I Heard The World

by YamiPaladinofChaos

AU. A different world, a familiar war. Kururugi Suzaku wages a crusade against the Empire of Japan to free Brittania. Lelouch Lamperouge disguises himself in a mask to atone for a terrible crime. Kouzuki Kallen and her brother Naoto are the Japanese Empire's new hope. Shirley Fenette seeks vengeance for all she has lost. The future can only accept one vision of justice, my friend.

2. Chapter 2: The Swordless Soldier

"The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else."

-Umberto Eco

Chapter 2

The Swordless Soldier

For a long time, he was still, amidst the freshly slain corpses of his enemies, the scent of blood choking the air, slashes of angry crimson staining the walls. Time no longer mattered to him. No sound reached his ears but the sound of his own beating heart, and he saw nothing but the machine-god before him.

The Caliburn stood untouched amidst the seas of red which stained the ground, its' terrible radiance remaining pure even after the slaughter. It turned towards him, and in keeping with its appearance as a ferocious golden knight, it knelt down on one mechanical knee in servitude to him.

Mine.

It struck him with awe and wonder, understanding that this unnatural weapon was his to wield, to use for the justice he had desired for so long.

This beast had to have sprung from the obsidian block contained in the truck, just as Euphemia had been. This was the military technology that Kusakabe had planned to bring into the country?

What kind of enemy was the Caliburn supposed to fight? Even just looking at it, he could tell that it was different from other Knightmare Frames- there was something unique, special, about it.

Who could have created it?

The questions mounted, weaving into the dreamlike trance that had settled like an impenetrable fog over his mind.

Only when his grip slackened around the woman in his arms- around Euphie- did the supernatural awe created by the Caliburn break, and Suzaku returned to reality as her body shifted and nearly fell.

With a panicked hurry, he laid her down on the ground and checked the wound, but he already knew the answer- it had gone through her heart, a clean, straight kill.

Suzaku shut his eyes as they began to sting, fingernails digging into the calloused flesh of his palm in self recrimination.

He had survived, but at what cost?

Sounds at the edges of his hearing startled him- more of Kusakabe's men, probably- and, in a panic, Suzaku wondered how he could escape. He didn't want to leave Euphie here- she deserved a proper burial, at least. But how could he carry her and still escape…

There was a pneumatic hiss, the sound of pressurized air escaping, and Suzaku's head jerked up in time to see what had to be the Caliburn's cockpit hatch open up and its hand extend in a makeshift stair.

The meaning was clear, if unspoken.

Deciding that right now was not the best time to question how the machine had guessed his thoughts, Suzaku clambered up the Caliburn's arm, Euphemia in his arms, and though the princess' body was almost feather light, he was still thankful he had kept up a strict training regiment over the years that helped him mount the Knightmare without the use of his hands. As he settled into the cockpit, however, he was distracted as he took in his surroundings.

Suzaku possessed Knightmare training; as the Crown Prince of a conquering empire, he had to. He had been inside the cockpit of both the current Shinran Knightmare Frame and the retired Kukai, and learned how to operate them with a proficiency that he was proud to say even his teacher, Toudou, had commended him on.

The Caliburn, however, had a cockpit unlike any other Knightmare he had ever seen. It held only two control yokes, both left and right, which he assumed controlled the arms, and pedals at his feet. The viewscreen was wider than the average Knightmare as well, and beneath it sat only a single meter- an energy counter, he wondered?

However, everything in the cockpit was dark and unlit, and he saw no place to put the activation key like other Knightmares.

"How do I turn this on?" Suzaku wondered, and as if triggered by his words, the cockpit screen flashed a message.

CG-01 Caliburn online. Awaiting orders

Suzaku's eyes widened, and, unconsciously, he let out a slow breath as he spoke uncertainly. "Can… can you respond to my words?"

The response was immediate.

Affirmative

What kind of machine is this? Suzaku remembered that voice in his head, promising him power, telling him it would be his.

He glanced down at the girl in his arms.

"Did you do this, Euphie?" he wondered, blinking. After a moment, he remembered that now might not be the best time to ask questions, and said quickly, "Caliburn. Close hatch."

As the Knightmare did as he commanded, Suzaku pushed on the controls, easing the machine back into an upright position. He turned to leave, when he spotted one more body on the viewscreen, one had nearly forgotten about.

The boy terrorist, the one who had been driving the truck, twitched- the soldiers had let him go after the Caliburn appeared, sparing him from the indiscriminate slaughter. He was unconscious, and probably wouldn't wake up until long after the soldiers found him.

Suzaku bit his lip. The cockpit was too small to carry more people- and he wanted to hide his identity for right now. Yet he couldn't just leave the boy behind to get picked up by the soldiers, to be tortured and executed.

He'd have to carry him.

Reaching out, the Caliburn's large metal palms scooped up the unconscious terrorist, and then Suzaku turned and led the machine down deeper into the Underground, hoping to find some kind of refuge.

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He was going to kill Suzaku.

Lelouch panted, one hand on his knee, the other trying his best to undo the red tie around his neck. He glanced around- figuring that the terrorists would flee to the Underground, as was their custom, he had gone in after them, hoping Suzaku hadn't gotten too far ahead.

Unfortunately, he had, and now Lelouch was lost in the Underground. To make matters worse, his cell phone signal was being blocked due to being underground.

"Just great," he muttered. "I swear, he's more trouble than he's worth."

"You there!" a voice suddenly barked, and Lelouch whirled about to see a squad of Japanese soldiers closing in on him.

Lelouch raised his arms in the universal sign of surrender, showing them he was unarmed and stepping close enough so they could see he was just a student.

"Is there a problem, sirs?" he asked politely, keeping his head down.

The lead soldier, a dark haired older man with the bars of a Lieutenant on his chest, gave him a stern glare. "This is a restricted area, Brit. What're you doing here?"

"I was skipping school with my friend and we decided to take a shortcut through the Underground, but we got separated," Lelouch responded immediately. "I'm sorry, I know we shouldn't be here…"

The soldiers raised their rifles, and he froze mid sentence.

"Bad luck boy," the lieutenant apologized insincerely. "Even if your story is true, no one is allowed to be here. Orders. So if someone's here…"

The rifles cocked.

Even with fear encroaching over his heart, Lelouch's mind remained as agile as ever. Orders to shoot any intruders on sight could only come from someone high up, someone who wanted a secret here buried. And considering Suzaku hadn't been informed of the situation…

Damn. Suzaku… He could be dead already.

Lelouch cursed himself. He was powerless, and about to die.

-Empty eyes the same shade as his own, reflecting only death-…

Lelouch shut his eyes.

I'm so sorry, he whispered silently, and wished he could be forgiven for all the things he had done.

"Get down!"

A girl?

In the wake of what was distinctly the shout of a young woman, Lelouch was knocked back down on his ass for the second time that day as the distinctive boom of a Knightmare's rifle tore apart the air, and then soldiers in front of him suddenly disappeared in a haze of blood and dust.

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Even as she pulled the trigger, Shirley admitted this was not the best idea. Her Knightmare was already damaged, at half-energy, and the enemy vastly outnumbered her. Drawing any kind of attention to herself was nothing short of suicide.

And yet the thought of abandoning a fellow Brittanian to die at the hands of those soldiers was simply intolerable.

"Are you alright?" she asked through the speakers, focusing the viewscreen on him. It was dark, but she could see he was a young man, probably around her age, dark haired and pale, wearing a school uniform-

"Shoot," Shirley cursed suddenly, eyes widening. She knew that uniform.

If the young man was aware of her discomfort, he failed to show it, gazing almost dispassionately at the bodies of the soldiers.

Seeing his gaze, Shirley added in reassuringly, "Don't worry, they're dead."

"I can see that," he said, and the biting tone in his voice gave her pause, "You shouldn't have killed them."

Shirley blinked at the complaint. Was this guy some kind of idealist?

"They were about to kill you," she reminded him slowly.

"And you killed them." The response was quick and flat, cutting in its toneless nature.

She bristled at his ungrateful, accusatory tone, suddenly irritated at how this whole mess was turning out. "Look, I just saved you. The least you could do is thank me."

He shook his head, hard expression clear, with cold and distant eyes bearing a unique shade of violet she had never seen before. "Killing should be the absolute last resort. You could have frightened them off, or knocked them out. How is indiscriminate killing ever going to get us anywhere?"

His words echoed into the corridors of her mind, recalling some half remembered phrase out of her past.

"Listen Shirley. Hating others is a poison in your heart. Never let it take hold of you."

Shirley ignored the words that rang in her head. "What would you know?" she spat, unable to hold back the venom in her voice. "Are you saying we should let them do whatever they want? Do you have any idea what we've lost because of these people?"

His expression flickered, a deep kind of sorrow she had never seen before, with an intensity that caused Shirley to flinch, unable to bear the brunt of the darkness that laid behind those unique amethyst orbs.

"I know what we've lost," he said darkly, "And I know that killing is never going to bring the dead back."

His words stung her to the core. Unable to keep looking at that dark, regretful expression he wore, Shirley looked away, and turned her De Dannan down the tunnel. "Look, I don't have time to argue this. I've got a friend to find. Don't expect me to come back and save you again."

And with that, she left him behind, but his words continued to linger at the edges of her heart.

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Lelouch watched the De Dannan Knightmare go, expression still reminiscent of dark thunderheads gathering on the horizon.

"Killing is an evil thing," he muttered, and knelt at the bodies of the soldiers who had just a few moments ago been prepared to kill him. He shut their eyes in a gesture of respect and condolence, and with an apologetic look, he took the Lieutenant's handheld communicator from the man's body. His cell phone might not work here, but the military's had to.

He could hear scattered chatter- the transmitter was probably on a private channel that was being used specifically for this mission.

"Any word from the Colonel?"

"None yet. Lieutenant Ayano took a squad to go look for him, but they haven't returned."

"Damn. This is all going wrong. Ayano! Lieutenant Ayano! This is Major Minami, Colonel Kusakabe's executive officer. I need the status of you and your men."

Lelouch glanced down at the bodies of the soldiers. The lead one, with the bars of the Lieutenant, must have been the one they were looking for. Frowning, he pocketed the transmitter for now, and started down the tunnel as well, opposite the way that the girl terrorist in the Knightmare had gone.

For now, he would have to wait and listen.

And pray Suzaku was still alive.

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Gino Weinberg was antsy.

He hated being antsy.

"Any word yet?" he asked through the speakers of his De Dannan. He sat in his Knightmare Frame, arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently. Around him, the rest of the detachment from his resistance cell waited at the designated meeting point, in the Underground.

They should have been here by now.

"None yet," his second in command, Kewell Sorsei, answered politely, from the controls of his own Knightmare.

Around them, two more Knightmares stood, accompanied by seven armed men. A small detachment, but their resistance cell was not a large one, and they couldn't afford to risk too many men here.

"How about Lenard's group? Have they made contact?"

Lenard Lubie was one of his lieutenants, an older man who had previously been enlisted in the Brittanian army before the Empire's fall, and was trustworthy enough to command the other detachment from their resistance cell. He was waiting at the secondary meeting site, in case the way to Gino's position became too hot to risk a meeting, and had a detachment of several Knightmares as well.

"I'm afraid not my lord," Kewell replied.

"Kewell, seriously, I'm not a noble anymore. And you're older than me, for Christ's sake. Slack off a little on the whole 'my lord' thing," Gino reminded him, rolling his eyes.

"Brittania's traditions must be upheld. It is all we have left," Kewell answered slowly, keeping his tone level, and Gino sighed.

He wished the man would be a little less straight laced about these sorts of things.

But that was Kewell for you. The man's family had been a minor lordship in the province controlled by the Weinberg's for generations, and as such their families had close ties, and Kewell himself had been raised to show the utmost respect to any member of Gino's family. With the fall of Brittania, many nobles still tried to cling to the old ways, the old grandeur, which included the ideas of fealty.

He had to respect that, in a way. Otherwise, their country might really die out someday.

Suddenly, a blip on the radar.

"Looks like we've got something," Gino said slowly, straightening in his seat, gripping the controls a little tighter. "All units stand by."

"It looks like it's coming from the southern tunnel, sir. Where Fenette and Cardemonde were supposed to come from," Kewell informed him. "Do you believe it's them?"

"We'll see," Gino replied grimly. Shirley was one of their best pilots, and had a good head on her shoulders. Rivalz was less competent but he was eager and willing to risk his life for the cause, something Gino respected. He trusted them to handle this mission, and they trusted him not to waste their lives.

If he had made a mistake, one that got both of them killed…

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think like that- he was the leader, and he had to keep his calm.

What emerged from the shadows of the southern tunnel, however, shook him to his core.

At first, Gino mistook it for a trick of the light, because nothing he knew shined like the sun, especially not this far underground. But as it came into focus, he felt his jaw fall open a little at the sight of the terrible metal creature that burst forth from the shadows.

It was only when Kewell spoke that he regained his senses.

"Sir! It's got Cardemonde!"

Upon realizing that yes, in fact, this strange golden Knightmare did have one of his comrades in its metal grasp, Gino came back to reality, coughing. "You there! In the Knightmare! You have one of my men. Release him, and things don't have to get ugly."

Gino was an exceptional Knightmare pilot, and because of that he had gained kind of a sixth sense about Knightmares. But even he didn't need that to see that if this golden Knightmare decided to attack, chances were his men wouldn't get much of a chance to fight back. Strange new machines, as a rule, were probably pretty dangerous- Gino wasn't some background character in a manga or something who would try to be overconfident and take a shot at something he didn't know anything about.

He just had to pray the pilot didn't want them all to die.

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Suzaku, for his part, was not of a mind to kill them, but rather was stuck on what to do next. Nominally, as the head of the Japanese occupation, he should be arresting these terrorists just on the basis of them possessing illegal equipment such as Knightmares. But right now, he wasn't really the Crown Prince- he was the pilot of an unknown Knightmare Frame. All he had was the power of this machine.

No titles. No restrictions.

Only his justice decided how to use this weapon.

Slowly, Suzaku lowered the Caliburn's arm, depositing the boy on the ground gently. "I mean you no harm," he said slowly, willing the Knightmare's speakers to activate (which they did- he was starting to get used to the synergistic control scheme). "I'm…"

He hesitated, trying to find the right words.

Finally, he settled on one. "… a friend."

"A friend huh?" said the De Dannan who spoke before, as several of his men went forward and collected the unconscious boy. His tone was dubious. "Then tell me, friend- there was a girl that was supposed to be with him. Where is she?"

Suzaku paused at that, remembering that De Dannan he saw battling the army back on the streets. "I think she was piloting a Knightmare. She was trying to buy time for this one to escape."

He heard a curse from the De Dannan, before another question. "And the cargo?"

Here, Suzaku was at a conundrum. They clearly had no idea what they were stealing, just that it was new military technology. If he tried to explain that this was the cargo, and that it consisted of a lost Brittanian princess and a Knightmare that responded to mental and verbal commands…

Well, any chance of trust would, at the least, be shot to hell.

"It was a trap," Suzaku lied, and cursed himself a little for it. "The truck was empty. They were just using it to lure out terrorists."

A louder curse this time.

"How can we believe you?" the man in the other Knightmare asked. "For all we know you knocked out our guy, killed the girl, and took it."

At that, the other two Knightmares visibly tensed, both of them shifting, ready to open fire if he should prove hostile.

"You don't have to," Suzaku said coolly. "But I have nothing to gain from lying to you or destroying you."

He didn't want this to turn into a battle. These people hadn't done anything wrong, unlike Kusakabe's men.

Finally, the leader in the De Dannan relented.

"Well, I pride myself on not being a cliché, and fighting a strange machine I know nothing about definitely qualifies, so I'll take your word for it," he said lightly, audibly chuckling. "I'd rather not die like a nameless mook, thank you."

Suzaku blinked, and chuckled back. What an interesting guy.

"Thanks for your help. We'll just have to keep looking for the other one," he continued, and the De Dannan even managed a tiny jerk of its head to acknowledge him. The terrorists gathered up their fallen comrade and began turning away-

When the western wall exploded, and two Shinran Knightmare Frames poured on through, and everything went to hell.

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Major Yoshitaka Minami was what most people expected in the executive officer of Colonel Kusakabe. He was quiet to the point of taciturn, with a heavy set jaw and glasses that gave him a perpetual stern look, matching his commander's husky build in terms of weight, but being several inches taller. In another life, he was the head of the Black Knight's secret corps, a job he excelled at by being so distinctly ordinary that people often overlooked him.

It was the same here. Colonel Kusakabe was a politician masquerading as a military officer until he was decorated enough to advance to a political office. Minami was his second, and as such he handled all the "ordinary" military organizational duties while the Colonel schemed.

Which was why, even with the chain of command falling to him as contact was lost with the Colonel and the Governor, he remained firm, guiding the military from the government building.

"HQ. HQ. This is Hi-Four."

Minami leaned forward. In front of him stood the communications equipment, where the voice had emanated from. There was a large tactical screen that dominated the wall, displaying IFF tags from Knightmare Frames and infantry that were sweeping the Underground. He pressed down on a button. "Go ahead Hi-Four. We have you."

"We've found Colonel Kusakabe sir. He's KIA, along with the rest of the command squad, including the Knightmare attachment. Looks like some kind of Knightmare Frame's edge weapon."

He cursed audibly, rubbing the bridge of his nose- an old habit from childhood he'd never quite broken. "Recover the bodies."

"Understood sir. Hi-Four out."

Minami sighed, and shut his eyes briefly in respect for the dead. He might not have called the Colonel friend, but a soldier of Japan was a soldier of Japan.

Then he opened his eyes, and switched communication channels, to the army open channel.

"All units, Colonel Kusakabe is K.I.A.. Henceforth I will be taking overall strategic command of our forces in the area. Companies Hi and Mizu are to surround all nearby exits to the Underground. Companies Ki, Kage, and Kawa, you will sweep the Underground and find the insurgents. If they surrender, take them into custody. Terminate any others who resist."

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For a brief moment, Suzaku was frozen, even as all around him, chaos reigned. He saw everything in slow motion- the Brittanian terrorists were unmoving, too caught off guard to react as the dust and debris settled over the Japanese Knightmares.

The leader in the De Dannan yelled for them to get cover, even as the Japanese raised their weapons to slaughter them all.

He reacted without thinking, and the Caliburn crossed the space between him and the Japanese Knightmares in an instant, slashing off the arms of the nearest Shinran Knightmare with its massive longsword. As the metal limbs toppled to the ground, Suzaku shifted his machine and slammed its shoulder into the Shinran, crumpling the torso and causing it to crash backwards, unmoving. The cockpit hatch opened, and the pilot, bleeding but alive, stumbled out.

"Move!" he barked at the terrorists, who scattered to avoid being caught in the crossfire. His attention was diverted, however, as the remaining Japanese Knightmare raised its own rifle.

Gritting his teeth, Suzaku ducked the Caliburn down, moving in familiar patterns, skills he had learned at the feet of Toudou Kyoshiro, as he slashed through the torso of the Shinran, intentionally avoiding the cockpit, letting the pilot escape his ruined machine.

It was over in seconds, just as it had begun.

"Run," Suzaku growled at the pilots of both machines, who fled quickly, lest they fall into the unforgiving hands of the terrorists.

As they departed, some of the Brittanians started to move on after them, but Suzaku cut them off by pivoting the Caliburn's head towards them, its eyes a pulsating, ferocious red that neatly stopped them in their tracks.

"Leave them be. They're unarmed," Suzaku commanded roughly, over the speakers.

The men opened their mouths to protest, but a sudden noise from the leader's De Dannan cut them off.

"Wow," the De Dannan's operator said, guffawing with a clear mixture of admiration and disbelief. "You're a hell of an interesting guy, you know that man? You're not a rebel and you're sure as shootin' not part of the government. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm a friend," Suzaku repeated, and grinned in the cockpit, full of a dangerous kind of elation, the relishing of freedom mixed with the invincibility of youth. It was heady, almost addicting.

A quick glance down at the body of Euphemia, who still laid in his lap, brought him back to reality. This was real. People could, and probably would die.

"Right, right," the other man said amusedly. "Alright, well, friend, my name's Gino. I figure a name's good payment for saving me and my men. Now we gotta get ourselves moving- those guys you just spared will be back with some buddies."

"Ah, right, Gino…" Suzaku paused- he couldn't tell them his name, which was not only clearly Japanese but shared by the Emperor of Japan himself. On a sudden impulse, he spoke. "I can't tell you my name right now, but I'll do you one better- I'll help you and your men get out of here."

Once again, there was a dumbfounded silence, and then Gino barked out another laugh.

"Damn! You really are an interesting guy," he muttered, more to himself than anything else. "Well, I say never look a gift horse in the mouth. We gotta sweep through and find the other guy I sent on this job first though. I won't leave her behind. I'll have my other men split into squads A and B to sweep the tunnels, so if you don't mind helping…"

Suzaku smiled at that, and knew he'd made the right choice.

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The final bell rang, and an annoyed C.C. stalked out of the classroom with a look on her face that sent every poor student unfortunate enough to cross her path scattering like autumn leaves in the wind.

That idiot… he's gone to see Suzaku again.

Every time they met she wondered if he was really so reckless as to think clandestine meetings with the Prince of a hostile empire was safe, but this time was… different.

Something about today felt wrong to her… some pricking on the edges of her expanded consciousness that came with being a Code Bearer. She had wondered if it was V.V., because it felt almost like the presence of another being like herself, but if felt too weak and too different to be that.

It was almost a Code Bearer… but not. It made no sense to her, however, and that bothered her more than anything else.

Whatever it was, she didn't like the fact that Lelouch was out of her sight and this presence had entered her senses.

Her foul, fuming mood, a sharp contrast to her usual cool, sarcastic nature, did not go unnoticed amongst the student body, who took great notice of her and Lelouch, as two (seemingly) teenagers of the opposite sex who lived together under one roof and went to the same school and who were not blood related.

"Must be mad her boyfriend ran off without her…"

"Shh, don't say that too loud!"

C.C. scowled.

You owe me big time, Lelouch.

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In a different world, Shirley Fenette would have been your average high school girl, modest and kind and pure, innocent to a degree that was almost unthinkable, caught up in the breathtaking, heart stopping world of first love even as the world around her went through tumultuous wars and crises.

But that's a different story.

"Goddamnit!" Shirley cursed, and swerved her De Dannan around, raising her sole remaining arm and firing off a quick burst from her stolen assault rifle at her pursuers.

After encountering that crazy idealist student, Shirley had managed to avoid detection for a while, but as she turned the last intersection she came face to face with a full Knightmare Squad- five Shinran Frames. With no way of going head to head with them and doing anything more than dying, she chose to fire at the ceiling and flee, using the chaos to try and evade them.

One of them must have gotten disabled in the confusion, but four remained and they were hot on her trail, using a staggered formation in the tight corridor of the Underground in order to avoid being mowed down by a single burst, strafing defensively as they did so.

With her Knightmare already missing an arm and both Stun Tonfas, things were bad enough… and that wasn't even factoring in her precarious amount of energy left- less than half an hour.

She was in deep.

"Piss off!" Shirley swore virulently, firing her rifle again, basically from the hip- her aim was terribly off, but she wasn't too concerned with actually hitting anything so much as keeping them from hitting her.

Three of them scattered without taking a shot, but the fourth, a more skilled pilot than the rest, remained unshaken after the attack and took aim.

Shirley bit off another unladylike curse and twisted her De Dannan, but even that movement couldn't completely evade the attack, and the enemy Shinran scored an indirect hit on her Knightmare's chest, shaking it badly.

The minute the shaking stopped and her equilibrium was regained, Shirley glanced over the readouts with a practiced eye- nothing severely damaged, thank God, but her armor was definitely not going to take another hit like that. If she had taken it head on, she'd probably be dead already.

With that in mind, Shirley took a sharp right turn at the next diverging of tunnels she could find, all the while making sure to keep the enemy Knightmares in front of her- no need to give them an easy shot at her back, plus it allowed her to shoot back instead of just fleeing.

It did little good to keep them in front, however, as the enemy Knightmares regrouped rapidly and were gaining on her again, moving in the same pattern as before to avoid her incoming fire. To add to that, her energy meter had just dropped another precarious bar, leaving it in the last minutes of its activation time, and her assault rifle was down to its last clip.

Not too many options left then. Shirley glanced at the underside of the left control panel, where, just beyond a collapsible panel, laid the keypad for the self destruct sequence. It would ignite the remaining Sakuradite in her Knightmare and create a catastrophic explosion that would probably take out at least one or two of her pursuers.

"Sorry papa," she apologized softly, sounding more like a little girl than a battle hardened pilot. "I couldn't avenge you…"

With a tiny sigh of regret, Shirley reached out for the self destruct pad-

When the Knightmare furthest to the back of the squad exploded, and a familiar voice called out over Shirley's communication channel.

"Well look at this!" Gino whooped, the grin on his face practically audible. "Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us, Kewell?"

"Big damn heroes sir," Kewell answered dutifully.

"Ain't we just," Gino said with a chuckle. "You alright there, Shirley?"

"You're late commander," Shirley quipped back, smiling dizzily in relief at the sight of her comrades, which morphed into surprise as a golden blur darted in amidst the remaining three Shinran Knightmares.

The thing moved so fast that it took Shirley a few seconds to realize it was another Knightmare- the movements were so fluid and agile that it seemed almost organic, a far cry from her own machine, which now seemed laughably backwards in comparison.

The first Shinran didn't even have time to bring its weapon to bear, and was handily sliced apart by a single sweep of the golden Knightmare's blade. The second fell a scant few seconds later to a downward slash as the Knightmare twisted in a flowing motion that made Shirley green with envy at the ability of this other pilot and his machine.

The third enemy Knightmare actually managed to bring its rifle to bear and attempt to disengage from close combat, and let loose with a torrent of fire.

Unfortunately for the Japanese soldier, the bullets were simply ineffective, and the golden Knightmare moved through the barrage as though it were a light spring rain, bringing its blade to bear in a single powerful thrust that went straight on through, silencing the last enemy machine.

"Wow…" Shirley sucked in a slow, amazed breath. As the operator of a Knightmare Frame herself, she could clearly see how powerful the unique weapon in front of her was just from that short display of power.

"This is a new friend of ours, Shirley!" Gino said, interrupting her stupor. "He's kinda mysterious, but hey, he's handy in a fight."

Shirley blinked at the offhand introduction- not even a name?

"Commander, you're too easygoing!" she scolded irritably, rolling her eyes as she switched to one of their private channels that the group had encrypted solely for their own use. "This guy could be an enemy spy!"

"True, but I didn't really have the time to waste trying to fight this guy. I think you've noticed but I'm pretty sure our De Dannan's wouldn't be much of a match for that thing," Gino replied easily. "I'd rather not waste the lives of my men fighting a guy that might honestly be trying to help on simple suspicion."

"One day that soft nature of yours is going to get you in trouble, and I won't be there to get you out of it," Shirley warned, but there was a tone of resigned acceptance in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Gino said dismissively, and switched back to the regular channel. "All units, Squad A has located our missing girl. And with that, ladies and gents, our next step is to get the hell out of here and back to the safe house.

"Shirley, we've got an extra power pack and ammunition- take it and then move to the center of our formation. Kewell, you take the rear guard, and send word to Squad B and Lenard's group to pull out as well and meet us back at the usual place. Goldilocks, you mind taking point?"

There was a brief pause.

"Goldilocks?" came the pilot of the golden machine's bewildered voice.

"What, don't like it?" Gino said cheekily.

"This Knightmare's name is Caliburn," came the grumpy reply, but the pilot moved up to the front as requested.

"Right, right," Gino said, shaking his head. "Shirley, you all set?"

"Yes sir."

He grinned. "Alrighty. All units, let's bust some skulls and head on home then."

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Onizuka Ekichi would have, if he had a choice, not have enlisted in the Japanese Army. Unfortunately, with the empire's ever growing militaristic nature, universities became looked upon as frivolous past times for the privileged and those with particular talents the empire would want refined, like the engineers and chemists. For those who lived in the colonial territories, it was doubly so, and someone who barely scraped by high school didn't have much chance of getting into even the lower level universities.

So, here he was, a lowly private in the Mizu Company of that jackass Kusakabe's personal Knightmare division, and not even a pilot jockey, but a lowly grunt on foot, keeping the perimeter secure so that no curious (read: idiotic) civilians would come wandering in and get themselves killed in a crossfire.

He yawned, and leaned idly against the side of one of the buildings off the street, glancing idly behind him…

And straightened as quickly as he could, sighting a flash of movement. He opened his mouth irritably, ready to tell the idiot off-

When he suddenly realized the person approaching him was a girl. A hot girl, at that, with pale legs stretching out seemingly endlessly from beneath the skirt of a school uniform. Her hair, unusually enough, was green, which struck him as odd, but who was he to question the fashion choices of girls today? Besides, it looked pretty nice on her…

"Excuse me miss," Onizuka said, with his best 'soldier' voice- the ladies loved men in uniform, after all- "I'm afraid it's pretty dangerous here. Terrorists. You should go back."

"Oh really, is that so?" she said, all wide eyed, a pout in her lips that made her look irresistible to his eyes. "How scary. What are they doing here?"

"Ah, it's all good, sweet cheeks. I'll protect you," Onizuka said passionately, eyeing her stunning figure which was accentuated nicely by her uniform- and damn, if he didn't have a thing for girls in school uniforms to begin with.

He was so caught up in it he missed the annoyed expression that briefly crossed her face as he continued speaking.

"Just between the two of us," he added conspiratorially, leaning in, "They apparently killed the Colonel."

"Oh no!" the girl said, shocked, voice reaching an alto. "How frightening!"

"Yeah," Onizuka nodded, crossing his arms, doing his best to seem official. "I'm pretty high up, so I just got the intel. Apparently those terrorists stole some kind of technology or something, and the Colonel tried to get it back personally."

"Any idea what it is?" if he hadn't been so concerned with trying to get in good with her, Onizuka might have noticed how her tone had changed from that of a frightened schoolgirl to a serious questioner.

"It's classified, I'm afraid," Onizuka said, feigning reluctance as he scratched the back of his head in a manner he thought made him look mysterious and alluring.

"So you're useless then."

"Yeah, I- wait, what-" was all he had time for before the girl raised her leg high in the air (white, he noted absently, as though he were only an observer) and delivered a powerful axe kick straight to his shoulder, sending him crashing down to the floor unceremoniously.

His last thought before he fell unconscious was that he should probably quit the army.

Maybe become a teacher or something.

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"God, what an idiot," C.C. muttered, stepping over the soldier's unconscious body with a wrinkled nose as though she had smelled a particularly pungent odor.

This was where the signal in her sixth sense, that unnamed change in her consciousness that was the result of gaining her Code, was coming from- it was still weak, but growing stronger by the moment. It was definitely not another Code Bearer, or a Geass user, but… similar. There was an inconsistency that really bothered her, especially since nothing in her experience could have that kind of effect- and since she had spent a number of years as the head of the Geass Order, before passing the leadership to V.V., that raised serious questions about whatever was down here.

V.V… now that was a name that provoked questions about this strange signal. The chances of him having a hand in this were fairly high, given that it would have to be related to Geass in some capacity, but she had no way of contacting him, and no wish to, for that matter.

Some things weren't worth the price.

Besides, there were more pressing issues at stake here.

Ten dollars Lelouch is down there too, along with his friend, C.C. thought grimly, rolling her eyes. It was just too much of a coincidence that there was some strange signal that appeared at the same time as Lelouch being out of her sight. Even if the chances were slim, C.C. knew fate and contrivance would never pass up such an opportunity.

Sometimes being genre savvy had its downsides, in particular when it came time to rescue her supposedly smart, more often than not idiotic, charge.

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"zzz… Lost contact with Hachibe and Matsumi… zzz unknown contacts…"

"Insurrectionist forces at coordinates-"

"Say again Ki-Three. We do not have you. Damn this place- communications are a mess."

"We just found Hachibe and Matsumi's Knightmares. They're a wreck, but I don't see any sign of their bodies, so-"

"-they're here!"

"Damn it, how did they get here so fast!"

"They're too many!"

"Hold the line men! The Emperor curse your bones, stand firm and- ARGH"

"Shit he got the Captain!"

"God, what the hell is that-"

Lelouch frowned as he continued listening to the communiqués flying back and forth on the channel.

The resistance forces were quite powerful, it seemed- despite their smaller numbers, they had superior weapons and cohesion, cutting through unprepared Japanese forces like a hot knife through butter. There were at least two different groups as well, obviously keeping contact with each other as to avoid letting themselves get trapped and destroyed.

Without any central leadership, the Japanese military was simply incapable of mounting an effective counterattack, wide open to be destroyed by a force that was dedicated and concentrated enough.

It was the basics of warfare. Even the best equipment and toughest soldiers couldn't compensate for a lack of strategy.

At this rate, Suzaku would probably be captured or killed by the Brittanians, who would undoubtedly capitalize on finding the Crown Prince alone and undefended in the Underground.

Lelouch felt his throat dry up and constrict. His best friend, dead.

No way in hell.

But just contacting the army and telling them wouldn't be enough. The word of a Brittanian wouldn't be worth much to the army, and especially if they ran a background check on him and discovered his true identity. Besides, admitting Suzaku was here would draw questions, questions that he wouldn't have minded if it was only his life that would be at risk…

No. If Suzaku was going to make it out of this alive… the military would have to drive them off. But without any kind of leadership, that was impossible.

With a deep, reluctant sigh, Lelouch made a decision.

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Sugiyama Kento, like his superior officer, Minami, was, in another life, a member of the Black Knights, as Captain of the Special Division. In this life, he happened to be a Lieutenant, in charge of the remnants of Ki Company after his Captain, Takeshi, had been killed by the insurrectionist forces a few minutes ago. His Company was practically out of commission by this point, with more than half their Knightmares destroyed in combat with the enemy already.

"zzz… to the commander of this company…"

Kento blinked. What in the…

"I say again. To the commander of the company which just skirmished with the insurrectionist forces. Please relay your coordinates and the last known coordinates of the enemy force."

"What the… who is this?" Kento demanded, bewildered. "Identify yourself."

"My name isn't important. What is important, is that I'm about to make you a hero."

A hero? Kento blinked. What kind of crazy idiot is on the channel?

"Listen, you've all but lost the battle. But if you listen to me, I promise you, you'll walk away from this disaster smelling like roses."

Kento scowled. "Like I'm going to risk the lives of my men on the word of a nameless stranger. What's in it for you?"

"I'd rather not see you lose," came the icy response. "But if you don't believe me, here's a tip on good faith- I'd suggest you pull back into the tunnel that you just came from. Judging from the previous reports, one of the enemy's squads is about to come straight through there in less than five minutes, and if you wait and stand perfectly still, you'll catch them off guard."

There was a heartbeat of silence as Kento struggled between his suspicions and weighing just what would happen if this mysterious voice was right. Finally, he switched channels, contacting the other two Knightmares in his squad.

"Alright, let's pull back for a second," he muttered reluctantly. "But keep your eyes on our six… in case this guy is trying to trick us into an ambush."

The other members of his team voiced their acknowledgment, and settled in a triangle pattern that let them cover each other's blind spots. After a few minutes had passed, a beep on the motion tracker caught Kento's attention.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath, "That guy was right."

Sure enough, after another minute of bated breath, two enemy De Dannan Knightmares crossed their path, and would have had a perfect view of their backs if Kento hadn't pulled back as he was bid.

"Quietly," he ordered, voice as subdued as possible so as not to attract attention as he and the other members of his squad raised their rifles and let loose. The resulting barrage caught both De Dannan's square in the back, destroying them before they likely could even realize they had come under fire.

Moments after they had destroyed the enemy, Kento switched back onto the army open channel.

"Just as I predicted, wasn't it?" said the mysterious voice again, undeniably smug.

"Who the hell are you?" Kento muttered disbelievingly.

"Like I said, it's not important," the voice said dismissively, with a tone that sounded almost imperious, the tone of a man who was used to having orders obeyed. "What is important is that there's a larger enemy force that just blew past one of your Knightmare squads. I need you to get me online with your commanding officer, so that I can help you coordinate a counterattack."

After a few moments of consideration, Kento finally sighed. "Give me a second."

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Minami sighed, removing his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly as the reports continued to come in, all telling him the same thing. The resistance forces were unexpectedly well armed and decimating their forces.

Ki Company was reduced to less than half of its operational strength while Mizu Company had gotten lost in the Underground and would be unable to link up with the others in time to matter. Kage Company had taken the fewest losses thus far, but that was probably because they were firmly behind the enemy force and unable to catch up at their current pace. If only Ki could organize and halt the numerically lesser insurrectionists, Kage could hammer them, but it looked like Ki was all but in ruins.

"What a disaster," he muttered, closing his eyes. The homeland would not be happy about this… and with the Colonel dead, that someone would likely be him. "Where the hell is the prince at a time like this?"

Young and idealistic though Prince Suzaku was, at least with him heading up this operation the Imperial Council wouldn't be quite so quick with their rebuke. But a lowly Major without a noble lineage and supporters? They'd pounce on him as a scapegoat faster than you could blink. There would be tribunals, investigations, and at the least, they'd strip him of his rank and send him off to a backwater outpost, if not flat out dishonorably discharging him for gross incompetence.

"zzz… HQ…"

Minami paused in his recriminations, and looked back up at the communication's array. Someone was attempting to hail him over a private channel. After a moment, he realized he recognized the identification number.

"What is it Kento?" Minami asked, falling back on the familiar use of his name- Kento was an old friend ever since Basic, and the two were as close as military regulations would allow, given the difference in rank.

"… you're not going to believe this," Kento said slowly, a reluctant tone in his voice that made Minami especially nervous. "Hell, I don't really. But there's this guy… well, you'd better talk to him yourself."

A third voice entered the channel. "I take it you must be the commanding officer. Major Minami, is that correct?"

Minami blinked, not recognizing the voice, which worried him, especially considering he knew the voices of most of the ranking officers. "Who is this?" he double checked the identification number, matching a name to it after a few moments of mental searching. "You're using Lieutenant Ayano's transmitter, but I take it you're not him."

"I am not," the voice admitted. "The Lieutenant was dead by the time I found him. I took the liberty of borrowing this device in order to communicate with you."

"He's asking to take temporary strategic command of our operations, Major," Kento stepped in, knowing how absurd it would sound coming from a stranger's voice alone. "I know it sounds crazy, but he just saved the lives of me and my squad, and if his intel is right, we might just be able to win yet."

"He saved you?" Minami asked disbelievingly. "How?"

"I gave the Lieutenant some instructions, he followed them, and won a bloodless victory. One of the few in this engagement so far, if I'm not mistaken," the voice added, and Minami scowled at the veiled rebuke in those words. "That's all I'm asking. To direct your troops. At the current rate, you'll be routed without doing any significant damage to their forces anyhow. I can promise you that this battle will not end in your defeat."

For a brief moment, Minami was overcome with relief, visions of his career being rescued from the wrath of a full military tribunal, before he regained his senses. "And what do you want with such a generous offer?"

The voice paused, as though not expecting the question.

"Nothing, my dear Major," came the reply, after a moment. "I want nothing but your victory. Your victory benefits me. That is all you need to know."

Minami sighed. It was true that their forces were only really lacking a strong strategy to oppose the insurrectionists; superior numbers and supplies were still on their side, after all. If this man could really change the tide of battle-

What the hell was he saying? Listening to a mysterious voice, whose face and name he didn't even know? Something about that seemed… silly. Almost as silly as if he was taking orders from a man in a mask or something.

Yeah, there was a laugh.

"You give your orders through me. If I even think you're double crossing us, we're done, and I'll hunt you down with our remaining forces. Got it?" Minami said threateningly.

"Fair enough. We are in agreement then, Major," the voice said, seemingly amused and not at all off put by the aggressive stance he was putting on. "Now, if you would give me a situation report, please."

After a moment of wary hesitation, Minami gave in to his request, albeit with a reluctant sigh.

"Ki Company, under Lieutenant Sugiyama, is down to half its strength but is currently engaging the enemy off and on. Kage Company is behind them, but unless Ki Company can hold them back the enemy will break through and Kage Company won't be able to reinforce them. The rest of our forces are guarding the perimeter or are otherwise too far away to engage."

The voice was silent for a few moments. "Give me a moment to think of a battle plan." Without waiting for a reply, the channel went dead.

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Lelouch clicked off the communication button with a deep sigh, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Negotiating was unexpectedly tiring, not to mention having to constantly study, analyze, and direct the flow of battle.

He sighed again. He didn't particularly like it, having to order men to kill other men- something about it just didn't sit that well with him. Maybe once upon a time he could have done it with impunity, in another life, in a different place, but since that day death wasn't something he could treat so lightly anymore.

But it had to be done, and he had to keep up the act of a cold blooded strategist to see it through. Directing the Japanese troops was the only way he could see to completely ensure Suzaku's safety. He was sure that, if found, Suzaku would find a way to excuse his presence… as long as he was found unharmed.

Which meant Lelouch would have to do something he never thought he'd ever do, and utilize his talents towards war. He shut his eyes, and began to think.

The only force currently engaging the enemy was near decimated and their reinforcements needed time to catch up, time they simply did not have. Judging from previous skirmishes, the enemy's battle strength was considerable, and their small numbers probably meant that they were all accustomed to fighting alongside each other, and wouldn't break easily. Taking them head on with the remaining forces would be suicide, but if they could be circumvented, and the superior numbers of the Japanese forces could come into play…

The shape of a plan began to form in his mind.

"Time to go back to work," Lelouch muttered reluctantly.

000000

"We've got incoming fire!" Gino barked, and his men scattered as a hail of bullets from two Shinran Knightmares seemingly materialized out of the darkness of a nearby tunnel, retreating before they regained their senses.

"Goddamnit! That makes three of those guys ambushing us from the corners and running away!" Shirley muttered, swerving her Knightmare from formation. "I'm sick of this!"

"Hold it Shirley!" Gino ordered. "They're trying to lure us into an ambush. Stay in formation, and keep pushing. We need it to make the rally point out of here. Kewell! Anything on Squad B?"

"None since they went under fire, sir," Kewell reported quietly, keeping a careful eye on his motion tracker. "Lenard's group has taken fire as well sir. One Knightmare destroyed, two killed, and three times as many wounded. Same tactics of hit and run, bait and switch."

"Damn it," he cursed, and ran a hand through his blonde hair irritably. Those were good men who died, men who he sent off to get killed. "Why the hell is the enemy suddenly smart all of a sudden?"

"Something's different," the golden machine- Caliburn- commented darkly, through its loudspeakers. "They've switched tactics. Somebody new is in charge."

"Is it that Colonel?" Gino questioned, glancing towards their mysterious ally.

"I killed him before I linked up with all of you. It's not him. Half the reason it's been so easy so far is because their command structure is shot all to hell," came the distracted reply, and the off-hand mention of killing the top ranking Japanese military officer gave them all pause.

"Wait, you already killed Kusakabe?" Gino blinked.

There was a pause as the pilot of the other machine must have realized he hadn't explained that before. "Oh… yeah. It was while I was rescuing your blue-haired friend."

"Jesus, that's kind of an important thing to forget telling us!" Gino said loudly, more out of shock than indignation. After another moment, he shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "Well, if it's not him… I dunno. That prince maybe?"

There was a strangled cough, and Gino turned a curious eye towards the Caliburn. "I say something funny?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," came the quick reply. "I don't think it's him either though."

"Well, whoever he is, he's good," Gino muttered. "We keep getting pushed back- they're not doing any damage, but they're costing us time we don't have."

"What's the plan then, boss?" Shirley asked worriedly.

"We break on through," he replied. "Next time they show up, we charge em, send them scattering, and pray they're not setting up an ambush- so far we've held back and haven't taken the bait, so I'm hoping they'll slack off a bit. Goldilocks, since you seem to laugh their bullets off, I hope you don't mind leading that."

"It's not- oh, alright," the Caliburn's pilot said grumpily, and it seemed as though his Knightmare itself was sulkily slouching to the fore.

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"Ki-Two here. Enemy forces at sector three are moving towards the coordinates you specified earlier, sir."

"Understood, Ki-Two. Good work." Minami switched over to the private channel he had set aside specifically for the mysterious, faceless strategist, to keep the rank and file from knowing they were taking orders from a complete unknown. "Alright, they're moving as you predicted. What next?"

It took a moment for the voice to respond. "Blow the tunnels that we know the enemy will be attempting to use. Force them back. They'll have no choice but to follow along with my scenario after that. Have your other Companies proceed as I ordered earlier, and the trap will be set."

Minami blinked, and was taken aback. Frowning, he said doubtfully, "The damage to the surrounding area, particularly the aboveground…"

"Is acceptable, is it not? You've cleared out this area, or so I thought, meaning that the only harm will be to bits of concrete. Or would you rather lose more men and be deported back to your homeland?" the voice interrupted coolly, a trace of irritation in his voice.

Minami bristled at the condescending nature of his tone, but couldn't exactly find a reason to disagree- there were plenty of commanders in the Japanese Army who wouldn't hesitate on such an order.

"Fine," he muttered, and switched off the line.

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"We're blocked off here too boss!" Shirley reported frustratedly, retreating back down the tunnel with a groan.

"That makes three. Lenard's group reports encountering collapsed tunnels as well, my lord," Kewell reported, furrowing his brow. "We're being funneled into a trap."

Gino bit his lip, having come to the same conclusion. He said nothing as he processed the information, willing himself to come up with an answer, and finding only frustration. He was a good soldier and a decent field commander, if he was being honest, but what they were up against now was a strategist who clearly knew what he was doing. Gino could think on his feet, but in depth stratagems were beyond him.

"Should we try linking up with the others? If we were all together…" Shirley trailed off, letting the rest of her sentence go unsaid.

"It's too risky," Gino said grimly, frowning. "We'd have to fight our way past their reinforcements and find a secure meeting point that they wouldn't overrun, and the amount of time we'd lose… it just wouldn't work."

"If we can't run or hide, our only option is to break through," offered the pilot of that golden machine, who had been moved to the rear to cover the flanks while Shirley and Kewell had been scouting ahead.

"We're down to four Knightmares, one of which is operating at limited capacity," Kewell pointed out. "Add to that the fact that our men on foot have to carry Cardemonde and don't have any anti-Knightmare weaponry of their own, so if we try to run we'll end up leaving them behind without any anti-armor support and a man down already."

"But like he said, it's our only option," Gino cut in, sounding older than his years, tired and grey. "Shirley, take the center. Kewell, the rear. Goldilocks and I will take the front. We'll move as slowly as possible to accommodate our men on foot."

They had just one advantage- that special Knightmare Goldilocks was piloting was overwhelmingly powerful, maybe powerful enough to cut a swath through the remaining enemy forces that he and his men could use to get the hell out of this FUBAR-ed mess. It occurred to Gino that he was putting the lives of not just himself but his entire squad in the hands of someone whose face he didn't even know, but the alternatives were just that bad.

Wow. He'd really dug them in deep for that to be the case.

That decided it. He was done taking intelligence reports about powerful technology. Let someone else's cell risk their ass next time the Empire decided to ship over some new toys.

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Suzaku trudged the Caliburn to the front with a furrowed brow, carefully balancing Euphemia's still body against him, making doubly sure she wouldn't fall.

His thoughts were fixed on who they were fighting against. He remembered Colonel Kusakabe's second, a bespectacled, quiet man with a stern look- was he leading this operation? If it was, Suzaku reflected, then the man had been hiding surprising talents to only be a major subordinate to Kusakabe.

Whatever the reason for the increasing resistance, it mattered less than getting these people out of here alive.

If he hadn't been so caught up in his thoughts, he might have noticed that Euphemia's body was getting warmer, not colder, as the dead normally would, and that her chest began a faint rise and fall that most certainly indicated breathing.

As it was, he gunned the Caliburn forward, eyes sweeping the monitors of his Knightmare, especially the motion tracker. And if his attention had been any less diligent to this task, if he had been distracted, he would have missed the slight flicker on the monitor, and as a result would not have been prepared when the first Shinran Knightmare rounded the corner, blade upraised as he pushed his machine as hard and fast as he could, sealing the distance between them in an instant.

It was over before the other pilot even had time react, still fully confident he would have the upper hand against the insurrectionists- Suzaku's blade punched straight through the surprised Shinran Knightmare, destroying it before anyone else in the group had time to draw breath.

There was no time for congratulations, however, because the other Knightmare's partner was just rounding the corner, and even Suzaku, wielding the unnatural speed of the Caliburn, couldn't turn quite fast enough and bring his blade to bear before the new enemy opened fire. Instead, Suzaku pulled the Knightmare into a blocking position, tacking the barrage head on, the Caliburn's unnatural golden armor easily repelling the attack, buying Gino's Knightmare the scant seconds necessary to aim and fire, blowing the Shinran Knightmare away.

Suzaku waited with bated breath for the next blip on the motion tracker, but it never came.

"Nice moves," Gino complimented idly, though the activation of his Knightmare's sensory equipment, ubiquitously referred to as a Factsphere to describe both form and function in a single word, indicated that he was paying far more attention to incoming signals than he was the conversation.

Suzaku ignored the compliment, both out of a cultural desire for modesty and the fact that he felt it unnecessary to reply, an almost unconscious throwback to his imperial upbringing.

"There should have been more of them," Suzaku said quietly, frowning. "If they were trying to lead us into an ambush…"

"So what, they were just doing hit and runs and blowing smoke without actually having the firepower to back it up?" Gino said skeptically. "They're just stalling then."

"We did destroy most of their force in our earlier skirmishes," Kewell noted, but his voice was doubtful.

"They're probably trying to hinder us so that they can regroup and have their reinforcements hit us from behind," Gino replied grimly, shaking his head. "We'd better get moving. If we hurry we can make the rally point before their reinforcements catch up."

"Yes, my lord."

"Got it boss."

As he pushed the Caliburn forward, still keeping the point position in the formation, Suzaku reflected how very impressed he was with the rebel leader- whereas the homeland tended to paint insurgents as hate filled, grizzled fanatics who were only concerned with self-gratification and mindless murder, this Gino was young, sharp, and showed more concern for his men that he'd ever seen Kusakabe express in the years he'd spent working with the man.

The empire is corrupt, he reminded himself grimly, tightening his mouth into a severe line as he glanced down once again at Euphemia. He knew that fact better than most. Kusakabe's incident was just the newest addition to a long list of crimes.

That was why he chose to help these people. They had their land, their freedom, and their identity stripped away by his own people- as a prince of such a corrupt nation, was it not his job to set things to rights?

That was his justice.

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"Ki-Five has been lost, HQ."

Minami sighed. So that guy was right, again. They had realized the weakness of First Company, and how there was really nothing standing between them and freedom, and were now making a breakthrough down the tunnels remaining open to them.

Remarkable. Such accurate foresight, borderline precognizant, even. Whoever this guy was, he was a general beyond anything Minami had ever witnessed in his entire military career.

"Good work Ki Company. You've done enough, now pull out to your standby position and wait. All remaining units, you have your orders. From here on in we're activating the jammers- communications will be down until further notice. I'll see you all when the battle is over."

He shut the channel off, and sighed again. Now it was just a waiting game.

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"I see light!" Shirley exclaimed excitedly, though she was careful to keep in formation- they were still in a hot zone, after all, and the enemy might still come back.

"We're getting closer to the rally point then," Gino muttered, glancing over at his sensor readouts. "But there's still no sign of the others…"

"No response over the channel. Any channel, for that matter," Kewell reported worriedly. "It's as if…"

"Your transmissions are being jammed?" the Caliburn finished darkly.

"To hit us they'd have to hit themselves too," Kewell retorted, sounding skeptical. "Our frequencies aren't known to them. They'd have to blanket all frequencies at the same time to ensure we're jammed."

"But who says they wouldn't?" Shirley interrupted, causing a chill amongst the others.

"If they lost communications they wouldn't be able to direct their forces anymore. They'd have to rely on old intel and the discretion of the field commanders," Kewell pointed out, once he'd regained his composure. "It's madness to disrupt your own communications to take out your opponent's."

"Madness? This! Is! Japan! Don't forget- they'd never allow us to walk away so easily after destroying so much of their forces. It'd be an insult to their honor, a slight they would do anything to pay us back for," Gino cut in hotly, and while his outburst had tactical merit, Shirley and Kewell both paused at the way he had punctuated his first four words. The stress of the battles and the number of losses their unit had incurred was clearly getting to their commander.

"He's right," the Caliburn agreed, distracting everyone and turning their attention towards the golden Knightmare. "Honor… or at least what they call honor…" he added disgustedly, as though he'd experienced their version of honor before, "Is too important. And besides, whoever's been commanding them has been performing brilliantly- this is all part of another strategy, I'll bet."

It was a disheartening statement. No one wanted to fight an enemy who could weave plots within plots and outmaneuver you at every turn.

"So what do we do, boss?" Shirley asked, turning back towards her commander.

"Wait and see and maybe let their reinforcements catch up, or try and force our way through and end up in an ambush… either way we're risking falling into a trap…" Gino growled, and clasped his temples frustratedly with a groan. "I hate decisions like this. Goddamnit."

There was a bated silence, charged with expectation.

"Let me go on ahead and secure the area. You guys stay in line of sight range," the Caliburn's pilot suggested. "Keep your wounded in the center of the formation. Be ready to pull out if this gets ugly."

"You sure?" Gino blinked at the unexpected offer. It would put him pretty much up against an unknown number of enemies- either this guy was trying to betray them or he was just so crazy that he thought he could take them all.

Either that, or this guy was some kind of would be hero.

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"I'm sure," Suzaku said quietly, and headed off without waiting for confirmation, looking as though he was simply plunging thoughtlessly into enemy territory. It wasn't that he was unaware of how dangerous his decision would be, but that he simply preferred to be the one to risk his own skin over the lives of others.

It was this particular quality of his that made him such a frustrating friend to Lelouch.

His decision, however, soon proved to be the correct one, as, just as he cleared the tunnels and came out back into the now dwindling sunlight, Suzaku became aware of a number of bloodstains spattered along the ground, followed by the wreckage of a De Dannan Knightmare.

"Get back!" he began shouting, but it was already too late.

A full complement of enemy Knightmares practically materialized on all sides surrounding the entrance to the Underground, and opened fire without mercy- if they had all headed out, the entire insurgent force would have been caught in a killing ground. As it was, the Caliburn, alone, was battered back by the sheer volume of bullets that rained down upon it. Only the strangely resilient metal that made up the golden Knightmare's armor kept it from being destroyed, but it still managed to force him back inside the tunnel, allowing the enemy forces to begin advancing.

Feints within feints- the hit and run attacks were designed to buy time to set up the real trap ahead of them, not behind them as they originally guessed. The destroyed tunnels weren't to blockade them, but to funnel them into the exits where their forces were waiting to annihilate the remaining forces.

"Retreat! We need to find another way!"

"We can't!" Gino shouted back, using the external speakers on his Knightmare. "Multiple enemy contacts, coming from behind us!"

An encirclement, then. Suzaku remembered learning about such maneuvers from Toudou Kyoshiro, and how utterly devastating they could be if pulled off correctly against an enemy force. It left them with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and pressed in on all sides to ensure destruction.

They were all about to be slaughtered.

Suzaku gritted his teeth. No. Not after having fought this long- not after Euphie died to save him.

He was not letting any more people he decided to protect die today.

As if responding to his will (and who's to say it wasn't?), the Caliburn's monitor flashed a single message.

Release Blade Limiter? Y/N?

Suzaku blinked, and opened his mouth to question just what exactly the "Blade Limiter" was, when the cockpit was jarred violently again by another renewed burst of fire from the enemy Knightmares.

"Yes!" Suzaku spat out. "Whatever it is, do it!"

Command acknowledged. Warning: Blade Limiter released. Remaining combat time available reduced by 25%. Chance of overheating Yggsdril drive increased by 37%.

Even as he began processing what he was reading, Suzaku was distracted by a sudden, brilliant azure glow, coming from the Caliburn's sword. The entire length of the blade was illuminated, and, running on whatever unnatural instinct that had guided his use of the Knightmare thus far, Suzaku swung the sword out in a fierce horizontal arc towards the advancing enemy Knightmare squad.

A fierce cobalt arc erupted from the edge of the sword, burning with untamed energy, and it swept across the air until it struck the unlucky vanguard of Shinran Knightmares, who were engulfed by the attack and destroyed.

Three Knightmares, with a single slash.

Blade still glowing with that same azure energy, Suzaku swung out twice more, towards the left and right flanks, where a number of enemy Knightmares had been keeping up a steady barrage to cover the advance of their compatriots. Just as before, an arc of destructive energy tore out from the edge of the Caliburn's sword, and destroyed anything it came into contact with the same terrifying ease.

Just what the hell is this machine, Suzaku wondered, even as he dove forward, crying out to Gino and the others, "Follow me! Push on through! I'll cut a path open!"

As if in answer, Gino and the others opened fire on the confused and demoralized Japanese Knightmares, who were stunned by the casual destruction of so many of their comrades at the hands of a single Knightmare Frame.

After another swing of his sword, enough of the enemy ambush force was destroyed that the rest were completely routed, either fleeing or destroyed, and Suzaku and the others were free and clear.

000000

"Release the jammers. It's time to find out how we did," Minami said quietly, placing his glasses back upon his face after having cleaned them on his shirt out of absent minded habit.

As the communication channels cleared up from the interference, Minami heard snatches of panicked cries for help and general confusion, and he cursed himself for ever trusting that mysterious voice.

"All units, I need a situation report now! What's happening!"

"-By the emperor what the hell was that thing-"

"-monster!"

"-that thing killed Ishiyama's squad like they were nothing!"

Minami growled, his temper, already frayed at the edges after the long day, finally reaching its breaking point.

"God damnit! Someone talk to me!"

After a few more moments of panicked shouting one voice, shaky, but coherent, came through.

"… sorry sir. This is Corporal Ishida, Kage Company, squad three."

"Corporal, what the hell happened?" Minami asked quietly, temper settling back down.

"I have no idea sir. We did as you ordered, and we wiped out the first enemy group that came out of the tunnels… but then that gold Knightmare showed up… and…" Ishida hesitated, obviously still badly disturbed by whatever happened.

"Talk to me corporal," Minami urged slowly, trying to interject a soothing tone into his voice.

It seemed to work, as he managed to calm down somewhat when he resumed speaking. "He killed four of our Knightmare squads without even trying."

Minami blinked. "Say that again, Corporal?" That couldn't have been right.

"That golden Knightmare killed four whole Knightmare squadrons, sir. I've never seen anything like it. He just… swung his sword, and next thing I know Kage-Two is gone. We didn't stand a chance. After he wiped out Kage-One and Six, we were panicked- he got Kage-Five when they tried to run. The other rebel Knightmares followed his lead and broke through our defensive perimeter…"

Minami sank into his chair, face pale as he withdrew from the console.

A defeat. At the cusp of victory, they had been handed a defeat.

Damn it all. The strategy worked, obviously, but for whatever reason on the tactical level they had still been beaten.

"What the hell just happened?" he wondered quietly, before returning to the communication's console. "… All units, gather up any wounded you can, and then come home. You've done enough."

He shut down the console with a tired sigh, and tried to forget the number of men he had just lost under his command today.

000000

"I think we're safe," one of the other Knightmare operator's (Shirley, he recalled) said quietly. "There's nothing on the motion tracker. I don't think they'll be following us."

"Better keep an eye out, but I think you're right," Gino agreed cautiously. "Thanks for getting us out of that mess. There's no way we would have made it out alive if you hadn't punched a hole through their forces."

"I wasn't able to save your other friends," Suzaku replied regretfully, remembering the decimated hulks of the other Knightmares, the bloodstains on the ground.

"We're alive," Gino reminded him, though his voice was heavy and contrite. "Their deaths are my fault, not yours."

"Sorry to interrupt commander, but there's still the chance the enemy might try to pursue," came the warning voice of the remaining Knightmare pilot, whose name escaped Suzaku's memory. "We need to get back to the safe house."

"Right, right," Gino said tiredly. "You're welcome to join us, by the way. If you've got nowhere else to go."

Suzaku blinked at the offer, and shook his head, replying, "No, I should be going as well. Stay safe."

"You too," Gino said, and the sincerity in his voice gave Suzaku pause. "If you ever want to join up with us, ask for my name at a pub called Malory's."

"Malory's," Suzaku repeated quietly to himself, committing the name to memory, and then bid them farewell. And while his guilt over being unable to help Gino's other men lingered, he remembered the simple fact that he had managed to keep some of them alive.

"I did good, right Euphie? I… I helped those people," he whispered to the unmoving girl he still cradled in his lap, and smiled.

000000

It was long after the battle was finished when Lelouch Lamperouge stepped out into the sunlight, uncaring of the possibility of being found by Japanese forces at the site of a major battle. His eyes were fixated on the bloodstains on the ground, the wreckages of over a dozen Knightmares scattered about, both Brittanian and Japanese. The smell of gunsmoke and blood lingered in the air, creating a heavy atmosphere.

He walked amongst the freshly strewn corpses like a sleepwalker, eyes roving over each new atrocity and committing it to memory, where it would awaken him for many sleepless nights after.

I helped make this possible. I ordered soldiers to shoot other men, got these people killed… my God, I helped them kill my own countrymen.

Unbidden, hot, acidic bile rose in his throat, and Lelouch fell forward, barely managing to plant his hands and knees on the ground before he vomited quietly onto the dirt.

"War is such an ugly thing, isn't it?"

Lelouch's head jerked up from the ground, face still ashen and shaken, meeting C.C.'s unreadable expression.

"How does it feel," the witch asked softly, a cruel smile on her lips, "To have wielded real power?"

"What the hell are you talking about!" Lelouch said, a tone of hysteria in his voice at her acerbic, unbidden mockery.

"To take something away from another, regardless of their will… that is the root of power," C.C. continued, ignoring his words. "Taking life is the purest, most ancient form of power."

"I…" Lelouch glanced back down and curled his hands into fists. Without thinking, driven by angry impulse, he pounded his fists into the dirt. "I just wanted to save Suzaku."

"This is the price of power, Lelouch," C.C. murmured, her acidic tone softening, though her expression remained unreadable. "To save those you care about, you wielded power."

He remained still, knees still planted in the ground. His lips moved as though he were about to speak, but his words were strangled in his throat.

"You see now why I have denied you a Geass?"

At that, Lelouch looked up again, eyes, watery from unshed tears, growing wide as saucers, his ashen expression moving into understanding.

"You wanted the power to change things, but you never understood the cost," she whispered, eyes full of pity. "Now that you have, how does it feel?"

"… it's not worth it." His voice was a hoarse whisper, and practically inaudible to anyone besides himself.

"What was that?" C.C. asked softly.

Lelouch stood, back straight, unbroken, and looked back at her with eyes that remained soft with lost innocence and regret. "… no power is worth the cost of this many lives. If Geass will only bring death like this, then I will forge a new way to change the world- one where people won't have to die for it."

"People will always die," she said in reply, stepping closer towards him, and gently pressing her hand against the side of his face with a soft, understanding smile. "Those who oppose you, and those who align themselves with you… someone will die. There is no stopping that."

"I know that," Lelouch acknowledged, and gazed back fearlessly into C.C.'s eyes, a measure of strength returning to his own. "But even so… I will fight to make sure that doesn't happen. Even if it's futile, I will never acknowledge that unrestrained violence and killing is the only path for change. This…" he gestured to the aftermath of the battle's carnage, "And those who use their own power justify this… I will deny these things."

"Oh my… it looks like you've grown up a little, boy," C.C. said teasingly, tracing a finger against his cheek.

Lelouch scowled and slapped her hand away in annoyance. "If you've just come to mock me, then…"

He was stopped as C.C. offered him her hand, her playful expression evaporating as swiftly as it came.

"I will forge a contract with you, then, to make that determination of yours a reality," C.C. said, eyes hard with a determination all her own. "All I ask in return is that you never lose sight of what you learned here today."

Lelouch blinked, and sputtered, "But you just… I just told you that I didn't want a Geass anymore!"

"Which means you're ready to wield that kind of power," C.C. said softly, and the fact that she hadn't mocked him spoke volumes to Lelouch about how serious the situation was. "You won't wield it recklessly now that you know what kind of consequence power has on others. And in the coming days…" she thought briefly to the mysterious, unexplained presence which had drawn her here in the first place, "I would rather you have a power to defend yourself."

"There's something you're not telling me, witch," Lelouch said suspiciously.

C.C.'s lips quirked into a catty smile, which deftly hid her own unease. "Of course. I'm C.C.."

"I… you…" Lelouch sighed in frustration, and took her hand. "Very well, witch. I will accept the contract… I will use this power to oppose those who recklessly use their own personal sense of justice to permit taking life like this. I will make my determination a reality."

And with that, destiny has been decided, for both Lelouch Lamperouge and Kururugi Suzaku. Both blissfully unaware of where it would lead them, what pain it would bring them, and who they would lose on the way.

Author's Notes

Well, here we are folks, with the second chapter, the title of which is taken from Bleach, and refers to Lelouch, since this is paralleling how Suzaku's character was expounded upon in the second episode of R1.

By the way guys, Caliburn is NOT. I repeat NOT. A Geass. Geass in my personal canon are abilities that manipulate the mind in some way (the ones from Nightmare of Nunnally that do things outside of that are not canonical in my book). So what the Caliburn is, and what Euphemia is, are not what you think.

I realized that I should be italicizing the proper names of Knightmares, as they are basically equivalent to ship names, so I've started that this chapter with the Caliburn. Any other named Knightmares will get similar treatment.

I have no idea if Kewell has a title or not, but he seems to be of some nobility, and I know Gino's family is very rich and probably pretty old, so I figured I tie them together. Get some use out of minor characters. Lenard Lubie is a minor character from Suzaku of the Counterattack, so I thought I'd throw him in too, rather than making up an OC.

Considering how totally unlikely it is for Japanese armies to use Western keywords like "Alpha, Beta, Charlie", I decided instead to use simple Japanese words instead for company names and such.

I couldn't resist a Firefly or 300 reference in this chapter, so forgive me for that. Also, Onizuka Ekichi is lifted from a rather famous series. I won't say which. And there's also a vague in joke in what Gino told Suzaku at their last scene.