Monica let out a breath, slow and controlled before breathing back in. A slow cycle, out then in to focus on the task before her.
The countdown had started, and she could feel her heart beating in excitement. She so rarely got a moment to show off in front of Lelouch, so she was determined to do her best.
As the countdown hit zero, she gripped the controls of the Lancelot and shot forward like a comet streaking across the sky. Turf and gravel were churned out from under her wheels as she raced forward towards the first obstacle, the morning sun high in the sky.
Three targets popped up from a concrete barrier and Monica threw herself into a spin as she fired a Slash Harken. Against the armour of a tank or knightmare, the tethered projectile would have torn through them like scissors through paper. But the targets were made of wood, obliterated into tiny chips as the Slash Harken whipped through them.
Without losing momentum Monica moved like a lightning bolt from target group to target group as she pushed the prototype to the limits of it's agility. Each target was swiftly dealt with by a Slash Harken or the durable fists of the Lancelot.
She found herself laughing with glee as she wove through the mock urban area. The nimble machine was able to jump from rooftop to rooftop with ease and Monica found herself marvelling at sheer speed as she quickly closed the gap with another set of targets. An armoured fist crashed through all three in rapid succession before Monica sent the Lancelot leaping off the roof.
Her radio crackled to life as she admired the shock absorbents. Nearly a two story drop and she'd barely felt a thing as she continued to tear down the asphalt to the next check point.
"Enjoying yourself?" Lelouch's voice came through, his amusement mirroring her own.
"Quite!" She weaved through potholes and rubble with the elegance of a figure skater. The average Knightmare was nimbler than it looked but this was another level entirely. "I've found my Christmas present, all it needs is a better paint job."
"Mmm, have you now? I'll see what I can do." Lelouch's chuckle came through the radio as static, as she heard Earl Asplund's indignant voice. "How is your energy filler doing?"
"A hair above half. Not terrible for forty minutes of putting it through it's paces but energy consumption and operational time could use some improvements." If she could blitz down an enemy, this wouldn't be a concern. But being caught out in a battle that turned into a grinding, slug-fest meant she'd be a sitting duck.
"Noted, now would you like an enemy that can fight back?" He offered.
Monica's smile couldn't get any wider. "I would love it."
A marker was added to her map of the terrain as Lelouch wished her luck and cut contact for now. No doubt he would be directing the soldiers set against her. It was the only way they stood a chance against her and this monstrous machine.
She took a hard right turn, one that would have sent a Sutherland ass over tea-kettle at her current speed, as she barrelled down a deserted road towards her new opponents. Squat, concrete squares in the approximation of buildings surrounded her and she slowly decelerated.
While her mind couldn't work at the staggering speed or complexity of her prince. She knew him as intimately as he knew her. Lelouch had a love for ambushes, and she wouldn't embarrass him by falling into such a basic trap.
This caution payed off as she slowed within 200ft of the marker. Her sensors spotted the tip of a gun barrel poking out from behind a wall 30ft in front of her.
You little stinker, she grinned. If she had continued at full tilt to the marker she might have been shot in the back before she noticed she was surrounded. Monica turned left, fully intent on circling around to take the lurking test pilot by surprise.
It might have worked, if a pair of Sutherland weren't waiting for her around the corner, guns levelled at her. High impact paint pellets were substituted for actual combat rounds during testing, so it with no hesitation that the test pilots opened fire on her the moment she poked her head around the corner. Quick reactions and a flick of her thumb activated the Blaze Luminus as she charged forward. The shield flashed as it blocked the majority of the shots, Monica dodged the rest.
The Sutherlands both retreated in different directions of the T-intersection the maze of buildings created. Following any one of them would leave her open to being shot from behind by the other.
So I'll take out both, she sent the arms of the Lancelot out wide, shooting out the Slash Harken attached to its forearms. Both weapons punched into the armour of the Sutherland's at the waist. Not a fatal blow in the heat of combat but enough to take them out of the test.
Now to find the rest of them.
Monica continued this game of cat and mouse, of ambush and counter ambush that weaved through the concrete jungle of the testing grounds until the Lancelot's energy filler was reduced to ten percent and a variety of warnings was starting to fill her screen.
With about 16 'dead' combatants and not a scratch or speck of pain on her, Monica beamed with pride as Lelouch announced the test's conclusion and told her to come back to the hanger.
After a couple minutes of slower driving, Monica cruised into the hanger, an assembled crowd of technicians, mechanics and scientists gathered in a group waiting for her. Her eyes were only on her prince, as he watched her with a look of pride.
She went through the proper shutdown procedure before finally disembarking from the Lancelot.
"Thought you had me with that initial salvo didn't you?" She teased her prince.
"Never," He looked the picture of innocence. "Jean on the other hand."
Her counterpart coughed quietly, a slight flush on her cheeks at the accusation. "I was simply saying she might over look something with how fast she was going."
"Ye of little faith," Monica teased before she turned to Lloyd. "You and your team have done a good job. Took a moment to get used to the lack of positional stability systems, but once I did it moves like a dream. I've never had a machine that nimble or with such a great response time. I feel like I could go dancing with it if I tried."
"I will not be sullying my precious Lancelot with some putrid gree-" A swift elbow to his side from his calmly, smiling assistant stopped him in his tracks. "Oof. As I was trying to say, it is nice to see our hard work appreciated. We have been looking for field testing in the area to iron out that last few… imperfections."
The mention of imperfections was with a tone of personal vitriol. As if the idea that his machine was anything other than a perfect example of the mechanical design was an insult to the Earl himself.
"I will be meeting with the remaining military brass tomorrow. I expect no objections to your unit serving under my command." Lelouch soothed. "Given the tension of the Area, you will get the data you are looking for."
"Excellent!~ Now this has been productive but I must attend to my Lancelot. Cecile will help you with any questions you have and all the boring little details~" Lloyd ducked out of his assistants grip, stepping fast to direct the group of technicians.
Cecile's sigh was deep and long-suffering. Monica could empathize a bit. Her Prince was nowhere near the level of eccentric that Lloyd Asplund was, but he had his moments. A quick glance behind her saw her prince with an amused expression at the sudden exit.
"I'm sorry for him, we have been looking for a pilot capable of handling the Lancelot for months and it's set us back. He's just excited to resume forward progress." Cecile hesitated for a moment, a clipboard held loosely in her hands. "There hasn't been any word on Private Kururugi has there?"
Her predecessor, no matter how brief. Monica had examined Camelot's technical breakdown of the Lancelot's performance in Shinjuku. It was a shame he'd joined the terrorists. It would have been useful to spar against someone of similar skill. Lelouch might have even let him pilot a Sutherland if he had proved loyal.
"No. But I have sent out a mandate across the area, if he surrenders himself peacefully, I will grant him leniency." It went without saying what would happen if he didn't surrender himself.
Assuming he hasn't been killed for not switching sides, Monica mused. Kururugi was damned either way in the hands of terrorists.
"Oh, thank you, your highness." Cecile bowed slightly. "It's just. He seemed like a good kid caught up in everything. We testified to the Margrave that he couldn't have possibly killed Prince Clovis. He was with us the whole time."
Monica watched Lelouch's focus narrow in on Cecile, his voice soft. "It is unfortunate, but I will help him if possible. If nothing else, his durability is to be remarked upon. To be shot in the stomach, then go right back into the battle after the briefest of rest. Did he complain at all? Or ask any questions?"
"No, your highness. He seemed almost eager. He wanted to protect people." Ms. Croomy paused again and pulled the clipboard closer to herself. "I.. I think he lost a friend in the battle. The first thing he wanted to know when he woke up was if someone was okay. He didn't say a name, but he seemed distraught."
"It's a sad truth of war, that no battle can be won without causalities, even on the winning side. I'll send along all the documents later today. Is it alright if Monica stays for a while to familiarize herself with the crew? I would force her with me back to the viceroy's palace, but she claims to be deathly allergic to paper work."
Cecile smiled warmly at the younger women. "Of course, Lloyd has a similar condition. The climate control for the cockpit is still in progress beyond the bare essentials. If you'd like I can show you where the changing rooms are, to let you clean up before a tour?"
"I would love a tour in a bit," Monica returned the smile in kind. "But I'm sure I can find the changing rooms on my own. I'll track you down when I'm done."
"Of course." Cecile said with a bow, as Lelouch thanked her for all the help she'd been.
Once the scientist was out of earshot, Jean asked the question that was echoing in Monica's mind. "Do you think Zero and Kururugi know each other?"
"I would be willing to bet good money on it." Lelouch mused as the trio started to walk through the facility towards the changing rooms.
"More importantly, do you think Zero and Kururugi were working together? Planned the whole bridge massacre?" Monica asked.
"No, unless Kururugi is the best liar on the planet. The interrogation itself might have been a sham for a scapegoat, but the footage is telling. Kururugi has no idea what the Margrave is talking about. They would also have no way to know that Jeremiah was going to parade around a scapegoat. It's just as likely that they would have shot Kururugi in the prison cell, and publish a fake transcript of a trail later."
"Zero could have kept Kururugi in the dark, so he wouldn't beef it in the interview." Monica supplied. Operational Security was the lifeblood of clandestine groups like terrorists. "And the point of a scapegoat is to be shown. It's a lot more credible to parade him around. Show what is done with his ilk."
"There would have been tells, some connection of the dots. If he knows something, he knows everything. If he knows nothing, he knows nothing. Simple as that." Lelouch held the door open for her as they stepped into a room. Long benches, and lockers lined the wall. A duffle bag with a spare change of clothes had been dropped off earlier at Lelouch's arrival.
Jean still inspected it for traps, or listening devices.
"But if he knows Zero, does he know Zero? You know?" Monica asked as she kicked off her shoes. A hot shower sounded wonderful right now. Especially with company.
"It would explain the get up." Lelouch took her jump suit as she continued to strip down. He began to slowly fold it, and set it on the bench next to him as he thought. "We continue to find pieces of the puzzle that define the edges, instead of answers themselves."
"You are interviewing the survivors of Shinjuku after this, yes? The Command Deck crew?" Monica finished divesting herself of her panties, setting them on top of the remainder of her clothes to stand bare before her prince. She looked a lot more confident than she felt as Lelouch admired her. She stepped forward, her hands going under his heavy black-gold overcoat to start to strip him down as well.
If she wasn't the only one naked, she wouldn't feel embarrassed. And I would get to ogle Lelouch in turn.
"Yes, we have taken the G-1 Command Deck crew into custody, along with the surviving knights of the battle. We need to know if yesterday was an isolated incident, or if they'd been completely subverted." Jean answered for Lelouch as she finished with the duffle bag. She looked up to find her counterpart with her prince's pants in hand.
"You're welcome to join us." Monica offered shyly at being caught in the act.
"I will be outside," Jean was almost as red as her hair. As if she hadn't seen everything before her before. As if she hadn't been in a similar position last night as Lelouch 'rewarded' her for her excellent service. "Someone needs to make sure you two aren't caught with your pants down."
"Of course, but if you change your mind, you know where to find us." Lelouch teased good-naturally.
"Won't be too long, I promise." Monica called out as Jean closed the door behind her. Her gaze shifted up to Lelouch. "Some of us, who aren't me still have work to do."
"Mm, laugh it up." Lelouch allowed himself to be led by the hand into the showers. "I know something you don't."
Monica set the temperature to high, and pulled Lelouch down into a brief kiss as she waited for the water to warm up. "And what's that?"
"What we're doing after work."
0
She threw the apartment keys into a bowl and yawned as she locked the door behind her. Three days in, and I'm already tired. Too many long nights, and not enough time to get it done.
Mary stretched as she took her hot pink jacket off and hung it up in the closet. The apartment was quiet. Not unsurprising because she lived alone, and had no pets. Some runners were taken off and placed neatly on the floor.
A few slow steps and a radio was turned on to fill the silence. She didn't have any work today, which left her nothing to do. She should go to sleep, catch up on what she missed.
But it felt wrong. She'd finally been given a chance to do something with her life after being reduced to nothing. And sleep wouldn't accomplish anything beyond her own rest.
A small blinking red light caught her attention. The answering machine had a message for her. She'd get to it later, as she move to stand in front of a small table with a drawer. Her apartment was a study in lacking any defining characteristics, a show room that was inhabited. It was a place for her to sleep in relative safety, not a home. She'd lost that years ago.
She opened the drawer, a small picture frame stared back at her. It was covered in a thin layer of dust, but she could pick out enough of the details for her mind to fill in the rest. The picture would be of a group of children. There would be a range of hair colours going from midnight black, to a soft pink as they stood together for a group photo. It was someone's birthday, she couldn't remember whose but a bunch of them that could be trusted to get along, with mothers that trusted each other at the time, were corralled together to mark the occasion.
None of them knew what was coming, not then. Not now, the ghost of Marrybell mel Brittannia vowed as she closed the drawer and went to collapse in her bed.
She'd rest for now, but she would get her vengeance in time.
Notes: So yes, a couple people had guessed Marrybell as the replacement Zero. Writing long form fics is interesting compared to one-shots cause as much as I want to get to certain scenes, I have to lay the ground to get there. I'm also not a very fast writer, which is why this chapter is a bit late. A lot of editing and debating of what I wanted it to be. Quite happy with it, after all what is Code Geass without a big of casual (non-explicit) fan service. Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter! Comments, reviews and messages are always welcome! And have a good one!
