Throne of Glass
Chapter 9: Shadow War
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Camelot Testing Grounds, Area Eleven; 2015 ATB
The Britannian guard never saw his death coming.
Of course, what would he expect? It's not like there was anyone who would even want to attack this facility to begin with, let alone be stupid enough to actually try it. Except he was dead wrong.
The body dropped without a sound as a black clad figure soundlessly pulled it away from the view of any other guards. But within seconds, the other few guards in sight were silenced by similarly dressed individuals. Their smooth black armor hid any defining features and made them out to be ghosts in the night.
"Dagger has secured northern entrance."
From behind his helmet, Suzaku nodded. Around him his unit converged toward the facility's loading bay. It was almost pointless to try guarding this place, since nobody seemed to take their job seriously. A rather fatal mistake as it were.
"Reaper moving to stage two." Suzaku responded through the communicator in his suit. A little less than half a dozen infiltrators moved through the door that was opened effortlessly thanks to a device that instantly hacked through the lax security system. He slipped inside, followed by a steady stream of fully armed soldiers.
They passed through the halls almost invisibly. Guards and research personnel were eliminated, even the few elevens that worked more demeaning jobs. Nobody was to be spared, as they moved deeper into the facility. Suzaku smirked behind his mask. Lelouch's plan was moving along perfectly. He never once doubted his friend was able to create such a well articulated plan of attack. There wasn't a single threat to their advance all the way up until the objective.
"Reaper in position." Suzaku spoke, standing ready with his team behind a door that lead to the control room. He used his code name among with Black Knight's hunters; Lelouch's elite black ops division comprised of the ones he found to be especially dedicated toward their cause. He liked the name. He was a reaper of death who killed with mercy or prejudice. Britannian and Japanese alike, because in his eyes, they were both of equal sin.
"Raven in position." A second unit called in. "Dagger in position."
With all three of his teams in place, Suzaku hit the button to open the door. "Breach." He commanded.
In just a few seconds, the large data room was flooded with dark armored soldiers that pointed silenced assault rifles at the researchers inside. The two guards received bullets to their heads, which provided ample motivation for the scientists when Suzaku shouted at them to get down. "Where's Kenkirk?" Suzaku demanded of them. "I want the head researcher."
The man in question doubled back from them in fear. Too terrified that he was being singled out to realize that Suzaku had called him by name. Suzaku saw him fall back through the crowd, and moved forward to grab the man's collar. "I want access to the Sutherland test data. Now."
The man called Kenkirk fumbled toward a row of computers against the wall, not hesitating a moment to comply with Suzaku's demands. His hands flew faster, albeit shakier, than they probably ever had before. "I-I only have access to the test records-not the actual specifications." He stuttered, bringing up rows of numbers Suzaku quickly glanced over. It was no surprise to him that the results showed the Sutherland performed ridiculously better than the Glasgow, and even the Ganymede. But a grin made found it's way behind his helmet when he saw many statistics were not up to scratch with their fifth generation frame. And after this, Ashford would be so much further ahead than just that. "Are these the only records available?" He asked.
"Y-yes." The scientist replied.
"And what about the prototypes?" He instead turned to another member of his team, who had taken a different route.
"Phantom is currently securing eight frames sir." The identically outfitted solider responded.
"Are there any more frames than these eight?" He turned his masked gaze back to the man who cowered beneath it. He looked hesitant to answer, obviously knowing why he would ask the question. "Answer me!" He yelled at the man, who likely just shit himself right there. He even fell flat on his ass by sheer terror alone.
"No! T-the only Sutherlands are located here! We're the only ones who test them!" Kenkirk spilled the response, looking ready to pass out. Suzaku found it pathetic, really.
He crouched down to the man's level, his mask right in the scientist's face. "Do any copies of this data exist outside this facility?"
The man simply shook his head violently.
Suzaku smirked. Even if a part of that wasn't true, it would be fine. Though he doubted he would be able to lie to his face with a constitution like that. "Then I guess that means we're done here."
He stood up, signaling his companions. "Secure the frames and plant charges around the building. Leave no one alive."
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Ashford Academy; 2015 ATB
The concept of sleep was one that constantly evaded Lelouch. Whether it was excitement, brooding (which he did quite often,) or simply overworking himself; Lelouch had on several occasions powered through numerous days on willpower alone. And apparently he had a near infinite supply of that resource.
Milly had left Lelouch sitting a desk that had become his office at the school, doing whatever vital task to his master plan that was clearly absolutely necessary to complete at two in the morning, to find him in that exact same spot five hours later when she got up for school.
"Please tell me you haven't been here all night." The blonde deadpanned, knowing full well the answer to her remark. "What are you even doing anyway?" She asked, deciding to go with a question whose answer she didn't already know.
"Going over recruitment for the lower levels of Black Knight members." He responded without removing his eyes from the computer screen. "There has been an increasing amount of them lately."
"And that's important enough to stay up all night for?" She chided, moving to see the list of names and descriptions that very well seemed to never end. Truthfully, Lelouch was only attempting to find a way to occupy his nerves while the Black Knights were executing their first black ops mission. It was a nerve wracking milestone that he couldn't wait to learn the outcome of.
"Though," Milly continued, using a rather foreboding tone. "I was under the impression you weren't even doing that anymore."
Lelouch raised an eyebrow, frowning at her. "What are you talking about?"
"How long has it been, two months?" She wondered aloud. "Since you started working on miss Kallen that is."
She said it with a suggestive tone that made Lelouch roll his eyes. He knew perfectly well what she was implying, and chose to ignore it.
"You never take that long on anybody." Milly reasoned. "Unless you found something else you're interested in." She leaned toward him with a wide grin on her face that drew a scowl out of Lelouch.
"She's unique. And I've decided to take additional steps toward her recruitment. Nothing more." He explained, refusing to look at the grinning Milly just over his shoulder.
"Unique?" She asked, her mouth somehow widening. "How so?"
"Kallen Stadtfeld possesses considerable skill inside a knightmare frame." Suzaku said from the doorway, having overheard the conversation. "From what we've seen in her involvement with the Shinjuku resistance cell that is."
"Suzaku." Lelouch greeted the boy who was now dressed in the same student outfit as he was. "How did it go?" He asked excitedly. He has obviously heard reports immediately following their success, but hearing it in detail was the reason he was still waiting.
"Never mind that, Kallen's a terrorist?!" Milly asked, dumbfounded.
"Which is one of the reasons I've taken as long to befriend her. It would be difficult to lull while her loyalties lie elsewhere." Lelouch explained, irritated by the interruption.
"Everything went perfectly." Suzaku resumed their conversation. "You're planning went off without a hitch."
Lelouch nodded, glancing down at the reports the other team leaders had sent him. "You got eight prototype Sutherlands, and they were the only frames Camelot has?"
"Yeah, and I'm fairly certain that information is accurate. Along with the test data; Camelot will be pretty damn far behind now." Suzaku answered, grinning at their success.
"I've taken the necessary steps to insure there's no link between Ashford and the Black Knights whatsoever. While this is technically corporate sabotage, it looks a lot more like an act of terrorism." Lelouch explained.
"And now Britannia suddenly looks a lot more vulnerable." Suzaku added.
"But won't they just try to cover this up?" Milly asked from beside Lelouch's desk. "I mean, they don't need to tell anyone about this at all."
Lelouch smirked slightly. "Well someone's going to find out that thirty plus personnel working at the same place suddenly disappeared." He leaned back, stretching in his seat. "Rumors will spread, and unrest will lead to fear. Fear we will use."
"The Black Knights. Who protect the weak and defenseless; and tear down the strong who abuse their power." Suzaku finished.
Lelouch grinned. "Exactly."
He rose from the desk, walking toward the doorway where Suzaku stood. "Now you go get some rest. I imagine that operation must have been pretty taxing."
"Like you've been doing any better." Suzaku retorted, seeing the small bags under Lelouch's eyes once he was close enough.
"I'm just too excited to sleep. This marks the beginning of the next step." Lelouch's grin became predatory. "The one right before war."
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Viceroy's Palace; 2015 ATB
Clovis had made a terrible mistake.
The green haired witch he had so graciously taken into his care was by far not gracious in her taking of that generosity.
The woman demanded things of him with no regard as to whether or not he could. That or an outrageous quantity of pizza of all things, every single goddamn day. And on top of that her outright refusal to answer any of his questions, or to provide him any information at all, as to why he was even protecting her in the first place. Her presence was irritating at best, and caused him an unnecessary amount of stress just seeing her. He wasn't exactly doubting her story, or her value to the emperor, since her apparent immortality was undoubtedly something anyone in power would seek after. It was just...he was beginning to reconsider the pros and cons of keeping this woman from his father. If she didn't bother to change her behavior any time soon.
Even now, he watched her sitting lazily in a lounge chair in the corner of his office. She made a point to follow him around wherever she could, and ignored any attempts he made to shoo her away.
"Why did you come to the government building?" Attempted to ask her, seeing as she wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.
"Do you really think my answer will be any different from the last ten times you asked me?" She snarked without even looking at him.
Clovis' brow twitched. "Why are you running from my father?"
"That one again?"
This was the result of his interrogations every single time. She answered with bored, dull responses; if she even responded at all. And every time it was with a sarcastic, snide and sometimes cryptic reply. It baffled him that the woman had the gall to talk to him like that, and if not for his newfound humility she would have found herself hanged numerous times. Though that humility was slowly dying thanks to her antics.
"There will come a time when the answers you seek will be known to you."
Clovis jumped at the phrase. That was something new. "What do you mean?" He questioned.
"You're not ready for the truth, Clovis."
He frowned. He couldn't tell if she was being honest, or just trying to discourage him from questioning her any further. Regardless, it was the most he ever got out of her, and he chose to leave it there.
"My Lord!"
And there was the other source of his ever constant headache. Bartley always seemed to introduce himself with an obnoxious entrance. "What is it Bartley?" He asked the large man who had appeared at the door way.
Bartley tugged at his collar, a great deal of stress induced sweat having pooled on his face. Though Clovis doubted whatever the noble found concerning was a rather meaningless problem. "L-last night, the Camelot testing facility was..." He gulped, clearly far more nervous than usual, which made Clovis frown.
"What is it?" He demanded of the man.
"The facility was attacked. The whole place is nothing but rubble. We haven't found any survivors."
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Ashford Academy; 2015 ATB
Kallen was wasn't too sure how she felt about Allen. She had constantly thought about it, seeing as how the blonde noble clearly held some sort of interest in her. She knew he was beyond friendly with virtually everyone, but he tended to gravitate to her far more frequently. Surprisingly, she hasn't instantly pushed him away from her like the rest of the stuck up Britannians who went here. Though she was glad that not everyone was like that, and that a good portion of Japanese went to Ashford as well, but it made it far more bearable whenever Naoto successfully pushed her away. Yet she still wondered what it was about Allen that made her at ease. She knew it was partly due to how lax he seemed. Sure he carried himself with a semblance of more like royal dignity, but he was far more approachable than any of the other nobles. And he tried to make her feel included, rather than forcing himself upon her. But more than anything, he held absolutely no contempt for Japanese.
She knew as well as anyone what the Ashfords were doing for Area Eleven and the Japanese. And she had to admit, that alone did wonders to improve her opinion of Allen, who obviously wholeheartedly supported his family's endeavors. Even still, she was rebellious at heart, and to her, nobody short of willing to do that wasn't worth the time of day.
"Kallen!"
In a now usual fashion, she found herself being called out by him in the hallway. The amount of attention he gave her was enough to cause the girls around her to start glaring daggers. She turned toward his voice, alarmed by how far he was able to find her, let alone be heard over the crowd. She stopped to let him catch up, figuring there was no reason to ignore him.
He approached her wth an easy smile that inexplicably calmed her down. She almost felt peaceful when he was around, and decided it was perfectly fine to allow it.
"Hey, Kallen." He casually spoke, coming up to walk beside her. "How was class?"
"Fine." She didn't have any classes like history, that infuriated her to no end, so that was a plus.
They walked in a strange silence that was completely unlike the inviting aura Allen usually had. She stole a glance at the young man and saw an out of place look of discomfort. He shifted nervously, which only served to further her confusion.
"Say..." Allen began. "I found a really nice Café in Kawagoe. I was wondering...if you'd like to go there with me. After school."
Kallen blinked. And all around her was a very violent reaction of girls that tended to tail the popular Vice President. This, was something they had never seen before.
"What?!"
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Against every protest imaginable, Clovis had personally gone to see for himself the destruction before him. Surrounded by a full entourage of Royal guards, and half the knightmares existing in Area Eleven.
There was nothing remaining.
First response crews were still working to put out fires, and placing charred corpses onto a growing pile among the rubble.
"What about the knightmares?" He asked the captain who had first arrived to the scene.
"As far as we know, they're gone." He replied, shaking a helmed head. "There is no sign of their remains, and we've found most of the bodies by now, it's likely the frames are gone."
So terrorists are now in possession of advanced prototype knightmares. No, these were no terrorists. This was the act of a far more sophisticated group. "Does Camelot know about this?" He asked.
"They have been informed." Bartley answered from beside him, wiping his brow. "A team is coming to look for any surviving data. They will likely wish to speak with you, your highness."
"They won't find anything." Clovis replied. Killing everyone inside, destroying the entire building; Clovis knew that those responsible had taken steps to insure there was nothing left. But why? Who had done this?
He walked through the ruins, stepping over smoldering metal and crushed stone. Half a dozen armed men followed him as he wandered past barely standing walls. He froze when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He cautiously approached a collapsed wall. they're was something underneath it, something strange. He attempted to lift the cracked and charred wall, and was immediately assisted by his bodyguards.
And there it was. Emblazoned upon the ground was a blood red symbol. It vaguely looked like an outstretched bird impaled by a sword through the middle; but it was something he had seen before. Something that had spread throughout Area Eleven like a wildfire. And suddenly everything made sense.
This was the work of the Black Knights.
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Kawagoe Restoration Zone; 2015 ATB
Kallen was fairly certain a small army of teenage girls tried followed them here.
News of Allen's question spread absurdly fast, and the boy was forced to devise a surprisingly clever plan to get out of the school with her alive. It was ridiculous that they had to do that to begin with, but interesting nonetheless that Allen took them through an underground passage way built beneath the school. He had told her it was a route he used pretty often for similar reasons and she couldn't help but feel bad for the guy who clearly didn't get enough time to himself. That's why they took so many measures to get away all the way up till they were in Kawagoe.
It was incredible to see. The city was of course a shadow of its former self, but the many erected stores and homes brought a sense of renewal that she had never seen before. She hadn't been to Kawagoe until now, and it was admittedly much better than she had expected.
"Like it?" Allen asked her, seeing the look of awe on her face.
"I'm impressed." Kallen nodded. "You guys are doing really well out here."
"It's all thanks to the Sakuradite mines. Finding them out here was nothing short of a miracle." Allen explained. "A lot of Japanese are able to work there, and it's really helped get this place going."
"Yeah." Kallen agreed. But then she suddenly frowned. "Did you just...?"
"Hm?" Allen looked at her inquisitively, but she didn't finish. She had heard him call them Japanese. Why would he say that? Sure his family took a more liberal stance on the issue but that didn't change what they were in Britannia no matter what they thought.
"Never mind." She shook her head.
They walked a little while longer; it was already pretty dark, due to the delay in simply trying to escape. The café Allen wanted to go to had closed, leaving them without a plan other than wandering. "Sorry for all the trouble." Allen spoke up. "This wasn't exactly what I had in mind."
"It's okay." Kallen replied. Simply seeing that there was somewhere like this was reason enough to put the hassle from earlier aside. "Kawagoe was the first restoration zone wasn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah." Allen answered. "Then Yokohama, and Ichikawa; and hopefully more to come."
"Why? What does Ashford get out of helping Japanese?" She asked rather forcefully.
Allen laughed a little at her outburst. "Your ask why a weapons development company that created the very thing responsible for the fall of Japan is working to help rebuild it?" His smile faded, and his constantly warm features grew a lot darker than she'd seen them before. "Repentance, perhaps? Or maybe something else."
He began walking, almost leaving her behind. She caught up to him, forgetting for a moment her feigned weakness. "I'm sorry, if that was too..."
"No." He answered her before she could finish. "It's a question you should be asking. Why we do the things we do. Why do I try so hard to help others? Who knows."
Kallen continues walking down the street with him, and before she knew it, they were beginning to move away from the renovated areas. It was sad really, seeing the life slowly drain out of the surroundings. It became more hostile, less inviting, and far more cold.
"Hey, Allen." She called to the boy beside him. "We should head back."
He slowed down a little, looking around as if he didn't realize where he was going. "You're right. Let's go."
The two turned around down the cracked sidewalk, but before she could take another step a shadow emerged from the alley ahead of them.
"It's a little late for that I'm afraid." Came a sinister voice. Kallen's blood froze when the shadow and its friend step out of the darkness. She glanced behind her to see two more Britannian thugs had cut them off. She unconsciously went for her hidden knife she always kept on her, but she knew it was a pointless effort.
"What do you want?" Allen demanded of the one who had spoken.
"We've been hangin' around waiting for some poor Eleven to pass by, but the night's been pretty uneventful." The much older, and much bigger man drew a wicked looking switchblade, and pressed it against the surprisingly calm Allen. "And I'm kinda bored."
Kallen's blood froze when the others went for her. Their leader was keeping Allen away and already she could feel the terror creeping up on her.
With the men just inches away from her, a loud crack made her jump. Allen's foot was in the air, right where the man's knife arm had been. The blade itself sailed through the air, and before it even hit the ground, he brought his foot down on the man's head. He hit the ground hard, and Allen brought the back of his fist into another's jaw.
Kallen watched with her mouth open as the thin and seemingly weak teenager weaved through the three assailant's attacks. He brought one into a grapple and used his own momentum to send the man careening headfirst into a wall, effortlessly avoiding his companion's efforts at stopping him. She was so focused on him though, that she didn't see the fifth attacker grab her from behind. She screamed instinctually, unable to get to her own weapon. It was a mistake, as the sound broke Allen's concentration. He turned toward her, earning a hard blow to his shoulder. He barely evaded the knife that went for his head, and he and forced to take a few steps back. Even still, she could see on his face that Allen wasn't afraid in the slightest. He took a ready stance, keeping his injured shoulder behind him, and the two Britannians advanced on him.
Kallen struggled in vain against her captor, quickly finding he was the biggest of the group.
Despite that, Allen was putting up a fight against two knife-wielding adults at the same time. Any attempt they made to take him down was countered with merciless efficiency, and they barely had any time to escape a brutal blow like the other two had. Kallen was actually starting to think that he was going to beat them. But before he could take another one out, she felt a rough force propel her from the man's grip. She stabilized herself, turning to find the large man flat on the ground; a black armored figure standing above him.
"The-the Black Knights!" One of the two fighting Allen stumbled back, dropping his knife. A second Shadowy figure dropped on top of him, crushing him against the sidewalk. The last Britannian stood in shock, and Allen planted a foot into his face, knocking him out.
Kallen watched all of this with a completely speechless expression. She wasn't too sure if she should be more surprised at Allen's display of terrifying hand to hand combat, or the two Black Knights who were now kneeling to the blonde teenager.
"Are you alright, sir?" One of the Black Knights asked Allen.
Kallen's shocked quickly morphed into a frown. Sir?
Allen gave a sigh as he dusted off his school uniform. "You should have known I could handle these fools on my own."
"We were concerned about the girl, sir." The same man responded crisply.
"I suppose that's fair." Allen turned to her, and his hard face turned soft and apologetic. "I'm really sorry about this Kallen. I guess I owe you an explanation."
The two armored Knights rose to fall behind him. "These two know me as Allen Spacer, and I'm second in command of the Black Knights."
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