I have orchestrated everything in such a way that no matter your actions, no matter your choices, anything you do will benefit me, benefit my plans. And therefore the future of humanity.

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.

…..

We are entering the end game now, years of planning are soon to come to fruition, all I have to do now is stick to them. Sure some of those plans were thrown off course due to earlier made changes, I should be immortal by now, but that would not form a problem, I had contingencies for a reason after all. I took another sip of my rum and coffee, don't judge, stating at the horizon of the island we were staying on until Schneizel arrived two days from now.

It was a beautiful place, but in my eyes, all I could see was the future battlefield, the hills with swaying grass and flowers were nothing more than a terrain advantage for ranged troops, the beaches of pristine white sand were nothing more than a open plain to shoot down, the trees not filled with fruit and life but merely obstacles to be exploited.

"It's sad how much war has changed me from the child I once was." I paused, checking if my quote recorder was on or not. "But that is the price I paid for power."

….

"I taught we were only getting one more Submarine, not four." Kallen stated as she watched the Black-knights work on loading up the new vehicles in the once abandoned Imperial Japanese Navy submarine bunker.

"The illusive-Bastard heard of Rakshata's donation and decided that he did not like being showed up." Lelouch said, walking up beside her, tablet in hand, analysing data probably. "Still, it increases the amount of firepower we can move around massively, we could field up to two-hundred-and-fifty Knightmares to any location on the pacific or Indian ocean."

"Damn, still, refuelling will be difficult with this many subs, those securadite reactors might run for a long time, but charging energy fillers takes a lot out of them."

"It is the biggest limitation yes, we essentially have two, maybe three battles worth of fuel until we need to hurry back." He looked up from his tablet again, "For now though, why don't you go train with Shinobi, Rai and I will be by for team training later."

"Roger K-2."

…

"So Shirley, how are you?"

"Better now Rai, thank you for asking, I am still a bit in shock though..." Rai felt his heart sink at those words coming from the normally enthusiastic orangette. "Its very nice to see you tough, all of my plans for asking you out were ruined tough."

"Wha..." His brain short circuited at her words, and he found himself repeating them mentally over and over.

"Oh, I-I did not mean to say that out loud!"

"I-I would not mind going out with you at all Shirley, how about Sunday?"

….

"Suzaku, please, join us for breakfast?"

"I am not sure if that is a good idea Euphie."

"Suzu, your knighting is today, you will be part of the family soon, might as well join us right?" He did not find it within himself to deny her, even if Princess Cornelia's angry stares could get a bit overbearing. At least Prince Alexander and his companions would be pleasant, along with being by Euphie's side always being a pleasure.

"Alright Euphie, your right."

….

Marius found the knighting ceremony of Suzaku Kururugi almost amusingly cute, the man in question kneeling in front of the princess with the slightest smile on his face while the small crowd looked on. Among the crowd were the personal friends of Euphemia, consisting mainly of the military officers that worked with Cornelia, along with himself and his sister, who were some of her closest friends, of course present was Cornelia and his Prince.

A small private ceremony, he wished it had been as such for his own knighting so long ago, it had been a hall filled with conniving nobles that thought themselves the better of his Prince and himself. Now this, this was much nicer, maybe the first time Marius found himself enjoying an official ceremony.

"Rise now Sir Kururugi, my knight of the Rose."

….

"We will strike from three angles, once our bombardment has ceased our main force will attack the military base, commanded by Naoto, a distraction that will tie up most of the available Britannian forces." The Briefing room was silent as they listened to Zero explain the plan. "The second strike team will consist of Tohdoh and the holy swords, they will attack the docked ships nearby, with the goal of destroying as many as possible, with the ultimate goal of destroying the Lion's super-carrier if possible."

"It will be a tough fight, but we will succeed." Lelouch nodded at the samurai's words, as expected of the man.

"The last team will consist of the four dragons, we will be attempting the riskiest part of the mission, the capture of Suzaku Kururugi, to use as bait to get ourselves a royal hostage." He found the looks on the knights rather amusing, had they forgotten this was the original goal of the Black-knights?

…

"So Schneizel, why are you really on your way here?" My question made the man on the vid screen roll his eyes, Schneizel was a man I both respected for his abilities and despised for his lack morals, he would have no qualms about betraying all of us if it was in his benefit. "Come on, we both know its not just a friendly visit, are you meeting with the Federation or the euros?"

"The Federation this time, father feels they need to be reminded of their place, yet he is not willing to sanction your conquest plans yet." The blond man leaned back in his honestly terrible looking aircraft chair. "As such I am to meet with several of the leaders of the member states of the Federation, a little prod that might start a bigger crisis."

"For which we are well prepared, operation Khan is readied, we can strike the second war breaks out, of course operations F trough Z are still in place too if we need to strike in more limited ways." My words made that familiar slight smile light up on the mans face.

"Prepared as always Andre? Good to see Zero has not dulled your paranoid overpreparation, Operation Khan is something I have considered, yet it might be too brutal for a normal war."

"Its always been meant as a total war plan I know, but the federation are planning something big, soon."

"I will take your word for it Andre, anyways I am due to arrive at noon tomorrow."

….

"So, what are you actually going to do when you capture one of your siblings?"

C.C's question made Lelouch look up from the tablet in his hands, the two of them were laid on their bed withing the Ikaruga, relaxing after the day of planning and preparation.

"Will you kill Euphemia, Cornelia or Alexander like you did with Clovis?"

"While I would seriously consider that as an option if we do happen to capture Alexander, its likely I won't have the chance, Kaguya came through with the deal with the federation, or will soon anyway, its probable that we need a hostage to stop the Britannian's from contesting our next moves."

"So it will be conflict with the federation then?"

"Most likely, they will offer us sanctuary and then proceed to try to trade us to the Empire for concessions, but once we are on Chinese soil capturing the Tianze and setting her up as a figure head, while not easy, will be our best plan." He loved the slight smile that lit up on her face as he explained his plan to her, despite her ambivalent attitude she liked it when he kept her informed. "After that we can use our royal hostage as a claimant and turn the empire in on itself in civil war."

"A house divided cannot stand."

…..

"So, is everything ready?" My question caused Nelly to raise an eyebrow so elaborated. "For Schneizel and I to start our little showoff I mean."

"I don't know why you insist on saying that Brother Schneizel is coming here to show off."

My deadpan look drew a small laugh from her knight, Guilford had a good sense of humour at least, Cornelia meanwhile rolled her eyes, from behind her I saw Euphie do the same. Marius and Dorathea were on my side at least, they had personally experienced the previous show off match between me and my brother and knew what was going to happen, no I am not competitive, what would make you think that.

I just like to win.

"Sire, we have sonar contact on the periphery!" Harris call over the base intercom was not unexpected, I had prepared for this after all.

"Well, I suppose thinking that Zero was unaware of this was a mistake."

"Come on sister, did you really think I did not prepare for that, I always plan for everything."

…..

"Surfacing for barrage! Strap in and be ready for a rough ride, we are expecting counter fire!" Kallen locked herself into the Guren's seat solidly, securing the straps that connected her to the machine, then making sure that the Guren was solidly mag locked into the landing craft. "Goodluck to all of you."

Rolling her eyes at C.C words she looked around the landing craft to the other members of the Four Dragons, Lelouch was leaning out of the back of the Shogun, seemingly unconcerned with the possibility of counter fire, typical, Sayoko was within the Shinobi, the complete silence was the same as always, Rai was bust triple checking his mag lock, judging from the endless muttered words.

"K-2, we need to leave now."

"Yes Q-1, we should, we still have some things to prepare for."

….

"Incoming missile barrage, maximum saturation." The voice of his Prince broadcasted out of the cockpit of the Perseus as he readied himself, the Hercules Hydra lowering its chassis to the ground, balancing the massive pod on its back the Centaur system as Andre called it. "Marius, fire at will."

"Yes my Prince." Keeping his voice as monotone as normal was exceptionally difficult with what was he about to do, a smile was quick to take over as he pulled the trigger, the pod opening and firing a barrage of micro-missiles into the sky. A full second passed as the Centaur system fell from his back with a heavy clang, denting the concrete below the Hercules, the missiles finally reaching their targets as the black-knight missiles set to hit the base detonated mid air. "Okay, that was fun. This thing should be going into mass production ASAP."

"Told you." Dora said from beside him, the Hippolyta Belt, the freshly upgraded version of her standard machine, its new missile backpack and shoulder mounted brace cannons almost hitting him. "Sorry, it's a bit heavier on the controls."

…

"Missile barrage was intercepted K-2, saturation was mostly ineffective." Lelouch frowned at that, it was not unexpected, he had taken a note out of Alexanders playbook and planned far more then he would ever have had normally, the missiles failing was one of the first things he considered, it was why the Ronin were equipped with Rakshata's new grenade launchers.

"Continue as planned and commence the assault C.C, make sure to hold the second barrage until necessary."

"Understood K-2."

"Alright Dragons, we need to hurry this up."

"It would help if you bloody helped you dick!" Rai's shout made him smile, yeah maybe he should, but he had made it a point to avoid physical labour as much as possible.

….

"Enemy forces will land on the northern shore soon..." I muttered into the coms, my Spartans moving towards the shore at my words. "A distraction most likely, it's what I would do..."

"A distraction for what though my Prince?"

"That I do not know, what are you playing at Zero, what is your win condition here?" It was not capturing Suzaku, that had been butterflied away a long time ago right? Most likely yes, unless me informing Kallen of him being Euphie's knight, and her in turn informing Lulu, had trigger the man to try it. No, the most likely goal would be the capture of me or the Prime-Minister, a royal hostage to use for negotiations, smart I suppose, but how Lelouch, what makes you so confident you can capture me?

I have no secrets that can hurt me, at least none you know, and even if you did nobody would believe you. Do you plan to Geass me? No, you're too smart for that. Even if you did I am immune. So if it's not me you're after, then who? Schneizel? No too ambitious, Nelly or Euphie then. Thank you Lelouch, you just handed me another opportunity.

"Euphemia, I need to borrow your knight if you do not mind?"

….

"We have incoming K-2, I think the lion has caught on to the plan, the Perseus, Hercules and the Lancelot are on the way to us right now." Rai's statement made Kallen's smile light up bright, she found herself looking forward to fighting Andre more and more after every time they spoke, the more time she spent with him the more she enjoyed their fights and the more the they fight the more she enjoyed their time together. Kallen admitted it was a strange way of bonding but it worked for them, well mostly, she got the feeling Andre would need a push if she wanted them to go further.

'Focus Kallen, fight now, think about relationship later.'

It would be three versus four, but the monster machine that was the Lancelot would equalize the odds for Andre's side. The new upgrades for the dragon's machines were untested, well the Shoguns and the Shinobi's were, and she could not estimate the effect that would have on the upcoming fight, this was going to be interesting. Very interesting.

…

"Cornelia, take command of the main force, send these peasants back into the sea, I have something to take care off."

"Understood Brother, I will redeem myself for my previous failures." Cornelia knew her brother trusted her with this, she had been slowly working her way back up to commanding full scale operations in the months since he had taken command, getting both her brother's and her own faith in her abilities back. Now was the time to put her rusted skills back to the test.

"Spartans take the east beach back, you outnumber the terrorists there leave none alive, tenth company guard the west beach, its shores are rocky and unsuited to landing but I refuse to leave that flank open. Everyone else, with me, we will strike these Terrorist from our shores in the name of the Emperor and the Lion!"

"For the Lion!"

….

"Ah, I knew you were planning something Lulu, but I did not expect it to be something so mundane as a trap." Kallen rolled her eyes at Andre's dry tone coming over the EMPed Perseus comms, her suggestion to place more then one ring of the devices proving to be the correct one as she had finally outsmarted the man. "Would you terribly mind turning those off so we can talk?"

"I have finally got you where I want you Lion, no way I am giving that chance up." Lelouch spoke with a tone that spoke of amazement and amusement, he seemed to still be processing that they had effectively captured the Lion. Or well trapped his Knightmare. "You are going to be our guest for the foreseeable future."

"Unfortunate, I was hoping you would see reason... Nelly, maximum saturation bombardment on the location of the Perseus and surrounding area, it's been captured."

That fucking moron! Of fucking course he would! Can't take a bloody fucking loss can he! She swore she was going to kick him in the fucking balls when they got out of this!

….

"What are you planning?"

Charles words made V.V look up from his computer, linked with the stone of the thought elevator, the screen filled with complicated code and linked to his own mind with the many mechanical adaptations he had done to himself. He had not been expecting his brother to be here, not at this time of day, and certainly not to interfere with his fun.

"Oh don't worry Charles." He answered, "I am just going to have a little fun, nothing that could damage our plans."

"What exactly is that." The raised eyebrow, damn, he was going to have to explain himself.

"Oh, just a little forced vacation for the Lion and Lulu, so we can move some new material to the China site without interference, and have a little fun at the same time." A few white lies would not hurt, he was moving some items to the China site already, and needing interference was not out of the ordinary, it was why they had manipulated Cornelia into getting the Lion to Madagascar before too. "I will include Euphemia too of course."

"Make sure to add my future children in law too then, this might be amusing."

Fuck. That meant he was going to watching, there went V.V plans.

…

As I readied myself to pull the escape pod lever I felt something strange, my Geass lighting up like a fucking fire truck, pain rolling through my head, greater then I normally felt, far greater. I hunched over my controls as a bright red light shone over the field, I resisted the pull I felt from it, watching as it covered the Guren, Lancelot and Shogun nearby, with another two beams of light in the distance.

I stopped resisting the red, feeling my self being pulled be pulled through a tunnel of pure light and pain, landing on soft sand a moment later. I slowly rose, looking around at the island's midday sun, waves lapping softly against my feet, wearing nothing but my pilot suits pants, its boots having disappeared somewhere.

'Fuck you V.V, I will get you back for this you overgrown garden gnome, those were my favourite boots!'

…

Why have I not won yet? If my goal was something as petty as being ruler of the world I would be sitting on that throne already, but that is not my goal. My goal is to win in the most entertaining way possible, to establish a history that will be remembered for thousands of years, like Augustus and Napoleon before me. To satisfy those looking down on us in the future with a glorious struggle for victory.

Alexander Andreas Gustavos Di Britannia.