Entropic Catalyst: Code Geass

Lelouch slid down the carpet leading to his throne leaving a streak of red behind him. If no other part of Zero Requiem succeeded, at least his death would truly be a dramatic display for the world to remember for years.

Finally coming to a stop and lying still, Lelouch stared forward as if in a trance - the trance of dying. The world seemed so foreign all of a sudden, the haze beginning to cover his vision dulling colours to mere black and white. But there was red too, hovering over him, ruffling lightly in the breeze like flower petals.

Was that Nunnally?

At the back of his mind Lelouch remembered, everything he'd done since embarking on this great journey called "Geass" was for his sister - becoming Zero, fighting Britannia, even becoming the Demon Emperor - but in the end she would never know it. The secrets he took with him to the grave could only serve to bring ruin to Nunnally and the world if they were found out, and the thought he was sparing them all such turmoil eased Lelouch's last moments.

But then why? If Nunnally didn't know the truth then she should hate him. So why was she crying for him, then?

The world was only shades of grey and a splotch of blood red to Lelouch's eyes, and the only sound he could hear was wind rushing. Strange, since the wind levels were predicted to be low that day. Could it be an illusion brought on by the random firing of nerves and synapses in his brain, the final throes before they shut down forever? Or was it the sound of his very life draining from his body?

It didn't matter. What he felt now would be over soon enough, and Lelouch couldn't be any more content with the ending he'd bought with his sweat, tears, and finally blood. He took one last breath.

"I..." he whispered, delirious and on the edge of consciousness. "I destroy... the world... and created... a... new..."

His voice was faint and trembling, and he couldn't get all the words out, trailing off between them and even cutting some short. And then he exhaled and his eyes shut, and even the red of Nunnally's dress faded into black.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

'...'

There was a whisper, soft but somehow pressing, and Lelouch heard it through the darkness, echoing in his skull.

'...?'

What was it saying? It sounded so familiar, and yet it was like nothing he'd ever heard before. It was warm like friends, yet also cold like enemies. It was questioning, but also telling. It was close enough to reach out and touch, yet too distant to ever truly know.

'...'

It was calling to him, and Lelouch struggled to open his eyes, to attempt to find the inhuman speaker. They refused to budge though, as if glued shut with sleep. His mind was swirling with thoughts, repetitive, unfocussed, unclear, each one coming to him for an instant before leaving again, becoming lost in a maze of contradictory information.

'...?'

With a singular effort Lelouch forced his eyes open, struggling against the weight keeping them shut. He didn't know what he expected to see. He didn't know where he was or when or even why he bothered trying to find out. He'd acted without thinking, his mind too jumbled to make sense of anything, instead relying on instinct.

There was only white before him, an expanse of white that went on for eternity in all directions except for a spot of orange, Jupiter swirling curiously above him. Lelouch attempted to turn his head, but it was locked in place. He couldn't feel any of his limbs and couldn't move them either.

'...'

He attempted to speak, to reply to the strange voice calling to him, but no words came.

'...'

The weight against Lelouch's eyelids grew and he fought to keep them open, for what reason he did not know, but eventually they shut once more, the empty landscape of white turning black.

'...'

LLLLLLLLLLLL

Lelouch gasped for air and his eyes shot open. There was something over him, a sheet of white, covering his whole body, and his face too. He couldn't tell where he was for sure, but he could taste disinfectant in the air, and a voice, male, with a tone of cold professionalism, was somewhere nearby, speaking.

"... can therefore conclude the cause of death was lack of blood and subsequent organ failure starting with the heart, as previously mentioned."

Was that an autopsy report? Was that his autopsy report? It sure sounded like it, and as Lelouch continued to listen, not daring to move a muscle under the sheet, he recognized some of the lines.

"Subject was in good health, although his mental state was questionable."

Before his death, while still in New Pendragon and soon to fly back to Japan to make ready for his demise, Lelouch assembled more than a hundred people, teams of soldiers, doctors, after-death specialists, and others still, and met with them all in his Imperial Court.

They were nervous at first, unsure why they'd been called by the Emperor himself and been made to stand before him, but as soon as they were alone with him, sitting in his throne and with every door shut to make the meeting private, Lelouch flicked his fingers by his eyes and smirked.

"I, Lelouch vi Britannia command you..."

"Additional note," the man reading Lelouch's report continued, "the subject was found to be wearing contact lenses at time of death - will require optometrist to confirm, but first inspection indicates they were purely for cosmetic purposes and were much thicker than regular lenses."

Lelouch frowned. He was alive when clearly he should not have been. Just a moment ago he'd been in Tokyo, bleeding out in the finest performance of his life, but now he was somewhere else, in a sterile morgue no doubt. This wasn't according to plan. No, he'd planned out everything, down to the smallest detail, and this was most certainly not part of it!

He'd arranged everything ahead of time, made sure his body would be properly taken care of after his death. No detail went overlooked. After he was stabbed by Zero Lelouch would immediately be taken by geassed soldiers to his private jet and flown back to Britannia. Once there, he'd be rushed to a morgue in the city of Angels, in the grand duchy of California, an establishment small enough to be overlooked by questioning eyes, where geassed staff would pass him along to the next team as quickly as possible, to place him in a coffin and then aboard the Damocles to be launched into the sun.

Every report and every record of this process had been fabricated in advance, and multiple steps were to be purposely excluded to hurry things along even more. Autopsy, embalming, even getting him out of his bloodstained robes and into a fresh change of clothes, all would be skipped over. The longer Lelouch's corpse was left around the greater the chance someone could discover something they shouldn't, and then all Zero Requiem could be forfeit.

By Lelouch's estimation his plan had gone smoothly so far and he'd made it to the morgue safely, and the pathologists there were skipping normal proceedures, as ordered, to go straight to filing their prewritten reports. So far so good, but once again, the fact was that Lelouch was still alive, and that quite derailed the whole point of Zero Requiem.

Carefully, Lelouch began to sit up and pull the sheet off of himself. He'd been laying on an operating table, and getting a look down at himself he was pleased to see he was still clothed in white, stained with dry blood.

Without the sheet obscuring his vision the former hero-turned-villain turned his head to get a clearer picture of where he was. It was a somewhat small room, rounded about the edges and uniformly grey, impressing a feeling of claustrophobia into him. Along one of the shorter walls, opposite the entrance, was a line of square locker doors, and to the side was a large alcove outfitted with a desk and computer, something of a work station for on-duty staff.

"That concludes this report," finished the doctor, who Lelouch could now see had a clipboard held in front of him and was reading to another doctor standing nearby. Both of them had rings of orange around their irises.

"Alright, let's get him ready for the undertakers," replied the second one, looking directly at Lelouch and moving in close, not at all bothered that he was awake and sitting up rather than laying dead and still. "They said they'll be here around eight."

The two doctors approached Lelouch and he pushed himself off the operating table, feeling a bit unsteady on his feet. He half-shambled a few steps away and turned back to see one of the white-coated men go to fetch a rolling cart, returning to help transfer Lelouch's body onto it, going through the motions even though he was no longer there.

Lelouch couldn't help but shake his head as he watched the two professionals mime their work. In his Geass command he'd ordered everyone to ignore anything suspicious, but he hadn't expected such a literal result. It seemed the good doctors had classified a missing body, now getting up and walking away, as suspicious, and were therefore acting as if it were still right there.

All the better for him, Lelouch decided, going for the door to get out and leaving the two pawns to their task. He may not have known how he survived his assassination, but what Lelouch did know was he needed to get away, to find some private place to stop and regroup, and hopefully figure out just what in the hell was going on.

Before he could do anything else though, Lelouch blinked and scowled as he felt something rough against his eyes. With practiced skill he touched two fingers to them and removed the contacts keeping his Geass in check. He really should have considered taking them out before going to his death. Sleeping with them in always left a scratchy feeling behind when he woke up.

Though the door leading to freedom looked thick and heavy Lelouch had little difficulty getting it open, and passed through swiftly. Beyond this point were other workers who may not have been put under his spell, and he silently cursed to himself at his ill luck. All was not lost though. If he ran into anyone he could just use his Geass so they ignored him like those doctors before. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it would have to be enough. Once he found out why he was still alive he could contact Suzaku, no, contact Zero, and they could arrange a new ending to their plan. If he had the choice between living in secret, a now universally reviled and "dead" tyrant, or attempting to follow through with death, Lelouch wasn't yet sure which he'd choose.

Once he was through the door the Black King took one step, coming out into a long and near empty hallway, then halted abruptly at the unexpected sight that awaited him.

"It cannot be...!" Sitting on a bench built into the corridor wall with his head in his hands was Jeremiah Johann Gottwald. "Sire, you're...!"

"Jeremiah?" Lelouch questioned in a deadpan. "What are you doing here? After the assassination you were supposed to go back to the safehouse I set you up with." A head of pink leaned forward on the bench beside Jeremiah to gawk at the bloodstained emperor and he frowned. "And what's Anya doing here?"

Strangely, the girl was still clad in her straightjacket from the execution procession, unfastened now so she could use her limbs, of course.

"After the mob freed me from your float I followed Mr. Orange," she answered blandly, unconcerned at seeing a dead man walking, her eyes only slightly widening. "I just went where he went, and he went with the guys who took your body away."

"Is that so, Jeremiah?" Lelouch stared daggers at his servant, his Geass glowing accusing red. "You didn't follow my orders."

"Many apologies, My Liege," Jeremiah said solemnly, rising from his seat only to fall to his knees before his master. "But when I saw your eyes shut forever I couldn't help myself. I couldn't bear to leave your side even for a moment! What if something happened to your body and I wasn't there? I would never forgive myself!"

"So you accompanied the crew who flew me back to Britannia?"

"I didn't take my eyes off you once!"

Anya cocked her head to the side and added a quick sidenote to the cyborg's explanation.

"He didn't even take a nap the whole time."

"Yes," he confirmed. "That was my Catalepsean Implant. I can forestall sleep for some time with it. I didn't dare let you out of my sight for such a selfish thing as rest."

Lelouch didn't react, instead keeping his baleful red gaze centered on his favoured servant.

"I see. And you intended to...? What? You're well-known as my enforcer, Jeremiah, and upon my death you had to disappear. Why did you risk our entire operation?"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. I planned to stay with you to the very end and ensure your body was properly taken care of. After confirming you were aboard the Damocles I would take my leave to the farm as you planned."

"And Sayoko? You were supposed to make contact with her."

"I'm sorry, Sire. I don't know what became of Agent Shinozaki, but I'm sure when she didn't see me at the rendez-vous point she went on ahead without me."

Anya watched the two men converse with an empty stare and half-lidded eyes. Something inside of her was different, she'd been feeling it for around a month now, ever since the battle for the Damocles. She hadn't lost consciousness once in all that time, and more importantly certain memories had reappeared in her mind. A boy with long blonde hair and Marianne the Flash, and then cracks of gunfire, a stylized "V" that seemed to swallow her soul and leave her a lifeless husk - these were the memories that stuck out to her the most. And the same V was in each of Lelouch's eyes.

"Why are you alive, Lulu?" she interrupted with the usual lack of emotion in her tone, but strangely addressing Lelouch with his silly nickname. "You were dead just a few minutes ago. Are you like V.V.?"

Lelouch's gaze shot down to glare at the pinkette.

"How do you know that name?" he demanded slowly, menacingly low. Anya merely shrugged.

"I dunno. I saw him once. He killed your mom, I think."

"V.V..." Jeremiah's one natural eye widened in a sudden stupified rage. "He did WHAT!?"

Lelouch waved a hand dismissively at his Knight of Orange, not letting his sight leave Anya for even a moment.

"Calm yourself, Jeremiah. Sir Alstreim, you asked if I was like V.V.?"

She nodded noncommittally.

"Yeah. You know, not dying, not getting old."

"How do you know about that?"

"I dunno. Maybe I learned about it one time when I was unconscious."

Lelouch raised a brow.

"Unconscious?"

"They used to be complete blackouts, but I've started remembering things that happened. They're pretty weird."

Hearing this, Lelouch narrowed his eyes in hate.

'Mother's Geass...' he thought to himself, the explanation for Anya's trouble presenting itself to him in an instant. 'That woman... If anyone deserved to be called a witch it was her. Wait... A witch, just like V.V. Just like C.C...'

An answer to Lelouch's earlier mystery suddenly popped into his brain, and he turned his right palm over to get the first good look at it since waking up in the morgue. It was there: The bright slashes of red in the shape of a stylized "V."

"The mark of Geass..." Lelouch whispered in disbelief. "The reason I'm alive is because of a power that prevents my death. I've become immortal."

Jeremiah was astounded, a mix of relief and uncertainty stretching his face in an attempt to simultaneously smile and frown. Anya only nodded, accepting the improbable explanation as good enough.

How? How had this happened!? Lelouch traced back his encounters with bearers of the right palm Code and came up with a rough timeline. This Code had been V.V.'s, but then it was stolen by Charles. And the only chance to pass it on had been right before both he and his witch of a wife perished forever.

So that was it then? Did that mean Lelouch didn't have Geass anymore? He had to be sure.

"Jeremiah," he asked suddenly. "Look into my eyes and tell me what you see."

Jeremiah stood up from his kneeling position and did as he was told, staring straight into his master's burning gaze, then replied.

"I see Geass, Your Majesty."

"Geass? But Code should have..."

For another moment Lelouch paused, now in frantic thought. He obviously didn't know everything about Geass, mostly because a certain greenette refused to be up front with him about it, almost leading to complete disaster on multiple occasions and only prevented by his quick thinking. Still, Lelouch was certain he knew enough to solve this riddle.

Those with Complete Geass could take Code, and upon doing so the Code would activate after its new bearer's first death. Then Geass would be replaced completely. But he still had Geass, even being immortal. The only reason for that, the only variable that changed between C.C. having Code forced on her and Charles taking the power for himself, and him accidentally stealing it, was who they each got Code from. C.C. got Code from her own Contractor. And Charles stole it from his brother, his Contractor. Only Lelouch got Code from a foreign bearer. That would mean he hadn't completed his Contract with C.C. In other words...

"Without meaning to," Lelouch muttered to himself, "I seem to have discovered a way to exploit the system. To have both the Power of the King and the Code kings must follow..."

The Black King made a fist of his right hand and raised his chin high, a look of understanding and awe coming across his face as he continued.

"This loophole in the Contract... This new power...! It is mine alone to wield and a burden only I must ever bear. And I shall call it Code Geass."

Jeremiah's mouth fell open in dazzled wonder and he had to stop himself from clapping at Lelouch's triumphant declaration. Anya meanwhile didn't respond, not quite sure what all the fuss was about, and simply listened on in mild but disinterested confusion.

"We should probably get outta here," she said finally after a period of silence. "It might not be good if someone sees you're okay."

Lelouch nodded to the girl, surprised at himself. He was so caught up in his revelation he'd nearly forgotten he was officially dead.

"Right. We'll head straight for the safehouse. But first, tell me, Anya: Why are you so willing to help the Demon Emperor?"

The Knight of Six didn't answer right away, and her face revealed nothing of her inner thoughts. There was another prolonged silence and then one last time she shrugged, turning to lead the way out of the building.

"Suzaku said you were his best friend, and Suzaku was a good guy. Mostly. Dumb, but good. Jeremiah thinks you're alright too."

She began to walk off and Lelouch scoffed to himself before following after her, Jeremiah at his heels.

"You're extending me benefit of the doubt after all I've done?" Lelouch chuckled slightly, a memory of something someone once told him coming to mind. "Suzaku may have been a little more right than I gave him credit for. Perhaps there really was always some good to be found in the world - even in Britannia."

LLLLLLLLLLLL

The entire morgue staff knew Jeremiah and Anya were there only a minute after they arrived, for gossip flew quickly of those famous Britannian knights who found themselves on opposite sides of a war, coming in with a last-minute delivery for the day, and a rather unusual delivery at that. Some men in army uniform marched in carrying a long, body-length bag and walked it past the receptionist straight to one of the operating rooms without a word, the two knights following the lesser soldiers just as silently. They left immediately after, but this time Jeremiah and Anya didn't join them. Before anyone had the chance to even wonder where they'd disappeared to though, they were already back through the hall and on their way out, and they were not alone.

Terrifyingly, a man in white robes stained red was with them. His hair was black and messy as if he'd just gotten up from bed, and his eyes were piercing, glowing crimson. The receptionist didn't seem to notice, staring blankly forward as she had since Jeremiah and Anya first arrived, but one doctor was passing by as the now trio approached the outer door, and she gasped.

"L-l-l-le-le-...!" she stuttered in fear. "But you... It was on the news!"

Lelouch spun to meet her gaze, power burning in his eyes, and he spat.

"Forget that you saw us."

"Uh..." The doctor's eyes glazed over, rings of orange appearing around her irises. "Okay, no problem."

Without another word Lelouch, Jeremiah, and Anya hurried out of the building to avoid being seen again, being met with the late evening air of Angels. The sun was only beginning to set and through its last rays of the day it cast an orange light over the cityscape below, retreating under the lengthening shadow of night. They began walking, Jeremiah taking the lead.

"As you planned, m'lord," he said, approaching the car park without slowing, "a van was waiting to pick you up after your flight from Japan. Anya and I came with it when you were dropped off here."

Lelouch nodded.

"By now it could be an hour away. We'll have to find another vehicle."

"We could catch a cab," Anya offered. "Use magic on the driver and he won't even care you're supposed to be dead."

Jeremiah approached a car and looked it over, Lelouch and Anya stopping behind him. It was sleek and black, and a streak of silver was painted from bonnet to boot. It was newly washed, not a speck of dirt on its gleaming, polished exterior, and Jeremiah raised a hand.

"That won't be necessary." A golden blade slid out from the top of the cyborg's wrist and he stabbed it into the car's locking mechanism, twisting it like a key then retracting in once more. He placed his fingers on the door's handle and pulled and the portal opened without difficulty. "Get in."

Anya hummed quietly in surprise and did as she was bade, opening the back passenger door without trouble and scrambling in. Lelouch raised a brow and smirked, stepping round to shotgun position and doing the same while Jeremiah got into the driver's seat, closing the door behind him.

Safely inside, Jeremiah's mask opened, allowing the glowing green of his circuited bionic left eye to show, and he reached down to place his hands around the steering wheel's trunk. He tugged, exerting only a small effort with his mechanical augmentations but managing to rip the device off completely, revealing a tangle of wires.

"The farm is only a ten hour drive from Angels," he confirmed, tearing one wire before him in half. He reached under his sleeve and pulled out a thin cord, tying the now severed wire around it and touching its exposed filament to the cord's. The car barked. "We'll make the trip in five."

Jeremiah shifted the car from PARK and it growled to life, its lights turning on and its engine revving, and barely a moment later it shot forward, turning out onto the street and leaving the morgue behind.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

It was deep into the night when the headlights of the teams's stolen car fell upon the safehouse, coming to a stop just outside its front door, and Lelouch, Anya, and Jeremiah stepped out. True to his word, Jeremiah had driven them there astoundingly quick, manipulating the stolen vehicle with his mind alone, taking turns and passing other cars with machine precision at outrageous speeds. They'd passed the five hours of travelling in silence, though Anya's belly gurgled quite loudly after a while, hunger finally setting in. In all the chaos they'd entirely forgotten they hadn't eaten since before the big execution, now more than a day ago, almost two.

The safehouse was a large home, painted white and blue, surrounded by acres of fertile ground and lines upon lines of orangetrees, far removed from civilization. As Lelouch said, Jeremiah had worked for him during his dark reign as Emperor and would no doubt come under fire for the terrible crimes he'd carried out under imperial orders. Sayoko had the excuse of being forced to join Lelouch, and was imprisoned after she "betrayed" him to the Black Knights, but still the Black King took no chances, and he recommended she go into hiding as well, if only for a time.

The plan had been simple enough. While his body was being passed between teams of geassed helpers, Jeremiah would skulk off as the crowd cheered his master's death. Sayoko and her fellow prisoners were to be broken out of Lelouch's jail soon after, and not staying for pleasantries she was to meet up with the cyborg knight to take a second plane back across the ocean to Britannia, en route directly for the farm. They'd decided on this aspect of Zero Requiem together, and Lelouch had prepared everything in secret, setting the duo up to potentially hide out in peace for years.

Now though, two more people were added into the mix, Anya and Lelouch himself, and it was still to be seen if that would change anything moving forward.

The team got out of the car, closing their doors behind them, and Anya looked up at the two-storey home with dull appreciation.

"Nice place," she said amid a yawn.

Jeremiah spared her a glance and nodded proudly.

"It truly is. Are you going to be staying with us tonight, Sir Alstreim?"

"Mm..." She considered for a moment then placed a hand over her growling stomach and remembered she was still wearing a straightjacket. "Yeah."

Before any of them could enter, the house's front door opened, a woman with green hair and flashing gold eyes walking out to greet them.

"Lelouch..."

"C.C.?" he wondered back. "What are you doing here?"

A tear welled up in C.C.'s eye as she stepped out and threw her arms around her accomplice, letting it trail down her joyous smile, followed by another.

"You're alright! I wasn't sure at first, but when I didn't feel our Contract end I thought there might be hope..."

She squeezed the king tighter and another woman appeared at the door behind her, Sayoko, eyes wide that her lord yet lived.

"Lelouch-sama...!"

"Hello, Sayoko," he gasped out beneath C.C.'s grip. "It seems my time hasn't come just yet after all."

"But how...?"

Finally C.C. released her truest friend, and after a second to catch his breath Lelouch raised his right palm, displaying the symbol there for all to see. His Code gave off a faint glow, and seeing it C.C. understood exactly why he was alive. Sayoko wasn't quite sure what the strange mark meant, though she'd noticed it before on C.C.'s forehead, and knowing her lord she simply accepted it as his answer. Somehow he was alive, having survived rebellions and war and death itself, and that was all she cared about.

"May I come inside?" Anya asked, reminding everyone she was there. Sayoko raised a brow and was about to ask why an enemy of Lelouch was with him now, only for Jeremiah to act first, giving the girl a pat on the shoulder and motioning for her to follow him.

"Please do, Sir Alstreim. We should have plenty of space for you to set up here for a while."

The cyborg passed by Sayoko with a smile, his fellow agent who'd fought and sacrificed for Lelouch, and she nodded slightly to him, receiving the confirmation she needed that Anya could be trusted. The pinkette didn't seem to have any ill intentions, nor any real thoughts to speak of given the blank look on her face, so the maid stepped aside to let her in, following after her and closing the door so C.C. and Lelouch could be alone outside.

Lelouch looked into C.C.'s golden eyes and she looked back into his, smoldering with red power. Lelouch still had Geass? Clearly there was a story behind this, but it didn't need to be told right then. There was a more pressing concern to address first.

"Well, Lelouch," C.C. wondered, almost hesitantly, "you're immortal now, just like your father and uncle before you. I'm sure you're mortified you didn't predict such an end to your grand scheme."

Lelouch didn't move, didn't react at all to C.C.'s attempt at banter, keeping his eyes centered on hers.

"It's true, I never asked for this. If anything I just wanted to die, to make it all end. I'm tired, C.C."

"So..." The immortal girl paused before she could finish her question, uncertain she wanted to hear Lelouch's answer. How funny, after centuries of watching others die, and even after witnessing him die once already, the thought of losing Lelouch now stirred her emotions more than ever. "Does that mean you're going to carry out the missing piece of Zero Requiem yourself? Are you going to finish what Suzaku started?"

Lelouch considered for a moment. He glanced down at his right palm, concentrating, tracing the lines of the mark engraved upon it with his eyes, over and over. He touched it to his chest, right over his heart, once pierced but now beating again as if nothing ever happened. He shut his eyes and answered slowly.

"Zero Requiem..." C.C. hung on his every word in front of him, her body tight and anxious and her mouth suddenly dry as she awaited his final decision. "Zero Requiem is my new Contract. I granted the Geass of Zero Requiem to everyone so that a bright future might come with my death. Who knows what'll happen though: War? Famine? Tyrancy the likes of which will put the Demon Emperor to shame? Perhaps. But whatever comes, it will be the world's choice. Zero Requiem is a clean slate for all, to do with as they wish."

Lelouch opened his eyes again, the glow of Geass receding ever so slightly from his gaze. He seemed at peace, and it made C.C. worry. He'd been at peace once before as well, right before he'd gone out to die at Zero's hands.

"And," she whispered to him, placing a hand to his cheek, "it's a clean slate for you as well."

Lelouch didn't answer right away, just stared into C.C.'s eyes, searching them for meaning. He touched a hand to her cold fingers and pulled them from his face and slowly began to nod.

"You're right. It is a clean slate. And Lelouch vi Britannia died to obtain it, killed by Zero, the saviour of all the world."

A thankful smile started on C.C.'s lips and she shifted her hand under Lelouch's grip, taking it solidly in hers, their eyes never wavering from each other.

"One should come to death smiling, right, L.L.?"

L.L. gave a sly grin and hummed his agreement.

"I couldn't say it better myself, C.C."

LLLLLLLLLLLL