CHAPTER 10:

TEA WITH THE ENEMY

Kallen chewed him out later over Saitama, but at least Harry was better off than Lelouch, who got a slap to the face shortly before they parted ways. One from Kallen, and another from CC. Once back home, the two had dinner in privacy, with Kallen's stepmother off at some function or other, and Kallen's biological mother bustling around, looking too happy for her own good, given her situation.

As they had dinner, Kallen said to Harry, "Your stupidity today aside…"

"I was more acting on my inner Gryffindor today. You'd be a Gryffindor too, Little Miss Hotblooded. I know how you act every time you're in a Knightmare Frame," Harry said impishly.

"Quiet, you, or you'll lose your touching privileges," Kallen threatened, albeit half-heartedly. They were still at second base, albeit in private at home, and both of them enjoyed it too much to break that off. Eventually, she said, "Your…Gryffindor-ness aside, I think we did good today. Hopefully, Lelouch has had a wakeup call. And we got the civilians out of there. Do you think Euphemia did anything to Cornelia regarding the civilians?"

"I doubt she could do anything meaningful. Cornelia, from what we know, loves her sister dearly, but their relationship while Cornelia's Viceroy and Euphemia's her subordinate will have to be professional except in private. What I did was sow discord, but I don't know whether it'll have any meaningful results. But it could. For one thing, it could force Cornelia to avoid targeting civilians again, even if she was avoiding repeating her actions to lure out Lelouch and myself. For another, Euphemia could find a political solution that could actually work to help Japan, though the question is whether her father would support that."

"Do you think she would do that?" Kallen asked. "She's a bit like Suzaku, from what we heard from Lelouch and saw that day."

"But she's also better than Suzaku in many other regards. Firstly, unlike Suzaku, as a princess, she's well placed enough to make a difference," Harry said. "Secondly, she's probably had to deal with enough of the realities of politics, especially within the Britannian court, to know how to work within the system. Thirdly, she actually showed that she's willing to stand up to her own countrymen to make a point. Okay, Suzaku stood up for us, or at least Lelouch and CC, when Clovis' goons cornered us, but still…Euphemia's got more spine than he does."

Kallen nodded in agreement. "But all the same, with all her power and potential, would they allow her to take any action that flies in the face of their doctrine? Not to mention this conspiracy CC alludes to. Remember, Lelouch saw the Emperor in his vision when he gained a Geass, and CC didn't deny that he had a Geass. Nunnally was under the influence of one, made to be blind. Why? And who is this VV that she referred to?"

"…I don't know. She's being deliberately vague, but she has claimed that if we learn too much, we could be in danger. I'm inclined to believe her, if only because she has a vested interest in keeping Lelouch alive as part of this contract." He shook his head. "Another bloody complication. CC is useful, especially if we decide to get a Geass, but if her unwillingness to give up vital info gets someone killed, then I'm going to try and get it out of her by Legilimency. I don't know whether I can do that, given that I only had it done to me, but frankly, I'll probably be too angry to care."

Kallen hummed in agreement. "And there's the upcoming school trip to Lake Kawaguchi. Should we go?"

Harry shrugged. Why not? Maybe for once they could relax, and have a time to themselves, like kids…


It was a couple of days later that they finally met, at least properly, Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald and Dame Villetta Nu. Harry had met the latter back during the Shinjuku attack, albeit in disguise and with her under the power of Geass, while the former, he had only met for the first time at Lelouch's debut as Zero. They had visited the school, nominally to suggest students join the Britannian military after they left school. In truth, they were here to meet with the core members of what was now becoming the Phoenix Knights.

Lelouch at least had the sense to discuss this with Harry and Kallen, and their first instinct was to refuse. But, given that they were now co-conspirators, Lelouch had managed to persuade them.

They were in the dining room of Lelouch's quarters at lunch, Nunnally taking it with the Student Council. Harry and Kallen were, understandably, wary of having people who, mere weeks before, had been their most ardent enemies, and they could tell that the feeling was mutual, especially where Villetta was concerned.

As they had tea after finishing lunch, Gottwald peered at Harry and Kallen, while CC, sitting nearby, munched on yet another pizza. "So, you're Warlock. And you are that Knightmare Frame pilot. I have to say, I'm curious to see what you would do in a Knightmare that wasn't so out of date," he said in his deep, resonant voice.

"I'd consider that high praise, though coming from a Purist…" Kallen said, screwing up her face in disgust.

"Ms Stadtfeld, I believe you fail to grasp the realities of politics within the Britannian court," Gottwald said, looking at her coldly. "Not to mention my own impressions of what happened to Lelouch and Nunnally. When Lady Marianne was murdered, many of those who depended on her favour in court fell out of favour. The Ashfords, for example, the very people who founded this school, were made persona non grata in the homeland. Not by the Emperor himself, of course, but by those who despised Marianne. She was of relatively common birth, after all. Her line was noble, but her station, originally, was not. Those who are loved, after all, can rouse powerful hatred."

Lelouch nodded. "Which makes my father's refusal to investigate all the more puzzling, considering his apparent love for her."

"I agree, your highness," Gottwald said, before returning to Kallen. "I myself fell out of favour, and I also blamed myself for letting the assassins get her. When Lelouch and Nunnally were reported to be murdered at the hands of the people whom they had been given to for safekeeping, I took out my anger and frustration on the Elevens."

"Japanese," Kallen corrected sharply. "And what makes you think I would forgive you for such a thing?"

"I don't expect any," Gottwald said. "I personally think that my prince has taken an unnecessary risk in involving you and your group, let alone trusting you. However, I am in agreement that the system does need to change, if only to ensure that the likes of Marianne's murder does not happen again, let alone the treatment of Nunnally. You fight for your own reasons, and I will do the same." His eyes flickered over to Harry. "And a wizard from another world…one who would be Britannian, and yet who has chosen to fight on the side of the…Japanese."

"I have issues with racists and bullies," Harry said, fixing Gottwald with a glare. "And it's only on Lelouch's say-so that we're agreeing to this meeting. Otherwise, I'll erase your memories of this meeting, and I can't say I'd not get your toilet training into the bargain."

CC snickered, while Villetta Nu scoffed. "The feeling is mutual, Warlock. Don't think I forgot about waking up to find myself looking like a clown."

"And why are you in the Purists, Villetta Nu?" Kallen asked, an acid tone to her voice.

Nu scoffed again. "Aside from Lord Jeremiah's request? Advancement. I may have been born a Britannian, but my lineage, as far as the nobility is concerned, is suspect, especially given the colour of my skin and my Portuguese roots(1)."

"So, what, you've had people being racist to you, and so, you're being racist to other people?" Harry snarked. "Wow."

"And why do you fight for the Japanese, then, Harry Potter?" Gottwald asked, shooting Nu a look to prevent her from retorting. "Why do you have issues with…racists and bullies?"

"Because my parents were murdered by a man who thought those of impure blood, and those who disagreed with him, had to die," Harry said, meeting the man's gaze with a harsh glare. "A wizard who believed that magic belonged only to those whose families had pure wizarding blood. He tried to murder me when I was not even two, and he didn't stop even after he was declared dead. His followers managed to avoid being punished for their actions, and remained high up in society. My uncle and aunt raised me, or rather, they made me into their servant and punching bag, as did their son, my cousin. One of my teachers hates my guts because I remind him too much of my father, and bullies me just like my father bullied him. In three of the five years I was at wizarding school, I had the students turn on me because they were stupid, either thinking I was a lunatic, an attention whore, or a dark lord in the making. And I have no idea whether my friends were taken down by that dark wizard, all because they had impure blood, or opposed him. So you'll forgive me, Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald, if I have issues with such people. Because if you truly treasured Lady Marianne's legacy, you would have done your best to live up to it."

As Gottwald recoiled, Lelouch looked at Harry. "Settle down, Harry. I have already taken Jeremiah to task about that issue already, not to mention about Suzaku. The same for Villetta. I am not expecting you to like each other, only to cooperate."

"Right. But just remember, I'm a wizard. And as Tolkien said, they are subtle and quick to anger. Only, I'm not subtle," Harry warned. "Threaten anyone I care about, and there will be consequences."

Silence fell over the table for a time. Eventually, Nu broke it. "I still find it hard to believe. Both magic, and this Geass power, not to mention this woman's immortality."

"This woman has a name, you know," CC remarked.

"CC is not a proper name," Nu retorted. "I would have been more likely to believe that your name was Nemo or Jane Doe."

"Area Eleven is not a proper name either," Kallen sniped. Nu merely shot her a brief glare.

Lelouch cleared his throat. "In any case, there are some issues we're definitely concentrating on. Through their contacts, Jeremiah and Villetta have managed to find information on various producers of Refrain. It's an open secret that certain corrupt individuals, mostly nobles, have been funding the synthesis, distribution and sale of Refrain. They were able to find those people, people that Clovis tacitly allowed to continue distribution, if only because he cared more about pacifying the Japanese than the local economy. Cornelia would take an opposing view: Refrain would cut into the productivity of the Japanese workers, and she despises graft and corruption."

"What about users?" Harry asked. "They'd suffer withdrawal symptoms or something. Are there any antidotes or treatments? I mean, they use methadone to treat heroin withdrawal."

"I doubt that they bothered to create such a thing," Lelouch said.

"Not true," Villetta said. "I once heard from one of our interrogation specialists that Refrain was derived from an experimental truth serum, one designed to both enhance recall of memories and loosen any inclination to conceal the truth(2). It was deemed a failure, as it was almost impossible to interrogate the person while they were under the influence, but a counter-agent was created at the time of testing. It wouldn't prevent withdrawal symptoms, but it may ease them. Admittedly, my knowledge of pharmaceuticals is not extensive, so I don't know whether it would be an effective treatment, let alone if it's easily synthesised."

"Then it's worth looking into," Lelouch said.

Gottwald cleared his throat. "Your highness…what of Suzaku Kururugi? I'll admit, he's an excellent Devicer, which, when combined with the Lancelot…"

"Lancelot?" Kallen asked. "Is that what they called that Knightmare?"

"Yes. Blame the Earl of Pudding's obsession with Arthurian nomenclature," Gottwald said. "Private Kururugi is the only Devicer they have capable of piloting the Lancelot, unless they decide to get one of the Knights of the Round to do so."

"True, but he is less of a threat than that sounds. My sister does have issues with deploying Numbers alongside her own men, doesn't she?" Lelouch asked.

"Indeed she does."

"Then it is less likely that Cornelia will deploy the Lancelot, unless her desire to survive or achieve victory wins out over her pride," Lelouch said. "Her own men are enough of a threat in any case, as Saitama proved. I'd hoped in some small corner of my soul that their reputations were overblown, but that wasn't the case."

After a moment, Harry decided to add something. It could go very badly wrong, or it could go right, especially with the two Purists on board. "Lelouch…I think we need to keep a closer eye on Nina Einstein. She's working on something that could go very badly for other people."

"Why is that?" Lelouch asked. "I believe Nina had some interest in nuclear physics, particularly that related to sakuradite and radioactive materials like uranium."

"Lelouch, she is probably about to become the first person to discover nuclear fission in this world," Harry said. "Or rather, to discover its applications. Dangerous applications."

"What applications are those?" Jeremiah asked. "Weaponry? How can nuclear fission, whatever that is, lead to weapons? Would they poison people with radiation?"

"Only the survivors," Harry said, looking at Gottwald. "Back in my world, we had a very famous person with the name of Einstein, Albert Einstein. While he wasn't the man who discovered nuclear fission, he formulated a famous equation, E=MC^2. A friend of mine once explained that, if you turn mass into energy, it's equivalent to that mass accelerated to the speed of light. And nuclear reactions cause mass to be turned into energy. Small amounts, but with big results."

"I fail to see the point," Nu said, frowning.

"No, I do. E=MC^2, equivalent to Newton's Second Law of Motion, where force is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration," Lelouch said, horror blossoming over his features. "The speed of light is equivalent to a little under 300 million metres per second. A single gram would release, assuming an equivalent to Newton…" He fished out a calculator, and began typing in numbers. "Approximately 90 terajoules of energy," he whispered in horror when he was finished.

Gottwald paled. "Do you have any idea what that is in TNT-equivalents?"

"I don't know. Kilotons, at least," Lelouch said.

"Kilotons of TNT?" Nu demanded, also horrified. "All from a single gram of matter turning into energy?"

"Villetta," Harry said, looking at the dark-skinned Purist, "when the first nuclear weapons were used in war on my world, they destroyed most of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those too close to the bomb were vaporized, reduced to burnt shadows on the walls. Many of the survivors were horribly burned, or died of radiation sickness. I think Nina is thinking about using it as a form of energy production, but even then, it creates horrible radioactive byproducts. And in your world, technology is far more advanced. Imagine what Nina could create as a weapon given the time and inclination."

"I shudder to think," Gottwald said. "So, what do we do about her? Kill her? Suborn her?"

"I'll see about bringing her in discreetly somehow," Lelouch decided, looking shaken. "I'd rather not resort to such weapons myself. I am willing to get my hands dirty to change the world, but such a weapon has to be a last resort, or a Sword of Damocles at worst. Better to deny the enemy such weapons."

"And what makes you think your…allies in that group of insurgents won't use that sort of thing themselves?" Nu asked.

Kallen shot Nu a glare. "Harry has already told me of the suffering those bombs caused in his world. I would gladly use it against the Emperor and his ilk, against the military, but against normal people? For the sake of cowing them or annihilating them? I don't want to kill unarmed men, women and children in their own homes." Unlike you was left unsaid.

"I chose their group precisely because they went out of their way to avoid civilian deaths," Lelouch said. "They stole the poison gas to expose Clovis' crimes, not to use it themselves. Well, that, and I was admittedly stuck with them during that mess in Shinjuku, but I had researched Warlock and the group he was affiliated with. Make no mistake, it will probably happen, sooner or later, but I don't want to do so deliberately, and I want to avoid doing it inadvertently. The Phoenix Knights will rely on a reputation of being fighters for justice, not as terrorists. Killing civilians caught in the crossfire is not only repugnant, but unjust."

"Leaving Nina and her possible weapon aside, what do we do for a debut?" Harry asked. "Getting rid of Refrain is good and all, but we'd need a big event to debut."

"Something will happen, sooner or later," Gottwald said. "Your appearance as Warlock galvanized a number of the smaller groups, and Zero's did even more so. Something's sure to happen soon."

They didn't know it at the time, but the debut of the Phoenix Knights would happen soon, at the floating hotel on Lake Kawaguchi. There, an incident would take place that would serve as the backdrop for things to change, for better and for worse…

CHAPTER 10 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Harry and Kallen have had tea with Gottwald and Nu, and they've discussed various things.

Now, if you're wondering at how I'm characterising Gottwald and Nu, I'm doing it in such a way that it isn't unlike what they are in canon, but developed plausibly. Gottwald and Nu are still antagonistic towards Harry and Kallen, but they are personally loyal to Lelouch, who has basically gotten Gottwald to swear loyalty to him. I thought at first it'd be like Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion, but I actually re-read a couple of fics, and felt that what Lelouch did, in some regards, in Code Geass: Redo of the Rebellion by Sir Kai was more appropriate.

That being said, both Gottwald and Nu grudgingly admire Kallen and Harry's respective abilities. And they will grow into becoming better allies as the story progresses, with Gottwald and Nu eventually getting over their racism. Harry's snark about Nu becoming the thing she hates was meant as a point. You don't really get this in the show, admittedly, but there's some inferences to be made.

Now, before I get to the review-answering, I should point out that this will be the last chapter for a while, at least until I watch more of Code Geass. Don't worry, I intend to watch more episodes very soon. In the meantime, if you haven't already, check out my Overlord crossover Plenipotent Player Prince. That still has a few chapters left to update…

Review-answering time! I actually left what Lelouch wrote to Cornelia vague for a reason. Partly because this story is mostly from the POV of Kallen and Harry, but also because I couldn't figure out what he wrote. I'm guessing he did something like Captain Jack Sparrow, writing something like This is the day you'll remember as the day you ALMOST caught Zero.

DZ2: Sadly, NOT going to happen. In fact, Dumbledore is gonna be pissed Harry appropriated the name for what he thinks of as a terrorist group…

LoamyCoffee: As much as I love CC as a character, there are times when I think she needs to be taken down a peg or two, shown that she is still human. Plus, a Portkey is a novel experience to her, even with her own immortality, though novel doesn't necessarily mean good in this case…

Guest: Maybe Harry might suggest the Hogwarts motto instead for similar reasons. It does mean 'don't tickle a sleeping dragon', after all, which is not dissimilar to one of the royal mottos, Nemo me impune lacessit, or 'nobody attacks me with impunity'.

1. I vaguely recall reading about this on TV Tropes' character listing for Villetta, that there was speculation that she is of Portuguese descent thanks to her name, amongst other theories. I decided on her skin colour being a factor against her in Britannian society, despite the fact that she is a born Britannian.

2. I thought I was the first to think of this, but when I re-read Ignatius Thunderblade's Code Geass: Re, where Refrain is actually used as a truth serum, I couldn't be sure whether I was remembering that, so I thought I'd point that out here. I thought Refrain would be a faulty truth serum, an experimental one. It makes sense, doesn't it?