~Lelouch vi Britannia~
Lelouch had been in the middle of issuing an order when he was violently tackled from his chair onto the ground. His chest exploded in pain and the only thought that went through his mind was 'not like this'. He wasn't going to go out without a fight.
He struggled in his attacker's hold and managed to get a hold of his sidearm. He brought it up under his assailant's chin, safety already disengaged and ready to pull the trigger, when he paused at discovering just who was after him. Higa froze and swallowed tightly before slowly releasing the grip he had on Lelouch's shoulders.
Lelouch hesitated for a moment, staring at his subordinate and wondering if he'd made a terrible mistake during his vetting procedures. Higa seemed to take his hesitation as letting him off the hook because he pulled back, then promptly paled and shoved his hand back onto Lelouch's chest, earning a hiss of pain for the effort.
"Medic!" The soldier shouted, just as he became aware of Suzaku standing over them, protecting them.
The next few moments were a blur of chaos as Suzaku began shooting and another soldier rushed at him and began ripping away the buttons of his shirt. He glanced down at his chest and noticed the two holes in his shirt a moment before it was pulled away to reveal the lightweight bulletproof vest he was wearing and the pair of crumpled bullets caught up in it.
"I'm okay." He sighed, as he finally reengaged the safety on his gun, though his words were swallowed up by Suzaku continuing to fire.
He swept his gaze over the rest of the command center, searching for anyone else who might have been caught in the crossfire. His gaze landed on Kaguya, where she was huddled under the conference table, being protectively guarded by Kondo. Kondo, who had been stationed near the monitoring desk, far closer to Lelouch than he had been to Kaguya.
He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a long sigh, wincing a little at the bruising left behind by the bullets. Another mystery solved. He'd hoped that he was wrong about Kondo. It would have been nice to be proved wrong for once, at least in this kind of situation.
"Your highness?" Higa called worriedly, voice sounding muted in the sudden ringing silence.
He pushed himself up to a sitting position and just breathed for a moment, reveling in the fact that he could still do that and feeling thankful for his Knights insisting that he wear the same kind of protection that they do. His entire body felt jittery with his adrenaline surge and crash, so he forced himself to take a moment to get himself under control.
When he looked up, it was to find Suzaku watching him, looking like he'd just been gutted. "I'm fine." He reassured, then realized that he had one hand clenched over his chest and promptly dropped it.
"I let you get hit." Suzaku said in horror.
"You knew I was wearing the vest." He reminded.
"It's still unacceptable." Suzaku growled, but was distracted from further self-flagellation by a pained groan echoing through the vents.
Suzaku's face went from guilty to murderous in a split second before he reloaded his gun and jumped up onto the desk. He tore the vent cover off, then cautiously peeked inside. A moment later, he reached inside and began dragging the shooter out of the vent by the ankle.
A man fell like a rag doll onto the desk with another moan, which earned him no sympathy from anyone involved. He'd been shot in several places and was bleeding freely. It was unlikely that the man would have survived his injuries, even if he had managed to get away. He was still clinging to his weapon, a standard issue Britannian sidearm with a heavily modified silencer attached to it. Suzaku disarmed him effortlessly, and possibly broke the man's wrist in the process.
He drifted closer to the terrorist, ignoring the way that Higa and his subordinate, Evans if he wasn't mistaken, had taken up protective positions around him. The man's face looked vaguely familiar, but it took him a moment to recognize from where. He glanced at Suzaku, who nodded slightly in agreement. But he needed to be sure. This seemed too easy, the near miss of his own assassination notwithstanding.
"Kaguya." He growled, as he stared at the man struggling to breath. "Come here."
At the sound of her name, the man roused a little, eyes fluttering open and mouth turning into a snarl. Evans moved aside enough to allow Kaguya to stand beside him.
"Oh god." Kaguya whispered, her face paling almost enough to make him worry about her fainting.
"So this is your beloved cousin, Kei Tanaka, who was foolish enough to come after me himself." He confirmed.
Kei spat a glob of bloody mucus at Kaguya and Suzaku. "You two … deserve each other. Traitors both of you." He wheezed.
Suzaku scoffed, then raised his gun and fired without another word: a head shot. Kaguya muffled a scream behind her hands as they were caught in a fine mist of blood. Lelouch frowned at his Knight's unusually aggressive behaviour and Suzaku grimaced.
"Sorry about the mess." Suzaku said grimly.
Sorry for the mess, but not sorry for killing Kei without orders. Not that Lelouch had expected to be able to get much information out of him, but he wouldn't have minded being able to savor his victory for a few moments longer. Though he supposed that was a bit preemptive, as the Guren was still at large and there were at least two Kenshiki agents still roaming the island.
"Suzaku, how could you?" Kaguya breathed in horror.
"Avoid censuring my Knight, Kaguya. Actions have consequences; surely you didn't think his attempt on my life, nevermind any of his other crimes, would lead to any other outcome?" He asked as he turned away from the dead terrorist.
Adrian and the monitoring specialists had gone back to work. Drama in the command center did not mean that they got a break from keeping an eye on ongoing operations. That didn't mean that he didn't still catch the occasional worried glance from Adrian.
Kondo had returned to his post near the monitoring stations and was acting like no one had noticed where he'd gone first when the bullets had started flying.
"Of course I knew that there would be consequences, but even Saito was given that sham of a public trial." Kaguya protested.
Lelouch frowned and wondered what kind of plans she'd had that had relied on him turning Kei's death into a spectacle. But that didn't matter anymore. Instead, his gaze landed on Kondo again.
"What do you think the consequence of espionage ought to be, Kaguya?" He asked calmly.
"What? We were talking about murder, not -"
"No. No, Kaguya. You were talking about a death sentence carried out by a Knight of Honor. I am now asking about espionage. What do you think the punishment for that should be?" He asked, raising his voice just enough to carry across the room, knowing full well that he was gambling against a man who wouldn't make the mistake of shooting him somewhere protected by a bulletproof vest if his guess was wrong.
"How would I know? You're the Viceroy." She huffed, clearly still upset about the antics of her cousins.
"I am the Viceroy." He agreed. "And as the Viceroy, I offered opportunity. I offered safety. I offered respect. I even offered prestige. To have that repaid with espionage seems like … like a betrayal, doesn't it, Kaguya?"
"What are you talking about?" Kaguya asked warily, finally noticing that Lelouch had yet to take his gaze off of Kondo.
"I have a theory. Well, actually, I have two. You'll have to tell me which one is correct. See, I noticed you were well protected during what ought to have been my assassination. What you may not know is that Private Kondo has been under investigation for months. He hid his tracks well, but he just showed his hand. So the first theory goes like this: Private Kondo is a Kenshiki agent sent by your cousin, Kei Tanaka, and has been leaking information to the enemy since the inception of the ATTF. It's only natural that he would move to protect the beloved cousin of his leader."
Kondo grit his teeth when Higa raised his gun and was mirrored by the rest of his unit. "Your highness -" Kondo began to protest.
"I'm not speaking to you, Private." He interrupted harshly, then dared to turn his head enough to catch Kaguya's eye now that he wasn't the only one watching Kondo like a hawk. "My other theory is that he was sent here by you."
Kaguya's lips pressed into a thin line of displeasure. "Perhaps the private merely trusted in his squadmates to protect you."
"Perhaps, but that wouldn't excuse him leaving his post and leaving the men and women manning the desks vulnerable." He shrugged. "So why would he move so far to protect you? Do you know each other?"
"Of course not." Kaguya said easily.
"Of course not." He nodded in agreement. "Are you certain? I'm sure you're aware of my policies on terrorists and resistance fighters."
She grit her teeth and nodded. He internally sighed at her stubbornness.
"A pity." He said softly as he checked his gun, still fully loaded with the safety engaged. "I always did take disloyalty rather personally." He raised his gun and thought he might have to actually go through with it before she finally caved.
"Lelouch." She called and even went so far as to push his arm down toward the floor. He paused and watched her for a long moment, eyebrow arched expectantly. She hesitated for another moment before she nodded slightly. "He's mine."
"Do you think that exonerates him?" He asked.
She swallowed tightly. "Please, Lelouch."
"Do not forget that I am your Viceroy." He warned, disturbed by her sudden use of familiarity.
"Do not forget that we were childhood friends. If Nunnally could see this, she would be disgusted." Kaguya countered.
He flinched slightly at her invoking his sister's name and he could tell that she knew she'd struck a nerve. A second later, Suzaku was forcefully removing her hand from his arm and imposing himself between them. He withdrew a step from them and honestly considered going through with an execution just to spite her, before he regained his composure.
"Sergeant Higa, take Private Kondo into custody. And have Miss Sumeragi escorted back to her rooms and kept under guard." He ordered.
For a moment, he wondered if Kondo would try to fight his way out, but Higa and his men didn't give him the chance to try and the private was tackled to the ground and disarmed in a matter of seconds, then hauled back up to his feet in cuffs. Kaguya was treated more gently, but was still practically dragged from the room.
Lelouch sighed and turned back to his desk, then remembered the dead terrorist taking up residence on it and made his way to the conference table instead. He sank into the nearest chair and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. The whole point of this entire quarantine was so that he could control the playing field, but once again the Kenshiki had gone off script and it had left him having to react. Perhaps he was becoming as unadapable as he had once criticised Cornelia of being.
Fine. The Kenshiki had breached the palace on foot. What needed to be done now?
"I need bomb disposal teams to check the vents to make sure that Kei didn't leave any presents behind. Then they need to check the rest of the palace and the grounds. I also need canine units escorted by fire teams on the grounds to sniff down where our other assassins have gotten to. Tell whoever it is that's now in charge of the Osaka Police that this is an opportunity to redeem themselves after their abysmal recent conduct. It will likely be their only opportunity." He ordered.
"I'm already on it, Lelouch." Adrian assured softly.
He sagged a little at the news and was thankful that he had competent subordinates. "What else?" He asked.
"Recon Team Four has taken out the RPG team that fired on Station One and we've had reports of some Knightmare activity from our other recon teams in the city."
"Are they moving toward any of the protective zones?" He asked grimly.
"No, they seem to be making their way here, though not in the numbers we expected." Adrian answered.
"How many?"
"We've caught sight of eleven. They're not trying to hide." Adrian sighed.
"The Guren?"
"No sign of it yet."
Lelouch let out a long exhale as he pondered his next move. "And our Knights?"
"Standing by for your order." Adrian answered crisply.
"Then sing a siren's song, Adrian. Impress upon the Knights that they are not to touch the controls until the Guren has been positively identified and engaged, unless civilians or our ground forces are in imminent danger. Instead, they are to relay any pertinent information about ongoing operations and flag any Kenshiki commanders for later interrogation." He ordered.
Adrian smirked a little, but dutifully activated his mic. "Operation Siren Song is go."
The command center was overtaken by a flurry of activity as his orders were relayed and eighty Britannian Knights mounted up. The chaos hushed slightly when he pushed himself back to his feet.
"Where will you be, Lelouch?" Adrian asked.
"I'll be preparing a welcome party for our guests." He answered calmly as he made his way to another painting on the wall that revealed a secret elevator to the basement knightmare hangar.
The elevator let him and Suzaku out in a small private room, where their flight suits were waiting for them. By the time they were changed and emerged into the main area of the hangar, the place was practically a ghost town.
The Royal Guard, being led by Roy in Hector's absence, were clustered together near their Lionel frames on one end of the hangar, and Cornelia and her remaining Glaston Knights were on the other side. He was somewhat surprised to see that she had had enough restraint not to run amok of his operation and launch early.
"Mount up." He called as he passed by row after row of knightmare simulators.
His voice drew the attention of not just the Royal Guard, but Cornelia and her men as well. The Royal Guard straightened then immediately moved toward their machines. Cornelia, on the other hand, started marching straight for him.
"Is now really the time to be running simulations, Lelouch? This isn't Eighteen. This isn't Narita. They have eighty knightmares. You're not going to take them on with just your Royal Guard." She criticized.
Lelouch watched her for a long moment before turning away. "They have one knightmare, Cornelia." He called over his shoulder as he made his way to the King Piece.
Suzaku tensed beside him. "Take the decoy Lionel at least."
"They need to see that their attempt failed." He said regretfully before gesturing toward the Lancelot. "Mount up."
He grabbed the tow rope and slipped his ear piece in. "Adrian, I need a location on the remaining knightmares. What are the Knights saying?"
"True to form, they're using the subway tunnels. They're spread out between the pre-war lines that were boarded up, and the new lines, but they're still all heading our way. Records from the City Planning Office suggest that they will converge at an old station that's been converted into a rental storage business. It's about a kilometer from the bridge. There's still been no sign of the Guren." Adrian answered.
"Keep me posted if they change course or the Guren is spotted." He ordered, then changed channels. "Jeremiah, Hector, Gino, I need you mounted. Take control of the knightmare forces at the Protective Zones and begin radiating patrols in search of the Guren."
"Yes, your highness." Gino answered immediately; the sentiment echoed by Jeremiah.
Hector took a moment longer. "Did something happen?"
"He was shot." Suzaku admitted before he could get a word out.
"What?!" Roy yelped in horror at the same time Hector demanded "Say that again."
"Kei Tanaka infiltrated the palace ventilation system and managed to get two shots off. Center mass. Both were stopped by his vest." Suzaku recited leadenly.
"We're going to have words, Kururugi." Jeremiah growled.
"I'm looking forward to it, sir."
And that was about enough of that. Jeremiah didn't need to drag Suzaku through the coals, when Suzaku was already doing such a good job of it himself.
"I'm sure you'll recall that I've had worse." He snapped icily. "Now focus on the current situation. Keep an eye out for the Guren. Disregard the Sutherlands; they're already within our control."
He got a chorus of agreements as they left the hangar, his Knight and Royal Guard falling into a defensive formation around him as they made their way past the smoking ruins of Station One and onto the bridge toward the city.
"At least tell us that Kei's dead." Roy eventually demanded.
"I made sure of it." Suzaku said grimly.
~Kallen Kouzuki~
Kallen sighed and tuned out from the way Suzaku was beating himself up for letting the Kenshiki leader slip past him. Honestly, she was on the verge of thinking that Lelouch deserved it. This whole operation was a fucking sham that Lelouch had engineered from the very start. The quarantine had never been necessary. The 'stolen' knightmares had only been a threat to the people of Osaka because Lelouch had made them one. She'd been livid ever since she'd found out.
Operation Siren Song was bait. Each of the Kenshiki knightmares were equipped with a device that let a Britannian Knight seize control of the machine with the push of a button. The Knights could activate the self-destruct, fire on 'friendly' units, or run the Kenshiki into an ambush and there was nothing the actual pilot could do about it. All of the Kenshiki pilots were already dead, they just didn't know it.
She didn't doubt for a second that her own machine had the same kind of device in it. If she put a toe out of line, or if Lelouch ever decided that she was more trouble than she was worth, she had no doubt that her machine might suddenly waltz into enemy fire or blow up on her.
She tuned back into the conversation when Lelouch sighed heavily. "Focus please. How about whichever one of you takes out the Guren gets to keep it? It's supposed to be comparable to the Lancelot, so a free upgrade if you can find it for me."
She quirked an eyebrow at that and tapped her fingers against the controls. Lelouch had been freaking about the Guren ever since they'd gotten to Osaka, since it was the only one of the Kenshiki knightmares that he couldn't usurp the control of. She'd thought he was overreacting, but if it was supposed to be as good as the Lancelot, then maybe . . . But the Lancelot was only so big of a threat because of its pilot. She was somehow doubting that the Kenshiki had gotten their hands on an Ace pilot since they'd gotten their knightmares.
She considered her chances. Lelouch was obviously out there playing bait again, hoping that whoever was piloting the Guren would take a crack at taking out the Viceroy now that their Plan A had failed. Roy had ordered her as far away from Lelouch as he could while still keeping her in their formation. That meant that she would either be the closest to the action when the Guren struck, or the furthest away.
She glanced at the formation displayed on her screens again. Lelouch and Suzaku were clustered together in the center, with Roy and Lukas in a guarding formation around them. Nick and Charles were spread further out from them, and Amanda was on the far side, the mirror of Kallen's position. She could overtake the others if she decided to bail on her assigned position for a shot at the Guren, but Amanda was damned near an Ace herself and the likelihood of her getting the drop on the Guren before Amanda managed to engage was next to nil.
So then, she just had to hope the Guren came from her end. If it decided to show at all. She wondered if it looked so obviously like a trap from the outside. Then again, the Kenshiki still thought that they had a numbers advantage, and they were going to continue to think that until the Guren came out to play.
They continued their advance over the bridge and into the city while keeping an eye out for any enemies. Unmounted terrorists had taken out Station One and there was no reason to believe that other unmounted Kenshiki weren't waiting in ambush for the unwary. If they had grenades, they could still do a decent amount of damage to a knightmare frame.
Curfew was still in effect, so only the ATTF should be on the streets. Anyone else they might run into would mostly likely be an enemy. Roy had already briefed them on firing first and asking questions later, rather than the opposite and risking any injury to the prince. She didn't like it, but not enough to disobey. She still felt like she should feel worse about the terrorist she had killed on their way to the palace, like maybe she was broken in some way. How far would she go for a shot at the Emperor? She'd barely even hesitated.
The city slipped past them and they didn't see another soul. It was almost eerie how still the place could be when the people who would usually be making their way through the city, night shift workers or vagrants, were ordered to stay in their homes or had already evacuated.
Something in her peripheral vision made her pause as they neared the storage facility that the Kenshiki knightmares would emerge from. She trusted her instincts and drifted to a stop as she took in her surroundings, trying to figure out what had made her do a double take. It was an abandoned construction site. It looked like the foundation of whatever structure they were building had been laid, but the rest of the construction had been interrupted by the Kenshiki reign of terror. Piles of construction material were left all over the lot, covered by canvas tarps and were only protected by a tall chain link fence. The light from a nearby streetlamp only illuminated about half of the lot, but she couldn't pick up any movement even with her factspheres.
"Got something, Kallen?" Lelouch asked over the Royal Guard's channel.
She ran her eyes over the lot again, her gaze lingering for a moment on one particular pile of construction materials next to what looked like a couple pallets of plyboard. "Maybe." She answered.
She knew the silhouette of a knightmare in hiding very well. They had kept the Glasgow covered up with a dusty old tarp whenever it wasn't being used or worked on, just on the off chance that anyone might catch a glimpse of it. This silhouette wasn't quite right, but it was the correct size and all of the other construction materials had been covered up except for the plywood next to it.
She turned away from the formation of the Royal Guard and launched one of her harkens at the suspicious pile. If she was wrong, it was just a little property damage. But if she wasn't . . .
Her harken careened over the chain link fence and toward the pile, but it never embedded in its target, being swept aside by a huge silver coloured gauntlet instead as a bizarre looking knightmare unfolded from the pile and charged toward her. She leaped over the fence in response and moved to engage.
If she hadn't noticed it, it would have been behind their position when they encountered the other Kenshiki knightmares. She grimaced at the thought as she ducked under the slash harken it sent her way, then grabbed the tether to jerk the machine off balance. It recovered quickly by sacrificing its harken and cutting the tether. From what she could see, it only had the one, so she wasn't necessarily surprised by the way it suddenly charged at her to close the distance.
"Don't let it close to you, Kallen!" Lelouch ordered in her ear, but it was too late. The thing was fast and her Sutherland was no match for its speed. It felt like fighting the Lancelot in Shinjuku all over again.
She got her stun tonfa up in time to block a strike from the Guren's knife and fired point blank into the cockpit with her rifle, which bought her a second of reprieve to jump back out of reach. At least she'd thought she'd been out of reach, but the Guren's silver arm shot out after her and extended just enough to catch onto her Sutherland's left arm.
She felt her panic surge, knowing that the weapon the Guren's designer was so proud of was housed in the large silver arm. She slammed on the underside of the console, detaching the left shoulder joint with a set of controls that were rarely ever touched outside of maintenance. The arm came loose in the Guren's grasp, sacrificing her rifle with it, not a moment too soon. The next second, her Sutherand's arm became nothing more than a pile of slag, then was promptly dropped to the ground.
She watched it warily as the Guren seemed to reassess its situation. It turned slightly away from her, towards where the rest of the Royal Guard had formed up around Lelouch with MVS' and rifles already drawn. But they weren't moving to engage, even Suzaku wasn't moving the Lancelot more than a few feet from the prince. It seemed like they were going to let her handle it. She tried not to let her unease with that get the best of her, but the thought still plagued her. Was Lelouch trusting in her abilities or was he unwilling to risk any of his more liked subordinates in a fight with an unknown machine?
The Guren made to turn on the prince, but she launched both of her harkens at it. It managed to dodge one, but the other embedded in its shoulder and she used it to drag the machine away from the others. Like hell she was going to let it disregard her, as if the loss of one arm would knock her out of the fight. She was better than that.
The Guren turned on her again, snatching up the tether for her harken with its silver claw. She released it before it could use it as a conduit for its energy weapon and figured she was running out weapons pretty quickly. This wasn't a winning strategy. She couldn't just keep sacrificing her arsenal.
She let out a slow breath as she considered her next move. But she had always been more comfortable in close quarters than fighting from a distance. She charged in the next second, rushing the Guren with her stun tonfa ready in her only remaining hand. It parried with its knife and made a grab for her with its claw, which she managed to evade by ducking under it and moving closer instead of moving away. The claw was meant for reaching, it didn't have as great of mobility at such a close range. She slipped around behind it and wedged her tonfa into the seam between cockpit and the silver arm.
It jumped away from her and opened fire with a gun mounted to the left arm, forcing her to dodge and seek cover behind a pile of construction materials as she waited for a gap in its firing. That gap came when it had to eject a spent ammunition magazine, and she charged back out at the machine, launching her Sutherland into the air and hurling all seven and a half tonnes of it at her enemy. They collided roughly and overbalanced, as was to be expected. The pilot was decent, but they were no Ace and the only people she'd have expected to be able to keep up their machines under that attack were Suzaku and Hector, and even then it was iffy. They hit the ground hard and skidded across the pavement into some scaffolding, which promptly collapsed all around them.
The Guren managed to shove her off with its clawed hand and she allowed it in order to get out of its reach before it could use its energy weapon. Then she grabbed a piece of the nearby scaffolding and used the greater reach it gave her to jam the piece of metal back into the joint between the shoulder and cockpit again before it could regain its footing. Energy arced around the arm and she jumped away from the piece of scaffolding, but the arm only fell limp against the machine's side.
It staggered unsteadily back to its feet and then promptly ejected the cockpit. She snarled at the coward's retreat. Like fuck she was going to let them make off with the most integral part of the knightmare's systems. She had won. The Guren was hers now. She launched her last remaining harken at the jet-propelled cockpit and snagged it just before it managed to get out of range.
She dragged the cockpit back toward her, fighting against the thruster, until the cockpit's short burst of power spluttered out and she flung the cockpit to the ground. It rolled and scraped across the pavement, coming to a stop a few feet in front of the Royal Guard's position.
Kallen took a moment to regain her breath after the adrenaline surge she always got in a fight, then straightened her knightmare to what approximated to 'attention' and raised her chin, waiting for some kind of reaction.
For a long moment, none of the Royal Guard moved, weapons still drawn as if expecting her to attack them next. Lelouch's face overtook her view screen a moment later. He didn't say anything for a moment, simply scrutinizing her. She defiantly met his gaze, unsure what he was looking for. Then he nodded to her in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Kallen."
She felt weird about that. She'd been half expecting a reprimand for taking the Guren on by herself or not coordinating with the rest of the Guard. Instead she got thanks. It made her realize now just how concerned Lelouch had actually been about the Guren. That part, at least, wasn't an act.
She nodded back awkwardly and he glanced away, likely about to disconnect the call. "What about your deal, Lelouch? About the Guren?" She asked.
He paused, then frowned at her. "I keep my promises, Kallen."
The screen blanked out before she could say anything else and she leaned back in her seat before moving to retake her place in the formation around the prince.
"The Guren's down." Lelouch's voice said over the channel connecting them to the rest of the ATTF. "Take over their machines and bring the Kenshiki pilots to the detention cells. Ensure that all field commanders are noted for further interrogation."
At that moment, dozens of knightmares burst out into the street ahead of them. She tensed at the sheer number of them, worrying that the devices maybe hadn't worked and they were all about to be overrun by enemy forces. But the first of the Sutherlands approached without raising their weapons and saluted Lelouch before passing them by and returning to the palace.
"Adrian, send a transport to pick up the Guren." Lelouch ordered with a sigh.
"On it, Lelouch." The commander responded immediately. "Will you be returning to the palace now?"
"No." Suzaku answered quickly. "Not until those assassins have been caught."
"We'll return to the garrison for now." Lelouch sighed. "Any progress on that front?"
"We caught one." The commander answered grimly. "He didn't go down easily. We're still looking for the others. The canine units are on the trail though. Looks like maybe three more if the way the dogs are moving are any indication."
"Try to keep one alive for me. I want to know how they got in." Lelouch ordered before cutting the connection and ordering them onward to the garrison.
Sirs Jeremiah, Hector and Gino were already waiting for them when they arrived and wasted no time in converging on the prince to ensure that he wasn't actually injured and being debriefed about what had happened since they had separated. Suzaku stood a little to the prince's right and stoically met his counterpart's snarl with little more than a grimace. The rest of the Royal Guard clustered around the prince like a bunch of planets caught up in the gravitational pull of the sun.
Hector extricated himself from the group almost twenty minutes later and made his way over to where she had been pretending to look busy taking care of some basic post-battle maintenance on her half-ruined machine. His gaze narrowed suspiciously for a moment before he brought it back to neutral. "Good work with the Guren."
"Thank you, sir." She answered stiffly, knowing that no informality would be tolerated from her. Lelouch was the only one that seemed to let her willfulness slide.
Hector didn't like her. He seemed to have made it his mission to knock down her confidence from the second she'd been inducted into the Royal Guard. That being said, he had punished Lukas, Roy and Nick for the hair dying thing and had informed her that it was going on their permanent record. It was a better reaction than she'd expected after Lukas had seemed so confident that it would just be swept under the rug.
"His highness mentioned that he was going to give it to you to pilot." The captain continued.
"Yes, sir." She agreed.
"That's an . . . unpopular idea, as I'm sure you can imagine." The man said with snort.
She grit her teeth at that. She wanted to snarl at him that a deal was a fucking deal, but she managed to hold her tongue. He wouldn't tolerate her snark and she wouldn't give him the excuse to try to change Lelouch's mind.
"It's not unpopular because you're only half-Britannian. It's not even unpopular because you used to roll with one of the terrorist outfits that his highness was sent here to squash." Hector explained solemnly. "It's unpopular because we don't trust you. You're not loyal. Prince Lelouch knows that. We all know that. So let me just give you this warning. If you use this opportunity to cross the prince, I won't stop until you're in the ground. Understand?"
She nodded jerkily. She was sure that he wouldn't be alone either. But that wasn't why she was here. She was here to cut off the head of the monster, not just one of its many limbs. And she was going to need the best weapon possible to do it.
~Suzaku Kururugi~
The mood around the base was as celebratory as Suzaku had ever seen it as the news spread that the operation was a success and that the Kenshiki had been brought down with glorious ease. They were calling it bloodless, but they didn't know about what had happened at the palace. Still, a win was a win and after the last year the city had had since the very first Kenshiki attack, he couldn't necessarily blame them for feeling relieved. That didn't mean that there wasn't still a lot of work to be done and Lelouch spent most of the early hours of the morning coordinating patrols to sweep the city for any last pockets of resistance.
Suzaku didn't let Lelouch out of his sight. He didn't let him more than five feet from him at any time, except when Lelouch had excused himself to the toilet, and even then he'd stood just outside of the door and glared at any of the soldiers on the base that had looked like they were coming too close.
He just - he couldn't.
It was his fucking fault Lelouch had had two bullets put in him. If he and Lord Gottwald hadn't managed to gang up on Lelouch and make him wear that body armor, Lelouch would be dead right now. On his fucking watch. It was his fault. He should have been in the way, should have taken the bullets for him. That was his job.
He didn't blame Lord Gottwald for looking a second away from gutting him. He would deserve it. God, at this point he would almost welcome it. He'd been nothing but a failure all day and he couldn't allow himself to keep letting Lelouch down.
He followed at Lelouch's shoulder, mirroring Gottwald, as they made their way down to the area where the prisoners were being held. They had been transferred to the base since Lelouch had no further interest in the palace and had been subjected to 'interrogation' from a handful of officers with experience with such tactics, not that many of them had talked. Thus, Lelouch was going down there himself to Geass them all into submission no doubt.
Lelouch paused on the threshold and glanced at him. "You don't need to be here for this, Suzaku." Lelouch said softly.
And this . . . this was his fault too. It was his fault that he'd given Lelouch reason to doubt him. It was his fault that Lelouch was still wary of using his ability in front of him. His fault that Lelouch thought he would get squeamish about seeing the Kenshiki after they had all no doubt been tortured. Sir Jeremiah never faltered, had sullied his hands himself, and Lelouch rewarded that by letting the man stay with him at nearly all times.
"I'm not leaving your side." He insisted.
Lelouch frowned but acquiesced. They went inside and were led to an interrogation room with a man who was supposed to have been Kei Tanaka's second in command, based on conversation that the knights had picked up during the operation. The man was in pretty bad shape. It looked like his fingers had been broken and the way that his hair was wetly pressed against his scalp suggested that they might have waterboarded him too.
Lelouch didn't say anything as he sat across from the table the man was handcuffed to. The terrorist sneered defiantly then spat at Lelouch, leaving a bloody, mucusy gob on the table between them. Suzaku didn't even hesitate before he lunged forward and backhanded the fucker. He had no sympathy for the Kenshiki, not after everything they had done. Not after they had dared to try to kill Lelouch. It was long past time that he shed the mask he tried to hide behind and let the monster out. Lelouch knew what he was and accepted him anyway. He should have let it free the second he was knighted. No, the second he'd sworn himself into Lelouch's service. No, the second he'd laid eyes on Lelouch again.
He realized a second later that Gottwald had moved as well, likely for the same reason. He felt Lelouch's gaze rest heavily on him for a moment before he turned his attention back to the terrorist. Suzaku never dared to take his eyes off of the enemy.
"You will answer all of my questions." Lelouch ordered.
The terrorist slackened in his chair slightly, his gaze a little glassy, and then Lelouch began his interrogation. Lelouch wouldn't lift the quarantine until every last member of the Kenshiki were accounted for and brought to justice. Suzaku didn't even care that in this case 'justice' and 'death' were synonymous.
AN: Thanks for still reading! Hope you enjoyed. You guys are every bit as awesome as you were years ago. Apologies about the lack of line breaks in the last chapter. I forgot how user unfriendly this site was :( That has been fixed now with a new format that I will carry forward with in future chapters so we don't run into this problem again. Also, please don't give me any shit about the pacing. This is chapter 100 and the Kenshiki were introduced over 50 chapters ago. It is well past time for them to be put to rest. Now the story can move on to bigger and better things. :D
