Code Geass: The Demon and the Dragon

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. If I did, then what you see below would be the show, instead of a fanfiction on the Internet.

Stage 13: Downtime

-The Black Knights-

There was an air of cheer in the Black Knights' temporary base, set up in an old Japanese maglev subway repair facility with their HQ truck in the center. Stripping off the outer layer of their armor and placing it in lockers that Draco had provided specifically for that purpose, they started partying in their sub-armor coveralls, breaking out food and drink. Tamaki, in particular, was indulging heavily in sake, surrounded by some of the female Knights and regaling him with tales of his exploits in the battle. None of which, curiously, actually happened. Mischa, still wearing his balaclava, avoided the festivities, instead heading back for the HQ truck in preparation for a meeting.

Kallen, however, sat on a piece of rubble that hadn't yet been cleared out, not quite pouting, but not in her usual mood either.

"What's up?" The very, very strange combination of the hissing/bass voice and the colloquial speech pattern threw her off for a second, before she turned to see Draco, in all his terrifying massiveness. For a second, she completely forgot that this miniaturized giant was her commander and ally, and let out a startled 'eep' noise before regaining her composure.

"D-Draco!"

"Ah, sorry." He said. "Here, maybe this will help." Reaching up under the 'chin' of his helmet, he flicked a switch. "How's this?" The change was surprising. Without the hissing component of his voice disguise, Draco sounded merely like a deeper-voiced Zero. If one ignored the skull-faced helmet, the scaly armor, the secretive hooded coat, and the weapons on either side of his waist, he could pass for some movie star. "Anyway, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Kallen replied, glancing away back towards the party. "It's just....."

"You wish you could do more?" She nodded at his suggestion. "That is no reason to be downcast Kallen. While you surely could have contributed to the infiltration with your close combat skills, you are worth far much more to the Black Knights in your Knightmare. Along with me, you have the most experience combined with raw talent. Assigning you to grunt work is like using a gun as a club: not only does it ignore the primary purpose, it uses energy that might otherwise be used for better things." Kallen's face fell at being compared to a weapon. "Speaking of Knightmares, I've fixed yours up."

"Really?" She said, her head snapping back up and a gleam coming into her eyes.

"Fixed the arm sockets, repaired the leaking drive - that would've proven dangerous - increased the Landspinner's traction, cleaned up the Factsphere's operating system, and added a Pile Driver to the right arm." Kallen's increasingly happy expression caused the second-in-command Black Knight to pause in his evaluation of his mechanical work. Then she stood up and faced Draco, before bowing.

"Arigato Gozaimasu." Startled, Draco nodded, replying:

"Douitashimashite." With that, Kallen nodded to him and moved off to join the festivities. After staring after her for a moment, Draco switched his hissing unit back on and moved back to the HQ truck.

-The Demon, The Dragon, The Professional, and The Bone Snatcher-

They met in Lelouch's office, both Lamperouges in their armor while the two mercenaries stood by the door.

"So, how did your mission go Antonio?" Lelouch said, partially thankful that the voice modulator disguised the slightly annoyed tone.

"Perfect. In and out without a trace." Tony lied. They didn't need to know about the brutalized scientist whose coat he'd stolen. He fished the flash drive out of one of his jacket's pockets and handed it over, the armored glove delicately handling the memory storage device. Lelouch handed it over to Learme, who shoved the flash drive deep into one of his coat's pockets. One of the inner ones.

"Tell me Tony," Learme began. "How would you like to join the Black Knights, on an extended contract? We've already got Mischa, but our fledgling organization here could use your.....special skills."

"How much are you offering?" Tony asked, keeping his face neutral.

"I'm prepared to offer you 1,525,000 pounds a month." Learme replied.

"Add another two hundred thousand and you have a deal."

"Good. Now, if you two would excuse me, we have to draw up plans to train the Knights." At this both exited, Mischa bowing first, and seemed to immediately resume their accustomed bickering outside. As soon as they were sure they were gone, Learme locked the door, and both of them removed their helmets, accompanied by a hiss as they depressurized.

"So, what's the plan now?" Learme asked as he leaned against the wall.

"Rest, Rearm, and Train." Lelouch said, instantly. "At this point, we can take a break. If Cornelia adheres to her code of honor, she'll leave off hunting us down for cracking down on the JLF, which should take a few weeks. In the meantime, you should work on the Black Knights' training regimen with Mischa. They may have some experience with combat, considering their former occupations, but at the moment they are fragmented and weak, drawn from multiple groups all over Japan. For starters, you should work on their unit cohesion, and tactical capalities before working on their combat skills."

"I always wondered what it would be like to be a drill sergeant." Learme commented dryly. "I think I'll recruit Tony to help." Lelouch visibly flinched at the thought of Tony presiding over their recruits as a training officer.

"Why Tony?"

"Despite his unorthodox methods, Tony is rather skilled in many of the mission types we plan to do. That is why I recruited him just now after all." Learme stated. "And both Mischa and Tony will be able to work on their Knightmare piloting as well. They're good, but they have little practical experience."

"Very well. If all goes to plan, actually, even if only some of this goes according to plan, we should be able to achieve our objectives." Lelouch declared proudly, leaning back in his chair. When Learme didn't respond, he looked at his twin to see the military otaku looking at him with a doubtful expression. "What? You don't think we can?"

"Well," Learme began, hesitating slightly. "With a little work and publicity, we could probably drive the Britannian military out of Japan, and restructure it as a legitimate government. With your diplomatic skills and some luck, we could then convince other nations to ally with us, and destroy Britannia as a political entity. But....."

"You doubt our ability to remake the world into one of peace." Lelouch noted, staring at Learme and making his twin brother somewhat uncomfortable.

"It is an aspect of human nature to fight Lelouch. No matter what you do, there will always be war and battle." He argued. At heart, Learme was a practical man, and reserved his imagination and progressiveness for technological matters. Lelouch's goal of creating a peaceful world......it just chafed his common sense.

"Has anyone tried, Learme?"

"......"

"Exactly."

-The Samurai-

The main leaders of the JLF met in their base, sitting in traditional Japanese style as they debated this most recent event, the death of Colonel Kusakabe as orchestrated by Zero, as well as the declaration of the formation of the Black Knights.

"This is an outrage!" One Major cried, slamming his fist on the floor with enough force that Tohdoh, sitting a meter away from him, felt it. "Not only does he kill our comrade, but then he goes and-"

"Silence." The JLF Commander, Katase Tatakawai, ordered. Immediately, the room fell silent. He turned then to Tohdoh, asking "Major Tohdoh. You have at the most contact with Zero's subordinate, Draco. What do you know?"

"I first met Draco six months ago," Tohdoh began, remembering that time. "There were rumors of a black market operating in Tokyo that sold weapons to rebel factions, ranging from small arms to Knightmare Frames. According to my source, it was new, having sprung up only a month prior and absorbing all other similar operations. I had managed to contact what at the time appeared to be the head of the network, and arranged a meeting with him. That was Draco, or Zennyo Ryūō as we called him back then. He was free with information, stating that he did business with multiple organizations all over the world, using his connections to trade between them, at times acting as an intermediary. At the time, I was only concerned with his ability to supply us, in conjunction with the Kyoto Group. But now, I see that he'd been learning about the numerous resistance groups in Japan. I assume that he was 'testing the waters' for his superior, who we now know to be Zero."

This drew murmurs from the assembly, officers leaning over to converse with one another over this development. "Only seven months?" one asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Indeed." Tohdoh replied. "Judging by what he said during that and subsequent meetings, I would assume he and his leader only gained their manufacturing capability only a few months prior, and began taking over smaller black markets a month after that." It was only after he spoke that he realized the implications of that.

"They can manufacture their own weapons?" Katase asked, eyes wide.

-The Crusher-

The Next Day

Shirley was worried, of course. Not only had she, Milly and Nina barely avoided getting slaughtered in the Hotel Jacking, but now Lelouch and Learme were missing. And not only that, but Kallen was missing too. When she had mentioned this to Milly earlier, the blond had immediately started speculating, and some of her ideas as to what they might have been doing made Shirley blush until her head was as red as a tomato.

At the moment, Milly was still going through her ideas, each one making everyone more uncomfortable. Rivalz had passed out early in the session from a bad nosebleed, and had to be taken to the nurses office.

And then they came in through the door. Just as Milly was getting to the most scandalous part of her latest thought, the twins walked in through the door. Lelouch turned a startled look on Milly, and Learme did as well, except accompanied by a nosebleed that seemed to geyser blood from his nostrils.

"Shit! Someone get me a tissue!" Learme asked, grasping his nose in his hands to staunch the flow. Quickly enough, Shirley handed the scarred Lamperouge twin two tissues, whereupon he stuffed them in either nostril. "Ah, that's better."

"Just what are you going on about Milly?" Lelouch asked, a bit amused.

"Shirley here was wondering where you two have been." Milly said, placing her arm around Shirley's shoulders and pulling the orange-haired girl closer. "And considering that Kallen is out-"

"Kallen's not here?" Learme asked suddenly, staring at Milly. Shirley noticed how Milly's expression changed at that, and she knew what Milly had just thought: Score!

"Oh? Do you....like Kallen, Learme?" Milly said, placing special emphasis on like. She advanced on the fitter of the twins, pushing him back against the wall. Learme attempted to stutter a reply, but Milly just strode even closer to him, until she was nose-to-nose with him. "And here I thought you liked me." She fake-pouted, sniffing, and slowly drawing a finger along her curves.

Learme fainted.

"Did you really have to do that?" Lelouch complained. "Now he won't get up for hours."

-The Demon-

Truthfully, Lelouch didn't actually care that Milly had now incapacitated Learme. It was officially their down-time from all the woes of running a revolutionary organization, and Learme really needed the rest, considering that he'd spent much of last night poring over that Raikou cannon he'd brought up from the sewers where he'd stored it. Lelouch, however, would be getting a lot less rest than Learme at the moment. 'Down-time' it may be, he still had to go over the larger strategy time and again to adapt it to changing circumstances.

Such as, for instance, this report of the Euro Universe gaining momentum in Germany. Apparently, their new Knightmare Frames were better than anyone, excluding Learme, thought. It irked Lelouch that Learme's tactical analysis had, for once, trumped his. Lelouch had predicted that the German lines of defense would fall to a coordinated assault by the 12th Mabinogion Assault Unit out of Virginia with the 7th and 31st Mechanized Infantry Divisions. The assault had happened, but the Germans had routed them.

And now Lelouch owed Learme four hundred pounds. It really, really, irked him, it did.

However, four hours after Milly incapacitated Learme, all the Lamperouge family and Sayoko were gathered at the table, eating lunch. It was technically a Britannian dish, invented in the city of New Orleans. Bourbon chicken, it was called, served with rice. It was delicious.

"I really must commend you on your cooking Sayoko." Lelouch said. "This is good."

"Like a sunburst on my tongue." Learme added, showing a rare hint of poetry.

"It's very tasty." Nunnally finished, eating more. They had just finished, when someone knocked on the door. Without a word, Sayoko immediately went to see who it was, leaving the Lamperouges to finish their lunch.

"Hey! How's it been?" They all turned at the sound of Suzaku's voice, going to greet him in their customary manner. However, only Nunnally actually did so, as the haggard appearence of their best friend stopped the twins short.

"Hi Suzaku, how are you?"

"I'm okay." Suzaku said, signaling to the twins to not mention how he looked. The Honorary Britannian had bags under his eyes, and his uniform, normally as presentable as a tuxedo, was wrinkled and had bits of lint on it. And his hair, almost always in that somehow stylish unkempt form, was now all over the place.

"Suzaku! You look well." Learme lied through his teeth. Without a word, Sayoko served him, handing the soldier a large helping of rice with bourbon chicken and sauce slathered over the top. Suzaku gratefully accepted the bowl, and sat down at the table.

"So, hows work?" Lelouch queried. The purpose for this was two-fold: first, to ascertain the state of the military and its current operations. Lie Suzaku might, he didn't lie well enough to fool Lelouch, who had trained himself for years to discern when someone lied or told half-truths. Suzaku's lies might as well be written confessions. Second, it was apparent that Suzaku was suffering severely from their activities, and Lelouch wanted to know just how far they could push him.

"Well, everything's a mess over the Lake Kawaguchi hotel-jacking." Suzaku said. "Princess Cornelia, specifically, is running what's left of the local leadership into the ground to figure out just how the JLF managed to accomplish it."

"Sounds rough." Learme commented, internalizing a gleeful cackle. And he hadn't even pulled out the really big guns.

"It is." Suzaku said, grimacing. Nunnally looked up at the fatigue in Suzaku's voice, got up, and walked over. Managing by memory and hearing, she made her way over to hug Suzaku.

"Poor Suzaku, maybe you should take a day off?" She said into his hair. At that moment, the twins notice a slight blush on Suzaku's cheeks and grab the nearest object - A plastic apple from the decorative fruit bowl in the center of the table for Learme and a butter knife for Lelouch - and glare at him fiercely. The blood immediately drains from Kururugi's face and he smiles weakly, patting Nunnally on the shoulder before disengaging the hug.

"Want a drink?" Learme, leaning back in his chair. "I got some coffee."

"Sure." Suzaku said, getting up along with Learme. Lelouch, wisely, stayed where he was. Suzaku was athletic enough. Under the influence of Learme's coffee......

-The Dragon and The Knight-

Learme led his friend to his room, opening the door and stepping through, sifting apart some of the larger piles of debris to find the small bedside coffee table, which, surprisingly, had a coffee machine on top. He was just about to take the pot out and pour it into one of the mugs that was conveniently on the table as well, when he noticed a large, hairy spider of indeterminate species floating in the pot. Learme nonchalantly placed the pot back, dug through more debris to find his dresser, pulled out a bag of coffee grinds and returned to the doorway, where Suzaku had shown wisdom beyond his years in staying behind.

"It seems my coffee machine's broken down a bit. Let's go use the Council Room's."

By the time they'd reached the ballroom, there was already a barricade in place in front of the Council Room door, guarded by Rivalz and Shirley, dressed up like old French chevaliers. Next to them was Milly, dressed up in a scant leotard with a cape thrown over one shoulder and a circlet resting off-center on her head.

"My Countrymen! We are invaded!" She cried, affecting a deeper tone. Learme just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

-The Author-

And thus, the intermediate period between Kawaguchi and Refrain begins. This should go on for two or three more chapters. If any of you want your OCs to show up now, speak up or forever hold thy peace.

*EDIT*: To clarify, if you guys want your OCs to show up now, in the 'breaktime' chapters, and how, tell me.

As we can see, attraction begins to blossom ever so slightly between the hardier elites of the Black Knights, and Mischa and Tony are about to run them into the dirt.

I can't tell, is Milly OOC?

Replies:

Alex Yamato: I'll do that

00virtuezero: Yep. I dunno about his geass though, shouldn't it be something more geared towards Learme? Oh, he will.

Infinite Freedom. VARIS, yes, Raikou, no. They're making some breakthroughs with that carcass in their possession.

G. Wagers: hope you got my reply message.