Turn 25: Headquarters under Siege

Suzaku is inside a tube of water, with a oxygen mask on his face. He wakes up and stares forward; Corneila is sitting at a desk in front of him.

Corneila: Well, look who's awake.
[Suzaku looks around]
Corneila: Hold on. I'll release you.
[He gets released]

Suzaku: Where am I?
Corneila: Safe inside the Black Knights headquarters.

Corneila: I carried you back here from Hashima Island after you collapsed during your fight with Germans.

Corneila: It seems like you were gone a little while back there in the ocean. This happen often?
Suzaku: I was on a little cruise.
Corneila: Cruise? You were gone for a week.
[Corneila begins to walk around as she talks]
Corneila: So that explains your mission for Dr. Frankenstein.
Corneila: Were you after the product of the 'HOLY GRAIL'?

Suzaku: 'HOLY GRAIL'?

Corneila: I apologize. That wasn't what I meant.
Suzaku: Wait. Dr. Frankenstein was researching 'HOLY GRAIL' ?
Corneila: [looks at him] Don't tell me you didn't know.
[She sits down at her computer and types in a few keys. Information appears on the screen]

Corneila: Frankenstein. Code R Research Team class A scientist specializing in biotechnology.
Corneila: In her research thesis, "The Necromancer," she refers to God as one of the sentient xenoforms of bring the dead back to life.
Corneila: However, the theories that she presented in her work were so abstract and complex...
[Suzaku zones out as Corneila continues talking in the background. He hears Euphemia's voice once again say "I'm so sorry.", followed by "Awaken."]
Corneila: Are you alright?
Suzaku: Can I see that thesis?
Corneila: Unfortunately, no. On top of being obscure, it was never even submitted to the Britannian database. All I know is what I saw while going through the company's archives.
[Ohgi walks in]
Ohgi: Suzaku! Have you recovered already?

[Scene change; the girl who accompanied Ubel in Okinawa is typing on a computer. G.G. approaches her from behind]
G.G.: What is the status of our keeper?
Girl: His location remains unchanged since the confrontation. We can assume this is the Black Knights headquarters.
G.G.: Good. Two birds with one stone.
[He walks away; she stands up, turns around and picks up an orange materia sitting on a nearby table, before leaving the room]

[Back to Ohgi, Suzaku and Corneila; apparently Suzaku has recited his story to the other two]
Reeve: So The Avenger told you that Victor is the "one for the key"?
Suzaku: Yeah.
Reeve: Any ideas?
Corneila: Soul wrought of terra corrupt, quelling impurity, purging the stream to beckon forth an ultimate fate. Behold mighty gods, HOLY GRAIL's squire to the lofty heavens.
Ohgi: Where did you...?
Corneila: A passage from Dr. Frankenstein's thesis. But that's all I know. Unfortunately, I only saw a fragment of the document.
Corneila: However, Colossal... HOLY GRAIL... And... [she looks at Vincent] All seem to be connected to Dr. Frankenstein in some way. There's no other explanation.
Corneila: I think we'll need to gather more data on her to get anywhere.
[The computer screens surrounding them flash red & an alarm goes off]
Ohgi: What now?

[Outside UFN headquarters, dozens of Neo-Chinese soldiers enter the building. Ubel spots a video camera; a Neo-Chinese soldier shoots it down]

Corneila: Damn!

[She types a few keys, causing doors inside the complex to close. Vincent exits the room. Outside, we see a couple of Neo-Chinese soldiers standing around]

Ubel: Move.

[They move out of the way. He approaches a steel door; on the other side are 3 Black Knight soldiers. He punches a big hole in it]

Ubel: Painless.
Ubel: Go.

[Neo-Chinese soldiers swarm into the complex. We next seen Suzaku in a hallway, on his way to confronting them]

Ohgi: Suzaku! The enemy has breached the main gate! Hurry!

[Corneila looks at the video feed of the camera which was shot earlier. What's left of the video feed shows the teenage girl walking by. Corneila freaks out]

Corneila: What?
Corneila: It couldn't be...

Suzaku works his way through the floors of the UFN building, taking out various Neo-Chinese units. Eventually he reaches a Black Knight member who alerts him of the threat to Ohgi.

BK Member: Zero! A sizable enemy unit is headed straight for the command center. Please, sir, you have to help the Prime Minisiter!

Oh no, Ohgi! Vincent races to the command center, where he encounters...

T.E.D.D.Y: Take that!

A Neo-Chinese soldier gets thrown out. T.E.D.D.Y walks out of the room, followed by Ohgi, their actions synchronized.

Ohgi: Don't worry. I'll be fine here.
Ohgi: But Suzaku. The Goliath Knights... Ubel is still on the loose. [Ohgi and T.E.D.D.Y walk back into the room]

Suzaku backtracks, and notices Ubel on the ground floor; he makes his way there, and then through some hallways, until he gets to a large room, and sees Nina, frightened. As he's walking towards her, we can see a cloaked person following him. Corneila, who's also in the room, spots the hidden being and pulls her gun-sword.

Corneila: Don't move.
[The cloaked being... is that teenage girl. She uncloaks and walks up to Corneila, who's still pointing a gun at her]
Girl: Very perceptive of you.

She takes off the mask, to reveal Euphy's face.

Nina: Princess... Euphemia...?
Corneila: I knew it.
[They look at it each other]
Corneila: Euphy.
Euphemia: I have no acquaintances in the Black Knights.
Corneila: We've both changed so much. No, you haven't changed at all. Not in one year.
[Euphemia gasps]
Corneila: Euphy. It's me. Corneila.
[Euphemia turns away]
Corneila: I've been searching for you for so long.
[Euphemia takes out her weapon, a pair of lightsabre-ish things with a tube connecting from one part of her wrist armor to another, and points one of the sabres at Corneila]
Euphemia: Don't take another step.
Corneila: Euphy?
Shelke: It doesn't matter who I am or who you are. My current mission as a Deepground soldier is all that is relevant.
Corneila: Even though one year have passed, you're still Euphy, my only sister!
[Euphy lowers and disables her weapon]
Euphemia: One year. Has it been that long? In hell or heaven. The day they brought me back to life from the dead, I was told I had potential. But those words were nothing but a precursor to a decade of suffering. They manipulated my mind until I was a shadow of my original self. The pain. The fear. The sins. For one year I lived in a hell far deeper than any you could imagine. But look at me. I should be 18 this year. If I don't receive my daily dose of fresh blood, this body wouldn't last a day.

Euphy pulls down the rest of her head mask to reveal that she had lost most to her hair as she was battling cancer.

Nina gasped.

Euphemia: However, I don't consider myself the least bit unfortunate. Except that for so long I held on to a foolish thread of hope that someday, someone would come to save me.

Corneila: [sobbing, as she falls to her knees] I'm sorry, Euphy. I'm so sorry.

Euphemia: But first, where is Suzaku?

Suzaku: Right here.

Suzaku takes off the mask.

Suzaku: Is this what you want? Vengeance for what Lelouch did? Or what I did to him? Or what you did because of him? It's because of people's lives should not be toyed. It's not the way Lelouch wanted, it's the way he wanted for the peace of the world.

Euphemia: [puts back on her head mask] It's time to put the past behind us. [turns on her weapon]
Ohgi: Stop this!
Euphemia: Jeremiah Gottwald and Kaname Oghi.

Ohgi: Impossibe!
Jeremiah: So you are revived from Frankenstein's experiments.
Euphemia: Excellent. Now I can terminate both of you at once.
Jeremiah: Look at her. That's the price Corneila has paid fighting the Zero war for the past one year. She has given almost more than her whole body. She has put her life on the line time and time again. All to find her lost sister and clear her name for the massacre. More than half her life have been reconstructed. Not a day goes by when Corneila doesn't suffer the pain of a hundred souls. But still, she...
Euphemia: Enough. I've... I've heard enough.

[She prepares her weapon; Oghi pulls out his gun]
Oghi: Stop!
[Oghi shoots at a sprinkler on the ceiling, which sets it off. Euphemia moves forward to attack Corneila; Vincent runs to her side. Euphemia stops her attack just in time]
Jeremiah: Suzaku!
[The three of them leave the room as the sprinkler stops. Reeve reaches into his pocket]
Jeremiah: Use these.
[Suzaku takes what was given to him and re-enters the room]
Corneila: Euphy? Euphemia!
Jeremiah: Don't worry. The bullets will only sedate her. Let Suzaku handle this.

[Suzaku and Euphemia square off. Boss fight vs. Euphemia the Transparent Princess. After the fight, she's unconscious from the sedation bullets, she sees flashbacks of blood and people dying]

Euphemia: (weakly) No! What have I done.

Corneila: Euphy!
[Corneila runs to her side and cradles her in her arms. Jeremiah and Suzaku walk away]

Suzaku backtracks, but shortly thereafter stops; he turns around, as Ubel comes crashing down through the ceiling.

Ubel: We meet again.
Ubel: Answer me this. Do you know why you even exist?
[Suzaku stares at him. Ubel smirks]
Ubel: Just as I thought. Ignorant to your own destiny.
Ubel: Very well. I'll show you what you really are.
[Suzaku shoots at him, but it does nothing; a shield appears in front of Ubel]
Ubel: You think that toy can penetrate my armor?
Ubel: Enough of the games, Zero.
Jeremiah: Suzaku! Over here!
[Suzaku fires at Ubel a few more times before running away]
Ubel: You can't run!

[Suzaku and Jeremiah are running away; Azul is hot on their trail]
Jeremiah: Suzaku!
[Suzaku looks at him and nods. They enter a large room; Suzaku walks over to an extremely large gun/rocket launcher on the ground, picks it up & fires it at Ubel. The explosion sends Suzaku and Jeremiah backwards]
Suzaku: You shouldn't leave those things lying around.
[Jeremiah laughs; Suzaku looks at Ubel, who's still standing, albeit shieldless, and now HE'S holding the gun/rocket launcher. He's also laughing menacingly]
Ubel: Well done. You have broken through my barrier.
Suzaku: This ends here. Leave him to me. [Jeremiah leaves]
Ubel: Long has it been since I faced a worthy opponent!

Boss fight vs. Ubel. At the end of the fight, Suzaku is standing in front of Ubel, whose gun/rocket launcher is now on the ground.

Ubel: You may think this is the end, but...
[He falls down]

Madrid, Spain

Oldrin stands on top of a building, wearing a different outfit that consists of long pants and what appears to be a modified long-sleeved shirt and short corset combination exposeing her midriff. She pulls out a sword.

A/N: In the next turn, the secrets of PHARCOM.