Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its canon characters.
So I have this completely backwards. First time I've ever given a present on my birthday.
December 19th, 23:14 (07:14 Pendragon)
Shirley Fenette awoke in her new home at the heart of the Holy Britannian Empire. At the Prime Minister's advice, she had returned to the mainland shortly after they spoke in his limo. Life was becoming routine for her once again. She began attending a new school shortly after her arrival, and was fitting in nicely thanks to her natural friendliness.
They day before had been particularly hard, with a full load of classes and several hours of practice with the school's swim team. When she finally got home, she had gone straight to bed and slept through the night. She rolled over to check the time and found herself wondering what was happening back in Tokyo. She missed her real friends, and the feeling lingered on no matter how hard she tried to suppress it.
She began to descend the stairs outside of her room expecting today to be as normal as yesterday had been. Normal. She thought about how less than two weeks ago her life had been anything but normal. Shirley had finally accepted that she had really been in love with Lelouch. A part of her still was. She had been at war with herself from the moment she discovered who he really was. The part that loved him clashed with the part that craved justice for her father's death. Justice prevailed, if only for a few moments.
She had heard very little of Zero since she left Area 11. Her mind had begun to run wild with all of the possible results that her actions could have had. Most of them outright terrified her. At the moment she approached Schneizel, she felt motivated to do something about her father's fate and it felt so right at the time. Ten days later, Shirley found herself wishing that she could see Lelouch again to tell him just how sorry she was. It was a position she had never found herself in before. She wanted to confess her betrayal, to tell them all what she had done, no longer caring about how they might punish her for it. However, her flare of courage quickly faded the moment she stepped out of Schneizel's car. Although she couldn't help but blame him for her father's death, she was aware that he had been killed by the landslide in the town below. He was never on the battlefield, and was not an intended target.
Shirley was pulled from her internal conflict by voices as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She turned a corner and found her mother, her eyes glued to the TV.
"To those of you just joining us now, this is Vincent Ashcroft with the BBC coming to you live over the capital of Area 11 as the battle rages into its seventh hour. Although Britannian forces in the north of the city have so far managed to hold their positions against the onslaught, Black Knights units led by Cornelia li Britannia have crushed all resistance in the west and are assaulting the Viceroy's palace in force."
Shirley stood and watched, unable to find words for what she was seeing on the screen. The picture changed, with Ashcroft now residing in a corner of the screen. The news aircraft had zoomed in on the front of the palace. Shirley remembered the last time she had been there. It was so bright and clean and orderly in her memory. The image in front of her portrayed a vastly different reality. The main highway leading up to the front of the structure was littered with the flaming wreckage of Britannian military vehicles. Several groups of blue tanks and knightmares were still trying to hold their ground as the base of the palace. As glowing rounds from the Black Knights' advancing tanks hammered their positions, two knightmares charged forward and engaged the defenders at point blank range. Ashcroft turned for a moment to the Black Knights officer sitting next to him. The camera then focused on the lead Gloucester wielding a pair of red glowing swords.
"I have just been informed that the black knightmare you are seeing here is in fact Cornelia herself personally leading the attack into the center of Tokyo." Ashcroft reported. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut suddenly short by a massive blinding flash.
Twenty nine seconds earlier.
"Enemy missile is seven kilometers out and closing fast from 4:00 high!" One of the Avalon's sensor operators yelled out.
"Power down all weapons systems. Overcharge the Blaze Luminous generators and keep us accelerating away from it." Schneizel ordered his crew. He was for once in his life at a loss for what to do. He had seen from the previous detonations that the fireball generated by one of these new weapons was almost four kilometers in diameter. It was still too far away for the ship's point defenses to shoot down, but even at this range he wasn't sure the Avalon could survive if it detonated.
"What is the maximum effective range on the Gawain's Hadron Cannons?" Suzaku asked as he appeared on a screen.
"About five kilometers. The actual maximum range is well above ten." The Knight of Two recalled with a look on her face that said 'are you kidding me?' Don't tell me you want to try and shoot that thing down."
"Please Excellency, I have to try!" Suzaku replied stubbornly.
"You have one shot, and then you must get back inside whether you succeed or not. We will only lower a section of the shield for a moment." Schneizel confirmed for him.
"Yes, your highness!" Suzaku charged the Gawain's twin Hadron Cannons and took aim at the missile. Just as he had been told, a small hexagonal section of the Blaze Luminous barrier disappeared. He fired the very moment his brain registered that the window was open. The shoulder cones split open and twin lances of magnetically shaped crimson destruction surged out toward the target. At this range it would take just under two seconds for the beams to reach the missile. He thought he had done it. The unbelievably bright pink light that suddenly flooded his cockpit proved otherwise.
"Get inside now!" He heard a voice yelling at him. Suzaku backed up and dropped the Gawain down through the top hatch into the airship's main hangar as fast as he could. The unit's ten slash harkens discharged into the floor in an attempt to hold it steady.
The Mjolnir warhead detonated 5 kilometers away from the Avalon. The weapon once again produced a titanic fireball measuring approximately four kilometers in diameter, made far more dramatic by the fact that this one had detonated at a higher altitude. The forest below evaporated as the bottom third of the fireball hit the ground. At this distance, the Avalon was not out right consumed by the blast. Instead, they had a brief moment of calm before the incredibly hot supersonic shockwave smashed into them. The entire ship was thrown forward almost a hundred meters in an instant.
Even with the Blaze Luminous systems running slightly above their maximum safe capacity, the combined power of the shockwave and thermal pulse easily overwhelmed the shielding. The rear of the Avalon was briefly exposed to extreme temperatures, melting the exterior surfaces until they glowed bright white. The airship's main engines and two of the three float units immediately suffered critical damage and were rendered useless. A third of the crew, those in the rear sections of the ship, were boiled alive as the internal temperature in areas closest to the blast rose to nearly triple the boiling point of water.
Being located on the underside of front of the ship, the bridge was fairly well protected as the explosion was centered above and behind them. Still, the force of the blast caused numerous injuries amongst the bridge crew as the occupants were violently thrown around. The temperature on the bridge instantly doubled, going from warm and comfortable to something reminiscent of the cockpit of an early model Glasgow left out in a middle eastern summer day.
As the fireball began to dissipate, the Avalon started losing altitude. The ship's single remaining operational float unit was enough to prevent it from going into an uncontrolled free fall, but was not enough to keep it in the air. The crippled airship left a trail of smoke and flame behind it as it fell at a slight angle and crash landed in a forested area a few hundred meters from the coast.
Frost turned another corner in the sprawling network of tunnels beneath the Ashford Academy grounds. Sanders followed a few steps behind him, carrying their wounded marksman toward what they hoped would be someone with the skills needed to save her. They had abandoned most of their gear back where they stopped to wait for her to regain consciousness. Without helmets, weapons, and ammunition to slow them down, they were moving faster than anticipated.
"Goddamn you are tough, Claire. I'd be crying for my mommy if I were in your shoes right now." Frost's remark did what he wanted, putting a smile on her pained face. The more they could distract her from the grim reality around them the better. They turned one more corner and found themselves only a few meters from a door. Frost quickly closed the distance and got it open.
Instead of another tunnel, they found themselves standing in a huge room packed full of Ashford Academy students. The discovery answered their hours old question of how the school's population had managed to vanish.
With no Black Knights there, they had no choice but to take whatever they could get. Claire couldn't go any farther in her condition without risking even further injury. Luckily for them, they did have the school's nurse, who just so happened to be a real doctor.
Luciano Bradley was a furious man. His status as the Knight of Ten meant that he was kept informed of recent developments. Being told that he was too far behind enemy lines for the evacuation flight on the Avalon to wait for him had felt like a punch in the gut. He had been dumped in some pretty bad situations over the years, but he had never been straight up abandoned before. The fact that the orders came from His Majesty himself made it feel even colder. So that's what he was, just another expendable asset, and he had just been expended, written off as an acceptable loss. The logical part of him understood why, but that didn't go very far to helping him accept this fate. He was still breathing, his knightmare still running, and he was not about to give up until both of those facts ceased to be true.
The plan had definitely not gone as well as expected. Bradley and the Glaston Knights were supposed to sneak behind enemy lines and disrupt the flow of reinforcements long enough for other units to rally and break the assault on the palace. That plan fell apart the moment they dropped back down to the second level. Immediately engaged by an elite unit, they never made it to the highway.
Bradley's secondary plan of breaking through them also failed. Todou was proving to be an even match for him. No matter how many times he managed to get away from him in the sprawl of buildings, Todou always caught up. As their running individual duel raged on with neither of them making significant progress, enemy reinforcements arrived to back up the Holy Swords. The Glaston Knights, to their credit, managed to score several kills, even outnumbered nearly four to one.
As their battle progressed, they had been forced further and further apart. Todou had apparently ordered them to ignore their duel. Not a single enemy knightmare had come to engage him since the beginning of their fight. Bradley ordered the Glaston Knights to break out in their own direction, hoping that all of the enemy knightmares would pursue them. The idea appeared to work, although it did nothing to help his current situation.
Luciano dodged several more slashes and a burst of rifle fire as their fast paced fight kept moving. He briefly thought about ejecting and trying to fight his way out on foot, but abandoned the idea. These Black Knights were anything but the pushovers he was expecting. It flew in the face of his ideals and even past experiences, but these traitors and numbers were putting up a world class fight. He would be alone armed with nothing more than a pistol against legions of Black Knights deep inside their territory. He would likely end up with a quick death or a humiliating capture. No, he would not accept that. He would not run. Bradley abandoned all hope of escaping, ultimately deciding that he would kill Japan's miracle maker and earn his right to live or die in battle against what he had no choice but to consider a worthy opponent.
Milly Ashford wondered if this was how Lelouch felt as he commanded his legions of loyal Black Knights. She had been firmly in control of the Academy's population for nearly eight hours now, ordering people around from atop the Ganymede. Although it wasn't new for people, especially the students, to do what she wanted anyway, it felt different at the moment. Perhaps it was the knightmare frame at her control, or maybe the adrenaline in her system? Either way it made her feel powerful in a way that she had never experienced before. She had the whole underground warehouse was running smoothly. People were organized, supplies were being efficiently distributed, and the injured were being cared for as best they could.
When the bombing run hit the area above them, people panicked and several suffered minor injuries from falling debris. In that moment, they all looked to her. Milly had in fact been anything but calm in the moments after. She could almost taste her own fear, but she somehow managed to pull it together and maintain order.
A short distance behind her, the familiar sound of machinery began to fill the air. The large double door that led to the loading ramp had been activated from the outside and was beginning to open. A cold chill ran down her spine. She had no idea who was opening the door, and if they were a threat or not. A thousand voices went silent as the Ganymede pulled its assault rifle from the magnetic clamp and leveled it at the door.
With thin armor and an exposed cockpit, the aging frame was no match for even an outdated Glasgow. Milly herself wasn't much better either. Her heart was racing and her arms were quivering. The student council president was no soldier. She was, however, their first and only line of defense.
Milly possessed a deeper understanding of Britannia's true nature than anyone else down there. Years spent with Lelouch and Nunnally, and the knowledge of what had happened to them, gave her insight into just how twisted Britannia could be. The horrifying possibility that the army would murder them and blame it on the Black Knights in a desperate attempt to divide them and destroy their public support had crossed her mind more than once.
The door jammed as it tried to open, and a pair of large metallic hands came through the opening and began to force it open. Her finger hovered dangerously close to the weapon's trigger, but she could not yet see who's knightmare it was behind the door, only that it appeared to be a Sutherland.
Schneizel groaned in pain as he began to pull himself up from the floor of the bridge. With the combination of the bomb and the hard crash landing, virtually everyone on the Avalon was injured to some degree. A quick check indicated that although it hurt like hell, his body would still function.
He tried to stand, and was relieved when he found himself successful. The Prime Minister took a look around the bridge, and instantly wished he didn't. Quite a few of the bridge crew had been killed from the force of either the explosion or the crash.
He found his eyes lingering on two of the Blaze Luminous operators that had only minutes ago been defending them from anti air attacks. They had both been violently thrown forward into their equipment. One had his head smashed open on the edge of a console. The other man's head had been forced through the screen in front of him, the jagged broken glass nearly decapitated him. Gravity drove rivers of blood from the fresh corpses across the uneven Bridge, converging and pooling in the lowest corner.
On the other side of the bridge, several others were beginning to recover as well. The Knight of Two, along with Area 11's colonial government officials also survived with non critical injuries. The relative silence in the room was broken by a still functional communications terminal.
"Come in Avalon, do you read us? This is Task Force Neptune approaching Area 11 from the east. We lost your signal after that massive detonation. Respond immediately if you are able."
"Your highness, that's the group sent to be our escort to Area 7." The Knight of Two informed him as she made her way over.
"Neptune, this is Avalon, we read you loud and clear. We were shot down by the unknown enemy weapon and crash landed near the coast. Requesting immediate air support and evac." The former Viceroy responded.
"Understood. Do you have an estimate of enemy strength in the area?"
"Several dozen Tempest fighters. Black Knights ground forces are concentrated on the capital and should be out of range for now. And get your missile defenses online. Their new weapons is missile based." Secilia warned them.
"Roger that, Avalon. Launching fighters and transports now, ETA eighteen minutes."
Figuring it was worth a shot, she began typing away at the terminal, trying to ascertain the status of the rest of the ship. She soon found that the damage was as bad as they thought. The engines, float units, and major weapons systems were all too damaged to function. By some small miracle, the Avalon's power core was spared, leaving the ship's automatic doors, lighting, and communications operating. A quick check revealed a single friendly IFF signal still transmitting from inside the main hangar. She hit a few more buttons and opened a channel to the Gawain.
"Suzaku, what's the status in the hangar?"
"It's a mess. The impact destroyed most of the Sutherlands, but I think the pilots that were in their cockpits are OK. The Gawain's float unit was damaged by a loose Sutherland, but everything else appears to be operational." Suzaku reported from the Gawain's cockpit. His last second decision to anchor the large knightmare by discharging ten slash harkens into the floor had paid off. While the Sutherlands were easily launched around the hangar, the Gawain managed to avoid that fate.
"Gather the survivors and meet us outside. Transport aircraft are inbound to take us to our naval escort." She instructed.
"Excellency, with the way we crashed the loading ramp is blocked. There's no way to get the knightmares out." Suzaku spoke in disappointment. He did not want to be the man to abandon two of the Empire's most advanced knightmare frames in less than three hours, even if it was under orders. He checked over the Gawain's systems, looking for a solution. The energy filler reading showed 32% remaining, and all integrated weapons systems were online and functional. Secilia's custom scythe was knocked loose in the chaos. A quick glance around the hangar found it half buried under the wreckage of a destroyed Sutherland. He picked up the weapon, finding it had survived intact.
"Kururugi, the Hadron Cannons are still working, correct?" This time it was Schneizel on the channel.
"Yes, your highness. Except for the float system, the Gawain is fully functional."
"The technology on board the Gawain is too important to leave behind. That knightmare frame is equipped with the only complete prototypes of the Hadron Cannons and the Druid system. Leaving it behind would set the Camelot research teams back by months." The Second Prince informed him. Suzaku pulled up the Avalon's blueprints on his main screen. The airship 's hangar was its largest internal feature. He found a portion in the rear that was separated from the exterior by only seven meters.
"I've found a weak point in the rear of the hangar. The heat from the explosion would have boiled away most of the exterior armor on the other side. Permission to shoot my way out?" Suzaku asked, knowing that the Avalon had to be abandoned anyway in its current state. Who would object to a little bit more damage to an already destroyed unit?
"...Very well, do it."
"Everyone get back in your cockpits. I'm going to blast a path out with the Hadron Cannons! It may get too hot to breathe in here." Suzaku warned the other survivors in the hangar through the black knightmare's speakers. He initiated the charging sequence, watching everyone else take cover in the remains of their Sutherlands. Almost half a minute later, everyone was ready. He targeted the weak point and the shoulder cones split open, bathing the hangar in an ominous red glow. The energy weapons fired, boiling through everything that stood between them and the outside world. The air temperature inside the hangar quickly spiked to dangerous levels. There was certainly going to be a warning in future training programs about discharging high temperature plasma weapons in a confined space after this.
David weaved around to the front of a nearby office building, using the columns at the entrance of the structure as cover from the pursuing Black Knights knightmares. Right behind him, four other Gloucesters formed up. The Glaston Knights returned fire on the numerically superior enemy force as they tried to find a viable escape route. Bursts of rifle fire and rockets from the pods they had rigged onto their frames kept the black and silver knightmares at a reasonable distance.
"Alfred and Bart, pop thermal smoke in front of us. Once visibility drops, we're going to rush the gap between buildings five and six to the west. From there we should be able to make it to the edge of the city, and we already found out the hard way that Gloucesters can take a drop." David instructed, following Bradley's orders.
The Knight of Ten wanted them to lure as many of the enemy frames away as possible. The assumed intention was to get away and link up with friendly units in the north. As ordered, two of the Gloucesters deployed their heated smoke grenades, designed to defeat both visual and thermal optics. All five knightmares had the course marked on their forward displays. They charged into the smoke, hoping that the enemy would be just as blind as them.
Luck was just not on their side today.
Just as the five Gloucesters cleared the smoke, less than fifty meters from their escape point, a chaos mine dropped down from above and blocked the exit with a curtain of armor piercing projectiles. The Glaston Knights had no choice but to stop. Their Gloucesters would certainly be shredded if they tried to pass through it. Claudio moved to continue the escape once the mine's effect faded. Instead, a custom black knightmare landed perilously close to him and immediately lashed out with the same kind of chain sword the silver frames behind him were armed with.
With Claudio engaged with the new arrival in their only way out, the were effectively trapped. Within seconds a dozen enemy knightmares emerged from the dissipating smoke screen and moved to engage them at close range. They weren't particularly worried about the Black Knights' Sutherlands and Burais. The Glaston Knights knew that they were superior pilots at the controls of superior machines. Instead, it was the four silver frames that emerged with them. David identified them earlier as the Four Holy Swords, the best knightmare pilots the Japanese had to offer.
"We're surrounded!" Claudio made painfully clear on their channel. He knew the new black frame would be no pushover. The Black Knights only put elite pilots in their non standard units.
"We have to fight our way out! Focus on those silver knightmares. Take them out and we can get out of here." David ordered, knowing it would be much harder than it sounded. The four of them rushed forward to engage, spraying rockets and rifle rounds toward the Holy Swords' backup. Three of the opposing knightmares were hit and fell back.
They split into pairs and engaged the silver frames in close combat, their MVS blades giving them a significant advantage. David's hopes paid off when the other frames ceased firing on them, their proximity to the silver Gekkas making the likelihood of friendly fire too high to continue. David had the IFF system mark each of the frames with a number, making target selection much easier. He saw an opportunity in the positioning of the forces.
"Hit number 3 now!" he yelled out to his brothers. Immediately, the other Gloucesters broke off of their individual engagements and converged on the Gekka designated number 3, attacking from all sides. The surprised pilot did everything he could to survive the vicious assault. Behind them, the enemy knightmares were rapidly closing in. The Glaston Knights had a window of approximately three seconds to make the move count before they would be the ones surrounded.
Bart scored a critical hit, slicing through the target's sword arm with his left MVS. His right one penetrated the cockpit and killed the Gekka's pilot. The neutralized knightmare frame unceremoniously fell over with the death of its pilot.
Lelouch was beginning to get a hold of himself. The paralyzing shock that gripped him had faded. In its place came a flood of white hot rage. For the few minutes that it lasted, he wanted nothing more than to unleash it. When he got word of the Avalon's liftoff, something inside him snapped. He had been consumed by an irresistible desire to destroy when he had given the order to obliterate the Avalon. When it was clear that the fleeing airship was equipped with formidable air defenses, he ordered the submarine to launch another strategic missile.
The use of a third Mjolnir warhead appeared nowhere in his plan. He had originally wanted to save all of the remaining missiles to form the beginnings of a nuclear deterrent against the Chinese Federation and the EU. Before the battle, he had come to the conclusion that one or perhaps both of the other major powers would launch their own invasions of Japan once the Black Knights declared independence. Once they broke away from Britannia, the islands would effectively be up for grabs. Without the prospect of a full scale war with the Empire, they would likely jump at the opportunity to seize the world's largest sakuradite reserves. However, if they knew that the Black Knights could simply erase their armies at the push of a button, they wouldn't be so quick to move.
As he began to cool off, Lelouch reexamined the situation. While he had effectively wasted one of the few remaining strategic missiles at his disposal to do something his remaining fighters could have accomplished, it also sent another message. He realized that it may in fact have been a good move after all. Now everyone watching around the world knew that Mjolnir was a deliverable weapon, capable of hitting targets on demand.
He looked over and checked the map of Tokyo to his left. Although he had vanished from the battle for over an hour, the Black Knights were making progress. Surprising amounts of progress in fact. Unlike many of the Black Knights' leaders, Cornelia was more than capable of acting on her own without his micromanagement. The palace at the center of the city was under heavy assault, and nearby units were crushing through a few remaining Britannian defenders in the south. Soon the only major pockets of resistance left within the city would be a pair of fortified positions in the north.
Euphemia attacked the Gloucester in front of her with renewed vigor. She was too slow. It was the thought that simply would not escape her mind. She was too slow to effectively engage the Lancelot, instead blocking his movements while letting Kallen do the real fighting. She knew that she shouldn't, but she couldn't help but blame herself for the outcome of events in the Ashford Academy courtyard. If she were a better pilot, if she were a true ace, they would have beaten the Lancelot.
Faster. She had to be faster. The Black Knight pushed herself to the limit engaging the hostile Gloucester in front of her. But now matter how hard she tried, the enemy pilot was her equal, if not better. Euphemia was angry and overflowing with adrenaline. She had to do better. She had to beat this knightmare and help defeat the other four.
"Senba!" A voice yelled out over an open channel. Behind the enemy Gloucester, she saw one of the Gekkas fall to a precision sword strike through the cockpit.
A glimpse of inspiration suddenly hit her. The princess remembered the properties of her Geass. If she couldn't make herself faster, she would make the enemy slower. Absolute Unity was very powerful at close range, and melee range was certainly close. She activated her power, focusing on the enemy knightmare frame in front of her. Absolute Unity effectively produced the urge to do what she wanted in everyone within range.
The power flowed out, a red tinted dome visible only in Euphemia's eyes. The radius overtook her opponent, forcing him to feel her anger and sadness. She wanted him to slow down. Because her power did not directly override the target's consciousness like her brother's Geass, she couldn't make him just stand still and take it.
In his cockpit a short distance away, Claudio suddenly felt as if his head weighed as much as the rest of his body combined. He became very tired, and struggled to keep his knightmare moving. Alien feelings flowed through him, producing a horrible disorientation. Claudio tried his best to fight the effect and actually managed to stop the next three strikes.
In an instant, the heaviness faded, and he felt impossibly light. The Glaston Knight looked down, and saw that the chain sword had pierced his cockpit and sliced him in half just above the waist. He nodded his head back in his seat, and his world faded to white.
As he entered the unusually long access code he had been given, Jeremiah began to wonder what he would find on the other side of the heavy double door in front of him. Several possibilities had crossed the former Purist's mind, most of them terrible. If the roof had collapsed under the bombardment, there would certainly be excessive civilian casualties.
Jeremiah stopped himself from thinking about that possibility as the machinery controlling the doors began to activate. Although the battle for Tokyo was progressing well in favor of the Black Knights, it was not yet won. He wasn't sure if their leader could handle a massacre of innocents by his own orders, especially here of all places. He was after all, only human, even though his reputation would suggest otherwise.
The gears began to turn, and the large door started to open. Five seconds later, their progress stopped as the opening mechanism jammed. Jeremiah slipped the hands of his Sutherland into the gap and began to pull the door open. The Sutherland's threat recognition system threw a warning indicator up right in the middle of his main screen.
He instantly recognized the antique Ganymede standing a short distance in front of him on the other side of the door, aiming a weapon that was anything but at him. He zoomed in and identified one of Lelouch's closest friends in the pilot's seat. Jeremiah briefly thought about jumping out of the line of fire and using the door for cover, but decided against it. He knew how a soldier would react in this situation, but he had never faced a scared civilian at the controls of a knightmare frame before. The Black Knight took the least threatening course of action he could think of. He tapped a button to his side, and the Sutherland's armored cockpit door dropped back. Jeremiah's seat slid out and he stood up above his knightmare, certain that she wouldn't shoot him on sight.
"Hold your fire! I am Jeremiah Gottwald of the Order of Black Knights. I was sent to offer you any assistance you may need." Jeremiah announced, amplified by his knightmare's external speakers. He stood still and waited for what felt like half way to eternity. It was ten seconds before the Ganymede finally began to slowly lower the assault weapon and place it back on the magnetic clamp.
"Alright, I'll...help you get the door open." Milly told him as she moved the Ganymede forward. Jeremiah returned to the controls of his own knightmare frame and they both pulled on the jammed door sections. A few seconds of bone chilling metal screeching later, the jam cleared. Milly pulled the Ganymede up close to the black Sutherland in the entrance and killed her external speakers.
"Is everyone alright down here?"
"For the most part. There were a few minor injuries from falling debris earlier, but nothing serious among the students or staff. Three Britannian soldiers came in through a maintenance tunnel about an hour ago, one of them is hurt pretty bad." Milly informed him.
"Are they armed? I know it may sound cold and cruel, but we have standing orders to kill any armed Britannian soldiers on sight, regardless of their intentions."
"They said they left their weapons back in the tunnel. We didn't search them, but they didn't appear to be armed."
"Alright, I'll get a medic and a supply truck down here. We are setting up a forward base in the school's courtyard, so it won't take long." Jeremiah quickly keyed out a new set of orders.
"What's been happening out there? We don't have any working TVs or radios down here, and those soldiers that we found earlier were too worried about their friend to answer questions." Milly inquired. After she complied with Lelouch's request to evacuate underground, they had been in the dark, both literally and figuratively.
"Our forces have captured roughly two thirds of the city so far. Initial Britannian resistance was just as fierce as we had expected. In fact, we suffered most of our casualties in the first three hours. Once we managed to secure multiple bridges and gain a sturdy hold inside the city, their defense began to fall apart. Cornelia is breaking through in the center, and what Britannian units remain are isolated in the north.
I would recommend that you keep the students down here until the battle is over. Although we have complete air control, and there are no active Britannian artillery positions left, there's no need to take unnecessary risks."
"What about Lelouch?" Milly was desperate to know how he was. Her only contact with him in weeks had been a three minute phone call. She knew he had to be under an enormous amount of pressure. Somehow it still seemed unreal to her. Only a few short months ago she was bossing him around as student council president, and now he was leading the largest, most successful rebellion against the Empire in living memory.
Jeremiah hesitated at that question. He didn't want to lie to her, which meant he would undoubtedly have to tell her what had happened in the courtyard above them. Although he did not know much about Milly's relationship with Kallen, he made the assumption that they were as close as the rest of the council. After a few seconds of silence that had produced a look of worry on her face, Jeremiah decided to tell her the truth. Better it be from him than hearing it second hand once word filtered down. He leaned closer to her.
"He's not doing too well. We're lucky that Cornelia's central attack has so much momentum."
"What happened to him?" She demanded, in an almost angry tone.
"Nothing directly... The Lancelot was a part of the force sent to clear Ashford Academy, and he sent Kallen to assist Euphemia against him." Jeremiah paused. "The battle lasted about ten minutes. Kallen...lost. Her knightmare was completely destroyed." Milly brought her hands up in a swirl of shock, surprise, and a hint of horror.
"Is she..?"
"The last I heard, she was hanging on by a thread. I haven't heard anything else since she went into surgery. In truth, that's the reason I was sent here. Lelouch ordered me to drop everything and help you. He was desperate to know if you were alright." Gottwald explained to the worried blonde.
Milly was cut short by the loud rumble of an approaching truck engine. Behind Jeremiah, the requested supply truck and about twenty Black Knights were moving down the ramp.
"I apologize, but I must get back to running operations up top. Since you're in charge down here, they are yours to command for now." Jeremiah gestured toward the new arrivals.
"Does this mean I'm being drafted into the Black Knights?"
"Not necessarily. Although I could certainly do that if you wish. Since you used to boss around our boss, I don't think you would have any trouble fitting in. He might even get a laugh out of the opportunity to give you orders for once. Who knows, it might even lift his spirits a bit."
Guilford rushed forward, weaving his Gloucester around bursts of fire emanating from the secondary weapons of the Panther tanks in front of him. He dodged to the right, narrowly avoiding a shell from a tank's main cannon. He jumped forward before the second tank could get a shot, and landed his knightmare on top of it. The Gloucester reversed its grip on the armor piercing lance and drove it straight down, puncturing the top armor of the first tank. Slash harkens lashed out at the second Britannian vehicle, destroying the unit's powerful main cannon and secondary machine gun.
He glanced over toward the main entrance to the palace. The front steps had been fortified with a mix of sandbags, reinforced concrete road barriers, and a number of crew served heavy weapons that were pouring fire on the advancing Black Knights. He started moving, immediately looking for a weak point to engage.
His quickly formulated plan of attack was rendered useless as a rather daring Tempest pilot maneuvered his aircraft between the closely packed buildings and hosed the upper level of the position with explosive cannon rounds. A few seconds later, a pair larger rounds sailed past the Gloucester and pulverized what was left at the bottom of the steps. A group of Sutherlands and Panthers, captured from the Selene were rolling up behind him. A column of APCs followed, unloading the infantry squads tasked with securing the building.
On the other side, Cornelia delivered the final blows against the last remaining Britannian Sutherland guarding the palace. They had done it. The palace was the key hard point that anchored the two remaining positions north of it. Once the structure was thoroughly cleared out, the remaining Britannian forces would be trapped between the Black Knights and the outer edge of the city. Forces assaulting across the single remaining northern bridge had set up a small but concentrated holding at the top. If the Britannians wanted to run, they would have no choice but to attempt to fight their way out, putting them at the mercy of hostile air power.
Lelouch moved his silver Gekka down one last road, slowing down as he reached his destination. He drove his knightmare frame through a very familiar gate onto the grounds of Ashford Academy. The campus had undergone a massive transformation over the course of a few hours of war. Instead of the quiet school he could still see every time he closed his eyes, the place had changed in a few hours from school to active battlefield to military base.
All around him people in black uniforms moved about doing what was needed to keep his army running. Technicians were swapping out knightmare energy fillers, armored vehicles were being rearmed, and the wounded were being moved into the gym, which had been remade into a field hospital. Corpses were being laid out in a tent to the side of the building, almost all of them dead soldiers from both sides.
The field used by the equestrian club had been turned into a makeshift air staging area. The leader of the revolution caught sight of five of his fighters, having landed there with their vectored thrust VTOL capability, being refueled and restocked with more missiles and cannon rounds. Even though the setup had less capacity than a real airfield, it was better than the alternatives. Flying back to Noto would take far too long, and Starlight had been rendered inoperable for the moment during the initial push toward Tokyo.
A still burning heap of twisted metal caught his attention as he approached the administrative building. The remains of the destroyed vehicles and knightmares, belonging to both Britannia and the Black Knights, had been hastily pushed out of the way to make room. An incoming communication message brought his sight away back to the screens around him.
"Lelouch, we've broken the palace defenses. Our infantry are sweeping floor by floor, and are only reporting minor resistance. The entire southern half of Tokyo is ours. The only exception is a small battle near an office complex." Cornelia appeared to report.
"Outstanding work. Hold your attack for a few minutes, I'm going to try to end this. And...I'm sorry. I should have been prepared for the possibility that anyone I send into battle is at risk."
"Don't even start, Lelouch. You're holding yourself together much better than I did after Narita. When this is over, I'm sure Guilford will want to tell you all about it." Cornelia countered.
"Guilford?" Lelouch asked her. The last he knew, Guilford was still fighting for the Empire.
"I ran into him during the advance to the palace. I...convinced him to join me in the assault. Guilford's loyalty to me far outweighs his loyalty to the Emperor."
"Well, at least one of your knights made the right choice." Had Suzaku sided with him, Kallen wouldn't be staring death in the face. This battle would have been laughably one sided in the Black Knights' favor.
"What are you planning now?" His sister wondered.
"What remains of our enemy must certainly know by now that they are trapped by superior forces with no hope of escape. I'll give them one last chance to surrender. As I'm sure Schneizel has told you many times, why waste lives and resources fighting when words can achieve the same result." Lelouch explained.
"And if they refuse?"
"Then we spring the trap."
Suzaku tracked the progress of the incoming friendly aircraft on the screen in front of him. At the current rate, they had about three more minutes to sit in this cold clearing only a few dozen meters from the ocean. He looked down from his vantage point at the people assembled around the Gawain. There were 37 survivors of the crash waiting for extraction. Nearly all of them were either in knightmare cockpits, on the bridge, or near it when the weapon detonated. Everyone else on board had been killed either by heat or kinetic force.
Aside from the Gawain, only four of the twenty Sutherlands that were on board were still operational. Even though both the machines and pilots suffered from various levels of damage, they still kept watch on the sky and the forest. If the Black Knights did return before their reinforcements, the Sutherlands would provide the bulk of the defense. The Gawain simply did not have enough energy remaining for any more than a few minutes of combat.
The time ticked down, and their extraction was right on time. Several transports and individual knightmare dropships arrived to take them to safety. Suzaku couldn't see their fighter escort, even though the IFF indicated that they were somewhere above their position. They were most likely maintaining a high altitude to avoid ground based anti aircraft fire or to get the drop on any enemy aircraft that pursued them. Internally, Suzaku thought it would be unlikely that they would be hit on the way out. As far as he knew, the Black Knights' only advanced long range radar system was positioned at Noto, and he couldn't be sure they were even using it.
He hooked the Gawain's slash harkens up to one of the knightmare dropships. When they took off, it felt distinctly different to be dangling from the craft above him as opposed to flying under the Gawain's own power. Suzaku took a look behind him as they flew out over the Pacific, and it finally dawned on him that he was really leaving Japan for the first time.
Lelouch tapped his console and began broadcasting on an open channel. This fight had gone on for long enough. He knew the Britannians had been forced into a virtually unwinnable position. When he thought about it, he doubted that even he could turn this battle around if the sides were switched. If they couldn't see that defeat was staring them in the face, then it would be the death of them.
"Attention all surviving members of the Britannian armed forces! This battle has dragged on long enough. You must realize by now that your defeat can be the only outcome of this conflict. Your leaders have abandoned you, and nobody is coming to save you.
Therefore, it is in everyone's best interest that you surrender. Cease fighting now, and you will not be harmed. If you choose to do so, either individually or as a unit, put down your weapons, exit your vehicles and begin walking toward the Black Knights. This is the only chance you will have to survive. All that refuse will be joining the rest of your army in death. You have ten minutes to comply."
On the other side of the lines, Major Stark was the highest ranking officer left in the eastern Britannian holdout. Princess Carine, now their new Viceroy, along with a few higher ranking officers were stuck on the western side.
The remaining Britannian units were divided by a stretch of six lane highway that ran down the middle of the city. While the Black Knights had not completely driven a wedge between them, they did hold the bridge entrance and everything in front of it for about a hundred meters. Anything that tried to cross the exposed highway would be at the mercy of enemy fire. With two Naginata tanks deployed to cover the road, the chance of getting through without getting hit was abysmally small.
Stark's troops were desperately trying to hold the line against a large Black Knights force pushing toward them from the south. These were the same troops that had crushed all resistance on the southern side of the city. They had been slowly, but steadily advancing, devouring what little room they had left to work with. Then suddenly, they stopped. The Black Knights took cover and set up to hold their positions.
About thirty seconds later, the Black Knights requested that they surrender. Major Stark listened carefully to what Lelouch vi Britannia had to say. Surrender and live, refuse or die. This was the choice they had been given. Stark looked around his makeshift command center.
His troops were cold, hungry, and exhausted. Yet, he saw the determination in their eyes. He had fought alongside many of them on the EU front, and knew first hand that they were prepared to fight to the death. But for what?
It was obvious, at least to him, that the Empire was not going to hold on to Area 11. What reason did they have to die here? At least in Europe, their sacrifices would have been worth something, as those following behind them would surely defeat the enemies that they had not. But there was no one behind them, ready to tear through the weakened Black Knights after they had fallen.
Stark let out a long exhale and picked up his radio. He would be called a traitor for this. Who knows, maybe one of his subordinates would just shoot him and seize control. Regardless of the outcome, he was certain that his troops did not deserve this fate. They did not deserve to be forced to throw their lives away putting up a meaningless defense on these cursed islands. He got on the same open channel that Lelouch vi Britannia had used.
"This is Major Stark, acting commander of all Britannian forces east of Highway 4, we surrender."
Viceroy Carine checked over her Gloucester's map for what seemed like the millionth time. She was looking for a way out of this tactical nightmare. There had to be one, somewhere, somehow. Reduced to about three thousand of her most loyal troops, she had fortified her corner of Tokyo well. She was confident that her defenses would hold, but that was where her confidence ended. You don't win by bunkering down and holding the line when no reinforcements are available.
Then she heard Major Stark surrender over an open channel. Stark, that weakling did not deserve to hold the amount of authority that had fallen into his hands. It was her misfortune that both of his superior officers on that side of the divide had been killed. Now she was completely surrounded. The Black Knights closing in on three sides, and a forty meter drop into ice cold water behind them. There was clearly no easy way out. That left plan B, A glorious last stand. Not that she wanted to die trapped in this accursed city, but it was preferable to the alternatives.
Five minutes after Stark gave in, the attack still had not renewed. Carine figured there was no point in letting the enemy wait for words that were never going to come. Her forces were as ready as she could make them. She activated the open channel.
"I am Carine le Britannia, Viceroy of Area 11, and a daughter of the Emperor you damned traitor! There's no way in hell I would ever surrender to you!" She yelled out. To her surprise, her half brother responded.
"You have one minute to change your mind, Viceroy. If not, you, and everyone that serves you will be dead before the sun rises. That's a promise, your highness." Lelouch told her with a deadly serious tone. There was no overconfidence or sarcasm to be found in his voice.
Barely ten seconds after he finished speaking, her entire front line started taking heavy fire. The Black Knights had not wasted the time during the brief lull. Instead of sitting idle, they had identified and dialed in the Britannian positions. Well aimed rounds of all types tore into what was left of her front line. Their defenses quickly began to buckle under the fury of the enemy assault.
In a way, the superhuman effort required to shoulder the entire student council's responsibilities with only two people had made Milly resistant to pressure and long hours. Although the experience certainly helped, she was still exhausted. She supposed that it didn't matter as much now, since she now had plenty of help, and it was unlikely that the battle would return to the school. She stood up from the Ganymede's pilot seat to stretch for the first time in what felt like days.
She caught sight of Rivalz directing two of the Black Knights offloading bottles of water and some blankets from what was now the third supply truck. He was too busy to notice, but she smiled down at him. Milly had been amazed at his transformation in the last month from chief slacker to all star workaholic. Without him doing work fit for three, Ashford Academy would have certainly run into trouble. They made one hell of a team, and it was definitely showing.
The president's attention shifted from her number two to the new knightmare frame that had just reached the bottom of the ramp. The silver unit was radically different from the common Sutherlands and Burais. It had a katana shaped chain sword on a magnetic clamp at its waist, and an integrated gun system built into its left wrist.
The Gekka approached her slowly, its cockpit opening as it came closer. At the controls sat a familiar, if slightly worn out face. Lelouch had opted to leave his mask off, and it was clear that even though he was down here, he was not taking a break. As he got closer, Milly heard him handing out rapid fire orders to at least half a dozen voices, none of which were familiar.
"Move through access corridor C12 and take exits 15 and 17. You will be in two buildings about fifty meters behind their front line. Engage from the rear and prioritize their knightmare frames." Lelouch knew they were heavily outnumbered. He doubted that Britannian troops would be assigned to watch basement access doors while the situation at the front was so dire.
"Lelouch." Milly pulled the Ganymede up alongside him. "Jeremiah told me what happened. Are you alright?"
"No." Lelouch looked up at her from his knightmare's screens. "But it doesn't matter how I feel. I've come too far to let anything stop me. The whole world is watching as the Order of Black Knights break an Imperial army on their own ground. This will be the worst defeat in Britannian history."
"How close are you?"
"Closer than anyone else has ever come. I have them cornered, outnumbered, and completely surrounded. Their position is hopeless." Zero summarized. "I hope he's watching."
The Emperor, she instantly realized. She could barely imagine what it must feel like to hate somebody to such a degree. Milly already knew the general overview of what had really happened to Lelouch and Nunnally, but it was beyond her ability to conceptualize just how devastating it had to be to face that level of betrayal.
"You are nothing. That was the last thing that man said to me. He meant it too. He likes to think that he's some kind of god, and that the world is beneath him. He believes himself to be invincible. So I asked myself, what does Charles zi Britannia fear? How ironic it is that he gave me the answer himself."
"So Zero is...nothing?"
"Precisely. Zero is nothingness given form." Lelouch picked up the mask. "I built my revolution around this faceless being because it is not Britannian, or Japanese, or Eleven, or anything else. It is just Zero, and zero has no race or class that allow it to be subject to any preexisting bias. It allowed me to bring together people from all walks of life that he had so effectively divided with a common purpose." Lelouch explained.
"So why take it off?"
"I am nothing. Individually, we are all nothing, but united we can achieve anything. They understand that now, and the strength of Black Knights is the proof that it's true. I no longer need Zero to bring us together, our actions have made it self sustaining."
"Zero! We've broken through! Our armor is inside their last line of defense!" A Black Knights officer reported enthusiastically. The grin that manifested on Lelouch's face told Milly all she needed to know.
"Capture Princess Carine alive if you can, but don't take any unnecessary risks in doing so. If she gives you too much trouble do not hesitate to kill her." Lelouch quickly instructed.
It had been hours since Shirley had done anything other than breathe and stare at the live broadcast from Area 11. She could not stop watching as the army Lelouch had built tore through the city she had called home. It was amazing that the distant and lazy boy with a gambling problem was changing the world before her eyes.
She had been on the edge of her seat when the news aircraft landed in a field less than a hundred meters from her former dorm room to refuel next to a row of Black Knights aircraft. She looked as hard as she could for any sign of the student council among the activity on campus. She found nothing but uniformed Black Knights, knightmare frames, and all sorts of other military vehicles. Her best friends were down there somewhere living through it first hand, and she was watching from half a world away. It made her feel even more like a coward and a traitor.
"It's looking quite a bit calmer down there now." Shirley's attention came back to the present. "This is the first time since we went live that we cannot see any active battles in the city." Ashcroft reported as the nose camera scanned the area. Beside him, the Black Knight on board was listening in on a headset. Ashcroft leaned over for a moment, before returning to the center of the shot with a much more serious look.
"Ladies and gentlemen, viewers around the world, Area Eleven has fallen. I've been informed that all Imperial forces in the Tokyo area have been vanquished, with most having been annihilated in battle. The Order of Black Knights have just claimed a decisive victory over the Holy Britannian Empire."
AN: ∞+1 later. This is why I never make update promises. Life ended up getting in the way, and I had to throw this half way off the back burner for quite a while.
The insanely long battle is finally over. I probably could have stretched this chapter out to 13k or 14k, but I'm certain you've seen enough war for the moment. Right now, the end goal is either 25 or 26 chapters.
It's nice to see reviews still trickling in even after so long. Hard to believe it's almost been three years.