A/N: I don't own anything Code Geass or Batman Beyond. They are wonderful works that are not my own.

Also to make something clear, I already have this story planned out so I won't take any suggestions, unless I can find a way to work it in my story. I may do some of the stuff you guys suggest like Kallen becoming Batgirl or Catwoman in the sequel if you y'all want a sequel. I'm down for doing a sequel but be warned it may be a very long time before I post the first chapter, like a couple of years.

Also on account of Batman's usual Rouge Gallery. They will make an appearance, just not in the way you'll be expecting, maybe.

And that's all my notes, for now, enjoy.

The crater made by the FLEIJA warhead was deemed off-limits to the public for the first month after it went off. Then some construction companies came in and began to rebuild the damage caused by the destructive warhead. It was slow, but the work was getting done. Though there were some areas deemed off-limits by high ranking members of the military, no one could get into them or access them.

Which made them the perfect spot for a secret meeting.

Suzaku was able to get into the initial zone of the crater with his status as a Knight of the Round. The rest of the way, he relied on his training for sneaking around the security teams.

After evading multiple patrols, he arrived at the designated meeting spot. And it unnerved him to no end. Because this was the site of the former Viceroy Palace, where Nunnally was killed. By his hands.

Suzaku clenched his hands in frustration and regret as the memories of his time as the Knight of Seven. He was so consumed with hatred and rage that he crossed lines that he should never have crossed. But he still held on to that naive philosophy.

The FLEIJA explosion and Nunnally's death was what finally broke that philosophy. He saw the world did what it was and believed that it wasn't worth saving anymore.

That is until he finally realized what Lelouch was really fighting for with all his choices. A brighter tomorrow. That had restored both his faith in the world and in Lelouch. So he vowed to help Lelouch anyway he could.

Speaking of Lelouch…

Where is he? He usually was never late for these kinds of meetings. He was the one who called it anyway. So where was he now?

"You know,"

Suzaku spun around with one of his flying kicks to the source of the voice. Only to have a black claw grab his leg and an elbow in his chest to knock him to the ground, on his feet.

Lelouch stood there, bat-suit fully on, with a small smirk on his face. Suzaku seemed slightly stunned at the former prince. He never remembered Lelouch being that fast, even when he was training him.

"As I was saying before you tried to kick my head off," Lelouch continued, the smirk never leaving his face, "You really shouldn't drop your guard like that. You never know who will be sneaking up behind you."

"Well," Suzaku began, standing straight up, "Usually when they do, I knock their head off with a kick. I'm actually very surprised that you were able to catch that kick. You have changed? I remember when you ran after C.C. who was in a large tomato container and got passed by everyone, especially Milly in a dress." He chuckled at that last part.

Under his mask, Lelouch flushed red with embarrassment at the memory. That was not one of his finest moments. "Quit talking ancient history!" Lelouch yelled defensively. He still could get teased easily when reminded of how weak he used to be.

After a moment of silence between the two, Lelouch took off his mask, and the two embraced one another in an honest hug. After a minute of the embrace, the two let go and smiled at each other.

"It's good to see you Suzaku," Lelouch told his friend.

"You too Lelouch," Suzaku responded. "How are things going for you?"

"Oh you know," Lelouch began with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "Just dandy. Going out at night, having bullets fly at me, punching teeth out of criminals. Just dandy. You?"

"Same old, same old. A boss without a care in the world, a sociopathic prince ordering me around, and a best friend who goes out at night dressed in a Dracula costume punching clowns."

Lelouch frowned at that last comment and took a self-conscious look down to his suit. "'Dracula costume'? What kind of Dracula movies are you watching?" Lelouch muttered with a raised eyebrow in confusion.

Suzaku chuckled slightly for a few moments more before becoming serious. "Okay," he began, crossing his arms across his chest. "so why did you call me here? What did you mean when you said that someone in the Viceroy Palace was supplying criminals?"

Lelouch reached down into his utility belt and pulled out two items: a knife and a damaged smartphone. "This phone belonged to the Black King," Lelouch began explaining, "I managed to snag it off of him before I handed him over to the police, or what was left of him that is. The knife was used by one of the thugs in the warehouse, the blade was actually able to pierce a section of my suit."

"But what does that have to do with someone in the Viceroy Palace?" Suzaku asked, still not seeing the full picture.

"When I went through the phone, I discovered messages delivered from someone. I wasn't able to find out a name, but I did manage to narrow down where the specific radio waves used to communicate with the phone. Now that didn't help so much at first. But after cross-referencing the location of the radio waves with that of major sadakarite mining facilities, which was the material the knife was made of, I came up with only one location: the new Viceroy Palace."

"Also," Lelouch continued, "don't you think it's strange? That common gangsters like them had access to top of the line eighth-generation frames. They weren't even on the market, nor do any known nobles have them. So how did they get access to some of the most advanced version of Knightmares?"

Suzaku frowned understanding at Lelouch's point. It would make sense that someone in the military was able to have gotten these criminals some advanced weaponry and Knightmare frames. The two questions were who and why?

A thought then occurred to Suzaku as he looked back up to Lelouch. "Lelouch," he began, "While it may take a high enough official to deliver those weapons, what makes you think that it's Schneizel?" Lelouch tensed. It seems Suzaku was following his pattern of thought. "Are you sure that your not just accusing him because of what he made the Black Knights do to you?"

If looks could kill, the glare Lelouch gave Suzaku, while they were still friends, would kill the Japanese boy a million times over. "Let me make something really clear right here and now Suzaku." His voice held venom as he walked over to the Japanese boy, who took a step back in fear.

"Am I still angry that Schneizal was able to convince the Black Knights to betray me?" He asked rhetorically. "Of course I am!" He answered in anger before Suzaku could open his mouth. "He turned the army I had built up from a single terrorist cell against me, and forced me to lie to everyone there to make sure Kallen wasn't harmed! And that action caused Rolo, a boy who saw me as a brother, to die to save my life, after what I said to him!"

After a moment of tense silence, Lelouch took a deep breath to calm himself down. "But I won't resort to throwing random accusations without concrete evidence to back it up. Plus there's more. The night when I first took down the Black King, I noticed a car that bore the symbol of the El Britannia royal family Crest on the car, Schneizel's royal family Crest. So it had to be him or one of his aids."

Lelouch then sighed. "I don't understand why he would be associating with criminals," Lelouch admitted, "but I can't ignore the evidence." He then sighed again.

"Okay," Suzaku said after a moment of silence, "I'm sorry for doubting your reasons Lelouch. I just don't want you to act on revenge as you did as Zero."

Lelouch smiled. "I'm grateful for you looking out for me Suzaku," He told him smiling as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm lucky to have a friend like you."

"Even though I tried to kill you multiple times?" Suzaku asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lelouch just shrugged as he smiled sheepishly. "Ah! We're always gonna be at each other's throats. That's never gonna change."

They both laughed at the comment.

After the laughter died down Suzaku spoke. "Okay, so now we got the who, or close enough, the only question now is why?"

Lelouch frowned in concentration as his mind went through various reasons for his brother's actions. "I don't know." He finally admitted after a moment of thinking. "He could be using weapons and tech to buy the underworlds loyalty for more pawns to use? Or something else?"

After a moment of silence, Suzaku then asked. "Well regardless of his reasoning, what are we gonna do about it?"

"Well 'I' am gonna keep busting up underworld operations, and try to find some link to Schneizel and them." He then turned to Suzaku. "You are going to do little to nothing. If Lloyd tells Schneizel that some stole the MVS material, if he hasn't already, then he'll know that there's a spy. You need to keep a low profile. If you do find anything, let me know."

Suzaku nodded in agreement. But internally, he felt slightly useless, he wanted to do more to help Lelouch. But he knew that deep down Lelouch was trying to protect Suzaku. Lelouch really had changed to wanting to only risk his life. 'Much like how I was.' Suzaku thought.

So they clasped each other's hands in agreement with the plan. When they let go, Suzaku felt an object now in his hands. He looked down to see the strange device.

"That's how well be communicating from now on," Lelouch explained. "These old flip phones use a signal that not many people use any more. Meaning we should be more secure on these devices than the current smartphones."

Suzaku looked down at the old device in his hands. It did make sense of how this was supposed to help secure their communication now. However there was one problem. "Lelouch," He began looking back up to where his friend was, "how am I supposed to work this… phone?"

When he looked up, the boy in question was now gone. Suzaku took a look all around him to try and find a trace of Lelouch. But there was none, Lelouch had simply vanished. Again, Suzaku sighed in annoyance

'Man I hate it when he does that!'


3 weeks later

Kallen was eating a hotdog for lunch by herself on a bench, much like the one she and Lelouch ate that one time after they saved the Japanese hotdog vendor, and where she subsequently slapped him, in the rebuilt sections of the Tokyo Settlement.

After the betrayal of Zero, she decided to spend as little time with them as she possibly could. It didn't feel right to interact with them again. Plus, she needed a private place to think, and no one knew about this spot. Well, no one except the two of them.

She then thought back on that event fondly now. She slapped him because he said he could do nothing against the Britannia because it was too much of a problem for him.

Boy, could he tell a good lie!

Lelouch really was an expert liar. So good that everyone in the world believed in his cause for a better world. And so good that all the Black Knights betrayed him for such, that's what they believed. Kallen, on the other hand, didn't know what to believe.

Still, after all these months, she was haunted by his final words to her. That one sentence: "Kallen, you have to live." The words repeated in her mind with his voice behind them.

Why did he do it? Was it for his own amusement to have her sit here and contemplate his words? Or did he truly care for her and wanted her to live while he died? What was the reason? It was all driving her insane.

But Lelouch wasn't the only thing on her mind. Recently so was the Batman. Which shouldn't be confusing why, considering the masked man did save her mother from criminals. So she was obviously grateful for the man.

But she was mostly thinking about what he said to her mother. "Tell Kallen that I'm sorry." She remembered the words her mother said before she was pulled back to prison.

Sorry for what? Did the Batman wrong her in some way beforehand and is seeking to make amends? Or is he apologizing for something he's about to do? Or is it something else? And how did he know her name, and why would it be specifically for her?

This was all too confusing!

She wished things could be simpler back like they used to be. She sighed as she continued to eat her food. After finishing her hot dog, she rose from her secret spot and walked back to where she parked the Guren.

While walking through a square, she noticed a familiar scene taking place: Five grunts were ganging up on one person of a different race. Only this time, the one being abused wasn't Japanese, they were Britannian, and the abusers were Japanese.

'Things have changed a lot, haven't they?' She told herself as she watched the five Japanese gang up on the elderly Britannian woman. 'And not for the better.' This causes Kallen to grit her teeth. While she preferred her Japanese heritage over her Britannian any day, it still made her blood boil to see such abusive behavior.

She glanced around to see that no one was helping the lady, either because she was Britannian, or they were too afraid to help. 'Stinkin cowards!' She yelled in her mind as she began to walk forward to interfere-

"Hey!" A male voice called out. Not to her, but to the Japanese abusers.

The men ceased their assault on the woman and turned to the source of the voice. The owner was Britannian, that much Kallen was able to tell from his voice. He was tall, had a thin build, but she could definitely see some underlying muscles in his clothes. His face was covered by the hood of his gray jacket.

He called out to the group again, "What do you think you're doing to this woman?" His tone held anger in it, and it was as if he was judging them for their actions.

"What does it look like?" The apparent leader of the group asked rhetorically, not caring. He then struck the woman again. "We're getting payback for what these Britannian pigs did to Zero! They killed him, and he needs to be avenged."

"Oh!" The man began, sarcasm entering his voice. "And you believe it is an old woman that killed Zero? If so, are you sure she is the right one?" He began walking forward, picking apart their reason for assaulting the woman. "Or that it is an old woman? Or that it even was Britannia who killed Zero?"

The group of men just sneered and glared at the man in front of them. Who does he think he is? "Furthermore," He continued, despite the glares he was receiving, "I know that Zero wouldn't tolerate this kind of act. This is vengeance, not justice!"

Kallen looked at amazement at the man's words. He apparently was one of the few people who understood that Zero was out to punish all those who commit injustice, not just Britannians. But was also captivated her was his voice. He was trying to mask it, but Kallen could tell that the voice had a side to it that she unmistakably knew. It was nostalgic.

"And besides," the man's voice brought Kallen out her thoughts and back into the scene, "Picking on the elderly, especially when it's five on one, is the act of cowards." She could feel his smirk at that statement.

That last comment sent the group ablaze with anger. "WHY YOU LITTLE-" One began as he charged the hooded man. But before a hit could land, the figure moved his feet…

And the punch went flying past his head. Using the momentum, he grabbed the Japanese man's outstretched arm and threw him over his body and slammed him on the concrete ground.

The group of men's jaws was now hanging open, to see that a man that seemed so skinny was able to pull off a move like that with little to no effort. The onlookers had similar reactions. Kallen looked amazed.

"I'll let this slide for once." the figure said, he stood straight up, looking at the group of men through his hood. "This is your one chance, walk away. And don't bother any Britannians, or anyone else for that matter, again."

The group still wasn't fazed. It was five large men against one little man. They could take him! They all charged him.

They didn't even stand a chance.

The man ducked below a thrown punch, delivering his own to the brutes gut, he bellowed forward, the man then kneed him in the face, knocking him back. One tried to strike his face, only for their fist to be caught in his palm, he then used the momentum to throw him over his shoulder to another one, knocking them both down. Two tried to strike him at once, but he simply stepped into the punch, ducking, spinning around, rose up, and strike both their noses with the back of his fists. The last one standing tried to deliver a high kick, but the man dropped to the ground and swept his own leg at the man's only grounded foot, knocking him down to the ground.

He rose, looked around to notice that all of them were on the ground in pain. He then walked over to the elderly woman. "Are you okay?" The threatening tone in his voice easily replaced with sympathy. Kallen's eyes went wide at the tone, she knew she'd heard that voice before.

As the hooded man looked over the woman for any signs of visible injuries, one of the grunts, the leader it seemed, started to stand up. He glared at the hooded man, with eyes that could obliterate someone. He reached into his pants and gripped a metallic object.

A gasp erupted from the onlookers as the leader placed a gun to the figures now revealed the head of the figure as the leader pulled the hood back, tired of the mystery. The gun nestled into the man's raven black hair. "I'm gonna blow your brains out you piece of-"

He didn't even finish as the man moved at lightning speed. Grabbing the gun, spinning around, and knocking the brute to the floor in less than two seconds. His arm was held in a position that was excruciatingly painful by the man's left hand, while the gun was held in his right.

"I gave you a chance," The threatening returned instantly as it had disappeared in the man's voice, "You chose not to take it, and you got this. That's your own fault. Now make me a promise that you, and your friends will never hurt another Britannian or another person in general again! Promise me!"

The Japanese wanted to say no to hold on to some of his ridiculously stupid pride, but the pressure that the man applied to his arm was getting too great. Finally, he gave in, "Okay! Okay! You win! I promise!" He begged.

The man satisfied, eased a bit on the pressure. "Good." He said satisfied with himself. His face then morphed to be threatening again. "But if you, or your friends, break your promise, I'll break the other one."

"Break the other-!"

SNAP!

"ARGH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt his right arm was twisted out of place. The figure looked to the gun in his hands and frowned with disgust. He then pressed the magazine release and the clip fell to the ground as he pulled the switch off the gun, disarming it completely. He then threw the remaining pieces to the ground and crushed them with his boot.

Kallen just stared at him, eyes widened in shock. Not to what the hooded figure did to all these large men, but at the face that was under the hood.

His smooth white skin. His raven black hair. His beautiful purple eyes that usually held so much pain and hatred in them. And the thing that surprised her the most was the smile he held when talking to the old woman.

She couldn't stop herself before she muttered his name.


"Lelouch…?"

Hearing his name be called he turned to the source of the female voice. 'Probably one of those obsessive fangirls from Ashford.' He thought as he saw the source of the voice and his eyes went wide in shock and fear.

It was a girl from Ashford, but one of the rare non-obsessive kind. His mind went totally blank when he saw her crimson hair, her beautiful ocean colored eyes, her striking face.

'What in the world is Kallen doing here?' Lelouch screamed in his mind. He began to back away slowly when she spoke again.

"Lelouch… is that you?" Kallen asked, a certain hopefulness in her voice.

That tone was the last straw. The next thing anyone there knew, he sprinted as his life depended on it out of the center square far away from Kallen.

"Lelouch! Wait!" Kallen called as Lelouch turned and ran in the direction away from her, with Kallen then taking off after him. A million questions began firing off in her head as she chased after him.

'Where have you been? What have you been doing? How did you do all that to those guys?! Why are you running?! HOW are you running without DYING?! What happened to you?! But most importantly: WHAT DO I MEAN TO YOU LELOUCH?!' And so on.

They were running through the market that was crowded with people. Both maneuvered through the maze and sea of human beings. Lelouch was able to emerge first and turned down an alley. Kallen followed him down the same alley, only when she entered, he vanished.

She looked around the whole alley, finding no trace of the raven-haired boy. How did he get away from her? There was a brick wall so he came to a dead-end, so how did he vanish. The only way to escape was up a fire escape that was at least eight feet above the ground. And Lelouch was never that, or at all, athletic.

But… how did he manage to take down all those men without getting hit once? What the heck happened to him?! He disappears for four months now and suddenly he comes back knowing advanced hand-to-hand combat, as well as having greatly improved stamina!? Was this even the real Lelouch?!

Kallen shook her head. Of course, it was. Only Lelouch vi Britannia could have purple eyes that beautiful, a voice so captivating you could just listen to it hours on end, and a rare smile that could melt away all the unease in your body and make you feel like the luckiest girl in the world! Kallen shook her head at these thoughts out of her mind. 'Stop thinking like a pervert! Jeez! Your better than this Kallen!' Kallen tried to remind herself.

Now that she thought back to the event, she noticed that he never used his Geass to make them disperse like he did that one time with the hot dog vendor. Why? That would be the easiest option. So why didn't he? Why did he choose to fight them instead?

Speaking of fighting them, Kallen also noticed that Lelouch hadn't killed them. Well, obviously that would be very wrong to do in such a public setting with all those people watching. Yet she could tell in his stance that he held back in some way.

Also… the way he looked at the gun when he held it. The look on his face showed absolute disgust at such a weapon. Which was strange since Lelouch used a gun many times before, never being afraid or disgusted to pull a trigger. So why was he now disgusted with them now?

And he was helping out a Britannian. He always held disgust and hatred to Britannians, unless they happened to be his friends. So why did he help out a stranger?

There were so many questions that Kallen needed answers to. And she knew she wouldn't find any answers to those questions in a dark alley. She needed to find Lelouch.

She began to walk towards the exit of the alley, hoping to find some trace as to where he was when suddenly she felt a presence approach her. Thinking it might be Lelouch, she turned with joy, about to shout his name. She then felt a cloth cover her nose and mouth, and strong arms held her in place and kept her from moving. She struggled in vain as she gave herself to the darkness.


Lelouch was breathing heavily. His heart was racing in its chest. He felt as if it and his mind were gonna explode. He definitely didn't expect this to happen.

He came to the market to get some lunch and by some groceries to stock up on when he came upon a group of Japanese harassing an elderly woman. He took care of them quickly and without a sweat.

What did make his heart race and his mind go blank was seeing Kallen's face in the crowd. He hadn't been ready to see her, much less talk to her, if he ever saw her again. He knew he could have handled it all better. He could have led her to a quiet place to speak.

But what did he do? He turned tail and ran away like a coward. And here he was now, hiding on the roof of a building, hoping Kallen would go away. He didn't dare look over the roof to see if Kallen was gone, for fear of being discovered. He stayed still, silent, waiting a few minutes for her to leave.

'WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhadoIdo?!' Lelouch frantically thought as he tried his hardest ever to quiet his panic breathing.

'Should I go talk to her?' Lelouch asked himself in his mind. He then thought of possible scenarios involving that option.

He could just come out and say hi to her… but, then she'd probably shoot him. He could tell her that he was Batman, which would give him most likely 30 seconds to explain… then she'd shoot him. He could declare his love for her, which she would laugh her heart out, or admit her love for him too…

...then shoot him.

Lelouch then declared that all those scenarios were very unlikely to happen, except the last one.

After a few moments of breathing heavily, he then decided that the best he could do was to have a normal conversation with her, whatever normal was for them anyway. And if she tried to shoot him, he could always gently, gently, disarm her.

Once the action was decided, he lept down the fire escape into the alley to greet Kallen… only to find she wasn't there. He frowned, did she really leave like he hoped she would.

Lelouch gave a sigh of relief. He was disappointed that his chance was gone, but so, so relieved that he would have more time to come up with a more appropriate response to her next time.

He began to walk out of the alley when his eyes caught a strange object. He walked over and gasped.

If Kallen had left, then why was here purse here on the ground?

He glanced around the alley. Now that he saw it, there were signs of a struggle, but who won that struggle was the question? He activated the special contact lenses in his eyes that could operate similar to the detective vision in his mask and looked around the alley for clues.

After searching, he found cloth on the ground. He knelt down and examined the piece of fabric. He brought it to his nose and took a sniff of the fabric. He backed away when the odor reached his nose. Chloroform! Lelouch growled. Whoever took Kallen had the guts to do so when he was around!

Lelouch searched around for more clues when he saw something shining on the ground next to the fabric. He picked up the object and examined it. It was a silver pin, one that people of groups would wear to signify one as a member, must have fallen off when Kallen was struggling. He took a closer examination…

His eyes went wide!

'Oh no!' Lelouch thought to himself, worry filling his being!

He had to find Kallen! Now!

A/N: So here is chapter 4! Like I said before, I have this whole story planned out, so updates will probably be fast, I hope.

Sorry if this seems poorly written, again my first story and English writing was never my strong suit. Hope y'all like the humor I'm throwing in there though.

Also in regards to how I did the characters. I'm sorry if done of them don't seem to be like they are in the series, like with all the forgiveness between Lelouch and Suzaku, but I like it, and it's my story, so yay friendship!

Next chapter, Lelouch must confront a dark aspect that came to birth from the influence due to his action in his old persona in order to save Kallen.