21: Freedom's Price Pt.2

Girl on the Battlefield

It was very early when Lelouch began to wake. His head was pounding like a base drum, and his left eye was throbbing horribly. He reeked of sweat, and was drenched from head to toe. Wrinkling his nose distastefully, he flung the sheets off, and moved to take a shower. A sleepy mumble caught his attention as Milly stirred beside him.

The young woman rolled over to face him, a sleepy smile on her face, "Are you feeling alright?" She asked, her eyes only half open, "You were sweating horribly for most of the night."

Lelouch nodded, smiling a little in return, "Yeah, I'm fine, Milly," he said, moving back to the bed to kiss her good morning, "Sorry if I woke you."

Milly shook her head, more alert now, "I was more worried about you than getting sleep," she said, sitting up to wrap the bed's sheets around her body, "C.C. said that you were suffering because of your Geass getting stronger. If you're not careful, she said it could run out of control, and you wouldn't be able to stop it."

The exiled prince frowned, "Sounds like I need to start wearing an eyepatch all the time, then," he said, shaking his head, and sitting down on the bed, "I'm beginning to regret this power." He admitted, "I'm grateful to have it, but damn if it doesn't cause problems when I least expect it."

"C.C. said much the same thing when I asked her if she would give one to me," Milly said, making Lelouch look at her sharply, disbelief written all over his face.

"Please tell me she didn't!" Lelouch panicked.

The girl shook her head, "No, C.C. shot me down," she said, smiling at him, "She made a good argument."

"Good," he sighed, then kissed her again, rising, "You go ahead and go back to sleep, I'm going to wash off all this sweat."

Milly reached out and encircled his waist with her arms, "Oh, but you know how much I like sweat, Lulu-darling." She all but purred, which made the man smirk at her.

"Deal with it," Lelouch said, untangling himself from her arms, "I smell horrible, and anymore activities right now would probably wake up Nunnaly."

He was about to head to the bathroom when he heard his phone start buzzing. But it wasn't his personal phone but the phone he used for contacting either Ohgi, or Kallen!

He picked it up and pressed the answering key, activating the built-in voice scrambler. "Yes?"

"Zero!" It was Kallen, "Thank God! I need your help!"

Lelouch didn't like the sound of her voice at the moment. She sounded frantic and panicked. Not at all like the Kallen he knew. "What's wrong?" He asked, frowning, "Have you been found out?"

"Yes," she said with deep regret, "Listen, my stepmother..."

=x=

Earlier with Kallen

Kallen was packing everything she thought they would need to get out of the house. Her father always kept a large sum of money in the house in a safe, to which she knew the combination. The safe contained about five million pounds in large bills, a fortune for anyone save for Nobles richer than her father. She took it all, not wanting to leave anything for that wretched woman she had to call a stepmother.

Her own mother was fidgeting nervously as she watched her daughter pile the money into two duffel bags on the floor along with whatever clothing they would need on their own. It was her hope to contact Zero, and have him find some where safe for the two of them while she helped him with the war effort.

"Okay," the girl said, finishing off the contents of the safe, "That'll be enough to keep you comfortable until well after the war's over, whether we win or lose." She said, hefting the bags over her shoulders, "Now all we need is to get one of the cars out of the garage and get the hell out of here."

Natsume frowned, her hands trembling as she clasped them over her chest, "I'm not sure about this, dear," she said as the girl moved past her toward the door, "I mean Robert's looked after us for years and - "

"And where is he now?" Kallen asked, frowning at her, "Mom, get a grip, he's never coming back because he can't bare to look at us in the face again." She said, "For one thing, he can't stand his damned wife anymore than he can stand being reminded of the son he lost!"

"But still," the woman tried again, "It doesn't seem right to just rob the man!"

Kallen rolled her eyes, "Are you kidding?" She asked, holding up one of the bags, "This is Mrs. Stadtfeld's lingerie money!"

Natsume looked at her daughter in disbelief, "Kallen, dear, are you joking?"

At this Kallen gave a deadpan look, "Of all the times I wish I was, Mom, I'm not this time." She said, frowning, "That woman spends enough money on clothes to feed all of the ghettos for a year!"

The elder Kozuki bit her lip, "Well...in that case..."

Kallen smiled at her mother, and tugged her along, "Come on, let's get out of here."

"The car keys will be locked up," Natsume said, "Mrs. Stadtfeld doesn't trust any of the maids, even though they're Britannians, and -"

Kallen scoffed, "So what, I'll hot-wire the damned thing."

"Kallen, watch your language!" Natsume admonished her.

Kallen actually giggled at this, "You're joking, right? Tamaki makes me sound like an amateur."

The two of them slipped out of the room and quietly made their way down the halls, and toward the front door. It was very early in the morning, not even dawn yet. No one should have been up yet. At least, that was Kallen's hope.

As the reached the stairs, the lights flared to life, and the two froze.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Shrill, disapproving voice said, "I always knew that you were bad news. And now look at you." Mrs. Clarabelle Stadtfeld said, as she descended the stairs opposite of them, "Stealing away in the dead of night, and with something valuable it seems."

Kallen scowled at the woman, "Yup, and guess what?" She said, smiling cruelly, "Not a single penny ever belonged to you." She said, and drew her Blaster, aiming it directly at the woman, who froze. "You wanna know the combination to that safe?" She asked tauntingly, "It's my mom's birthday."

Natsume looked at her sharply, while the blonde woman glared at the Japanese woman, "Oh, Robert - "

"Not now, Mom," Kallen hissed at her.

"And you think you can just make off with all of Robert's hard earned money, I think not you filthy little half-breed!" The woman screeched, "I've already notified the police that two thieves had broken into my home, and given them your descriptions!"

Kallen flipped the Blaster's power level to killing force, "Then this makes things all the more easy." Kallen said, taking aim, "But as a Black Knight, I've been told that to kill for revenge is wrong. That I'm to use my power to help those in need." She snarled as the woman backed away from her while she and her mother began to their advance, "I've got every reason to hate you. To kill you for how you and those other maids treated my mother for years!"

"They did that on their own!" She snapped.

"You really think I give a damn!" Kallen roared, pulling the trigger and burning a hole into the carpet at her feet. The woman screamed and fell backward, "Every time I came home I felt nothing but hate and shame because I saw my mother being treated as a serf! Something even lower than a slave! And all because the staff wanted to make you, a model Britannian, proud of them!"

"Kallen, stop!" Her mother said firmly, "We don't have time for this! The police!"

Kallen turned and nodded, "Right, we need to go!" She huffed, and went for the stairs.

"You should have been killed with that brother of yours!" The woman shouted as she got to her feet. "I told those idiots to get both of you!"

That was when it all snapped. With a scream of rage, she rushed forward, and the woman was sent over the railing, crashing into a table as she hit the floor. Natsume couldn't believe it. She looked down at her hands, and then down at the woman below her on the floor. She was breathing. There was that...but by God she wanted it to not be true.

She ground her teeth so tightly she tasted blood, and spat at the woman, "That was for my son, you bitch!"

Kallen smiled at her mother, and led her down to the garage. She chose the fastest car they had, and made their way out of the estate. The Knight Police were already out, and looking for them, however, as the girl drove them toward the Tokyo settlement.

"There's no way I can outrun a Glasgow in this thing," Kallen said, referring to the car. "If I had my Liger, then we'd be home free."

"Liger?" Natsume asked, "Isn't that one of those animals bred in zoos?"

Kallen giggled, "No, Mom, I'm talking about this amazing machine I pilot for the Black Knights." She told her.

Natsume frowned, "Kallen is there any way that you'd stop doing what you're doing?" She asked pleadingly, "I know that you wish to have Japan back, but I can't bear the thought of losing you like I did Naoto."

Kallen smiled at her as she moved their car along the roads carefully, "You won't, Mom, and I honestly think that if you met Zero, you'd like him." She said with a faint blush on her cheeks. "He can seem a little scary at times, but...he's kind. Very kind. That much I can tell from the way his men talk about him."

"But his face," Natsume frowned, remembering the image of the poor young man she had seen on the Tv.

Kallen frowned at this, "Yeah..." She said, "No wonder he wears that mask."

Natsume looked at her daughter, seeing a familiar look upon the girls face, and smiled, "Kallen, do you love him?"

Kallen sputtered, "Mom, I - "

A spot light blared through the windshield. "You in the car! Pull over and step out or be fired upon!"

Kallen growled, and stomped on the gas, "Fuck no!"

Natsume yelped and held on for dear life as Kallen sped into the settlement with the blue and white Glasgow hot on their tails. "Not good," Kallen muttered as the machine gained on them, and looked at her mother, "Can you shoot?"

"Now I know you're joking, I'm a maid!" Natsume yelped as Kallen groaned, and thrust the large, bulky weapon at her, "K-Kallen! I don't know how to shoot this thing!"

"Flip the safety on the left side just behind the trigger," Kallen said, "then just point and pull the trigger!"

"B-But I- "

"Mom!" Kallen howled as the Knightmare started shooting at them. "Either start shooting, or get over here and take the wheel, and I'll hang out the window and shoot!"

Natsume frowned and popped open the sunroof, "I still don't like this!" She yelled against the wind passing them by, and shouldered the weapon, "Where's the gun sight on this thing?!"

"Doesn't have one," Kallen shouted from below, "But it fires a huge blast, so hold on!"

Natsume groaned, and aimed the weapon, and the Glasgow was bearing down on them. The pilot must have thought the weapon would do very little against his Knightmare, because he was right on top of them when the woman fire. The blast that shot forth at such close range would have put a hole through a human body, but the Knightmare's armor kept the damage to a minimum...but the damage was still enough to go right through the cockpit.

The Glasgow stumbled and fell behind them as the machine collapsed, exploding

"Whoo! Way to go, Mom!" Kallen shouted as her mother settled back into her seat, stunned.

"I-I j-just k-killed someone."

Kallen bit her lip, "Look, Mom, it was either him, or us, and if I'm caught, I dead, or tortured like Naoto."

"I know, I know, it's just..." she trailed off, shaking her head.

Kallen reached a hand out to squeeze her shoulder, and reached for her phone, "We're gonna need help," she said, frowning, "It won't be long before it gets out that we got one of the Knight Police, and that'll reach the Viceroy. If she gets involved, then we are royally screwed."

She punched in the number, and help it up to her ear, "Come on, Zero, pick up!"

=x=

Present Time

"And that's what happened," Kallen's voice said over the phone, "We're heading toward the back routes so we can get to Theta base without being noticed, but with the chance of more Knight Police on our tails, I'm not even sure I should risk it!"

Lelouch felt his heart beating fast in his chest, panic setting in. "You're doing the right thing, and that's all you need to know." He said, looking at Milly, who looked frightened, "Listen, in the pistol I gave you, there's a tracker, press the safety switch in to activate it, and I'll come to you, just stay ahead of the Police forces, and if you see Cornelia, ditch the car and find some place to hide."

"Understood," she said, and Lelouch heard the wail of a siren over the phone, "Shit, looks like they found us again! Zero, whatever you do, do it fast!"

"Just hang on!" Lelouch said, "I'm coming for you now!"

"Thank you, Zer- Shit!" The phone went dead.

"Kallen?!" He yelled, and slammed the phone down, "Dammit!"

Milly began dressing quickly, "What are we doing?" She asked, looking at the exiled prince, "We can't leave them out there for long. There's no care that can outrun a Glasgow for long, and if the horrid woman really did report them, it'll get to Cornelia faster than we can move in a normal vehicle."

"I'll have to take the Hammer Head," He said, going to his closet and pulling out his costume, then looked back at her, "Wait! You're not coming!"

Milly huffed, and gave him a look, "The only way you're getting me to stay behind is to Geass me!" She said with finality, "And we both know you wouldn't do that willingly!"

"I -"

"Don't have time to argue," she finished for him with a waving motion of her hand, "Kallen and her mother are in trouble right now, and we need to move. Now, give me that suit there!"

Lelouch looked at the indicated article of clothing, "Ah, Milly, that's - "

"I know what it is," Mill snapped, "Now hand it here!"

Lelouch sighed and handed her the white and gold outfit, 'Well, I guess this is as good a time to crown the White Queen as any...but damn, that thing's going to be tight on her...' He frowned as she started slipping into it while he donned his own.

"And instead of taking that bulky war ship," Milly grunted as she squeezed herself into the uniform, "Why don't we take mine? It's faster, and it carry a car."

Lelouch nodded, fixing his eyepatch, and placing his mask over his face. "I can agree to that." His warped voice said through his mask as he turned to her, taking her in, "Hmm, that looks quite good on you."

Milly giggled as she gave him a little pose, "It's a little tight, but I like it." She was now dressed in a white and gold flight suit he had initially designed for C.C., but it seemed to fit Milly well. "Just get me one of those visors, and we'll be set."

Dressed as their alter egos, Zero and his White Queen snuck out of the house, notifying only Sayoko of their departure as they made their way to the base. The trip took only fifteen minutes, but Lelouch kept his ears open as the radio blasted out news of a crazed chase through the settlement. It was as Kallen feared; word that a member of the Black Knights was on the run from the Knight Police had reached Cornelia, which meant that not only would they have to contend with Glasgows, but Sutherlands, Gloucesters, and possibly the new Vincent Mp-models.

Gritting his teeth behind his mask as they reached the base, Lelouch was already formulating a plan to fight back against them if a fight broke out. But the short and simple version of the plan was to use Milly's machine's speed to its fullest to swoop in and take Kallen and her mother out of the danger zone.

Entering the hangar, they were greeted by his two right hand men, Bit and Van, both of whom were gearing up to go. Zero's orders were for them to pilot the Hammer Head toward the city and wait in the clouds in case the Phoenix was needed to cause chaos, and the targets would need different means of escape.

Bringing the Phoenix up from the bowels of the factory was a bit surreal for Milly. Along with the Death Saurer, the Phoenix had been among the first Sixth Generations to be created by her grandfather. This would be the first time she would see the light of day.

"Fueling's finished," Van barked, "We've emptied out the bomb bay, and prepped it for human transport!"

Zero nodded as he helped Milly into the cockpit, "Well done my friends," he said, "Once we're airborne, follow behind as soon as possible, and get on the horn to let Jeremiah know we're coming. As soon as we're on Tanjou island, the shield generator should hide us from radar until we can make our way back."

"We'll be right behind ya," Bit said, "But Boss, you be careful. Jeremiah gave us the specs on those new Knightmares, and they're just as strong as the Lancelot." He said, looking down in frustration, "Our Zoids won't stand a chance against them if we don't make the necessary upgrades."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Bit," he said, sighing, "But you're right. Upgrades will be necessary."

"Zero, let's go!" Milly shouted, her face now obscured by her visor. "Kallen's waiting on us!"

"Right." Zero said, and mounted up in the back seat, "Well, then, my ladies?"

Milly smiled over her shoulder at the man, "My first flight." She said as the systems came alive, "She seems eager."

"Well, she was created with wings," Zero reasoned, "So, naturally, she was born to fly."

The cockpit closed, and the Phoenix screeched, extending her wings to full width as she made her way out the doors. "Ready, girl?" Milly asked her partner. The screen flickered to life in front of her, showing a happy face to her, making the girl giggle, "Then show me what you've got!"

With a louder shriek, the avian launched into the air with a blast of its thrusters, and a single flap of its wings. Both pilot and copilot were thrown back into their seats as the Phoenix rose, and leveled out.

Zero was punching in the tracking code for Kallen's blaster, which, thankfully, she had activated. "Looks like they're in the shopping district!" He said, "Guinevere's Palace."

Milly looked back at him, "That gaudy clothes store your sister opened here?"

"That's the one."

"Ugh, I hate that place," she groaned, "Most of the clothes they have are borderline indecent!"

Zero kept his mouth shut on that one. Milly was known to wear rather risque clothes.

"Hammer Head to Phoenix-1," Bit's voice came over the communications link, "We're right on your tail. Keep us informed of the situation until the package is picked up."

"Roger that," Milly smiled, gunning the controls, "Now, let's go roast some royal ass!" The girl laughed manically as the phoenix screeched again as they accelerated, and shot toward the Tokyo Settlement.

=x=

With Kallen

Kallen panted tiredly as she and her mother hunkered down in the shopping center. It was lucky for them it was closed, else they'd have drawn attention to themselves faster than she could smack Tamaki around.

Her heavy carbine rifle was steaming with heat from her use of the weapon. Aside from the Glasgow her mother had taken down, she had managed to take down five more Knightmares, one of which happened to be a Gloucester. Unfortunately, when she took a shot at a Vincent, the armor proved too thick for her to penetrate the cockpit. She settled for taking out the knee of the machine, making it impossible to move.

But her misfortune hadn't ended with the one Vincent frame. The rumors had been true when Zero had told them more had come. And entire squad of the Seventh Generation Knightmares had come to the aid of the fallen Knight.

What was worse was the fact that she had seen a highly customized version of the machine. One wearing the signature white cape of the Witch of Britannia leading the pack.

She sat back against the wall as the two of them took a breath, "This is bad," she sighed, looking over at her mother, who was sweating badly, "Mom, are you alright?"

The woman looked up at her, her face and hair drenched. Dark circles had begun to form under her eyes, and her skin had gone pale. Kallen cursed under her breath. Withdrawal.

Natsume had admitted to being addicted to Refrain for just under a year, but and addiction was an addiction. And her mother was now beginning to suffer greatly for it.

"Kallen, dear, you should just leave me," she panted out, her voice horribly weak, "I'm only going to slow you down at this point."

Kallen shook her head, "Not gonna happen." She said, "I'm through with leaving you behind, Mom. Besides," she said, giving her mother a kind smile, "You're the only real family I have left. I'm not gonna lose that."

Natsume smiled at her weakly before she leaned against the the wall, her eyes closing.

Kallen sighed, frowning as she looked out a window, seeing Knightmares prowling the streets outside. "Come on, Zero." She mumbled, "Where are you?"

As her eyes began to close, the distinctive screech of a bird of prey rang out over the city.

Next chapter is the conclusion of this little side arc before we get to Narita. How will the Phoenix fare against the Vincent(s) And Cornelia's Pluton Custom?

As always, please review if you liked the chapter!