Kamia: Was not happy to have this chapter so short, so I decided to add more onto it.

Chapter 16

Lelouch took a seat on his bed once he was done changing, letting it simmer outside. He heard the other two bickering, which only caused a smirk to form. Pulling out his cell, he scrolled through a few items before the sound of Suzaku knocking on his door shifted his attention. "Oh, alright. I'm almost done getting ready," he called back, though it was a lie. Taking a few more moment, he then lifted himself off the bed before moving to grab a jacket. Opening up his door, he saw the other two waiting for him. "I'm ready." Following after the other two, Lelouch kept relatively quiet on their way down but offered a smile to Suzaku when he apologized for the change in plans. "Not exactly ideal but it is your work," he replied, giving a lazy shrug.

Amethyst eyes examined Gino's parking antics, giving a shake of his head. "I would consider this to be an abuse of power. What a terrible example you are setting for a youngster on the views of law," he chided, a smirk on his lips though there was a dark glint behind the teasing. Climbing into the back seat, he made sure to buckle himself in securely. The exit of the parking garage and a portion of the drive was in silence until Lelouch's phone went off. Picking it up, he scrolled through his messages before his eyes widened. It was a mass text from Euphie's family, stating that she had passed away. They omitted information on how, probably at the request of the police. Gripping his phone tightly, Lelouch took a deep breath before releasing it followed by an "Oh god..."

He could feel the shift of gaze, Suzaku turning to face him from the passenger seat and the quick glance from Gino in the rear view mirror. "Sorry, I just received some rather unsettling news. My college friend has passed away. I just received word from her family. It doesn't feel real, her parent's didn't mention how Euphemia died, but there is no way this is a joke...that would be too cruel..." Closing his eyes, he leaned back in the seat before shifting his vision to the window as scenery passed. "What am I going to expect from this report? I'm not going to be prodded or anything am I?"

Suzaku winced at the announcement Lelouch had made about his friend. First the Black Knight and now another college kid turns up dead. If he were a more paranoid man, he would say death had a way of finding his young lover. It's a good thing he didn't want to think hard on it. "I'm sorry about your friend, did you know her long?" receiving a jab, the detective gave an ugly look to his partner in the driver seat. Thinking it might have been over something thoughtless he said, he was prepared to make a comeback to the other, before noticing the serious look on Gino's face. A look that after years of working together, he took to mean, "Don't say anything. We'll talk out of the view of a suspect."

He didn't dare hide the confusion on his own face after that. What was that supposed to mean? Something he had forgot to mention about the case? Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he turned back to see the grim curiosity in Lelouch's eyes. Thinking quickly to the last question he had heard, the older man quickly gave the most reassuring look he could to his young friend. "I'm going to be honest. The analyst might request something like that, but all of what they want is at your discretion. Trust me when I say, no means no with these people and if you really don't want to go through with the whole physical, they will not force you. We just need a statement at the least when reporting the crime."

As they arrived at the police station, Gino and Suzaku lead the way to the fifth floor. It was here that Gino separated from the team to make his way back down stairs to where their own division was held. "Meet me in the case room, when you guys are done." Detective Weinberg had expressed before pushing the elevator button to the third floor. Suzaku rolled his eyes, knowing his partner was headed to the lounge for a pastry since their actual office was on the second floor.

Putting that aside, the older man led his roommate down the hall to the office of Sergeant Cornelia Li Britannia. If there was one officer in the SVU division that he would trust to keep an open mind and full disclosure, it was her. After making the proper introductions, Suzaku turned to Lelouch to see the pestered look on his face. "I know this isn't exactly the thing you would like to do right now... but it would be best if you were to tell everything that happened to Sergeant Cornelia." he encouraged.

"Detective Kururugi is right. It usually helps if you tell someone about what has happened... Now if you don't mind, Suzaku, it would be best if he tells me in private. No pressure." Understanding protocol, the older man, gave a firm hug to the other before placing a comforting pat on the back. He gave his floor and office number to Lelouch before advising he call him when all of it was done. Giving one last reassuring glance, Suzaku closed the door to the office and made his way down the stairwell to where he knew he was expected. There was no point in waiting for an elevator when going down the stairs seemed faster. He did feel guilty for not doing this at a time Lelouch would be more comfortable, but Gino had been right about waiting too long.

After over thirty minutes of waiting for Gino, Suzaku made himself busy by going over all the evidence forensics had came up with recently. He caught the eye of his chief and knew Jeremiah would have some choice words about him calling in earlier today. He just didn't know when he was going to have his ear chewed out. When it had appeared Chief Gottwald was about to come over, another officer had pulled his attention away, much to the relief of Suzaku. When going over some of the data, he found his mind slipping back to Lelouch upstairs. Was the other OK? Did he need him? After what seemed like endless data, something seemed to click as a name seemed to scream at him.

"Euphemia Li Britannia?..." Snapping his attention up from the report, Suzaku stood up from his desk and gathered the newest file in his hand. He pushed away from his area towards the hallway where he had last saw the lead forensic analyst talking to Police Commissioner Schneizel. As he approached, the small woman nodded in his direction to acknowledge him. Schneizel was already headed for the elevator. "Euphemia Li Britannia." was all he found himself saying, dreading what he was going to confirm.

"The college student found burned in that abandon area?" Nina Einstien agreed, confused about what question was exactly being asked. Hearing a bell in the distance, Suzaku ignored it as he opened the file to show her. Nina never looked down, as he tried to fit another piece of the puzzle together. A scream brought Suzaku back to the present, as he heard shouting behind him. Turning around he saw a tall figure in a heavy coat aiming fire arms in multiple directions. A few individuals were already on the ground, some cowering, a few on top of others in a protective stance.

There wasn't much time to think as Suzaku flinched when Nina screamed during her escape down another hallway. Taking cover behind the lobby desk, the detective pulled out the glock from its holster as he processed the situation. There was an unknown gunman in police headquarters. He had somehow made his way up to the second floor without being stopped thus far. He's up here for a reason, and that most likely has to do with shooting as many officers as possible, since there wouldn't be any offices on the first floor. The white haired man hasn't made any demands as far as he knew, so this was more of a hold out than anything. Taking a deep breath, Suzaku took in as much factors as he could about the situation. He tried to ignore the sound of gunfire, as this situation seemed to get worse. If someone could reach the alarm on the wall, Suzaku knew Lelouch would be safe if he was still on the fifth floor. Every floor would go into lock down as soon as that was hit. He just had to wait for someone else that made it into the hallway to push the button. Hearing the chime of a bell, Suzaku quickly glanced over the edge of the desk. He spotted Gino Weinberg, coffee in hand, coming off the elevator in the distance, with the sunglasses wearing shooter preparing to turn around to face opening doors.

Lelouch was less than enthralled by the standards of giving statements in the police station. For one, the initial process of a statement was not to be introduced by standard daily life questions. Of course, he topped the intake session being skipped because he was brought in by someone in the police department and taken straight to a room. Second was the mannerism, Sergeant Cornelia was good at it, delicate in asking for detail however the constant pause in her attempts to read past his rather lax demeanor seemed to drag on after every question. "It is natural to be in denial of the events that have transpired, all we ask is that you be as detailed with us as possible."

"I am not in denial, that stage already passed upon my return to my apartment. Me being here may as well be considered my acceptance," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. On a normal basis, he was not resistant to authority, well, at least when he was sane. But Lelouch never approved of prying, regardless of events that transpired. Though his actions weren't completely uncooperative, he would smile at it would seem to ease up the tension greatly, almost as if he were toying with the woman.

"Do you normally encounter advances from the same sex?"

"I don't know if I could say 'normally', if your asking the ratio of female to male advances, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. Does it happen, yes, from both genders, not just same sex."

"Are they aware of your sexual orientation when they make these advances?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do they know if you have a preference to one gender?" Lelouch unfolded his arms, leaning forward in his chair.

"Is the assumption that because I was sexually assaulted by a man means that I am gay?" Corneila's eyes widened, and she shook her head.

"That's not what I-"

"Then perhaps you should word the question better. Isn't it similar to grouping the victim into the situation and phrasing 'they were asking for it' in a nicer tone?"

"No, it isn't like that at all."

"Then I guess that answers the question. No, they don't. And since you hadn't asked me for my sexual orientation, I can only 'assume' that you are 'assuming' I am gay."

The Sergeant fidgeted more as the dark haired man leaned back in his chair. "And even then I can't answer that completely. I guess at the moment, I would consider myself bisexual." Cornelia looked down, writing on the notebook she had before looking back up at him.

"And you mentioned there was no penetration?"

"No there wasn't."

"We may need to take a sample from your pelvis to see if any skin cells were left when the male tried to stimulate you."

"That would prove to be pointless, I showered twice since then, and I've just had a sexual encounter not too long ago."

"You didn't mention that earlier..."

"I didn't think it was relevant to my assault, if you tested me all you'd find is traces of saliva and semen from my boyfriend." Cornelia averted her gaze, clearing her throat as she continued to write.

"I am going to bring out some forms for you to sign so we can complete the statement. It would still be ideal get a swab in case we manage to lift anything." Lelouch didn't say anything, which she took as an indirect acceptance. "I will return shortly." She exited the room, Lelouch's violet eyes watching till Cornelia entered a separate hallway before he rose from his chair and strode out of the office.

"No means no my ass," he mumbled, disregarding a few voices that were attempting to stop him. He made his way to the staircase, knowing if he waited for the elevator they would hassle him to return to the room. By the time they'd reached the entrance, he was three flights down and entering the second floor hallway.

A strange flicker of darkness greeted Lelouch, like if lights in certain areas of the floor weren't working. Broken fragments of glass scattered along the floor, the source having been shattered lights. Leaning down, he picked up a metal cylinder examining it. Shell cases. The sound of gunfire directed his attention to the hallway, venturing further until he saw something. A shadow, the shadow of someone. They were big, high probability of it being a man and they were armed.

Well shit. There was noises and commotion coming from the space he was in. Cries mixed with sounds of pain, there must have been a number of people hit. The familiar ding of an elevator directed his attention down the other end of the hall, and apparently the attention of the assailant. He inched forward slowly, stopping till he was not too far from the entrance. "Gino!" That was Suzaku's voice, causing Lelouch to still, and attracting Detective Weinberg to look up from what he was doing.

"What the-" A gunshot rang out, and Gino crumbled to the floor. He was expecting to feel pain, which he did, on his shoulder but it was brief, the rest was his impact to the ground and the weight of someone on top of him. Opening his eyes, he saw a familiar head of hair and eyes. "K-kid?"

"Hey there."

"Are you fucking insane?! You could have been shot!" Lelouch's hand shot out to cover the man's mouth.

"And we will be if you keep shouting," he groaned, attempting to shift his body weight off the other. In his quick movements of tackling the other out of the line of fire, he'd managed to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside. There were bodies on the floor, some still moving, some in pools blood. Death. He felt his body shiver, the delicious gnaw of his demons wanting to come out. That and more; arousal: dark and prominent. He wasn't the only one to notice that.

"Uh...kid..." He felt Gino still at the tightness he felt in the others pants, attempting to shrink his leg away.

"Wow...that's never happened before..." That was a complete lie, but at least now he had someone to explore that sexual release with. Suzaku! He was inside that room. Lelouch rose from his position on the ground, full intent on entering the hostile space, and it took Gino a lot of effort to hold him back.

The bell of the elevator brought his heart came to a complete stop. The doors opened slowly, revealing his partner cluelessly stepping out into the gunman's range. The cloaked figure drew the automatic weapons up from their aim down a narrow hallway to turn towards the elevator. The reaction time was quicker than he realized. Suzaku jumped out from behind the desk with his own issued glock outreached in front of him. He didn't realize where he had aimed, before hearing a shout from the gunman as his own bullet hit the man in the leg.

It wasn't fast enough to beat the other firing his own weapon on the unsuspecting cop. Suzaku shouted to his partner as he saw him recoil from being hit in the shoulder, coffee spilling across the laminated floor while the pastry fell out of Gino's mouth. The detective's panic turned into a brief relief to see that someone else had managed to knock his partner out of the way just enough to prevent the shot landing closer to the chest instead. The two landed further down the hallway away from the open space of the reception area. Most of the furniture and the wall in between them should be enough cover for Gino and the other person to be able to escape.

That moment to catch his breath wasn't enough as he heard more commotions being made by the mad man. He crouched closer to the floor as the tall man began firing in his direction. He didn't fully emerge behind the desk wanting to keep an eye on the individual's movement. The white haired man was limping from the shot Suzaku had made earlier, but still able to move around fine enough. That could either mean he was under the influence of something that dulled his nerves, or possible something that made his adrenaline spike to mostly ignore the pain. The man wasn't taking the wound silently, shooting off at any of the furniture between them. Suzaku's desk was not strong enough to completely block the bullet, but he did his best not to shout out when his side was nicked.

"Where are you hiding, pig?" the armed man demanded as he cursed with each step he took further into the mostly open space. Suzaku could hear him getting closer and made a move to another knocked over table behind his. The man noticed the sound, but with the buzzing of broken florescent lights and glass crunching beneath him, couldn't place where he had heard it. Taking a deep breath, Suzaku aimed from behind the table and took his second shot. This time he had missed his intended target, but managed to hit just above the wrist instead. The man dropped the gun in his hand but did a quick right turn and fired the second weapon he had in his opposite.

Suzaku fell back into another desk, knocking over whatever papers were laid out on it. He managed to maneuver himself to the other side of it, blocking any other shot that might have hit if he had stayed visible. The detective gritted his teeth as he felt bile rush up his throat. He choked it back down as he tried to block the pain coming from his hip and arm. He could hear the other man cursing in pain finally about not being able to move his left hand to pick up the fallen gun. He turned his head to the side to see some of the files he had managed to knock over. There was a frame of himself and Gino smashed nearby. "Oh... this is Weinberg's desk..." came to mind as he tried to catch his breath.

Hearing the crunching of more glass and the not so veiled threats, Suzaku spat the blood settled in his mouth and moved away as quietly as he could manage. He was almost to the beginning of the room when he heard the gun clock nearby. Gino was trying to hold onto Lelouch near the elevator hallway, with their shouting managing to catch the gunman's attention. Suzaku stared at them in horror. What was Lelouch doing here? He was supposed to be safe upstairs talking to Sergeant Cornelia. He should have noticed it was his best friend knocking the other cop out of the way. He would be proud in any other situation, but not right now. Not here. Not in this moment.

"Gino get him out of here!" Suzaku ordered trying to get the madman to focus back on him. He prayed the first strings of shots fired wouldn't reach with them being mostly covered by the wall of the hallway as he tried to stand up from his spot on the floor. Suzaku ignored the burning pain in his hip as he emptied his clip in the direction of the gunman, no longer trying to incapacitate the criminal and going in for any shot that would bring the violence to an end. He managed to knock the other into some other furniture, but he wasn't sure if the other would continue to try.

Did he kill him? Seeing the man's foot move slightly and hearing a groan from somewhere, didn't let him come fully to that conclusion. He could hear Lelouch screaming out something, but the ringing in his ears didn't help in that regard. That's what happens when you fire any firearm in an enclosed environment. He tried to check for signs that the gunman was done. That it was all over and there would be no more death, but it was hard to see with sweat and blood managing to cover over one of his eyes. After a few short minutes of the most silence that was possible in this ruckus, he closed his eye to try to catch his breath. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy at all. He could feel his chest rising slowly, but very little air came into his lungs. He opened his eyes again when he realized his right arm wouldn't move up to help him, but most of his vision seemed hazy as well. He could hear something in the distance and noticed there was someone kneeling in front of him. He didn't know when he ended up leaning against the wall, but at this point it was a blessing to not have to support himself with how his hip was injured.

As he thought about it, he couldn't feel that pain in his hip or side as sharply as he did earlier. Looking back up to the person standing in front of him, he found himself captivated by the deepest shade of purple he's ever seen in a pair of eyes. They looked so anxious, but still held a spark of intent. Suzaku found that he loved those eyes and knew who they belonged to. "Le...louch... " he managed to whisper between raspy intakes of air. "...you...you're safe...now."

Gino had to put in all his strength to hold Lelouch back from bolting into the hostile space. The smaller male was putting up quite a struggle, which the cop found surprising as he always thought the college student was rather small and skinny for his age. He never thought he'd have to put up a lot of resistance to hold the male back. "You are going to get yourself killed if you go out there," he hissed, forcefully yanking the male back. It was a good thing too, a round of shots were fired in their direction, being shielded by the wall just barely.

The noise was loud, close enough to make their ears ring even with the wall distilling the ring of the gunshots. "Are you just going to leave him in there," asked Lelouch, hard eyes turning to face Gino. "Suzaku is good at his job, he knows what he is doing," the cop shot back. The next sounds to follow made the two go quiet, gazes turning to face the open space. "Suzaku!"

Lelouch yanked his arm out of Gino's hold and bolted to the entrance of the office space. "Lelouch!" Amethyst eyes took in the scene before him. It reeked of propellant, creating an almost thin air of smog in the space. Bodies and furniture were sprawled in all areas, but the young man had no concern for any other than lover's. Purple eyes landed on Suzaku's figure, leaning against the wall with a slow decent to the ground, blood spilling in the angle visible to the younger man. Lelouch bolted into the chaos space, Gino missing his arm in an attempt to grab him. "Suzaku!" His eyes were wide with worry as he assessed the damage the cop had accumulated.

"Shh, it's ok." He knelt in front of him, hands reaching out to caress his face. "I'm ok, we are ok," he responded, keeping the same whisper to sooth the male as best he could. His fingers wiped away at the soot, blood and sweat that caked the older male's face. It made a muddy color on his fingers, causing his heart to race in a fear he had never experienced before. Gino came up behind him, kneeling to place a hand on Lelouch's shoulder. "The bus is coming, it shouldn't be long now," he said softly. Lelouch nodded, getting up so Gino could lift Suzaku while the young man busied moving furniture to ease the movement. Another sound soon broke the silence, Lelouch's gaze turning in the direction of the injured gunman. Seems like he was still alive.

Cold blood lust instinctively took over Lelouch, his hand reaching for a discarded gun on the floor. The sound of the gun cocking attracted Gino's attention, turning to see Lelouch aiming the handgun in the direction of the incapacitated criminal on the ground. "Lelouch ... stop right there..." The dark haired man didn't say anything, eyes trained on his person of interest. "Put the gun down."

"Why? The threat is still moving. As long as he's alive he's a danger." Gino had his hands out in front of him, wary of approaching the distraught man but knew it was his job to disarm any threats and that included someone he knew.

"Lelouch, if you don't put that gun down I will be forced to incapacitate you." Violet eyes turned from the grounded male to the cop who stood in front of him. Though he was in control, he could feel Zero reeling and reviling in the need to pull the trigger and paint the area in splattered blood. His grip tightened on the base, and Gino swore he saw something in that moment. A flicker of confronting emotions, distraught and something else, almost dark and disturbing. Finally a sigh left Lelouch, he lowered the gun and uncocked it before placing it on the desk in front of Gino. The cop reached forward, sliding it away from the younger male as other officers and medical staff arrived in the area.

To be Continued

Special Thanks to my best friend Ayame for helping me with this.

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