Three Days Later

The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights

The phone rang once, twice, three times; but still Suzaku received no answer. It was the fourth call in a row that had gone unanswered, despite the fact that he was using Zero's personal phone, in Zero's personal office and with Zero's personal caller ID.

It wasn't the first time he had done it, either. While being completely loyal to their cause, the man had developed a certain tendency to avoid immediately responding to any sort of communication unless it was transmitted on the emergency frequency: a sort of minor power play which, although at times may be important to the man's survival, was exceedingly frustrating to Suzaku. Regardless, there was still a two hour window in which to make his request, so use of the emergency frequency, while it may make things quicker, was not the best choice at present.

He removed the handset from his ear after the twelfth ring and pressed the disconnect button with a slightly unnecessary amount of force. He tapped his fingers on the top of the desk. Four calls was far too long for Li Xingke to be holding out on him; the longest he had ever waited was slightly over thirty seconds, which roughly equated to the third or fourth ring on the second call. It was possible that his illness was keeping him from the phone. Suzaku had suspected more than once that he had been busy receiving his treatment from Tianzi – the girl having insisted upon learning to wrap his bandages herself – during the missed phone calls, but saw admitting to it as a sign of weakness. Either way, it only made things more difficult for Suzaku.

The dull thud of knuckles against wood drew him out of his contemplation. He called out a response and the door slid open, admitting Ōgi. The man was a shadow of his former self. His skin was pale, his eyelids drooped and the ends of his jacket were frayed from constant fidgeting. A red headband hung loosely around his neck; it had been found at the base of their building the night Kallen had 'died.'

Suzaku had shed almost five minutes' worth of tears for his friend – even if he only really got to know her as 'Zero' – before he collected himself enough to call Lelouch, who had promptly informed him that Shirley had seen an opportunity to fake Kallen's death and taken it. According to Lelouch, faking Kallen's death had not been part of his revised plan; instead, Shirley had become so familiar with it over the past year that he had allowed her a small level of freedom to act alone, so long as her additions were undeniably beneficial to their plan. It couldn't compare to Suzaku's authority in their partnership, but Lelouch had commented that he was extremely glad he had given it to her; separating Kallen from the Black Knights would help them avoid a number of scenarios he had painstakingly developed responses to.

"The materials you requested have arrived," Ōgi began. His voice was shaky and occasionally faded out completely "They are with transports two and three in the first garage,"

Suzaku furrowed his brow. "Thank you, Ōgi. How is Villetta?"

He tried to smile, but the pain behind it was clearly visible.

"I need you to take a break from duty. You have been extremely stressed recently and I have concerns about your health." Suzaku's tone was firm, but not harsh; he didn't want to upset the man even further.

"I'm not the only one. Everybody cared about her."

"That's commendable," Suzaku acknowledged with a tilt of the head, forcefully ensuring that he kept any traces of self-disgust out of his expression. As much as he wanted to tell him the truth and alleviate his pain, it would almost certainly destroy their plan: Ōgi had proven himself a well-meaning liability in the past. "But you need to relax. They care about you too and people are worried."

Indeed, earlier that day, Villetta had come to him with concerns that Ōgi may attempt to commit suicide. They discussed a number of different strategies to minimise the likelihood of that scenario, eventually deciding to use emotional blackmail on the basis that it would be unfair to his son and wife if he did. Suzaku was absolutely against the idea of using a child in that way at first, but eventually Villetta had been able to convince him that it was perfectly legitimate, not possessing the usual sinister characteristics that commonly accompany blackmail. It was nothing more than an undeniable truth, in the end: his family needed him and therefore he could not die, especially of his own doing.

Some people would disagree with his methods, likely including his former self. He had changed significantly during his involvement in the execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia and during his time as Zero, but had not affected his core values.

After all, Kururugi Suzaku had committed worse crimes than saving a man's life.

"What are you trying to say, Zero? That I'm not–" Ōgi was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing.

"Listen, Ōgi; you've been working far too hard lately," he insisted. "Take some time off to relax. I'm sure Kaguya wouldn't mind picking up some of your workload and it would make Nunnally's day if you could find her something she can do to be of use. I have to take this call, now. If you need to, you can speak to me later."

Ōgi nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Suzaku lifted the phone to his ear and accepted the call.

"This is Zero."

"My apologies, Zero," the tense voice of Li Xingke replied. Suzaku raised an eyebrow; something bad must have happened to warrant those words. "A few hours ago, we received warning that Schneizel had located our chief military hangar. I was forced to order a thirty-minute complete evacuation of our facilities."

"A thirty-minute evacuation?" he repeated incredulously. "You've lost all of your resources and most of your knightmare frames, then?"

"No. It was fortunate that we were already preparing to relocate in two days; only a few frames and basic living supplies had to be loaded onto the carrier submarines before we could depart. We avoided Schneizel's blockade by less than twenty minutes."

"Submarines? When did you get submarines? How did you get them?" Suzaku was beyond shocked. The Chinese Resistance Force had been crippled by Schneizel mere weeks before the Black Knights' most recent battle with Britannia. For them to gain a set of submarines and enough knightmares to keep some stored away at any point was an almost inconceivable accomplishment.

"They were donated by a Britannian engineer who worked directly under Odysseus," Li Xingke answered. "The Emperor had requested a full set of submarines and two aerial carriers for the Britannian navy, which were scheduled to be completed in a month from today. She was heading up the project, so she was able to deliberately overstate the estimated completion date and made contact with us less than a week ago about stealing them. The workers were more than happy to take a full day off when their superior congratulated them for their work, so we took our chance then."

"That's great news, but…" He hesitated slightly. "What happened to the woman?"

"She decided to join us fully after we captured the vehicles. It was clear that she was involved; they would have executed her within days."

Suzaku let out a sigh of relief, although he was careful to mask it from the handset. "That's a good result; an engineer of that quality will be a useful ally."

"Indeed."

"I need to ask a favour of you," he began quickly. The situation in China – or Area 68 as it was now officially named – left him with little time to spare. "I need you to deliver two knightmare frames to agents of mine in Romania. We have almost none, ourselves."

Li Xingke was silent for a moment. "…I'm afraid that is impossible."

"Impossible?" Suzaku growled through clenched teeth. "This is extremely important to our plans."

"Yes, impossible. Schneizel is currently in China and will be relentlessly pursuing our resistance group over the next couple of weeks. If he catches us, we will have to fight our way out; I cannot put China and Tianzi at risk to deliver a couple of knightmares to you."

He took a few seconds to come up with another strategy. They hadn't anticipated any problems in China, but Lelouch had prepared a backup plan regardless. It wasn't a perfect plan, however, so there was always the possibility that the first one could be salvaged to some extent. "Do you have any means by which to transport knightmares that we can use? One of the submarines would be useful."

"My apologies, Zero; every vehicle we have is at full capacity. We're in full military mode."

"That's alright. We're all doing our best," he replied. They'd just have to go with the alternative plan. "And good luck. You'll need it; Schneizel is ruthless."

"I know. Thank you."

Suzaku disconnected the phone and leant back in his chair with a sigh, placing the handset on the table. While it was frustrating that their original strategy had been made impossible, some part of him was glad that knightmares weren't an option: he had always hated violence. In any other situation his concern would have overridden these emotions completely, but he was working with Lelouch. They had known each other since they were children; he knew enough about his friend to say that there was no chance he could lose, even without the knightmare frames.

He picked the phone up from the table and began dialling Lelouch's number.

Area 36

Bucharest Settlement

Airports frustrated Lelouch. There were only so many situations possible in which his Geass ensured that he would have little to no resistance, but getting through Customs wasn't one of them. If it weren't for the recent security upgrades Odysseus had commissioned he would have been able to walk straight through the detectors and use it if he was questioned, but the guards in the public areas of the facility now wore visors with x-ray vision, allowing them to perform random scans on anyone at all.

He had never wanted to travel by aeroplane, having become much more accustomed to knightmare frame travel, but it was unavoidable: an unidentified knightmare leaving Japan would draw unnecessary attention and a ship would, even with modern advancements, invariably take far too long to reach Romania.

To any regular passenger, the security may not have been a problem. To Lelouch Vi Britannia and Shirley Fenette, they most definitely were. Before Leaving Japan, they had each concealed a variety of weapons on their person: two pistols and a vial of refrain for Lelouch; a slightly larger – yet still concealable – firearm for Shirley.

Endangerment of one's self is endangerment of the plan. This was something Lelouch knew, yet failed to apply on numerous occasions under pressure. Just because he had ignored it in the past didn't mean that he didn't believe it, however; when possible, he took every precaution possible to ensure his continued survival. The guns were testament to that: they would be able to receive weaponry from Li Xingke in a day or so, but the precious seconds before that could happen were each another chance to be found out and assassinated or arrested.

He supposed that Suzaku could continue Zero Requiem if he died: any tasks which could only fall to him had already been completed. It would make things exceedingly difficult, however. Suzaku may have developed arguably the third greatest strategic mind in the political world, but he wasn't on the level of Schneizel or himself. There was also the fact that, despite their time together in the Knights of Round, Suzaku was less likely to be able to convince Laroque to ally with them. Laroque was essential to their plans: if his services couldn't be secured, it would take them years to build up a resistance force strong enough to overthrow Schneizel and Odysseus. Lelouch's Geass, at least, gave them another option if he refused to work for them willingly.

Such a thing was never in their original plans. Indeed, many amendments had to be made by Lelouch over the last few years. Schneizel's military capacities had far exceeded their expectations: the addition of the European Union to his army had almost doubled its size. The Black Knights – for they had been named that even in Zero Requiem itself – were both stronger and weaker than he had hoped. Although it may have been enough before, it was no longer possible to fight Schneizel with a group of predominantly untrained pilots. The only truly talented pilot it had produced was Kallen; Tōdō had joined from the Japan Liberation Front; and Cornelia, Gino and Anya hailed from the Britannian Military. It boasted an impressive group of soldiers, but almost none had developed within its own ranks.

He shifted in his seat. He disliked the hard, blue plastic of the chair he had been given. For the last year, they had been living well: Geass was extremely useful. For the most part he had avoided using its power in selfish manners, focussing on obvious criminals to relieve of their money at Shirley's insistence. When there were none to be seen, he occasionally made day trips to large companies for stock information, but usually he allowed himself to 'encourage' part-time employees in large stores to give him considerable discounts. Even if he didn't have one of the most recognisable faces in the world, he had more important things to do than waste time on a job.

To his left sat Shirley, smiling despite the circumstances. She had absolute faith in him, something he valued immensely. The interrogator would return in a moment but neither paid any attention to the mirror directly in front of them, even knowing that the person standing behind it was studying them intently.

The door groaned as it opened, re-admitting the man who had brought them into the room. He was a fairly unremarkable man overall. Perhaps the best word which could describe him would be 'average.' Everything about him was average: average height, average weight, and average intelligence from what they had seen. The pace at which he filled out forms would barely make a snail jealous, frustrating Lelouch to no end. They had been sitting in the same room for over an hour and the only time his visor had been removed was to fill in paperwork, resting his cheek on his palm in such a way that made eye-contact impossible. All it would take was one glance to subject the man to Geass, but he still hadn't received one.

Unfortunately for the two, the visor was once again firmly fixed over the man's eyes. Lelouch didn't know why he still wore it, even after they had both been repeatedly subjected to it. Perhaps he didn't realise that there was no reason to leave it on, in which case 'lower than average' would be a more accurate assessment of his intelligence.

The man placed two passports and four plastic packages – three guns and a refrain vial – on the table in front of them. He took a seat and stared them in the eyes one after another.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cardemonde," he began. Lelouch repressed the urge to chuckle; maybe he would buy Rivalz a drink one day to apologise for using his name. "Bringing guns into Area 36 is against the law and could mean twenty-five years in prison. Did you know that?"

Lelouch ignored the question. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" the man replied, not removing his visor to identify himself as Lelouch had expected. "There are some serious problems with your passports."

"What problems?" It was an unnecessary question. He knew exactly what the problems were.

The man reached over and opened both passports to the identification pages, clearly showing two photos of a blue-haired Britannian. The collar of a male Ashford Academy uniform was barely visible at the bottom, but could not be identified just from that. "I don't know who this is, but he isn't either of you. I don't know who you are, but you can't both be 'Rivalz Cardemonde.' What are your real names?"

It was anything but subtle, yet being obviously untruthful was the easiest way to get through Britannian Customs with weaponry. It wasn't a new routine; Lelouch and Shirley had done it more than once since he faked his death. To obtain weapons permits, they needed to use Geass on an officer to have him or her create them. To use Geass on an officer, they had to be in a private room where the visors would come off. To end up in a private room, they had to be lying about something. The identical 'Rivalz Cardemonde' passports were perfect: neither of them looked anything like him and fortunately Britannian law stated that they need only be checked after flights.

Even better was the fact that they couldn't possibly be traced. Rivalz would never find out.

A snicker to Lelouch's left broke him out of his thoughts. Shirley had laughed. He didn't really blame her, he supposed: they had never been questioned on the passports before, as he usually managed to Geass them within fifteen minutes of the interrogation starting. Both felt somewhat cheated if they managed to escape without ever having their blatant identity fraud pointed out.

"You think this is a joke, do you?" he growled, leaning forward until his nose was only a few inches away from Shirley's. It made sense for him to be extremely serious about the job – protecting his country – but Lelouch was completely disinterested in following Britannian law. He pulled off his visor and stared into her––

'Now!' Lelouch shouted in his head, his hand already reaching up to remove the two contacts from his eyes. "Follow my orders!"

The man's eyes flickered for a moment. "Of course."

He sighed in relief. For a while it had looked like giving the command would be next to impossible, but luck had been on their side. Even if it hadn't, they could probably have knocked the visor off themselves, but that was a last resort.

"Create weapons permits for both of us, lasting the maximum amount of time possible," Lelouch began. They really only needed them to last them a week or two, but it could never hurt to have valid ones if they ever needed to return to Romania for any reason. "Also, ensure that we can enter the Bucharest Settlement with all of our belongings, including those which were confiscated. Remove any record that we were ever here."

"Yes, of course!"

Fifteen Minutes Later

It was the first time Lelouch had set foot in Romania, although if he wasn't already aware, it would have been difficult to tell by sight alone what country he was in. Directly in front of him was the Britannian Concession. Directly behind him was the airport and behind that was a drop of at least fifty metres down to the ghetto below. It was almost a mirror of Japan, at least in terms of Britannian policy, although his research had turned out a few subtle differences; overall, it appeared somewhat less restrictive than the harsh Area 11 legislation.

The location of the airport piqued his interest. In every city he had been to, the airport – or airports if they were larger than average – were all situated well beyond the ghettoes, where land was more plentiful. The sole publically-accessible airport in Area 36 had been built in the Concession itself, albeit along the outer edge.

The only logical explanation for this was that they didn't have enough land outside the ghettoes. If he wasn't sure that the Toromo Institute was operating at full capacity by this point, that fact alone would have convinced him. Considering what he knew, it was almost certain that the land on which the airport would normally have been built was dedicated to Toromo storage, testing grounds or other facilities. He supposed it might have been possible to build one in a neighbouring town or use a pre-existing one, but it was also true that the extra travel time would be considered unacceptable by Britannian standards.

A click drew his attention; Shirley had wandered over to the edge of the Concession and was peering over it, taking photo after photo with her digital camera. His chest tightened and his heart began to beat wildly as she leaned further and further over the edge––

"Shirley!" he shouted, racing over towards her as fast as his meagre athleticism would allow. "Not again. That was too far!"

Shirley turned to face him, tilting the brim of her straw hat up to meet his concerned gaze. She pouted. "I was just taking a few photos. Isn't the view lovely?"

He wrapped her in a hug – more out of habit than anything else – shivering slightly at the contact. The blue baseball cap that had served him so well as a subtle disguise was covering his eyes. "You can't do that, Shirley…"

"Do what?" she asked softly. Her eyes were closed and her smile content, enjoying his embrace.

He released her and stepped away. "You were too close."

"Oh, too close to the edge…" She averted her gaze, staring at a point on the ground somewhere between the two. "It's because I'm important…because I'm necessary, isn't it?"

"No," he replied shortly, clenching a fist. "I just don't–"

Shirley looked up at him sympathetically. She knew what he was trying to say.

"–I don't want to lose anything else."

He felt an arm wrap around his chest, then another one.

"Trust me a little more, Lulu."

He knew that he was being overcautious. When Shirley had fallen the first time, she had been in a panicked, arguably suicidal state. This time there was none of that; leaning over the edge to take photos was an innocent act. There was even a barrier to prevent falling and probably a suicide net below. To the best of Lelouch's knowledge, all of the Britannian Concessions save for Japan and China had them; in those two Areas where resistance was high, suicide was encouraged for 'Elevens' and 'Eights' (the colloquial term for 'Sixty-Eights' in that Area) who were opposed to Britannian rule.

He knew she wouldn't fall. She was stronger now. She was faster now. She had better balance now. If it had been Kallen, Rivalz, Nina or even Tamaki he wouldn't have worried. Seeing Shirley almost kill herself – inadvertently or not – was a memory he would never be able to let go of. Nor would he want to: one mistake he had made on a battlefield, far away from Ashford Academy, had set in motion the chain of events which would have killed his friend if it wasn't for C.C.'s interference.

Everything he did would need to be perfect.

It was well into the early hours of the morning when they made it to their hotel room. The attendant at the counter, a young man who didn't seem to look comfortable in a suit, was so tired that Lelouch was able to secure a room upgrade for a quarter of the cost. He had wanted to use Geass, but Shirley had insisted that he limit his use of it: she was as paranoid about him losing control of it than she was of her own evolving.

Five minutes later they had made their way up to their room and were emptying the contents of their pockets onto small tables on either side of the King-sized bed. Lelouch paused for a moment as he removed two mobile phones from his pocket, identical in all but colour. The black one was, fittingly, an untraceable satellite phone which used two of the Black Knights orbiting satellites; they had been commissioned at the height of the Black Knights' power and Schneizel had so far made no attempt to remove or hijack them. The second phone, a white version of the same model, was fitted with a Romanian sim card for local calls. He would be receiving a call from Li Xingke in the morning regarding the exchange.

He took his shoes off and lay down on top of the covers. Shirley was busy sorting out the contents of her bag, having collected a number of mementos aboard the flight. A chuckle almost escaped his lips: he hadn't noticed her relieving the Customs officer of his visor. Now that he thought about it, that particular device could be extremely useful in future, especially in Laroque's hands.

She removed the final objects from her bag – a set of phones identical to Lelouch's – and followed suit in lying on top of the bed. After a few moments of silence, she turned to face him and opened her mouth to speak––

A phone rang.

Lelouch leapt off the bed and snatched the black phone. It couldn't have been the white one; the only person who knew its number was Shirley and she was lying next to him. He looked at the caller ID and answered it, moving the handset to his ear.

"Suzaku."

"Lelouch," he replied hesitantly. "It's not going to work."

There was silence for a moment.

"What's not going to work?" Lelouch asked slowly, various alternative plans for different scenarios from the Toromo infiltration to Zero Requiem itself already filtering rapidly through his head.

"Li Xingke can't deliver the frames you requested."

He relaxed slightly. This particular situation was one he had four or five different plans for. "Why? I was unaware this would be an issue with the current state of the Chinese Resistance Force."

"They're being pursued heavily by Schneizel. His troops raided their headquarters yesterday; they had barely enough time to escape."

"What are their losses? Do they have an alternative premises secured?" He wasn't particularly worried about their group – they had no chance at victory, anyway – but they made a good diversion.

"No losses, save for the building they were using," Suzaku replied with slightly more enthusiasm. "In fact, they gained two aerial carriers, a set of submarines and a top engineer in the last few days."

Lelouch sighed. "That's good, I suppose. They might survive longer."

"Don't be like that, Lelouch," Suzaku admonished him. "They're our allies; we can hope more than that for them."

He didn't even flinch. "They can't win. You know that."

"I know they can't, but they're doing their best, just like us."

Lelouch leant against the wall and stared out the window, his eyebrows furrowed. Shirley looked at him questioningly, but he waved her off: he could tell her when he finished the call.

"I have two spare frames here I can lend you, if you can think of a way to get them there. That might take some time, though. Too long, most likely."

"We do have one way to transport them out of Japan," Lelouch replied automatically. He had spent hours analysing the pros and cons of such an option. "But it's not worth the risk."

"Oh, that. You're right, it probably isn't. Will any of the other plans work?"

"Without the knightmare frames, we won't be able to destroy Toromo," he responded slowly. "The majority of the facility is currently dedicated to one project, so security will be low in the main area."

"Can you still get inside the secure zone?"

"No. Originally I had planned to create a hole in the perimeter with the knightmares, make my way inside and use Geass to take control. Everybody working on the project lives within the secure zone, so there's no traffic in and out; I won't be able to use Geass to get inside."

A sigh could be heard across the line. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. They could have rebuilt it anyway."

"They could," he agreed. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"No. I can handle things at my end," Suzaku confirmed. He paused for a moment. "Good luck, Lelouch."

"Thank you."

He disconnected the line and slipped the phone into his pocket. It was true that they could still complete their primary objective, but accomplishing the secondary one would have been a huge advantage. There were still a few kinks in the plan – he had only gained access to the information on Toromo's defences recently – so he would have to make some adjustments that night.

"Was that Suzaku, Lulu?"

He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yes, it was. We can't get the knightmares from Li Xingke."

"Don't worry, we have other plans," she replied with a smile. "Which will we use: Plan B or C?"

"Plan B, I think. Neither is perfect yet, but I'll be able to finish B tonight."

Without offering a reply, she stood and moved towards their luggage. They weren't intending it as a holiday, but a small bag each was necessary to hold everything they would need. Rummaging through its contents, she managed to free a white nightgown and made her way to the bathroom. She turned back to face him, standing in the doorway.

"I'm first in the shower, Lulu," she teased. Lelouch would generally insist on showering first, so it had become something of a game for them. She smiled. "Do your best!"

The smile he returned wasn't quite full. They both knew what he would eventually have to do to her.

She would have been perfect for him…

…But she wasn't Kallen.

The Next Morning

Area 36 – formerly Romania – was in far worse condition than he had expected. Four months before the European Union was revealed to have been officially absorbed by the Holy Britannian Empire, a war had been declared between Romania and the Ukraine. Romania had reacted first, sending a large army of knightmare frames within their borders, headed for Kyiv. They never made it, however: the opposing Ukrainian army headed them off in Chernivtsi with vastly superior frames and without evacuation. The battle was over in under an hour, devastating the large city. A little under half of the Romanian forces were able to escape, thankful that they weren't pursued.

Far from their expectations of a simultaneously shameful and sympathetic welcome, the sight that greeted them upon their return was enough to chill even the toughest soldier to the bone. Bucharest had been literally wiped off the face of the Earth. All that remained was a series of deep craters spanning the entirety of where the city once stood.

Lelouch clenched his teeth. It was irrefutable that Schneizel had manufactured the war and given at least a few FLEIJA warheads to the Ukraine with the intention of levelling Bucharest. The war had ended days later, both parties decommissioning all weaponry, including knightmare frames.

The Bucharest Settlement had been built in its place in the immediate aftermath of Odysseus' official claiming of the entirety of Europe. The new city was far smaller than its predecessor, extending less than ten kilometres outwards in any direction. That wasn't the only thing that was changed, however; it now resembled the Tokyo Settlement before the destruction of Shinjuku. At the very centre was an unusually large Concession, the remaining four or five kilometres occupied by deliberately decrepit buildings – a ghetto.

The ghetto itself contained less than fifty thousand people, according to the information Lelouch had sourced. Those numbers didn't seem to be increasing either: the approximate ten-kilometre barrier was legally enforced at the discretion of Britannia. In contrast, the Concession was statistically home to thirty thousand Britannians, although in reality less than ten thousand lived there. The rest were accommodated within 'The Cube.'

'The Cube' was an enormous Britannian facility almost twenty kilometres outside Bucharest, named for its outward appearance: an almost blindingly white structure in the shape of a perfect cube, spanning four kilometres in every direction.

It was a relatively new building, although with the fast-paced change the world was currently experiencing, one year could hardly be considered 'new' for a military structure. Regardless, its existence hadn't concerned the Black Knights: there had been several large structures built throughout Europe at the time in what they presumed were attempts at fortification against a potential invasion attempt by Emperor Lelouch. It had taken Lelouch multiple uses of his Geass to eventually discover 'Toromo Institute' buried within mountains of Romanian paperwork.

Knowledge of what was within The Cube was kept heavily confidential to the extent that beyond Odysseus and Schneizel, nobody seemed sure who even knew about it. This, of course, meant that Lelouch knew it inside out. The new Toromo Institute was a research and development facility – just as it always had been – and was responsible for creating the most recent Aerial Fortress Damocles, unbeknownst to the Black Knights until he had anonymously tipped them off. After Odysseus took the throne, Toromo had absorbed In Vogue and the Rosenberg Institute, although Rosenberg remained a separate entity within Toromo. Despite Lelouch's best efforts to ensure that all three would be destroyed after his death, they had somehow managed to survive, or else they had been recreated. The number of scientists involved in the project was approximately twenty thousand, all living full-time within The Cube to prevent information leaks and security weaknesses.

For that reason, The Cube remained in a state of constant lockdown; all supplies were delivered through a large underground suction pipe which transported items from within the Concession. Humans were unable to survive the pipe and all items were electronically inspected at the halfway point, so there was no chance of using a bomb to destroy it from the inside. Lelouch had planned to use the heavy weaponry of knightmare frames to break a hole in its side and use his Geass repeatedly to infiltrate and control it, but without Li Xingke's assistance it was impenetrable.

It may have been true that infiltrating The Cube was impossible at this time, but infiltrating the Rosenberg Institute wasn't. While it retained its original purpose, a second responsibility had been given to it: local security of The Cube. While it was possible to call in support from the Britannian Military at any time – or simply defend themselves using the technology they had created – Toromo had assigned them the task of dealing with any non-military intruders. For this reason, their facilities were attached to one side of The Cube, covering almost two hundred square metres, yet still completely dwarfed by it.

Fortunately, their target lay within Rosenberg and not Toromo.

Lelouch took his hand off the steering wheel and applied the handbrake. He groaned; Shirley was still glaring at him.

"What?" he asked irritably.

"You know what."

He did 'know what,' in fact: he had stolen the car they were driving from a Britannian civilian. He hadn't hurt the man, but had still used Geass on him; evidently Shirley thought that was bad enough.

He sighed. "Shirley, we have more important things to worry about than where I got the car from. There were no railway lines extending out this far; it was necessary."

"I know," she replied slowly, relaxing her shoulders. "I still don't like it, Lulu."

He leant across and gripped her shoulder supportively. "I don't like it either, but this is for the world."

As they climbed out of the car, Lelouch reflected that his last statement may have been somewhat misleading. It was true that he didn't like to steal from innocents, but it was also true that he didn't care either. His actions had directly caused the deaths of thousands of people; doubts about something as petty as stealing a car to accomplish a mission would do nothing but hold him back.

Despite everything she said, Lelouch knew that she felt the same. Before discovering his identity she had lived a fairly sheltered life at Ashford Academy. That knowledge had threatened to tear her world apart. It seemed that she was attempting to compensate for her decision to support him by taking such a strong stance on minor injustices; nobody could involve themselves in something like Zero Requiem without the absolute resolve to do anything that was necessary for their goals.

Rosenberg seemed empty as they approached its main entrance. It was fortunate for them that the facility's security division operated on a call-basis rather than constant surveillance or they would have had serious trouble reaching a location where Geass would be effective. He supposed that as the only way to penetrate The Cube was with knightmare frames, there would be enough time for them to mobilise before any serious damage could be done.

Two glass door slid open as they reached it, admitting them into a reception area with an overwhelmingly sterile feel to it. The three walls in front and to both sides of them were freshly painted in a white coat. In the centre of the room was a large, mahogany desk, at which was seated a man who more closely resembled an armed guard than a receptionist. The second they entered he leapt to his feet, reaching a hand behind his back and towards his pocket.

"Who are you? Show your faces!" he barked, glaring at each of them in turn.

Lelouch and Shirley ignored his request: there were cameras all over Rosenberg, so the baseball cap and straw hat they wore were paramount to concealing their identities.

"I said who are you?" he repeated savagely, pulling a pistol out of his pocket and pointing it at Shirley. "Show your face or I'll shoot her."

Lelouch tilted the rim of his cap up, meeting the man's eyes. There was no use wasting time with vermin like him. "Obey my commands."

The man's eyelids flickered as he fell under the influence of the Geass. For expendable people and those too dangerous to allow to live freely, it was command that suited his purposes perfectly in every situation. For those he simply wanted to control for a short amount of time, it was ineffective without Jeremiah at hand to cancel it.

"I wish to speak with Dominic Asprius. Take me to him."

The guard saluted and ushered them through a door at the back of the room. He led them through a series of narrow corridors which seemed to go on forever, strobe lighting reflecting eerily off the identically painted walls. Occasionally they would pass a door or turn at an intersection between two or more corridors, but for the most part there was nothing to indicate where they were within the building or how far they had walked.

Without warning, he stopped and faced his right. Lelouch and Shirley, not expecting the sudden pause, stumbled into him and almost lost their balance. The guard didn't seem to notice – nobody under a Geass would – and remained staring at the wall while reaching for his back pocket.

Lelouch studied the wall and saw the door immediately. It wasn't hidden, but he fully admitted that he would have missed it without a guide. There seemed to be no unusual texture and it was entirely painted in the same white which permeated the building. He supposed it was a trick of the eyes: after spending more than ten minutes within the labyrinth that was Rosenberg, your eyes became so accustomed to the colour that you wouldn't notice the change in texture unless you knew where to look.

The guard pulled out a grey security card and handed it to him. "This is Asprius' office."

He took the card. "I plan on removing something from this facility. Where is the best place to load it into my car without arousing suspicion when I transport it from this office?"

"Loading Bay C," the guard replied instantly. It was a safe assumption that a good deal of equipment had been smuggled out through Loading Bay C during his tenure.

Lelouch took a set of keys out of his pocket and handed them to the guard. "My car is parked in the employees' car park. It's the one next to the fire hydrant. Park it in Loading Bay C and prepare it to leave at a moment's notice, if necessary. Leave the keys in the ignition. When you finish that, ensure that our path remains free of obstruction and that all security footage is deleted after we leave."

"Of course."

Lelouch and Shirley looked at each other as the guard walked off. No words were exchanged, but he could tell that she was silently thanking him for not ordering the man to kill himself. He'd seen their faces, but the memory loss from Geass would have taken care of that problem. Lelouch could spare his life, if only for the sake of Shirley's conscience.

The door gave a soft beep and swung open as he moved the card in front of it, lacking an external swipe pad. A fat man sitting at one of the many desks in the room swung around instantly, fumbling for a weapon of some sort among scattered papers.

Lelouch refused to take any chances. "Obey my commands!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

The fat man's posture relaxed noticeably and Lelouch was able to get a better look at him. While his appearance shared a great many things with his older brother, such as his ample girth, he was in many ways completely different. Bartley dressed as a high-level member of Britannian society, whereas Dominic wore shorts and a singlet. Bartley had a shaved head; Dominic had long brown hair which reached past his shoulders. Incidentally, they both wore identical monocles over their right eyes.

Lelouch moved a chair from near the door to the centre of the room. "Sit and answer my questions. Are you Dominic Asprius?"

Dominic took a seat. "Yes."

"What is your official position?"

"I am head of the Rosenberg Institute," he replied immediately, motioning towards a name badge pinned to his breast pocket. "I am also in charge of completing Code-R."

Lelouch's eyebrows narrowed at the mention of the project, although it hardly surprised him that the name was unchanged. Something was bothering him, however: he had never even heard of Dominic Asprius until six months ago. "Why were you chosen for this position?"

"My brother and I apprenticed under the best scientist in Britannia," he responded. Even under the effects of Geass, there was a smug tone in his voice. "When we completed them, Bartley was sent to work for Clovis La Britannia and I served Guinevere Su Britannia. When he died, Lord Schneizel made me a good offer."

Lelouch almost averted his eyes in disgust: the greed was clearly visible in the man's eyes and he was almost salivating at the thought. "Where is C.C.?"

"Inside The Cube."

Cursing inwardly, Lelouch prepared another question. "Are you able to retrieve her at any time?"

Dominic nodded.

"Bring her here now," Lelouch ordered. "Do not draw attention to yourself."

"Yes, My Lord!"

The fat man scurried towards a door on the far side of the room and disappeared through it after typing a complex code into the keypad on its right. Lelouch turned to Shirley and tilted his head in acknowledgement: everything was proceeding to plan. It had been a gamble to continue without an assured way to penetrate The Cube, but it had been well worth it. He walked over to the desk and began to sort through the papers.

Less than five minutes later, Dominic returned. Trailing slightly behind him was a handcuffed, gagged and extremely groggy, but very much alive, C.C.

"C.C.?" Shirley asked hesitantly, stepping forward but restraining herself from wrapping the other girl in a hug.

C.C.'s eyelids flickered, but she didn't acknowledge their presence or Shirley's words. Lelouch glared at Dominic. "What is wrong with her?"

"Nothing," the man replied. "She was heavily sedated. It will take her a day or so to regain full awareness."

Shirley moved to assist C.C. as she wobbled on her feet, but Lelouch kept his focus fixed on the man in front of him. "What other projects have Rosenberg completed in the past year?"

"A year ago we removed a Geass from Lord Schneizel and a different Geass from His Majesty the Emperor."

'Even after removing the Geass, he doesn't know about Schneizel,' Lelouch mused. "Have you done the same for anybody else?"

"No. The progress is extremely complicated without Bartley's original plans for the Geass Canceller. It's completely different for each person, so we've only been able to do it twice."

Lelouch produced a small hard drive and two cables from his coat pocket. "Download the contents of every computer in Rosenberg and Toromo onto this. It will all fit."

"Le-Lelouch?"

He spun round to see C.C. opening her eyes slightly at the sound of his voice. Immediately, he moved to help Shirley hold the girl upright. "Can you hear me, C.C.?"

"I can stand," she insisted, pushing on both of them. They stepped away willingly, but remained at a distance where they could catch her if she fell. She stumbled forward slightly, but managed to regain her balance. "What took you so long?"

Lelouch groaned. "We're the ones who rescued you, remember?"

"That's okay," she replied groggily. "You can just buy me some pizza to make up for it."

"Wha–"

"–It's been almost a year since I've had any."

He massaged his temples in frustration. "I've seen you take a bullet to the head. You're a witch; you'll be fine."

She glared at him, but otherwise said nothing.

"Lulu, we should go…"

"Shirley's right, C.C.," he agreed. "Our flight leaves in two hours. If we stay longer than that, Britannia will find out we've been here and lock the city down."

Shirley tried the handle without waiting for him to hand the card to her and the door swung open; it must only have locked from the outside. She led C.C. through the door and motioned for Lelouch to hurry. He followed her after retrieving the hard drive, but stopped in the doorway.

"One last thing," he began, turning around and looking at Dominic.

"Die."

Later That Night

Area 11

Tokyo Settlement

The flight back passed without serious issue, save for the usual passport routine. The only notable differences were the weird looks C.C. gave them when the Customs officer read their names as 'Mr. Cardemonde,' 'Mrs. Cardemonde' and 'Mrs. Cardemonde.' Shirley had burst into laughter after the third impossible question the bewildered C.C. was asked.

Lelouch made a few final notes in a small book, before putting it aside. Shirley wandered into the room a few seconds later, carrying the last few boxes of pizza. C.C. had rarely regained consciousness since they retrieved her, sleeping in the car on the way to the airport, on the plane, on the car back to Lelouch and Shirley's apartment and now curled up in the bed.

She had showed signs of waking in the past half an hour, however, so Lelouch had immediately ordered more pizza than she could possibly eat. Even though he had evaded death and rescued her from years as a subject of experimentation, it was entirely likely that she would completely refuse to even speak to him without her preferred bribe.

He watched Shirley stack the four boxes on top of the already precariously perched pile with a faint tinge of amusement; if C.C. decided she was more interested in the pizza than them – an almost certainty – and decided to ignore them until she finished every piece, his plan could potentially backfire on him.

With that thought in mind, he walked across to the table and returned to his seat with a box. He removed a slice and offered the box to Shirley. "Want one?"

She smiled and took one, biting into it as she sat down on his right. A guilty expression crossed her face as she finished the mouthful. "But Lulu, aren't these for C.C.?"

"We have to eat too, you know," he replied blandly, taking another bite. "Besides, she's a witch; she can just make her own pizza if she wants more."

Shirley's guilty expression increased threefold, her eyes staring past Lelouch and towards the bed. He spun around to be met with the last thing he wanted to see: two yellow eyes glaring at him intensely.

"Pizza?" he offered hopelessly, placing the box at his feet in surrender.

She pushed the covers away and climbed out of bed shakily. Her glare remained firmly in place as she made her way over and retrieved the box, returning to the bed and hungrily digging in. Lelouch and Shirley watched first in amusement, then in disgust and finally in absolute horror as she made her way through all but one of the twelve boxes in just over half an hour.

"C.C…" Shirley began timidly. "Don't you think you've had enough?"

Evidently, that had been the wrong thing to say. C.C. turned her back to them and sat cross-legged on the bed, the final box resting in her lap. Lelouch groaned and allowed her to finish it in silence, before drawing her attention.

"C.C., we need to–"

"–What took you so long?" she cut in, licking her fingers clean as though she was completely disinterested.

"You asked that before," he pointed out curiously. "What do you mean? You couldn't possibly have known I was alive."

"You're right, I didn't. If I did, they would never have captured me."

"Then how–"

"–Shirley," she continued bluntly, as though she was irritated that he had interrupted her. "I gave her a Geass. The only way you could both be alive is if she used her Geass to help you survive. In that case you could have had me released at any time. I was there for almost a year."

"It took almost that long to track you down. It was obvious that Schneizel had taken you prisoner, but he has hundreds of facilities around the world; I only found out that Rosenberg was still operating a few months ago."

She dropped the empty pizza box onto the floor, picking up a bottle of soft drink and the Cheese-kun which had come with the order. "Where have you been, then? Not in one of the Areas, I assume; Schneizel would have located you if you'd stayed in Japan."

"Australia. I…" he hesitated. "I inherited a house there."

C.C. was in the midst of taking a sip and almost choked on the drink. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Was it from somebody you killed?"

Lelouch remained silent.

"Lelouch," she began reproachfully. "Saying you 'inherited' it is not the correct way to describe you killing Mao and taking his house."

He ignored her. "He had it built a fair distance from the city to cancel out the effects of his Geass; it was perfect for us to limit our interactions with people who might recognise us for a long period of time."

"It was such a nice house, too," Shirley added dreamily. "So immaculate and white…"

C.C.'s eyes narrowed. "You didn't sit around and relax all year, did you, Lelouch?"

"No," he replied adamantly. "What I've been doing can wait until later, but Shirley has received knightmare training."

"Knightmare training? Where would she get that from?"

"Their military," he replied. "Schneizel is waiting until the Black Knights are defeated before he divides his forces and conquers the country. It's small and not nearly enough to challenge Britannia, so their resources were better put to use by using my Geass to instruct a pair of expert pilots to teach Shirley."

"I see." C.C. stared, unfocussed, at the wall behind him for a moment. She turned to Shirley. "Are you any good?"

Shirley blushed. "Not really…Well, I–"

"–Have one of the best heavy artillery aims I've seen," Lelouch finished. "But she's not an irregular; she's not on Suzaku and Kallen's level."

"It's a pity we lost the Mordred."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "You know about that?"

She nodded. "Asprius told me what happened to the Black Knights."

"Ah. What experiments did he conduct using the data from you?" Lelouch asked, changing the topic. He picked his book and pen, preparing to jot down her answers.

Instead of answering, however, she merely glared at him and walked across the room to the far table. For a moment Lelouch thought that he had hit a nerve, but his assumptions were proved wrong when she returned with a cordless phone and menu, throwing both into his lap.

"It's your fault I was there," she reminded him. "Pizza first."

Lelouch groaned.

'…Witch.'