Code Geass: Rivalz of the Rebellion
Turn Two: Hostages and Friends
You know, at the time, I thought things could never be any worse than they were then...
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"Rivalz," Lelouch said, his voice level and firm, "get off of me."
"Sorry." Rivalz apologized and rolled off of his friend. Pushing themselves up, the two looked around the dark container of the truck.
"Aw man," Rivalz complained, rubbing the back of his head, "First these guys run us off the road, and now they kidnap us..."
"They're not kidnapping us." Lelouch said, looking around for either a way out or a way to contact the drivers. "It's not their fault we fell into their truck." Scowling, he muttered after his fruitless search, "You'd think they'd stick a ladder on the inside..."
"Stop the vehicle!"
Both Lelouch and Rivalz started at the sound of the megaphone-enhanced voice. "Surrender now and you'll get a chance to defend yourselves in court!"
"What? Surrender...?" Rivalz asked aloud. "Why do they need to sur-GAH!" A spray of bullets hitting the road around the vehicle caused the truck to swerve, sending its unwilling passengers to the ground yet again.
"Why are they firing on us!" Rivalz cried, pulling himself up with something protruding from the vehicle's cargo.
"There's only one explanation." Lelouch groaned and helped himself up with the same cargo. "They're terrorists."
"What? You mean the guys shooting at..." Rivalz began, but his statement was cut short by a glare from Lelouch, causing the blue-haired teen to finally understand. "Oh, you mean the people in the truck!" Holding his hands over his eyes, he leaned back and cried, "WAAGH! I knew it, we're being kidnapped!"
"Rivalz, keep quiet." Lelouch hissed and started climbing on the device that they had propped themselves up on earlier.
"How are we going to get out of this, Lelouch?"
"We don't stand much chance but to ride it out." Lelouch bitterly remarked, looking up at the skylight, now showing the overhead lighting of a tunnel. "If we jump out, we have the choice of either breaking our necks or getting shot. We can try to call for..."
But he was interrupted as a door in the front of the truck's container opened up, revealing a figure in the doorway.
"Wa-!" Rivalz began to cry, but Lelouch clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him into the shadows. Fortunately, the figure in the doorway was shouting back to someone in the front cabin, probably the driver.
"Can you enter the subway through the Azabu route?" the figure, a young woman, no older than Lelouch or Rivalz by the looks of her, strode into the back compartment and took off a white trenchcoat, revealing what appeared to be a red and brown form-fitting combat uniform of some kind.
"Kallen! Let's use it here, why not?" The driver, a male, called back to her as she climbed up some steps into a box at the far end of the truck.
"Because that would mean a bloodbath!" She argued back, forcing the other voice to agree with her.
Meanwhile, both Lelouch and RIvalz had the same thought: I know that girl. Though while Lelouch stared at the back of her head and her characteristic red spikes, Rivalz stared a little further south.
The female terrorist climbed into the back of the box and sealed it up behind her. Suddenly, a loud roaring filled the compartment as an old sakuradite engine blasted to life. The door opened a fraction, allowing a sliver of light to strike the box, which had fallen apart to reveal its contents. A slash harken flew out and obliterated one of the pursuing aircraft, causing it to explode in the air. The doors were thrown open, allowing the red knightmare that the female terrorist was now piloting to leap out onto the road.
Seeing a chance for freedom, Rivalz launched himself at the door. "Hey! Wait!" He cried, but he fell face-first into the back door of the truck as it closed on him. "Man," He whined, rubbing his nose, "I was this close..."
"I know I've seen her before..." Lelouch murmured, still standing by the package remaining in the vehicle.
"Lelouch, maybe you should be more focused on our situation than on some girl." Rivalz hypocritically said, "We're lucky to be alive this long. If the terrorists don't kill us, then the police will." Throwing his hands over his face, he cried, "And if they don't kill us, then Milly will!"
"Are you really more scared of Milly than terrorists?" Lelocuh asked half-jokingly, but it was clear that Rivalz was wearing on his nerves.
Rivalz looked up in shock, "Wha-Yes, I mean no, I mean..."
But his explanation was once again cut short by a rain of bullets hitting the car. Instinctively, they both fell to the floor, shielding their heads with their hands. Fortunately, no bullets made their way into the protected container, but the truck veered off of the highway, turning onto one of the exits and onto a rough road. The light coming from the skylight overhead became a dingy grey before fading out completely.
"Why do I always have the worst luck!" Rivalz asked aloud, lifting his face from the ground.
"I'm here too remember." Lelouch testily replied as he crawled up and sat on the cargo.
Looking up, Rivalz noticed the lack of sky and the vast expanse of crumbling concrete above them. "Woah, what happened to the lights?"
"Judging by the darkness and road surface," Lelouch said testily, "We must be in one of the old subway tunnels." Lelouch pulled out his cell phone, flipping it open only to growl at it unhappily. "Of course, no signal underground."
Rivalz pushed himself up from the floor and noticed the female terrorist's trenchcoat, which she had left lying on the same object Lelouch was sitting on. "Lelouch." Rivalz pointed at the walkie-talkie hanging out of one of the pockets.
Lelouch looked over and grimaced. "Well, I'm not a fan of the military..." He muttered just loud enough that Rivalz heard it and grabbed the communicator, "...but I'll take their protection. If I gave them a terrorist communicator..."
Rivalz looked at Lelouch questioningly. What? He thought, maybe we can use it to talk to someone other than the terrorists? And why don't you like the military? Sure, they may be firing at us now...
But, yet again, Rivalz was thrown out of his thoughts and into a wall as the truck skidded to a stop, suddenly braking for no conceivable reason. While Rivalz was unceremoniously thrown to the ground, Lelouch was only shaken a little.
"An accident?" Lelouch thought aloud.
"More like an earthquake." His blue-haired friend remarked, leaning against the same wall that he had been so rudely thrown against mere seconds before. From this point of view, he noticed a slight spark that jumped out of the object Lelouch was sitting on, followed by a brief plume of the same green pixie dust they saw before.
Before Rivalz could bring it to Lelouch's attention, however, the side entrance to the truck suddenly began sliding open. Shocked, Rivalz and Lelouch darted out of the sudden light and into the shadows. Oh please Mr. terrorist, Rivalz pleaded inwardly, don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Or at least don't let Milly kill me...
However, nobody came through the now opened door. Slowly, the two looked out of the container and into the grim subway tunnel. Not a soul could be seen anywhere nearby, terrorist or otherwise.
"Man, what was up with that?" Rivalz laughed weakly as Lelouch also looked out into the empty tunnel. Turning back, Rivalz finally got a good look at the cargo. It was a large sphere, dotted with massive tubes sticking out of it, complete with valves and displays. "Wow, I wonder what was so important they had to steal...?" He rubbed his head and walked towards the strange object.
"Rivalz!" Lelouch suddenly cried, causing Rivalz to spin around. All he managed to see was a black boot slamming into his face and sending him spinning to the floor. The teenager and his face collided heavily with the ground, causing him to release a little whimper.
In a flash the unknown assailant had grabbed Rivalz and pulled him face-to-face. Rivalz kept his eyes closed, trying to hold his hands in front of him as a pathetic defense. "Not in the face!" He weakly pleaded.
"That's enough senseless violence." the attacker growled at defenseless Rivalz.
"What are you talking about?" Rivalz cried, opening his eyes. Finally, he saw the grey mask of an infantry soldier staring him in the eyes. "Wait!" He tried to plead again, "I'm not one of..."
"Planning to use poison gas!" At this Rivalz and Lelouch both gasped. Poison gas? Rivalz inwardly screamed, we are on a truck with poison gas? That's what the dust was! Man, I have the worst luck...
"Poison gas?" Lelouch asked, stepping forward. The soldier looked up into the face of RIvalz's friend and gasped. "If it's poison gas, then it was made in Britannia, wasn't it?"
"My god..." The attacker gasped, dropping Rivalz's head.
"Mindless murder? Then why don't you just obliterate Britannia!"
"Lelouch!" Rivalz cried out in shock at his friend's outburst, "now's not the time to make him an-", but the soldier had already stood up and looked Lelouch in the face.
"Lelouch?" The soldier asked, removing his mask. Lelouch inhaled sharply, his eyes widened considerably, as shock, happiness, and sorrow crossed over his face. The soldier lifted the mask off of his head, revealing a green-eyed, brown-haired, Eleven smiling at the black-haired youth. Grinning, the soldier said, "It's me, Suzaku."
Rivalz looked between the happy Eleven and his shocked best friend. Completely confused, Rivalz thought, Why do I feel that I'm missing seven years worth of backstory?
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Author's Note: Dear god, I'm sorry for the completely unnecessary wait between updates. I guess I could say that I was too busy with schoolwork and... (P-1 pokes a gun into my ribs) OKAY! I get it, I was just procrastinating! Anyways, I really need to get this thing going. Just keep the comments rolling.
RESPONSES:
Worker72: Thanks for the continued praise. I only have a rough idea of what's going to happen during R2, including Lelouch getting his memories back. Side note: If anybody has any ideas, feel free to give them to me.
Sakurahanaalice: Yeah, Rivalz may regret his decision in the future, but it'll irrevocably change his character. (Cue Wicked song: "Changed for the Better") A lot of the keeping in character was due to me actually taking the lines from the first episode up to that point and putting them in there. I just hope I can keep him in character now that I'm writing the lines myself. And yes, I can't wait to see how he rises up the ranks of the Black Knights myself ^U^.