"Conflict breeds progress."

Alexander Andreas Gustavus Di Britannia

…

"The reactor exploded after some 17 seconds of operation, there were no casualties this time but the reaction has caused a dangerous radiation around it." Harris paused to read his chart for a moment as he reported to me about the incident that happened only a few minutes ago, a welcome interruption in truth, as I had been continuously sending orders and adapting my plans in a highly stressing manner. "The sakuradite infusion was likely unstable again, this is becoming a pattern my lord."

"This is only number 3 Harris, you can't call it a pattern until its happened 4 times." I paused for a moment. "Why don't we focus on the larger scale diffusion instead, its no good for anything else then a power plant, but it might shine some more light on the other processes."

"As you say my lord, as to your other orders, Perseus and Hercules will be ready to leave a week after you have my lord, the work on the thruster upgrade is taking longer than planned."

"Nothing to be done about that I suppose, I assume progress is being made on project Realm?"

"Yes my lord, stage one will begin testing in three weeks, it will be mostly operational after that, but stage two will take longer to bring everything up to 100 percent."

"Good, good, there is much to be done."

….

"K-1, the Shogun is not combat ready, I must object." Lelouch smiled for a moment at the concern shown by his knight, she was right of course, the only weapons the shogun had at the moment was a plasma cannon which designs designated as a Brace Cannon, a weapon that drained its battery in only a few shots and a pair of slash Harkens, not anything suited to combat.

"I only have need of its radar system and command features, maybe the cannon for emergencies, I plan on avoiding combat if at all possible." He smiled as his knight frowned before granting him a small nod, she threw him the keys to his machine which he caught with a slight fumble. "The Shinobi will need to remain hidden, I need it to deal with any unforeseen circumstances."

'If there was anything Alexander taught me, it was to expect the enemies to do something unexpected.' He hated how illogical that sounded even in his mind, but it was true, even the biggest idiot had at least a plan b and c before going into battle, no matter how useless such plans might be.

"Of course my lord, I will set myself up and be ready to respond." The Shinobi disappeared a moment later, the small Knightmare sticking to the shadows as its soundless movements made it seem like some kind of monster more than a machine.

"You can come out now." She emerged from her hiding place with an annoyed expression, the green haired girl who had granted him his new power. "I apologize for the need to hide, but I do not want to explain you when there are more important things to deal with."

She ignored him as she stared at the machine besides him, the Shogun was sitting on its ankles, the sheathes for its weapons empty as its samurai helmet like head rested its chin against the short barrel of the brace cannon, its reflective black and gold paintjob giving it a regal look.

"I call shotgun." She uttered to his great confusion.

…

"One to the left!" Her shout was followed by her one armed machines harkens cracking the head off of a Sutherland, moving in a spinning motion she let it be brought into the path of bazooka shot from some infantry before retracting her harken. "And one to the right!"

The club on her machines arm cracked the cockpit block of another Sutherland open, before she sent it racing away from another squad, its Landspinners burning rubber as they sent her trough corners the machine was never made to take at such speeds with screeches of metal over stone. Firing her harken above her she brought a crumbling building down upon the frames behind her, smirking as she heard the crumbling of metal from one of the frames chasing her.

Kallen found that she felt most alive in battles like these, not forced to act like somebody she was not such as at school, not looked down upon for being a half breed such as in the ghetto's, and not treated like a child such as with the rebels. In battle she was just soldier, just another killer, one that was better than any of the other yes, but still just another warrior.

Grunting as her machine shook from the shots it was forced to take to its rear armor, the thick plates losing their red paint, but the Glasgow was a tough machine, designed to be a workhorse unit, and was able to tank it easily. She still threw it into a drift around the next corner to fire her slash harken however, hitting a Sutherland right in its Factsphere, triggering its automatic shutdown before she continued down the streets in full reverse, dodging between easily predicted shots.

"You are doing quite well I must admit, but you face the elite of the purebloods now!" she could see the most annoying of her pursuers, due to his insistent shouting and taunts she knew he was called Jeremiah Gottwald, tough her mind changed that to Jerry every time. "Face me and I shall grant you an honourable death, I Jeremiah Gottwald promise you that!"

"Oh shut up Jerry!" she fired her Harken at his Sutherland, he took the impact on his shoulder armor with minimal damage, charging her as he fired his Knightmare rifle, Kallen lamented the lack of a ranged weapon once again. "I hate pushy men!"

….

"Oh she is good." He was surprised that the they had uttered that at the same time, the girl sitting between his legs in the ample leg space offered by the Shogun, the two of them watching the displays with interest as the red Glasgow tore its way through the technically superior Sutherlands with nothing but a stun baton and a slash harken.

"She will need help though, those Sutherlands are tenacious and she is being backed into a corner." Taking the walkie talky he had found back in the truck he found the girl in, he tuned it to the line marked on its side, hearing the Japanese chatter along it.

"Take to the roofs, you will be cornered where you are."

"Yeah I take orders from every mysterious voice over our comms..." the voice was oddly familiar, but he focused on the task at hand. "Give me a reason why I should listen to somebody I have never heard of before?"

…..

"Because I can promise you victory." The voice was confident, arrogant more like, but the voice was filled with just enough of it that it made his words seem as true as could be, and its not like she had any other options at this point. Dodging another burst of rifle fire she used her harken and Landspinners to pull the bulk of her machine to the roof of a large apartment building, punching a Sutherland that tried to do the same thing .

"Good, make your way to the railway tracks south of you, get atop them." Choosing to listen further she fired a harken to knock another Sutherland down as it reached the top of the building she was on. "Your Sutherland can reach a speed of 35 kmph if you take the entire rooftop to gain speed, with your harken pulling you, you should be able to make the jump."

"Alright then," She muttered as she sent the Glasgow forward as fast its acceleration would allow, its worn tires screeching over the concrete of the roof, sending it into the air before she fired her harken to pull her machine to just barely atop the railway, slamming into with so much force it knocked the wind out of her. Unfortunately it gave Jerry and his British fop the chance to bring their Sutherlands to the top of it as well.

"Jump atop the train!" the voices alarm made her turn around quickly, the oncoming train was not exactly fast but would still crush her without both arms, so she did as the voice said and jumped.

…..

Bringing up the proper HUD feature Lelouch heard the brace cannon load with a series of humming sounds and thumps right below him. The sights came up and he calculated his shot, he might not be good in any physical fight but he could calculate a firing angles and ranges better than anyone, he waited as the Glasgow jumped atop the train, the Sutherlands behind her stopping the train, the first one getting ready to leap up.

Pushing the button on his controller the cannon under him shook the Shogun and the old apartment building around them as a bolt of green flew at speeds that were too fast to follow over the few hundred meters, impacting the Knightmare still on the tracks with the force of a wrecking ball. The Knightmare collapsed in a broken half melted heap of metal and charred flesh, he noted that his cockpit increased in temperature by a few degrees as the energy filler drained by 15 percent.

The red terrorist frame dispatched the Sutherland that had jumped atop the train with a well aim slash harken and swing from her baton, forcing the Pureblood officer to eject.

"Thanks for the assist, what the hell did you fire anyway?"

"Not important, what is your energy filler status?"

"10 percent, why?"

…..

"Arming terrorists, boy?"

"I can't win this game with just the king and bishop, I need some pawns."

"Then why did you make the Glasgow's callsign Q1?"

"Because I see potential, she managed to keep up with a full battalion of Sutherlands in a Glasgow, granted the purebloods are not known for being good pilots, but it's still impressive." He saw her shrug below him, but he knew she agreed, it was true after all, the Glasgow pilot was one of the most innately skilled he had ever seen. Then again he could not be sure if it was skill or experience in her Knightmare, as either could explain the destruction she heaped upon the purebloods.

Looking over the situation around the ghetto on his tactical overlay Lelouch noted the lull in the fighting was close to ceasing, another four squads were coming down the roads towards them, 20 Knightmares total, with more to swiftly follow. Bartley must be trying to wipe this section completely, the Glasgow along with it, 20 frames would be able to do so easily, as the 15 frames the terrorist now had would not have any experience at piloting.

"P-1, I need you to move out now, we have incoming Knightmares, go to the designated coordinates."

…

"Why are we leaving first thing tomorrow?" Marius asked as he leant against the bar within my private quarters, the tall black man wearing his pilot suit as he so often did, the Cuban cigar in his mouth wafting smoke around him. "Did Clovis fuck up?"

"Yeah... badly in fact." I took a sip from my Rum, even the taste of my favourite drink doing nothing to quell the anger thinking of Clovis brought me. "Not only that but he angered me."

"Time to take control then?" Marius blew out a ring of smoke as he spoke, scratching his recently shaved head. "You can't be both Viceroy of Area 11, Arch-Duke of Asia, and Field marshal, you know that right, it would be far too much power, the emperor may even step in."

"I am aware, and I am considering who to put in charge of the area after Clovis has been removed." Pausing for a moment to pour the two of us another drink, the amber bottle of Rum bringing a spice filled smell to the room. "I had considered Cornelia."

"But she is tied up in Africa, fighting this new 'Middle-Eastern-Federation', unfortunately." I knew he had a thing for my sister of course, even though he did his best to hide it, I could understand, Nelly was a good looking woman, anyone can see that. "So who are you actually going to choose?"

"Either Beatrice Franks..."

"The former Knight of two, would she take it? I believe she had taken to just managing the special duty department?"

"A position forced upon her for pissing of the emperor, she might jump at the proposition. Then again she is still very loyal to the emperor and might see her current job as her punishment and simply refuse." I took another sip of my drink, deciding to just throw the entire glass back. "Which is where the alternative comes in."

"And who would that be? I don't like that look?"

"Euphie."

"Oh Cornelia is going to murder you, violently."

….

"Fire through the wall on my mark Q-1."

Kallen found herself to be a bit sceptical of the voice, or K-1 as he insisted was his codename, but he had not been wrong yet, and in the worst case scenario all they would lose by following his orders to shoot at a wall was a few bullets. She knew that their chances of winning had gone up by a fair bit with the weapons the voice had secured for them, though how he knew exactly where everyone was at all times was rather strange, the IFF's had been stripped out of the Knightmares but somehow he knew their exact coordinates whenever he gave his orders.

"Mark."

Unloading her Knightmare rifles mag into the wall in front of her, watching the rounds pounding holes through the concrete and into metal behind it. Coming around the corner a second later she saw the collapsed forms of two Sutherlands, shredded by her rounds as they were completely surprised. She was surprised as well, the voice must have been sure they would pass her, but how he was so eluded her, her best guess at this time was camara drones which was still rather unlikely, because the brits would shoot those down in an instant.

"Good, well done Q-1, continue down the street and prepare to flank at my order."

"Understood K-1."

For now she decided to follow the voices orders, at least until he fucked it up, the voice had earned that much at least. Though she was going to ask him a few firm questions if she ever met him face to face.

….

"Clovis is a complete idiot..." it was the only way to describe his brother at this point, the man or his general had kept throwing Knightmares into the meatgrinder he had created, driving them down the firing lines he had set up. Lelouch knew that Clovis was not the greatest tactician among his siblings, but he had expected at least some competence from him, yet he found nothing of the sort, Clovis had on multiple occasions fallen for simple traps, yet somehow never expected the next terrorists to appear to also be a trap. "He only has three choices now."

"And what would those be boy?"

"I am sure you have already realised, but I will humour you." The girl still say between his legs but looked bored more than anything now, her messy green hair thrown to the side as she stared up at him with those strange almost emotionless amber-yellow eyes. "With the Glasgow revealed at the centre of the square Clovis can do one of three things, four if he is a complete moron. Either he begins to close the encirclement in, though he will need reinforcements for that, which will have to be granted to him by the Field-Marshal."

"Unlikely, Clovis is a prideful fool, he would not ask his brother for help."

"I cannot disagree with you, his second option is to call in an airstrike, as viceroy he has access to a single airwing of jets for quick response."

"Which would raise suspicion about what has happened here."

"But it still has to be considered, the last realistic choice is to simply wait us out, in which case I will have to force a breakthrough."

"And the stupid choice?"

"A full assault with all his remaining forces." Lelouch said as he leaned back, checking the tactical display as he uttered those words, only to be surprised. "That man is truly a worthless strategist."

"Well, this might prove to be interesting."

…..

"All forces destroyed your highness, we need to ask for reinforcements!"

"No I will not come crawling to that bastard of a half-blood! Lloyd, is your offer still on the table?" Clovis raged as he stood bent over the holomap, he had been made a fool of in the worst way possible, Alexander would make a big deal out of this he was sure, his brother took every chance he got to make fun of him. He was going to owe Schneizel a favour after this, but a least it was better than owing a favour to Alexander, at least Schneizel had a sense of decorum when it came to those.

"Oh of course your highness!"

"And you are sure it can win?"

"Without doubt," the blond earl smiled in that disturbing manner of his.

"Then deploy it."

"Please your highness, do call him Lancelot."

…

"What the hell is that thing?" The two of them muttered at the same time, the girl showing interest again after a long period of staring around bored, then again the object of their interest was a strange thing. The white Knightmare frame moved at speeds that were far greater than any he knew of, with the possible exception of the Perseus, coming directly for the terrorists Knightmares, it carried little in the way of weapons but integrated weapons were always a possibility.

"B-1, I need you to get ready."

"Understood K-1, what am I facing and what is my objective?"

"An unknown frame unfortunately, I need you to destroy it if possible, otherwise distract then retreat, most objectives have already been completed but I need it off my back for a little while longer."

"Then I will give you that K-1, good luck."

"Same to you B-1, be careful."

…..

"Q-1, there is an enemy unit on its way to you."

"Want me to engage it?"

"It seems to be a an advanced prototype unit, more advanced than a Gloucester at least, a Glasgow won't do much to it, I am ordering all P-groups to retreat." Which she was not included in, which of course meant that she was going to be asked to do something different. Kallen got the feeling that this was going to be a more common thing the longer she listen to the voices orders "I need you to cover their retreat by distracting it, until my personal guard arrives to deal with the frame."

"So I need to keep it on me huh..." she muttered both to the voice and herself, distracting someone should not be to hard. "Il run circles around it for a while then I suppose, I get dizzy from even a Ferris wheel ride though, so if I puke I am making you clean it up."

"I will keep that in mind Q-1." The voice chuckled as it spoke, a surprisingly creepy thing. "The enemy is about a minute out, my guard is four minutes away, try to survive."

"Try to survive... like I can't eject if I take too much damage." She muttered with a small smile forming, taking a moment to pull her hair back into her hairband, wiping the sweat from her forehead in the process. "What the hell is this guy smoking, cause I want some."

…

Suzaku found himself increasingly frustrated with the opponent he was currently faced with, the red Glasgow frame with a Sutherland arm fitted onto it, it had been dodging him for almost a minute now and it was becoming clear that it was its goal to simply distract him. The pilot of the machine was good however, able to dodge his harkens while only take a few scarping hits, and keeping the frame at a distance despite his own speed advantage.

He grunted as the turn he made forced him to push his bruised back into the chair, shooting a sharp pain through his side, slightly throwing off his aim when he fired his harkens again, allowing the Glasgow to avoid the shot completely. It fired its own Knightmare rifle at the Lancelot, but the blaze luminous blocked the bullets without them doing any damage. Finally he managed to land a hit on the red Knightmare, his slash harken severing the frames right arm, he was about to fire when he felt that something was off.

He managed to dodge out of the way of the way of the sword strike from behind, not unharmed however as the blade tore a gash into the Lancelot's armor, then he saw the frame. The Lancelot's Factsphere was unable to identify it, but the shape was one oddly familiar to him, its armoured body heavy and awkwardly close to the ground, its legs inverted and lightly armoured, its arms long and thin, clawed fingers holding onto two thin short one edge swords. Its head tough was strangest, for it was sunk into the body, nearly invisible except for its two eye cameras, red and glowing.

"Who are you!?" He shouted over the voice box of the Lancelot, the other Knightmare did not respond beyond backing away, arms close to its body ready to strike again. It was fast, yet the Lancelot was faster still, blocking its swords with the blaze luminous, tough without his own weapons he was unable to retaliate beyond firing his slash harkens, which then had their lines cut by a single swipe. Forced on the back foot he noted that the red Glasgow was nowhere to be seen, he had been baited into a trap, or at least delayed into one.

"Private Kurirugi, attempt to destroy that frame, use the Lancelot's hands if you have too!"

"Yes Major Cecile."

…

"Are you really trusting me with this boy?"

"I don't have much of a choice, its best if I go by foot and leaving the Shogun just standing around is almost like begging for it to be found." Lelouch paused for a moment to look the girl in her now focused eyes. "All you need to do is get the Shogun out of here and to a place where it won't be found, I will come to pick you up after I am done."

"Hmm, I suppose I can do that yes."

"Good, one question tough."

"Hmm?"

"What is your name."

"I suppose you can call me C.C."

…

"Connect me to the Pureblood G1's speaker system."

"My lord I have told you I simply can-"

"This is no longer a request Kewel, my agents have confirmed that the Purebloods have engaged in an unauthorised purge, you will do as I say now or I will have everyone in your unit court marshalled."

"A-As you say my lord."

I frowned in frustration, it had taken far longer then I wished for to get in touch with Clovis's personal battalion, likely because they were trying to not let me deliver orders to them. Someone might assume I was going to attempt to stop Lelouch from shooting our ponce of a brother, and the idea had crossed my mind when I first arrived, but one thing stopped me. While watching the anime one particular line stopped me from saving the life of a man who had become a brother by blood to me.

'I was just talking to Clovis actually.'

Said so casually by the giant of a man that was my father on those strange marble steps of the thought elevator, those words made me confident that he knew who Zero was from the start, why he was so willing to let his son run amok in area 11. He thought that he could use his son to lure C.C out into the open, it was why Lelouch was able to operate as efficiently as he had been able to in the anime, the damage he did was always less than the benefit finding C.C would bring, as that was my father's win condition.

I have no idea what would happen if I were to stop Lelouch from shooting Clovis, or even worse if I failed to stop him from doing so, it might even make me a target of the Directorate. As such I have elected to go down a different path, one that would hopefully ingrain my reputation within the military stationed in area 11, one that would make sure that everyone knew that I would not stand for needless slaughter.

"Uhh, my apologies field-marshal I can't seem to connect to the G-1 directly." That is impressively fast Lelouch, I have to admit I half thought I would need to have another dispute with Clovis.

"Connect me to all deployed forces then."

…

"Kallen! Good to see you made it out." She smiled as she hugged Ohgi, the long-time friend of her brother recuperating.

"It was a bit of a close call but the voice came through with his reinforcements." Right as she was about to eject after taking a hit from the blazing fast Knightmare the strange frame arrived, black and menacing and looking more then ready to fight the white Knightmare. "Did everyone else make it out?"

"Everyone fighting made it out yes, we haven't heard from Nagata yet, but we are holding out hope." Noting that he said nothing about the other person not involved in the fighting she sent him a slight glare, Ohgi rubbing his neck for a moment.

"Kaname Ohgi, what happened?" her voice hardened as she stared at him, Ohgi cracking under the use of his full name, gulping slightly the man answered.

"We have not heard from Naoto, he hasn't reported in." Ohgi said solemnly, "Don't worry though, he was probably just search before he went in and hasn't been able to get his phone back."

"He better be alright, or Tamaki is going to get his skull bashed in for not following the plan." Her growl was heard by the man in question, who proceeded to slowly back away from her doing his best to make sure he was not seen. "What is the plan for now tough?"

"We need to get everyone here out of the Ghetto, K-1 sent me a map of the tunnels with a safe way out marked, we should be ready to head out in about five minutes." Looking around the room she saw the reason for the delay, several injured men were getting treated with the rudimentary emergency care kits they had on hand. A few of them were some of the people in the resistance with her, Naomi had taken a bullet to the arm and Yoshida one to the leg.

"Is there anyone on lookout? " She asked as a feeling creeped up her spine, a primal instinct that told her something was off about the situation, that something was bad was going to happen, the hairs on the back of her neck raising, her jaw stiffening on instinct.

"No why?"

In the middle of his words a large chuck of wall was blasted into the room they were all hiding in, Britannian soldiers flooding in, raising their rifles ready to fire, her own pistol raising in return, yet before she could pull the trigger a voice sounded out from every speaking around the entire ghetto, powerful, low and growling.

"Cease all fighting at once! There is to be not another bullet fired without my direct permission, all who disobey shall be summarily executed! There has been a great slaughter at the hands of my brother Clovis, it shall not continue further, I shall not tolerate another life wasted without cause! My orders to every Britannian soldier are as follows, cease combat and return to your posts, now. By my name and honour as Alexander Andreas Gustavus Di Britannia, Field-Marshal and Arch-Duke of Asia, I promise I shall not tolerate another slaughter now or ever."

"That dude sounds like a total ham." Tamaki's words, despite the rather tense situation as the Britannian soldiers lowered their guns in confusion, made her break out in giggles, he was right, it was a rather overstretched and roundabout way of giving a stand down order.

"He does, but I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth."

….

Sayoko found herself gritting her teeth by the time the broadcast ended, not because of it, but because of the infuriating white Knightmare in front of her, it had proven to be able to contend with her despite her having weapons and it having nothing more than its bloody energy shields. She had scored several hits of course, having had the machine on the back foot pretty much the entire fight it was a guarantee she would get a few hits in.

The white Knightmare had several scratches to its armour on its front, back and arms, but nothing that did any damage to the frame itself. It had also inflicted a few marks on the Shinobi, nothing but scratches to the paint and a few dents, but it annoyed her that the unarmed machine was even able to do that much damage in the few minutes that they had been fighting.

Not knowing what the pilot of the white Knightmare was planning now that the cease fire message had been sent, whether he would retreat or not. Her orders were unclear on what she was to do in this situation, but if the Knightmare retreated she was content to let it retreat. Not because it posed any risk to her or the Shinobi, but because she was unsure about where her master was now.

She had not heard from him since he had given her the orders to engage this Knightmare to distract it, and if she were honest she was concerned about the girl that he was hiding from her. She had at the time chosen to respect her masters desire to keep her from meeting the girl but she was understandably nervous about leaving her alone with her master. When the white machine began to move away she chose to do the same, her short frame slipping through the shadows of the buildings and down into the tunnels below.

"K-1, this is B-1, the white frame has disengaged and I have retreated, orders?"

…..

"Find the Shogun, B-1, there should be a guest nearby it, I want her brought home, she and I need to have a conversation."

"Understood K-1, B-1 out."

Lelouch turned back to his hostage, the ponce sitting in his throne while the room around them filled itself with the smell of blood and death, the corpses of a dozen officers who ended their own lives laying as corpses on the floor. The princes eyes were trembling with fear as Lelouch seated himself at a nearby console, staring at his brother.

"Quite an unexpected interruption isn't it Clovis?"

"Y-yes it was, who am I speaking with if I may ask."

"Ahh Clovis, you don't remember me, how rude of you, we used to play chess and Kriegspeil together after all." As he spoke Lelouch stood from his seat and slowly removed the infantry helmet from his head, staring at his brother as the mans eyes widened in surprise. "That was before someone killed my mother and crippled my sister of course, before we were sent off the die."

"Lelouch..."

"Yes Brother, I survived, and I am going to make sure that all who oppose me wont."

"Lelouch you don't mea-"

"I would question you, hell I even thought about making you my slave, It would be so easy..." the light of his power, his Geass, burned his eye as Clovis trembled at the familiar symbol seen there. "But during the course of our little skirmish I realized something, a man as stupid as you could have had nothing to do with what happened to me, so I have decided to keep it simple."

"You cant Lelouch, we are still blo-"

BANG

…..

"War is never fair, don't ever treat it like it is."

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.