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 20: Narita
- The Demon and The Dragon -
A Week After Refrain
Very early in the morning, Lelouch was awakened by a strange sound emitting from his cellphone. It was a cross between a tear-choked joyous laugh and a madman's crazed cackle, and it denoted one fact, that would prove even less palatable to the Britannians than to Lelouch: Learme had finished. And Lelouch owed his twin a good two thousand pounds if the items in question were fully operational.
Learme, deep in the complex they used as their base-away-from-home, stopped chortling into his phone and started taking pictures of the objects before him, the last of which he'd just finished constructing.
After he finished sending the pictures, he redialed Lelouch and waited for his twin to pick up. For a few seconds, it just rang.
"How long till you have three teams of them ready?" Lelouch asked from behind, startling Learme into dropping his phone.
"W-what the? How the? When the?" Learme stammered, whipping around to glare at Lelouch. "Er....I could have that number ready in five days, but ideally I should take a full two weeks to ensure they're fully prepped for live combat."
"Hmmm......what about one team?" Lelouch asked, after a minute of calculation.
"That, that's much better. Preferably, I should take at least three days on them, but I'll have them ready by tomorrow." Learme nodded, looking back at the complete units and running over information in his head.
"And what of the Zero Squadron's units?" Lelouch asked, casting his glance around for them.
"Already on the upper levels and raring to go." Learme grinned. "A full fifteen sets of parts for the Reikokus, and I just have to program the Raikou Kai's FCS. I'll need some work from you in that area, but otherwise....."
"Good." Lelouch muttered. "Later today we have a meeting with the Black Knights at Site 66. Apparently, Kyoto's testing us."
"Really?" Learme's eyes sparkled. "They sent us the Guren?"
"Yes." Lelouch answered. "And I suppose you're going to want to go over it nanometer by nanometer before deploying it?" Then he blinked, and Learme had disappeared, leaving nothing but a ghostly mad-scientist style cackle.
- The Fanatic -
Diethardt sat in his office chair, elbows rested on his desk and fingers intertwined into a steeple in front of him. Just an hour previous, Cornelia had informed him to be prepared to report the destruction of the JLF.
Now, that, quite obviously meant they knew where the JLF's main base was, and with a little sleuthing and simple bribery, Diethardt had found out precisely where it was.
The difficulty was what to do with this information. As a Britannian, he should simply use this data to construct an official report that cast Her Highness in a good, royal light and derided the JLF in numerous ways. Professionally, as a reporter though, the prospect was dull and boring, as it was pretty much what he'd been doing for the past seven years since he'd come to Area Eleven, only with a different subject.
Zero now....if Zero and his accomplice, Draco showed up with their Black Knights in tow....that would be news.
- The Demon -
2.39 PM, Site 66
Lelouch particularly enjoyed the looks of the newly-formed Zero Squadron as they beheld Learme's newest creations.
"So Fafnir has released a fraction of his horde." Came a rumbling voice not unlike tons of gravel crashing together in an enormous landslide. Lelouch turned to see the newest recruit of the Black Knights, a soldier of the Swedish Special Commando Forces under the.....diverse Euro Universe Military. A master of quick and brutal guerrilla attacks reminiscent of the raids of his Viking ancestors , Peter Wettergren, more often referred to in any 'official' Euro Universe reports as the Red Viking, was captured during one of his more recent raids on a Britannian Base on the Eastern European front. With his government refusing to recognize him as any sort of operative, and with the Britannian commanders shamed by their previous inability to stop him and his team's efforts, including the slaying of many nobles that had been within fifty kilometers of his operating areas, they'd shipped Peter to be executed in a place where his death would be most useful.
By manipulating the media in Area Eleven to cast Wettergren as the type of character the Japanese would admire for both his character and his efforts against the Britannians, they'd serve to make an example out of him, even if the effect would be severely reduced as compared to if they captured Tohdoh.
Of course, neither Lelouch nor Learme were going to stand allowing such a soldier to be executed in their own backyard, and they'd launched a rescue attempt as the Zero Squadron's first mission on the coastal prison Peter had been held in, involving the use of a stolen Mabon 6th-generation Knightmare and a platoon-sized unit of Type-32 Howitzers.
The commando himself was just over two meters in height, blond-haired and blue-eyed, although a black eyepatch covered his left eye, and his left foot was replaced with one of the cybernetic prosthesis marketed by Rakshata. A great majority of his visible skin, and probably nonvisible as well, was covered with scars as a result of many close scrapes in combat. He stood last in the line of Squadron members, at the opposite end from Kallen, Antonio and Mischa, with the others in between.
"Oh, Draco has been long in developing these." Lelouch chuckled through his helmet, referring to the black Knightmares behind him. "The Reikoku are the first sixth-generation frames he's made, and in truth, these are merely off-shoots of work he is close to completing." They studied the Reikokus, glancing at every part and frowning at something they didn't like or grinning at parts they did.
"He has more stuff like this?" Tony questioned, glancing at the Frames' smooth, curved surfaces and overall organic look.
"Oh, and we have your new frame Kallen." Lelouch said, smirking slightly as Kallen's face fell. She's probably disappointed that she won't get something her crush made. The slimmer twin thought, as he motioned to the other end of the hanger, where the Guren , Kyoto's gift to the Black Knights, rested. Kallen's features shifted, running the range from startled, shocked, to pleasantly astonished.
"B-but the Guren's defensive nature, it should be used by a commander like you Zero." She stammered.
"Nonsense." Lelouch smirked. "The Akuma is perfectly suitable for my needs, and besides, the Guren is best used by someone with your reaction timing. Despite his martial expertise, Draco's skills lie with the Knightmare he's designing for himself." That got everyone's attention.
"So where is he?" Alex asked, somewhat stern.
"Ah, cheer up Alex." Ouka smiled, the Loli-like girl cheerfully bouncing back and forth on her heels in between Alex and Qilin. "It's not like Draco will pop you in the back of the head if you don't know where he is."
"At least, not before Mischa does." Eris laughed, leaning on Alex on the other side. Kiryu, in between Peter and Qilin, shook his head at the two girls. Sasaki stood pleasantly by Tony, reminding Lelouch eerily of Sayoko. Akito stood next to him, calmly at a position of standing rest.
Quite an assembly of characters we have here. Lelouch thought. Of course, none of them held a candle to the uniqueness of him and his twin, but still they were unusual.
"Hoy, Zero!" Came the cry, drawing Lelouch's attention to the side as Ohgi came rushing up. "You'll want to look at this." The tertiary commander said, handing Lelouch a folder. Opening it one-handed, Lelouch quickly scanned the contents, smirking as he drew to the end. Nothing I didn't know already, although the details on the specific units engaging in the operation should prove handy......The second Area Eleven Mabinogion unit? One Mabon and fo- no, three Arawns. I suppose we should thank Jeremiah for getting rid of that fourth one.
"Get ready to move out tomorrow." Lelouch said, snapping the folder shut even as he tossed a stack of ten others bound by rubber band to Mischa, the defacto leader in absence of either Lelouch or Learme. "Give those to everyone in Zero Squadron except Kallen, fill out the last form, and hand them to Draco." He ordered, even as he turned to depart.
"What are these?" Kiryu frowned, paging through some of the sheets.
"A list of customizations the Reikokus can accept." Was the seemingly laconic reply. " Make your choices."
"Wait, Zero!" Ohgi burst out. "What are we doing tomorrow?"
"We're going hiking."
"Nani?!"
Later, Ashford Academy
Lelouch strode out of the bathroom with an air of satisfaction. All was in place, and the preliminary conditions filled.....mostly. If only Learme would give a satisfactory report on the condition of the Ryūō, beyond 'it'll be ready when it's ready'.
Which meant Lelouch was pleasantly surprised to find Learme folding origami with Nunnally and Sayoko. Already the table was littered with the angular cranes, interspersed with ropey paper dragons in the usual Eastern style, albeit the latter was a combination of normal origami and plenty of tape.
"Hey Lelouch, wanna join the fun?" Learme said, incongruously pleased folding pieces of paper, at least for someone who loved spending time perfecting his mechanical creations. Then again, it was an activity he was doing with Nunnally, when they spent such little time around her......
"Why not?" Lelouch smiled as he took a seat on the other side of Nunnally, opposite Learme, picking up a square and starting to fold. Dexterously, he folded the piece of paper into a perfect copy of the many cranes populating the surface of the table, before handing it to Nunnally for judgement.
"Perfect!" She declared, sounding happy. And that, quite frankly, outshone any and all experiences Lelouch had while commanding the Black Knights. Well.....Clovis' expression comes close. Lelouch mused to himself.
"What about this?" Learme asked, handing Nunnally a paper construction that looked like it was made out of string confetti.
"Ah......it's very nice." Nunnally said, giggling a bit when she heard Learme fall over in mock pain, with the whimper of "It's a phoenix!"
Then came a knock at the door, with Sayoko getting up to see who.
It was Suzaku, walking in through the door seeming much more refreshed than his last visit, although both twins noted a slight air of displeasure in his demeanor.
"Suzaku! How are you doing?" Learme grinned, getting up and clapping his sparring mate on the shoulder. "You should visit more often, we see almost as much of you as we did before!"
"But....you didn't see me at all before." Suzaku said.
'Exactly." Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle at his twin's remark, and especially at Suzaku's forlorn, puppy-got-kicked expression. "Now come on, spend time around your friends instead of colleagues for once!" Learme adopted a stern military demeanor and tone for this, almost sending the Honorary Britannian (whose military training had been rather harsh, due to racial issues.) into a position of attention.
"Heh, I'm actually here just for that." Suzaku commented, after recovering. "The military's conducting a big exercise tomorrow, and they want the Engineering brigade on standby for equipment maintenance during it."
Suuuurre. Learme thought to himself, shaking his head at Suzaku.
"Well, if you're not going to be here tomorrow, and you still have to make up for not visiting, I'm pretty sure Nunnally's going to handcuff you to her to ensure everyone has a good time."
"Heh, that's a good joke.....What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
- The Orange -
The Next Day, Narita Mountain Range, A.S.E.E.C Trailer
"Well. Look who it is. Orange-kun." Jeremiah winced and mentally groaned at the sound of what had essentially become his de facto callsign. He had no trouble with Orange, being as it reminded him of much happier times, but the -kun honorific from the language of the Elevens was pushing his buttons.
And, of course, the speaker of the nickname in question had much to do with Jeremiah's irritation. Olivier Alvaro, a Special Forces commando who'd played a key role in some of the initial battles of the invasion of Japan, most of them involving the typical skullduggery the special operations units did, only on a Knightmare Frame scale. Of course, given Jeremiah's more recent experiences with the Mabinogion pilots, and the recent run of bad luck their premier pilot, Picton, had, he really didn't rate any of them high.
At any rate, beyond the previous reactions to his unfortunately modified nickname, Jeremiah ignored the Mabon Devicer and his posse of Arawn pilots until they left. With them gone, Jeremiah relaxed slightly in his work, running over the Bors' systems. The bulky Knightmare was crouched outside of the AS.C.E.E.C trailer, which still held the Lancelot and its pilot, while around it technicians scurried back and forth in their work to prepare the Frame for its role in Princess Cornelia's plan.
Two technicians operated machines that attached two bulky pods to either side of the Bors' cockpit, while another pair - cautiously - loaded the ammo pods for the Magnetic Pulse Launchers onto their elbow docking points. All the while, Lloyd and Cecile walked around the Bors' legs and Landtracks, checking for fractures in the armor and internal frame that could spell doom for the Seventh-Gen when subjected to the extreme forces its heavy weaponry exacted.
"You're all clear Mr. Orange!" Lloyd called out, flamboyant as always in his waving.
"Her Highness," Bit of a mocking tone there, probably because Cornelia wasn't immediately deploying the Lancelot, "is going to start any minute!" Almost as if on cue, the Knightmare teams deployed, coming out of train cars, dropping from VTOLs, and launching out of the G-1, rushing up the mountainside. About two minutes later, combat started as the JLF became aware of the Britannian forces encircling their base, Burai Frames emerging from hidden bunkers and weapons emplacements firing from their concealed posts.
Unnoticed by any of the combatants, a small white aircraft, no bigger than a Knightmare's hand, circled the mountain, its multi-spectrum camera observing, recording, and relaying. Combined with results from a ground radar and reports from units in the field, the Bors' Advanced Targeting System quickly constructing a real-time map of the terrain and combating forces, along with any structures it detected, even those subterannean, overlaying it over the viewscreen. With that, Jeremiah targeted a section of the mountain that the overlay showed to be swarming with bunkers, Burais and manned turrets, and fired the Rocket Pods.
One after another, the red-blue flare of their solid-fuel engines ignited within their launching pods, firing them in an arc that terminated in the selected area, a heavily-wooded zone with lots of flammable material. The rockets, fitted with a shaped incendiary high-explosive warhead, detonated on impact, igniting the trees and foliage, as well as destroying the JLF forces in a cacaphony of Yggdrasil Drive explosions, munitions misfires, and the screams of the burning.
At that moment, Jeremiah got a strange feeling, one of being watched by an entity....not entirely friendly. Reflexively, he checked himself over for that laser dot that snipers commonly used to judge the distance to their target. Nothing......
He still didn't feel safe.
- The Author -
I suppose by now all of you are used to my random updating.....it's safe to assume the official update is now 'random'. At any rate, the part I've been waiting to write is upon us! Much death and destruction (starting with Jeremiah's little artillery barrage here) shall commence, and Britannia shall mourn much of its fighting Knights!
Yeah, good stuff.
By the way, if any of you Zero Squadron OC contributors want anything specific in color pattern or general armaments for your character's Reikoku, don't hesitate to detail.
Infinite Freedom: Typical of Velshard's designs. Although I don't think any Float Pack is compatible with the Io's design.
Kojiro Kun: I know, right? Well, actually, it'd be quite possible for a Knightmare Frame to last five minutes. You just have to climb the technology ladder a good bit to find them.
Not much action in this, but ramping up.
Voltair27: That it would.
Alex Yamato: That's coming up, battle and flirt.
Rushed reply. I dunno, having Lacus as a playable pilot generated much the same effect as most G Gundam stuff does on me.....physical nausea.
After this arc, guaranteed.
00virtuezero: A lot of terrifying ones. And I shudder to tell that I don't think he's even scraping middle.
One would have to remove their Neural Container and implant it in the control systems, a far too time-consuming effort when one could just unleash them on the closest group of infantry and laugh.
Agreed.
I'm kinda annoyed that Japan's keeping most of the good Gundam games to 's this Gundam Vs. Gundam Next PLUS series that already has 00 Raiser and Reborns Gundam/Cannon.
I believe it. For one thing, it's too amusing not to.
Thank you.
Wolfgang: Well, here's Silverscale's Peter Wettengren.....he's from Scandinavia.
omegadramon2: Shifter coming up next.
Knightmare Gundam of Ni