"The terrorists are mixed among the eleven populace and are mounting a minor resistance against us. But they pose little threat to our vastly superior army." said a short, squat man with a shiny bald head. A single monocle adorned his stern yet aloof face, and his gaudy uniform marked him as a commander or someone of similar rank in the military of the Holy Britannian Military.

Internally, Clovis sighed. His day had been going so well up until this little interruption. Code R had made substantial progress across all projects thanks to the 'help' of the eleven subjects they had acquired. And that wasn't including that albino freak they had picked up wandering the streets with a pair of purple headphones. Just the thought of subject 7 made the third prince shiver in disgust and a small bit of fear.

Then there was the ball he had planned for tonight. He was the Third Prince of Britannia, the nation that ruled the world, and so he had a reputation to uphold. Which meant that this little debacle could not be allowed to continue.

"Sigh, we know that. Moving on." he said, slumping in his chair and letting his head loll to the right, held up only by his arm.

"Understood, your highness. The gas capsules will be-"

"What the public thinks." Clovis interrupted, sitting forward in his chair.

"Yes. We'll keep searching for her." Bartley assured his prince.

Clovis raised his left hand to his temple. "Either way, I want her captured dead or alive."

Bartley and the assorted soldiers and officials nodded, bowed, and groveled, assuring Clovis that they would take care of the situation. Clovis leaned back into his chair with a sigh. This couldn't be over with quickly enough. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Hey, are you sure this is a good idea?" griped a scruffy red haired man. Oghi and most of the rest of his squad had mounted the sutherlands and were booting up. "They've all had their IFF beacons removed! What if this is a trap?"

Ohgi couldn't help but roll his eyes at his friend's antics. "The other side has total military advantage in this war, Tamaki. They don't need to set any traps."

"All right people, let's move! Get to your assigned points!" Oghi began, only to be cut off as the radio before him blared to life.

"B1, can you move? It operates basically the same as what you are used to."

Ohgi scowled slightly as he picked up the radio and held it to his ear. "Can't you tell us who you are?! At least give us your name!" he demanded.

"I can't do that. What if these signals were to be intercepted? Anyway, if Q1 is on schedule, enemy sutherlands, two of them, will reach you in approximately twenty three seconds. Shoot them through the wall." the mysterious voice responded.

Tamaki scowled, shouting "Nah, he's out of his mind!"

Oghi put the radio down. "Everyone, double check your weapons."

"What!?" Tamaki sputtered. "Are you serious?"

"Three, two, one, fire!" Ohgi ordered, and every rebel sutherland opened fire. Their weapons shredded the wall before them in record time, catching the enemy knightmares of guard and causing them to eject.

The freedom fires gaped in stunned silence, including the loudmouth Tamaki.

"Alright everyone! Let's do this!" Ohgi shouted, invigorated. "Follow K1's orders! Let's show these Brits that our pride hasn't been broken!"

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"Enemy spotted at point F31!" an officer announced.

"A faint? How pedestrian." Clovis commented, unperturbed.

Bartley barked orders in swift succession. "Tell Lazlo's squad to go straight in!" he ordered, gesturing at the green screen in front of them. Have Yugan and Valerie strike from the rear!"

Orders were relayed and soldiers moved as instructed, but seconds later the blue marks identifying knights Yugan and Valerie blinked and vanished.

"Huh? An ambush?" Clovis queried to himself.

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"Just like last time." Lelouch reminisced.

"And do you plan on repeating the same actions as last time, Lelouch?" C.C inquired, coming up behind the seat Lelouch sat in and resting her arms and head upon the headrest. Her green hair fell in locks down the front and back of the chair, tickling Lelouch's neck.

Lelouch smiled fondly. "Not entirely. Now that I know what happened to my mother my objectives are not quite the same. That, and I want to avoid all the carnage and destruction we caused before."

"My, my, Lelouch." C.C. faux gasped, her arms lazily hanging just off the sides of the chair. "You really have changed." she said mockingly, laughing quietly to herself.

Lelouch's smiled widened. "Quiet, witch."

He reactivated his intercom. "P1, P4, P7, move a hundred meters to the right and fire your slash harkens toward three o'clock!"

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"You heard him!" Ohgi said, grasping the controls to his knightmare tightly. "Do what the voice says!"

The three freedom fighters converged on the indicated position, firing their slash harkens at the enemy knightmare in tandem and striking it square in the chest, shredding it.

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Back in the command G1, Bartley was sweating bullets. They had been doing well enough. They surrounded the ghetto, sending in Vtols and Knightmares and eliminating a decent portion of the local eleven populace within the last half hour or so. So why had things begun to go wrong?!

"The enemy is moving towards G28!" an officer reported.

"Send Lazlo's squad- I mean Gloubei's squad!" Bartley sputtered.

In the back of the G1, Clovis rose to full hight in his seat. "This means… terrorist have our military technology?"

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Still on the move, Kallen used her sole remaining slash harken to scale a small building. Finding a lone knightmare on top, she used her momentum to carry her forward, striking the knightmare in it's exposed face sphere and knocking it down in a single blow.

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A blue dot flickered and vanished.

"Sir Gloubei had ejected! His unit's been lost!" Another low ranking officer shouted.

"Change your code they are intercepting our transmissions!" Bartley demanded.

"We already have, sir!" the same officer pleaded. "Four times!"

Clovis rose to his full height, incensed. "THIS FAILURE IN UNACCEPTABLE!"

"Uh, forgive me!" Bartley began, only to be interrupted as a new screen blared to life in the G1.

"Good afternoon!" came an overtly cheerful voice as a bespectacled man with purple hair sprang to life upon the screen, blocking the green map from view.

"This is- we're in the middle of an operation!" Barley barked, angered at the interruption.

"I'd say it's time to deploy the A.S.E.E.C.C's special weapon!" the earl retorted cheerfully.

"We have no time for this!" Clovis barked, advancing towards the operations table. "I will now be taking full command of the forces deployed here!"
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Lelouch smirked as he surveyed the battlefield.

"R2, fire anchor."

A Vtol was destroyed.

"B7, use anti tank ordinance"

A Brittanian ground assault vehicle was destroyed.

"N group, continue your advance."

The resistance fighters pressed their advantage, sending a wall of lead and purple knightmares at the retreating Brittanian forces.

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"We just lost Lazlo's squad." another officer announced.

"We'll have to bring up Quincy's squad." Clovis ordered.

"My lord that will break the encirclement!" Bartley protested.

"We'll reinforce the breach with some of the units guarding me." Clovis supplemented. "All we know for certain is that enemy forces are here!" he continued, pointing at the map.

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"Sigh. Once again, you make the most stupid move possible, brother." Lelouch muttered, lamenting his brother's stupidity. "Well then. We're almost up, C.C. Villeta, have you been able to locate Jeremiah Gottwald?" He asked, turning to the still entranced woman.

"Yes, my lord." Villeta Nu replied as if sleepwalking.

Lelouch nodded, satisfied.

"Q1, do you have an area map?" Lelouch inquired, knowing full well that Kallen did.

"Yes, I have a map of the old town. But it has no current land marks." came the redhead's reply.

"It'll do. Here's what I want you to do."
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"All right, send in Bert and the others, too!" Clovis exclaimed. "Concentrate our forces there, surround them!"

Blue dots encircled a lone, unmoving red dot on the G1's map.

"The enemy's main force if that center dot! Finish them all." Clovis said gleefully. Seconds later the red dot vanished.

"WHAT!? Where's the enemy?!"

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Beneath the tunnels, Kallen, Ohgi, and most of the rest of the rebels made their getaway with numerous elevens in tow. The voice had ordered them to retreat back to their hideout with as many civilians as would be willing to listen. It pained Kallen to leave anyone behind, but they just wouldn't listen!
Ensuring that everyone else had passed through, Kallen turned her knightmare and fired a slash harken into the nearby wall before retracting it and driving away.

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The map flickered, obscuring everything for nearly a minute. Then it flickered back on, and Clovis watched in abject horror as a wave of 'LOST' messages spread from where the red dot had been.

Stunned, Clovis took two shaky steps backward. Who? Who in the hell am I dealing with?! What if… he's even better than Todoh?! "LLOYD!" he shouted.

"Yes, your highness?" the earl responded whimsically, popping back up on the screen.

"Can it win? Will your toy beat them?" the prince asked in desperation.

"Hmmm. My lord, please be so kind as to call it Lancelot." Earl Asplund responded.

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"So, are we having a bad day?" A voice said, waking Suzaku from his not very restful sleep.

He rose slowly, as his chest pained him greatly, and found himself in a room with plain, neutral tones in terms of color. He was faced with a tall man with light purple hair and glasses alongside a pretty woman with dark blue hair.

"You missed a chance to go to Heaven, Private Kururugi." the man said nonsensically. He handed him a flask of water as the woman, who introduced herself as Cecile and the man as Earl Lloyd Asplund, and explained what had happened.

"This is what saved your life, Suzaku." Cecile said, handing him his father's watch.

Suzaku's eyes widened as he grimaced.

"You ARE lucky it was situated at just the right angle to deflect the bullet." the now named earl mused.

Cecile rolled her eyes, prodding Lloyd.

"Yes, yes. Well, Private Kururugi. We have an offer for you."

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A speaker blared to life outside the G1. "Z01 Lancelot, now activating. Lancelot activating. Releasing hatch."

A platform lowered to the ground at the front of the trailer in front of the a platform stood a tall white knightmare frame with gold and black scattered throughout, giving the frame a striking look.

"Z01 Lancelot stand by for activation. Power up system initiated."

"Did you read the manual? Came Cecile's voice over the earpiece in Suzaku's ear.

"Pretty much." he answered simply.

"Well done. You scored the top of your class in the simulator."

"Hey, look. About what you told me earlier."

"I'm sorry, but the possibility is nearly zero."
"But there's still a chance, right?" he prodded as he walked up to the experimental frame.

"That's true. Even so you are not to do anything reckless. The system is not outfitted with an ejection mechanism." Cecile responded.

"Ok, I understand miss Cecile." Suzaku answered

"That's it?" he asked, awed by the knightmare in front of him.

"Yes. The advanced weapon developed by us. The Lancelot Z01. The world's first generation seven knightmare frame."

"Well Suzaku, let's proceed with the initial startup." Lloyd said.

"Initial startup proceeding from phase twenty. Equipping energy filler. Initiating device setup." Cecile reported.

"So far it's going per the data." Lloyd mused as data checks continued. A couple more minutes passed as the checks were completed before the Lancelot stirred, disconnecting from the various tubes it was connected to and placing it's hand upon the ground.

"Lancelot, activate ME boost." Suzaku directed.

"Lancelot, launch!"

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Tamaki was unhappy. Just who did this 'K1' think he was? Why should they listen to him. And why did his squad have to cover the retreat? Tamaki's musings were interrupted as a large white and gold knightmare darted towards him and the other rebels left behind to cover the retreat almost faster than he could see.

"Huh? What is that? It doesn't look like a sutherlan-" in seconds the knightmare was on top of him, punching his sutherland's head clean off. Less than a minute later and P group was eliminated, a total of eight sutherlands put out of action permanently. Suzaku activated the Lancelot's fact spheres and darted forwards again, intent of stopping the fighting. He searched for half an hour but found no combatants. No terrorists, no civilians. Only the destroyed frames of several sutherlands and heaps of rubble.

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"Well well well. You were a real thorn in my side last time Suzaku. But this time we were able to pull back before you took the field." Lelouch mused as he and C.C made their getaway in the stolen sutherland. They had dropped of Villetta at the edge of the battlefield and he had instructed her to return to her superiors and forget everything that had happened, including meeting him. He didn't want her tracking him down this time.

"So what is our next move, Lelouch?" C.C. asked. "Will you let Clovis live this time?"

Lelouch shook his head sadly. "Even if I didn't want to you would kill him anyway."

C.C. grinned predatorily. "Yes, I would." she stated.

"Clovis is guilty of ordering the deaths of civilians and human experimentation. Unlike Euphemia or even Cornelia, he does not care whether the average person lives or dies. No, it is too late for my brother."

C.C. raised an eyebrow at that. "You'll spare Cornelia, then? I thought you wanted all your siblings dead. And I very much doubt she'll forgive you for killing Euphemia."

Lelouch shook his head again. "And if Euphemia never dies? You forget that of all my siblings aside Nunnaly, I was closest with Euphemia and Cornelia. I would have to be remiss to want them dead. No, I'll work on bringing them over to our side. For now I want to awaken Suzaku and Kallen. Then we can plan our next move." he countered.

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"Attention all forces! Cease fire at once! I, Clovis, Third Prince of Britannia and Viceroy of Area Eleven hereby command you: All forces are ordered to cease fire at once! You will also cease destruction of any buildings or property! All casualties, whether Britannian or Eleven are to be treat equally and without prejudice! In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are hereby ordered to cease fire at once! I will allow no further fighting!" rang throughout the ghetto as Clovis complied to the masked figures. The first held a gun pointed at the prince and had somehow forced General Bartley and his men to lock themselves in the G1's brig.

Clovis gazed loathsomely into the dark room at the figure holding a gun in his direction even now. "There. Are you satisfied?"

A male voice rang from the darkness, one filled with the weight of war. "Very. Well done."

Clovis scoffed quietly. "And what shall we do now? Shall we sing a few lively ballads? Or perhaps a nice game of chess?"

Lelouch chuckled darkly to himself as he walked forward and removed his helmet, C.C. following him. "No, I'm afraid we won't have the time for a game of chess this time, brother."

"What? You… who are you?" Clovis demanded.

"It's been a long time, brother." Lelouch said stepping close enough for Clovis to see him.

Clovis's eyes widened considerably, but C.C. merely rolled hers. "Can we get this over with? You promised I could kill him this time." she muttered just barely loud enough for Clovis to hear.

"Not yet. I need to know if there is anything he might now that could help us." Lelouch said, bringing his eyes close to his terrified brother. "*Obey me*!"

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As it turned out, Clovis knew very little of worth. Lelouch still had him in a hypnotic state, as he was still digesting the information that had been of some use that he got from him, but he couldn't prolong his judgment any further. Handing C.C. his gun, he snapped his fingers close to Clovis' face. Immediately his brother began to beg.

"Lelouch, please don't! We may not share the same mother but we are still blood!" he practically shouted.

"You tortured her. Slaughtered countless japanese citizens. All for what? Some baseless sense of superiority? I am sorry brother. I cannot save you."

There was a flash and a BANG, and all was dark and silent again.

"