Chapter Thirteen: Connecting the Dots
The halls of the Viceroy Palace used to be filled with sycophants.
Now they were filled with people scurrying with paperwork. Guards were standing by, and people had an air of panic about them. Villetta made her way to the main meeting room Prince Clovis had used for the last two years. Here Clovis' staff had spent hours pouring over ways to spin revelations in the media. Or how to hide corruption in one area.
During it, Clovis had always put forth an appearance of regality. He wasn't bothering now, however probably because only Villetta and Deitard Reid were in the room.
"This will be our final meeting together, gentlemen," said Clovis.
"What do you mean?" asked Villetta.
"In light of my failure at Shinjuku, I have come to the inevitable conclusion. I am no longer fit to act as Viceroy," said Clovis. "As such, I have resigned from my position. I will be returning to the homeland once things have been set up for my successor." Clovis was leaving?! This could kill Villetta's career!
She had to find some way to get into the good graces of the next Viceroy.
"Which successor?" asked Deitard.
"Princess Cornelia Li Britannia, and her sister, Euphie," said Clovis. "Those are who I recommended anyway. Our focus henceforth will be on arranging for things to be as smooth for them as possible.
"Deitard, what does the media say?"
Deitard shrugged, obviously not particularly upset about Clovis' departure. "Yes, well, your mysterious assailant has proven somewhat convenient."
Clovis narrowed his eyes. "How so?"
"By now word has spread far and wide that Prince Clovis' command staff abandoned him," said Deitard. "It also spread around the same time as information was leaked about Shinjuku."
"How did that happen?" asked Clovis.
"Don't worry, there weren't any incriminating videos leaked," said Deitard. He not even hiding his contempt at this point. "However, with the containment forces wiped out, the humanitarian efforts were unrestricted. The medical crews called for help, and that help wasn't in any mood to keep a secret.
"Shinjuku at the moment is a hotbed for every volunteer with a conscience.
"The locals are only too happy to tell stories.
"Fortunately, we've been able to get the two stories to merge. We kept the timeline vague. Some rumors now say that a man forced you to give those orders at gunpoint. Of course, not everyone believes them. But we've released several other more credible stories with degrees of guilt. It should dilute the outrage and salvage your military reputation."
"And what do you think happened, Mr. Reid?" asked Villetta, annoyed at how open Deitard was with his contempt. Couldn't he at least keep up appearances, it was making her use her shocked expression.
Deitard scoffed. "I'm in the entertainment industry, Ms. Nu. It doesn't matter what I think.
"My job is to tell stories in a way that makes the government look good. Whether those stories are true or false is of no concern to me as long as they are convincing.
"I support the Viceroy and get invited to parties in exchange for towing the party line."
"You've never been nearly so open in your disdain for me before now," noted Clovis, voice cold.
"Recent events make me skeptical of your ability to ruin my career, Prince Clovis," said Deitard. "Important people must remain important to continue receiving special treatment."
"Yes, well, it's all in the performance, I suppose," said Clovis with an icy smile. "And since we're disposing of pretenses, I've always regarded you as a snake. You might act as if you're superior to your fellows, but you did the same job in the end. They at least believed they were helping Britannia.
"What do you believe in, Deitard Reid? I don't recall ever hearing of you taking pictures of police brutality? Where was this passionate contempt when I was an unstoppable media influence?"
"Don't pretend as though I'm responsible for your actions, Clovis," replied Deitard. Now his voice was one of outright hatred. "I was a war reporter when the bombs first dropped on Japan. I did an exhaustive amount of fieldwork risked my life multiple times, and took a bullet. I had firsthand footage of how Tohdoh of Miracles got his name. I even did an interview with the man.
"I edited it, spent a full year on it to ensure accuracy.
"I handed it in and saw it smashed in front of my eyes by Lord Kewell of the Purebloods. You see, it was unpatriotic. After that, I had to pay my bills. Ordinary people have things like taxes and rent to make. We don't have the luxury of royal stipends."
"Plenty of people worse off than you haven't betrayed their loyalties," replied Clovis.
Villetta had the feeling two conversations were going on right now. However, Deitard looked insulted at the very prospect. "Loyalty? To you?
"I was at a party yesterday, and you were there. I watched you make an impassioned speech about unity and justice. Seconds later, you were scoffing at the very people you'd been speaking to. You were preening for some well-dressed harlots with titles: them and the sycophants who follow you everywhere. Or at least they did.
"A few hours later, you ordered an entire ghetto purged. You sent an entire army in. All to slaughter a group of half-starved elevens? And now you're having me put the blame on the sycophants whose company you so love."
"I didn't order you to blame them," shot back Clovis. "That was of your own volition. An easy reflex for one of your career, I guess."
"But you would have," said Deitard. "If you were brave enough to ever take responsibility for your own actions.
"I've been covering for your atrocities my entire career, Prince Clovis. So is everyone in the Media Building. Our thanks was a helicopter machinegunning our windows. Maybe if you had tried to be a good ruler, instead of pretending to be a perfect one, we wouldn't be here.
"It's a miracle that mystery assailant didn't put a bullet in you. I can only assume they wanted you alive so you wouldn't be replaced with someone competent.
"But, I'm a professional. I do my job to the best of my ability.
"So, I'm going to cover for you, Prince Clovis. I'm going to compensate for your stupidity and malice. I'll make sure you can retire to luxury, having done nothing to earn it.
"But don't ask me to respect you."
Villetta was impressed. Deitard Reid had said everything Villetta had wanted to say for years. Even she hadn't realized it. Part of her style was convincing herself she liked and respected her boss. It was important for the facade until they were of no further use. Even so, Villetta was pleased to hear it finally said, even if she wouldn't be pulling strings for Deitard.
"...Get out," said Clovis, voice a hoarse wheeze.
Deitard stood to walk out, and Villetta was soon to join them. Bartley was off on some other mission for Clovis, and Milner was dead.
"You stay, Villetta," said Clovis. "I can trust you, at least."
Not true at all, but Villetta was touched; he thought so. She turned and sat down. When the door shut, Clovis raised a flash drive. "This information is for Jeremiah Gottwald's eyes only. It's information to be passed from one Viceroy to another. The information is of a very volatile nature. Give it to him when he arrives, he'll know what to do."
"I understand," said Villetta. "Prince Clovis, sir, it has been an honor."
That was a lie, of course, but no sense in burning bridges. She might need a good word from Clovis to get a good position with the next Viceroy.
It was only once Villetta was walking back home to her apartment that she realized what a problem she had. Stripping off her formal outfit, she lay down on her bed, clad only in her underwear, and groaned.
"Well, this is typical," said Villetta. "Clovis is out, which means I'm going back to the Purebloods. I hope Lord Jeremiah has a decent assignment for me. Kewell has gotten most of the battle glory lately.
"Now, I have to keep track of all this." She looked at the drive and checked to see if it was sealed. It was not that she could see, and Villetta doubted Clovis was smart enough to hide one. "Actually, there might be something I can use here. There isn't any seal on this, so it should be fine."
On the one hand, Villetta was sworn to serve Prince Clovis.
On the other hand, what had Prince Clovis done for her lately? And what were the chances of him finding out she'd learned? And even if he did, what could he do?
Clovis was last month's flavor, as far as Villetta was concerned.
Making her way over to her computer, she opened it and slipped in the flash drive. There wasn't even a password on this thing, to her disappointment. Clovis was sloppy till the end.
Looking over it, she read the contents.
And they gave her a bit of a chill. "...This is..."
That green-haired girl Villetta had seen before being knocked out; her name was C.C.
According to this, she was immortal and in possession of supernatural powers. What's more, it was all being kept secret from the Emperor. Had Clovis been planning to make himself Emperor by outliving the competition?
Well, whatever it was he was doing, he'd taken a lot of precautions to keep it secret. More specifically, Bartley had taken a lot of precautions. From the looks of things, Clovis had been smart enough to delegate to Bartley. He'd kept informed only on general stuff. There were actually cliff notes on Bartley's report in case he was too busy to read it.
Really, Clovis would have been dead years ago if not for Bartley and Jeremiah.
"Immortality, human experimentation. All kept secret from the Emperor," mused Villetta, seeing the possibilities. "These numbers are very involved. Prince Clovis is out of favor, and he wants to hand things over to Lord Jeremiah. He might expect to receive this information, so I'd better hand it to him. Still, what if I made some copies?
"I could send it to someone...
"Who? And even if I had someone, they might decide to silence me for knowing too much. Loyal citizens never prosper in Britannia after all. I'll take this to Lord Jeremiah and let him decide. Then keep the information on hand, just in case." Copying the data onto her computer, Villetta was disappointed. She had to uninstall some of her games to account for the file size.
With that done, she closed it. "Lord Jeremiah should be arriving tomorrow.
"What now?"
Then Villetta smiled as she remembered where she'd run into C.C and who had been with her. "Alan Spacer. That was what he called himself. It was probably just an alias, but he might have used the name of someone he knows. And if his father is a Duke..."
Villetta looked it up.
Alan Spacer, son of a Duke and presently attending Ashford Academy. Of course, whoever it was could have been quoting a name he knew, but Ashford had been the source of other problems. The one who had taken her Knightmare had been Britannian by the accent and had to have had martial training.
Whoever it was also had the tactical skills to beat an entire army with nothing but terrorists. But how had they gotten onto the truck with terrorists?
Then again, the Ashford Academy Student body had been taking a lot of pictures of the ghettos. Mostly around the area of Shinjuku, so it was possible some of them had arranged contacts to let them. Maybe they justified it to the terrorists as a form of sabotage? It was what Villetta would do.
And if they had contacts with a resistance group, it would explain how they sent out those videos. But all this would have taken money and resources. And a lot of them, which wouldn't have been available in an average student's allowance?
So all Villetta had to do was narrow things down.
She was looking for a male member of the Ashford Academy Student body. One who was physically fit and very intelligent and knew how to use a gun. They also had to be able to make a great deal of money at a young age. And also be something of a mastermind.
They'd also likely be on the student council.
Villetta had made copies of the Ashford Academy student body files, all illegal, of course. But the information was information. She'd even now and then arranged to get the thing updated. Digging them up from an old chest in her room, she went right to the student council. Milly Ashford a beautiful blonde with a tendency to throw mad events. She'd done a lot of networking in the last two years. Nina Einstein and Rivalz were too short to be the one she was looking for and didn't fit her profile. Shirley Fennette was on the swim club but was a girl, so it couldn't have been her.
There was Kallen Stadtfeld, who had everything Villetta wanted out of life. Her being here could not be pure coincidence.
And last of all, Lelouch Lamperouge. Apparently, he and Rivalz often ditched class to go play chess. They made a lot of money that way. However, two years ago, they'd started going less often. And Lelouch's scores in physical education had gone from abysmal to very, very, good. His background was also very vague, but he'd been here before
Ambitious, charismatic, powerful, handsome, and rich.
Why couldn't he be running Area 11? A man like that would be far more fun to work with.
Either way, Villetta noticed something else. The violet eyes and black hair were familiar, very familiar. Thinking back, she remembered the picture Clovis had painted. It had been of Lelouch and Nunnally Vi Britannia. The boy had been like a younger version of this one.
Rechecking his profile, Villetta realized that Lelouch had a sister named Nunnaly. Keeping one finger on the student council, Villetta flipped to middle school. And there she was, a blind, crippled girl who was the spitting image of Nunnally Vi Britannia. A princess who had exactly the same afflictions and was the same age. At the same time, Lelouch had the same rare eye color and appearance as a Prince his age. Both of whom disappeared during the invasion of Japan. Lord Jeremiah considered their deaths his greatest failure.
Once was a coincidence, twice was bad luck, three times was enemy action.
As for his motive, it made perfect sense. Lelouch Vi Britannia had been exiled and his political allies, the Ashford's disgraced. In his situation, he'd have no real future and plenty of reason to hold a grudge. The homeland had sent them as hostages, then invaded anyway. Although apparently, the Prince got on well with...
Suzaku Kururugi, the son of the late Prime Minister of Japan. Who was now piloting the Lancelot? Villetta remembered the video showing a meeting between them, reuniting as old friends.
It had all be there from the very start. Right in front of them and no one had noticed.
Lelouch was Zero.
Lelouch had destroyed Clovis' image using nothing more than a camera and some legwork. Then he'd used the Student Council to network with the Media Building. That and the strafing run had subverted Deitard Reid after putting him in office. That was why Clovis had been so furious at Deitard. He must have realized his own weapon had been turned against them.
That led to Lelouch destroying Clovis' armies. Also, killing most of Villetta's men, but she hadn't known any of them personally, so what was that to her? Clovis was only able to stop the terrorists by calling in Suzaku. At which point, Lelouch had taken him hostage.
Why hadn't he shot Clovis then and there? Family affection?
Villetta doubted it. Chances are Lelouch wanted to turn Clovis into a puppet. With Deitard on Lelouch's side, he likely had footage of the massacre. Lelouch must have told Clovis that unless he cooperated, he'd release the proof. This meant that Clovis, more or less, had to take his orders for fear of having his atrocities made plain.
Yes, they'd come out, but no smoking gun had emerged just yet—nothing to start the kind of outrage that had happened two years ago. If Lelouch had gotten footage of Shinjuku and made it public, there would be no spinning it.
That was why Clovis was resigning. He was ending his own career rather than be a puppet leader. And now he was handing information over to Jeremiah regarding C.C. But why? Perhaps Clovis was hoping to rule through Jeremiah and Bartley? Or that Jeremiah would look for C.C and kill Lelouch in the process. A very desperate move, if ever there was one.
Either way, Villetta was very, very happy.
"Oh, this is just perfect," said Villetta, eyeing the portrait. "A long lost Prince, a tactical genius, and Zero. A loyal Britannian citizen would have but one course of action and report all this to the Emperor.
"Fortunately, I'm not a loyal Britannian citizen. I could tell Lord Jeremiah, but he'll only be acting Viceroy for a short time." She opened her phone. "So, I'll just follow my orders and make my own plans."
Better to reveal the details later and pretend she'd just found out. Princess Cornelia and Empress Marianne had been close, and Cornelia had more to give her.
Villetta made the call. "Lord Jeremiah?"
Jeremiah spoke. "Yes, Villetta, I heard. Has Prince Clovis already left?"
"Yes, he was in a hurry to get out," said Villetta. "He gave some information for your eyes only. I think something is going on we don't know about."
"I'm on my way to the Viceroy Palace now," said Jeremiah. "Bring it to me in the morning."
Now Villetta just needed to decide how much to reveal and to who?
