Turn 15.2:

I hold a hand up to my ear under my mask as I hear the start of Anthem's "Light It Up", signaling the attack has begun. Good taste, Q-1. "Ladies and gentlemen, Tohdoh and Q-1 have begun their part. It's time now we did ours," I announce as the low hum of the submarine's engines in the background drones on.

Ohgi raises a hand to catch my attention, "Sir, I don't understand. We're going to an isolated island in the middle of nowhere instead of a military base. What exactly is our plan?"

I tap a few buttons on my phone to pipe in some appropriate music. Let's see...ah. Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2, that will do nicely. I gently sway to the soft horns as the music starts. Such a placid tune. It will keep everyone relaxed till we disembark.

"It's quite simple, Ohgi. This is a multi-faceted operation. We know it's a simple snatch-and-grab, however Britannia will be kept guessing as to why we did this for awhile afterward. And for reasons not readily apparent, the Gawain is apparently here for research purposes."

I pace, taking CC's hand as we dance to the beat, her expression amused.

"From our perspective, the Gawain is extremely useful, however from Britannia's point of view, it's a minor loss at best. Schneizel is extraordinarily arrogant; he wouldn't be able to bring himself to care about losing a Frame that isn't even battle-ready and that no one on the Britannian side can even use properly."

I dip CC and pull her into a spin as she takes over to continue, "On the other hand? If Zero were to take the Avalon? That might catch Blondie's interest. Cornelia certainly would raise the alarm and crack down harder, if not requisition extra troops."

I put my hands on the small of her back as I smile at her following my train of thought. Such an marvelous woman.

"The absolute worst case scenario, of course, is that Emperor Charles himself takes an active interest in what we're doing, and demands the problem be crushed." CC spins me and pulls me back with a smirk as the song begins to wind down.

"And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is why I DO NOT want the Avalon, on top of the reasons Tohdoh and I already explained. It will make us too large of a target. The Gawain, on the other hand, is doable for the reasons I outlined."

I raise a finger, wagging it, "But at the same time, we can't be seen as ignoring it, either. Because then the enemy will ask why we aren't trying for it, and become paranoid. I do not want them panicking and raining fire down on us, or worse, on the innocent populace."

I shrug and retake my seat next to CC as the song ends, "So we make a wild and crazy attack in a token effort to kill Schneizel. Thus catering to his ego, and distracting him while we make off with the Gawain."

Tamaki starts laughing as he figures it out, "Oh, man! So they'll think we wanted Schneizel and we were forced to just take the...fuck how do you say that again?"

Ohgi grimaces, "ガウェイン. Or Gawain in Britannian. Tamaki, I thought you were paying attention when I explained this."

I chuckle to myself as they bicker among themselves, the tension forgotten. All conditions have been cleared. There's always the possibility that I'm wrong, of course, and that Cornelia gets trigger-happy over our stealing tech from Camelot. Though I expect Schneizel to downplay it, on the grounds that the Gawain isn't functional.

Heh. Which will hurt his credibility when we bring it to the field. And I'm looking forward to finally getting out of a damn Sutherland.

Kaminejima. Island of the Origin of the Gods. It would be oh-so-tempting and cathartic to just burn the entire island down and make it impossible to access the Thought Elevator.

It would be an undertaking that would be pyrrhic in totality, however. Charles would never allow such an act to go unanswered.

I could deny him the chance to use the Sword, perhaps. But in his fury, he would annihilate Japan in retaliation. Not to mention, the difficulty of explaining why we'd be wasting so much firepower on such a small and insignificant island. And, of course, the lingering suspicion that I don't actually know what it would take to destroy the Thought Elevator completely.

I shake my head to clear out the cobwebs of what-ifs, and maybes. It's time to get my war-beast.

"Black Knights, move out!"

We streak through the beaches and into the jungle, foregoing stealth for speed. Our destination? The entrance to the Thought Elevator.

My eyes shimmer with glee at the sight of the massive experimental Knightmare and the relatively light security. YES! It worked!

"Gentlemen! It would seem you're outgunned," I announce from my command Sutherland.

I poke my helmet out, lazily leaning on the head of my unit, "However, I'm in a generous mood today. So for the small price of all your research data and the Gawain, you all get to walk out of here alive."

An officer scoffs and steps forward, "Do your worst, Eleven bastard! You'll get nothing from loyal sons of—!"

The remainder of his sentence is cut off by a bullet through the eye, courtesy of my pistol. I sigh, miming blowing the smoke from the barrel.

"Rest assured, I will convey that you all fought bravely, loyally, et cetera, et cetera. But if you're really so eager to martyr yourselves? Obliging you is no difficulty."

I tap my bicep, "Tick-tock, gentlemen."

After a brief huddle, a cowed and quivering scientist hands me the startup key for the Gawain and points to the database.

"I-i-it's all there. The password is G4D5R27. Please don't kill us...Lord Demon King."

I smirk and pat him on the cheek. It's nice when people are helpful and don't make a fuss.

"I'm a man of my word. For your safety and to assuage concerns, you're all going to be bound and knocked unconscious. But? If you have given me a fake password or try to escape?"

I grip him by the neck causing him to whimper, "I will be aggravated and forced to make an example of you. Is this understood?"

He nods, sniffling.

I drop him and walk over to the computer, inputting the password. The screen opens to the main menu and the data files. Excellent. Mostly scans and data about the Thought Elevator. But there's data on the Gawain and...hahahahahaha! Experimental data about the Hadron Cannon project. Perfect. This should speed up Rakshata's work considerably.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Good night," I say with a sweet tone as I pistol whip the man unconscious.

"Tie them all up! Only kill if they try to escape or cause problems. The rest of you, pack up the research equipment and all the supplies!"

CC struts up, eyeing the six and a half-meter-tall Gawain.

"So we did all this for the world's biggest dick-compensator Knightmare? I'm so disappointed, Zero."

I look at her incredulously as the Black Knights try to hold back their laughter. ...Shit, she's got a point.

"You have no sense of style, woman. It's more than a codpiece. It's a FLYING codpiece!" I say, pointing to the sky.

...That came out wrong.

She breaks into peals of laughter and this time the rest of the team joins her.

Fuck it, I walked right into that one. I shrug and chuckle, eyeing the Gawain.

"I suppose I deserved that," I muse, CC giggling in my ear as she leans on my side. "Did I mention the Gawain is a two-seater?" I quip to her.

She smirks at me, "You can't pilot it yourself?"

I shake my head, "I could. But I can't manage the Druid system AND pilot it adequately enough to be useful on the battlefield. And dear, let us not mince words. You are a far better pilot than I am," I say with no sense of shame.

She pats me on the behind while planting a kiss on my mask, "Glad you know who's safeguarding your cute ass."

We take the winch up to the cockpit where I quickly discard the mask, looking over the controls. Hmm, looks simple enough.

"CC, take the wheel. I'm going to be trying the Druid system out and reconfiguring the preferences," I mumble as I type on the keyboard.

The crew clears out of the way as the gigantic mech rolls its way out of the cavern.

I look up to see CC giving me an amorous look. Heh.

"Engaging Float system, disabling Hadron Cannons," I say as I set the auto-pilot directly for the sub.

"Cannons? You're not going to let me have a turn? You should know not to tease me, Lulu," She whispers as she straddles me in the cowgirl position.

I spank her as she shivers, "They don't work at the moment. They spray out a shotgun blast that isn't effective except as a close-range deterrent."

I tap a key, putting some music as I pull her pants down, planting my lips on her trimmed pussy. She relaxes on my chest, the seat reclining, her ears twitching to the song.

"Brahms, I think. Which is this, Hungarian number two?" she says with a purr.

I smack my lips, "Number five, actually. Just sit back and relax."

I quietly slurp up the salty taste as we fly to our destination. After about 10 minutes, I spot our destination below us.

"Black Knights Submarine, come in. This is K-1. Open hanger doors and clear some space. The package is significantly larger than a normal one."

The top of the vessel opens up and we slowly descend, the Gawain's arms extended to the side. CC sighs like a pleased cat as she slowly pulls her underwear and pants up over her glorious ass.

"What now, Lulu?"

I can't resist smiling wickedly as the fact that we got the Gawain, the best Frame in the original timeline under our control with no problems.

CC pinches my cheek, "Don't."

I give her a flat stare, "I haven't done anything."

She returns my look with one of her own, "I know that look. No. You are not indulging in that now."

I pull her hand off, "We just pulled a con on Schneizel. The man this dick compensator, as you put it, belongs to. I think I'm allowed some gloating."

We ride the winch down, her face politely annoyed. "Fine. But I'm timing you."

Kallen and Tohdoh come up as we arrive. "Zero, we did it!" "Mission accomplished."

CC waves a hand at me, "Go ahead. But I'm giving everyone a warning."

Kallen raises an eyebrow, "What does he want to do now?"

CC clears her throat, "Be advised, our leader is about to indulge himself. If you do not wish to know what kind of lunatic is leading this organization, cover your ears please."

Kallen grimaces, "Oh god, he's doing that? Can't you stop him?"

Tohdoh gives me a look that says he's not amused, "Zero, what is this?"

I take a deep breath as I feel my ego rising, "Simple, General. I feel the urge to let my megalomania loose, once in a while."

"Heh heh heh heh..."

I put a hand on my mask as I throw my head back in laughter, feeling the visceral pleasure of unleashing my unbridled joy at our success.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Tohdoh grips his sword tighter as his eyes narrow. Kallen gives me a look that says she has no patience for this shit. And CC?

She's timing me with a stopwatch on her phone.

"And...that's thirty seconds." She nods to Tohdoh, "General, you may stop him now."

"What?"

Kallen throws her arms up in exasperation, "Just hit the idiot already. He's not going to stop until someone makes him."

The general looks with a slightly concerned look at me and then back to CC, "This seems...unorthodox."

CC shrugs, "I've had practice handling people like him. Trust me when I say this is the best solution."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-oof!"

I gasp for air as Tohdoh stabs me in the solar plexis with the scabbard of his blade.

"Ouch..."

I get back to my feet, taking a deep breath.

"Zero...are you alright?"

I shake off the cobwebs as I turn to Tohdoh, "Never better. Just had to indulge myself for a moment. Good work."

Kallen pinches her nose, "Why me?"

I'd answer that, but I'm sure she'd hit me for it, "So, how did the New Edwards raid go?"

Tohdoh swiftly goes to military attention, "As planned, we hit the base and drew as much attention as possible. There were two unexpected factors, however."

I freeze, oh goddammit, now what?

"The first, was that Suzaku arrived and managed to intercept Kallen before she could do more than cursory damage to the enemy. Her attention was preoccupied by him for the duration of the duel."

Okay, that's not bad. I wasn't sure Euphie would be there, but that doesn't particularly hurt our plans.

"And the second...?" I ask trepidaciously.

Kallen leans against the Gawain with a sour expression, "A huge airship started bombing us and Suzaku forced me to run. I'm sorry, Zero, I wasn't able to do enough."

I sigh in relief. Murphy actually DIDN'T fuck with us for once? Thank fucking god.

"The first was unlikely since I didn't believe Cornelia would bring Euphie with her, but not that big a problem. Let's be honest, it actually helps with the deception."

I pull them both into a hug, surprising them, "And as I said to Ohgi? I didn't even want the Avalon in the first place. Too big a target."

Tohdoh stands up, coughing to regain his composure, "Be that as it may, your objective was successful, I take it?"

I nod as I pat the Gawain's black armored leg.

"The finest Sixth-generation Knightmare Frame in the world, the Gawain. My new war-beast," I say gleefully.

"You really do spoil me, Zero. First, pilots for my nephews, and now the Earl of Pudding's bastard?"

I turn to see Rakshata smoking her pipe, eyes glinting with greed over our prize.

I walk over to her and wave my arm to the mammoth machine, "All yours, Doctor. Just make sure to put it back together after you look it over. I'm going to need it in the near future. And please try to fix the cannons on the shoulders, they're not very reliable right now."

She rubs her hands together as she yells something in Hindi at her assistants who start poking and analyzing the machine.

"And with that?" I state. "I think we can take a day or two off. Thank you all for your hard work. And please don't be alarmed if I indulge in laughter like that."

"He's just compensating for something, much like the Gawain here," CC quips, pointing at the machine behind us.

Kallen covers her mouth as she tries not to laugh at the joke, Tohdoh himself smirking as he turns to go speak with his team. And the rest of the sub, Rakshata included, are clearly not holding back in their amusement,

It's obvious that the fact that I'm willing to let my own guys mock me is helping to keep them from freaking out over my more megalomaniacal moments. Much like my acting pervy on occasion, it helps to humanize me.

I do hope Suzu didn't have any troubles over that last incident. He seems to have been busy with his new charge. Heh, maybe he finally got to do more than hold hands with her.

Machiavelli said it's better to be feared than loved. But he also said if you can have both, do so.

End of turn.