Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I'm German, not Japanese, so I can't own Code Geass. I'd take it given half a chance, but we all know that will never happen.


Lelouch drove the Sutherland into an abandoned building where he silently listened to the communications of the Britannian soldiers. He learned that another train filled with Sutherlands would arrive soon. He snorted.

"Now that is just excessive use of force. But maybe I can use this to my advantage." He grabbed the communicator and found a note with their frequencies glued to the back of it. With all their frequencies. What kind of amateurs did that? What if the military had found this? Lelouch was getting worried if it was wise to leave his fate in the hands of people who made such obvious mistakes. Then he saw a one-armed Glasgow being chased by two Sutherlands. The pilot proved to be incredibly skilled in his escape, though it was clear he wouldn't make it without help. V.V. spotted him as well.

"Well, whoever is piloting that thing is certainly much better than you. Your mother would turn in her grave if she saw how you drive this Knightmare." He was referring to a little accident that occurred on the way to their observation point and had left a major dent in the left arm.

"This is the first time I've been in a pilot seat of this type of Knightmare, so give me a break. The Ganymede's controls were completely different. Nobody starts perfect." Then he noticed the train with the Sutherlands coming towards them. He looked at the note. He figured KMF meant it was the frequency of the Glasgow, Lelouch somehow doubted they had more than one Knightmare. He put in the frequency that was written and made contact. "The west entrance." There was a surprised sound on the other side. "Use the west entrance and get on the tracks."

"Who is this? How did you get this frequency?" A girl's voice. Probably the one he had seen in the truck. Lelouch was getting annoyed, even though it was only natural to distrust a strangers voice.

"That doesn't matter. If you want to win, you're gonna have to trust me." There was a short silence, then two words rang through the speaker, filled with both hope and doubt.

"To win?" Lelouch could see the Glasgow turn and jump on the tracks. Fortunately, it headed towards the train. He tuned on a different frequency and told the other rebels to get their asses to their location, though he used more polite words to phrase it. He turned the frequency back to the Glasgow's and was able to hear the girl's voice. Where did he know her from? "Okay, I'm on, now what?" Lelouch smiled.

"Since you've trusted me, you're gonna win. Jump on the train!" The Glasgow jumped and one of the Sutherlands grabbed the train and slowed it down to the point of stopping. Perfect. The other one tried to jump on the train, but Lelouch shot it down with his Slash-Harkens. V.V. whistled.

"Your aim is a lot better than your driving skills."

"Can it, will you." Lelouch grunted. He could hear another faintly familiar voice voice from the radio, demanding identification. Why did it seem like he either somehow knew everyone he met today or they knew him? Lelouch aimed the machine gun at the Sutherland and fired. He managed to hit the Landspinners and it went to its knees. It raised its own gun towards him, but the Glasgow dashed at it and the pilot ejected. Lelouch took the chance to relocate. When the girl thanked him, he was long gone. The other terrorists arrived. He could see them, but they couldn't see him. He tried a different frequency.

"Are you the leader?" He asked. He could see a man with brown hair now spoke in his communicator.

"Yes, I am." At least from afar, the man didn't look too competent, but not like an idiot either. He probably wouldn't be a burden, and who knew, he just might be useful. Lelouch had learned to never completely trust a first impression.

"Well then, I present to you the cargo in that train. They're tools for your victory." Now it was time to use the short break to plan the next move.

-0-

Kallen stared wide eyed at the contents of the train. It was filled with Sutherlands! Just who was that voice that it could give such presents? Then his voice filled her cockpit.

"Woman in the Glasgow." She was pulled out of her thoughts and hastily replied.

"Yes?" She looked at the others, who were still staring at the machines in awe.

"Stay were you are, you're unit is gonna run decoy." Ohgi still had Kallen's frequency tuned in his communicator, so he heard what the man had said.

"Can't you tell us who you are? At least your name...?" The reply came instantly and without a moments hesitation.

"I can't do that, what if these signals are being intercepted?" He did have a point and if they really were traced, they could get trouble. They had called each other by their names, so even if they got out of here, the military could locate them. Ohgi tried to calm himself with the thought that Britannia most likely didn't see a need to spy on them, since they didn't expect a challenge here anyway. The man said something, but this was obviously directed at Kallen. "How much operation time is left in your battery?"

Kallen checked. "About fifteen minutes worth left."

"Then change it." While she did, the mysterious voice started to give them all code names. She was Q1. It was safer than just using their real names and everyone memorized theirs, though Tamaki made another fuss.

Eventually, Kallen couldn't take it any more. "Would you shut up, Tamaki? It's your fault we're here in the first place!" Apparently, Tamaki had no reply for this harsh truth and Kallen drove the ordered route, a smile of satisfaction on her face.

Lelouch raised a brow. This guy had caused the mess they were in? V.V. seemed to have similar thoughts. "I know his type. They're all talk with nothing to back it up. I'm willing to bet he will be one of the first to go down."

Lelouch nodded. "I agree, but now let's test out if the others can make up for him."

Then they heard the bigmouth speak. "Are you sure about this, what if this is a trap?"

V.V. looked at Lelouch. "Now that's just insulting."

Lelouch couldn't help but agree and was about to send a reply, when he heard someone else speak. It was the brown haired man.

"The other side has total advantage, they don't need to set a trap." Lelouch smiled. This man might be more competent than he originally figured. Also, unlike many other people Lelouch knew, he seemed to have no problem to pass on leadership. Now he would see if the man could take orders as well.

"If Q1 is on schedule, enemy troops should arrive in forty-three seconds. Shoot them through the wall."

"What?" The idiot with the short red hair shouted "No way that'll work!"

Ohgi was getting tired of Tamaki's complaining and interrupted him. "Everyone, double-check your weapons."

"This is crazy!" Tamaki shouted, but he obeyed. Ohgi counted the seconds.

"Three, two, one, fire!" And they shot the three Sutherlands behind the wall, and even though the pilots ejected, this was a good start and proved the voice on the radio was more than capable.

-0-

Clovis felt utterly disgusted. The screams could be clearly heard all the way to the Command center, and while Bartley and his advisers seemed to see it as a wonderful melody, to Clovis every scream felt like another tragedy he could have prevented, a desperate accusation that he could not deny. He remembered Lelouch had once asked him a question."Who do you think is more guilty? The ones who do something or the ones who let it happen?" To this day, Clovis had found no answer to that question, but he now realized that both were carrying a great burden of guilt, or at least they should be. When he looked at his advisers, he felt like they were defiling his siblings memory and the very dignity of humanity with their sadistic glee. Then something interrupted his misery and Bartley's joy. Three Sutherlands vanished from the screen, destroyed while following that single Glasgow that was still resisting the army. And suddenly the entire tide of the battle turned. More and more of their units were wiped out. Clovis silently wished them luck and smiled at his advisers distressed faces. He decided to put more pressure on Bartley, hoping it would lead the man to make more errors that would eventually allow Clovis to call off this massacre.

"This failure is unacceptable!" He shouted and all advisers winced.

"F-Forgive me." Bartley stammered. He turned to the plans and ordered reinforcements from the encirclement and close the gaps with the units guarding the base. Clovis grinned. There was the first mistake.

-0-

Jeremiah Gottwald was in a bad mood. Those terrorists had fooled him and now he was forced to walk back to Headquarters. He noticed a group of Sutherlands leaving the encirclement to charge into the town.

"Who ordered them to break formation?" He wondered. Something must have gone terribly wrong.

-0-

Everything was going wonderfully right. They were annihilating the enemy's forces with no losses so far. But now it was time to wait for a reaction.

"Now, the enemy has twelve options. Their move."

"You're treating this like a game of chess?" V.V. wondered. Lelouch nodded.

"It is, after all, the game of kings. It was also designed to simulate war." V.V. nodded.

"That's true, but real combat has a few things chess does not. You'll find out what I mean in time."

Lelouch raised a brow. True, things tended to get out of control on a battlefield, but what could go wrong here? As long as he was careful, there shouldn't be any problems.

-0-

Clovis saw that the one dot symbolizing the enemy unit had moved to the center of the map. Bartley and the others saw this as the perfect chance to surround and obliterate the enemy, but Clovis had the feeling something was wrong.

He suddenly remembered the day he and Cornelia had played a game of chess against Lelouch at the same time. His brother had gotten two chess boards and played against them with Nunnally and Euphemia watching. Both he and Cornelia had managed to force Lelouch's king into the middle of the board, from where they thought they could easily trap it, but then Lelouch had turned everything around. He checkmated Clovis by using a path to his king the boy had opened in an attempt to trap Lelouch. Cornelia had been careful not to open such a path, but Lelouch had started a counter-offensive that had left her with only her king and two pawns. Lelouch explained that he had lured her into a trap because she paid too much attention to the king and not enough to the other figures.

Clovis didn't know which strategy would be used, but he was completely certain it was a trap.

'Let's see if I'm right.' he thought to himself.

-0-

"Well this is a more stupid move than I've expected." Lelouch muttered.

V.V. agreed. "Only an idiot would use all his forces to charge into a situation where he doesn't know what could await him. Well, looks like this is the second time the military's idiocy has helped us."

Lelouch smiled. So the boy had noticed the royal guards blunder as well. No, V.V. had said he didn't age, so he was most likely much older than he looked. Then Lelouch gave the terrorists the signal and they collapsed the tunnels, destroying most of Britannia's units. Lelouch laughed out loud.

-0-

When Suzaku woke up, there were white haired man and a young woman beside him.

"Too bad." The man called. Suzaku wondered why the man shouted. He was injured, not deaf. "Looks like you missed a chance to go to heaven, private Kururugi." Suzaku didn't think that was funny. Then he saw his watch. The glass was cracked. The man noticed Suzaku's glances and held up the watch. "You're lucky this was under your protective suit, because that's what deflected the bullet." The woman smiled at Suzaku.

"Is it a keepsake?" Suzaku nodded and grabbed it.

"Yes, a very important one." He looked at the pocket watch. This was a reminder of what he had done. Then the man started to talk again.

"You Elevens believe that gods live inside of everything, even objects, right?" Then the woman beside him interrupted him in an unnervingly cheerful tone.

"Oh Lloyd, what did we discuss?" The man seemed a bit nervous and changed the topic.

"Anyway, enough of that. Say, if you had the chance to pilot a one-of a-kind Knightmare, what would you do?" Suzaku didn't believe his ears.

"But there's no way an Eleven would be allowed to..." The man interrupted him.

"Yes yes," He said in a I-don't-give-a-shit kind of tone "but supposing you could?" Suzaku nodded. "Wonderful!" the man shouted. The woman smiled at him.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves yet, I'm Cecile, and this big child here is Lloyd."

"Yes yes, nice to meet you." Lloyd stated "Can we now get him to the Lancelot?" Cecile seemed a bit annoyed.

"Lloyd, maybe we should have another talk about how we act towards others?" Loyd's face fell. He turned towards Suzaku.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Lloyd Asplund and I develop Knightmare Frames, like the one we've chosen you to pilot. Come with me, I'll show you." He looked at Cecile, who nodded in approval, and sighed in relief.

They walked to the transporter and even though it was still hooded, the wind gave Suzaku a few peaks at the new Knightmare he was about to pilot. He stared in awe, which caused Lloyd to grin.

"Impressive, right? Once you've entered this, your world will change forever."

"Whether you want it to or not." Cecile added. Lloyd clapped his hands.

"Now all that's left to do is get the permission to use it." A loud noise was coming from Shinjuku and the ground shook slightly. Lloyd grinned. "Something tells me we won't have any problems to get that permit." he cheered and seemed like a little kid wanting to try out the newest toy.

-0-

Clovis had been right. It had been a brilliant trap and his advisers fell for it hook, line and sinker. Their military force was practically non-existent. Bartley left, muttering some excuse about having to look after one of his projects. Like Clovis didn't know his little project was the reason they were here in the first place. But as long as he was gone, Clovis wasn't complaining. After he had left, a monitor came to life and Lloyd requested the usage of his newest toy. Clovis was worried. The man was goofy and slightly insane in Clovis opinion, but he created first-rate products. If this new unit was released, it might turn the tide of the battle again. But he couldn't reject this offer now without sounding suspicious. Also, whoever was organizing this just might be better than Kyoshiro Tohdoh, so if he was as smart as Clovis believed, he would swiftly retreat and Britannia's army was depleted enough for him to order a withdrawal. But he'd have to wait a few minutes.

"Very well, send your toy out." Clovis called. Lloyd sighed.

"Your highness, please be so kind to call it Lancelot."

-0-

Lelouch was smiling. Everything was going great, until two of his units reported something about a white Knightmare and went static. Five other units went static afterwards. V.V. froze.

'A white Knightmare? It can't be! Lloyd Asplund got his toy running and someone with the skill to pilot it? Have I really been cut off from the information network for only ten days, or maybe it's been ten weeks already? But if this really is the Lancelot...' He turned to Lelouch.

"We have to get out of here, they've sent seventh generation against us. That thing can run laps around Sutherlands and if the pilot is as skilled as I think, he'll wipe us out if we don't retreat!"

Lelouch looked at him. Then he nodded. "Alright, but you'll tell me how you know all this later. This should be enough to fulfill my goal." This caught V.V.'s attention. The entire battle had been a distraction? Lelouch was speaking into the communicator. "They've sent a white Knightmare after us that is unusually powerful. I'd advise you not to challenge it directly. Shit!" That last part was referring to the white and golden Knightmare that had appeared over his head and started to attack. Lelouch thought he was finished, when the one-armed Glasgow appeared and distracted the white monster long enough for them to gain some distance.

"Now we're even!" The girl called before she ejected to safety. The Knightmare followed them so Lelouch tried to shoot it. The white machine dodged, but suddenly spun around and caught a falling mother with her child. Lelouch and V.V. were surprised. This guy obviously hadn't noticed that his mission was to kill everyone.

"In the midst of battle he rescues someone? Very well, I'll concede you the tactical victory here." Lelouch muttered as he turned the Knightmare around and ejected. Lelouch now understood what V.V. had meant. With chess, you had rules and could calculate all moves. In real life, unpredictable things happened and the rules were broken. He would have to remember that the most vital element in combat was the human one. But now it was time to have a chat with his brother.

-0-

Clovis had thrown his two remaining advisers out to have some private time. His true plan was to call off the bloodbath, but it was only after he had thrown them out he realized his plan had a weakness: He didn't know how to operate the communications. He banged his fist against the console in frustration. Now his only hope was that someone who knew how to work this thing came in, allowed him to call this off, and not try to kill him if possible. But while he returned to his seat, he he couldn't help thinking about that unknown strategist. Those tactics had been so familiar, but it was impossible. The dead stayed dead. Suddenly, two gunshots echoed from behind the door. Then it opened and and a man in a soldier's uniform entered, accompanied by a young boy with unusually long, blond hair. Behind them Clovis could see the bodies of his advisers with holes in their foreheads. They didn't even had the chance to run away. The lights were dimmed, so Clovis couldn't see any faces.

"Were you the one who led the rebels?" He asked. The man nodded. "I assume you want me to call off this bloodbath?" Lelouch was surprised when he heard disgust in his brother's voice. He nodded again.

"It would be a start." Clovis smiled. But that man's voice sounded so familiar. Well, not really the voice, but rather something in it. Lelouch had always sounded like that when he checkmated Clovis or won a bet. If he hadn't known better, he would have sworn... He shook his head to get it clear and pointed at the console.

"I had the same idea already, but then I've noticed I don't know how to work the stupid thing." The boy walked to the console and pressed a few buttons. He nodded at Clovis, who straitened up.

"To all Britannian soldiers, cease fire at once! I, Clovis, third prince of the empire, command you! All survivors are to be treated equally and without prejudges. I repeat Cease fire at once, I shall allow no further fighting!" The boy pressed another button.

"That was an impressive speech, your highness." The kid mocked. Clovis looked at him.

"Should I call a babysitter for you while the adults talk?" The boy ground his teeth, but remained silent. Clovis turned to the man. "And what do we do now? Perhaps a nice game of chess? You seem like the type of person that's good at it." The man chuckled.

"That has a familiar ring to it. The two of us used to play chess together as boys at the Aries Villa, don't you remember? Of course, I'd always win." Clovis could only think of one person who matched that description, but that wasn't possible, was it?

"Who are you?" The man pulled of his helmet and stepped into the light. Clovis gasped.

"Son of the late consort Marianne, eleventh prince of the empire and seventeenth in line to the throne, Lelouch vi Britannia. I have returned, brother. And I've come to change everything."


Chapter 3 is done, or as Loyd would phrase it: We're done for today, don't do any more work, hip-hip-hooray! I'm interested in everyone's opinion, my most important questions being: How am I doing? What can I do better? Are my ideas any good? How did you like this chapter and my story in general? AND: What do you think will happen next?

By the way, I have decided on one of my infamous whims, that I will update new chapters only when I can add one for both my stories, so it might take a little longer to update. Although from what I have seen on this site, I update relatively fast.

To 2stupid: Thanks for the complement, a English dictionary is always open when I write, since I try to give my readers a good story that won't be dragged down by miserable grammar. Am I succeeding? I'll try to look at the Japanese version, they usually sound best anyway. You wouldn't believe what German dub has done to some really great animes.

Personally, I find Code Geass one of the most difficult stories to write fanfics about, there's so much scheming and planning. I have to change a few details that are giving me headaches, here an example: V.V. can't exactly double Lelouch, can he?

Anyway, I see reviews as great help as they show support. I am fine with criticism, as long as it isn't just insults. As a beginner, I actually expect that I'll screw up somewhere and hope that I will learn from those mistakes. So

Please Review