To better differentiate when we're in the Redo timeline and OTL, I'm adding Kowa Period (time period of Resurrection) after each date. Hope that helps.

Been watching a lot of Zeta Gundam, and now I have to fight not to call Knightmares Mobile Suits. Good show, though not as good as the original, and Kamille Bidan makes me want to throttle him in just about every scene he's in. Thus far, they could have not had him at all, and it'd be a dramatic improvement. Though from what I understand, he becomes one of the more popular Gundam characters, so we'll see.

You know, I feel like this chapter should feel more stressful/controversial than the last one, yet I'm strangely sanguine about it.

Hope you guys enjoy! As always, critique, comment, and cut me in two if I screw up!

I do not own Code Geass.

…..

Queen Shamna's Private Chambers, Beneath the Wailing Prison, Kingdom of Zilkhstan, March 20, 2020, Kowa Period

"It sounds like you're saying your sending your soul back through time," C-Two said.

She and the Queen lounged opposite one another at a lacquered coffee table that dominated the center of the room. They were in the antechamber, a room outfitted with Middle Eastern rugs and drapes. A work desk, richly made, sat on the left side, surrounded by bookshelves, while a dinner table was set off to the right. Handmaidens in purple-gold frocks lined the walls around them, heads bowed. C-Two relaxed into her pillow seat, her attention focused solely on the woman before her.

"Then I'm not explaining it right," the Queen said. She took a sip of tea from a flowery ornamented bowl. "The soul is distinct and corporeal; it is who you are given spiritual form." She placed a hand to her chest. "If I were to die, truly die, then my soul would leave my body and go…" She shrugged. "Wherever one goes when they die." She tapped her eyes, where the sigil of geass glowed. "My geass activates upon my death, no matter the circumstances. It sends my thoughts and memories back to a younger version of myself, allowing me to plan around the future that I myself have witnessed."

C-Two sipped her own drink. "How far back can you send yourself?"

Shamna smirked. "Now that would be telling."

"Then tell," C-Two said sharply. "All of it, or you can kiss your ritual goodbye."

Shamna glared at her. "I am Queen, here, girl," she reminded her.

"I don't care," C-Two replied. "It's my game, and we'll play it my way." She leaned her head to the side, her hair veiling her amber eyes. "Or are you content to fumble around in ignorance?"

Shamna's lips puckered. "Six hours," she spat.

That's not nearly far enough. "Is that a hard and fast rule? If you killed yourself as soon as you transited-"

Shamna waved a hand. "Already tried. Many times. I cannot go beyond those six hours."

C-Two hummed. "Why do you think that is?"

''I was provided no explanation," Shamna said with a shrug. "If I had to speculate, I would say that it's because the human mind simply cannot handle the strain."

"What do you mean?"

The Queen hesitated. She looked very uncomfortable. "I...do not feel myself," she admitted. "I feel a foreigner in my own body, as if I do not belong here at all. And the memories, the experiences, they strike you like a freight train. And the death…" She shuddered. "Remembering how you die, feeling it, the blade at your throat, the bullet in your head, the poison in your heart, it is… unsettling."

She looked around. "And I feel as if… as if someone were watching me. Somewhere, beyond the veil, I think someone watches me every time I take the journey. I do not think it pleases them."

C-Two hummed. "I see." She clapped her knees. "Well then, I got all I needed."

Shamna sat forward. "Then it's my turn," she said triumphantly. "Share with me, C-Two."

"Oh, right. That. You're screwed."

Shamna blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Your plan is dumb, and it won't work," C-Two elaborated.

Shamna shot daggers at her. "I have been cooperative with you, C-Two. More than you deserved."

C-Two shrugged. "It isn't that complicated," she said. "If I understand what you are doing correctly, you're using the blood ritual to prime the Thought Elevator, and then attempting to use Nunnally to connect to the World of C, yes?"

"Mostly," Shamna agreed. "Nunnally, via her connection to Charles, would be used as a conduit to enable us to access that world and bring its splendor and riches to our own."

"And that is precisely why you're failing," C-Two said. "Objects in the World of C can exist there, and no where else. The World of C is, by its very nature, esoteric. It is the amalgamation of all the thoughts and wishes expressed by all of mankind, past, present, future. You cannot remove anything there because it belongs to the world entire, and the world will not give it back." She huffed. "Aside from which, using Nunnally for her blood ties to Charles does nothing. Charles had the Code, and he had it by choice. Geass is a decision, Shamna, I don't know why this is so hard to grasp."

"But-" Shamna spluttered. "But Ragnarok, the Sword of Akasha-"

"Were both weapons forged in the World of C," C-Two interrupted. "Designed for the purpose of destroying that world's architect. Even that scheme was doomed to failure. The World of C would never allow something to be created that could destroy it. That was something Charles never understood."

Shamna was crestfallen. "But, then how… How will we…"

"Petition the UFN for aid. Rob a bank. Whore yourself out for all I care." C-Two stood up easily. "It's a new world, figure it out." She gestured out the door. "Now I want Nunnally and Kallen released into my custody. You don't need either of them."

The woman looked ready to protest but thought better of it. She nodded, stood shakily. She held out a hand, and one of the handmaidens handed her a jeweled dagger.

C-Two readjusted her top.

As Shamna handed her the dagger, she said, "You still haven't asked about Zero."

C-Two gave her a long, exasperated look. "Because he's dead."

A geass sigil materialized on Shamna's throat. "How do you know?" she asked coldly.

C-Two tapped the point of the dagger. It drew blood. "He would never have let you hurt Nunnally." She pointed to the sigil. "So, you are a Failed One, then? That explains a great deal."

Failed Ones: those who had rejected the Code when offered. They gained the ability to regenerate, and they would keep their appearance the same forever. Their geass, too, would remain; but they would die, just as any other, and they could not make Contracts. Truly, they had failed their Contractor.

Shamna smirked cruelly. She approached C-Two, and wrapped her arms around the girl's neck. "What comes next is on your head, Immortal," she told her. "I want you to remember that, when you twist and turn in bed. May all you love in this world turn to ash, as our dreams have."

C-Two placed one hand on the small of the woman's back, positioned the dagger at her solar plexus to drive up into her heart. "Goodbye, Shamna."

Without waiting for a response, she thrust the blade home-

"This is bullshit," Kallen grumbled.

-and ended up right where she'd started.

…

Hallway, Black Knight Headquarters, Aau, Rajasthan, Republic of India, February 2018

She played me like a fiddle.

Lelouch, Kallen, and C-Two hurtled down the halls at breakneck speed, aiming for the secondary communications room. The system in the main room they had just been in had shut down shortly after C-Two killed the infiltrator, but the secondary blister wasn't too far away.

"Evacuate!" Lelouch ordered into his walkie. "All units evacuate! Base is compromised! Be on the lookout for enemy agents!" He rattled off a chain of names, all those C-Two was familiar with, chief among them Rai Sumeragi. "Kill on sight! Authorization Delta-Blue-1-1-5-1! Kill the goddamn traitors!"

"I do so hope I am excluded from that order," C-Two said.

"Shut up, you bitch!" Kallen shouted at her. "This is all because of you!"

She had been spying on him from the very beginning, long before Tohdoh was executed.

"Your mother contacted me shortly after we met," C-Two had revealed.

He hadn't even thought about it; not really. When C-Two was still C-Two, she had kept the conversations with his mother private, giving him the bare essentials of what he needed to plan his maneuvers. She'd done so to protect him; not physically, but emotionally. She thought it still hurt that the mother he'd dedicated his rebellion to was a raving psychopath.

She was right.

"Marianne was very careful; she wouldn't let me know who she was at first. Once I got to know her, and we started talking, she let me in on the details of their grand plan."

They had everything, everything that C-Two had been made privy to. Bases. Supply lines. Diplomacy. Codes. Knightmare specs. Personnel. Plans, backup plans, contingencies.

The Emperor had had them the whole time. This included the full details of Case Arnold; a plan which was, no doubt, being enacted at this very moment. Lelouch had already killed or replaced all the people necessary for the execution of part of the plan. He hadn't geassed the extermination units yet, but going over the Indian personnel files had made it evident there were plenty of units that wouldn't need geassing at all. Once enacted, a fast-moving holocaust would burn across India, right at the moment when the country needed to be united.

Fortunately, Lelouch had the rescission code.

There's still time to put a stop to it before it does permanent damage!

Black Knights scrambled all around them, fleeing in all manner of opposing directions towards evacuation points. The base shuddered beneath their feet as explosions rent through the facility. Gunfire was beginning to echo down the halls, too, but whether it was small arms or Knightmares, Lelouch couldn't tell.

Lelouch was jostled by a Black Knight. "Out of the way, goddammit!" he shouted. He gasped.

The man's eyes had a red haze. "Your Highness," the man said in a mechanical voice, "you-"

Lelouch shot him through the eye. He barely paid attention to the pink spray of brain matter as he shouted to Kallen, "They're geassing our men! Hurry!"

Just as he said that, two of them attempted to grapple Kallen to the ground. She twisted out of their hold, and double tapped both men. C-Two shot another on approach, and the hallway was suddenly blazing with gunfire from all sides. It was random, lead flying all around them as panicked soldiers blazed away at one another, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

Lelouch let lead fly from his own pistol, taking out a man who clearly wasn't geassed but had his gun trained on Lelouch all the same.

They smashed through the comm door as one, and Lelouch stumbled to the floor. They went to slam the door shut, but it caught on the leg of a dead Black Knight. Lelouch looked around the room.

"Dammmit!"

Everyone in the room was dead, their throats slashed. The communications hardware had all been wrecked.

There was no way to rescind Case Arnold.

"Dammit," Lelouch murmured. "God...dammit."

…

The Lady Kaguya Sumeragi's Private Chambers, The Winter Palace, Shanghai, Chinese Federation

Jiang winced as she sipped from the sake bowl. "It-It's so sharp!" she moaned to Kaguya.

Kaguya laughed. "That's the idea!"

The two friends relaxed together in Kaguya's chambers. They were surrounded by all manner of sweets; most prewar, some made more recently. A shipment of foodstuffs had arrived in the Federation the other day, carrying a number of Japanese made products alongside the expected guns, ammunition, and Sakuradite. The prewar sweets were from Kaguya's own stash, and were actually part of a luxury line of goods acquired from a Britannian candy company that had seized the recipes and patents in the aftermath of the war. They hadn't put any of the candies on the market for years, but, owing to Kaguya's long-time position with the now defunct Kyoto Group, she had gotten them on special order.

Jiang set the now empty bowl aside, her expression clear distaste. "It's like swallowing a bowl of razor blades," she complained. "How do adults drink this stuff?"

Kaguya giggled. "I've acquired a taste for it myself." She gulped hers down in three hard swallows. A dribble of sake rolled down her chin that she wiped away with the back of her hand. "Ahh!"

"W~ow," Jiang admired, her eyes sparkling. "How long have you been drinking?"

"Since I was thirteen and could sneak a bottle from the kitchen." Kaguya grinned. "And there's the buzz."

Jiang tilted her head. "Buzz?"

Kaguya nodded sagely. "Oh yes, the actual reason anyone drinks alcohol: the buzz. That lovely tingling feeling that lets you know happy times are here again."

She lay back on the floor. A garishly packaged choco banana called out to her, and she answered it, ripping open the foil and digging in.

"We need to stop by one of the street vendors again," Jiang said, lying down beside Kaguya and grabbing a handful of sweet peas. "I'm dying for a fish on a stick."

"The next few days are pretty busy, but I'm sure we could go on the weekend," Kaguya offered.

Jiang nodded. "Yes, I'd like that very-"

The door to Kaguya's chambers slammed open, revealing a disheveled Xianglin. "YOUR MAJESTY!"

The Tianzi leapt to her feet alongside Kaguya. "What is the meaning of this, Xianglin?" she demanded.

Xianglin bowed deeply. "Forgive this unworthy one, My Empress," she said. "I bring urgent news."

"Speak."

"Indian troops have begun opening fire on their own citizenry!" Xianglin announced.

The Tianzi's jaw dropped. "What?"

"They're massacring their own people!" Xianglin said.

Kaguya gaped with the Empress. "Why the Hell would they do that?"

Vice Commander Hong Gu nearly crashed into the kneeling woman as he sprinted into the room.

"Your Majesty!" he cried out, bowing next to Xianglin. "Forgive this foolish servant's impertinence! The Rebels are launching their attack!"

NOW? OF ALL TIMES, NOW?

The Tianzi stood bold. "Then the moment has come! Where is Xingke?"

"Inspecting the troops in Jiaxing," Xianglin answered.

"Recall him! The battle is upon us! Send the word to All Under Heaven: To Arms! To Arms! To Arms for Sacred China!"

…

Camelot Staging Area, Huesca, Unincorporated Area 24

Twenty-four Knightmares knelt on the tarmac. Their engines rumbled; steam rose off of them. It reminded Suzaku of old movies he'd watched growing up. Samurai, cowboys, knights, it made no difference; whenever the cavalry was waiting for the battle to start, the horses would paw the ground in apparent nervousness. He understood that feeling now, that dreadful period of preparation for the hammer fall.

He was that hammer now. He and his men. Twenty-four knights preparing to gallivant over the mountains, through a hail of enemy AA fire, to take out their SAM launchers so the Airborne cavalry wouldn't be flying into a massacre.

His men were about as prepared as to be expected. They could fly in proper formation. They were industrious and creative. They were ready to die. More importantly, they were ready to kill. How well that would hold up when the shooting started, he didn't know. No man knew how well he would perform when life and death were just the flip of some god's coin.

"Two down," Ledo said. He placed down two of his playing cards. Suzaku, as house dealer, slid him two. Ledo's placid expression did not waver, though Suzaku thought he could discern a slight crease to his lips. What it meant, Suzaku had no idea.

Schnee, on the other hand, wore his feelings on his sleeve. He scowled. "Three down," he said, handing them to Suzaku. Suzaku gave him two in return. He ruffled his hair, frustration evident. "Damn deck is against me."

"Only you could turn inanimate objects against you, Schnee," Ledo said, adjusting his hand.

"Shut up, Ledo!" Schnee said. He scrunched up his face. He grabbed a twenty pound note and tossed it onto the little stack before them. "I'm in."

"Call," Ledo said, throwing two twenties down, "and I'll raise you."

"Your hand is not that good!"

Ledo raised an eyebrow at him. "Fool around and find out," he said, an enigmatic smile on his face.

Suzaku bit back laughter at the murderous look on Schnee's face. Schnee rearranged his cards several times, glancing between them and Ledo. He scowled.

"To Hell with it!" he declared, grabbing his remaining greenbacks and throwing them onto the steel drum. "All in!"

"Alright," Suzaku said, "show your hands."

"Read 'em and weep!" Schnee crowed, showing three fives and two sixes. "Suck on that, bitch!"

He reached for the money, only for Ledo to grab him by the wrist.

"No need for dramatics," he said with a grin, showing his hand. Schnee gaped. Ledo held three Jacks and two tens.

"Wh-What kind of shit is that?" Schnee demanded.

"My kind," Ledo replied cheerfully. He went to grab the money, but Suzaku stopped him.

"No so fast, Sir Offen," Suzaku said, smiling pleasantly. "You haven't seen the House's hand." He revealed his own cards.

Both their jaws dropped. "A Royal Flush?" they both cried out as one.

"You never gave any indication," Ledo said.

"That's straight up bullshit!" Schnee added.

Suzaku chuckled. "I was content to watch you two go at it," he said. "While you were busy slitting each other's throats, I just bided my time and waited."

"What, did you have that up your sleeve the whole time?" Schnee asked as Suzaku collected his winnings.

"Pretty much," Suzaku confirmed. There was an even five hundred pounds in the stack, all mercifully in twenties.

"Who knew you were so devious?" Ledo said, smirking.

"I thought you boys knew!" they heard Cecile call out. She came striding over to them, a hardwood box in her hands. "The house always wins."

"Remind me to never take you to Vegas," Schnee said sorely, his arms crossed.

"I doubt Vegas would be quite so fair," Suzaku remarked.

"Ain't that the damn truth."

Suzaku laughed, held up the cash to Cecile. "The boys just paid for dinner tonight. Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere expensive," was her smiling reply. "I have something for you two," she said to the two knights. She opened the hardwood box, handed it to Suzaku, then pulled out a blue headband that bore upon it the Union Jack. "If I understand your history correctly," she said to Suzaku, "Japanese braves rode into battle wearing these types of headbands."

Suzaku nodded. "Yes, something like that," he said.

"Since your unit is commanded by a Japanese brave," Cecile continued, turning to his two subordinates, "I think this only fitting."

She offered the first one to Ledo. He smiled, nodded, made to move forward, only for Schnee to cut in front. He gave Ledo a challenging glare, to which the other man just smiled and raised his hands in surrender. Schnee took the headband from Cecile, wrapped it around his head, tied it tight. He gave Suzaku a hard nod, stepped back to allow Ledo the second one. Ledo performed the same function, smiling politely to Cecile.

Cecile turned to Suzaku. "I'm afraid I left yours in the trailer, Captain," she said sweetly. "I may need help finding it."

"I'll be right with you," he promised.

She winked at him and left, the sway of her hips hypnotic.

Suzaku broke his gaze to find his two subordinates smirking. "Anyway," he said, blushing, "you two get to your Knightmares. No telling when the call will go out." Or if it would.

They saluted him and departed.

Suzaku followed after Cecile, an extra hop to his step. He climbed through the door, right into Cecile, who's hands were already coming up to frame his face. Her jacket was open, her blouse unbuttoned, granting him easy access to her chest, which he took full advantage of. He pressed one hand against the curve of her bottom, bending her over the counter, even as she won the duel playing out between their lips.

She's so soft. He forced his hand up beneath her bra, pressing the hard button that hid underneath. She groaned deep into his mouth, her hand falling down to grip his wrist to urge him on. He released her backside, slid his hand around to the button on her pants, and-

They broke apart, startled, as the alarm klaxon wailed outside. They both looked out the door.

"This is really it," Suzaku said. "It's happening."

"I love you," Cecile said suddenly. She cupped his face in her hands. "I love you," she repeated. "So come back to me. No matter what, come back. I don't care what you have to do, just come home."

He nodded. "I will." He looked around, searching. "Where?"

Cecile hopped up, ran around the table, and grabbed a ribbon from a shelf in her cabinet. She returned to him, tied it around his arm.

"They may be braves," she said, not able to look at him. "But you're a knight." She kissed him hard on the mouth. "Go!" she said, her eyes watery. "Go, before I order you to stay."

He dashed out the door, joining the horde of soldiers scrambling pell-mell for their Knightmares.

When he reached the Lancelot, he jumped in, buckled his restraints, then turned on his radio.

"This is it, boys!" he shouted. "The day of reckoning is here! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

"ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

…

Above Bilbao, Unincorporated Area 24

Jeremiah wiped the nervous sweat from his brow. He sat in the cockpit of his Vincent doing a final systems check.

"Suspension's good," he murmured to himself. "Sakuradite at 98. Ammo fully stocked." He breathed deeply. "I'm ready."

His comm suite beeped. "Attention, all hands!" it barked. "His Majesty has prepared a statement to be broadcast to all troops. Switch to frequency five."

Jeremiah did as told.

"Soldiers of the Empire," Charles zi Britannia's voice boomed, "this is an historic moment. Almost two hundred years ago, Washington's Rebellion triggered a calamitous wave of revolution across the world. From the shed blood of Royal Martyrs was born a madman from Corsica, who brought an unholy order to the chaos of the Revolution. Sharpened into a fine sword, this so-called First Consul burned his way the length and breadth of Europe, deposing the Crowned Heads of the continent in whom power was once vested by Divine Right.

"They chased our ancestors, first across the English Channel, and then to sacred Albion itself, now desecrated with their Republican filth. We fled, weak as we were, across the Atlantic, where God in His good justice had stamped out the traitorous Washington, ensuring us a refuge from the storm. There we rested, and healed, and rebuilt. And, when we were strong again, we advanced our Manifest Destiny across the continent of Britannia, extinguishing the savages that plagued the land. We built great fleets to land on the Southern American continent and established an Empire greater than what we had lost.

"BUT!" the Emperor roared. "But we never forgot our sacred Fatherland! We never forgot the White Mists of Albion! We never forgot the Frontiers of Gaul! We never forgot the Colosseum of Rome! We never forgot, and we have never FORGIVEN!

"We left you EXILES! We left you DEFEATED! We left you BROKEN! We, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores!

"But let the Children of the Revolution howl in despair, for WE! HAVE! RETURNED!

"ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

…

Hallway, Black Knight Headquarters, Aau, Rajasthan, Republic of India

If we can't stop Plan Arnold, the least we can get is the FLEIJA's!

Lelouch was off again, briefly in the lead as he dashed for the remaining warheads. They were in an outdoor armor depot, for lack of a better place to store them. There were three of them left, all of them test rockets with the same properties as the one that had been detonated.

"What about Nina?" Kallen called out, she and C-Two easily overtaking him.

"Her quarters...are...in the opp...opposite direction," he huffed. There was a stitch in his side that he tried to ignore. Sweat ran down his face in rivulets. "Have to...hope.. that… she made it out okay." He didn't say that he expected she was Sumeragi's first target. Nina was either dead or captured; but Kallen didn't need to know that.

Kallen bit her lip but nodded. The hall shuddered beneath an explosion. Dead Black Knights lined the hallway, either sprawled on the floor or leaning against the wall. These corpses were different: there were very few bullet wounds on their bodies, and while the walls around them were spattered with blood, there were few impact craters.

"These... men killed... themselves," Lelouch said when they finally reached the office with the armored vehicle keys. He stooped over, his hands on his knees, taking great heaving breaths. "Sumeragi... geassed them. He's... already... been here."

Kallen checked the office, came back out with an angry glare. "The keys are gone. He's already taken the truck."

Lelouch nodded. "There's only one option left: the Gawain."

…...

On Approach to the Pyrenees, French-Britannian Border

"SHIT!" Suzaku heard Aegis Three shout just before his radio turned to static.

He weaved, jumped, and dove through a flurry of machine gun fire, air-to-air and surface-to-air rocket flurries. Three friendly signatures flashed to 'LOST' after the salvo.

"STOP BUNCHING UP, GODDAMMIT!" Suzaku shouted. "Loosen up formation! Do not group up!"

They had barely been in the air ten minutes and already he was down five ships. About half were too battle damaged to continue, their Blaze Luminous shielding preventing them from being destroyed.

The remainder were fertilizing the earth with their remains.

The sky exploded in black clouds of angry flak that Suzaku deflected with his shield. He slowed down to keep from charging directly into a shower of shrapnel, then juked right to dodge a rocket.

"Son of a bitch!" he grumbled to himself. He checked his digital map, clicked his tongue.

We're falling behind, he realized. We're slowing down too much.

The nodes on his map denoting his men were becoming increasingly scattered, falling behind. He was now down to seventeen.

If things continue at this rate…

"Divert all power to thrusters!" he ordered. "Divert all power to thrusters! We're going in full throttle!"

"Will we be able to maneuver at that speed?" Ledo asked.

"We won't make it at our current speed," Suzaku replied. "We have to break through the flak. Without us, the poor bastards flying in are dead!"

"Copy that, boss," Schnee said.

There was a boom as they all hit their thrusters simultaneously. Impossibly, the amount of flak seemed to increase. The rockets and machine guns he was dodging increased exponentially. He found himself facing a wall of moving death, where any wrong move send him straight to Hell.

Come on, come on…

The map showed they were nearing the target area. The air shuddered around him. The shoulder of his Knightmare blackened with the scars of AA fire.

"Give it everything you've got!" Suzaku shouted.

"We're with you, Lancelot!" Schnee shouted back.

JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE GODDAMMIT!

The air suddenly cleared. All he could see was blue sky, the white mists of cloud cover, the rolling hills of southern France. Beneath him lay the Pyrenees, and the SAM turrets that were his objective.

"We're through!" Schnee cheered. "We're through!"

"HIT YOUR TARGETS, HIT YOUR TARGETS!" Suzaku barked.

Suzaku swung his twin rifles, blasting green fire into the mountains. All around him, the survivors of his battlegroup did the same. The mountain crags were enfiladed with laser fire, great gouts of flame erupting in black and red clouds as ammunition was set off. The green disappeared, the white melted away, and red flame and black mud took its place, consuming all around it.

Suzaku rapidly descended, landed in a small clearing. He opened fire on the mountain bunkers, on the armored cars, on the retreating APCs, on the machine gun nests.

"Take out the fortifications!" he ordered. "Clear the way for the grounders!"

"Copy!"

From his left wrist spouted antipersonnel fire against the ants swarming around him. He tilted and hopped with ease around and over rockets and hand missiles, kicking a group of ants into the air.

Then all was silent. The area around him was wreathed in smoke, the ground covered in dead men.

Suzaku breathed deeply. He rubbed his mouth, then triggered his comm.

"L-1 to Base. Do you read me?"

"Base to L-1, we read you. Go ahead."

"The way is clear, Base. All targets down. You can begin your attack run."

"Acknowledged, L-1."

…..

Above Zaragoza

Nonnette ascended, Gino to her left, Anya her right. Behind them flew five hundred figther jets, fighter-bombers, and two thousand Flight Enabled Knightmare Frames. Behind them were a thousand V-TOLs, C-130s, C-5s, and a whole host of other cargo planes carrying an invasion force a hundred thousand strong. She glanced down to her left, where the black strips denoting the Royal Navy advanced against EU warships attempting to fall back around the French coast towards Brittany. They were likely advancing against the North Fleet, already en route to the British Isles.

Nonnette snorted derisively.

The reclamation of Albion was a prestigious achievement, but it was precisely that: prestigious. The real battle was going to take place on the Continent. The British Isles would make for a good staging ground into the North Sea, but its overall strategic value was limited.

"Incoming bogies," Gino interrupted her thoughts. "12'o clock high."

"Copy, Knight Two," Nonnette said. The sky before them was black with enemy fighters. "All wings report in."

"Black Leader standing by."

"Red Leader standing by."

"Gold Leader standing by."

"Orange Leader standing by."

"Blue Leader standing by."

"Purple Leader standing by."

"Indigo Leader standing by."

"Green Leader standing by."

"Assume combat formation," Nonnette ordered. "You have the green light to engage. Fire when ready."

A moment later, hundreds of rockets whooshed past the three Knights of Rounds. Enemy birds scattered into evasive maneuvers. Red flowers bloomed across the sky.

Nonnette sighted her first target, a sleek fighter descending rapidly to avoid the maelstrom of death above. She tracked it down five hundred feet, letting her targeting computer project its path, then fired. Green energy shot out of the end of her rifle, striking the jet squarely in its fuselage. It split in half, fire consuming both ends. She saw no parachute.

Her rifle was already back up, spitting green death into the murder of crows zipping past her. Steel feathers whipped past her with each squeeze of the trigger. Little birds burst into flames left and right, above and below.

She blocked a barrage of machine gun fire with her Blaze Luminous shielding, somersaulting beneath the bird, killing it with a shot up the thruster as she spun, holstering the rifle to grab her two swords, cleaving in half first one bird, then another, then another after that in a spinning ballet on this stage of blue sky. Beaks and talons showered her with every pirouette, till her gown was covered in glitter and the air before her was painted red.

There was laughing, terrible laughing, banshee laughing, and she knew it was her, just as she knew her swords were covered in the gore of screaming men dead before their turn was done.

She could hear Gino shouting gleefully with her, and Anya, sweet little Anya, quiet Anya, weird Anya, maniacally guffawing too.

…..

Barcelona

"That's right, Kelly," Milly practiced, reading off her script as they prepared for the live shot. She was wearing a yellow sweater today, and a cute black beret that Rivalz bought for her that morning. "As you can see, the wreckage from this morning's yacht accident still hasn't been cleared up. Okay," she gestured to Rivalz, "and then you pull out of me, and focus the shot on the harbor, right?"

"Yeah," Rivalz confirmed. "Are you gonna want to turn around, maybe make a few gestures with your hands right before?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Milly agreed.

The anchoring post only lasted as long as Pruitt was out sick. Milly huffed. The chick had been sending her nasty glares since she came back. From what Milly understood, the problem was that viewership had increased during the time she was anchoring, owing to what a lot of viewers were saying about the "Anchor babe with the fantastic tits."

"It's not my fault," she'd told Pruitt with a flip of her hair. "It's a burden being this good looking."

Which landed her here. She really needed to learn when to keep her fat mouth shut.

They likely would not make it back to Madrid that evening, so they'd been forwarded funds for a hotel room. She and Rivalz were going to hit up the night life as soon as their shift was done. To his chagrin, Rivalz would still be the designated driver.

She flipped through the script. She could hear thunder in the distance. Milly frowned. Trevor didn't say anything about rain in the weather report."Gerry's probably gonna flip about the fisherman wearing that shrimp hat."

"Better than whatever weird shit was growing out of his hair."

"I know, right?" Milly giggled. "What was that, a barnacle?" She brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "There was a little too much shadow in his eyes, I hope we can fix that in post-"

"Holy shit," Rivalz breathed.

She looked up at him. He had lowered the camera, his mouth ajar.

"What is it?" she asked.

He pointed. "Look."

She turned around. Her jaw dropped.

Hundreds of little black barges were racing across the water while orange and red lights raced back and forth across the blue sea. Great plumes of water rose and fell. She could see ships, large ships, at sea. The sky was black with smoke and planes.

"N-No way!" she exclaimed. "Is that…?"

"The Invasion," Rivalz finished.

Milly's hand found his. The sound of honking horns startled them both. They swung around.

Big armored troop carries were rolling down the street, their giant wheels spinning on the gray asphalt. Manned machine gun turrets pointed forward. One of the soldiers manning them gave Milly a wink and grin.

"GET OFF THE ROAD!" a voice on a loud speaker commanded. "RETURN TO YOUR HOMES FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!"

As the convoy continued on, the voice was echoed on the other carriers, one land barge after another. Tanks joined the column intermittently, along with Knightmare Frames.

"Jesus," Rivalz said, his hand on his head. "It's really starting."

One of the carriers rolled out of the line, pulling up next to their news van. A soldier with a captain's insignia on his lapel climbed out, cursing up a storm.

"Goddammit!" he was shouting. "Get this hunk of junk moving right now!"

They couldn't hear what was going on, but the soldier shouted inside, "I'm not missing the war for some goddamn fan belt! Get this hunk of junk moving!"

"Umm, should we," Rivalz said uncertainly. "Think we should move the van?"

Milly blinked. "What the Hell are we doing here?" she wondered aloud.

"Milly?"

"Rivalz, grab our live equipment," she told him, already marching.

"Wait, Milly!"

Milly ignored him as she stomped over to the parked troop carrier.

"What's the hold up!" the officer shouted.

"Hey!" she called out. "Hey! Excuse me!"

The captain turned to her. "Who are you?"

"Are you the guys we were waiting on?" Milly demanded, evading the question.

He blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

Milly stomped her foot. "We've been waiting for your for an hour!" she lied through her teeth.

"Ma'am, can you tell me just who the Hell you are?" the officer politely requested.

Milly groaned. "Milly Ashford, Imperial Broadcasting Corporation?" she said as if to remind him. "Assigned as correspondent for your unit? Ring any bells?"

"No," the captain flatly denied.

"Surely your commanding officer said something?" Milly asked. "He okay'd it."

The soldier raised a skeptical eye. "Major Griggs did that?"

Milly nodded. "Yes, the Major did," she bullshitted. "We were promised helmets and protective gear. Do you have them?"

"I-" the Captain shook his head. "I should really run this up the line-"

"Captain," whoever was driving the carrier shouted, "it's running! We need to go!"

"I'll be right there!" the Captain called back. "Miss I-"

"I'm willing to wait," Milly cut him off. "Get your commander on the line. I'm sure we can straighten this all out."

The soldier's jaw worked for a moment. He stared her down, pondering.

"Captain!" the driver called again. "If we're going, it needs to be now!"

That seemed to decide it for him. "Get in," he said, nodding to the carrier. "Get your shit and come on."

Milly restrained her sigh of relief. She waved over to Rivalz, who carried their gear with them onboard.

Including the Captain, there were just over a dozen men aboard.

"Who're these two, Cap?" a young man with a thin mustache asked.

"Couple of reporters, boys," he answered. He pointed to a spot at the back of the carrier. "Get your asses down there. I want you out of our way when the shit hits the fan."

Milly nodded. "Got it. Where's our helmets and armor?"

The Captain snorted. "No extras onboard, but don't fret: there'll be plenty soon enough."

…

Arcade et Pizza, Le Printeps Haussmann, Paris, Sovereign Republic of France

Ryo and Yukiya shifted up and down within their roller balls, checking the yoke against the pressure the game was sending them. Red-orange bullets ricocheted off the hull of a Britannian Sutherland. He watched the health bar drop precipitously, then the Knightmare exploded in cheap looking flames. Knightmare Arcade was just as the name implied: a Knightmare combat simulator. The game had a ten mission campaign that spread the length and breadth of Europe with the assumption that much of the continent had fallen before the invaders. The developers had promised a 'true to life combat experience,' but Ryo thought it was a bunch of crap.

This thing doesn't stink anywhere near as bad as the actual battlefield. He chuckled darkly. And I can only hope the Brits are as bad as the AI on this thing.

"How we doing, Yuki?" Ryo asked.

"I'm down to thirty-five percent Sakuradite, and a third of my ammo," his friend replied. "We're hitting mission four anyway. The Rhine levels are really easy."

"I hope so man. Bordeux was a bitch and a half."

As they set up for the retreat across the Rhine, Anne strolled over to them, a steaming pizza in hand.

"Hey!" she called out to Yuki.

"Hey!" he said back, turning his attention solely to her.

"I got us a supreme. That good?"

"It's perfect."

The two shared a kiss and Ryo rolled his eyes. They were all off duty, their uniforms hanging in the closet at home. Anne was wearing a stylish green hoodie that she had tied around her waist, her trim voluptuous figure accentuated with a tight turtleneck and a pair of jeans. Ayano was somewhere around, stewing about the fact that for the past fifteen minutes, Akito and Leila had been in the restroom to 'clean up a pizza accident.'

The arcade was located in one of the largest shopping malls in Paris, the agreed upon destination for the party of friends after finishing their shift a few hours ago. It was a two story, with twin staircases on either side of the floor to allow easy transit between floors. TV's hung on the walls wired into the speaker systems, some playing music, others movies, and still others were on news channels.

Who the Hell goes to the arcade to watch the news?

Yukiya was still chowing down on the pizza with his girlfriend when the Rhine level started. Ryo scowled.

We've got everything ready. Fake passports. Twenty-thousand euros we saved up. Multiple drop points. He glared at Yukiya. And you're too busy chasing this chick's tail!

"Hey, Yuki, you wanna quit stuffing your face and help?" Ryo bit at him, glaring at the screen as he struggled with the sudden onslaught.

"The war can wait, this thing has anchovies on it," Yukiya said, to which Anne laughed.

I hope that pussy's worth it, man. You're screwing us out of our escape.

Ryo's health nosedived even as Yukiya's Frame exploded. "You jerkass!" Ryo hollered, laughing. "You said the Rhine level was easy!"

When he didn't receive a response, he turned around. To his surprise, the arcade had quieted outside of the noise from the machines. Everyone, including his friends, were staring up at one of the televisions that lined the wall in horror.

He could see why.

The images on the screens depicted rising black smoke, black warbirds dotting the sky, soldiers on the move. The arcade machines shut down, filling the place with silence. The volume on the TV was jacked up, and the voice of a panicked soldier echoed throughout the room.

"THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE HERE! OH GOD THEY'RE HERE!

"THE BRITS ARE HERE!"

…

"This is never going to come out," Leila complained.

She wiped down Akito's shirt again, but the cheap soap and thin paper towel were doing nothing to remove the orange-red stain on his shirt. Some waiter had smacked into them on their way back from one of the ski ball machines, splattering Akito with the mac and cheese pizza he had been carrying.

"Ugh!" she grunted, throwing the reddened paper towels in the trash. "It's ruined. You'll have to get a new one."

"Does that mean I have to go shirtless?" Akito asked.

Leila blushed beet red. "M-Maybe," she said.

She pushed the ruined shirt from his shoulders even as his hands slipped around her waist and cupped her to his body. Leila was tempted to strip her own blouse off, but she chose instead to rest her cheek against his naked chest.

"So warm," she said. "How do you stay so warm?"

"Being around you, I imagine."

She smiled softly.

She lifted her face up, stood up on tiptoe, and-

The door to the restroom slammed open, revealing Ayano in a t-shirt that left little to the imagination.

Leila jumped back from Akito, flushed red, ready to come up with an excuse, but stopped when she saw the terror on Ayano's face.

"LEILA! AKITO!" she screamed. "THE BRITS ARE HERE!"

Before she'd finished, the three of them were flying out into the hallway, fighting their way through a stampede of people fleeing the arcade. They joined up with the others at the entrance and began sprinting towards the mall exits.

Outside they joined a cavalcade of off duty soldiers, many of them still in uniform, with the word passing throughout the sprinting mob.

"A friend texted me, said Bordeaux's fallen!"

"Toulouse is under siege! They've already taken the suburbs!"

"My brother says paratroopers are landing in Berlin!"

"Albion's declared for Britannia! Filthy Brit wannabes!"

"I had a buddy on a SAM unit in the Pyrenees! He radioed and said they'd been destroyed!"

"They bombed the Council Chamber in full session, man! The Council of Forty is dead!"

"Quit with the speculation!" Leila shouted at them. "We don't know anything, so shut up!"

Baseless rumors were more of a danger now than whatever the truth was.

The only thing I know for certain is that the hour is upon us.

For the Fatherland.

…

Hallway, Black Knight Headquarters, Aau, Rajasthan, Republic of India

Kallen led the way down the hall, gun blazing. She tagged three more men and a woman before she swapped out her mag, wary of the lime-haired woman at her back.

"Charles needed you distracted," the traitor had said. "That was why I played the seductress. Even as I filtered information to His Majesty, my flesh ensured you were focused only on the woman you lost. A simple but effective means of ensuring your suspicion and focus were averted."

You treacherous whore! The only reason Kallen had taken the lead was that Lelouch had his gun on C-Two. They couldn't let her lead them, not only because it might be into a trap, but also because she might just try to escape.

Kallen was not going to let that happen. She would have liked to have taken the girl's gun as well, but the fact of the matter was if she had wanted to take both Lelouch and her out she would have done so already.

But that doesn't mean she'll remain conscious for much longer.

A hallway wall exploded a little ways ahead of them, throwing Black Knights in all different directions. Chinese soldiers appeared in the breach, weapons firing.

"Dammit!" Kallen shouted. She blasted one of the soldiers in the head but grabbed C-Two's arm. "Detour!" she barked, steering them down a side hall.

Gunfire crisscrossed from room to room across the hall. As they darted past the open doors, Kallen could see little glimpses of battles taking place in each and every room, with weapons ranging from guns and knives, to fists, teeth, and anything that wasn't bolted down.

Sumeragi you bastard!

The man had a geass ability similar to Lelouch's, though his voice was activated by voice rather than eyesight, which made him even more dangerous. It seems he had used that power to tear the Black Knights apart.

"Kallen!" Lelouch shouted, his voice ragged. "We have to hit the infirmary!"

Ohgi!

That's right, he was on a cot in there.

"He's a couple of hallways that way!" Kallen yelled, pointing to her right. "We can-"

"Where the Hell are you going to put him?" C-Two demanded. "The man is recovering from a gunshot wound! He can't just fly away!"

"Like you get a say in this!" Kallen shot back.

"Do you want Lelouch to escape or not?" C-Two asked.

Kallen bit her lip.

"You have to choose one or the other."

Lelouch hadn't spoken up, meaning he was leaving the decision to her.

Her eyes grew wet. She dashed the tears away with the heel of her hand. "The hangar's this way!" she croaked.

…

Infirmary

"Second Consul, come on," the girl, Akagi Ohgi thought, pleaded. "Come on, we have to get moving!"

Ohgi staggered to his feet, but he sagged almost immediately to the floor. A pained gasp erupted from his exhausted lungs.

He shook his head. "Just go, kid," he ordered. He grimaced with pain. "Leave me here."

Akagi shook her head, already trying to pull him to his feet. "Come on! Come on! Second Consul, come on!"

It took nearly all of Ohgi's strength to climb to his feet, and the girl had to wrap his arm around her shoulders, but she was too slight; she'd never be able to handle his full weight. "I'm just dead weight, make a run for it!" he begged.

"Never! You're the Second Consul! Lord Zero's entrusted everything to you!"

The sheer naive ignorance in that statement was staggering, but Ohgi paid it no mind. He focused only on putting one foot in front of the other, if only to appease Akagi.

Gunfire was all around them, and they were repeatedly jostled in the hall by stampeding soldiers. Ohgi was thrown back against the wall, and he cried out.

"We just have to make it to the garage, Second Consul," Akagi reminded him. "We just have to get to the cars!"

The hangar was too far away; they'd never reach that. The motor pool outside was their best bet for escape.

Assuming we make it.

Ohgi clenched his teeth. It felt like his side was rending itself in two. He checked every so often, but he wasn't bleeding out yet. He placed a hand on the wall, desperate for any means to make Akagi's job easier. The light at the end of the hall called out to them, beckoning them to freedom.

They staggered outside to a world gone mad. The motor pool was a flaming wreck. Sakuradite leaked all over the ground. Corpses littered the asphalt. Overhead, fighter craft and bombers swarmed, dropping their payloads on top of the Black Knight base, their wings spitting machine gun fire as they strafed the fleeing soldiers.

Ohgi sat down against the side of the wall, his breathing calming as he did.

He put a hand on Akagi's shoulder. "Head to the hangar, kid," he ordered.

The girl shook her head, fiery determination in her gaze. "I can get you out of here, sir!" she said. "I promise! I can!"

Ohgi shook his head. "No, you can't. Regroup with Kallen and Spacer. They're the only ones that can fix this mess." His eyes were growing heavy. "Inform… inform Zero that I hereby resign my post as Second Consul, effective immediately." He smiled painfully. "It's the least I can do at this point."

"Second Consul…"

Ohgi patted her shoulder, let his arm fall to his side. "Go. Tell him, tell Zero to...to...save-"

His vision went black.

…

Shanghai Air Field, Shanghai, Chinese Federation

"Get all available planes airborne!" Xingke ordered into his walkie. "We have to move quickly! The enemy is here!"

He dashed towards the Knightmare air field, already in his flight suit, black hair whipping behind him. Enemy fighter bomber screens hadn't yet reached Shanghai, but the situation at the front was tense. The enemy was launching everything at them as anticipated, and the line was under significant strain. Without airborne units the line would collapse.

"Commander, Warrant Officer Xao Wei is getting the Shen-Hu prepped!" his walkie squawked. "It will be ready when you arrive!"

"Good work," Xingke replied. He had taken the Knightmare out on several test flights and it handled like a dream, but the strain on his body was incredible. He'd coughed blood across the instrument panel, and had to claim he'd bitten his tongue.

He could see the Shen-Hu just off in the distance, saw someone waving from the cockpit. Just as he waved back, the Knightmare exploded in a flash of pink-white.

Xingke was thrown off his feet, as were those in the general vicinity. He sat up slowly, gaping at the destruction.

"What-What the Hell?"

….

Hangar, Black Knight Headquarters, Aau, Rajasthan, Republic of India

"GODDAMMIT!" Lelouch heard Kallen shout when they reached the hangar. "I JUST GOT IT FIXED!"

He saw what she was cursing a moment later; the lower half of the Guren had been slagged.

"See if it can still fly!" he ordered. "I don't want to leave that here!"

"What about you?" Kallen asked him.

"C-Two and I will take the Gawain! After we retrieve the FLEIJA's, we make for New Delhi!"

There might be some chance of stopping Arnold if they could reach the capitol and its own broadcasting equipment.

Kallen snarled at C-Two. "I don't trust this bitch as far as I can throw her!"

Lelouch shot C-Two in the back of the head. She crumpled to the hangar deck, blood already pooling beneath her skull.

"Neither do I," he remarked. He lifted the unconscious Immortal onto his shoulder, grimacing at the stitch in his side. Must. Hit. The gym! "I'm piloting!"

Kallen nodded and dashed for the Guren. As Lelouch ran to the Gawain, he heard a voice call out, "Colonel!"

He turned to see Diethard. The propagandist was covered in smoke, grime, and blood. His hair was askew, loose from its band, and there was a deep gash just above his right eye. Despite his disheveled appearance, there was a feral gleam in the man's eyes.

"What now, Colonel?" he asked manically.

"We make for New Delhi," Lelouch told him. He offered C-Two. "Take her and climb into the turret. Unless you know how to fly?"

"Not even a little bit!" Diethard said proudly.

He took C-Two from Lelouch and fell in behind him to the Gawain. The machine only had superficial shrapnel scars peppering its arms and chassis, owing to its superior armor design. Lelouch hauled himself up into the machine, waited for Diethard to take his seat with C-Two dead in his lap, and prepared to take off.

Machine gun fire rattled off the armor, but Lelouch paid it no mind. "Kallen, how's the Guren?"

"She's flightworthy," Kallen replied. "The Radiant Wave Surger's been damaged, and the legs are toast, but we can beat a flying retreat."

"Copy." Lelouch called up the digital map. "I have the truck with the FLEIJA's pulled up. It's heading northwest, towards enemy territory." He grinned. "We're going to detour it."

…

Highway Outside Aau

Nina came to slowly. Her head ached mightily, and she brought a hand to it to stable herself.

She was bouncing and bumping in what appeared to be a vehicle seat, a seatbelt crossing over her.

"What-What happened? We were-"

"We were just leaving," a man's voice interjected.

Nina looked up at him. She quailed.

The man had the cold visage of a hardened killer. There was a hard edge to his eyes; his lips were a grim slash.

"What-What happened?" Nina asked.

They were on their way to Lelouch's quarters. A rag had been dipped in anesthetic, carefully measured out to Kallen's exact body composition. Nina was to distract the young woman while Sumeragi used it on her.

Clearly that wasn't what had happened.

"You lost your mind when Kozuki wasn't found," the Black Knight answered. "Rai didn't have any choice but to use the sedative we intended for His Highness on you. Fortunately, the two of you have similar body composition."

Nina didn't like that her body was being compared to a boy's, but that was beside the point. "Where's Kallen?"

"Somewhere back in the base, I imagine," he said. "Lord V-Two began his attack earlier than anticipated." He scowled. "We weren't supposed to blow the whole damn base!"

"We need to go back!" Nina declared, wincing at the pain in her head. "We have to rescue Kallen!"

"I think you mean kidnap, but that's neither here nor there. I'm not returning. These weapons need to be brought to friendly lines. We're going."

"No! She's mine! I love her! He can't have her! She's mine!"

He glared at her, and Nina retreated against the door.

"You were never going to have her," he said, his voice deathly quiet. "Not before. Not now. Not ever. His Highness has claimed her. You won't lay a finger on her."

White hot hate dispelled her fear. "SHE'S-"

The Black Knight smashed his face into her face. The world went painfully black.

…

Above Rajasthan

Diethard tracked the Hadron Cannon's fire across the sky. Little red suns went supernova as the energy beam melted away the enemy's craft before them. He would have liked to pull out his camera for this ordeal, but Zero had given strict orders for him to fire on the enemy craft.

The turret was a little difficult to get a handle on, especially with the way Zero was jerking and diving through the air. The man wasn't a terribly capable pilot, that much was clear; even with her Knightmare half destroyed, Major Kozuki was flying literal circles around them. She had appropriated a Burai's machine gun and was laying waste to the many enemy fighters that were making their way past Diethard's defensive fire. Seeing enemy fighter after enemy fighter torn to pieces by a weapon the Guren wasn't even meant to use was awe inspiring.

If she weren't Japanese, she'd be a Rounds Knight.

"Q-1, we're coming up on the FLEIJA's signal," Zero announced.

"Copy. Do you think Nina will be with them?"

"I don't doubt it. They'll want her along for the ride. Expect Nina to be under a geass if she's with Sumeragi."

"Can it...Can it be undone?"

"I can subvert it," Zero confirmed.

Diethard heard the Major give a sigh of relief. He had no clue what they were talking about, and he wished to God that he had his recorder out. Even if this would never be published, the reporter in him was salivating at the story before him.

"We're closing in," Zero said. "Get ready."

"Copy."

…

Kallen leveled her machine gun at the carrier. "Sumeragi! Get out of that car, now!"

"Not Sumeragi, Major!" a man she didn't know replied.

Kallen snarled. "GET OUT OF THAT GODDAMN CAR!" She fired the machine gun into the sand right beside them. "WHOEVER YOU ARE, GET OUT OF THAT CAR AND LET NINA GO!"

"Can't do that, Major," he responded in a singsong tone. "She's been a ba~ad girl."

Kallen swooped down next the car. She could see Nina inside, slumped in her seat.

She glared at the man behind the wheel. "I'LL KILL YOU!" she promised.

"You fire one round in here, you might touch off those bombs," he said. "And you know that. You won't do shit."

"You think I'm not good enough to hit just you?"

"Certainly, Major," the man said agreeably. "I don't doubt that for a second. If you weren't using anti-armor rounds." He stared at her machine stonily. "That's a Burai's gun you're using, and I know we didn't have any antipersonnel ammo on hand."

Her private channel beeped. Kallen switched to it as the man went on with his smug rant.

"Shoot his tires out, Q-1," Lelouch ordered.

"But what about Nina? And the FLEIJA's for that matter?"

"Nina has her seatbelt on, she should be fine," Lelouch said. "And he can't have the FLEIJA's. They won't explode without the trigger being activated. If they're disabled, so be it. At least Britannia doesn't get their hands on them."

Kallen gripped her yoke. "Copy."

The man waved at her out the window. "So go ahead, Major. Open fire. Blow us all to Kingdom Com-"

Kallen opened fire on the tires. They exploded, sending the carrier into a tailspin. It rose into the air, spinning as it smashed into the ground over and over again. Kallen cringed at every hard strike.

Guilt filled her.

"Nina!" Kallen called out. "Nina I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

The carrier came to rest on its tires, shuddered one more time, then stilled. Hadron Cannon fire strafed the sky as Kallen descended, her belly squirming with fear.

"Nina…"

…

W-0 Unit Headquarters, Paris, Sovereign Republic of France

"GET TO YOUR SHIPS!" someone in the Knightmare hangar shouted.

Leila sprinted to her Knightmare, cursing the traffic and their poor luck.

The streets were swarming with armor, soldiers, and panicking civilians. They had been forced to run the entire way back to their command post, and they were all sweaty and exhausted.

She jumped into the cockpit, brushed a hand across her sweaty face.

Her comm suite crackled. "Major," General Smilas said, "Imperial forces have broken through the Pyrenees Mountains. We're receiving reports of landings at Bordeaux and Saint Vincent. Your orders are to rendezvous with our forces at Limoges and advance south to Montauban. We must hold each river crossing that we can, and slow down the Imperial advance."

"Copy, General," Leila said.

She pressed the pedal on the floor, manipulated her yoke to take the lead.

Nothing happened.

Her eye twitched. She went to move the yoke again, only to find it stuck in place. No amount of pushing or pulling could move it.

"Dammit!" she cursed. She hit the comm. "Command, listen up, my-"

"Major, experiencing severe malfunctions in steering and acceleration," Yukiya her off.

"Leila, steering and fire control are down," Ayano said.

"I'm getting no power output from my Yggsdrasill Drive," Akito said.

"Dammit, my hardware is completely on the fritz!" Ryo said.

One after another, her command chimed in, informing her that their Knightmares weren't working. The reasons were sundry, but they all amounted to a catastrophic tech failure.

A hollow pit opened in her belly.

She rebooted her onboard computer system, then when that didn't work, tried rerouting the main systems.

A pixelated image of Charles zi Britannia suddenly appeared on her computer screen.

"Ah ah ah!" the cartoon said, a childlike smile on his face. "You didn't say the magic word! Ah ah ah! You didn't say the magic word!"

Leila sat back in pure horror.

"Oh, God."

...

Infirmary, Black Knight Headquarters, Aau, Rajasthan, Republic of India

When Ohgi regained consciousness, he realized he was on a hospital cot. His wrists were cuffed to the metal bars. He didn't try them.

He felt numb all over. He looked up and saw that his arm was hooked to an IV strip. He had no clue what was being pumped into him, but it felt great.

"I see you're awake."

Ohgi looked up. A woman around Kallen's age stood before him. She had red-orange hair that fell to her shoulders, and her right eye was a green drained of all warmth. Her left eye was framed by a strange orange eyepiece, and the green pupil beneath it gave off a vaguely digital glow. Her figure was lithe and voluptuous, with the hips, legs, and arms of a swimmer. She wore a skintight red-blue flightsuit, and if the visible hard tips that centered her full breasts were any indication, it was all she wore.

"Who are you?" Ohgi asked, his voice wispy.

"That depends on how this conversation goes," the woman said. "I'm either your best friend, or your worst nightmare. You get to choose."

Her eye glowed a strange blue for a brief second, but she tilted her head to the side. "Strange. He hasn't geassed you. You follow him of your own accord. Interesting."

Ohgi blinked. "What?"

She waved her hand. "It doesn't matter." She approached his side, her arms crossed beneath her chest. "I doubt you know where Lelouch is, given your current state. You should know he is finished. The plans he had for India have been activated. It descends into civil war even now. The Federation is through. As is the Black Rebellion." She placed a hand on the bar. "Unless, that is, if you cooperate."

"Cooperate?"

The woman nodded. "The Empire is interested in only one thing: Kamine Island. Allow us unfettered access to the island, and you may retain your independence."

That made no sense. "Why the Hell would you want Kamine Island?" Ohgi asked. "It's just a jungle, and some ruins."

"Then it is of no value to you," the woman replied. "We want it. We can take it, if you like?"

He knew what she meant by 'take it.' I'm not even the Second Consul anymore. "You're not interested in the Sakuradite?"

"Those negotiations can be accomplished by diplomats," she dismissed. "The Empire will recognize your independence, and fair accommodations can be made for the trade of Sakuradite. All we want is Kamine Island." She smiled. "You may even keep troops stationed there, if you're concerned about security."

That sounded way too good to be true. "You're full of crap," Ohgi said.

She shook her head. "Not at all. I bear the Emperor's Seal." She waved to someone out of his line of sight, and a scroll was handed to her. She opened it and presented it to him. True to her word, a seal was affixed to the document that bore the Imperial Signet. "I trust you recognize that it's in order?"

"I…" Ohgi swallowed. "I'm not at liberty to make these negotiations," he said. "Zero is First Consul."

The woman smiled. "Prince Lelouch is no longer a problem," she said, to Ohgi's shock. "And, as I'm sure you're aware, anyone can hide behind that mask.

"So, Second Consul Kaname Ohgi, what do you say?"