Sorry about the long update time. I had to start from scratch for this one (while a lot of chapters already had some part done). And even then about half-way through I realized I was cramming in too much so I split into two chapters. Next might be done relatively fast because of that!

~~-T-~~

Despite his rather unorthodox introductions–or perhaps because of it-Tohdoh had taken more than a passing interest in the boy: strategic insight was a rare thing, especially at this level. And so Todhod had kept him back when dismissing his Black Knights: now it was just Tohdoh, Oghi and this boy Lelouch. To confirm that his impressions were indeed right: that they might actually have someone here that would match Tohdoh's strategic sense out on the battlefield.

Tohdoh used this last day before a battle for last-minute details anyway. And so the general had played out their strategic plans for tomorrow, incorporating some minor errors on purpose just to test the boy's ability. He got them all, pointed them out dutifully and even noted some improvements Todhoh himself had not been aware of. And again, Tohdoh was impressed. Even if he sat through their meeting slouched back into his chair like some delinquent, occasionally placing comments like 'do we really need to get into that?' and 'can I go now?', while in all honesty the boy should have felt honored over such a private session.

Yes, even keeping in mind his lousy attitude, the boy was an asset to their battle planning force; but he was not that amazing. The way Kallen had told about this boy, you would have thought he was Zero reincarnate. The boy had no grand vision though, no outrageous plans. Perhaps if he had had the drive: that will and personal attachment. The only part about the whole thing that seemed to amuse him somewhat was the thought that his own countrymen; Britannians, were about to be slaughtered. Any effort to cut down on Japanese losses was met by mere apathy.

Again, the boy sighed as Oghi went over the details of plan Alpha-C. "Can't we at least take care of the enemy force I showed you about first?"

Yes; the boy did seem to take more than a passing interest in getting as many of his old comrades either killed or captured. According to him, if the Britannians deserved to be slaughtered these men from the Order deserved extermination followed by never-ending purgatory. Betraying your own; it went against everything Tohdoh, as a man, believed in. But he supposed it suited Japan's interests to at least string the boy along: "if you give us your best right now, we might go after them tonight."

Silence again, and a very annoyed expression. But he did again provide useful insights into Britannian strategies when prompted.

So, between the boy, Oghi and Tohdoh they were perfecting a battle plan that would make tomorrow's push a good one. Indeed, anyone that saw the prognoses for their relative losses would be tempted to ascribe this battle – if it actually played out as planned – as a clear win for Japan. It would seem that way to anyone but those who had not had the math done for them by the number crunches down at task force deployment. But Tohdoh knew better.

Tomorrow's battle was originally calculated as a one to four: one Japanese to four Britannians casualties. These seemed like good odds, but in the long run, Britannia would be able to field five times as many Knightmares and pilots as Japan. That meant that, in the end, any battle that had them loose more than one Japanese to every five Britannians would have them loose the war in the end. Even with the boy's adjustments- and Tohdoh could see they were good improvements-they only barely made it to four-point-eight. It was a gruesome thought to the aging Japanese warrior: that they would drag out this fight for years on end, just to be overrun by Britannia in a decade or two.

It was at that moment that the door burst open, to reveal the green-haired lady that had been Zero's confidant. C.C. stood there, blinking in the door frame a moment, before turning back at someone behind her with a small smile. "Please wait outside, Rolo."

A smile was a rare thing for this woman, Tohdoh knew. And indeed it seemed a pasted one; especially as it dropped the moment she closed that door behind her. As carefree as ever, she sauntered to the center of the room and announced: "I need to speak to Lelouch privately for a moment."

Now, normally the Japanese warrior would have reprimanded the girl. She might have enjoyed a certain special status back when Zero was leading them, but by now, that position was lost. And Tohdoh demanded a certain… discipline from his troupes. Not that he felt it should be his task to enforce it; but apparently everyone else was too cowed by this C.C. woman to put her in her place. Even Oghi seemed apprehensive of challenge her.

Tohdoh would have, had he not been too busy noting something very strange about his newly acquired protégé: he had not moved; not even straightened from his slouch. But where first his air had been one of bored apathy, he now radiated animosity. So Tohdoh decided to let this scene play out by itself, placing a warning hand on Oghi when the man finally moved to intervene.

The boy replied icily: "I thought we agreed you could speak to me through Kallen."

The girl shrugged: "I never agreed to anything. Also, this can hardly wait."

After that, they got into some weird kind of staring match. Oghi started fidgeting; but Tohdoh just looked on, fascinated. The Japanese general was not a master of reading people; or even situations. But he knew about skills, about what to look for in a person's walk to identify them as a fighter. He could tell when a person was fake bravado and when a person was hiding murderous ability under feigned ignorance. Thus, Tohdoh had pegged both brothers as skilled assassins right away, with the younger winning out easily in all physical departments.

But C.C., while a good enough Knightmare pilot, had no hidden prowess in martial art; not as far as Tohdoh could tell. Thus there was no reason Tohdoh could think of why anyone would fear this young woman. So perhaps Tohdoh was reading this thick atmosphere wrong; as said, reading people, was not one of his strongest skills.

Their silence took, perhaps, a whole minute. Then, C.C. let out a long-drawn sigh. "You know, it gets tiresome to just have to listen to you all the time when you refuse to hear a word I am saying."

She took a step closer.

The boy jumped up. "And that's close enough, thank you. Now leave."

C.C. sighed again. "Have it your way. But I just want you to know, I am – and have always been – on your side."

Then, she turned to address Tohdoh instead: "And as we are all on the same side, I think it would be best if I told you, Lelouch has calculated that the odds that will leave Britannia and Japan in a stalemate are one against five-point- two. I suggest we run his calculation by the math guys later. But now." And then slammed her hand on the table with a look more determined then Tohdoh had ever seen on her. She fixed the boy with her glare: "As we are all allies here, and it would be in no one's favor that we turn this into a stalemate that can last decades, Lelouch is going to come up with a real winning tactic for us."

With that, she turned and strode from the room. And Tohdoh could not suppress a smirk, even when the boy finally sat down again and scowled at him.

"I want my knife back."

"So you can stab a defenseless young woman?" Tohdoh gave a pitying shake of the head. "Request denied. So show me this amazing winning strategy."

"How the hell should I even have one?" He was still scowling, but back into his laid-back delinquent personae. "As far as I know, we've already shored up on any mistakes, and one against five still seems like good odds to me."

As much as Tohdoh was tempted to agree, he didn't say anything. He just watched silently, together with Oghi, as the boy finally threw their map more than a passing glance. Eyes darted over the map faster and faster; like mounting panic. "Ah. No; it's not possible. We already got the best there is to get out of this."

Oghi seemed to take this as obvious truth, and Tohdoh also assented; well at least he had seen the boy try.

"Ah; unless of course, you are willing to move the battle up to the coast."

"And, we would need to conjure up a tsunami."

~~-L-~~

They never knew what hit them: with two trucks, three Knightmares and sixteen Britannian top soldiers between them, one might have expected better. But they had hardly expected to be attacked by a Japanese strike-team. Let alone one that had very precise intel on both their position and their routine of operations. It was past midnight, and their guards were taken from all sides at once. The sleeping men had hardly roused before they found themselves at gun point.

A few miles off, two agents were still oblivious to the Japan's armies' moves on all of them. But their nightly lair was already surrounded, and a mobile base of operations was already spying on them.

This mobile base took the shape of several darkened vehicles. And the biggest, most luxurious car held a nondescript soldier at the wheel, a Japanese general in the front seat, and three teens in the back: an immortal, and two Britannian turncoats. Rolo was somewhat sandwiched in the middle, C.C. and Lelouch on either side. Through the window's refection Lelouch could see the witch at the far end, exactly mirroring his expressions: looking out of the window, with a bored 'I never wanted to be here in the first place'. It annoyed him to no end.

Tohdoh watched a monitor feed from the stealth-team closing in on the two hapless Britannian agents out in the field. Convincing the Black Knights that the video feeds should be pointed at their own men's faces, and the audio feeds adjusted to only pick up the wearer's voice had been the most difficult part. But Lelouch didn't much like leaving things to chance, and just because his Geass wouldn't travel through media didn't necessarily mean another man's could not.

And so they sat in the car watching a soldier's face and listening to several voices reporting that the first target was subdued. It only made sense: the one they had caught – the one on watch - was the one with the tracking ability. This was the part Lelouch thought of as simple. The second agent would be the problem. And indeed, when they reached his sleeping bag, they found it empty. Soon soldiers were out swarming the surroundings for the missing agent.

Rolo's tone was polite: "perhaps it would be an idea if I and my brother went after the escapee?"

Lelouch took in a sharp breath, but the old general just grunted. "I'm not ready to trust the pair of you that far yet."

"But we would never do anything to betray the mistress or her allies." Rolo sounded sincere; almost appalled.

And this time Lelouch failed at biting down on his comment: "You do realize, brother, that when that Tamaki guy referred to her as such, he meant she was actually someone's mistress?"

Rolo was about to scold him over speaking such, but he was cut off by the witch herself. "Ah you noticed that? And do you have any idea whose mistress they think I am, huunn? It's actually quite funny when you think about it.", she said in her usual, un-amused tone.

Rolo gave her words a polite amount or time, before continuing: "Still, an Agent is best suited to catch an Agent. Please trust us with this."

The Japanese general turned around in his seat to address the younger brother personally. "Boy while I do not doubt your sincerity, you I do have some doubt about Uragirimono–kun here…"

"Awww, ouch!" Lelouch told his reflection. It was not like he saw any need to go volunteering for dangerous tasks anyway.

But the Japanese general just hummed. "So tell me, Rolo. I understand you have a special power that controls time. Pray tell, what does your brother do? And these other agents?"

The alarm bells going off in his head were enough to make that immortal witch turn and stare at him. Lelouch answered before his little brother's honesty would get them both killed. "I have a questioning ability" that was not necessarily a lie, because he had often used his Geass to make people tell the truth. "The man you caught does tracking. The one missing will have a battle ability like Rolo. I have reason to believe it requires the recipient to need to hear the Agent's voice for it to work."

Stubbornly, Lelouch continued to stare out the window. Feeling his brother shift his weight; probably to stare at him, and give Lelouch a chance to rectify his little embellishment before the younger brother felt he had to. Now, if that not-god witch ever wanted to prove she was on his side…

"Good answer." The immortal wearing a girl's face interjected; and just that was enough to silence Rolo. As expected; the boy never did break the perceived chain of command. Lelouch barely managed to suppress a relieved sigh. At least the witch was willing to go out on a limb for them here. Not that it made him trust her. But the witch just threw him a warning glare for that last comment, and then went back to staring out of the window.

"Then let me go alone." Lelouch turned to stare at his brother slack jawed, barely registering the girl-immortal doing the same, if a little more composed. What did the boy think he needed to prove? "Apart from my sincerity, I would never just leave my brother, so you can be sure I will return."

"The same could be said for me, with the added bonus that I have absolutely no loyalty to the Order or this Agent on the run here." Lelouch snapped his mouth shut, but the damage had already been done. Was stupid catching or something? He should have at least kept his mouth shut until they had agreed Rolo to go. Hell, the man had one arm taped to his body. Surely, that alone disqualified him for this. Then again, you never could tell with these military types. The ones in the order had all been the crazy enough. No, there was no way he was chancing on Rolo getting himself killed. "Besides, if I make a run for it, your witch will always be able to find me anyway."

C.C. threw him a look, and general Tohdoh really did sound surprised: "She can?"

"Obviously." The witch admitted with a roll of the eyes. "That is how I found them in the first place."

Allies huh? Lelouch inwardly smirked. For people that supposedly trusted each other fully, there seemed an awful lot that one did not know about the other. The elder brother made a mental note not to slip out any more information that was absolutely needed in the future. This particular piece of info would do him little damage as he had nowhere to go anymore anyhow. Even if the witch kept up her end of the bargain and left him alone, there was still V.V.. Still, knowledge was power, and one shouldn't squander what little you had. The Japanese general was staring at Lelouch by now. "Can you do it?"

"Don't be silly, Lelouch." His little brother's tone had turned condescending when addressing his sibling. He really did love Rolo a lot. And his little brother was probably just trying to look out for him again. It was always important to remember that, lest he throttle the boy in a moment of weakness. By the time Rolo addressed Tohdoh he sounded respectful again: "This is not big brother's sort of thing at all. Let me go."

Lelouch might have gone a little cross-eyed at that. "I'll be back in half an hour." He announced, and quickly stepped out of the vehicle.

Perfect, just perfect. Well, Lelouch considered, conjuring up a map of the area from memory in his mind. Figuring out what way the Agent would be trying to make his getaway was easy. There were only two viable routes: either try to get away south, through the cover of some bushes. Or take the north route, over a river and up a steep hill. Lelouch was almost sure the Agent had taken the second route.

So basically, all he had to do was walk around and stay the hell away from that area and he would be fine.

Well, maybe not fine fine, as he had little credibility as it was. And if he just let that Agent pass him by without making even an attempt to catch him, it would probably look pretty bad. They might even cancel the new battle plan he had come up with, and they definitely would not let him watch. That would be a shame, because watching Britannians die miserably seemed like such a fun pass-time.

Lelouch threw a furtive glance up the hill, where he knew that Agent would be heading. But there was really no way he was going to take on another Agent one on one, when he didn't even know what the man's Geass was. There was a cough behind him, and Lelouch jumped, turned around.

He tried for composure as soon as he recognized her silhouette in the shadows: "And what are you doing here?"

The witch-immortal shrugged. "I thought I'd keep an eye on you. Provide some moral support, as to speak."

Despite himself, Lelouch groaned. "If you can really read my mind, witch, you know there is no way I'm doing this. Unless…" he quirked an eyebrow at her. "Unless you are willing to do the actual work."

Her tone sounded amused, and Lelouch thought he saw a smirk on her face. "Now it is well known around here, that as a rule, I don't do any work."

He shrugged at her, but she continued, taking a step closer: "Still, for you, I might be willing to break that rule. Just to make you look good. How does that sound?"

"Stupid." He snorted. "People start expecting miracles from me, and I'll be in a whole lot of trouble when I can't deliver. Besides, I'd rather get underestimated. It makes life easier."

She took another step closer, but her face was still frustratingly under lit. "And if I were to promise you to be there every time you needed a miracle? Would you take my offer then? Would it not be nice to have people believe in you for once?"

"I do have people that believe in me. Me, and my broth-… well, okay: maybe just me." Lelouch sighed again; under the circumstances, the offer was just too good to refuse. Still. Don't expect me to trust you…. "Do you have a gun?" he asked her at long last.

She shrugged. "Not on me. Do you need me to get you one?"

"For yourself perhaps. For this I think I'd prefer a soldier's helmet. And some headphones with some really loud music."

~~-oc-~~

Agent Jeffrey almost burst out laughing, as the two Japanese soldiers met. "Subaru!" Called the one under his Geass. "Please come over here."

The man complied, easily. And when he had come close enough, his new Japanese friend continued. Jeffrey didn't really know the language well enough to tell, but he was obviously being introduced.

"Greetings." Jeffrey intoned, letting the power hidden in his eye resurface. Letting it strengthen his words. "I am Jeffrey. I am your friend."

The soldier's–Subaru's-scowl immediately disappeared as Jeffrey's words etched themselves on his very soul. Yes; his power made everything he said sound like an absolute truth. And thus, he was now best friends with these two enemy soldiers.

This really was all too easy. And thus the three men made their way through the river and up the steep slope. They didn't move too fast, as Jeffrey's friends were amendment about protecting him to their best ability. But it was pretty safe going. In fact, he was half tempted to go back and free his partner before leaving. But such self-sufficiency was not encouraged amongst Agents, so Jeffrey would get himself to safety and contact base for further instructions first.

He wasn't that attached to his partner anyway. They had only been assigned to each other about a year back, when both their partners' Geass had gone out of control around the same time and they had been left as loners. Jeffrey still missed his old partner sometimes; she had been a girl he had grown rather fond of over the years. Still, he didn't much think on her and just considered himself lucky to have a Geass manageable and useful even if he had gone 24/7 years ago.

When the three 'friends' had made their way up the slope, Jeffrey found the last piece of luck to complete his mistake: there, in the dark, stood a dark military vehicle. The only guard in sight was a boy-soldier, leaning on the side of the vehicle with his hands in his pockets. In the dark, Jeffrey could just make out his gleaming helmet over the top of the car. Eagerly, he sent out his to 'friends' to secure the driver.

Jeffrey watched the display from the shadows, as the two soldiers hailed and pointed the boy in his direction. There was a bit of a discussion, in Japanese and the Agent could not make out much more then 'wari' and some shakes of the head from the boy. The soldiers responded with "nani, anno hea." and "okashina…" then one of his friends pointed his rifle at the boy, and their voices started getting louder. The boy put his hands up, but was still not moving from his spot. Jeffrey cursed and entered the clearing himself: the last thing he needed was loud voices-or worse, gunshots-to give away his position to the enemy.

But there was no reason to worry: Jeffrey's Geass was such that he needed only to open his mouth to stop any situation from escalating. "No need for worry, boy." he called out as he stepped into the clearing. "We are all friends here. And you would be happy to drive me to my destination, I know."

But then the boy straightened up and turned to face him, and Jeffrey noticed three very worrying things about him: first of all, he was too tall and his face too angular for him to be Japanese at all. Second, he had one eye firmly closed. Third –as Jeffrey's own voice died down and finally he had the silence to hear- the boy was listening to some very loud music; loud enough for him to not have heard a word Jeffrey had said.

And then Jeffrey's mind left him as the boy opened his left eye to reveal his own uncontrollable Geass: "Jeffrey is it?" Lelouch asked civilly. "Please explain to your friends here that what you really want to do is surrender to the Black Knights, and that you would enjoy their help in this."

As the two soldiers took their 'best friend' into custody, C.C. stepped out from the bushes. "Huuu~unn?" she asked, dumping the firearm she had acquired on one of the two tear-stricken men. "You didn't need my help at all."

"Yes I did." Lelouch admitted, a little tiredly. "Backup in case of unforeseen circumstances."

She tisked at him. "And you said you didn't trust me."

He didn't, but: "you do seem to want me alive."

"aah." She said solemnly, suddenly looking old. "And I could have just told your brother off too, if you'd thought to ask."

At his confused look she continued: "Back in the car. If I had told Rolo he couldn't go, that would have been the end of it. Not that Tohdoh would have let him go in the first place. But." And she tapped her forehead. "You do have to ask; if only in your head. I'm not psychic enough to know what you want ahead of time, you know."

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That's it! Whoohoo! Next up; epic battle time! Don't forget to say hi after reading. Oh and again this has not been beta'd yet so please point out any mistakes you might see!