Inspiration: This story was partially inspired by another story. In this case it's A Blast From the Past by Shadow At Midnight. Check it out if you want to see just how the hell this got up off the ground.

Phase 3

Maneuvers

Suzaku had been busy with his daily workout routine when he had been roughly pulled up from his push ups by two Britannian soldiers. "Suzaku Kururugi?" He nodded his confirmation and they continued, "The Interim Viceroy Jeremiah Gottwald wants a word with you. Follow us and we'll take you to his office." He knew not to argue and did as he was asked. Though he was confused why they called someone other than Clovis Viceroy and why they would want to talk to him.

Even so he didn't ask as the soldiers knocked on a door. When a man's voice, presumably Jeremiah's, told him to come in he did. "Please sit down if you would, Private Kururugi."

That confused him even more. Very few Britannian's, soldiers or not, would say please when talking to an honorary Britannian. Unsure and wary he slowly sat down. "Lord Gottwald . . . what did you need of me?"

Jeremiah stared at him for a moment, "Relax. You are not in trouble. First off I would like to tell you that you did a good job piloting the Lancelot at Shinjuku. Surprisingly so to be frank."

Suzaku nodded dumbly with his confusion rising, "Thank you."

The Viceroy was amused now before reaching into his breast pocket and pulling out a picture. "The second thing is to talk about this." Jeremiah pushed the picture towards the Suzaku and watched as his face paled.

"That's . . . Lelouch and Nunnally." His fear about Lelouch spiked, "He's okay isn't he? I was scared for him yesterday in Shinjuku." He only let it be known that he saw Lelouch only the day before because there was only a small number of reasons he could think of why Jeremiah would bring it up. One of which was the worry that they found Lelouch's dead body.

The orange-eyed man blinked, "I . . . yes. They are fine as far as we know, but they escaped when we discovered them on accident. Apparently Prince Lelouch was prepared for such a possibility. You saw his highness at Shinjuku? Could you tell me the circumstances behind that before I continue on?" Jeremiah paused for a few moments when another question occurred to him. "By the way. Why aren't you referring to them by their full birthright?"

Suzaku was embarrassed now because he was so used to not doing that for his friends. He should have remembered that in this situation he should of used their titles. "Well back when we were kids they were adamant that I call them just by their names. At least so long as the situation allowed for it. It was rare for the occasion to be formal enough for that back then. I'm too used to not using them."

Suzaku fidgeted slightly under the scrutiny of Jeremiah's gaze, "I understand. I'll let it slide since they didn't want you to call them by their birthright. Knowing that their highness's trusted you so much I'll just refer to you by name as well. If you wish to call me by mine you can. For the moment. Now about Shinjuku."

"I ran across Lelouch in the subway with the poison gas." He grinned nervously, "Well I actually attacked him first. With my helmet on in the darkness of the tunnel I couldn't recognize him. It was only when he spoke and I was closer to him that I realized it was Lelouch."

Jeremiah muttered, "I always tell the scientists that those helmets make it to recognize friend from enemy. They never listen . . . or just don't care."

"Uh . . . Sir?

He blinked before realizing he had gone off on a small tangent. Shaking his head Jeremiah turned his full attention back to Suzaku. "You say he was with the poison gas. Do you know if he had helped steal it?"

Suzaku shook his head in the negative, "I don't think he was based on what he managed to say before the Royal Guard arrived. I reported my discovery of the truck before I approached it. I don't know the details, but I think he was there by coincidence."

He felt uncomfortable as he remembered what was really in the gas container. It was something Suzaku still couldn't quite understand. He just knew there was something sinister behind the lie they were told in briefing. Jeremiah could see how antsy the soldier in front of him had gotten and he was curious why. "What is wrong Suzaku?"

His eyes widened as he realized the Viceroy had noticed what he was feeling. "I-I feel like I should tell you something important that also occurred before the royal guard arrived." Suzaku was hesitant in case Jeremiah already knew, but he had to tell him just in case. "The gas canister opened on its own."

"WHAT?!"

"And instead of there being any case at all . . . a girl fell out. I know it sounds unbelievable, but what reason would I have to lie about this? Shortly after this the Royal Guards appeared, but I don't know what happened after that point."

Jeremiah's eyes narrowed as he made connections that Suzaku wouldn't. "If what he says is true then even the Purist Faction was lied to. The girl must have been apart of something dangerous that Prince Clovis had been working on. What though is the question." He kept his thoughts to himself as he looked back over the report of Shinjuku. "One other thing Suzaku. The reports states you were treated for a gunshot wound. One you were lucky to survive. What happened?"

Suzaku fell into a silent contemplation for several minutes, but Jeremiah gave him the time he needed. "When the Royal Guard found Lelouch and I they told me that I shouldn't be near whoever that girl was. Then said that I just had to kill the terrorist and my transgression would be forgiven. They wouldn't listen when I tried to tell them he was just an innocent civilian that got caught up in the battle."

The Viceroy scowled as he could imagine exactly what happened next, "And you refused to shoot his highness to save yourself. Or at least have a chance of doing so. That's admirable of you."

He slowly nodded, "They shot me in the back. Everything when black and the next thing I remember is Lloyd waking me up to offer the chance to pilot the Lancelot. Which I took partly in the hope I could find Lelouch and that girl alive."

Jeremiah grimaced at the confirmation of the girl being apart of something top secret, "Congratulations on becoming the pilot by the way. I've watched recordings on your performance. You're clearly a natural at it." He paused for a moment before going into what Lelouch had been up to while he was piloting the Lancelot. "As you know the prince and princess are alive and well, but he did more than survive Shinjuku. What you don't know is that after the Royal Guard attempted to kill his highness he joined the battle."

Suzaku's eyes widened as he realized how the terrorists suddenly started to win. "He lead the terrorists to victory didn't he?" Jeremiah confirmed it with a nod, "Damn it! I knew he hated the empire, but I had hoped it had faded after all these years." Suzaku noticed the grave look on the Margrave's face, "I drove him off though. He didn't do anything else . . . right?"

It was being kept on the down low for now, but Jeremiah felt that Suzaku wouldn't spread the news. It was the impression he got of his character. "He admitted to, in written form, having ended the battle with killing Prince Clovis."

"He did what?!"

Jeremiah then whispered, "You heard me correctly, Suzaku. What I'm about to tell you is confidential information that cannot be repeated to anyone in the Area Eleven government except for either Princess Euphemia or our next Viceroy Princess Cornelia. If you spread this out to anyone other than those two people and the Student Council of Ashford Academy, I will ensure that you never progress beyond the rank of Warrant Officer as long as I am around here! Do you understand, Suzaku Kururugi!?"

Suzaku was silent as an internal conflict began. Part of him wanted to immediately head out and search for Lelouch before arresting him while another part wanted to simply question why Lelouch killed Clovis. Before it could be resolved, Jeremiah then asked, "Are you okay, Suzaku? You're spacing out a little."

With his attention dragged back to Earth Suzaku immediately answered, "I'm alright, Jeremiah. I had an internal conflict start up. I understand what you said earlier and will not utter a single word about this to anyone except for either Princess Cornelia or Princess Euphemia."

"In any case, I mentioned Ashford Academy's Student Council because they are the only other people who can be trusted with this information." Jeremiah said before he then proceeded to tell Suzaku what transpired at the Academy. When the margrave was finished, Suzaku felt really conflicted about Lelouch's actions. On one hand, what the Emperor had tried to do with Nunnally was something that the young Honorary Britannian would object to while on the other hand he felt that Lelouch was wrong for siding with 'terrorists' and killing a member of his own family. Suzaku sighed in frustration before he said, "I guess I can somewhat understand why Lelouch won't change the system from within just like me, but I still think that he's wrong for fighting against his own people and family!"

"Suzaku, Lelouch and Nunnally admitted that they no longer counted themselves amongst the Royal Family when the Kururugi Shrine was bombed. There was also the possibility that the OSI could have discovered them and reported their survival to the Emperor, which would then lead to another assassination attempt on Lelouch and likely kidnapping Nunnally. I could only infer from what Lelouch wrote that he was planning to rebel against Britannia for a long time and Shinjuku merely accelerated the timetable by a number of years. I myself used to protect them as a guard at the Aries Villa before their mother died and Nunnally blinded and crippled. But this meeting is dragging out long enough right now. If my suspicions are right, Kewell is planning something stupid and I'd rather not get dragged into it. Clovis's death has been covered up until a suspect has been captured and it's likely that the unfortunate victim will be an Honorary Britannian. I told him that I'm doing my own investigation, so if you end up being suspected I won't vouch agianst you."

Suzaku then got up and said, "It's been a pleasure meeting with you, Lord Jeremiah." before he left. He didn't get to take more than five steps before Kewell arrived and said, "Kururugi Suzaku,was it? Or is it the other way around? Nevertheless, you're under arrest for killing Prince Clovis!"

'What!?' was Suzaku's only thought before he was hit from behind and blacked out.

Kallen and Ohgi returned to give Lelouch their answer to his offer. "Before you give your answer to my offer, I would like to tell you that something occurred in the homeland." he said.

"What happened there?" Kallen asked.

"The Glinda Knights, that's what happened. Marrybell mel Britannia, a princess of Britannia and 88th in line to the throne, has established the Glinda Knights in an effort to wipe out all terrorist groups, including you guys and the JLF. The only good news is that it's going to be at least four months before they arrive here."

"In any case, we've talked things out with the other members and we decided that we'll join you. Also, apparently Suzaku Kururugi has been arrested and charged with killing Prince Clovis." Ohgi stated.

"It looks like the Purist Faction is behind this. Coincedentally, they were the same military forces who stormed Ashford Academy early yesterday. If my intuition is correct, they plan to use Suzaku in an attempt to eliminate the Honorary Britannian system here in Japan. Their leader Jeremiah Gottwald used to be a guard at the Aries Villa and is presently the Interim Viceroy, but I don't think that he is behind this. I suspect that another member of the Purist Faction is pulling the strings." Lelouch replied.