Chapter Thirty Two: It Can Happen Here!
Arc Eight: Killing With Kindness
Opening: "Carousel" - Nico Touches The Walls
"Urgh… Kami this stinks. Which one is this?"
"Which? Oh- Ah, hell. God damn it that's disgusting. What happened to his face?"
"A forty millimetre High Explosive Anti-Knightmare Round happened to his face. Can you tell who it is?"
The younger Black Knight, who went by the name of Daichi, had to take a moment to gag at the state of the dead child's body before going to his list, provided by Zero's green haired witch, of everyone in the facility. After a moment of staring at dead eyed faces, his dark eyes reached one that resembled the body his partner Tsukiyama was cradling, minus the massive hole torn into the side of his head, lined in semi solid pus that curdled Daichi's already small nose.
"Rolo Haliburton?"
Tsukiyama nodded answering "Looks like him.", before standing with the body of the child in a bridal carry, bringing the deceased 'Rolo' to the pile of bodies, all children, dumping it on the mound with a grunt, before swearing and sitting opposite, breaking out a cigarette as Daichi reached down behind himself to the hips, attempting to clear the pain in his back from logging the bodies across the huge cavernous facility.
The battle had been brief and decisive. Without Knightmares or even any piercing weapons, the defenders had crumpled quickly, with the facilities few adults cut off in retreat and killed after a brief exchange of fire. Standard fare for a Britannian facility, though it was a bit out of the way; this operation had required a huge, 13 hour airlift. It was a little irritating, as it was Election Day tomorrow, and they would miss it. Though Daichi's district, the same one Kyoshiro Tohdoh sat for funnily enough, was the safest seat the Revanchists had, he still enjoyed the process of participating in democracy, even as tainted by Britannian fiddling as the Government actually was. In spite of this, Zero had recommitted to fighting Britannia at large and not the RPJ, with the idea being not harming innocent Japanese and fighting the real enemy. Some were disgruntled by the pass Zero seemed to be giving the RPJ, but the logic was sound enough, and with her unifying presence everyone was looking forward to the job at hand. With Zero's return, morale was initially very high.
That had been how it started.
Once the armed defenders had been wiped out, the orders had come down that all within the facility who were not Black Knights were enemy combatants, and had to be eliminated on sight. This was a bizarre order in itself, as Daichi and Tsukiyama at the very least came to realise that everyone else was a child.
Not young conscripts; the oldest had looked 15 or so; but genuine children that one might envisage as their nieces or nephews attending Primary school, or the like. Even Natalists may have struggled to reason why they were all here, in this Britannian facility, but Zero had not, and thus the Black Knights did not.
But Daichi did, wondering why in the world they were in this supposed research facility at all. According to their limited briefing, this location combined a strategic point with a key area for biological research for the Empire, but that did not seem to be borne out by the facts.
"Alright, a few more and we can light up this pile."
Daichi nodded in response to Tsukiyama, before standing alongside him and walking down the cavern to retrieve the bodies. After some exploring, they found a pair underneath a ledge, crushed by a falling boulder, baby faced and peaceful in death. Reaching down, the two Knights pulled the rock off the children they had killed before pulling them up into the walkway and putting them on their backs like a pilgrim's rations, hauling them to the pile of the dead on their spines.
"Ah, god damn it."
The expletive was sighed in a display of exhaustion by Tsukiyama as the two bodies were dumped. Daichi shook his head in dismay as several other Black Knights added their trophies to the pile, before petrol spilled over the top from a utility Knightmare Frame, carrying the fuel in a vat.
After a moment's ensuring that nobody important was within close distance, the pile of bodies was set alight, something Zero had insisted on. A Viking burial for their troubles, a tribute to the apparent damned. Daichi could imagine no other reason for the young ones to receive such treatment.
Speaking of Zero, she had off and vanished shortly after the operation began. The detachment that had gone for the mission had been small, only thirty men in all, and yet the woman with a presence that ordinarily the roof of the cave would struggle to contain was nowhere to be found.
"Where the hell is Zero?"
The question, asked by someone else who Daichi could not see, was almost lost as the pile grew into violent, orange life, flickering in outrage at its fuel, throwing angry light over the dim cavern, but Daichi just about picked it up as the fire reached its passionate adolescence. After a moment's frowning in thought, briefly interrupted by a lick of flame reaching concerningly close, he turned to Tsukiyama and repeated the question before the melting corpses.
Tsukiyama shrugged, responding "Haven't seen her.". Some others mentioned seeing her head off down the facility, but no one could say they had seen her after fighting had concluded.
After a moment of thinking, a voice from above and behind them, perched over a railing, spoke up. Belonging to Nagito, their Company Commander, he explained "I think she said she had to go deal with another issue."
"And leave us to the children." Daichi finished glumly. Where the hell could she have gone? It has hardly like this facility had been a tough nut to crack, and it all stank far too much of the ivory tower stuff she herself kept banging on about in her various speeches. Hell, she hadn't even made one, even in spite of it being a staple of hers.
It made no sense, but today was that sort of day. Slaughtering kids… what was the point? What did this act do in furthering Japanese autonomy? What was it about this group of kids that Zero believed would finally force the Emperor of Britannia to finally throw in the towel?
"What the hell are we doing here?"
He finally spoke the begged question, unfortunately no one present seemed quite able to answer. It was a question that high command had been eternally mum on since they had set off.
And it was a question that would in due course have to be answered, sure as the fire blazed on into the timeless cavern.
This course of action was nothing short of illogical. It did not hurt the RPJ, surely the first port of call for any Japanese liberation group, and did not seem to even hurt Britannia. Hell, there was no Britannian insignia in sight, just an odd W sign plastered everywhere. Something was very wrong. It seemed a bizarre choice of target for Zero, in the long line of odd choices, as if her priorities had fallen askew. There was something up with Zero. Daichi shook his head.
"Something's not right here."
"You can sing that one. Smoke?"
"And to you Rupert."
"Thank you, Ellie. I'm standing outside the Japanese Parliament right now, it's just past midday, but you could hardly tell for the clouds, it's bucketing down rain as you can see. The exit polling for the General Election is just coming in as I speak, and it appears that in spite of the Revanchists gaining either 12 or 13 seats, depending on how Nara swings, the Ameliorate Party has retained its majority. All this is in the wake of former Prime Minister Kururugi stepping down, apparently hoping to set a precedent for his successors down the line. Unless something has gone very wrong, his replacement, current Minister for Defence Kaname Ohgi will be sworn in as his replacement once the final vote is tallied. This marks a defeat of the anti-Britannian sentiments that have proved troublesome in this part of the Commonwealth, though its rise should concern any Britannian back in Pendragon. Back to you in the studio Ellie."
At this, Lelouch turned off the television at the far end of his office. He could always rely on Britannian broadcasters to get the news to him quickly, but to stick around for their analysis was an exercise in finding the patience to not throw the remote control across the room from his couch.
That said, their excellent fortunes had improved Lelouch's mood to the point where the remote could probably rest easy. The storm had been weathered healthily, with only the losses of two Cabinet Ministers, Suzaku and the Minister for Energy, an elderly Sakuradite magnate from Hiroshima whose only defining characteristics were his truly incredible beard and family connections. His was not a great loss to anyone.
All in all, while the Revanchists had done rather well, the Unionists had in turn done quite poorly, meaning the balance of power remained within Ohgi's hands, though it did mean Lelouch's whip would grow more stringent. They were not out of the woods yet.
Of course, it wasn't like there weren't other issues to go about solving; a new Minister for Energy would have to be found, as well as one for Defence. Certainly not a herculean task; the new Ministers would not be burdened with great expectations, given the uninspiring nature of their predecessor in the former case and the lack of much to do in the latter, though Lelouch in particular was keen to expand it, what with his private understanding of Britannia's movements and that of the Black Knights, who together seemed to be forming a slow motion train crash before his unique view.
He set his mind to his more legal pursuits, wondering who would do best as Defence Minister, as he trawled through the news sites on his laptop, all now catching up to the BBC's announcement. The new Representative from the 12th District of Tokyo, a young but energetic Saburo Okawachi who had been one of the two challengers to steal Unionist seats, seemed like a good contender, with a background in literature and political science, with his thesis on foreign relations, according to Lelouch's file on him, which he had brought up on his computer.
As he scrolled over the man's face, a door opened right behind him, and he turned to face it as he heard the sound of inhuman panting, symptomatic of massive exhaustion.
As he spun round, he caught sight of Kallen collapsing onto his couch, drenched in sweat. It took the shocked Minister several moments of shocked staring to comprehend the sight of the Japanese rebel, dressed in an unusual display of a loose vest and shorts, before he began to roar in anger at her presence, a massive, catastrophic risk beyond even Suzaku's Pale.
"What in the name of all that's holy are you doing here? Oh my Lord, what if you were seen? The whole spying apparatus of Britannia is looking for you, forget the presses! How inane can you be, you fool?"
His face had swelled red, and his now veiny arms had arched up and over his head, fingers spinning outwards as if ready to slap her for her idiocy.
"I'm sorry, I wouldn't have come if it wasn't… oh my…"
She fell backwards limply, her eyes widening as her body collapsed down. Lelouch watched as she tried to speak, but couldn't.
Thinking on his feet, he moved quickly across the room to his cooler, brought over from back at Ashford and still working after eight years, and grabbed a bottled water. Turning, he chucked it at her with the passiveness of a hand grenade, and with about as much mechanical sympathy for the recipient. As she moved to chug the liquid, he rushed to the large windows and hurled his curtains shut with great gusto, before holding two fingers of gap to allow a slit of light through so he could peer out onto the street below.
Had she been seen?
"Is that Saburo Okawachi?"
Lelouch frowned, turning briefly away to his laptop, which had the new Representative's narrow face blown up in full, before nodding and asking "Yes. Do you know him?"
"I remember he tried to join the Black Knights, I think in and around the time of the Battle of Narita. I turned him down, thinking he was too reactionary, too extreme."
Lelouch baulked, then shook his head and moved to shut the laptop before sighing "Well, guess who's definitely not going to become the new Defence Minister…"
"Did I just torpedo his career?"
"Somewhat. In any case, you have not answered my two questions. What are you doing here, and why couldn't you just call me? You could have been seen!"
"I think… this particular situation justifies my… hasty, actions. I've not exactly had a relaxed last twenty four hours, or however long it's been. When was the mission to the Directorate?"
Lelouch frowned, confused at this turn in the conversation as he returned to the window, and responded "It was three days ago, I believe."
He didn't hear a response, only a beleaguered sigh, followed by a murmur of "It felt like forever… the World of C…"
Lelouch's eyes had by now narrowed to puzzled lines, as he asked "What has happened, Kallen?"
"After… there was a gateway, of sorts in the facility. The Director- the other Geass giver, he was like C.C-"
"Was?"
"He was killed in the fight."
"That doesn't sound very much like C.C at all."
Kallen batted her palm at the air, exhaustedly attempting to explain how that worked "Charles, the Emperor, came and took his Code, his source of eternal life, and escaped. It… got a bit weird from there, but he's dead now."
Lelouch nodded. "One giver of Geass is dead. It is indeed a great day, though I'm still not sure why you had to come up here in broad daylight."
For looking away through the curtain, he could not see her shake her head until she finally stood, her energy returned, and placed a hand on his shoulder, sending him recoiling around and staring at her in absolute uncertainty.
"What is it?"
"Lelouch… I didn't just mean the Director. I mean, he is dead as well, but that's not the important part. I killed your father. The Emperor. He was part of some metaphysical attempt to subjugate the world, we fought, and he was killed."
It took him a moment to connect the dots in his mind between the Geass Directorate and the Emperor, and a moment further to compute what she had said as his face mysteriously drained itself of all its blood, and for reasons he couldn't understand, his knees collapsed below him.
"Oh hell…" Kallen hissed as she moved to catch him as he fell down against the window. He felt his back bang against the window blinds, spreading them briefly apart before he was pulled up and moved over to the couch in the centre of the room. It was some time before he asked "Are you sure?"
"He dematerialised in front of my eyes."
Lelouch took in several deep breaths, his chest swelling and cresting rapidly before all the air in his body seemed to rush out. The man who had posed such a danger his whole life, who had thrown him out and chased his every waking moment…
He had to be sure. He grabbed his mobile, and dialled the one person who would know. After a moment's tone, the polished voice he was all too familiar with spoke up.
"Ah, hello there Lelouch. I didn't think our match was until tomorrow morning, I was just heading off to bed."
"I'm sorry Schneizel, I will have to put that on the long finger for the time being. I was just calling to ask if you had seen father?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line, as Schneizel digested this. "I haven't, not for a few days. I believe he's on a retreat. What's wrong, can I take a message?"
"Oh no no." Lelouch reassured. "Just a constitutional query, it can wait. Paperwork and such."
Schneizel simply hummed, and after a moment of silent speech Lelouch couldn't quite discern, he said "Alright, I'll let him know. Should I get him to call Mr. Ohgi, or have you fallen victim of a sudden fit of familial affection?"
"Have a good night's sleep Schneizel, you could really use… it."
He hung up, tripping over the 'it' and falling back onto his couch in a fierce, frozen ball of sweat. He shuddered, and spoke again, a whisper of "He's actually…"
The figure, inhuman in the mutations of Lelouch's private memory that had chased him in shadows across the Pacific, looming behind the inspections and second looks of Britannian guards that adopted his fiendish figure in a bizarre mental transformation that curdled the fingers that guarded round Nunnally's arms throughout his early teenage years. While he had matured enough to feel somewhat comfortable in his surroundings, he was never safe. His only birthright, the only royal inheritance owed to the Black Prince was insecurity, with colonies of caution and a capital crown of chaotic rebelliousness and resentment, the maelstrom fuelled by the unending, looming presence of the man who owned a third of the planet.
Who was now dead and gone, never to be able to pose a threat, to rile up the vast filth he garnered in support from the reactionaries of the world, to raise his foul hand to give decrees hailed by the many millions of conscripts who would be more than willing to kill him, or Nunnally. He was no longer alive, he was ashes, particles, still matter. He had shuffled off this mortal coil, with a hefty shove on the part of Kallen.
It was a weight he had never fully appreciated while his father was alive, as if he had just discovered atmospheric pressure, and was feeling his innards wanting to burst out from his ribs for a sudden relief of pressure. All he could do was let the air escape his throat at a pace enough to pacify the difference in pressure.
Charles was dead. Charles remained dead. And Kallen had killed him. Lelouch could only wonder how to comfort himself, in his constant complaints that his opponents lived in reactions to their enemies rather than as proactive entities realising he himself had been doing much the same.
He shook. No, he was bigger than his father. He was as much defined by his father in his goals as his frame. He still had responsibilities; he still had to defend Nunnally, his work, and the nation of Japan, who had nominated him to do so.
He took a final deep breath before picking up the phone again, and dialling a different number before speaking into it, his voice still recovering.
"Ohgi? You're in a meeting? Sorry, sorry. I was just- When are you free next? Okay… Fantastic. Could you meet me in Room 622 then? In private, it's something critically urgent. Constitutional crisis actually. Thank you."
He put down the phone and smiled. Kaiserlos, they may have an opportunity here. This could be his one shot to liberate Japan fully, break ties to Britannia, and stick it to the Revanchists once and for all by taking away one of their core platforms. Any bills the Parliament passed had to be reviewed by Kaguya, who would consult the Emperor. If there was no Emperor to consult, then they could pass anything they wanted, and with a newly minted majority too.
Rubbing his hands together, he looked to Kallen and explained "We have two hours before I have to go. Change into new clothes, get a hat and don't leave by the exit you came in."
His curiosity at the past he had been absent for was still aching even as he sat in contemplation of the future, and as Kallen went to leave, he couldn't help but stop her.
"Wait… hold on, is your head okay?"
He pointed to a small, red gash, barely visible across her forehead, and she waved it off. "I just bumped my head while I was making my way here. Nothing critical."
He paused, before submitting to his curiosity.
"So… you killed him? What was it like?
Yes indeed, what? Fortunately, you'll be able to find out in the next Flashback, for this is the end of the Arc. I'm very pleased with how it's turned out, but by this point that's not a bold statement. You want a bold statement?
Every plot element that will factor into the ending of this story is now in place. Some may be less obvious than others, but we have definitively reached the stage where the story stops giving us things and begins to take them away.
Of course, that doesn't mean the fun is over; I'd argue it's only beginning, as our characters all get their just desserts. Stick around to see it happen, starting with Chapter 33, The Late Republic, after a brief Flashback to answer Lelouch's question. Until then, be safe, rate, review, don't make your subordinates mad, and enjoy yourselves.
~Eth0