A/N: The long awaited second chapter for this fic. It's been too long I know, and I apologize for keeping you all waiting. I am a big fan of Shirlulu. Granted my absolute favorite is Kalulu but, I had to give my favorite wholesome ginger her time to shine.

Speaking of Kalulu... I have opted to make this a K/L/S love triangle. I have put a lot of thought into it and I think I can make it work very well.

Fun Fact: The first letter of each word for this fic translates to Raid... RAID SHADOW LEGE- Gets geassed by Lelouch and kills myself

PSA: Fuck Suzaku


tap, tap, tap, tap-

Lelouch could not help himself as he re-watched the footage from last night, he had the video on a loop playing on his laptop. His foot anxiously bounced, his heel clicking at the wood floor whilst his chin rested on the knuckles of his hands. He was- to put it simply, enamored with whoever this Angel person was. Lelouch knew he needed competent allies.

Whoever could successfully stage a hijacking of the HI-TV broadcast network and servers was someone he absolutely wanted on his side. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. He was not even jealous that the woman- yes he had at least confirmed that much- that the woman had stolen his thunder, if anything he was impressed.

Her actions had allowed him to simply walk away with Suzaku without even needing to use his Geass, with the crowds of supporters turning into protestors. He honestly did not think ever to gain the support of the onlookers. He didn't care about public opinion just yet. He wanted to appeal to the Japanese as a hero, a symbol, an ideal to look up to. Anyone could be Zero and it was meant to give them hope.

The propaganda on official Britannian media sites was trying to do its thing of course. Manipulate information, by both spreading false narratives and trying to shoot down narratives they did not agree with.

But while the official news sights where full of bullshit, the backlash on public forums was, to say the least, harsh.

There where calls for protest marches, sit-ins at high end establishments, reports of vandals trashing police stations and someone apparently went so far as to Molotov a recruitment center last night. People where openly accusing the Britannian military of wrongdoing, which was a first. The purists where being torn apart on almost every social media sight Lelouch could think of.

To Lelouch, it was beautiful chaos, and it made him want to know the identity of his impromptu ally even more. But it seemed answers would have to wait.

Finally deciding he was not going to be getting any answers by staring at the screen, he sighed and shut down his computer before grabbing his school bag and checking his watch. He saw that it was time for class, and honestly he could use the distraction. Suzaku had pissed him off last night, that much he would admit. The stubborn fool was riding the tallest morality horse he could find and flaunted it.

His best friend had irked him greatly... but he could not use his Geass on the son of the former prime minister. He refused to rob Suzaku of his free will, loath as he was to see his surrogate brother as an enemy that's simply how it was. With any luck the scout wouldn't get involved in future operations against him.

With a morose groan of annoyance he grabbed a granola bar out of his drawer and walked out of his room, his mind ever lingering on the woman in white, calling themselves an angel. Even as an annoying-as-fuck witch hogged his bed and began to look for his credit card.


Jeramiah could not believe it. He simply refused.

Yesterday, he was at the top of the world, and now he was at the bottom. He could hear them now, the protestors, as far away as they where. They loomed in the distance from the viceroy's palace. Gathered en-masse there was a gigantic crowd of thousands of Britannian commoners and even younger members of low nobility leading picket marches around the government bureau. His head was resting on top of the mahogany wood of his very much temporary viceroyal desk. The media had reached out to him and he remained silent. No interviews, no comments, no statements, nothing. He was smart enough to know at this point that any move he made would be a metaphorical shot in the foot.

His eyes lingered to a painting on the far wall while his hands rested on top of his head. When he had first entered this office as one of Clovis' most loyal supporters, he had seen this painting and practically cried with bittersweet joy. Clovis had painted a beautiful rendition of the Vi Britannia family in the gardens of the Aries villa.

He now felt as though the eyes of the women and children he admired staring right at him... judging him.

What would they think? What would they say? He had come to Area-11 as soon as he could to search for them, holding on desperately to the hope they where alive. He had since lost that hope. His heart filled with vengeance. He wanted to hurt the people that he blamed for their deaths. His original intent of creating the purist knights as a beacon of hope for common folk like Marianne had been transformed into a twisted construct of racism and blood lust.

The Purists had become something Marianne would hate and it made him sick to his stomach.

He was jolted near out of his seat when the doors slammed open. Kewell his second in command stormed in, looking furious, and Viletta Nu his loyal squire was following shortly behind him.

"Kewell get a hold of yourself! Now is not the time to go galivanting about like you own the place!" Viletta had snapped, causing Kewell to spin around and face her with a barely restrained growl.

"We need orders!" He snapped, before turning back to Jeramiah. "Gottwald! The area is practically shutting down. Sakuradite refineries are suffering labor shortages from strikes, the police are running around like hens with their heads cut off trying to quell the protests, both Zero and Angel are in the wind and Kururugi has been acquitted! The purists are-!"

"Finished." Jeramiah completed Kewell's rant, earning him a knowing glance from Nu and a shocked one from Kewell. "That's the word you're looking for."

"Lord Jeramiah you can't be serious!" Kewell protested. "We can still do... something!?" He half-asked, half declared.

"And what would you suggest we do Kewell!? Hmm!?" Jeramiah snarled, standing up from his seat while his hands slammed down on the desk, glaring at his subordinate. "Any military action we take would escalate the situation not resolve it! We cant go gunning down and arresting our own people and if I tried to declare martial law the protests could turn into full-blown riots!"

"Then we use a show of force! Wipe out a Ghetto or two and remind them who's in charge!"

Jeramiah looked like he was ready to start frothing at the mouth and Villetta looked at him like he grew a second head.

"With. WHAT!?" The knight of orange asked incredulously. "We lost over 90% of our Knightmares and almost as many pilots! The Purists don't have the equipment or the personnel to carry out an assault, and have you lost your mind!? The Shinjuku massacre was what started this mess, if we go around poaching Elevens then it'll be a miracle if the people outside don't storm this building and rip us limb from limb!"

Kewell turned to look at Nu, as if to silently ask her for help convincing Jeramiah to help.

"Don't you go trying to drag me into this mess!" She called him out. "Lord Jeramiah is right, if we screw this up now there'll be even more hell to pay once the replacement viceroy gets here!"

The former royal guard took a deep breath.

"We need to de-escalate the situation. Put together a humanitarian aid package for the survivors of the massacre and see if we can get our few remaining supporters to loan us some liquidity so we can give the honorarys a stipend."

"What!?" Kewell hissed. "Are you mad, giving those animals anything would ruin our credibility!"

"WE KILLED KIDS KEWELL!" Jeramiah finally snapped, snatching his remote for the TV on the opposite wall and began cycling through photos of the carnage. "KIDS! WHERE IS THE HONOR IN MURDERING CHILDREN!? WHERE IS IT KEWELL BECAUSE I DON'T FUCKING SEE IT!?"

The pure rage that Jeramiah was exhibiting caused Kewell to shut his mouth and back away, refusing to answer his superior.

Jeramiah threw the remote he used at the far wall, causing it to break, his glare never once faltering.

"You have your orders, Soresi." He growled lowly. Kewell returned the glare, but did not offer a reply as he gave a salute before briskly walking out of the office and slamming the door behind him.

Jeramiah's shoulders sagged and he collapsed onto the nearest couch, sitting down with a hunch as he stared at the floor, his elbows rested on his knees as his hands dug through his turquoise hair and he closed his eyes.

Villetta sat down next to him, matching his posture, and had a question to ask.

"We're doomed, aren't we?"

"Yup." Came the honest reply. He just hoped that what little help he could provide to the innocent people he hurt could soothe his aching soul, if only a little.


"I'm sorry Milly, could you run that by me again?" Lelouch asked, sounding completely baffled.

"You heard me Lulu, we're putting together a charity ball!" The president declared. "We're gonna help raise money for the victims of the Shinjuku massacre. Clothes, food, water, medicine, tents we'll buy whatever we can afford and distribute it to the Ghetto!"

He was not the only one perplexed by this announcement. Kallen seemed to be just as confused, hopeful, but still worried. She didn't think that Britannian's could ever possibly care about the Japanese... and now here she was with a bunch of upper-middle class commoners and members of nobility, all planning to help her countrymen.

How? How had she gotten them so wrong? She though that Britannian purebloods could never show even the slightest glimpse of humanity or compassion and here she was being proved completely incorrect. She had believed in a stereotype... maybe... they weren't all bad? She would have to see how everything played out, she could even get help from Ohgi and the others to protect the distribution center!

Lelouch admittedly had believed in something similar, that only he could see what was wrong with the world and everyone else was blind.

Then Angel showed up, a Britannian- they had confirmed as much, and now the entire student council, sans Nina who was looking skeptical, was entirely up to the task of helping people that Britannia declared to be weak and sub-human.

He thought everyone he knew was nothing more than sheep, and now the truth had hit him square in the face that he was blinded by his own preconceptions.

"If I may, my dear president-" Lelouch began. "What brought this idea on?"

"Oh it wasn't me, It was Shirley's idea actually!"

For some reason... that didn't surprise him. His gaze lingered over to the ginger who was currently helping Nina run some numbers on the amount of money they'd need to get the supplies for the relief effort. As though she could sense his gaze affixed to her. The girl turned and looked up at him, and gave him a warm smile, her eyes bright and full of compassion.

His heart rate increased for a moment as he contemplated everything. Shirley's smile... it had an effect on him, and that concerned the exile. Why would that draw a reaction from him? What did it mean? She wasn't Nunnally...

Still, he supposed that he would have to rearrange his worldview now, as all of his expectations had been proven completely wrong. He realized, although the full meaning didn't hit him yet, that what Shirley was doing... it's something that would make Nunnally very happy, a small glimpse of that dream she had shared with him, her wish. He was seeing a hint of it unfold before his eyes.

He couldn't stop his icy exterior from cracking, as his lips quirked up into a smile on their own.

He was smiling at her, and just like that Shirley was ready to feint. NO! She couldn't make a scene! Not now! Shirley settled for blushing and looking away, but she was smiling even more now, so much that her cheeks actually started to hurt.

Unfortunately, Milly was on the prowl.

"Oh look at you Shirley getting all flustered at a smile from our resident ice prince, how cute!"

"SHUDDUP!" Shirley snipped out of embarrassment her gaze turning to look at the perverted blonde

"And don't think I didn't see you getting all smiley with our resident swim team member-"

"And Gymnast." Rivalz pointed out.

"That too, thank you sir stooge-monkey." Milly complimented, causing Rivalz to have a goofy grin.

"Why my dear president I am certain I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm simply happy to be doing something meaningful." Lelouch defended, his face returning to it's ever neutral expression.

'And just like that it's gone.' Shirley griped with an internal monologue. 'Way to go Milly...'

"Oh come now Lelouch, you're a hot-blooded male, and a twig, be honest. A strong, athletic, supple and willing woman like Shirley? Why she'd be a woman of anyone's dreams, man or woman~" Milly purred.

"MADAME PRESIDENT!"

"I suddenly realized I have a thing to do anywhere but here." Lelouch replied dryly, before turning around and walking out the door.

"Wait!" Shirley pleaded, getting up from her chair and running over to Lelouch who turned to look at her.

"I know Milly's teasing is annoying but- but please stay...?" She asked. "Please Lelouch, we both know you're the smartest person here, probably in the whole school, teachers included... so, please..." She begged and waited with baited breath, and the room remained silent as he pondered her words.

He eventually sighed and nodded. "Fine." He agreed. "Besides I need to make sure Milly doesn't bankrupt the academy."

"Oi!"

Shirley giggled, and everyone seemed to relax as Lelouch opted to help, moving to sit across from Shirley, the two began to work out the details of the charity ball, ticket price, food and drinks, entertainment, decorations. She spoke her thoughts while he acted as a soundboard. He took out a notepad and began to scribble down her thoughts, occasionally offering his own insight, making corrections, crunching numbers and asking questions of his own while Nina started to look at the finances.

Milly meanwhile talked to Rivalz about how to advertise the ball and monetize it for the charity, with Kallen pitching in her ideas for what items they should purchase... she spent time in the Ghetto after all, she knew what her people needed most.


The next day, Jeramiah was standing in his office, granted it was not to be his office for long, and he had only been in this position for a few days. He was a seat warmer after all, he knew that even before he royally fucked up with Kururugi's mock trial. There was not much he could do. The purists for all intents and purposes did not exist anymore. Most of their members where dead or discharged for grievous injury. Those that remained where likely to be hit with dishonorable discharge for gross incompetence and neglect, probably a few corruption scandals too... himself included.

The commoners where out for blood, and the crown had to appease them.

But Jeramiah would accept whatever punishment he was given. He deserved that much for what he had done. He had come face to face with his inner demons and had been found wanting. He would at least take whatever lashing he got like a man.

He found himself holding his breath as the door opened, he stood up a little straighter, his arms at his sides. The moment he saw the Li Britannia sisters enter the office he bowed deeply.

Cornelia and Euphemia stopped in front of him, and he waited.

"Status report." The older princess demanded.

"Yes your highness." He did not stop bowing. "Zero and Angel are in the wind, I ordered local Milsec and Police units to search for any trace of them and have gotten no reports. Subsequent investigations into the HI-TV broadcast system being hijacked have so far failed to turn up any results. The protests have been steady and I have done my best to quell them through non-violent means. I ordered for humanitarian aid to be delivered to Shinjuku for the survivors-"

"I belayed that order."

Jeramiah stiffened and his throat went dry.

"Your highness-?"

"Those Elevens choose to live in squalor rather than becoming honorary citizens, let them suffer." She said coldly, and he felt bile rising in his throat, he desperately wanted to protest, but he bit his tongue.

"Yes, your highness." He said quietly.

"Your efforts have otherwise been acceptable. Kururugi's farce of a trial notwithstanding you did your best to keep order after Clovis' foolhardy blunder in Shinjuku. The purists are defunct but you have experience in Area-11 that I would be foolhardy to waste. I'm keeping you in an advisory role. Stand up straight."

He did as ordered, dread building up within him.

"For your exemplary effort as a combatant in Shinjuku and subsequent role in Area-11's administration I am awarding you the distinguished service cross." The elder princess declared. Princess Euphemia held up the medal and pinned it to his uniform. But Jeramiah could see the look of disgust hidden on her face as she gave him the award, the message was clear as day without having to say a thing.

'The blood and screams of the innocent bought you that medal, I hope you're proud of yourself' he could practically hear her thoughts.

Euphemia then stepped away from him as soon as she was finished, as though just being in proximity to him was making her nauseous.

He didn't blame her.

"Thank you, your highness." He didn't mean it.

"You are dismissed for now, tomorrow I want you to give a sitrep to the staff that I brought with me and be ready for an operation."

He gulped. "An operation your highness?"

"Indeed." She said as she walked around him and took her seat at her new desk. "We are going to draw Zero out. I will inform you on the details later."

He nodded, deciding not to press his luck, he stepped out of the office and immediately made to leave the building, pulling his phone out to call Villetta.

Jeramiah needed only 2 things right now, a strong drink and a shoulder to cry on.


Lelouch supposed that he should not be surprised, when the next day, Cornelia announced that she would be engaging in an "Anti-Terror Operation" in Saitama ghetto. He expected it actually, but deep down he supposed that he hoped Cornelia would be at least a little bit less of a bloodthirsty tyrant. A vain hope all things considered, her monikers as the witch of Britannia and goddess of victory had become common knowledge for a reason so it was par for the course really.

He was in the middle of planning his intervention when he got a phone call. It was not a number he recognized so he ignored it and hang up.

And it started ringing immediately again, same number. His brow furrowed as he stared at the offending object, before cautiously answering it.

"Hello Zero."

He forced himself not to gasp as he stood from his seat, his chair clattering as he stood ramrod straight. He had been compromised, how!?

"Who is this?" He demanded, fear and anger both showing themselves, would he have to flee Ashford, take Nunnally? He was about to hang up then and there when he got his reply.

"The angel on your shoulder."

He froze, before his head turned to look at his laptop, displaying the still image of 'Angel' as she was speaking on HI-TV's channels.

"How did you get this number?" He immediately asked.

"I have my ways." Her answer was cryptic.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Does that matter? If I was your enemy then Britannian soldiers would be blowing your door off the hinges and dragging you away in cuffs right now."

Lelouch calmed down a bit, seeing the logic behind her statement, he couldn't help sliding over to the windows and use his fingers to prop open the blinds to peer outside.

"Fine, what is it you want?"

"The same as you, justice."

He narrowed his eyes. "And how do you propose we deliver such justice?" He pressed.

"Saitama Ghetto is a trap, Cornelia expects you to show yourself, don't go walking into it."

"If the Princess is asking me for a dance I don't see why I should turn down the invitation." He countered.

"Think Zero." She chided. "You're smarter than that. You're drunk off of your victory against Clovis. Cornelia is a master. Strategist, Tactician, Logistics, she's an expert on warfare down to the finest detail and has years of experience. You can't fight her on her terms and win. Not with a bunch of ragtag greenhorn terrorists in stolen Sutherlands outnumbered 10 to 1." She declared with an air of finality.

Lelouch huffed, backing away from the window and sitting down on his bed, his gaze returning to the image on his laptop screen. "Fine, lets say I'm willing to hear you out, what do you suggest?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Angel asked. "She's expecting you to start playing chess with her. Flip the board and start playing Shogi instead."

This got Lelouch's attention, focusing more on the conversation now as he leaned in and idly fingered his black knight chess piece, he decided it was worth listening. "Go on..." he offered.

And as the angel whispered into the demon's ear, his face split into a grin.


Minutes later, in the private office of one Diethard Ried, the aspiring journalist and camera man was sick of all of the boring monotony of the day to day propaganda reels that he had worked to shovel into people's faces.

That was until Zero and the Angel showed up.

They where exactly what the man wanted. He wanted action, he wanted drama, he wanted intrigue and romance, deception and betrayal, he wanted to be the one to record a truly world changing event and these 2 seemed to have the power to give him what he wanted most. His magnum opus.

On the screen of his work desktop he had pictures of the two masked rebels. One cloaked in darkness, the other a bright beacon, the perfect contrast. One reveling in the shadows while the other sheds light on the truth. Was it planned? Possibly, but Zero didn't seem to expect it. Was he feeling upstaged perhaps?

He was staring at those pictures, notes scribbled onto a notepad as he chewed on the right stem for one of his glasses. He was wracked with questions and hyper-fixated on his brand new obsession. He didn't look away from the screen when his work phone began to ring. He picked it up and was about to give the usual company mandated drivel of a greeting, but he didn't get that chance.

"Hello Diethard."

Those two words caused him to stand up from his seat, his glasses falling from his mouth as his face split into a manic smile.

"Angel." He breathed, his eyes darting around to look at his worker drone colleagues, briskly walking over to his door he put up a do-not-disturb sign and closed the blinds of his office windows.

"Correct mister Ried." The voice continued. "How would you like to make history?"

"Yes." He answered instantly, he knew he sounded eager and didn't care. If they approached him then they must have somehow known his desire and they where letting him have what he wanted.

"Good, bring a news chopper to overwatch the main entrance of Saitama ghetto and bring high definition cameras when Cornelia begins her operation Be ready for a live broadcast."

"What history will I be recording?" He asked, desperate to know.

"The very first defeat to be suffered by Britannia's goddess of Victory."

He choked on his own breath, but before he could say anything else, the line disconnected.


Shirley sighed. Standing up from the lid of a toilet seat she was using as a chair, she hung up her call with the crazy newscaster. Not wanting to get her hands dirty she kicked up the seat with the tip of her shoe, before snapping the disposable burner flip-phone in half at the joint and tossing it into the bowl before flushing. She knew she couldn't be too careful. She then took her voice-scrambler and hid it in the pocket of her jeans before walking out of the single-person restroom and heading for the door after nabbing a squirt of hand sanitizer and taking her backpack with her, tossing it over her shoulder.

She exited the café she had been using as a pit-stop to make her discrete calls and checked her watch. Noting that she was right on schedule, she walked down the block, wearing a black skirt, orange T-shirt and green hoodie. She had a bit of a 'goth' look with black boots and black high socks. She pulled up her hood and followed her pre-determined path before cutting into a designated alleyway, and walking down it towards a more slummy area of the settlement until she reached her intended destination.

She walked into a mostly empty abandoned lot that had not been cleaned in quite some time. There was a nasty stench that offended her nose and trash littered the area. There where 2 other people in the lot. One was a "punk" with a red mohawk, sleeveless black shirt and torn jeans while the other was a large, bald dark-skinned man in a red jacket and black jeans that screamed 'I'm the hired muscle' and had a pair of gold rimmed sunglasses. He also held a suitcase.

"I'm here to get my package." She declared.

The punk nodded. "You got my money?"

She reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a wad of imperial pounds held together by a band.

Shirley may not have had the ability to gamble against nobility and she certainly didn't have the slush fund of some uppity noble. But her father was the head of a large Pharmaceutical company, and she had stock. A couple days of working the market was all it took to get some liquidity.

The punk stepped forward, and she took a step back, not trusting him.

"I want to see the merchandise."

The man looked at her for a moment before shrugging and tilting his head towards his hired help. The man held up the suitcase he was carrying and opened it for Shirley, displaying it's contents.

She nodded, holding out her hand full of cash and held her other hand out to take the briefcase, and the transaction went smoothly. After waiting for the seller to finish counting the money, he gave a thumbs up to the larger man before giving Shirley a wink. "See ya toots." He said before the two vanished down a different alleyway than she had come from.

She took a deep breath and let her shoulders relax... that had been terrifying for her, but she managed to push through. The ginger turned around and walked back out of the alleyway she had come from. She wanted to go home, today had been stressful.

She was thankful that she was living with her parents and not in the Ashford girl's dorm. She lived close enough to the Academy to simply walk there from her home, otherwise she'd be screwed with some dopey ditz as a room mate going through her stuff and finding what she had just purchased. Her mother was at work, as was her father. She had remembered to bring a key this time so she was able to just unlock the door rather than look like some crazy burglar climbing through the window of her own room.

She walked inside with her recent acquisition and went straight to her room, setting the suitcase on her bed, she opened it up.

Inside was a matte black FN Five-seven handgun, 2 empty magazines, 2 boxes of 50 rounds of ammunition, and a cleaning kit alongside a white leather shoulder strap holster.

She picked up her new gun, examining it, getting accustomed to the feel of it before grabbing the first magazine and one of the boxes of ammo and walking to her desk, sitting in her chair as she took her PC off of sleep mode and double-checked her VPN and firewalls before opening her browser and checking out the "Eleven" forum sights. Her auto-translator working out the Japanese kanji into Britannian English as she perused the sites.

She was searching for any sign of Zero doing something that he didn't do before, and for any information leaks about important comings and goings around the ghettos. All the while she was holding up the empty mag and sliding her ammunition inside one round at a time with her thumb. Manually loading the thing wasn't as hard as she thought it would be.

Once she had finished loading it, she slid the magazine into her handgun and pulled back the slide after making sure the safety was on. She aimed it and looked down the iron sight.

She didn't want to hurt anyone... but she failed to kill Villetta in the previous timeline, and it was her that convinced Ohgi to help betray Lelouch. She would not let that happen, she'd dump an entire magazine into that bitch just to be safe when she got the chance.

She set the firearm down on her desk, and cracked her knuckles, her vibrant green eyes hardening with determination. She had some work to do before the Saitama raid was to begin...


"What the hell... Lelouch what do you know about this?" Milly demanded, picking up one of the dozens of flyers that littered the floors and walls of the academy grounds, and staring at the page. Just last night the school had been spotless and now someone had stuck these in every possible nook and cranny.

"What is it Milly?" He asked, sounding curious as he walked over to her.

Of course, he knew exactly what it was. A 'call to arms'.

The flyer read as follows:

Attention my fellow Britannians; only days after Prince Clovis and his purist dogs executed countless people in the Ghetto of Shinjuku the Britannian Military plans to enact the same kind of heinous crime that he had previously committed. Cornelia Li Britannia, the Witch of Britannia, will commence with the wholesale slaughter of innocent men, women, and children who have no home, and no weapons to speak of. I have distributed these flyers across Ashford Academy because I know you of the youth have the energy, the will, and the courage to do what you know is right. Come to Saitama, and show the strength of your resolve. You need not bring a weapon, only your hearts and the clothes on your backs.

- Angel

And there it was, the lynchpin of the plan to save Saitama. Lelouch had thought the plan to be crazy. He was altruistic, but he meant what he said about dirtying one's hands to inflict change and stop injustice.

And yet, this devilishly simple plan might just work, he mulled it over during the night. It was a gamble, it depended on how willing the students at Ashford would be to stand up for something. Would they be able to break from the mold of society? Or would they keep their heads down and save face?

As he saw more and more students leaving the dorms and picking up the flyers, his spark of hope slowly grew as crowds began to form. Of course not all of the students cared, and a lot of them wouldn't have the guts, but they wouldn't need the whole school to go along with it, just enough.

Of course he had his own part to play. Once Angel had filled him in on her plan, he did what he needed to do. There was only one group willing to work with him and that was the Kozuki Resistance, and so he contacted them after his talk with the woman on the other line. He called his Q-1 and relayed his instructions. With any luck the resistance group would be finished with all tasks prior to the raid.

His mind briefly wandered to Angel. If this plan worked then he would absolutely want to team up with the other revolutionary. She had managed to amplify the effects of his rescue and make it easier. It could have been a fluke. But if this plan was truly enough to beat his elder sister then he would like nothing more than to form a more permanent relationship with her. It could make his Rebellion much easier with someone like her offering up ideas that he hadn't considered.

He shrugged at Milly. "Sorry Prez, haven't got a clue how this stuff got here." He fibbed smoothly, causing Milly to raise an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess I'll take your word for it my Prince." She replied in a similar manner, walking away with confidence as she apparently had an interest herself.

Thankfully the Saitama raid was not until later in the afternoon after classes had ended, so he was not missed when he immediately vanished, grabbing his Zero suit and snuck out into the tunnels, heading straight for the supposedly doomed ghetto, running like the devil himself was nipping at his feet.

He arrived at the meeting point that Angel had disclosed, walking through the back door of an apartment block facing the main road leading into the Saitama ghetto, his eyes caught movement and he turned to look up at what he saw. The second floor of this apartment block had partially collapsed. Angel was sitting up on the edge of the collapsed section right next to a second story window with the sun beaming through, perfectly obscuring their already hidden face. The sunlight made it impossible to even try distinguishing their eyes as the other disguised revolutionary turned her head to look down at Zero.

She was wearing a near identical outfit to what she had on before. White hoodie, stretch pants, boots, socks, gloves. Every inch of her was obscured in white, including the lower half of her face including her mouth and nose that was covered in a tight fitting white textile not unlike the black textile covering he himself wore beneath his Zero helmet.

"Hello Zero." She greeted. "It's nice to finally meet you in person." She tilted her head. "I must say you don't look quite like what the propaganda says. You aren't an 8-foot tall cyborg vampire." She said playfully

Lelouch, to his credit, chuckled at the light joke and gave a flourishing bow.

"It is nice to finally meet you as well Angel. I must say I am glad that another Britannian is willing to stand up against the injustice we face."

"I had to watch someone I love dearly die because of Britannia." Angel explained, earning sympathy from Lelouch- remembering his mother. "I have the power to help, so I will."

"And I am glad to have your aid. Tell me, if this plan works out, would you be interested in an extended partnership?"

Shirley smiled and nodded.

"Of course." Angel replied. "We are natural allies, we both want the same thing, a peaceful world to live in with our loved ones."

There was a pregnant silence after that.

"Angel." Zero began. "Because you know my face, don't you think I should know yours?" He pried. He desperately wanted to know who was beneath that hood. He tried imagining who it could be under there. Obviously it couldn't be someone Japanese, they admitted as much. It couldn't be Q-1. It definitely wasn't any of his siblings and he was pretty sure nobody at Ashford- aside from Kallen- would care to do this.

So, who was it then?

Unfortunately Angel shook her head in response. "I'm sorry Zero. But I want you to get to know me as I am now. I want to be judged by my actions, my deeds, the content of my character. I'm sure that's exactly what you want when people look at you, is it not?"

He'd be lying if he said she didn't have a point. And while he was a good liar, he didn't see much use in trying to give one right now, so he simply nodded in understanding.

"Very well." He reluctantly agreed.

Angel seemed to catch on to his disapproval and tilted her head to the side.

"I'm sorry." She said softly. "I know you feel like it isn't fair. For me to know your face when you don't know mine. I promise once I feel like my actions have spoken for me I will reveal myself to you. I only ask for a little time and patience. Can you do that for me?"

Lelouch carefully considered her request, before relaxing a little. "I can accept that." He agreed comfortably.

This seemed to please angel, who allowed one of her legs to dip over the edge of the flooring and lifted her head up to stare out the window.

"It's starting soon." She declared.

"Indeed." He noted. "Shall we step out and welcome the princess?" She could hear the grin adorning his face through his voice.

"I'd love nothing more." She giggled.


Jeramiah stood just past arms length away from Cornelia's command throne on her G-1 mobile base. The titanic vehicle rumbled through the war-torn streets of what was once a district of Tokyo before the war, and the wake of the destruction made the Margrave grimace as he imagined what it must have been like. The imagery for him held an entirely different meaning for him now. It made him queasy.

He prayed, hoped beyond hope that the blood spilled today would not be as heavy on his soul as it was after the botched trial when Shinjuku came to light.

He was pulled out of his dark musings when he felt the G-1 come to a sudden stop, and the bridge crew seemed to be bewildered.

"What's the holdup?" Guilford barked, shocking the crew out of their stupor, and the deck officer cleared his throat.

"Your highness, Zero and Angel are here... they're just... standing there- on the other side of the bridge."

This caused Cornelia to frown. "What game are you playing at?" Jeramiah heard the princess grumble as she stood up from her command throne and walked to the observation windows, peering outside. Jeramiah followed out of curiosity.

Sure enough in the distance, 2 figures stood. One garbed in purest white, the other black as night.

Angel offered her hand to Zero, and he took it as they stood side by side.

"What...?" Cornelia herself was stumped. She had expected an ambush, bombs, some sort of pitched battle.

Anything but this.

But they didn't stay as just a pair... suddenly people started rushing out of the alleyways from the direction of the Tokyo settlement. Britannians, students no less. Some still wearing pieces of their school uniform, others dressed casually. They called out to each other to hurry, and began to form up around Zero and Angel. 2 became 10, 10 became 20, 20 became 40, and yet more still followed. They blocked the entire bridge. And the masks of Zero and Angel melded into the crowd of Britannian Citizens.

Her eyes spotted movement above, and her vision narrowed on a HI-TV news chopper.

It finally clicked for the princess.

She grinned, closing her eyes, she even laughed and began to slowly clap.

"Y-your highness?" The deck officer stuttered.

"We've lost, RTB." She said simply.

A number of shocked gasps echoed through the room as the officers whispered amongst themselves, and Gilbert stepped up next to her with a concerned glance.

"Don't you see it Guilford?" She asked. "They're using liberal Britannian students as shields. They know that we can't attack our own citizens, especially not with this whole thing being broadcasted. It would be a PR nightmare of unparalleled magnitude, a catastrophe. I could try to kill them both anyway but I'd be disinherited for gunning down a bunch of kids in the process. I came here equipped to kill terrorists not disperse a crowd."

"But... Britannia doesn't negotiate with terrorists!" One of the officer's spluttered.

"This isn't a negotiation, Zero and Angel are just standing there as road blocks surrounded by civilians who are willingly preventing us from entering. If I move aggressively I make myself out to be a killer of Britannian children and the entire Area would go up in flames with riots, stability would plummet, the empire would be crippled by the lack of Sakuradite and I'd be blamed for everything." She summarized, turning and walking back to her throne. "Well played..."

"That doesn't mean that you've lost." Another pointed out, only to be harshly scolded by Darlton.

"It does. Victory is not determined by just inflicting casualties. Victory depends on if your objective has been completed. Princess Cornelia's objective was to destroy the terrorists in the Ghetto and apprehend either Zero, Angel, or both. Zero and Angel meanwhile had the goal of stopping us from assaulting the ghetto. They completed their objective, and we are incapable of completing ours." He rumbled.

And that's when it hit them all.

Cornelia had been handed her first defeat, without a single shot having been fired.

Jeramiah grinned.

'Zero, Angel... you magnificent bastards...'


A/N: Aaaaaaand thats a wrap. I hope you all enjoyed!

A quick response to a review regarding the use of the colonial stars and stripes in the prior chapter. My headcannon is that Britannia would want to gloat about the failed revolution. And in doing so they would have a detailed (if highly embellished) known history meant to tell the commoners that they need to keep their heads down, follow the rules, and generally mocking the attempted American Revolution/Washington's rebellion.