Kallen could hear it from Nunnally's voice. The sigh of relief was clear as a bell. With a last order to be kept up to date on any further news, Nunnally ended the call. Kallen almost thought for a moment that Nunnally was going to cry. The first call that there was an incident involving the Alters sent a frigid spike down their spines. It had been a frightful revelation just how consuming the fear of the Alters had already become. Just mention of them was enough to send the mind racing to dark places about what horror they'd committed. Was another base being demolished? Was another city burned from the map?
"Is she okay?" Kallen asked. She'd overheard Nunnally say Cornelia's name, so she at least knew that it was Cornelia who'd been involved.
"Yes, she's fine. It doesn't appear anyone was injured. Even so…"
"You're still worried. Who are you sending?"
"Suzaku wants to go right away. He wants to investigate the area to be sure there aren't any clues left behind."
"That makes sense. How are you holding up?"
"I…" she started and stopped. Her large soft eyes had a touch of glassy sheen to it.
Kallen and Nunnally came to have a connection. It was a simple one, nothing especially out-of-the-ordinary when you think about it. It was just that they were both younger sisters who greatly admired and loved their big brothers. There was also the bit about Kallen loving Nunnally's brother too. When Kallen was captured by Britannia during the war, after Nunnally had become the Viceroy of Area 11, Nunnally was the only one that treated her with any sort of kindness.
Kallen hadn't been expecting much, and it didn't exactly endear her much with Kallen either. Kallen had never thought much of the Britannia princesses back then. Other than the stories of Princess Massacre in Europa that had started spreading in the underground information networks, and the often talked about and feared Cornelia, all the other princesses were mainly considered frivolous dolls adorning the empire. Nunnally in particular was hard to view as anything but a puppet, unable to see with her own eyes, walk with her own legs, doing all that she was told to do. A bit of childish indolence wasn't very meaningful.
But at the time Kallen didn't hate her, which was more than she could say about most Britannians at that point. She was Lelouch's motivation, and that was enough to warrant protection and care. Now, she had some genuine affection for Nunnally. But the feelings Kallen held towards Britnannia, the betrayal she felt from how things ended up with Lelouch, made it difficult for Kallen to be all that close with anyone too involved in Britannia, let alone its Empress. Still, there was a special bond between the two centered on Lelocuh, and it was nice every now and then to talk about him with someone who knew him better than almost anyone else in the world.
She didn't mind hanging out with Nunnally for now. She really didn't want to get dragged back into the combat side of things. That burning passion, that urge to get out onto the battlefield, wasn't there, and she knew well enough that going into battle like that, especially against an opponent as strong as the Alters seemed to be, was a surefire way to find yourself in a body bag. Keep the empress company, offer technical advice to the team working to figure out how to stop the Alters and their beasts. That was her battle for the time being.
"You're making a big mistake," C.C. criticized forcefully. That afternoon was one of those "how to stop the Alters and their beasts" meetings. More precisely, the news of the encounter with Cornelia lit a fire under the folks who were unaware of Geass and its connection to the events. They were still of the idea that the dragons were some sort of new technology, a hyper-advanced Knightmare Frame of some kind. That was the most logical conclusion, after all, even to Lloyd and the others who were still trying to work out if Geass really had any true bearing on this all.
Ultimately the question of whether this enemy was or was not Euphemia, regardless of how that might be, didn't really do much to inform on how to keep her from slaughtering everything in sight at her discretion. That was why the military had come to the conclusion that it didn't mean much to wait for anyone else to "figure things out" while she still roamed free. They could figure whatever they wanted out from her corpse. Taking her out as soon as possible should have always been their priority. Of course, Lloyd, Rakshata, and the rest, would have said figuring out who and what she was would be the most certain way to stop her. It was the exact argument they made.
"You agreed earlier, didn't you?" Suzaku pushed back. "You said that her immortality was healing her injuries, but that it wouldn't be able to keep up while she was under attack. If we surround her and force her to exhaust herself…"
"I said it was only a possibility. The fact is, we don't know enough about her yet." C.C. asserted. "Fighting her like this would be a massive gamble, and it could end up biting us in the end."
"If we don't try this now, when would we ever get the information you're saying we don't have?"
"Listen, we don't know anything about the Geass she holds, or what it's capable of. When she showed it to me in the forest, it was only in one eye. That means it's still not fully developed."
"Even more reason…"
"No," she cut him off. "A Geass grows with use and strain. If the holder is pushed into a difficult situation, or if they use it extensively, it can cause the Geass to develop more rapidly. That could be a disaster, knowing that we have no idea what her Geass does even now. The fact that she already has immortality, can already push herself into any stressful position to force its development is an even greater risk."
"We have to take that risk. It's the only way we can make any progress here. If she's going after people who aren't involved in this now… we can't afford to take our time on this."
"She isn't going after them," she asserted.
"Are you going to defend her now?"
"I can't condone anything she's done. But if you were thinking clearly you'd already know that there's no way she was targeting Cornelia's family. She has no reason to make idle threats. We had no idea she was there, there was no military unit stationed at Cornelia's home. Cornelia could very well have showed up to her family already dead if that's what Euphemia Alter wanted. She could have burned their house down the same she did to the castle. No one has shown any ability to stop her from doing whatever she wants."
"Then we'll show this enemy that they'll no longer get away with assuming we can't fight back."
Suzaku turned and left. C.C. was very agitated. She wasn't one to show her agitation readily, so it wasn't particularly easy to tell when she was genuinely angry. It was another odd quirk about her, given that she generally was very expressive and open with her feelings.
C.C. and Suzaku didn't get along terribly well. She hadn't liked him as Lelouch's opponent, despite how much consideration Lelouch had for Suzaku. She had often thought how much easier a time Lelouch would have had with his plans had Suzaku done as Lelocuh asked or had stopped getting in Lelouch's way. Even the Zero Requiem…
For his part, Suzaku hadn't trusted C.C. She was the one that gave that dreadful power to Lelouch, helped spread the twistedness of the world. If not for her and Geass, Euphie wouldn't have died, and much of the evil of Britannia's past would never have come about.
They didn't get along well. Even when united by Lelouch for the Zero Requiem, the two were never really allies as much as they were cooperative participants in Lelouch's final plan. Out of respect for Lelouch's memory, and for Nunnally, they avoided arguing with one another when around Nunnally. Or perhaps they simply didn't like the guilt felt by having her chide them for bickering with one another. Whichever the case they typically found reasons and excuses to not be around each other whenever possible. It made sense then that they would end up on opposing ends of this debate.
Regardless, they'd have to settle it before going much further. Suzaku, in particular, knew he was at a disadvantage if truly believing action was the right course. If Nunnally had both of their voices in her ear telling her opposite things, that would only force Nunnally into inaction, which was what C.C. seemed to want. But C.C. knew that if Cornelia was of the same mind on matters as Suzaku, there was no way Nunnally wouldn't take their side on things. More than just the numbers – two for, one against – Suzaku was the knight Lelouch chose for her, and Cornelia was her only living sister. What affection Nunnally had towards C.C. was surely nothing like that she had for Cornelia and Suzaku.
"It is quite the quandary," Lloyd mused to Cecile. "To be quite honest, neither is exactly wrong here. C.C. understands the power of Geass better than any of us. It's not so simple to dismiss her concerns about the implication of action here. However, as Suzaku rightly notes, we won't gain any information just by sitting around doing nothing."
"I would have thought you'd be quick to side with Suzaku?" Cecile voiced her modest surprise.
Lloyd gave a small, disaffected, chuckle. "As a scientist the idea of turning your back on an experiment goes against our very beings. But we're not devoid of our sense of risk and danger either. A true scientist should try to understand the risks they're embarking on before they begin any experiment."
"The Earl of Pudding, speaking of showing restraint. That alone is plenty concerning," Rakshata lightly mocked as she took a long draw on her pipe, releasing back out a thin stream of whitish smoke from her pursed lips.
Lloyd mussed his hair before leaning back in his chair and letting out a small sigh. "Well, we're a bit out of our depth here. It's not really our job to figure out military and political strategy and all that. They ask us for an object and we create it for them. What they do with it… well, that's out of our hands."
"Unless we choose not to make it," Rakshata added.
"But that would go against our principles. Our job as scientists is to push the understanding of this world as far as it will go. If humanity chooses to use that knowledge poorly, should the scientist be blamed for it?"
"That's a very purist view," Rakshata refuted. "But sadly we live in the same reality as those same humans who use the things we scientists create. Part of our responsibility is to figure out how that child we create should fit into the world. If we abandon that child for others to take care of, it's our fault if that child isn't raised properly. That being said, we can't be expected to control a child who has gone out into the world absent their parent's caution and wishes."
Lloyd's face turned sour, as if he had a mild stomachache. "Field Limitary Effective Implosion Armament Mk. III," he said sourly. "If they ask us about it, will you tell them no?"
"I haven't decided that yet," Rakshata sighed, suddenly sounding very exhausted.
"She's already said she won't help with that one unless Nunnally tells her to," Lloyd told her.
"I wouldn't have expected anything else," Rakshata agreed. "The mother of such an infamous child would hardly come at the subject without quite the level of apprehension."
"I doubt our Empress is going to be too thrilled to have her advisors bring up that particular project either," Lloyd continued to grumble.
"I don't imagine she will. I almost feel sorry for whoever decides to broach the subject with her," Rakshata also continued to grumble.
Cecile sat quietly and listened. She often liked to just listen to these two muse aloud. It was usually an interesting experience, regardless of the topic. She would chime in with her own lines of inquiry, try to restore some order if they got too riled up at each other, or impart some "common sense" when their thinking strayed too far from the bounds of what a reasonable person would think.
This time she didn't have anything to add. She could comment on their view of what a scientist was, or what they were supposed to do, but that subject was a bit well-worn by now.
Then there was the …
One of the Colonels had made a brief mention of it immediately after the Memorial Day Massacre. He'd been conversing with a small group of other military officials and mentioned that it was probably an effective counter against Marrybell. They suggested announcing it as a means of forcing Marrybell to back down on her demands and threats that Britannia leave Europa. That hadn't come to fruition, one of the other members of the group warning about idly talking about such a thing without approval from the higher ups, let alone the Empress, for fear of the backlash.
After the withdrawal from Europa, the idea had apparently at least spread to others, as a Senate staffer mentioned her boss talking with another Senator about a similar idea – the deployment of a strategic weapon as a show of force to subdue the terrorists.
Then again that morning, during the brief meeting about the incident with Euphemia Alter showing up at Cornelia's private home, another staffer made hushed comments about retaliation using the strategic armaments, and how adaptations to the weapon could circumvent the UFN treaty against the construction and use of them.
"Are you serious?" Amy half shouted and half whispered.
"Be quiet," Sara stressed. "Are you trying to blow my whole story?"
It was late afternoon, probably closer to dinner time than lunch to be honest. But reporters were known for keeping odd hours. It certainly varied based on the medium. But, for certain, reporters of the written word tended to keep stranger hours than their on-screen counterparts. After all, when you were on-screen, you had a fairly set schedule; catch the evening news at 10 and that sort of thing.
Odd schedules sometimes led to odd habits. They say that the quirk of having breakfast for dinner started not with a kid, but with that kid's parent, a reporter, who wanted something quick before heading out for work that evening. Sara wasn't really that much of a coffee drinker, but there were two times for certain you would catch her with a cup; "shop" meetings, and when she was stressed. This particular sit-down with her friend Amy Wolton started as the latter, became the former.
"S-Sorry, but, really?" Amy asked her again.
"Yeah," Sara said somberly. "It looks like there's a small group in the new government, folks who only came to power or rose in the ranks after the war, who've been secretly funding and driving research that was officially banned by the post-war treaty. It looks like they've at least conceived a new design, and maybe be close to a prototype."
"Is the Empress involved?"
"No way," Sara dismissed out-of-hand. "Knowing her, she'd be unbelievably furious to know about it. That's why they haven't brought it up to her yet. She really hates those things, so she'd likely summarily fire anyone involved."
"Better than her father. He'd likely have them publicly executed. So then how're they gonna convince her to go along with it? Don't tell me they plan on just using it and not telling her until after the fact?"
"No, it looks like they want to gather enough support quietly first, then propose to her that the threat's too large not to use it. Then they'll fake all the work they've already done to make it look like they simply rushed the project after she gave the go ahead."
"That's insane. Do you realize how huge this story is? When are you gonna run with it?"
"I'm not," Sara said angrily, as if the idea was offensive.
"What do you mean you won't? You'd be bigger than even Ashford in a second if you broke this!"
"No… at least not yet. There's something else I haven't figured out yet."
"Something else?"
"I wasn't looking at this story originally. Before Chris left he had caught onto something about missing money. He thought it was some embezzlement in a science department, but then he tracked it to the team that's been working on tracking the terrorists, so he was about to give it up. The problem is that when I kept looking at it, I found out that there was another stream of money going out of that fund too."
"Wait, you mean someone's embezzling from two separate funds?"
"That's kinda how it seems. I haven't figured out more just yet though. I don't know for sure what the money is being used for. I know some of it was transferred out to Europa, and some to Asia. But the trail gets murky and hard to follow. I don't have the resources of a major news operation behind me, so I can only do so much, but I want to keep following up on this lead. If I break the other story first, that'll blow any chance I have on this one."
"Well… I suppose such a persistent embezzlement operation must be pretty big news too," Amy sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. "Are the two connected?"
"I don't think so?"
"You don't sound sure."
"Well, the source of the money for the weapons project seems to be pretty straightforward as black projects go. As far as I can tell, this other money stream wouldn't really help with that. If anything it looks more like a secret expense account; sure, a lot higher tier than a normal business operation, and no legitimate expense account would need to be secretly routed anywhere, but…"
"Hold on, you don't think… are you…?"
"It wouldn't make any sense," Sara said, her eyes lowering into her own cup of coffee. "Everything I've ever seen or heard or read about Nunnally and Cornelia says there's no way they would hide away their family like that. They'd sooner fight the world than stick them away in a corner somewhere and pretend they don't exist. But…"
"But?"
"But, one of those accounts I was looking into appears to be only accessible by the royal family. It needs the authorization of the monarchy of Britannia to access or use, as far as I can tell."
"This is starting to sound really, really, dangerous," Amy said, the fright unmistakable in her voice. "I mean… you usually don't get involved in this sort of thing, and now you're talking about something on this level? You're suggesting a secret that tens of millions of people have already been killed to try to keep."
"You're starting to sound like Chris," Sara laughed dryly.
"I'm serious here," Amy said, now getting impatient with her friend's blasé reaction.
"I'm not going to stop, Amy. I need to know."
"Why? Why do you need to know? You could just as easily drop this story, make off with all the accolades and money that comes with being the greatest reporter in generations, and not run the risk of getting killed before getting that far!"
"And what? Wait on a tropical beach somewhere with a drink in my hand for an assassin to come kill me then instead? Or maybe I should just live in a hole for the rest of my life? In any case, I don't care about the rest of that stuff. I've wanted to know more about her. Every time I see her face I can't help scanning everything about her to see if I can learn something new. Now I have this huge story about her and it's not even close to finished. I need to finish it."
"You really are obsessed," Amy said breathlessly. "You do realize that's why Chris left you, right?"
"Didn't you tell me sleeping with him was a mistake in the first place?"
"Two wrongs don't make a right."
"Besides, he only left 'cause he got spooked thinking I might've gotten pregnant. If he's gonna run off because of that, then it didn't matter either way," she defended.
"I can believe you used morning sickness as an excuse for why he caught you throwing up after you promised not to watch that video anymore," Amy cringed, despite this being the third or fourth time she'd chastised Sara for that particular episode.
"Okay, fine, I admit that probably…"
"Probably?"
"That definitely wasn't the smartest move, but you all don't really understand. There's no more interesting, more compelling, story in the entire world than the Empress. To be able to tell her whole story, I need to know as much as I possibly can. I need to understand as much as I can about her. If I don't push the edges a little, I'll never be able to get that level of understanding I need. Just… give me a little faith that I know my boundaries, okay?"
Amy sighed a deep sigh of surrender. In all the time she'd known Sara, she'd learned Sara was not one to dig in her heels on much. If she was planting her flag here, that meant it was something she wasn't going to back down on no matter what. "So, what's your next move?" she asked after finishing off her cup. "The fraud or the embezzlement?"
"I'm not so sure they aren't connected. But… the fraud one isn't going to get me anywhere. Honestly, as bad as it sounds that there's a bunch pushing to use that again, everyone knows how weapons development goes. I'm sure they're cooking up a good way to skirt the UFN treaty, and given what Marrybell Alter did over in Europa, it's hard to imagine a lot of people being too unsympathetic to wanting to just blast her away with the biggest bomb anyone can find. The loudest critics would've been those in the blast zone, but if she's torturing them half as bad as they say, they might prefer being blown to dust."
"Oh yeah, almost forgot. I heard a little something about the third Alter. Apparently she's shown up in Neo Tokyo."
"Really?" she asked, showing only a touch of interest. "Aren't they saying she's the one that actually attacked the Black Knights' base?"
"Yeah. And one or two of the other attacks on military bases. Outside of that she's been far quieter than Euphemia Alter. Supposedly the cops are having a hard time because they're not sure it's really another Alter or just some other killer who's using the Alters thing as a cover. But there's a lot of pressure to figure it out before the counterstrike."
"Counterstrike?"
"Yeah, it's a plan that the Britannia military is working on. They're trying to nail down a pattern on Euphemia Alter's attacks and use that to set up a trap to capture or kill her."
"It almost seems ridiculous, don't you think?" Sara half-chuckled as she stared up at the creeping encroachment of dusk. "All this effort to stop a girl running around with a big sword. If you said a month ago we'd be covering a story like that, I would've thought it meant we got ourselves demoted to covering fake stories for some shoddy tabloid."
"I would've too," Amy sighed along with her. "Although, I guess we would've said that about the war too, or how it all ended."