Author's Notes: Sorry this has taken so long to get out, I'll try and speed up my updates. Just so you know, this chapter isn't going to be pretty. Also, sorry if Lloyd seems OOC here, but given everything going on, I can't really imagine him being his usual self.
Chapter 3: Red Lights
To those who knew him, Count Lloyd was known as a joker. Never serious and completely unflappable. Anyone could tell you that if Lloyd got serious, everything was about to go to Hell, and at that moment, it would be clear to anyone who'd even briefly met him that something was wrong.
Lloyd was sweating. 'Why isn't anyone picking this up?' his mind ground out as, once again, he tried to contact Cecile on Princess Euphemia's transport ship. After what seemed like an age, the screen on his laptop crackled to life and the face of his co-worker appeared on screen.
"What's been keeping you?" her voice came through a crackle of static, "You should be here by now, the Princess is going spare. You and Suzaku had better..." She trailed off, recognising Lloyd's grave mood. "Lloyd," she asked uncertainly, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Yes," Lloyd spoke, trying to keep his voice under control, "Something's happened, alright. There was an attack at the school." He took a moment to calm himself as his words sunk in. "It was aimed at Suzaku. He-" he gulped. "He was murdered."
Cecile's face on the screen drained of colour. "Oh my-"
"That's not all," Lloyd quickly interrupted her, "There was almost definitely a member of the Black Knights there. They'll know where you are by now, you've got to get out of there now. The Princess and the Lancelot, that's too big a target for the Order to ignore."
"I- I'll tell the captain that we need to set sail." Cecile paused for a second, "Lloyd, do you know who did it?" she asked uncertainly, "Did you catch them?"
Lloyd grimaced when she said this. "I think I know who did it, but he got away." He shook his head "We don't have time for this," he said urgently, "I promise, we'll talk later about this, but right now, just get yourself and the Princess to safety."
Cecile said nothing for a moment, clearly trying to for rational thought through the haze of shock. Finally, she seemed able to force her voice out. "Okay," she said, breathing deeply to keep her voice steady, "I'll-"
She stopped abruptly and left the communicator's field of vision, and the image on the screen began to shake violently, accompanied by a deep, booming rumble. Seconds later, what little Lloyd could see of the room was bathed in red light and the sound of a klaxon could be heard. Cecile's face quickly appeared again, and Lloyd could see that her previous shock was now accompanied by fear.
"Lloyd, they've found us!" she said hurriedly, and panic was evident in her voice.
"Take the Princess and run," Lloyd instructed, trying desperately to keep the fear out of his own voice. 'One of us has to be strong,' he thought. "You've got to get away," he stressed, "I'll call for reinforcements." Cecile just nodded hastily before the screen dissolved into a blur of static, then went black.
Lloyd fell to his knees, gritting his teeth. 'Zero,' the enraged thought spun through his mind, 'how many lives do you intend to ruin?' Further thoughts plagued him as he remembered the dark haired boy from the party who had disappeared so quickly. Far too quickly, as if he'd already known what would transpire. 'Lelouch Lamperouge,' he thought with an uncharacteristic grimace, 'that name, it just can't be a coincidence. Just how are you involved in all this?'
He cleared his mind. He could focus on these thoughts later. He needed to take action now. He'd already lost Suzaku, who he considered both a comrade and friend. He was going to do everything he could to make sure he didn't lose any more.
As the ship was rocked by the explosion, Diethard and the constantly-masked Zero observed from the port communications station, standing by a desk in front of a large viewing screen. The staff were held at gunpoint by several black clad, purple visored soldiers.
Diethard began adjusting the equipment on the desk in front of him to transmit on a secure frequency, before opening communications with the Black Knight's submarine. "Did it work?" he asked quickly, almost excitedly, into the mic as he leaned forward.
There was a moment of static before Ougi's voice came through a speaker. "Affirmative. The engines have been disabled, they're not going anywhere."
Diethard grinned as he turned to his leader. "Over to you then."
The only acknowledgement he received from the Zero was a nod. Behind the mask, Lelouch Lamperouge was frowning. He still wasn't sure about Diethard. He knew he wanted to see the Black Knights emerge victorious, but he still wasn't sure about the man himself. Lelouch knew that he had condoned Suzaku's assassination, and even suspected that he'd have something to do with it.
All that didn't matter at the moment. He could analyse his men at a later date. For now, he had an operation to run. He reached for the mic, adjusting the transmission frequency to contact all his men. "This is Zero," he spoke clearly, "The target has been disabled. All units report in and confirm battle readiness."
"Unit Zero, ready," came Kallen's voice, and Lelouch could practically hear the energy and eagerness contained in that single, unremarkable phrase.
Lelouch Kept half an ear on the speaker as the rest of the units reported in and activated his personal communicator, which was currently plugged into his helmet. "Rakshata," he spoke into it, "are your technicians ready?"
"We always are, Zero" the woman's voice insisted, "You do your part, and we'll do ours."
"Good," Lelouch replied, "I'm not expecting the Lancelot to be piloted, but I want us to be prepared. We can't guarantee that Kururugi was the only pilot. I'm not taking any chances. Out."
As the last of the Units reported themselves ready, he turned to the man with him. "Diethard," he said with a slight edge to his voice, "I will be taking part in the battle. You are to remain here and observe." He paused for a second before continuing, and there was a definite accusation in his tone this time. "You are to report any abnormalities directly to me. Do not give orders to any of the men without consulting myself first."
Without even waiting for a reply, he returned his attention to the communications equipment on the desk, from which he could hear the last unit reporting in. He took the mic and spoke perfectly clearly into it. "All units, commence main assault."
Cecile felt numb as she ran towards her destination. The sound of the alarm rang in her ears and everywhere she went was bathed in red light. She could hear voices issuing orders left and right as me armed with guns ran this way and that, preparing to defend the ship. She paid no heed to any of this though, even when she skidded round a corner and almost barrelled into a company of troops coming the other way. She was focused entirely on where she needed to be.
She knew that leaving the ship now would be suicide, so the only option left was to fight. She knew that they had little to no chance of actually winning, but Lloyd had said he'd get reinforcements. They only had to hold out until then.
She finally reached her destination, the knightmare hangar. The boat was small, only containing a handful of knightmare frames. There was a row of blue Sutherlands, and, at the back of the hangar, stood the Lancelot, gleaming white and standing tall.
'Only it's missing something,' Cecile thought sadly, her face falling. 'Suzaku...' Then, her sad frown became a look of grim determination, looking up once again at the white knightmare. She wasn't half the pilot Suzaku had been, but she knew her way around knightmare frames, the Lancelot doubly so.
'It's been a while,' she thought to herself, 'Let's see if I've still got it.' Then she said aloud, "Lloyd, Suzaku, I'll do you both proud."
Kallen felt the adrenaline begin to flood through her as the battle started. She could see the array of soldiers that had poured from the ship lining up to fire on her and the others in her unit. Her knightmare frame, the Guren, led the charge. The opposition on the ground were being cut down by fire from her unit. 'Pathetic,' she thought as she charged headlong into the enemy soldiers, their weapons doing nothing against her knightmare's armour. She charged up her main weapon, and seconds later, the ground troops were being vaporised as she swept through the enemy, the survivors falling quickly into disarray.
It was more of a slaughter than an engagement, but in the heat of battle, all Kallen saw, not people, but monsters. Her hatred for the Britannians drove her as she pulled around for another pass, the Guren's weapon scorching the fleeing soldiers.
As the last of the men were killed, she addressed her unit over the Guren's communicator. "We've got 'em!" she cried, a grin on her face, "Hit the ship before the enemy can counter-attack."
Almost immediately, she heard Zero's voice over on the unit's channel, and Kallen got the feeling that he'd been tuned into Unit Zero from the start. "Unit Zero," he addressed sternly, "by all means take out any defences, but remember that this is not an attack on the ship itself. Avoid as much damage as possible to the superstructure."
Kallen growled angrily, 'You don't need to lecture me, Zero,' she thought bitterly, 'If you can't trust me who can you?' A brief image of a girl with green hair and amber eyes flashed across her mind, but she cleared it. 'This isn't the time, Kallen,' she scolded herself. She hurriedly replied to Zero, "Roger that," she said respectfully. "You heard him," she addressed her unit, "don't damage the ship, just knock out anything dangerous. The objective is the white knightmare." She could imagine her team-mates rolling their eyes at her; it was common knowledge that Zero had been after that frame since day one.
A hatch on the top of the ship opened and five battle ready Sutherlands emerged. Without hesitation, they all fired their grappling hooks to in the direction of Unit Zero. One knightmare was nailed dead centre, forcing the pilot to eject, leaving only Kallen and three others to fight the attackers. Pulled along by their grappling lines, the Sutherlands flew through the air towards the unit of black knights.
'No problem,' Kallen thought with a grin, 'I could take these guys on my own.' She was in her element. This was what she was meant to do, and she felt more at home in the cockpit of a knightmare frame than in her Britannian stepmother's house. As the first Sutherland reached their position, the Guren's fist slammed into it, crushing the front and sending it sprawling, the pilot only just managing to eject. The second wasn't so lucky, torn apart by bullets as her three comrades opened fire on it at the same time. The last three arrived as one, and Kallen wasted no time in activating the Guren's weapon systems. This time, when she brought the Guren's chrome coloured arm to meet one of the attackers, only a smoking remain was left. The remaining two were quick to get out of the Guren's way and were able to gun down another of her unit.
Kallen saw as the cockpit ejected, only, to crash into a nearby building in a ball of flames. In her anger, she snatched one of the offending frames by the arm and charged the Guren's weapons to full power. In an intense blast of heat and radiation, the Sutherland was completely obliterated, exploding into chunks of molten metal. She was about to finish off the last one, when several grappling lines flew in her direction, and she was forced to pull the Guren back in order to avoid being impaled. She turned to see the source of the disturbance and her eyes widened as she saw the Lancelot flying towards her. The Guren threw itself out of the way just in time to avoid the blade held in the white frame's hands, as she frantically tried to reach Zero on her communicator.
"Zero," she called, "Zero, are you watching this?"
"Always," came the static filled reply, and Kallen took a small amount of comfort knowing this, but cursed as she saw the last of her unit get cut down, hopelessly outclassed by the superior frame. Kallen, not sure what to do, was too late to dodge the next attack and had to redirect a sword blow with a blast of energy from the Guren's claw. "Zero," she began, but her commander quickly began to instruct her.
"Keep it busy," he commanded, "I want minimum damage to it if possible, but remember: between them and you... I don't think I need to tell you who I'd rather see alive."
Kallen was so shocked by that comment that she was almost speared by one of the Lancelot's grappling hooks, but it went wide, and she dodged it as the line was retracted. 'Focus, Kallen,' she thought to herself. "I won't let you down," she said out loud, not sure if Zero was still listening, but she felt it had to be said.
Powering down her main weapon, she got the Guren into a fighting stance. This was going to be hard, but she wasn't about to go back on what she'd just said. Zero had worked tirelessly leading the rebellion. Here, on the battlefield, was where she did her part.
Cecile watched suspiciously as the red knightmare frame across from her powered down its weapon. Wasting no time, she attacked again, but her adversary, leaped backwards to avoid her swing, then charged forwards, exploiting the opening she'd left and knocking the Lancelot to the ground. Instead of capitalising on this, her opponent instead put more distance between the two. Cecile could tell they were holding back, but thought nothing of it. She wasn't about to come quietly.
She made the Lancelot stand up, then fired all four grappling lines at her opponent. They dodged easily, but she was able to close in again, bringing the enemy within striking range of the Lancelot's sword. She lunged. Her opponent dodged but this time Cecile was ready for the counter-attack, blocking it with her energy shield, knocking the red frame off balance. She was about to go for the kill when a spray of gunfire forced her to back away. She turned to the source of the bullets and felt the red mist descend. Anyone could recognise Zero's personal knightmare frame.
She began to give chase. All she could think was how everything was his fault. This man- no, this faceless monster was to blame for everything. The war, the deaths, Suzaku, it was all his fault. The frame did not attack again, and simply stood there as the Lancelot charged. 'Suzaku, this one's for you.' With that thought in mind, she readied the Lancelot's weapon as she neared. It never occurred to her that it would be a trap. Not until the Lancelot stopped moving, and the cockpit was flooded with red light as all power and momentum was lost.
Lelouch smirked behind his mask as he opened his cockpit, descending to the ground. The Gefjun Disturber had worked perfectly, disabling the Lancelot and leaving it at his mercy. He only needed to get the pilot outside and it was his.
Six knightmare frames surrounded the area within the confines of the Disturber, guns trained on the Lancelot. Lelouch activated his personal communicator and spoke into it, his amplified voice coming from the control tower.
"Pilot of the knightmare frame, 'Lancelot,'" he called, "this is a request for surrender. You are surrounded, and if you do not leave the frame you will be fired upon from all sides. You should find that basic functions are still active. You have one minute to comply."
Time seemed to stand still as he waited. For a moment, he thought that he would be forced to destroy the frame, but after what seemed like an age, the hatch opened, and a woman stepped out, descending to ground level via a retractable ladder that hung from the cockpit. Lelouch's eyes widened as he recognised Cecile, Suzaku's co-worker who had visited him and Nunnally, if only briefly. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he could see her eyes, and that made acquiring the elusive knightmare frame that little bit easier.
He slowly walked towards her until they were within hearing distance of each other. With a victorious smile hidden behind his mask, Lelouch revealed one violet eye and, meeting Cecile's own hate filled gaze, released the power of the Geass.
"You will hand over the Lancelot to me," he spoke imperiously
Cecile's eyes glazed over and Lelouch smirked in triumph as she walked up to him and handed over a small, gold key.
'Mission Accomplished.'
Euphemia Li Britannia watched the events that transpired from the safety of the ship with growing shock and worry. She saw as the soldiers were mercilessly destroyed, as the knightmare pilots were killed and as Zero tricked and blackmailed Cecile into handing over the Lancelot. Underhanded and ruthless didn't even begin to describe them, and the Princess didn't think she could hate them any more than she already did.
What was worse was that the Order was far more formidable and cunning than anything the Empire had faced before
'If only Lelouch were still with us,' she thought despairingly, 'he'd know what to do. He'd just see the whole thing as a new challenge.' She saddened even further. Even if Lelouch was still alive, there would be no way he'd help his family. He'd made it quite clear what he thought of them before he'd disappeared.
She looked back out of the window in time to see the Black Knights make a hasty retreat, Lancelot in hand. It only brought a small amount of satisfaction to Euphemia seeing that the frame didn't appear to be responding nearly as well to Zero as it had to Suzaku.
Euphemia was cut out of her thoughts by a one of her guards practically bowling into the room. "Princess Euphemia!" he practically shouted, before regaining himself and fell onto one knee, his head bowed.
"What is it?" she asked anxiously, worried by the urgent tone the guard had used. "Has something happened."
"We've just received a message from Count Lloyd." He looked nervous, like he'd rather be anywhere in the world rather than delivering the message. "He says that he needs to speak you as soon as possible, and that it's urgent."
"Tell him that I'll be happy to speak to him in person once the situation is dealt with." Euphemia paused. She just couldn't understand what had the guard so worked up. "Was there something else?" she tried prying.
"Your Highness," he began, clearly even more uncomfortable.
"Please," Euphemia pressed, "if it's important, tell me."
"Your Highness," the guard repeated himself, "It is in regards to your knight, Kururugi." This sentence alone caused the fear to well up in the young Princess. "He..." the guard gulped "Earlier today, he was attacked and assassinated at Ashford Academy. The killer was not caught, but..."
The rest of the speech was unheard by the Princess, who, upon hearing the word 'assassinated,' recoiled in horror, her hands cupping her mouth. Her throat constricted and tears began to gather in her eyes. It felt impossible to breathe, and blood was pounding in her ears as grief and denial both welled up inside her. 'This isn't happening,' she cried in her head, 'he can't be dead.' But as she looked at the man still kneeling before her, and seeing the sorrow and sympathy in his eyes she knew he was telling the truth.
The guard bowed his head again, "You have my deepest con-"
"Just leave," Euphemia choked out, and the guard was all too relieved to leave the distraught girl, hurriedly standing to attention before backing out of the door.
As soon as the door shut behind him, Euphemia caved in, collapsing to her knees, she broke into sobs as tears streamed down her cheeks, and for a long time, all she could do was weep.
AN: Another chapter done, and my longest one yet. This was a tough one to write, as I'm not as good at action scenes, but I think (or at least hope) I did okay. At any rate, I'm trying to show some versatility, especially as there are so many different sides to the Code Geass storyline. As always, thank you to all my readers, let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome, especially if you think one of the characters is unreasonably OOC (Remember, this diverges from the main storyline, so the characters will be developed differently.)
Ah well, enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter.
