Vivian woke up on the floor.

"You gave us quite the scare there," the blue-haired lady said.

"Fuck off! I'm not... the government's... property..." Viv said, coughing.

"Good Lord, what gave you the impression of that?" the white-haired physicist asked.

Past trauma, Vivian thought to herself. But was I thinking that, or was it...

"For some reason the bullet in your chest turned into this," Lloyd added, gesturing at a one-edged glaive.

How?! Vivian thought, eyes widening.

"The violations of conservation of matter made no sense, unless they were two completely different items. Not that we could tell from the safety of the Knightmare Frame."

"The base also mysteriously lost power," the lady added, "so there's no camera footage of what transpired between you bleeding whatever that was and waking up. And it magically just cleaned itself up."

"It just sank into the floor tiles and vanished. I don't even know what happened," Lloyd added, "which is a first."

They heard a knock on the door.

"I suppose I should open that," Lloyd commented, proceeding to do exactly as he advised himself.

"Lloyd. Ms. Cécile," a green-eyed conspicuously far-east Asian young man said. "I had to check on you after the power outage. It was a devastating embarrassment of our national security, and I feared it was to mask an assassination attempt."

"Wait a minute," Viv said, eyes darting toward the decorated Knight. "You're-"

"You are okay, right? No damage to the equipment either?"

"Sure, just ignore the person with a bullet in her chest on the floor," Viv quipped.

"What..." the man dazèdly inquired.

"I didn't stutter."

"Suzaku, it would seem you joined us at the least convenient time. We were just studying and comparing this city bumpkin's physiological abnormalities to those of bearers of Codes," Lloyd commented.

"...they ordinarily have the mark on their heads," Suzaku threw in helpfully. "And they aren't this ornate."

"Well, yes, but we couldn't know for sure and this is the first that anyone in our government's heard of metahumans' attributes resembling this girl."

"Just take me and Nina home..." Viv complained.

"You kidnapped her?!" Suzaku demanded, eyes widening.

"'We' is such a harsh term," Lloyd wryly threw in. "Jeremiah kidnapped her."

"...I don't know what was going through Lelouch's head recently," Suzaku commented. "I might've actually fucked the world up by chastizing him and trampling him in my anger."

We'll find a way! a voice in Viv's head echoed.

"I'm surprised an authoritarian like you doesn't already have a dossier about me if I'm suddenly so important," Viv bit at him.

"Say what you will about me; I deserve it," Suzaku groaned, a frown opening to show teeth across his embittered face.

"...You're trying to earn pity from me," Viv accused. "It's not working."

"No. No, I am not."

Viv reached for the sword on the floor and—

Immediately got kicked in the left side of her head.

"Sorry, impulse," Suzaku said.

"Bullshit!" Viv screamed. "That's where my Broca's area is, you know! Do you want me to have a speech impediment?!"

"No!" Suzaku screamed back. "Just let me explain, it actually-"

"It's not his fault!" Cécile shouted, Lloyd giggling in the corner.

"Then tell me," Viv spat.