"You are still so strong." Harpuia
Gunshots rattled all over the bridge that afternoon in the Tokyo Settlement. Bartley was busy giving his apologies to the prince for failing in his line of duty. He at the time was being escorted by several Knightmares. That day, Jeremiah, his squad of Purists, and Mega Man X attacked Bartley's convoy. Although Jeremiah was outnumbered in the fight, his squad was not out skilled. Jeremiah and his squad that he took easily overwhelmed the Nightmare squad, either injuring or killing the squad members. He was told to minimize casualties, but if someone died during the confrontation, it was not his fault.
"I hope you can see how determined we are." Jeremiah said as his Knightmare began to rip open the roof of the convoy.
"But…"Bartley began."I already told you!"
"Remember!" Jeremiah shouted as he turned around to open the cockpit of his Knightmare frame. "Still cling to that ridiculous excuse?"
"Just tell the others!" Bartley yelled in terror. "They will testify that..."
"Still spreading around the blame?" Jeremiah shouted even louder. "You're pathetic! You shall not remain at his highnesses side another minute!"
Lelouch got up from his seat and began to approach Karen. He knew for a fact that she had been watching him for some time now. He either had two options: Kill her or make her unaware of his identity. If he needed to kill her, Zero could do that easily. But if he could get her off his ass, that could work even better. After all, Lelouch now knew what he wanted to do. But first, distractions needed to be kept out of the way.
"Excuse me?" He asked.
Kallen stopped reading and looked up right at him. Several of the other girls; including Shirley looked up in pure surprise.
"I was wondering if you could spare a minute. I need to ask you something." He finished.
All the girls jumped back in minor shock. But even more shocking, Karen got up and responded:
"Sure. I was wondering if you were going to ask me out."
All of the girls jumped back in almost pure terror. Lelouch had never asked a girl out in his life; nor ever looked like he had ever any intentions. There were many responses going back and forth; most asking what Karen had that nobody else had.
"I didn't even know this room existed." Kallen said when they got the Student Council's room. It was an elegant room; thoroughly designed. An expensive chandelier hung on the ceiling and a royal staircase was there, almost that of a castle design.
"It's a ballroom inside of the council." Lelouch said. "We use it to hold various special occasions."
"And we won't be disturbed inside here?" Kallen asked.
"Yeah." Lelouch responded.
The two stood silent for a minute. Before Lelouch though could begin his interrogation, a voice was heard behind him.
"Here it is." Shirley shouted, holding a telemetric data chip in her hand. "This is it right?"
"Good." Nina said. "You found my lab data."
"Good lord my ass hurts." Leval said.
"So you mean to tell me you had me looking around the half the school only to for it to have fallen out of her pocket here?" Zero asked as he came through the door.
"Basically." Millay said.
Zero grunted in frustration.
"Well I finished up on my end; should we dig in?" Millay asked.
The people then began to notice she was carrying out a large amount of dishes with a large amount of elegant food on it.
"Oh wow!" Leval shouted.
"Way to go Millay!" Shirley said.
"Meh." Zero muttered under his breath. Admitably, he had been exploring his new found senses with different foods. He didn't have a keen sense of taste yet, so all food to him tasted the same.
"Heh heh heh…" Millay giggled. "You adore me I know."
"Not particularly." Zero said.
Millay laughed and walked in front of Zero, putting her finger in his mouth.
"Zion…I know you act like such a hard ass." She began. "But I'm sure that you're just a softy on the inside."
Zero did nothing but stare at her stoically.
"Uhh Millay," Lelouch asked. "What is all of this?"
"Lelouch, don't you know?" Millay asked. "I thought that's why you brought her. We're inducting Karen into the student council. It was my grandpa's idea actually. He thought that because of her poor health she wouldn't do well in regular club activities. We're also inducting in Zion as well."
"Why him?" Lelouch asked.
"I would like that answered too; why me again?" Zero asked.
"Duh!" Shirley said. "You took on all the clubs and sports tryouts. And each one you came out on top of: swimming, horse riding, baseball, even gardening. We could use someone like you in the student council."
"So I'm a propaganda tool." Zero said.
"Soviet Union all over again."
"Oh I'm sorry." Millay said. "I forgot to introduce myself: I'm Millay. The Student council president. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh hello." Kallen said surprised. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I'm Shirley. I'm part of the swim club." Shirley said.
"I'm Nina."
"And I'm Leval the secretary. If there's anything you need help with, I'm your man."
"Zion." Zero said. "I joined the student council earlier this day. Course by now you already know that."
The sound of a wheelchair was close behind them. It began to get closer. The party looked around to see a small blonder girl roll in on a wheelchair. Her eyes were closed and she seemed really weak and frail.
"Umm…Shirley; do you think you could set these on the table for me?" She asked.
"Sure!" Shirley responded going over to help the girl.
Kallen looked all confused on what was going on.
"This is Nunnally. Lelouch's sister." Millay said.
"I'm still in the middle school group, so I can't be on the council yet." Nunnally said.
"Ahh who cares?" Leval said. "You're an honorary member in our group."
Nunnally smiled.
"Hello there Kallen." Nunnally said. "It's nice to meet you."
Kallen for the first time in a while smiled back.
"Hello there Nunnally." She said.
Leval smiled and then reached into his back pocket. He took out what appeared to be a large wine bottle and set it on the table.
"Well then…" He said. "Shall we start this thing off with a toast?"
"Champagne?" Shirley asked.
"I could be wrong." Zero began. "But I'm sure there something about not having alcohol on school..."
"Anyone want to help me open it?" Leval said.
"So we're going to blow over my opinion huh?" Zero continued.
"But we're on the student council." Nina said. "We shouldn't…"
"Relax." Leval said as he pushed the cork out. "It's sparkling cider."
"Liar!" Shirley said as she reached towards Leval. "Let me see that bottle!"
"Hey now." Zero shouted as a great commotion seemed to pop up all over. "Let's avoid killing each other!"
A fight between Leval and Shirley seemed to pop up as the two wrestled over the bottle. Nunnally looked even more confused as ever as Millay handed her a glass or orange juice to drink. Zero stuck in the middle as he tried to keep the two from killing each other.
"Pass." Leval said as he handed Zero the bottle.
"Hey!" Zero said as Shirley tried to snatch the bottle. "Let me go Shirley!"
"Let me see the bottle Zion!" Shirley said.
"I would if you would stop trying to tackle me!" Zero said as he held it above his head. Zero was tall enough to the point where Shirley could barely even get passed his head. As much as she tried to get the bottle, Zero was just too tall. "
"No way!" Shirley said. She pushed Zero. Normally she wouldn't even budge Zero; but Zero noticed that the floor was a little slippery.
"Whoa!" Zero shouted as he was going down. "What's with the floor?"
"Oh that's right." Nina said. "We did wax the floor today."
Not thinking, Zero threw Lelouch the bottle as he and Shirley slipped on the ground, Shirley landing on top of him. Shirley's face and lips landed only a few inches from his.
"Eekk!" Shirley shouted. "I'm sorry Zion!"
"Get off me then!" Zero shouted.
God she's more annoying than Axl…is that even possible?
Shirley immediately got up from on top of Zero and charged straight at Lelouch. She grabbed on Lelouch's hand and tried to snatch it and see the bottle.
"C'mon Lulu!" She yelled. "Let me see that bottle!"
Again Shirley pushed too much weight on Lelouch and he fell over; still carrying the bottle in his hand. The force of the impact forced the cork on the bottle to come out and fly towards Karen. Kallen quickly so no one would see swiped the cork away from her. However, a second later, all of the contents of the bottle squirted out right at her. All of the liquid spilled on Kallen and her school uniform and totally soaking the front side of her body. Zero got up while the bottle was emptying the contents, grabbed a wine glass and let some of the liquid fall into the glass. Zero drank the glass and then put it down. Everyone continued to look at Kallen as she looked in total embarrassment of what had happened.
"Funny thing about that whole ordeal." Zero said. "It seriously was cider."
"I told you so!" Leval said.
"With a shot of vodka in it." Zero said.
"Target is confirmed in area C435." A Britannian officer said.
"Intel on target!" Jeremiah ordered.
"At 1400 hours, sat images indicated on Area 11 an unusual energy residue that was directly stationed nearby the Tokyo Settlement." The Officer began. "Our scouts confirmed that the energy residue was a capsule; similar to that of the one that held the X weapon. Our teams decoded the capsule; but unlike X who willingly came with us, the reploid attacked the Britannian Officer and killed him. Knightmares were deployed on the scene; but while approaching the target, energy of unknown origin came out of the target and slashed up our Knightmares. So far, we have twenty units dead and another thirteen injured. Based on description, we believe it is suffering some form of delirium."
"Where is the….the….X what are you kind of machines called again?" Jeremiah asked
"Reploids, sir." X said.
"Right." Jeremiah said. "Where is the machine now?"
"We still have the unit contained to its confined area." The Officer said. "Our scouts before being KIA by the unit reported the Reploid's descriptions. We are dealing with a Green armored Reploid with horn-like objects attached to its head. Red crystals embed on its helmet. Armaments are two red beam sabers and an unknown energy attack. Reploid is extremely mobile and has capabilities of flight. Almost impossible to hit because of its size and speed."
"We lost another ten Knightmares to the unit." A coordinator said looking on a screen.
"There's no telling how powerful the unit is." Jeremiah said. "We can't contain it forever and if a Knightmare machine gun can't hit, I doubt an AA gun will work as well. Our only hope is to defeat the unit here."
"Any ideas on how we deal with it?" An Officer said.
Jeremiah thought about it for a while.
"X." He asked. "Think you are up to it?"
X's hand retracted inside his arm as his buster appeared.
"Yes my lord!" X said.
Due to Kallen's little incident with the cider spilling all over her uniform, and the fact that the cider was spiked with alcohol, Karen was forced to take a shower to get the scent of the alcohol off her. She used one of the school dormitories bathrooms to take her shower. The rest of the council worked to get her clothes clean. Zero was mopping up the ballroom. Lelouch bringing her a change of clothes. Other than that, a normal day for the student council.
Lelouch went into the shower as he was going to give Karen a change of clothes while she waited for her clothes to be done drying. He knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"It's Lelouch. I brought you a change of clothes."
"Come in." She responded. "I'll close the curtain."
Lelouch entered the room carrying the extra clothes. He stared into the curtain to see the image of a naked Kallen right in front. Even though Lelouch was well trained to resist such lusty thoughts, he couldn't help but imagine how Kallen would look without that curtain in the way, or how big her breasts were without the shirt in the way. But as quickly as those thoughts had come, they had vanished just as quick. Lelouch sucked up and then turned away before any more thoughts appeared.
"I'm really sorry." He said. "They're all so boisterous."
"It's okay." Kallen responded. "I enjoy such simple pleasures once in awhile."
"Are you okay with my clothes for a bit?" Lelouch asked.
"That's all right." Kallen said. "I don't mind. That was quite fast. You live in the boy's dorm room right?"
Lelouch sat down on the chair and decided to open up a bit to Kallen.
"Actually I live here." Lelouch said.
Kallen turned around in almost pure surprise.
"It would simply be too difficult for my sister to live in the dorms by herself." Lelouch said. "So we live here with the chairman's permission."
"I see." Kallen said.
"Well then…" Lelouch began as he began to move away.
"Wait!" Kallen said.
Lelouch stopped. The girl had whatever she needed now. What was it now?
Kallen moved her hand outside the curtain and pointed at something on the sink. Lelouch looked to see a tiny pink purse standing on the ledge.
"Would you get me that pouch over there?" She asked.
"Sure." Lelouch said, not wanting to be rude.
Lelouch grabbed the pouch and walked towards the shower curtain. When he got close, he turned away, regardless of his mind telling him to turn back. Lelouch was really good and disobeying his mind. However to his surprise, when he gave her the pouch, Kallen grabbed his hand and tightly grasped it. Lelouch couldn't even get his hand out.
"My…" Lelouch began. "You're more aggressive than I thought."
"Were you the one in Shinjuku?" Kallen asked.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Don't play dumb!" Kallen shouted. "Why did you mention Shinjuku to me?"
Still playing dumb, Lelouch asked.
"Is there something wrong with Shinjuku?"
"Don't answer my question with another question!" Kallen shouted picking up her pouch.
"Answer yes or no! Don't say anything else!"
Lelouch thought he heard something like a knife popping out of the pouch. A small incite of fear popped up in his mind, but he ignored it and made no sign of it.
Just a few more seconds.
Luckily for him, Kallen did not make any action until those few seconds were up. A phone then rang in that room. Karen and Lelouch stood still as the phone rang, making no movement.
"If I don't get it, someone will come." He said. "May I?"
Lelouch picked up the phone and answered it. Then he moved the receiver from his mouth.
"Funny thing." Lelouch said. "It's for you. He says you'll know who it is."
Kallen was a bit suspicious at this but decided to answer it anyway. She put her pouch down and put the receiver to her ear.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Guess you got out alright Q-1." A voice said.
Kallen head exploded from shock and freight! It wasn't him. She looked outside the curtain just to be sure. Lelouch stood silent. And yet the voice continued to relay out.
"At 4 PM tomorrow, come to Tokyo tower; alone." The voice said.
"Who are you?" She shouted. "Did you give the order to retreat?"
However, the voice hung up on her. The receiver just held a dial tone. She stood there angry for a few seconds.
"What was this order to withdraw?" Lelouch asked. "You sure have some weird friends."
This was bad. Kallen had acted suspicious to a man she hardly knew. She tried to think of some way to get out of this.
"Maybe I should play." Lelouch said.
Karen looked at him surprised.
"It's about an internet game right?"
Jackpot.
"Yeah." She said. "I've been shut in at home for quite some time now."
Actually in all honesty, Kallen had been playing an online game for awhile now while she was at home. There were times where boredom seemed to have no end.
"I warned you about Shinjuku because there are those here who would try to deceive you." Lelouch said rubbing his hand.
Damn, that bitch strained the bone in my wrist.
Lelouch now had been staring at Kallen's ass and boobs for some time now. Lelouch had been holding it back, but he could feel testosterone building in his balls for some time now. His mind was already beginning to fill with lustful thoughts. But Lelouch needed no distractions; especially after what he just did.
"By the way," He said. "I can see…"
Kallen turned at him and looked down only to see that Lelouch was staring at her ass through the mirror. Karen quickly turned around and sat in the bathtub and closed the curtain making a mild shriek.
"I…I won't tell." Lelouch said as he left the room.
Karen stood in the bathtub covering her breasts with her hands. When she heard Lelouch leave, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"I was wrong." She muttered to herself.
"We can't stop him!" A pilot shouted as he fired his machine gun to an approaching reploid flying towards him with two beam sabers. "He's way too quick for….ARRGH!"
The Green Reploid slashed at the Knightmare, cutting its torso clean off of it. He then swung at the Knightmare, firing a red energy slash at the Knightmare, cutting the body in half. The Knightmare exploded on contact.
Two more charged at the Green Reploid. He trusted his jets upwards and flew over the Knightmare dodging its machine gun rounds. It then went on a maddening rush to attack the Knightmares, weaving in and out of their machine gun rounds. The Reploid swung its sabers, creating two more energy slashes. The slashes smashed into the Knightmares, cutting them in half.
"Where is my enemy?" Harpuia shouted as he dove in for an attack on a tank.
Harpuia landed on top of the tank and plugged one of his sabers into it. He then pushed his blades forward and the cut the whole tank in half, causing it to explode a second later. Harpuia then dove on a whole squad of infantry. The infantry tried to fire at him, but their ammo did no damage, often sometimes hitting their own allies. Harpuia then grabbed his sabers and cut down the rest of the infantry, creating thirteen more casualties.
Harpuia looked around.
"Who am I supposed to be fighting?" He asked. "Nothing makes sense? Where's Master X? Where is Neo Arcadia?"
Harpuia shout backward as a burst of energy smashed into him. He turned up to see Mega Man X staring right at him.
"So this is the Reploid that did so much damage to our squad." X said.
"Wait a minute! I know that Reploid! That's Harpuia. One of the four guardians of Neo Arcadia I commissioned after I sealed away Dark Elf!"
X leaped down towards Harpria as Harpuia stood up to look at him. Harpuia stood at and stared at him. X looked back.
Suddenly Harpuia made a charge at him. He swung his saber attempting to hit X. X however grabbed Harpuia's hand and stopped his attack. Harpuia swung with his free hand at X. X let go of his other hand and ducked as both of Harpuia's slashes missed. He slashed downward to hit X, but X rolled over. He then fired a buster and hit Harpuia in the chest, knocking him back. Harpuia swung his slash at X. X activated his beam saber and deflected the attack. He redirected it back at Harpuia. Harpuia activated his thrusters and flew above it. X leaped at Harpuia and thus a beam saber battle began. X blocked both sabers easily with his one saber as he quickly analyzed Harpuria's fighting style. Harpuia was surprised to see he was having intense difficulty with X and tried relentlessly to attack back. Each one of Harpuia's attacks failed to hit.
As he fought, X looked into his eyes to see that they were beet red. Obviously his comrade had been infected by some sort of delirium from the capsule. There had been reported cases before of Reploids going berserk; if the capsules were not properly adjusted; and they're awakenings were premature. They could be shaken out of it through trauma, if it was inflicted enough.
X decided to end the encounter before he would have to go more brutal on his former comrade. Harpuia was a loyal comrade and X had no desire to kill him, as he considered him a friend. He deflected a horizontal slash and then slashed at Harpuria's arms; causing him intense pain and making him drop his saber. X then slashed at his ankle, causing him to stop fighting. Harpuia went to knees and then stood before X in intense pain. X watched as the beet red of his eyes returned to normal.
"You have beaten me." He said. "Finish me now. I deserve a clean death."
X stood before Harpuia with his saber and looked at him for a long time with his eyes. But then he smiled. He deactivated his saber and put in his back.
"Don't worry, I shall not harm you." X said. "After all; I couldn't do that to a loyal Maverick Hunter: Harpuria of the four guardians."
Harpuia gasped.
"You know my name and title!" He said.
"I know more about than you than you think?" X said. "I'm X. The real X. Not that copy who ran Neo Arcadia as a dictator."
Harpuia looked at X. He then began to notice the designs on X's armor. He recognized his original master.
"Master X!" Harpuria shouted while getting on both of his knees. "Forgive me my master! I had no idea you were alive! You are still so strong! It is no wonder I could not beat you...my lord...what has happened? Where am I...what have I been doing this whole time?"
Harpuia looked out into the distance and saw the piles of dead. He looked at his active beam sabers, and was able to inference what had happened. He stood there, wallowing in despair for what he had done.
"No..." He said. "Why...why was I brought back into this world...I have slain a human...humans at that! I have violated the first law of robotics!"
"You have." X said. "Everyone makes mistakes, but the consequences of yours have cost the lives of others. You will have to serve some jail time for your mistake. I guarantee that you will not perish if you surrender now. All I ask you is that you come quietly."
Harpuia bowed to his master as Knightmares pulled up in front of the two.
"It's all over." X said. "Harpuia is surrendering to Britannia."
Harpuia was escorted by two Britannian guards. He was stripped of his armor and sabers; and then taken off to the jail. Meanwhile Jeremiah went over to congratulate X.
"Well done Mega Man X." Jeremiah said. "Or should I say…Warrant Officer X."
"Huh?" X said.
"Your skills have been so far been commendable." Jeremiah said. "You assisted the pilot of the secret weapon quite well and your talent when it came to capturing the traitor Bartley went well. And now you not only defeated a possible danger, but even convinced him to surrender. I could use a soldier like you. What do you say? Take the promotion."
"Wow." X said in surprise. "I don't know what to say. Thanks…what of Harpuria…what will happen?"
"He's killed a considerable amount of my men…normally which is punishable by death." Jeremiah said. "However…"
"You think you can complete the costume design by tomorrow?" Lelouch asked Zero.
"Of course I can." He said. "I just don't know why you'd have me do all the girly stuff?"
"Because I can't trust anyone else." Lelouch said. "None of the girls I know are trustworthy. If Britannia would ever do a thorough investigation, I would be caught in an instant."
"Too risky?" Zero said. "This whole damn plan of yours is risky! A full scale rebellion! And just so you know…I'm not excited about the whole killing humans thing."
"Then why fight?" Lelouch asked.
Zero stopped. He had large qualms about the whole thing, yet he had not stopped working for Lelouch. He still took orders, and he still acknowledged him as the leader.
"There is a reason that you're fighting." Lelouch said. "What is it?"
"I…I don't know." Zero said. "But…that's beside the point…your still taking a lot of risks."
"Exactly; I'm taking too many risks now Zero." Lelouch said. "I can't afford any mistakes. I want to develop the army that will destroy Britannia within the next months or so. So shut up and do your work!"
"Hmph!" Zero muttered.
"Don't worry about it." Lelouch said. "Oh by the way…"
Zero turned around and Lelouch threw a piece of paper. Zero opened it up and looked inside of it. The paper had on it his original armor system. Not the one he was using now; the one he had as a Maverick Hunter. On it was the equipment needed and the design process.
"I'm still decoding the hard drive from the capsule I found you in." Lelouch said. "There's a lot more on you than I originally perceived. Your original armor is far more powerful than the form you're in now. And that's power I could really use. Think you can repair your old armor?"
"Remake my old armor?" He asked. "I don't know."
"You have far more power in that armor than in that." Lelouch said. "If I'm going to pull this off, I need all the power I can muster. Your armor packs the punch I need for the events to come."
"Don't worry I'll repair it." Zero said. "It'll take some time. And a lot of parts to, but I can fix it. I was planning on fixing it and programming it like my old buddy used to use his armor system. Plus it's going to take some time to get used to. It really weighs me down."
"And is that a bad thing?" Lelouch asked.
"Well not really." Zero said. "You humans can't register my movement when I'm running…I move faster than your eyes can see. To Reploids when we fight, those mili seconds that are wasted when weight is on us can sometimes be fatal. I still can go much faster than any Knightmare or person before you can even blink. It's just I like this lighter armor. I more or less focus on destroying the enemy up as quickly as I can. In other words the only one who will notice any difference is me and other Reploids with a similar targeting system."
"Then get it fixed." Lelouch said.
Zero stayed with Lelouch for a few more minutes before he decided to go out for a bit and learn more of the leaped out of the building and began to walk towards town. He took off his helmet and reprogrammed his human body to take form. Zero once again looked like an ordinary student as he walked away from the manor.
I don't understand. Why am I fighting for him?
He couldn't stop thinking about it. Where he was, Lelouch was in front of him. Something about him made him kill humans when ordered. He had no qualms or hesitations at the first battle he had in ages. Why was it so different now?
I didn't start killing people until I saw the frenzied soldier killing those Japanese people. Did something inside me change when I saw that?
Zero suddenly heard a noise from somewhere behind him. He grabbed his Beam Saber, but didn't pull it out. The noise seemed to be moving all around him. Zero stood still and tried to reveal the location of where the person was. But whoever was here was fast enough to keep his position a secret.
"The air is unusually colder." Zero said. "It's like ice moved in here."
Zero looked on the ground to notice that the water and dew around the area was frozen.
"What's going on?" Zero said.
"Hello Zero." A voice behind him said.
Zero turned around only to be attacked by a Reploid. She was pale, eyes bluer than the sky. She wore a blue bikini as her only clothing as well as boots and gloves. Her hair was perfectly combed and was pale blue. She held a trident on her back. She dove on top of Zero and looked at him, with complete lust in her eyes. Of what kind of lust Zero didn't want to know.
"I finally found you." She said.
"You!" Zero said. "What the hell are you doing here Leviathan?"