Chapter 4: Power Difference

"It been almost a month since Infinite's pledge to bring the world to its state under Emperor Lelouch's reign, but no major attacks of terrorist groups have been reported." Milly Ashford said on the news channel. "Could this all have been some sort of play? A stunt pulled by a man without a true purpose? Or could he simply be bidding his time?"

If I know him the way I know I do, it's the third option. Suzaku thinks.

"Lord Zero, can I get you anything?" Zero's attendant asks. "Lord Zero?"

"Huh," Suzaku had blanked.

"Can I get you anything?" The attendant asks again.

"Oh, no, nothing." He replies.

"Just let me know if you need anything."

"...You know what, on second thought, could you go find a chess set for me?"

"Chess set? Very well then, I'll be right back." The attendant leaves the room.

Suzaku thinks about his options at this point. He is sure Lelouch is alive, and Infinite on top of that. One choice he had was to simply expose him to the community, but that might also lead to suspicions against himself. Another route he had before him was simply to play it out, and see where this new plan Lelouch has leads; which he believed to be his best option. Then there was the third option, which was a clean sweep. This would be where he makes plans against anything Lelouch might do and capture him early on, ending the Reverse Rebellion sooner, and then question Lelouch in private. But that could contradict important information on these weapons he created and some other things he was foggy on.

The Attendant returned, carrying a chess set carefully in her hands, then laid it out on the coffee table in front of Zero.

"Is there anything else you will need?" She asks.

"No, in fact take a half hour break and leave me alone for a while." Zero wishes.

"Of course, Lord Zero." She replies then leaves the room.

Every now and then Suzaku would tell her to take a half hour break so he could take his mask off. But this time he wanted more than just that, he needed to be alone with the image of Lelouch in this chess set.

"So then Infinite, what is your first move?" He asks himself, although the question was really toward everything else.

Just then, an alert in the room went off, and the News channel broke off from its current report, switching to a live report.

"We interrupt today's regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you stirring news." Milly begins. "We have just received intelligence of KnightCrawlers attacking Babel Tower, along with the Gawain. Enemy number estimated at 500."

Already Suzaku was putting his mask back on and heading out the door, not having touched the chess board, and putting on a speaker microphone.

"To all personnel, I'm sure you already know, but Infinite has made his first move and attacked Babel Tower. I want 1,000 of our stronger Knightmares mobilized to the area. Kallen and I shall also proceed there in our Knightmare, dispatch immediately." Zero then cut's off from here and takes his elevator down to his Lancelot's hanger, where Lloyd is waiting.

"The preparations are all finished Lord Zero." Lloyd says.

"Good, I'm leaving immediately." Zero replies and climbs into his seat.

"3... 2... 1... Lancelot, Launch!" Lloyd says.

"Lancelot, Launch!" Zero says and shoots the Lancelot across its launching pad and takes off.

The energy wings become active soon after he deploys and he flies strait for Babel Tower. Kallen soon appears and joins up with Zero.

"Babel Tower again, where everything started." Kallen says, remembering that Babel Tower was the place the Black Nights were officially introduced." Or rather where everything ended really."

"In any case, this is where the cycle continues." Zero replies.

"So it seems." Kallen says, seeming depressed.

Kallen and Zero lead their 1,000 troops to the Babel Tower, it had been overtaken by the Reverse Knights. But what they saw about the Reverse Knights themselves were even more surprising. In the last year, very few Energy winged Knightmares had been made, so most air troops still had to rely on regular float systems. But this was in no way the case for their enemy. Each and every one of the 500 troops that had captured Babel Tower had Energy Wings. In a matter of moments, everyone knew that their troops would be cut by 3 quarters, even just a few Energy winged Knightmares were able to destroy dozens of regular ones in seconds. To top it off, the total number of their forces that did have Energy Wings were 25, and of them, only about 10 had Hydron cannon equipped. this was about as much of a one sided battle as it could be.

The Gawain KnightCrawler stepped forward.

Infinite spoke. "The enemy has appeared, drive through and cut them down swiftly. ATTACK!" At this command, all 500 units zoomed in every direction and around Zero's forces and completely annihilated the troops without energy wings in seconds.

And the 25 that did possess them were left surrounded. Not a single Reverse Knight was taken out. Then Infinite flew into the circle, approaching Zero's Lancelot.

"Acknowledge defeat and I shall not kill you, but merely take you hostage."

Suzaku thought over his options, if he did what he was told, he and the remaining troops would live; but it would be seen by all of Japan as an act of coward ness. On the other hand, the Geass Lelouch put on him two years ago to live on was still active. and it had saved his life in countless situations. But his subordinates were not so lucky, if he did this, he would escape with good certainty, but they might as well be fish fry, and he couldn't bring himself to that. So he did what he could; he stalled.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I believe I made my position clear the first time. I am going to restore Emperor Lelouch's reign, the one YOU stole from him, Zero." was Infinite's reply.

"I mean why are you in Japan? If you wish to restore his rule, you should have started with the Holy Empire of Britannia, not Japan."

Lelouch was fazed for a second, it had not occurred to him someone would ask such a question, but in haste he answered.

"I started in Area 11," He began, trying to make it clear how much he wanted the rule returned. "Because it was here that Emperor Lelouch was killed, and his reign ended. Therefore, It shall begin again, in the same place. I also had started here because it is where you, Emperor Lelouch's murderer, reside, and if the reign is to ever be truly restored, you must be taken out of the picture."

"Then why not kill me now? You said if I surrendered I would only be apprehended, not killed. But if you want me out of the picture you would have to kill me; isn't that the whole point?" Zero shoots.

"True, in order to have you completely out of the way, I would have to kill you."

"Then why not?"

"I want you alive for the time being, to see the terror on the face under the mask." Infinite began. "See the horror that after a year of peace, your just a weak insolent man who only prolonged The Holy Empires total reign."

"I see, So you want my face exposed when I am killed do you."

"Yes, it would also please me to know how loyal people are to you after you are exposed."

"Are you accusing me of some sort of crime, Infinite?"

"Not accusing, merely stating that there are a number of faces that could be under that mask, and the reaction of the people will differ depending on that face."

"So you really think you've won, don't you Infinite?"

"Of course I have, you are outnumbered 1 to 20; you cannot win."

"Win?" This time Kallen spoke. "Now who said anything about beating you now? All we have to do is make a hole and escape."

"The slightest move your all dead, how could you possibly escape?"

"We've had a year to improve our technology." Kallen began.

"Just because you have some tricks of your own, doesn't mean we can't have an ace or two."

Just then, a Hydron cannon is fired from the right of the Reverse Knights and destroys them, taking them by surprise. But what was more surprising was that Zero's troops were caught in the blast, and when the blast ended, they were not there.

"What, where did they go?" Infinite wonders and looks on his radar, but they have vanished.

Then a 'sound only' radio chat opened up on his screen.

"Don't try to look for us on your radar, we have a cloaking mechanism that protects us from any sort of detection. That's the whole reason we let ourselves be caught in the Hydron cannon fired just now. We used a perfect barrier which acted as a bullet shell, and the cannon shoot us across the field."

"So your cloaking was why we didn't notice your person who fired the cannon before hand."

"Exactly, you have won this battle I'm afraid, and Babel Tower is your prize, But the war is far from over, The difference in strength is great, we have a ways to go to catch up with your units. So for now I bid you good-bye Infinite." Zero says and closes the radio chat; leaving the Reverse Knights in possession of Babel Tower, unfortunately having to retreat.