Kallen woke up next to Lelouch, who was still asleep. She had run the poor guy ragged, so she couldn't really blame him. Though she didn't regret it, she was surprised by how suddenly it had happened.
Checking the time, it was about 10 AM. Someone might come looking for Zero sooner or later, and it would be awkward if they found him in her quarters. She quickly put the thought out of her mind. She'd just wake him up after a quick shower, and hopefully no one would call during that time.
Unfortunately, her quick shower wasn't quite quick enough. Not ten minutes later Kallen walked out to find C.C. waiting, her smile indicating that she had yet another thing to tease Kallen with. "What the hell are you doing here?" she blurted out, nearly dropping her towel.
"Looking for Lelouch," C.C. replied calmly. "There's a meeting about the government changeover that he's been asked to attend."
Still stuck on C.C.'s presence, Kallen ignored the explanation. "How'd you get in here? I locked the door."
"I have an override code," C.C. explained. "It's a good thing I came in when I did. Wouldn't have wanted to walk in earlier and catch you two in the act."
Having passed being embarrassed by this point, Kallen just pointed at the bedroom. "He's back there."
C.C. didn't move, instead remaining focused on Kallen. "When I said to have fun last night I didn't you'd take it quite this far."
"It's not like I planned it," Kallen said defensively. "One thing led to another, is all. Besides, I thought it didn't bother you."
"It doesn't," C.C. replied. "I'm just surprised. Lelouch never really seemed interested in that sort of thing."
"Talking about me behind my back?" Both women turned to see Lelouch watching from the bedroom door, wearing the pants from his Zero outfit and carrying the rest.
"You should get cleaned up," C.C. said. "You have political matters to attend to."
"No rest for the wicked," Lelouch remarked, heading for the shower. Kallen headed for her closet once he passed.
"Did anyone see you come in here?" Kallen asked C.C.
C.C. gave a non-answer. "Worried that people will think you're sleeping with our leader?"
"Yes," Kallen replied frankly. "I can only imagine what would happen if Tamaki found out." She shuffled through her wardrobe for a regular uniform.
"You're no fun," C.C. said. After another fifteen minutes of idle banter and questions from C.C. about their night together which Kallen refused to answer, Lelouch finally stepped out. C.C. pitched him his mask, which had been left on the table. "Ready?"
"Let's go," Lelouch replied. He took a moment to smile apologetically at Kallen before putting the mask on. With that, he walked out with C.C.
No sooner than when the door closed, a voice came from behind her. "I thought they'd never leave."
Kallen whirled to find Todd behind her, leaning against the wall. "How long have you been there?"
"A few minutes," Todd responded.
"I see," she said. "Where have you been, and why are you here now?"
"I was looking for someone," he explained, "or rather looking for a group of them." He pulled out a necklace with a small triangular crystal hanging from it and tossed it to Kallen. "Put this on, we have matters to attend to."
Kallen didn't immediately comply, instead questioning the order. "What 'matters' would that be?"
"You remember how you found me, correct?" he asked. Kallen nodded. "The people who did it are looking for me so they can finish the job they started."
"I've seen what you can do," she pointed out. "What possible help could I be?"
"You can help in two ways," he began. "First, these people possess devices that dampen or negate most of my abilities. You're a good fighter and I'm going to need the help. Two, I did not grant this wish of yours just out of gratitude. I still haven't recovered fully, and they have devices which can track me. The changes you're making to the timeline disrupt those devices."
"So you used me?" Kallen replied angrily, though it didn't faze Todd.
"Yes and no," he said, keeping a straight face. "I could have randomly changed history by myself to hide, but I felt giving you the chance to make some good of it would be better."
That appeased Kallen somewhat, so she put the necklace on. "Where are these people, then?"
"You'll see," he replied cryptically as he snapped his fingers.
A moment later, Kallen found herself standing among modern Britannian architecture. For a moment, she thought she was in the Tokyo Settlement, but the scenery was wrong. "Where are we?" she asked.
"Britannia," Todd replied, "specifically somewhere in the Midwest portion of the mainland."
"Wait a minute, Britannia?" Kallen exclaimed. "Are you crazy? I'm an enemy soldier!"
"The necklace projects a field which changes your appearance," he explained. "Now, the people we're looking for should be within a few blocks."
Kallen held up the necklace for a bit. Sure enough, the people around them didn't seem bothered. "Who are these people, anyway," she asked, "and why are they after you?"
"It's a long story," he said. "I am not from this universe. I am from another, and can travel between universes as I wish. In one universe, a totalitarian government controlled the entire planet through a book that foretold the future. I'm not sure how it came to be, but it was used by those in charge to gain power. When I showed up and learned about it, I upset the chain of events the book detailed, quite publicly I might add."
Kallen was lost, but focused on the simple parts. "Why would you do such a thing?"
"It's one thing to use knowledge of the future to make things better," Todd began, "I have no problem with that. Using it to control the masses just bothers me." He got back to his original explanation. "Suffice it to say that they were not pleased about my meddling. They had already been doing research into time travel to make more books like the original, so it didn't take them long to follow me."
"And that led to the stabbing," she guessed.
"Eventually," he confirmed, "and only because they caught me off-guard when I was leaving their world."
"So," Kallen said, moving to the matter at hand, "where are they?"
"As I said, they're within a few blocks," he repeated. He pulled a pistol from his pocket and passed it to Kallen. "You'll probably need that." He pulled a second from his other pocket for himself.
"You want me to kill them?" she asked in a startled tone.
"No," he replied, "they're loaded with tranquilizers. I can't leave them here and killing only riles these people up."
Accepting that, Kallen spent the next hour or so searching with Todd. They eventually came upon a back-alley loading dock guarded by the men Todd described. He wasted no time firing upon them, taking both out.
"Someone is going to notice us assaulting strangers in broad daylight," she pointed out.
"They're just as interested in remaining unseen as we are," Todd replied, sweeping his hand to illustrate the empty alley. He leaned down to examine the unconscious men, removing a small device on each of their belts. Their bodies disappeared. Sensing Kallen's upcoming question, he explained. "Anchor devices," he said, holding up one device. "Imagine it like a bungee cord: once you get far enough you spring back. The portal which sent them here is designed to drag them back anyone that passes through it to prevent people from becoming stranded. These devices keep that from happening."
Not willing to become any more confused than she already was, Kallen went along with the plan. She was getting to save Lelouch, after all, so she could help. They moved from floor to floor, taking out at least twenty more people. The fifth floor, strangely, was empty. Their search eventually led them to a massive room near the back, dominated by a ring containing a swirling vortex similar to the small one Todd made in his palm when they first met.
Todd walked over to the control panel to the side of the ring. "I'm not sure if there are more of them, but it won't matter once I shut this off. They'll all be sent back at once and won't be able to return." Todd spent a few minutes typing, when out of nowhere a three-pronged dart pierced Todd in the back. To her surprise, he didn't react in pain, merely staring at the offending projectile. "Crap," he said, and collapsed.
Kallen whirled in the direction of the shot, where a white-haired man holding a gun stood. "I've been waiting a long time to catch that man," he said triumphantly.
Kallen leveled her gun at the stranger while checking Todd's pulse with her other hand. It wasn't a normal pulse, but it was there at least. "Who are you" she asked.
"Just a man who wants that meddler dead," he explained. "That stake won't kill him, but once we get him back to our world we'll be able to do it properly."
"I won't let you do that," Kallen insisted. "This man is helping me save a life."
"You don't have a choice," he replied. "This weapon only has one shot, but there are still ten men left in this building and they'll be here in a few minutes."
Kallen surveyed the room, looking for anything that might help. There was a bunch of equipment which was too bulky to be useful, and nothing remotely resembling a weapon. She then heard Todd's voice, barely a whisper. "Yellow button." Her eyes shifted to the control panel Todd was working on. One of the buttons on the side opposite her was blinking yellow. Stepping over Todd, she moved to the button.
"What are you doing?" the stranger asked.
"Todd said that this is connected to the devices that allow you to stay here," she said, "so I'm going to start pushing buttons." The stranger just stared, so she started with the blinking one. The stranger seemed to flicker a bit, which he noticed with no small amount of worry. By the time the stranger stepped forward, he vanished. He was followed by the equipment in the room.
"Ow," Todd suddenly said, standing up and stretching.
"Are you ok?" Kallen asked.
"It's just a time-release sedative dart," he replied. "Counteracting it was simple enough. Time to go back."
Kallen looked around the empty room. "So that's it then?"
"I set the machine to disable their anchors, and then collapse the vortex," he explained. "They followed me here, but with the vortex collapsed they won't be able to come back for a long time. I'll have moved on well before that. Thanks for the help." With that, he snapped his fingers.
Kallen was alone in her room. The clock had the exact same time as when she left. She couldn't quite wrap her head around what just happened, and upon consideration figured it was probably for the best. Todd's tone suggested such bothersome side trips were likely over, so she could focus on what was to come. In a month or so, Schenizel's Damocles fortress would be finished, and this time, assuming things continued on as they were, he'd have Britannia backing him instead of the Black Knights. For the immediate future, though, she could enjoy her time with Lelouch.