Okay, as stated in the previous chapters, these last 4 will be more epilogue than chapters, which sadly means that they'll be shorter than actual chapters but they'll still cover enough material to be informative, I ain't gonna insult anyone's intelligence by repeating stuff, if you need a refresher, you can go back and re-read the appropriate chapter. As for events in the real world, nothing of importance is happening in my neck of the woods(A sentence I type as a lot does happen, but its so common my entire country is numb to it), but what has caught my attention was those protests in France…like, damn.

Chapter 27: Sociopathic Science

Moving about his lab, a grey-haired man multitasked, splitting his time and focus between 3 different computer screens, 2 keyboards, a desk which had an open notebook filled to the brim of notes which he kept adding to whenever he passed it, and a small another table which had some drinks and cookies on it as a man needed sugar to keep the brain performing at 100%. He didn't have much time to mess about, as his colleague would say, but he had a process and it hadn't failed him yet. If they wanted to rush him, then he'll waste time explaining to them why it was a stupid choice, or trying to ensure that any more interns they throw at him aren't bumbling buffoons.

'Lloyd.'

Things had been going quite well as of late, those new Vincent models he produced had been getting positive reports from the field, though he had been against the idea of just updating those mass-produced toys, Schneizel had been unfortunately been quite clear that they didn't need his best 'for maintaining peace', especially since they couldn't find any trace of his age-old rival, Rakshata. This wasn't something he had been surprised about as she had managed to get into an elite Britannian college and excel despite so many of their peers and lecturers trying to discredit, undermine and otherwise attack based on some foolish notion of racial and national superiority, she managed to handle all that and came out the top of their class, though he would sooner die than ever remind others of that fact.

And then she had just vanished, reportedly returning to India, but he didn't hear so much as a peep from her, only learning about her works in medical cybernetics after she had given that up.

'Lloyd.'

It was a surprise when her tech found itself in Area 11 in the hands of the Black Knights. So, he felt quite peeved when he had tried to advise Suzaku that he wouldn't find her and to worry about other issues only to be ordered to be silent by his once-test pilot, oh but he supposed that title and power did tend to go to people's heads. He knew that quite well from whenever he had been forced to deal with others in noble circles. It was like those people could do nothing but scheme, undermine and lie. He would say that he was saddened by the fact his test pilot had fallen to similar practices, but that would be lying as he had known there was something wrong with him from the very beginning, from how he willingly joined Britannia despite all its flaws, claiming he followed orders over feelings, only to then disobey orders, striking him before taking the Lancelot and then after Tokyo Settlement went the way of the dodo, he had nearly ordered that he hand over the Albion.

'Lloyd!' A smack brought him back to reality but also knocked him out of his seat onto the floor where he looked up towards his assistant and what he was pretty sure was his sole friend, Cecile. An angry-looking Cecile.

Getting up while rubbing his head, he looked towards her. 'What did you hit me, Cecile? Couldn't have you used your words.' The woman, looking like she had aged 10 years rather than 5, pinched her nose in what he was sure was annoyance.

'I did.' She told him, as she had been trying to get his attention for the better part of 5 minutes. Seeing that he didn't hear a word she said till after she smacked him across the back of the head, she swallowed her old-age annoyance with him, having learned that working with him was taxing even on good days.

Correcting his hair, he asked a question. 'So is the issue then? As the master requested another update on his next-gen machines? I told him it'll take another 6 months before I have anything to present, even if he increased the budget again.' He gestured towards their lab, one far larger than anything he had used back when Britannia was still under Charles, back when people still killed each other in mass for the silliest of reasons. Though despite his increased funding, resources and workspace, he was massively limited in what kinds of projects he could handle, and it wasn't like he could just do his own thing like he used to either.

'Not that,' Shaking her head, Cecile handed him a tablet. 'This. He wanted us to look over this.' Taking the handed device, Lloyd input his security clearance code and opened the first file that he found which housed the latest date, only to raise an eyebrow at the subject matter.

'An after-action report? Oh dear, has he lost a chunk of his jack-booted military people? We're scientists, not soldiers. We have no reason to look this over.' He turned to her, surprised by this.

'It was a direct order, Lloyd.' Cecile told him as she had spoken directly with one of Suzaku's white cloaks, and she…he, she could never tell with them, regardless, they had been quite clear in how urgent this was.

Shaking his head in bemusement, Lloyd placed the tablet on the table and went back to working on the project he had been handling before. 'That boy, he's always been so pushy. Makes one wonder if his father didn't bend him over the knee.'

Stiffening up slightly, Cecile gave her boss and friend a hard knock to the side. 'Lloyd, kindly refrain from saying such a thing about him,' She turned her head slightly to the side, where there stood a security guard, but one that did more than just protect them. She didn't need to turn to see the rest of the lab to know that there were at least another 7 in the room. 'Especially with the present company.'

Lloyd, despite the danger to their lives and potential backlash for speaking so candidly about the arguably 3rd most powerful man in the world, didn't bat an eye as he waved her concerns off. 'Oh, what's the worry? Suzaku knows me well enough. Besides, if my mouth would have been enough to warrant him ordering they take my head, they would have done it years ago when they had to be…creative with getting us to sign on board with this boring new order.' Lloyd frowned near the end, recalling how they had been "drafted" into service for the new government. He had been excited in the beginning but wished to reject it once he saw the stringent limitation he would have.

Safe to say, that after 2 weeks in prison, he had been more willing to take them up on their generous offer. Cecile had agreed even faster than he did, but he was sure that it was less about her preferring this any more than he did, and more to do with how Suzaku flat-out threatened her family, an option he didn't have with Lloyd as Schneizel and the little princess killed when along with the rest of Pendragon.

'That doesn't mean that can't find ways to punish you without killing you, or me for that matter.' She reminded him of how they found themselves in this situation.

'Oh, how times have changed. I remember the days when he was a walking contradiction. Some would say that things would have been better if I had been right back during the little hotel affair, shame he seems to have the devil's luck.' He had thought Suzaku would bite the bullet young like so many others. Even a sociopath like him knew that one needed to have a set goal and the drive necessary to chase after it to get anywhere in life, yet Suzaku was functioning on an unstable contradiction where he sought to save lives through military service, an occupation which could easily demand to end lives by the thousands daily.

'We have a role in that, Lloyd. The Lancelot played a big role in past and present events.' Cecile spoke, her shoulders dropping as she picked a cookie, but found her appetite gone, as she merely trashed the sugary treat. She wasn't like Nina, she had known going into this business what her work could end up being used for. She had been against many of her homeland's practices, but she had been a loyal citizen as well. Then…then the SAZ happened and everything went to hell, from Suzaku rushing off with the Lancelot, the whole debacle with Nina nearly blowing up the settlement, the actual destruction of the settlement, and the death of two emperors.

After all the crazy, she had just wanted to retire, too tired to continue, even organizing a new identity and teaching job in South America. It was just her rotten luck that she had been made at the airport and within hours, found herself across from the boy she had once believed to be kind-hearted, then as deadly and toxic as the radiation that swam in his veins. It wasn't an interview, nor was she given a choice. He had merely slid a picture of her parents and cousins her way and told him that she had to decide then and there: Work under them, or for every hour she took to make her choice, one of her family would be killed.

She so badly wanted to slap him across the face, reach for his weapon and finish off what so many others tried. She wanted to disappear, to travel back in time and convince them to leave before her so that he wouldn't have leverage over her, even if it meant her death, her family would be safe. She wanted to denounce him for all that he did, for all the shame he brought his abandoned ideals and his deceased princess.

She had wanted to do a lot of things that day, but her wants weren't for consideration, so she signed on.

'We have as much a role in things as old man Colt did in Britannia coming to dominant the American continent.' Lloyd replied though she wasn't surprised that he would say something like that. they had spoken about such things in the past, how as inventors, they didn't have much control and therefore, accountability to anyone or anything in how others used their creations. After all, as Lloyd once asked her, if you can't blame the knife maker for the lives those blades could take, how can do blame the inventor when someone decides to use their creation for violence?

'Some would see things very differently.' She had seen things differently, but Lloyd always said that was due to the fact she couldn't abandon her heart for the pursuit of knowledge.

'And yet we stand, loyal servants to the regime and its leaders.' Lloyd didn't even react to the ankle brace he wore, one that not only matched the one fastened to her but also allowed her handlers to keep track of them 24/7 and if need be, explode with enough force to reduce them and anyone within 2m of them to bloody mush. 'Why else would they see the need to ensure we're always protected from what Kanon put it, "Dangerous actors"?'

'Oh fine.' Still, despite how much she wished to just break it and be done with it, she had enough sense to understand how much of a poor decision that would be, so she picked up the tablet and handed it back to him. 'Oh?' Reading through it, he found that it quite unlike what he was expecting, with the apparent return of the prince turned rebel, his being the suspect cause of some mass disappearances, and finally the fact he could perform magic, though he scoffed when he read that word. 'Fascinating…but ultimately out of my jurisdiction.' He placed it down.

'You barely read it.' Cecile told him.

'Have a look yourself, see if you can prove me wrong.' He pointed to him, his attention back on his work. Deciding to take him up on it, she picked it up and started from the top and spent the next 10 minutes reading it, and another 5 trying to comprehend just what she read.

'…This can't be right.' She muttered, magic? Summonings? Unicorn-like creatures. Was the report written by someone high on drugs?

'I would assume so, but unless Suzaku suddenly gained a sense of humor, I doubt that.' Lloyd had seen his name in the file, and he seemed to be allergic to jokes or humour. These days it was like he hated the concept of joy as well.

'This is…far bigger than just the Thought elevators he had us look into.' Cecile spoke up, looking at Lloyd who nodded along with that.

'A venture that gave his nothing, wasting 8 months of our lives on something I told Schneizel couldn't be done.' Cecile shook her head, pacing as she tried to understand what the hell happened across the ocean in Wales.

'Regardless of that, shouldn't we be at least a bit more invested in this? If this report is accurate, who can say that Lelouch can't summon forth newer models?' All the report claimed was that he summoned 2 models, one 7th gen, the other an 8th but who to say he can't summon 9th? They didn't know where he was getting them, and with the Vincent model from the report still in storage, and the Zangetsu destroyed in combat years ago, it wasn't as if he was using the real deals.

Turning around to face her, he frowned as he spoke. 'Indeed, but my dear, we are scientists. We create theories based on observable facts which we then prove through experimentation and study. We don't have any credible facts other than this.' He pointed to the tablet in her hand. 'What that report has is statements from a single party. We don't even have footage yet to see for ourselves.'

'I can imagine we'll get those in a couple of hours.' She looked towards the clock on the wall, one that read 14:32

'Then I'll look over them, in a couple of hours.' Lloyd dismissed it and got back to work. Schneizel had requested they work on upgrading the propulsion system for his missiles and with as much zeal as a child going to the dentist, he got to it.

Next update: July 16th with early access for those on my p-a-treon set for July 14th

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