"If given the choice, do you use your army to save the castle with three dozen nobles or the village full of peasants from the army of monsters? Don't know the answer? It's simple you don't save either, you use them as bait to destroy the monsters so they don't harm anyone further."

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.

….

"Kallen I need the pistol, now." Lelouch's voice was near silent but she heard him anyway, and it made her eyes widen a fractions, frantically looking around to see what he saw, then she spotted them, a bunch of Japanese men holding poorly concealed rifles. She nodded to Lelouch as the two of them ushered the others down a hallway, she handed him the supressed pistol silently and sneakily, he slid it up his sleeve.

Damn near running down the halls, they nearly forced the others into a supply closet at the far end of the Hotel, she saw Milly about to open her mouth to ask what was going on when the door opened again, the sight of a man holding a rifle lit from the hallway lights from behind. As the man hefted the rifle she tried her best to put herself between him and her friends, ready to reveal her status as a halfbreed to save them when she heard the sound of a pan dropping to the floor, it wasn't a pan tough, as Lelouch stood arm raised and pistol barrel smoking.

As the riflemen dropped to the floor Lelouch walked towards the door, leaning around the corner she heard him fire another five shots, before he leaned back. Slamming the door shut Lelouch turned to the rest of the group, and she realized that they had been shocked into silence just as she had been.

"What is happening." She whispered too him, her voice cool and confident, yet internally unsure about the killing of a man who should have technically been on her side.

"Japanese Liberation Front, likely an attempt to take hostages and negotiate for concessions from Cornelia, it won't work, she is more likely to simply storm the building casualties be damned, but with the Lion here as well the situation is different."

"So what are we going to do?"

"We are going to wait for our own reinforcements."

"Lelouch, we are going to have a serious talk after this." Milly interrupted, Kallen had never heard the blond take such a serious tone before, it was almost startling to hear the difference, Milly being serious was almost intimidating.

…..

"Are you alright." Euphemia's voice was filled with concern as she looked over him treating the graze he took to his arm, he had managed to get them safely into a room after taking down the gunman that had grazed him. He was not sure what exactly was happening, but he knew he had to keep her safe, at all costs, it was his duty as a soldier and as her friend.

"It just a flesh wound, I will be alright Pri- Euphie." Calling her Princess here was a big risk, if anyone heard they would not even be taken as a normal hostage, but likely brought straight to the commander to be flaunted. "We have to think of a way out of here."

"We could try to take a boat from the bottom floors?"

"They will likely have guards there, but we might be able to sneak through..."

She must have noticed his hesitation as she asked further.

"What's the matter Suzaku?"

"My friends from the academy are supposed to be here too..."

"Then we simply have to find them first then wont we?" Her optimism was charming, even if he could not drum up the same confidence.

…

"We have to do something!" Cornelia found herself shouting in near despair at the situation, to think of Euphie being held hostage, if they found out she was a princess... she resisted the urge to deck Andre again for putting her sister in that position. She had no way of attacking without risking the lives of every hostage in the building, they had raised the bridges, had antiair missiles on the roof and a gods-damned giant shotgun in the tunnel! "We can't just sit here and wait for an option to present itself!"

"Cornelia, sit and get a grip!" Andre's voice took on that commanding edge he used with his subordinates and she found herself frowning at the implication. "I have a plan, but we need to wait for now."

"And why should I listen to you! You put her in there in the first place!"

"I did, but I made sure she had adequate protection and was going to a place that was perfectly safe, no-one could have expected an attack like this and you know it!" he sounded so much like Father when he raised his voice, it almost made her cave to him on instinct alone, did he even know how intense he could be? "Prepare the Perseus, attach the experimental arms! Lloyd, my team will need your help with the calibrations! Get me all R6 elements over here, and make sure to keep the news as far away as possible, break any necessary laws to do so!"

"Yes your majesty!" her command staff responded to her brother orders without even questioning her about it, with the exception of Darlton and Guilford they simply did as the giant of a man ordered. She shook her head, it did not matter, after all, a single word from her and they would listen, even she had to concede that she was feeling rather emotional about the whole affair, and Andre was far more ruthless when it came to things like this, more likely to take actions she might consider too risky.

….

It was night when he got a signal, Lelouch eyes snapping to a nearby vent as hers followed, the vent opening to reveal the form of her favourite Shinobi, now that she knew who Lelouch was she recognized the Ninja as Sayoko instantly, tough she kept silent about it. The woman dropped down and rolled to a smooth stop in front of Lelouch, giving a respectful bow, before rising and speaking.

"Master Lelouch, glad to see you safe." Her voice was modulated, smart, it was a good idea to keep her identity a hidden.

"Thank you Shinobi, what is the situation?"

"Master Zero has secured the boating floor using the mist as cover and is preparing a strike team to rescue the hostages."

"Good, lead the others to him then, Kallen and I have some things to take care of first." She nodded a he said that, having already guessed his plan, she just hoped he was as good as shot as her. The other tried to protest, but Lelouch assuaged their worries and made them go with Sayoko to safety, once they were out of sight she checked her own pistol, not her normal luger but a supressed Britannian model before following after him.

"So we are going to try to save the hostages?"

"Not quite, we are going to make sure that Suzaku doesn't get himself killed protecting Euphemia."

"What the fuck?"

…

Suzaku panted as he dodged another burst of gunfire, Euphie was safe now, hidden in a closet behind him as he attempted to clear a way down, but the soldiers just kept coming. He had incapacitated over half a dozen of them already, using every ounce of his strength and as much of his training as he could remember. He spotted a rifle lying on the floor beside him, he had not wanted to use it, not wanted to expose Euphie to such things, but he might not have a choice anymore.

He grabbed the rifle just as he heard a trio of soldiers coming towards him, ready to lean around the corner and fire when he heard a series of muffled shots ring out from further down the hallway, he used a nearby reflective metal plate to get a look around the corner to find the three soldiers dead and two familiar people standing in the corridor. What the hell where Kallen and Lelouch doing here, and why were the holding pistols?

"Suzaku, it's me, Lelouch, we cleared the corridor."

"Lelouch? Guess it's you saving me this time."

"Ha, I suppose you can say that..."

Coming out of his cover the three of them met up, as much as he wanted to ask questions he knew this was not the time.

"You have a lot of questions, I want to ask both of you to save them for a later moment, when we are all safe and out of here."

"Fair enough, I need to get Euphie, then we can think of a way out."

"We have a way out, tough you may not like it."

"And why is that?" For some reason he knew that was true, there was only one possible reason why Lelouch was up here and not Britannian soldiers, Zero was here, planning to free the hostages.

"You must know already Suzaku, now there is another small problem regar-"

"Yes I know, I have no idea how to keep that a secret currently."

"No worries there Suzaku, its best I just face this and deal with the consequences later."

He nodded, that made sense at least, Lelouch was good at solving problems like that. He walked back to the closet and knocked the very specific tone to confirm it was him, Euphie opened the door silently and he nodded at her to show that it was all clear. When she came out into the hallway he could spot the exact moment she noticed Lelouch, not from some look in her eyes or some expression, no, he noticed because she charged Lelouch and threw him to the floor in a hug.

"Lelouch! Your alive!"

Ignoring the slight twinge of Jealousy that ran threw him as the two long lost sibling reunited, Euphie apparently knowing to keep his identity as her brother hidden and just referring to him as an old friend. His eyes found Kallen, he had known she was acting sick from the first time he met her, but seeing her like this was a shocking change, she seemed so confident and strong and honestly more like a real human.

"We can talk later Euphie, Suzaku can get you in contact with me, we will have to be careful and I need to make sure that you don't tell anything about m-"

"Its fine Lelouch, I am smart enough to know how to keep a secret."

…..

"How is the calibration going?" I asked as I finished suiting up into my pilot suit, the comfortable form fitting suit felt oh so good to wear, if remarkably warm, I had gotten used to piloting shirtless in Madagascar and was tempted to continue that. Still I had been wanting to work off some stress and this was the best possible opportunity for a while. It was strange letting another team work on the Perseus, after so long of only letting my team and myself handling my dear mount.

"Quite well your highness!" Lloyd was happy at least, the man had been wanting to get a look at the Perseus since it arrived and was making the most of this opportunity, happily tapping away at his console while looking over ten sets of plans simultaneously. "I have calibrated the new arms, installed some spare Lancelot parts for the cannon too! I'm just now running through some of the codes you wrote your highness! Quite impressive stuff, I only manged to increase the Perseus performance by a tenth of a percent!"

I turned my gaze to my war beast, Perseus was looking a tad more scrappy then usual with his new matt grey arms and unpainted thrusters, but he was going to perform even better than ever before. The new arms were not much different in design with the exception of the Brace-cannon slung under the left arm and an improved grenade launcher on the right wrist, along with increased strength.

The thrusters were a bigger upgrade by far, five times more effective than the prototype models, they almost made Landspinner obsolete with their increased manoeuvrability and speed. The only issue was a fuel, which would last for a fight but not for any extended campaigns, meaning that Landspinners would still be needed for longer missions.

"Perseus Medusa, may our adventures be long and filled with Victory."

…

"Zero."

"Lelouch." The respectful nod he shared with C.C, dressed as Zero, was amusing to Lelouch, it had not quite gone to plan, this mission, but the ending of it would be more than worth it. Euphie learning of his being alive was something he had resigned as unavoidable since the Illusive bastard had told him of this opportunity to introduce his organization to Britannia, her presence here the reason for his method of intervention in the first place.

"Glad to see you alive."

"Yes, so am I, consider the favour you owed me repaid." Milly would likely hear that from the nearby boat, but crafting a good alibi that kept his friends from Ashford out of his terrorist business would be easier if he could play his knowing of Zero off as a trade of favours.

"Good to hear, I would recommend you all join your friends on one of the boats, we are going to be leaving soon." Lelouch nodded, having to pull Suzaku along as the dense boy was about to open his mouth and maybe ruin his damn near perfect alibi, getting into the boat Lelouch simply waited as 'Zero' and the boat he was on sailed out into the mist, ready to turn on the tape and let his own speech be heard by all around the world.

…..

I sat in the cockpit of the Perseus Medusa, waiting silently as I stretched my Battle meditation out to the world around me, feeling the Britannian soldiers surrounding the hotel, the JLF soldiers within, and a few individuals below them who seemed different, going off the fact that Lelouch had not pulled his stunt with the newsvan it was likely he entered a different way. I am not quite sure how I liked the amount of change that meant, sure Lelouch's van stunt was not necessary as he had snuck in some of his black-knights in another manner in the anime, but it was still a change.

The sound of Sabatons The Carolean's Prayer was the background for my waiting, waiting for Lelouch to make his speech so I could break this tower and bring it and its terrorist scum down. This time they had not thrown anyone of the roof, a sign that I am signing up to Lelouch doing something inside, he was going to make his move soo-

"People of the world!" There he is! Called it! Lelouch was standing tall upon the boat, surrounding by his well-dressed soldiers. "Hear me and know my words to be true!"

"Sire should we cut the broadcast?" one of my aids asked, tapping away on his tablet.

"No, I can see Euphemia, she is safe, we can let the man have his moment in the limelight before we hunt him down."

"I am Zero! And these are my Black-Knights, Knights for Justice that will bring that old concept back into this rotten world! Today the colonel Kusakabe of the Japan Liberation Front held a large group of innocent people hostage, planning to kill them until his demands were met, a foul and despicable act! As such we, the Black-Knights, rescued the hostages, they will be free to go and returned to you safely. And we brought many of the JLF to justice while doing so, to erase their stain from the world!"

A decent speech to be sure, tough he was going on about Justice a bit too much, a little too Deathnotey for my liking.

"And as our just reward for this act of kindness, I would request the Britannian's to end this catastrophe!" huh, what are you planning Lelouch. "Kill these scum so all know that Zero will make sure the same happens to any who try to involve innocents in their battles!"

"Ohohohoh, you little fucker, taking the credit after doing only part of the work, you are getting better at this Lelouch." I paused for moment, the Perseus starting up around me to combat mode, his thrusters warming up with a blue glow and my machines eyes glowing as the music switched to external, blasting the entire lake with the lyrics as I sent the Perseus into a jump forward and into the tunnel ahead. Perseus Medusa handled like a dream as I kicked his thrusters into full speed, accelerating to over 30 meters per second towards the massive linear cannon.

"Into battle facing the fire, Lord thy will be done! Into battle, walk in a line! See the white in their eyes! Caroleans are marching on!"

"Brace cannon in range in 7, 6, 5..." the first barrage from the cannon bounced off Perseus heavy armor, unable to pierce at this range, I swung left slightly, the underslung Brace cannon extending as I readied it by bracing it with the Perseus's right arm. "3, 2 ,1"

I pulled the trigger for the Brace cannon, the heavy bolt of plasma racing down the tunnel as I reversed to tank another linear cannon barrage, while I did this the plasma struck and the Raiko burned at the other end of the tunnel.

"R6, move in an take out the hostiles!"

…

"Blood. Sometimes the public hates it, sometimes they demand it, it's all about the perception of the ones who will spill it."

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.

All credits for lyrics go to Sabaton and their amazing songs, please check them out if you are into history, metal or both!