Alright then, time to update this. I know it's been over a month already but I'm quite sure the chapter will compensate for the wait. Not only is it the longest chapter of the story so far, but also my longest chapter ever written on the entire site. I'd like to publically thank Criticanon because he's seriously the best beta I could have found, the chapter wouldn't be half as good without his help.

Thanks to everyone that read, followed, favorited and/or reviewed. Armored Geass is past the 50 mark on Follows, Favorites and Reviews so thank you all for the support and here's hoping you'll continue enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it or even more.

Alright then, time to reply to your reviews:

HolyDragoon: My plans for Euphemia are mine to know and for you to find out, wouldn't be fun if I told you would it? But I will tell you this: Strayed has almost nothing to do with Euphy's fate, I have someone else to take care of that for me. Enjoy the chapter.

brave kid: It's good to be back, I'm doing my best here so please enjoy the story.

RoyalTwinFangs: The Sky Ruler will be updated, as in upgraded to its successor, at the same time a Gundam would. Meaning it's going to be around for the entirety of R1 and upgraded by R2. Have fun with the chapter.

SkyCaptain502: Well, there's the cover image, which has the Sky Ruler being shown. I will try to get something better in the future to show it though. Enjoy.

KH-Hardcorefan4483: You reminded me of a certain FFVII character there at the start xd.
Making NEXTs is not as easy as getting the ammunition for the weapons, but rest assured that we'll be seing some things in the future, it's merely going to be a slow process. The KRB-Judith the Sky Ruler uses does have Assault Armor though, so he has access to it but doesn't use it most of the time. Hawk's just not too fond of Kojima weaponry in general, comes with what happened with the Sol Dios Orbit, so he keeps it as a trump card for critical situations. Well, here's hoping you'll have fun with this one too.

cj1of4: I'm all for that joke, but I'll keep the when and where to myself ;).
It was stated that the tunnel was bigger than expected, meaning it was bigger than the one in the anime. Also, they weren't travelling through it side by side all the time so dodging was perfectly doable without bumping into each other. Lloyd had the Lancelots to record as much of the operation and the Sky Ruler as possible, but nothing else was in there so his sources are limited to that. Well, enjoy the chapter.

mega1987: No modifications were done, I'm simply winging things a bit using what I see in the game. What the OverBoost consumes are the Kojima Particles, a great concentration of which forms the Primal Armor, now then, the Sky Ruler's Primal Armor isn't forming, reasons explained in chapter, but the Generator is still making particles so the OverBoost can still work. That's my explanation anyway, I'm sure it's not the best reasoning out there but it makes sense to me. Here's hoping you'll like the chapter.

Seeker213: I hadn't thought of it... until you said it, now it's on the list of things to add by R2. So thank you very much for this awesome idea you've given, I appreciate it. Have fun with the chapter.

Siphon 117: Now that's a good question, and it's simple to answer. Hawk was letting them keep up with him through the tunnel, nothing more. He wanted to see what they could do froman allied point of view so he let them help instead of having them eat dust. If you're talking about the battles between them though, that's another story entirely. Enjoy the chapter.

9N1n3-K1tsUnE: Thanks, I'm happy you like it. Here's hoping you'll like this one just as much.

Vandenbz: Glad you like it and thanks for pointing that one out, no more Euphimia from now on, only Euphemia. I'll go about correcting that on past chapters soon. Enjoy the chapter and thanks again for pointing that out.

Alright then, on with the show. Have fun.

Disclaimer: I do not own SRW, neither do I own Code Geass or any of its spin-offs. I also don't 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 08: A Reason to Fight

It was a peaceful day in class, the sun shone, the birds sang in the courtyard and Lloyd Asplund had been coming to school for two weeks straight, which was nothing short of a miracle. Many students were actually wondering if it would snow anytime soon, after all, they were witnessing something far rarer than a hailstorm in the midst of spring. But those thoughts, and Lloyd's lesson, came to a rather abrupt stop due to one cry of.

"The Black Knights!" Kallen woke up with a start, having been dreaming about one of the operations they had been in during the past weeks, only to find herself standing up in class and having somehow made Lloyd hide under the teacher's desk. "Sorry…" She laughed nervously as Hawk sighed by her side and the rest of the class erupted in laughter.

"You really need to get used to this soon." The Lynx whispered when she dropped back onto her seat and Lloyd resumed the lesson, although he kept glancing around from time to time.

"I know, but this double life's a killer." She whispered back, and he made no attempt to deny it. "I just don't get how you can act like it's nothing."

"I've been at it for a while already." Hawk replied with a shrug and she yawned in reply. Not that he was immune to it, but he knew he could handle a few night operations before it really impeded him somewhat.

It had been a bit over two weeks already since the Black Knight's formation, and the organization was growing steadily. Although Zero had not been hostile towards Britannia for a while, the Black Knights had been focusing on the other aspect of their job, acting as Knights for Justice.

Drug dealers, corrupt politicians and high figures of the military that tried to make some extra money through questionable means. Almost every night, one or more of these undesirable characters was delivered to the police or killed, their organizations, if they had them, were dismantled overnight. Little by little, they'd been gaining recognition. Some still considered them terrorists, others just didn't know what to make of them and there were the few that actually called them heroes. Plus, the kids, Eleven and Britannian alike, had taken a shine for Zero's costume and cool speeches, as they called them.

Once classes were over, the two of them walked towards the council room once Hawk had gotten a book on Knightmare Frame mechanics from Professor Lloyd, when the brown haired teen had told him he was interested in the engineering field, specifically Knightmare Frames, the teacher had been more than happy to help. Hawk hadn't told anyone yet about the teacher's true identity, he wanted to exploit it as much as he could. Not many could learn about Knightmare Frames under the guidance of a scientist of Lloyd's caliber and while he could have told Lelouch to Geass the man into it, there really was no need to. Besides, that would probably lead to something that hampered the Lancelots' performance in some way, and what would he do if he didn't have the challenge of facing those Knightmares? Not that Britannian soldiers were pushovers, but when compared to a Lynx, there were few that could give him a challenge apart from whoever piloted those experimental Frames.

"Come on, Lelouch, stay still!" Rivalz voice was heard as they got closer and closer to the door, snapping the brown haired mercenary out of his thoughts. "This is harmless so stop making such a big deal out of it."

"Damn it, Rivalz!" The angered black haired student shouted in reply. "Untie me at once!"

"Should we go in or just turn back and leave?" Kallen asked nervously before Hawk, in a show of courage, opened the door.

Inside the council room sat Lelouch, tied up to one of the chairs and having had his face painted by Shirley, Rivalz and Suzaku while Milly did the same thing to Rai, who was taking it as best he could despite his predicament, although his twitching eyebrow revealed he wasn't too fond of the situation he had found himself in.

"Good Afternyan." She greeted, dressed in a rather revealing cat girl outfit, paws included.

"Good… Afternoon, I guess." The Lynx managed to reply awkwardly, Kallen didn't even get that far.

"What exactly is going on?" The redhead asked with fear in her voice.

"With everything that's been going on and the media chasing us all over the place due to the incident in Kawaguchi we never had time to welcome Arthur to our little family." The cat in question yawned from his spot, where he was observing the action taking place, especially the one concerning a certain raven haired vice-president.

"Suzaku!" Lelouch shouted all of a sudden. "Stop already!"

"I can't do that." The Honorary Britannian replied with a small smile. "President's orders."

"And you're going to tell me you're not enjoying it at all, huh?" The raven haired teen countered, making Suzaku look sheepish and causing everyone to laugh.

"We set some costumes for you too, so take your pick." Shirley added quickly before going back to work on Lelouch's make-up.

"No need." Lelouch smirked, he was going to deliver a bit of payback for their lack of help. "After all, Kallen and Hawk are already wearing masks."

"You can be really funny when you want to, Lelouch." The Lynx replied sarcastically, not amused in the least by the joke and making a mental note to remind the revolutionary student that certain secrets were to be held in confidence and not used as petty revenge.

"We should send him to a TV show, he'd be a riot with his jokes." Kallen added with a glare as intense as a shot from the Sky Ruler's cannons.

"Well, coming from one of the TV stars of the month, I guess we could send Lelouch out there." Rivalz chuckled before looking at Shirley. "What do the other stars of that day think?"

"Can you please stop bringing that up." Shirley sighed as she held her head. "It was a huge pain in the butt, we were chased for over a week with questions, we couldn't even relax in the bath!"

"We couldn't even leave the school grounds for that time either, except for Kallen." Milly added with a sly smile on her face. "Having that bodyguard of yours around did wonders in keeping the reporters and paparazzi away." Both Hawk and Kallen sent her an uncomfortable look, and she loved every second of it.

"By the way, you still haven't told us anything about that Strayed fellow who rescued you." Rivalz added, and both Suzaku and Rai tensed at the name of the NEXT pilot. "Did you manage to see his face?"

"Not really… He just left me in a Military outpost and left." She replied as she took her pick, she might as well enjoy the party a bit. "And the reason I haven't been so pressed for questions is because dad… convinced the TV companies to leave me alone."

"Sometimes I forget you're from a rich noble family." Rivalz muttered, scratching his cheek in discomfort.

"Regardless, it was really good to see you guys getting out of it alive." Hawk said as he put on cat ears and looked himself on a mirror. "I suppose we do owe Zero and the Black Knights a thank you for that, don't we?"

"Yeah, the Black Knights did save our friends." Lelouch smiled but it soon faded as he got a good look at Suzaku's features. "Is something the matter?"

"If they wanted to do things like that and what they've been doing these past weeks, why don't they join the police?"

"Maybe they just feel the police can't reach everywhere." Hawk suggested, walking up towards the brown haired teen. "You'd be surprised at how easily a little money can turn a full-fledged cop into a criminal."

"But that's why they should try to change things from the inside." Rai replied, the usually quiet silver haired teen seemed to have quite a lot to say on this matter. "It would take long, no doubt, but they could purge it from within and make sure it wouldn't happen again."

"Or they'd get caught up in the many restrictions and protocols that allow the higher ups to do all the dirty deals they want without being caught or prosecuted." Lelouch countered in a firm tone. "I think their approach is not that bad, all things considered."

"It's also a matter of standards, Lelouch." The brown haired teen said in a heated tone, making several of the people in the room decide not to join the discussion that was taking place. "What is evil? What is Justice? Unless we know what these Black Knights use in order to give judgment, they'll be nothing but self-righteous posturers that will cause nothing but harm."

"But still, they saved us." Kallen told him, a bit more fiercely than she had intended at first which caught many by surprise, but that didn't really stop her. "Shouldn't you at least give them the benefit of doubt?"

"I'll have to agree with Kallen on that one, until we see more we can't really judge them." Rai sighed before looking at the clock. "Suzaku…" He stopped right there, noticing the brown haired boy was somehow being held by Rivalz in a strange hold for bringing up the depressing atmosphere of a second ago. "We need to go."

"Huh?" The Honorary Britannian glanced at the clock as well, and his eyes widened at the time displayed. "You're right, we have to go back to base."

"Back to base?" Lelouch muttered weakly, but everyone heard him anyway. "As in the place you belong to?"

"Lelouch, I…" Suzaku started, but couldn't come up with a good reply to give his childhood friend so he decided to shut up instead. "I'm really sorry everyone, I had forgotten we had to be there sooner today."

"I suppose we'll have to postpone the party again." Milly sighed dejectedly. "Alright, you're all free to go for the day."

Meanwhile, in the Government building, Viceroy Cornelia, accompanied by her personal forces, Nonnette and Asakim, was leaving on a mission to stop the arrival of the drug known as Refrain. As such, she was making sure Euphemia knew exactly what she needed to do in her absence, as well as throwing in a few warnings on what she should and shouldn't do with her free time. Mainly, keeping away from the ASEEC units and Devicers, although she suspected she wouldn't listen to that part.

"I wish you luck in your mission, sister." The pink haired Princess told her once she had finished saying the almost infinite list of instructions. "What about the Black Knights? You haven't said or done anything on the matter."

"A month was all I was going to give them in exchange of saving your life." Cornelia replied with a small smile, caressing her sister's cheek. "Once I come back from Kyushu though, gloves are coming off."

"I understand." Euphemia replied, keeping a happy face but deep down she was brimming with questions. Why had Zero's voice been so familiar? His mannerisms had been as well, and the way he addressed her reminded her of someone else's too, she just couldn't pinpoint who it belonged to.

"Once this Area is settled and promoted to Satellite Nation, I'll be leaving it to you." Cornelia added in a serious tone, looking at her younger sister in the eye. "I know you'll handle it well."

'Rai, Suzaku… What do you two think of all this? You met one of Zero's men that day as well, what did you make of him?' The pink haired princess thought to herself as her sister left. "Perhaps I should go ask them."

Euphemia walked through the various corridors until she reached the ASEEC section of the Military branch, where Lloyd and Cécile were feverishly going through every single record of the Sky Ruler they had. It was true that the machine had not appeared in the last three weeks, but coming up with counter measures for it was certainly high in both their lists. Plus, the Grail was scheduled to arrive today at any time now, so they were both quite excited too.

"Your Highness?" Rai's voice caught her by surprise as the ASEEC's two Devicers came in from the outside, clad in their pilot suits. "I thought the Viceroy had… asked that you didn't visit us for a while."

"I can make my own decisions Rai." She replied with a pout that made the two teenagers chuckle. "And I have told you time and time again not to be so formal with me. You two are the only people my age I can call friends and I hate it when you do that."

"Sorry, Euphy." The silver haired teen replied with a sheepish smile.

"Your interactions are always fun to watch." Lloyd said with a grin as he turned around to look at them. "Rai, Suzaku, get ready. We'll be testing the Grail as soon as it gets here, we wouldn't want to give the Knight of Nine a defective piece, now would we?"

"Understood." Both teens replied in unison. "See you in a moment, Euphy." Suzaku added with a smile as they both walked towards the changing room to get into their pilot suits.

"We'll talk more once we're done with the testing." Rai smiled at her, noticing she seemed to need someone to talk to. "Can you wait until then?"

"Sure, no problem." She replied, smiling back at them both and the two boys grinned, the pink haired Princess was suited to smile, she looked the most beautiful when she did. "Mind if I watch?"

Kallen yawned as she left Hawk's house. Despite how tired she had been she had ended up accepting the offer of training along with Shinn, Setsuko and Rand. Since in the last few operations Strayed had been using a Sutherland painted in his colors he now had enough units to conduct a four way simulation thanks to the program he had handed Rand a couple weeks ago. It seemed both he and Setsuko had taken to making sure Shinn would live through his next Knightmare battle quite seriously and Kallen had been asked if she wanted in on the action a week ago.

The training was simple looking yet incredibly realistic in terms of physics, and it ranged from infiltration missions to outright kill all enemies operations. She had been using Hawk's Sutherland since the Lynx obviously felt far more comfortable inside the Sky Ruler's cockpit, whenever he participated, that is. He didn't join them often since he was most of the time working, either alone or with Rand, to bring back online something called Primal Armor or further upgrading the NEXT's performance so it could match up to the two Lancelot units without having the cannons cut off, it had almost happened in Saitama after all according to him.

She got to her house in a matter of minutes and was soon greeted by a weak looking maid with brown hair and blue eyes whose gaze seemed slightly unfocused. That maid, as much as it pained her to see her like that, was her biological mother. Without so much as a word of greeting, she passed by her with the fury of a hurricane and entered her room, where she undressed and got into bed, she was too tired to deal with her klutz of a mother right now.

The next morning came soon and the rays of the sun woke her up. It was Saturday, so no school for her to attend. She considered what to do for a while but that train of thought was soon interrupted by a loud crash outside her room. Covering herself with the sheets as best she could, she opened her door only to find her mother on the ground by a broken step ladder and one of the hanging lamps she had been cleaning.

"Kallen… I mean, young mistress." The woman started when she noticed her presence. "I apologize for waking you."

"What happened?"

"The step ladder broke and I clung to what whatever I found first to avoid a fall." Her mother replied hesitantly.

"Clean it all up." She ordered harshly. "And have some clothes ready for me soon."

"Are you going out today as well?" The brown haired woman asked with a small smile. "You've been attending school quite often lately. Have you made any friends you're meeting today?"

"None of your business!" She told her as she got back into her room and slammed the door shut. "Please, just go away already…" She whispered, looking at an old photography she had on her desk. A picture of her and her brother as kids, hand in hand with a brown haired woman whose face had been covered by an adhesive bunny face. "Why won't you just leave?"

A few hours later, the doorbell rang and Kallen decided to go check who it was, she just didn't have anything better to do after all. She was surprised when her mother opened it just as she came down the stairs, and more surprised at seeing Milly and Hawk outside.

"Oh, Mistress Kallen, I was about to call you." The maid replied with a weak smile. "There are friends of yours asking for you."

"Sorry to come uninvited." Milly started with a smile and she seemed ready to continue but another voice cut her off as she did. "We came to hand in a couple papers and…"

"When I heard they were friends I was sure they'd all be male." Her stepmother's voice was heard from the top of the stairs, although she couldn't see Hawk from her position so she had assumed he was a girl as well. "Considering how you've been coming back home late and sometimes you haven't even returned until a couple days had passed…" She trailed off. "Not to mention all those excursions to the Ghetto you've been making." She glared at the brown haired servant. "Fighting one's blood is impossible it would seem."

"Pardon me, Lady Stadfelt." Hawk called out as he walked in, letting himself be seen. "But I'm afraid I haven't really understood what you may be alluding to."

"And you would be?"

"Oh, my apologies. It was rather rude of me not to introduce myself." The Lynx chuckled, he was going to play this woman the same way he had played every corporate backstabber he had met while working for the League, just like Rosenthal had taught him to, even if he hadn't ended up in the best terms with his foster father he still took his lessons to heart. "I'm Hawk Magnus, a classmate of your daughter, heir and sole remaining member of the Magnus family."

"…" The blond woman was left in shock at the reply and soon gulped, hoping it wasn't too late to solve this matter. If she downplayed Kallen now, revealing her origins in front of such a marriage prospect, her husband would never forgive her for losing them the fortune and prestige that could follow. "It was nothing, my lord. Just a small joke on my part."

"I see. Although I am curious about its meaning, I suppose I'll leave it at that this time." Hawk replied with a smile, it had been far simpler than he had expected. He was going to add something else for humiliation's sake but a loud crash got his attention before he even started.

The brown haired maid had been walking back ever so slowly during Hawk's and Lady Stadfelt's brief exchange due to the hate filled glare she had received. No one had seen it happening until she involuntarily hit a nearby vase and sent it crashing down onto the ground. The poor woman soon kneeled by the vase's side and started gathering the pieces.

"Hmph, as I thought." Lady Stadfelt huffed, deciding to take her anger out on the maid. "All you're good for is selling your body after all."

"Says the woman that's been enjoying dad's absence quite a lot these days." Kallen seethed in a low voice that no one but Hawk caught, and even then he had trouble understanding what she had said.

"It's nothing, I'll take care of this." The maid stood up, having gathered the pieces. "Once I'm done I'll bring some refreshments, where will you be, Mistress?"

"We'll be in my room." She replied simply, trying to keep her anger in check and not lash out at her.

The other two Ashford council members glanced at each other before following the redhead up the stairs, soon passing by Lady Stadfelt, who eyed them analytically.

"I apologize for this sorry display, Lord Magnus." The blond woman showed a fake smile as she spoke. "I assure you she will be dealt with."

"Why?" He asked in reply, shocking her. "Why would someone who has done no wrong be dealt with, as you say?"

"I… I thought my servant's behavior had offended you."

"Not in the slightest, please leave that woman be." The brown haired Lynx told her sternly. "If I hear otherwise, I might be… displeased."

Mentally congratulating himself for his Thermidor interpretation upon seeing the woman's shock and disbelief engraved in her features, Hawk followed his friends into the house and then inside Kallen's room. It was a pretty big room, all white with a king sized bed and little decoration. A desk, a table and several chairs, along with a shelf filled with books. The Lynx took note of the picture on the desk as they sat down around the table.

"It seems your home life is complicated, right Kallen?" Milly asked with no hint of mockery, simply curiosity.

"What did you want to give me, Madam President?" She ignored the question and got to the matter at hand.

"I supposed it wasn't a good idea to hand this over in school." Milly started as she brought out an envelope with the Ashford Academy seal. "And Hawk found out by accident and decided to tag along."

"These are…" She started.

"Your transcripts since middle school." The Lynx finished for her.

"So you both know then." She had told Hawk the other day when she met Setsuko for the first time, and it was hard for her to believe that Milly hadn't figured it out the moment she saw the transcripts. "That I'm half Britannian and half Eleven."

"Sorry about that." The Lynx smiled sheepishly, trying to ease the tension he was feeling on the rise. "I sort of stumbled upon it."

"It does not matter, I would have told you someday." She replied with a smile, they were keeping the act well.

"Well, this looks like something heavy, so I'll leave you two lovebirds with it." Milly said abruptly as she stood up and both of them blushed much to her pleasure. "See you on Monday, you two."

"Why's she still saying that?!" Kallen demanded with a blush and Hawk could only shrug in reply.

"The maid down there, she was your biological mother, right?" Hawk asked once Milly was out of the room and they'd been served tea and pastries. "Don't look so surprised, you have her eyes."

"You could tell just by that?" She replied in surprise. "You really are on a whole other level." The Lynx stayed silent, waiting for her to explain the story if she wanted to. "She's such a fool." Kallen started in a sad voice. "She's clinging to a lover that left her to rot in the hopes he'll look at her again."

"Do you hate her?"

"Not really…" She admitted, she had been harsh to her, yes. But mainly because it hurt her so much to see her mother clinging to her delusions every day. "I find her depressing, but I do not hate her."

"Having the wife, the other woman and the husband in the same house doesn't really sound like the best scenario for anything." Hawk sighed as he looked at her in the eye. "Especially if you are caught up in the middle."

"It's not that bad…" She started but stopped mid-sentence. "Most of the time."

"Will you be alright?" There was genuine worry in his voice.

"It's been like this for years already." She told him, noticing that he was actually concerned about her, something she was not used to seeing. "I can handle it."

"I know pretty well how being at odds with your family feels, and I know very well how the little things in life can gang up on you in a moment of weakness and tear you apart." Hawk admitted with a downcast glance at the floor. "If you ever need any help or simply someone to talk to, just say the word."

"Thanks." She smiled at him, genuinely grateful. "But, why do you worry so much."

"I care about my friends and my mission partners." He replied with a wry smile. "And I've taken a liking to spending time with you."

While Kallen attempted to suppress a blush at the Lynx's words, her mother was not exactly in what one would call good shape. The brown haired maid was shaking as she opened a locked drawer and extracted an injector and a small bottle of the drug known as Refrain. It was the only way she could manage to get some rest and ignore the many threats and insults painted in blood red on the walls of her small, almost constricting room. While the drug transported her to the world of dreams, she barely noted that she was running out of ampoules and managed to make a mental note to go get more on Monday.

At the same time, in Lelouch's room, C.C. was once more devouring pizza while the raven haired teen worked on his various projects. He had secured the help of a few more nobles, using Geass of course, and was aware that the people in Kyoto, the Resistance suppliers, were interested in his Black Knights, although interested was probably an understatement. As a matter of fact, in less than a week they'd be getting a small present, a token of appreciation of sorts consisting of several Burais, customized Glasgows not too different from the ones used by the Glory Stars, and something he hadn't managed to discover despite his extensive investigations.

"I have to admit, I'm better prepared than I expected to be at this point." Lelouch mused with a confident smile as he went through his list of personnel and equipment but his mouth soon became a thin line as he added. "Of course, the enemy is not behind on that front either, to think the Knight of Nine would be in Area 11 of all places, and to test one more of those hateful units no less."

"That means you'll have three of those things to worry about." C.C. commented with a smile as she ate in her usual attire of underwear and white shirt. "And your precious Strayed had trouble when facing two, imagine now."

"Not to mention he let them go when he had them at his mercy." He added, while he understood the Lynx's motives he did not approve of the move Hawk had made that day in Saitama. "Still, we had a bit of a situation at the time, had he stopped to finish them off the Glory Stars might have died too."

"A crippled mercenary group, and one of its members goes into battle with a giant wrench as his Knightmare's weapon." She giggled, something Lelouch noticed was rather unusual, if not a first. The immortal was usually a rather monotonous person, although sometimes she came around with a remark or comment that let her personality surface. Still, giggles were not something he heard out of her often. "You're a magnet for weird people."

"I must be." He chuckled, unable to deny it. "An immortal witch, a warrior from another world, a pilot that goes into battle with a wrench as his only weapon, a bunch of people willing to fight for justice at my side…" He trailed off, smiling broadly. "Not the most usual of companies, that's for sure."

"And that is one of the reasons you interest me so, Lelouch." The green haired girl commented with a smile before going for the phone. "I'm going to order more pizza, do you want some?"

"How kind of you, to offer me the food you pay with my money." He replied in a deadpan tone before sighing. "Just ask for one more of yours and I'll take my pick when they get here." And he got back to work while the immortal made the call.

Well into midnight of that same day, a light was still on at the basement of a certain house. In said basement was Rand Travis, sitting on a chair and going bug-eyed at the documents he was reading on the computer, documents provided by the young man standing by his side at the time, the one man that was giving him and his companions a roof.

"I have to admit it, Hawk." Rand said in a deadpan tone as he went over the data the Lynx had provided him with. "I have not even the slightest idea as to who this Kojima guy was, nor can I even start to imagine how he kept himself and all this knowledge hidden away."

"As I'm sure you've read, Kojima Particles are highly contaminating and corrosive." The Lynx explained, making careful note of all he said so he wouldn't end up contradicting himself in the future. "Kojima didn't want them out into the world in that state."

It was a lie, according to the historical records Professor Kojima had been so eager to put the Particles to use he hadn't even given a thought to the long-term consequences, which had been total devastation of the environment due to the overuse of the energy by the time Hawk was ten years old, and half of humanity fleeing to the Cradles when he was twelve.

"So, one question." The red haired man eyed him with suspicion. "How come none of us start crumbling apart when that thing's active?"

"The Kojima Generator is equipped with a special part called the K-Filter." Hawk explained dismissively. "It's basically a device that depurates the particles, making them far less contaminating and not as corrosive, at least in small concentrations."

"What about high concentrations?"

"I think you already know the answer to that." The mercenary replied with a raised eyebrow, getting a nod from the mechanic in reply. "Regardless, a high concentration of particles can also act as a shield, that's what the Primal Armor is based on."

"Any luck on bringing that back online?"

"Not really." The Lynx sighed. "But I have finally found the problem." Rand stayed silent, waiting for him to elaborate. "Some of the conductors for the particles are damaged and do not channel them properly, thus rendering the Primal Armor unable to form correctly. Luckily, it hasn't led to a leak that could prove lethal to people around, and it's highly unlikely it will according to SKAI."

"What's the catch?" Rand asked, knowing that if the Lynx was aware of the issue and wasn't solving it there was something keeping him from doing so.

"I'd have to dismantle the entire unit, and I'd also need someone capable enough to remake any conductors that are too damaged to simply patch, and they'd have to do that from scratch." Hawk explained, shaking his head. "I'd wager all this would take about a month to do even if I do find someone capable of crafting what I need, and I doubt a situation where the Sky Ruler is necessary won't arise in that time."

"Quite true." Rand conceded before yawning, his tiredness finally catching up to him after all the training and then the reading on Kojima Energy Hawk had finally let him have. "Mind if I ask another favor?"

"So long as it's within what I can do."

"Next time, let me check some of the weapons blueprints." He stated with a weary smirk. "I'm sure I can adapt some of them to Knightmare Frame usage."

The Lynx eyed him for a moment, a mixture of shock and realization in his eyes before he smiled and nodded, that made Rand's day. Oh, he didn't really buy all that Hawk had told him, but decided that asking any further was not a good idea, he'd go with the version of the events he'd gotten and he'd like it for now, until the Lynx finally trusted him and the rest of the group enough to reveal the truth.

The weekend passed and Monday came. Once classes were over, Kallen got a call from Ohgi about that night's operation. It was the same as the last few ones, raiding a Refrain producing and manufacturing plant run by a few corrupt nobles, who were coincidentally going to be there that night. Zero would make the opening move and then they'd move in and sweep the place, whether the people responsible lived or died was irrelevant. She and Strayed would be using their Knightmares to make quick work of the situation.

"Another night mission." She sighed, knowing that probably meant she was going to fall asleep in class again the next morning. "I wish I was used to it like Hawk is."

She walked around the mall, not really looking at anything in particular, until the sounds of fists impacting against flesh got her attention, as well as that of many people in the streets. The sounds and yells of pain came from an Eleven hot dog seller, a young man with brown hair who was now kneeling on the ground, covering his body as best he could from the attacks he was receiving, delivered by five punks who had nothing better to do.

"Those bastards…" Kallen seethed and she moved forward to help the guy out, but a hand seized her shoulder before she got too far, Lelouch's hand. "Let me go!"

"Even you would be hard pressed to win a five on one fight." The raven haired teen stated with a cold look in his eyes.

"So you want me to just stand here and ignore what's happening right in front of my eyes?" She asked angrily. "Not happening."

"Why do you think he's not fighting back?" Lelouch asked her, and that stopped her in her tracks. "He's an Eleven, an Honorary Britannian, if he fights back, he'll lose his job and the rights of being something closer to the Britannians than the rest of the Elevens."

"That's…" The sound of a fist breaking something got both their attentions and their eyes snapped back to the scene, where a very familiar brown haired boy in an Ashford Academy uniform had punched one of the punks to the ground and sent one tooth flying out of his mouth.

"First two on one, and now five on one." The Lynx stated coldly. "You people really fall lower every day."

"You…!" One of them snarled before charging at Hawk, only to be met by an elbow to the stomach. The other three soon faced a similar fate and ended up writhing on the floor around the mercenary disguised as a student. "Let's get out of here!"

"Are you alright?" Kallen asked as she ran towards the downed Eleven, who was staring at Hawk with a weird look in his eyes.

"Tell me." The Honorary Britannian started. "Were you the one that helped dad a month ago?"

"I did help another hot dog seller a month ago that was in a similar situation." The Lynx replied, offering his hand to help the man stand, but when he noticed the rage in his features he stopped for a second and got a punch to the face for the distraction.

"Because of you, the Purists went after him." The man shouted as he threw another punch to the Lynx's gut. "They killed him."

"What?!" Hawk managed to get out after kneeling on the ground, holding his stomach, a look of utter shock and disbelief on his face. "No…" Kallen wasn't sure about what to do anymore.

"I'm sorry for the outburst miss." The hot dog seller said in a low voice. "I'll be leaving now."

"And that's why helping them like this is out of the question." Lelouch voiced as he walked up to them once the angry hot dog seller had left. "It makes no difference. If they resist they're killed, if they don't they're humiliated. That's how things work in Britannia."

"And what does Lelouch Lamperouge think about it?" Kallen asked as Hawk somehow stood up, breathing heavily. "What does the Student Council's smartest man have to say about it?"

"Even if I said anything, nothing would change." The raven haired teen gave out a void chuckle that was soon cut off by a powerful slap to the face.

"So you'll sit by and watch, just like that?" She shouted in anger. "You'll do nothing but look and say it shouldn't be, yet not move a muscle to change things? Well, I'm different!" And she rushed off after a concerned look at the Lynx, who gestured at her that he was fine.

"She hits hard." Lelouch muttered, caressing his cheek.

"You're the one that pushed buttons until she exploded, you know?" Hawk replied, having finally fully recovered from the two blows he received, although the third one and most crippling was that he had helped a man and that man had died because he helped him. "This country is truly rotten." He muttered in disgust.

"We'll change it." Lelouch muttered in reply. "Japan is just the first step in that."

"Mission tonight?" The Lynx asked as they walked down the street and Lelouch nodded. "Do I bring the Glory Stars?"

"No, I want to keep that card hidden for now... Unless they want to go as foot soldiers" The raven haired teen told him in a serious tone. "You and Kallen will suffice inside your Frames." They soon changed topic, but there was one thing that did not leave the Lynx's mind for even a second, despite how much he tried to forget. There was another lost life to add to his count, and one more to add to the list of people that had done nothing wrong.

That night, the Black Knights stood outside a warehouse in the port, waiting for Zero's signal to move in and do their job. While many were still wondering why in the world they were going around making things easier for the police instead of fighting Britannia, both their Ace pilots had something completely different in their minds.

"Are we doing the right thing?" Kallen muttered mostly to herself as she recalled the seller's outburst and Lelouch's words. "I thought we were, but…"

'Innocents die, that's nothing new.' Hawk thought to himself as he sighed, remembering what Kasumi had told him all those years ago, when she began training him to be a competent Lynx after he had gotten through the AMS test. 'Even if you wanted to avoid it, no path is void of sacrifice. To keep on living in this world we're in your hands will be dirtied, whether you want them to or not does not matter, you'll be forced to press countless triggers along the way.'

"Still, walking the path where the least blood is spilled is all I can do." He whispered, although it came out as incoherent mumbling through the helmet, causing both Shinn and Setsuko to throw a worried glance at him. 'I've got to pull myself together, it's not the first time this has happened.'

For a second, the brown haired mercenary's thoughts went back to the Cradle 21 incident and how he had messed it up due to his inexperience. He shook his head repeatedly to push those thoughts away but it wasn't working and his brain was starting to recall how it had all happened since the beginning of that mission.

A month had passed since the eighteen year old Hawk Magnus had been accepted in Collared and gotten his personal NEXT courtesy of his foster father, President Rosenthal. While Hawk was technically affiliated to the company like Gerald Gendlin and Dario Empio, the pilots of the Noblesse Oblige and Transcend respectively, he had free reign on what missions to take and from who, as long as they were not against Rosenthal.

His first mission had been a test from the League, assaulting a stronghold of the rebel group known as Line Ark, and he had pulled it off without a hitch. Strangely enough, the only company that seemed to take an interest in him had been Interior Union and the mission they sent for him had been the destruction of a GA owned ArmsFort part of the Eighth Fleet pertaining to that company's army. The rest of Collared had expected the pampered pretty boy, as they had taken to call him since his joining them, to die ten seconds into the mission, and he'd shoved his flawlessly completing the mission in their faces with no little amount of pleasure.

He had even advanced two ranks in the Collared hierarchy, being now Rank 29 out of the thirty-one mercenaries of the organization, and been given a much wider arrange of missions available for him. Omer Science Technology had him take the B-7 mining facility controlled by Torus, and even GA had gotten over his crippling their Eighth Fleet and given him the mission to raid the Mimir naval port owned by Interior, where he had destroyed the prototype ArmsFort stored there.

Needless to say, that hadn't really helped in his relationship with Interior since they had yet to send another mission his way. GA, however, had apparently taken a liking to him and he had been promptly asked to intercept a Torus attack force headed for the Sphere, a massive Kojima Energy production plant owned by the company.

After that, Omer had sent another assignment, one that had put him working alongside Otsdarva, the first Rank of Collared, himself. However, things hadn't gone well between the two. Upon completion of the mission, Otsdarva had made one little remark that hadn't made Hawk precisely happy. "That's all? Feh, I should have known… nothing here but boring enemies and worthless allies."

The young Lynx had taken offense to the remark and gotten so worked up he ignored Serene's orders and ended up challenging Otsdarva there and then. It was over in an instant, Stasis had sidestepped his Laser Blade slash and shot both of the Eternal's legs to hell with barely any effort before taking aim for the cockpit with his high powered Laser Rifle and... not firing.

"Do you see now?" The First Rank had taunted. "You are worthless, and yet there is something about you that is promising. No one in Collared would have even thought about doing what you've done today, no one as close to the bottom as yourself I mean. You have guts kid, and good moves too because you almost got me." The man chuckled at that. "I'll be keeping an eye on you, kid, you've got potential there so don't disappoint me."

Thinking about it still enraged the young Lynx, that damn bastard had put him out of commission for over a week, that was how long it took to get a set of LANCEL legs to change the ones he had lost. But things had certainly taken a turn for the better after that. He had been hired by GA again, this time to assault the Richland agricultural plant belonging to Algebra Corp. along with one of their Lynx, May Greenfield, pilot of the NEXT known as Merrygate and dubbed by the rest of Collared as Smiley due to her emblem. Needless to say, the young woman had left quite an impression on him.

"Merrygate reporting, commencing attack." She had said calmly as they landed after hearing Serene's explanation on the situation. "No need for a shield, that's what Heavies are for." She had stated before running forward towards the approaching Normals and readying her back-mounted missiles. "I'm launching a frontal barrage, pin-point target just isn't my style! You'll have to take care of that thing."

And taken care of that he had, using the smoke from the explosions caused by his ally as cover, Hawk had Over Boosted towards the ArmsFort present and sliced its belly apart with his Laser Blade until it collapsed due to the extensive damage. After that they had mopped up the remains of the Algebra forces guarding the place and called it a day, it had almost been too easy with May and Merrygate covering him.

"Nice work there, newbie." May told him as they returned to their transport. "We have to do this more often, you're a good partner to have around."

"I could say the same thing to you." The young Lynx replied with a smile, he and May had just seemed to click on the battlefield and knowing her a bit more sounded good. "I'd love to go on a couple more missions with you."

"You know, how about we meet after the next Collared meeting? I'd love to introduce you to my team." She said enthusiastically. "Don't worry, they're all good people."

"Sure, why not." He nodded to himself before a question came to mind. "When's the next meeting?"

"I think it's on Sunday." She replied. "Well, see you then." And then she veered Merrygate towards her base.

Two days later, on Saturday, there was a scheduled meeting of the League, and Hawk had been asked to accompany President Rosenthal to the meeting in order to be introduced to the higher ups of the League. Said reunion had soon turned into an emergency briefing in which it had been revealed that a rebel group known as Liliana had taken over Cradle 21 and were holding it hostage until their demands were met or they would send it spiraling down to the surface. Due to most of the Lynx being too far from the Cradle to make it before the time limit to answer their demands, Hawk was the only option available since he had brought his NEXT along.

"You'll be using a plane outfitted to transport your NEXT, it will be linked to your controls until you disengage it." Serene Haze, his operator, informed as they walked rapidly towards the hangar. "You'll be going in under the pretense of delivering the payment and you'll be dropped in the middle of the enemy forces."

"I got it." The young Lynx replied with a smile as they reached his customized LANCEL, named Eternal. It was mainly white, with blue as secondary color and black junctures. The camera eyes were yellow and it was armed with two Chain-guns on the back, an ACACIA Assault Rifle in its right hand and the Rosenthal Laser Blade on the left. It also carried SCYLLA homing missiles on its shoulders and Lare Handguns as additional weaponry.

"I'm sure I don't need to repeat this but be careful out there." Serene added as the boy approached the cockpit to board it. "These are terrorists, you never know what they're going to pull."

"I said I got it, Serene." The Lynx sighed, a bit tired of the constant warnings. "I've got a few missions under my belt already and they've all gone well… except that one time I thought challenging Stasis was an intelligent idea." He added sheepishly when he felt the glare his operator sent him.

"That may be, but a few missions done well doesn't mean you can be reckless, your life's at stake here." The black haired woman said sternly. "I can't have you dying so early, you know? It would make my training look bad."

"Don't worry, I am not going to die…" The boy reassured her before his voice took on a darker edge. "Not until White Glint has paid for what he did."

Serene sighed, there was not getting him out of that, and who could blame him? As far as she knew, White Glint had taken everything from that boy the day Anatolia disappeared from the maps. It was only logical to want the only one left among the people responsible for it to pay for what you lost.

"Well, I have to go." The Lynx said as he got into the cockpit of his NEXT. "I'll be counting on you for this."

"Rest assured, I have your back." Serene replied before turning around towards the communication room provided by the League. "Good luck."

As soon as the Eternal was loaded on the transport, the plane took off towards Cradle 21, it didn't take too long to get there since it was the closest of the Cradles to the League's meeting point, something the terrorists probably knew. The moment the plane entered Cradle 21's airspace, a voice crackled through the speakers of the plane and the NEXT inside it.

"This Cradle is under Liliana's control." A man with Russian accent stated calmly. "State your business here, League dog."

"I've come to deliver the payment you and the board agreed on." Hawk lied smoothly as he'd been taught by his foster father. "Please direct me to a landing point in which I can drop it."

"Center of the Cradle. Hard to miss, don't you think?" The voice replied, his tone laced in amusement.

"Indeed." The Lynx agreed in a whisper before directing the plane towards the point in question.

"You're in position." Serene commented off-handedly as her tone changed into a more professional one. "Commence mission. Retake Cradle 21 and eliminate the Liliana insurgents. They're extremists but they can only deploy Normals, no match for your NEXT."

Without a reply from the young Lynx, the plane fell apart as intended in its design, letting the customized LANCEL fall in the midst of five Liliana Normals who were quickly dispatched by a combination of rifle fire and laser blade slashes.

"Careful, you don't want to damage the Cradle with those explosions." Serene chastised over the com-line before the voice that had welcomed them earlier sounded over the open channel.

"So the League has sent us a traitorous Lapdog, haven't they?" The Russian mocked. "Very well, let it be known that the Cradle fell because of you."

"They're setting explosives on the engines." Serene informed, using the Cradle's outside cameras to get a feed from her position. "You have to take them out before they can detonate them."

"If I destroy the Normals, will the explosives be set off?" The Lynx asked cautiously as he moved towards the closest group of terrorists.

"We can't take that risk, the Cradle will plummet if enough of the engines are destroyed." His operator replied. "Disable them, but do not blow them up under any circumstance."

"This mission just got a lot harder." The Lynx grumbled under his breath before charging the group of three in front of him.

"What the hell's a Lynx doing here?!" One of the terrorists shouted in panic as he fired at him.

"Duh, the League sent him!" Another replied just as the first one got his legs sliced off. "Crap!"

The third stayed silent and opened fire with a back-mounted bazooka once he had set the charge. Not that it did the group any good when twin Chain-guns opened fire on them and riddled their Normals with bullets until they were rendered unusable.

"Next batch, where?" the Lynx said out loud as he looked at his radar and waited for any orders from his operator. "There." And he boosted towards the next group of terrorists.

"A Collared soldier!" One shouted in terror. "How? They should be too far to reach this place before the time limit we set!"

"Feh." His partner scoffed. "It's just a wild cat without fangs. He just got lucky earlier."

"Keep telling yourselves that." The young Lynx replied over their channel as he cut one arm off and shot the other to hell with the assault rifle before moving towards the one that mocked him and cut off legs and head. "You're so lucky I can't kill you because I risk damaging the Cradle."

"Those are all the enemies on that area." Serene informed. "Move towards the west area and stop them before they pull this off!"

Wordlessly, Hawk turned the Eternal in the intended direction and activated the Over-Boost, moving at the maximum speed a NEXT could acquire and reached the west end of Cradle 21 where another group of Liliana was finishing their job on the second engine, they had already destroyed the one on the farthest end.

"Damn those bastards!" He snarled and quick-boosted out of the way of a bazooka shell fired towards him.

"Show that fool!" The one that seemed the leader of the small squad shouted. "Victory rewards the ready!"

"Damn, let's just do this!" The other four chorused as they opened fire.

The white and blue NEXT quick-boosted aside again, avoiding the most dangerous projectiles while he let the Primal Armor handle the bullets. Another Quick-boost put the young Lynx right in front of the leading Normal and he promptly cut off its legs with a swift slash, put a bullet in the junctures of the arms and the head camera and moved to the next target. The process was repeated until the last Normal of the bunch was left unusable.

"Just one group left." Serene informed. "Mop them up and we're done."

"Roger that." The Lynx replied automatically as he moved towards the targeted destination and soon found himself under anti-air fire from the seven Normals on the Cradle. Apparently they had been two separate groups, but they had finished destroying their assigned engines and joined up to blow up a third one.

"Fire! Blast that bastard!" One shouted, rallying. "He's a soldier, just like us! We can take him!"

"Liliana Forever!" Another proclaimed in a crazed tone. "For the future of Humanity!"

"Of course." The Lynx sighed as he approached his enemies, using Quick-boosts to avoid the missiles and shells as he let the bullets dissolve against the Primal Armor, the few bullets that got through the Kojima field did little against the durable metal the NEXT was made of. "Because dropping a massive airship holding millions of people headfirst onto the surface at breakneck speeds from seven thousand kilometers high is going to solve all of Humanity's problems." He commented with dripping sarcasm.

"Damn, we're being ripped apart!" One scared terrorist shouted as his companions fell to the ground under the rain of Chain-gun bullets. Faster than he could follow, the white NEXT cut off his left arm and, with precise use of its Quick-boost, whirled around, kneeled and cut off his legs.

"Last one down." Hawk stated before putting a bullet through the camera of the last enemy. "Hopefully."

The white and blue NEXT took to the air and hovered over the Cradle, the Lynx inside eyeing the remains of the Normals the Liliana insurgents had used to take control over the cradle and using the radar and cameras to find any target he may have missed. He was about to report a "Mission complete." But his operator's voice stopped him from doing so.

"Enemy reinforcements inbound." Serene said in a serious tone, and glancing at his radar, Hawk did see the six red dots coming from the east in his direction. "Those are… NEXT Drones, they're experimental weapons and have many weak points." She informed professionally and Hawk could feel a downside to that information coming. "Watch out for their blades, those can cut through Primal Armor like a hot knife through butter."

"Why are these missions always complicated?" The Lynx sighed in mock-whining as he turned his NEXT around to face the approaching Drones and unleashing a rain of bullets from the Chain-guns. Surprisingly, the Drones lifted the massive Hi-Laser blades and used them as shields, rendering the attack ineffective. "You've got to be kidding me."

The Drones seemed to take that as their signal to strike, sending several blue laser shots at the NEXT opposing them as they closed in fast, intent on cutting their white and blue opponent to shreds. The NEX moved out of their way, targeting the last of the bunch and raining rifle fire on its back until the engine gave up and it plummeted downwards. Bad luck had it that it landed on top of one of the engines and blew it up when it exploded.

"Fuck." Hawk cursed as he counted the destroyed engines. Five of them counting the one that just went out because of him, if six more of those stopped working the Cradle would fall. "Oh, come on!"

His last outburst was caused by the Drones promptly ignoring him except for two of them and start firing laser beams at another engine, this one on the upper side of the Cradle. He evaded the combined assault of his opponents and attempted to repeat his strategy, but they saw it coming and moved out of the way before he got a lock on them.

"Any good ideas, Serene?" He asked as he racked his own brain for any good plan.

"They are adapting to your strategies, you have to take them down fast or they'll overwhelm you." The operator replied. "Their Primal Armor is weak, almost nonexistent, as you sure have noticed. And they are only capable of basic programmed maneuvers. You have to use that to your advantage."

"Well, better than nothing." He chuckled dryly as he Quick-boosted out of a sword to the cockpit and landed an unorthodox slash across his attackers back. "Time to put these to use." And he fired the SCYLLA missiles, blowing it up before it damaged the Cradle like the last one.

The remaining Drone attempted the run him through from behind, but a warning from his operator and a timely Quick-boost got him out of the situation, allowing him to rain Chain-gun fire on the Drone's back until the engine caught fire and exploded.

Another explosion got his attention, this one coming from the engine the remaining Drones were attacking. Over-boosting to them, Hawk tackled one from behind and sliced it apart with the Eternal's Laser Blade. Its partners seemed to take offense to that as they charged him at a speed he barely got away from, one of the Drones cut off his sword arm in passing, completely ignoring the Primal Armor like Serene had said.

"Would saying that I want one of those swords make me sound stupid?" He asked his operator, and he quite literally heard the palm meeting the face. "Alright, sorry, I'll get serious here."

"You best." She replied sternly.

The Drones charged at him again, but this time he was ready, instead of dodging to the left like they had seen him do all the time, he chained a backwards boost with a quick-boost to the right and fired the SCYLLA in quick succession. The missiles impacted against the Drones' arms and blew up the Hi-Laser Blades. An instant later, the Chain-guns were out and firing on them until they ran out of bullets, although by that time the Drones were nothing but piles of burning scrap falling on the Cradle.

"Please tell me there aren't any more of those around." Hawk mock-pleaded, mostly. The Eternal was going to be undergoing repairs for at least three days after this, and that lost arm and Laser Blade were going to take a chunk out of his funds to get back, so he wasn't in a good fighting condition right now.

"No, the radar's clear." Serene replied much to his relief. "All targets destroyed, mission accomplished. Now get back to base, the League's relief forces will handle the rest."

"I'm afraid I can't just let you do that." The Russian voice from the beginning of the operation spoke with a dangerous edge. "But just killing you would be so… petty, it wouldn't be called revenge." The voice chuckled. "So, how about I do this instead?"

A second later, all the Normals scattered over the Cradle exploded, blowing up close to the explosives they had planted and taking four of the engines with them. The Cradle tilted dangerously to one side but still remained airborne much to the Lynx's relief. Until a massive hail of missiles made its way towards one of the still remaining engines and blew it up. And with that engine, whatever ability the Cradle had to keep itself on air went down in flames, much like the gigantic structure itself would do in under a minute.

The young Lynx could do nothing more than stare as the Cradle became unable to sustain altitude, much to his relief though, it started a controlled descent instead of simply plummeting downwards like the first models would have. Shaking his head, Hawk began to look for the person responsible, his beeping radar catching the presence of a NEXT, a Mid-Lightweight model combining parts from Omer and Algebra, armed with a Shotgun and a Rifle in its hands and a Chain-gun and Missile Launcher on its back.

"Hmm…" The Russian voice was heard again just as the enemy machine moved forward towards the Cradle, intent on finishing the job. "Looks like this piece of scrap is far more stubborn than I expected."

"Why?!" Hawk snarled as he moved in to intercept as fast as he could. "Why are you doing this?!"

"I thought I already told you, little Lapdog, this is my revenge." The man replied with amusement coating his words. "Then again, why don't we make this more interesting?" Pausing for a moment, as if thinking, the voice continued. "I'll target the furthest engine on the superior wing. If you can defeat me before I reach it you'll save everyone, how's that sound?"

"You insane bastard!" The young Lynx cursed under his breath. "I'll get you for this."

"I'm sure you will." The Russian taunted before setting towards his target with the angered 29th Rank on his trail.

Pushing the Eternal to its current limits, Hawk started closing in on the Russian's NEXT. When his systems locked on his target, he fired his Assault Rifle, but the mid-lightweight unit simply moved out of the way of his shots with hardly any effort and didn't even bother on returning fire. The bastard was even humming a tune while he made a fool out of the young Lynx.

"That's it!" Hawk lost it from that moment forward and what happened next was barely a blur for him. He closed in on the enemy NEXT using Over-Boost and got the best lock he could possibly get before firing the SCYLLA twice. The homing missiles locked on to their target and followed his every move… until the opposing NEXT quick-boosted aside and they slammed right into the engine the Russian had mentioned as his target.

Out of his enraged frenzy, the young Lynx was once more left without anything to do but stare as the last explosion seemed to strain the remaining engines, causing them to overheat from the strain of trying to keep the Cradle on air and exploded one by one like fireworks at a party. The maniac laugh filling the open channel was the final nail on his conscience as tears of impotence and anger streamed down his face.

"You!" He shouted in a broken voice, turning to face the green NEXT that had a Shotgun aimed at his cockpit. "This is all your fault!" And he charged forward, firing his Assault Rifle.

"Oh, but I didn't do anything, I merely moved aside. You know, that thing called dodging?" The Russian mocked as he sidestepped the attack, as if trying to prove the point, and shot the arm holding the weapon, rendering it useless. "Sorry, little Lapdog, but the only person responsible of this is you. If you hadn't come here, they'd be alive and we would have left with our payment." His voice was filled with dark amusement.

Hawk's eyes widened, his mind taking in those words and realizing that they were partly true, he had a part on this. He could have done more, he could have done things differently, he could have lured the guys out... There were a thousand different ways in which he could have gone about this mission without allowing the Russian bastard to do what he did. And even worse, he had been lured into the bastard's game and he had been the one to give the final blow to the Cradle.

"Twenty million people..." He whispered, distraught. "And it was… my fault."

"Hawk! Snap out of it!" Serene shouted over the com. "You're a sitting duck. Move it, dammit!"

"It would seem I have overstayed my welcome here." The Russian commented as he whirled his NEXT around towards his escape route. "Until next time, Lapdog. Go be a good murderer for me, will you?"

And Hawk could, once more, only sit there and watch as the man activated his Over-Boost and disappeared from sight, then his unit started to shake as a voice called his name and all went black…

"Hawk!" Kallen's voice snapped the Lynx out of his thoughts and he realized she had gotten her Glasgow closer to his Sutherland and she was standing by his side, she had even taken off his helmet without him noticing. "Are you alright? You've been breathing heavily for a while and you didn't even react when I got this off of you. You're really pale and… Are you crying?"

"Yeah… I'll be fine." Hawk took a deep breath and used a nearby towel to wipe the cold sweat and the tears off his face before giving her an uneasy look. "Just… remembering something."

"Must have been something pretty nasty." Rand commented off-handedly, causing Hawk to realize that his guests were there too, in fact they were the ones that provided the towel he was using.

"You have no idea." The Lynx said, noticing that his throat was dry, very dry. "Did I… say anything weird?"

"Not that we could hear." Setsuko replied before narrowing her eyes. "You look pretty shaken up, are you sure you're alright."

"Not really, but I'll be in a second." He chuckled dryly before bringing out his trusty water and drinking until he was sated.

"If you don't mind, what were you remembering?" Shinn asked him, which got a startled look on everyone else's faces minus the Lynx.

"My first job gone wrong." He admitted after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. "Because of me and my actions so many people died, I should have been better and thought more about the situation." He sighed before showing a sad smile. "Maybe then I would have considered the possibility that they put explosives in their units and I wouldn't have messed up." 'Nor would I have fallen for Old King's games.' He added to himself.

"Come on, you guys!" Tamaki shouted, which would have blown their cover had Lelouch not Geassed the guards into suicide already, and stopped them from asking any further about his past. "Look sharp, we've got a job to do!"

"There's the signal." Ohgi said as a bright green light came from the door to the warehouse.

"He actually pulled it off." Inoue cheered in surprise.

"Again, I might add." Rand chuckled, sometimes Zero's followers seemed to forget the amount of things like that he had pulled off in the past weeks.

"Zero's got some serious tricks up his sleeve." Tamaki laughed for a couple seconds at his own statement. "As expected of our Leader."

"Let's get this done." Strayed said in a far calmer voice as he entered his black and white Sutherland's cockpit, his focus on the operation allowing him to get a clear head for the time being.

"Understood." Kallen muttered as she filed her worries for later, she'd find answers to his and her problems when her friends' lives were not on the line.

The Black Knights charged into the Refrain complex guns blazing, Strayed and Kallen opened the way in by ramming their Knightmares through the front, tearing apart the thin metallic shutter like a man would a piece of paper and opening fire with their guns. Zero and the rest of the Black Knights followed soon, finishing off whatever stragglers were left, although the leaders of the operation managed to go into the back of the warehouse.

"You're not getting away!" Kallen shouted as he followed them with Strayed close behind. They soon found themselves in a dark area of the warehouse, which had turned out to be more extensive than any of them had expected it to be.

"Switch to night vision." Strayed commented, activating the feature as he heard what seemed like a lot of people talking around them, outside their units.

There were about fifty or sixty Elevens in front of them, mumbling incoherencies or shouting about their good fortune, among them and much to the Lynx's surprise was the hot dog seller from that morning, jumping in happiness at how he was going to study abroad.

"Refrain…" Kallen seethed as she too looked around. "A drug that makes you dream about the good old days."

"They're caught in the past, unable to grasp the future or fight for it…" Strayed added in a low voice. "Much like the people left on the surface, unable to understand why they were left behind and only able to regret their misery."

Before Kallen could even begin to ask about what he meant by the surface and what it had to do with the situation they were in, another voice caught her attention. A very familiar voice coming from a brown haired, blue eyed woman that was chasing a ghost from the past while calling her name over and over. A woman she soon recognized as her mother.

"No…" She cried in disbelief but they were soon tears of anger and impotence. "I knew you were weak mother, you gave in to Britannia and to a man, but I thought you were stronger than this."

While the two wallowed in their thoughts, spurned by the many doubts they had been bombarded with during the day, three white machines made their appearance and soon opened fire on them. Instinctively, Kallen moved her Frame to cover her mother, losing her right arm and weapon in the process. Strayed suffered a similar fate, although he also lost the chest mounted gun and a slash harken due to being fired upon by two enemies as he covered several of the addicts from becoming nothing but bloody corpses. His machine's left arm was also sparking dangerously, indicating it couldn't take much more strain.

"Police units!" Strayed was shocked, he and Tamaki had checked for each and all traces of police involvement in this deal, and found none. "Or maybe just stolen units."

"Corrupted filth!" Zero seethed as he observed the situation and made a quick plan. "K-5, Q-1, separate! Go to the opposite ends of the warehouse through the longest routes you can find on the maps I gave you, we'll set traps while you keep them busy."

"Got it." They both replied in unison as they did what they were told to and dashed towards the sides of the warehouse.

"But we brought no equipment to fight Knightmares!" Tamaki shouted as the enemy divided too, two following after Kallen and one after Strayed due to the Sutherland being so heavily damaged.

"We'll make do with the bombs we brought to destroy this place in an emergency." Zero replied urgently. "Ohgi, take half of them and ten members of your choice, you'll be backing up Kallen. Set a trap on right section of the last corridor and have Kallen lead the enemy there."

"Understood." The black haired man nodded and picked Yamato and Tamaki, along with a few of his more trusted members of the group. "We'll leave Strayed to you."

"Let's go then." Zero commanded his group as they all got on the move, Setsuko and Shinn were flanking the masked man as he opened his communication line with the Lynx. "Strayed, lead him to the far end and stall for time, can you do it?"

"With one arm tied to my back… Oh, wait, I have no arm to tie." The Lynx replied, dry humor dripping from every word as was usual when he was between a rock and a hard place. "Hurry it up unless you want a bullet ridden corpse inside a black and white tin can for supper, boss."

"Even in this sort of situation he tries to be funny." Zero grumbled much to the surprise of his followers, who were not used to seeing that sort of behavior. "Try to survive as long as you can, we'll get there soon."

By the time they got there, the Sutherland was pinned against a wall, rendering the ejection system useless, and about to be stabbed by the KnightPolice's knife. Only a last moment maneuver from Strayed, one many would have thought impossible and that was done out of sheer desperation, got him out of the pinch just in time for the Black Knights to do their job.

The black and white Sutherland ejected its remaining arm violently, sending it towards the KnightPolice Frame and distracting the pilot long enough to throw a low kick to its legs and causing to fall unceremoniously on the hard floor. Strayed moved away from its downed opponent as Lelouch issued his orders.

"Throw the explosives!" Zero commanded, and the magnetized bombs attached to the white unit, all of them connected by a black cable to a detonator Zero carried in his hand. "Goodbye, scum." He stated before pressing it, causing the Frame to go up in flames.

"How's Kallen?" Strayed asked over the line after a second.

"Ohgi and the others are going to use the same method against the enemies pursuing her." Zero replied through the line. "We're going to reinforce them just in case it doesn't work out as well."

Kallen was having difficulties to do anything but run, especially because in the heat of the moment she had ended up grabbing her mother with her free arm and carried her along. Having lost one arm she couldn't even use the second rifle she carried on the Knightmare's waist, and the KnightPolice units were getting closer with each passing second.

"Why?!" She shouted as she kept changing opinion over and over in a manner that would make Tamaki jealous. "Why can't I just throw you away?! Why can't I get rid of you?!"

"Naoto…" Her mother muttered, still under the effects of the drug. "You're such a good boy, mother's proud of you, but you have to look after your sister better."

"Please let him go, mother." Kallen cried as she was fired upon and lost her extra rifle due to a few stray bullets hitting it and detaching it from its position. "My brother's dead! Let him rest in peace!"

"Kallen!" Ohgi's voice reached her through the com line. "Move here, we'll take care of these guys." When he heard no reply from the redhead he added. "Zero's orders."

"Got it." She muttered still in tears and did as told.

The wild chase continued until she reached where she was told to be, a dead end. She was cornered like a rat. But as soon as the two KnightPolice units appeared at the other end of the corridor, a mighty explosion erupted under their feet, engulfing them both.

"We got'em! I knew it would work!" Tamaki shouted as he jumped around victoriously, only to be shut up by one of the units being still functional, albeit charred and burnt. "I knew it was too easy! We should have thought better!" He spat in disgust.

The Black Knights had no choice but to take cover when the enemy unit opened fire on them, fortunately none of them were hit. Ohgi soon opened the radio line and contacted Zero, briefing him on the situation.

"Strayed's on the way." The leader replied with strain in his voice, the sort of strain someone who had run a marathon would display, but none of them had run so much so it was probably his imagination. "What about Q-1?"

"She's protecting a civilian from… Oh, God!" Ohgi's eyes snapped wide open as he recognized who that woman was. "Her mother?"

"Come on, run!" Kallen commanded as she covered the woman as best she could. She had finally realized that she cared about her too much to just let her die here. "Get away! Save yourself!"

"I'm here for you." Her mother started, looking at the Knightmare's camera as if she could tell her daughter was there. "I'm here for you Kallen. I have always been and always will be there for you, no matter what happens."

"Don't tell me…" She cried again, tears running down her face. "The reason you stayed in that house, the reason you never left… was me?" The look on the woman's face was all the confirmation she needed. "You fool!" The KnightPolice unit ran out of bullets and decided that he could risk going in for the kill with the knife. It was about to stab the red Glasgow in the back when, in a surprising display of skill, Kallen used one of the legs to block the attack. "No… I've finally realized that I was the fool." She stated as she shot her Harkens at a nearby wall, a wall with a hole big enough for her unit to go through, but not her unwanted passenger trying to kill her, and pulled herself towards it at maximum speed.

The impact totaled the KnightPolice Frame's cockpit, instantly killing the pilot, whoever it was, just as Strayed made his arrival. The Lynx was out of his frame and running towards the Glasgow faster than anyone would have expected, and breathed out a sigh of relief when Kallen came out of her unit alive, although the girl almost trampled him as she ran for her mother to the amusement of many.

"So that's her mother, huh?" Zero muttered as he took careful note of it.

"False tears bring pain to those around you." C.C. stated as she observed the situation, having followed Lelouch just in case he got into too much trouble and needed help. "A fake smile brings pain to oneself."

"Not the best moment for philosophizing, C.C." A cheerful voice inside her head told her and she mentally sighed, deciding to ignore it. She was not in the mood for this.

The next day, after school, Kallen sat by her mother's bed in the hospital, looking at her inexpressive face. Her mother was suffering from Refrain overdose, meaning she was in a state in which she barely noticed the world around her and couldn't speak more than a few strained words a day, if any at all. It would take her several years to recover from it, but Kallen was sure she could do it.

"You were going to be convicted for this, mother." She started as tears started flowing out of her eyes. "They were going to give you a twenty year sentence, but a friend of mine put a word for you. Turns out he pulled a couple strings and even got dad's help on it, so once you're out of this hospital you'll be free."

Her mother stayed silent, not even showing any sort of reaction that would make her think she had heard her. Still, Kallen was not going to be easily discouraged, looking back over her shoulder at the brown haired teen standing by the door, giving her silent support, she gulped and continued with determination in her voice.

"You'll see, by the time you get out of here, I'll have changed this situation." She told her, still crying. "I won't give up until we have fixed this rotten world we live in and we can be a family again."

"Hang in there." She was startled as she felt her mother's hand over her own, giving her the smallest of squeezes. "I believe in you Kallen, I believe in my little girl." Her mother's voice, despite the strain, was gentle and full of hope.

"I promise you." She replied, crying even more but this time out of happiness at seeing her mother react to her words. She barely felt how the Lynx put a hand on her shoulder, both for comfort and to show her that he was there with her, walking down that path. "I love you, mother."

There was the faintest of smiles on the woman's face when she heard it, although it didn't last long due to her condition, but it was more than enough to convey her feelings to her daughter. Both teenagers stayed until it was time for visits to leave, Kallen exited the room first once the nurse called them, but Hawk took a couple seconds to say something to her friend's mother.

"I promise I'll protect her. So recover soon, for her sake as well." He said out loud, looking at the figure in the bed, and turned to exit the room, only to stop at the faint whisper coming from the almost comatose woman.

"I leave her in your hands." Smiling at what he heard, the Lynx left the room with a look of determination in his eyes.

'I'm not going to lose anyone I care for again.' The Lynx told himself, a silent promise for the future. 'Never again.'

Inside the Throne Room of the Imperial Palace, another reunion was taking place between Aim Liared and the Emperor. Lord Liared, upon returning from his trip to Area 11, had confined himself into researching each and all appearances of the Black Titan, or Sky Ruler as Zero had called it. And as he had suspected, they were nearly the same… The black and white machine had made its debut the same day that structure, which he now knew was named Answerer, had popped into existence close to the Camelot headquarters, and its design reminded him now of a combination of several of the strange Knightmare Frame parts data they had found in the database, the part they had managed to access, of course.

"So you're saying this Sky Ruler is also of alien origin, Lord Liared?" Charles asked, curious. His conversations with the man had been getting rather interesting lately.

"Without a doubt, it took some time to confirm but its shape resembles that of some of the schematics we found on the second level of the Answerer's data." The silver haired scientist explained nervously. "Although it seems to be an amalgam of pieces instead of a fabric design."

"And how are things going with that new energy?"

"We're making progress, but not as much as we'd like." Aim replied, sighing dejectedly. "Professor Graife has spent countless nights examining what little particles we've been able to create using the most basic designs shown in the data, but we have found no way to contain the particles, much less use them as an energy source."

Professor Robert Graife was a prominent member of Camelot, a fifty year old pureblooded Britannian scientist whose only mistake, from a Britannian point of view, had been his taking a Japanese orphan as adoptive son, or grandson, it wasn't clear which one it was. Granted, it had been done a year before Britannia invaded the nation that would become Area 11 and the boy had been swiftly registered as an Honorary Britannian when that happened, but it was still a stain on an otherwise immaculate profile. The boy was also home-schooled and rarely went out so not many knew how he looked like.

"Perhaps there is a certain alloy resistant to the particles' corrosive nature." Charles commented offhandedly, sometimes a non-science related man could inspire a full-fledged investigator if he mentioned the simplest ideas.

"Hmm… You are right, Your Majesty." Aim's eyes sparked at the idea, it was so obvious he had walked over it and not even seen it, and yet it was going to be a hard task to figure it out but he had just the man for the job. "I'll have Professor Ardygun working on that tomorrow morning, he's our best researcher when it comes to alloys and metals."

Professor Blessfield Ardygun, arguably one of the most intelligent men Aim had under his command, was an outstanding expert on the making of Knightmare Frames and specialized on the materials used to make the parts. He had been the one to suggest the composition of the alloy the Lancelots had been made off as well.

However, the man also had a stain in his profile, similar to Professor Graife's in fact, he had married a Japanese woman by the name of Yumi and the pair had given birth to two daughters and one son. It was truly outstanding how a family like his had accepted it, but they apparently had. The wife had died a few years ago, but apart from the occasional bitterness nothing changed for Professor Ardygun. Besides, his daughters were highly intelligent, enough to be considered by Camelot to take in after their studies were over, and the boy showed reflexes comparable to a trained soldier at the age of fourteen, which would make him a good test pilot in the future, so they were useful to keep around.

"It was a pleasure to help you, Lord Liared." The Emperor chuckled in amusement. "Is there something else you'd need of me?"

"If I may…" A nod from the ruler was all he needed to continue taking. "The Engines and Generators inside the Answerer are all but destroyed, leaving us to guess exactly what part does a certain thing. If we had access to a working one things would be different but, right now, we can only keep on trying to replicate them to the best of our ability, so..."

"Hmmm. I will order Cornelia to capture that Sky Ruler on Area 11 if the opportunity presents itself." The giant of a man mused with a hand on his chin. "Double your efforts on cracking those computers further, I shall raise Camelot's budget to cover the expenses of that and your two additional investigations."

"I thank you, Your Majesty."

"Perhaps the Geass Order could lend you some assistance on working your way into the computers." V.V. chimed in, coming into view from the hallway that led to the Emperor's personal quarters and the door to the Sword of Akasha present in the Imperial Palace. "We've been working on a neural connection system between man and machine, the prototype is still in the works but if it proves useful, we'd provide one for you."

"I'm most grateful for your offer, Lord V.V." Aim smiled as he imagined the possibilities of said idea, it was enough to send shivers down his spine. If that was possible he could even connect himself to the well of information that was the Answerer's main computer.

Meanwhile, deep inside the Answerer, one lone computer activated on its own, as it had done for days since the Answerer had been breached and reactivated by the Camelot crew, a black screen with a white loading bar that read "Advanced A.I. Reboot: 20% completed." Under that bar was a name…

"Hustler One".

Well, chapter's over so... how many of you were expecting that last part? Rest easy though, it's taken him almost a month to get through 20% of the reboot, Nineball is still out for a while. I hope you had fun with this chapter and please tell me what you think of what I've shown you about Hawk's past.

Also, I'm not sure if any of you are interested but, since the Eternal took a pivotal role here, I've decided to post its schematics. It's mostly a start-of-the-game NEXT so don't expect anything too impressive:

-AC Name: Eternal

-Lynx: Hawk Magnus

-Body Parts

Head: HD-LANCEL [Rosenthal]

Torso: CR-LANCEL [Rosenthal]

Arms: AM-LANCEL [Rosenthal]

Legs: LG-LANCEL [Rosenthal]

-Weapons

Right Arm: ACACIA Assault Rifle [Algebra]

Left Arm: EB-R500 Laser Blade[Rosenthal]

Backmounted: CG-R500 Chain-Gun x2 [Rosenthal]

Shoulders: SM01-SCYLLA [Interior Union]

Extra weapons: Lare Handgun x2 [Rosenthal]

-Hardware

Targetting system: FS-HOGIRE [Rosenthal]

Engine: GN-Hogire [Rosenthal]

Main Booster: CB-HOGIRE [Rosenthal]

Back Booster: LB-HOGIRE [Rosenthal]

A. Booster: AB-HOGIRE [Rosenthal]

Over Booster: KRB-PALLAS [Omer]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And that's that. Nothing impressive but a good starting mech in my opinion. It's obviously been given a couple more weapons than in the game due to Hawk being adopted by Rosenthal. What kind of foster father swimming in wealth wouldn't provide his adoptive son with the weaponry needed to protect his fortune and kill corporate rivals after all?

Just so you know, next chapter will take more or less the same time to be ready. Now I'm going to focus on Eternal Hawk since my publishing deadline is around the corner. Here's hoping you liked the chapter and thanks for reading. Please review, and don't flame or I'll have Hustler go on a rampage, you all know he's fond of doing that.