"Lelouch"- speaking

'Baka.'- thoughts

"Roger."- Radio/Walkie-Talkie

Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven Administration Building, Knightmare Hangar, June 25th, 2018.

Cornelia let out a long sigh as technicians finished up their maintenance of her personal Gloucester. The Battle of Tokyo had ended up raging for no less than sixteen hours straight and even though the Britannian army won, they had taken massive casualties defending the Tokyo Settlement from the Chinese attack. While reinforcements were going to arrive in the form of half a million soldiers, it would take them around a month to get them all into position. Hokkaido and Kyushu were also sore points since the Chinese had fortified the hell out of the two islands after kicking the Britannians out. Of course, the Black Knights had completely shut down or captured all of the Sakuradite mines at Mount Fuji, so retaking them was also going to be a major priority.

Guilford and Darlton had both survived the Battle of Tokyo and were eager to confront the Black Knights. The Glinda Knights and their leader Princess Marrybell had also survived due to them being nowhere near Tokyo when combat had broken out and they had their own reasons for wanting to fight the Black Knights. Schneizel of course was trying to figure out who Zero was and wanted to capture him, unaware that both Cornelia and Marrybell knew that Zero was Lelouch. Both Gino and Anya were aware that the Black Knights had bases everywhere in the Chinese Federation and Orpheus had told everyone that after the Black Knights had escaped Narita, they had taken Nunnally with them to the Chinese Federation but he didn't know where they took her within the Federation's territory. The Glinda Knights and the two Knights of the Round knew that finding out where Nunnally was being held and rescuing her was top priority since she had planned to make a second attempt at starting a Special Administration Zone, but the Black Knights had kidnapped her before she could even begin having Alice write down a rough draft for the plan.

The number of soldiers being deployed to Area Eleven wasn't to secure Britannia's grip on Japan though; it was preparation for a massive counterattack against China. Ever since the declaration of war, the Chinese had been persistent in harassing the Britannian military's presence in Southeast Asia. Schneizel in particular noticed that because of the frequent attacks in the area, construction of the Damocles was delayed for two entire weeks only to get back on track one day later. Cambodia, where the Damocles was being constructed at, was part of the front lines and delays from there could compromise the plan he had in mind to usurp Emperor Charles. The delay had been compensated for by shifting scientists off of other projects over to Damocles, but the process took a large chunk of the day and Schneizel did not want to work himself to death.

A transmission came in from the Avalon and Cornelia answered it, "This is Cornelia."

Schneizel's face appeared as he said, "I'll be testing the FLEIJA in one week at a testing site in Cambodia. Recommend that you do not deploy any forces in Cambodia until FLEIJA's power can be assessed if you plan to counterattack through there."

"I wasn't planning to go through Cambodia for the counterattack. My plan is to charge in from Russia along with the Glinda Knights and begin searching through the Federation for where the Black Knights have taken Fourth Princess Nunnally vi Britannia. Once we find out where they are holding her, we'll attack that base and rescue her. Naturally, Darlton and his Glaston Knights are part of my forces since I want them to have a chance to prove their worth. All of my troops will be in position in about sixty more hours. Once I'm with them, the counterattack is on. Cornelia out."

Cornelia cut the transmission and began to get ready to join her men in Russia. Meanwhile in a secret base somewhere in the Chinese Federation, Rivalz was busy typing away at a terminal in his room and knew that Milly was lying on her stomach on his bed while wearing only a yellow bra and matching pair of panties. Rivalz didn't mind that she was almost naked; after the meeting that revealed to the captured members of the Student Council that Lelouch was Zero, Rivalz managed to get Zero's approval to have Milly transferred from an ordinary cell to his room. This did cause rumors to start up that the blue-haired boy had slept with her. Even though the rumors were technically true, Rivalz was not yet given an opportunity to engage in sexual intercourse with Milly due to exhaustion.

Milly knew that Rivalz wanted her, but she was also aware that he was a Black Knight and had duties to attend to so for now she settled for being in her undergarments most of the time and that did get the sort of attention that Milly wanted from him. The Ashford heiress knew that she liked it when the blue-haired boy played around with her breasts whenever they had a moment for themselves together. Of course, she also helped him strip his clothes off before the blue-haired young man went to bed. Although Milly did like him messing around with her large breasts, she found it relaxing and lovely when Rivalz caressed her ass. She however knew that she also showered with Rivalz and quite a few times when they showered together Milly rubbed her rear end against his groin.

Rivalz noticed something and when he clicked on it, it was a message from Zero stating that Rivalzs had the next two days off. Smirking, Rivalz turned to Milly and said, "Well, Lelouch saw fit to give me the rest of today and all of tomorrow off. I guess that both of us won't be getting much sleep tonight, Milly?"

Milly got up onto her feet, her hair falling down to the middle of her back and smiled before saying, "Oh yes, Rivalz. We are both not getting much sleep tonight. That rapid hair growth lotion really caused a bit of trouble for me the first time I used it, but now I'm glad that I did."

Rivalz knew what she was talking about: One member of the Black Knights had created a unique hair lotion that accelerated hair growth to the point where someone who used it after getting a haircut would end up with hair that tended to exceed five feet in length after ten days. Although many female members of the Black Knights had bottles of the stuff, only Kaguya used it and that was so that she could grow her long black hair down to her cute butt. Kallen preferred to keep her hair short while who knew what Inoue was thinking.

In Zero's quarters, Lelouch and Nunnally were both busy going over a plan. "Yes Nunnally, this might work well for us since a counter-offensive will be launched soon. If the plan is successful, we'll have both Cornelia and Marrybel as allies. Schneizel is the only complication in this plan since I remember him being the only one to defeat me at chess before our mother was killed. He has something planned, and I don't know what it is. Regardless, I will not allow him or anyone else to separate the two of us from each other." Lelouch said to his younger sister.

Nunnally simply smiled at that statement and lightly pecked Lelouch on the cheek before asking, "Will you be heading out into the field?"

"No, this time I am content to allow Tohdoh to lead the main forces. I placed him as my second-in-command earlier this month."

Meanwhile inside a holding cell, Alice was aware that Lelouch was Zero and she was currently thinking over whether she should betray the Britannians and side with the former Eleventh Prince. She knew that Nunnally only wanted to be with her older brother and since he was the leader of the Black Knights, it meant that she was now part of his rebellion. On the same note, Cornelia and other members of the Britannian Military would likely be pissed at Alice for not only failing to prevent the Black Knights from kidnapping Nunnally, but also getting kidnapped herself. Her thoughts occasionally focused on the brown-haired boy guarding her cell, but more often than not Alice foucsed back on her own plight. That got interrupted about forty-five minutes later when the boy opened the cell door and asked, "Is something wrong, miss? You've been staring at the wall for over ten minutes now."

"Oh, I have? I've now come to a decision regarding my loyalties. I shall join the Black Knights, but I only do so for Lady Nunnally." Alice replied.

The boy pulled out a radio from somewhere in his uniform and said, "Zero, this is Rolo. Alice has just said that she is only joining us for Nunnally's sake. Your orders?"

"Alice is no longer to be detained in a holding cell. I can trust that she is given a new change of clothing before she is escorted to my quarters, Rolo?"

"Yes, Zero. I will ensure that she is cleaned up and given new clothes before she arrives. Rolo out." Rolo said before putting the radio away. He then said to Alice, "Follow me, miss Alice. I am sure that being in that cell for so long has done damage to your personal hygeine."

Alice followed Rolo to a bathroom that contained a personal shower with a curtain and he said to her, "Please shower in here. A female member of the Black Knights will deliver a change of clothes for you."

Rolo exited the bathroom and Alice stripped off all her clothes and placed them near the sink before she began showering. The torrent of hot water felt heavenly to her as she washed herself. After about fifteen minutes, Alice stepped out of the shower and began to dry herself when she heard a knock on the door.

"Um, can I come in? Your clothes are here, miss Alice." a female member of the Black Knights said as Alice wrapped a towel around herself.

"It's alright now."

The female member of the Black Knights that was outside came into the bathroom and gave Alice her Black Knight uniform before picking up the girl's old clothes and asking, "Shall I have these washed or thrown out?"

"Please have them washed and delivered to my new quarters." Alice said. The female Black Knight then left to do so as Alice closed the door behind her and took the towel off before inspecting her uniform. It consisted of a black buttoned blouse worn under a black jacket, a black miniskirt, and a red-visored black hat. Putting it on, Alice made a mental note to get some underwear so that her womanhood wouldn't be exposed to the world if a breeze lifted her skirt up.

Making her way to Zero's quarters while Rolo escorted her, she passed by Tamaki and a few other Black Knights. Tamaki simply looked at her for a few minutes before snorting and then returning to what he was doing earlier, which was telling how Zero had Kallen spar with him to see how good she was at martial arts. She then arrived at Zero's quarters and knocked before entering.

Inside Zero's quarters, Lelouch was sitting in a chair while Nunnally was on Lelouch's lap. Alice saw that her protectee was wearing a pink minidress that had the hemline end at her thighs while Lelouch was in his Zero outfit except for the helmet. "Lord Zero, Alice has arrived." Rolo said in a monotonous tone.

"Good work, Rolo. You are dismissed." Lelouch said to Rolo. The brown-haired boy then left.

Lelouch then said to Alice, "Alice, just be aware that Nunnally is not a combatant and won't be going out into combat. I'll need you here as a bodyguard for her since there are going to be times where I will need to oversee the Black Knights. I haven't been in contact with Sayoko Shinozaki for almost an entire year now and I don't even know where she is right now, so I'm afraid that you are currently my best option."

A brown haired Japanese woman wearing a Shinobi outfit stepped out of the shadows of the room and said, "Goshujin-sama, I have neither seen nor heard of you for almost an entire year. I was suspicious as to why you abandoned Lady Nunnally."

"Oh, you just arrived Sayoko. This is going to be a long tale, so you'd better listen since I'm only going to say this once."

Lelouch explained what he had been doing ever since abandoning Nunnally after the SAZ Massacre to ther present day. Sayoko remained silent as he explained. "And that's where we currently stand now." Lelouch said as he finished.

"Goshujin-sama, while I am impressed by what has happened so far, why did you feel that it was necessary to make the entire world believe that you were dead?" Sayoko asked.

"I did not want Nunnally to try to seek me out. Rumors would have spread that I would be alive when Nunnally was forced back into the Imperial Family had I done nothing, so I had sent out a video of a body double of me being executed by the Black Knights beforehand to prevent those rumors from being spread in the first place. Call it a preventive measure, if you will. Anyways, since the world believed that I was dead I led the Black Knights as Zero and established our power base here in the Chinese Federation. This was all over a six month period, mind you." Lelouch answered.

"That is actually reasonable. I now know that you kidnapped Lady Nunnally to get her away from the Imperial Family and that you intend to liberate my homeland. Knowing your intentions now, I shall continue to protect Lady Nunnally on your behalf. I shall share this responsiblility with Miss Alice, should you desire that."

"That is indeed a good idea Sayoko. You and Alice will need to protect Nunnally and myself whenever I am around her. Sometimes I have to personally step in to lead the Black Knights, so I want all angles covered. Also, when Nunnally found out that I was Zero and that Princess Euphemia was alive and part of the Black Knights, I found out the hard way that she can't hate me for what I do or for what I have done. That isn't even the end of it either. With the help of the Black Knights R&D department and the medical division, I was able to give my sister the use of her legs back."

Nunnally simply smiled before kissing Lelouch and that caused Sayoko to comment, "It seems that Lady Nunnally is smitten with you, Goshujin-sama, and not in the way that is between siblings. She seems very happy despite the hardship she experienced before finding out that you were Zero."

"Indeed. Alice, this might seem like a sensitive topic, but I want you to hear me out anyway. Before the Black Knights began their invasion of Area Eleven, we attacked an organization called the Geass Order. According to Rolo, you were a member of that organization." Lelouch said to Alice.

"That was correct, Lelouch. You and the Black Knights destroyed the Order and killed all of its members except for myself, Rolo, Jeremiah, and the leader V.V." Alice replied.

"You had been assigned to my sister when the attack occurred and V.V. wasn't at the Sanctuary either. Jeremiah was captured and as for Rolo, he betrayed the Order and is now a member of the Black Knights."

Nunnally got off her older brother's lap and then said, "Since you are now a member of the Black Knights, please be aware that you won't have to worry about Cornelia. Lelouch has a plan to bring her over to our side. Is that correct, Onii-sama?"

"That is correct, Nunnally."

"Anyways, since Lelouch tells me about some of the antics that the other members engage in, I will admit that I do have some antics of my own."

"So what would one of your antics be? I can imagine that you have at least one antic that leaves your brother blushing like crazy."

Nunnally simply smiled and then took off her minidress, revealing not only that she had a pink bra on underneath the minidress but that she was also wearing a pair of pink panties. Lelouch blushed heavily as he turned his head away and said, "You just had to open your mouth and say that, Alice. Then again, Nunnally would have done this anyway since she knows that I'm smitten with her as well."

Nunnally got back onto Lelouch's lap and giggled before she said to him, "You're correct, Lelouch. I would have done this anyway."

Meanwhile in a secluded and dark room of the Imperial Palace at Pendragon, V.V. was in front of five people who were now wearing robes that signified them as members of the Geass Order. "Alright, the five of you are the new soldiers of the Geass Order. You all have five objectives for your first mission." V.V. said before a tactical screen appeared behind him.

"Your objectives are, in sequence of importance, to secure the immortal known as C.C., to terminate the traitor Rolo, to eliminate Zero, to destroy the Black Knights, and retrieve the blind cripple. Is that clear?"

The soldiers nodded in agreement and then V.V. said, "Just be aware that our plans will be in jeopardy should you fail. I advise you to not do so."

The soldiers then left the room. V.V. left afterward and entered the Imperial Throne Room and saw Bismarck Waldstein approach Charles.

"Ah, good to see you, brother. This is my Knight of One, Bismarck Waldstein. Waldstein, my immmortal brother V.V." Charles said in an uncaring tone.

"Pleased to meet you, V.V. I am Bismarck Waldstein, the best Knight of the Holy Britannian Empire. I am aware of the situation in Southeast Asia and I can see His fingerprints all over it, even though He's supposed to be dead." Bismarck said to V.V.

"Lelouch is too much of a problem to let him run around unchecked, Charles. I need all of the Knights of the Round to attack China so that we can eliminate him." V.V. stated.

"I was planning to dispatch the other Rounds there anyway to secure Area Eleven, but you wish to know why? It's because half a million soldiers are being deployed there to hold the Area while Schneizel, Cornelia, and Marrybel counterattack with the Rounds into Chinese territory." Charles replied.

A royal guard came in and said, "Your Majesty, Cornelia one again became Viceroy of Area Eleven."

"WHAT!? Did some problem come up that Nunnally couldn't handle?" Charles asked.

"That's the problem, your Majesty. Fourth Princess Nunnally vi Britannia was kidnapped by the Black Knights in a brazen attack on the Viceroy's Palace. I imagine that you did not hear Princess Cornelia's address to the nation since you were busy. I have it recorded just in case anyone forgot about why she became Viceroy of Area Eleven again."

"Play the recording."

The royal guard led V.V., Emperor Charles, and Bismarck into a situation room and pulled out a remote before pressing a button. A TV screen in the room turned on to play Cornelia's address to the Empire. Through the entire recording all of them remained silent and when it ended, it was played again just to make sure that they didn't miss anything.

"This recording is 110% accurate. It was not manipulated in any way, your Majesty." the royal guard said, fearing for his life.

"It seems that I should have kept Nunnally here in the Capital instead of sending her off to Area Eleven. Now that Lelouch has her, it will be much more difficult to defeat him."

"Hindsight is 20/20, your Majesty. Along with the other Knights of the Round, I'll ensure that Nunnally is returned safe and sound." Bismarck said while maintaining a poker face.

With Guinevere and Carine, both of them were with Odysseus in a room of Belial Palace. "Well, this has been one crazy day for us hasn't it?" Odysseus asked.

"You're too correct, dear brother. My home was bombed by the common folk while I was with Carine on a little shopping spree." Guinevere answered.

"It's kinda bad since we'll have to get new servants, but at the same time who can blame the commoners? Many of them have risen up in rebellion across the Empire ever since Princess Euphemia revealed that she was now with the Black Knights after her sudden return." Carine stated.

"You know, for all the trouble that Zero has caused the Empire so far, he won't be around muhc longer. Cornelia and Marrybel are planning to attack the Chinese Federation along with Sir Wadstein and the other Knights of the Round. As for the Knights already in Area Eleven, I'm not very sure about Miss Anya Alstreim but I do know that Gino Wineberg has a good head on his shoulders."

Odysseus rolled his eyes at Guinevere discreetly. He knew that she called Bismarck Waldstein 'Wadstein' and Gino Weinberg 'Wineberg' as a sort-of affectionate nickname when she got to know them. Both Bismarck and Gino actually liked the nicknames that Guinevere gave them and occasionally introduced themselves by their nickname, leading to some hilarity. Then again, Nonette Enneagram called Bismarck 'Bizzy' and the Emperor himself was called 'Charlie' when the Knight of Nine wasn't amongst nobility.