Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to Code: Geass or Naruto.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Minami whispered as the gathered Black Knights waited as the elevator went down to the warehouse's basement level which was not supposed to exist.
"What do you mean?" Kallen asked.
"We're going in an elevator down into some place that we have no clue about and almost everyone voted to go along with this." Minami said accusingly at Kallen.
"It's not like we didn't have the option of turning back before." Sugiyama pointed out.
"But we're here regardless." Urabe said, looking at Minami. "So we'll just have to go along with it."
"I'm just getting a bad feeling about this." Minami said to justify himself.
"Good, use that feeling to help us stay alive." Urabe turned and faced the door with everyone else.
Lelouch was in front of the group, waiting for the elevator reach its destination. 'If things go out of control I'll use the kunai to summon Naruto and C.C. to assist us. They should be back at the clubhouse by now but if Nunnally is up they won't do anything to alert her. At some point I accepted I would have to do things without relying on them either in infiltration or combat but at the very least if something happens Kallen has a kunai as well.' Lelouch glanced at Kallen through the corner of his vision. 'I don't plan on relying on them for everything but if I want to be seen as an effective leader and a legitimate threat I must be willing to walk first into any dangerous situation no matter how the cost.'
The elevator stopped and the doors opened, allowing Zero and the Black Knights to step out and walk into the mysterious basement.
"Whatever that thing was it I sensed a form of energy from it that was… similar to Geass." C.C. closed her eyes as she and Naruto walked up to the club house. "It's odd because it's not possible for anything to exist in C's World except the Gods."
"Not to mention the obsessive feelings it was channeling. It wanted you but for what?" Naruto replied with a frown. "You think it wanted your Code… for the same reason Geass Users gain a Code."
"The Code grants immortality but that thing doesn't have a physical body. What could it gain from that?" C.C. frowned as she stopped walking. "Naruto, it's possible whatever it was it was what damaged the Sword."
"That's good right?" Naruto asked. "Without the Sword then the Emperor can't go ahead with his crazy plan."
"But that thing wants to kill the Gods so even if it's not the Sword it must have some type similarity." C.C. closed her eyes. "We will have to investigate this once we go after the Geass Order."
Nunnally frowned as she looked Lelouch's files and found… nothing. They were all news articles along with school essays and Student Council paperwork. But Nunnally knew how smart her brother was and that if he wanted to hide something he would have disguised it as something harmless. The problem was that Nunnally had no experience with computers since she had been blind for seven years. She thought of her brother and knew that despite the act he puts on at school Nunnally knew there was a deep anger and hate for Britannia that longed for revenge.
She knew it was there and tried to temper that anger by playing the role of the sweet little sister that loved her brother more than anything.
She knew her brother loved her just as much but she knew when he was up to something. Deciding she needed to take lessons in computer's Nunnally closed Lelouch's laptop and left his room. She needed some air and decided to something…
Different.
Nunnally smiled as she knew Lelouch would probably strap her back onto her wheel chair for the rest of her life but he was not here to stop her and so she decided to take a walk out onto the town. She slipped on a jacket and headed for the door.
"Nunnally-san, where are you going?" Nunnally turned her head, cursing her luck as Sayoko stood behind her. "It's late."
"I know Sayoko but… I need some air." Nunnally said, trying to pull the sweet girl act she had used for the last seven years to try and convince her guardian not to rat her out to her brother. "Please. I want to see the city. I've been all over the Academy but I need to see more."
Sayoko looked in Nunnally's pleading eyes and was fighting the urge to squeal like a little girl at the cute look Nunnally was using. Her training as head of the Sonozaki clan and as a Shinobi allowed her not to show any facial reactions aside from the slight twitching of an eyebrow. "Very well, but Master Lelouch will not want you going alone."
Though Nunnally was slightly disappointed that she couldn't go alone she was happy that Sayoko wouldn't stop her from leaving. "Thank you, Sayoko."
The door opened and in walked C.C. and Naruto who were back in their civilian clothes.
"Hey, Nunnally. What are you doing up?" Naruto asked, spotting Lelouch's little sister.
"I couldn't sleep so I asked for a walk into town." Nunnally answered, wondering if they'd rat her out to Lelouch.
"Sneaking behind big brother's back are we?" C.C. asked with an amused glance at the embarrassed look on Nunnally's face. "It's about time."
"Huh?" Nunnally sounded confused.
"All this time playing the sweet little blind and crippled angel I thought for sure you'd go and try something like this sooner or later. I mean after seven years of not being able to walk or see you are probably ready to take on the world." C.C. remarked with a grin, remembering what Nunnally was like when she was still in the Pendragon.
Nunnally was always a feisty little one, unable to keep still for very long before she was rushing through the gardens or pulling off some kind of stunt that almost made her older brother literally die of a heart attack. Now that she has regained what was taken from her she was regressing back to that reckless little firecracker that drove everyone around her bonkers.
"So you're not going to try and stop me?" Nunnally asked with a bit of hope in her voice.
"Of course not." C.C. stated before Naruto could say anything. "So as long we stop by a pizza place."
"But I don't have enough money for the both of us." Nunnally said as she relied on her brother to get them money.
"Oh that's right. It's almost too bad that we don't have Lelouch's credit card… Oh wait." C.C. held out Lelouch's card between her index and middle finger. "We do."
"You stole his card?" Nunnally gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.
"Of course. You didn't expect Naruto or me to actually pay with our own money did you? First rule of breaking big brother's rules, if you don't have your own money borrow big brother's money instead." C.C. chuckled as she knelt down in front of Nunnally. "Now tonight is officially 'The Night of Nunnally Without Lelouch Watching Her Every Move'. The first night where little Nunnally experiences the city without big brother trying to wrap everything around her bubble wrap so she would get as much as a paper cut."
Naruto sighed as he realized that C.C. was seeing this as another chance to mess with Lelouch but didn't say anything. He figured it would be good for Nunnally to step on her own outside of Lelouch's supervision and even if it wasn't a good idea the two of them and Sayoko would be there to make sure it wasn't too bad.
"Is this a good idea?" Nunnally asked.
"Is sneaking out this late at night while your brother is out a good idea?" C.C. retorted.
Nunnally couldn't think of an excuse and simply smiled. "Okay, let's do it!"
"Excellent." C.C. grinned as she stood up. "Nunnally, my little friend, this will be a night to remember."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?!" Tamaki shouted as he and the other Black Knights wildly shot at what was coming at them.
The 'things' in question were what looked like humans but they blood trailing down their mouths and onto their clothes with looks of pure hunger in their eyes. They had come down into a dark complex with lights flickering on and off with the air smelling of dry blood that was staining the walls and floor. Even Lelouch had to suppress the urge to vomit his guts out as he shot a man in the head with his handgun and looked around to see that they had managed to kill all of the… creatures that had tried to attack them the second the elevator doors had opened. Sugiyama had almost been killed if it hadn't been for Todoh saving him in time from a man that rushed towards him and tried to… bite him.
"What the hell was that? Why'd they attack us like that?" Ohgi whispered in stunned silence.
They couldn't be reasoned with as they kept on trying to attack, blood flying out of their mouths with their red rimmed eyes glowing with madness.
'Those eyes… It's like when Zero used his…' Ohgi's eyes widened. "Is this… Geass?"
This earned everyone's attention.
"Geass?" Inoue whispered, remembering the power Zero claimed to possess and showed it them as an example a few times.
"Those red rims in the eyes, it's like before." Ohgi looked at Lelouch. "It's Geass isn't it?"
"It appears to be." Lelouch agreed grimly as he looked around. "The red rims confirm this is Geass related but I have not seen a Geass affect people like this before."
"So this is Geass." Todoh stated as he looked at the bodies. "When I heard of it from Kyoto I was skeptical until you demonstrated it. A power that compels people to obey any command you give them." The very idea of commanding someone against their will did not sit well with Todoh even though Zero had taken steps to ensure his power did not act against him or to make sure he did not use it on his own allies.
"Only if they make eye contact with me and I made sure to take steps this does not affect my allies." Lelouch replied. "However this form of Geass, it seems to turn people… animalistic. The few times I have encountered Geass in other people I have never before seen it to be capable of doing this."
"You got that right." Kallen muttered, her left eye looking away.
She knew Geass was dangerous but to see it turn all these people into monsters…
"What do we do?" Ohgi asked. "If Geass can turn all these people into monsters is it safe for us to be down here?"
"Perhaps not but at the same time can we ignore what is going on down here? If Britannia conducting research relating to Geass down here can we afford to just leave and hope that nothing will come from it?" Lelouch asked looking around.
"That's a huge risk. Why should we continue on?" Chiba stepped forward. "We don't know what lies ahead of us and we could all die. You've said Britannia has its own Geass users and if this is one of their bases we should just destroy it."
"A wise precaution, Chiba but what if it contains vital information to these Geass users?" Lelouch calmly pointed out. "Like for starters, a number of Geass users here in Japan."
"He's got a point there. What if there are people with this Geass here in Japan working for Britannia and we don't find out until it's too late?" Ohgi agreed. "We'd be endangering ourselves and everyone by not finding out if this cult has sent a few assassins here."
Chiba and Minami looked like they wanted to argue but couldn't seem to find anything to say.
"You all have a choice: leave or continue forward. I wear this mask," Lelouch tapped his mask. "And gave you all visors to ensure that my Geass could not be used on you, accidental or not but I cannot guarantee that any other form of Geass will need eye contact. The Geass Order has over fifty users with only ten of them on active missions but just one of them could endanger our entire mission. So the question is do you wish to avoid them and deal with them later or find out if they are in Japan now and look for ways to stop them?"
The entire group were silent as they contemplated Lelouch's words until Kallen stepped forward. "I'm with you, Zero."
"Of course you are." Minami muttered but quickly closed his mouth when Kallen glared at him.
"Whether or not this is a death trap Zero is right. To just leave and blow this place up without first gaining attempting to collect intelligence on this Geass Cult shows the markings of a tactical error that might be our undoing." Todoh stated as he stepped forward.
"Colonel…" Chiba whispered.
"Well, as usual our great leader shows no fear." Urabe said with a chuckled as he stepped forward. "Might as well, can't let him hog all the glory."
"Hard to argue with him on something like this." Asahina remarked with a sigh.
Senba smirked. "Since when have we ever argued with him?"
"True but like I said before, wherever you go, Colonel, I belong right next to you." Asahina remarked as he stepped forward.
"So we're all in?" Ohgi asked.
"Looks like it." Tamaki remarked with a grin. "Let's do it and show those Britannians we ain't afraid of no freaky eye power!"
"I still think this is a foolish idea. We're risking our lives against something we know absolutely nothing about." Chiba remarked, looking at Zero.
"And you are right to be cautious, Chiba. Despite my own experience with Geass I know almost nothing about it aside from the strength and limits of my own. No matter what skill I possess… I am not a God. I am a human making the same risk as you are. All I can do is say that I will do everything in my power to ensure you all make it through this alive." Lelouch replied, looking everyone in the eye. "This is war and we are risking our lives every day to defeat the enemy."
When he saw that everyone was willing to follow him Lelouch smiled underneath his mask for his genius. 'Good, now all I have to do is live up to my claim.'
Perhaps he wouldn't need to call on Naruto or C.C. after all.
Nunnally couldn't honestly remember the last time she was this happy.
Here she was in a pizza restaurant with a double cheese pizza that she was sharing with Sayoko while Naruto and C.C. shared one of their own. Well, sharing was bit of a strong word considering C.C. had eaten over half the pizza while Naruto was still finishing one slice. She was content for the moment but she felt like she was still missing something. She was happy to out in the city late at night but she still felt like she was a little girl that had to be supervised when she wanted to be…
She wasn't sure what she wanted.
For the first time in seven years she could walk and see like a normal person and that came with the choice of being able to stay in the confides of her curfew or actually break a few rules like the regular young teenage girl liked to recklessly do. It was like she was still confined by just hanging out with her friends who expected her to act like the sweet little sister everyone had come to know. The only problem was that she was having trouble finding the strength to keep that façade up.
"What's the matter mistress? You seem… quiet." Sayoko observed, shaking Nunnally from her thoughts.
"Oh, I was just… thinking." Nunnally quickly said, yelling at herself for using such a lame excuse.
"I see. Is it about your brother?" Sayoko asked. "Are you worried that you might be in trouble with him if he finds out?"
"No, no, not that." Nunnally shook her head. "It's just….I don't know."
"Hm?" Naruto looked at Nunnally. "You don't know?"
"It's just….It's just…" Nunnally sighed. "I'm not sure if my brother notices how much things have changed."
"Changed?" Naruto asked.
"I can walk… I can see… And I wonder if my brother only sees the blind and crippled girl he's coddled for the last seven years." Nunnally explained with a saddened and-what they all thought to be- a small amount of anger in her voice and eyes.
"And… What do you want, Nunnally?" C.C. asked.
"I… I want to be able to stand with him. I know what he's planning to do. He's been planning it for a long time." Nunnally explained. "He plans to destroy Britannia. He's been filled with the desire for revenge since we were little when our mother was murdered. In fact I'm surprised he hasn't gone and tried to join Zero."
The three were silent but a silent conversation was shared through their eyes as they glanced at each other.
"He's keeping secrets even if he acts like nothing's wrong but I know him. I know how he acts when he's hiding something." Nunnally continued. "And I think… I think you all have an idea of what's going on with him."
She looked each of them in the eye, looking for any signs of deceit.
"Well, it seems the little sister is just as smart as her brother and possibly even more perceptive." C.C. remarked with amusement in her voice.
"So… you know what's going on?" Nunnally sat up straighter. "Please, tell me what's going on."
"What makes you think it has anything to do with this promise to destroy Britannia?" C.C. asked while Naruto and Sayoko remained silent.
"Because… I know my brother." Nunnally said, narrowing her eyes and C.C. saw the same look Lelouch made he was annoyed appearing on his younger sister's face. "I know him better than he thinks. I know he sees me as this little girl who is kind and sweet and wants me to be nothing else but that sweet little girl."
"But… you're not exactly a sweet little girl. You're as much a liar as your brother is." C.C. answered with an amused smirk on her face.
"Only so I can protect him as much as he can protect me." Nunnally grimaced. "So are you going to tell me?"
"And what will you do if I tell you anything… Or if I decide to not tell you anything?" C.C. asked, picking up the last pizza.
Nunnally glared at the green haired immortal. "Then I guess you're not the friend my brother believes you are."
With that said she stood up and ran for the door, ignoring Sayoko calling out to her as she opened the door and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Sayoko ran after Nunnally, determined not to lose sight of her charge.
Naruto glared at C.C. "Really, you couldn't flip the witch switch off for just a second?"
"What? It was an innocent question." C.C. said as she finished the last slice. "So did you bring Lelouch's card?"
"Stupid, arrogant, condescending witch!" Nunnally stopped and covered her mouth with both hands when she realized she was had not only stomped out of the restaurant but had spewed out insulting words about Tsunade. A part of her could not believe she had done that but another part was elated to be able to do something like that and get away with it and her brother or her older sisters were not around to scold her. "I can't believe I said that… And I meant every word of it!"
She had been so used to being the good and sweet little angel that her big brother loved but like Lelouch Nunnally had a part of her she kept hidden away from everyone.
'I can't believe I said that out loud. Sure Tsunade deserved it for being a… a… A complete witch but still… If my brother heard me say that out loud he'd have washed my mouth with soap for that!' Nunnally frowned. "But he's never around… I have my legs and my sight back and he's always sneaking off somewhere. It's like he's still treating me as an invalid, being gone and just expecting me to wait for him."
She loves her big brother.
She loves almost literally to death and she knew he loved her just as much, if not more.
So why was he keeping secrets from her?
'It's not fair. I can be just as strong as brother now… I want to be as strong as my big brother… and my mother.' Nunnally closed her eyes, thinking of her mother.
The last time she saw her mother had been the day she thought she had lost her ability to walk and see forever. Now that she had regained what she lost she suddenly hated herself for being so weak, for being so useless and leaving her brother to take care of both of them.
'How could I let that happen to me and become so dependent on everyone around me? It seems so easy to me now and I've let myself grow so needy and weak… I've been a burden to my brother all this time!' Nunnally shut her eyes tightly as tears threatened to leak out. 'How can I expect him to be honest with me when I can't help him?'
That was when it hit her.
"Take down Britannia… That's my brother's goal and I wouldn't be surprised if he's considering joining Zero…" Nunnally frowned. "Though I hope he doesn't."
Despite Zero's stance against the injustices perpetrated by Britannia he had killed her brother Clovis and no matter long it had been since she had last seen him or how distant they had become Clovis was still her brother.
"Zero killed Clovis and that's something I cannot condone… But he saved Suzaku and Euphie and though he claims to know about Lelouch and I he hasn't tried to recruit us." Nunnally said as she kept on walking.
The reason she came out tonight, the real reason was that she wanted to see the world her brother endured for the last seven years and the place she walking to had the answer.
"Here I am… the Shinjuku Ghetto." Nunnally said, finally arriving at the entrance to the ghetto and what she saw… disgusted her.
The disrepair and decay was bad enough without all the rubble everywhere which was only heightened Nunnally's disgust and horror at what the Japanese had been forced to endure. Sure when she and Lelouch arrived their identity was kept but she had learned enough of Japan and bonded with a few good friends who were Japanese to be hurt and angry on their behalf for what her nation had done to them.
'This is what's been happening to them all this time?' Nunnally wondered as she took another step but jumped when she heard a squeak sound and looked down to see a doll that was covered in dust with a few tears. Nunnally reached down and picked up the doll, staring at it and wondering what happened to the child who had originally owned the doll.
"… Fuck Britannia." Nunnally dropped the doll. "Fuck them for doing this to all the Areas… And fuck the Emperor."
That did it.
She was done playing the sweet little princess.
"I need to start setting up my own little resistance movement… Probably without them knowing that I am just a Britannian student and a kid… And I have no experience in how to fight a war… This is starting to sound like a bad joke." Nunnally closed her eyes as she kicked the ground. "How am I supposed to do anything when I don't have a clue what I'm doing?"
Perhaps it was the adrenaline from finally walking on her own at night without anyone supposedly supervising her.
'… I need to step back and think.'
"PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP!"
Nunnally's eyes shot up and she took off in the direction of the scream that echoed through the ghetto. She stopped at end of an alley and narrowed her eyes when she saw what was happening. Two Britannian police officers harassing a woman and her child who both happened to be Japanese. One held the woman down while the other was holding the screaming boy who struggled futilely in the man's grip.
What happened next Nunnally did not know but she was suddenly overcome by what could be adrenaline still pumping through her or the feeling of anger and hate that had come out of nowhere…
Or maybe had been dormant inside her for a long time.
Either way it didn't matter because the moment she saw the child who was around the same age she was when she lost her mother she snapped and ran forward, tackling the officer who looked ready to rape the mother while his partner held the woman's screaming son.
"Gah!" The man fell over, allowing the woman to slip free.
"What the-" The man holding the boy trailed off, seeing it was a small girl that attacked his partner. "A little girl?"
"Yeah, a little girl… And what are you? An officer of Britannia, charged with protecting the lives of Britannian citizens and be an example of the law… Now tell me what could this woman and her son have done to deserve such a harsh fate?" The way Nunnally spoke was like she was practically spitting something disgusting out of her mouth.
The officer was still in shock when Nunnally launched herself at him, slamming her fist into his face and while it wasn't strong it was enough to make the man let go of the boy who ran into his mother's arms. The woman picked her sun up and ran out of the alley as fast as she could.
"What was that for you stupid brat? Aren't you supposed to be napping for school tomorrow or did you come out looking for trouble?" The first officer snapped as he stood up.
"Aren't you supposed to be looking for real criminals instead of looking for reasons to unzip your fly?" Nunnally snapped back.
"She sounds like she's got a mouth on her." The partner stated. "Maybe we should take her in and have her spend the night in confinement."
Nunnally didn't seem afraid.
She was too pumped up to be afraid and she'd fight these two bastards to the death if she had to. But luckily she didn't have to as two shuriken flew through the hair past her and slit both their throats. Nunnally watched as they collapsed and turned around to see Sayoko standing behind her.
"Are you all right, my lady?" Sayoko asked, kneeling down in front of her.
"Sayoko… Is this the world I've been blind to all this time? The world my brother tried to shield me from?" Nunnally softly asked as she looked at the dead officers. "Is this what he has been living through for the last seven years?"
"Lady Nunnally…" Sayoko whispered, staring her charge with a saddened look.
"Is this what he meant when he said Britannia was rotten to the core? That it was rife with corruption that prayed on those who could not defend themselves? That no one lifted a finger to help those in need without helping themselves?" Nunnally looked down at the ground. "This… this is the world that took our mother from us and left me too weak to look after myself… or help my brother."
"My lady?" Sayoko asked.
"Sayoko, I want to learn how to fight. I don't want to be weak ever again." Nunnally looked up at Sayoko and the ninja/maid saw a look in her eyes that mirrored the same look of her brother's whenever he was planning his rebellion. "I want to be strong enough… to obliterate Britannia!"
Sayoko could only stare at her charge and feel like everything had been changed in a way that could never be reversed.
"So Nunnally is like her brother after all." C.C. remarked, watching Nunnally walk away from the ghetto with a look resolve on her face.
"I sensed those emotions inside her as we left the Academy." Naruto said with a saddened look on his face. "Nunnally's younger than Lelouch and she's already preparing her own revolution. She can't do that on her own."
"Should we tell her about Lelouch?" C.C. raised an eyebrow.
"You know that we promised to keep it a secret from her and I honor my promises." Naruto frowned at C.C. "And I know you do too."
C.C. looked back down at Nunnally. "Perhaps there is another way…"
"You mean offer her Geass or the Rinnegan." Naruto stated.
"Look at her, Naruto and tell me you don't see in Nunnally what you saw in Lelouch." C.C. retorted. "You know what she plans to do."
Naruto sighed and looked back at Nunnally as she vanished down the street with Sayoko as they walked back to the Academy.
"She might not share Lelouch's intellect but she has the potential to be just as dangerous if not even more than Lelouch. She possesses his insight, her senses were enhanced by her blindness and I have to wonder how good she might be at the controls of a Knightmare. Perhaps she even inherited her mother's talent." C.C. continued.
"So we offer her Geass or the Rinnegan and then what? Turn her loose on Britannia? She doesn't have the resources to start a war and I doubt she'll suddenly want to join Zero unless she finds out that her brother is Zero." Naruto pointed out.
"Then we'll simply tell her Zero's power." C.C. smirked. "Lelouch doesn't want his identity exposed but we convinced him not to keep his Geass a secret."
Naruto sighed. "I hate this manipulation game."
"I know…" C.C. wrapped her arms around Naruto's shoulders. "But that's what a shinobi does and you can do it in a way that helps everyone."
Naruto didn't answer as they vanished in a spiral of leaves.
If anyone in the Black Knights thought things would get better than they were in for a rude surprise. Despite the military discipline they had learned from Lelouch and Todoh they were still unprepared for the hoards of blood thirsty maniacs under the control of an unknown Geass that made it difficult to adapt to with normal military discipline. It didn't take long for the group to be separate into three smaller groups with Todoh and the Holy Swords in one group, Ohgi, Manami, Inoue, and Yoshida in another, leaving Lelouch, Kallen, and Tamaki as the last group. Lelouch cursed himself as he ran down the hall with Kallen and Tamaki next to him, chased by the animals in human form that lunged after them with hunger in their eyes.
'This is my fault for not properly checking! These things may not be human anymore but they follow basic hunter instincts that possibly came with the Geass effect! Anyone could tell you a second is the perfect place to set up a trap!'
"Do you see the others?!" Kallen shouted as they kept on running.
"No! Goddamnit! What the fuck are these things?!" Tamaki fired several shots but they did little to stop the hoard chasing them.
Lelouch spotted a pair of doors up ahead. "Those doors!"
They rushed past the doors and slammed them shut, quickly wedging a rifle to better lock the door as banging sounds were heard. Kallen and Tamaki were both shaking as they tried to catch their breaths but Lelouch looked ready to fall over.
'If Naruto was here I wouldn't hear the end of it.' Lelouch thought as he struggled to catch his breath and looked around.
They were in another dark hallway with only their flash lights as a source of light but it did little alleviate their concerns of what might be lurking in the dark.
"Where could the others have ended up?" Tamaki wondered, looking back at the door as the banging sounds continued.
"One way to find out." Lelouch pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Ohgi, Todoh, are you there?"
But to his and the other two's disappointment no one answered.
"Could they be dead?" Tamaki whispered, starting to shake a little.
"Not likely. It's possible that these walls are too thick for a radio signal to get through." Lelouch said as he put the radio away. "We'll have to find another way to contact them and search for a way out. From the looks of it this facility has not been occupied for time. Perhaps it was abandoned when Prince Clovis was killed."
"But what about those things?" Kallen gestured to the door.
"From what I've seen the Geass used on them turns them in cannibals that does not seem to wear off. It is either some kind of command that keeps them going or perhaps it causes them to experience a form of madness that slowly eats away at their mentality. If that is the case then there is no chance for them to recover even if they break free for they either remember everything they did or wake up with the smell and taste of blood on them and soon enough paranoia will set in." Lelouch explained as he looked around. "Still though, I can't believe they simply left all those people down here. Usually Britannia cleans up messes like this with some form of sterilization, usually bombing or torching the entire area to get rid of the evidence."
"Maybe they got sloppy after Clovis died." Kallen offered.
"Possibly and it's unlikely Cornelia knows about this place. If people learned the kind of experiments Prince Clovis was running down here his reputation as well as his chance at the throne would be in ruins." Lelouch replied as they started walking. "In fact from what I gathered from my sources Clovis was conducting some kind of bizarre medical research."
"So what was with the poison gas?" Tamaki asked, pointing his rifle at every dark corner. "How is that medical research?"
"From a first glance Clovis's experiments seemed bizarre but the deeper I dug in the more I came to realize that Clovis perhaps had found something with a link to Geass and was looking to replicate it. Perhaps he was creating a drug that offered a form of enhancements to Britannia's troops or even a way to turn them into brutal killing machines." Lelouch said, picking up on what he knew of C.C. and Naruto. "At the very least it is possible that this was the target for the poison gas. A way to kill those people left here and leave anything vital to be retrieved."
"And we threw a cork in that plan when we stole the canister." Kallen said, catching onto Lelouch's story. "They must have cut their losses and abandoned this place."
"Indeed, Kallen." Lelouch nodded. "But we still need more information about this place."
Tamaki was about to say something when all three heard the sound of the gun lodged into the door starting to break along with sounds of snarling cannibals on the other side growing louder.
"Oh crap!" Tamaki shouted as the gun snapped in half and the doors were knocked down a second later. "Not again!"
"Run!" Lelouch yelled as the cannibals chased after them.
'I should have summoned Naruto and C.C. when I had the chance. Knowing them they're back home sleeping!' Lelouch thought on his head as they tried to find a way out.
The problem was that there no doors that could hold the cannibals back and no stairs to climb. The only set of doors that might have a way out were elevator doors at the end of the hall. Tamaki tried to pry open the door while Lelouch and Kallen shot at the approaching hoard of bloodthirsty animals in human skin but they were getting closer. Tamaki grunted loudly as the doors were slowly opened but not fast enough so Kallen and Lelouch turned around and helped him open the empty shaft.
"Go now!" Lelouch turned and shot back at the monsters that were getting closer. "I'll cover you!"
"But Zero-" Kallen started.
"Don't argue! Just go!" Lelouch cut Kallen off and continued to shoot.
Tamaki jumped first, grabbing onto the elevator cables and slid down into the darkness below. Kallen looked back at Lelouch and saw him nod before she jumped next, grabbing the cables and like Tamaki slid down. Lelouch fired one more shot before turning and jumping, rather poorly but managed to grab onto a cable and slid down below. However his grip was not as strong as the other two and just when he was half way down his hands slipped and he let out a scream as he fell to the bottom floor, letting out a grunt when he hit the ground.
CRACK!
"Zero!" Lelouch heard Kallen cry out.
"You okay man?!" Tamaki asked anxiously.
Lelouch strained to keep his eyes open as the visor on his mask slowly cracked and as much as he tried to stay awake he couldn't.
He blacked out hearing Kallen and Tamaki saying his name.
Nunnally sat on her bed, waiting for her brother to come home even though he was going to be late. She couldn't sleep without knowing he was safe but as time went on she grew more frustrated as she waited.
'Lelouch… What the hell are you doing? Why can't you just come home?' Nunnally's foot tapped impatiently against the floor. "Why can't you just talk to me? Why can't you… let me help you?"
Everyone had their breaking point and Nunnally was closely approaching hers no matter how much she loved her brother.
"It's annoying waiting for him, isn't it?" Nunnnally looked up and saw C.C. standing at her door. "Lulu can be such a pain sometimes can't he?"
"Tsunade…" Nunnally whispered, glaring, actually glaring at C.C. "You know where Lelouch is don't you?"
"We have people tracking him down as we speak but I wanted to speak to you about something." C.C. said as she walked in. "Say Lelouch was the one who was crippled and blind and you were left to take care of him. Would you do anything to protect him?"
"Of course! You don't need to even ask me such a question!" Nunnally stood up. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Even wage a war against Britannia?" C.C. asked, making Nunnally freeze. "That's the question isn't it?"
"Tsunade… Is my brother…" Nunnally's eyes widened as she remembered what Zero on the television. "Is he… Zero?"
C.C. raised an eyebrow. "Somehow I feel that is not the real question. I suspect the real question is… What can you do to help him?"
"Help him?" Nunnally gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. "He's doing this… All of this… Against the Emperor…"
"And leaving you behind, trying to keep you innocent and pure. But is that what you want? To be the little princess who sits and watches her brother descent into darkness to make the world supposedly a better place?" C.C. held a hand. "Or do you want be strong enough to stand with him?"
"Stand with him?" Nunnally stared at the hand.
"There is a power that your brother knows that he is using to perform miracles in the name of his rebellion to garner respect and fear. You can have that power… or something greater. It all depends on what you would be willing to sacrifice for." C.C. stated. "Well, Nunnally, do you wish to take your next step into the real world?"
Nunnally stared at the hand, wondering if this was a mere dream but if it was all true…
She reached out and grasped the hand.