Authors Note: My oh my, over 4000 views. This is really surprising. My thanks, all of you.
I will take this opportunity to answer some reader reviews.
Anonymous Guest: Yes, Lelouch will wield a sword. What kind? Watch this space… (His Knightmare won't have one though).
Jetsmillion: Lelouch prepared both his mind and body for his rebellion. He is less prideful and arrogant, is well aware of his limits and has trained his already sharp and insightful mind to approach at problems and other situations from multiple angles. As C.C.'s bullet wound was slowly closing up in front of him, a regenerative ability is obvious and why regenerate if the subject is not alive?
As for his Geass, see above. I don't know why he never tried multiple commands in Canon at that stage, but it would make sense to at least try the theory out in a (reasonably) safe pace as he was, and let's face it, Lelouch is very cynical. He would (or should) naturally suspect such a powerful ability would have demerits or limitations to it, thus leading to the possibilities inherent in conditional activations via catchphrases.
Please note, he still does not know how long the Geass will last on Villetta, nor his he aware of reflective surfaces being useful in either redirecting or nullifying his Geass.
Now, this chapter has a major divergence, or at least I would call it major myself, and frames a character in a somewhat better light than canon at this juncture. Now, let the fic begin!
Disclaimer: Code Geass isn't mine.
"Kallen"-Speech
'Lelouch'-Thought/mental communication
"{Die}"-Geass Command
"Halt!"-Loudspeaker
"Roger."-Radio/Walkie-Talkie
Chapter 3-The Battle of Shinjuku. The White Knight Awakens.
Prince Clovis la Britannia's G-1 Mobile Fortress, Shinjuku Ghetto
Clovis la Britannia, Third Prince of the Holy Britannian Empire, Viceroy of Area Eleven and (in his own opinion) best dressed of the entire Imperial Family, was slightly surprised.
Sir Orion and Sir Valarie, two moderately experienced Knightmare Pilots (Knights), had just been caught by an ambush, necessitating them to eject.
In a military operation, this would not be any kind of surprise, combat being unpredictable. However, this was not combat, this was 'urban renewal' (read: a massacre), so there shouldn't be any casualties.
'Tch. Must have been a lucky break for the terrorist scum.' Clovis thought, dismissing the ambush from his mind and made a note to punish Orion and Valerie when they were picked up.
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With Lelouch
"An IFF can be a double-edged sword, can it not, oh brother mine?" Lelouch mused aloud as he watched the screen where the locations and ID's of all of Clovis' forces were displayed.
He had set up the chessboard and pieces to correspond to the number of forces available to both Clovis and himself. Clovis had the advantage in numbers, but was a very poor tactician and strategist, whereas Lelouch was at a disadvantage in numbers, but was the superior strategist.
Behind him, the woman calling herself C.C. watched him silently, analyzing him and his actions.
Lelouch activated his radio again, "P-1, P-4, P-7, move 100 meters to the right and fire your Slash Harkens at three o'clock." he called to the terrorists.
"Can you win this battle, boy?" C.C. asked, acerbically.
Lelouch resisted the impulse to reply in an equally rude way, instead replying politely, "As long as the terrorists follow my orders, the task at had will be completed. This battle would be meaningless, other than stopping a pointless slaughter, if Clovis were not here."
C.C. raised an eyebrow. "Is he your target then?"
"Indeed." Lelouch replied, "He will be both my first step on my path to defeating my father AND the first step on my investigation."
"Investigation? About what?" C.C. asked disinterestedly.
"My mother's murder." Lelouch replied shortly and got back to commanding his troops, harrying someone codenamed P-5 to get ready.
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In Shinjuku, a lithe man in a green outfit, wearing reflective shades and headphones, was stumbling along, cursing his luck at getting caught in Shinjuku during a massacre. His name was Mao.
He had entered Area 11 a week ago, suffering the constant chatter of the minds of the disgusting smugglers he had hired to sneak him in. He had scoured the city looking for his beloved C.C. and had yet to find her!
Mao knew she had been in Japan just before the Britannian invasion, several people in the Chinese Federation had seen her purchase the tickets, he had seen their memories, so why had he not been able to find her?
He had been on the verge of giving up and returning to the isolated area of China where he had resided since C.C. had left, when a passing military man had been thinking of her.
Mao had covertly followed the man. Turns out he was a general called Bartley and he had been doing unspeakable things to his C.C.! The nerve of the man!
Mao was overjoyed to find out that some terrorists had managed to 'steal' C.C. from the Britannians. All Mao had to do was waltz into Shinjuku, where the truck had last been seen, kill the terrorists, grab C.C. and get out again. Easy, right?
Wrong.
Barely five minutes after he entered the Ghetto, it turned into a war zone! Mao was having a harder time finding the terrorists, because none of the residents seemed to know who they were or where they were. All the stupid herd was thinking about was their own worthless lives, pathetic!
Mao stiffened as he felt the ground shake and reached out with his mind reading Geass. There! One Sutherland Pilot, a Britannian, as typically arrogant and self important as you can get, is advancing to meet up with another squad. He was about ten meters away.
'Tch. Better stay hidden. Damn Britannians! Damn Elevens!' Mao snarled in his head as he ducked behind a building. He would come to regret that action.
Ten seconds later, P-1, P-4 and P-7 hit the Britannian Sutherland with six Slash Harkens, sending it crashing into the building Mao was hiding behind. His scream was abruptly cut off as he was crushed to death beneath concrete and metal.
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The G-1 Command Base
"Sir Henry, Lost! He reported before he ejected that the terrorist have more Knightmares, our own Sutherlands!" one of the Staff Officers reported, wide eyed.
"The enemy is advancing towards G-2-8!" Another reported.
General Bartley was sweating bullets. Three Knightmares down in less than five minutes? Prince Clovis was going to have his head!
"Send Glaube's squad!" he ordered hoarsely.
Prince Clovis, sitting on his throne, was stunned. "They have our military weaponry? How?" He whispered in disbelief.
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With Kallen
"Q-1, your target is on top of the building in front of you. Eliminate him." K-1 ordered over the radio.
"Right." Kallen responded. She hated purely running decoy and had been about to complain to K-1 about it when he had told her he had a target for her to take down.
'Was this just a coincidence, or did he read me?' Kallen mused idly as she fired a Slash Harken upwards, to get her on top of the building.
Kallen had honestly been taken by surprise at the skill this K-1 was showing. The small resistance cell that her Nii-Sama had founded, and had passed to Ohgi after his death by that bastard Clovis, was running rings around a highly trained Britannian Knightmare Battalion, not to mention the tanks and VTOL units in support.
Kallen's Glasgow landed on the roof of the building and charged at the Britannian Sutherland facing away from her. It turned around, the Factshpere Sensor open and active.
A hard punch from her Glasgow's remaining arm shatters it and destroys the rest of the head. The Automatic Ejection System in the Sutherland activated and sent the pilot to safety.
Kallen grins and moves to her next point, as ordered by K-1.
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G-1 Command Base
"Sir Glaube, Lost!" The same Staff Officer reports.
"Change our codes, they must be intercepting our transmissions!" Bartley barks at his officers.
"But we have sir, five times already!" Protests one of them.
"Well do it again!" Bartley shoots back. Mentally, Bartley is very much dumbfounded. How were the terrorists moving like an elite unit of pilots and making his own forces look like rank amateurs? It made no sense!
"This failure is totally unacceptable!" Clovis declares, rising from his throne.
"M-My apologies, your highness!" Bartley stammers out, nervously. He knew that those who displeased members of the Imperial Family rarely survived the experience with their careers -or their lives- intact.
Suddenly, a vid-call window opens up on the main battlefield monitor screen, displaying the face of Earl Lloyd Asplund, of the A.S.E.E.C.C. Special Task Group.
"Good Afternoon, Gentlemen!" the Earl greets the room in a loud, obnoxiously cheerful voice.
"What is it? We are in the MIDDLE of an OPERATION!" Bartley snarls at the man. Were it not for the fact that First Prince Schneizel had given the idiot Earl permission to act outside the chain of command, Bartley would never have let the fancifully named Camelot near Shinjuku.
As it was, he had zero authority over them. Only members of the Royal House, such as Prince Clovis, could give them orders, and as he was commander here, they required his permission to enter the fray.
"I'd say it's time to deploy the A.S.E.E.C.C. Special Weapon!" The Earl said, brightly. 'As I suspected.' Bartley thought sourly.
"We have no time for this!" Clovis barked as he advanced towards the command table. "I will now take personal command of the forces stationed here!"
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With Lelouch
Lelouch watched as blip after blip disappeared from the screen, each indicating a lost unit, the last being a tank.
"R-2, fire anchor." He commanded, advancing a castle.
{Beep} Unit Lost. Bye-Bye, VTOL.
"B-7, use UN Ordnance." A Bishop was moved.
{Beep} Unit Lost. Farewell, tank.
"N-Group, continue your advance." A Knight was advanced forward.
{Beep} Four Units lost. Rest easy, Sutherlands.
Lelouch settled back and watched the IFF screen carefully.
"Now then, the enemy has five options. Their move." He muttered aloud.
"Which do you think will happen?" C.C. asked.
"If my idiot elder brother panics, and takes personal command, probably an en-mass attack. If not, a tightening of the encirclement and a slow, steady advance." Lelouch replied with a shrug. "I have plans to deal with anything either Clovis or his pet General can throw at me."
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G-1 Command Base
"Sir, we just lost Sir Lazlo's Squad!" came one of the latest of the many casualty reports.
"Grrr. No choice. Bring up Quincy's Squad!" Clovis ordered.
"But, Your Highness, that will break the encirclement!" Bartley cautioned his prince carefully.
"Reinforce the line with some of the units guarding me. A battle is not won by those who are faint of heart." Clovis dismissed Bartley's concerns firmly.
Clovis pointed at the display on the Command Table. "All we know for certain is that enemy forces are somewhere here. Surround their position and crush them!"
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With Lelouch
Lelouch was idly twirling the Black King piece between his fingers as he waited for the enemy to move. He raised both eyebrows when he discerned the meaning of the movements he was seeing.
"My, it seems Clovis has taken command after all-that is the stupidest move he could have made, out of all of his choices." Lelouch remarked as he grabbed the radio.
"Q-1, do you have an area map?" he asked his main decoy. Lelouch was very impressed with Miss Kallen Stadtfelt. She listened to orders, was an excellent Knightmare pilot and possessed a highly moral character. She also had a bit of a temper and was impatient, which is why he had assigned her to take down that lone Knightmare, to relieve her of some stress.
'She reminds me of Mother quite a bit.' Lelouch mused. 'Although, Mother wasn't nearly as easy to read as Miss Stadtfelt is.'
"Yes, I have a map of the old city, but it has no current landmarks." came her reply, the frustration very obvious in her voice.
Lelouch smirked. Good. "That will do, now here's the plan….."
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With Jeremiah Gottwald
Bruised from his ejection, Jeremiah was taking a slow and cautious approach to returning to the G-1 Command Fortress. The last thing he wanted was to be ambushed by some Eleven terrorists.
Jeremiah sighed. Not for the first time, he questioned the path that had led him to joining the Purist Faction.
After the assassination of Empress Marianne vi Britannia, a woman who, despite being of common birth was the most gifted Knightmare Pilot in the Empire, on par with Lord Bismarck Waldstein, The Knight of One, The Strongest Knight in the Empire, Jeremiah, a guard in the Imperial Palace at Pendragon, had been in disgrace.
While he had, essentially, been persona non grata with the imperial court after Lady Marianne's death, he had still heard of the court appearance of her eldest child, Lelouch, and the subsequent action taken by the Emperor, not least of which was exiling them to Japan as Political Hostages.
If Jeremiah had had any kind of pull left in the Court, he would have applied to join the Prince and Princess in exile. To Jeremiah's mind, if whoever had assassinated Lady Marianne had the resources and political clout to slay one of the 108 Imperial Consorts, in the Imperial Palace, in broad daylight no less and make an escape, there was no question that they could at least attempt to wipe out the vi Britannia line in a backward country like Japan.
Sadly, he had no clout and had been force to compromise his own morals by joining the so-called 'Pureblood' Faction, just to save his career. Their ideals were ridiculous. Lady Marianne hadn't been a noble, yet she had regularly trounced nobles in her Knightmare, the Ganymede, often three on one.
Their stance on the Numbers was, in Jeremiah's opinion, somewhat flawed as well. Yes, Britannia had conquered them, but that was due to Britannia's superior technology, not some divine right handed down from god!
He had also taken issue, in private and only to himself, with the Emperor's policy to do with the way Vassal States were treated. Stripping them of their governments, yes, their flags, yes, but their Name? Their very identity? THAT was too far. Lady Marianne herself had said that showing mercy was a sign of strength, so why try to crush them so completely as to make them virtual animals?
After the invasion and conquest of Japan and it's subsequent re-classification as Area Eleven, Jeremiah had transferred his unit there, hoping to find the last remnants of Lady Marianne. After three fruitless months of searching, the officials, by order of the Emperor, labelled both former Eleventh Prince Lelouch and former Fourth Princess Nunnally as dead.
Jeremiah had refused to believe it. He had seen the obvious intelligence of Prince Lelouch, as evidenced in his mastery of chess. He had always dominated everyone he played, aside from First Prince Schneizel, who was also extremely intelligent. If anyone could plan to survive a war and the subsequent 'peacekeeping activities', it was him.
As the years past, he had continued the search, albeit clandestinely. Just before this whole terrorist incident, he had been about to search the files on Britannian citizens in the Britannian Tokyo Settlement. He had previously ignored Tokyo, as His Highness Clovis would have recognised any noble who resembled his old chess rival.
Jeremiah had been horrified when he had read the briefing on this current operation. Terrorists with poison gas! The area it would affect was massive and the gas was very much in the fatal category. A nagging voice at the back of his head had questioned exactly where the terrorists had gotten their hands on it and exactly why only the Purists were mobilised to deal with it.
The pilot of the red Glasgow had been very skilled, shown by the fact that detonating an arm to cover a retreat was a very tricky manoeuvre and required a fair amount of skill to perform. Still, no Glasgow could go toe to toe with a Sutherland and come out on top without the advantage of surprise, so when he had found the Glasgow later on in the day, he had expected a chase and a kill.
What he had gotten instead was his ass handed to him. He didn't know how a terrorist could get his hands on a Sutherland -painted in the colours of the Purebloods, no less- but the entire left side of his Sutherland had been crippled very quickly, followed on by that Glasgow charging at him, ready to kill him.
All in all, Jeremiah was definitely thinking about upgrading to a Gloucester sometime soon, preferably before an enterprising Eleven shoots him. 'What a day this has been.' Jeremiah thought as he continued his march forward.
In the distance, he saw a column of Knightmare Frames and Tanks advancing towards an unknown destination. Jeremiah peered at the units and recognised them. They were some of the units assigned to encircle and blockade Shinjuku.
"What idiot ordered them to break the encirclement?" Jeremiah wondered aloud.
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G-1 Command Fortress
Clovis sneezed suddenly.
"Are you catching a cold, Your Highness?" Bartley asked.
"No, I must be allergic to close proximity with these filthy Elevens." Clovis replied, before blowing his nose on a handkerchief.
"Moving on," Clovis said, after disposing of his hanky, "Send in Burtz and the others as well. The target is that central dot: Finish them!"
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With Lelouch
"Are all of you ready?" Lelouch radioed his troops.
A chorus of affirmatives came back at him.
'Alright. Time for the second act to end and the third to begin.' Lelouch thought as he picked up the Queen piece.
"Begin Mission Number Three….now!" He commanded via the radio.
Mission number three was a very simple plan. All Knightmares enter the old subway tunnels with Q-1 at the rear. After a set amount of time, Q-1 was to turn about face and fire her Slash Harkens into the ceiling's support beam. That would cause it to collapse and cause the surface above it to collapse as well. In turn, the shifting of the under maintained road collapsing would start a chain reaction, reaching out in a wide radius, swallowing and crushing any and all Knightmares and tanks caught by it.
He had made the plan, along with several others, once the enemies responses had been reduced to the last five, but he hadn't expected to actually need to use it, as no tactician worth the name would use an en-masse attack method these days. The last time that happened was during the time of actual Knights on horseback, for crying out loud.
'Then again, Clovis did like his history. Along with painting, History was his favourite subject. Shame he never took to heart the saying 'those who do not learn from the mistakes made in the past are doomed to repeat them.'' Lelouch thought with a shrug.
"With this, I call Check." he remarked aloud.
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G-1 Command Fortress
{Beep} Target not found.
Clovis stared at the display in stupefied confusion. All of the forces he had massed had charged in….to see each other and no enemy.
What the hell?
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With Kallen
As the small column of Knightmares advanced, Kallen, last in line, watched a countdown timer reach zero.
'Its time.' She thought.
Turning her Glasgow around, Kallen launched her Slash Harkens at the roof's support beam as K-1 had ordered, before quickly retracting them and beating a hasty retreat.
With a mighty crash, the roof collapsed, sending shockwaves across the entire area of the tunnel.
Above the tunnel, the confused Knights had stopped where they were, awaiting orders. Suddenly, the ground opened up beneath them, swallowing them and their Knightmares and crushing them in the jaws of the earth.
The collapse spread, swallowing Knightmares, Tanks and infantry whole, never to be seen alive again. Even buildings were brought down, smashing atop the remains of the weapons of war, creating a tomb of rubble for them.
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With Lelouch
Lelouch was grinning like a fool. He had done it. Clovis had just lost over 80% of his combat capable forces to a simple trap.
'I can do it! I can crush Britannia!' Lelouch thought, allowing himself a moment to celebrate, then got back in the game.
"Right, now that he's lost most of his conventional forces, Clovis will undoubtedly commit the 'prototype Knightmare', whatever it is, and hope for a miracle." Lelouch postulated aloud.
"So then, 'General', what's the plan?" C.C. asked, humour laced into her voice.
"Watch and learn, immortal, watch and learn." Lelouch told her as he reached for the radio once again.
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G-1 Command Fortress
Clovis watched in horror as almost all of the units under his command were destroyed in a wave of destruction.
'J-Just…Just who am I dealing with here….?' Clovis thought, panic etching his features, 'My God….What if he's better than Todoh..?!'
While the Eleven populace revered Todoh as the Miracle Bringer, the Britannian forces called him The Phantom of Itsukushima's Miracle and reviled him for defeating a numerically superior force, without any Knightmares of his own.
The idea of facing Todoh in battle terrified Clovis; the idea of facing someone who was better than Todoh in battle made him want to faint. Suddenly, inspiration struck the panicking Prince.
"Lloyd!" Clovis shouted and Lloyd's image reappeared on the main monitor.
"Yes, Your Highness?" the scientist nobleman asked cheerfully.
"Can your toy win?" Clovis asked.
"Oh, please, your Highness-call it Lancelot."
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A.S.E.E.C.C. Knightmare Storage and Transport Trailer
"Z-01, Lancelot, Launching. Please clear the area!" Cecily Croomey's voice echoed over the speakers.
As Cecily's voice blared out over the speakers, Suzaku Kururugi was getting suited up in a 'Devicer's Uniform' as Lloyd called it. The uniform was white, black and gold, padded in order to better protect against the Lancelot's rapid movement and the jarring that commonly accompanied it.
He had read the manual (most of it anyway) for the Lancelot and was more than slightly impressed. The Lancelot outclassed Sixth Generation Gloucesters, by about as much as a Sutherland outclassed a regular battle tank-totally.
The Blaze Luminous Shielding System was the main defensive array on the Knightmares arms and could be activated to shield the Lancelot from bullets, grenades, Chaos Mines, even close combat weapons like Stun Tonfas and Lances.
The Lancelot also featured an improved version of the standard Yggdrasil Drive, the Core Luminous, as well as a hefty amount of Sakuradite seeded throughout the Lancelot's frame, increasing its overall strength, agility and power.
There were only two issues Suzaku had with the Lancelot, as it currently was. The first issue was the lack of ranged weaponry, aside from the Slash Harkens, meaning Suzaku would have to get up close and personal with any enemy Knightmares in order to defeat them, upping the chance of an ambush.
The Second, far more pressing, issue was the lack of any sort of ejection system. Quite how Earl Asplund neglected to design one into the Lancelot was astonishing to Suzaku, considering how Knightmares were originally a pilot ejection system in and of themselves.
Suzaku knew of the development history of the Knightmares, up to the Third Generation Ganymede, fairly well thanks to Lelouch. He would often reminisce about all of his mother's duels, especially the time she had defeated the Knight of One, Lord Bismarck Waldstein.
Hopefully, Prince Schneizel will grant a bit of extra funding to build a basic safety device like an Emergency Cockpit Ejection System, and relatively soon.
"Have you read the manual?" Cecile Croomey's voice came over the headset he wore over his right ear.
"Pretty much." Suzaku replied. All he had skipped was the part he was certain the Earl had added, entitled, "Devicer Conduct and Proper Veneration Etiquette of the Lancelot". He was pretty sure that was superfluous to requirements, so had ignored it.
Suzaku made his way out of the changing room and stood in front of the Lancelot. It was magnificent. The Lancelot's white and gold paintwork made it shine like a beacon, even in the Ghetto.
'With this, I can end this slaughter. I can do it!' Suzaku thought as Ms. Croomey talked in his ear about being careful in the field.
Suzaku mounted the Lancelot's cockpit and sealed the hatch behind him. After running preliminary start-up procedures, Suzaku activated his radio.
"Ms. Cecile? All systems check out all green on this end." Suzaku reported.
"Roger. All systems green on this end as well." Cecile replied. "Releasing safety locks 1-16. Suzaku, you are cleared for launch. Godspeed."
Suzaku inserted the activation key as he acknowledged Cecile. "Roger. Suzaku Kururugi, Z-01 Lancelot: Launching!"
The Lancelot exploded forward in a flurry of motion, Landspinners whirling, speeding towards the sounds of conflict.
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Next Chapter: Shinjuku Checkmate, The Victor…?
Authors Note: Mao's cruel and twisted manipulation of Shirley during R1 made me so angry. When I started this story, I decided to treat him in the manner such a person deserves: as a minor, unimportant footnote, easily ignored.
If you are wondering, Mao focused his Geass on a single person, thus reducing his range dramatically, making him unable to 'hear' P-Group moving to attack Sir Henry. A naïve mistake that fit with his character.
Now, thanks to several requests, the harem currently stands at: Kallen C.C., Kaguya, Shirley, Milly, Villetta and Sayoko. Euphy is still being polled.
The only reason she is being polled is due to the whole incest issue. Personally, considering I read somewhere that such relationships were not exactly unknown in both the Britannian Imperial family AND the Real-Life British monarchy, it doesn't bug me much at all, but YOU are the readers. What you want, you get, so long as it meshes with my story.
On that note, there will be nothing in here from Akito, Oz, Nightmare of Nunnally or Suzaku of the Counter-Attack. This is because I am less familiar with them and thus less confident about writing about them.
This is me signing off. I am still recovering from the flu, so the next chapter will be released on the 1st of October to allow me some time to recover.