Disclaimer: This story's calendar will not make sense from this chapter onward. You have been warned.
Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse, Meeting Room, August 23rd, Thursday, 15:30 hours local time, 2017 a.t.b.
"We're going on a trip!" Milly 'Millicent' Ashford exclaimed.
The other members of the student council looked at her in confusion. "Who do you mean by 'we' when you spoke up? Furthermore, where are we going, when, and why?" Lelouch asked.
"I meant the student council, of course! As for when, where, and why; this upcoming weekend on Saturday August 25th at the Lake Kawaguchi Hotel and Convention Center. The Annual Summit for the Sakuradite Producing Countries will be held there and we're going to see it!"
"I-I-I-Isn't that outside the Settlement!?" Nina exclaimed.
"There will be plenty of security at Lake Kawaguchi since it's a popular tourist spot, so we'll be fine." Milly reassured the girl.
"I have to take Nunnally to the Ashford Hospital on that day in order for Rakshata to operate on her so that she can walk again." Lelouch stated and Nunnally nodded in agreement with him.
"I have a Fantasy Seduction Club meeting on that day and Oldrin Zevon has Tennis Club practice." Marry Lancaster explained.
"I have a family obligation that day." Kallen said, remembering that Naoto did not want her to attend the summit because of the possibility of Josui Kusakabe doing something stupid that weekend.
Milly looked at Suzaku and he said, "Well, my new employer Lloyd wants me to help him with something on that day. He's an engineer and I'm the only person who can get his machine to work."
"So it's going to be me, Shirley, Nina, and Rivalz on the trip." Milly said as she pouted at over half of the student council not coming on the trip.
"That's pretty much it. I do agree that it's annoying that Lelou and Nunna can't come because of a hospital visit." Rivalz stated.
"Oh I'm gonna have fun teasing you, Rivalz. Shirley, make sure to tease him as well while we're on the trip."
Shirley giggled before saying, "When you see what I have planned for you on the trip Rivalz, you'll be bleeding out of your nose."
Britannian Parking Garage Lower Levels, August 25th, Saturday, 2017 a.t.b, 11:45 hours local time.
"Whoa!" Tamaki exclaimed as a truck rolled by before stopping and opening its door in the back to reveal Zero.
"I take it that you like this vehicle?" the masked man asked.
"Yeah. How in the world did you get ahold of one of these!?"
"I stole this yesterday from a corrupt Noble who runs a company that essentially makes its Japanese workers perform slave labor for only a twentieth of a Britannian worker's salary. The guards he hired were severely underpaid, so I bribed them into letting me take it. Proof of his labor practices has been secretly passed to Princess Euphemia and as of four hours ago he has been arrested and charged with sexual assault for groping the Third Princess."
"What specifically happened when the guy groped Princess Euphemia?" Kallen asked.
"The man copped a feel of the Third Princess's breasts. She slapped the nobleman and called for security to arrest him. It's likely that Cornelia will execute him since she is very protective of her younger sister and from what I've heard she would kill any male who tries to even talk to Euphemia. By the way, how do you guys think of this thing?" Zero said.
"This looks rather spiffy, Zero. I kinda like how you bribed the guards and stole this mobile home from that nobleman. From what I know about the guy, he isn't married and has had multiple affairs with at least three mistresses." Naoto stated.
"The paintjob looks new." Kallen remarked.
"In any case, we'll continue inside." Zero said before he went further into the mobile home. It was somewhat Spartan-like, but there also was some artistic quality to the interior as well. Orange Sword and Pink Flash were both on a couch in the back while Zero was in front of it and he said, "This place is our new mobile command center. It has at least three floors, six bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, and five bathrooms. All of this stuff adds up to at least half a million pounds, but the guards were so underpaid that they let me take it after bribing them for only a tenth of the price."
"That is impressive, Zero. Who knows what you could pull on us if we were enemies instead of allies?" Yoshida stated.
"I fair point, Yoshida-san. Tamaki-san, the manuals for this vehicle are in the bookshelf near the couch. Make sure to go over them because while this is very impressive, it requires regular maintenance in order for it to remain a viable base. Before that though, we have an ugly situation to deal with."
Zero picked up a remote control and pressed a button, causing a nearby television to turn on and show a Hi-TV news report on Lake Kawaguchi.
"The Lake Kawaguchi Hotel and Convention Center has just been hijacked by several men believed to be members of the Japanesse Liberation Front and everyone inside has been taken hostage. The leader of this vile act has been confirmed to be Lieutenant-Colonel Josui Kusakabe and he has demanded for the release of several JLF members currently held in Britannian custody in exchange for the hostages." the newswoman said.
"The Student Council! They're in there!" Kallen shouted in horror. Camera footage showed a terrified Nina, Shirley, Rivalz, and Milly among the hostages that the JLF members had.
"Dammit, I knew Kusakabe would pull something like this! This just has to be the stupidest thing he's done yet!" Naoto remarked.
The members of the Kozuki Resistance Cell silently agreed with Naoto.
"Hmm, Cornelia hasn't ordered her forces to destroy the convention center yet. This is odd." Zero stated.
"What do you mean? Her own people are in there!" Ohgi shouted.
"Cornelia has faced this situation in every locations that she has turned into an Area at least once. Every time, she charged in and killed every resistance soldier regardless of casualties. One time, she didn't even bother showing up and ordered an air strike on the place. It's monstrous, but very effective. Terrorists only need to see it once that traditional hostage-taking won't work against Cornelia. That is why it's strange that she hasn't repeated this tactic yet."
Zero looked at the camera feed and saw a head of pink hair that was wearing sunglasses to conceal the person's eyes while the report continued, "In the meantime, the JLF members in the hotel are still having problems with one woman who holed herself up in a bedroom and killed ten soldiers who tried to take her hostage."
Ohgi heard Zero curse and asked, "What's wrong, Zero? It's not like you to use such nasty language."
"This is not good, Ohgi. Princess Euphemia is among the hostages and Kusakabe doesn't even know it. Cornelia loves her siblings the most out of any person in the Britannian Imperial Family. She's closest to not only her younger sister Euphemia, but also her half-siblings Former Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally vi Britannia. My sources have told me that they survived the invasion but have not been found because of Former Prince Lelouch's hatred of the Imperial Family except for Princess Nunnally, Former Princess Marrybell mel Britannia, Princess Euphemia, and Princess Cornelia. As to why Lelouch and Marrybell are former royalty, they discarded their succession rights and claim to the throne about seven years ago." Zero stated.
"Whoa, this gear is neat!" Yoshida exclaimed as he opened a box that he found in a cupboard after setting it down on a table in front of the TV. Tamaki brought out another box and set it down on the table before opening it and he said, "This must be headgear."
"Indeed, Tamaki and Yoshida. Those are your new uniforms and the accompanying headgear."
"This looks neat, but aren't we just a normal resistance group right now?" Naoto asked.
"You're correct, Naoto. However, I plan to expand your Resistance faction into an army that will oppose the current Britannia. Our name will be the Order of the Black Knights. Do you object to the name?"
"Not really."
About half an hour later everyone except for Zero, Pink Flash, and Orange Sword were wearing the uniforms that Yoshida found inside the box he opened. They consisted of black tops that had silver lines accenting them, the men all wore black pants along with grey boots while the women had the choice of black pants, black and silver shorts or similarly-colored skirts. Kallen had gone off to change in private as did the other female members while the men were content with changing into their uniforms in front of Zero for now.
Meanwhile at the Lake Kawaguchi Hotel and Convention Center, a woman who had black hair and wore a simple blue blouse and a pair of hip-hugging violet shorts reloaded her heavy magnum pistol and then shot a JLF soldier in the head before ducking behind the knocked-over table in the room. Another soldier entered and was promptly killed by another headshot fired by the woman. It was then that Josui Kusakabe came by and said, "What is going on here?"
"Lieutenant-Colonel, that woman is an utter nightmare. She's killed every soldier that has tried to capture her and take her over to where we're holding the hostages. My men have tried everything that we know and she still refuses to be taken hostage!" one of the soldiers reported.
"Bah, let her leave this building! It will be unfortunate but if this continues on she'll end up killing everyone except for my guards and the boys looking over the hostages." Kusakabe ordered.
Two hours later, Command G-1, Lake Kawaguchi Britannian Base Camp.
"This situation is beyond the pale!" Cornelia shouted. An overview of the situation revealed that Kusakabe's men were watching the skies and likely had anti-aircraft measures in place. As such, no VTOLs had attempted a rooftop landing, a team who tried to infiltrate the Hotel from the lake was killed, and the Knightmare team sent to take out the support pillars was destroyed by a linear cannon.
"My lady, the roof!" Guilford exclaimed.
A man in a business suit was being taken onto the roof's edge by two of Kusakabe's soldiers.
"Eleven dogs!" Cornelia snarled as the JLF men shot the hostage, who fell backwards off the roof of the hotel to his death.
"Viceroy, we have received another transmission. Kusakabe says that he will execute another hostage every hour until his demands are met. He also said that if his demands aren't met once two more hostages are killed, he'll accelerate it to killing a hostage every half-hour."
A door opened and a blond-haired young woman wiht red eyes wearing a pilot suit entered the bridge before she stopped in front of Cornelia's throne and said, "Alice of the Britannian Special Honorary Foreign Legion reporting for duty, m'am!"
"At ease, soldier. What is the Britannian Special Honorary Foreign Legion?"
"We are a Special Forces unit created by the late Prince Clovis about four years ago. We have special status and only take direct orders from the Royal Family. Due to your status as Second Princess, you have been authorized to order us around like your own soldiers."
Another member of the team came in and said, "Princess Cornelia, Zero has been spotted. He's stolen a Hi-TV truck and is approaching the hotel encirclement. He apparently intends to enter the hotel."
"What's your name, miss?" Cornelia asked.
"I'm Lucretia, m'am!"
"Very well then. Allow Zero to pass through the encirclement. We'll be able to take both him and Kusakabe out of the picture at the same time! Alice, get ready to enter the underground maintenance tunnel. Your orders are to destroy that linear cannon and the support pillars! Do you understand?"
"Yes, m'am!" Alice said as she did an about-face and left the bridge. Meanwhile inside the hotel, Nina and Milly were utterly terrified for their lives as one of the JLF soldiers guarding the hostages got a bit too close for the xenophobic girl's liking. She was practically whimpering as she felt the soldier's presence near her.
One of the other soldiers noticed her discomfort and put his weapons on a table before approaching the two girls and asking in English, "What's going on here?"
Milly answered, "I apologize, but my friend Nina is xenophobic. She's afraid of you guys, basically."
The soldier then said, "I am partially-Britannian as I had a Britannian mother who died from illness, but in my foolishness I chose my Japanese pride and will likely face death for coming here as a follower of that madman Kusakabe. The name's Ying Chin. I have relatives on my mother's side who live in the Chinese Federation and my father died during the invasion."
The door of the room burst open and the JLF members didn't even have time to react before every soldier that was armed was filled with lead. Five members of the Black Knights stormed in and someone who appeared to be the leader of the squad spoke into his radio, "Zero, this is N-1. We've reached the hostages and have liberated them. Orders?"
"Begin evacuating the hostages. I'm picking up Knightmare activity in the underground maintenance tunnel." Zero transmitted.
"Understood, N-1 out." the man said before cutting the transmission and then asking, "Before we begin evacuating everyone, can Princess Euphemia li Britannia please stand up?"
A woman who had pink hair and wore sunglasses got up and then removed her sunglasses in dramatic fashion before saying, "I am Princess Euphemia. Is there any reason you asked for me?"
"Everyone, you have Princess Euphemia to thank for the fact that Princess Cornelia hasn't bombed the hotel along with all of you and the JLF into oblivion." N-1 said to the hostages. With Zero and Orange Sword, they had just finished killing Kusakabe and the men who were with him. Oragne Sword then said, "That Knightmare in the underground tunnel just destroyed the linear cannon that Kusakabe deployed."
"We'll need to step on it before the Britannians collapse the support pillars." Zero replied.
Meanwhile at the Command G-1, Cornelia and Guilford saw Alice destroy the linear cannon from the monitor feed of the fifteen-year old's Knightmare Frame. After the linear cannon's explosion breached the top of the maintenance tunnel, Alice went through the opening in both concrete and water before shattering the central pillar that held the Hotel and Convention Center in place with four shots from the VARIS Rifle. She then eliminated the support pillars with two shots each and as the hotel began to sink, a set of explosions consumed the lower levels and kicked up a large cloud of smoke.
"Your Highness, there's a broadcast from Zero on Hi-TV's frequency." Darlton stated.
The monitor feed was switched over from Alicer's Knightmare to Hi-TV and Zero's mask was seen. "Fear not, Britannians. All of the hostages save the one who was executed before I arrived are alive and well. I give them to you unharmed." Zero said as the view changed to show several lifeboats that had the former hostages in them. It then zoomed over a lifeboat that was occupied by Princess Euphemia, who was unharmed.
"People of the world. . . we are the Order of the Black Knights! Josui Kusakabe acted without the approval of his superiors in the Japanese Liberation Front when he took innocent people hostage and executed a man in cold blood today. We will stand with those who have no weapons to wield. Britannian, Eleven, those are irrelevant things to us! Along with my ally Orange Sword, I have personally killed Kusakabe and those who followed him!" Zero stated as the camera feed zoomed out and revealed Orange Sword on his right and Pink Flash on his left.
'Orange Sword and Pink Flash, eh? Those two were also present when Zero rescued Suzaku from his court-martial!' Guilford thought.
"I will not repudiate battle on a fair and even field, but I will not tolerate a one-sided slaughter of the weak committed by the strong! The only ones who should kill. . . are those who prepare to BE killed! Where those that have power attack those that do not, we will be there regardless of our foe! From a lowly Captain to a Mafia boss to even the Emperor of Britannia himself, the Black Knights will oppose anyone who oppresses the weak! Those with power, Fear us! Those without power, rally behind us! We, the Order of the Black Knights, shall stand in Judgement of the world!"
A/N: This story is partially inspired by SeerKing's story 'Code Geass: The Prepared Rebelion V2'