Once again glancing at the screen of the wristband, Lelouch praised himself again for his foresight. He and Rivalz were still running a little late because of the aircar malfunction, but it wasn't critical.

Ever since he and Kallen had witnessed the beating of the hot-dog vendor, he'd had a lousy feeling in his stomach. Maybe something had caught him in Stadtfield's words. Something sincere and fierce, real and human.

'And where has your precious cynicism gone?' Lelouch heard his own mocking voice.

He was sure he was right… How many times since the Republic and Mandalore war had he witnessed such situations? And how many times had the naive child's efforts to help not only failed, but made things worse?

Many. Too many.

Lelouch simply felt helpless, unable to influence anything. He was a nobody.

But despite all the logical arguments, Lelouch felt wrong at this moment. Could it be that some part of him deep down inside had not come to terms with a meaningless existence?

Lelouch's gaze caught on one of the huge screens on the buildings that usually ran commercials. A blond young man, the current Viceroy of Sector Eleven, Clovis.

'Ah, they're spinning that message again…'

A little over a week ago, terrorists carried out a series of attacks on weapons depots and stole several small spaceships. Clovis, as usual, assured me that the problem had been solved. Lelouch was highly skeptical. Clovis' incompetence in some matters was sometimes astonishing. But what could he expect from a rotten Republic?

The lingering hatred was stirring deep inside. Lelouch tried once more to turn his thoughts elsewhere, but not very successfully.

The machine hummed uneasily and wearily, taking upward. They were getting closer. Their destination was the villa of another aristocrat, crowned by an array of multi-level buildings. Its owner was a fan of chess, a rather famous game in narrow circles. Not knowing where to put their time and money, the aristocrats spent their leisure time playing games. And if they considered any pazaak or sabbak beneath their dignity, then chess was just right for their intellect. That is to say, their overrated self-importance.

The aircar landed on the landing platform. Lelouch took off his goggles, which shielded his eyes from the wind, and pulled out his datapad, showing it to the security guard.

As the boys entered another ornate room in a dazzlingly identical succession of the same, a small table appeared in front of them, on which holograms of chess pieces were projected. On one side was a pompous nobleman with a smug grin, and on the other was an old man shaking with exertion. The timer on the table clicked, indicating that time was up.

"Oh, you've come at last," the nobleman exclaimed. "I had to play with that wretch again," he nodded dismissively at the old man. The old man jumped up from his chair, mumbled words of gratitude and relief, and ran away.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Vince."

"Perhaps you can entertain me? Though I have my doubts about it…"

Lelouch sat down opposite Vince, staring at the shapes shaking in the air. All blue, light and dark.

"And this one didn't even have any normal chess?" mentally chuckled Lelouch.

The nice smooth wooden surface of the king's black piece, the sharp edges of the crown crown under his thumb pad...

And yet, what a pity that wood is such an expensive material that it is such a problem to find a quality set of wooden chess...

***

There was no one in the turbolift anymore. Everyone was out on the upper levels. Only the lonely figure of a girl remained. Kallen had disembarked from the airbus on the outskirts of the giant metropolis of Sandari and was now descending toward the surface of the earth.

She came out of the turbolift, stepping onto the dirty and cracked permacrete, and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. It was cool here, unlike the heat above. At a brisk pace, Kallen headed down the familiar road toward the area formerly known as Grass. Now it was a ghetto. Grass stood out from the rest of Sandari because of its lower buildings, and now, after the war, it was even more so. The neighborhood had suffered a lot back then.

Kallen's heart ached every time she saw the mangled buildings. She could always remember the bright, lush green grass in the garden at the top of one of the buildings, where she had a beautiful view of Grass and the towering colossuses of the rest of the Sandari in the distance. Once upon a time, as if in a past life, she remembered the carefree happiness of a beautiful world. She remembered her mother's soft caring hands and her face, then serene...

Now she did not want to think of that woman at all. Maybe it was good for her to live with the hopes of the past. But trying to stay in such a happy past, in Kallen's opinion, meant surrendering to the mercy of those nasty Republicans. Disgusting.

Grass was now a sad and desolate sight. The Republicans didn't bother to rebuild it. But despite its abandoned appearance, there were actually quite a few residents here. Under the Republican regime, many Mandalorians were denied jobs on the grounds of "unreliability."

Kallen was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the shadows rise menacingly, and several figures emerged from them.

"Don't you think such a pretty girl shouldn't be out alone?" One of them spoke in a nasty voice. Kallen mechanically slipped her hand into her bag, feeling a chill run down her spine. Only there were not enough problems now!

"Careful, Challey, she's more dangerous than she looks. She's from Naoto's group."

"She's not just Naoto's group, she's his little sister!"

"The bandits were clearly amused by this situation."

'Do they know who I am?' frowned Kallen, slowly turning to face them. They were in a narrow alley littered with trash. The bandits were relaxed with their blasters in their hands.

"What do you want with me?" She asked sharply, trying to sound as confident as she could.

"Are you stupid or deaf? I said, you're coming with us," one of them waltzed over and grabbed Kallen's arm. She felt a fierce fire fill her. She'd had enough for one day!

"Get off fr-r-r-reak!" She bellowed, snatched the folding knife from her bag, and plunged it into the thug with a sickening clucking sound. He grunted and sank to the ground.

"Hey!"

Kallen lunged at the other two men with a furious yell so fast they didn't blink an eye. It was as if some invisible force had pushed her forward, told her the right thing to do. One of the bandits tried to aim and pull the trigger, but Kallen sprang at him and kicked him between the legs.

"You b-b-b-bitch!" he hissed and bent in half. The other still managed to take a few steps to the side and fire. The scarlet blaster bolt would have hit Kallen in the shoulder, but the same unknowable force warned her of the danger, and she bounced aside in time. Death swept so close that Kallen shuddered with an adrenaline rush and immediately sprinted off again. Her ears rumbled and her eyes darkened: she saw only the remaining bandit in front of her. She swung her knife, trusting her gut to guide her hand. The bandit fell dead with the blade sticking out of his throat.

Kallen took a deep breath. Then she noticed movement with her peripheral vision, reflexively turned around, and rammed her fist into the remaining bandit's head. Something crunched viciously, and she felt the sticky, hot liquid between her fingers.

It took a few more long moments before Kallen's vision cleared. The heavy metallic smell of blood hit her nose immediately. She recoiled away from the corpse, keeping her eyes on its fractured head. She squeezed the fingers of her right hand. They were intact, not a scratch on them.

Kallen swallowed nervously, and felt a shiver overcome her body. She'd seen worse things, but she still didn't feel good. Maybe because she'd never had a chance to break heads with her bare hands before. She wasn't even sure it was possible, that a normal person could do such a thing. After clenching and unclenching her right fist several times, Kallen yanked her knife from the bandit's neck and walked away on wobbly legs.

"There must be some spare clothes on the base..." she thought absent-mindedly as she looked down at her blood-stained Academy uniform.

***

"W-how?!" Vince exclaimed. "Impossible!"

"Checkmate, Excellency," said Lelouch, stretching out the words, savoring every letter.

Ah, the delightful feeling of victory! There is no sweeter feeling than when your plan comes to life before your very eyes. When every move, every little thing adds up to one crushing blow to an unsuspecting opponent. The incomprehension in his eyes, and then the terrible realization of his own defeat.

If in life Lelouch felt that any attempt to change the world would fail, on the chessboard he was not just a king, but a player. He had all the resources to win, and it was up to his mind alone to build the necessary conditions. He was choosing his own destiny! Let the overprivileged aristocrats lose at least on the checkered field, let them feel the humiliation to which all who stand beneath them are subjected.

"Lelouch. You're the one who's always going around as a king. I always thought it was more logical to leave him behind, didn't you" Rivalz asked, starting the aircar.

"If the king stands still, how can we expect his subjects to move forward?" Lelouch answered vaguely. Rivalz shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't understand your chess. I like pazaak better. Unlike boring chess, it's much more fun."

The aircar rose into the air and then dashed down, dropping to a lower track.

"I don't like to rely on chance," Lelouch shook his head. "I'd rather be in control of the game, especially when it's your money that's at stake."

"Nah, I don't agree! It's the thrill of the wait that counts. Winning? Losing? When you don't know until the very end what's going to happen, as if you're balancing on the edge of a knife... That's when you can feel really alive," Rivalz argued.

"Or feel very dead if you lose," Lelouch remarked. "A guaranteed victory is better."

"Come on, it's boring to live without risk!" Rivalz stretched, steering sharply to the right as he entered the turn. Lelouch got a queasy feeling in his stomach from that unexpected dodge.

"The aircar was going to crash! What the hell are you doing?!"

Rivalz laughed.

"Doesn't that feel good, huh?"

Lelouch wiped sweat on his forehead with his sleeve.

"So I'm not arguing. It's all right to take risks sometimes. But it must be a calculated risk, not something you do! Otherwise it's a very hard fall."

Lelouch looked out into the swirling abyss overboard and gulped.

'With this lunatic, sooner or later I'll start to be afraid of heights…'

"Fall, rise... Anything happens in life.. You took off — great! If you fall, it's sad, of course, but repairable. You just have to keep going. And if you fall fatally, then it's too late for you to worry. You don't care anymore."

Lelouch just sighed. He wanted to say something else in response, but then he remembered something.

"I have to go to the store to get some parts, Sayoko's arm is broken.

"No problem. Just text me the address on the navigator.. Wait, is Sayoko…"

"That's our droid who helps Nunnally with the household, C8-K0."

Rivalz shook his head.

"Honestly, that's the kindest person I've ever met, your sister. To give a droid a human name! Amazing!"

Lelouch smiled that soft, bright smile that always appeared on his face when he talked about Nunnally. He loved his sister more than life.

In the meantime, the aircar was descending lower and lower, following the set route. A little more time passed, and Rivalz and Lelouch landed on another platform. It was not much cleaner than the one they had crash-landed on today, but it was far from the upper levels. There was a droid parts store right in front of it.

"I'll wait for you here," Rivalz said."

Lelouch nodded and headed toward the store. The entrance, on some strange whim, was placed on the other side, so Lelouch had to walk around the store through the alley.

Lelouch chose Mr. Stanner's store of all kinds of droid parts because they were cheap and of decent quality. Everything on the upper levels was unforgivably overpriced, but down here he could hope for a price much closer to reality.

"Good afternoon," Lelouch said. "Can you tell me where the parts for the protocol droids are?"

Mr. Stanner, a frail, overgrown fellow, waved silently toward the racks. Lelouch went there and began picking up the right parts. But no sooner had he made up his mind as his wrist communicator beeped, announcing an incoming call. Lelouch accepted the call and a hologram of Rivalz' head appeared in front of him.

"Um... Did something happen?" Lelouch asked.

"There's..." muttered Rivalz. "I don't like those guys…"

Then Lelouch realized that his friend was not looking at him, but as if over his shoulder. He turned to the cloudy transparantiline window overlooking the landing pad. Rivalz' head was visible in the window, staring intently somewhere beyond Lelouch's sight. Suddenly the head was gone, as if Rivalz had jerked sharply out of his seat. At the same time, the voice link went dead. Before Lelouch could do anything about it, the salesman's hoarse voice was heard:

"Young man, we are closing!"

A moment later Lelouch was unceremoniously pushed out the door. There was a click of the lock being locked.

"What on earth is going on?" Lelouch muttered. Deciding that he had to find Rivalz, he ran to the opposite side of the court. Whatever it was that frightened his mate, Lelouch really didn't want to face it.

The streets in the area were not very presentable. There were ugly lumps of ventilation shafts protruding from the walls, dripping something that smelled very unpleasant. The windows were all boarded up and curtained up. After a few turns, a panting Lelouch stumbled upon Rivalz.

"What's going on?" he asked, trying to catch his breath.

But Rivalz had no time to answer. Around the corner, a huge zabrak with a vibrating knife and blaster jerked out at them. Lelouch crouched down on reflexes. His hand automatically reached for his belt...

"Old habits be damned!" A momentary thought flashed through his head before Lelouch knocked the vibro-knife out of the bandit's hand. The man's grip was very far from professional.

Picking up the vibroblade, Lelouch jammed it into the bandit with his eyes squeezed shut. There was the sickening sound of the blade tearing into flesh, which made Lelouch feel nauseous. It all took a fraction of a second.

He was fortunate, indeed, that his reaction time was faster. His brief but effective training in the Order had not been in vain.

'Oh, it's been a long time since…'

"Fuck! Let's get outta here!" Rivalz shrieked, taking off like a speeder at the start of a race. Lelouch, on impulse, sprang after him, belatedly realizing he should have brought thug's blaster as well. But he didn't have the strength to stare at the bandit's wheezing, bleeding body.

They were hurtling blindly toward the road. Turn after turn fell on them, entangling them in a maze of narrow streets. A sharp pain shot through Lelouch's side from the sudden acceleration. His eyes darkened. He gasped. His lungs fluttered senselessly, trying desperately to expel more air than they were capable of. The muffled pounding of his heart forced all extraneous sounds out of his head.

Lelouch felt the cold wall with the fingers of his left hand. The adrenaline temporarily took away the fatigue, but it couldn't instantly improve his weak breathing. With muddy eyes he followed Rivalz. He ran a few more meters before he stopped. There was a chasm ahead. In their blind run, they had crossed across an array of buildings, and now another transportation canyon opened up before them.

Suddenly Lelouch felt as if he had been pelted with icy water. A terrible thought crossed his mind.

There had to be a reason for this attack.

Had someone found out about him and Nunnally? Someone had somehow unearthed information about who they really were. That they weren't just two orphans taken in by the Ashfords. Their real origins...

And now this someone has found the right moment to attack.

'Then Nunnally is in danger!' Lelouch, still gasping for air, wanted to activate the communicator.

'Sayoko! Activation code HK-1009047 SHADOW!' these words were about to burst from his lips.

Nearby he heard the roar of engines, then someone's hoarse breathing. Rivalz grabbed Lelouch by the arm, pushing him into another alleyway. A roofless reddish aircar emerged from somewhere down the transport canyon. The stomping of the feet of the bandits who had disembarked could be heard. But there was only one thought beating in his head.

"Nunnally! Nunnally is in danger!"

But it was too late.

"Don't! Don't shoot!" Rivalz shouted in desperation. Another group of bandits came around them and sent them on their way.

"You come with us!" One of them shouted.

Lelouch turned, remembering that he still had the vibroblade in his hand. He'd even touched someone, but he paid it no mind. The blade was torn from his hand.

'Communicator!'

Lelouch reached out with his freed right hand to his left wrist.

"Freeze!"

The left hand burned with fire. As if only then, Lelouch heard a shot, and then saw a red flash. He swayed in pain. But even the burn didn't seem as painful as the horrible realization that the communicator was ruined.

Another shot rang out from the right. A blue flash. Someone twisted his left arm painfully, ripping off the melted device. Lelouch let out a muffled groan. He felt as if meat was being ripped from the bones of his arm.

Maybe they were. He couldn't see: the pain obscured his eyes.

A hot muzzle against the back of his head.

The world went completely black.

***

"Aurek to Baze: The object has been found. We begin the second phase."

"This is Forn. Surveillance center is under control."

Blaster shots and shouts were heard from the transmitter, muffled by the interference.

"Besh to Aurek: North corridor cleared. The path is clear."

"Aurek to Baze: Begin transporting the subject…"

"Aye, lets' get out!"

"No! It's Dorn! The Greek is down! Where's Esk?"

"This is Base. Deploy immediately. Repeat. Deploy immediately."

"Greek…"

"Aurek, Greek is dead!"

"Esk, Dorn, get out of here, we're pulling out!' Naoto shouted, wiping the sweat from his forehead. It had been a long time since he had felt such tension. The most crucial moment was yet to come: they had to successfully break away from the chase.

A lingering wait ensued. Naoto sank tiredly into a chair beside a table littered with all sorts of equipment next to Ohgi Kaname, his closest friend and deputy. They sat in silence, listening nervously to the airwaves.

Naoto Kozuki looked a lot like his sister. And not only in appearance, but also in his explosive personality. Everyone knew that it was better not to make him angry - he would get a blockage in his ears. At the very least. But just as Naoto was quick to turn on, he was just as quick to cool down. He was usually cheerful and friendly, but also confident and persistent. That was why a group of young Mandalorians gathered around him, eager for change.

Ohgi Kaname, on the other hand, was always calm. He often had a soft smile on his face, and he made a "soft" impression himself: good-natured gray eyes, a dark cap of curly hair, a puffy jacket and a warm red sweater under it. It was hard to believe this man was part of the rebel group. Despite the fact that Ohgi and Naoto looked nothing alike, they had been friends since childhood. They were almost like brothers to each other, and Kallen was their little sister.

When word came that the cargo ship had gone undetected and was on course for Grass, Ohgi and Naoto breathed a sigh of relief. This was the first mission of such magnitude! Stealing poison gas from the Republic was no easy task. All that remained was to wait for the ships to return.

Then the door rattled open, and Kallen burst into the room.

"Naoto! What are you up to again? And you didn't call me?" She yelled from the threshold.

"We were trying to stop her," Ayame, one of the guards on duty at the entrance, showed a little guilty face behind her.

"Hey, Kallen," Ohgi said. "You just imagined it. We're not up to anything…"

"Wait, Kallen, what happened?" Naoto frowned as he looked at his sister's bloody uniform.

"No, you answer my question first!"

"Are you laughing? You look terrible!"

"There's nothing wrong with me, but there's nothing wrong with you! You're not answering your phone."

"So what, I've been busy!" Naoto jumped up from his seat. Ayame chose to get out of the room.

"Because you were planning a raid on the repos again! And you didn't call me! And I'm supposed to be stuck in this fucking Academy, huh?!" Kallen's voice sounded almost resentful.

"Because I don't want to put you in danger!" With that, Naoto practically confessed. "And you're already in the middle of something? Is that blood?"

"It's not important!"

"Okay, okay, let's calm down," Ohgi came between them conciliatorily." Kallen, the operation is almost over anyway. Especially since Naoto and I were just sitting here…"

"Aha!" exclaimed Kallen. "And what kind of operation?!"

Ohgi and Naoto looked at each other.

"We found out some kind of poisonous gas is being developed in the Republic. So we decided to thwart them by stealing it and erasing all data about it. What if they had decided to use it on us?" Naoto finally said. "Takeshi Nagato will deliver it to us soon.

Kallen frowned.

"Now tell me what happened to you."

"Some jerks got to me," she shrugged. "There aren't any jerks anymore."

"Who was it, did you get a good look?" Ohgi asked.

"Uh... They were wearing black and red cloaks," said Kallen thoughtfully. "It was dark... Ah! One of them definitely had some kind of tattoo on his neck. It looked like... some kind of spider, I guess."

"Those bastards," Naoto hissed, clenching his fists. "Fucking Kinraths! We had an agreement! Tarak will pay for this!"

"Naoto, are you really going to..." Ohgi protested.

Naoto reached across the table, picked up his Mandalorian helmet with its T-shaped visor, and placed it on his head. Where his forehead should be, a bright scarlet stripe glowed on the helmet. Kallen's brother was the only one with a full set of armor out of the whole group.

"Naoto! What about the operation?" Ohgi exclaimed.

"We just have to wait for the cargo to arrive," he brushed it off.

"What if something happens?"

"That's what you are for, Ohgi."

"Uh, Naoto, where are you going?" Kallen asked.

"I'm going to talk to Tarak. He must understand that no one dares to attack my sister," he muttered.

"I'm coming with you!" Kallen declared.

"No."

"Yes, am I!"

"It's out of the question!" Naoto barked. "You're staying here!"

After he left the room, Ohgi only sighed.

"Sometimes he acts too hastily," he muttered.

"I'll go change," Kallen snorted irritably, and left as well.

***

The first thing Lelouch felt was pain. It throbbed all over his body, echoing nauseatingly in his head and in his stiff limbs, and gathered in the forearm of his left arm, where the communicator used to be.

But the pain meant he was still alive.

Then his hearing returned. Lelouch heard the roar of the engines. Through it he could hear someone mumbling and sobbing.

Under his cheek he felt the cold hard metal floor. Lelouch was lying on his side. He tried to move his legs, but they were bound. The same was true of his hands. His left arm snapped back in a hot, sizzling wave of pain with every movement.

Finally, Lelouch opened his eyes. Rivalz was leaning against the wall in front of him, resting his head on his bent knees. His hands were also tied behind his back. Lelouch moved his head slightly, looking around the small room in which they found themselves. Metal walls, floor, and a sloping ceiling with a dim pale lamp built in. In one of the walls could be seen the edges of an automatic door with a pair of locked containers by it.

If Lelouch liked betting as much as Rivalz did, he would have bet that they were in the cargo hold of a small spaceship or aircar.

"R-Rivalz," he muttered hoarsely. His mouth was very dry, and his lungs were severely sore from the run.

Rivalz lifted his head from his lap and lowered his eyes to Lelouch. There was a look of despair in his eyes.

"Lelouch... Where is the money? You mean the money Vince gave us?"

It seemed so strange that the first thing Rivalz was interested in in such a situation was credits. He was never greedy or pedantic enough to keep track of every loan.

"I put it in my inside pocket."

"They didn't take them, did they?"

"I... I don't know…"

Rivalz closed his eyes tiredly. Lelouch frowned. His head was thinking slowly.

"Do you know? What's going on, anyway?"

"They're the ones... Taking us to their boss."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know... Well, I know, but I'm not sure which one..." muttered Rivalz.

"Ahhhh, so you have more options?!" Lelouch sarcastically exclaimed, but then he got a dry cough. "Ahem, where did you get yourself into, Rivalz?!"

"It's a long story."

"Well, tell it, there's time, isn't there?"

Rivalz sighed. Then he suddenly sobbed. It was obvious that he was on the verge of hysteria.

"The race, remember? I made a bet, a big bet, too big. And I lost."

"Oh, of course, you promised so easily that you wouldn't bet on the next race because you had already bet on the previous races!" Lelouch exclaimed.

"I was sure my rider would win! He has always won!"

"Haven't you understood how it works yet? That's how the Hutts always do it, they untwist one rider first, then they wait until most of the bets are placed on him, and then... then they just make sure he doesn't win. Maybe by bribery, maybe worse..." Lelouch finished bitterly. "So you're telling me the money wasn't yours? And now they're taking us to whoever you borrowed it from?"

"Maybe, I don't know! I've been given time to get the money back, and it hasn't expired yet! It could be... well... someone else. Y-You see, I didn't get a good look at them…"

"Yes, come on, surprise me more! That's not all the shit you got me into, is it?" Lelouch spat angrily. He felt two contradictory feelings: tremendous anger at Rivalz and relief.

'Why did I even think it was me and Nannally that those crooked bandits came after?' Lelouch thought. 'No, no, they would have sent soldiers from the Justice Corps after us. Or even the Jedi…'

Nunnally was in no danger! A wry smile crept involuntarily over Lelouch's face.

"Well..." Rivalz continued. "I'll be honest, I panicked a little, though I was given enough time... I started saving my money, saving to repair the aircar. Hutt, I should have sold it right away! And then I was told I could defer the payment if I paid half of it now. Well... I did."

"Wait, so where did you get more money from?" Lelouch asked in a voice too high and uncharacteristic for him. His crooked, joyless smile became involuntarily wider.

"Well... I already borrowed it from you... From Milly, too... Anyway, I borrowed it from Kajik.

"Kajik? I thought you mentioned him before. Wasn't he the one you went to the bars with?"

"You refused to come with me!"

"Oh, so it's my fault?!"

"No! That's not what I meant…"

"Don't you think it's weird at all how that Kajik from the bar got so much credits?" Lelouch raised one eyebrow sarcastically."

"It did, but I wasn't paying attention at the time. I didn't realize until later that he was in a gang... But it was obvious! I was stupid, very stupid…"

"Oh, that's right, heh!"

"But I told him everything, I promised him I'd pay him back when I'd paid off Xarn! He promised he'd wait!" Rivalz jerked his shoulders as if he wanted to wave his arms. Unfortunately for him, they were firmly tied.

"Haha... He's out of patience! He or...he...ah...n-never mind, 'cause you don't know who shot us anyway, haha!"

"And... Why are you laughing?"

Lelouch was already writhing on the floor, laughing hysterically. His shoulders were shaking uncontrollably, even though the sturdy cords on his wrists were disturbing the burn.

"Ha-ha-ha, Rivalz, ha-ha, you know you are, ha-ha. The dumbest, hah, idiot in the universe!"

Lelouch laughed out loud.

"You're laughing, but I feel like crying!" Rivalz howled.

"No... No, heh, I'm not laughing..." Lelouch exhaled, trying to calm down a little. "It's just, huh, your stupidity makes me nervous, hahaha!"

For a while the silence of the cargo hold was filled only by the hum of the engines and the sobs of Lelouch.

"There we sit, two clowns... One is crying like a girl, and the other is laughing like a madman..." finally muttered Rivalz.

"That's a great story, Rivalz. We only have to get out of it alive," Lelouch said calmly, though his breathing was still intermittent.

Rivalz remained helplessly silent.

"Well... You might be able to get out. You have nothing to do with all this..." he finally said.

"Ha, you think that after I stabbed one man with a vibro knife and then stabbed another man, they're going to be nice to me?" Lelouch said, shuddering at the thought. Not that he felt pity for any bandits, but that smell was like...

The smell of burnt flesh was pervasive in his brain. It was so strong that everything else-visibility and all the sounds around it paled in comparison...

"It was only a vibrating knife, not a blaster or...!" Lelouch jerked his head. He didn't want to remember. Not now.

"First we have to figure out who was responsible for our abduction. Then we'll have to figure out what to do," Lelouch said. "Tell me more about this Kajik, and who he borrowed the money from for the bet. Well, Xarn."

"Well, we met Xarn when I was looking for potential opponents for you. You know, where gambling enthusiasts gather, including high-profile ones…"