Author's Note: Hello! I'm back people and I am sorry for being away for so long.
You see, I was writing my first original arc in my Naruko story and I didn't want to mess it up, so I focussed on writing that up first. My progress was impeded by the computer breaking down (costing me £25.00 to fix, thank you very much!) and then my houseguest was on the computer for most of the day, cutting the time I had to write in half, if not more.
Enough from me and on with the fic!
Disclaimer: Although it would be nice, I don't own Code Geass. Sorry.
"Kallen"-Speech
'Lelouch'-Thought/mental communication
"{Die}"-Geass Command
"Halt!"-Loudspeaker
"Roger."-Radio/Walkie-Talkie
Chapter 13: Saitama Encirclement
Timeskip - 1 Week Later, Early Morning
Knightmare Hanger, Area 11 Administration Building
"…While other European countries stagnated, assailed by waves of people's revolutions and parliamentarization, England held fast to Absolute Monarchy…" Suzaku read aloud, then sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"It is going to take forever for me to catch up with the material!" he sighed again before turning his head to look at Cecile Croomey, who sat to his left.
"Sorry that you have to watch me do my homework, Ms Cecile." The Honorary Britannian apologised.
"It's no problem, Suzaku." Cecile replied kindly, "You've never attended a regular school before, so it can't be avoided."
"I was tutored by the best money could buy before the invasion." Suzaku mused, "Afterwards, there was no point. No job that required qualifications would hire an Eleven, so I never got back into the studying habit…at least until Princess Euphemia pulled some strings to let me go to Ashford."
Cecile giggled. "Yes, that was quite the shock for you I expect."
"When Lelouch stayed with my family, he did say that she was unable to leave something alone once she saw something that needed changing or someone who needed help." Suzaku mused.
That was a barefaced lie of course. Lelouch had mentioned it just the other day when he had been invited over by the Lamperouge siblings for tea yet again, but he couldn't very well say that.
"Sounds like Her Highness hasn't changed that much since she was little." Cecile commented, "By the way, how are your schoolmates treating you?"
Suzaku flinched slightly, but resolutely shrugged. "As well as can be expected. The Student Council is the best of the lot. They've been giving me a lot of help with my schoolwork."
"I've been a little bit worried about you, to be perfectly honest with you." Cecile confessed, "Although it is the most liberal school in Area 11, I was worried you weren't fitting in."
"Yeah, well I was expecting that as well, but I ran into an old acquaintance of sorts who helped smooth things over for me." Suzaku replied as he scribbled down another paragraph in his essay, which held the title, "The Fall of Mainland Europe to the Unwashed Masses was inevitable -Discuss".
Lelouch had subtly influenced the Student Council to lend him their aid when he had told them that altered version of their meeting in Shinjuku. Milly, Shirley and Rivalz were the main people that helped him. Nina was still scared of him and Kallen was too sickly to attend regularly. As for Celesta…
Suzaku allowed a small frown to cross his face when he thought of the green haired girl. She irritated him like nothing else. She was acerbic, cynical and dismissive of his ideals. Overall, she reminded him a lot of Zero, the tone of contempt in her voice echoed that from the masked vigilante.
"Suzaku?" Cecile asked, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Suzaku smiled back at her, "There's a person on the Student Council who thinks my ideals are foolish and she irritates me a bit, that's all."
"Have you tried discussing it with her?" Cecile asked.
"Getting a proper conversation out of her is like trying to get blood from a stone, unless the conversation is on her terms." Suzaku replied wryly, "She blows me off unless it's for an activity in the Council."
"Oh my…" Cecile said, "By the sounds of it, you're just going to have to be patient and wait for her to bring the subject up with you."
"Yep." The Honorary Britannian agreed, "Which makes me even more irritated. The fact that she refused to let me explain why I feel the ideals I hold are right makes me wonder why she let me know she thought they were stupid in the first place."
"In order to make you think about them, Private Kururugi." the ironic drawl of Lloyd Asplund spoke up from directly behind the two, making Suzaku and Cecile jump in fright.
"Lloyd! Stop doing that!" Cecile scolded her boss.
"I am sorry to break up this little bonding session you two have going, but I am afraid that Lancelot needs our help." the eccentric Earl said, "The last parts for the VARIS Rifle have arrived, and the Lancelot needs to be recalibrated to adjust for the new Cockpit Ejection System that you begged me to install."
"Lloyd, you should have made the C.E.S. an integral part of the Lancelot from the get-go." Cecile pointed out for the nth time, "Instead, you spent most of the budget on the Sakuradite enhancements scattered around the body."
"Now Cecile, you have to admit that the sheer power of the Lancelot is more than compensation for the lack of a silly thing like a C.E.S." Lloyd riposted.
"Not when it puts the life of the Devicer at risk!" Cecile argued back.
Suzaku watched in amusement as the two scientists began to squabble again like a comedy skit.
'Today might be alright.' he thought as he broke up the storm in a teacup that was brewing.
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Lelouch and Nunnally's Suite, Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy
Lelouch tapped away at the keyboard with a slight frown on his face. The data he had just received from his Knight, Jeremiah, was more than slightly troubling. Cornelia was moving a Mobile Battalion out, destination unknown, although the former Royal Guardsman promised to find out where the Princess was going to soon.
A Mobile Battalion was a component of an Army Group, which usually had at least three Mobile Battalions as part of its makeup. Area Eleven's Army Group had possessed six Mobile Battalions before Shinjuku. With the destruction of the Purebloods after Shinjuku, they had been down to five before Cornelia brought her personally trained soldiers, the Fifth Mobile Battalion, in as reinforcements.
Now those reinforcements were being sent…somewhere.
'Cornelia is famous for mistrusting soldiers that she hasn't trained herself.' Lelouch considered, 'In fact, she has even less reason to trust Area 11's soldiery because they let her brother get killed under their watch. Now then, where is Cornelia attacking? Judging by the fact she is using Command G-1's to move the Knightmares, it can't be anywhere too far away, which limits it to somewhere nearby…likely somewhere in the Greater Tokyo Area.'
The Exiled Prince was begrudgingly impressed with Cornelia's progress in her campaign to eliminate the large Resistance groups in the Ghettos. The Blood of the Samurai, Swords of the Ancestors and the Imperial Dragon Factions had been devastated in short order; the assaults bore all the hallmarks of Cornelia's work, swift, sudden and merciless.
Lelouch's eyebrows shot up as another datum, this time from a worm in the Area 11 Justice Department, appeared on his screen. Cornelia had pardoned the bridge crew of Clovis' G-1 and had assigned them to her personal Command G-1.
'Of course. A trap.' Lelouch realised with a snort. Cornelia, thanks to Jeremiah, had a very good idea how 'Zero', a.k.a. Lelouch, had infiltrated Clovis' base of operations. She would likely set up a situation similar to Shinjuku in order to lure 'Zero' into the open, presuming that he was arrogant enough to try and get at Cornelia the same way he had gotten at Clovis.
He was not that foolish. The only two things Cornelia and Clovis had in common was their shared father and their shared arrogance. His third favourite sister was highly intelligent, driven and highly cautious, nothing like the coward that had been Third Prince Clovis la Britannia.
So then, where was Cornelia going to strike? The Tokyo Tama Area was now barren of any possible prey. To the best of Lelouch's knowledge, there were only a couple of three-man cells in Kanagawa, certainly nothing to attract Cornelia's attention, which logically left only one possible target, assuming that the Viceroy was keeping with her MO.
Saitama. The location of the main base of the Yamato Alliance and one of the few Resistance groups left outside the JLF with over a hundred members.
Cornelia wouldn't want to alert Euphy to her plan, as her gentle little sister would kick up a hell of a fuss about this if she ever found out what Cornelia had planned…
An evil smile crossed Lelouch's face. 'Yes, she would, wouldn't she?'
The sinister smile remaining spread across his face, Lelouch picked up his phone and hit a series of numbers he had memorised before putting the phone to his ear.
"Hello, Jeremiah? Yes, I have gone through your latest data packet." He stopped and listened to his Knight for a moment before the smirk widened ever so slightly.
"Saitama? Yes, I had just figured that out." Lelouch replied, "I have come up with a plan that will make my counter-attack on Cornelia very much more effective. This is what I'd like for you to do…"
After explaining his plan to Jeremiah, Lelouch hung up, withdrew a voice changer from his drawer and clipped it onto his phone before calling the next number on his list.
"Yes?" a tense female voice answered the phone almost as soon as the phone began to ring.
"Q-1, are you ready for a mission?" Lelouch asked.
"Of course!" Kallen's voice had overtones of relief and eagerness in it. She must be really tired of Ashford after over a week of consecutive attendance.
"Excellent. Rendezvous with Ohgi at position G-H-5 in about two hours. Come prepared for a Knightmare battle." Lelouch ordered briskly. He then hung up and called Ohgi, issuing similar orders before rising from his chair and called for Sayoko.
"Hai, Goshujin-sama?" Sayoko appeared out of nowhere at his summoning. Lelouch, despite having anticipated her doing that, jumped slightly in surprise when she appeared.
"Ah, Sayoko." Lelouch said, recovering from his shock almost instantly, "Kindly grab my outfit, as well as C.C.'s and your own. Today we go to the battlefield!"
"By your command." Sayoko bowed at Lelouch before vanishing. One moment she was there, then he blinked and she was gone. Shaking his head as he wondered exactly how she managed to accomplish the whole disappear/reappear act for the umpteenth time, Lelouch walked off to visit Nunnally.
"Nunnally?" Lelouch called, knocking on her door.
"Yes, Big Brother?" Nunnally called from within her bedroom.
Lelouch opened the door and walked over to his sister, who was sitting in her wheelchair, 'reading' a Braille-book.
"Nunnally, one of my fellow investors has managed to get himself into a spot of bother." Lelouch told her, using one of the excuses he had created for just this kind of instance, "The other party is demanding that all the investors of the project, including me, show up in person to sort it out, so Sayoko and myself are going to be gone all day."
"Oh." Nunnally's face fell, "Will you be back in time for dinner?"
"I honestly don't know." Lelouch replied, "If I arrive back that late, I'll give Milly a ring and you can spend the night at her house. Shirley might even join you and make it a girl's night in."
"That would be nice." Nunnally smiled. She really liked Shirley, treating her like an honorary older sister, "Be careful on your trip, Big Brother. With Zero around, you can't be too careful."
Lelouch planted a small kiss on the crown on Nunnally's head, making her giggle as he murmured, "I'll be careful, but I think Zero has more on his mind than me at the moment, Nuna."
As he walked out, he pulled out his phone and called Milly, making arrangements for her to pick up Nunnally and have her spend the night with Milly and Shirley.
"So what's this I hear about us going off to the battlefield?" C.C. asked, arms akimbo and a mild glare on her face as she faced her contractor in his room. She was dressed in a pair of flared trousers, sandals, t-shirt and a sun hat.
"Cornelia has all but broadcast her intent to trap Zero." Lelouch replied with a small grin, "With such an obvious invitation, it would be rude not to show up, wouldn't it?"
The Immortal raised an eyebrow at Lelouch. "You're plotting something, aren't you?" she half asked, half stated.
"I'm a former member of Britannian Royalty; plotting is in the blood." Lelouch replied airily, "I'll fill you and Sayoko in en route, so don't worry."
He hastily added the last bit in after he caught the danger signs appearing on his lover's countenance. The one time he had made her angry had taught him very well that the female of the species was definitely more deadly than the male.
"Good." C.C. said, relaxing somewhat, "Now, where is Sayoko?"
"Right here, C.C.-sama." the Kunoichi responded from right behind her, making the green-haired girl yelp in surprise.
"Dammit, Sayoko!" C.C. shouted, "Don't do that!"
"My apologies." Sayoko said smoothly, her face utterly bland, but Lelouch got the impression that his maid-slash-bodyguard was very much enjoying snapping the immortal out of her usual unreachable ever-distant attitude and placing her among the mere mortals again, at least for a moment.
"All ready?" Lelouch interjected, hopefully before the fur began to fly between his two lovers. They didn't really fight, not really. They did come close when they made up the rota that determined who shared his bed each night, but they had managed to sort things out without coming to blows. Other than a few snippy words, the two women were on reasonably good terms with each other.
"Hai." Sayoko replied, "The suitcases are next to the elevator in the basement. I assume that we will be using Theta Bases' transportation?"
"Indeed we are." Lelouch grinned again, "I think that we should show our new allies a grand entrance, courtesy of Zero, Aegis and Augur."
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Timeskip - Two Hours Later
The Ruins of Furinkan High School, Nerima Ghetto
"Where the hell is he then?" Tamaki demanded belligerently.
"How should I know?!" Ohgi snapped back irritably. The Resistance group had made their way to this old school at Zero's request and he wasn't even here, meaning Tamaki was starting to grouse and complain (again).
They were currently hanging around in the staff office, for lack of anywhere better to hang out. Fortunately, thanks to the earthquakes that were frequent in the area, the school's structure was still fairly solid, so there wasn't much chance that the ruins would collapse without due cause.
Quite why there was the skeleton of an alligator with a collar engraved with 'Miss Turtle' in the entrance hall was beyond all comprehension.
"Be patient for once, Tamaki." Kallen rebuked, "He said around two hours and it's only a couple of minutes past the hour now."
The hotheaded man opened his mouth to fire back a scathing rejoinder, but was interrupted by Kallen's phone going off. All attention in the room went to Kallen, who quite nonchalantly answered it.
"Yes?" Kallen asked calmly.
"Q-1, I heard Tamaki-san once again, so I presume you are there as well?" Zero's rather amused voice said in her ear.
Casting a glare at Tamaki, Kallen said, "Yes, we are all here, Zero. Where are you?"
"Come to the Auditorium. All will be made clear once you are there." Zero promised her, before hanging up.
"So, to judge by the look you are giving Tamaki, I take it Zero is nearby and heard him?" Ohgi asked, with a trace of amusement in his voice.
"Yes." Kallen replied stonily, "We're to go to the Auditorium. That's where 'all will be made clear', apparently."
Ohgi looked at Tamaki with a frown. "Tamaki, you are going to have to keep your voice down in area's that aren't our hideout. You could jeopardise the entire team during a mission if you don't."
Tamaki sulked at the chastisement as they all trooped down the stairs and towards the Auditorium. Kallen rolled her eyes at his continued immaturity. She was the teenager around here, not him!
As they entered the large room, all of the lights snapped on, temporarily blinding them. When their eyes adjusted, they saw Zero standing in the centre of the room, and he wasn't alone.
To his left stood a figure clad in white. The clothes greatly resembled old European steel armour in form. A gleaming cuirass, marked with a red symbol that resembled the one on the purse Zero had given Kallen, guarded the front and back of the figure, a pair of faulds hanging from it to protect the waist and hips. A delicate looking pair of gauntlets sheathed the hands and a set of pauldrons encased the shoulders. The lower legs had a set of greaves protecting them. A white cloak hung from the shoulders and fell to mid-calf on the figure.
However, it was the helmet the figure wore that drew attention. It was a customised burgonet helm, encompassing the entire head, with a high crest at its peak. The face was obscured with a mask that was very bizarre. It had a single eye, which ended the similarity to a normal human face, the majority of the rest being taken up by red lines. A red circle in the dead centre of the mask, overlapped by a smaller circle and lines extruding from them both. The single eye was outlined in red, with a circle just beneath it. One final circle was on the chin area and extended a line that looped around the central circle and stopping just short of its origin.
The other figure was far more mysterious. Wearing a cape and cowl, the entire body was concealed from sight. In the shadow of the overhanging cowl, a white mask was just visable, but no details could be seen from where the resistance members currently stood.
"Greetings." Zero's voice boomed across the Auditorium, "It is good to see you all once again."
"Zero." Ohgi nodded in greeting, "Who are your…friends?"
"Ah yes, pardon my manners." Zero said with a short bow, "On my left is Aegis, on my right is Augur. They are two of my…associates…and have deigned to accompany me today in order to ensure our victory."
Kallen shivered as Zero's voice spoke the word 'victory' with an almost loving caress, as if he was intimately familiar with winning.
"What is the mission, Zero?" Ohgi asked.
"I have received word that Viceroy Cornelia plans on re-enacting the Shinjuku Massacre in the Saitama Ghetto." Zero stated bluntly, provoking a loud outcry from the resistance members.
Tamaki was as red as his hair as he shouted various expletives about the Viceroy. Inoue and Yoshida were arguing with each other over what to do, while Minami's face drained of blood as he imagined a repeat of the Shinjuku Massacre.
Kallen and Ohgi, murder running through their heads, merely waited for Zero to continue, their eyes narrowed at the masked man.
After a moment, the masked vigilante raised a hand to signal for quiet, which fell after a moment of Tamaki swearing like a sailor.
"Interesting combination, Tamaki-san." Zero commented, "Although I believe that particular combination is physically impossible, even with lube."
Tamaki flushed in embarrassment.
"Moving on, the Viceroy's purported reason for attacking Saitama is to destroy the Yamato Alliance." the masked man continued, "Ohgi, what do you know about them?"
Ohgi tilted his head to one side before saying, "Well…they are a large group, at least a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty, strong. Nothing like the size of the JLF, but still fairly impressive."
"They are also venal, cowardly bullies who use their limited skills in combat to extort food, money and other supplies from the people in the Ghetto." Kallen interjected, "They are only barely considered members of the Resistance, rather than bandits, because they occasionally raid Britannian storage warehouses and distribute the spoils to the rest of the Ghetto."
"That's true." Ohgi allowed, "In terms of fighting skills, they are mostly guerrillas. No formal military training amongst them and they fight with each other almost as much as they fight the Britannians. There have been over a dozen leadership changes in the Yamato Alliance this year alone."
"I see." Zero's voice was hard to read through the voice changer, but Kallen thought she could hear disappointment in those two words, "Well, I can't expect two lucky strikes, I suppose."
"What do you mean?" Inoue asked.
"Your group is skilled and knows how to work together properly." Zero replied bluntly, "I was hoping the Yamato Alliance would be more…useful, to be blunt, but evidently I have to work with sub-quality material this time. It is somewhat of a disappointment that your group seems to be the only group that functions as a proper unit, rather than a rabble."
"Goshujin-sama, that was quite rude." an unmistakably female voice reproached Zero from beneath the shadowed cowl of the second new figure -Aegis, Kallen reminded herself harshly- although the voice was still scrambled by a voice changer.
"Indeed." Zero nodded at his associate, "I do not mean to disparage the Resistance in general, I am merely expressing my relief that this group chose to join me, as I fear relying on the Yamato Alliance to complete this operation would lead to disaster."
"What's the plan?" Kallen asked.
"We are going to save the Japanese residents of the Saitama Ghetto and tweak Cornelia's nose while we are at it." Zero told them, eliciting grins from the group.
"Zero, you said that Cornelia's purported reason for this atrocity is the destruction of the Yamato Alliance." Ohgi said, "What's her real objective?"
"She seeks to lure me into a trap." Zero replied, "She is using herself as bait while assuming I am arrogant enough to attempt to get to her the same way that I got to Clovis. Honestly, I am rather insulted that she thinks so little of my intelligence that she assumes that I would use the same tactic against a veteran soldier like her. Clovis had weakened his guard, which was one reason why I was able to slip through what remained. She will not make that mistake."
"All this, just to try and trap you?" Kallen asked, "Why? I can understand if she wants to send a message to the resistance to not mess with her, but why try and trap you almost from the get-go?"
Zero nodded at her approvingly. "An excellent question, Kallen. The answer is that, out of the entire Britannian Royal Family, the one who holds the bonds of family closest to her heart is Cornelia. She loves her siblings and will not allow the death of one to pass unchallenged. Simply put, she's out for revenge."
"Who knew, a Brit with a heart." Tamaki sneered.
"Tamaki-san, remember that the Britannian commoners are heavily influenced by propaganda from the cradle to the grave." Zero chided, "Their parents attitudes, their schoolwork, even the news is all geared towards the same message; that Britannians are superior to any and all other cultures and peoples. They are as much a product of the machination of the true enemy as you are."
"'The true enemy'?" Ohgi asked, "And who would that be?"
"The Britannian Aristocracy and Imperial Family." Zero replied, "Ultimately, it is they who we must defeat in order to truly defeat Britannia."
Kallen agreed with Zero's analysis of Britannia. People like her ever so loving (not!) stepmother were a great part of the problem, as was the Imperial Family. Combined, the two created a stranglehold on almost every aspect of Britannian law and policy.
"Zero, while this is interesting, we should be heading for Saitama." Augur spoke up, her voice concealed similarly to her companions.
"Very true." Zero acknowledged, "Follow me then. Our transport awaits."
With that, the three masked figures turned and headed towards a side door, which made Kallen facepalm.
"Damn it, they came from the side we couldn't see from the office!" Kallen cursed eloquently for a moment before adding, "We are going to have to be more careful. If Zero could do this, so could the Britannians."
"Yeah, you're right." Ohgi agreed.
As they followed Zero and his two companions through the door, they Resistance group were surprised to see a truck that had to be twice the size of the one that Nagata and Kallen had ridden on that fateful day over a week ago.
"Wow. Where'd you get the wheels?" Minami asked, eyes wide.
"It is sometimes surprising how many Noble families are somewhat lax with their business' security." Zero remarked in reply, "Why, they don't even pay their very few security staff enough."
The Resistance took that to mean that Zero had bribed a security guard and stolen the thing.
"Once we are en-route, I will begin briefing you all on what parts you shall all play in the mission today." Zero told them as Augur removed a remote from a hidden pocket and pressed a button, causing the side door of the back of the truck to slide open, revealing three Knightmares.
All were Sutherlands, the only difference being their colour schemes. One was black, with gold trimming, the second was a gleaming silver and the last was a brilliant crimson. The grin on Kallen's face as she saw the crimson Sutherland was a feral one that made Tamaki edge away from her warily.
Once Aegis started the truck up and Augur closed the door, the black masked man began his briefing.
"The division of labour will be thus: Team 1 -myself, Augur and Kallen- will run interference with the Britannians by aiding the Yamato Alliance against them. Meanwhile Team 2, the rest of you plus Aegis, will be helping evacuate the non-combatants from the Shinjuku Ghetto via the subway tunnels and the sewer system." Zero said.
"Wait, you're actually going to walk into the trap that Cornelia's setting for you?" Kallen asked incredulously.
"A trap that one is aware of and has the means to escape isn't a trap at all." Zero replied, "Rather, it becomes a trap for the one setting it. In this case, we'll be able to use Cornelia's expectations against her."
"Sounds good." Ohgi said, "And your backup plan?"
"Very good Ohgi, you're catching on quickly." Zero said with a nod, "If things go badly, Team 1 will abandon our Knightmares and evacuate via the sewers and Team 2, who will have hopefully evacuated before any shooting begins, shall evacuate via the subway tunnels in this truck."
"Goshujin-sama…!" Aegis' voice protested via a speaker. Evidently, the driver had been listening to Zero's briefing via microphones in the back of the truck.
"Aegis, my orders stand." Zero said evenly, "Augur and Kallen will be right next to me the entire time, so I will be perfectly fine."
"You had better protect my master, Augur." Aegis said softly.
"I will, Aegis." Augur replied, "I have as much interest in keeping him alive as you do, remember?"
Kallen was curious at the statement Augur had just made, but her mind latched on to the trust that Zero was putting in her. She finally had a chance to fight by Zero's side and determine if he has the combat skills to back up his strategic mind.
'This will be interesting.' the redheaded girl thought. Zero was trusting her to keep him safe while he directed the battle. Her.
'Will he win? Can he defeat another member of the Imperial Family?' Kallen wondered as Zero gave each member of Team 2 an assignment. The truck shuddered slightly
'If he can, what then?' the seductive voice in her head whispered, 'He has made the impossible possible. He killed Prince Clovis, avenged the death of Naoto-nii-sama, broke the Purebloods and rescued that expatriate Kururugi. He has done all of this. What will you do if he can do more than that, Kallen Kōzuki?'
The Britannian/Japanese half-blood had no answer for herself. She wasn't certain of how she felt for the masked man, except that she greatly admired him for his actions in Shinjuku and when he told her the location of her brother's body. Admiration, gratitude…he was intriguing as well, almost his entire personal history a mystery, other that the sole fact he had watched as his mother gunned down from behind.
"Alright then, now you all have your orders." Zero announced, bringing Kallen's attention back to her leader, "Any questions?"
"Yeah, are we gonna kill Cornelia?" Tamaki asked.
"No, we are not." Zero replied, "For one thing, it would bring the full military weight of Britannia down on us. Clovis I got away with killing because the Emperor has quite a few sons and Clovis was the most disposable of the lot, as evidenced by his placement in a 'dead-end' Area like Japan. Cornelia is the Second Princess and is the Chief General of the Imperial Army. I would be unable to get away with killing her without massive civilian casualties as the Army launched attacks on the civilian populous by way of reprisal.
For another, I plan to eventually capture her. She will be a veritable fount of information on the Britannian military around the world, as well as on various members of the Imperial Court."
"Makes sense." Ohgi mused, "Alright everyone, let's get to it!"
"Goshujin-sama, we have arrived at the drop point." Aegis announced via the speakers.
"Augur the doors if you please." Zero invited. His compatriot snorted at him and pressed the remote again, sliding the door open to reveal a ladder leading up to a manhole.
"Remember, the truck will be parked at point H-8." Zero reminded the rest of the group as they clambered out.
"Good luck, Zero, Kallen." Ohgi said as he left last.
"I prefer to think I make my own luck, but I appreciate the sentiment." Zero replied. As the Resistance group clambered up the ladder, Aegis appeared next to Zero.
"Kindly be careful, Goshujin-sama." she said quietly.
"You have my word." Zero replied equally quietly. Aegis nodded and headed towards the ladder. Auger got out wordlessly and headed towards the cab.
Zero turned to Kallen. "Well now Kallen, we had better get our Knightmares warmed up. The enemy awaits us."
Kallen grinned, her eyes alight with eagerness. "Right!"
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Next Chapter: The Saitama Gambit
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Author's Note: That, as they say, is that. Not a terribly long chapter, but hopefully it will whet your appetites for the moment.