan, but he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't okay with them being dropped behind enemy lines instead of his fellow Europeans.

However, it was those same people who had won the battle for them today, allowing his soldiers to retreat, and so, he'd at least hear out their commander's request.

«"Alright then, I'm coming out." » Edgar said as he made the Gouf kneel, so that he'd have an easier time exiting.

'Alright, now to lock this baby up.' Edward thought, activating the safe lock-feature of exiting that he had found during the trip back while experimenting around with the systems of the Gouf, the computer shutting down as he took out the USB-like activation key and slid it into his boot before the cockpit seat started moving.

The cockpit on the giant's back hissed open, popping open like a treasure chest as the piloting chair slid out, Edgar sitting in it with his hands raised up in surrender. Suffice to say, his rather plain, if not casual appearance struck a rather weird dissonance with the imposing and threatening look of his machine.

"A civilian?" Blum gasped in surprise as he looked at the young man descending from the cockpit, holding onto the cord extending from the cockpit for dear life, his left foot on the orange grip to provide stability.

"Aye, I'm not a soldier." Edgar nodded, thankful that they were speaking in English, instead of something like French or German, as that could've led to some serious misunderstanding.

As he got both of his feet onto solid ground, making sure not to put too much pressure onto his left foot, he pressed a button on the handle that was marked with a white upwards pointing arrow, letting go as the line retracted back up to the cockpit, the seat retracting back into the cockpit, the lid closing with a hiss.

Two of the soldiers who came with Commandant Blum moved forward, taking a pair of handcuffs from their belts, presenting them towards Edgar and Jeanne, both allowing their hands to be cuffed, or as was the case with Jeanne, her cuffs to be linked to a chain, the petite red-haired knight growling at the European soldiers a little, making her displeasure known.

"Oh-ho~, so ya got a kink for chains, eh?" Edgar grinned, deciding to make fun of the petite knight, who responded with a glare of such intensity that if looks could kill, Edgar would be little more than ashes by this point.

"Mr. Barrett, if you'd please stop antagonizing Ms. Rowe." Leila said, frowning at her newest recruit's actions.

Edgar simply nodded, giving a relaxed two-finger salute as he followed the soldiers, only to halt as he passed the Commandant.

"Oh right, a word of warning to your soldiers." Edgar snapped his fingers, turning to look at Blum. "The Gouf has an anti-theft mechanism, a bomb strong enough to destroy it and everything about 10-20 Meters from it."

"So, y'know, ya might want to post a few guards around it." Edgar said, a small smirk on his face as he watched the frizzled commander, still pale like a ghost, direct his equally pale soldiers to not let anyone get near the kneeling green giant.


After the two were lead to one of the metal containers in the former sports arena that now served as temporary housing for soldiers, which upon opening only had the essentials for a brig. Walls made from interlocking steel bars segregating the 6 spartan cells from each other, 3 cells on each side of the metal container.

"In you go, separate cells." one of two soldiers ordered, Edgar going to the brig closest to the door on the right side, while Jeanne entered the one on the left side, the soldiers detaching the chain form her cuffs before locking the rather sturdy-looking metal doors to their cells, the locks closing with an imposing 'THUNK' that resonated throughout the small facility..

"Behave and we won't have problems." the soldier from before said, before he and his comrade exited the room, although Edgar could tell that if either of them attempted busting out, the guards would hear them.

Although judging by the fact that they hadn't bothered to do a body check on either one of them, maybe they were underestimating them, or just confident that Jeanne would be smart enough not to attempt causing trouble when she was in an enemy camp, surrounded by people who wouldn't hesitate to fire if she tried to escape.

"So Jeanne, can I call you Jeanne? Anyway, about what you asked me on the battlefield." Edgar said, prompting the captured Britannian Knight to stop trying to burn a hole into the ground with her glare and look at him.

"Hmph, what, do you finally see the error of your ways now that you're locked up by these European fools?" Jeanne scoffed,

Edgar sighed, leaning his back against the barrack's metal wall. "Nah, not exactly." He had gotten a look at the Gouf's encoding while he was piloting it, and yeeaah… he doubted that the EU forces would be able to hack it, assuming they decided to call his bomb bluff.

"I was just going to share my reasons for why I fight against Britannia." he said, not really planning on Jeanne to be impressed or impacted by his reasons. He was just shooting the shit, killing time while Leila chatted with the ambitious General.

"See, Britannia's goal is, to be perfectly blunt about it, the subjugation and conquering everything that isn't Britannia, yeah?"

"…" Jeanne didn't refute Edgar's point. While yes, Lord Augustus did treat the conquered countries with respect, she knew that the homeland did no such thing, stripping the people they conquered of their identity, replacing it with a dehumanizing number. But that was the right of the strong, right?

"Well, my point is, that's idiotic as all fuck." Edgar bluntly said. "Not to mention amoral, but hey, that's Darwinism for ya." Survival of the fittest isn't pretty, but it's what got humanity to the point where they became the most advanced species on earth. "Britannia invades other nations, subjugates the natives, and then begin their spiel about how they're the strongest nation."

"And while there's nothing wrong with boasting, the problem comes when you're being a self-serving hypocrite."

"You mean the nobility?" Jeanne asked. While she mainly stuck to battlefields, she had met her fair share of nobility from the House of Lords, and from what she saw, a vast majority of them were little more than greedy, arrogant and slothful fools who only sought to reclaim the lands their ancestors had lost, the Knightly Orders of Euro-Britannia being their work-horses to accomplish that task.

"Yes, the arrogant nobility who claim that they are truly powerful, when in truth, all they have is powerful soldiers, or status they didn't earn with their own two hands, sitting back as the road to the top was paved clean for them." Edgar monologued, mainly thinking of Charles, who had simply let his allies slaughter the rest of his family to ascend to his throne, but Nunnally was also one such individual, her dear brother becoming, well, the Atlas carrying all the world's hate on his back, not that such a foolish plan would work for more than a few years, a thought supported by the trailers to the Sequel show.

"So you fight for revenge? But why fight for the EU, when you would've climbed up the ranks with your machine?"

"Revenge, no, not exactly…" After all, the nobility of this world hadn't done anything to him, at least not yet. But that was no doubt bound to change.

"But as for why I didn't take the path you just described, it'd do nothing, as my, well, "target" is much, much higher up the food chain." Truly, how could a target get any bigger than an Emperor, who not only controlled about a third or so of the planet, but also had an immortal brat, an army of not only regular soldiers, but assassins who had supernatural powers, aiming to kill a thing he considered "God"?

"Y-You seek to kill the Emperor?!" Jeanne gasped, standing up from her bed, the chain of her cuffs clinking at the sudden motion.

"For starters." Edgar knew full well that the death of one man wouldn't stop the War Machine that is Britannia. His death would just be the drop of blood necessary to drive the blood-thirsty sharks of the Imperial Court into a frenzy, those fat maggots coalescing to their backers, and of course, there was only one man in the royal Family who would realistically end up on the throne.

Schneizel El Britannia, the man whose sick, if not realistic views of humanity drove him to build Damocles, using it to frighten the world into peace, well, at least until his two-faced ass croaked, re-kindling the flames of conflict, but this time, the wars fought would be over the floating nuke launcher hanging in the sky, of course assuming that Schneizel didn't pick an heir who would carry on his legacy.


[With Leila and Commandant Blum…]

«"Ah, Leila, Commandant Blum, how may I help you?"» the German Commandant was taken back by the casual manner in which the French General referred to the young officer, but he didn't let it show on his face.

"I'm here to report the success of the operation, and to ask you to recognize a new recruit of my Wyvern Squad." Leila said, saluting her superior officer.

A small smile spread onto the General's bearded face. «"Oh Leila, you've adopted yet another stray into your family?"» He asked in an amused, faux- tone. He hoped that least this one didn't kill European forces in an attempt to kidnap high-ranking officers.

Leila ignored the comment, and stifled chuckles coming from Blum. "Yes, and he came to our aid with an unknown Knightmare."

«"An unknown Knightmare you say?"» Smilas raised a brow in an inquisitive manner, wondering which group that Knightmare was from. Despite Britannia's best efforts, more than a few Mercenary and Anti-Britannian groups were able to procure and develop their own Knightmare Frames, namely Peace Mark, the Wings of Talleyrand, and of course, the infamous Black Knights.

"Yes, a Knightmare unlike any we've seen before, equipped with beam weaponry and an integrated Float System."

«"Well then, I'm sure that Professor Schenberg will be quite pleased with the chance of looking it over."» The general took note of how the two officers flinched at his words. «"I take it there's a problem?"» he asked. Had the Knightmare been destroyed in battle?

"Not exactly, it's just that a part of my agreement with Mr. Barrett was that his machine is not to be taken in by the EU." Leila explained. "However, he hasn't forbidden my technicians from reporting what they discovered."

«"I see, so while we may attempt reverse-engineering his Knightmare, we can't simply look at the cheat sheet?"»

"Yes. And furthermore, it is thanks to him that we were able to obtain a 5th Generation Knightmare Gracchus, fully intact, and a mostly intact 7th Generation Knightmare Vercingetorix." This time, Smilas' astonishment was on full display, his eyes wide and his mouth a thin line.

«"T-The Vercingetorix?"» He defeated that beast? Ever since it had appeared a little under a year ago, the Knights of St. Michael had gone from a rather easily repelled foe to one that trounced their forces on more accounts than the council were comfortable with sharing to the public.

"Indeed General, and from what me and my men could see, while the cockpit was pierced, it seems like only the pilot seat was damaged, so we should be able to access its OS." Blum said, all too glad that the beast that had taken the lives of many a soldier from him was vanquished. The only thing regretted was that he wasn't there to see it, or been able to do it himself.

«"I see. Well then, I'll arrange the transport for the Britannian units."» Britannia was bound to become more aggressive with the loss of such a powerful unit and pilot, so they couldn't afford to drag their feet. They'd have to get those Knightmares into the Clement factory ASAP so they could begin supplementing their Panzer-Hummels with new units that could match the Britannian Sutherlands and Gloucesters in CQC.

"I will go and order my men to prep them to be loaded to the transport." Blum stepped forward, understanding Gen. Smilas' intentions, and the German fully agreed with them, knowing full-well that while their Panzer-Hummels could keep Britannian forces at bay with proper emplacements and coordinated fire, the Britannians were already developing Knightmares and other weapons that'd make short work of such tactics, not to mention that any Sutherland capable of getting close to a Panzer-Hummel could decimate it, due to the lack of any proper CQC features in them.

«"Europia United thanks you, Commandant."» Smilas dismissed him with a salute. the Commandant responding in kind before exiting the comm room.

Smilas looked back to Leila. «"So then, about the pilot, you truly plan to recruit him?"» The general asked, mostly to confirmation's sake.

Leila nodded. "Yes. He managed to defeat a Grand Master of a Knightly order, his skills, not to mention his suit would be of great use to my squad," Although from what she had observed, Mr. Barrett wasn't quite used to his unit, staying out of melee range, despite his Knightmare being more suited to close-range combat with its sword, only using his beam guns and whips. He seemed to be more suited for a unit that specialized in long range combat.

She should have Anna and her team try and adapt the Gouf's beam technology into a weapon with more range, as she had noted that the range at where the Gouf's beam guns were accurate wasn't all that long, but until then, the Gouf would be equipped with a rifle like the one outfitted to W.O Naruse's Alexander.

«"I see, anything else."»

"He claimed to be an Ex-Wings of Talleyrand member." Leila said, knowing that having Gen. Smilas being aware of this would be for the best. It'd be better if the regular army wouldn't be caught unawares if they met the Gouf after a potential defection. She certainly didn't want that to happen, but she'd rather prepare for the possibility than be blindsided by it, especially if said defection would result in her squad and friends getting hurt.

«"You think he is lying?"»

Leila shook her head. "No, not exactly," After all, as a member of an underground Terrorist group, it'd only be natural for him to be able to exude a civilian presence, but she couldn't help but feel like something was off about the way he acted. Him being linked to the Britannian terrorist group would certainly explain his knowledge of the Vercingetorix.

"More like that he hasn't told everything he knows." Leila finally said. Not that she could blame him for keeping secrets. He possibly assumed that if he gave the EU even an inch, they'd take him and his unit and pump both the man and machine for all the knowledge they could before throwing him aside, and as much as she didn't want it to be so, such assumptions weren't exactly incorrect.

The more corporate-minded members of the Council would certainly call for the oddly-named Knightmare Frame to be handed over to be dissected, reverse-engineered and mass-produced, with or without the pilot's consent.


[Back in the brig]

"So then, Jeanne, why do you fight for Britannia?" Edgar asked, truly curious about why your average Britannian soldiers fought for an Empire that endorsed Social Darwinism like it was the hottest thing since sliced toast. Perhaps due to a simple loyalty to your homeland? Honor? Prestige? The sheer thrill of piloting a mecha? Or perhaps to drown out that little voice of inferiority in the back of their head saying; "We're not better than them!" with the blood of those they fought?

"Why do you care? You've already thrown your lot in with the Europeans." Jeanne growled back. She knew all too well that the moment that blondie and her team left, there'd be nothing but a cold, hard confinement cell, slob that hardly passed as food, with the occasional interrogation session in her future, well, that is if she didn't have a little "accidents" on her way to the place where the EU held their POWs.

Edgar sighed at the retort. Yeah, yeah, she got caught by her enemy and was no doubt going to be pumped for info the moment she was out of the W-0's sight, but did she have to be such a bitch about just chatting. Hell, he was quite doubtful that the EU would even bother interrogating her, assuming they decided that the Geneve conven-actually, do they have anything of the sort in this world?

"Humor me. Who knows, your heart-wrenching tale might re-awaken some long-lost national pride or some crap." Edgar's sarcastic drawl only served to annoy his captive roommate, who was forced to settle to just glaring at him.

"…Hmph." Jeanne scoffed, turning her back to Edgar.

"Ah c'mon, lass, that's no fun…or is it that you know that there is no truly just reason to fight for Britannia?" Edgar inquired, a smug smile on his lips as he watched the smaller Britannian soldier tense her shoulders at his question, but he couldn't tell whether she knew it to be true, or if she was just mad at his accusation.

"But then again, I suppose that for some people, just fighting for their country is enough, and ta be honest, I can respect such simplicity." Edgar chuckled as he sat up from the bed, leaning against the bars. This was sure to get the wee lass reacting.

"And hell, I can even respect Shaing's ambition, despite how fucked up it is, what with the indiscriminate killing…" Edgar said, purposefully keeping that last part just quiet enough for Jeanne to be able to hear it, but making it seem like he was trying to not let her hear it.

Truly, the world was a cruel place, so he could, to some extent, understand a desire to set such a world into a killing frenzy. After all, it was ultimately humans and their desires that birthed conflicts, whether it be due to sheer Greed, Envy, Wrath or Pride, or a simple difference in ideologies or religions, people would fight sooner or later, and when one party was dead, their loved ones would eventually strike at their killers, and then vice versa, until no one was left, or the two groups formed a mutual peace treaty, albeit temporary.

The speed at which Jeanne turned around at the mention of her late lord and target of affections gave Edgar pause as she grasped the bars, pushing her face up against the bars, sheer venom and vitriol in her glare.

However, just as she was about to respond, the main door opened, revealing Leila and one of the two soldiers who had escorted them.

"So then, I take it that the chat went well?" Edgar asked with a relaxed expression on his face, as if nothing was wrong.

Leila nodded as the guard opened his cell and took out a key. "The General was very understanding, and your machine will not be taken away from you," And although it wasn't said, both the young Lieutenant Colonel and the new recruit knew that orders demanding all information about the mysterious machine that the Wyvern Squad was able to uncover was to be passed along to the General, and from him to the correct groups who would work on reverse-engineering it.

"That's good to hear." Edgar said as he stepped out of his cell, rubbing his wrists to alleviate the aching.

"Indeed. And your ID Tag is done, although it's only a bare-bones one, so we need you to fill it out." Leila said, handing a small, dogtag-like device to Edgar, who graciously accepted it, putting it on and letting the tag hang loosely by its chains.

"But regardless, welcome to the Wyvern Squad, Warrant Officer Edgar Barrett." Leila smiled offering her hand towards Edgar, who smiled and shook it.

"Thank you, Commander, I'll do my best not to disappoint you." he said, before turning to look at Jeanne, who was still glaring at him. "Well then, our chat was fun, but I have business elsewhere, so… ciao." He said, following Leila out of the brig as he ignored Jeanne's shouts of "Wait!" and some curse words thrown his way.

"What exactly did you and Ms. Rowe talk about?" Leila questioned,

Edgar blinked, a reticent smile forming on his face as he sheepishly scratched his head, pocketing his beanie. "Well, I might've pissed her off a wee bit when I explained why I fight against Britannia." he answered, his eyes hidden by the light hitting the dark lenses.

"And sorry ma'am, but I need to go check on my machine, y'know, to make sure no one messed with it." Edgar said, bowing respectfully to Leila before he started walking back towards the direction of where he had left his machine.

However, as he walked away, Leila narrowed her eyes at the retreating form of her new Warrant Officer, before she turned around.


AN: So then, how was the chapter? I admit, this was kind of a filler-esque chapter.

Also, just to make it clear, I'm not dropping Quincy DxD, I'm just taking a small break from it.

Oh, and I'm also in need of someone who knows the story of Oz of The Reflection damn well, as the wiki had jack-shit on the personalities of a few characters.


Questions of the chapter:

Q1: If you had to choose from either A: [Advanced GN-X] or B: [GN-XII Cannon] , both equipped with a proper GN Drive, albeit lacking a Trans-AM system, which one would you choose to pilot?

Q2: And what Gundam show would you want me to write an SI fic about, with the SI piloting the Mobile Suit you picked in the previous question.