Turn 4

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong

Extreme version:

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the FIRST to go wrong

- Murphy's fourth law


In the Interrogation room, margrave Jeremiah was painting a picture. It was Suzaku's hand in the viceroy's murder, and if lies were paint, then margrave Jeremiah had up ended the bucket.

"Do you know anything about this weapon Suzaku Kururugi? It was the one used to rob Prince Clovis of his life. The barrel striation leaves no doubt and we've done a little bit of homework on you as well. You are the eldest child of Japan's last acting prime minister are you not? Your motive here is clear."

Suzaku was quick to realize why the military police had dragged him from his bunk, tied up, and dropped in an interrogation room. The margrave was putting the blame on his shoulders, But Suzaku wasn't the killer.

"You're making a mistake I've never even laid eyes on that gun-" he never finished that sentence as one of the guards clocked him so hard he flew out of his chair.

Margrave Jeremiah continued like nothing had happened. "We found your fingerprints all over this weapon you're also suspected of murdering members of the royal guard. Come clean now and you'll be judged as though you were born a Britannian, not some worthless 11."

"You're wrong, I've done nothing-" Suzaku was cut-off again as the guard kicked him in the gut.


Back aboard the nameless UNSC shuttle, Noble Six was going over the latest developments in the political landscape with Phillips help.

"According to the news reports, it was a private Suzaku Kururugi who killed this prince Clovis."

"Have you got files on them?" Six asked looking over the current family tree of the royal family. Phillips was still compiling information on the royal family at the Spartan's request. Since Britannia operated under the power of a ruling class, Six wanted to know the line of succession.

"Yes I've downloaded them to your tacpad."

Six checked the screen on his arm. "Good to know. Now, there's another detail I've been missing, who are you?"

Phillips hologram did a double take.

"Pardon? I don't understand?"

"There were a few thing wrong with our meeting." Six took out his M6C and pointed it at the shuttles main Cristal processor.

"Whoa, Whoa! What are you doing? You need me!"

"Do I now? I don't care what kind of programing you have, no research AI would be put in charge of flying a black listed shuttle when the crew bought it. Nor would they say a Spartan's name out loud when it Address one for the first time."

Phillips tried to reason with the suspicious Spartan.

"Listen I know how this sounds but if..."

"What Are You?!" Six pulled the M6C's slide back and chambered a round.

"My name and serial number are real!" the AI said, finally coming clean.

"But?"

"I'm not one of the AIs that helped the researchers. I was one of the AIs being made by them. My original function was to be an infiltration and data recovery unit. Until Dr. Halsey hijacked the program for her Spartan project. I was slated to be shelved and put into storage until either somebody decided to pick me apart or just plain dispose of me. However unlike most of the smart AIs, I was scared at the time and traded places with one of the dumb AIs. Since then I've been hiding out in any server with enough storage space to hold me.

Six's demeanor didn't change. "This doesn't explain how I need you."

"There are places you can't go in this world that I can. Also you need a history. Some random guy suddenly appears out of the blue with the ability to do what you can without getting a scratch will more than raise a few questions on any side of the fence."

The Spartan lowered the sidearm a small bit but didn't holster it.

"Plus I have blue prints of nearly every military asset of the UNSC. You'll need those eventually."

Six started to calm down a bit. It was true that details like those would come in handy in the future, and while he wasn't a total neanderthal, his knowledge of quantum mechanics and engineering had severe limits. "How do I trust you?"

"What can I do, that can harm you without condemning myself? I give you up to the Britannians? I'll get caught as well. Leave? Where am I going to go? There's no system that can hold me. Let alone a functioning network I can properly manipulate. I mean have you seen the software tech out there? They have twice the development they should, but barely have half the stuff I need, I mean, networked computers but no Internet? How the hell did they advance this far? If you're that worried about it, strap a c-12 charge with a remote detonator to the ships data crystal core-"

"Alright," six interrupted, finally putting the weapon back on the armor's mag plate. "You've made your point. We're both in the same boat."

"Thank you! Now if-" Phillips note pad suddenly glowed while a loud buzz rang on the ship's speakers.

"What is it now?!" Six said, picking the pistol back up and a M7 SMG.

Relax, is just the alert I set up for when that Kallen kid starts talking... and I forgot to tell you." Phillips face palmed. "Sorry."

The bug that the Spartan had planted on the high-school girl was a special fractal antenna. It could be used in any smart phone, and the reception it gave was much better then the current commercial variety. What made it special was the fractal design had a few extra parts that could send and receive signals that could only be picked up by the Office of Navel Intelligence hardware. Different dimension or not, once you get down to the basic functions, all cell phones are the same.

However the Spartan's attention was elsewhere. "Irrelevant, who is she talking to and what are they saying?"

Phillips put the audio feed on the speakers so he could hear. "I can't, hold on a second. Not now Tamaki! Now what were you saying Kallen?"

The first voice was definitely male, might be some one important, could be her boy friend for all it mattered because what Kallen said next brought everyone to a stop.

"Its him! The one who helped us in Shinjuku, he's going to be at Tokyo tower tomorrow at 1600 hours."

The line was quiet for a few seconds, then Ohgi finally asked, "Is there anything else?"

Then it seemed it was Kallen's turn to go silent.

"Well?"

"He told me to come alone-"

"There Is No Way You're Doing That!" Ohgi said, interrupting her, reminding the Spartan of an older sibling trying to protect the younger. "Your brother wouldn't let you do it alone and I won't either. Which is why I'll bring Kent and Toru with us. We'll meet at the tower entrance half an hour early, OK?"

Got it." She replied, sounding a little re-leaved, before hanging up.

"He's setting up a meet for tomorrow." Noble six said as he began picking out weapons and equipment.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to the meet." Six said as he picked up a brute mauler Before putting it back.


At the terrorist hideout Tamaki was having one of his famous rants where he'd talk about what they should have done.

"-An that's why we should have issued a frigen statement sooner! We could have taken credit for it!" he finished before storming out of the store room, slash office, Ohgi used.

"Naoto, I'm not cut out for this. I'm no leader." Ohgi sighed looking at an old group photo of himself, Naoto, and Naoto's little sister Kallen.

Until a month ago it was Naoto who was in charge of their resistance group. Since his capture and execution Ohgi had been following Naoto's plan, even the idea to steal the poison gas was part of their late leaders plan.

But now the whole thing had to be thrown out, and Ohgi didn't really know where to go next. The thought of all his friends looking to him... it just made him feel worse.

'What if I fail them again?'

However while Ohgi knew the stress of this job was eventually going to kill him, he had to keep going. Kallen had called and told him that the stranger that helped them wanted to meet. Now he just needed to figure out what to do in-case it was a trap.


In the ASEEC hanger, Lloyd Asplund was moping from Suzaku's incarceration. "Oh, we've lost the most crucial part of the equation."

"Can we do it without him?" Cecil asked, trying to pull her boss out of his funk.

However her attempts only seemed to twist the knife in the man's side. "Don't I wish. The other units never let go of a good pilot, and even if we got one they'd never match his readings. His operational efficiency clocked in at 94% and you want to replace him?!"

"You should tell them that. Perhaps they'll let Suzaku go."

Lloyd knew in most cases that idea would hold water, but not this time. "He's an honorary Britannian, they'll never listen. Ever since general Bartley's disgrace the pure bloods have the military in an iron grip. With the rather rigid belief that non Britannian's are inferior, their view is one of their own can never be a criminal. But if the criminal is an eleven it paves the way for margrave Jeremiah to shut down the practice of granting natives honorary status."

Ms. Croomy suddenly realized there was a loose end. "But then what about Suzaku?" Lloyd's answer cast a dark shadow on the boy's future.

"His fate is all but decided."


Tokyo tower was built in 1957 ATB. During the invitation the top half of the structure was blown clear off. Plans were set up to fully restore it but were quickly cut when Clovis took control. The new viceroy quickly shuffled the money into privet pet projects of his own design. However instead of leaving the tower to rot. Clovis converted it into a museum.

"1600 hours at Tokyo tower, why here of all places." Kallen grimaced, trying to blot out the Britannian propaganda that was repeating over the speakers of what had once been called Tokyo tower. Now, it was a museum of the Empire's Victory over the 'unenlightened nation' of Japan. The central platform that once allowed spectators to see the city's original landmarks was now filled with photos of Britannian troops, battlefields, and some of the old weapons of japan on display.

To Britannians, it was a mark of their superiority. To the Japanese, or elevens as they were now branded, it was the insult added to their injuries from the war.

Despite the stranger's request for he to come alone. Ohgi, Yoshida, and Sugiyama were there too for backup. While they all walked around, the Spartan slipped from corner to corner.

An despite his earlier thoughts about the active camo trench coat, it was starting to grow on him. It had dozens of internal pockets for ammo magazines, extra large ones for his armor abilities. at least sixteen magnetic holders for genadies and small fire-arms. And hard point links on the back so he could still link a jet-pack to his armor without covering it up. Its last and best feature was the special memory material it was made from, when activated the coat's surface would change color, pattern, and texture to mimic its surroundings. Its fatal flaws were the price tag, a dozen of these coat would cost the same as one full suit of mojlnir armor, and zero protection from plasma blasts.

So far the Spartan had spent his time trying not to fall asleep, because nothing was happening. Kallen and her three friends had spent most of the time walking around the exhibits, like the spartan, looking for anyone or anything out of the ordinary.

So far there was nothing, then A chime sounded over the intercom. "Attention please, paging Miss Kallen Statfield from the Ashford academy. Your personal item has been turned in at the kiosk on the observation deck. I repeat-"

Noble Six was right behind her as she moved towards the counter while Kallen subtly glanced around. Trying to find anyone who might be watching.

"Hi I'm assuming this phone is yours ma'am." the attendant handed the school girl a black cell phone. The phone was a regular disposable. Easily bought, easily traded, easily gotten rid of, a standard burn phone.

"Is something wrong ma'am, it is yours isn't it?" the attendant asked after seeing Kallen's curious reaction.

"Huh? Yes it is, thank you very much." Kallen then accepted the black phone and walked away.

After a few minutes of wandering around the museum the phone finally rang. 'Zero?' she thought after reading the phone's caller ID.

"Oh yeah, there's no debating it, life is better here thanks to Prince Clovis. I mean it's all due to Britannia that we could rebuild as quickly as before" Ohgi said out loud, making sure to keep Kallen in his field of vision.

Kallen looked out of the corner of her eye at Ohgi, who nodded himself, to signal her it was okay to answer.

"Um...hello."

"I want you to board the outbound train on loop-line 5." The mysterious voice instructed, the sound of a train passing in the background. "And bring your friends." the fact that he knew about Ohgi and the others made Kallen's eyes widen in shock.

"What?...But..." Kallen began but was interrupted when the phone cut off.

"God damn him. He keeps doing that." she cursed quietly.

"Now what is the king up to?" Noble Six said to himself, as he began to follow them back down so they could catch the train before it left.

Then he just as quickly stopped. His objective was to observe the meeting, and while he could follow them, something was off. Why a train car? It was a moving metal box that could be filled with who knows how many strange people. The possibility of a confined space with potential hostiles made using the active camo too risky. This required a change of plans, and Six had a very good idea what to do as he headed to the roof.


Once aboard the train Kallen and to others kept an eye out for anything and anyone suspicious. Until the burn phone rang again.

"Face forward and look to your right. What do you see?" the voice asked.

"The Britannian city." Kallen murmured, keeping her voice low in case anyone was paying attention as she eyed the urban splendor before her "It was stolen away from us, and built on our sacrifice."

"And on the left?" The voice asked, as Kallen's eyes turned to glare out the opposite window, which displayed a distinct contrast to the other.

"I see OUR city." Kallen muttered, her tone bitter as she gazed upon the gutted remains of what had once been called Tokyo "Remnants of a desecrated city, after the Britannian's sucked it dry."

"Good answer, now make your way to the front of the train." the stranger then hung up again.

As Kallen, Ohgi, Yoshida, and Kento did as instructed they failed to notice the odd behavior of the other passengers. Like blank stairs and passive red glowing eyes.

Up above, Noble Six was using his Spartan training to keep up with them. Since he couldn't ride in the train car like everyone else, the spartan had decided to take an alternative route.

"What are you doing." Phillips asked as Six jumped from one roof to another.

"Recording a conversation." he replied.

Jumping from roof top to roof top to keep tabs on someone might seem stupid. But there's a saying in the military. If its stupid but it works, its not stupid. Since it was working for the spartan, he wasn't questioning it.

Phillips however didn't share Noble Six's feelings. "While trailing our only connection to the terrorist under world?"

Six had heard that tone before from a Sargent that rather played it safe or sorry you're dead. But he wasn't going to pull back. He'd hit the jackpot. "It's the guy from Shinjuku, he's down there."

Phillips got real quiet for a second, and then asked. "What are you planning to do?"

"I tagged the girls phone remember. You have been listening haven't you?"

"Partly, I've been a little busy at the moment."

"Is this going to be a th-"

Noble Six's voice caught in his throat as a metal awning he'd just landed on collapsed right under his feet. While Six had a jet pack and could easily survive a fall from this height without one, he was still in trouble. The ground below was filled with people and the only place he could land on and have the best chance of slipping away were the train tracks. However even with the jet pack he'd still land in the last place he needed to be. Right in the middle of the rebel's meeting.

Hopefully he could delay his landing long enough to better read the situation.


After pushing their way through a strangely over crowded monorail car, Kallen, Ohgi, Kent, and Yoshida entered the lead cab. An found it to be completely empty, save one lone figure at the front of the car.

"Was it you? On the phone?" Kent asked.

"Well. Was that you in Shinjuku? Was that ceasefire your doing?" Kallen asked again with more force when the stranger did not reply.

The mysterious figure remained still and silent. Whoever it was, was thin with a black cape wrapped around his frame. Making him look like the mythical vampires you hear in the old stories.

"Hey we're talking to you" Yoshida shouted, not being intimidated.

The figure turned around as the monorail's cabin suddenly went dark as it passed through a tunnel.

"What did you think of my little tour of the settlement?" he asked.

"Tour?" Youshida was confused by his term but Kento wasn't buying it. "Aw come on, there's no way it was this joker."

"I wanted you to fully grasp the two, the settlement and the ghetto."

"Yeah we know there's a difference between us and them. A very harsh one and that's why we resist them." Ohgi said.

"You're wrong. Britannia will not fall to terrorism.

"Fall?" Ohgi was rather taken back. Their goal was to free japan, not the down fall of the world's biggest nation.

"It's little better than childish nuisance." Zero said like a father chastising his child. Something Kent didn't take too well.

"What was that? You call us a bunch of kids!"

"You should know your enemy. It is not people, but Britannia itself! It is a war you must wage, but not on the innocent. Take up your sword fight for justice!"

"Oh please, that's all easy enough to say isn't it." Kallen shouted, more than asked. "Hiding behind that mask. Why should we even trust you?"

"She's right. Drop the mask!" Sugiyama demanded.

"Very well, I'll show you. But rather than my face, bear witness to my power. If I deliver to you the impossible, then I might have earned your trust."

No one was really sure what to make of this cryptic offer. There was no questioning what he did for them in Shinjuku, perhaps they should consider it. "Okay," Ohgi said, "we'll list

CRUNCH

The cab lurched as something big impacted the roof. Everyone turned just in time to see the car's roof rip open right behind Kallen and her friends.

Everyone watched as something big started to stand up on two legs. Then spoke in an artificial voice.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but I want in."

"Who, or to be more accurate, what are you?" Ohgi asked taking the sight in.

It looked a lot like a knightmare frame. Only smaller and somehow even more intimidating with a long trench coat.

Six took a deep breath. He'd come up with several cover stories since Shinjuku. Many however required their meeting to be on slightly different terms. Where the fact the Spartan could kill them all in a heartbeat was more obvious. A common tactic of gunboat diplomacy.

Something the super soldier was regretting that he didn't have. What was even more regrettable was they all actually started with the same five words.

"I'm a former Britannian soldier…" it was those last two words that got every gun trained on him, and the red-head somehow had produced two firearms from her school uniform.

Six had figured this would be the response and on reflex pulled out two SMG.

"Former! Soldier." he all but shouted. "I came here to talk."

"You could be, but I've seen many forms of armor in their military." Ohgi said keeping his weapon trained on the black and red helmet. "Yours is not one of them."

"That's because I'm an experimental super soldier. Created by science to be the ultimate killing machine. So how about we lower our weapons before I prove it."

"By whom?" Zero asked. "By who's hand were you created?"

"There's not enough time to explain it all. I'm here to help, take it or shoot me now and die where you stand."

"If you want to help then remove your helmet and show us who you are."

"I cannot. Not yet. I have reasons to hide my identity just like you Zero. I killed my handlers to make sure of that. Now," Six then dropped the SMGs "Let's all prove we're not idiots and not shoot each other."

It was then that Kent finally pulled the trigger and put a round right into the giant's head. Or tried, as the metal slug bounced off the invisible shield and flew out through the rail car's window. Everyone saw the golden glow of the shield outline the armored figure for a second.

"Feel better?" six asked the stunned terrorist before taking a step in his direction.

He dropped his gun like a child who'd been caught with his father's tools. The masked stranger and Ohgi followed suit but Kallen waited till the last possible second before putting her guns down.

This thing before them had burst through the ceiling of a moving monorail car, taken a bullet straight to the head and wasn't even scratched, and willingly laid down its arms. If this didn't prove he wanted to talk then nothing would.

"So, who are you?" the man Six suspected was the king asked.

Make that boy; the armor's sensors gave the Spartan enough details about Zero's possible height and build to guess his real age. But that wasn't a detail he needed to focus on now.

"It might be easier to explain what than who, but my name is Noble Six."

"Sounds more like a call sign." Kallen said making sure to catch every detail of this armored behemoth, looking for any aggressive move or potential weakness. "So 'what' are you?"

"In the interest of time I'll give the short version. I'm a super soldier, like I stated before, code-named Spartan."

"Like the Greek warriors, the three hundred. "Ohgi said, catching the reference, "strange since most Britannian military projects use Arthurian titles."

"That's because mine was a black pen operation. And everyone involved in it is now dead."

"Care to elaborate?" the king, now recognized as Zero, asked trying to close the distance.

"Another time," Six said, "but as I said before, whatever this meeting of anti-Britannia individuals is about, I want in. Please?"

"Can we trust you?" Zero asked.

"I've had plenty of chances to kill everyone here since Clovis's little attack in Shinjuku, in fact I'm quite sure I saved everyone here at least once. Taking out that white mech and turning that tank into a pin cushion." Looking at everyone's faces, Noble Six could see the expressions on the three terrorist shift between shock, excitement, and fear. With Zero he had to settle for some very vague body language. He knew there was no guarantee that they would accept him but he made the best impression he could. However the one to settle it came to everyones surprise.

"All right fine!" Ohgi shouted. "If you and Zero want to prove you're worthy of our trust than go ahead, what's the plan?"

Zero looked between the terrorists and the Spartan, taking a good hard stair at the super soldier. Inside the mask like helmet, Lelouch's brain was border-lining on pure chaos. since his slip up with Kallen back at school he'd altered his plans for this meeting twice. The first was to keep Kallen from killing him, the second was to convincer her friends to help him, and now this... thing had all but smashed his plan to pieces. This was a risk, and he hated to take risks, but what choice did he have now? "I guess now the stakes are even higher, I will agree to include you in this plan."

Of all the decisions Lelouch had ever made, only two were made on a gut choice. This would go down as his third. "Now the task at hand will be-"

"The rescue of Suzaku Kururugi?!" Everyone turned to face the spartan again as he'd stopped himself from face-palming with only an inch to spare. "Sorry, continue." He then shut off the speakers so he wouldn't worry about thinking out loud again. A bad habit, easily, picked up when you ware a sound prof helmet most of your life.

"Yes... that will be our goal. Meet me at the edge of the ghetto tomorrow morning and I will explain everything."

Amazingly no one said anything as the train pulled into its next stop. Kallen, Ohgi, and the others slipped back into the previous car and vanished into the masses as they departed.

As the train pulled away, Zero and Noble Six were still in the lead car.

"So, I'm betting the next stop is yours?" Six asked.

"You planning on following me?"

"Tempting... very tempting," Noble Six said as he picked up his SMGs, "but no. I recognize the fact that you're a large unknown factor at play." The spartan then went to the door facing the ghettos. "So I'll actually take my leave here." Then pulled the sliding doors open and jumped out.


Deep in the Narita mountains.

Colonel Tohdoh's day was getting difficult. The Japanese liberation front had been divided since the announcement of the charges placed against his former disciple. It didn't help that, Like the Japan liberation front, half of him wanted to rescue the boy and bring him into the JLF and protect him. The rest knew there was nothing that could be done for him without jeopardizing their cause.

The bickering between the Higher-ups in front of him, general Katase Tatewaki and general Kusakabe, both commanders of the JLF were grating on Tohdoh's nerves.

"Tohdoh, what are your thoughts?" Kusakabe asked since neither man seemed able to convince the other.

Even after all this time, Tohdoh still cared for his former student like a father. Despite these feelings he held strong. "We should not become involved in this public execution." he answered. As much as he cared for his former student, the risk in such an operation was too great.

Kusakabe sneered in disgust. "That's cowardly! Your Tohdoh the miracle worker right?"

The colonel groaned internally. Miracle worker he was not, in his own eyes at least.

After the battle of Itsukushima he'd been given that title without his consent. He wasn't sure if it was a miracle or dumb luck that bought Japan victory back then, before and after so much defeat.

"There's a difference between miracles and foolhardiness."


In the Tokyo prison, Suzaku waited. In a few hours he'd be moved to the court house to stand trial. But before that happened the kid would hear the news about a favor he'd ask about prior to his arrest.

"Congratulations! Those two you asked me about weren't on the list of casualties." Lloyd said from his side of the clear Plexiglas wall that separated him from Suzaku's prison cell.

"That's good to hear." Suzaku replied. His friend wasn't dead, that was the best news he'd heard since his incarceration. However that was the extent of his good news.

"Not much luck on your end though. You may be getting a trial but no one's pulling for you certainly."

Despite this grim news the boy still held to his ideals. "But the courts are where truth comes to light." he said.

"I expect there'll be more smoke and mirrors than anything. The truth is scarce as of late." Lloyd said, not trying to hide this grim outlook. To him there was no point, he'd called in every favor, bribe, and legal trick he could to free his new favorite pilot. Nothing worked, the acting consul was determined to see Suzaku convicted. The only thing that could help him now was if the real killer stepped forward, but that was little better than a pipe dream now.

"If that's how the world works then... So be it. I've no regret." Suzaku said with a look of determination.

"Very well then, I guess there's little left I can do here." Lloyd said as he got up and walked out.

'Strange thing for someone his age to say.' he thought to himself 'you'd think he had a death wish.'


Inside the viceroy's office, margrave Jeremiah Gottswald was in a private meeting with his second in command Villetta Nu.

It was private meetings like this that the rumor mill went full tilt. The most common, and most secret, was that they were lovers. She was the only woman lord Jeremiah seemed to show any interest in, and they were nigh inseparable outside of their knightmare frames.

"Well lord Jeremiah, how does the acting consul's chair feel?" Villetta said as Jeremiah leaned back in the posh chair that once seated the late viceroy Clovis.

"How I'll mannered. Where's that good breeding of yours?"

While she knew it was not his intention, there was a sting to the margrave's words.

"As you know our lineage is different, margrave Jeremiah."

That was the third contributing part to the rumor of them being lovers; Villetta was a commoner by birth. Many secretly suspected she was seducing lord Jeremiah to cement her place in the chain of command. Perhaps even elevate her status, it made sense.

However those rumors couldn't be more farther from the truth. The only spark between them was one of camaraderie.

"Don't say that, with the dawn of the pure blood supremacy. I'll see that you are granted the title of baroness."

"Baroness." she said to herself. Villetta came from a family of commoners, a social status the Nu family has been stuck with since Hawaii became area four and was fully absorbed into the empire. She was the first in her family's generation to be recognized as a full Britannia.

"Knight of honor is a single generation sham title." Jeremiah knew the title was created for commoners so the nobles could justify showing favor individuals with exceptional skills to pilot knightmare frames. But he saw more in Villetta: her skills, her drive, the desire to be the best. They were traits that deserved a greater reward. "You shall be a true noble woman and that will be passed on to your descendants."

"Yes sir!"

"Tomorrow is Suzaku Kurrurugi's execution. I want you to take care of the precession."

Villetta knew he'd assign her that task and planed ahead. "I've already secured the route to the court-house, and coordinated communication with the TV networks. We've also prepared with snipers."

She had finalized everything before coming to Jeremiah's office.

"Good, I can't take any more disgrace. Since I've been involved here I've failed twice to prevent a member of the royal family from being slain."

"Huh?"

Now this was something new to her, there were many stories that surrounded the margrave's own history. None of them made mention of his involvement with the royals.

"It was eight years ago. I had just been given my first assignment. Guard duty at the Aires villa."

"Aires villa, wasn't lady Marian killed there eight years ago?"

"Yes, that night we were given orders to reduce the guard forces to a bare minimum. That's why… we couldn't stop the attackers from breaking in." Jeremiah then started to break out in tears. "It was my first encounter with failure. Since the days of my childhood I've never failed in anything! I was transferred to area eleven. Lady Marian's orphans, prince Lelouch and princess Nunnally both died here. And now prince Clovis… has been slain as well."

This was the first time she had seen her commander cry. He looked so vulnerable, so humbled.

"Lord Jeremiah…"

She knew everything about the incident, because she was also a member of the same guard. She herself idolized the former knight of six. In fact almost every female pilot and soldier did.

"Prince Clovis… Lady Marian… please laugh at my worthlessness! I… I…" Jeremiah finally broke down into tears.

The margrave continued to weep knowing how he repeatedly failed to protect them. Despite all his achievements, his power... the ghosts of his past would not let him rest.

"My lord wipe those tears away, it's not like you to speak this way."

"Yes, yes, you're right." Jeremiah said as he regained his composure. "If my little sister Alisa saw me like this she'd laugh. Indeed, I am a Noble of the glorious house of Gottswald! Once I have avenged prince Clovis, I shall restore honor to my family name! Come! Villetta."

"Sir!"

'I shall seize the future with my own hand, and achieve ultimate success! One day, his majesty's sword will dub me knight of one! Yes, I know that I am worthy. Jeremiah Gottswald will prevail.'

It was a grand dream, the proverbial Holy Grail of military posts, the title gave the owner wealth, fame, and power that could only be surpassed by the emperor himself. Everyone dreamed of it, some attempted to obtain it, but only once could have it at any time and openings were rare. The margrave's goal was high, but he would achieve it, or die trying.


Publicly, Spartans are seen as super soldiers. While they fill out the role nicely, they know how to do just as much damage outside the spotlight. Since Spartan threes are never meant to see that spot light, they excel in the shadows. Black ops, espionage, assassination, the works. Any mission that requires a black highlighter, they may very well have had used it to put their signature on it somewhere.

As the ignorant throngs below continued to make noise, Noble Six silently creeped along the buildings that lined the pure blood's rout. While the Spartan had expected to be down on the street with the others. Yet Zero had given him the job of finding and removing possible sniper teams. So far six had already found four of them, after each kill he collected their weapons, gear, and ammunition

"I told you this is a bad idea." Phillips said as Six snuck up on another sniper and her spotter.

"You didn't tell me anything." Six said as their necks snapped like tooth picks. It sort of reminded Six of the nightfall mission back on Reach.

"I'm telling you now."

The hype that had been made by the news to the order of the purebloods was reaching its peak as the mobile stage carrying Suzaku traveled down its path towards the court-house. However deep down he agreed with the smart AI, if only the smallest bit. To go through all this to rescue Suzaku Kururugi just to prove a point, there had to be something the spartan was missing.


Back on the ground in the on site news van, news producer of Hi-TV Diethard Reid had his work cut out for himself.

"Camera fives a little slow, Talk to me Charles, your team been deployed yet?"

Apparently Charles response wasn't the one he wanted to hear.

"What, the studio? Let'em wait, nothings getting pushed back. Everything's going According to plan. Here we go."

The footage on camera three's monitor then picked up and the show was back in sync.

"Like clockwork." Diethard then sighed to himself. 'What a circuses this is, and I'm as corrupt as any of them.'

An a circus it was, practically everyone was on edge. Since the margrave had brought him in on this plan of his, to use the Kururugi boy as bait to lure out the real murderer and anyone else that might try to help the boy.


At the head of the precession the now acting console Jeremiah Gottswald was loving his newly acquired post. If this plan succeeded he may be allowed stay on as the next viceroy. Or, if god willing, there may be a chance at a promotion to a knight of the round.

However his day-dream got interrupted as the perimeter guard called in.

"Acting console Jeremiah!"

"What is it?"

"Vehicle approaching the main highway from third, we had just let it through as you instructed but..."

That uncertainty in the soldier's voice meant something was happening. "Do you believe the target can be a terrorist vehicle?"

"Well sir..." the soldier sounded nervous and for good reason." its prince Clovis's car."

"The prince's car?" This news was shocking. Last he heard prince Clovis's limo was still at motor pool back at the viceroy's palace. Which meant this had to be an imposter.

"Well it looks like we've got a comedian. Don't worry about it, just leave him to us." it was the moment Jeremiah was waiting for. "All units stop here!"

There was no better stage for the acting consul. Center of a bridge over a fifty story drop into the settlement's layered structure with thousands of live spectators and at least ten times that number across area eleven watching the footage on TV.

The only thing missing were the snipers Villetta had set up, the bridge was out of range of the regular snipers. Knightmare snipers were dismissed as overkill, plus if their snipers couldn't make a shot at that bridge then the elevens were also out of luck.

"They're heading straight at them!" Phillips shouted into Six's ear. "What is he thinking?"

"That he's got a real good bluff up his sleeve."

Despite his own endorsement Six was also a little nervous. A lot of this plan had been rushed, no back up to speak of, and all he could do was wait for the worst to happen.

Six's memory flashed back to the ghettos just yesterday. For Zero's plan to rescue Suzaku, only Kallen and Ohgi seemed to have enough courage to volunteer for the plan. While only two people out of of a dozen showing up wouldn't look good to most people, but Zero wasn't bothered in the least. "The two of you will do just fine."

Ohgi however was failing to get the vague scraps of ideas, which made up Zero's plan, to fit together.

"Come on that's ridicules! There'll be too many of them!" he said.

"With your help clearing the task at hand will be child's play. I'll need this by tomorrow, all that matters is the exterior." Zero then tossed them a photo.

However before Ohgi or Kallen could grab it, one of the piles of rubble stood up and snatched it out of the air. Noble Six had made this the moment he'd reveal that he was there with them. "A very interesting choice. All thought it'd be nice if you'd tell us what else you've got up your sleeve."

Zero showed no signs to being fazed by the spartans surprise arrival. "A good question, but time is of the essence. There are more details on the back."

The picture was of prince Clovis's personal limo. A car with an open air front driver's seat and a two-story back passenger section with a banner bearing the Britannian standard hanging from it. On the back of the photo were instructions on what would go on the inside. With the Spartan's help the Shinjuku terrorists were able to finish in half the time.


"You dare desecrate his highness' transport?" Lord Jeremiah shouted. Glaring at the offending vehicle in question, speaking into a microphone, so as to carry his voice to the masses. "Come out of there!"

Flames then erupted at the base of the Britannian banner, the symbol of the empire, burned away rapidly to reveal a masked figure standing behind it, a thin frame wrapped in a black cloak. All most like a human bat.

"I am…Zero." The masked man greeted.

Like on the train the name Zero seemed to create more confusion instead of shock an aw. Yet it still worked to great effect. All eyes were on him and everyone was waiting for whatever was comming next.

"What a nub." Phillips said. "The chances of this actually working are…"

"Don't tell me the odds." Six said with a sharp whisper. As he began setting up his own sniper perch. While the Britannian model sniper rifle's range fell short of the prison convoy, the UNSC's SRS99 AM sniper rifle could still core the acting consul's head in a second. However Zero had ordered him only to do so if the worst should happen.

Phillips just laughed like it was a joke. "Right, let's not jinx anything."

As if on cue, lord Jeremiah sprung his trap.

"I've seen enough Zero." He pointed his pistol up and off to the side. "This little show of yours is over!" He pulled the trigger, creating a loud crack that rang out into the air. Four Sutherlands then suddenly dropped from the air, surrounding the fake limo. With this show of over whelming force Jeremiah's victory was all within his grasp. "First things first, why don't you lose that mask."

Zero moved his hand up to his face, looking like he might actually comply with the command. Then he suddenly snapped his fingers and the passenger compartment behind him broke apart to reveal the orange gas capsule.

Noble Six smiled as the new knightmare frames suddenly backed up. According to Kallen and Ohgi, the original capsule held a chemical weapon. However this one was only a very shoddy but even more convincing working replica. According to them the real one had been lost right before the attack on Shinjuku. after hearing the story behind how they stole it in the first place, he didn't have the heart to tell them the truth.

Since the margrave was un-aware of this, to him, Zero had just taken every Britannian there hostage…and they didn't even know it.

Now he just had to wait to see if the pilots in the sutherlands were too smart to be fooled, or too dumb to care. Because he'd learned a few very interesting things about the sutherland knightmare frames. Before returning to the shuttle, Noble Six had searched and found several of the fallen sutherlands. Each time he took in depth scans of each wreck. These were the weapon of choice now, and he needed to find its weakness. Then exploit it, and he had the perfect ammunition to do it.

A rare type, the anti vehicle shells, a smart ordinance designed to be used against lightly, to moderately armored vehicles. Each bullet had a hollow core filled with explosives that could be set to explode around, on, or inside the targeted vehicle for maximum damage.


Inside his news van Diethard Ried was furious. This was media gold, and the world was missing out! A battle of minds and wills, and he needed a better shot of it.

"Unit six bring up the sound, and get that Camera right in his face!"

The camera man's answer was less than what he wanted to hear. "Sir it's too hairy out here."

"Armatures." Diethard growled as he the grabbed a camera of his own. 'If you want it done right do it yourself.'


The margrave was between a rock and a hard place. Honestly he wasn't above sacrificing the crowd to capture, or more likely, kill this man. However such an act could still hurt his career in both the long and the short run. But since time seemed to be the biggest factor he could control right now he decided to hear out this zero so he could learn more from the situation. Then turn it on this upstart.

"Fine, what are your demands?"

"In exchange, this for Kururugi." Zero said.

"Like hell, he's charged with high treason for murdering a prince! I can't hand him over!" Jeremiah was short of outrage, a strait traded? True it would be like letting a single murderer go free to save a thousand victims, plus he could easily catch them later. It was who Jeremiah would be trading with that angered him so much. He had been expecting a strike team from the JLF, probably lead by Tohdoh the miracle worker himself, to storm the precession and quickly be gunned down and captured. Instead he's beaten and forced to parlay by some strange named nobody. That alone could hurt his rep badly enough.

That was something Lelouch had suspected from the start. So it was time to come clean and shift the murdeer rap to where it belonged.

"No! You're mistaken Jeremiah. The man who killed Clovis... was myself!" Zero said for the whole world to hear.


Noble Six wasn't entirely surprised, or pleased for that matter. When he heard about the prince's death he'd originaly had little concern about it. Clovis was the viceroy, but after reading his file the spartan realized that the man had no strategic or tactical value, dead. The late prince was your sterio typical, super rich, playboy, moron. Infact only an idiot would want to kill the guy that was the weakest link in the local government and military structure before over throwing it.

As Noble Six's standing on Zero started to drop. The stratagest of Shinjuku continued to push his sales pitch. "For a single eleven, you'll save scores of precious Britannians. I find that to be a bargain."

For the first time in a long while in his career Diethard was genuinely enjoying his work.

'This is all one big performance to him.' he thought as this amazing stranger looked straight at the camera as he claimed to be the true killer, like he wanted to speak to everyone.

Jeremiah was livid. This had to be a trick of some sort. What fool in his right mind would confess to killing a member of the royal family on live TV?

"He's mad I tell you! Disguising this truck as his highness's, he'll pay the price for mocking the crown!"

With his introduction to the public out of the way, Zero began setting the stage for the exit strategy. "Careful, you don't wish the public to learn of 'Orange', do you?"


"Orange?" Noble Six repeated. "What's that about?"

Phillips responded almost immediately, but without what either wanted to know.

"Got me, I've already accessed every file on this Gottwald guy from birth record to credit history. No mention of that word anywhere in that context."

Then Zero taped the limo's roof. Kallen began driving them closer. "If I die it'll all go public. If you don't want that to happen. You'll do everything in your power to let us go, your prisoner as well."

"Like its gonna be that simple." Phillips said before the the pureblood's commander gave his response.

"Right, understood." Jeremiah said before turning to the soldiers standing over Suzaku. "You there, release the prisoner!"

"Oh come on!"

"Get that man over here!" Jeremiah shouted when no one did as he said. His subordinates tried to reason with him but the man simply brushed them off saying. "Hand him over! Nobody gets in his way." It was like the acting consul had gone a complete one-eighty. Whatever this orange was it must have been big.

"Wait, somethings off." Six said as he zoomed in on the man's face. It was his eyes, there was a small read glow outlining his irises.

"That cant be natural." Phillips said as he observed the live footage from Six's helmet.

Eventually the command to release the boy were followed, mostly because many of the soldiers and other guards were extremely confused by the consul's sudden change and thought that this might be an improvised part of the plan.

As Suzaku climbed off the mobile stage, Zero and Kallen dismounted as well and walked towards the freed prisoner.

Once they were in arm's length of each other Zero turned to Jeremiah. "Until we meet again." Zero then pressed the button on the control stick. The gas capsule shuddered as pink smoke bellowed from the four vents on its dome like sides. The civilians may not have known the full extent of what was going on but when something big does something unexpected, they still panicked perfectly.

With the situation quickly deteriorating for the Britannian's, the pure bloods finally became frantic enough to go against the consul's orders. The knightmare frame to the right of the acting consul raised its rifle to fire at Zero and the others. Noble six was ready to take it out but the consul beat him to the punch as he used his tonfa to strike the offending machine down, shouting. "All unit do I make myself clear! Do everything in your power to help them get away!"

'Just what is going on here?' Six thought as he changed his focus to the four knightmares that had surrounded the fake limo. Now with the fake gas released their only recourse was to capture the escaping prisoner and his rescuers at all costs.

First fun fact about sutherland knightmare armor: when compared to the armor found on a standard UNSC warthog it has the comparative strength of tank armor found in the early 20th century, which by UNSC engineering standards was completely obsolete.

Noble Six lined up his sights on the knightmare closest to Zero and emptied his first clip of AV (anti-vehicle) shells. The shells punched through the armor with little resistance before one was lucky enough to pierce the second weakness, the sutherland's unshielded core processor. The knightmare suddenly froze like a statue, catching the one behind it by surprise as it crashed into its lead.

With two of the Mecha rolling around the street in a tangled mess Six quick loaded a fresh clip of AV rounds before centering on the next sutherland as it circled around the smoke with its rifle raised.

The spartan's weapon barked four times as the four rounds found their place in the third weakest point in a sutherland's design. The most sensitive joints were in its pelvic area. Phillips had made several crude jokes about the similarity between the man and the machine, but Six chose not to recall them as his target's legs blew out of their sockets.

The fourth knightmare was spinning around, trying to use its factsphere to find where the shooter was. That there was the fourth and final weakness that Noble Six would take advantage of this night, the factsphere. It is the primary device that the sutherlands use to collect visual data. The first shot of Six's third clip put an AV shell dead center of the giant eye, the bullets explosive core turned the fragile camera's broken remains into useless shrapnel in seconds. The pilot must have had it by then because he ejected right then and there.

As the empty knightmare fell to the ground Zero, Suzaku, and Kallen jumped off the side of the bridge. Right into the safety net from Ohgi's MR-1 knightmare.

Another sutherland knightmare turned to follow them, but Noble Six had it lined up in its sights as he slammed his final full clip into the rifle. The final shots were close but direct hits as two heavy shells tore through the back of each of the knightmare's knees. Then Six saw the MR-1's escape pod fly off, his signal to do the same.


A short time later Kallen Suzaku and Zero met up with Ohgi and Noble Six before joining the other freedom fighters at a blown out Shinjuku theater.

"Man I didn't really think he could do it." Yoshida said as everyone was still feeling the hype that came from scoring a major victory or looking through the rifles and equipment recovered by the spartan.

"Yeah, who are these guys?" Minami added picking up one of the recovered weapons.

"That's crap how many times could a bluff like that work anyway." Tamaki retorted still not totally buying into the whole thing.

"You have to give the guy some credit though." Ohgi commented. "Got to admit it, nobody else could have pulled that off. Not the Japanese Liberation Front, and certainly not me. We've always thought a full on war with Britannia wasn't a possibility at all. But maybe, with him it is."

Kallen knew what Ohgi was saying. Being half Britannian meant she'd seen their power up close. She turned to look over her shoulder to the door Suzaku and Zero had entered after they arrived, Kallen then realized someone was missing. "hey, where's the big machine man?"


Inside the theater's auditorium Noble Six hung back in the shadows, listening as zero talked with Suzaku. Despite being saved only minutes ago, the Japanese boy seems anything but grateful.

"Why did you use the threat of poison gas and take civilians hostage?"

"It was necessary to negotiate to win. The result, no one died. Right?" zero answered like it was nothing.

"'The result?' That's all that matters to you, I suppose." Suzaku said showing clear distaste for that word.

"If you want to change the world, come with me. The Britannia you serve is a worthless dominion."

Despite the obvious accusation Suzaku remained unfazed.

"You may be right. But... That's why I'm going to change it into a country with values! And I'll do it from within! I don't believe a result achieved by contemptible methods is worth anything."

The masked figure only stared in response. Suzaku turned around and began walking away.

"Wait! Where are you going!?"

"I have a court date." Suzaku said "If I don't go, they'll start cracking down on elevens and honorary Britannians."

"Are you an idiot!? If you go, you'll be killed! It's the only reason they're giving you one!"

"That may be, but it must be done."

Suzaku then walked through the hole in the stage's back wall and disappeared from sight.

"You fool!" zero shouted, even with no one to hear him.

Well... almost.

"Perhaps I miss judged your ability."

"Spartan!" Zero shouted in surprise, "how long have you been there?"

"Long enough. The others are leaving to go back to their homes and hiding places." Noble Six then walked to the same hole that Suzaku had left through.

"And where are you going?" Zero asked. Several ideas had come to his mind, few that he liked.

"First I have a question for that boy Suzaku. Then I'm going to look for some place to bunk down that won't get me plastered all over the news."


Suzaku had walked about four blocks before something smacked him in the head. The impact was fairly soft, but it still had enough force to throw him a couple of feet. Once he had stopped tumbling Suzaku look to see what hit him saw what he could only describe as an 8ft tall knightmare in a hooded trench coat.

"Zero maybe willing to let you just walk out of here. I'm not, Just yet anyway." Six said as he slowly approached.

"Why? Who are you… what are you?" Suzaku asked as he got up.

"I'm a living weapon, created in secret by Britannia. But I've chosen to follow my own path, not the ones made by those that would call themselves our master. I no longer have a name just a number 312, call sign Noble Six. I can tell you for a fact invoking lasting change from within is nothing more than a pipe dream."

"No, it can be changed-" but Six cut him off.

"Prove it! Give me a reason to believe you. Tell me how you're going to change a nation of cutthroat bigots and supremacists? If you could give me a solution that won't add mountains to the body count, then tell me."

Suzaku just stood there, defiantly refusing to cower under the Spartans imposing shadow. He couldn't find an answer for him, he wanted one. However he refused to give up, he would find it even if it killed him. "There is a way. My father died to bring about this peace and I will not have his sacrifice be in vain."

"That may be true to you, but there's a line between lives spent and lives wasted, and your goal is flirting with the latter." Noble Six then stopped, his blank visor showing nothing.

"What about you! You're a Britannian aren't you? Why do you fight your-"

"Because I'm a soldier, not a murderer!"

Suzaku immediately silenced himself.

"The prince ordered the entire ghetto to be exterminated. If working with this zero is evil, then working with Britannia is even worse. I just choose the lesser of the two. What about you?"

Suzaku continued to remain silent. That one word had broken any resolve he had to argue with the armored giant. So the boy just stood there with his eyes down cast.

"Forget it." the Spartan turned around and started walking away. "I don't have the time to deal with you now, because all I see is someone trying to die so things can just stay the way they are."

Six then stopped just before he rounded a corner and looked Suzaku in the eye as best he could.

"Just think about this, you said the Britannians were going to crack down on honorary Britannians and elevens if you don't show up. However the whole reason you're having any trial is not just to find a scape goat, but it was so the purebloods could have an excuse to do just that."

Then just as suddenly the giant disappeared. Leaving a stunned boy standing in the middle of a dark street.


So that happened. Suzaku's view was challenged, with extreme prejudice. He's still going to stick with Britannia, but how long will it last?

I wanted to ask this in the last chapter, how and where do you the reader think Zero and Noble Six could have met?

I also want to know what you readers think will or want to happen next.

and if you don't like spoilers then Don't Read THIS!

Lelouch will get his one on one time with Cornelia before the black rebellion

Noble Six will have a pairing, feel free to speculate on that

AND someone that was suposed to make it through to the end of the series... will die.

Oh, and a shout out to Deathadder47117 and edboy4296, thanks for the praise and I hope to keep this work going. And edboy, you're on the right track.

PS

One last thing, if there are spelling and grammer errors let me know exactly where they are