When the alert went out that the fight against Euphemia Alter was about to begin, Pendragon was naturally alerted right away as well. A call was then also made to UFN headquarters. It wasn't only that Suzaku was the military commander for the body, but that he was one of the strongest advocates for this course of action. He was invited to return to Pendragon to get a debriefing on the results of the battle, naturally knowing that he wouldn't make it from Hawaii before the battle concluded. The results of the encounter would also be important for confronting Marrybell and Shirley when the time came. He'd been read in on the overall plan after Nunnally's approval, the UFN's help needed in coordinating the diversion in Europa meant to keep Marrybell in place. As it turned out, the diversion was wholly unnecessary, and fortunately no harm came to those involved; silver linings where one can find them.
After Euphemia's second attack on a military base, the idea was put into action to have a remote observation drone assist in gathering information. Such drones were becoming the norm on the battlefield in the waning days of the last war. It took a little while for them to be considered as they should have been for more domestic use. This was invaluable, as the videos of Euphemia during these attacks were the bedrock of all the information gathering.
Typically, this data was only really reviewed by the team Nunnally assigned to work on the task force, including Lloyd's team. This, however, was the first time Nunnally, Kallen, Schneizel, and Nina, had been on hand to observe the live feed of the incident. The analysis team would spend long hours that afternoon and evening, even through the night, scouring the relatively small video clip. All told there was about 20 minutes of footage. It showed Euphemia Alter enter the remnants of the base after her assault, the drone failing not long afterwards; the recovery of the drone to figure out the cause of the failure and if it was related to whatever Euphemia Alter was doing was going to be important.
When Suzaku arrived back in Pendragon, he immediately went to review the video. It was difficult to understate the importance he saw in figuring out the why of how this plan failed, since from all indications it was conducted near perfectly. After watching the whole thing start to end a half dozen times, he thought he had the answer, but he wasn't at all a fan of what that answer was.
He arrived fairly early in the morning, a couple hours before Lloyd and his team were scheduled to be back in their offices after their late night. He was surprised to see Lloyd walking in, in part because he hadn't realized just what time it was, in part because Lloyd had come in a little early.
"Ah, good morning," Lloyd greeted with a mug of coffee in his hand. He walked over to a coffee pot over to the side and turned it on.
"Morning, Lloyd," Suzaku returned the greeting. "When you get a minute, there's something I'd like to ask you."
"Sure, go ahead," Lloyd agreed, walking over to the monitor Suzaku was in front of.
"Has anyone taken a look at this?" Suzaku queued up the video and paused it on a scene. It was a bit blurred; the camera having had difficulty tracking Euphemia Alter as she was running about. Still, it was clear enough to spot what Suzaku was talking about, looking at her back.
"Ah, right," Lloyd started once he got a good look. He paused a moment to sip his coffee, his face twitching slightly, too much or too little sugar or cream for his liking. "No idea," he finally answered.
"I was hoping for a little more than that."
"As you can probably guess, the edge is too regular and the color a bit too bright for it to be blood. It's likely some kind of marking, although I've no idea what kind. That's one of the things the video team will be analyzing this morning."
"Are they looking at other footage to see if it was present before now?"
"Actually, one of techs already pulled up a video from an earlier attack and flagged it for further analysis. He noticed it there too, but it had been dismissed as being nothing more than blood splatter at the time."
"Alright then. So, what about her attack, those flames?"
"Well, I wouldn't say I'm stumped, but the potential answer doesn't get us much closer to understanding or addressing the underlying issue. To be honest, I'm not all that sure I could even explain it properly to you," Lloyd said, finishing his coffee and glancing at the pot still brewing the fresh batch.
"Give it a shot," Suzaku urged.
"Well… let's see now. Ms. Kouzuki made a comment the other day that started us thinking about a possible scientific rather than supernatural explanation. Unfortunately, the concept itself is still extremely new and poorly defined. It's an entirely new branch of science we've had little exposure to before now, and unlike our other scientific disciplines it lacks firm, observable, data, so we have no idea if it's really suitable to even call it a theory at this point, or if it's just the musings of us bored scientists looking for something else to tinker with."
"Okay, I get it; it's very unlikely. Still, it can't possibly be more unlikely than anything else we're dealing with right now. Eight years ago I didn't believe in a supernatural power like Geass, so I think I'm beyond the point of dismissing improbable theories."
"A valid point. Okay," Lloyd said with a thin smile, sitting himself down in a chair and rolling over to a digital whiteboard. He grabbed up a pen and started drawing as he began his explanation. "Right now, the basis of our science is that the smallest element of matter is the atom. We call it a basic building block of all matter. The division and fusion of these elementary particles is what releases the energy to produce all natural phenomena, from the creation of all matter, to the implosion you witness with the FLEIJA. How we manipulate those elementary particles defines the outcome. Naturally, we only have the ability to manipulate them to a certain extent.
"This new theory, however, suggests that there are particles even smaller than the atom, what they call quantum particles. The basic principle of this theory is that these particles, too small for us to measure or observe, are not only the true building blocks of all matter, but that the manipulation of these particles has the potential to allow for things thought impossible. For example, instant transportation from one location to another."
"When you say instant…"
"You could be from here to the other side of the universe in an imperceptibly small amount of time such that you are almost in both places at once."
"How could that even be possible?"
"The theory states that quantum particles are linked to each other in a nebulous state, such that what happens to one particle will immediately happen to the other, regardless of where that other particle is. They call it quantum entanglement. Therefore, if you could harness the ability to control the entanglement process, you could essentially align a number of particles, or somehow program the particles, to behave in a certain way in one location, and that would then cause the entangled particles in another location to behave the same way.
"At the same time, that would also mean that there is an inherent instability and impermanence to all matter in the universe. If manipulation of one particle in one place could cause the exact same reaction to another particle in another place, then what would happen if you could accurately account for and define a more complex object by mapping all of those particles?
"Take the you from eight years ago for example. If the exact programming of your quantum particles from then were recorded back then, and I were to realign a batch of quantum particles in the exact same way in this lab right now, in theory that would recreate the Suzaku Kururugi of 8 years ago, but here in the present. For that you, it would be as if you time traveled, teleported from wherever you were when that snapshot of your quantum makeup was taken, and moved to this current time and place, as if no time at all had passed."
"That doesn't seem possible… the me here right now… how would that work?"
"That's why it's still just an idea. There are too many holes in the so-called theory. It works to explain some phenomena observed but hard to explain otherwise, but still leaves quite the glaring hole.
"In any case, it was worth thinking about, even if briefly, to explain some things about the Alters and their powers. If you can control quantum particles, you'd certainly have what would look a lot like magic. Align a batch of particles one way, and you can create a creature that doesn't exist in the natural world, or recreate a person who died years ago. You could appear and disappear right in front of someone, or create flames as hot as the sun's surface just by swinging a sword.
"The problem, regardless of whether or not the quantum theory is true, is that to us and the rest of the world that lacks the ability to fully understand the theory, let alone measure it or practically apply it, it's no different than saying she's harnessing some unknown energy called magic. After all, the saying goes that to any civilization unfamiliar with sufficiently advanced technology it might as well be magic."
"Could this theory also explain Geass?"
"Not perfectly. In some applications of the theory you could work towards applying similar effects to a Geass, but not others. For instance, if you rearrange the quantum particles associated with a person's brain, you could alter any functions of the brain, including perception and memory, such as forcing them to accept an order as the proper course of action despite their normal will."
"Like Lelouch's Geass."
"Correct. But, by its nature a quantum process is meant to be infinitely repeatable. Quantum particles should still follow all laws of conservation of energy and mass, therefore even if moved around once, they should still be available to move around again and again. So then, why would Lelouch be unable to use his Geass on the same person more than once? He'd tried, so it's not to say he imposed that limitation himself. And why then could some people resist for a time? If altering someone's brain to make them do something, there should be no delay in the effect. When manipulating quantum particles it should be a straightforward pass or fail scenario due to the instantaneous nature of the reactions of quantumly entangled particles. Or for emperor Charles, why did the opposite apply despite his power being so similar? He could alter another person's memories seemingly indefinitely. So, quantum theory can explain the effects of a Geass, but not the process or execution."
Suzaku was starting to get a headache. He wasn't sure if it was the stress, the staring at a computer screen for a couple hours straight after his long flight to Pendragon from Hawaii, or all this talk about scientific concepts he was barely able to remotely grasp. He thought Lloyd had a good point, however. If they didn't have the slightest clue how the Alters were doing what they were doing, naming it the product of whatever theory was no different from naming it the product of magic. It was all the same things. Yes, knowing exactly what you were looking for would help you find an answer, but there was an impatience to dispense with the theorizing and get to an answer.
An enemy comes up with a new bomb, you can come up with countermeasures to the bomb easily enough. Evasion, interrupting the supply lines to create it, inhibiting their ability to launch it. Lelouch had a dozen plans ready for how to deal with the FLEIJA if Nina hadn't come up with her anti-FLEIJA device. Sure, a number of them were going to be extremely difficult to execute. But there were countermeasures.
At the moment, a woman armed with only a sword demolished an entire planned military assault that had, from all indications, been executed near to spec. It took her only fifteen minutes to wipe out a force you'd normally send to besiege a small city. And from the looks of it, it only took her fifteen minutes because she hadn't been trying the first thirteen. What was the countermeasure here? Their only saving grace seemed to be her disinterest in razing the entire country or even taking the capital. Not only did they not have countermeasures against the Alters right now, they didn't even have the hope of enough time to conceive a countermeasure.
"Do we have any idea how vulnerable she might be to chemicals?" Suzaku asked.
"Do you mean something like lachrymator gas? Or are you referring to something stronger?"
"No, something stronger. I know that lachrymator agents were abandoned after the second or third encounter because they didn't seem to have any effect. With the dragons in the area as well, the gas was being blown back into our own forces."
"We don't know how effective something like a blister or nettle agent would be as a practical matter. I'm not the one you should be questioning about the tactical matters, but I can tell you that a chemical attack would almost certainly be able to kill her. The problem is the next moment after that."
"You're suggesting she would revive too quickly for us to do much."
"Given the effective range of what few such weapons we have available, and the estimations of her recovery time from fatal gun shots, the likelihood is that she would revive before anyone could arrive to secure her."
"And that's before taking her dragons into account… would the agents work on them as well?"
"No way to know for sure. Assuming they have the same metabolic functions as a typical animal, they should. But different animals would respond differently. The time it takes for the agent to take effect can vary tremendously, especially given how they vary in size. I'm no expert on animal biology anyway, but we don't have any clear understanding of their anatomy, so we can't even be sure how their internal systems allow for them to breath such intense flames, or how that system would react to an airborne toxin."
"The best way would be to give it to her while in close proximity like an injection or something in her food. But there's no way anyone would be able to get close enough to do something like that."
"I suppose that's what makes figuring out the network she's operating with so important," Lloyd remarked, sounding more disinterested as the conversation continued to spin outside his wheelhouse.
The door opened and Nina entered the room. She was carrying a sizeable stack of documents. Given the way most of their research and the like was through digitized records, it took Lloyd only to glance the fact she was carrying physical copy to know exactly what it was she likely brought over.
"Well Nina, what wonderful fantasy have your brought today?" Lloyd asked with half-feigned joviality.
"Good morning, Ser Lloyd," Nina greeted, not quite catching sight of Suzaku just yet. She appeared to be trying to talk, walk, and read all at once, an impressive feat if you could manage it. "I know you wanted to read through it quickly, so I thought I would be faster if I brought everything over first and that way we could digitize it as we went."
"What is it?" Suzaku asked.
Nina seemed to jump ever so slightly, affirming that she hadn't realized Lloyd wasn't alone. "Oh, I'm sorry. Good morning, Suzaku," she greeted.
"Good morning, Nina. So, what've you got there?"
"Oh, well, not too long ago Ser Lloyd and Ms. Rakshata were discussing something to do with emerging quantum theory as a basis for explaining historical mythology and the potential of this applied concept as the basis for a redefined reality…" she paused and looked at Suzaku. "Do you know what quantum theory is?"
"Lloyd gave me a basic rundown earlier," Suzaku answered, hoping she wasn't about to get too deep into the subject.
"Well," she began again, making her way to a table to set down the things she was carrying. "A lot of mythology contains stories that could be potentially explained by quantum mechanics. However, the processes available to test such theories would not seemingly have existed back then. Even so, many myths hold expansive details about rituals and the like. So, Ser Lloyd had the idea that perhaps in reading through and understanding what these rituals called for, there might be a clue to whether they're a real process that can achieve a result, or if they're just entirely made up."
"I see, so is this more Arthurian legend then?" Suzaku asked, walking over the tidy pile.
"No, this one is from the stories of King Solomon."
"Solomon?"
"Unlike King Arthur," Lloyd began to explain, taking a document off the top and starting to skim through it. "There are actual historical records of a King Solomon in the area of Mediterranean Sea about three thousand years ago. There's plenty enough records to show he actually existed. What makes him unique for our purposes is that he was said to have been an extremely proficient magic user. This was back during the Age of the Gods, a time when people seemed to treat magic as if it were as common as breathing. For one man to be hailed as such a prominent practitioner would mean something. Even so, not a whole lot of his legend is known outside that region nowadays. There's never been much broader interest I suppose, which is why most of the documents relating to him and his reign haven't been digitized and archived."
"Some tellings of the Arthurian legends even say Merlin may have been a descendant of King Solomon," Nina added.
"Is there anything in particular you're gonna look for?" Suzaku asked, pulling a book off the top of the pile. He was slightly disappointed to see it was in a language he didn't know.
"The Seventy-Seven Demons," Lloyd said, as if the pronouncement was supposed to illicit some knowing response.
"King Solomon," Nina began, realizing Lloyd was too immersed already in browsing through his document. "Was said to have used his powers to summon forth demons that he could then bind to his will to act on his behalf, further enhancing his power. The part about binding them to his will sounds like a Geass, similar to the ones used by Lelouch and Marrybell. But we don't have any indication they ever tried using their powers on animals, so we don't know if that is entirely analogous. In many European cultures out of the 12th and 13th century, however, dragons came to be regarded as demons."
"The church in particular took to calling them agents of the devil. Unlike the days of King Solomon when the term demon was synonymous with any supernatural being separate from the natural world, demons were actually evil things. That's why from about two thousand years ago the monotheisms that developed in Europa began stripping away any mention of demons in the stories of King Solomon. It went against their teachings for King Solomon to be both a wise and powerful king who loved God, while also using magic to summon demons."
"C.C." Suzaku said wearily after hearing her recollection of events. Seeing her back in the palace was less than satisfying. Despite how Nunnally reacted, and the minute passage of time since, he still hadn't felt the sense his course was wrong. He could almost hear her wanting to tell him she was right from the start about not fighting Euphemia Alter. He could admit to himself somewhat that she was proven right. But having her come here to say it was not something he was looking forward to.
"The Geass Syndicate looked into some of the stories of Solomon before," C.C. continued, ignoring Suzaku. "He was well known for having particularly powerful insight into the thinking of others, almost as if he could read their minds. So, they thought that he might've been a Geass user."
"Was he?" Leila asked, walking in behind C.C.
"I don't know that they ever found an answer," C.C. answered.
"Leila Malcal?" Suzaku gasped. He'd only really known of her. She had her own fame in Europa during the war, and they had occasion to cross paths on the battlefield there when Charles had Lelouch serving under the guise of Julius Kingsley when Suzaku turned him over after Euphemia's death. But the two had never met face-to-face before. He hadn't really followed up any news of her after the war, only to hear that she had retired in the waning days of the Euro Britannia war. The last thing he expected was to see her in Britannia, let alone the palace. What's more, she didn't at all seem surprised to see that he was alive, let alone dressed as Zero. He could only assume C.C leaked that secret to her at some point.
Nina and Lloyd looked on in confusion. Lloyd had even less awareness of who Leila was than Suzaku, only having heard her name before. His interest in her came and went with her role in the special experimental Knightmare project she had been affiliated with – highly mobile units that could switch at will between the standard bipedal form to a quadruped to traverse more uneven and variable terrain. He was highly intrigued by the idea, not just as a practical answer to the terrain combat issues in Europa, but as a technical matter in terms of how to design and construct a Knightmare capable of enduring the rigors of such a system. He recalled seeing her name most recently when they first began tackling the Alter issue, reviewing documents on that project in seeing if it could be applicable to creating a Knightmare or some similar machine capable of behaving like a dragon. That line of inquiry was cut short after the first genetic sample from an injured dragon was obtained, however.
"H-Hello, everyone," Leila said with a small bow. She fumbled slightly, so caught up with C.C. she hadn't realized she had entered the room with other people until she was greeted by Suzaku.
"What are you doing here?" Suzaku asked. Leila offered a guilty grin, not sure how she was supposed to answer that question.
"Leila's giving me a hand with all of this. Thanks to her and her friends I was finally able to track down the source," C.C. answered for her.
"The source?" Suzaku asked.
"Of the leaks."
"You're saying there's a spy working for the Alters? Look, C.C., if this is you way of getting back…"
C.C. cut Suzaku off, her voice full of melancholy. "I think they're done pretending. Or rather, I don't think they ever were playing pretend very much. They've always been a wallflower, so it was easy enough to just let others ignore them while they did as they pleased. They helped orchestrate all of this, all for the realization of a simple wish. It was an obsession, really. All to make their dream a reality, we have this world at the feet of these demon gods. Her faith, her determination, her ambition… she's always been underestimated by those around her. Even when I was watching her, I could only think of her as a sad young girl swept up in the flow of time and history. But there were two people who honestly, truly, believed in her. And one of them she cared about far more than anyone else in this world, including herself. Isn't that right, Nina?"
Everyone looked skeptically at C.C. Nina snickered and said, "What are you saying, C.C.? That all that time, while others seemed oblivious of us both, you were actually keeping an eye on me?"
"It was mere passing curiosity. I've met a number of folks like you in my lifetime. I was curious what your life story would be in the end. And then you wound up here in Britannia, working with Schneizel, and then Lelouch. I couldn't understand you very well. Why side with Britannia so willingly, the people who trashed Euphemia's name out of convenience? Why side with Lelouch, the man who shot her? You never seemed like the magnanimous type to just forgive those you didn't like. Your claim that you wanted to avenge Euphemia's death only made some sense, in the way a twisted passion might. In any case, with everything that was going on, I let your presence fade from view.
"But you were counting on that, weren't you? You were hoping we would all underestimate you, think of you as some incomprehensible and meek little girl not worth special attention. You could go off and seclude yourself in a lab somewhere, and as long as you produced something along the lines of useable results you were left to your own devices. How else could a mere high school student on her own without funding or support create the prototype for a weapon like the FLEIJA in a school lab? Give that same young woman the resources and support of a whole nation, what sorts of horrors could she make?"
"Shut your mouth!" Nina screamed. "Don't you dare call her a horror!"
"So, it's true? You were spying for them this entire time?" Suzaku grinded his teeth in frustration.
"Why wouldn't I tell our holy empress whatever she wished to know? My only dream has ever to be a faithful servant for her!" Nina declared bitterly.
"All this time… all this time, you were taking information about us…" Suzaku repeated, so frustrated and angry he was stuck in place.
"You made it very easy for me," Nina said in a taunting tone. "I thank you all very much for allowing me to be of such service to Lady Euphemia. If not for the misanthropy you all have shown me over the years, I may not have ever been of such value to Lady Euphemia."
"You're wrong!" Suzaku shouted. "That… That thing… can't be Euphie! Euphie would never…"
"You're such a disappointment," Nina said darkly, as if her stomach was turning over. "If you weren't such a failure of a knight, Lady Euphemia wouldn't have had to go through all this in the first place."
"You've given up quite easily, haven't you?" C.C. questioned. Her tone was flat, dead.
"It's like you said; I was never trying very hard to hide myself. Lady Euphemia told me I shouldn't bother fighting. It's been far too late for you all to do anything to stop her anyway. All I've been doing is helping you all realize that."
"Nina…" Lloyd said, the pain and disappointment on his face so potent that it was like he was seeing his own daughter confess to murder. He'd struggled with his own feelings of responsibility for her. She was certainly on her own path forward before he'd ever come across her. But he had a big hand in enabling her future endeavors. He supported her, even pushed a bit, to get her into Schneizel's orbit. He mentored her to a certain extent as she developed the FLEIJA, and then when she was working for Lelouch in developing its counter. When she was saying she wanted to leave the world of science he encouraged her to keep at it. Even her post now within Nunnally's government was one he encouraged her to take, encouraged Nunnally to offer. And now… now it all seemed like a terribly bad decision.
"We are responsible for the things we create, even if we don't always control how they're used… and it seems I helped create yet another monster," he thought to himself.