"A nation in hiding is not a nation at all." Bill Clinton

"What?" C.C. asked Lelouch as he walked outside the school along with Zero. "Your actually asking for my help?"

"Yes." Lelouch said. "No matter what Kyoto's intentions are, I want to obtain their power."

"We're a rag tag military oraganization surviving solely whatever I steal." Zero said. "We need actual military support."

With the number of men, women, and Reploids who we're serving Lelouch, He had often sent Zero on supply raid missions. This is turn kept Lelouch's forces resupplied and capable of continuing, and kept the number of Britannian personal in check (Zero always seemed to need to take out at least one guy at the base).

"That is your wish?" C.C. asked. "If that is a reason that helps you live, I will do it."

"It is." Lelouch began. "C.C. you're…"

Lelouch made a long pause, in which he said absolutely nothing. Zero perked his head up as C.C. and Lelouch's gaze met each other with such force and determintion. Zero couldn't tell what either person was thinking, but C.C. and Lelouch knew.

"I understand." She said.

C.C. reached into her pocket and pulled out a ticket.

"By the way, you forgot something." She said.

Lelouch swiped the ticket out of her hand with speed that even Zero was impressed with.

"I didn't forget." Lelouch said. "I don't know when I'm going to back tonight, so I planned on phoning her to cancel."

"So much for my match making skills." Zero said.

"Stick to our contract…" C.C. said.

C.C. was going to say something else, but Lelouch's phone rang. Lelouch pulled out his phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked.

He paused for a few seconds.

"Ahh; perfect." Lelouch said. "Listen, about tonight, I…"

"Uhh Lulu?" Shirley's voice said over the phone. "I may be late tonight. I know it's our first date and all, but something came up…but don't worry! I'll be there…I promise."

Shirley hung up the phone before Lelouch could even ask why, leaving the three to remain there confused.

Before Zero left for the Ghetto with Lelouch, he needed to check in something. Something had been bothering him for the past few days and it wasn't from the battle with his brother. Well, okay maybe it was a little. But still, there was something new he had to look into. Lately, since he had been using the simulation program for long increments of time, he had been feeling a lot different lately. He decided to pay Cerveau a visit and have his brain run through a thorough diagnostic. He walked into the Reploid section of the Black Knights headquarters underground (Currently, the people we're readying to move to an abandoned docks within a week or two so everything was being packed up currently). Zero walked into Cerveau's emplacement as the Reploid was busy typing away on the computer. His room resembled something similar to his usual room, although more downgraded and a lot more rocks around.

"Hello Zero." He said. "What brings you to my humble abode today?"

"Diagnostic of my entire brain." Zero said.

"Really!" Cerveau said surprised. Zero was never really one to care if his brain was working properly. "I thought I fixed your teleporter."

"It's not that." Zero said. "Lately…I have been feeling…different…I…went out with Ciel recently."

"Oh dear God; Zero making an emotional connection." Cerveau said.

"Shut up." Zero said. "I brought that up cause it's not like me to ask someone out. Lately my feelings towards things are stronger…far more intense…Hell…I'm getting feelings I never would have thought I'd ever feel before."

Cerveau simply laughed.

"What's so funny?" Zero asked.

"This is exactly something I warned you about not too long ago." He said as he sat down on a chair in front of him. "I told you using the simulation program creates a genuine copy of a human brain in your system. We based the program off of X's core memory and a human genome. I told you using it could result in unforeseen consequences and far different reactions towards things. And last time I checked, you have been using your human form for very long increments of time. I told you the possibility of side effects is there."

"Is there any way to tell how far the program has made it through?" Zero asked.

"Yeah; we can use this modified capsule over here to scan your brain." Cerveau said, pointing to a capsule over to the side. "It's a little thing I designed and modified myself. Just step into it and we'll get started."

Zero got up from where he was and stepped inside of the capsule. Cerveau went over to a console on the capsule. Several floating screens popped up from above it as well as a keyboard made from energy. Cerveau began then to type into the system.

SYSTEM BOOTING

F1: Continue F8: Boot Process F10: Command Menu

F1

The computer went through a Unix type boot up and got Cerveau to the log in screen.

Log in

Username: Cerveau

Password: **********

Authenticating process…

Welcome Cerveau.

Begin Operation

C:\Users\Cerveau

C:\Users\Cerveau cd C:\Program Files\Capsule Console\Diagnostic scan device\

C:\Program Files\Capsule Console\Diagnostic scan device\ run diagnog,exe

Run program? Y/N

Y

Leviathan stood around, waiting for an hour from Zero. From a distance away, Axl could not stop staring at her. Everything from her figure and her personality was integrated with his system lately.

"I haven't seen a girl like that for awhile now." Axl said. "Man...she really revs up my hard drive every time I look at her."

Axl watched as Leviathan removed her head piece from her armor, and began to comb her hair. Axl used his ocular implants to zoom in at her. Most of the time his eyes zoomed right in at her chest. Yes; Axl would do this with a normal female Reploid at every chance he got; and never say otherwise. But...now his mind seemed to be fixated on just her.

"Ahh man..." He said. "I can't stop thinking about her."

He then pulled himself to his feet.

"I gotta stop laying around like this!" He shouted. "I'm going to do what I should have done when I first met her!"

Axl then began a very, very, very slow walk from the ammo dump to where Leviathan was at. Before he could, Lelouch went over to the the group.

"Guys suit up." Lelouch said. "We're going to a meeting."

Dammit...

As soon as the program came on, Zero saw a thick green light go from the capsule directly towards the crystal in his head. A screen appeared over Zero as he saw a percentage bar appear. It started from 0 and moved quickly to 100 within a few minutes. Zero waited patiently as the number went to 100. As soon as it did, a network of boxes with Hexadecimal type coding appeared, along with wires connecting to other boxes. Binary of Zeros and ones appeared from the background.

"What is this?" Zero asked.

"It's a 2D Visio type model of your entire brain and hard drive; as well as all the parts that make up you, represented in telemetric data." Cerveau said. "You wanted to see if the program spread to other functions correct?"

"Yeah." Zero said.

"Best way to do it." Cerveau said. "If there are any abnormalities in the hardrive or CPU, we'll find it."

Cerveau looked at the wireframe from his end.

"Go to coordinates X456, Y834." He commanded.

The screen immediately adjusted from the spot Zero was looking to the coordinates Cerveau said.

"This box right here represents the simulation program." Cerveau said. "I'm going to activate the connections and see how far the program spread throughout your brain."

Cerveau pressed a button on his computer. Within seconds, millions of tiny green wires began to appear all around the one box to all of the entire connections. Cerveau's eyebrow picked up when he saw that.

"Hmmm…" He mumbled to himself. "This is odd. I never would have guessed it spread this far."

Cerveau pressed several keys and zoomed in one of them. He looked at them intently for a long time.

"Well…" He said. "Their harmless that's for sure. But most of them are no longer temporary connections."

"What's that mean?" Zero said.

"When the program activates, the connections it makes to your body are temporary and only last while the program is on. Yet it seems one by one each of the connections are becoming permanent, meaning that the feelings your experiencing are not going away."

"That's weird." Zero said. "Is this dangerous?"

"It only seems that the feelings portion of the program is becoming permanent." Cerveau said. "Everything else is represented as temporary. The bits of data for the skin and natural urges remain the same for each one and…"

Cerveau stopped when he came to a certain section of the brain. He looked at it very carefully.

"This is odd." He said.

"What is?" Zero asked.

"This data that I am seeing here is completely unnatural." Cerveau said. "It looks like some form of malware. You mind if I take a look?"

"Sure." Zero said.

"Computer; change display from 2D to 3D, amplify at coordinates X234, Y756, Z035." Cerveau said.

Zero watched as the Visio model became a 3D wireframe model. Zero felt as if he was looking at a city made entirely from his data. Zero watched intently as they looked at binary data seemed to be spreading slowly. It was also red.

"This is odd." He said. "It looks like a virus, but it isn't causing any external harm to the other files nearby or the hardware." Cerveau said.

"Is it bad?" Zero said.

"I would note this for concern." Cerveau said. "I'm going to take a snapshot of this section so I can come back to it later; and I'm going to make a copy of one of the files for study. Zero…would you mind in coming in for future tests?"

"Sure." Zero said.

Cerveau pressed a few buttons and then he shut down the system.

"Thanks for the look." Zero said. "Should I be concerned?"

"I'll tell you when I know more." Cerveau said.

Lelouch wasted no time in responding to Kyoto. He quickly during a foggy afternoon departed to the Ghetto. Zero and the others waited in hiding while Lelouch waited. No later than five minutes after they arrived to the location, a car pulled up towards him. Lelouch in the guise of Zero stood still and waited for the car to pull up. A single man appeared from the car.

"My master has requested that all the members of the executive committee be present here." He said.

"I know." Lelouch said. "To prevent any unfortunate circumstances, they are keeping lookout around the area. I'll call for them soon. But first…"

Lelouch's mask opened up and he cast the Geass on the man.

The battle of Narita had left severe damage done to the entire mountain side. About seventy percent of the city on the mountainside had been completely decimated. Bodies and corpses had been found everywhere. Within a day after the battle, Cornelia ordered an excavation of the entire area.

"Bring those heavily mutilated corpses to tent 2." An officer said over the radio. "If any of the bodies have items that can be used identified, use that for the identifying process. Bring all the identified bodies to tent 1."

Knightmares and trucks we're all over the area around a small military encampment. Hundreds of military troops and families we're everywhere, almost of the families mourning.

"Please place time and date when the body is identified; wait for the Medical team to arrive." The officer said again.

Suzaku was in a nearby tent drinking bottled water and watching the display all around him.

Suzaku took a drink of his water and began to think back. When he was about to arrest Zero, C.C. came out of nowhere and touched his machine. When she did, Suzaku received visions of the past. Something he wanted to bury deep down in his heart.

Did she really exist? And what was that I saw?

"Suzaku?" A voice said nearby him.

"Huh?" Suzaku said as he saw X sitting on a chair by the tent. "Oh. Sorry. I just had a lot of my mind."

Suzaku grabbed the water and splashed it on his face.

"You've been out of it for days now." X said. "Is it about losing Zero?"

"Sort of." Suzaku said.

"Are you two done with corpse excavation duty?" Lloyd said as he walked up towards them.

"If possible…" Suzaku said. "I wish to continue to the rescue operation."

"Then please continue until you give up on it." Lloyd said. "That can be considered part of Viceroy Cornelia's orders. What about you X?"

"I've been placed on standby." X said. "Britannian radar found some abnormality in the mountain and they sent Harpuia and Fefnir to research it. They think it could be more capsules. I've already been working from midnight till now anyway."

"Lucky you can't get tired huh?" Lloyd asked.

"Tired, no. Annoyed. Yes." X said.

Suzaku looked at Lloyd for a few seconds.

"Lloyd." He asked. "What are the Black Knight's planning to do? What do they hope to achieve with these sacrifices?"

"They are allies of justice; as they claim to say." Lloyd said.

"This is justice!" Suzaku shouted as he crunched his water bottle.

"Oh please." Lloyd said. "Don't tell me your going to blurt out a strange theory on how you believe justice is. We're soldiers after all."

Suzaku wanted to continue, but then he saw Shirley move through the area. Suzaku continued to look at her as she passed by. She didn't notice him at all (of course, she was too far away).

"Suzaku!" Cecile shouted out. "I've changed the Energy filter."

"Got it!" He shouted.

He made one glance back before moving away. X continued to watch him as Lloyd went over to him.

"Things are starting to become interesting around here." Lloyd said.

"What do you mean?!" X shouted. "Do you think this war is some sort of game!?"

"Not really." Lloyd said. "But for the last few years, nothing has been happening at all. Now all of a sudden, a man comes out of nowhere wearing a mask and really lightens things up. And just around the time we discover ancient machines from another dimension with incredible fire power capabilities; and when we needed a test subject for the most powerful Knightmare to be made, we find one. X…do you believe in fate?"

"What is your definition of fate Lloyd?" X asked.

"Events in periods of time that have been preordained to happen by an unknown force or being that humans cannot comprehend." Lloyd said.

"…I suppose I do when you put it that way." X said as sat down on a chair, while Lloyd did the same. "Many times in life there we're things that seemed like they had to happen in my time. I didn't see it as much, but Zero did. When I think about all that happened with Neo Arcadia and beforehand, I suppose that maybe everything I did was ordained through fate."

"And tell me…" Lloyd said. "Do you believe that human action from events of the past create these phenomena from actions that others pay for later…or that there is truly another source out there that is responsible for this action?"

"…That I can't answer." X said.

"X do you copy?" Harpuia said.

"Yeah; what is it?" X said, putting his buster to his face to see Harpuia's face on it.

"We've located two Reploid capsules nearby the position of the anomaly." Harpuia said. "There seemed to be two others at the position as well…but they seemed to have been taken away."

"Alright…two will be fine for now." X said. "Harpuria…scout the area and see if you can figure out where the other capsules we're. Fefnir, scan the energy waves from the capsule. I want that signal analyzed to the core; that includes getting the atomic number from the waves. Once we have the data signature of the signal, we can use it to track down other Reploid capsules. After that, when I arrive, we'll move the capsules to R&D command for decryption and retrieval."

"Why am I stuck with the science mumbo jumbo!?" Fefnir asked.

"We're shorthanded right now." X said. "Don't worry; we may get some of the Reploids we captured at the base to work for us. They're not showing signs of Mavericks so I guess it would be fine."

"Meh!" Fefnir shouted. "Fine; whatever. I'll get the signal analyzed."

"I'll meet you up there then." X said, cutting the signal.

Kallen, Ohgi, Tamaki, Kento, and Yoshidia we're traveling in the car from the Kyoto group. They had been traveling for over an hour right now. They we're wondering why Zero, Leviathan, Axl, and Phantom had not gone with them, but most of them just wanted to see Kyoto for the time being, so no one took notice…too much.

"We've been traveling for over an hour." Tamaki said. "Are we there yet?"

"Calm down." Kallen said. "How disgraceful."

A large bump was felt on the car. Everyone felt as if they we're being taken up from an elevator.

"W-What?" Tamaki shouted.

The sounds of an elevator continued for a few minutes. Lelouch hadn't said a word as the elevator came up. Eventually, it stopped. The driver came to the door and opened it for the members.

"Sorry for the wait." He said. "My master waits for you."

The group got out of the car and began to look around.

What they saw from a massive window that went from one side of the room to the other was the inside of a massive mountain that had been completely coated with steel. It looked like a mine of sorts now.

"Hey…" Ohgi began. "This is Fuji mine."

"Impossible!" Tamaki shouted. "How could we have come to a place like this!"

"But there's no mistake!" Kallen shouted. "This is it! The shape…the mountain…"

"Which means there is Sakuradite below!" Tamaki shouted. "Isn't it the cursed treasure that lead to the war! Even though intruders we're shot on sight!"

"Their strength actually can lead us to this." Ohgi said. "Kyoto is amazing."

"Isn't it repulsive?" A voice came from behind.

The entire group turned to see two men armed with pistols pointed right at them. Behind those two men was a screen. Not much could be seen, but it seemed like a man sitting Indian style, holding a cane inside of it.

"Mount Fuji…" He began. "A mountain that flows with scenic beauty and clear water. It now reflects the pain Japan is feeling. It pains me so. I apologize for not showing my face…but it seems that Zero himself is not showing his either. I must see and know who you are. You will…show us your identity."

The man from behind the screen pointed his cane forward. Four Knightmares rolled into the large room. The Black Knights began to become filled with terror as the massive machines rolled in.

In addition to the Knightmares…several machines came out of the room as well. Actually they were not machines, but Reploids. They each had light blue bodies, giant red eyes where they heads were, and a buster cannon, which they pointed at the group. They we're Pantheons from Neo Arcadia.

"Even Reploids!" Tamaki shouted.

"Kyoto has long knew of the existence of the machines known as Reploids." He shouted. "We have been long analyzing the contents of the capsule containing the machine known as Mega Man X, created by the genius, Doctor Thomas Light. Although we could not obtain him, we managed to collect his data and produce Reploids of our own. For our purposes, they are useless. But their Pantheons on the other hand…serve us much better."

"Hands where I can see them." A large multi-colored Reploid said, pointing his large cannon at the group.

Kallen ran in front of Lelouch and shielded him with her body.

"Wait!" She shouted. "Zero brought us power and victory! That should be enough to…"

"Silence!" The man shouted. "Who is Ohgi?"

"Me…me sir." Ohgi said.

"Remove Zero's mask." He ordered.

Ohgi hesitated at first, but then gave in. He went over to Lelouch and gripped his mask.

"I'm sorry Zero." He said. "But I want to believe in you. So please…give me…what!"

Ohgi removed his mask, but it was not Lelouch that he saw, but C.C.

"Zero…" Tamaki shouted. "Is a woman!"

"No!" Kallen shouted as she saw C.C. "This is not Zero! I saw her with Zero when they we're at that cave!"

A silence filled the room.

"Woman…" The man behind the screen said. "Is this true?"

"Yes." C.C. said calmly.

"So…" He said. "Are you not Japanese?"

"Yes…messenger of Kyoto…Kirihara Taizou." C.C. said with a smirk on her face.

All the men shout up when they heard her say the name of the man behind the screen.

"We cannot allow someone who knows the name of the master live!" One of the men shouted. "Especially if they are not Japanese!"

All of the Knightmares and Pantheons aimed their weapons at the Black Knights.

"Wait…" Tamaki begged. "I'm not part of this!"

One of the four Knightmares before they fired aimed his Slash Harkens at the others and smashed straight into them. The other tried to defend its comrade, but the Knightmare that attacked its comrades used the blade on its arm to slash its comrade's arm off.

The Pantheons aimed their weapons at the traitor, but then Phantom, Leviathan, and Zero descended from the ceiling. Zero aimed for the Reploid who held the massive gun. Phantom and Leviathan attacked the Pantheons that we're all around.

Leviathan slashed the first Pantheon as she descended on the group. It fell with its arms severed right off. Phantom went in front of the first two he was nearby and cut them in half with his katana. He got up and threw two knifes into the crystals of the next two. Leviathan tripped the other two and finished them off. The Pantheons tried to fire back. Leviathan used the back of her pole while she fought to throw their aim off. Phantom and Leviathan easily within seconds overwhelmed the group.

The other Reploid tried to aim his massive beam rifle at the group. Zero landed on top of it, forcing it to the ground. The Reploid looked up at Zero.

"Ze…Ze…Zero!" He asked in surprise.

"I'm disappointed in you, Commander Craft." He shouted.

Commander Craft became angry and activated his chainsaw bayonet. Before he could use it, a shot came from behind and blasted his leg, injuring him on the floor. It was fired from one of the guards by Kirihara. The other guard turned around to shoot his comrade, but the man knocked his pistol out of his hand, and put him in an arm lock. Seconds later, the man appeared to have data over him and he turned back into Axl.

"We'll all secure over here, Zero." Axl said.

The Knightmare that had betrayed the group aimed his weapon and Kirihara and Lelouch exited the vehicle, in the disguise of Zero.

"How weak." Lelouch shouted. "Not just weak, but the way you think and act is outdated. That is why you cannot win! A nation in hiding is not a nation at all, Kirihara!"

"Zero!" Kallen shouted.

"What?" Lelouch said. "Are you surprised? I admit, I was surprised yourself when I discovered you had Reploids yourself. But the fact was who was the superior planner and who had the most powerful machines. Phantom disabled your security hours ago, allowing my men to easily infiltrate in."

Lelouch jumped down and went over to Kirihara.

"Kirihara Taizou." He began. "You became the founder of Kirihara industries, famed for its production of Sakuradite. You we're the shadow supporter for Kururugi's political policies. But you switched your allegiance after the war. And became a proactive supporter of the colony. Commonly, you we're called "Kirihara the Traitor." But your true identity is the head of six families who support all major resistance groups. Pretending to be obedient is your nature after all."

"Bastard…" The man in the arm lock said. "What do you know of the master!"

"Hey…you're in an armlock right now!" Axl said. "We can make you be still one way or the other."

"Silence!" Kirihara said, looking right at Lelouch.

"Although…" Lelouch said. "It is as you said. I am not…Japanese."

All the Black Knights members gasped.

"Is he serious?" Tamaki asked. "No wonder he didn't show us his face."

"Why are you fighting if you are not Japanese?" Kirihara asked. "What do you want?"

"The destruction of Britannia." Lelouch said.

"Are you saying you are capable of doing that?" He asked.

"I can." Lelouch said. "I have a reason for doing it at all costs! I am glad I am dealing with you."

Lelouch removed his mask and showed Kirihara is face. Kirihara nearly fell out of his chair when he saw his face. Memoires of his younger days appeared, when a small Britannian child, and a blind, disabled, sister came right back to him.

"It's been awhile, Lord Kirihara." Lelouch said.

"I remember you." Kirihara said. "The hostage that came from Britannia to us Eight years ago."

"Yes." Lelouch said. "I thank you for all you have done for me."

"If the person you we're dealing with wasn't me…would you have held him hostage?" Kirihara asked.

"How can that be?" Lelouch asked. "I was only voicing my wish."

Kirihara stood quiet for a few minutes. After which, he responded to Lelouch with a smirk.

"Has the seed I planted eight years ago begun to flower?" He asked.

The man began to laugh manically as he looked at Lelouch's face. After minutes of laughing, he looked right at Ohgi (like he could tell).

"Ohgi." He said. "This man is an enemy of Britannia. I accept why he couldn't reveal himself. I guarantee it. Follow Zero! We shall assist with military information, and strongholds. We shall provide funding and weapons, including Reploids."

"Thank you sir!" Ohgi shouted.

"Commander Craft…Douglas…" Kirihara said.

Craft who had managed to recover from the electrical stun got up and looked at his master. While he did, a Green Reploid with Red goggles appeared

"Yes sir." They both responded.

"Follow Zero from now on." Kirihara ordered.

"Yes sir!" They shouted.

"I'm grateful…" Lelouch said. "Lord Kirihara…thank you."

"Are you going to embark on it?" Kirihara asked. "The path of destruction?"

"If that is my destiny…" Lelouch said.

Lelouch and the others departed from the Kyoto group within the hour. Back at the base, Cerveau was still researching the batch file. Cerveau was researching it heavily. He was scared.

Something about it scared him.

Rouge walked in the base with a plastic cup in her hand and a pot of coffee in the other, along with another cup. She went over to an unused desk and poured a cup of coffee in.

"I made some coffee Cerveau." She said. "You haven't been out since Zero walked in here for a scan. Is something…"

"It can't be." Cerveau said. "The terror of the Maverick war….the virus that began the bloody incident. It can't be this…"

Rouge looked at Cerveau with a confused look.

"What's going on?" X asked as he approached the airstrip.

"The situation in Area 11 is getting out of hand." Cornelia said. "The King has sent in another General to assist us and reinforce our flanks. He said that we would be surprised."

The ship landed in front of X, Cornelia, Harpuia, Gilford, and Fefnir.

The people watched as a bald headed, Reploid type being walked out of the ship. The being went over to Cornelia and shook her hand.

"Greetings, Princess Cornelia." He said, before giving her a bow. "I am General Sigma of the Britannian 17th armor division and 4th Knightmare division. The King has sent me here to assist you in the capture of Zero."

Harpuia looked at X while Gilford looked at Cornelia. Both parties held the biggest "WTF" expression ever.

Lelouch walked away from the Opera sometime after he arrived. He actually did attempt to go after he got back from the place. The place and area was sopping wet from a massive storm that blew in the area.

To his surprise, Shirley was not there. He was already trying to call her. But she had not answered his calls.

"Looks like she's not around." Lelouch said. "Anyway it doesn't matter. Things are going to be going smoothly from now on."

Lelouch stopped in the middle of the rain to see a soaking wet Shirley in the rain. Her head was completely down.

Something was not right.

Lelouch went over to Shirley and put his umbrella over her body.

"I'm sorry I'm late he said." He began. "I thought you left. Let me get some shelter from this rain."

"Hey lulu…" She began. "Zero is an ally of the weak, right?"

"Y…yes." Lelouch began "At least that's what he claims."

"Then…" She began. "Why did he kill my father?"

Lelouch felt as if a gunshot pierced straight through his heart.

"Father…was kind." She began; already cracking under the emotional pressure. "He never hit me…but he was buried…unable…to breathe…I…don't want this…I don't want it!"

Shirley burst into tears within seconds and ran straight towards Lelouch, putting her arms around him. Lelouch was unable to react and simply grabbed hold of the girl, stunned at the actions he created at Narita. He couldn't do anything. The reality of his military organization killing his friend's father was too much for him to bear.

"Please…Lelouch…comfort…me…" Shirley said.

Lelouch was unable to do anything. He simply reached his head toward the crying girl and kissed her. The two stayed in suspended in motion for minutes. Lelouch lost track of time. He knew he was at fault. He knew it. But he couldn't care anymore.

He felt like shit anyway.