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.

11. Chapter 10: The Shape of Things To Come

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind."

-John F. Kennedy

Chapter 10

The Shape of Things To Come

"Princess, are you well? I apologize that this was the only food I could find without being detected."

She smiled sunnily, clapping her hands with an air of delight instead of disapproval.

"Nonsense, Sayoko. This… 'taco', was it? It's quite delectable," she said cheerily, taking another delicate bite of her meal, legs dangling off the cheap plastic chair as she propped her elbows up on the table. "May I have another one of those 'volcano hot sauces', Mamoru-kun?"

Across the table, a small, dark haired boy in jeans and a grubby t-shirt smiled widely and passed a small red plastic packet. "There you are, miss- er, sorry, princess," the boy called Mamoru said politely.

The princess merely smiled widely, ruffling his hair "Don't worry about formalities, Mamoru-kun! Just eat your food, and then we'll see about getting you back to your mother."

From behind the boy, Sayoko frowned ever so slightly, a look of disapproval so miniscule that only the princess's keen observation skills took notice. Clad in a nondescript, but fine quality woman's business suit, with raven shoulder length hair, her features portrayed a sense of humility, but with an air of supreme competence. It was a shame she was always so calm and placid, the princess reflected, because Sayoko really was quite pretty, but her demeanor simply made her seem unreachable.

For now, the princess ignored Sayoko's look of warning, instead continuing to speak with the boy. "So, Mamoru-kun, you were saying that you and your mother decided to move to Brittania?"

Mamoru nodded and began to speak through a mouthful of ground beef and lettuce. "Mmmhmm. My mom's job moved out here, so we did too. I was kind of sad to leave my friends, but they gave me a really cool soccer ball before I left. Too bad it's in my baggage- we could play!"

She smiled at his enthusiastic response, especially in the face of the situation they were in. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sayoko make a single hand gesture, and a brief moment of uncertainty took hold over her. Unwilling to show it, however, she continued speaking. "Well, I'm sure we can play once this whole business is finished. If you'd like, there's a place in my school for you."

Mamoru gave her a suspicious look. "Your school? But you're hardly older than me!"

The princess frowned at that, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. Sayoko was no longer in view.

"I'll have you know I'm fourteen years old, Mamoru-kun. And it is my school. And you're more than welcome to come and enroll," she offered, the frown melting away back into the usual sunny smile. "Oh, you'll love it there! I'm in charge of the student body, so we always have such fun days! And then there's my Student Council!"

Her eyes sparkled, and a fond smile appeared on her face. "The Vice-President is such a grump, but he's really a dear. And our secretary is quite a beauty- not as pretty as me, but quite close. You'd like her, she's funny…" she spoke like this for a long time, making animated gestures when the stories of the Student Council's adventures (adventures to her, at least. To Lelouch, they were more like pursuits in pain and trauma) needed it.

Soon, Mamoru was swept up in her infectious enthusiasm, asking questions in a lively manner and smiling with all the genuineness of a happy child.

It was a credit to his enthusiasm that he even failed to notice Sayoko reentering the small office room, and in fact failed to realize she had slipped out at all.

Sayoko found it more a credit to her mistress's superb people skills- even in the face of a hostage situation, surrounded on all sides by men who would kill her or exploit her in a second, she remained calm and more concerned with keeping the morale of others up.

"Mamoru-kun?" the princess asked softly. "Would you mind putting away this trash?"

Mamoru nodded, sweeping up the empty trays and moving to pile them on a nearby shelf. As he stood, she stepped closer to Sayoko, murmuring a question.

"What happened?"

"A terrorist patrol. Two men, checking each office. I had to ambush them. We'll need to change locations soon," Sayoko reported softly, so that the boy wouldn't overhear. "My apologies, princess."

"No need to apologize, Sayoko," she said simply, smiling. "I'm quite certain we'll be rescued soon anyhow."

"As you say, princess," Sayoko agreed, bowing at the waist. "Until then, I will endeavor to do all I can to keep you safe."

"As always, your services do great credit to the Shinozaki Clan, Sayoko," Sumeragi Kaguya, Princess of the Sacred Empire and Priestess of the Sun, answered with a smile.

00000

"Slow down, please, Kallen-sama," Lelouch said hurriedly, one hand covering his free ear so that he could understand her better. "Please, try to make the report more clear."

"I am telling you," Kallen hissed through a burst of static, "There's something weird going on here, I can feel it. We need to rethink our strategy."

Lelouch frowned. "I admit this encounter is troubling, but hardly a reason to halt the operation. Your instincts aside, everything else has gone according to plan."

"But-"

"Kallen-sama," Lelouch interrupted, trying to inject a gentle tone into his voice. "Lives depend on the speed of our operation here. We cannot afford to second guess ourselves with so much at stake."

Kallen was silent for a long while, before she said grudgingly, "Fine. Hiryu out."

As the line went silent, Lelouch let out a slow, steady breath. Despite his assurances to her, Lelouch himself could not dismiss Kallen's intuition. It fit in with his suspicion that Clovis was being manipulated as a cats-paw, and meant that someone else was playing an entirely different game. Or it could be nothing, of course, but Lelouch was not going to bet lives on that.

Whatever it was that Kallen had encountered, it was a complication in an already delicate scenario.

Lelouch sat back down into the chair Naoto assigned for him in the command center, and began to think, keeping a steady hand over his Geass all the while.

00000

"They didn't listen?" Inoue asked her curiously, as Kallen finished the transmission.

Kallen shook her head.

"No," she admitted reluctantly, "But they have a point. We should keep moving. The rooftop teams can't possibly keep us from being detected forever."

Her voice was brisk and professional as she attempted to hide her frustration from the others. With a sharp nod she motioned the rest of her team to continue to fan out down the corridor, keeping their weapons raised high.

As they moved down the deserted airport complex, passing a cheerfully lit but disturbingly empty coffee shop and popular fast food chain (Kallen dimly remembered the food being known as 'Taco… something or other') , Kallen began to doubt her own instincts. One crazy person and she was starting to get unnerved- Rei was probably laughing at her, really.

She gritted her teeth at the thought. Stupid masked jerk, mocking her- she'd been attacked! Nearly strangled!

Granted, she'd been on the battlefield innumerable times before this, and in a lot more danger than the previous incident, but even so… damn him.

(Elsewhere, Lelouch sneezed inside his helmet, and winced when he realized the snotty, disgusting truth of what had just happened. That was a health hazard he hadn't thought of, he realized, as he excused himself for a moment from the bridge.)

Kallen was distracted from her irritated thoughts as Yoshida held up a closed fist, the signal to stop all movement as they reached one of the primary food court areas, standing just at the corner. In a series of practiced hand signals, Kallen questioned what he'd found.

Primary objectives. Hostiles. Yoshida signaled back.

Kallen hurried over to his location, and peered around the corner as well. She spotted them immediately- two of them standing over the gathered hostages, while another two had their backs to a corner, leaning against the counter of a burger joint opposite their counterparts giving them a wide view of any approach. The fifth hostile, a bearded, older man, probably one of the more experienced of the team, was patrolling the perimeter, and was nearing their location.

She glanced around the area, taking in the location- there were a large number of plastic chairs and tables arranged in the area, though a large space had been cleared out in the center for the hostages to be held. There were also a few support pillars positioned around as well, which could block line of sight for both them and the terrorists.

The patrolling hostile would be passing one of them soon.

A plan formed in Kallen's head, and she quickly whispered instructions to the rest of her squad, who nodded in assent.

As the bearded man stepped behind the pillar, Kallen fired, putting a bullet right through his neck, and then two more through his chest with the soft coughs of her suppressed weapon. As he fell, Yoshida moved up and caught him, softening the sound of the fall. Kallen moved up behind him, and motioned for Inoue and one other to head over to the far pillar across from theirs and take up a firing position.

When they were all in position, Kallen signaled them to wait for her mark, and then set her sights on the terrorist on the near right, while Yoshida trained his gun on the other. With a deep breath, and still feeling that same buoyed confidence from before, Kallen fired.

As the four remaining hostiles dropped to the floor, dead, the rest of Kallen's team swept forward, guns still raised as they made their way to the hostages.

As the civilians were freed and Kallen assigned another small escort detail to take them back to the extraction point, she made a point to scan the crowd carefully, noting each face as they passed her by, often approaching timidly and thanking her with bows and murmured words. But when the last of the hostages was gone, she had not found their number one VIP.

"'Orihime' is not with this group either," Kallen reported over the radio, biting back a curse.

"Understood, Kallen-sama," Rei replied smoothly, his tone nothing but clinical professionalism that irritated her for some reason. "Please proceed on to the next group, near Gate Twenty-Three. We're running out of time."

Kallen held her peace, however. Arguing wouldn't help 'Orihime', or anyone else.

Be safe, Kaguya, Kallen prayed silently, and trudged along down the corridor, gripping her rifle tightly.

00000

"Princess, with all due respect, this is not safe," Sayoko warned sternly, a slight frown on her face that spoke volumes about how much she disapproved of the idea.

Kaguya smiled winningly back, even as she drew Mamoru closer to her, attaching the boy firmly to her side with a comforting arm.

"Nonsense," Kaguya replied dismissively, "Nothing will go wrong. My plan is perfect. Just wait for the signal."

She turned towards the boy and smiled at him gently, patting him on the head. "Now, Mamoru-kun, stay here with Sayoko, would you?"

The boy silently nodded, and she ruffled his hair again.

"Now, let's put on a show," Kaguya said, clapping her hands, before she smoothed out the simple, breathy sundress she wore and stepped out into the hallway.

To his credit, the terrorist who had been standing guard over the corridor seemed less than surprised, taking only a moment to take in her sudden appearance before raising his rifle.

"Oi. How did you get away?" he asked briskly, raising an eyebrow, reaching for his radio.

Kaguya fluttered her eyebrows, trying to put an alluring sway in her hips as she moved closer. "I didn't get away," she said, injecting a husky tone into her voice as she placed a hand over his, preventing him from reaching the radio. "I came to you."

To her surprise, he was not melting like putty in her hands before her (in her own opinion) irresistible charms, and instead pushed her away, a tad too roughly. "Very funny little girl. Go run back to your mother, and maybe I won't report this to the boss," he warned.

Her eyebrow twitched, but Kaguya forced her smile to remain. "Oh come on, mister. It must get lonely, being a mercenary… but such an exciting life!" her eyes sparkled, and she pouted prettily. "Please tell me about it."

"Okay, seriously, leave, girl," the terrorist rebuked, frowning now. "What are you, twelve? Ten? The whole seduction thing works better when you're not flat."

FLAT?

Kaguya's eyes blazed. "Sayoko. Drop this rude idiot, would you?"

"What-" was all he got out before he received the hilt of a kunai to the back of the head, swiftly knocking him out cold.

Kaguya sniffed.

"Serves you right," she said daintily, stepping over his body. "Come along, Mamoru-kun. Sayoko will hide this man until the proper authorities can arrest him for being so rude to a member of the Imperial Family- and for terrorism, of course."

"Understood, Kaguya-sama," Sayoko acknowledged, bowing at the waist as she went to do the bidding of her mistress.

Mamoru frowned. "Why was he here?" he questioned thoughtfully, "I thought everyone was taken to the other side of the airport."

"He must have been guarding something," Kaguya hypothesized, placing a finger against her cheek in contemplation. "Shall we go see what?"

"Mistress…" Sayoko's voice came up behind them, her disapproval audible as she returned from the task of hiding and restraining the man. "We really should be looking to avoid these people, not go looking for them."

"Come now, Sayoko, where's your sense of adventure?" Kaguya said cheerily, smiling. "Come along, Mamoru-kun. Let's see what the bad guys are hiding."

00000

"Why are we stopping here?" Suzaku questioned, glancing over at Milly curiously as she parked their truck inside a deserted warehouse outside of the airport proper. It was utterly empty, with only dust and rats as its occupants, from the looks of things, and smelled faintly of rust and oil.

Milly gave him a small, slightly condescending smile. "What, do you expect us to just drive on through the front door, past the perimeter the military set up, and then to jump right into an unknown situation? We could get a lot of people killed."

Suzaku had the grace to flush and look away. "Oh."

"Don't worry," Milly assured him, patting him on the shoulder. "I didn't expect you to be the brains of the operation."

He gave her a wry look. "Thanks."

"No thanks necessary, master," she replied with an understanding smile. "But in all seriousness, you should wait inside your Knightmare. You can't go inside with the Caliburn, so you'll have to strike carefully."

Suzaku frowned.

"I know you don't like sitting on your thumbs, Suzaku-sama," Milly said soothingly, "But we also can't make a bad situation worse- otherwise, we might as well not have come."

"You're right," Suzaku said, a tad reluctantly, as he exited the front of the truck.

As he circled around to the back and opened the truck door, Suzaku briefly thought he heard a faint rustling sound from inside the truck. With a frown, he opened it carefully- and was startled when, of all things, a crate nearly fell on top of him.

Suzaku yelped as he braced and caught the wooden box against his chest, though the force of the impact drove the breath from his body and caused him to wheeze.

"Guess I didn't secure that properly," he said, his voice slightly hoarse as he tried to regain his breath. "Either that or Milly's just that crazy a driver."

"I heard that," came a sing-song voice from the front of the truck.

Suzaku winced. He was probably going to regret that.

00000

Euphemia held back a sigh of relief as she heard Suzaku dismiss the falling crate as a result of his own carelessness. She hadn't meant to knock it over, but her leg had fallen asleep and in her efforts to get the blood flow going again she pushed it against the door.

Not for the first time since stowing aboard the truck, Euphemia sighed, and wondered what exactly she was doing there. She could get Suzaku and Milly caught, and then there was what she would do if they found here there…

Her thoughts were interrupted as Suzaku climbed into the truck, and she reflexively stilled, not daring to move, or even breathe. He passed within a foot of her, and she was absolutely certain he would turn towards her and find her.

But instead, he merely closed his eyes, and murmured, "Open."

A sudden, fierce heat flashed through Euphemia's mind, and she felt as though she had momentarily been put in a third-person perspective of her own body. It faded as rapidly as it came, however, and left her feeling strangely disoriented, so much so that she almost missed the hissing sound of compressed air as the golden Knightmare Caliburn's cockpit opened up and Suzaku clambered up inside.

What… what was that? Euphemia wondered, clasping her forehead lightly with one hand, doing her best to keep an eye on Suzaku with the other.

Unbidden, she began to murmur in soft whispering tones, her words leaden and mechanical, like those of a recording.

"CG-01 Caliburn online. Beginning warm up cycle of Yggdrasil Drive. Energy filler at capacity. Homunculus Drive link at thirty-five percent and holding…" Euphemia suddenly drew back, blood draining from her face as she suddenly regained control of herself. Just what was happening to her?

It must be the Caliburn, she understood, peering again at the golden machine Suzaku was piloting. As soon as Suzaku started interacting with it, she started having that strange headache and speaking completely foreign, unknown words.

More determined than ever now to know the secrets Suzaku and Milly were keeping from her, Euphemia perched back down in the shadows, and waited for the Caliburn to move.

00000

"Oi, Silverman, how much longer do have to sit here anyway?"

He frowned, cocking an irritated eyebrow at the man leaning up against the opposite wall. Silverman, was, of course, not his real name- no one here was using their real name for this operation. All aliases and assumed names, identities to be discarded after today. They were all basically strangers, each of them hired guns from all over the world, bought by the boss for this job.

"The boss said once the time was up we could evac, Richards, so just sit your ass down and wait," Silverman growled out, rolling his eyes. "Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do."

"I just don't like it, you know," Richards muttered, flicking a nervous glance at the door behind them, shifting his rifle in his hands as he did so. "Sitting so damn close to that thing."

Silverman eyed the door himself as though it was a coiled serpent, and suppressed a shudder. The boss paid well, that was for sure, but even a fat paycheck wasn't much if you were dead.

"It's either guarding the package or sitting out there with the civvies," Silverman shrugged. "Either way, we're on babysitting duty."

"So what is the package?"

Silverman blinked, and growled out irritably, "Don't mess around, Richards, you know damn well…"

He trailed off, suddenly realizing that hadn't been his partner's voice. With a sudden feeling of dread, he turned and saw Richards lying slumped against the wall, unconscious.

Oh shit-

Silverman had just enough time to see the sweet, girlish smile of the Japanese girl who had suddenly appeared in front of him before he felt the cold, unmistakable touch of a knife against his throat.

00000

Kaguya clasped her hands behind her back and peered forward inquisitively at the terrorist, studying his features with an almost childish curiosity.

"Well, mister? What is it?" she questioned innocently.

Behind him, Sayoko tightened her chokehold over the man, pressing her kunai closer against his skin.

"B-bomb," came the stuttered answer, after Sayoko briefly heightened the pressure against his throat. "It's a Sakuradite bomb."

Kaguya smiled brightly. "Thank you, sir. You can go to sleep now."

And with that, Sayoko knocked him with a swift blow, sending him crashing to the floor, unconscious as well.

Kaguya brushed herself off as though speaking to the terrorist had dirtied her clothes, and sniffed.

"A bomb, huh?" she murmured to herself, looking suddenly irritated. "How distasteful."

"We should evacuate, Kaguya-sama," Sayoko cautioned, as she twined a piece of electrical tape around the terrorist's hands and feet, binding them. "The military should be just outside."

"No, not yet," Kaguya refuted, frowning now for the first time. "Let's see this bomb of theirs."

Without waiting for Sayoko's consent, she opened the door, and ventured on inside, with her maid following hurriedly behind.

While Sayoko made sure to scan the entirety of the room for any kind of traps, alarms, or surveillance, Kaguya headed straight for the box at the far end of the storage room, which was already open.

As she reached it, she questioned softly, without looking over at Sayoko, "Can you disarm it?"

Sayoko peered over the box and studied it for a few intense moments, before she reluctantly shook her head.

"I've had training in disarming explosives, but this is an expert's job. We'd need a specialist," she answered quietly.

Kaguya frowned.

"Then we'd best go find one," she said firmly, and turned on her heel. "Mamoru-kun? You can come out now. We're going.

00000

"We've secured the last hostages in this area, Kallen-sama," Inoue reported briskly, bowing at the waist as their men led away the recently liberated civilians. "With this, we can begin moving to stage two of the operation."

"Not just yet," Kallen interrupted briskly, a deep set frown on her face. "We still haven't located Orihime."

Inoue inclined her head in understanding. "Forgive me, Kallen-sama, but all of our data, including the video feed we've hijacked from the terrorists, indicates that we have freed all hostage groups under the control of the terrorists."

"But the princess still isn't here!" Kallen snapped back in a hurried whisper. "I am not evacuating anyone until we make sure Kaguya is safe-"

"I'm afraid that is out of the question, Kallen-sama," interrupted Rei disapprovingly, in a burst of static. "We are already pushing our luck as is. We cannot afford a delay."

Kallen scowled, and the look on her face caused Inoue to back off. "Listen you, I don't care who the hell you think you are, I am not leaving my friend-"

"I understand your dilemma, Kallen-sama," Rei returned sharply, his voice terse, before it dropped a decibel and he said in gentler tones, "Believe me, I understand. But the lives depend on you. We cannot afford to let them die through our own delays."

If anything, his softer tones only incensed Kallen, causing her ire to boil over.

"Don't you dare put that on me," she hissed into the communicator, "You're not the one staring these innocent people in the face, you bastard. But Kaguya is my friend, and I am not leaving her here to die."

"We are not leaving her to die, Kallen-sama," Rei replied quietly, but there was a hint of steel in his voice, "I never said anything about abandoning her. But right now we need to focus on what we can and cannot do. We can save these people, right now. But I promise you, I will not abandon the princess."

Kallen frowned, stubbornly clenching her fists. "But-"

"Need I remind you, Kallen-sama," he broke in, voice now cold and distant as an Arctic glacier. "I have overall tactical command of this operation. I do not need your permission to move this mission to stage two."

Silence reigned on for a few terse moments, until finally, Kallen scowled and spat out bitterly, "Yes sir."

And without waiting for a reply, she cut the link.

00000

Lelouch sighed as he released the radio button, wishing there had been another way to get Kallen to agree with him. If only he had more time…

"She's usually much more agreeable than that," Naoto said apologetically, giving the white-cloaked younger man a knowing look as he stood across from him at the command console. "She's just worried, that's all."

"I understand," Lelouch acknowledged, inclining his head. "To be honest, I completely agree with her. But…"

"But the lives of all those civilians cannot be discounted," Naoto agreed, sounding older than his years. "I would have made the same call."

Even with the mask on and his entire body swathed in the layers of his costume, Lelouch's internal conflict must have shown through in a kind of weighty miasma, as Naoto continued, "Making the right call, however much people hate you for it, however much you hate yourself for it, is nothing to be ashamed of. Not everyone has the stones for it."

Lelouch glanced over at Naoto and gave him a grateful look, though he knew it couldn't be seen.

"Thank you," he whispered softly, before turning his mind back to business. "But it's more than just not being able to find 'Orihime'. It's that encounter with that strange man Kallen-sama had earlier as well. We've had a number of complications in an already impossibly tricky scenario, and yet not a single thing has gone truly wrong."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy," Naoto quoted, frowning as he flicked a glance up at Lelouch. "I see what you're saying. Do you think it's a trap?"

Lelouch shook his head. "I don't think so. I think someone has been playing a different game here from the beginning, using Clovis and the hostage situation as a cover."

Naoto gave him a skeptical look. "They took an entire airport full of people hostage and started an international incident as a smokescreen? Seems a bit of a stretch to me."

Undeterred by Naoto's tone of voice, Lelouch replied simply, "Clovis is my brother, remember that, Commander. I know him, and his mind. He isn't capable of pulling this off alone, and anyone smart enough to arrange this is smart enough to know they cannot actually gain the demands Clovis set up. So they're after something else."

"And what might that be?" Naoto questioned curiously.

"I don't know," Lelouch sighed, "And that's what truly frightens me, Commander."

00000

"Nasty little buggers, aren't they?" Luciano said observationally as he sat in a crouched position, staring down at his hand, which had a nasty looking red mark on it, as though he'd been bitten.

They had moved out to one of the garages in the complex that normally housed transit vehicles for the airport staff, but had been cleared out for their own personal use.

"My lord, we really should get that looked at," Marika cautioned, frowning as she moved closer to inspect the injury, but he waved her off.

"Please, this little bite is nothing. The drug doesn't make them inhuman beasts or werewolves or something, Marika, you know that," he said dismissively, barking out a short, harsh laugh. "Besides, I like it when the subjects have some fight in them. More importantly, are we still out of contact with the guards?"

Marika nodded, drawing back as she put a hand over the earpiece, tapping into the communication channel they had set aside. "Still no word. But the control room insists that they're all still there on the video feed, just incommunicado."

Luciano frowned, tapping a finger against the side of his cheek thoughtfully. "Hmm… tell them to reset the system. Hard reboot, all systems shut down."

Marika blinked, startled by the sudden, and rather unexpected command. "Y-yes my lord," she acknowledged, and repeated the orders back, verbatim, twice, after the subordinates on the other end protested.

Luciano began to whistle softly, taking out the switchblade he kept on his person as a habit and absently playing with it.

After a few moments, Marika's expression changed into one of astonishment, and then of worry. Face pale, she turned towards Luciano and spoke in a subdued tone. "They're… they're all dead, sir. And the hostages-"

"Are gone," Luciano finished, lips quirking ever so slightly. "Clever. A video loop. I'm betting the teams on the rooftop are gone as well."

Marika nodded shakily. "My lord… we've been severely compromised. The Empire has breached our defenses, and we've lost a significant amount of our manpower…"

Luciano's phone began to ring, and with a flourish, he pulled it out of his coat pocket and placed it to his ear.

"Ah, your highness," he chirped, "I take it then you've heard the news."

"This is not time for your jokes, Luciano!" Clovis snapped, and Luciano could practically hear the spittle flying as the blonde ex-prince seethed. "What are we going to do about this?"

"We are not going to do anything," Luciano replied simply, with a mocking smile.

"What was that? Listen to me, you arrogant swine. I am Clovis La Brittania, and I am ordering you to-"

Clovis' rant was cut mid-speech as Luciano interrupted whimsically, "You see, you are just going to sit in your tower like a good royal and do nothing. I, on the other hand, am going to activate our backup plan."

"Backup plan?" Clovis sputtered, sounding bewildered. "We never had a contingency for something like this-"

"You keep using that word," Luciano muttered, rolling his eyes as he flicked open his switchblade again, staring down at the gleaming metal.

Clovis fell silent, obviously still confused.

"There is no we, your highness," he said slowly, using the title as a mockery of formality, "There's just you, and me. I am not your dog, or your dragon. You are not a prince, not right now, and maybe not ever. So sit there, smile, and let me do what I do best."

Clovis, undoubtedly stunned by his words, managed, "Which is?"

"Kill people," Luciano answered simply, and hung up the phone. As he set the phone back in his pocket and began to whistle that same jaunty tune again, he noticed his companion giving him an odd look.

"Sir, was that wise?" Marika asked curiously.

"We don't need him at this point," Luciano responded, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. "And really, Marika, take stock of the situation. The hostages are still in the building. As is Clovis, and now the Japanese, just as we expected. Our plan has not deviated in the slightest. We still have the bomb, and we still have our boys."

With a devilish grin, he glanced back over to what was standing in the center of the garage. He sauntered over to the railings that separated the raised loading area from where the vehicles were kept, and gripped the rails with an almost feverish energy.

"In fact, I think now is the perfect time to let them have some fun, don't you?" Luciano flicked a glance over at her with an almost boyish grin. "We can use them as well as our remaining forces to set up a delaying action until the bomb is ready to detonate, and it gives us the perfect chance to test them out in real combat. Really, this is actually just the scenario we had envisioned when we began this operation."

Marika looked doubtful for a moment, before she inclined her head and bowed deeply. "Yes, my lord. Understood."

Luciano licked his lips, and glanced up at the five Sidhe Knightmares waiting in the center of the garage, all silent. A sixth stood off to the side, cockpit empty and open, its pilot having been lost earlier.

"Time to play, kiddies," he said gleefully, clapping his hands.

As one, the machines awoke, eyes as red as the fires of hell.

00000

Lelouch hissed suddenly as a brief but searing pain flashed through his mind, causing him to double over, gripping the sides of the command console tightly- his Geass was reacting against something.

Naoto peered over at him, a flash of concern in his eyes.

"You okay?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"There's something coming," Lelouch murmured, as if he hadn't heard the question. With his expanded, supernatural awareness, he could feel the burning presences of more of those unusual auras that had attacked Kallen, their presence like second suns, making the minds of all others nearby seem like flickering candles in the wind.

Without thinking, he pressed down on the communication button. "Kallen-sama, report."

For a few moments, there was no response, and Lelouch feared the worst. Then, in a burst of static, Kallen's voice came through, irritated, but very much alive. "We're moving the last of the civilians outside to the staging area, command. A majority of them are already loaded onto the airplane, including the pilots and some of my team."

Lelouch resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. They weren't out of the woods yet. "Nothing unusual to report?" he questioned.

"No, sir," Kallen said slowly, adding the sir with a not too subtle amount of disdain, "Nothing unusual at all, sir."

Lelouch ignored her tone, too panicked by the unexplainable presence on the edges of his Geass to care. "Please be careful, Kallen-sama. I've reason to believe that the enemy is moving against you."

"Hmph, so now there's time for delays, huh?" Kallen questioned, a note of bitterness in her voice. "Why don't you take your warning and shove it up your-"

Whatever part of his anatomy Kallen was about to suggest was lost in the wake of what was unmistakably the sound of an explosion, followed swiftly by the booming roar of a Knightmare Frame's gun.

And then nothing.

"Kallen-sama, report. Kallen-sama, please, report. Say something. Anything." Lelouch stood ramrod straight, pressing down on the button with as much force as he could muster, as though it would cause the channel to open back up again.

As a response failed to come through and the buzz of static continued, his composure slipped and he barked out desperately, "Kallen! Report!"

But there was nothing but silence.

With a burst of energy borne of despair, Lelouch looked up at Naoto, who had gone pale and gray.

"Mobilize our remaining forces and ready them for battle. Prepare the Amaterasu for battlefield insertion," Lelouch said briskly, trying to regain control over himself, when inside all he wanted to do was scream and curse his own helplessness. "We have to regain control of the situation ASAP."

Naoto, to his credit, regained himself swiftly, swallowing once before nodding crisply. He turned towards the rest of the bridge crew and barked, "You heard the man. I want all our Knightmare teams off standby and out there in two minutes. And get Alice on the line- I want her to prep the Amaterasu for immediate deployment."

Naoto glanced back at Lelouch. "How are we going to get it to her? If we try to break through and deliver, it could take way too long…"

Lelouch frowned. "Do you have any VTOL aircraft on hand that can deliver Knightmares to a battlefield?"

"I do…" Naoto said slowly, puzzling out what the younger man had in mind. "You want to drop the Amaterasu directly into the battlefield without a pilot?"

"We can synchronize with Kallen-sama and arrange the drop," Lelouch said quickly, though his words hitched at her name, leaving out the unsaid words neither of them wanted to hear.

Assuming she's still alive.

00000

"GET THAT PLANE OFF THE TARMAC NOW!" Kallen practically roared into her earpiece, firing off a few rounds fruitlessly at the rapidly incoming Sidhe-class Knightmare. "Everyone else, get us some covering fire! Move the civilians back inside! Make sure that plane gets out of here!"

Thankfully, the Knightmare seemed more interested in taking down the live prey in front of it than going after the seemingly empty airplanes, and its allies were a considerable distance behind, still in formation.

"We need a grenade!" Kallen barked, and one of her team complied, hurling the explosive toward the incoming Knightmare defiantly.

However, the Knightmare avoided the small explosion easily, and raised its gun to return fire.

"Everyone get down!" Kallen screamed desperately, tackling a mother who had been clutching desperately to her two children to the ground just before the first blasts of the Knightmare's gun hit, knocking several nearby people down to the ground violently- and those were the lucky ones.

The ones who had taken a bullet directly were utterly torn to shreds in the force and size of the slug, and those too, were lucky. Those cursed worst of all were the ones who had taken a sideswiping hit, losing a limb or two to the blast, and would die slowly of blood loss because Kallen couldn't get any help to them in time.

She processed this entirely within the span of a few seconds as she lay dazed upon the ground, recognizing just how bad the situation really was.

And more importantly, that they were all about to die.

Her shock only faded away as a hand wrapped around her arm and jerked her back up, and the concerned face of Inoue appeared in her vision, shouting inaudible words.

Kallen blinked, and tried to focus.

"- need to get back inside!" Inoue repeated, shaking her slightly to get her attention.

And with those words, she managed to regain control of herself, and took stock of the rest of the situation. Several members of her squad had taken it upon themselves to provide futile covering fire for the civilians, firing their assault rifles at the oncoming Knightmares as effectively as throwing pebbles to stop the tide.

Kallen swore, whirled about, and opened fire as well. As she emptied a clip at one of the Knightmares before ducking behind a group of stacked crates, she ordered swiftly, "Inoue, get the civvies out of here! Head inside, now! Team two, get that damn plane off the ground!"

"Engines powered up and the pilots say we can leave at any time, Kallen-sama," came the reply of Masaharu, one of the ones she'd left in charge of things on the airplane. "But you and the others…"

"Will have to find an alternate route of escape. Get out of here, now. That's an order," Kallen all but snarled, and Masaharu paused only for a single, pregnant second, before he acknowledged the order and the link cut off.

Of course, a cynical, but experienced part of Kallen's mind noted immediately that such a thing was, for all intents and purposes, impossible. Knightmares were fast, heavily armed, and all but impervious to handheld weaponry - it would be like getting guppies to escape hungry sharks.

In the distance, the airplane roared to life, and the lead Knightmare Frame reacted instantly, opening its Factsphere sensor up to find the source of the sound.

"No!" Kallen cursed- most pilots would have been too distracted to notice such a thing in the middle of battle, but it seemed whoever was behind that Sidhe had an abnormal level of perception about them.

Desperately, Kallen reached into the tactical gear belt around her waist, wracking her brain for any and all things she could use. Knife, first aid kit, flashbang…

Her hand stilled over the last one, and she smiled grimly. It wouldn't do much, but a last ditch hope, a bet of a thousand to one, was better than nothing. Waiting until the hellish sounds of the Knightmare's gears were almost upon her, Kallen rose up from behind the crates and hurled the flashbang right at the open Factsphere of the Sidhe Knightmare, even as it raised its gun to fire.

The blinding white light enveloped the Knightmare, and it swerved violently to the side, slamming into the metal crates with a violent crash.

Kallen, though jarred by the impact, took the opportunity to burst out from cover, still firing on the other Knightmares. Inoue and the civilians had put some distance now between themselves and the terrorists, but the rest of her squad was nowhere to be seen.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the airplane gaining air, rapidly ascending into the sky, and smiled briefly. At least some of them had gotten out, she thought, and that alone helped make things better.

That was all the contemplation she had time for, however, as the rest of the Knightmares were rapidly catching up with her, and Kallen was once more forced to dive for cover behind an abandoned metal baggage cart. She was about to hunker down and start looking for the other flashbang she'd taken from the armory before the mission had started when a loud cry caught her attention.

Oh no.

There, out in the open, left behind by the rest of the panicked civilians, was a single crying little girl in a dirty pink blouse and jeans, completely and utterly defenseless in the face of the oncoming Knightmares. She wept openly, a gash on her leg that was bleeding heavily keeping her from moving very far.

Every piece of battlefield strategy and experience Kallen had drilled into her brain since the days she trained under Toudou-sensei screamed at her to abandon the girl, that there was nothing left to do. One normal human armed with little more than a rifle against several Knightmare Frames wasn't just stupid, it was risking the lives of everyone else in the operation by depriving them of a proper chain of command after she died.

Save who you can, Toudou-sensei's gravelly voice instructed tonelessly, his eyes flecks of stony obsidian. The battlefield will never be kind, Kallen. It will never be considerate. You defend your comrades as best you can, but you never swing your sword in a battle that cannot be won.

It was one of the first lessons she had learned as a soldier, the day she became blooded in a skirmish against the Eurasian Federation under Toudou-sensei's command. She had run into an ambush in an urban environment after receiving a distress call from a downed Kukai Knightmare on their side, and barely survived thanks to Toudou's intervention. He had taken her aside that day and drilled those words into her head, refusing to even allow her onto the battlefield until she could repeat them back to him verbatim.

Even her brother's voice joined in on the chorus, begging her not to move out into the open, not to throw away her life.

Kallen told all of that to fuck off.

With adrenaline buzzing in her veins and no thoughts except reaching the girl in time on her mind, Kallen leapt from behind the cart, making it over to the girl at a dead run and scooping her up.

However, the Knightmare Frame in the lead reacted with an inhuman level of reactionary time that would at any other time have given Kallen pause and a moment of professional respect, and raised its rifle. The shots managed to knock Kallen off balance only a few steps after she had grabbed the girl, causing her to fall forwards.

At the last possible second, Kallen twisted and used her own body to protect the girl from the impact against the ground, wincing as her shoulder made contact with the unforgiving concrete.

"Don't look," Kallen whispered to the girl, as she pulled the small child to her breast, hoping that at least her body could offer some measure of protection.

The Knightmare Frame loomed over her like a leering metal demon, and Kallen shut her eyes, hating that she couldn't look her own death in the eyes.

The screaming retort of a Knightmare's rifle filled her ears, and Kallen apologized to her brother mentally for failing.

But instead of being torn apart by the high-caliber shells, Kallen instead heard the sound of the bullets slamming into something large, metal, and tough.

Curious, Kallen opened one of her eyes just a fraction, and if her jaw could have dropped a mile, it would have.

Standing over her protectively, wielding that same massive blade as before like a golden knight dropped from the sky, was Jinchuu.

00000

Thank God I made it in time, Suzaku thought to himself, feeling as though a ten-ton weight had been lifted from his chest, his heart released from a cruel vise.

If Milly hadn't informed him that some of the hostages were being moved outside and he hadn't come to look, Kallen might have…

He quashed the thought as the Knightmare in front of him charged him. The Sidhe was armed with a single massive lance and a submachine gun, designed for brutal close-quarters work, Suzaku remembered, though he'd never fought one before.

The Sidhe fired off a few rounds, but Suzaku dodged them easily, using the Caliburn's superior speed to his advantage as he closed the distance, trying to bring the fight away from Kallen and the civilians. As he closed the distance, the enemy Knightmare swiped at him with the lance, and Suzaku narrowly dodged it, slashing back with a fury, but it was blocked swiftly with a quick turn of the lance.

Suzaku's eyes widened a fraction. That was fast-

Before he could gather his wits, the Sidhe went on the offensive again, stabbing and slashing in a series of brutally quick strikes that drove Suzaku back. Eventually, however, Suzaku regained his footing, and started countering the blows instead of just blocking them, pushing his enemy back.

Sensing a weak point, Suzaku drove forward and with a twist, parried a lance strike-

Only to discover it was a feint, and the Sidhe was actually pulling away, raising its submachine gun and putting several rounds point blank into the Caliburn's face.

Suzaku was rocked back and forth in the cockpit, head spinning from the violent impact of the blasts. If not for his machine's unnatural metal armor, he would have been killed already. As it was, he struggled to regain his balance, but before he could, the Sidhe slammed into him again, striking hard with the lance.

Suzaku managed to raise a half-hearted guard that was easily broken, sending his Knightmare slamming down into the ground with a tremendous crash.

As he struggled to pull himself back up, he saw one of the other enemy Knightmares closing in fast, lance raised to deliver a coup de grace. In a panicked burst of energy, Suzaku jerked the Caliburn to one side, rolling it away and managing to pull the machine upright as he slammed into and braced up against a concrete wall.

Like sharks, both Sidhe Knightmares closed in, and out of the corner of his eye, Suzaku spotted Kallen still standing there, open mouthed and watching him.

Mentally willing the external speakers to open, Suzaku barked out quickly, trying to deepen his voice to disguise it, "What are you waiting for, idiot? Get that girl and go!"

That was all he had time for, as the enemy machines finishing closing the distance, lances striking with that same unnatural precision and speed as before. Suzaku parried and blocked each blow, but the sheer number of strikes both Knightmares continued to press upon him made it impossible to do more than keep up a defensive position.

With a low, frustrated growl, Suzaku willed that terrible azure power to awaken again, and the Caliburn's sword began to pulse with energy once again. His parrying blows hit harder now, actually pushing the enemy back slightly-

And that was when a third Sidhe joined the fray, timing its blows perfectly, joining the battle seamlessly. But it wasn't as though all three Knightmares were instinctively working together- rather, it was more like when one made a move, the others reacted, three independent minds watching each other even as they fought him.

"This just isn't fair", Suzaku complained tiredly, panting with the effort as he was once again pushed back against the wall.

The radio buzzed, and Milly's voice came through over a buzz of static. "Suzaku-sama, perhaps it would be a good time to run."

A bead of sweat ran down his face and he growled in annoyance as he blocked two lance strikes, the whole of the Caliburn's frame shuddering from the impact as he did so.

"I can't run," he bit out, parrying the third Knightmare's attack as he did so, "They'll just go after the civilians-"

"Not if you make them chase you, dummy," Milly said patiently, though there was just a hint of annoyed resignation in her voice.

"Oh," Suzaku said blankly, so surprised he nearly failed to stop the next series of blows, "That makes sense."

"Of course it does. Now, do what you do best, hero."

"Yes ma'am," Suzaku said flippantly, lips briefly turning into a grin before gritting his teeth, he tried to bring out more of that energy, though now it was harder, like wringing water out of a particularly stubborn piece of cloth. He wasn't fully sure how this technique worked, but as long as it did and he knew how to utilize it, Suzaku wasn't about to complain.

As the energy reached critical, Suzaku let out a wordless shout and swung the blade, once more unleashing that same wave of cutting energy as before.

Two of the Knightmares on his left and right respectively sprang away, avoiding the attack, but the third was trapped right in the middle, and was slashed in neat halves. The bisected machine toppled to the ground in a burning wreck, and even gave its companions pause at the sheer amount of destructive force that had ruined it.

Using the opportunity for a breakthrough, Suzaku dashed into the newly created opening. As he hoped, the two remaining Knightmares began to give chase.

"Please get somewhere safe, Kallen," Suzaku prayed quietly.

00000

Kallen watched the Caliburn lure away the remaining enemies with an expression that was a curious mixture that could only be described as disgusted gratitude. Being saved by a sworn enemy like that was humiliating, but then again, Jinchuu had also saved the lives of her team and the civilians they were protecting.

With an annoyed sigh, Kallen hefted the little girl in her arms, who had gone silent in the wake of the ferocious Knightmare battle, and began trudging towards where Inoue and the others had gathered at the far end of the airstrip.

"Inoue, what's our status?" she questioned breathlessly.

Inoue paused for a moment, offering her arm, which Kallen gave her a grateful look for as she passed the little girl over, before she spoke.

"Civilian casualties are miraculously light, with only four wounded, but we lost Saito, Saburo, Minaka, and Asuka. Yagami and Ishiyama are wounded and need evac ASAP. Tatsumi's looking after them, though he's injured as well."

Kallen grimaced. Seven casualties, including four fatalities, plus the others of her team that were on the plane that just left meant the effectives on her team were cut down to herself, Inoue, and Yoshida. If they lost any more it would be impossible to maintain control of the situation, if they could at all.

"Get in contact with HQ, let them know what's happening," Kallen ordered briskly, keeping the tension out of her voice as much as possible. "And let's get these people moving before anything else shows up-"

As soon as she said those words, Kallen regretted it, because she knew what would happen next.

In an act that could only be described as a brutal punctuation on her sentence, the Knightmare she had blinded earlier had staggered to its feet, and was staring straight at their wounded and beleaguered group. It had lost its gun and spear, thankfully, but a Knightmare Frame's sheer mass could do plenty of damage, not to mention the Slash Harkens.

"RUN!" Kallen shouted, grabbing Inoue and pulling her along, signaling Yoshida to get the civilians moving again. She spun around, emptying the rest of her gun's clip into the Knightmare, more as a futile gesture of defiance than anything else.

They sprinted along the concrete as Kallen scanned around, desperately trying to find a way out of this deathtrap.

"Kallen-chan! Over here!"

The familiarity of the voice combined with the nickname that no one other than her mother and this person used, caused Kallen's head to whip around instinctively, finding the source of the noise instantly.

There, waving and smiling as though they were greeting each other off the street, was Kaguya. Next to her stood her bodyguard from the Shinozaki Clan, Sayoko, who was holding open a heavy steel service door with more ease than should be possible with her slender frame.

"Come along, quickly now!" Kaguya urged, seemingly oblivious to Kallen's shock, gesturing for Yoshida to bring the civilians through the door. "Don't dawdle!"

It was only when Inoue shook her slightly that Kallen was brought back to reality, and bolted towards Kaguya, sprinting helter-skelter for the door, all the while painfully aware of the roar of the Knightmare's wheels as it inched ever closer.

Kallen slammed through the door last, chancing a look back as the Knightmare raised its single massive fist-

And then Sayoko slammed the heavy steel door shut, pushing Kallen away from it in the same movement. The door shuddered under the impact, but held strong.

"Blast doors, developed specifically to repel high-yield explosives. Without its weapons, even a Knightmare Frame can't get through. And with the walls lined with similar steel-coating, it would take some time for the enemy to break through," Sayoko explained calmly, before she bowed deeply at the waist. "Kallen-sama, you are looking well."

"Thank you, Sayoko," Kallen began formally, bowing slightly in gratitude as well-

Before she was able to finish the greeting, however, she was hit in the middle with what amounted to a black haired cannonball, tackled neatly to the ground with a force that was utterly impressive for such a petite girl.

"Kallen-chan!" Kaguya said happily, sitting atop her stomach like an over-eager puppy. "It's been too long!"

A flood of feelings rushed through Kallen at that moment. Relief, joy, a renewal of hope. But most of all…

"Kaguya-san… please, stop nuzzling my breasts."

Kaguya only grinned. "But you've grown again! What's your secret, Kallen-chan! Lots of milk? Scented mineral baths? Or is it that Zen meditation Toudou-kun always has you do?"

Kallen sighed, and gently lifted Kaguya off of her, shaking her head as she did so.

"I really doubt now is the right time for… 'that' kind of discussion," she said delicately, and glanced back over at Sayoko. "How did you find us?"

"The gentlemen in the control room were nice enough to help us out," Kaguya answered instead, smiling widely. The implications of the statement became clear when Sayoko simply smiled and inclined her head, and Kallen shook her head again.

"Well, in any case, we need to call command, give them an update on the situation," Kallen began, turning away as she put her hand on her ear.

"Wait, Kallen-sama," Sayoko interrupted quietly, bowing in apology. "There is a matter of grave importance we must discuss first. If there was a way for me to speak with your commanding officers as well, it would expedite the process, as we are likely short on time."

The brisk, professional tone gave Kallen pause, and she nodded in agreement, asking one of the wounded members of her squad, Yagami, for his comm-piece.

Sayoko accepted the device and placed it in her ear, giving another nod to Kallen when she was ready.

"Hiryu to Command, Hiryu to Command," Kallen called out quietly, and within a heartbeat she had a response.

"Kallen! Er, Kallen-sama, you're okay!" Rei blurted, sounding relieved. "Thank God. We have our forces on route to your location. What's your status?"

"The airplane we were using has taken off, and hopefully should reach your position soon. However, several of my team are wounded, and need immediate evac, and we still have a large number of hostages with us. I'll try to move us to a secondary fallback position for a rendezvous. Be advised, Command, the enemy has more force than originally projected- they have several Sidhe Knightmares, and skilled, ace-level pilots commanding them." Kallen bit her lip, not really eager to go into the next part. But she was a professional soldier, and there were more important things in this world than pride. "Also, Jinchuu has arrived in the area, and has intervened with unknown intent. He does not seem to be hostile towards us at the moment, however."

Kallen distinctly heard Rei suck in a breath, and felt a moment of grim amusement that even that arrogant masked madman could be thrown for a loop.

"Understood, Hiryu. We will begin adjusting our scenario accordingly. I'm having Taiyou-One bring you the Amaterasu immediately," Rei instructed briskly.

"One more thing, command. We found Orihime, and her bodyguard has some critical information for us," Kallen interrupted, and glanced over at Sayoko, giving her a slight nod.

Sayoko coughed slightly, and then spoke. "My apologies. A few minutes ago my mistress and I came upon some of the terrorists guarding a locked room. Upon further investigation and inquiry, we discovered a powerful Sakuradite bomb, more than capable of leveling this facility, set to go off a little after the terrorist's stated deadline. By my estimate, we have an hour to evacuate."

00000

There was silence in the wake of the maid's announcement, until Naoto swore loudly and violently.

Lelouch was right there along with him, though he refrained from making any kind of comment, as any kind of curse withered and died in his throat.

Clinically, his mind whirred with the oncoming information, processing and filing it mechanically, presenting him with a complete logical picture of the scenario as it stood.

The hostages and Kallen's team were pinned down inside of the complex. With them were the remaining terrorists, including several Knightmares. Outside was a third party, Jinchuu, who could either be an enemy or an ally at the moment, and who was apparently battling several more Knightmares the enemy had evidently been keeping as a trump card. The possibility of more surprises from the enemy remained high. Lastly, and most importantly, was that they were trapped with an explosive device set to detonate in less than an hour.

His mind was trying to grind to a halt, overcome with despair, but Lelouch gritted his teeth and fought it, demanding his brain keep working.

Slowly, he expanded his consciousness once again using his Geass, feeling the minds of all those around him until he had a picture of the airport. He could still feel Kallen's presence, though her team had drastically diminished, several minds vanishing completely, others faltering like dying flames. The civilians were near to panic, so he pushed upon their emotions until they calmed.

Next, he swept his mind over to where those unusually strong minds were-

And was near blinded- somehow, they had flared up, even brighter and more powerful than before, their emotions pulsing like miniature suns. Those minds had to be the ones piloting the Sidhe Knightmares that attacked Kallen.

And yet… there was one among them that stood out- one that, Lelouch realized, was actively fighting the others.

Jinchuu? Lelouch blinked. That was what this terrorist's mind looked like? The mind of the pilot of that golden machine was blazing hot, his emotions clear as day- raw, unrelenting determination, enough to shake the foundations of the world.

Frowning, Lelouch decided to experiment, and hurled his own will against that of Jinchuu's-

And stumbled back, clutching at his mask in an attempt to reach his forehead as a searing wave of pain struck him. The world in front of his eyes went dizzy and clouded as a strange headache overtook him.

It had been like trying to grab on to a tray right out of the oven without oven mitts- the sheer amount of emotion that was obviously artificially being amplified made it impossible for Lelouch's will to come near it and not be rebuffed.

So now there were two different enemy forces that one of his primary weapons, Geass, could do nothing against. Lelouch gritted his teeth, suddenly irritated. How did things keep getting worse?

Think. Think. Think. Whatever you do, do not stop thinking of a way to save everyone.

Lelouch sighed, and broke the situation down clinically, trying to view it from a different angle and taking stock of what weapons and tools he had on hand.

One, his Geass. He could keep the situation monitored and under control… except for those strange minds that resisted his influence.

Two, Naoto's forces. Bringing more troops in meant risking more lives, however, and with an unknown bomb in the equation, he would rather avoid creating a battle that might be averted.

Three, Kallen's weakened and near marginalized force… except for Kallen herself, he supposed. If he could get her to the Amaterasu, that might be enough to force a breakthrough and get the civilians away in time.

Lelouch's jaw clenched tightly, his face beneath the mask a deep frown. There had to be more.

"It's like tsumeshogi," Naoto commented darkly, frowning over the viewscreen, obviously as shaken as Lelouch.

"Tsumeshogi?" Lelouch questioned, blinking, speaking more to distract himself from the problems at hand than out of any true curiosity. "You mean, those one-sided Shogi matches?"

"This is a situation in which one side must checkmate the other in as few moves as possible, while the other delays until too many moves have passed. It's not exactly the same, but it feels kind of similar," Naoto explained distractedly. "We keep trying to push this into endgame, and they keep putting us off. At this rate, we would need a miracle to win without losing countless lives."

"You're right," Lelouch agreed softly, biting his lip. Win in the least moves possible… There had to be a way to do that. It was like a chessboard…

"Argh, it's all useless…" he spoke softly, as his eyes widened with a dawning realization. "Unless we try to use the opponent's move against him."

Naoto blinked, his expression one of disbelief and confusion. "Use the… how can we use a situation like this to our advantage?"

"Clovis is many things, but he's not suicidal, nor does he have the bravado to pull off something like this as a bluff," Lelouch pressed, his voice feverish as his mind raced ahead, creating new possibilities in the scenario. "He cannot possibly know about this bomb. If you will allow me to open a channel, a proclamation like this could divide and scatter our enemies. There has to be a division within our enemies- those who know of the bomb, and those who do not."

The commander tilted his head, trying to follow along with the younger man's train of logical thought, hoping to find the miracle of victory at the end. "Even if that is the case, there's still any number of real opponents who will prevent us from dealing with the bomb."

Lelouch shook his head, having already considered the possibility. "If we can get Kallen the Amaterasu… that much firepower could break through the blockade at the main road entrance, and get those hostages out safely. Our original plan of using the airline jets is scrapped now- we have no idea if those have been sabotaged as well."

"What about defusing the bomb?" Naoto questioned. "I have a few demolitions experts in my regiment."

"Too risky. We don't have enough time to coordinate both another insertion and an extraction," Lelouch replied, shaking his head. "Besides… if we can get the hostages and Kallen's team out in time, the bomb will wipe out Jinchuu alongside the rest of the terrorists who don't get out."

The cold practicality of the idea stunned Naoto. True, if they simply let the bomb detonate, it would destroy one of the foremost threats to their operation in Brittania, alongside whatever terrorists were caught up in the blast, thereby cleaning up the mess for them. The cost of rebuilding the airport could be written off as a necessary sacrifice, and he was sure that, given the right spin on things, Kirihara and the Imperial Council would acknowledge that.

But still… Naoto gave Lelouch and a considering look, his opinion of the young man altered somewhat in the face of such ruthlessness. Beneath the veneer of guilt-driven determination was a mind that was brutally intelligent, capable of discerning the best solution to a problem regardless of cost. It was the mind of a born strategist, but it didn't quite match up with the hero-complex obsessed young man he had met, as if this was the true nature of Lelouch Lamperouge, and the hero-complex was some sort of ingrained habit he could not break.

"Hell of a plan… and though I hate to nitpick, we also must capture the masterminds behind this plot. The Empire will not let this kind of insult slide, and I'm not letting these madmen get away," Naoto murmured, frowning. "So now we have three objectives, several wounded, two different enemies and a huge number of noncombatants sitting smack dab in the middle of a war zone, and a time limit to boot."

"We can do it," Lelouch assured him quietly, and Naoto looked up into that mirror-face of a mask with an unreadable look. "We can save these people. A miracle will only occur if we believe in it, unto the very end, even if the odds set to zero. And I promise you this now- I will achieve a miracle, and save everyone."

Naoto held his gaze for a long moment, and then his face broke out into a roguish smile.

"Then let's make a miracle."

00000

"That arrogant, two-faced lunatic!" Clovis spat, seething as he stalked amidst the control tower consoles. He hated feeling useless, ever since those days when the Imperial Palace would rumble and shake from the night air raids, and in the wake of his father's death when confusion reigned amongst the Imperial Family, until Schneizel (Schneizel, the ever-brilliant, the shining star) took command and sent word to Odysseus, who had been sent with several other of their siblings to Windsor Castle, to sue for peace.

All Clovis could do in those days was sit around and attempt to comfort his ailing mother, now dead after these long seven years of hiding and scraping a living overseas.

He would not lose to this. He would rise above it, as befitting one who bore the name of "Brittania", and claim the birthright he deserved.

"bzttt… Prince Clovis La Brittania…"

Clovis blinked, certain he was hearing things.

"… hailing Clovis La Brittania, Third Prince of Brittania…"

The voice wasn't coming from the two-way radio on his hip, but from a nearby console, whose screen flickered with life.

Hesitantly, Clovis stepped over to the machine, and pressed down on a button. "Yes?"

There was a noticeable pause, and Clovis shook his head, ready to dismiss the voice as a figment of his stress addled imagination, when it spoke again.

"Ah, Prince Clovis. At last." The voice on the other end sounded oddly familiar, and strangely pained. "My apologies in advance for skipping the formalities and title naming and such, but we have very little time."

Clovis sputtered and froze on the spot, not quite sure how to take this sudden and unwelcome new dialogue. Of course, he didn't have much of a choice, it seemed.

"It seems you've been betrayed, my prince," the voice continued smoothly, and Clovis felt he must have imagined that silent agony in the voice before, "One of your subordinates has planted a bomb in the airport, and is going to detonate it without your knowledge, I believe. If you wish to check for yourself, it's on the first floor, in the storage locker at Terminal Three."

"A-a bomb?" Clovis stammered, blinking wildly in confusion.

"I see I was correct," the voice murmured, and once more, there was a hint of familiarity in that tone that gave Clovis pause. "Well, then I must assume your subordinates wanted to betray you and pin the blame on you as they made their escape."

The subordinate in question was brought to mind immediately, and Clovis' eyes narrowed as he hissed one word. "Luciano."

"What was that name?" The person on the other end sounded weirdly curious, but in his rage, he barely paid it any mind.

"That damn mercenary," Clovis continued, seething as he pounded a glove fist against the metal console, "He set me up!"

"Well, not for long. Me and my employers have a vested interest in keeping you alive, and if you do as I say, you should come out of this alive and well," the voice assured him silkily.

Clovis didn't even hesitate.

"What do I need to do?"

00000

"You didn't tell him who you were working for," Naoto observed, his tone reserving judgment, as Lelouch cut the connection.

"He would never have agreed. This way, we can also capture him as well," Lelouch replied simply, though there was a note of quiet exhaustion in his voice. "How much longer till we can get Kallen-sama the Amaterasu?"

"ETA in approximately ten minutes," Sancia reported, holding a hand over the radio-earpiece she wore. "VTOL is fueled and prepped for takeoff."

"Good," Lelouch murmured, sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. "The rooftop teams should also be on their way to their staging area. We need to consolidate our forces if we're to make this plan work."

"They've made their way to the bottom floor, and should be reaching the designated point within ten minutes as well, to synchronize with Kallen-sama," Minami responded briskly.

"Tell them not to rush. The plan hinges on their arrival at the right time, and not a minute before," Lelouch said calmly, "Have them make a thorough sweep before the rendezvous. If we do have to let this bomb go off, I'm not leaving a single civilian behind, understand?"

"Incoming message from the Imperial Council in Kyoto," Sancia announced, tapping her console as she brought up the missive. "We have a new directive, straight from Chief Minister Kirihara, with all the backing of His Divine Majesty, the Emperor."

"What is it?" Lelouch questioned, leaning forward.

"Now that Princess Kaguya has been found, we are to immediately extract her from the airport with all haste possible. Kallen-sama is to remain with her at all times. The lives of all other civilians are…" Sancia hesitated for a moment, "Secondary."

Lelouch's fists tightened, his gloves audibly crinkling as he heard that last word.

"We can't ignore this," Naoto said softly, only to Lelouch. "Not this order, not in this situation. I know earlier we prioritized the lives of the many, but that was before the homeland got involved."

"I know," Lelouch whispered back, and nodded in acceptance. "Understood. Proceed on with the operation as planned. Have the secondary team in place for the final stage once we have Kallen-sama and the rest of the hostages are secure."

The control room acclimated to his orders with such ease that you would think they'd been working together for years, and not mere hours, and even that last report was seemingly directed more towards Lelouch than Naoto himself. Even Sancia and Minami were beginning to adjust to taking orders from their masked ally as if it were normal.

Naoto watched all the proceedings with a clinical, professional eye. Lelouch had things well in hand, enough so that Naoto felt comfortable letting him take the lead- despite his youth and somewhat worrying mental lapses towards what appeared to be a near suicidal zeal for forgiveness, the Brittanian prince was a born general.

Which made those lapses all the more troubling. Naoto was confident now in Lelouch's abilities, but not his mentality. As soon as possible, he resolved, he was going to peek in on Kallen at school, and see just for himself how the boy acted in his normal routine.

For now, of course, he was just going to have to put his trust in Lelouch's abilities, and of course, his sister's.

00000

"So what I'm really saying is, you need to have more confidence in your abilities, Kallen-chan!" Kaguya asserted, patting her on the shoulder, as their height difference made ruffling her hair more difficult, "This situation you're in is nothing. All you need is confidence- you have everything else you need already."

"… Kaguya, I really, really don't think now is the right time to talk about my engagement to Suzaku, much less how I should 'seduce him and steal his virtue', as you put it," Kallen said through a clenched jaw, trying to keep her voice low as she checked the corners, crouched behind a wall as she did her level best to utterly ignore Kaguya's words.

"But you two really have taken a long time with this. I mean, for all you know, that route has been closed off because you missed too many flags!" Kaguya insisted in a hushed voice. "You don't want to be that tragic unlucky childhood friend character now do you? That archetype is so tragic it's actually kind of lame!"

Kallen was thankfully cut off from replying as shouts began echoing down the corridor, and even Kaguya had the sense to stay silent for once.

There, marching down the corridor and into the main room, grim-faced and angry, were a dozen terrorists, all armed and looking very, very determined.

Did they hear us, Kallen wondered, holding a breath.

The bullet that nearly took her head off and blew apart the wall right next to her cheek instead, causing Kallen to flinch back.

"Yeah, yeah they did," she muttered to herself, and held out her rifle. Despite the overwhelming advantage in numbers the enemy had, however, that same strange calmness settled over her, and she barked out quickly, "Kaguya-san, get back! Inoue, I need covering fire! Yoshida, watch the civilians!"

The others did as she bid, even as Kallen stuck her rifle around the corner, blind firing down the corridor to scare the enemy.

After the enemy fire slackened, Kallen poked her head out around the corner and took in the area with a glance.

They had reached another food court style area, with the center of the room dominated by a large, ornate fountain that was currently still. The enemy was taking up firing positions behind and around the fountain, using abandoned baggage carts and the tables of the area for cover. Kallen couldn't get a good estimate of how many there were with how quick her glance over the area had been, but there had to be at least half a dozen.

Half a dozen well trained killers against herself, Inoue, and Yoshida, who were babysitting well over ten times their number in basically dead weight.

Kallen wondered what deity she'd pissed off to earn this much karmic payback.

Kallen checked her ammunition. She was down to the remaining bullets in the clip she had in her rifle, and then a single remaining extra clip.

"Ammunition check!" she barked, hoping the others had saved up some of their weapons.

"Two clips!" Inoue responded.

"One!" Yoshida answered.

And It Got Worse, Kallen thought cynically, rolling her eyes. Onii-chan, I am going to haunt you forever if I die here for listening to that crazy bastard Rei.

"Save your ammo! Take shots only to kill or disable!" Kallen ordered, jaw clenched tight.

The team did as she bid, but as a result the enemy was allowed free reign, firing constantly at even the slightest bit of movement, keeping them pinned down.

Kallen stuck her head out again, and one of the terrorists hiding behind the fountain popped out and fired at her.

Kallen jerked her head to one side to avoid the bullet and rattled off a retort of her own with her rifle, but firing from the hip, no matter how cool, simply was not very accurate, and most of her bullets simply caused property damage. One lucky shot, however, hit the man's shoulder, and he went down with a scream and a spray of gory red that stained the white marble of the fountain.

"One down!" she called out, and ejected the clip, slamming home a new one- her last, as it was.

The others, however, now redoubled their efforts, firing without abandon on her position, preventing her from dealing any more damage. Inoue and Yoshida, without much ammunition, could only take pot-shots at the enemy, which barely gave them pause.

The situation was bad, and the status quo only meant it would only get worse.

Change the situation, Toudou's voice rumbled in her mind. When you cannot win as the world stands, alter the world.

She flicked up a glance at the ceiling, and saw a chance. Aiming up at the ceiling, she fired off a short burst from her rifle, hoping to hit the high ceiling lights.

In doing so, however, she left herself out in the open, just for a moment- but that was all it took, and one of the terrorists got off a shot and Kallen's world exploded in pain as she fell wheezing to the floor in agony- her bulletproof vest had stopped the bullet, thankfully, however it still felt like getting hit by a sledgehammer.

As she rolled on the floor, Inoue noticed her situation and shouted out in alarm.

"Yoshida, covering fire!" she screamed, sprinting towards Kallen and helping her back up.

We're not going to make it, Kallen thought, and despair took root in her heart like a vicious cancer as she coughed violently, feeling the tangy iron taste of blood in her mouth.

"Kallen-sama…"

Picking herself up, still being held up by Inoue, Kallen emptied the last clip in her rifle at the fountain as a gesture of defiance, sending the enemy ducking back down, before pulling out her service pistol.

"Kallen-sama, please respond."

Why am I hearing Alice's voice, Kallen wondered, as she fired off a shot from her pistol, even as her eyes blurred and darkness threatened.

"Kallen-sama!"

Suddenly, with a shock that sent the waves of pain and darkness receding from her consciousness, Kallen realized she wasn't imagining the voice- it was actually coming through her radio.

"Alice? What are you-"

"I need your coordinates Kallen-sama. Preferably now," Alice interrupted politely, though there was just enough of an arch in her tone to indicate sarcasm.

"Uh…" Kallen wracked her brain for the information, checking the area for landmarks. "Northwest lobby, sector… three-five-two."

"Understood," Alice said simply.

"Wait, what are you-" Kallen began, when a literally earthshaking roar and an explosion of violent noise sent all her thoughts scattering as a hail of glass and rubble was hurled about as the glass ceiling collapsed.

As the dust began to settle, Kallen looked up through the debris and gaped.

Standing there, in the shattered ruins of the marble fountain, amidst the dying groans and screams of the enemy, was a metal titan out of legend that descended from the skies as the renewal of hope.

"The Amaterasu," Inoue breathed behind her, and Kallen finally smiled.

00000

Despite the situation being so desperate, the instant Kallen stepped inside her Knightmare, laid her hands on those familiar controls (the interior was unusual for a Knightmare Frame, putting the pilot at a forward angle, akin to riding a motorcycle), and felt the Amaterasu thrum to life with unrivaled power, she felt a sense of calm control descend over her nerves.

There were enemies to fight. That was all she needed to know. And she knew she would win, because she and the Amaterasu were the best.

"Kallen-sama?" Alice's face appeared in a small window on her viewscreen, at the helm of the VTOL aircraft that had dropped her beloved war machine down to earth. "You're humming that that theme music again over an open channel."

Kallen had the grace to blush.

"Right. Let's get started," she said briskly, to cover up her embarrassment. "Inoue, keep the civilians behind me. Watch the rear and flanks- we're going to push on through to the entrance."

With a round of affirmations from her team, Kallen gritted her teeth and started to move forward, doing her level best to keep the Amaterasu steady in the unstable ground. Her machine wasn't really designed for escort duty, but Kallen hoped quick reflexes and quicker aim would serve as adequate protection.

After a few moments, however, Kallen realized something was off- there were no more contacts on her motion trackers, apart from the civilians and the remnants of her team behind her. With the amount of commotion they had made, there should have been some kind of response from even a halfway decently trained opponent.

"Inoue, I'm not getting anything on the sensors. You seeing anything on the ground?" Kallen questioned quietly, keeping her eyes constantly scanning the monitor for anything unusual.

"Nothing, Kallen-sama," came the tense reply.

"Alice, did you see anything from the sky on the way in?" Kallen asked, switching channels.

"Nothing," Alice replied tonelessly, her eyes sweeping the controls. "And I'm not seeing anything in the flyover either."

"Wait, nothing? Not even a hint of movement? How is that possible? There are supposed to be terrorists swarming everywhere around here," Kallen commented, eyes widening in realization. "Where did they all go?"

"It might be best just to take good fortune as good fortune, Kallen-sama," Inoue advised quietly, rejoining the conversation. "The enemy might be changing plans, or focusing their efforts on dealing with Jinchuu. Right now what's most important is getting the remaining civilians as far away from this area as possible."

"I guess you're right," Kallen admitted reluctantly, and started moving again when a sudden shriek came over the radio, startling her.

"What the hell was that?" Kallen demanded, bristling, scanning all her sensors, certain a fight was about to break out again.

It took Inoue a few more moments to respond.

"Sorry, there's a woman here…" she trailed off, obviously moving away from her mouthpiece to speak with the woman in question, "She says she lost her daughter. We're trying to calm her down and get her to explain where she last saw her…"

There was a sudden shout, an audible jostling, and then a new voice entered the channel. "Kallen-sama!" a woman's voice, obviously the mother, pleaded. "Please, help me! My daughter- I lost her during the confusion! Please, you have to go back for her!"

Kallen stood stock still. Earlier, she had broken all protocol and training and risked her life for one little girl. And it felt right. She couldn't walk away from this call for help now either...

"Kallen-sama," Alice broke in, face reappearing on the monitor, having still been on the channel. "You cannot risk the lives of scores of people for one life. Including the princess's own. You are to have Kaguya-sama brought back as soon as possible, and under your direct guard."

"But…" Kallen began, but her blonde ward gave her a stern look.

"These are not just Naoto-sama's orders," Alice interrupted, "We received this directive from the Imperial Council, exerting the direct will of the Emperor. You know what this means, don't you?"

Kallen bristled with defiance as Alice spoke, but her anger deflated as she heard the words, and spoke the lines that were ingrained into her core, as both a Sword of the Emperor and as a citizen of the Japanese Empire.

"The Emperor's will is the will of heaven, the will of the gods," she repeated softly.

"You cannot defy this," Alice finished.

"Fine," Kallen said grudgingly, nodding her head. "Understood."

00000

Suzaku panted, feeling every breath coming hard as his exhausted body tried to regain some stamina, still clutching at the control yokes of the Caliburn. He had finally managed to shake off his pursuers after leading them on a merry chase away from Kallen and the civilians, and just in time too, as he had been hard pressed just to keep himself defended against their numbers and raw ability.

"What the hell are those guys," he mumbled under his breath, wiping a bead of sweat off his brow.

It wasn't like they were as naturally skilled and experienced as Kallen, or that their machines were even close to the technological superiority of the Caliburn, but they had a way of moving and reacting that was… inhuman. It wasn't skillful or well-coordinated attacks that had pressured him so far, but sheer relentless assault, like being attacked by a mindless beast.

"Alright, enough," Suzaku muttered, shaking his head. "Now, I need to-"

A blip on the sensors caught his attention mid-sentence, and he blinked, shifting the Caliburn around until he found the source.

Cowering underneath one of the waiting area benches, dressed in a slightly torn and dirtied dress, was a dark haired little girl, maybe six or seven years old.

"What the hell is she doing here?" he mumbled, feeling a mixture of bewilderment and concern.

He leaned the Knightmare forward, extending the Caliburn's hand out tentatively.

"I won't hurt you," he said quietly, soothingly, but the girl only cowered away. Not a surprise, not with both the reputation he was receiving in the media lately and the simple fact that he was inside a gigantic machine reaching out a hand bigger than the child's own body out to a frightened little girl.

"Please, I promise, I'm not going to hurt you," Suzaku repeated quietly, keeping his voice soothingly level.

The girl looked up, still quivering, unmoving, but not running away either.

"Just climb up. I promise, nothing will hurt you," he swore again, and finally, ever so slowly, the girl put out a shaking hand, resting it on the extended 'finger' of the Knightmare's hand.

"There we go," Suzaku murmured, smiling slightly. "Now let's just get you back home, safe and sound-"

As if in answer, a Sidhe Knightmare whirled around the corner, gun raised.

One of these days I'm going to learn to shut my damn mouth, Suzaku thought wearily, as he scooped up the girl with both of the Caliburn's hands, spinning around to use the back of the machine as a shield for the girl- just in time too, as the Sidhe opened fire, the spray of bullets slamming into the Knightmare with considerable force.

The girl whimpered audibly, and Suzaku glanced down at her.

"Don't worry," he promised, "I'm going to get you out of here."

00000

"There, see, Kaguya-sama is here, just as ordered, no trouble at all," Kallen announced, as they pulled into the military perimeter, while the waiting soldiers encircled the civilians, giving them blankets and warm drinks as they moved them away from the airport.

"Yeah, I can see that," Naoto replied over the radio, though his tone was hardly celebratory. "I can also see you're not happy about the order. But there's nothing you can do about it."

"True," Kallen agreed, turning the Amaterasu right back around. "There was nothing I could do about it."

"Yeah, nothing you could have done," Naoto agreed, breathing a short sigh of relief-"Wait, Kallen, where are you going?"

"Back to rescue that girl, of course," Kallen replied simply, already halfway back towards the airport, now that she didn't have to pace herself to keep guard over a bunch of civilians.

"You have your orders-"

"Which I fulfilled," Kallen answered matter-of-factly, smirking. "Now I'm going to do what I want to do."

"Kallen!" Naoto sputtered, face flashing on her viewscreen. "I am giving you a direct order-"

"Which I don't have to follow, since technically, only the Emperor can give me orders," Kallen interrupted. "Sorry Onii-chan, I've gotta go."

And with that and a final, incomprehensible shout from her brother, Kallen was gone.

00000

"Damn her!" Naoto swore, slamming his palms down on the metal console. "I want Taiyou-One prepped and ready to go after her in two minutes!"

His rage cooled immediately as a gloved hand settled on his shoulder, and he turned back to see the mirrored surface of Lelouch's mask.

"Belay that," Lelouch barked, squeezing Naoto's shoulder as he spoke to calm him, "Kallen-sama is right in that we have no jurisdiction over her. Our top priority right now is the final phase of the operation, and securing the safety of the civilians. Are the capture teams in place, Lieutenant?"

Sancia, who had been watching the exchange, blinked once, before responding without a hitch, "Yes. With the instructions you gave, we should have the final phase in motion within half an hour."

"Just under the amount of time estimated left on the explosive device," Lelouch murmured, sounding satisfied. "Continue then. The Commander and I should speak privately."

Lelouch took him aside, out into the hallway, where Naoto stayed silent until the doors were fully shut.

"Thank you," he managed quietly, roughly, "For keeping me under control. I just…"

"I understand," Lelouch interrupted, inclining his head. "But we're in the final stages right now. You need to keep your head at this moment, or the others will lose focus as well."

"But Kallen-" Naoto began, but the younger man waved his hand.

"I can watch over Kallen-sama while you direct the last stages of the operation," Lelouch assured him. "Just leave her to me."

Naoto stared at him for a few moments, obviously reluctant, before he finally nodded, turning away.

"I'll trust you," he muttered. "Just keep her safe, please."

00000

"Kiss her, you idiot! Don't just gawk, make a move!" Milly urged in vain, for the characters inked onto the pages of the manga she was reading could not readily follow her commands. "Argh, at this rate it'll end up like Takahashi-sensei's work, only with alien princesses instead of martial artists…"

Her complaints were interrupted as a voice came on over the radio installed in the truck, urgent and desperate.

"Milly! Milly, are you there!"

Milly pulled her feet off of the dashboard as she pulled the small two-way radio that was hooked up to the truck to her mouth, setting the manga down on the dashboard as she did so. "Yeah, yeah, I'm here Suzaku-sama. I take it you're still being chased then?"

An audible shudder came through the channel, followed by the sound of gunfire.

"What do you think?" Suzaku asked sarcastically.

"Well there's no need to get snippy with your mission control, is there?" Milly quipped, rolling her eyes. "What do you need, Suzaku-sama?"

"Some kind of schematic of this place would be nice," he replied.

"Yes, well, we don't have that on hand. I maybe be your hyper-competent sidekick, but even my skills have limits," Milly responded sweetly. "Are you trying to lose the enemy?"

"Situation's changed Milly," Suzaku answered, his voice terse. "I found a kid. Just a little girl who got separated from the other hostages- I can't keep her safe and get rid of these guys anymore."

"A girl?" Milly blinked. "What is… and you decided to take care of an helpless civilian in the middle of a battlefield?"

"Would you have done any different?" Suzaku challenged defensively, growling.

"Well I certainly wouldn't abandon a little girl, the fact is…" Milly trailed off, cocking her head to one side as she heard a faint murmuring in the background that was definitely not coming from the radio.

"Milly?"

Milly shook her head. "It's nothing, Radio battery's running low, so I'm going to go grab some new ones. Talk to you in a bit."

Without waiting for a reply, she shut off the radio, not feeling the least bit sorry for the little lie she'd just told Suzaku as she put the radio inside a pocket of her maid's dress. Calmly, with an unhurried grace, she opened the glove compartment and reached inside a large brown envelope, pulling forth a slim pistol from its depths.

Ever so slowly, she opened the door of the truck, walked around to the back, and opened the door, pistol raised and her finger resting lightly on the trigger.

"You should come out now," Milly instructed, for once her tone devoid of its jocular nature, "I'll be nice and give you three seconds instead of just shooting right now. Three."

There was an unmistakable squeak of surprise in the back, and Milly shifted her aim slightly towards it.

"Two."

Her fingers tensed, as the crates shifted, though no actual noise was made by the person behind them.

"One."

"P-p-please don't shoot."

All at once, the calm, icily polite mask fell like a sudden autumn rain, and Milly was left blinking and wide eyed like a newborn calf.

"I didn't mean any harm," Euphemia continued quickly, bowing her head as her fingers trembled from their position in the air, the universal sign of surrender as she crept out from the darkness, "Honest."

"Bloody hell Euphie," Milly swore uncharacteristically, lowering the gun with a look of weary dismay, "I might have shot you. What are you doing here? No, wait, don't answer that, I already know- you wanted to learn more about your past and, more importantly, what Suzaku-sama has been doing at night."

Euphemia had the grace to blush. "I really am sorry."

"No sense in crying over spilled milk, I suppose," Milly shrugged, tucking the gun absently into the waistband of her maid outfit as she clambered on inside the truck. "Next time, make less noise when you're eavesdropping."

"I-I'll try," Euphemia joked weakly, as she did as Milly bid. "So this this is what you and Suzaku-sama have been doing for the past few weeks?"

"Yeah," Milly acknowledged, inclining her head slightly as she rolled her eyes. "I swear, Suzaku-sama is taking this hero thing a bit far though. He's about one pathos-ridden tragedy away from having me sew him a costume and going prancing around rooftops at night in his underpants."

Euphemia giggled a little at that, and opened her mouth to reply when her eyes went blank and dark as a moonless night. "

Milly stared blankly. "What the-"

Euphemia spoke mechanically, tonelessly, as though someone else had taken hold of her body and was using her mouth to speak utterly foreign words.

"Warning, Homunculus Drive bio-synchronous link falling rapidly to twenty percent, indicating danger of breaching minimal control threshold. Armor integrity beginning to falter at structural points A8 through C2. Recommending activation of Faust Protocol in order to- NO!" Euphemia finally shrieked, jerking her head sideways, clutching at it as though pained, and Milly was finally shaken from her shock.

Quickly, Milly took hold of Euphemia, holding her tightly as the girl thrashed in her arms with surprising strength, clutching her head as tears ran freely down her face.

"M-Milly-san… what's happening to me?" she whispered sobbingly. "I can't… these words… it's like I'm not even myself… but I can see it… Suzaku-sama… he's in trouble…"

00000

The metal walls around him shuddered from the impact as the roaring sound of the high-caliber submachine guns hitting the back of the Knightmare filled his ears.

The Caliburn bobbed side to side to avoid taking any more fire, though Suzaku was careful to avoid crashing into the sides of the lobby wall, lest the girl in his hands fall. He whirled the corner, but a second Sidhe cut him off, raising its rifle, forcing him to turn its shoulder and barrel on through, using the side of the machine in case the enemy fired off a few rounds.

He knocked the enemy Knightmare down, slamming it into a support pillar and crumpling it, and continued on through the lobby, but without any real sense of direction or knowledge of where he could go to get the girl out of the danger zone.

"How long does it take Milly to get new batteries," Suzaku grumbled irritably, gunning the engine harder, still hoping he could shake off his pursuers-

When the wall directly to the right of him shattered, and a third Sidhe barreled towards him, spear upraised, moving at an angle so as to cut him off from pushing forward. The blips on his motion tracker indicated the others were in hot pursuit behind him.

"Oh crap," Suzaku managed, before narrowly twisting out of the way, the girl in his hands screaming in terror at the violent and sudden movement.

Now he was caught- fleeing simply wasn't an option, not against their superior numbers and obvious familiarity with the layout of the complex. But if he tried to fight, he'd have to drop the girl- not an option either.

"I'm sorry," Suzaku whispered apologetically, shutting his eyes as he tried one last desperate gambit, charging right at the Sidhe in front of him-

Which was knocked away with a flash of white-hot light, and the Sidhe Knightmare fell back, one arm a half-melted mess, spinning away and crashing right next to where it had burst on through earlier.

And standing off to the side, arm still smoking from the energy pulse claw, was the Amaterasu.

00000

Kallen stared across the viewscreen at the enemy that had put her out of commission only a few weeks ago, an enemy she had been sent here to destroy- and hesitated.

He was protecting the girl, she noted, not lowering the Knightmare's arm or removing her hands from the control yokes. He could just as easily have left her behind, taken these men out- but he didn't.

Damn it, why did the enemy have to be so human?

Her irritation was forced aside as the other enemies rounded the corner, weapons raised, and she vaulted forward, shouting into the external speakers, "Stay behind me!"

Jinchuu moved in formation behind her in a manner that seemed eerily natural, as though he was familiar with her movements, though she had no real time to consider it further as the enemy closed the distance between them.

Kallen ducked the initial lance thrust from the first Sidhe, and when that one stepped aside and allowed its partner to slash at her, she parried the blow, and then activated the flare blast in her chest to blind her opponents-

Only to be knocked back as the third Sidhe (the one she attacked originally) came at her from the side, slamming into her, sending her careening away, the flash blasting harmlessly only against a wall.

Disoriented, Kallen barely had time to get her balance back when the enemy pressed their attack again, slashing and stabbing at her in vicious but uncoordinated attacks, pressuring her backwards with startling efficiency.

The recharge time on the flash was around a minute, meaning that one of her primary weapons in close combat was gone for the moment, and the sheer weight of their numbers was pushing her back.

"Kallen-sama, I suggest you retreat to a more favorable environment."

Yeah, I should retreat, she agreed silently, and opened her mouth to acknowledge the suggestion when she realized who was speaking to her.

"Rei?" Kallen blinked. "Shouldn't you be heading up the operation?"

"Your brother is handling that," Rei replied smoothly from a small square box appearing on her viewscreen labeled "Audio Only", "I'm tasked with ensuring you stay alive. And right now, you had best move back, and then lash out with your left leg."

Kallen reflexively pulled back on command, just in time to avoid a powerful slash from the Sidhe's lance. Her leg strike knocked the opponent down, but before she could follow up, the second Sidhe had moved in to pick up the slack.

"Parry, dodge, and then feint. There will be an opportunity," he instructed.

"Don't order me around!" Kallen all but snarled, though she did as she was bid. Just as Rei predicted, the Sidhe followed her feint too far, and she struck out, slashing with glowing claws, and only an incredibly swift reaction from the enemy Knightmare saved it from being eviscerated into more manageable bits, though she still shredded the enemy's lance weapon, rendering it useless.

"They're quick," Rei observed dispassionately, his voice laced with a thoughtful hum.

"Are you just going to compliment them or are you going to help?" Kallen shot back irritably.

"We're losing too much time. There's still a highly explosive device in the complex, and we still need to retrieve the girl from Jinchuu," he replied contemplatively. "We're not going to end this battle through traditional means. Shift to the right and fire a high-yield energy blast at the enemy, angled upwards."

"They'll dodge it-" Kallen began to protest, but was cut off.

"Please, just trust me, Kallen-sama. Just this once."

Kallen frowned, but followed through, dodging to the right and slamming the Amaterasu's hands together, unleashing a fierce wave of red-black energy at the oncoming enemy.

They dodged it, just as she said-

And the blast instead struck the support pillar behind them, the one that had already been damaged heavily by Jinchuu slamming one of them into it earlier. The blast cut through the top section of the pillar, and as a result a huge chunk of solid marble stone came crashing down towards the enemy Knightmares.

By the time the dust cleared, the Amaterasu and Jinchuu were gone.

00000

"Huh, looks they escaped," Luciano noted, tapping the laptop computer's keyboard thoughtfully with his index finger.

They were inside the belly of a large, military VTOL aircraft, with Luciano perched in the co-pilot's chair, the laptop propped up on the control console.

"They were running out of time," Marika noted, sitting across from him in the pilot's chair, hands firmly on the wheel. "And so are we, my lord. Shall we issue the recall order?"

Luciano bit his lip thoughtfully, though there was a hint of a grin in his expression.

"I suppose we might as well. I was expecting to use up these assets, but I guess our budget could use a few spares. I'll have the auto-pilot systems take over and bring them to us," he murmured, tapping the keyboard and issuing the electronic orders as he spoke. "Are we synchronized to leave within the last three minutes of the bomb's timer?"

"Yes sir," Marika reported, checking her watch. As she did so, the movement caught Luciano's eye, and he grinned a little wider.

"You know, I've never asked you about that watch. You never take it off," he observed, raising an eyebrow. "Something special about it?"

"It was a gift," she answered succinctly. "From my brother."

"Brother, huh?" Luciano tapped a finger against his cheek as he gazed at her out of the corner of his eye. "The one you haven't seen since the invasion?"

Marika's fingers tightened over the wheel, and she nodded stiffly.

Luciano glanced at her a moment longer, then shrugged and leaned back into his chair after he shut the laptop and put it aside, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Well, we're only just getting started. Who knows, maybe you'll see him around."

"Maybe," Marika said noncommittally.

00000

"I think we're safe now," Kallen said breathlessly, though she left her hands on the control yokes of the Amaterasu.

"Good. Now for our other problem…" Rei murmured, drawing Kallen's attention toward the golden Knightmare that stood only a few meters away, still clutching that little girl in his arms.

"Jinchuu," Kallen began, opening up the external speakers, "Hand the girl over."

Wordlessly, the golden Knightmare frame leaned down and ever so gently placed the girl back down on the ground.

"Now back away," Kallen ordered sternly, as she reached over to take the girl into the Amaterasu's hands.

Again, the terrorist did as she ordered, surprisingly enough without protest, and Kallen, keeping an eye on him the entire time, opened up the cockpit hatch of her Knightmare to deposit the girl inside. There wasn't much room, but it was far safer than holding her outside of the machine.

"Good. Now, tell him there are more hostages inside," Rei said quietly.

Kallen blinked. "But there aren't any."

"He doesn't know that," the masked man replied simply.

"You think you can trap him here with the bomb," she realized, eyes widening with the revelation.

"He went out of his way and risked death for one little girl. We can use this opportunity," Rei replied ruthlessly, his voice cold. "This man is too dangerous to leave alive. We have a chance to end his threat right here, Kallen-sama."

Kallen said nothing, and the little girl in the back clambered over to her, clutching at her with a sob.

This girl would be dead if not for him, Kallen thought soberly, as she patted the girl on the head comfortingly. Hell, I would dead if not for him either.

"Sorry, I'm losing you command. Didn't catch that last part. I need to reset the signal on my transponder," Kallen said suddenly. "I'll report back in person in a few minutes."

"Wait, Kallen-sama, what are you-"

She cut the channel before he could finish, grinning slightly at having utterly ignored Rei's orders.

"Listen," she said out loud, "I'm only doing this because I don't want to owe you anything the next time we fight. There's a bomb in the airport, and you need to get as far away from here as you can. Got it?"

For a few moments, Jinchuu did nothing, and then finally, made an awkward, mechanical bow of respect, and headed off in another direction.

Kallen watched the terrorist go for a second, wondering if she had done the right thing. But a favor owed to an enemy was still a favor owed, and Kallen was the kind of person to pay back her debts.

"Next time," she muttered, and turned away.

00000

"Damn it!" Lelouch swore, slamming his palm down on the console as he ripped off the headset he had been using to communicate with Kallen (it had been their largest pair, so it could fit snugly around the helmet he wore).

"What's wrong?" Naoto asked concernedly, looking up from his own console. "Is Kallen alright?"

"No, it's nothing like that. She's fine and heading back now with the girl," Lelouch answered smoothly, shaking his head.

Unless you count mental instability on account of letting a known terrorist walk free as a kind of harm, Lelouch added darkly in his head.

"Well, then you're going to want to see this. The last phase of the operation is all in place," Naoto said, grinning. "And man, I can't wait to see the look on this guy's face."

00000

"The airport was just a setback," Clovis growled, gloved hands folded tightly over each other, as the private car he had stashed away in the parking garage pulled well out of sight of the airport. With most of his people dead or under Luciano's pay, only a few loyal household retainers had been taken with him in the car- the only ones he felt he could still trust.

Thank God for that anonymous benefactor, Clovis thought in relief. If not for that man's instructions on how to slip past the military perimeter, he would not have been able to escape as it was.

He had been skeptical at first, but once his men confirmed a bomb at the storage locker Clovis knew he had been betrayed and left, hoping the man on radio was on the level.

"The rendezvous point is just up ahead, at that street corner," Clovis instructed his driver. "Our benefactor said he would have extraction arrangements made when we arrived."

As they pulled up to the street corner, several things happened at once.

First, sniper fire from the building across the street blew out one of the tires, sending the car careening into the sidewalk as the driver lost control.

Second, two police cars burst out from around the corner on both sides of the car, sirens wailing, encircling the car and ensuring no vehicular escape was possible.

Lastly, half a dozen uniformed soldiers erupted from the building, guns raised as they shouted orders for the occupants of the car to exit peacefully.

Clovis looked around, bewildered, and his face remained stricken as the soldiers slapped on a pair of handcuffs on his wrists and led him away into military custody.

00000

"Nice work," Naoto commented, chuckling as he watched the video feed of Prince Clovis being hauled off by the authorities.

"Several of your men are dead, the real culprits have likely escaped, and I just blew up a facility worth several million yen without killing the terrorist I was trying to entrap," Lelouch deadpanned flatly, sounding not the least bit exhilarated by the achievement on the video feed. "I wouldn't call this 'nice work'."

Naoto shook his head with a grin, and took him aside, wrapping an arm around his shoulders so he could pull the younger man in close to talk softly.

"Look, yeah, all that's true… but it's also true that we saved every single civilian in that airport today. No casualties. Do you know how many battles I've fought like this, and still lost someone?" he asked, staring directly at Lelouch, who stayed silent. "My men would gladly lay down their lives for a win like this every day. And you made this possible."

"You and your men did the work. Hell, Kallen-sama went back inside just to save one little girl. I just…" Lelouch began, but was interrupted.

"You saved a lot of people, Lelouch," Naoto whispered, smiling warmly. "And that's worth something, isn't it?"

After a few moments, under the mask, the barest makings of a smile tugged on Lelouch's face, and he nodded.

"I guess it is."

Naoto grinned at that. "Good. And besides, the battle's over, but we've got a long war left to fight."

"We?" Lelouch raised an eyebrow.

"You offered, and I'm accepting. We're gonna need you kid," Naoto muttered, pulling away. "Things are going to get messy from here on out, and I sure as hell want someone like you at my back when it does go south."

Lelouch smiled a little wider, and held out a hand. "I'd like that."

Behind them both, the morning sun began to peek over the horizon, at the dawn of a brand new day.

Author's Notes

Sorry about that 4 month wait guys- around August this was almost ready to post, and then I ended up starting a job and then getting so swamped I couldn't get the energy to finish this. But here it is!

Also, I went back through and made a few changes to previous chapters, inserting scenes that, for some stupid reason, I had written down and failed to add. No huge plot changes, just some added content in Chapter 5.

Okay, this stupid airport arc is finally over, meaning this is the end of the "introduction" phase of the story. Now the real fun begins- next chapter we get Kaguya back in the reigns as President of the Student Council, plus plenty of nice plot related material.