Disclaimer: I own Code Geass about as much as Lelouch likes his old man.

"Kallen"-Speech

'Lelouch'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"Halt!"-Loudspeaker

"Roger."-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

Chapter 17-5: Ghost and Assassin

The Sword of Akasha, C's World

Once again, the two figures of the Emperor and the Knight of Six stood on the altar of the Sword of Akasha, seeming to floating among clouds.

This time however, it was the spirit of Marianne vi Britannia who was in shock, a rare state for her either before she died or after her death.

"Charles…did you just say what I think you just said?" she asked in mild disbelief.

"If you heard me tell you that Lelouch somehow managed to defeat Cornelia -almost killed her! - then you heard correctly, love." Charles sighed.

"But…how?" the dead Consort asked, utterly unable to wrap her head around this situation.

"He usurped control of the Yamato Alliance -the local resistance group- and used the exact same tactics as he used against Clovis to defeat the First Lieutenant Cornelia had put in charge of the operation." Charles said, "Apparently he didn't do to badly at holding Lelouch off and reducing casualties among the forces. Cornelia promoted him to Captain."

The former Knight of Four nodded approvingly. There was so much talent wasted due to Britannia's nobility-biased system. Cornelia obviously still kept to the creed she had been taught.

"Cornelia called her forces back and sprung her trap, one that I personally believe should have worked against Lelouch if he is as prideful as he was when he left Camelot seven years ago." the Emperor continued with a troubled expression on his face. He was rarely wrong about assessing other people's characters, especially his own children!

"Which was?" Marianne asked.

"Visual confirmation of every Knightmare pilot, tank crew and VTOL crew by officers of the G-1, as well as confirming their ID's were correct." Charles sighed, "It should have been his plan. Get close to Cornelia, capture her and interrogate her about your death using the same plan as when he infiltrated Clovis' Command G-1. Except he didn't do it! He sat back and waited for Cornelia to deploy in her Gloucesters, and then set up an ambush, dropping the better part of a building on top of her. She only survived because of her Royal Guard throwing her Knightmare out of the way."

"That…doesn't sound like Lelouch." Marianne said slowly, "He's slightly arrogant, very prideful and he loves Nunnally, Euphemia and Cornelia far above his other siblings. He would never take actions that would harm them, least of all killing them!"

"After the battle, a subordinate of Lelouch's contacted the Command G-1 and identified themselves as 'Augur'. This is a picture of the person." Charles passed a screenshot of Augur to Marianne, who blinked owlishly at the pseudo knight armour and especially the mask.

"A Mask of Lies." she said quietly. One of the ritual masks they had discovered in the Sword of Akasha after using Pendragon's Thought Elevator, it represented the face that people put on in front of others, deceiving the world and themselves as to their true self.

"Only C.C. has knowledge of what one of these look like other than us and my brother," Charles said gravely, "So it is best to assume that Augur and C.C. are the same person."

"Right." his Consort said, nibbling her body's lips as she thought, "Does V.V. know about this?"

"If he doesn't already, one of the OSI agents will pass it on to him soon enough." the Emperor replied, "How much will you bet that he sends an assassin after Lelouch?"

"No bet." Marianne snorted, "Anything to do with me was eliminated years ago, except for the Ashford Family, C.C., Nunnally and Lelouch. The chance to eliminate someone close to me will be far too much temptation for the jealous little brat."

"I tend to agree." Charles sighed, "He is in fact likely to send one of the Geass assassins after him. Rolo perhaps."

"Oh…the one who can suspend a person's subjective experience of the passage of time?" Marianne asked curiously.

"That's the one." the Emperor nodded, "He's utterly devoted to the Geass Order and has assassinated countless…troublesome people thanks to his Ward of Absolute Suspension. Even Lelouch will have trouble dealing with him."

"I seem to recall a weakness with that boy's Geass though…" Marianne mused, "Ah, now I remember! Every time he uses it, his heart goes into arrest!"

"True, this means he is limited to using it in short bursts." Charles acknowledged, Nevertheless, Lelouch will be vulnerable to another Geass user."

"Unless C.C. stands in his way." his wife in Anya's body pointed out, "She's immune to the effect of any and all Geass abilities, immortal and has forgotten more about swords and pistols than Rolo has learned in his entire life."

"Again, true." the Emperor was very torn at this point. Despite his harsh demeanour, he loved his true wife, Marianne, and her children very much and didn't wish to kill them unnecessarily. On the other hand, he had to continue with his plans for the Ragnarök Connection, as well as deceive his brother.

The main problem was that in order to activate the Ragnarök System, he required two Code Geass bearers to willingly join and activate the Thought Elevators from the Sword of Akasha, which would then reveal the face of the Collective Subconscious, which some referred to as God.

All that needed to happen then was for one Code bearer to willingly surrender their Code to the other and the Ragnarök Connection would be complete. A world without lies would be born!

He had almost completed the groundwork of the plan, after decades of work. Almost every one of the Thought Elevators was under the control of the Geass Order. The exception being the Thought Elevator in Area 11, because that was his emergency backup plan for starting the Ragnarök Connection.

He had all the equipment in Pendragon needed to activate the Ragnarök Connection, but that teetered on a knife's edge if one of the Thought Elevators was wrested from his control, namely the one in Japan.

If that happened, he would go there and start the Ragnarök Connection himself, even if it meant using the ancient system there to do so. The only fly in the ointment was C.C.

If he didn't get his hands on her, there was no way to activate the Ragnarök Connection. His brother's Code was all very well, but two were needed to start the machines. There were a couple of other Code Bearers out there, but they were far too capable at keeping themselves hidden and out of sight.

"Charles?" Marianne asked in concern.

"Sorry dear. Just woolgathering." the Emperor assured his wife.

He wasn't fooling her for a moment. The true wife of Charles zi Britannia could read the man like a book and she could rather accurately guess what her man was thinking at any given moment.

She sighed. If only that dratted jealous old man hadn't killed her, they wouldn't be in this position! Lelouch and Nunnally would be in Pendragon or as Area Administrators right now and not potentially ruining the Ragnarök Connection!

"Anya has to get back for her briefing in an hour, so I'd better head off now." she said, rather than pursuing it. When Charles brushed her off like that, he just wouldn't give in and tell her what was on his mind.

"Very well dear." Charles said with a pat on Anya's head.

"I really hope Anya grows up soon." Marianne grumbled as she strode off. Being in the body of a child, even a teenager, was very irritating for a formerly tall and voluptuous woman like Marianne. Anya was very petite and would never approach her former height…or bust size.

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Geass Directorate

"Rolo." V.V. said from behind his desk. The child-like eighty-year-old didn't even bother looking up from his paperwork as the door opened, closed and footsteps stopped two paces in front of his desk.

"Yes, Lord V.V.?" the brown-haired boy said as he came to attention. Rolo was an unremarkable person to go by appearance. The only unusual things about him were the violet eyes that he possessed, marking him as a bastard child of the Britannian Imperial Family.

"There is a pest that needs taken care of and a person that requires retrieval." V.V. said shortly, "Kill Lelouch and grab the green-haired bitch. If you can, retrieve the blind cripple."

"By your command." Rolo bowed, "The details will be in the usual place?"

"Yes." V.V. replied, looking up to stare the boy in the eyes, "Rolo, you have never failed a mission before. Do NOT start with this one."

"Understood." Rolo nodded fervently.

"Good. You may leave." V.V. turned his attention back to his paperwork.

Rolo left the room as swiftly and quietly as he could. He was a cold-hearted assassin who had killed more people than you could shake a stick at, but the pint-sized Prince scared the crap out of him.

Retrieving the files from the Mission briefing centre, Rolo took them to his quarters to peruse them before he drew equipment for the mission.

"My target is…Lelouch vi Britannia…" Rolo muttered.

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