Phase XXIV: Who watches the watchmen?
(Juppama beach mid afternoon.)
Shirley, Millie, Rivals, Nina and Kallen were all walking along the beach to where Lelouch said they would be meeting his officers.
Just then they got to a section of the beach that was off limit towards the crowd because Prince Clovis reversed for his own personal use.
Millie walked up to them, showed them and identification key, which meant they had clearance and the guards let them pass.
"Man! Who would have thought we'd ever set foot on this portion on the beach!" Rivals said to those present.
"What do you think Lelouch's subordinates be like?" Nina asked a bit frightened.
"Were about to find out!" Millie said and they approached Lelouch's group.
"Hey LULU!" Shirley shouted to Lelouch who was cooking chicken shish kebab.
"Hey guys!" he let the kebab in Suzaku's capable hands and went over to great his friends.
"Gentleman these are myself and Suzaku's fellow student council members: Shirley, Rivals, Nina, Millie"
"Now that you 're all here let me introduce you all to my men, now the tall fellow over there who is pouring drinks is Lieutenant General Jeremiah Gotwald, he is my knight and second in command" Lelouch introduced them to him.
"Lady's, gentleman!" Jeremiah relied and gave a bow of the head.
"The lady which is with Sayoko, Nunnally and Euphemia over there helping them with origami is major general Nu, she commands the center of my army" Viletta gave a polite greeting and nod.
"The tall man with the mustache is my older brother Odysseus and he holds the rank of Brigadier General and is my very capable Chief of Artillery" Lelouch said while saluting Odysseus with his drink. "And the man next to him is Colonel Kuribayashi, his deputy commander" Kuribayashi gave a Japanese style greeting bow, which made Nina a little uncomfortable.
"The guy with the glasses who is setting the table is Brigadier Omar Bradley, he is the knightmare corps deputy commander!" he gestured to Bradley.
Lelouch then looked around in confusion for a few moments.
"Hey Brad, where's George? Is he off shooting crocodiles again? " Lelouch asked curious which caused Rivals to startled at what he just heard about Lelouch man.
"Nope! He said he was going to get more food and would be back in a while!" Brad replied as he finished setting the table.
"KAPLONK!" George shouted scaring everyone as he emerged from the sea with three Tuna fish which he caught, he was carrying one fish in each of his arms and the third one he was carrying between his teeth.
"George? What the hell were you doing in the water?" Lelouch asked with a snicker as George exited the water.
"Getting more food of course!" he said and he placed the fish on the table and Bradley started skinning them.
"O George, I hope you never change! Everyone the creature from the black lagoon here is Brigadier General George Patton, grandson of The General Patton and my knightmare corps commander" Lelouch said and George shook hands with those present.
"Do you really go off shooting crocodiles?" Rivals asked while he was shacking George's hand.
"What! Of course not! Killing crocodiles is illegal!"George replied which seemed to calm Rivals down, until George continued.
"I capture them alive with rope and nets and help relocate them during my free time!" He replied with a smile which left Rivals even more mortified and the kind of people Lelouch had for subordinates.
"Well you already know Suzaku, now Major General Kewell is…not present…!" Lelouch said surprised.
"Viletta where's Kewell?" he asked her.
"He said he was sick and couldn't make it." Viletta replied.
Just then Lelouch cell phone rang and he picked it up.
"Hello!...Yes….WHAT!...yes, no,…. Thank you!...goodbye!" Lelouch hang up the phone.
"That was my secretary! Kewell's letter of resignation just arrived a few minutes ago!" Lelouch said and he stunned his officers.
"Jeremiah, Viletta come with me! We're going to see just how bad a cold in really is!" he said and the three of them left for Kewell's apartment.
"Must be some cold if General Kewell is forced to resign from it!" Bradley stated.
"That's just like our 'little corporal'!" Suzaku said smiling while he fed Arthur.
"Little corporal?" Shirley asked curious.
"It's a nickname the general got after the first biannual War-game at West Point!" George replied.
"There's a story behind that, would you like to hear it?" Suzaku asked and seeing the all nodded yes started the story.
(Kewell's apartment)
Kewell was dressed in his uniform and as he awaited for the inevitable he smoked a cigar and watched TV, he stopped on MTV classics and as the song was playing he heard footsteps outside his apartment.
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Kewell's apartment door was then busted open and his attackers made themselves visible.
"I guess it's time for judgment day!" Kewell said and tried to pull out his gun, but the first of the attackers gave a kick which knocked his gun out off his hands, the second, third fourth and fifth attacker then jumped and overpowered him.
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Kewell was pushed against the wall and his attacker starting hitting him to immobilize him.
Hallelujah
He received right punch in the gut
Hallelujah
The second attacker gave him a left uppercut
Hallelujah
The third a right uppercut and after that the leader ordered him to be tied down..
Hallelujah
Kewell's body was now in pain but he did not take head to it he knew that through this pain he would repent for betraying the thrust of Prince Lelouch and would die with his honor restored.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you.
"Youthough that you could just quit like that?" the leader of the group said to Kewell who was tied to a chair
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
"hah aha ha ha ha ha" Kewell started laughing.
"What's so funny?" one of the men asked.
Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
"To think I was once as blind and as ignored as you people if not more…..but no more… I now see the light…..Prince Lelouch freed me from my madness!" Kewell said defiantly.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
At this the leader told his men go hit him again.
A volley of two to three punches came from each of the four men
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
They then stopped and Kewell somehow managed not to scream, his body was now full with pain , but he remained silent and stared at his attackers defiantly.
The look in his eyes the leader of the group thought to himself wasn't off a man scared off the fate that awaited him but a man who was fulfilled with his fate and was satisfied that he was repenting for his mistake, this made the leader the one scared in spite of Kewell been the one tide down and beaten up.
There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
The leader not knowing what to do gave Kewell four more punches to the face with his own fists.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
He saw that Kewell was not breaking so he decided to use his last ace up his sleeve.
"That bastard son off a whore, who loves those illiterate monkeys called numbers is the shame of our empire and he will one day die just like you are dying now!" the leader said to Kewell.
You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
"No..he will not die… he will live and he will rise…until he is king and then…. He will free the whole Empire from the madness which plagues it….he will set all of us free….like he freed me!" Kewell said while heavily drawing breaths of air from the great pain he was going through.
The leader of the group seeing that he wasn't able to break Kewell gave angrily ordered another barrage of fists to break him.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Kewell by now had a face that was bloodied and bruised; he looked more like piece of meat than a man.
He then saw that the leader ordered his men to step aside and reached for what was within his jacket, he knew that he was going to shoot him.
I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
"I guess this is it for me! Forgive me Marika and farewell Jeremiah, Viletta, Suzaku , Bradley, George, Prince Odysseus, Kuribayashi and my lord Prince Lelouch." Kewell said to himself and then stared his executioners one last time defiantly, he looked death in the eye and did not blink
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
The leader reached into his inner pocket for his gun.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
He got a hold on his gun and started drawing it out.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
He finished drawing his gun out and looked at Kewell one last time.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Kewell stared back at him defiantly as is saying 'do your worst'
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
The leader then aimed the gun right between Kewell's eyes, Kewell did not even blink.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
The leader saw this and his hand started shacking from such a display of courage and defiance.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
The leader then cocked his gun.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Hallelujah….
(Juppama beach mid afternoon.)
"Well you see once every six months War-games were held at West Point to weed out the weak cadets, and the seniors would usually form one army and fight against the freshman " Suzaku said to Shirley, Rivals, Millie and Kallen who were listening with great interest to the story.
George and Omar participated in that War game on Lelouch's side and Nunnally and Euphie were there as spectators.
"Because of his high marks Lelouch was made the leader off about our side which consisted of about 100 cadets, the enemy had about 250 cadets, there was also…..AUH!" Suzaku tried to continue but was cut off by a bite from Arthur oh his fingers.
"Arthur! Why do you always…." Suzaku said to himself as Euphie rushed to his side.
"Well since Colonel Kururugi is….heh heh…critically injured I will finish the story!" George joked and continued.
"What he meant to say was that there was a hill near campus and one army's purpose was to defend it and the other was to attack and take it" George said and he took a sip of Coca Cola.
"And this year the seniors got the high ground and we had to take it, so there we were outmanned, outgunned, outmaneuvered and are enemy was better trained then us!" George continued and lost himself in the memories of what happened that day.
"And what happened then?" Shirley asked eager to find out.
"A miracle! That's what it was, a bloody miracle!" Bradley said picking up were George left seeing he was lost in the land of memories.
(Kewell's apartment)
Lelouch, Viletta and Jeremiah arrived just in time and shot the Leader and his henchmen before they had a change to kill Kewell.
"These men that attacked you are all member of the OSI guards!" Jeremiah after inspecting the bodies said to Kewell who was laid on his bed and Viletta was tending to his wounds.
"I think you have some explaining to do General!" Lelouch calmly asked while he sat in a chair a few feet away from Kewell.
"Yes my lord, those men are part of the Purist Faction. Up until recently I was a member of their party" Kewell replied.
"The Faction who says Brittannian society should only be made out off Brittannians?" Viletta said amazed she did not knew Kewell was a member.
"I know them! They are being led by a man called Ferdinand Calares they approached me a few years ago to join them, but after hearing that you went to West Point sire I decided that it would be best to remain apolitical if I wanted to present my services to you!" Jeremiah replied towards Lelouch.
"Well go on General, continue!" Lelouch said to Kewell.
"Well I wish I could say I joined them because I had no choice, but the truth was I joined them because I…I "Kewell covered his face with his hands in shame paused and then continued.
"I joined them because I believed in their creed with all my heart!"
"What made you change your beliefs?" Lelouch asked, there was no hint of hatred, accusation and betrayal in his voice, just curiosity.
"You did my lord!" Kewell replied which caught Lelouch of guard.
"You and Suzaku and those Japanese soldiers you gave me to command, at first I didn't like them, but after Siberia with Kururugi and training and leading those boys into combat I….I realized just how wrong the creed of the Purists was and how much of an idiot I've been, so I decided to resign from the Purists because I no longer believed in them….and resign from the black knights since I kept secrets from you all, betrayed your thrust and served two masters!" Kewell said on the verge of tears.
"Even if you resigned from the purists that is not a good enough reason for them to order , your death, they must have told you do to something and your refused to do it, so they ordered your death, who's assassination did they ordered you to commit?" Lelouch replied and this caught Kewell off guard.
He then remembered that his commander was a master tactician and strategist so it was easy for him to figure it out and he decided to tell them.
"Yours my lord, they ordered me to kill you Prince Lelouch!"
(Juppama beach mid afternoon.)
"A miracle! That's what it was, a bloody miracle!" Bradley said picking up were George left seeing he was lost in the land of memories.
He then continued to tell the story of what happened that fateful day.
(West Point Military academy, the day before the war games,)
Lelouch ,Suzaku, Omar and George looked at the army they were supposed to command and the noticed that they were all demoralized, Lelouch then decided to do something about that and he unsheathed his sword and drew a circle around the cadets.
"I believe that there are two kinds of soldiers, those who go to win a battle and those who don't give a crap about that and go to lose it" Lelouch paused to let this sink in.
"So I have drawn a circle to show who will go tomorrow to win and who to lose!" Lelouch, Suzaku, Bradley and George were the only ones who were not within the circle.
"What do you mean commander? We are up against seniors who outnumber us and have a better position, this is a battle we cannot win!" one cadet said to him and the others agreed with him
"And with an attitude like that we will never win!" Lelouch shouted back which silenced the cadet, he then paced around the line and continued his speech.
"The seniors think we are inferior, that we cannot win, and we will use that to our advantage, the will let their guard down because of that and we will hit them so hard and so fast that we will crush them like the lousy sons of bitches they are!" Lelouch said to his men and hope returned to their faces.
"If we go into battle thinking that we will lose then we will lose, but we will not lose for we go into battle to win, we will not be defeated, for we will not accept defeat!" Lelouch said and the demoralize cadets started to gain courage.
"We will not win, we will conquer, we will destroy them, we will hit them so hard, so fast that they're grandchildren are going to need doctors! But in order to do that I will need soldiers that fight in order to win and not soldiers who go out there to loose, so whoever wants to win, get out off that circle…..whoever wants to lose stay there, cause we don't need you!" Lelouch said and paused to see if his speech had the desired effect.
The cadets stared at each other for a while, until one took a step out of the circle, then another, then another, until every cadet was now outside the circle.
Lelouch then looked at his men, smiled and said: "All right, now let's go kick some ass!" Lelouch shouted and he raised his fist into the air.
"YEAH!" the cadets assembled shouted now their confidence and morale had been restored.
Suzaku, George and Omar now looked at their friend and commander with admiration.
"Now here's what we are going to do!" Lelouch said and he explained his plan.
"Sir, with all due respect for that plan to work we would have to steal the necessary supplies from the Academies warehouse!" Omar said to Lelouch.
"Mister Bradley that is called commandeering for the benefit of the army!" Lelouch replied with a smile on his face.
"What will the dead say about our actions?" Suzaku asked concerned.
"He will commend us for our ingenuity and resourcefulness!" Lelouch said and those around him chuckled and went to put his plan into action.
The next day
The white team which was the defensive team and the black team which was the offensive team were lined up before spectators, the battle would be an infantry skirmish and paintball gun would be used.
Among them were Nunnally, Euphie, Darlton and Cornelia who came to see Lelouch in action.
The white team and black team then came together and shook hands as it was customary to do so before a War-game.
Just then Lelouch noticed who the Black Team Leader was.
"Gyno Weinberger! Knight of three!" Lelouch said as he shook his hand.
"A pleasure to meet you you're highness, please go easy on us today!" Gyno said cheerfully and both teams went to their designated positions.
The hill had a small forest to its eastern side, and clear open field on its other three sides.
The battle then started, and what surprised Gyno was the following: Lelouch was leading a frontal assault from the northern side of the hill which was the rugged side and very easy to defend.
"Guess he's just another idiot who will get people in the field killed!" Gyno lamented to himself and he ordered all of his men to deploy to face Lelouch's attack.
"So knight of three you have taken the bait! It's checkmate for you now!" Lelouch said as he snickered and watched the hill with his binoculars.
"George! Tell Bradley and Suzaku to prepare to move out!" Lelouch ordered him.
George gave the orders and once Lelouch saw that everything was ready he decided to spring the trap.
"Here goes nothing!" he said and his men threw smoke grenades which they stole from the warehouse yesterday in front of their position covering their movements.
Gyno was momentarily shocked by this turn of events , as the smoke cleared he noticed that Lelouch's forces who originally were half a mile away were now at the foot of the hill and were using the rugged terrain as cover and firing back at Gyno's forces "Using smoke grenades to cover their movements and using the rough terrain to their advantage! This guy is better than I thought!" he said to himself in delight that Lelouch was a good leader.
"But even with those stolen smoke grenades they only managed to get close enough to the foot of the hill!" the Academy's Dead said and was impressed with Lelouch ingenuity.
"Also the enemy still has a good defensive position and superior numbers !" Darlton said o the Dead who was sitting next to him.
"My brother is not an idiot; he knows what he is doing!" Cornelia added and she was sitting next to Darlton.
"Well since he was trained and tutored by the two of some of the finest graduates this Academy has ever had I will take your word for it!" the Dean replied and he continued to view the battle.
Meanwhile back at the battlefield Gyno was by now actually enjoying himself; he pulled some strings to get command of this year's seniors and was pleased that he was not disappointed.
The battle was slowly but surely going into Gyno's favor since he had superior numbers and the high ground, but as he though victory was near suddenly he heard gunfire from behind his position, he turned around and saw that out of nowhere 50 enemy soldiers had gotten to the top of the hill and were moving down his men with paintball fire.
"How! All of his forces are on the foot of the hill, I counted them and all 100 enemies are there….how!" Gyno said to himself and he tried to pull out his paintball gun and return fire, but one shot got him in the head, he saw that it came from Kururugi Suzaku, he also saw that every one of his men now were hit by paintballs, the battle was over and he had lost his entire army!
"Hurrah!" The cheers of victory came from Lelouch and his men below who got up and Gyno noticed that only half of them got up.
Then some of the soldiers picked up the ones who were not moving and Gyno saw that those 'soldiers' were in fact target dummies from the firing range.
Then the sudden realization of what just happened hit Gyno like a thunderbolt.
"He replaced half of his men with dummies and used the forest to the right to shield their movements so he could launch a surprise attack from behind, and he used the smoke grenades to conceal the switch!" Cornelia said and she was amazed that Lelouch pulled of such a feat, Darlton was equally impressed and proud of his two students.
'Why is that young man here to learn when there is nothing we can teach him that he does not already know? He should be leading armies not wasting time with old men like us!" The Dean said about Lelouch, and he too was equally impressed.
Meanwhile back at Lelouch position the seniors after recovering from the shock of their sudden defeat shook hands with the freshman who received the handshake proudly.
"I think you and I will get along just fine if we ever fight together on the field!" Gyno said as he shook Lelouch's hand.
"I sincerely hope so!" Lelouch replied with a smile and after they parted ways he then remembered his siblings were there.
"Come on guys, I want you to meet my sisters!" Lelouch said to Bradley, Suzaku and George and they went to do so.
End of flashback story.
"Wow! Lelouch was awesome at West Point!" Rivals said impressed.
"Yes he was! And after that me and George over there decided that Lelouch would be the man we would serve under no matter what, so here we ware today!" Bradley said.
Suzaku's phone then rang and he picked it up.
"Hello!"
(Kewell's apartment)
"Kill the Prince! But for whatever for?" Viletta said astonished, after Fukuoka what reason could anybody have to kill him she thought to herself.
"The reason is that I am fighting for the abolishment of the numbers system and they like it the way things are, they're right, I'm wrong and they will kill to make it sure it stays so!" Lelouch calmly replied.
At this Kewell bowed his head in shame and said.
"So you see, after that I decided to resign and just let them come after me, after all a scumbag like wouldn't be missed!" Kewell said and chuckled.
Lelouch then got up from his seat, reached for the inside of his shirt.
Jeremiah and Viletta's hearts stopped for a moment, they were sure that he would kill Kewell and after what they found out about him they couldn't blame him for doing so.
Lelouch then pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
"Hello?" Suzaku replied on the other end.
"Suzaku it's me, myself Viletta and Jeremiah have arrived at Kewell's apartment and we have discovered the following….Kewell was suffering from a disease which can infest even the noblest of men, it clouded his sight and judgment, but now he is freed of that disease, his sight is now clear and his mind and heart pure, he is now cured of the madness and ready to begin anew!" Lelouch said while eyeballing Kewell.
Kewell for his part was shocked at the magnanimous generosity the prince had bestowed upon him, Viletta and Jeremiah were equally as surprised and proud to have such a liege.
Lelouch considered killing Kewell but saw on his face a man who knew he made a mistake and was determined to pay with his life for that sin, so he could not kill him.
"Hey Lelouch, you're making such a big deal out off a little could, stop being so dramatic!" Suzaku said over the phone.
"Sorry about that!" Lelouch chuckled, told Suzaku that Kewell would stay hope to recuperate, but he would be fine and back to duty sometime in the near future, he then hang up the phone.
"Your…your highness.. I …I don't think I am wordy off…." Kewell tried to say but was cut off by Lelouch who said.
"General Kewell you have been sick, you are now free of that disease, you will heal and you will resume your duties as the leader of my right flank! Is that understood?" Lelouch said with an authoritarian tone.
At this all Kewell could do was use what was left of his strength to get down in a knights kneeling position of obedience and say.
"Yes, you're majesty!" he then fainted from his wounds, but Viletta caught him and placed him back in bed to rest.
"My lord we thank you for your generosity, but what do we do about Calares?" Jeremiah asked.
Lelouch smiled, pulled out his dagger, walked to the dead bodies and said.
"We put the fear into him mister Gotwald!"
(A few days later Pendragon city, General Calare's home)
"A toast to the death of that traitor Soresi!" Calares said and the other high ranking members of the purist faction drank to it.
Just then a package was delivered to him, it's sender was listed as the captain who lead the assassination squad and Calares opened it with delight, only for him to jump back in horror at what he saw in it.
The severed heads of the six assassination squad members were there, and each one of them had their eyes, tongs, ears and teeth cut off.
Within the captain's mouth was a note, Calares hesitantly took it out and read it out loud.
"Who watches the watchmen?" he then flipped the note to the other side and saw the rest of the message.
"WE DO!"
Authors note
Read and review, let me know is I should continue