You know what? I'm getting in over my head with my schoolwork. I accidentally posted a SE chapter last week AGAIN. Now, this time i let the 24 hour deadline run out. I always told myself that I wouldn't promise and not deliver, but...

I'm left with a few choices: continue writing as I have been, possibly with a few more mixups (it's not like I have a freaking chart to look at or anything. /sarcasm), I could put the stories on hiatus until December, when my term ends, or (really not good for my mental health) start posting two updates a week, one per story.

If you have an opinion, send me a PM or review. for now though, enjoy this late chapter.

"So how was I?" Gregor smirks as C2 gulps down pizza slice after pizza slice.

Milly sits at the head of the table. "You were certainly dramatic enough to be the old Zero."

Rivalz sits next to Milly. "I gotta say, I'm glad you got me out. Did you have that backup plan already set up?"

Gregor waves dismissively. "I had a plan for everything up to and including actually providing a hostage."

Kallen shakes her head. "I have a feeling that life is going to get interesting from now on. I hate interesting."

"Then you chose the wrong line of work." Lady Kaguya sinks down in her chair, for once dropping her royal demeanor and letting herself relax.

Kallen puts her hands on her stomach and groans.

Nunnally is partaking of the vast amounts of alcohol Rivalz had procured for the party. Her face is already red, with C2 not far behind.

"So, whats your next step?" Rivalz asks Gregor.

"Let's see. Now that we've made Zero's comeback, we need to either kill or kidnap Drexel. Depending on how many people believe us, we may only have one option or the other."

Rivalz nods. "Is there any chance that I could join you guys? I wasn't part of the Black knights like Kallen, or in the military like Suzaku, but I'm sure I could be useful!"

Gregor leans back in his chair, causing it to moan piteously. "What would you bring to the table?"

"I'm a half-decent mechanic! You guys have at least one Knightmare, and I could help keep it in top form."

Gregor hauls himself out of the chair and gestures for Rivalz to follow.

They head out back and Gregor hands the man the key to the Knightmare. "Go ahead and have a look. I will be watching, so don't get any ideas."

Rivalz throws of a salute and quickly scales the Knightmare. He opens the main access hatch and starts looking around.

Back inside at the party, Milly had rolled out two dance mats and hooked them up to some sort of video game console. Kallen cheers on Nunnally as she and C2, both drunk, attempt to follow the increasingly difficult patterns of steps. Suzaku stands off to one side, attempting to mimic the dance moves without the mat.

Lady Kaguya plays a small dice game with Anya and Jeremiah, occasionally glancing at the crazies jerking around on the impromptu dance floor.

"Look! I got five of a kind!" Anya happily chirps while pulling all the tokens in the center of the tale towards her. Lady Kaguya picks up the dice and weighs them in her hand.

"Are these dice fixed? I find it hard to believe that this is your third five of a kind in one game."

Anya blinks. "I don't even know how to do that! And besides, if they were fixed, you would be getting five of a kinds as well."

Jeremiah chuckles.

After the next song ends, Suzaku and Milly trade in and C2 and Kallen collapse off to the side. Suzaku utilizes his years of precise martial arts training to match what he had practiced earlier. Unfortunately, Milly owned this game. She liked to play it at parties. And with Milly, every day had the potential to be a party.

Suzaku did his honest best to match the busty girl's moves, but the final score shows just how much prior knowledge and practice help.

Suzaku bows with mock respect as Milly prances around the room. "Alright Kallen, your turn!" Milly points to the girl to emphasize her words.

Kallen does a kind of half wave but Milly walks over to the couch and pull the smaller girl to her feet.

Kallen complains at first, but relents once Suzaku steps onto the pad next to her. Her competitive side flares and she starts her own dance off against one of the most physically fit people in the room.

Milly sits down next to C2. "Hey C2."

C2 flops over and grins up from Milly's lap. "Hey."

"How often do you change Zeros?"

C2 frowns. "Only twice so far. Gregor is currently Zero, and Suzaku before him."

Milly nods. "Yeah. Wo was the first? Suzaku couldn't have been Zero the whole time."

C2 rolls her eyes. "Duh. Zero first showed his face rescuing Suzaku. Well, not his face, but his mask."

"Who was the first Zero?" Milly finally asks.

C2 squints up at her. "Zero was Lelouch!"

Milly's mind starts operating at a million miles an hour. "So, all those times he was bailing and sleeping during class, and during the..." She trails off, her internal monologue continuing along the same vein.

o-o-o-o

Rivalz drops down from the Knightmare and wipes his hands on a towel offered by Gregor.

"Report."

"Er, it looks brand new. Doesn't look like anyone's used it for actual combat, at least. I couldn't tell you the state of the main core, since you need special equipment to access that."

Gregor nods. "Good job. Would you be willing to fix up a few more, as well as modify them a bit?"

Rivalz strikes a determined pose. "Of course!"

They turn back to the house.

"Gregor, wait a second."

Gregor turns to find Rivalz, gun in hand and a determined look in his eye.

"I have a question for you."

o-o-o-o

Somehow, Suzaku and Kallen had ended up lying on the floor, leg wrestling. Kallen was beating Suzaku 16-2.

As Milly watches, Suzaku flips over again. As he rights himself, Kallen smirks at him. "C'mon. Best of thirty three?"

Suzaku narrows his eyes. "No, I'm sure that you'd-"

A sharp crack resounds. The entire party quiets down and looks towards the back door. A second loud boom and Suzaku, Jeremiah, Anya and Kallen all leap from their places and run out back.

Rivalz is lying on the ground, blood pooling around his leg. Gregor is kneeling and clutching his chest, where a copious amount of blood was pouring. As they watch, Gregor succumbs to his wounds and falls sideways his hand wiping a smear of blood across his chest.

Milly runs up and pushes through the stopped soldiers. "Rivalz!" she kneels next to him and rips one of the ribbons off her dress. "Hold on Rivalz!"

Kallen notices the gun that Rivalz had dropped and quickly pockets it before Milly noticed.

Suzaku and Jeremiah examine Gregor. Jeremiah looks back at the observers. "He's not breathing. Suzaku, call an emergency service!"

Suzaku nods and reaches into his pocket as Jeremiah begins CPR. Slowly Gregor's hand comes up and pulls at Jeremiah. "Hey, stop it. That hurts."

Jeremiah blinks twice then smiles. "If I had remembered you were immortal, I wouldn't have bothered."

Suzaku finally gets through. "Yeah, we have a man, shot through the knee. Our location is-" he looks at Milly.

Milly gives Suzaku the building number which he relays to the dispatcher.

Once the phone clicks, Gregor manages to stand up. "We need to get out of here before the police show up. All of us but Milly and Rivalz."

Anya wordlessly climbs into the Knightmare unit and initiates startup sequence.

"Suzaku, get C2, Kaguya and Nunnally."

The soldier turns on his heel and runs inside. The Mordred powers on. "Gregor, the Mordred doesn't have enough room for everyone. I can only bring five people." Anya's monotone booms out of the speaker on the Mordred.

"And two of our number are drunk. Jeremiah, find some rope."

"As you wish."

Suzaku leads the three girls out, hold two of them by the elbows. Gregor notes that C2's body was starting to absorb the alcohol and she was starting to look around at her surroundings with a measure of wariness.

"C2, where is my Zero mask?"

She blinks twice. "It's on your bed, I think."

Gregor runs into the building, leaving some blood on the handle.

Jeremiah come back from a garden shed with a coil of rope. "Anya, you're going to have to have Nunnally in the cockpit with you. Suzaku, you and I will each take a foot. C2, I'm going to make you a harness on the right shoulder. Lady Kaguya, you will take the left shoulder. Kallen, you have to ride the on head. Are we clear?"

Everyone but Anya agrees. Anya mutters under her breath, but her mic amplifies the noise. "Maybe I don't want a drunk..." the rest is indecipherable.

Jeremiah climbs up to the top of the Mordred and loops the rope around one of the halves of the Stark Hadron cannon. Her quickly makes an improvised harness. He clambers back down. Suzaku assists Nunnally into the Mordred's palm, which then carries her next to the open hatch of the escape pod.

Jeremiah gets into the right hand with C2 and that hand lifts them to the shoulder.

Zero steps back out of the building. "Anya, head to these coordinates. I'll meet up with you tomorrow. Now, launch as soon as you can. C2!"

The quickly sobering girl leans over in her harness. Gregor tosses the crumpled paper with the coordinates to her. She scans them and gives Zero a wave.

"Mordred launching." Anya's Knightmare frame crouches slightly and leaps straigh upwards, clearing the rooftops before activating the thrusters.

As the giant robot heads for it destination, Zero turns to Milly, who was looking at the now full recovered man before her. "I came to check on him because I used him as a pawn earlier. You had come to interview him. While you were inside putting on makeup, someone drove by and shot us. I was grazed, but he is obviously worse, and I have somewhere to be. I'm also the one that called the emergency crew."

Sirens can be heard and before the two could do much, three EMTs and a police officer walk through the building with a stretcher.

The officer looks warily at Zero. "What's going on here?"

Zero relates the cover story. The officer looks down at the hole and copious amounts of blood staining the uniform, but relents. "I really should be arresting you right now, but... I think you are doing the right thing."

Zero bows his head. "I am grateful. I'm sorry I wasn't able to spare him any pain. If you would, I'd like to get these two protection, even if it has to be unnofficial."

The officer lifts his hat and scratches his head. "I'll do what I can. I'm sure that plenty of officers would be willing to guard Milly Ashford, and putting him with her will ensure his protection as well."

Zero bows his head again. "I again thank you. If you ever need out help, contact Milly. She will have a number to reach us."

Zero turns to leave and disappears through the door, deftly wiping away some of the now dried blood.

o-o-o-o

On the Mordred, Suzaku and Jeremiah yell across the gap above the noise of the float unit.

"So what so you think that was about?"

Jeremiah raises his eyebrow. "I would assume Rivalz pulled a gun on Gregor."

"But why?"

"I have no clue. It is possible that Lelouch or Drexel or whoever got to him while we made preparations."

Suzaku closes his eyes. "I was afraid of that. He used to be on the student council with me when I went to Ashford academy, you know? I thought... I didn't consider he would be a traitor. I don't know why, but I just..."

Suzaku's eyes widen enough that Jeremiah notices across the appreciable gap. "Something wrong?"

"I- I don't feel my Geass. I don't- I didn't have it around Rivalz, I don't have it telling me to hold on. Wh- where did it go?"

Jeremiah barks a short laugh. "I have a Geass canceller, remember? When I used it during our escape from C2's base, you were in the affected area."

Suzaku grips tighter to the Mordred's left leg. "Wow. I've wanted that gone for so long now... and now I'm not so sure it's a good idea to get rid of it."

"To bad Lelouch isn't here to give it back." Jeremiah closes his eyes and casually leans against the large appendage as if is was a rock on the ground. "I'm sorry if I took something you needed, but I was not considering the consequences at the time."

Suzaku shakes his head. "No, not your fault. I just need to wrap my head around the fact that I can die now."

Jeremiah just starts laughing.

o-o-o-o

A man walks past Milly Ashford's apartment. He looks around at all the police and emergency medical police.

One of the officer notices him and strides over to him.

"Excuse me sir, but you need to go back behind the cordon."

The man lifts his purplish sunglasses to reveal two eyes consumed with Geass.

"I command you to shoot that man over there." the Geass user points at Zero, who had just stepped out of an alley.

The officer draws his firearm and aims down his sights.

Zero never saw the projectile coming.

The bullet hits the dead center of the mask and comes straight out the back. Zero collapses to the ground.

Blood starts pooling, draining through the hole in the back of the mask.

The man lowers his sunglasses, grinning wickedly. "Checkmate, Gregor."