Code Light Chapter 14: Note-Napping

Light contemplated his options. His instructions to keep Lelouch alive were simple enough, the prince had a well-developed sense of self preservation. He did not wish to become idle, but truth be told matters slowed as he solved his problems one by one. Still this made Ryuk rather anxious and although complacent for the time being the shinigami would not be contented for long.

"Why are you still reading that thing Light, you must have read it a dozen times already."

"I have a feeling I missed something." He'd missed nothing after the second reading, which was only necessary due to him being interrupted by V.V.. The book had proved to be a valuable resource, listing various folklore referring to the dead returning to life and other phenomena. As it would seem there could very well be a third Immortal as close as the Chinese Federation as far as recent sightings had insinuated. Still, it would probably be best to help Lelouch achieve his goal before leaving him exposed. The boy couldn't even defend himself even with geass.

Light would settle for more testing with the Death Note. Acquiring parts to fit his printer to the notebook had been cheap, but tedious. Should he be able to use the printer, he could set up a near automated machine. He could type faster than he could write and once he found a way to get rid of Charles and V.V. he would not be forced to limit himself. Patience was needed however, an experimental Immortal would be needed to test their methods and limits of revival.

After turning on the printer Light frowned when he arrived at his rummaged desk. Apparently C.C. had managed to open the drawer but failed to detect the false bottom. Although she had made it uncomfortably close. He was irked at the fact that he'd nearly lost a tool for justice to the hands of a rouge Immortal, though glad his trap had workers so well.

The results ended as he had predicted. Printers could be used to specify time, place and the like, however imagining the face of the victim was also required. So the mechanism was largely useless, only he most minor of conveniences.

Ryuk watched intently with something akin to a frown plastered on his gruesome visage.

Lelouch yawned as slowly built a scenario for the semi-aquatic Alphei frame. Based on rapid formation of cavitation bubbles blah blah blah. He did have more time to talk with Suzaku, but that hardly made up for his slave driver of a partner. The foreknowledge had given him time to develop countermeasures however, the Black Knights even managed to get some of the military to snare their own units with the strange new weapon. Mr. Lehrer had temporarily stepped out and Lloyd slipped in.

"Good afternoon." Lelouch greeted not turning away from the screen.

"You sure are working hard there. But you don't really seem to be getting into it very much. I accepted Suzaku's recommendation of you because he said you were a rather ambitious fellow, however I'm not quite seeing that." Lelouch frowned, he was determined. His cause for working in the lab was espionage, not research.

"I am more one to solve problems than to spontaneously generate them."

"Is that so? Hmm perhaps I should rig something up to make you more at home here. You aren't half bad, just a little lacking in what precisely I need." Lloyd frittered flippantly about the room paging through stacks of paper. Though he wasn't making a big fuss the ruffling of the papers was still slightly distracting.

"Could I help you find something?" Hopefully he could help Lloyd find what he was looking for and remove the distraction. His boss ignored him and with an Aha! picked up a pile of papers and left.

"This is most interesting." Lloyd muttered to himself, grabbing some pudding from a mini-fridge. He looked at the papers, at the process. Most of it was insight, however these were the pages Mr. Lehrer had yet to show him. Original knightmare frames. Of course they were disguised, distributed as parts of several different schematics of mediocre frames. Skillfully done, Lloyd would never have noticed if he hadn't already been suspicious, but it seemed reminiscent of Watari. Oh Watari! Though not the revolutionary as the Ashfords had been, his redesign of the interface and power core had been revolutionary! His work had centered on more domestic utilities as well, but Lloyd took no interest in that. What could Watari be doing here though? Doubtless his personal funds were more or less equal to the meager amount that Schneizel allotted him.

"Ah well..." Lloyd sighed. He may as well take the boon as he had it and resumed enjoying his pudding.

"Hey Lelouch, have things settled down between you and Light?"

"Yes, the matter resolved itself quite nicely." Staring out the window, he wondered if C.C. found anything earlier in the day. He hadent the time yet to pull her aside for a private chat.

"Oh really? How so?" Suzaki didn't seem too surprised, but then again he seemed to be focusing more on the road than the conversation.

"Well while we talked he figured there was really no love lost between the emperor and myself. He also came to the conclusion that I am quite unlike other royals."

"I can see how he figured that. Anyhow were you able to figure out the project? Wait, that's a stupid question, of course you did. Could you help me and Kallen on the project? I'd never be able to understand why the EU backed out of Australia on my own."

"I'd be happy to help." It would be relaxing to spend social time with Suzaku again. He could also use this as an excuse to get closer to Kallen in this persona. He wanted to know what she thought about Light. It was doubtful she'd talk about her feelings for the new coworker to her boss. Kallen became much less suspiscious after the phone call, but as oblivious as she was he doubted the ruse would last long. Perhaps he could try to pass himself off as an informat, a private information broker, to Zero. Still, he wanted her to see this mask as a friend and not a fellow conspirator.

Suzaku dropped him off at the main gates to Ashford before driving back to his second rate apartment. Lelouch wished he would let him help out, but his friend insisted on being self supporting. Though he'd never actually been, Suzaku informed him that his shack was a humble abode and that they should meet at the Stadtfeld Estate the following afternoon. Lelouch hoped it would go over well when Kallen was informed, she seemed to think that Lelouch Lamprouge was a bit pompous.

•••

"So what did you find?" He asked as he entered his room to find C.C. snuggled up with the ridiculous Cheese-Kun on his bed.

"A strange boy kicked me while I was there. Do something about it." C.C. pouted bitterly. Lelouch hated it when she foot like this, what did she mean anyway when she said someone kicked her?

"I thought you would be an expert combatant after centuries of training." He goaded. She usually divulged more information in her snappy retorts.

"Well he's even better. He can pick locks too, I just busted in through one of the glass panes."

"I thought you could pick locks."

"I can, I just didn't feel like it at the time." Careless. Why would she go about just breaking windows?

"So what where you fighting over? Did you find any information or clues?"

"I believe he found something, but he wouldn't reveal it while I was there."

"You'll have to go back then, won't you?"

C.C. let out a hmmph and rolled over. Lelouch shoved her to the side and lay down, wishing she could have at least figured out who the mystery man was. She was a strange one, always calling herself his accomplice, yet never doing more than she had to for him. A mystery was what she was to him, but what was he to her? C.C. said she made the contract so that he could fulfill her wish, but Lelouch didn't know what she wanted. Perhaps he would figure it out one day, but tired from working and plotting he drifted to sleep.

•••

The Stadtfeld Estate wasn't exactly impressive compared to the Aries Villa, however it was rather impressive compared to how he'd been living for the past years. He waited for Suzaku to catch up with him before knocking on the door. A japanese maid opened the door and greeted them.

"Welcome. I see you brought a friend with you. I will take you to Kallen's room."

Suzaku knocked on Kallen's door and waited.

"Hey Suzaku, I..." seeing Lelouch her expression fell flat. This was wonderful, his old friend must have forgotten to warn his partner he was coming. She seemed rather galled that he managed to tag along. Getting closer to her wasn't going to be easy, that was for sure.

"You brought Lelouch I see."

"Yeah I thought he could help us out."

"Well I already invited Light to help out." Oh that was wonderful, Light. Still his disdain was more of a conditioned reaction, it wasn't the infuriation he'd felt when Light discovered his identity.

"Light and I are partners. I suppose we'll just work in conjunction with you two." The group sat around the small table in Kallen's room. Unfortunately for Lelouch it seemed the chairs were supposed to decorative and not actually sat upon, it was killing his backside. He helped Suzaku with the events of the failed landing at Weipa, trying to explain the misinformation to the german fleet. Kallen for the most part seemed to ignore him, preferring to talk to Light. There were gaps of silence as both Suzaku and Kallen worked.

"Lelouch, was the source of disinformation ever revealed?"

"Hmm?"

"The disinformation, it seems it had been used in every key battle. Why didn't the EU ever catch on?" What was Suzaku talking about, was that true? He mentally went over the key battles, Weipa, Townsville, Rockhampton... hold on.

"You seem to be right, most of the decisive victories happened on the east coast."

"But their armies were primarily stationed on the west coast." Light countered "The number of units stationed on the east coast were minimal."

"Yes, but those on the east coast still did win more decisive victories, even with fewer units."

"So what do you think about it?" Light seemed to grin at Lelouch's statement.

"I think this calls for our immediate attention partner." Apparently Light hadn't managed to reach this conclusion before him. As intelligent as he was, he was no god. He turned to Suzaku and Kallen "I'm afraid Light and I must depart for some extra research."

"That was not the most graceful exit." Light stated as he drove Lelouch back to Ashford Academy. It seemed the boy did on occasion prove that he was intelligent as well. Lelouch narrowed his eyes.

"Graceful or not, the events reek of the use of geass. We should look into it."

"Yes but where are we going to start? The only information we have deduced thus far is the fact that a geas user may have been on the east coast." Of course Light could make his own quick trip down to Australia when he was sure Lelouch wouldn't be in danger. Government backing had benefits, perhaps he could requisition a private jet. That would be useful, but he didn't wish to overstep his boundaries.

"I'll ask C.C. if she knows anything about geass in Australia. We can also look for people who's movements match the dates of the battles." Lelouch seemed so confident while he spoke, it was ridiculous. He seemed nearly proud of his plan, it hardly surpassed common sense. Only an imbecile wouldn't try referencing movements. As for asking C.C., Light doubted she had anything to do with it and the fact Lelouch didn't think to look for another Immortal meant he thought C.C. was the only one who could. However he knew about Light's geass so that didn't make any sense, perhaps Lelouch just overlooked the fact.

"Ryuk, has anyone with geass died in Australia?"

"What are you talking about Light? I don't know that kind of stuff." Ryuk cocked his head, before a moment of realization hit the slow witted creature. "I get it! Your tricking him! He knows I exist but can't hear my answers! That's a good one!"

"He said yes, but the way he's laughing suggests there's some trickery involved." Indeed Light was trying to speak over Ryuk's guffaws, even though he knew Lelouch wouldn't hear them.

"Try asking him if anyone with geass has died after the war."

"No."

"So if he did exist, he would still be alive today."

"I suppose I'd best make arrangements to go to Australia then. I assume you'll wish to send someone with the Black Knights, even though we are on good terms I doubt you trust me that far yet." Of course he wouldn't send one of the Black Knights with him, he'd send someone who already knew about geass and that meant C.C.. She was a pain, but Light could be able to squeeze more information about geass and Immortals out of her.

"Well, your right on that. C.C. will go with you." The car pulled up to Ashford. "I'll go tell C.C. to start packing. Try not to let her get too out of hand."

"Of course." Light smiled. Exactly as planned.

Author's Note: Blarblarblar. I read Dauntless and now I'm getting my characters all confused. Ah well.