Lelouch POV

TV conductor "Here's video footage of yesterday's terrorist bombings in Osaka."

TV conductor "The secretary reported 59 casualties in this incident: 8 Britannians, and 51 others victims".

They hadn't even made contact with the enemy and his plan already failed, someone stole their objective before they could do anything, and now they were chased by the army, Lelouch and his man were moving toward their last known position, in the meantime he was listening to the news hoping to get any kind of information on their position.

TV conductor "We apologize for the delay, Now His Royal Highness Prince Clovis, third prince of Britannia, will address the nation".

Clovis "To all my imperial subjects! Including of course the many cooperative Elevens who choose to serve the empire of Britannia! Clovis stopped for a moment for dramatic purpose Do you not see my pain? My heart was ripped from my chest only to be torn apart! The remnants are filled with rage and sadness! However, as ruler of Area 11, I will not tolerate terrorism of any kind! Because the battle we fight is a righteous one, a virtuous battle to protect the well-being of one and all! Now then, everyone! I would like you to join me in observance of the eight who died for justice, in the line of duty".

Obviously, he didn't even mention the 51 Japanese, after all, he's still the son of that man, everyone in his family is rotten to the core... Almost, Nunnally was the only exception.

TV conductor "A moment of silence, please".

Kallen "We have found them, I'm sending the position" Kallen paused for a moment analyzing the situation "They are already fighting, a Sutherland and a Glasgow are fighting Gottwald, i request permission to engage in combat".

It was an occasion to remove their problem, but he didn't want to risk anyone without having any information on the other rebel group "Keep following them and report me any information, we will reach you in a few minutes".

Kallen POV

For her joy, Jeremiah was having a hard time, a two vs one was not easy even for a pilot like him, and ironically the pilot of the old Glasgow was the one more problematic, and while watching it was fun she wanted to join them and put him out of his misery, but Lelouch ordered to wait, and she will not do the same mistake as Rina.

The fight continued for a few minutes until another Knightmare intercepted the Truck shooting at it, forcing the driver to take another route.

Kallen contacted Lelouch "Another enemy Knightmare arrived, and they are now escaping through the subway, the Knightmares and the truck are now separated".

Lelouch "This is our chance, we will steal the truck and evacuate".

Kallen "Understood, we are moving".

They followed the truck in the subway until it crushed against a wall, Kallen approached the front of the truck pointing her rifle at it, the pilot, his was mostly hidden by his clothes, but after a few moments she managed to recognize him.

"ZERO!".

Lelouch POV

Obviously, it has to be the group of Naoto, this could be problematic for many reasons, but now was not the time to think about this.

Lelouch reached Kallen's position.

Kallen "We have already sent Nagata away to be healed".

Lelouch "The truck is still working?".

Kallen "No, we were trying to..." Kallen was interrupted, when Lelouch Knightmare was hit by enemy shots, unfortunately for him his cabin was automatically ejected, being ejected underground was never a good thing, not always lethal, but when the cabin finally stopped his body was screaming in pain, and his ears ringing.

It took a few moments for him to fully regain consciousness, the first thing he noticed was how his mask was now shattered into pieces, he tried to get up, but his coat as Zero was blocked in the deformed sheet metal that once was his Knightmare cabin, understood this he simply removed it, he still wore his Ashford uniform under that, whit a lot of luck, if in the chaos of battle no one notices him exit the cabin, even if captured he could look like an hostage of the terrorist.

Leaving the Knightmare he found a critical situation, Kallen and Kaito were using two of the destroyed enemy Knightmares as a shield, the place was too narrow for a fight between Knightmares, and even the roof was losing pieces (This was another reason to move fast despite the pain).

He managed to arrive at the Truck without being hit by a bullet or crushed by a giant robot, but when he thought to have reached safety someone hit him, and in just a few moments a soldier of Britannia was above him.

To Lelouch's surprise, the soldier didn't kill him immediately but instead said "That's enough mindless murder!".

Lelouch had to convince the soldier he was just a student "Wait! I'm not one of...!".

The soldier interrupted him pointing his gun at Lelouch's head "Planning to use poison gas!? Don't play dumb with me!"

Lelouch realized that words were useless so he tried to move "Get off me...!" but his body was too weak to do anything, in anger he continued talking "I'm not here by choice. And if that's poison gas, it was made in Britannia, wasn't it?!"

Soldier "My god...!"

Lelouch ignored him and continued "Mindless murder?! Then why don't you just obliterate Britannia!"

The soldier removed the part of his uniform that was hiding his face "Lelouch? It's me, Suzaku."

Lelouch was shocked, all the sound around him ceased to exist in his mind, it was not possible, Suzaku, his friend, the proud Japanese, the son of Genbu Kururugi, he... he... "You... you became a Britannian soldier?"

Suzaku "Yeah. And what about you? You're a...".

Lelouch understood what he was implying and obviously, he lied "What are you saying?!".

Lelouch suddenly heard a female voice "It's you... Finally I have found my..." and then the capsule opened.

The hearts of the two friends stopped, they were going to die? Just like this? Suzaku in a last effort to save his old friend covered his face with a mask.

But no gas went out, the capsule contained a girl.

As he and Lelouch were freeing the girl from the straitjacket.

Lelouch "Tell me the truth, Suzaku. Poison gas? This girl?".

Suzaku "Hey, it's what they told us in the briefing. I swear!".

Another piece of the roof fell in front of them, they were running out of time.

Suzaku "Wait for me here and keep the girl safe".

Lelouch "What are you planning?".

Suzaku "I will reach my Knightmare and use it to take both of you out of here".

This shocked Lelouch, Britannia started to recruit Honorary Britannian as Knightmare pilot less than one month ago, he was not expecting Britannia to send them into battle this soon, and surely he wasn't expecting Suzaku to be one of them.

Paying more attention to the battlefield he noticed how the Knightmares attacking his man were all Glasgow personalized, each had a different color.

Suzaku "My Knightmare is the white one, wait for me here, I'll return as soon as possible".

A few seconds after Suzaku left, and then Lelouch started panicking, he had to get out of there, fortunately, he managed to find a radio and, after losing more time than he would like to admit, managed to configure the right frequency to contact Kallen "Q1 do you hear me".

Kallen "Finally, we can't hold this position forever, what's the plan?".

Lelouch "I'm in the camion, we have to escape, make it look like you are kidnapping me, and then shoot at the roof while we are escaping".

Kallen "But the gas...".

Lelouch "There is no gas, we have to go NOW!".

Kallen reached the track and took him and the woman in her fist.

At the same time, the Knightmare of Suzaku joined the battle, charging toward them.

Kallen and Kaito started shooting at the roof, which made the entire roof collapse covering their retreat, he was expecting everyone to fall back to the entrance from where they came, but Suzaku always managed to surprise him, the idiot kept following them, ignoring the tons of material falling right above his head, fortunately, he was fast enough to not be crushed, but his concern for Suzaku quickly became fear of Suzaku, he lifted his rifle aiming towards Kallen Knightmare, but fortunately he realized how easily this could have killed Lelouch, he put away the riffle and brandished two swords.

Kaito slowed down trying to buy time, and for the third time today Lelouch was shocked, in less than 30 seconds one of his best pilots was defeated, luckily Suzaku wasn't aiming to kill him, but now they were alone.