Disclaimer: I own nothing of Code Geass, nor of Guilty Gear, nor to a lesser extent, BlazBlue and Rewrite. I do own this story, and all the inspirations along with it. And of course, the brain where the ideas came from.
"My name is Zero. Citizens of the Imperial Sovereign, the Euro Universe, and the Chinese Federation, man and mage, soldiers and retainers of the Sacred Order of the Guardians, and of course,the independent group Gaia, I greet you on this most auspicious day."
"Kewell!"
Gottwald's anguished cry was not enough to save his lieutenant even even when he unloaded round after round into the Gear's hide. The monster had lifted his adjutant's Knightmare high above his head, and Kewell's frantic screams and subsequent disruption of communication over the arrays had alerted the Captain to the Hunter Squad leader's fate.
"You monster!" He was a man posessed, swinging the sword in his other hand futilely at the Gear, which retreated after breaking his friend in half. "Secure the area! Let none of these abominations claim another child of Britannia!" He fumed in rage as several destructive ars impacted the space around them like artillery shells.
The formation of the Brigade was in complete disarray; the Ravagers being the only team that was still relatively undamaged and whole, spewing round after round into the areas where no Gear dared enter. The Assault Squads had taken heavy damage, having already lost their armaments in skirmishes with the attacking Gears.
"Captain!" yelled his subordinate Viletta, launching a harken to intercept a Gear which had leaped at him out of a blind spot. The Margrave was quick on the draw, driving the creature back after a salvo.
"Damnit, we need to reassess the situation. Have the Assault Squads fall back to take the place of guarding the Ravager Teams. Get the rest of the Hunters to make ready with the Arrowheads and rendezvous here, on the double!" He glanced at the map on his screen, showing the rest of the Brigade's status and whereabouts. Most of the friendly blips were already converging on his position. "Good. We have to make a decisive strike to unbalance their formation. Focus all firepower on a Gear I point out, do not let it escape. Understood?"
"Yes, my lord!"
"Viletta, take a squad and cover the outer flank. The rest of you follow me, all hail Britannia!"
)()()()()()()()(
"Why the hell can't we take back the transmission?" said the chief tech, biting on a cigar furiously and waiting for an answer.
"It's hard, sir, it's like someone rigged a screening ars directly on top of the waves! It's going to take some time to break!"
"Has anyone tried to shut down our own signal completely?"
"We tried, but the hacking ars is preventing that too!"
The chief dug his cigar into the tray, already imagining the official royal sanction he would be getting by week's end. "The Homeland's going to have our heads for this..."
)()()()()()()()(
"...I come before you now not as a mere terrorist, but as a Gear with a purpose. A Gear with a goal that goes above and beyond your human comprehension."
)()()()()()()()(
"Is that really a Gear talking to us? It's hard to believe!" asked one of the people inside the shelter.
"I thought creatures like that couldn't talk!" Rivalz couldn't help but share the sentiment of most of the people squeezed into the space of the shelter, but he was having a hard time even seeing the broadcast, only hearing the guy's voice continue on about the 'powers of Gear' and other things.
"Holy crap," he muttered to himself, "This thing's for real, huh? I thought I'd never see the day. This is like, history in the making or something. I wish I had my camera with me."
Beside him, the other council members including Nina and Shirley were able to catch glimpses of the Gear's face, the former staring at it in a horrified sort of curiosity and the latter with pure apprehension. Never before had a Gear admitted to being free-willed, nor was able to organize such a concerted attack as it seemed to claim.
"Lulu..."
)()()()()()()()(
"Zero? Is he the one responsible for all this?" Suzaku wondered, marvelling at the relative calm that surrounded the area around the Institute. He had no time to disembark from the Lancelot, instead checking in communication with the Ashford guard Knightmares to know if any Gears were confirmed to be heading their way.
He stared at the Gear's face on the screen. It was still spouting strange words that it shouldn't be saying, in a confident, sinister tone that it shouldn't have. What sort of bizarre mutation had created a Gear like this? He only hoped his teacher and the rest of the Order could dispatch the thing quickly, if its claims to be the one controlling the Gears attacking the bases were true.
)()()()()()()()(
"...Far too long have I watched and waited as the innocent blood of many a Gear was spilled needlessly on barren soil, when other methods of containment were available. And still your hypocrisy continued, owing it to yourselves to subjugate us when we were docile. Why couldn't our race have just been wiped out a long time ago? It would have saved many a human life, ensuring the continued prosperity of the human race. I would not be here, true, but it would be better than living a life of fear. I know why. Because you are a flawed race. You cannot bear to lose such a valuable servant, a veritable human mule with two opposable thumbs and a strength to match the gods! And so my brethren languished in silence, their minds lost and wandering, only to be slain cruelly when they finally found their minds free! I ask those of you still able to think like a true human: is this justice? I tell you, no! There is no justice in base greed."
)()()()()()()()(
"Is the communication team able to triangulate its position?"
"Negative, sir. It seems there is too much interference from the jammed transmission. For a signal of this magnitude to be hacked, it must be the work of that Zero. In addition, it seems, though our brethren back at the office can't confirm it, that this 'Zero' is a Level SSS Gear." They had decided to reinforce the Chinese Federation base, seeing as it was the closest, although they had already sent other brethren to support the farther, but no less beleaguered bases of the other nations.
"A Level SSS? That's a classification we never thought would be used forever, unless, for some reason-"
Justice had been revived.
Shaking the ill thought from his current mindset, he commanded his forces forward. The sable Gekka and its assistants had homed in on one particular Gear attacking the base, and they immediately set to destroying it. The rest of the Order Knights set to assisting the Federation troops in powering their Flow System and erecting ars barriers over the rest of the soldiers.
The Four Elites moved in concerted patterns, quickly using their speed and maneuverability to weave in and out of the Gear's attacks, and preventing its escape by surrounding it at all times. The few ars they were able to let loose seemed only serve to annoy the Gear, aggravating it to suddenly charge at a random Elite with a roar on its lips.
Tohdoh was ready, the Gekka moving to intercept as the Elite jumped out of the way, Susanooh unsheathed and already guided into a slash that would cut straight through the enemy. One slash was all it took. The creature seemed to have an expression of surprise on its beastly face before its body collapsed, but Tohdoh knew it was an illusion. He flicked the blood off of the sword before resheathing it.
"The first Gear has been terminated! Forward, Guardians!"
A beep came from the display. "My Lord Brother, communications have reported that the Gears are pulling back!"
"What? It might be a feint, but-" In the distance, his Factspheres sighted the retreating back of a Gear, disappearing behind a ruined building. He narrowed his eyes. "All forces, don't hold back pursuing the Gears! They might attack the residential areas!" They couldn't take chances; this was, after all, a full-out organized attack within the Preserve they were sworn to protect. Ignoring or heeding battlefield tactics had different priorities when there were innocent civilians who could be hurt.
The Order Knights were quick to dash off in pursuit, but as expected the Chinese Federation were holding their ground. Well, it was understandable for them to protect their own first. "What of our brothers and sisters still trapped?"
"Some of the Branch offices have been freed, sir, but at this rate, they've only just begun heading for the base to resupply!" Another beep came, this time from an uncleared, lower-level communication. "This is Brother Weinberg, to all brothers and sisters, we have driven off the Gears from the EU's base, and are currently in pursuit, bearing west-southwest-" The battle-scarred hero turned to a rapidly growing suspicion, honed from years of campaigns in the Dead Zones. He clicked the open channel across all Knight communications.
"Legion-Master Kyoshiro Tohdoh calling all available Knights, the Gears are headed in the direction of the Britannian district, and may be aiming to reinforce the assault on the Britannian base. Alert the Britannians of the Gears' intentions!"
)()()()()()()()(
"...But, I am not here to proclaim that the Gears were justified in causing much destruction. It is, after all, only in our nature, and only through sheer strength of will and presence of mind can we overcome it, turning our immense power into more rational ends, as I have achieved. For that is the fact of this world. We are the stronger ones, and when we show it, the majority of your weak race bands together to destroy us. Is that not the will of the world? When the weakened areas devastated by time were safeguarded by the Order, was that not affirming the supremacy of those in power and the helplessness of the destroyed peoples? Is this and more not evidenced in nature, in human nature? That the strong will devour the weak, that the weak - noble creatures - are mere fodder for what may come?"
)()()()()()()()(
"Is he truly the one whom I foreseen, old ones?" Gaia's Holy Woman of the Far East murmured, peering into a mirror-like relic with engravings of serpents on its golden base. What looked back at her from within the mirror's depths was not face gleaming like pale, beautiful moonlight, but a looming, yawning greyness that did not answer her question.
Yet she alone seemed to have heard it, as she was quick to gasp, "But he has not sought the aid of Gaia, nor contacted us at all!" Silence. "But- you're right, my lords. Forgive your servant her grave indiscretion. Lord Zero shall come to Gaia eventually, and together we may unlock the prisons over your hearts."
"My Exalted One!" came the voices of a group of people that had gathered in her quarters. The smell of smoke and incense filled the area, filtered through the temporary privacy ars that the Holy Woman's services had erected. "What must we do? We require your counsel!"
"Silence your insolent words, fools! Do not presume to demand of Her Most Exalted One, whose word shapes our thoughts and guides our way!"
"It is forgivable," came her voice through the curtain, and instantly all heads bowed upon finally hearing the unseen oracle speak directly to them. "I have come, loyal and faithful servants, to tell you of the Will of the old ones, of their grand intent in shielding even me from the Truth. Zero... Lord Zero is a tempest through which we may begin to disseminate our will in the world."
"Is he truly Justice reborn, my lady?" whispered the fearful voice of one, a question echoed in trepidation by the others. Their priestess seemed to pause, as if listening to an unheard voice.
"No," came the clear, comforting reply. "But he is no less noble in form and intent. He may become the symbol which we have sought since our conception. The true face of the world. We must show him that only we of Gaia are willing to aid him amidst the rottenness of this world. To that end, I shall rely on you, my able servants. With this, our ideals of a perfect world shall be realized."
"By the Unspoken Word, we shall give our bodies and souls to that purpose, most Exalted One!"
)()()()()()()()(
"...I bear no threats, nor any demands. There is only a message I proclaim here and now, so that this wretched world frozen in time shall move again, swiftly towards a better existence! I shall show the world that there is no shelter for the weak in our ravaged world. That only through the clash of equal strengths can true justice be achieved, when man and Gear can look at each other in the eye and proclaim themselves brothers and sisters! That is my intent, that is my challenge!"
)()()()()()()()(
"Kururugi! Kururugi, can you hear me, my dear Devicer?"
Suzaku acknowledged, surprised to see that man's face and voice appear in front of him on the display. "I have to thank you again, sir, even if you're going to have me accountable. You shall not regret allowing me to borrow your Frame – it's quite a good machine too – and I shall bear all responsibility in the aftermath."
"Before that," the bespectacled, grinning man said. "How is my baby doing? You put a scratch on her?"
"No," replied Suzaku, a tad unsure. "All systems are still green and optimal."
The man's eyes seemed to widen. "Really? And are there no deficiencies in any of the four limbs? Is the drive depleted? You've been inside for more than five minutes now. How-"
"Everything's all green, sir," repeated Suzaku, reading the display to check. "If I may be so bold, it seems your Frame is way more advanced than any of the Knightmares I've been in. It handles smoothly, and it seems faster, and more powerful, I should say. It also seems to be reacting more to my magical input, like a well-made fire."
"Naturally, my Lancelot is geared to perfection. Though don't think your flattery of my brain-child will exonerate you of your offense. I am a Britannian after all, and this is tantamount to theft of national property by a foreigner." The man seemed to leer at the screen, making Suzaku gulp. "Not unless we cut a deal-"
"Lloyd sir!" came the woman's voice from before. The man adjusted his glasses and looked offscreen, "What is it?"
"The Gear sir! It's claimed-"
)()()()()()()()(
"...Three centuries past, the Dark Era began on this very soil, reaping in its wake the blood of the Japanese race, the First Victims. Now, the cycle begins anew. I shall pierce the 'aegis of the weak', the bloated hubris of the weak's self-proclaimed protectors! In mere moments, the grand seal that I have placed on the primary base of the Order of the Guardians in this Area shall detonate, sparking a fire that will be like no other. It shall spread to all nations, that my challenge will be met, that there shall be ones who will rise, justice on their lips and strength in their sinews to meet my claim. For until then I shall rain judgement on this pathetic world. Thus begins the age of Zero!"
)()()()()()()()(
"Zero!" Suzaku's eyes narrowed to slits as the transmission from the scientist was interrupted. He glared into the display, willing that Gear to be in front of him in that instant, so he could unleash his justice upon it. "You're so inhuman. You think your words have any meaning to them? You think what you have, what you are is justice? I won't stand for that sort of arrogance! No matter how much you may sugarcoat it, a crime is still a crime!"
He looked at the Institute, still as calm and tense as ever. He took deep breaths, cooling his head after that outburst. "Nunnally, please be safe. But... I promise to be back as soon as possible." He wheeled the Lancelot around. Suzaku remembered his sensei's words, resounding into echoes in his mind, reminding him of the proper way of doing things.
But I have to do something. Even if sensei will end up hating me, or if the Order won't accept me anymore, I have to pursue justice! His olive irises flared, his inner self warring against the restrictions Tohdoh had placed on him like a binding ars. For the sake of those that need protecting, for Lelouch, for Nunnally and everyone...
The landspinners gunned forward, the triple factspheres on the Knightmare's head and shoulders opening and spinning with a purpose that matched its current Devicer. "Lancelot!" Zero, if I can't destroy you directly, then I shall eliminate your pawns!
The white-and-gold prototype Knightmare dashed off, using the harkens to vault over stalled transports and statues on the road. The closest battleground was the Britannian base, and Suzaku Kururugi would dispense justice there. "I'm sorry, mister Lloyd, but it looks like I won't be able to escape this with just an apology and money." So saying inside it, the Lancelot surged forward, the fire of ideals burning within it as surely as its own Drive.
)()()()()()()()(
It was a dire emergency, quite unprecedented for Area Eleven's Order branch. Though the Order rarely personally intervened in terrorist activities in the Preserves, preferring instead to leave it to each respective nation concerned to deal with the terrorists, they still had protocols to follow on that rare occasion. The Order's creed brooked no deception or secrecy in dealing with threats, preferring direct strikes on a perceived enemy. (though there were special groups of Knights specializing in stealth operations when the need for such arose)
And thus, the unprecedented circumstance of a renegade Gear, fully communicative and capable of commanding Gears into a frightening display of tactical movements, wrought a certain seriousness upon them when they heard the threat on their base.
"To our brethren who are farthest from the base, organize boundary positions along the Chisekoro line to defend against possible Gear reprisal from the outside! The rest of you, please head directly towards the vicinity of the base and prepare your dispelling ars!" The Chisekoro line was one of the train skyways that crossed the three districts exactly, and was also the one closest to the besieged bases. It commanded a wholesome view of the three differing districts, and thus was a perfect spot to have a visual on incoming threats.
"Tohdoh sir, base has unveiled and confirmed the appearance of a high-grade destruction seal array with unknown glyphs near the manufactories. The mages have begun to initiate dispelling patterns, but they say they need more men to cover the large area!" Tohdoh and the rest of the Legion-Masters had the necessary brunt of magic necessary to break seal arrays on their own, but only some had broken free from the Branch office. Even if Tohdoh and those who had escaped could reach the array in time, he feared they might only have a little time before it detonated.
The other option was to leave the seal as is and merely evacuate necessary supplies and personnel, but with the unidentified glyphs, there was no telling what kind of after-effect the seal's detonation would have, and so the Order was forced to do something about it before it could do so. As such, he could only rely all his thoughts on the brave mages who had stayed behind and those who were first on the scene, trusting them to remain calm and work through undoing the arrays together in a steady fashion. Of course, if something went wrong, they'd probably be the first to die, but all Knights were ready for that fate, if it should happen. One wouldn't be in the Order otherwise.
He had been forced to redirect the course of their forces from the pursuit of the fleeing Gears upon hearing the threat, leaving Tohdoh, his Elite and the others who could use Knightmares to continue towards the Britannians to support the base. If all the Gears encountered (and there was a troubling many) were to concentrate their might, then the Britannians would be decimated.
He sped his Gekka up, ignoring the silent hisses of the cursed weapon on his Knightmare's back, and using the time out of combat to analyze the situation. With tactics like these, the sudden sealing of the Branch offices, the initial sudden attacks through spreading its forces, and then the real threat of the Seal, the Gear has either had aid from Gaia or is intimately familiar with Order behavior. And then there was the selective bombardment of crucial arms supplies against the bases, it's possible that was their only aim, the secondary perhaps to detain and spread the Order forces as well... The Gear's purpose seemed to be clear, but he didn't know whether or not to feel apprehensive or overwhelmed that such a creature, belonging to a race that only had the potential to rage out of control, could have engineered a plan as rationally as this.
)()()()()()()()(
For all the vaunted pride of the Valorous Brigade, not a single one of them could show their true Britannian pride there as they were surrounded together on all sides, ars exploding and smashing into their rapidly weakening shield. The Knightmares trained their guns to the outside, shooting their last clips furiously, though they may as well have been seeds for their effect on the unrelenting Gears.
"Damned Gears...to trick me into this position..." Gottwald wanted to smash something, his Knightmare parked right at the center of the mass, his display blaring ominous red with the danger of sakuradite depletion.
He had a right to feel responsibility for his folly; it was his command as captain of the Brigade to charge blindly into the Gear ranks, only to run right into a cordon that slowly shepherded them into this current position. With the formation broken, the way was now free for the rest of the abominations to overtake the Ravagers and then on to the Palace.
On that part, at least, Gottwald was assured that there would be no more outstanding Britannian death. There was a powerful shield that was erected under the Preserve's own, becoming a secondary barrier that would block any and all enemy ars and artilleries. The Prince was said to have been already on the way to evacuation, taking circuitous routes underneath in the many tunnels of the Preserve towards the royal shelter with a small airship that was fast enough to escape most ars spells and was loaded with enough energy to last a trip across the Pacific.
"To all in the Valorous Brigade: this shall be our finest moment. We, the Emperor's most loyal and bravest Knights shall hereforth give no thought to surrender, to disloyalty, rebellion, nor despair. I declare now, that this shall be the moment of reckoning for the 7th Overseas Brigade! May we all meet each other again, on The Other Side." His Sutherland rose to full height, throwing the depleted concussion gun onto the ground, and both hands gripping his sword. Beside him, his subordinates began to do the same, some reloading the last canister, others preparing Chaos grenades and a final ars burst. "Men and women of Britannia, there shall be no songs to sing, no dirges for the fallen. There shall only be the small, fleeting moment of glory, for ourselves, for the Emperor, and for Britannia, and-"
"I don't like long speeches." The languid, even familiar voice heard over their channels was quickly followed by a burst of purple and red, with two Gears struck and the others narrowly evading the Hadron barrage.
"Your Grace!" The image of the Knight of Six appearing on their display, a first to the rest of the Knights in the Brigade, nearly brought them all kneeling before they remembered their situations and took to saluting her with their hands. Her Knightmare rolled on in, approaching their formation hurriedly.
The custom-made Knightmare was trailed by a pair of floating, bell-shaped satellites, levitated by mini-Float systems and regulated by ars. Once she reached the huddle of Knightmares, one of the bells expanded into a flower-shaped thing, releasing a pink shield that neatly deflected the Gear's farewell strikes. "I am temporarily taking command," came Anya's voice, and the authority in it and in her position had them all heeding the command. "Turn back to base."
"Captain Gottwald," Anya informed the Margrave as they began to move. "As you said, there shall be no needless Britannian deaths. Do not forget your own words." With that, her image disappeared, her Knightmare leading them on at the fore.
"Oh no," said the Knight of Six impassively. They had come back to the base outskirts. "I see. Confirming strategem... 86% chance of truth. This had been plan all along."
"My pardons, Your Grace," Jeremiah said, moving past her Knightmare, "But what-" He was quickly winded by a shock to his form, and a moment later, he was knocked back, paralyzed by sparks of ars coursing through his system. "What the-"
"It's an exclusion barrier," voiced Viletta, testing empty space by throwing her gun. The gun exploded in midair, with nothing apparent to show how it had been done. "But why would they keep us out?"
"Don't tell me," Jeremiah said with a sinking feeling in his already sunk gut. "This was that Gear's plan all along? That monster! It must've been planning to drive us out all along! I don't know how it managed to rewrite the code for the shield but-" He flipped a switch, contacting the Ravager teams. "Ravagers, report! What is your status?"
"We were holding sir, but the Gears were too many! We were only able to shoot of a few salvos before they jumped over us! Now we can't get-"
The two bells floating about the Knight of Six's Knightmare glowed with a purple sheen, before shooting two, thick Hadron beams onto the ground below. The beams burned through the soil like two hot knives through butter, only encountering resistance after a moment, impacting onto an invisible barrier that halted the beams' assault. "Doesn't work.
"All forces, concentrate everything you have on the ars barrier." Anya commanded. "We will hope to bore a hole long enough for us to get in."
"Yes, my lord!" Gottwald was one of the loudest to proclaim, flinging his Knightmare head-long into the barrier.
)()()()()()()()(
Tohdoh and the other Order Knightmares that had just arrived had also sensed the newly erected ars barrier which had superceded the old one made by the Britannians own. They had also sensed what the Britannians did not: the presence of the Gears arrayed all around the base, apparently being used to channel the barrier. That the Gears could accomplish such a feat of cooperation such as this was most disconcerting.
"Even here?" Tohdoh muttered, ordering the Knights to converge upon a gathered group of Britannian forces. "There must be a strategy at work here. Perhaps that Gear is looking to gain something from within the Palace. Perhaps..."
"My lord, maybe it's after the Prince!" Yes, he had reached that conclusion. The reasons why this particular Gear would be after a Prince of Britannia were too sinister to even consider thinking about.
He bared Susanooh, one of the few artifacts on the world able to cut through magical skin and hide. To an extent, it could cut through a barrier, but because of the nature of the blade, it could only form a temporary cut in it. But he would try, anyway, thrusting the blade which sent resistant sparks flying into the air.
"Our thanks, Guardians," came the lackadaisical transmission from one of the Britannian Frames.
Don't thank me yet, thought Tohdoh to himself. The Gears have managed to pierce through your defenses, misdirecting you to another area so they could create this situation. But to what end?
)()()()()()()()(
"One thousand and one Gears died on this year, in Area Eleven. I, with my power, shall mandate that one thousand and one humans shall also die, in exchange. Three hundred and forty-one had been killed by those Gears. Ninety-seven have fallen to my servants. The rest shall fall – now."
)()()()()()()()(
Two sets of eyes watched the deluge to come, one in silent satisfaction, the other horrified beyond belief. One belonged to soul that burned with justice impeded, the other to a heart that was currently as cold and black as its appearance.
Like an unpleasant bug, the Command Gear stood at a ruined garden area within the Palace, monitoring the goings-on of his pawns. He was black as starless night, with feathered, featureless wings folded in upon himself and in front like a long cape, or a half-cloak. Below the folded wings was an inky darkness that roiled and coiled in waves, making the Gear look as if it was floating slightly above the ground. A muted purple-colored circle surrounded it, sigils glimmering and rotating within it – the signature of the Gear.
Zero turned from his position, turning off the recorded transmission along with the interference. He calculated one minute before the Legion-Masters would have discovered the end of his disruption, after which they would naturally head for the base first, the only ones capable of realizing that the seal was a dupe, a mere decoration sitting pretty on the floor of their base. The real spell he had crafted as he was practicing his newborn power was busy floating unseen in the sky above, supported below by a superheating ars being channeled upon by his most powerful Gears.
The iceblock the size and volume of the Palace itself, when it quickly melted through exertion of the heating ars, would prove a powerful but no-less destructive alternative to reaping a count of kills when it would descend relentlessly like an airborne tidal wave upon the Palace, falling unhindered through the selective barrier of the Preserve. The number of bodies he had vowed in the transmission was but an approximation, although he was pleased to discover he was only off on Gear deaths by three.
"Condition cleared. Now dear brother, shall we begin where we left off?" Before his own spell could claim him, the sounds of the rapid droplets like rain already filling the area, he made a few more commands and disappeared from the garden.
)()()()()()()()(
"Your Majesty!" The Knightmare-clad Royal Guard quickly moved to intervene their bodies in front of their liege, only to be frozen solid in a block of black ice.
Clovis la Britannia stood his ground even as his last escorts froze to death in front of him, as his knees trembled and his lips quivered in simple, sheer terror.
He had never encountered a Gear before, nor was there ever a need to, as the Viceroy of Area Eleven. It was unfortunate that his first encounter was with a Gear with so deep and sinister aura as this one, encroaching itself through his skin and clutching at his heart.
The Prince stared into a clouded indigo circle that was the Gear's face as it spread its malefic wings. Its clawed hand pitilessly grabbed him by the face, dragging him into cold, gnawing darkness.
AN: Confession - I forgot the names of Tohdoh's other subordinates and so I was forced to name each "Elites". For shame! (Though truthfully, I've no time currently to chase down my friend and borrow the DVDs from her again)
Thanks for reading!
Merlin Out.