A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, favorites and new follows so far. I had hoped to post this story exactly on New Years, but I wasn't able to finish in time so you guys are getting it now.

Also...Happy New Year!

A quick warning for those of you watching RWBY, because at the time of this chapter's posting I am using information revealed in the latest episode for one of the scenes below (the most recent episode not released to the public yet). It shouldn't be too major at least not without the rest of the episode to go with it.

It happens when Lelouch gives a tour, so if you don't want spoilers then skip the section.

So let us not delay so enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 5

Seeds of Rebellion

For Clovis la Britannia he was experiencing one of the worst few days of his life.

It was bad enough his forces had suffered a crushing defeat despite the intervention of the Lancelot which had begun to turn the battle around for him, but it seemed the enemy had been preparing a attack on the G-1 base from the start and their tactics were to only thin out their forces. Then early the following morning he had gotten word that one of their supply depots had been attacked resulting in it being completely destroyed, but worse there was no indication to prove if the enemy had successfully stolen more of their military hardware and weapons.

If the Homeland hears of this I'll be finished.

In his panic Clovis the investigate quickly closed to avoid word of the incident reaching the homeland, but Clovis was finding it very difficult in trying to keep what happened in Shinjuku Ghetto under wraps. This was true with what the fact that he lost most of his staff officers and Bartley in that fiasco and he was saved by an Eleven piloting a Knightmare Frame of all things.

Clovis was pale and he had bags under his eyes indicating stress and a very obvious lack of sleep on his part.

Then not long after those two incidents he had received a message from a man calling himself Zero who vowed to publically release a confession they got out of Bartley about Code-R if he sought to eradicate any other Japanese Ghettoes along with leaving Shinjuku Ghetto untouched. Clovis had received a copy of said confession to prove Zero did have the evidence needed to not only ruin his reputation but to cause him to be disinherited.

What do I do…what do I?!

The blonde haired prince had spent the whole day in panic thinking of how he could salvage this situation and keep it from getting worse.

And it just did when his phone began to ring.

Clovis's face drained of all color as his horror and panic was spiked to its highest point when he saw the caller ID and the line the caller was using was private reserved for only the Emperor, but Clovis had granted another access as a means of calling him directly ever since he began his partnership with the one who had told him about the ruins and the connection beings like C.C. had to them.

Knowing he would only make things worse for himself Clovis reluctantly picked up the phone and placed the receiver against his ear.

"H-Hello…"

Clovis began shivering as the caller on the other line spoke and his blood went cold, but then again it should be no surprise the caller had likely heard about what happened.

"We…we had it under control until some other group we didn't know about intervened and began destroying my forces." Clovis said trying to hold onto what little composure he had left looking for some slim chance to salvage the situation. "The new weapon my older brother created was deployed, but it was pushed back by someone wielding twin blades on a chain and had animal horns on her head."

The caller had been clearly angry with the loss of C.C, but calmed down at the mention of the woman with horns.

Seeing this as a chance to get back in the good graces of the caller Clovis proceeded to explain, "Yes we have a recording of her combat abilities. This woman was superhuman and our best and newest weapon couldn't stop her."

Clovis held his breath not wanting to do anything to upset the caller as he listened.

"Yes I'll have everything copied from Code-R and given to you for safe keeping. I have already arranged for the scientists and their work to be transferred to a new location in the Narita Mountains."

The Viceroy of Area 11 was silently listening to instructions his unknown ally and benefactor was giving him. His benefactor had promised him much for his help and Clovis knew those promises were real and could propel him to becoming a real contender for the throne, but only if he did as he was told.

"Of course we managed to capture him after we heard he was inquiring about C.C. We confirmed he had a power and we had hoped to use him to further our efforts, but he has been difficult to contain. Capturing him was a challenge upon itself. His powers are everything I have told you about."

A moment of uneasy silence passed before Clovis was given another set of instructions.

"Yes we'll hand him over to you along with everything we collected on the girl before we…lost her." Clovis replied reluctantly, but when his caller said nothing he quickly added. "I am arranging to borrow one of my brother's new machines which might have what we need to examine the ruins on the island I told you we found. The excuse will be to conduct weapons testing, which will be our cover to use its features to examine the ruins."

It had been four days since the incident at Shinjuku Ghetto and Clovis had yet to find a solution to the problems that disaster had caused him. At the very least he had kept his collaboration with his new ally intact, because if it collapsed Clovis knew the dangerous repercussions it would cause for him and even the world hence why he feared his benefactor so much.

"Yes I'll oversee it personally and I'll report to you about our results when it arrives in a couple weeks."

The Viceroy hung up the phone after which he left out a heavy sigh of relief. He at least managed to stay in his benefactor's good graces…for now.

Clovis wasn't the only facing problem, but the unit that had been responsible for saving Clovis from possibly being killed was also being rewarded by being evicted from the military headquarters where the Lancelot had been previous kept at as the special weapon of the ASSEC was needing a new home, which Lloyd was able to acquire with the assistance of their group's benefactor and some contacts Lloyd had.

Overseeing their transfer and relocation was Jeremiah Gottwald who to the military at large had been fortunate to survive the battle and left for dead by the terrorist group despite fighting valiantly to save Bartley and the Staff Officers. In light of what had happened Jeremiah was prompted to fill the vacancies left by the death of Bartley and other high ranking military officers lost with him. To help make his cover story convincing he did receive injuries and as such had bandages wrapped around his head and his arm in a sling.

Meeting with Lloyd and his assistant outside of the large room that had been set aside for them for the Lancelot to continue their work to improve the machine and by extension the technology behind the Lancelot to one day make it possible to mass produce machines similar to it.

"Everything appears to be in order with the last of your equipment being moved from your previous location." Jeremiah replied in a business-like tone as he handed a clipboard with papers and documents showing the times when the last of their equipment and tools would arrive.

"Thank you very much Margrave Jeremiah." Cecile thanked kindly while accepting the clipboard before reviewing the documents.

"And your superior I assume he is busy with other matters?"

"Yes I apologize for his behavior."

"Don't worry about it," Jeremiah replied with a causal off-hand gesture, but in reality he found it more preferable to deal with Lloyd's assistant than Lloyd himself finding the man far too eccentric for his tastes. "However I am curious why an Eleven pilot was chosen for a top secret machine like the Lancelot? I would have thought a pilot would have been provided to your group."

"Well the problem is no one was willing to volunteer." Cecile answered, which Jeremiah was immediately confused by. Sensing his confusion Cecile proceeded to explain, "Because of Lloyd's drive to make the Lancelot as capable and formidable as possible an ejection system was never installed for it. So no pilots were willing to accept the offer. In fact we went to Shinjuku Ghetto originally seeking to offer you the chance to pilot it, but after we couldn't get in touch with you we had no one left by Private Kururugi."

"I see…I have no authority over your choice of personnel, but as long as it doesn't become a problem I won't trouble you over it." Jeremiah said for the sake of appearance since he was the leader of the Pursuit Faction that opposed the idea of foreigners in the Britannian Army. "On the other hand I found it cowardly that no one else would have seized such an opportunity. If you have future prototypes in need of a pilot call for me and I can either assume the role of the pilot or I'll ask one of my subordinates."

"I'll be sure to inform Lloyd of your generous offer." Cecile replied in a polite manner before a work crewman called her over to ask about some crates that had just arrived outside.

With Cecile distracted Jeremiah began looking over the monitors connected to the Lancelot and began looking at the weapons listed and programmed into it for future use.

Silently drawing out a USB drive Jeremiah inserted into a port on the computer while making it appear he was curiously reading the specs of the machine. The USB he had was one favored by those of the Intelligent Department which was capable of copying whatever data is stored on a computer quickly especially if the files were unprotected as they were now with Cecile still logged on. When Jeremiah heard he would be overseeing the transfer of the Lancelot and its research team to their new location at the Ashford University that sat across the street from the Ashford Academy he called in a favor with a man who worked in the Intelligence Division to obtain such a USB.

It took only a few nerve racking minutes for the files to be copied and for Jeremiah to stealthy remove it and hide it in his cast.

As Cecile returned Jeremiah inquired about something he noticed on the list of weapons the Lancelot was meant to be equipped with.

"Miss Croomy I am curious about these weapons I saw on this screen here?"

"Oh those are the Master Vibration Swords and the VARIS rifle. They were incomplete before the battle, so we were unable to mount them on the Lancelot in time." Cecile said as she didn't display any signs of suspicion towards Jeremiah.

"I see…forgive me I saw them on the screen and I was curious, but given the chaos that happened a few days ago I hope those weapons will be ready."

"They will be...you have my assurance on that."

Another group discussing the events of Shinjuku Ghetto and word of a supply depot raid was a group of men sitting inside a windowless room with a small fire going on between them. A fifth person who was present for the meeting was sitting behind some thin blinds while the other four men were old with two of them being in their late fifties wearing business suits while the other two being older wore kimono style robes.

The leader among the four was the oldest among the gathering with a bald head and a tanned complexion wearing brown kimono robes.

"Is this everything we have so far?"

"Yes sir," One of the men of the gathering answered wearing a brown business suit with gray hair and a beard.

"And they were not part of the Shinjuku Ghetto resistance group led by Naoto I believe the name was?" Taizō Kirihara asked.

"Yes, but they are being led by a man name Ohgi at present. Intelligence suggests that their previous leader was killed not too long ago." Tousai Munakata said before going on to say. "However this second resistance group hidden in Shinjuku Ghetto was much stronger and more organized than any other group with the exception of the Japan Liberation Front. Word is that they managed to steal a large number of Sutherlands and used Glasgows as well as part of their forces to defeat the Britannians."

"We need to meet with them. Send out messenger to make contact by going through this Ohgi fellow and work out an arrangement from there." Kirihara ordered as the last member of the gathering who sat behind the binds listened quietly.

On Remnant Lelouch was currently visiting Desmond, although the day after the raid on the supply depot had given him time to rest following that day Lelouch couldn't stay idle and had to be more active than he had ever been since he was taken under Leodore's wing. However before he could Lelouch needed to don his new attire and mask, which was being made around the same time as his weapon but priority went to Clarent to be completed.

His new attire for which he would wear as the leader of the Black Knights consists of a two-piece tight dark purple suit with golden trim and stripes including long, wrapped sleeves. The outfit combines Victorian fashion with that of a sleek bodysuit which includes a white cravat, but under it was a sleeveless form fitting black shirt with a high collar which Lelouch could pull up to cover half of his face. Another aspect of the outfit was a black and gold cloak with crimson spandex lining the inside and an enormous black cape encircling the head of the wearer to create a dramatic appearance worn over the purple suit.

Lelouch pulled the long black gloves over his hand as they fit tightly to his hands becoming a second skin while the rest of the glove was hidden within his sleeves.

"This turned out better than I thought Desmond." Lelouch commented before pulling up black spandex of the undershirt's collar to cover the lower half of his head.

"I had a feeling you would like it, especially the cape." The older man mused as Lelouch only needed to put on the final piece to complete the outfit.

It was easy the most recognizable and meant to be the face of the leader of the Black Knights. It was a spiky black and indigo mask with a golden long variation of the Geass Sigil seen on C.C.'s forehead and Lelouch's left eye stretched over its bottom. It completely hid the wearer's face thanks to the black plates on the back of the helmet sliding into place to encase Lelouch's head; the mask appears opaque from the outside but is actually transparent from the inside allowing Lelouch to see his surroundings quite easily.

Another feature of his mask was that the part of the mask over his left eye was designed to slide back revealing his eye to allow him to use his semblance, but now as fate would have it doubled as another means for Lelouch to use his Geass without removing his mask.

A microphone built into the mask also added a deep echo with a hint of a metallic sound to Lelouch's voice to make identifying him by his voice alone more difficult. Another feature Desmond included was a built-in communications device with an antenna in the spiky upper portion of the mask allowing Lelouch to communication with easily, but he was capable of eavesdropping on other unprotected communication channels.

"Other than the features of your mask I tried to make your outfit as durable as possible, but thankfully you won't be trying to challenge a Grimm or a Huntsman to combat." Desmond said while offering a warning at the same time.

"I know, but hopefully that will not happen."

Desmond was doubtful despite how confident Lelouch was, but the battlefield was a chaotic place where anything could happen. Still he couldn't help, but be amazed by how quickly things have progressed since Shinjuku. Lelouch was busy after resting to recover from both the battle and the raid as he used his newly gained Geass to obtain more uniforms for the Black Knights while the ones they had were put together either by hand or using tailor contacts in Remnant.

Thanks to his Geass it was easy to cover up their production and who had them made.

Now we must focus on supplies for expansion.

On the side of the portal back on Earth where the members of the resistance group led by Kaname Ohgi were waiting to finally meet the leader of the Black Knights with Kallen included among the gathering. They were being accompanied by other members of the Black Knights, which thanks to having spoken to Leodore for the last few days had helped them understand who and what the Faunus were including where they came from.

Now they were going to not only meet the leader, but see the world from which they came from.

They were being led through a large tunnel which connected to the subway tunnels, so they were large and spacious enough to move trucks and even Knightmare Frames through. Their escorts were two Black Knights, Faunus with rabbit ears, fox ears, wolf ears and a tail and lastly curved horns similar to like a bull. Their uniform caps had been modified and tailored accordingly to accommodate their animal trait while they wore the same half-mask shield that appeared black but they were transparent on the other.

Kaname Ohgi was among those most curious to see Remnant after hearing about the Faunus from Leodore and where they came from.

I wonder how bad it was over there to prompt them to come here.

Ohgi was told the story how Leodore and his friend Desmond had been searching for one of the legendary paths to a so-called paradise world free of Grimm as the legends had summed it up as. How the pathways linking two worlds existed in the first place was unknown at this time, but study of various artifacts and tables Desmond had researched in order to find the one Ohgi and company were going to see was confirmed to predate the current civilizations of Remnant.

Other pathways exist, but this is the only one they have found so far.

Ahead of them the group came to a pair of large metal doors, which began to open as they approached.

On the other side stood Lelouch dressed in his new attire with his mask upon his head, but behind him was something that caused jaws to drop and be left hanging as Ohgi, Kallen and the rest of their resistance group members saw the portal leading to Remnant. Built into the base itself the portal's ancient stone walls and pillars that held it together had impressively withstood the test of time, although steel supports and additional structures had been since incorporated into the cavern containing the portal allowing the surrounding tunnels to become the main base of the Black Knights.

The gateway leading into Remnant had two thick stone pillars on the side and a glowing green gateway that looked like the surface of a small lake suspended on the wall. Along the sides of the portal itself were two statues, one on the left had been standing on flowers and various animals with a sun-like emblem on his chest. The other statue on the opposite side was different with an ominous figure standing atop a horde of Creatures of Grimm with their emblem upon his chest.

On the top of the gateway's archway was the head of a Creature of Grimm, the raven-like Nevermore. Beyond the gate's portal was stone blocks that made up part of the portal, but yet there was nothing to explain the mechanics of how it operated or what maintained it. It was large enough for Knightmare Frames to go in and out and it could support objects much larger at least almost twice the size of a Knightmare Frame with the tunnels having been expanded accordingly in an effort to accommodate the higher ceiling.

A set of rails were set on the floor to help move large amounts of supplies on movable flatbed made spare parts which were basically a large flat platform with train wheels on the bottom to move along the tracks.

"Welcome…you are Kaname Ohgi correct?" Lelouch greeted while his gaze fell upon the leader of the resistance group who had unknowingly involved him and at the same time he assisted in repelling the Britannians if barely.

"Yes that's me."

"I am Zero, the leader of the Black Knights."

"So," Ohgi began deciding to address obvious portal to another world in the room, "is that it?"

"Yes and I admit I was surprised myself the first time I saw it." Lelouch began before deciding to explain and give what history he knew about the gateway before them. "Our knowledge of who created the gate and why are limited, but based on studies carried out on the gate itself we do know it is related to the Remnant's oldest known deities."

Lelouch pointed to the statue of the man with the emblem of the sun on his chest.

"The God of Light and his younger brother," Lelouch said as he pointing to the second statue, "the God of Darkness."

"That's its…not very original." Tamaki mocked before he was elbowed by Kallen to stay quiet, but Lelouch ignored him.

"We suspect they created the links that bind our world together and seeing that they are noted for creating humanity we have some theories that they could have brought humanity over from our side to Remnant to populate it or perhaps our ancestors came to Earth to populate it instead." Lelouch explained to the group of resistance fighters as he read over books about Remnant's history and mythology in his spare time especially the stories related to the Gods of Light and Darkness who are believed to have been responsible for it somehow.

From what Lelouch knew of the sibling gods it was mentioned in an old tale that two gods existed on Remnant long before humanity was born. The God of Light during the day found joy in creating water, grass, trees and animals to populate the world. However at night the God of Darkness would see what his brother created and would be disgusted by it, so he would cause destruction, famine and drought to undo his older brother's works.

But every time life would always persist and rise again.

This cycle of destruction and creation would continue for a time until finally the younger brother was frustrated enough that he created something new. His creation was to be a mockery of life and his brother's creations, but something that would share his hatred of living things with its only purpose to destroy it in whatever form it existed as.

His creations would be called the Creatures of Grimm.

Finally fed up with his brother's actions the older brother confronted him and proposed they would work together instead to create a masterpiece. A creation they could both be proud of because the older brother knew that their continuing confrontation could not go on forever with neither side able to win over the other.

The younger brother agreed and the two brothers combined their powers creating the first humans.

Their creations dubbed humanity were given four gifts.

The first gift was the power to destroy and the second gift the power to create. The third gift was knowledge, the means to learn more about themselves and the world around them. Then finally the power of choice, free will, to choose either the path of light or the path of darkness.

Content with their masterpiece the two sibling gods abandoned Remnant with everything else about what they did during the early days of humanity being lost to history.

The gateways Desmond had spent most of his life searching for after finding some ancient tablets his father had found as a child. His work as a scientist was to help him obtain the means to fund his own expedition to search for them, but no one was willing to help him until he met Leodore who had also heard legends of a bridge to another world free of Grimm in some ruins found in the deserts near Vacuo he had found and used as base. He had grown weary of the fights between the White Fang and a human dominated world and began looking to the ancient legends for a way to change that.

He sought out Desmond after the later had been driven out of Atlas offering to provide him with the men and resources he needed.

Despite some difficulty the two men and their followers succeeded at finding one of the many gates in the southern region of the continent of Sanus. During their expedition to Earth they would find and met Lelouch putting into motion the creation of the Black Knights.

Once Lelouch explained what he knew he led Ohgi and his friends through the pathway to Remnant, although some were hesitant at first but after seeing Lelouch pass through easily Kallen was among the first to follow suit prompting the others to do the same.

"Wow," Kallen said as she was slacked jawed at what she saw on the other side.

A short walk through a tunnel and the group stepped out into the Black Knight's base in the mountains on Remnant. Their masked tour guide was leading them through the base as plans were being made to expand it to accommodate the refuges from Shinjuku with those familiar they found familiar with construction and architecture.

There weren't too many of them, but they at least helped to get work started as some were looking at possibly reusing some of the old ruins and the stone blocks they had been made out of to help construction along. Or they were contemplating using some of the surviving foundations to build homes and additional buildings on with the right tools and materials.

"The base isn't impressive now, but in time once we obtain the needed resources we'll expand it to fulfill all of our accommodations."

Lelouch showed Ohgi and his comrades around as they saw a few of the Sutherlands the former prince had help the Black Knights steal from the Supply Depot being used to reinforce the base armed with lances. Some of the weapons and gun placement mounts they found among the weapons they stood had been placed in strategically ideal positions to further reinforce defenses for the base from both Grimm and other threats.

Inside his own quarters watching Lelouch from the window as he gave Ohgi and his group a tour of the base Leodore was silent as his mind was deep in thought. He had just finished speaking to some friends and contacts in the city of Mantle, so far the situation there has remained the same but the city's decline continued due to rampant corruption and mismanagement of the city which was being done internally to press others into migrating to Atlas.

More specifically it was to press them into accepting the offer of the Schnee Dust Company for homes in Atlas, but the trade off was that they had to work for the company which usually meant working in the Dust Mines.

The original founder of the company died from health complications as a result of Dust Mining and its current leadership does nothing about it.

Even through the Schnee Dust Company claims they were paying their workers fairly, but the real problem wasn't so much the pay which was actually quite meager but it was working conditions for the mines.

No matter if you are human or Faunus spending your life working in a Dust Mine without any kind of protection would lead to health problems later in life when you are getting close to your fifties. Sometimes the health problems arose sooner depending on how early in life the person had begun Dust Mining.

Jacques Schnee cares nothing for the people below him, but only remaining wealthy and keeping HIS reputation spotless regardless of whoever he has to remove.

When Nicholas Schnee's health began failing him he was convinced to turn over the company to Jacques Gele who had become his son-in-law by marrying his daughter and adopting the Schnee name for himself.

Technically he was able to lead the Schnee Dust Company to dominate the Dust Market in every aspect, but at the cost of the company's founding values established by its founder.

Jacques Schnee was willing to do anything to win and he was content to use cheap labor and keep unsafe work conditions because it wasn't as costly. Anyone or any business rather attempted to challenge him they would see their reputation and their own business ruined through a wide means of underhanded tactics.

His assembly of the world's best Public Relations Team has been extremely effective in keeping his position and that of the SDC as the number one exploiter of Dust in the world.

In time Lelouch will challenge him, but it would be best if the Black Knights and Zero became much more first to be in a best position to challenge him.

If Lelouch planned on using Mantle to further his goals then a confrontation between the two men was inevitable in form or another.

In the town of Vale the following night Junior was sitting at what remained of his bar as he surveyed his nightclub that had been demolished by what appeared to be a serious of explosives going off, but the damage was caused by a very powerful blonde haired teenager. Junior had his arm in a cast and his forehead wrapped in bandages with a black eye.

In comparison his henchmen were in much worse shape, but Junior could care less since his men were huge disappointments in his eyes. His two trusted lieutenants and bodyguards the Malachite Twins had at least put up a much better fight, but like his henchmen they were eventually soundly defeated.

It will take weeks to fix this up and the money I'll lose is…

Junior was thinking when Zero entered his club accompanied by six of his followers in Black Knight uniforms.

"Where can I find Junior Xiong?"

"What do you want?" Junior said walking across the destroyed dance floor while eyeing Lelouch's outfit. "The costume party was last week and we're not open right now."

"That is a pity since I thought you would be interested in a business proposition." Lelouch said as he used a hand gestured to signal one of his followers to open up a black briefcase they had brought filled with lien.

Junior exchanged glances with Zero and the briefcase containing enough lien to buy a whole city block.

"So what can I do for you?"

"I would like your help to purchase some materials and tools. My associate here has the complete list, but I want this business transaction to be kept private." Zero said right before he signaled another escort to present Junior with another briefcase full of lien which was being offered to buy his silence.

"That is…quite generous," Junior said at a clear loss of words, although he was contemplating asking about the items Zero was asking to buy the list was odd for clearly someone who didn't want his face seen.

Even more so someone who didn't want anyone else knowing what he was doing, so Junior withheld any questions he had as long as he was paid handsomely.

"This is but the first of some business transactions I would like to conduct with you," Lelouch began to say as a sinister smile began to form under his mask, "but being that you are famed for being Vale's best information broker there is something I hope you could help me with."

A week later a middle aged man with brown hair styled into a box-style haircut was walking out of a small private bar he had access to. He was wearing a blue suit with a black tie, but after pulling out a bottle and grabbing some glasses he walked into his private suit at a hotel in downtown Vale near the harbor where the balcony provided a beautiful view of the ocean. He had brown eyes and in his hands he held a bottle of champagne and two wine glasses in the other.

"Are you really for a fun night Sugar Bumps?"

Hearing no response the middle age man walked into the dark living room where he was expecting his guest to be waiting for him, but instead someone else was there.

"I am sorry but your company for tonight Clara will not be here." Lelouch spoke from the shadows as he stood up as he had been sitting in a chair in a dark corner of the room.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"I am the man who will change the world and corrupted filth like you will help me pave the way for me to do so." Lelouch as Zero said in a calm manner, but at that moment the door to the hotel room opened and two masked members of the Black Knights entered with their guns drawn.

"Do you idiots have any idea who I am?"

"Of course we do," Zero replied coldly, "You are Warden Samuel Norton of the Western Vale Prison, which is the largest and most heavily guarded prison in all of Vale. Publically you have maintained a good prison work record and using prisoners to help with public works projects to help improve the city and the prison with funding you receive in exchange."

A moment of silence passed before Lelouch stepped into the light from the other room allowing Norton to see the masked man as his Lelouch glared daggers into the man before him.

"However the truth of the matter is you have been exploiting prison labor for public works under false pretenses. You have been profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and collecting bribes while using threats to use other prisoners with specific skills to help you launder the collected money. Any prisoners who asked questions or defied you caused them to die as a result of a so-called escape attempt." Lelouch said as his victim seemed shaken by how much he knew, but finding the information was much easier than someone might have expected.

Especially if you are someone who possesses a power capable of forcing others to obey you, which thanks to questions select prison guards and co-workers for the information.

Lelouch contemplated to mention the fact the man was cheating on his own wife by seeing a mistress, but that secret will be exposed soon enough regardless if he said it or not.

"You…you got no proof and internal affairs have never found anything on me." The prison warden said attempting to stand firm before the masked man, but it was a very poor attempt given that Lelouch saw he was sweating.

Unfortunately for Norton he couldn't even begin to realize who he was dealing with.

"You are right, but…I intend to make you walk to the gallows."

The hidden slide in his mask opened revealing a glowing red eye underneath.

"Zero commands you…"

Those were the last words Norton heard before his world went black.

The next morning Vale awoke to a shocking display at the local courthouse down town where Norton was discovered unconscious hanging from the roof of the courthouse. He was tightly bound hanging two stories from the ground over the main entrance leading into the five-story building near the center of the city. By the time police arrived at the scene a large crowd had gathered, although Norton was unharmed he had a wooden plank hanging on his chest.

It was painted white with a black emblem similar to the mark of Geass on Lelouch's mask, but it was more streamlined with three swords stuck into the three corners of the emblem forming a near crown-like symbol.

Beneath it was written Corrupted Fifth.

The police hadn't come to rescue Norton, but they had come to arrest him.

The newspapers and airwaves from television to radio were broadcasting their story of the day which was exposing the corrupt and criminal activities happening at the Vale Prison as every media outlet had been provided with more than enough information including private ledgers, accounts and related information included a recorded confession from Norton. There was enough evidence and more confessions from the guards who had been on his private payroll to arrest them as well.

Once the police had searched his office and home they had found even more evidence to use against him.

Back at the base far away from Vale a smiling Lelouch watched the news report.

"Continuing our top story this morning the city of Vale awoke to a surprising sight as Samuel Norton the warden of the Western Vale Prison was found hanging from the Vale City Courthouse this morning, which seems to be the work of a masked vigilantly going by the name Zero who has claimed responsibility."

The newscaster was a woman with lavender hair and yellow eyes with a pale skin complexion wearing a black suit with a purple blouse underneath.

"However police on the scene are arresting the new former warden due to acts of murder, money laundering and corruption carried out by the warden and guards who were part of his criminal activities. This station along with every news outlet in Vale had received records, reports and recorded confessions that had been played on the air confirming their guilt."

Lisa Lavender explained before adding to her statement.

"We also have word that the guards arrested are confessing to police about their actions which is suspected to be an effort to avoid severe punishment for their actions."

Lisa said before an image of the guards being arrested from their homes shifted to one of Lelouch dressed as Zero in a dramatic pose outside the courthouse with a dangling warden behind him.

"However the question is who is this masked man named Zero and where did he come from since the warden had been under careful investigation by Vale Internal Affairs for weeks, but had been unsuccessful in obtaining proof of the warden's corrupt activities. Yet in one night he publically revealed more than enough evidence for Internal Affairs to search his home and office where they confirmed the evidence Zero had gathered thus ending the former warden's criminal activities."

Lelouch turned off the television set feeling quite pleased, but he knew the warden was a warm up for what was to come from Remnant and Earth.

I should thank Junior for his help since that is one problem of his out of the way.

The young man knew if he wanted to further any of his goals he would need to build a reputation with the rest of Remnant, so through the night club owner Lelouch had a list of targets who were corrupt officials in the Vale Government and criminal bosses operating in the city. These men had slighted Junior in one form or another, but some had also begun muscling in on his territory and business especially after the incident where his club was trashed.

Of course Lelouch would target some other criminals and troublemakers in the city to avoid any chance of the police linking them back to Junior which could lead to their business relationship being exposed.

"That went much better than expected, but…" Lelouch said as he was using one hand to twirl a black king chess piece in one hand. His Geass power had proven invaluable to his efforts, but he was quick to realize it could be a liability if anyone had ever discovered it and Lelouch had already begun preparing accordingly to avoid having it used against him.

To anyone else outside of the Black Knights through people would be led to believe it is part of his semblance.

"This seems a little small for you given what you did in Shinjuku Ghetto?" C.C. spoke making her presence known as she sat on a chair behind Lelouch having observed the television report.

"This is only a spark, but it's the first of many to begin building the reputation of Zero until the flames of change are ignited when the time is right. It's only a question if I'll end up having to focus on Earth or on Remnant."

Around the same time on Earth the second in command of the Black Knights was walking through the temporary settlements that had been established. Leodore knew the first of the new homes for the refuges in their care would be built soon thanks to the materials and tools they got from Junior through his connections and they had also obtained enough food and water to provide for them until they could take steps to supply their own.

They had found some old water wells, but it would be a few days before they could set up a purification system and the proper means to draw water from those wells to provide for everyone. The system they had set up enough wasn't enough to provide for everyone, so expansion and improvements were needed.

Some people had begun moving over, but there was a problem that Leodore was concerned about.

The interactions between my people and the humans of Earth seem to be going fine, but…

Leodore wasn't expecting perfect acceptance, but the moral high ground they assumed during the Battle of Shinjuku had allowed for a good introduction. Despite relations being good there was some uncertainty floating about with some Faunus being seen as part of Japanese Yokai legends and similar fables. There were others whose minds were going into the gutter in some regards with the rest best left unsaid, but so far those have been the only instances.

They might have been minor and few in-between, but such cases did have Leodore concerned.

Can a good rapport between the people of Earth and my kind be established?

Seemingly prompted by fate Leodore heard something that drew his attention and saw some children playing with some children who belonged to some of his Faunus followers who had brought them to their base because they had no other family or place to keep them at.

For a time Leodore watched them and the more he saw them play together he felt more confident.

"I think things will be alright…" Leodore muttered quietly, but he knew true change would never come easily.

And the road ahead was a very long one.

A/N: So there you have it with Lelouch making his first public appearance in Vale as Zero, which is going to serve as both as a warm up for his actions in Japan and a way to begin establishing a reputation.

Take a guess from which movie I drew inspiration from for Lelouch's first victim as Zero?

Next Kyoto becomes involved and at last we'll have our first appearance of Team RWBY, which I wish I could have brought them in sooner but better not to force anything.

And it seems Clovis is dealing with another party, but more on that in later chapters.

And continuing from the mention of the new RWBY episode I mentioned at the beginning I am going to note the reason I haven't decided on a pairing for Lelouch yet. It is because I want to keep myself and my story as flexible as possible since RWBY is still a young series still in progress unlike Code Geass (at least until R3 comes out) with new information and certain plot elements not revealed yet which could help my story or could derail it like it did to another friend's Code Geass and RWBY crossover.

It's not out of indecisiveness, but the fact rather I don't want to write myself into a corner which might force me to redo some chapters or worse restart the story.

Same thing will apply to the pairings and how the story/events progress will be my deciding factor for who will become Lelouch's love interest as we get into later parts of the story which I am expecting will happen around the time frame of volume four.

As a precaution I am keeping Yang and Ruby as possibilities, although Ruby is the LEAST likely to work out going off of personality and beliefs compatibility alone (although the fact she is only fifteen who turns sixteen in volume four makes me a little hesitant too). Blake and Weiss are my main considerations, but if events tend to favor Yang more over them or even Ruby then I'll consider them to match up with Lelouch. Even though I would rather save the Yang and Lelouch pairing for LRKS if I can, but ideas can change if something else proves to work out better than what I had in mind originally when I reach a certain point.

No matter which direction the story goes I'll be ready to adjust and build upon anything new RWBY reveals as far as characters and more goes.

So if events keep Blake or Weiss from working out being paired with Lelouch then I can see about making Yang work or maybe even Ruby, but that one is VERY unlikely for some of the reasons I mentioned and other reasons not mentioned.

When Lelouch and Team RWBY meets is where we'll begin working out who will work best with Lelouch depending on what happens after that first meeting and future encounters.

Anyway thank you for reading and this will be the last time I'll talk about it. I just wanted to assure you guys I wasn't really being indecisive about pairings, but I rather see how events play out and use those events to pick the BEST choice possible to set up with Lelouch because regardless of how the story works out Weiss, Yang and Blake will be very helpful not only towards helping Lelouch become what he needs but to further the story as well too.

Ruby on the other hand I am going to use the fact they are opposites in order to further things along as well too regardless of who gets paired with Lelouch.

See you guys next chapter…