AN: Review Responses-
To RanVor: Yes, I selected the traits that I liked about the character, and shifted the focus on the how and why of her personality. I don't understand why you have to be so unreasonably pissed about it considering it's something authors do all the time on this site. Cherry-picking things they like about a character that they are drawn to and changing other parts of their personality and backstory to fit the narrative because it's what they want, and that's what I'm doing. I'm not making you read what I write and I'm certainly not forcing you to act like jerk.
To Mech178: To remain spoiler free, all I can say is, chaos shall ensue as Earth finally gets a look at the galaxy, and the galaxy looks back
To CodeGeassFanZero117: Yes, 2003 Grievous is the only acceptable version, Dooku took Ventress, and as for Hailfire droids just wait and see
To Wolfpackrwby88: ... Yeah... I Know... why did you feel a need to point this out? I never described them as anything else. I said Kallen had a red factsphere because there is an armor plate in front of the factsphere units of Sutherlands and Glasgows that can unfold and close on command and because Kallen was piloting a purist RPI-13 Victoria-Pattern Sutherland, the color pallet for the shoulder pauldrons and factsphere cover are distinctly red. And as for the landspinners, yeah I got nothing, no idea why you thought I had them confused for something else.
To ThatIndieReviewer: Ah, yes, 2003 Clone Wars, glorious, droids are cold killing machines, Grievous was an absolute unit, and the humor was creative while not being overpowering. As for Lelouch's droid friend, don't worry, he's making an appearance this chapter, he's a special outlier for Lelouch's droids, an experiment gone wrong, or right depending on how you look at it. For the JLF, not to spoil it, but in the words of Vader: Join us, or die. And yes, Rey had so much potential, I have a ton of ideas on how to properly flesh out her character... alas the sequels made her universally hated by most which is something that cant be helped. Lelouch will be spreading the teachings of Revan mixed with his own ideals, do that which is just, save the lives of the innocent, but do not shy from bathing in the blood of those who stand in your way. The enemy is in front of you, slay them, the weak are behind you, protect them, your comrades stand beside you, stand with them in return.
To TheScottishlad: Long story short, a lot of what you said was part of my mindset as I began writing this story, and I hope you are not disappointed.
With the review responses out of the way, reminder that positive vibe reviews and honest, but polite critiques are appreciated. I am a budding writer that is doing my best to improve and kind words help me push forward and get these updates out more quickly.
Slash, thrust, parry, block, riposte, slash
Lelouch held his violet lightsaber in one hand, using all the years of training he had to best protect himself from his opponent, a Jedi, their lightsaber was bright blue and hitting him hard. It took everything he had to deflect the blows his opponent threw at him. He was staying alive just barely.
Anakin Skywalker wanted him dead, he knew why of course. Lelouch had been the one to trash the 501'st after all, and the 212'th on top of that, Christophsis had turned into a hellhole for the clone armies and it was all his doing. Not 1, but 2 clone legions had been sent to kick the black prince and his armies off the planet.
They had failed, miserably.
Lelouch was not nearly as bad as Grievous when it came to 1 on 1 combat, the cyborg was an accomplished slayer of force users, a veritable Jedi hunter. But as a field commander? He was just as bad, hell, even worse. Lelouch was a master of using the terrain to his advantage in battle. When the enemy pushed, his forces moved like water around stone and flanked the enemy, when they pulled back he shot them to pieces as they left the safety of their cover, when they tried to hold the line he started shelling them into oblivion.
His snipers targeted clone commanders, his big guns caused shell shock, demoralizing the troopers and killing any unlucky ones to get caught in the salvo. His bombers constantly dropped ordinance and his fighters constantly patrolled the skies, the vultures picked apart clone craft without mercy. He destroyed bridges and brought down buildings, cut off their supply lines, severed their communications and surrounded the legions on all sides with fields of droids, tanks guns and missiles.
So, understandably, with the clone armies decimated, he had THOROUGLY pissed Skywalker off... and now he was taking the full force of the poster-boy's fury. Blue aggressively bashed against violet as Lelouch stepped back, constantly on the defense, he ducked under a swing going for his head and used a force push to send Anakin back a few feet, only for the Jedi to jump right back at him. Lelouch was working up a sweat, ducking and weaving and blocking and parrying. He deflected as many blows as he could and dodged the rest but he was absolutely losing this fight.
Lelouch rolled to the left, jumping over a slash and used the force to throw a pile of crates at the Jedi who raised his lightsaber and cut them to pieces, making them fly past him harmlessly, and Lelouch grit his teeth. Angered that this brat was trying, and nearly succeeding at killing him, he shot a blast of lightning from his fingertips that nailed Anakin and sent him rolling across the floor... when the Jedi got up his eyes were yellow... fuck.
Nunnally wasn't having it easy either, Kenobi was her target, the guardian was much calmer and more controlled than his apprentice. She was on the offensive, but nothing seemed to be working, even with both her sabers, one yellow, and one lilac, she could not seem to break Kenobi's defense. She supposed she should have suspected that, Kenobi was one of the few Jedi, hell to her knowledge the ONLY Jedi to face Grievous one on one and survive, and on multiple occasions no less. She grit her teeth in frustration... until she felt the force screaming at her, something was happening-
On instinct she backed off and whipped her head around to look at the other duel taking place, and Kenobi seemed to do the same. Lelouch had ducked and weaved and blocked... he threw crates at Anakin, then Lightning.
In a fit of rage, Skywalker charged Lelouch one last time running full speed towards her brother, he attacked relentlessly backing Lelouch up into a corner. Her brother was just skilled enough to stop the Jedi from cutting him to ribbons. Anakin let out a rage filled scream and blue smashed into violet, a strike so powerful that it disarmed both of them as Anakin's grip loosened up under the impact, both lightsabers went flying. Anakin used the force to pick up a fallen vibroblade- dropped by a destroyed commando droid
Anakin punched Lelouch in the face, making him stagger into the wall and then, without pause, jammed the vibroblade into Lelouch's chest...
Nunnally's eyes widened as she saw the blade enter her brother, right through his chest, into his heart, it skewered him and pinned him to a wall, the 16 year old gagged and spat out blood in shock, his hands weakly trailing up to grab the handle of the sword in his torso as he stared up at Anakin, eyes wavering.
She snapped, the world seemed to go in slow motion, her eyes narrowing to near pinpricks, she screamed, her eyes yellow-orange in their entirety as she charged Skywalker and attacked. She was relentless in her assault, she chased Anakin down, both sabers ruthlessly wailing against him, now he was on the defensive alongside his master, she moved at lightning speeds so quick that they could hardly react, defending against her rage in earnest. The fact that her enemies hadn't died only served to make her ANGRIER.
She screamed, jumping into the air, she curled in on herself, her muscles tensing... color drained from the environment, turning into a world of black and white, a pulsating aura of force energy forming around her as electricity violently snapped across her body, before flinging her limbs out.
A force repulse of unparalleled might erupted from her body, it sent spiderwebs of cracks through the walls and ceiling, everything around her went flying- the Jedi included as the massive buildup of energy was unleashed with a thunderous crack. The pulse was powerful enough that it sent both the Jedi flying out the windows, which all simultaneously shattered.
When she dropped to the floor she fell to her hands and knees, her sweat dripping down her face and onto the floor, she gasped for air, but then remembered what happened and quickly got to her feet, sprinting across the room, she made it to Lelouch, his blood pooling around his feet and pouring down his lips, his eyes dulling-
NO
"NII SAMA! JUST- JUST WAIT, HOLD ON, STAY AWAKE! LELOUCH! BIG BROTHER!" She screamed, desperately both hands grabbing his cheeks and trying to get him to stay focused.
Lelouch's vision faded, turning spotty and dark as his punctured heart stopped and he began to bleed out... his sister's face was the last thing he saw...
Cornelia glared at the TV in front of her, her eyes burned with HATE.
She hated Area-11, it was not petty racist hate, it was not hate spurned from a sense of superiority or anything like that. This was a deep, personal hate, one that had been festering for 7 long and painful years.
Area-11 took Lelouch and Nunnally. She hated her father for sending them to the god-forsaken island nation in the first place, but it didn't match the seething rage she felt thinking about how the natives had slaughtered them. She was at their funeral, and it was the last time she allowed herself to cry, the last time she showed weakness. Her beloved younger brother, and sweet little Nunnally had met their end at the hands of ruthless monsters who pretended to be people.
She would be happier if the whole damn area was burned to the ground, Sakuradite be damned... but she didn't have control over that. She didn't have a choice, she never did. Her only goal, her one true mission now, was to protect Euphemia from the same fate. She was ready to scream when the Emperor demanded that she take Euphemia and her armies to Area-11.
She wanted nothing to do with that accursed island. But no, she had no choice like always. Clovis had been wounded, his royal guard slaughtered and an entire order's Knightmare Mobile Battalion had been cut down to only a small handful of lucky survivors, barely enough for a full squadron, nevermind company or even just platoon strength.
She seethed as she sat in the chair of her private transport, and watched the recording of the new face of the terrorist threat within Area-11. Her arms crossed, hands tightly gripping her arms as one finger tapped impatiently.
"I am Zero." The figure proclaimed. "You may know me for my great victory in the Shinjuku ghetto, it is there that I slew Clovis' forces, and even wounded the prince himself before he could unfortunately escape his sentencing. But fear not, for I have been busy elsewhere. Only an hour ago, myself and my comrades destroyed fort Bradford, slaying all of it's inhabitants, and stole 125 tons of refined Sakuradite. This is only the beginning, my demands are as follows, begin improving living conditions for the Japanese, I am calling for humanitarian aid to be given to the inhabitants of the ghettos, and furthermore, I am demanding better treatment for honorary Britannians. Everyone deserves access to fresh food, clean drinking water, and shelter. Most of those in the ghettos have none, and those who willingly gave themselves to you for a chance at a future deserve to be treated like any other citizen, with the respect that they deserve for the work they do."
"If these demands are not met, I shall strike again, and again, and again until they finally are. You have 24 hours to comply, if you do not, I will hit you in a way that will hurt the most, you have been warned... Nelly."
It was like having a bucket of ice water dumped over her. Her whole body froze up, her hands going from their previous position to clutching the arm rests in a vice grip and staring wide-eyed at the screen. Her teeth bared in a snarl, that nickname... there were 3 people that ever used that nickname, and 2 of them were dead so who the HELL was this and how did they know it!?
This was no mere terrorist, this individual knew something that he shouldn't and that made him dangerous, he was making this personal, nevermind the fact that he called her out before she even arrived in Area-11 to begin with, he somehow knew she was coming before it was announced!
Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she leaned back in her seat.
"Darlton, I want all troops on high alert, we may have to go on an operation soon after landing, and make certain that the pilots maintain their current speed. I want to get to Area-11 post-haste, no excuses."
"Yes, your highness!" Her General replied dutifully before walking up to the cockpit and speaking with the pilots, her head turned to look out the window of her jet with a deep sigh as the other members of her officer's cabinet and royal guard moved about. Behind her aircraft and all around them was an air fleet of C-5M Super Galaxy class transport planes, each one loaded with soldiers, knightmares and other vehicles, her personal army, forged in the fires of war with Area-18 being their latest conquest. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes
She needed more than just terrorist blood coating her fingers, she needed answers.
"- you have been warned... Nelly."
Emperor Charles Zi Britannia could not stop staring at the TV set in his private office, Marianne had told him something he could not believe, that Lelouch was alive.
Somehow... C.C. had been captured by the OSI, by his snotty little brother, and seemingly was tortured for funzies. She had escaped, but not on her own... someone saved her. Someone with black hair, someone with purple eyes, someone with the name Lelouch. And not only that but APPARENTLY Nunnally could now not only see again, she could somehow WALK which concerned him greatly.
Marianne swore on it, swore it was real, that their son was ALIVE as well as their daughter... his heart soared within his chest, and then dropped, remembering the circumstances. He knew that without a doubt, his son thought the worst of him, that the boy thought him a monster. He could not blame Lelouch, after everything that happened. At first he was content to let his son be, then he even considered, for a moment, bringing the boy back, to take him under his wing, to teach and protect him... but he knew that was too much to ask for. V.V. would find any excuse to kill Lelouch. He would not allow that, he could not allow that.
Now, he was left with a problem... his son was a terrorist and apparently his daughter too.
Not good.
With Lelouch openly rebelling he had so few options to work with and none were particularly pleasant.
He could send Marrybell, but that would just be an easy win. Whilst not his favorite daughter, the girl was easily one of his best offspring and was practically custom tailored to hunting her wayward half-brother down. He could send Schneizel technically but the results would be the same, as good as Lelouch was, Charles was uncertain of his ability to handle the second prince.
Cornelia seemed to be the best option... they seemed to be evenly matched for the most part, he was perhaps smarter overall but Cornelia had experience which would equalize the struggle. He did not want Cornelia to kill Lelouch if it could he helped, just distract him long enough for the plan to come to it's fated conclusion... a world without lies awaited them all, everyone could live happily together... just a bit longer.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly turning and walking out of his office... there were things to do and they would not be finished by themselves.
Taizo Kirihara, along with the rest of the Kyoto group, sat together around a table in the middle of their meeting chamber. They looked between each other, anxiously gauging the others as they contemplated their next words, it was tense.
The silence was broken by Kaguya, the young woman was easily the most vocal of the 5 remaining members, with Yoshino no longer with them, the 6 houses could hardly be called such anymore.
"I say we give Zero a chance." Kaguya announced blatantly, catching the attention of the other 4 members. Osakabe frowned at her and opened his mouth to protest when Taizo raised his hand for silence.
"Sumeragi San, please explain your reasoning."
"With all due respect Kirihara Dono, you know my reasoning. He shows immense potential, in mere days he has killed more Britannians than the JLF has over the course of 7 years. He has crippled their Sakuradite refinement in the local sector bringing down overall production by 19.7% for the district and nearly killed a Prince. How many of us can claim to have accomplished so much, lesser still how many can claim to do all this in such a short timeframe. I am not saying that we give him our full backing... not yet that is, but perhaps monitor his progress and, over time, start sending him our support."
Taizo smiled inwardly, glad that all his lessons for the young head of the Sumeragi clan had not gone to waste. She was only 17 but she spoke with a level of intelligence only seen from those much older than herself.
Her words were truthful, and logical, a deadly combination to win an argument with.
"A vote then." Munakata suggested, which got a nod from the rest of the group.
"All in favor of sending Zero aid now." Taizo began
He and Sumeragi raised their hands, convinced that he was at least worth sending some sort of aid to, even if it was small
Kubouin and Osakabe kept their hands lowered, voting against sending support, and Munakata, ironically being the one to call for the vote, placed his hand on the table, signifying that he was abstaining.
A minimum of 3 votes were needed to approve any sort of official action by the collective group, and neither side won in this instance.
"All in favor of monitoring the situation and voting once more at a later date."
This time all members had their hands raised, and there was a collective nod between the 5.
"Very well, we shall convene again upon that issue when the time is right. We shall see what this Zero can do. For now, onto our next order of Business, the Guren Mark-II and it's cousin, the Pre-Production Gekka, either one can be considered an extremely powerful machine even if the Gekka is lower spec than the Guren, we all recognize that much, but I must be honest my friends, I do not believe they should be delivered to the JLF." Taizo spoke, drawing looks of concern from the rest of the houses, with only Kaguya seeming to be in agreement.
"I'm sorry Kirihara Dono, but... was that not the plan? When the Guren is finished alongside the Gekka prototype to send it to the JLF, to gift it to Tohdoh?"
"It was, that was before Zero entered the picture, we all agree he shows immense potential. Yes he is currently an unknown and I don't like wildcards any more than you do. I do believe however... that we should restrain ourselves from giving the Guren and Gekka to the JLF, and consider that, if this Zero character is as capable as he seems, that we give it to him and his group instead should he prove worthy of them."
Silent looks were shared between the members of Kyoto, they knew what the implications were for this. The JLF was the last of Japan's old guard, the remnants of their once proud military. Kyoto had stood beside them for 7 years... but they had done so whilst seeing so little progress. Nobody in the room could deny the logic, if someone else was delivering results, they should get the support instead, and if this Zero character had what it took to get those results then it was worth at least considering.
"For what it is worth, I am in agreement with Kirihara Dono, we should consider withholding the Guren and the Gekka and then vote at a later date to decide, officially, who gets Rakshata's... children..." Kaguya said, smirking a little as she said the last part, she found the Indian woman to be amusing.
"All in favor of keeping the Guren and Pre-Production Gekka prototype for the foreseeable future." Taizo said
Kirihara, Sumeragi, and Munakata raised their hands.
"Motion carried, the Knightmares will be given to no one until we can ascertain Zero's reliability."
Kaguya smiled, it was a victory, a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. She was convinced, Zero was a spectacle, she was infatuated with him. Zero had done something nobody else could do, or even had the balls to attempt, he had her respect, and her admiration... her cheeks flushed red as she thought about him.
She hoped to meet him some day...
Lelouch groaned in pain and irritation, mostly the former, as he clutched his chest, wincing as he sat up in his bed. After his successful destruction and plundering of Fort Bradford Britannia was bound to be on high alert, there was too much security for them to pull off another operation like that, not on such large a scale, but that didn't mean he was idle. He had been putting his new black knights through the ringer, using his disguised commando droids as drill sergeants they mercilessly ran the former Kozuki group ragged.
Results were better than expected. They had no real prior military experience but they had spirit, they were determined and even though the training he was putting them through was painful they knew it would save their lives so they didn't complain... much, except for that one loudmouth idiot, Tamaki, he was a bit of a nonce but Lelouch would keep him. He was a bit of an idiot but could still prove useful after fully vetting him, maybe he had a better use than a pawn in the front lines.
Lelouch pulled off his shirt and stared at the scar of his wound, it certainly was not pretty, he had nearly died when that bastard Skywalker plunged that sword all the way through him. He survived only due to Nunnally's quick thinking, she stemmed the bleeding and used the force to keep his- quite frankly- fucked heart pumping even when it should have been impossible.
Then he got picked up by a medical shuttle and evac'd to the Raxor, at which point he was kept in an induced coma, and floated about in bacta for a whole month alongside a liberal, and expensive dosing of Kolto to repair as much damage as possible. Unfortunately there was no way to repair the nerve damage that had been done from such a brutal stabbing that left him impaled on a fucking wall... well there was, but he never had the time to undergo the operation that would correct it. So he suffered ghost pains, every once in a while his heartbeat would stutter, and the eviscerated nerve endings in his chest would catch fire.
It sucked to say the least.
And to make matters worse, that uppity Dathomir Witch, Ventress, just HAD to go mucking up his perfectly laid plans and lose the battle of Christophsis. She was a skilled user of twin sabers but a cunning tactician and strategist she was NOT. The wench had gone and ordered his units into a full scale assault, and as battered as the 2 clone legions had been, it simply was not enough to guarantee a last push would be successful.
Instead his droid armies melted away as the clones made tactical retreats with the cover of artillery, blasting his droids apart in massive salvos of plasma cannon fire until they had been slagged down to a mere fraction of the original force he had.
She had every possible advantage gifted to her by his previous actions and threw them all away, along with any sort of caution and common sense, botched the whole theater of war- while she never confirmed her reasons, it was likely jealousy, she hated that Dooku preferred him and his sister and wanted to fuck with him.
There was no way she could lose and she still managed it against all odds so either she did it deliberately as a form of sabotage or she was really that dumb. The pasty bald bitch irritated him to no end. She was brash, her plans shortsighted and ill-thought out. She ruined his otherwise near flawless campaign and he hated her for it.
He was pulled from his thoughts as his holo-comm chirped in his drawer, he pulled the device out and accepted the call, what greeted him looked like an ordinary OOM or B-1 unit, the only evidence of it being a command variant was the small antenna poking out of it's left shoulder. That was strange, usually it was Kalani contacting him so either his Super-Tactical droid was otherwise indisposed, or-
"Sup." The droid said, waving at him, and it caused Lelouch to grin, that confirmed it.
"Sparky, you've finally arrived, did you bring the forces I requested?"
"It was a pain, negotiating for more droids and tanks from Baktoid and the Techno Union was particularly annoying, how Grievous hasn't slaughtered those assholes still surprises me."
Lelouch couldn't help but be amused. "What of the Trade Federation?"
"That was far less difficult, they've not forgotten your miraculous victory in the first battle of Cato-Neimoidia and were all too happy to deliver what you requested."
"Excellent, what's the total count?"
"150 freshly minted IG-227 Hailfire droids, 10 times the number of GAT class Light Repulsorlift tanks, a few thousand extra probe droids- Viper series. Uh what else... oh 500 OG-9's, the newer variant. Some 300 Octuptarra Tri-Droids were also given and a ton of STAP's... mmm... ah yes the Colicoids also threw some extra Droidekas your way, older variants however, P-series, those exotic meats you delivered a few months ago apparently had quite a taste to them so they saw fit to cram their reserve stockpiles into our roster."
"So long as they didn't dump the W-series on me, I don't care how strong their blasters are, the shields on the P and Q series are what I appreciate about the design, the W-series has to shut it's shields off just to properly power it's weapons and I don't need a machinegun nest that's just gonna get shredded by the first thing that sees it."
"Don't fret about it, the Colicoids assured me it's P-series only, they would have given you some Q-series variants but their hands are tied apparently; the newest batches of the Q variant are destined for the front lines... anyways, aside from that we got a bunch of munitions, spare parts, about 1,000,000 extra B-1's with a tenth of that in B-2's alongside some extra AAT's, landers, HMP's, fighter compliments and another Providence Destroyer."
"What's her name?"
"Hellhound of Concordia, apparently it earned the name by intercepting a Venator in the Mandalore System, she blasted it out of the sky in a firefight and sent it crashing into Mandalore's moon before shelling the wreckage from orbit."
"Good to hear, re-organize our forces by integrating our fresh units into the ranks and put them on low-alert standby, it's unlikely that I'll be calling anything down for a while yet but that doesn't mean it wont happen... oh and get those probe droids out and about, I need as many of them as possible searching the system for deposits of Sakuradite and ore to forge the durasteel we need."
"I will go ahead and roger that, anything else? Perhaps I shall deliver you a cask of Corellian ale spiked with deathsticks?"
Lelouch rolled his eyes.
"No, except go ahead and inform Kalani that you are now fourth in command, after him, Nunnally and myself."
"What, afraid to put me in charge instead of him?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because knowing you at least one ship will somehow spontaneously combust within 24 hours of me transferring command to you."
"Touche."
"Quite, try not to blow anything up while you're up there... and send OOM-9 down for me, Kalani know's the coordinates for the landing sight I want you to use."
"OOM-9? Why him?"
"Because he's professional, unlike you, and I'm trying to slowly get my future allies accustomed to the concept of droids before I land 8 field armies worth of them planetside."
"He's like my stuck-up older brother you know, do try not to get him offlined."
"Sparky you know better than anyone that when a battle droid is destroyed it's just the body, the memory data of each unit is constantly updated in the drives of the Fortressa, if he somehow gets 'killed' down here he'll have his memories uploaded into a new body within minutes and be right as rain just like every other unit."
"Yeah, but it's the thought that counts, he barely survived that crap-tastic first battle of Naboo, if the federation hadn't negotiated for the ability to collect the remains of their old private armies left down there then he'd be gone forever... just... be careful with him, please?"
"You have my word old friend... by the way, has he ever told you why he didn't pick a name for himself, you jumped at the chance but he didn't even seem interested in the concept?"
The droid shrugged. "Perhaps it's simply within his nature, we're like black and white. He's stone cold sober and serious all the time... his mindset is like yours to be honest, Analytical, Logical, Pragmatic... and I'm a dipshit."
Lelouch couldn't help but snort. "You said it not me, I have nothing else to say and don't have a whole lot of time to talk, so please do as instructed and keep me posted on any immediate developments... if you have nothing else to do after you finish your tasks then provide oversight to the Fortressa's mobile factories, make sure things run smoothly while Kalani handles the more clandestine operations."
"You got it, see ya later prettyboy." The droid snarked before hanging up on Lelouch who simply shook his head in amusement.
Kallen had to stop herself from grinding her teeth in frustration as the word "Defeat" plastered across her screen in bright red. She was in a knightmare sim, a new gift from this Zero character they had joined up with. She was still skeptical, very skeptical in fact. She knew the face behind the mask, and she trusted his words, but she somehow felt that there was more to him than he let on, a LOT more.
It scared her a little, knowing there was information she didn't have about something that concerned her wellbeing. The fact of the matter was that she, and all her friends had put their faith in a Britannian- a fullblood at that, not even a half like herself, and even more they had put their faith in a Britannian that wasn't even technically a legal adult, he was her age, 17... granted that wasn't far off but still the point remained.
And yet... the prospect of following him didn't feel wrong, on the contrary it felt right, it was... exhilarating, exciting. He saved their lives, commanded them to defeat both a detachment of royal guardsmen and a Knight Order. And then shortly afterword's they had destroyed a base and stole a FUCKLOAD of Sakuradite with him... without even firing a shot.
What impressed her the most however had to be his willingness to put himself in harms way. This wasn't some cowardly prick that barked orders from a hidden bunker 20 meters underground and a 20 clicks from the battlefield. He was committed to fighting alongside them. In the first battle he was right there with them, giving them directions while exchanging fire with the purists, and then instead of having the old Kozuki group attack fort Bradford, he infiltrated the base himself with his sister and that merc unit.
She felt gratitude, and if she was honest, a bit humbled. She felt a need to commit herself just as much as he was. Lelouch was putting his all into this and so would she, her pride and sense of duty would allow nothing less. So she glared at the screen, wiped the sweat off her brow, took a deep breath and hit re-start. This was one of the hardest missions the simulator had been programmed with, it was meant for Super-Ace tier pilots, the kind of skill you'd see out of the most elite commanders and the knights of the round.
Kallen was determined to beat this mission, and all the others after that, she wanted to clear them all, to prove to herself that she had what it took, that she could be valuable, more than just a grunt, she wanted to be something more. She wanted to be his Ace, she wanted to be his Q-1, whatever that meant...
Suzaku was in a situation near identical to Kallen, he let his frustration show by tightly gripping the controls of his simulator and letting his head thud against the back of his seat with his eyes tightly shut. He was frustrated, he had tried this mission 4 times already- he had gotten better each time, but ultimately failed. It was in fact the same mission Kallen had been running in her own simulator.
Suzaku liked to think that he could not hate anyone. He held some animosity and disliked some people, but hate? Hate was too strong a word for his taste, he didn't like some people, but hate? That was a word reserved for the worst of people, and now he felt he had someone to use that word for.
Zero, that terrorist bastard, that madman... he had already killed hundreds in Shinjuku, which he already didn't like one bit, at least it was an open battlefield with both sides having a chance to defend themselves. But the attack on fort Bradford? That crossed a line for him, there was no honor in what had been done there, it was wholesale slaughter of hundreds more people that had no way to protect themselves, they had been lured out and blown up by that lunatic... there had been no survivors. He tried desperately to find any trace possible of someone that survived, he wanted to save lives not take them... and when he got there all he saw was a field of gore, ash and rubble.
Suzaku could tell that the fight against Zero would be a long one, he could feel it in his gut, he couldn't explain how he knew, he just did. Zero was going to be his first real target and he was all too ready to head out and face the man... perhaps not kill him, but arrest him certainly, and let the justice system do what it was meant to do.
The son of the former prime minister sighed, clicking the restart button for the simulator before reaffirming his grip on the controls, his determination strong as ever.
C.C. sat across from Nunnally, the girl was extremely interesting to her... the witch had been drawn to the younger girl because of her apparent miraculous recovery from not 1, but 2 disabilities that should have left her crippled for life.
Of course, she knew that the blindness was artificial, but that made it more impressive, the fact that this young girl had managed to shred the illusion cast upon her from her father's Geass. Charles was probably shitting bricks at the fact she had managed to do that. But perhaps even more interesting was the fact that she could walk when she had no right to- considering she had an incurable neurological disorder... and yet she could walk, run and move her legs with every bit of flexibility that could be expected from an athletic acrobat.
Marianne's children were so damn interesting... the black prince had her attention just as much as Nunnally. The young man was wiser and more intelligent than... well, anyone she had ever met. Sure Charles was plenty damn intelligent, as was Marianne and that little bastard V.V. But Lelouch?
He was just on a whole other level, his mind worked in mysterious ways that- even her with all her experience and wisdom, sometimes had a hard time following. She hadn't interacted with him much but he could tell he was lethally charismatic as much as he was intelligent, it made him a force to be reckoned with.
And then there was that power that those 2 had... it was familiar yet alien at the same time. It was not Geass, that much she knew. She would not have been able to form a contract with the boy if he already had one. So what was it? What was this mysterious new ability that they seemed to have? She had more questions than answers, to some... or rather to most people that would be considered annoying at the very least.
But not to C.C... her life had devolved into nothing more than a set of events, just gaining experience, it felt like nothing had any real meaning, she wanted to die and that was it.
But now... she was not so sure, the siblings intrigued her so much, so many mysteries, and even if they didn't have so many strange traits she felt drawn to them regardless, Lelouch especially, she couldn't put her finger on it but it felt... right... like she had been fated to meet him. It was a strange attraction. She didn't hate the feeling, but it left her even more confused on the implications.
One thing she knew for sure however was that she'd appreciate every moment she spent here... for the first time in a long time, she felt something other than total apathy... and it felt great.
"C.C. what do you want on your Pizzas?" Nunnally asked, shaking the limette out of her thoughts, no matter how deep into her own mind she was, the word Pizza always snapped her back out into reality. Pizza, the perfect food, the only food that mattered, it always cheered her up even just a little. Nunnally was offering to buy her more which was... sweet...
Everyone she had ever met in her long life only wanted to use her, Washington, Napoleon, and all the others she had met, they all wanted something from her, to control her, take advantage of her... and here she was with a pair of exiles that only seemed all too happy to treat her like a human being, like a friend or at least a welcome guest, rather than a witch or a puppet to be used, they bought her clothes- all of the latest fashions, a bed, all the pizza she could ever want, and they didn't even demand anything in return... it's funny, how long of a way basic human decency could go.
"Meat Lover's please." She finally responded with a small blush of embarrassment, unable to stop herself from slightly licking her lips at the prospect, Nunnally saw this and grinned, giggling at C.C.'s reaction in good humor before she brought her phone up and started dialing.
C.C. felt... welcome, she had good food, and good company... yes this place was... It was home. Something happened at that moment, that realization, something that hadn't happened for so long she forgot she could do it, what it felt like.
She smiled.
AN: And there we go, more of a filler chapter, getting some pieces in place before we go back into the action, please review if you enjoyed and I'll be seeing the lot of you really soon.
PS: As a side note, I have written a little blurb called "Resurgence Prelude" K rated, it's... let's call it a teaser for an idea I want to try, I have a couple more story ideas knocking around in my head. Go ahead and read the teaser if you'd be so kind, and leave a review on it to let me know if the concept interests you, anyways have a good one!