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Beta'd By BigCC.
"Kallen" - Speech
'Lelouch' - Thought/mental communication
"{Die}" - Geass Command
"Halt!" - Loudspeaker
"Roger." - Radio/Walkie-Talkie
Chapter 32: Assault on Code-R, Fukuoka
The Next Day, Night-time
Lelouch's Bedroom, Ashford Academy Clubhouse
"Urgh." Consciousness had been slow to return to Lelouch Lamperouge. And to make matters worse, it had been accompanied by a bone-rattling ache throughout his entire body, a throbbing head, and gut-wrenching nausea. It was almost enough to make the former prince wish the assassin had succeeded.
"Are you alright, Goshujin-sama?" Sayoko asked anxiously from where she was hovering over his bedside, having remained there since she regained consciousness herself. While she was suffering similar aftereffects as her master, the fact that she'd been able to partially resist the Geass, and had thus never been under its full sway, had lessened the aftereffects and her training allowed her to ignore the rest as she concentrated on ensuring her master's health.
"I feel like I've been force-fed my own bodyweight in cheap rotgut and then thrown into the ocean in the midst of a bloody hurricane." The Exiled Prince deadpanned through gritted teeth. "So I'm actually a fair bit better than I was yesterday. At least now I'm back to a level where I'm at least semi-functional, if not all that peppy. Considering what that toad attempted, I suppose we should be grateful to be alive, something that both Nunnally and I owe no small amount to you Sayoko." he finished offering the kunoichi a warm, though still pained, smile; causing said bodyguard/maid to blush in contentment.
While the would-be assassin had indeed removed his Geass after some…prompting from C.C.; the petty little bastard had apparently done so in a way that the effects would wear down slowly over a couple of days. When Lelouch had first woken up nearly after the attempt yesterday he'd barely been able to move and had his mind had been constantly groggy and addled to the point that he could barely form a sentence. Needless to say, C.C. had not been pleased with this final bit of petty revenge and was currently keeping herself occupied by using the pathetic bastard to vent her not-inconsiderable spleen against his uncle and his entire 'Geass Order' in one of Theta Base's soundproof chambers.
"Um…" Milly tried to interrupt the two from the chair she'd taken near the room's entrance, eyeing both of them uneasily. She'd been forced to help transport Desmond down to Theta Base after they found out what he'd done, and had fled the moment her job was done, not wanting to be anywhere nearby when C.C. began her 'interrogation.' And it was obvious knowing that she'd helped facilitate the torture of someone, even a cold-blooded assassin, was not sitting well with her
"Milly, again I am truly sorry that you got dragged into the deep-end of all this so fast." Lelouch apologized again, offering his childhood friend a warm, comforting smile as he fought back his own discomfort. "I had hoped to slowly let you know about everything, but…well it appears circumstance has pretty much demolished that plan. I know this must all be quite overwhelming."
"It's fine Lelouch." The blond girl smiled back just as wanly. "No one expected this to happen. As stressful as it has been…what Celesta…or rather C.C. has said has given me hope for the first time in a long time. Lelouch…what she said…do you really…want me?"
The last part was said in such a brittle and uncertain tone that anyone hearing it who knew Milly even passingly would doubt it was her speaking. Millicent Ashford, a woman who practically embodied the ideals of self-confidence and pride, speaking like some form of nervous schoolgirl? Impossible.
Feeling his heart twinge at how vulnerable she looked, Lelouch forced himself to his feet and walked over to Milly, who gazed up at him in trepidation. He then reached down, grabbed her hand, tugging her to her feet before tilting her head up and kissing her firmly but gently on the lips.
Milly's eyes flew wide before closing with a moan as she responded to the kiss. This, right here, was something she had been seeking for over eight years; affection of the intimate sort from Lelouch. She didn't care if he was Lelouch vi Britannia or Lelouch Lamperouge, she simply wanted her Lelouch.
Sayoko smiled gently as she saw her master and mistress finally together. She was a keen enough observer to realize the young woman's affections for Lelouch since shortly after seeing the two reunite, and had only grown sympathize with her as the kunoichi's own feelings for the exiled prince had developed. Now they both had the man they wanted. Like Milly, Sayoko could care less about her master's name or position, or even how her own position was looked upon by those outside.
Ashamed of being a mistress? Hardly. Which was better? To be the wife of a man of little ability or passion, or a mistress to a man of passion, intelligence and greatness?
The choice was obvious to the maid's mind.
Reluctantly, Milly and Lelouch separated mostly due to the fact that neither had developed the ability to breathe through their ears. Panting, her eyes half-lidded with desire, Milly gazed at the boy she loved and he looked right back with the same emotions in his eyes. Without realizing it the two had wrapped each other up in an embrace during their heat exchange and neither was all that eager to let go. Sadly, they had other matters to discuss and time was a bit of an issue.
'Still, that doesn't mean we can't be close…' the Exiled Prince smirked, his previous lethargy temporary vacating in the wake of his arousal. He moved swiftly and picked Milly up into a bridal carry. Hearing a very rare squeak of surprise from the usually irascible teaser, he grinned before sitting down on the chair Milly had recently vacated and resting her on his lap. The Ashford Heiress positively goggled at him before recovering herself and snuggling in to him with a satisfied smirk.
"This was not the first time I have come close to death, though it was by far the closest and most untenable encounter I've had with the Reaper. Were it not for you three, both Nunnally and I would not have survived." Lelouch stated grimly even as he hugged Milly to his chest. He was too damned exhausted to do more than kiss and cuddle today thanks to that never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Geass user, which was a shame. "Sayoko, Milly, you two and C.C. did magnificently yesterday. I owe you all my life."
On the battlefield, survival wasn't guaranteed, but your efforts and the strategy of the commander meant that death wasn't necessarily guaranteed either. The previous day though, Lelouch had been forced asleep and utterly helpless before Desmond. Had Sayoko, C.C. and Milly not intervened when they did, he would be dead. While Lelouch was more grateful to the three than he could possibly imagine, that feeling of helplessness was quite galling to the former royal and made the situation all the more poignant.
"It was my duty as your sworn retainer and lover, Goshujin-sama." Sayoko bowed. "That scum who dared to raise his blade against you and Mistress Nunnally would have only gotten to you both over my cold dead body."
"While I truly appreciate the loyalty Sayoko, please ensure that you take care of yourself as well. I would be most upset if you died, as would Nunnally." Lelouch stated seriously.
"I have no intentions of abandoning you and my little mistress before the arms of death take me, Lelouch-sama." The maid bowed, eyes deadly serious. "Nor do I have any intention of entering that embrace willingly anytime soon."
"Well said." The raven-haired boy smirked. Then he became serious again. "It is clear though that my uncle, V.V., knows where I am. We are fortunate in that the assassin he sent this time was an arrogant little shit with a power that you could resist, Sayoko. Next time we may not be as fortunate."
"Who?" Milly asked in confusion, turning toward Lelouch. C.C. had failed to mention who was behind the assassination attempt, outside grumbling about 'the Order' as she prepared to work off some of her frustrations. "Your father killed all of his siblings during the Emblem of Blood period, didn't he?"
"No, he used his own Geass, the Seal of Absolute Consciousness, to erase any memory that his twin brother ever existed while wiping out any trace of him from the records." Lelouch replied. "Vincent zi Britannia never existed as far as any written record, computer file, or even living memory is concerned. C.C. utterly despises him, although she tends to say it in a roundabout manner. Apparently passive-aggressive behaviour annoys the 'little troll,' as she calls him, far more than anything else."
"Oh, look at you!" Milly teased him. "You know your women rather well!"
"Considering who she is, I am lucky that I am able to do so; I have a feeling that she could be as inscrutable as a doll given her experiences." Lelouch sighed. "She is seven-hundred years old; if she hadn't become very learned in the art of how to hide things about herself in that time, I would be very much surprised. Anyway, V.V. is the issue here. The man is the same age as the Emperor but he's stuck in a prepubescent body, according to C.C. anyway. He's an eternal eleven year old, by his own choice and actions."
"…why would he willingly trap himself as a child?" Milly asked after a moment of disbelief. "I mean…if he's the same age as the Emperor…"
"I have to wonder of being trapped as a child has had adverse effects on his mental development." Lelouch nodded. "I think that it's usually adults who gain a Code; C.C. has never even heard of someone gaining one at such a young age and she is probably the most learned scholar in the world when it comes to Geass. Anyway, we're going to have to concoct a story to tell the public. I know for a fact that we weren't the only people in the school when the fool attempted his attack."
He had briefly considered using his own Geass to wipe the memory of those involved, but had quickly thrown the idea out. Not only would using Geass in such a way leave far too many loose threads, but at least three of the students involved and one member of the faculty were ones that he'd used for 'field testing' his Geass after he'd first received it.
Just then, Lelouch's mobile phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Jeremiah? I wonder what has him calling me out of schedule…"
Answering it, he placed it to his ear and said, "Yes, Jeremiah? What-…say again? No…you are joking…?! Really…I see. Yes…there was an assassination attempt on me here at Ashford, but it was dealt with…no. No, Jeremiah. I am perfectly fine. I'll meet you tomorrow morning with instructions for you. Get everything together tonight that you'll need to inform my second and third favourite sisters of this. Yes…yes. See you tomorrow."
As Lelouch hung up, Milly blinked. "Was that…Jeremiah Gottwald? The former Interim-Viceroy?"
"Also a former member of my Mother's Aries Palace Guard." Lelouch smirked. "He's been feeding me information since shortly after Shinjuku. He's also my Knight of Honour."
"…you know, from now on, I'm just going to assume that there isn't anything you can't do. That way, I won't be surprised." The blond girl in his lap said flatly. "Unstoppable hypnotism, genius-level intellect, a kunoichi and an immortal as supporters, an army at your beck and call and now a high-level mole in the Viceroy's Palace."
"Don't forget a secret underground base and a couple of rich heiresses head over heels for him." C.C. offered smugly as she strolled into the room. "Well, that was informative."
"Is he…?" Lelouch asked.
"Still alive…for the moment." The verdette replied absently. "I also made sure to not leave any markings. I thought we might be able to make some use out of his untimely demise and didn't want to leave any possible identifiers."
"Given the information that Jeremiah just gave me, that was an excellent decision, love." The Exiled Prince smirked. "I take it he sung like a canary?"
"Oh yes. He told me a lot of useful information, but most importantly…he told me where to find that blasted group of sadists." The amber eyes of the Immortal blazed in fierce and eager anger. "Code-R is located in Fukuoka. I have the exact location, as well as passcodes, a basic security layout and the number of guards that those bastards have protecting them."
At this point, Lelouch's smirk had turned positively evil. "Ah, lovely. I do believe that we will be taking a little trip to scenic Fukuoka in the near future. Why was he there, though?"
"Because that hobgoblin V.V. is sponsoring Code-R." C.C. spat out. "He knew I was there! He probably helped build the damned Geass Suppressor that kept me helpless! That does it; death is too good for him. I'm going to kill him, throw him in a coffin, nail the lid shut, cover it in cement, put it inside a submersible and then fire the damn thing into the Titanic Canyon!"
"Cement would be crushed by the water pressure down there, C.C." Lelouch offered gently, though his smile was anything but. "Why not have Rakshata take a look at the blueprints for that prison I found you in. I'm sure she can come up with something that can survive those kinds of pressures while still making sure my dear uncle has no means of escape."
Blinking in surprise, the verdette let out a bark of a laugh. "Oh boya, you do know how to get me into a good mood. So what is it that Jeremiah told you that makes leaving our little friend alive such a coup?"
Lelouch settled in for a long talk as he started to lay out Jeremiah's newly discovered information and the plan he'd quickly concocted by combining it and the recent assassination attempt. They'd be able to iron out the detail together and between his brains, Milly and Sayoko's craftiness, and C.C.'s experience it was sure to turn out…wonderfully.
"Well…"
The Next Day
Viceroy's Office, Area 11 Administration Building, Britannian Tokyo Settlement
Cornelia sipped from a glass and relished cool feeling of the iced water sliding down her throat. This always happened after she took a dive into the spirits. The following two or three days afterwards were always hell on earth; with headaches, dehydration and the urge to have more of the hair of the dog that bit her being the most common accomplices. Darlton and Gilford knew better than to let her indulge again soon afterwards though, so she was safe…for the moment.
"A thousand curses on the inventors of whiskey and brandy." she muttered. Drinking was always an indulgence she'd regret, but sometimes she simply needed it more than she hated the aftereffects. The endless headache and humiliation that had been her encounters in Area 11 had led her to indulging far more than any time since Lady Marianne's and her darling siblings passing.
"You say that every time this happens, Princess." Her oh-so-helpful Knight Guilford said managing to keep all but the barest traces of amusement out of his voice. Had he not been so good at hiding his amusement at her plight, she'd have likely challenged him to a duel by now.
Darlton always had a harder time hiding it, which was why Guilford tended to act as her main guard until she recovered.
"So glad that I can afford you amusement." The Viceroy said dryly. "Has our order for Knightmares gone through? As in actual Knightmares that will actually be of use rather than the bloody cannon fodder?"
"It has." The bespectacled Knight nodded seriously. "Lady Nonette added her authority to your own and was able to light quite a few fires under people's feet. That, plus the example she made of the fool who mangled our previous request and sent those knockoffs, should ensure no more funny business. We should have our full order in by the end of the month."
"Two weeks…dammit, Clovis, why didn't you build a Knightmare factory?" Cornelia cursed her dead brother. It was usually one of the first things that a proper Area Viceroy ordered built in order to reduce the reliance on the Homeland for Knightmare Frames. Area 11 didn't have one and she was dreading trying to find a company that would build the Frames without cutting corners or being bribed into diverting Frames to criminal enterprises.
She once again wished her brother was still alive just so he could strangle his overly indulgent little neck.
Sensing that the question was entirely rhetorical, Guilford quite sensibly didn't say anything.
The intercom on her desk buzzed. "Viceroy, Margrave Jeremiah is here to see you regarding the matter you ordered him to look into."
That bit of news managed to pull her from her broodings. "Send him in at once." She ordered.
Less than a minute later, the aqua-haired man was striding into the room, a briefcase in hand and his face set in stony expression.
"Viceroy. Sir Guilford." He greeted them tersely. "I bring…troubling news."
"What have you discovered?" Cornelia asked, dread flowing into her stomach at the thought of her siblings being in some kind of danger or worse.
"Since shortly after I received my assignment from you, I've been trying to contact several members of Lady Marianne's Royal Guard and Palace Guard in hopes of forming a private force that we could trust to aide in protecting their Highnesses when we locate them." Jeremiah started, getting a nod from Cornelia. He'd reported the suggestion to her a scant few days after he'd started his work and she'd given it her nascent approval. She'd fully review the file of anyone he found before making a final decision. "However, I've been unable to contact a single member of the old guard. Finding that suspicious, I used the Interlink to access the personnel files in the Homeland to discover exactly why."
The Interlink was the sole method in which the Areas were connected to each other and the Homeland. Only high-ranking members of the Britannian Military could use the Interlink, which was located inside the main Administration Buildings of each Area.
"What I discovered was…shocking, frankly." the Margrave said, a nervous frown crossing on his lips. "When looking at all the data together, I've noticed a trend I cannot help but find severely worrying."
"Stop dancing around the issue and tell me what it is that has you so ill at ease!" Cornelia snapped.
"Yes, Princess." The man gulped. "I discovered that, with the exception of myself and you Princess Cornelia, every member of Lady Marianne's Palace and Royal Guard is dead."
Blinking, Cornelia stared at him for a moment. "Every single one?!"
"Not only that, every butler, maid, cook and other servant down to the gardeners and footmen who reported directly to or were even remotely close to Lady Marianne and her children has died as well. And in most of the cases the circumstances were…deeply suspicious to say the least." Jeremiah continued seriously. "Do you remember young Corporal Jenkins? The lad who had a scar down one side of his cheek due to a sword practice accident?"
"James Jenkins? Yes, I recall him." Cornelia nodded. "He had a bright career ahead of him when last I saw him."
"He died of alcohol poisoning six years ago." The Margrave stated grimly. "This in spite of the fact that the man was a teetotaller. It isn't just him; almost every single person who worked in the Aries Palace died in a similar way, by something they abhorred, disliked or had morals against."
"You said 'most of them' died in suspicious circumstances, Lord Jeremiah." Guilford noted, a somewhat disturbed expression on his face, one echoed on Princess Cornelia's face.
"About ten of the Palace Guard and two of the Royal Guard died honourably in combat, with no suspicious circumstances involved. At least at first glance." The margrave said slowly. "However, even there the orders transferring them to the location of their inevitable death came just a short time before an unusually powerful or well-informed insurgent group targeted their destination, almost always resulting in a near-massacre of all forces stationed there."
"Coincidences like that don't exist on the battlefield, Margrave." Cornelia growled, her temper rising at the thought of someone selling out soldiers in order to assassinate her mentor's subordinates. "Is it your belief that someone has been systematically murdering everyone who had anything to do with Lady Marianne?"
"Your Highness, that is indeed my belief." Jeremiah said formally. "And as the two of us are the only ones left…"
"…then we have to watch out for assassins from our own people too." She finished sourly. She slammed a fist down on her desk angrily. "Seven years Lady Marianne has been dead and whoever is responsible isn't satisfied with that! No, they murder over a hundred civilians and over fifty soldiers just because they served her! Just how deep a grudge do these people hold?!"
Turning a stark glare toward Jeremiah, she bit out a question. "How has no one noticed this before?"
"Most of the nobility would rather pretend Lady Marianne never existed, your Highness." Jeremiah pointed out coldly. "Combined with the fact that deaths have been spread out over at least the past half-decade and that they've occurred across several Areas, then it isn't that surprising. Only my appointment to this task and my rank and access to the Interlink allowed me to see the emerging pattern."
"And how is it that you survived as long as you have Jeremiah?" asked Guilford. He didn't sound suspicious, but the question bore asking. Cornelia's high profile was the obvious reason she hadn't been targeted. After all, a suspicious death for a Britannian royal, let alone the Goddess of Victory, wouldn't simply be ignored like the deaths of a few disgraced soldiers and commoners
"My best guess? Remoteness." Jeremiah replied, cupping his own chin speculatively. "I transferred to Area 11 shortly after reports of the Prince and Princess's deaths, before the war was even over. Area 11 is by far the most far-flung of the Areas and was an active war zone until only a few years ago. Sending an assassin in those conditions poses a risk all its own. By the time we reached some level of stability, I'd managed to establish myself at a fairly high position and was a close officer under Prince Clovis, which would have made targeting me difficult. However now…"
"Now that it's just us left then they're likely going to start being willing to take bigger risks to complete their goal." finished Cornelia with a growl. If these…curs had gone so far to eliminate everyone associated with Lady Marianne, then she doubted they'd stop until they were finished.
"It also means I shall have to be even more careful in my investigation." Jeremiah said with a frown. "The last thing we want is for whoever is responsible for these murders to track down Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally via my own actions."
"Indeed. You are to exercise utmost discretion, Lord Jeremiah. Any resources you require comes straight through me or my royal guards, no one else is to be involved unless absolutely necessary." Cornelia ordered. She would not lose her lost brother and sister after finally getting hope that they were alive! If she did, Cornelia knew that her heart would shatter. She loved Euphie to pieces, with Lelouch and Nunnally coming a very close second. Losing them once had been awful; she knew she couldn't take it a second time.
"Understood, Your Highness." Jeremiah nodded, saluting sharply.
Just then, the doors to the room slammed open and Euphemia ran in, a look of fright on her face that made Cornelia's 'Big Sister' instincts kick into high gear.
"Sister!" the younger pinkette cried as she hurried across the room.
"Euphie, what is it?" her older sister asked in concern, rising from her desk.
"That would be me, Princess Cornelia." A female voice said as Milly Ashford walked into the room, sunglasses covering her eyes and a scarf around her neck. Her skin was pale and Euphie immediately sped back to help her.
"Millicent Ashford? What about you has gotten my sister so startled?" Cornelia demanded.
In answer, Milly unwound the scarf from around her neck and carefully folded it up, revealing a series of bruises around her neck in the shape of a handprint. Then she took off her glasses, revealing that she had a large bruise around her right eye.
"What on…who did this?!" Cornelia hissed in a fury. The girl had been friends with Euphie, Lelouch and Nunnally, so she considered the young heiress under her aegis of protection.
And no one harmed someone under Cornelia li Britannia's protection. No one.
"An assassin, Your Highness. He gassed Ashford Academy with some form of toxin the day before yesterday." Milly said softly, wincing slightly at the pain in her throat. "I was the target. Had he not been an arrogant little…person, I would have died at his hands. As it was, he wished to 'teach me my place' before disposing of me, thus the marks on my neck and face."
The twin murderous expressions on the li Britannia sisters faces would have made anyone quail in fear, to say nothing of the silent anger on Guilford and Jeremiah's faces.
"I hit him where no man wants to be hit before managing to get to a hidden pistol I keep in the Ashford Academy Student Council Office." Milly smiled weakly. "I…emptied the clip into him. There was no other way to stop him…he's…he's dead."
Cornelia felt rather impressed that the girl was keeping herself together like she was; a civilian being forced to kill in self-defence usually fell apart for quite some time afterwards. This made her opinion of the girl go up by a few notches.
"Are the students and staff of the Academy alright?" Euphie asked, walking over and putting a comforting hand on her friend's arm.
"It was only some kind of knock-out gas, from what we've found out so far, so no one's going to suffer worse than a particularly bad hangover, save a few bruises and broken bones from an unexpected fall." Milly assured her. "I guess assassins only killing their targets is a real thing. We've explained it as a gas leak and given everyone the rest of the week off so we can fix it…and hopefully install some better security systems."
"Who would dare send an assassin to a school? Especially one for the nobility in an Area under my jurisdiction?!" Cornelia's face was thunderous at this point. She did not tolerate the byzantine games of nobility beyond what was absolutely necessary. And after what had happened to her idol and mentor, assassination was of course looked down on with utter disdain and contempt. Anyone proven to have hired an assassin was not given any degree of treatment due their noble station.
"About that…the only clue I have to offer is something he said…" Milly said hesitantly. "He said to me, before he attacked, 'Death to the allies of the Commoner Empress'."
The Viceroy locked eyes with Jeremiah, who nodded grimly.
'If what Jeremiah has discovered is in fact true, and all of Lady Marianne's former staff have in fact been killed off, then this means that he and I have currently been deemed too well protected to target for the moment.' Cornelia thought with a scowl. 'So they went after the Ashford Family instead! Just how low are these people going to stoop to!?'
"Are the rest of your family safe?" Cornelia asked sharply.
"Grandfather is fine. Unfortunately, so are my parents." Milly replied stoically. "For whatever reason, I was the sole target."
"That is quite bizarre…" Euphie agreed. "Going after the heiress should have been the second strike against a family, not the first. Unless whoever sent the assassin only sent the one, which is ridiculous."
"Regardless, I will get to the bottom of it." Cornelia stated firmly. "Heiress Ashford, can the Ashford Foundation hand over the body of the assassin to us for examination?"
"Grandfather has already had the body transferred to an Ashford Foundation hospital. It will not be handed over to anyone other than one of your Knights of Honour, Princess." Milly said with a nod. "Grandfather is…angry…very angry, in fact, that someone targeted me."
"Reuben is infamous for never losing his cool. He must love you a great deal, Miss Ashford." Guilford smiled.
The blond girl blushed. "Oh, Sir Guilford!"
"Milly, how about you come and have some tea with me?" Euphie invited her. "I should have something that could ease your sore throat."
"Thank you, Euphie. I'd love to…if that's permissible by the Viceroy." Milly said with a smile at her old rival.
"Certainly. Euphie hasn't stopped working for quite some time, so she could do with some time off with a friend." Cornelia smiled. Euphie hadn't had any chances to socialize in the seven years since Lady Marianne's death, so this would be good for her.
"Thank you, sister!" the pinkette beamed.
"Oh, before I forget, here's a letter for you, Viceroy, from my grandfather." Milly fished the item out of her purse and placed it on Cornelia's desk before covering her injuries again and following Euphie out of the door.
"I should be returning to my duties as well, Your Highness." Jeremiah stated. He removed a flash drive and placed it next to Milly's letter. "This contains all of the information I have gathered regarding the Aries Palace's former Guards and servants. Files on Lady Marianne's former Royal Guard are on it also."
"Good work, Lord Jeremiah." Cornelia nodded firmly. "I trust you to locate my brother and sister. Do not disappoint me."
"On the loyalty of Jeremiah Gottwald, I swear they shall be found and protected!" the Margrave bowed.
"Coming from the man known as the Emperor's Bulldog, that promise is reassuring." The Viceroy said with another nod. "Be about your work, Margrave."
With a salute, Jeremiah about-faced and left the room. Only once he had returned to his personal room did he permit himself to smile. "Young Lord, your strategy has worked flawlessly. As one would expect of you!" he said fervently.
Back with Cornelia, she had opened Reuben Ashford's letter and was in the process of reading it. Abruptly, she let out a bark of laughter, a smile of genuine happiness on her face.
"Princess?" Guilford said uncertainly.
"Reuben is offering to build and operate the Knightmare factory that we so desperately need." She explained. "He's even willing to shoulder some of the cost of getting it set up as quickly as possible out of his personal fortune. All he's asking for in exchange is my support for when his granddaughter cancels her engagement to Earl Asplund and my influence in suppressing the Asplund family when they inevitably kick up a fuss."
"That is astonishingly generous of him." the Knight blinked.
"He adores his granddaughter, Guilford." Cornelia explained, fondly remembering the older gentleman from her time at the Aries Villa. "There is very little that he would not do for her, and he is an old ally of Lady Marianne as well. This much is to be expected."
"Would he really do something like this just because he dotes on her?" Guilford found this difficult to believe, based on his experiences with the nobility up until this point. Useless, gutless parasites for the most part.
"Hardly. There is a practical reason as well, Guilford." Cornelia snorted before grimacing as she recalled two member of the Ashford family she was far from fond of. "Given how pathetic his son Roderick turned out, not to mention how utterly…unpleasant his daughter-in-law Melisande is, it always surprises me how well Millicent turned out in comparison. She is a perfect balance of intelligence, ruthlessness and humanity, and is very much her grandfather's child in every way. Once she becomes the Head of the Ashford Foundation, I would not be surprised to see them rise back into the nobility inside of a decade at least. Millicent is the hope of the Ashford family, despite her mother's conniving."
"Ah. Now I see." The bespectacled Knight nodded in understanding. By gaining Cornelia's support for his granddaughter, Reuben was ensuring that she could maintain her independence and control of the Ashford family when Reuben eventually passed away or stepped down, rather than have stolen away from her by his daughter-in-law.
"In doing this, he's also rebuilding the Ashford Family's power and prestige." Cornelia continued. "Not to mention filling their coffers. Operating a Knightmare factory is quite the lucrative and influential business, let alone when a family holds the sole monopoly over it in the entire Area."
Strengthening the family's position, gathering a powerful backer for his chosen heir, and entering what could be a profitable business operation all while expressing a properly patriotic attitude by offering to go above and beyond in providing the service. A well-played bit of strategy indeed, Cornelia had always thought Reuben would make an excellent tactician if he'd developed a taste for combat rather than business and politicking.
"Well this is perfect timing." Guilford remarked. "Do you think he chose right now deliberately?"
"Oh, very likely." The oldest li Britannia sister snorted. "Old friend he may be, but it is doubtful that I would be so eager to agree to his proposal if we weren't so desperately short on Knightmares. Such is business, and Reuben is a very cunning and astute businessman. The fact that he's offering to invest some of the costs is his way of saying this is a friendly affair though. Guilford, kindly inform those pencil-necked bureaucrats that we have new expenditures incoming."
"I can hear the screams already." The Knight mock-sighed.
"My heart bleeds for them." Cornelia said dryly, utterly unconcerned by the troubles of penny-pinching idiots. "Now let's be about it. We have work to do!"
Later
Laboratory, Central Area, Theta Base
The room was about the same size as the Ashford Academy Gymnasium, if not slightly larger. However, it felt far smaller, mostly due to the large amount of automated, heavy machinery scattered throughout the floor, forming a miniature production facility. Set into the wall overlooking the entire room from above, was a control booth where Lelouch was operating and monitoring the various machines through a set of consoles, his fingers dancing across two keyboards as if they were a piano's keys.
Suddenly, the door behind him hissed open. "So this is where you've been hiding." Milly stated as she sauntered in.
"I've been working on my new device, not hiding." Lelouch corrected her automatically, not turning to face her. "It's important to have this prototype ready soon."
Milly, who was now dressed casually in a short-sleeved t-shirt and skirt, sighed before wincing, a hand coming up to massage her injured throat. She had agreed to Lelouch's plan, because anything to distract the Witch of Britannia from Lelouch and his Black Knights was a good thing, and the fact that it would further muddy the waters and bring Jeremiah deeper into her confidence were added benefits. Still, she hadn't anticipated it hurting quite this much. Sayoko, who had inflicted the injuries, was almost beside herself with remorse.
"Lelouch, I chose this out of the three plans that you presented." The Ashford Heiress said firmly. "Me. Not you, not Sayoko, not C.C., me. It's the best plan for the situation and grandfather understood that when I explained to him how I got hurt."
That little talk hadn't been fun. Reuben was a very protective man and was not pleased with Milly being hurt. He was, however, even less pleased that an assassin had been on school grounds in an attempt to kill two people he regarded as family. Given his druthers, he'd rather no one was hurt, but in the name of creating a reasonable excuse for the authorities and providing additional security to his wards, he'd seen and done worse himself. Luckily, thanks to Britannian medical science, Milly's injuries would be healed inside of a week, so there was no serious damage done.
"I am thankful Reuben didn't do more than glower at me." Lelouch smiled wryly as he slowed his typing down slightly. He was almost finished. "Still, I am sorry you had to suffer through this."
"It's fine." Milly sighed before draping her arms around her new boyfriend's shoulders. "What amazed me was that C.C. could mimic the shot patterns of a panicked girl so easily."
"She has had a lot of practice with firearms, despite the fact they are a, relatively speaking, recent invention." The Exiled Prince noted. "I'd wager she's also had some practice setting up crime scenes to look a certain way as well. That woman is the living definition of a lovely rose having some nasty thorns."
Milly merely hummed an agreement, allowing a comfortable to settle between them for a few moments as she watched him work. "So what is this that you're building?" she finally asked
"An idea I've been kicking around and dabbling with ever since I arrived at the Ashford Manor with Nunnally on my back seven years ago." Lelouch said. "Knightmares are an extremely powerful weapon, no questions asked. Possessing just one gives an army an undeniable edge in battle…but in some situations, they are quite literal overkill, not to mention that their size can be a disadvantage in tight quarters and stealth operations."
"Yeah, I saw the report that Jeremiah gave you on the battle data regarding the Middle Eastern Federations' Frame the…what was it called again?" Milly thought aloud.
"The Bamides." Lelouch stated, practically spitting the name in distaste. "I personally agree with Sir Darlton's description of those machines, a 'shoddy excuse of an imitation Knightmare Frame made by fools that can't adapt to the changing face of warfare.' Little more than an oversized tank on legs, just like the Liverpool and York Drones the Bradfords keep trying to push as Knightmare Frames, only worse. At least those clunkers are unmanned. At best they're so-so at long range, and even then their main cannons work better as bombardment weapons against fortifications and tanks that lack the manoeuvrability to dodge. Even a bloody Glasgow can avoid their fire as long as they're not pinned or too badly outnumbered. Little in the way of midrange weaponry save a single, anti-personnel machine gun and too slow and clunky to fight in melee range. It's no wonder Cornelia was able to tear through them like a wolf among sheep."
"Ouch. Don't hold back Lelouch; tell me what you really think." Milly said dryly, making the boy let out a light chuckle.
"Sorry my dear, but those half-baked knockoff offend my pride as the son of the first True Knightmare Pilot, not to mention my sensibilities as an engineer." he apologized absently, before turning his attention back to the monitors. "Anyway, my point is that while the Empire is content with overwhelming force in all situations, it occurred to me that had the Knightmares been smaller or more flexible, I wouldn't have been able to see them and hide to escape notice in time." Lelouch said with a wry grin. "So my thoughts turned to designing something that is smaller than a Knightmare, but with a similar combat potential and adaptability. And now…I'm finally seeing that small idea come to life."
With a flourish, he pressed one final key and the mechanical arms below the control box started to move as he had programmed, grabbing parts from the nearby lift that had just opened up and placing them together around the central frame in the centre to let other arms move in and begin affixing them.
"How are you going to wire it up?" Milly asked as she released him and moved to his side to peer at the process below. She knew that constructing it was one thing, but connecting all of the electronics was quite another.
"I have some former military technicians that I Geassed into my service. They'll handle it." Lelouch said confidently. Seeing the slight frown on her face, Lelouch moved to reassure her. "I'm not enslaving them my dear, they are all being paid a decent working wage for what they're doing. All my Geass will do is ensure that they can't mention their work with anyone else and that they'll forget all the details involved when I release them from service. It's no different than a nondisclosure agreement, Milly; save that it's enforced by something quite a bit heavier than the word of law."
"I'm more worried about you." The blond surprised him by saying. "C.C. has told me that Geass grows stronger every time you use it and what can happen if you overuse it. I don't want yours to go into rampancy and maybe cause problems when you least expect it."
"Trust me, I understand the risks involved, but I believe that ensuring the completion and security of this project was worth the risk. I'm being careful not to use it outside of emergencies or when the long-term gain is worth the momentary risk." He reassured her. "I'm also using it to build up a retinue of Geassed…aides I suppose would be a good word. Those that I can reactivate a dormant Geass command and call into my service as needed, which will in turn keep me from having to repeatedly use my Geass to gather whatever help I need and thus further limit my risk."
"That's good, I suppose." Milly nodded.
"Something to take into consideration as well is that my own willpower is a factor as well." Lelouch noted as he got up and hugged Milly from behind, much to the blond girl's approval. "As long as I have you and the others there, supporting me, I know my willpower will be able to keep my Geass under control."
"I'll make sure to keep your willpower up then." His girlfriend cooed at him, turning to kiss his jaw slightly. "So what are you calling your invention?"
"This?" Lelouch hummed for a minute. "A name would be useful. Its current technical description is 'Prototype First Generation Demi-Knightmare' which just won't do. Hmmm…how about Prototype First Generation Engagement Suit: The Squire?"
"Squire? As in a Knight Apprentice?" Milly asked with a sidelong look at him. "That would work if it was being made for the Britannian Army, but you are intending these to be for the Black Knights, right? Something as bit more Japanese would be better, I think."
"Hm. Then…either Bushi, a word for warrior, or Ashigaru, the name for common foot-soldiers back during Feudal Japan." The prince decided. "Which works better, do you think?"
"I like Ashigaru, personally." Milly said after a moment. "If memory serves, didn't they make up the bulk of the Japanese armies way back when? Imagine an entire army of these bad boys, backed up by the more solid Knightmares? It would be interesting, to say the least."
"Probably, yes." Lelouch noted. "And I intend to create specialised versions for use at sea as well. The Portman and the so-called Portman II are quite bland and unimaginative offerings. I daresay that the Britannian Marine Corps are going to have to run crying back to the drawing board by the time my designs get done with their so-called Fourth and Fifth Generation."
"Always the humble one aren't you?" Milly turned in his arms and hugged him back for a moment before looking up at him, steel in her eyes. "Onto another subject…where's my costume?"
The raven-haired boy deadpanned at the girl in his arms. "You really want to…no, no need to even ask. Of course you want to dress up and walk around as if you were in a spy flick or super sentai show."
"You know me so well." Milly beamed up at him.
"That's why I had my costume maker start work on something I think you'll quite enjoy." Lelouch smirked at the delighted expression on her face. "I've also Geassed a professional gunsmith into making a couple of pairs of customised handguns for you to use. You are ambidextrous, right?"
"Only with guns and only because of years of practice." She replied with wide eyes. "So…when will they be ready?"
"Tomorrow." Lelouch said. "Same time the Ashigaru will be ready and armed. At that point…we'll be taking a little trip to Fukuoka, just you, me, C.C. and Sayoko."
The Next Day
En-Route to Fukuoka
"This has to be the most comfortable truck-slash-Knightmare Transport I've ever been in." Milly commented. She was sitting in a rather comfortable chair in a room hidden inside the back of a modestly large truck. Seated around the room were her fellow accomplices.
"Why thank you." Lelouch mock bowed in his heat to her. "I had Reuben modify it based on the truck the Kōzuki group hijacked when they stole C.C.'s prison capsule from Code-R. Then I further modified it with some home comforts. No sense being uncomfortable while we're on our way to infiltrate and assault a top-secret black facility."
"Very droll, Lelouch." The Immortal said flatly. She had regressed to a more emotionless façade similar how she was when Lelouch first met her. That told Lelouch just how much emotion she was feeling, that she needed to pull herself back into that act again. "So how about a briefing?"
"As you wish, my dear." It was a good time for it anyway. Thanks to Reuben loaning him one of his most trusted men to drive to Fukuoka, Sayoko could be present as well for it as well, which was nice.
Pressing a button on his armrest, the screen mounted on the wall displayed a very ordinary building, a warehouse by all appearances. "This is what the idiot assassin Desmond designated as the cover building for the Tertiary site of Code-R."
"A fish storage warehouse?" Sayoko raised an eyebrow.
"Would you think to look for a top secret biological weapons research facility in a warehouse?" Lelouch asked pointedly. "Let alone one used to store fish?"
The maid nodded in acknowledgement.
"Anyway, beneath the warehouse is a three-level facility." Lelouch continued, pressing a button so that a wireframe model was displayed, designed off Desmond's descriptions. "The usual way in is a concealed door here, in a corner of the warehouse, but I'm afraid charging in guns blazing won't meet our objectives. Fortunately, there are several side entrances, here, here and here, that are used as covert ingress/egress points. This site was designed with secrecy as its primary defence, so there are no external surveillance devices to risk giving it away, only internal ones. Sayoko, you'll be infiltrating the building and taking the security office on the second basement floor first. Seal all of the covert entrances shut and scramble the codes for the top door, then start locking down the labs after sounding an evacuation order."
"Hai." Sayoko nodded. "Am I to try and take any prisoners?"
"While I'm certain C.C. would prefer to roast them over a fire, we need them alive to interrogate them." Lelouch said with a frown. "That's the scientists. Eliminate any and all guards you may come across, by all means. When you ingress here, C.C., Milly and I will wait ten minutes before making use of this large entrance here, which leads to the hidden carpark beneath the next building over, which is empty and is owned by a shell company used by one of Clovis' pseudonyms that Code-R and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have since co-opted after his demise. We'll be using the Ashigaru to lock the place down."
"Are you sure that toy of yours will work boya? You know how unstable initial prototypes are." C.C. said dubiously.
"I took it a thorough test drive before we began packing for the operation, so I see little reason not to believe that it will work properly now." Lelouch said, mildly offended that his work was being doubted.
"The first time your mother powered up the Ganymede, the left leg fell off." C.C. deadpanned. "The second time, it did the splits and fell over."
"That was a result of sabotage if I remember grandfather's notes correctly." Milly pointed out. "As well as one idiot who didn't tighten a bolt enough."
"My point still stands." C.C. said with a smirk.
"The Ashigaru will work perfectly fine." Lelouch said firmly. "Small arms will be utterly useless against it for the most part and I seriously doubt that a scientific facility will have bazookas or grenade launchers, even a black site like this. Other experimental weaponry…might pose a possible threat, which is why Sayoko is locking down the labs."
"And what weapons does your prototype have, hmm?" C.C. asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A pair of wrist mounted Slash Harkens and a pair of Kaiten Yaibatō." Lelouch answered. "I have designs for specially made ranged weapons for the Ashigaru, but I didn't have time to put them together."
"And why was that?" the Immortal asked somewhat sharply.
"My dear C.C., you have grown steadily more surly and irritable the longer we have gone without going to deal with Code-R since you extracted their whereabouts from Desmond." the Exiled Prince smirked wryly. "I would not dare put off your justified revenge for fear of arousing your ire."
"Sensible boy." C.C. smirked at her lover. "What about the cameras?"
Another click of the control panel on Lelouch's chair made the locations of cameras light up, including their predicted arcs of sight. "These are the ones that Desmond gave us the locations of, but I trust that little bastard as far as I could throw a Command G-1, so I'll be giving Sayoko this."
Pulling a device the size of a bank card and the thickness of a smartphone from his pocket, he lightly tossed it in her direction. The kunoichi caught it easily and examined it curiously.
"It's a useful little device that high-profile cat burglars use to spoof cameras." He explained. "Using one of my pseudonyms, I contacted the black firm that makes them and arranged to purchase a couple, although it cost me a good amount of cash. Once activated, it will disrupt any cameras within its effective range for a few seconds, allowing you to move past them if you are quick enough. It only has a limited number of uses before it burns itself out, so use it sparingly."
"Hai, Goshujin-sama." Sayoko nodded seriously.
"What about the other one?" C.C. asked with a knowing smirk. "Let me guess, you're going to pull it apart to find out how it works?"
"No, I already know that and have the blueprints." Lelouch waved his hand airily. "I couldn't let such a useful device pass me by, now could I? No, the second one is for in case we have more trouble before I'm able to set up a limited manufacturing line for them."
"Sensible." Milly said seriously. "Lelouch…Shirley's father could be in there. What do we do with him?"
"That…is an excellent question." Lelouch sighed. "According to C.C. here, he was not involved directly in her tortures in Code-R."
"No, he was just one of the ones who went over data afterwards, refined it and sent it to the bastards who decided what torture to inflict upon me next." The verdette hissed furiously. "Lelouch, you had better have a good reason for sparing him if that's what you decide to do!"
"I do nothing without multiple good reasons, C.C., as you should well know by now." The Prince smirked. "Take this raid for example. During it, I am testing out my new Knightmare, giving Milly a soft introduction to combat, destroying a source of possible trouble for down the line, avenging the dishonour done to you, my love, and taking all of their research and development for myself. Five things out of one operation. Not a bad result, if I do say so myself."
"Will it be as easy as all that?" Milly wrinkled her brow. "I mean…they've been forced to relocate twice now; surely they'll have some sort of method of scrubbing their systems to prevent their data from being stolen."
"The human mind is a funny thing, Milly. Both times before, they've been forced to move due to things that could be considered bad luck or circumstance; C.C.'s capsule being stolen and dear sister Cornelia's assault on the JLF's Narita Base respectively. They are absolutely certain that the blanket of secrecy surrounding their actions is intact; otherwise, why else would they only possess a dozen guards in the base itself?" Lelouch shook his head dismissively. "No, there likely will be a way of destroying their data, but, again, that is why Sayoko will be taking control of the Security Office first and foremost; all of their internal defence shutters, base security controls and even computer access controls are in that room. If that is taken, then all that needs to be done is to have Sayoko plug a data vacuum drive into the computers and steal all of their data, whilst locking them out of their labs and computer rooms."
"Touch wood." C.C. tapped the wooden armrest of her chair with one elegant finger. "I hope it goes well for us; I will be most upset if any of those bastards get away."
"I will labour to ensure that nobody escapes, C.C." Lelouch promised her. "For what was done to you, their lives are forfeit."
"Good boy." She smiled fondly at him. "Now, what nom-de-guerre is Milly going to have?"
"Up until now she's been absent from sight, and my excuse to the Black Knights for her joining us will be that she's been undercover, so…I believe calling her Incognito will be appropriate." Lelouch smirked.
"Short, sweet and has an air of mystery…I approve!" Milly gave the name a thumbs up with an anticipatory grin. "I take it my costume and weapons are equally good?"
"Only the best for my ladies, Milly." The raven-haired boy smirked. "Now, according to my timetable, we're about fifteen minutes out from the Fukuoka outskirts. Time to get dressed to kill."
Twenty Minutes Later
Third Floor Corridor, Secret Code-R Research Facility, Fukuoka Docks Area
Cheryl Silver had been a low-level researcher with Code-R for only a month now, brought in to replace someone who had been killed after failing to evacuate in time at the Beta Site in Narita. The pay was exorbitant, the privileges were downright luxurious and the work was ethics free.
She hated it here.
The Texan-born woman had always been a particularly bright one, despite the idiotic stereotypes that being a blue-eyed blonde with F-cup breasts brought with it. Thanks to that, she could see that this place was a shithole amongst scientific research facilities. Oh, the facility itself and the equipment they were provided were all of top quality; but the morals of the staff …
Cheryl had always thought that the ethics laws surrounding biological research were too strict and stringent, which was half of the reason she had been scouted for Code-R in the first place, but this place was too far down the other side of the spectrum! People -living, breathing people- were sacrificed to experiment after experiment without as much as a thought given to any rights they might have.
About two-thirds of the experiments would have been completely unnecessary had they taken any care with the initial test subjects!
It made her sick. There was the need for risk for scientific progress, but this was simply butchery disguised as science!
The only decent person here had been a fellow called Joseph Fenette and he had been transferred to help start a branch of Code-R at an alternate location just a few hours ago. No one knew where, but he had also taken a good dozen or so other scientists and almost half of the longest-surviving test subjects with him. Quite what he was going to be doing was a mystery, but he had hinted to her about a 'new development in Knightmare technology' or something along those lines before he left.
She daren't ask about it; the guards here dissuaded that very firmly and she had more common sense than to provoke them. No, what she was going to do was gather some funds, plot an escape route and get out while the going was good. This kind of completely unethical and black program rarely allowed those who worked in it to survive past the project's completion and she had no desire to die and be tossed into a ditch. Or worse, be turned into a test subject herself.
No sir, her family did not raise a stupid girl.
For the moment though, she had to go around and keep acting like everything was right as rain in this nightmarish hellhole. She was just glad that she had years of practice acting like things didn't bother her to fall back on.
"Doctor Silver, have you finished the experiment on Subject Delta 5582746-J?" the current head of Code-R asked her. He was a mousey little shit who stared at her tits more than was either welcome or polite.
"Yes, that was done yesterday." She replied coolly. "I filed a report regarding the results of the experiment in the system before signing out for the day."
"Hmm…odd…I cannot find any trace of it." He said in a not-quite-successfully bland tone. "I don't suppose you misfiled it elsewhere?"
"You are the only person named 'Humperdinck' in the entire facility." She scowled at him. Ezekiel D'Arcy Humperdinck had a name longer than he was tall and had constantly harassed her for the past month in an attempt to coerce her into his bed because it was 'what women were supposed to do' in his opinion. Sexist, misogynistic little piglet. "But, just in case, I saved a copy of the report and will now resend it to your account."
A flash of disappointment crossed his face as she brought out her tablet and started typing on it, and the simmering anger at the back of Cheryl's mind flared up before she throttled it. Allowing this little man, in both senses of the term, to rile her up would just play right into his hand.
The instant after she sent the report, the lights shut off and the emergency lights kicked in, red pools illuminating the corridor where she and the director were standing.
"Wh-what is this? A power failure?!" Ezekiel blustered as he looked around nervously. "I'll have the engineer's head for this!"
"We have three redundant power systems, director." Cheryl stated dryly. "If one goes down, one of the other two should kick in almost instantaneously. The fact we have the emergency lights on means that either all three have failed simultaneously, which is statistically improbable, or someone has deliberately shut them down."
"I-I didn't authorise this!" he screeched before grabbing his radio. "OI! Who shut the power off!?"
A flat, emotionless voice crackled back over the radio. "I did. Aegis of the Black Knights. Your time as leader here is at an end."
The hairs on the back of Cheryl's neck stood up. Aegis of the Black Knights. One of Zero's two mysterious bodyguards, ones he was reportedly never seen without away from battle. She gulped as she realized what that meant; that, somehow, Zero not only knew of Code-R's existence, but that he knew where they were and that he was going to assault the facility!
'I'll die! What's happened here is beyond evil and I took part in it! He'll kill me!' she thought in horror. Zero's crusade against Refrain dealers and other criminals was reported in newspapers, and what Code-R did was beyond anything that those criminals had done. Judgement against the scientists of Code-R would be swift in the best case scenario. Worst case…she didn't want to think about it.
With a look of disgust, Cheryl noticed that Ezekiel has pissed his pants in fear.
"B-Black…Black Knights…!" he stuttered in terror. "No…this can't be…General Bradley, where are you when I need you!?"
Shaking her head in contempt, Cheryl turned and started walking quickly towards her office. She had to grab her emergency bail bag and get out of here before the place started swarming with troops!
"Doctor Silver! Where do you think you're going?!" Director Humperdinck bleated from the puddle of urine he was standing in.
"Away from the priority target for anyone who might be invading this place, you incompetent twit!" she snapped back. The idiot looked shocked that she had dared to insult him. Really, wasn't Britannian nobility supposed to be the best in the world? She felt sorry for the Humperdinck Family to have someone like this in their family tree…
"I am your superior!" Humperdinck shouted. The sound of wet shoes told the scientist that the idiot was following after her.
"You're dead if you don't get out of here!" she retorted. "I can barely protect myself; go and find the guards if you want to be protected!"
"You bitch! I'll have you thrown in jail when I get out of this!" the short man yelled, recognising the truth of her words, yet unwilling to accept the tone in which they had been delivered. With a glare, he about-faced and squelched off to the lift, forgetting that they were out of order thanks to the power being out.
Cheryl Silver, thankfully, managed to make it to her office and pull out a bag that she had prepared only three days previously, when that loathsome arrogant boy stole a car from someone in Tokyo. Desmond…he had scared her, no questions asked. He was a monster, one who saw those around him as cardboard cut-outs, not people. They were things to him, to be played with and hurt as he pleased, but unable to do anything to him in return. A semi-stable sociopath, in other words.
Hurriedly pulling off her high heels (stupid bastard director and his stupid sexist throwback of a dress code) and replacing them with tennis shoes, Cheryl then pulled out a snub-nosed revolver and gave it a cursory once-over. It wasn't anything special, but it was all she could discretely acquire and sneak in on such a short timeframe. She had removed her personal effects as much as possible the previous day, so all she had to do was escape from the building.
Stealthily ghosting through the corridors, she carefully made her way up the nearest flight of emergency stairs. Aside from the three elevators, there were two sets of emergency stairs on opposite sides of the facility. They were rarely used because the elevators were more convenient, especially the large freight elevator in the centre of the facility for the test subjects and their restraining gear.
Shouts and the sound of guns firing echoed throughout the second level as she emerged into it, peeking around the corner, she saw four men dressed in the Code-R security uniform clustered around the armoured door that she knew led to the main security room. Beyond them, Cheryl felt her gorge rise as she spotted two prone figures dressed in the same uniform as the other men lying in an uncomfortable manner, limbs splayed and blood covering them.
"Get it open!" one security man yelled to the others.
"We can't! The door to the armoury is sealed shut and all we have are pistols and rifles!" another retorted. "The squad leader's dead over there, so no one aside from the director has an override code!"
"We're screwed then." The third snorted. "That short-arsed prick is probably cowering in a toilet cubicle right about now."
"Is that any way to speak of your superior?" a modulated voice asked and the men, plus Cheryl, looked around sharply. The scientist just barely stopped herself from gasping at the sight of two masked figures. One was wearing the silver armour and white mask of Augur, the second of Zero's personal bodyguards, confirming that in all likelihood, the Regicide was here personally.
It was the second figure that drew puzzlement from her. Aegis wore black, while Augur wore silver. The broadcast of the climax of the Lake Kawaguchi Incident had shown that much. By contrast, this figure -a female, judging by the hourglass figure that the clothes she wore hugged almost like a second skin- wore a pure white uniform, trimmed with shining gold like a highly stylised version of a military uniform. The helmet the figure wore was shaped oddly similarly to Zero's helmet barring the fact it lacked the sharp edges. Also unlike Zero's helmet, it wasn't blank; it had three crimson slits in the shape of a leering smile and eyes on the face. The rest of the mask portion was covered in a harlequin pattern.
"You…you two are…!" one man stammered.
"I am Augur, and this is Incognito." The silver-armoured woman stated as she drew her sword and pistol with a casual competence that surpassed the soldiers own. "Now, you have two choices here, gentlemen. You can either lay down your arms and surrender to us, or you can choose to resist and die."
That chilled the soldiers, but one rallied them. "C'mon, we outnumber them two to one!"
"True." Incognito said as she drew a pair of long-barrelled handguns from holsters at her back. One was shining silver while the other was pitch-black. "But we outmatch you."
"Bring it bitch!" the soldier shouted and made to draw his pistol. Augur snapped her sword around and the tip shot out, slamming into the man's chest and electrocuting him, dropping him like a stone. Before the rest could react, Incognito opened up with both guns, expertly targeting guns and limbs, rendering the four men helpless before the two women.
"That was fairly easy." The white-clad woman remarked. "Then again, they are all wearing red shirts."
"Only one of them is, actually." Augur replied dryly. "Do you remember the special function of those pistols?"
"Yup." Flicking switches located in the same location on both guns with her thumbs, Incognito aimed and fired at the men. Within seconds of being hit again, the soldiers were out cold. "Dual ammo magazines with a shot selector built into the guns, as well as recoil and flash suppressors…how Zero comes up with these ideas is beyond me."
"He is who he is." The other woman replied before reaching up to her helmet. "Augur to Aegis. We've taken care of your door knocker problem. Where are the rest of the security personnel and scientists?"
That was Cheryl's cue to beat a retreat and head up the stairs to the first floor. If the Black Knights held the security room, then every single security door, camera and power source in the facility was at their command. It had astonished her when she learned that the idiots who had laid out the specification for this facility had placed all of their eggs in one basket. Normally, all of those security functions would be scattered about the facility, but the couple who had designed this place, a Mr and Mrs C. Johnson, were evidently loyal to what their employers paid them for. Idiots.
Still, there was one area that she could flee this base from; the car park. The door leading to that was neither electronically locked, nor controlled electronically. Plus, the car park door was a dumb system separate from the main base computers. If she could get there…
Seeing nothing but empty corridors when she poked her head out of the stairwell into the first floor of the facility, the scientist decided that the time for stealth was over and bolted. Running pell-mell down the corridor towards the car park, she heard running footsteps echoing up the stairway behind her and redoubled her pace desperately.
'There it is!' Cheryl thought as she dashed through the corridors and finally spotted the door leading to the car park. A quick peek behind her showed Augur chasing her and the scientist felt a chill as the single red eye on the armoured woman's mask seemed to glow menacingly at her.
Throwing herself through the door and then slamming it shut, Cheryl pulled a metal-tubed pen from her pocket and jammed into the hinge to delay anyone from opening the door for a few precious seconds. She then turned around…and her jaw dropped in disbelief.
"A K-Knightmare…!" she whispered in shock. "H-How…!?"
She quickly realised though, that whatever she was seeing was not any kind of Knightmare that she had seen before. Even the shortest of Britannia's Knightmares, the Glasgow, was too tall to stand straight up in this car park, yet this one was. It also lacked the distinctive backpack-style cockpit that Britannian Frames possessed. Painted black, with the only exception being the orange armoured visor on the head, it had two blades emerging from beneath the armoured plates attached to the forearms.
"Well, well…one of you finally showed up." A voice said, one that Cheryl recognised, even distorted by the boom of the loudspeaker.
"Z…Zero…!" she whimpered, falling to her knees and the gun dropping from her hand as the fight left her. She was done. She could flee people and shoot people if need be, but against the power of a Knightmare, she was helpless.
"Indeed I am." Zero replied. "I must say, you are the only one of your fellows with any ounce of bravery. According to Aegis, the rest are simply quivering in terror or trying to hide under their beds."
Cheryl let out a slightly unstable laugh at this remark. "That fails to surprise me, given the moral fibre of my erstwhile colleagues."
The sound of the door behind her breaking made her stand up and turn to face Augur as the woman strode into the room. If she was going to die, she would die on her feet, dammit.
"Ah, so the little mouse ended up in the trap." Augur almost purred with satisfaction as she raised her blade and placed it to Cheryl's neck, right over where a vein was.
"I would not strike her down, Augur." Aegis' voice boomed over the PA speakers in the carpark. "She is Cheryl Silver, a brand new member of Code-R, who has only joined this…illustrious institution a scant month ago. She has only participated in a single experiment, which the test subject survived. As opposed to the rest of the science staff here, she appears to be merely guilty of falling for a sweet lie."
"I'll be the judge of that, Aegis." The sword-wielding woman growled. Withdrawing her blade and sheathing it, she removed her glove from her hand and abruptly grabbed Cheryl by the throat, lifting her up with strength beyond what her slim frame would suggest.
Cheryl was a bit too busy being strangled to think about the biological improbability of a woman with slender arms and thin, delicate fingers lifting her by the neck, but the thoughts that her naturally curious mind came up with floated at the back of her mind regardless. Oddly, she felt…something sifting through her mind like she looked through files on a tablet.
"Tch." Augur dropped her after a moment and Cheryl was too busy sucking in air and massaging her throat to do more than fall to her knees, wheezing. "As much as I hate to admit it…you are right. She's foolish and a little arrogant, but she has done nothing to deserve death yet. We actually got lucky, this smart little mouse realized that the ship she was on was doomed and was already getting ready to flee."
"Is she worthy of the choice, Auger?" Zero enquired.
"So long as you have more morals than this lot and don't try to force her into your bed, yes." The woman before Cheryl replied in amusement. "Not that you have any need to force someone into bed in the first place, what with us ladies practically throwing ourselves at you, Zero."
"I doubt that Miss Silver had any need to hear about that, Augur." The Regicide replied, his voice in a deadpan.
Cheryl, who boggled at the idea that Zero was actually sleeping with his two bodyguards, jerked as the blade of Augur's sword appeared in front of her face again.
"So then, Doctor Cheryl Silver…you, uniquely among the scientists of Code-R, have a choice in your fate." The armoured woman stated. "Choice one is to share the fate of your comrades…death. Choice two is to cooperate and be imprisoned until we have no further use for you. Choice three…well, choice three is to swear yourself to Lord Zero. Atone for the sin of joining Code-R and all that you have done with them by working for my Lord. Your choice?"
"I'll…I'll work for Zero." Cheryl said in a faltering voice. "I'll serve him and atone for what I did here, so please don't kill me or lock me up. I…I hate being alone, so don't lock me up."
This was, unfortunately and embarrassingly, true. Cheryl had long learned to handle with being ogled and treated like a sex object by her 'colleagues', she could handle being looked down upon by her bosses for being female. But the very idea of being locked up alone made her quiver in fear.
"I see. An excellent choice." Augur stated as she sheathed her sword. "Welcome to the Void Order, Doctor Silver. We are going to change the whole world."
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Next Chapter: Corruption in Kyoto: Kadzuki's Rebellion
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