Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass, if I did we'd also have a Pear-kun. Why a pear? Because "Why not?"
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Kallen looked at Lelouch before answering him, "Can I have some time to think about it, I don't know if I…"
"Can trust a Prince of Britannia yet?" Lelouch finished her sentence, "Or is it me in particular you don't know if you can trust yet?"
"Ah, uh…both of them," Kallen said looking away again.
"Take your time, I'm a patient person, as long as you don't tell the Black Knights my identity you have all the time you need," Lelouch said and with a smirk he added, "In fact I'll insist on it. The next few weeks should be fairly rewarding for you."
"What do you mean?" Kallen asked, Lelouch chuckling in response.
"You'll see,"
Lelouch spent the next day in relative silence, listening to the gossip concerning Zero and the Black Knights big debut, and about the White Zero Rei. Some thought that Rei was the bigger threat because he was a powerful military force capable of beating the Knight of Three, Lelouch laughed inwardly at that. Gino was probably working up a furor trying to find out how that leaked out on the internet. There were others who said Zero was the threat, having completely out maneuvered Gino and the entire army, while doing their job no less. Some said they liked what Zero represented, a champion of justice, and that he would make Britannia better by giving it a well deserved kick in the ass. Others said Rei was the more important change in Area Eleven, because he would force technology to develop faster to improve the military so that he could be taken down. Lelouch smiled and would not take a side anytime he was asked, stating that Rei was the bigger threat on his own, but Zero was the more dangerous opponent. And that if the two of them teamed up that the Empire would be in trouble. All part of the plan to him, he wanted to lure this Rei out in the open to meet with him when he donned the Zero Mask, and then he'd use his Geass on the man.
For two weeks he went about this triple life of Governor, carefree student, and rebel leader. Carefully planning each and every step of the way. Gino was being given the runabout thanks to Rei, who constantly interfered with his military exercises and missions. Euphemia was doing a splendid job of keeping up the Empire's public face in light of "Zero's attempts" to take the empire down a peg, with a little coaching from Lelouch every now and then. However the people had all ready began talking, wanting Lelouch Vi Britannia to take the field for the first time in seven years and defeat Rei for the Empire, saying that the man who could conquer Japan should easily be able to kill one man that the Knight of Three couldn't.
As Zero, Lelouch had spent the weeks raiding the facilities of pushers of the drug Refrain, a drug designed to make one remember the good old days like they were happening right in front of them. He also spent a good deal of time rooting out corrupt government employees stealing relief money for Japanese Citizens and money that was supposed to go to various pro-Japanese government projects. And being very public about those activities, clearly spreading information about the problems the Black Knights were solving. While this put him in a clear bind as Lelouch Vi Britannia, it was going exactly as planned. Zero had a shield of public support, and applications to the Black Knights were slowly filing in, people wanting to join in and help.
However one night was slightly different than what they had grown used to. "Karen, is the Glasgow ready to charge in?" Lelouch asked, watching a warehouse, hiding in the shadows in his Zero outfit. The fact he was wearing it only helped him hide considering it was a mostly black outfit. After receiving his answer Lelouch said, "Good, charge in." Kallen's red Glasgow flew into his view and through the front doors of the warehouse, the rest of the assembled Black Knights following close behind, setting up defensive positions inside the warehouse while Kallen broke through their target's defenses. Lelouch made his way inside as well, taking out a small pistol to help eliminate the threats inside. Everything was going well until Lelouch heard something very familiar, a heavy sound of a Knighmare running from the distance, "Knight Police! Take cover!" Lelouch yelled out quickly taking a new position behind a pillar in the warehouse as a large white and black Glasgow with heavier armor than usual stormed through the opening Kallen had made earlier and shot through after her, laying down suppressive fire on the Black Knights with a Knightmare sized pistol. The resulting combat only lasted a couple of minutes between Kallen and the Knight Police, ending with her Red Glasgow totally damaged and the Knight Police pilot dead, crushed in his own cockpit. Lelouch gritted his teeth behind his mask, there shouldn't have been any Knight Police active in the area, he arranged for the patrols to not be close enough to notice this commotion. Someone had interfered with his perfect plan. He criticized himself for being so careless to allow something like this happen, and then saw something, an older Japanese woman, well into her forties sitting down on the ground, clearly having been injected with Refrain. Then he recognized her, he saw her picture in Kallen's file, it was her mother. "I see…" Lelouch said sadly, the Black Knights nearby taking a look at him wondering what he realized, "We need to leave, someone retrieve Karen."
The night had been a complete and utter failure in his book, Lelouch was making his way home in the settlement proper when he received a call, "Hello?" he asked, "Ah Gino, what can I do for you?" Lelouch waited a second before making his way towards a place a bit more private, "Narita…so you're finally ready to admit I need to take over? Very well. Rei is likely to interfere, no Zero will likely appear there as well, something this big, this hopeless? This is the kind of stage Zero is likely waiting for. I'll defeat them both. I'll show these rebels why I'm considered the third great strategist of the empire…but I'll have to finally enter center stage won't I?" Lelouch sighed, while this was something he did indeed want, he was also going to drag Nunnally into the spotlight. He had hoped to let her live a normal life a little bit longer, "Heh, you do pay attention. Gather the Knight candidates, get in touch with the Special Dispatch and have Lloyd Asplund and Kururugi Suzaku join us, we're going to come up with a strategy. No, we'll do it tomorrow, it's late and we'll need to be at our best to come up with something that will beat both Zero."
Lelouch hung up and began making his way back home, he then got the funniest feeling like he was about to meet someone he knows. And right on cue Kallen appeared in front of him for once, Lelouch chuckled slightly, "What's so funny!?" Kallen almost screamed out, the events of earlier still fresh in her mind.
"I'm sorry, I just had the oddest feeling you'd show up right now. It felt like my life was suddenly the plot to some poorly written story," Lelouch said composing himself, "The next mission has all ready been decided, Narita is going to be attacked, and I have to lead it."
"What…but then how…" Kallen said, "No, why?"
"Narita is the home base of the Japanese Liberation Army," Lelouch answered simply, "With luck I can convince a certain someone to lead the Black Knights as a replacement for myself."
"So you're going to crush everything now," Kallen said, somewhat sadly.
"No, Zero will continue on, as will the more troublesome parts of the resistance. I plan on taking down Rei if he appears, he is an unknown and chaotic element in this plan," Lelouch stated and with a sigh said, taking a casual look around to make sure no one was listening, "Well my life is going to get simpler soon, thanks to the recent developments I'm going to have to publicly become Lelouch Vi Britannia."
"Lelouch, can you do anything for…"
"Your mother? I could pardon it, but it would look suspicious for me to do so, if I had a reason I could justify it with I would do so," Lelouch stated simply.
"Like me cooperating with you fully?" Kallen said, disheartened.
"No, if you were to become my Royal Knight, Karen Kozuki, that would be all the reason I need," Lelouch stated simply, "But it is true that would require your cooperation."
"What…a Royal Knight?" Kallen asked, astonished Lelouch would even propose such a thing, and use her Japanese name to do it.
"Indeed, I've been thinking about giving you the position since Shinjuku, but for now, it's not possible to do it publicly yet," Lelouch said, "Really I would have liked to not have mentioned it at all until much later."
"That's been part of your plan?"
"Yes, imagine what would happen if suddenly if a citizen of Japanese descent was suddenly revealed to have been a major player in the defeat of terrorism in Japan, and was then appointed as a Royal Knight for outstanding service and skill as a solder. Imagine what that alone would do for the position of the Japanese in Britannian Society," Lelouch stated, crossing his arms and smirking and then raised one finger from his crossed hands while he added, "And that is but one part of my overall plan. So let me ask you again, Karen Kozuki, will you help me?"
"…Yes, your Highness,"
And I'll end it there. I planned on making this chapter longer, but I liked this stopping place too much, and you know what? This is the fourth update this week so you can deal with a shorter chapter than usual. Not my best chapter but it is important set-up for the chapters to come. What's going to happen next? Well obviously the Narita battle is coming up very soon, and I may be introducing a certain other character more than a few people have been clamoring for. Now for those lovely little questions of mine…
1) This is a question I'm kinda curious about. How do you think Kallen said that "Yes, your Highness?"
2) Do you love that plot twist with Kallen, or hate it? I'm honestly expecting some rather outspoken yelling of "What the hell?" from that twist so I'm making it an official question.
3) How sincere do you think Kallen is about helping Lelouch? In other words, do you think she's playing him for a fool to use him or do you think she's genuine about helping?
And that's all those questions, now before I end the authors note I've got a deal for you people, mostly because I want to see if I can get it to actually work. I've got 92 Story Alerts for this fic right now, meaning 92 people get emails about when this story is updated, if 60 of you review next chapter I'll do a double length chapter next (Around 4500 words) and will at the very least start the Narita battle. And if all 92 of you review, I'll give Euphemia or Nunnally (whoever ya'll want more) a decent chunk of "screen" time next chapter. But obvious copy-paste reviews won't count. And in the even more extremely unlikely circumstance I get 100 or more reviews, well I'll do a triple length chapter. Do I think any of that will happen? Not a chance but I'm putting the offer out there for you people since you have complained about length and certain characters not getting any screen time. Hell I might make the double length thing a standing offer if it actually works.
Now press that review button before Gino decides you're the one leaking information.
Ciao for now!
Tis has been a chapter from your unfriendly neighborhood LunaticChaos