Wow! 113 Reviews! I actually wanted to update in celebration of 100, but 13 more got in before I had the time xD.

Thanks to Orchamus, Blitz182, seth12619, Zerothehedgehog, The Puppeteer Master, Akito89Lelouch, Umbra8191, LelouchVi, XT3, and XIIth Antagonist for reviewing!

For those of you reading my other fanfic, "Sin of Truth', you probably know that I'm actually using shorter author notes now! xD I do hope you guys have read my notes so far, tho… -.-

Lol, anyways…

Read and Review!

" " for dialogue

Italics for thought (or stress when just a word or two)

*for sounds*

Mask 12: Saitama

Area 11 Concession
Vi Britannia Residence
0930

"Cornelia li Britannia, who arrived in Area 11 just recently to take over as viceroy, has announced that there will be a counterterrorism operation in Saitama Ghetto at 2:30, 5 hours from now. As I speak, Britannian forces have already begun to surround the area."

Rafael was the first to speak.

"Well, that's stupid. Why the hell is she telling everyone that?"

Lelouch was staring intently at the TV. "She's trying to draw out Zero," he said, almost to himself.

"What?" Rafael was confused. "How the hell is that going to work?"

Lelouch sighed and leaned back. "She's trying to repeat the same circumstances that preceded Clovis's death, hoping that Zero wouldn't be able to resist the bait." As if to confirm, the phone began to ring.

After a moment of silence, Lelouch stood up and slowly walked towards the phone. Emeka clicked the remote to turn off the TV. On the third ring, Lelouch picked up the phone. "…Yes?"

"Hello, Lelouch, have you seen the news?"

"Cornelia? I have, but-"

"You are to stay out of Saitama until the operation is over."

"…what?"

Lelouch heard Cornelia sigh. "Listen, Lelouch. I know you are a skilled officer. Your work against the MEF has shown that. However, for my operation, we need to keep as many variables as we can out. I know that you are currently the pilot of a seventh generation knightmare frame. I will not commandeer what is yours, but I can't have you acting like a loose cannon. I know from our time against the MEF that you prefer to work independently, but I can't have that here… Do you understand?"

Lelouch smiled but nevertheless heaved an audible sigh. "I understand, Sister."

"…Thank you for understanding."

"No problem, Dear Sister. Goodbye." Lelouch hung up without waiting for a reply.

Rafael's rust-colored eyes jumped from the phone to his prince. "What was it?"

Lelouch kept smiling. "Cornelia said she wanted Lelouch to stay away from Saitama."

"Lelouch?" Minoru observed, "Why are you saying your name in third person?"

Lelouch's smile widened to a smirk. "Have you forgotten? I am not just Lelouch vi Britannia..."

"I am Zero."


Area 11 Concession
Prisoner Detainment Center
1330 hours

The green, bullet-proof glass barriers retracted upwards, giving Cornelia li Britannia and her knight, Guilford, a clear view of one Jeremiah Gottwald, one Kewell Soresi, and, in the neighboring cell, one Villeta Nu. A good two-dozen other "Purists" occupied the nearby cells.

"Y-Your Highness!" Jeremiah stuttered. "Surely you understand that we're innoc-"

Cornelia interrupted the leader of the now-defunct Purist Faction, "In exactly one hour, I will be attacking Saitama Ghetto."

For a moment, hope glimmered in Jeremiah's eyes, as well as those of his compatriots. Were they going to get a second chance?

"However, the Pure-Blood Faction will not be participating." Cornelia tossed a rolled up paper by the feet of Jeremiah. "You have been stripped of your status as Margrave."

Any slimmer of hope Jeremiah had been nurturing was immediately destroyed. For a noble, losing one's title was the equivalent of being forcibly booted out of society. No number of connections could restore the loss of one's status as a noble. There was simply no way to recover. Even a demotion to the rank of Private would be better…

"In addition," Cornelia eyed all three prisoners. "You all are demoted to the rank of Private.
Everyone here is to be suspended for an unspecified amount of time. This includes all members of the Pure-Blood Faction."

The Second Princess of Britannia shook her head. "What has Area 11 come to? An entire faction succumbing to the will of terrorists? Unbelievable." As she spoke, the green barrier began to come back down. "If you learn anything, learn this: I despise those who give into terrorism."


Vi Britannia Residence
1400 hours

Lelouch picked up the suitcase that held his Zero costume. It's time.

*Ding-dong*

Lelouch froze.

The only ones who know this address…

*Tap, tap, tap*

As the sound of footsteps drew closer, Lei popped her head through Lelouch's bedroom door. "It's Princess Euphemia!"

Euphie? What's she doing here?

Then a thought popped in Lelouch's head.

Cornelia!...

Cornelia must have sent Euphie to watch over me…

*Ding-dong*

Tentatively, Lei intruded upon Lelouch's thoughts, "What do you want us to do?"

Lelouch thought for a moment. "I'll let her in myself. You and the rest will have to go on ahead first."

The Chinese teenager opened her mouth as if to speak, but, after a moment, she shut it and turned around, short black hair twirling.

After glancing at his suitcase, he decided to kick it under the bed…

For now.

Hopefully, not for long. Almost as an afterthought, Lelouch attached his hidden communicator inside his collared white shirt.


"Euphie!"

The pink-haired princess pretended to pout. "What took so long?"

Lelouch smiled gently. "Sorry, I was a bit busy." He leaned slightly on the doorway. "What brings you here, Euphie?"

Euphie smiled and brought her hands from behind her back.

"Meow"

Lelouch made an effort not to flinch. This cat had caused so much trouble before…

Outwardly, Lelouch smiled. "It's Arthur!"

Euphie smiled in turn. "Cornelia said you might be lonely, living by yourself in this big house. She suggested that Arthur and I come and keep you company."

Lelouch's smile faltered for a millisecond… Cornelia!... but he recovered quickly. "Is that so? That's quite thoughtful of Cornelia. I don't have much time, but I suppose you can come in for a while."

Thanks to a certain cat's stunt, Cornelia was apparently still extremely suspicious of him. Thus, it looked like Lelouch would have to take extra pains to act innocent…

"Hey, Lelouch, what are we going to do now?"

Lelouch narrowly avoided biting his lip.

If only I knew, Rafael.

Lelouch sighed and spoke, seemingly to Euphemia, "Right now, I'm the only one home. I've given my guards a vacation, so they probably won't be back for a few hours."

"If this is a vacation, I wanna see what 'work' is." retorted a certain Brazilian teenager over the radio.

Minoru responded with a bit more understanding, "I assume you want us to do our best without you?"

As Lelouch closed the door behind Euphie, he made sure it slammed with a little more force than necessary. Utilizing the sudden sound, he muttered, "Exactly."

Hazel was the one to respond. "Understood. I'll keep you updated with our status."

Not for the first time, Lelouch was grateful for his ever-reliable Guards.


Saitama Ghetto
1430 hours

At exactly 2:30 PM, Sutherlands and Britannian foot soldiers alike began to move into the ghetto. The streets were mostly deserted, as its Japanese inhabitants had long taken cover inside the worn-down buildings. In one building in particular, a certain red-haired terrorist ran down the corridor.

"Kallen, are you there yet?"

Kallen Kozuki took cover in a windowless room, careful to keep her submachine gun pointed at the door. With her left hand, she raised her radio to her mouth, slightly breathless. "Almost, just a few floors to go."

Over the radio, Ohgi grunted, "Got it. Yoshida's group will be there in a moment, so try and clear the building in the meantime."

"Got it."

Three floors and five minutes later, she reached the fifth floor of the half-demolished building. When she got there, she couldn't believe what she saw.


Saitama Ghetto
1434 hours

Up. Down. Up. Down.

Minoru played with the black mask in his hands, throwing it straight up, so that it almost touched the ceiling. Sitting with his back on a half-worn pillar, his secondary, black cloth mask hung under his chin.

God, how he hated that suffocating fabric, which was supposed to cover his nose and mouth. Minoru knew that keeping his identity was vital, but what was the chance of someone seeing him here, inside one of the hundreds of broken buildings?

Minoru checked the time. Any moment now.

With a sigh, Minoru picked himself up, donning his helmet.

"Okay, Minoru. He should be there any moment now."

Indeed, the Japanese man soon heard the nearby whirring of landspinners. Soon, a Sutherland came into view. It stopped right in front of the half-demolished building Minoru was hiding inside. The Japanese man neared the window, taking out a handgun with the silencer attached.

After a moment, the cockpit opened, revealing a very confused Britannian Knight.

*snip*

As the nameless Knight fell out of the cockpit, Minoru lowered his handgun. Flicking his left wrist in order to activate his mask's microphone, Minoru reported,

"He's out. Move it closer."

"Got it."

Pilotless, the Sutherland turned and slowly backed towards Minoru. One hand against the crumbling building wall, Minoru stepped to the side of the Sutherland cockpit.

Maybe he had been too intent on the Sutherland, but Minoru realized, too late, the sound of footsteps.

"Freeze!"


Moments Earlier

That's….

Kallen recognized the black-and-purple costume from Zero's "debut". The question was, why was Zero's lackey here?

Quietly, she backed away from the doorway, into the stairwell. Raising her radio,

"Ohgi, you won't believe who's here."

"…Who?"

"It's one of Zero's lackeys, the one that has a darker version of… Minoru's Guard outfit."

"… Are you sure?"

Kallen sighed, glancing towards the doorway. "Who else would wear something as crazy as that?"

"You have a point. Any chance of getting to talk with him?"

*snip*

Kallen peeped through the doorway, just in time to see the mysterious figure pocket a handgun. "He's armed…"

"Ok, Kallen. Yoshida and his group should be there soon, so just try to keep him there for a bit."

"Roger that."

Inspecting her gun for defects, she quickly decided her approach.

Walking through the doorway, she raised her gun.

"Freeze!"


Kallen?

Almost unconsciously, Minoru took a step towards his former comrade.

"Didn't you hear me? Freeze!"

That brought Minoru to his senses. That's right; right now I'm K.K… The former terrorist raised his weaponless hands.

Slowly, Kallen walked towards Minoru. "Let's start with the simple things. Who are you?"

Inside his mask, Minoru smiled. Who washe? Minoru? Kira? K.K.? Or all of the above?

His voice, projected by his mask, rumbled slightly, "I am K.K."

Kallen frowned, gun still pointed. "K.K.? Why a codename?"

"Who knows, Kallen?" Minoru grimaced. That last word had slipped out accidently.

Kallen's eyes widened in surprise. She opened her mouth to ask how he knew her name, but then she remembered that she had asked another anonymous man the same thing… at Shinjuku.

Eyes narrowing, Kallen tightened her grip on the gun. "You're from Shinjuku! You're the one who betrayed us to that white knightmare!"

Minoru tensed. Within his mask, the Japanese teenager's eyes jumped from the gun to its holder. As his heartbeat quickened, he realized that there wasn't much distance from Kallen and himself. There was definitely less distance than with that Britannian officer, back during his "tour" of Shinjuku with Lelouch…

Minoru decided to risk it.

Running forward, he jumped to the right, preparing to disarm Kallen.

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*


Vi Britannia Residence

Carefully, Lelouch placed the teapot back on the clear, glass table. He passed Euphemia a cup.

"Here you go."

The Third Princess of Britannia took a sip and wrinkled her nose. "It's a bit bitter."

Lelouch smirked. "Who told you tea was sweet?" Internally, Lelouch's patience was wearing a bit thin. He should be out in Saitama, making sure the operation went well. It took all his self-control to avoid looking at the clock every thirty seconds.

By his neck, under his right ear, a miniature speaker buzzed, hardly above a whisper, "Lelouch, this is Hazel. We're going to start the operation now. Is that alright?"

Lelouch made as if to readjust his collar. Using his index finger, he tapped the mike twice.

Two taps - Yes

"Got it. I'm making contact with the neighboring terrorists now."

Lelouch failed to conceal a sigh. How long would he have to keep wearing a mask?

"Are you tired of me already?"

Lelouch smiled. "Of course not, Euphie. Cornelia's just caused me a bit of stress, that's all."

The pink-haired teenager tapped her lips with one index finger.

"I know! Let's place chess! That'll cheer you up."


Shinjuku Ghetto

"Plant, plant, plant your bombs~"

Rafael was singing softly to himself as he attached explosives to the base of the bridge. He was completely unaware of the foot soldier that was climbing down the ladder behind him.

"Hey you, what are you doing here? This is a restricted area!"

Rafael turned to face the unwelcome guest. "Oh, nothing…"

"What's that behind you?"

Rafael heard some motion and looked up. The soldier's shouts had brought two additional soldiers, who were looking down from atop the bridge.

Rafael swallowed his saliva, trying to come up with a good excuse for being under the bridge's surface during a full-scale counter-terrorism operation.

Luckily, he didn't have to.

There was no sound, but the reaction made what happened obvious.

First, one of the soldiers above the ladder fell. He was soon followed by another.

"Wh-What the hell?" The soldier who had descended looked up at his dead compatriots. Then he looked back down at Rafael. From the red light of Rafael's explosives, the foot soldier finally made out what Rafael was wearing. "Oh my god, yo-you're-"

Quickly, Rafael took out his gun, silencer attached. He wasted no time pointing it at the confused foot soldier standing before him.

"Take off your uniform, if you want to live."


"That was close."

Lei leaned back from her scope. Standing up, the Chinese teenager stretched. "Really, Rafael needs to be more careful. I almost didn't fire in time."

Next to her, Hazel waved aside her long black hair, clearing some sweat. "Let's just hope that doesn't happen again." She raised her left wrist to her mouth. On top of the masks, the black-and-white watches could work as secondary radios.

"Hey Minoru? Are you ready to help our terrorist friends?"

The response that she got confused her:

Silence.

"Minoru?"

Still no response.

"Emeka, do you know if Minoru's mike malfunctioned?"

"…I don't think it has. Anyways, the Sutherland I gave him is moving."

Hazel frowned. "Can you get a visual of his cockpit? Try to see what's wrong."

"No problem… Crap."


Minutes Earlier

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Minoru's heart skipped a beat. He'd misjudged Kallen's reaction speed.

At least I wasn't shot. Minoru thought dimly as he knocked the gun out of Kallen's hands. With a sweep of the arms, he tried to restrain Kallen…

In time for a kick to the stomach.

Minoru barely managed to stand up in time to get out of the way of yet another kick. Then Minoru instinctively countered with a series of punches…

Only to see Kallen dodge them. Then, Kallen started throwing punches in return…

Only to see Minoru, still masked, dodge them.

As Minoru jumped back, he found himself against the wall, standing only a few meters from the open Sutherland cockpit. He moved forward to kick, but Kallen quickly jumped back.

Then, Kallen suddenly surged forward, arms poised to punch…

Just in time for Minoru to block with his arms. However, as blow after blow wore away at Minoru, he winced. He still felt the pain from Kallen's kick earlier. For a moment, he lowered his guard.

A moment was all Kallen needed.

First, a jab to the stomach. Then, a swing at the face…

Soon, Minoru, still masked, lay on the floor, unconscious. His mask had been cracked, and Kallen had to rub her knuckles to wear away at the pain of doing so.

"Kallen! Are you all right?"

The red-head smiled as she turned to face the newcomers. "Yeah, I finally gave the bastard what he deserved."

A man with dark-brown hair frowned. "What he deserved?..."

Kallen, adrenaline still rushing, didn't bother with a long explanation. "He attacked me, so I fought back."

One of the men behind Yoshida whistled. "You sure did."

Kallen smiled. "Thanks." Then she realized something.

It had taken a while for her to notice, but the Sutherland cockpit, which had been protruding oddly into the building, was empty.

And it looked 100% usable.

Kallen slowly walked over to the cockpit, afraid to have her hopes destroyed. While her newly-arrived comrades whispered amongst themselves, she entered the cockpit.

It automatically closed, bringing her up to the Sutherland's controls. She checked its IFF codes, which were deactivated. As a test, she drove the Sutherland around a bit. After a while, she smiled.

Just like the Glasgow.

She turned the Sutherland to face the building she had been in just moments earlier.

"Yoshida, I'm going to take this for a spin. Can you look after 'Mr. Mask'?"

Before the fellow terrorist could reply, she sped away, eager to try her newfound weapon. After a moment of watching, Yoshida simple shook his head and smiled. Then he walked over to where a certain unconscious figure lay.

"Let's see who's really behind this mask."


Vi Britannia Residence

"Lelouch, we have a problem."

"Lelouch, you're going easy on me, aren't you?"

Lelouch resisted the urge to smirk. "How so?" This he asked both Emeka and Euphie.

Euphemia li Britannia was the first to respond. She moved a white pawn to the edge of the board, replacing it with a white queen. "First of all, you let me play white, which gets to move first. Second, you're letting me turn one of my pawns into a queen."

Lelouch smiled gently. "Euphie, you know that I'm letting you play white just because I like to play black. As for the second…"

Emeka chose that moment to respond. "It's Minoru… Apparently, he got ambushed by that red-head. Karen was her name, I think?"

Lelouch's heart stopped for a moment.

Emeka quickly added, "Of course, the sensor Rafael put into Minoru's watch is registering a heartbeat, so he's not dead. It's just, the red-head's in the Sutherland meant for Minoru…"

Hazel also added her voice over the radio. "What should we do?"

Lelouch, by force of habit, raised his left hand to his face, thinking.

"What is it, Lelouch?"

Lelouch vi Britannia blinked and reinforced his smile. "Nothing, nothing, just lost my train of thought, Euphie. I've got a lot on my mind, that's all."

As he looked at the new enemy queen, an idea began to take shape in Lelouch's mind. "As for your second point, it's a matter of tactics…"

Lelouch tugged on his collar, thus pressing on the mike and signaling to Hazel that he was about to answer. "Sometimes, it's better to keep a close eye on the enemy and move later, rather than to attack immediately."


Lol, I've noticed that when I use pronouns for Cornelia, I accidently type "he" more often than "she" xD

Today is the only time I have this weekend to write, so sorry if there were some mistakes. I really wanted to update today, as well as hopefully work at least a bit on my next "Sin of Truth" chap ^^

Anyways, academic testing (also known as Hell Week(s)) has finally caught up with me. I can't promise weekly updates, but I'll try to get back to updating as soon as I can (hopefully, at most, 3 weeks). I know this may seem a bit abrupt, but… :/ Sorry

Review!