I do not own Code Geass or any of its canon characters.
AN: This chapter starts about one minute before the end of chapter 18. Also, the Ganymede is a fully functional knightmare frame that is not externally powered in this story.
At some point, maybe after I finish the story, I will make an information chapter loaded with details and back story. This is getting a little more crazy than I thought. Longest chapter ever and it's still not over yet. I could have just kept writing it into a twenty thousand word monstrosity now that I have more free time, but I think I've kept you waiting for too long.
Tenshi 7-1 tapped a series of icons on the screen in front of him. A weapons diagnostics message appeared, indicating to him that all of his Tempest's weapons systems were ready to fire. He looked around at the 83 other fighters accompanying him on the way to Tokyo. The huge formation was flying twelve thousand meters above the ground, above the thick cloud cover. He glanced up and saw two flights of five strategic bombers a thousand meters higher against the blue sky.
The sight was nearly overwhelming for him. Only a few months earlier he had been just another rebel fighter armed with nothing more than a second hand rifle that was probably older than he was. Fighting the Empire meant taking a few shots at some Britannian soldier and running away before they could be caught. The concept of victory was nothing more than a distant dream that never seemed to get any closer.
Now, he was strapped into the cockpit of the most advanced combat aircraft in the world, flying toward the unfolding battle at high speed. Real victory, an unimaginable thought only half a year earlier, was actually within their reach.
Suddenly, the thick clouds of the winter storm under them ended, and he could see the earth below again. Directly in front of him was the capital, bathed in the light of the golden sunset. He did not blink as he stared in awe at the most beautiful sight his eyes had ever known for a full ten seconds. The serenity of the moment was broken by the Tempest's HUD. Hundreds of red indicators appeared in his view, showing the locations of aircraft transmitting Britannian military IFF signals.
The vast airforce coming into view on their screens was largely comprised of ground attack and transport aircraft. The Britannian military had up until this point no reason to deploy any fighters equipped for air superiority, as total air dominance had been normal for them over Area 11 for years. The advanced targeting computers in the Tempest fighters acquired and tracked 394 unstealthy aircraft that were broadcasting Britannian IFF signals. The systems rapidly shared the data over their secure network and automatically divided the enemy contacts among the 84 fighter aircraft. Suggested firing solutions appeared on the pilots' screens as they began to descend toward the city. The order was given to engage as they lowered to nine thousand meters. Each pilot armed and fired two missiles as they split into their twenty one flights and dove to assault the sky above the capital.
The four hundred Black Knights on the second northern bridge were getting what was by far the worst of the battle so far. The world to their right exploded without warning as twin railgun strikes from HMS Snowdonia obliterated the nearby bridge that their comrades had just managed to take control of. The hypersonic shells connected with the structure with enough kinetic energy to literally disintegrate it, along with the three hundred troops still on it. As if that wasn't enough, they were exchanging fire with Britannian armor a few hundred meters to their left, as well as enemy forces at the entrance to the city.
A flight of twenty Shortsword gunships emerged from above Tokyo and moved to attack them in two groups of ten, one on each side. The battered forces on the bridge defiantly returned fire with everything they could aim up. Knightmare assault rifles, secondary machine guns on their tanks and APCs, and even a lone Badger AD vehicle, its five barreled cannon glowing red from continuous fire all focused their attention skyward.
The Britannian gunship pilots did their best to avoid the incoming storm of hot metal, weaving around the bursts of anti air fire. They began pouring their own high explosive rounds and volleys of armor piercing rockets onto the vehicles. Several of them exploded into large fireballs as they failed to withstand the concentrated punishment. The Black Knights' barrage began to weaken as weapons overheated and vehicles were destroyed by the merciless Britannian counterattack. The blue forces pushed harder, feeling victory was near as they saw their enemy weaken. But it was not to be.
The Black Knights saw twenty seven huge explosions ripple up the Britannian controlled bridge to their left, annihilating the enemy armor that had been tearing into them from the side. Moments later, the bridge collapsed as the damage of the carpet bombing proved too great for the structure to bear.
Before they even had a chance to ask themselves what had just happened, dozens of missiles descended from the heavens above, destroying the majority of the air power that only moments ago had been hammering the coverless bridge. Three of the gunships remained over their position, the storm of missiles having spared them. They got to launch one last burst of cannon and rocket fire before streams of explosive cannon rounds ripped through them from above. Cheers erupted from the survivors as they looked up to see a flight of four apparently Britannian air supremacy fighters tear through the remaining Shortswords.
The same story was being repeated all around the city, as the surprise airstrike gutted the defenseless and unprepared Britannian flyers. The Black Knights pushed forward with renewed strength as the Tempests shattered Britannia's dominance of the skies above them.
The battle unfolding around Tokyo was not just a clash of military powers. It was a clash of ideologies, and more importantly to Lelouch, a chance to prove through decisive action that his was right. To that end, Tokyo was his stage and the battle his grand performance. As much as defeating the Imperial forces was his military objective, putting on an unforgettable show was of even greater importance to the prince. He had to prove to the world that his vision of unity was stronger than Britannia's division and oppression. Of course, there was no better way to do that then to let the people see for themselves.
To achieve this, he intended to provide live news coverage around the globe. With Diethard's actions having effectively crippled the operational capability of HiTV, the BBC was left as the only broadcaster in a position to provide the level of coverage he needed. As the battle raged in the sky above Tokyo, a single unarmed civilian VTOL aircraft was given permission to remain in the air. The BBC news aircraft flew above the battlespace, a single Black Knight along with them to provide real time updates. They were about to go live just as the swarm of captured fighters arrived over the city.
Vincent Ashcroft double checked his mic as his camera man indicated that he was ready to start the broadcast. Just at the very moment they went live to an audience of millions, a deafening noise washed over their aircraft. Behind Vincent, a large Britannian military transport plane flew past them, smoke and flame pouring out behind it. A second later, a pair of Tempest fighters followed behind the dying transport. Two more bursts of cannon fire lanced across the sky, and the Britannian plane began disintegrating as it fell to earth. He turned back toward the camera as the fireball fell out of sight.
"This is Vincent Ashcroft coming to you live from the burning skies above Area 11. Less than an hour ago, the Order of Black Knights launched a sudden and decisive assault against the capital with overwhelming land and air power. As you can see behind me, rebel forces have taken complete control of the sky, and are raining death from above on Britannian units without contest..."
Lelouch had a live feed of the news broadcast on one of his cockpit's secondary screens. While he was pleased with the quality, he definitely wished that Diethard could be the one handling the coverage. He had other, more important things to worry about though, namely the fact that one of his mechanized infantry units was approaching Ashford Academy. Six minutes later than the numerically inferior, but still powerful Britannian force that had arrived to secure the area.
The Viceroy had made the same conclusion that he did, that Ashford was an excellent location for a forward operating base. The school not located within the main city structure, but was still close enough that vaporizing the area would cost thousands of innocent lives. It would be potentially devastating if the Viceroy's forces were able to use the academy as a staging area for an assault on the Black Knight's southern flank.
He paused for a second before opening another channel. Lelouch thought back to what he had said earlier, and decided that he had to trust Milly. If she had followed his order, there should be no civilians still on the surface at the school.
"Shinigami 1-4, break formation and perform an attack pass over Ashford Academy. Arm AGMs and clear out the enemy armor and knightmares on the campus ahead of our ground assault. Try to avoid collateral damage where possible." Zero ordered one of his strategic bomber crews.
In the underground warehouse beneath the academy, Milly had followed the instructions she was given, despite being furious when Lelouch hung up on her. The President's rational side understood that Lelouch would not have asked her to do this unless he thought the battle would reach the academy.
And so here she was, doing her best to keep order from atop the Ganymede knightmare that was stored there. Magnetically strapped to the side of the aging frame was a modern KAR25G 25mm assault rifle. She was surprised to find such a weapon with the Ganymede, as it had never been intended to be a combat frame with its thin armor and open cockpit configuration. Milly's best guess was that he probably left it here as a last resort option while he was still attending school. If anything hostile did come down the loading ramp, she knew she probably wouldn't last ten seconds in real combat. Still, she was determined to protect the school's students in any way she could.
The Ganymede's greatest weakness in a combat situation was actually proving to be a boon at the moment. The open cockpit gave her great visibility, and allowed the people to see her. Although unprepared, she had performed an emergency evacuation of over a thousand people on the fly and had the situation seemingly under control. Milly smiled to herself, both surprised and happy with her performance so far. Her smile vanished in an instant when it felt like someone had crashed several runaway freight trains into the roof.
Fireteam Echo advanced along a hallway on the second floor of a building located at the north end of the campus. Although they did not expect to find anything hiding inside, they still had orders to sweep the structure. Sergeant Matthew Sanders, Claire Ennerdale, and Jim Frost reached the last door in the hallway, which was marked at being a computer lab. It was just the three of them for now, as they had yet to find a replacement for the private that was critically injured during their last operation in Edogawa.
They stacked up and went through the door on the count of three, tactical lights on and weapons ready. Just as they expected, the room was dark and empty, barely lit by the idle power lights of the 40 computers and a few traces of fading daylight through the curtains.
"Hey sarge, don't you think its a little too quiet here?" Claire asked as she finished checking her side of the room.
"Yea. No students, no staff, no hostiles either. The academy should have still been open when this shit started."
"You think they could have evacuated everyone that fast?"
"Honestly, not a chance in hell they could have gotten so many people out of here in that kind of time frame without being noticed."
Sanders was an inch from keying his mic to report that they had found nothing but empty rooms when the windows shattered and they were thrown to the floor by the force of a powerful explosion outside. Then another, and another, and 19 more after that in rapid succession. The room that was clean and ordered only moments ago was now a twisted mess of shattered glass and destroyed computer equipment.
"Status!" Sanders yelled out as the string of blasts ended.
"I'm good!" Frost instantly reported as he picked himself up.
"Claire?"
"I'll be fine, sir." Corporal Ennerdale replied as she pulled out a small shard of glass that had been embedded in her left cheek, freeing a trail of blood to run down her face. "What the fuck just happened?"
"We just got the shit beat out of us." Sanders told them as he got back on his feet, slightly awed at the sight of all of their armored vehicles in the courtyard having been reduced to burning metal coffins. "Looks like an airstrike to me. I haven't seen any artillery precise enough to do that."
"So they got our bombers too now? Wonderful." Claire observed. Sanders was about to tell her to cut the sarcasm when the unmistakable sound of automatic rifle fire reached their ears.
"Where's it coming from?"
"Enemy infantry, 200 meters!" Frost called out. Being the only one of the three with his helmet's visor down, the built in system quickly found the distance and direction of the incoming rounds. Red outlines appeared in his view as the image recognition software identified a dozen armed soldiers and quickly transmitted their positions.
"Weapons free!" Sanders called to the two before sending a situation update and a request for new orders.
"My two favorite words!" Claire shot back as she pushed shards of broken glass off the window frame and rested her rifle on it. A second later she put two rounds down range, one hitting her target's chest armor, and the other nearly decapitating him with a neck shot. A storm of suppressive fire came their way as the other Black Knights tried to reach cover.
Sanders and Frost each took a window and opened fire with their assault rifles as Ennerdale continued pouring terrifyingly accurate shots on the enemy soldiers. Of the twelve that started running for cover, four didn't make it.
Being the only Black Knight equipped with a flight capable knightmare frame, Euphemia li Britannia found herself in a dominant position. Her newly completed knightmare, now repainted with a similar black and pink scheme as her old Gloucester, hovered in the sky over Ashford Academy. From this vantage point, she was feeding real time video and a damage assessment back to Lelouch's Gekka.
They were both impressed by what they saw in Ashford Academy's courtyard. The airstrike had destroyed all twenty three armored vehicles and knightmare frames that were visible from the air. Euphemia could see through her infrared camera as Black Knights advanced onto school grounds and began exchanging fire with enemy infantry inside the buildings. She watched as the tiny flashes of tracer rounds danced around the campus with her sensors set to white hot.
Seconds later, a burst of flashes much brighter than the common 6mm assault rifle rounds caught her attention. She quickly identified the source; three Sutherlands that had either been missed by the bombing run or had arrived afterward. She immediately dove toward them. In complete contrast to the stealthy Tempest fighters, her knightmare was very visible and intimidating as it's flight system trailed a red streak of superheated plasma. The enemy Sutherlands were quick to spot the new incoming threat and shifted their fire skyward. Unfortunately for them, what Euphemia's knightmare lacked in speed and stealth was made up for with amazing agility. The flight system's ability to instantly direct its full thrust in any direction made dodging the incoming rounds easy. The unit's wrist cannons returned fire as it landed and charged forward.
The lead Britannian knightmare scored multiple direct hits on the incoming unit's chest, blasting away the paint and causing minor damage to the outer layer of armor. The enhanced Gekka's screeching chain sword lashed out at the offending frame, effortlessly slicing through the head and right arm with a pair of lightning quick strikes. The pilot immediately ejected. The highly modified Gekka grabbed the remains of the frame and shoved it toward the other two units, which forced them to separate as they dodged it. She fired both wrist cannons simultaneously at them, expecting two more easy victories. The Sutherland on her left crumbled under the assault, but the pilot on the right managed to dodge and execute a counterattack. The blue knightmare rushed forward into melee range, using its stun tonfas to block a sword slash before forcing his opponent to the ground. The black frame responded with a vicious left handed punch that shattered the head mounted factsphere.
As Euphemia got her knightmare up off of the ground, her persistent opponent grabbed onto it from behind. She almost began to perform a complex maneuver to shake the Sutherland off, but then she remembered Rakshata telling her that the flight system that was currently pressed up against the enemy frame worked by emitting superheated plasma in excess of 2500 degrees Celsius. The melting point of the Sutherland's titanium based frame was just under 1700 degrees. She hit the accelerator and magnetically concentrated hell flared out of her Gekka's back. With a movement of her right thumb, she used the system's thrust vectoring controls to boil straight through the Sutherland's arms. The dual streams of plasma hit the sides of the cockpit, instantly raising the temperature inside to lethal levels.
As the final unit fell, she turned back toward the courtyard to help the advancing infantry. She turned the final corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Standing directly across from her was the Z-01 Lancelot holding its twin crimson MVS blades, surrounded by the burning wreckage of five dismembered Burais.
While Britannian forces were still managing to hold in the north, the western side of the city was quickly becoming a very different story. Black Knights tanks rolled off of the bridge and into the city itself for the first time. Their only remaining opposition in front of them were a pair of blue Panthers, crippled and on fire but refusing to admit defeat. The burning tanks continued to return fire with every functioning weapon they had, their main cannons roaring in defiance.
The four Type 10 tanks at the front of the push fired forward as they advanced, silencing the opposition with kinetic penetration rounds. Enemy resistance lulled for a moment and the advancing forces took the opportunity to rush forward and seize their first foothold within the Britannian city's superstructure. APCs unloaded their infantry to begin clearing the surrounding buildings just as the first unit of Burai knightmares came up behind them.
Britannian reinforcements, squads of Sutherlands, began pouring out through the narrow side streets between the buildings and immediately opened fire on the assembling Black Knights from three directions. They had surprise on their side, as the third layer of the city above them had prevented aircraft from monitoring their movements. Black armor and knightmares returned fire without hesitation and the battle was now raging in the city itself.
Cornelia li Britannia sometimes wondered to herself if she was born a few centuries too late. Military commanders in the modern world were expected to sit in a command center and hand out orders. Most of them were happy to stay back safely behind the thick armor of a G1 while ordering their troops to go and die for them. In absolute contrast, Cornelia was at heart a warrior that would have felt right at home on an ancient battlefield. Despite being a princess and by all accounts a very beautiful woman, there was nothing she craved more than front line combat. Not only did she love it, she was also unbelievably good at it. She could count the number of people that had personally ended more lives in battle than her on one hand, and it made her furious that there were any at all.
Cornelia pushed the accelerator on her custom Gloucester, weaving around friendly forces as she rushed toward the fight. As she got within a hundred meters of the front line, the jump jets on the sides of her cockpit flared to life, propelling the black knightmare over the front edge of the Black Knights' advance and straight into the enemy.
Twin MVS broadswords lit up as the unit performed a brutal jet assisted downward slash on the nearest Sutherland. The crimson blades sliced through the enemy unit, detonating the Core Luminous into a large fireball. She brought up the left arm's Blaze Luminous shield and soaked up rounds from her next target that was now backing away. The Gloucester performed a jet assisted lunge and slammed the blue frame with the shield before driving a sword through the cockpit. The remaining three knightmares began to retreat down the narrow side street.
"N 13, Advance 100 meters northeast and cut off their escape two streets down." She ordered the squad of Burais that was close behind her. They moved as she ordered along another street, and within 20 seconds the three survivors were trapped between her and five vengeful Japanese pilots. They tried to force their way out, but their hunter was much faster. She closed the distance with blinding speed, slicing through two of the Sutherlands at once. Unable to fire without the chance of hitting their commander in the cramped quarters, the Burais stood and blocked the exit. The final Britannian pilot turned and charged with stun tonfas at the ready. He rushed forward with a downward strike. The Gloucester dropped the sword in its right hand, instead opting to catch the Sutherland's arm to use his momentum against him. As Cornelia ended up behind her enemy, she forced him against a nearby wall and delivered a deadly upward thrust through the cockpit.
Gilbert Guilford raced through the streets with six supporting Sutherlands as part of the force the Viceroy had tasked with halting the enemy push into western Tokyo. His fresh Gloucester led the charge with a golden lance. They hastily moved toward the front line, not expecting to face the enemy so far from the captured bridge.
Four Burai frames suddenly burst out from the side streets directly in front of them and began spraying explosive rounds into their ranks. All seven knightmares quickly moved to attack the threat, not realizing that another two enemy units had circled around behind them. A pair of Chaos Mines were thrown as the four now damaged frames retreated back from where they came from.
The tightly packed blue frames had little room to dodge in the middle of the street. Hundreds of armor piercing projectiles sprayed out from the grenades, shredding their makeshift front line. The Burai that threw them raised a heavy recoilless rifle and fired at a damaged Sutherland before retreating into cover. The knightmare exploded from the impact, obscuring their vision with smoke and fire as they shot back with their rifles.
Two bright blue lights were suddenly visible through the smoke, and before they had a chance to react, a black Gloucester smashed into a Sutherland and shoved it into another. Crimson broadswords suddenly slashed through both frames without effort, alerting the Britannians to what they were really fighting. Well aware of the weapons' power at melee range, they backed up and engaged with their assault rifles.
At the same time the damaged Burais re appeared and forced the blue forces into a double sided engagement in the street. They seemed to quickly recover from the surprise of the ambush, and the remaining Sutherlands focused their fire on the attacking Burais. The purple Gloucester leading the force turned and charged at the black one.
Guilford immediately recognized the enemy frame from the battle at the prison in Chiba. He knew his lance could match the MVS swords, at least temporarily. But he was more concerned with who was sitting in the opposing knightmare's cockpit. This was the same knightmare Euphemia had used during that battle. For the first time in a long time, Guilford felt indecisive. He couldn't stand the thought of being defeated, but at the same time the very idea of killing Euphemia sickened him to the core. The princess was someone that he had spent most of his military career ready to defend to the death.
He was violently pulled from his thoughts as the black Gloucester launched a pair of slash harkens toward him. He parried both and tried to close the distance, his training and combat experience taking over as his enemy attacked. The veteran knight launched a counterattack with his lance, only to have it expertly dodged as the black frame leaped over him. He immediately brought the lance up in a defensive stance, blocking a sword slash from above. The MVS left a blackened gash in the golden weapon.
Guilford reversed his frame and opened fire with the assault rifle its left hand. He knew both from the battle at the prison and from Suzaku's combat record that he could not afford to take a hit from one of those blades. His target's left wrist began to emit an emerald glow and his rounds started to bounce off of a diamond of green light.
The Gloucester again used its jet pack to lunge forward with incredible speed, giving Guilford only a fraction of a second to evade. He barely got out of the way, and turned to see the black frame perform a controlled fall and use the jet thrust to come to a nearly instant stop. It had become quite obvious that his Gloucester was simply not fast enough to get away. He was about to order the remaining Sutherlands to perform a fighting retreat when a trio of large explosive shells lanced past him, tearing into them from the rear. The last of his surviving pilots were forced to eject as their units were reduced to burning wrecks.
He could not understand why, but he began to doubt that he was fighting Euphemia. Guilford had watched the footage from that battle many times, and observed that Euphemia's attacks were very strict and precise. She did very little improvising, instead opting for well executed, but predictable strikes. The way that this enemy was fighting felt more familiar to him. The feeling was reinforced as he defended against a series of quick and aggressive slashes that were anything but precise. He forced himself to stop thinking about it and concentrated on surviving as an MVS blade passed mere centimeters in front of his frame's chest.
Guilford surged forward with a powerful sweeping strike. Regardless of who was piloting the black Gloucester, he knew he had no choice but to fight his way out. His opponent reacted in a way he had never anticipated. The enemy unit activated its jet pack and rushed forward inside of his swing and grabbed onto the shaft of the lance. It got a leg behind him and neutralized the attack while forcing his frame down onto the ground in one fluid motion. He found himself unable to eject with both crimson blades perilously close to the sides of his cockpit. A secure communications window opened on his main screen, on a frequency that very few people knew. Defeated and left with no other options, he at least wanted to know who his executioner would be. Guilford activated the window, half expecting to find out that he had been wrong and it really was Euphemia that had beaten him.
"Well fought Guilford. I would say I'm impressed, but I expected nothing short of excellence from you." The defeated knight found himself staring at the warrior princess he had devoted his life to serving. No wonder he felt familiarity with his opponent.
"Cornelia! I never could have imagined you would betray Britannia as well. Why?" Guilford was stuck somewhere in between astonished, surprised, and shocked. This was an outcome he had never even considered. Guilford had not seen the beginning of Zero's speech, and had not been told about Cornelia after the nuclear attacks stole the everyone's attention. As far as he knew, she was still being held as a POW.
"It was anything but easy for me. But I chose my country over my family once, and it was the greatest mistake I ever made. I failed them. Marianne, Lelouch... Euphemia. I thought that I could not even protect those that I loved most. Not a moment went by in the last seven years that I did not wish for a second chance. It's not every day that you actually get one, and I certainly don't intend to waste it."
"Your highness...I..."
"You were my first and greatest knight. You have always been there for me, Guilford. When I was broken and defeated I turned to you, my only light in the darkness. You always protected me, defended me, and stood with me whenever I needed you. I could have never asked for someone better. Do not think even for a moment that it was not by design that you are still alive in a fully functional Gloucester." Cornelia's gaze cut right through him. "Do you remember what you said when I knighted you all those years ago? You swore your life and allegiance specifically to me." Cornelia's ice cold stare softened into a warm, almost comforting smile. "And Guilford my knight, I have not yet released you from my service."
"But I failed you. You were captured alive at the prison. How could you possibly want me back after such a disgrace?" Guilford's mind unconsciously ran through the fight in that courtyard again. He saw Cornelia defeated and at the mercy of the Black Knights while he was powerless to stop them. It was the worst possible dishonor he could have imagined. The princess he had sworn to defend to with his life was carried off by the enemy, and he was still alive watching them get away with it. How could she give him a second chance? Cornelia heard his words and laughed at him.
"You think you failed me? You fought with the ferocity of an enraged demon to protect me that night. You were hopelessly outmatched against Kallen and her Guren, and yet you stood and fought a battle that you could never have won to buy me all the time that you were able to. You lasted minutes where most would have fallen in seconds. Guilford, you never failed me. You did the best you could, and that is all that matters.
Forget the honor and codes and traditions. I don't care if you think you're worthy of being my knight or not, it's just not the same without you." Cornelia's Gloucester sheathed the right sword and put its hand out." Now get up, Gilbert. I need you."
Euphemia's heart rate spiked as the Lancelot jumped out in front of the wreckage of his latest victims. The unmistakable screech of land spinners accompanied the white knight as he rushed forward toward his next target at impossible speeds. Euphemia did not know if Suzaku knew who he was about to attack, but it really didn't matter much at the moment. As good as her knightmare was, the Lancelot was a true seventh generation killing machine. She could match neither the machine nor the pilot in a head on fight for very long. Still, there was not enough room to escape, and that left only one option.
The Gekka reversed hard and opened fire with its wrist cannons. The white knight's energy shields effortlessly absorbing the attack as it closed to deliver maximum damage with twin MVS swords. Euphemia's chain sword came up at the ready, as there was no way to prevent the Lancelot from getting into melee range. The white frame got within 50 meters and suddenly shifted his shields to his right as a torrent of explosive rounds and 70mm grenades hit him from the side.
Euphemia looked to her left just in time to see the unmistakable shape of the Guren drop a smoking assault rifle from its left hand and draw a dagger. The red knightmare charged forward at blinding speed and lashed out with her silver claw.
Lelouch's eyes were constantly shifting around the array of screens in front of him. His Gekka's displays were showing real time information from Black Knights forces in and around the city. He was hard at work directing the entire battle, micromanaging entire units in much the same way he did with individual pilots in Shinjuku so very long ago.
Engagements were raging all around the area. Although his Black Knights' push was stalled by heavy resistance in the north, units led by Cornelia were punching deep into the city from the west. Enemy resistance was strong and coordinated, but not solid enough to halt her advance.
His plan to use Britannia's own air power against them had been somewhat successful. His new airforce had taken control of the sky, but there was little they could do to exploit the advantage. Most of the defending Britannian forces were inside the city, and so protected from air attacks. After the strike on Ashford Academy, it was no longer a secret that the Black Knights were in possession of heavy ground attack capabilities. His bombers were left orbiting the area at high altitude looking for targets that knew better than to stick their heads out.
As good as he felt about the successes so far, he knew that it was mostly because the enemy had been caught by surprise. As the battle got underway inside the city, the Black Knights would have to play Britannia's game. For the better part of two centuries it had been proven time and again that the Britannian military had no equal in direct combat. Not since the days of Rome had there been a force that could so consistently shatter enemy armies in battle.
But the Black Knights also possessed much of what made their enemy so dominate. Many of them were Britannian themselves, including a large number of experienced soldiers and commanders. Their opponents' strategies and tactics were common knowledge to them, and this could be turned into an advantage.
"Zero, Q1 and Q2 are engaging the Lancelot in the courtyard at Ashford Academy." One of the communications officers at the Narita base's command center appeared on screen to inform him. "It appears that General Kururugi is fighting them to a stalemate."
"Thank you. Keep me informed on the status of that engagement." Her image smiled and disappeared. Lelouch felt a little bit better at hearing the news. If the Lancelot could be kept out of the city it would give him a sizable advantage. There could only be so long that Suzaku could hold against both Kallen and Euphemia. With a single mistake he would either be defeated or forced to retreat.
Lelouch looked at the screen to his left, which was dominated by a very detailed map of western Tokyo. Infantry forces that had exploited Cornelia's armored breakthrough were sweeping south, and were now fighting for control of the city's largest hospital complex. Her tanks and supporting knightmare frames were moving at a snail's pace along the central road toward the Viceroy's Palace, but they were still advancing despite their enemy's unrelenting determination to drive them back.. That was most likely in no small part due to having Cornelia in command of the offensive. As someone who had led Britannian armies into battle with overwhelming success for years, she was easily the most qualified Black Knight to destroy one.
Lelouch also had a suspicion that she was making heavy use of her Geass to empower the forces around her. He had to wonder how much of her success was Cornelia's and how much could be attributed to Geass. Or perhaps she had developed such a good understanding of her Absolute Inspiration that she had already developed tactics around its use. Either way he was very satisfied with her performance.
Luciano Bradley, backed up by the Glaston Knights, emerged up onto the third level of the city. They were risking air attack to gain an advantage over the enemy units swarming into the city from the west. They came up to an opening around a series of tall buildings that rose up through the third tier. They quickly descended down to the second level with the intention of flanking the enemy.
The six Britannian Gloucesters quickly moved toward the main highway that was supporting the Black Knights' advance into the city. When they reached an open air courtyard in the center of the cluster of office towers, they immediately came under fire from the other side. Thirsty for battle, the Knight of Ten charged forward with his white and red Benowyc Gloucester. He easily dodged the incoming fire as he closed the distance.
The white Gloucester readied an MVS sword, expecting to get a few easy kills at melee range. Instead of the Sutherlands or Burais he was expecting to find, Bradley found himself face to face with a knightmare similar to the Guren he had faced before. Its custom black paint scheme and heated chain sword telling him this was no ordinary unit. Around them, four more silver ones with identical weapons rushed out of cover to engage the Glaston Knights. He recognized the units from an intelligence report about the raid at Nerima. Four sword wielding Gekka frames and one unique commander. It clicked in his head who he was fighting, and Luciano smiled at finally getting the chance to kill somebody worth killing. A single slash harken shot forward, and the Gloucester knocked it away with its energy shield.
"You'll have to do much better than that if you expect to miracle yourself away from me!" Bradley yelled over an open channel as he rushed forward. Todou's face appeared on his screen.
"So undisciplined, Vampire." The veteran Japanese soldier taunted back with an unnervingly calm appearance. Bradley was visibly surprised, he was not used to seeing his victims so unafraid.
Todou effortlessly dodged three incoming sword strikes and countered with a burst from his Gekka's wrist mounted assault weapon. Bradley deflected the rounds with his Blaze Luminous and rushed forward to continue his aggressive attack.
Claire hit the a button on her rifle's grip, and the spent magazine fell to the ground with a splat as it landed in the pool of blood around the dead enemy soldier she was stepping over. A full 20 round box clicked into place and she chambered a fresh round. The powerful and precise weapon had punched right through two of the four Black Knights laying dead on the floor, their armor proving useless anywhere there was a gap in their hardened ballistic plates.
"How are we gonna get out of here sarge? Enemy troops are crawling all over this campus." Frost asked as they lined up near the next door. He looked out of the nearby window and saw that it had started snowing.
"There's a series of service tunnels under the Academy. There should be an elevator that can take us down there in an adjacent building. From there we should be able to get into the city's underground service network and back to our lines." Sanders explained.
"OK, so how do we get over there? The most advanced knightmare frames in the world are fighting it out right outside this door." Claire pointed out, tapping the wooden door with the barrel of her rifle.
"It's about 30 meters to the next building. I doubt those knightmares will see us if we run fast enough."
"And what happens if they do see us?" Frost wondered aloud.
"We run faster." Claire said before Sanders could respond.
"Even if they do see us, they are too busy fighting each other to care about some infantry. We should be fine."
The three of them stacked up on the door with Sanders on point. His hand counted down from five. At zero, he opened the door and they sprinted as fast as they could over to the next building, smashed in a window, and climbed inside. They checked the room in a fraction of a second with the assistance of their helmets.
"Alright, we need to find the elevator fast. Split up and search the ground floor. Mark the location if you find it." Sanders ordered.
The three of them began to move out from the classroom they broke in to. The power to the building had been cut, reducing visibility inside to almost nothing. The only light coming into the building was from the fighting outside and the faint glow from other buildings. Luckily for them, their advanced helmets were equipped with high grade night vision technology.
Claire stepped out of the room and turned right with her rifle at the ready. She slowly crept down the hallway, the IR laser beam coming from her rifle sweeping around as she checked everywhere for potential targets. She came to a T intersection and quickly swung her weapon to check the right side first. A footstep sound behind her gave a fraction of a second warning time that she was not alone.
An enemy soldier barely two meters behind her tried to raise his assault rifle. Claire spun around as fast as she could and knocked the weapon aside with her own rifle. The Black Knight rushed forward and got inside her minimum firing distance before she could get a shot off. He grabbed the battle rifle with both hands and slammed her against the wall. It was then that she got a good look at the enemy soldier. The man attacking her was a head taller and almost twice her size.
She tried to reach her pistol, but her right arm was too tightly pinned. The Black Knight pulled a combat knife with his right hand and tried to stab underneath her armor's solid chest plate. Claire grabbed his wrist with her left hand and tried with all the might she could muster to hold him back. Despite her desperate effort, the blade kept coming, and was now poking through the fabric of her uniform. She tried to think of something, anything she could do.
Just as the tip of the blade began to pierce her abdomen, Claire noticed that the enemy soldier's neck was exposed. He was making no attempt to restrain her head. She pushed herself forward, and the knife went almost an inch deeper. Claire opened her mouth as wide as she could and bit into the man's neck with adrenaline boosted strength. His attack weakened, and she bit harder, tearing into him with all the force her jaw could exert. Her teeth got a good grip and tore a large section of his neck out. Her attacker screamed as loud as he could. She bit down again, puncturing his throat with her desperate and savage counterattack. His scream died out as he began to drown as his own blood started flowing down into his throat. Claire bit down one more time, and the soldier let go of the knife as he fell over. The blade was embedded so far into her that it stayed in on its own.
She slumped down against the wall, bleeding heavily from the stab wound. Claire finally got her pistol out and shot the dying man twice. She looked around and didn't see any enemy reinforcements coming, so she lifted up the bottom of her shirt and quickly wished she hadn't. She felt a cold chill as she saw how bad the wound really was. As the world began to fade to black, she heard a few shots and then Sanders and Frost calling her name. Her last thought before losing consciousness was hoping they would find her before she bled out.
Suzaku was quickly becoming exhausted. He had been fighting two against one for nearly ten minutes without pause. In those ten minutes of intense combat, none of the three knightmares had managed to land a single hit on one another.
He jumped out of the way as the Guren slashed at him with its deadly claw. The Lancelot countered with a swipe of an MVS only to find that Kallen was just too fast. Suzaku noticed that her reaction time had definitely improved since their last prolonged engagement. There were moments during this fight that he simply could not believe how fast she had become. Attacks that he was certain should have hit her simply didn't. What he didn't know was that she had been making extensive use of her Geass to boost her reaction time, and as a result was so drained that even staying conscious was challenging.
He was trying as hard as he could to find a way to win, but the second enemy knightmare present significantly reduces his available options. Suzaku had concluded that both the pilot and the knightmare frame were inferior to Kallen, but still good enough that they could not be ignored.
The Guren dodged away and the Lancelot's shields took another beating as they soaked up even more explosive rounds from the Gekka's wrist cannons. The shield status indicators flashed red as the Blaze Luminous generators became dangerously close to overloading. Even worse was the fact that this intense combat was draining his frame's energy at an unsustainable rate. At this pace he would run out of power in less than five minutes. Suzaku realized that there was no way he could beat them both, and quickly formulated an escape plan. He was certain Lloyd would be furious at him if he did manage to survive after pulling something like this in the Lancelot.
"I'm sorry, Kallen, but I will not be beaten. Not here. Not now." Suzaku whispered as he prepared to act.
Suzaku waited until the crimson knightmare slashed again, and this time he blocked it with the frame's left arm. The Guren clamped down and fired her radiation surge. Kururugi had decided to gamble on one final move as his last remaining chance. He left himself completely exposed to the Guren's dagger and the Gekka behind him. Lancelot detached its left arm, and slashed with the sword in its right hand, severing the Guren's radiation emitter while it was active. The weapon detonated, and the Britannian brigadier general followed up with a slash through the enemy unit's right leg and a final thrust through his opponent's frame. The crimson knightmare exploded into a fireball as the MVS blade cut through its vital systems. He quickly hit the accelerator and tried to put as much distance between him and the enemy Gekka as he could before the white knightmare ran out of energy.
The lack of air control above Tokyo was a critical factor in Britannia's inability to halt the enemy's unrelenting advance. In response, the Viceroy had the creative idea of ordering the heavily armed HMS Snowdonia into Tokyo Bay to provide anti air cover for ground operations.
Captain Stewart Tanis observed the situation as his ship came within visual range of the city. His orders were to get close enough to bring the ships powerful anti air capabilities to bear against the Black Knights. While he would normally have had the ship hold position further out, all of the enemy aircraft were equipped with the most advanced stealth technology in the sky. The Snowdonia's targeting systems would be unable to lock them from beyond visual range. Even this close, the stealth was so good that they were actually forced to override the targeting systems and fire the weapons manually.
As the battleship, along with her two escorting cruisers HMS Warhound and HMS Longbow, got five kilometers out from the city, Tanis gave the order to open fire. Gunners on all three ships switched their advanced weapons to manual control and began firing toward enemy aircraft above Tokyo. 57 mm dual purpose cannons and 20mm CIWS turrets began spraying a wall of hot rounds into the sky. The new threat did not go unnoticed by the Black Knights, and soon Tempest fighters moved to attack the ships.
The attacking fighter aircraft launched AGMs toward the ships and broke off before they got too close to their guns, the storm above providing additional visual cover as they escaped. Snowdonia's experimental tactical laser network responded to the threat at the speed of light, burning through all 40 of the incoming missiles before they even got close.
"Charge turrets one and two and prepare to fire on my order." Tanis ordered his weapons officers.
"Sir?" One of them asked, wondering why he was being told to bring the ships ultra heavy railguns online.
"I'd like to see them try to dodge this."
Twenty five seconds later, the Albion class battleship's two forward cannons were fully charged and ready to fire. Another wave of enemy aircraft were moving in for a second attack run. The operators had them targeted.
"Fire." The captain ordered. A deafening scream exploded out of the massive weapons that could be heard for miles in every direction. Massive blasts of superheated plasma shot out over the water as a round left each barrel at twenty times the speed of sound. What outwardly appeared as a pair of blue white beams disintegrated the target aircraft before the pilots even knew they were under attack.
Far above them in the night sky above the storm, five Stingrays were ordered to kill the ships below. Black Knights ground teams on shore relayed the exact positions of the enemy vessels to the strategic bombers. The bay doors opened, and over five hundred precision bombs began to fall toward their targets.
On the Snowdonia's bridge, alarms started blaring as the ship's sensors detected the incoming rain of munitions. "Captain, we have incoming from above! Too many to count!" A sensor operator shouted out. All of the ship's point defense weapons aimed up and formed a wall of lead and laser light above the ship. It was a magical sight as thousands of glowing shells rose from the ship to stop the falling bombs. The sky was ravaged as dozens of explosions filled the air above Snowdonia. Unfortunately for the Britannian battleship, it quickly became obvious that they could not intercept all of them.
"All hands, hunker down the ship and brace for severe impact!" Tanis ordered his entire crew. The defensive fire suddenly stopped and the turrets retreated behind their armored doors. A few seconds later 278 high explosive bombs tore into the Snowdonia's hull from above. The ship disappeared in a massive swarm of fireballs, smoke, and steam. The cruisers escorting her were ripped apart as they received over twenty hits each.
Half a minute later the cloud of smoke was vanquished by two massive plasma blasts. Snowdonia's forward devastatingly powerful cannons fired skyward. A few seconds later several of the ship's secondary weapons resumed firing. The battleship emerged from the veil, severely damaged and burning, but still firing what weapons weren't destroyed in the airstrike.
"Snowdonia, what's your status?" Secilia appeared on the bridge's main screen, amazed that the ship was even still afloat.
"Severe damage. We have multiple hull breaches, most of our secondary weapons have been destroyed, and our rear cannons are down." Tanis told her.
"Can the Snowdonia still move?"
"Engines and steering are still online, Excellency. Shall we continue on mission?"
"Negative, Captain. You're combat ineffective against those bombers, now turn around and get out of there before they come back around. We both know you wont survive another hit like that." The Viceroy informed him.
"Understood, we are RTB to Shikinejima."
"Zero, the enemy battleship has been severely damaged and is retreating." One of the bomber pilots informed him. Lelouch was definitely not expecting that ship to survive such a brutal attack, but taking it out of the fight was good enough for the moment. He was about to issue new orders to the second flight of bombers when the communications officer from earlier appeared on his screen. Previously, she had a warm appearance, and a smile. Now she looked like she had a gun to her head.
"Zero..." She closed her eyes and spoke as if her words were pure sorrow given form. "Q1 has been defeated in battle. The Guren was destroyed."
The whole world came to a sudden and complete stop. For a full ten seconds, Lelouch did not think, breathe, or blink. He froze as solid as arctic ice.
"...Can you repeat that?" He asked softly, almost unwilling to believe what he had just heard. Q1, Kallen, his invincible warrior, his friend, his lover, his knight, his everything. How could she possibly have fallen? The officer on the other end of the channel said nothing, the tears in her eyes telling the truth that was too painful to speak. The next few seconds felt as long as eternity. This was not a part of the plan. This was not supposed to happen. Was there truly no end to the amount of suffering the Empire could heap upon him?
"Lelouch!" Euphemia suddenly appeared on a separate channel. "The Guren's cockpit survived, and it's still transmitting vitals! Kallen's barely alive. Tell me what to do!" She rapidly asked in a state of near panic. Euphemia was desperate to save her friend, but had no idea how.
It is possible that Lelouch would have remained frozen and paralyzed, if the answer had not been staring him in the face. He was looking straight at the area map of southern Tokyo. The same part of the city in which his infantry had recently taken control of the largest hospital in Japan. Tokyo University Hospital was only five years old, built after the invasion from the ground up as the most advanced medical facility on this side of the world. He was already well aware that Britannian medical technology could create miracles, and he definitely needed one right now.
"Tokyo University Hospital, two kilometers north inside the city." Lelouch's voice was empty and hollow. The shock had not yet worn off.
Euphemia wasted no time. She had secured the Guren's cockpit and took off, pushing the flight system as fast as it could go. She had Kallen on the hospital's rooftop landing pad less than five minutes later. When she landed, a dozen doctors escorted by twenty heavily armed Black Knights were already there waiting for her.
"Viceroy, I've defeated the Guren and managed to escape, but the Lancelot is heavily damaged and running out of power." Suzaku reported.
"Abandon it Suzaku. We have nothing that can resupply you that far behind enemy lines. Move 600 meters north to the edge of the city's water channel on foot. I'll come pick you up."
"You don't need to put yourself at such risk to rescue me, Excellency." He protested.
"The situation has changed, Kururugi. I'll brief you when I get there." The connection was cut. Suzaku hesitated for a moment. The last thing he wanted to do was abandon the Lancelot. This knightmare frame had been the source of his transformation from worthless Honorary Britannian private to holding a position of actual power. The Lancelot, and his ability to pilot it, was what made him a force of nature on the battlefield. But the good soldier in him took over and overrode his emotions. He had new orders and a new objective.
Suzaku left his white knightmare in a small clearing on the edge of the Ashford Academy and set off into the snowy night on foot. Unfortunately for him, he was armed only with a pistol that had no extra magazines and was definitely not equipped to operate in a winter environment. He had never once before imagined a scenario in which he would have to abandon his knightmare. As he was not a part of the regular military knightmare corps, he did not have the same training that most pilots did. Like air crews, knightmare pilots were taught how to survive if they were stranded behind enemy lines. Training he definitely wished that he had right now.
He steadily advanced through the wooded area, his white pilot suit providing a reasonable measure of camouflage amid the falling snow. After a few minutes he came across enemy infantry. Three Black Knights were approximately 30 meters away, but they had not spotted him. Suzaku observed them from behind a tree. One of them was fiddling with a radio, and the other two began to walk off. His eyes followed their path and found that they were going back to a commandeered pickup truck.
Suzaku moved forward, being very careful to remain silent. He looked right and saw that the other two were still with the vehicle, partially obscured by a few trees. The lone Black Knight was apparently getting angry at his inability to fix the radio. As he continued to focus on the device, Kururugi stealthily got behind him and silently snapped his neck. He looked at the body and saw a pair of fragmentation grenades strapped to the man's belt. Suzaku pulled the pins, placed them on the ground, and positioned the body face down on top of them to prevent them from activating. He grabbed the assault rifle and two extra mags before retreating to his original position.
While he waited, he had a moment to reflect. When he stopped to think about it, it was disturbing to him how easily he could kill now. One part of him didn't want to kill anybody, but the other knew that he had to get past them, and he could not afford to waste time. It was the most effective option at the moment. His mind suddenly flashed back to the night that Zero had rescued him from the execution. He remembered what he said about Zero's methods and only caring about results. Suzaku began to understand, but was also afraid of where that kind of thinking would take him.
Four minutes later, the other two Black Knights returned from the truck. When they saw the third on the ground, they rushed over to him. As they rolled him over, the grenades activated and exploded on the two men who were well within the lethal radius. Suzaku quickly moved toward the truck, which was still running. He hopped in and drove the rest of the way to his designated extraction point.
Ten minutes later, the Gawain flew in low and fast along the waterway that was a part of Tokyo's tidal power network. It pulled up to the edge and the cockpit opened, revealing an empty front seat. He didn't need to wait for orders to jump in. The hatch immediately closed and they started moving.
"As I told you earlier, the situation has changed." Secilia began speaking from her position in the knightmare's upper seat. "His Majesty has been kept fully informed of developments since the battle began. 30 minutes ago, he accepted the possibility that Area 11 could fall to the Black Knights. He has decided to recall me to my duty as Knight of Two, and named Princess Carine as my immediate replacement in the role of Viceroy. She now has command of all remaining troops in the Area. I have been ordered to escort Prime Minister Schneizel back to the mainland. I'm not going to lie to you Suzaku. This battle has already been decided, and it is only a matter of time before we are defeated."
"There has to be something we can do! Some way to turn it around. There just has to be!" Suzaku turned around to face her.
"If this had been a week later then maybe we could have. As it stands, we are holding the line in the north just fine. The problem is that the Black Knights led by Cornelia cut through our western defenses and have taken almost a third of the city. To make it even worse, there's no way we can get any reinforcements since they can just use that super weapon on any large formations not in close proximity to populated areas." She glanced down from the controls.
"I see that look on your face, and I understand how badly you want to stay and fight. I do too, but His Majesty's orders are clear. Since you're not part of the Area's regular military, Carine cannot force you to stay, and I'm not about to hand you over to a bloodthirsty child that would only be all too willing to throw your life away for nothing."
Corporal Ennerdale groaned as she came back to life. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. The gray concrete walls and flickering lights around her stood in contrast to the well designed, almost luxurious academy hallway that she had passed out it. It was then that she realized that she was laying on her back next to something warm. Her armor had been removed and was resting against the nearby wall along with her rifle. A jolt of pain suddenly reminded her of what happened.
"How do you feel?" She traced the source of the sound and found Sanders sitting close by.
"Like I just got stabbed." Sanders and Frost both laughed.
"We found the elevator and brought you down here. I'm no medic, but my brother is. I think I did a decent job of patching you up."
"Where are we?" Claire asked them weakly.
"About 200 meters into the service tunnels. Figured we would be pretty safe down here."
"How...long was I out?"
"Almost two hours. Radios don't work too well down here, so I have no idea what is happening up top. Either way, they probably think we're just as dead as the rest of the forces around the Academy." Sanders informed her.
"I'm sorry. If I was more careful we wouldn't be stuck down here."
"Claire, we saw what you did to that guy. Tore his neck out like a fucking zombie. He was the one that should have been more careful." Sanders said as he brought her a bottle of water, earning a smile in return.
"What are we going to do now, sir?" Frost asked as he peeked out of the maintenance room they were in.
"I stopped the bleeding, but I don't know how bad the internal damage is. She needs a real doctor, not someone with second hand first aid skills." Sanders assessed.
"I hate to be the bringer of doom and gloom, but there's no way in hell we can get her to a friendly medic anytime soon." Frost told him.
"Then we'll just have to settle for an unfriendly medic."
"Sarge?"
"The Black Knights won't kill us on sight if we're unarmed."
"What exactly are suggesting that we do?"
"Surrender and hope they are kind enough to give a Britannian soldier some much needed medical treatment. I won't try to force you to do this, but it's a chance I'm willing to take. I will not sit here and do nothing while my best friend is busy experiencing her slow and painful death." Sanders explained.
"Mat, what if they just shoot us?" Claire asked him.
"If they kill us anyway then so be it. At least I tried."
Your highness, the Black Knights are almost here. Our forces around the palace are under attack, we have to leave now!" Barnes urged Schneizel. Reports were now coming in that Cornelia's forward units were engaging the defensive positions surrounding the palace.
"I was told the Knight of Two was to escort me, where is she?" The second prince asked in his usual calm manner.
"The Gawain is inbound from the east; she will be here shortly. We have to get the Avalon in the air before they breach our defenses. The Knight of Two can link up with us once we are under way."
Schneizel, Barnes, along with a group of officials and royal guardsmen quickly ascended the loading ramp onto the Avalon. The crew were already on board and had the ship ready to fly at a moment's notice. Schneizel ordered them to lift off as soon as the loading ramp had finished closing.
The 200 meter long airship's float systems began to glow as they came online, and soon the ship had lifted off of the palace's roof. It hovered for a few moments before slowly turning northeast. Just as it began to move forward, the Gawain flew in and landed on top of the Avalon. It had taken them much longer to fly the long way around in an attempt to avoid the enemy Tempest fighters that still controlled the air above the capital. With the aid of the snow storm, they managed to reach the airship uncontested.
"Suzaku, I'm needed inside the ship. I am giving control of the Gawain to you. Use it to defend the Avalon from the enemy aircraft which will undoubtedly try to shoot us down." Secilia instructed him as she descended from the open cockpit.
CC pulled back the arm of her Burai Kai and delivered a strong punch directly into the side of Lelouch's snow covered Gekka. She was hoping that the jolt would be enough without causing damage to the knightmare.
"Snap out of it Lelouch!" CC yelled at him over a secure channel. For the past ten minutes he had said and done absolutely nothing. The shock of Kallen's defeat by Suzaku had almost completely paralyzed him. "Britannia's defeat is so close, just reach out and grab it!" She was trying everything she could think of to get him back to normal. While she certainly understood how painful it was to hear that someone he loved was barely clinging to life, the immortal also knew that she had to break the shock's grip over him if they were going to complete their victory. The Black Knights were simply not the Black Knights without him. And of course, CC also had her own reasons for wanting Britannia to be defeated. "How do you think Kallen will feel if we lose because her getting hurt was all it takes to break the mighty Zero?" The Gekka next to her lashed out with enough force to knock her frame down. CC smiled to herself. She was glad to have that response out of him. Anger was a step forward from paralyzing shock.
"I wouldn't know how she would feel, CC, because I could never face her if that were to actually happen." Lelouch finally replied after a long pause. The screen in front of him alerted him to the Avalon's takeoff.
"All Tenshi groups, target and destroy the Avalon. Do not let them escape!" Lelouch ordered all of his fighters in the area with renewed energy.
Suzaku took a moment to get himself familiarized with the Gawain's control scheme. In particular the Hadron Cannons. While this unit was much larger than the Lancelot, the Gawain's firepower was in an entirely different league. A minute later, eight Sutherlands emerged onto the Avalon's roof, each knightmare dual wielding assault rifles. Two of them passed their secondary rifles over to Suzaku, and they all took defensive positions as the airship began to accelerate. They didn't have to wait long.
"Suzaku, the ship's defensive network is being brought online now. Once we get out to sea, we will link up with a naval force and regroup at Midway in Area 7. We just need to hold them off until we get there. Are you ready?"
"Yes, Excellency." Numerous gun turrets appeared around the knightmares as they deployed from within their concealed housings.
Black Knights fighter aircraft were quickly upon them as the airship cleared the palace. The Sixty nine remaining Tempest fighters all broke off from whatever else they were doing and attacked the Avalon from all directions. The battlecruiser's point defense network immediately opened fire at as many of the enemy fighters as they could target. The incoming Tempests responded with volleys of missiles and cannon fire.
The incoming fire detonated harmlessly against walls of green light that had appeared at the last second. The ship's shield operators were using the data gathered about where enemy fire was coming from to activate only the shield generators required to stop the attacks. This used the ship's energy as efficiently as possible, and allowed the engines to maintain full power. The downside was that the procedure was mentally exhausting on the crew.
The knightmare frames added their own weapons to the curtain of fire around the ship. Using their slash harken tethers to stabilize themselves atop the moving airship, they opened fire with everything they had at the enemy fighters and the missiles they were launching.
Hundreds of explosions filled the air around the Avalon as missiles were hit and proximity activated fragmentation grenades detonated.
Suzaku rapidly worked over the Gawain's control panel. The shoulders split open, revealing the unmistakable crimson glow of charged Hadron Cannons. He let loose with the huge knightmare's plasma weapons, manually controlling each beam to neutralize waves of incoming air to air missiles. Kururugi snapped the right plasma beam upwards and caught one of the attacking fighters. The powerful energy weapon boiled through the aircraft, melting it away in seconds. The remaining aircraft broke off from their attack and began rapidly accelerating away from the Avalon.
"Everyone get back inside now!" Secilia's voice yelled into their cockpits with urgency. All of the Blaze Luminous generators suddenly activated at once to form a complete barrier of green light around the entire airship. Suzaku moved to comply when the Gawain's advanced sensors picked up an incoming contact. He turned and looked through the shield with the assistance of the knightmare's optics to see a lone missile approaching at high speed.