I do not own Code Geass. Any parts that resemble the Anime or Manga are most likely from it.
There is no specific update schedule. I hope to update a story a month, but which story will vary.
The only people who are repeating are Lelouch, Kallen and Nunnally. As for a first time round story, there are plenty out there, and I didn't want to try and do something that's been done so well before.
- E.P - E.P -
Lelouch cursed as he dropped the screwdriver again, before twisting round and trying to fish it out from where it had fallen into the depths of the Knightmare he was cannibalising. For the time being he didn't need it, the resistance cell that would become the Black Knights had plenty more Knightmare frames than they needed and were in the process of repainting them, so Villetta's was currently being used for parts.
After the skirmish in Shinjuku Ghetto and his talk with Clovis he had moved the Knightmare frame into the service tunnels under the Ashford Academy, claiming any spare parts he could take from the few downed Britannian Sutherlands he had passed, and into the storage rooms where the Ganymede was kept. Along with his Mother's Knightmare there were also the equipment that was used to service it, the same equipment Lelouch was using at the moment.
He had already ripped out most of the command module's electronics and stuffed them in a backpack that would go under the cape on his Zero costume. Right now he was trying to remove the projectors so he could hook them up to his mask along with a communicator, a set up that would hopefully allow him to command his forces and see the layout of the Britannian military whilst on foot and preventing him from having to find a safe place to hide his Knightmare whilst he was commanding.
Still it was slow going, he wasn't a technical genius, and this was only really a stop gap until he could get Rakshata or Lloyd to look over it.
His other project was the beginnings of his own Knightmare. Eventually he would have to take one and be prominently seen on the front lines, although he would avoid it as long as possible even if it was a good political statement, and he was nowhere near Kallen or Suzaku's level of expertise with a close combat orientated model. His own had always been fire support frames, and he was fairly accurate with their weapon systems. Unfortunately the Sutherland was too slow to move and the K-Class assault rifle to slow to fire for him to be precise with his shots against a moving Suzaku.
So he was planning to go the other way. If he couldn't improve his precision of fire he would make up with sheer volume. For that reason he had bolted two K-Class assault rifles together side by side and hooked up the magazines of both of them to a single oversized ammo bin that had been welded behind the whole arrangement. All together it could put out twice as many rounds as a standard rifle for four times as long but it was clunky and ungainly, having to be mounted on the wrist rather than in the hands, but for the time being it would have to do.
But that was just one arm, he was planning to make more for the other arm and shoulders, at least until he could get his hands on some Hadron Cannons.
All together Villetta's Knightmare wasn't looking too good, its right arm ripped off to provide support for his dual assault rifles whilst the legs were being tinkered with to see if they could be used to create a more stable firing platform, even if it was at the expense of its speed of movement.
And by tinkered, he meant that they were in pieces scattered across the floor, his last attempt having come apart quite magnificently.
His cursing was cut short as a hand entered his vision, waving the screwdriver he was fumbling for in front of his eyes. He followed the arm up and wondered why Kallen was down here, but his musings were answered by her fairly quickly.
"We have class in a short while," she began as he struggled to pull himself out of his cramped gap under the in the cockpit and wipe the oil off his hands, "And I'd like to deal with the F.L.E.I.J.A problem sooner rather than later. I don't like the feeling of it hanging over our heads without us knowing what's happening with it."
"Do you think we can bring her onside?" Lelouch asked as they picked their way out of the debris that had been the Sutherlands legs and made their way up towards Lelouch's room, "Or would you prefer I just Geassed her?"
"Whilst I would prefer not to Geass her, it always seemed wrong how you could effortlessly rewrite someone's mind like that, she won't join our resistance group, not with her fear of Japanese, so it may be the only way."
"Perhaps if we phrased in such a way as to remove her fear of the Japanese?" Lelouch asked as they reached his rooms, "I'll just take a quick shower before we head to class, can you get me my uniform?"
"Sure," Kallen replied, gathering his clothes as Lelouch started washing the oil and dirt off his hands and face, "It would probably be cheaper than therapy."
A couple of minutes later Lelouch came out of the shower, a towel wrapped round his body and his damp hair lying flat against his head. Kallen trailed her eyes up and down his body, licking her lips as she did so, before meeting his gaze and blinking.
"Lelouch," she asked, stepping closer to him and peering at his face, "What happened to your eye?"
"Hmm?" he replied, confused for a moment before he realised what she meant, "It's a contact lens in the left one, it looks like there's something wrong with it and I'll use that as reinforcement for needing a patch for my eye infection. It doesn't block my Geass though, it's just an ordinary coloured lens."
"Trust you to have started planning your story already," Kallen teased as she took his arm and started pulling him to class once he was finished dressing, "I shouldn't be surprised."
Lelouch smiled at her as they walked to class before commenting, "You seem rather possessive today, any particular reason?"
"Just staking my claim," she said, falling back in to her sickly Kallen Stadtfeld persona as they got closer to the more populated areas of the school, "And do you really mind? It'll get all those fangirls of your back..."
True to form there was a huge outcry when the two of the walked into together, their arms linked. Kallen's friends quickly grabbing her and pulling her off to the side whilst Shirley sent her a cold glare and a downcast glance at Lelouch even as her sat down and Rivalz appeared next to him.
"Boy," Rivalz started, "You sure do work fast don't you, Lelouch?"
"I have no idea what you could possibly mean," Lelouch replied a slight grin unseen on his face, "Miss Stadtfeld merely felt a little unsteady and asked me to help her to class, nothing more."
"Really," Rivalz asked looking a little surprised, "Well, she has missed a lot of classes due to her illness, you think she's not completely recovered?"
"It's entirely possible," Lelouch said, knowing that it was nothing of the sort.
"And speaking of illness," Rivalz continued, "What happened to your eye?"
"I think it's infected," Lelouch said, faking a sigh as he did so, "I'll visit the doctor later."
"I agree," Rivalz replied, "That looks pretty nasty."
They were cut off by Kallen's friend's screams, and their glances between Lelouch and Kallen, both of whom had fairly blank expressions on their faces. Shirley seemed to be stewing in the corner and the teacher quickly lost his patience, calling the class to order.
- E.P - E.P -
The end of the day saw the student council meet up again, Milly wanting to finish Kallen's welcoming party since they were so rudely interrupted by the champagne incident. She was currently teasing Kallen about what had happened in the shower, although for once she was actually underestimating what had happened, whilst Shirley's head kept switch between the two of them, her expression changing from horror at the president's words and anger at Kallen. Rivalz was just trying not to laugh.
Lelouch took that as his opportunity to talk to Nina who was sat in front of her computer casting the occasional glance at the others.
"How's your project going Nina?" he asked, taking a seat next to her as he did so, "You've been working on it quite hard recently."
"Y-yes," she responded shyly, "I think I'll be close to a breakthrough soon."
"Which part are you working on?" Lelouch asked, hoping to keep the conversation going, "Last time I checked you were working on adding Sakuradite to... Uranium, was it?"
"T-that's right," she continued, warming up to her subject, "P-pure Uranium-235 would be highly explosive if a chain reaction could be induced but it would leave a great deal of contaminates behind. If you encase the Uranium with Sakuradite, when the reaction begins the Sakuradite allows for a controlled nuclear fission reaction creating a Folkvangr Field..."
Lelouch tried to pay attention to what she was saying and managed to follow it for a bit before being left behind. He liked to think he was fairly intelligent but a lot of the terms were completely unknown to him and the science behind it? Well, the less said the better.
"Something like that sounds fairly dangerous," He said when he lecture came to an end, "What kind of safety measures does it have? Old nuclear reactors used to use control rods, so is it something similar to that?"
"Nuclear reactors had control rods to allow a more precise control of the reaction," Nina replied, looking a little scandalised that Lelouch would even suggest such a thing, "The F.L.E.I.J.A doesn't need any safety measures as it can be designed and built exactly to my calculations."
Lelouch was surprised that he had managed to get Nina to talk so much, this was almost the longest conversation he had heard her involved in, but he had learnt one thing, Nina was definitely a scientist rather than an engineer.
"Is there any way to stop the reaction once it's begun?" Lelouch asked, moving the conversation to a point where he could use a Geass, "In case there was an accident or something similar?"
"There won't be any accidents," Nina replied angrily, or at least as angry as Nina could sound, "My designs will be perfect."
"Well I think you should start looking for a countermeasure," Lelouch said, his eye glowing an odd colour through the tinted contact lens, "Keep me updated on it and don't react so badly to non-Britannians."
Lelouch was glad no one was listening, the conversation had turned rather stilted at the end.
- E.P - E.P –
"Who came last time to the Tokyo tower?" Lelouch asked Kallen, the two of them walking arm in arm towards the building in question. Kallen had told the rest of the resistance group that she had spoken to the voice from the radio and had arranged a meeting with him at 1600 at the tower, "Aside from you and Ohgi."
"Sugiyama and Yoshida, I think," Kallen replied, "Why do you ask, I can't believe you forgot something from two years ago?"
"It might have been two years to you, Kallen, but to Nunnally and myself it's been nearly seventy years," Lelouch stated, holding the one of the doors of the tower open for Kallen to enter, "For you the memories of the first time are still fresh, they occurred less than a week ago by your perspective, but we've lived them linearly so they occurred a lifetime ago."
"Uh..." Kallen let out, confusion written all over her face.
"Never mind," Lelouch said, rolling his eyes, "They're unlikely to follow me if I reveal myself as a Britannian, but then they didn't follow me the first time round as Zero either. The Problem is Ohgi, while you'll follow me without a doubt he'll be torn between following you and having to listen to my orders."
"Is that going to be a problem?" Kallen asked, looking a little worried as the two of them entered the elevator.
"No, the only essential part of the plan is yourself," Lelouch replied, "But more Knightmares would cause the operation to go smoother."
"Aw, you say the sweetest things you charmer," Kallen teased, the two of them separating as they reached the observations deck.
They moved over to one of the windows and stared out of it at the ruined skyline of the ghetto in the distance, both ignoring the Britannian propaganda coming from the speakers as they waited for the others to arrive. It didn't take long before they did, Sugiyama and Yoshida flanking Ohgi.
"Kallen," Ohgi started, nodding towards her as the five of them faced each other, "Whose this?"
"You would be Ohgi then?" Lelouch interrupted, causing the others to turn their attention to him, "It's good to meet you in person, you did well during the last incident."
"I am," Ohgi replied, his eyes narrowing, "But I find it hard to believe that you are the voice we heard, you're just a Britannian schoolboy."
"And Kallen is just a Britannian schoolgirl," Lelouch rebutted quickly, "Yet she is the best pilot among you, am I right?"
"Perhaps," Ohgi said after a pause, obviously not used to this kind of debate, "But I've watched Kallen grow up, I trust her."
"And she trusts me," Lelouch stated, "Is that not enough?"
"Kallen?" Ohgi said, turning to her.
"I trust him Ohgi." Kallen replied without hesitating.
"I don't," Yoshida said bluntly, "I'm not following some Britannian."
"Me neither," Sugiyama added with a frown, "And why do you need us, I'm sure you can do it yourself."
"Look at me," Lelouch replied, gesturing at his body, "I'm stick thin, hell, I couldn't even run to the end of this room without stopping. That's why I need you and you group, men and women who can fight for freedom, who can make a difference, I want to help but all I have is my mind."
Ohgi turned his words over slowly before he answered, "Sorry Kallen, but I don't feel comfortable following him, the last fight might have been a fluke and I don't believe he could do it again."
"Ohgi..." Kallen muttered, a downcast expression on her face.
"I'm sorry," Ohgi said again, as he and the others turned and left, leaving Kallen and Lelouch standing alone on the observation deck.
"We're alone," Kallen whispered, "They're not going to help us. What do we do?"
"I didn't expect them to help us," Lelouch replied, guiding Kallen towards the exit, "But if we succeed they will think back on our words and join us."
"So what do we do?" Kallen asked.
"Go get your Knightmare and whatever equipment you want to use then meet me under Ashford Academy," Lelouch said as the two of them left Tokyo tower, "The Pureblood faction will be moving to secure the supply train we stole from them later tonight, they need to solidify their position as the temporary governor so they'll want to be seen doing something."
"You're sure about this?" Kallen questioned.
"Am I ever wrong?" Lelouch replied arrogantly, as the two of them neared the train station.
"Do you want the list alphabetically or chronologically," Kallen said snidely, "Because I can think of more than a few incidents..."
- E.P - E.P –
Lelouch was idly checking over his Knightmares systems one last time before Kallen arrived, making sure his modifications were all working. He'd finished up the guns, a total of eight K-class rifles now bolted to the wrists and shoulders, with enough parts for another two scattered over the floor. The two on his left shoulder were slaved to the two on his left arm and the same on the right, which would hopefully maintain at least some accuracy, while still pouring out enough fire that even Suzaku wouldn't be able to weave his way through without getting hit.
His tweaks to the legs, well, he'd managed to break the Landspinners somehow, so he was limited to running, and hadn't really accomplished anything, save maybe giving himself a nasty set of bruises. Lelouch had also collected his Zero costume from the Tailor early, his own modifications leaving the outside unchanged whilst wires poked him in the cheek on the inside.
He stopped checking the ammunition levels, full for all four hoppers, when he heard the sound of a Knightmare moving towards him. A few moments later Kallen moved out of the shadows of the tunnels, a K-class rifle in one hand and several Chaos mines attached to her Knightmares hard points.
The other notable thing about her purloined Sutherland was the colour, the entire thing had been sprayed red, rather badly Lelouch thought. How Kallen had managed not to cake the joints with paint he didn't know.
"Are you ready?" Lelouch asked on an open channel.
"Yeah!" Kallen shouted back, "Let's do this!"
"Good," Lelouch replied, reaching for the radio as he did so, "Change to channel 3."
"Check," Came Kallen's reply through the new channel a few moments later.
"Check, now follow me," Lelouch stated as he began heading through the tunnels, Kallen a few meters behind him, before he continued, "As far as I'm aware there have been no changes in Britannian military frequencies since the last engagement so we will still know the enemy positions,"
"Good," Kallen said, "What are your orders?"
"We'll come out near them and find an overlooking location," Lelouch started, the two of them moving round a piece of fallen debris, "I'll take as many of them out as I can at range, then provide you with covering fire while you move in to capture Jeremiah Gottwald, codenamed Orange."
"Nice and original," Kallen muttered.
"While you remove him I'll take out the rest of the Pureblood faction," Lelouch continued, ignoring Kallen's interruption, "Then we turn Orange and ransom him back to the Britannian government."
"We're going to hold our own spy to ransom, to the people we want him to spy on," Kallen said slowly, staring at the back of Lelouch's Knightmare, "I swear only you could come up with a plan that can be this stupid and this sneaky at the same time."
"I try."
"What are we going to do if they don't accept the ransom?" Kallen questioned, "We can't kill our own spy and we can't let him go either, and what will the ransom be?"
"They won't reject the ransom," Lelouch stated confidently, "The government is still made up of the people Clovis put into office, they won't have the guts to say no, and the only people who do are the Purebloods, who we'll wipe out. As for the ransom, we trade Orange's life for the release and amnesty of various Japanese political prisoners Britannian is holding, they'll be more willing to let people go than pay money, despite the prisoners being more valuable to us."
"Okay," Kallen replied, before adding, "I don't know why I bother to question you about your plans, you always have an answer for everything."
"Keeps me on my toes," Lelouch answered then stopped and checked his map before announcing, "We're here."
The two of them crept out onto a street a few roads east of the still stopped train, the slowly moved into the same position in the ruined building overlooking the railway line that Lelouch had held a few days ago. There was a single Pureblood Sutherland already standing near the train, probably a scout of some sort, so they settled down and waited for the rest of the Pureblood faction to arrive.
Fortunately they didn't have long to wait, neither of them willing to break radio silence for a little entertainment, and they both moved closer to the edge of the ruin when they saw the column of a dozen Knightmare frames arrive on their tactical map and later into visual range.
"Orange?" Kallen asked, running her Factsphere up and down the line of Sutherlands.
"The one with the cape." Lelouch replied, "On my mark sprint towards them and take out Orange, ready?"
"Ready," Kallen responded.
Lelouch wasted no time, quickly swinging his arms up and opening fire on the Pureblood Sutherlands. The first few seconds they were taken by surprise and he easily scythed down three of them to Orange's left before the rest started to seek cover. He swept his guns down the line, taking out another one, and sending a great many shots into the cover and surroundings of the Purebloods before shouting, "Mark!"
Kallen sprinted past him, planting one foot on the edge of the ruins and throwing her Knightmare skywards before firing both her Slash Harkens. One slammed into a Pureblood, the Knightmare stopping instantly, and the other anchored itself to the train then both of them reeled Kallen at high speed towards Jeremiah and the remaining purebloods. Two short bursts of fire destroyed another two Sutherlands as she smashed into a third, using its body to shield her from the retaliating fire before unhooking a chaos mine and taking out another Pureblood, as well as forcing a damaged fifth back into cover.
"I feel so redundant," Lelouch muttered, resqueezing the triggers every time a Sutherland put itself into his line of sight, Kallen's continuing rampage claiming another two victims, along with Orange's arm.
He ignored the Britannian cries for reinforcement, there wouldn't be any coming, the government didn't want to waste any more Knightmares against a pilot of Kallen's level and Suzaku and his Lancelot were still out of commission from the last battle. They were cut off fairly quickly though, Kallen mowing through the last few Knightmares surrounding Orange before she grabbed his cockpit and jumped over the edge of the railway line with it, leaving Lelouch to clear up the remaining Purebloods.
According to the tactical map there were two left, both of them taking cover inside the train and returning fire out of the gap between the doors. Lelouch stared at the carriage, the doors were only being held by two brakes there and there...
Moments later he sent his two Slash Harkens flying, one at each brake, both of them scoring a direct hit, causing the doors to slide open and the two Sutherlands to suddenly be exposed. Lelouch gave a grim smile as he opened fire once again, gunning the two of them down and eradicating the last of the Purebloods.
"You've secured Orange Kallen?" He asked into the radio, reeling his Slash Harkens back and turning to leave the ruin.
"Yes," Kallen replied, "Location One was compromised so I moved him to Location Two."
"Good, I'll be there in a moment," Lelouch said, before the appearance of a blinking icon on his tactical map drew his attention. The single machine was moving at high speed towards his previous location and the non-standard designation meant it could be only one person, "Q-1, the Lancelot is incoming, requesting assistance!"
Kallen acknowledged him and Lelouch quickly moved to find a good position. Suzaku would most likely charge straight to the target, relying on his Blaze Luminous to shield him from incoming fire. That meant that the best location to attack would be there, a nearby street that had been cleared of debris by virtue of shoving it all to the side. The wide open street would provide him with a clear line of fire and the debris would prevent Suzaku from leaving the street, allowing Lelouch to unload all eight barrels into his Knightmare.
Suzaku was moving quickly however, which almost didn't give Lelouch enough time to get to his planned location. When he did get though he was slightly relived as the Lancelot didn't look like it had been fully repaired. One of the MVS's was missing and his left Blaze Luminous appeared to be in the middle of repairs, along with various sections of his armour being factory grey with other parts missing completely.
The two Knightmares stood there for a moment, both at either end of the street, before the Lancelot lent forward and started sprinting at Lelouch's Knightmare. Lelouch raised both his arms and open fire with all his guns, slowly taken steps back as he did so, hoping to maintain some distance from the Lancelot for as long as he could.
The Lancelot quickly dodged to the side, avoiding Lelouch's first salvo, before leaping up and using a single Slash Harken to pull himself over the rain of bullets that was tracking towards him and to the other side of the street. The Lancelot continued to duck and dodge over the street, inexorably making its way closer and closer to Lelouch, who continued to empty his guns towards it.
"Oh, this just isn't fair," Lelouch muttered, checking his ammunition levels and finding them getting worrying low, continuing into the radio "Q-1, Hurry up!"
He took another step back, just as the Lancelot reached him and unsheathed its single Maser Vibration Sword. It lunged forward, Lelouch's weapons finally running dry and ceasing to fire, and swung the MVS in a smooth arc from under his left arm, through his Factsphere and down through his right shoulder.
"Ah, come on!" Lelouch shouted angrily as both of his Knightmare's arms fell to the ground and the Lancelot drew the sword back in preparation for another swing.
Fortunately for Lelouch he was saved from being stabbed by the MVS by Kallen's arrival, both of her Slash Harkens anchoring themselves to either side of the Lancelot causing her to be reeled into the Lancelot at terminal velocity. Its newly repaired legs resisted for a moment before it went crashing to the ground, Kallen's Knightmare quickly moving off of the Lancelot and spraying it with a short burst from her rifle.
"You're late," Lelouch said sourly, spearing his fallen arms with his Slash Harkens and resolving to reattach them later, "Let's just get to Location Two," He continued, cutting off her response.
- E.P - E.P -
Location Two turned out to be a nearby warehouse, one that had been abandoned during the fighting for the ghetto. Orange's cockpit was jammed up against the wall, the muffled shouts coming from it showing that he was unable to get out. Both Lelouch's and Kallen's Knightmares stopped in the middle of the warehouse, Lelouch jumping out of his and inspecting the arms that had been dragged behind his Knightmare, while Kallen moved the cockpit and aimed her rifle at it.
"Come out, Jeremiah Gottwald," Lelouch said, his mask changing it to the mechanical voice of Zero, "I wish to speak with you."
A few moments passed before Jeremiah came out form the cockpit, looking a little roughed up from Kallens heavy handling, and stood before the masked man. Jeremiah cast a wary glance at the red Knightmare but turned and glared at Zero then opened his mouth and spoke,
"So," Jeremiah started, "You are the Terrorists who murdered my men. I don't know what you want with me, but my loyalty to the Royal Family is absolute!"
"Oh?" Zero replied, pleased that the conversation was already moving in the direction he wanted to, "Then why are you here, in Japan, rather than in the Britannian Homeland, where you could serve them directly? Could it be that you are loyal more to Clovis than any other?"
"My loyalty lies with the Vi Britannia's!" Jeremiah shouted, taken a threatening step forward before stopping when Kallen raised her rifle in his direction, "I would serve them more than any other member, and I shall avenge their memory!"
"But even between the Vi Britannia's," Zero continued, ignoring Jeremiah's raised voice and sweeping his hands open, as if weighing two choices, "Would you choose Marianne, who is dead, or her children, who are alive?"
"Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally?" Jeremiah reared back as if struck, "They're alive?"
"Which would you choose?" Zero persisted.
"I would choose the Prince and Princess," Jeremiah replied, "I must atone for my failures towards them!"
"Good," Zero stated, before extending a hand towards Jeremiah, "Then join me, and you shall see them again..."
Jeremiah paused a moment, then reached out and took Zero's hand. Underneath his mask, Lelouch smiled.
- E.P - E.P –
Clovis's cabinet stared at horror at the video that had been delivered to them that was now playing upon the screen before them. In it the temporary Governor Jeremiah Gottwald was shown on his knees, a masked woman behind him holding a pistol to his head, while an elaborated dressed and masked Terrorist calling himself Zero had given them a list of demands in return for the Governors safety.
"Release the Elevens we have prisoner!" One of them snapped, "We can't afford to have to pay for the Governors return!"
"Not when we have Viceroy Clovis's art exhibition to fund!" Another added, "Must we rescue the Governor?"
"We can't allow a Noble to be harmed!" Someone interjected.
"Besides, what use are the prisoners?" A third began, "They were a minor nuisance at the worst, if this ... Zero ... wants them, his welcome to have them!"
"Right," Came a fourth voice, "Now, on to more important matters. The arrival ceremony for Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia Li Britannia, have the correct decorations arrived?"