Authors Note: {Blinks in surprise} Wow. Two thousand views? Gotta say, I was NOT expecting this story to be so popular. Annoyingly enough, for some reason, my underlining seems to have disappeared from the last chapter- dunno why. It's probably gone from this chapter as well. If so, I'll have to re-think a few things.
Now, I have been asked about the Harem. The confirmed members are: Kallen, C.C., Kaguya, Shirley and Millie. Euphie is undecided. I will not be adding Cornelia, Cécile or Rakshata. Sayoko is a possibility. I am surprised no one has asked about Villetta Nu though….
Anyway, enough from me. On with the fic!
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass!
"Kallen" - Speech
'Lelouch' - Thought/mental communication
"{Die}" - Geass Command
"Halt!" - Loudspeaker
"Roger."-Radio/Walkie-Talkie
Chapter 2: Contact is Made. K-1 and Q-1
Derelict Warehouse, Shinjuku Ghetto
Lelouch knelt beside the girl who had granted him his power, Geass. He was slightly irritated, as there was no way for him to fulfil his end of the contract if the girl wasn't alive to tell him what her 'One True Wish' was in the first place!
Ignoring the constant booming in the background, he examined the girl closely and was startled to see the bullet hole in her head was smaller than just a moment ago, which should be impossible. As he watched, he could see it growing slightly smaller!
Lelouch's mind was racing, trying to join dots. 'The Lab bombing, the 'poison gas' cover up, the prisoner's outfit the girl wore, the rapid mobilisation of the Royal Guard, the attack on the Ghetto…Clovis, you are an even bigger fool than I thought.' he raged at his cowardly half-sibling. He could see the chain of events clearly.
Clovis had come across this girl, somehow, and desired whatever ability she possessed, whether it was regeneration or something more, and took her prisoner to find out how it worked. The girl probably refused to tell Clovis what he wanted to know, so he experimented on her to find out.
He had probably classified it top secret and had it mislabelled as something else entirely, creating a dummy secret project, presumably to create poison gas, to conceal it from his father as well.
Somehow, the terrorists had found out about the dummy project and believed it existed, so had dug deeper and, through luck or skill, had actually discovered the location of the actual project.
Hopefully, rather than using the gas, they had intended to attempt a propaganda coup of some ilk, showing the world what a so-called honourable prince was cooking up. Not bad, as plans went, but they had failed to take Clovis' terror of being found out by the Britannian Homeland into account.
Not even a Prince was immune to censure in Britannia, especially if that Prince violates the International Ban on the creation of chemical and biological weaponry, one of the few treaties Britannia hadn't broken, ever. Even if he did tell the Emperor it was a cover story, the Emperor would demand full disclosure of the project in question as confirmation, meaning goodbye to any chance of gaining this girl's abilities.
So Clovis, the fool, dispatched the Royal Guard, along with some disposable Honorary Britannian Soldiers, in order to retrieve it. Lelouch was willing to bet that after the sadist of a commander had reported the capsule was open, Clovis had likely ordered the destruction of Shinjuku to cover his mistake-permanently.
Lelouch was disgusted by the lack of respect for life his brother was showing, although the tactician in Lelouch did acknowledged that the plan was simple and effective. By killing all of the inhabitants of Shinjuku, the girl would have nowhere to run, presuming she recovered and revived from her 'death'.
Suddenly, a Sutherland, marked in the colours of the Purist Faction, loomed through the doors, its assault rifle held ready to fire. Its Factsphere Sensor opened and a moment later, a voice boomed out from its external speakers.
"What happened here, Boy? And why is a Britannian student in a place like this?" Lelouch was slightly surprised. A female Knight? While not exactly rare, neither were they common.
Lelouch activated his Geass and said, "{I order you to come out. At once.}" All that earned him was an angry demand as to who he thought he was to order a Knight around.
'Interesting. It requires direct eye contact. This Geass ability seems to be far more intricate and tricky than I first thought. I'll have to be careful how I use it.' Lelouch thought as he raised both hands above his head.
"My name is Alan Spacer, my father is a Duke. My I.D. card is in my breast pocket. Once you have confirmed my identity, I will request your protection." Lelouch said.
'A mere Knight will jump at the chance to aid a scion of high nobility, on the off chance of promotion to a Hereditary title. That ought to get her out where she's vulnerable.' Lelouch thought. Sure enough, the cockpit on the back opened and a silver haired woman descended on a boarding wire. She was a strong, fierce-looking woman in her mid-twenties by Lelouch's estimation. Her eyes were the colour of agate and her body was well toned and very voluptuous.
"Stay there! I'll take your I.D. out." She called as she walked forward.
Lelouch grinned. "Now, {you will answer my questions.}"
A red halo encircled the woman's eyes. She dropped her handgun and stood straight. "Of course."
"Who are you and what is your unit?"
"Villetta Nu, 8th Mobile Battalion, the Purebloods."
"What is your mission?"
"The eradication of all Elevens and buildings within the Shinjuku Ghetto."
Lelouch frowned. Exactly as he had feared. He needed protection in this war zone. He focussed on Villetta again and attempted to input another command.
"{Hand your Knightmare over to me.}"
"Understood. The code is XG21G2D4." She then tossed the activation key at him, which he caught.
"My thanks." Lelouch said. 'So I can input multiple commands as long as I maintain eye contact? Logically, that would imply that it can only be used on a person a limited number of times, possibly only once.' He was about to break contact, when he thought of a possibility.
'One of the conditions for use of my Geass is direct eye contact, a tricky one to fulfil. To save having to risk myself in order to Geass numerous people, having a sleeper agent, unaware even to herself of her loyalty to me, would be useful.' he mused and then implanted a third command, a more long-lasting one, as an experiment.
"{Whenever I say, 'By the command of Alan Spacer', you shall acknowledge it my calling me 'Master'. You shall then follow my every command, answer my every enquiry without question, and have no memory of the experience afterwards. When I say, 'Lamperouge Flash', you shall return to your normal self. You shall kneel on the ground for ten minutes from now, at which time you shall return to normal, with no memory of having seen or heard me.}"
"Understood, Master." Villetta replied, kneeling on the ground and falling silent.
Lelouch grabbed the strange Geass girl and lifted her in a fireman's carry. It would be stupid to leave her out here if she's regenerating, after all.
Ten minutes later, a very confused Villetta Nu was wondering where the hell her Knightmare was.
A.S.E.E.C.C Trailer, Britannian Temporary Shinjuku Ghetto Command
Suzaku Kururugi was lost in dreams of the time before the Britannian invasion, of when he spent time with Lelouch and Nunnally at the Kururugi Shrine, laughing and playing together, when a loud explosion force him back to consciousness.
"SO, are we having a bad day?!" came an unusually cheery and obnoxiously loud male voice from above him. Suzaku's eyes snapped open.
He was in a room, coloured in neutral tones of grey and cream. The source of the voice stood leaning over him, with a wide, childlike grin on his face. He wore large glasses, had short grey hair, and was dressed in a white, floor-length lab coat, with an armband.
Next to him was a woman wearing an orange-tan and black uniform. She had kind, pale blue eyes and shoulder length blue hair. She seemed to be holding something in a handkerchief.
"W-Where…?" Suzaku croaked out, his throat desert dry.
Nonchalantly, the man handed him a flask of water as the woman explained that they were still in the Shinjuku Ghetto, right next to Prince Clovis' G-1 mobile command fortress, so theoretically they were as safe as anyone could be in the ghetto at the moment.
Suzaku slowly drank the water with gratitude.
"You missed a chance to go to heaven, Private Kururugi." The man teased him.
Suzaku then noticed the bandages wrapped around his abdomen, as well as becoming aware of a minor pain where his kidney was located on his right hand side.
"This is what saved your life, Suzaku." the woman leaned forward and showed him what was in her handkerchief.
Suzaku's eyes widened. His father's pocket watch!
"You ARE lucky it was situated under your body armour at JUST the right angle to deflect the bullet." the odd man said lackadaisically.
"I can't believe my father's memento saved me…" Suzaku said, somewhat dazed by the revelation.
"You Elevens believe that gods live in everything, even inanimate objects don't you? Looks like this one was…oh, what is the name? Ah, yes! A so-called 'Shugo Seirei'? (Guardian Spirit)" mused the man, somewhat amused by the concept of spirits.
Suzaku then asked for an update on the situation in the ghetto and was horrified by the reply: a mass-slaughter of the inhabitants, due to the resistance fighters mingling among them (Or so they were told).
'More lives lost, more senseless slaughter! Lelouch, I hope you make it out of this alive, for Nunnally's sake, as well as your own.' Suzaku thought in horror. 'Why are they resisting? If they just work within the system, no one need die! I don't understand them…'
Suzaku was floored by the offer that came next: to pilot an experimental Knightmare Frame in order to bring a quick resolution to the conflict, once they had Prince Clovis' permission.
'What should I do?' Suzaku wondered.
With Kallen
Kallen was angry. Hell, she was absolutely enraged. Her people were being slaughtered like cattle, and it was partly her fault!
"Murdering Britannian bastards!" Kallen snarled as she used her Glasgow's one remaining Slash Harken to destroy a Britannian tank that had just gunned down a group of Shinjuku residents.
"Kallen!" Ohgi's voice yelled from her radio. "Can the Glasgow still move?" He sounded much stressed and panicky, not much of a surprise in this situation.
"Don't worry, Ohgi! I'll run decoy, you get everyone else out! The only ones to be caught will be us resistance fighters!" she called back.
"It's not as easy as that! We're pinned down and they have us completely surrounded!" Ohgi replied.
'Please…if any Kami exist…make a miracle for us…I'm begging you…' Kallen silently pleaded as she moved on to another target.
With Lelouch
Lelouch was frowning. He had just gotten off the phone with Shirley Fenette, a member of the Ashford Academy Student Council and the girl who had a 'secret' crush the size of the Britannian Homeland for him.
'It would seem that Clovis isn't quite as dense as I had supposed. A media blackout has been imposed; the only thing on the news, according to Shirley, that even mentioned Shinjuku was a traffic restriction, although by not mentioning it, it will be hard to justify this to the public afterwards, presuming he even considers telling the most remote truths about today.' Lelouch thought as he parked his stolen Sutherland between two buildings as cover.
Lelouch noticed a discarded chessboard lying within a house that must have suffered from a stray shot by a Knightmare Bazooka or an Anti-Knightmare SAM launcher, as it was missing most of its roof.
He retrieved the chessboard and re-mounted his stolen Sutherland. 'I'm hemmed in here, trapped in Shinjuku like the residents. It would be difficult, closer to impossible, for me to escape by myself.' Lelouch thought as he set up the board, with white to represent the Britannian forces and black representing himself. He completely discarded requesting sanctuary from the military, as it was far too risky.
'Clovis is trying to keep this as low-key as possible, so calling in reinforcements, whilst simultaneously keeping this under the radar, would be tricky at best.' Lelouch reasoned as he gazed at the lone piece on his own side, the king. 'This means he has to make do with the pieces he currently has on the board. Still, these odds are more than slightly against me. I need chess pieces.'
Lelouch could think of only one source of manpower: the rebels who had dragged him into this mess in the first place. It would be quite appropriate, in his opinion, for them to help him. The main problem is that they currently only possess small arms and a single fourth generation Glasgow, clearly insufficient against a division of Sutherlands.
'Well, of all tasks, that is the most easily taken care of, considering that idiot Clovis ordered a train of Sutherlands sent in to reinforce his guard, but forgot to order Knights to accompany them, the moronic fool. More so that he did it over an unencrypted channel, the arrogant popinjay.' Lelouch thought as he began moving his Sutherland to the train depot.
'Resistance fighters, I'll have you pay me back in full for getting me involved in all this.' Lelouch thought as he approached his destination. He didn't notice a pair of amber eyes regarding him from behind him.
Thirty Minutes Later
With Kallen
Kallen struck down another VTOL with her one remaining Slash Harken, when she heard a familiar voice chuckle from a loudspeaker.
"Well, well, if it isn't our Glasgow friend." Kallen paled at the knowledge of where she had heard that voice before and made her damaged Frame speed off. As she did, she saw in the rear camera that the place she had only just occupied had been strewn with bullets from an Assault Rifle.
"You've led me on a merry chase, but no mere Eleven can escape Jeremiah Gottwald!" The Sutherland carrying this Jeremiah Gottwald was in pursuit of her, another was on his flank. To make matters worse, her Glasgow's Energy Filler, the only thing powering her Knightmare, was down to a mere thirty minutes of power. Once that gauge hit zero, Kallen Kōzuki was dead.
Suddenly, her radio crackled and a voice spoke. "The West Entrance! Use the tracks to the West Entrance!" Kallen's eyes narrowed. She didn't recognise this person's voice.
"Who are you? How did you get this code?!" Kallen snapped at the radio. If this guy thought she was going to just trust a random instruction from an unknown voice, he had another thing coming!
"It doesn't matter! If you want to survive this and win against these Britannians, you're going to have to trust me!" came the reply, the voice sounding tense and matter-of-fact.
"To win…?" Kallen breathed out in disbelief. She had hoped to survive this intact, hoped to reduce the casualties her people were suffering, but this voice offered the possibility of winning?
'If nothing else, it will give me time to strategise at least.' She reflected.
She leapt up onto the old rail bridge and made haste towards the west entrance, the two Sutherlands in close pursuit.
"OK, what am I supposed to do now?" she asked the voice, getting more nervous as the Pureblood Knightmares drew closer.
"Since you trusted me, you're going to win. Jump on the approaching train!" the voice told her.
Startled, Kallen noticed a cargo train rapidly approaching on the same tracks she was running her Knightmare along.
"Right!" She affirmed and leapt atop of the train engine and then leapt to the end of the train, across the roofs of the cargo cars.
She heard Jeremiah Gottwald scoff as his Sutherland held the train back. She turned her Glasgow around in time to see the second Sutherland leap up, clearly intent on following her. She, and the Britannians for that matter, were taken off-guard by a pair of Slash Harken intercepting and destroying the Sutherland in mid-air.
All eyes turned to see another Sutherland in a building next to the tracks. Jeremiah spoke, his voice sounding angry.
"Friendly fire?! You there, what's your name and your unit?! We're after the one armed Glas-" Jeremiah was cut off by the Sutherland he was addressing opening fire on him and ripping off his Knightmare's left arm and leg in a hail of bullets.
Not one to not take advantage of a distracted and crippled opponent, Kallen yelled out a wordless battle cry as she charged the Sutherland. With a curse, the pilot activated the ejection system of the Sutherland and sailed off to safety.
'I just made a member of the Purebloods recognise he would have been in danger and forced him to eject!' Kallen thought, stunned at the revelation.
"You saved me!" Kallen spoke to the voice on the radio, not caring that relief was obvious in her voice. "But how in the world did you get your hands on a…"
Her voice trailed off as she noticed the mystery Sutherland had disappeared.
'How the heck did he move away in less than thirty seconds?' She wondered absently as she tried and failed to find him on her Factsphere Sensor.
"KALLEN!" A shout came from behind her and she turned her Glasgow around to see Kaname Ohgi, the man who took over the resistance cell after the death of her brother, run up to her followed by Kento Sugiyama, Shinichirō Tamaki, Yoshitaka Minami and Naomi Inoue, most of the rest of her brothers' cell.
"What was with that radio message earlier?" Ohgi asked, concerned about their security.
"He called you too?" Kallen spoke over the speakers, surprised at the fact.
"Yup. Yoshida's group as well, they ought to be here soon."
Ohgi's Walkie-Talkie then crackled before an voice spoke from it. "Are you the one in charge?"
Kallen recognised the voice: it was the same as the one that aided her.
"Umm…Y-Yeah" Ohgi's voice stuttered a bit.
"Before I go on, I have a question. What were you going to do with that canister of poison gas? Were you going to use it?" The voice seemed to drip disdain at the thought of someone using the stuff.
"NO!" Ohgi had a disgusted look on his face. "We were gonna show the world what Clovis was doing by hijacking the airwaves and showing them what Britannia is really like."
The voice chuckled. "As I thought. In which case, I offer you the contents of that train. It has the tools for your victory."
Kallen's sapphire eyes widened in shock when a train full of Sutherlands, at least twenty of them. The voice continued to speak.
"If you want to use them to win, then follow my orders!" Kallen was still in shock at seeing so many Sutherlands that were not enemies. 'Just what kind of person gives away Sutherlands like party favours?' she thought, numbly.
"Woman in the Glasgow! What is the status of your Energy Filler?" the Voice asked her, snapping her out of her daze.
"A-About fifteen minutes worth." She replied.
"Change out your Filler then, and standby. You will be running decoy. I'll contact you in ten minutes with your code names and instructions."
The radio then fell silent. Kallen wondered what was going to happen next, since today seemed to be full of surprises.
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With Lelouch
As Lelouch shut off the radio he had stolen from Kallen, he sighed, feeling the tension seep from his body.
'This is a lot more tiring than I anticipated, mentally speaking.' Lelouch mused. 'But I must persevere. This game is one upon which I bet my life on.'
"Well now, this is interesting." A voice said from behind him.
Lelouch stiffened slightly, but otherwise didn't show any signs of being surprised.
"Oh, good. I was wondering when you would wake up." Lelouch said calmly. "It looks like getting killed takes quite some time for you to revive from."
"You figured out that much in less than forty-five minutes? You truly are impressive, for a boy." The woman said sardonically.
"In less than five minutes actually." Lelouch replied. "Now can I have a name to go along with your fair features?"
The woman giggled slightly. "Is it not polite to give your own name before asking for another's?"
Lelouch sighed. He could tell that this was a delaying move, but he could play along...for now.
"As I'm certain you are aware, my name is Lelouch vi Britannia, formerly the eleventh prince and seventeenth in line for the throne for Britannia. Now, your name if you please."
"Call me C.C." the woman replied. "Do you like the power I granted you?"
"Geass? Yes, it is very useful." Lelouch replied with an almost maniacal grin. "It will prove very useful in my plans to crush Britannia."
"Do you actually imagine you can accomplish that, with just this power?" the woman -C.C. - asked. He could almost hear the eyebrow being raised as she spoke.
"With just this power, no. I'm neither stupid enough nor arrogant enough to believe that. With a loyal army behind me, however, I will crush Britannia, even if it means my death." Lelouch stated.
"Not before you complete your side of the contract." C.C. countered.
"Ah, yes, I've been wondering about that. Precisely what is your 'One True Wish'?" he asked, although given how evasive she was being, he suspected she would give him the run-around again.
"You do not need to know that. Just focus on remaining alive." was the reply he got.
'Just as I thought.' Lelouch sighed mentally.
"Fine then. I'm going to be devising a plan to use the resistance as a force to defeat the forces of my idiot brother, so keep it down." he replied, somewhat irritably.
As he worked on the plan, he considered a conversation he had heard on the encrypted Britannian radio half an hour ago, regarding the A.S.E.E.C.C. Special Task Group. They had been calling a 'Margrave Jeremiah' back to make use of the 'experimental Knightmare' he was supposed to use.
Evidently, he had refused, as there had been some background swearing from someone within range of a microphone before the signal was cut off.
Lelouch frowned. If there was an experimental Knightmare Frame running around, it might cause some hiccups in his plan, so he had better have an insurance policy, just in case they found a pilot.
Two minutes later, he was ready. After telling C.C. to keep quiet, he grabbed the radio.
Five Minutes later
With Kallen and the Resistance
"Hey, are you really sure this is a good idea?" Tamaki called at Ohgi, who had just booted up his Sutherland. "They've all had their IFF Beacons (Identify Friend/Foe) removed! What if this is a trap!"
Ohgi rolled his eyes as he replied to his friend's concern. "Tamaki, Britannia has an overwhelming military edge here. There is no point in using traps or tricks with the superior firepower the Britannian army can bring to bear."
Tamaki grumbled, but shut up (Temporarily).
The radio in Ohgi's Sutherland crackled. "P-1, are you ready to move?" the voice enquired. The voice had called five minutes ago and assigned them all code names. Ohgi was P-1, while Tamaki was P-5. Most of the Cell was assigned a letter and number combination of P, B and N.
The only exception was Kallen, who had the code name Q-1. Ohgi surmised that it was to differentiate her from the rest of them due to her main duty of running decoy.
"The Sutherland's controls are greatly similar to the Glasgow, so it should be fairly easy to operate." The voice continued.
Ohgi grabbed his radio and spoke into it. "Can't you tell us who you are? At least your name!" 'Seriously, calling him 'the voice' all the time is getting awkward.'
"No can do. What if the Britannians are monitoring this frequency? For now, my code name is K-1. Call me that if you wish. Anyway, if Q-1 is on schedule, two enemy Sutherlands will reach the other side of the wall in twenty three seconds. Shoot them through the wall."
"Is this guy for real? He has to be nuts!" Tamaki scoffs. Ohgi, on the other hand, recognises complete and absolute belief in his own words on the part of the newly christened K-1.
"Everybody, double check your weapons and head to your positions!" Ohgi commands.
Tamaki splutters in indignation at this, but follows the others as they prepare to fight.
"Three….Two….One….Fire!" Ohgi commands. The seven Sutherlands with him open fire, shedding the crumbling concrete wall instantly-and the pair of Sutherlands who were moving to attack Kallen from behind.
All of the resistance fighters gape at where the broken bodies of the Britannian Sutherlands lay.
"Alright everyone! Looks like K-1's word has just been proven to be good!" Ohgi said over the radio, ignoring the grumbling of Tamaki. "Follow K-1's orders! Let's show these Britannians that Japan's spirit is greater than theirs is!"
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Next Chapter: Chapter 3: The Battle of Shinjuku. The White Knight Awakens.
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