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Boy In The Scroll

Chapter 9: Enter Zero

"Hey kid? Kid? Wake up would you? Oh scroll spiriiiiiiit?!" Tamaki screamed. Lelouch could almost feel spit hitting his scroll.

Lelouch raised an irate eyebrow at the man as he was summoned from his scroll. Looking behind Tamaki, to his scroll, Lelouch could see several blobs of spit on the painting. His eyes narrowed. "What. Do. You. Want?" Lelouch ground out. It was taking all of his will power, not to yell at the man for spitting on his scroll.

"Zero gave us a land cruiser!" Tamaki hollered, with a large smile plastered on his face. He didn't seem to notice Lelouch's obvious anger.

"So?"

"So? So?" Tamaki looked at Lelouch as if he'd just lost his mind. "So, Zero's on our side and we don't have to live in this crappy building anymore!"

"You..." Lelouch stopped and shook his head. Tamaki would never understand anything that came out of Lelouch's mouth. It was like the man went deaf as soon as Lelouch had anything important to say. "That's good," Lelouch said at last.

"It's great!" Tamaki agreed. Turning back to the scroll on the wall, Tamaki reached up to take it off the wall. All the while Lelouch stared intently at the man. If Tamaki dared to do anything to his scroll, the man would be in for a world of pain! "Anyway, I woke you up so that you can take this," he said handing the scroll to Lelouch, "and to tell you to unpack my bags and boxes in my new room."

The spirit nodded.

"I have a meeting with Ohgi, so I'll see you later. But first let me show you to my room."

Tucking the scroll into his jacket, Lelouch quietly followed Tamaki out of the building. He nearly gaped at the sight of the cruiser. It looked completely different from the way it looked only hours ago. Just as he ordered, the rebels had taken off the outer armor, making the land cruiser look less bulky and more slick. They even managed to paint it. Instead of the white and blue colors it was before, it was now a dark purple with a golden strip encircling the vehicle with gold stripes here and there. It matched his Zero costume almost perfectly!

"Wow," Lelouch breathed.

"I know!" Tamaki said, as if bragging to Lelouch. "It's one of the older models but with a few changes it looks completely different than anything I've ever seen before. The inside is even better. Ohgi decided to splurge a bit."

Turning away from Lelouch, Tamaki began to type on the control panel to get the doors to open. This was going to take a while... Lelouch rolled his eyes, he could bet his spirit that Tamaki had forgotten the code.

"What room is yours?" Lelouch questioned, as he took a step backwards and went through the metal wall, his head still stuck out on the other side to look at Tamaki.

"It's on the deck, the second room on the left hand side."

Nodding, Lelouch fully emerged on the inside of the cruiser. If Lelouch wasn't a prince, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have fainted from the sheer beauty.

Dark marble stretched across the halls and into each room. It looked like the night sky with the lights reflecting off it's icy surface; as if they were stars outlining the milky way. Floating further down the hall, Lelouch stopped at the wide screen TV that covered an entire wall of the living room. The two walls that was on either side of the TV had several scrolls and other paintings that spoke of wealth. Lelouch would be lying if he said he wasn't just a bit envious of the beauty of the other scrolls. In this room, the marble cut off with a strip of wood, as the floor was taken over by several boards of tatami mats. In the front of the room was a grizzly bear skin rug, and behind it was a slab of dark wood with red cushions placed around it.

The thing about that dark slab of wood... it was floating...

'Splurge a bit,' was an understatement if Ohgi could afford that type of technology. Lelouch cautiously neared the floating slab of wood, it wasn't bobbing up and down, and if he hadn't known any better he would have believed that there was clear glass keeping it above the ground.

But Lelouch knew better than that. Before his mother died, Lelouch heard that the Japanese were making a new type of technology. That if given the chance it could have evolved into something greater than even Knightmares. Of course it never happened once Britannia declared war on Japan, but here it was, right before him.

The coffee table, for that is what it is, was not wood but in fact a large magnet. It was a mixture of the sakuradite with irons and other metals found in mining lands. If Lelouch had to guess, he'd say that the tatami mats were also laced with the same magnetizing metal, to keep the table suspended above the ground.

Shaking himself out of his stupor -not even the royal family had something like that- Lelouch floated passed the shoji door and into Tamaki's room. He had a scroll to hang up, and boxes to go through!

Slipping the scroll out of his pocket, Lelouch set it on Tamaki's desk. There wasn't any nails or hooks to hang his scroll up, so he would need to hammer a nail into the wall. Lelouch sighed, as he quickly began riffling through the boxes for anything that might help. As he went through Tamaki's things and began putting a few things away, he could hear the rest of the rebels enter the cruiser and head toward the living room.

Their shoes clicked heavily on the marble flooring, only to be muffled once they got into the living room. Even from Tamaki's room, he could hear them chattering about their new cruiser.

"So what do we do now?" one voice asked. By the sound of it, it was Yoshida.

"We kick Brit butt!" That of course was Tamaki. Lelouch inwardly groaned. When would Tamaki learn that every time he opened his mouth, he was only making a bigger fool of himself?

"Eventually, but we also need to worry about Zero," Ohgi said.

"Why would we need to worry about zero?" Kallen asked.

"Yeah," Minami agreed. "The guy just gave us a landcruiser."

"True, but how does he even know we are a resistance group?" Ohgi said with a serious tone. Lelouch could practically see the man look at each of his friends. Over time, Ohgi could become a perfect leader. He just required a guide, something Lelouch would be sure to do as Zero. After all, although Lelouch planned on leading the rebels he also had his own plans, and once he no longer needed the rebels, they would be in need of a new leader.

Lelouch pushed one of the now empty boxes, against the wall and moved onto the next box. His hands easily slid into the motion of putting things away, but at the same time he was planing. If Ohgi was already beginning to question Zero, Lelouch would need to make his next move soon.

"Although the land cruiser is nice, it might be bugged. Or even a trap," Ohgi said. "Have any of you told anyone about us? I need to know."

There was silence, and Lelouch guessed that everyone shook their heads.

"What about that Lelouch kid?"

Lelouch jerked his head up.

"Him? Hah, there's no way he's Zero," Tamaki laughed. "If he was, I would be the first to know." Lelouch let out a breath. For a second there, he was actually worried. The spirit quietly chuckled to himself. If being an idiot was Tamaki's weakness then his foolishness was his strong point.

Floating a bit higher, Lelouch looked at his handy work. It wasn't much different from Tamaki's old room. The desk and bed was the same. The only real difference was that it wasn't dirty and was much more spacious.

"Do you think we'll ever meet him? Zero, I mean?"

The innocent question traveled down the hall and into Lelouch's ear. "Sooner than you think," Lelouch said out loud. He knew no one would be able to hear him.

x~XXX~x

Lelouch wasn't lying when he said Zero would be meeting the rebels soon. It had been a day since the rebels moved into their new home, and Lelouch believed that it was as good a time as any to make an appearance. But first he had a bone to pick.

Lelouch might have given them the cruiser, and even wanted to work with the rebels, but he didn't want to be working with incompetent people.

Any soldier should know that when moving into an unknown place, they should always scan the place for bugs. The rebels didn't do that, they simply moved in. Another thing they didn't do was change the code to enter the cruiser. Not only that but they didn't set up any security measures. What were they going to do if someone entered the cruiser just because they refused to notice certain things!? It was like they were all a bunch of wannabe rebels with no experience! What did he need to do?

Hold their hand and tell them everything that they had to do?! They were older than him! The rebels should have at least some common sense!

If Lelouch hadn't changed the code to the cruiser, or scanned it for bugs, he was sure that the Britannian's would have tracked down the vehicle. Taking off the outer armor and painting the cruiser were important, but no nearly as important as making sure their home was safe!

Buttoning a dark cape to his costume, Lelouch landed both feet on the ground. He was going to make a point to these rebels. The hard way.

Plus he was bored...

Smirking, Lelouch pushed the helmet to his face as the metal plates slid into place. Taking one last look in the mirror, Zero straightened out his suit before opening the door to his room. It was one of the smaller rooms in the cruiser, but it wasn't like 'Zero' actually lived in it. Zero needed to live in that blasted scroll... which sucked...

Making sure to lock the door, Zero walked to the main room. It was midnight, so he wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing him. Not that it really mattered since he was going to wake them up right... now...

A resounding boom echoed through the cruiser. Almost immediately waking up every living spirit within the vehicle.

Panicked shuffling and muffled curses could be heard from within each room, but Zero could care less as he cocked his gun.

"Come out now!" Zero ordered, "and I won't need to kill any of you." He watched with narrowed eyes as Ohgi was the first to come out of his room, holding a gun in shaky hands. Well at least the man had enough sense to come out armed. "And you are?"

"O-Oh-gi-gi K-k-kaname." This wouldn't do. Zero inwardly sighed, rethinking his entire plan of scaring the rebels even further.

"Well Ohgi, I must say that I'm a tad disappointed in your little group," Zero stated, just as the rest of the rebels opened their doors and aimed their guns at him.

"Who the hell are you!?"

And Zero just took back wanting to go easy on them. "A shield for the defenseless," Zero muttered. His eyes narrowed under mask. A few quick calculations and he easily swept his leg across the ground, tripping everyone except Tamaki and Ohgi. Taking one last leap, Zero put Tamaki in a head lock and aimed his gun at Tamaki's head.

"So tell me Ohgi, what are you willing to do in order to save this man's life?"

"Let him go!" Ohgi demanded, but was still hesitant to pull the trigger.

"Do you even know how I got in here?" Ohgi shook his head. "For starters the alarms were off. If you had put them on before everyone headed off to bed you would have been alerted of my presence." If Lelouch hadn't already been in the vehicle and wasn't a spirit. "Another would be that you haven't changed the code on the control panel. And that's only the beginning."

"What do you want?" Ohgi questioned.

"There's no sort of security. No camera's set up. Everyone has the same sleeping schedule, with no security what's so ever." Zero growled out the words as the other rebels slowly began to stand up. With each word that escaped Lelouch's lips, it seemed as if each rebel had come to understand that they were being careless. "So tell me rebels, what will you do to save this man's life?"

Zero cocked the gun. "Will you allow this man to die for your carelessness?"

The rebels ran at him.

He waited.

They roared.

He pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

Silence.

Everyone watched with wide eyes as Tamaki fell to all fours, shaking like a wet dog. Zero pocketed his gun and stuck out his hand. "I'm sorry my friend. It was unkind of me to scare you like that. I'm Zero."

"Z-zero?" Everyone repeated at once. They all took in deep and shaky breaths when they realized that Tamaki was still alive. In their eyes it was too early to loose yet another comrade.

"That's right." Zero slowly helped Tamaki stand up. "I didn't hurt you, did I? Are you okay?"

"Hah...hah. Yeah... I'm good," Tamaki breathed, trying to add his usual humor but failing miserably.

Under his mask, Lelouch was grinning widely. Not because he just got back at Tamaki, but because the man hadn't even demanded to be released. If Tamaki even opened his mouth and demanded something of him, Zero would need to pause in his actions and that would have ruined everything. In the future, he would need to be more careful around Tamaki. Especially now that he had an identity to hide.

"Why don't we all have a seat in the pallor? I bought some pizza."

Everyone nodded numbly as they slowly moved down the hall with Zero picking up the back.

"So you're Zero?"

"And you're Ohgi Kaname. 26 years old, born to Hatsuko Kaname nee Matsumoto and Ken Kaname. You also worked as a teacher at a high school before Britannia declared war on Japan." Zero looked toward Oghi. "Am I right?"

"Yes, but how did you know all of that? It's not like the Britannia's keep records of elevens."

"I have my ways," Zero shrugged as he took a seat and motioned for Ohgi to do the same. All seven rebels were seated around the magnetic table. Ohgi at one side, with Zero on the other. "Please help yourselves to the pizza, and don't worry I didn't drug it."

When no one reached for a pizza, Zero inwardly shrugged. Might as well get straight to the point then. "As you all know, I'm Zero, the one who gifted you with this land cruiser. And I must apologize for my rudeness a while ago, while I was only trying to prove my point, that isn't the reason I'm here today. I'm here to suggest a proposition. While I may have been able to establish my own spy network," because of spirit powers, "I'm only one person and can only do so much. I need a team willing to work with me to help us accomplish our similar goals; the freedom of Elevens and everyone else who has fallen to Britannia."

"Yeah? Well even with you, we'll only be eight people. What's eight people to an entire army?" Minami challenged.

"Enough to free an army's worth of Japanese slaves."

Naomi stiffened at his words. "What do you mean by that?" she hissed. "And how can we trust you if you're hiding behind a mask?"

"Yeah," Yoshida agreed. "It must be pretty easy, sitting there and judging us while wearing a mask. Lose the helmet and I'll consider helping you."

"I can't do that," Zero stated evenly.

"And why not?" Sugiyama growled.

"Because in less than a day I'll become a wanted man. And what's to say you won't turn your back on me once Britannia puts a reward for my head?" Zero asked. When he received no answer he continued. "I need people to help me with my goal. If you don't want to help, then that's fine. Just know that more people could have been saved if I had one extra hand to help me."

"I'll help."

"Kallen," Ohgi began, but seeing her intense gaze he stopped. "Me too," Ohgi sighed.

"Yeah, count me in," Tamaki mumbled.

"Thank you for your assistance," Zero nodded to the three of them. "The rest of you may leave, and maybe once I've proven myself I might have earned your trust."

The four rebels looked at their friends worriedly, but one look from Ohgi sent them all on their way. Once they were out of the room, the three last rebels looked toward Zero. "What would you like us to do... Zero."

"This," Zero said, setting a map on the table. "You three will travel down the sewers. Once you get here there will be several passages. From there you'll need to be very careful as to not get lost. Take the one that'll be exactly forty degrees from the entrance of the previous tunnel," Zero explained as he pointed at the map and showed them what paths to take. "Once you get here, you'll find a locked door. Use this key to open it. The room inside is a large chamber that holds at least a hundred Elevens. Once you get here one of you will need to lead them back to the surface. The other two will go further to the mining tunnels. These two won't need to go back through the tunnel, and you'll be able to release all of Japanese being kept there." Zero passed the key to Ohgi.

"How do you know all this?" Ohgi asked.

"I we-"

"How do we know it's not a trap!" Tamaki interrupted. "And where are you going to be through all of this?!"

"I'll be providing a distraction," Zero answered. "And I know, because I was down there once."

"You were a slave?"

Zero shrugged, he'd let the man imagine whatever he wanted. Besides, if Ohgi believed he was forced to work in the mines it might actually help them trust Zero more.

"Anyway, by the time the other two get to the mines, I should be done with my distraction. I'll come by to meet with the first person, then meet up with the other two."

"How do we know you aren't going to turn on us?" Ohgi questioned.

"Because there would be nothing in it for me. If I wanted to capture terrorists I would have gone after a bigger group."

"Why didn't you join a larger group, then?"

"Because, they already have experienced leaders, and you, Ohgi, are new at your job. I'm not looking to replace you as leader but help you become a better one," Zero answered truthfully. "And eventually I'll get those larger organizations to join us."

"What time do we set the plan in motion?" Kallen finally spoke.

"I'll begin my role at noon. You three will head to the sewers at one pm."

"That's insane! Why are we doing it during the day time!? We'll get caught for sure!"

"You won't get caught," Zero stated, and on the inside Lelouch was rolling his eyes. "If anyones going to get caught it'll be me. It's during the day because more soldiers are out at that time and I want them to all come to me. Plus the officers only go to the mines during night to make sure that all the Eleven miners are still doing their job, and to turn on the lights," Zero reasoned easily. His masked head turned toward the clock on the wall. It was already one in the morning. Exactly twelve hours from now the three rebels before him would start their first mission that could change the tides in the Japanese' favor for once. "Get some sleep. I'll see all three of you tomorrow at the mines."

x~XXX~x (the next day)

"Where are you?" Tamaki asked.

"At a Britannian hanger," Lelouch answered. That must have been the tenth time Tamaki asked that question in the past twenty minutes. How was he supposed to provide a distraction if Tamaki kept bothering him!?

"Why?"

"Because I'm trying to help Zero!" Lelouch growled. He swiftly moved through the different wires. "Ah, I need to go." Lelouch stuffed the radio into his coat as he pulled the last wire free. He grinned at his handy work. Sabotage was always his favorite part. He got to destroy things! With this the Britannians wouldn't be able to activate their Knightmares.

Slipping through the cockpit, Lelouch moved to the east hangers. He just needed to take care of the vehicles and he would be done! Well, he'd be done with the fun part. After this he would need to do the rest as Zero.

The halls lit up red and Lelouch looked up with wide eyes. NO!

"Attention men! We have discovered several of our Knightmares vandalized! Find the culprit and execute him!" Clovis' voice sounded over the speakers.

Lelouch growled in annoyance. That just made his job as Zero harder than it would have been! Phasing through several walls, Lelouch arrived at the east towers and quickly got to work. Instead of taking his time, like he had for the knightmares, this time Lelouch simply phased his hand through the metal and messed with whatever he could before moving onto the next vehicle. He really didn't have much time anymore.

Crimson lights blinked in and out of existence, as it practically screamed 'seizure!' at Lelouch. The sirens blasted throughout the building and echoed into the surrounding area. The noise and lights brought several nosy news reports to the premise as they all set up their cameras and waited for news worth gossiping about.

Flying through the building, Lelouch reached the top and quickly slipped into his Zero outfit.

Setting both feet on the ground, he fluidly approached the edge of the building. From way up here, the reporters and soldiers looked like mere ants. Lelouch smirked as the first reported caught site of him and aimed his camera at Zero.

"I am Zero. The bridge between the numbers and the Britannian's. We the numbers shall fight in the seas, land and sky. We will defend our families and take back what is rightfully ours. Whatever the cost may be, we will fight! We will fight in our homes, in buildings, in the ally, in fields, in public. We will fight, and never surrender. Today will be the turning point for all numbers!" With each word, his voice grew louder and Lelouch could feel his confidence rising for what he would need to do next.

Taking a deep breath, Zero leapt off the building, causing all the spectators to gasp and the soldiers to fire their guns. Thinking fast, Lelouch phased out of the costume before grabbing the clothing and wrapping it into his ghostly coat, making them entirely invisible but not before several bullets his his suit.

Lelouch looked down to see his brother, Clovis, glaring at the spot Zero was last spotted at.

"Let's see how he responds to his own people getting killed!" Clovis growled. "Bartley, bring the prisoners here for a public execution."

"But my lord they aren't-"

Clovis turned to the bald man. "Just do it!"

"What's happened to you brother?" Lelouch asked quietly as he looked down on the man. Clovis no longer sounded like the boy, Lelouch had once called brother.

Shaking his head, Lelouch ripped his gaze away from the blond. He could only hope that his distraction was big enough to keep all the attention on himself.

A/N: Hi guys! Long time no smell! Does anyone want to guess what's going to happen next? Oh and the next chapter is already done, and going through revisions! So expect a quicker update.