Im thinking of starting to write reviews for movies too. Here's one for Alice in Wonderland: Summary: Jack Sparrow pretends to be the Mad hatter.

Think I can make a living doing those? Meh. Probably not. I probably like my day job better anyway.

Beta'd by Toyoko.

00000~L~0000

Lelouch stood atop of the car he used as stage and watched Suzaku-Zero in his black new armor take one long, skating step. He vaulted to join Lelouch on the vehicle's roof mere inches away, wheels retracting before landing perfectly. The experience was close enough to the day of the parade –the day the demon-king had died - to cause the demon to get cold shivers. In response, he reached into his pocket for his gun, but found…

Only his phone.

Leaving it there, but somehow unable to lower his hand from a defensive position, Lelouch intoned in his most relaxed voice: "So, it's come down to this again, Zero. Only you seem to have forgotten your blade."

The black mask, encased in a purple head-piece regarded him blankly, so he sneered at it.

Well, it Lelouch had, of course, expected Suzaku to show up. Maybe not quite this early, and it would have been more dignified to have this exchange whilst inside the Gurren Racer. But still, Lelouch had expected it. And C.C. had hidden herself right on time, so at least there had not been two Zero's about at the same time.

That might have been… awkward.

Suzaku- in-Zero-suit cocked his black-masked face at him, moving forward slightly.

"Oh, I will not need a sword, Lelouch. I am going to do what I should have done all along." An armored hand closed on Lelouch's wrist with finality, "I am going to turn you over to the proper authorities. Alive. Then, I am going to humbly ask that they… help you."

Arrest then. Ah, but it was too early for that, too early by far. He had so much left to do: involve Britannia into his game, break down mob-cartels by taking them over…

Wait. What?

"Help…?"

Zero replied with a nod from that purple-encased mask, and not even the voice-changer could disguise the tone of Suzaku's voice, not to Lelouch. It was that tone Lelouch knew quite well: the tone that said his friend had made up his mind, and felt he was doing the right thing.

"Nunnally is right. There's no need for you to hurt yourself. This has to stop."

Lelouch had thought he was impervious to insults by now. But the implication of these words from his one-time best friend hurt.

So he retaliated in kind: "What's this, Suzaku? I thought you wanted to bleed me dry. Or are we all good now that you found another one of my under-aged siblings to force yourself on?"

"Don't you dare suggest that Euphie—or Nunnally…" The hold on his arm tightened, but then with a release of breath from behind the Zero mask it loosened again. "I am trying to forgive you here."

Lelouch hoped the laughter that crept up on him there did not sound too deranged.

"You forgive me? Suzaku, you are perhaps the only person in the universe that does not have the right to forgive nor condemn me."

Eyes flickering with true anger, the demon counted off finger after finger on his captured hand for the knight-turned-vigilante: "Patricide? You beat me to that. Treason? You were way ahead of me there too. Genocide? Even there you beat me. As for the ever-present fratricide - or more important, the sororicide: well, I think you were just lucky to be an only child, weren't you?"

Instead of the expected outburst, however, Suzaku under his mask seemed to waver. "…I…"

*clunk*

Both men stood staring at Zero's arm a moment, at the thing that had grabbed it. A bright-red slash-harken.

Then, the harken's attached chain pulled taut, and Suzaku-In-Zero-Suit was pulled away, his quarry's arm effectively released by the motion.

Lelouch stood staring in surprise for a moment as Kallen's red Racer dragged Zero along the road, then turned into the next street. Suzaku-in-suit skidded behind on his belly, toes and knees digging into the pavement as he fought for purchase.

Sparks flew, the black-armored man hitting the fence at the end of that street. Before Zero even had a chance to fall down from the impression of the metal-work, the chain around his arm pulled taut again and dragged him to the left, right behind the Racer.

Only when the pair was lost from view, did Lelouch let out a relieved chuckle.

"Great job, Kallen." He praised his savior over the ear-piece. "Hey, speed up and go right at the next turn. You can take those tight alleyways with the stairs and the nice, solid concrete walls."

"I am just saving your ass, Lelouch. I am not trying to kill Suzaku."

He tisked at her, "We could at least try, no? I doubt the guy is capable of actually dying anyway. Too stupid."

"Too stupid to die? Why does thatsound so familiar?" A snort. "So, now what do I do? I can't just keep rounding the block, but I can't stop to let you guys in either."

Lelouch refused to rise to her bait.

"Like I said, I have a great route for you planned with plenty of concrete walls and flights of stairs for my bestest friend."

Kallen ignored his instruction, and kept going her little circle though. Lelouch privately wondered if this was the time for a speech about all that non-killing possibly not being the answer. But he decided to save it for a later time.

0000~S~0000

Suzaku had a real problem. He admitted this to himself as he slid through the street on his belly at a blurring speed. Suzaku's back was effectively exposed—without armor. He needed to protect it from taking the brunt of every corner or street-light he hit, et at the same time, he needed to free his arm.

With teeth ground together, Suzaku managed his calmest Zero-voice. "Lloyd, I would really like to see what your new toy can do right about now."

The scientist's sing-song voice answered on the radio, "Me too, Zero-kun! Me too! What does the system say, hmmm? Do you know…?"

"Calibrating…." came the computer's reply from his suit: a mature, female voice.

Suzaku-Zero barred his teeth to the inside of his mask, then re-extended his rollerblades and fought to get to his feet. He supposed he should be used to being on his own by now.

When he managed to grab the chain with his free hand, he pushed from elbows and knees and got one foot under him before another quick turn slammed him side-ways into several dumpsters, spinning him into a roll. Elbows wide, he again managed to evade any real damage to his back, but this was getting dangerous.

"Any suggestion? Lloyd? Computer?"

In the background, that half-mad mechanic had reverted to singing chants again.

The computer provided little more use: -"Calibrating."

"Wonderful."

Regardless, his next try got Suzaku to his feet, hanging back on his roller-blades like a wake-boarder. The knight had a strong suspicion about who was driving that red racer and if it really was Kallen, she was not disappointing him. As soon as she realized he was on his feet, she went through a quick series of turns, which had him jumping over bins and narrowly evading another lamp-post. Another turn into the next street had him putting his feet to the wall to counter hitting it.

Still. "This is just a matter of time like this, Lloyd. Tell me this machine has something I can use."

"Well." Lloyd answered, pausing his annoying singing, "there're Slash-Harkens up your own sleeves too. You could use those."

With a grunt, Suzaku shot a Harken from his free arm, and a dark chain snaking after it. It hit the back of the Red Racer with accurate aim, and with a flick of the wrist Zero's own chain drew taut.

Now, he had a chain for both hands.

"Great. How is this helping?"

"I don't kno~ow!" Lloyd sang, annoyingly, "you're the pilot. I'm just pointing out technical details. Oh!" the man chirped up, happy, "there're also the double laser-blades in the backpack unit…which I have right here…"

"I'm not getting anywhere like this."

-"Calibrating…"

0000~L~0000

Kallen was on her third lap around the block by the time the angry mob had gathered back into something threatening. Lelouch regarded them coldly from atom of his fan, watching them find a chain of command. None too surprisingly, it was Tohdoh that had taken control of the situation, looking pompous and silly in his white smocking. Why ever had they decided on a western-style wedding?

The general and leader of the Black Knights himself seemed to only regret not finding a fire-arm before joining his angry mob.

"Lelouch, you have just forfeited any respect I might have still had for you. Ruining my dear Chiba's wedding! Have you no shame at…"

He got no farther than that, as a certain witch dressed all in black touched both Tohdoh and his closest companion. Both slumped slackly to the floor.

"Ah, C.C., you got here just in time. And what a lovely outfit you are wearing," he pointed out, wondering if what was left of his audience had the wit to add two and two together. "So nice and black - nothing like Zero's at all."

"Why thank you, my warlock," she purred, "and you are right, it appears it is nothing like his outfit… anymore."

His return smirk had to be cut short when a pair of armed guards announced themselves by taking a shot at them.

"Let's meet up on the roof," Lelouch called, sprinting for the nearest tall building. C.C. stalled the crowd, putting down several more men with a touch; a lot just passed her without interest, eyes set on their target. Lelouch didn't mind that; he was the famous one, after all. Such is the price of fame!

0000~K~0000

The open radio frequency blared to life without warning, and Suzaku's disguised voice called out to her pleadingly.

"Kallen, if it's you in there, please stop this non-sense and give yourself up."

The ace-pilot just taunted him with a laugh.

"Yeah, because, you know, we haven't got a chance."

"You haven't." Suzaku sounded almost sad, "It's the world against him again. We all know what happened last time, don't we?"

That turned her laughter sour.

"It's different this time. I'm here now."

"So? Do you really think you can make a difference?"

"I beat you, last time Suzz—Zero," she cut in venomously, "and I will again right now."

"And then, you are going to outsmart Lelouch?"

A dry swallow. She would not listen to this snake, this murderer that had…: "I at least will not run him through myself, you piece of slime!"

Even if she sometimes felt like pounding his head repeatedly into a wall, Kallen would never kill Lelouch.

A tired, regretful sigh answered her.

Then a female automaton voice interrupted: "Calibration complete."

And it all went to hell.

0000~L~0000

The elevator went right up to the twenties; to the top floor. That meant Lelouch only had to climb the last flight of stairs, and use the emergency exit to get out onto the roof.

Just as he pushed through, however, the building shook as something hit it from below. Something had hit it hard. For an unguarded moment he found himself slightly worried that Kallen had actually followed his advice and throttled Suzaku into a wall at a killing speed.

When he glanced down however, the Zero-suit stood in the middle of the road, an odd blue glow shining from the crevasses in his suit. Lelouch wondered where Kallen and her Gurren Racer had gone, but the two chains at Zero's feet ran straight into Lelouch's building and it was an easy guess.

The Racer backed up out of the wall, and then went to hover-mode as its ace pilot deployed the two giant arms.

A red fist, the size of a car's wheel, retracted and then shot forward to Zero who stood there, legs planted apart like he didn't even consider dodging. Indeed, he did not. Instead, he raised his own hand that looked ridiculously small and futile by comparison. And yet, when the Gurren Racer's fist met that black hand, it stopped mid-motion, accompanied with a loud clang.

They stood pushing against each other for a moment, but then, ridiculously, the hovering Racer was pushed back. Lelouch had seen enough.

"Wonderful, Lloyd. Automated muscle reinforcement."

He watched a moment longer as Suzaku took a step, then jumped with multiple summersaults, flying ridiculously far as he vaulted straight over the Racer, bounced off a third story wall and landed finally on the back of a parked van. The roof caved a little, and Suzaku-Zero spread his arms wide, body language showing his own surprised shock at his jump.

"Kallen, I'm on the roof," Lelouch told his ace, "pick me up before Robo-Zero figures out just what that suit can do."

She grunted a reply and shot up towards him.

Halfway up, she veered off course, and went down to nearly crash into a garden-plot. Kallen righted the racer, but its tail was caught again in a Slash-Harken chain. Zero, at the other end, had put feet on a van; body facing diagonally as he nullified the racer's forward thrust. The van had been pulled across the side-walk, into a now badly dented fence.

Kallen, not one to fall for the same trick twice, had got her stun tonfa out, wielding it as a knife; she was now in the process of cutting the chain.

But Zero did not hold still either. He jumped, reeling the chain in as he went, and landed on the Racer's front window.

Lelouch was getting worried now, especially when he noticed his angry mob had made it up to the roof. C.C. should be here soon, but she would be too late if he managed to get himself thrown off the roof before she got here.

"Kallen, can you make it?"

Contingency plans… contingency plans… Even Lelouch was running out of contingency plans right now.

"I got this, Lelouch. Count on me."

It was all nice to say that, but when Lelouch spotted C.C. on a different building, giving him an apologetic shrug, he had to admit he was getting nervous…

There also suddenly seemed a lot of cars in the street: silent, and no sirens. But they were likely police cars.

"It's okay if you can't," he told the Red Lotus, climbing up onto the guard-rail and turning to face his would-be attackers. "But if you are coming, within ten seconds would be good."

A look over the shoulder showed him a bucking Racer, as Kallen tried to throw Zero off her hood. Suzaku-Zero did not seem affected: one hand had dug into the metal hood, the other was repeatedly smashing into the armored front windshield. The alloyed glass had a crack already, and it spread out with every strike of the first into an ever-growing spider's web.

"Right. New plan. Kallen, get yourself out of here, I'll…"

"I got this."

"No you don't. Get out of here."

"Let. Me!"

"Just…"

Kallen's speakers blared to life, her words ringing out loudly across the near-quiet streets: "BACK! OFF!"