A few hours later, India woke up in a rich if dusty bedroom, on a soft mattress. Well, with his demoted status, she supposed this was the best the Emperor of Brittania could offer. Her hand curled up into a fist. How the heck was she going to pull this off? She didn't even have any Knightmares except that 10th generation never tested one the king was giving her. Though, she could use her Geass to get some... Plus she had Zero as an opponent. He'd be almost impossible. But it didn't matter. India Isabella would reconstruct Brittania if it was the last thing she did.
But how was she gonna do it? Obviously she couldn't show her face. That would mean finding a decent mask. And an outfit, too. Something cool looking. And how the heck was she going to get this stuff in the first place? The only upper hand she had was she knew Zero's identity and how his Geass worked. She was already beginning to formulate a plan when V2 walked in.
"The Emperor would like you see you," he said.
"I'm honoured," she muttered, almost sarcastically. The two of them walked down the hall together to the Kings room.
"Your Majesty," she said, sliding down onto one knee with her arm out in front like she'd seen Suzaku do just hours before. "About the request I made earlier..."
"Yes. I will give you free rein over any army you assemble and you shall head the battle plans. But I'm going to give you more than that. India Isabella, I shall dub thee Viceroy of Area Eleven!"
"Thank you your Highness," she said. "I will not betray your trust in me," she rose to her feet, and began to speak her plan.
Twenty or so minutes later, the doors to the outside world opened and India rushed out, her arm covering her face. "I've got to get out of here," she breathed as she ran. Sprinting down the street, she turned down an alley only to smack into Rollo, sending them both sprawling onto the pavement. "I'm sorry!" she cried, getting up. Casting a worried glace over her shoulder, she looked back at him and gasped. "Aren't you Rollo from the Black Knights?"
"You've heard of me?" he said, surprised.
"Are you kidding?" India said. "You're like, famous!" She cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder. "Um... I need to go..."
"Wait!" Rollo said. "Why are you running so hard?"
"Look I really don't have time to explain!" She started running.
"Wait!" Rollo called, but he wasn't a good runner, and was soon falling behind. Then suddenly he was right next to her. Knowing full well what he'd just done she cast a fearful glance behind her and said "wow, you're fast,"
"What're you running from?" Rollo asked her.
"This blond kid, I dunno his name but he's really fast!" Rollo was starting to fall behind again.
"Is he Japanese?" Rollo asked, obviously assuming so since she herself was Brittanian.
"No," India said between breaths. She was starting to get tired. "But I don't think he's Brittanian either. And he seems so young, it's amazing how skilled he is, he must be really short for his age or something," She really needed to rest, this sprinting was taking allot out of her and Rollo was farther behind than ever. "And seriously, I don't think a Brittanian would let their hair grow that long,"
And judging by the way Rollo stopped, India knew he finally knew who she was referring to. "Follow me," he said, and dashed down an outcropping to his left. India ran and matched pace with him. "Doesn't this just lead to the museum?"She asked him.
"Yeah, but we should get you out of here. I'm sure there's room in my Knightmare,"
"You brought the Vincent? Into his heavily populated area? Won't people panic?" She asked.
"Not really," he said. All the running was starting to wear Rollo out too. "If you set it down in the empty lot... and put red tape around it... people think... it's a museum exhibit," he gasped.
"And it's safe to just leave it there without anyone watching it?" India pressed.
"Not really, But stupidity is just as effective a weapon as Knowledge," Rollo said as turned the corner onto the main road where the museum was, the Vincent in the empty lot right next to it with crowds all around.
India understood what he meant. Since it would be stupid to leave the Vincent on its own, people will assume it's guarded, so the Black Knights won't have to waste men by guarding it. That was a good bit of information to file away for later.
Rollo pushed through the crowd, untying his Black Knight jacket from around his waist –which India hadn't noticed until just now- and put it on so everyone knew who he was.
"Oh my gosh, it's Rollo!"
"Hey Rollo!"
"Who's your girlfriend Rollo?" The annoying fangirl squeals emitted from the crowd, and India bit her lip in disgust. Despicable.
After watching Rollo get into the Knightmare, she went up and stood behind him.
"Sorry there's no chair... oh I just realised, I don't know your name!"
"India," she replied. "India Isabella," She knew using her real name would work out in the long run.
"Okay India. We'll be at Headquarters in a few minutes," Rollo told her. Though they could have taken over the Brittanian palace, Zero had insisted on keeping their old Headquarters. They'd turned the palace into a museum instead.
India looked at her watch out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to know when and if Rollo used his Geass. She counted the seconds in her head. 59...60...1...2..3...4...5...6...7...6...7... India grinned. Very clever Rollo, she thought. You tried to make sure I didn't notice by timing your Geass to work for exactly a minute. But unfortunately for you, you stopped a second too early. Now she just had to find out what had happened in that extra minute...
"Okay, we're here," Rollo said to her, as some sort of hatch opened in the roof of the old building as the Knightmare came down. Needless to say, they'd fixed the place up with allot more bells and whistles after Brittania had fallen. "Stay inside for a second, okay?" Rollo asked, and she nodded. She could still hear their conversation inside the Knightmare, but Rollo didn't know that. She sat there as he got out.
"Hey Rollo!" Kallen greeted him as he stepped out of the Knightmare. Their voices were muffled when the Knightmare closed, but India simply turned a dial so she could hear. The King had taught her all about how to work a Knightmare when they'd met and she'd asked for permission to help reconstruct Brittania. "Aren't you supposed to be tailing that girl we saw a few weeks ago?"
"It's gotten more complicated than that. She's here with me,"
"What? Rollo our specific instructions were to not be seen! Do you know how many plans of Zero's you've messed up?" Kallen snapped.
"She said she was being chased, and gave a description that's all too familiar to us," Rollo said, a little worriedly.
"Really," said a loud voice that everyone recognized. Zero, in his customary black cape and mask, stepped out from the shadows. "And who do you think she was describing?"
"V2," he said, and Kallen gasped.
