Code Geass - A Brave New World

by nightbringer24

(Pretty heavily inspired by Ripped Away) What happens when a young man from our world is transported into the world of Code Geass? Watch as our unfortunate hero is thrust into situations he doesn't fully understand, but tries to make the most of it. R1 Arc in progress.

33. Chapter 32

AN: This took a good while to do. But it's done. At least this fic can still be called alive.

---

The sounds and sights of gunfire and explosions filled the night sky. Even from his position on top of one of the dock cranes on the opposite side of the port, Ohgi could see what was going on with a clear field of vision.

And that wasn't much, even with binoculars.

"Zero was not joking about it being 'hellfire'," Ohgi muttered out loud as he tracked the progress of the diversionary force. Although how such a force could be considered a 'diversion' and not the main attacking force was lost on Ohgi.

Not that he cared in the slightest. What he was focused on was trying to find his friend in the whole, stinking mess.

Though that was easier said than done. All of the action was taking place away from the water front, the only signs of progress being intermittent explosions and palls of smoke from behind buildings. Ohgi could see fighters running along the water's edge of the port, accompanied by the odd one or two Burai, though they were never in view for long. Either from moving out of sight between the buildings to get to the main fight, or from getting hit by the Britannian's helicopter gunships. In reply, a missile or two would streak out up at them. Each time, the helicopters let loose a burst of flares from behind them as they jinked away, creating a strange patchwork or light against the night sky.

But still, through all that smoke and fire, there was not one sign of Kallen.

"I'm glad that I'm not in there."

The voice to Ohgi's side made him turn away from the spectacle as he saw one of his squad look away bashfully at what he said. Not that Ohgi could blame him. He would not want to be there either.

"It's marvellous."

Although there was always one person, and of course it had to be Diethard Reid. Ohgi couldn't help but look at the Britannian in equal parts disgust and confusion as Diethard held a small, handheld video camera to record the scene unfolding before them.

"To think that just one person could orchestrate such chaos, such action against Britannia. Zero really is on a whole other level to all others in this world."

Looking at the man's face, Ohgi saw a look of sheer excitement and admiration on Diethard's face as he held the camera in steady hands.

It worried Ohgi.

"Taichou!" One of squad members called out. "I see movement at the Viceroy's position!"

Turning to look at the point, Ohgi raised his binoculars to his eyes again. Refocusing the magnification of the device, Ohgi trained it onto the position at the edge of the docks that he knew Viceroy Cornelia's Royal Guard to have taken shelter at. It was a pockmarked and scorched area of shipping containers, each one stacked tall enough to hide a Knightmare behind them.

So that's why Ohgi felt his eyes open wide as he saw a Knightmare, green in colour, dash out from cover away from the fighting, in full view of the Black Knight's own Burais and speed headlong towards the main port complex, where the heaviest fighting was.

"What the hell?" Ohgi asked out loud, lowering his binoculars as he watched the machine with his naked eye speed away. It was much faster than any standard Britannian machine, and the whole design was… much different to every others he'd seen, even the Lancelot. Its speed was no problem for its weaponry however as it turned slightly, travelling sideways as it stitched a line of fire against the opposite docks. Concrete was pulverised and two Burais went down to half a dozen shots from the Knightmare before it disappeared behind a building.

"Was that the Lancelot?" Someone asked.

"No way, that machine was green!" Another man countered. "The Lancelot is white!"

"Could it be an upgrade?" The same squad member that got Ohgi's attention asked. "It looked… different."

Ohgi quickly turned to look at the only other person who could have answers. "Diethard! What the hell is that? Is that the Lancelot or not?"

"How should I know?" The Britannian responded in an annoyed deadpan voice as he looked directly at Ohgi, an unremitting scowl on his face. The Japanese man wanted to give him serious lip for that, but he couldn't; the man didn't run when the JLF destroyed their own tanker, and he didn't run when the bullets and mortars started flying either.

"You're a Britannian, aren't you?" Ohgi responded loudly, his voice rising, needed to be heard over the sounds of battle. "A member of Cornelia's media staff? How do you not know?"

"Because I wasn't told about this!" Diethard answered as a near roar, the anger plain on his face. "This is a new weapon!"

"New… new weapon…" The Japanese freedom fighter repeated, shocked at the admission before fear set in.

That wasn't the Lancelot.

That was something else.

And it was headed right for…

"Kallen!"

Spinning quicker than he thought possible, Ohgi brought his binoculars back up level with his eyes to try and scan for the girl he considered a sister. In the smoke and flames surrounding the large buildings in the docklands, it was near impossible to find the Guren. But knowing Kallen, she'd be in the thick of the fighting.

There was only one person who'd know where she was.

Raising his radio to his mouth, Ohgi contacted Zero.

"Zero, it's Ohgi!"

"What's the matter, Ohgi?" The leader of the Black Knights asked in reply. "Has the Lancelot made its move yet?"

Looking again at the area, the former school teacher made sure he hadn't missed anything from his assignment. In his view, Ohgi could see one of the members of the Royal Guard rushing out of the cover of the containers to fire off a shot from their Knightmare cannon at the Black Knight Burais across the water before rushing back into cover to seek cover from the return fire.

"No, Zero. No sign of the Lancelot. But we have another problem. Kallen's in trouble."

"What?" Came the reply. "What do you mean she's in trouble?"

"Zero, the Britannians have a new weapon, some kind of new Knightmare," Ohgi's voice was near frantic at the thought of his young friend being attacked by something new in Britannia's arsenal and no knowledge that it was heading her way. "And it's heading right for Kallen!"

Zero didn't reply. The only sounds Ohgi could hear was the sound of the brutal fighting around them.

"Ohgi," Their leader finally responded. "Do you trust Kallen?"

What sort of response was that? "Of course I do, Zero."

"As do I. That's why we need to let her deal with this. Only she has any chance of besting this new Knightmare."

Ohgi swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. Kallen was the best pilot of the Black Knights by a wide margin and she had come the closest to beating Cornelia herself. She had been the only one to beat the Lancelot and she had been the one to help capture that British-Britannian pilot. If anyone could win, it was her.

"Understood, Zero," Ohgi responded into the radio, even as he silently wished Kallen good luck. But... "That still means the Lancelot could still be with the Viceroy."

"The Britannians have their new Knightmare, we have ours," Came the reply, a note of relish in the masked revolutionary's voice. "Get your men ready. We launch our attack."

Even though he was talking on a radio, Ohgi still nodded his head. If anyone could win against Britannia, it was Zero. And if anyone could beat a new Britannian Knightmare, it was Kallen.

But still...

Out of the corner of his eye, Ohgi saw Diethard looking at him with a sceptical and suspicious look on his face. Ohgi just returned the look with an unamused glare before he lifted the radio to his mouth again, the frequency switched.

"Kallen; it's Ohgi. Listen, you've got trouble heading your way."

332 Battalion was in trouble.

The arrival of the Black Knights in force and their ace Knightmare had forced the two platoons to split, Bravo moving backwards along with their APCs, providing supporting fire to the Knightmares of the 56th Hussars as they poured more of their own machines into the breach. Alpha Platoon, nearly caught between the two walls of metal, was forced to retreat into the buildings. Between them, they carried the wounded crew of Butcher Actual and the wounded members of the platoon into cover. It was a textbook display for a withdrawal under fire.

Though it did nothing to stop them feeling the verbal wrath of Lord Banwartz as he yelled at them over the radio-waves.

"Get back into the fight, you dogs!" The nobleman called out, firing the rifle of his Gloucester frame at the enemy Knightmares, knocking one to the floor and shredding a squad of infantry to ruins.

The reply was a very quick and succinct: "We cannot fucking advance!"

Banwartz bit back a curse as another voice responded, one more authoritative than the previous one, but still evidently from a low-born officer. "My lord, we are close to combat ineffective here. My platoons are too strung out and have too many casualties, we are running low on ammo and have no anti-armour rockets. We need to withdraw to the APCs and fall back to the rally point. How copy, over?"

Banwartz bit down another curse as he fired his Knightmare's rifle again, trying to hit the red machine of the Black Knights as it wove its way between the Britannian and Black Knight machines.

This was an unmitigated disaster and there was no mistaking it. How could Princess Cornelia, the Goddess of Victory herself, allow such a thing to unfold?

The answer came to Banwartz's mind but he suppressed it quickly as he fired his Knightmare rifle, destroying a group of enemy infantry in a flurry of bullets. But that didn't keep the thought from his mind for long.

It was unthinkable, inconceivable for the man to even hazard it… but was Princess Cornelia… losing her finely honed edge?

There had been events though. The hostage crisis at Lake Kawaguchi, where the Black Knights had rescued some hostages from the JLF instead of the princess and her forces. There had also been the events at the Narita Mountains which, while had obviously been doctored in the public accounts, had shown the depths of how badly the Black Knights had hit the Britannian army, a fact made even more plain when the princess had explained the situation to the officers who had arrived on the island.

But the act that most galled the Britannian nobleman, the act that showed most of all to him that Princess Cornelia was losing her edge; the allowing of non-Britannians to fight alongside Britannians.

If it had just been that single officer, that Captain Forsyth, it would have been permissible for the nobleman. A small deign of honour for someone bereft of it. But to have a full battalion of mixed Britannians and Honorary Britannians? Sickening.

"You will not retreat!" Banwartz yelled out into his Knightmare's speaker framer, throwing out his voice into the turmoil of the combat around him. "I see any of you dogs retreat, I'll gun you down myself!"

Another explosion rocked the Britannian nobleman's Knightmare frame, peppering the metal with rock fragments. More men died and another Knightmare was destroyed. Through one of the viewscreens at his side, Banwartz could see one of the helicopter gunships make a pass over the buildings to his side as it fired its main gun.

All was chaos and madness. And out there, massacring Britannians was the Black Knight's red Knightmare.

It truly was a nightmare, in so many ways for Banwartz.

Was this how his first true battle would be? How it would end; the ignominy of defeat, while Princess Cornelia let herself be brought down by lesser people? For her to bring down Britannia in Area 11 with her?

More explosions filled the air and shook the ground, a Sutherland taking a direct hit from an anti-armour rocket.

No, there was no way that he, Sir Joseph Banwartz, the four-times-great grandson of the famed Hessian jaeger colonel, Colonel Count Helmut von Banwartz, was going to die on this god-forsaken island in defeat! If he was going to die, he was going to fight!

An alert caught his attention and he spun his own Sutherland, drawing out his own close-combat weapon at the same time, a folding axe half the size of his own machine. Fear and anger drove the impulse to engage this new enemy, and it had saved Banwartz's life.

A trio of large claws, attached to a powerful machine arm, clamped shut around the weapon. The Sutherlands arm vibrated and strained as Banwartz tried to pull the weapon free, but the new machine, its armour as red as blood and its viewfinders staring out at Banwartz with malice, refused to let go.

"You damn Elevens need to learn your place!" Banwartz called out, swinging his Sutherland's assault rifle up to try and brain the red Knightmare.

Try being the operative word, as the enemy Knightmare released its grip on the axe and darted backwards, avoiding the strike.

Quickly, Banwartz used the distance gained to level his rifle and fired off a sustained burst of fire. Each round hit their mark, impacting and sparking against the armour plates of the machine. Rounds capable of shredding a family sedan to scrap only dented and scuffed the red armour plates.

Banwartz felt his heart drop at the sight, even as his rage was rekindled at the mocking sight before him.

With a wordless cry of rage, the noblemen attacked, his axe swinging up before coming down in a brutal strike that cracked pavement and shattered concrete. The attack was easy to read and easy to avoid, the red Knightmare pulling back before dashing forward again. Those same three claws were held open, ready to entrap the Britannian machine.

In slow motion, Banwartz watched the machine come closer. With his last dying thoughts, he knew that he would not escape his fate. That he would die in this stinking colony, far from home, his death having done nothing but aid Cornelia li Britannia's downfall. With his last breath, he prepared to curse the soldiers from the battalion he had been forced to bodyguard for their failure, along with all the Elevens, wishing the sea would take the island and drown them all.

The car that came flying out of nowhere caught the red Knightmare in the shoulder, the vehicle's front end buckling heavily under the force of the impact before falling to the ground as a wreck. But that sight was secondary to the sight of the enemy machine spinning away from the impact, pirouetting away before righting itself, its hands held low like a stunned wrestler.

"Forget about our deal, Red?" A voice called out in challenge, making Banwartz turn his attention to his saviour.

"The Lancelot Club?" Banwartz asked out loud. But that machine was meant to be with the Royal Guard... which meant... "Captain Forsyth! What are you doing here? Explain yourself!"

The green experimental Knightmare marched forward imperiously, its head locked onto the enemy. The long barrelled gun was held low in its hand, ready to be used.

"Just keeping a promise, my lord," Came the reply from the British officer, his reply clipped but steady. Even through the Lancelot Club's external speaker, the nobleman could hear the note of finality in his voice. "Just leave this to me."

As he watched, his place in the fight very much that of a spectator now, Banwartz watched as a trio of Black Knight pseudo-Glasgows shot forward, seeking to aid the red Knightmare. Swiftly, Captain Forsyth's gun was up and firing. Three shots, each one striking true to destroy each of the enemy machines. Each one fell to the ground as a wreck.

"Just you and me, Red!" The Briton called out, his voice level and challenging, as he drew a sword of his own to pair with his cannon. "No one else, no interference."

Quickly, a private channel was opened to the nobleman's Knightmare, voice only. "Red is their ace, my lord. I'll tie her down. You focus on the others, and for God's sake, get my men out of here."

Any reply from the nobleman fell as the red Knightmare clashed its claws together menacingly before, to Banwartz's shock, a young woman's voice responded to the challenge .

"No one else, Captain. You and me. And like I promised, I won't go easy on you."

---

The last word hadn't left Kallen's mouth before the Guren shot forward, its landspinners engaging instantly to propel her forward. Raising her machine's left arm, she fired her assault rifle at Ciaran's own Knightmare. But he was already moving, jinking his machine left, avoiding the fire. In turn, he raised his own rifle again, the gun spitting rounds low at the Guren's feet as he rested the assembly against his sword's wrist, blade down, to steady it.

With a command, Kallen ordered her machine to jump, avoiding the stream of heavy calibre rounds.

'I can finish this in one go,' Kallen thought to herself as she readied the Radiant Wave Surger for the kill. Coming down from above, this would be a quick kill.

Ciaran's sword flashed up and out, the Knightmare's wrist moving up and around quickly to parry aside the claws. Metal scraped on superheated metal, sending sparks flying as the Radiant Wave Surger's claws slid down and off the Maser Vibration Sword and Ciaran dodged to the side. As he did, the Briton brought up his rifle and pressed the muzzle right against the flank of the Guren Mark II.

Uttering a curse she didn't know she knew and could probably blame on Tamaki for knowing, Kallen quickly rolled the Guren to the side, just as Ciaran fired. It was a close call though; the round gouged a shallow line through the Guren's side armour plating.

Gritting her teeth, Kallen spun Guren around, bringing up her rifle and firing a quick, point-blank burst of rounds at Ciaran's machine. As the rounds hit home, Ciaran's machine was wreathed in fire as the front exploded. Smoke and debris filled Kallen's viewscreen as the Guren landed, sliding to a halt a few paces back.

Pulling the machine upright, Kallen let a grim sense of satisfaction fill her. That fight had been much easier than she had anticipated. The warning from Ohgi had been a welcome blessing and heads up, even if she had no idea when and where Ciaran's Knightmare would appear. But... in the end... Kallen had won, and she'd beaten a captain of Cornelia's Royal Guard.

... She'd beaten Ciaran.

That fact left a strange taste in her mouth.

But there was no time to dwell on that. There was a battle to win.

"Kallen!" Sugiyama called out to her as he drew up to her, the man leading his squad of Burais behind him. Around them, squads of Black Knight infantry were moving up to support the advance. "Are you okay? We heard Ohgi's message."

Inside her cockpit, Kallen smiled warmly at the man's words. But it fell quickly as a shape moved quickly through the squad of Japanese Knightmares.

"No... Sugiyama!" Kallen cried out, even as the Maser Vibration Sword took the head of her friend's Knightmare. Like a green ghost, Ciaran's Knightmare set about the other Burais with a speed and ferocity that the group was unprepared for. Pilot blocks were sent flying from three of the Knightmares, Sugiyama's among them, while two of them were gutted with point-blank shots from the Briton's cannon.

Kallen could only watch in mute horror as the green Knightmare stood among the carnage it had caused. The close range shots from her own gun should have torn the torso assembly to scrap, and yet all it had done was blacken and burn the metal there. The armour plating! That had to be why it had survived. But that didn't change anything. The Knightmare stood among the wrecks of the Knightmares it had slain like some evil ghost of the battlefield, a spectre of the slain.

A monster.

The Black Knight infantry definitely thought so, the men and women that had followed Sugiyama's squad turning and running away from the machine. Though Ciaran didn't give them any notice, his attention firmly fixed on Kallen.

"This isn't over until it's over, Kallen," He called out over his loudspeaker, stowing his rifle behind him and readying his sword in a two handed grip, levelled in a middle guard, the tip directly at Kallen.

She didn't reply with words. Instead Kallen responded with a wordless roar of anger as she charged the Guren at Ciaran's Knightmare. The claws of the Radiant Wave Surger were open and ready, held back for the kill.

Ciaran rushed forward, his Knightmare's landspinners squealing with the sudden motion as he charged.

The sound of metal meeting metal was loud, almost eclipsing the sound of the fight around them, so focused on their own personal duel. In fact, almost like in the stories, an arena had formed around the two combatants. Neither Britannian nor Black Knight dared intrude on the personal fight between the two straining warriors, their weapons locked together in a contest of strength.

With a growl, Ciaran's Knightmare broke the lock, his sword arm pushing up before he delivered a punch towards the Guren's stomach. Tried to at least, as Kallen easily jumped back to avoid the strike. In return, the Guren lunged forward, claws ready to disembowel the other Knightmare. The claws were stopped a hand's width away from Ciaran's machine with a barrier of oscillating green light.

Both Knightmares, both pilots strained at the other, defence pushing against offense, shield versus sword. Bringing his sword up, Ciaran aimed a strike to cleave the arm off the Guren, but the closeness only meant that his sword only went the through the outer plating of the arm. It was enough though to get Kallen to disengage.

"I won't kill you, Kallen," The British pilot said through his external speakers, his voice easily reaching Kallen's ears despite the sounds of battle around them, as he readied his Knightmare for another bout, moving his sword to the left hand while drawing his cannon again with the right hand. "But I will pull you out of there if I have to."

She didn't fight the scoff that came to her throat at the comment.

"I beat you last time, I'll beat you again!"

Again, Kallen and the Guren shot forward, claws held ready. She had the superior machine, the superior skill. She was fighting for her country, for her freedom.

"There's no way I can lose to Britannia!"

---

Across the port, while Ciaran and Kallen fought each other in a running duel, the long-ranged artillery forces that the Black Knights possessed, a mixture of Japanese and EU made mortars and Britannian Knightmare Cannons, fired their weapons in a near constant volley of fire at the positions held by Cornelia's Royal Guard and the other Britannian forces. High explosive rounds mixed with armour piercing sabot shots fired out across the waters of Port Yokosuka. They weren't accurate, though there was no need for them to be. Those fighters of the Black Knights operating the weapons didn't need to aim their shots with perfect accuracy. They were simply there to keep the Britannian's heads down, and to keep the attentions of the Britannian gunships split between them and the diversionary force.

And their efforts were working perfectly.

For across the waters of the port, the waves still rolling and choppy from the explosion of the JLF tanker, a pair of smaller ships, fast and sleek hydrofoils, powered across the waters, their pilots nearly expertly steering the hydrofoils through the waters towards their destination and target; Princess Cornelia.

---

The growl of frustration and anger that filled the pilot block of Cornelia's Gloucester was louder than any sound that came from the battle raging outside.

Frustration from the Second Princess at her inability to stop the Black Knights from attacking. Anger that she could do nothing to return fire in a meaningful way. Frustration that her command was split so completely between the two forces. Anger that one of her… that Ciaran had fled from her side right when she and the others needed him most.

Frustration that she had no idea why he'd ran. But she swore, as Cornelia li Britannia, Lord Marshal and Second Princess of Britannia…

"I will wring their heads from their necks!"

Her voice calling out loudly, echoing around her and roaring out of her machine's speakers, was lost in the noise of violence around her.

Another mortar round hit close, the explosion destroying a shipping container and blasting its contents all around the Gloucester in a rain of unrecognizable plastic and metal lumps. Cornelia didn't pay it any attention as she moved towards the gap in their makeshift and very ad-hoc field fortifications.

"Your Highness! Please stay put!" Guilford called out. "We can handle this!"

"Silence! How many times do you think I'll allow them to mock me?!"

Stopping at the closest opening, coming to rest beside General Darlton's own Gloucester, Cornelia let herself see exactly what position the Black Knights had forced them into with their attack.

It was a warren, a maze of shipping containers, many stacked three times the height of a Knightmare. Whatever order they had once had now been demolished with the barrage from the Black Knights, knocking many containers askew and haphazardly across what could have been good lines of sight and kill zones for the Britannians into a mess of rent and broken metal.

In any other time and place, the area would have been a perfect battlefield for the Britannians. Cornelia could not have wished for a better battlefield to fight from if she was leading the defence. If this had been a fight of her choosing.

It was none of those things.

They had been herded with long range fire into this brutal warren of steel and concrete, shepherded until they had been forced to split because of the terrain and the weight of fire against them. Cornelia had no idea where the 79th were, nor Warrant-Officer Kururugi and the Lancelot. Her attempts at contacting them weren't fruitless; radio contact was still perfect, but the mess of the port made it impossible to coordinate any effort to link the two forces together.

Zero had split the Britannians in two, then split one of those halves into piecemeal.

A new round of explosions, quick and close in succession, sounded from the water's edge, and the incoming fire against Cornelia's position fell silent. Round still fell around to the side of her position, hitting where the other Knightmares had to be, and even to the rear in a clear box barrage, but none fell towards the Royal Guard's position. Which could only mean one thing…

"Prepare for combat!" The Second Princess called out loudly, her Knightmare hefting its lance into a combat ready position.

Her warning came not a second too soon as, propelled upwards by their own Slash Harkens, a quartet of the dark coloured Knightmares of the Eleven's resistance group launched themselves up and over the ruined containers, their weapons firing as they moved, more following them up. Even for the gyrostabilized mechanisms of the Knightmares, rounds still went wide but the fire was enough to get the Royal Guard to move aside and scatter. Though they did not give ground or retreat.

"For Britannia! For the Princess!" Guilford called out loudly as he levelled his own assault rifle at a Burai, firing a sustained burst that ripped the pilot block to pieces. Soon, the enclosed space was filled with fire and shells as Knightmare fired on Knightmare.

"Into them!" Cornelia called out through the radio before she pushed her machine forward. The Gloucester was a dedicated close combat Knightmare, designed to excel in exactly this sort of situation. So she charged at the enemy, lance forward and ready. She speared the first Burai through the chest, killing the pilot quickly and easily, before withdrawing the lance and swinging in a low, brutal arc that knocked down another machine. Cornelia didn't spare the downed Knightmare a second glance, a Royal Guardsman taking it out with their own weapon, as she sped forward to her new target.

"ZERO!" The Second Princess called out in challenge at the Knightmare with the red headpiece. "This ends tonight!"

Her lance was aimed straight and true, right at the junction between the torso of the Burai and the legs. She wouldn't kill Zero. No, the bastard would be captured alive! To pay for all of his crimes!

"Your Highness," Came the lazy sounding reply from the terrorist leader as his Knightmare stood absolutely still, the pilot not caring about the combat around him or the vengeful Princess surging towards him. "You are quite right."

Cornelia was close enough to skewer Zero's Knightmare. To hell with her own order to capturing him alive…

"For my brother, for my family, you'll pay!"

Her lance punched forward, the aim an easy hit and kill.

Cornelia's balance was knocked off centre, forcing her to spin her Knightmare around almost full circle to face Zero again, and the royal blue Knightmare Frame that attacked her. Instantly, her eyes opened wide as she took in what she was seeing.

This was no Burai, no pseudo-Glasgow frame made somewhere in Area 11 or China. No knockoff of Britannia's military might. This was something new. Something entirely different to Britannia. It looked exactly like the Black Knight's red Knightmare frame, with sleek, rounded body armour, but this machine's form was more… spiked, reminding Cornelia bit of a crab. It looked out at the world from a single, cyclopean orange eye, while a Knightmare assault rifle was held in its right hand, and its left was a three pronged claw fashioned out of red metal.

Cornelia's surprise and incredulity quickly gave way to annoyance as her mind processed what her eyes had seen.

"Shit," She muttered to herself under her breath. "They have two next-gen Knightmares. No matter."

Like an old West gunslinger, Cornelia quickly reached behind her back, drawing her Gloucester's assault rifle and fired it at the two Black Knights. The shot was quick and hasty, meaning only some of the rounds glance off her opponent's armour, but it was enough to get the pair to split apart.

As expected, instead of moving away into cover away from Cornelia, the two machines tried to swing round to her sides, catching her in a pincer movement. Inside her cockpit block, Cornelia grinned evilly. Of course they'd go for her.

"So let me oblige you!"

Quickly, Cornelia's Knightmare dashed forward, angling itself towards the blue machine. First rule of dealing with an encirclement: break out as soon as possible, and take out what you could.

The Second Princess didn't hold back, her rifle held out in front of her as she fired on the move, her sight focused on the blue Knightmare. Rounds sparked off the armour as it wheeled away and around her, trying to shield its 'head' even as it returned fire with its own rifle before the gap was closed. Cornelia threw her rifle directly at the Knightmare, the weapon weighing short of a hundred-kilos colliding heavily with the machine, sending it reeling.

Cornelia capitalized on that as she lunged forward, swinging her lance around in a wide, strong arc, connecting heavily with the opposing Knightmare's shoulder, knocking it back again.

Rounds impacted against the Gloucester's right flank, the ammunition shaking the frame heavily and stopping the Second Princess from pushing forward with another attack. While Cornelia had focused on the new Knightmare, Zero had swung around and taken shots at her.

Cornelia was not perturbed by the fact. In fact, she'd counted on it.

"You won't take me down that easily!" She called out over her loud speaker as she sped towards Zero's Burai, lowering her frame down into the fire, her machine's arm up to protect her most vulnerable part. Her cloak trailed behind her Gloucester as she lunged forward, pushing her Knightmare into a jump as she closed with Zero's Burai, taking her lance in both hands before making to smash it down onto the enemy machine.

Such a clearly telegraphed move was easily dodged by Zero, the terrorist rolling his machine back to dodge the strike. Though it left him open to the follow up strike as Cornelia withdrew the lance before punching forward with it, one-handed as the shaft slid through her Gloucester's arm like an arrow loosed from a bow. Quick reflexes let her catch the lance at the end of the shaft, allowing her to turn quickly and block the straightforward jab from the blue Knightmare's left-hand claw.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you!"

Spinning her machine quickly, Cornelia took a two-handed grip on her lance and used it as a quarterstaff, slamming it into the side of blue Knightmare, knocking it back and off-balance, though only for a few seconds as it recovered and attacked again.

Whoever the pilot was, they had Cornelia's respect. They were good, a step just below the ace of the Black Knights, if the princess was any judge. Their fighting style was different to the red Knightmare pilot though. Whereas that machine fought with brute strength and power to bash through its opponents defences before destroying them outright, the blue Knightmare facing Cornelia was more conventional, using a combination of point-blank shots from its rifle followed up by jabs and hits with its claw, which no doubt contained the same weapon as its red brethren, a Radiant Wave Surger, according to Professor Asplund. A deadly anti-Knightmare weapon. The deadliest it seemed.

So Cornelia fought to keep the blue Knightmare back, to keep its claw from latching onto her. Spins, parries, dodges and feints, Cornelia employed them all to keep the machine back.

But she was in trouble. Even trying her hardest, she was still fighting two opponents at once, a fact reinforced as Zero's Burai slammed into her flank. It didn't knock her off-balance, but the act did divert attention to the Black Knight's leader as she swung her free arm out in a sweep to break the Knightmare loose.

Quickly, she called out on the radio-link as she fought off both opponents with her lance. "Guilford! Darlton! I need assistance here!"

The response that came back was not promising.

"We're penned in, your highness!" Darlton called out, anger and annoyance in his voice in equal measure. "We can't advance to you!"

Cornelia's mouth opened to call out for Ciaran… but shut with a snarl as she remembered he was of no help here. There was no way that the Briton would be able to get back and help her if he could. Even if he would help.

She was alone.

No… there was one other person she could call on to help. But it went against every single fibre of her being to even entertain that thought.

'But,' A small voice in her head went, even as Cornelia used her lance to push back the blue Knightmare and give herself a chance to knock aside Zero's slash harkens. 'You've relied on a Briton until now. Is it so different to ask an Eleven for aid?'

Cornelia opened her radio again, she tuned into a signal that was prearranged, but she'd never imagined using.

"Warrant-Officer Kururugi! I need the Lancelot at my position! Now!"

Cornelia punched out with her lance again at Zero's Burai, but this time, the terrorist was ready. A Slash Harken shot out, connecting with the Gloucester's exposed armpit in a shower of sparks. Warning sounds filled the cockpit, earning a roar of anger from Cornelia as her Knightmare lost the use of its right arm. The large metal limb fell limp at the Knightmare's side, the lance still held in its grip.

Not that it stopped the Second Princess as she fired her own Slash Harkens in response at Zero, but the projectiles were intercepted by the blue Knightmare, the machine catching them with its non-clawed hand. Giving a swift tug, it pulled on the cables, pulling Cornelia's Gloucester off balance enough to tip it over.

"Good job, K-One," Cornelia heard Zero say out loud, even as her Knightmare crashed down around her, throwing her forward violently in her seat. "Now, let us get the Viceroy out of there, shall we?"

"You bastard!" The woman growled out inside her cockpit, quickly moving to unbuckle herself from her seat. Free of her seat, and managing to avoid falling onto her face, Cornelia quickly reached around her to draw out a small weapon. A simple thing; a two-round, short barrelled shotgun, the perfect thing to remind anyone that tried to roughly remove Cornelia from her Knightmare that this princess had more bite than most.

The blue Knightmare loomed over the fallen Gloucester, its heavy footfalls shaking the ground, even as Cornelia quickly made sure to check the shotgun was ready, even loading a round into the chamber to give her extra bite.

She didn't feel fear at her predicament. Cornelia only felt anger fill her, even as she felt the machine around her be lifted upwards. Her teeth ground together as her fingers tightened around the weapon in her hands.

"Viceroy Cornelia!"

The cry through the radio made Cornelia look up, her eyes opening wide as she saw the white armoured Lancelot leap over a nest of containers, Maser Vibration Sword drawn and angled to hit the blue Knightmare Frame. The attack was easily visible, but the speed of it was more than enough to catch the enemy by surprise. Unceremoniously dropping Cornelia's Gloucester, the blue Knightmare brought its arm up to block the attack, the hit from the Lancelot's sword smashing down and driving the two machines nearly face to face.

Cornelia could only watch in open mouthed shock as Suzaku's Knightmare rebounded off the enemy machine before, in an amazing display of control and skill, it launched itself upwards and into a spin, one leg lashing out to catch the blue Knightmare in the front and sending it reeling backwards from the hit.

Right after the hit, and after the Lancelot touched back down on the ground, a small box opened on the screen of Cornelia's viewscreen, showing the concerned face of Warrant-Officer Suzaku Kururugi himself. "Viceroy, are you all right?"

Her eyes did not deceive her; the Lancelot was standing in front of Cornelia's fallen Knightmare as a bodyguard. The fact snapped the princess back to the present.

"Save the questions for later, warrant-officer!" Cornelia barked loudly, anger in her voice. "Zero's right there! Take him!"

"On it!" Came the reply, as the Lancelot once more sprang into action, dashing forward with its Maser Vibration Sword held ready. As she watched the fight through her view-screen, Cornelia saw the blue Knightmare Frame right itself before rushing towards the Lancelot.

With a crash of metal and sparks, the two machines clashed, MVS vs claw. Blow was deflected and traded for hit after hit. Whoever the enemy pilot was, they were good. Very good indeed, to stand up against the Lancelot.

Holstering her shotgun back into its place, Cornelia braced herself awkwardly in her seat before she commanded the Gloucester to move back up right. It was a struggle, with only one arm. Servos protested at the treatment as the machine shifted to push itself upright with one arm. Easy to do as a human, not so easy to do as a multi-tonne war machine.

A fact Zero had no compunction in taking advantage of as he rushed his Burai forward towards Cornelia's stricken machine, arm held ready for a punch.

"Even with your new Knightmare, you're still mine, Viceroy!"

Cornelia could only watch in shock and horror as the Burai closed, ready for the kill…

"Your Highness!"

Before the princess' view was obscured by a large, ragged dark blue cloak, covering all but not masking the sound of metal colliding heavily with metal. The cloak and the voice were unmistakable to Cornelia.

"Guilford! My knight!"

"I am the Princess' sword and her shield!" The Britannian nobleman called out loudly, his voice loud and clear as he used his lance to block the strike. "If you wish to get to her, you need to get through me!"

Cornelia's cheeks could have split apart with how broad her smile was, especially as she watched Guilford's Knightmare push the Burai back hard. The black armoured machine stumbled before steadying itself. But now the situation had changed.

The attack had faltered. Momentum had been lost.

Now, it was time for Cornelia's counterattack. If she could move.

"Guilford!" The Second Princess called out over her Gloucester's loudspeaker, intent for Zero to hear her message too. "I charge you as my knight: do not let Zero escape! Capture him!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" The man replied, turning his lance in his Knightmare's grip before launching forward to attack. Soon, the sound of close-quarters Knightmare combat filled the air; metal hitting metal, steel shrieking off steel as concrete was broken beneath them.

It was a sight to see, and it had half of Cornelia's attention as she tried her best to take stock of the situation around her. The other half was focused on her trying to shift her Knightmare into a more dignified position.

"Overlord, this is Ironside Command, come in! Repeat; Overlord, this is Ironside Command. Please respond, over!"

The voice of Colonel Sir Donald reached Cornelia's ears, his frantic voice filling the Second Princess with dread.

"Ironside Command, this is Overlord. I read you loud and clear. What is your status?"

Even as she spoke, Cornelia's eyes were focused on the fight between the Lancelot and the Black Knight's blue Knightmare frame.

"Your Highness; the Black Knight attack has been repulsed. I repeat; the Black Knights are running!"

That drew the Second Princess' attention away from the spectacle before her, almost missing the Lancelot turn on the spot and kick Zero's Burai out of Cornelia's view.

"They're running? Why?"

When Sir Donald spoke, laughter was in his voice. "It's that captain of yours! Forsyth! He's got the Black Knight's red ace Knightmare focused solely on him, and by Jove, they're having one hell of a brawl! My boys and girls are just going around them!"

Cornelia froze as she blinked in surprise. Ciaran?

"Get me eyes on, now! I want to see what's going on!"

Seconds later, another voice took over. This was the colder, more stoic voice of Lord Banwartz. Though gone was the sycophantic tone from her first meeting with him. Now it was… something else.

"Your Highness. I'm linking my visuals with you now…" The nobleman said nothing else as he linked his view directly to Cornelia's display screen, and she saw why the man's tone had changed.

It was a brawl. That was really the only way to describe the fight between the green and red Knightmares she was seeing. Knightmare pilots were trained to fight in certain styles, especially Britannian pilots. And while Ciaran had only some of those skills, right now, he was using none of that. Although neither was his opponent.

Fist, claw, gun, sword. All were used against each other as the two pilots fought against each other. It was impossible to tell who was defending and who was attacking, though it wasn't by any means an even fight. The Lancelot Club was now scarred, its green ERA plating blasted or simply ripped off in many places, revealing either blackened plates underneath or broken metal underneath.

To his credit though, Ciaran was giving as good as he got. Even as his sword was deflected, the Briton's gun barrel managed a hit in at an exposed flank. When the barrel was deflected, the sword would score a hit. Even when other Black Knight Knightmares tried to aid their fellow, Ciaran managed to intercept them, cutting them down with his sword.

The message was clear: This fight was between Ciaran and the red Knightmare. A fact reinforced as Cornelia tried to contact him through the radio again on a private channel.

"Ciaran, come in." No answer. "Ciaran! Answer me! Please!"

Unexpectedly and quickly, Ciaran's machine rushed towards the Black Knight's ace Knightmare, lowering its frame down to grapple the Guren. Wrapping its arms around the opposing machine's waist, the Lancelot Club didn't stop moving, even as it ploughed through a scattering group of Black Knight infantry before carrying on into the warehouse behind.

"Ciaran!" Cornelia called out as the grappling Knightmares disappeared out of sight into the building. Still no answer came through the radio.

"What should we do, Your Highness?" Lord Banwartz's voice came through, the question plain in his voice.

Cornelia didn't answer right away, even as Guilford and Kururugi fought hard against Zero and his other ace. Was this Ciaran's whole plan from the start? It was her order to him, but there was no way that anyone in command of the operation had known the red Knightmare had shown up at all.

That didn't matter. The Black Knights would fall tonight. Zero would fall tonight. Cornelia activated the broad frequency in her radio for the Britannian military.

"To all Britannian forces; this is you Lord Marshal! Press the attack! Now! Do not give these terrorists an inch!"

The call of "Yes, Your Highness!" came through the radio, but Cornelia gave no answer from her seat.

---

The grey stone wall exploded outward as the Guren Mark II was smashed through the wall and out onto the dock with nearly the same force as a speeding freight train. It was only through Kallen's skill as a pilot that she was able to arrest her travel. The claws of her Radiant Wave Surger dug in to the concrete of the wharf, sparks sent skyward as the Japanese-Britannian pilot slowed down to a stop. The throw had been enough to send her travelling down half the length of the wharf, which at another point of time would have shocked Kallen.

But right now, the only emotion in her was anger as her eyes settled on the form of the green Knightmare Frame pushing itself through the hole it had helped create in the warehouse wall using her own machine. Loose bricks and cement clattered off the Knightmare as it pulled itself through the wall. Like her own machine, she saw that Ciaran's Knightmare had been taken severe damage during the fight, the same as her own machine; the small blocks that exploded blackening the green plates, while the attacks with the Guren's claw had rent open the armour, exposing the mechanical workings underneath.

The damage did nothing to hinder its advance, the Knightmare walking forward purposefully, like an executioner to the block.

"Stay down, Kallen." Ciaran's voice called out from the machine. "We don't have to do this. Just surrender!"

Giving a growl of anger, Kallen pulled the Guren up to stand on its feet as she faced down her opponent.

"I will not surrender!"

The red machine shot forward, Radiant Wave Surger held ready at the side, its claws splayed open. Ciaran's Knightmare raised its own cannon and began firing shot after shot at the machine. The rate of fire was slower than a regular Knightmare's assault rifle, but Kallen had already seen what the rounds could do Burais, and she had no illusions about her Guren being tough enough to deflect that ammo.

So Kallen jinked and dodged her way towards Ciaran's machine, following an erratic path forward towards her foe. Before her, behind her, all around her, explosive rounds tore up the concrete dock, sending shards of rock into the air in hazardous fragments. Pieces ricocheted off her armour but they were nothing as she surged towards Ciaran, Radiant Wave Surger ready to strike.

She activated the mechanism in the trigger to let the arm snap forward and extend. Just one hit, one catch, and it would all be over…

A loud ringing of metal on metal, like the sound of a large hammer striking an equally large anvil, filled the air as Ciaran's machine used its cannon to swat the arm away quickly. Not that it bothered Kallen as, regaining her machine's balance quickly and easily, she shot forward again, trying to ensnare the green machine she was battling.

Each lunge was countered, each hit was parried. The sound of ringing metal, louder and more violent than any church bell tolling, filled the air around the two machines as they fought against each other. Kallen might have had the offensive capabilities of her Guren, but Ciaran's machine, and the pilot himself, were being pushed to their limits as the pair battled. And being pushed showed that Ciaran wasn't just skilled with his machine; he took risks.

The sword that was aimed to disembowel the Guren caught Kallen off-guard but not enough for her to jink to the side, the edge of the blade slicing through the metal like a hot knife through butter.

"Give up, Kallen!" Ciaran's voice boomed out through his speakers. "The Black Knights can't win this! Just surrender, and I'll-"

"You'll what?!" Kallen snapped back, slamming the Guren's Radiant Wave Surger into the ground, trying to smash through Ciaran's guard with brute force. "You'll talk to your princesses? Your 'friends'? Do you hear yourself?"

"What are you talking about?" The Briton responded, using the barrel of his Knightmare's rifle to smash at the Guren's centre, a blow that knocked the machine back but not before Kallen responded with a sideways swipe to its shoulder, knocking the green machine off balance.

"Cornelia's a monster, whose sole job is to conquer lands for Britannia! Her family is a horrible group of monsters and spoilt idiots! They rule an empire built on blood and oppression, and you defend them!" Kallen spat out, clacking her claws menacingly as she saw Ciaran's machine right itself. If they were going to fight, then it would be a fair fight.

"I…!" Ciaran began to retort but he suddenly stopped himself, his Knightmare unmoving. "I… I don't defend what Britannia does! How do you expect me to?"

"You support the Viceroy!" Kallen snapped back. "She had an entire ghetto massacred to draw out Zero! Did you do anything to stop her?"

Even though the sounds of the battle still raged around them, their part of the dock was silent, taking Kallen by surprise. Ciaran didn't answer. He didn't have an answer. If Kallen had been of a more sound mind at the time, she would have found it strange that the man she'd had actual conversations with had fallen silent. But Kallen was in a fight and her choler was up, so she continued pushing. She knew she could use the distraction to catch Ciaran off-guard or use it to get hers ready again.

"You want me to believe that you're a good person for talking to me, Ciaran? You're wrong. If you side with Britannia, then you are my enemy, plain and simple! You support a nation that allows us Japanese to be called Elevens! That allows us to be murdered in our homes at the Viceroy's whim! Do you really think that I, or anyone, would believe you when you say that you want to help us? You work with the Britannians, so you're just as bad as them!"

"Shut up…" Ciaran called back, his voice sounding meek and disbelieving of what he was hearing.

"You want me to think that I can work with people who murdered my countrymen?! You want me to work with murders? Then what does that make you?" Kallen called back.

"Shut up."

"An accomplice to a murderer! You're just as guilty as any of them! You're a monster!"

"Shut up!"

Kallen jolted backwards in her seat slightly. The cry from Ciaran had been loud, more of a roar than a shout, accompanied by him throwing his Knightmare's rifle away, the weapon disconnecting itself from the ammunition belt that retracted behind the machine.

"Don't you fucking judge me, you little shit!" The Briton yelled back. "Do you think I wanted to be here? In this fucked up country, with all of you fighting and pissing about? Did you ever think of that? But no! No, you don't care. And I don't care either!"

With a squeal of rubber and metal on stone, the green Knightmare shot forward, sword held ready.

"But if you want me to be a monster, then I'll be a fucking monster for you! Let's end this!"

Now Kallen could feel it. That sensation that she'd felt from other Britannian pilots; the killing vibe of another enemy pilot coming in for the kill. But this time… why did she feel sadness about this?

No matter. She had a fight to win, a country to save.

With a roar, Kallen drove the Guren forward quickly, claw held ready to meet Ciaran's sword as the distance closed. When metal met superheated metal, sparks and chips flew as their blades slid along each other until Kallen caught Ciaran's hand with her claw.

Inside her cockpit, Kallen grimaced as she readied the trigger for the Radiant Wave Surger, preparing to fry the opposing Knightmare.

Though the quick punch from Ciaran's machine into hers, a brutal uppercut to the 'chest' threw Kallen upwards in her seat, her thumb not connecting fully with the trigger. Twice, the green Knightmare punched Kallen's Guren, jolting her up from her seat again before she moved to trap the offending arm.

As soon as they connected, Kallen realised her mistake as Ciaran pulled their machines close, the sound of the Knightmares crunching together loud and strong before both began to vibrate with bridled power as the two pilots began to fight against the other.

"Bastard!" Kallen growled out. All she could do was wriggle her Guren's arms to try and break the lock. But thankfully, Ciaran's machine was in the same position.

She quickly became unthankful for that as she felt and saw Ciaran pitch her machine up around, the Knightmare lifting the Guren upwards before, with a sharp drop, he slammed them both into the dock. Concrete cracked underneath them and metal buckled, but neither machine let go of the other.

Kallen swore, either in Japanese or English, even she didn't know, anger and adrenaline fuelling her in equal measure. "You want to play rough? Fine!"

It had been Inoue who had taught Kallen how to get out a pin, and it was simply to roll herself to the side. Bit harder to do in a Knightmare such as the Guren but, twisting the controls, Kallen found out it could be done. Again, both machines vibrated heavily as Ciaran's machine went from being on top to being on its side, but now Kallen had enough room to lift up one of the Guren's legs and quickly punt the Britannian machine away from her. Sparks, metal and concrete chips flew away from under it as the green Knightmare was sent scraping against the ground.

Quickly, Kallen pushed the Guren upright, the task easy for her in its position, while Ciaran's did the same. Regaining its feet, the Knightmare locked its 'head' onto Kallen's machine, the pair staring each other down for a few seconds in silence.

Inside her pilot block, Kallen let out a seething breath through clenched teeth, the sound loud enough to reverberate around the enclosed space. Her eyes never left the sight of Ciaran's machine as it steadied itself, its sword held ready in its hand. Enough was enough.

The Guren shot forward on its landspinners again, Radiant Wave Surger held ready, claws wide open. Ciaran's Knightmare stayed where it was, sword held ready.

The distance closed quickly, the Guren less than a dozen feet from its opponent before he reacted. Still grasping his sword, Ciaran's Knightmare turned to the side, presenting his left side to his opponent machine, at the same time as its free hand reached behind its back. Like a spring, the green machine spun around to face the Guren.

Unthinking, Kallen punched the Radiant Wave Surger forward, its claws snapping shut around...

"No! Kallen!"

Ciaran's cry of genuine alarm shocked Kallen, even as her thumb reflexively pressed on the Radiant Wave Surger's trigger. In the grasp of her claws wasn't Ciaran's Knightmare. It was a large metal drum, equal in height to the torso of the green machine. And coming out of the drum, covered by an extendable and segmented cover, was the rounds for the Knightmare's cannon. Ciaran was holding the end of the ammunition chain, and Kallen had her claws wrapped around the drum...

"Oh no..."

Was all she was able to say as the Radiant Wave Surger's energy finished coursing through the arm and drum, milliseconds before it exploded, sending both machines flying and tumbling backwards. Ciaran's was sent flying backwards to crash down heavily, unmoving . The Guren, its claws wrapped around the drum, had its arm shorn off messily, and was sent spinning wildly away from the blast.

Before the Guren slammed into the ground and consciousness was snatched away and replaced with blackness, Kallen managed to get one final word out. Not a curse, but more of a plea than anything else: "Mother…"

---

Gunfire chased Lelouch's Burai as it sped away from the gunfire and Britannian Knightmares chasing him. A few Black Knight Burais remained to act as a rearguard, the Gekka moving backwards behind them all, firing its rifle at the Britannians. Its fight with the Lancelot had mangled and broken much of its armour, but Rai was still standing strong as he moved and fought.

The order had been given quickly. Too quickly.

"Retreat!"

The arrival of the Lancelot had swung the battle in Britannia's favour, simple fact. The diversionary force had been broken and forced to retreat, leaving Zero's own group isolated even more than it was. Retreating to the boats was out of the question; they were single use only. So one route lay open to them.

"Retreat! Link up with the with diversionary force and pull out as one!"

An order easier said than done, but Rai pushed his Knightmare forward, leading the other Black Knights as the tip of the spear. A rapidly dwindling spear, as another friendly IFF tag went dark, another Knightmare lost.

"Go, Rai! Go!" Yoshida-senpai called out through the radio, other Black Knight pilots joining their forces as Rei led the group through the winding passages made of containers. Sometimes, Rei didn't even bother finding a passage. He just smashed through the thinner-skinned containers with his Knightmare, creating holes for he and the others to escape through.

One was coming up now in fact. Angling his machine slightly, Rai sped his Gekka up, even firing off a burst from his Knightmare rifle to soften the metal up before he smashed through the obstacle.

And right into the gunsights of a platoon's worth of Britannian Knightmares, all with their weapons raised and pointed at the Black Knights.

"Halt your Knightmares, and throw down your arms!" The loud voice that Rai recognised to belong to General Darlton boomed out. "Any man who throws down their arms will be treated honourably! Do not…"

"And you will be cut down like the dogs you are!"

Princess Cornelia's voice cut in as she and her bodyguard caught up with the group, her long cloak now ragged and torn fluttered behind her, matching the battered white armour of the Lancelot beside her. The Gloucester's damaged right arm still hung limp at her side, but the Second Princess still held her lance surely in her machine's left hand.

"Zero, what do we do?!" Someone called out over the Black Knights' radio, and Rai wasn't even sure if it was or wasn't him.

"Push through the general's forces! We need to join up with the others!"

It was here that all things broke down. As soon as Zero's words were spoken, some of the Burai's activated their ejection mechanisms, their pilot blocks rocketing off into the night air. That was as much a surrender as Knightmare pilots could get.

Other pilots chose the alternative, Rai among them, as they charged forward, almost heedlessly against the forces around the Britannian general.

"Nippon banzai!" Yoshida called out, the battle-cry of all Japanese resistance groups, as he charged forward, his own Burai firing a sustained burst from its rifle as he rushed forward, the others joining him. Rai followed their lead, though he turned the other direction.

He still had one job in this operation, and he was going to see it through.

So Rai charged forward, his focus on Princess Cornelia's Knightmare. Other machines were around him as the Black Knights charged the Britannians. Shots lashed out around them, striking metal and stone. Rai was aware of Zero saying something, but he ignored it.

If he could get to Cornelia, damage her machine enough to capture her, they could reverse this!

So he charged forward at full speed. Around him, the other Black Knights crashed into the Britannian Knightmares in a brutal clash of machine on machine. Sparks flew, metal crumpled and cockpits erupted or burst into flames as men fought and died. Through it all, Rai's blue Gekka ducked and weaved through and around the melees, his focus on one machine alone.

"I've got you this time!"

The cry from Cornelia nearly caught Rai by surprise, as did the sudden thrust of her lance towards him. 'Nearly' being the operative word, as he quickly dodged the strike. The blade slid past his armour before the Princess recovered and struck out again. Even with only one hand, she was still a dangerous and skilled opponent to face. What had started as Rai on the offensive quickly to him being on the defensive.

'Come on, Rai!' The teen chastised himself mentally, forcing himself to dodge a ground-shattering downward hit followed by a disembowelling swipe. 'You can do this! For Zero!'

"Zero's down!"

The call should not have been broadcast over the net, but it was. As soon as those two words rang out, the world seemed to freeze like the universe itself was in disbelief at the statement as much as the people within it were. Even the Second Princess did not move at hearing the news, nor did Rai.

Cycling through his camera feeds quickly, Rai found what he didn't want to see.

It was Zero's Burai, fallen to the floor, with the white Lancelot standing over it, standing on it even, red Maser Vibration Sword held against the side of the machine's pilot block, the tip speared slightly through the metal. The Burai had lost an arm and both of its legs had been shorn clean off at the knees.

"No…" Rai breathed out in shock. A breath the became a cry as his Knightmare was thrown down to the ground hard. Looking around in shock, Rai saw that a Britannian Knightmare had him pinned, a member of the Royal Guard no less.

"To all Black Knights!" Princess Cornelia bellowed out over her speakers, and probably other speakers too. "Zero has been captured! Your rebellion has finished! Throw down your weapons and surrender, or die!"

Rai twisted his controls to try and shift out from underneath the other Knightmare, but it was a fruitless struggle. The other pilot had him pinned too well. So he did all he could: he cried out in impotent anger at what had happened. They'd been so close! So close!

"I'm sorry, Kallen!" He cried as tears began to fall down his cheeks. "I failed you!"

That was all he could say as Britannian Sutherlands and a few Gloucesters began to surround the stricken Burai, hiding it from his view.

---

The darkness of unconsciousness slipped away from Ciaran's mind as he slowly and groggily blinked his eyes open. For a few moments, disorientation was in control as he lolled his head from side to side, his vision blurry and unfocused.

For a few seconds, the young man thought that he was back in his own bedroom. He wanted to let his head loll back to rest against his pillow, to let sleep take him again, even if the presence of water on his face did annoy him. He knew that he had work in the evening, and he had housework to do before he had to catch the bus to work. God, he hoped that today would be a quiet day. He didn't want to imagine how many dishes he'd have to deal with tonight…

The small, sudden bang and flash of a spark near his head yanked him in to the waking world, spraying Ciaran's face with hot sparks, making his eyes snap open and forced him to take in his surroundings. Or, at least, as much of it as he could in near total darkness. A series of small stabbing pains on his face made him suck in air through his teeth.

He was definitely in the cockpit of the Lancelot Club, but the hit from the arm on Kallen's Knightmare had completely knocked out the power, and from the way that gravity was acting on him, his own machine was on its back, meaning he must have either fallen or been slammed back by the explosion. He was still confused as to how he survived, but he knew he wasn't going to find out by sitting around. From the exterior sounds however, or rather the lack of them, he knew that the fighting at the docks had stopped. Although for whose win, he didn't know.

After waiting for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, he began feeling around the various boxes and rectangles that formed the interior of the cockpit. Screens, monitors, switches. All of them, Ciaran ran his fingers across as he tried to find the box he was looking for. After a few seconds, he found it. Unlocking his safety harness, Ciaran leaned up in his seat and began looking for the opening latch.

"Come on, you little bastard!" The young man growled out, fighting down the wooziness that came at him as he tried to find the latches in the darkness. After a few seconds of tugging and fiddling, the box opened with a snap, which resulted in the contents of the box spilling out on to the floor of the cockpit. But, acting quickly, Ciaran made a grab for the falling contents, trying his best to find what he was looking for.

It took a few seconds of fumbling in the air at the falling objects followed by crouching down as best he could in the tight space, fighting off bouts of dizziness, before Ciaran's fingers found and then closed around what he was looking for, prompting a cry of joy from the young man.

"Perfect!" He cried out as he bent the tube slightly before he shook it up and down, starting a chemical reaction in the glow-stick that filled the space with neon-green light, finally letting him see the extent of the damage that surrounded him.

The electronics were completely out, with every single screen and button black. And that wasn't even the half of it. The monitors completely shattered, the ones directly in front of him only having small pieces of glass missing, which definitely went some way to explain why he was bleeding. The pain was manageable though and he could still see, so he wasn't in any immediate medical danger.

Bringing a hand up to his ear, he pressed a finger to his earpiece to activate the mic. "To any Britannian units, this is Griffin Actual. Anyone copy? Over."

Static was the only response.

"Ah, fuck." Ciaran said to himself. The burst from that weapon must have knocked out every piece of electronics in the Lancelot Club. Which suggested some form of electromagnetic pulse, and that had to mean the weapon used radiation of some kind or another. And that worried him. But it would be impossible to tell if he had been affected by the radiation unless he got out of his fallen Knightmare.

Moving back in to the seat, the glow-stick held between his lips, he felt over the panels that were on the side of the pilot seat before reaching down to the front of the seat and finding a large spade-grip, about the length across of the seat. It was something Darlton told him about. The ejection system of the Britannian Knightmare Frames was a mix of rocket propelled and hydraulic systems, to cover any eventuality for the electrical systems of the Frame going off-line.

Taking a firm grip on the handle, Ciaran yanked back on it as hard as he could, engaging the hydraulics in the pilot block. A loud hiss of air filled the space, almost deafening him, before the seat began to move backwards and the sound of metal scraping on concrete grated at his ears. As the seat moved back, the machine was pushed forward and up, soon resting in a reclined seated position.

Spitting the glow-stick from between his lips to the floor below, the Briton quickly moved out of the seat and came to a crouch behind the hip of his out-of-commission machine, his eyes quickly scanning the area where he and Kallen had had their melee. A quick go over showed no immediate threats, with the entire place looking deserted. There were no signs of anyone coming to the area, Britannian or Black Knight, and the only other occupant of the area was the supine form of the red Knightmare that had been his opponent.

Again, the sight of that machine, the red and orange panels and the fractured and broken arm, filled him with a mix of pity and anger. Pity that he had to fight against Kallen, after all he had done for her, all he had done to try and help. Anger that she was stupid enough to willingly fight against the Britannians in such a way. And anger at himself for having not tried hard enough to get her to quit when he did.

Standing up fully, Ciaran tried to take a steadying breathe but it came out as a single hiss.

"Do you know what?" He said loudly, directing it at the fallen Knightmare in front of him. "I am done with this! You hear me, Kallen? I. Am. DONE!"

His voice rolled out around him in the quiet, the waves only answering him as he began to walk towards the fallen machine.

"You know, I tried to help you! I did! I really, really did. And then you throw it back into my face like this? Well, here's some news for you, Kallen; you can go FUCK YOURSELF! You, and all your Jap buddies in your little 'resistance group', can go fuck off and die, for all I care!"

His anger was working its way up now, his choler unchecked, not that he was in any mood to rein it in as he walked towards the girl that decided they should be enemies.

"You call me a murderer? You don't even fucking know me! I took this because I had no fucking choice! It was either this or die in a gutter somewhere because I had nowhere else to go! So fucking excuse me for being good at it! But if I'm a murderer, what does that make you, Kallen? Hey? I've seen what you've done, you and your Knightmare. That's not killing! That's fucking murder right there!"

By now, Ciaran had ended up by the side of the fallen red machine. Up close, it still was a brutal machine of war, but seeing it slumped over on its side…

His anger ran its course quicker than Ciaran had expected, and he just felt tired. So very, very tired. Reaching his hands out, the young man leaned forward against the side of the Knightmare.

"We all make our beds, Kallen. And we have to lie in them." He continued speaking, not caring that the girl wasn't responding to him. Right now… he just needed to vent. "I… I've killed people, Kallen. And I don't… there's nothing I can say to justify them outside of 'it was them or me'… and I hate myself for that! I have no stakes in the politics here and I hate that I can't do anything to change this world… except now."

Taking his hands off the metal, Ciaran pushed himself back to look at it fully. His face was resolute as he looked up at the cockpit block.

"I don't know who won, Kallen, but I'm bringing you in one way or another. So open up, lass."

The waves crashing on the dock filled the world around them, but no sound came from the machine. Ciaran's eyes furrowed in confusion.

"Come on, Kallen!" He called out, reaching a hand forward to bang a few times against the hull of the girl's Knightmare. "Let's not go through this. Come on! Open up!"

Again, no reply came from the machine, and Ciaran felt his anger begin to rise again.

"All right. If you're not coming out, I'll drag you out!"

Not waiting for a reply, Ciaran quickly boosted himself up onto the machine's side, easily climbing up to the cockpit of the Knightmare, though the tilted angle made it hard for him to keep his balance. Holding onto the horn of the 'head', Ciaran began looking around for the external lock of the cockpit. All Knightmares would have them, like how an aircraft would have one in case of an emergency. It was just a matter of scrabbling around the machine to find it. It took a lot of searching, switching from the left side to the right and muttering foul things under his breath before Ciaran found the release mechanism, a small panel about the size of his fist. He had to force it open with his knife and, to no surprise, upon opening it, Ciaran found a spade-handle, bright red and yellow, with instructions in Japanese and, thankfully, a visual instruction on how to operate it.

Gripping the handle tightly, Ciaran pulled back with all his might, the pneumatic pressure needed being incredibly strong. He could feel the muscles in his right arm tense and ache with how much force he needed to pull with, before it had to be turned and then pushed back into the machine.

That did it. With a loud clack and a hiss, the cockpit of the Knightmare popped open before moving upwards to be fully open. His hand gripped against the handle, Ciaran braced himself to have to deal with Kallen after their fight. He'd seen her angry, and he had no delusions that if she could, she would lash out at him, especially at the prospect of being put into jail again.

Seeing her still and reclined over the weird, motorbike-like seat of her Knightmare, head facing away from him was not what he expected.

"Kallen?"

She didn't make a sound, even as her body began to follow the course of gravity and slide away from him and out of the machine.

"Kallen!" Ciaran called out in distress, letting go off the handle to grab at her. He managed to grab hold of her right bicep, but he now wasn't holding onto anything to keep himself upright, so he too fell, following the girl down. Moving his body quickly, he tried to pull her away from the edge, but all that did was succeed in switching their positions as they fell off the Knightmare and onto the hard stone ground.

"Gah!" Ciaran cried out in shock and pain as his back landed hard on the stone, pain lancing through his body, doubly so when Kallen's limp form landed onto top of him. For a time, it was all Ciaran could do but just writhe on the floor in pain, his legs fidgeting slowly as he fought against the pain.

"Fuck's sake, Kallen!" He growled out, raising himself up slightly to look at the girl resting on his body. "Come on, stop messing around. Get up."

She didn't answer. She just lay there.

"Kallen." Ciaran said, hoping that the girl was playing… some sort of trick on him. Though that idea fell away as she lay there in silence against his body. "Kallen? Kallen, get up."

The Briton reached out a hand and gripped her shoulder before he shook her bodily. But Kallen didn't respond. She just lay there, limp as a boned fish.

Panic surged through Ciaran.

"Kallen? Kallen?!" He called out loudly, hoping his voice would rouse her. But it didn't. Moving quickly, Ciaran sat upright, turning the girl around so he could see her face. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open slightly… and blood was pouring down the right side of her face.

"Oh no…" Was all Ciaran could say, especially as he moved his hand to hold her head steady, hoping, just hoping, that the contact would rouse her. But Kallen didn't stir, her eyes still closed. Removing his hand from her head, letting it hang limp, Ciaran stared at his hand and the blood that stained his fingers and palm.

Her blood.

"No…"

He'd killed her.

"No… no… no…"

'I've killed her.'

"No! No, no, no, no! Kallen!" Ciaran began to yell out, panic and grief setting in fully as he took a hold of the girl's shoulders. "Wake up! Please! Don't… you're not dead! Don't be dead, please!"

His words were panicked, but he didn't care as he moved to kneel beside the fallen girl. His hands gripped her tightly, shaking her to try and rouse her but Kallen gave no response. Letting her body fall to the floor, Ciaran let his hands go slack and fall to the side. As they fell, the tears began to fall.

"What have I done?" Ciaran asked himself, his blurry eyes looking at the ground beneath him as tears fell to the stony surface. Slowly, he turned his head to look at the girl beside him and he felt a lump in his throat form as he began to sob. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Kallen."

Moving over to beside her, Ciaran gently lifted her body up, cradling her upper body before he pulled it close against him. Wrapping his arms around her, the young man sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Kallen. I didn't want this to happen. I… I didn't want to be your enemy, I swear. I didn't even want to be your friend, I just thought that… I thought I could help you."

Unashamedly, Ciaran began to cry heavily, the sound fill the world around him. It was all he could do at that moment. There were no words he could say, nothing to console himself with or even berate himself with, just the cold hard truth.

He had killed Kallen.

"You're a monster!"

The words echoed through Ciaran's mind on a loop. Monster... Monster...

Self-hatred of a like he'd never known before welled up inside him as the young man pulled Kallen's body closer, hugging it tightly in apology as he sobbed his heart out. The only sounds that reached his ear was the sound of the waves breaking against the stone of the harbour, the rush of the wind, and the low sound of breathing right near his ear…

Breathing?

Instantly Ciaran's head shot up in shock and disbelief. Breathing? The dead can't breathe. Unless…

Moving her body slightly, Ciaran brought his head down close to Kallen's own, making sure his ear was near her mouth and nose. Sure enough, making his eyes open wide in both disbelief and relief, he could hear the sound of the girl breathing and feel the gentle waft of her breath against his skin.

Doing something he should have done before, Ciaran moved his hand to the girl's neck, pushing two fingers at the side of her neck. The gloves he wore made it hard to feel first, so he quickly tore them off before repeating the action, making sure to feel for… she had a pulse.

"Kallen!"

She was alive.

"Kallen!" Ciaran said with a smile, even as tears still streamed down his face. "You're alive!"

His hands moved in the erratic manner of someone with no idea on what to do next before they settled on one moving down to her legs and the other remaining at her back.

"I'm… I'm getting you out of here!" Ciaran told the unconscious girl as he lifted her up. Kallen might have been just a bit shorter than Dorothea, but she weighed just about the same, weight which Ciaran gladly bore as he moved to stand upright. "I'm getting you help! And you're going to see your mum again! I swear it!"

Quickly looking around, Ciaran tried to place where they both were now. He'd been so focused on the actual fight that he'd completely lost any track of where the pair had ended up. So he swiftly came to a decision. Hefting Kallen's body more securely against his own, he headed away from the water into the port.

If there was one thing he could do, it was retrace his steps. And that meant following the destruction the two had left.

---

The going was tougher than Ciaran imagined. The debris and scarring left by two multi-tonne war machines going at it like brawlers was mess unto itself. Craters, rents in the ground, broken walls and metal; all had to be avoided carefully by the young man as he carried Kallen as carefully as he could towards what he knew to be the last position of his Warhounds. It was difficult to say the least.

Moving as quickly as he could, spinning around to properly shield Kallen's body with his own, Ciaran dodged an I-beam that fell from the roof. The metal hitting the ground shook Ciaran's body with teeth-rattling force, kicking up a lung-filling cloud of dust that had him coughing harshly. It took a few moments for the dust to settle before Ciaran changed moving again. Before he did, he checked to see if Kallen was alright.

The impact hadn't roused her at all. She was still unconscious.

Swallowing, before quickly spitting out a wad of dust and spit, Ciaran risked moving again. He had no idea what sort of injury had occurred to Kallen's head, so he moved as quickly as he could and as carefully as he could without putting the girl at too much risk.

The whole area was silent, and it set Ciaran so much on edge. There were no soldiers or Knightmares or any other vehicles moving around the area, although he could hear some Valkyrs still flying around in the distance. He still had no idea who had won the battle, so anyone could be moving around out there.

Finding a partially damaged but still strong wall standing, Ciaran moved towards it, pressing himself against it to kneel down. Making sure Kallen was comfortable as she could be, Ciaran moved his hand from underneath her legs to activate his headset again.

"This is Griffin Actual to any Britannian units: I am on foot and need assistance. I had a HVI of the Black Knights in my custody and need…"

The sound of someone moving through the rubble quickly and loudly caught Ciaran's attention. He moved his hand down from his head to his waist, ready to grab for his pistol. But it was too late as a figure emerged from the darkness. A figure in a black combat uniform and dark grey armour appeared, holding a rifle of non-Britannian design or make, levelled at Ciaran. There was a white flag with a red circle in the middle of their chest, and an angry look on a dirty and tear streaked face that would have been attractive in any other circumstance but this.

"Fuck…" Ciaran muttered to himself as he looked at the person he least wanted to see right then.

"You… you Britannian bastards!" Inoue snarled out, her teeth set in a rictus grin of anger as she stared daggers at Ciaran. "You… is there nothing you won't take from us?"

Ciaran said nothing, just moving his hand out to the side away from his pistol. He was the disadvantage here for sure. Inoue had him dead to rights, and the only thing keeping him alive was…

"Let Kallen go, you rat-bastard!"

"She's taken a nasty hit to the head," Ciaran said softly, trying his best to not sound aggravating. Or so he hoped. "I need to take her to a medic, maybe even an actual doctor."

"Let. Her. Go!" Inoue raised her rifle up fully pointing it at Ciaran. The movement was sudden, making Ciaran jump back in shock, his back pressed against the wall properly and leading Kallen to fall on top of him. That just made Inoue angrier, her face reddening and tears falling down her cheeks. "Haven't you done enough to her already?"

Ciaran kept his breathing under control. So this was how it was going to play out. So be it. Moving his arms, he did his best to keep Kallen's body between him and Inoue, clearly but carefully moving the redhead into Inoue's line of sight.

"Kallen's coming with me, Inoue. Like it or not. She'll get the treatment for her head… and there's no negotiating that," The Briton said flatly. He kept his eyes level on the Japanese woman as he spoke. "Shoot me… and you kill her. And you won't do that."

Ciaran kept silent as he stared at Inoue, finding out if he had as good a poker face as he hoped. Inoue continued to stare at him angrily, rifle pointed directly at him. Soon, the barrel began to shake, the woman's hands losing their steadiness as her face began to crack. The anger began to drain away, being replaced with despair. The tears began to flow more steadily this time before, with a clatter, Inoue let the rifle drop from her hands and she collapsed to her knees on the floor.

"Why?! Why us?" Inoue bawled out. "We didn't want you Britannians here! We just wanted to be left alone! We didn't want any of this! Why!?"

Falling forward, Inoue put her hands against the floor as she began to cry. Watching her, all Ciaran could feel was pity for this woman: pity for her situation, the situation of her country and what she had been forced into because of Britannia. And he felt hatred again for himself for being a part of that.

Not saying a word, Ciaran moved towards Inoue, the woman unheeding of his movement until he had hooked his foot against the rifle and moved it out of the way away from her grasp. Above her, Ciaran was still holding Kallen in his hands.

"Take her."

Inoue blinked in confusion at his words.

"Take her," Ciaran repeated, this time getting through to the woman who slowly and shakily stood up. It was lucky that both of them were almost the same height since it allowed for Ciaran to hand Kallen's limp form over to Inoue's arms to hold. Neither person said a thing: Inoue from disbelief and grief at her situation and Ciaran just because he didn't want to say a thing, especially as he leant down and picked up the discarded rifle. Quickly, he found the bolt and performed a brass check before pointing the gun at Inoue the same way she had done when she'd found him. "I'm taking you both prisoners.

Inoue just looked at Ciaran in shock as she processed what was going on, her face falling as she looked down at Kallen in her arms.

"First thing I'll do is get her a medic. I promise."

Ciaran's words made her look up, but there was no trust or sadness in her eyes now. Just cold, iron-hard anger directed straight at the young man. But he didn't flinch from her look, especially as he gestured with the gun for Inoue to get moving. She said nothing as she turned around, letting Ciaran direct her towards his destination.

With Inoue and Kallen in the lead, Ciaran let his eyes scan around more easily now. If Inoue could have gotten the drop on him so easily, anyone else could, so he was on edge now being extra vigilant as they passed from the wrecked warehouse into an internal courtyard of some sort. Wrecked metal cannisters and containers, collateral of Ciaran and Kallen's fight, surrounded them. Crumpled metal and ruined stonework littered the area, creating a maze of wreckage the pair had to navigate carefully.

They were just about enter the other part of the warehouse before a bullet snapped directly over Ciaran's head, followed by two more as they impacted into the wall.

"Down!" Ciaran called out, pushing Inoue down into cover behind small mound of rubble. The woman reacted professionally and perfectly, falling to the floor into cover on her back, cushioning Kallen while keeping her out of sight.

"Cease fire!" Ciaran yelled at the shooter, hoping they were Britannian. At his side, still lying down, Inoue called out something in Japanese that had to be the same sort of thing in case they were Black Knights.

Fifty-fifty shot on who the shooter was.

The world around them fell silent, no sound of anyone moving around, so Ciaran took a gamble.

"Britannian army!" He yelled loudly and clearly.

"Which unit?" The voice was familiar to Ciaran, but he couldn't place it. Didn't stop him responding.

"Princess Cornelia's Royal Guard! And captain of the 332 Light Infantry!"

The air was silent for a few seconds before…

"Holy shit! Captain Forsyth, is that you?!"

That time, Ciaran recognized the voice as a smile spread across his face. "Corporal Lilley, that you?"

"Yes, sir!" Came the happy reply, making Ciaran's smile spread wider. "Stay put, we're coming to you!"

"Do you have a medic with you?" The Briton called out. "I've a wounded HVI here. They need medical attention now!"

"On it, captain!" As soon as the call went out, the sound of footsteps quickly moved to the sound of running. Not letting his guard down, Ciaran didn't lower his rifle as the footsteps drew nearer, even raising it ready to go flush with his shoulder at a moment's notice. Though he didn't need to as the first soldier appeared, wearing a recognizable combination of woodland camouflage battledress and a dark grey Britannian combat armour.

"Warhounds!" Corporal Garza called out seconds before he swung around the corner, rifle held ready before he lowered it quickly. "Holy shit, captain! We thought… we couldn't contact you. We thought you were dead!"

"Felt like it…" Ciaran mumbled out as he lowered his rifle to rest in the crook of his arm, watching the other soldiers move past, three more, as they set up a small perimeter. The fighting had taken its toll on them more than Ciaran expected since Ciaran only recognized Lilley and Garza, and the two Honorary Britannians he did not recognize. One of them, thankfully, had a white and red shield on his helmet, marking as a medic. "What did I miss? Did we win?"

"Hell yeah, we did, sir!" Garza replied happily, smiling as he looked at Ciaran. "That white Knightmare, the Lancelot, got Zero dead to rights and took him alive! We fucked him up!"

In an instant, Ciaran finally understood why Inoue had been so distraught, making him turn to look at her. She was currently staring swords at him, even as she kept Kallen close to her, even more so when the medic came closer to have a look.

"Let him do his job, Inoue. Lilley, watch them," Ciaran said simply and bluntly, keeping to the new image that he had learnt this woman had of him before he turned to look at Garza. "What about the battalion? Villetta? She okay?"

"She's unconscious, but stable. So is Warrant-Officer Boisseau. He's got a broken neck but still breathing. They've both been taken back to the Palace," Garza answered, turning his head to look at his captain. "We're still getting numbers for the wounded."

Ciaran nodded his head, having put all his attention onto the medic treating Kallen. The man was applying a compress bandage to the girl's head, even managing to work around Inoue's tight hold on the girl.

"She'll be fine, sir," The medic said. "But I can't tell if she's got any other problems."

"Got it." Ciaran responded. "Right, let's head back. Inoue, you keep hold of Kallen. Lilley, you lead the way."

Quickly, the disparate group moved out, making its way through more wreckage and ruin. Leaving the warehouse, the situation changed, becoming more macabre, enough to make Ciaran stop in shock. Among the craters and wreckage of ruined Knightmares, were stains. Corpses too wrecked by weight and calibre to be distinguishable as bodies anymore. The air stank of cordite propellant and death, mixing with the salt air and a chemical smell that Ciaran had not noticed until now.

Bile rose in Ciaran's throat but he swallowed it down, moving forward with the others as he caught sight of the APCs used by the battalion. They were accompanied by a squadron of Knightmares from what Ciaran had to guess as the Hussars, and even a few of the Valkyrs had landed too?

"What time is it?" Ciaran asked, trying to figure out how long he'd been out for.

"Oh-two-fifteen hours." Lilley answered. "We lost contact with your Knightmare around twenty-three-hundred hours, and Cornelia called that Zero had been taken a few minutes after midnight."

Three hours? He had been out cold for three hours?! Several layers of panic began to fill him as he remembered Zero's comments about being knocked unconscious and injuries to the brain. Reflexively, he gave his head a once over with a free hand. The back was fine, but like Kallen, the side of his face was dripping with blood. Not a lot, but enough.

"We'll sort you out soon, captain." The Japanese medic said, a friendly smile on his face as the group approached the picket line for the Britannians. A line that nearly all broke out into cheers as they saw them approach with Ciaran in tow. Voices began to call out.

"It's the captain!"

"They found the captain!"

Just like at Kitakyushu, Ciaran suddenly found himself swamped by the men under his command, each one of them crowding around him to get a look at him or to try and touch him like he was some sort of relic.

"Fucking hell, sir!" Sergeant Colbert called out, the normally unflappable NCO smiling in disbelief, a large dirt stain across his face. "We… we thought you were dead."

Ciaran could only nod his head numbly. "Yeah, so I've been told. No, I was… I was unconscious for a few hours it seems. Radio got knocked out too."

Some of the soldiers chuckled at the young man's words, but others didn't see it as something funny, most of all the medic that had found them as he looked at Ciaran in shock.

"You were unconscious for that whole time, sir?" When Ciaran only nodded mutely in reply, the man quickly took a hold of his arm and began to move him. "We need to get you back to the Palace, sir. They're bound to have some equipment to see if you're okay."

"Call Doc Bryan now!" Corporal Lilley called out as he moved past Ciaran. "Tell me we've got a priority situation here!"

Suddenly, Ciaran found himself being pushed forward by the group, but the mention of aid instantly reminded him of the promise he made.

"She's coming with me!" Ciaran snapped, turning and pointing a finger at the unconscious teenager in the red jumpsuit. "She's an important member of the Black Knights, so she's coming with me if I'm going back to the Palace."

The soldiers around him looked in confusion first at him then at the girl, with even Inoue looking like a deer in headlights at the unexpected outburst. For a moment, her grip around the girl tightened, pulling Kallen closer before she relented at how outnumbered she was.

"The woman's coming too. She's a lead member of the Black Knights," Ciaran said again, seeing how Inoue was acting. "Keep her under guard."

"We captured a few of them, sir," Colbert began as he moved to lead the group deeper into the Britannian forces area. "We've got them under guard. Some of the Honorary Britannians started to get a bit… violent towards the prisoners, so we had to separate them."

Ciaran nodded simply at the comment, the action seeming to be the only thing he was capable of now. Though that wasn't to say that he wasn't paying attention to the situation. He had told the Honorary Britannians that if they joined the battalion, they'd be seen as a special kind of enemy to the Black Knights. And such a view would easily be reciprocated in kind.

"I do not want any massacres of prisoners. Watch them as you watch the prisoners,," He said as resolutely as he could, tiredness beginning to seep into his body. "We need as many alive as we can. Intelligence will want to… to debrief them."

Ciaran's pause was from seeing a medic, an actual member of the Britannian army, take Kallen out of Inoue's hands and placed her onto a stretcher. Inoue was reluctant to do so but she did not resist the action, only watching the unconscious Kallen be carried away before she herself was led away. The woman didn't resist as the Warhounds moved her to join a group made up of some surrendered Black Knights, the group welcoming her to them dejectedly.

Pity at the sight of Inoue and the others, self-hatred as he watched Kallen be wheeled away as she was tended to by a medical officer. Both emotions filled Ciaran, and he expressed it by sighing heavily as he put a hand against his forehead. A headache was forming. Or something worse.

"My head is killing me…" The young man muttered, though it was loud enough for the sergeant to hear him.

"You okay, captain?" Sergeant Colbert asked, the amount of concern in his voice at odds with the ice-cold professional persona the man had.

"I just… I just need to rest." Ciaran said wearily, his hand not moving from his head.

At his side, Sergeant Colbert was ready to speak, but a voice, loud and angry, filled the air: "Captain Forsyth!", drawing all eyes to the form of Lord Guilford stalking forward, a furious look on his face as he ignored both Lieutenant Fick and Sergeant-Major Reynolds walking at the same pace, trying in vain to talk to him. Behind them was a quartet of armed soldiers wearing the colours of Cornelia's royal guard.

At seeing the bespectacled knight, Ciaran's heart sunk even further than it already was as the memory of what he'd done to even get into this position and he felt his body go cold.

The conversation from the group began to reach his ears.

"… but my lord, he saved us! We were being slaughtered out there! We needed help!" The sergeant-major said quickly.

"My lord, this was on us, not just him! We didn't try to stop him when he suggested the idea." Fick added on quickly, just as the Britannian knight stopped in front of Ciaran and glowered at him. Any friendliness the knight once had was washed away as he began to speak.

"Captain Forsyth, you will surrender you weapons immediately."

Ciaran was silent as he just looked up at the knight, letting his hand fall to his side. The silence and inaction did not help the knight's mood.

"Captain Forsyth!" He barked out. "You will surrender your weapons, immediately!"

Seemingly at once, all the senior Warhounds began to speak at once, each one trying to plead a case that Ciaran was not to blame for what happened, that he had done it to help the battalion and save the operation.

"QUIET!"

The shout was loud and short but powerful in getting everyone to stop talking at once, and one would be forgiven for thinking that it was Cornelia's knight that had shouted out, but even he had been taken back by the yell. For it had been Ciaran who had given the order.

"I… I've had enough tonight," the young Briton said as he moved to undo the belt holding his holster and knife sheath. "I've had enough."

Taking the belt and wrapping it around itself, Ciaran moved towards one of the Royal Guards as he handed them his weapons. Out of his hands, the young man turned to Lord Guilford, a forlorn expression on his face.

"This is all on me, no-one else."

A flash of surprise crossed the knight's eyes at Ciaran's words, but he squashed it as he quickly turned Ciaran around and had him marched under guard towards an idling APC, its rear-ramp open wide while a pair of soldiers, non-royal guard this time, waited outside.

"Get in." The knight simply ordered. Without delaying, the young man climbed up into the back, one of the soldiers following him as he was directed to a seat in the middle of the vehicle's compartment. Following on their tail, the second soldier followed inside them, closing the ramp behind him. As it shut, Ciaran could hear the soldiers outside, his soldiers, still arguing with Lord Guilford to keep Ciaran around, but the sounds disappeared as the door slammed shut.

As it began to move, Ciaran's head dropped forward into his hands in weariness and defeat.

---

From a secluded part of the docks, far from the violence, CC watched as the sun rose almost lamely over the Tokyo Settlement, and the scene of Britannia's victory over the Black Knights.

Part of her wanted to laugh at the situation, while another wanted to cry. But having seen so much of humanity at its worst, the immortal made no sound as she moved away from her 'hiding place'. Though she had piloted a Knightmare before, she knew she had no place in the battle that had taken place, so she had remained behind in a location that Lelouch had picked out for her.

"I'll come have one of the Black Knights pick you up from here after the operation." He had said.

No-one had come.

Though she could not blame them. The Britannians had won solidly, and if he wasn't killed, then Lelouch would have been captured.

So CC moved, same as she always had, though this time, there was purpose to her movements, a direction for sure. A destination: The Viceroy's Palace. CC had her ways, and she knew she would be able to get into the palace someway or another. That was expected. She had a contract with Lelouch to fulfil.

What wasn't expected was the shudder than went through her body, her very soul, almost like she had been hit by a wave on the beach. Quickly, she looked around her, hoping that she could discern something, anything, that could clue her in one what had happened.

Nothing.

CC said nothing again, only scanning the area around her as she tried to work out what had happened before she pushed on again.