"Fool!"
Unfaltering stoicism. That was the tried and true response to someone with unearned and undeserved authority dressing him down. Xingke was more than familiar with the procedure having served the High Eunuchs. And now here he was experiencing the same thing, only with a supposed military man.
"Four captured transport ships, and now we've given one back to the Britannians whilethree moreare broken wrecks sinking into the sea! Saddling me with a failure of a field commander like you must have been some punishment from the High Eunuchs!"
General Cao was...Capable. By the Chinese means of military service, he had technically risen through the ranks to his position on the back of Confucian meritocracy. In truth however, he had done so by taking credit for victories and somehow finding he was not in command for any failures. Naturally that made Xingke the perfect second in command for him. Someone who could cover for his failings, and also be the perfect patsy for any that slipped through since he was already the whipping boy of the Vermillion Forbidden City. It wouldn't matter that he had been largely responsible for crippling the Britannian naval forces. Xingke received no credit for victories, only recrimination for his losses.
Xingke had to believe the High Eunuchs were aware of Cao's limitations as a commander. For as much as he complained about Xingke's supposed failure, he was doing just as they would expect of him. Taking the fall for mistakes. Cao was useful as a competent general who was not too competent. Someone who could be used, but not so capable as to be a threat. Not like Xingke.
"You will be presenting yourself before the High Eunuchs by this conflict's end! We will see if they allow you to keep your head after this inexcusable display of incompetence!"
He was still going. Some men loved to hear themselves talk. Meanwhile the former Japanese cabinet minister Atsushi Sawazaki watched the conflict, pretending he had an understanding of what was occurring. Nodding along with the denigrations of Xingke's character and capability.
"We must now make up for your failings with decisive action! Perhaps if you get results from here on I will speak well of you."
Oh. It was time to move on from bluster. Barely acknowledging the ranting, Xingke looked to his second, Zhou Xianglin. "Do we have any more intelligence on the white knightmare?"
The young woman very slightly shook her head. "Only what little we gleaned from the battle. Fast, powerful enough to carve through our Gun Ru with no difficulty at all. Its primary armaments appear to be close range blades that can cut through armour plating, as well as... Some sort of energy field that acts as a shield." The pause was telling. It was a problem. Britannia had made yet another technological leap.
"As opposed to one powerful machine with an excellent pilot, they have two," Xingke concluded.
"You should have taken the field in that Indian's machine!" Cao went right back to blustering. "That is your role, Field Commander!"
More blame. More finger-pointing. Whatever it took to make sure Xingke took the fall. No matter that it was Cao's orders that had them send countless Koreans to be slaughtered. Then when the tactic failed, to send in three times as many. It was an appropriate strategy for their resources, for what they thought they would be facing, for what the objective was. Unfortunately, it was one without contingencies. And so the Federation had suffered a one-two punch of defeats. A warning jab in the form of the Knight of Six and this new mystery pilot. And then as they attempted to push through, a devastating counter punch.
In truth, Xingke had agreed with Cao's approach, at least at first. The second wave was rash. It might have worked, but it would have incurred absurd and unnecessary losses to do so.
"At which point should I have taken the field, General?" Xingke asked. "In the first wave before we knew of the white knightmare? Or in the second so I and our own prototype knightmare might be, as you describe, 'sinking into the sea'?"
"We must act now!" Sawazaki spoke up urgently, looking between the two. "Before the Britannians gain the secrets of the Gun Ru!"
... It was strange to feel gratitude toward the walking casus belli. No matter how much Cao wished to denigrate Xingke, it could never be claimed that he was the most ignorant person in the room.
"That won't be a concern," Cao said dismissively. Proudly even, no matter how nonsensical it was. The Gun Ru had very few 'secrets'. Mostly in materials science that allowed the machines to be built cheaper and faster.
Even if the Britannians discovered those details by examining them, they likely wouldn't care. The Empire had shown over and over again how they preferred to do things. Mass production was a lower priority than having great heroes taking victory with bleeding edge technology. They had demonstrated it when Charles zi Britannia took the throne, they demonstrated it with the Witch of Britannia, they demonstrated it with their Knights of the Round. They even demonstrated it in the previous battle.
If they had captured the Shen Hu, that would have been a different story.
"This new group," Xingke said as he pulled up the flag of this JSDF, a still of their leader from their propaganda video. "They pose the largest threat."
"Hrmmmm..." It was clear Cao wished to refute him again. But, smartly, he didn't. It would have been ridiculous to do so after the group had cost them three ships with no casualties on their side. When they wouldn't have even known they existed if they hadn't actively announced themselves. "An unknown foe is always the most dangerous. Knowing oneself and knowing the enemy is impossible in this circumstance. We have no way to know what they might do, what resources they have, where they are... And yet they are likely to insert themselves into any battle we have with the Empire."
"I would not say their ambiguity is their greatest danger, General. At the very least, we know what their aims are and they have very little to do with us. We are a means to an end."
"They're traitors and Britannian lapdogs!" Sawazaki protested fiercely. "Your leaders claimed you would seize victory from the Empire, liberate Japan, and you're afraid of Japanese traitors?!"
"Their aim is true integration into the Britannian Empire, not as second-class citizens but as equals," Xingke continued, ignoring the outrage of the bureaucrat. "They declared their motives. From that, we can suppose their methods. They wish to build a narrative. To them, we are secondary to the Britannians. They aim to write their future in the blood of the Federation. The first page is written, and so they must continue as they have. They will not hide. They will not wait for our next move. They will act, just as audaciously as they did previously, seeking to establish themselves as too capable to diminish or dismiss."
"If you're so confident you have them figured out, then prove the Empress' faith in you is not misplaced by making amends for your failure." That was all the instruction the general gave before dismissing both of them.
They left the room. They walked past the soldiers on guard, toward the hangar for their secret weapon. Only once there, given privacy by the larger space to be ignored, did Xingke allow his difficulty breathing to show in the slightest.
"Lord Xingke, are you well?"
"So much speaking at once, maintaining poise, it can cause issues at times," he answered his adjutant, his breathing laboured but evening out. "I will be fine."
Xianglin wanted to believe him, and so she chose to do so. "General Cao has given you command again."
"He doesn't know how to respond to the new threats," Xingke said, following his words with a short cough. "He felt prepared for Cornelia. For Britannian tactics. This is different."
"You know what they will do?"
"... Not precisely. I can say for certain. They will attack. How is in question. But they will attack." Taking a slow, deep breath, the acting commander of the fleet settled himself fully once again. "And Britannia will take advantage."
"The Britannians' pride would allow that?"
"Cornelia seeks victory always. She is pragmatic. And we remain the greater threat." It was more than possible that she would turn her attention to the JSDF if the threat diminished, or engage in efforts to reveal them to be dealt with later. But she would take any advantage against a real threat, no matter where that advantage might have come from.
Which meant all of Xingke's new problems might arrive all at once. "Have the technicians prep Shen Hu for movement to another ship. Inform each ship that we will be taking on a defensive formation as we take a western heading."
She didn't understand. But for the moment she didn't need to understand. "Yes sir." She trusted him implicitly.
-(-)-
"A plane?"
[Veered eastward after repeatedly evading sniper fire.]
"So that's how he was moving so fast."
[I can get back to the settlement in a few hours.]
"No. You don't need to concern yourself... I can take care of it."
[Is that hesitation? My daughter is in danger because of this, you remember.]
"You worry for her safety now?"
[Hardly. She has always been strong.]
"I don't deny that at all. I might understand better than you do, having spoken to her within the last eight years."
[I don't appreciate such comments. Don't make me think we are no longer allies.]
"Is that a threat? He is your only leverage. Do you care about them or not?"
[Of course I do. They are my darling children, and they will give us the world their father and I have longed for. And the escape you have longed for.]
"... I will take care of it."
[Please do.]
C.C. found her fists were clenched when the conversation ended. The discussions were often brief. Like a casual phone call to check in with an old friend, sharing a little gossip more often than not. If anything, the immortal wasn't relishing that they had resumed the moment she had been freed from captivity. But for once, it was truly purposeful.
So. Her actions were coming back to haunt her again, were they? It was easy to be dismissive of the consequences of her actions when she wanted nothing more than to finally meet her end. But in her rush to do so... She wasn't unaware of just how much pain, how much suffering she had caused.
But like most other kinds of pain, she had grown numb to it. Not entirely. It still hurt. But it was as transient as any other experience in her unending existence. Pain would fade. Regret would fade. When was the last time she cared to worry about her actions during Washington's Rebellion? Enough time truly could heal all wounds, and oblivion could wash them all away in an instant.
Mao was just another in a long line of mistakes. And for as much as the psychopath who occasionally buzzed in her mind thought she had found a friend, she too was just another means to C.C.'s final end. Another failed attempt.
Did the immortal truly care about anyone? No. Of course not. She couldn't afford to. If she felt attachment, if she gave up on her aims for another fleeting joy, she may miss her moment. The joy would pass, whether by misfortune or the natural fate she could never achieve, and she may miss her moment to finally escape. Centuries more to pass before she would get another chance. It was unacceptable.
She was just... So tired. Of all of it. This unchanging world and all the people in it. Love and pride and conflict and hatred and sorrow and regret and on and on and around and around it would go. The patterns inescapable. Her dear accomplice's plan was no more audacious than that of his parents'. They all wished to halt, to reconfigure the nature of the world. The son by mundane means, the father by fantastical means.
Though put that way, perhaps Lelouch was more audacious. The idea of creating a more peaceful world just by his own means, even were he to acquire the backing of an empire it seemed a childish fantasy. Then again, so was Charles' ambition. And he got closer than the world would ever know.
The academy was silent as the grave this late at night. Nunnally was asleep. Sayoko had retired to her own quarters for the night. C.C. knew what was coming. She had to be prepared.
Mao was coming. He didn't waste time with the battles in Kyushu. It was possible, no, it was likely, he already knew where she was. The range of his geass was vast. He had flown over the same battlefield Lelouch had involved himself in. All it would take would be a single distracted thought floating to him. Perhaps from Lelouch himself, unknowingly giving away all his secrets as he thought of his sister. Of the immortal witch he insisted look after her. That was all it would take. If not him, any one of the JSDF. They would direct him to the settlement as a starting point. From there... Just asking people. For anyone who had seen a green-haired woman. Her own escapades riling up her accomplice would inevitably give her away as forgotten memories of witnesses were fed to him.
One way or another, he would find her. Therefore, as the one person immune to his mind reading, she had to disappear. And she had to do so without being seen. There was only one way to be sure she could do what Lelouch wished of her. And so, in the silence of the night, she disappeared out of the open window of Lelouch's room, out of the clubhouse, and out of sight.
-(-)-
The young princess tried to hide how she fretted. There was no way for her to not worry, to not sit, helpless, impotent. Her brother was off doing who knew what, participating in a war against those outside the empire, just so he could position himself as a power in the war within the empire. And all of it, the poor, impotent princess was left behind. To witness it all on the sidelines. Waiting for her dearest brother to come home. Hoping that her disgusting actions, her lustful expressions, hadn't caused too much of a distraction for him. Such a selfish girl she was. Her self-recriminations did nothing to repent her sins against decency.
And how could she do so anyway? She was only a wretched human after all. Such innocent appearance, even that was only on the surface. Inside she lusted for her own flesh and blood. Against his will. How grotesque these people were. It might have come across as a pattern for these imperial children, but for one who had seen all minds around him, seen the deep dark of every mind, every soul he ever came across... This was normal. Sickening. But normal.
Ah, but she wondered. Where had the dear Miss C.C. gone? There had been no pizza deliveries to the clubhouse that morning. Was she sick? She asked her maid, only to get a vague answer.
Though the truth revealed itself in asking the question.
There was a knock on the door. Not the front, not the one facing the campus that would lead into a ballroom. The side door. Incidentally where deliveries tended to arrive as it led into the kitchens.
The maid answered.
And the young man on the other side smiled.
"Yes? May we help you...?" the maid prompted.
"Absolutely yes you can," the young man answered. "I'll be coming in now."
She stepped in his way. Ah. More dangerous than she appeared. Already considering her response if he pushed further, and it would be none too gentle. "I would humbly ask you introduce yourself and state your business first?"
He continued to smile. "That is something that is best discussed with Princess Nunnally present."
Her eyes widened just the smallest fraction. Not that he needed to see it to recognise her surprise. Thoughts running through her head. Whether this was an acquaintance of the young master. If this was a part of the plans the Ashford heiress was a part of. She didn't know, and so she remained cautious as she stepped aside. Planning to call the Ashfords and inform them.
A shame. For the moment, that was unacceptable.
It was always interesting when confronting people expertly trained to fight. Their thoughts were almost too intricate and quick to comprehend. The one thing that a trained fighter always relied on was that their movements had become second nature. Their bodies trained to react the exact right way with the exact right movement. In truth, their bodies didn't react. Their minds did. By practice, reaction times reduced to almost instant. They would perceive, automatically react to what they perceived, and act accordingly. In the manner they learned was best.
It was never quite so thoughtless, however. After all, they knew those reactions. If on edge, they would be thinking about them. Staying aware of the environment around them, assessing what would be viable and what wouldn't. In essence, they would simulate the fight in their mind before a single hostile movement took place.
So if he were to...
"Hn!"
Move from the grab, twist around, she jumps over him to get above him on the stairs, annnnnd—
"Hh—!" The woman's body locked up in an exquisite stunned agony as electricity coursed through her body. Unable to support her anymore, her body collapsed into his arms. However, she was unworthy to be held so carefully by him. He grabbed her wrists and dragged her up the stairs to where her charge was growing more agitated.
"Miss Sayoko...?"
"L—! Nn-unn-n—!"
Dragging the twitching woman into the room, he pulled her arms into place to handcuff her to a heavy-looking piece of furniture.
"Miss Sayoko?!"
"She's a little occupied right now, I'm afraid," he answered her pleas in her maid's stead. "I need to have a—No." Quickly stepping over to the paralysed, blind girl, he snatched a small object from her hand and threw it away before she could press the button on it. "None of that. We're going to have a talk about someone very dear to me, and you two will answer honestly." Whether they gave their answer aloud or not.
"L-leave h-h-h-er alo-one!" the maid stuttered out, gradually regaining control of her body. The Federation's stun batons were certainly a lot more potent than he thought for it to still be causing her problems.
"I'd like to! I would very much like to get what I want and leave, and for that, you need to cooperate, don't you? You had a house guest. A wonderful young lady with porcelain skin. Beautiful green hair. Eyes like amber crystals. Yes, that's the one. You saw her leave."
"Who?"
She was intent on being obtuse. It didn't matter. "You saw her leave in the middle of the night. Where did she go?"
"I don't—"
"You don't know. Where do you think she would go?"
Thoughts. Potential locations. Might have followed that other one. That prince. Gone to Kyushu. Would have gone against his wishes. Was supposed to protect the helpless princess. Could have left. Could have fled to follow her own whims. Could have left, escaped knowing he was coming for— "No no nono NO!" His open palm swung across her face with a crack. "She did not leave me! She didn't! You liar! My beloved C.C. would never do that to me! Not again!"
The Japanese woman glared at him without malice. Controlled herself. She thought it would make him more hostile if she showed anger.
"Tell me, where—"
"Please leave her alone!"
He looked at her. That girl pleading so earnestly. "Please?" he echoed. "Please? With sugar and sweetness and cherries and gumdrops please oh please be kind? Is that what you're asking of me?"
"... We don't know where Miss C.C. is."
"... I believe you." The inner thoughts matched the outer thoughts. Not just for her, but for the maid. They didn't know. "The problem is, you think, that means I should be nice to you. You think, that means I can't get what I want from you and I'll leave. You think, the only thing I want is her."
He didn't. Of course he didn't. Just like he had to deliver punishment to that insipid little shrew in Area Sixteen. He had to deliver justice to those who thought they could take his darling C.C. away. He had to punish C.C. for thinking she needed anyone but him. They were destined for one another! They were meant to be together, she would take care of him and he would take care of her! Keep her safe! Keep her loved! Keep her his! She was the only one who could make the noise go away!
'Everything is fine. Just focus on my voice. I'm right here.'
Mao shuddered, his rage compressing, coalescing into a pit of focused fury that made him smile. "Princess Nunnally vi Britannia." The girl gasped at her real name escaping his lips. "You've been in hiding for a long time."
"Who are you? What do you want?"
All poise on the outside. Fear on the inside. Oh, mostly not even for herself, but for her dear brother. Well that tracked with everything else. He casually slipped behind her, taking hold of the handles of her wheelchair. "Trust royals to think they are the most important people in the world. Your half-sister was the same. Oh, that probably doesn't narrow it down for you much does it?" he asked as names ran through her mind. "I of course mean the late viceroy of Area Sixteen."
"Late…? Astraea is dead?" the pathetic girl whispered.
"Oh yes. The Chinese of course don't want to let that slip. All that political manoeuvring that decides who dies and why. And of course they don't want to reveal her end was particularly gruesome." He leaned down, stroking her hair with one hand as he spoke into her ear. "I made sure of that. She was the last woman who thought she could come between my beloved C.C. and I."
"You killed her...?"
"Not personally," he admitted with a shrug as he wheeled the girl closer to her maid, the two facing one another. "You see, she was a Britannian ruler in an Area. And so she did as Britannian rulers do. When I gave the Sixteens their chance at revenge, they took it with both hands." Once again he leaned low, stroking the girl's face with a smile on his. "How she wailed. How she begged. They brutalised her, they violated her, they made her suffer in such creative ways. If there is anything humans excel at, it's finding new expressions of cruelty and viciousness. By the end, she was unrecognisable."
"No...!"
The mad mind reader tutted. "Don't pretend, princess. You barely knew her. Don't play at sympathy you don't feel. Or... Was that plea for yourself? After all, here we are. Just you, me, and one of your beloved numbers." He breathed in, grinning at the Eleven maid glaring at him. "Princess, do you really believe she wouldn't slit your throat the moment she had the chance?"
The maid didn't answer. Not to protest. Not to retort. She was preparing herself, expecting she might be able to do something. Even suspected correctly how he subdued her. Sadly it wouldn't matter, and all her silence did was give his question more weight. Make it seem like they all knew the implied question was yes, she would.
"You're a conqueror, Princess," he reminded the blind girl. "You're the ruling class among the people who stole her home, stole her future. Do you even know what she could have been before she was relegated to being a servant to her oppressors? Do you know how much she hates you? How much you disgust her?"
"I...! Miss Sayoko!" It was a plea for the maid to deny it. To make her feel better. "M-Miss Sayoko! Brother is trying to make it better! Please don't hate us! I never wanted, we never wanted—!"
Mao tutted again. The right levers made some people so easy to break. And he still had more beyond the already given half-truths. "Do you think that's why you disgust her, Princess? Oh yes, she hates you, she serves you tea and brushes your hair and hates every servile second of it. But that isn't why you disgust her. Let me ask you. She's an observant woman, isn't she? So attentive and caring a maid." With a whispering smile in her ear he dealt the devastating blow. "Do you really believe she doesn't know what you've been doing?"
"What I've..."
"The thing that really disgusts her... Your own brother, Princess." Ah, that delectable spike of panic in such a grotesque human as her fears are made real. "Such unnatural things that shouldn't transpire between siblings. She washes the sheets, washes out the stains. She helps you get ready for the day, smelling the stink of it on your breath. And do you know what the worst part is? Even so disgusted as she should be by that, she doesn't know how bad it really is." He wondered if this would rouse the maid from her intentional silent stoicism. "She thinks it's all mutual. She doesn't know that you touch him as he sleeps, that he has no idea of the filthy, grotesque, lustful girl he has doted on for years. This is how you repay him? Selfish, sickening girl. Maybe it would be best if you let her take her revenge on you for what your people have done to her. Repent for her having to wash clean your filth."
"I, no, that's not, that's not—!"
"Lady Nunnally," the maid said, still unmoving.
"Sayoko, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" A poor broken girl. "It wasn't supposed to—! I only wanted—!"
"I apologise in advance, Lady Nunnally."
The maid's legs kicked out, throwing the girl and her wheelchair backwards. It had been intended to hit Mao, yet he had seen it coming.
She believed a calm mind, meditation, might help her. He had confirmed for her what his geass could do with his uncanny insight into the princess. However, a calm mind meant only there were fewer things to listen to. All he could hear were her intentions, and so he heard it before it happened as she snapped both thumbs to shuck the handcuffs. From there she would attack him and so he readied himself to read her intentions again—
She leapt sideways?
"Ah— AH!" The panic button?! How did she trick him like that?! But she had made herself an easy target as she tried to reach the discarded alarm. Worse, whatever she had done to trick his ability to predict her, it was a one-time trick. She rolled aside as he moved to kick her side, only to roll into his stun baton. "LAY DOWN!"
"Hgggh!" Her body seized, muscles locked in place as electricity coursed through her body. The initial teeth-grit grunt was the only sound she made. As he hit her with it. Again. And again. Her body kicked, the sounds of her feet beating against the floor. Then for good measure as he took the baton away, he kicked the woman in the side.
"Stop!" Again! "STOP! PLEASE!"
"QUIET!" He looked at the blind girl, then at the panic button. Picking it up, he threw it as hard as he could at the closed window, feeling a desperate need to get rid of it that overtook reason. Spiderweb cracks covered the small pane as the object punched a hole in it.
Mao took a deep breath, attempting to steady himself.
That was stupid of him. He had panicked. Someone had managed to trick him and he stopped thinking clearly. The woman was down. Quite possibly severely injured, not that he was going to check. The princess was incapable of doing more than screaming and he just proved what would happen if she did.
Maybe it was time to leave. This had not gone to plan. Then again, everything since finding out his C.C. wasn't there and they didn't know where had been him indulging his revenge.
He moved to the window, removing his headphones so he could concentrate on the voices around, searching for any sign of danger. Someone who heard the scream, or saw the window break, or saw the panic button—
But there was no way for him to recognise the danger of the one person he couldn't read. And so those were his last thoughts before a rifle round shattered his skull and pulped his brain.
Nunnally vi Britannia felt unknown fluids scatter over her body. Her mouth hung open in silent horror, before she screamed again.
On a rooftop on the other side of the campus hiding under a blanket, C.C. let out a regretful sigh. "I'm sorry." She knew he would come for her. And so she needed to ensure she was aware of him before he of her. All she had been waiting for was a shot. If she missed, he would run and cause more havoc, so she had to be sure she wouldn't miss.
Pulling out the phone Lelouch gave her, she hit the first speed dial number.
...
"Milly Ashford speaking?"
"Aries Villa."
The girl on the other end gasped. "What's happening?"
"There was an incident. The move needs to happen now. Discretely. The maid is injured and there is a body."
"A—?!"The question was begun, but aborted. "Right. I'll... I'll take care of it. What happene—?"
Click.
Only ten minutes later, several black cars pulled onto the academy grounds. Paramedics bringing the traumatised girl and the severely injured maid out of the building. As well as a covered object the size and shape of a man. Two vehicles stayed parked outside as the ones carrying passengers or cargo sped away again. Through her scope, C.C. could see personnel in the clubhouse cleaning the evidence of the incident. A half hour after that, the cleaners left, and movers arrived with a harried Milly Ashford who directed them as they gathered the siblings' belongings. Ready for transport to the viceroy palace.
Such a mess.