"I thought you studied Literature! How were you her mentor?" Shirly unexpectedly threw the first question of the debate.
"I studied information technology too. I was planning on getting it as a second degree but dropped out in my third year."
"Did you have piercings too? Do you just put them on after school and go incognito, and that's why we can never find you outside of school hours?" That's a bit of a reach, Rivalz.
"No, I just leave as soon as possible to avoid traffic."
"You went to Lewis Marshall?! Um… why are you working here then?" Oh, Nina is asking too. Is it really that surprising that I don't have a perfect job? I am crippled in a "Social Darwinist" society. Besides, this school doesn't make me want to kill my boss.
"Britannia isn't a meritocracy for folks without connections, your education can only take you so far. Make connections kids." A bit harsh but Nina should hear it.
"I want to see what you looked like back then!" Milly jumped in after that awkward answer trying to keep the jolly atmosphere going.
"I hate to disappoint you but I just wore turtlenecks and jeans back then." I played along and replied with the best monotone I could manage.
I saw Nina deflate slightly after that answer. Maybe she wanted that kind of look and was seeking advice? I couldn't really think of anything other than that.
"Wait, we're not going to talk about the ideological debate with Suzaku?" That was Rivalz.
"I think we should go in chronological order. You know from the university thing to the ideological debate to the psycho biblical plague on the news." Milly you wound me so? Wait, that could give me a chance to escape. I glanced at my wrist watch. One and a half hours till the supplementary lesson.
Just as I was about to try to escape another question came, this time from someone who had been silent until then.
"Do you… Do you truly think that the Black Knights are just like the Britannians?" The near silent voice with an undertone of both despair and spite silenced all else in the room. I turned towards Kallen who was dead in the eyes and wasn't moving at all.
I gave the only answer I could. "Yes and no. I hate to answer like this but one must ask themselves this question and decide for themselves. 'Do the ends justify the means?' if 'yes' then the Black Knights are entirely separate from Britannia, they desire freedom and to have their nation back. Such a goal can only very rarely be unjust, so it's still just even if they have to taint themselves with blood of both the guilty and the innocent, after all it'll all be worth it in the end.
But if the answer is 'no', then they might even end up being worse than Britannia. If looked from an outside angle and simplified one can see that these two factions are eerily similar once the goals are overseen. They both follow their leaders blindly with brutal savagery and they both try to use unrelenting strength to get what they want no matter the cost.
Wether Black Knights and Britannia is similar or not depends entirely on your own philosophy. To me the ends justify the means… until a certain point. Sometimes, down that path paved with sin enough crimes build up that the ends simply aren't worth it anymore. In the end the Black Knights will decide how far they are willing to go."
The room was silent, the kids had all gone still and Kallen's face was hidden by the desk she had laid her head on. Lelouch made to speak but I hurriedly gazed at my wrist watch and spoke over him.
"Anyways, that's enough philosophy for today. I don't get paid enough to teach multiple subjects, so bye!" I made my way towards the door and got out without giving the student council the chance to ask more questions. Just as I was about to shut the door I shouted inside. "I expect those who have it to be at the supplementary lessons by five."
I bolted out of the club house after that while also ignoring Milly as she shouted something that sounded suspiciously like 'coward!' behind me.
Soon after my escape from the student inquisition I made my way to my desk at my personal office and started gathering some of the lesson materials for the supplementary lesson. I had to prepare to assign Alice her own assignments as she's in an entirely different grade than the rest of the students. Alice doesn't do badly in tests but since she's constantly skipping I have to include her in the lesson as well. Actually, Lelouch and Kallen also fit that description.
Lelouch missing class to be a masked freedom fighter is hilarious and all… But since Alice, Kallen and Suzaku are all hypothetically soldiers does that mean that more than fifth of the (extended) student council are Britannian soldiers? I guess an extraordinary teacher needs extraordinary students.
In an effort to disregard that little tidbit I sped up my work and placed the materials inside the leather satchel I carry during school hours. It's not that long of a walk to the classroom but I prefer being early. It makes the students less rowdy, not that I expected this class to be particularly rambunctious, but still…
Regardless of the reason my strides quickly took me to the classroom before any students could get there. The richly decorated classroom with tall windows and high quality wooden desks was pleasing to the eyes, but the reason I picked this classroom over any other was simple yet vitally important. Curtains. You'd think that an academy like Ashford would have curtains in all classrooms right? No, there are none. Well, almost none. This classroom is one of the few in the entire complex that has these rich, red and tall curtains.
This may seem like a weird nitpick but I absolutely hate it when the sun gets into my eyes when giving a lecture. I can't even look away from the students either, so I have to squint my eyes and bear with it. I don't remember having these kinds of frustrations before, oh, I absolutely would get annoyed very often but not to this point. It might just be a consequence of getting older…
As a result of that thought emotions of despair quickly flowed from me to my bugs and I was my everyday self again. That was the exact moment a lens flare hit me in the eye and a hive of wasps suddenly began buzzing aggressively at nothing at all. Without a hint of the annoyance I should be feeling I moved to the window to close the curtains but as I was moving I noticed something. The lens flare moved. Panic shot through my consciousness as bugs tried to converge on the origin point of the flare.
Whoever was watching the classroom was barely outside my range for me to really spot them. The dragonflies I had could see something moving but I couldn't make out what it was, I was still too unused to their senses after having regained my powers. Panic began to overtake and I forced the emotions into my bugs.
Thinking rationally there were a few reasons anyone could be watching the classroom. First and most dangerous one being that someone discovered my identity and was planning on killing me with a sniper. Another and only marginally less dangerous option was that Lelouch was discovered either as Zero or as a prince, which did seem likelier than my discovery but would no doubt end just as badly.
As my body was standing absolutely still and plans were being made and discarded immediately the wooden door of the classroom was knocked and Kallen entered the room. I straightened my stance and turned around to greet her. Only to see her staring at me with an eyebrow raised… Inside the now very dark room.
"Miss Hebert, uh… may I turn on the lights?" Looks like she picked the latter option between bolting out of the room and just acting like my accidental dramatic posing hadn't happened.
Naturally I answered her with only a little bit of bashfulness and a lot of background terror at the potential sniper on a building planning to possibly kill me. "Yes… Of course. We'll start as soon as the others arrive."
With a nod of her head and the flick of a switch the bright white lights turned on and Kallen took a seat towards the back of the room. I loosely tracked the figure as they moved between buildings and the students started funnelling inside. Besides Lelouch, Rivalz, Suzaku and Alice there were a few more students from a wide variety of classes and I quickly began the lesson making sure to not do anything unusual as I tracked the figure.
He had switched to an apartment nearer to the school that had a view to the back of the classroom and was finally inside my 4-Block range. The gnats and a few flies felt around him as I continued analysing poems for my students. The bugs finally found out what he was holding. Some kind of camera, even with offloading my emotions I almost breathed a sigh of relief.
I'm guessing it's just some photographer taking photos of the school for the Ashfords. A voice in the back of my head whispered that I'm never that lucky and I had to agree with it. I'll have to ask Ruben just in case it is something bad, and if it is someone here for Lelouch those photos might end up being dangerous…
My class continued only with me being a little more animated now that my emotions weren't being offloaded. Life is… stressful.
The class ended, students left to enjoy their evening until Friday's classes and I went to find Ruben. The empty hallways stretched on as I walked through them. No brisk steps, just lugging my satchel around and carrying a mug of tea with my intact hand taking long steps on my way to Ruben's office.
Although I wasn't totally free of my paranoia, the long walk did help me shed some more of the tension I had built up during the encounter with the photographer. I neared Ruben's office and opened the door of the waiting room to the sight of his former butler, current assistant Maxwell Atcheson. The sixty something years old man dressed in a simple brown two piece suit looked up from the monitor he was looking at at me and lowered his spectacles as he saw me.
"Ah Miss Hebert, I'm afraid if you are looking for Mister Ashford he left for a meeting scheduled at the imperial palace. Some old acquaintances of his have recently arrived in Area 11 and wished to meet with him. He might be back quite late." The news carried by the monotone of the loyal retainer wasn't surprising. Even after their fall from grace the Ashfords remained somewhat prestigious. Although it was something of a problem. I stepped inside the waiting room and closed the door behind me.
"I see, I wanted to ask him about the photographer I saw around the school. Should I be concerned about a stalker or is it for the yearbook?." Maxwell's face took on a ponderous look as he supposedly tried to remember something.
"Hmm, I believe the Young Mistress was talking about something like that a few weeks ago… Though I don't recall Mister Ashford ever agreeing to it. I wouldn't be surprised if he did, it hardly seems harmful after all." I had to agree with him. Compared to most other things Milly proposed it was quite tame. Maybe she's finally becoming a bit more considerate? Yeah, I don't buy that for a second, she has something planned. Though, I'll let her have her fun this time.
"Then, we'll see when whatever Milly's planning bears fruit." Maxwell cringed visibly and answered back.
"I'm afraid so Miss Hebert… I'm afraid so. Anyways if you have no other business I must bid you farewell, I have quite a lot to do and not enough hours in the day to do them all." With a shake of his head and a pained smile he bid me good bye and I replied much the same.
"Good bye Mister Atcheson." After the short farewells I left and headed towards the monorails to hopefully get some rest before both the classes and the probably long journey tomorrow.
Despite the oddly calm day and the bored yet excited atmosphere Friday brought to the academy, there was an odd air of tension inside the student council room brightened by the afternoon sun as the members did their own work silently.
The reason for this tension was twofold. Firstly three members were missing namely Suzaku, Kallen and Lelouch which was already distressing for most of the remaining members but most importantly as Lelouch was missing there was no one to do Milly's own paperwork which put her in a… let's say bad mood.
"The moment Lelouch returns I am going to stuff all this paperwork down his throat… I am going to make him beg. I am going to…" And so on went Milly's rant. A rant that had been going on for a half an hour already. As I considered myself a reasonable and responsible authority figure -unlike most authority figures- I stepped in to prevent the future confrontation.
"If you do that you'll have to do your own paperwork for the rest of your highschool life." My brief interjection shook Milly out of her rant and made the rest of the room breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing Milly start to slowly deflate I offered her a cup of tea from the set placed right next to me on the large desk we all were clustered around. She took one sip and promptly began whining.
"Noooooo, I can't do this anymore! What kind of "business" does Lelouch even have that he dares force me to actually do my job!" I could see Rivalz burying himself in his work just to avoid answering his overlady's question. As the rest of the room also didn't seem to want to interject. So it once again fell to me.
I couldn't just say 'he's planning a terrorist attack against military forces.' so I lied.
"He told me he was meeting with someone about cybernetic aid for Nunnally." That made Milly stop immediately, almost making her freeze. I hated giving her false hope but it would be best to make sure she didn't start snooping around prematurely, and anything about Nunnally's condition makes both Milly and Lelouch quickly change the topic.
Is it morally wrong to emotionally manipulate my students with the health condition of another one? Yes. Do I feel bad about it? No, Nunnally herself does it so I can do it to protect their wellbeing as well. I am not justifying myself, despite what that voice in the back of my head says.
Shirly stepped in to steer the conversation away from what had been a desperate hope for both Milly and Lelouch for half a decade. "S-so… What is up with Kallen and Suzaku then?"
Being practically all knowing inside school perimeters Milly replied despite clearly trying to focus on the paperwork in front of her once more. "Kallen is dealing with family business and Suzaku was called in this morning for something important. They aren't even replying to messages. That's causing a lot of paperwork for us as well." She paused to think about something. "Speaking of paperwork, Miss Hebert would you be willing to perhaps handle the student request forms? Please"
Regardless of the pleading look on her face I had only one answer. "No."
I watched as Milly slammed her face onto the desk and all the papers on it.
"I have a doctor's appointment at six." I made up an excuse mostly out of pity.
The entire room seemed to suddenly turn to look at me with various shades of concern and panic.
"Are you alright Miss Hebert?" Rivalz voiced his concern readily but it was unnecessary. Seeing myself surrounded by genuine concern I assuage their fears. "It's just a mandated blood test and check up. It's in my contract." It is actually in my contract that I have to provide assurances of good health every year but I have those check ups every January. This time it's just a good excuse to get out and play freedom fighter.
"Ughhh… fine see you later then." Milly replied and shooed me out at the same time and I didn't mind it that much. With a raised eyebrow and a curt 'have a nice weekend' I gathered my stuff and left for home arriving only twenty minutes later.
My teaching materials and small satchel were promptly thrown onto my couch and I started the process of removing all my hidden gear from various cupboards and nooks. My new pistol, kunai and bandolier filled to the brim with grenades were taken from inside my bed frame. I opened the shoebox hidden inside my closet beneath other shoeboxes and took out my costume along with the mask, toolbelt, hair extensions and new mag carriers I took from the Black Knights.
Finally after everything was on and fitted I pulled the black combat boots I had gotten from a random surplus store, took my motorcycle keys and promptly left through the fire escape. Once I got to the motorcycle hidden in an alley a block or so from my house I was on my way to the subway tunnels.
Enjoying the afternoon almost evening air with that odd feeling of excitement and anticipation possibly coming from my passenger I rode through the mostly deserted roads towards the edge of the city. The Passenger hiding behind my mind was oddly excitable, it felt more responsive almost as if it was suddenly more real than it was before. Was it just because I knew more about it? Or because it knew more about me?
"I'd say a mix of both, it learned a lot recently. Both from you during The Rampage and now from something else. But you are also more aware of what is going on inside your head." The ever present voice of the apparition appeared from my right rear mirror along with Lisa's image.
I mulled over her words. The 'now from something else' did seem a bit ominous, it could be something as simple as another 'host' and well… that would be bad but the other option is that my passenger found something similar to itself which would be possibly world ending. I know I am a bit unstable right now with conflict but even then I'm not looking forward to possibly fighting another Scion.
"I don't think you should be worried about that, whatever it found made it more interested in humanity and this world… otherwise it wouldn't spend so much effort making me and keeping you mostly sane. Or maybe it would, your power was always more fond of you than most powers." And didn't that put my heart at peace? 'No Taylor, your power isn't going to destroy the world. Or maybe it just wants to keep you alive till it does and will in the and make a copy of you or something to haul around the multiverse.' God, why couldn't powers just be powers and not outer gods with unknowable motives?
Regardless of my current crisis I finally arrived at one of the subway tunnels that led deeper into the abandoned and very vast tunnels. I left the bike in an alley behind a dumpster and covered it with the dirty grey tarp I had under the seat. A short moment later I began walking towards the Black Knights mustering point picking up whatever useful bug there was inside the ruins of Tokyo and the subway. I didn't know exactly where we would be going so it was better to be prepared… also the dramatic effect of hundreds of thousands of bugs following behind me was useful for maintaining a 'healthy' work relationship with the Black Knights.
Speaking of the Black Knights, their knightmares and APCs along with their respective crews and technicians were finally in my range. The usual chaos was even more intense than usual with the soldiers running around hauling supplies and information around. There were definitely more Knightmares around now, at least seven of them and new models too, one of them having a distinctly different shape than the others.
My arrival did not go unnoticed, many of the soldiers pointed me out and one of them left to probably inform Zero, who was busy talking with a girl with an almost familiar shape. Most likely the new mecha' pilot. Upon hearing of my arrival he and the girl turned towards the entrance. I practically power walked towards them. Intent on learning what exactly we were getting ready for.
They turned a corner and red hair entered my line of vision and I went still… I stared at Kallen's face, she stared at my mask. She and Zero kept walking towards me and I kept staring at her. I was apparently way off the mark with her allegiances, she wasn't a Britanian soldier she's a damn Black Knight. The noble heiress is a quasi-terrorist… That makes even less sense than usual. I have to be missing something here, this just doesn't make any sense. She shouldn't have any reason to fight Britannia…
"I see that you're on time as always Weaver. I've prepared a meeting with senior members of the Black Knights, I'd prefer if you attended too." Zero reminded me of his presence and I turned my head towards him before nodding for him to go on.
"I'm sure you're wondering what exactly I'm planning. Sadly I only like explaining my plans when there is enough dramatic effect to be gained from it. Somehow you don't strike me as someone that would be affected much." I could almost hear the smug smirk he wore under the mask. It was far easier to read him now, Zero is just Lelouch without his usual inhibitions and over the years I had gotten very good at understanding what Lelouch thought.
"Lead the way…" I began and let the sentence hang for a second as an interesting possibility came to mind. I turned my head towards Kallen. "I'm looking forward to these 'senior members now'." I sure as hell hope it's not just the rest of the Student Council. That would be horribly trite.
Kōzuki Kallen
There was a tense atmosphere inside the luxury double-decked 'mega-car'. Most of the current 'leaders' were inside sitting around the table waiting for Zero to begin explaining whatever he had us mustering for. The lack of proper information wasn't the source of the current tension though, as it was practically par for the course with Zero. Neither was it the lack of Ohgi's presence. No, the actual cause was sitting right in front of me and staring at… whatever she was staring at behind her mask. Weaver sat with her usual creepy stillness and just waited. She didn't greet us, she didn't say anything, hell she didn't even look like she was breathing.
Other than the occasional unnerving stare she threw my way. I hadn't seen her do anything but nod or grunt when questioned since we arrived. Despite her mask having more humanoid features than Zero's she seemed somehow less human. Zero was more present, Weaver however seemed to only acknowledge other people when she had a use for them and since the meeting hadn't begun yet we might as well have been paper cut-outs to her. She looked us over and clearly was aware of our existence but barely reacted to anything we or specifically Tamaki said.
Speaking of Tamaki… "Oi, brit. Is your head filled with bugs too or are you going to answer yet? Why the fuck are you here with us?" Tamaki's usual crassness involving britannians was rearing its troublesome head again as he once again tried to get the attention of the apparently superpowered woman, who probably didn't even speak japanese.
Resisting the urge to stop him from embarrassing us further by force I replied in japanese tersely. "Zero wants her here, she's coming with us to the operation."
"Well, why does Zero even want her here? We have proper knightmares now, don't need her black magic bullshit." I grit my teeth as I 'smiled' at Tamaki, who was now practically standing up and pointing at the possibly-sleeping, definitely terrifying woman.
"We have seven knightmares, the brits have thousands of them. We need whatever we can get. And she-" I pointed at Weaver "-is a fairly great equaliser."
I glanced over at her checking to see whether she had shifted even slightly and found that she was in an oddly familiar pose. Right leg over the left one, arms crossed and head slightly tilted… I got the feeling of amusement from her, in a way that reminded me of the student council weirdly enough.
I stared at her trying to decipher where I remembered the pose from. But despite the very distinct hair and personality the only resemblance I could see was Miss Hebert, who was missing half a damn arm. I doubted even an armoured body glove could hide that. Besides she was a teacher with apparent connections to a britannian soldier, she couldn't be Weaver.
Tamaki's attempt to continue the small argument shifted my attention back to him, thankfully he was saved from making more of a fool of himself by none other than Zero.
I watched as he entered the room with the same self-assured calm he always carried along with Ohgi, who looked distinctly much more nervous. He kept shooting glances at Zero but remained silent as Zero pulled a remote out of his cape with the usual flourish and turned on the screen to the side.
And so began Zero's explanation. "A somewhat trustworthy source has informed us of a major development. The Viceroy's forces will be conducting an operation near Narita, also rumoured to be the JLF's primary base. While coming to the defence of the JLF would naturally be enough reason to go there, our main objective will be the capture of Cornelia and annihilation of her command structure." At this point most of the occupants of the room were trading worried glances with each other except for Weaver and Zero. I couldn't help but be worried as well. We simply couldn't fight the entirety of the Britannian army, not yet anyways.
But Zero already knew that. "I am sure that sounds virtually impossible to you, but worry not we have the tools to easily even the odds. An underground reservoir, the Radiant Wave Surger and mining equipment." It clicked in my mind instantly and I practically jumped in.
"A steam explosion inside the mountain. An artificial landslide!" It was somewhat unhinged but exactly the kind of tactic Zero would use. Zero nodded at me and carried on.
"Precisely, we can use an artificial landslide to separate Cornelia and their G-1 Landcruiser from the rest of her forces along with destroying a vast amount of her elite and valuable pilots." Zero's gaze slowly swivelled over everyone in the room before finally settling on Weaver, who was also directly staring at Zero.
"And you, Weaver, along with two squads are going to make sure that whoever is in the G-1 will be removed. I doubt the men in there will actually be of much value, but their deaths will make their families in Britannia very angry and loud. If we are lucky we can cause enough chaos to stun the enemy even if we fail to capture Cornelia." He stopped for a second for seemingly no reason. "I'm sure that you won't have any problems dealing with them." He finished with a sense of finality seemingly intent on ending the almost monologue of a meeting.
Weaver seemed to have a different idea. "I won't have any problems so long as things go like you say they will. But I do have a question. What about the city and civilians? That landslide could kill thousands if it reaches the city." The no-nonsense voice of Weaver cut through the atmosphere and made me imagine the scenario she described.
The landslide I would cause not just stopping at the Viceroy's forces but also sliding into the city below like a tsunami of rock and earth crushing people underneath and sweeping buildings away. A shudder came over me as I practically stared into the faces of the innocents I would directly Murder. I turned to Zero with hope that he would assure me that Weaver was worried over nothing. But he was silent for a second too long.
"Taking Cornelia's previous actions and personality she will evacuate the civilians first. Most likely only a few hours before the operation to both ensure no collateral damage and prevent forewarning to the JLF. The city might be damaged if my calculations are off, however there will be minimal, if any civilian casualties in any case."
His reasoning made sense and it certainly convinced most of the original resistance members but it didn't assuage my fears. That singular second of hesitation wasn't something I had seen from Zero till now. And it reminded me that for all his miracles and self-confidence Zero was a human being, perhaps even a flawed one…
But he was the best commander, no, leader we had. I glanced at Weaver and saw that she was in that eerily unmoving pose, but I could swear I heard the insects buzzing louder than usual. I couldn't tell what she was thinking but she didn't keep arguing so that might have been tenuous acceptance.
But what about me? Even if Zero designed the plan I would be the one to pull the trigger. I would be the one responsible… Yet I couldn't see any other way out, we couldn't let the JLF die, nor could we fight the Viceroy directly.
We needed a miracle and I knew only one man that could produce them on demand. So I had to follow him, trust him until I no longer could. With a deep breath I strengthened my resolve.
I will cause that landslide, I will strike our enemies down regardless of their circumstances. I have to trust that this path we take is just despite what Miss Hebert had said yesterday. Because if it isn't what even is left in this world for me? What reason would I have for existing?
It's cold, and it's not just cold. I can deal with cold, I dealt with cold most of my life first living in New England then Illinois and after Gold Morning in Michigan. What I can't deal with is dry cold with a lot of wind. I'm wearing a spider silk body glove covered in armour and thick enough to both cushion blunt impacts and easily stop bladed weapons yet I'm still cold
The ten soldiers cramped inside the old Mitsubishi APC along with me and crew could barely keep the Mountain chill outside. Whatever heating it had must have broken down long ago. Despite the discomfort and incoming battle the men were fairly jovial, speaking amongst themselves usually about Zero but also about me in a surprisingly positive manner. I recognised five of the men with me as the same squad as my first operation, they must have put in a good word for me.
That feels… oddly nice, I'm not used to having people appreciate me like this. Well there were some people, but they were either the Undersiders, rarely the Chicago Wards or Dragon and Defiant. I could get used to being looked up to by my 'coworkers' instead of just feared.
The communicator Zero had given me crackled and I heard the supposed second in command, Ohgi's voice come out of it in Japanese a moment later. The gist of it was that we were almost at our mustering location with at most thirty minutes left and were entering full radio silence. I didn't mind, I wasn't one to chat before a mission, nor did I feel comfortable talking Japanese yet. Maybe I should get Kallen to teach me some? Seeing her panic when I ask her to would definitely be amusing.
Amongst the chatter of the soldiers a particular remark from a few seats away caught my attention. "Why did we come all the way up here anyways? To dig a hot spring?" The brief joke got no replies other than a few other soldiers suggesting a picnic but none of them actually knew why we had come here.
Did Zero and the senior members not inform them? For what reason though? Zero only told the rest of us yesterday evening so there wouldn't have even been enough time for information to leak. Perhaps paranoia, maybe something else.
Deciding to step in and do an impromptu briefing I replied to the man to my left with my somewhat broken heavily accented Japanese. "We're going to help the JLF." My first words since we had gotten inside the IFV immediately made me the centre of attention but I continued on. "They will be attacked by the Britannians today. Zero wants to make sure they make it out."
The new information was taken fairly well, though some of them grimaced upon the implication that we would be fighting the Britannians directly. I took note of those men, they might be more reliable than the rest. The sergeant from the first mission, who was sitting across from me, called out to me in Japanese. "What are we going to be doing during the operation ma'am?"
I looked him in the eyes and continued the 'briefing' in English. "We've been tasked with flanking through the sparse forest and reaching the command post. Zero will cause a landslide to throw the enemy into disarray so that we can pierce through whatever forces have been left behind and secure their landcruiser. " Taking in their reactions to what might seem like a herculean task I tried to reassure them.
"We've been provided with all of the anti-knightmare weapons we secured from the raid and any infantry the Britannians have won't be equipped to combat an IFV and my swarm. If we can strike hard and fast enough any kind of mechanised guard can be eliminated."
I leaned back into my seat and made a point of looking all of the men with me over. "This won't be a cakewalk but Zero has set the stage for us to cause as much chaos as possible and I intend to deliver a mortifying Curtain Call."
Although I was slightly embarrassed by my speech I basked in the rousing cheers of the soldiers around me unfamiliar with this kind of reaction to an upcoming battle but enjoying it to the fullest. I found myself liking it, not something I would expect.I very often despised and were despised by the people I fought alongside, so the thought that such an atmosphere could exist was foreign to me. It wasn't bad…
About half an hour later I was watching the hundreds of Britannian mechas along with their supporting armour and V-Tol craft encircle the entirety of the mountain we were standing on. Only a single thought passed through my mind. How the fuck are we supposed to flank and go around a numerically superior foe who has us surrounded?
I watched with a disinterested gaze as the Black Knights began voicing their discontent with the current situation at Zero. The men behind me must have also thought similarly but they hadn't voiced their discontent yet. Unless Zero said something soon he would have a mutiny in his hands.
The particularly annoying red head from before, Tamaki screamed out. "We'd need a damn miracle to fight our way out of this! It's fucking impossible!" And that finally caused Zero to react.
"Absolutely, we do need a miracle to survive and win this. A miracle that we-" He swept his arms open to include all the men and women gathered around him. "shall provide." Finished Zero.
But Tamaki wasn't satisfied. "Look here pal, miracles don't come cheap! Damn it, I knew this was all a mistake! You're nuts!" He screamed to be heard over the clanging of the drilling probes in the background. Zero answered with a calm voice.
"And the liberation of Japan from the strongest superpower in the World is supposed to be cheap? Is it supposed to be achieved through conventional means? Do you honestly think this crusade of ours is sensical in any way?
No! Absolutely not! We shape ourselves messiahs against Britannia with only determination and will to back us up, we must perform these miracles to be acknowledged! To lead true war against Britannia we must make miracles commonplace and the traditional rules of war must be thrown out the window."
Though cawed the Red head grit his teeth and began to unholster his weapon. In that second I made my swarm chitter and scream with an intensity loud enough to drown out even the jets flying barely ten kilometres away. I didn't unholster my pistol simply because Tamaki was to my right, where my prosthetic was. I had fairly high confidence using knives with the sturdy prosthetic but I doubted I could aim a gun with it.
Judging from Tamaki's scared shitless face I doubted a gun would be needed at all. I didn't attack tough, simply waited until…
"Weaver, there is no need to overreact. I understand your concerns. But, he is free to do what he wishes. In fact…" Zero began only to pull his own gun out, point it at Tamaki and then spin it by the trigger and offer it up. "Any who think they can win without me accept this weapon and shoot me with it. Anyone!"
I felt my eyebrows rising, I didn't think Lelouch would be this daring, and neither did the Black Knights if their agape mouths and wide eyes were anything to go by. I carefully monitored all of them for the slightest indication of wanting to take Lelouch's offer up. Getting slightly calmer as the silence went on.
"Ever since you joined the Black Knights you've had two options. Either Live with me or die with me!" Said Zero. The passion in his voice must have been more than just theatrical, he was afraid yet determined. Truly in his element.
I gathered my swarm back to me and turned my attention to the advancing Britannians now that I was somewhat sure he would be fine. They were really pushing fast, forming three arrows or rather spearheads and aggressively breaking through the mountain's defences. Moments later a flare came up from where we predicted the entrance to the JLF's fortress was and the arrows began converging upon it.
I idly fiddled with my prosthetic, closing its fingers into a hook-like shape and making sure it was attached well. I rolled the wrist portion around a bit checking if it had gotten stuck again. A plan was formulating, a reckless one lacking finesse but one I was extremely used to using.
No further arguments came, order was established. I spoke without turning to my squad. "Start getting ready, I've got an idea as to how we can break through the Brits."
Even without seeing their faces I could easily tell they were wondering what I thought up but I didn't explain. No need to make them panic yet.
I heard Zero's voice call out behind us. "All preparations are complete! All Black Knights, it is time to make history!" His rousing call was met with unenthusiastic but determined replies. It was time to do or die and none of us wanted to die.
My squad and I filed in and I spoke to them one final time before we would descend upon the Britannians. "A miracle has been asked of us. I don't know about you all but I've been delivering miracles since I was fifteen. I failed quite a lot of times, learned from them and became better. I saw what happens when we fail. I don't plan on failing this time, I have too much at risk right now, I think you do too." I made a show of leaning into my seat and fixing my communication headband underneath my mask. "Don't throw away your lives, we will live through this." I fnisihed somewhat lamely. Internally I cringed even as my men cheered and rallied around me.
My mediocre at best communication skills always made me terrible at this sort of thing. I have never been good at talking to people without threatening them and this is so out of my 'expertise', that I really don't even know where to begin. Thankfully Zero saved me from any further embarrassment by starting his briefing through our coms.
"Our operations objective is to cripple the enemy leadership by capturing Viceroy Cornelia and eliminating their leading officers. We lack the necessary numbers to do this conventionally, thus we shall depend on shock and awe tactics.
The Guren Mk-II will open a breakthrough path for us! Kallen, use electrode number three and open a path straight through!" Zero ordered. I felt myself twitch at the use of Kallen's name but stayed silent as Kallen began speaking.
"Output confirmed. Radiant Wave Surger maintaining level status." Radiant Wave Surger? Where have I heard that before? Before I could ponder that further a deep breath was heard and then… "Induction!"
Red light flowed through the garbled vision of my bugs as those I had placed around the Guren Mk-II were flash boiled in an instant. The crackling of the Radiant Wave Surger was deafening, it seeped through the ground and felt like it was hammering into my brain. The blinding red lightning and light flowing from the mechas chrome hand seeped into even the fully closed APC through the firing ports and showered us with red light. Eventually it let out.
Seconds later the ground rumbled. I heard Kallen's excited and relieved "It worked!" through my headset. The earth ruptured as tons of rock and dirt flowed like a river crushing the distinct purple blurs I could see through my bug's eyes and the black Burais of the JLF alike. I felt my range grow at the sight.
"Once our Knightmares leave and the dirt settles, drive straight over the destroyed Knightmares. Screw flanking, we'll rely on chaos to cower us." I finally ordered only to get a confused 'eh?' from the driver. So I screamed. "You heard me! Pedal to the fucking metal!"
That finally had the driver gunning the engine and we finally flew. Quite literally. We had a lot of air time as the APC jumped straight off the mountain and into the unstable and treacherous ground. Screams followed shortly. I resisted the urge to join them. The 35mm coilgun above us began its rapport as it finished off any of the Knightmares desperately trying to claw their way out.
Round after round of sabot shells screamed out as our bumpy ride barrelled down the mountain at god knows what speed. With my extended range I finally spotted their G-1 and its accompanying Knightmares to our right.
"Go left and flank around the G-1! It's half a klick from us to the right!" My shout was heard and a giddy "Yes, ma'm!" came back. So I began ordering the infantry.
"Ready your weapons! We're going to be safe as we exit but the enemy will be seconds away at best!" As I said that I noticed the G-1's Knightmare guards leave to charge at Zero, a smile came over my face. That left only twenty infantrymen and a singular main battle tank to cover the G-1, which arguably was a fortress in its own right. Well… so long as it could see.
My swarm rose from the ground like a cloud of malicious smoke, blinding cameras jamming whatever they could and filling the lungs of whatever poor fool wasn't wearing a helmet. The interiors of the G-1 were airtight so I only had minimal coverage there and the smaller vehicle parked next to it was even cleaner. I was blind to whatever was happening in them but outside none of the Britannian soldiers could do anything.
Two of the Knightmares noticed what had happened but we had already reached our destination and were disembarking. I watched as a volley of Missiles from my men and the APC alike shredded the first one to turn back and bugs clogged up the seconds servos slowing it to a crawl so that the 35mm could pierce through its joints and down it too. The pilot managed to eject along with the cockpit block only to crash straight into a tree and be squished. I made a face at the grisly display but moved on quickly.
I unholstered my pistol and rushed for the infantry first and called for my squad to take out the Tank, the fwoosh! of three missiles and the detonation of an ammo rack rewarded me. Before even waiting for them to confirm I began firing off into my swarm capping Britannians in the knees, shoulders, and hands. I noted my odd non-lethal aim for a second. Was I hesitating? But dismissed it quickly. Yet that distraction had cost me, one of the stormtrooper knockoffs managed to spray their rifle in my general direction.
I avoided most of the spray by luck and most of the rest by dashing to the left but a single high calibre bullet still hit my right, prosthetic arm making a terrible screeching noise and almost dislocating my shoulder. I glanced down at the bullet seeing it lodged deep inside revealing the somewhat shiny chrome to the world. I pointed my 10mm pistol at the sprayer and double tapped him in the knees. Rushing through the swarm and opening up a path for my men to follow me through I rushed at the smaller vehicle intent on clearing it quickly.
We made it through to the large door to the back, it must have been a Knightmare carrier. I pointed my left arm at it and fired the wrist mounted launcher, Hama Yumi, and heard its distinct 'ftunk phsss!' as it sailed through the air and slammed into the massive, armoured carrier with a slightly pink-tinted explosion followed by some dumb-fire rockets from my supporting squad.
The explosions opened up a large hole in the vehicle which I flooded with bugs. Yet through the swarm I could see the green glow of a very distinctive shield I had been briefed on. Lancelot, the prototype Knightmare was in there. I felt myself sweat as I reloaded my wrist mounted weapon fiddling with its opening hatch by hooking my prosthetic. It took a few tries but the bolt keeping it shut finally opened and I managed to bump a bolt inside.
"Spread out! Into the swarm, and get ready to fire from multiple flanks! We can take this thing out." I ordered my men as I rushed closer to the carrying vehicle intent on taking cover in front of it. I dived into the swarm and listened to my squad's slightly panicked voices as they too dived into the swarm. Seconds later the Lancelot stepped out despite me trying to clog its protected joints with bugs. The gaps leading to its actual joints were absolutely tiny and they refused to be clogged. Eventually enough bug guts would pile up and stop it, but that might take a while.
The green eyes of the one of a kind mech gazed around, searching for us inside the cloud of bugs. I tried to blind its eyes but It could somehow still see. I saw two orbs emerge from its chest and clicked my tongue. Factspheres, two of them. They shouldn't be able to penetrate if I keep the screen up but we can't fight back either. I raised my long range radio, reported to Zero and hoped for reinforcements.
"Zero, we've cleared almost all hostiles from the objective but we encountered the Lancelot. Requesting support." I waited with bated breaths observing the Lancelot look around a while longer.
A crackle came from the radio. "Copy Weaver, the Guren Mk-II is on the way. ETA a minute. Try to hold out." Zero replied with a slightly strained voice. "Copy." I answered simply and cursed internally. Suddenly the visor of the Lancelot turned towards me. And called out with a familiar voice. "Members of the Black Knights. Lay down your arms and surrender peacefully. You don't have to waste your lives. So long as you surrender you will be treated fairly."
I recognized Suzaku's unique accent immediately. The hope in his voice broke my heart and infuriated me to no end simultaneously but before I could even do anything other than run away deeper into the swarm the message repeated but in Japanese this time. I couldn't even tell my squad to stop before ten Missiles flew through the swarm in the general direction of the Lancelot. Who fucking dodged them.
I watched alarmed as the four and a half metres tall machines weaved through Guided missiles and blocked those it couldn't dodge with an energy shield. He raised his odd gun and with a curt 'I'm sorry' fired towards my men now barely covered with a thin swarm. I felt an explosion and one of the men instantly lost both of his legs. The swarm pulled back over them and I yelled at them to retreat into the trees.
But this had the effect of spreading out the swarm and I was exposed. Only for a second, the Swarm around me was too thin and despite all possible sensors on the Lancelot being covered by bugs It saw me. So for a singular second The glowing eyes of Lancelot stared into my costume's red lenses. Suzaku stared into my eyes and I stared into 'his'. A single thought came to mind. 'Oh fuck me…'
I heard the shadows voice from somewhere. "Indeed, start running." She suggested. I took her advice.
AN: …Hello again. It has been a while… I really don't know what to say. I started writing this when summer began, it took me three months and some more just to finish this. I'm still only somewhat happy with this version of the chapter but I'll try to continue writing to progress the story some more.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.