Alright, time to show Britannia what happens when an ORCA Lynx and a badass exiled Prince work together on the battlefield. I hope you'll like reading it about as much as I liked writing this. Some things have been changed to better fit Strayed and his NEXT, and Britannia has a few more troops in the Ghetto than in canon to 'compensate' for Hawk's presence, not that it will help them much, mind you.
Thanks to everyone that read, followed, favorited and/or reviewed.
To the reviewers:
Matchstick800: It's going to take a while for Britannia to get anything out of it, they haven't even found it yet. And let's remember that those computers are protected, accessing the data is going to take time. Enjoy the chapter.
Criticanon: As good an idea as making him useful is, I pretty much hate the guy's guts so I wouldn't really be too inclined towards that. Thanks for the suggestion, but I'll adhere to my impression that a good Mao is a dead one. Still, I'll take a look at those stories you suggested and maybe my opinion on the matter will change.
I agree with you that R1 was pure gold, it's what got me into this kind of anime and I haven't regretted it since. The Lancelot variants are going to play a pretty big role, so look forward to that. The melding of Tech is going to work both ways actually, as there are a few things Knightmare Frames have that Strayed will find useful once he knows of them. Have fun with the chapter.
Guest: That last line had me laughing for a good while, I may use something similar one day. Thanks for the praise, and I'll try to keep him in character, this is his story as well after all, Strayed is just co-protagonist here.
And as amusing as seeing a Britannian grandmother piloting a NEXT while asking for her grandson to behave would be, don't worry, I won't be doing that. The closer we'll get to something like that will be by the end of R2, and by that time every Britannian had a Gawain/Lancelot ripoff to pilot in canon, so it would be more or less justified if it happened. But here, on R1, the most you will see will be a few weapons copied and a couple stolen ideas. Those computers in the Answerer are quite hard to crack.
Thanks for the cheers, here's hoping you'll find everything to be as good here as last time.
RoyalTwinFangs: I added a picture of the Sky Ruler as the cover for the story, I'll try to get a better one in the next few days since that one seems pretty bad though.
The Float/Air Glide system is one of the things Strayed will be interested in when it's shown. NEXTs use a lot of energy to keep themselves airborne, and even the Sky Ruler, usually being capable of sustaining permanent flight due to its high energy regeneration, would plummet if it fired the laser cannons too much while flying. The Air Glide System would be a much less consuming way to keep the unit on the air and redirect the energy used on that somewhere else. Enjoy the chapter.
cj1of4: Nah, you know Lloyd and how he makes his machines. Even the Lancelot Grail, which in canon is a downgraded version for supposedly normal people, is still too difficult to control for anyone not bordering Ace pilot skill. Remember that it took them a year to make a prototype Vincent that regular people could use.
But don't worry, he'll find those pilots, alright. The Lancelot Club is going to get its usual pilot, Rai from Code Geass: Lost Colors. The Grail will go to someone else, and it will come with a few nasty surprises as well, so no regular Britannians in the ASEEC units I'm afraid, all of them are going to be important to the plot.
Warning: To anyone who hasn't played Armored Core For Answer, this story will contain a fair amount of spoilers, references and several other relations. As such, if you haven't played that one or its predecessor, Armored Core 4, I recommend having the Armored Core Wiki in hand for some visual/historical help just in case. Or play the game, it's actualy fairly fast to complete as long as you don't get too entangled on NEXT designing like I did on my first two runs. Over half of my playtime has been spent on that.
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its spin-offs, nor do I own anything related to the Armored Core franchise, unless you count my copy of the Armored Core For Answer game, that I do own. All I own that is shown in this story are Hawk Magnus, the design of his NEXT/s, the K-Filter and the SKAI computer installed in it.
Chapter 02: Black NEXT VS White Knight
A few minutes had passed since Lelouch had ordered the Britannian soldiers to their deaths and the boy was now kneeled by the green haired girl's side, caressing her cold cheek while Hawk had gone to check something in the back of the building.
"I don't understand. What did you want me to do?" Lelouch whispered as he looked at the lifeless body. "Why did you give me this…bizarre power?"
"Lelouch, we're good to go." Hawk said as he came into view from behind a pile of boxes just as a Sutherland landed outside and proceeded to get into the building, crushing part of the entrance and weakening the already thrashed structure further. "Curse my luck, seriously." The Lynx spat as he stood in front of Lelouch, he had been hired as a bodyguard after all.
Inside her Knightmare Frame, Villetta Nu looked at the amount of bodies, scanning for any survivor in order to deal with him, her surprise came as she spotted the uniforms of Prince Clovis' Royal Guard, nine bodies in total and all of them in a pool of their own blood, lying in front of two boys who probably weren't of age yet. One of them was wearing the Ashford Academy uniform, the other was standing protectively in front of the first and dressed in black clothes and a brown jacket, both of them glaring at her as if looks could kill.
"What happened here? Who are you two? And what's a student doing in a place like this?" Villetta fired the questions as one would a gun and the black haired boy walked forward, as if to reply. "Answer me!"
"I order you to come out of your Knightmare… at once!" Lelouch commanded, activating the power he had been granted minutes ago.
"Who do you think you are to order me around?" The woman replied, unleashing a volley from her rifle towards the wall in order to scare them both.
'It didn't work.' Lelouch noted with a bit of worry. 'Was it only a one use trick, or does it only take effect when there's direct eye contact?'
"My name is Alan Spacer, my father's a duke." He explained, making the story up on the spot. "This is my bodyguard, Oskar Hawkins." The Lynx nodded in reply to Lelouch's statement, giving the lie more credibility. "Our ID cards are in our pockets. Once you have confirmed who we are, I'd like to request your protection."
"Nobility, huh?" Villetta muttered to herself as she shut down her frame and opened the hatch. "Some of them have really weird hobbies, so I shouldn't be surprised." She descended from her machine and pointed her gun at both teens, who raised their hands up in the air in reply. "Keep those hands up there, I'll take care of your IDs."
"Very well." Lelouch smiled innocently as the woman approached, only for it to turn into a wicked grin as he continued. "Give me your Knightmare and don't move until we're gone."
"Understood." The black skinned, blue haired woman replied in a trance-like voice as she handed over her Knightmare Frame's USB key. "The code's XG21-G2D4."
"Good move." Hawk complimented as Lelouch walked towards the Sutherland. "Is that how you had the soldiers kill themselves?"
"Aren't you coming? This is our way out after all." Lelouch told him as he reached the ladder, ignoring the question. "Or are you having second thoughts about working for me after seeing me use this power?"
"No, it's nothing like that." The Lynx assured him with a smile, he had seen worse than what Lelouch had done after all, and right now he needed all the help he could get. "It's just that I want to bring an old battlefield partner along, if you don't mind."
"Who would that be?" Lelouch asked, curious as he had not heard anything about that until now.
"It's better to just show you, get in there in the meantime." Hawk laughed cryptically before running behind the same boxes he had gone to once the Royal Guard had been killed, leaving behind a very curious and confused exiled Prince. "Well, we got a job already, SKAI." The Lynx told the computer as he hopped into the cockpit of his NEXT and ran through the system check that had been run in his absence.
"Primal Armor, Over Boost and sustained flight capabilities not available, that's going to be tough. But from what I've seen of this world's machines, not too much. Rifles in the red, I'll have to use ammo sparingly, and Sirius at full capacity and ready for some business. Flash Rockets empty, laser blades and Lare handguns functional, thankfully." He mused to himself as he activated all the systems and readied his AC for the operation. "Same structural damage as before fighting Ambient and the Answerer last time, I'll have to be very careful with that now that the Primal Armor is gone until who knows when."
"Everything ready for launch." The computer read, and Hawk smiled at that.
"Well then, I wonder what the rest of ORCA would say about this situation I'm in." Hawk whispered as he thought of all the people he knew that had heard him say what he was about to say, enemy or ally alike. "Strayed here. Sky Ruler, ready for launch!"
Lelouch felt his eyes widen as the massive black and white machine rose from behind the boxes, the Sutherland he was piloting barely reached up to the NEXT's waistline and its head almost broke through what remained of the ceiling, it looked a little worse for wear in a few spots, but that did not diminish how fearsome the unit looked. If that was the old friend Hawk had wanted to get in their escape plan he wasn't going to complain. An incoming transmission over a private channel named ORCA got his attention and he put it on, but sound only just in case.
"Lelouch, meet Sky Ruler, my personal Armored Core NEXT unit designed by myself. Although it has seen better days and needs to undergo repairs as soon as possible." Hawk stated in a calm tone over the line as his face appeared in Lelouch's screen, showing a small smile. "Switch your camera on, please, I want to see the look on your face."
"Hawk…" Lelouch started grinning as he granted his friend's request. "It'll be a pleasure to work with you."
"Thanks." The Lynx replied, moving the NEXT towards the entrance and slashing it apart enough to open a way for himself. "My last boss told me the same thing when I joined him and his organization."
"ORCA, by any chance?" Lelouch asked, having noticed the channel's name and the emblem engraved on the machine's shoulder and the back of Hawk's jacket, finally tying everything together. The mercenary gave a nod in reply. "Any chances it will be hacked by Britannia or anyone else?"
"None, I'm the only one left alive and the only one who knows how to access it." The brown haired Lynx explained. "That, and it's triple coded and mostly untraceable thanks to it being sent through SKAI, so it's as safe as it can be."
"SKAI? As in your machine?" Lelouch asked. If Hawk told him that his unit had sentience, he wouldn't know how to react.
"A special computer installed in it, but yeah." The pilot replied, shrugging, and Lelouch let out the breath he had been holding without realizing. "It's nothing much, but does a very good job with handling radar interference, network hacking and communications, among other things. Shall we get going?"
"Yes, let's." Lelouch replied as a thought went through his mind. "Can SKAI get us into the Terrorists communication network?"
"As long as we have a way to…" Hawk's eyes widened as he remembered the communication device Lelouch still carried. "Lelouch, get that radio sending a signal. SKAI, decode it and archive it, send it to Lelouch's Sutherland as well."
"Understood." The computer read, and two seconds later. "Com line decoded, archiving and sending."
"Perfect. Now, I need to know about our situation." The Exiled Prince took out his phone and prepared to call the first number in the contact list, which was that of the girl that had almost gotten him and Hawk killed, Shirley Fenette.
"I'll be going now, contact me through this line or the terrorist one when you have what you need." Hawk said as he finished putting on the pilot suit and shadowed helmet.
"Where are you going?" Lelouch asked, surprised.
"I never liked it when there was a slaughter taking place and I couldn't do anything to stop it, so I'm going to help in keeping Britannia away from any shelters these people may have." The Lynx explained, his tone serious. "The way things are now, you don't need me to protect you all the time, right?"
"Indeed." Lelouch admitted, he would have chuckled at the attempt to play hero if the guy hadn't said it so seriously. "When you meet them, tell them your boss has a plan to help them win this and to wait for me to contact them. If someone fighting by their side tells them that, they're more inclined to believe what I say when I start taking command."
"Understood, boss." Strayed replied as he gripped the controls and made small strategies basing himself on what little he knew about Britannia's tactics and machines. "Strayed, moving out."
Outside the combat zone, Suzaku Kururugi opened his eyes, getting a pretty clear view of the white ceiling before it was blocked by a white haired man with glasses over his azure eyes and a grin plastered across his face.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, Private Kururugi." The man celebrated as a blue haired woman showed him the remains of his father's pocket watch. "Although if that had not taken the bullet for you, you wouldn't be here any longer."
"Where…?" the Honorary Britannian asked, incorporating.
"Still in the Shinjuku Ghetto, I'm afraid." The white haired man explained, his tone changing to a bored one as Suzaku took back the watch and thanked the woman. "You Elevens believe that gods and spirits reside within objects, don't you?"
"Excuse me…" The Eleven in question voiced, interrupting the man's monologue before it escalated. "Who are you?"
"Oh, my, we completely forgot about that." He chuckled. "I'm Lloyd Asplund, genius extraordinaire. This is my assistant, Cécile Croomy."
"Pleased to meet you, Private Kururugi." The woman smiled kindly and Suzaku could only return it.
"Likewise." The Private replied before going to his next question. "Is Lelouch…? I mean, what's the situation?"
"They released the poison gas and the casualties among the Elevens just keep piling up." Lloyd explained dismissively with a wave of his hand. "They haven't caught the perpetrators yet."
"I see…"
"Tell me, Private Kururugi, how much experience do you have in piloting Knightmare Frames?" Lloyd asked suddenly.
"But there's no way an Eleven like me would be made a knight and allowed to pilot one." Suzaku almost shouted in surprise.
"And if I didn't care about that and let you?" Lloyd smirked as he showed him a golden USB key, and the Honorary Britannian nodded, making the ever present smile in the scientist's face widen. "Congratulations! You're now the test pilot of a one of a kind Knightmare!"
"At least until the Club is sent here and the Grail is finished." Cécile added with a smile, cutting her boss' speech short before focusing her eyes on Suzaku. "Once you get into that Frame everything will change, you and your world. Whether you want them to or not." The boy nodded and Lloyd seemed to teleport in and out of the infirmary, appearing back with a rather thick manual.
"Have that read and memorized as soon as you can. Today, preferably." Lloyd sang out as he gave the teenager the Lancelot's operation manual, Suzaku could only nod in reply and start reading, just in case.
Back in the Ghetto, one of the Britannian tanks exploded as the red Glasgow's Slash Harken hit its fuel deposit. The weapon went back to its place as Kallen glared at the troops infesting the place, crying tears of anger and impotence as more tanks approached her position.
"Those damned Britannians!" She cried out inside the machine as she destroyed a second tank. "How dare they do this to our home?!"
"Kallen, how's the Glasgow?" Her group's boss, Kaname Ohgi, asked over their line urgently.
"Don't worry about me, Ohgi!" She replied determined, dodging fire as she sent her only remaining Slash Harken at the enemy and destroying it. "I may have lost an arm earlier, but the Glasgow's fine! I'll keep running decoy, you guys get the people out of here. The only ones that need to get caught today are members of the Resistance like us, not them!"
"I know, but they have us surrounded!" Ohgi told her before a loud sound, similar to a loud whistle but buzzing and energized, was heard over the com line, accompanied by several explosions. "We have a way out?! How did that happen?!"
"I'll be helping with the decoy business now if you don't mind, get the people out of here!" A new voice none of them had heard before commanded over the com. "Also, get ready for my boss' plan and we'll make it out of here alive… Hopefully."
"Who are you?" Kallen asked just as the sound was heard again and two bluish beams of light rained down on the two tanks in front of her, making them go up in flames just as a black and white unit unlike any she had ever seen and twice as big as a Knightmare Frame landed in front of her and put two bullets through the cockpit of a nearby Sutherland.
"All I'm giving for now is my Codename." The voice replied as the machine fired the rifles in its hands, shooting down several helicopters in the sky under the gaze of a gaping Kallen. "Call me Strayed."
"Strayed?" Ohgi asked bewildered as he led the group of civilians to a shelter, what sort of name was that?
"Look, the boss and I will answer questions when things are over." Strayed replied, his voice revealing he wasn't exactly patient, but who could blame him in this situation? Especially when he was pretty busy dodging the incoming fire and returning it. "Right now you need help and we're giving it, aren't we?"
"Fine, we'll take it." Ohgi shouted back as he led a large group of people to a shelter. "When will your boss contact us?"
"When he's ready to win us this battle." Strayed replied simply, destroying the last machine close to them and making the pilot eject. "Just wait for the message. Now then, Kallen was it?" He got a grunt in response from the Glasgow's pilot. "Show me the pride of the Japanese people."
"Oh, I'll do more than that, Mister Strayed." The girl replied with a wild glare as a troop of five Sutherlands came up to them. "Does that thing you use have a name?"
"It does, unfortunately it's so damaged it cannot live up to it." Her mysterious pilot chuckled dryly. "I may tell you about it later. In the meantime, take this." The bigger unit handed her an oversized black and white gun, fortunately her Glasgow could hold it with one arm despite it being meant for a bigger machine. "It has about one hundred shots, and I have another one for you once that one's spent."
"Thanks." She smiled, regaining some of the hope she had lost, and got the weapon in place just in time for battle. "Let's kick those Brits out of this place!"
Both units moved at the same time, Armored Core and Knightmare Frame charged forward, firing rounds into one of the Sutherlands and maneuvering out of the way of the other four. Strayed activated the Sirius and shot towards the sky, destroying two flight carriers before they dropped their reinforcements and making the weapon go back to its usual position behind the NEXT before quick-boosting out of the way of a tank shell, he couldn't allow himself to get hit today, at least not by something like that.
"Seven shots left in each cannon." He mused as more Sutherlands approached their location while the tank that had fired on him went up in flames thanks to a shot to the fuel deposit, courtesy of Kallen. The enemy had probably been guided by the bluish white blasts he had just unleashed. He shot one more enemy in the cockpit and his partner Glasgow destroyed another while he switched on the ORCA line. "You better come up with something good soon, boss, or my contract won't last because I'll be a goner."
"The west entrance." Lelouch's voice boomed over the coms of both machines through the Terrorists' line. "Head for the west entrance! Use the train tracks to get there!"
"That's him. Come on, Kallen!" Strayed replied, unleashing both Sirius at the same time in a straight, spiraling white blast that erased four enemies from existence. "Move it!"
"Right!" The girl replied as he moved to cover her retreat with another twin blast from the cannons.
"If it isn't my friend, the red Glasgow!" A confident voice came over an open channel just as Kallen turned a corner, finding that three Sutherlands were there. The girl reacted fast and took an alternative route, jumping upwards to the place she had been told to go seconds later. "But if you only run away this hunt will not satisfy me, Jeremiah Gottwald." The voice added as the three Knightmare's followed her.
"Alright, I'm on the train tracks, what now?" Kallen asked as both Sutherlands chased after her using the same path.
"Since you trusted us, you get to win." The voice she didn't know stated as a train came towards her. "Jump on that train."
Kallen obeyed, making the Glasgow land on the train's roof. The Sutherland piloted by Jeremiah soon collided with the machine, stopping it as the man commanded his followers to get the Glasgow as he kept the train in place. But the other soldiers never got that far as a Slash Harken and a rifle round tore through each unit unit at the same time, killing them both instantly.
"Shot by friendly fire?" Jeremiah asked aloud, not having noticed the other source of attack, and directing his Factsphere towards the building the Harken had come from. "You, what's your name and unit?"
A sudden alarm got his attention as a black and white Frame unlike any he had seen before landed by his side, towering over him, and shot off his Knightmare's head just as the Red Glasgow charged in for the kill. Seeing no reason to die yet, Jeremiah activated the ejection system, cursing the Elevens for their insolence and cheap tricks as he flew out of range.
"Is that your boss?" Kallen asked over the com as she glanced at the building, but found nothing there. "Where did he get a Sutherland? And where did he go?"
"He can be really sneaky when he wants to." Strayed commented as he used the Sky Ruler's radar to scan for enemies. "We're safe for now, no enemy units nearby, and we really did a number on them." He looked at the Glasgow, which only had an arm and a Slash Harken left and still was capable of fighting against an army. "Seeing how good you are, I wonder about what you could do if you had a better unit and not that outdated Frame."
Kallen blushed slightly at the compliment, the guy in that thing was obviously someone used to this sort of battles, that much was obvious by how he moved the machine and how easily he had taken out the enemy pilots, and he was complimenting her skills. She shook her head and focused when she noticed some of her group approaching them.
"Kallen! Did that guy tell you to come here as well? And is that Strayed?" A man in his early thirties with black hair and eyes asked as he came running towards them along with three more Japanese Resistance members. "Alright then, where's the boss that's giving the orders?"
"Ohgi! He told you to come here too?" Kallen asked surprise as Strayed smiled under the obscured helmet.
"Yeah, and Tamaki and the others are on the way." Ohgi replied just before his communicator activated, receiving a transmission.
"Are you the one in charge?" Lelouch asked over the com, having listened to the entire conversation. "Very well then, I present to you the cargo in that train, they're the tools for your victory." He continued after Ohgi gave the affirmative reply. "Follow my orders and you'll get out of this alive and victorious."
"How did he get these?" Kallen gaped as she eyed the cargo, consisting of enough Sutherlands to supply a squad the size of their Resistance cell.
"Woman in the Glasgow." The voice came over to her com. "How is you Energy Filler?"
"About ten minutes left, and my name's Kallen. At least your partner had the decency to remember that." She replied as she watched the black and white machine kneel.
"Replace it then. You and Strayed will be running decoy." Lelouch ordered, ignoring the jab. "In ten minutes I'll have your next move, get ready in the meantime."
"Understood." Kallen nodded absently, her attention focused on Strayed's frame as the torso opened up, revealing the cockpit, and the pilot came out before it closed up again.
"So you're Strayed, huh?" One of the Resistance's rowdiest members, one Shinichiro Tamaki, had just arrived and was eyeing the black clad pilot suspiciously, not liking him one bit for whatever reason he hadn't thought about yet. "You don't look like a member of the JLF or any other Resistance cells to me."
"That's because I'm not." Strayed replied, looking at the Resistance member in the eye despite the golden, mirror-like visor in his helmet.
"Listen, pal, this better not be a trap, because if it is you'll be messing with me." Tamaki yelled at the Lynx.
"Duly noted." The mercenary replied as he made to walk away from the man.
"Are you and your boss with the EU? And who are you working for?" Another member asked, getting in his way, and soon most of the Resistance had surrounded him and bombarded him with questions he was not going to answer. "Who is your boss exactly?"
"Excuse me, anyone willing to help me in replacing my Energy Filler?!" Kallen asked as she came out of her Frame, drawing the attention of the crowd away from the mercenary pilot.
"I will if you don't mind." Strayed himself said to pretty much everyone's surprise. "I'd like to get a good look at my partner unit for the mission now that we have a breather."
"Come on everyone, we can ask questions later." Ohgi ordered as the Lynx walked over to Kallen. "We need to get used to these gifts our mysterious benefactor has brought for us."
"Thanks, you know, both for saving my ass out there and helping with this." Kallen said after a few moments of silence between the two. "I owe you and your boss big time."
"Don't sweat it." Strayed smiled as the spent filler was extracted. "Now, to get a new one."
"If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that thing from? Its design is unlike any I have ever seen." Kallen said as the new Energy Filler was being inserted, eyeing Strayed's mech with slight admiration. Although, now that she could take a good look at it she noticed it had been through a lot, just like the pilot had mentioned.
"Designed it myself." Strayed replied with a smile in his voice as he jumped off the machine used for recharging Knightmare Frames. "And some friends gave the funding and materials for it to be created, a pity they died, I really owed them a lot."
"What's its name?" The redhead asked, surprised that this guy, who didn't look or sound much older than herself, had truly designed such a thing. She wasn't inclined to call it a lie because she had a feeling it wasn't.
"Don't laugh, but it's called Sky Ruler." Strayed explained, and Kallen laughed even though he had asked her not to, but the name was just too preposterous for her to ignore.
"Sorry." She replied, after all that had happened, she had found that a good laugh had helped her, even if the Ghetto was in shambles. The two of them spoke for a while, not really mentioning anything important. Kallen's features hardened as she eyed her unit's watch once the conversation had stopped. "Time's almost up."
"I should go back to my NEXT then." The Lynx muttered before looking at her and extending his hand for a handshake, taking a page out of his last boss' book in the process. "Let's show these Britannian dogs how to run decoy, shall we?"
"Oh, we sure will." Kallen replied with a smile as she took it. She didn't know why she had felt so comfortable around the guy, but she was really grateful he and his boss had appeared when they had and lent her and the Resistance help. "Let's just hope your boss' plan is as good as you make him out to be." She muttered to herself as she entered her own unit.
"Is everything ready?" Lelouch asked Hawk through the ORCA channel the moment the mercenary sat in his seat and closed the cockpit.
"Everyone's ready, yes. Do you have a good plan for this?" The Lynx replied with slight worry in his voice. "These are rather good people, I'd like it if they all came out of it alive... Hopefully."
"If they follow the plan to the letter, they will." Lelouch stated simply as he prepared his move.
"I'm counting on you, boss." Hawk told him, his voice dead serious, and the exiled Prince looked at him curiously before shaking his head and sighing, he had found a strange ally, no doubt.
"All units, are you ready?" The raven haired student asked over the Resistance's com line.
"We are, but how about you tell us who the hell you are first?!" Tamaki asked loudly before Ohgi cut him off.
"We'll follow your instructions, but we'd like some answers once this is over." The Resistance leader said sternly.
"And you'll have them, believe me." Lelouch assured them. "Now then, I've given each of you a designation number. The Glasgow's is Q-1…" He smiled at the low growl coming from that unit, probably for omitting the woman's name again. "Strayed is K-5, Ohgi, you are P-1…" The Prince continued on until every member of his improvised army had heard and memorized his designation. "Is everything clear?" Collective sounds of agreement came at the same time over the com. "Well then, Q-1 and K-5, move to the point I'm sending you. The rest of you get ready and double check your weapons."
What followed next was something Hawk and many others would remember for a long time, and something that would be known later on as Zero's secret debut. The mysterious voice kept predicting each and every enemy move to the point of seemingly being three steps ahead of the Britannian forces, maneuvering the group of fighters like a master and having them take out the enemy units with little to no effort. Hawk could only whistle his admiration for Lelouch as both he and Kallen played decoy all over the Ghetto, sometimes taking down stragglers and small squads while the bulk of the force, the Resistance's Sutherlands, executed the exiled Prince's orders with precision, getting the intended results in every move he had in mind.
"Alright, I'll admit it." Kallen said after she had taken out her fourteenth enemy Sutherland already, this one on top of a building, and moved towards the ground, where her partner for the operation was waiting in front of the remains of two units he had slashed apart, the rifles had no more ammo left so he had switched to the laser blades and kept the other handgun hidden for whenever it was necessary. "Your boss is as good as you make him out to be, Strayed."
"Thanks for the compliment, Q-1." The voice replied before the mercenary did. "Now, both of you move to point B-28 and attract enemy attention by dispatching the four units there."
"Roger that." Strayed replied mechanically, it was like having Kasumi giving orders on how to fight the Spirit of Motherwill all over again. He spared a thought for his deceased operator before joining Kallen in the run towards their next target.
'Once this is over, I need some answers.' The redhead thought as she moved her machine. 'The weapons the Sky Ruler is equipped with, I've never seen anything like it. Where did that thing come from? He said he built it himself, but that's just not clear enough.'
The command center was in chaos, that much was clear to Prince Clovis La Britannia as he looked on while his officials yelled at each other. General Bradley had already ordered a change of codes five times over and it wasn't having any effect, plus their forces were being beaten with ease. None of the officials had an inkling of how the terrorists had obtained Sutherlands of all things and the situation was really getting on the Prince's nerves.
"This failure is unacceptable!" Clovis roared as he stood, ignoring the ridiculous amount of apologies and instead focusing on the images of the massive black and white unit and red Glasgow duo that appeared to be having a major role in bringing his forces down. "Those two must be the leaders."
"Hello there." Lloyd Asplund cooed from the massive screen, sending the images to the side. "May I suggest, Your Highness, that you let us in the ASEEC take care of your little situation?"
"I have no time for this, Lloyd!" The Prince shouted as he looked over the military board. "Now, follow my orders. Reinforce the front line with some of the units guarding me. All we know for certain is that the enemy is in the Ghetto."
"But what about that black and white machine?" One of the officials asked. "We can't locate it in our radar systems, no matter what we do. And if the reports are right, it's taken out a fourth of our forces!"
"That one is always close to that red Glasgow, all we need to do is follow that one's signal and we'll find it." Clovis replied, smirking. "We'll surround them and take them out in full force." The Prince looked confident in his plan, not expecting Lelouch to be the one on the other side of the board, laughing as he understood the move his foolish older brother had made.
"That's an even worse move than I expected." Lelouch thought out loud as he observed the battle situation through his radar and IFF systems. "Alright then, Q-1, K-5. What's your situation?"
"Q1 and K-5 here, we took out the enemy squad." Kallen replied over the com. "What do you need?"
"Do you have a map of the Ghetto I can use?" The exiled Prince asked, a plan forming in his mind.
"I do, but it has no current landmarks." The redhead replied, sending the data to him anyway.
"It'll do." Lelouch replied, going through the map and looking for a location that would serve for the plan he had in mind. Once he found it, he smirked. "Very well then, you and Strayed will be operating separately now. Q-1, you'll be moving to this location I'm sending you, then strip your IFF mechanism and set it there so that it keeps sending your signal. I'll give you further instructions when you've completed this part."
"Understood." Kallen replied as she dashed towards the point she had been sent while Lelouch ordered the rest of the Resistance cell to strike a couple enemy squads that were too close to them and then use the underground tunnels for hiding. "Good luck on your end, Strayed. Whatever he's having you do."
"Good luck to you too." The Lynx said as he waited for his orders.
"Now then, K-5." Lelouch continued as he reached the last of his long list of orders to give. "The Britannian troops are being reinforced by Clovis' personal guard. It's very possible that my plan will not finish all of them off, your job is to pick up any stragglers that are left once Q-1 has done her job."
"This is Q-1, I'm in position and I'm installing the IFF signal." The redhead informed right that instant.
"I better get moving then." Strayed told his boss before moving out to the best vantage point he could find, the one at the top of what once had probably been a beautiful building while Lelouch gave Kallen her final orders, to go underground with the rest of the Sutherlands and wait for his signal to fire her Slash Harken upwards.
"This is really wearing me out." The black haired teen sighed after he had shut the exiting communication on the terrorist's channel.
"You're doing a pretty good job though." Hawk commented over their private channel, and Lelouch remembered he never shut it down. "Thanks, for living up to those expectations."
"It isn't over yet, so don't thank me." Lelouch replied, sweating a bit as the moves kept happening and he replayed them with the chess pieces he had gathered inside the Frame. He soon smiled as the enemy units found themselves surrounding nothing, since each and every one of the Resistance members was underground. "Q-1, now!" He ordered, almost feeling like laughing maniacally.
"Alright!" Kallen roared inside her cockpit as she fired the Slash Harken and destroyed the floor under more than half of the enemy units.
"Strayed, get us our Checkmate." Lelouch commanded, moving the final piece into position.
"Yes sir." Strayed replied as he shot the Sirius cannons, annihilating the rest of the enemy force except two stragglers he proceeded to cut down with the laser blades. "And that's the end of it… Hopefully."
"That machine is magnificent!" The man known by some of his peers as the Earl of Pudding was cooing all over the place, getting on everyone's nerves. "Nothing compared to mine, of course, but it's certainly an amazing piece. Oh, how I wish I could get my hands on it, especially those blades it has!"
"Lloyd!" Clovis shouted, getting the man's attention. Once he had that, he continued. "Can you do it? Will your toy beat them?"
"My Lord. Please be so kind as to refer to it by its name…" Lloyd smiled confidently. "Lancelot."
"Then send it, now." Clovis replied, posing for emphasis. "In my name as viceroy of Area 11, I order you to send the Lancelot out and wipe out our enemies!"
"Yes, My Lord." Lloyd replied with a gentle smirk, something only he seemed capable of doing.
"What now, boss?" Tamaki asked over the line. He was liking the guy more with every order he gave, although he wasn't sure about that Strayed guy, he didn't like that he hid his face like that. "Huh?" He added as he noticed the blindingly fast white and gold unit approaching. "The hell?!"
"P-5, what's wrong?" Lelouch asked as more screams filled the com line. "Answer, what's happening?!"
"This is P group here." One of the Terrorists replied. "Everyone ejected, but it took down four units in no time flat."
"Reinforcements, eh?" Lelouch sighed, calmer now that he knew what he was facing. "How many of them?"
"Just one, I think it's a new model!" The terrorist explained to Lelouch's surprise. "I've never seen anything like-ARGH!"
"It took down the whole P group?!" The exiled Prince was bewildered, that just couldn't be possible. "N group, surround that thing and hold it, wait for Strayed to get there."
"Gotcha." Another terrorist replied as he and his group opened fire on the white Knightmare Frame.
"I'm going in then, let's see what they had hidden in their sleeve." Hawk said over the ORCA channel. "I'm a bit far, but once I get there I'll keep it busy, you go about your business."
"What need is there for me to go separately? Once you get here it will fall in a matter of seconds."
"Lelouch, I believe this thing they're fighting to be comparable in power to the Sky Ruler." The mercenary's voice was dead serious, which caught Lelouch's attention. "Get out of there and do what you need to do, like we discussed."
"Alright, you're the veteran on the field." The exiled Prince replied, ready to escape.
"This is N group, where's Strayed?!" The Terrorists shouted in fear. "ARGH, get away from me!" The communication was then cut off.
"P-1 here, I'm sorry, it took us all out." Ohgi's voice came in, he was probably using the device he carried on his back to communicate. "Only you, Kallen and Strayed have units now."
"Strayed, take that thing…" Lelouch couldn't finish the sentence as a white and gold blur landed in front of him. In fact, the Prince barely had time to lift his Sutherland's arm to block the enemy attack, and he lost the limb in the process. "You! You're the one ruining my plans?!" Lelouch cursed, taking a good look of the golden plated, emerald eyed face of the enemy Knightmare.
Inside the cockpit of the Lancelot, Suzaku glared at the Sutherland he had found hidden in the rubble of a half destroyed building. This guy, the one away from it all, was surely the one in charge of everything, there was no other way around it.
"So you're the guy that's in command?!" He shouted as he pushed the experimental Knightmare forward, exerting more strength against the blocking arm.
"Nothing more than a pilot!" Lelouch spat in anger and disbelief. "How dare he ruin everything?!"
The footing gave in below them and they fell through various floors. Lelouch's Sutherland landed on its back and would have been dismantled then and there had Kallen and her red Glasgow not shot their last bullets at the white Frame, which surprisingly activated some sort of green energy shield and they bounced off.
"I'm returning the favor, get out of here!" Kallen shouted, snapping the exiled Prince back to his senses. "How long till you get here, Strayed?" She asked over the com as the Sutherland got away at top speed.
"Don't try to hold him for too long, what you did will be just fine." The Lynx told her just as she used her Slash Harken, only for her enemy to catch it and snap it in two with one hand. "Eject, Kallen! I'll be there soon... Hopefully."
"Alright, he's all yours." She replied as she activated the ejection system. "But if we fight it again, I want a piece of it."
'I've got to remember this for next time. The most important element in battle is the human one.' Lelouch thought to himself as he sped down the remains of the Ghetto towards the Britannian command center, to do what he and Hawk had discussed. A sudden alarm got his attention, making him look behind to find the white unit that was slowly but surely becoming the bane of his existence there, chasing after him and moving faster than his Sutherland could ever hope to.
"Damn that thing, it's way too fast!" He shouted as he turned and fired while keeping his direction, damaging several buildings so that the debris would give him the opening to escape, but to no avail. The white machine dodged and ran over every single thing Lelouch threw at it, reacting almost inhumanely fast. "That damn monster's unstoppable." The exiled Prince seethed. "Where the hell are you, Hawk?!"
As if on cue, the black and white massive machine landed between the two just as the enemy Frame was about to reach him, turning on the two laser blades and standing menacingly between Lelouch and his opponent.
"Sorry for the delay Lelouch, but it was you who sent me to the other end of the Ghetto." Strayed stated as he readied himself for a tough fight, he didn't really need anything to know this thing in front of him was dangerous as hell. "Get going, I'll keep it busy."
"I'm counting on you." Was the reply Strayed got as the Sutherland's ejection system activated and Lelouch flew away towards the command center.
"That machine…" Suzaku was astounded, he had heard some whispers, and Lloyds excited shouts, while reading the Lancelot's manual but he had not expected the Frame twice as big as normal that was thrashing everything apart would be so imposing. "This is going to be hard."
Wordlessly, the black titan charged. The Lancelot moved back fast, dodging the slashes and using the walls, which Strayed couldn't climb, to gain better positioning. The Lancelot's Slash Harkens grazed the NEXT's torso but did not cut in too deep, allowing the Lynx inside to get a good grasp on their range.
"It's like fighting White Glint all over again." Strayed seethed as he maneuvered the NEXT, which was a lot slower than the Knightmare Frame when it came to articulation movement like the one needed in this fight, not to mention his defense mechanisms were offline. "This may be my toughest battle yet and I just got here."
The battle raged for a while, the Lancelot always moved out of the way of the Sky Ruler's attacks, but the titanic machine was impervious to anything the white Knightmare Frame could throw at it, much to Lloyd's dismay as he had slowly come to realize he had come to a draw with whoever built that thing fighting his Lancelot. The white haired scientist promised himself to congratulate whoever had matched his design, he hadn't even thought it would be possible.
"This thing's a monster!" Suzaku told himself as the massive machine took hit after hit from the Slash Harkens and still kept on coming at him, barely taking any damage. "I can't even slow it down, even if it can't hit me… huh?"
The Sky Ruler quick-boosted forward, moving too fast for the Honorary Britannian to react in such a short amount of time. The laser blades deactivated and the NEXT used his hands to grab the white Frame, holding it in place so it wouldn't escape. Strayed knew he had only one chance to do this right, the laser blades bounced of whatever shield this unit used, and that was if he managed to hit it, and the rifles were spent. Going for his remaining handgun was also out of the question in a speed battle like this one.
"Got you." Hawk smirked as he deployed the Sirius cannons for a point blank shot as Suzaku's eyes widened in fear and Lloyd screamed for the dear life of his invention. "Take this!"
The Sirius cannons fired both at the same time the Lancelot activated the Blaze Luminous system and surrounded itself in the shield. Bluish white impacting against light green until both gave up and waned, disappearing from sight.
"It withstood the Sirius' twin blast…" Hawk was flabbergasted as he let go of the Lancelot an quick-boosted backwards to gain some ground while the Sirius went on cool down, having used the last shot available before that happened.
"The Blaze Luminous… No, the Lancelot itself almost ran out of power to block that…" Suzaku whispered incredulous just as Lloyd gaped in a way that would make the Britannian cartoon villain, Wile E. Coyote, jealous.
"Suzaku, retreat, now!" Cecile ordered urgently, and the boy complied immediately. Knowing that he didn't stand a chance against that thing now. "We were lucky, had the energy filler been a little lower on power, the Lancelot would have been vaporized on the spot."
"That thing… that machine…" Lloyd was entranced, looking at the image of the Sky Ruler with his eyes glazed over. "I must analyze it and learn its secrets!"
Outside the van Lloyd and his group were using, a lone soldier walked towards the command center and smirked upon reaching it. He had managed to do it, finally.
"You, who are you?" The lone guard asked, pointing his weapon at the black haired soldier.
"At long last, the check point." Lelouch mused to himself, ignoring the soldier. "And barely guarded as I planned. Now, go away and let me through." He added, using his power this time.
Over in the Ghetto, Kallen ran down the streets until she found Ohgi and followed him to the shelter they were keeping the people in in order to protect them from the Britannians. The members of her Resistance cell were all armed with guns and trying to keep the people calm, although Tamaki yelling at them to shut up weapon in hand was not helping a lot in the effort.
"Ohgi, who do you think was Strayed's boss?" Kallen asked as they both walked in.
"Hell if I know, he doesn't answer when we call anyway." The black haired man replied.
"I told you it was a bad idea to trust these guys who wouldn't even show their faces!" Tamaki shouted from the other end of the shelter, and many of the other members had to resist the urge to sock him in the face. "They left us hanging the moment things turned bad!"
"No, I don't think…" Kallen started but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by a voice coming from their communicator.
"Thanks, Tamaki, I knew you trusted us." Strayed said from the communicator, his tone condescending. "Get the hell out of there, the Britannians are closing in!"
"How? We're locked in and there's no other way out apart from the front door!" Ohgi told him as said door exploded inwards due to a Britannian tank shell. "Damn, they're here!"
The Britannian tank couldn't get in though, as a black and white machine the Resistance had become pretty fond of in little time landed on it, crushing it under the sheer weight of the NEXT and unleashing a rain of bullets from a hand gun in its right hand while kneeling and moving the left arm protectively over the opening in the shelter, not willing to let anything get in.
"I hope you don't mind trusting me a little longer." Strayed told them as he defended the shelter with all he had left, knowing he was taking a huge risk due to being unable to dodge, but he wasn't about to let everything these people had fought for go to waste like this.
"We're counting on you." Kallen replied, grabbing Tamaki's weapon before the guy realized and shooting the mounted grenade at one of the tanks approaching. "But I hope you don't mind the help."
"As long as you don't get killed." The reply caught many by surprise, as they felt a tinge of emotion there they hadn't expected. 'I'm counting on you, Lelouch. I can't keep this up for too long.' The Lynx thought as he inserted the last cartridge in the hand gun of the mech.
"Attention all forces, cease fire at once!" Prince Clovis' voice boomed all over the Ghetto, coming from the command center and surprising everyone on the battlefield, civilian, terrorist and soldier alike. "I, Prince Clovis La Britannia, third Prince of the Empire and Viceroy of Area 11 command you, cease fire at once. I will tolerate no further fighting!"
"Looks like the boss did it." Strayed muttered to himself as he deactivated his weapons at the sight of the unmoving soldiers, so as to prove that if they were not fighting anymore, he wasn't either.
"All forces must also cease the destruction of all buildings and properties." Clovis continued. "All casualties, whether Eleven or Britannian, shall be treated equally and without prejudice." There was a small pause. "In my name I order you, cease fire at once, no further fighting is allowed."
Inside the Command Center, as all forces started coming back and gathering the dead, the lights went out as Prince Clovis sighed and looked at the man with obscured features that was holding him at gun point. He wasn't really sure about why all of his staff officers had left when they had been commanded to, but even Bartley had left him alone with this suspicious fellow.
"Are you satisfied?" The third Prince asked, getting a curt nod in reply. "And whatever shall we do now? Should we sing a few songs together? Or perhaps you'd prefer a match of chess?" He added mockingly.
"That has a familiar ring." The man replied to his surprise. And there was something about his voice that felt familiar to Clovis. "Don't you remember? The two of us used to play chess together as boys. Of course, I'd always win."
"What are you talking about?" The Viceroy asked in fear.
"Please don't tell me you forgot about the Aries Villa." The man walked forward, revealing features that Clovis recognized despite not having seen them for seven years. "It's me, Brother."
"Lelouch, you're alive?!" The fear on Clovis' voice was fighting against the joy he felt about seeing the exiled Prince in front of him. "But I thought…"
"That I was dead?" He finished for him with a sinister smile that did not vanish as he kneeled in front of the throne. "Lelouch Vi Britannia, the Eleventh Prince of the Empire has come back, Your Highness. And I'm going to change everything."
And right there, Chapter 2 is over, exactly the same way the second episode of Code Geass ended. Still, there a few changes in how things happened this time.
As explained in the chapter, the Sky Ruler is not at its full power. The story reason being that the engine got damaged in the explosion, the writer's reason being that it would be way too much if it retained all of its features right at the beginning of the story. It's going to regain them periodically through various repairs. Also know that, while incapable of sustained flight, it still can use short bursts to 'jump' upwards and stay in the air for a brief period of time, five seconds or so. Strayed used that to go from roof to roof over the Ghetto.
No more NEXT crushing armies until we get to Saitama, so you'll have to wait on that one. We'll be going into plot next chapter (with Strayed meeting Kallen and sorting out stuff in Ashford), then Zero's debut on the following one and then the entrance of a few characters and the setting for Saitama after that. So be patient, I'm not willing to turn Code Geass into a full mecha story, it's not its thing.
Now that that's over, what do you guys think? Please review about it as your opinions and suggestions are something I like to read. Also, don't expect the next update to come out as fast, I was just incredibly inspired for this one.