Scarese – Oh, Jeremy.
Demons – I always loved that saying.
Loki – Rolo will be fun to write.
Suzu – Pink.
BK42 – I love it when people don't get the point. Makes my job fun!
Leo – Right? Just sheer poetry.
Titanfire – It will.
Glad to see you guys are enjoying / confused by my story. Kudos for making it this far.
[*****]
So here we are. This was the first legitimate Knightmare battle Lelouch had ever participated in. This time there were no tricks, no poison gas bribing, no going behind enemy lines, no stowed-away warehouses; it was the Black Knights versus the Britannians – Purists – in their own element. Although it helped that Lelouch had the upper hand from the get-go; his Geass had allowed him to sneak a few Britannian guards inside the control system and cut the communication lines, meaning there was no easy way to call for reinforcements. The line of explosives he'd had planted along the catwalks and weapon beds had helped as well.
Jeremiah has a strong card, though. The Viceroy Palace is nearby the Tokyo Settlement, so if he decides to use an escape route, he can go there. And from what I heard, there's a Britannian mass-production lab in the Settlement. Guess I'll just have to stop him before that happens… hopefully, he added. His Zero suit felt awfully hot.
Alright, let's see. Lelouch turned his attention to the screen in front of him, trying his best to multitask between giving orders and helping his comrades shoot. Immediately, dozens of strategies and counter-strategies began to fly through his head at a lightning-fast rate. There was no coordinated strategy for the battle beyond "cut the lines and blow them all to hell", and Lelouch's Geass wasn't going to work from the confines of his Knightmare. There's truly no way out.
Lelouch switched on his private communicator, taking cover near a smoking pile of debris that used to be an observation tower. "Listen up! We have the advantage of surprise but not much else. The Purists are in chaos right now, but it's only a matter of time before they get organized. We need to strike and do so fast."
"What do you want us to do?" Kallen responded, sounding harried. At the same time, an array of bullets began to strike the exterior of Lelouch's cover.
Shit! Lelouch fired a flurry of bursts back, managing to strike down the Sutherland's leg by luck. He wasted no time in trying to evade the unit. "Ohgi, can you hear me?"
Ohgi: "Zero, are you sure we should be using our names?!"
"There's no way they could hack into our private feed even if they wanted to! Now listen." Lelouch paused to take a breath, collecting his thoughts. "Ohgi, I want your units, Naomi's, and Yoshida's to form a half-circle around the southeast walls – that's where their other beds are, and we can't allow them to access or take control of that area no matter what! Minami, your unit is the largest – divide it into three units and have them blitzkrieg the outbuildings in the center! Sugiyama, half of your unit is going to backup Minami; the other half is going to provide reconnaissance to the north. Kallen, Tamaki – help Minami's recon unit. You cannot, I repeat, cannot allow Jeremiah or any of them to escape towards the North!"
Lelouch heard a flurry of rights and okays and yessir's, then he turned his attention to the terrorist cells. Another one of the spoils of war – or rather, one of the spoils of being part of the Black Knights – was the public appeal. A total of four terrorist cells had ceased being independent and decided to join forces with Zero in order to get a taste of that same sweet success. To Lelouch, they currently weren't worthy of much, but they had their various uses.
"Akia – you're going to lay down suppressing fire for Ohgi's units along the southwest. Destroy any of the remaining walkways or towers in your way!"
"Wouldn't it be wiser to do the west?" Akia shot back, apparently not used to following orders.
"You signed up to follow me, now do it," Lelouch responded, trying his best at concealing his impatience. "Segata, Kato, Koichi, your units are going to be foot soldiers."
"What?" Koichi responded, half-disbelieving, half out-of-it.
"We could just fire until the walls cave in!" Segata pointed out, the Knightmare arm gesturing to the somewhat-wrecked buildings. "There's no need to do something unnecessarily reckless."
"They could have Britannians underground or in bunkers of some sort! I understand it's dangerous, but you're going to have to trust me! I am Zero for a reason-!"
"Out of the way!" Koichi spat, knocking Lelouch's Burai down to the side with such force it made Lelouch jolt upwards in his seat in shock. Bullets and explosives flew above Lelouch as Kato and Koichi responded with suppressing fire.
Holy hell. The Sutherland that took a shot at Lelouch exploded; out of the corner of his eye, he saw the cockpit flying away. His heart racing, Lelouch had the stupid impulse to check his phone. Before realizing how idiotic an idea that was, he realized he had a lot of missed calls. A lot, a majority of them from Rivalz and Shirley.
What- Stupid! Don't lose focus! Lelouch practically threw the phone down on the Knightmare dashboard and managed to pick the Knightmare back up, twisting his torso around until he was sweating all over.
"Gotta be a little quicker than that, Zero," Akia snarked.
"Duly noted! Get to your positions!" Lelouch shot back.
Being a bastard is more of a bonus than a liability. "Minami, did you get that?!" Lelouch asked, grasped his communicator.
"Yessir. I'll be sure not to blow up too many of our teammates on foot."
There was a lot of distorted chatter over the communicator, lots of yelling and phonemes like argh and damn and a few take that's.
Glancing at the map, Lelouch surged forward. "I'm joining Sugiyama's unit! Be on the lookout!"
"Zero! Jeremiah just came out of one of the beds, but the rest of his men are defending it! What should we do?" Ohgi came in, crystal clear.
Lelouch snaked along a row of houses and buildings in the center, quickly joining Sugiyama, taking care to avoid any unnecessary spats with stray Sutherlands. Seeing an opportunity, his eyes lit up. "Try and line up your remote-controlled explosives along the entrance of the bed! You can trap them inside!"
"We'll try our best!" Naomi responded quickly.
"Zero, watch out! Get behind me!" one of Sugiyama's troops roared, positioning himself in front of Zero. Lelouch adjusted his scope and saw the action – Knightmares were coming in two at a time, diving out of the bright sun. They were quickly followed up by sharp, yellow flashes of gunfire, some of which struck Lelouch's own unit.
Damn! "Where the hell do they keep these?" Sugiyama spat as they all began to return fire.
Remember, Lelouch. Aim, but don't take too long, fire—
Shit! That one's fast!
Why the hell do I have so many missed calls?
The Black Knights seem to be in place.
C.C. better not be here!
As Lelouch's thoughts were flying through his head at breakneck pace, he heard various chatter across the radio.
"Die, Britannian!"
"Reinforce the line!"
"This is Tamaki reporting in! Who the hell stole my Knightmare?!"
"Look out!"
"Behind that tower!"
"There's an entire other depot they could have gotten to," someone responded to Sugiyama's query, Lelouch not particularly caring who it was. There was one Sutherland that was moving way too fast for its own good, trying to cut a path through Sugiyama and Minami's units in the center.
Lelouch quickly checked the map. Good, good, good, good, good… Then, out of the blue, an artillery shell came flying towards Lelouch and an enormous amount of dust and dirt began to cake the exterior of his Burai. The aftershock was violent enough to make Lelouch's teeth rumble.
God damn it! Was that the same uni-?!
Lelouch barely had time to use the clearing system before he was knocked off his feet by a force that had to be a Slash Harken. He saw stars as his unit smacked the ground; the clearing system wiped away the dirt, but all Lelouch saw was a very angry-looking Sutherland standing over him with a light rifle. Fearing for his life and trusting his survivalist instincts, Lelouch threw a wild punch that managed to connect onto the soft palette of the Sutherland's "neck"; soon, Minami counterattacked with a Slash Harken of his own, knocking the Sutherland into a singular building with a tremendous boom. Lelouch, by this point, was sweating almost all over.
"You're a real pain in the ass, Zero!" the pilot of that unit childishly shot back. "Good thing I was just the decoy."
Before Lelouch even had time to tell him to fuck off and die, yet another Slash Harken slammed into the side of his Burai.
No!
He lost his breath and felt a series of little aches shoot across his body once the hit landed. His arms screaming in exhaustion, Lelouch pathetically raised his wrist-mounted Protectors to try and shield his unit from another onslaught, but was surprised to find there was no follow-up. He twisted his scope and managed to deduce which Sutherland attacked him.
"How many times am I going to have to deal with you, Zero?!" The Sutherland in question was holding a jousting lance, pointing it at Zero menacingly.
Let me fucking guess.
"Could ask you the same thing, Gottwald," Lelouch heaved. "I know what you were trying to do, and I'm not letting it happen! Sugiyama, Minami! Cut him and his goons to pieces!"
"Kewell! On Zero, now! This ends here!"
The "decoy" from before had managed to rise from the debris Minami had unceremoniously knocked it into and was shooting directly towards Zero, whipping out a Chaos Mine from its metal pouch at the hip. This time, Lelouch was prepared for Kewell's onslaught.
Lelouch raised his rifle and shot at the Chaos Mine.
[*****]
AREA 11 BRITANNIAN LABORATORY
Of all the things Suzaku was prepared for, seeing a tired-looking General Bartley was not one of them. Even more surprising was Bartley's outfit, a form-fitting prisoner's uniform, the kind with all the leather buckles and straps.
I know how uncomfortable those are, sir. The moment Bartley showed up, wounded and exhausted, the lab's security team had him gently escorted inside, placing him in the observation room where he had a nice panoramic view of the recently-finished Lancelot. He was given something to eat and drink, and was given from fresh antiseptic and gauze for his wounds, ointment for his light burns. He hadn't spoken a word to anyone until Lloyd Asplund and Cecile Croomy came into the room; Suzaku had been awkwardly leaning against the wall the whole time, unsure of what to say.
"Bartley Asprius! Long time no see," Lloyd cooed, ebullient as ever. "It looks like you've been through hell's bells and back."
"Could have been worse, I suppose," Bartley muttered, his voice hoarse and breathy.
"So, my precocious General, tell me all about it. What happened?"
"…Do you want to know the circumstances regarding my arrest or how I got hurt?"
"Ideally, both," Lloyd said, pulling up a swivel chair and sitting across from Bartley. Cecile gave a shy, worried smile to both him and Suzaku.
"Whatever makes you feel most comfortable, General," Cecile said, in a motherly fashion.
"…It's Zero."
Suzaku's face was now etched into a dark frown.
"He's currently attacking Viceroy Jeremiah Gottwald and his Purists…" Bartley continued, staring into his hands. "No, that wouldn't be right. It's a no-holds-barred slaughter. All I saw were fire and guns and yelling. There was… a missile that impacted a few of the stone walls in the prison, blew holes right through 'em. The foundation was just crumbling…"
"How did you escape?" Cecile continued.
Bartley chuckled. "Stole an enemy Knightmare. The man who was piloting it was an idiot."
"Sounds dangerous. You could have died," Cecile said, frowning.
"I would have died had I stayed there."
"How do you feel about Jeremiah Gottwald getting curbstomped?" Lloyd asked, bluntly, readjusting his spectacles.
"I beg your pardon?"
Lloyd shrugged. "You were a follower of Prince Clovis… wherever he is now. Jeremiah took over. Surely you're not harboring any… begrudging feelings, are you?"
Suzaku could hear the danger in Lloyd's voice. Bartley looked away, and in that instant Suzaku knew everything.
"Do you want me to go in the Lancelot?" Suzaku spoke up, without a second thought.
All eyes were upon him.
"I… I mean it, sir," Suzaku continued. "We have a commander and a comrade in danger! The Lancelot has more than enough power to help out, and it's been basically finished… so, why not? Sir."
Cecile glanced sidelong at Lloyd. "Well?"
"Should be a good test run," Lloyd said, not bothering to hide his excitement. "At long last, we can unveil Lancelot to the world!" He stood up and slithered towards the door. "Come, Suzaku. Let's get you outfitted for combat!"
Suzaku was quick to follow. Lightning-quick.
"Ugh, men," Cecile grumbled. "Stay here for a few minutes more, General Bartley."
Suzaku turned the corner, heading towards the soldier barracks to grab his flightsuit, but Cecile was closely following him. "Suzaku, what are you doing? The Lancelot hasn't been in any combat scenarios yet!"
"With all due respect, you've seen how powerful it is, ma'am!" Suzaku countered. "Power like that could be more than enough to stop a few MP models."
"We don't know how consistent the power will be – those were just tests. In addition, we don't know how long the batteries will last without a cable, how secure the interior is, how well the cockpit system works…"
None of that matters. This is what I have to do. Suzaku opened the door to the men's barracks, turning to face Cecile. "You don't have to worry, ma'am. I can do it. It's my duty as a Britannian soldier."
"There's a fine line between doing what's right and doing what's wise, Suzaku…"
Suzaku nodded. Cecile sighed and turned away, presumably heading back towards the lab. Suzaku wasn't pleased about having to fight on Jeremiah Gottwald's side – as it was, Jeremiah was the one trying to dismantle the Honorary Britannian system and remove all Elevens from the military. But this was a wise thing to do – if Suzaku sprang to Jeremiah's aide, maybe the man would consider thinking twice about his crusade against the Elevens.
Someone has to be a hero. If not me, then who else? Suzaku thought, a light smile appearing on his face as he stripped and put on his flightsuit. For a moment, he stared at the man in the mirror. Soft, sad green eyes; in need of a haircut; ready for war.
This is the first step. Helping Jeremiah is the first step to helping the Japanese… I hope. Even if I die today, I'll set an example… heh, that sounds arrogant. Sounds like something Lelouch would say… yeah. Lelouch. I hope I get to see him sometime soon. I've been meaning to ask Lloyd but I can never get the courage to do so…
Of course, the only way to see Lelouch was to stay alive. Suzaku walked out of the room, turning down a number of nondescript yet familiar corridors before finally making to the lab. There were scientists, technicians, and engineers milling all over the place, checking the stats of the Lancelot..
"LP System has been charged up. Vitality ratings are at 85%."
"Blaze Luminous is a-go. The signs check out."
"Batteries added. Slash Harkens being implemented as we speak!"
"VARIS Rifle energy cells are cooling down. Loading them into rifle as we speak. Ready the crane."
Cecile spotted Suzaku amidst all the excitement and walked over to him, handing him the flash drive key. Suzaku took it, gazing at it for a moment.
"After some consideration, maybe this is a good idea," Cecile said, smiling sadly. "I can see why you're doing it. I just… don't want you to die."
"…I promise, I won't."
"Don't make a promise you can't keep, Private Kururugi. But I know you'll be okay. You have a habit of doing that."
"Thank you."
"Oh! Did you hear about the news with your friend?" Cecile abruptly asked.
Suzaku blinked. "Friend…?"
"Kururugi!" Lloyd called, hopping down from the Lancelot cockpit. "Come on over! The first seventh-generation Knightmare is ready for combat!"
"Argh, I should have remembered," Cecile muttered, smacking her forehead. "I'll tell you later, Suzaku. But you won't believe it."
Hopefully it's nothing bad. Although Suzaku was curious, he could wait. Suzaku squared his shoulders, approaching the Lancelot.
Don't fail me, Lancelot. I feel like I can change the world with you… so don't let me down.
[*****]
PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
"Die!"
Kallen swung at Jeremiah's Sutherland, driven by nothing but pure rage. The battle had descended into virtual chaos, and although Zero was trying to keep things in order as best he could, it was obvious that nobody had control of the situation any longer. "Battle is unpredictable", Naoto had always said. How absolutely right he was; how the Black Knights had managed to hold out for this long was a miracle. The battle was collapsing in every direction.
"Kallen, keep Jeremiah occupied! I'm going to regroup with Ohgi's unit!" Zero ordered, his Burai reversing and speeding off towards the right.
"Yes sir!"
"Not a chance, Zero!" Jeremiah raised his Slash Harkens. Kallen, thanking kami for her quick reflexes, used her oft-forgotten stun gun to falter the Slash Harken's projectory; it collided with the Sutherland's hand, causing the Harken to unceremoniously fall to the ground. Jeremiah rounded back on her with a few short bursts of machine gun fire, enough to make Kallen's unit recoil in surprise. Her hands flying about the controls, Kallen responded with a Slash Harken of her own, knocking Jeremiah back.
"You son of a bitch! I'll teach you not to play games with my people!" Kallen roared, launching a shell right at Jeremiah.
[*****]
"What do you mean you don't know what happened to your Knightmare, Tamaki?" Lelouch roared, angry.
"It got stolen, dude—sir! I think somebody's using it to get some help!"
Lelouch punched the armrest of his chair. This is bad. Even if we have the upper hand it doesn't matter if they have reinforcements! And this battle is becoming chaos – I can't control anybody from here because they're all scattered about! This angered Lelouch to no end. Shinjuku was flawless; rescuing Suzaku was child's play; the drug busts were a cinch. This was chaos, unadulterated chaos.
Calm down, Lelouch! You still have a backup plan. And after a lot of consideration, Lelouch decided to go with it.
"All units! We're heading northbound!"
"What?!" Ohgi said. "Are we retreating?"
"No, we're baiting them!"
"But that's going towards the Tokyo Settlement!" Naomi protested.
"Precisely! We can't do anything here – in a tighter space, we may have the advantage!"
"What about the civilians?" Ohgi said back.
Civilians? You fought in Shinjuku for months!
"And what about the military police they have there?!" Yoshida popped up.
Something inside of Lelouch exploded. "Don't ever question the legitimacy of my orders! Ever! Do as I say! We're heading into the Toyko Settlement, and anybody who disagrees can stay here and die!"
"…Everyone! Follow Zero!" Ohgi called into his communicator.
Lelouch realized he was clutching his controls. Tightly. He let go, felt the blood return to his hands. He turned to the unit that was closest to him; Naomi. "Let's go."
"Yes, sir!" Naomi responded, following Lelouch's lead.
[*****]
ASHFORD ACADEMY
Milly: "…Rivalz, did you call Lelouch?"
"I've tried! About a bajillion times! He's not picking up! What the hell?"
"So have I," Shirley muttered. "I don't understand. How could he be…?"
"I didn't think he'd…" Milly trailed off, running a hand through her blonde curls.
Nina could only stare at the screen mutely, as shocked as the others.
[*****]
OUTSKIRTS OF TOKYO SETTLEMENT
Shinjuku was a place where an army could fight. It had cellars, walls, escape routes, places to sleep, eat, stock up on supplies, strategic avenues, places to attack, places to counterattack, places to defend. It was a place where the Black Knights could hold up against the might of the Britannian army. But out in the northern plains, there was none of that. They were flat and treeless, and even though one could see the Tokyo Settlement in the distance, it wasn't close by any means whatsoever.
"They're trying to push us towards the mountains!" Kallen spoke up, interrupting Lelouch's thoughts.
"Keep pressing forward! Don't let them gain the advantage – they outnumber us! Yoshida, Ohgi, if need be, set down some explosives! All of the Burais have personal explosives embedded into them that can be launched at a moment's notice, or set on a timer to detonate!"
"They're closing in from the west!"
"Fire!" Kallen shouted, apparently not needing Zero's cue for that one. The sky shook and leapt as everyone resumed firing. Rockets streamed forth in salvos into the Britannian lines, one after the other. Then came the reply, a spectacular barrage of machine gun fire and Slash Harkens flying everywhere like crazed grappling hooks.
"Don't stop!" Lelouch roared, not wanting to get stuck in a hopeless confrontation. "They'd encircle us in minutes on plains like these! Just keep going! The Tokyo Settlement isn't far from here!"
A singular unit opened fire on Lelouch and he barely had time to reply with a Slash Harken.
Christ! They aren't stopping!
"I'll cover you, Zero!" Kallen said, strafing in all directions. "Ohgi, Segata, Naomi, help me out!"
"Zero!" Tamaki shouted. "There's a single Knightmare heading toward us from the north!"
"…Just one?" Lelouch responded as his team finally reached an area decked with trees. "Units! Knock down these trees with your Tonfas and Slash Harkens! Use them as barricades to halt their momentum!"
"I like this plan!" Yoshida announced as they all got to work chopping down trees.
"Tamaki, run that by me again?!" Lelouch breathed, eyes darting every which way.
"One u—SHIT! I'M OUT!"
"Tamaki?!"
"Be careful, everyone! This thing's powerful!" one of Tamaki's comrades announced before suddenly disconnecting.
What. The. Hell. I don't think I'm fighting Clovis anymore…
"We're holding them back, Zero!" Kallen said.
Lelouch felt himself shivering.
In for a penny, in for a pound. "Ohgi, Naomi, Minami, Yoshida! Your units are going to follow me! The rest of you stay behind for exactly one minute holding off Jeremiah and his peons and then race after us!"
"What about that unit, Zero?" Ohgi asked, sounding just as worried as Lelouch.
"With enough numbers, we can take it d—"
And then Lelouch saw it. A tall, sleek Knightmare, decked in white and gold, heading towards Lelouch's units. Even from that distance, Lelouch could just feel how much weight and power that unit held. Half of its weight had to be in ammunition alone.
This is new… "Is that it?" Naomi whispered.
"I'm not giving us time to find that out. Form a suppression line and fire!"
Feels like all I've been doing is shooting today. Hastily, all of the Black Knights with Lelouch made a horizontal line, raised their guns and began to open fire on the unit, catching it by surprise. Bullets hit the god-unit like little balls of fire—
-and then it jumped up in the air, using a Slash Harken as propulsion.
Holy hell! As soon as the White Knightmare began its descent from the air, it opened fire, spraying bullets everywhere… except they weren't quite bullets. They were like energy bullets. Dust and smoke and screaming engulfed Lelouch and he felt incredibly disoriented for a moment.
What the fuck?! I've never seen a unit like that! What kind of bullets are those?! WHAT?!
The White Knightmare pulled back for a moment, and in Lelouch's peripheral vision, he saw a number of downed units. Somehow, in such a short amount of time, that White Knightmare had managed to take a little more than half of his defensive line.
Oh my god.
"Zero, I know you're there somewhere," the White pilot announced.
And then Lelouch felt his insides drop.
"I'm giving you one warning, and one warning only."
It's him.
"Turn away at once."
Suzaku.
"This is a seventh-generation Knightmare Frame. It's capable of wiping out all of your so-called soldiers."
I could never mistake that voice. Not since Shinjuku.
"This was just a display of Lancelot's power," Suzaku went on.
He's still helping them. He's still with the Britannians.
"Stay away from the Viceroy. Stay away from Japan."
Even after they shot him. Even after they betrayed him. Even after they left him to die! Even after they tried to kill me! Even after they conquered his own country, he's still there! COWARD! I OFFERED YOU FREEDOM!
"Fire!" Lelouch screamed, anger surging inside of him. "Put him out of commission! And once he's done, refocus your fire on Jeremiah's units behind us!"
Right after he said that, he noticed Kallen's unit shoot forward in front of Lelouch, with lightning speed.
"Help out Kallen!" Ohgi suddenly spoke up. "Encircle that Lancelot thing!"
"Do as he says!" Lelouch spoke up. "Don't let up on that monster! We're on the outskirts of the Toyko Settlement! Don't let up!"
The strategy had a ruthless logic, and quickly the Lancelot was overpowered.
[*****]
Suzaku was panicking. He rarely felt all-consuming fear quite like this.
The mission was simple: stop Zero. But it was difficult to figure out which of the Burais Zero was piloting. And it seemed like for every unit the Lancelot destroyed, there were five more ready to pounce on Suzaku. There weren't that many units, but it felt like there were a hundred, and based on the digital charts, the Lancelot was almost done for.
This was an awful decision.
"Suzaku?!" Cecile's voice came through, terrified. "What's wrong?!"
I'm going to die here if I don't do something.
"Your battery levels are almost zero! The Lancelot is malfunctioning!"
I have to try something.
"Private Kururugi! Get out of there!"
"I have to stop him," Suzaku muttered once again.
"You're going to die!"
"I have no choice, Miss Cecile!"
"You have an order!" Lloyd's voice suddenly came through, authoritative and unnaturally serious. "Retreat! Retreat immediately!"
"Lloyd—"
"You said so yourself, Kururugi! You're a soldier and you follow orders! You're not dying, and the Lancelot isn't dying today! Join up with Gottwald's forces! Now!"
Shaken by Cecile's concern, worn down by the efficiency of the Black Knights, and stirred by the orders of Lloyd, Suzaku turned tail and retreated, heading for the forested folds where his Britannian "comrades" were presumably awaiting him.
I'm sorry, dad.
[*****]
"Zero, should I go after it?! We can finish it off!" Kallen questioned.
"No," Lelouch whispered. "That's enough."
"So much power, yet not enough endurance," Ohgi muttered.
"Yeah, fuck off!" Tamaki roared, raising his Tonfa in what Lelouch assumed was a middle-finger gesture, Knightmare style.
Suzaku… even after everything, I still can't get through to you. Will I ever?
The time for moping would come later. Now was action. "Let's go. We've managed to cut them down but they'll get organized soon. Go!"
The cityscape of the Tokyo Settlement came into full view, and it was like an oasis. The tightly-packed, modern buildings, the industrial landscape, wide streets… they were like eye candy to Lelouch's strategic mind. They'd all entered into a fairly low-key part of the district, but there were still quite a number of people milling around the sidewalks and streets.
Lelouch placed a hand over his heart, and he wasn't surprised to find that it was beating fast.
"Someone get the civilians out of this vicinity."
Lelouch heard the sound of gunfire pointed at the air, and the sound of civilians screaming and running away. He focused his gaze on the digital map.
I can't believe it. Suzaku is still aiding the Britannians. Aiding the military of that man. Doesn't he realize he's just helping his worst dreams come true?
"Zero?"
Lelouch snapped out of his stupor. Almost all of the civilians that were there were now running away.
Amazing how mob mentality works. "Set up a gridline. Be prepared to meet heavy resistance once Jeremiah and the other Purists come out of the woods. I want a few units to focus on any military police that come nearby – they can be dealt with easily, but they're still annoyances."
His orders given, everyone began getting into their respective places; Ohgi's unit approached Lelouch. "How are you holding up, Ohgi?"
"Why are you taking this into the Settlement, Zero? Do you want to cause civilian casualties?"
"Could ask you the same thing, Ohgi. The Tokyo Settlement was full of civilians."
"I know, but we didn't mean for it-!"
"This is a Britannian-heavy sector of the Tokyo Settlement. I had a feeling it would be – after all, where else would the Viceroy's palace be built? Nearby an Eleven-heavy district? No."
"So what you're sayin' is that you think Jeremiah will retreat once he realizes Britannian civvies are involved?" Tamaki spoke up.
"Maybe. It's a risk."
"Zero. They're approaching," Segata said, his team of lookouts readying their guns.
"This is where it ends," Lelouch half-heartedly boasted, not sure he believed it himself. "If we defeat Jeremiah here, it'll send a message to Britannians and Japanese alike, that the Black Knights are more than just a tawdry rebellion. That they're a people's uprising. That they're legitimate."
Closer now.
"Here they come, Zero!" Kallen said, prepping her gun.
Closer.
"Aim." Lelouch muttered.
Close.
Jeremiah: "Zero!"
Closed.
"Fire."
