ARC II, TURN 13: Desperation and Reunions
Unknown Location
August 8, 2018
7:50
The bomb Deadshot attached to the metal doors exploded with a loud boom that set the alarms blaring inside the building. Shouts of fear were overwhelming the building as Deadshot and Killer Croc barged in on the building with Deadshot armed with guns and Killer Croc armed with his freaky looks.
'Bet they're all afraid of Killer Crocs looks, not to the guns.' Deadshot thought.
"Listen, you Britannian bigoted fools!" Deadshot shouted but none of the people heard the words he said for they were busy shouting for help and crying for mercy.
"I said listen!" He shouted once again as he fired shots out of his rifle, effectively silencing the noisy people.
Deadshot looked at them in warning before continuing with his objective.
"Okay," he dropped his rifle onto a nearby table and sat on a chair, "I am here in search of a person. A girl named Milly Ashford."
Avalon
Schneizel's eyes were wide open as he watched the newly entered man on the current war. His mind was on a state of shock as he watched the man punched and kicked his way across the lit morning sky.
"What... what is this?" Kanon voiced aloud.
"Your Highness, sixty-seven percent of our troops are now down!"
Schneizel looked at the man who said the grave news; shock still apparent on his eyes.
"Sir Waldstein's back-up troops reported fifty-nine percent loss when the man intercepted them before heading to the battle."
Schneizel looked back at the battle and saw the man in blue costume and red cape punched a Black Knight knightmare frame when it tried to attack.
"Is there a background on this man on our database?" He said when he snapped out of his stupor.
"Nothing, Your Highness. We have nothing on them."
Schneizel flung the objects on the desk near him and screamed in frustration at his subordinates.
"How can this be happening?!"
Most of his men stared at him with fear on their eyes but some continued on in their tasks. Kanon, however, just continued to let his liege scream out his frustration caused by their losing battle.
"We have imposed strict law about establishing identity on our database in case problems like this should ever come! Preparation was done long ago and yet we are losing?!"
A young major hesitantly raised his hand up and Schneizel turned on him, fire was blazing on his eyes from rage.
"What?!"
"Uhm... Your Highness. T-the Shinkiro has... ex-exploded."
The major stuttered, fear was apparent on his face and he was sweating profusely.
Schneizel turned back to the battle that was broadcasting on the command center and there he saw the Shinkiro's remains spiraling down to the face of the earth.
"Is it possible that Zero is now dead?" Kanon asked.
"Did any of you saw if Zero ejected out of the Shinkiro before the explosion?"
All of them shook their heads no to his question.
"Incompetent fools!" Schneizel hissed at them.
Ikaruga
"Who… who are you?" Shirley asked as she started to distance herself away from the man. C.C. stayed rooted on her place.
"I'll tell you," he said, "later."
"And why should we go with you?" C.C. bravely asked, never even concerned if she was angering the man with her defiance.
The man never spoke for a couple of seconds. He just kept staring at them as if he was waiting patiently for them to come with him and not asked by C.C.
When they were both sure that he would not answer C.C.'s question, he spoke and caught them off guard.
"Because Lelouch asked me too."
He composed a small smirk on his face when he saw the widened eyes of the two girls when he spoke Lelouch's name.
"Why should we believe you?" C.C. asked, still doubting the man.
'He has the symbol. Is he…?' C.C. thought.
"Because I am one of the people he can truly trust."
"Your glare won't scare me away, princess." GQ said as he flipped a page on a magazine he was reading. "You better save that glare of yours to the rightful ones."
He heard Cornelia huffed in anger but did not acknowledge it. As far as he know, paying her no attention would stop from what she was doing and accept the fact that there's no way she would escape from his clutches.
"GQ? GQ, do you copy?"
Flag's voice coming from his walkie-talkie made GQ stop from what he was doing and focus on Flag. The magazine he was once reading was now lying on the floor, mere feet away from the bound princess.
"This GQ, Flagg."
A loud noise coming from Flag's background suggests that they were on a running vehicle.
"We're moving out. Return to the base with the prisoner, over."
GQ scratched the back of his neck in confusion. He could feel Cornelia's eyes on him as he continued to talk to his superior.
"Send out a chopper and tell 'em to meet us outside."
He started to pick up his rifle and backpack and approached Cornelia to unbind her.
"Negative, GQ."
GQ frowned and stopped unbinding Cornelia.
"It's dangerous to send out a chopper in your location. Moreover, the battle's still raging. You'll gonna end up being targeted."
GQ's jaws clenched as he tried subside the anger in him but failing to do so.
"So, you saying we're on our own?!" He exclaimed angrily.
Cornelia took advantage GQ's diverted attention and started to finish the bindings on her hands as quietly as she could while still listening to him and Flag attentively.
"I will send you the coordinates where you can rendezvous with Batman. Meet him there."
"Wait. What?" He asked, surprise lacing every word he said. "Batman's here?"
"Yes."
There was a loud explosion in the background and he heard Flag cursed despite the loud explosion that took place. He was about to ask about what was happening when Flag beat him to it.
"GQ, I'll send the coordinates in your pad. Do what I said and meet Batman there."
He cursed loudly as gunfires started in the background, barely hearing Flag's voice as he continued to speak.
"Damn it!"
It was the last thing he heard before the communication was cut. He stared at the walkie-talkie he was holding, hopeless and helpless as he thought about not being able to help his comrades.
"Okay."
He said determinedly as he turned around to finish unfastening Cornelia's binds-thoughts about his comrades' well-being pushed on the back of his mind as he do his current task.
"Okay, princess. We need to go-"
He was unable to finish his sentence as several bullets struck his torso that left him bleeding profusely on the floor.
"D-damn... you..."
He said as he succumbed to unconsciousness; the image of Cornelia holding his gun loaded with a silencer was the last thing he saw.
"What the fuck's happening out there?!" Tamaki shouted. "First, some chick replaced Kallen on her Guren. Then, that green man floating in the air stopped something from exploding. Now, this?!"
In front of him was Ohgi, busy assessing and giving orders to other Black Knights on the field and in Ikaruga as per Zero's command. He was also busily ignoring Tamaki's irritating loud voice and equally irritating presence.
Concentrated on the task as he may have been but a person could easily tell that something was on his mind.
'Who are those people?' He thought.
'What are they?'
"Ohgi, we could not locate the Shinkiro!"
Ohgi's concentration broke when Minami relayed the news about Zero.
"What?!" Tamaki exclaimed first, beating Ohgi.
"Have we managed to get a feed where he was last seen?"
Minami immediately went to work and searched for the feed that Ohgi mentioned. He was on to it for several minutes before he managed to bring a video feed on the large monitor in front of them.
"No!"
Tamaki collapsed on his knees when the video of the Shinkiro exploding emerged. This also left the rest of the Black Knights in the control room in shock as they watched their leader's knightmare frame explode. They were also equally surprised that no one managed to notice its explosion despite its loudness. They deduced that it might be because they were all busy handling the shock and surprise they felt when the two unknown men decided to enter the battlefield and the fact that they have an overwhelmingly large number of work to do.
Ohgi scrunched his face in thought when he noticed that something was amiss with the video.
"Minami, would you rewind the video?"
The last minute before the Shinkiro's explosion was once again brought up on the large screen.
"Is that... the Shinkiro's ejection pod?"
Minami zoomed the video and there it was: the Shinkiro's ejection pod that held Zero.
"He must be captured by the enemies!" Someone said.
Another piped in. "Wait! Look at that!"
All of them saw the man wearing a green suit caught Zero's ejection pod before he disappeared from the footage leaving them surprised with the two supposedly indirect interaction. Some of them were even guessing that Zero might have known the two men but it dissipated when they saw the man wearing a blue suit and a red cape destroy a couple of knightmare frames with his bare hands, including that of Black Knights.
Avalon
"Your Highness, we have prepared your shuttle for EVAC. It would depart in five minutes to rendezvous with His Majesty before en route to Pendragon. If you would please-"
"We would be heading to the Black Knights' Ikaruga." Schneizel said which made the young officer in front of him gape at him in shock.
"But, Your Highness, it would-" he tried to reason with Schneizel but once he saw the determination in his eyes, he reluctantly dropped his side of argument.
"Of course, Your Highness. I would inform the pilot about the change of course."
The young officer saluted before Schneizel to head to the hangar.
"Are you sure about your decision, Your Highness?"
Kanon asked the second prince regarding his decision about changing the shuttle's course. "What are planning to do in the Black Knights' territory?"
Schneizel turned to Kanon and smirked at him. His left hand was playing with the white king piece.
"I figured it is now time to tell the Black Knights about their leader's identity. Would you not say so?"
"Perhaps it is. However, their high ranking officers were out in the battlefield and busy fighting against our forces. If we relay our discovery about their leader without them, then it would not matter."
He gave Kanon a soft smile and replied, "We are pulling our forces, including the incoming Bismarck and his forces."
"Xing-ke, Britannian forces are pulling out!" Tohdoh's voice bursted out of Xing-ke's onboard communication speaker.
"I know, Tohdoh!" He grunted as he tried to shot down a fighter plane but failed when his missile missed it.
The fighter planes-it was the ones that attack him and his troops back in Jianmenguan. The ones that almost crippled his pride when he saw the Japanese woman defending a Britannian just like what Kururugi Suzaku was doing when he became a Britannian soldier before becoming a knight.
Tohdoh does not know what was happening around him. He was focusing on the fighter planes that was looming above the battlefield and destroying every knightmare frame they come across-Britannian or Black Knights'. They were successful in killing almost one-fourth of knightmare frames in both sides with just their missiles and their location was helping them. Any knightmare frames who attempted to chase them on the higher altitude has spiralled down the earth because of engine failure.
In his determination to eliminate the unknown forces, he failed to noticed the arrival of the second unknown man who eliminated many forces along his way.
"What the…?" Tohdoh said when he saw the man destroying a knightmare frame using a laser that was shooting out of his eyes.
He sent three missiles on the man's way in hopes of destroying him but when it exploded on him and when the smoke has cleared up, he noticed him still alive and fighting.
Readying his Seidoutou, he advanced to the man and made slash to kill the man but to his shock, the Seidoutou broke upon contact on the man's body. The man grabbed the part unbroken part of the Seidoutou and snatched it out of the Zangetsu's mechanical hands before destroying it on his bare hands and throwing it away from him.
Tohdoh saw no chance of incapacitating the mysterious enemy and just ended up opening his outer communication speakers to interrogate him.
"Who are you?!"
The man stood, or rather floated, in front of him and stared at right at him as if his gaze could penetrate through the thick metal walls of his Zangetsu.
"I believe you are in no position to ask me of that, General Tohdoh."
Tohdoh gritted his teeth when the man mentioned. How he found out his name, he did not know.
"Trust me, whoever you are," Tohdoh slowly approached the man activated the self-destruct sequence of Zangetsu when he was near enough. "This would definitely kill you!"
Seconds before it destructs, Tohdoh launched the ejection pod of his cockpit and he spiralled down to the earth and away from his knightmare's explosion.
'That would surely kill you.'
Tohdoh thought as he collapsed into unconsciousness caused by fatigue and lack of good day's sleep.
Suzaku knew that the Lancelot's capabilities further would result to its engine failure or explosion. However, if he decided to withdraw and waste time away from the battle, then he would be so sure that he would not get the chance to kill Zero in the near future. His first chance in killing him was with the FLEIJA but with the unknown man's intervention, the FLEIJA never got to explode onto Zero.
There was a part of him that was thankful that the man intervened before the FLEIJA exploded. They were, after all, battling above the Tokyo Settlement where millions of people, Britannian and Japanese alike, were currently living. If the explosion was not halted, then millions would perish under the FLEIJA's explosion and destruction would surely strike the Tokyo Settlement.
"Sir Kururugi, Prince Schneizel has ordered all forces to abandon their posts and retreat back to Headquarters." A young officer reported to Suzaku through his onboard communication link.
"What about the oncoming forces of Sir Bismarck?"
"Prince Schneizel ordered the to retreat back as well."
Suzaku gritted his teeth in anger. Another chance wasted.
"SITREP?"
The officer inhaled deeply and replied, "Seventy-five percent damage on our military force, sixty-three percent damage on our weapons: both artillery and weaponry, and and seventy-three percent of our troops are killed in action and fifty-seven are missing in action including the Knight of Six Anya Alstreim and Knight of Ten Luciano Bradley."
Suzaku blanched when he found out what to Anya and Luciano. The two were one of the best knightmare pilots in the Rounds and having them missing in action would definitely cripple Britannia. If their losses were not enough, then this news would surely bring Britannia to a temporary halt in the field of warfare.
"Do what you can to bring back Lady Alstreim and Sir Bradley! If you do not do what you have been asked, I would definitely hold you responsible. Understood?!"
The officer gulped in fear before stuttering out an affirmative.
"Wi-Wilco, Sir Kururugi!"
When the communication with the officer stopped, Suzaku, out of frustration and anger, slammed both of his fists down on the Lancelot's controls. The fucked up situation he was in was messing his head. Regardless of careful planning and execution, he still seemed to not get Zero in a corner and have his chance to kill him. There were circumstances that gets in his way every time he attempts to kill him that always resulted in him either failing to accomplish his task or Zero ending up getting away from his clutches.
Despite his anger, Suzaku managed to send out a command for all Britannian forces calmly although most knew that he was angry that their mission has failed.
"To all Britannian forces, Prince Schneizel has issued a complete retreat order. Please get back to the Headquarters for assessment and damage control."
He repeated his message for two more times before closing the open channel and reluctantly making the Lancelot retreat out of the battlefield. However, before he completely retreat, he saw the two men, the reason why his mission failed, floating in front of the partially destroyed Government Bureau.
They were watching grimly as they retreat out of the battlefield and despite their reluctant retreat, Suzaku knew that the two would not let their guard down until they were definitely sure that they truly did retreat. Suzaku does not know where their allegiance lies on, but he was definitely sure that would not hesitate to kill anyone if given a chance.
'Who are these men? What do they want?' He thought.
Memories of what happened in Kururugi Shrine drifted to the front of his mind. The unbelievable way that Lelouch act towards the man named Joker, his display of unbelievable power… all of it looks similar to the way the man in the red has acted. Eyes that shoots laser, flight and strength that no human could accomplish-all of it were similar.
'Is there a chance that they knew each other?'
He knew that it held no matter. What matter now is about defeating the two and he absolutely has no idea on how to. After what he has witnessed earlier in battle, he knew that it would take infinite resources of weaponry to take down the two and he would not risk wasting Britannia's weapons in uncertainty.
Observing the enemy and carefully planning his next mission was all he could do… for now. The time would definitely come when he would get an upperhand to them.
Perhaps, he could get an alliance with the two? He knew it would be possible considering that the two never should an alliance to both opposing parties but there was a big chance that they were also against the two. The two did killed many on both sides, after all.
'It would do us good if we could make them an ally.' He thought as he glanced to the two one last time before heading back to the Headquarters.
"They're finally retreating." Green Lantern said as he watched the Britannian forces retreat back to their Headquarters. "Any minute now the Black Knights would issue their own retreat order."
"Retreating, never surrendering." Superman muttered as he watched the Lancelot on the corner of his eyes. "The battle was still not finished as long as no one surrenders. Losing was not on their options."
"Lelouch lead them to war. I don't know if it's a good thing." Green Lantern muttered.
"It is. Sometimes people should learn on how to stand up against the higher ups. It's not everyday that someone has to save them. They don't have superheroes like us." Superman smiled at Green Lantern and patted his shoulder before flying back to the Command Base. Green Lantern was left to assess the damage the battle has inflicted amongst the people-both Britannian and Eleven, and the destruction it has caused to the Tokyo Settlement.
Ikaruga
"Where are we going?"
Batman stayed quiet and continued to attach bombs on an empty room in Ikaruga. The orange haired girl who asked him huffed in frustration on his silent treatment.
"Oi, we're asking you questions!" The green haired girl, C.C., sent a punch on his way and he was quick to dodge it. C.C. stumbled and fell on her butt when she tried to regain her balance.
"You two should stay quiet!" He hissed in anger.
The two girls glared at him before sulking away from him.
"Three Unknown Heat Signatures Approaching the Current Location. ETA, Three Minutes."
"Hey, you two!" Batman hissed to the two girls that was outside the small room he was in. "Get in!"
"Why should we?" C.C. retorted back haughtily.
"Just get in or I'll make you!"
The two must've knew that he was not bluffing and quickly scrambled to get inside the small room despite their initial reluctance. He closed the door of the room just in time when the three unknown heat signatures rounded the corner where their room was located.
"I heard from someone that Princess Cornelia was here and was trying to escape when Diethard saw her." One said.
Batman gritted his teeth in anger when he found out that Cornelia managed to escape from the clutches of Lieutenant GQ Edwards. How she has managed to escape from him, he did not know.
There was someone who snorted before another spoke.
"Really, then we must've been lucky."
"Someone said that Prince Schneizel is here. We could kill two Britannian royalties in one day!"
There was laughter before another replied. "As if Zero would let you!"
"Anyway, have you seen the battle earlier? Man, the two mysterious men were powerful!"
"Must be new Britannian technology."
Their voices slowly faded as the got away from Batman's location but there gossip was enough intel for Batman. He knew that the Black Knights hasn't still found out about GQ and he knew it would be a matter of time before they do. He has to act quickly to locate him before the Black Knights beat him to it.
Batman turned to the two girls and stared at them for a minute before speaking.
"Stay here and don't go outside this room. I'll be back shortly."
He never gave them a chance to argue as he exited the room and locked it on the outside.
"What do you want from us, Prince Schneizel?" Chiba sneered as she sat down on her seat beside her fellow Black Knight officers.
"I come to talk, Miss Nagisa Chiba." Schneizel calmly replied and gestured to his aide de camp for something. "In fact, I came in with a gift."
The aide de camp exited the room for a minute and came back with a very familiar person whom they thought had perished on the war that took place earlier.
"Asahina!"
Chiba and Tohdoh (who just woke up from the clutches of unconsciousness five minutes before Schneizel arrived) rushed towards their weak comrade and took him away from Schneizel's aide de camp. The rest of the Black Knights stayed on their seats as they watched the reunion of the three.
"What happened to you?"
Asahina attempted to reply but the overwhelming fatigue and pain overcame his senses as he collapsed on Chiba's arms.
In their haste to get Asahina away from Schneizel's grubby hands, they failed to noticed the wounds and bruises on Asahina's body. Most of his wounds were not fatal but was still enough to draw blood out of his body.
"What have you done?!" Tohdoh shouted towards the prince angrily.
Despite the animosity that was around them originating from every Black Knights present inside the room, Schneizel still hold his calm facade even though anticipation and irritation was coursing inside of him. He knew losing his temper in front of them would result in dire consequences and he knew it would greatly affect his current agenda. He could not afford the last and only chance to topple his little brother and break his hold on the Black Knights.
"Our foot soldiers found him inside the Government Bureau in that state. We have no knowledge on what has happened to him inside." His aide de camp replied.
"Kanon, is it?" Ohgi asked him to which he nodded in affirmative. "Tell us a reason why we should believe the words you just spouted out of your mouth."
"Most of our foot soldiers stationed in the Government Bureau were either dead or tortured by unknown assailants who stormed inside the building whilst the battle was happening. They were the ones who kidnapped Viceroy Nunnally."
Surprise etched on their faces when they found out that someone beat them from seizing the Viceroy. They knew that Zero has sent someone to capture the crippled princess and was hoping that they were the ones who got her.
"The most disturbing part was the torture," Kanon continued. "Some assailants tortured several of our soldiers to get intel from them to use against us. They all killed them after they got what they want and fortunately for us, two soldiers has managed to evade them."
Schneizel dropped a manila folder on the table and Tohdoh quickly snatched it and opened it.
"I know this man…"
Events of what happened in Jianmenguan once again permeated to Tohdoh's mind. Amongst the soldiers that attacked them, one man stood out and he was definitely the one on the picture he was holding.
"You know him." Schneizel said rather than questioned. It was as if he knew that Tohdoh knew the person who lead covert operation to kidnap Nunnally.
"He attacked us in Jianmenguan and killed our forces except me and Tohdoh." Xing-ke intervened.
"Do you know who they are?" Chiba sharply asked. Her hostility towards the Britannian royalty has not escaped Schneizel's keen eyes. She has right, in his opinion, to hate every Britannian for they were the ones who took their nation away from them.
"Unfortunately, no," Schneizel said grimly, "however, we are doing everything we can to figure their identities, including the two men who entered the battlefield earlier."
"We guessed that the group who kidnapped Viceroy Nunnally and the two men were somehow connected. They might knew each other and has a possibility that they have allegiances with each other."
"Could we just get down to the business already?!" Tamaki shouted in irritation and impatience.
"Why are you here, you Britannian assholes?!"
Every Black Knight in the room sent a glare on Tamaki's way but he never minded it. He just wanted to find out the reason why some Britannians were on their flagship and talking to them as if they were allies despite the heated conversation that took place earlier.
"I have some information regarding to your leader and I am so sure you would not find it to your liking." Schneizel stated calmly despite Tamaki's rudeness.
"Yeah, yeah whatever you say. I would say it know that whatever you are accusing my buddy of, I knew he would do it!"
"Just shut up, Tamaki!" Tohdoh shouted in irritation. When he was sure that Tamaki has shut up, he turned to the prince and gestured for him to continue.
Schneizel gave small, winning smile before starting to relay his findings on their supposedly 'miraculous' leader.
Despite the feeling of satisfaction on what he would be doing, Schneizel does not shrugged off the feeling that something, or someone, was eavesdropping on them. He knew he has do something about it but he also knew that he was only feeling paranoia. He decided to shrug off the notion and went on his mission, never noticing dark knight looming above them and eavesdropping on them the entire meeting.
Command Center
"Look who's here!"
Flash exclaimed when he saw Lelouch exiting the ejection pod he was riding in. Despite the mask he saw wearing, no person could not decipher the amount of happiness the superhero was feeling when he saw his long time friend and ally.
"Glad to see you again, Barry."
The two shared a manly hug before walking away from the helipad.
"Where's Nunnally?" Lelouch asked as soon as they were in safe distance away from the noise coming from the helicopter. "Is she okay?"
"Thought you'd ask me of that," Barry muttered sheepishly. "She's okay, Lelouch. She's sleeping in one of the quarters here and before you ask, yes, there were guards in front of her room."
"Good, good." Lelouch nodded in satisfaction. "Where's my father?"
"Still in Ikaruga." Flash simply said. He was about to continue speaking when Wonder Woman suddenly joined the conversation.
"Nice to see you all grown up, Lelouch." The woman enveloped Lelouch in a motherly hug which he readily reciprocated.
"Thanks, Diana."
"Anyway, the others are waiting for you inside. We should come in."
Diana dragged Lelouch inside the building and to the lounge room where the others were currently waiting for his arrival.
Once they arrived in front of the lounge room, it has not escaped Diana's eyes the huge take of breath Lelouch has take and she knew the young boy was feeling anxious to meet his fellow comrades and friends once again. Sure, it would bring him happiness to once again be reunited with his friends but she was not sure how he would take the news of his half-sister's survival and her current occupation. She knew giving him a heads up would definitely help him to accept things that involved Euphemia but she knew it was not her position to decide things for the entire League. She should've asked about their opinion before he was scheduled to arrive in the base.
"You ready?"
Lelouch nodded his head in affirmative and proceeded to enter the lounge room where he saw his friends waiting for him with big smiles on their faces.
He anticipated their smiles, their big hugs and their pat of recognition but he definitely did not expected his half-sister, Euphemia, waiting for him with a big smile on her face and looking very alive.
"Hello, Lelouch."
Her pink haired younger sister gave him a big hug which shocked hell out of him.
"Eu-Euphie?"
He looked around the room and instantly noticed their nervous faces. They were waiting for him to respond to Euphie's hugs and greetings.
"What… what's happening?" Lelouch asked, confusion and shocked was running its course on his system. "Euphie… why are you…?"
He did not managed to finish his sentence because of the blackness that overwhelmed his mind as he succumb to unconsciousness, a regularity ever since his powers has been unlocked and has been eating away his energy.
A/N: Sorry for the late update, guys. I've been plagued by writer's block and has to do several writings for the start of the chapter.
Anyway, next would be up on or before May 1 as a compensation for the long wait you guys have suffered for this update.
Cheers :)
P.S: Have you guys seen the new Teen Titans movie and the new trailer for the Justice League? What are your thoughts about it?