On a hill in the Shinjuku ghetto, Alistair stood at the top to get a good look at the surroundings, as the sun was setting. He then noticed several makeshift grave markers at one part of the area below, presumably because the people that lived in Shinjuku didn't have access to gravestones. He then heard a rather soft thud in the distance, seeing a young man in a blue light coat facing another man on the ground, presumably after a throw out of self-defense. As the man that was thrown got up, Alistair saw a group of Britannian thugs heading towards the group, a pink-haired girl and some students being among them.
"Crap, that ain't good. Getting sick of common crooks being assholes...!" Alistair grunted as he started running towards the scene, as quickly as he could.
Meanwhile, as some Japanese men were about to leave, after having an encounter with Suzaku Kururugi, someone they saw as a traitor to the nation of Japan, fifteen Britannians in thuggish clothing and holding various weapons like wooden clubs and metal pipes. While the rest of his friends and some students ran off, the Japanese man known as Tamaki tried to run, only to get struck on the head by a pipe, forcing him to the ground. The girl with pink hair that was with Suzaku, Euphy, screamed in terror.
"Sh-Shit...!" Tamaki groaned in pain, trying to get up only to be stomped on the back, forcing him to stay on the ground.
"Look what we have, here, boys. A filthy Eleven, thinking he can make a living anywhere. How pathetic. Not even your friends will come to your aid. Isn't that sad? Makes you want to plead for your life, doesn't it?" The thug leader looked down at Tamaki, grinding his shoe into the man's back.
"Shove your...bullshit back up your ass, you damn-!" Tamaki retorted, daring to resist, only to grunt in pain as he got struck, again.
"No backbone out of you, Eleven. Scum like you don't deserve to have any courage or backbone, because all you'll ever be seen as is weak little bitches." The leader kept issuing harsh words to the hurting Japanese man underneath his heel.
"Stop, that's enough! If you don't quit hurting him, then I'll-!" Suzaku tried to interject, only for the leader to point his pipe at the young man.
"Don't think you've escaped my notice either, 'Honorary' Britannian. Once I'm done with him, we'll bash you for our abstract art project as well. In fact...we might be able to have some fun with that girl, before ransoming her back to her mommy and daddy." The lead thug showed no remorse for his actions and words, a rather despicable sort.
"As if I'd let you do that, you repulsive excuse for a human being!" Euphy yelled at the thug, as he shrugged off the complaints.
The thug leader lifted his pipe high above his head, about to strike Tamaki with all his might. That is, until Alistair ran towards the thugs, jumped up and planted his right foot into a thug's face with a mighty kick, knocking him out as Alistair landed on his feet, with a determined smile. The leader looked at the sudden appearance of the young man, interrupting his swing.
"'Sup, douchebags?" Alistair greeted the thugs with his usual demeanor.
"You are, by far, the rudest person I've ever met." The thug leader spoke, as he pushed Tamaki to the side with his foot, dropping his posture as Tamaki let out some more groans of pain and muttering curses at the thugs. "You have to know that resisting us is against the rules in these parts. I don't know who you think you are, but we don't take kindly to rebellious little upstarts like you, trying to muscle in on our control."
"Aw, you're a little control freak, aren't you, little man? Never had your ego challenged so much, and you say I'm an annoyance? Now I begin to wonder when that precious ego of yours will shatter into tiny pieces. Not if, when." Alistair repeatedly taunted the thug, letting the pipe-wielding maniac play into his hands.
"You little piece of shit!" Like clockwork, the thug leader skipped straight to being angry upon being criticized, swinging his pipe at Alistair.
Upon hearing a metallic impact, the thug smiled and looked to see how well he hit Alistair, only to see that Alistair grabbed the pipe with his left hand. Alistair then yanked the pipe out of the thug's hand, and struck his gut with it, then swung the pipe hard with both hands, smashing it over his head, making it bleed. Upon this impact, which surprisingly didn't knock him out, possibly due to the outrage keeping him standing, the thug leader got a crazed look in his eye. Seeing the blood on his hand, trembling with fury, he pointed at the one who injured him.
"KILL HIM!" The thug leader shouted to his cronies, who approached Alistair threateningly as the young man cracked his neck.
As the thugs approached, Alistair took a fighting stance, ducking under and weaving past the swings of clubs and pipes, countering with swift stinging crosses, moving past the charging goons. Alistair then turned around and ran back towards his attackers just as they turned around, hitting seven of them with one big clothesline to knock them down. The thugs got back up and went to attack, but Alistair kept hold of the initiative, moving forward and weaving left and right, landing thunderous hooks to their faces and knocking the rest of the thugs out. Pain tolerance was not part of the requirements for being in such a group, it seemed. As the leader saw his lackeys defeated, he went to attack Alistair again, out of pure rage. But Alistair countered with a right ax kick, directly on his head. The blow was so strong that it made the last thug flip forward then fall on his knees, having a rather comedic expression on his face as he was knocked out. The gang of thugs groaned in pain and the ones that could walk grabbed their friends and leaders, running away in fear.
"Phew! Now that's a workout!" Alistair remarked, having managed to win against such overwhelming odds with relative ease, then offered a hand to Tamaki. "You good, dude?"
"Tch...! I don't need your goddamn pity." Tamaki scoffed at Alistair. "Why don't you just take the glory of beating me up for yourself and get yourself some brownie points?"
"Why, 'cause Britannia likes to steal countries for themselves and treat people that don't think the same as them like garbage? Last I checked, this was Japan, not some utopian freakin' nightmare. Or a communist country." Alistair responded, still offering his hand to Tamaki.
"Uh... You're not...Britannian?" Shocked, Tamaki took Alistair's hand and stood up, brushing himself off. "Sorry, I'm a bit too used to being called an Eleven these days. Honestly...it's starting to get more annoying than discriminating."
"Too right. Name's Alistair Wake. You?" Alistair introduced himself, constantly being nice to Tamaki.
"Shinichiro Tamaki." Tamaki introduced himself, right back.
"Well, Tamaki, if you ever need help, don't be afraid to call on me." Alistair kept up his friendly smile, stealthily handing Tamaki a small sheet of paper with his phone number on it. "Stay safe so we can hang out sometime, dig?"
"Yeah, I gotcha. See ya!" Tamaki smiled and waved goodbye, walking off and pocketing Alistair's number.
As Tamaki left, Alistair saw Suzaku and Euphy with rather shocked expressions on their faces, possibly because Alistair fought off so many thugs, without a scratch on him. The girl then brushed herself off, not realizing that there might not have been any dirt on her dress. The young Japanese man, however, shook his head when he realized his face was stuck in such a shocked expression.
"So, I take it you two are alright?" Alistair asked as he approached the two young people.
"Y-Yes. We're alright." Euphy responded, breathing a sigh of relief as she was brought back to reality.
"What you did was...incredible, honestly. You train in martial arts, in your spare time?" Suzaku was impressed with Alistair's fighting ability.
"I do some MMA on the side, yeah." Alistair responded truthfully, but to him it was only partially true.
"MMA...? Where have I heard that before...?" Suzaku whispered to himself, holding a hand to his chin for a moment, before shaking his head and smiling, offering his hand. "I'm Suzaku Kururugi, nice to meet you."
"Alistair Wake. I just got here to Japan, myself, about to enroll in Ashford Academy, first thing tomorrow." Alistair introduced himself to Suzaku and Euphy, shaking hands with the Japanese boy.
"First time in Area 11, huh? I can imagine you made...quite the impression, with what you just did." Suzaku chuckled as he slowly stopped shaking hands with his new friend.
"Though, coming here to further your education? Why not stay at home to do so? And why move here to do so?" Euphy asked, bringing up rather good questions about Alistair coming to Japan.
In Alistair's mind, the sounds of gunfire, explosions, yells of fear and pain and numerous sets of evil, malicious laughter echoed from his memories of past experiences, which stopped as he blinked. "Reasons."
"...Vague. But I guess you don't want to talk about it." Euphy shrugged, figuring she probably wouldn't get a straight answer out of Alistair just yet.
"People have their secrets, Euphy. Some just aren't meant to be told." Suzaku tried to comfort Euphie on Alistair's vague answer.
"Suzaku and Euphy. I think I'll remember the both of you. Sorry that those petty little punks ruined your date." Alistair modestly apologized, still smiling.
"What?! Oh, no, nothing like that! We were just, uh...!" Suzaku blushed and tried to correct Alistair on the situation.
Suddenly, an explosion went off at the nearby stadium, presumably caused by Britannian Knightmares. The ground shook from the explosion, catching even Alistair off guard. He also looked to see where the smoke was coming from, due to the explosion.
"What the hell?!" Alistair was shocked, dropping his smile and taking a step back.
"Is there a fight going on, over there?!" Suzaku clenched his fists, feeling like he wasn't able to do anything.
A truck suddenly drove up next to the group, a woman in an orange uniform with indigo hair opened the door, a man in a lab coat with lavender hair accompanying her. The woman was Cecile Croomey, while the man was Lloyd Asplund. They were part of a technological research division of the Britannian military, known as Camelot. Their existence wasn't common knowledge, however.
"Miss Cecile?! Lloyd?!" Suzaku was surprised to see some fellow soldiers knowing where he was.
"You'll want to get in, quickly, Suzaku, the Purists are having a bit of a squabble over the incident from a while ago." Lloyd informed Suzaku, adjusting his glasses with a usual smirk. "Though, just to inform you, you'll be working with me once more, thanks to your acquittal."
"Hold on! This is an opportunity to get data on the Lancelot, so let me help put an end to the fighting!" Suzaku made an offer to Lloyd, who looked rather impressed.
"Well...who am I to deny that kind of opportunity?" Lloyd sounded rather eager to do whatever Suzaku was willing to do.
"Hurry, Suzaku! Get inside and we'll prep you!" Cecile shouted to Suzaku, as Lloyd sat back down in his seat to make room for Suzaku.
"Euphy, Alistair... This is goodbye, for now. Wish me luck in this endeavor." Suzaku waved at the two, before getting into the truck, which sped off as the door closed.
"Catch ya later, bud." Alistair said calmly, regaining his smile. "I think he'll be alright, Euphy. Though, it's only natural to be worried."
"I am worried. I don't want there to be any other things to make him feel guilty. I can tell that you saw it, too." Euphy looked at Alistair, rather seriously.
"Like he said, there are some things people aren't meant to tell, right off the bat. If you're set on wanting Suzaku to make it out okay, the battleground's right across the street. Just...don't do anything crazy enough to get you killed, savvy?" Alistair gave Euphy some sound advice, looking her in the eyes.
Euphy looked back and forth slowly, between the stadium and Alistair, then nodded, running toward the stadium. After seeing his other friend run off, Alistair began walking back to Tokyo, by himself. By the time he reached the warehouse he was going to be staying at, night had fallen, and he managed to get inside without any trouble, as the area wasn't under any tight Britannian security. He went up the stairs of the abandoned warehouse, and entered the office that was to serve as his makeshift bedroom, for the time being. As he sat down on the bed, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.
"You're already here. Aren't you, Alison?" Alistair smiled, chuckling to himself.
Suddenly, a girl with short black hair and blue eyes appeared in the room, carrying a duffel bag meant for Alistair, wearing a camo t-shirt, camo pants and black boots. She seemed to know Alistair personally, another American. What was interesting about her was her ability to turn invisible.
"Miss me, handsome?" The girl named Alison said, setting down the duffel bag on the table.
"Not too much. I'm guessing you used that experimental sub that hadn't made it past the prototype stages?" Alistair asked Alison, crossing his legs.
"Yep. But, I can't stay. President's orders. He's keeping an eye on the situation here, as well, since Britannia's taking away the world's freedom, bit by bit. Plus, the submarine can only make a two-way trip, to get here then back home. We're trying to contain the fighting so it doesn't spread here." Alison responded.
"Fair enough. So, what's with the goodie bag?" Alistair looked at the duffel bag on the table.
"Your personal effects, which should help out when on foot. Your Glocks won't do much good except overkill on human targets, right?" Alison started to open the duffel bag as she spoke.
Alistair then remembered the pistols he had managed to hide under the back of his shirt, unfastening the holsters from his chest with a little grunt of pain. "Yeah, I probably should've worn a jacket, instead of hiding this under my shirt." He sighed in relief as he pulled out two Glock-17 pistols, setting them aside.
Alison started bringing out guns out of the duffel bag, one at a time. First, she brought out two pistols. "Five-sevens, different than the usual USPs, but still quite effective, especially with headshots and finding weak spots in armor." She set the pistols down on the table and brought out an assault rifle with a drum magazine. "Heckler and Koch SL8, military type, optimized for your preferences with a 45 round magazine to add to its firing rate and firepower, to ensure damage on any target." Alison cocked the rifle and set it down, bringing out the final guns, a shotgun and a large sniper rifle. "Franchi SPAS-12, also customized for 12 shots of 12-gauge shells and to not make the spread so big that some of the buckshot misses. And finally, the PGM Hecate II anti-materiel rifle. Chambered in .50 BMG, holds seven shots and is equipped with a suppressor to make the gunshots cause less ear ringing."
"That's good enough, for me. I think I'll find other goodies, as this little adventure goes on. In case of emergency stuff and all that. Anything else?" Alistair responded positively to the weapons that his friend brought him, as she set the shotgun down.
Alison then brought out a sort of uniform with a hat. "Finally, your custom Ashford uniform! No oversized chain with this outfit, you'll look like a bancho with this attire!"
"Yes!" Alistair stood up and happily took the uniform. "Thanks, Ali."
"That's not my nickname, and you know it." Alison smirked, bumping her elbow against Alistair's arm.
"I'm just messin' with ya. Tell the others I said hi and that I miss them." Alistair gave a nudge with his elbow back at Alison's arm, as he started preparing to go to bed.
Alison happily smiled at Alistair as she left, closing the door behind her. He laid down on the bed in the warehouse's office, having a solid place to sleep. Even with all the events transpiring around him, he found a way to rest up and fall asleep.
Meanwhile, at a Britannian military airport, Euphy, in a rather royal dress, looked at her sister, Cornelia li Britannia, arriving in Japan. Cornelia smiled at Euphy, having been unable to see her in a long time. The sight of her sister cheered the woman up, slightly.
"Euphemia, my sister, it's been far too long." Cornelia spoke, having set foot in the country as the new Viceroy, after her brother Clovis had been killed.
"Yes, it has. I assume you wouldn't want a welcoming party, after such a long time fighting elsewhere?" Euphemia li Britannia spoke with courtesy towards her sister.
"Hmm... Actually, yes. That would be nice. Relaxation now, anger later. Let's walk and talk." Cornelia nodded, walking alongside her sister as the soldiers were dismissed, returning to their posts.
"I'm quite glad that you're alright, after all that fighting in the Middle East. Your prowess in a Knightmare must know no bounds." Euphemia complimented her elder sister as she walked.
Cornelia looked to the sides, seeing that nobody else was around, and sighed, looking less dignified and professional and more like a normal civilian, as if her royal attitude was merely an act. "I really don't wanna talk about that, Euphy. Have you heard anything about...about America?"
"Excuse me?" Euphemia was surprised to hear Cornelia ask the question.
"Drop the act, there's nobody around, we can talk." Cornelia reassured her younger sister, rather calmly.
"No... I'm afraid I haven't. It's been so many years, too…" Euphemia sighed, feeling sad about the subject.
"Ten long years, we waited. Ten long years, we heard nothing. I worry, too, dear sister." Cornelia felt a sense of melancholy for a moment, then glared forward with immense anger, speaking in her thoughts. 'If you're still alive, I'll kill you myself...Hawking!'
The next day, the sun had come up, Alistair had eaten his breakfast, preparing for his day with a full stomach. He then put on his customized Ashford Academy uniform, with a black shirt, coat-length jacket with the Ashford insignia on the left lapel and no buttons, black pants and black shoes, completing his look with a visored black student cap. He certainly enjoyed the feeling and style of the uniform, as if used to light, coat-length jackets and the like.
"Gotta say, this fits me, quite well. Hopefully, the modifications to this gakuran uniform are comfy enough to look at. Ah, well, time to go!" Alistair smiled as he looked at himself in the uniform, exiting the warehouse to start his new academic life.
