"Very well. When this over, I swear to you that there shall be no more illusion. No tricks." Kreia – Darth Traya
The battle raged on for two more hours, leaving dead Britannians, ruined Pantheons, and many fallen Black Knights members. Zero and the other high grade Reploids had departed from the area, while the other members continued to thin Britannian lines and prevent them from reaching where the Black Knights CP was. Ohgi was still moving around the area trying to get into contact with Lelouch, but had no luck reaching him for the last fifteen minutes.
"Zero!" Ohgi shouted. "Come in Zero! Where are you?"
"Ohgi…" a woman's voice said over the radio. "It's C.C."
"C.C." Ohgi said. "Where's Zero?"
"Zero's here right now, but he's unable to move right now." C.C. began. "Order a retreat. If we continue to stay here, we'll get slaughtered."
"Uhh…okay." Ohgi said.
Ohgi turned to see Diethard turn the corner right next to him.
The truth of the battle is that Lelouch was able to move. He was just in a state of pure shock right now. Something had happened to him that he was refusing to tell C.C. who was right next to him. All he was doing at the time was just staring at his helmet, refusing to acknowledge C.C. next to him.
"Is this what you wanted!" C.C. shouted at one point.
Lelouch didn't even respond to her.
"Look at you." She continued. "You're so shook up that you can't even issue orders! Cornelia would have…"
"Listen to me." Lelouch said all of a sudden. "My hand gun is missing. Whoever has it now must have taken It from me when I was unconscious."
C.C. stopped talking. There we're two good reasons why. First of all, Lelouch wasn't talking for awhile now so this was very sudden. The second was…a breach of security.
"If that's true…" C.C. said very slowly. "It means whoever took it also saw your face."
"There we're at least two of them." Lelouch said. "One who shot the gun…and the other who got shot. The pool of blood confirms this."
"You we're awake?" C.C. asked.
"Not totally." Lelouch said. "I just saw figures that resembled people. That's all."
"Let's go." C.C. said. "We've spent too much time here."
XXXXXXXXXX
Lelouch and the Black Knights after a quick reorganization, managed to escape from the area and return to the underground fortress they made so long ago. Lelouch sat on the bed in his room and attempted to calm down from the whole ordeal. While he did, Zero walked into the room, with his saber in his hand. Not ignited. He stared at Lelouch very angrily.
"What the fuck did I say about using Pantheons?" Zero said.
"Here it goes." Lelouch said…in a tone that indicated he knew this was going to happen.
"You lied to me." Zero said. "You told me you dismantled them."
"I tell you many things." Lelouch said. "Not all of them are true. The same way I tell the Black Knights things."
"Why?" Zero said. "I can understand why the Black Knights…but I've been with you from the start. I at least deserve the respect of you telling me everything that is going on. Hell, I'm even a classmate with you."
"We needed the men." Lelouch said. "Britannia outmatches us in both numbers and skill. When I obtained the data of the Pantheons, I thought this would be the breakthrough."
"I told you their dangerous!" Zero said. "These machines don't judge between civilian and enemy. They'll fire on anyone if you let them fight on their own. Did you even consider that!"
"I did." Lelouch said. "The problem is our lack of soldiers. The mere fact the Pantheons…while perform their job to an extreme that I haven't seen before…they are…according to Kyoto…extremely cheap and durable to manufacture. This is something we need in order to continue our rebellion. We can't fight without support of our troops. At least with that can continue the rebellion."
Zero thought about it. Sure…they needed the men to replace the ones lost at Narita…but this wasn't the way he had intended. In his mind…all he could think of is "war is hell."
"Don't ever leave me in the dark, Lelouch." Zero said.
"Very well. When this over, I swear to you that there shall be no more illusion. No tricks." Lelouch said.
Zero looked at Lelouch with fury. But after a few minutes…he put his saber away and left the room. As he left the room, Ciel passed by him. She immediately noticed the stress he was in.
"Zero…are you…" She began.
"I don't want to talk about it." He said.
XXXXXXXXXX
The next morning…the gang me up as they usually did in school. While Zero was filling out stuff for his homework, Nina brought up an interesting request that she wanted to see Princess Euphiema.
"Okay…" Zero said as he put his stuff. "You…the little commoner girl…wants to see…the Princess of the entire empire?"
"I just wanted to thank her…" Nina said in a soft voice.
"She risked her life to protect her during the hotel jacking." Millay said. "She stood up there…and said…I am Euphiema of the Royal Empire."
"Seriously?" Suzaku asked.
"Man you know as much as me right now." Zero said. "What a humble princess."
"I know." Millay said.
"I'd like to meet her too." Leval said.
"Good luck." Zero said…picking up a newspaper.
"Why would you want to meet her?" Millay said.
"She's a princess." Leval said. "I could marry into royalty."
"I doubt with such impure thoughts that you will ever meet her." Nunally said.
Because such things never are said by Nunally before, Zero had to put down his paper to make sure it was Nunally talking rather than someone who sounded like her. After that, he simply put the paper back up.
"Impure!" Leval shouted.
Leval put his head down. After that, he got back up.
"That's a lot coming from you Nunally." Leval said.
"The fact it came from Nunally meant it was a lot." Zero said over his paper.
"You're on my side though right Madam Pres…" Leval continued as he lowered his head to her crotch.
"Nunally saw right through you and so did I." Millay said, using a rolled up piece of paper to push the perverted young man back up to the chair. Everyone began to laugh at the student.
"Anyway…I'd like to meet Princess Euphiema myself." Nunally said. "What about you Suzaku?"
"Me!" Suzaku said in a surprised voice.
"Is there a problem?" Nina said.
"Well…" Suzaku began. He still needed to keep the fact he was an actual military Knight a secret for the time being. "She is a princess and we're just regular people. What about you Zio…"
"The corruption of politics and the people who fulfill the roles of it is not for my concern." Zero said.
Suzaku was going to ask Zero why his serious response towards them, but then the phone rang. Since the phone was closest to Suzaku, he was the first one to reach over to it and pick it up.
"Hello." He said as soon as the receiver reached his ear.
While Zero was reading, he could hear Lelouch's voice through the receiver saying hello back. Zero silently moved his foot to the phone line wire. The hacking chips within his system activated. Zero saw a screen prompt in his vision that was only visible to him. Within two seconds, he hacked into the line and caught the electronic signals heading out to the Black Knights base. Zero kept his head and body behind the "Britannia Editorial."
"Suzaku…" Zero heard. The screen on his vision was a single bar. As soon as it picked up noise flowing through the wire, the bar moved up and down. "IS there…anything unusual there?"
"Yeah." Suzaku said…serious at first.
Zero was able to pick up a gulp on Lelouch's end.
"You're not here with us." Suzaku continued. "You have been cutting class a lot recently. You need to take school more seriously."
"…right." Lelouch said. "This is coming from mister honor student."
"I mean what's the point of going to the same school if you're not here to be with us?" Suzaku said.
"Going to a fancy school?" Zero asked, still behind the paper.
"Right." Lelouch said, over the phone. "Look…can you tell Nunally that I'll be home late tonight?"
"More like every night…AAAAHHHH!" Suzaku began.
Zero looked up to see Suzaku currently being attacked by the cat. Zero watched the escalade for a few minutes before shrugging his shoulders and going back to his paper.
"What was that?" Lelouch said, over the phone.
"Nothing!" Suzaku shouted. "Arthur…stop it!"
It took a few minutes to get the cat off Suzaku before he was panting and taking a lot of breaths. Everyone in the room was quiet after that. The only sounds the emanated from the room now where the pages of the newspaper that Zero was flipping through.
"Hmm…" Zero said. "The Phillies won."
XXXXXXXXXX
Lelouch was still in his room at the Black Knight's base when he had called. He turned off his cell phone as soon as the call with him and Suzaku ended.
"Hmm…" Lelouch said in his room as he turned off his cell phone. "That clears out the school."
"So that means…" C.C. said as she rose from the couch.
"Right." Lelouch said. "He doesn't suspect anything about me. That eliminates one group."
"Aside from the Japan Liberation Front…" C.C. began as she laid back down on the couch nearby Lelouch. "I can't think of anyone else who could have been out there."
"Someone from the Japan Liberation front could have survived." Lelouch said.
"And they only stole your gun?" C.C. asked.
It wouldn't have surprised Lelouch…but it was too unrealistic.
"Any chance that one of the Britannian Reploids found it?" C.C. asked.
"No." Lelouch said. "Besides, if they did, I can't really talk to Zero right now anyway. I made him mad on the account of using Pantheons."
"You do know a lot of Zero's friends at his world we're killed?" C.C. said.
Lelouch turned around as C.C. said that.
"I knew it was going to hurt him." Lelouch said. "Sadly…we needed the firepower. Anyway…I sent Ohgi to look at the Black Market right now to see if he can find out anything. At the same time…we sent Axl under cover in the Japanese slums to see if he can find something about it. It'll take time…but we'll figure out what is going on. There's something else…"
Lelouch put his fingers to his mouth.
"I thought I saw Shirley in the area…" Lelouch said.
"Oh…that slut who kissed you…" C.C. said.
Anger sparked immediately into Lelouch's head.
"Shut up!" Lelouch shouted.
"Just making sure I got the right girl…you horny punk." C.C. said.
XXXXXXXXXX
The R&D division's day continued as normal. X was helping out Iris out as she continued to enter in the programming logistics data into the R&D supercomputers. Iris was still new to Britannia so X tried to wean her in. He still had yet to inform her the fact that Zero was working alongside the Black Knights…but he figured this was not the best place to do so. For right now…it was better that she did not know. While she entered in the data, she and Alia worked to repair X's arm.
"C'mon X…" Iris said as she placed in a new arm in the socket on X's shoulder. "I thought you we're skilled at this."
"Hehe…" X said. "You know…up close combat is not my specialty."
"The famous Mega Man X…" Iris said. "I'm hoping this doesn't usually happen often."
X just stood silent as he let his mind wander for a bit.
"Say Iris…" X said. "Do you remember anything? Like…who placed you in the capsule and stuff?"
Iris looked up at X as she began to weld his new arm in.
"Not really." She said. "The last thing I remember before you opening up the capsule was this bright light…I remember during the time the light appeared and you opened the capsule was a series of…"
Iris stood silent for a few seconds. X couldn't tell if it was cause she stopped talking… or the fact the Hydro spanner was too loud…or the fact that Serges in the background was blaring "Paradise City" by Guns and Roses.
"Well…" X said.
"You know what…" Iris said. "I really don't want to talk about it. They weren't…pleasant."
"Not pleasant?" X asked. "As in…"
"X…leave her alone." Alia said. "I asked her about it too. She talked about it for a few minutes and then went into some form of shock."
"Are you alright Iris?" X asked.
"It was scary." She said. "That's all."
X was about to ask something…but then he decided not to.
"Hey X…" Iris asked. "Have you seen Zero anywhere?"
"Zero?" X asked.
X turned to the side where Iris couldn't see him. He looked right at Alia. Alia nodded to X, telling him not to tell.
"Not really." X said. "I'll try to keep an eye out for him…but so far not luck…"
X couldn't continue because the moment he did, Count Lloyd kicked down the door to the R&D lab. In his hands…there we're several Pantheon bodies. Most of these we're the ones that Sigma and X had destroyed at the battle at the docks.
"Coming through…" He said. "Anyone want to give a mad scientist a hand? I wasn't hired here for lifting weights you know?"
"Lloyd!" X shouted. "What are you doing? I thought I asked those to be scraped!"
"Yes…I know." Lloyd said. "But I need something to start with before I start building Reploids. I need to at least get used to the technology. Iris…be a dear and give me a hand with some of these parts?"
"Okay!" Iris said. "Alia…I trust you can finish here?"
"Sure." Alia said as she went over to X's broken arm and continued to fix it. As they did, Iris went over through some of the mass of scrap and found a severed arm. She picked it up and handed it to Lloyd…who was busy trying to move a whole Pantheon body into the room. He looked at her with the dumbest look he could give.
"This joke Iris is older than the Eleven traditions." Lloyd said.
X did a face-palm.
"This joke is older than me." X said.
"Just thought we could use a laugh." Iris said as she started picking up scrap and bringing it in.
"What is all of this for?" X asked.
"Weapon production!" Lloyd said. "At least…that's what General Sigma said. He figures the best way to counter the Reploids with Zero is use the core memory from these machines they used against us. Besides…I need a base to figure out how to produce Reploids anyway so I figure start with these. Serges! I need data decryption with these Reploids immediately."
"Yes sir!" Serges said as he turned off the music.
"More weapons…" X said. "Perfect."
"Your arm's finished X." Alia said.
X got up from the table and began to move his arm around to see if Alia had did the job right. Alia walked over to him, held her arms together while X looked at his arm.
"Well…" She began.
"It's perfect." X said with a smile.
XXXXXXXXXX
"In the last few operations…" General Dolton began as he and Gilford spoke in the conference room where Cornelia and Euphiema had gathered. "We have been noticing a chain of events that are similar. They have all been targeting you milady."
"Removing the head of an empire is a classic tactic Dolton." Cornelia said as she and her sister sat on their thrones.
"Zero is not just fighting Britannia." Dolton said. "He seems to have a deep hatred from the Royal Family. He has already killed Prince Clovis. He wants blood."
Euphie stayed silent the whole time as she began to again think about the hotel incident. She again had the same thoughts about Lelouch in the guise of Zero with his gun pointed right at her.
Euphiema…you we're willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the commoners. You haven't changed…
"Careful Euphiema." Cornelia said as she got up and put her hand on her face. "I don't want to have a repeat of the hotel incident."
"Princess Cornelia…" Gilford said. "Why not assign a Knight to Euphiema?"
"A Knight?" She asked.
"Yes." Gilford said. "If we assign one Knight to be a permanent Sentimental, we can build a whole unit around her."
"Might I suggest General Sigma?" Dolton said as his eyes shifted towards the bald headed soldier. "The man is a monster with his beam saber. He can even thrash Knightmares into oblivion."
"Nah." Sigma said. "My position is better off on the field commanding my soldiers and leading them into battle. The position of Knight isn't suited for my tastes."
"Whatever you say General." Dolton said. "It's up to the Princess anyway."
XXXXXXXXXX
Lelouch was walking in the hallways from his school. He still had to find out where his gun was. It was imperative at this point. While he wandered from one end of the school to the other, his phone rang. Lelouch answered to hear Zero at the end.
"Shirley's gone missing." He said. "I can't find her anywhere."
"You serious?" Lelouch said. "Have you been looking into this? How long have you known?"
"Earlier this morning." Zero said. "I went over to her house. Her mom's worried. This could be bad."
"Don't jump to conclusions!" Lelouch said. "There's still a chance that it was…"
"The mathematical equation that can form from millions of pixels at one time forming a series of colors on a display screen with static that can coincidentally look like someone you know is approximately 0.34715…"
"Okay!" Lelouch shouted. "I don't need the numbers for this…where do you think she has gone!"
"You're smart." Zero said sharply. "You figured out a way to conceal Pantheons from me! Figure this out yourself."
And with that sharp comment, Zero hung up the phone. Lelouch grunted angrily and dialed the number to his office where C.C. was.
Damn it Zero…this is no time to be fucking with me like this!
XXXXXXXXXX
The R&D lab continued to be active as usual. Iris and Serges began to decode the Pantheon parts after they had made repairs. Cecile and Lloyd continued to monitor the Lancelot's performance data.
"This thing about saving people's lives." Cecile said as Lloyd continued to hammer at the keyboard. "At first I thought it was just him being sensitive. But now it's becoming an obsession."
"What's wrong with being obsessed about saving lives?" Iris said.
"It's not like it's anything bad." Lloyd said. "His performance data is still solid. What's there to worry about?"
Lloyd and Cecile continued to talk about Suzaku's well being. The focus mainly fixed towards Iris, Serges, and Alia…who continued to work on the Pantheon parts as they we're scattered all among the area. Iris continued to work on the computer…but she was very down.
I don't get it…where can you be Zero…X and Alia are here…even Serges…and he's the strangest one yet to be here…seeing as he was a maverick for the X-Hunters…he doesn't even remember being an X-Hunter…but where are you…
Iris's thoughts we're cut short as she looked up to see the door open where the R&D lab entrance was. X turned as he continued to carefully duplicate one of his own parts (because of Lloyd's tremendous feat in being able to perfectly duplicate one part…X was now interested in seeing if Lloyd could actually keep to his promise about creating Reploids). X turned around to see a violet armored reploid with a Gatling gun attached to his shoulder, and with a V like visor for a head. It was Vile.
"Ahhh…Vile." Lloyd said. "What is a pilot of the Britannian army gracing us with his presence for?"
"I'm come here as an errant to General Sigma." Vile said. "That's all you need to know. I want to know how the progress on the Pantheon decoding is going."
"The data is being decrypted as we speak Vile." Lloyd said. "We should have everything you need to begin the production of these machines as we speak…"
"This is taking too long scientist." Vile said. "We need to obtain this data now. General Sigma wants us to have a counter in case Zero tries to attack us. Their beam cannons destroyed Knightmares by themselves."
"Hold it Vile." X said. "Since when did you command the R&D division…or me for that matter."
Vile perked his head towards X. A bright light consumed him and he reappeared in the human form (obviously…Sigma was handing this program out to all the Britannian Reploids). Vile was in a Modern Warfare (not the game…our generation) type cameo...and a breath mask and helmet. On Vile'soutfit we're several medals and a captain badge.
"See this!" Vile said. "Apparently…my piloting against Zero, protecting the Viceroy, taking command of a squad and leading a counter attack as soon as their command officer was killed…and the deaths of eighteen Black Knights members in a single encounter got me the rank of a Captain. I have three silver stars, a commander's ropes, and a legion of merit. I outrank all of you right now… even you X. Maybe you should worry about ranking up a bit rather than slaying the Red Knight."
"Who's the Red Knight?" Iris said…with immediate notice.
"He's the…" Vile began.
X immediately put his hand on Vile's month. Lucky for him…Iris was walking up the stairs and had no line of sight to where X was. This prevented her suspicions as she went up.
"Who is he?" She asked.
"You mean she doesn't know?" Vile said as he shook X's arm off of him. "Typical woman."
"What was that supposed to mean?" Cecile shouted.
"Whatever." Vile said."Don't you worry woman. He's just some really powerful Reploid. He's no threat. The only reason we haven't wasted him yet is because he's so god damn fast."
"Vile!" X said.
"Watch your tone." He said. "You may be favored by the Empire…but I am a captain and therefore outrank you. If it wasn't for the fact that your one of our only Reploids who favor the same fighting style as the Red Knight…I'd write a report on you so harsh…you'd be better off being a private."
"Look here!" X said. "We are doing are best to get the Pantheon parts up. They may not be ready for the next few days…but we can get them up and running before Zero strikes again?"
"Zero?" Iris shouted.
"Not the Zero we know." X said. "The revolutionary. I think you should leave now Vile."
"For your sake; and the sake of this entire division…you better get them up soon." Vile said as he turned back into a Reploid and walked out.
X simply watched Vile as he left and crunched his fist together.
Looks like Vile's anger and racism didn't change when his memory faded.
XXXXXXXXXX
Lelouch…as Zero expected…decided to find a way to figure out where his friend had headed off to. Earlier in the day…Lelouch had Geassed his friend and told her to stay in front of the door due to the fact the room…as he made her think…had to be fumigated. C.C. and Lelouch began to search through their friends materials hoping to find something. C.C. was moving through the underwear drawer as she held a white panty in her hand.
"I can't believe you have degraded me to this." C.C. said as she began to stroll through the underwear drawer for Shirley. "Why am I the one who has to dig through women's underwear?"
"I'd rather it you than me." Lelouch said.
"Pansy." She said, rolling her eyes. "You should have done this solo. She would have been thrilled to know that the man she loved went through her…"
"That's my business." Lelouch said. "Besides…most normal women would consider that a turn off."
"Making a big deal over nothing." C.C. said. "Well there's no sign of the gun in here. And her diary only goes up to the fourteenth."
"Fourteenth?" Lelouch said. "That's the day after the attack of Narita…"
As Lelouch went through her stuff…he found a train book in her room. He opened it up to see that the 8:43 train for Narita was circled. It was clear then where she had gone to.
XXXXXXXXXX
The Black Knights we're still celebrating the victory that they had achieved at the docks. Even though they had utterly failed to capture the Viceroy…the sheer numbers Britannia lost compared to them was considered a overall military victory. They stood around the conference table as the members talked about the battle that had happened.
"Man…" Tamaki said. "We we're so close. We almost had her."
"Don't worry." Kallen said. "Next time I'll beat that White Knightmare and that mystery pilot."
"Don't sweat it." Kento said. "Tamaki got thrashed in the first minute."
Many of the members roared with laughter while Tamaki yelled at them. Ohgi stood around and stayed silent most of the time. Kallen was the first one to notice his distress.
"The JLF warship…" Ohgi said. "Why'd it blow up?"
Kallen turned her head towards him.
"It self-destructed." Tamaki said.
"We did contact them and said we would help them." Ohgi said.
"Yeah." Tamaki said. "Hey I know why they wanted to help. They wanted to see his face!"
Tamaki just roared with laughter as he downed more alcohol from his drink.
"It's just that…" Ohgi said
"That the timing was too convenient." Diethard said. "So let me ask you something…what would you propose you would do if Zero was the one who set off the explosion?"
"Just what are you saying?" Kallen said.
"Yeah." Tamaki said. "I heard you got gutless and ran away. A cowardly Brit like yourself has a lot of ca'jones talking to his superiors like that."
"I was speaking in the Hypothetical sense." Diethard said. "I wanted to see your responses that's all. I make the assessments. That's my job is it not Ohgi?"
XXXXXXXXXX
While Diethard talked to members, Signas and the other Reploids stayed off to the side. Signas stayed by himself in the command room. In his hand we're photos of the Maverick Hunter wars with the whole team. Signas had his hat off as he looked through them. While he did, Douglas and Marino entered the room.
"Whatcha doing boss?" Douglas asked.
"Nothing." He said. "Just down that's all."
"Why?" Marino asked.
"We're labeled as Mavericks…the Hunters are divided…and the world is not as we know it now." Signas said. "What's there not to be depressed about?"
"That may be." Douglas said. "At least we're all here."
Signas turned around and put the photos away.
"Here's what I want to know." Signas asked. "We are Mavericks now. Yet we are fighting simply to free an empire. We fight alongside humans against humans…just to liberate something. Doesn't this seem not like a Maverick at all? Why does it seem different than I thought it would be?"
"You really want to know?" Phantom said as he suddenly appeared.
"Phantom?" Signas asked. "You know?"
"I do." Phantom said.
"Then tell us." Marino said.
"Because there is no label anymore of Maverick or non-Maverick." Phantom said. "You are freed from such labels."
And with that, Phantom left the room.
XXXXXXXXXX
When I was writing this chapter…I got bored and actually did the math for the equation Zero gave. The math is 150,000,000 (Pixels on the screen), Divided by 756 (Number of colors approximately), Divided by 3 (Primary colors). Do the math to see the probability.
I'm wondering if I should alter another thing for Geass. Anyone want to see what would happen for this Shirley never got her memory erased? Or should I stop changing the story?
So because of the Reploid Persona's…there is no such thing as Mavericks now. Those who believe in this are people who cannot adjust to the new times.
Looks like Zero hasn't cooled down yet. Anger was always one of his problems.
Looks like Iris is getting suspicious.