What is the Force for the gifted? It is sight, it is hearing, it is a way of communicating and understanding the world. Being cut off from the Force is the worst punishment for those sensitive to it, which for some reason is considered humane. The Force was taken away, he was expelled from the Order, and that was it — he was free on all six sides.
Emotions aside, it can be understood that the Order does not want to breed unmanageable sentients prone to the Dark Side. But this does not change how difficult it is for a gifted person to adapt to ordinary life outside the Temple, how difficult it is to survive the loss of the Force.
For Lelouch, therefore, there was only the flame of the Force ahead. The fire of hope to regain what had long been lost. He and Rivalz descended lower and lower, wandering through narrow, dirty passageways. Sometimes they had to pause for agonizing minutes when someone's screams and gunshots were heard nearby. Then they were on their way again. Rivals repeatedly asked where they were going, but Lelouch could not answer. He did not know himself.
They were already below ground level, with only the orange emergency lights illuminating the path. Suddenly, a patch of daylight spilled ahead.
The ceiling was broken through. Fittings and scraps of wire protruded from the jagged edges. Shards of broken glass crunched underfoot, dust settled in the air. And in the middle of the wide passageway, or rather at the crossroads of several passages, there was a spaceship lying right under the gap. It was clear at a glance that it would never fly again. Its engines were black, its skin peeled off. It was a wonder it hadn't exploded. The hull seemed relatively intact, though, as did the turbolaser turret on top.
"It's here," Lelouch whispered.
"What?"
"Just what I need…"
"Dude, you're scaring me," Rivalz said, but Lelouch did not react in any way and silently began to walk around the ship in search of an entrance. "Nah, I ain't goin' in there. Get in there yourself if you feel like it. I'd rather wait for you here."
Lelouch just nodded and dove into the narrow gap between the ajar door and the scratched surface of the ship. The strange feeling grew stronger with each step. Darkness reigned inside, and the smell of burning and hot metal hit his nose again. Lelouch pulled out the terrorists' comlink. There was a small holo-projector in it. The terrorists didn't use video communication, so only a few bluish beams came out of the device.
As his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, Lelouch realized he was in the cargo hold. His attention was drawn to a strange pinkish metal object with various tubes sticking out of it. Some of it had been ripped out by the roots, and the object itself showed dents and even black stains, suspiciously resembling the marks of phaser rounds. Lelouch cautiously stepped closer. The object resembled some kind of strange capsule, only very badly warped and with a hole in the side.
"It's here..."
On an impulse, Lelouch bent down and peered into the hole, extending his hand forward. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when he felt something warm and alive. Lelouch reached into the hole with both hands and gently pulled toward him. He knew from somewhere that he needed help. No... she.
Lelouch had a small creature in his arms, only about a meter tall, with green skin and big, funny ears. But he paid little attention to its appearance. The Force shone in his hands. Big black eyes met his gaze.
"You found..." she whispered. "Wait... wait a little longer."
The bright fire of the Force went out.
"No, no, no, don't die!" Lelouch shouted in panic. For one terrifying moment, his heart sank down somewhere, taking his hope with it. But after a few seconds he realized that the girl was still alive. Her chest was still heaving smoothly, and her heart was beating.
When the Force was gone, it was as if Lelouch had come out of a trance. An oppressive echo of silence came over him. He remembered that there was a battle going on upstairs right now. Remembered what brought him here, against all logic.
'Who is this strange girl?' Lelouch thought. 'And how did she even make it possible for me to feel the Force?'
"Hey... are you sure you're okay?" he asked, but there was no response. It felt like she had just fallen asleep.
Lelouch brought the comlink closer to get a good look at her. The girl was dressed in a strange ample white garment, on the underside of which he noticed several red spots. Lelouch rolled up his pant leg to see how badly the girl was hurt. To his surprise, he found only a scar of an almost healed wound, though the blood on the clothes was fresh.
'Strange... I've never met a sentient of this species before. They must regenerate quickly.' Lelouch thought, peering into the girl's face. It was perfectly smooth, almost childlike. She had long green hair, now tangled and dirty. She had only three fingers on her hands, as well as her feet.
A sharp voice snapped Lelouch out of his thoughts.
"Get away from... from that! Put your hands on your head! I said hands on your head!"
Lelouch gently placed the girl on the floor, carefully stood up, and slowly turned toward the voice.
"I said…"
"See? I have no weapons," Lelouch said in as soothing a voice as possible and showed his empty palms. But when he saw the stranger's angry face emerge from the darkness, he put his hands behind his head.
"Who are you? A republican? Answer me!" The man took a few steps forward, still aiming at Lelouch. The dark liquid gleamed in the dim light of the comlink, and trickled from under the fingers of the hand he held to his side.
"Have you lost your kriffing mind? You moron, I'm on your side! You're out of your fucking mind! Naoto sent me to save your hide, and you pull a gun on me!" Lelouch suddenly barked at Mandalorian. The guy flinched, but held his blaster up, squinting his eyes incredulously.
"I kind of don't know you. Who the hell are you?" He asked, switching to Mandalorian as well.
"That's the first time I see your mug, as well. Now what? I was told to look for a fallen ship, and I found it! I have to report, by the way," Lelouch really hoped that the bandit would believe in this play. Quickly analyzing the situation, he realized that it was a surviving member of Naoto's group and tried to impersonate his ally. Now Lelouch was even thankful that his clothes had turned into something hard to make out, especially in the dark.
"So that's our comlink," the stranger said sharply, but there was a distinct sense of relief in his voice."Give it to me."
Lelouch obeyed. The stranger lowered the gun a little, took his hand away from the wound, and took the device.
"Over. This is Takeshi Nagato. Do you read me?"
A voice came from the comlink, interrupted by interference:
"Nagato! I'm glad you're alive!
"Kaname? Where is Naoto?" Takeshi frowned.
"He was shot down. We don't know if he's alive, so I sent a team to the supposed crash site. But there are repubs all over the place…"
"I see. So you sent him here?" Takeshi continued to glare at Lelouch.
"Who?
"There's a guy standing there, saying he was sent here."
Ohgi was silent for a while.
"Yeah, I sent our people not only to the Nato ship, so... What's his name?
Takeshi threw a questioning look at Lelouch.
"My name is Alan Spacer," he answered quickly.
"I don't remember him... It could be one of the newcomers, I don't know."
Takeshi still frowned incredulously.
"So listen, the repubs can come at any time, we don't have time for that," Lelouch said irritably.
"That's right, we'll figure it out later," Ohgi decided. "Nagato, what about the cargo? It's...
"The capsule... There's a really big hole in it, ya know," Takeshi said with a sniff.
"What?!"
"Yeah, we ain't dead yet. Know why? Cause no gas was there. Had some green wench inside.
"What do you mean... green…"
"Yep, she's really green, with ears like that. She's lying there passed out. Is there something you want to tell me, Ohgi?
"I don't even understand what's going on too! All right... Then take her and go to headquarters. We'll deal with it later."
Ohgi switched off.. Takeshi gave Lelouch another suspicious look.
"Let's say you're one of ours. Alan. But I don't trust you anyway. And now you will show me how to get out of here."
With these words, Takeshi rushed to the gap between the flap and the ship's hull. Everything inside Lelouch felt cold. There's Rivalz out there! He would instantly ruin the whole conspiracy!
"Takeshi, you won't get that far. You need medical attention."
"Oh, I never knew!" he responded sarcastically.
"You have a serious wound. Is there a first aid kit on this ship?" Lelouch continued to insist.
"I don't know…"
"We must try to find one! You should have at least taken a first aid kit with you when you stole the gas. Besides," Lelouch nodded toward the girl, "she needs one too."
Takeshi hesitated for a while, grumbling that he wasn't in charge of supplies, but then he agreed and they went on their search, wandering in the semi-darkness of the wrecked ship. Lelouch was only clutching his head. How did these unorganized terrorists, or rebels, as they called themselves, manage to steal from the Republic what was supposed to be poison gas?
Takeshi tried to stay behind Lelouch's back, and he could feel his suspicious gaze on him. The rebel never let him out of his sight, not giving him a chance to warn Rivalz.
"Rivalz doesn't know Mandalorian. Takeshi will just kill him if he sees him."
In the cockpit of the wrecked ship they finally found the first aid kit. Lelouch offered to help Takeshi treat his wound, but he refused, not even allowing them to go near him."
"I must get rid of him," Lelouch realized. He immediately felt uncomfortable with the thought. Even though Rivalz' stupidity had brought them here, leaving him was out of the question.
Lelouch had thought more than once about murder. How many times he'd imagined killing his father for not even trying to track down the man who ordered his mother's murder, for sending his children to Mandalore and then starting a war with it without getting them out... How many times he imagined how the masters would pay for taking the Force away. But it had never come to the point of actually having to kill someone. And not just anyone Lelouch didn't hate. So he kept hesitating, kept trying to seize the right moment, feeling agonizingly indecisive. It would have seemed easy, since Takeshi was wounded. However, he had a blaster... Now it lay on the control panel. But as soon as Takeshi notices something suspicious, he immediately grabs it. No, we have to keep watching him.
After Takeshi treated his wound, they returned to the cargo bay. Lelouch examined the girl, noting that her wounds had indeed diminished. Amazing. But his thoughts were focused on how to get out of this situation. An unpleasant feeling of nagging anxiety settled in his stomach. Something had to be done immediately...
Lelouch gently lifted the girl, she was quite light, and said:
"Let's go out one by one. In case there is someone outside."
"Okay. Then you go first," Takeshi said. Lelouch tried to keep his face still so as not to give away his relief. Once he was outside, he released one hand and put a finger to his lips before Rivalz could say anything.
"Hide," Lelouch said with one lip, looking expressively at Rivalz, who jumped up from where he'd been sitting.
"What…"
Suddenly the bright light of the projectors hit his eyes.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?"
Lelouch heard a few footsteps behind him. Takeshi had hidden somewhere in the depths of the ship.
"The Justice Corps? Good thing you found us! Those bandits took us prisoners!" Shouted Rivalz.
In front of them stood a group of men in uniform and with guns at the ready. Lelouch feverishly thought of the most convincing version of events. Perhaps he should have seized the moment, turned Takeshi in, and hoped that the Justice Corps would not excessively verify the identity of an ordinary Ashford Academy student, Lelouch Lamperouge.
And then Lelouch's eyes met those of the man with the scarred face who had stepped forward.
"In that case, you're very unlucky with bandits," he said, smirking. "We'll take the girl. And as for you... Shoot them!"
"No, wait a minute! We're not bandits, I swear, we're just students!" shouted Rivalz. Lelouch stood in a daze, not taking his eyes off the scarred man.
"So? Unlucky students, then! You were witnesses, and therefore subject to elimination!" he laughed. Rivalz backed away, shoving his hand into his pocket and then darting away to hide behind the hull of the ship. The scarred man simply raised his blaster and shot Rivalz in the back. There was the thud of a falling body.
"Would you rather face death? Or would you rather die like a coward?" He seemed to take an almost sadistic pleasure in what was happening. Lelouch felt something unbearably hot inside him. Such a familiar feeling of helpless hatred. Why... why is this whole world so disgusting, and once again he is incapable of doing anything!
Lelouch closed his eyes. Was this really the end? Just like that...
"Get down!"
The ship's miraculously surviving turbolasers moved. A wave of heat struck Lelouch, who had time to duck and shrink into a lump, and a bright scarlet light burst through his closed eyelids. There were screams and groans from those who hadn't been vaporized by the plasma in the blink of an eye. The dungeon space was shaken by a terrifying rumble, and stone crumbs fell from above. The shot must have damaged the supporting structures.
Lelouch fumbled for the hull of the ship, picked up the girl, and crawled inside, where he was finally able to breathe. The hot air unpleasantly burned her lungs.
"Gotta run!" With an effort of will, he got up and rushed toward the cabin. There had to be another exit nearby.
"Alan!" Shouted Takeshi. The two of them jumped out of the ship and ran forward through the tunnel. Adrenaline spurred their blind run, but not for long at all. Soon Takeshi settled down near the wall and grabbed his wound.
"We need to keep going," Lelouch exhaled, though he himself was falling off his feet. He had been exhausted all day, and the extra weight of the green-skinned girl only made him feel worse. They sat on the dirt floor for a while, trying to recover.
"The shot should have been enough to burn and then bury us all," Takeshi finally muttered."Kriff! The power systems must have been pretty badly damaged."
"At least we're alive..." Lelouch's face was curled into his knees. Once again he had miraculously escaped death. And the people around him kept dying. Even Rivalz...
"Not for long. The repubs will find us."
There was a lamentable silence. Apparently, the collapse never happened. So one of the Republicans might have survived.
"Wait a minute..." Takeshi groaned, rising and holding his comlink up to the wall with the orangeish writing on it. "I think I know where we are."
"Huh?" Lelouch looked at Takeshi in surprise.
"These are the Sandari underground utilities that were built before the dome collapsed. We've been exploring some of them that are under our neighborhood. We're right near its border.
Lelouch quickly realized what Takeshi was talking about. There used to be a dome over Sandari, which was built to keep the city in the middle of the White Wastes an acceptable climate. Seven years ago, most of it was destroyed. Now there was an ordinary energy dome over Sandari, the kind they put on space station docks, only very large. Well, because of that dome, the city couldn't grow up or out. So it grew downwards. A lot of utilities were built underground, now abandoned. As it turns out, not really.
"Then we can get out of here unnoticed by the Republicans and come to the surface in another part of Sandari. If you know where to go, of course."
"Yeah, I've got a map. But Ohgi said we have to go to headquarters. So that's where we'll go."
Lelouch almost asked where that headquarters was. Anyway, it's definitely inside the ghetto.
"If we go there, we're guaranteed to run into the Republicans, and they'll have that girl back in their hands."
"No," Takeshi protested. "We will fight."
"You are wounded! Do you even want to live, or not?"
"I would gladly die in the name of Mandalore! We will fight!" Takeshi exclaimed with a kind of fanatical gleam in his eyes.
'Yeah, these guys are obviously not simple bandits,' Lelouch thought in surprise.
"Of course we will. But we must not give our lives in vain! How many of our men have died in this operation? And it will all be meaningless if this girl ends up with the Republicans again!" Lelouch jumped up from his seat in an impulse, waving his hand. "So we have to get out of here, hide and wait for reinforcements.
Takeshi was silent for a while before he answered.
"All right. But I have to warn Ohgi," Takeshi tried to activate the comlink, but it only made a hissing noise."Kriff, the comms aren't even working here! Okay, fine, we're going to the exit of this part of the dungeons, but I'll contact Ohgi right away if I can."
With that, Takeshi took out a small holo-projector and activated it. A diagram of the underground tracks hung in the air.
"This way. There's a passage to another part of the dungeons, under the next district," he said.
Their journey continued. They walked in silence, listening for every rustle. Lelouch still walked in front, and Takeshi in the back. A dark cracked ceiling pressed down from above, with orange-colored lamps flickering in places, ancient permacrete bulged underfoot, a heavy smell of rust in the musty air, and wires crawling along the walls, occasionally gathering into rectangular electrical panels. Perhaps these had once been technical corridors.
"To the right," Takeshi commanded. They turned into an even narrower passage. After a while, voices could be heard ahead. Lelouch and Takeshi froze, listening warily. The voices did not sound like military shouts.
"We're almost there," Takeshi said quietly. "I think we should cautiously get closer and see who it is."
As they got closer, they looked around the corner and saw a fairly spacious hall with many exits. The hall had a second floor of metal bridges that ran around its perimeter. In the hall at the far exit, many people were crowded together. It was their voices that echoed through the corridors.
"Who are you?" Several large sentients with frowns loomed ahead.
Takeshi pointed to his forehead, which bore a red bandage with a gray circle in the middle.
"We're from Naoto's group. What's going on here?"
The faces of the sentients immediately softened. As it turned out, there were people from the Grass ghetto who wanted to get out, too. However, the passageway was partially blocked, and they had to crawl on their hands and knees, so there was a queue. Some decided to take a risk and go to another exit, but most did not want to put themselves in danger. The locals promised to let Takeshi and Lelouch go ahead, but they decided to rest first and sat down in a small alcove.
"How is your wound?" Lelouch asked as he saw Takeshi grimace in pain as he sat down. He said nothing.
"I mean we have to crawl through the narrow passageway. Can you handle it? Or should we look for another way out?"
"I can if I have to."
Lelouch could observe the people of the ghetto from his seat. They were talking excitedly, casting hysterical glances around them. Every now and then he could hear children moaning and crying. Here was a woman trying to drag a giant backpack, in which she must have packed all her belongings, down the aisle. The backpack failed, and the woman was dragged out with it. There was an outcry, and it looked as if a scuffle was about to break out over the delay. But the sentients who had stopped Lelouch and Takeshi at the entrance quickly resolved everything. Lelouch thought they were relatively lucky not to run into a crowd of completely rogue people.
As Lelouch watched the locals, he was overcome with mixed feelings. Pity for those who had to live in such terrible conditions, even a touch of shame that he himself had not stayed in one such ghetto when he was taken into the custody of the Ashfords, that he was living a much better life. But most vivid was the sense of blatant injustice. Unwittingly, Kallen's furious words came to mind. Things were completely wrong in the Republic.
Lelouch looked at the girl, who still hadn't regained consciousness.
'You're the one who started this whole thing, aren't you?' He thought. 'Naoto's rebels wanted to steal poison gas from the Republic, but it was apparently just a cover for...for what? Why are you so important that those people wanted to destroy all the witnesses?'
It was very important to understand the reasons for everything that was going on. But Lelouch had too little information.
'What could one person be so important? By the way, for clearly possessing the Force. That might be the key…'
Suddenly three small fingers closed on Lelouch's hand. The sounds of his surroundings seemed to sink beneath the water.
"Our time is running out!" The girl spoke in a hushed voice. "Lelouch vi Britannia, you have a reason to fight. So make your wish come true!"
'How does she know my real name?!' Lelouch shuddered.
'I will return what was stolen from you. What no one had a right to take! In return, you will do me a favor when you will be ready for it.'
Lelouch was out of breath. He could not believe what was happening. Somewhere in the periphery there were shouts, and the girl squeezed her grip even tighter.
"Do you agree to my terms?"
"Yes…"
There was simply no other answer. Anything, to get the...
Like a tsunami, a wave of sensations came over Lelouch. The world around him suddenly became too bright, too sharp, too loud and unbearable.
The plasma shot scorched his heart, Lelouch snatched his blaster and pressed his palms to his face, with someone else's lips calling for help for his mother, who for some reason did not want to get up, with someone else's feet running away from the plasma fire, invariably meeting its beginning on his way. The blaster in his hands trembled, ridding the world of another scum with each shot, burning Lelouch all over again. Each of his deaths fell into the water, causing heavy waves to crash painfully against each other somewhere in his ears. The smell of burnt meat seeped into the past, turning it inside out into the present.
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Lelouch shouted.
"And you've lost your head, ah oh. I expected more from you," the scarred man shook his head. Myers felt a kind of disappointment. He'd hoped the guy would amuse him. Some people die so interestingly. Time to finish him off.
"He must live!"
The green, big-eared creature jumped up and covered the young man, who was sitting on the floor in confusion. The next moment, the plasma hit her right in the forehead. The creature collapsed to the floor with her head burnt off.
The subject was not supposed to die! What a foolish thing to waste his life defending a mere sentient. But it's no great loss. It was not that important. Right now her attention was focused on how hard her breathing was, and how her whole body was aching. Only her side was silent for some reason.
Helen should have been in pain in the side where the plasma had hit, but all she could feel was that something had hit the area, something severely restricting her movement. Panic rose to her throat and she tried to move.
It was a movement he noticed, throwing up his blaster to end the misery of the wretched Eleven. Ernest squeaked squeamishly, changing the energy cell, and looked toward the guy with the black hair and the lost look. He wouldn't live, Myers would quickly get fed up with another fool who didn't believe in his imminent demise.
But inside, the fire of hatred was starting to flare up again. Who were we after slaughtering ordinary civilians? Not worthy of such a high position in Clovis' personal guard, not worthy of life!
Lelouch took a deep breath, surfacing, clenched his own, not someone else's, fists. Now he was himself again. The minds of those around him receded, their thoughts and emotions fading into his mind.
They killed everyone... Rivalz, the defenseless inhabitants, even that girl. Oh, how he hated them now, despised them to the core, wished they would just cease to exist. That hatred felt almost physical, like the energy of clenched muscles.
"Now came yours…"
Lelouch had never felt so much concentrated Force inside him before. He swung his hand, releasing it as he had done long ago.
"No... die!"
Something strange happened: Myers froze with the blaster in his hand with a strange expression on his face. Then he turned to his subordinates, of whom there were only a few left after Takeshi's shot, and shouted:
"What are you standing there for?! Die!"
Myers' men only had time to look at each other before their commander opened fire. Several of them were killed instantly, and the rest jumped aside and opened fire as well. Lelouch felt his legs shake. An incredible fatigue came over him, pulling him to the ground.
"I don't know what you did, but you will answer for it, you bastard!" A face twisted with anger appeared from above. Lelouch recoiled, tripped over someone else's body, and collapsed backwards. The angry face melted into a scarlet slurry as a blaster bolt struck the man's head.
Lelouch felt nauseous in his throat. He was completely disoriented, the waves of death in the Force pressing unbearably on his head. To his right, someone descended the metal steps. Lelouch turned his head, trying to get up at the same time.
"I knew you were bullshitting me!" Takeshi hissed, pointing his blaster at him. He once managed to get a comfortable position on top and shot the remaining members of Clovis's personal guard. "Alan, Lelouch... whatever, answer me, how do you know this girl! What the hell was that all about?!"
"Takeshi, I've really never seen her before! I was surprised myself that she knew me," Lelouch straightened up and looked directly at Takeshi. The power was surging around him.
"Yes, of course! Don't bullshit!"
'He won't believe it... And he knows too much now.'
"I'm sorry..." whispered Lelouch, taking his will in his fist.
'There is no emotion: there is peace.'
Must concentrate.
Lelouch extended his hand forward and called out to the Force. Takeshi's blaster broke out of his hands and darted toward Lelouch. Lelouch tried to catch it, but the blaster only hurt his fingers and flew away.
"Ow!"
Takeshi only allowed himself to stand there in bewilderment for a second, and then darted toward the blaster. Lelouch rushed in the same instant. He was closer and managed to grab the blaster, but Takeshi came up and knocked it out of his hands. They rolled across the floor, violently grabbing each other's hands so no one could get to the weapon. Takeshi got on top and squeezed Lelouch with his legs, twisting his arm. Lelouch groaned, trying to wriggle out of his grip.
"I'll... kill you!" Takeshi snorted.
"Ngh... No!" Lelouch turned again to his only hope for salvation, the Force. Again, despite his fatigue, energy filled his body.
"You're not going to hurt me in any way!"
Takeshi's grip suddenly loosened. Lelouch twisted and planted his foot right into his wounded side. Takeshi cried out in pain. Lelouch jumped up and rushed to the blaster, expecting Takeshi to lunge at his leg. But he didn't. Lelouch turned to Takeshi, aiming his blaster at him. He was still on his knees, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide with horror.
"What... what have you done?!"
Lelouch didn't know. Sensing Lelouch's panic and anger, the Force came to the rescue and created... something. Made Takeshi obey the same way it had made Myers before.
"You will be silent about what happened here, about me, about this girl. You saw nothing!" Lelouch blurted out, and again he felt the Force move violently, as if a sudden gust of wind had entered the dungeon. Takeshi blinked several times.
"I saw nothing..." he repeated. And then he put his palms to his mouth in horror.
Lelouch sank wearily to the ground. He was incredibly exhausted, and the nightmare was never going to end. But now... now he had an opportunity to end it. Lelouch put his dirty palm up to his eyes. The Force... it was back! It was incredible! Though it came back abruptly and painfully, the feeling of all life around him was unmistakable.
Lelouch sighed deeply, remembering the distant past. The first thing younglings were taught in the Temple was to control their perception of the Force. The Force must not obscure all other senses, distract from reality.
"There is no passion: there is serenity."
Lelouch remembered how they taught the Codex. Those words sometimes helped him find peace and feel the Force evenly. What he needed right now. Death in the Force felt terrible. And it was everywhere-here, in this room full of corpses, upstairs, where the fighting was now going on. It was something Lelouch had never experienced before. Gradually the pain of the others faded into the background, and he felt better.
The green girl's head was burned through.
"No matter how strong her regeneration is, no one can survive a direct hit to the head," Lelouch thought bitterly. He felt sadness and regret. She had saved his life at the cost of her own, had given him back the Force, and he never knew how he could repay her.
No, though, there was something Lelouch could still do. Revenge on the Republicans who apparently held her prisoner. Who had killed Rivalz and the civilians. He might not be able to win, but he must try to do something. Like Kallen said a few hours ago.
Lelouch headed toward the corpses of the members of Clovis's guard. He didn't quite realize it himself when he found out they were the Viceroy's personal soldiers. But that fact led him to conclude that the girl was part of some secret project. So secret, in fact, that Clovis had ordered the destruction of all witnesses. Well, that was good for Lelouch, who didn't want to show his face either.
"They must have a map of the area and information on the movements of other units," Lelouch thought, squeamishly examining Myers' body. He did have a head projector with a map. Not just any map... Myers must have had no patience for ignorance. He also had a Republican comlink. It would be possible to talk to Clovis in person. Lelouch decided to borrow the Republican blaster, which was clearly of better quality than the rebel blasters.
"Who are you, anyway?" Takeshi interrupted the prolonged silence. Lelouch didn't answer, continuing to look around the bodies for anything useful. "Why... why didn't you kill me"
Lelouch paused, pondering his answer. Frankly, he didn't want to hurt anyone unnecessarily. He hadn't wanted to kill Takeshi to begin with. In fact, he wasn't sure he was capable of shooting a man in cold blood when he was no longer a threat.
"I'm not like them," Lelouch nodded toward Meyers.
"But why? Do you think I'm deaf? I heard what the green one said before you apparently fell out of reality, I don't know what it was. Vi Britannia is almost like... like the viceroy's last name, la Britannia. What are you guys, like, related?
'Takeshi won't be able to say anything now, so…'
"Something like that."
"Then why the fuck didn't you shoot me?!" Takeshi jumped up. "Oh, I see, you wanted to gain our trust, find out all our secrets, and then give the green one back to Clovis, didn't you?
"I had nothing to do with the viceroy's business."
"Sure, keep up this dumb show!"
"Look," Lelouch grumbled, "I have as much reason to hate the Republic as you do!"
"Yeah, right, they ruined your house, too!"
Lelouch turned to face Takeshi.
"I was here during the war. And the Republic somehow didn't care about that fact. I was just another pawn, thrown away for lack of use. So why should I help them?"
When Lelouch fell silent, Takeshi said nothing, lowering his head thoughtfully.
"Mandalore has been my home ever since," Lelouch sighed, turning away. After a while Takeshi asked:
"What are you going to do next? Still planning to bail?"
Lelouch stared upwards somewhere, as if beyond the ceiling.
"No. I plan to get my revenge."
"Mmm, how?"
"I have a few ideas. This Myers guy was tight with Clovis. And he has some interesting information about the Republic's future plans," Lelouch said with an ill-intended smirk on his face.
"Then I'll go with you."
"You'd better not move. I don't know how you're still on your feet," Lelouch said doubtfully. However, he knew that Takeshi wouldn't stay, whatever he said. It's even a good thing, in a way. Lelouch already knew exactly where this stubborn rebel would be useful. He would help Lelouch gain the trust of the others.
Soon Clovis would reap the fruits of his actions.
