Black Knights Hideout
Kallen sat down on the couch with an exhausted sigh, their last mission to cut off Refrain supply lines that Rogers found was successful. The operation had been a long endeavor, well over 3 hours' worth of intense shootouts, and she was still getting used to spending those hours in her new Knightmare, so standing up had more than warranted stretching.
"At least I'm getting used to these long nights." She yawned, or maybe not.
"You're telling me," Inoue sat beside her, almost throwing her body onto the couch. She kicked her feet onto coffee table, "At least you're off your feet, running around with a gun gets very tiring." The two of them watched as the rest of the Black Knights pooled in.
Ohgi was the first to enter, looking equally as tired them, and he joined them on the couch. "Good work out there, guys." As the rest of their group entered, they all gave varying version of 'thanks', obviously tired from their recent excursion.
The last ones to enter were Diethard, Zero, and Rogers. Kallen had mixed feelings about each of them, and most of it stemmed from their lack of Japanese heritage. Funnily enough, Diethard's presence made the most sense to her. He was a buzzard, a vulture who took scraps to get by, he watched from the sidelines. He took pleasure in participating because he thought the Black Knights were something to fear. 'History in the making' he once told her a few days ago when he joined. The Black Knights were making history, and Diethard wanted to document all of it.
Zero still was an enigma to her, hell to everyone. He wasn't Japanese, that much was made clear. Was he from another country, and just made his way here to fight Britannia? But if that's so, why not stay in his own country and fight his own people? Also why was it so important that Zero was to remain anonymous? Everything about Zero was clouded in mystery, but the one thing that wasn't was his hatred for Britannia. Taizo Kirihara acted as if the two knew each other, which added even more mystery to it all. In the end, Kallen had little complaints about Zero. He was their leader, and she was his sword.
Lastly was Rogers, the centuries old Super Soldier. Personally, she thought he was full of shit when Rogers was brought into the group, but after seeing him in action it dispelled any doubt that he was a normal man. The man never tired, he fought better than anyone, all wrapped up in a silver star. Kallen wasn't too familiar with Washington's Rebellion, but Rogers certainly acted like he was there. He said he fought for the American way – Kallen had to look up what America was, apparently that was the name of the Britannia homeland long before the modern aristocracy moved – and he certainly meant it.
"Fantastic work, all of you. I'll be sure to spread the edited footage through anonymous message boards. At your command, Zero." Diethard was the first to speak, in his hand was the camera that recorded all. This was his first operation, barring the one at the docks. It seems he hadn't yet gotten off his high.
"Do it, but I want a copy sent to me. I want to double check any of your work before you send it out." Diethard nodded and left, eager to work on his new project.
"By all accounts, you all did good work out there. Mistakes were made, but they were limited and contained. Trust in one another is important, you're only as strong as your weakest link." Steve continued.
"And we all know who that is." Minami looked at Tamaki, who looked insulted and ready to make one of his famous rants.
"Placing blame won't help us fix our order, we can only do that by working together and ironing out the faults. Zero, I'd like to ask your permission on something." Zero turned to face Rogers, not expecting it.
"What would that be?"
"Am I right to assume none of you had ample military training?" Rogers asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Tamaki asked, taking it as an insult.
"So far we are a small group with plenty of resources, but if we are going to be escalating, we're going to have to be prepared for our next targets."
"How do you suppose we do such a thing; we've already been fighting for years. Long before you or Zero ever joined us, remember?" This time it was Yoshida to talk.
"True, but all you've done are hit and run tactics. Our targets now are the strongest military force on the planet. We need to be better if we're going to fight them, Kalen's Knightmare has been our clutch. But it won't be long before the Britannians find a way to neutralize it, with that white Knightmare or not. So far, you've all been following Zero's order, if it weren't for him our operation would end in disarray."
"What, you saying that the only reason we're winning is because of Zero and that Guren?!" Tamaki shouted.
As much as Kallen had loathed to agree, he was right. The Britannians had no counter to Zero and the Guren has tied with that white Knightmare every time they fought, but if either of those were to be taken away it would deal a massive blow to the Black Knights.
"He's right, I hate to say it but he's right." Kallen voiced her opinion.
"Thank you, ma'am. I propose an outing, to better equip us all into working together. We can support each other's faults and become a better fighting force. In a group as small as this, we need to make up for our quantity with quality." Kallen nodded, in a war between armies, a dozen dead soldiers meant little. But in a group, such as theirs, that was all the members including Zero.
"Hmph, you make a fine argument Captain. Your excursion is granted." Lelouch understood the logic perfectly, until they could expand their forces the men and women currently in this room were all the pieces he had.
Zero turned to leave, but an arm grabbed his shoulder, "Not so fast, Zero. I've seen you fight; you need this as much as everyone else. In fact, I'd say more than the others." Zero turned around, the turn of events had certainly surprised him.
"What exactly does that mean?" Zero asked, Kallen couldn't help but crack a smile at how similar Tamaki and Zero were offended by Rogers proposal.
"You lead from the back, you rely on your Knightmare, and you rely on Kallen to be your guard in case of emergencies. You don't actively fight in any battle unless with a gun. And frankly," Rogers grabbed Zero's arm and raised it to inspect it, "You're as thin as a pencil."
The remarks made Kallen cover her laugh, no one dared talk about Zero in that way. Seeing it said so bluntly made more than a few chuckles. Zero's gaze turned to the rest of the Black Knights stifling their laughs. If he didn't have his mask on, she would have sworn the glare he was giving could kill a man.
"Noted, but I have important business to attend to." Zero yanked his arm back.
"We can make time." Lelouch frowned, of course of all the things he's forgotten to calculate it was the human variant. Not like he could, it was a wild and untamable beast that did what it felt like.
"We'll see." Zero walked out of the room, once the door closed the room filled with laughter. Maybe Steve Rogers wasn't so bad after all.
x-x
Government Bureau-The Next Morning
"Okay JARVIS, show me what we got." A large holographic screen expanded in front of him, it was a simulation of the Narita Mountains. On it were tiny Knightmares and soldiers that made up the battle that occurred before he arrived.
"The fighting between the JLF and the Britannian forces lasted almost an hour before the earthquake appeared, and when it did not only did a large portion of the JLF and Britannian forces get stuck under the rubble, the Black Knights appeared from the top of the mountain to claim victory." The simulation played through the events of the operation, showing everything Cornelia provided him. Death records, military count…anything Tony asked for.
"Which allowed the Black Knights to separate Cornelia from the larger forces and attack her. I have to say JARVIS whoever planned this, planned it well." Tony said as he spun the hologram around to survey the rest of the operation.
"It is fair to say that the mastermind behind this is none other than Zero." Tony cupped his chin, hearing JARVIS' assessment.
"What if he's just a pawn from the EU, or the Chinese Federation?" Tony asked aloud.
"No such data exists to warrant any intervention from the EU nor the Chinese Federation, information provided by Viceroy Cornelia back this, as well as reports from spy in both governments. However, it is likely the Chinese Federation has a hand in this, it is well known that the Chinese had eyes on Japan before the Second Pacific War. If Britannia did not already conquer, it is within acceptable estimates that the Chinse Federation would have annexed Japan." Tony nodded; Japan is the world's first most exporter of Sakuradite and control of the flow of Sakuradite would bring a lot of revenue.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you sir, but it seems you have a visitor." A camera feed to the front of his current laboratory showed none other than Sub-Viceroy Euphemia. Tony clapped his hands and the simulation turned off.
"Show her in JARVIS." The sound of a lock clicked and the door to the lab opened to the pink princess.
"Hello Tony, I was unaware you had an assistant with you." Euphemia looked around, was she looking for JARVIS?
"I'm sorry Princess, you will not find me physically." A hologram of JARVIS' avatar appeared in the room. If Tony could describe it, JARVIS represented himself as a ball on top of a raised platform.
"I don't quite understand what I'm looking at." She admitted.
"JARVIS here is a Virtual Intelligence System, or an A.I. in layman terms. I'm sure you've heard about them one way or another." Tony leaned on the counter near him and took a swig of coffee.
"A pleasure to meet your highness." JARVIS greeted.
"Um, the pleasures mine. I suppose such a complex machine, like JARVIS, took years to make?" Euphemia approached the A.I. hologram to inspect it.
"Take a good look Princess, JARVIS is the only state of the art A.I. you'll see for many years. At least that is until those weirdos at the Future Foundation solve their own little A.I., and that Pym guy. But that doesn't matter, what's got you down here Princess?" Tony asked, taking another swig.
"I was wondering if you'd help me with a little favor. Something I'd like not to share to my sister, it's nothing illegal…but definitely something against my better judgement." Euphemia clasped her hands.
"What in it for me? Not to be rude, but usually things like this require bartering. You understand." Euphemia thought it over, Tony Stark was a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. He had no need for money or title, and she certainly wasn't privy to marrying herself off just for a favor. The line of thinking led her to think about him as a scientist, what would a scientist value? The answer was clear.
"Knowledge." Her answer sparked a raised brow from Tony, not understanding what she meant.
"Knowledge?"
"You're a smart man, certainly you'd like to expand your wealth of knowledge. Cut your teeth on something a little more exotic? Something perhaps not yet quite understood." Tony leaned forward, that got his attention.
"Okay, we've got a deal."
x-x
Ashford Academy
Miles rubbed his eyes as he woke up, wiping the crust from his eyes. He picked up his phone to check the time.
"Noon, huh?" Miles stretched as he got out of bed when his phone rang in his hands. He checked the caller, it was Milly.
Miles answered the phone and brought it to his ear, "Miles here."
"Oh, good you're up, I thought I was going to have to come to your room to wake you." The cheery voice of Milly Ashford came through.
"Sorry to disappoint. So, what's up?" Miles put the phone on speaker as he started to get dressed.
"Just wanted to talk, y'know since I'm in the know I thought we'd touch base. I want to help." Miles finished getting dressed and walked to his phone.
"Alright, what do you want to know?" Miles asked.
"Well, what happened last night? I watched the news, they said you kicked down the doors to a bar and it led to a car chase on top of a freeway, what's up with that?"
"We were looking for any leads to the source of the Refrain operation, the boss of the club probably had information, but you probably saw how that ended."
"We?" Milly asked.
"Oh, um right. I've been working with a detective. A vigilante that's been gunning for the Kingpin too. It was a match made in a warehouse."
"Sounds romantic. So, what did you learn?" Miles memories returned to last night.
Last Night
Miles swung back to the club, "Detective, you here?!" Miles shouted out.
"Over here." His voice shouted from the back.
Miles navigated his way though the backside of the club, moving through the liquor counter towards an office in the back. The Detective stood behind a desk typing away at a laptop.
"Did you get Daws?" He asked, not taking his eyes away from the screen.
"No, he got away. Had to save a family from falling off freeway. Tell me you got something." Miles walked up to him. The Detective shut the laptop and pulled a USB out from the side of the laptop.
"Luckily, I can make up for not getting Daws. The laptop had a failsafe to erase its files, but that wasn't a problem. I found their main distribution center, if we hit them their I'm sure we'll find their Kingpin. It also happens to midnight as the main base of operation for these Knights of Zero. Two birds with one stone." The Detective took the laptop and smashed it.
"Mind finishing it off?" He motioned to the laptop. Miles shrugged and stomped it. The laptop had been crushed to pieces, never to turn on again.
"So, what are you going to do with that?" Miles pointed to the USB.
"Hand it over to the police, hopefully we can get some official help. Pressure from us and the legal system will definitely solidify his prison time." The Detective thumbed the USB and pocketed it.
"Sounds like a good plan." In the distance, the police sirens started to sound closer and closer, seems like they found out where they were. "We should split, cops don't seem to be very happy." The Detective nodded.
"I'll call you when I'm ready to hit their distribution center." Miles agreed, and the two of them went their separate ways.
Present Time
As Miles recounted last nights events Milly stayed eerily quiet. He'd known Milly for almost 3 months now, and in that time, Milly always gave the personality of a flirty, party girl who never took anything seriously. Yet here she was intently listening on his hero antics with the focus he's never seen before. And as he finished, Milly was still quiet.
"So, what are your thoughts?" Miles asked.
"Sounds like you got a big score to prepare for. If this leads to those wannabe terrorists behind bars, I can't help but take pleasure."
"Glad you approve."
"This wasn't just a social call, meet me in the student council room this afternoon. I have a special event for just for the council." The tone of Milly's voice sound much more jovial than before, so this was planned.
"You gonna tell me what it is?" Miles asked.
"Nope. See you later Miles." The phone hung up, leaving Miles alone.
x-x
Area 11 Countryside
Kallen checked the notes on her phone once again, the coordinates placed her at this location. Mount Tsukuba was one of Japans smaller mountains, only an hour from the Tokyo settlement. She came here once with Naoto and her mother before the war, before her father left to the homeland. Those were better days.
"Man, I haven't been to Tsukuba in years." Ohgi exited from the van and scratched the top of his head. Behind her the rest of the team had funneled out of an old van Inoue owned. It was an older Japanese model that was produced before the war.
"You see him yet?" Tamaki asked, looking around.
Kallen heard panting behind her, she turned around and sure enough she could see Steve running up from behind them. He wore a standard grey sweatshirt and gym shorts. He looked to have been running before they got here, how long has he been here? "I think that's him." Kallen got the groups attention and pointed behind him.
As Steve got closer behind him came the vibrant and inconspicuous green hair of C.C., she wore a pair of shots and sports bra. She didn't appear to be showing any signs of fatigue so maybe they haven't been running that long?
As the two came closer to the larger group, they stopped in front of them.
"Hello team, glad to see you all have made it. Miss C.C. and I have been scouting the route for the last hour or two before you all came." Steve took a bottle from the pockets of his shorts and took a quick swig of water.
"It's just you two?" She asked, it was strange to see Zero's mistress without him.
"No." C.C. said, pointing to the track behind her.
Coming into view was the form of none other than Diethard Ried, dressed in gym shorts and a track jacket. Instead of the concentrated and leisure forms of C.C. and Steve, Diethard looked like he was on the edge of passing out. His usually suave nature was replaced with a man so drenched in sweat he could be mistaken for a fish. When he finally caught up, he bent over trying to catch his breath.
"You want straighten your back, Diethard, or else you aren't gonna get as much air as you need." Diethard groaned and swiped the bottle from Steve's hands, gulping down the bottle.
"Pretty out of shape, huh cameraman?" Tamaki taunted.
"You…don't know…huh much we just ran…" Diethard took another gulp.
"So, Zero decided not to join, huh?" Minami asked.
"Not quite." C.C. said, looking back to where they came from.
If there was any sight that Kallen would call unnatural, it was the one in front of her. The mask of Zero appeared over the ridgeline, but it wasn't Zero's regular outfit. His entire body had spandex on, likely to cover any notifying features; he wore shorts and gloves to cover up the rest. Zero was dressed head-to-toe to hide any revealing features. In short, he looked ridiculous.
Zero acted much like Diethard, but instead of almost passing out, Zero looked like he was about to die.
"I got to admit, this is worth the price alone." Sugiyama smirked as Zero finally caught up, panting heavily.
"You want to stand up, Zero." Steve said.
"You're…a fitness freak." Zero managed to get out, panting hard.
"And you have the fitness of a sloth, come on everyone let's get started on the next lap. C.C. you mind watching over these two?" Steve motioned to Diethard and Zero, C.C. simply nodded. Steve started his jog, and the Black Knights followed him.
"I…blame you…for this." Zero said, looking to C.C., she did nothing but smirk.
"Don't act like you need a little muscle on those bones of yours." C.C. kept a steady jog ahead of Diethard and Zero as they continued.
x-x
Area 11 Police Department
The door to Stacy's office was almost kicked open, and he had a decent feeling who it was that did it.
"You aren't going to follow this?!" Yuri Watanabe slammed the evidence bag onto the table.
"Yuri…" George looked at the young woman, who looked infuriated.
"We finally have evidence tying this all together and you're just going to ignore it?!" She accused.
"We aren't ignoring it, but we can't just accept evidence from Spider-Man of all people. Until we can get evidence that didn't include breaking and entering a privately owned bar, filled with innocent civilians mind you, we can't pursue this case. It's against the law."
"So that's it? We're just gonna drop it? We have credible evidence in this drive! If a few toes get stepped on to stop the spread of Refrain that's a price worth taking!" Yuri argued.
"I know this isn't what you wanted, but we have to play by the rules. Now, Private, I'm sure you have other matters to deal with." George sighed as he watched Yuri storm out of his office and slam the door shut.
"I'm sorry Yuri." George grabbed the drive and looked at the I.D.
He pulled up the internal database of the department and entered the evidence files. He looked back at the bag, ASM-663.
Item found: ASM-663
Options? [Open] [Edit] [New]…[Delete]…
Would you like to delete ASM-663? [Yes] [No]
Complete!
George sighed with a heavy heart; he had a phone call to make.
x-x
Ashford Academy
"So, what's the deal Prez?" Rivalz asked as he sat on the couch.
As it was the weekend, everyone was dressed in their casual clothes. It wasn't often Miles met the others outside of school, especially so casually. He looked around the room to see that most of the student council was here, with a disturbing absence of a particular person.
"So, where's Kallen and Lelouch, I thought they'd be here?" Shirley asked, noticing the two absences.
"Lelouch said he was taking Nanna out for a day, and he helped me formalize this, so he doesn't need to be here. As for Kallen…"
"She claimed to be sick today." Miles filled in. Ever since Narita Miles has had his eyes ever more on Kallen, being in the Black Knights warranted such. Was she even a part of Narita? He had no idea, but he certainly still felt the need to keep an eye on her if she thought that she'd dump her disguise.
"As to be expected," Milly sighed, "I sent her an email so she should see it, but for the rest of you I wanted it to be a surprise."
"So, Madam Prez, what is it the anticipation is killing me!' Rivalz sat forward in his chair.
"After going over the budget, thanks to your wonderful work, we actually have some left-over money." Milly clicked a button and the TV in the room showed a surplus in the money the student council used for the prom.
"I can't remember the last time that's happened." Shirley said, going deep into thought.
"So, with some money left over and a round of convincing Granddad, I hereby present to you TICKETS TO CLOVIS-LAND!" Milly reached her back pocket and pulled out either tickets.
"Clovis-land?" Miles asked.
"It's the water park our dearly former Viceroy had in the works for a few years now. They had their opening last month and I bought some tickets for a day off, just the student council and Nanna. This is what your hard work paid for." Milly waved the tickets.
"Wow that's awesome Milly!" Shirley pumped her arm, enthusiastic as ever.
"Glad to hear Shirley, we'll all be heading out. That means you too Nina!" Nina blushed as she sat in the corner of the room, not liking being the center of attention.
"O-okay." She didn't even argue.
"This is cool and all, but when is this happening?" Miles asked.
"Thursday, two days before the prom. That way no one will be stinking of chlorine. So, get ready guys, we're heading to the water park this week!"
After an energetic hour of planning, everyone went their separate ways. Miles decided to return to his dorm, he had to shop for some swimming trunks after all. His phone vibrated in his pocket, as he picked it out, the name was absent and only he knew who that could be. The Detective.
'Cops won't help, just you and me. Meet me at this address, lets bust some heads.' The police weren't going to help? How couldn't they, this was the Kingpin of Area 11?! Miles grimaced, if the cops weren't going to help, then he'd take down this Kingpin.
x-x
Mount Tsukuba
Kallen had been a fit person, she considered herself the fittest among the group. But even she paled in comparison to the fitness freak that was Steve Rogers.
"Good work out today, I'm proud of all of you for coming." Steve stood above the rest, along with C.C. who looked to have not been tired at all.
"Screw…you…" Tamaki panted as he laid on the ground with everyone else.
Kallen lamented in the moment, her arms may have felt like jelly and her lungs deflated but this wasn't a bad memory. In fact, she liked it. As she looked up to the sky she smiled, these were the people she fought with.
"Had a good workout Miss Kozuki?" Steve looked down at her.
"You could say that, thanks for this Steve. It was a good idea."
"Anytime ma'am." Steve nodded.
x-x
China, Location Unknown
A month's absence was not unexpected when it came to the Mandarin, but even the staunchest of devotees had grew worrisome when their master had not returned for some time. But all worries were settled when he returned.
"My lord, you return?! We were worried, we had not received any word from you…" The Mandarin's second in command was stopped by a raised hand.
"I have been deep undercover as an alias, you should know to put more faith in The Mandarin." The man was quick to apologize.
"I'm sorry, my lord."
"I don't care, take me to the ship, I wish to see it." He nodded, and The Mandarin followed.
Only those at the highest levels of the organization knew about the ship, and only The Mandarin could be the one to take its helm. For it was like the fabled Excalibur, an object that only granted those worthy to take its rings and command it.
As the two walked past numerous hallways and passed many checkpoints, they were led to a large cavern where the ship lay. It was a large green ship, entirely unknown to this world. This would be his Excalibur; this would prove his worth. He only needed the last piece.
The Mandarin thumbed his left-most little finger, in each other finger there was a ring. Each that brought power to him, but the most powerful of them all, Blacklight, remained lost to him.
"The Makluans came to this world with such incredible power, no longer will they remain separated and distant. Blacklight will become mine, and the gifts of our dragon ancestors will be realized. So says the Mandarin!"
Sorry this one took so long to write; I had some trouble writing Euphemia and Tony's scene and it just kept getting pushed back because of other things…eh it's finally done with. Hope you've enjoyed the 4.6k chapter. Lots of set up and a good-hearted moment between the Black Knights.