A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and here is the next chapter.

I had some trouble with the first bit below, but I won't stall and save it for the end of the chapter.

Enjoy…


Chapter 4

Christmas Shopping

The day following the infamous Zero's heist of twenty Alexander units, most of which had their latest in artificial intelligence pilot modules was also profoundly concerning combined with the fact could be removed for an average pilot to use the Knightmare Frame. The AI drone project was meant to be top secret, and with over a dozen in questionable hands, many within the wZERO were understandably worried.

Meeting in a conference room within the main keep the newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Leila Malcal was seated at a round table with Anna, Claus, and Oscar discussing yesterday's events and going over overhauling their security protocols to prevent a repeat of such an incident.

Silently, everyone agreed on the only good thing to come out of yesterday's fiasco was that Pierre Anou had been removed as their commanding who was the root cause for many of the lapses in security among other problems. No one missed the corrupt, self-entitled incompetent fool, or did anyone shed a tear when he was executed.

"What a huge mess this turned into," Claus commented before dropping the morning newspaper onto the table.

"The biggest theft of Knightmare Frames in the history of the E.U. military now followed by the biggest scandal," Leila noted with some mild annoyance.

Earlier that same morning newspapers and media outlets had received information exposing a vast web of corruption that involved not only former Commander Pierre Anou but the recently dead industrialist Hugo Strandberg and others who included members of the representatives of more prominent members of the council of forty, otherwise called the Central Hemicycle. The reveal of such corruption involved in the selling of weapons onto the Black Market, including military secrets that have fallen into the hands of the Britannia and Euro-Britannia…the list goes on.

As a result, the public backlash was…ugly, to put it mildly.

The military was forced to clean house with a dozen representatives who either resigned or were arrested with General Smilas alongside the Prime Minister vowing to ensure such corruption will not be allowed to take root once again.

"I wasn't surprised by the corruption among the council and representatives, but I never would've dreamed it was this bad," Oscar commented while using one hand to massage his right temple.

As much as some wanted to deny corruption in their government, it was merely impossible for kind of "clean" government to exist without having some corruption in one form or another. It was an unfortunate truth, but that was simply something that was to expected, but how much corruption and how it affected the government varied from country and choice of government either as a democracy or a monarchy.

But the level of corruption exposed was nothing short of distributing.

"It set off quite a shockwave," Claus said before taking a drink from his flask much to Oscar's annoyance. "But on the bright side, General Smilas got us a blank check so we can beef up security and replace those Alexander units we lost."

Leila sighed, "Lieutenant Colonel Warwick, could please not be so casual about yesterday's events?"

"Forgive me," Claus replied, "no offense was intended, but we should be glad no one was killed."

"I agree, but our concern should be ensuring this never happens again," Leila said sternly because was among those caught up in it.

She had observed Lieutenant Hyuga yesterday following a pair of female officers. Leila had happened upon the scene purely by chance after seeking to distance herself from her loathsome superior after enduring a near hour of him belittling the Japanese pilots, including the newcomers.

Leila had inquired of Lieutenant Hyuga upon seeing him following those women.

"They have been acting suspiciously around the base."

According to what Akito told her it seemed the pair claimed they were inspectors conducting a surprise investigation of the base. Such things were not unusual, but after silently observing them from afar Leila did find the movements suspicious joining Akito in tailing them.

It led up to being ambushed by the pair before being hit by a tranquilizer dart fired by a third member of their group.

"They knew Lieutenant Hyuga, and I were coming, and they didn't seem aware of us as kept our distance," Leila mused.

"Probably because they had someone providing off-site assistance if that satellite transmitter, or what's left of one, we found in that blown up car. Judging from the looks of it that thing wasn't cheap," Claus pointed out.

"When they planted that EMP bomb they must've created a backdoor into our systems whoever was aiding them," Oscar noted before adding. "Then the EMP's detonation covered their tracks and crippled our ability to find out where they when should we have regained control."

"This was a daring and well-orchestrated plan," Leila noted unable to deny how extensive planned out this heist was. "Yet they clearly had remote access to our security before they arrived, so someone helped them."

Leila rules out her former commander because as much of a bastard and incompetent fool he was she highly doubted he would've helped this Zero with such a heist.

"This Zero had someone provide critical details about our headquarters and presumably allowed them remote access which they used to seize our security systems," Leila noted before glancing to Claus for a moment.

Claus felt no reason to be concerned because the EMP charge wiped out any traces of the access point he made for Zero's hacker allowing them outside access to gain control of their security ensuring Zero and his accomplices could access the deepest areas of the castle.

"Who could've done that?" Oscar asked before the door opened, revealing General Smilas.

"Apologies if I am interrupting your meeting," Gene Smilas said apologizing to the group.

"Oh," Leila said before she and the others were about to salute the General until he stopped them with a hand gesture.

"At ease, officially, I am not here." Gene Smilas said before explaining. "If it's not an inconvenience, I would like to talk to Lieutenant Colonels Malcal, Warwick and Captain Clément in private?"

Leila quickly read everyone's to see if anyone objected, but no one did leading to Oscar politely excused himself from the room. Once he was gone, and doors behind him closed, Gene took the former's seat at the table.

"I am sorry for arriving unannounced again considering yesterday's events, but there is a matter that we must discuss and what is said here cannot be mentioned outside of this room," General Smilas said with a serious tone.

"Is this regarding yesterday's theft?"

The general nodded his head.

"It is and a related matter."

"What do you mean?"

"Hugo Strandberg," Gene began, "we had our eye on him for some time. Unfortunately, he had bought out most of the courts and investigators we had tried to use despite our certainty that he was behind many weapons and military equipment along with classified information passing onto the black market. Former Commander Anou had a rather friendly relationship with the industrialist as well."

"He was killed last month, wasn't he?" Claus asked.

"He was, although it took a day or two before they discovered his body in his private vault, which had a passageway connected to a warehouse stockpiled with enough weapons and supplies to arm a small army. All of which we have since confirmed was originally equipment from our military," Gene Smilas said making no effort to hide his disgust.

Leila began to suspect something prompting her to ask, "are you saying the ones behind Mr. Strandberg's death are the same ones who stole twenty of our Alexander units?"

"Indeed, because Pierre Anou had been selling wZERO's secrets to him along with any intact corpses of the Japanese pilots who die to sell off their organs," General Smilas answered leading to an uneasy silence in the room.

"But…he couldn't have sold enough of our secrets for this Zero to plan such a heist?"

"You're right he didn't," General Smilas said before admitting, "because I told Zero everything he needed to know about the castle and other details useful to him."

There just stunned silence for a moment until Leila spoke, her voice a mixture of shock and anger.

"WHY!"

"Because former Commander Anou and Mr. Strandberg were an infection weakening our country, so regrettably extreme measures had to be taken. As it is, we are fighting a losing war against Britannia with the politicians more concerned about their own approval ratings than the war itself, and simply withdrawing when the risk of casualties is too high is merely slowly backing us into a corner." General Smilas explained before elaborating further, "Word had reached me that Zero intends to topple Britannia itself by first liberating Japan from its grasp and although the young man is capable I wasn't so sure until he was tested."

"Ah," Claus said, realizing what the general was implying, "the theft of the Alexanders units was a test to determine if he could truly pull off what he intends?"

"Yes, and with it, he has the unofficial support of the military, and we have a perfect cover story to explain Zero's possession of the Alexander units enabling us to deny our support of him to Britannia or anyone else."

"Let me make sure I understand this General," Leila said calming down, but she was understandably upset. "You gave this man, Zero, information about our headquarters and asked him to steal our Alexanders?"

"Yes, and I suggested in the notes I provided him that yesterday was an ideal time to conduct the heist because of your plan to conduct a trial run with the drone controlled Alexanders," Gene Smilas answered. "However the purpose of the heist was to test Zero could potentially make good on his promise he could liberate Japan. And after his performance yesterday, I believe he could in time."

Leila was still in shock and a bit upset, but Claus was calm about the whole affair leading him to question.

"If I may ask General, why tell us this?"

"Because part of our agreement is that Zero will send us the Alexander units' combat data so that the wZERO can use the data to improve the next line of Alexanders. I am hoping their performance in Japan will push the higher-ups to consider mass producing them to replace our current machines."

"That's a risky gamble," Claus replied, "I suppose the war is going that poorly to make such a risk."

Smilas sighed, "worse than you can imagine. We are holding the line on some fronts, but others are slowly crumbling due to a combination of exhaustion and almost no morale to fight."

"I see," Leila as her anger subsided, "but what of the wZERO?"

"Leila you know as well as I do the committee will not provide the resources you want unless the action would boost their approval ratings. Hence why I thought drastic steps were necessary," Smilas answered, followed by a hand gesture.

"Then the leak to the news media was handy work then?"

General Smilas said nothing, but his silence was enough of an answer.

"Why tell us," Leila asked.

"Because I am looking for volunteers to send to Japan to join Zero," General Smilas answered. "And considering part of our arrangement is to ensure the Alexander's combat data is passed to us I wanted to ask if Captain Clément could train some of these volunteers how to extra and how she would prefer any performance observation reports."

"Have you found anyone?" Leila asked while Anna was surprised by the request.

"Not yet, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since this will see whoever goes heading for Area 11."

"But," Anna began, "we can't just train anyone to do what would be required of them when it comes to the Alexander. I'll have to consult Professor Randle about this since the Alexander units have the experimental Brain Raid installed alongside other support systems to boost a pilot."

"I know it's a tall order, but please do what you can, Captain Clément." General Smilas said before rising from his seat. "I'll have to return to Paris, but I'll let you know if I find any willing volunteers."

Once the General was gone Leila buried her face in her hands seemingly wanting to vent her frustration, but knew she couldn't.

"I really doubt he'll find any good volunteers, let alone any skilled to work with the Alexander, and it's experimental systems." Claus pointed out before taking a sip from his flask.

Dropping her hands to her sides, Leila began speaking, "I have to agree."

"Training someone to inspect, study and properly record the data among other tasks will not be possible to train in a short time," Anna said as she was using her hands to massage her temples.

"Yes, I know, but talk to Professor Randle and see what she thinks," Leila asked.

"I doubt it will go any better."


Around the same time, Lelouch was sitting in one of the cabins set aside for officers with a laptop before him.

The cargo ship, the Kobayashi Maru, was sailing full speed ahead to the city of Mumbai, India. Yukiya was expected to rendezvous with him there given that he would arrive in the city ahead of them while Lelouch and the others would reach it within the next five to four days. Lelouch wasn't alone inside the cabin, because sitting in a chair next to him was Ayane with an open notebook next to her.

Ayane was with her usual tan and brown jacket, instead opting to wear only tan shorts and her typical blue shirt with its wide collar.

"Those pieces of art and jewelry we took sold for much more than I expected," Lelouch said reviewing the sales of the items they stole from Hugo Strandberg's vault. "I was certainly not qualified to appraise those pieces, but I wasn't expecting they would sell this well."

"Neither did we, but we found some very generous buyers who really wanted them, so we just auctioned them off to the highest bidder," Ayane explained.

Lelouch smiled at the results, "well done Ayane."

"Thank you," Ayane replied with a smile before pointing to Lelouch's computer screen gesturing for him to scroll down. "And this is everything we got from Strandberg's bank accounts, both private and hidden in off-shore accounts in the Chinese Federation. We can thank Yukiya for his efforts for that one."

"I know," Lelouch replied as his eyes went over the total amount of money they had now combined with everything Lelouch had earned on those jobs he did and those did with Marirrosa and later Ryo's group.

"I have never seen that many zeroes."

Hugo Strandberg had billions hidden within the accounts Yukiya had stripped clean and now combined with Lelouch and group's total earnings on top of the money they made selling those pieces of art and jewelry. The amount of money they had was staggering, to say the least, but most importantly, it was more than enough to begin assembling what Lelouch needed for his rebellion against Britannia.

"Neither have I, but without any of you, I couldn't have amassed such a fortune."

"Most of us would've been dead without you," Ayane complimented blushing, but Lelouch didn't see it.

"Maybe, but don't sell yourselves short you are all a hardened bunch," Lelouch said before turning to Ayane. "And you are the best with numbers I have ever seen."

Lelouch had found that Ayane was surprisingly gifted with not only numbers but was a natural when it came to both math and finances. So much so that Lelouch entrusted her as the overseer of their finances and soon to include their budget as a resistance group.

"Its kinda embarrassing," Ayane was seemingly bashful at the compliment.

"It's a useful skill, so I wouldn't worry about it," Lelouch said before deciding to get the conversation back on topic. "Anyway, how is the moving of the weapons and supplies I ordered?"

"Wizard is overseeing their transport. They will be kept at warehouses located at the Port of Kanazawa, but he'll make sure they are transported to a safer location for us to pick up once we arrive in Japan to avoid suspicion."

"I see," Lelouch replied before thinking on the matter.

Wizard was the code name Oiaguro used when working as his Peace Mark alter-ego who even used an elaborate form of dress with a mask. As per his request, Lelouch didn't share Oiaguro's real name with Ryo and the others, something they were aware of and was accepting of that. Before undertaking the heist to steal the Alexanders, Lelouch and arranged with Oiaguro when they spoke via satellite phone about obtain RPI-13 Sutherland units for use as their primary Knightmare Frame.

The Alexanders were higher performance, but the limited number they had combined with the fact if they used them, it would put too much attention upon themselves too soon. Lelouch intended to use them as a trump card when it was more ideal to use them, but he planned on allowing Ayano, Ryo, and Marirrosa to use Alexander units while Lelouch himself would use the commander type after Neha and Kagari modify it to Lelouch's preferences and internalize the drone control system. Lelouch believes the drone control system's halo above the head of the machine was a potentially dangerous liability.

The rest would be saved should they need them, but a few of them would be dismantled for spare parts for repairs should they be required.

"When we arrive in Mumbai, we're going to purchase some firearms and obtain some additional equipment before we return, but the submarine will transport half of the Alexanders and the weapons. We'll head to Japan when the submarine returns," Lelouch explained.

The submarine was also a recent purchase shortly before the heist, and once they arrive in Mumbai, it should be ready for them to transport weapons and goods between India and Japan. Oiaguro had even secured a location the submarine could dock and unload its cargo at without detection.

"So that should be two weeks in Mumbai," Ayane said recalling how long the submarine would take to reach Japan, which was one week to Japan and one week for the return trip.

"Yes, but that should be plenty of time to see if General Smilas will fulfill his end of the bargain."

"Do you trust him?"

"No, which is why Lieutenant Colonel Warwick works for me now," Lelouch mentioned with a smile.

Even through Claus helped him gain remote access to the security systems of Castle Weisswolf the young man decided to purchase Claus's services as a spy who would keep Lelouch up to date on anything of interest happening within the United Republic of Europia. Including anything, he might hear from the Euro-Britannian Faction in exchange for being paid monthly for any useful information.

"If he happens to get wind about anything Smilas might plan against us we'll know about it first provided if he happens to hear about it," Lelouch pointed out with a smile.

Lelouch was doubtful Claus would learn anything of use from Euro-Britannia, a tributary-empire composed of descendants of European Nobility who had been driven out of their countries during the revolution era set off by the French Revolution fleeing to Britannia. However, Euro-Britannia was primarily occupied with its war with the E.U. since they successfully conquered Russia on Britannia's behalf, but should Japan be liberated from Britannia then there was a risk Euro-Britannia could join Britannia in attempting to retake it.

"Geez you are really extensive about this," Ayane complimented.

"I am, but now we need to compose a shopping list."

Suddenly a knock on the door interrupted them.

"It's me," Fukumi called from the other side of the door.

"Enter," Lelouch replied, prompting Fukumi to open the door.

Like Ayane; Fukumi was dressed in her preferred causal attire consisting of a pink-lace colored high-collar double-breasted coat with red buttons. Fukumi also wore black knee-length boots with white leggings.

"Sorry for interrupting Lelouch, but Neha and Kagari wanted to see you," Fukumi reported.

"I see," Lelouch said before brushing some of his hair away from his eyes. "I'll be right back, Ayane."

"Sure thing," Ayane said, but unaware to Lelouch Ayane appeared annoyed Lelouch had been called away.

"The more we can get done upon arriving in Mumbai the better off we should be," Lelouch said as he exited the cabin to follow Fukumi to the cargo hold where the engineers were waiting for him.


Later that evening, Anna was speaking with Sophie Randle about what General Smilas was expecting should he find volunteers for the mission to Japan to side with the very thief who stole twenty of their Alexander units.

As Anna expected, Sophie didn't take it well.

To emphasize this, Sophie slammed her hand on the top of her desk to vent her frustration over what was being asked because, like Anna, she knew that simply wasn't possible.

"What is the General thinking?!"

"I am sorry."

Placing one hand on her forehead, Sophie let out an exasperated sigh.

"It's not your fault," Sophie began, "first we lose twenty Alexanders on the eve of a test of the drone control system, and now we expected to train people who are going to be sent halfway across the world to work under the same person who stole them!"

"I understand, but in a way, the Alexanders will more combat in Area 11 compared to here," Anna pointed out, although it left Sophie exasperated she couldn't argue against her.

Despite being a special forces division possessing highly advanced Knightmare Frames, they were rarely utilized out of anything else except for suicide missions to help cover the retreat of E.U. soldiers, break open a path of retreat for them or act as decoys by landing behind enemy lines to engage them. Beyond that, the wZERO was looked down upon by the majority of the army despite the extreme risks and loses they have endured. Even worse the only pilots they could receive were Japanese pilots, and the problem with that was the fact that very few of them signed up and those few typically end up dead after a mission or two.

The only exception was Akito Hyuga, the only pilot they had who had managed to come back from every mission despite the odds.

"If only the higher-ups would allow us to have actual pilots our combat effectiveness as a unit would increase, and the boost in numbers would be useful," Sophie remarked.

Now it was Anna's turn to sigh, "but we know they won't."

"I know, and we both know a week or so of training isn't enough between the Alexander and the Brain Raid System."

The Brain Raid System was an experimental piece of technology designed to synchronize the brainwaves of the pilots between Alexander units to increase coordination between them. It was initially based upon an invention created by Joe Wise, Sophie, and her husband who volunteered to be the test subject, but tragically his mind couldn't handle the experiment leaving him in a coma connected to life support while in suspended animation until they could repair the damage.

"It's just not possible to train anyone in such a short amount of time," Sophie pointed out, "I would have to send Kate and Ferilli to Japan, but I could be sending them to a death sentence if Britannia captures them."

"The same is true for me since Hilda and Chloe would have to go to not only collect the data from the Alexanders, but there is the fact Zero might try to make use of the drone control system?"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Not really, but somehow, I can't imagine he would ignore the possibilities such a system could provide him."

"I suppose, but we still have a problem."

Unaware to the two; their conversation was being eavesdropped upon by someone outside Sophie's office.


Three days later the Kobayashi Maru arrived at the city of Mumbai, and once the ship had docked at the warehouse district, Lelouch was already stepping off the boat wearing casual clothing consisting of black pants a white dress shirt and large black sunglasses. Accompanying him was Ayane, Ryo, and Fukumi, but waiting for them at the bottom of the boarding ramp was a smiling Yukiya.

"Well, look who showed up to meet us!" Ryo said glad to be reunited with his friend as the two shook hands.

"I hope you guys enjoyed your time on that cargo ship I enjoyed every moment of the five-star hotel I got to stay at and the first-class accommodations on the plane ride here!"

Ryo merely laughed it off, "oh come you deserved because without you Lelouch, Ayano, and Marirrosa wouldn't have made it."

It was Yukiya's turn to laugh, "no kidding, I was sweating bullets throughout the whole time they were in that castle."

"Good job, Yukiya, but you brought all of the technical data on the Alexander?"

"Of course I did," Yukiya said, holding up the suitcase containing the hard drive the data was stored in. "I'll give it to those engineers you got working for us."

"I'll leave you to it," Lelouch said before turning to Ryo, "you and Fukumi can meet up with us later. Here is the information for the rental I arranged for us to use."

Ryo accepted the printed receipt, "sure we'll meet you guys at the tailor."

"Sorry, I can't stay, but no rest for the wicked as they say."

Yukiya merely brushed it off.

"No, worries, we got a lot to do."

Leaving Ryo and Fukumi behind; Lelouch and Ayane were walking through the busy city streets of Mumbai. The crowded city was a top-rated tourist destination, and it was also the most prominent trading port within the Militarized Zone of India. However; it was also home to one of the most notorious and dangerous criminals possessing a vast seedy underbelly.

If you wanted to hide, then Mumbai was among the best places in the world where that was possible.

Furthermore, Mumbai's underworld and most of the city itself was under the influence of Peace Mark having one of their headquarters within the city where they would dispatch mercenaries and transport funding and supplies to various anti-Britannian groups around the world. Their influence and presence within Mumbai were strong enough that those affiliated with the organization would be granted access to unique services and market opportunities because Mumbai was home to many black market traders who conduct most of their business here.

Members of the Peace Mark organization, or at least those like Lelouch who acted as mercenaries carrying out missions. They could obtain what they need and whatever services those affiliated with the organization where privacy and strict confidentiality was guaranteed, because if any of those who provided services and equipment to Peace Mark members revealed any details about their clients, then they would be swiftly assassinated.

We shall protect your secrets if you protect ours.

That was their promise to those who worked with the organization either as a resistance group connected them or carried out mercenary work.

"Is this the place," Ayane asked with a notebook tucked under her right arm.

"It is," Lelouch answered as he and Ayane arrived at a tailor shop in downtown Mumbai of its old district consisting of various buildings constructed decades ago and were built up among one another left to some state of disrepair while the newer area consisted of newly created buildings and skyscrapers towering over the old district of Mumbai.

Lelouch opened the door before letting Ayane walk in first as an act of courtesy before they were quickly greeted by a local man wearing white and red robes trimmed with gold while around him his small shop had everything one would need to create clothing out of the rolls of different color fabric and string dotting his workshop. On the other hand, the shop's interior seemed to be rather cramped through, but there was a reason Lelouch and Ayane came to this man.

"Ah Mr. Lamperouge welcome back," Arjun, the tailor and shop owner greeted eagerly shaking the young man's hand. "It's been ages since I saw you."

"Indeed it has," Lelouch replied, returning the greeting, "I was quite busy in the E.U. for a lot longer than I expected."

"So it would seem since I heard your time there was very productive," Arjun commented before Lelouch presented him with a card bearing a harp with what appeared to be dragon's head on top of it, the emblem of the Peace Mark Organization.

"Are my orders finished?"

"Yes, they are," Arjun confirmed before slipping behind his counter to push a button hidden below his cash register causing the curtains to be drawn over the windows and a blind to fall over the door while locking it.

Once any means for anyone on the outside to look inside the store was locked a hidden panel in the floor slid back revealing a staircase leading underground.

Following Arjun, Lelouch with Ayane in awe over what she was seeing. Lelouch had told her that as a terrorist dispatch and support organization who aided any anti-Britannian resistance groups across the world the organization would naturally have connections to various suppliers in weapons, supplies and more scattered around the world. However, Mumbai was among the few places, helped by the fact the city was home to one of the biggest hubs for the international black market, where Peace Mark had its presence the strongest and thus making it perhaps the safest places on the planet for any anti-Britannian organization to buy what they needed.

Lelouch had initially passed through Mumbai on his way to Spain to purchase some of his original equipment and tools, but shortly after accepting the offer from General Smilas the young man had made some plans for their arrival in Mumbai beforehand. One of these was placing an order with Arjun who on the surface was a simple tailor, but in actuality, he was a tailor who specialized in creating tactical uniforms for resistance groups capable of affording his services.

"As per your original request you made months ago I have reproduced four copies of your school uniform with my special tactical lining," Arjun explained as the trio descended the stairs entering the tailor's real workshop.

"Excellent, and what of my new order I sent in last month?"

"It's complete, and just like your school uniform it has our special tactical lining so your comrades should be very pleased with the results," Arjun explained as he led them down a corridor.

They passed by transparent windows where Ayane saw workers behind sewing tables and workbenches using equipment at first glance was clearly state-of-the-art that almost comically contrasted with Arjun's workshop above them.

Leading the pair to a room where a mannequin was set up wearing a black uniform trimmed with gray, with matching pants and black boots.

"Now, let me give you a demonstration."

Clapping his hands, Arjun summoned an assistant who stepped forward with a machine gun in his hands before pointing and firing the weapon at the mannequin. The exposed limbs and head of the dummy were destroyed, but the uniform appeared damaged but mostly intact.

Arjun approached the mannequin while encouraging Lelouch and Ayane to follow him.

"Now take a look here," Arjun said gesturing for the pair to inspect the uniform.

Lelouch examined the bullet holes as did Ayane, but both found that despite some light damage, there was no penetration.

Ayane was impressed, prompting her to ask, "Is this bulletproof?"

"Impressive did you use kevlar with this?" Lelouch inquired.

"No," Arjun said as the same assistant who had shot the mannequin had left to bring back a piece of a coat where the inner lining was sewed in allowing Arjun to remove what appeared to be a thin leather-like sheet from inside the jacket. "This is a hybrid of carbide discs, ceramic matrices with an accompanied laminate on top of it forming a body armor unlike anything else in the world. All we do is sew it in-between the fabric and lining making it completely bulletproof, but be aware you will still feel the impact of those bullets, so it is quite painful."

"Are all of our uniforms going to be like this?"

"Just the uniforms you, Ryo and the others will have. The rest will have standard uniforms, which I have created some different variations like a skirt, shorts, and pants for whatever is your preference," Lelouch explained.

"What about you?"

"Mr. Lamperouge asked for something special to be his uniform," Arjun answered.

"Special?"

"I'll show you guys later, but I assume everything is as I specified."

"Indeed," Arjun nodded, "we included a slide system in the mask to allow for easy use with retinal scanners, so you don't have to take it off. The suit has the same body armor as the uniforms, but the mask we made out of durable yet lightweight materials making it bulletproof against most low caliber firearms except for those of a higher caliber such as anti-material rifles."

"Well done, and you got my payment?"

"Yes, we have thanks to Mr. Wizard," Arjun replied.

"Good, but is there a chance you can do a rush order for one," Lelouch said, reaching into his pocket to hand Arjun a piece of paper where measurements of another were written down.

"I sure can, any specifics about the wearer?"

"She is a highly skilled martial artist, talented in kung fu," Lelouch answered thinking of Xu Lifeng before providing a photo of her.

"Ah I see," Arjun exclaimed before muttering as he devised a style, "yes we'll replicate the bell-shaped sleeves and bottoms to ensure unrestricted movement of the limbs to not hinder her agility."

"I might be back within the next week to order a few more depending, but it won't be an inconvenience for you?"

"Not at all Mr. Lamperouge, we are here to provide services for those with Peace Mark and the resistance movements supported by them. As long as you have the money, we will fulfill any order as promised." Arjun answered with an amusingly dismissive gesture.

Lelouch smiled, "in that case, I'll be seeing you again very soon."

"I look forward to it, but where would you like your completed orders sent to?"

Lelouch drew another slip of paper from his pocket, "I would like everything delivered at this address."

Accepting the piece of paper Arjun examined the address written upon it.

"It shall be there by this afternoon."

Once their business was done Lelouch and Ayane left the shop to meet up with Ryo and Fukumi who should have the rental vehicle Lelouch had ordered to travel to their next stop which was out in the countryside outside Mumbai. Knowing the streets where the tailor's shop was located was typically overcrowded the pair had to make their way to a more open street where the crowds were easier to get through especially if you have a vehicle.

"What kind of vehicle did you rent?"

"I," Lelouch began before the sound of someone honking a horn interrupted him.

Ayane's jaw dropped upon seeing Ryo and Fukumi, the latter was driving, pulled up driving a yellow and silver trimmed auto rickshaw.

Ryo looked at Lelouch with an unamused expression upon his face.

"With have a ton of money, and you chose to rent THIS!"

"It's called keeping a low profile," Lelouch countered. "Let's go we have a long drive ahead of us."


Around the same time, Yukiya had finished giving Neha and her assistant Kagari to begin examining the data before working on compiling a list of equipment and materials he would need Lelouch to get for him. Once Neha and Kagari were done going over the data they would give him a list of what they would need to customize and tune up the Alexander units to be piloted by Ayano, Lelouch, Marirrosa, Ryo and himself to be forwarded to Lelouch.

The rest, save for Yukiya and two others, was ensuring everything on board the Kobayashi Maru was offloaded and moved to the private dock where their new submarine, a Yasha-class sheath transport. It had six torpedo launchers, six cruise missile launchers and two slash-harken style anchors as weapons, but it was designed for long-range reconnaissance missions. Their particular submarine named the Nautilus by Lelouch was customized for moving cargo and Knightmare Frames, and its hydro propulsion ensured a cruising speed of an average of forty knots. Its stealth capabilities allowed it to emit a falsified sonar signal to disguise itself as a fleet of whales, and it was modified to be mostly automated requiring at least five to six people to operate it.

It was risky, but Lelouch and the others didn't have enough people they could trust. Operating the cargo ship, they used with such a small crew was very risky as well. Thankfully they didn't have any problems when they rented the vessel for their own usage.

Chiyo, Hiroto and some of the others would take the submarine and head to Area 11 for the first drop off before coming back, Yukiya thought.

Leaving Lelouch, Ryo, Marirrosa, Ayano, Ayane, Xu Lifeng and himself to handle the rest.

"This is going to be a busy week," Yukiya mused.


A few hours later the rented auto rickshaw, now being driven by Lelouch to give Fukumi a break, had driven far into the countryside outside of Mumbai where the group was arriving at a large vineyard. It wasn't any spectacular, but it was merely a very old vineyard. Yet despite the apparent age of the buildings, being at least decades old, the vineyard was surprisingly well maintained with large fields of grapes and a warehouse with a loading dock for whatever product they produced.

"We're here," Lelouch declared as he parked their vehicle.

"Aren't we all a bit young for wine?" Ryo mused half-jokingly.

"We're here for something else," Lelouch replied with his trademark smirk.

Much like the tailor's shop, the vineyard was merely a front for another of the services Peace Mark offered. Following Lelouch, Ryo, Fukumi, and Ayane followed him into the main building resembling a two-story mansion. Once inside the group, the interior is more modernized compared to the exterior by someone with clear expensive tastes, approached a man standing behind a reception desk.

"Can I help you," the man asked finding it odd there would be teenagers at a vineyard.

"Is Lady Shah here," Lelouch asked before discreetly slipping his card with the emblem of Peace Mark across the desk, "we're here for a tasting."

Nodding, the receptionist accepted the card.

"We do not serve minors, but we have been exploring alternatives that should be more acceptable for your age group," the receptionist answered before gesturing for the group to follow him.

The group was led down a flight of stairs before traveling down a hallway where two armed guards stood in front of a pair of double ornate wooden doors.

Beyond on them was a lavished office where on the sides of the room was expensive artwork and wine racks presumably having the most exceptional wine stored upon them. Seated behind a desk was an Indian woman dressed in colorful robes trimmed with gold with a shawl draped over her shoulders with a hood and a red bindi mark on her forehead.

"Welcome back, Mr. Lamperouge," Lady Vanya Shah greeted.

"Lady Shah, the pleasure is all mines," Lelouch greeted politely with a bow, and he was followed by Ryo and the others.

Vanya Shah, publicly a wealthy wine seller whose creations have been sold as far as Britannia, the E.U. and the Chinese Federation. In the underworld, Vanya was actually the most notorious arms dealer with connections across the world allowing her to obtain virtually any firearm, including Knightmare Frames and weapons for them, as long as the buyer can meet her price.

"So what brings you here, Mr. Lamperouge?"

"I am here to finalize and review my order while planning to make some purchases," Lelouch explained. "I sent ahead some details."

"Yes," Vanya said with a smile before using her laptop to pull up Lelouch's list. "You are asking for a lot...almost enough to arm a small army."

"Well, I am planning on aggressively expanding my group into a full-fledged anti-Britannian resistance group, but even if I find people, I'll need supplies and weapons."

"Too true," Vanya said nodding agreement, "and I see you made some good choices."

"I know Chinese Federation models like the Hong Long are usually a popular and less costly choice since they produce them for civilian militias, but their ease of use is great, yet their precision is low."

"Yet you want something for your followers that don't require no specialized training to use, and where finding compatible ammunition won't be too hard," Vanya asked earning a confirmation nod from Lelouch.

"Smart thinking I have seen too many rookie resistance groups buy my finest weapons and end up hurting themselves."

Lelouch had read about resistance groups in Japan, and other than the Japan Liberation Front consisting of former Japanese military, the resistance groups of Japan was mostly made up of civilians who for the most part lacked any experience with advanced weapons. Lelouch had heard about an incident where a resistance group had attacked a military warehouse with sophisticated weapons including assault rifles, anti-material rifles, and rocket launchers.

Despite their new firearms, the resistance group was wiped out partly due to improper use of their weapons such as some members had broken their own shoulders on the anti-material rifle, for instance, unprepared for the recoil.

Hence Lelouch's decision to ensure the weapons he would buy for his resistance group wouldn't be a potential hazard to his own followers with user-friendliness in mind, and the ammunition they would use could be easy enough to acquire on their own so they wouldn't be dependent on having ammunition shipped to them.

"With that said, I wish for these weapons to be interchangeable with ammunition that is commonly found in Area 11, so replenishment will not be limited to shipments."

"Ah, you have been giving this a lot of thought, very well follow me."

Vanya gestured for the group to follow her as she rose from her desk before pushing a button to open a hidden door behind her. Following Lady Shah, the group entered a large room filled with shelves and tables with various weapons ranging from rifles, pistols, shotguns, knives, rocket launchers and more on display. The room felt like a giant museum to different weapons than a storeroom, but Lelouch understood this was merely where Vanya showed her clients her wares before a purchase.

Lelouch followed her until they came to displays and racks filled with several assault rifles of different kinds and makes, and she picked one off the shelf.

"This is what you wanted for the bulk of your orders," Vanya said before handing Lelouch what appeared to be an assault rifle. "TDC-7 AR, a European-made assault rifle commonly used by law enforcement, specifically SWAT teams, and civilian militia and military commandos within the E.U. thanks to its user friendly design requiring little training to use, ease of maintenance and can unitize similar bullets from different countries making them for ideal commando units operating behind enemy lines. It's fully automatic with a modern bullpup with options to attach a powerful suppressor."

Lelouch examined, handling the weapon while testing how quickly he could reload the empty magazine after removing it, the assault rifle before passing it to Ryo and the others, allowing them to examine the weapon.

Ryo seemed satisfied with the weapon before allowing Ayane and Fukumi to examine the assault rifle before passing it back to Lelouch who in turn gave it back to Vanya.

"Impressive, and I am certain it will make for an excellent weapon that is at least better quality than those Chinese Federation weapons most resistance groups use."

"It will not disappoint, and the best part is these weapons are made in bulk, so we have plenty to sell."

"I see," Lelouch said before a thought came to mind, "so people chose the Chinese Federation brand weapons because of their close proximity to Area 11?"

"Correct, which is a good move for saving money but in exchange, the quality of the weapons is questionable since the Chinese Federation is just looking to make a quick buck."

"Now then do you have any suggestions for something big, and with plenty of stopping power that could fit our needs?"

"I have just the one," Vanya answered before leading the group to where shelves and racks held a wide variety of shotguns.

Vanya selected one out of the dozens of shotguns before presenting it.

"A classic among shotgun enthusiasts, a Britannian-made M2 assault pump-action shotgun. Custom bolt carrier release and charging handle. It has textured grips for a secured grip in the rain or should your hands get sweaty. One shot can make swiss cheese out of Britannian body armor."

Lelouch accepted the weapon, and like the previous assault rifle, he had examined he checked the shotgun while testing how well the pump work while noticing the textured grips did provide a secure hold for its user. Once he was finished Ryo accepted the weapon before he passed it to Ayane and Fukumi respectively after they reached inspected the shotgun.

"We'll take it," Lelouch said, handing it back to Vanya. "What type of sniper rifles do you have?"

"For you," Vanya said before leading Lelouch to where she kept sniper rifles on display, "I would suggest the Banshee 400, European-made commonly used with special forces units within the E.U. military, it has a suppressor and a muzzle flash."

"This should do," Lelouch said as he studied the right once it was passed into his hands.

"Hey, is there anything we can use against Knightmare Frames?" Ryo inquired.

"I actually have a stock of anti-material rifles for that purpose…shall we?"

"Yes, show me what else you got," Lelouch said with a grin.


Following a busy, but successful day of shopping Lelouch and the others returned to the private indoor dock where their submarine was located. However, once the initial shipments of supplies and some of the Alexanders were loaded upon the vessel, the Nautilus departed heading for Japan, a journey that would take almost week to reach and then one week back.

All that was left was to collect the last of what they needed and transport it back to Area 11, and by then Lelouch hoped Neha and her assistant would be finished with modifying and customizing the four Alexanders.

It was past eleven when Marirrosa entered the office within the indoor-dock where Lelouch was busy finalizing their budget for the next six months once they returned to Area 11. Whatever funds they had left Lelouch planned on storing some within private accounts hidden in the Militarized Zone of India while the rest through Oiaguro's help and connections would be placed within hidden accounts in Area 11 for use when they need it.

Worried for Lelouch potentially pulling an all-nighter Marirrosa decided to intervene.

"Hey, Lelouch, maybe you should call it quits for tonight."

"I am almost finished," Lelouch replied as Marirrosa approached him from behind.

"Come on," Marirrosa began putting one hand on his shoulder, "we got two weeks before we head to Area 11. Just call it a night and pick up where you left off tomorrow."

Lelouch wanted to refuse, but he felt his body's desire for sleep already setting in leaving him with little options to refute Marirrosa.

With a defeated sigh, Lelouch closed his laptop.

"Fine you win," Lelouch said before getting up from his chair, but his exhaustion was even more evident causing Marirrosa to help him to the sofa where Lelouch had set up a make-shift bed.

"You know maybe you need a day off tomorrow," Marirrosa suggested as Lelouch sat on the sofa before removing his shoes.

"I'll take one when we arrive back in Area 11."

Marirrosa sighed, "come on, stop being so stubborn and take it easy for just ONE day."

The young woman joined Lelouch on the sofa before saying with an amused smile.

"We could go on a date."

Lelouch was slightly taken aback by that remark causing Marirrosa to laugh.

"Well that got your attention," Marirrosa teased before kissing Lelouch on the cheek much to the latter's surprise.

Before Lelouch could say something, Marirrosa promptly got up and left the room leaving Lelouch to ponder over what happened, but he didn't have long as his body demanded rest and he was forced to comply.

It was something Lelouch would have to address tomorrow, and yet there was still much that needed to be done.


A/N: this felt like a good point to wrap it up for now. Lelouch is making good use of both his earnings and what he and the others got from Mr. Strandberg, including the funds they got when Yukiya stripped mine his accounts.

Lelouch will have no shortage of weapons and supplies, but for every advantage, Lelouch will get, that means I will up the difficulty. It won't be evident at first because of some set up I must do, but I have something in mind.

Lelouch will not use all of the Alexanders units in battle except for his own personal unit and Marirrosa's units with maybe Ryo and Yukiya. But Lelouch intends to keep it low key for a bit once he returns to Area 11 to properly establish himself without panicking the Area 11 military into focusing on him too much. It would be problematic if they were to find out if they were a resistance group with something like the Alexander units, which would be worse if Britannia knew they had a lot of them. And if anyone was wondering only high ranking members will have their uniforms with the body armor lining, although Lelouch isn't going to be much of a gunslinger he does add it to his own outfit and others given his former status as a presumed dead prince and the leader of the soon to be Black Knights making him a target where it would be good to have the added protection.

That is why Lelouch has brought some Sutherlands that ended up on the black market, and they are better than the Glasgows at least, and replacement parts and the like are easier to find in Area 11 compared to the Alexanders.

I have found some chapters of Oz of the Reflection I was able to read, with no virus and no endlessly assault of pop up ads, so that will help me a lot with characters and it gave me some ideas.

Anyway next chapter we will find out who will be sent to support Lelouch from the E.U, before finally returning to Area 11.

I concluded round one of the curiosity poll and have begun round two to narrow down the potential harem candidates further, but those who didn't make it might get a chance still depending on how the story plays out.

Thank you and see you guys next chapter, and I hope you guys enjoyed the various references, easter eggs and shout outs to specific movies and video games in this chapter.