"Now idea how much further the author plans to go with this, but here's a second chapter. How he plans to have the world set up to combine the two series is something still in progress."

(-)

"Man, when I woke up this morning, this was the last thing I expected to happen today. Maybe I should invest some time into that horoscope stuff." Leonardo remarked dryly as Lelouch, the girl, and himself tried to determine what their next move should be.

Lelouch was of the mind to turn the situation to his advantage and rout Clovis' forces, Leonardo was more interested in getting out of the ghetto's with all his limbs still attached, and the girl seemed content in remaining quiet to see what they would do next.

"C'mon Lelouch, let's get the hell out of this death trap. We can save our explanations of this crazy stuff for later."

The former prince shook his head in the negative. "That won't be happening Leonardo. I cannot simply walk away after everything I have seen here."

"What do you mean?" Leonardo asked in confusion. "Gunfire and explosions around every corner; Seems like enough to make you run away!"

"And that is the exact reason for me wanting to stay." answered Lelouch. "Look around you; how many innocent Japanese civilians do you think are being slaughtered just so that foolish bastard Clovis can keep his unsightly secrets hidden?"

"I don't quite follow..."

Lelouch knew that whatever Leonardo's power was, it would be a great boon for him to have the teen on his side. And since the boy was always a morally sound person, he needed to play to his humanity. He was tempted to just Geass the boy, but Leonardo was one of Lelouch's genuine friends. So doing such a thing would only be a last resort. Besides, his eyes were probably closed enough to make it ineffective.

"Can you really walk away from this slaughter and condemn these people to death, even though you have the power to make a difference?" the Geass user asked as he gestured to the dead commander. "You heard what he said; these scum will do whatever it takes to retrieve the girl, and then they will likely purge this entire area to cover up the whole thing."

The verdette stood up as Lelouch offered his hand to her.

"She is by no means any form of poison gas, so that means our 'esteemed' Viceroy, Prince Clovis, has been hiding some rather unsightly Black-Ops projects from the public. Creation of chemical weaponry or human experimentation, regardless of which it was, they are both banned by international law. Not even a Prince such as him would be safe from the repercussions. So he mobilized his Royal Guard and is commencing an attack on the ghetto's, likely all under the guise of flushing out terrorists. But by this time tomorrow, the whole incident will be reported as nothing more than a routine patrol with minimal collateral damage."

Leonardo's lips curled into a frown as his hands balled into fists.

"So will you simply stand by while these horrors continue to unfold? Or will you use your power to do something about it?"

The narrow-eyed boy rubbed the back of his head with a sigh. "I never was meant to live a normal life, was I?" pulling out his phone, he made another call. "Zapp? It's me again. The Shinjuku ghetto is about to become a bloodbath. Do you think the boss would be interested in us taking part? Alright, see ya' soon."

Hanging up his phone, Leonardo managed a faint smile.

"My buddies will be fully mobilized in ten minutes."

Now it was Lelouch's turn to be confused. "What do you mean?"

His friend chuckled weakly. "I may or may not be a member of a secret terrorist organisation..."

Any further explanation would have to be put on hold, as a purple Sutherland loomed through the hole that had been blasted in the side of the building. The pilot took note of the dead Royal Guard and held their rifle at the ready. A moment later a voice boomed from the external speakers.

"I want answers from you three. What happened here? What are two Britannian students doing out here?"

Lelouch was ready to activate his Geass and command the woman to come out, but Leonardo was the first to respond in his panicked state.

"Ahh! Please don't hurt us! We're just some hostages who escaped from captivity!" he cried as he held his arms up.

"Hostages?"

"If I had known being the heir to a Knightmare supply company would make me such a big target, I never would have come here!" the teen rattled off in fear as he collapsed to the ground.

Lelouch had to hand it to his friend, no Knight would dare pass up a chance to cozy up to an influential scion to nobility. Whether it be earning a personal favor or being put on the fast track to promotion, the woman who was piloting the Knightmare was sure to come out and check them for ID's.

Sure enough, the cockpit opened and a silver-haired woman descended from the interior with her gun at her side. She took a few steps towards the trio before she began barking orders.

"Stay where you are! I want you to slowly remove your ID's and slide them towards me!"

Of course, Lelouch had no intention of acquiescing to her orders, but rather he would Geass her. And he would have too, if it weren't for the sudden appearance of another woman who came up from behind the first, put her in a hold, and pinned her to the ground.

"What the-!"

The Knight was silenced as the newcomer grabbed her head and slammed it against the ground.

"Don't talk." the woman ordered as she kept her hand on the back of the Knights neck. Her voice was distorted by the Japanese-styled mask she was wearing the bore the visage of a wolf.

Leonrado breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the threat was neutralized. "Nice timing Wolf. A few moments later and I would have been converted to a new religion..."

The woman, Wolf, did not look very enthused with Leonardo's remark. "Holy... Real funny." she said in a bland tone. "Maybe next time I should let the enemy fire off a couple rounds before I intervene."

"No, no! That won't be necessary." Leonardo hastily replied as he broke out in sweat.

Wolf rolled her eyes beneath her mask, and snatched the pistol from the downed Knights holster and pressed it to the back of her head.

"Hold on!" Lelouch called out before Wolf could finish the job. Figuring out how the woman suddenly appeared could wait for later, right now he needed some questions to be answered. "It would be a waste to not take advantage of such a gift we have here." he explained as he knelt down in front of the Knight.

The woman let out a low growl as she glared at Lelouch. "I won't tell you anything!"

The teen smirked. "On the contrary; you will tell me everything I want to know~."

Activating his Geass, a red halo encircled the Knights eyes as she stopped resisting.

"I want you to answer my questions."

She nodded dully. "Yes sir."

If Wolf was at all surprised by Lelouch's ability, she didn't outwardly show it. Perhaps she was used to such anomalies with Leonardo.

"First off; who are you and what is your unit?"

"Villeta Nu, 8th Moblie Battalion of the Purebloods."

"What is your current mission?"

"Eradication of all Elevens and buildings within the Shinjuku ghetto."

Lelouch frowned. It was exactly as they feared, the whole area was being turned into a war zone. "Anything else? Something pertaining to the recovery of a stolen container?"

She shook her head. "No. I am not a genuine Pureblood, so anything that doesn't have to do with standard orders is kept from me. My superior may have more information, but that is unlikely."

"Name?"

"Margrave Jeramiah Gottwald."

Something tickled at the back of Lelouch's mind at the mention of that name. He knew he recognized it from somewhere. "Does he have any notable accolades?"

"He served as a high-ranking guard for Lady Marianne vi Britannia prior to her assassination at the Aries Villa."

His eyes widened in alarm before he quickly steeled his expression. "Did he have anything to do with her death?" he asked with barely restrained anger.

"Unsure. I personally believe he was uninvolved. He often laments about how he failed to protect Lady Marianne, as well as how he was unable to prevent her children from being exiled. He is still searching for them to this day."

Now that was a useful piece of information. Lelouch finally managed to sift through his memories and pick out what he remembered of Jeramiah. He was fiercely loyal to his mother and had often kept Nunally entertained when Marianne was busy. He was also conveniently absent from his post on the day of the attack, but so were many of the other guards. It was most likely that he was pulled from his post by someone of a higher ranking to allow the assassin entrance to the villa grounds.

"Is there anything else you need from her?" asked Wolf. "She has no pertinent information for our current situation, and time is of the essence."

The former prince shook his head. "Hand over your Knightmare to me."

"Understood. The code is XG21G2D4"

"My thanks." he replied as he took the activation key from her. He then looked up at Wolf. "I intend for her to be a sleeper agent. So don't kill her."

The woman reluctantly relented and released Villeta from her hold.

"Whenever I say the phrase 'For the False Crown', you will acknowledge me by answering 'I Shall give my Life'. You shall then follow my every command, answer any question I present as accurately as possible, and have no memory of yours actions afterwards. When I say 'Queen's Gambit', you shall return to your normal self. Now you will kneel on the ground for the next ten minutes, after which you may return to normal, with no recollection of what transpired here since the moment you saw us."

"As you command." Villeta responded as she knelt on the ground and fell silent.

Lelouch had a satisfied smirk on his face as he admired his work. He then promptly remembered that he wasn't alone. "Well I know what I'm doing next, what about you three?"

"Our operation in this sector shall commence soon. It would be in our best interest to cooperate should our goals align." was Wolf's curt response.

"Uhh, what she said, I guess." Leonardo added with a strained smile.

The verdette then stepped towards Lelouch. "You are my new contractor, so I will remain by your side."

As mysterious as that sentence may have been, now wasn't the time for them to dwell on what exactly it meant.

"Me and Leonardo will be performing recon in preparation for the arrival of our comrades." Wolf stated as she pulled out a small communicator and tossed it to Lelouch. "That will allow us to stay in contact."

"Best of luck to you Lelouch!" Leonardo remarked as he pulled off his Ashford uniform and flipped up the hood on the jacket he had underneath. He then adjusted his goggles over his eyes, effectively hiding his identity from anyone who wasn't in close range of him.

Wolf nodded upon seeing Leonardo was ready. "Commencing Operation. Seer, let's go."

Leonardo nodded as he jogged over to Wolf. "Right. Where to, Wolf?"

As the duo made their way outside and out of sight, Lelouch looked down at the small device in his hands with a confident smirk.

(-)

Throughout the Shinjuku ghetto smoke could be seen rising into the sky from a distance. The periodic *boom* of an explosion accompanied by a flash of light would add another pillar of the black clouds. Right now the Elevens -no- the Japanese were being murdered en-masse by Clovis' forces and the Purebloods. They held no remorse or hesitation for the people they slaughtered, seeing them not as human beings, but faceless numbers.

Such a concept made him sick.

Being of Noble birth himself, he understood that there would always be a schism between the upper-class and the lower-class. But a Noble's duty is to protect and nurture their subjects, not enslave and abuse. However this belief was an unpopular one among the ruling class, and it was one of the reasons that the Reinhertz family was often ostracized by other Noble's. Despite being one of the top providers of Knightmare production materials, their companies political views often resulted in rival corporations stealing their business. Still, it's not like they were ever short on loyal customers. For example; that friendly group of patrons who operate out of Kyoto.

But that was irrelevant at the moment. The scion of the Reinhertz family had traveled to Shinjuku for something other than a business venture. As their car sped down the freeway, the occupants looked over their equipment one last time before they arrived at their destination. Each person was well dressed, wearing formal attire of varying types that was stitched with a special fire-proof, damage resistant thread. Aside from their fancy clothes, each passenger wore a black hood and a mask to conceal their identities.

"Alright everyone," came the distorted voice of the individual in the passenger seat. The speaker was obviously male and had a rather large build. His mask was solid white, save for a red line that vertically divided the mask in half, along with a horizontal line that ran under his eyes to form a cross. "due to the sudden nature of this operation, we are the only available combatants. I know it sounds a bit risky, but the lives of thousands hinge on our participation. We've faced tougher odds before, so I expect everyone to make it out of this alive."

The man driving the car, whose face was entirely covered in bandages, nodded his assent. "As you say, sir. We should arrive within the next five minutes."

A soft chuckle came from the man dressed in a white suit and wearing a mask decorated with flames. "Time to smoke some bad guys!"

(-)

It had only been a short while since he had parted ways with Lelouch, but Leonardo had already made his way to a decent vantage point that overlooked the ghetto. His eyes were wide open now as he took note of every enemy patrol throughout the sector. Their numbers, squad formations, movements, armaments, all of it was on open display for him. And he was feeding all this information to Lelouch and his comrades via his communicator.

"Two Sutherlands plus eight foot-soldiers searching a parking garage on 7th street. One VTOL providing over-watch for three tanks plus additional ground forces as they pass by Ozaki Park." he rattled off clearly before swallowing hard at his next sight. "Fifty-plus soldiers gunning down residents fleeing a burning apartment complex..."

Sometimes he really hated what he saw, but he knew this was a job only he could do.

"Hey, Seer!"

Leo startled at the sudden shout from the other end of the line. It was no surprise to him of who it was. "Yeah Blaze?"

"We get it, depressing as hell shit going on all around us. But now ain't the time to get sad about it, now's the time to get angry! We gotta kick these bastards to the curb!"

The teen grunted in acknowledgement as he shook away the dark thoughts in his head. "Right! I'll keep it up until you get here! I'm feeling a little exposed without you watching my back!" he responded just as his eyes caught sight of something interesting. "What's this? A train packed full of Sutherlands but not a pilot to be seen? I think I see an opportunity~!"

Taking a moment to plot the course of the train, Leonardo sent the best point for interception to his friends before switching his call to Lelouch.

"Hey Lelouch, I know you're a master at chess, so how would you like to put some pieces on the board?"

(-)

Private Franklin Borough leaned his back against the side of the train car he was stationed in as he pulled out a cigarette and lit the end. He was one of the several soldiers who made up the skeleton crew on the train that was heading deep into the Shinjuku ghetto to provide more Sutherlands for the forces already deployed there. Of course Clovis had either forgotten or deemed it unnecessary to have the pilots ride in on the train. So it was the duty of Franklin and four others to guard the Knightmares as the train pulled into the station. But in his opinion 'guard' was a rather strong word considering how things were setup. They had only been armed with pistols, which made sense since they only had basic firearms training. Their job was more along the line of Knightmare maintenance, hence the reason they were the only soldiers present. Not ten minutes ago they were busy doing routine checkups at a storage depot.

Borough took a long drag of his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Where in the job description did it say we would act as delivery men? I don't care how safe they say we are, I still don't like riding into a battlefield with nothing but a pea-shooter."

The sudden sound of something slamming on the roof of the car was enough to jar the private from his complaining.

"What the hell was that?" he wondered aloud. "I hope the damn ghetto isn't collapsing on top of us already."

The door at the end of the car swung open without warning, and the entire room was buffeted by freezing cold winds and particles of ice. Borough's cigarette flew out of his mouth as he raised his arms to shield his face from the bite of the chill. And standing at the center of the storm was a well-dressed individual whose face was obscured by a mask covered with images of jagged spikes of ice. The man sent a literal chill down Borough's spine.

"W-who?" the soldier spoke through chattering teeth.

"Pardon my intrusion. I'm just here to borrow some Knightmares."

Warning bells that were already ringing, were suddenly swung into overdrive within Borough's mind.

"This is my train now. And I don't seem to see a ticket on you."

(-)

After narrowly escaping the Purebloods who were chasing her, through the help of an unknown combatant, Kallen Kozuki was making her way towards the front of the train she boarded with her Glasgow. Although she had no idea who this mysterious voice was, they had earned her temporary trust with their timely aid. Eventually the train began to slow down and pulled in to a derelict station in the ghettos. And through coincidence or unseen machinations, the rest of her resistance cell were already there to greet her.

"Kallen! You holding up okay?!" shouted Ohgi, the leader of their group.

"Running low on Energy, but other than that I'm doing fine." she answered through the Glasgows speakers. "How did you know I would be here?"

"Same way you ended up on the roof of the train." a distorted voice responded. "Mister radio-man."

Multiple sets of eyes snapped towards the lone individual who had just disembarked from the train. Guns were in the process of being raised at the man, but he quickly held his hands up.

"Hold on now, no need to get violent. I'm just the delivery man for the evening."

"Who the hell are you?!" barked Tamaki as he waved his gun at the man.

"The name's Frost, but for now you can call me Santa Claus," he answered as he pressed a button on the side of the train car, causing the compartments to open up and reveal their contents; roughly two dozen Sutherlands that were loaded for bear. "'cause Christmas came early kiddo's."

Ohgi's radio came to life without warning, and the same voice from earlier spoke once more.

"I take it that you are happy with my gift?"

The resistance leader could only chuckle weakly as Tamaki had already run over and started hugging one of the machines. "Very much so."

"Excellent. Now since I did you a kindness, I'd appreciate it if you'd hear me out. I have a plan to turn the tide of this battle and put those Brits in their place. All I ask is that you follow my orders without question."

With how badly things were currently going, it wasn't like Ohgi had much left to lose if he joined forces with the mysterious voice. "Very well. I'm putting my trust in you to get us out of this mess."

"I assure you that this will be a decision you won't come to regret."

The masked man nodded as Ohgi and the radio-man reached an accord, and began to walk off. "Well then, this is where we part ways, my good sir."

"What do you mean?"

Frost tapped his heel against the ground as he turned his head slightly to regard Ohgi one last time. "Contrary to what you might have assumed, the radio guy and myself aren't part of the same group. We just have aligning goals for the time being. Which happens to be thwarting this senseless slaughter. I gotta regroup with my team now."

Before Ohgi could get another word in, the man took off down one of the tunnels and quickly vanished from sight.

"... Just what the hell is going on around here?"

(-)

Sir Dowder was making his way down the streets of the Shinjuku ghetto with a small contingent of soldiers accompanying his Sutherland. General Bartley had assigned his squad the task of mopping up any forms of civilian resistance on street level. That being said, their job was piss-easy. The Eleven's were armed with small-arms weaponry that was at least a decade or more old. Combined with a complete lack of combat training, and this assignment was little more than target practice for them. But at the same time, Dowder was getting antsy for some real action. The most he had done so far was use his slash-harkens to collapse a few roofs on top of people.

So he could be forgiven for not expecting to see one of his men go around a street corner, only to have the severed top-half of his body fly out and skid across the street.

The Knight was immediately on alert as his remaining men formed up in a defensive formation.

"Conrad is down! Did anybody hear shots fired?!" yelled one of the foot-soldiers as he kept his gun-sight trained on the corner of the building.

"Negative! No sign of a shooter!"

"That couldn't be from a normal gun!"

Dowder quickly took action and took up position at the corner before leaning one of his Knightmare's sensors around to see what was there. What he saw left him confused. A single person wearing a white jacket who was leaning up against a telephone pole, not even facing them. In his hands was some kind of lighter that he was fiddling with.

"Enemy contact! A single foot-mobile!" Dowder shouted as he rushed out from behind his cover, followed by the rest of his men who had their weapons at the ready.

"Surrender now or you will be executed!"

The man, at least judging by their physique, lazily turned his head towards them, revealing a mask patterned with flames. "Tell me; how much blood have you fuckheads spilled today?" the man asked with a distorted voice. "A lot of people call this ghetto their home, and you've come along to shoot the whole damn place up. How'd you like it if I went into your neighborhood and did the same? I'd think you'd be pretty pissed off."

"Last warning! On the ground or we will shoot!"

The man shook his head. "Not even gonna acknowledge all the people you killed, huh? Even serial killers keep track of their victims. I guess that makes you even worse."

Dowder was ready to give the order to fire, but he spotted something on his factsphere sensor. It looked like thin red-wires that were hanging in the air.

Raising up his hand, the masked man pointed his lighter at Dowder's Sutherland. "Get smoked!"

As he flicked the primer of his lighter, a powerful blaze suddenly erupted in the air and surrounded Dowder and his men. The conflagration grew into an explosive force of flames, reducing the men to ash and turning Dowder's Knightmare into molten slag, killing all present.

"Ashes to ashes, and all that crap..." the man remarked with a huff as he walked off.