AN: Again, I'm sorry for the longish gap between updates. I've spent most of the last two weeks at home, and it's hard to write there, though I did finish and post the first chapter of my new CG story if you haven't seen it already. I plan to have lots of fun with it. Though, this is the beginning of my last week at uni, so I suppose I'll have to get used to living at home until I achieve employment. Thanks to all readers, alertees, favoritee's and reviewers as usual. I have no time to list you all here since I'm busy; it seems like a terms worth of social life is being crammed into one weekend before we all leave. I will get to review replying when I get a chance though.

I hope you enjoy the chapter, even if I'm not hugely pleased with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass.

Smiling down at his sleeping friend, Suzaku directed the immortal in the front seat to pull into the small car park where a few other cars were parked, though there were no other people around. The car was undistinguished enough to be overlooked by any potential followers. EE looked round confusedly when Suzaku told him to turn off the engine.

"We've stopped because I want to make sure we can safely go back to our hotel without being followed. Do you know if they put any tracking devices on you?"

"Ah… yes," responded EE, "getting rid of that may be a good idea. I don't really want them catching up with me again."

"Again?"

"Well… I'm not sure how long ago it was, years and years ago though, but not much before the kid here turned up. There was an incident at the place where I was being held. I'm not sure what was going on there, but there were lots of people there with geass, and many of them were children, some sort of experimental group. I was held at a deeper level, an even bigger secret than they were. Not many people had clearance enough to know that I was there. The existence of the facility was discovered by some terrorist group I believe, but I don't really know who or why. They attacked the base. I think all of the people with geass, certainly all of the children, were killed in that attack. It was terrible… they weren't there of their own choice. They were mostly war orphans I think. But there was so much chaos, I managed to get away.

"They found me a month later; I was on my way to Europe in a car I'd picked up somewhere. I'd been underground a long time, I didn't trust air travel, it was a brand new technology when I'd last been free. Maybe if I had I might have got further and they wouldn't have caught up with me. But yes… they must have given me some form of tracking device; otherwise they wouldn't have found me. I was careful not to leave a trail."

"Whereabouts do you think it is? It'll be fixed in place, somewhere just under the skin."

"I would assume it's here somewhere," said EE leaning forward and indicating an area of his back around his left shoulder blade. "It's hard to get at, so there's no way I could remove it myself. Besides that, I remember when they brought me back in, that was the first thing they did. I think they'd been having issues with it, which is why it took them that long to catch up with me. It wasn't just the resultant chaos from the attack at their base. I would assume they'd replaced it with newer technology."

"What about…"

"The boy? I'm not sure but I'd expect so; probably in the same place. They can't risk us trying to dig it out forcefully, since that would be easy if it was in somewhere like an arm or a leg. It's not like any damage we did to ourselves in doing so would last long."

They boy in question was following the conversation. Suzaku knew it was Rolo, but his wide-eyed expression and his continued silence… it just didn't add up to the version of Rolo he'd known. He couldn't think of him as Rolo. Rolo or not, his eyes had been passing between Suzaku and EE, and when Suzaku glanced at him as EE finished speaking the boy met his eyes uncertainly, nodding and touching his own back. Yes, he thought he had a tracking device too.

"Ok… in that case, I'm going to have to remove them now."

EE quirked an eyebrow at Suzaku

"Military training may have been a very long time ago, and it may not have covered delicate surgery, but we did get basic training, which encompassed removing bullets and shrapnel. I can probably manage this. It doesn't have to be perfect since, as you said, you'll heal quickly, but I want to get this done now. They may already be closing in on our location."

"There's some first aid stuff in the front, including a surgical knife" said Lelouch sitting up from where he'd been resting. "I thought it might be useful."

Suzaku looked at Lelouch in surprise. "You're awake now? How long have you been awake? Why…"

Lelouch interrupted him, a faint, almost imperceptible blush on his cheeks at being caught pretending to sleep. "Long enough. Now… I thought you wanted to do this quickly?" He changed the subject, reminding the others that they were likely being followed. There was no need for Suzaku to know that he'd though his lap was comfy and he hadn't wanted to get up.

Suzaku leaned forward and opened the glove box, pulling out Lelouch's first aid kit, causing Rolo to flinch as he leaned across him.

"EE, I think it's best if I start with you. I'd feel more comfortable working on him," he said gesturing to Rolo, "after I know exactly what I'm looking for and where. He seems fragile… I don't want to scare him off."

"I agree. Besides he's not as resilient as I am. It takes him longer to heal, and some things he was never able to fix at all; like his voice, and his memories. His code is rotten, so it doesn't work so well."

"Rotten?" queried Lelouch, "… no, I'll ask later, we're pressed for time." He quickly organised the four of them so that EE was in the back seat with Suzaku. Lelouch busied himself by changing into clothes that were not bloodstained, passing his originals back to Suzaku so that the car did not get bloodied during the procedure.

After EE had removed his shirt, Suzaku carefully felt around his back until he came across a suspicious lump, tucked up against the base of the man's left shoulder blade. Since it didn't shift with the skin, he assumed it had been attached to the bone somehow.

"Are you ready?" he asked EE nervously, and when he received a positive response, Suzaku took a deep breath and brought the knife down to meet the skin. The man did not flinch or make any other movement as his skin was broken and his blood started to trickle down his back.

Suzaku slipped his finger into the incision attempting to feel for the device, but grateful for the surgical gloves that were provided with the first aid kit. The boy… Rolo was watching him expressionlessly.

Suzaku sigh with exasperation. The device was deeper than he'd thought. He taughtened the flesh above the device between two fingers, one on either side of where it was concealed, and certainly attached to the edge of the shoulder blade. With his other hand he picked up the knife again. He quickly sliced though the flesh and, working mostly by feel, his fingers finally connected with the warm metal coating of the device.

Cringing as the knife scraped against bone, he prised the device from the shoulder blade and deposited it onto the tissue he'd set aside for that purpose. He turned back to EE, and pressing the edges of his skin together he cleaned off most of the blood. He would have made an attempt at putting in a few stitches, but when he looked to observe the cut he noted it was already healing and didn't need help.

"Ok… I'm done here."

EE quickly got out of the car, changing into the alternate clothes Lelouch had brought for all of them. Then he and Lelouch coaxed the boy in front to move into the back, he looked somewhat more apprehensive about this now it was his turn.

Lelouch held Rolo's hand, trying to maintain eye contact and ensure the boy knew he was safe. Suzaku worked quickly, knowing what he was doing now. Since Rolo's skin didn't seem to be healing nearly as well as EE's had, when he'd removed the tracker, Suzaku added couple of stitches, just enough to hold the cut closed. They weren't neat, but he would have to take them out again in a couple of hours anyway. As a precaution he also decided to add a small amount of bandage as the wound was still oozing a little blood. He asked Rolo to remove his shirt so he could fasten the bandage securely around his shoulder.

The boy complied, and Lelouch stared in shock at what was unveiled on the boy's chest.

A black mark; the geass sigil, but inverted, upside down on his chest on the spot over the boy's heart, it's 'wingtips' drooping sadly downwards. Black, not red, and unlike Lelouch's own mark it was not a crisp clean edged symbol. Its edges and corners weren't sharp. It seemed somehow frayed.

Lelouch stared, his fingertip tracing the tattered shape as the boy watched him fearfully.

"A rotten code" provided EE. "That's what I told you. Marked on his skin as it takes hold of his body, keeping him alive, even if that should not be the case. Truthfully, I've never seen one before, but I have heard it mentioned in hushed whispers by code bearers older than myself."

Lelouch finally took his eyes off the mark and Suzaku continued the task of applying the bandage. Instead, Lelouch turned to face EE and was somewhat surprised by what he saw.

"EE… how and why have you acquired a pigeon?"

"I used to catch birds all the time as a boy, before I received my code. Catching a pigeon is easy since they're pretty stupid birds. As for why, I figured we could easily attach the tracking devices to the pigeon, to mislead our pursuers."

Lelouch's expression of confusion turned into a smile. This guy was smart. "Good idea," he said and quickly fashioned a small pouch out of the first aid box's contents, put in the tracking devices after cleaning them a little and helped EE to fasten it to the pigeon's leg. Luckily, the devices were small and lightweight; When EE released the pigeon it gave the pair of them a disgruntled look before flying off quickly.

The chance of being followed now sufficiently dwindled; the group rearranged themselves in the car, this time with Suzaku in the driver's seat, and Lelouch next to him.

As they set off back towards New Tokyo, Suzaku turned to Lelouch and said quietly. "Thanks for taking that bullet for me back there."

Lelouch blushed and turned away, apparently finding something very interesting to look at outside. "It was the most logical course of action," he lied "After all, if it'd been you that got shot, there's no way I'd have been able to carry you out of there, and we'd all be stuck."

Suzaku smiled. He recognised Lelouch's 'making excuses' tone of voice. It hadn't changed a bit since they were children, and he'd blamed any thing, but himself when it came to losing to Suzaku, or from his 'why I failed to complete my history assignment' stories at Ashford Academy. It was a convincingly sincere tone… but Suzaku knew Lelouch well enough to see through it. He also knew Lelouch well enough not to press the issue, since it would likely cause his friend to glare, and then sulk at him for a while.

Instead, he suggested Lelouch call their hotel to see if they could get another room for the two newcomers, and focused instead on not getting lost en route back there.

The rest of the journey back was quiet. Rolo and EE watched the world pass by outside their respective windows. Suzaku was certain the older individual was gauging how much the world had changed since he'd last been above ground. Rolo on the other hand seemed to be taking in the sights as if for the first time, occasionally taking a moment to caress the soft fabric of the t-shirt Lelouch had provided for him, a stark contrast to the coarse fabric of the garb he'd been confined in. Lelouch had finished his phone call and was now gazing forward with an intense contemplative expression. Suzaku decided it was a comfortable silence, so he let his passengers be, and focused on driving, glancing occasionally in the mirrors just in case.