"Many people say that violence is the last option, the 'if all else fails', they are lying of course, and will act in violence quickly if they feel it is needed, but the statement is also wrong at its inception, for after violence can come two things, death or submission."

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.

…

"This is Tatcher, we have not manage to capture the enemy commander, he seems to have committed suicide." Fuck, I can't even be sure if that was because of Lelouch or if the man did it on his own, it was not a big loss of course, but any information I could gleam about the changes my presence had made would be a great boon.

"Leave the body and complete the mission, eliminate the last JLF members in the building and make sure its secure."

"Roger that boss."

Hanging up the phone I turned to Cornelia and Euphie, who had both grabbed a drink, Suzaku standing at attention in the corner, his wounds bandaged and having been force fed painkillers, from Euphie's telling the boy had saved her life by hiding her from the JLF soldiers and tricking Zero into believing they were just some more hostages. Somehow I doubt it went exactly like that, but I could deal with not hearing about how they had been snogging or something like that when the attack happened.

"Captain Kururugi, you are hereby promoted for your service to the empire, expected the standard salary increase, there is another job I have for you as well."

"Thank you my lord, but I already have duties to Earl Asplund and Major Croomy."

"It won't interfere with those duties of course, I would like you to be part of Euphemia's protection detail during social events and combat operations."

…..

"Alright Lelouch, talk." Kallen found herself almost amused at the way Lelouch's eyes widened when Milly demanded he explain, glad someone could get a legitimate rise out of him. She was also interested in how Lelouch was going to get out of this without revealing that he was Zero, he must have planned for this, she knew that much, and she was more than happy to go along with it as long as he did not out her as well.

"About what Milly."

"No beating around the bush Boya! Start from the beginning, how do you known Zero."

"It all started about a year ago when I started doing some work for the Illusive man, he knew certain things about me that could result in a lot of bad stuff happening and we grew something of a business relationship from that." The Illusive man must have known about his life before Ashford then, maybe even knew the people who would want to finish what they started with killing his mother. "He had me lend my tactical expertise to a few plans for an up and coming man in the shadows."

"Zero, so you planned his operations?"

"Only the base plans, not the executions of course, but enough for him to owe me a favour." She had to admire his acting, if she didn't know it was a lie she would have fallen for it easily, not even a damned tell on the infuriating bastard.

"And you used that to get us out of there safely? Why did you go back in then?"

"Because that was not the favour, he was going to do that no matter what, no the favour was telling me that Euphie of all people was in the hotel as well, that's why Kallen and I went back out."

"Euphie? Damn, I can understand that much, but why Kallen? I may not be a fighter Lelouch but at least I am not sick."

"I am not really sick actually, it's mainly an act to stop my father from having me married off." The slight widening of Milly's eyes made Kallen regret her statement instantly, she knew, just knew, that Milly was going to abuse that knowledge at some point, the only reason she had not been harassed by the blond like Shirley had been was because of her 'sickness'.

"Why did I not think of that?" Oh, yeah, it would make sense that Milly was dealing with suitor issues at her age and as a mostly disgraced Noble. "Not the point! What are you going to do now Lelouch? Are you going to stop or continue, cause you know what I will say."

"I do Milly, believe me I want to stop, but I can't, not till the world is set right."

"Then I will join you Master Zero."

Maybe she had given Milly's intelligence too little credit...

"God-damnit Milly! Cant it ever be easy with you?" Lelouch rubbed his nose as a headache likely pulsed, the infuriating blond succeeding in annoying him once again. "Yes I am Zero, yes Kallen knows about it, Kallen please don't stab Milly, I need a moment please?"

…

The Perseus Medusa flew through the air before coming down like a vengeful angel upon the Lancelot, spear thrusting down with its plasma tip sizzling in the drizzle of the rain. The Lancelot swerved out of the thrusts path, swiping at the Perseus Medusa with its MVS swords, I merrily blocked with the lance, the metal able to withstand a few swipes. Smirking I fired the shoulder mounted plasma guns at a low setting, forcing Suzaku to block with his shields, obscuring his vision long enough to guide my lance towards his cockpit block.

The blow only ruined the Factsphere instead as Suzaku ducked at the very last moment, likely on his impressive instincts, it was not enough to avoid the follow up swipe that cut through the Lancelot's leg armor. I had him now, all I had to do was keep up the pressure, just keep stabbing and he would slowly be worn down, no matter how good his machine was. First it was some armor plates, then a slash harken, then a hand, then the other Factsphere and then the Lancelot got a return swipe in and I lost a lance.

Forced to drawn my sword instead of going for another lance the fight was still in my favour but not as much as I would have liked, I was no slouch with sword fighting, I was better at it then I was with the spear due to both experience and natural talent, but this blade was a bit too short to suit my usual style. I realized then that I had never had to use my sword when fighting a skilled opponent yet, so had no chance to test the blade in combat, the only reason I did not use it more was because I found the spear more challenging, more interesting.

Still it was time to end it, my little ace in the hole was ready again, blasting Suzaku point blank with the plasma guns, a clear kill if this were a combat situation. He was good, but inexperienced, fighting against a machine just barely below his own and facing one of the, if not the most experienced Knightmare pilot in the Empire.

"Good match Suzaku, good match."

"I focused too much on the close quarters fighting, I completely forgot about the other weapons."

"Don't worry Suzaku, most people do, its scored me more kills than any other weapon on the Perseus."

"You highness, might I ask something?"

"Of course."

"How many kills do you have?" The distaste in his tone was clear but I chose to answer nonetheless.

"To be honest. I stopped counting after 400."

…

"We shall strike fast and with overwhelming force, it is likely that they have set up fixed defences and will have a large amount of Knightmares, however with the Blood of the Samurai crushed they are unlikely to get reinforcements. Your opinion Field-Marshal?"

"A fair plan General, an assault like this is best done with a simple mouldable plan that allows the commander to deal with any issues that may arise." Cornelia found herself smiling at her Brother, he fell so easily out of the illusion of a casual man and back into the calculating conqueror he really was. "As such I shall have a dozen of my Spartans on standby, along with the Hercules Hydra and the Perseus Medusa, to act as a rear guard."

"You expect Zero to make a move, he seems to have occupied himself with the drug trade for a while now?"

"For now yes, but this operation won't start for over a few weeks and the JLF is too big a prize for him to ignore." Not an impossibility, but having Andre as a rear guard would dissuade many elevens that might have sympathies for the JLF, so it would be a positive anyway.

"Fair enough, don't you have a ball to attend?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"Why do you even hold them if you dislike them so much?"

"Because someone has to, if not me then you..."

"And I would put it on Euphie..."

"Who is far too open and honest for the deceptions that happen there."

…..

"Another night, another refrain den..." Kallen had not been having a good week, her mother, her actual mother that was, had been getting worse, Kallen was not quite sure what was going on with her but she feared some kind of disease. Milly joining in with Lelouch did not help either, the girl was trying to work towards an introductions into the Black knights, a plan that Kallen found herself opposing harshly, at least right now.

"Chin up Q-1, intel told us that they have some Knight police here..."

"Something to fight, nice, it's been a while!" Kallen answered, hearing her voice gain that edge of determination and savageness she normally supressed. After a few minutes of quite waiting the meeting inside the warehouse started, only a few moments later she got her signal and spoke the words she had been waiting for. "Kallen Kozuki, Gloucester Lancer, Launching!"

Her Gloucester shot forward at breakneck speeds, slamming through the flimsy garage doors and into an open area filled with criminals, their shots bounced off of her armor as she swept her Jousting lance around. Her attack killed or incapacitated several of the refrain dealers, she was tempted to fire her Knightmare rifle before deciding that they would not be worth the ammo spent on them.

When the dealers had been killed Ohgi opened the doors into the rest of the warehouse, the scene beyond was something she had become familiar with the past week, dozens of Japanese milling around like drugged out zombies. A pair of Knight Police Knightmare frames were parked at the other end, their pilots scrambling to get into them, she would have charged forwards and eliminated them before they could even power on if not for the fact that she spotted something.

"M-mom." There she was her mother, high as could be on refrain stumbling around and muttering, Kallen's senses heightened as she saw the police frames move, placing herself in front of her mother as they pelted her rear armor with rounds. She felt a sharp pain as a piece of shrapnel tore into her leg, a flesh wound, but a painful one, her sensors pinged as she saw the Shinobi race through the breach she had made. The strange frame dispatched the two police frames with a few strokes of its swords, oil, blood and metal spread throughout the warehouse as Sayako finished the corrupt officials, yet Kallen paid them no mind.

"Mom! Mom! Are you okay! Talk to me!"

…..

"Hey are you alright? We found you collapsed by the road." What happened, why did his head hurt so much, why did everything seem so colourful, why did this redhead seem so familiar? Something about her high voice...

"I don't know, where am I?"

"You're at Ashford Academy." Why did that name seem so familiar, like an old memory. "What's your name? Mine is Shirley by the way."

What was his name? Why was it so hard to answer? What had happened? A small bit of the fog in his mind cleared and he saw himself, he was-

"Rai, that's my name, at least I think so..."

"You can't remember? Do you have amnesia? I-" the redhead paused for a moment, she frowned cutely, clearly unsure of what to do. "I-I should bring you to Lelouch, he will know what to do..."

Lelouch... that name was so familiar... a bit of fog fell away and he heard a word reverberate.

'Brother.'

…

"Brother, it appears we missed something."

"Hmm, do tell Marius, it's not often that something like that happens."

"Code R had another facility, it was put in statis a few years ago and buried in paperwork, that was until someone turned the lights on this morning." I have a bad feeling about this, things like this were complications, and I despise complications.

"What turned them on?"

"That's the thing, we don't know, it was sealed shut and there was no damage done on the outside."

"What was the facilities purpose?"

"Uhh, statis chambers and what looks like mind control research."

"Fuck!" I knew exactly what this was and it was probably the worst possible complication! A variable that was truly unmeasurable with my foreknowledge! Fucking Rai! Last thing I bloody need is Lelouch having another Ace pilot on his side, never fucking mind the extra Geass user! "Son of dirtbag, whore-fucking ,rotten balled, God and Satan damned, Bastard!

"That is not even an insult."

"Fuck you Marius! This could be bad! It's very likely one of the experiments Code-R had got out! This is bad!"

"Yeah, I assume you want to track it down?"

"Not quite, too much of an effort and the public will ask questions, best to wait for it to rear its ugly head before cutting it off."

…

"So who are you then?" Lelouch examined the boy in front of him, he had a remarkable resemblance to himself, tough his hair was coloured pale blue and his eyes a shade more towards pink. From what Shirley had told him the boy had dropped unconscious on the doorstep of the student council club house, she had dragged him in and he apparently had some sort of amnesia.

"I am Rai, at least, I think so."

"Yes the amnesia, what can you remember?"

"Not much I am afraid, other than that I am supposed to be on the run from Britannia." Hmm, interesting, interesting, what could the Empire want with him. "I hope you won't simply hand me over."

"No, no, not at all, tough how are you so sure that you are on the run?"

"I woke up in a Britannian facility, a research facility, I don't think I would be in one of those for any good reason." His mind flashed to C.C, the green haired woman he had become friends with, well as close to friends as she was comfortable with as an Immortal who had lost more than any person alive. Could it be... no, Andre would have taken down all research like that, unless someone was doing it under his nose...

"Well then Rai, if you are on the run I might have a Job for you, though I would need you to run some tests first, if they turn out well I think I can promise you safety." Lelouch paused, partially for dramatic effect, and to get a breath. "And more..."

…

"He's terrifying." It was all she could say as she looked over the fight before her, Andre and Marius pummelling each other over and over as the Perseus and Hercules went at it, Andre clearly in the advantage even with the upgrades made to both of their machines. Then again he was Andre, a man who always succeeded in what he did, whether it was fighting or games, so she was not very surprised. She watched as the Perseus flipped the Hercules upside down while it was leaping at him, wincing as the machine landed in a heap with a burning lance tip at its cockpit.

"He is Princess."

"Now Suzaku, its Euphie and you know it!" She frowned at him in her mock and cute way, throwing as much charm behind it as she could.

"Alright Euphie..."

"I want to meet my brother Suzaku."

"I'm afraid we can't interrupt this match Euphie."

"You know what I mean Suzaku! I want you to set up a meeting, as soon as possible."

"I will do my best."

"That's all I ask Suzu."

"Suzu?"

"Deal with it." She almost sang, smirking at his sputtering face, he was so cute when he was flustered.

…..

"So you are playing half way house now Lelouch?" C.C's mirthful tone as she laid back on the couch wearing only one of his shirts in a surprisingly enticing way almost threw him off of her question she asked. "Picking up strays of the streets?"

"I guess you could say that... if not for the fact that I believe he came from a facility similar to yours." That drew her attention as she straightened, her eyes suddenly filled with anger and interest and her expression focused. "Yes, that is why I originally took him in."

"Originally?" Her tone was cold and emotionless, it almost made him frown, he had gotten used to the teasing minx and had forgotten she was a stone cold immortal under it. "He has uses other than information?"

"Whatever they did to him in that facility gave him insane reaction time and a natural skill as a pilot, he scored 95 percent on his first try, and can only imagine that will increase as he regains his memory."

"Hmm, so another ace for the black-knights then? What does that make, 3? Quite an outfit you have already, shame you don't have the machines to get the most out of them." She regained some of her previous teasing, leaning back as she took another bite out of her nineteenth pizza of the day. "That Kallen girl has got some good skills, get her a machine fit for her and she could be your own monster on the battle field."

"I have no need of monsters, I don't need a butcher like my brother has in Marius Ernst, I need a Knight who can assist me in my objectives."

"And Kallen will be that Knight?"

"Maybe, tough I feel Rai might be more suited to fit that role, Kallen is too smart for her own good."

"Hah! Too smart he says! Any leader knows having a smart woman at his side is better than a hundred great warriors."

…

"Think when there is time to spare, act when there is not."

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.