Well, this has been going around in my head for way too long already, so I decided it was time it saw the light. As such and without further ado, I give you my first official Code Geass crossover fanfic, with Armored Core for Answer as its partner in the combination. I do warn you that this chapter 00 is ACFA centric, meaning no Lulu here for you to admire, sorry. That'll change soon though, next chapter to be exact, so don't worry.

Warning: To anyone who hasn't played Armored Core For Answer, this story will contain a fair amount of spoilers, references and several other relations. As such, if you haven't played that one or its predecessor, Armored Core 4, I recommend having the Armored Core Wiki in hand for some visual/historical help just in case. Or play the game, it's actualy fairly fast to complete as long as you don't get too entangled on NEXT designing like I did on my first two runs. Over half of my playtime was spent on that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its spin-offs, nor do I own anything related to the Armored Core franchise, unless you count my copy of the Armored Core For Answer game, that I do own. All I own that is shown in this story are Hawk Magnus, the design of his NEXT/s, the K-Filter and the SKAI computer installed in it.

Before we start though, a little insight on how this is going to be written and we'll be ready:

"Spoken words."

'Thought'

"Computer Screen Text"

Chapter 00: Prepare... For Answer

Strayed pushed his NEXT, named Sky Ruler, to its limit as he maneuvered the mech around Wynne D. Fanchon's Reiterpallasch as they both fought in the Arteria Cranium. Wynne's partner NEXT, My Bliss, was a smoking wreck on the metallic floor below them, and its pilot, Roy Saaland, was already dead. The Brass Maiden, as she was known by other mercenaries and members of Collared, and her NEXT were the only thing left standing between the fulfillment of ORCA's Closed Plan and him. And as the last living member of the brigade, he had a duty and a desire to bring about the end they sought, even at the cost of the Cradles' demise.

"Why are you doing this?!" Wynne's voice roared over the open channel as her back mounted plasma gun fired repeatedly, attempting to hit the agile black and white machine she was facing. "Do you have any idea what these actions will bring?"

"The future, hopefully." Was the reply the ORCA Lynx gave her as he dodged the bluish beam coming from his enemy's ACRUX Hi-Laser Cannon and unleashed a round of his twin back-mounted Hi-Laser Cannons in reply, the bluish beams collided with Reiterpallasch's Primal Armor and melted the metal behind it slightly, but did not deal enough damage to go through the armor. Not that the male Lynx intended for them to do that, he just needed to weaken Reiterpallasch's Kojima Field for his next move to have the desired effect. "Switching to Full-Burst Mode."

"Full-Burst active." Sky Ruler's computer, named SKAI, read as the NEXT's most fearsome function was unleashed. The ability to fire all weapons at once was something no other Armored Core had shown until the Sky Ruler appeared in ORCA's forces and utterly thrashed both Arteria Ulna and Arteria Carpals single-handedly, taking out several high-ranked Collared Lynx in the process.

"Alright then, firing!" Strayed shouted, pressing the triggers.

Two Flash Rockets blinded Wynne long enough for the twin laser beams and the round of bullets from Sky Ruler's rifles hit her dead on, the third Rank of Collared screamed as her Primal Armor overloaded and deactivated due to the strength of the attack

"Sorry, Wynne." The pilot said over the open channel as he transmitted image as well, having taken the shadowed helmet off so as to show himself. "You and I only worked together once, when I was still a rookie, but I appreciate everything you did for me back then. It's a pity it ends like this."

"So it's you, Hawk." GA's Disaster felt her eyes widen in recognition as the face of the nineteen year old brown haired boy with chocolate brown eyes appeared on her screen. He was dressed in a black pilot suit with white lining and a white ORCA Emblem on the shoulders, while his own emblem, a white falcon hovering menacingly in front of three flames, two of them blue and the middle one black, was engraved over the heart. "I still remember thinking you showed promise when you and I brought down Wonderful Body and his goons, but you vanished right after reaching Collared's ninth rank, during Torus' Sol Dios Orbit Arms Fort fiasco… and then the Sky Ruler appeared… in Arteria Ulna." Her eyes widened further as all the pieces fit in place.

"Again, I'm really sorry about this. But humanity cannot go on living oblivious to all else in the clouds while bringing about its own destruction." The Sky Ruler stored the rifles in the leg holsters before activating the Omer laser blades folded on its forearms. "Good bye, Brass Maiden. Out of all of Collared's top ten Lynx, you and Raven were the ones I respected the most."

The black and white NEXT boosted forward, cross-slashing the unmoving Reiterpallasch into four pieces that fell to the ground with a loud clatter. Hawk knew he should be smiling at this victory but he just wasn't, so many sacrifices had been made already, he just couldn't allow himself to enjoy it until he knew everything was over and done, and then he'd pay for bringing about the change of the whole world.

"And you are both dead because of me." He finished with a dry chuckle, looking sadly at the remains. "How ironic can it be?"

"To treasure a life…" Wynne's broken voice reached him over the open channel, along with images of her crying eyes and bleeding face. She was extending her hand towards the ceiling, as if reaching out for one of the Cradles. "Is it really something to laugh at?"

"I'm not laughing, Wynne." Hawk replied, his features hardening as life left the woman's eyes. "I treasure life. If this could have been done with no sacrifices, I would have taken that route without a moment's hesitation, but there wasn't any other way."

The Lynx landed his machine close to the computers that controlled the energy flow and began to redirect them towards their new destination, the one that would bring back mankind's freedom to go out into the depths space and finding a new future there.

"And so, the Cradles will fall, and humanity will find its answer in the infinity of space." Serene Haze, Hawk's operator, summarized as the Arteria Cranium was brought to a standstill, sending the energy to the Anti-Satellite Batteries that Strayed and Neo Nidus had protected from the League's forces, at the cost of the latter's life. "Is that your Answer?"

"It is." Hawk replied, allowing a small smile to form before locking the program so that the flow could not be redirected and ran back to his AC. Once he had strapped himself properly, he opened the communication channel again and contacted his base of operations, not too far from the satellite Batteries themselves. "I'm going back for maintenance and resupply."

"Very well, we'll be waiting for you." Serene replied, only for an alarm to beep over the line. "I'm afraid you'll have to cut this short, Strayed."

"What happened?" Hawk asked, worried because of his operator's tone.

"The League fooled us, they are not going to just stand by and let things work out." She explained hurriedly. "There's an Answerer type Arms Fort, along with several Normals, approaching the Anti-Satellite Batteries, get back here ASAP and wipe them out before they ruin everything. Briefing over."

"That's got to be the shortest briefing of my career." Hawk chuckled dryly as he directed the Sky Ruler out of the Arteria facility, equipping it with a Vanguard Over Boost unit for fast travelling. "The Cradles will start falling soon, tell me they are at least going to send the rescue parties they discussed with Thermidor."

"We can only hope the old fools have not fallen that low." Kasumi spat in anger as she slammed her fist against a wall. "Besides, there's no one left to buy their products if they let them all fall to their deaths."

"Let's hope the idiots running things realize that before it's too late…" Hawk scoffed before turning his attention to his machine's state, deciding to use the flight back to get a good scan before the fight. "I'm not putting much money on that though." He added as he introduced the orders in SKAI.

"Conducting." The computer read before executing its orders as Hawk reminisced about when he had first obtained this gift.

The name SKAI was meant for Support Key Assault Interface, the system it contained played a very important part in the Sky Ruler's prowess in battle. Unlike what one would expect out of a robot show from over a century ago, like the ones both Hawk and Raven enjoyed watching despite how hard it was to come by the episodes in this day and age, it was not some system that downloaded battle data to the pilot's brain or reacted to especial types of brainwaves, it was something much more simple, and it was all Hawk needed.

The computer's function was simply switching between the three different types of hardware the NEXT was equipped with, for close, mid and long range combat, at the pilot's command as well as taking care of radar interference and all sorts of system analysis and data processing. It was also thanks to this piece of equipment that the Sky Ruler was capable of using the Full-Burst Mode, by activating the three targeting devices at the same time and channeling the data to the different weapons.

The Full-Burst System had one limitation though, and it was that it could only work for up to three different types of weapons at the same time, shoulder mounted ones included, which was the reason the Sky Ruler used the same weapons in both left and right sides.

SKAI was one of a kind, designed by the Lynx known as Raven, who was now MIA along with his NEXT White Glint, and had been an additional reward, a show of gratitude from the missing Lynx's operator in light of Strayed's help when he defected the League to help in the protection of Line Ark during White Glint's takedown operation. That chance meeting at the Collared Arena, along with Megalis' defense mission and the battle against Raven himself a few weeks later, with Hawk's switching of sides during that fight, followed by Line Ark's collapse and disbandment, had changed the Lynx far more than any other thing in his life.

"We're not as bad as I thought we would, considering we just took on two of Collared's top ten at the same time." Hawk mused to himself as he went through the analysis data the computer provided and drank some water. He was always extremely thirsty before an important mission so the Sky Ruler always had a five gallon bottle inside. "Laser Cannons are cooling down, but I should be able to use them fully by the time we get there, and there are four cartridges left in each rifle, plus the one inserted, meaning over a hundred and twenty bullets left in each weapon." Satisfied with that, he began going through the damage report.

"No damage to engine, so no risk of losing Primal Armor, flight ability or movement speed anytime soon. There are small bullet holes in the left leg and right arm, and scorched left torso due to a Hi-Laser hit, but it won't be too bad as long as nothing really big gets a direct hit there." The Lynx sighed and focused again on the main camera feed. "I'd say we're good to go, it's not like I haven't fought in worse conditions before."

"Hawk, how long till you get here?" The operator asked over the com, her voice slightly nervous. "They're getting too close for comfort."

"A few minutes, as long as the VOB does not explode on me, like the three I used while in the League's payroll." The Lynx grunted, remembering the three traumatizing experiences in which he almost lost his life due to malfunctioning equipment and stupid lazy mechanics. "Any new units around?"

"None. Wait, one, emitting command signal." Serene corrected as she ran the comparison to get the identity of their surprise guest. "It's a NEXT, Collared's second Rank, Ambient."

"Ever since Thermidor faked his death during White Glint's fall, no one wanted to take the top rank in Collared for one reason or another." Hawk muttered to himself, knowing that both he and Lilium Wolcott could have taken that position if they had wanted it badly enough. "Shall we settle our score from last time, Ambient? Neo Nidus was a good man, and I plan to make you pay for what you did to him. That Master of yours already paid his part that day, but you got away like a cowardly rat."

Thousands of miles away, Lilium Wolcott felt a shiver running down her spine, something she was not used to. She instinctively looked around, as if something could hurt her while inside Ambient, and quickly shook her head and focused on the situation at hand. Her master's death had been ignored by the League, who had ceased all hostilities against ORCA and let them do as they pleased, she wouldn't have it. But unlike Wynne and Roy, she only cared about revenge, and this was the battlefield she yearned for. It was because of these weapons her master lost his life so she was going to destroy them all, and then the Sky Ruler would pay for its crimes, how fortunate it was for that cursed black and white AC to be away at the moment.

"Answerer, proceed with the attack." She commanded just as they reached the combat zone a few moments later, only for her radar to signal enemy incoming. "All units, prepare for…!"

She didn't finish the sentence as an unmanned VOB unit slammed against the Arms Fort, destroying two of its flotation wings, several weapons and part of the internal armor in the resulting explosion. Fortunately, the core and Assault Armor systems were intact. Not a second later, bluish beams and gunfire rained down on the Normals around her as her radar tried to track the enemy, but she didn't need to detect him to know who it was, only four NEXTs other than her own moved that fast and were capable of unleashing so much fire on the enemy at the same time. White Glint, Reiterpallasch, Stasis and the Sky Ruler.

"There you are, Master Wong's killer." She seethed, using her cameras along with the detection systems to track down and get a lock on the red eyed unit. "I'll make you pay for taking my master away."

She had to admit the design was original and incredibly functional from what she had seen during her first attack on the Anti-Satellite Batteries. The Sky Ruler consisted of an Ekhazar head, Soluh's torso, Hogire arms and a copy of White Glint's legs. Armed with shoulder mounted Flash Rockets, twin Sirius Hi-Laser Cannons mounted on the back and dual Rifles in its hands, with two Omer laser blades folded in the arms as auxiliary weaponry, along with something hidden in the auxiliary holsters in the back part of the waist, but no one had ever seen him use it. She was not sure of the inner workings and other equipment, such as the engine and all, but she did not care about that, all she needed to know was that it did not provide for Assault Armor, which was what knocked her out last time, blasted Heavy AC and its Lethaldose Assault Cannon.

"There you are, Ambient." The male Lynx's voice came over an open channel as the last Normal around her went up in flames, leaving only the Answerer and her standing. "I've got a bone to pick with you."

"How amusing, I do too." The woman replied over that same channel as Strayed ran through the ammo data SKAI provided.

'Five shots left in each Hi-Laser Cannon before they go on forced cool down, and only a cartridge and a half left until the rifles run out of bullets.' The Lynx thought to himself as he planned his next move. 'And I have to take out the Answerer and Ambient with just that and the hidden weapons. This is going to be tough.'

"Well then, care to wait until I've taken out your big toy?" Hawk asked with a chuckle, wanting to rile up the woman.

"Answerer, commence full assault." Lilium ordered, ignoring him, and the Answerer started to advance as Hawk cursed his luck and his opponents at the same time.

"Calm down, you've done this before." Serene told him over their com line, she was running towards the Batteries' defense systems to help out, what was left of Malzel's recruits couldn't man all the weapons after all. "Keep your focus and you'll do fine, the world's fate is in your hands now."

"Way to take the pressure out of a guy." Hawk breathed as he dodged Ambient's blitzkrieg assault and returned fire with the rifles. "I have to take her down before going for the Answerer, otherwise I'll be a sitting duck for her."

With a grunt of approval from his operator, Hawk directed the Sky Ruler into a fast and deadly battle against Ambient. Being both of them fond of the blitzkrieg tactic when taking down powerful opponents, they ran towards each other, moving out of the way at the last moment and unleashing fire on the enemy, sometimes at the exact same time. The battle lasted long this way, but with Hawk being conservative with his ammo, Lilium had an advantage she was exploiting to its fullest.

"Were you away on a mission and did not resupply?" The woman laughed over the open channel. "How very convenient for me."

"Hey, at least Wynne and Roy made me waste more ammo." Strayed countered as he flew around the missiles Ambient was bombarding him with and sent a Flash Rocket towards her, he only had two of them left now. "Even if it did not save them in the end."

"So you took them down?" Lilium gaped for a moment as she quick boosted forward, leaving the Flash Rockets to explode behind her and readying her ACRUX for firing. "You truly are Raven's second coming, Sky Ruler."

"Whatever." Hawk replied, diving towards the ground to avoid the blast before storing the rifles in the holsters he had equipped the Sky Ruler with to avoid discarding usable weapons and activating the Laser Blades in the forearms of his machine. "Let's see you dodge this!"

The Sky Ruler fired both Sirius at the same time, creating a powerful vortex of Hi-Laser power that approached Ambient at incredible speed, the second Rank evaded the blast, only to find four Flash Rockets right in front of her. Strayed had predicted her reaction and planned accordingly. The woman cried out as the rockets exploded in front of her cameras and she was blinded momentarily, but that was all Hawk needed. The Sky Ruler approached at full speed, with both Omer laser blades active, and slashed continuously at Ambient until the Primal Armor gave in under the pressure.

"That was for Neo's sacrifice." The male Lynx muttered as he slashed off Ambient's arms and legs before plunging both laser blades into the cockpit, killing Lilium instantly. "Goodbye, second Rank of Collared."

"Strayed, the Answerer has reached the first Battery, get back here fast and stop it before it blows us all to kingdom come!" Serene's voice boomed through the com line, reminding Hawk that there was still much to be done.

"On my way, keep firing the cannons against it, it will slow it down… hopefully." Hawk stated as SKAI updated the ammo check while on the move.

"Understood, we're counting on you." The operator replied as the communication was cut.

"Alright, big guy, I've already got my Answer so I have nothing for you to reply at." Hawk joked dryly as he pushed the Sky Ruler into Over Boost, reaching the massive Kojima Arms Fort in seconds and noticing how the Primal Armor started to fail the closer he got. "I should have known it would happen again, this thing is just too much to handle like usual."

"The readings are off the charts, like last time. You need to take it down fast." Serene told the Lynx over the com as she fired at the massive flying Arms Fort. "Luckily, it's got one foot in the grave already thanks to that trick of yours with the VOB unit."

"I get some really crazy ideas from time to time." Hawk told himself as he dodged a missile barrage and sliced apart one of the four Antennae's that topped the Answerer in order to cut off the additional energy supply. He soon moved to the other three, cutting them off as another missile barrage was fired. He evaded most of it, but a couple missiles grazed the NEXT and exploded, although they didn't do much damage. "I have to take care of those now."

Deploying the Sirius Cannons, Hawk fired the last three shots he had left, forcing the weapons to cool down as the missile pods went up in flames. Knowing due to experience that time was almost up, Hawk directed the Sky Ruler away from the Arms Fort just as blinding green light gathered in its core and exploded outwards, taking out the cannons that protected the first Anti-Satellite Battery and scorching the massive cannon itself. Another attack like that and it was over, the Cosed Plan would fail if the Answerer managed to get another Assault Armor off before the Batteries fired.

"I've got to take this thing down before it ruins everything." Strayed growled as he sped towards the fortress again, slicing off flotation wings. He knew that getting close to the core was suicidal at this point. "SKAI, how long until they fire the next Assault Armor?"

"Two minutes." The computer replied on its screen under the main camera and by the radar.

"Tsk. Not enough to deal significant damage by simply attacking the outer shell." Hawk muttered angrily as he made his choice. "I have no other way to do this than go on a suicide charge and pray that the first part of the tactic's name is not hundred percent accurate."

"Strayed, good luck." Serene told him over the com as he pushed the engine to max, she sounded in deep pain. "Although I'm afraid I won't be able to see if you will triumph or not. You were truly my most promising student, I am proud of what you've become, Hawk Magnus." She took a deep breath and smiled. "Look at you, kid. You were only a scared little boy when Rosenthal brought you in, and now you are the most powerful Lynx on the planet."

"Thanks, Kasumi, it was because of you and so many others that I managed to come this far." Hawk replied in a solemn tone, using his Operator's real name before she breathed her last. She had been firing one of the cannons when the Assault Armor went off and surviving long enough to relay those last words to her Lynx was all she could do. "Let's put this thing in the scrap pit it belongs to!" He shouted as tears ran down his face.

The Sky Ruler boosted forward, straight into the Answerer's inner section, dodging Hi-Laser fire as it approached the core and sliced layer after layer of spiked armor until he had opened a way to the engine just as it started glowing bright green, ready to unleash the Assault Armor.

"No, you don't!" Strayed shouted, plunging both blades into the core just as the Sirius came out of forced cool down, ready for one last shot. "Thanks, SKAI." Hawk whispered, knowing it was the computer who had stopped the forced cool down system for him when he needed it the most.

"You're welcome." The screen read as Hawk unleashed the blast at point blank range at the same time that the Anti-Satellite Batteries finally fired upwards, ridding the upper atmosphere of the Assault Cells and clearing the way to space once and for all.

"Looks like mission accomplished." Hawk muttered to himself as the Answerer's core went critical and exploded, unleashing the Assault Armor at the same time. The combined force of the impact knocked Hawk unconscious as the massive blast engulfed the Anti-Satellite Batteries as well. The black and white NEXT vanished within the explosion, never to be heard of on that world again except in the legends of its power, comparable to the mythical White Glint's.

And with that, the Super Robot Anime Plot Device known as Massive Reality Disrupting Explosion has been used and it has just dropped Hawk onto an unsuspecting world, how nice. He'll be meeting Lelouch next chapter, until then, he's unconscious.

Expect next chapter tomorrow, along with Eternal Hawk's if all goes well. I'll await your Answers... I mean Reviews.

Also, don't flame. You wouldn't want the Sky Ruler to fall elsewhere, right? It weighs a few tonnes, literally.