Lelouch of the Wings of Rebellion

by MagusZero

In an alternate world without Geass, Lelouch awakens to another power from the Collective Unconscious - Persona. Leading a band of phantom thieves through the Metaverse, he seeks to topple the Britannian regime, stealing one corrupt heart at a time. Featuring the cast and setting of Code Geass, put into Persona 5's overarching scenario.

66. The Glinda Knights

As the Grandberry cruised over the Chinese Federation, Kallen was busy familiarizing herself with the Knightmare Frame that she would be using in the battle ahead.

She had been surprised by just how eager Marrybell had been to get her into the simulators, which of course meant that she had been forced to change into the Glinda Knights' ridiculous pilot suit almost as soon as she had boarded the Grandberry, much to her embarrassment. She also had no doubt that Marrybell had very much enjoyed seeing her in that getup, adding to her indignation.

Yet that feeling had quickly subsided once the simulations began. There was something about being behind the controls of a Knightmare Frame for Kallen... She was in control. She had always intuitively felt every Knightmare Frame she had piloted, be they real or Cognitions, more as an extension of her own body than as mere machines. The movement of the Frames she had used so far were never as fluid as she would like, but there was no denying the power behind even an obsolete machine like her old red Glasgow.

As a 5th generation Frame, a Sutherland was already a major step up from a Glasgow in handling, speed, durability, and firepower. The basic layout of the controls in the Sutherland simulator was much the same as her old Glasgow, so Kallen didn't need much time to familiarize herself with them, though she noticed that they had been streamlined for greater ease of use.

However, as Kallen booted up the simulator's systems, she saw that several of the Frame's limiters had been disengaged. That was definitely unusual. Ordinary pilots couldn't handle the sheer power of a Knightmare Frame without risking serious injury to themselves or damage to the Frame, and so they were confined to operating within factory-set parameters. Those parameters could be overridden in the case of an emergency, or tuned to the pilot's combat data as they became more experienced, but turning them off was generally seen as dangerous, and verging on suicidal for new pilots. As a member of the Resistance, she couldn't truly say what Britannia's typical Knightmare training programs looked like, but perhaps it was a way of teaching new pilots why the limiters existed in the first place?

No, Marrybell knew that she was at least experienced enough with a Knightmare Frame to already understand the purpose of their limiters. Rather, it was a clear challenge from the 88th Princess, and an invitation for her to run wild.

Still, Kallen couldn't help but smirk.

"Let's show her what this badass mother can do."

She had wasted no time in pushing the Sutherland simulator to its limits, drawing every last ounce of performance that she could from it. That wasn't to say that an ordinary Knightmare would suddenly become an unstoppable terror on the battlefield without those limiters. Mass-production Knightmares, such as Sutherlands, tended to have significantly lower peak performance than the prototypes they had been developed from, to reduce manufacturing costs and simplify maintenance. But in the hands of the right pilot...

She doubted that Sutherlands had been designed with acrobatics in mind, but she didn't particularly care. She used her Slash Harkens to rapidly gain elevation and pushed off from the walls of tall buildings to evade enemy fire and attack from unexpected angles. To be fair, all of her opponents were really A.I.s controlled by the simulator, and thus they couldn't feel surprise, but they were designed with real combat data, which the simulator used to extrapolate likely responses, and were even programmed with some ability to adapt their behavior to her tactics. But now that she was on a level playing field with her enemies, technologically speaking, they simply couldn't keep up with her.

Really, the simulator was state-of-the-art, and it was more challenging than any jury-rigged simulators that she had access to back in her brother's resistance cell, which had been invariably been hooked up to her old Glasgow's computer. Their A.I. was rudimentary at best, and their graphics equally primitive, but in the Glinda Knights' simulator, Kallen almost felt like she really was in the middle of the action. The cockpit block even had motion feedback, tilting and shaking to mimic the acceleration a pilot would feel as they maneuvered their Knightmare.

She loved every second of it.

Aggressively pressing her advantage, she had dealt the last pair of enemies finishing blows. She could use both ranged and melee weapons with a high degree of proficiency, but nothing beat the rush of close-quarters combat.

No sooner had Kallen disembarked from the Sutherland simulator, she found Marrybell waiting for her, with instructions to immediately proceed to the Gloucester simulator, which was already being readied for her.

Most of the Glinda Knights used Sutherlands, as was true for the rest of the Britannia military these days, though each of the Glinda Knights' Frames were heavily customized. They had weapons specific to their pilots' fighting styles, and a variety of experimental technologies, which they had access to in exchange for agreeing to test it for Britannia and a number of military contractors that some of the members served as test pilots for. However, Kallen also suspected that more than a few strings had been pulled along the way. Some of those strings had perhaps been pulled by the Emperor himself, as he was responsible for Marrybell commanding the Grandberry in the first place, though Kallen tried not to think about that.

Of the Glinda Knights, only Oldrin and Marrybell piloted Gloucesters, but they had the same sorts of modifications as did the Sutherlands. Technically, Gloucesters were also 5th generation Frames, and had in fact begun service as remodeled Sutherlands, but it was a common misconception among those who didn't follow Knightmare development closely to think of Gloucesters as 6th generation Frames. There actually were no proper 6th generation Frames, as far as Kallen knew, since most improvements in Knightmare design since the start of the 5th generation were too incremental to be considered anything but an extension of the same.

The misconception was perpetuated because the Gloucester was known to be the first Knightmare Frame fully dedicated to destroying other Knightmare Frames, especially at close range. Yes, Sutherlands had been designed with an expectation of facing other Knightmares in combat, unlike Glasgows, but Gloucesters were built specifically as anti-Knightmare units from the ground up. Moreover, while Gloucesters had entered into mass-production, they were still largely reserved for commanders, their personal bodyguards, and other elite units, due to their greater expense and somewhat higher performance than a standard Sutherland, which further contributed to the misconception.

That left little doubt in Kallen's mind that she had impressed Marrybell with her piloting skills.

While a Gloucester was a superior machine to a Sutherland, that didn't mean that Kallen found the Gloucester simulator any easier, as Marrybell had increased the number of enemies that she would be facing. The enemies were also more powerful, with Gloucesters accounting for at least half of the enemy force this time, rather than appearing as lone commander units as in the last simulation, and they were smarter too, with better reaction times and accuracy.

"Is this the worst you can do?" Kallen murmured. "I'm just getting warmed up!"

Gloucesters were slightly shorter than standard Sutherlands, but had broader, thicker, and more angular shoulders, and heavier tungsten armor over entire body, painted over in a dull purple, with black over the joints. They had headpieces that strongly resembled the helmet of a medieval knight with a narrow, cruel-looking visor. At first, it may have seemed merely a wasteful example of style over substance, but a Gloucester's unfeeling visage, paired with its deadly reputation, could strike fear into the hearts of all but the most determined opposition, making it nothing less than a form of deliberate psychological warfare. All the while, the four electronic green eyes set in a Gloucester's forehead, actually the exposed parts of a single Factsphere Sensor, covered in retractable armor, would remain ever-vigilant.

The Gloucester also represented a trend in Britannian Knightmare design, a gradual return to a more human-like body shape. The 3rd generation Ganymede, which Lelouch's mother had piloted, had been tall and spindly compared to modern Knightmares, but had strongly resembled the human form, save for a very truncated head, and possessed a level of dexterity that no Frame since had managed to match. The Gloucester was still far from what the Ganymede had been in that regard, but it had also come a long way from the short and stocky Glasgow, and its elongated, totally inhuman head.

But that was only a passing thought for Kallen, as she threw herself into battle once more, moving quickly from enemy squad to enemy squad, eliminating them and then swiftly withdrawing before they could join up. Even she couldn't take on an entire army at once in a single Sutherland. Defeat in detail: that was a strategy that she knew Lelouch would approve of.

The enemy came in several waves, but Kallen could handle them well enough. At last, there was one more group of enemies, four Gloucesters in all, but something was different about them. Each had a custom paint job, their performance was significantly above that of the other Gloucesters, and they were equipped with weapons that deviated from the standard layout.

They were able to press Kallen in a way that no opponent had before. One-on-one, she felt that they might have been evenly matched, or that she might even hold the advantage, but they had her outnumbered, and pursued her relentlessly, denying her the chance to catch one separate from the others. Alarms blared from the simulator console. The Frame's left arm had sustained critical damage. But still, she couldn't escape them. Her Gloucester was weighed down too much by its heavy armor and lance.

By itself, a Gloucester's Electromagnetic Jousting Lance was a fearsome weapon. It had enough mass and piercing power to easily go through an enemy Knightmare's cockpit, killing the pilot within before they could eject. In the event that it failed to land a blow that was immediately lethal, it also had four prongs built into its sides, which would deploy to prevent the target from escaping. Then, the lance would overload the target's systems with electricity, disabling them and eventually causing its core to go critical. Getting caught in such a way was a near-certain death sentence for any hapless pilot who had managed to avoid having their body skewered by the lance itself.

But now, the lance was more of a liability to her than anything else, slowing her down too much to be able to strike a decisive blow while she was busy dodging enemy attacks.

Kallen threw her lance at one of the enemy Knightmares with her Frame's still-intact right arm. The enemy deftly dodged to the side, but Kallen hadn't intended for the lance to hit. Instead, the enemy Knightmare moved directly into the path of her Gloucester's damaged arm, which she had ejected like a rocket. The damaged arm exploded, and spewed thick smoke that would obscure the enemy's sensors. Using her Slash Harkens to rapidly propel herself past the enemy Knightmare, she grabbed her fallen lance once more, and thrust it through the back of the enemy's cockpit block and out the other side, a certain kill.

Seizing her momentary advantage, Kallen took to the air again with her Slash Harkens, and tossed a Chaos Mine at the surviving enemies. She had only one of them, strapped to her Knightmare's hip, but it would spray the surrounding area with a storm of shrapnel lasting for several seconds. She didn't expect it to actually defeat her foes, and indeed, they quickly moved out of range, but it succeeded at briefly separating them.

That was all the opening she needed. Diving in, she closed in on one of the enemy Knightmare Frames, deftly avoiding its fire, before moving into a vicious kick that swept upward to knock away its weapon. Just as Sutherlands had not been designed for acrobatics, Gloucesters had not been designed for martial arts, but Kallen made it work anyway, even as her machine protested at being pushed so hard. Grabbing her foe's Knightmare-sized Assault Rifle before it hit the ground, she opened fire at point-blank range. She must have managed to hit its Yggdrasil Drive, because sakuradite tended to explode violently whenever anything struck it with significant force, and the enemy Knightmare was blown apart before its auto-ejection system could activate.

"That's more like it," Kallen grinned, feeling that the odds had been greatly evened already. She supposed that others might see her fighting style as dirty, ruthless, and spitting in the face of supposed chivalric ideals of honorable combat, but she couldn't care less about what her enemies thought. Britannia dirtied the hands of anyone who worked for it, was nothing if not ruthless, and claimed there was honor in oppressing those who couldn't fight back. They could keep their hypocritical, self-righteous bullshit to themselves!

Of the two remaining enemy Knightmares, one seemed to have been modified into an artillery-type, carrying a massive cannon, while the closer Knightmare, which seemed to be the squadron leader, had a large two-handed sword.

It charged toward her.

Kallen realized at once what her opponents were planning. The squadron leader would engage her with its sword, while the artillery-type would try to snipe her from long range, counting on her being too distracted by her fight with the leader to notice. She would have gone after the artillery-type herself to eliminate it as a threat, but the squadron leader's Knightmare was significantly faster than hers.

On one hand, it could have simply been modeling the sorts of modifications that the Glinda Knights and other elite pilots might make to their Knightmare Frames to increase their performance. On the other, the computer could have been cheating, making it move faster than a Knightmare as heavily armored as Gloucester had any right to, though after a moment, Kallen decided that wasn't likely. A simulation that blatantly deviated from reality was counterproductive as a training tool. But either way, she wasn't going to be able to avoid a confrontation with the sword-wielder. Already, their Knightmare was almost upon her.

The squadron leader was a far more challenging opponent, and she knew she needed an opening if she was going to get past their defenses. Perhaps if she could deflect their sword with the armor of her Gloucester's good arm, she could take advantage of the moment it would take her opponent to pull their sword back for another strike, and...

Suddenly, the sword's blade began vibrating back and forth rapidly, so quickly that, after a moment, the motion could no longer be tracked by the eye, betrayed only by a slight shimmering along the edge of the blade, followed by it taking on a red-hot glow another moment later.

The red sword swung down toward her. Kallen only had a split second to react, but she knew that it couldn't be anything good for her, and instinctively twisted her Knightmare back.

Damage reports blared on her console again, the sword cutting through her Knightmare's arm as if it was a hot knife through butter. If she hadn't moved when she did, it would have likely gone right down through her cockpit block too, ending the simulation right there and then.

Fantastic. The Gloucester's heavy armor wasn't just limiting her speed and range of movement, but also it turned out to be completely useless against the enemy's shiny new sword. Kallen forced back her frustration at the lack of a command to purge her armor just like she had with her Knightmare's damaged arm. She could really use some more speed now!

But she had more immediate concerns. In leaning back to avoid the sword-wielder's killing blow, she had put her Knightmare off-balance, momentarily leaving it incapable of performing conventional evasive maneuvers. In the next instant, proximity alarms sounded for an incoming projectile. Of course the artillery-type would take its shot now!

"Like hell!" she shouted. It was just a simulation, but she wasn't just going to let it end like that!

She may have lost most of her Knightmare's remaining arm, but she could still manually eject the stump, and the sword-wielder was too close to have any hope of dodging or blocking it.

The stump slammed into the sword-wielder's cockpit block, not hard enough to breach it, but enough to stagger them for a second. But that wasn't all. The recoil of the ejection quickly pushed her own Knightmare to the ground.

It was Newton's Third Law: every action produced an equal and opposite reaction force. She might not be a total braniac like Lelouch, Leila, or Nina were, but she was still one of the top students in their class. True, a lot of it was simply being able to regurgitate whatever drivel Britannia tried to force down her throat, but she still did well in mathematics and the natural sciences. Britannia usually gave a more even-handed treatment of those subjects, though topics like natural selection and biological evolution were just too convenient a vehicle for Britannia to push its Social Darwinist propaganda; they were rife with racist 'science' meant to justify the systematic oppression of non-Britannians in the minds of the next generation.

Wasting no time, Kallen locked the legs of her Knightmare around those of her opponent, restraining them. There was only another moment until the projectile from the artillery-type impacted, but with her own Knightmare prone against the ground, it would fly over her and strike her opponent instead.

"Sayonara," she said, activating her cockpit ejection system.

Her cockpit block rocked violently back and forth. She must have been caught on the edge of the ensuing explosion. But it scarcely mattered. By ejecting her cockpit, she had resigned from the simulation, and a moment later, the words "MISSION FAILED" appeared on her viewscreen, and that was more a blow to her pride than whether she would have survived the ejection or not.

She almost had that squadron of Knightmares at the end, and that only made it more frustrating! Everything about that simulation, from start to finish, had given her the impression that she had been purposefully set up to fail, and she had so been looking forward to wiping whatever smug look Marrybell had off her face, spiting her by succeeding regardless.

Yet Marrybell simply smiled as Kallen emerged from the simulator, and asked if she would like to have another try on it.

"Like you needed to ask."

The simulation booted up as before, but Kallen immediately noticed that something was different. Readouts of her Gloucester's systems showed that the heaviest armor plating had been removed, and it was no longer equipped with an EM Jousting Lance. Instead, it had a new, lighter pair of weapons.

"MVS Knives?" Kallen asked no one in particular. She had never heard of such a weapon before. What she could tell was that they were a bit less than a meter and a half long, and they resting in a pair of sheaths that had been affixed to the sides of her Gloucester's cockpit block.

Pulling up more detailed readouts on her new weapons, she saw what MVS stood for: Maser Vibration Sword. At once, the pieces fell into place for her. It had to be a scaled-down version of the weapon that the enemy squadron leader had used against her at the end of the last simulation. Though it seemed a bit awkward to refer her weapons as both swords and knives, so Kallen decided to think of them simply as 'Maser Vibration Knives'.

Kallen felt herself smile a little bit.

Things would be different this time.

The simulation began much the same way. The number of enemies had once again increased, and almost all of the Sutherlands had been replaced with Gloucesters now, but with her Knightmare's increased agility and superior offensive power, she was able to streak through them, barely pausing for a moment. If anything, Kallen was impatient for that elite squadron of Knightmares to show up again, so that she could avenge her defeat at their hands.

Sure enough, they made their appearance, though they were now backed up by a number of regular Gloucesters as well. Individually, the reinforcements posed little threat to her, and she could dispatch them with little effort. However, she had to be careful not to overuse her Maser Vibration Knives on the small fry, as they quickly guzzled power from her Knightmare. But if she had judged correctly, she had just enough left to finish off the enemy aces.

She made sure to take out the artillery-type first this time, so that it wouldn't be able to snipe her while she was busy fighting the others. It had surprisingly good reflexes, and was much faster than one would expect, given that it was carrying such a bulky weapon, but it had no defense against a clean hit from one of her Maser Vibration Knives.

The first ace dispatched, she quickly targeted the next two. While far above the bulk of the enemy pilots, they seemed somewhat less skilled than the A.I. of the artillery-type she had just taken out and that of the sword-wielder. Quickly dispatching their escorts, she used combination of feints, acrobatics, martial arts, and Slash Harken-assisted aerial attacks to eliminate her primary targets.

She was so much faster now without all of that cumbersome armor, and while that meant her Knightmare was not likely to survive many hits, even glancing ones, the point was moot if she didn't let herself get hit in the first place. Her Knightmare was in much better shape than it had been at this point in the last simulation. For starters, she still had both of her Knightmare's arms. Now, all that stood between her and clearing the simulation was the sword-wielding ace and his escorts.

Her opponent raised their Maser Vibration Sword as they zoomed toward her. Kallen knew that she needed something to block it. One well-placed hit from that would definitely destroy her Knightmare. It was a gamble, but perhaps her Maser Vibration Knives would be up to the task. They hadn't even chipped, or shown visible signs of wear, even after carving through so many enemy Knightmares. Certainly nothing else she had stood a chance of blocking that sword.

Raising one of her Maser Vibration Knives, Kallen met the sword's blade with her own. She felt her Knightmare straining to slow the heavier sword, but her knife held firm. The two blades furiously shook against each other, but neither could cut the other, at least not over so short a time.

Still, a short time was all she needed.

Kallen quickly brought up her other Maser Vibration Knife, and with it she was able to stop the sword's descent. Shoving it back, she put some distance between her and the sword-wielder, and exchanged a rapid flurry of blows with them, trying to probe their defenses. Her opponent no longer had an outright speed advantage over her, but their reflexes meant that they could at least keep up with her. While she had managed to dispatch the sword-wielder's escorts in short order, they still had an almost full reserve of energy, while hers was getting dangerously low.

Once again, she needed to find an unexpected angle of attack if she was to take the sword-wielder down, and she needed to do it fast.

A plan crystallized in her mind, one just crazy enough to work.

She stabbed one of her Maser Vibration Knives into a wall, and turned it off, leaving the knife firmly embedded within the hole that it had carved. Gripping the knife, she used it as purchase point, pushing off of it so that her next kick would come in faster and at a different angle than the A.I. or even most real pilots would have predicted. Her enemy responded quickly, bringing down their Maser Vibration Sword, but Kallen was ready, and just a hair faster.

She slashed upward with her remaining knife, severing the enemy Knightmare's arms at the wrists. She couldn't entirely avoid the falling debris, as her momentum carried her forward, but in the next moment, she crashed into their Knightmare, knocking them over. They recovered quickly, righting their Knightmare, but by then Kallen had retrieved the knife that she had left in the wall and reactivated it, driving the blade into the front of their cockpit block to deliver the coup de grâce.

Kallen found herself letting out a deep breath. Her Energy Filler was at 5%, and her Knightmare had sustained significant damage during the collision, but her machine was still standing.

A moment later, the words "MISSION COMPLETE" appeared on her viewscreen, along with various statistics on her performance during the simulation. Glancing over them, Kallen couldn't help but smirk slightly. It was definitely a new record for her. She couldn't have done even half of what she just accomplished with her old Glasgow.

Disembarking from the simulator's cockpit block, Kallen saw that Marrybell was waiting for her once again, and this time Oldrin was by her side as well.

"My, my, my!" Marrybell said with a wicked grin. "Even back in Mementos, I had the sense that you were something special, but when Oz here told me that a certain someone thought that you would be on the level of the Knights of the Round... I knew I had to put that to the test!"

"Wait..." Kallen rounded on Oldrin. "Just how much of my conversation with him did you overhear earlier?!"

"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but I heard enough of it," Oldrin admitted.

"Th-that was personal!" Kallen sputtered.

"I'm not a gossip," Oldrin replied. "I just passed that along to Her Highness because it's not every day that you meet a pilot claimed to be so skilled. We had to know exactly where your abilities really were, because that could have a big impact on our mission."

"And indeed, it will!" Marrybell said, her devious smile growing even wider. She turned back to Kallen. "You probably already realized this, but the second simulation was meant to be unfair. In fact, it was designed to be practically impossible to win as a solo mission. You had already more than impressed me with your performance in the Sutherland simulator, but I wanted to see how you'd approach such a situation, and if it would reveal any skills that you wouldn't need against lesser opponents.

"You continued to exceed my every expectation," Marrybell continued. "You demonstrated quick, outside-of-the-box thinking, kept on fighting, in spite of the odds, and when you did finally eject, you made sure that your opponent would be taken out first, while ensuring that you would live to fight another day. Suffice to say, you proved to be the exception in that simulation."

"Your reflexes are insanely fast," Oldrin added.

"As for your final opponents..." Marrybell nodded, "Their A.I.s and Knightmare specs were based on the combat data of four of the Knights of the Round."

"Wait, what?" Kallen asked. "How'd you even get your hands on their data anyway? I doubt you just asked the Emperor for it."

Marrybell gave her a sweet smile. "Of course not. Let's just say... I have my ways. But really... that's not what's important here. You're a Rounds-level pilot! No... perhaps you're even better than the Knights of the Round!"

"Of course, a simulator can never truly match the skill and ingenuity of an actual, living pilot," Oldrin said to Kallen. "The real Knights of the Round would be more challenging than the A.I.s you just faced. Still... I have to hand it to you! I was the best Devicer working under Her Highness, until today, but I know when I'm beat.

"Getting an operational efficiency rating over 90% in the simulator already puts you among the best pilots in the Empire," Oldrin continued. "I usually score around 92% myself, and it's said that most of the Knights of the Round don't regularly score over 94-95%. Yet already, you got a score of 97%!"

"He... was right..." Kallen murmured, her eyes distant, before quickly focusing them back on Oldrin. "You're not just pulling my leg, are you?!"

"Of course not," Oldrin replied.

Marrybell leaned in closer. "Say... your boyfriend didn't specifically seek you out for your skill with a Knightmare, did he? Because if he did, I'm picking up a strong 'Marianne the Flash' vibe from your relationship."

"Oh my! You're right!" Oldrin gasped.

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "It wasn't like that at all."

But a comparison to the former Knight of Six turned Empress seemed to have been inevitable now. Even Lelouch had likened her skills and determination to that his mother, and both Oldrin and Marrybell would have also been familiar with Marianne the Flash from the Imperial Court in Pendragon. Oldrin's mother was even a fellow Knight of the Round alongside Marianne the Flash! If Oldrin and Marrybell saw just as much of Marianne in her as Lelouch did, there would be little that she could say that would convince them otherwise, especially after witnessing her performance in the simulations.

Still, was it just her or did Oldrin look more concerned than surprised?

"Then I'll have to hear the story of how you two really met one day," Marrybell said. "But in any case, he's a lot more like his father than he'd care to admit."

"And you were still being held back by the limitations of a Gloucester's hardware," Oldrin added. "If you had a Knightmare as nimble as Marianne the Flash's Ganymede, and with the power of a modern Knightmare behind it... you'd be unstoppable, leaving just streaks of crimson in your wake."

Marrybell chuckled. "Indeed. But be careful. If Earl Asplund sees your simulator scores, he might decide that 'Warrant Officer Karen Stratmann' is the final component he needs to complete his new Knightmare. Then you'd have barely any time to spend with your boyfriend; that Earl would have you too busy testing!"

Kallen ignored Marrybell's teasing. She wasn't about to let the Princess know how little time she already had with Lelouch. Instead, she asked, "Component? And what's this 'new Knightmare' of his?"

She recalled that Milly had suspected that the Earl was working on an advanced Knightmare Frame, but he had let precious few details on the project slip to the ears of his fiancée. As a Princess and a member of Britannia's military, even as she worked to undermine the Emperor's plans, Marrybell might know more.

"He thinks that the right Devicer is an irreplaceable part of any Knightmare Frame, especially when it comes to prototypes," Marrybell replied. "As for your second question... I believe that Earl Lloyd Asplund and his Camelot Engineering Corps have constructed a Knightmare with technology so revolutionary that it leapfrogs all expectations for the hypothetical 6th generation, and ushers in what could only be called the 7th generation of Knightmare Frame development."

That was seriously bad news. If Britannia had such a machine, here was no way that Japanese resistance groups, armed only with 4th generation Knightmares, stolen from Britannia or manufactured by the Six Houses of Kyoto, could hope to overcome such an overwhelming technological advantage, at least in a straight fight. They would need to defeat it through subterfuge, or to develop a 7th generation Knightmare of their own, one that could face it on equal terms.

"However, it seems that he doesn't have a pilot skilled enough to test his new machine," Marrybell continued. "Its specs are so high that the Devicer would need practically superhuman reflexes to have any hope of successfully harnessing its power... hence why he would be so interested in you."

She smirked slightly. "Of course, this leaves him with a problem. He has an extremely expensive prototype that he can't effectively make use of, and he needs to somehow justify his research and development budget to Prince Schneizel. But that's where we came in."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kallen asked suddenly. "Everything you just said has got to be classified."

Marrybell's smirk turned into grin. "Now, now... I think we're all well past worrying about that, since we're working together on something far more important anyway."

In other words, they were both guilty of treason against Britannia. Kallen felt foolish to have asked at all. Besides, Marrybell had already told Lelouch about Ragnarok. That was way more classified than a new Knightmare Frame, even if it was a 7th generation machine.

"Anyways," Marrybell continued, "we were already in contact with Earl Asplund when we received the Grandberry from his Camelot Engineering Corps, so he asked if we would like to field-test some cutting-edge weapons systems for him. We benefit from his technology, which even the real Knights of the Round don't have yet, and he gets the data that he needs. Best of all, he won't care what we use his inventions for, nor will he ask inconvenient questions about our activities, as long as he gets to continue his work."

"That's where the Maser Vibration Swords come from," Oldrin said.

"I figured that," Kallen replied.

"Naturally," Oldrin nodded. "I wield a pair of them when piloting my Gloucester. They have a longer reach than the Maser Vibration Swords that you used in the simulation."

"But they use more energy, don't they?" Kallen asked.

Oldrin sighed. "That is the catch, isn't it? My Knightmare keeps running out of energy when I try to go all-out with them. I guess 5th generation Knightmares aren't really designed with 7th generation energy demands in mind."

"If that's the only downside, I can't complain too much," Kallen said. "They were incredible... I'm glad that we're the ones who have them."

"I know, right?" Oldrin laughed lightly. She then shook her head.

"What is it?" Kallen asked.

"I'll going to have to train all the harder if I'm going to have a chance of keeping up with you!"

Kallen smirked.

"Don't think that I'm going to let up for a moment."

"Okay then," Marrybell said. "You two seem fired up. How about one last run in the simulator, but as a team this time? I can call my other Knights as well."

"Bring it on."

xXx

The team simulation had gone well enough, and was a good opportunity for Kallen to get to know the fighting styles of her new allies when they weren't in the Metaverse. Knightmares were useful for navigating the winding tunnels of Mementos, but one couldn't go all out with them there without attracting The Reaper, an experience that Kallen was not eager to repeat.

Her thoughts returned to the present moment. They had about half an hour left until they were to gather on the Grandberry's bridge, where Marrybell would brief them on their mission. A part of her quietly chafed at taking orders from anyone other than Zero, but she was there on the Black Knights' and by extension his behalf. That helped her bear it, and then there was the fact that Marrybell had given her a new Knightmare, which did much to improve her mood.

It was a Gloucester, in her favored red instead of the usual dull purple, and with gold-colored paint on its shoulder and the armor over the Factsphere, though she knew that the paint job wasn't just for her. Rather, all of the Glinda Knights' Frames had the same color scheme. The cockpit block had already been fitted with sheaths for her Maser Vibration Knives, and technicians were busily working to remove the bulkiest armor plating, so that it would be just like the Knightmare she had piloted in the last two simulations.

While that went on, Kallen was half-seated, half-lounging in the cockpit, reading through the user's manuals for both the Gloucester itself and the Maser Vibration Knives. It was another area where being good at studying, and especially speed-reading, helped her. They were skills she had needed to develop back when she was regularly skipping class for her activities in the Resistance, and it was always important to know the ins and outs of any Knightmare Frame and its weapons. She also took the time to study the cockpit's layout in a more measured way than was possible during the simulations.

The thirty minutes passed by with surprising speed. Knowing that it wouldn't do to be late, she disembarked from her Knightmare, and began making her way to the bridge.

xXx

Kallen had already met the other Glinda Knights during their joint exercise in Mementos, and had now practiced alongside them in the simulator, but it was her first time really meeting them outside of their masked vigilante alter egos.

Firstly, there was Sokkia Scerpa, alias 'Scarecrow'. She had been rather forward to say the least during their time in Mementos, and nothing about her now did anything to change Kallen's impression of her. Her hair was the same color as Nina's, short, and tied to the side in a small ponytail, but her eyes were blue like Milly's, and a window into a mind that was every bit as perverted. Sokkia had even modified her formal Royal Guard uniform to deliberately show off her midriff, and replaced the skirt with shorts. Similarly, she wore shorter boots than the other female Glinda Knights, instead sheathing her legs in black stockings that hugged her skin.

Sokkia had been a celebrity back in the Homeland prior to joining the Glinda Knights, competing in the KMF Leagues, which, depending on the event, could be best described as a combination between team sports, racing, and the demolition derby, but using Knightmares instead of cars. One of the most popular Devicers in the KMF Leagues, Sokkia was known to the public as 'Crasher', for she seemed to destroy her own Knightmare almost as frequently as the enemy's, but always in spectacular fashion, and somehow managed to keep walking away without serious injury.

Sokkia was able to further capitalize upon her fame by serving as an exclusive model for a sporting goods manufacturer. One would think that they wouldn't want to associate their products with frequent crashes, but instead their bicycles were marketed as being sturdy enough to survive being ridden by Crasher, which was evidently a surprisingly effective sales tactic. And of course, there were the photos of Crasher herself that accompanied their marketing campaigns, posed flirtatiously on their bikes, which probably played more of a role in their success than they should.

Sokkia's Persona was Bootzafrau, appearing as a female scarecrow, making it the namesake of her Glinda Knight alter ego, though Sokkia called her Persona 'Boogie', saying that 'Bootzafrau' was a mouthful. In any case, Bootzafrau wielded an axe when Sokkia summoned her, reminding Kallen of how traditional Japanese scarecrows often held weapons to further frighten birds, though Bootzafrau's name and appearance reflected a European origin. Yet the Persona's dress was just as shameless as its summoner, making it look more like a straw mannequin modeling the latest styles than a farmer's decoy.

As for Sokkia's Metaverse getup, it superficially resembled the Glinda Knights' female pilot suit, in that it also had a leotard, though it was a bit more revealing, leaving her shoulders bare. But more than that, it was showy, as if someone had taken the idea of an Amazonian warrior and adapted it to an professional wrestling costume. She had metallic cuffs and a golden choker for some bling, and parts of the leotard were shiny to create the impression of armor without the added weight, while its lower edge and her mask were trimmed with crow feathers, perhaps reflecting her Persona.

Next, was Tink Lockhart, alias 'Stannum'. As Sokkia had explained, "It's Latin for 'Tin.' We would have called him 'Tin Man', but that was way too close his actual name!"

Tink was only about a year older than Kallen, but his silvery hair and broad Frame made him look older than he actually was. He also wore the Glinda Knights' formal uniform, but in a blatant double standard, it was a perfectly ordinary and respectable dress uniform. It shared a white undershirt and a black tie with the female uniform, and had a red vest, but added a black overcoat, white trousers that completely covered his legs, and black military boots. Tink's uniform also had a short cape in the same color of that of the female uniform, but it only hung on the left side, with a pair of golden aiguillettes braided around his right shoulder. Technically, the female uniform had aiguillettes on the right shoulder as well, but they were more obvious on the male uniform.

That being said, Kallen knew that Tink hadn't been the one to choose the Glinda Knights' Royal Guard uniforms - that had been Marrybell. It wouldn't be right for her to take out her frustration on him.

Tink's skin was tanned, and he had a scar on the left side of his face. He had told her he had gotten the scar from an accident during his time as a test pilot at the Royal KMF Technical Research Institute. Kallen felt that there was more to his story. She couldn't help but notice that there was something unusual about his gait. It was subtle, but his steps seemed to come down heavier on one side than the other, giving Kallen the impression that his injuries in the accident had been more serious than he let on, and he was still recovering from them.

From their time fighting together in Mementos, she knew that Tink's Persona was Talos, a giant bronze man with a nail in its ankle from Greek mythology. Talos was a highly resilient Persona, but it was also fairly slow. With his Persona, Tink could weather the attacks of multiple Shadows at once, but they had to be careful not to let him stray too far from the group, lest he find himself stuck in an unfavorable match-up.

Tink's Metaverse outfit was probably what you would get if a child imagined a cyborg superhero, complete with a high-tech visor that served as Tink's mask, though his eyes could still be seen through it, giving off a human warmth that wouldn't have been expressed otherwise. Did that mean that Tink was really still a kid at heart, or did it mean something more?

Yet while she had some suspicions about Tink, Kallen found herself even warier of Leonhardt Steiner, alias 'Arslan', from a Turkish word meaning 'Lion'. He was noble-born, unlike Sokkia or Tink, who only held noble status because of their knighthoods, and were the lowest rank of nobles at that. Leonhardt would inherit the rank of Earl when he eventually became the head of his family. Kallen was likewise entitled to the equivalent rank of Countess upon her father's passing, though the thought of gaining a substantive title of her own was, to say the least, distasteful. Kallen had seen enough of the crap that Leila had to put up with as a Countess in her own right, and could only wonder how she managed to get through the day without pulling her hair out.

A hereditary title of nobility was not by itself why Kallen was so wary of Leonhardt, but rather, what was connected to that title. The Breisgau Corporation may have made Leila very wealthy, but a company focused on agriculture could never match the clout of those belonging to Britannia's military-industrial complex, and the Steiners were a leading part of that. They headed the Steiner Konzern, a heavy engineering corporation dedicated to the manufacture and development of Knightmare Frames, among other weapons systems. In many ways, the Steiner Konzern had filled the void left by the downfall of the Ashfords and the nationalization of their company's assets.

Technically, the Stadtfeld family itself belonged to Britannia's military-industrial complex, and that technically made the Steiners competitors of theirs, though her father's company focused more on producing ordnance and materiel needed to keep Britannia's armed forces well-supplied. Doubtlessly, that position contributed to her father's decision to cast aside her mother, and it was part of her own estrangement from him. Her father had only bothered to seek her out when he needed an heir, and his bombs had devastated the countryside in which she had grown up, while he now spent most of his time back in the Britannian homeland, separated from her by the vast ocean. Indeed, he had done little to involve her in his business, leaving her in the tender care of his legal wife, a harpy of a woman until her change of heart, and so Kallen felt no real connection to it.

It nonetheless occurred to Kallen that if she could have waited to inherit her father's company, she would have been ideally positioned to supply the Japanese resistance with off-the-books ordnance. Doubtlessly, it would have had a far greater chance of effecting meaningful change than anything she might have accomplished back in her brother's resistance cell, had she never gotten involved in the Metaverse. But she never would have had the patience to commit to such a plan, and as she had already established, leading the life of a noblewoman full-time would have driven her crazy.

Besides the Steiners' role in developing Knightmares for Britannia, they were also known as being vassals for the Weinbergs, the family to which the Knight of Three belonged. The Steiners had been a lower-ranking family when they first pledged fealty to the Weinbergs, and had since been elevated to a nominally equal rank for their services to Britannia, but they still honored that promise. That continued association had kept would-be rivals from openly opposing the Steiners as they consolidated ever-greater economic and political power, as to do so would mean also picking a fight with the Weinbergs. Moreover, now that a Weinberg was the Knight of Three, it put the Steiners mere steps away from the Emperor in turn, vastly increasing their prestige beyond their official rank.

Kallen knew she was probably being unfair to Leonhardt, and that her old prejudices were coming to the fore. After all, not only had she come to regularly work with two princesses of Britannia, but she was also dating one of the Emperor's sons. She was even now working under yet another princess of Britannia, at least for the time being, which made her wariness around Leonhardt seem even more ridiculous when she thought of it.

Though if there was anything else that subtly rubbed her the wrong way about Leonhardt, it was his passing physical resemblance to Suzaku. Besides their similar builds, his auburn hair was a just a hue redder than Suzaku's brown, and his eyes were yellow, but seemed to have a touch of Suzaku's green in them. While Suzaku was friendly enough as a fellow member of the Student Council, Kallen couldn't honestly say that she fully trusted him even now.

But putting aside the issue of trust, Leonhardt was certainly polite, and he didn't come across as self-righteous as Suzaku all too often did. If anything, he seemed somewhat shy around her and the women in the Glinda Knights.

As for Leonhardt's Persona, it was Richard, better known as Richard the First, one of Britannia's most famous medieval kings, who fought in the Crusades. Unlike most Personas, Richard had no elemental weaknesses, but it also lacked notable resistances. Its abilities were high, but not exceptional, in every category, with a slight lean toward physical strength. As a fighter, Leonhardt was obviously quite skilled but, as his repertoire didn't have an obvious trump card, it was sometimes difficult for him to decisively end battles.

Leonhardt's timidity seemed to vanish when he fought in the Metaverse, becoming one of the Glinda Knights' boldest members, and he gained an effortless charm to match. In that sense, Leonhardt took on aspects of Lelouch's 'gentleman thief' aesthetic, and Suzaku's 'knight' uniform, but his Metaverse attire still had its own style, distinct from either of them. The words 'officer and a gentleman' came to mind, recalling dress uniforms from the time of Washington's Rebellion. It came with a curved sword, a sable if her memory served her, and an antique dueling pistol, along with a period-accurate masquerade mask.

But if Kallen still felt a lingering wariness around Leonhardt, his fiancée was far warier of her.

Kallen had wondered back then why the Glinda Knights' youngest member went by 'Valkyrie' in the Metaverse, and why the young woman's Persona was Mina, as in Mina Harker from Dracula, a beautiful dark-haired woman whose skin seemed unnaturally pale, and whose teeth appeared to be in the process of sharpening into fangs. Now, in light of her conversation with Oldrin and Lelouch before boarding the Grandberry, it was all too obvious.

The young woman before her was the one that the former Knight of Ten and Vampire of Britannia, Luciano Bradley, had tried to coerce into joining his Valkyrie Squadron.

She was so young. The way she carried herself suggested a great deal of maturity for one of her age, but she still couldn't have been any older than Nunnally.

Preying on such a young girl made Kallen question if there was any depravity that the Knight of Ten would not have sunk to had it not been for the Glinda Knights forcibly changing his heart.

As for the girl's engagement with Leonhardt, who was four years her senior, it had almost certainly been arranged between their families. As much as she hated to acknowledge the similarities, a tradition of arranged marriages was something that Japan had long had in common with Britannian noble culture. But she couldn't sense any sort of resentment on Valkyrie's part toward her fiancé. If anything, from the way the two of them had fought together in Mementos, Valkyrie admired Leonhardt, and he was never far from her side, tirelessly protecting her, even as she tried her hardest to protect him in turn.

Thinking more on it, Kallen supposed that choosing the codename "Valkyrie" for herself might have been the girl's way of defying Bradley, reclaiming the title so that rather than being twisted into signifying little more than a glorified sex slave for the Knight of Ten, it would come to symbolize her own empowerment. But she had left the sexualized attire of the Valkyrie Squadron behind. If anything, her Metaverse outfit had the same sort of feel that Euphemia's did, even down to the color scheme - white boots and gloves, a Burgundy top, and a purple skirt, with short black shorts underneath as if to protect her modesty while fighting. Like the Glinda Knight's formal uniforms, it also had a pinkish-purple cape over a shoulder, with a pair of aiguillettes, though both were on Valkyrie's left. Unlike the rest of her outfit, Valkyrie's mask was made of iron, and she carried both a spear and a shield in the Metaverse, proof of her resolve.

It now occured to Kallen that Oldrin had mentioned earlier that the Glinda Knights' newest member had a brother whose heart had been changed by the Black Knights. Did that mean...?

"My name is Marika Soresi," Valkyrie said, firmly meeting Kallen's eyes with her own. They were sky-blue, but there was a certain coldness to them, and her light brown hair was cut short, save for a few bangs in the front. Under other circumstances, her hair might have lent Marika an endearing look, but now it made her seem very no-nonsense. "I'll do my best to work with you."

Soresi... Wait? Wasn't that the surname of one of the Purists whose hearts they had changed in the aftermath of defeating Coach Nu? There had been so many of them that they all seemed to blur together, and she had all but completely forgotten about Soresi by now, but there was no other reason why that name would sound familiar to her.

Kallen didn't have the opportunity to question Marika, as the next Glinda Knight had already begun her introduction, but Kallen doubted that the younger girl would have answered her. Marika specifically wanted to talk to Zero.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the Glinda Knights' final member, Toto Thompson, said, giving a curtsey. An unassuming, gentle girl, Toto had red eyes and dark skin that was contrasted by pale hair, almost white but with a tinge of blue, making it abundantly clear that she was not a pure-blooded Britannian. That Toto had long served as a maid to the Zevon family uncomfortably reminded Kallen of how her own mother had worked as a maid in her hateful stepmother's household, all for her sake, even as she treated her just as horridly. It was a sin that she feared she would never be able to fully atone for.

Toto was the Glinda Knights' resident user of psychokinesis, and also the team's navigator through the Palaces. In this way, she acted in much the same capacity that Leila did the Black Knights, though her overall combat ability was significantly lower, so Toto tended to hang further back.

Interestingly, this was a role that Sokkia also shared. In battle, Sokkia's personality changed, showing a far more analytical side than one would have guessed from her perverted and fun-loving exterior. Sokkia specialized in pinpointing weaknesses, and her Persona could produce different types of interference capable of reducing the combat effectiveness of enemy Shadows.

In contrast, Toto's skills as a navigator focused more on supporting her allies, and extended over a greater range. But her Persona, Lethe, was also adept at inducing forgetfulness in Shadows. When afflicted by Lethe's magic, they would be unable to recall how to perform all but their most basic abilities, giving the Glinda Knights a significant tactical advantage. Kallen remembered exactly how Lelouch had used a similar ability to great effect while fighting Anubis back in the Black King's Palace.

Whereas Marika deviated from the Wizard of Oz theme to the Glinda Knights' codenames, Toto embraced it. Since she already happened to share the name of Dorothy's dog, she instead went by 'Terry', the name of the Cairn Terrier who had played the role in the famous film. The name also made sense on another level. While terriers had originally been raised to help flush out vermin, Toto used her abilities to help her fellow Glinda Knights flush out Shadows.

Bizarrely, Toto's Thief Suit looked like a cross between a stereotypical spy catsuit and a maid uniform, with fake dog ears attached to her headband, leaving Kallen completely stumped as to why Toto's mental image of rebellion was anything like that.

Kallen knew that before the war there had been various cosplay and maid cafes in Japan, and that sometimes the staff would wear fake cat ears along with the maid uniforms, so as to appeal to an otaku clientele. Some practices, like cosplay, had been absorbed into Britannian culture; Milly was living proof of that. But Kallen had seen no indications that Toto was into otaku culture at all. Then again, Toto hadn't said much about herself yet, merely offering pleasantries.

Arthur was alongside Kallen as the Glinda Knights made their introductions. They had previously heard him speak in Mementos, so they would be able to understand him if he happened to talk in the real world. However, Arthur had been careful not to talk until they were alone for the briefing, as there were crew members on the Grandberry who, while carefully vetted and sworn to secrecy, nevertheless remained ignorant of Personas and the true extent of their activities in Metaverse.

Indeed, Marrybell considered that information to be need-to-know only for her Royal Guard, and it would seem very odd if anyone else saw them holding what would appear to be a one-sided conversation with a cat. As far as the rest of the crew was concerned, Arthur was simply a pet belonging to 'Karen Stratmann', the most promising new Royal Guard candidate.

The Irregulars were also there, with Sancia and Lucretia as 'intelligence assets', while Alice and Dalque were supposedly 'specialists', though what they specialized in was purposefully left unsaid. Marrybell clearly trusted that her staff would know well enough not to ask questions about people with such backgrounds.

In Nunnally's absence, Sancia was in command of the Irregulars, as she had been before. However, it was Alice, with her enhanced reflexes and processing speed, who had achieved the highest simulator scores among the Irregulars, though she wasn't quite as high as Kallen or Oldrin. The Irregulars' part of the mission was focused more on the Metaverse than Knightmare combat, but Marrybell clearly wanted a thorough understanding of their capabilities before committing them to battle, and so she had also made all of them do a round on the simulator before the briefing.

All together, the Persona-users who had gathered on the Grandberry's bridge for the briefing were a motley group: a princess and her Knights, a group of escaped experimental subjects, a cat, and a former terrorist. If she was honest with herself, Kallen knew that was what she had been, and what she would have ended her life as if it had not been for her brother introducing to the Metaverse, and Lelouch leading her onward when she had been in the depths of despair. There hadn't been any way for the Japanese resistance to meaningfully challenge Britannia in the field back then.

But now... Britannia's obvious weakness in its inability to prevent its alliance with the Chinese Federation from falling apart would inspire others to rise up against them. And more to the point, she and the others were about to strike a decisive blow against one of Britannia's secret research facilities, which was central to the Emperor's plans.

If that didn't get the Emperor to realize that he had underestimated them for too long, then nothing else would.

"Thank you for joining me here today," Marrybell began, standing behind an electronic tactical board built into the floor. "We have gathered here to strike at a secret facility thought to be a major center for Cognitive Psience research, operated by a cult that aims to use that research to usher in what they call 'Ragnarok', the end of the world as we know it. They have also abducted untold numbers of people over the years and subjected them to inhumane experimentation."

Sancia clenched a fist, though in keeping with the cool and professional air that she maintained, she said nothing.

Marrybell pressed a few buttons in the board's control console, bringing upon a map of the Chinese Federation, with a flashing icon indicating their current location.

"Accounting for our westward direction of travel," Marrybell continued, tracing her finger along their projected flight path, "we will be arriving at the compound before dawn, which should add to the element of surprise." She jabbed at the location of the compound on the map for emphasis. "Given the remoteness of its location, and the secrecy of the research conducted there, we can expect that while there are likely to be some military-grade defenses, their numbers should be limited. A larger force would attract too much notice, to say nothing of the logistical challenges of keeping even a small army supplied, let alone far from resupply."

"This will be easy!" Dalque grinned, earning her a glare from Oldrin for interrupting her lady, while Lucretia simply shook her head.

"We cannot afford to underestimate our enemy," Marrybell said firmly. "They have been studying Cognitive Psience for far longer than any of us have been Persona-users."

"In other words," Arthur said, "we may have the element of surprise, but we don't really know what we're up against."

"You're pretty smart for a cat," Sokkia grinned. She glanced over at Kallen. "What is it that they say in Area 11, Karen? 'Nyaa'?!" She made a pawing motion with her hand.

Kallen bristled slightly. The other Glinda Knights had been instructed to use the 'Karen Stratmann' alias at all times when referring to her by name while onboard the Grandberry, to lessen the chance of them having a slip of the tongue in front of anyone else. Though simply being called 'Karen' wasn't what bothered her; it was a valid translation of her name when written in Japanese. No, what bothered her was Sokkia's usage of the term 'Area 11'. Sokkia had shown she knew enough about pre-war Japanese culture to remember the cat paw gesture and the onomatopoeia for a cat, yet she still chose to refer to Japan as 'Area 11' anyway.

Of course, Kallen wouldn't expect a Britannian Knight to use anything other than 'Area 11' when referring to Japan, but that didn't make it any less insulting. Worse, Sokkia seemed oblivious about how offensive she had just been. Yes, the vast majority of students at Ashford Academy were just as unthinkingly offensive all of the time, but hearing it from a member of the Britannian military did far more to rub Kallen the wrong way.

To be fair, she hadn't told the other Glinda Knights that she was Japanese. Oldrin had almost certainly figured it out from their conversation before boarding the Grandberry, but she seemed to have kept that to herself, something for which Kallen was grateful. But even before that, her mask, and its true form as her Persona, should have been enough of a clue, one Sokkia had likely picked up on as well. Why else would Sokkia have asked her that question?

"Yes, that's right," Kallen replied, pushing her annoyance aside so that she could once again focus on the briefing.

"Regardless, our objectives are clear," Marrybell continued. "We will neutralize the facility's defenses and locate its computer mainframe, stealing whatever data that we can before it can be deleted. We will also free and evacuate any prisoners held within the compound on the Grandberry."

"Umm..." Marika fidgeted nervously, as if suddenly wishing she hadn't vocalized her unease at all.

"What is it, Soresi?" Marrybell asked.

"Your Highness, I... I don't think it's wrong to try to save those people... especially knowing the sorts of experiments they'll suffer from if we don't. But... what if a member of the cult tries to sneak on board the Grandberry among them? Wouldn't we be putting everyone's lives at risk?"

"You are of course, correct," Marrybell replied. She smiled sweetly. "But you should just focus on the mission, Soresi. Rest assured, I'll deal with any who try myself."

Kallen shuddered slightly, recognizing the euphemism for exactly what it was. She couldn't fault Marrybell for taking whatever steps were necessary to protect her Knights and crew; Kallen was no stranger that sort of mentality herself. But Marrybell's cheery expression didn't change a bit despite the grim reality of what she had just promised to do, and that degree of ruthlessness was unnerving.

Then again, Kallen knew that she would almost certainly be killing several people tomorrow. She didn't personally have an issue with killing enemy combatants, but until now, the Black Knights had made sure not to kill anyone. What would the others think, if her hands were to become stained in blood?

She glanced over at the Irregulars. They wouldn't have any issues sending the cultists straight to Hell if they discovered the same sorts of gruesome experiments that they had been subjected to. And thinking more on it, all of their hands were stained with blood now, even Shirley's. It was almost certain that far more would die as a result of the ongoing revolution that they had unleashed in the Chinese Federation than any that she might personally kill at the cultist's compound. And so Kallen pushed those thoughts from he mind.

"Yes, Your Highness," Marika replied, dutifully giving Marrybell a small bow, though she still seemed uncomfortable.

Marrybell turned to the Irregulars. "You suffered for years at the hands of Code-R's researchers, so you know better than any of us just how horrific it can be. That being said, whatever we find at this compound is likely to be far worse than anything that Code-R did. Are you prepared for that?"

"Yes," Sancia replied. The others nodded in turn.

"Very well," Marrybell said with a slight nod of her own. "Arthur will be accompanying you during your mission. Your objectives will be twofold. First, you will infiltrate the facility in advance of our main assault, using the Metaverse to avoid detection, and sabotage what defenses that you can."

Marrybell pointed to a dotted line on the map. "This will be your infiltration point. "According to some of the cultists' Shadows, who we were able to interrogate in Mementos, the main supply line to the facility is via a monorail, concealed by a lengthy underground tunnel, surfacing by a small settlement, an oasis town along the old Silk Road. However, this route is restricted for essentials that the cult cannot produce for itself, and the transport of personnel... or unwilling test subjects," Marrybell frowned. "In any case, it only operates intermittently. Larger or more frequent deliveries could compromise the secrecy of the facility.

"We will set you down on the outskirts of the settlement, and you should be able to make use of the Metaverse version of the tunnel to arrive at the facility in a timely manner, either via the monorail, or by Knightmares if necessary. Once we have confirmed that you have a route forward, we will continue to the main facility on the Grandberry, keeping as low as possible once we do so. Once we arrive, we will deploy our Knightmares and land the Grandberry. You will then rendezvous with the Grandberry and maintain a perimeter around it in the Metaverse, to make sure that any cult members capable of entering the Metaverse do not sabotage our ship."

"So the first part is just like infiltrating a Palace and then it's guard duty..." Alice murmured. She looked up. "But don't think that I'm doing it for you. I'm not your Knight, and you're not my Princess. There's only one person who I could serve in that way. But I'm also here for myself. There are answers that I need, and I won't be satisfied until I get them."

Kallen expected Oldrin to be offended by Alice's behavior, but rather, she seemed ever so slightly amused, as if recognizing something familiar in the Irregular. Instead, it was Marika who let out a small gasp at Alice's disrespect. Talking back to royalty had to be almost unthinkable for her. Beside her, Leonhardt remained silent, though his expression was also one of disapproval.

Like her Knight, Marrybell also seemed amused by Alice.

"I perfectly understand," Marrybell smiled. "Your Lady must be very dear to you. While you lack formal training, you have plenty of talent, and your determination will serve both of you well."

Wait a moment... now it was sounding all too familiar to Kallen. Mentally, she kicked herself for being so slow on the uptake. That was like her own relationship with Lelouch!

Marrybell looked back up. "Now, as for those of us who will be in Knightmares..."

xXx

When the briefing concluded, Marrybell invited them to join her in the Grandberry's officer wardroom, as she wanted all of them to be well-fed and have a chance to build some real camaraderie before the mission in the morning, in a way that their earlier joint exercises in Mementos hadn't allowed.

Arthur was busy enjoying some bluefin fatty tuna, a rare treat for him, as consuming fish to excess was not healthy for a cat. As for Tink, who had barely spoken during the briefing, he was happily taking the opportunity to devour a truly astonishing number of burgers. Dalque seemed to be trying to keep up with Tink, but she was losing, in spite of putting forth a very spirited effort.

"How can you possibly eat so much?" Kallen finally willed herself to ask.

Tink chuckled and smiled warmly at her. "It's always good to have a meal with friends and let loose a bit. Besides, you never know if it will be your last meal or not, so it's best to enjoy yourself while you can."

Kallen grimaced. Part of her wanted to fume about him indulging in such gluttonous behavior while untold numbers of people were starving in the ghettos. But it was difficult for her to get angry at him when he seemed so earnest, and she knew that Dalque must have rarely had a chance to enjoy such a large meal at all. It would be cruel of her to deny Dalque that pleasure.

"How can you say that so nonchalantly?" she managed instead.

"I've had a brush with death before," Tink replied. "It really helped put things in perspective for me."

"Your accident," Kallen pressed.

"That's right," Tink nodded. He paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. "By the way, do you happen to like spicy foods?"

Kallen stared at him, confused by the sudden non sequitur. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Then you have to try our Valkyrie's cooking one day, if you get the chance. I hear that she makes super-spicy meat pies for her fiancé!"

"Huh?!" Marika's hands went to her face, and her cheeks instantly turned a deep red as she finished processing what Tink had said. She then narrowed her eyes and said crossly, "It was only one time! And it was never meant to be so spicy!"

"It's okay," Leonhardt said softly, gently putting his hand on Marika's shoulder, even as he seemed a bit nervous doing so. "I... um... like your cooking."

"Leonhardt..." she whispered, looking up at him.

"Okay... speaking of fiancés..." Sokkia scooted over right next to Kallen, showing no regard for the idea of personal space. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Karen. Even back in the Homeland, we all saw the proclamation video that you guys released onto the Internet, even as the news tried its best to ignore or downplay the Black Knights. So... is there any truth to the rumors, that Zero is dating several, if not all of his beautiful female accomplices?"

Now it was Kallen's turn to be mortified. "W-why are you asking that?!"

"I'm curious to know how close I was in my portrayal of the characters. So are you really 'his lovers by day, and femme fatales by night'? Or is it more of Girls' Love pairings? I think they're called 'yuri' in this part of the world. I've done plenty of those as well, and I think they're even more fun to write."

"It was you! Y-You're the one who wrote those... smutty stories about us! Hentai!"

Sokkia smiled. "I'm only one author among many... and my fans certainly don't know that writing is one of Crasher's secret hobbies! We'll keep that between us!" She gave Kallen a mischievous wink. "But I definitely got your character's personality wrong. I could only see you in silhouette, but I figured that you'd be the dominant type through and through, at least behind closed doors. Seeing your reactions, you've totally got a more submissive side that you don't want others to know about. That would have been such a good angle for your character, and I blew it!"

"What is wrong with you?" Kallen asked. The night that she had spent with Lelouch wasn't any of Sokkia's business, though 'dominant' and 'submissive' certainly hadn't entered into it, not when both of them had been so nervous! Still, it was a precious memory to her, and she hadn't made the decision to be with him lightly, so she took offense at Sokkia defiling it out of some prurient interest.

Kallen crossed her arms. "I mean, I couldn't care less about what sort of stories you like," she lied. "But saying those sorts of things in front of others who aren't even old enough for-"

"Aw, don't be like that," Sokkia frowned. "There's no need for you to be such a prude. And it's not like I'm about to retcon your character to bring her in line with the real you. Besides, do you have any idea how much of Intelligence's time I'm able to waste, getting some unlucky saps stuck with poring over volumes of almost pure fiction, just in case it happens to contain a lead on the Black Knights? The more it's read, the more people are inspired to write their own stories. They're usually pretty bad, but they help further bog Intelligence down in drivel.

Sokkia smirked. "Of course, I throw in the occasional true detail about the Metaverse and Personas too, so that they have to keep reading them, but I make sure to change all the names and get other things wrong on purpose. More recently, I've started writing fictionalized stories about the Glinda Knights as well, with Her Highness's permission. There were plenty of people online who wanted to hear about our exploits too, so I obliged. Other times, I just toss out ideas to for other writers use, and then they come up with their own adding to Intelligence's confusion. But really, you should be thanking me. I may not have done it for you, but both of our groups benefited from it, if only in a small way."

She smiled and gave Kallen a wink.

"That's...rather clever, I'll admit that," Kallen frowned.

"I doubt that she could write anything worse than what 'Madam President' suggests on a daily basis," Alice shrugged. But then her voice suddenly took on a dangerous sound, and her eyes were like daggers aimed at Sokkia. "Just don't get any ideas about involving Nemo in your stories, or I will end you."

"The Irregulars have kept to a much lower profile though," Kallen began. "I don't see why you..."

Then she noticed that Sokkia's face had blanched.

"Oh crap."

"You already have?!" Alice snarled.

"It was just a draft, I swear!" Sokkia said quickly. "And it wasn't any of the smutty stuff! There are lines even I won't cross! It wasn't even for messing with Intelligence! It was going to be a more sweet and innocent story! You two were just so adorable together, I couldn't resist pairing you in a story! I had your characters at an all-girls school, with Nemo's as a soft-spoken 'Onee-sama' type and-"

"Fine," Alice said, her expression softening ever so slightly. "But I'm having a look at it first, before I decide if I'm letting you off the hook or not. Are we clear?"

"Of course!" Sokkia replied, relieved to have averted imminent disaster.

Marika regarded Sokkia curiously.

"You seem to know a lot about Eleven culture, don't you?" she asked.

Kallen felt herself bristling again. Where as Sokkia had used 'Area 11' seemingly without any malice behind it, and her interest in Japanese culture, or at least certain aspects of it, seemed to be genuine, Marika's voice betrayed a degree of unease as she said the word 'Eleven'. In some ways, it reminded Kallen of Nina before her change of heart, though Nina had been outright fearful of Japanese people, something that didn't seem to be the case with Marika.

Unfortunately, Kallen could hardly say that she was surprised. If she had correctly guessed the identity of Marika's brother, whose heart she had apparently helped change, then Marika had ties to a former Purist, and all too often such beliefs ran in families.

This time though, Kallen found she couldn't stay silent.

"Do you know how rude it is to call Japanese people 'Elevens'?" Kallen asked. "Calling Japan 'Area 11' is bad enough, but when you talk about people in that way, it says that you're looking down on them, that they aren't worth anything but a number. It's dehumanizing. Just because Britannia won the war doesn't make it right to treat other people that way."

Kallen half-expected Marika to launch into a racist, Social Darwinist tirade, just like her Purist brother surely would have. Instead, Marika responded by suddenly recoiling from Kallen in fright. But after a moment, Kallen realized that it wasn't a reaction rooted in xenophobia. For all that Marika knew, Kallen was just another Britannian... but one who belonged to the Black Knights, the group that had changed the heart of her brother likely with drastic effects upon him. To see that happening to someone she loved as family, and not being able to understand what had happened to him until being drawn into the Palace of someone as depraved as the Vampire of Britannia... that would terrify anyone.

But what Marika did next surprised Kallen even more. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, Marika drew herself tall and met Kallen's gaze, placing a hand over her heart. "You're right. That was wrong of me. I'll admit there was a time when I thought El... I mean, the Japanese," she said, catching and correcting herself, "were responsible for changing my brother's heart, back when no one knew anything about the Black Knights. I even hated them for a time because of that. But the Japanese never did anything to me."

She frowned. "Yes, I know many of the Japanese must hate me, my brother, and all Britannians. A few still commit acts terrorism against innocent people, and in some ways the war never really ended. Some of them would have even tried to kill my brother if they could. But... I've never been personally wronged by them and I shouldn't have lumped them all in with terrorists... especially knowing what he confessed to. Yet I blinded myself to that so I wouldn't have to face the truth. The Japanese didn't change his heart and make him say those things."

Marika took another breath. "I'll admit... old prejudices die hard. But when we're all facing Ragnarok, Britannian... Japanese... it doesn't make a difference."

"I guess I have to apologize as well," Sokkia said. "I meant no offense earlier. Ever since Japan was officially renamed, pretty much everyone back in the Homeland only calls it 'Area 11', and its people 'Elevens'. It becomes a force of habit, one that you don't even think about."

"I guess I'll accept that apology, for what it's worth," Kallen said after a moment.

Meanwhile, Marrybell, who had been silently observing the conversation with Oldrin by her side, smiled.

"It looks like everyone is getting along quite well, Mary," Oldrin said softly. "I must say, this is a pleasant surprise."

"It's truly as they say, Oz: war makes for strange bedfellows."

Oldrin turned to her other side, where Toto was standing. "You've been pretty quiet, Toto. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, My Lady," Toto replied, not making eye contact with her. "You shouldn't worry about me."

"Toto, you've been with my family for years; no, you are family to me, like a sister," Oldrin countered. "You even chose to come with me when my uncle took over the family. I know you, and I'm worried about you."

"You're too kind," Toto said. "But I suppose there are some things that I just can't hide from you." She looked up, finally making eye contact with Oldrin. "I know that we have to stop Ragnarok... but I'm worried about what we'll find when we arrive at the compound. There are some things that it's probably best not to know."

Marrybell chuckled, and shook her head. "What could possibly be more disturbing than knowing about His Majesty's plan to end the world?" Her expression darkened to a scowl, and her voice dropped in pitch, as she was no longer projecting a cheery facade. "I will discover the truth behind this plot, and the deaths of my mother and sister... no matter the cost."

xXx

Kallen retired to her assigned cabin on the Grandberry with Arthur, knowing that she would need to get what rest she could before the inevitable confrontation at the cultist's compound. Still, it was difficult for her to fall asleep. For one thing, it was sure to be on a larger scale than any battle she had been in before, and she didn't want to let Lelouch down, especially when he had shown such trust in her and her abilities.

"You're having trouble sleeping," Arthur said. "I don't blame you. Looking back on it, even I have a hard time believing how much has happened in so short a time. A few months ago, I was just a stray. Now, not only can I talk, I have a home with you guys, and we're about to..."

"Openly challenge Britannia in the field," Kallen finished. "I do have to admit, it feels good to finally be able to do so, after sneaking around through Palaces for so long."

"Although our time infiltrating Palaces with the others isn't over yet by any means," Arthur replied. He grimaced. "I don't know about you, but the stuff we saw the last time down there in Mementos... That place has always made my hair stand on end a bit... but now, it's just disturbing."

"I agree," Kallen said.

There was several moments of silence between them.

Arthur sighed, breaking the silence. "Thinking back on it, I still wish you guys would have let me have a cooler codename. But... at least it shows I'm one of you. Whether or not we find answers, I'll always have that."

"That's right." Smiling slightly, Kallen reached down and began petting Arthur.

"I don't think I've ever properly thanked you, Arthur," she said. "For being there to guide me through the Metaverse after I lost my brother. I didn't even have a proper Persona back then, and if it wasn't for you, I may never have met Lelouch... or rather, his real self."

"That was more of him botching our infiltration than anything else."

Kallen shook her head.

"Without you to guide me through the dungeons, Arthur... who's to say I would have crossed paths with him at all? I'd have been stumbling blindly through them, and I couldn't have taken on all of the Shadows that we faced there on my own. You were even a voice of reason when..." Her eyes widened with a dawning horror, and her voice became but a whisper. "I pulled a knife on him..."

"Yeah, you did, but that's in the past, isn't it?" Arthur asked.

"Even thinking of harming him is dreadful to me now," Kallen replied gloomily. "But... I could have killed him by my own hand. Back then, it would have been so easy for me... I might not have even thought that much of it. I was always ready to kill anyone who might expose my identity. But if anything about our first encounter had been different... if he didn't help us with those Shadows, and I caught him sneaking around the Metaverse, or if you weren't there to discourage me from killing him out of hand... I would have told myself that I had protected my secret by killing him. But in doing so, I would have destroyed myself... and I wouldn't have even known what I had lost."

Kallen sighed. "I know that Lelouch doesn't believe in fate... that we control our own destinies. I want to believe in that too. But sometimes... I can't help but wonder. It's not only that but..." Kallen thought back to the time when she had first met Lelouch, back in Izu, utterly unable to comprehend the effect that the strange Britannian boy would have on her life, on her very identity itself. It should have been just a chance, meaningless encounter. Yet in retrospect, it seemed like so much more than that.

"Never mind," Kallen said, cutting herself off before she could say more. She and Lelouch had promised to never bring that up in front of others, and she wasn't about to break that promise.

"We all have things we regret," Arthur replied, frowning. "I spoke to Lelouch back at Kaminejima, you know. Among other things, I told him how I've always kept blaming myself for what happened to your brother. I can never change that, no matter how I wish I could." He paused. "But we always have to keep moving forward, so that we can properly honor his memory. Lelouch reminded me of that. And with how you regret threatening Lelouch when you first met him in the Metaverse... perhaps that became part of why you're always so determined to protect him... because you understand firsthand just how vulnerable his life can be."

"I suppose you're right there," Kallen admitted. "If I could have taken his life so easily, then who's to say that one of Britannia's agents could't do the same?" She scowled at the thought. "But I won't let that happen!"

"I know you'll keep him safe, Kallen," Arthur told her. "You've already become so much stronger than I ever imagined that you would when we started working together." Arthur shook his head. "But thinking back to what you were saying earlier... it's kind of funny."

'What do you mean?" Kallen asked.

"You're hours away from going into battle, and you were marveling at how fate seemed to bring you and your boyfriend together... almost like the teenage girl you actually are."

Kallen laughed sheepishly. "It does sound pretty silly when you put it that way." But then her expression brightened. "It's so much more than that though. We saved Shinjuku together, and disrupted a major Refrain operation... he helped me realize how important my mother really was to me... and he introduced me to friends at school who know and accept the real me. I may not be the only girl in Lelouch's life, but that doesn't make his love any less. I'm truly blessed to have met him, Tama."

Kallen frowned. "Still... it is frustrating. We've barely had any time together. Part of it was the whole mess with Shirley's Palace... Then it was stopping Britannia's alliance with the Chinese Federation... and now we know that the Emperor wants to end the world." She clenched a fist. "No matter what threats stand in our way, I'll put an end to them... then we'll all finally be able to take our time together."

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Arthur said. Then he yawned. "Well, we should probably go to bed. Both of us are going to have a busy day tomorrow."

"I suppose you're right." Picking Arthur up, she set him down beside her. "I know it's not your usual bed in the Student Council Room, but it will have to do."

"Don't worry. Back when I was a stray, I used to sleep in all sorts of places that weren't comfortable at all. This is still like heaven next to those."

"Well, I'm glad you're comfortable. Good night, Tama."

Arthur sighed.

"I guess some things just don't change."

Arthur fell asleep quickly, but Kallen remained awake. Slowly opening a hand, she looked down at the omamori that Lelouch had given her.

She smiled again, feeling much more at ease.

Kallen slept soundly that night.

A/N:

This chapter ended up taking quite a bit longer to write than I originally anticipated, as it ended up undergoing a number of revisions, especially to add a bit more action in the beginning. Consequently, it became the longest chapter to date between that and the Glinda Knights' formal introductions.

Canonically, Kallen is one of the best Knightmare pilots in the series, if not the best pilot in the world. Suzaku is on a similar level to Kallen, skill-wise, but it is implied that Kallen is more innately skilled as a pilot, as she repeatedly goes toe-to-toe with Suzaku while at a relative technological disadvantage, as the Lancelot has Maser Vibration Swords, VARIS Rifles, and Blaze Luminous shielding from the start, vs. the Guren's Radiant Wave Surger, and the Lancelot gains flight abilities long before the Guren does. It wouldn't be until near the end of the series that she gained a Knightmare with better technology than the Lancelot. But with the right Knightmare Frame, and as long as she doesn't deplete her Energy Filler, Kallen is very much capable of attaining One-Woman Army status.

To my knowledge, Kallen's operational efficiency rating is never explicitly stated during the TV series, and nor is that of the Knights of the Round. However, we know that Suzaku's rating for the Lancelot was 94%, which is what got Lloyd interested having Suzaku as its test pilot in the first place. In keeping with Kallen being an even more skilled pilot, I gave her a 97% rating in the simulator (though admittedly, it's not an exact comparison, as it's with a different and less powerful machine), and assumed that the Knights of the Round would have similar ratings to Suzaku or slightly lower.

As for the simulation itself, one of the first scenes in Oz the Reflection depicts the Glinda Knights participating (and losing) in a simulated battle against the Black Knights and the Guren Mk. II, which quickly dispatches them. The simulation was depicted to be highly realistic, which influenced my own portrayal of it in the chapter. It also inspired me to throw in A.I. opponents based on the Knights of the Round, as they are the closest thing that Britannia has to pilots on a comparable level to Kallen with her Guren.

The artillery-type was intended as a sort of Gloucester-based precursor to the Mordred, the Knightmare Frame piloted by the current Knight of Six, Anya Alstreim, in the second season of the show. As this story takes place in a time equivalent to the show's first season, neither the Mordred, or its immediate prototype, the Zetland (which would be test-piloted by Tink) have been invented yet. Likewise, the sword-wielding Knight of the Round A.I. was intended to be based off the Knight of One, Bismarck, who would later wield the enormous MVS known as Excalibur (though that hasn't been invented either yet, so it's just a standard MVS here). Of course, Bismarck had certain abilities in canon that would make him far more dangerous than any simulation data would indicate...

As for the remaining two Knight of the Round A.I.s, who Kallen dispatched far more easily, let's say that they were based on the Knight of Four, Dorothea Ernst, and the Knight of Twelve, Monica Krushevsky, the leader of the Emperor's Royal Guard. That should make for a nice Mythology Gag...

The changing of the heart of Marika's brother was not specifically shown earlier in the story, as he was just one of many Purists whose hearts the Black Knights changed after Villetta. Early on in the story, I had not decided if I was going to use the Glinda Knights or not yet, but in any case, I always intended that Kewell's heart was changed among them. Even back in Ch. 15, he is recognized as being the Purist's de facto second-in-command under Jeremiah, and thus implied to be one of the Black Knight's targets, so this doesn't contradict anything previously established. It was just a lot more important and personal to Marika than it was to Kallen and the other Black Knights.

Speaking of Marika, her Thief Suit is based off Cornelia's from Lelouch of the Resurrection. Like Euphemia, Marika idolizes Cornelia, and her first introduction to the franchise, was actually in a novelization of Code Geass, where she won the right to personally serve Cornelia for a time as a reward for her high performance at the military academy in which she had enrolled. Little is actually seen of Marika in the show, where she is only shown being unceremoniously killed off by Kallen along with the rest of the Valkyrie Squadron (before Oz the Reflection retconned her death so that she was saved at the last moment), and she was understandably depressed during her meeting with Cornelia in the novel (as Kallen had recently killed Marika's brother at the Battle of Narita). However, Oz the Reflection significantly expands Marika's character. We see that she is a very brave, earnest, and determined young woman, who will go to great lengths to protect - or avenge - the ones she loves. No longer fated to die by Kallen's hand, how might the experience of having to work alongside the Black Knights change her?

There are multiple possible translations to some of the Glinda Knights' names, and the manga itself has never received a proper English translation. As for Sokkia, her surnname is either Scerpa or Sherpa. I chose the former, to avoid having it be identical to the Sherpa of the Himalayas. Likewise, it was a choice between Rockheart and Lockhart for Tink's surname, as there is no L in Japanese, but it is largely interchangeable with R. Rockheart was a bit too on the nose, so I chose Lockhart.

To wrap up this author's note, I should give the Arcanas of the Glinda Knight's Personas.

Oldrin - Normally, Dorothy would be seen as the archetypical Fool. However, Marrybell is already the resident holder of the Wild Card among the Glinda Knights. This leads to a toss-up between Chariot and Justice as the two most fitting Arcanas for Oldrin herself. I have chosen Chariot as Dorothy's Arcana, as the house buffeted by the winds of the tornado, can be very loosely construed as a chariot between two conflicting forces, per the symbolism of the card, and more importantly, because it emphasizes her impulsiveness and similarities to Kallen. However, as we have seen, it is possible for someone to have a Persona of one Arcana, but to have their bond with another individual represent a different Arcana. Therefore, Oldrin represents the Justice Arcana in her relationship with Marrybell.

Sokkia - Bootzafrau is a Persona of the Priestess Arcana, representing Sokkia's hidden depths as an intellectual/analytical character. The Priestess also has some meanings related to fertility, and as a scarecrow, Bootzafrau helps protect the harvest.

Tink - Talos originally appeared as a Persona of the Chariot Arcana in Persona 2. However, Talos is a Persona of the Strength Arcana here, reflecting Tink's nature as a "gentle giant".

Leonhardt - Richard is of the Emperor Arcana. Leonhardt is of relatively high social standing in Britannia, and is part of its military-industrial establishment, and is a protective, older male figure to Marika. The idea of courage is also connected to the Emperor Arcana, or cowardice in its Reversed Form, befitting a character who references the Cowardly Lion.

Marika - Mina is a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana. As noted on the Megami Tensei wiki, "Hanged Man characters are sometimes self-sacrificial, but are more often notable for being caught between two different extremes, parties or stages in life." Mina herself is caught between her humanity and encroaching vampirism, just as Marika was caught between her arranged marriage to Leonhardt and the unwanted attention of the Vampire of Britannia. The Hanged Man is associated with denial and being trapped in stagnant modes of thinking, when Reversed form. However, when Upright, it can refer to gaining new perspectives.

Toto - Lethe is a Persona of the Hermit Arcana, reflecting how Toto tends to be quiet and often keeps to herself, blending into the background.

Next time - the raid itself!

Edit: I realized I needed to clarify exactly how the Irregulars were infiltrating the facility, so added those details and made some minor edits to accommodate them in the briefing.

Edit 2: Minor adjustments to Kallen's conversation with Arthur to be consistent with prior changes made to the hot springs scene.