Chapter 3: Kingsglaive
Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo
The siblings had arrived at their abandoned Sutherlands, having left Clovis's body at the G1. Lelouch was hoping to dispose of his body, so that it would leave the military disorganized for awhile longer than just leaving him on the G1 throne. However, seeing the state his sister was in, despite her best efforts to keep a calm composure, he decided not to voice that plan.
"Brother," Cornelia said as she neared her Sutherland, "I've sent you the position of my bike. I want you to take it and head back to Ashford. I'll make sure I get our mystery girl back as well."
"Are you sure that's wise, splitting up now." Cornelia's composure faltered, but only for a second. 'No, I just want to get you on my bike, then leave this place. But we've already started, so we need to think tactically.'
"Brother, you can easily get to one of the network tunnels using my bike. However, your pilot skills are not up to my level. I can easily sneak a Sutherland back to one of the knightmare tunnels. You, on the other hand." She smirked after seeing the annoyed look on Lelouch's face.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. But what about the girl? We still don't know anything about her." Cornelia's eyes widened in shock. 'God damnit, I completely forgot her during our 'chat' with Clovis. We could've asked anything on her. Then again, given how he only had the personnel list for the project she's connected to, maybe he didn't know that much.'
"She will answer any questions we have about her once we get back to the Nest."
Lelouch nodded, noticing how she used the word will instead of can. 'Since she has some form of healing factor, at least, interrogation will be useless on her. Nelly better have a good plan on her.' He then left her, heading to the bike's coordinates.
Cornelia then used the Sutherland Cable to pull herself to the top. However, before she opened the cockpit, she tapped three times against it. She scowled when she got no response back. 'I swear, if that girl scares me AGAIN, I'm gonna put a bullet in her just to spite her.' She pulled out her rifle and opened in cockpit. As she opened it, she aimed her rifle into it...and pressed it squarely on the unkillable girl's forehead.
"Do you intend to kill me twice in one day." She exclaimed, Cornelia noticing the amusement and annoyance in her voice.
"Depends," She replied, removing the rifle from the girl's head, "Can you pilot?"
The girl smirked, "I am familiar with planes, tanks, trains, boats, ca~" The girl then got a hard gun smack to the head, though she smiled as she fell to the cockpit floor. "But, yes, I do know how to pilot a knightmare. Not to the extent I could see you during my short viewing during the battle."
"Good," Cornelia then jumped to the one-armed Sutherland, "Then follow me. And, if you try to escape, while I won't be able to stop you, I can make it so that the entire settlement would be hunting you down,got it!"
"Hmph, I hope your brother is more entertaining than you." The woman replied, closing the hatch, and starting the boot-up process. Cornelia twitched her eye, 'Not to self, find out what she likes, then makes sure she's denied that for as long as I can.'. Cornelia entered the damaged Sutherland, and began leading the girl to the outskirts of the settlement.
10:45 P.M., The Nest, Ashford Academy
"My lady," Sayako, Lelouch and Nunnelly maid/bodyguard, implored Millicent Ashford, "You really must get some rest." The two of them we in the central operations area of the Nest, looking at all the screens that overlooked the tunnel network, waiting for Lelouch and Cornelia to return. After Cornelia stormed off, Milly got a call from her grandfather Ruben, telling her that Lelouch was in combat against the Britannian military. She wanted Ruben to send the two Sutherlands they had to get him outta there, but Ruben insisted they stay put. Not only were they not ready for combat, but Cornelia demanded that they keep any and all resources in check, in case 'Kingsglaive' doesn't need to be activated.
"Not until they're both safely home." Milly replied, still pacing around the operation section of the Nest. 'I thought I lost them once, I can't afford to lose them now.'
"Contact," One of the operation staff exclaimed, "Sensors read fast moving object coming down Personnel Tunnel 5."
"Readings indicate that the vehicle is Cornelia's motorcycle." Another replied, but Milly was already heading to one of the Nest's staging areas. She entered a large, circular area, with 5 massive entrances, and 8 smaller ones, not counting the one she came from. When she got there, she was not surprised to see Ruben waiting there.
"You see, Milly," Her grandfather exclaimed, putting on a strained smirk, pretending to not have been worried, "I told you they'd be fine."
Before Milly could retort, one of the tunnel entrances opened up, and before it opened all the way, a black motorcycle sped through. Milly was initial elated to see Lelouch's student uniform, but that elation soon turned to confusion, and then dread. She noticed Lelouch was wearing Cornelia's helmet...and that Lelouch was the only one on the bike.
"Lelouch," Milly pleaded to him, "W~Where's Cornelia?"
"Contact!" One of the operations' staff exclaimed, "Two Sutherlands approaching from Knightmare Tunnel 1! Signatures resemble those of the Pureblood faction!"
"Activating Tunnel 1's Defen~"
"Hold on!" Lelouch cried out, before activating the earpiece radio, "Cornelia, where are you?"
"Approaching the Staging Area, heading down KT 1. Please tell the boys not to shoot."
"It's Cornelia, let them through."
"Just in case, though," Ruben retorted, "Activate Staging Area Defensive Turret!"
"Roger, activating Staging Area Defensive Turret. Setting to Manual Control."
From the ceiling, a turret came out of the center, outfitted with dual armor-piercing chainguns, and targeting sensors (Look up Auto Turret Konstantin Leontyev on ArtStation), and aimed at one of the tunnels. The Knightmare Tunnel opened, revealing two Sutherlands, one of them having an arm missing.
"It's them." Lelouch exclaimed, which dashed all of Milly fear away. With the situation slightly calmed down, she rushed Lelouch, practically throwing herself onto him.
"You damn blockhead," She mumbling, though he could hear her clearly, "You started it way too early, you know. You scared me beyond belief, you know."
"I know." Lelouch replied boredly. She then proceeded to kiss him, much to Ruben's amusement. He always knew of the two's affection for each other during the years, but due to Kingsglaive, they didn't take it further than friends. Then Cornelia got tired of waiting and 'encouraged' the two to start dating. Speaking of which, Ruben turned around and saw Cornelia, as well as a green haired girl in a prisoner straight jacket.
"Might I ask who this girl is?"
"Someone connected to Clovis. But right now, we need to prepare."
"So," Milly replied with a grim look, "It's started."
"Yes, contact our forces and begin mobilization. Lelouch, in the morning, we need to talk."
The three then left to return to Ashford while Ruben had a talk with the girl. Operation Kingsglaive, the mission to topple the Holy Britannian Empire, had begun.
11:27 P.M., Ashford Academy
Lelouch was heading to his room in the manor, after saying goodnight to Nunnally. Apparently, she might have overheard a rumor concerning him and the military, so she refused to fall asleep until he got back. 'She dropped like a rock as soon as I told her I was safe.' He thought with a slight smirk. Ruben told the mystery girl that she would have a place to sleep inside the Nest. Lelouch then heard a running water, coming from one of the nearby bathrooms. He went to it, and knocked twice on the door.
"I'm decent, little brother." Cornelia's voice answered, but Lelouch could easily detect the strain and pain in her reply. He opened the door, and saw she was leaning over the bathroom faucet. Looking in the mirror, he saw her eyes red, and tears flowing down her cheeks.
'That's to be expected. We never intended to kill Clovis. He became a jerk, but he was still our brother. Not only that, but Cornelia always considered family sacred, even the cruel ones.' He placed a hand on her shoulder, but that seemed to break the dam on her. Cornelia collapsed to the ground, even more tears flowing.
"I can't stop seeing his face." Cornelia replied, her voice broken, " I know Clovis deserved death for what he did, but everytime I think about his death, all I can see is the sweet boy that loved to play chess with you, despite the fact he never beat you." Cornelia then stunned Lelouch by wrapping her arms around her legs, like a little child hiding themselves. "I don't know what's worse: That I killed him, or that I did it without hesitation. You might think that it was a knee jerk reaction, but it wasn't. I knew the power had limits. I had plenty of time to analyze the situation as he pulled the gun. And my first instinct was to gun him down. Have I become so heartless that I'll not hesitate to murder our own flesh and blood?"
Cornelia continued to cry as Lelouch wrapped his arms around her. The only thing he could do to comfort his sister.
10:30 A.M., Ashford Academy
Lelouch was entering the manor library, a tired look on his face. Cornelia had spent the next hour silently crying, before she finally composed herself enough to head to her private bedroom in the manor. Due to the circumstances, Ruben told Lelouch to have the day off. He mentioned to the school that he was near Shinjuku during the incident yesterday, so they believed that Lelouch was simply being let the day off to 'recover'.
'Ah, how to best lies have truth to them.' He rounded one of the corners, kept only for Cornelia's usage, and saw she was waiting for him. As he approached she pressed a button on her watch, then pulled one of the books on a bookcase attached to the wall. This moved the entire bookcase forward and to the side, revealing a hidden elevator.
"Status on the Sutherlands?" Lelouch inquired, as the two entered the elevator.
"Little to early to inquire about them, aren't you?"
"We need to move fast, before Clovis's replacement is appointed."
"Well, we can ask Robbie once we get to R&D."
The elevator reached its destination, and the two entered the Nest, the central hub for Lelouch and Cornelia resistance network. Shortly after they found the Ashfords, Ruben offered to help them, despite their protests that this was their rebellion. But Ruben was having none of it. Lelouch still remembers the words Ruben told him, cheesy as they were.
'It's easy to only see the good when you're at the top. I think it's time we bring them down to our level.'
So, over the years, Ruben, Cornelia, and Lelouch built an information network, in preparation for Kingsglaive. Kingsglaive had a simple first step, but, arguably, it was the hardest: push the Britannian military out of Japan. If they could do that, then, hopefully, it would inspire other areas to rebel as well. Bit optimistic for Lelouch's tastes, but the simplest plans often produced the best results. The two headed down the west tunnel.
"By the way, sis. The pilot of the Glasgow from yesterday. Turns out, it's Kallen Stadfelt."
Cornelia eyebrow rose up, "I already had her pegged for her 'sickly' demeanor, but to know that she's a terrorist."
"Perhaps we should take a closer look at her. We might've missed something."
The Nest was consisted of five main parts. The Entrance was the smallest of the five, mainly being used to move to and from the other four zones, which were arranged in a diamond. Operations, stationed at the east, was the nerve center for the Nest. It had access to the information network, and maintained the Nest, making sure everything kept moving forward.
Down south was the still under construction Factory section. It was going to be where they would make more Knightmares, but it was not yet finished yet. As of now, they simply used it as a big storage area for any knightmares that happen to come into their possession.
At the north laid the Staging Area, where all of the sibling's forces would move to and from the Nest. Being the first section constructed after the Entrance, it also boasted the heaviest defences. Not only that, but it had it's own smaller operation center, which controlled the defensive turrets both in the Staging Area, as well as the ones littered throughout the tunnels surrounding the Tokyo Settlement, nicknames The Hive.
To the west laid Research & Development, where Ruben and his scientists worked tirelessly on perfecting any concepts the siblings might have.
'If we can get the Morgana and the Gorgon up and running, they will drastically boost Kingsglaive effectiveness. Although that new knightmare may but a wrench into that.' Lelouch was many things, clever, prideful, and maybe a little insane. But he wasn't a fool. He knew that having a symbol can severely boost an army's effectiveness.
The two entered R&D, and saw two Sutherlands. One was painted jet black, the Morgana, while the other was purple, the Gorgon. Not only that, but the purple one's head was slightly different. Instead of the normal Sutherland head, it had a head in the shape of a Glasgow, but instead of 4 scanning eyes, it had only one.
"Ah, Lady Cornelia, Lord Lelouch," one of the scientists approached the two, "I assume you're here about the progress on the Sutherlands.". They didn't want to be referred to as nobility, but figured trying to persuade them otherwise would be almost fruitless. Especially given the more… colorful members of their group. Before either of them could answer, a loud voice boomed from the Morgana.
"Are those gobdaws out there!?" The voice yelled out. The cockpit opened, and out came a man in his late 50s. He had yellow haired buzzed down, and his orange eyes poured fury at the siblings. "YOU!" He then slid down the knightmare's arm, and dropped the rest of the way. "Do you have ANY idea of a fecking mess you've made for me." He walked angrily towards Cornelia, not even paying attention to Lelouch. The grim and dust covered his uniform as he looked down at Cornelia, half a head taller than her. The scientists, used to the man's antics, simply continued their jobs. The man was born in Ireland, but moved to Japan shortly before the invasion. Picked up by Ruben early on, he's been the head of construction ever since.
"Well,~" Lelouch tried to retort.
"Shut your gob, I'll hear none of it." At this point he was right in Cornelia's face.
"Good to see you too, Robbie MacNamara." Lelouch retorted with a bored expression.
"NOW, tell me. You want me to build the factory faster, but HOW can I do that when this header," Robbie jerked a thumb at Lelouch, "Is off fostering about, and making things a living hell for us. We planned to have the factory, knightmares, and plenty of lads with us when Kingsglaive began, but now we have NONE of those. You really hamed the plan up."
The entire central lab was silent as the two stared at each other.
"You done." Cornelia finally replied. Robbie let out a long sigh.
"Yeah. I'm just a bit jaded, as you can expect. We had planned this so well, and now everything's gone into chaos."
"I get that, Robbie, but you know we wouldn't have done this if we had any other choi~"
"DON'T give me any of your guffs. You two are too sleeveen to give excuses." He began leaving the lab, heading to the factory section. "I'm just glad you made it out of Shinjuku. Now, I've got to pull the factory crew's sock up, as we need this done way ahead of schedule."
After he left, the scientist continued his report to the siblings. He stated that, while the Gorgon's technically combat ready, the added bonus of the Knightmare Disabler Shield, or K.D.S., causes a huge power drain on it that they haven't figured out how to fix. On top of that, they haven't cracked the special feature for the Morgana yet. The report continued for about another hour, leaving with the fact that the Gorgon's Sutherland was not designed to have the K.D.S, and the high specs Cornelia implemented with it. If they could get a Glousester, they could easily solve the power issue.
"Alright," Cornelia replied to the scientist, "Anything else?" Just then, a muffled boom occured in a large metal room inside the laboratory. At the same moment, a human-size dent appeared on one of the room's walls.
"Oh, dear," Lelouch happily exclaimed, "What are the twins doing this time." The two moved to the room. Lelouch pressed a button on the door. A few seconds later, a light above the door turned from red to green. He opened the door, and the two entered. They saw a large assortment of guns, blades, cannons, all strewn about the place. At one end of the room was a woman with long blood red hair and snow white eyes, barely even 20, holding some sort of large rifle, and aiming at the other end. At the end, or, more precisely, on that end of the room, was a large suit of armor, that reminded Cornelia of some sort of high tech knight. And it was wedged into the wall, with a massive dent in the front.
The arm lifted the face mask up, revealing a boy, not even 20, with short white hair and red eyes. He was about to say something, but then coughed up blood.
"Goddamnit," the boy yelled out, still stuck in the wall, "You stupid bitch, Tolia. IT DIDN'T KILL ME! YOU SAID IT WAS A GUARANTEED KILL!"
"Well," the girl, Tolia, retorted, "It would've been if you adjusted the third bolt to the LEFT, Talio, INSTEAD OF THE RIGHT!"
Talio and Tolia were the 'heads' of R&D, although they mostly just tinker with their tools instead of helping the other scientists. Both hailing from Area 6, though they say their twins, Ruben actually hasn't confirmed that. The twins rarely leave their test room (they practically sleep there), and even Cornelia doesn't want to try to get a blood sample from either of them. The last guy who did ended up pretty much like how the brother was at the moment.
"And," Cornelia intervened, "What are you building this time?"
"Oh," Talio replied as several medical personnel were busy removing the armor, as well as treating any injuries he had, "A rifle that can pretty much make~"
"Any knightmare useless against it," Tolia replied, "As well as~"
"Armor that can survive it. Now if only~"
"This viado would get the adjustments right!"
The two then decided to leave the twins to their tinkering and return to Ashford, as being gone too long would arouse suspicions.
August 17th, Ashford Academy
'This is why I hate Britannians' Kallen thought as she took a shower at the Ashford Academy manor. Despite hating Ashford, mostly her having to pretend to be sickly, Ohgi insisted that they should lay low, and, for her, that meant going back to school. It was… bearable at first, then, today, a student named Lelouch Lamperouge approached her. He wanted to speak to her about joining a school club, something she has yet to do. As they were walking to the manor, he told her that Milly was planning on surprising her into joining the Student Council, but he figured she'd beat her to it by calmly inviting her. Kallen was glad that she was getting a warning, but she was hesitant on actually accepting. If she did, it would make resisting Britannia and free Japan more complicated if she had to attend meetings.
They had entered the manor when she saw three people on the upper floor pop up. Apparently they were looking for something for one of their classmates called Nina. The Student President, Milly, was rightly annoyed that Lelouch spoiled her surprise, but happily introduced her to the other members of the Council. The only one not present was Lelouch's cousin, Euphie Levett, who was currently having a discussion with the equestrian club over budgeting.
It was at this moment, one of the members called Rivalz decided to 'make things interesting', as he pulled out a wine bottle. A little shenanigans from another member called Shirley, and she ended up drenched in the wine.
Just then, a knock came from the door.
"Hello?" A female voice inquired, "I've brought fresh clothes."
"You can come in. I've already drawn the curtain."
The door opened, and through the curtain, she could see the woman bring in a stack of clothes and put it on the counter.
"You must forgive Rivalz. He wouldn't actually use the wine, but his personality, coupled with the others, can make his jokes seem genuine. I hope you don't mind, but their my sister's clothes."
"It's okay." Kallen replied, but she sensed something familiar about the woman's voice. 'She sounds like K2.' "I'm a little surprised you got them so fast."
"Well, actually, my sister, as well as my cousins, live here in the manor. It would be hard for my cousin Nunnally to live in the dorms. Not only that, but since me and my sister's home was destroyed during the war, we don't have a home either. The Principal was kind enough to let the four of us to live here, though."
"I see." She could feel like the woman was smirking.
"Hmph, I always liked playing with Lelouch. He is incredibly smart, especially at chess."
'Chess? Why would she mention che~Wait, K1 and K2, P5, Q1. Those are terms for chess pieces. There's no way.'
"Unfortunately, his activities brought him near Shinjuku a couple days ago."
'Screw it, taking the chance.'
"Hey, miss,"
"Levett. Cornelia Levett."
"Miss Levett, could you hand me my pouch?"
A short silence occured between the two.
"Sure." Kallen saw Cornelia grab her pouch. She kept her back to Kallen as she handed her the pouch, but as her arm entered the shower, Kallen gripped the arm, causing the pouch to fall to the shower floor.
"I don't know what's funnier," Cornelia said as Kallen went to pick up the pouch, "That you're trying to interrogate me from inside a shower."
Kallen picked up the pouch, and activated the hidden dagger inside. She then heard a clicking sound next to her.
"Or that you didn't realize I was leading you on."
Kallen looked up, and saw that Cornelia had a pistol aimed right at her.
'Shit, she played me like a fiddle.' Kallen stared down the barrel of the gun.
"Though your actions did help me confirm that you are the Glasgow pilot, Q1."
"So you are K2. Why the hell would a couple of Britannians~"
"We have our reasons. It doesn't take much to hate your own country. But I'm not here to interrogate or assassinate, unlike you."
"What do you mean."
"Me and my brother Lelouch~"
"I thought you said he was your cousin."
"Just one of the secrets you may earn in time. But the important part is that we're looking to recruit some rebels."
"If you think I'm gonna listen to some Bri~"
"Use your head! The last time the Japanese were able to defeat Britannia was 7 years ago. Since then, it's been defeat after defeat. Yet, two days ago, not only did you do that, but you crushed them."
"Until that white knightmare crushed us."
"Which means that they would've lost if that knightmare wasn't in play. Me and my brother plan to topple Britannia, but we need an army, and Lelouch has selected you to be the first recruits."
"Why."
"Because he sees you as rebels, fighting to free your home, instead of terrorists simply striking out in anger."
"No, I mean why tell me who you are."
A long silence ensued between the two. Then, to Kallen surprise, Cornelia flipped the gun around.
"Insurance."
"What?"
"Me and my brother will become symbols of rebellion against Britannia. To do that we need the people to not know who we are, even our own men will not know who we are. But, if at least one person knows, then their faith in us will be strengthened."
"How?"
"Well, let's say we lose our way, then that person can straighten us out. Or, better yet, if we abandon you…"
"Then we can easily find you."
"Correct. Now, will you at least arrange a meeting between us and Ohgi's group."
"How do you kno~"
"You really out to have better phone connections."
Cornelia then easily removed her arm from Kallen.
'I can't believe how played I was. She could've easily killed me whenever she wanted. But she has a point. If she and Lelouch are building an army, considering this was the first victory since Itsukushima. She's not asking for loyalty, simply a meeting.'
"I'm sure I can get him to agree to a meeting. Where?"
"4 P.M., day after tomorrow. Observation deck of Tokyo Tower."
Cornelia then left the bathroom. 'That went better than expected. Seriously, such a skilled pilot, yet so easily ruled by emotions.' It was a risky plan, telling Kallen that they were K1 and 2, but Cornelia insisted that, while hiding your identity from you your allies can help, hiding it from all your allies will only bite you back hard.
After a few minutes, Kallen exited the Bathroom, wearing Euphie's spare clothes. The two then headed towards the room that the Council members gathered after Rivalz's shenanigans. As they entered, Cornelia could hear the news playing. She noticed that both Nunnally and Euphie were also there.
"Cornelia," Nunnally in her chair yelled out to her, "It's awful."
"What's happening?"
Milly turned to her, "Prince Clovis was found dead."
"They're saying he was killed." Rivalz replied, adding context to help Cornelia. She looked at the screen to see a man giving a speech.
'Wait, that man. I recognize him from somewhere.'
"Prince Clovis has been taken from us. He fought for peace and justice against all of the Elevens. He died a martyr. We must all bury our sorrow, and carry on his will."
'Okay, first, we both know that's the propaganda talking. Second, is that Jeremiah Gottwald? I remember him vaguely from Marianne's personal guard. Third, if they waited this long to announce Clovis's death, then they surely must have a scapegoat for who to take the blame. It's a shame, but whoever they choose will end up dying. We can't afford to do something as public as a prisoner rescue.'
"We interrupt this broadcast with breaking news. The man suspected as the murderer has been captured. According to this report, the suspect is an honorary Britanian. Private Suzaku Kururugi, a former Eleven and honorary Britanian. I repeat, Suzaku Kururugi arrested for murder."
'Well, that's just fucking great!'