Everything is going so well! Things are looking up for Lulu and company and oh wait, right this is Code Geass, next chapter I'm so fucking with all of you and ruining Lulu's life for the foreseeable future, until then tata and REVIEW!
Ashford Academy September 3, 2016 A.T.B.
As with all major operations in her second life Luluka wanted her data to be analyzed and poured over by the best minds before making any decisions that would have long term repercussions for those she cared about. One avenue to go about this task had been up till this point...difficult, Nina was for all intents and purposes an introverted genius with her head firmly set in the theoretical world. The problem? She played for the home team and had a history of obsessing over unrequited infatuations and the simple fact that she was aware of Luluka's orientation made interacting with the the young scientist...memorable.
Kallen and Suzaku had actually started a betting pool with the rest of the student council (Milly included) on when the mousy genius was going to jump the Princess in Exile; considering her insider knowledge on how far Nina could go if pushed, well...she'd put twenty quid on the Christmas party this coming up year. Approaching said mad genius who was currently tapping away at her computer Luluka coughed lightly getting her attention, inwardly cringing at the flash of lust in the young woman's eyes she quickly cast her Geass not wanting this to get...weird.
"Nina when I tell you the phrase 'It was you who broke my mason plate' you are to do everything I say and remember none of it, when I tell you the phrase 'Mischief Managed' you'll return to normal, understood?" Red rings surrounding her irises the brunette nodded once before stating,
"Of course, Your Majesty," Luluka's brow furrowed at that while she cocked her head to the side, Majesty? not highness? Odd, Lelouch only got that response when he'd ascended the throne but in the end it probably didn't matter, shrugging it off as just a glitch in the system she handed a data disk to Nina while smiling.
"It was you who broke my mason plate, I need you to analyze this data and tell me exactly when and where I need to set these detonations off to prevent a tidal wave, I'll give you to the end of the day to figure it out." Nina nodded once and inserted the disk while turning back to her monitor, Luluka shrugged at the brusque dismissal and thought nothing of it after the fact, best to not ask questions when things were moving on without a hitch.
Once leaving Nina behind Luluka shifted her canary yellow uniform trying to make the fashion disaster more comfortable and failing miserably. Seriously as versatile and comfortable as the Ashford Academy's male uniform ended up being the females was equally as awkward and inconvenient. Silently cursing every man ever Luluka walked to her first class of the day and resigned herself to suffering through the indignity of high school for yet another year.
After coasting though her morning classes Luluka was found in the lunch room staring at the ingredients listing of her meal when her brother and girlfriend sat on either side of her. Not looking up she calmly stated, "The hell is mechanically separated chicken?" Suzaku and Milly exchanged a glance before turning back to the most important woman in their lives who currently looked completely disgusted.
"Err, I'm not really sure Lulu, why do you ask?" Turning to her brother while her brow furrowed Luluka jabbed her sandwich with a perfectly manicured finger while calmly drawling out,
"This thing tastes like frog, I can only take a brief solace in the fact that it's vaguely chickeny enough to confuse the taste buds for a time. It's primary ingredients are mechanically separated chicken and mayonnaise, I automatically put any kind of vaguely salty viscous white substance that I did not see prepared in person in a category of distrust. The frog chicken though? New one," Milly felt her stomach churn a bit at this as she pushed her lunch tray away sighing lightly.
"How do you even know what frog tastes like Lulu?" The Princess paused her cursory pocking as her entire demeanor went rigid, sipping her juice she stood from the table and nodded to her friends before excusing herself quietly not meeting either of their eyes as she hurried away. Completely flummoxed Milly turned to Suzaku who just shook his head slowly,
"It was a week after Nunnally died, we ran out of food and everything we found had long gone to rot, we found a koi pond that had mostly dried out but there were frogs still living at the bottom. We...well we ate them...I know some people like frog legs but...Kami we practically burnt the poor things and we both nearly threw up after every bite. But we didn't...we couldn't...we were so ravenous that even when we got sick we forced it back down with tepid rain water..." Suzaku's gaze unfocused a bit while Milly took on a green hue, she rubbed her temples letting out a long drawn out sigh in the process before groaning out a reply.
"Well...bollocks..." Suzaku nodded once while grabbing his sisters abandoned sandwich taking a large bite out of it in the process, his face pulled into a disgusted grimace and he tossed it back on its tray as he tried not to gag.
"Yup...frog...ugh..."
It took a bit of time since Kallen had a habit of disappearing at random but when she finally cornered her girlfriends best mate she quickly relayed what had been said to the redhead who sighed in exasperation as she ran her hands through her hair. Nodding slowly she put a hand to Milly's shoulder while shaking her head slowly,
"You couldn't have known and it was an honest question, Lulu, she...she went through a hell of a lot during the war, losing her sister, the near starvation, the attempted rape...it...we're the only ones who can really grasp what she and Suzaku went through and they appreciate it, they do. We just have to understand that they're both...off because of it all, I can only imagine how off kilter I'd be if Naoto died and with her dad issues, well..." Milly took in a deep breath while leaning against the wall crossing her arms and legs in the process,
"I...you're right I just don't know what to do and it kills me that I can't be her rock in situations like this...I just feel so helpless..." Kallen stared at the blonde a few moments before breaking out into a wide grin while letting out a sharp bark of laughter,
"Oh dear, it would seem our dear President is more than a bit smitten with her second in command," Milly put on an unconcerned aire while shrugging lightly trying not to make a big deal out of the statement,
"She's my girlfriend, of course I-" Kallen reached over and pressed a finger to her friends lips and their blue eyes met for a moment before Kallen broke the gaze and turned to leave,
"Does she know you love her?" Milly never replied but for Kallen that was answer enough, she'd save this for later now wasn't the time but she would remember, both women were just too damn stubborn for their own good and it was up to their friends to look out for their best interests. As evening approached the redheaded terrorist found her friend and commander on top of the student council building sprawled out in an unladylike manner as she stared out at the setting sun. Luluka turned her violet eyes towards Kallen a moment before lifting her hand in a casual greeting,
"Heyya Kali, what's up?" Sighing the buxom teen fell next to the ravenette and sat cross legged as she stared out towards the horizon,
"You worried your girl you know, please refrain from doing so in the future Milly is supposed to be an unflappable pervert, awkwardly introspective is not an attitude that fits her well," Luluka snorted at that while rolling her eyes as she scooted over to Kallen to use her lap as a pillow.
"I know, just...bad memories, it's best to just walk it off instead of facing them with people I care about around...the urge to shoot everything in sight really doesn't befit proper company you know?" Kallen 'mmhmm'd' as she began stroking Luluka's cheek and the pair remained in companionable silence for a time but soon the ravenette made an exasperated noise and sat up while stretching.
Standing she helped Kallen up as she jerked her head towards the door, "Come on, lets go get ready for the rally, we'll deal with my emotional issues after we commit a few more acts terrorism," Kallen snorted at this as she wrapped an arm around her best mates waist.
"All right fearless leader, whatever you say," as they walked down the stairs Nina intercepted the pair while handing Luluka the disk from earlier, smirking she nodded towards the vacant eyed genius while stating,
"Mischief Managed." Blinking rapidly Nina took in her surroundings with obvious confusion but Luluka was beyond caring, she had the data needed to make tonight markable for the world with limited collateral damage and in turn she had phone calls to make, it was looking to be a long night.
"Boss are we really going to just sacrifice our units like this? I mean I know we stole the things but we're not exactly getting swarmed with replacement marine frames here," Luluka was on the verge of smashing he face into her desk in an attempt to break the unyielding frustration caused by her subordinates constant questioning. Ohgi had been hammering on this point for hours and she just couldn't take this shit much longer; the man just couldn't grasp that when you're trying to make an omelette you have to murder a few thousand people and some materiel was going to be lost in the process.
"Yes Ohgi, for the love of god yes, we only need to give up a dozen of the Portman's for this to work out and I already ordered them out to their positions after they were loaded with the special ordnance, it's too late to do anything about it regardless." Ohgi looked like he was going to argue again when his friend grabbed his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, Naoto turned to meet their leader eyes as he responded for the taller man.
"All right Zero got it, decision is already made, I'm assuming the cost to benefit ratio is within your normal parameters?" Gods be good did she love Naoto, honestly if she weren't as straight as a slinky she'd be madly devoted to the handsome, calm, and intelligent noble who seemed to always know what to say to diffuse a bad situation. Nodding quickly as she twirled her chair away from the pair of men to hide her slight blush she gestured towards the map with her free hand,
"Quite, I won't ruin the surprise for you lot but suffice it to say this is going to be...interesting. I wish I hadn't had to sacrifice so many of our Portmans but it will all make sense later I promise," Naoto nodded at once and after giving Ohgi a jab in the ribs he quickly followed suit. Ordering the pair to get ready for the rally Luluka turned to the door leading into the inner office as it opened revealing the sole occupant of the darkened room.
"So am I going to see what makes you the 'Mistress of Miracles' tonight?" Smirking at C.C. Luluka took to her feet and walked past the immortal while grabbing her helmet from the desk, staring into the visor she turned to meet the Witch's amber eyes while offering her a sardonic grin.
"I'll destroy the world, and recreate it anew, just you watch witch, just you watch."
Shinjuku Ghetto September 3, 2016 A.T.B.
The Shinjuku ghetto was just one of those things that boggled the mind if you let yourself think about it too long; the administrative center for Tokyo under the old Japanese government it once housed more then thirty three thousand people and sported a commercial distract that put Paris to shame. The beautiful spires offset by Mount Fuji in the distance gave the entire district a feeling of grace and prosperity, now though it had all gone to rot; tonight was different though, as Luluka stared out at the tens of thousands gathered in the stands of Jingu stadiums bleachers she couldn't help but grin. The field was lined with dozens of Gloucester's while Suzaku's Zengestu and Kallen's Guren Mk II stood guard over the stage.
Luluka was rather smug about those two machines, she'd discretely invested with the Indian government dumping millions into the R&D of Rakshata's toys and the net result was a pair of seventh gen frames completed a year before they should have been and tonight was to be their unveiling to the world. Turning to the man in charge of the cameras she nodded to Dietard Reed as the blonde journalist grinned at the surrounding crowds, sure he was unstable as hell and betrayed Lelouch at one point but he was useful, and really if he tried that shit again she'd just have Jerry kill him, her knight loved looking after her best interests like that regardless. Looking at the clock on the teleprompter Luluka approached the front of the stage causing the gathered masses to quiet down, silently thanking the powers that be that the stadium was covered and its roof hadn't collapsed in the past six years she spread her arms out wide.
"My people! My JAPAN!" She roared the last word out with all her strength earning a returning shout from the people, smirking Luluka gestured towards the camera as she tightened her armored fingers into a fist, "You have all suffered greatly, and for that you should be grateful!"
In Flight to Area Eleven Four Hours out from Honalulu
The banging on her cabin door broke Cornelia from her day dreaming and she quickly turned towards the noise as a pink blur shot through the now open egress; the newly arrived Euphemia gripped her hands tightly as she began tugging her elder sister to her feet.
"Come on come on Lulu is on the telly!" Snapping out of her jet lag induced stupor Cornelia followed Euphemia to the lounge and was pointed to the television and she quickly took in the armored visage of of Zero as she was gesturing dramatically to the gathered masses surrounding her. Cornelia gasped when it became apparent that this was live and the woman she could only guess was her little sister was soaking in the adulation of the crowd cheering her name,
"You have all suffered greatly, and for that you should be grateful! Why you will ask? Because you have all proven the bastard Emperor Charles zi Britannia was right, the weak must serve and perish for the strong yet you still live! Six years my friends! Six years you have endured under the oppressive heel of Charles policies and yet you're still here, we're still here and we have not lost our strength or our souls, HAVE WE!?" As she roared the last bit spreading her arms wide the crowd screamed their agreement with the masked figure who dropped her hands to her sides before continuing.
"There are hard truths we must all accept despite them being unpalatable, the old Japan is dead and gone, the relics that support the Japanese Liberation Front are only prolonging the inevitable and extending the pain and suffering we've had to endure to innocent civilians. The Black Knights have never and will never strike civilian targets and look where we are?! We have an army of Knightmares boasting thousands of pilots, we have the financial backing of the worlds greatest mega-corporations and most of all my friends you have me." Gesturing towards herself with both hands Zero laughed lightly as she turned and pointed a gauntleted finger towards the enormous television screens broadcasting two massive fleets that made Cornelia's stomach flip about, still chuckling Zero continued unabated,
"As you can see our little...tussle with Britannia has put the scent of blood in the water and the sharks are coming to claim what is not theirs, both the E.U. and the Chinese Federation have sent full fleets to help "Reestablish Order" in Japan, or as the Britannian's like to call it Area Eleven. I personally find this ridiculous, this is a fight between the Japanese people and the aristocracy of the Holy Britannian Empire, we do not want nor do we need a third party sticking their nose in our affairs in a vain attempt to steal what is rightfully ours!" Extending her hands above her head Zero than bellowed,
"I ASK YOU MY JAPAN! SHALL WE LET THESE CHARLETONS AND THIEVES CLAIM WHAT IS OURS!?" The roar that followed caused the cameras to vibrate, Zero let them scream their outrage for a time before jerking her hands down demanding silence, as the crowd quieted down she lifted her head high before continuing. "Before we reclaim our power, we must take back our pride, these fools think we're desperate and craven enough that we will gladly take what scraps they hand us after they pry our home from one invader and hand it off to another. I say no, no more, we the people will take back our homes and make our own way without trading one master for another, what say you my Japan? Shall we make it a true declaration? Shall we let the world know that we are not to be pushed around, that our spirit is just as alive as it was when the first Knightmare landed on our shores six years ago?"
The crowd went mad, cries of "Zero, Zero, Zero!" filled the air, raising a single finger of her right hand Zero silenced the thousands gathered as she pointed at the screen, "Than my Japan, let me show you the power of your leader, witness the power of Zero and what she gives the Japanese people!" Unseen across the pacific multiple F.L.E.I.J.A warheads detonated in the hands of the Portmans carrying them, their unique yields creating massive void zones throughout the ocean in a perfectly choreographed dance of death. Near simultaneously both the E.U. and Chinese fleets had a dull violet glow thrum below their mighty vessels, as the light faded suddenly the ocean fell in on itself, hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of soldier and sailors fell into a hole carved out of the sea never to be seen again.
The world watched in silent horror as the perfectly balanced strikes left the surface of the ocean slightly choppy and leaving no other indication that thousands had just fallen to their deaths to only be crushed by billions of liters of rushing water eager to fill the void created by one woman's hubris. Resisting the impulse to laugh maniacally Zero turned back to the awed masses as she once again raised her hands high,
"Trust in Zero, and you will be trusting in a bright tomorrow, follow me and we will reclaim our pride, we will retake what is ours and the powers that be will only weep as we march over the bleached bones of our enemies!" Raising her fist high she screamed out,
"VICTORIA ET SALUTEM!" The crowd took to the cry immediately, be it in Latin, Japanese, or English the roars of "VICTORY AND SALVATION!" tore through the airwaves, as the revelers continued to go mad Zero pointed at the camera and you could practically feel her smile as she calmly stated, "It's been a long time coming but the tables are turned now, one of us is going down, and it isn't going to be me Chuck, Nil Desperandum."
Shakily grasping the chair before her Cornelia blindly felt about to take her seat unable to turn her eyes away from the cheering crowds, finally sitting down she took the offered glass of liquor and downed half of it in one pull. Glancing up her eyes widened slightly as she saw Euphemia drink straight from the bottle of bourbon before falling into the seat next to her, Guilford and Darlton both shared haunted looks as they kept throwing glances at the now muted television and for the life of her Cornelia couldn't blame them. Everything had just changed and their only hope of resolving this peacefully was if the serial killer who declared war on the world was in fact her estranged sister, hiding her growing smile behind her glass Cornelia whispered quietly so none would hear her,
"Well played my little demon, I'm so proud of you..."