The door goes flying past some no-longer-Geassed opponents and slams into a group of soldiers who were preparing a breaching charge.

Suzaku plants his shield down just as a few soldiers let off a round or two. The force almost knocks him backwards, but he remains standing.

Jeremiah body slams into the nearest soldier with his shield, knocking him into another man. They both fall over, their machine guns letting off a short burst as the two lose their grip on their weapons.

For his part, Gregor wasn't even trying to keep himself safe. His first shot arcs over the soldiers' heads.

"Alright. I don't like killing anyone I don't have to. Leave now, and I won't have to kill you."

The closest men jeer. "We've still got you outnumbered, even if you did magic half of our troops unconscious."

That soldier suddenly found himself without a face, a buckshot/slug combo destroying his features beyond recognition.

"Ok, that one I enjoyed. The rest of you? Scram if you want to see tomorrow."

Another good chunk of the Soldiers disappear, but not enough to make the battle a sure victory for Gregor's side.

"Looks like we still got a fight on our hands." Jeremiah smiles. "I haven't felt so excited in ages!"

Suzaku silently agrees.

Suddenly, C2 pops out the door and ducks behind an ornamental planter. "Wow. You've been busy."

"Well, we couldn't wait forever." Gregor smirks. "Where's Kallen?"

"She's inside with Kaguya. Something about-"

Suzaku, move five feet to the right. You should be able to see the commander.

Suzaku complies, and sure enough, he sees a man, dressed in gear of the Brittanian forces. He seemed to be relaying orders.

"Yeah. I see him."

C2 ducks back inside as Gregor grandstands a bit more to distract the troops. Once she returns, she discretely tosses him a small device. "It's a thermal trace."

"What?"

Throw it at the commander.

Not really understanding what is going on, he tosses the device in the direction of the commander.

Now, Anya.

The building behind Suzaku is suddenly missing it's roof, along with it's entire third floor. The Mordred hovers there, aiming it's hadron at the commander.

C2 looks up at the Mordred. "Use a harken, not the hadron."

Said slash harken fires and stabs right through the commander.

With their leader down and clearly dead, the second confirmed death, moral broke even more, and even veterans realize that going against a fully equipped Knightmare was suicide. The troops start to truly lose their nerve and flee.

"Once they're all gone, get ready to move." C2 fires a few shots in the air above the fleeing soldiers' heads to goad them on. "Everyone out!"

Once everyone is clear, C2 pulls yet another device out of her pockets.

"Do you have a thing for any situation?" Kallen asks playfully, still pumped up with adrenaline.

"You have no idea." C2 grumbles. "Anya, pick up everyone but Gregor and me. We'll contact you through the Mordred on channel 92 with our new location once we have it. Until then, find somewhere to hide."

Anya lets the five hitchhikers strap themselves on with duct tape and some rope left behind by the soldiers. Before they take off, Kallen calls to Gregor.

"Gregor, how do we know this isn't Lelouch, and not just Drexel? It sure seems like one of Lelouch's plans."

Gregor's stare threatens to pierce her soul. "It. Isn't. Lelouch."

Anya takes off before Kallen can respond.

C2 tosses Gregor a large knife she had pulled off of the commander. "Ready?"

Gregor looks back at his hideout. "Do it."

C2 detonates the C4 prematurely with her remote and the two walk away as the sirens start to wail.

o-o-o-o

"An arboretum? Of all places, you chose an arboretum?" Jeremiah berates Suzaku.

"Hey, I wasn't the pilot. Next time, you tell Anya where to go."

"Cut it out guys. We're good for now, at least." Kallen plays with the small flash drive in her fingers. "Anya, is there a socket for this in the Mordred?"

Anya nods. "You need me to copy it?"

"Actually, I'd like to look at it for myself if you don't mind."

Anya shrugs and tosses the keys to Kallen. "Don't break anything."

Kallen climbs in, plugs the USB in, and watches as the Mordred's screen lights up... With meaningless gibberish.

Outside, Jeremiah and Lady Kaguya sit together on a rock that had somehow survived the terraforming of the area.

"Anya has really opened up in the past, oh, hour or so." Kaguya notes aloud.

"Yes, she has. She rarely shows this much emotion, even at home where she feels safe. Funnily enough, I think that putting her in danger has helped a bit." Despite himself, Jeremiah feels a grin spreading across his face.

"You treat like she's you daughter."

"She is, legally."

"Unfortunately, that doesn't always guarantee a healthy father daughter bond."

"You have a point there."

They are both silent, watching as Anya and Suzaku play a game of rock paper scissors, only with slash harken, Hadron cannon, and energy wings.

"Suddenly. I feel old." Jeremiah sighs and leans back to look at the stars. "Surely, 40 isn't that old?"

C2 flops down beside him. "I lost count around five hundred. So no, you aren't old."

Inside the Mordred, Kallen scans the random text with her Geass active. With her newfound pattern recognition, she "reads" the code, forming a mental picture in her mind.

After a mind numbing 15 minutes, she finally has something she can understand. It's a series of misshapen pictures, much like what you would get if you unwrapped someone's face and stretched it out. It's... It's a pattern for the mask machine. Kallen almost shouts to everyone else, but something stops her. She looks through a few more files, finding over a hundred faces. She gets through about twenty of them before Lady Kaguya pops into the cockpit, surprising her.

"What's going on?"

Kallen pulls the USB out of the socket. "Nothing much, just looking at... stuff."

"Stuff."

"Yes."

Lady Kaguya sighs. "I wanted to talk to you about my Geass."

Kallen sit up straight. "Sure."

"When C2 was talking about Mao, she said he went insane Because he could read everyone else's minds, right?"

Kallen thinks back. "Yeah, sounds right. He couldn't stop it, mostly."

"Why, exactly, couldn't he stop it?"

"I'm pretty sure that the more you use a Geass, the more powerful it becomes, until it overpowers any attempt to turn it off."

"So... once I use my telepathy too much, I won't be able to stop sending people my thoughts?"

"That's a scary possibility. Maybe C2 can do the thing she was offering Suzaku."

"I hope so. I... I really don't want to broadcast my EVERY thought, if you understand."

Kallen's eye twitches. "Yeah, I... Gross."

o-o-o-o

The night went uneventfully. They had decided to camp in the arboretum, taking shifts to decide who is listening to the Mordred's radio.

When Suzaku was finishing the last shift, a boy scout had wandered into the clearing and froze. He obviously recognized the faces.

Suzaku hops off the Mordred and Approaches the boy, who is starting to shake. "Don't worry kid, I'm not gonna hurt you." Suzaku cranks up his winning smile that he had rarely used since Euphemia's death. Not much reason to smile without her. "What's your name?"

"T-Timmy."

"Well Timmy, you might want to go back to your troupe. We're all really busy."

Timmy leans sideways. "They look like they're sleeping, not busy."

"I... They're supposed to be awake."

Kallen yawns and rubs her eyes. "Wha? Hoozat?"

"That wasn't either English, or Japanese. It's Timmy. He's a boy scout."

"Troop 127!" the boy exclaims.

"Tell him we don't want cookies." Kallen rolls over.

Suzaku looks back at Timmy. "Ok, I lied. They're just lazy."

"I knew it!"

A faint cry of "Timmy!" can be heard off in the distance.

"That probably is my troupe." Timmy turns towards the forest. "I'm guessing you don't want them to find you?"

Suzaku looks down at the ten or twelve year old boy, astonished how shrewd he was being.

"You're pretty smart."

Timmy shrugs. "If I was missing, and hiding in a forest, I'd probably rather be left alone."

"Thanks for understanding. You've got a pretty impressive mind."

Timmy turns back to Suzaku, an embarrassed look on his face. "Before I go, can I get all of your autographs?"

Suzaku laughs. "I'll sign, but good luck with getting any of them too."

It turns out that everyone thought the boy was so cute they signed his scout cap. Then Timmy ran back into the forest, and could barely be heard trying to convince his instructor that there is a bear cave back the way he came, and they should go check it out. The instructor berates him, and they group's sounds slowly disappear.

Kallen, still pretty sleepy, rubs her eyes. "We better get moving. Somebody is bound to notice that he has fugitive's names on his cap."

"Yeah, let's get going."

o-o-o-o

C2 knocks on the door of an upscale, yet not to ostentatious apartment building. Behind her, Gregor slouches casually, carefully concealing his identity.

A woman opens the door. "Hello?"

C2 bows formally. "I'm sorry for intruding, but I have a favor to ask."

Milly Ashford looks at the nondescript due- well, as nondescript as fluorescent green hair could be.

"I'm sorry, I don't recognize you."

"Right. I'm C2. I used to be friends with Lelouch."

"Oh! I saw you around campus sometimes, but never recognized you."

C2 nods. "Yeah, it's... Well, that's kind of why we're here. We're in trouble, and I have about seven people plus me who need shelter."

Milly considers this for a second. "You have yet to prove that you really were a friend of Lelouch's. Do that, and I might let you in."

C2 barely blinks. "Lelouch had a spat with Shirley in his second to last year, which resulted in a prolonged game of 'strangers.'"

Milly raises her eyebrows. "Wow. You or anyone in the school would know about that."

C2 quickly thinks up another one. "Lelouch was secretly Lelouch vi Brittania, and only you, Nunnally, and the maid, Sayoko, knew this."

Milly's jaw drops. "Ok, nevermind. I believe you." she ushers them inside. "Who are your friends?"

"Have you been watching the news lately?"

Gregor cracks up.

"I'm a news anchor. It's my job."

C2 smacks her forehead. "Right. Suzaku, Kallen, Nunnally, and Lady Kaguya are all currently hiding somewhere. They're with us. The new Emperor is a fake, by the way, and wants to kill us."

Milly stares at C2. "Got evidence to back that up?"

Gregor tosses a thumb drive at her.

"Can we call them to this building now?" C2 asks.

"Go right ahead. I haven't seen Suzaku or Kallen or Nunnally in forever!"

"Oh! Forgot to mention, they'll be bringing a Knightmare."

"For the love of-"