I'm' back with the next chapter! It took a while longer then I planned but something just popped in work time and just didn't had time to finish it but here it is.
And thank you all for favoring and following this story. I do appriciate your revies and hope that you will leave more of them.
There will probably be one more chapter covering the Shinjuku incident and then we will move on. And one more thing there are some parts in the story I'm not changing like the way some battles unfold and then I won't write them... Or maybe I will we will see.
But for now, enjoy!
"..." - normal speech
'...' - thoughts
"..." - Geass commend
"..." - speaker announcement
"..." - comlink/radio talking
"-and that's pretty much the present situation."
Explaining the situation to the disoriented Jeremiah was certainly not an easy thing as Lelouch himself had still a few points he himself had yet to accept. But still, he made sure to put every important part of his theory so that his Knight and Witch as well could here him.
After somehow reawakening the Margrave, the young prince quickly passed him the second cell phone that he used mostly to arrange his gambling chess matches. It was virtually untraceable and after deleting all other information than dilling a number of his private line he safely gave the only means of contact to Jeremiah and headed back in order to resume his command over Kozuki's Resistance Cell.
"I see. Still... this is certainly a debt well repaid your highness."
"Indeed. I can't really debate about that. Jeremiah I will ask just to make sure: are you still willing to help me? Even when I assume my identity as Zero?"
As a member of Lelouch's circle of trust, he knew of 'Zero Requiem's' final objective and the reasons behind its creation. The faceoff with Emperor Charles and Empress Marianne in Thought Elevator and the sole fact that the woman Jeremiah used to love was still alive in a matter of speaking was a big factor.
"...What are you saying, my Lord? Serving a man, prepared to sacrifice his own life for the future of the world is an honor I would gladly accept." reassured of his allegiance, the Knight of Orange once again was prepared to stand tall for his Lord and his goal.
With a sigh of relief, Lelouche lessened his expression and adopted a small smile.
"Thank you, Jeremiah. For now, continue as you used to before and contact me at night."
"Yes, your majesty!"
How did you know that was going to work?" asked C.C.
"What?"
"Jeremiah. Restoring his memories."
"Oh... to tell the truth, I didn't know. It was a quite similar feeling to the first time I have ever used my Geass - it came naturally. But mostly it was a gamble on my part."
"Oh care to explain as we have time until Ohgi's men get organized?"
Just as she said Lelouch just finished giving them there code names and primary objective and positions to occupy.
"Remember that he was not fully human when 'Requiem' came about. His memories were mostly date in scientific terms. And since he had a power opposite to Geass not to mention created by human hand-"
"Geass Canceller, huh..."
While she understood the idea behind it still seemed a bit too far-fetched for her liking. Sensing her doubts he added a part that was unlike him - without any logic.
"Like I said I took a gamble with him. I had no 100% success with this. But it was certainly worth it. Now I have a royal subordinate inside the Government, willing to aid my endeavor."
"...Leaving that for now, how are you going to play it this time?"
Lelouch futures turned dead series and looked upon digital display of the battlefield.
"There is no need to change things, for now at least. There is still matter of Suzaku but..." he
stopped his thought as he remembered words of that woman in World of C.
'May you three correct the mistakes of the past and once again create the world anew.'
"Three... me, C.C. and...' at first he considered Jeremiah as third but after seeing his reaction at their meeting face to face not to mention when he gave the command for him to 'Awaken' he could see the memories that Jeremiah saw just as he saw the blue light that accompanied them.
'There are still many unknowns, not to mention that I have total control over my Geass. Could it be that this whole time-travel made my it evolve even further?'
"Hey!" voice of his Witch made him snap from his thinking as she gestured to the monitor;
"Seems like Kallen is closing in on Ohgi's position with a tail." and just as she said the ever-present Q-1 IFF was shown coming for the first point of ambush.
'Forget about that for now, concentrate on the present, it would certainly be embarrassing to lose such easy game, especially when playing it a second time.'
Clovis la Britannia, Viceroy of Area 11 was not having a good day.
First his pet project - 'Code R' was stolen during one of his parties, then order purge of Shinjuku ghetto so that no soul would have knowledge of the stolen object and know on all screens in his G-1 base dozen of IFF signals were being replaced with the word 'LOST'.
This was supposed to end after he sent most of his forces to crush the terrorists in one place, but that was all a trap.
He backed off, as his heeled boots clicked against the floor.
'Who- who in God's name am I fighting against? Don't tell me-!? He's even better than Thodo!'
"Lloyd!" he yelled and the image of eccentric scientist once again took the main screen.
"Can it win? Will your toy be able to beat them?"
Lloyd face shifted into one of seriousness and conviction while still retaining his insufferable grin.
"Your Highness... Please call it Lancelot."
"Advance unit weapon Z-01, now activating. Lancelot, activating."
"Have you read the manual?"
"Yes" answered Suzaku while finishing putting on his original pilot suit provided by CAMELOT, which after zipping automatically adapted to his body's shape.
"Well done. Although in the simulator you always scored in the top class."
"Thank you."
As Suzaku made his way outside he saw as the palled extended and the cover of the white giant fell off.
"Suzaku this is the experimental unit developed by us in the Advance Special Envoy Engineering Corps. Lancelot. The world's first ever 7th generation Knightmare Frame." and just as Cecile said this was certainly something that none could create if they were not named Lloyd Asplund.
"All right then Suzaku, shall we proceed with the initial start-up sequence?" asked standing behind the protection shields Lloyd.
"Right."
As Suzaku mounted the pilot seat he felt truly nostalgic. This was his first ever Knightmare combat in which he for the first time faced his best friend as an enemy. While his knowledge of the future gave him a considerable amount of advantage over Lelouche he better than anyone knew that quick thinking was nothing special for the prince.
'In which case, I should stick to the past. There's no telling what Lelouche could think of if I had managed to overcome all of his plans.'
"Confirming man-machine interface."
"All systems green"
Lancelot's land spinners came down and the entire frame changed into lunching position.
"Z-01, Lancelot. Suzaku Kururugi, M.E. boost!"
In that moment activating full power of engine the Knightmare that once came to feared as 'White Death' and his devicer shot down the destroyed streets of Shinjuku, leaving the scientists in dust and one of them even laughing like a maniac.
"Haha! Full throttle right off the gate huh?!"
'It's time.'
"All units be advised the battle is far from over" announced Lelouche to all units under his command.
"Huh? What are you talking about, we took them-"
"No. They have one more card to play. A next Gen prototype Knightmare frame."
That information caused massive shouting out of fear or anger.
"Don't worry. It's one unit and all we need to do is slow it down"
"What do you mean K-1?" asked Ohgi.
"I need group N and Q-1, P-5 to intercept this prototype the rest of you use your machines to evacuate the remaining civilians. After that hide the frames in the tunnels."
That order surprised some of them but they certainly did not want to involve innocent in their own fight, not when so many already died because of their choices.
"..All right. Kallen, I leave you in charge of the remaining guys, the rest of you find as many people and get them further into the city. Tamaki don't get them killed."
"Why are you making it sound as it's my fault?!"
"Cause it is! If you have just followed the plan...!" replied angered Oghi.
"Thank you B-2, no Ohgi Kaname, right?"
"?! How-?"
"I am a well-informed individual when it comes to resistance cells in Tokyo. I will contact you later on until then don't get yourself or your men killed."
"Right, and whoever you are, you have my thanks. Take care of those guys, please."
"I don't plan on letting any of them die today."
After meeting up with the other retreating units, the N group with Kallen and Tamaki started listening on the plan that K-1 devised to counter this 7th Gen frame.
"All right then, listen carefully everyone-"
'This is wrong.' thought Suzaku while passing yet another destroyed building.
He deployed 5 minutes ago and he had yet to make any contact with the enemy. Last time as soon as he got into the center region of Shinjuku he was taking out Sutherland left and right and now not even any civilians still hiding in wreckages of the city.
But then he spotted a lone Sutherland turning to face him.
Suzaku accelerated and wanted to finish it by disabling the lone frame but as he was just a meter from his target he felt a very unsettling shiver and without even having time to think why - working on pure instincts, he activated the Luminus Blaze shields on both arms just in time to deflect a barrage of bullets from both sides of the crossroads.
'What-!? A trap!?'
"Well, this certainly worked." deadpanned C.C.
"There was no reason for it not to work. Suzaku is too straightforward, once he starts moving he has a habit of not thinking. By giving him an easy target I made that habit appear." explained Lelouche as he navigated his Sutherland forward Clovis G-1 base.
'With the plan already in execution and Kallen there to make sure of it, every condition for victory have been achieved. Now all that's left is to deal with that fool of a brother.'
'Although...' he looked down to see camera image from P-5 of Lancelot under heavy fire.
'That should have been a checkmate, and yet he was able to react in time to activate the shields. If my memory is correct Lanecolt's warning system was still half done as they needed pilots input in order to correct any calibrations. Meaning it was not the machine reaction but Suzaku's...' while in deep thought he started to bore his gaze into the image, noticing it his ever faithful witch took controls from his hands' which made him reflect on the present situation.
"You're going to crush us into the ground if you continue to gaze that passionately at the monitor."
"... Apologize. I was just thinking that-"
"He was too fast."
Her answer surprised him, it seemed like the contractors both notice the same thing.
"His reaction to this trap. Even during Narita, he was not that fast." she clarified her though.
Her input made Lelouches thought process more efficient and he came to the only conclusion possible. The only people with reaction speed necessary to counter an attack of that precision and timing were Knight of One, Kallen, maybe Gino and-
'...Everything points to this conclusion. Only Knight of Zero could have evaded that trap. The only probable reason he is still on the defensive is that of his shock at the present situation and the 3 line valley I ordered them to keep.'
The 3 line valley was one of the more famous formations used during Sengoku period by Oda
Nobunaga who was once called 'The Demon King'. Only fitting for one who claimed the title, later on, to use it now. It was a very simple yet effective way to continue shooting without giving the opponent any chance of taking momentum. Fortunately, most members of the Kozuki resistance cell knew the history of their own country and easily understood what they were supposed to do, with the only exception as always being the stupid bigmouth Tamaki. It was certainly a big boost to their morals as they could use this formation and 'stick it to the Britts' as Tamaki would not have doubt explained it like that.
Deciding to confirm his theory giving the full control over to C.C. he took the radio and contacted his most trusted Queen.
"Q-1, do you copy?'
"I hear you K-1. Your plan is working! Amaz-"
"How is the evacuation going?'
"... Ohgi just contacted me and said that they just started to move the last of people into safe houses. The should be finished in 5 minutes." answered Kallen but her tone of voice certainly pointed that she was annoyed that he cut her talking.
"Very well then. Listen, I want you to engage plan 5-W. Do you understand?"
"? But you said that was in case he got past Tamaki and-"
"That's what is going to happen in 2 minutes. Remeber we have a limited amount of ammunition. If my calculation is correct then N group has 2-5 minutes of barrage left when it's over that's when you need to engage the plan. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Very well. Good luck... stay safe." before Kallen could retear at his sincere tone, Lelouch cut off the radio and leaned back in his chair and unknowingly brushed his finger on his lips remembering the last moment he spoke to Kallen.
'With this, we will be sure of the current condition. Suzaku if you are just like us, you will be able to prevail, if not... I hope no permanent damage will be done to you.'
"Let us hurry. It's time to finish this game." hearing his words C.C. made a small smile and put full throttle on the machine.
'This is ridicules!' finding himself under the unending barrage of bullets Suzaku could just wonder how this was happening as he had never been under such situation in Shinjuku previously.
"Private Kururugi! Whats happening?" he hears Cecily voice from his comlink.
"It was a trap! I'm under heavy fire! Fortunately, I was able to deploy Blaze Luminous shielding just in time but my filler is already down to 50%!"
"What?!" shouted Loyed in fear for his prized creation instead of the one piloting it.
"This is bad! At this rate, the shield will- What? How?!"
"Miss Cecily?" the shouting of his coordinator not directed at him under this situation started him. But before he could ask what was going on he heard the loud sound of an explosion coming from both of his sides and underneath him.
"This will finish it." said Kallen just after clicking the detonator that was wired to the bombs placed by members of the N group before any of the chosen with the new enemy could start.
She was still baffled how K-1 was able to predict the movement of this new enemy so perfectly. Position, amount of bullets and even the timing of arrival and end of ammunition.
'But at least with this, we won. No way anyone could get out of this trap.' but soon enough Kallen would know that it was better not to count one's chicken before it hatched.
Chaos was the only explanation that Suzaku could have at his present position. Between 'Warning' signs exploding on his main monitor and the shouting of Camelot members on his comlink, he could not believe what was happening.
But even now the only thing he could think of was seeing his friends at academy again, apologizing to his best friend and meeting with her once more... and then he heard that angelic voice of his beloved happily calling him.
'Suzaku.'
"Like-Like I will let it end like this!"
And then for the first time since coming back, his eyes flashed with the all too familiar glow but this time it was blue and the accursed sigil of Geass took shape in both of his eyes.
Sooo... yeah that happened.
Please leave a review and comment on the direction I'm heading. It will help me write future chapters.
Next update will be either in a week or 2. Ciao!