Code Light Chapter 10: Return of the King
"I'm glad we could come to terms Suzaku."
"I'll I agreed to do was introduce you to my boss. I'm not in charge of wether he'll take you on or not."
"Of course." Lelouch smiled a genuine smile. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before. The head of the research division was some earl he'd never heard of before, although he was only several deaths away from emperor. So long as he limited his genius, Lelouch would be able to avoid the attention of Cornelia. It was an excellent move, if he got into the research division he would in place for sabotage and espionage.
"Lelouch, you'd better be careful. I know you're not doing this to help Brittania, so what are you up to?" Lelouch didn't turn from window of the car, watching the sleek buildings slip by through the tinted glass.
"Suzaku, do you know what I do in my spare time these days?" He remarked idly
"You have spare time? You seem so busy, everyone's always commenting on how you're away somewhere when they need you." Suzaku let out a light laugh. His smile fell as he saw Lelouch's impassive expression. "I don't really know, you play chess?" It was Lelouch who took a turn to laugh, but it seemed dark somehow.
"Suzaku, I have not played chess in weeks. Ever since I took Light to play at Babel Tower he made a remark that was just so off putting. I can't really muster the will to play a game anymore." Light had said something about how chess was nothing like real life. Lelouch had been only slightly taken aback, until his battle with Cornelia. She had not played by the rules, because life had no rules. He'd dismissed the thought and subsequently lost because of it, however that was not what irked him most. It was the fact that Light had been able to discern a fact of reality that he hiself had casually overlooked.
"Oh, you're trying to beat Light aren't you? He overtaking you in most of the classes, I guess this would help."
"You know Suzaku, I never thought there could be someone better than me." He also never thought of using that story as cover. Perhaps his own hubris needed to be kept in check, he would lose nothing by acting as if Light were his better.
"I should warn you that Lloyd is a bit...eccentric." Suzaku said, taking the keys out of the car. They walked along the concrete path up to the doors where a woman with indigo hair and blue eyes awaited. She smiled warmly
"Hello, you must be Lelouch. It's a pleasure to meet you." They shook hands and began walking.
"Lelouch, this is Cecile Croomy. Cecile, I figure you've read the background checks, so you must know him pretty well already."
"He's nationally ranked, however that fact is mitigated by his apparent apathy. He spends some time gambling on chess matches, illegally I might add." Cecile laughed as Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "No worries. We don't do much by the book here. I'll take you to Lloyd, he's working on improving the factspheres. It has become apparent that they are a rather vulnerable spot, though it seems only one has though to actually attack them."
"Well, I've got to go do some test runs. I'll see you around." Suzaku waved goodbye and then split down a corridor. Lelouch walked in silence, observing his surroundings. The walls were a shade of ecru, which he found rather dull and the passageways lacked any furniture. This Lloyd character must be a dull man solely focused on his work to lack any style whatsoever.
"Here we are." Cecile announced, sliding a card and punching in a code.
"Four digits?" Lelouch remarked "That's not what I would call secure." Especially when it's just the first four numbers of the Fibonacci sequence. Not that he'd let them know he'd seen the code specifically. Cecile almost remarked before a tall, almost lanky, man stooped over to examine him.
"My, my my! Look everyone, we have ourselves another recruit! That's two in one day, where are you all coming from hmm?" His speech was frighteningly vivid, like the excitement of a child. Yet behind those glasses were the blue eyes of someone who wished to explore and learn, not childish at all. Lelouch gave a tiny bow to be polite, he was an earl after all.
"Oh, no need to be so formal, just get to work! From what I hear, you seem like you'll be running simulations to see wether our inventions are applicable in combat, functionality and all that. You'll probably be working closely with the other new guy. He's using the pseudonym of Tom Lehrer, but his aptitude was so great we let him in anyway. I really only care for the results he gets us. So go on, andele my new myrmidon, get to work! " His new boss shooed him off towards a door, undistinguishable from all the others that led in. His feet mindlessly walked over to the door. Lelouch had been slightly taken aback by the earl's strange behavior. Eccentric indeed. he thought.
The room he entered contrasted to the rest of the lab he'd walked through. It was furnished with a wooden table, holding neat stacks of folders, with a comfortable black couch on either side. Filing cabinets adorned all walls except the one he entered through, with two doors each marking the walls into thirds. An elderly man in a black tuxedo with gray-white hair was sitting on one of the couches drawing sketches with a mechanical pencil. Seeing Lelouch he stood up formally and bowed.
"Good evening, you must be Lelouch Lamperouge. I go by the name of Tom Lehrer. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." His speech was more formal than any noble in Lelouch's own family. He carried himself with pride without a speck of hubris. Lelouch did his best to seem amicable without his usual arrogance.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lehrer." he gestured to the table "What exactly am I to be working on? Lloyd did not fully instruct me on my exact duties." He'd never really fit into the cogs of the machine, square pegs, round holes, he supposed.
"I am currently in the process of creating a Factsphere Disturber. Ruining the factsphere is a highly effective maneuver as there is no line of sight out of the cockpit and I believe it can be capitalized upon into a weapon. The problem I have currently run into is the fact that it would also hit the unit using the weapon." Lelouch looked down at one of the sheets of paper picking it up. Projectile thermite launcher? Ludicrous! It would rip through the factsphere, not merely disable it!
"That is not the correct sheet." The man handed him another paper. "The project you are holding has already been completed and is currently undergoing testing now." Lelouch raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"It was implemented? How long did it take you to figure out a launching mechanism?" Raising a wrist he looked at his watch.
"Two hours and 37 minutes. It has been three hours and 23 minutes since development of the weapon began, which finished two hours 17 minutes later. After three and a half minutes of attachment to the standard Sutherland, they began testing. They are still testing now and they have been doing so for one hour, six minutes." Though still in his appearance as proper, Lelouch could practically feel the old man's gratification from the development of an invention. What had he gotten himself into, working with researchers like this?
"Cecile?" Lloyd called out, hunching over a display of numbers.
"Yes, sir?"
"Why did you do it?"
"Why did I do what, sir?" she replied innocently. Lloyd laughed and stood up.
"Oh, you know what I'm talking about! You just ushered in a genius and an ambitious lad into my lab, without consulting me. " he talked without looking at her, marveling instead at the numbers. The thermite projectile had targeting issues, but within 20 seconds reduced all forms of visibility to zero! In 13 of the 16 trials so far, it had eaten through so much of the factsphere, the emergency cockpit had to be released before it would have eaten the pilots! It was wondrously simple, sometimes you got so caught up in the electrical, state of the art gadgets, you would forget all about the cruder ways to dispatch the enemy. Sure it wasn't the new discoveries he longed for in his heart, but the spirit of innovation dwelled within the man.
"Sir?" Oh. He'd been so wrapped up in his thoughts he'd forgotten what he was doing.
"Eh, could you repeat that, I wasn't paying attention."
"I said I did it to get things moving. Suzaku says Lelouch is rather ambitious and I think it would be good to have some friendly competition. As for our Mr. Lehrer, he came requesting our facilities and he seemed to know what he was doing. You've just been so busy with accomplishing the goals I felt as if I should reintroduce some of the other aspects of invention."
"Aspects of invention, my dear Cecile you should have been a poet! Ah, well. Back to work, I feel Mr. Lehrer will be flooding us with ideas. I just hope that student pulls his weight as well."
Lelouch was run ragged by the time he returned with Suzaku to Ashford Academy. Until Suzaku had offered to return him, he'd been running simulations on the effects of various designs that Old Gadget had been designing. The brunt of it was coding, but not to be outdone he added many of his own tweaks to improve combat effectiveness. Despite the fact that the sun already set, his true work had yet to begin. He had calls to make to various resistance groups, ordering them about so he would not be seen as idle. He wandered off towards the edge of campus, making his way to Tokyo Tower. There he had set up an untraceable relay to all of his resistance groups.
Lelouch did not skulk, he moved stealthily. He walked among the shadows and around trees that gave him the fewest lines-of-site to nearby windows. His plan was ruined by two students walking about at night. Squinting through the darkness, he struggled to make out a light shade of hair covered by a bandana on a stout figure. Matthias Pendal. It was likely he was the instigator of the new ill will around the school towards Lelouch. Although he wasn't incredibly popular he had unbounded racism towards the Japanese, which immediately transferred to those who associated with them. The other was his lackey, Drew Campbell, wry, spry fellow. Drew wasn't as racist, but he did have an unbridled sense of entitlement.
"Hey, whose that over there?" It was Drew who spoke. Lelouch could either attempt to sneak away, or confront them with his geass. He'd hate to waste a geass on such pawns, but he couldn't smooth-talk his way around Matthias. He vied to slink away, but was unsuccessful.
"Look at that, it's the 'leven lover Lelouch! What are you up to out here at night?" Matthias strode over confidently, with Drew in tow.
"I could say the same to you." He kept his voice as steady and forceful as he could manage, without being provocative.
"We asked you. You should answer." Drew's voice had the same persuasiveness as a knife.
"I was just going out for a stroll to clear my head in the night air. That is all." Matthias loomed over him in the shadowy darkness.
"You weren't goin' out to help any Elevens were you? You think those filth deserve your kindness?" he spat at Lelouch, though thankfully few people ever train the accuracy of their spitting, so the saliva merely dribbled down Lelouch's sleeve. "As smart as you are, I never would have thought of you as someone who sympathized with those freaks." Drew gave him a tiny shove, but thanks to the boys smaller body he was able to regain balance quickly. This was problematic. The situation could turn physical quickly now. Lelouch briefly wished he'd attended more PE classes so he wouldn't seem like such an easy target. After all, Suzaku was friends with other students and Light was friends with all but the most bigoted.
"I don't wish for this to escalate any further." he said sternly. In a flash, Drew had hooked his legs and knocked Lelouch onto his back. Matthias gave him a swift kick to the ribs and he clenched his teeth. He would not give them the pleasure of his pain. He rolled over to try make eye contact, however a clod of dirt had gotten in his left eye. He struggled to open it, but biology refused to open his eyelids and let the earth ruin his eye. His hands were pinned under the feet of his attackers, crushing his wrists. From testing he knew geass didn't work with his right eye, but he tried anyway.
"I order you to stop this at once!" he received a cuff to the head for his efforts.
"Shut it, punk." contempt dripped from Matthias' voice. Then in the shadows Lelouch thought he saw something move. C.C.? She may have picked up some form of martial arts over her many years of living, but was she good enough to fend off these two despicable creatures.
Emerging from the darkness it was most definitely not C.C.. With brown hair and red eyes that pierced the darkness, carrying a messanger bag he walked over to Lelouch's attackers calmly.
"Hey look, it's an eleven! You Gonna' help your friend out?" Matthias goaded. Lelouch quickly brushed the dirt out of his eye in preperation to use geass. Light walked up to both of them and put a hand on each of their hearts and in a powerful voice that bellowed quietly,
"Repent."
The two fell to the ground crying and Lelouch felt some presence laughing at his helplessness. Light stalked off, enveloped by the darkness.