"Lelouch."- speaking

"Roger."- Radio/Walkie-Talkie

Former Japanese Liberation Front base holding cells, Narita Mountain, April, 2018.

Jeremiah Gottwald really wanted to break out of his cell and find out who Zero was, but at the moment it was completely impossible for him to even move since he was bound to his chair by iron chains. It was mortifying for him since the Black Knights had extracted all important information from the former guardsman after five brutal torture sessions. Worse, Zero never presided over any of them as he often had other business to attend to. The blue-haired guard had been subjected to power drills boring holes into his leg bones, zapped by electrical currents, waterboarding, and even challenged to a drinking game. His captors made a point to not kill him since Zero made it clear that Jeremiah would serve an important role later because of the Geass Canceller in his left eye.

Although Euphemia wasn't tortured, C.C. had restored the Third Princess's memories upon arrival and as a result Zero had her locked within a stasis field in addition to a holding cell just to prevent the pink-haired young woman from killing anyone. The stasis field was being maintained by a stasis field generator receiving energy from a power generator outside the base that was disguised as a boulder so that nobody would suspect anything and the stasis field had Euphemia completely immobilized. Even then, the holding cell that held the Third Princess had been designed so that it was impossible for one person to open it; it required five people entering the door code at the same time. The stasis field was only disabled for fifteen minute intervals every six hours to allow her to eat, drink, and handle personal hygiene. Just to make sure that any Black Knights with loyalty issues held in the holding cells didn't subject Euphemia to prison rape, her holding cell had a personal shower inside.

The door to Jeremiah's cell opened and Tamaki stepped in along with two Black Knights wearing gas masks.

"What is it now? Feeling like subjecting me to another torture session? I already gave you all of the information that I had." The blue-haired guard said.

"Nope. Zero wants to talk to you. He sent me to drag you to the command center. Boys, release his restraints." Tamaki said.

The gas mask-wearing members of the Black Knights proceeded to remove the iron chains and then grabbed Jeremiah before following Tamaki to the command center. Once there, Tamaki said to Zero, "Boss, I've brought you the specified prisoner."

Zero turned around and said, "Very good, Tamaki. Cover his left eye so that he can't use his Geass Canceller."

Tamaki proceeded to cover the covering over Jeremiah's left eye with his left hand so that even if the blue-haired man wanted to, he couldn't use his Geass Canceller. Zero then removed his helmet and said, "Remember this, Orange Boy?"

"N- No way! It- It's you! Lelouch vi Britannia, the only son of late Empress Marianne vi Britannia!" Jeremiah exclaimed, surprised to find that the long-thought to be dead Eleventh Prince was Zero.

"Correct, although to the public at large, Lelouch was executed by the Black Knights for being a spy. Thanks to Diethard Ried, I've convinced most of the world that I am dead by publicly broadcasting a body double of me being executed for espionage. Anyways, I offer you a choice."

"Clearly I can choose to either join your organization or remain with Britannia. If I remain with Britannia, obviously I'll either be executed or remain imprisoned. However, I swore loyalty to Empress Marianne and her children and I place that loyalty above my own oaths to the Empire. Therefore, I will defect from Britannia and join the Black Knights."

"I must leave for two days to check Rakshata's progress on the Shinkiro in ten minutes. Once I leave, you will be allowed full access to the resources of the Black Knights. Please, be aware that you are and will still be restrained until I leave. When I return, I will catch you up to speed on our goals and current situation."

Zero then left the command center and ten minutes later when Tamaki's radio buzzed, he brought it up to his ear with his right hand and said, "This is Tamaki."

"I've left the base. Jeremiah is no longer to be restrained and his current order from me is to see Princess Euphemia for the purpose of using his Geass Canceller on her. Once he is inside her cell and the door is closed, disable the stasis field so that the Geass Canceller can work its magic." Zero transmitted.

"Understood." Tamaki said before cutting the transmission and saying, "Boys, let him go."

The two Black Knights that were holding Jeremiah Gottwald released him and then Tamaki stopped covering the metal cover that shielded Jeremiah's left eye before he said, "Zero's orders for you right now are to head back into the holding cell area and head for where we are holding Princess Euphemia. Once we open the door, head inside her holding cell and wait until the stasis field immobilizing the Princess is disabled. Once the field is down, use your Geass Canceller on Euphemia."

"Okay, but why immobilize Princess Euphemia with a stasis field? Isn't a holding cell enough?" Jeremiah asked.

"Euphemia is currently under the influence of a Geass order that is compelling her to kill any Eleven that she sees, so the stasis field is for our own safety as well as hers. I don't know how it works, but a stasis field also interferes with Geass and anyone who is trapped in one, such as Princess Euphemia right now, cannot be affected by Geass while the stasis field is active, regardless of if the Geass works by eye contact or not. It works both ways too, so if a Geass user is trapped in one, he or she can't use it to break out and I'm sure that the same restriction applies to the Geass Canceller." Tamaki said before telling the blue-haired man about Geass and its effects.

Jeremiah went down to the holding cell area and waited outside of the cell that was holding the Third Princess. There were five members of the Black Knights waiting at five separate wall panels that were all connected to the same door. They saw him and nodded as they entered the door codes at the same time. Upon doing so, the cell door opened and Jeremiah entered it before it closed behind him. Jeremiah then saw that a mysterious blue glow currently surrounded Euphemia. He concluded that it must be the stasis field and waited for it to shut off. Upon doing so, the blue glow shimmered before disappearing and it was then that the metal cover that was over the former guardsman's left eye retreated and revealed an inverted Geass symbol that was blue in color.

The red rings that were around Euphemia's eyes disappeared as they stared directly into the gaze of the Geass Canceller. After they did so, the metal cover reappeared over Jeremiah's left eye and the Third Princess was left in a daze before she said, "Huh? What happened to me?"

"I used my Geass Canceller on you, your highness. Do you remember anything about what you had been ordered to do?"

"Y- Yes. I had been told to kill the Japanese. I- I really didn't want to follow it, but. . . I had no choice but to follow that order." Euphemia said as tears formed in her eyes before she broke down and cried into Jeremiah's chest. Once she was done crying Jeremiah told her, "As it stands right now, we are currently inside the former Headquarters of the Japanese Liberation Front at Narita Mountain. The Black Knights have taken it over and we're using it as our primary base for the time being. According to some of them, Britannia has been abusing its power and those that are unfit to rule are either cast out or crushed underneath the Empire's massive foot."

"And what about the Special Administrative Zone?"

"It failed, your highness. Zero and the Black Knights were left with no choice but to kill you and Cornelia's response was to start getting the military ready to kill Elevens by the hundreds. They never got the opportunity to commit genocide as Zero parleyed with Cornelia and managed to get her to agree to allowing the Black Knights to leave Area Eleven in exchange for not murdering any Elevens that remained in the country. The only ones who stayed in the end were the Honorary Britannians. Everyone else, including the Six Houses of Kyoto, had opted to leave."

After the cell door was opened again, Euphemia was escorted into a small room where Kallen waited and from there further details were explained. Once the two Black Knights were done talking, Princess Euphemia reiterated, "So the Chinese Federation and the Black Knights have joined forces and launched an invasion of Area Eleven?"

"Correct. We currently control both the Kyushu and Hokkaido islands and the Chinese have been fortifying their defenses on the islands while the Black Knights engage the Britannian military in guerrilla warfare here on Honshu. The main focus is on Mount Fuji as there are plans for the Sakuradite mines there to be used as weapons of last resort in case of a successful attack on the Tokyo Settlement by the Empire's enemies. Essentially, Schneizel has been ordered to detonate the Sakuradite mines and render Area Eleven uninhabitable if the Tokyo Settlement cannot be held by Britannian forces. Zero wishes to make sure that such a tactic doesn't work and as a result many of the attacks so far have been in the Mount Fuji area. Quite a few of the mines have been captured and many more have been shuttered because of the fighting, so production has fallen by around 65%. That being said, whenever the Black Knights shut down a mine, they send troops in to conduct a final sweep and dispose of any explosives. Capturing a mine is basically the same thing, but is harder to do since it also requires not damaging or destroying too much of the mining equipment before the final sweep is made." Kallen answered.

"In any case, since you are no longer being influenced by Geass your situation will change. You'll be treated as an honored guest instead of a regular prisoner of war, although you will still not be allowed to leave the base. In all honesty, it's better than what the current Viceroy has to deal with." Jeremiah said to Euphemia.

Meanwhile at the Area Eleven Administration Building, specifically inside the Viceroy's office, Fourth Princess Nunnally vi Britannia sneezed while sitting at her desk and Alice asked her, "Are you alright, your highness?"

"Yes, Alice. However, I feel as if someone is talking about me while I cannot talk to them." Nunnally answered sadly.

"I hope that this doesn't foreshadow any trouble for any of us. The nobility is corrupt enough as it is right now. Next thing I know, they'll try to push in some measure that will let them leech more money away from both the commoners and the Honorary Britannians. On to more pleasant business, in two days we will be hosting a tour of the building that has been put into that day's schedule so that we can show the Student Council of Ashford Academy around for their field trip. The Student Council will be expected to arrive around 10:05 AM, so we need to be ready to greet them at 11:45 when the tour visits the Viceroy's Office."